'Many in Jordan See Old Enemy in Attack: Israel'

article by MICHAEL SLACKMAN here.

While most Arabs have long viewed Israel as their enemy, the extent to which Israel weighs on the regional psyche and diverts attention away from social, political, religious and economic issues that cannot be ignored, many social and political analysts say. Blaming Israel is not just a knee jerk, they say; for many Arabs, it is their reality.

"People don't blame Israel out of a vacuum," said Rami Khoury, a Jordanian political commentator and writer based in Lebanon. "There is a very strong historical reason, because Israel has caused a lot of grief for Arab people one way or another."

But he added, "The consequence is that this became an easy way not to deal with our problems that are based in our own society."

The suspicion of some here over the hotel killings mirrors the unfounded rumor that thousands of Jews did not show up for work at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, because Israel was behind those attacks.

'Looking for the Burmese Junta? Sorry, It's Gone Into Hiding'

article by SETH MYDANS here.

BANGKOK, Nov. 13 - At precisely 6:37 a.m. last Sunday, according to one account - with a shout of "Let's go!" - a convoy of trucks began a huge, expensive and baffling transfer of the government of Myanmar from the capital to a secret mountain compound 200 miles to the north.

Diplomats and foreign analysts were left groping a week later for an explanation of the unannounced move. In a country as secretive and eccentric as Myanmar, it is a full-time job to try to tease the truth from the swirl of rumors and guesswork, relying on few facts and many theories. The leading theories now have to do with astrological predictions and fears of invasion by the United States. The relocation, which the government announced to reporters and foreign diplomats a day after it began, but not yet to the public through the state-controlled media, had been rumored for years.

'Libby Establishes a Fund to Help Pay Legal Bills'

article by RICHARD W. STEVENSON and ERIC LICHTBLAU here.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 - I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, is establishing a fund to help pay for his legal defense in the C.I.A. leak case, and associates of Mr. Libby have begun soliciting money from his friends and Republican donors, lawyers and people who have been contacted about the fund said on Tuesday.

...

But in establishing the fund, Mr. Libby is opening himself to questions. Legal and campaign finance specialists said he could face scrutiny about whether any financial assistance he might receive from allies of President Bush and Mr. Cheney was going to finance a defense strategy intended in part to minimize harm to the administration.

'Kansas School Board Approves Controversial Science Standards'

article by JODI WILGOREN here.

TOPEKA, Kan., Nov. 8 - A fiercely split State Board of Education voted 6-4 today to adopt new science standards that are the most far-reaching in the nation in requiring that Darwin's theory of evolution be challenged in the classroom.

The new Kansas standards press beyond the broad mandate for critical analysis of evolution that four other states have established in recent years, by citing specific points of contention that doubters of evolution use to undermine its primacy in science education. Among the most controversial changes was a redefinition of science itself so that it is not explicitly limited to natural explanations.

'Internet Services Crucial, Microsoft Memos Say'

article by JOHN MARKOFF here.

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 8 - Microsoft must fundamentally alter its business or face being at a significant competitive disadvantage to a growing array of companies offering Internet services, according to memorandums written by two of the company's top executives.

Last week, Microsoft, the largest software maker, announced that it would offer two new Internet services - Windows Live and Office Live - in response to companies including Apple, Google, Salesforce.com and Yahoo that have created new businesses based on direct Internet connections with users.

In separate memos distributed internally to senior executives on Oct. 30, Microsoft's chairman, Bill Gates, and a chief technology officer, Ray Ozzie, warned that the new "Internet services" era could be significantly disruptive for the company.

'Internet Service to Put Classic TV on Home Computer'

article by SAUL HANSELL here.

Warner Brothers is preparing a major new Internet service that will let fans watch full episodes from more than 100 old television series. The service, called In2TV, will be free, supported by advertising, and will start early next year. More than 4,800 episodes will be made available online in the first year.

The move will give Warner a way to reap new advertising revenue from a huge trove of old programming that is not widely syndicated.

Programs on In2TV will have one to two minutes of commercials for each half-hour episode, compared with eight minutes in a standard broadcast. The Internet commercials cannot be skipped.

...

The company will offer a changing selection of several hundred episodes each month, rather than providing continuous access to all the episodes in a series, Mr. Frankel said, so as not to cannibalize potential DVD sales of old TV shows.

