It's been a while since something has instantaneously changed the way I use my web browser moment-to-moment and seemed immediately indispensable (in this case, by making the browsing experience much more fluid and efficient). Cooliris Preview is just such a thing.

As the current administration prepares to escalate this war into a conflict that will cement hatred against the U.S. in what remains of the muslim world for generations to come, and we learn that the Congressional Budget Office has projected the cost of our current wars to be $2.4 trillion, I think most of us would do well to read this article ( Read more... )

This is very cool. If I manage to try one out, I'll post an update. Unfortunately, it looks like their demo tour is over.

Over the years, I've often referred to myself as an "unrepentant atheist," and despite using the term habitually, there's always been something about it that seemed- well- a bit off. Preceding any description with "unrepentant" suggests that there might normally be some aspect of the behavior or feature that would call for repenting- there's a ( Read more... )

Strangely, looking up and knowing there's nothing between me and the light that settles on my skin but a thin layer of gas and a thousand (or a million) years has helped me feel closer to everyone I would touch but can't. When there isn't a body to read, perhaps it's too easy for me to take comfort in the company of ghosts; I wonder sometimes ( Read more... )

Urban Camouflage
Torin Boyd/Polaris, for The New York Times
Published: 2007.10.20
New designs in Japan may help allay the public's growing fear of crime, an anxiety fanned by a sensationalist media.

I woke up at five to a bright flash and clap of thunder that shook the building. The rain was so heavy that the room's glass wall framed just the veranda and the cloud white beyond, except for the lightning bolts that were falling within a few hundred yards to a couple of miles. Each one of those would cut through, greenish-white, like it had ( Read more... )

Raul will be on Leno in about 45 minutes (near the end of the show).

He'll be on Craig Ferguson's show Friday night (9/28).

Recent events and others such as that captured in this Youtube video shot at UCLA last year, have brought to mind a number of areas of concern (including how tasers have frequently come to be used by law enforcement personnel for non-defensive purposes) brought to light in the following report, dated May 2006, to the Office of the United Nations ( Read more... )

How did I manage to go this long without trying Ethiopian cuisine?! That was good lovin' on a plate (actually, good lovin' on enjera on a plate). I just found a recipe for the berbere spice that they use (which is in some ways similar to certain Northern Indian curries, but more complex in flavor than any masala I've come across). Happily, I ( Read more... )