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Go watch this before these guys get a C&D from Lucass (yes, I know it’s spelled wrong) or Steve “iSue” Jobs. Flash, but funny.

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Want to know what Google killer looks like? Check out Yahoo!’s Mindset Searching. Adjust the slider to adjust the search results based on the intent of your search (are you shopping or researching?) Very cool idea.

Will it really kill Google? Of course not. But it does demonstrate that the Next Big Thing is just a URL away from hitting the web. Mindset doesn’t relate to a Google product; it’s also not something that Google has ever talked about doing. A couple of innovative ideas are all it takes to topple an internet company these days, especially one that is pretty much a one trick pony.

Sidenote: Don’t spam the comments with how Google is diversifying; Google == search. They’ve sold themselves that way forever and are now introducing features that Yahoo has had for years in an effort to stay competitive. Even Google knows that just being a search company guarantees that someone will do search better someday.

Which brings us back to Yahoo! Mindset. Obviously this one beta will not dent Google much, but it could develop quickly into something very, very useful, making it yet another solid product on a very diverse, well-known site. On it’s own, Mindset isn’t the fell swoop that will brush away Google, but it is one more decent swipe at the market share and one more in a list of things that Yahoo does that Google does not.

Page is in German, but a link English versions are toward the bottom of the page.

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Proof yet again that Bush is not a Republican. LESS government, damn it. LESS, you idiot.

Are Libertarians still viable?

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National Geographic, you rock. (And whoever is your graphic designer is undercompensated.)

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… Orson Scott Card. Just to set this up properly, Card (if you don’t know), is an excellent, award-winning writer. He is also a devout Mormon and has never been ashamed of sticking up for what is usually the butt of jokes other Christian sects make amoungst themselves (*hand up* guilty).

That said–wow. This is a rant, but only as Card could write it. I’ll hit the points, but these leave out way too much of his essay.

1. The courts have given the news media carte blanche, in the name of the First Amendment — but the media are no better than government at exercising unchecked power (emphasis his)
2. Too many people in the “American” media have lost any concept of loyalty to their country.

I mean, what kind of idiot breaks a hole in the hull of his boat during a storm, just because he doesn’t like the guy at the tiller and thinks the storm could have been avoided?

3. Muslims in Muslim countries can dish it out, but they can’t take it.
4. Seeing Kingdom of Heaven this week, I was sharply reminded of the fact that Islam has produced great leaders who accomplished great things. (So where are they now?)
5. A house divided against itself cannot stand. (The West stands on the brink of collapse from within.)

Flame on, brother. I’d hate to be the poor sap who’s got your mail server in his care.

In honor of the late, great Douglas Adams, tomorrow is Towel Day (as is every May 25th). Carry your towel with you tomorrow, wear a bathrobe (if you can get away with it), and generally spread the Good News that Adams gave to the world. Or, just carry a towel and tell lookers-on about his books.

Douglas, you are still missed.

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Like we didn’t know that. But this guy had one hell of a good time getting back at Orbitz.

I’ve never had anything quite that bad, but I won’t use Priceline ever again. We booked a hotel in Grand Rapids a while back (little work/mini vacation). Yeah, note to Priceline, Walker Avenue is NOT downtown Grand Rapids. Sorry, it may be a small town, but that’s like calling Livonia downtown Detroit.

Following up on this post about free PDFs of graph paper, I emailed the site’s owner, Kevin MacLeod, asking after a generator for Cornell note paper. He responded with another excellent graph paper generator. Thanks Kevin! Be sure to donate to Kevin as he recently got Boing Boing’d and could probably use help with the hosting bill coming his way.

Thanks to (once again), David Galbraith for the tip to this article.

A large tranche of the once-secular liberal left has disqualified itself by making excuses for jihad and treating Osama bin Laden as if he were advocating liberation theology. The need of the hour is for some senior members of the party of Lincoln to disown and condemn the creeping and creepy movement to impose orthodoxy on a free and pluralist and secular Republic.

I don’t know much of Christopher Hitchens’ work; I think I need to brush up. Great Op-Ed.

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