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Year: 2003

and they’re trampling the flowers too…

“The Queen has every right to feel insulted at the way she has been treated by Bush. The repairs will cost tens of thousands of pounds but the damage to historic and rare plants will be immense. They are still taking an inventory.” from the sunday mirror.

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truth and fiction | writing for the web

Writing situated within the context of a personal website does not need to be as high in quality as writing that has to stand without this “support.” A piece of fiction is good if these things are irrelevant: (1) when and where it was written; (2) whether ruminations from beebo.org.

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staatsoper | kylian ballet program with anna and astrid

on my second to last night in vienna, i went out to the staatsoper with anna and astrid. i can’t imagine better company for an evening at the ballet in vienna. anna is a former dancer and knows the history of the company and many of the dancers. astrid is terribly up to date on modern language german speaking theatre. my contribution would be a wide knowledge of classical ballet companies.we had some time to wait and sat together in the quite lovely café at ground level. while we were there an older lady came and sat with us. i…

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not alone in my frustration

the worst thing about doing web development is one can never seem to leave the computer.some blame it on lousy websites with poor design and slow technology (try buying an airplane ticket online). but i think it’s more the plight of the cyberdamned. i.e. webdevelopers. if you’re not working, you’re reading. if you’re not reading, you’re banking. i have started buying books again, just to have the occasion to read something that isn’t on the screen. the more we try to do online, the more entrapped we become. umberto eco shared some interesting thoughts about technology and reading recently with…

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at café prückel

this is my favorite café in vienna. much of my personal life has transpired here. always important meetings. here is a picture of anna-lapin with the other anna, the last time i saw her.

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Eisenhower read nine newspapers a day; Bush prefers his news ‘filtered’

Editor and Publisher’s Carl Sullivan noticed an interesting item about previous presidents’ appetite for news and how they compare with the current occupant of the Oval Office…. Dwight Eisenhower read nine newspaper a day. Bush likes to get his news “filtered.” “I glance at the headlines, just to get kind of a flavor,” Bush told Fox News… “I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who probably read the news themselves….the best way to get the news is from objective sources. And the most objective sources I have are people on my staff who tell me what’s happening…

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Fast Company: The Walmart You Don’t Know. …

what originally inspired the post was below an article in fastcompany about walmart. the scale of walmart’s operations is unbelievable. they are four times larger than the second biggest retailer in the us and larger than exxon or mobil. while this article focuses more on the issue of losing jobs overseas, it does not ignore the consequences of the walmartization of all aspects of life. walmart is leading the charge to lower prices and lower quality of life. americans seem to be waking up to the consequences. Wal-Mart has also lulled shoppers into ignoring the difference between the price of…

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how higher prices improve life

here in vienna, prices at the supermarket are magnitudes (between one and half and two times) higher than in toronto or elsewhere in north america, especially for cheese and produce. happily, the cheese and the produce are far better than what one is accustomed to in toronto. after a summer in carinthia and on the island of hvar, i became even more particular, so i still try to buy my fruits and vegetables at the freyag market on thursdays. the native fruits and vegetables of austria (apples, onions, beets, carrots, lettuce of various sorts, squash of all kinds, brussel sprouts,…

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