'FBI: Man punched out plane window: "'Perhaps it was some sort of psychotic episode"'

article here.

 

TAMPA, Florida (AP) -- A passenger woke up from a nap, raised his fist and punched out the interior pane of an airplane window on a flight from Las Vegas to Florida, authorities said.

...

The outer window was not damaged and the plane did not depressurize, the airline said.

...
Marchione "woke abruptly from his sleep and turned to the passenger seated in 7B" about 90 minutes into the flight, an FBI affidavit said. He then "raised a clenched fist to his shoulder as if he was going to strike the passenger in 7B, then suddenly turned and struck the exterior window," the affidavit said.

"It appears to have come out of nowhere," said Marchione's attorney, Thomas Ostrander. "Perhaps it was some sort of a psychotic episode as a result of drug abuse."

 

a.o.scott's review of 'elizabethtown'

review here.

 

text on computer chips

A chip used in Digital Equipment's MicroVax 3000 and 6200 minicomputers carries a message in Russia's Cyrillic alphabet: "VAX--when you care enough to steal the very best." The message was intended for technicians on the other side of the Cold War who might try to reverse-engineer the VAX designs by looking closely at the originals.


 

dartmouth nanomachine

 

the man with the golden arm (1955)

 

'Angela Merkel: Politician Who Can Show a Flash of Steel'

article by MARK LANDLER here.

 

Mrs. Merkel's journey from Protestant minister's daughter in East Germany to the pinnacle of German politics - as the boss of a male-dominated, Catholic-leaning conservative party - is so improbable that it has left political analysts here grasping for what she might do as chancellor.

...

Despite her political odyssey, much remains of the regimented young woman who kept her date at the sauna that day. Dogged, earnest, almost willfully bland, Mrs. Merkel is an unlikely historic figure.

...

Mrs. Merkel, who has no children, is married to a chemistry professor, Joachim Sauer. He steers clear of her political career. She is said to like cooking for friends, and has a soft spot for the actor Dustin Hoffman.

...

Mrs. Merkel was settling in to a career at the Academy of Sciences in East Berlin in 1989, when the wall fell. A month later, she joined a coalition of pro-democracy parties. "It was clear they were going to need people," she said in a typically circumspect interview in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

...

Mrs. Merkel became the spokeswoman for Lothar de Maizière , a lawyer chosen to wind down the affairs of the East German state. In the first post-reunification election, she won a seat in Parliament, and later a cabinet post in the government of Helmut Kohl.

He famously referred to Mrs. Merkel as "the girl," but rewarded her with a series of powerful posts. She proved herself to be a skillful political player, unafraid to eviscerate rivals. In 1999, after Mr. Kohl had been implicated in a financial scandal, Mrs. Merkel cut loose her old mentor.

"The party must learn to walk," she said at the time. "It must trust itself to fight its political opponents without its old battle horses."

It was a brazen act of rebellion. But within months, Mrs. Merkel was elected party leader. "The episode symbolized that she is capable of making unexpected decisions in difficult situations," Mr. Langguth said.

dwarf and her baby, mutter museum

preserved heart, mutter museum

conjoined twin skeleton, mutter museum

postsecret 2

postsecret 1

'Google ETA? 300 years to index the world's info'

article by ELINOR MILLS here.

 

It could take 300 years to index all the world's information and make it searchable, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt predicted on Saturday at the Association of National Advertisers annual conference in Phoenix.

 

"We did a math exercise and the answer was 300 years," Schmidt said in response to an audience question asking for a projection of how long the company's mission will take. "The answer is it's going to be a very long time."

'Book thrown at proponents of Intelligent Design'

article be CELESTE BIEVER here.

"Devastating" early drafts of a controversial book recommended as reading at a US high school reveal how the word “creationism” had been later swapped for “intelligent design”, a landmark US trial scrutinising the teaching of ID heard on Wednesday.

The early drafts of the book Of Pandas and People, were used as evidence to link the book to creationism, which it is illegal to teach in government-funded US schools.

“ID proponents have said for years that they are not creationists,” says Nick Matzke of the National Center for Science Education in Oakland, California, which is advising 11 parents who are suing the school board of Dover High School in Pennsylvania for incorporating ID into the science curriculum. “This proves beyond a doubt that this is simply a new name for creationism.”

