Posted at 06:05 AM in Food and Drink, Humor, Politics | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Astonishing

click for animation

via boing boing

Posted at 09:47 AM in War/Defense | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Lifted directly from Crooks & Liars

She's outraged over these charges...

The media was assailed all week by the administration trying to pass the meme that the press is too negative. Instantly, the right wing pundits picked up the theme.

Howard Kurtz, who told Wolf Blitzer that the coverage on Iraq is too negative also received an earful from Lara Logan.

Video-WMP

Video-QT

(Transcript via CNN's Reliable Sources)

KURTZ: But critics would say, well, no wonder people back home think things are falling apart because we get this steady drumbeat of negativity from the correspondents there. 

LOGAN:  Well, who says things aren't falling apart in Iraq?  I mean, what you didn't see on your screens this week was all the unidentified bodies that have been turning up, all the allegations here of militias that are really controlling the security forces. 

What about all the American soldiers that died this week that you didn't see on our screens?  I mean, we've reported on reconstruction stories over and over again…I mean, I really resent the fact that people say that we're not reflecting the true picture here.  That's totally unfair and it's really unfounded. 

...Our own editors back in New York are asking us the same things. They read the same comments.  You know, are there positive stories?  Can't you find them?  You don't think that I haven't been to the U.S. military and the State Department and the embassy and asked them over and over again, let's see the good stories, show us some of the good things that are going on?  Oh, sorry, we can't take to you that school project, because if you put that on TV, they're going to be attacked about, the teachers are going to be killed, the children might be victims of attack. 

Oh, sorry, we can't show this reconstruction project because then that's going to expose it to sabotage.  And the last time we had journalists down here, the plant was attacked. I mean, security dominates every single thing that happens in this country….So how it is that security issues should not then dominate the media coverage coming out of here? 

She also kicks Laura Ingraham's "hotel balconey" remark around too.

Update: Atrios: "It's ridiculous that anyone in our media is entertaining the notion seriously the charge that they're underreporting all the great stuff that's happening in Iraq. As someone who experienced the civil, Peter Daou understands that while life goes on in the midst of such things the news it not in fact that "life goes on" - it's that 30 people were beheaded....

Posted at 03:55 PM in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Here's  something thought provoking:

The next time you hear a politician use the word "billion" in a  casual manner, think about whether you want the "politicians" spending your tax  money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency  did a good job  of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases.

a. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

b.  A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

c. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

d. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

e. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.

Posted at 10:27 AM in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Even if Atrios was on West Wing this week, this is still too funny:

Source:
Pepper . . . and Salt
WSJ, March 16, 2006
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114246459885099390.html

Posted at 06:51 AM in Humor, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Cool live performance by Jamie Cullum (previously mentioned here)

Exclusive Interview

Performance: Get Your Way

via Yahoo

Posted at 01:30 PM in Music | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

I have driven the Bentley GT -- and this is utterly true:

WSJ:  "The $171,285 Continental GT's 12-cylinder twin-turbo engine cranks out 552 horsepower. But that's not why the car makes you feel like a master of the universe. It's the 479 foot-pounds of torque. With that much oomph going to all four wheels, it's child's play to outrun rival motorists at a stop light, or pass some slow-poking compact car on a two-lane road. I couldn't help thinking, "Out of my way, peasants," as I dawdled in traffic, hemmed in by Cadillacs and Lexuses and other representatives of the lower orders.

At 80 miles per hour on the freeway, the Bentley doesn't come close to breaking a sweat. The cabin is eerily quiet, unless of course you decide to crank up the sound system. Electronic sentries stand watch at all corners of your rolling throne room, automatically lowering the car to improve aerodynamics at high speed and maintaining traction when you choose, in your infinite wisdom, to negotiate a corner at slightly more than the recommended speed.

The Bentley also gets attention -- very respectful attention. This car costs more than the homes that many Americans live in, and people know it.

Now, why won't they pull to the side of the road, and let me by?"

Source:
Kings of the Road
Bentley, Tahoe Have One Thing in Common:
Making You Feel Like Lord of All You Survey
March 27, 2006
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114323286280307745.html

Posted at 05:09 PM in Automobiles | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tom Toles:

via Yahoo!

