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On top of last weekend's solar storm, another big chunk of ice (233 sq. miles) broke off the shelf in Antarctica.

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Fargo potty over Potter. [via drudge, so a tabloid headline was apropos]

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2 books I thought I'd like but just couldn't finish: Cryptonomicon and Carter Beats the Devil. Just picked up Conversations with Wilder from the library today, though I'll probably want to buy it. What a career.

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Finally, legislation I can get behind. Though I can see the states' POV, the lack of internet tax has helped me out.

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Speechless File: Tobacco company purchases "the exclusive rights to market future lung cancer vaccines." [via the null device]

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You've probably seen this, but it's worth repeating.

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Don't miss the Leonids Saturday Night.

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Thursday, November 15, 2001


Meanwhile, Franzen wins the National Book Award. Attendance was down 20% and a palliative, uplifting speech won applause after a cool initial reception for the "rebellious" writer. Timid and vengeful and conflicted are Americans now. Who's writing the story anyway?

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Old Kesey interview from disinfo.

Because the storyteller was there to begin with. He used the fire, and he used his voice; he used shadows and monsters, and he used poetry and music. And all those things worked on the audience. When you just get into print, you reduce the input quite a bit. But it makes for a nice thing to package and distribute--like a box of tampons. But I think that for us to really deal with a young audience, we're going to have to pick up the pace.

Ol' Leary's been saying this forever, and I've always agreed with him. It's kind of like a compulsory in the Olympics: every so often you've got to write a novel to make people pay attention to the other stuff you're doin'.

life is buggy lately.

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Is this working?

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Why is this not working??

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Wednesday, November 14, 2001


Australia--which has refused to allow Tuvaluans to emigrate to Australia, despite the fact that rising waters are threatening the tiny country of 9 atolls' very existence--has asked that Tuvalu accept immigrants that sought asylum in Australia.

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Ananova looks more like the next step in news anchors every day:

There she was, sensuously writhing on the bar in a bare midriff outfit—a sequence that could easily be found in a sequel to the movie
"Coyote Ugly" or the Pamela Anderson costume-design showcase "V.I.P."
     
Yet it wasn't an actress, not officially anyway, but rather KTLA anchor Sharon Tay, as part of a segment in which she giddily tried on costumes from the WB network series "Charmed," reenacting scenes from that night's episode in an extended promotional tie-in during the WB-affiliated "KTLA Morning News."... 

Brandwynne also acknowledged she was unhappy with the KTLA segment in which Tay modeled the "Charmed" wardrobe, saying it was inappropriate. "I don't want to see her [presented] like that," Brandwynne said. "She's our early-morning anchor .... We made a mistake." (KTLA is owned by the Tribune Co., as is the Los Angeles Times.)

     Then again, pleading guilty to such a misdemeanor sounds almost quaint given the gale-force winds blowing in that direction. It's
a sweeps month, after all, which may explain why the "Victoria's Secret" fashion show will make its network debut Thursday, as ABC has perhaps appropriately chosen it to counter-program Fox's "Temptation Island 2."

     It's no secret, of course, what young women need do to thrive in the world of broadcast news, where the current rules only demand that they be energetic, astonishingly beautiful and never, ever grow old.[link]

I remember reading The Drought (I think it was called The Burned World then, in the U.S.) back in the early 70s and how oddly romantic Ballard made eco-catastrophe. Just read The Drowned World a few months ago for the first time. Still amazing stuff. Like an ambient Daliesque landscape based on a Burroughsian apocalypse scene. The first chapter of Cities of the Red Night perhaps.

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In an attempt to consolidate and streamline intelligence operations, the CIA would take charge of the 3 big Pentagon intelligence agencies, if a presidential commission's report's recommendations become policy:

Under the proposal, the director would be given control of the National Reconnaissance Office, which develops, builds and manages intelligence satellite systems; the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, which handles imagery intelligence systems and mapping; and the National Security Agency, which is responsible for electronic intercepts.

The proposal, which will be delivered to President George W. Bush this month, would constitute the largest overhaul of the U.S. intelligence community in decades and is intended to help consolidate programs and reduce rivalries within an intelligence-collection bureaucracy that involves 12 separate agencies.