Miscellanea #9

(Miscellanea: A collection of miscellaneous matters; matters of various kinds (Webster’s 1913). Noteworthy tidbits gleaned from all over, sans commentary.)

Publish and be Damned
Today’s Globe and Mail has an informative article, Will Publishers Perish? on various forms of self-publishing available to frustrated writers…. (Writing Fiction)

Slowing down with origami
A couple of weeks ago I was visiting a friend and noticed a bowl of origami cranes sitting on his table. I asked him about them and he told me he’d done them to ease the stress of a difficult stretch of job searching. I loved the delightful little burst of colour and texture. The pleasure of sculpture and flowers at once! I also liked it that my friend had something in his place that wasn’t part of some home decor trend or out of the pages of the Ikea catalogue. So I decided then and there that I’d get myself a pack of origami paper and get folding…. (c h a n d r a s u t r a)

PHP and SQL Security
PHP and SQL Security are being proven more weak every day. Uberhacker.Com is running a PHP and SQL security research project to raise awareness of secure scripting…. (Slashdot)

Christian critics write rebuttals to ‘The Da Vinci Code’
Fearing that the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code may be sowing doubt about basic Christian beliefs, a host of Christian churches, clergy members and Bible scholars are rushing to rebut it. (Seattle P-I: Books)

Dodger History and Its Keeper
According to Mark Langill, what saved Dodger Stadium, what made it complete in its incompleteness, was the rain. When you look at photos of the ballpark (construction) in early 1962, there were no pavilions, Langill said in an interview with Dodger Thoughts on Monday. Torrential rains had really put a crimp on construction in terms of the timetable. Originally they were thinking they would enclose the ballpark, (but) they decided the view was so nice…. (Dodger Thoughts)

Best Images Yet Of Saturn’s Moon Titan
During recent commissioning observations of a new instrument designed for a completely different purpose, the European Southern Observatory managed to grab the best imagery yet of Saturn’s largest moon…. (Slashdot)

British libraries could shut by 2020
Books: Report urges cuts in backroom staff, more late-night opening, and treble spending on books to reverse falling membership and lending. (Guardian Unlimited)

The Jiroft Civilization
In Iran, an archaeologist is racing to uncover a literate Bronze Age society he believes predates ancient Mesopotamia. Critics say he may be overreaching, but they concede his dig will likely change our view of the dawn of civilization (ɔɅɓɃÉ√É«ÉÀ)

BBEdit: Its Unix Support Doesn’t Suck Either, Part 1
In this first article of a two-part series, Kevin O’Malley introduces you to BBEdit’s Unix support features. He also includes a nifty hack for listing the songs on your iPod, copying songs from your iPod to iTunes, and playing a song in iTunes — all from within BBEdit. (O’Reilly MacDevCenter.com)

Spitz raises Olympic fear
Olympic legend Mark Spitz believes security concerns could see the US team withdraw from Athens. (BBC News | WORLD)

Mayor’s pledge for Mandela statue
London’s mayor says he will fight for a statue of Nelson Mandela in Trafalgar Square as hundreds celebrate 10 years of South Africa’s democracy. (BBC News | UK)

What Happened to Sports?
I find it rather depressing that four of the top five headlines on ESPN’s home page are about legal issues rather than sports…. (Baseball Musings)

On Pastrami
There are two types of people in this world: those that love pastrami and those that have no soul…. (The Amateur Gourmet)

Suburban Organics
Recently I have discovered the joys of having organic produce delivered to me at work on a weekly basis. My friend Jackie had always raved about her 20lbs of produce and I read about Clotilde’s produce basket… well, I wanted one too! So I asked Jackie for some information about Suburban Organics…. (StellaBites)