via Drudge: Hello 1984
December 15, 2005
Bush Secretly Lifted Some Limits on Spying in U.S. After 9/11, Officials Say
By JAMES RISENand ERIC LICHTBLAU
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 ­- Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials.
Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the intelligence agency has monitored the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the past three years in an effort to track possible "dirty numbers" linked to Al Qaeda, the officials said. The agency, they said, still seeks warrants to monitor entirely domestic communications.
1984 from Wikipedia: The novel introduced the concepts of the ever-present, all-seeing Big Brother, the notorious Room 101, the ubiquitous Thought Police, and the bureaucrats' and politicians' language Newspeak. Some commentators have drawn parallels between today's society and the world of 1984, suggesting that we are starting to live in what has become known as Orwellian society.
- posted by Jasper @ 5:16 AM 3 comments

 
As if we needed it...
Erotic furniture fad

Erotic furniture based on the female body with b00bs for doors and bums for drawers is the latest fad in Holland. Cabinet maker Mario Philippona has designed a range of stylish wooden cupboards, wardrobes and tables using the female anatomy as his inspiration.
His pieces include a wine-glass cupboard in the shape of a pair of large breasts and a table supported by legs moulded from a female model. Philippona said: "The shape of a woman, her organic architecture, combined with my passion for wood inspired me to sculpt these sexy designs."
His furniture is featured on his website, www.sexyfurniture.nl.
…another reason it’s good that I’m not rich. I know where I’d do 100% of my Christmas shopping.
- posted by Jasper @ 5:07 AM 0 comments

 
Black Helicopters are old, in with Black Highlighters
CIA Realizes It's Been Using Black Highlighters All These Years
November 30, 2005

LANGLEY, VA—A report released Tuesday by the CIA's Office of the Inspector General revealed that the CIA has mistakenly obscured hundreds of thousands of pages of critical intelligence information with black highlighters.
Meant to be satire, but I wouldn't put it past the current administration to give this excuse a try.
- posted by Jasper @ 9:58 AM 0 comments

 
Firefox 1.5 now available
Rumor has it that Bill Gates uses this at home.
- posted by Jasper @ 9:52 AM 0 comments

 
Health, or lack thereof.
Weak Strain Of Bird Flu Found At Sun Valley Farm
http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_333212149.html
(CBS) SUN VALLEY, CA Japanese quails suffering from a low pathogenic strain of bird flu were discovered in a Sun Valley quail farm.
Who else has read Stephen King's 'The Stand'?

FDA staff says ADHD patch not safe enough
Thu Dec 1, 2005 12:21 PM ET
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2005-12-01T172101Z_01_BAU148015_RTRUKOC_0_US-NOVEN-ADHD.xml&archived=False
Luckily, most of them forget to put it on anyway.
- posted by Jasper @ 9:45 AM 0 comments

 
via Slashdot: Why can't Microsoft just patch everything?
...If smaller software companies can patch all of their bugs serious or minor, why can't Microsoft just patch all of their vulnerabilities with their massive army of programmers and massive budget?
Because, utimately, they don't want to. It's not their priority, and that's the scary part.
- posted by Jasper @ 9:36 AM 0 comments