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The Magpie Developer
Jeff Atwood is one of the best programmer/writers around. I love reading his stuff, some I agree wholeheartedly with, other stuff we disagree, but this post is about a dead-on as they come. This idea has been floating in my head for a long time, but it is hard for me to conceptualize it in words, Atwood does a brilliant job at it. Must read for any developer. |
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Andy Olmsted's Last Blog Entry.
(Warning: Pretty rough) No matter how you feel politically about the war, this reminds you that each number people throw around as statistics is a human life. This is extremely well written, and pretty rough on your soul towards the end, but something everyone should read. Its a shitty situation all around, but there is always a human face behind the statistics and I want to make sure I never forget that. |
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Drinking stories that put yours to shame
Via Keith
To preserve his body during the voyage home, the second-in-command stored Nelson's body in the ship's vat of rum and halted all liquor rations to the crew. Not a bad idea, but when the ship reached port, officials went to retrieve Nelson's body and found the vat dry.
Disregarding good taste (in every sense), the crew had been secretly drinking from it the entire way home. After that, naval rum was referred to as Nelson's Blood. |
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making vodka pills in 24 hours
Recently, Chef Fabian was experimenting further with the Adria/Torreblanca technique of making 'vodka pills.' I use this word to describe the process of making liquid-filled candies by pouring flavored alcohol syrups into cornstarch and letting it set until a hard outer shell forms. |
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Strategy Letter VI - joelonsoftware.com
As a programmer, thanks to plummeting memory prices, and CPU speeds doubling every year, you had a choice. You could spend six months rewriting your inner loops in Assembler, or take six months off to play drums in a rock and roll band, and in either case, your program would run faster. Assembler programmers don’t have groupies.
Entire Article is Dead On. A must read for anyone in the software biz. |
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BBC NEWS | Health | Brain chip reads man's thoughts
He can think his TV on and off, change channels and alter the volume thanks to the technology and software linked to devices in his home.
Scientists have been working for some time to devise a way to enable paralysed people to control devices with the brain.
Studies have shown that monkeys can control a computer with electrodes implanted into their brain.
Article:
BBC NEWS | Health | Brain chip reads man's thoughts
Let's Play that fun game we all like to play on this Blog. No It's not Plinko. It's "FOLLOW ERIC'S GEEKISH THOUGHT PROCESS AFTER READING THIS ARTICLE"
Begin
I wonder how they control household appliances via a computerchip
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Must be using X10 to control household appliances
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To Cover the widest range of appliances for this dude they probably use a default channel setting for his chip because it's not like he can take it out and reset the channel
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That means this dude can issue commands via his brain to default channel set X10 products
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There are a lot of lazy people or people who don't know much about default settings on X10 appliances (Read Rich people that buy home automation kits that only understand that if they push button X event Y happens [aka Blackboxers] they don't care how it works as long as it works, to hell with security) that probably leave all there applicances on default X10 channels.
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If someone built this guy a sensor he could literally go around and find these houses with default x10 settings (go for rich neighboorhoods) and literally sit in the front yard of these places and cut on/off lights, TVs, stereo's all by thought
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He would literally look like a mutant superhero sitting inthe front yard doing this to unsuspecting people and could really freak them out
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He would be an "X10-man"
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except a fully paralyzed one (worse than Professor X)
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Those Burger King commericals are so gay, but I will sit through them to see Brooke Burke on a swing in a cowboyhat.
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Back to work
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Theresa Falls Up The Stairs....
Honestly Does a Show get any better than Lost? This is a fricking 20+ hour long movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time. So many characters, so many plotlines, so many twists in the plotlines, so many sub stories that tandem the characters interactions with each other (most of the time they don't know it). I mean seriously, this is the best written drama of all time in my opinion. Tonight's episode did not fail either. Me and Lindz were expecting Jack's dad to walk in after Locke and his fathers operation. Maybe next week. The Sub stories with Locke keep getting better and better, and I will say the very end of tonights episode literally gave me chills. Great way to end the episode. Man what a show.
