Hugo Young in the Guardian UK: Bush's state of the union address heralds a new, triumphalist era.This will sound to some people like an anti-American column. It is not meant to be. Only American national interest counts now (Guardian UK)

Some folks like to watch (suffer?) America's Patriotic Sports TV Event of the Year (sure to be even more annoyingly jingoistic this year) just for the ads. Now they don't have to! PBS, of all networks, is airing a postgame show in which the subject of discussion is not the game, but the commercials. Super Commercials: A Mental Engineering Special is a beefed-up episode of the cultish Mental Engineering series where a panel of experts, including former Daily Show host Lizz Winstead and a Silicon Valley computer scientist, critique (read: eviscerate?) Super Bowl commercials.

The first program in the Jazz at Bard series will focus on jazz and its connections to Latin music, and features:
THE DANILO PEREZ TRIO IN CONCERT SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 8:00 OLIN AUDITORIUM, BARD COLLEGE $20
Also on Saturday at 1:30 pm at Bard Hall, Danilo Perez will discuss composing music and his Music of the Americas project. A question and answer period will follow. Attendees should feel free to bring their instruments. The workshop is free and open to the public.
On Saturday at 3:30 pm in the multi-purpose room in the Campus Center, Latin jazz percussionist Ray Mantilla will give a lecture/demonstration on Latin hand drumming and percussion and perform with the Bard percussion ensemble. A question and answer period will follow. The workshop is free and open to the public.
On Sunday afternoon, February 10th at 1:00 pm we will present "A Night in Havana", a documentary film about Dizzy Gillespie’s trip to Cuba and his collaborations with Cuban musicians, at Upstate Films in Rhinebeck. Tickets are $5, $4 for members, students and seniors.
For tickets and information call Raissa St. Pierre at (845) 758-7410. For more information here is a link to the press release: Jazz@Bard

More of the same. Privacy group asks states to look into MS Passport security, privacy issues. Do they really think that MS is gonna erase 200 million user records? Watchdog: Passport Hurts Users

In honour of the upcoming manufactured holiday, some of the following Valentines are love triangles; some are classics; some are modern; some are adult; some are teen. How many can you get? Answers later maybe...Valentines Day Quiz (thanks to L for the quiz)

Songwriter Sues FCC Over Radio Sanctions. Why? Because FCC Dubs Feminist Lyrics ‘Patently Offensive’’

License your song for a ton of money, give it to "progressives"... (?Why exactly do we need the record industry?)Chumbawumba takes on car giant-paper (Reuters)

Methinks he protesteth too much...ASHCROFT DENIES ROLE IN ‘COVER-UP'

From sports writer to restaurant critic... David Fox in Kabul: Army rat packs keep Afghanistan force fighting fit (Reuters)

(No peer-reviewed publication yet, so it might be a little early...) A research study shows that some sexual lubricants may kill the AIDS virus.Lubes and HIV

Ha'aretz on the future of the Israeli left. Detailed, with an "inside baseball" feel to a non-Israeli Slegged:Can the `peace camp' get it together to create a new political body? Link: Movement on the left

Nice to know at least one American isn't going hungry...One man's gnawing desire (Philly Enq.)

Can you believe that the Times is running and "nina" competition using this Al Hirschfeld picuture???!!!

Our far eastern correspondent writes:
"FWD: Game of two halves, Brian" , David, in kabul, has been writing lots of wonderful stuff, but i think this may qualify as sports story of the year....Afghanistans Football Lions Hope To Roar Again (reuters)

Where are you on the The Geek Hierarchy?

From a mosque in UK "...Now, more than ever, we have to change people's minds. We have to tell them the evils of democracy, capitalism and communism.' " The Observer UK has a story of how an underground film showing the slaughter of Algerian soldiers is being used as a recruitment tool for British Islamic radicals. 'You have to kill in the name of Allah until you are killed' (this is NOT helping, people!)

Anthony Lewis back in the NYT on the "self-inflicted wound" of Camp X-Ray Captives and the Law (free registration req.)

The POOPlist (Pompous and Opinionated People) is imminent! You can get a sneak previw of Zip's POOPlist 2002 now, and I'll post others as they strike me.

