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Once upon a time [Friday 3 February 2006 or five days ago], a rather stubborn and determined middle-aged man decided to record for posterity, exactly as it happened, word by word and step by step, the story of another man for indeed what is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal, a somewhat paranoiac fellow unmarried, unattached, and quite irresponsible, who had decided to lock himself in a room a furnished room with a private bath, cooking facilities, a bed, a table, and at least one chair ...
-Raymond Federman, Double or Nothing

Violence and the Lack of Spiritual Humour
Anyone who appreciates the relationship between philosophy and politics should want to take a look at this site political theory daily review : From Around the World and Denmark, Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that first published the cartoons of Muhammad, refused to run drawings lampooning Jesus Christ three years ago (and here are cartoons mocking Jews and Christians). Der Spiegel interviews Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Is this a clash of civilizations or just a conflict between western radicals and Islamic fundamentalists? Robert Fisk on why this isn't an issue of Islam versus Secularism. Western governments have nothing to apologize for. An article on the misplaced defense of free speech, but why can't Muslims take a joke? René Descartes, where are you now that the world needs you?
War of Nerves: Chemical Warfare From World War I to Al-Qaeda and JI The poisonous legacy of the chemical arms race
By JI The Cold Truth of Freedom & the Poisonous Anthrax

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Artists are by nature versatile and precise; they only repine when involved with the monotonous and the makeshift.
-Evelyn Waugh, The Loved One

In the early 1990's every Bell company . . . made commitments to rewire America, state by state: The manipulations, deceptions and broken promises are documented in detail The $200 Billion Broadband Scandal, by Bruce Kushnick

The Blog, The Press, The Media: Fresh insight with a kick: What Are Op-Eds For?
What are op-eds for? It is neither illegal nor immoral to write about something while having financial ties to private industry

Ever since the Cato Institute fired syndicated columnist Doug Bandow over the revelation that disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff had asked and paid him to write articles favorable to his clients, the Left and some in the media have launched a witch hunt against conservative writers with links to private industry. Yet, during this burning time, no one is asking the question: What are opinion pieces for? The question has not arisen because some on the Right, by acquiescing to the Left's desire for blood, are building the pyres themselves. The question needs to be asked, and the Left will hate the answer.

• When journalists go from keeping secrets about sources to expecting sources to keep secrets about them, something in the media has begun to stink with self-importance Fact-checking investigative reporters [On February 1, 1979, the Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran after fifteen years of exile The University of Chicago Press has a new blog The Chicago Blog ; Luxury car maker BMW has had its German website blacklisted by Google after it was caught trying to artificially boost its popularity ranking on the world's leading internet search engine Google 'death penalty' for BMW site ]
• · In the absence of hurricanes, terrorist attacks, or lawyer-led coups, I don't watch any TV news programs, and haven't for years ... Maximum Amount $1,000 Blogging for Progress Scholarship; How Citizen Reporters Work
• · · Findory Neighbors: Media Dragon ; Truck Art
• · · · A fresh approach to giving the news Philly Inquirer changes its thinking on news presentation; Google sells its soul, and ours
• · · · · Yale Gets Million To Train Journalists I think j-school is a giant waste of time; More than 40 per cent of school students are chronically sleep deprived Tired teens tap in to SMS
• · · · · · White Pages - We Surrender Free Australian Blogs ; An Australian website has published the cartoons of the prophet Muhammed that sparked riots among Islamic militants Political commentator Tim Blair : Cartoons by Blair : Danish Cartoon Furore: Links post

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Am I a breath of fresh air, in slow motion? Our dragons started digging up records, knocking on doors, and reaching out to trusted sources. Ultimately, however, we had too many unanswered questions and decided not to publish a story. Sparing Media dragons ... CHEERS to fighting the good intentions and fight: Confidential Sources

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Reaching for Power: There can be no rights in a democracy
Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight-- Got to kick at the darkness `til it bleeds daylight

Max Weber described politics as
a strong and slow boring of hard boards. It takes both passion and perspective. Certainly all historical experience confirms the truth--that man would not have attained the possible unless time and again he had reached out for the impossible. But to do that a man must be a leader, and not only a leader but a hero as well, in a very sober sense of the word.

