The singer has signed on to serve as host of a weekly one-hour program on XM Satellite Radio, spinning records and offering commentary on new music and other topics, starting in March. The famously reclusive 64-year-old performer said in a statement yesterday that ‘a lot of my own songs have been played on the radio, but this is the first time I’ve ever been on the other side of the mike.'” (New York Times )

Peter C. Whybrow of U.C.L.A. and John D. Gartner of Johns Hopkins University Medical School make their cases for an immigrant-specific genotype in their respective books, American Mania and The Hypomanic Edge. Even when times are hard, Whybrow points out, most people don’t leave their homelands. The 2 percent or so who do are a self-selecting group. What distinguishes them, he suggests, might be the genetic makeup of their dopamine-receptor system – the pathway in the brain that figures centrally in boldness and novelty seeking.” (New York Times Magazine)

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals seemed skeptical of the Bush administration’s defense of secret laws and regulations but stopped short of suggesting that such a rule would be necessarily unconstitutional.

‘How do we know there’s an order?’ Judge Thomas Nelson asked. ‘Because you said there was?’

Replied Joshua Waldman, a staff attorney for the Department of Justice: ‘We couldn’t confirm or deny the existence of an order.’ Even though government regulations required his silence, Waldman said, the situation did seem a ‘bit peculiar.'” (CNET)

…The ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, …was asked about two Iraqi detention facilities from which some detainees had been transferred to the hospital, and to comment on remarks from some Iraqi interior ministry officials characterizing the handling of the detainees as slapping. Mr. Khalilzad said he has received reports that pointed to more extreme treatment.” (New York Times )

Every entry can be edited by anybody. An entry can contain a bit of sheet music, a MIDI file, textual information about the work and the composer, and last but not least the Parsons Code, a rough description of the melodic contour, to make the encyclopedia searchable by melody.

Musipedia uses the “Melodyhound” melody search engine. You can find and identify a tune even if the melody is all you know. You can play it on a piano keyboard, whistle or sing it to the computer, or directly use the Parsons code. To “name that tune”, you don’t need to know the key signature, exact rhythm, or intervals.”

When the two are guests on a ‘Larry King’-type cable show, Murch tells the mother of a dead soldier that he, too, wishes her son could return home. If he did, Murch said, the young GI would tell her that the fight was not in vain. Oops, bad move. Murch’s words are enough to stir the dead, and what they have to say doesn’t exactly jibe with the president’s talking points.” (Reuters)

Fearing a repeat of the 1992 race riots in which 52 people died, police, schools and community groups have been told to prepare for violence if clemency is not granted.” (CTV)

The idea of large galaxies being assembled primarily by mergers rather than evolving by themselves in isolation has grown to dominate cosmological thinking. However, a troubling inconsistency within this general theory has been that the most massive galaxies appear to be the oldest, leaving minimal time since the Big Bang for the mergers to have occurred.” (National Optical Astronomy Observatory News)

At 1001 metres, the enormous tower would be almost twice the height of the world’s tallest building today, the Taipei 101 in Taiwan, which stands at 509 metres. The new building would also dwarf the Burj Dubai, a building under construction in Dubai that is expected to stand 700-800 metres tall once completed in 2008.

…Mohsen Zikri, a skyscraper expert with the UK engineering company Arup, says such an immensely tall building would pose extraordinary challenges for its designers. For example, it could be tricky to include enough elevators (lifts) to move people up and down efficiently.” (New Scientist)

The program groups emails by sender, and then prioritises senders according to the number of times that you have communicated with them recently and the frequency with which you reply to them. So you should be able to home in on emails that are likely to be especially urgent or interesting.

