“It just spoils the fun of it,”

said a spokesperson for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of the Wall Street Journal‘s push to do a political-style poll of Academy members to forecast the Oscar winners. “The Academy Awards are important to the people who win, and they’re important to the

people who don’t win, but it’s not like electing a president, and part of the fun of it is waiting until they open the envelopes to see

who wins.”

Coincident with the item below about the corporatization of weblogging is this review in today’s Slate on The Rise of the Newsportal  by Chris Suellentrop. Discusses six of these, which are essentially political news blogs, right?

Annals of Depravity: 84-Year-Old Nailed into Room for more than a year. {APB}

Jupiter’s terrible tides: “Powerful tidal forces from Jupiter have molded two of the solar system’s

most bizarre worlds, fiery Io and icy Europa. Images released this week

reveal new details of tidal action on the two moons.” [from the SpaceScience.com mailserver]

The Corporatization of weblogging?? “…will probably be fine

with many of the thousands of independent Webloggers

who pioneered the concept. Romenesko says as

Weblogging becomes more widespread among

corporations, there’s likely to be some resentment from

the pioneers who see it as an anti-corporate concept.

Cooper, meanwhile, thinks Weblogs make sense in the

corporate environment, and suggests that they would be a

useful feature of company intranets. A Weblog pioneer

herself, Cooper says that when she announced she would

be taking the Weblog concept to Star Tribune Online, the

reaction from the Weblog community was overwhelmingly

supportive.” [E&P]

Afraid to Go Outdoors As Crime Spirals

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Almost three-quarters of Colombians are frightened to go out at night and most avoid talking to strangers because

of a rising wave of violent crime, a poll published on Sunday suggested.

“It just spoils the fun of it,”

said a spokesperson for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of the Wall Street Journal‘s push to do a political-style poll of Academy members to forecast the Oscar winners. “The Academy Awards are important to the people who win, and they’re important to the

people who don’t win, but it’s not like electing a president, and part of the fun of it is waiting until they open the envelopes to see

who wins.”

Annals of Depravity: 84-Year-Old Nailed into Room for more than a year. {APB}

Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley outline a potentially elegant way to solve the problem of the broken hyperlink.

An archive of New Yorker articles by Malcolm Gladwell, author of the recent book The Tipping Point. Without even being aware until recently of who this author is, I realize scanning the list of articles in this collection that it has been his writing that has recently been the most compelling in my intermittnet relationship with the New Yorker. Among other topics, he writes about: fads, “spin”, public opinion and mass psychology, “who decides what’s cool”, the “six degrees of separation”, the Belgian Coca Cola hysteria, whether parenting matters… I’m sure you’ll find something you’ll want to read. Update: summary of critics’ opinions about The Tipping Point here, from Slate.

Comparative Mammalian Brain Collections,

images and information from one of the world’s largest collection of well-preserved, sectioned and stained brains of over 100 different species of mammals (including humans) representing 17 mammalian orders.

Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley outline a potentially elegant way to solve the problem of the broken hyperlink.

An archive of New Yorker articles by Malcolm Gladwell, author of the recent book The Tipping Point. Without even being aware until recently of who this author is, I realize scanning the list of articles in this collection that it has been his writing that has recently been the most compelling in my intermittnet relationship with the New Yorker. Among other topics, he writes about: fads, “spin”, public opinion and mass psychology, “who decides what’s cool”, the “six degrees of separation”, the Belgian Coca Cola hysteria, whether parenting matters… I’m sure you’ll find something you’ll want to read. Update: summary of critics’ opinions about The Tipping Point here, from Slate.

Comparative Mammalian Brain Collections,

images and information from one of the world’s largest collection of well-preserved, sectioned and stained brains of over 100 different species of mammals (including humans) representing 17 mammalian orders.

“The American Museum of Natural History

yesterday bluntly refused to give back a

10,000-year-old, 15-ton meteorite to the Oregon

Indian tribes who say their ancestors once treated the

behemoth as a sacred object.

In papers filed in Manhattan federal court to block

the Indians’ claim to the “Willamette Meteorite” —

one of the museum’s oldest treasures and a

centerpiece of its renovated planetarium — the

museum argued the extraterrestrial isn’t covered by

federal law that allows Indians to “repatriate” some

cultural items.” [New York Post]

Banned in Turkey:

The Turkish government confiscated all available copies of Jonathan Ames’ novel The Extra Man last week, and

will try both his translator, Fatih Ozguven, and his publisher in Istanbul, Iletisim, on charges that the book is

“corrupt and harmful to the morality of Turkish readers,” according to a fax Ames’ international rights agent

Rosalie Siegel received from Istanbul. The book had been out a few months, and had been submitted to

government censors for approval before publishing, as is required in Turkey. [New York Press]

Before he died, “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schultz told his

family he didn’t want anyone else drawing his strip, and that

animated shows based on the characters should end as well. But

when Schultz began the strip in the 1950s cartoonists routinely

gave up their copyrights to distributors. United Media owns the

“Peanuts” copyright and it got 61 percent of its $84.9 million in

1998 revenues from the comics, TV shows and licensing deals.

Think they’ll let the franchise go dark? [SF Examiner]

This TV show has been criticized for offending human dignity; what else is new on television?

New Meaning of “Shop ’til You Drop”

Think vitamin therapy is innocent?[Reuters]

“The American Museum of Natural History

yesterday bluntly refused to give back a

10,000-year-old, 15-ton meteorite to the Oregon

Indian tribes who say their ancestors once treated the

behemoth as a sacred object.

