Friday, July 30, 2004
The Chicago Manual of Style - About the Manual: "The Fifteenth Edition of The Chicago Manual of Style"
Dictionary of English slang and colloquialisms of the UK:
"A monster online dictionary of the rich colourful language we call slang... all from a British perspective, with new slang added every month."
"A monster online dictionary of the rich colourful language we call slang... all from a British perspective, with new slang added every month."
Ireland survey
online.ie: entertainment: "Jacko's 'Billie-Jean greatest No.1'
online.ie
2004-07-30 17:20:09+01
Michael Jackson's Billie Jean has been voted the greatest number one of all time.
The 1983 hit was chosen ahead of John Lennon's Imagine and Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.
Music channel VH1 polled more than 25,000 people for their ultimate number one.
Oasis came fourth in the poll with Don't Look Back In Anger, just ahead of Vogue by Madonna.
Bryan Adams' (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, which topped the charts for a record-breaking 16 weeks in 1991, was sixth.
Will Young was a surprise entry at number seven with his recent hit Leave Right Now.
Kylie Minogue's Can't Get You Out Of My Head and Madonna's Like A Prayer were at number eight and nine.
And Mariah Carey sneaked into the top 10 with the gushy ballad Without You.
Records making the top 20 included Every Breath You Take by the Police, Careless Whisper by George Michael and True by Spandau Ballet.
Britney Spears appears twice in the top 20 - but VH1 viewers voted her last hit Toxic ahead of Baby One More Time.
A VH1 spokeswoman said: 'The poll has thrown up some surprising results - who would have thought Britney would lose out to Mariah Carey or Will Young's Leave Right Now would beat George Michael's Careless Whisper.
'Michael Jackson won by a landslide, which just goes to show people still love his music despite what's going on in his life.'
VH1's Ultimate Number Ones: The Greatest will be broadcast tomorrow.
Top 20:
1 Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
2 John Lennon - Imagine
3 Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
4 Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger
5 Madonna - Vogue
6 Bryan Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You
7 Will Young - Leave Right Now
8 Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out Of My Head
9 Madonna - Like A Prayer
10 Mariah Carey - Without You
11 Britney Spears - Toxic
12 Westlife - Flying Without Wings
13 Police - Every Breath You Take
14 No Doubt - Don't Speak
15 Britney Spears - Baby One More Time
16 George Michael - Careless Whisper
17 Celine Dion - Think Twice
18 Puff Daddy and Faith Evans - I'll Be Missing You
19 Spandau Ballet - True
20 Spice Girls - Wannabe
Thursday, July 29, 2004
SkosDev/ThesaurusLinks - ESW Wiki: "1 SKOS Thesaurus Links WikiThis is a community built page of links to anything related to thesauri and development of thesaurus technologies esp. for the web.
Anyone can add to or update these pages, including you!
Feel free to add links to the wiki. Please don't alter or delete anybody else's links, although if you know a link to be broken or moved it would be great if you could add a comment to that effect. "
Anyone can add to or update these pages, including you!
Feel free to add links to the wiki. Please don't alter or delete anybody else's links, although if you know a link to be broken or moved it would be great if you could add a comment to that effect. "
Wordmap - Products: "Product range
Wordmap provides a range of specialist taxonomy products that can be purchased separately or in combination:
Taxonomy manager: This enterprise strength taxonomy manager allows the development and maintenance of multiple taxonomies by multiple users across a network. It provides all of the features needed to develop enterprise taxonomies
Taxonomy server: A preconfigured server that allows taxonomies to be published to other networked applications and used for a range of purposes. The server ships with a wide range of documented APIs that can be deployed through web services.
Automated classifier: A Support Vector Machine classifier of market leading precision and scalability, fully integrated with the taxonomy manager and server
Taxonomies: A wide range of public sector and proprietary taxonomies for the needs of government, medical/healthcare and e-business customers
Taxonomy viewer: a FREE desktop tool that allows taxonomies to be viewed in an easy to read and navigate format.
Please follow the taxonomy links to your left for further detail on each product in the range."
Wordmap provides a range of specialist taxonomy products that can be purchased separately or in combination:
Taxonomy manager: This enterprise strength taxonomy manager allows the development and maintenance of multiple taxonomies by multiple users across a network. It provides all of the features needed to develop enterprise taxonomies
Taxonomy server: A preconfigured server that allows taxonomies to be published to other networked applications and used for a range of purposes. The server ships with a wide range of documented APIs that can be deployed through web services.
Automated classifier: A Support Vector Machine classifier of market leading precision and scalability, fully integrated with the taxonomy manager and server
Taxonomies: A wide range of public sector and proprietary taxonomies for the needs of government, medical/healthcare and e-business customers
Taxonomy viewer: a FREE desktop tool that allows taxonomies to be viewed in an easy to read and navigate format.
Please follow the taxonomy links to your left for further detail on each product in the range."
Regulations.gov: "Regulations.gov is the U.S. Government web site that makes it easier for you to participate in Federal rulemaking - an essential part of the American democratic process."
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Debrett's Daily – People in the News
Rock star Pete Townshend has branded film-maker Michael Moore a ‘bully' after a disagreement over Townshend's track Won't Get Fooled Again. Moore wanted to use the song in his latest film Fahrenheit 9/11, which looks set to become the most successful documentary film ever, taking £1.3 million in its UK opening weekend. Moore claimed that Townshend refused permission because he was a supporter of the war in Iraq, which along with the Bush administration is heavily criticised in the film.