• Even when people are satisfied, there is much left to do. Institutions must achieve the moral education of the citizens. By respecting their individual rights, securing their independence, refraining from troubling their work, they must nevertheless consecrate their influence over public affairs, call them to contribute by their votes to the exercise of power, grant them a right of control and supervision by expressing their opinions; and, by forming them through practice for these elevated functions, give them both the desire and the right to discharge these. The False Hope of Democracy [Full-fledged corporatism, as a system for organizing the formulation and implementation of economic policies Quasi-Corporatism: America’s Homegrown Fascism ; The introduction to David Runciman's The Politics of Good Intentions: History, Fear and Hypocrisy in the New World Order Did September 11, 2001, really change the world? ]
• · Recorded rates of assault and sexual assault in NSW have more than doubled in the past 15 years Sexual assault rates more than double ; AUSTRALIA'S biggest cities have become less affordable over the past year - tell me about it ;-PPPSydney pays for rise up world rankings
• · · The year 2006 marks the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Hannah Arendt, one of the most prominent public intellectuals of the twentieth century ... It is appropriate to recall Hannah Arendt's contributions to Jewish politics and peace in the Middle East What the world outside saw; The New Geopolitics of Empire Australia, put simply, there are two types of Bill of Rights - a legislative model and a constitutional model. What price for a Bill of Rights?
• · · · Threaten One, Intimidate a Million: After provoking outrage in the Muslim world by publishing offensive cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, A couple of simple caricatures ; A Danish newspaper has apologized as the extent of the anger continued to mushroom. Denmark's Cartoon Jihad
• · · · · Kick me, I'm a Democrat: Michael Kinsley on the games politicians play. When Republicans lose elections, it is because they didn't get enough votes. When Democrats lose elections, it is because they have lost their principles and lost their way. Or they have kept their principles, which is an even worse mistake Everyone can play; Political donations: grubbiness tolerated
• · · · · · Urban myths "Much of what we think we know about sprawl is wrong" ; Donations avalanche -- time for reform

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It was worth missing Friday night sleep:
S, the Blower’s Daughter, might have said it: We all drew on the comfort which is given out by the major works of Mozart, which is as real and material as the warmth given up by a glass of brandy.

The Blower's Daughter Lyrics
And so it is
Just like you said it would be
Life goes easy on me
Most of the time
And so it is
The shorter story
No love, no glory
No hero in her sky

I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes...

And so it is
Just like you said it should be
We'll both forget the breeze
Most of the time
And so it is
The colder water
The blower's daughter
The pupil in denial

I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes...

Did I say that I loathe you?
Did I say that I want to
Leave it all behind?

I can't take my mind off of you
I can't take my mind off you
I can't take my mind off of you
I can't take my mind off you
I can't take my mind off you
I can't take my mind...
My mind...my mind...
'Til I find somebody new
- 'Til I find somebody new: The hottest songs from Damien Rice

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Perhaps the strangest aspect of life is the sense it conveys of having a pattern—everything falling into place, nothing happening by chance; outward phenomena an image of the inward reality; and therefore inevitable in their relation to that inward reality.
-Malcolm Mugggeridge, Affairs of the Heart (courtesy of Christopher Porterfield)

One of the most important books of our time? Like Imrich’s Cold River, Milton Mayer’s story has been bubbling through the online zeitgeist for a little while now—most recently is was passed around the social bookmarking sites del.icio.us, reddit, and stumbleupon They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45

Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: Extraordinary power of compassion
The blockbusters and feel-good movies are out in the cold this year

At the78th Academy Awards, mass-appeal commercial movies are as hard to find in the main categories as heterosexual cowboys.
Yesterday's nominations established the gay western romance Brokeback Mountain as clear favourite to dominate the Oscars, with eight nods including best picture, Ang Lee for best direction and Heath Ledger for best actor

• Politics, racism and sexuality - Oscar gets serious [What's the hot new frontier of neuroscience? Buddha on the Brain ; Well, it was fun while it lasted Established in 1886 and known for selling men's clothing, knick-knacks and housing a popular barber shop, the store was placed into the hands of administrators in November last year. Dr Cope introduced me to $5 haircuts back in 1982 when I first started working at the NSW Parliamentary Library. My last haircut took place on 4 October 2005 and it cost me $15. After my last symbolic haircut I incurred a lot more expenses ;-P Iconic Gowings closes forever ]
• · Supreme Court justices who sign memoir deals risk squandering the impersonal respect on which the judiciary depends. Judicial Exposure ; From Truthdig, an article on the Year of the Queer: Hollywood and homosexuality. Brokeback Mountain: A Dig led by Larry Gross
• · · Alan Turing not only saved countless lives by breaking a Nazi code, he conceived the computer, and rethought the nature of mind CODE-BREAKER ; Harper Lee, who lives in a small town in Alabama, is one of the most reclusive writers in the history of American letters. But she does get out Harper Lee, Gregarious for a Day
• · · · One More Time: Making Amends Frey's Agent Goes on the Record with 'PW' ; Vera Wang is passionately in love with every aspect of clothes. “I like the gritty parts of fashion, the design, the studio, the pictures Vera Wang’s Second Honeymoon
• · · · · Steven Spielberg's film "Munich" deals with the 1972 Olympic hostage taking and its bloody aftermath. The film is a blend of cliches and originality, wisdom and presumptuousness. A vampire at the neck of reality Munich: We have lost Spielberg ; A year after its police force melted away and the streets descended into anarchy, Mosul has climbed up from the abyss Mosul Makes Gains Against the Chaos
• · · · · · Clitoral satisfaction for every woman on the planet, by all means. But no, Shere Hite, this will not give us world peace Will better sex bring world peace? ; Dating presents itself as a kind of education in human relationships. It’s not. There’s no worse preparation for love than the tireless pursuit of the perfect partner Dating