A very strange story of so-called "spyware" at Wired News. Very odd Spyware, In a Galaxy Near You

It's altogether too rare that a US commercial network tackles Africa. ABC's "Nightline" is in the middle of a weeklong series devoted to Congo and the question of the 2 1/2 million who have died there over the last few years. Remarkably free of sentiment and bad tinkly piano and synthesiser washes. The series was made in August and was due to be shown the week of Sept 11 th. One can't help but wonder if there would have been the appropriate reaction then, if not now. Link: Heart of Darkness (warning, site contains pop-up ads)

Photographer Lisa Carpenter on how she became the target when the boxer went berserk My bout with Mike Tyson (Guardian UK)

Another reason to think twice about writing your own resume... Software can spot digital deceivers (BBC)

Virgin Records buys out Carey's multi-million-dollar contract. For $28M (yes, Million). Maybe they'll tell us that it was Napster's fault Mariah, Virgin Part Ways (Rolling Stone)

Capturing digital information may be about to become more accurate. A new wave (Economist)

Krugman still blazing on the tax cuts. (but does not mention the "rebate") Link: A Fiscal Fantasy (NYT, free registration)

One of our correspondents writes:
zip: my sense is that the blog page does not appreciate our president's virtues . . . please do inform the blog participants that ". . . his formative experience was with Delta Kappa Epsilon, a fraternity founded in 1844 at Yale for men embodying 'in equal proportions the gentleman, the scholar and the jolly good fellow'"!
Speaks for itself, i think

One of our correspondents flew NYC to New Orleans with no incidents at security and told us about it. Then she flew back

Frank Rich takes on all-comers over Enron. Pretty well balanced too. The United States of Enron (NYT via Common Dreams)

Time for another fun and meaningless visit to Area 404

Obviously, not geting drunk is a good policy. But there are some folks for whom a hangover is a great source of Wit and Wisdom

British terror suspects are being held in conditions condemned as barbaric by the Home Office's own medical experts and described by lawyers who have visited them as 'concrete coffins'. UK Terror Detentions "barbaric" (Observer UK)

These poor souls just can't catch a break! Thousands flee as river of molten rock engulfs villages in Congo (Guardian, UK). Reuters: Orange magma pours from Congo volcano.

In the mood for some Flash fun? Make your own loops and construct an "underground downtempo jam" just like all those button-pushing studio boffins. Phonatix.de (Requires free flash plug-in, sound card and speakers or headphones. Thanks to FM for the link)

Grieder in fine form: There Are More Enrons Out There; The Rot is Systemic Crime in the Suites (thanks to S for the link)

Cricket fans are getting ready for the England ODI tour of India. You can hear the BBCs wonderful Test Match Special broadcasts on the net. Here they are in fine form from many years ago: Legover - the famous comedy clip (Real Audio)

Remarkable BBC pix of Goma + lava. In Pictures: Vocano Wreaks Havoc on Goma

Cracks showing in the copy-protection ranks? Philips moves to put 'poison' label on protected audio CDs (Reg. UK)

Wow! A computer professional rants at Bill Gates' "Security is Everything" declaration. A declaration which, btw, aint gettin' much mainstream media play. Link: MS security memo a mere gesture (From InfoWarrior via Reg.)

Easy guide to making it difficult for record companies to shove copy-protected CDs down our throats. (pretty humorous too) Subject: Consumer Revolt re: copy protected music CDs (thanks to J for the link)

Not that i want to be thought of as piling on (to Microsoft)... But here's another great one: Windows Media Player must be patched to fix IE But there's no illegal tying of programs to the OS... really. (The Reg. UK)

Wartime Collapse: Where's Cheney? Open Bag, Eat Pretzels (CounterPunch Jan. 14)

...An alumnus of the University of Chicago Law School, Ashcroft should file suit to get his tuition back. Hentoff continuing on the US Jewish community's reaction to USA Patriot Act. Turning Justice on Its Head: John Ashcroft on Trial

The Business Behind the Gates-West Power Play. Tempest in a teacup, but a big teacup in academia and the culture wars. Spinning Race at Harvard (thanks to L for suggesting the subject and N for the link)

There is much less due process for you if you are an immigrant and are accused of immigration violations...like a 49 day stay in jail before being charged. Link: Delays Cited In Charging Detainees (Washington Post)

The Smoking Gun has a fun game. Guess Why They Got Busted

I screwed up the formatting on a link below. So here it is again:
Remarkable NASA pic of earth lights. From November 2000. Image is 2400 x 1200 pixels and 387 Kb Earth Lights (thanks to L for the link)