Here are some things that me and Lindz caught and have been being discussed various places that were kinda intereting (not sure if any meaning)
!!!!!SPOILERS!!!!!:
When Boone used the radio the dude came right back saying "There are no survivors on Oceanic 815"
How convienant of a drug to be in plethora in the plane for Charlie. (Herion)
Sawyer + Glasses = Piggy Foreshadow? (from Lord of the Flies)
Weird that the store that Locke worked at kept footballs (official and nerf on two different isles). They just happened to be Isle 8 and Isle 15. (Flight 815),(Numbers from Tower Station are 8/15),(Kates Saftey Deposit Box to Rob was 8/15), (Pshycic told Claire she needed to be on Flight 815), etc.
Was Sawyer reading 'A Wrinkle in Time' by Madealine E'Lingle? One of my favortie books I read when I was little. "The Closest Way from point A to point B IS NOT ALWAYS a strait line, it's a tesseract (Link for the Math Geeks) or better known to the Wallace Children as a 'Wrinkle In Time'.
Locke was "trapped" into providing the Kidney by his "Mom" and "Dad" (reference to Mouse Trap from beginning of episode?)
Why build a big Trebuches (yes an s on the end) when you have a gun to shoot the window of the hatch?!?
Below are some details about the season finally, and also there is a link to season one's DVDs that are up on Amazon (Sorry not till Sept 6th guys). I am sure me and Lindz will buy them and watch them all over within a week. Great Television people, great television.
P.S. I loved the Jesus allusion at first with this episode on Locke, I think it really played on all the people that speculate abot his abilities on the message boards. It almost seems like an FU to all the people that think he is non-mortal.
LOST (ABC) - The Alphabet has confirmed the smash freshman hit will close its season with an expanded two-hour installment on Wednesday, May 25 at 8:00/7:00c. The news means that 25 hours of 'Lost' are set to be shot this season, as well as a special one-hour 'introductory guide' next month. The season closer had previously been indicated to be 90 minutes however when the script came in long it was expanded to two hours. It's not clear how the move will affect lead-out 'Alias,' which had also been previously slated to wrap with a 90-minute installment on May 25.
Lost Season 1 DVDs
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A Week of Kindness
I reached one more branch out to her, in the form of misspelling the name of the god of destruction as a liquor brand. But it wasn't enough to get her to tell me to fuck myself, so I started making up my plan. Which was real simple: Take her money and cut and paste a paper together from the internet that was so obviously plagiarised that she'd be guaranteed to get caught. And then, if I was able to get the information out of her, I'd report her to whatever her school was, and who knows, maybe even pump her for double money in exchange for not turning her in. Either way, I'd eventually be writing the story up in this blog, and sending her the link to it.
Extremely funny attempt at plagarism. I made a doodie.
A Week of Kindness Blog: Laura K. Krishna is a Plagiarist.
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(Saturday, March 26)
President's Easter Message
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
I send greetings to all those celebrating Easter, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Through His sacrifice and triumph over death, Christ lifted the sights of humanity forever. In His teachings, the poor have heard hope, the proud have been challenged, and the weak and dying have found assurance. Today, the words of Jesus continue to comfort and strengthen Christians around the world.
Whoah.
I was half expecting a "P.S. We love other religions too... kinda.. "
This is not a formal document or law by any means, but one of the pillars we were founded on (seperation of church and state) just continously seems to be crumbling.
President's Easter Message
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(Friday, March 25)
Feel Good Space Monkeys
Wow. Plethora of New Info on new Gorillaz Album, and new single. I am really diggin it. Then again I don't think there is anythign by them I haven't dug. De La Soul backin' up on this song.
Reject False Icons/Demon Days Site??
