Things are getting ugly in Iraq right now.  Citizen Smash says it's Our Kind of Ugly.  We'll see.  I always thought there would have to be a reckoning with the militant Muslim factions, and I guess the June 30 deadline is forcing their hand.  The view from Baghdad has pictures of rioting Shi'ia in the streets.

John Kerry apparently considers Shiite Al-Sadr "a legitimate voice".

Out here in Southern California, there's finally resolution to a supermarket strike which had lasted five months.  Everybody lost.  Robert reflects on labor pains.

SFGate reports on a wonderful idea being tested in Pleasanton.  A stoplight has been rigged to a speed sensor; if approaching cars are traveling too fast, the light turns red.  It will be interesting to see if this really works.  I suspect it will.  The article also notes "At least one other place in California has put together a traffic signal that is deputized against speeders.  The Ventura County city of Thousand Oaks installed one in 2000."  That light is probably within 5 miles of my house.  I wonder where it is?

Nice new group blog from Wired magazine: Cult of Mac.  Subscribed.

Typical of the important items they feature, this one showing the iPod is nearly as dense as a house brick (and denser than various cellphones).  Not clear if this is good or bad.

There's an interesting comment thread on Scoble's blog about the Windows XP Media Center PC.

My thoughts...  Media Center seems like a great software platform.  However:

• MCPCs are expensive.  More than a PVR.  And way more than those little boxes people are making to connect TVs to PCs.
• People put computers in a different room from their home entertainment systems.  So which room does it go into?
• Like many people, my PC is a laptop with a docking station.  I wouldn't switch with a desktop for anything, even a *really* capable desktop like an MCPC.

I'm sure there will be some people who get them and they’ll probably love them.  But it doesn't feel like the way to get video to Aunt Tilly.

Tim Bray comments on the office doofuses in those Microsoft commercials.  "The message, insofar as there is one, is that people who work in offices are clueless doofuses, and that being around Microsoft Office will encourage poor grooming, juvenile behavior, and generally coming across like a complete moron."  I guess it takes a Sun engineer to give Microsoft good marketing advice.

Dan Gillmor: Linux on Desktop Makes Big Strides.  "It looks like I'm going to have to reconsider something I'd been taking for granted -- that Linux on the desktop, and especially the laptop, was a non-starter in the operating systems race. While I wasn't paying sufficient attention, the proverbial tortoise has been playing some serious catch-up."  I must check out OpenOffice...

Apparently Red Squirrels in Britain are facing extinction.  "Reds are being squeezed out by the more versatile American grey squirrels introduced as a curiosity in fashionable London gardens in the 1870s."  Too bad, they look really cute.  [ via BigWig, in a post entitled "Over Large, Over Fed and Over Here" ]

Lakeland Today surveys seven ways to save "Lake Red". 
(The red squirrels live in the so-called Lake District.)

Well this is interesting: ABC News reports Surgeons Who Play Video Games Err Less.  "Researchers found that doctors who spent at least three hours a week playing video games made about 37 percent fewer mistakes in laparoscopic surgery and performed the task 27 percent faster than their counterparts who did not play video games."  So be it.  Kind of like the way playing foosball keeps you sharp for coding :)

Here we have the biggest subwoofer in the world.  Wow.  "Total efficiency: more than 110 dB/1 watt/1 meter.  The total electrical capability of the 16 woofers is about 400 Wrms power per woofer that means about 400 x 16 = 6400 Wrms total."  Perfect for UB40; Kingston Town.

Not a good name: IKEA's Fartyg bathroom wall spotlight.

Paul Boutin: "I really think that if Jesus were around today, he would have a blog."