Salon.com News | The India-Pakistan doomsday scenario

"U.S. intelligence says a nuclear exchange between the two feuding countries could kill 12 million."

O'Reilly Network: Essential Blogging Public Review [May 31, 2002]

"Essential Blogging will be available in stores in August. Aimed at a technology-literate O'Reilly audience, Essential Blogging shows how to install and use the major weblog tools: Blogger, Radio Userland, Blosxom, and Movable Type."

In response to the cancellation of this years Seattle GT, seven local game stores have banded together to create The Battle for Seattle. All I can say is WOOT.

In Passing...
"Thanks for being such a great friend."
"Thanks for being such an insincere person."

Just when you think there are no blogs worth blogging... Picked this gem up from Denormalize

Cantor Fitzgerald is the company that lost over 600 employees on September 11th. Now their website prominently displays the fact that Cantor Fitzgerald is sharing 25% of its profites with the families. They are also touting their ability to get back to work and restore their service after the disaster. Is this a company trying to use a horrible disaster to boost its bottom line, or is this Americans taking pride in what American's seem to do best: business?

City Light execs got considerable raises

"The evil forces they faced were tremendous".

iB::Pixelation

A discussion board for folks who are into making pixel art for games.

Leoarts :: main

If you're an anime fan, you'll find lots of cool stuff here.

Salon.com Technology | FBI techs delete terrorist's email

"The FBI software not only picked up the e-mails of its target 'but also picked up e-mails on non-covered targets,' said a March 2000 memo to agency headquarters in Washington. 'The FBI technical person was apparently so upset that he destroyed all the e-mail take, including the take on' the suspect, the memo said.

And the FBI response? There never was any such information, and the technician wasn't supposed to destroy it without a court order because it's evidence, and Carnivore doesn't gather any information it shouldn't gather anyway, so the evidence that shouldn't have been destroyed never existed.

Even power elite are using less

"City officials last year created the third tier, in which the electric prices double after customers use a certain amount of electricity in a month (1,800 kilowatt-hours in the summer, 3,750 in winter). They hoped it would get the top energy users to conserve -- and apparently it did.'

Kudos to the conservers. What I want to know is, how did I get in the third teir living in my gas-heated 4 room apartment?

whatsbetter?com

Salon.com News | NATO embraces Russia as partner

Retail Notebook: A project to make Madrona blossom

"I am adamant that it isn't going to be a Tully's or Starbucks, I don't want a corporate business in there."

BBC News | SCI/TECH | Ice reservoirs found on Mars

"Water-ice has been found in vast quantities just below the surface across great swathes of the planet Mars."

GameSpot: PC News: E3 2002: City of Heroes impressions

Digital Video Recorders Give Advertisers Pause

"By recording the shows they know they want to see, many say they have escaped the scourge of channel-surfing and the empty sense of wasted time so often associated with watching TV."

This statement is right on. I hate the feeling I get from watching conventional TV. It's a wasted evening, and I feel sick and guilty for it. That's why we wait for good TV series to come out on video, rent movies, or get tapes from the library. Even when we do watch TV, we always try to invite friends over and make an event of it. That way we can mute it and talk while the commercials are blaring away.

The TV networks don't seem to get this capitalism thing: It's not about trying to control the customer, it's about figuring out what the customer wants, and finding a way to make money off of it. A lot of advertisers are hip to this. They're looking at new, unobtrusive ways to deliver their content. Some, Like BMW, have been pioneering new ways of creating "commericals" that are worth watchin in their own right (chcek out BWMfilms.com).

Thanks to my lovely wife for the link.

Pakistan, India weeks from war

"A full war is presumably not Musharraf's aim. He cannot conquer India. But the Pakistani military ruler has shown in the past two months that when it comes to the half-century conflict over Kashmir, he is an extraordinary risk-taker. He has dared India to fight and has boldly reneged on a promise to the Bush White House to shut down terror camps in Kashmir. The two steps are related."

I'm beginning to think that terrorism is like nuclear war, only slower: once started it won't end until everything has been destroyed.

Ananova - Burglar given TV and video gifts after saving victim from poison

India Talks of 'Decisive Battle' (washingtonpost.com)

"'We are resolved to wage war', he added."

Qwest rings up failing grades

"Qwest Communications Inc., the largest provider of local telephone service in Washington state, ranks at the bottom of the local phone-service industry nationwide when it comes to customer satisfaction, according to an independent survey released yesterday."

I beleive it. A recent attempt to transfer my DSL service resulted in the following:

• A 10 day delay while Qwest revised my address. Note that this delay wasn't for DSL to be turned on. That required 3 more days, or so they told me.
  
