Monday February 05
Schwab abolishes Friday
UK Independent
Now, if they can just delete Monday mornings!
Are there nine Eskimo words for snow?
Straight Dope
Are there nine different English words for Dubya?
Strictly for laughs
London Telegraph
Nice profile of Janeane Garofalo. If you live in Seattle, you might win 2 tickets to see Janeane, but you'd better hurry.
Telegraph login: e-portals password: e-portals
Sluts and teddy bears
Salon.com
A fine piece which compares the virginal-sexless boy band look, Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, with virginal-sexpot girlsingers Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.
Michael Wolff: 'The Internet As Media Has Failed'
I Want Media
New York Magazine's media columnist is somewhat pessimistic, stating that there is "no future" for the net as a stand-alone media business.
We have lift-off
The Economist
This appears to be a more optimistic view of net businesses than the above article, yet you can find consensus.
Some say the Net is dead; maybe it's just too boring
Detroit Free Press
Tech columnist Mike Wendland throws in his two cents worth: "But, for the past couple of years, the Net just hasn't improved much."
We're fast becoming computer servers
Melbourne Age
Writer finds another reason to fear online: "many people call my office, ask if I'm in and, if I'm not, immediately ask to be connected to my mobile phone or pager. (I carry neither.) You're never out anymore. The assumption now is that you're always in. Out is over. Now you are always in."
How a tongue can see
London Times
This is the oddest thing. The blind may soon start "visually perceiving" through their tongues.
Rosa Parks turns 88
Detroit Free Press
"She's resting comfortably," and her health is "very good."
Indiana Considers Synchronizing Its Watches
NY Times
I don't know whether we have any Indiana readers, but this issue used to drive me INSANE when we lived in Indianapolis.
Times login: edportals password: edportals
12-digit dialling is inevitable
National Post
I keep worrying the current craze for cell phones and extra internet phonelines will use up all of the numbers. The solution is, of course, to add more digits. Note, by the way, that Canadians spell 'dialing" differently.
Word of the Day
Oxford English Dictionary
Knew today's word.
One Year Ago Today
net.Headlines
One year ago today in the NY Post John McCain predicted victory in the NY primary. He lost.
David Letterman's Top Ten
CBS
Top Ten Things Overheard At The Puff Daddy Trial. My fave is #4: "For old times' sake, O.J. is here to try on a glove"
Saturday/Sunday February 03/04
The Saturday Poem Manchester Guardian Books Unlimited
On the weekends we have started to turn away from the headline drone and to seek solace, instead, in the word, as in poetry, book reviews and the like. This
week we start with the poem "Between A and B " by James Lasdun.
Poet's Choice: By Rita Dove Washington Post
Every week Rita Dove, former American Poet Laureate chooses a poem. This week it's Tips for Visitors by the South African poet Karen Press.
Frank McCourt Tells of Life as Poorest of the Poor Washington Post
Here's a quote my darling wife will devour: "Kids go to school now and they talk about what they watched on television the night before," McCourt said. "We talked about what we did. As poor as we were, we were rich in that sense."
On Language by William Safire NY Times
Safire looks at the different ways politicians have said hello and goodbye.
Times login: edportals password: edportals
A hands-off God? Manchester Guardian Books Unlimited
Review of Stephen Jay Gould's Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life,
which is also reviewed this week, in a somewhat less enthusiastic manner, in The London Times.
Five Books on ... London Times Books
Five books on...ordinary life.
God's Ghostwriters NY Times Books
Review of 'The Bible Unearthed' by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman. If you go to our archive page and head over to January the 6th you;ll also find a LA Times review of this book in which two Jewish archaeologists match up their historical findings with the facts in the Old Testament, and, needless to say, the two do not match. Also included is the book's First Chapter.
Times login: edportals password: edportals
One Year Ago Today net.Headlines
Today is our one year anniversary! So now we can start looking backwards by looking within. One year ago today Yahoo News reported that author Kurt Vonnegut was "in 'critical' condition after fire." A search today of the NY TImes finds that Vonnegut was named NY State's Poet Laureate last week, so he must be on the mend. Times login: edportals password: edportals
Word of the Day Oxford English Dictionary
Didn't know today's word.
This Day in History History Channel
On this day in 1996 Prodigy announced that it would allow internet access for one dollar per hour. The History Channel then wrongfully states that Prodigy was "The first online service to offer Internet access." There was a national
service, 'Delphi,' that offered a modified access long before Prodigy. I recall searching through domain names, back in the Delphi days, and noticing that the name "Ford.com" was still not taken.
Friday February 02
O.J. Simpson Meets Puff Daddy Village Voice
On Fridays we look at the best of The Alternative Press and we start out this week with a column in the Voice that
is not all about the benjamins; it's all about Johnny Cochran and this, his last hurrah.
High Society Turns on Clintons NY Observer
The fallout over Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich continues.
Fear & Loathing on the Inaugural Trail Austin Chronicle
Writer does the inauguration and finishes with this thought: "I just wish I could be watching Nader carving up the U.S. government with his Sword of Righteousness right now. Man, that would be sweet."
