Cyprus --Fish Meze, Ancient Mosaics, Empty Beachfront Cafes

The Cyprus story is certainly more than the Green line and the north. There is plenty of beauty here on the Southern shores, where the cliffs show the glint off the Mediterranean. We started the day visiting the Temple of Apollo, on a windy bluff off the highway. This country has had so many invaders, even the ruins and temples were renovated by succeeding emperors, Augustus renovated after the Greeks and later the Ottomans tried turning every cathedral into a minareted mosque.

We drove along the coastal road until we reached a fish restaurant perched high on a hill, overlooking a large rocky mound with two sequentially smaller islands in front. This was the 'birthplace of Aphrodite,' who was borne of the sea foam. For us it meant fish meze, a dazzling array of groaning plates of octopus, sardines, broiled fish, calamari, and all sprayed with the ubiquitous Cypriot lemon. Like every meal here, this one came with tahini, and salads, yogurt, fresh beets, and fried potatoes. Potatoes are the #2 export here, right after vino. Later we had the Cyprus coffee with all those grounds in the bottom. Someone at the table said she could read the drips leftover in the cup, to see my fortune. "Roads," she said, "I see roads coming down the side...and people..you must like people."

We are staying in Pafos, a beach town with blaring neon signs directing the mostly UK travelers to come 'taste the finest fish and chips in Cyprus,' or 'Enjoy the real Chinese flavors here.' I saw a trio of sad looking restauranteurs peering out the window, hoping I was a customer, but their fireplaces flickered and no customers have yet shown up.

The Green Line in Nicosia, Cyprus

Here is the UN line where as of 2004, Cypriots can travel to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. One thing most people never do is stay over, since they don't want to give money to the Turks who have settled in their former land. In the newspaper here, there were many stories of how Turkey's bid to be in the EU might be jeopardized by tiny Cyprus, since they can veto the bigger country's entry. But some we talked to said that was unlikely, and commented that no matter what they say here in Cyprus, the Brits and US always side with the Turks. Could that be because of the strategic location of Turkey? Yes that and the fact that Turkey has more water than anyone else in the region. Fascinating to talk about this with the locals, and they seethe when they talk about the lands taken and the missing people who disappeared after 1974.

When Will Cyprus Reunite? Probably Never

We've been in Cyprus for one day and have talked a lot about the big question many of us brought with us: What is up with the separation of the country? Our guide had firm opinions, as did most of the other Cypriots. She said that when she was asked to guide a group on a tour of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, she was repelled. Because the houses, shops and restaurants in this part of the nation were stolen by the Turkish when they invaded in 1974. Along with 1600 missing people, the invaders baldly took property and expelled the natives...then brought in 200,000 Turks from the mainland to occupy the land as settlers.

I asked the manager of the Hilton where we were staying when the problem would be resolved. He said 'never.' It is too complicated and there are too many interests in Turkey and the populace will never give it back. They are just bullies who were able to steal the land and with a 5,000 man army, the Cypriots had no chance. This photo shows the glimpse we got of the North, in the divided captital of Nicosia.

Yenny Wahid Knows What a Martyr Really Is

Tonight as I flew to London, I had plenty of time to read the Weekend Wall Street Journal. Among the notable stories was a profile of a rarity: A muslim who has spoken out, loudly, against the twisted views that Islamofacists are putting out. Yenny Wahid is a prominent Muslim woman whose father is a respected and beloved Islamic scholar named Abdurrahman Wahid, who headed Indonesia's largest Muslim cultural organization.

She makes the point that the main goal of radical Islam is the overthrow of muslim countries, especially Saudi Arabia, but the real "strategic plum would be Indonesia, home to the largest Muslim population in the world. "We are the ultimate target,' she said, "That's why the world should focus on Indonesia and help.'

"For a true definition of martyrdom, she points to the sacrifice of Riyanto, a young man who was sent to protect churches threatened with attacks during Christmas. When he discovered a bomb outside a church, he tried to throw it out of the way of the crowd, and was killed when it blew up. That's the way to defend religion, Wahid argues, not by killing others but by defending others' rights to practice their religion."

Crash: A Soaring Tour de Force

Since losing two DVDs owned by Blockbuster, I haven't been able to rent my usual share of movies, even though they continue to bill me each month. One of the movies I would have rented was offered on Virgin Atlantic's amazing inflight movie system, where a veritable blockbusterish bevy of movies is available. Tonight, among the movies I watched was a great one called 'Crash.'

The movie reminded me 'Grand Canyon,' it was set in LA and focused in the same way, on urban anxiety and race relations. But 'Crash' went much farther, delving into the complex relationship between blacks, upper class blacks, Chinese, Iranians and Arabs, police and thugs. There was so much realistic hate in this film, it resonated like the soundtrack, that alternated between Middle Eastern chants and haunting soaring singing. One of the thugs kept criticizing rap, saying it made black people sound dumb, and he also defended his crime, since he never attacked blacks, only whites.

There are so many complex conflicts in the film. Among them, resentment over status, reaction to stereotypes, justifiable fear, misplaced anger and enough chilling scenes to sear itself in your mind. This is a movie that moves beyond where most films take you, to an emotional place full of the conflicts and angst that make up modern urban life.

The Cafe is Opening March 7--and I'm Off to Cyprus

Today was another whirlwind of a day, we began at 9 am as a snowstorm blew about, meeting with the new cafe employees. GoNOMAD CAFE, the new internet cafe in town, will officially open on March 7. We gathered our future baristas together to discuss what we expect and how to make the perfect cup of latte.

The new sinks are in, the soda cooler is filled, the signs are up, and by god my dream is coming true. I am off on another adventure but when I return we will all be in the cafe business.

A friend called me and told me that when he dies and goes to heaven, he'd like to come back as me. Wow, what a nice sentiment. I fly tonight to London, then tomorrow morning to Larnaca, Cyprus. We will visit the Sanctuary of Apollo, the birthplace of Aphrodite, and the tombs of the Kings, then stay at the Elysium Beach Resort.

This trip will be a mixture of the Roman world and the modern, and I think it will make a first class article for GoNOMAD and the Valley Advocate. Bon voyage!

Porn, Porn, Even on the Phone They Want Porn

Jason Lee Miller writes in Web Pro News about how popular cell phones are for Porn
"The young executive sits with his back against the terminal wall and flips open his mobile phone. Using Google's Mobile Search, he begins sifting through an array of tawdry "religious experiences" and nobody's the wiser.

Mr. Yuppie, like many others, chooses his mobile over his PC to seek out pornography, and Google has the numbers to prove it. As relayed at NewScientist.com, Googlers Maryan Kamvar and Shumeet Baluja found in batch of 1 million searches queries that adult material made up one in five mobile searches.

