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- Let's face it: no-one is really interested in what I have to say on any matter, let alone what I consider to be the finest cultural artifacts of this year or any other. However, I have my own weblog, which means that I'm duty bound to inflict my ill-formed opinions on anyone who has the misfortune to stumble across this shoddy excuse for a website. So here they are, the best and worst CDs, books and any other business of 2003. Enjoy. |
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- If you'd like to get that extra little bit of French practice by using a French calendar, here's one for you to print out. The months and days of the week are in French; the week begins on Monday, rather... |
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- The rules for the capitalization fo French titles are quite complicated; so complicated, in fact, that I have been unable to find a definitive system. This lesson looks at the three different schools of thought. French Capitalization démodé Le Mot... |
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- The 2004 list of words that should be banished for "misuse, overuse and general uselessness," according to Lake Superior State University: --- -Metrosexual: An urban male who pays a great deal of attention to appearance. -X: As in "X-Files," Xtreme, Windows XP and X-Box. |
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- There are currently over 786 million hungry people on planet Earth. And while few would deny that world hunger is one of the most important issues facing mankind today, if the solution is left to companies like Monsanto, Aventis, Dow, and DuPont, we may face even greater challenges to the security of our global ecosystem. With the second Green Revolution well under way, the world's food supply is slowly being transformed by a radically improvised agricultural paradigm. Genetically engineered crops have been introduced into the market without the rigorous testing that many scientists feel is required. Despite the highly publicized battle over genetically engineered food, many people are still unaware that many of the products they consume on a daily basis are GM. |
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- Documentary about live for Palestinian refugees in the Rafah camp and about the activities of the International Solidarity Movement to support them. |
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Quiz (Dec 31 2003 13:02 GMT) - Shock & Awe Quiz Ring Out a Tumultuous Year by Testing Your Memory of What Made News By WILLIAM MATHEWSON Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL It's another New Year's Eve -- time for paper hats and Auld... |
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Office 2003 (Dec 31 2003 13:02 GMT) - It's been less than a day since I installed Office 2003 for the first time, and I've already had Winword.exe spin at 100% CPU while composing an e-mail in Outlook. Not terribly encouraging. Fortunately, killing it in taskman didn't hose Outlook. |
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- Calling all metrosexuals: Get rid of that bling-bling - or at least find another word for it. In its annual compilation of language irritants, Lake Superior State University singled out 17 words and phrases that it says ought to be banned as overused, trite, euphemistic or just plain inaccurate. The 2004 losers were chosen by a university... |
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- Note: There are spoilers in this review, so look away if you haven't seen it already.If we're being honest with ourselves, Return Of The King is poor, at best. Sure, the giant battles are impressive as always, but even they seem weak compared to the battle at Helm's Deep. And the way the battle ended at Minis Tirith? |
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Elf (Dec 31 2003 13:01 GMT) - It should be plain that Will Ferrell is a comic genius. It's a shame that his genius was wasted on Elf.It's a decent enough film (although it is a kids film), but Ferrell doesn't shine as he usually does; hampered by an exceptionally stupid character.There are some great moments, but it could've been a good deal better. |
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- No long entry this morn. I have a few emotional feelings whenever the year is about to change, but I won't bother to get into that. It will pass.All the very best to my family, bredrens and fellow bloggers for... |
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- Depuis peu, certains des milliers de visiteurs des temples de Tirumala doivent céder leurs empreintes digitales, avant d’accéder à ce haut lieu de pèlerinage hindou. Une expérience unique par son envergure et qui devrait rapporter gros. La société indienne Bartronics... |
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- Make toys at home with common household materials, often in only a few minutes, that demonstrate fascinating scientific principles. (via del.icio.us) |
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- All businesses encounter legal fees, but firms that operate under contract to the federal Energy Department have theirs generously subsidized by the American taxpayer. An alarming report from the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, says the Energy Department spent $330 million to reimburse private contractors for lawsuits and settlements over a period of slightly more than five years. |
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Polly (Dec 31 2003 13:01 GMT) - Those who continue to advocate term limits for Arizona legislators will discover the error of their reasoning in the career of Polly Rosenbaum. Rosenbaum, who served in the Arizona Legislature for 46 years, died Sunday at the age of 104. She worked tirelessly to better educate the young and preserve the state's history. She was a Democrat, but she often operated above partisan politics. |
