I didn’t realize it, but my dial-up access is into the first ISP.

Anti-Breastfeeding Lobby in Force at R2K. ‘ “Breast-feeding is an immoral act,” he

deadpanned. “It leaves people with an oral

fixation. And the worst part of it is, the child

doesn’t have a choice.” ‘ Not clear if this was for real or a hoax [via Obscure Store]

Ron Reagan Less Than a Fan of George W.

“The big elephant sitting in the corner is that George W. Bush is

simply unqualified for the job. He’s probably the least qualified person ever to be nominated by

a major party. …What is his accomplishment? That he’s no longer an

obnoxious drunk?

“The defining moment for me was his Karla

Faye Tucker smirk, joking about a woman he would put to

death. No adult would ever do that. It wouldn’t even cross the

mind of a grown-up to joke about something like that.”

Washington Post

Corpse beheading not a shock to all. A man in Toldeo asked for a few minutes alone with the body of his uncle, then used a handsaw to behead the corpse and take the head home. Reportedly psychiatrically ill, he had published a flyer some time ago describing a method of resurrecting a loved one by consuming their brain.

Allegedly, William Gibson’s screenplay for Neuromancer, circa 1990. [via Null Device]

Motorola unveils Web-enabled car device. “The carmakers are betting that millions of drivers will be willing to pay as much as $30 a month for the Internet-access gadgets, which are

expected to be standard equipment in all new cars by 2004 or 2005.” Nando Times

Among the Mooks “As entertainment entrepreneurs align the fantasy

lands of rap, rock, wrestling and pornography, a

generation of fans grows ever more brutish.” It doesn’t exactly make its case; some of what this obviously scared and appalled observer finds “brutish” is just “different”, but on the other hand there’s plenty of “brutish” too. New York Times Magazine

Outrage over Holocaust remarks “A prominent religious leader in Israel has
caused outrage by referring to the six million
victims of the Holocaust as “reincarnated
sinners”.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who heads the country’s
third biggest political party, made the remarks
at a religious gathering in Jerusalem on
Saturday.”

Straight to the Point: “Cuban

President Fidel Castro today called George

W. Bush and Al Gore the most “boring and

insipid” presidential candidates the United

States could possibly have.” ABC

Breathe Deep To Get High. It’s widely known that the lack of oxygen in aircraft cabins contributes to the majority of air travel

woes, including tiredness, dehydration, rapid drunkenness, and most of all, air rage. However, what

few people also realise is how dramatically this cabin environment can affect their lungs.

In commercial aircraft, air pressure is rarely equal to that at sea

level. At cruising height (generally around 10,000 meters), pressurised

cabins allow comfortable respiration, but the oxygen content is only

the equivalent of the air breathed at an altitude of 2400 meters.

There are some engineering issues behind this, but it is mostly due to

penny-pinching on the part of the airlines. Pilots are routinely

instructed to disengage some of the equipment responsible for

bringing fresh air into the aircraft, meaning that a high-proportion of the air inside the plane is being

re-breathed. Shutting off the equipment means the engines don’t have to work as hard, thus saving fuel

costs.

Beyond 2000

America’s New hangup: Cell Phone Rudeness: “…seething

bystanders have had it up to here with the constant rrring of the

brave new wireless world.” CNN

Advertise your favorite mortal sin(s).

Comparison of online Ulysses editions Jorn Barger’s labor of love is finally complete.

The Dawn of Micropower: “Small, local power plants offer a cheap way into (recently deregulated)

markets. Even if the power they produce is more costly

at source—which it often is—they do not suffer huge

transmission losses when sending it to consumers. On

top of that, the surplus heat they generate can be

employed for useful purposes, such as warming

buildings, whereas that from big generators located in

the middle of the countryside is usually wasted. The

result is that local power generation has now become

economically competitive.

A second reason for the rise of micropower is

environmentalism. Ever-higher emission standards have

made it unattractive to build new coal-fired plants in the

rich world. ” The demand for uninterruptible reliable power in the face of more frequent brownouts and blackouts will also help to make micropower attractive in the U.S. The Economist

Massachusetts man charged with stealing human corneas. He says he thought the foam package was filled with lobsters.

“Hollering fire in a crowded theater”

The FBI’s chief negotiator during the Waco siege says

critics and conspiracy theorists are sowing dangerous

discord. He dismisses the 1997 documentary “Waco: The Rules of Engagement” (which presents evidence that the government fired first) as tantamont to fiction, and he says the Danforth report exonerating the government deserves to be taken at face value. Salon

Beware of geeks bearing gifts: “Microsoft’s

decision to slash the price of the

Windows Millennium Edition

upgrade from $89 to $59 — a whopping 33 percent savings

— made headlines this week. But the public should beware

of geeks bearing gifts. Windows Me has some significant

improvements, but for most users those improvements do

not justify the pain and potential dangers they will face with

this upgrade. Microsoft can lower the price of Windows Me

and give it a few great features, but it can’t fundamentally

make Me a better operating system than Windows 95,

because of underlying technical flaws with the whole

Windows operating environment.” Salon

Philadelphia police spokespeeople call the allegations a mixture of exaggerations, half-truths and flat-out lies, but protesters’ reports of police brutality seem widespread and consistent. Salon The Philadelphia Independent Media Center (IMC)is a collective of journalists and independent media organizations continuing to cover the condition of the jailed protesters. The LA IMC is up and running with pre-convention coverage of ‘D2K.’ And the Boston IMC notes that organizing for a response to the first major Presidential debate, scheduled for Bsoton on October 3, is proceeding. And a disorganized group of hackers helped reporters cover police activity around the convention. Wired

Man says cell phone makers caused his brain tumor

Dr. Christopher Newman, a Maryland neurologist, has filed an $800 million lawsuit

against a number of cell phone makers claiming that the mobile phones that they

made caused a malignant tumor in his brain.

Massachusetts man charged with stealing human corneas. He says he thought the foam package was filled with lobsters.