Wiring Small Town China

Internet access is no longer concentrated in the major cities.
From Spectrum OnLine - >>If your picture of a gritty, coal-choked town of 140 000 souls in central China's Henan Province doesn't include high-speed Internet access, look again. More than 40 percent of the population of Yima, a town that is neither rich nor poor by Chinese standards, regularly goes online. Even outlying mud-wall villages have 8 megabit-per-second connections.<<     Feature Article

I can't log in to Bloglines today

I get a bad e-mail or password message and when I try to have my password sent to me I get the same thing. Yikes! Both accounts. And I was using it this morning. I signed out to go to the other account and couldn't get back in. Worse, I just logged in to one account with an old password.

iRiver iFP-795

MSRP: $129.99
• Plays MP3, WMA & OGG music files
• 512MB Internal Storage
• Up to 40 hours of battery life
• Plays up to 17 hours of music
• FM Tuner & Recorder
• Transfers music up to 3X faster
The iFP-799 holds a full gigabyte but it's $50.00 more.
This should work with the Plantronics .Audio90 headset/mic combo. I hope.

ALWAYS CONSULT WITH PHYSICIAN OR SHAMAN HEALER BEFORE USING ESSENTIAL OILS.

And... The Cautionary Note Of The Week Award goes to... Home Spa Organics.   Cue applause.   I'm wondering though if maybe you should consult with an Aromatherapist and a Feng Shui Master as well.   Can't be too careful you know.
Home Spa Organics :: Essential Oils :: Essential Oils A-F :: French Lavender, organic

Now Playing

It took a couple of listens but I'm really starting to like Button My Lip from the most recent Elvis Costello CD, The Delivery Man. "Don't want to talk about some peppermint gum." How do write a stutter? puh puh puh puh peppermint gum

U2 in Boston

Last night's show was great. Pix and etc. to follow.
This link points to the writeup from the official U2 site.
U2.com | Official News

Now Playing

Not really, I don't have a copy yet. But I will.

CD Baby: FOUR PIECE SUIT: Spirito
CD Baby: FOUR PIECE SUIT: Spirito

YOWSA YOWSA

Please don't tell me they're reality, they're as made up as an episode of Scooby Doo. With all the contest shows on tv I've been thinking lately that people should go back and watch "They Shoot Horses Don't They?". Gig Young won an Academy Award for his part as the promoter of a depression era marathon dance contest who used and abused the contestants while telling the audience what great kids they all were. If you know the movie it's not hard to recognize some of the same stuff going on today. Anyway, now I know they should because I just saw a promo for a show called Dancing With The Stars.

He said it fell out the back of an authorized distribution channel

and he just picked it up. Software companies complain quite rightly about a fortune in lost revenues but it's hard to see how they can do much about it.


>>One of every 3 software programs in use worldwide is pirated, a level virtually unchanged in recent years despite industry efforts to crack down on the problem.<<
Survey shows little progress in effort to halt pirated software / Industry losses reach $33 billion in 2004, business group says

More on Lavender

English Lavendar is Lavandula angustifolia. It is not a tall growing variety. Height is in the medium range. The site linked to has tips on care and pruning.
The Allure of Lavender

Choosing Lavender

Get the right variety. Scent should comes from the flowers and the leaves. Look for a variety that grows tall. Take a cutting from the old one to the nursery. Maybe they can match it.
>> Lavender plants are sun loving and need well-drained soil. They can be planted almost any time, and even started indoors from seed. Plants may succumb to old age after ten years but are cheaply replaced.<<
>> In the north, where winters are longer and more severe, lavender can be placed in pots and moved to a porch or other sheltered spot during the colder season. In the south, where summers last forever and it can be extremely hot, partial shade is recommended. Also, seek advice on specific varieties for your gardening zone.

