June 2004
<< May 2004 | July 2004 >>
American Jews are increasingly organised in dissent from AIPAC -
Nation
Machu Picchu is in danger from tourism and natural disasters -
Guardian
Iraq has sovereignty, but its judges have no power -
FT [via Atrios]"Under laws introduced by the coalition, possessing illegal weapons carries a minimum sentence of 30 years"
Celsius -155.927/9?
they retitle enough books for no obvious reason...
the Whiskey Bar is turning into a bottle shop -
Billmon
US ignorance cripples Middle East policy -
UCLA [via Informed]the ideologues in government have ignored those who know the region best
Parry nukes Hitchens' attack on Moore's film -
HollywoodBitchSlap [via Kos]Fahrenheit 9/11 doens't open for another month in Australia
the descent of the testicle -
Pharyngula [via Panda]analysing the phylogenetic distribution of scrota
evidence for farming as far back as 23,000 years ago -
BBC [via ProRev]diets were much broader during these times than previously thought: "We can say that such dietary breadth was never seen again in the Levant"
Mattel loses Barbie case, wears costs -
Guardianno copyright infringment by "photographer who posed Barbie dolls naked in suggestive positions in or around household appliances"
South America once had aquatic sloths -
corante [via Panda]"the sloths alive today are just a vestige of a once-grand menagerie that lived in the Americas"
Berlusconi's Forza Italia loses control of its Milan power base -
Yahoo
the US pharmceutical industry is due for fundamental reform -
NYROB
South Korea tries totalitarian Net censorship -
Farthey've disabled access to blog servers to prevent viewing of the Kim Son-il beheading
a Pacific Porn League? Australia, Niue + Tonga in the top 10 -
Registerbut I think most of those .au domains will be hosted outside Australia
why tonal music is easier to listen to -
Nature [via Panda]
no attention is paid to George Orwell's birthplace -
IndiaTimes [via CR]which may be how he'd have preferred it...
US bases in Iraq are worlds in themselves -
Toronto [via AntiWar]
clueless kids with RPGs, mortars, and AK47s -
Guardianthe Iraqi resistance is not all well-trained, highly motivated fanatics
loony creationists taking over failing UK state schools? -
Economist"both existing Vardy schools exclude Harry Potter books from their libraries"
an Irish journalist interviews Bush -
Whitehouse [via Billmon]it seems real questions don't go down so well
Beowulf in Kamishibais (story boards) -
gretchenle [via Far]
fascinating sounding book on the origins of mounted warfare -
Early Riders [Amazon]I've requested a review copy
Naomi Klein on corruption and waste in Iraq -
Guardian
should Irish be an official language of the EU? -
CT
Star Trek, 7 of 9, and Democrat control of the US Senate -
Informed
some way yet to go for wireless recharging -
Economist
the UK and US planned terrorism against Iran in 1953 -
Yahoodoes anyone really think they'll ever tolerate an independent democratic Iraq?
US prisons in Afghanistan -
Guardian"Abu Ghraib is not an isolated occasion of rogue junior soldiers ... but part of a strategy that was in place long before the invasion of Iraq"
more about Saddam the novelist -
Prospect [via CR] -
Zabiba and the King [Amazon]"it is surprising Saddam chose the novel at all, as in wider Islamic culture it is the poet who is most revered"
an interview with Anonymous, author of
Imperial Hubris -
MSNBC [via AntiWar]"It's not a hatred of us as a society, it's a hatred of our policies"... but the US needs to be more violent, to undertake "a Sherman-like razing of infrastructure"... but "the war in Iraq was bin Laden's dream come true"
a list of Britain's top 100 public intellectuals highlights changes -
Prospect [via CR]
an audio CD that installs a virus on computers?! -
Registerautorun.inf installs copy prevention code
a solstice image of the active Sun -
APOD
soldiers' photographs describe service in Hebron -
Independent
poll shows frightening support for apartheid in Israel -
Haaretz [via ProRev]45% of Jewish Israelis think Arab Israelis should be denied the right to vote
myths of the Pilgrim founding of New England -
ProRev
"Tony Blair is no Gertrude Bell" -
Guardian"nearly 80 years after her death most Iraqis still regard Gertrude Bell with affection"
poor working conditions in the Indian shipbreaking industry -
Guardian
details of a small-scale spammer's operations -
zenger.nl [via /.]
Eats, Shoots & Leaves is full of grammatical errors -
New Yorker [via Lang]
Iran takes over the Royal Navy -
Guardian
US Federal courts are moving systems to Linux -
LJ
most published books go nowhere -
Independent [via CR]"for most young hopefuls, that exciting first book deal will spell heartbreak rather than happiness"
book reviewer and employee #55 for Amazon writes book -
WklyStd [via CR] -
Amazon
Anglican bishop recants support for Australia's war on Iraq -
Age [via AntiWar]it was "just another war", not a just war
feral wallabies in Scotland?! -
SMH"over the years many wallabies have escaped parks to make a life in the rugged highlands"
proof of the Saddam Hussein-Osama bin Laden link -
DU [via SideS]
ramped up port security for Sydney -
SMH
the Green Zone in Baghdad is like an open prison -
Independent [via ProRev]"The CPA may be the least successful organisation ever created by the US government."