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Against stupidity the very gods
Themselves contend in vain.
-Friedrich von Schiller, The Maid of Orleans

Making the cover of Media Dragon or Double Dragon has long been a milestone in public recognition - for issues and people: How Women and Men Use the Internet, Pew Internet & American Life Project, 28 December 2005. Women are catching up to men in most measures of online life. Men like the internet for the experiences it offers, while women like it for the human connections it promotes.

More than 2 million broadband services connected, ACCC, 6 January 2006. The take-up of broadband services has passed 2.5 million, according to the latest Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Snapshot of Broadband Deployment issued today Blogs are the most overhyped phenomenon of 2005. How do I know this? Because Google has never lied to me. Blogging in the Wind: Same Zoo, Different Animals

The Blog, The Press, The Media: Leaving A Trail Of (Sparkling) Blog Dust
Journalists have the right to blog about whatever they choose, but management has the right to impose standards against anything that would "impair their ability to be seen as evenhanded, fair-minded reporters working for us.

Depending on the local media Web site you visit, blogs of all sorts can be a daily fixture or a future promise, and the rules governing employees' contributions to unaffiliated sites are equally varied, if they exist at all.

• Blogs eyed for interest conflict [Google CEO Eric Schmidt has promised that the web search giant will make some "really big bets" in a bid to turn around the negative response to its latest results Google fails to deliver perfection ; Papers take aim at Google ]
• · Senator Andrew Bartlett is the leading political blogger Taking the sharp edge off our fears ; In April, CMF will begin our long-awaited evaluations of House and Senate personal office, committee, and leadership Web sites to identify our Congress Online Gold, Silver, and Bronze Mouse Award winners Congress Online
• · · Congressional staffers are editiing their bosses' bios (sometimes rather aggressively, so) Wiki tricki: Rewriting history under the dome ; Present-day politicians are condemned to live and die in the ever-intrusive gaze of the media and its eagerness to damn. You're in the public eye, but can you afford to live there?; Elections law is unclear on Internet content Could blogs get tangled in web of ethics rules?
• · · · No one expected Daley to personally field the blizzard of entreaties, compliments, insults and offers that certainly poured in to that address -- just one reason Daley has never announced a deal between the City of Chicago and the wife of a deceased Nigerian dictator -- but it was a useful, easy-to-remember way to get a message to City Hall ...and he doesn't have a blog,either ; Is ABC's PR chief directing network's Woodruff coverage? ; ABC News shouldn't have sent Woodruff to Iraq, says critic
• · · · · Today the web is busy with news that its coolest engine and the darling of the cybersoothsayers, namely Google, has failed to live up to the expectations of Wall Street's financial analysts Time to analyse the analysts ; How easy is it to hack your company?
• · · · · · Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the world's richest man, said today the tax office in the US has to store his financial data on a special computer because his fortune is so vast Tax office needs a special computer for me: Gates ; Microsoft Revises Blog Policy ; Dover Reporter Fired Over Personal Blog Comments

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The corporate teams that are overdependent on research averages often see their brands fail at a spectacular rate. Their new product introductions seem caught in a revolving door -- what's in and what's out based on "researched" hypotheses that have little to do with actual market behavior. Who Are the Dumbest People in the World?

Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: How To Build A Word-Of-Mouth Marketing Campaign
By embracing word of mouth (WOM), marketers can motivate consumer communication and discussion about their brand and generate buzz. Despite a jumble of confusing terms and concepts, planning a WOM campaign comes down to some basic marketing concepts: the audience, the message, the vehicle, and the metrics. Finding the right combination will give a WOM marketing campaign the greatest chance to spread faster than a hot stock tip at a cocktail party.

Many firms have created buzz by making the right target, channel, and content choices. These companies got outstanding results in terms of awareness, participation, and traffic online:
Virgin Mobile; Audi; ebookers.com Virgin Mobile provides insight into its viral marketing activities: Visit http://dmc.co.uk/ for more information on this campaign.