If there is a sunny spot on the walkway to your house, that's an ideal place for a potted lavender or bush because its fragrance will surround you each time you arrive and leave. You'll get in the habit of running your fingers over its foliage to release the aroma as you pass. What could be better than a single plant that is decorative, aromatic and provides ingredients for many other projects? <<

Lovely Lavender

Podcasting Specification Working Group (Public Blog)

Podcasting Specification Working Group (Public Blog)

Telegraph | News | NHS 'dirtier than food factories'

This is a story from the UK but it's not hard to imagine that we might have similar hygiene problems here in the US.
Telegraph | News | NHS 'dirtier than food factories'

IPodder Out Doppler In

I finally got around to getting a new podcast aggregator. With IPodder there were a lot of timeouts and I never felt sure that I was getting everything I subscribed to. I wanted improve the situation so yesterday I did a quick Google and found Doppler. So far so good. It's got a lot more features and it's running very smoothly. Retrieveing individual feeds and continuing retrieval on startup are both possible and very handy. They have cool t-shirts too.

Majority of Massachusetts Citizens Support Health Care Reform

Health Care for Massachusetts Campaign: Poll Shows Strong Support For Reform

Ash Grey T-Shirt > DopplerRadio | CafePress

Ash Grey T-Shirt > DopplerRadio | CafePress

Fictionology

The Onion looks at Fictionology and how it may be growing at the expense of Scientology.

"Scientology is rooted in strict scientific principles, such as the measurement of engrams in the brain by the E-Meter," Kurz said. "Scientology uses strictly scientific methodologies to undo the damage done 75 million years ago by the Galactic Confederation's evil warlord Xenu—we offer our preclear followers procedures to erase overts in the reactive mind. Conversely, Fictionology is essentially just a bunch of make-believe nonsense."
The Onion | Scientology Losing Ground To New Fictionology

Noise Control Plan Ripe For Abuse

They're talking about noise control for a section of London but it sounds more like an all purpose bug for city streets.
>>Now Westminster Council hopes a new wireless microphone could help tackle the problem.

It plans to attach the device to lamp posts outside houses, allowing inspectors to monitor sound levels. If neighbours make too much noise, council officials will.
<<

FPI 2005: Microphones to catch noisy neighbours

China Broadens Censorship Efforts

30,000 human monitors, a planned network of hundreds of satellites, arbitrary arrests and a climate of fear are all part of their campaign.


The Telegraph - Calcutta : International

Errant Bus Rescued By Blind Navigator

A great story from the Beneblog:
Monday, May 02, 2005





I just had to post this email I received. A couple of the Benetech team members hold the patent on the talking GPS locator for the blind technology, and this user is using technology we helped create.

Jim

From: "Rich Irwin"
To: "Gps-Talkusers"
Hi All:

Thought I would share a great GPS experience I had last week. I needed to take a 50 mile trip using several public transit systems to an area I had never been before. After a short cab ride, a Golden Gate Bus ride to San Francisco, a BART ride to Pittsburgh, I was told to take a Delta Transit bus to Oakley. Not only had I not been to Oakley before, but I had never heard of Delta Transit. I found the bus stop and the correct bus with the help of another passenger who was taking the same bus. What we both learned quickly was that this was the bus drivers first day on the route. After about a half hour of bus ride, as we left one of the stops, everyone on the bus hollered at the driver that he was going the wrong way. He went a few more blocks before he stopped and asked the passengers if they knew how to get back on the route. The general response was that nobody knew. I had my Braille Note GPS on and asked him where he needed to be to get back on the route. He gave me the intersection where he had made the wrong turn. I mapped a vehicular route from our current position and let the Braille Note tell him how to get back. Needless to say, everyone on the bus was amazed that the blind guy could navigate better than they could. What a great tool the Braille Note GPS is!

Rich Irwin

Backup Brain

Republicans: Heartless Bastards. But you probably knew that.

