"asparagirl lives here" [Daypop Top 40] 
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The Mythical Quest , an old exhibition at the British Library. 'Throughout the world, tales have always been told of heroes and heroines embarking on perilous quests in search of lost loved ones, the secret of immortality, earthly paradise or simply great riches. Many of these stories have elements in common, such as clashes with monsters, battles with the elements, interventions by the gods and tests of moral character, mental cunning and physical strength. These tales have been expressed in songs, literature, art and dance for thousands of years, and are still being reinterpreted today in books, comic strips, interactive games and adventure films.'
More British Library exhibits here, from early Indian photography to the secret life of maps.
Examples of mythical quests :- Monkey: Journey to the West (another version here, not to mention the TV series); the Ramayana (and the Ramakian, the Thai version); Cupid and Psyche at the Classics Pages (subject of a previous thread); the Holy Grail (more at the Catholic Enyclopaedia); the journey of Alexander the Great; Pilgrim's Progress and John Bunyan; the world of Dante and a map of Hell. [MetaFilter] 
4:00:00 PM      comment []   trackback []  



"Crash caused Lynch's 'horrific injuries' - The Washington Tim..." [Daypop Top 40] 
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"Winds of Change.NET: July 9 Carnival of the Liberties" [Daypop Top 40] 
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"an American edition" [Daypop Top 40] 
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"The Village Voice: Features: Big Brother Gets a Brain by Noah Shachtman" [Daypop Top 40] 
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Outsider Blogs Paint Bosnian Life. Interns working in Bosnia are using their blog journals to call attention to Bosnian families with stories of everyday experiences. The interns are with Bosfam, an advocacy organization supporting displaced Bosnian women and refugees. By Katie Dean. [Wired News] 
2:25:16 PM      comment []   trackback []  



Microsoft Lunch Humor. Microsoft's has a witty response to the free beer/free speech slogan. [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service: O'Reilly Network Weblogs] 
2:13:02 AM      comment []   trackback []  



What ever did you expect?.

A diplomat's undiplomatic truth: They lied. The U.S. may have found the smoking gun that nails the culprit responsible for the Iraq war. Unfortunately, it's in Dick Cheney's office. [Salon.com]

Was it ever in doubt?

Of course the next step is obvious.

America you're feeling sleepy... very sleepy...

[Curiouser and curiouser!] 
12:37:47 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Draw your own conclusions.

But nearly 100% watch television.

Frank Davies in the Philadelphia Inquirer: War poll uncovers fact gap. Excerpts:

A third of the American public believes U.S. forces have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, according to a recent poll. Twenty-two percent said Iraq actually used chemical or biological weapons.

But such weapons have not been found in Iraq and were not used.

Before the war, half of those polled in a survey said Iraqis were among the 19 hijackers on Sept. 11, 2001. But most of the Sept. 11 terrorists were Saudis; none was an Iraqi...

"It's a striking finding," said Steve Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, which asked the weapons questions during a May 14-18 poll of 1,256 respondents.

He added: "Given the intensive news coverage and high levels of public attention, this level of misinformation suggests some Americans may be avoiding having an experience of cognitive dissonance."

That is, of having their beliefs conflict with the facts. Kull noted that the mistaken belief that weapons had been found "is substantially greater among those who favored the war."

Pollsters and political analysts offer several reasons for the gaps between facts and beliefs: the public's short attention span on foreign news, fragmentary or conflicting media reports that lacked depth or skepticism, and Bush administration efforts to sell a war by oversimplifying the threat...

Several analysts said they were troubled by the lack of knowledge about the Sept. 11 hijackers, shown in the January survey conducted for Knight Ridder newspapers. Only 17 percent correctly said that none of the hijackers was Iraqi.

Draw your own conclusions.

[The Doc Searls Weblog]

[Curiouser and curiouser!] 
12:36:25 AM      comment []   trackback []  



Hubble Telescope Detects Planet Formed 13 Billion Years Ago. Tantalizing evidence from a distant region of primitive stars suggests that planets may be more abundant than previously suspected. By John Noble Wilford. [New York Times: NYT HomePage] 
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Everything About Everywhere. Nation Master An amazing resource that displays all sorts of comparative national statistics on practically everything, and with an option of selecting any region / list of countries you choose. It plugs itself as "The world's biggest general stat site" (which might or might not be true I don't know), and it has a wealth of data on economics, sports, population, geography and a dozen more categories. Some interesting statistics; Top 100 in Olympic medals per Capita. Top 100 Murders with firearms (per capita). Top 100 Military Expenditures as a percent of GDP . Top 100 Net migration rate .
A heaven for data freaks. [MetaFilter] 
12:05:25 AM      comment []   trackback []