Thursday News Bucket

10 Comments

1. 

   CabinGirl on June 8, 2006 at 6:51 am

   here’s the link to the video of Olbermann’s destruction of Ann Coulter, shame less and soul-less bitch of the universe: Crooks and Liars

2. 

   CabinGirl on June 8, 2006 at 6:55 am

   The NYT noticed that the GOP is in T-R-O-U-B-L-E:  NYT

   he victory that Republicans squeezed out in a high-profile race to fill a Congressional vacancy here eased party anxieties Wednesday but signaled future difficulties as they confront tougher Democratic challenges in increasingly contested districts this fall…

   …Mr. Bilbray’s failure to break 50 percent was striking. The Republican Party had poured workers and millions of dollars into avoiding defeat in a district where Republicans have a sizable registration advantage and where President Bush won by 10 percentage points in 2004. The previous holder of the seat, Randy Cunningham, who resigned after pleading guilty in a corruption scandal, defeated Ms. Busby in 2004 by 58 percent to 36 percent.

   May their popularity continue it’s descent to the basement.  Sub-basement, even.

3. 

   CabinGirl on June 8, 2006 at 7:09 am

   for a “Hate Week” redux in the House: Cincinnati Enquirer

   House Majority Leader John Boehner said Tuesday that despite the doomed fate of a bill being considered in the Senate to ban same-sex marriage, he plans to bring the measure up for a vote in the House next month.

   “This is a big issue with lots of our members and, frankly, with lots of Americans,” Boehner said. “Bringing this issue to the floor, allowing it to be debated, voted on, I think is a good idea.”…

   …Though the amendment will fail, Bunning said, that shouldn’t stop Congress from pushing the issue, if for nothing else than to make a statement “on what a marriage is and what a marriage is not.”

   Hey GOP bozos:  It’s time to stop wasting our time and tax money worrying about preventing people from marrying, and focus on real problems.  Like Iraq, healthcare, and the economy, for starters.

   Oh, and before I forget:  I saw a great bumpersticker last night…”11-7-2006: National House Cleansing Day”.  Yup.

4. 

   Steven D on June 8, 2006 at 7:18 am

   Armando is quitting blogging because of a campaign on a right wing website to out him.

   Here’s his diary on the matter at Daily Kos.

5. 

   ask on June 8, 2006 at 7:18 am

   Google signals U-turn over Chinese site

   Internet giant Google may reverse its decision to launch a censored version of its search engine in China, one of the company’s founders has said.

   Sergey Brin said the Californian company had “felt that perhaps we could compromise on our principles, but provide ultimately more information for the Chinese” with Google.cn, which does not link to results for politically incendiary terms such as “Tiananmen Square” or “Falun Gong”, the religious movement banned by the Chinese government.

   But Mr Brin said he could consider reversing that decision. “Perhaps now the principled approach makes more sense,” he told reporters in Washington.

6. 

   ask on June 8, 2006 at 8:47 am

   Were Greeks 1,400 years ahead of their time?

   FOR decades, researchers have been baffled by the intricate bronze mechanism of wheels and dials created 80 years before the birth of Christ.

   The “Antikythera Mechanism” was discovered damaged and fragmented on the wreck of a cargo ship off the tiny Greek island of Antikythera in 1900.

   Now, a joint British-Greek research team has found a hidden ancient Greek inscription on the device, which it thinks could unlock the mystery.

   The team believes the Antikythera Mechanism may be the world’s oldest computer, used by the Greeks to predict the motion of the planets.

   The researchers say the device indicates a technical sophistication that would not be replicated for millennia and may also be based on principles of a heliocentric, or sun-centred, universe – a view of the cosmos that was not accepted by astronomers until the Renaissance.

7. 

   BrotherFeldspar on June 8, 2006 at 9:29 am

   No Tolls on The Internet: Lawrence Lessig and Robert McChesney in today’s WaPo.

   Congress is about to cast a historic vote on the future of the Internet. It will decide whether the Internet remains a free and open technology fostering innovation, economic growth and democratic communication, or instead becomes the property of cable and phone companies that can put toll booths at every on-ramp and exit on the information superhighway.