In papers filed in Manhattan federal court to block

the Indians’ claim to the “Willamette Meteorite” —

one of the museum’s oldest treasures and a

centerpiece of its renovated planetarium — the

museum argued the extraterrestrial isn’t covered by

federal law that allows Indians to “repatriate” some

cultural items.” [New York Post]

Banned in Turkey:

The Turkish government confiscated all available copies of Jonathan Ames’ novel The Extra Man last week, and

will try both his translator, Fatih Ozguven, and his publisher in Istanbul, Iletisim, on charges that the book is

“corrupt and harmful to the morality of Turkish readers,” according to a fax Ames’ international rights agent

Rosalie Siegel received from Istanbul. The book had been out a few months, and had been submitted to

government censors for approval before publishing, as is required in Turkey. [New York Press]

Before he died, “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schultz told his

family he didn’t want anyone else drawing his strip, and that

animated shows based on the characters should end as well. But

when Schultz began the strip in the 1950s cartoonists routinely

gave up their copyrights to distributors. United Media owns the

“Peanuts” copyright and it got 61 percent of its $84.9 million in

1998 revenues from the comics, TV shows and licensing deals.

Think they’ll let the franchise go dark? [SF Examiner]

This TV show has been criticized for offending human dignity; what else is new on television?

New Meaning of “Shop ’til You Drop”

Think vitamin therapy is innocent?[Reuters]

Arianna S. Huffington remixes the Slate 60 list of top philanthropists, ” Last June, I criticized “The Slate 60″ for treating every philanthropic dollar the same. I was appalled to find the Slate 60 citation that winemaker Robert G. Mondavi had dropped $20 million on the American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts in his hometown of Napa, Calif., only a click away from the news that Ron Burkle, Ted Fortsmann, and John Walton gave $30 million to the Children’s Scholarship Fund for low-income children. This overemphasis on raw dollars implies some sort of equivalence between these acts of generosity, when we know the Mondavi gift shouldn’t be mentioned in the same breath as the one from Burkle et al. One gift advances the giver’s personal interests, the other addresses a pressing social need. ”

Aurora Alert for northern US and Canada. “Residents of Canada and the northern United States should be on the alert for aurora borealis during the night of March 5 and morning of March 6. The best time to view aurorae is usually around local midnight. Tonight’s new moon will make even faint activity easy to see. Early on March 5, 2000, the interplanetary magnetic field measured by NASA’s ACE spacecraft developed a significant southward-directed component. This condition often means that solar wind plasma can penetrate Earth’s magnetosphere and trigger aurorae. …If this high level of activity continues, auroral displays could be visible as far south as the Great Lakes states and in New England.”

Arianna S. Huffington remixes the Slate 60 list of top philanthropists, ” Last June, I criticized “The Slate 60″ for treating every philanthropic dollar the same. I was appalled to find the Slate 60 citation that winemaker Robert G. Mondavi had dropped $20 million on the American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts in his hometown of Napa, Calif., only a click away from the news that Ron Burkle, Ted Fortsmann, and John Walton gave $30 million to the Children’s Scholarship Fund for low-income children. This overemphasis on raw dollars implies some sort of equivalence between these acts of generosity, when we know the Mondavi gift shouldn’t be mentioned in the same breath as the one from Burkle et al. One gift advances the giver’s personal interests, the other addresses a pressing social need. ”

Aurora Alert for northern US and Canada. “Residents of Canada and the northern United States should be on the alert for aurora borealis during the night of March 5 and morning of March 6. The best time to view aurorae is usually around local midnight. Tonight’s new moon will make even faint activity easy to see. Early on March 5, 2000, the interplanetary magnetic field measured by NASA’s ACE spacecraft developed a significant southward-directed component. This condition often means that solar wind plasma can penetrate Earth’s magnetosphere and trigger aurorae. …If this high level of activity continues, auroral displays could be visible as far south as the Great Lakes states and in New England.”

Where’s George? Interesting idea, not sure if it will work, but I tried it. You go to this site, enter the serial number of one or more bills of any denomination in your pocket, and write the URL of the site on the bill. If anyone who subsequently receives the bill notices the URL, logs on and enters their location, you’re notified by email and can track the meanderings of the currency. They report that they’re tracking over $2,000,000 in currency entered by over 175,000 registrants.

Doubleclick’s retreat from plans to tie personal data to now-anonymous web cookies is A Turning Point for E-Privacy, says Wired.

Get rid of that babyfat by age two or else:

“Children as young as ages 2 to 5 can experience elevated blood

pressure due to obesity, study results suggest. The elevated pressure may be a harbinger of obesity-related

health problems later in life, such as heart disease…”

Adult victims of domestic violence may suffer from a version of “shaken baby syndrome”, according to the discussion in a case report from British emergency medicine physicians. Rapid recognition is key in this potentially deadly and recurrent manifestation of abuse.

Friends of the late blues singer Screamin’ Jay Hawkins are searching for the 57 children he’s pretty sure he fathered but couldn’t keep track of.