• Marketers: Wake Up To Emotive Network Users [ LiveVault; Cetelem is the first financial services company to launch a viral campaign online and through mobile phones Cetelem ]
• · Explanation of over 400 management methods, models and organizational theory Management methods; Brave New Branding World Same Customer, Different Channel and more links
• · · He won the battle, not just against the underdog ... and then the dam burst. THE vast world audience who watched the men's final of the Australian tennis open on Sunday night saw an extraordinary spectacle. One of the all-time greats, possibly the greatest player ever, Roger Federer, convincingly and coolly won the title, then broke down and cried The force behind the serve … and the tears ; Lenton record upstages Thorpe
• · · · Speaking about the value of creativity Same Zoo, Different Animals ; Increasingly uncomfortable living in a material world
• · · · · The debt we owe our teachers and mentors One Part Inspiration ; On the pages of medical journals and the cover of Time magazine, in feature stories on network news and nightly jokes in Jay Leno's monologue, there's been a swell of media coverage this past year concerning "the teenage brain." You want mind-blowing? Look at the middle age brain
• · · · · · Warner Bros. President Alan Horn said Friday "We're reevaluating our position on what to do" about the planned film adaptation of James Frey's A MILLION LITTLE PIECES Hollywood Reconsiders Frey, Too ; Company counts royalty, celebrities, children among clients Havel Buggy blazes trails

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The talk show queen apologises for end Oprah tells author: I feel duped

Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: Happiness is . . . two books about the pursuit of bliss
Maybe you have a New Year’s resolution that’s still unbroken.

I’m guessing that whatever it is - to lose weight, to give to charity, to reconcile with that family member, to change careers - the motive is the same. You want to be happier.
I mean, duh. Why do anything unless it’s going to make you happier? But here’s a question: What is happiness, anyway? Duh? OK, but two new books offer provocative answers to what might seem too obvious to ask.

• Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, detach from material possessions, realize that happiness is a construct of your mind What is happiness, anyway? [Jack Bauer and the Ethics of Urgency Slavoj Zizek ; What are the social effects of fast, cheap & stigma-free viewing? Audio and video of the Smith Foundation debate. Porn in the Age of Instant Access ]
• · When I read Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "The Hours," I admired it as a thoughtful, delicately considered engagement with the literary past and a sensitive articulation of various kinds of loss. We feel no alienation from a body like this, no division into me and it. It is the body as transformed into another type of material, an immaterial material. There is something wondrous and magical about it. . . . It is a body without the ignominy of flesh Alone in the Dark ; Movies offer us a transformed reality in which the body is stripped of its material bonds and becomes united with our essential nature as centers of consciousness Television Cul-de-Sac Mystery: Why Was Reality Show Killed?
• · · Two Seattle residents filed suit in federal court against Frey and Random House, charging "breach of contract, unjust enrichment, negligent misrepresentation, intentional misrepresentation and violation of the Washington Consumer Protection Act," according to the Seattle Times. The plaintiffs, whose main request is to be compensated for the "lost time" in reading the book, are seeking class action for the suit. The newspapers says the suit is "apparently the third of its kind to be filed across the nation, seeks class-action status against Frey and the publisher Lost time; Frey Acknowledges Mistakes on Today's Oprah - Appearing on the show with Frey are publisher Nan Talese and some journalists. Do you think you lied or do you think you made a mistake?
• · · · Generally speaking, feminists get together with other feminists because it is less expensive than seeing a therapist Why I don’t take feminists seriously ; Ten years after identifying his brother as the Unabomber, David Kaczynski talks about what the experience cost him Matters of Life and Death
• · · · · The LA Weekly conducted a lengthy investigation of the work of another memoirist, Nadijj, following up in part on long-term assertions by Native American writer Sherman Alexie that Nadijj invented his Navajo identity and plagiarised the work of others. Alexie had told Nadijj's original editor at Houghton Mifflin, You're going to pay for this later - this is not real. Did a struggling white writer of gay erotica become one of multicultural literature’s most celebrated memoirists — by passing himself off as Native American? Navahoax; A true-to-life novel about learning anew what it means to be a mother and what it takes to be a son Kevin E. Cropp, author of The Time Keeper and son of cancer victim
• · · · · · To really "make" it as a Sopranos watcher, come with your full breadth of cultural references or don't come at all: At this point in our cultural history, mob movies are classic American cinema, like westerns Coming Heavy ; 7 myths about the Challenger shuttle disaster ; Fredric Jameson famously described globalisation as a version of "the proverbial elephant, described by its blind observers in so many diverse ways" In place of the apex

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Happiness is . . . Sydney Grogblogging fotos, and composing letters to virtual readers

Jason, Jozef, Andrew Esq. via via #1 blogger -Tim Lambert
Question of the night: Is internet or money the source of the greatest evil? Traffic Details: Least Unpopular Australian Leftoid Blogs