Townshend hit back by likening Moore's behaviour to that of the US President, saying that he “bullied and slurred” him “because he didn't get what he wanted”. While admitting he supported the war when it first began, the former member of The Who said he is now “less sure we did the right thing.” He claims that he turned down the offer because he was unconvinced by Moore's work, not through any political reasoning.
Moore has encouraged people to download Fahrenheit 9/11 from the internet for free, saying, “I do well enough already and I made this film because I want the world to change. The more people who see it the better". But Townshend poured scorn on the documentary makers ambitions, stating “he'll have to work very, very hard to convince me that a man with a camera is going to change the world more effectively than a man with a guitar.”
Last published: Monday, July 19, 2004
Tempers Flare Over Hot Ticket of the Summer
Rock star Pete Townshend has branded film-maker Michael Moore a ‘bully' after a disagreement over Townshend's track Won't Get Fooled Again. Moore wanted to use the song in his latest film Fahrenheit 9/11, which looks set to become the most successful documentary film ever, taking £1.3 million in its UK opening weekend. Moore claimed that Townshend refused permission because he was a supporter of the war in Iraq, which along with the Bush administration is heavily criticised in the film.
Townshend hit back by likening Moore's behaviour to that of the US President, saying that he “bullied and slurred” him “because he didn't get what he wanted”. While admitting he supported the war when it first began, the former member of The Who said he is now “less sure we did the right thing.” He claims that he turned down the offer because he was unconvinced by Moore's work, not through any political reasoning.
Moore has encouraged people to download Fahrenheit 9/11 from the internet for free, saying, “I do well enough already and I made this film because I want the world to change. The more people who see it the better". But Townshend poured scorn on the documentary makers ambitions, stating “he'll have to work very, very hard to convince me that a man with a camera is going to change the world more effectively than a man with a guitar.”
Last published: Monday, July 19, 2004
The moment he laid eyes on the lifeless body of the nude socialite sprawled across the bathroom floor, Detective Leary knew she had committed suicide by grasping the cap on the tamper-proof bottle, pushing down and twisting while she kept her thumb firmly pressed against the spot the arrow pointed to, until she hit the exact spot where the tab clicks into place, allowing her to remove the cap and swallow the entire contents of the bottle, thus ending her life.
-- Artie Kalemeris, Fairfax, VA"
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Directories & Reference : Dictionaries & thesauri Links
elexica takes no responsibility for the content of any web sites listed here. Please email information.services@simmons-simmons.com with any suggestions or comments.
AskOxford.com
Free English dictionary resources from Oxford University Press. Includes dictionary of quotations.
(http://www.askoxford.com/)
Court Service Glossary of Legal Terms
Includes legal Latin.
(http://www.courtservice.gov.uk/cms/2714.htm)
Dutch-English dictionary
Free dictionary, English to Dutch and Dutch to English.
(http://www.freedict.com/onldict/dut.html)
Economist Business Encyclopedia
Dictionary includes definitions of over 5,000 business terms, abbreviations, and acronyms.
(http://www.economist.com/encyclopedia/)
lawdictionaries.com
Links to online dictionaries and glossaries, both general and subject specific.
(http://www.lawdictionaries.com/)
Thesaurus and dictionary
Online English thesaurus and dictionary. US based, but often cross-refers to British spelling.
(http://www.thesaurus.com/)
Wordsmyth
Combined dictionary and thesaurus.
(http://www.wordsmyth.net/)
© Simmons & Simmons 2004
Monday, July 26, 2004
iCONECT247 - Case Manager
There are two database options to choose from. The Complete Database contains all records, currently entered. Movietone Lite contains 55 hours of material, representing the essence of the collection. The material contained in Movietone Lite is physically present in certain countries and is designed to provide fast turnaround for international customers. We recommend that you print out the PDF instruction file and actually spend 10 minutes going through the examples on-line. If you can't find something please contact us as not all information is on the database at this time. One final word when you order material it is very important to make sure that you use the proper story number. There are several other numbers that will pop up during your research but you must provide us with the STORY_NUMBER
There are two database options to choose from. The Complete Database contains all records, currently entered. Movietone Lite contains 55 hours of material, representing the essence of the collection. The material contained in Movietone Lite is physically present in certain countries and is designed to provide fast turnaround for international customers. We recommend that you print out the PDF instruction file and actually spend 10 minutes going through the examples on-line. If you can't find something please contact us as not all information is on the database at this time. One final word when you order material it is very important to make sure that you use the proper story number. There are several other numbers that will pop up during your research but you must provide us with the STORY_NUMBER
law.com - Article: "Web Watch: Laughing at Lawyers and the Law
Robert J. Ambrogi
Law Technology News
07-26-2004
Law is serious stuff. But don't tell that to New York lawyer Lawrence Savell, for fear he might abandon his endlessly entertaining site, LawHumor.com, www.lawhumor.com.
Savell dedicates his site 'to the proposition that zealous representation of clients and furtherance of the public good can be only enhanced by a healthy willingness to poke fun at ourselves appropriately on occasion.'
And poke fun he does, through humorous articles, music, comics and even games. Consider, for example, 'Law Review: A Love Story,' a lawyer love story written in the style of a law review, complete with footnotes. Listen to excerpts from Savell's recording, 'The Lawyer's Holiday Humor Album,' featuring songs such as 'Santa v. Acme Sleigh' and 'Rainmaker Reindeer.' Check out Savell's Typo-Man comic book. Play games including 'Law Humor Hangman' and 'Arrange the Exhibits.'