A figure like 20 percent is far above that of desktop computers, where only 8.5 percent of searches navigate through the herds of two-backed beasts. There's not a lot of PDA (public displays of affection) on PDAs, either. A relative few mix business and pleasure as just 5 percent of searches on PDA devices were for porn.

The Googlers speculated that people see their mobile phones as more personal and private, and therefore were more comfortable making adult queries. A cell phone can be a more favorable device than a home or work PC because phones are typically only used by one person."

Goat Island on the Sonoma Coast

Critical Mass: Cool Idea, Bad Times in NYC

From today's Village Voice sad news about a really cool idea.

"Minutes into last month's Critical Mass bike ride in Manhattan, two cops on scooter patrol collided as they moved to head off the cyclists. One officer reportedly lost control while trying to grab a biker and slammed into the scooter in front, launching that officer several feet forward and onto the pavement.

The officers were briefly hospitalized for what turned out to be minor neck and back injuries.

But the scene, with the cops being carried away on stretchers under the glare of a police chopper's spotlight and 14 riders arrested that night for various offenses, signaled a new low in the crazy, two-year war between the police and Critical Mass.

The next skirmish is set for Friday, when the monthly demonstration for cycling rights takes to the avenues again. What was once a festive, liberating event that enjoyed the tacit cooperation of New York's Finest and attracted thousands of riders—including parents with children—has devolved into an ugly cat-and-mouse chase between pissed-off cops and adrenaline-jacked activists determined to hold their ground.

The NYPD declined to comment on last month's accident or on the high-speed chases that bikers say followed in midtown. But from the bikers’ descriptions, the cops and cyclists responded with stunts worthy of The French Connection. "There were two [undercover] black SUVs gunning it on the heels of 15 or 20 riders," reports Mark Read, a 38-year-old filmmaker and adjunct professor at New York University. "We took a left just to get away and went the wrong way down a one-way street, and the SUVs followed us into oncoming traffic and drove up on the sidewalk. It was fucking berserk."

Activists say police are escalating their tactics in an effort to break the ride. "They've been playing with fire," says Ryan Kuonen, a volunteer with Time's Up, the grassroots environmental group that is being sued by the city for promoting Critical Mass.

Susan Orlean: A Wonderful Lady to Hate

"It all began on a Thursday. I was at my computer idly scrolling through House & Home, that most invidious section of the New York Times, and there it was: a splashy article about New Yorker staff writer Susan Orlean, and the house she and her husband recently built in the Hudson Valley." Ann Horaday writes in today's Washington Post.

"An avid house-porn junkie and Susan Orlean fan, I devoured the story and eagerly accompanied Orlean as she took readers on a low-key Web tour of the glass-and-fieldstone showplace overlooking the Taconic mountains, a soaring yet serene sanctuary she described as "spacious but not pointlessly huge." The slide show's centerpiece was a photo of an understandably ecstatic-looking Orlean -- who even at 50 can still pull off her signature mane of long, red hair -- basking with her son and husband in the great room of an incredibly great house."

Within hours, Susan Orlean began acquiring even more real estate than her 55 acres in Columbia County, taking up residence in that part of my brain reserved for those I hold in equal parts esteem and contempt. In my head began a tiny little synaptic badminton game that goes something like this: I love Susan Orlean, I hate Susan Orlean, I wish I could be Susan Orlean, I'm not smart/pretty/talented/enterprising enough to be Susan Orlean. I idolize Susan Orlean. I despise Susan Orlean.

I idolspize Susan Orlean.

Please understand: I adore Susan Orlean and begrudge her nothing, not the New Yorker gig, the books, the close-up-ready face. Not even the two great movies based on her articles -- "Adaptation" and "Blue Crush" -- that opened the same year . Still, throughout the ensuing weekend, my mind obsessively returned to the same thoughts, the mewling laments of a puny inquisitor: She's got the career, the looks, the romance, the kid. Did she have to get the perfect house, too? Must her happiness, however justified, be so in-your-face? Must she be so promiscuous in her bliss?

Cousin Steve's New Blog--Armchair Travel

My cousin Stephen works at GoNOMAD as our Associate Editor. He's really the editor of our site, I send him direction but now he handles all of the day to day chores of editing, selecting, getting the art and details of our articles together. It pleases me to have my old pal here because he is perfect for the job. He has a background as an editor, and knows how to spell any word you throw at him.

I'm happy to report that Stephen has begun blogging. His new entry into the GoNOMAD blog network is called "Armchair Travel," and it chronicles history, travel and some of the many facts Steve picks up in the books he buys at yard sales and rummage sales.

I hope you will add Steve to your blog list, it's very enjoyable reading!

Oh Please, please Don't Take Away My 'Net!

On the plane back from San Francisco, I read an old copy of the Atlantic Monthly. Among the many choice items was a snippet about what happens when Internet users are deprived of their daily fix. Being in the category of email addict, I read with interest about a study done last year. A group of internet users were unhooked for a two-week period and asked to record in diaries what they did and how they felt. They were uniformly miserable, discovering that the Internet was more deeply embedded in their daily lives than they thought.

All of them reported feeling lost, frustrated, and disconnected after the plug was pulled. Asked what they would do if they were marooned on a deserted island, and had to choose between a phone, a newspaper, TV, books or radio, a whopping 64% would take the 'Net.

Another study went further, asking how much they would need to be paid to give up the Internet for two whole weeks, and the answers averaged $152. But the researchers had to approach 750 people just to get twenty-eight willing subjects, even though they offered to pay them $950 to be a part of the study.

Paying More on Saturday and Less on Tuesday

We woke up to East coast like temps today, much to the horror of our B&B proprietor, Diana, here in Forestville CA. The newspaper we brought up the room included a story from the NY Times about how movie prices will soon follow the path of airline tickets, going up and down depending on the time and the movie.

It does make sense, if you go to the theater on a Tuesday night and are the only two people sitting watching "Glory Road," that the tickets would cost less than the Saturday night date movie packed to the rafters. But movie theaters are feeling the pinch of too much eyeball competition. Their income has fallen 20% in the past three years.

Soon you will be able to pay more for a center seat, buy a reserved seat on line, and pay more for a hit movie than for a bomb. Some people question how you determine which movies will cost more and which will be bargain basement. But, as David Leonhardt writes, in art galleries each painting has its own different price tag.

