] Said Steiner, "If the blonds and blue-eyed people die
] out, the human race will become increasingly dense ...
] Blond hair actually bestows intelligence."

So it is no wonder why I take a performance hit whenever I have my hair cut. And I was thinking of getting rid of it... Silly me.

Interesting article on an alternative school philosophy; having been to several schools run by alternative philosophies, this made me thankful for the environments I actually ended up in. The Quaker running my elementary school may have shared some media-minimal aspects with Waldorf, but tolerance was principle number one, and I doubt folks would argue with that.

Salon.com Life | What's Waldorf?

] Hunter S. Thompson's ESPN column was scrubbed of
] controversy late Monday afternoon when online editors
] worried the famed gonzo journalist had gone too far.

HST has a way with words. Specifically, "Not even the foulest atrocities of Adolf Hitler ever shocked me so badly as these [Abu Ghraib] photographs did."

ESPN SCRUBS HUNTER S. THOMPSON BUSH BASH

] per capita income in the period prior to
] the late 1950s was right around number three in the
] world, behind the United States and Canada. But by 1984,
] its per capita income had sunk to 27th in the world,
] alongside Portugal and Turkey. Not only that, but our
] unemployment rate was 11.6 percent, we’d had 23
] successive years of deficits (sometimes ranging as high
] as 40 percent of GDP), our debt had grown to 65 percent
] of GDP, and our credit ratings were continually being
] downgraded. Government spending was a full 44 percent of
] GDP, investment capital was exiting in huge quantities,
] and government controls and micromanagement were
] pervasive at every level of the economy. We had foreign
] exchange controls that meant I couldn’t buy a
] subscription to The Economist magazine without the
] permission of the Minister of Finance. I couldn’t buy
] shares in a foreign company without surrendering my
] citizenship. There were price controls on all goods and
] services, on all shops and on all service industries.
] There were wage controls and wage freezes. I couldn’t pay
] my employees more – or pay them bonuses – if I wanted to.
] There were import controls on the goods that I could
] bring into the country. There were massive levels of
] subsidies on industries in order to keep them viable.
] Young people were leaving in droves.

Rolling Back Government

] We declared war on terror. We declared war on terror --
] its not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it,
] I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui.

Jon Stewart rocks. Great commencement speech.

News and Information | News

] John Kerry may not accept the Democratic presidential
] nomination at the party's Boston convention

Ah, fundraising.

Here's why Kerry may delay accepting a nomination

] In a study that alters conventional wisdom and paves the
] way for a better understanding of canine behavior and
] evolution, scientists say they have found genetic
] variations that allow them to distinguish among 85 dog
] breeds and to identify an individual dog's breed with 99
] percent accuracy.

I wanted to do this. I've been following this... very interesting.

The New York Times:Science:Collie or Pug? Study Finds the Genetic Code

] Presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry is sitting down
] for a much-anticipated meeting with independent Ralph
] Nader, but there's little sign they'll alter this year's
] political dynamic when they get together.
]
] Nader is making it clear he won't leave the race, and
] Kerry isn't likely to overtly ask him to do so.

If Politics were just a bit more like the Mob, this would be a far more interesting conversation. Or hit.

Salon.com News | Kerry-Nader meeting unlikely to alter race

] Êàê ñòàëî èçâåñòíî SecurityLab, 13 ìàÿ 2004 ãîäà áûëè
] óêðàäåíû âñå èñõîäíûå êîäû îïåðàöèîííîé ñèñòåìû CISCO IOS
] 12.3, 12.3t, êîòîðàÿ èñïîëüçóåòñÿ â áîëüøèíñòâå ñåòåâûõ
] óñòðîéñòâ êîìïàíèè CISCO. Ïîëíûé îáúåì óêðàäåííîé
] èíôîðìàöèè ñîñòàâëÿåò îêîëî 800Ìá â àðõèâå.
]
]
] Ïî èìåþùåéñÿ ó íàñ èíôîðìàöèè, óòå÷êà ôðàãìåíòîâ
] èñõîäíîãî êîäà ïðîèçîøëà èç-çà âçëîìà êîðïîðàòèâíîé ñåòè
] Cisco System. Ïðåäñòàâèòåëè Cisco System ïîêà íèêàê íå
] êîììåíòèðóþò ïðîèçîøåäøèé èíöèäåíò.

Translation: Source to IOS 12.3 is floating around IRC now.

[Wow. Apparently Memestreams or the bookmarklet really do not take kindly to non-ASCII characters]

SecurityLab.ru - Óòå÷êà èñõîäíîãî êîäà CiSCO IOS?

] Google has "bought" an ad for the search term Jew that
] goes on top of the first result so they can apologize for
] their first result!

This is an interesting response to the problem. The problem being that the search "Jew" results in a prominent link to an anti-semetic page. This caused outrage, and a giant petition drive (when it was expressed by someone at Google that they would take the link out if a certain number of people signed against it). It is a tight spot for Google -- they don't want to be responsible for the results of queries, they want it automated, and to respond based on subjective (rather than legal) consideration would be a pandora's box. I think this solution is in pretty good taste.

Jew Watch Watch (Google Weblog)

] Wal-Mart is renowned for forcing it's suppliers to
] radically revamp their operations to meet Wal-Mart's
] needs. Wal-Mart dictates to it's suppliers, demanding
] just-in-time inventory control and annual - if not
] quarterly - wholesale price drops. 20% of CD and DVD
] retail dollars now flow through Wal-Mart. With that kind
] of buying pull, recorded music became yet another
] consumer item that Wal-Mart could live without, but that
] couldn't live without Wal-Mart. If we go with the theory
] that Sam Walton's boys popped the RIAA's cherry during
] the buyer's renegotiations, that probably provided
] leverage for other retailers from Kmart to Tower Records
] to cut the same deal, especially during a down economy.
]
]
] I wouldn't be surprised to find that the gusto with which
] the music industry tries to squeeze more blood out of
] consumers by lobbying Washington and other capitals was
] in direct relation to how much of they're getting
] squeezed in Bentonville, AR.

And this comment sums up the other key point of the previous linked article.

Slashdot | RIAA Loss Report Contradicts Nielsen Sales Record