England ugly and grey, say tourist guides. I’m going, nontheless.

ebpd – The ebay password daemon by Richard Fromm: “This script sniffs traffic on the network watching for ebay userids and passwords. This is only possible because (as of this writing), ebay does not encrypt passwords — they are sent in the clear. It is hoped that the writing and dissemination of this program causes this situation to change. (Repeated attempts at resolution of the situation through other means, prior to the posting of this script, failed.). This isn’t rocket science. I don’t pretend to have discovered anything fundamental or new here. It’s a simple little script that countless

other people could have written. The pitfalls of sending passwords in the clear have been recognized for many years. The only surprising

thing is that too many people still don’t take security seriously and continue to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.”

[via Phil Agre]

Report on the Privacy Policies and Practices of Health Web Sites from the Health Privacy Project at Georgetown University: “Although health Web sites now provide a wide range of clinical and diagnostic information; opportunities to purchase products and services; interactions among consumers, patients, and health care professionals; and the capability to build a personalized health record, they have not matured enough to guarantee the quality of the information, protect consumers from product fraud or inappropriate prescribing, or guarantee the privacy of individuals’ information. This last point is the subject of this report. Health care Web sites have access to an unprecedented amount of personal information about consumers. What are their policies about the privacy of that information? How easily can consumers find and understand them? Do they afford sufficient protection? And do the actual practices of the health sites reflect their stated policies?” [via Phil Agre]

Where’s George? Interesting idea, not sure if it will work, but I tried it. You go to this site, enter the serial number of one or more bills of any denomination in your pocket, and write the URL of the site on the bill. If anyone who subsequently receives the bill notices the URL, logs on and enters their location, you’re notified by email and can track the meanderings of the currency. They report that they’re tracking over $2,000,000 in currency entered by over 175,000 registrants.

Doubleclick’s retreat from plans to tie personal data to now-anonymous web cookies is A Turning Point for E-Privacy, says Wired.

Get rid of that babyfat by age two or else:

“Children as young as ages 2 to 5 can experience elevated blood

pressure due to obesity, study results suggest. The elevated pressure may be a harbinger of obesity-related

health problems later in life, such as heart disease…”

Adult victims of domestic violence may suffer from a version of “shaken baby syndrome”, according to the discussion in a case report from British emergency medicine physicians. Rapid recognition is key in this potentially deadly and recurrent manifestation of abuse.

Friends of the late blues singer Screamin’ Jay Hawkins are searching for the 57 children he’s pretty sure he fathered but couldn’t keep track of.

England ugly and grey, say tourist guides. I’m going, nontheless.

ebpd – The ebay password daemon by Richard Fromm: “This script sniffs traffic on the network watching for ebay userids and passwords. This is only possible because (as of this writing), ebay does not encrypt passwords — they are sent in the clear. It is hoped that the writing and dissemination of this program causes this situation to change. (Repeated attempts at resolution of the situation through other means, prior to the posting of this script, failed.). This isn’t rocket science. I don’t pretend to have discovered anything fundamental or new here. It’s a simple little script that countless

other people could have written. The pitfalls of sending passwords in the clear have been recognized for many years. The only surprising

thing is that too many people still don’t take security seriously and continue to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.”

[via Phil Agre]

Report on the Privacy Policies and Practices of Health Web Sites from the Health Privacy Project at Georgetown University: “Although health Web sites now provide a wide range of clinical and diagnostic information; opportunities to purchase products and services; interactions among consumers, patients, and health care professionals; and the capability to build a personalized health record, they have not matured enough to guarantee the quality of the information, protect consumers from product fraud or inappropriate prescribing, or guarantee the privacy of individuals’ information. This last point is the subject of this report. Health care Web sites have access to an unprecedented amount of personal information about consumers. What are their policies about the privacy of that information? How easily can consumers find and understand them? Do they afford sufficient protection? And do the actual practices of the health sites reflect their stated policies?” [via Phil Agre]

ZDNet: News: Intuit scrambles to plug Quicken leaks

“A design quirk in some e-commerce Web sites allows

sensitive information that consumers provide about their

personal habits, tastes or finances to be attached to Web

page location codes used by third parties such as

ad-placement companies. In the case of Intuit (Nasdaq:

INTU), both a mortgage calculator and a

credit-assessment feature on its Quicken site collect

information from customers regarding income, assets and

debt, and then send the data to DoubleClick Inc.

(Nasdaq: DCLK), a company that sells and places

advertising on Web sites. DoubleClick says it doesn’t

keep any of the data it receives.”

From BBC News: Satellite snaps a mighty sandstorm The satellite photo shows a giant sandstorm the size of Spain, off the west African coast. “Such storms, combined with rising warm air,

can lift dust 4,500 metres (15,000 feet) above

the desert and then out over the Atlantic. The

dust can reach right across the ocean to the

Caribbean where local weather forecasters

sometimes have to issue air pollution alerts.”

From Wired: A Ralph Nader Plan That ‘Sucks’

ZDNet: News: Intuit scrambles to plug Quicken leaks

“A design quirk in some e-commerce Web sites allows

sensitive information that consumers provide about their

personal habits, tastes or finances to be attached to Web

page location codes used by third parties such as

ad-placement companies. In the case of Intuit (Nasdaq:

INTU), both a mortgage calculator and a

credit-assessment feature on its Quicken site collect

information from customers regarding income, assets and

debt, and then send the data to DoubleClick Inc.

(Nasdaq: DCLK), a company that sells and places

advertising on Web sites. DoubleClick says it doesn’t

keep any of the data it receives.”

