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Misc.

Masai gift

Last June, the Masai tribe of Kenya donated 14 cows to the people of America. (New York Times; free registration required.) They’d just heard the news about September 11th, and they wanted to give us a token of their sympathy. Earlier this week, a group of people from the Washington area returned the kindness by arranging for a Masai girl to receive a life-saving heart operation.

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Misc.

Big dig

Boston’s “Big Dig” project, which has so far taken 15 years and cost $14.6 billion, is designed to ease traffic by eventually making the city’s current aboveground central artery a mammoth underground passage. But what’ll they do with the new open space that’s created? (New York Times; free registration required.) Construction is projected to be finished by December, 2004.

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Misc.

Area 51

A new order ensures that Area 51 will remain shrouded in secrecy. During the summer of 1993, a friend and I drove down some desolate roads near the Nevada base. It was weird. There were all sorts of strange surveillance devices, and there were intimidating signs that said something like “This area is restricted. Deadly force is authorized against trespassers.” The mysterious base has long been thought to be a testing ground for new US miliary planes. UFOlogists claim Area 51 houses alien spacecraft.

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Misc.

ATL: World Series winners?

This could be Atlanta’s year to win the World Series. I hope they do it. They’re looking good.

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Misc.

Mini robot

A miniature robot dispatched to explore a narrow, mysterious tunnel in Egypt’s Great Pyramid found its path blocked.

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Misc.

“I’m Not Proud Of Some Of The Things I’ve Done”

“I’m Not Proud Of Some Of The Things I’ve Done.” A must-read for dog lovers.

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Misc.

Iraq Evite

The War on Iraq Evite. You’re invited!

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Misc.

DC news

Though I love living in Washington, one thing that’s always bothered me about the city is that everything closes so early at night–restaurants, bars, stores.

This article, in yesterday’s Post, laments DC’s early-to-bed nature. The piece also refers to a new vending machine in the Adams Morgan neighborhood–it’s an enormous contraption that offers everything from milk to snackfoods to DVDs night and day. While it’s controversial (some say it’s an eyesore and that it hurts local businesses), I love it: it’s very Japanese. And Japan, of course, is the vending machine capital of the world.

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Misc.

Nonprofit email newsletters

Here’s a practical, comprehensive description of how non profits can use email newsletters to communicate with their constituents.

Categories
Misc.

Food poisoning in China

Rat poison may be responsible for a mass outbreak of food poisoning in China. More than 100 people may have been killed.