Hiking in Muir Woods with an Ipod

I remember my mother telling me in 1967 about driving down the NJ Turnpike listening to a friend's new 8-track tape machine. She said it turned the dreary surroundings into beautiful meadows with the help of the strains of Beethoven enveloping the car. I thought about Val today when I went for a long hike in these woods and listened to Errol Garner, Bonnie Raitt, and Judy Garland on my new Ipod nano while walking. I had that same sensation when we had to wait more than an hour at Bradley Airport. It didn't matter since I had that music playing, and it encased me in a coccoon of warm music.

Muir Woods was full of magnificent trees and moss and of course, hundreds of other people. I could not hear them chatter, I only heard the clear voices from the device, and it was a satisfying sensation. I didn't even mind that for a moment I thought I might be lost!

Sexy Statuary and Dungeness Crabs in SF

Last night we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco. We weren't sure where to go, we thought we'd start at Ghirardelli Square, and poke about the shops. The weather was unseasonably cold, rain came down in spurts, and there were tourists ducking in and out of little stores. One little store we visited had marble statuary depicting lurid sex acts between consenting Chinese, the woman on her back with legs up and the man between her--a position I've never seen. In the same shop a shopper was negotiating a price down from $5000 to $4000, all in a few minutes.

We walked and walked an passed an art gallery where people in tuxedoes and fancy strapless dresses were coming in and out. It was Leroy Neiman's opening, and there was a box marked A-L and M-Z, proving that if you're not on the list, you are not going to meet the great artist. Later we walked trying to find somewhere to have dinner, we went upstairs to Joe's Crab but the wait was "between 30 and 90 minutes." So we headed across the street and found Tarantino's, where I ate a huge Dungeness crab in a '60s style dining room overlooking the bobbing fishing boats below.

Check the Buzz on Blogs Before You Buy

Jason Lee Miller writes on Web Pro news today about a new phone from Toshiba that asks blogs what they think about new products, giving shoppers a quick check before they buy.

"Have trouble making purchase decisions? Toshiba has developed a mobile phone technology that scans product bar codes and collects an overall product rating based on what the blogosphere has to say about it.

As illustrated by the AP snapshot, the technology is a mobile buzz barometer that can search for up to 100 product reviews on weblogs, calculate an overall mood (positive or negative), and shoot back the results in about 10 seconds.

Using the camera feature on a mobile phone to take a snapshot of the product, indecisive shoppers will have a personal shopping aide. Blogs with higher traffic will also show up on screen."

That'sa Big Wave!

People run from huge waves crashing onto San Sebastian's seafront, northeast of Spain February 17, 2006. The combination of a full moon season, a squall over the Cantabrian Sea and heavy wind gusts reaching speeds of 110 mph.

Infohub Lessons: Focus on First Things First

Today I met Roy Andrada, a VP from Infohub.com at my hotel. We walked across the street to the Marin County Brewing Co. for lunch. Roy and partner Jim Zhu used to work together at Sun Microsystems and back in 1993 decided to start their own travel portal. "We saw what Yahoo and others were doing and we wanted to do the same, so we found our niche--specialty travel."

Roy and Jim's site is huge---a directory of more than 14,000 unique tours and specialized lodgings and receive about 700,000 unique visitors each month. I was eager to learn more about how they've achieved such success and wanted to pick his brain about how he got there. We recently became a partner with them when we added their directory to GoNOMAD.

The main thing I learned from Roy is that focus is important. While there are many distractions that come at you from this travel affiliate or that big advertiser trying to steer you in different directions, the best way to succeed is to decide your priorities and stay your own course. Roy and Jim focused on building traffic and relationships with travel suppliers. Now they have more than 3500 tour companies and lodges whose trips are sold on the site. They resist adding links off the site and keep their customers in mind--fast loading pages and no where to go but to search for their tours. Good lessons I'm trying to remember as we move GoNOMAD ahead.

The Monster Telescope Funded by the Military

In a hotel room in Larkspur California, I was hoping it would be warm, but it's only mild. Ten miles from here there was a rare snowfall, about an inch fell and it is all over the local news from San Francisco. I read today about a monster telescope that is almost finished being built on the top of a 15,000 foot volcano called Sierra Negra in the central state of Puebla, Mexico.

The project has been underway for many years, I know an astronomer from UMass who has been down here, and the $150 million project has generated some controversy. Mainly because it is funded by the U.S. Military as well as the Mexican government. The telescope looks like an enormous satellite dish, and building it has been a struggle.

Hundreds of local villagers were hired to use their own compact cars to bring up the material including 13,000 tons of concrete, all the way up the winding road to the top. Sometimes cars wouldn't make it, so they used mules. The project has brought jobs to this poor area, but there are critics who bristle at the military's involvement. "They may want to use the antennas for space survelliance, said one UMass scientist. "It is a way to figure out what everybody is doing up there."

Now, Even Toyota Should Feel Threatened

Yin Mingshan spent 22 years in a Chinese communist workcamp and prison as punishment for his political dissent. The NY Times reports today that Yin is now the enormously wealthy president of Lifan, an up and coming Chinese car maker with its sites firmly set on the U.S. market.

"Chairman Mao taught us: if you can win then fight the war, if you cannot win, then run away. I want us to train my army in these smaller markets [Asia, the Mideast, the Caribbean], and when we are ready, we will move on to bigger markets.

The new Lifan 520 sedan with a $9700 price tag includes leather seats, dual air bags, a huge trunk and a DVD system with a video screen facing the front passenger. A car loaded like this would be at least twice as much in the U.S. The secret?

Wages of less than $100 a month. "Mr Yin added, "Americans work five days a week, we in China work seven days...Americans work eight hours a day, we work 16 hours."

A Father's Approval Makes All the Difference

On the plane to San Francisco, we watched 'Walk the Line,' the Johnny Cash biopic. The movie was poignant, especially in the portrayal of Johnny's father and the tortured relationship between father and son. One scene was set at the height of the star's drug and booze addiction, when Cash had invited his parents for Thanksgiving. Up on a hill sat a tractor that Johnny had gotten stuck in the mud, another casualty of his hard drinking ways.

Johnny's dad Ray sat at the kitchen table and condemned his son. "A pill-popping rock and roll star with a big empty house, who never sees his kids, with an expensive tractor up there stuck in the mud." You could feel how the years of being condemned and never praised by his dad had injured the singer, and how his harsh comment made him seethe. Watching the film with tears in my eyes, I remembered how much it hurts my own son when I criticize him, and how my own dad always built me up. It struck a chord in me and made me think: remember how much a son wants his father's approval.

But there was a strong woman behind Johnny Cash, and June Carter stuck by him and when the pill pusher came to deliver the drugs, they chased him off with shotguns. When she finally relented and accepted his proposal to marry, on stage in Ontario Canada, he never drank again--and lived another 35 years of wedded bliss with the woman he always loved June Carter Cash.