From BBC News: Satellite snaps a mighty sandstorm The satellite photo shows a giant sandstorm the size of Spain, off the west African coast. “Such storms, combined with rising warm air,

can lift dust 4,500 metres (15,000 feet) above

the desert and then out over the Atlantic. The

dust can reach right across the ocean to the

Caribbean where local weather forecasters

sometimes have to issue air pollution alerts.”

From Wired: A Ralph Nader Plan That ‘Sucks’

Join me here?

From CNN.com: A timeline of mass shootings in the U.S., prompted by the latest killing rampage by a Philadelphia man reportedly motivated by racial hatred.

From CNN.com: US – Death row inmate whose lawyer slept at trial to stay in jail. Calvin Burdine’s murder conviction had been thrown out because his lawyer had allegedly slept through long segments of his trial. The state of Texas missed a deadline to file an appeal and on Wednesday a federal judge ordered him released. The Texas AG called the missed deadline for a new trial a “regrettable mistake.” But he said the error does not justify “releasing a convicted murderer.” Two days later, an appeals court has agreed and is blocking his release. Texas Gov. George W. Bush says, “He’s a really violent person. I hope he gets retried soon.”

Consider Mr. Death, a fascinating documentary by Errol Morris and its subject Fred Leuchter Jr. Leuchter, an engineer from Malden, Mass., was a self-taught expert on methods of execution and a consultant to a variety of states with the death penalty. In 1988, he was commissioned by Ernst Zündel, a neo-Nazi being prosecuted in a highly-publicized trial in Canada for publishing literature claiming that the Holocaust had never occurred, to conduct a forensic investigation into the Nazi use of poison gas in the WWII death camps. He claimed to have “proven” that the Holocaust had never happened by failing to find traces of poisonous substances in brick and mortar samples he had obtained illegally from the walls of the Auschwitz gas chambers. “The Leuchter Report is out there in dozens of languages, and I would dare say in millions of copies. We will not go down in history as being a nation of genocidal maniacs. We will not. We can, with historical truth, detoxify a poisoned planet,” said Zündel.

And while we’re on the subject of Holocaust deniers, Salon updates us on British author and Hitler apologist David Irving’s libel suit against Deborah Lipstadt, the Emory University professor of history who has called Irving “one of the most dangerous spokespersons for Holocaust denial.” Irving argues on his own behalf and the presiding judge has given him considerable leeway in presenting his case so as not to present the appearance of putting a person with no legal experience at a disadvantage. Irving thus gets massive exposure for his insidious arguments. To assist Lipstadt in her case, the Israeli government this week decided to release over 600 pages of Adolph Eichmann’s memoirs. Holocaust survivors attending the trial to bear witness are concerned about how much easier it will be for such Hitler apologists to plant seeds of doubt after the last survivors of the Final Solution are gone.

From Wired: “France Agog, Aghast Over Echelon”, the US- and UK-run surveillance network that can allegedly intercept email, faxes, and phone conversations. This article is full of links to extensive earlier coverage of the Echelon phenomenon, which is becoming a major acute irritant to chronically tense Anglo-French relations.

Kenyon College examines the rave scene: electronic dance music, its various sub-genres and styles. “As we dance into the next millennium, we must not forget our past. It is my hope that ravers, DJ’s, music critics, students, and anyone else interested in electronic dance music will be able to use this site to learn more about the sounds and subcultures that have provided the style and soundtrack to the end of the 20th century.”

Join me here?

From CNN.com: A timeline of mass shootings in the U.S., prompted by the latest killing rampage by a Philadelphia man reportedly motivated by racial hatred.

From CNN.com: US – Death row inmate whose lawyer slept at trial to stay in jail. Calvin Burdine’s murder conviction had been thrown out because his lawyer had allegedly slept through long segments of his trial. The state of Texas missed a deadline to file an appeal and on Wednesday a federal judge ordered him released. The Texas AG called the missed deadline for a new trial a “regrettable mistake.” But he said the error does not justify “releasing a convicted murderer.” Two days later, an appeals court has agreed and is blocking his release. Texas Gov. George W. Bush says, “He’s a really violent person. I hope he gets retried soon.”

Consider Mr. Death, a fascinating documentary by Errol Morris and its subject Fred Leuchter Jr. Leuchter, an engineer from Malden, Mass., was a self-taught expert on methods of execution and a consultant to a variety of states with the death penalty. In 1988, he was commissioned by Ernst Zündel, a neo-Nazi being prosecuted in a highly-publicized trial in Canada for publishing literature claiming that the Holocaust had never occurred, to conduct a forensic investigation into the Nazi use of poison gas in the WWII death camps. He claimed to have “proven” that the Holocaust had never happened by failing to find traces of poisonous substances in brick and mortar samples he had obtained illegally from the walls of the Auschwitz gas chambers. “The Leuchter Report is out there in dozens of languages, and I would dare say in millions of copies. We will not go down in history as being a nation of genocidal maniacs. We will not. We can, with historical truth, detoxify a poisoned planet,” said Zündel.

And while we’re on the subject of Holocaust deniers, Salon updates us on British author and Hitler apologist David Irving’s libel suit against Deborah Lipstadt, the Emory University professor of history who has called Irving “one of the most dangerous spokespersons for Holocaust denial.” Irving argues on his own behalf and the presiding judge has given him considerable leeway in presenting his case so as not to present the appearance of putting a person with no legal experience at a disadvantage. Irving thus gets massive exposure for his insidious arguments. To assist Lipstadt in her case, the Israeli government this week decided to release over 600 pages of Adolph Eichmann’s memoirs. Holocaust survivors attending the trial to bear witness are concerned about how much easier it will be for such Hitler apologists to plant seeds of doubt after the last survivors of the Final Solution are gone.