Called the Social Network and Relationship Finder (SNARF), the software was released online on 30 November. It works with Outlook, but may soon be configured for Yahoo and Gmail.” (New Scientist)

Let me explain.” — Chris Mullin, member of the British Parliament (Los Angeles Times)

…If there is something vaguely quaint about Mallomars because they are available only during certain seasons, there is also something venerable. They are as old as the Federal Reserve System and Camel cigarettes. Unlike crossword puzzles, which also made their debut in 1913, they have not undergone a name change. When The New York World published that first puzzle, it was a “word-cross.” Mallomars did not begin life in 1913 as Marsomalls.” (New York Times )

Truman and Eisenhower were the casualties of historical forces in the postwar world which only coincidentally arose during their second terms and would have been daunting to the public perception of their adequacy in doing their job even if they had occurred immediately after their first elections… in which case we would not, of course, be talking about second-term woes, as we did not when Johnson was defeated by the public weariness over the morass in Vietnam and Bush Senior was done in by first-term economic conditions.

Nixon and Reagan committed scandalous abuses of their power after emboldened and corrupted in their first terms. Clinton’s scandalous behavior was in the sphere of private character failings but was exploited by his political opponents, having had time by his reelection to marshal their opposition. Unfortunately, significant segments of the American public have subsequently, hypocritically, forgotten to hold their President accountable for character flaws…

…Which brings us to George W. Bush, whose woes are not second-term woes, for several reasons. First of all, he was elected legitimately neither the first time nor the second time, in the credible opinion of many. Second, there is nothing about his failings that is specific to his second term except the reasons that it took so long for the American public to recognize his failings. His ineptitude, unpreparedness to govern, his deceitfulness, and his collection of the most unscrupulous cabal of advisers and managers, make him the uncontested worst president in the postwar era. Admittedly, it took the majority of the American public until the second term to make a realistic appraisal of his performance — a failing grade — but that was only because his first-term approval was artificially inflated by the political manipulation of 9-11, which created the most destructive consensus that opposition was disloyal and dangerous since McCarthyism.

More than two thousand American GIs and countless Iraqi civilians, to start with, have died as a result of this morally bankrupt deceit. But it is a mistake, of course, to focus merely on the war as the source of discontent. The coffers of corrupt corporate administration cronies have been enriched unbelievably off the backs of suffering Americans, our descendants will pay the price of irresponsible economic policy which has bankrupted our fiscal security. The abandonment of the unfortunate and underprivileged has accelerated at an unprecedented pace. The environment of the world has been irrevocably and severely degraded at a quickening pace. Multinational cooperation has been compromised by craven American unilateralism, military adventurism and abrogation of international agreements and civility. Goodwill has been squandered and debased. We have set a precedent for illegal detention and torture that other countries are certain to emulate. We have disavowed and undone a half-century of progress in the containment of the nuclear threat. Never before has an administration so egregiously limited the scope of the polity to which it considers itself answerable to such a partisan sectarian base. The list goes on and on.

Smith’s proposal for a single six-year term of office, which I hope was made facetiously, would not address the problem of the election of an unqualified, inept and duplicitous man in the first place and would compound the problem by prolonging his tenure, with no public recourse, for two further disastrous years. Four years of ineptitude is more than enough! The solution to Smith’s observation that, under the present system, the first-term President uses his power to campaign for his second term from the White House, is not to eliminate the only source of the remaining accountability an irresponsible President has to the electorate. There are other ways to contain partisanship in the exercise of Presidential power but, if partisan we are to be, a provision for a recall election of a President as scandalously bad as Bush would be a better Constitutional reform than a one-term limit, be it four years or six. Finally, it is telling that Smith starts his historical review with Truman, conveniently ignoring the case of his predecessor. Franklin Roosevelt, whose heroic presidency shepherded us through national emergency on both the domestic and the international front, illustrates the Founding Fathers’ wisdom in providing for reelection, especially when an effective leader has inspired the national confidence in times of crisis.

