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Apparently Mark Twain used to call his immaculate white linen outfits his 'don't give a damn' suits. Jeff Jarvis blogs verbatim and tears apart a sub editor's changes to an article for a 'scholarly journal'. "Aw, to hell with it. I decided to just put the piece up here, for you are the audience I care about, not the handful of insular souls who'll read a self-referential, self-reverential faux scholarly periodical about weblogs". I have this fantastic image of a drab, librarian-type cowering behind a stack of old books, dust flying, as a 6' 4" Jarvis in a don't give a damn suit slams his original manuscript on the top of the pile. Weblogs allow you to do that - but without getting dust on your jacket. BuzzMachine... by Jeff Jarvis

So Howard Stern reads Gawker every day! I can't even get my parents (known respectively as the 'old man' and 'old dear') to read mine. Jeff Jarvis: Attention Howard Stern fans

Like half of America I left the real world and re-entered the computer generated Matrix for a couple of hours of sensory overload this weekend. And perhaps San Francisco is fashionable again. How effortlessly the Prada wearing New Yorker types Trinity and Neo slipped into beads and hemp for their trip to Burning Man, sorry, Zion. I'm not really a science fiction fan, however, the Matrix reloaded did remind me of one of the most priceless moments on TV, 'the hippy episode' of Star Trek where Spock becomes sentimental and plays a Vulcan Harp with a flower behind his ear. The Matrix Reloaded (kottke.org)

Jazz Great Nina Simone Dies at 70 (washingtonpost.com)

A friend from Hong Kong writes: "Only one chat-up line here 'you have lovely eyes.'"

Ouch: "In an exquisite example of unfortunate timing, as the SARS epidemic rages in the Pacific Rim, magazine advertisements placed by the Hong Kong Tourism Board promote the city as a vacation destination that 'will take your breath away.'" Thanks Adam The Smoking Gun: Archive

The image above shows what the US search landscape looks like after recent consolidation. It is based upon a PDF document at Bruceclay.com There are 10 principal players out of the original 19, however in terms of supplying services and technology (the outbound arrows) there are only 5 companies: Google; Overture and Yahoo with AskJeeves and Looksmart trailing. 1. Google 2. Overture (+ FAST/Alltheweb, Altavista) 3. Yahoo (+Inktomi) 4. AskJeeves (+Teoma) 5. Looksmart 6. MSN 7. AOL (+Netscape, DMOZ) 8. Lycos (+Hotbot) 9. Iwon (+Excite) 10. Go

w.bloggar is one of the the best xml-rpc weblog clients I have seen. ...posted with w.bloggar

A load of bull or bollocks, perhaps both. "The circus trapeze artist had tried to emasculate the man using the steel pincers after accusing him of having a relationship with his former girlfriend, a 46-year-old belly dancer who performed in the same circus." Reuters, trapeze artist attack

"Vietnam Airlines passengers flying to the Southeast Asian nation's ocean getaways have found one safety item to be an irresistible souvenir -- an aircraft life vest to use while swimming at the beach." Are life vests on board planes there just to reassure us? Can anyone remember any plane crash over water that involved people bouncing down inflatable slides to safety? Reuters

Living with the Holocaust: The Journey of a Child of Holocaust Survivors Take 10 minutes and read this in full.