Khalid Mohammed's information on the September 11 attacks -
USnews [via Agonist]
I'm still getting scores of these a day: German political spam -
Wiredone reason spam needs to be defined as bulk unsolicited mail, not as unsolicited commercial mail
new Iraqi security apparatus wants "more brutal laws" -
Billmonis the US returning to its traditional foreign policy, backing local thugs?
an interview with Juan Cole about Iraq -
Asia
a rant on female sexism -
ginmar
Israel considers a Gaza moat -
Guardian"to stop Palestinians smuggling weapons and cigarettes" -- what's the big deal about the cigarettes?!?
Cory Doctorow tries to talk Microsoft out of DRM -
craphound [via /.]
community colleges contrasted with four-year schools (in the US) -
WP [via ProRev]I've never understood this before: in Australia we have one university system, though some are more prestigious than others
I've discovered there's a lens adapter for my camera -
bugeyeI'm thinking about buying that, some wide-angle and close-up lenses, and maybe a polarizing filter...
...or should I just wait and buy a digital SLR when they get cheaper?
desalination replaces north->south water diversion in Spain -
Guardian
Indian lesbian film has Hindu hardliners in a tizzy -
Guardian
sounds useful: The Eater's Guide to Chinese Characters -
Amazon [via Lang]Cantonese pronunciations would be most useful in Australia
censorship and the WWII balloon bombing of the US by Japan -
Slate [via /.]"from late 1944 the Japanese launched 9,000 balloons from their eastern shores... armed with incendiary and antipersonnel bombs"
a summary of Levine's psychological analysis of Bush... -
Billmon
... and a critique of Frank's psychoanalysis -
Otters
an interview with Primo Levi on his return to Auschwitz in 1982 -
inch -
my reviews
Hitchens tells us to prepare for the worst of Abu Ghraib -
Slate [via RtoS]"Yes, but what about the ticking bomb? Listen: There's always going to be a ticking bomb somewhere."
Bush senior disagrees with junior over the Iraq war -
CHB [via AntiWar]"George H.W. Bush is a pro. He makes sure the facts are on his side before he moves."
zombies versus the power system -
StraightDope [via JWZ]how long would electrical power last without people?
bird intelligence: Attenborough's Life of Birds -
PBS [via JWalk]"The complexities of living together require a higher level of intelligence. Corvids and parrots are highly social - and smart - animals."
too few troops to provide security in Afghanistan -
Economist
building the Wall through a monastery -
EI
Ronald Reagan, George Carlin and violence against women -
ginmar -
part 1.5
a procedural ruling in US Pledge case leaves central issue undecided -
Guardian
Geoffrey Pullum is not impressed by dog language claims -
Lang"sick of crappy brain-dead reports by moron journalists about completely fictional animal communicative abilities"
photos from a bushwalk -
Royal National Parkwe saw whales, eagles and kestrels, but the photos are of cliffs and rock formations
Sydney is now the 20th most expensive city worldwide -
ABCbut if you own real estate it's not so bad
"targetted" airstrikes in Iraq war scored 0/50, only killing civilians -
Guardian"smart" bombs don't help if your intelligence is fucked
Amal al-Mudarris is Iraq's talk-back radio star -
Guardian [via AntiWar]
coffee giant avoids taxes in poor countries -
Guardian"a supplier of Nescafé and Maxwell House is accused of avoiding tax payments to the developing countries from which it buys."
useful battery information -
BatteryUni [via JWalk]I should store my digital camera batteries in the fridge, at about 40% charge
favourable results are cherry-picked from clinical trials -
NZ Herald"Scientists are supposed to specify their main objectives before beginning a trial, to protect against selective reporting."
lights on city skyscrapers can kill migrating birds -
ABC
2,232 characters now legal in Japanese names -
Guardian
Elsevier good for shareholders, not so good for science -
Nature"the business model of commercial publishing now threatens to undermine and pervert the course of research and teaching"
open source for biotechnology? -
Economist [via /.]"Surely someone, somewhere can propose something snappier [than] 'non-proprietary peer-production of information-embedding goods'"
hatred, fear and mistrust now dominate Iraq -
back2iraq
how stands
Ulysses? -
Reason [via CR]"The book's academic reputation waxes and (at the present time) wanes, but its more durable appeal among fans is largely a DIY phenomenon."
the First Amendment lives: webmaster acquitted of terrorism charges -
Boise [via /.]juror: "I was surprised to learn that people could say whatever they want, providing it would not cause imminent action."