'In Study, Hormone Reduced Appetite in Mice'

article by DENISE GRADY here.

Today, researchers at Stanford University are reporting that they have found a previously unknown member of this chemical cascade, a hormone with a much coveted power: it sharply reduces the desire to eat.

The new substance, which the scientists named obestatin (OHB-statin), is made in the stomach and small intestine, and it seems to prompt the brain to send out a signal that says "eat less."

'Heavy Hand of the Secret Police Impeding Reform in Arab World'

article by NEIL MacFARQUHAR here.

In Jordan and across the region, those seeking democratic reform say the central role of each country's secret police force, with its stealthy, octopuslike reach, is one of the biggest impediments. In the decades since World War II, as military leaders and monarchs smothered democratic life, the security agencies have become a law unto themselves.

a very funny video by the lonely island dudes

glirk video here.

'F.D.A.'s Rejection of Contraceptive Is Questioned'

article by MARIA NEWMAN here.

The Food and Drug Administration did not follow its usual procedures in rejecting an application for over-the-counter sales of the emergency contraceptive pill Plan B, the investigating arm of Congress found today.

The General Accounting Office also said in its 57-page report that there were questions about whether top officials of the F.D.A. made the decision to reject the application for over-the-counter sales of the drug, which is opposed by some religious conservatives, even before its own advisory committee had issued its recommendation on the matter.

...

The G.A.O. said in its report that "the Plan B decision was not typical of the other 67 proposed" changes from prescription to over-the-counter sales that the agency received from 1994 through 2004.

'Enlisting Cellphone Signals to Fight Road Gridlock'

article by MATT RICHTEL here.

Several state transportation agencies, including those in Maryland and Virginia, are starting to test technology that allows them to monitor traffic by tracking cellphone signals and mapping them against road grids.

The technology underlines how readily cellphones can become tracking devices for private companies, law enforcement and government agencies - a development that deeply troubles privacy advocates.

'Carriers Adopt Content Rating for Cellphones'

article by MATT RICHTEL here.

The nation's major cellular phone carriers said yesterday that they had adopted a content rating system for video, music, pictures and games that they sell to cellphone users - a development that could pave the way for them to begin selling pornography and sex-oriented content on mobile devices.

'Parents: Online newsgroup helped daughter commit suicide'

CNN article here.

(CNN) -- Suzanne Gonzales seemed to have everything going for her.

A bubbly 19-year-old with loving parents and good friends, she was also a strong student and earned a science scholarship for college.

But everything changed one spring day two years ago, when Suzanne's parents, Mike and Mary Gonzales, received the following e-mail.

"Dear Mom, Dad, and Jennifer, I will make this short as I know. It will be hard to deal with. If you haven't heard by now, I've passed away," the e-mail read.

' U.S. envoy shouts at Darfur official'

CNN article here.

SHEK EN NIL, Sudan (AP) -- A shouting match Thursday between a senior U.S. envoy and a Darfur government official illustrated the difficulties of peacemaking in the restive region of western Sudan.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick had listened to African Union military observers describe a recent outbreak of violence that had turned southern Darfur's Shek en Nil into a ghost village of burned out homes, and heard local leaders profess their commitment to peace.

Regional commissioner Sadiek Abdel Nabi followed as Zoellick stepped away for what was to have been a private additional AU briefing in the remnants of a village home. An angry Zoellick ordered Nabi out, saying: "I want to hear a straight story ... and I can't trust your government."

When Nabi refused, Zoellick said he would protest to President Omar el-Bashir.

"I am Bashir here!" Nabi, who had previously relied on an Arabic translator, shouted three times in English, standing inches (centimeters) from Zoellick.

' White House to 'hit back' at Democrats'

article by DANA BASH here.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Top White House officials say they're developing a "campaign-style" strategy in response to increasing Democratic allegations that the Bush administration twisted intelligence to make its case for war.

'CIA slipped bugs to Soviets: Memoir recounts Cold War technological sabotage'

article by DAVID E. HOFFMAN here.

In January 1982, President Ronald Reagan approved a CIA plan to sabotage the economy of the Soviet Union through covert transfers of technology that contained hidden malfunctions, including software that later triggered a huge explosion in a Siberian natural gas pipeline, according to a new memoir by a Reagan White House official.

