cat.mov (video/quicktime Object)

cat.mov (video/quicktime Object)

Cat in zero-g.

The New Yorker: The Critics: A Critic At Large

The New Yorker: The Critics: A Critic At Large

Nexium is little more than a repackaged version of an old medicine. And the hundred and twenty dollars a month that AstraZeneca charges isn’t to recoup the costs of risky research and development; the costs were for a series of clinical trials that told us nothing we needed to know, and a half-billion-dollar marketing campaign selling the solution to a problem we’d already solved.

LRB | Nicholas Penny : At the Royal Scottish Academy

LRB | Nicholas Penny : At the Royal Scottish Academy: "But The Age of Titian, an exhibition devoted to Venetian Renaissance art mainly from Scottish collections, is so well conceived and displayed that it disarms those of us who trembled at the prospect of change to the arrangements here. There are paintings transported from obscurity, rescued from store or transformed by cleaning; but, best of all, familiar masterpieces appear in a new light."

The New Yorker: The Critics: A Critic At Large

The New Yorker: The Critics: A Critic At Large: "How modern life emerged from eighteenth-century Edinburgh."

My favourite city

Sadik J. Al-Azm: Time Out of Joint

Sadik J. Al-Azm: Time Out of Joint: "Terrorism, Joseph Conrad once wrote, is an act of madness and despair."

LRB | John Lanchester : Mao meets Oakeshott

LRB | John Lanchester : Mao meets Oakeshott: ". It is difficult to quantify this deprivation, though Mount does have one or two good examples, such as the fact that 42 per cent of all burglaries happen to 1 per cent of all homes, principally those belonging to the poor and/or single parents: so the less you have, the more likely you are to have it stolen."

Class war in Britain - has it already happened?

True Facts

True Facts

RollingStone.com: Politics- Fear and Loathing, Campaign 2004

RollingStone.com: Politics
- Fear and Loathing, Campaign 2004

t r u t h o u t - GOP Faces 'Civil War' over Bush's Faith-Based Rule

t r u t h o u t - GOP Faces 'Civil War' over Bush's Faith-Based Rule

The New Yorker: Fact

The New Yorker: Fact

Russian men are living shorted lives than in 1965 - no joke.

gladwell dot com / The Ketchup Conundrum

gladwell dot com / The Ketchup Conundrum

This is one of the reasons I love the Web - how else would I have found this article? (It came from Ray Girvan, by the way).

The Washington Monthly

The Washington Monthly

I don't agree with Kevin about this being a weakness in conservatism - they've been getting away with it for years and I see no reason for it not to continue. About every 20 years there's a liberal win that releases the pressure from the conservative pot, and then things carry on as before.

But this is on the money about the way in which conservatives have to pretend to be liberal in some areas to be elected at all (similarly, liberals have to now at least pretend to be fiscally conservative). This is why Gorver Norquist and his ilk are going to be horribly disappointed if Bush wins in November - federal spending will keep on rising because no politician can afford to cut spending by the amount needed to trim the deficit.

It also interested to note just how many people - mainly conservative, but some liberals as well - have no idea of the true positions held by the candidates they favour.

The French vs. the Saudis - Who's worse? By David Plotz

The French vs. the Saudis - Who's worse? By David Plotz

Tres bien.

The New York Times > Magazine > In the Magazine: Without a Doubt

The New York Times > Magazine > In the Magazine: Without a Doubt

War in the GOP?

The Chronicle: 1/31/2003: The Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science

The Chronicle: 1/31/2003: The Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science

Old*, but still true.

* In Internet time - less than two years old in real time.

APOD: 2004 October 7 - Moon Lightning

APOD: 2004 October 7 - Moon Lightning

Beautiful

Senuti 0.19

Senuti 0.19

Hmmm...

How to be a music snob

Something Awful

I've been a grinding music snob, with a good dose of bore thrown in, for years, and while I frequently find myself sounding like an idiot for doing so, this guide gives me all the tips I need!

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Ignorance Isn't Strength

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Ignorance Isn't Strength

What he says. As others have commented, I'll stop calling the Bush team Orwellian when they stop using 1984 as their guidebook.

The Poor Man: It's Hard Work!

The Poor Man: It's Hard Work!: "As of October 3, 2003, George W. Bush had spent 250 days on vacation."

Marvellous, and very funny.

Godfather horse head prop pillow

Godfather horse head prop pillow: "� A custom severed horse head pillow that is actually quite comfortable to sleep on, albeit a tad on the south side of morbid.� A great conversation piece for the film buff who has everything and whose wife won't let them own a revolver.� A great home theatre accessory and conversation piece.� Fans of the mob's special brand of communication can now unite and rest comfortably, if not uneasily. "

Somebody wins a prize for inventiveness, if not taste.

Smokey the Bear's Legacy on the West

Smokey the Bear's Legacy on the West: "No single human modification of the environment has had more pervasive and widespread negative consequences for the ecological integrity of North America than the suppression of fire"

Discuss.

What's slightly sad is that this was a topic of conversation even back in 1986, when I was in Colorado and Wyoming was hit by fires so big that pilots coming into Denver airport could smell the smoke.

NewsNet5.com - News - Fish Killed, Lots Of Foam Created From Shampoo

NewsNet5.com - News - Fish Killed, Lots Of Foam Created From Shampoo: "Fish Killed, Lots Of Foam Created From Shampoo"

Dumb of the day!

EO Newsroom: New Images - Colorado Springs, Colorado

EO Newsroom: New Images - Colorado Springs, Colorado

I think I can see my old school in the bottom right corner!

del.icio.us

del.icio.us: "About
� del.icio.us is a social bookmarks manager. It allows you to easily add sites you like to your personal collection of links, to categorize those sites with keywords, and to share your collection not only between your own browsers and machines, but also with others.
"

Hmmm

I have a Gmail account

This makes me quietly happy...

'iPod users are music thieves' says Ballmer - silicon.com

'iPod users are music thieves' says Ballmer - silicon.com: "Billing Microsoft as the good guys and Apple the villains of the piece - at least as far as corporate America, rather than users, is concerned, Ballmer said: 'We%u2019ve had DRM in Windows for years. The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'.' "

On the one hand, this is pretty obvious MS vs Apple stuff. On the other, its another case of somebody (deliberately?) missing the point. iPods are popular because they work for people (looking cool is an advantage, but wouldn't driver sales on its own). Even assuming that Balmer is correct that "most" music on iPods is stolen, that would still be true if people were recording their MP3s onto cassette and playing them in a Walkman.

And the stuff about DRM is just bluff - DRM has to limit users in some way, and as a result will never be popular with the public.

That's all folks

As you may have noticed, it's all gone quiet over here. This forum came into life as a way of discussing, at quite short notice, the issues surrounding Criccieth Camp and even whether or not there was support for trying to run it in the future. The level of interest it generated was very encouraging, but I think that the need for this panel has gone now and I will instead use it for other things. However, it will remain a place where anyone interested in Criccieth goings on can drop me a line, and I hope you find it useful.