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Tuesday, Feb 19, 2002

body double

"Johnson wrote a book during his FCC tenure, How to Talk Back to Your Television Set. This link takes you to the full text version, which Johnson has graciously posted online. It's amazing how relevant the book still is today, including its withering assessment of the government's chief regulatory body overseeing the television business ("It has failed," Johnson writes, "because it has, in effect, been captured by the industry it was established to regulate")."

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sailing denial

"CIA Director George Tenet told Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during their meeting Saturday in Sharm el Sheikh that the United States has already decided to attack Iraq, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Mustaqbal reported Sunday."

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radioactive man

"'Earth lost its protection against ultraviolet solar rays and for several hundred years the planet would have been battered by intense radiation. All sorts of mutational damage to animals' DNA would have occurred. New species could have emerged as a result. It is possible Homo sapiens may have been one of these.'"

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expert systems

"The agency which Poindexter will run is called the Information Awareness Office. You want to know what that is? Think, Big Brother is Watching You. IAO will supply federal officials with "instant" analysis on what is being written on email and said on phones all over the US. Domestic espionage. You want to test it out? Text-message any American friend, "Bmb OK. Allah gr8"."

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al news, al the time

us set to unleash j-lo and propaganda on middle east radio

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duly noted

howie's feeling libby today.

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marin county hottub party

at berkeley they can go to strip clubs for class credit. i wonder if i was in school now would my vietnam class have taken a fieldtrip to the dmz?

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whats on

"Perhaps the most ironic aspect of the struggle for survival is how easily organisms can be harmed by that which they desire. The trout is caught by the fisherman's lure, the mouse by cheese. But at least those creatures have the excuse that bait and cheese look like sustenance. Humans seldom have that consolation. The temptations that can disrupt their lives are often pure indulgences. No one has to drink alcohol, for example. Realizing when a diversion has gotten out of control is one of the great challenges of life."

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Monday, Feb 18, 2002

m.i.teenager

"But the thing that is truly unusual about Demaine is the story of the path he took to get there - and of his father, Martin Demaine, who has devoted much of his adult life to educating Erik in a decidedly unorthodox way. Raised among hippies and jugglers and free thinkers, Erik Demaine has found himself at the center of a field where abstract math somehow intersects with street performance. That he is a prodigy is not even a question, say people who have worked with him; the question is what will amuse him."

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chip are down

las vegas ditches faux 'family friendly' image. i guess if theyre going to be americas toxic waste dump, they might as well act like it.

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