• Another call to Qwest when my DSL failed to appear, in which it transpired that the request had never been placed. Wait 3 more days.
  
• Another call to Qwest when my DSL failed to appear, in which I was told I needed to pay $299 for a new DSL router.
  
• Another call to Qwest. The engineer had never heard of the model router I was "supposed" to need for the exact same service I already had.
  
• A $99 service charge to turn on DSL. It turns out you can't transfer your DSL, they just turn it off, then charge you to turn it on again.
  
• An inexplicable $20 increase in the cost of my service. Still haven't figured this one out. Stay tuned!
  
• Oh yeah, and still no DSL for another 10 days.

kartoo : les cartes de recherche

Kartoo is incredibly cool. Kartoo is a search engine which creates a graphical topic map of your search results. Sites which match your search criteria are shown linked by topics which they share in common. It's no Google, in fact, it's something else entirely.

ITALIA - San Galgano Or True Story, Legendary Sword

"Galgano objected that though giving up worldly pleasures sounded good, but doing so would be as easy as using his sword to split rocks. To prove his point, he drew his weapon and thrust at a stone, fully expecting the blade to snap. It penetrated to the hilt, and Galgano never left the hill again."

And you can still go see the sword today!

Check out the Netbook of Feats. Literally hundreds of new feats for D20 games. Personally, I'm a fan of Cadaverous Familiar.

Philos sent me a link today about the Google Technology.

Daves Diary - North Pole Solo Expedition 2002

"This is not a situation for heroics or for taking chances."

Extremem blogging at its best.

Wired 10.06: The Man Who Cracked The Code to Everything ...

mssv.net

"The only successful implementation of an mmoe so far has been Microsoft's AI web marketing campaign, which arguably was not tied into the AI film at all, aside from sharing a few characters and settings. Certainly there was no hint of the movie plot in the game, which started several months before the premiere, and there was no requirement to see the movie in order to progress within the game. As such, the AI game was remarkably abstracted from the movie it was supposed to be marketing. Perhaps this is good practice for mmoe-movies, but it does not necessarily translate to being good practice for mmoe-TV."

BBC News | SCI/TECH | Mobile keypad reinvented

And it's cool!

Work from Home, unwelcome Herbalife Signs

The mystery revealed (link from John.

Warp Drive When?

Link thanks to Philos.

CBS.com

"Wil struggled through his initial feelings of frustration, but concluded that he had done his best. He realized that he and Tara were very different people and would no longer be together; he wished her the best in her life. While Tara expressed second thoughts on the names she had called Wil, she said, "I don't think I could have run [the race] any better."

You probably haven't been watching the Amazing Race, but it's the best reality show on television today. Yesterday witnesses the last semi-likable team (the two doofus jocks from Boston) beat out team Mean and team Nasty for the final prize.

Companies Create Fake Citizens To Change How We Think

Rense.com is a website that seems to have been created by a phychophobic paranoid. Yet every now and then, it seems to be right on.

The Nando Times: Robbers in Mexico steal truck carrying deadly chemicals

"A truck carrying 10 tons of deadly sodium cyanide was stolen in central Mexico, and officials on Wednesday said they have no information about what the robbers were planning to do with the poisonous material."

kharon4a is a weird thing that loads too slow on my home machine (I'm modem-bound today). I haven't looked at it, but Zannah thinks it's cool.

roleplaying tips for roleplayers and gamemaster roleplaying advice for all roleplaying systems and rpgs

Be sure to check out the articles section.

XXXXXXX....

Link courtest of Philos.

Puget Sound Journal: I won't be a card-carrying columnist

"And the prices I used to get just by walking through QFC's doors are now available only if I present my Advantage Card. If you dare to shop at QFC without the card, you'll pay premium prices."

Beware: many of the "savings" you get for using your club card at the grocery store aren't savings at all.

1000 Blank White Cards

"Few people are aware that Pokemon was originally based on legends of the 150 Aztec gods of war and death."

More 1000 Blank White Cards news: a slightly modified set of rules and some new cards.

So God's Really in the Details?

"They are the first group within 20th-century Anglo-American philosophy to tackle questions of religious faith using the tools of philosophy,"

'Loyalty' cards cause griping over swiping

"Chatting with your neighbor in the grocery checkout line, you learn that she has been offered a sale price for her peanut butter, whereas you will be charged full price. The reason? Your purchase records show that you regularly buy peanut butter regardless of the price, while your neighbor buys it only when on sale."

