] This is what the Earth looks like at night.

[ These pictures are increasingly easy to locate, but still always impress me. Very cool. -k]

APOD: 2004 August 22 - Earth at Night

] A software glitch that paralyzed the Mars "Spirit" rover
] earlier this year was caused by an unanticipated
] characteristic of a DOS file system, a NASA scientist
] said Monday.

That's what NASA gets for procrastinating on defragging the drive.

Yahoo! News - NASA: DOS Glitch Nearly Killed Mars Rover

Aluminium glass? Am I the only person who remembers that Star Trek IV (the one with the whales) made a bid deal about "transparent aluminium"? Beam me to the future!

] Scientists in the US have developed a novel technique to
] make bulk quantities of glass from alumina for the first
] time. Anatoly Rosenflanz and colleagues at 3M in
] Minnesota used a "flame-spray" technique to alloy alumina
] (aluminium oxide) with rare-earth metal oxides to produce
] strong glass with good optical properties. The method
] avoids many of the problems encountered in conventional
] glass forming and could, say the team, be extended to
] other oxides (A Rosenflanz et al. 2004 Nature 430 761).

[ Cool... -k]

PhysicsWeb - Glass breakthrough

I agree that filing with the FEC is the wrong approach. In my opinion, Kerry should bring up the Bush AWOL issue again. Where was Bush during those months in Alabama? For that matter, why didn't Bush volunteer to serve in Vietnam? It's amazing that the Republicans would voluntarily make an issue of Vietnam service, given Bush's history.

As Kerry keeps saying -- I love that it's become a trademark Kerry line, ironically criticizing Bush's initial use of it -- "Bring It On".

-----

] The John Kerry presidential campaign has filed a
] complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging
] the veterans' group behind an anti-Kerry TV ad was
] illegally coordinating its efforts with the Bush-Cheney
] campaign.

[ I don't think this is a good way to go, really. There doesn't seem to be enough hard evidence of collusion or coordination here to warrant it and it makes Kerry look like a whiner, which is a silly epithet, but people are fickle enough to vote based on things like that.

Kerry shouldn't be vulnerable on this issue, at least not against Bush, whose records are still incomplete, but running to the FEC like this will make some people think he's trying to unfairly silence his opponents free speech. I think it's gonna do more harm than good. -k]

Kerry campaign files FEC complaint against TV ads

] New overtime rules are mostly bad news for employees

This is a good short piece on the new overtime rules. The punchline: they're probably not good for you.

USATODAY.com - New overtime rules are mostly bad news for employees

Well, I've loved the Empire State Building for as long as I can remember, and my wife has become an expert on the nightly color changes. Oddly, many of these seem to be related to Jamaica.

The web site is also great.

Empire State Building: Official Internet Site

] A summary of what's in the major U.S. newspapers.

I can't recommend this news summary page enough. Every morning, Slate sums up the leading newspaper articles, with humor and critical thought.

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do By Sam Schechner

What amazes me is that it's the second time it's been stolen in ten years. It feels like they just recovered it from the first time. Maybe it's the "Scream Movies" that made it so popular. This would be much cooler if the thieves had worn scream masks.

] OSLO, Norway (CNN) -- Armed robbers Sunday stole two
] paintings by Edvard Munch, including "The Scream," as
] aghast museum-goers watched.
]
] Authorities found the getaway car and the frames that the
] paintings had been held in, and are using video footage
] of the robbery in an effort to track down the thieves,
] police said.

While I truly hate this painting, it sucks for the museum to lose such a large exibit.

Armed robbers steal 'The Scream'

This is a good blog host. It makes heavy use of moderation and ranking based on number of views.

JoeUser.com - JoeUser.com: blogs from the average joe

] Former Republican Sen. Bob Dole suggested Sunday that
] John Kerry (news - web sites) apologize for past
] testimony before Congress about alleged atrocities during
] the Vietnam War and joined critics of the Democratic
] presidential candidate who say he received an early exit
] from combat for "superficial wounds."

This is pretty slimy of Dole. The Republicans would have screamed had the Democrats questions Dole's heroism, in '96.

Yahoo! News - Dole Questions Kerry's Vietnam Wounds