...

"The result was the most monumental non-nuclear explosion and fire ever seen from space," he recalls, adding that U.S. satellites picked up the explosion. Reed said in an interview that the blast occurred in the summer of 1982.

'Science to ride gravitational waves'

article by JONATHAN AMOS here.

' Caution over HIV 'cure' claims'

BBC article here.

Doctors say they want to investigate the case of a British man with HIV who apparently became clear of the virus.

Andrew Stimpson, 25, was diagnosed HIV-positive in 2002 but was found to be negative in October 2003 by Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust.

Mr Stimpson, from London, said he was "one of the luckiest people alive".

The trust said the tests were accurate but had been unable to confirm Scotsman Mr Stimpson's cure because he had declined to undergo further tests.

'Back at Work After Battle, Prepping the Next in Line'

article by ELISABETH BUMILLER here.

As the handful of people in Ms. Miers's West Wing office that Sunday night tell it, the president's beleaguered counsel brought a sardonic sense of humor to the proceedings. When Ed Gillespie, an adviser at the meeting, told Judge Alito that if he was going to wear his glasses for the announcement then he should also wear them to his confirmation hearings, Ms. Miers offered some advice of her own.

"But don't wear eyeliner," she told Judge Alito, according to participants, who say the meeting immediately broke into laughter.

'Are U.S. Innovators Losing Their Competitive Edge?'

article by TIMOTHY L. O’BRIEN here.

Mr. West stands firmly in this tradition - a tradition that he said may soon be upended. He fears that corporate and public nurturing of inventors and scientific research is faltering and that America will pay a serious economic and intellectual penalty for this lapse.

A larger pool of Mr. West's colleagues echoes his concerns. "The scientific and technical building blocks of our economic leadership are eroding at a time when many other nations are gathering strength," the National Academy of Sciences observed in a report released last month. "Although many people assume that the United States will always be a world leader in science and technology, this may not continue to be the case inasmuch as great minds and ideas exist throughout the world. We fear the abruptness with which a lead in science and technology can be lost - and the difficulty of recovering a lead once lost, if indeed it can be regained at all."

' A Booster Shot for Medical Data-Sharing'

article by TIMOTHY MULLANEY here.

Four tech titans have won federal contracts to create interoperable regional networks -- a major step on the road to a national system by 2014

kofi annan in baghdad, 11.11.05

'They're Soft, Cuddly and Lashed to the Front of a Truck. But Why?'

article by ANDY NEWMAN here.

All are soldiers in the tattered, scattered army of the stuffed: mostly discarded toys plucked from the trash and given new if punishing lives on the prows of large motor vehicles, their fluffy white guts flapping from burst seams and going gray in the soot-stream of a thousand exhaust pipes.

Grille-mounted stuffed animals form a compelling yet little-studied aspect of the urban streetscape, a traveling gallery of baldly transgressive public art.

'Clinton's Rival, Seeking Cash, Sounds a Note of New Urgency'

article by RAYMOND HERNANDEZ here.

Jeanine F. Pirro, who is seeking to unseat Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, has opened a harsh attack on Bill Clinton, saying that the senator has learned "a thing or two from her husband on the art of political manipulation."

...

The Clinton camp responded by pointing to Ms. Pirro's previous statements in which she indicated that the background of her husband, Albert J. Pirro Jr., should not be an issue in the campaign. Mr. Pirro, who has been plagued by scandal, has largely kept out of view since his wife announced her candidacy.

"It's unfortunate that Ms. Pirro would choose to contradict herself and attack Senator Clinton's husband," said Howard Wolfson, one of Mrs. Clinton's chief advisers. "She may not appreciate the eight years of peace and prosperity he brought America, but many New Yorkers do."

bear doll, 11.9.05

dia del muerto storefront, 11.9.05

cheaper than water, 11.8.05

go slow, 11.5.05

lou reed, 11.5.05

dragon, 11.5.05

victor 17

le samouri, by jean-pierre melville

woman praying, by hong zhengyong

valley in wanglibi village

mount kawagebo, by ananzhu

upside-down mushroom room, by carstein holler

'Peyote Won't Rot Your Brain'

article by RANDY DOTINGA here.

In the first study of its kind, researchers have found that peyote -- for now, the only legal hallucinogenic drug in the United States -- doesn't rob regular users of brain power over time.