Brrreeeport. It's What's for Dinner

Remember that word, brrreeeport. It's not a city in Connecticut, nor a new flavor of frozen yogurt. It's the word that a famous blogger made up to try to string all of the 'Z list' bloggers into a more powerful collection. You may have remembered another post that talked about how some blogs get all of the links and the eyeballs, and others languish, with only a small number of readers.

Robert Scoble is known as the controversial employee blogger at the software giant, Microsoft. He posits that the big "A list" blogs only link to one another, and threw down this little word like a gauntlet: Post this word and let's see how many of us little guys can get noticed.

Well, let's see what happens. Thanks, Web Pro News!

Photos that Make You Say ' Wow!'

This is from an incredible collection of photographs by a Chinese photographer named Li Wei.
The image is called "Dream Like Love."

Mocked for Watching American Idol

American Idol crushed the Olympics in last night's TV ratings. And deservedly so. I mean why would we wanna watch distant skiiers cruising down slopes or figure skaters falling when we can see the reaction from twenty kids who've just gotten rejected by Simon, Randy and Paula? My employees mocked me, but I can't resist watching.

The show is brilliant--the cameras in the elevator on the contestant's way up to find out their fate, and on the way down when the winners can barely contain themselves and the losers slump into funks. It is television in its purest form. The joy of the young women who made the cut, (we're down to just 12 girls and 12 guys) exiting the elevator, hugging their parents, it made us tremble.

Some of the contestants shot themselves in the foot, like the famous Memphis twins Terrell and Derrell Brittenum. These two heavyweight black dudes were talking trash before the judges had picked them. Then one of the two thought his brother was rejected, and quit--only to find that they had both made it to the next round. But it didn't matter....a day later they were both found to be in default of arrest warrents for check fraud and a few other felonies, and were unceremoniously dumped.

A Famous Palestinian Actor

Kevin Sites interviewed an actor in his high ranked Yahoo column, The Hot Zone:

"Ali Suliman is a Palestinian actor who played the part of Khaled in the recent film, "Paradise Now," the only Palestinian film ever to be nominated for an Academy Award.

AS: It's the first time someone looks at these people (suicide bombers) like human beings -- that there's courage needed to do it. The message is, there is a human being under this wall, they scream about being able to do what they need to do to have life.

KS:
How do you think Jewish Israelis will react to the film?

AS:
A lot of people who didn't see the film wrote things against it. But those who did see it like the actors and like the issues. It's not about taking sides. It's a story about two friends who decide to bomb themselves in Tel Aviv and there is a human story behind the issue. I think the reaction has really been positive (among the Israeli Jewish community).

KS:
Do you think the film in way glorifies the idea of suicide bombers?

AS:
I don't think so. It's not about taking sides. There are a lot of things it takes for people to make this step. The occupation shows how bad their lives are and why they choose to do it.

KS:
Has the success of the film changed you? Do your family and friends react to you differently?

AS:
It's hasn't changed my life. There are a lot of friends that liked it and a lot that didn't like it. Every person has their own opinion, but it's made people think. That's the good thing.

KS:
Can this type of film advance the peace process, or simply highlight the divisions?

AS:
I think the story of these people everywhere in the media in the West is, they think the Palestinian people are born to kill, that they like to kill themselves, but it's not like that. But everyone has the potential to be like this because of the bad situation in which they live.

KS:
What's your feeling on the Academy Award Nomination? Will you go?

AS:
I didn't expect it. But now we are nominated for the Oscar -- it's a huge expectation. We will definitely go.

Rent Seekers are Shakedown Artists

Cory Doctorow wrote a long defense of Google Print today.

If adding value to someone else's creation entitled him to a chance to say no, then anyone who makes an iPod case, an automobile cup-holder phone-cradle, or a lens-wipe for a camera should have gotten permission from the creators of the technologies they're improving. Hell, every carpenter who ever put together a bookcase owes her livelihood to the books that got shelved on them -- why not go after them, too?

This is the real meat of the argument: rent-seeking. Wikipedia's compact definition of the term is this: "[Rent-seeking] takes place when an entity seeks to extract uncompensated value from others by manipulation of the economic environment." Rent-seekers are shakedown artists: they don't add new value, but they demand a piece of the action anyway.

There are plenty of ways that publishers could turn a buck off of indexing their works -- they could index them themselves; they could sell premium access to digital versions of their catalogs to Google or its competitors, they could come up with ways of executing searchable indexes that are better than those that Google delivers.

It's also clear that publishers will benefit from the increased visibility of their works: the more people hear of a book, the more copies of that book will sell. Putting books into search-resultes increases the number of people who'll hear of them.

Israeli Cartoonists Make Fun of Jews

From Boingboing.net, a great idea for a world sorely lacking a sense of humor.

Israeli Anti-Semitic Cartoon Contest: The story so far: Danish paper publishes cartoons that mock Muslims. An Iranian paper responds with a Holocaust cartoons contest. Now, a group of Israelis announce their own anti-Semitic cartoons contest. Amitai Sandy, the publisher of Tel-Aviv, Israel-based Dimona Comix, and founder of the contest jokes, “We’ll show the world we can do the best, sharpest, most offensive Jew hating cartoons ever published! No Iranian will beat us on our home turf!”

This is a refreshing response to all the cartoon-fueled anger in the news lately — fighting fire with humour.

Using Bugs to Make Ethanol for Fuel

Wired News ran a story about an innovative company in Canada.
Ottawa-based Iogen is already producing ethanol by exploiting the destructive nature of the fungus Trichoderma reesei, which caused the "jungle rot" of tents and uniforms in the Pacific theater during World War II.

Through a genetic modification known as directed evolution, Iogen has souped up fungus microbes so they spew copious amounts of digestive enzymes to break down straw into sugars. From there, a simple fermentation — which brewers have been doing for centuries — turns sugar into alcohol.

Now the company is ready to build a $350 million, commercial-scale factory in Canada or Idaho Falls, Idaho, next year if it can secure financing — long one of the biggest stumbling blocks to bringing the stuff to gas pumps.

While conventional lenders are wary of investing in a new technology, the company is banking on winning a loan from the U.S. Department of Energy. Even under a best-case scenario, Passmore said Iogen won't be producing commercial quantities until 2009.

Other significant hurdles include how to widely distribute the fuel; getting auto manufacturers to make engines that will use it; and persuading gas stations to install ethanol pumps. There's hope that funding shortfalls and the remaining technological problems such as how to ship large amounts of ethanol will be overcome in the next few years.

Despite the challenges, Bush's endorsement and advancements in the field have re-energized alternative energy types. While no commercial interest has advanced as far as Iogen, other biotech companies are engineering bacteria to spit out similar sugar-converting enzymes, and academics are pursuing more far-out sources.

