Sometimes spam isn’t so bad, e.g the pitch I just received to buy this talking toilet roll holder
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So nice to see that the right people are getting funded. Six Apart: Six Apart Ltd. Announces New Weblogging Service, Investment, Executives and Board
Here’s one for Dan Gillmor’s book: Knight Ridder Newspapers military correspondent Joseph L. Galloway claims that two senior US officials claimed that Iraqwar.ru weblog featured genuine Russian Intelligence reports posted by the GRU (the KGB replacement). “It’s quite a notion: Russian spooks blogging concrete advice to Iraq. It’s a notion that Strafor’s Matthew Baker termed ‘nonsense.’ He said, ‘A website is not the way to get information to the Iraqis; a phone or radio is better.’” “Baker sees it, rather, as an expression of an internecine struggle among various Russian military and espionage interests wrestling over whether to align more closely with the U.S. or seek a counterweight axis with Germany and France. He said, ‘They’re not putting it up for amusement or profit, but for reasons to do with Russian politics.’” DID RUSSIANS USE BLOG TO AID IRAQIS? by Daniel Forbes in Progressive Review
Did he really mean this: “Richard Perle, said he believes Iraqis will opt for freedom and pluralism after living through “a quarter of a century of brutal oppression.” But if they choose to create an Islamic theocracy, the United States will have to live with that choice.” If Iraq went the way of Iran, i.e. a religious govenment in reaction to a corrupt secular administration, would this be a victory? More likely is that Perle is laying the groundwork so that he cannot be accused of supporting a non democratic puppet while at the same time warning of the dangers of a theocracy. Washington Post
Not being a fluent Swedish speaker, I could be wrong, but I sometimes wonder if Ikea product names are one big practical joke. Billy bookshelves, Lac or Dik wallhangings or a bedside table called Tracy “Home-furnishing giant Ikea has apologized for accidentally naming a child’s bunk bed after an obscene German expression. The $175 bed is called the ‘Gutvik’ – which means ‘good f- – -‘ in German. The company insists it was named after a tiny town in Sweden.” NYPOST.COM National News: WEIRD BUT TRUE
This week: The British and World Marbles Championship — held at the Greyhound Inn at Tinsley Green, West Sussex Next week: International worm charming championships at Totnes in Devon. June: Toe-wrestling and snail racing. August: Bog Snorkelling, Wane Rydd Bog at Llantrwyd Wells in mid-Wales. Autumn: Competitive lie telling in Cumbria. Eccentric Britain Gets Its Marbles Rolling
The French culture minister, Jean-Jacques Aillagon is alarmed at the possible sale of Universal, after rumors that Apple might buy it, because it owns rights to French artists such as Johnny Hallyday. Er… somehow I don’t think Hallyday is one of Universal’s more lucrative assets. ‘”The minister wrote this letter to say he was being vigilant and that he wanted to be kept informed of the progress of the Universal Music dossier given the importance of this cultural company for French creativity and the value of our national heritage,’ the paper [les Echos] quoted a source close to the minister as saying.” “Aillagon wants more than just financial concerns to guide the sale of Universal Music, which has popular French artists such as Johnny Hallyday under contract, the source said.” Reuters
Ken Layne offers sound advice for haircuts: “Anyway, when in doubt, go to the barber shop closest to your local military base … unless that base houses Marines, in which case you may just want to leave your hair as is.” I like old fashioned barbershops – currently I go to one that hasn’t changed since the 40’s (including the barbers) and is located opposite the Bank of America on Pine St. in San Francisco. It offers the following key barbershop features: 1. 15 minute turnaround, no appointment. 2. Cab-driver style conversation. 3. Overall ambience of the urinal area in an expensive old hotel. 4. Proper barber chairs – expensive poncy salons have chairs that are not designed for cutting hair. 5. Non-PC reading material. 6. Hair cut facing away from mirror. 7. No referring to hair gel, pomade or grease as ‘product’. 8. Ability to pretend to be Al…
Walmart has taken action against an activist site that encouraged people to name their own prices for items by printing off fake barcodes and sticking them over originals. “Re-code.com still provides a database of bar codes that can be copied and pasted into printing applications. It suggests, for instance, that users stick a label for Nerf balls over the bar code on a box of rifle ammunition.” MySanAntonio : Business
Doctors log on to fight SARS outbreak “Crippen says SARS is the first Internet-age epidemic.” (Sorry, I just can’t get over the fact that the physician quoted here is actually called Dr. Crippen, the name of one of Britain’s most notorious murderers.)
Test your Systemizing Quotient (SQ) If you get full marks you are a computer programmer, train spotter, have Aspergers syndrome or any of the above.