Posted at 06:28 AM in Current Affairs, Humor, Politics, War/Defense | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

I am not a truck guy, but the FJ definitely  looks interesting:

Check out the suicide doors:

Interior is kinda sparse and youthful

Autoblog:

For more info, see:
Full Photo Spread via Rockcrawler
Autoblog
Toyota FJ site
Automobile mag

Posted at 09:34 AM in Automobiles | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

via Welling at Weedon

Posted at 05:17 PM in Humor, Politics, Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Here's what we know about this young lady (who got on the 4:18 from Hunterspoint to Oyster Bay at Jamaica):

• She has a very LOUD husky voice;
• She is, like, totally stressed out (like, omigod!);
• Not afraid to put her feet up on the furniture;
• She would marry Chris, in, like, a minute -- he cooks great Italian food, and is awesome on the Piano

Our advice to Chris: RUN! Save yourself! Run far, far away . . .

Posted at 05:24 AM in LIRR Commuter From Hell | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

The animation on the upcoming Pixar flick Cars looks just outstanding:

click for video trailer:

The depth, color, sense of distance are exrtremely realistic, yet retain just a touch of stylized animation . . . Looks like another Pixar winner

Cant wait for June 9th . . .

Posted at 07:44 AM in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Way Cool:

Spitzer Space Telescope via NASA

Posted at 06:17 AM in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

"We can't tell you whether a New Orleans car would ever be safe," said Lirel Holt, past chairman of the coordinating committee.

That's a quote from a NYT article, reviewing the potential for consumer fraud in light of hurricane flood damaged used cars:

"To the sorrows and losses wrought by Hurricane Katrina, add the unprecedented potential for fraud - and peril - in the resale of cars damaged by the storm.

Since the hurricane struck on Aug. 29, auto clubs and law enforcement officials have warned consumers to scrutinize used cars for water damage and investigate their histories. Because a damaged car's title can be "washed"- varying state laws make it relatively easy to obtain a clean title in one state for a vehicle branded with a "flood" or "salvage" title in another - such warnings are routine after major storms.

But Katrina's automotive losses were hardly routine. Cars that sat in sewage- and fuel-contaminated floodwaters in New Orleans could pose unprecedented risks to anyone who handles the vehicles or their parts, according to the Coordinating Committee for Automotive Repair, a nonprofit organization that provides advice on pollution prevention and worker health and safety issues to segments of the auto industry, including repair businesses."

You have a few options to check out a vehicle for possible Katrina damage:

Carfax

Greenlink

National Insurance Crime Bureau

Source:
A Used Car or a Katrina Biohazard?
MARCIA BIEDERMAN
NYT, October 17, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/17/automobiles/17CARS.html

Posted at 06:19 PM in Automobiles | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

"A lot of us don't agree with the choices the Chef has made in the last few days," one of the children eulogizes him at a funeral.

"Some of us feel hurt and confused that he seemed to turn his back on us. But we can't let the events of the past few weeks take away the memories of how Chef made us smile."

"We shouldn't be mad at Chef for leaving us," the eulogy concludes.

"We should be mad at that fruity little club for scrambling his brains."

With that, the ongoing take down of Scientology by South Park continues . . .

See pages 13 - 19 for more details

The NYP wrote:

It was the latest salvo in a complicated and public war between "South Park" and the controversial Los Angeles church.

Hayes resigned from "South Park" more than four months after an episode - titled "Trapped in the Closet" - aired poking fun at Cruise, his sexuality and the modern faith that he adopted after going to Hollywood.

When it first debuted last November, Hayes reportedly laughed it off.

The resignation - which came in the form of a press release from Hayes' publicist - set off a fight with "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

Comedy Central quickly scheduled a repeat airing of the episode, but pulled it at the last minute.

Cruise reportedly threatened officials at Comedy Central's parent corporation, Viacom, that he would refuse to promote his new movie, "Mission Impossible 3," if the network aired the repeat.

The highly successful film series is produced by Paramount, a division of Viacom.

