More stuff you should be reading instead of this lousy blog…

• Don’t forget to check out ConventionBloggers for the latest posts from the… uh… Convention. Also, the offical site of the Democratic National Convention has links to speeches and schedules. Or, you could just read Fafblog.

• Hear that whooshing sound? That was your privacy jetting out of the country. Ars Technica reports that a judge has decided that when you give your personal information to some websites, that information is not protected even if there’s a privacy statement in force on the site. If someone can explain that one to me, I’d really appreciate it.

• Sisyphus Shrugged clues us in to the fact that Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) is pulling out of Afghanistan because of security concerns. As SS says, this doesn’t support the Administration’s assertions that America’s actions have made the world safer.

• You can make fun of Barbie. Yay! (via Corante)

• I think Digby’s got the right take on Howard Dean... “I truly believe that if Howard Dean can be persuaded to take over the chairmanship of the Democratic Party he could change everything. He is really a wholesale politician and as such can actually make the party be more responsive to the grassroots, but even more importantly in my book, he can begin the necessary liberal education project that can change the way this country thinks about politics.”

• The US government is distributing huge wads of cash in Iraq. (Eschaton) As Holden says, “I’m sure that none of that easy cash winds up in the black market or in the hands of the insurgents our men and women are fighting, aren’t you?”

• Speaking of Iraq, Juan Cole calls Cheney a liar, and backs it up. (via Sid’s Fishbowl)

• Whew. Brad DeLong assures us that we’ll still be able to bang our heads against the wall when the Democrats win.

• The Talent Show shows off a bunch of Bush-Fall-Down-and-Go-Boom photos.

• As a former Disnoid, I love this. MiceAge slings gossip from deep inside the bowels of the Happiest Place on Earth. Check out “Michael Goes to Disneyland.” (via Boing Boing)

• Scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center have discovered that the body’s natural reaction to a spinal cord injury can actually exacerbate the effects of the damage. The discovery suggests that early treatment – within hours of the injury – could dramatically improve recovery. (Science Blog)

• See the Forest has a some good posts from and about the Convention. One really good point was that next week will be the week to really read and study the blogs, after the bloggers have had a chance to rest, recuperate, and read their notes. I have a sense that this is true, and this points up—again—the difference between bloggers and the mainstream press: bloggers can afford to think consider and revisit issues in their own time, where journalists are under intense pressure to meet arbitrary deadlines. (There’s a related post at Matthew Yglesias’ blog; scroll down a bit to Bruce Webb’s comment.)

The other interesting read was the notes about Michael Moore’s talk at the Campaign For America’s Future event. I can understand why Moore rubs people the wrong way, and I don’t always like his methods, but he’s got a huge heart and a passion for making the country a better place to live. For that, I’ll keep buying his books and watching his films.

• JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, is apparently chilled to learn Harry’s half-blood status has Nazi parallels. The parallels struck the popular author during a visit to a Holocaust museum. I’m surprised that it was a shock to her, but whatever. On a related notse, Rowling’s official site is a really slick Flash site worth checking out.

• No Related Post

Wednesday, July 28th, 2004 @ 12:50 pm Nothings
RSS 2.0 Both comments and pings are currently closed.