While Smith’s analysis of the situation may be a scurrilous attempt to reflect H.L. Mencken’s observation that “every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under,” it does nothing to help bolster the democratic process by warning the public against repeating the mistakes it made by being fooled into electing a man like George W. Bush. Both one-term presidencies, and second-term woes, are reflective of the debasement of the political process and the increasing difficulty the electorate has in assessing the character and leadership potential of presidential candidates through the slickness and superficiality of the campaign process. Campaign spending caps, frank candidate debates that are not opportunities for a dog-and-pony show, the inclusion of minor party candidates, a compressed campaign season to avoid the ad nauseum repetition of platitudes, legitimate in=depth scrutiny by a responsible and independent press, and the public determination not to get fooled again, would go far further in electing a man — or woman — of integrity who would have the capacity to govern for eight years, regardless of historical vagaries, without the public becoming disenchanted. Oh yes, and avoiding electronic voting without a paper trail, of course.

—
Eliot Gelwan MD, Brookline MA, USA”

The change follows complaints from a high-profile US journalist about an entry that falsely implicated him in the assassination of both US President John F. Kennedy and his brother Bobby Kennedy.

In an editorial published in USA Today on 21 November, John Seigenthaler Sr criticised Wikipedia for failing to spot and correct the error and for allowing its creator to remain anonymous. In the article, Seigenthaler said the error had remained on Wikipedia for several months and described the website as a ‘flawed and irresponsible research tool’.” (New Scientist)

But Mr. Romero has also become a lightning rod, with a band of vociferous internal critics saying that civil liberties are not his top concern. They have seized on his failure to inform the board about a settlement with the New York attorney general over privacy breaches on its Web site and his signing of a government fund-raising agreement that the organization later renounced. In both cases, they say, Mr. Romero was not entirely forthcoming even after those controversies came to light.” (New York Times )

The worst, is that the con was such a shoddy job. It is truly disheartening that so many, were played so well, by such stupid bald-faced lies.

Criminal trials of the perpetrators would certainly help to reduce the probability of a repetition in the near future. The Bush cabal seems to love severe punishment for lawless behavior, so let us indulge them.”

The Bush administration has previously said the convention which bans cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment does not apply to US personnel abroad.” (BBC)

Reports say the plane had experienced technical problems all morning, causing the take-off to be delayed for hours. Iranian media also say the pilot had asked twice to return to Mehrabad airport to make an emergency landing, but was refused because it was busy.” (BBC)

Limbo has long been held by the Catholic Church to be the place where the souls of children go if they die before they can be baptised, as well as the source of the chaotic neutral alignment and home of the Slaadi. However, a 30-strong international commission of theologians summoned by the late John Paul II last year to come up with a ‘more coherent and illuminating’ doctrine in tune with the modern age is to present its findings to Pope Benedict XVI on Friday.

Vatican sources said yesterday that the commission would recommend that Limbo be replaced by the more ‘compassionate’ doctrine that all children who die do so ‘in the hope of eternal salvation’, rather than the traditionally held belief that their souls suffer eternal deprivations at the hands of the Slaadi and their demented lords Ssendam and Ygorl.

What this change in theology will do for the millions of Dungeons & Dragons players across the world is not yet clear. Randy Thomson, a Dungeon Master of 23 years from Buffalo, New York, is livid. ‘The Pope has no authority to mess with the cosmology of our beloved multiverse!’ Thomson ranted, between gulps of cola. ‘This will be like Second Edition all over again, when they tried to take away our demons and devils. If it’s a schism the Pope wants, it’s a schism he’ll get!’

But not all players of the game are so enraged. Lisle Sheffield, a player for 14 years from Tucson, Arizona, said, ‘Frankly, I’m pleased with this move. The planar cosmology was a straitjacket imposed by the medieval-style beliefs of roleplayers from the 1970s, who saw the need for a way to restrain the actions of characters within a rigid alignment system. In these enlightened times, such measures are not necessary, as modern secular humanism encourages accountability for actions within the moral framework of the D&D setting without the need for rules. I see the abolition of Limbo as the first step towards a more open and honest roleplaying system.’

