randomWalks

City of Berkeley says stop the bombing.

originally posted by xowie

"We are in the process of putting a proposal together and analyzing what it would take to get to get something running in a matter of a small number of months, like three months, 90 days. We think we could put up this technology very, very quickly."

"I made this offer not because the government can't afford to pay for the software, but [to] shut up the critics who were saying, `Gee, Larry Ellison wants to build a national database because he wants to sell more databases,' which is pretty cynical and bizarre."

Ellison said that if he does donate the software, maintenance and upgrades won't be free.

Check MacSurfer for links to lots of speculation on just what Apple might announce next Tuesday. The widespread assumption is that it will be a digital music device, but even that seems to be a guess. All Apple has said in their press event invite is that the “breakthrough digital device” is “not a Mac.” All I can say is, whatever it is, I want one. (Excuse me while I wipe the drool from my chin.)

From the watch-what-you-say-watch-what-you-do department comes an admonition from extremist and patriot John Ashcroft that government agencies must use caution in complying with Freedom of Information Act requests.

As if you need another reason to visit BoingBoing regularly, they’ve added a sideblog edited by a rotating guest. This week’s editor is science fiction author and school teacher Pat York. Not this Pat York, mind you. A different one.

Read the list of ingredients. If you want something that simply looks like a hamburger and has no taste of its own, then a list headed by soy is right for you. But if you want something that actually looks like the vegetables with which it is made, that has texture, taste and appeal, look for an ingredients list that has lots of vegetables and maybe a little rice or cheese as a binder.

Steven Baum’s Ethel the Blog has an interesting take on the “powdery substance” sent to dozens of abortion clinics across the country.

On this cool, autumn-hazy day in the waning year 2001, the richest country in the world is dropping bombs on the poorest -- America has invoked the right of "self-defense" against Afghanistan. But in that poorest country in the world, winter approaches, and six million people are now living on the razor-edge of starvation. How many will die as a result of America's bombing campaign?

7,000? That would be miraculously few.

When will Americans wake up to the dirty secret that they are even now suffering and hurting other people for the sake of an imperium?

More excellent news for Californians: emergency contraception just became lawful here.

originally posted by xowie

Brutal repression of Muslims in Uzbekistan.

originally posted by xowie

Anyone who complains to me about their job will be forced by me to read this incendiary tract about the nature of work and power structures and false consciousness. This was the first thing I have ever read in the bathtub and worth every soggy page.

BloggerBot is supposed to let you post to a Blogger-managed weblog via AOL Instant Messenger. Right now it looks like it’s been bloggered – overloaded due to traffic from the Blogger home page.

It was the loveliest landscape I have ever seen: the hypnotic precipices beside us, falling 5,000 ft to jade rivers or lakes of lapis lazuli; the magnificent mountain ranges with the first snow of the autumn lying thinly on them; the gorgeous valleys with their green fields, and willows turning gold and red; the full-bearded men in turbans and green-striped chappans balanced on tiny, out-of-scale donkeys; the village women scurrying like formless ghosts in burkas of blue or white.

originally posted by xowie

Editorial balance:
- Iron Chef Morimoto goes to Philly.
- More hype for Salute to America’s Heroes week.

originally posted by xowie

Eddie Haskell goes to war by James Higdon, and The Utter Failure of Weblogs as Journalism at kuro5hin (both c/o wood s lot)

originally posted by xowie

Cluster bombs are used to cover a broad area rather than a single specific target. The bomblets, or "sub-munitions", contain higher explosive than landmines and their normally brightly-coloured casings make them attractive to children... On average, between 5% and 12% of the bomblets fail to explode, according to UN estimates.

originally posted by xowie

L33t chicks are everywhere, it seems.

originally posted by xowie

Hey feds! We could really use some fucking information right now!

originally posted by xowie

Playthell Benjamin: Even in the Ruins, Race Matters.

Bite Me at Chin Chin.

originally posted by xowie

I decided that what I had embarked on was an intensive meditation retreat. It had all the elements, I told myself: the long hours of silent sitting; the walking back and forth, going nowhere; the grueling schedule and sleep deprivation; the hypnotic, enigmatic chants ("…and if that looking glass gets broke/Mama’s gonna buy you a billy goat..."); the slowly dawning realization that there is nothing to look forward to but more of the same. And at the center of it, of course, was the crazy wisdom teacher in diapers, who assigned more demanding practices than I had encountered in all my travels in India—like "Tonight you will circumambulate the living room for two hours with the master in your arms, doing a deep-knee bend at every other step, and chanting, ‘Dooty-dooty-doot-doot-doo, dooty-dooty-doot-doot-doo.’" Or "At midnight you will carry the sleeping master with you to the bathroom and answer this koan: How do you lower your pajama bottoms without using your hands?"

Honoring 9-11, three asteroids were named Compassion, Solidarity and Magnanimity.

originally posted by xowie

FBI: “the sky is falling”. U: The press release has moved. The original file was named “skyfall.htm”… what the hell?

The once-humble unlucky tourist page has become epic. TouristGuy appears with Bert on page 5.

originally posted by xowie

September 11 Resources is a directory of several hundred sites pertaining to the Current Situation.