 

'Belgium Wrestles With Counterterrorism Efforts'

article by ELAINE SCIOLINO and HELENE FOUQUET here.

 

On a damp, gray day in March 2004, the Dutch traffic police stopped a Belgian driver for a broken headlight and accidentally stumbled onto a major investigation of Islamic radicals.

'Culture of Litmus: Don't you dare judge Harriet Miers on abortion'

article by WILLIAM SALETAN here.

 

Let's drop the piety. Miers has already been screened for her abortion beliefs and politics by the White House and its allies. A few examples:

'Bush Plan Shows U.S. Is Not Ready for Deadly Flu'

article by GARDINER HARRIS here.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 - A plan developed by the Bush administration to deal with any possible outbreak of pandemic flu shows that the United States is woefully unprepared for what could become the worst disaster in the nation's history.

A draft of the final plan, which has been years in the making and is expected to be released later this month, says a large outbreak that began in Asia would be likely, because of modern travel patterns, to reach the United States within "a few months or even weeks."

If such an outbreak occurred, hospitals would become overwhelmed, riots would engulf vaccination clinics, and even power and food would be in short supply, according to the plan, which was obtained by The New York Times.

volna booster, barents sea

raymond pettibon, untitled (the texture of prose...), 1987

raymond pettibon, untitled (pop. the murder weapon), 2003

raymond pettibon, untitled (no sign of it), 1987

raymond pettibon, untitled (life ceases to be...), 2003

raymond pettibon, untitled (insider everyone there), 2003

raymond pettibon, untitled (in passing however), 1999

raymond pettibon, untitled (he promised to), 1993

raymond pettibon, untitled (a very columbus...), 2001

raymond pettibon, black flag album cover

big in japan

wikipedia entry for ‘Bakuretsu Tenshi’ here.

SYNPOSIS.  Bakuretsu Tenshi [Loosely translated as "Exploding/Explosive Angel"~], also known as "Bakuten", "Burst Angel", and "Crazy Burst Angel" is an anime series, produced by Gonzo, with character designs by Ugetsu Hakua.

In the Tokyo of the future, there's major crime issues around every corner. Kyohei Tachibana is a student at a culinary arts school, with dreams of someday becoming a pastry chef. The next step in achieving this goal, is to travel to France for some studying, but there's just one problem: He can't afford it! So, instead of giving up on his goal, he does the next best thing - He gets a part-time job as a cook to a group of four girls. But, these aren't your ordinary girls.

Meg, Jo, Amy, and Sei are mercenaries, who happen to wear the skankiest choice of clothing. Meg is a red-headed mechanic, Jo is a sharp-shooting prodigy [As well as the pilot for their mecha, Jango~], Amy is a computer whiz, and Sei is their boss, who works for Bai Lan. Their ages range from 12-19, but don't let their ages fool you. They can still kick some serious arse. What has poor Kyohei gotten himself into? Will he ever escape alive? And if so, will he fulfill his pastry-filled dreams? Tune in to find out, folks.

 

'No Qaeda Link Seen in Bali Suicide Bombings'

article by RAYMOND BONNER here.

 

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Oct. 6 - Indonesia's counterterrorism forces say the suspected suicide bombers who carried out the attack in Bali last Saturday appear to have been a small group with no prior criminal record or link to a large organization like Al Qaeda, giving the case echoes of the London subway bombings in July.

...

"Outside of the Middle East and North Africa, this is the first time we have seen suicide bombers walk into a restaurant and blow themselves up à la Israel," said a senior Western official who has closely monitored terrorist groups and activities for the last four years.

"It is only a matter of time before what you saw in Bali on Saturday night happens in a Western country," he said. The official spoke on condition that his name and country not be used, a condition imposed by most individuals of his position with access to intelligence information.

The threads between the London, Madrid and Bali attacks are not organizational, he said: "They are threads of the mind."

The terrorists have a common world view, a shared ideology. There is no evidence of outside direction, he said, and that makes fighting them challenging in a different way. He argued further that small attacks could add up to a devastation equal in some ways to large, catastrophic ones by eating away at people's security and at the economy.

