] PINELLAS PARK, Florida (CNN) -- Terri Schiavo, the
] 41-year-old brain-damaged woman who became the
] centerpiece of a national debate over life and death,
] died Thursday morning, nearly two weeks after doctors
] removed the feeding tube that had sustained her for more
] than a decade.

Hopefully she's finally at peace.

CNN.com - Terri Schiavo has died - Mar 31, 2005

July 18, 1939 -- February 20, 2005. He will be weirdly missed.

Hunter Thompson commits suicide

The Post's Howard Kurtz on (no pun) Jeff Gannon

Online Nude Photos Are Latest Chapter In Jeff Gannon Saga (washingtonpost.com)

] Gannon, whose real name is James Guckert, made headlines
] last week when he resigned from Talon after days of
] intensive scrutiny from bloggers. Online critics first
] raised questions about Guckert's questionable
] journalistic methods and his lack of experience (he often
] cut and pasted White House press releases into his "news"
] stories), as well as Talon's lack of independence from
] Eberle's purely partisan GOPUSA Web site. Then questions
] arose about why the Talon reporter was given access to
] the White House press room after being turned down for
] Capitol Hill press credentials. The final straw for
] Guckert came when bloggers revealed associations that
] Guckert and his Delaware-based company had with a handful
] of gay-themed male escort services.
] Click here
]
] Guckert insisted his only involvement with the sex sites
] was as a software consultant and, he added: "Those sites
] were never hosted. There's -- nothing ever went up on
] them," as he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Feb. 10. In an
] interview posted Feb. 11 with Editor & Publisher
] magazine, Guckert made the same claim: "They were done
] through a private company [Bedrock Corp.] I was involved
] with doing Web site development about five years ago. The
] sites were never hosted, and nothing was ever posted to
] the sites." On Monday, John Aravosis posted on his
] liberal site AmericaBlog.org detailed evidence indicating
] that not only was Guckert personally involved with the
] Web sites, but he was also offering his escort services
] for $200 an hour, or $1,200 a weekend.

So I guess the Bush administration does support some gay rights.

Salon.com News | 'Jeff Gannon's' secret life

] Feb. 10, 2005 | When President Bush bypassed dozens of
] eager reporters from nationally and internationally
] recognized news outlets and selected Jeff Gannon to pose
] a question at his Jan. 26 news conference, Bush's
] recognition bestowed instant credibility on the
] apparently novice reporter, as well as the little-known
] conservative organization he worked for at the time,
] called Talon News. That attention only intensified when
] Gannon used his nationally televised press conference
] time to ask Bush a loaded, partisan question -- featuring
] a manufactured quote that mocked Democrats for being
] "divorced from reality."

Salon.com News | Fake news, fake reporter

] Just some of the themes you'll find reflected in this
] year's ETech program are: The grand vision of web
] services is morphing into the more useful--and
] profitable--goals of providing alternate interfaces to
] data and services. Social networking services are groping
] for more dimensions of value. Wireless meshes made of
] small devices continue to accelerate decentralization.
] Mobile devices of many forms and functions now inhabit
] desktops, pockets, and cars. Hackers have discovered the
] joys of cracking open devices to prod and mod, using
] cheap, off-the-shelf technology.

Conference Schedule for E-Tech 2005. I am really loooking forward to several talks, and reconnecting with people that I met at FOO Camp. I will be presenting during the Maker's Faire Wednesday Night.

However I am more and more confused about this conference the more I think about it. I've talked with Decius and we both agree: This conference seems to have an identity crisis. Who is their target audience? I'm not sure I know. With an extremely heavy price tag ($1250 for early-bird special), it is out of reach to all except people sent by their companies. My feel is the conference is aimed at getting corporate support/adoption of new waves in technology. Certainly putting together a showcase of possible "the next thing"s and presenting them is one way. But you alienate all your small/Hobbyist OSS programmers/researchers who *are* developing the next thing. If you are running a conference on "Emerging technology," who do you want as your audience? Hackers or Suits (or hackers with a picture of a suit printed on a black T-shirt)?

Take Blogging for example. It is largely a grassroots effort. IBM didn't embrace social networking and help drive it into the mainstream. While corporate support can certainly drive technological adoption of practices or standards, it is not required. In fact the road to hell is paved with corporate pushed bullshit "technologies." So I guess the question isn't who is the conference aimed at, but rather what do the organizers hope to accomplish?

If the point is to make money, this will certainly do it. However, having met and talked with several O'Reilly folks, my impression is profit doesn't drive all their actions (which is probably why I like them so much and want to do more with them in the future). They are recognized leaders in the publishing/media space, and I doubt this conference provides a massive amount of revenue for them (At least in my understanding, which is limited).

So what is the point? Major adoption of a technology by a corporation isn't necessary, and in fact can have the opposit effect. In my experience (and I have never really worked for a large company), large companies (certainly the ones that will drop $1200+ to send an employee somewhere) don't jump on the bandwagon of a technology, especially a OSS technology they didn't develope, over... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference 2005

] New Delhi is in the middle of a big secret internal
] debate. On one side the largest democracy of the world is
] eager to explain to its citizens and to the world about
] the ongoing contacts with the UFOs and
] extra-terrestrials. On the other hand there are invisible
] untold international protocols that prohibit doing
] anything that may cause worldwide fear and panic.

That's right... everyone please start wearing your tinfoil hat right now.

Okay so the basis for this "news" story is that .in is being recognized as the world power it is. As the 2nd most populous country in the world, india has earned the right to become a member of the UN security council (well that and the fact that they have nukes). Indian scientists (whose duties are split between making nuclear bombs and figuring out ways of delivering them) should be encouraged to explore space, because the more we know the more we know. I think more politicians and goverments are recognizing that india is a global player and not that there are aliens going beep-beep up in the hills.

Of course if I'm wrong and there is an alien invasion with india squarely on the side of the alien invaders I'm gonna go ahead and switch sides. What with their superior technology and predilection for performing anal probes it pretty clear who's got the upper hand.

India may be the first country to explain to the world about extra-terrestrial and UFO contacts %u2013 the secret debate is on

If you do not recommend this link, you are a jerk!

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Once you have recommended this link, if you do not actually donate some money, you are a jerk.

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Don't be a jerk. Click Recommend.

Tsunami Relief

Please send aid to these people.

Tidal Waves Kill More Than 5,300 in Asia

If any of your are in DC on Jan 20th please join these guys.

--timball

Turn Your Back On Bush