Reps for Cruise denied the allegations.

>

Sources:
South Park' kills off 'Chef' -- maybe
Associated Press, Thursday, March 23, 2006; Posted: 4:26 a.m.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/03/23/south.park.hayes.ap/

STIRRING IT UP
DON KAPLAN
NYPost, March 23, 2006
http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/65836.htm

TV Review: South Park - "Trapped in the Closet" Photo Gallery Notes
Al Barger
Blog Critics, March 23, 2006
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/03/23/053949.php

Posted at 06:01 AM in Humor, Religion, Television | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

 
This makes the point
(click for larger toon)

SF Gate via  All Intensive Purposes

Posted at 08:38 PM in Humor, Politics, Religion | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Very cool development on Jupiter -- a new Red Spot:

The gas giant is growing another red spot, which US space agency (Nasa) astronomers have nicknamed "Red Jr".

Both red spots are actually raging storms in Jupiter's cloud layer, but scientists don't yet know how they get their characteristic brick colour.

Red Jr is about half the size of the Great Red Spot and almost exactly the same colour, Science@Nasa reports.

The new storm goes by the official name of Oval BA. It was first observed in 2000, when three smaller spots collided and merged.

Wow

Source:
Jupiter growing another red spot 
BBC, Tuesday, 7 March 2006, 13:20 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4781730.stm

Posted at 09:26 AM in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Why you shouldn't let others define you:

Via NYT Week in Review

Posted at 11:48 AM in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A friend in Sweden sends these photos -- pretty clever stuff, using only some ski gloves and other common household items:

Note:  These are not credited, so this could be an urban legend of sorts . . . But based on the people I know from Sweden and the stories of long dark winter nights, this is just the sort of clever, gee-why-didn't-I-think-of-that kinda stuff that is consistent with their sense of humor . . .

>

UPDATE: May 1, 2006 9:42am

boingboing points to the original artist's site here
http://unix.rulez.org/~calver/pictures/homemade_animal_costume/

Posted at 06:31 AM in Design, Humor | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

I'm a huge Philip K. DIck fan, so you can imagine how cool this flick looks:

click for video trailer:

very cool . . .

Posted at 07:42 AM in Film | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Very cool pictogram, chock full of data, about where your tax dollars go:

click for larger graphic 

The original graphic is truly ginormous 

Deviant Art

Posted at 06:31 PM in Art & Design, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Mmmmm, 430 GT . . .

The Left Lane News notes:

The latest in a long line of client orientated Ferrari racing cars has arrived this month in the form of the 4.0-litre V8 aluminium chassis F430GT. This exciting new machine, developed as usual by Ferrari in conjunction with fabled Italian tuner Michelotti, is set to take the racetrack fight to the Porsche runners in the international FIA GT2 categories around the globe, turning the tables on the German brand which has dominated proceedings in recent years.

The new F430GT is based on the hugely-successful road-going F430 berlinetta. However the swage of cutting-edge driver aids have been swept away along with the road version's opulent interior. Thus the aluminium chassis, which incorporates the use of carbon fibre, nomex and kevlar materials, combine to see the new racer weight in at just 1,100kg. Major wind-tunnel work was carried out in the development of the F430 Coupé and this work has been taken a stage further in the development of the F430GT. Likewise the close focus on chassis rigidity that has seen the new F430 Coupé being much stiffer than the outgoing 360 Modena, has been translated to the F430GT and will be one of its major steps forward from the 360GTC, the final evolution of the 360-based racing lineage.

Looks like Jet exhaust helps the giddy up!

Here are the specs:

The 3.998-litre 90-degree V8-engine in the F430GT is based around the F430 Coupé lightweight aluminium block and cylinder heads, flat-plane crankshaft, extremely compact dimensions -- thanks partly to integrating the engine bearings into the sump, and major use of F1 derived technology, especially in the cylinder heads, this is an all-new engine that shares no components at all with the outgoing 360 Modena's powerplant.

Yummy!

