Quote of the month: "I think the burden is on those people who think he didn't have weapons of mass destruction to tell the world where they are." - Ari Fleischer

Among other sources: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A55846-2003Jul14 - Washington Post

Spaghetti Harvest - I have a very clear memory of my mother's description of this documentary shown on Jack Parr's late night show. It was one of her favorite TV moments!

Why A.I. is Brain Dead - Wired interviews Marvin Minsky about why the field of artificial intelligence is going nowhere right now -- and why it should.

Wired News: High-Tech Vote Fraud? Oh, Yeah: Can anyone think that electronic voting systems are a good idea? Other than those who think they're the only ones who will figure out how to manipulate the systems?

Mailinator: need an email address that you can throw away in a thrice? Try this service -- emails don't require a password, or registration -- and only last an hour or so. Don't use it for anything that requires privacy, though, as anyone else can also access your email.

Myths of the Internet

Lindblad Expeditions-Land of the Ice Bears - a fantastic-sounding trip that some friends are taking.

Issue: Just War Tradition - an interesting background piece from The Pew Forum.

I think I've fixed the time on posts now.

Religion & Ethics Newsweekly . Archive | PBS - articles relating to bioethics

Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly - stories updated periodically.

Googlebox?

Get a googlebox -- examples:

Weblogs Compendium - an amazingly rich resource of tools for blogs and bloggers.

The Bright Stuff: Daniel C. Dennett "comes out of the closet" -- as someone who does not believe in "ghosts or elves or the Easter Bunny -- or God." Well, he was not so much in the closet before -- but finds that the new term "brights" has helped him talk about this rather large and much-maligned group of Americans.

Vessel of Honour: Harry Potter: A Muggle Speaks Out - some conservative Christian commentary on the Potter phenomenon and their sort of Christianity. Not the insane overwrought reaction, far more thoughtful than that, though still very far from where I am!

(time on posts has been repaired!)

The Risk That Failed from William Safire at the New York Times - excerpt:

"Not just neurosurgeons but other brain scientists are thinking long and hard about the morality (right or wrong) and the ethics (fair or unfair) of what such breakthroughs as genomics, molecular imaging and pharmaceuticals will make it possible for them to do.

"In the treatment or cure of brain disease or disability, the public tends to support neuroscience's needs for closely controlled and informed experimentation. But in the enhancement of the brain's ability to learn or remember, or to be cheerful at home or attentive in school, many of the scientists are not so quick to embrace mood-manipulating drugs or a mindless race to enhance the mind.

"The brain's ethical sense may run deeper than we think. 'The essence of ethical behavior,' writes the neuroscientist Antonio Damasio in 'Looking for Spinoza,' his newest book, 'does not begin with humans.' Ravens and vampire bats 'can detect cheaters among the food gatherers in their group and punish them accordingly.' Though human altruism is much further evolved, in one experiment 'monkeys abstained from pulling a chain that would deliver food to them if pulling the chain caused another monkey to receive an electric shock.'"

Frank Lloyd Wright Wasmuth Portfolio -- online digital writings and drawings from Frank Lloyd Wright.

A tool for thinking through journalism ethics: Ethics Tool

Another of those fun and irritating quizzes -- these seem to be coming up with a single theme these days ...


Threat rating: extremely low. You may think you can
subvert the government, but if you should try
you will be smited mightily because God likes
us best.


What threat to the Bush administration are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Some interesting links on syndicating blog and news feeds:

* XML.com: What is RSS? [Dec. 18, 2002]

* FeedDemon - one good RSS reader

* FeedReader - another good RSS reader

I can't decide which is better!

Uh-oh. Too close for comfort?

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Sixth Level of Hell - The City of Dis!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	High
Level 2 (Lustful)	Moderate
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	High
Level 7 (Violent)	Low
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Very Low

Take the Dante's Inferno Test

Finally decided I just need a place to put "treasures" I run into online. I often email them to friends, and put them on specialty blogs, but this is just a general "treasure chest."