Backup Brain

The Dawson Group :: Ad blitz dismisses obesity threat as 'hype'

The Center for Consumer Freedom has been organized to refute claims that obesity can be harmful to your health. These public spirited folks receive most of their funding from 'casual dining restaurant chains' but they do not disclose names. Calls to some of the larger 'casual dining restaurant chains' are met with a convenient inablitity to say whether they contribute or not. Yet somehow an ad campaign has been funded and launched.
The Dawson Group :: Ad blitz dismisses obesity threat as 'hype'

Canadian Pharmacy

The templates I've looked at are all the same. And the content has no relation to the blog name. My overall impression of the blog names is that they all sound spammy.
Canadian Pharmacy

Blogger: User Profile: NJ Skillz

This is the publisher of the CP blog. He's got over 100 others with titles like Bachelor Party, Cabinet Doors, Car Price, Calphalon, Work at Home and Buy Viagra. Seems to be an entrepeneur.
Blogger: User Profile: NJ Skillz

Strange CP Blog

This reads like a collection of keywords or something. And while the content concerns Cerebral Palsy the blog is titled Project Management Software. Why is that?
Project Management Software

Viewing stands mounted at gated communities

From Heavy Trash  

DSCN0122
Originally uploaded by Candlemaker.

You're not wanted inside but you can still sneak a peek.

Bloglines - Various Items of Interest

Bloglines user someone has sent this item to you.

Blogger Buzz The Official Buzz from Blogger at Google

Various Items of Interest By Biz Belle de Jour book spotted! (The book is based on the blog.) Newsweek calls Blogging a 'blood sport' in Japan. Steve Jobs should be a blogger. Backpack is a cool new web thingy and this is their blog. How long has the cat had his own blog?

Bloglines - Back To Basics: Web Analytic Terms & Log File Analysis

Bloglines user someone has sent this item to you, with the following personal message:

This sounds way too dull to read but I'm going to do it anyway.

---

Search Engine Watch Blog

Back To Basics: Web Analytic Terms & Log File Analysis In SEM Tips: Measuring What's the Score? Basic Web Analytic Terminology from Scottie Claiborne at Search Engine Guide is a nice refresher on some basic terms related to web site statistics and analytics. Hits versus page views, what referrer strings can show and so...

Bloglines - Google To Open Office In China -- New Chinese Domains In Use

Bloglines user someone has sent this item to you, with the following personal message:

Will Google support two different policies on censorship?

---

Search Engine Watch Blog

Google To Open Office In China -- New Chinese Domains In Use In Google: Non-US Google has the go-ahead from China to open its first office there, and new Google China web sites using the .cn domain name are also live at www.google.cn and www.google.com.cn. From Interfax, Approval of Google's plans to expand Mainland China...

Bloglines - CNN Accused Of Blog & Search Spamming To Improve PR

From Search Engine Watch Blog
CNN gets accused of blog spam and search engine spamming. CNN on the Spam Attack? from Wired explains how blogger Nick Lewis spotted what he felt was a strange post that was pushing CNN programs. He spotted similar posts on...

Bloglines - European Libraries Back Alternative To Google Library Project

Bloglines user someone has sent this item to you, with the following personal message:

From Search Engine Watch Blog 4/29/05:

European Libraries Back Alternative To Google Library Project

In Google: Print & Library

Europe rallies against Google library from AFP notes that 19 major European libraries are backing a plan to put European books online, in reaction to Google's project to digitize books. The move, said the president of France's national library, is...

Anti Muslim Activity in China

Discrimination against Muslims leaves thousands of children homeless and sold to work in cities.
From Radio Free Asia   Uyghur rights activists say the problem stems from the poverty of the families concerned, but is also part of a wider pattern of discrimination against Uyghurs in China, who are subject to strict religious and political control by Beijing.
Gangs promise paying jobs

"Chinese human-traffickers come to the Uyghur region from inner China and tell the girls that they will find them paying jobs," Uyghur businesswoman and rights activist Rebiya Kadeer, who was recently released from a Chinese prison, told RFA.
RFA: Trafficked Uyghur Children May Not See Home Again

風になりたい！ Kaze ni naritai!

An American living in Japan. 風になりたい！　Kaze ni naritai!　

Time Traveler Convention Planned for Saturday, May 7 - Yahoo! News

They're hoping for a vistor from the future but they have a party planned just in case they don't get one.

>>The gathering will be held at MIT's East Campus Courtyard. Dorai gave the specific coordinates for anyone needing to plug them into some futuristic machine: 42:21:36.025N, 71:05:16.332W.<<

Time Traveler Convention Planned for Saturday, May 7 - Yahoo! News