   At the center of the debate is the most important public policy you’ve probably never heard of: “network neutrality.” Net neutrality means simply that all like Internet content must be treated alike and move at the same speed over the network. The owners of the Internet’s wires cannot discriminate. This is the simple but brilliant “end-to-end” design of the Internet that has made it such a powerful force for economic and social good: All of the intelligence and control is held by producers and users, not the networks that connect them.

   An excellent discussion of what may seem as an opaque technical subject, but has direct ramifications on basically anything and everything we could do online in the future. Lessig in particular has been at the front of issues like copyright and DRM. If you have a half-hour to spare, take a look at his now-legendary Flash presentation on copyright from OSCON 2002.

8. 

   dada on June 8, 2006 at 2:16 pm

   OBIT

   

   Jazz pianist Hilton Ruiz dies at 54

   By JANET MCCONNAUGHEY
   ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

   In this file photo originallly provided by Joel Chriss & Co., jazz pianist and composer Hilton Ruiz works at a piano in summer, 2005, in Amagansett, N.Y.  Ruiz, who came to New Orleans to work on a Hurricane Katrina benefit recording, died early Tuesday, June 6, 2006, his agent and manager said. Ruiz, who turned 54 on May 29, had been comatose at East Jefferson General Hospital since he fell early May 19 in front of a French Quarter bar.(AP Photo/Joel Chriss & Co., Fran Kaufman)

   NEW ORLEANS — Jazz pianist and composer Hilton Ruiz, who excelled in a wide variety of styles from Afro-Cuban rhythms to the blues, died early Tuesday, never regaining consciousness after a fall in front of a French Quarter bar. He was 54.

   Ruiz, who had come to New Orleans from his home in Teaneck, N.J., to work on a Hurricane Katrina benefit project, had been comatose at East Jefferson General Hospital since he fell early May 19.
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   Although there were early reports that Ruiz might have been beaten, police said witnesses and other evidence indicated he fell. Attorney Mary Howell, retained by his ex-wife, Aida Ruiz, and daughter, also named Aida, said last week that they, too, were convinced that Ruiz had accidentally tripped or fallen.
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   Ruiz has been described as one of the most versatile musicians in jazz.

   “He’s one of the few musicians on the scene that is equally at home in both the jazz genre and the Afro-Cuban genre in a complete sense. … He really can play the blues, too. For real,” said trombone player Steve Turre, a longtime friend. “There’s a lot of people who dabble with both worlds, but very few can authentically deal with both. And he’s one of them.”

   The many musicians with whom Ruiz worked included Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie and Charles Mingus. He was featured on the 1997 video “The Best of Latin Jazz,” and his song “Something Grand” was included on the soundtrack of the film “American Beauty.”
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   Ruiz came to New Orleans on May 18 with Marco Matute, founder and producer of the M27 World label, to shoot video to go along with a Hurricane Katrina benefit CD, Howell said.

   “They spent the whole day filming, riding in carriages, talking to people about New Orleans,” she said. She said Ruiz “got very involved in the situation here” after playing in a New York benefit concert.
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   Full article HERE

   Rest in Peace

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     Arcturus on June 8, 2006 at 2:45 pm

     Heard this yesterday. Sad. I forst became aware of his playing from recordings he made with Rahsaan Roland Kirk, but it was the Steeplechase release, Piano Man that really sold me.

     Another of my favorite mainstream/hardbop pianists died last month: John Hicks. Matter o’ fact, I’m listening to his Strata-East recording Hell’s Bells as I type.

9. 

   ask on June 8, 2006 at 2:28 pm

   Global warming rings alarm for dormice

   Climate change is bringing animals out of hibernation prematurely, making them lose weight and causing them stress, Italian scientists said yesterday. Spring-like temperatures too early in the year are waking animals up sooner and putting their feeding and breeding habits out of kilter with the environment.

   Dormice, whose name comes from the Anglo-Norman word dormeus meaning sleepy one, now hibernate five-and-half weeks less on average than they did 20 years ago. Marmots are also becoming prematurely restless in their burrows and are getting 38 days less slumber than before, according to the research.

   Article continues
   The breeding cycles of birds, reptiles, turtles and rodents are also undergoing change. Great tits are laying eggs a week earlier and red kites 10 to 11 days earlier than they were nine years ago.