'At Israeli Barrier, More Sound Than Fury'

article by STEVEN ERLANGER here.

 

BILIN, West Bank, Oct. 7 - The Israeli Army and a crowd of protesters squared off almost joyfully on Friday for their weekly tactical battle here over the construction of Israel's separation barrier, one of the closest spectacles the region provides to Kabuki theater.

alison lapper pregnant, by marc quinn, trafalgar square

'Experts Give Scientists Roadmap on Nanotechnology Research'

article by BARNABY FEDER here.

 

Little is known so far about whether materials being invented by nanotechnology researchers can be hazardous to humans ­ and if so, under what conditions.

But at least toxicologists studying such questions now have a broad roadmap from a government-sponsored panel of experts on how to proceed.

Formally titled “Principles for characterizing the potential human health effects from exposure to nanomaterials: elements of a screening strategy”, the 85 page report, along with supporting documents, was published yesterday on the website of Particle and Fibre Toxicology, an online scientific journal.

the state of fuel cells, from wired.com

Fuel Cells Inch Closer
Now Playing: Pink Floyd
Topic: Fuel Cells
You have to respect GM's commitment to fuel cell vehicles despite the company's sliding sales and the technical obstacles. GM says they are still on track to produce competitive fuel cell vehicles by 2010, which although I recently heard the same from fuel cell maker Ballard, would be very surprising if it happens.

IF (and that's a big one) fuel cell vehicles become reality here within the next decade, we will largely have the state of California to thank. The state is funding the California Fuel Cell Partnership, California Hydrogen Highway network, and National Fuel Cell Research Center, which are leading the country's research efforts.

Sadly, these three organizations had little to report at their joint "state of the fuel cell" press conference at the California International Auto Show this week. There was zippo about fuel cell cost and performance milestones, although they did mention that there are now 31 fuel hydrogen fueling stations in the state, and 100 fuel cell cars are being tested on the roads.

'Bye-Bye, Mr. American Pie: Paul Weitz Tries Sharp Satire'

article by SHARON WAXMAN here.

 

LATE last year, the writer and director Paul Weitz set out to create a political satire about President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq.

...

The movie stars Dennis Quaid as the clueless, if good-hearted head of state named Staton. Marcia Gay Harden plays his Laura-like wife who calls him "Poopie." Willem Dafoe, a senior presidential adviser of the Karl Rove kind, gives the president "happy pills," and fits him with an earpiece. Hugh Grant stars as the gratuitously nasty host of a popular television singing contest called "American Dreamz." And a novice actor, Sam Golzari, plays Omer, a suicide bomber with a penchant for American show tunes.

readers, i implore you to watch this video

if you only click one hyperlink this week, make it this one.  it’s a re-cut trailer for ‘The Shining’.

telling it like it is

‘Author Says Harry Potter is Gay’.  Reuters article here.

 

Reverend Graham Taylor, who penned the novel "Shadowmancer" which, like the tales of the famous boy wizard created by J.K. Rowling, centers on witchcraft and battling evil, got his marching orders after teachers accused him of homophobia.

 

"As for Harry Potter, well, he's not the only gay in the village," the former Anglican priest told children at Penair School in Truro, southwest England, referring to a catchphrase from the popular British comedy TV show "Little Britain."

 

He also described the villains in Rowling's blockbuster series as "wimps" and called TV "crap" compared to books.

'Farewell, Michael Eisner: I'll cherish those witty notes you used to send me'

article by KIM MASTERS here.

 

I first met Eisner in 1986. In those days, he had a wonderful, avuncular P.R. man—the late Erwin Okun—who made sure Eisner knew enough about a journalist to flatter him or her into a state of near senselessness. Before that first meeting, Okun learned that I liked Jane Austen. Almost as soon as I sat down in the chair, Eisner told me he was re-reading Pride and Prejudice in my honor. "Quick," I wanted to say. "What's Darcy's first name?" (Answer: Fitzwilliam.)

Soon after the interview, an envelope arrived at my office (then at the Daily News in the San Fernando Valley). Inside was a pamphlet, "The Jane Austen Map of England," and a red-ink note written in Eisner's boyish scrawl.