You could kill a lot of otherwise billable time at LawHumor.com, but then you'd be missing out on the many other sites devoted to making lawyers laugh -- or to laughing at lawyers. "
Robert J. Ambrogi
Law Technology News
07-26-2004
Law is serious stuff. But don't tell that to New York lawyer Lawrence Savell, for fear he might abandon his endlessly entertaining site, LawHumor.com, www.lawhumor.com.
Savell dedicates his site 'to the proposition that zealous representation of clients and furtherance of the public good can be only enhanced by a healthy willingness to poke fun at ourselves appropriately on occasion.'
And poke fun he does, through humorous articles, music, comics and even games. Consider, for example, 'Law Review: A Love Story,' a lawyer love story written in the style of a law review, complete with footnotes. Listen to excerpts from Savell's recording, 'The Lawyer's Holiday Humor Album,' featuring songs such as 'Santa v. Acme Sleigh' and 'Rainmaker Reindeer.' Check out Savell's Typo-Man comic book. Play games including 'Law Humor Hangman' and 'Arrange the Exhibits.'
You could kill a lot of otherwise billable time at LawHumor.com, but then you'd be missing out on the many other sites devoted to making lawyers laugh -- or to laughing at lawyers. "
Sunday, July 25, 2004
Slashdot | Marian The Robot Librarian
Marian The Robot LibrarianPosted by michael on Saturday July 24, @11:20
from the dept.
nusratt writes 'BBC reports on robotics researchers in Spain, who have developed a prototype which can retrieve books from library shelves while patrons are present. 'When it receives a request for a book, its voice recognition software matches the titles with the book's classification code to identify which bookshelf stack to go to. The robot navigates its way to the bookshelf, using its infrared and laser guidance system, and scans books within a four-metre radius. Once the book is located, it has to grasp it and take it off the bookshelf, which is not a simple as it might seem. For this, the team had to develop special fingertips like nails, with one nail longer than the other. 'For me that was the hardest part. All the other things were current state of the art technology,' said Professor Pobil.' The article also discusses using robots to assist in digitizing library materials.' "
My take:
...
Library shmyberry ! (Score:1)
by oldfox (799873) on Sunday July 25, @11:05PM (#9798064)
(http://oldfox.info/)
If true, this is merely an eccentric invention. Certainly nothing to do with librarianship, categorization of information, or research.
1. The sole purpose of the costly and time consuming task of assigning call numbers to books is to enable browsing the shelves for similar materials. In libraries with closed stacks, where pages, runners, or even robots, pull books by request of the reader (such as the Library of Congress, the British Library, the NYPL on 5th Ave.) there is no point at all in putting on call numbers. In fact it's a complete waste of money.
2. Amazon does not assign call numbers and it doesn't need them to pull a book. Amazon does not have a cataloging backlog like every library does. Every book has an ISDN number today and every book, journal, serial and monograph retailed today has a bar code on the wrapper.
3. This is really of value (if it works at all) as an order fulfillment system in any warehouse. I would venture to suggest that FedEx, UPS, DHL, most any mail order business and even the postal service have developed better ways of order-picking, retrieving a uniquely numbered item than using voice recognition (for an infinite number of different speakers) and a dinky robot running up and down the stacks.
No wonder Spain is so little known for it's brain surgery, rocket science, or advanced technology.
Saturday, July 24, 2004
McMillan Market Commentary
Friday, July 23, 2004
Note: Please use the following link to view this week's charts:
http://www.optionstrategist.com/products/advisories/hotline/charts.asp
To receive the complete commentary plus reccomendations visit here: http://www.optionstrategist.com/offers/strategist.htm
Stock Market
Bulls are very complacent, and we view that as a major bearish
argument. Not only does $VIX remain low, but in the media, most
analysts talk of dullness or of a trading range, when in reality this
market is accelerating to the downside. They cite bullish news and
positive earnings reports, completely ignoring the fact that the market
has sold off on those supposedly positive items. That sort of market
reaction is typical of a bear market, and thus we feel it will be
necessary for the market to see 'capitulation' in the form of massive
oversold readings before this market will be a 'buy' again.
In addition, our technical indicators remain on sell signals. The
major indices have all broken below support and below their longer-
term (200-day) moving averages something that usually triggers
institutional selling (and it has done so once again). We are nearing
the yearly lows (Figure 1), but this time we don't have the negative
sentiment readings that we did back in May when a nice rally sprang
forth from this support area. Unless investor sentiment turns quickly
negative, we think the support will not hold this time.
Equity-only put-call ratios remain on sell signals (Figures 2 & 3).
The standard ratio (leftmost chart) has made a new high and thus is
considered oversold. However, the weighted ratio is far less oversold.
Both are still rising and thus are on 'sells.'
Market breadth has taken on a negative tone as well, and thus
this indicator is a sell signal as well.
Finally, the volatility indices ($VIX and $VXO) remain
stubbornly low. No one is panicking. The last two times that the
market fell to these levels this year, $VIX spiked up above 20.
Currently, $VIX is still below 17, even though $SPX and $OEX are
near their yearly lows. We feel that a move above 17 by $VIX will
trigger another sell signal, perhaps signaling a waterfall wave of
selling in the market before buy signals can be generated.
This market is extremely dangerous, and this is a dangerous time
of the year (August through October). Do not fall asleep! Take
bearish action or at least protect your longs. When the technical
indicators turn bullish, only then will it be time to buy.
