] A practical joker has stirred up trouble by publishing a
] Japanese-to-English phrase book with incorrect
] definitions for every phrase!
]
] Now thousands of Japanese tourists who've painstakingly
] studied the bogus dictionary in preparation for trips to
] America are arriving on our shores only to encounter
] blank stares, hysterical laughter or even brutal beatings
] as soon as they open their mouths.
]
] "The man who compiled this dictionary clearly went out of
] his way to wreak havoc," says New York hotel concierge
] Jacqueline Porseman, who arranges tours for many VIP
] guests from Japan.
]
] "For instance, when the Japanese think they're asking
] 'Can you direct me to the rest room?' the book actually
] has them saying, 'Excuse me, may I caress your buttocks?'

Weekly World News is the real source. Entertaining nonetheless.

Yahoo! Top Stories - Bogus Dictionary Lands Tourists In Trouble!

] Diplomats from 191 countries meet this week in Geneva for
] the three-day United Nations World Summit on the
] Information Society. It's the occasion for The Helloworld
] Project to project thousands of 500-foot-high laser-light
] SMS messages onto the Geneva fountain.
]
] Internet users everywhere can post billboard thoughts
] almost instantly onto the fountain -- or onto the
] northern façade of New York's U.N. building, the face of
] a mountain in Rio de Janeiro or the front of a Bombay
] skyscraper.

It's like a sanctioned 2600 hack!

Go Tell It on the Mountain

check the recommendations list...

Number Ones by Michael Jackson

] We've previously noted that Comcast was testing the PVR
] waters, but it looks like the rollout will soon be going
] full-force.
]
] Comcast is saying that 90% of their customers (millions
] of people) will have access to this Motorola box by the
] end of next year, and this device will serve both HDTV
] and DVR functionality. The box looks like it can pause,
] rewind, and fast forward both regular TV and HDTV
] siganls, though recording appears to be confined to an
] analog MPEG encoder and I would assume DVR functionality
] will be limited to regular TV, not HDTV. The box has more
] outputs than I think anyone knows what to do with, so
] it'll be interesting to see how the hacking community
] takes to this box. It only has one tuner and records at
] one set compression level, so hopefully it'll be able to
] store signals digitally instead of having to recompress
] everything.

Finally.

Comcast set to roll out HDTV/DVR box | PVRblog

] High-performance motorcycle maker Ducati has long been
] famous for its well-designed, sexy bikes. Its latest line
] of concept models, styled after some of its classic
] designs from the Seventies, was shown recently for the
] first time at the Tokyo Auto Show. But are they what the
] customer is looking for? That's the question the
] company hopes a new low-cost strategy will answer. For
] the first time, the company is turning to its website,
] www.ducati.com, to gather customer feedback. Ducati hopes
] to both improve on the designs, as well as get detailed
] information on what the customer is looking for - even
] how much they would pay - before the bikes go into
] production. Says Michael Lock, CEO of Ducati North
] America: "Ducati is very much interested in hearing
] what people think before we bring this kind of machines
] to market. And we've got to be open to changing
] things they don't like." On the following
] pages, a closer look at the three SportClassic models:
] The GT 1000, the Sport 1000, and the PaulSmart 1000.

Just for you Scott.

Fortune.com - A New Concept 

] China's first manned space flight in October and its talk
] of a future landing on the Moon within the next two
] decades may end up being the spark to re-ignite the U.S.
] space program.

Thank GOD for Chinas space program.

U.S. eyes return to the Moon

] The two chief planners of September 11th have confessed,
] and the records of their interrogations can now be used
] to paint a precise picture of the events leading up to
] the terrorist attack. Their statements also reveal how
] Osama Bin Laden personally selected the suicide pilots
] from Hamburg.

Cover Story: Operation Holy Tuesday - DER SPIEGEL - SPIEGEL ONLINE

] Like the babbling psychics who predict future crimes in
] Minority Report, Dick was a precog. Lurking within his
] amphetamine-fueled fictions are truths that have only to
] be found and decoded. In a 1978 essay he wrote: "We live
] in a society in which spurious realities are manufactured
] by the media, by governments, by big corporations, by
] religious groups, political groups. I ask, in my writing,
] What is real? Because unceasingly we are bombarded with
] pseudorealities manufactured by very sophisticated people
] using very sophisticated electronic mechanisms. I do not
] distrust their motives. I distrust their power. It is an
] astonishing power: that of creating whole universes,
] universes of the mind. I ought to know. I do the same
] thing."

An interesting article about the proliferation of Dickian tales in modern society. I'm amazed at how he was so right (mood organ anyone?) and other sci-fi greats such as Clark and Bradbury were so wrong (ahem... 2010...). Proof positive that you can see the future. Which makes me feel much better in some ways and much worse in others.

The Second Coming of Philip K. Dick

] Gregory Allen Freeman, 45, was charged with aggravated
] assault and reckless endangerment in the Saturday night
] incident that wounded Jeffery S. Murr, 24.

Next time, aim lower.

This always cracked me up whenever Saddam Hussein would fire into the air. I always wondered how many innocent people were injured by the falling bullets.

Participant at KKK initiation wounded after shots fired into sky

] Fans, choose the starters for the 2004 NHL All-Star Game!

Don't forget to VOTE!!!

2004 NHL All-Stars