These arguments don’t go down well with Timmy Livingstone, a 14-year-old from Sacramento, Caifornia, who discovered the game with his friends last summer. ‘The Pope can’t take away Limbo! Who does he think he is! My 78th level half-elf-half-dwarf paladin-ranger-barbarian just got a 23 sword of Slaad-slaying, and was going to go to Limbo and kill Ygorl and take over the whole plane! How’s he going to do that now? He might have to take over the Seven Heavens instead! Let’s see how the Pope likes that!’

The Vatican has so far declined to comment on the reactions of the faithful D&D players of the world.” (dmmaus via walker)

There are things which make sense in the context of a first term, a presidential campaign, a major policy to sell, or if there is an heir apparent (like Gore in 2000). But basically either people are happy with the economy or not and no speechifying by Bush is going to change their minds

I thought the same thing and then realized that he was just repeating his stump speech, slightly updated. (He even had the usual applause lines — tort reform! YEAHHHHHHHHH!) I should have known what was going on when he mentioned ‘his opponent’ in a speech a couple of weeks ago.

Bush is running for president again. It’s really the only thing he knows how to do successfully. (And even then, only 50% of the time.) This time he’s running against himself — Bush the 35% loser.

Talk about the lesser of two evils.” (digby)

‘There’s a whole range of biblical scriptures simply bursting with eroticism,’ said Stefan Wiest, the 32-year-old photographer who took the titillating pictures.” (Yahoo! News)

In doing so, Rove’s attorney, Robert Luskin, has turned the tables on the media, who ultimately fought a losing battle to protect Rove – their source – who revealed to some reporters Plame Wilson’s identity and CIA status.

Now Luskin has fired back, revealing to Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that Viveca Novak – a reporter working for Time magazine who wrote several stories about the Plame case – inadvertently tipped him off last year that her colleague at the magazine would be forced to testify that Rove was his source who told him about Plame Wilson’s CIA status, several people close to the case said this week.

The latest twist in the two-year-old investigation has all the elements of a Hollywood thriller. New details in the case seem to emerge on a daily basis. Selective leaks to a small handful of newspapers and cable news stations are aimed at portraying some of the key Bush administration officials involved in the case in a sympathetic light, while casting Fitzgerald as a partisan prosecutor.” (truthout)

For doctors, understanding and figuring out how to respond to an individual patient’s perspective – continue to fight for life when chances of survival are slim, or acquiesce and try to make the best of whatever time remains? – can be almost as grave a responsibility as the more scientific challenge of treating disease. In trying to come to terms with my mother’s death, I wanted to understand the work of the oncologists who treated her and what treating her meant to them, both humanly and scientifically. What chance was there really of translating a patient’s hope for survival into the reality of a cure? One common thread in what they told me was that interpreting a patient’s wishes is as much art as science.” (New York Times Magazine)

To defeat wiretapping systems, the target need only send the same "idle signal" that the tapping equipment sends to the recorder when the telephone is not in use. The target could continue to have a conversation while sending the forged signal.

The tone, also known as a C-tone, sounds like a low buzzing and is "slightly annoying but would not affect the voice quality" of the call, Mr. Blaze said, adding, "It turns the recorder right off."

The paper can be found at <a href=”http://www.crypto.com/papers/wiretapping&#8221; title=”

The paper can be found at”>http://www.crypto.com/papers/wiretapping.” (New York Times thanks to walker)

An abject coward, that endorses violence by others. A voice straining to resurrect McCarthy, he of the politically motivated faux hunt for witches and demons, the closest thing this country has to a He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named outside of the Harry Potter universe. A face twisted into unimaginable hate, with talk of the traitorousness of her perceived enemies, all of them better Americans than she can even momentarily pretend to be.

That such transparent propaganda, wrapped with such venom for her fellow Americans, could exist is hardly surprising. But those that publish her words should be branded with them. Those that give her a voice should be remembered for what they are, as surely as she herself.”