From Wired: “France Agog, Aghast Over Echelon”, the US- and UK-run surveillance network that can allegedly intercept email, faxes, and phone conversations. This article is full of links to extensive earlier coverage of the Echelon phenomenon, which is becoming a major acute irritant to chronically tense Anglo-French relations.

Kenyon College examines the rave scene: electronic dance music, its various sub-genres and styles. “As we dance into the next millennium, we must not forget our past. It is my hope that ravers, DJ’s, music critics, students, and anyone else interested in electronic dance music will be able to use this site to learn more about the sounds and subcultures that have provided the style and soundtrack to the end of the 20th century.”

The major question is whether this is merely a tactical move: Austria’s Haider Resigns; Opponents Skeptical

‘Asked if he still hoped to be chancellor one day, he replied: “I do not exclude it.”

In Austria, Die Presse newspaper said Haider’s decision was a shrewd move to distance himself from

unpopular government decisions such as planned tax increases and to position himself for the next election,

due within four years.

The opposition Social Democrats dismissed the resignation as a sham. “It is quite clear that Haider is only

giving up his office but will continue to set the tone,” said new Social Democratic leader Alfred

Gusenbauer.

“He sees that this government is unpopular so he seeks the first opportunity to ditch responsibility,

formally, to distance himself from this government. Everything that has been said indicates he will continue

to keep the party on a short leash.”‘

The major question is whether this is merely a tactical move: Austria’s Haider Resigns; Opponents Skeptical

‘Asked if he still hoped to be chancellor one day, he replied: “I do not exclude it.”

In Austria, Die Presse newspaper said Haider’s decision was a shrewd move to distance himself from

unpopular government decisions such as planned tax increases and to position himself for the next election,

due within four years.

The opposition Social Democrats dismissed the resignation as a sham. “It is quite clear that Haider is only

giving up his office but will continue to set the tone,” said new Social Democratic leader Alfred

Gusenbauer.

“He sees that this government is unpopular so he seeks the first opportunity to ditch responsibility,

formally, to distance himself from this government. Everything that has been said indicates he will continue

to keep the party on a short leash.”‘

UPDATE! Tentative publication date for the fourth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament, is set. My son and I spent several months of bedtimes reading the first three aloud together. Haven’t you got someone with whom you might be doing that?

Newest issue of Phil Agre’s occasional notes and recommendations from the Red Rock Eater news service:

“In talking to all these people, I was endlessly struck by the chasm

between the telephone world and the computer world. Everyone in the

telephone world had superficial training and good manners; everyone

in the computer world had deep training and a bracing arrogance.

And with the sole exception of the one technical guy in the bowels

of Sprint, neither side exhibited the slightest comprehension of its

connection to the other. Hey, everyone: the telephone world and the

computer world are merging! This merger, it would seem, is not just

a technical matter.”

From Medley: “One of Queen Elizabeth’s cooks was fired for making remarks about poisoning

her and wondering where to buy cyanide.” And I read somewhere today that, when the police came to help the Queen remove her personal effects from the Palace during that fire several years ago, she found one of them standing before an open dresser drawer in her personal bedchamber about ready to knick some of her knickers until he was aware of her standing there watching him.

Boy Bands and Girl Vixens – All you need to know about the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears.  by David Plotz [Slate]

Random Access Memory: “an experiment in collective recollection.”

From Atlantic Unbound: Welcome to the Word Police Academy “The Word Police are looking for a few good people. As a

certified Word Police officer, you will be entitled to issue

Grammar Citations when you see or hear crimes against

the language. To be inducted into the force, you must

pass a Word Police Academy exam.

The Word Police Force has many divisions and squads.

The current entrance exam is for the Pronoun Patrol.

Coming soon: the entrance exam for Who Wants to

Marry a Word Police Officer? Just kidding!” [I passed the exam, despite any grammatical errors your finding in this blog…]

Eugenics Archive: “materials from the

Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor, which was

the center of American eugenics research from 1910-1940.

In the Archive you will see numerous reports, articles,

charts, and pedigrees that were considered scientific

“facts” in their day. It is important to remind yourself that

the vast majority of eugenics work has been completely

discredited. In the final analysis, the eugenic description of

human life reflected political and social prejudices, rather

than scientific facts.”

UPDATE! Tentative publication date for the fourth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament, is set. My son and I spent several months of bedtimes reading the first three aloud together. Haven’t you got someone with whom you might be doing that?

Newest issue of Phil Agre’s occasional notes and recommendations from the Red Rock Eater news service:

“In talking to all these people, I was endlessly struck by the chasm

between the telephone world and the computer world. Everyone in the

telephone world had superficial training and good manners; everyone

in the computer world had deep training and a bracing arrogance.

And with the sole exception of the one technical guy in the bowels

of Sprint, neither side exhibited the slightest comprehension of its

connection to the other. Hey, everyone: the telephone world and the

computer world are merging! This merger, it would seem, is not just

a technical matter.”

From Medley: “One of Queen Elizabeth’s cooks was fired for making remarks about poisoning

her and wondering where to buy cyanide.” And I read somewhere today that, when the police came to help the Queen remove her personal effects from the Palace during that fire several years ago, she found one of them standing before an open dresser drawer in her personal bedchamber about ready to knick some of her knickers until he was aware of her standing there watching him.