In case you missed it, bloggers from around Australia met up on Saturday night for Grogblogging III. And yes, they’re just as opinionated in person as they are on screen.
Flashman from Electron Soup was chatting with Jozef Imrich of Media Dragon when I arrived. Pretty soon we were joined by Antony Carr — guest blogger at Evil Pundit, Club Troppo’s Nicholas Gruen and Stephen Hill, Agent FareEvader, Glen Fuller (Disambiguation Blog), Suki of Suki has an Opinion, and Tim Blair’s nemesis, Tim Lambert of Deltoid.
Catallaxy’s Jason Soon arrived early but was turned away by the RSL’s bouncer — no photo ID, no entry. I’m told that Jason’s response was the highlight of the evening and I’m sorry I missed it. Fortunately Jason doesn’t live far away and was able to go home for his passport.
LP’s Mark Bahnisch was there, along with Naomi. Liam Hogan from Stouch.net arrived complete with his trademark beret (but RSL rules prevented him from wearing it). Andrew Bartlett also came along and was as engaging in person as he is online.
Bloggers, beer, bouncers & berets — Grogblogging in Sydney

Dear Nigerian Friend,

I am a former general in the Czechoslovak army who has managed to steal countless millions from my people. It has come to my attention that you are an investing genius and I would like your help establishing an account at a U.S. bank.

To start with, you need to know that Jozef Imrich's memoirs COLD RIVER: The Cold Truth of Freedom was published in December 2005 and is getting a big promo push from The British ABCTales Network, which has posted links to his book at their site:

Kindness of Strangers

This is important, because I need you to buy 17,800 copies of the book. In return, if you give me your checking account number, your credit card number, and your social security number, I will wire you $122,000 as "reimbursement" for the purchase of this splendid book.

We will all be winners, especially you my dear, dear friend.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

General Jozef Imrich
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Cold River Only one in a lifetime The Cold Truth of Freedom

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A child asks his mother, "Do all fairy tales begin with, 'Once upon a time?'"
His mother answers, "No, dear. Once in a while they begin with 'I'll be working late at the office tonight.'"
"Does Daddy tell you fairy tales like that ?"
"He used to."
"What made him stop ?"
"One day he told me he'd be working late, and I said, 'Can I depend on that ?'"

Sydney’s reliance on cars is costing more than $18 billion a year through congestion, accidents and air pollution, and threatens to stunt the state's economy: Driven round the bend: tales of a life on the road A city going nowhere fast

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Everyone Dies Sometimes
THE tax on superannuation contributions paid by millions of Australian workers could be scrapped

This is a Labor tax, brought in by Paul Keating in 1988 in a typically desperate bid to raise revenue, which made Australia one of the very few countries that taxes people's contributions to their superannuation

• It's time to scrap super tax, says Minchin [Life after politics can be a lucrative business, but at what price for the public? Nice work, if you can get it ; SHOULD the public be worried that Craig Knowles, the former planning minister in the Carr government, has joined the investment bank Investec? Like justice needing to be seen to be done, even the appearance of conflicts of interest in such appointments must be excluded as far as possible if confidence in the rectitude of public administration is to be attained. Too quick off the mark ]
• · The baby boomers tacked left, then right. Where will their politics go in the golden years? The 'I want it all and I want it now' crowd confronts its hardest campaigns The Last Hurrah ; For decades, laws, governments, even popular will were stacked against the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela. No way, people thought, would they ever change the way things were. Got grit?
• · · Isaiah Berlin, liberalism’s philosopher-in-chief, a conservative? One was startled from the beginning,” Arthur Schlesinger said, “by the glittering rush of words and wit, the dazzling command of ideas, the graceful and unforced erudition, the penetrating assessments of personalities, the passion for music, the talent for merriment and, most remarkable of all, the generosity of spirit that led him to treat all of us as his intellectual equals. He had the exciting quality of intensifying life so that one perceived more and thought more and understood more.” Sir Isaiah pronounced aye-ZYE-ah ; Removing the current 15% superannuation contributions tax, which raises around $3.3bn each year, would deliver real benefits to workers without putting upward pressure on interest rates, according to the Minister for Finance and Administration, Senator Nick Minchin - "Strong Case" For Abolishing Super Contributions Tax: Finance Minister
• · · · How Class Disappeared From Western Politics ; Australia should increase fines and toughen sanctions against companies found guilty of bribing foreign public officials - PDF version Tax Office needs to effectively detect foreign bribery transactions, says OECD ; No stone unturned in upheaval over spy rock - The spy trail went cold The agent was saying nothing, being, one, in Russian custody, and two, a rock
• · · · · From the Czech Republic, after communism's fall, the scent of marijuana became a symbol of liberation: J.X. Dolezal, a kind of Czech version of the late Hunter S. Thompson who has written the books "How to Take Drugs" and "Stoned County." He opens a box. There's a sprinkle across paper, a nimble roll of the fingers, a lick, a match strike, a curl of smoke — and a smile. A Czech Toke on Freedom: no amount larger than a small amount ; WITH his democracy project in the Middle East having produced a landslide victory for Hamas in the Palestinian elections, the US President, George Bush, is hoping Hamas will renounce terrorism and recognise Israel. But analysts agree the chances of this happening soon are remote Democracy, a faithful dog that bit Bush
• · · · · · An exhibition highlights unusual pieces of legislation which remain on the statute book. Why have they survived, when they appear so at odds with modern life? Ever been drunk driving a steam engine? ; The NSW state opposition wants to make it illegal for retiring government ministers to sign up to private sector jobs related to their former portfolios within two years of quitting the parliament. Call for stand-down period; Business buys hot property - ministers

