There’s a great site about propaganda with step-by-step examples and small experiments to help you start approaching information with a healthy amount of skepticism. In order to be objective, you should have the same amount of skepticism for, and requirements for proof for all sources, regardless of whether you agree with the information or not. However, simply doubting everything you hear, regardless of facts, is also wrong (not to mention lazy).

I highly recommend this site because it spells... [More]

The Segway motored into America’s heart this week. It’s a people-mover that runs on electricity. Ars Technica has a good summary in IT revealed (IT was a former code name for the device).

Everything Isn’t Under Control published a pretty funny “Diary of the First Segway Owner”. It’s the post from 12:17AM on December 4, 2001 (about 2/3 of the way down the page).

This news is somewhat old, but several people I’ve talked to recently had never heard of it, so I’ve collected the unfolding(ed) story. On November 20, 2001, MSNBC reported that FBI software cracks encryption wall. The title is misleading, since the FBI hasn’t cracked any encryption schemes. The article deals with the ‘Magic Lantern’, which is the FBI’s cutesy name for a computer virus they wrote that installs key-logging software onto a suspect’s computer.

Key-logging software runs in the... [More]

The earthli Christmas theme has arrived. It’s not as ostentatious (or musical) as some have requested, but hopefully it’s ready early enough for those who get into the spirit early. It isn’t the default yet (earthli does not get into the spirit early), but you can choose it from the list.

earthli Themes now have their own screenshots, making it even easier to choose how you want to browse the web…and, yes, a Christmas theme is coming.

The Register writes that initial reports of a bizarre Japanese video game are most likely not a hoax. The game is called Boon-Ga Boon-Ga. From the product brochure:

<q>Select from 8 characters to spank. When you spank the character that you chose, the cards will be shuffled. After detecting your power with a sensor, a card will come out. It will explain your sexual behavior.</q>

It has to be seen to be believed.

If you want to know what ‘Boon-Ga Boon-Ga’ means, you’d best ask a construction... [More]

How was ‘Black Friday’ for you? Mark Morford takes an amusing look at shopping in Red, White And Banana Republic.

<q>Tis apparently the season that right about this time a decidedly bitter and lugubrious media offers up the murky declaration that Thanksgiving weekend retail sales were not quite the all-out mind-blowing ass-spanking high-fiving wallet- draining Visa-maxing orgiastic bonanza retailers had hoped and man oh man aren’t you the guilty one, oh heartless unspending consumer.</q>
... [More]

With cloning in the news lately, SatireWire warns about an ominous future in Human Embryo Cloned: Can “Chain” Stores, “Subdivisions,” be far behind?

<q>… a world populated by clones would be totally unrecognizable to us — a macabre, doppleganger environment in which the like-minded inhabitants shop at cookie-cutter “chain” stores, apishly watch television shows patterned after the same theme, and even run their computers with the same operating system.</q>

Mark Morford envisions the same... [More]

Have you ever played with one of those soundboards? The kind that lets you hit a bunch of buttons and start to mix sounds together, all layered on top of each other? Well, here’s a special one that uses only Samuel L. Jackson movie quotes. I find it quite cathartic.

The other toy is an animation of a skeleton that lets you control the animation yourself. Not really useful, but it’s an amazing bit of work in Flash.

Boeing isn’t doing as badly as their massive layoffs (90,000) would lead you to believe. Sure, Lockheed Martin got the HUGE Joint Strike Fighter contract a few weeks ago, but Boeing’s lining up some pretty sweet deals for itself as well, which include:

<q>The plan to lease 100 converted Boeing 767 air refueling aircraft for a period of 10 years has all the hallmarks of an even bigger boondoggle. The Office of Management and Budget estimates that the lease plan would cost $22 billion, while... [More]

Chomsky gave another (long) talk in India on November 10, 2001 (found at FrontLine − The Hindu). In it, he discusses globalization, Western hegemony, militarization of space, state-supported corporations and other topics he’s discussed before. Some will be familiar, but most of the material is discussed in considerable depth and there is even the spark of occasional emotion (instead of the jaded seeming-complacency that some find so off-putting about him). There’s much focus on the current... [More]

The Moscow Times published Global Eye — A Thirsty Evil that asks the question everyone should consider:

<q>‘40 to 50 countries’ targeted for possible “U.S. action,” according to America’s securely-located vice president, Dick “Chicken Hawk” Cheney.</q>

They propose a simple test:

<q>Have you ever gone out for a beer and bought a Stella Artois instead of a Bud? Then you, my friend, have engaged in a conspiracy to cause “adverse effects” to the economy of the United States. And that makes... [More]

The Photo Albums have re-opened with many new features, including nested albums, comments, enhanced security, an explorer, an updated calendar and better navigation for browsing sets of pictures.

Rewrote the Quake site to use the earthli settings. Much re-organization, but no new content. The original quake style sheet is now available as an earthli color scheme − ‘Quake’.

Looks like the war on terror will need some modifications to the U.S. court system to remove inconveniences that might result in a not-guilty verdict. Enter military tribunals.