Boy Bands and Girl Vixens – All you need to know about the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears.  by David Plotz [Slate]

Random Access Memory: “an experiment in collective recollection.”

From Atlantic Unbound: Welcome to the Word Police Academy “The Word Police are looking for a few good people. As a

certified Word Police officer, you will be entitled to issue

Grammar Citations when you see or hear crimes against

the language. To be inducted into the force, you must

pass a Word Police Academy exam.

The Word Police Force has many divisions and squads.

The current entrance exam is for the Pronoun Patrol.

Coming soon: the entrance exam for Who Wants to

Marry a Word Police Officer? Just kidding!” [I passed the exam, despite any grammatical errors your finding in this blog…]

Eugenics Archive: “materials from the

Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor, which was

the center of American eugenics research from 1910-1940.

In the Archive you will see numerous reports, articles,

charts, and pedigrees that were considered scientific

“facts” in their day. It is important to remind yourself that

the vast majority of eugenics work has been completely

discredited. In the final analysis, the eugenic description of

human life reflected political and social prejudices, rather

than scientific facts.”

Behavioral Drug Use In Toddlers Up Sharply: This report confirms many people’s concerns. As a psychiatrist and the father of two young children, let me add my voice to theirs. I’m not as upset as many that the effect of the medications in subjects this young hasn’t been tested. What troubles me immensely is how in the world anyone could be so confident that a toddler’s overactivity, poor impulse control, or mood instability are pathological. And, if they are, isn’t that what parental nurturance and containment are for? And if the parental influence is lacking, how obscene is it to think that a medication can compensate? I have written and taught about “ADHD” since I was a medical student, and in my view the more popular it has become, the less and less meaning the diagnosis has come to have, and the more and more overused it is. To our children’s peril, and our society’s. Update: Dr. H Klasen writes in the current issue of the Harvard Review of Psychiatry on “The Medicalization of Hyperactivity.”

40-ton boulder smashes home; little to salvage after direct hit. “I’ve lived here for 12 years, and for 12 years I’ve been

wondering when this was going to happen. When, not if. Why

anybody would build a house beneath these boulders is beyond

me.”

Son ticketed rushing father to hospital with chest pains:“… it appears McClendon violated

department policy when he stopped the family

and kept them at the scene for, Lee said, about

14 minutes. The family said it was more like 30

minutes.”

Behavioral Drug Use In Toddlers Up Sharply: This report confirms many people’s concerns. As a psychiatrist and the father of two young children, let me add my voice to theirs. I’m not as upset as many that the effect of the medications in subjects this young hasn’t been tested. What troubles me immensely is how in the world anyone could be so confident that a toddler’s overactivity, poor impulse control, or mood instability are pathological. And, if they are, isn’t that what parental nurturance and containment are for? And if the parental influence is lacking, how obscene is it to think that a medication can compensate? I have written and taught about “ADHD” since I was a medical student, and in my view the more popular it has become, the less and less meaning the diagnosis has come to have, and the more and more overused it is. To our children’s peril, and our society’s. Update: Dr. H Klasen writes in the current issue of the Harvard Review of Psychiatry on “The Medicalization of Hyperactivity.”

40-ton boulder smashes home; little to salvage after direct hit. “I’ve lived here for 12 years, and for 12 years I’ve been

wondering when this was going to happen. When, not if. Why

anybody would build a house beneath these boulders is beyond

me.”

Son ticketed rushing father to hospital with chest pains:“… it appears McClendon violated

department policy when he stopped the family

and kept them at the scene for, Lee said, about

14 minutes. The family said it was more like 30

minutes.”

the body politic / Germ Warfare by RUSTY UNGER (02/28/00: a long article from New York about the vehement and bitter controversy dividing the medical community about Lyme disease. First noticed in 1975 as a novel type of arthritis in Lyme, CT and determined to be caused by a tick-borne bacterium called borrelia, some maverick physicians want to alert their colleagues to their contention that the disease goes on in some cases to a persistent systemic form despite treatment. Of particular interest to me, as a psychiatrist, are reports that it may be behind certain puzzling cases of neurobehavioral symptoms. Most MDs scoff at these claims and discount case reports of patients whose deterioration has been reversed by aggressive recurrent treatment for the infectious process. “In one corner is a group of those predominantly university-based physicians who

develop drugs, receive research grants from federal health agencies, and often

advise insurance companies. They contend that Lyme is usually simple to

diagnose and easily curable with two to four weeks of oral antibiotics. Chronic

Lyme, they say, is extremely rare, not a disease but merely a group of

symptoms remaining after the initial infection is treated that usually disperse.