Source:
Ferrari unveils F430GT race car
Left Lane News
http://www.leftlanenews.com/2006/03/10/ferrari-unveils-f430gt-race-car/

Ferrari F430GT will race in American Le Mans Series
Stuart Waterman 
Autoblog Feb 3rd 2006 11:00AM
http://www.autoblog.com/2006/02/03/ferrari-f430gt-will-race-in-american-le-mans-series/

Posted at 04:09 PM in Automobiles | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Programmers in Prague say "Suck This" to RIAA/MPAA:

"Unleash your online experience and add multimedia sharing
capabilitities to your favorite browser.                                   

Share private photos worry-free. No passwords to remember, no public access.         

Share your videos without uploading - save on hosting costs while saving time.

No cumbersome interface. No sharing restriction. Private and secure. No spyware, no adware, no annoying advertisements.

Do you like free software? Do you like Firefox? Do you like sharing?

We do! That's why we built AllPeer"

>

click for AllPeers

Here's the 411 from the FAQ:

AllPeers is a free extension which combines the strength of Firefox and the efficiency of BitTorrent to transform your favorite browser into a media sharing powerhouse.

Regain control! You decide which media files you want to share with whom and to maximise your privacy, communications are encrypted.

Forget about complicated setup or obscure user interfaces. If you know how to use Firefox you know how to use AllPeers.

               

via Rocketboom

Posted at 03:56 PM in Film, Music, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Interesting pod machine from Tassimo, a division of  Kraft Foods (at left).

The WSJ noted the following 1 year ago:

"Tassimo represents Kraft's answer to a pressing problems confronting one of the world's big coffee sellers -- how to win back American coffee drinkers. Kraft sells more coffee than any other company in the world, and for years, Kraft's Maxwell House brand, along with rival Folgers from P&G, defined America's coffee preferences. But sales of those products, like those of many other iconic packaged foods, are being pinched from below, by low-priced private-label brands, and from above by expensive specialty products sold at chains like Starbucks Corp.

Tassimo is one of several products that food giants, teaming up with appliance makers, are offering to upgrade consumers' at-home coffee experience. Machines from P&G and Nestlé, as well as Flavia from Mars Inc. and Senseo from Sara Lee Corp., all brew one cup at a time, not a whole pot -- in the manner of an espresso maker. The machines range in price from about $50, in the case of P&G's Mr. Coffee Home Café machine, which uses refills that resemble tea bags called "pods," to more than $2,000 for some of Nestlé's top-of-the-line Nespresso machines."

In the era of Starbucks, these machines have a very specific appeal:

The coffee machines' appeal, according to their promoters, is that they aren't messy and they customize every cup -- decaf or caf, weak or strong -- for each person in the household.

Compared with ground coffee, the coffee-machine refills are pricey. After Kraft and P&G raised coffee prices this week, a 13-oz. can of Kraft's Maxwell House costs $3.19 and makes from 80 to 90 cups of coffee, or roughly four cents a cup. A bag of 16 Tassimo single-serve T-discs sells for anywhere from $4.99 to $9.99, or 30 cents to 60 cents a cup.

Of course, even those prices pale next to a tall latte at Starbucks, which can top three bucks, depending on the market. And that is where Mr. Deromedi sees room to grow. "Yes, more people are consuming coffee away from home, but why are they doing this?" he asks. "Because they want better quality, and it's up to us to deliver that."

Indeed, as much as the new machines compete with each other, their biggest rival in the U.S. remains coffee chains such as Starbucks, whose world-wide sales in its latest fiscal year grew 30% to $5.3 billion. Compare ground coffee's lackluster sales: The U.S. market is flat at about $5 billion, almost exactly where it was in the year 2000, according to Euromonitor, a Chicago market-research firm. Meanwhile, supermarket sales of whole-bean coffee and brands like Starbucks, which Kraft distributes to grocery stores, and P&G's upscale Millstone product, are still percolating.

Source:
Will New Machines Perk Up Coffee Sales?
SARAH ELLISON
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, March 16, 2005; Page B1
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111094239948780852,00.html

See also:
Your Coffee Sucks!

