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U.S. Works Up Plan for Using Nuclear Arms -- "The Bush administration has directed the military to prepare contingency plans to use nuclear weapons against at least seven countries and to build smaller nuclear weapons for use in certain battlefield situations... The secret report... says the Pentagon needs to be prepared to use nuclear weapons against China, Russia, Iraq, North Korea, Iran, Libya and Syria."
comment posted at 10:58 AM on Mar-9-02
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comment posted at 7:11 PM on Mar-9-02
comment posted at 7:25 PM on Mar-9-02

Rosie O'Donnel is Gay ... Kmart to Close 284 Stores, Cut 22,000 Jobs: Coincidence? I think NOT!
comment posted at 11:13 AM on Mar-9-02

A Grand Narrative "When Hindus kill Muslims it's not a story, because there are a billion Hindus and they aren't part of the Muslim narrative. When Saddam murders his own people it's not a story, because it's in the Arab-Muslim family. But when a small band of Israeli Jews kills Muslims it sparks rage — a rage that must come from Muslims having to confront the gap between their self-perception as Muslims and the reality of the Muslim world." Thomas Friedman looks for an angle and finds a story! What role, if any, does narrative consciousness and social psychology play in the Middle East? (via blogdex :)
comment posted at 6:45 PM on Mar-9-02

The Most Listened To Internet Radio Station In The World... is London-based Jazz FM. It's not really a Jazz station, but it plays delightful lounge music and the sound quality(Windows req.)is exceptional. And it makes a profit! What can they possibly be doing right?
comment posted at 2:05 PM on Mar-8-02

Am I the only one who notices that Scrubs is the best new show on television? Great writing and a great cast make me wonder who is Watching Ellie and putting the Seinfeld Curse at 3 for 3 with 2 RBI's and a double. If you haven't seen Scrubs, check it out. If you have, tell other people to watch it. Don't let quality television go off the air because of a bad time slot! (Tue. at 9:30 Est on NBC)
comment posted at 11:25 AM on Mar-8-02

Correct Currency I haven't seen any of these quarters yet, despite their apparent circulation of over two months, but I can't believe that they couldn't do enough QA to realize that they were making one obvious error and another one that most might not pick up on, but is incorrect nonetheless.
comment posted at 4:46 PM on Mar-7-02

Environmental Hypocrites? Jennifer Lopez: black Lincoln Navigator. Meg Ryan: black Ford Explorer. Dustin Hoffman: dark green Land Rover Range Rover…I don't begrudge these individuals their choice in automotive transportation…I just can't stomach so-called "environmentalists" who are about as green as Clifford the Big Red Dog."
comment posted at 1:53 PM on Mar-7-02

"Terror Widows'' An editorial cartoon that ridicules widows of World Trade Center victims as greedy and shallow publicity hounds drew instant outrage last night from the grieving survivors. One widow was shown with a pile of cash in her lap and telling a reporter, 'I keep waiting for Kevin to come home, but I know he never will. Fortunately, the $3.2 million I collected from the Red Cross keeps me warm at night.' The NYTimes pulled the strip from its Website.
comment posted at 4:25 PM on Mar-6-02

Trade Wars Bush imposes import tariffs on steel, something I didn't really expect coming from the administration. Dangerous precedent or useful bulwark against laissez-faire globalization?
comment posted at 7:19 PM on Mar-5-02

"I was always cool," Mr. Manilow said with a laugh. "Everyone else is just catching up now." [NYT link]
comment posted at 7:00 PM on Mar-5-02

"Towers of Light" given ok by Bloomberg "There's nothing we can do to bring back those we lost, but we have to make sure we have a way to remember". Towers of Light and a now-damaged sculpture called "The Sphere," which stood in the fountain of the trade center plaza, will form two temporary memorials.
comment posted at 12:12 PM on Mar-5-02

