Flower found on mars! :)

Washington Journal (C-Span) interview with Microsoft Lawyer Brad Smith Interesting that he did not get many supportive calls. Could C-Span watchers be Linux users? Including one who said he should be fired for bungling the US case. HAHA!

Cape Cod Live Cams, Beach Cams: Web Cam at the Beachcomber in Wellfleet.

Hatteras, NC

OC Surfline

OC boardwalk.jpg (JPEG Image, 320x240 pixels)

Bethany Beach webcam (JPEG Image, 320x240 pixels)

Yahoo! News - Study: File-Sharing No Threat to Music Sales A related study finds that RIAA execs don't know thier ass from a hole in the ground.

Yahoo! News - White House to Let Rice Testify in Public For anyone who doesn't pay close attention, such a headline appears several times during each administration. Or at least it SHOULD. The key point here is, that in a system that claims "separation of powers" the various branches of government cannot allow other branches to run roughshod over them. The bad news, is that due to public pressure, the White House almost always concedes these issues in the end, one way or another. That's one reason I've long said that the Congress is the most important branch. They MAKE most of the laws, and only when they make them sloppily (which is most of the time) can the Courts interpret them to mean something other than originally intended. There are also more blowhards per square inch in the vicinity of the US capitol than anyplace else on earth. That coupled with a 4th branch of government, the Press, which treats all political news with the same seriousness as a small town paper announcing that the circus has come to town. Which is, of course what this commission has become. High minded bipartisan, problem solving intentions are still being uttered, but the problem at hand is a difficult one: How to thwart terrorism without stepping on our rights too much. And after wrestling with it for a few months the weary participants naturally fall back to that which they do best, and most, bashing the other party. Hurray for out side.

"Taking a look at Mr. Kerry’s much-promoted Vietnam service, his military record was, indeed, remarkable in many ways."... Setting Straight Kerry’s War Record

Average Weather No Setback for Eco-freaks From the Department of Don't Confuse Us with the Facts, it's been determined that this winter was not only a dud as far as proof of Global Warming, but was also a dud as far as the reverse effects predicted by that theory: Yahoo! News - Winter Was About Average, Experts Say

FedStats Home Page Fairly Good effort at organizing Federal web content.

Bureau of Economic Analysis Get ther real numbers. Well, at least the governments real numbers.

NARA | The National Archives Experience Downloadable images of founding US documents.

GMU School of Law: Library & Technology: Government Documents More organization of federal web nightmare.

The Federal Web Locator Organized. What the Feds can't do on their own.

Foundation for Defense of Democracies Counter terrorism studies.

Historical Documents Here is a place to get graphical images, at very high resolution, of historical documents. Partial list: Declaration of Independence U.S. Constitution Bill of Rights The Federalist Papers 100 Milestone Documents 1776 - 1965

Win One for the Flipper (washingtonpost.com) By Marjorie Williams Sunday, March 7, 2004; Page B07 I've been trying, really I have. As a charter member of the ABB Society -- Anybody But Bush -- I've tried not to fret over the alarmingly tautological nature of John Kerry's victory. He was inevitable because voters picked him to win because he had won over earlier voters and therefore must be a winner.

John & Belle Have A BlogAnother new (to me) blog.

Catallarchy.net - libertarian (sort of) blog

Debate on Terraforming Mars in 2 days. Check this for results, videos, etc. Might be interesting.

Can Terraforming Mars be done? I don't think so, not with current technology anyway. Here is a big list of references. Most of what you find on the web looks like sci-fi or kooks. Here is a list of scholarly references.

C-SPAN celebrates 25th year. OpinionJournal - John Fund on the Trail Interesting fact: Nickel per month per cable subscriber pays for the network. If only more of out institutions could work so efficently.

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