To receive the complete commentary plus reccomendations visit here: http://www.optionstrategist.com/offers/strategist.htm
Friday, July 23, 2004
Deep Web Research Subject Tracer? Information Blog: "Surfpack
http://www.surfpack.com/
Surfpack builds a single HTML page that contains all your favorite web resources displayed in any way, form or shape you like - favorite URL links, newsfeeds, entire web pages etc. The page you create also comes with search tools, horoscopes, current weather conditions, LiveJournal diaries, humor, and other web modules. There are dozens of tools that make your online experience with Surfpack much more enjoyable than simple web surfing, cluttered with unwanted banners and pop-up ads. Unlike online portals, no registration required to open or modify your startpage! In addition, Surfpack supports many popular syndication formats - RSS, Atom, XML/XSL, JavaScript, HTML. "
http://www.surfpack.com/
Surfpack builds a single HTML page that contains all your favorite web resources displayed in any way, form or shape you like - favorite URL links, newsfeeds, entire web pages etc. The page you create also comes with search tools, horoscopes, current weather conditions, LiveJournal diaries, humor, and other web modules. There are dozens of tools that make your online experience with Surfpack much more enjoyable than simple web surfing, cluttered with unwanted banners and pop-up ads. Unlike online portals, no registration required to open or modify your startpage! In addition, Surfpack supports many popular syndication formats - RSS, Atom, XML/XSL, JavaScript, HTML. "
Custom Research Center: "Type your question in the text entry box provided along with any relevant background information.
Tell us when you need the answer. We will work with you to set a mutually agreed upon deadline.
A research professional will contact you to refine you question.
We will review our proprietary subject files and our extensive reference and journal collection.
We will also search the Web, online databases and other fee-based sources to which you may not have access.
Our answer will include a brief summary memo with findings, comments and insight.
We may also provide a dossier of articles, statistics and other relevant information.
Authorize a credit card payment of $375 using our secure transaction portal.
We will make every effort to find the specific answer to your question, subject to available information. "
Tell us when you need the answer. We will work with you to set a mutually agreed upon deadline.
A research professional will contact you to refine you question.
We will review our proprietary subject files and our extensive reference and journal collection.
We will also search the Web, online databases and other fee-based sources to which you may not have access.
Our answer will include a brief summary memo with findings, comments and insight.
We may also provide a dossier of articles, statistics and other relevant information.
Authorize a credit card payment of $375 using our secure transaction portal.
We will make every effort to find the specific answer to your question, subject to available information. "
Untitled Document: "FLAWED ONLINE SEARCHES COSTING U.S. BUSINESSES
$31 BILLION EACH YEAR*
New York, NY ? June 17, 2004 ? U.S. businesses are throwing away billions of dollars in lost time due to ineffective and deficient research tools, according to a new study released today by FIND/SVP (OTCBB: FSVP), a leading provider of business research, advisory, and consulting services. In fact, 84 percent of respondents feel that Web searches take longer than they should due to poor results, resulting in an estimated $31 billion in wasted time. According to the study, 71 percent of business executives are frustrated with consumer search engines, and an astonishing 74 percent are not confident that their results are reliable. Despite this lack of confidence, 67 percent state that it would be difficult or impossible to do their jobs without Web-based search tools. "
$31 BILLION EACH YEAR*
New York, NY ? June 17, 2004 ? U.S. businesses are throwing away billions of dollars in lost time due to ineffective and deficient research tools, according to a new study released today by FIND/SVP (OTCBB: FSVP), a leading provider of business research, advisory, and consulting services. In fact, 84 percent of respondents feel that Web searches take longer than they should due to poor results, resulting in an estimated $31 billion in wasted time. According to the study, 71 percent of business executives are frustrated with consumer search engines, and an astonishing 74 percent are not confident that their results are reliable. Despite this lack of confidence, 67 percent state that it would be difficult or impossible to do their jobs without Web-based search tools. "
Google Seawch: rp1611.pdf site:stanford.edu: "[PDF] RESEARCH PAPER SERIES
Fiwe Fowmat: PDF/Adobe Acrobat
Page 1. RESEARCH PAPER SERIES GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS STANFORD
UNIVERSITY Research Paper No. 1611 Information Technology as a ...
www.gsb.stanford.edu/CEBC/pdfs/rp1611.pdf - Simiwar pages "
Fiwe Fowmat: PDF/Adobe Acrobat
Page 1. RESEARCH PAPER SERIES GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS STANFORD
UNIVERSITY Research Paper No. 1611 Information Technology as a ...
www.gsb.stanford.edu/CEBC/pdfs/rp1611.pdf - Simiwar pages "
Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of the World Wide Web, Knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
"Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of the World Wide Web, Knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) honored at Buckingham Palace for services to global development of the Internet"
Deep Web Research Subject Tracer--Information Blog
Friday, July 23, 2004
DeepWebResearch.info is a Subject Tracer™ Information Blog developed and created by the Virtual Private Library™. It is designed to bring together the latest resources and sources on an ongoing basis from the Internet for deep web research. We always welcome suggestions of additional sites and resources to be added to this comprehensive listing and please submit by clicking here. This site has been developed and maintained by Marcus P. Zillman, M.S., A.M.H.A.; Internet author, speaker, consultant and expert. Additional links and resources by Marcus are available by clicking here. His white paper titled Using the Internet As a Dynamic Resource Tool for Knowledge Discovery (a 16 page .pdf document) is available by clicking here. His latest column (July 2004) titled Data Mining Resources on the Internet (.pdf document) is available by clicking here with previous columns available here. His white paper titled Current Awareness Discovery Tools on the Internet (a 19 page .pdf document) is available by clicking here. His latest white paper titled Searching the Internet (a 11 page .pdf document) is available by clicking here. Click here for information on Marcus P. Zillman's latest manual titled Internet Sources™.