<q>The tribunals Mr. Bush envisions are a breathtaking departure from due process. He alone will decide who should come before these courts. The military prosecutors and judges who determine the fate of defendants will all report to him as commander in chief. Cases can be heard in secret. Hearsay, and evidence that... [More]

Lynne Cheney, the Vice President Dick Cheney’s wife is doing her part for the war effort. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni, which she founded, has come out with a report (PDF Format) called Defending Civilization: How Our Universities Are Failing America and What Can Be Done About It, which contains over 100 quotes from university professors which are deemed unpatriotic. There’s an article called Conservatives Denounce Dissent at Common Dreams and a discussion at Plastic (once... [More]

I’ve caved in to user demand (that’s right, 1 user) and gone seasonal again. Enjoy the Thanksgiving theme. (if you don’t use [default] colors, then choose it from the settings menus.)

Basically, if this ‘War on Terror’ is so simple, why the need for spin? AlterNet published Why Bush Needs to Spin the War. The basic issues of current events are being dictated to us in a fashion suitable for kindergartners. How many people are sick of the word ‘evildoers’? In the same vein, The Newsday has an opinion piece discussing the increasing involvement of ad execs and Hollywood in the PR campaign for this war.

From the Online Journal comes a piece called The Greatest Sedition is... [More]

There are two announcements from the last couple of days that nicely dovetail. The first is form Microsoft:

Microsoft has admitted (though not very publicly) that IE has another easily-exploitable hole in its cookie security that allows:

<q>A malicious web site with a malformed URL could read the contents of a user’s cookie which might contain personal information. In addition, it is possible to alter the contents of the cookie. This URL could be hosted on a web page or contained in an... [More]

SFGate reports that a federal appeals court has determined that the $5 Billion punitive damages levied against Exxon for the Valdez disaster are “excessive”.

<q>Exxon, which later merged with Mobil, argued that it shouldn’t have to pay any punitive damages. The oil giant said it learned its lesson and spent more than $3 billion cleaning up the Prince William Sound area and to settle federal and state lawsuits. … R.J. Kopchak, 52, a fisherman in Cordova near the oil spill, said there are no... [More]

Here’s some new products (1 − 2) that are both excellent Christmas presents and a sound investment. Are they real? Are they fake? You figure it out.

Mark Morford, of SF Gate has published Evil Evildoers of Evil: How to feel calmly patriotic and yet not be slightly reassured by Bush & Co..

<q>There is more than one way to respond to the horror of Sept. 11. And there is more than one kind of patriotism. We forget this. … Pro-America does not mean pro-war. Or pro-Bush. Or anti-Afghanistan. Or pro-little-flags-on-SUV-antennas. … It means thinking independently and getting better informed and filtering your news very carefully and realizing... [More]

SatireWire published So Now God Takes an Interest In Answering New York’s Prayers? about the apparent uneven attention paid to the doling out of miracles in the NY area.

Wired reports that there’s a relatively gaping hole in the Microsoft’s Passport service. This service holds all of a user’s personal information and can also hold credit card and financial information. It’s being touted as a keyring for the Internet, kept secure by Microsoft. If you have a HotMail account, you have a PassPort (it may or may not have your credit card information, though). However:

<q>In a demonstration of the exploit earlier this week, Slemko sent Wired News a specially crafted... [More]

<q>In the year of the new century and nine months, From the sky will come a great King of Terror… The sky will burn at forty-five degrees. Fire approaches the great new city…</q>

<q>In the city of york there will be a great collapse, two twin brothers torn apart by chaos while the fortress falls the great leader will succumb.</q>

<q>Third big war will begin when the big city is burning</q>

I’ve found a page debunking this Nostradamus quatrain being sent around. Apparently, it originated... [More]

Salman Rushdie (yes, that one) writes Yes, This is About Islam, also in the New York Times. It talks about the need for reform in the Muslim world, particularly because those speaking most stridently for Islam are ignorant proponents of a “cluster of customs, opinions and prejudices…” rather than true religious leaders.

<q>An Iraqi writer quotes an earlier Iraqi satirist: “The disease that is in us, is from us.” A British Muslim writes, “Islam has become its own enemy.” A Lebanese friend,... [More]

Here’s a scary article from Thomas Friedman on the New York Times. He discusses how the U.S. needs to spin the war better because there’s too much dissent.

<q>[A] month into the war in Afghanistan, the hand-wringing has already begun over how long this might last. Let’s all take a deep breath and repeat after me: Give war a chance. This is Afghanistan we’re talking about. Check the map. It’s far away.</q>

So, the government isn’t doing enough to convince of the righteousness of the cause. In... [More]

Common Dreams published The One-Eyed Man, discussing the recent enormous “economic stimulus” bill passed this week. The article is so named because:

<q>to really understand legislation you have to look for the clause giving special consideration to one-eyed bearded men with a limp &#8212; that is, you have to look for the provision that turns a bill ostensibly serving a public purpose into a giveaway for some special interest.</q>

For more information on the bill, see Operation Enduring... [More]

[default] options added to earthli settings, which will use the default at all times, and changes for holidays ;-). Also fixed some bugs in the cookie that only Mozilla-based browsers detected.

The Jass Manual has been converted to use the new settings.