Dear 'Janeite' Kim,

I thought you would enjoy the Jane Austen Map of England as I start my abandonment of Romanticism (goodbye Hawthorne, Melville, Dumas and even good old Emily Bronte) toward realism and order and discipline. And I've already read 100 pages of Pride and Prejudice.

Neoclassically yours,
Michael

Yes, I was cynical of this gesture. What harried assistant had really tracked down the Jane Austen Map of England? Did he or she also supply an executive summary of the major themes of English literature? Yet, the fact that I kept the note shows how effective it was. And looking back, I realize that it underscores a point in which Eisner took considerable pride. "I was an English major!" the note screams. "Unlike those schmucks David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and even Barry Diller—one of the few people who actually intimidates me on God's earth—I have a college diploma!"

'Theft Case Rattles Sedate World of Rare Maps'

article by ALISON LEIGH COWAN here.

 

With his neat blazer and scholarly air, it was not hard for E. Forbes Smiley III to blend in at the Yale rare-books library and make himself at home among its atlases and maps.

 

But this visit to the Beinecke Library at Yale on June 8 by Mr. Smiley, a 49-year-old dealer in antiquities who plied his trade on both sides of the Atlantic, took a turn that has jolted the closed and covetous world of map dealers and collectors, as well as the serene if starchy institutions that hold treasured maps.

 

According to the local police, a library worker's discovery of an X-Acto knife blade on the reading room floor near Mr. Smiley was the first hint of trouble. By early afternoon, they say, librarians had video images of Mr. Smiley removing from a book an antique map valued by Yale at $150,000. Later that day, the police say, they found in his jacket a fragile map that appeared to have been taken from a 17th-century book; others that also appeared to be stolen, worth more than $700,000, were in his briefcase.

'In Midcareer, a Turn to Faith to Fill a Void'

article by EDWARD WYATT and SIMON ROMERO here.

 

By 1979, Harriet E. Miers, then in her mid-30's, had accomplished what some people take a lifetime to achieve. She was a partner at Locke Purnell Boren Laney & Neely, one of the most prestigious law firms in the South, with an office on the 35th floor of the Republic National Bank Tower in downtown Dallas.

But she still felt something was missing in her life, and it was after a series of long discussions - rambling conversations about family and religion and other matters that typically stretched from early evening into the night - with Nathan L. Hecht, a junior colleague at the law firm, that she made a decision that many of the people around her say changed her life.

"She decided that she wanted faith to be a bigger part of her life," Justice Hecht, who now serves on the Texas Supreme Court, said in an interview. "One evening she called me to her office and said she was ready to make a commitment" to accept Jesus Christ as her savior and be born again, he said. He walked down the hallway from his office to hers, and there amid the legal briefs and court papers, Ms. Miers and Justice Hecht "prayed and talked," he said.

She was baptized not long after that, at the Valley View Christian Church.

'Is happiness worth losing your memory?'

book review by JAY MICHAELSON here.

 

For three decades, Jonathan Cott was a successful music and cultural critic. A contributing editor to Rolling Stone since its inception, he wrote 15 books, including classic portraits of Lou Reed and John Lennon. In 1999, however, Cott underwent Electroconvulsive Therapy, or ECT—shock therapy, as it's popularly known—to treat chronic depression. The ECT helped alleviate his symptoms. But as a result of it, Cott, like me, lost his short-term memory. He also suffered retrograde amnesia and effectively forgot 15 years of his life. According to his new book, On the Sea of Memory: A Journey From Forgetting to Remembering, Cott is unable to recall anything that happened to him between 1985 and 2000. When his friends tell stories of his "lost years," he writes, "I listen to their stories with incredulity, amazement, shock, bewilderment, regret, and often with great amusement and acute embarrassment about the things that the I I am now who was the me I don't remember apparently did."

...