While the findings don't directly indicate anything about the safety of psychedelic drugs like LSD and mushrooms, they do suggest that at least one hallucinogen is OK to use for months or even years.

'U.S. Should Repay Millions to Iraq, a U.N. Audit Finds'

article by JAMES GLANZ here.

An auditing board sponsored by the United Nations recommended yesterday that the United States repay as much as $208 million to the Iraqi government for contracting work in 2003 and 2004 assigned to Kellogg, Brown & Root, the Halliburton subsidiary.

The work was paid for with Iraqi oil proceeds, but the board said it was either carried out at inflated prices or done poorly. The board did not, however, give examples of poor work.

Some of the work involved postwar fuel imports carried out by K.B.R. that previous audits had criticized as grossly overpriced. But this is the first time that an international auditing group has suggested that the United States repay some of that money to Iraq. The group, known as the International Advisory and Monitoring Board of the Development Fund for Iraq, compiled reports from an array of Pentagon, United States government and private auditors to carry out its analysis.

'Star Wars: Episodes I-VI: The greatest postmodern art film ever'

article by AIDAN WASLEY here.

With the release of Episode III Revenge of the Sith on DVD today, George Lucas' audience can finally see all six Star Wars films back-to-back, as a single text. This is how Lucas himself regards the series, often joking that, including his 1973 hit American Graffiti, he has made only three movies in his career. One of the surprises in store after a marathon viewing is how much of the young Lucas, the self-conscious avant-gardist of THX1138, is actually visible onscreen, peeking out from behind the endless sequences of digitally enhanced space battles and ritualized light-saber duels. Looking at these familiar films with fresh eyes, unfiltered by the lens of nostalgia and sentiment—and it was, admittedly, a resonant moment this summer to watch the final episode with my father, who had taken me to see the original film in 1977 when I was 8—we start to see just how deeply weird they really are. Three decades on, the kids who grew up playing with Luke Skywalker action figures and carrying Princess Leia lunchboxes may be startled to discover that Star Wars is really just one big elephantine postmodern art film.

'Speaking in the Third Person, Removed From Reality'

article by KEITH ABLOW, M.D. here.

Almost from the moment he walked into my office, something bothered me about my 18-year-old patient, Mark, sent to see me by his parents after they found marijuana and steroids in his bedroom.

He was tall and muscular, with tousled, dirty-blonde hair, outfitted in a faded T-shirt emblazoned with the words "Sunset Strip," distressed jeans made to look threadbare at midthigh and along the edges of the pockets and a 70's retro leather choker with a few clay beads on it.

...

I have treated several other teenagers this year who display a similar kind of profound detachment from self.

It is a kind of identity disorder I believe has its roots in a society that has drifted free from reality and is creating adolescents (and, I would venture, people of many ages) who are at most participant-observers in their own lives, with little genuine emotion - like actors playing themselves.

ALL POSSIBLE FUTURES: 'U.S. Military Wants to Own the Weather '

article by LEONARD DAVID here.

The report on weather-altering ideas underscored the capacity to harness such power in the not too distant future.

"Assuming that in 2025 our national security strategy includes weather-modification, its use in our national military strategy will naturally follow. Besides the significant benefits an operational capability would provide, another motivation to pursue weather-modification is to deter and counter potential adversaries," the report stated. "The technology is there, waiting for us to pull it all together," the authors noted.

In 2025, the report summarized, U.S. aerospace forces can "own the weather" by capitalizing on emerging technologies and focusing development of those technologies to war-fighting applications.

"Such a capability offers the war fighter tools to shape the battlespace in ways never before possible. It provides opportunities to impact operations across the full spectrum of conflict and is pertinent to all possible futures," the report concluded.

BARRY MUNITZ IS A SHITTY HUMAN: 'Rift Grows, Challenging Leadership at the Getty'

article by RANDY KENNEDY here.

He wanted it to be the perfect evening - the kind of courting of collectors the museum should do more often, he told the staff.

Barry Munitz, president of the J. Paul Getty Trust, had invited his good friends Sherry Lansing, then the chairwoman of Paramount Pictures, and her husband, the director William Friedkin, to dinner last year in a house used for parties at the hilltop Getty complex in Los Angeles.