Nine US soldiers killed, forty wounded in this mountain debacle battle.
Surprise, surprise. Our enemies can still shoot up convoys and shoot down helicopters. (Many of them did the same thing to the Soviets.) Why are we sending our troops to the front in rented pickup trucks and 4-wheel drive vehicles? What ever happened to the Bradley? Don't they know that helicopters make great targets... especially when your enemy has Stingers? Why rush back into ground combat against a larger-than-expected enemy force anyways?
o/` "All we are saying... is give bombs a chance!"
comment posted at 2:01 PM on Mar-5-02

John Ashcroft inflicts his "gift" upon DoJ staff Determined not to stop at subjecting the public to his musical endeavors, our beloved Attorney General now sees fit to hand out the lyrics to his songs at staff meetings for sing-alongs. This, from the man whose job is to "represent the Government before the U.S. Supreme Court in cases of exceptional gravity or importance". Given the choice of attending one of his daily prayer meetings, having to sing along to his music, or having bamboo shoved under your fingernails, what would you choose?
comment posted at 3:27 PM on Mar-4-02
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comment posted at 8:38 PM on Mar-6-02

Not to complain about the ever-expanding war on terror, but... Afganistan just might become a little stickier than our leaders had hoped. A recent raid on regrouping troops went not too well, with a combined force of Afgan and U.S. troops beating a quick retreat. Is the U.S. miring itself in not one but several Vietnam's?
comment posted at 11:25 PM on Mar-3-02
comment posted at 10:54 PM on Mar-4-02

Time Magazine: OCTOBER BULLETIN SAID TERRORISTS THOUGHT TO HAVE 10 KILOTON NUCLEAR WEAPON TO BE SMUGGLED INTO NEW YORK CITY Six months after Sept. 11, America has taken the fight to al-Qaeda. But behind the scenes, The CIA and FBI have been in a desperate scramble to fix a broken system before another strike comes
comment posted at 11:46 PM on Mar-3-02

Is it the end of big label/commercial music as we know it? The generally dismal quality of America’s mass-marketed pop music is an esthetic national emergency. And last week’s Masque of the Red Death extravaganza at the Staples Center couldn’t disguise the dire portents. via Drudge
comment posted at 4:59 PM on Mar-3-02
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comment posted at 1:51 PM on Mar-4-02

BOUTIQUE MEDICAL PRACTICES The answer to very good health care in America. If you can afford it. Otherwise....
comment posted at 3:36 PM on Mar-3-02

More on the bad ads that seem to be going around the web. This time, I went to see what was on tv, and a Six Feet Under ad took over the entire screen. Talk about not being able to use the website.
comment posted at 1:47 PM on Mar-3-02

Digital Domesday Book lasts 15 years not 1000 On the 900th anniversary of the Domesday Book, thousands of people, of all ages were asked to take part in a project to create a digital version. The result was a couple of laserdiscs which could be read on a specially modified BBC Micro. It was quite a success and again there was record of what the world was like in the mid-Eighties. But in the intervening years, technology has moved on and now the discs have become inaccessible without that obsolete technology. So ironically, the original millenium old manuscripts have more usability. In the rush to digitise everything, isn't there a danger that we're going to repeat this mistake over and over again?
comment posted at 3:19 PM on Mar-3-02

Is there any suprise about todays attack in Jerusalem after yesterdays assault on the refugee camps which appear to have been particularly brutal. I'm suprised there has not been a post about this weekends suprisingly swift and depressing tit-for-tat.
comment posted at 5:02 PM on Mar-2-02

Geocities for Scientologists Take a look at the uniformity of the personal pages on this site. It's enough to make one wonder if these people even know they have webpages.
comment posted at 10:11 AM on Mar-2-02

