Matrix fans, if you want to see a clip of Matrix Reloaded, check out this page at Celebhoo.com, a cool celeb site.

Byte reports that Researchers from Berkely cracked Gimpy security system designed to block Internet robots. Not good news for PayPal, Hotmail, Yahoo or victims of spam. Back to the drawing board...maybe they should show a picture of an animal or object and ask the user to type the name of the animal/object..

A website has been put together to help get Nigerian Scam Victims United.

There are a couple of interesting stories in Bloomberg today:

1. Retailers in U.S. Are Headed for Weakest Holiday Sales in Three Decades
2. CEOs with the most stock options
3. Federated, Sears Look to Jewelry to Help Save Holiday

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has an interesting story today: Nixon's nuclear ploy

An excerpt:

Nixon's nuclear ploy
By William Burr & Jeffrey Kimball

Richard Nixon thought a secret, worldwide nuclear alert would remain unknown to the American public, and he was right. But his strategy to threaten the Soviets into helping bring an end to the Vietnam war was unsuccessful. They may not even have noticed.

This site is high Kaliber

Well at least the trailer for Dumb and Dumberer acknowledges what the movie will probably be like.

The Student Doctor Network is a must see site for Med Students!

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Ask a Scientist is a really cool resource!

The George Lucas Educational Foundation is a nonprofit organization that documents and disseminates stories about exemplary practices in K-12 public education.

If you have high school age kids, you may want to see High School Hub, it looks like an excellent directory of informative sites...

The WJZ.com reports: What is Brain Freeze?

I've always wondered...well here is an excerpt:

If you've ever gobbled down a bowl of ice cream, you probably know what an "ice cream headache" feels like. But, what is the science behind the "brain freeze"?

One 13-year-old Canadian was curious enough about "ice cream headaches" that she conducted her own study on it, and she got the results published in a major international medical journal.

Maya Kaczorowski visited The Early Show to discuss her study published in the British Medical Journal called, "Ice cream Evoked Headaches (ICE-H) Study: Randomized Trial of Accelerated Versus Cautious Ice Cream Eating Regimen."

allAfrica Reports: De Beers to Refuel Fight Over Licence...Here's an excerpt:

De Beers has agreed to take over the financing of Archangel Diamond Corporation's fight to recover its Russian diamond mining licence.

For an outlay of a mere C3m, which Archangel apparently cannot afford, De Beers believes it will improve its chances of winning back the mining licence and enforcing the legal agreement on which it was based. If that were to happen, De Beers would gain a 40% stake in the best new diamond deposit in Russia.

In a year-end search-engine surprise, Yahoo! and Inktomi announce that YAHOO! TO ACQUIRE INKTOMI!

If you go to the EKATI website, They redirect you to Aurias.com, and inform you of the new name.

Joe Strummer, frontman for The Clash, has died at 50.

The Amarillo Globe News has a gem of an idea for Christmas...Colored Jewels as gifts...

Neil Diamond has been recording for 36 years, has been backed by the same band for the last 25 years, and at 61 years of age brought in 10,516 fans in a concert in Las Cruces. Not bad.

Another one for the scientists: Diamonds are a scientists best friend.

For you scientific types: Diamond - Molecule of the Month

I feel all Googleyed right now.

Don't miss Blogcritics: Scattered Diamonds, an interesting post about the books "Diamond Stories: Enduring Change on 47th Street" and "Hiding Places: A Father and his Sons Retrace Their Family's Escape from the Holocaust "...

The NY POST reports: DAMON TYING THE KNOT... he got her a 3 carat ring...when pictures are available, I will post them...

birdhouse.org has the funniest comment about (mis)use of quotation marks. "Warning", the above link is "funny".

TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime blogs about the auctions the US Government runs. Auction lovers may find this link of great interest...

The number of Journalists with blogs is huge... A great way to find out what's really going on...

Neuroprosthesis News reports on this interesting story: DNA prefers Diamond.

Personally, I don't and cannot cook, but I love fine dining and eat out most meals. If I had ever tried to cook a meal, I'd wind up putting something on the stove, get involved in some code until I smelled something burning :)

However, for those of you that do cook, I just ran into a very cool blog and I will make it my Aortal Link: Food Blog. Bon Apetit!

This year's Persons of the year is dedicated to whistleblowers: Cynthia Cooper, Coleen Rowley and Sherron Watkins.

