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Six pares of New Zealand rabbits in Amerika

Tracking Trends Great & Small: What's Next: Such short attention spans
Tri trendy create a new order in content management. Will the changing landscape alter your technology plans and way of doing business?
· Brave New World: Three Trends: "Partial sun" and "Partial shade" "Partial pregnancy"
· See Also WHAT'S NEXT, is a look at emerging trends and innovations that could change site visitors' lives
· See Also Child prodigy bloggers: Bloggers want direction but they don't want to ask for it
· See Also Top Trends: Hottest Designs and Coolest Technology
· See Also One study finds that should current population trends continue and immigration cease, today's population of 375 million could decline to 275 million by 2075

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Weak Dollar Makes for Strong Amazon, As Intl. Sales Drive Profit and Sales Growth
Amazon reported sales of $1.53 billion for their first quarter, up 41 percent from a year ago, and net income of $111 million, buoyed considerably by the weak dollar and growing international sales. (North America comprised $847 million of sales.)

Invisible Hands & Markets: The Chain of Numbers: The mother of all spending sprees
Families will win enormous tax, superannuation and maternity benefits, delivering up to $117 a week in the biggest-spending budget ever, which the Treasurer, Peter Costello, hopes will encourage them to have more children.
"If you can have children it's a good thing to do - you should have one for the father, one for the mother and one for the country, if you want to fix the ageing demographic," Mr Costello said last night.
· The centrepiece of the budget is John Howard's long-awaited "barbecue stopper" work and family measures [Link Poached from THE BUDGET AND YOU: Economic reality mother of reinvention ]
· See Also Taxes only high by our low standards? [Link Poached from JohnQuiggin]
· See Also Ken Parish: Taxing times...

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Blogger Don Emilio Fulci described by an FBI tipster as a reclusive but evil millionaire, had formed a terrorist group that was planning chemical attacks against London and Washington, D.C...

The Blog, The Press, The Media: Exclusive: The New Blogger
For those of us involved in the project, we’ve been waiting months for this day to come. At long last, I’m proud to announce the launch of a project representing the latest collaboration between Stopdesign and Adaptive Path: the redesign of Blogger.com. Congratulations to the entire Blogger team on completing hundreds of hours, and expending tremendous effort to fit so much into this launch. This is Blogger’s first major overhaul since getting acquired by Google in February 2003, and it’s a biggie.
· All for free [ courtesy of The Great Blogger Relaunch ]
· See Also Blogs colliding with traditional media
· See Also Wired News: Sick of Spam? Prepare for Adware
· See Also Honey, They Shrunk the Newspaper: Electronic newspapers need design overhaul

Trends Great & Small: Is Non-Fiction Getting Sexy?
Non-fiction is finally triumphing over its traditionally sexier cousin, fiction, evident yesterday when non-fiction books swept the Trillium Book Awards, Ontario's pre-eminent literary honours. In the English-language category, Thomas King's series of Massey Lectures, The Truth About Stories, beat fiction favourites such as M. G. Vassanji's Giller Prize-winner The In-Between World of Vikram Lall and Barbara Gowdy's The Romantic, which made the long-list for last year's Man Booker Prize.
· The Truth About Stories [link first seen at The Globe & Mail (Canada)]
· See Also Intelliseek Launches BlogPulse.com to Track Trends, Issues, ... [link first seen at Blogpulse.com ]
· See Also Cautionary tale for writers: 'literary agent from hell' Ten Percent of Nothing
· See Also Mega-bucks mean mega-misery to many workers trapped in jobs they hate
· Cold War emergency bunker to house original music and films will be stored in the vault
· See Also Perfect for the nuclear family: Lucas Heights may be next tourist hotspot
· See Also Ukranian uranium: two containers seized of cesium-137, radioactive material, seen as a likely ingredient for a "dirty bomb" [Link Poached from Tim Dunlop]

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Taxation mess needs clean-up. 10/05/2004. The Australian Financial Review. Page 62.
Australia's taxation system is a mess, and it should be reformed. Many governments, for over 30 years, have talked about this but done nothing. They have added more taxes and more concessions, so that the taxation system is now a labyrinth. The top tax rate cuts in too early, meaning that middle class people pay the same tax rate as very wealthy people. The tax scales rise too steeply, leading to poverty traps for those on very low incomes. A huge industry has sprung up, devoted to helping people reduce their personal income tax. This is why the system must be reformed. The family benefits scheme and the taxation system both work to exacerbate the poverty traps, so that the incentive to work is removed. The Australian Government should think long-term for a change and fix this terrible system. Editorial. (reg. req. no link)

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Will this be Peter Costello's last budget?
If parents run the risk of being thrown out of work, they cant have confidence. If homebuyers have to pay double digit interest rates they cant feel secure. We want to deliver security for families so they can plan for the future. And a weak economy wont do it. A weak economy wont pay for the hospitals, the schools and the roads that we all want. And it wont assist our defence and national security effort.
· See Also For the seventh time since 1997 it will be in surplus [link first seen at Google Budget]
· See Also Taxing times as Latham considers his reply
· See Also Springing the money trap; The great divide: $117 to zilch

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Last night Jose Ramos Horta the leading international spokesman for East Timor's cause since 1975 was given Enough Rope on the Antipodean ABC by Andrew Denton...

