june
A new nose spray may protect women from gonorrhea. 06/01/99

DARPA study seeks to use radio-tagged honeybees to seek out land mines. 06/01/99

Egyptian wives are turning violent. 06/01/99

Tomorrow night tune in with kitty for the first commercial targeted for...cats. 06/02/99

Redesiderata: Remember that "wear suncreen" email supposedly written by Kurt Vonnegut? On Monday it was released in the UK as a single, and is set to top the charts.... 06/02/99

Forget Quake. In Italy, Nietsche goads young men to murder. Oh, really? 06/02/99

Hey boys! Smoking can cause impotence! 06/02/99

Anglophiles may be forbidden to phlebotomize in order to foil Mad Cow Disease. moo! 06/03/99

The Washington Post reports on the shortage of high-tech workers and says that companies are spending millions of dollars a year on training. But a job-hunting friend tells me that Seattle companies, MS among them, now require software testers to know C or C++; a year ago they didn't. Her theory? They want to outsource jobs to lower-paying countries like India and/or import their workers, all the while explaining to the Feds that they can't find qualified American workers. Sounds plausible to me.... 06/03/99

Microsoft fires an alleged hacker. 06/03/99

Credit card companies are Simply Evil. 06/03/99

Senator Phil Gramm seeks to increase number of HB-1 visas again to compensate for the supposed shortage of high-tech workers. 06/04/99

The Peculiar Art of Mr Frahm is very simply one of the funniest things I've ever seen. (Found by way of Bradlands.) 06/04/99

One in four African Americans surveyed believe HIV to be a man-made virus developed by the federal government to kill blacks. <sigh> We have some *huge* trust issues to work out obviously, although after that syphilis thing, who's to blame for that? 06/04/99

A Mexican town has introduced a dress code for townswomen. What's wrong with a good old-fashioned hijab??? 06/05/99

The last Ona is dead. 06/05/99

Court rules that female attorneys may not be called "babe" (Thanks, Jesse!) 06/05/99

Researchers have evidence that the scientific method may be flawed. 06/05/99

Wrong turn, wrong country. 06/05/99

Scientists have identified the molecular origin of friction. 06/05/99

Please note: at a dance club standing in the dance floor and holding a coversation is rude, annoying, and makes you Look Stupid. Go to a table instead of taking up Valuable Dance Space. 06/06/99

Through his generous and consistent funding, Richard Mellon Scaife has played a central role in the rise of the right. 06/06/99

Mendocino Tree is the world's tallest living thing. 06/06/99

A new attention-based model of alzheimer's disease. 06/06/99

Beanie baby mania on the interstate. 06/06/99

Queen Elizabeth stands behind her namesake. 06/06/99

No time to surf yesterday. Go look at jjg.net and Windowseat (don't miss the discussion of the Jar-Jar Binks Tongue Candy--at the bottom of the page) today. 06/07/99

Here is a list of companies that do not test their products on animals. Some of my favorite cosmetic companies are on this list. Some are not. Unfortunately, this page isn't dated. 06/08/99

PETA publishes A Shopping Guide for Caring Consumers 1999 which lists products which are not tested on animals. I ordered it tonight. 06/08/99

Seattle housing prices are making it more difficult to recruit workers to the area. 06/08/99

Lewinsky, shaminsky. 06/08/99

With donations down, a serious blood shortage is predicted. This is an easy one to fix. Contact a blood center in your area (here are more listings). Find out when a blood drive will be held in a location convenient to you. Go give blood. Ask a co-worker to go with you. 06/08/99

Dave Barry cracks me up:
After dinner all of us, including the dogs, went into another room to have dessert and watch the Miami Heat play an important basketball game. Actually, the women watched the game; the men actively controlled the outcome by shouting at the screen.... 06/08/99

Imagining a first gentleman. 06/08/99

Dream of this. 06/09/99

Vegetarians and Carnivores get down and dirty. Can't we all just get along? (Thanks, Lizard!) 06/09/99

A politician with principles: David Anderson, Canada's Minister of Fisheries and Oceans has spearheaded a far-sighted salmon agreement at the risk of his popularity. 06/09/99

Researchers who sniff armpits for science. (Thanks, Tony!) 06/09/99

Pre-employment background checks are becoming both weirder and more extensive. 06/09/99

Hey kids! Let's all play chess with Gary Kasparov! We can use my computer. 06/09/99

Men outside Buckingham Palace, undressing in shifts. 06/10/99

As Wiccans serve and protect, Christians seek to destroy. 06/10/99

Warp 5, Mr Sulu! 06/10/99

The 1999 Christmas rush starts early this year. Hey! Maybe there's a market for Ron's "Industrial Princess Barbie".... (Thanks, Lizard!) 06/10/99