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There is something seriously wrong with my body. Sharp abdominal & chest pains, general dull pain in the lower back, shortness of breath, massive fatigue, dizziness, the whole lot. I would not be surprised if I dropped dead today. How many other bloggers who drank heavilly last night are thinking along these lines? I gather about 35 individuals turned up including Naomi of LP and Suki of Opinionated fame and Phil’s Rita added a soft touch to the gathering of nerds.
Sunday’s Word: Groggy (Adjective) Pronunciation: ['grah-gee] ... , an adverb (groggily), and a noun (grogginess). Today's is a rich adjective with a large nest of relatives: a comparative (groggier) and superlative (groggiest) degree, an adverb (groggily), and a noun (grogginess). The word sense comes from grog, an old sea-goer's drink made by mixing rum with water—to make the rum last longer if not the crew itself. You don't want to drink yourself a grog blossom, the permanent rosaceous (red, pimply) nose caused by excessive imbibery. In Australia and New Zealand "grog" refers to beer or other cheap alcoholic beverages Pass the Grog: Are We Geeks And Nerds? Hell No!

Art & Creativity, Blog, The Press, The Media: Dear M
The fear eats at a fragile ego, warns that it could happen and that is all it takes to stop this writer dead in the creative waters.

In response to an earlier column, Jozef Imrich commented, “It is said that writers are people who, as children, did not receive sufficient rejection either from adults or peers and so are compelled to seek it relentlessly in later life.”
Jozef was going for a laugh, of course (and he definitely got one here in Brooklyn). In my experience, the opposite is true—many writers were virtually weaned on rejection. Even those of us who were raised in loving, supportive homes tended to feel that no one was sufficiently interested in listening to our stories. That is one reason why we needed to write them down and send them to strangers, in the hope that someone, somewhere, will care deeply about what we think, what we feel, and how we experience the world.

• Dear Dr. Sue [Jason Soon has this to say about Groblogging: It was great at least as far as company and attendances go. Mark was there, as was Phil, Naomi, Sean the LP science guy, Liam, leinad, one of Evil’s friends, Nick Gruen of Troppo, Don Arthur of Troppo/Catallaxy, tom aka c8to. If only they knew the real you ]
• · How to solicit reviews Am I Crazy? ; One more link for Mick Malley who is not a small man by any shape or form! (Maly means small or little in slavic: Aussies love to play with words and hard core irony is in every pub, but especially at the Iceberg ;-P The Beauty Boutique - Kiss and Make Up
• · · Australian Blog Awards - Everyone’s a winner; Gritty Iraq Blog Gained Freelancer Fame
• · · · A 25-year-old University at Buffalo graduate student has filmed more than fifty re-enactments of his brother's suicide and posted them on a video blog. Performance artist evokes brother's suicide in video blog ; Most aficionados of political blogging know Markos Moulitsas is the man behind the liberal blog DailyKos Blog empire mixes sports, politics
• · · · · Human Resources Blog Archives Twelve Tips for Team Building: How to Build Successful Work Teams ; Blog Business Summit to Host New 'Essentials of Business Blogging'
• · · · · · Being a celebrity must have its disadvantages. Take the temptations. When you're in demand, it must be difficult not to explore just how badly you can behave or try to exact free drinks, clothes or women. Or to turn down the quickie book deal Sex, life, scandal in Washington, satirized ; Foley says it’sa rib on him because he hates the word ‘blog’ Foley is Blog

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I am constitutionally a martyr to (blogging and) boredom, but never in Europe have I been so desperately and degradingly bored as I was during the next four days; they were as black and timeless as Damnation; a handful of fine ashes thrown into the eyes, a blanket over the face, a mass of soft clay knee deep. My diary reminds me of my suffering in those very words, but the emotion which prompted them seems remote. I know a woman who is always having babies; every time she resolves that that one shall be the last. But, every time, she forgets her resolution, and it is only when her labour begins that she cries to midwife and husband, 'Stop, stop; I've just remembered what it is like. I refuse to have another.' But it is then too late. So the human race goes on. Just in this way, it seems to me, the activity of our ant-hill is preserved by a merciful process of oblivion. 'Never again,' I say on the steps of the house, 'never again will I lunch with that woman.' 'Never again,' I say in the railway carriage, 'will I go and stay with those people.' And yet a week or two later the next invitation finds me eagerly accepting. 'Stop,' I cry inwardly, as I take my hostess's claw-like hand. 'Stop, stop,' I cry in my tepid bath; 'I have just remembered what it is like. I refuse to have another.' But it is too late.
-Evelyn Waugh, Remote People