Repeating History Classes: The Emperor & the Crouching Man Are Naked
The crouching man is naked, his hands tied and his head covered with a hood. The alabaster sculpture on display at a Baghdad gallery bears a striking resemblance to some of the shocking photographs that emerged last week of Iraqi prisoners abused by their American guards at the Abu Ghraib prison. But the 15-inch sculpture, with the words "We are living in American democracy" inscribed on its base was fashioned two months ago.
· Our dignity cannot endure this humiliation [link first seen at Margo Kingston]
· See Also Propaganda that no amount of spin can contain [ via Paul McGeough ]
· See Also There are journalists who try to swim against the Canberra tide. Canberra had failed to stop another boat but rushed to blockade the press [ courtesy of Smugglers & Media Watchers]

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What is this about? We have come to agree on the obvious answers: religion, ideology, political power and territory. But there is one fundamental issue at stake that dares not speak its name. This war is also about -- deeply about -- sex.

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Interest rate boost before election
The Bush administration has been alerted that Chairman Alan Greenspan will guide the Federal Reserve Board to a small interest rate boost before the presidential election, and President Bush is reported to be satisfied.
· US Elections [Robert Novak]
· Blair defends human rights record: China
· See Also Taxing times as Latham considers his reply
· See Also And God said unto Fred Nile: go to the Senate
· See Also NY Bar Associaton Reports on Human Rights and Detainees

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Switching back to Blogger from Movable Type

The Blog, The Press, The Media:
Blogger, which is owned by Google, has redesigned its site to make it easier to use and added new features, including posting by e-mail.
· Face-lift intended to make Blogger more friendly to novices [ courtesy of Blogger ]
· See Also John Laws
· See Also Seth Finkelstein interview: "Blogging of a Thesis About Blogging"
· See Also Subject Index to Literature on Electronic Sources of Information
· See Also KnowItAll SearchAnswer Engines
· See Also Mapping the Risks: Assessing the Homeland Security Implications of Publicly Available Geospatial Information

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Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov was killed when an explosion tore through a stadium where he was attending a Victory Day celebration

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Rumsfeld Accepts Blame and Offers Apology in Abuse
So to those Iraqis who were mistreated by members of the U.S. armed forces, I offer my deepest apology," Mr. Rumsfeld said as he began a marathon day of testimony on Capitol Hill, much of it televised live on all major networks. Lawmakers called back-to-back hearings to examine cases of detainee abuse that have ignited world outrage and brought Mr. Rumsfeld a personal scolding from President Bush.
· No ifs, ands or butts if there's a failure, it's me: The Worst Is Yet To Come [ via NYTimes (reg. req.)]
· See Also I had come to see Colin Powell because, for several weeks, his closest friends and colleagues had been telegraphing a story to me. Powell was finished, they'd said. Exhausted. Frustrated. Bitter... Unfortunately, the truth is scarier than the lie
· Karl Rove Tells Graduates Character Matters: America needs people who have the moral clarity and courage to do what's right, regardless of consequence, fashion or fad
· See Also Are there times when we have to accept torture?
· See Also How News Becomes News: Abu Ghraib: 1,000 Words
· See Also The Supreme Court Asks: Who Will Guard the Guardians?
· See Also The Seeds of Abu Ghraib were Sown in American Prisons
· See Also This is the New Gulag: Bush has Created a Global Network of Extra-legal and Secret US Prisons with Thousands of Inmates...
· See Also Physical and sexual abuse of prisoners, similar to what has been uncovered in Iraq, takes place in American prisons with little public knowledge or concern
· See Also Why the radio rorts go on, and on: David Flint is a problem, but his masters in government are the real villains of the piece
· See Also Japanese Political Pension Scandal
· See Also Redistricting allows politicians to choose their voters before the voters get to choose them

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We've now reached the point where nothing happened unless it is linked by digital images on the web...