Because the couple collect Dutch art, Mr. Munitz wanted to impress them by having two 17th-century drawings by the Dutch artist Herman van Swanevelt from the Getty Museum taken to be displayed at the house.

Museum officials, who said they felt that the event was more about socializing than about wooing important collectors, protested. They argued that moving the drawings posed too many risks, and that the climate control in the house was inadequate for fragile works on paper.

The drawings were moved anyway.

For Mr. Munitz's critics, such anecdotes are a kind of shorthand for explaining a range of troubles that have engulfed the Getty Museum over the last few years.

'Researchers Look to Create a Synthesis of Art and Science for the 21st Century'

article JOHN MARKOFF here.

 

However, Mr. Dominguez and an eclectic group of computer musicians, computer game designers and nanotechnology artists are very much a part of the futuristic research "collaboratory" being assembled by the astrophysicist Larry Smarr, director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, or Calit2, a $400 million research consortium assembled over the last five years.

'Report Warned Bush Team About Intelligence Doubts'

article by DOUGLAS JEHL here.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 — A top member of Al Qaeda in American custody was identified as a likely fabricator months before the Bush administration began to use his statements as the foundation for its claims that Iraq trained Al Qaeda members to use biological and chemical weapons, according to newly declassified portions of a Defense Intelligence Agency document.

The document, an intelligence report from February 2002, said it was probable that the prisoner, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, “was intentionally misleading the debriefers’’ in making claims about Iraqi support for Al Qaeda’s work with illicit weapons.

The document provides the earliest and strongest indication of doubts voiced by American intelligence agencies about Mr. Libi’s credibility. Without mentioning him by name, President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Colin L. Powell, then secretary of state, and other administration officials repeatedly cited Mr. Libi’s information as “credible’’ evidence that Iraq was training Al Qaeda members in the use of explosives and illicit weapons.

'Malfeasance Might Have Hurt Levees, Engineers Say'

article by JOHN SCHWARTZ here.

 

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 - The head of a team of engineering experts told a Senate committee on Wednesday that malfeasance during construction might have been one reason for the catastrophic failure of the levees that were supposed to protect New Orleans from hurricanes.

"These levees should have been expected to perform adequately at these levels if they had been designed and constructed properly," said the expert, Raymond Seed, a professor of civil engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.

"Not just human error was involved," Professor Seed said. "There may have been malfeasance."

 

'Love the Riches, Lose the Rags'

article by JODI KANTOR here.

ONCE upon a time, Cinderella was one of the humblest souls in the world of children's entertainment. Named for the soot she constantly swept from her wicked stepfamily's hearth, she befriended rodents and warbled patiently until she was rescued by her fairy godmother and her prince.

...

But the Cinderella featured in the new crush of products is quite different from the docile, selfless young lady of earlier versions. In the Brothers Grimm and Disney movie stories, the character is distinguished by her modesty and lack of concern with material possessions. These days, she rarely wears anything but a sumptuous ball gown, prefers the company of fellow royals, shops at a glass slipper boutique, and encourages her young charges to primp for hours at her top-selling Magical Talking Vanity ($69.99).

'Fuel's paradise? Power source that turns physics on its head'

article by ALOK JHA here.

It seems too good to be true: a new source of near-limitless power that costs virtually nothing, uses tiny amounts of water as its fuel and produces next to no waste. If that does not sound radical enough, how about this: the principle behind the source turns modern physics on its head.

Randell Mills, a Harvard University medic who also studied electrical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, claims to have built a prototype power source that generates up to 1,000 times more heat than conventional fuel. Independent scientists claim to have verified the experiments and Dr Mills says that his company, Blacklight Power, has tens of millions of dollars in investment lined up to bring the idea to market. And he claims to be just months away from unveiling his creation.

german subway art piece

website here.

video here.

'geraldo at large'

article by DANA STEVENS here.

In another recent interview (Geraldo may have his limits as an interviewer, but he's a fantastic interview subject), Rivera had this to say about the critical bias against him: "Bill Moyers could urinate on a tree and the writers would say, 'Oh, how elegant.' ... I could get an interview with Jesus, and they'd say, 'He was too hard on him, too soft on him, look at the way he was chummy with him.' " Maybe so, but if PBS had Bill Moyers peeing on a tree up against Fox's Geraldo/Christ exclusive, I know where I'd tune in.

review of 'First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong'

by DOUGLAS BRINKLEY here.