Why More People Don't Read My Blog

Blogging is a world of have and have-nots, according to a story in New York Magazine, titled Blogs to Riches.

"Economists and network scientists have a name for Shirky’s curve: a “power-law distribution.” Power laws are not limited to the Web; in fact, they’re common to many social systems. If you chart the world’s wealth, it forms a power-law curve: A tiny number of rich people possess most of the world’s capital, while almost everyone else has little or none.

The employment of movie actors follows the curve, too, because a small group appears in dozens of films while the rest are chronically underemployed. The pattern even emerges in studies of sexual activity in urban areas: A small minority bed-hop, while the rest of us are mostly monogamous.

The power law is dominant because of a quirk of human behavior: When we are asked to decide among a dizzying array of options, we do not act like dispassionate decision-makers, weighing each option on its own merits. Movie producers pick stars who have already been employed by other producers. Investors give money to entrepreneurs who are already loaded with cash. Popularity breeds popularity.

“It’s not about moral failings or any sort of psychological thing. People aren’t lazy—they just base their decisions on what other people are doing,” Shirky says. “It’s just social physics. It’s like gravity, one of those forces.”

Teeny Tiny Thai and Massive Depot

Tonight's travels took me to a teeny tiny Thai restaurant in downtown Greenfield. The diminutive eatery, staffed by one smiling women, is called Hetterkorn. They had seating for two. The restaurant was a sliver of a space, and her wok sizzled by the cash register. We ordered our pad thai to go, and it was bounteous, steaming, spicy and only $6.50.

Later I had to pick up some cleaning supplies at massive Home Depot. Stocked with too many orange-vested associates, the store seemed to be overstaffed for the hour--almost 9 pm. An army of workers in different shirts, (theirs were brown,) were doing inventory. Each bolt, each screw, each gallon of paint and each nail had to be counted. The temp workers swarmed the store, three or four to an aisle, scanning hardware items and typing into small keypads that dangled from their hips.

Both a part of the mix in a world of business in Greenfield.

The New Yorker Interviews Twice to be Sure

David Remnick says that the trademark attribute of The New Yorker is the insistence on accuracy. The legendary editor of the world's most desirable publishing market was interviewed in Haartez, an Israeli News outlet.

"When I go to interview, for example, Sheikh Naif Rajoub, one of the leaders of Hamas, I go with a translator, because I do not speak Arabic. I don't want to record too much, because that is double the work. I write pretty fast, and I know what to omit. But that's okay. Because afterward, at the office, our Arabic fact checker - a very talented Lebanese-American woman - will call Sheikh Rajoub and go over it with him, fact after fact. She will ask, 'You said that you will never recognize Israel - is that true?' And he will confirm or refute. 'Is it true that you were born in 1948?' 'Is it true that you have three children?'

Every fact found in my article is checked and confirmed. As editor of the magazine, it is embarrassing to be caught with mistakes, and I hope that there will not be any, but I feel very good when I know there is someone checking up after me."

In other words, every person interviewed by The New Yorker by necessity has to be interviewed twice, once with the reporter and a second time with the fact-checker?

"Yes, absolutely. And media-savvy interviewees feel confident because of this. It gives them the feeling that they can speak freely, and that their words will be presented precisely." Remnick notes that if interview subjects deny to the fact-checker quotes appearing in an article, the quotes will not always be immediately invalidated.

The Spider Can Hear You from Her Hole

Last night as we snuggled up by the fire we turned on the telly to watch PBS. There was a man on a show who chases spiders around, and he talked with much zeal about tarantulas. The female of this hairy spider can hear the sound of the male coming to find her. She lives in a little hole and creeps out now and then to catch bugs, moths and other food. She sneaks right up on the unsuspecting victims, and drags them back down with her.

She is sensitive to the sound that the male spider makes when he approaches. The Brit on the show blew up a balloon and attached a microphone to record the scratchy sounds that the female hears right above her as her suitor makes his way toward her.

Then he found another spider, this one with eight eyes and vision as good as a microscope. This species has big eyes in the front, and another set to the side, giving it total peripheral vision. Wow, the things you can learn on PBS!

The Most Expensive Animals in the Zoo

Pandas were in the news today, as the snow fell outside and we hunkered down with a fire and piles of newspapers. It seems that the Chinese government fleeces Zoo Atlanta and others with $80 million a year in rental fees for the priviledge of keeping the animals in their cages. The pandas limited diet of bamboo, thankfully, is assisted by hundreds of Georgians who grow the crop to feed Lun Lun and Yang Yang--84 pounds a day each.

But it is time, says Dennis W Kelly, top Zoo honcho, to renegotiate with the owners, or send the Ursas back to China. The bears are draining the coffers even though they are very popular with the Pandaholics who watch them on web cams and blog about them endlessly.

The Chinese are tougher on U.S. zoos than on Australia and Thailand. Those nations pay just $300,000 a year for their bears. "There's a perception that U.S. zoos are very rich because when they come over the zoos are beautiful," said Chuck Brady, CEO of the Memphis Zoo. He added that Memphis will lose $300,000 a year, since after the first few years, attendance drops way off.

Oh Sly, We Hardly Knew Ye

We tuned into the Grammys last week, and among the spectacles, the most bizarre had to be Sly Stone's two minutes on stage. I have been intrigued with this iconic '60s figure ever since I first heard that classic tune "Family Affair," and when I saw him emerge on stage, I was glued to the set. He cut quite a figure with a platinum mohawk, a huge silver overcoat, and a belt buckle that said "SLY." The musicians included Steven Tyler and many other stars, and they bowed down as the reclusive big man made his entrance.

The NY Post reported yesterday that after his two minutes of "barely singing and listlessly bobbing his mohawked head--drifted offstage mid-song. Our insider reports hunchbacked Stone, 62, vomited in the wings. "He was overcome with stage fright. He left the building on his own. No one saw him go out. No one knows where he went."

I looked up Stone's bio and found that he had been arrested for cocaine possession a few times and even did prison time in 1987, after another failed comeback attempt. Like so many of his Woodstock brethren, he succombed to drugs and wasted great talent. There won't be another comeback, of that I am sure.

A Speaker is Born

Friday was a big day; I made my presentation to a standing room only crowd who filled a hall at the Washington Convention Center. The title was How to Make your Website Google Friendly and Make More Money with your Website. It went beautifully. Thanks to Joe I was well prepared with easy to read slides and lots of background.

At first I was a little nervous, and worried about how I would get on the internet to pull up search results and show people what to do. But when the room filled up, and they were all looking up at me, I lauched my first slide and never looked back.