I would certainly have given Robert Wright the co-nod ahead of corporate whistleblowers, but I guess the marketing department had to have their say of which candidates and general theme would sell more magazines...

The Computer History Museum has some excellent online exhibits...

While Jennifer Lopez's new venture J-Lo Glow, undergoes a legal battle, I thought I'd mention that I like the Logo:

This is the official site for the book The Internet For Dummies, apparently the best selling Internet book of all time, according to the authors...The site isn't fancy, but it's cool.

Just finished the 3 hour video part 1 of The Lord of the Rings : Fellowshop of the Ring. Nice set-up...a welcome improvement from the Star Wars / Star Trek films that have come out in recent years...

Hmm, for the year in review: Science News of the Year 2002 claims that "Diamond isn't the sturdiest material." Must have missed that story somehow... Here's another one on synthetics.

Coloradoans Win Diamonds in December!

"What woman wouldn't want diamonds for her birthday," asks Jamie Johnson, the first recipient of the Celestial Seasonings Great Diamond Giveaway necklace. "I've never won anything in my life and my birthday's Monday, so I'm doubly excited." Hailing from Golden, Colorado, Jamie is one of three winners announced by Celestial Seasonings and High Altitude Promotions on December 13, 2002.

A Yahoo report: Red Gems are Hot for Valentine's Day

An excerpt:

Think red for Valentine's Day -- as in red gemstones. The world of red gemstones is fascinating. They're hot, sexy, confident, passionate... and never boring! Each red gem has its own personality -- and it radiates from every facet. If you are shopping for a red gemstone for Valentine's Day, there are several intriguing choices available -- and one is bound to be right for you. Colored stone experts at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), the world's foremost authority in gemology, provide the following insightful glimpses into four of the most popular red gemstone choices:

Shorlty after 9/11, I subscribed to the ABC news Emergency alert system. Rarely is it even worth reading what they send, but FBI Called off Terror Investigations is.

Nonetheless, it is rather self serving for them to call this a breaking news story worthy of sending a message for their emergency alert system....

All that happened is ABC News staff interviewed some FBI whistleblowers... the actual news that deserved an alert was not when ABC News interviewed them, but a long time ago, when they went public with their allegations... for those who've been following us for a long time, you may remember reading here about Robert Wright along with some other whistleblowers using Judicial Watch's services...

Speaking of Judicial Watch, if anyone has seen Fatal Neglect, please drop a comment here and tell us what you thought of it...

I learned from    -=oO[AsciiRock]Oo=-     WEB LOG                               that Sean Connery will be directing the next James Bond film. Hmm, maybe that will mean it will actually be a good film this time? Sean likes to do good movies...

If someone figures out what Gnod - The global network of dreams is, please let me know.

Wired news has just reported this story: Bye Telemarketing, Hi More Spam?

The more you read "news" articles the more you begin to recognize how journalists (or their editors) sometimes like to spin a story, like recently happened to Mitch Kapor and his excellent open source project. Incidentally, that situation happened with Wired Magazine as well.

A story on how you will receive more spam is bigger news than just a telemarketing story alone, hence the spin... But even the end of the article acknowledges that the "additional spam" will only be a drop in the bucket. So the take home message, once the National Do Not Call List is up, make sure to subscribe. Here's an excerpt:

Bye Telemarketing, Hi More Spam? By Katie Dean.

If annoying calls from telemarketers are to fade into a distant memory due to a landmark Federal Trade Commission ruling Wednesday, more spam may be sneaking into e-mail boxes as a result.

That's a harsh projection coming from privacy watchdogs based on the FTC's announcement for a national do-not-call registry. Consumers will be able to add their names to the list, either by registering on the Internet or calling a toll-free number.

Happy Holidays!

P.S. They put up an ad first, sorry.

Just wanted to offer heartfelt thanks to Daisy for naming the Diamond Blog her Aortal link.

In the spirit of the holidays and in the best tradition of blogging, I will make sure to Pay it forward by thinking of an independent site to offer an Aortal link to as well...

The Register reports that the Nigerian population wants to help US out with our National Debt. Here's an excerpt:

Every man, woman and child (and, I feel the evidence will show, a good percentage of the house pets) in Nigeria is secreting away a vast fortune in American currency! These caches rang from 18 to 58 million dollars (or, as they would say, "EIGHTEEN MILLION TO FIFTY-EIGHT MILLION AMERICAN DOLLARS"). It is kept in various trunks, hidden accounts and mattresses across the globe.