Are these what the real rulers of the information age look like? Mindblowing guest list for Edge.org's recent Annual "Billionaires' Digerati Dinner". Rupert Murdoch and Naomi Judd, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Richard Dawkins, Jeff Bezos and Steven Pinker, and god knows how many journalistic hangers on from Wired, the Atlantic, Time Out, NYT/WSJ. All invited by tentacular pop-science book agent John Brockman. What deals must have ensued? What plans discussed? It makes Davos seem like a backyard clam-bake. (And here's another brainiac elite bash). Do you wish you had been invited?
comment posted at 9:12 AM on Mar-2-02
comment posted at 12:16 PM on Mar-2-02

Providence firefighters forced to march in gay parade. Is firefighters' participation in a gay rights parade "...an important demonstration of community solidarity" as claimed by one side, or should participation by public servants be limited to volunteers?
comment posted at 5:56 PM on Mar-1-02

The Most Invasive Advertisement Ever. (NYT) At least we don't have to close ten 'Orbitz' pop-up windows, but this advertisement is extremely obnoxious.
comment posted at 5:15 PM on Mar-1-02

Imagine losing almost $6 billion of your own personal fortune in a year and still being the richest damn human in the known universe, hands down, with no one even close. (If i must, here's a link to the new Forbes list.) What I want to know is, how come out of the approximately 500 billionaires on the list, only 35 are women, and of those, only ONE made it herself. All the other super rich dames on the globe either married bucks, or got 'em from daddy.
comment posted at 5:27 PM on Mar-1-02
comment posted at 9:17 AM on Mar-2-02

Another Dave Eggers hoax? Might be. I haven't found any confirmation anywhere else, but a hoax like this would be ghastly.
comment posted at 9:54 AM on Mar-2-02

Take the Wonderlic test. The Wonderlic is a 50-question IQ test administered by the National Football League to all prospective draft picks. Teams use the test results to varying degree, in part to determine the ability of athletes to learn systems and grow as a player. Interestingly, offensive tackles and centers have the highest average NFL Wonderlic scores. (The test here is a fast 15-question sample; you'll need a piece of paper to jot down your answers.)
comment posted at 1:38 PM on Mar-1-02
comment posted at 11:07 AM on Mar-2-02

After 6 years hiding in the hills, Illija Panincic discovers that the war in Bosnia is over. On BBC today he told how he fought his next door neighbour, a bear, for the rights to the pear tree. I wonder how long they will be hiding in the hills in Afghanistan.
comment posted at 11:39 AM on Mar-1-02

The worst Internet ad ever. Hopefully I won't be the only one to see it; it's not clear how long it will be there. They actually obliterate your ability to see the content for a few seconds. Makes me want to strangle Next Day Blinds. Anyone else have examples of horrible (or good) new Internet ads?
comment posted at 11:22 AM on Mar-1-02
comment posted at 1:52 PM on Mar-1-02

"I'd rather use the nuclear bomb," Nixon responded. "That, I think, would just be too much," Kissinger replied. "The nuclear bomb. Does that bother you?" Nixon asked. "I just want you to think big."
comment posted at 11:58 PM on Feb-28-02

"It's really like rape" say lawyers for a college student who sued Arco Media (makers of "Wild Party Girls Video") and won 5 million dollars. From what I was able to find, alcohol was not forced down her throat (she used intoxication as part of her defense) so I am having a difficult time seeing where the "rape" part comes in.
comment posted at 12:01 AM on Mar-1-02

Another decade, another network jump for Letterman? Dave is very seriously considering an offer from ABC for its 11:35 slot, for reasons not unlike the ones he gave for jumping to CBS from NBC in the first place: little network support. More distressingly, the article strongly implies that Nightline is doomed in its present form regardless of whether Dave decides to join ABC or stay at CBS.
comment posted at 11:26 PM on Feb-28-02
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comment posted at 12:06 AM on Mar-1-02

Apple's iPod used in stealing software. Not only is it an mp3 player or a portable 5 gig harddrive, but now it's being used to steal software!
comment posted at 9:01 PM on Feb-28-02