Month: February 2006

Opening many web sites at once

Surely you all know how to do this but just in case, Walt Mossberg tells how to open many web sites at once.

Q: I like to visit about 50 news sites every morning but don’t want an RSS feed only. I like to see the entire site. Is there a way to open all of them at the same time, without having to click on each bookmark one by one?

A: Certainly. All you need to do is switch to a tabbed Web browser, like Firefox or Opera for Windows or Mac; or Safari or Camino, for the Mac only. These browsers can open multiple Web sites, in the same window, marking each site with a tab bearing its name. And they allow users to open these multiple sites with a single click. Though each differs slightly, all have a command — usually called “Open in Tabs” — that will open a list or folder full of bookmarks with one click. For instance, every morning I open about 20 technology-related Web sites in Firefox or Safari with one click.

Internet Explorer 7.0 — available as a beta — also has tabbed browsing.

Men in Hats

At Confessions of a Community College Dean, the dean sees Curious George and Brokeback Mountain on the same weekend and writes a “compare and contrast” review. He writes it like a freshman composition student might. It begins:

Although Curious George and Brokeback Mountain share many similarities, they also share many differences. Both involve men in hats, but the meaning of the hat changes.

Better half

Ferrari in halfThe red Ferrari Enzo — one of only 400 ever made and worth more than $1 million — broke apart Tuesday when it crested a hill on PCH going 120 mph and slammed into a power pole.

The crash did not result in serious injuries. But it sent shockwaves through both the tabloid and exotic car worlds as one group wondered whether the driver was a celebrity and the other mourned the loss of a hand-built car revered by many as a work of art.

Los Angeles Times

College bans Wi-Fi

The president of Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, has banned Wi-Fi on campus, citing potential health risks.

According to an article in ITbusiness.ca, President Fred Gilbert is concerned about exposing young people to electromagnetic fields.

“These are particularly relevant in younger people (who have) fast-growing tissues, and most of our student body are late teenagers and still growing, so it’s just a matter of taking precautions and providing an environment that doesn’t have a potential-associated risk,” he said.

CNET News.com

No word on whether he’s banned sex, smoking, drinking, driving, etc.

Late night

Here is just an unbelievable story. The White House has given permission for a company owned by the government of Dubai to run six U.S. ports including New York. Dubai is accused of helping to fund the September 11th attacks. And was one of only three countries to support the Taliban. Now they are going to run the port of New York. What’s next? … Are they going to put Dick Cheney in charge of gun safety?

People are always saying we can’t find bin Laden. You know where I think he is? I think he’s working in the basement of the White House.

Jay Leno

President Bush has a plan that would put an Arab country in charge of several ports. You know if he keeps this up this is the sort of thing that could get people to start questioning his judgment.

An Arab country in charge of ports. That’s like FEMA in charge of disaster relief. That’s like Wayne Gretzky’s wife in charge of your bank account. It’s like Michael Jackson as your nanny.

David Letterman

Woods Shows Ames What Can Happen

From a story in the Los Angeles Times:

On Tuesday, Stephen Ames told reporters this about his chance against Woods in the first round of the Accenture Match Play Championship: “Anything can happen, especially where he’s hitting the ball.”

On Wednesday, Woods birdied his first six holes at La Costa and defeated Ames, 9 and 8, the quickest and most lopsided match in the tournament’s history.

After his epic victory, Woods produced some equally epic answers, true classics in their brevity, beginning when he was asked if had read Ames’ comments.

“Yes.”

So what was his reaction when he saw them?

“Nine and 8.”

Santa Fe as seen by the Cowboy Junkies

The Cowboy Junkies played in Santa Fe Monday and NewMexiKen somehow didn’t find out until today. Rats! (They’re in Tempe tonight, Boulder Friday, Crested Butte Saturday and Telluride Sunday.)

The band, which has a lot of music online, has a tour diary. They had this to say about The City Different:

Margo Timmins in Santa FeSanta Fe is a very nice town in which to spend a day-off. Especially in mid-February when the temperature is in the upper 50’s, the sky is cloudless and the air is so darn clean. Although the environment is spectacular, the town has become a bit of a parody of itself, which seems to be inevitable these days. As soon as a town establishes a distinct identity it doesn’t take long for commercial interests to move in and start capitalizing. As a result every second store in Santa Fe sells, Indian-ware, silver and turquoise and every other store sells South West “art” or furnishings. It looks like most of these stores are locally owned and run, which is a good thing, but it’s all a bit much. But as I said, it’s a great place for a quick visit; lots of good food, good coffee, good beer, good weather, beautiful scenery and a very welcoming citizenry.

That’s Margo Timmins with the flowers.

It’s the birthday

… of Don Pardo. The original “Jeopardy!” and “Saturday Night Live” announcer is 88.

… of Senator Edward Kennedy. He’s 74.

… of Sparky Anderson. The baseball hall-of-fame manager is 72.

Peter Hurd

… of Julius Erving. Dr. J is 56.

… of Kyle MacLachlan. The actor is 47.

… of Steve Irwin. The Crocodile Hunter is 44.

… of Vijay Singh. He’s 43.

… of Drew Barrymore. The actress is 31.

Artist Peter Hurd was born in Roswell, New Mexico, on this date in 1904. That’s his watercolor, “The Winos.”