Fecal explosion threatens city! (Thanks, Lizard!) 06/11/99

Christian Coalition has been denied tax-exempt status by the IRS. 06/11/99

The Supreme Court has ruled that Chicago citizens are once again free to publicly loiter with their gang-member acquaintances. 06/11/99

US scientists have pinpointed the molecular mechanism necessary to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria. 06/11/99

The Department of the Interior admits in court that it has mishandled $500 million held in trust for Native Americans, and doesn't even have a proper accounting system to keep track of the money. 06/11/99

On its seventh! try, THAAD, the anti-missile missile, finally got one. 06/11/99

Misc is 13 years old! I worked briefly with Clark Humphrey way back when. He was producing a cool little one-page zine on popular culture at the time; now he's doing the same thing online. Misc onscreen starts to look remarkably like a weblog. Misc is strange, it's funny, and it's very, very smart. I think you're in for a treat. 06/12/99

Archaelologists have found the largest mummy burial ground to date. 06/12/99

Teenage Amish drinking and vandalism. Well, you can't blame *this* on TV. 06/12/99

A dead body was found under a hotel bed after German tourists slept in it. 06/12/99

Teenager buys viagra online; Kansas sues. 06/12/99

A transvestite Thai kickboxer who wears a support bra in the ring has promised to kiss his Japanese opponent if he loses. 06/12/99

Friends don't let friends do karaoke. 06/12/99

President Clinton will issue an executive order forbidding government agencies from buying products made by indentured underage workers. I support this step, but check out the picture accompanying this article. CNN wants us to feel *good* about our president. 06/13/99

Well! I can certainly see myself in the outfit on the left.... 06/13/99

Thai women's groups are pushing for a law that would enable married women to retain their maiden names. Opponents fear that children will feel less close to parents with a different surname. Right. 06/13/99

Sony Playstation II is powered by a chip so powerful...that we can't export it to China. Or Israel. I thought we were buds. What's up with *that*? 06/13/99

Jeff Bezos doesn't just own Hair Club...he's a member. 06/13/99

Who owns your reputation? 06/13/99

In response to the recent dioxin scare, some Belgians simply turn a blind eye to banned foods lists, while others dine on buffalo, eel, and horse. 06/13/99

In other Belgian food news, as eggs and meat returned to the shelves Saturday, Coca-Cola soft drinks were pulled from shelves after several children fell ill. No meat, eggs, *or* Coke? Sucks to be Belgian. 06/13/99

Post-menopausal women may soon be taking testosterone. Among possible side effects: increased libido. Woo-hoo! 06/13/99

Corpse rides subway for five hours, passengers unaware. (Thanks, Jesse!) 06/15/99

Living in a straw house. 06/15/99

Christians apologize for the crusades; Muslim reception uncertain. Honestly, now. Does this ever really *help*? 06/15/99

When your lover needs a penile implant, it's usually best to see that your husband doesn't get the bill. 06/15/99

Suddenly, one third of the mice trapped in a Northern California wildlife refuge have both male and female sex organs. 06/16/99

The European Union will ban battery hen cages beginning in 2012. 06/16/99

The cruelty of battery hen farming. You might want to consider cutting down your consumption of eggs, or choosing free-range eggs. 06/16/99

Traces of pollen on the Shroud of Turin show that it came from the Holy Land. 06/16/99

Pirate News: It seems that the shipwreck off the Atlantic Coast really is the Queen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard's flagship. 06/16/99

Here's the official site from the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, containing background, history, and up-to-the minute shipwreck news. 06/16/99

I just learned about the Viridians, a revolution that Bruce Sterling is fomenting via the internet. 06/17/99

From the Viridian Design Principles:

Design For Evil
Any innocent product which becomes suddenly genocidal in the hands of a tyrant has been designed by a dangerous naif. Every design process is incomplete unless it takes into careful consideration what could be done with the product by a dictatorial megalomaniac in command of a national economy, a secret police, and a large army.

Viridian Inactivism
Activism is an attention hog, and very time and energy intensive. A better approach is to find the things you are doing that intensify the problem, and just cease doing them. Put in less overtime. Sleep late. Have a nap after lunch. Burn less midnight oil. Park your car, turn off all the lights in your apartment, and go outside in the sunshine and read a book. Spend an hour on your mascara if you feel like it. Don't allow yourself to be spooked into Stakhanovite overdrive; seek command of your own life, and enjoy being yourself.