'A Mind-Bending Head Trip (All Legal)'

article by MICHAEL KIMMELMAN here.

LOS ANGELES — "Ecstasy" is the trippy, messy, highly entertaining survey put together by Paul Schimmel of the Museum of Contemporary Art here. It sprawls through the Geffen Contemporary, the museum's cavernous warehouse in Little Tokyo, which too often begs for attention but is now jammed with blissed-out mobs.

The show's title derives from the eponymous recreational empathogen and popular underground mood-lightener officially called MDMA and sometimes prescribed by therapists for post-traumatic stress disorder, Mr. Schimmel informs us in the show's catalog. The cheeky pharmaceutical peg is a bit of Hollywood salesmanship of the sort he employed 13 years ago when he named a survey about dark, angst-ridden Los Angeles culture "Helter Skelter," after the Manson murders.

'Copernicus' Grave Found in Polish Church'

AP article here.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- Polish archeologists believe they have located the grave of 16th-century astronomer and solar-system proponent Nicolaus Copernicus in a Polish church, one of the scientists announced Thursday.

'CNN's Aaron Brown Leaving the Network'

AP article here.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Aaron Brown, once one of CNN's most prominent anchors, is leaving the network after a shakeup that gives his prime-time slot to rising star Anderson Cooper and expands it to two hours.

' 'Can I quit now?' FEMA chief wrote as Katrina raged'

CNN article here.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Louisiana congressman says e-mails written by the government's emergency response chief as Hurricane Katrina raged show a lack of concern for the unfolding tragedy and a failure in leadership.

...

Two days after Katrina hit, Marty Bahamonde, one of the only FEMA employees in New Orleans, wrote to Brown that "the situation is past critical" and listed problems including many people near death and food and water running out at the Superdome.

Brown's entire response was: "Thanks for the update. Anything specific I need to do or tweak?"

...

"Can I quit now? Can I come home?" Brown wrote to Cindy Taylor, FEMA's deputy director of public affairs, the morning of the hurricane.

A few days later, Brown wrote to an acquaintance, "I'm trapped now, please rescue me."

"In the midst of the overwhelming damage caused by the hurricane and enormous problems faced by FEMA, Mr. Brown found time to exchange e-mails about superfluous topics," including "problems finding a dog-sitter," Melancon said.

Melancon said that on August 26, just days before Katrina made landfall, Brown e-mailed his press secretary, Sharon Worthy, about his attire, asking: "Tie or not for tonight? Button-down blue shirt?"

A few days later, Worthy advised Brown: "Please roll up the sleeves of your shirt, all shirts. Even the president rolled his sleeves to just below the elbow. In this [crisis] and on TV you just need to look more hard-working."

On August 29, the day of the storm, Brown exchanged e-mails about his attire with Taylor, Melancon said. She told him, "You look fabulous," and Brown replied, "I got it at Nordstroms. ... Are you proud of me?"

An hour later, Brown added: "If you'll look at my lovely FEMA attire, you'll really vomit. I am a fashion god," according to the congressman.

' Report: CIA holds terror suspects in secret prisons'

CNN article here.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement, the Washington Post reported.

The secret facility is part of a covert prison system set up by the CIA nearly four years ago that at various times has included sites in eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several democracies in Eastern Europe, as well as a small center at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, according to current and former intelligence officials and diplomats from three continents, the paper said Tuesday.

'Carter: Americans were misled on war'

CNN article here.

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Former President Jimmy Carter said Friday that there isn't "any doubt" the American people were misled about the war in Iraq and that President George Bush's policy on the war is a "radical departure from the policies of any president."

In an interview with CNN, Carter addressed some of the comments made in his new book, "Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis." In the book he says the Bush administration was determined to attack Iraq using "false and distorted claims after 9/11."

Carter said the Bush administration spoke of mushroom clouds, weapons of mass destruction and the threat of thousands of Americans dying to garner support for the war. No weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq.

'New Telescope Opens Its Eyes'

article by TRACY STAEDTER here.

