6.28.2005

Without caffiene, life itself would not be feasible.


  A review of a new book on
  the importance of coffee
  to human advance -
  "Brain Brew" by Brendan I. Koerner.
  The information from the book is interesting,
  the review itself, not so much.

This is well worth the price of admission:

Boing Boing: Group proposes to build hotel on Justice Souter's house property

6.27.2005

Exactly what led to Tobermory's Stalin reading list.

They've got used to freedom, so why do Russians still hunger for the USSR? - Telegraph | Opinion

Catching up with the Supreme Court

SCOTUSblog

6.24.2005

Historians will know.

Not many people know who Gen. Bernard Schriever was - Architect of Air Force space and missile programs dies. A tribute by the current Commander of Air Force Space Command says that without Schriever, "technologically, it's accurate to say, we would be decades behind where we are now." Here is a bio at The New Mexico Museum of Space History International Space Hall of Fame -
Bernard A. Schriever.

I'm stunned by this. Is there still a Fifth Amendment?

Supreme Court Rules Cities May Seize Homes - Forbes.com.
- (from Paul and Ferlie).

More: Neal Boortz is livid and spells out the problem with this decision.

6.22.2005

Okay. This could be important.

Common virus kills cancer, study finds - Yahoo! News

One year ago today - SpaceShipOne.

You know we're space junkies around here. I can't believe it's already been a year since the first civilian space flight - SpaceShipOne. Things never go perfectly, & despite the failure of the solar sail launch (I wouldn't trust a Soviet ICBM with my spaceship), there is good space news from the Mojave - Rutan's White Knight Carries X-37 Space Plane Aloft. Data on the X-37 and a photoblog of this morning's activities.

6.21.2005

Alternate Shuttle Aces Early Test

This a new idea for launching rockets into space at high altitude. The rocket is released from the plane and falls into a vertical position before firing. Eliminating the need for wings (which are apparently more unstable), and the danger to the carrier plane that released the rocket. The SpaceShipOne guys are involved. You guys know this is one of our obsessions. The photo is a composite, showing how the rocket falls into takeoff position - Wired News.


Close friends make longer life more likely

New Scientist Breaking News

6.20.2005

Use del.icio.us

By the way, if your not using del.icio.us to keep up with bookmarks & tag them by subject, you should look into it. It plays into my collecting & organizing of info mania. Here are my links. Here's a great way to see what's new & what's popular there - Del.icio.us popular sites.

Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town

Cory Doctorow is an interesting character. I first learned of him while reading The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Science Fiction. (Yes PC, a book about writing a book.) He'd published a few stories by then, but now he has several stories & three novels published. My favorite story is 0wnz0red. He works for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He is one of the members of the net's most popular blog - BoingBoing. His novels are made freely available under the Creative Commons Liscence and his really anti-DRM, anti-restrictions on tech advances for fear of copyright violation. I exchanged e-mails with him last summer when I told him I thought that bb was too pro-Democrat instead of pro-libertarian. I was impressed that he replied. His latest book comes out today & it's more odd than usual - Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town. There was a lot of action on it over at del.icio.us, which brought it to my attention.

Sometimes the NBA can be a little interesting.

I'm not a big basketball fan. I love the NCAA Tournament for the brackets. I cheer for Alabama until we get put out. I have a soft spot for the Celtics, because of Havlicek and Larry Byrd. I pull for the Mavericks, because I find Mark Cuban entertaining. And I really like Tim Duncan. He went to school all four years. He's a good guy. He's well-spoken. He's won championships. He may actually be a role model. So I pull for him. I also always look out for Robert Horry. He was at Alabama when I was finishing there the first time and we had great teams, and probably should have gone farther. He's won two champoionships with the Houston Rockets & Hakeem, during the Jordan Interegnum and he also was on the three Shaq-Kobe championship teams, making some important shots along the way. Now he's with Tim Duncan and just pulled the Spurs out of the fire in Game 5. It's great to see an old Bama guy still knocking 'em down - Horry never ceases to amaze & Big Shot Bob bags another one.

How did I not know this existed?

The Internet Speculative Fiction Database

6.15.2005

We knew Curt Schilling played Evercrack, but man he's 'beyond my comprehension'.

Everquest 2 WarCry

dooce

dooce - there is some hilarious 'parenting humor' at this website that several of my procreating friends will enjoy (it's one of the top linked blogs on the internet) - and you must read this, which I got from her - I just have to figure out how he printed this.
update:main link went dead

Picasso, I'm not.

Off to paint my classroom (school provides the paint, we provide the labor).

Christopher Hitchens is the most erudite ex-leftist alive.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind - Plus, Amnesty's amnesia By Christopher Hitchens. from Chronicles of Tobermory - which is outstanding today.

6.10.2005

Getting Things Done.

I'm implementing a personal organization system
based on the book Getting Thing Done by David Allen.
I read the book & have begun to apply the concepts to my personal stuff, house stuff, and school stuff. Now that I'll be taking classes as well I'll integrate that into the system.
I'm also making a wiki, Next Action, to examine & present the material in the book in summary form, mainly for my self, but for anyone else as well (using a cool new free webtool pbWiki). I'm half way through skimming the book a second time & highlighting the pertinent lists & ideas. We'll see how it goes.

I'm a grad student again.

To those of you who were crossing fingers for me: I used my bureaucratic fast-talk skill (actually e-mail) and resolved everything to get enrolled at The University of West Alabama to start taking online classes towards a teaching MA to add to my other MA and then I'll move on to various other educational certifications. Back in the saddle.

Tenure

In case I hadn't told everyone - I got tenured. So I'll be dug in like a tick now.

6.05.2005

The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

The information about the makeup of the electorate was good reading (& frustrating that Libertarians are not even part of the typology) - Link.

Penn Jillette names daughter Moxie CrimeFighter

St. Petersburg Times: Entertainment news and features