In the other corner stands a group of primary-care

doctors, those on the front lines who see Lyme

patients every day, and a number of other

scientists — all of whom maintain that the illness

is far more complicated. Late-term or lingering

cases of Lyme disease, they say, may require six

months or more of oral antibiotic therapy and

intense intravenous therapy — which some like to administer in a hyperbaric

chamber. They believe that the increased oxygen of the chamber helps kill the

tenacious spirochetes — known as Borrelia burgdorferi — deposited by the

blood-sucking deer tick. Burrowing rapidly into the tissues, joints, and central

nervous system, borrelia slightly resembles the syphilis spirochete in the way it

feeds, sleeps, and reproduces.” Detractors have accused the more aggressive Lyme doctors of overdiagnosing and overtreating. But recently they’ve gone further. Several of the “Lyme literate” (as they are known by their supporters) are under investigation or have already lost their licenses. Bad medical practice or merely the unpopularity of their approach and beliefs? A case study in how illness definition has political as well as scientific influences…

Readme Quick: Do you read too slowly, as most people who value reading complain about themselves? How do you measure up? Can you improve? The Slate reading test.

the body politic / Germ Warfare by RUSTY UNGER (02/28/00: a long article from New York about the vehement and bitter controversy dividing the medical community about Lyme disease. First noticed in 1975 as a novel type of arthritis in Lyme, CT and determined to be caused by a tick-borne bacterium called borrelia, some maverick physicians want to alert their colleagues to their contention that the disease goes on in some cases to a persistent systemic form despite treatment. Of particular interest to me, as a psychiatrist, are reports that it may be behind certain puzzling cases of neurobehavioral symptoms. Most MDs scoff at these claims and discount case reports of patients whose deterioration has been reversed by aggressive recurrent treatment for the infectious process. “In one corner is a group of those predominantly university-based physicians who

develop drugs, receive research grants from federal health agencies, and often

advise insurance companies. They contend that Lyme is usually simple to

diagnose and easily curable with two to four weeks of oral antibiotics. Chronic

Lyme, they say, is extremely rare, not a disease but merely a group of

symptoms remaining after the initial infection is treated that usually disperse.

In the other corner stands a group of primary-care

doctors, those on the front lines who see Lyme

patients every day, and a number of other

scientists — all of whom maintain that the illness

is far more complicated. Late-term or lingering

cases of Lyme disease, they say, may require six

months or more of oral antibiotic therapy and

intense intravenous therapy — which some like to administer in a hyperbaric

chamber. They believe that the increased oxygen of the chamber helps kill the

tenacious spirochetes — known as Borrelia burgdorferi — deposited by the

blood-sucking deer tick. Burrowing rapidly into the tissues, joints, and central

nervous system, borrelia slightly resembles the syphilis spirochete in the way it

feeds, sleeps, and reproduces.” Detractors have accused the more aggressive Lyme doctors of overdiagnosing and overtreating. But recently they’ve gone further. Several of the “Lyme literate” (as they are known by their supporters) are under investigation or have already lost their licenses. Bad medical practice or merely the unpopularity of their approach and beliefs? A case study in how illness definition has political as well as scientific influences…

Readme Quick: Do you read too slowly, as most people who value reading complain about themselves? How do you measure up? Can you improve? The Slate reading test.

Infiltration: Transit Tunnels FAQ: a guide to the art of exploring abandoned subway tracks and stations beneath several of our cities. Includes a discussion of the possibilities of attack by “mole people” who, in unrban legend, live in these tunnels. The FAQ includes a list of recent films featuring people infiltrating transit tunnels onscreen; I can’t believe I’ve seen every film on the list. Infiltration is a ‘zine “about going places you’re not supposed to go” and a part of an urban exploration webring.

Wired notes the upsurge in weblogging:

“…For example, Memepool recently provided

links to sites for creating your own Old

Testament adventure, bubblewrap

lingerie, and entomophagy.

At the same time, Yahoo’s What’s New

linked to Philip Morris, Quaker Oatmeal,

and Clover Stornetta Farms.

Barger says in these days of

commerce-driven portals, weblogs are by

far the best way to explore the Net. So

efficient is the weblog circuit, Barger

estimates that anything new on the Web

will filter through the system within a

month.”

“You’re probably wondering why I allowed you to

bang on my car, why I didn’t simply drive

away and leave you sputtering in my rear-view. So let me tell you: I was

considering the possibility of opening my glove compartment, pulling out the

handgun I keep there, and sticking that gun into your mouth until you forked

over whatever money you keep in your expensive-looking riding suit. I battled

the temptation. You gambled on a stranger’s decency, and this time you won.” [via World New York]

Infiltration: Transit Tunnels FAQ: a guide to the art of exploring abandoned subway tracks and stations beneath several of our cities. Includes a discussion of the possibilities of attack by “mole people” who, in unrban legend, live in these tunnels. The FAQ includes a list of recent films featuring people infiltrating transit tunnels onscreen; I can’t believe I’ve seen every film on the list. Infiltration is a ‘zine “about going places you’re not supposed to go” and a part of an urban exploration webring.

Wired notes the upsurge in weblogging:

“…For example, Memepool recently provided

links to sites for creating your own Old

Testament adventure, bubblewrap

lingerie, and entomophagy.

At the same time, Yahoo’s What’s New

linked to Philip Morris, Quaker Oatmeal,

and Clover Stornetta Farms.

Barger says in these days of

commerce-driven portals, weblogs are by

far the best way to explore the Net. So

efficient is the weblog circuit, Barger

estimates that anything new on the Web

will filter through the system within a

month.”