It was fun. No it was more than fun, it was a joy. Speaking on a subject I am very familiar with, showing examples of great sites, and providing good information that people are eager to hear, what could be better? After my talk, about 30 people came down to meet me to take my card, and to grab the little GoNOMAD notebooks I brought as giveaways.

A clutch of Russian ladies came up asking if I could email them this presentation. I told them sorry, no, but I do arrange consulting and would be happy to work with them on making their site better. This makes sense, why give away what people are happy to pay for?

Picking up the Loot in Brinks Trucks

A man was sitting at a table in Au Bon Pain, in Washington's Union Station, and I sat down next to him. He was friendly, a black man with books and a backpack spread out before him. I knew he wanted to talk, he had that eagerness that strangers sometimes get, waiting for the right time to chime in, looking for someone to tell his story to. His name was Steven C. Hill, PhD.

He is an nutritionist, he gives talks on wellness and invents vitamin formulas, and like so many others in that business, he had his own secret remedies for how to cure what ails you. I told him that I knew of a man who was very rich and very sick. I said that I thought this man would eagerly give away all of his possessions, his yacht, his jet, his mansions, just to be as healthy as a homeless man. He asked me if I knew how to reach him, I repllied that all I know is that he has Hodgkins and it is very advanced. He wrote down his name and said he planned to call him. ;

He told me that Washington had seen a tremendous drop in crime...that it was no where near the scary place that it once was. "There's money here, so much money, all of that 'faith based initiative' stuff that Bush is talking about. The pastors, he said, are raking in millions for their drug rehab and after school programs. He said that in the large congregations in Texas, there is so much money pouring in at the megachurches, the ones with up to 20,000 worshippers on Sunday, that criminals are breaking in to steal the loot. "They have to have Brinks trucks come take away the cash, or it will be stolen," he said.

Like many of the people I've met on this short trip, this man was friendly and engaging. When he found out what I did for a living, he asked for my card. Maybe I will hear from him again some day.

Shiver Me Timbers, The Office Pirate is Coming!

Time Inc has a new idea for a website that they hope will reach male office workers, and they've hired Mark Golin, the editor behind beer-and-babes heavy Maxim Magazine for the job. the WSJ reports.

"The site, www.officepirates.com, for now consists of a red-and-black page with a diamond-shaped sign depicting a skull-and-crossbones wearing a tie and sporting an eyepatch. Below it is the phrase: "Prepare to be boarded."

Web sites like Office Pirates offer a new "prime-time" slot for advertisers. Ads traditionally reached the general public after the workday, but the Internet has changed that. Now, the typical 9-to-5 office hours are seen as "very, very vital ground," says Todd Copilevitz, a Dallas-based digital-advertising consultant. That's when people email jokes or a piece of news to friends, or might print a coupon from the Web during a morning coffee break and use it later at a nearby retailer or eatery. Office Pirates likely will be aimed at workers in their offices.

The plan is to launch Office Pirates under the radar, which should please advertisers who increasingly believe it's better for consumers to discover products, ideas and information rather than have such things foisted upon them. Time Inc. has started reaching out to advertisers, according to people familiar with the company. Rather than getting them to purchase regular Web ads, Time Inc. is seeking a company or several to sponsor the site in some fashion, according to these people.

Sports Illustrated's ad-sales team, already versed in working with advertisers who want young males to see their pitches, is overseeing the effort, some of these people say. Dodge will promote Office Pirates on Dodge.com and Time Inc. is expected to promote the site in its own media assets, says Ms. Bliss, the Dodge spokeswoman.

Pentagon Bigwigs Aim to 'Fight the 'Net'

Reading on my laptop in the basement of the Comfort Inn in DC. BBC News reports this morning on a newly revealed report from 2003 evidencing the US military's desire to "fight the 'Net" using psyops tactics. The "roadmap" calls for a far-reaching overhaul of the military's ability to conduct information operations and electronic warfare. And, in some detail, it makes recommendations for how the US armed forces should think about this new, virtual warfare.

The document says that information is "critical to military success". Computer and telecommunications networks are of vital operational importance

"And, in a grand finale, the document recommends that the United States should seek the ability to "provide maximum control of the entire electromagnetic spectrum".

US forces should be able to "disrupt or destroy the full spectrum of globally emerging communications systems, sensors, and weapons systems dependent on the electromagnetic spectrum".

Consider that for a moment.

The US military seeks the capability to knock out every telephone, every networked computer, every radar system on the planet. Are these plans the pipe dreams of self-aggrandising bureaucrats? Or are they real?

The fact that the "Information Operations Roadmap" is approved by the Secretary of Defense suggests that these plans are taken very seriously indeed in the Pentagon.

Despite His Record, They Keep Hiring Frank

The Edgartown Yacht Club is the epicenter of the rich, connected and preppie boater world on Martha's Vineyard. I used to work with the people there and remember hearing about one of their members, a bigwig named Frank Biondi Jr., who often called in for tennis reservations. I also remember reading about him in Wired Magazine about an internet business venture he was starting. Biondi was once the CEO of Universal Studios and worked at Viacom for many years before that. I thought "I'd love to meet this guy, he sounds very interesting."

Biondi’s career has been noteworthy for his dismissal from important CEO positions; for his generous behavior toward the former bosses who fired him; and for the extraordinary cash settlements he received on leaving his posts.

Biondi was in the news Wednesday because billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn is aiming at Time Warner, and wants to remove chairman Richard Parsons. He thinks Frank would be a better choice for the top job.

The NY Times' Geraldine Fabrikant reported that it's been a rough six years for Biondi's Waterview Advisors company. So far it has lost 61 percent of the money it collected from investors, sinking money in a string of failed telecom and cable ventures. The worst loss was just under $19 million in Tricom, a company that provides communications services in the DR. Another bummer was EKabel Hessan, a German cable operator into which they poured $30 million. Carl thinks Frank would be a swell choice for CEO, despite his lack of investment acumen as shown in the red balance sheet. It must be an ego boost when you can lose that much and still be in the running for a $6 million fee if the takeover succeeds.

Trainin' Down to DC

It's been quite a while since I rode Amtrak, but it has been a pleasant surprise this afternoon as I glided through Connecticut en route to Washington. At New Haven's Union Station, the curvy wood bences with round tops harkened back to the good old days of train travel. I was surprised at how many people emerged from the tunnel and how full the car was as we added more people at each stop.

The conductors so far have all been women, that surprised me, as did the pleasant surprise when I looked down to see an electric plug right by my tray table. And legroom! I am stretched out here, this makes the airplane look positively painful!

Later tonight I'll amble up to the cafe car and purchase an adult beverage. I keep looking down and seeing Wireless connections, but as we fly by the green fades out to grey. Train travel so far is fun, I'll report later on how I feel after I've finished about 12 hours of this late Friday night.

