Boeing's looking into some guys research on anti-gravity.

I posted a link about Pentagon plans to attack Iraq. Scott commented and asked me what I thought.

Yeah, maybe I should provide more commentary on some of these links. It seems so blah to me, though - kinda' boring; are you really interested? Let's start this way:

From a Christian standpoint, I have real objections. Practically speaking, taking out Saddam Hussein is probably a good idea.

I really liked Paul's imaginative article about Google Marketplace in the future. And you think I have a Google obsession. Paul's written about them before.

But is it really going to take RDF for Google to go this direction? I don't think so. It seems like overkill. Seems to me like Google's on the way to getting this info whether we put it in RDF or not.

Of course, part of the implication of such developments is that no one has any privacy anymore. Can we live with that? I think maybe. I'm not worried about it. But it's something to be monitored.

And anyway, if people had the Marketplace Manager he mentions, the RDF would become unnecessary.

Sometimes web pros want standards we don't necessarily need. Is this such a case?

The Agent's job could be accomplished by the MM. I see it as a profile page on Google. Or you could just go through the opening page. Paul's got a few too many schemes here. Occam's Razor: do it with as little as possible.

I don't see the blackmarket possibility that Paul writes about. Do you?


Then Jason wrote in a similar vein, but without mentioning Paul. Could he have not read it? Weird.


I wonder what they think of these ideas over at Google. Chances are, it's already part of the plan.

(ps - both of those sites mention Amazon Light, which is really a much nicer interface. What I'd like, though, is to be able to do this stuff in the URL box of explorer, kind of like UltraBar. OneCommandLine(R).

Deep Thoughts: I know it's not out of place anymore to see a guy in a tractor talking on a cellphone, but where I come from, which is tractor country, that wasn't part of the schtick.

I was thinking I saw somewhere somebody saying Lance Armstrong isn't a great athelete. Jaquandor saved me the trouble of looking. Ron Borges is either putting one over on us, or just extremely stupid.

U.S. Considers Initial Baghdad Strike

Hey, yeah: no high over 96 predicted for this week. Cold front.

LANCE.

Matt mentions some Bluetooth enabled phones that can synchronize with a computer, especially for address book purposes. That's what I'm talking about.

I think it's now safe to say that we're updating the twinlog more regularly now. If you gave up, you may want to try it again.

Lance is still in the lead. Barring some catastrophe between now and Sunday, he'll win his fourth Tour in a row.

I really hope he's not doping, like he says.

Tulsa News:

Winning the Mosquito War (Wil is very allergic)
Heat Alert. Heat index values 105 to 110 today.

Whoa. Blogger politics. Jack's pissed.

I followed this link in my referrers to see my page translated by Google into Spanish. Now that's fun.

Israelis ask if price of Gaza attack too high

My impulse on this is 'Oh, yeah? Finally?'. I'm not expecting any changes.

Giant squids are rarely seen. A dead one washed up on a Tasmanian beach.

Drought drives rats to roam Beverly Hills

Not only an interesting phenomenon, but there were probably an above average number of rats there already.

Chaim Potok died today. I really enjoyed 'The Chosen', 'The Promise', and 'My Name is Asher Lev'.

Especially for Christine: Hello Kitty Stress Level Psychological Test. I scored 'Fair'.

A buddy gave me a year's subscription to The Other Side. I liked the article in there this time by Ken Sehested on the situation in Israel/Palestine: House to House, Field to Field. I especially liked his list of 10 things to highlight if peace is to be achieved (scroll to the end). I agree with a lot of this stuff, with two minor rejoinders:

I think we have to mention Arafat's lack of credibility if we are to be credible to a general audience.
Point 6 is incomplete. We may not advocate violence, but attacking a government that encourages terrorism is different from what Sehested is saying here.

Somebody came over from The Leaderboard, which ranks the popularity of Christian weblogs on Martin Roth's list. I'm 42nd (or so) from the bottom, in the '2 links' section. Hmmm.

Lance in the Lead (you know, like 'Charles in Charge')

I'm with Jaquandor: an interesting WTC proposal (heavy Flash warning), in a sci-fi kind of way, and megalomaniacal.

Whoa. I just noticed that sheauga has me listed as a 'tasty blog' (with lots of others). Thanks, Sassafras! The link to Top 10 Revolutions over there looks interesting.

Did you see that, at a NYC town meeting, the citizens said they didn't like any of the plans they were presented with? I agree.

A few links from space.com:

Top 10 Apollo Era Moon Discoveries
A Sneak Peek at NASA's Plans for Exploring Mars and Beyond

We had some good feedback in the all-in-one PDA/phone/etc. comments.

Jason, I love you. You know that. But I have to disagree with you again. I used to carry that 3-ring binder. And I'd carry a Bible in my bag. Now I've got them both down to the size of a Palm. And it's better than paper. I make a change in it or on my PC and they sync.

But I still have to carry a phone (with an address book that doesn't sync). So I look up a number in my Palm and then dial it on my phone. I want that my computer/Palm address book in my phone. I just bring up the listing and click: Dial. Bingo.

I already use my cell phone like a dictaphone when I need to; I just leave myself voicemail. And I don't have an mp3 player, but I want one. I might have a separate one, too, like for biking or something, but it'd be great to have it all together.

I've said it before (maybe that should be my title or tagline): I don't read the Onion. Talk about overkill. But I like some of their headlines. Here's one that made me laugh: Anti-Spam Legislation Opposed by Powerful Penis-Enlargement Lobby

LanceArmstrongRulestheTour.com

He ruled again today.