Being without memory is more than mere forgetfulness: It is being set adrift on an eternal present, without trajectory or history. Cott's book is subtitled "A Journey From Forgetting to Remembering," but it's not nearly so linear. The book is an odd combination of memoir, reflection, and interviews with philosophers, neurologists, and spiritual teachers. As Cott says many times, he cannot remember a paragraph once he has written it—and these lapses reveal themselves in Cott's rambling style and his penchant, in the interviews that make up the heart of the book, for consulting his notes rather than engaging in dialogue with his subjects. It's heartbreaking to see a once-gifted writer and interviewer so deserted by his craft.

 

At the same time, living without past or future has a transformative aspect. Living in the "eternal present" is, in many religious and philosophical schools of thought, a form of freedom. It's what the spiritual guru Ram Dass means by "being here now": Every moment is new.

 

bringing dignity back to the white house

karl rove and scooter libby

jack abramoff

bill frist

tom delay

michael brown

david safavian

lenin

'Wrapped in an Enigma, Hidden in a Film Archive'

article by PAUL CULLUM here.

 

IF the filmmaker J. X. Williams didn't exist, someone would have had to invent him. And if someone had, it would have been done in one of the darker corners of contemporary cinema: the world of "found footage."

An exploitation filmmaker with a storied past, Williams is credited as director of the 1965 documentary "Peep Show" - a kind of spiritual vortex of sub rosa Americana surrounding the Kennedy assassination. After supposedly being suppressed for decades, it was recently shown at the Anthology Film Archives in New York, the Film Forum in Los Angeles and a handful of other museum, gallery and festival settings throughout the United States and Europe. (It is expected to be screened at the Lausanne Underground Film Festival in October.)

Shot in stark black-and-white and augmented with copious archival film, "Peep Show" tells a tangled tale of a rigged 1960 election, secret C.I.A. training camps in the Florida outback, sex stings in Mafia hotels and a little-known Mob plot to addict Frank Sinatra to heroin.

But film connoisseurs will instantly recognize much of the documentary's "historical" source material: Sinatra's struggles with heroin are clearly excerpts from "The Man With the Golden Arm" (1955). A New York skyline is an exterior from John Cassavetes's first film "Shadows" (1959). Images of Chicago and a voice-over are lifted from an obscure police thriller titled "City That Never Sleeps" (1953). And a taxicab blowing up is actually the explosion that breaks the seven-minute tracking shot at the start of Orson Welles's "Touch of Evil" (1958).

'At Wit's End, a Town Dithers Over Its Millionaire Pest'

article by SARAH LYALL here.

 

Except possibly for Howard Carter, who discovered Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922 (and who died a long time ago), 22-year-old Michael Carroll is by far Swaffham's most famous resident.

 

Known across Britain by his tabloid nickname, the Lotto Lout, Mr. Carroll won £9.7 million (about $15 million at the time) in the national lottery three years ago and showed up to collect his prize while wearing a police-issued electronic ankle bracelet.

...

If nothing else, Mr. Carroll, who did not respond to messages left at his house, has proved since winning that he is not the sort of person to let money turn his head: he has kept having run-ins with the authorities, the only difference being that he now drives nicer cars to court.

"Before he won the lottery, he was a nuisance," Charles Joyce, a local official, said. "He decided to carry on being a nuisance."

Among other things, he has appeared in court more than 30 times in the last three years. He has spent three months in jail on drugs charges, paid thousands of dollars in fines for vandalism and been evicted from several hotels after, for instance, ripping a chandelier from the ceiling while trying to swing from it.

He was recently ordered to perform 240 hours of community service - later increased to 300 - after shooting ball bearings through 32 car and shop windows with a catapult as he drove around in the middle of the night.

He has been issued with two antisocial behavior orders in two local jurisdictions forbidding him to threaten, harass or intimidate anyone in a 400-mile radius. He has been told by local government authorities to stop throwing raucous late-night parties and to stop holding demolition derbies on his land.

And he has been told to clean up the yard of his house, strewn as it is with tires, beer cans, food wrappers, wrecked furniture and the hulks of half-smashed-up old cars.

Mr. Carroll is an object of national fascination in part because of his apparently pathological criminality, and in part because he represents a kind of Briton known as a chav. Chavs, whether rich or poor, tend to favor gaudy jewelry and expensive-but-tacky clothes with big logos and to behave in a way that others find coarse or obnoxious.