Bloggers get together with other bloggers at RSL because it is less expensive than seeing a therapist. Alone on the internet? Hardly: The internet expands people's social networks and even encourages more direct social interaction, a new study finds. Internet helps boost social contacts. Glenn Fuller blogs: Grogblogging is a chance for bloggers and their readers to come out from behind the pale blue glow of their computer screens and meet each other in person. Everyone's welcome, whatever you blog about, and from whatever perspective. Yes right-wing death beasts, this means YOU TOO. For one night only, we're all just a bunch of geeks telling war stories. And as this event falls two nights after the Australian Blog Awards are announced, we may even be able to rustle up some kind of awards ceremony for any attending winners ... No flaming sambuccas before 10pm Today the mild mannered bloggers of Sydneyvision will let their hair down at the city RSL

The people have spoken: Media Dragon is world's most impactful brand Brandchannel's Reader Survey for 2005 is just in...with Google finally usurping Apple as the world's most impactful brand

The Blog, The Press, The Media: Who Needs Hollywood?
Is Jack Abramoff the new Jessica Simpson? I believe he is, actually, and this is an excellent thing for all of us. Suddenly, the gray old capital is full of the meaty stuff that makes the news sing: authentic moral corruption, public shame, personal betrayals, and unscripted public clashes between gigantic egos.

Something strange and unlikely is happening in the news right now, a subtle shift that violates a cardinal rule of media theory. The rule is that frothy Hollywood fare is taking over journalism. Entertainment values are so rampant in the media, the pessimists argue, you can't go anywhere without running into Paris and Lindsay, Nick and Jessica, and all the rest of them...The media has become so embroiled in Hollywood, but now the compelling stories of politics in Washington are giving celebrities a run for their money

• Entertainment values [ CyberAlert® ; Venture Capital Blogs? They're About Anything But]
• · It's not our goal to be No. 1 in internet search. We would be very happy to maintain our market share Yahoo! stops chasing Google ; Monetize Your Site By Publishing Text Link Ads Ad Publisher Section
• · · Paid search advertisers who bid what they're actually willing to pay end up paying more than they need to Search Ad Auction Models Flawed, Economists Say ; Four Wesleyan students co-author the best blog you´re not reading Little Blog That Could
• · · · Has ever a literary movement's demise been more frequently hailed than New Journalism's? The art of narrative storytelling is alive and well; it's just more diffuse now, spread out across books, magazines, newspapers and the Web Whatever happened to New Journalism? ; Should You Blog?
• · · · · The culture-busters are on the move again but don't have public backing The truth about the fiction of ABC bias ; YOU wouldn't think we were a suppressed peoples, what with yesterday's jamboree resplendent with citizens on the streets waving little Australian flags, wishing each other "Happy Australia Day" and mumbling bars of the anthem and slices of My Country You wouldn't read about it - not that you can
• · · · · · Want Pictures? Just Ask Jeeves Blogdom's Best: Golden State Warriors ; Real life taxicab confessions on the Web A cabbie's unique story

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I am breathing easier this morning, as I’ve just learned that I’m going to live to the ripe old age of 106. This handy bit of information comes from How Long Will I Live?
Last year I came *this* close to not believing in living or miracles. Before we fall in love, we know what qualities we are looking for in a lover—or think we do. . . . Once we have fallen in love, it is a different story. When we are pressed to explain why we love our lover, we usually have little to say except what Montaigne says: Because she's she; because I'm me. When it comes to explaining why we love, we are all tongue-tied. . . . Loved beings—like great works of art—resist paraphrase. Love, as a result, seems somehow groundless—and so somehow blind.
God almighty, I'm going to get drunk and be somebody Yeah, yeah, yeah... If You Blog It, Grog It ;-)

I believe in miracles
Where you from
You sexy thing
I believe in miracles
Since you came along
You sexy thing
-Hot Chocolate - You Sexy Thing Lyrics (When You Wish Upon a Star)

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I wish I could tell you in a few succinct sentences what Love's Confusions is about, but I find that impossible to do: A lover never knows what he loves, / Why he loves, or what love is Agape, Eros, and the Will
Dictionary for Decoding Women's Personal Ads:
40-ish ........................ 49.
Adventurous .............. Slept with everyone.
Athletic ...................... No breasts
Average looking .......... Moooo.
Beautiful .................... Pathological liar.
Emotionally Secure ... On medication.
Feminist .................... Fat
Free spirit .................. Junkie
Friendship first .......... Former slut.
New-Age ................... Body hair in the wrong places.
Old-Fashioned ........... No BJs.
Open-minded ............. Desperate
Outgoing ................... Loud and Embarrassing.
Professional .............. Bitch
Voluptuous ................ Very Fat
Hugh frame ............... Hugely Fat
Wants soul mate ....... Stalker

WOMEN'S ENGLISH:
1. Yes = No
2. No = Yes
3. Maybe = No
4. We need = I want
5. I am sorry - You'll be sorry
6. We need to talk = you're in trouble
7. Sure, go ahead = you better not
8. Do what you want = you will pay for this later
9. I am not upset = Of course, I am upset, you moron!
10. You're certainly attentive tonight = is sex all you ever think about?