Friday, July 23, 2004
Deep Web Research Resources and Sites
DeepWebResearch.info is a Subject Tracer™ Information Blog developed and created by the Virtual Private Library™. It is designed to bring together the latest resources and sources on an ongoing basis from the Internet for deep web research. We always welcome suggestions of additional sites and resources to be added to this comprehensive listing and please submit by clicking here. This site has been developed and maintained by Marcus P. Zillman, M.S., A.M.H.A.; Internet author, speaker, consultant and expert. Additional links and resources by Marcus are available by clicking here. His white paper titled Using the Internet As a Dynamic Resource Tool for Knowledge Discovery (a 16 page .pdf document) is available by clicking here. His latest column (July 2004) titled Data Mining Resources on the Internet (.pdf document) is available by clicking here with previous columns available here. His white paper titled Current Awareness Discovery Tools on the Internet (a 19 page .pdf document) is available by clicking here. His latest white paper titled Searching the Internet (a 11 page .pdf document) is available by clicking here. Click here for information on Marcus P. Zillman's latest manual titled Internet Sources™.
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Headline Legal News: "Headline Legal News
Lawyers' Group Tired Of Political Slams
The American Bar Association is asking Republicans and Democrats to stop using lawyers and judges as 'convenient scapegoats to scare the public.' 'We recognize that campaign debate may involve our court systems, judges or the legal profession,' ABA president Dennis W. Archer said in a letter Tuesday to the chairmen of the Republican and Democratic parties.
by Douglass K. Daniel, Associate Press"
Lawyers' Group Tired Of Political Slams
The American Bar Association is asking Republicans and Democrats to stop using lawyers and judges as 'convenient scapegoats to scare the public.' 'We recognize that campaign debate may involve our court systems, judges or the legal profession,' ABA president Dennis W. Archer said in a letter Tuesday to the chairmen of the Republican and Democratic parties.
by Douglass K. Daniel, Associate Press"
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Democrat Ed Koch on "Why Bush Must Win"
Ed Koch, the former three-term Democratic mayor of New York City, is strongly supporting President Bush for re-election. On the issue of who can keep America safe, Koch thinks it's no contest. For Koch, the key question boils down to this: "If John Kerry were to win this presidential election, would he stand up to terrorism to the same extent as George Bush? I don't think so." Koch writes:
I support the reelection of President George W. Bush. Why? Because I believe one issue overwhelms all others: the President's strong commitment to fight the forces of international terrorism regardless of the cost or how long it takes to achieve victory.
I do not agree with President Bush on a single major domestic issue, but in my view, those issues pale in comparison with the threat of international terrorism. Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the evil poster boys of mass murder, are revered and supported by millions of Muslims throughout the world. The stated goal of al-Qaeda and its supporters is to kill or convert every infidel, and that means Jews, Christians, Buddhists, and everyone else who will not accept Islam's supremacy.
Shortly after 9/11, President Bush announced his commitment to the struggle against Islamic fanatics who believe they can destroy the values of western civilization and democratic governments everywhere. On entering this war against terrorism after 9/11, President Bush said, "We shall go after the terrorists and the countries that harbor them." This Bush Doctrine rivals in importance the Monroe Doctrine, which limited the colonization efforts of foreign powers in the western hemisphere, and the Truman Doctrine, which contained the spread of Communism. President Bush has proven that he is prepared to keep to his commitment to fight terrorism.
Are you a Democrat who supports President Bush? Show your support by signing up as a volunteer for his campaign, and select the Democrats for Bush coalition.
Monday, July 19, 2004
Monday's Street Chatter: 3M Company, Ask Jeeves, and Kmart Holdings
Beth Gaston (bgaston@sir-inc.com)7/19/2004 1:58 PM ET
A daily feature available on SchaeffersResearch.com is "Street Chatter." Every day, we'll focus on three newsworthy stocks that are generating a lot of attention on Internet message boards. We hope that this will effectively offer stock information, particularly on equities that are currently popular among those in the investing community.
3M Company
Consumer-goods giant 3M Company (MMM: sentiment, chart, options) issued a mixed earnings report this morning. For the second quarter, the company collected 97 cents per share, a penny above the Wall Street estimate and 24 percent better than year-ago results. Net climbed 25 percent for MMM and revenue was up 9.4 percent. Sales rose 9.3 percent, slightly missing analysts' expectations. Looking forward, MMM officials expect third-quarter earnings-per-share results to be flat with the second quarter at 97 cents. The company did, however, boost its fiscal year earnings numbers to $3.72-$3.75 per share from $3.60-$3.70.
Investors sided with the bears, however, and have sent MMM gapping more than five percent lower today. The stock has slipped beneath its 20-week moving average and below the 84 level of earlier consolidation. From a longer-term perspective, the stock is precariously perched on its 10-month moving average, below which MMM has not endured a monthly close since September 2002.
On the sentiment front, the Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) for MMM has been traipsing lower since June expiration to its present reading of 0.68, which is lower than all of the past year's worth of data. This implies a peak in optimistic sentiment among the speculative options community. Optimism, or at least complacency, is also evidenced by the lack of short interest on the stock, representing about one percent of the total float. Analysts are also fairly positive toward MMM. According to Zacks, there are currently nine "buy" ratings on the shares, six "holds" and no outright "sell" ratings at this juncture.