The article goes on to state that people who refused to use the new QFC value card this week paid as much as +250% for some items this week. Having done some work with the software that they use to analyze demographic and purchase trends, I absolutely refuse to use a loyalty card. If you want to know what your local store's policy is, check out this web site that gives details about many markets.

Thanks to my lovely wife for the link.

AAA Collections: Visual Thinking: Sketchbooks

Kicking Up Cosmic Dust

"There are two moments, one early and one late, in which the sententious hooey is cast off and some of the old "Star Wars" spirit peeks out. The first is an aerial chase through traffic-clogged skies, in which the great cinematic challenge of conveying flight is breathtakingly surmounted. The other is a light-saber duel between the evil Count Dooku (Mr. Lee) and Yoda. Watching the elfin, leaping Yoda mix it up with the tall, graceful British bad guy momentarily dispels the ponderous tedium that has come before, but it is too little, too late."

Does the fact that seeing the origonal Jedi Master at work is enough to get me out to see this movie with enthusiasm mean I'm a part of the problem?

BBC News | MIDDLE EAST | EU brokers new Bethlehem deal

"The European Union has brokered a new deal to end the siege of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, as Israel calls up army reservists ahead of an anticipated strike on the Gaza Strip."

Is the EU starting to flex its diplomatic muscles? It's easy to make fun of the EU (Eddie Izzard called it "the cutting edge of politics in an extraordinarily boring way"), it's just possible that they, rather than the US, will be stepping up to the plate in what currently seems to be a diplomatically challenged world.

Salon.com News | The Israeli "art student" mystery

Yes, it's conspiracy day here on tony.dowler.com.

Someone starts to notice...

My archives are dead right now, so I can't link back, but remember that conspiracy thread I blogged a while back? The one about mysterious deaths of scientists working on biological weapons projects? This article is an excellent summary of the whole story, including the mysterious deaths, a brief history of bioweapons development and the state of biothreat readiness in the USA. You might not sleep so well tonite after you read this.

BBC - h2g2 - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

I probably blogged this once before way back when, but it's worth a look at it now. Probably a little more interesting than epinions, but a similar concept.

16thandmission.com is a pretty neat flash presentation about a certain intersection in San Francisco.

The Demise of the $.01 Sign

"When I was a boy, not so long ago, there was a thing called the cent sign. It looked like this: ¢"

Sgt. Stryker calls it quits. Too bad. He had it going on.

Sgt. Stryker calls it quits. Too bad. He had it going on.

No Plans, No Graduation Rite, Seniors Told

"Some seniors don't even know what they want to do after school. They feel like it's none of the district's business."

Tequila Aficionado Magazine - The most comprehensive source of Tequila & Mezcal information. And it's a blog.

SEATTLE ELECTRIC GRIMMELDECK, a deck for 1000 Blank White Cards. I have a 1KBWC deck that I should really put up on the web some time. Lots of people have contributed, some who no longer live out here.

Had your weirdness today?

News, Weather, Classifieds, Obituaries, Entertainment and Tourism in Fort Myers, Sanibel, Bonita Springs, Cape Coral and Fort Myers Beach “That thing must have been a block long,” she said. “I have never been so scared in my life. What we saw that day was a monster. To me, it looked like a dragon. I know why the Indians call that place Lost Lake. They say monsters live in it. I believe them. I know, because I saw one there.”

Welcome to the Antiquities of the Illuminati

Boston Cardinal Defends Decision to Back Out of Abuse Settlement

"The cardinal said the archdiocese's finance council, which on Friday would not authorize the money for the $14.9 million to $29.8 million in settlement costs, was acting out of a "laudable concern" that "justice and equity would not be served" by agreeing to the settlement for the 86 victims "which would thereby negatively affect the response which the archdiocese can later give to the other victims."

BBC News | AMERICAS | Civil War marker sparks new conflict

Silicon Pets, but the Pride Is Real

THE KANG CIVIL WAR is some really great RPG writing based around a Talislanta campaign. Link thanks to Philos.

Salon.com News | Bee truck crash causes evacuation

"Twenty beekeepers, including students from a local agricultural school, were called to help rebuild hives and lure some of the bees back into captivity."

I picture the scenario something like this: five or six beekeepers are relaxing over coffee at the local Denny's. Suddenly, beepers start going off, cellphones begin to ring, a hurried rush of conversation. "There's been a bee-truck accident on I-5, let's roll!"

Today this guy came up to me at the transit stop near Microsoft carrying a sign that said "Will code for food" and handed me his card.

Look, I'm blogging BlindDateBlog because I happen to read Ernie's weblog. I will now commence ignoring BlindDateBlog forever.

check out the OtherWorld Creations, Inc. pulp heroes rpg.