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ABC Reporter Arrested in Denver Tracing the Money Trail

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

DNC and their lobbyist circumvent the "People's right to Know" who is giving what favors to whom?

Obama expected to address change in speech - CNN

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

Obama expected to address change in speech
CNN - 39 minutes ago
DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- The Democratic National Convention wraps up Thursday with the party's presidential nominee Illinois Sen. Barack Obama addressing about 75000 people at Invesco Field at Mile High.
Video: Biden Says Trust Obama's Judgement AssociatedPress
It's unanimous: Democrats nominate Obama by acclamation San Jose Mercury News
Newsday - Boston Globe - Baltimore Sun - Washington Post
all 10,106 news articles

Gustav nears Jamaica as New Orleans keeps watch - The Associated Press

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

The Associated Press

Gustav nears Jamaica as New Orleans keeps watch
The Associated Press - 1 hour ago
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Tropical Storm Gustav was heading toward Jamaica early Thursday while many miles away, residents in the New Orleans area watched it with a nervous eye.
Video: New Orleans Makes Evacuation Plan As Storm Nears AssociatedPress
Gustav Nears Jamaica as New Orleans Keeps Watch ABC News
Insurance Journal - Central Florida News 13| - WBBH - Tallahassee.com
all 4,836 news articles

Obitfilter: Del Martin

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

Del Martin, with her partner Phyllis Lyon, were pioneers in so many fields that it's hard to do justice to all of it in one post.
In 1955, the two of them, with four friends, founded the Daughters of Bilitis, the first major lesbian rights organization in the country. They fought for lesbian inclusion and visibility in the National Organization of Women (NOW). Del founded battered women's shelters, LGBT political groups, and spoke out on many social justice issues. Most recently, Del and Phyllis were the first queer couple to get legally married in San Francisco, reprising their role from 2004. Among the many honors given them, perhaps the best was naming the local women's health clinic after them: the Lyon-Martin Health Center, where I got my health care in my first few uninsured years here in the city.

She died earlier today, with her partner by her side. From her obituary:

"Del Martin identified her own legacy in 1984 when she said that her most important contribution was "being able to help make changes in the way lesbians and gay men view themselves and how the larger society views lesbians and gay men." She had the courage to be true to herself when the world offered only condemnation for lesbians. Martin showed all of us how to have what she called “self-acceptance and a good sense of my own self-worth.” Del Martin never backed down from her insistence on full equality for all people and, even at 87 years old, she kept moving all of us closer to her ideal."

She and Phyllis managed to be heroes and pioneers for every generation, from the 50's to today. The world is a little quieter without her.

Dealing with Difficult People | ThinkSimpleNow.com

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

Photographing the science museum

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

Photographer Meera Sethi has written a nice essay about taking photos in science museums. Sethi is part of Utata, a collective of photographers who met via Flickr. Indeed, be sure to check out Sethi's "Muse" science museum photo set on Flickr. (Seen here, "Together Forever," taken at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.) From "Photographing the Science Museum":

Is there anyone who doesn't feel a certain frisson of excitement when they see something organic preserved in a glass jar? I don't know exactly what it is, but I suspect it might have something to do with certain cultural associations we all carry around in our heads, some strange common currency that comes from years of watching mad scientist movies late at night.That might be me in there, I find myself thinking. If some other intellectually curious species with opposable thumbs and access to the secrets of chemistry had come to dominate the planet instead of my own, that might be my shriveled body all scrunched up in there—my brain at whose familiar whorls some creature with a purple exoskeleton would now be leering through the glass, wondering how on earth it could be so very...grey.

Mostly, though, what I love about standing in front of these heavy jars is how much easier they make it to observe the world I love so much, in close detail. Time pauses, temporarily. The barriers between me and the mysteries of this earth fall, temporarily. Nothing else matters except looking, and everything about the place where I am is designed to make it easier to look—and to see. I see that this barnacle has claws like a dragon's. I see that these spiders have legs like sharp needles. I see that this frog has approximately six times as many organs inside its torso as I would have thought it had room for. I try to look as much as I can, and when I have looked until I have seen, I take out my camera.

Photographing the Science Museum (Utata, via Eastern Blot)

A quick and dirty Japanese humor tutorial

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

Japanese humor is slowly but surely infiltrating mainstream media in the US. Fake Japanese game shows on ABC, human Tetris on Fox, the YouTube video of the guy that shoots out of a toilet stall into a ski slope... as someone who grew up in Tokyo watching Japanese variety shows every night, though, I have to say that the US adaptations don't really get it.