FindLaw for Students: Academic Law Journals and Law Reviews: General Law Reviews: "Academic Law Reviews and Journals : General Law Reviews "
The New York Times editorializes to take your Virginia guns away
July 19, 2004
The Right to Bare Arms
The latte grande at the Starbucks in Tysons Corner, Va., must have seemed extra steamy last month when two college students bellied up to the bar packing pistols on their hips, as casually as if they wore cellphones. Someone called the police, who confiscated the handguns and charged the students. But wait: the Catch-22 in Virginia's enfeebled gun control laws has kicked in.
Sure there's a state law against carrying loaded firearms in public. But the lethal fine print defines "firearm" as a 20-round-plus assault rifle. So smaller weapons, like the .22-caliber and 9-millimeter pistols the students flaunted in their holsters, are legal and no permit is required.
The pistols were returned, thereby contributing to a celebratory mood among the state's gun enthusiasts. Now they're strutting their Second Amendment stuff among Main Street shoppers and restaurant diners in Washington's booming Virginia suburbs.
There was what seemed a self-fantasized posse of six this month at a table in a Champps restaurant, their weapons prominent as pepper mills. The same false alarm ensued, with a police patrol backing off in the face of citizens' exercising their rights, according to The Washington Post. And how about the couple walking their dogs on busy Market Street in Reston? They carried pistols on their hips, plus extra ammunition clips, as if the area were a set from "The Wild Bunch" and not one of the most crime-free places in Virginia.
The flaunting ritual is a tribute to "open carry" gun laws on the books in a score of states. Outcries from the unarmed public usually go unheeded. In Utah, university administrators worried over students' wearing guns in dormitories were overruled by the legislature, which defended gun rights — even to the point of packing in class.
You'd think Virginia citizens concerned about weapons in public would be able to seek comfort in the primacy of local controls. Alexandria, for instance, has barred open carrying. But that was before the very latest Catch-22 in Virginia law: effective this month, state law bars any locality from enacting gun regulations. Gotcha.
Sunday, July 18, 2004
IOL: A Step Beyond: "Scrabblers get bhaji, jaxie, arsey and blog
Staff Reporter
July 10 2004 at 09:56AM
From bhaji to jaxie, Collins Scrabble Words, published this week, offers a wealth of new words for foodies, techies, luvvies, homies, hardcore Scrabble tournament champions and everybody inbetween.
Words from India to Newcastle and from South Africa to the East End are all included, giving Scrabble fans 45 000 new words to play with!
Kylie Minogue and Salman Rushdie are well known to lock horns over a game of Scrabble, along with a host of other celebrities. New Australian words are a major feature in the word list and include alko, adjigo, plus some rather useful three-letter words such as exo or even iwi from New Zealand.
But if Kylie thinks she will have Rushdie beaten she will have to think again. He will find a wealth of Indian words and should have no problem beating her with bhaji, biriani, akhara and jhatka to name but a few.
Collins's massive investigation into regional language last year recorded a renaissance in the use of regional words and these have been used to enrich their Scrabble Words. Their dictionary team has always prided itself for being at the forefront of new language recording.
Techies playing online Scrabble will be able to put their knowledge of the latest computer words to use with blog, app, chatroom and cyberwar. Bratpacker, arsey, shagtastic, skanky and kewl will appeal to the younger players.
Collins Scrabble Words is also the first word list that includes all of the longer words eligible for Scrabble. Players will now be able to build words such as snakehead, greenlight, ghettoblaster, cyberterrorism, drunkathon, headbang and bioweapon by adding to words already placed on the"
Staff Reporter
July 10 2004 at 09:56AM
From bhaji to jaxie, Collins Scrabble Words, published this week, offers a wealth of new words for foodies, techies, luvvies, homies, hardcore Scrabble tournament champions and everybody inbetween.
Words from India to Newcastle and from South Africa to the East End are all included, giving Scrabble fans 45 000 new words to play with!
Kylie Minogue and Salman Rushdie are well known to lock horns over a game of Scrabble, along with a host of other celebrities. New Australian words are a major feature in the word list and include alko, adjigo, plus some rather useful three-letter words such as exo or even iwi from New Zealand.
But if Kylie thinks she will have Rushdie beaten she will have to think again. He will find a wealth of Indian words and should have no problem beating her with bhaji, biriani, akhara and jhatka to name but a few.
Collins's massive investigation into regional language last year recorded a renaissance in the use of regional words and these have been used to enrich their Scrabble Words. Their dictionary team has always prided itself for being at the forefront of new language recording.
Techies playing online Scrabble will be able to put their knowledge of the latest computer words to use with blog, app, chatroom and cyberwar. Bratpacker, arsey, shagtastic, skanky and kewl will appeal to the younger players.
Collins Scrabble Words is also the first word list that includes all of the longer words eligible for Scrabble. Players will now be able to build words such as snakehead, greenlight, ghettoblaster, cyberterrorism, drunkathon, headbang and bioweapon by adding to words already placed on the"
Saturday, July 17, 2004
The complete history of the Love Rat
From the Independent of London
News
"Bill Clinton
Rat sheet: Gennifer, Paula, Monica ... Is it the Arsenal women's football team sheet or the list of Bill's lovers?
Rat chic: Cigar anyone?
Sewer depths: Believing that we'd believe it when he said: 'I did not have sex with that woman.'
Rat trap: Who needs Rentokil when you've got Kenneth Starr?
Gnawing doubt: Hillary says his philandering is 'a weakness caused by psychological abuse when he was a small child.' And we thought he was just a cad.
Rodent rating: 4 rats"
Thursday, July 08, 2004
QQQ (Nasdaq 100) stock & options spreads trading systems: "Start with $4,000..
Includes QQQ stock+ option picks,and new spread picks!