Good for Diesel Only! Nice review of their new rig rock comp, in NYT no less! A Soundtrack to the Heyday of the 18-Wheeler (Free Registration required)

Remarkable NASA pic of earth lights at night. From November 2000. Image is 2400 x 1200 pixels and 387 Kb

The Guardian's Zimbabwe correspondent, Andrew Meldrum, came under personal attack today in the government-owned Herald newspaper. Here, he responds and tells of the looming threats to the independent press. Link: Defying Mugabe

News released on Friday afternoon is often the most interesting...Seattlement terms nixed by Judge(Reg. UK)
Judge Rules Against Settlement Plan in Microsoft Class-Action Suit (NYT free registration req.)
Judge tosses Microsoft schools settlement (Cnet News.com)

New! Search 5 years worth of AIM logs Googol (but might not last)

This might be the oddest CDRom ever made. The Numbers Racket. The associated site, SpyNumbers.com is pretty damn fun too.

We're all making our POOP (POmpous and Opinionated People) lists, right? The Onion has food for thought Least Essential Albums of 2001

I knew i heard our fearless leader say "Pakis" yesterday. But it seems that few folks in the US noticed. Others did, Google search for bush pakis brings up 3 newspaper citations, none of them domestic US. A search for: news: bush pakis brings up 3 different ones, none domestic. Reutrs: Bush meant no disrepect by using term 'Pakis' .
Related: The Gruaniad (sic) UK has a fun quiz: George Bush: fill in the blanks

Interesting Salon on The Geeks Whos Saved Usenet

Wired on the Future of Music Conference in DC D.C. Plays a Little Lobby Music . They do good work all year also: Future of Music Coalition homepage.

A well-reasoned piece telling us why the current darts world champion is UKs greatest sportsman, period. ! (really?!, sportsman?). Guardian UK. Link: The Don Of Darts

Our first large(ish) snow is falling. The county plow has been by at least twice. Here is an "art" shot fom my front yard

07Jan2002 SRI LANKA: Cricket-Muralitharan breaks Hadlee's 10-wicket match haul record.

KANDY, Sri Lanka, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan set a record by achieving 10 10-wicket hauls in a test after capturing the scalp of Zimbabwe's Trevor Gripper on Sunday.
A day after missing out on taking all 10 wickets in an innings, Muralitharan broke New Zealand fast bowler Richard Hadlee's effort of nine 10-wicket match hauls.
Muralitharan, who finished with nine wickets in the first innings on Saturday, trapped Gripper lbw for 21 in Zimbabwe's second innings to claim the feat in his 71st test.
Hadlee took 10 wickets in a match on nine occasions in 86 tests.
Sri Lanka, leading the three-match series 1-0, were heading for victory in the second test having built up 269-run first innings lead. Zimbabwe slumped to 68-3 at the close of the third day's play.
(C) Reuters Limited 2002.

Source: REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
REUTERS ONLINE - WORLD SPORTS NEWS SUMMARY 07/01/2002

WOW!

Just how many civilians have we killed in Afghanistan? It's difficult to get the US mainstream media to ask the question, even more difficult to get the Pentagon or White House to answer. A profeesor at UNH tries to figure it out... Link:A Dossier on Civilian Victims of United States' Aerial Bombing of Afghanistan: A Comprehensive Accounting

Once again we ask, why are folks still using IE and/or NET/Passport? If you must use it, here's why you should patch it, early and often. "Ditch IE" - says veteran bug hunter(Reg., UK).
More from MS themselves MS sounds Passport IE patch alarm (ZDNet, US).
The fact that MS still get millions of folks to use their stuff is amazing. Their PR machine must work 25/7/365 Trojan horse conveys IE users to porn.
Of course, our own favourite browser is not immune, but the problem is smaller and easier to fix.

Who'da thunk? Face recognition technology a proven farce (Reg., UK)

Good Village Voice piece on the foisting of the awful band Creed on a broken-spirited american public. Foisted on us by Clear Channel Communications radio behemoth. Dig that opening paragraph! Livin' on a Prayer

Salon: The drive to license academic research for profit is stifling the spread of software that could be of universal benefit.Public money, private code

Intersting, chatty feature on the new Euro. Guardian UK Link: What can you buy for 1 euro?

Brief interview and year in review with ACLU chief. Wired News Link: ACLU Exec Voices Concerns

LA Times on a downturn in the music bizz. (Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of folks...) Link: When the Perfect Storm Hit Labels