Feel Good Inc. (Stream)
Feel Good Inc. (MP3) [On Another Person's Site (Might Go Down)]
Track 1: "Intro"
"The album opens with an ominous soundscape sampling George Romero's Dawn Of The Dead. It expresses a similar sense of foreboding we feel about the world." - Noodle
Track 2: "Last Living Souls"
"Sometimes the climate we live in can make you feel like the last living soul on earth,. The sense of introspection is reflected in the acoustic and piano." - Russel
Track 3: "Kid With Guns"
"This is more of a down tempo track. Like, night-time maneuvers. The equivalent of creeping up on the enemy." - Russel
Track 4: "O Green World"
"This song is the sound of someone's train coming off its coasters. We gave 2D's vocals a distorted megaphone effect to make them seem like...a memory from the past." - Noodle
Track 5: "Dirty Harry"
"This evolved from a tape recording of an old Gorillaz jam. Danger Mouse added the kids choir, the San Fernandez Youth Chorus." - Noodle
Track 6: "Feel Good Inc"
"Part 'Billie Jean', part Rockwell. The beat on this tune is as infectious as influenza. And our friends De La Soul delivered us this gooning, fun-filled rap." - Russel
Track 7: "El Manana"
"This was the very last to be written. It arrived like a winning goal in the last few seconds of a match. It sounds like a digital soul record." - Russel
Track 8: "Every Planet We Reach is Dead"
"There's a Charles Bukowski quote: 'If you're losing your soul and you know it, then you've still got a soul left to lose.' You can kinda hear this sentiment in this track." - Russel
Track 9: "November Has Come"
"The beginning sounds like an old Wham! Song, and features a rap supplied by London-born rapper MF Doom." - 2D
Track 10: "All Alone"
"Features a machine-gunning rap from Roots Manuva, we've talked about a collaboration with him for a long time." - Russel
Track 11: "White Light"
"The most punk rock track. It's relentless." - Russel
Track 12: DARE
"This is a hefty track. Part Clash, part Madonna." - Russel
"That's a rubbish description. It's nothing to do with Madonna. It's got a vocal by my old mate, Shaun Ryder. Shaun, eh! He's a scallywag, isn't he?" - Murdoc
Track 13: Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey's Head
"Narrated by Mr. Dennis Hopper. Noodle ran into him at some award show and it turns out he knew some Gorillaz tracks already." - Russel
Track 14: Don't Get Lost in Heaven
"This is a little slice of West Coast, sun-soaked harmony. Like coming up for air." - Russel
Track 15: "Demon Days"
"You remember when you were a little kid and you would look at the clouds in the sky and something that simple would make you feel a part of everything and all alone at the same time? As creative entities, we look for signs of life outside ourselves. That's why we all do what we do." - 2D
"Er....nope. It's for the birds after the show. Anyone who says any different is just spinning you a yarn." - Murdoc
Read Article Here
Other Info on Album:
Danger Mouse Vs. The Gorillaz - DJ/Producer wraps up work on Demon Days.
Gorillaz In Tha Midst - Blur's Damon Albarn discusses the hippest cartoon band since The Banana Splitz.
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Atlanta Nerd Dinner
Had a great time at the Atlanta Nerd Dinner last night. To those of you who do not know what nerd/geek dinners are, it is basically a chance for programmers/dbas in the area to get together and discuss geekish progamming things under the influence of a class of chemical compounds derived from hydrocarbon by replacing one or more of the hydrogen atoms with an equal number of hydroxyl radicals (aka your 'Brew Of Choice'). This was my first Nerd dinner and I must say it was very good company. I was planning on going solo and mustering my way through the odd introductions to people, until Brendon shot me a reply email saying he was going to. (Brendon attends about every MS related event in metro-ATL so I should have assumed he would be there). Discussions ranged from 'How Caching looks almost blackbox OO in ASP.NET 2.0 with relation to property settings' to 'Can the American version of The Office ever live up to the BBC version'. Good times. Will have to set calendar for next one for sure.
Atlanta Nerd Dinners
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USATODAY.com - Feud may be as much over money as principle
Despite the row over money, Schiavo and the Schindlers agreed on one major point in the 2000 testimony: the extent of Terri's brain damage, according to additional court documents cited by The Miami Herald. In the documents, Pamela Campbell, then the Schindlers' lawyer, told the court that 'we do not doubt that she's in a persistent vegetative state.' Campbell could not be reached to confirm the statement.
