If it’s in the NY TImes, it must be going mainstream

“The Hybrid Car Moves Beyond Curiosity Stage.

 Vehicles that combine electric motors with regular engines appear to be catching on with both automakers and consumers. By Danny Hakim. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]“

I’ve had a Toyota Prius hybrid for over two years now, and it’s a well engineered and thought out car. It does everything any other compact sedan can do except it gets 46 mpg in L.A. traffic doing it. And when the Iraq war starts and gas spikes to $3.00 a gallon… well, the virtually foolproof antitheft system may get some testing!

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Hey kids, it’s time to play Gulf War 2!!!

“Not really a game, but is scary/funny: This is a projection of the most likely outcome of a new war in the Gulf. I used sophisticated temporal algorithms and historical semiotic analysis to achieve an accuracy rating of 99.999%. It’s the mother of all Flash games.” [MetaFilter]

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Gay sex and murder investigation in Bakersfield

Bakersfield? The oil town north of L.A. where Buck Owens lives? Yes, Bakersfield.

From the intro by the Bakersfield Californian, who spent three months investigating the story, which they titled  “The Lords of Bakersfield“.

“Powerful gay men. Vulnerable teen-age boys. Murder. For years, some prominent local men who led secret lives were rumored to be protected. Whispers surrounding another important man’s death prompt the question: Is there really a conspiracy?

The Lords of Bakersfield. Until recently, it was a little remembered local legend, of interest mostly to conspiracy theorists. But in the aftermath of Stephen Tauzer’s Sept. 13 murder and the subsequent arrest of his former colleague, Chris Hillis, the legend has resurfaced.”

Kudos to a small newspaper for doing serious investigative reporting, no matter where it led.

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101 Things the Mozilla browser can do that IE can’t

Mozilla is an open source browser. Netscape uses it as a foundation. However, Mozilla is a separate platform. It also has a little brother called Phoenix that I like and use.

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What if the pill doesn’t wear off?

“The Amoral Army. A disturbing piece in this week’s Village Voice discusses attempts by military researchers to develop a pill to prevent soldiers from feeling guilty about the people they kill in war. They want soldiers not to feel guilty. I say that soldiers’ guilt is what keeps us from becoming barbarians.” [No War Blog]

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Opposition to war is increasing

From Daily Kos

“Yet another poll is showing increased opposition to Bush’s new war in Iraq. The USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll has opposition at 43 percent, up from 38 percent Jan 10-12. Actual support from the invasion is at 52 percent.

Of course, those numbers could move over to the “support” column if either the US or UK present evidence of Iraqi non-compliance. As of yet, all we’re hearing is the same “trust us, we have evidence” bullshit, while all CIA leads to the weapons inspectors have come up empty.”

Democracy Now today reported that Not In Our Name has a two page ad today in the New York Times opposing an Iraq war. Further, a right wing Republican group, including  one person who has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Republican Party, ran a similar full page ad in the Wall Street Journal.

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Dueling weblogs?

My Life in the Bush of Ghosts is a fun, intelligent weblog from Belgium by Quarsan, who does mountain trail conservancy worldwide. He writes literately about culture, politics, and … relationships.

His girlfriend is Zoe. They have three kids. She has a wicked sense of humor and just got her own blog which she named My Boyfriend is a Twat. Only a few days old, this is already howlingly funny. Check it out!

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