Male chavs wear tracksuits and baseball caps; female chavs pull their hair tightly back in buns or ponytails, a style known as a "council house facelift," from the term for public housing.

Mr. Carroll has "King of Chavs" printed on his Mercedes, a car known in the newspapers as the Loutmobile (its license plate reads L111 OUT).

...

Chav behavior - outrageous spending sprees, drunken brawls, inappropriate public displays of affection, screaming matches with loved ones in bars, destruction of property, late-night stumbling and/or vomiting - provide celebrity magazines here with much of their material.

...

Is he ready to make amends? Mr. Carroll's lawyer, Neil Meacham, would not say.

"I get so many calls from television and the newspapers that unless you pay me, I really don't have time to talk to you," Mr. Meacham said in a brief interview. But he allowed that Mr. Carroll was "vigorously contesting" many of the outstanding charges against him.

Mr. Carroll recently participated in a charity boxing match with a television gladiator named Rhino, but Mr. Meacham declined to comment on the latest rumor: that his client is negotiating to star in a reality television series about the chav lifestyle.

"The only thing that is certain in life is uncertainty," Mr. Meacham said, and hung up the telephone.

awesometown

article on andy, yorma, and akiva here.
lonely island website here.

andy, yorma, and akiva

'NASA administrator says space shuttle was a mistake'

article by TRACI WATSON here.

 

The space shuttle and International Space Station — nearly the whole of the U.S. manned space program for the past three decades — were mistakes, NASA chief Michael Griffin said Tuesday.

...

In a meeting with USA TODAY's editorial board, Griffin said NASA lost its way in the 1970s, when the agency ended the Apollo moon missions in favor of developing the shuttle and space station, which can only orbit Earth.

"It is now commonly accepted that was not the right path," Griffin said. "We are now trying to change the path while doing as little damage as we can."

'Mighty Mice Regrow Organs'

article by KRISTEN PHILIPKOSKI here.

Mice discovered accidentally at the Wistar Institute in Pennsylvania have the seemingly miraculous ability to regenerate like a salamander, and even regrow vital organs.

Researchers systematically amputated digits and damaged various organs of the mice, including the heart, liver and brain, most of which grew back.

The results stunned scientists because if such regeneration is possible in this mammal, it might also be possible in humans.

The researchers also made a remarkable second discovery: When cells from the regenerative mice were injected into normal mice, the normal mice adopted the ability to regenerate. And when the special mice bred with normal mice, their offspring inherited souped-up regeneration capabilities.

 

'how gotti jr. beat the rap'

article by DAVID SEGAL here.

is this the video ipod?

'Report: NASA wasted millions on routine travel'

CNN article here.

 

NASA wasted millions of dollars over a two-year period by shunning commercial airline flights and instead using its own planes for routine travel, according to a government report provided to The Associated Press on Thursday.

custer's revenge screenshot

Custer's Revenge

wikipedia entry on 1982 video game ‘custer’s revenge’ here.

 

Custer's Revenge is an adult-oriented video game made for the Atari 2600 by Mystique, a company that produced a number of pornographic video games.

...

Custer's Revenge gained notoriety for its particular plot. In the game, the player controls the character of "Custer," a naked man sporting a cowboy hat, stylish boots, and a visible erection, obviously based on George Armstrong Custer. Custer has to overcome various (not very difficult) obstacles to achieve his goal, which is to make sexy with a crudely depicted, large-breasted Native American woman who is bound to a post.

...

Custer's Revenge is generally seen by video game collectors and historians as one of the worst home video games ever made. Seanbaby points out that the "pornography" element of the game was overblown, since the "woman" looked like "a hot dog made of Legos."

ROBOTS!

article ‘robot rides bike without falling’ here.

law.com profile of Harriet Miers

article by T.R. Goldman here.

eyeliner 2

eyeliner 1

'Middle-Class Family Life in Iraq Withers Amid the Chaos of War'

article by SABRINA TAVERNISE here.

But frustration is hardening into hopelessness, as families feel increasingly trapped by the many forces that are threatening to tear the country apart.