If this is true (which I highly doubt) both parties seem like major assholes. Take that poor woman off life support. Let her Die. Not from neglect, not from lack of love, not from lack of nutrition, but from lack of the ability to live her life without life support
USATODAY.com - Feud may be as much over money as principle:
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(Thursday, March 24)
UWTV Program: Google: A Behind-the-Scenes Look
Google: A Behind-the-Scenes Look
Search is one of the most important applications used on the internet and poses some of the most interesting challenges in computer science. Providing high-quality search requires understanding across a wide range of computer science disciplines. In this program, Jeff Dean of Google describes some of these challenges, discusses applications Google has developed, and highlights systems they've built, including GFS, a large-scale distributed file system, and MapReduce, a library for automatic parallelization and distribution of large-scale computation. He also shares some interesting observations derived from Google's web data.
UWTV Program: Google: A Behind-the-Scenes Look:
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RFID & Me
03-23-05_1708
Originally uploaded by ishmell.
Ease of user? or tracking device?
From as far as I can tell this is real. Here is a the link to a guy's Q&A of why he surgically implanted the RFID chip in his hand. Also below is a link to the photo set from his surgery.
Flickr Photoset
RFID and Me
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Wired News: Rockers Flex BitTorrent's Muscle
With MTV and VH1 now crowded with programs like Date My Mom, The Ashlee Simpson Show and Celebrity Fit Club, there's little room for music videos, especially from independent artists.
That's why one up-and-coming group, the Decemberists, opted to release its new music video, Sixteen Military Wives, for free using BitTorrent. The high-quality video file has logged more than 1,700 downloads since it was released over the weekend.
Nice Use Of Tech.
Wired News: Rockers Flex BitTorrent's Muscle
Torrent Here
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"Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt!"
It's all fun and games till the foam gets wet and starts to really hurt.
Neat Documentary on LARP. It's funny how these guys get branded as 'weirdoes' but when people roleplay.... er reinact US Revolutionary or the Civil War battle scenes people tend to think it's a novelty.
LARP Documentary
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(Tuesday, March 22)
DSCN1867
DSCN1867
Originally uploaded by ob1left.
VERY COOL photostream of a soldier deployed in Iraq.
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33 1/3 Series of Books
About 2 weeks or so ago a post on BoingBoing caught my eye about a series of books called the 33 1/3 Series. They are a series of books from Continuum Books that are basically books written solely about a specific album. I looked them up on Amazon as I usually do and something caught my eye. I have a very very weird fascination with OK Computer by Radiohead. I truly believe that it is the best album I have ever heard, and will probably ever hear my entire life. It consistently ranks on my top albums of all times anytime I am asked (via Edgemoor) It just seems like the perfect album to me from top to bottom. So since I have gotten Radiohead stuff from Amazon before they had this in their 'Something you might like' shpeel column. So I start to look at this list of books in this 33 1/3 series and what the publishers do is they ask people to write a book about these certain albums that are monumental albums in the history of rock and roll, and low and behold someone agreed with me and wrote a whole book about OK Computer. The neat thing about these books (or at least the one I just finished) is that they are written from a historical standpoint and not from a critical standpoint. I decided to order 4 of them to try them out (like $8 a piece) so I grabbed 4 Books on CDs that I think were monumental CDs in rock imho. OK Computer by Radiohead, Let It Be by The Beatles, Zoso/Runes/Zepplin IV/Old Man Carrying Sticks (whatever you want to call it)
by Led Zeppelin and Electric Ladyland by Hendrix. They are fairly easy reads, I started Let It Be (OK Computer is on backorder still waiting on it to arrive) yesterday at breakfast and finished it up about 15 mins ago. Steve Matteo did a great job on organizing this book and he basically takes the reader through the chronology of the Beatles last new material album before they went their separate ways. He did a really good job bringing to the forefront that these "Get Back Sessions" were not as bleak a part of the Beatles history as a lot of people have made them out to be, and that it was not necessarily outside influences (Yoko & Linda) that split the group up, but more of a splitting of ways that was a long time coming internally for the Beatles. I also did not realize how much of a part Billy Preston and Alan Parsons played in the recording, and how much McCartney loathed Phil Spector's remixes of the album (I can't imagine what Long and Winding Road would sound like in another form) . Really good stuff check out the list of Titles and see if any interest you. If they are as good a read as this one (Let It Be) was I recommend them all. Also I am eagerly searching for these "Get Back Session" Bootlegs as we speak :)
Radiohead OK Computer
Let It Be - The Beatles
Neil Young - Harvest
Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
James Brown - Live @ The Apollo
Jethro Tull - Aqualung
Tons More..
