Live from the Nuke Free Zone

Today, in these United States, it is Memorial Day. Today is the day we remember those fallen in all our wars, from the Revolutionary all the way to the current mess in Iraq.
Seeing as how that’s the point of the day, I hope you won’t mind me indulging in a bit of remembrance […]

Apologies for the relative lack of substance lately, guys; a few of us Zoners are putting the finishing touches on a long-term project unrelated to this site and have had our attention taken up by that. We’ll probably be a bit more prolific after the next couple of days.
Over at The Private Intellectual, I […]

I’m sure most of you have heard of the case-modding scene at least in passing by now. You can see some people doing truly impressive works of artistry, such as this case, modded to carry a Half Life and/or Fallout theme. There’s a lot of other common ones, like sound-sensitive lighting on the case, transparent […]

[Found on Dave Farber’s always thought provoking Interesting People list.]
Our word was as good as our gold. At the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis, former Secretary of State Dean Acheson, President Kennedy’s special envoy to brief French President de Gaulle, offered to document our case by having the actual pictures of Soviet nuclear missiles […]

Via the BBC, we’ve got an article about diplomatic language.
Usually, words are carefully chosen as instruments of policy. The leaders of the big powers try by constant repetition to get their terms adopted by everyone, because they carry with them value judgements and a particular view of the world.
It’s a short but interesting article about […]

I only report this stuff, folks:
Hippos
don’t sweat blood, they sweat SPF 40. No, really:

The colourful secrets of hippopotamus sweat have been uncovered.
Researchers have identified the chemicals responsible for the timeless myth
that hippopotamus sweat blood…
Kimiko Hashimoto and his colleagues at Kyoto Pharmaceutical
[…]

Finsbury Park mosque leader Abu Hamza al Masri has been arrested
by UK police and indicted in the US on charges of trying to build
a terrorist training camp in Oregon (More). Given the quick timing of the two events, extradition is likely.
If there’s any doubt that this is one of the bad guys, note what he […]

The story about Rumsfeld banning cameras in Iraq was a hoax. I’ll admit I fell for it. (via Fark)
Update: Wired has more on the Pentagon’s concerns about modern communications technology. (via BoingBoing)

Dennis Hastert informs John McCain that there are men and women in uniform making sacrifices for our country, something McCain obviously knows nothing about, and for that reason we must cut their pay and supplies
The government’s plan to collect all information about every citizen, whether they’re suspected of anything or not, is continuing on schedule […]

Well, if you’ve been living under a rock in Canada, or living in the States at all, you should be told that Canada’s federal election campaign is underway, with the vote itself on June 28.
I figure since I’ve got a record to be on I’ll take a shot at making my predictions.

In terms of […]