grist for the mill

hyperQUAKE Candy Toss

New Scientist - New Processor Computes At Light Speed: "The device is called Enlight and can perform 8000 billion arithmetic operations per second, about 1000 times faster than a standard processor. Previously this type of processor was only available to highly financed government laboratories, says Lenslet's founder, Aviram Sariel."

The Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency

Did translator turn traitor?

BRIAN DICKERSON: Ruling leaves cities in the driver's seat: "But since assuming control of the state Supreme Court in 1999, Republican justices bankrolled by the insurance industry have steadily limited such lawsuits, ruling that the government's duty to maintain safe highways doesn't extend to traffic signals, signs and streetlights adjacent to the road. "

Boston.com / A&E / Dining/Food / With progress, a cruel twist

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD...NO!!

introduction

Gomi Boy Industries

Guidelines for focusing on learning (kottke.org)

Herald.com - Your Miami Everything Guide: "LAS VEGAS - Rapper Nelly had more than $1 million in jewelry stolen from his Las Vegas Strip hotel room while he was in town for the 2003 Radio Music Awards, authorities said Tuesday."

Why in the name of God and all his angels would you need $1 million in jewelry...with you... in a hotel room?

George Lakoff tells how conservatives use language to dominate politics: "There's a systematic reason for that. You can see it in the way that conservative foundations and progressive foundations work. Conservative foundations give large block grants year after year to their think tanks. They say, 'Here's several million dollars, do what you need to do.' And basically, they build infrastructure, they build TV studios, hire intellectuals, set aside money to buy a lot of books to get them on the best-seller lists, hire research assistants for their intellectuals so they do well on TV, and hire agents to put them on TV. They do all of that. Why? Because the conservative moral system, which I analyzed in 'Moral Politics,' has as its highest value preserving and defending the 'strict father' system itself. And that means building infrastructure. As businessmen, they know how to do this very well.
Meanwhile, liberals' conceptual system of the 'nurturant parent' has as its highest value helping individuals who need help. The progressive foundations and donors give their money to a variety of grassroots organizations. They say, 'We're giving you $25,000, but don't waste a penny of it. Make sure it all goes to the cause, don't use it for administration, communication, infrastructure, or career development.' So there's actually a structural reason built into the worldviews that explains why conservatives have done better."

ABCNEWS.com : Wireless Broadband's Holy Grail?

MacGroup-Detroit Web Site

// BROKEN WRIST PROJECT \\

News: "Four health workers in Britain have died after being infected with HIV through hospital accidents involving needles. Nine others have also contracted the Aids virus after suffering similar injuries while working in hospitals, but are still alive."

News From The Associated Press: "The assault highlighted the vulnerability of even heavily guarded U.S. facilities in Iraq, where American forces sustain an average of 26 lower-profile attacks daily, and where Wolfowitz came to assess ways to defeat the stubborn 6-month-old insurgency."

Guardian system overrun by abuse

KRT Wire | 10/24/2003 | Name doesn't go down well

Local station seeks cable spot : "The council could write language into the contract between the city and Comcast requiring the company carry the channels at no charge, Watson said.

But Patrick Miles, a lawyer for the city, said the city cannot legally tell Comcast to carry a specific commercial channel.

'But the city can require Comcast to meet community needs by carrying certain broad categories of programming,' he said. 'I am doubtful that the city has legal authority to require Comcast to carry channels 68 and 33 by name at no charge.' "

Detroit council seat seeker may have to drop show : "Watkins said having Watson on the air during the council campaign does not give her an unfair advantage, unless 'we are not offering for the others to come on the air. So far, we've had one request and we have honored that. It only becomes an issue if they ask for time, and it's only important if we don't give them that time.'"

Radio show could give slaying suspect alibi : "Juvenile Court Referee David Perkins set a probable-cause hearing for Aug. 15 to determine whether police have enough evidence to hold him. He is being held in the county Juvenile Detention Facility in lieu of $25,000 bond pending that hearing. "

Google Search: R.J. Watkins WHPR :"In this Order, we admonish R. J.' s Late Night Entertainment Corporation ("Late Night"), licensee of noncommercial educational station WHPR-FM, Highland Park, Michigan, for broadcasting advertisements in violation of Section 399B of the Communications Act of 1934"

Nanotechnology - Foresight Institute - Molecular Nanotech

MIKE WENDLAND: Spam pushes many to stop using e-mail: "Surprisingly, despite the anger and skepticism survey respondents voice toward spam, one-third report pursuing an offer made in a spam message by clicking on a link to find further information. And 7 percent had actually ordered a product or service that was offered in an unsolicited e-mail.
Pew said it didn't collect enough data to make broad assumptions on those figures. It theorizes that many of those purchases through spam were made before the consumer had a lot of e-mail experience.
But it notes that some bulk e-mailers claim that a positive response rate of even 0.001 percent can be profitable. With 15 billion spam messages being sent out each day, the Pew report suggests a lot of money is still being made."