We arrived at Union Station in DC, an impressive edifice of towering arches and glitzy shopping arcades. Very European. You can tell that this is the HQ of bankrupt Amtrak, where they make it all look great since Congress funds this enterprise every year, might as well wow 'em here in the Capital.

Going Fast and Loving it on the Way to DC

Another jam-packed day at GoNOMAD. I am leaving today at 2 to drive to New Haven, then boarding an Amtrak train to Washington DC. The office and cafe are buzzing today; my son Sam is staining our new stools, Alan is working on our menu, Joe is helping me fine tune my power point presentation on Search Engine Optimizing, and Kate was here working on cafe details.

The buzz on the street is good. The plumbing will happen, even though I am losing sleep over it, we will have a functioning sink and we will have crowds lined up to come in and buy coffee.

You have to believe, hell, with the money we've invested, this has to work. But confidence, faith and a commitment to making this place classy and cozy is how we'll succeed.

The Nightmare Comes When you Try to Get Off

Reading the news today about the World's largest Cruise liner, Royal Caribbean's new Project Genesis, which will come out of drydock at 1,181 feet, and 100,000 tons. (Aircraft carriers weigh in at only 97,000).

At the end of the story, a travel agent reveals that one of his customer's biggest complaints is the long lines on and off the ship, and the problem of disembarking on small islands with so many other people. It's the same argument many make against the ultra-sized passenger jets by Airbus...having 550 people all go through customs, retrieve luggage, and try to get food and drinks is pretty difficult.

The New Jumbo ships will have ice skating rinks, rock climbing walls and surfing pools. Better to just stay on board and forget trying to visit the islands in your port of call, since the little boats called tenders that ferry people back and forth hold only a few hundred at most.

'Everyone Is Afraid to Criticize Islam'

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born in Somalia where she experienced the oppression of Muslim women first hand. When her father attempted to force her into an arranged marriage, she fled to Holland in 1992. Later, she renounced the Muslim religion. The Dutch politician who was forced to go into hiding after the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh, responds to the Danish cartoon scandal, arguing that if Europe doesn't stand up to extremists, a culture of self-censorship of criticism of Islam that pervades in Holland will spread in Europe. Auf Wiedersehen, free speech.

"Hirsi Ali: There is no freedom of speech in those Arab countries where the demonstrations and public outrage are being staged. The reason many people flee to Europe from these places is precisely because they have criticized religion, the political establishment and society. Totalitarian Islamic regimes are in a deep crisis.

Globalization means that they're exposed to considerable change, and they also fear the reformist forces developing among émigrés in the West. They'll use threatening gestures against the West, and the success they achieve with their threats, to intimidate these people.

SPIEGEL: Was apologizing for the cartoons the wrong thing to do?

Hirsi Ali: Once again, the West pursued the principle of turning first one cheek, then the other. In fact, it's already a tradition. In 1980, privately owned British broadcaster ITV aired a documentary about the stoning of a Saudi Arabian princess who had allegedly committed adultery. The government in Riyadh intervened and the British government issued an apology.

We saw the same kowtowing response in 1987 when (Dutch comedian) Rudi Carrell derided (Iranian revolutionary leader) Ayatollah Khomeini in a comedy skit (that was aired on German television). In 2000, a play about the youngest wife of the Prophet Mohammed, titled "Aisha," was cancelled before it ever opened in Rotterdam. Then there was the van Gogh murder and now the cartoons. We are constantly apologizing, and we don't notice how much abuse we're taking. Meanwhile, the other side doesn't give an inch."

Bumping Into a MILF in Stop and Shop

I drove my son to the store last night to fill up his larder with food. At the market I almost ran right into a woman pushing a full cart, with a baby in a carseat on top of the groceries. She wore a sweatshirt with a sassy design, it read MILF in silver letters.

I was shocked, shocked, to see this acronym on this 20 something mom. My question is: Wouldn't she be a little apprehensive wearing such a suggestive collection of letters? But no, like the folks who wear F*** off on their chests, this sexually charged acronym is fine for Stop and Shop. Her badly dyed hair, plain look, and obvious youth didn't do the scurrilious phrase justice.

MILF is a famous term you can find on the 'Net. Be creative, you can think of what it means when you put the letters together.

The Cartoons They Can't Stand

Why did the Danish newspaper publish the Muhammed cartoons? BBC News explained.

"The Danish newspaper that originally published the cartoons commissioned them after the author of a book about Islam said he was unable to find a single person willing to provide images of the Prophet.

The newspaper's culture editor, Flemming Rose, says he did not ask the illustrators to draw satirical caricatures of Muhammad. He asked them to draw the Prophet as they saw him.

Rose has insisted that there is a long Danish tradition of biting satire with no taboos, and that Muhammad and Islam are being treated no differently to other religions. He also argues that the images have raised the profile in Denmark of a debate on integration of religious minorities.

The newspaper editors who have republished the cartoons say they are defending the right to free speech and acting in solidarity with the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten.

Has Muslim reaction to the cartoons been uniform? Not at all - some Muslims have accused protesters of overreacting.

A weekly newspaper in Jordan reprinted some of the cartoons and urged Muslims to "be reasonable". Websites produced by and for Muslims have shown the cartoons or linked to them. One liberal website said Muslims were making a mountain out of a molehill."

The Pulse of Business in Deerfield

Today I picked up our Gazette to find a nice story that included this photo. They also ran this box with a set of 'local business owner' type questions:

Business: GoNomad.com; Computer Cleaners; GoNOMAD CAFE

Why open now: Addressing a gap in town: 'People love coffee and they love the Internet. What better time to open than the dead of winter?'

Biggest challenge: Wanting to work the business and travel as well.

Biggest advantage: 'I'm 100 percent passionate about this (business) ... this is what I live for.'

Verbatim: 'I have a fantastic life. People should know that if you work like crazy and love what you do, your dreams will come true.'

Like Having a Beer-Buzzed Guy Yell in Your Ear

Mikael Wood savages the Piano Man's latest CD box set in the Village Voice.

"Yet Joel's performance here—onstage before an adoring crowd that includes one guy with a sign reading, "YOU ARE THE BEST"—has to be one of the most dispassionate things I've ever seen: Joel stares into space, as if wondering how to say "cola wars" in German; he moves his water cup to better read his lyric book. The last thing Dude's doing is going to extremes—especially compared to the members of his band, whose batshit enthusiasm emphasizes Joel's Zen-like calm. The only lyric in the song he lives up to: "Sometimes I'm tired, sometimes I'm shot."