Previously, I explained why I thought I Survived a Japanese Game Show doesn't work on my blog. I also wrote this little blurb explaining why:

The host of a real Japanese game show is a politically incorrect, sarcastic man who revels in mild forms of torture and isn't afraid to smack a woman on the head. (The feminist in me battles the light-hearted Japanese humoree every time I watch one.) The contestants are stoic, and driven by the determination not to make a fool of themselves and the desire to win money and/or fame. The show's creators are constantly upping the ante, forcing contestants into grueling, sometimes life-threatening situations. A panel of yappy celebrity commentators and on-screen subtitles emphasize LOL moments and onomatopoeia. And, perhaps most importantly, the show can't be overproduced—it's the barebones "variety"-style set-up that has allowed the Japanese game show to survive and thrive for decades.
(In one famously controversial show, an aspiring comedian named Nasubi was locked naked in an empty apartment and forced to live on winnings from magazine sweepstakes until he earned $10,000. When he finally reached his goal 14 months later, the show's producers gave him some clothes, blindfolded him, and took him on a surprise vacation to South Korea, where he was locked in yet another apartment until he won enough money to buy a plane ticket home. While some vehemently opposed the show, most watched it religiously with delightful horror and amusement. Nasubi wrote a best-selling book about his experience and later became a successful stage actor.)
It's the type of comedy that only works in a culture where lawsuits don't take precedent over a nationwide commitment to make fun and have fun.

In a nutshell, a real funny Japanese TV show will have you thinking, over and over:

This is embarrassing to watch.
This is so wrong.
I'm so glad that's not me.
This is f-ing hilarious.

The above clip is from one of iconic 80s comedian Ken Shimura's many variety shows. Every Japanese person over the age of 25 probably knows it.

( Lisa Katayama is a guest blogger.)

Clinton Debunks Claims She De-Spitzerized Her Campaign Site

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

New York Democrat Hillary Clinton campaign's Fact Hub website squashes accusations against the senator both in print and online.

IcedTea's OpenJDK Passes Java Test Compatibility Kit

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

emyar writes "At JavaOne in May, 2006, Sun Microsystems announced they were going to release Java as free software under the terms of the GPL. The size of the task (6.5 million lines of code) was only eclipsed by the size of the opportunity for Java as a free and open technology. [...] This week the IcedTea Project reached an important milestone — The latest OpenJDK binary included in Fedora 9 (x86 and x86_64) passes the rigorous Java Test Compatibility Kit (TCK). This means that it provides all the required Java APIs and behaves like any other Java SE 6 implementation — in keeping with the portability goal of the Java platform."

Mac Cloner Psystar Ships First Service Pack

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

Preedit writes "Not only is Mac clone maker Psystar continuing to defy Apple's ban on third-party Leopard installations, it's supporting the hardware with updates. Psystar Mac clones shipped as of Monday will include a 'service pack' that features fixes for a range of problems, some of them inherent in Apple's own software, according to InformationWeek. The fixes address a range of troubles, from glitches in Apple's Time Machine backup feature to quirks in the Keyboard Viewer and Character Palette entries in Leopard's system preferences menu. There's also support for the latest version of Java and other updates. According to the story, by offering a full menu of support, Psystar appears to be daring Apple to attempt to enforce provisions in the Leopard license agreement that forbid third-party installations and sales." We've been discussing Psystar clones for a while.

8 Eye-Opening Movies To Remind You That Your Life Isn&039;t So Bad | AlwaysWatching.org

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

10 Cool Office Desk Security Gadgets

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

Buffy MMO Announced, Firefly MMO Delayed

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

Zonk brings word that Multiverse, the developer who in 2006 acquired the rights to make a Firefly-based MMO, has announced that a Buffy: The Vampire Slayer MMO is now under development. An interview with Corey Bridges from Multiverse seems to indicate that the Firefly MMO, though delayed, is not dead. He also provides a few details on what the Buffy game will be like. Quoting: "What we're doing with the Buffy game then is releasing it in stages. It will first be a flash-based virtual world, with the full Multiverse server behind it. ... So it will start as a 2D flash-based MMO where you can go on missions and interact with other players. This will extend even once we have the 3D client working, where you can both interact with players using the other point of view. We're going to have these shared spaces where 2D and 3D people can interact. All of this will come out in phases, with staged gameplay coming out. We're sort of blazing a path with this concept, and we're really interested in what this might mean for players of the two versions. ... I'd love to get [a public beta] out to players by the end of the year."