…In 2002, only 9 percent of adults were able to say that the children they saw in public were ‘respectful toward adults,’ according to surveys done then by Public Agenda, a nonpartisan and nonprofit public opinion research group. In 2004, more than one in three teachers told Public Agenda pollsters they had seriously considered leaving their profession or knew a colleague who had left because of ‘intolerable’ student behavior.” (New York Times )

It’s a strategy that appears to be working, at least so far. While Newsweek, which was given an exclusive look at the rough cut of the movie, says that Lion is ‘only as Christian as you want it to be,’ Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, describes it as a ‘tool that many may find effective in communicating the message of Jesus to those who may not respond to other presentations.'” (The Chronicle of Higher Education)

The 38-year-old woman, who wants to remain anonymous, had a nose, lips and chin grafted onto her face from a brain-dead donor whose family gave consent. ” (Yahoo! News)

‘Insulin disappears early and dramatically in Alzheimer’s disease,’ senior researcher Suzanne M. de la Monte, a neuropathologist at Rhode Island Hospital and a professor of pathology at Brown University Medical School, said in a prepared statement.

‘And many of the unexplained features of Alzheimer’s, such as cell death and tangles in the brain, appear to be linked to abnormalities in insulin signaling. This demonstrates that the disease is most likely a neuroendocrine disorder, or another type of diabetes,’ she added.

The discovery that the brain produces insulin at all is a recent one, and de la Monte’s group also found that brain insulin produced by patients with Alzheimer’s disease tends to fall below normal levels.

Now her group has discovered that brain levels of insulin and its related cellular receptors fall precipitously during the early stages of Alzheimer’s. Insulin levels continue to drop progressively as the disease becomes more severe — adding to evidence that Alzheimer’s might be a new form of diabetes, she said.

In addition, the Brown University team found that low levels of acetylcholine — a hallmark of Alzheimer’s — are directly linked to this loss of insulin and insulin-like growth factor function in the brain.” (Yahoo! News)

…[But] while Western researchers are exploring the effects of meditation on physical health, Alan Wallace, a leading Tibetan scholar and one of the Dalai Lama’s translators, pointed out that when faced with physical ailments, Tibetans traditionally turned to doctors or healers, not to meditation.

The purpose of meditation, added the Dalai Lama, is not to cure physical ailments, but to free people from emotional suffering.”

And while such doctors have always been part of medicine, medical organizations say they fear that they are increasingly common – doctors, under pressure to see more patients, are spending less and less time with each one and are replacing long discussions with laboratory tests and scans – and that most problem doctors apparently have no idea of their patients’ opinions of them.” (New York Times )

In response, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials have proposed new federal regulations to electronically track more than 600 million U.S. airline passengers a year traveling on more than 7 million flights through 67 hub airports.

The new regulations, which are available on the CDC’s Web site and will be posted for a 60-day comment period in the Federal Register starting Nov. 30, would require airlines, travel agents and global reservations systems to collect personal information that exceeds the quantity of information currently collected by the Transportation Security Administration or the Homeland Security Department.” (Gov’tHealth IT)

Opus Dei was founded in Spain in 1928; today, it has 84,000 members in 80 countries. For many, the group first gained wide attention when it was portrayed in Dan Brown’s best-selling novel, The Da Vinci Code. The thriller depicted the group as a repository for arcane knowledge and fervent — even dangerous — belief.

Vatican reporter John Allen’s new book is Opus Dei: An Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church. The book is being billed as the first serious journalistic investigation of the highly secretive organization. Allen writes for the National Catholic Reporter; he is also a Vatican analyst for CNN and NPR.” (NPR: Fresh Air)

“I tried to tell him,” the former senior official said. “And he couldn’t hear it.”’

Few people have ever seen a Venus shadow. But they’re there, elusive and delicate—and, if you appreciate rare things, a thrill to witness.

Attention, thrill-seekers: Venus is reaching its peak brightness for 2005 and casting its very best shadows right now.” (NASA)