After 20 years of planning, developing and constructing, astronomers at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy have finally released the first image captured by the new Large Binocular Telescope, an instrument with a light-gathering power 24 times greater than the Hubble Space Telescope. The so-called LBT, an American-German-Italian joint venture stationed on the 3,190-meter-high Mt. Graham in Arizona, will be able to image planets circling distant stars and is poised to help answer fundamental questions about the universe, including how galaxies, stars and planets evolved from the big bang.

'Scientists Design Tiny Brake to Quicken Communications'

article by KENNETH CHANG here.

To speed up communications, I.B.M. proposes slowing down light.

Writing in today's issue of the journal Nature, I.B.M. scientists at the T. J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., describe a tiny silicon device that can pull the reins on pulses of light, slowing them from their usual clip of 186,000 miles a second to a more leisurely 600 miles a second.

The slowing, by itself, is an unremarkable achievement. In 1999, researchers at Harvard reported that they were able to slow light much more drastically, to 38 miles per hour, and two years later, they and other scientists were able to bring a light pulse to a halt before releasing it back on its way.

harriet miers snl skit

video here.

design like barbara kreuger

website here.

'Astronomers Edging Closer to Gaining Black Hole Image'

article by DENNIS OVERBYE here.

Astronomers are reporting today that they have moved a notch closer to seeing the unseeable.

Using a worldwide array of radio telescopes to obtain the most detailed look yet at the center of the Milky Way, they said they had determined that the diameter of a mysterious fountain of energy there was less than half that of Earth's orbit about the Sun.

'Angry Kerry Supporters Seek Ohio Reform'

AP article here.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Still angry a year later, John Kerry supporters across the country are donating money to an effort to overhaul elections in the state they blame for costing them the White House.

article by GLENN COLLINS here.

It may seem that the American Museum of Natural History is cruising for controversy in presenting "Darwin," the most comprehensive exhibition any museum has offered on the naturalist's life and theories. It is a time, after all, when the theory of evolution by natural selection seems as newsworthy as it was back in the days of the Scopes trial 80 years ago.

According to a CBS News poll last month, 51 percent of Americans reject the theory of evolution, saying that God created humans in their present form. And reflecting a longstanding sentiment, 38 percent of Americans believe that creationism should be taught instead of evolution, according to an August poll by the Pew Research Center in Washington.

AC/DShe website

website here.

AC/DShe are an all-girl AC/DC tribute band doing Bon-era songs. These gals have been committed to staying true to the heart pounding rhythms and high energy presentation of early AC/DC. The FIRST of the female tribute band phenomenon, they have been performing since the summer of 1999, although the creation of the band goes back several years to 1997. Like AC/DC, AC/DShe knows it's a long way to the top if you wanna rock-n-roll, but they've been doing a kick ass job of delivering some high voltage rock to maximum capacity crowds nationwide (soon to be worldwide!). So, put on your best AC/DC tour shirt, grab a beer, and hop on the highway to hell with AC/DShe.

'A Syrian Tale: Passion, Power, Assassination'

article by MICHAEL SLACKMAN and KATHERINE ZOEPF here.

 

DAMASCUS, Syria, Nov. 2 - It was a love story that captured the imagination of many Syrians: a man and a woman defied her father, eloped and lived happily ever after. But for many people it was not the romance that made the story compelling, it was how the tale spoke to power.

 

The woman was Bushra al-Assad, the daughter of President Hafez al-Assad, and the man, Asef Shawkat, was to become Syria's head of military intelligence.

'A Journey to the Center of Yahoo'

article by JAMES FALLOWS here.

 

I have never known how to think about Yahoo. I often turn to it for movie listings and driving maps. I have joined numerous Yahoo-based discussion groups, in which I read and occasionally write messages about various recreational interests. Of the more than 400 million Yahoo e-mail accounts worldwide, one belongs to me.

 

But while I know that eBay is at heart an auction site and Amazon.com a retailer, I have not been sure what Yahoo "is" - apart, of course, from a company with a $53 billion market value and weekly revenue of more than $90 million, whose sites make up the largest single presence on the Internet and, according to company officials, account for 13 percent of all page views.

a pretty amazing segment by steve colbert

‘formidable opponent’, here.

z.d. winnick's scooter libby prediction, 11.2.05

libby will stave off his trial as long as possible; when legal options are exhausted, he will strike a plea deal and go to jail; he will be pardoned by bush in 2008; he will be rewarded with lucrative private-sector employment on his release.

robert mcnamara, 1964