Whole 33 1/3 Series Listing
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(Monday, March 21)
ABC News: Congress Announces Deal in Schiavo Case
"'We should investigate every avenue before we take the life of a living human being,' said DeLay, R-Texas. 'That's the very least we can do for her.'"
Dear Mr Delay, It is not your job to investigate it. There are MANY other problems you and congress could be discussing/fixing/bringing soldiers home from. Also last time I checked her husband has the LEGAL right to make this decision, and also last time I checked you MAKE Laws, you do not interpret them. More specifically you don't interpret on a case by case basis, I am sure there are many people who are taken off life support based on the decisions of their spouse everyday. Why is this case so special? I wonder if it is because it will give you airtime?
ABC News: Congress Announces Deal in Schiavo Case:
UPDATE:
The paper said the congressional effort to save Schiavo was a "testament to the influence of the governor and religious conservatives, and will be remembered as one of the most extraordinary moves in the halls of U.S. Congress ever seen on behalf of a single person who, until recently, was little-known to many in the country."
What a crock of shit. The US Congress (Legislative Branch) DOES NOT INTERPRET LAW. President Bush (Executive Branch) DOES NOT INTERPRET THE LAW . It's called checks and balances. I don't know why neo-conservative religious right is trying to pass law that will disagree with our Judicial Branches legal judgments (THE ONES WHO INTERPRET THE LAW). This is the biggest face time, press grandstand I have ever seen by Delay/GW/JEB/Martinez. I guess De Lay is just trying to move himself out of the spotlight (and Courtroom). So GW flew back to the Whitehouse (probably faster than he did on 9/11) to make sure that he can be there to sign "Terri's Bill". Dear Gov't There are TONS and TONS of other problems to be solving. In the time that I posted the original post (referenced above) and this one, I am sure multiple able bodied U.S. soldiers have been killed. How about working to figure out a way to bring them home? Or keep them adequately supplied? Why does somthing like this bring you back to DC when other problems don't? I don't understand why this is such a big deal. People make this decision in our country EVERY DAY for their spouses. Here's a good brain twister if you want to mess with your head. If gay marriage was legal, would GW have flown back to DC and congress acted so quick for a lesbian couple? No this something that they can chaulk up "angel points" with by doing something that their branches of government are not supposed to be doing. My grandmother had to make this decision for my grandfather and it was the right one. No one should live like this, let nature takes it's course. This is not murder.
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(Saturday, March 19)
News: AFP Sues Google News For Copyright Infringement
Agence France Presse has sued Google for display their photo's, stories, and news headlines on Google News without permission. APF is seeking damages of around $17.5 million and is requesting the courts that Google News is not to display any of its copyrighted material. The suit was filed this past Thursday in the U.S District Court. According to AFP, they sell subscriptions to users for their content and Google News crawls these news articles and headlines and displays them on the Google News service.
Interesting to see how this plays out on a global level. I know they are suing Google News via the US Court system? But can they also sue Google.FR in France (where the courts have been unfavorable to Google in past trademark cases).
News: AFP Sues Google News For Copyright Infringement
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(Friday, March 18)
2 bright spots in a bleary day.