Posted at 08:35 AM in Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

From an eBay auction, a poster reproduction:

Posted at 09:01 AM in Art & Design, Automobiles | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Very Amusing

click for video

Posted at 08:40 AM in Television | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Tom Toles via Yahoo!

Posted at 12:44 PM in Humor, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Interesting piece on Silicon Alley in the Sunday NYT:

"Though few new-media entrepreneurs would say it loudly for fear of jinxing themselves, Silicon Alley is buzzing again. In recent months a number of Manhattan new-media companies have been involved in heady high-dollar deals that carried a faint but alluring whiff of the good old days. Start-ups are once again popping up like mushrooms in Manhattan, and last May the New York Software Industry Association opened a technology incubator at its headquarters at 55 Broad Street. It now houses 14 new companies...

"Everything is cranking up," said Nicholas Butterworth, a member of the original Silicon Alley generation of the mid-90's who is himself starting a new technology company. "There is definitely something in the air. It's not exactly the same as it was the first time around, but it's got some of that same spirit."

The surest sign of renewed life in Silicon Alley — a broad term for New York's digital media scene, most of it located in lower Manhattan — has been the deals. Last week the women's portal iVillage, a survivor of the first boom and bust, was sold to NBC Universal for $600 million. Last fall AOL bought Weblogs Inc., a publisher of blogs including the popular technology site Engadget, for $25 million."

>

graphic courtesy NYT, via Googlemaps

>

"Not so long ago Silicon Alley was all but obliterated. Dozens of companies went out of business during the burst of the technology bubble, and the economic slow-down following the 9/11 attacks took still more. Employment in information technology in New York City plummeted to around 35,000 at the end of 2005 from around 50,000 in 2000, according to the New York State Labor Department.

Along the way any semblance of a digital community in New York dissolved as well. Launch parties gave way to pink slip-parties and then to no parties at all. The Silicon Alley Reporter, a trade publication, folded, and the New York New Media Association, a focal point for the tech community during the boom, quietly closed its doors in 2003. Nerds went underground.

A number of factors have contributed to the rebound, investors and online executives said. Start-up costs and overhead for running a consumer-oriented Internet company have plummeted, as hardware prices have fallen and packaged or open-source software has taken the place of the programming departments that once had to build sites from scratch.

New forms of targeted advertising from companies like Yahoo and Google have allowed small companies to sell adds online without sales staffs. And large established companies with hefty marketing budgets have been spending more on online advertising.

But perhaps the biggest change on the Alley has been the shift from a culture of profligacy to one of financial discipline. While first-generation Web entrepreneurs once boasted of mountains of venture capital, massages for staff and Aeron office chairs for all, the current crop of Alley executives can't let a conversation go by without pointing out how utterly miserly they are."

Source:
Alive and Well in Silicon Alley
WARREN ST. JOHN
NYT, March 12, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/fashion/sundaystyles/12silicon.html

Posted at 07:52 AM in Current Affairs, Web/Tech, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

From CNN Live:

KING: Then what is left for you, Jon?

STEWART: What is left for me?

KING: If you're tired of both groups?

STEWART: Hosting a basic cable show. That is what is left for me, sitting every day and getting to rub my eyes and make stupid faces on videotape. That is all that is left for me. That is the catharsis that I live for.

KING: So, in a sense you're happy over this.

STEWART: No.

KING: This gives you fodder.

STEWART: Yes, I prefer not the fodder. I'm not -- we're not the guys at the craps table betting against the line. I would -- we'd make fun of something else. If public life, if government suddenly became inspiring and moved towards people's better nature and began to solve problems in a rational way rather than just a way that involved political dividends, we would be the happiest people in the world to turn our attention to idiots like, you know, media people, no offense.

KING: So, you don't want it to be bad?

STEWART: Did you really just ask me if I want it to be bad?

KING: Yes because you...

STEWART: What are you -- I have kids what do you think? Yes, I don't want them to have any kind of a -- I want things to corrode to the point where we're all living in huts.

KING: Not all living in huts but generally comics political comics like things to go a little wrong, don't have to be the end of the world.

STEWART: Like things to go a little wrong like birdshot to the face of a guy that will survive.

KING: That's right.