Scott posted the WTC memorial site. I was pretty underwhelmed until I looked at the MetaFilter thread and realized that these are just footprints and not really meant to be taken as final concepts. The ultimate buildings could be very different. I, for one, don't think we have to build something as big. The shorter buildings with spires that remind us of the original buildings are interesting.

Is it okay to say the footprints are boring?

Daypop today:

history of Tetris
The iBook works out of the box, unlike Windows.

Google's mission: Organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Cool.

I guess Japanese want cameraphones, but not me. Here's what I want: PDA/phone/mp3/dictaphone. The main unit doesn't need a speaker. I'll use earphones. It probably doesn't even need a microphone (though that would ease non-headset dictation). I don't want a little treo keyboard. Graffiti or fitaly work fine for me. I don't need color. I don't need web access. I don't even need email access. Text messaging is sufficient. Color? Don't care. Palm OS? Don't care (anymore).

My top choice? I've said it before: Samsung. Another option: Kyocera (hint: the word is these are going to be plummeting in price).

Am I so different from everybody else? What do you want in an all-in-one?

Steven calls 'baloney' on Reign of Fire, saying one or a couple A-10 Warthogs could wipe out a dragon anyday. Interesting.

I am not a Peggy Noonan fan, got that? And I know most people linking her article on what's right with our country are doing so because she lists weblogging as one of the great things about this country. But there are many things to be thankful for.

Working pride. We have many people in this country who take pride in their work and aren't paid near enough for the services they render (in stark opposition to virtually every CEO).

Humor, research, and the web. Check.

Freedom. We are free. It's important. We shouldn't underestimate it's value.

Diversity. Scholars say you can't understand American history without understanding immigration. Our diversity really is a wonderful resource.

Democracy (maybe not technicially - Republic - but basically). The worst form of government except for every other one.


We explained the 4th to the kids as 'America's Birthday'. Happy Birthday, America.

(I'd love for you to add to this list in the comments. Maybe I should post this on MeFi. Nah, too crazy.)

Steven has and interesting post about Swiss military preparations and tactics and why they caused Germany to not invade.

Of course, the whole ethical question of neutrality in such a matter is another issue.

Hmm. Dave's got an interesting post: The OT in five words per book. I'm working on a more serious, but comparably brief summation, inspired by Dave's work.

Eric has a nice post about Bush's campaign promises versus his voting record. Hint: they don't match.

Jason's got another nice post about Google. Google is great.

Can you list the 50 states in 15 minutes? (via kottke). That piqued my curiosity, so I tried it. 7 minutes flat. I had 48 in 4 minutes. I just went NW-SW and then N and S, moving E. I picked up MS in the next minute, and then figured out I'd inadvertantly skipped UT. Pretty good results, huh? I'm proud of myself (for what it's worth, which is very little. It's not like it makes me better than anyone else. Don't worry, I won't let my head get too big.)

Daypop fun

The crazy thing some guy did with a mouse (sounds like a dirty joke, but it's good, clean fun).
Scrollbar racing.

Scott has a good, long post on mandatory voting (but Scott's permalink isn't working, so scroll down a little).

One of the things Scott said is that democracy is based on an informed electorate. We're better off without the votes of the apathetic uninformed. I think he's right.

(He's against, by the way, as am I.)

Scientists estimate 30 billion earths

But Hugh Ross has a list of factors that have to be fine-tuned to have a planet that can really support life.

'Thus, less than 1 chance in 10^215 (one hundred billion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion) exists that even one such planet would occur anywhere in the universe.'

Happy Birthday to 'interact' correspondent and commenter Jason Streed. Why not email him a happy birthday (or put it in the comments here)? Love ya', Jason.

We saw 'The Bourne Identity' last night. We liked it a lot. I have a little trouble seeing Matt Damon as a cold-blooded killer (differently from his vulnerable, passive-aggressive killer in 'The Talented Mr Ripley'), but I still like it. A franchise is Bourne.

Now you can officially watch the Two Towers preview (instead of the bootleg).

Jackson's making this Two Towers connection explicit, which is probably necessary. However, he's changed it from Minas Morgul to Barad Dur, which is also probably necessary. However, the original Saruman as an unwitting tool of Sauron rather than a willing ally was better (of course). Jaquandor had a good post about this featuring the teaser poster (which design I've basically copied).

The Helm's Deep stuff looks good.

Nice to see Eomer and Faramir.

Gandalf's 'resurrection' is out of the bag.

Overwhelming disappointed feeling this time: that now Eowyn bests Aragorn with a sword. Let me see, that's one chick per movie. Who's next...Rosie Cotton?

I'm interested in Mark's 30 days to a more accessible weblog (via Matt). However, some of this stuff is crazy work. I'm not going to do it. It's not worth it to me. Too much coding. Maybe some should be included in Blogger. Maybe we need better editors that do some of the work for us. But I'm not adding all of this code. I changed my title like he said because it's a good idea and I've been meaning to do it for awhile.

I also looked at Jakob Nielsen's Top-10 new mistakes of web design. I agree or I'm not going to do it. The thing he says there that I need to do is an about/bio. I've been meaning to do it for a long time. Sure would be nice to get it done. But I can't prioritize it right now.

'The whole thing was about keeping the braintrust together.'

That's what Mark Cuban said about expanding Donnie Nelson's role from assistant coach to Vice-President of the Mavs.

This is one more example of why I like the Mavs. Their decisions make so much good business sense. They're willing to spend money to get something more valuable than money.