Here are Viridian Resources:
archives at bespoke and one maintained by Mitch; Mirrorshades; and New Minds. 06/17/99

Worldwide in 1998, armed conflicts increased. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found 27 major armed conflicts in 26 locations in 1998; all but two of them were internal. 06/17/99

Final approval was received today for a Native American Museum to be built on the last vacant site on the Washington DC mall. Smithsonian consultants are confident the building's overhang will not fall. I'm very pleased by this--and the site plan and building sound very cool. 06/18/99

Japanese women can now purchase a private detective in a bottle to determine whether their husbands are cheating on them. (Thanks, Jesse!) 06/18/99

Newline Cinemas is bringing the Lord of the Rings to the big screen. And it looks gorgeous. (Thanks, Neil!) 06/18/99

A British inventor is opening an academy to guide his colleagues through the complicated process of bringing an idea to the market. 06/18/99

Trying to escape Moscow's heat wave, 61 people have drowned in the last month. Oh, for heaven's sake. 06/18/99

The entire Pacific Ocean is out of balance. 06/18/99

Christian bikers battle over the Jesus Brand. WWJD? 06/18/99

An Egyptian architect who heals with designs. 06/18/99

Slavery has been outlawed four times this century in Mauritania...but still it persists. 06/19/99

Introducing the thermoacoustic Stirling heat engine, a simple, energy-efficient engine with no moving parts. 06/19/99

A Malaysian man claims that he is 141 years old, making him the oldest man in the world. 06/19/99

Incoming Israeli Prime Minister Barak plans to build an elevated highway connecting Palestinian controlled territories of the West Bank with the Gaza Strip. 06/19/99

A Japanese destroyer mistakenly fired live rounds into a residential neighborhood and commanders waited four months to report it. 06/19/99

More Belgian Food News: European orders for kangaroo meat have jumped since the dioxin food scare. 06/19/99

However, brewers assure consumers, Belgian beer remains dioxin-free. Well, huge sigh of relief over *that*. 06/19/99

Unforeseen to planners, a new California mall's lighting system bathes the floor in swastikas. 06/20/99

Now, that's an action figure. 06/20/99

A female Rwandan journalist will be charged with genocide and crimes against humanity for her radio broadcasts urging Hutus to slaughter Tutsis. 06/21/99

Man charged for assaulting his girlfriend with a ten-pound tuna. 06/21/99

Australia will create the biggest marine park in the world in its Antarctic territory. 06/21/99

Although horribly abused by her husband and facing a direct and serious threat of harm if she returns home, a woman suffering gender-based persecution cannot be granted asylum in the US under current law. 06/21/99

In the 12th century, Arab conquerer Saladin sought to end fighting among Christians over which denomination should keep the key to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where tradition says Christ was buried and resurrected. Two Muslim families were entrusted with guardianship over the door, a trust that will end when a second door is added to the shrine. 06/21/99

Kasparov has begun his match against the world. I'll be tracking this with the link to the left. 06/22/99

We can rebuild him. We have the technology. Better than he was before. Better. Stronger. ...um, Bigger. 06/22/99

In related news: Scientists have developed a rat that can control a robotic arm by thinking. 06/22/99

Women out of control...again. Where are the damn hijabs? (Thanks, J!) 06/22/99

Spam turns 62! My grandpa loved Spam. I loved my grandpa. 06/22/99

Pop Radio is a a lollipop holder that plays FM radio stations that can be heard only by the person sucking on the candy. 06/22/99

Britain's "bird ringers" celebrate 90 years. 06/22/99

A Federally-sponsored Science panel has endorsed a new non-animal test which can can fully replace the use of animals for testing corrosiveness and irritation in some cases, while requiring only a single animal in others. 06/23/99

Rape probes hit a wall of silence "The 22-year-old woman, married four months ago, said she was taken...by Serbian forces, held for a day in the local police station, beaten, then threatened with death. But she was not, she said, raped. Her husband, Behan Thaqi, thinks differently. 'I am 100 percent certain that they raped her,' said Thaqi... 'I know that when women get in their hands, there is no chance to escape.' Thaqi says his wife denies the rape because...if she admitted it to him, 'I would ask for a divorce -- even if I had 20 children.' His wife listened, silent and shamefaced, in a corner of their looted home." 06/23/99

The Mariner's owners are seeking yet more public money to fund their new stadium. #%*&! 06/23/99

Last night in my dream, Jason Kottke was a pretty good tap dancer, even though he'd only had a few lessons. Hmmmm.... 06/23/99

Lizard: I wanna move to Pullman...where the ACTION is.
Ken: That picture lies. That's at least ten times more exciting than the real thing. 06/23/99

Drug industry fights bill that aims to lower prescription drug prices for seniors. 06/23/99