Insurgents fight gun battles on their streets. Sectarian divisions are seeping into their children's classrooms and even their own dinner table discussions. Their secular voices are barely audible above the din of religious politicians and the poorer Iraqis they appeal to.

The daily life the middle class describe is an obstacle course of gasoline lines, blocked roads and late-night generator repairs.

In these families' homes, the talk is mostly about leaving. "

 

an awesome story about the Rolling Stones

by JUDD APATOW here.

Later, Ron Wood raised his hand, without anyone asking a question, and said, "I'm in." Keith Richards looked at him and said, "OK, Brian Jones." It seemed to be some inside joke based on the fact that Brian Jones thought he was the boss. Or not, I am guessing. It was just cool that we saw Keith Richards say, "Brian Jones." When Ron Wood said he liked something Ben pitched, Keith Richards said to Mr. Wood, "Are you gonna direct the movie, too, Alfred Hitchcock?"

....

Then they said we could stay and watch them rehearse. Next thing we know, the Stones are performing, and we are getting a private concert. Between songs Mick Jagger would walk over to us to see how we were doing. "Can I get you anything? A glass of water?" he said, not jesting. It was amazing.

On the walls, they had a list of every song they had ever recorded, and between songs they would refer to it and pick one to try out. Then they would play a CD of the song to remind themselves of how it went. They sounded amazing because they were not trying to look good or be visual. They focused only on the music. I know this sounds hard to believe, but the song that kicked the most ass was "Undercover of the Night."

Ben and I knew this was the greatest rock 'n' roll moment we would ever experience. I remember saying, "Even if this all falls apart, at least we got to see this." And then it fell apart. Brad Pitt fell out. We realized what we had written was probably impossible to shoot. The band couldn't get it going with anyone else and had to settle for a bizarre episode of Beverly Hills 90210 where the gang went to see the Stones.

'a door opens (the view is ugly)', by m. inga

' Google and NASA in space venture'

BBC news article here.

SFgate article here.

Web search firm Google has formed a partnership with US space agency Nasa in an effort to harness new technology which could boost the space programme.

Google is to build a new office complex on the site of Nasa's research facility in California, close to its own headquarters in Silicon Valley.

The two companies will co-operate in a range of areas including IT solutions, data management and nanotechnology.

margaret inga's website

brooklyn-based artist. link here.

'Robotic-vacuum maker, BU team up on antisniper device'

article by HIAWATH BRAY here.

IRobot Corp. of Burlington, famous for its robotic vacuum cleaners, has teamed up with researchers at Boston University to develop a military robot capable of spotting enemy snipers.

...

REDOWL is based on iRobot's PackBot, a battery-powered lightweight robot already in active service with the armed forces. PackBots are used to explore dangerous terrain or enter buildings to search for booby traps.

Glenn Thoren, deputy director of the Boston University Photonics Center, wondered if an antisniper system could be mounted atop a PackBot. He used laser rangefinder gear from Insight Technology Inc. in Londonderry, N.H., and sound-detection equipment developed by BioMimetic Systems, an acoustics start-up company founded by Boston University. The REDOWL also includes a Sony digital camera that can zoom in on distant objects or people, and display infrared images at night. When REDOWL's microphones detect a gunshot, the device calculates the source of the sound, swivels the camera, illuminates the target with either visible or infrared light, and uses a laser to calculate the range.

'With Lenin's Ideas Dead, Russia Weighs What to Do With Body' by C.J. CHIVERS

article here.

 

Time has been unkind to Lenin, whose remains here in Red Square are said to sprout occasional fungi, and whose ideology and party long ago fell to ruins.

'Bizarre and Infamous Join Scholarship in an Archive of Psychology'

article by DAN HURLEY here.

Forty years after its founding at the University of Akron as a national repository for scholars, the archives - psychology's attic - have amassed not only the papers of more than 740 psychologists, but also a dazzling array of their instruments, ephemera, photographs and films. Although it is a beacon to historians from around the world and the source of hundreds of scholarly articles and books, the archives remains virtually unknown to the public at large.

east village, 9/30/05

broadway costume shop 4, 9/30/05

broadway costume shop 3, 9/30/05

broadway costume shop 2, 9/30/05

broadway costume shop 1, 9/30/05