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- It was a merry Christmas for Sharper Image and Neiman Marcus, which reported big sales increases over last year's holiday season. |
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Letters (Dec 31 2003 13:01 GMT) - The writer of the Dec. 27 letter "Football fans are in for a long haul" should get his facts straight before he submits letters ripping apart Arizona's sports programs. |
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- El Tribunal de la Santa Inquisición Constitucional ha decidido mantener la suspensión del artículo octavo de la ley vasca de parejas de hecho, que fue recurrido por el Gobierno central ante este órgano al considerar que excedía las competencias de... |
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- (National:News)A member of the country's Select Homeland Security committee says he would not visit New York City's Times Square for Wednesday night's celebration. |
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- (National:Travelgetaways) |
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- (National:News)An Albuquerque couple returned from vacation to find a dead man in their home. Now police are trying to piece together evidence to determine how the body got there. |
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- (National:Entertainment) 10-year employee of comedian Rich Little has taken off with much of his money, he says. |
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- (National:News)Skip down the sidewalk and try this one! |
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- (National:News)You might want to steer clear of the hot buffet at tonight's party. |
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- (National:News)What NYC borough ceased being its own city on this day in history? What else happened? |
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- Mindlube Software recently announced the availability of revzeroconf, a software development kit that gives developers the ability to easily add Zeroconf/Rendezvous networking to their Revolution applications. |
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- Two Girl Orgy. Does it count as an orgy if there are only two participants involved? Maybe the girls in this photo set are just passing time while waiting for the rest of their guest list to show up. "Orgy" (La Batidora) [Fleshbot] |
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- Pan-African News Agency, Pan-African news agency of Dakar, Senegal |
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- Deutsche Welle, International broadcaster of Cologne, Germany |
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- Al-Jazeera, International broadcaster of Doha, Qatar |
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- 1. Intention 2. Accountability 3. Identification 4. Centrality 5. |
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- Elizabeth Lane Lawley points to an AP article that refers to this project on the psychological and health benefits of expressing gratitude for the good things in your life. The idea that there is a relationship between thoughts and health... |
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- Ton has pointed me to afree course on Action Research. This seems to fit a lot of my current goals, so I've signed up! |
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- I've been through my trackbacks table and found out as many instances as possible where another site is linking to this one using an outdated URL, and set up a redirect for that URL. (102 words) |
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Real Life (Dec 31 2003 13:00 GMT) - I took a conscious decision to keep away from the computer screen over the holiday period. So I have enjoyed reading newspapers in their print edition without wondering whether or not the comment articles merited a mention on the blog.... |
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- Bios (ISBN: 0812575741) is set in an “Aliens” corporation type future, families and trusts are his constructs, humans are trying to tame a highly poisonous planet, called Iris. The planet kills un-protected humans within minutes of exposure. A genetically, immune system boosted women is sent to the planet with a new protection suite. Somewhere along the way an Asimov’s Foundations Galaxia is partially introduced. |
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- For Darwinia (ISBN: 0812566629) take pre-world war two Europe and rip it away, don’t leave a crater, instead replace it with a new world, quite literally. Then add some super-beings - sentience – that control the universe. Then after gas mark five for 30 minutes you find out that time, in this book, is just a recording of data, one that is being infected. This about sums up the recipe that is Darwinia. |
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- There has been far too much eating and drinking too much at odd times recently....One is ready to return to normal eating patterns. Bleh. Having said that, the Christmas No. 2 at Suzanne and Paul's yesterday was lovely. |
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- Attorney General John Ashcroft removed himself Tuesday from a Justice Department investigation into who may have revealed the name of a CIA operative to the media and a special prosecutor was named to head up the probe. Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Comey said Ashcroft reached the decision to recuse himself on his own after long consideration. "The issue surrounding the attorney general's recusal is not one of actual conflict of interest that arises normally when someone has a financial interest or something. |
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