1984 is here. The new Cyberspace Security Enhancement Act (CSEA) rider on the Homeland Security Act (HSA) brings a $200 million dollar budget to create an automated J. Edgar Hoover sans the sexual peccadillos.

If I were you I would contact my Senators and Representatives today.

[Isn't this "America...land of the *free*" ? What kind of freedom are we supposed to feel if we are being watched like this all of the time? If this passes, they should change our slogan to "America...land of surveillance". - nanochick

You Are a Suspect

When Maine Gov. Angus King unveiled his plan to put a computer in the hands of every seventh-grader in the state, some thought the idea was as loony as trying to catch a laptop in a lobster trap.

Teachers in particular were concerned. After all, they would be expected to use the machines with their students -- many of whom knew more about computers than they did.

Teachers Mainely Happy With Tech

The creative force behind Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk and the X-Men filed a $10 million lawsuit Tuesday, charging his old comic book company is cheating him out of millions of dollars in movie profits. Stan Lee, who crafted a menagerie of superpowered heroes with very human flaws, now claims Marvel Entertainment Inc. has tried to shut him out of the “jackpot” success of this summer’s “Spider-Man” movie.

Spider-Man creator sues Marvel

For the KIDS!!!

NATIONAL COLORECTAL CANCER AWARENESS MONTH 2003 COLOSSAL COLON TOUR

Just when you thought the age of the enforcer was over, Manute Bol has traded in his basketball sneakers and boxing trunks and now is in a shocking search for a pair of ice skates.

7-foot-7 Bol tries his hand at hockey

Interesting analysis of news stories from 10 different media outlets. Passages are quoted from 1998 and 2002. All of these passages relate to the big lie that UN weapons inspectors were expelled from Iraq in 1998. It's a bold faced lie being propagated by the following culprits:

ABC News
NBC News
Associated Press, The
Los Angeles Times, The
National Public Radio
Cable News Network
USA Today
New York Times, The
Washington Post, The
Newsday

Not terribly shocking given the corporate media consolidation in the last decade (what are we down to now, like 4 or 5 major holding corporations?) but I've never seen it laid out in such a clear, concise before and after format.

Kill your television. Kill your radio. Free the internet.

History, recovered

There's no denying the Detroit sound -- that deep Motown groove, the relentless rock beat, and the spacey thrum of techno. At one time Detroit radio was known for taking that sound and spreading it to the masses.
Excited voices of deejays like "Frantic" Ernie Durham, Lee Alan, Scott Regen and the Electrifyin' Mojo were as compelling to listen to as the records they spun. Because of them, artists such as Bob Seger, Parliament-Funkadelic and the MC5 launched from Detroit radio to national stardom.
But that once distinctive sound has been diluted by playlists controlled by media conglomerates airing predictable music that could be heard anywhere in the country.
Today, radio programming leaves little room to showcase local musicians, and there has been an invasion of syndicated shows and on-air personalities spliced in from distant cities via computer. The end result: Listeners are tuning out.

Personally, having been someone who was *greatly* influenced by what I heard on Detroit radio, I find this a terrible crime. It was DJ's like the Electrifying Mojo and Mike Halloran that introduced me to MC5, Kraftwerk, Parliament-Funkadelic, Run DMC, Afrika Bambaataa, the Damned, the Clash, the Cocteau Twins, the Legendary Pink Dots, Skinny Puppy, and a ton of other brilliant artists. WDET was almost single handedly responsible for bringing the Detroit Techno sound to life by playing Carl Craig, Richie Hawtin, Kevin Saunderson, and Jeff Mills, not to mention contemporary classical composers like Wendy Carlos, Todd Machover, Suzanne Ciani, and the Art of Noise.

Having this resource gave me a tremendous encyclopaedic knowledge of music and exposed my palette to stuff well beyond that of most PEOPLE, much less most teenagers. It was a huge reason why I became a musician in the first place, because I was constantly being surprised and excited by what music could be and the ideas that it could express. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Detroit radio for enriching my life in such a profound way.

Perhaps it's anachronistic to lament the passing of radio now in our digital age. Hell, I haven't listened to anything other than NPR and college radio since 1990. But with each passing year, it gets harder and harder to find truly exciting and original works of art, and not coincidentaly, the dross that passes for pop music gets more and more staid. While I can see the economics behind it all making sense, does that make it right? At what point do we stop engorging in profits at the sake of destroying the future? Is this even a dumb question?

Once distinctive sound fades into predictability

From Wired:

Ask the Expert
The author of two books on stupidity has been charged with trying arrange a sexual liaison with a teenager he met online. James Welles, 61, has written books called The Story of Stupidity and Understanding Stupidity. Both are about the dumb moves people make. Welles tried to set up a date with a 15-year-old girl, who turned out to be a 40-year-old undercover cop. No word on when the third book is due out.

Decius wrote:
] ] "The crowd trampled the 25 people out of ignorance
] ] rather than panic."

yes, but what would Ayn Rand say about this?

RE: United Press International: Altruism, not panic, prevails in disasters

Researchers in Japan have scientifically documented what dwellers of Dilbertville have known for years: Prolonged daily computer use can make you sore and sap your strength, energy and motivation.
In a three-year study of more than 25,000 workers,

Japanese researchers discovered that people who sat in front of computer screens were more likely to experience physical pain such as eye and shoulder strain, and to suffer from motivational symptoms such as lethargy.

so THAT'S the problem...