"People are to be tortured in laboratories at Oxford University in a United States-funded experiment to determine whether belief in God is effective in relieving pain."

This landslide is from 1995. This landslide was on Monday. Both images are of the hamlet of La Conchita, Calif., where 27 are now missing (CTV) in a tragic carbon-copy disaster. The media has drawn out the story of the torrential rains, but the LA Times [LA Times, possible subscription] has painted out a troublesome pattern of apathy and man-made causes leading up to Monday's repeat disaster. I'm reminded vaguely of Love Canal.

Greg Palast is angry again. ("CBS' cowardice and conflicts behind purge: Network's craven back-down on Bush draft dodge report sure to get a standing Rove-ation at White House," 11 November 2005.)

Dogs and monkeys trained to herd sheep Title pretty much says it all.

Jobs unveils cheaper Mac... enters competition for the home front. and IPods for $149? "damn it! who are you!? what have you done to apple?"

Ball . . . game Flash game. Back in the day when your character was represented by a circle. more inside

Diary of a brothel. Allegedly the shift diary of a Florida "escort" agency.

News Flash!! Federally funded abstinence-only programs teach false and misleading information. more inside

What Do Michael Chertoff and Alberto Gonzales Have In Common? Well, they both are lawyers. They both went to Harvard. They both have been nominated for top Bush cabinet positions. Oh, and they both are advocates for torture.

Seen a bus on TV? Or in a movie? Or an advert? Or a music video? Buses on Screen is a celebration of buses as they've been depicted on screen over the years. But even experts can be stumped by some buses they've seen.

26. The full names of Scooby Doo's Mystery Inc members are: Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, Scooby "Scoobert" Doo. Shaggy is actually Norville Rogers. One of a hundred things you didn't know this time last year, courtesy the BBC (and thus having a UK flava). What'd you learn this year? Also: "Scoobert"??

Well cheerleaders do it Sometimes my blood boils over the smallest things, this time it's the statement from a lawyer defending the soldiers in the Abu Ghraib prison scandel:

Mr Womack, defending, played down the photographs that showed naked prisoners stacked in pyramids. "Don't cheerleaders all over America make pyramids every day?" he said. "It's not torture."

Because the cheerleaders I know do it naked while in prision under the careful watch of soldiers with guns...

Steve Kurtz Hearing Today Steve Kurtz of the Critical Art Ensemble has been under investigation for the past 8 months by the FBI, as formerly mentioned here and here. What the outcome of these proceedings will be is unknown, but Steve Kurtz -- and colleague Robert Ferrell -- both face a possible twenty years in prison.

Man E-Bay auctions space on forehead for advertising tattoo
And how much would having that GE logo emblazoned in the small of YOUR back cost?

Marshall Brain , founder of "How Stuff Works", shares his version of the future. A Robot Nation. With Robots in 2015. And finally Robotic Freedom.

CG -- cheap digital camera Well, I bought a crappy little digital camera (Vivicam-30) today, mainly because it was incredibly cheap. I looked around on the net for a driver for it, and found this thing Vivitar call a Mac OS Beta ... more inside

According to PC World Wow Wee Robots are designing an animatronic monkey head that looks sweet. more inside

Did Morrissey's lyrics predict Princess Diana's death? Yet another candidate for the "Magnificent Obsessions" file.

What's on Dubya's 'pod? (scroll thumbnails to the cycling pictures) Now that's a playlist I'm curious about.... and I know some iPod owners that will cry at the thought of him fondling some Jobstech...

MoFi T Shirt Orders Ok kids, the voting's over and it looks like this design won. I've volunteered to get prices on getting them printed up here in California, but will need to get an idea of how many and in what sizes before I can get real numbers. Depending on the size of the run, real silk screened shirts can cost anywhere from 25 to 7 dollars a piece, so a real accounting of pre-orders is critical. It appears that Tracy will try to make it as easy as possible for you to pay (paypal, credit card, checks and money orders, etc...) so now it's time to walk the walk... Who's really gonna order one (or two, or three)? PS-Remember to give the sizes that you want as well.