The Blog, The Press, The Media: How the Media Dragon Word Gets Around
The blogosphere has a strange ability to push a seemingly obscure idea into the forefront of people's minds in a heartbeat. How this happens is a bit of a mystery. Sam Arbesman wanted to know how it works, so he created a meme and set it loose.
· MeFi readers were more likely to infect others with the meme than were those of kottke.org
· See Also Editors should praise — not punish — dissenters: As I've always said, when you're too busy to write, use someone else's words

To be able to send out a book to a future publisher is so much more impressive than a web link, but to be able to send a book and an online audience of thousands to a publisher is even better...
· See Also Ben Hammersley reports on the writers and artists who are earning money through the internet with micropayments [ courtesy of Ben Hammersley]
· See Also The Blog of Things To Come: Joi Ito is using his Weblog to put his virtual organization into action [Link Poached from Lucid article about Joi Ito]

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Librarianship, like other disciplines, has its seasons and its personalities. Warren Horton will take his place as one of the great figures in the history of the profession in Australia

Literature & Art Across Frontiers: Bridging cultures with books
Whether their parents read them fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, or even encouraged them to explore Lewis Carroll's Wonderland, most Japanese have been exposed to overseas literature from an early age, and many go on to discover the likes of Tolkien, L.M. Montgomery, Michael Ende and J.K. Rowling for themselves -- mostly in Japanese.
· If there is a search in 'Out,' [like the usual mystery formula], it's a search for an exit, a way out, for women living desperate lives. That is what 'Out' is about. All that makes it highly original [link first seen at Szirine: NYC, Berlin, Amsterdam]
· See Also Blowing Off Steam of inhumanity...
· See Also Andrew Wylie: An international agent argues for a global approach to selling serious literature
· See Also Jeanette Winterson: Of love and other demons
· See Also In July 1980 it was time to hit the Escape key; Pandora: Creation of National Library of Australia
Loch Imrich Imrigh \Im"righ\, n. [Scot.; Gael. un-bhrigh chicken soup.] A peculiar strong soup or broth, made in Scotland [link first seen at Shameless Plugging]

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To the country boys here, if you're a different nationality, a different race, you're sub-human... Good ol' girl who enjoyed cruelty

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Blame Ourselves
You know how they get away with it? Because we, the people, let them. In the end, Bush, Blair and Howard invaded Iraq because our democracies were not strong enough to stop them. Blame politicians, blame the media and blame ourselves. The question for all of us, after we purge Australia of this weak, amoral excuse for a leader, is to work out how we can ensure we never let any "leader" do this to us again.
· Strong men encourage dissent from people of good faith with expertise, not silence it [ via SMH ]
· Peter Costello: It's pre-budget week and, as usual, there are more leaks than the Titanic
· See Also John Mangos, Alan Jones, and political fun(d)raising...
· See Also We only really disagree on religion, religious grounds, I refuse to treat him like God
· See Also Politics of Nicknames [link first seen at Crikey ]

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Don Boudreaux writes about why even economists shouldn't (only) be in charge of the world's money

Santoso family
The waterfront Sutherland Shire mansion hid a secret. For four years, an Indonesian woman - brought in on a false passport by a wealthy Indonesian-Australian family - was a servant in first-world conditions earning third-world wages. Masri, who was 18 when she came to Australia with the Santoso family in 1995, was on duty 17 hours a day, seven days a week doing the house and yardwork, and helping to care for the couple's three children. During the four years she was paid a total of $5190. She sent half of that home to her family - subsistence farmers in a village.
· Sutherland Secrets
· See Also Ambiguous usage of the word "want."
· See Also The only thing that meaningfully separates Wal-Mart from its competitors is its incredible success
· See Also Who will be the new Fred at Fairfax? Professor Buynip(sic)?
· See Also Battle for the online billion-dollar monopoly dollar

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Mum's the word:
On this glorious Lauren's Day I came across a blog entry about the Gender differences in online feedback: Research shows that women are interacting more with the celebrity on celebrity blogs than men...

Bloggal Animals: Luxuries are Becoming our Necessities
The most hated bloggerjournalist in Australia: Stephen Mayne is the man behind Crickey.com, the website that has a go at everyone...
I like the fact that he trades in gossip because I think a lot of us journalists dress up that idea and are just a little bit holier than thou about the fact we don't trade in gossip … we do, we just refine it a bit better and make a couple more calls and turn it into news, but it fundamentally is the talk of the traps … and that's interesting stuff, it’s what readers want.
· See Also Crikey.com
· See Also Spooks blink in hot light of digital future: It is claimed from time to time that we have been responsible for murdering individuals who have become "inconvenient" in some way [link first seen at Barista]
· GuruNet: Bookmark this site, librarians...that's an order! [link first seen at Blogcards ]
· See Also Half-wit reality house: Oh m'God, Oh m'God. This is, like, the kitchen. And this is, like, the dining room. And this is, oh m'God, this is, like, the toilet. Hi, I'm Bree. Oh m'God!
· See Also A virgin at 24, she discovers at 42 she is 19 weeks pregnant
· See Also Degrees of happiness
· See Also Law Lords: This is a very good day for lying, drug-abusing prima donnas who want to have their cake with the media, and the right to then shamelessly guzzle it with their Cristal champagne
· See Also Google is in answering certain questions, compared to a well-connected person on a phone and someone in a library