“You’re probably wondering why I allowed you to

bang on my car, why I didn’t simply drive

away and leave you sputtering in my rear-view. So let me tell you: I was

considering the possibility of opening my glove compartment, pulling out the

handgun I keep there, and sticking that gun into your mouth until you forked

over whatever money you keep in your expensive-looking riding suit. I battled

the temptation. You gambled on a stranger’s decency, and this time you won.” [via World New York]

I’ve been pretty shaken since I learned last night about the death of a friend of mine, Phil Aranow. Phil was a beloved, deep, psychotherapist in Cambridge who wrote and taught about the integration of Buddhist theory into Western psychotherapy practice. I’d known Phil for almost thirty years since his younger brother and I became fast friends, and later roommates, the first day of college. His brother’s violent murder several years after college took me down for a closer look with Phil. Although we were in and out of each other’s lives, his marriage a decade later to one of my colleagues and friends at the hospital, and the birth of their first son around the same time my wife and I had our son, kept us pleasantly intertwined in spirit. I, who had found and lost my way with Buddhist teachings, was drawn to his even and mindful integration of Buddhist practice into this life. He was at the core of a group of psychotherapists, all practitioners of meditation, with whom my paths have crossed professionally in various ways in succeeding years. In recent times, as my work took me away from Cambridge and we were both busy with our families, we never got around to continuing to have lunch together as we had been doing. Phil and his family were driving to the airport last Friday night in Florida, returning from a working vacation and giving a workshop, when they were apparently hit head-on by a pickup truck. Thankfully, their two young boys are intact, but Phil succombed and his wife’s condition is uncertain after surgery today. I’ll be praying for her, for their children, and for the tragedy-stricken Aranow family. Phil, you’ll remain on my heart….

Calligraphy: Heaven and Earth by Daigu Ryokan (1757-1831)

Why I won’t be reading Dave Eggers: I caught Christopher Lydon on NPR’s The Connection talking today to this 24 year-old new literary darling and author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (for those of you that are not yet aware of the buzz, yes, that’s the title, not my blurb). He also edits the literary quarterly, Timothy McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern and its net-spinoff, Timothy McSweeney’s Internet Tendencies. One caller to the radio talk show, fawning all over Eggers, made it sound as if his writing has single-handedly taken us past postmodernism and out the other side “to something clear and simple,” or something to that effect (it turns out the caller was part of Eggers’ little literary clique and a contributor to his magazine). To judge from his interview, simple at least is right! Lydon quickly realized that he wasn’t going to get any scintillating answers to his questions, beyond repetitious echolalia, so he began to lead Eggers around by the nose affirming points that Lydon wanted to make in the interview. Is this what they mean by the self-referentiality they apply to his work?? (I thought I liked self-referentiality ’til now…) It was uncomfortable to see Lydon squirm to maintain the obligatory stance that his current guest was the best thing since sliced bread, and to see Eggers eating it up, despite the fact that it was probably the least self-reflective interview I’ve heard in a long while. Not a literary movement I’ll be following, or a bestselling buzzbook I’ll be buying, I’m afraid. And if another nail was needed in the coffinlid, Eggers is equated as wunderkind with NPR’s This American Life host Ira Glass, to whose show he has apparently contributed. Glass is a smug self-satisfied commentator whose profundity I can’t see impressing anyone more than himself. Someone has described This American Life as driveway radio — you sit in your driveway when you arrive home, unable to bear shutting the car off ’til it’s over; but, even as an inveterate NPR listener, I scramble to turn the radio off when Ira Glass comes on. (And I’ve written to my local NPR station saying I won’t contribute to them anymore as long as they use Ira Glass’ demeaning and smarmy spots, based on gleefully shaming hapless non-contributing listeners, in their fund drives.) Maybe I’m just too old for these Gen-X’ers who think they’ve seen and realized it all. Listening to the interview with Eggers, it seemed he emoted mostly angst about having to live up to the adulation. It was hard to see what he’d ever have to offer in the way of a second book, unless it was something spun off of that angst…(And in case you were wondering, I don’t feel particularly ashamed in admitting that I don’t feel particularly awful about generating a diatribe like this without reading the book.)

Galileo swoops by volcanic Io

“Jupiter’s strange moon Io is

literally bursting with volcanoes. Dozens of active

vents pepper the landscape, which also includes

gigantic frosty plains, towering mountains and

volcanic rings the size of California. The volcanoes

themselves are the hottest spots in the solar system

(not counting the sun) with temperatures exceeding

1800 K. The plumes, which rise 300 km into space, are so large that the Hubble

Space Telescope can see them from its low Earth orbit.”

I’ve been pretty shaken since I learned last night about the death of a friend of mine, Phil Aranow. Phil was a beloved, deep, psychotherapist in Cambridge who wrote and taught about the integration of Buddhist theory into Western psychotherapy practice. I’d known Phil for almost thirty years since his younger brother and I became fast friends, and later roommates, the first day of college. His brother’s violent murder several years after college took me down for a closer look with Phil. Although we were in and out of each other’s lives, his marriage a decade later to one of my colleagues and friends at the hospital, and the birth of their first son around the same time my wife and I had our son, kept us pleasantly intertwined in spirit. I, who had found and lost my way with Buddhist teachings, was drawn to his even and mindful integration of Buddhist practice into this life. He was at the core of a group of psychotherapists, all practitioners of meditation, with whom my paths have crossed professionally in various ways in succeeding years. In recent times, as my work took me away from Cambridge and we were both busy with our families, we never got around to continuing to have lunch together as we had been doing. Phil and his family were driving to the airport last Friday night in Florida, returning from a working vacation and giving a workshop, when they were apparently hit head-on by a pickup truck. Thankfully, their two young boys are intact, but Phil succombed and his wife’s condition is uncertain after surgery today. I’ll be praying for her, for their children, and for the tragedy-stricken Aranow family. Phil, you’ll remain on my heart….

Calligraphy: Heaven and Earth by Daigu Ryokan (1757-1831)