Slate discusses How Kim Lost the Russians.  "In the latest sign that the North Korean nuclear crisis might be on the verge of settlement, Russia has embarked on a joint, 10-day naval exercise with South Korea and Japan."  Let's hope for the sake of the North Korean people that Kim loses the Chinese, too, as soon as possible.

Think blogs are a backwater?  WP reports Bush Campaign Reaching Out to Bloggers.  And no, this is not a fad...  I agree with Dave Winer that blogging is going to play a very important part in the 2004 elections...

Speaking of blogging, Bill Whittle has posted a new essay on Responsibility.  As usual I recommend you read it immediately, and savor.

CNN quotes Arnold:  "We must immediately attack the operating deficit head-on.  Now, does this mean that we are going to make cuts?  Yes.  Does this mean education is on the table?  No.  Does this mean I'm willing to raise taxes?  No."  Easier said than done, but at least he's saying it.

ABC reports Ocean Sponge May Be Best for Fiber Optics.  "Scientists say they have identified an ocean sponge living in the darkness of the deep sea that grows thin glass fibers capable of transmitting light better than industrial fiber optic cables used for telecommunication."  Now that is cool.  I keep saying it, but what an awesome time to be alive (as a nerd, that is!)

NYTimes says In Los Angeles, Strip Mall Food is Cool.  Hey, in LA everything is cool :)

The parody site DontBuyMusic.com is back on the air, after a redesign which they claim dodges the legal claims previously made by BuyMusic.com to get them to take it down.  I have a feeling this is temporary - the site is still pretty anti-BuyMusic.com - so you might want to check it out now while you can.

The Onion: I have an iPod in my mind.  "Thirty gigabytes?  So what?  I know 7,500 songs, maybe more.  Some songs, I forget I even have until they come around on shuffle."  Very apropos to yesterday's Rock 'n Roll post.  Okay, so everyone has an iPod in their mind, and why is it more fun to listen to music externally than internally? This is a very interesting question!

The market is smarter than the analysts department; yesterday I bemoaned the fact that whenever Intuit announces its fourth quarter results (always a loss), analysts and editors report it as a loss, instead of relative to the loss the previous year and in the context of the full-year numbers (always a tidy profit).  So, today the shares traded up nicely and closed 3% higher.  The people who own Intuit know more about it then the reporters.  Of course.

You knew USB was handy, right?  Ah, but did you know you could get a USB coffee warmer?  I didn't think so.  Unfortunately, according to this review its performance is, er, lukewarm...  [ via Gizmodo ]

Check out these pictures of a Hummingbird Nest.  Man, are they cute or what?  { Hummingbirds fly differently from other birds, their wings are different, etc.  They actually fly a lot more like large insects.  A typical hummingbird flaps their wings 50 times/second! }  [ via Boing Boing, in a post titled "Hot Chicks" :) ]