yahoo! mail down again

The is the 2nd time this month.
Why web services are still as unstable as Windows OS?

Obama triumphs, will be first black US president

According to Yahoo!News, the end of game...

McCain called his former rival to concede defeat — and the end of his own 10-year quest for the White House. "The American people have spoken, and spoken clearly," McCain told disappointed supporters in Arizona.

Have spoken what?

What have been spoken clearly?

Anyway, Obama has become the first Black (50%?) and 5th youngest (see reference) American President in American history.

What's interesting is the campain costs.

According to wikipedia:

The reported cost of campaigning for President has increased significantly in recent years. One source reported that if the costs for both Democratic and Republican campaigns are added together (for the Presidential primary election, general election, and the political conventions) the costs have more than doubled in only eight years ($448.9 million in 1996, $649.5 million in 2000, and $1.01 billion in 2004).^[60] In January 2007, Federal Election Commission Chairman Michael E. Toner estimated the 2008 race will be a $1 billion election, and that to be taken seriously, a candidate needed to raise at least $100 million by the end of 2007.^[61]

Although he had said he would not be running for president, published reports indicated that billionaire and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg had been considering a presidential bid as an independent with up to $1 billion of his own fortune to finance it.^[62] Bloomberg ultimately ended this speculation by unequivocally stating that he would not run.^[63] Had Bloomberg decided to run, he would not have needed to campaign in the primary elections or participate in the conventions, greatly reducing both the necessary length and cost of his campaign.

With the increase in money, the public financing system funded by the presidential election campaign fund checkoff has not been used by many candidates. John McCain,^[64] Tom Tancredo,^[65] John Edwards,^[66] Chris Dodd,^[67] and Joe Biden^[68] qualified for and elected to take public funds in the primary. Other major candidates eschewed the low amount of spending permitted, or gave other reasons as in the case of Barack Obama, and have chosen not to participate.

It's more of a commercial war than a presidential election.

Record Internet Radio

There are thousands of internet radios now.
There area also moments when one wants to record the contents for later appreciations.
Station Ripper is the right tool for this purpose.
The free version allows user to record Pandora.com, Last.fm, iTunes radio, AOL Radio, Slacker.com, and Podcasts.
With the registered version, user can even download news songs too.

Microsoft releases first Open XML SDK

Microsoft releases first Open XML SDK. But it does not support ISO.

The current SDK supports the version of Open XML supported by Office 2007, which is not the same as that ratified as a standard by the ISO, due to changes effected during the ratification process.

And,

At the same time, Microsoft said last month that it will begin supporting the rival Open Document Format (ODF) in Office 2007 and Office 14, beginning with a service pack set for release in the first half of 2009.

mass murdur at Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan

A man of 25 drove his rental truck into pedestrians last Sunday. After stopping the truck, he ran into to people with survival knife of 13cm blade in his hand and started stabbing those hit, and others around. 7 died and 12 other injured. He was finally corned by policeman and arrested on the spot.
Upon investigation, he said that he had troubles at work and got tired of the world. Being lonely all the time, he wrote many posts to online blackboards, and even announced his plan, writing live reports about his preparation, road condition (on the way to Akihabara) and final goodbye message before the killing.

iPhone is coming to Japan!

As many as high tech (although not necessarily high valued in design) phones in Japan, here is coming another big shot: iPhone.
Softbank, which is the third largest mobile operator in Japan, has announced exclusive contract with Apple to release iPhone within the year 2008. The other competitor is DoCoMo, the largest operator in Japan. But for unknown or unpublished reasons, Apple prefers Softbank to DoCoMo.
So far, only iPod touch is available in Japan, and has attracted a lot of buyers. I know quite a few friends who own an iPod very soon after the start of its sales in Japan.

Attorney Weiss gets prison in kickback scheme

news|thoughtssite map

Another fly in the ointment. Are all the lawyers , especially the big names, earning their big checks in more or less similar ways? This guy simply ruins the great efforts of every other serious lawyers (if there is any at all) in the states. Lawyers are to protect the law, not to make use of it for personal interests, only.

Attorney Weiss gets prison in kickback scheme

6/2/2008, 6:19 p.m. EDT By GREG RISLING The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Melvyn Weiss, the co-founder of a law firm known for securities class-action suits, was sentenced Monday to 30 months in prison for his role in a lucrative lawsuit kickback scheme targeting some of the largest corporations in the nation.

U.S. District Judge John F. Walter also ordered Weiss, 72, to pay $9.7 million in forfeitures and $250,000 in fines.

In a prepared, handwritten statement read before sentencing, Weiss apologized for his "wrongful conduct" and described the case as a fall from grace.

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