STEWART: Not like things to go wrong until it's like Mad Max, every man for himself, let's all ride around with machineguns on, which seems to be the way that it's...

KING: You don't want Medicare to fail?

STEWART: Are you insane?

KING: No.

STEWART: You're literally asking me if I would prefer -- yes, Larry, what I'm saying to you as a comedian I want old people to suffer, old and poor people to suffer. That is -- that is -- what we want is -- what seems absurd to me is the length that Washington just seems out of touch with the desires of Americans to be spoken to as though they are adults.

I mean when you listen to Bush's speeches, and I'm leaving the Democrats out because I honestly don't feel that they make an impact. They have 49 percent of the vote and three percent of the power. At a certain point you go "Guys, pick up your game."

But Bush, you know the other day when he had the speech about us being addicted to oil, he says those things as though, you know, he just thought of it and we're disagreeing with him, like everybody's been saying that. Jimmy Carter said it I think in 1978.

And he comes out, "What people don't realize is we're addicted to foreign oil" and he's saying it like you're going "Get out of here." We're addicted. You don't get it people. You know he was the guy on the stump a few years ago making fun of hybrid cars because it wasn't manly.

KING: Our guest is Jon...

CNN Transcript here
Video here: Crooks & Liars

Posted at 11:25 AM in Humor, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Austin's South By Southwest festival is one of the music industry's biggest events for discovering up-and-coming bands. Anyone with access to the Internet can preview more than 900 of the acts that music executives will be swarming to see.

Here's how to find the free tracks:  Go to SXSW and click "SXSW Bands" and then "Get Going." Click any band's name with a cassette icon next to it, then choose either "Download" or "Stream."

The WSJ observes:

"It's a sign of how dramatically the process of discovering new music has changed -- both for the industry and for casual fans -- in the digital age. While music scouts once relied on word-of-mouth, regional radio play and excursions to dingy clubs, they're increasingly looking to podcasts, music blogs and social networking sites like MySpace to hear new bands and measure their audiences. Online buzz has helped launch the careers of acts like Fall Out Boy, a pop-punk band nominated for a Grammy this year.

The Internet is "where music gets discovered and buzz builds," says Ed Vetri, president of Wind-up Records, an independent label distributed by Sony/BMG Entertainment. Mr. Vetri says his staff started combing through the MP3s on South by Southwest's site as soon as they were posted, on Feb. 16. The team narrowed the pool of bands the label is interested in to about 25, of which it might sign two or three."

Source:
Free Music: Rock
JOHN JURGENSEN
WSJ, March 4, 2006; Page P2
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114141111315188822.html

http://2006.sxsw.com/

Posted at 08:49 AM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

If someone tailgates you, pretend that you are nodding off. It'll scares the bejesus out of most drivers, and they'll steer clear of you afterwards.

-Tricks of the Trade
Professional secrets from those in the know.

Posted at 01:17 PM in Automobiles | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Enceladus, Saturn's fourth-largest moon, has water. And that means the possibility exists for life:

"With newly discovered signs of liquid water, a moon of Saturn joins the small, highly select group of places in the solar system that could plausibly support life.

The moon, Enceladus, is only 300 miles wide, and usually something that small is nothing more than a frozen chunk of ice and rock. Instead, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has spotted eruptions of icy crystals, which hint at pockets of liquid water near the surface.

Life requires at least three ingredients — water, heat and carbon-based molecules — and Enceladus may possess all three. As Cassini flew through the plumes of vapor and ice crystals rising into space from the eruptions, it also detected simple carbon-based molecules like methane and carbon dioxide, which suggest more complicated carbon molecules may lie on the moon's surface.

The lack of a crater suggests that the heat is not the result of a meteor's impact. Based on initial observations, some scientists think that this warm region near the south pole may have persisted for billions of years, sufficient time for life to arise."

Photo courtesy NYT

Source:
Saturn Moon Has Geysers, Hinting Life Is a Possibility
KENNETH CHANG
NYT, March 10, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/10/science/space/10saturn.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Posted at 11:45 AM in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

This looks very very funny:

Here's the trailer

Posted at 08:53 AM in Film | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

New CD out form Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmore: 

Amazon has a video interview with him on the disc, his first solo album since 1984's About Face, and his forst studio recording since Floyd's Division Bell.