McCain offers policies in acceptance speech

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

Sen. John McCain gave his acceptance speech as the Republican presidential nominee Thursday night. Here is a look at what McCain said he would do, if elected, about a variety of topics:

McCain vows to end partisan rancor in Washington (AP)

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

AP - John McCain, a POW turned political rebel, vowed Thursday night to vanquish the "constant partisan rancor" plaguing the nation as he launched his fall campaign for the White House. "Change is coming" to Washington, he promised the Republican National Convention.

McCain Speech Interrupted by Iraq Vet Heckler

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

John McCain's acceptance speech got off to a rocky start on Thursday night when, on three separate occasions, he was interrupted by protesters, twice by the liberal group Code Pink and again by a Ron Paul supporter with the group Iraq Veterans Against the War.

How to survive your first college roommate

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

If the separation anxiety isn't enough, teens headed to university have to face a scary fact: They've got no choice in a first-year college roommate. But that doesn't have to spell dorm doom, according to a study from University of Michigan researchers.

Their culture goes to eleven

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

Our editorial slant is big tent right-of-center -- as open-minded about what we publish as The New Republic, The New Yorker or The New York Times Magazine, but on the center-right rather than the center-left. A new conservative online magazine and community, Culture11, quietly debuted on Wednesday.
A job listing for freelance writers appeared in June, giving the magazine's name as "Liberty Wire." Bill Bennett and Steve Forbes are known to be involved, but it appears that CEO David Kuo and managing editor Joe Carter will be doing most of the heavy lifting.

100 Million Green Facts You Didn’t Know About Junk Mail

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

100 Million Trees Are Cut Each Year to Generate Junk Mail. A report by ForestEthics, the nonprofit environmental organization whose mission is to protect endangered forests, has made a very startling revelation: that there are 100 million green reasons why junk mail are an annoying intrusion.

Biden Wins Veepstakes!

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

VP newsfilter (because someone’s got to do it) The Times just confirmed that the Obama Campaign has chosen Delaware’s 65-year-old Senator Joe Biden as the presumptive nominee’s Vice Presidential running mate. With decades of foreign policy experience (including a recent stint in war-torn Georgia), and as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, can Biden help pull the ticket out of a neck and neck tie with Senator John McCain
Biden twice underwent surgery for brain aneurysms in 1988. He fully recovered.

Oh yeah, he's also been called a gaff machine.

While David Brooks is in favor, some other dude is not

"He was just another Joe, Bidin' his time...."

Brazil defeats US 3-1 for volleyball gold

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

Brazil has won its first gold medal in women's volleyball, ending the United States' dramatic run.

Barak Obama, Hindi filmi star

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

Barak OBollywood is a Hindi-film-style music video starring remixed footage of Barak Obama, cleverly cut so that he appears to be singing along. I dont know if the lyrics are political at all -- that would be extra credit, for sure. Link (via Neatorama)

Pressure Increases on Israeli PM

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert suffered another blow Thursday when a key rival for power in his political party suggested the embattled leader should be replaced because of a widening corruption investigation

[Strange] Don't stick a pin in that bubble just yet -- more than 50 people are currently camping out in North Mesa for the opportunity to buy a home

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

AZCentral

Robot trained to pick up lamps, eggs

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

Delicate movements by robots are fairly difficult. After all, most robots are made of milled metals and death-dealing neutronium, so you can’t really pick up “egg or an electric lamp"

Sudan holds 2 in U.S. diplomat's killing

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

Sudanese security forces arrested two suspects in the murder of a U.S. diplomat Saturday, the official state news agency announced.

Oklahoma Says Use Insect Repellants Against West Nile - eMaxHealth.com

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

NY1

Oklahoma Says Use Insect Repellants Against West Nile
eMaxHealth.com - 44 minutes ago
The Oklahoma State Department of Health advises use of insect repellants to protect against mosquitoes and West Nile Disease - particularly those containing DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus [p-menthane 3,8-diol (PMD) or IR 3535] - when enjoying ...
West Nile virus hits 8 people in the US Food Consumer
Mosquitoes Continue to Spread West Nile Virus eFluxMedia
Minneapolis Star Tribune - ScienceMode - AXcess News - Appeal-Democrat
all 255 news articles

Kimberly-Clark 2Q profit falls 10 percent

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

Kimberly-Clark says its second-quarter profit fell 10 percent, confirming pre-released results that showed it had been hurt by rising gas and distribution costs.

Judge OKs custody plan for girls of slain NC woman

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

The two young daughters of a woman slain in North Carolina will remain with her parents in Canada but visit their father at least twice in coming months.

Striking Hollywood Writers Vent Online

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:30:59 -0500

You can put Hollywood writers on strike, but you can't take the keyboard out of their hands.