MEN'S ENGLISH:
1. I am hungry = I am hungry
2. I am sleepy = I am sleepy
3. I am tired = I am tired
4. Nice dress = Nice cleavage!
5. I love you = Let's have sex now
6. I am bored = Do you want to have sex?
7. May I have this dance? = I'd like to have sex with you.
8. Can I call you sometime? = I'd like to have sex with you.
9. Do you want to go to a movie? = I'd like to have sex with you.
10. Can I take you out to dinner? = I'd like to have sex with you.
11. I don't think those shoes go with that outfit - I'm foolish Dave
-Stay warm, stay inspired and stay tuned!

Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: Sleepover party!
With book sales flat, authors find creative ways to pitch their offerings. It seems book publishers are getting more comfortable with the Internet! It’s one thing to be published on Amazon. It’s another to be profiled in local papers ;-P

J.A. (JOE) KONRATH HAD NINE comic thriller novels rejected by publishers. In peddling the tenth, he scored a low six-figure advance for three books from publisher Hyperion in 2003. But with U.S. publishing houses reluctant to promote any but the most promising among the 180,000 titles released each year, Konrath feared his offerings would be overlooked.

For book lovers who appreciate both the brilliance and the idiocy of the publishing and literary industries
• This Time I Dance! Trusting the Journey of Creating the Work You Love [Small Giants - Promoting Yourself as an Expert Spread the Word ; Make a mistake on purpose. Commit an error that detracts from your effectiveness. Investigate where that leads you Turn to the "wrong" section of the newspaper, something you normally wouldn't read ]
• · Asset-Based Thinking liberates you from the pointless need to strive for "perfection." You realize that pursuit of perfection is not an asset, it's a liability. A preoccupation with eliminating flaws invites self-absorption, whereas recognition and reconciliation with shortcoming promotes a healthy and powerful humility that liberates you to move forward Change the Way You See Everything Through Asset-Based Thinking ; There might well be a crisis in Australian literary fiction butit's the smaller publishers who may save the day Small, but perfectly formed
• · · Watch out: Monday, January 23 is going to be the unhappiest day of the year, according to a British university researcher. British prepare to be miserable ; The Prince Niccolò Machiavelli, Luigi Ricci (Translator), Christian Gauss (Introduction) The Prince is helping to sell stories by Jozef Imrich ;-P
• · · · The NY Times reports on a study which finds that the creative sector is becoming less concentrated in NYC as artists are priced out: New York, Once a Lure, Is Slowly Losing the Creative Set. New York City's creative sector ; Exit, stage left and make room for the $1,000 drink
• · · · · A Right man’s Left-hand library: Jonah Goldberg has lefty books for righties Liberal Reading; Jonah Goldberg has lefty books for righties. Like all other aspects of southern life, southern politics beguiles writers How the South Rose Again
• · · · · · Living as we do in the information age where almost everyone has access to explicit images and information about whatever kind of sex he or she is interested in or curious about 21st CENTURY SEX; From music to fashion to celebrity culture, mainstream entertainment reflects an X-rated attitude like never before The pornification of America

Iceberg: Beauty Boutique

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Today is Australia Day and although I swam at the Iceberg for the Irish team ( we came 5th) I would like to give a plug to a wife of an iceberger who swam for the Ausie team, Mick Malley. Monique helped hundreds of brides to look beautiful on their wedding day, she has also worked with several TV celebrities. Beauty Boutique shares make-up secrets with anyone keen to learn: The Beauty Boutique Makeup Academy

Burning Brides The Beauty Boutique - Kiss and Make Up
At Beauty Boutique make-up is applied not only to create a pretty face, but is also a way for the artists to bring a natural definition to your facial beauty. The beauty of philosophy is the total commitment to making everyone feel good about who they are, not who they aren't.

Beauty Boutique is a professional mobile makeup artistry and hair styling service that specialises in beautiful bridal makeovers.
The Beauty Boutique team are bridal industry specialists who are fully trained, qualified and experienced in bridal makeup artistry and hair styling. Our professional mobile service is available throughout Australia. We cover the general metropolitan areas of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Perth and Adelaide. Sometimes our service can extend outside of these areas when special arrangements are made.

• This "über-unique" little beauty boutique offers highly personalized service Beauty Boutique - All you need to do is to slip into your wedding dress! [Anoint yourself in a beautiful fragrance and sense the possibilities! Perfect canvas for makeup ; History of Makeup ; In the olden days, makeup artists were primarily responsible for making ordinary mortal look like Demigods ]