Why on earth would anyone feature this clip in a box set intended to demonstrate his artistic zeal? Because that's Joel, the most tone-deaf guy in pop. The Piano Man is unsatisfied with his song-and-dance status; in his eyes he's Dylan or Springsteen, so he has to wrest meaning from even the slimmest shard of frivolity. Yet with a few exceptions that's precisely what saps Joel's music of its energy and life (as indeed it's done to some of Dylan's and Springsteen's).

Absorbing My Lives is like having some beer-buzzed guy in a bar yell in your ear for four hours straight about his family tree. Which is energy in a sense, I suppose—an energy of in-between-ness. Joel's stuck between mattering and Mattering. And he chooses incorrectly nearly every time. "

The Four Horsemen Bring Back the Boom

Reading the February issue of Wired on this rainy night in Holyoke.Josh McHugh wrote a story about venture capitalist Allen Morgan who is taking a second look at the flame-outs of five years ago that may be viable today. He cites four factors to back up his claim, he calls them the Four Horsemen:

*Broadband access: Now that so many more people are on line all of the time and the experience is rich with music and video, we can actually do the things that five years ago were just dreams.

*Buying online is now widespread: By now most everyone has bought from Amazon or eBay, this means we're used to the process and it is mainstream, not some odd thing as it once was.

*Web advertising has become a dominant force, thanks to Google and Yahoo's contextual ads, placing the right ads on the right websites makes it pay. Back in 2000, nobody had a clue about net ads.

*Search technology has improved so much. Now you can find exactly what you are looking for, this wasn't the case in 2000, it was hit or miss, and frustrating.

Flying to the Coast and Visiting with Vannah

Random musings on a Friday in February:

I got email for a new service that will mail a paper valentine's day card out for you--complete with hand stuck stamp--and your own personalization. You can choose from a range of fonts/handwriting such as "Amandine" and "Philling" both looking like a sixth grader's neat hand. This is appealing, and cards on the 'Net are huge. At one time an online card company was in the top five of most visited websites.

I am flying to the coast for a meeting. I've always wanted to say that and now it is true. We will meet in a few weeks with the folks at InfoHub, a large website that assists us with travel listings and a pay per click search on GoNOMAD. Then we will drive up north to Sonoma, where we are visiting with locals, and touring the Russian River Valley for an article.

Tom Vannah of the Advocate came to see the cafe, and we talked about their new venture "Preview MA," a glossy arts magazine. I think the market can support this new venture, and the ads were selling well. It debuts in March. They will be publishing travel content licensed from us, we are looking forward to seeing how it will come out. The first story is Kent St. John's piece on Croatia.

Playing poker in the cafe on Super Bowl Sunday. What a great way to spend time on this holy American holiday, playing cards with friends.

A Sign Makes a Million Dollar Difference!

Duncan Ferguson has put up our giant outside signs and even painted the door. So we're on our way...when we get our sinks installed and finish our painting, we're ready to rock!

Travel Writing is the Art of Good Conversation

Christine O'Toole is a fine writer who traveled to Belfast with me in December. She sent me an essay by one of my favorite authors, Robert D. Kaplan, on travel writing vs. reporting, that ran in the Columbia Journalism review.

Just listening to people, to their stories — rather than cutting them off to ask probing, impolite questions — forms the essence of these and all other good travel books. I learned this over two decades ago while trying to interview a refugee in Greece who had just escaped from Stalinist Albania. I had a list of questions to ask this refugee, but instead he preferred to tell me the story of his life. It was only after listening to him for several hours that the information I sought began to slip out.

But such a leisurely approach goes against the grain of journalism as it is commonly practiced. Reporting emphasizes the intrusive, tape-recorded interview; travel writing emphasizes the art of good conversation, and the experience of how it comes about in the first place. It has long been a cliché among correspondents that in Africa 10 percent of journalism is doing interviews, and 90 percent is the hassles and adventures of arranging them. But while the former fits within the narrow strictures of daily news articles, it is the latter that tells you so much more about the continent.

The travel writer knows that people are least themselves when being tape-recorded. You’ll never truly understand anybody by asking a direct question, especially someone you don’t know very well. Rather than interrogate strangers, which is essentially what reporters do, the travel writer gets to know people, and reveals them as they reveal themselves.

After being with a battalion of marines for several weeks in Iraq, I noticed that they suddenly stopped using profane language when some journalists arrived and turned on their tape recorders. Whatever the marines were in front of the journalists, they were less real than they had been before.

Why Charities LOVE the Web

Reading the February issue of Wired and came across this item in their "infoporn" section, by Joanna Perlstein.

"It's hard to find a silver lining in natural disasters. But the cataclysms of the past year or so--starting with the Asian Tsunami--have been a boon to online fundraising. Half of the $2 billion given to charities for victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, for example, was collected through websites.

"People give more online, and it costs less to handle that money," said Bill Strathmann, CEO of Network for Good. Another plus--if you can't pay off your gift immediately, at least you can feel good about the debt.

Cost of raising $1.00 by direct mail $1.25
Cost of raising $1.00 from existing donor by mail .25
Cost of raising $1.00 via telemarketing $.63
Cost of raising $1.00 Online .07

The $100 PC is the Next Big Thing

Om Malik wrote in Business 2.0 about the other "Next Big Thing," next to Nicholas Negroponte's famous $100 laptop.

"Three floors up in one of the city's numerous office towers, 38-year-old Rajesh Jain points to a table that holds, he'll tell you repeatedly, personal computing's next big thing.

The silver-and-black box is tiny, actually. At 8 inches by 6, it's the size of a fat paperback. But plug it into a computer monitor or a television, and Jain's boast begins to make some sense. A tap on a keyboard brings up an array of generic-looking applications you'd find on any PC--a Web browser, e-mail, and word-processing and spreadsheet programs. An MP3 player blasts "Dus Bahane," the latest hit song from Bollywood.

All that software is open-source and free. Better yet, it runs on a distant back-office server instead of the little box, which itself sips less electricity than a child's night-light, contains no hard drive, and doesn't make a sound. But that's not what gives the Nova NetPC--made by Novatium, Jain's 10-month-old startup--its industry-altering potential. It's the machine's expected price tag: $100, including a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

The $100 PC has long been considered the hurdle to clear in order to reach technology's biggest pot of gold--affordable computing for the masses in countries like Brazil, China, India, and Russia.

That's why chipmaking goliath Intel is working on cheaper processors targeted overseas, why Microsoft has begun selling a $20 stripped-down version of its Windows operating system, why giants like Advanced Micro Devices and Google have partnered with maverick MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte to develop a $100 laptop.

Stay tuned to see what happens, one way or another the $100 computer is coming soon.