role models. Where's my damn role model? by Troutgirl got me thinking about my own role models. I struggled early in my career as a woman in a male-dominated field. I loved writing software, but pursued it in college as a practical… [Sarah Allen's Weblog]

Pope Benedict vows to heal old wounds. Pope Benedict XVI made his first papal trip yesterday, visiting the Italian city of Bari, where he pledged to work to end Roman Catholicism's 1,000-year-old rift with the Orthodox Church. [The Scotsman]

Party time for the No camp as Chirac is left in weakened position. France overwhelmingly rejected the new European Union constitution, exit polls showed last night, in a historic referendum decision which is expected to plunge the 25-member bloc into an unprecedented crisis. [The Scotsman]

Stealth PATRIOT Expansion Stalled – For Now. (EFF). Stealth PATRIOT Expansion Stalled – For Now. The Senate Intelligence Committee failed yesterday to reach agreement on the stealth PATRIOT expansion bill that would give the FBI expanded power to dig through the private records of people who aren't accused of any wrongdoing. The New York Times [...]

New Linux desktop software. # Jeff Waugh has just arrived in Stuttgart fresh from his eight-leg trip from Sydney, and just pointed me at the SymphonyOS desktop mockups. This is one of the most exciting set of desktop mockups I've seen in a long time. I've been spending some time thinking about basic desktop layout [...]

Here's an instantaneous way for lawyers (and others) to find someone's age – – and it's free. You can also immediately find their telephone number and address. Zabasearch is a new people-finding and age-finding search engine. You can enter someone's name – – and their state if you know it – – and you will [...]

Death Throes of a Business Model. If the announcement today that Snapfish will be dramatically lowering prices on prints isn't a harbinger of a business model's doom, I don't know what is. Snapfish, Ofoto, and Shutterfly have been playing a sucker's game, trying to generate revenue… [peterme.com]

Beta book: Agile Web Development with Rails. The first Rails book is out—in beta. Agile Web Development with Rails is not scheduled to hit hardcopy before early August, but people need the information now. What to do? Let people have a peak into the kitchen and get a taste of the messy reality of pre-editing. [...]

Paul Krugman: “Although the housing boom has lasted longer than anyone could have imagined, the economy would still be in big trouble if it came to an end.” [Scripting News]

Mandatory reading for any biologist. Every time I sit down and read SciAm's “15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense”, I think the same thing — this should be required reading for anyone embarking on a career in science. Not only is it a terrific resource to have on hand, but it's a reminder that the arguments [...]