Newsweek: "You’d think that Howard Dean’s rivals would start attacking him—big time—now that his Internet-based fund-raising prowess has elevated him to what amounts to front-runner status in the Democratic presidential race. But each leading contender has his own strategic reason for laying off, at least until the fall, if not beyond—a scenario that could backfire by allowing Dean a free ride until it’s too late to stop him."

Letter to the SF Chronicle: "Editor -- The constant loss of U.S. soldiers in Iraq -- after the war is 'won' -- is a tragedy. However, if this is what it takes to retire the Bush administration at the next election, the sacrifice is justified." --ARIE L. BLEICHER

Ann Coulter: "Columbia history professor Eric Foner claimed Radosh's book on the Rosenbergs violated the canons of historical scholarship. As any infant knows, one of the canons of historical scholarship is to mindlessly hold as an article of faith the manifestly absurd belief that the Rosenbergs were innocent. It is an affront to good scholarship to suggest otherwise. Most devastatingly, Foner – once president of the American Historical Association – accused Radosh of 'liberal anti-communism.' Other historians have even stooped so low as to call Radosh a 'conservative.' One editor said he believed Radosh was a CIA agent.

"American college students are learning history from people who believe the Rosenbergs were innocent idealists and Radosh is a CIA agent. (How are the grades for students who write term papers saying the Rosenbergs were guilty?)"

Dennis Miller's rant about Democratic presidential field: "And that brings us to Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont, who would like nothing better than to mallet a maple syrup tap into the U.S. treasury and spot-weld the valve wide open. Dean can roll up his sleeves in public all he wants, but as long as that heart tattoo with Neville Chamberlin's name in it is visible on his right forearm, he's never going to get off the pad. Please, please nominate Howard Dean. Because he'll get his ass handed to him quicker than somebody who just got outpatient liposuction surgery.

"Well, that's the view from the kid's table. Tune in and watch their next debate. The Dems say it's a big tent, and you'll be surprised how many clowns they can fit in that one little car. Got that? I'm Dennis Miller."

Liberal Democrats' Perverse Foreign Policy (Krauthammer in the WPost): "There are the usual suspects, Jesse Jackson and the New York Times, but the most unapologetic proponent of the no-Iraq/yes-Liberia school is Howard Dean, Democratic flavor of the month. 'I opposed the war in Iraq because it was the wrong war at the wrong time,' says Dean, but 'military intervention in Liberia represents an appropriate use of American power.'

Why? In terms of brutality, systematic repression, number of killings, relish for torture and sum total of human misery caused, Charles Taylor is a piker next to Saddam Hussein. That is not to say that Taylor is a better man. It is only to say that in his tiny corner of the world with no oil resources and no scientific infrastructure for developing instruments of mass murder, Taylor has neither the reach nor the power to wreak Hussein-class havoc. What is it that makes liberals such as Dean, preening their humanitarianism, so antiwar in Iraq and so pro-intervention in Liberia?"

Gizmodo : Bone conduction headphones: "You might recall those swimming goggles with a built-in MP3 player we mentioned a few weeks ago that worked by vibrating the sound directly into the skull. Now there's a line of headphones from GrabIT called Vonia that do the same thing using special bone conduction transducers. Looks promising, though they're going to have to change the name of the technology; we'd guess that 'bone conduction' will just sound way too freaky for most people to feel comfortable using it."

Blogs in the Workplace: "For several years Mr. Tang viewed this daily surge of e-mail messages as an unpleasant but necessary part of his job managing a team of eight engineers. Then, a few months ago, he began using an alternative to e-mail, a Web log."

Four-thirds aspect ratio and the new Olympus E-1:

"Four-thirds is a measurement standard used to describe the sizes of 'Vidicon' tubes first used in video cameras. This style of measurement is now used to describe many of the CCDs used in digital cameras, like 1/2, 2/3, and now 4/3. Using this measurement, for example, a 1-inch tube (24.5 mm) will have an imaging area with a diagonal of about 16mm. Using this formula, a chip with a diagonal measurement of about 22.3mm would be a 4/3-type image sensor.

"Explaining their four-thirds choice, Olympus research found that the Four Thirds concept offered the best size-to-performance benefits of any format. Standardizing on this size allows Olympus to develop a total digital-specific system with digital-specific lenses, flashes, and bodies. By contrast, APS and 35mm-size sensors would require larger lens mounts and lenses. For example, on a 35mm, the lens mount would need to be about the size of one required for a medium format camera, which would make the 35mm a less usable field camera for professionals."

"Why do I say these things?" [Howard] Dean asked a press aide.

--WashPost

Yesterday, whilst waiting to get a haircut at my new favorite retro-style barbershop, I ran into Steve Kilisky, an Adobe buddy from the old days (he's still managing Adobe After Effects), and he mentioned that Acrobat is the biggest moneymaker these days. Sure 'nuff:

"This month marks the 10th anniversary of when that idea, Adobe Acrobat, became a reality. Its effect on the San Jose company has been staggering, and it has become clear that Adobe's future rests on its ability to sell companies on a new way of doing paperwork -- largely without the paper."