Brian Gongol
Seeds coaxed into germination after 200 years in a notebook
UK Conservatives change logo to an abstract tree
The new style probably is intended to convey a sense of permanence, but it's not as libertarian as the old forearm-and-torch logo introduced by Margaret Thatcher. It's a little ironic hearing the Conservative Party talk about wanting to change.
3rd-party patch for Windows flaw released
A nasty set of flaws have been revealed, and Microsoft doesn't want to break the normal Patch Tuesday cycle
UN wants to change aid to Africa
Report says too many agencies push competing development projects; they want a "Marshall Plan"-style approach instead, with one big fund for development
F-14 retired
Explosive
Thai king gives thumbs-up to coup
A reminder that in 2006, people are still living under monarchs. Haven't we moved beyond that whole "divine right" thing? We can send humans to the moon and instantaneously search the world's information, but some lucky stiff still gets to rule a country because he or she won the genetic lottery?
Latin Americans working hard to learn Chinese
No big surprise: China wants raw materials, and South America has lots of them. More evidence that the US needs to buddy up with Latin America, and soon.
Report says UK didn't respond very well to the train bombings
Not enough emergency medical care and inadequate follow-up with the traumatized
Commerce Department has lost 1,100 laptops since 2001
Mostly from the Census Bureau and NOAA
Only half of Americans can read medication labels
Record number of students enrolled in Iowa community colleges
But while raising tuition at the state's community colleges and universities, Iowa is still dumping cash into subsidizing private businesses
Funding trouble for Lewis and Clark pipeline
Does a database of student papers violate the writers' intellectual property?
In a word: Yes
Defense Inspector General says US military didn't have Atta on radar before 9/11
The unclassified report is redacted to remove certain names, but it says that allegations that the military knew about Mohammed Atta before 9/11 aren't substantiated by any evidence. It's not good to know that they didn't have him on their screens -- but it is good to know that there doesn't appear to have been a cover-up about that failure.
Southern Command chief wants Venezuela's Chavez to shut up
Gen. Bantz Craddock: "I think there's an exporting of instability coming out of Venezuela. I think it's unfortunate."
Wal-Mart and Target in "publicity stunt" over cheap prescription drugs
They're offering some generic prescriptions for less than $4 a month -- but one pharmacist says they're just taking credit for prices that are already low
Abbas promises that new Palestinian government will recognize Israel
Meanwhile, Pakistan's President Musharraf says Richard Armitage threatened that the US would bomb Pakistan into the Stone Age if it didn't cooperate in the War on Terrorism.
Best trees for parkways and streetside rights-of-way in Iowa