Ralph Nader: In The Public Interest sfbg.com
Speaking about the swinger of that Sword of Righteousness...You've heard about sports teams moving to get better tax breaks, etc? Well, the New York Stock Exchange is publicly pondering a move to New Jersey and
the man I voted for President is not at all happy about it.
Raymond Magliozzi: Rant and Rave Cartalk
Tom and Ray Magliozzi, aka "Click and Clack The Tappet Brothers," have been on American public radio for years with their Car Talk show and are also syndicated in many Alternative papers. Ray rants this weel about the salt we pour on the roads. It's destroying more than radiators
Alternative travel 2001 Detroit Metro Times
Special travel section focusing on "thoughtful journeys, special purposes." Don't these people have kids???
Mr Smarty Pants Austin Chronicle
Mr Smarty Pants knows stuff no one else knows.
Living Out by Shelly Sheklow Eugene Weekly
Columnist gets nostagic reminiscing about that time she and her friend asked the Ouija Board "Do we have lesbian tendencies?"
Savage Love Denver Westword
Seattle-based Dan Savage's weekly sex advice column tackles an issue we have all faced at one time or another:
"I am 20 yr old student and my boyfriend just confessed that the only reason he didn't sleep with his ex-girlfriend was becuase he had
too much homework to do. Should I dump him?" Adult Content.
alt.sex.column sfbg.com
Weekly sex-advice column tells us everything we ever wanted to know about semen. Adult Content.
The Truth Hurts by Mistress Marisha sfbg.com
Weekly BDSM columnist advises a young couple on how to start living their fantasies.
Actor-comic Eddie Izzard just wants to be loved Riverfront Times
To call Eddie a drag queen comedian is not fair. He's a brilliant comedian who performs in drag.
Necrofile by Donna Lypchuck Toronto Eye
Donna answers that question which we have all asked at one time or another:
"I am so busy working 9 to 5, shaving my legs, waxing my moustache, posing around at clubs, doing ecstasy, getting drunk, driving across town to buy cheap American cigarettes, writing in my gratitude journal and dialing those extra three digits in front of every phone number that I just don't have time to work out.... Can you help?"
Jesus of the Week Kansas City Pitch
Should really be "Jesus of the every-other week, or so." This time it's 'Touchdown Jesus.'
This Day in History History Channel
On this day in 1979, Sex Pistols member Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose in New York. I didn't like The Pistols, I didn't like the movie, but I do recall flipping
the channel one afternoon and seeing Johhny Rotten on American Bandstand. Rotten and group were all obviously smashed and Dick Clark was totally bewildered.
Groundhog Day Internet Movie DataBase
Finally, this day would not be complete without a shout out to one of my favorite movies, although the great Roger Ebert only gave it 3 Stars. But, even Roger is wrong once in awhile. Just as an example, do you remember when Rita asked: "Have you ever had deja vu?" And Phil Connors immediately shoots back: "Didn't you just ask me that?"
Or when Phil mused: "Well, what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today!" Happy Groundhog Day, everybody!
Thursday February 01
Women in pants can't answer telephones at Enquiry B.C. Vancover Sun
Make sense of this one: "Female telephone operators must wear skirts or dresses - never pants - at the toll-free information service that provides
British Columbians with information about the provincial government."
Hunter S. Thompson: Hey Rube ESPN
Part One of The Gonzo Journalist's harrowing Super Bowl Party tale.
Little relief for desperate citizens being driven round the bend Sydney Morning Herald
Guess what this article is about.
Mitch Albom: OSU plane crash didn't have to happen Detroit Free Press
The author of Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man and Life's Greatest Lesson has some strong things to say about last week's Oklahoma State plane crash.
In China, Computer Use Erodes Traditional Handwriting, Stirring a Cultural Debate NY Times
The price of modernization.
Times login: edportals password: edportals
Shut up Dad, you're only the cabbie London Telegraph
The price of living in the country, and this one hits home.
Telegraph login: e-portals password: e-portals
Behold the success of McDonald's in the land of the defective palate . . . London Times
The price of globalization: the British sandwich chain Pret A Manger sells 1/3 of itself to McDonald's.
Common Stock The Atlantic Monthly
Excellent article comparing general knowledge known today versus the amount known in years gone by. Since I barely scraped by in Latin, I loved the
Churchill quote.
Google Link Is Bush League Wired
Did you get an email or message last week about how George W's name, thanks to a popular search engine, was linked to something very unpresidential? I did. Wired tries to sort it out.
Betty Kenward, Snobbish Chronicler, Dies at 94 NY Times
Love that description.
Times login: edportals password: edportals
Word of the Day The Oxford English Dictionary
Another easy one today.
Is it possible to have eyes of two different colors? Can your eyes change color? Straight Dope
I'd vote yes to both.
This Day in History History Channel
On this day in 1979 the Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran in triumph after 15 years of exile. This is the man who made Ted Koppel's career.
