Tuesday [Updated]

+ Here's hoping that the Hawks can straighten up and win all but 1 more of their games to finish a respectable 7 and 3. The rest of their schedule's pretty weak, but they will have to beat Minnesota at Kinnick (possible) or Wisconsin at Camp Randall (doubtful) to attain this goal.

+ While we're hoping, looking at the Vikes' schedule, they'll be lucky to finish above .500. Anything better than that will be a miracle.

+ Have you seen the OpenDocument spec? Some say it could turn everything inside out. Based on OpenOffice, it's moving out into more and more applications. This thing could really help us bust open Micro$oft, which has vowed not to support it. It's being embraced by the State of Massachusetts, the EU, and many companies. I say spread OpenDocument.

[Update] Google and Sun announced a strategic partnership today that will include Google promoting OpenOffice, a chunk of which was developed by Sun. Google's press release. Woo-hoo! I'm excited!

+ Representative Tom quotes for today:

• We predicted this in our Y2K scenario work: watch governors opt for worse disaster responses than risk being shown up by the Fed. In short, their political reputations are worth more than the lives of the people they serve. And, oh boy, just listen to them wax poetic about states' rights on subjects like these.
• Rummy and company have been rather shameful in their slow response. Congress asked for a plan to reimburse soldiers up to $1,100 a person for needed gear, and asked for it by February 2005. No plan exists, apparently, or at least not one that Congress has ever heard of. Pentagon spokespeople promise it will appear any day now.
• [T]here are plenty of sad stories to go around on Kosovo, where the UN is likewise guilty of acting like the social worker from hell, meaning the type who, once the claws are in you, the professional do-gooder refuses to leave, retarding the client's (or is it "victim"?) growth in the direction of caring for him- or herself... [D]espite such criticisms the UN is actually moving purposefully to aging Kosovo out of its long-term foster care, and in this process it may well set in motion even further dismemberment of what remains of the rump union headed by Serbia.
• Anyway, there was a decent contingent of Austrians there, including one of the most anti-American Europeans I have ever met (Her question to me: "Being an American, what are you most ashamed about regarding your country?" My reply, "That we let you Nazi collaborators off with "The Sound of Music")... Right on the eve of the historic direct talks on membership, Austria is the lone holdout on starting them, insisting that Turkey be offered nothing more than second-tier membership.