it’s a lot like life

From “yesterday’s New Scientist”:http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=dn8507: bq. The first evidence that some of the basic organic building blocks of life can exist in an Earth-like orbit around a young Sun-like star has been provided by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Nicely done. I can’t wait to go visit some of these places…

a mighty wind from sweden

I have no idea what to make of “this”:http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?topcategoryId=15567&catalogId=10103&storeId=12&productId=25613. What. were. they. thinking?!? Extra points if anyone can tell me how it’s actually supposed to work. I’m a little afraid to imagine.

happy solstice, everybody!

It’s kinda late in the day, but this is the first chance I’ve had to wish you all a happy and healthy solstice. Enjoy this very long night safe in the knowledge that the sun willl return tomorrow and again the day after.

a two-hour park

The artsy folks at “Rebar”:http://www.rebargroup.org/ recently converted a 2-hour parking space in San Francisco into a “temporary urban park”:http://www.rebargroup.org/projects/parking/ complete with grass, tree, and park bench. The reason: bq. One of the more critical issues facing outdoor urban human habitat is the increasing paucity of space for humans to rest, relax, or just do nothing. [...]

bush can add ‘felon’ to his list of titles

Just to make it clear, the President of the United States “did in fact commit a felony”:http://cryptome.org/small-call.htm by ordering surveillance of US citizens without court authorization. bq. There are minor exceptions in the law, but they clearly do not apply in this case. They cover only the 15 days after a declaration of war by [...]