Drunk with their success in targeting untapped markets, Budweiser has begun doing taste tests with an even unlikelier target market. (Thanks, Lizard!) 06/23/99

Death takes a Holiday. 06/23/99

I struck me the other day that my love of weblogs should come as a surprise to no one after my years of devotion to Harper's magazine, which, when you think about it, is pretty much a print version of the same idea. 06/23/99

FYI: I'm now linking to Harper's Index on my portal page. 06/23/99

Shipwreck News: A pair of 2500 year old Phoenician cargo ships, the oldest ever discovered, have been found in the Mediterranean Sea. 06/24/99

The Presbyterian Church Orders and Ministry committee has recommended striking a 1978 clause forbidding practicing homosexuals from being ordained. 06/24/99

Colombian Chamber of Representatives members have been spending over $23,000 a month on phone sex. 06/24/99

Your Tax Dollars at Work: A House committee has approved a bill that would make it a crime to take a pregnant teenager to another state for an abortion without telling one of her parents. 06/24/99

Grandstanding: Politics takes over HMO debate. "There's no question they could reach a compromise here on a package of things that would ... greatly satisfy the American people. There's every prospect Congress will blow the opportunity." 06/24/99

The Prudent Vietnamese. 06/24/99

Stupid PR Tricks: In response to the recent court ruling giving Microsoft permatemps the right to stock options, MS has decided to limit their term of service to one year, with a 31-day hiatus before rehire. That's okay. As CFO Greg Maffei explained, temps tend to be substandard, anyway. (Thanks, Lizard!) 06/25/99

The popular Dive Stick swimming pool toy has been recalled by it's makers. It's all fun and games until someone is rectally impaled.... 06/25/99

Ancient Cities News: Last week in Jerusalem a bulldozer fell into a hole...revealing a 2000 year old stone factory. 06/25/99

The 404 Research Lab 06/25/99

Good News/Bad News: Belgian toxologists say that recent illnesses from drinking Coca-Cola were psychosomatic, but the New England Journal of Medicine reports that drinking a cold fizzy drink can cause some people to faint when they swallow. 06/25/99

Our idiot House of Representatives fiddle while Rome burns. 06/26/99

Every Calf a Wanted Calf 06/26/99

Unmasking Evil: truth is in the details. 06/26/99

Deadbeat Donors 06/26/99

"Children are precisely innocent and therefore you can fashion them into the most ruthless, unquestioning tool of war." 06/27/99

A Japanese company has developed a device that can tell you if your begonia needs a hug. 06/27/99

One of my pet peeves happened yesterday. I got stuck behind a slow woman walking in the middle of the sidewalk. I veered left to pass her and she moved left. I went right, and she did the same. I moved left again, and she followed suit. I finally just had to speed *way* up and zoom through the narrowing space. These people are spatially aware, but in a really unhelpful way.... 06/27/99

In an effort to discern how much Native American money they actually *are* managing, the BIA has purchased a new computer system. 06/27/99

The Vatican is appalled that a Spanish child has been awarded custody to a loving, deeply religious transsexual. 06/27/99

Separating aging from procreation with the help of mice. (And what a bold illustration.) 06/29/99

Puget Sound Oil Spill 06/29/99

Boo hoo hoo I: Elton John needs a loan. 06/29/99

Boo hoo hoo II: Dan Quayle thinks the press is meaner to him than to George W. Bush. Note to Dan: it's really not those little slips of the tongue that make people think you're just plain dumb. 06/29/99

The District of Columbia has up and admitted that their Y2K effort won't be ready, so they're starting now to schedule New Year's overtime. 06/29/99

Chatting with a parishoner to whom he was giving marriage counseling, a Virginia minister suggested that they kill each other's wives. 06/29/99

Cush Croatian Concentration Camps 06/29/99

"It never rains in Southern California...but when it does, oooooh there are rats." 06/29/99

Brazil's hottest children's star, Tiazinha, is a dominatrix. "You had everyone from tiny children to middle-aged homosexuals cracking whips (dressed) as Tiazinha...It was one of the stranger things, even for Carnival." 06/30/99

Like a character in a Steinbeck novel, a 13-year-old Honduran boy traveled 37 days to New York to find his father, who promised to meet him on a street ramp, wearing a white shirt. 06/30/99

Yesterday was my grandma's 87th birthday. She told me on the phone that when she learned how to read my great-grandma got her a library card. She still goes to that library. Today she brought home six library books. Every night she does two crossword puzzles and watches TV and reads. Oh, and she plays golf every Wednesday and every other Thursday. :) 06/30/99

Got Milk? I 06/30/99

Got Milk? II 06/30/99

Sex: Your First Line of Defense. 06/30/99