I have felt like ass the last 3 days. I almost wish I felt worse to give me an excuse to lay in bed all day. I hate having head colds/coughs that are not really serious enough to warrant staying home and in bed, but still make you feel miserable while at work or doing normal things. Well first off my beautiful wife brought me lunch (we usually go out for lunch on Fridays but I have been extremely busy at work today) which was nice, and second I got my new headphones in today. As most of you can tell from the right side of this web page, I constantly listen to music at work and at home. I have loved my trusty Sennheiser HD 497s( a major upgrade from my previous Koss Ears) but about a 3 weeks ago they started to lose sound quality in the right ear, which I think was due to the way I kept the cable plugged in. (When I wiggle it I can tell a notable difference). So I decided to look around for some new ones that were good quality also cheap on the budget (I will have some HD600's someday) just can't afford them now. So after much deliberation and research I can now say that I truly enjoy my new Sennheiser 212 Pros. They cost me a little more than my older ones, but the sounds quality is excellent and compared to my 497s these babies knock out so much more outside noise. The problem with me and headphones is that I take them from the house to work and back (and pack�em up) that I really put a workout on them and the cords. Hopefully these will be a little more durable
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(Thursday, March 17)
Google Code
Welcome to Google Code - 17/Mar/2005
Welcome to Code.Google.com! I'd like to welcome everyone to the site! Look around, and please join our discussion groups. If you like and are using a feed aggregator, we have two feeds that you can subscribe to. This one (updates) and the featured program, in which we pick a great app that uses some Google tool or api.
First Opensearch, now this. Good day for Search Engine related coders.
Google Code
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A9.com > OpenSearch
Any site that has content�and a search box�can choose to return results in OpenSearch RSS. This includes travel sites, classifieds, encyclopedias�. If you can provide search results for something, it probably can fit into the OpenSearch model. Returning OpenSearch results is easy�the format is the standard set of XML elements, plus three additional elements designed to support navigation between pages.
OpenSearch is comprised of:
1. OpenSearch RSS: XML format for providing open search results.
2. OpenSearch Description Documents: XML files that identify and describe a search engine.
3. OpenSearch Aggregators: Sites, such as A9.com, that can display OpenSearch results.
OpenSearch is not a search engine�it is a way for search engines to publish their search results in a standard and accessible format. And because OpenSearch is built on top of standard RSS, existing tools�such as blog readers�can read OpenSearch results natively. While existing RSS tools can't take advantage of all of the advanced features that OpenSearch offers, this backward compatibility guarantees a rich set of client applications for OpenSearch today.
If you are a content developer and already have a search engine for your site, you will want to read through the documentation on OpenSearch RSS and the OpenSearch Description, along with the OpenSearch Query Specification."
How Cool is this?
A9.com > OpenSearch
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(Wednesday, March 16)
MSNBC - Senate votes to open arctic refuge to oil drilling
Amid the backdrop of soaring oil and gasoline prices, a sharply divided Senate on Wednesday voted to open the ecologically rich Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, delivering a major energy policy win for President Bush.
The Senate, by a 51-49 vote, rejected an attempt by Democrats and GOP moderates to remove a refuge drilling provision from next year�s budget.
Bush +1 .. Environment -37
I love this administration. They preach and preach about how we don't need a band aid to solve the Social Security "Problem" but when it comes to obliterating a wildlife refuge for what "can't make even a small dent in meeting America's energy needs. U.S. Geological Survey scientists estimate that there is very likely only enough oil to supply America's needs for six months. And oil companies admit that, even that, won't be available for at least 10 years." Here is an AMAZING Idea from me some guy who does not worship trees or run around barefoot or eat granola or worry about if Phish is getting back together. Why don't you invest money in an research for an alternative renewable energy source so that we don't have to depend on foreign oil, as opposed to trying to pass legislation for destroying an arctic refuge to provide us with a MINIMAL amount of oil, that has absolutely no significance for our nation's oil needs, but what will supply you oil company friends with a domestic product which the don't have to worry about the cost of importing. What a piece of shit legislation.
MSNBC - Senate votes to open arctic refuge to oil drilling
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Hitachi unveils 'fastest robot'
By 2007, it is predicted that there will be almost 2.5 million 'entertainment and leisure' robots in homes, compared to about 137,000 currently, according to the United Nations (UN).
1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
This is not a science movie, this is now. The Robotic Revolution begins..
BBC NEWS | Technology | Hitachi unveils 'fastest robot'
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