Treaty of Amity, Settlement, and Limits Between the United States of America and His Catholic Majesty. 1819

The Adams Onis Treaty was concluded on this date in 1819. It ceded Florida to the United States and settled, after nearly 16 years, the boundaries of the Louisiana Purchase.

His Catholic Majesty [Spain] cedes to the United States, in full property and sovereignty, all the territories which belong to him, situated to the eastward of the Mississippi, known by the name of East and West Florida.

The boundary-line between the two countries, west of the Mississippi, shall begin on the Gulph of Mexico, at the mouth of the river Sabine, in the sea, continuing north, along the western bank of that river, to the 32d degree of latitude; thence, by a line due north, to the degree of latitude where it strikes the Rio Roxo of Nachitoches, or Red River; then following the course of the Rio Roxo westward, to the degree of longitude 100 west from London and 23 from Washington; then, crossing the said Red River, and running thence, by a line due north, to the river Arkansas; thence, following the course of the southern bank of the Arkansas, to its source, in latitude 42 north; and thence, by that parallel of latitude, to the South Sea [Pacific].

The Avalon Project has the complete text of the Treaty.

Presidential succession

  1. The Vice President Richard Cheney
  2. Speaker of the House John Dennis Hastert
  3. President pro tempore of the Senate Ted Stevens (age 82)
  4. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
  5. Secretary of the Treasury John Snow
  6. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
  7. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
  8. Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton

G.O.P. to W.: You’re Nuts!

Maureen Dowd in Wednesday’s Times:

Maybe it’s corporate racial profiling, but I don’t want foreign companies, particularly ones with links to 9/11, running American ports.

What kind of empire are we if we have to outsource our coastline to a group of sheiks who don’t recognize Israel, in a country where money was laundered for the 9/11 attacks? And that let A. Q. Kahn, the Pakistani nuclear scientist, smuggle nuclear components through its port to Libya, North Korea and Iran?

It’s mind-boggling that President Bush ever agreed to let an alliance of seven emirs be in charge of six of our ports. Although, as usual, Incurious George didn’t even know about it until after the fact. (Neither did Rummy, even though he heads one of the agencies that green-lighted the deal.)

Job security — invite the President

William Neikirk writes in the Chicago Tribune’s Washington blog: “Sometimes a visit by a president can change a lot of things — such as keeping your job. Just ask some 32 people who had been fired last week from their high-paying positions at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo.”It appeared that all was lost for these workers until President Bush decided to visit the laboratory on Tuesday to promote his proposals for renewable energy (which will require a good bit of new research by this very institution). “Suddenly, the earth moved. Suddenly, sympathy for the plight of these victims soared. Suddenly, it dawned on someone in the White House that the president might be coming to Colorado with a mixed message, talking about the promise of renewable energy while slashing some of the very people working on it.”

Dan Froomkin

Read this and then tell your Congress people how you feel

From Jane Hamsher at firedoglake:

I don’t know if anyone remembers the ABC news story from September, 2002 when they tested the security of American ports by attempting — with frightening success — to smuggle depleted uranium into the country via the port of New York. They did the same thing again, this time through the port of Los Angeles, in 2003.

One would think that the response of a Homeland Security Department that actually cared about protecting the country from the great fear they are always so quick invoke would be to take measures to make sure that the ports were strengthened such that real terrorists who actually attempted this could not succeed.

What did the Bush administration do?

They began an investigation of ABC news for violation of felony smuggling laws. Intimidate the whistleblowers. It’s the mafia’s stock in trade, too.

I remember this very clearly because it really terrified me. One of the reasons I really came to admire John Kerry was due to the fact that he had an actual plan (can you imagine) to strengthen the big holes in the US port security system. Because contrary to what wingnuttia would have you believe, liberals don’t want to hand over the US to the terrorists. We just want real measures to be taken to secure the country, as opposed to the millions upon millions of dollars wasted in meaningless measures that do nothing to protect national security while a lot of empty rhetoric masks the true intent their efforts: namely, funnel big bucks to your buddy. Then they stomp around and pretend like they actually did something.

Anyone who thinks that BushCo. has done more to make this country secure isn’t “tough on terror.” They’re just a bunch of marks.

Now George Bush wants rake in the big bucks by outsourcing control of our ports to a country that has been a key transfer point for illegal shipments of nuclear components to Iran, North Korea and Lybia, and he’s so accustomed to screaming “look fast, the boogyman’s over there!” while he lifts your wallet he thinks nobody will notice this time either.

Is the the game finally over? Are the Bush cultists finally coming to realize what we’ve known all along — that this bunch of crooks is all about making money and only about making money, national security be damned?

Let’s hope so, because the wingnuts have been the major impediment to true national security for years. It’s high time the scales fell off their eyes for all our sakes.

If you don’t know what this is all about, the Bush Administration is proposing to contract the management of six American ports to a company from the United Arab Emirates. Bush, who has vetoed not one bill in more than five years, promised today to veto any attempt by Congress to undermine this deal.

The Genographic Project

Two months ago my father told me that he had just sent a cheek swab sample to the National Geographic Genographic Project, which, at the time, I had never heard of. To have the website tell it, the goal of the project is to “understand the human journey — where we came from and how we got to where we live today.” The data collected “will map world migratory patterns dating back some 150,000 years and will fill in the huge gaps in our knowledge of humankind’s migratory history.”

The participation kit is only $100 and it’s money well spent if you ask me.

Read what Justin Blanton’s father found out.