Free Gmail accounts

I have a few invites I can dole out to the first takers. E-mail me here. (This is a temporary address I'll delete once I've given out all my invites. So if your e-mail bounces, they're all gone.)

Yahoo Buys Web E-Mail Firm

Good news for Yahoo mail users. It's about to get a lot cooler, in an obvious counterswipe at Google's Gmail.

This is why competition is a good thing.

Surprise, surprise

Pentagon: Some Bush records destroyed

If this were about the Clintons, the wingnuts would be all over this.

And he's supposed to be one of the party's moderates

California education chief calls preschooler 'stupid dirty girl'

State Education Secretary Richard Riordan jokingly told a child her name, Isis, meant "stupid dirty girl," prompting the head of the California NAACP on Thursday to call for his resignation.

Riordan, the wealthy former Los Angeles mayor known for his support of public schools, startled even friends last week with the comments at a promotional event for summer reading at the Santa Barbara library.

Godspeed, little package!

My new computer is finally on its way, having just left FedEx's Phoenix sorting facility en route from New Mexico.

One would think that since Hewlett-Packard and I are both located in the Bay Area, the route would be a little more direct. This crazy global economy of ours.

Nonetheless, I am days away from having a reasonably speedy computer, just in time for Star Wars: Battlefront and Tribes:Vengence!

Oh, and work-related stuff, of course.

SATAN Causes High Memory Utilization in WUSER32

A funny collection of Microsoft Knowledge Base articles.

And then he told the crowd to go F- themselves

Yahoo! News - Cheney Fires Back in Debate Over Values: "Firing back in the debate over American values, Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) used his first campaign bus tour Saturday to label Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) 'on the left, out of the mainstream and out of touch with the conservative values of the heartland.' "

Bush salutes patriotism in West Virginia visit

MSNBC - Bush salutes patriotism in West Virginia visit: "the war in Iraq, President Bush said on Independence Day that America is safer because Saddam Hussein is in a prison cell."

Needless to say, 863 dead Americans would beg to differ -- especially considering that the number of Americans killed by Sadam or any other Iraqi since the Gulf War was exactly zero.

Pet Lovers Howl, So Governor Rolls Over

Pet Lovers Howl, So Governor Rolls Over: "The hectoring barks of animal lovers convinced Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to reverse himself Friday and keep California's law protecting stray dogs and cats at shelters."

Lesson for Schwarzenegger: no matter how much it makes sense on paper, never push a policy that involves killing puppies and kittens.

Cheney Defends Use Of Four-Letter Word (washingtonpost.com)

Nice to know he can admit when he's wrong. But as we all know, this administration is never wrong.

MIKE WENDLAND: SUV's Wi-Fi system lets drivers leave CDs at home

This sounds very cool.

Those Christian Republicans

Cheney curses Leahy on Senate floor

Vice President Cheney cursed at Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy during a confrontation on the Senate floor while members were having their annual group picture taken earlier this week, Leahy and Senate sources said Thursday.
...
Cheney then responded, “f--- off” or “f--- you,” two aides said, both speaking on condition of anonymity.

Keep in ming that these are the same people who want to tell us what we can listen to onmt he radio.

Failing to Draw Big Players, Computer Show Is Canceled

The New York Times has a good piece on he demise of Comdex, with lots of perspective and historical info.

I wonder how Anthony Scalia voted

Court rebuffs bid to open Cheney's records

Another era passes

Organizer cancels Comdex 2004

Bummer. I really enjoyed going to these when I could. But like the reast of the industry in the post-.com era, they had lost much of their excitement and appeal in recent years.

Safer and safer

South Korean hostage executed

Why don't those Republicans have any morals?

Ex-wife of GOP Senate candidate alleged sex club forays - Jun 22, 2004

The ex-wife of Jack Ryan, the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Illinois, alleged in court papers filed in 2000 that he took her to sex clubs and asked her to engage in sexual activity in front of other patrons.

Evangelical Leaders Reexamine Principles

It's been a long time in coming, but this is a very positive sign:

The National Assn. of Evangelicals is circulating a draft of a groundbreaking framework for political action that strongly endorses social and economic justice and warns against close alignment with any political party.

Steeped in biblical morality and evangelical scholarship, the framework for public engagement could change how the estimated 30 million evangelicals in this country are viewed by liberals and conservatives alike.

...

In the midst of a presidential election year, war and terrorism, the framework says Christians in their devotion to country "must be careful to avoid the excesses of nationalism." In domestic politics, evangelicals "must guard against over-identifying Christian social goals with a single political party, lest nonbelievers think that Christian faith is essentially political in nature."

Bush still winning the war on terror

American hostage's body found, Saudis say

Here's a tidbit on why the Abu prison scadal matters. No, it didn't give birth to terrorism -- they were killing longer before we invaded Iraq. But ordinary middle-of-the-road Saudis, which could have helped find the kidnappers, refuse to cooperate because they're so enraged. Having to choose sides between domestic thugs and foriegn thugs, who are they going to side with?

"How can we inform on our brothers when we see all these pictures coming from Abu and Rajah," Mukluks NOF, a resident of Dhahran al-Boudoir, said at a restaurant called Jihad, or holy war in Arabic. He was referring to the pictures of Iraqis abused by U.S. soldiers at the Abu prison in Baghdad and the Israeli military's killing of Palestinians and the destruction of their homes in the Gaza refugee camp of Rajah.

The weirdest WWII story you've never heard

Slate writes about the only fatal Japaese attack on the mainland U.S. and its implications for wartime censorship.

Improbable though it may sound, from late 1944 through the spring of 1945, the Japanese launched more than 9,000 balloons from their nation's eastern shores. Filled not with mild-mannered hot air but extremely flammable hydrogen and armed with incendiary and antipersonnel bombs, the balloons rode the jet stream across the Pacific Ocean for several days before landing throughout North America.