ai Quick & Dirty

Neal Stephenson Rewrites History:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/history.html The author of Snow Crash (high on my list of all-time-favorite books), The Diamond Age, Zodiac, and Cryptonomicon has a new book coming out. Hooray! Now I know what I'll be reading on the train once I finish the Harry Potter books....

Apple good, PC bad:

http://www.suntimes.com/output/answ-man/sho-sunday-ebert24.html You wouldn't wanna argue w/Roger Ebert, would you?

DEVONagent:

http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/devonagent.php Internet research may never be the same. Now if they would just add a Lexis/Westlaw plugin, they'd make a mint off of lawyers.

PocketDock

http://www.sendstation.com/ I needed this twice this week, but I didn't know it existed. In fact, it didn't. Now it does.

Dean Opts for More Diplomacy in Foreign Policy:

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=SACYGD0HS21MSCRBAELCFEY?type=politicsNews&storyID=3332353 Dean said at his rally in VA, "We need a foreign policy based on something other than petulance."

Former US diplomat says Rumsfeld led Bush to war:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1521&e=3&u=/afp/iraq_greece_us_diplomat Do I believe this diplomat who says Bush is "very weak"? Goodness yes! Does this let Bush off the hook for pushing us into a war that has made the world more violent and unsafe than ever? Gosh no!

Dems Start Group to Try to 'Recall' Bush:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=548&ncid=703&e=7&u=/ap/20030820/ap_on_el_ge/recall_bush Yeah, it's called Dean for America! But bushrecall.org is pretty good, and the name, "Fair and Balanced PAC" is even better. That alone is worth your signature on their petition!

Alabama Judge Defiant Hours Before Deadline:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=10&u=/nm/20030821/ts_nm/religion_alabama_dc Thanks to the SCOTUS for turning down this appeal. I wonder what the majority of Alabama citizen thinks of this...

Sobig Worm Aims to Turn PCs Into Spam Machines:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=569&ncid=578&e=8&u=/nm/20030821/tc_nm/tech_worm_spam_dc Yes yes, let's all use Windows! Monocultures are good! Diversity sucks! Yay!

Flash Mobs Reach DC:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/washpost/20030821/tc_washpost/a23200_2003aug20&e=2 Utopian view: Flash mobs celebrate the power of collective action and could potentially form the foundation for real social change. Cynical view: Idiots! There's way too much social injustice for you to be wasting your time on actions that you vehemently claim are "pointless." Besides, isn't "pointlessness" a point? And isn't that sad?

Company in blackout probe big GOP donor:

http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2003/08/19/blackout_probe/index.html Don't connect the dots, people. The picture you draw could be ugly.

Bush moves to consolidate blackout probe:

http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2003/08/19/blackout_probe/index.html Why wouldn't the public want multiple explanations for the blackout? Don't we want all the info we can get? Perhaps Bush just wants ultimate control over which way the explanation spins. Nah, couldn't be!

Verdict's In: Law School's Hot:

http://mowabb.com/ai/archives/2003_07_14.html#001201 Applications up 17% from 2001 to 2002. [link via JD2B]

Power Outage Traced to Dim Bulb in White House:

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=257&row=0 Greg Palast on why Bush has no legs to stand on when he talks about energy policy.

Ohio Line Failure Likely Caused Blackout:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030817/ap_on_re_us/blackout_investigation&cid=519&ncid=716 "Gent said the transmission system was designed to isolate such problems and suggested that human error might have been involved in not containing the situation." Yeah. I'm thinking the human error was when the energy industry fired so many workers, but what do I know?

Congressional Staffer Translates Constitution for Kids:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/07/15/constitution.for.kids.ap/ I want a copy!

Bush Action Figure:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3141998098 "This figure probably stands 14" in height, and is exactly as the future Leader of the Western World(tm) appeared during his service defending our Nation's borders from Mexicans and Bahamians."

Fair and Balanced Friday:

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2003_08_10_atrios_archive.html#106074474847178693 In light of Fox v. Franken, a whole list of blogs have become "fair and balanced." Friday's the day for you to join the fun! (Note: Franken's book is currently the number one best seller at Amazon.)

Web Worm Hits Windows, Crashes Computers:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=568&ncid=578&e=3&u=/nm/20030812/bs_nm/tech_windows_worm_dc No surprise here. My question: Why would any IT professional *demand* users buy Windows machines? It's just begging for chaos, which, to an IT pro, is probably also known as "job security." Nevermind.

Fox News Sues Humorist Al Franken Over Slogan:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A45293-2003Aug11?language=printer Again, you have got to be kidding me! "Fair and balanced" is a Fox News trademark? Are they going to sue me for writing it here?

Human Shield Refuses to Pay Hefty Fine:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/08/11/human.shield.fine.ap/index.html This is insane. The U.S. Gov't can fine people for entering other countries? Why?

Choose me! Forum Frenzy May Dull Dems' Images:

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wbur/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=532261 A forum for the Democratic presidential candidates every day this week? These people need to slow down a little...

Dean is the New McCain ... and the new McGovern, and Reagan, and...

http://slate.msn.com/id/2086718/ Dean's been compared to everyone from Clinton to Perot to Ronald Reagan. How about we just make him President and let Dean be Dean?

White House For Sale

http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2003/08/09/barbecue/index.html Do we want a president bought and paid for by his rich friends? No thanks.

Total Recall 2003:

http://totalrecall2003.com/ Get your "Vote for me if you want to live" t-shirt today! [link via i hate stupid people]

DaveNet: The 2004 Election

http://davenet.userland.com/2003/08/11/the2004Election The gazillion dollar question: Will the Internet really change politics as we know it?

Billionaire Commits $10M to Defeat Bush

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&ncid=696&e=3&u=/ap/20030808/ap_on_el_pr/soros_pac Thank you, Mr. Soros!

Bush Impeached? Wanna Bet/

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,59879,00.html

The American Action Market, the futures market for the rest of us?

Lieberman Denounces Tilt to Left:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/05/politics/campaigns/05LIEB.html?ex=1375416000&en=a43ef998b743e997&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND

Sure he does, because he's the Bush-lite candidate. [link via Scripting News]

Windows XP Half Life:

http://diveintomark.org/archives/2003/08/04/xp

Did you know every Windows installation has a half life? Yay.

The Emperor Has No Evidence:

http://www.thenation.com/capitalgames/index.mhtml?bid=3&pid=866 How does Bush get away with his "dog-ate-my-homework" presidency?

Tom Daschle's Weblog:

http://daschle.senate.gov/travels_with_tom.htm

[Link via L-Cubed]

AFL-CIO Presidential Forum on CSPAN

http://www.aflcio.com/issuespolitics/politics/ns08012003.cfm

See what at least 7 of the 9 Democratic candidates have to say about labor issues. 8 p.m. Eastern.

Peek Inside Panther:

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=126 The new version of OS X should be out by the end of the year and it's supposed to be fast!

iTunes Sales Continue to Fall:

http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=208 Apple's got to do two things: drop the price to more like 50 cents/song and get more music on there. Otherwise... bye bye music store!

Microsoft Warns About "Worm" Virus:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030803/ap_on_hi_te/microsoft_worm Again, GW's "Windows Only!" policy just looks super smart, doesn't it? [Link via Famous P.]