Easy to use... you don't have to execute each trade yourself:
- autotrade executes the trades for you
HINT: Set up your optionsXpress account as an IRA and
designate 10% of capital for each trade! We do the rest!
You have full control to change parameters at any time.
IRA eliminates tax reporting until withdrawals commence
Actual 2003 QQQ Option Gain: 279%
Actual 2003 QQQ Stock Gain: 47% "
Includes QQQ stock+ option picks,and new spread picks!
Easy to use... you don't have to execute each trade yourself:
- autotrade executes the trades for you
HINT: Set up your optionsXpress account as an IRA and
designate 10% of capital for each trade! We do the rest!
You have full control to change parameters at any time.
IRA eliminates tax reporting until withdrawals commence
Actual 2003 QQQ Option Gain: 279%
Actual 2003 QQQ Stock Gain: 47% "
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Stages Of Success
at age 4 ...success is ... not peeing in you pants
at age 12...success is ... having friends
at age 16...success is ... having a drivers license
at age 20...success is ... having sex
at age 35...success is ... having money
at age 50...success is ... having money
at age 60...success is ... having sex
at age 70...success is ... having a drivers license
at age 75...success is ... having friends
at age 80...success is ... not peeing in your pants
at age 4 ...success is ... not peeing in you pants
at age 12...success is ... having friends
at age 16...success is ... having a drivers license
at age 20...success is ... having sex
at age 35...success is ... having money
at age 50...success is ... having money
at age 60...success is ... having sex
at age 70...success is ... having a drivers license
at age 75...success is ... having friends
at age 80...success is ... not peeing in your pants
GeorgeWBush.com :: The Economy Line: Fastest Growing Economy In 20 Years: "Wednesday, July 07, 2004
The Economy Line: Fastest Growing Economy In 20 Years
Economy On Track For Fastest Growth In 20 Years. 'The economy appears headed for a banner year despite a springtime spike in energy prices and a recent increase in interest rates. In fact, many analysts are forecasting that the overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, will grow by 4.6 percent or better this year, the fastest in two decades. There were strong 4.5 percent growth rates in 1997 and 1999, when Bill Clinton was president and the country was in the midst of a record 10-year expansion. But if this year's growth ends up a bit faster than that, it will be the best since the economy roared ahead at a 7.2 percent rate in 1984, a year when another Republican president - Ronald Reagan - was running for re-election.' (Martin Crutsinger, 'Economy At Midyear On Track For Best Growth In Two Decades,' The Associated Press, 7/7/04)
The Economy Line: Fastest Growing Economy In 20 Years
Economy On Track For Fastest Growth In 20 Years. 'The economy appears headed for a banner year despite a springtime spike in energy prices and a recent increase in interest rates. In fact, many analysts are forecasting that the overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, will grow by 4.6 percent or better this year, the fastest in two decades. There were strong 4.5 percent growth rates in 1997 and 1999, when Bill Clinton was president and the country was in the midst of a record 10-year expansion. But if this year's growth ends up a bit faster than that, it will be the best since the economy roared ahead at a 7.2 percent rate in 1984, a year when another Republican president - Ronald Reagan - was running for re-election.' (Martin Crutsinger, 'Economy At Midyear On Track For Best Growth In Two Decades,' The Associated Press, 7/7/04)
Monday, July 05, 2004
MSN Money - Jubak's Journal: "Landing government business
Choicepoint (CPS, news, msgs) is in the personal history business. For example, it provides the data that employers use for pre-employment screening by searching through its own and public databases of drivers' license data and criminal activity. Recently, the company bought Investigation Technologies, the operator of the Rapsheets Criminal Records Web site that provides online criminal records searches for mid-size companies.
Choicepoint also works with government agencies -- the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Immigration and Naturalization Service are all customers -- to provide identity checks and personal history. And the company runs consumer businesses such as the Vitalchek Web site that provides certified copies of birth, death and marriage certificates. The stock trades at 28 times projected 2004 earnings per share, not too expensive for a company that Wall Street expects to grow earnings by nearly 20% a year for the next five years."
Choicepoint (CPS, news, msgs) is in the personal history business. For example, it provides the data that employers use for pre-employment screening by searching through its own and public databases of drivers' license data and criminal activity. Recently, the company bought Investigation Technologies, the operator of the Rapsheets Criminal Records Web site that provides online criminal records searches for mid-size companies.
Choicepoint also works with government agencies -- the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Immigration and Naturalization Service are all customers -- to provide identity checks and personal history. And the company runs consumer businesses such as the Vitalchek Web site that provides certified copies of birth, death and marriage certificates. The stock trades at 28 times projected 2004 earnings per share, not too expensive for a company that Wall Street expects to grow earnings by nearly 20% a year for the next five years."
Friday, July 02, 2004
Department of Justice: "
Information based on the Departmental publication 'Legal System in Hong Kong' printed in 2004"
Information based on the Departmental publication 'Legal System in Hong Kong' printed in 2004"
Glossary: "English-Chinese Glossary of Legal Terms
In order to promote bilingualism in legal matters, the Law Drafting Division of the Department of Justice published in 1995 an English-Chinese Glossary of legal terms which was compiled from materials contained in bilingual legislation."
Chinese-English Glossary of Legal Terms
In response to calls for a Chinese-English glossary, the Law Drafting Division of the Department of Justice published in December 1999 a Chinese-English Glossary of Legal Terms which contains around 11 500 entries.
In order to promote bilingualism in legal matters, the Law Drafting Division of the Department of Justice published in 1995 an English-Chinese Glossary of legal terms which was compiled from materials contained in bilingual legislation."
