Friday, October 08, 2004

Campaigns agree: Bush was unplugged. The surrogates and spinners on hand for tonight's debate in St. Louis don't agree on much, but they do see eye-to-eye on this: There's virtually no chance that George W. Bush wore a listening device during the first presidential debate. [Salon.com] 9:57:22 PM    comment []

Andy Card on Bush's bulge. The rest of the media gathered here in St. Louis may be focused like the proverbial laser beam on the latest job numbers -- the New York Times says jobs are topic "A, B and C" tonight -- but we're determined to get to the bottom of the Bush bulge. [Salon.com] 9:57:16 PM    comment []

MPAA asks Supreme Court to rule on P-to-P cases. SAN FRANCISCO - Representatives for the music and movie industries have filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court decision in which companies that enable peer-to-peer (P-to-P) file trading networks were absolved of liability for copyright violations by users of those networks. [InfoWorld: Top News] 9:56:33 PM    comment []

Last Job Count Before Election: A Highly Political Number. Despite the stimulus from three rounds of tax cuts, the nation has at least 585,000 fewer jobs now than when President Bush took office. By By EDMUND L. ANDREWS. [The New York Times > Business] 9:55:32 PM    comment []

Bush's mystery bulge: The rumor is flying around the globe. Was the president wired during the first debate? By Dave Lindorff, in Salon. 12:39:33 PM    comment []

Okay, you've seen lots of Flash animation. Here's one I found enjoyable and meaningful: DEBATING FOR RATINGS As Kevin said in today's Headlines, TV stations will rake in a record $1.5 billion from campaign ads, while offering less and less substantive coverage. Since they are laughing all the way to the bank, why not have a laugh at their expense? 10:39:11 AM    comment []

The Man Who Grasped the Heavens' Gravitas. The New York Public Library focuses on Isaac Newton and the influence of his ideas in its thoughtful and engaging exhibition. By By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD. [The New York Times > Science] 6:49:42 AM    comment []

Podcasts: New Twist on Net Audio. A technology that delivers internet audio programs directly to iPods and other MP3 players, podcasting is gaining a following among people who can't listen to their favorite shows when they're live. By Daniel Terdiman. [Wired News] 6:49:17 AM    comment []

Kenyan Environmentalist Wins Nobel Peace Prize. Wangari Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize today for her work as leader of an organization that has planted more than 30 million trees across Africa. By By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. [The New York Times > International] 6:49:11 AM    comment []

Technology Review: Peer-to-Peer Comes Clean. Simson Garfinkel. But as I wrote a year ago in this space, this technology can be used for good: It has the power to strengthen the Internet against terrorist attack, allow even the smallest publishers to distribute information to the multitudes, and protect controversial information against censorship and suppression. [Tomalak's Realm] 6:46:33 AM    comment []

The words you never see in Chinese cyberspace. The South China Morning Post has written about the list of keywords filtered on the Chinese Internet, reports China Digital News. About 15% of the words are sex related, the rest are all related to politics. About 20% of the words are Falungong related, about 15% are names of current officials and their relatives; about 10% are words used in the liberal political discourse such as "democracy", "freedom", and "dictatorship"; and about 5% are related to certain nationalistic issues, such as "defend Diaoyu Island", "Sino-Russian Border","selling out the country", etc.. About 15% of the forbidden words are related to anti-corruption. Other censored words include names of dissidents, writers, and intellectuals, and names of certain foreign publications. [Smart Mobs] 6:44:45 AM    comment []