Brazil flexes its muscles -
Economist"It is a small force, but of huge symbolic significance. This month, 1,200 Brazilian troops arrived in Haiti"
if you're buying books from Amazon... -
my affiliate page(Thank you to anyone who's been supporting me this way - due to Amazon's strange incentive scheme, I get an exceptional commission on any new items that ship before June 30th.)
the "we only use 10% of the brain" myth debunked and tracked -
SciAm
terrorism and torture under the Reagan administration -
FFF [via AntiWar]
possible consequences of US failure in Iraq -
DailyStar [via AntiWar]
stories of Japanese Americans working as WWII translators -
Far -
JAVA
SUVs may be banned from Paris and London city centres -
Guardian
the case against 'dirty bomber' Jose Padilla comes apart -
MSNBC [via Atrios]"Justice Department lawyers fear a crushing defeat before the U.S. Supreme Court in the next few weeks"
the SMH and Age are now requiring registration -
SMHtwo more sources I won't be linking to, sigh
the Peak Oil pessimists picture a bleak future -
BBC [via ProRev]
genocide
now in the Sudan, but no one really cares -
Lang
Iraq CPA staffed by Republican yuppies with no experience -
WP [via MSpeak]
the US bans al-Sadr from standing in Iraqi elections for three years -
Guardianan interesting accompaniment to the handover of "sovereignty"
Predator has died of cancer at 33: he blogged his dying -
Indy [obituary] -
CAT [blog]"though wise men at their end know dark is right"
Among the Settlers: Israel in Palestine -
New Yorker [via AntiWar]a long piece, meeting a broad and diverse range of people
the origins of Southeast Asian country names -
UHpress [via Far]"The term 'Indonesia' was first used in 1850 by the British anthropologist J. R. Logan to designate islands called the 'Indian Archipelago' by others."
I saw the Venus transit, using binocs and a piece of paper -
venus-transitnot terribly dramatic, but still kind of cool
plastic is killing our oceans -
Wired [via JWalk]"Marine trash, mainly plastic, is killing more than a million seabirds and 100,000 mammals and sea turtles each year"
Jakob Nielsen is not happy with his six remote controls -
useit.com
5c/gallon petrol for Iraqis is not sustainable -
Yahoo"It's leading people to buy cars that aren't affordable at normal costs. It has to move toward real market prices as quickly as possible without instability."
Cockney and Cornish ducks have different quacks -
Guardian [via Reg]
J.G. Ballard's 1970 "Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan" -
univ-perp [via K5]a truly bizarre psycho-sexual collage
Martha Gellhorn's report on the 1961/62 Eichmann trial -
Atlantic
British Telecom to block access to child porn web sites -
Observer [via Link]no mention of any public oversight, and it seems users won't be informed why their HTTP requests are failing...
Soros compared with the Reverend Moon -
Gorenfeld [via Atrios]which of them is the bigger threat to democracy?
David Kay: continuing belief in Iraqi WMD is "delusional" -
BBC [via AntiWar]"We simply got it wrong. Iraq was a dangerous country, Saddam was an evil man... But we were wrong in our estimation."
a classicist's take on Petersen's
Troy -
NYROB"The ancients, who were less apt than we are to confuse size with import, knew that an epic without a focus - without a single action, a coherent plot, a single terrible point to make - was just a very long poem."
no sex please, we're Japanese -
USAtoday [via ProRev]"Japanese men and women are finding relationships too messy, tiring and potentially humiliating to bother with anymore."
discussion of the Michael Gunn plagiarism case -
CT -
MLite
the Pope tells Bush off -
Guardianand Singapore's prime minister joins in
fixing the queues in Italy's post offices -
Guardian
a Manhattan sunset -
APOD
the state of trans-Atlantic relations -
Economist"Last year, American investment in Ireland alone (population 4m) was $4.7 billion, more than 2.5 times American investment in China (1.3 billion)"
which side of the road do they drive on? -
Brian Lucas [via JWalk]and everything else you wanted to know about transportation-handedness, worldwide
Bush intervenes in Australian politics -
SMHbut given Bush's popularity here, I'm really not sure this is going to help Howard
and now a massage from the Australian prime minister -
RtoS
Israeli soldiers speak about their experiences in Hebron -
Guardian
tapes of Enron traders
stealing fromarbitraging California -
CBS [via Kos]"gloating and praising each other as they helped bring on, and cash-in on, the power crisis"
Australian man charged under new anti-terror laws -
SMH"one count of collecting or making documents likely to facilitate terrorist acts"
Ilan Pappe vs Benny Morris: one man's history is another man's lie -
Haaretz
the Iranian army and air force shut down new airport -
Asia [via Agonist]part of the Revolutionary Guard's business dealings, or a hint at "possible militarization of the regime"
industrial equipment is being looted from Iraq -
Age [via ProRev]"at least 100 semi-trailers loaded with what is billed as scrap metal are streaming each day into Jordan"
why the fears of the eugenicists were unfounded -
Otters
Poles use spurious mathematics to bolster EU vote claim -
Naturethree countries with 1 million people each outvoting a country with 8 million is ok, but a country with 2 million outvoting one with 1 million is unfair...
the real history of samizdat -
Groklaw
solution of a 15112 node travelling salesman problem (in 2001) -
Princeton
Yudhoyono leads polls for Indonesian presidential election -
ChanNewsAsia
75% of Bush ads are attacks on Kerry -
ProRev
Amazon.de tries squeezing publishers even further -
Complete Review"It wouldn't surprise us if Amazon.com eventually becomes largely a middleman, rather than bothering with all those expensive warehouses"
<< May 2004 | July 2004 >>