It looks like scientists' concerns about Mount St. Helens were correct: it spewed steam and ash 10,000 feet into the air this morning.

I visited Mount St. Helens a few years ago when I was in Seattle. What an astounding place.

After the eruption in 1980, a great deal of the surrounding land was reclaimed by the federal government. People no longe live or work within a large radius of the mountain. The lack of people, plus the destruction following the eruption left the land pristine. A beautiful moonscape, even 20 years later.

POTD

"Mommie -- I don't like the clown. She scares me."

"I even take the position that sexual orgies eliminate social tensions and ought to be encouraged[...]"

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Maybe he is getting a little too old for his job.

I'm so glad that Wonkette has President Bush's little "love" gaffe quote. I laughed out loud when he said that last night. Didn't he learn from the whole gynecologists goof?

Lots of people at the NY Photobloggers meet-up.

	Chris, of 114th.net		Don Tetto, of FolderBlog
	Joseph O. Holmes, of joe's nyc		Formerly 669
	Ixtayul Martinez of MetroPlus		Laura Holder
	Michael Cosantino, of meccapixel		Eliot Shepard, of slower.net
	Jake Dobkin, of bluejake

About half-way through, someone thought it would be good to dim all the lights. Thanks. That makes taking photos so much easier. All that darkness.

Interesting thing on Slashdot while I listen to the debate: RedHat software seems to have bought Netscape's server products, including the certificate management server and the directory server. Interstingly, neither the CNet article nor the RedHat press release mention Netscape's webserver or application server.

I'm not surprised, as the webserver is somewhat stagnant and the application server was clunky and out of date years ago.

CNet reports that the deal was in the $25 million range. How sad. AOL paid billions for Netscape, then ended up knifing the baby in a thousand ways. Now divested from the browser division, and giving away the server products for $25 million, AOL seems not to want to be in the software business.

POTD

Spied on Lexington Avenue. I didn't think anyone did this anymore. I thought this died out along with token sucking.

Lisa Williams: Edible Greeting Cards for Dogs

It seems that there has been an auto accident involving Richard Stallman and several other free software developers. It sounds bad.

An espresso glossary.

It looks cool and all, but if the sensor is 36x48mm, is it really medium format digital?

POTD

Lacquer.

Heather Powazek Champ has some great photos of a dress made entirely of key rings and Fresnel lenses.

POTD

BBC NEWS: Voting arrangements in Florida do not meet "basic international requirements" and could undermine the US election, former US President Jimmy Carter says

Aaaahh! Great photo!

DP Review has posted a gallery of sample images from Canon's new EOS-1D Mark II. Several were shot at 1600, and look very, very impressive in terms of noise.

My candidate for the worst product name of '04:

The Olympus m:robe

Not only is it unpronounceable, but why would you name a "musical memory maker" so that it makes me think of terry cloth?

From the press release:

"Music and images are such an important part of memory. Out of nowhere a piece of music can set the pulse racing with vivid memories of life’s most potent moments, while a picture can paint a 1000 words. By combining the two the Olympus m:robe allows you to capture and remember events in an evocative manner."

Good God. I have enough fucking trouble relaxing as it is. Now I have to worry about capturing my most memorable moments "in an evocative manner" with sound and video?

Discuss.

Artima: Why Your Code Sucks

POTD

Funny Pictures!

[click]

The American military said today that it had arrested a senior commander of the nascent Iraqi National Guard, raising concerns about the loyalty and reliability of the new security forces just months before general elections are scheduled to be held across the embattled country.

The Iraqi commander, Brig. Gen. Talib Abid Ghayib al-Lahibi, based in restive Diyala Province, was arrested last Thursday for "having associations with known insurgents," the military said in a written statement.

Via The New York Times