Click for video

UPDATE: March 9, 2006 10:46pm

SIRIUS satellite radio is running an all David Gilmour/Pink Floyd channel:

The former Pink Floyd frontman is turning 60, and The Vault is celebrating by playing nothing but Gilmour music, 24-7 from March 6th to March 12th – including his brand new solo album, On An Island.

We'll be playing all the Floyd classics, as well as the deeper cuts and music from both of Gilmour's previous solo records. Plus, we've got an exclusive interview with David: he’ll be taking us through the new album– his first solo effort in 22 years – track by track.

Posted at 10:30 AM in Film, Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

8 years ago:

Dear Diary:

It was a balmy February day in midtown, and lots of office workers were out enjoying the afternoon. Filling the width of an entire lane of the Avenue of the Americas was a black Humvee. The military-truck-turned-recreational-toy was simply enormous. A pedestrian noticed the truck's huge girth and blurted, ''Holy cow, that's big!''

His companion asked, ''I wonder where the heck he parks that?''

The driver -- sporting a buzz cut, a tattoo on his biceps and a large cigar -- overheard. ''Anywhere I want, buddy,'' he replied. ''Anywhere I want.''
BARRY L. RITHOLTZ

Metropolitan Diary
By RON ALEXANDER (NYT) 1234 words
Published: March 9, 1998
http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F60B1EFB3F540C7A8CDDAA0894D0494D81

Posted at 08:47 AM in Media | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Funny, will these photos get my blog tagged as having nudity or pornography -- even though it contains none fo the above? These are genuine adverts from Europe, the last two are for erotic cinema and Playboy Netherlands.

What will the not so smart smartfilter think of these? Will these get my blog tagged as having nudity/pornography by lazy Smartfilter cubicle drones?

Tips on how to defeat censoring and filterware here.

Photos via Money Factory

Posted at 10:58 AM in Humor, Photo Caption Contest!, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Scientific American:  Sunspots have long been known to appear and disappear from the sun's surface. The powerful magnetic fields that block light from escaping the sun's interior burst into being on the surface and slowly fade as they migrate toward the poles. A new model may help predict the intensity and timing of such solar outbursts as well as reveal the underlying mechanism of the sunspot cycle.

Mausumi Dikpati and her colleagues at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder used new observations of the sun's interior and new computer simulations to model the flow of plasma, or electrically charged gas, that carry the sunspots like a conveyor belt until they become powerful enough to burst free of the belt and erupt on the sun's surface. As the spots weaken, the conveyor belt then slowly carries them toward the poles and, ultimately, back into the sun's core where they become the foundation of the next sunspot cycle. "The remnants from the past three cycles combine to produce a certain seed for the present cycle," Dikpati explains. "We now know that it takes two cycles to fill half the belt with magnetic field and another two cycles to fill the other half. Because of this, the next solar cycle depends on characteristics from as far back as 40 years previously--the sun has a magnetic memory."

Sources:   
New Model Predicts Timing and Intensity of Solar Storms 
CHANNELS: ASTRONOMY
March 07, 2006   
http://tinyurl.com/qflwa

Posted at 08:11 AM in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

How wicked cool is this? 

Audiopad is an electronic musical controller:

About Audiopad: 

"Audiopad is a musical composition and performance device that tracks the positions of objects on a flat surface, then converts their motion into music. Developed by MIT PhD students James Patten and Ben Recht, the system is is powered by Debian Linux. It consists of a set of electronically tagged objects on a tabletop, a matrix of antennae that track the objects, and an LCD projector which displays an animated UI."

Its also way way cool.

James Patten is the inventor (when he was an MIT student), and you can see an Audiopad video here.

See also Multi-Touch Interaction Research

Posted at 06:42 PM in Music, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The video below reveals a very cool, two handed UI.  The written description does not do justice to how wicked cool this looks -- the best way to describe it is that it approximates the fascinating interface in the film Minority Report.

click for video:

In the movie, th