Yahoo! News - Tibetan boy able to recite world's longest poem after dream

HEATHER NEWMAN: Add power to your PC: Install a 2nd hard drive

Transcript: Opening Statement of John Allen Muhammad (washingtonpost.com): "Now, I'm not saying they don't know what happened. Those are not my words. They are saying they don't know what happened. They are saying that their entire case is based on a theory -- and I say a theory, one. They are saying theories. What's a theory? See, this is a new world. I mean this is a new world for me. I mean I'm learning language that I didn't even think exists; so I looked up the word 'theory.' It said many different things, but it ends up with a guess. A guess, an opinion. It's a guess. Assumption is a guess. "

The Morning News - Rock This County!: "The way you sell above five million? White women."

AccessNorthGa.com - Your Online Local Newspaper: "Ten months into a four-year term, Gov. Sonny Perdue is taking flak from black lawmakers who contend his policies are racially divisive and from whites angry that they will have no chance to vote on restoring the rebel battle cross to the state flag."

Fantagraphics Books - THE COMPLETE PEANUTS

Faith Fades Where It Once Burned Strong: "Christianity has boomed in the developing world, competing successfully with Islam, deepening its influence and possibly finding its future there. But Europe already seems more and more like a series of tourist-trod monuments to Christianity's past. Hardly a month goes by when the pope does not publicly bemoan that fact, beseeching Europeans to rediscover the faith.
Their estrangement has deep implications, including the prospect of schisms in intercontinental churches and political frictions within and between countries.
The secularization of Europe, according to some political analysts, is one of the forces pushing it apart from the United States, where religion plays a potent role in politics and society, shaping many Americans' views of the world. "

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Vatican: condoms don't stop AidsThis is beyond bizarre.

Seeking hipness, Michigan leaders say cool cities feed hot economies: "Florida said that many creative class members consider recreation, culture and ethnic diversity as central to where they move or stay. "

ScienceDaily News Release: Commonly-Held Belief Contributes To Rejection Of Lung Cancer Surgery“This belief is very prevalent, especially among African-Americans, and it may be used by many to avoid recommended surgical intervention,” noted Mitchell L. Margolis, MD, director of the pulmonary clinic at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center and lead author of the study. “Our findings may be helpful in suggesting appropriate action by physicians to address this belief,” he added.

Lung cancer is more prevalent and deadly in the African American community than among Caucasians, and data indicate that much of the difference in survival rates can be attributed to differences in the treatment of early-stage disease.

Should I tell them it's not only lung cancer? I've heard all my life that "once they opened him up the cancer spread like crazy" or words to that effect. Never considering that perhaps it was too late when the surgeon got to it? That perhaps early preventative measures like diet and regular doctor visits might have headed the problem off?

To be fair, it hasn't been until recent times - say the last 30 years - when blacks have had access to reliable, preventative medical care on a large scale.

So why do I keep on hearing the same old stories?

Educated Minorities Flocked to Region (washingtonpost.com)

ajc.com | News | Rush Limbaugh investigated for illegal drug purchases, paper reports: "Premiere Radio Networks, which syndicates the politically focused 'Rush Limbaugh Show,' issued a statement from Limbaugh Thursday saying: 'I am unaware of any investigation by any authority involving me. No government representative has contacted me directly or indirectly. If my assistance is required, I will, of course, cooperate fully.'"

Teens with rifle arrested in Farmington Hills

Absolute Beginner's Guide to Building Robots

Newsday.com - Girl, 2, OK After 3 Weeks Alone: "She cleared out the lower cabinets looking for food as well as the refrigerator,' Jacksonville sheriff's office spokesman Ken Jefferson said."

DETROIT HEALTH CARE IN CRITICAL CONDITION: $50-million bailout not enough for DMC : "The health system has been in a perpetual state of cost-cutting since 1997, when hospital consultants from the Hunter Group recommended a severe plan that slashed thousands of jobs from the payroll, closed a hospital and reduced or eliminated services. In the past year, DMC has sold six of its 10 primary care clinics, curtailed mental health and other services, frozen executive pay and pension contributions and cut payments to suppliers, among other things. "