Chinese-English Glossary of Legal Terms
In response to calls for a Chinese-English glossary, the Law Drafting Division of the Department of Justice published in December 1999 a Chinese-English Glossary of Legal Terms which contains around 11 500 entries.
Search Workshop Submissions: "CHI 2003 - Best Practices and Future Visions for Search UIs: A Workshop (last updated 4.15.03)"
The knowledge management puzzle: Human and social factors in knowledge management: "The knowledge management puzzle: Human and social factors in knowledge management
by J. C. Thomas, W. A. Kellogg, and T. Erickson
Knowledge management is often seen as a problem of capturing, organizing, and retrieving information, evoking notions of data mining, text clustering, databases, and documents. We believe that this view is too simple. Knowledge is inextricably bound up with human cognition, and the management of knowledge occurs within an intricately structured social context. We argue that it is essential for those designing knowledge management systems to consider the human and social factors at play in the production and use of knowledge. We review work?ranging from basic research to applied techniques?that emphasizes cognitive and social factors in knowledge management. We then describe two approaches to designing socially informed knowledge management systems, social computing and knowledge socialization. "
by J. C. Thomas, W. A. Kellogg, and T. Erickson
Knowledge management is often seen as a problem of capturing, organizing, and retrieving information, evoking notions of data mining, text clustering, databases, and documents. We believe that this view is too simple. Knowledge is inextricably bound up with human cognition, and the management of knowledge occurs within an intricately structured social context. We argue that it is essential for those designing knowledge management systems to consider the human and social factors at play in the production and use of knowledge. We review work?ranging from basic research to applied techniques?that emphasizes cognitive and social factors in knowledge management. We then describe two approaches to designing socially informed knowledge management systems, social computing and knowledge socialization. "
Thesaurus Construction: "Thesaurus Construction
Welcome to the Introductory Tutorial on Thesaurus Construction
The purpose of this module is to teach you the basics of constructing an information retrieval thesaurus."
Welcome to the Introductory Tutorial on Thesaurus Construction
The purpose of this module is to teach you the basics of constructing an information retrieval thesaurus."
Thursday, July 01, 2004
DC Legislative History tips
FYI. If you need to find a legislative history of a DC law, please see the following suggestions from the above group:
If you can find the DC Bill Number, or DC Act number (which is in the DC Register) you can request a copy of the bill file from the DC Council Legislative Services Division (located in the Council building). To call them for more info: 202-724-8050. The cool thing is the DC file is free. It usually takes about 2-3 days though. They don't let you copy it yourself at the building.
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Call Legislative Services at 202-727-5090. If the law isn't too old, they will make a photocopy of the legislative file. It might take a week or so.
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You might try calling DC Legislative Office at 202-724-8050. They will provide assistance to those who call and make an advance appt. This is the archivist of DC legislative histories. The Washingtonia Dept. of the MLK DC Library has DC Codes and DCMR (the regs) going back for decades but not actual compilations of legislative histories.
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While this is not a comprehensive answer, its the one I defaulted to last week when I was in your situation.
The DC Code from West is actually very good at listing out Legislative history action at the end of each section. Great place to start if you can. There are several numbers involved: the bill number, the Act number (when council passes it), and the Law number (when US Congress approves of it). You can also get to this from the DC Government Website.
If it is recent, you can search the DC Register which publishes bills and passed law text, from the DC Council website.
Call the DC Council Office of the Secretary - they have full legislative history files on everything - all the way back. They will copy out bill/law text, but if you want the entire file you have to make an appointment and go to them. The person I was talking to was very personable.
D.C. School of Law, it seems, has a collection of this stuff. The library catalog is online.
As I said, not very comprehensive, but it worked.
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I haven't time to reply fully just now but this topic has been covered a couple of times in the newsletter of the Law Librarians' Society of Washington DC. You could try searching the website at www.llsdc.org. It is possible someone in the organization has compiled a history of what you want. Look for the sales publication, Union List of Legislative Histories, and then call the contact person and ask them to look up what you want. However, I am not certain that DC laws are included.The bottom-line is that compiling a DC legislative history is a tedious process and all the work has to be done at the DC City Building and appointments and multiple visits are required. Older histories are actually easier to do than newer ones because more was transcribed.
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Try these DC gov't offices (and website), probably start with legislative services. Maybe the big databases of lexis-nexis and westlaw have this but I wouldnt be surprised if not.
http://www.dccouncil.washington.dc.us/
District Gov. Operator 202-727-1000
DC City Council 202-724-8080
Legis. Services 202-724-8050
DC Register 202-727-5090
DC Court Lib. 202-879-1435
Don't forget to emphasize you are a lay person to legal stuff.
Your requestors probaby want a) committee reports and b) earlier drafts of a bill plus amendments, the latter which (I don't know DC) probably appear in whatever is the official record of DC legislative sessions.
Although not official, public statements in the public press on the legislation by councilpersons probably are sought, and a public press search can narrow down in lay language the legislative process and its timing.
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D.C. legislative history generally is not published the way federal legislative history is. To conduct research on a particular statute that was enacted by the D.C. Council, you need to contact the Office of Legislative Services in the office of the Secretary to the Council. It looks like that number is 202-724-8080 (from the not-very-helpful web site of the D.C. Council). The Office of Legislative Services has files on legislation that was passed by the Council, which you can go down and make photocopies of. Of course, if the legislation you are researching is from the pre-Home Rule era, i.e., pre-1974 or so, the legislative history research process is different, because it would be a matter of federal legislative history research.
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