links for 2009-08-11

"South American leaders at a regional summit have expressed fresh concerns over Colombian plans to grant American troops access to its military bases. But at the gathering in Ecuador, they rejected a proposal to formally condemn the proposals, which would allow US access up to seven Colombian bases." The US will be using the base to continue anti-drug operations.

"Fox News anchor Gregg Jarrett falsely claimed that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "sort of suggested that any American citizen who dared voice an objection in a protest is a Nazi, apparently based on one isolated incident." However, Pelosi actually said of the protesters, "They're carrying swastikas and symbols like that to a town meeting on health care," a claim that is true, and swastikas have appeared at more than "one isolated incident.""

"The ExpressJet Airlines that operated the plane says the flight was diverted to Rochester because of Twin Cities thunderstorms, and that airline regulations prevented passengers from getting off the plane. Christin is incredulous that the airline couldn't figure out an option besides trapping passengers on the plane for nine hours." This is insane.

"Lisa points out that this movie is actually being touted as controversial and "edgy," when in fact "there is nothing original about rape and sexual objectification." For serious. I mean, the sexualization of dead women is hardly new. I think in honor of this shitshow of a movie, I'll go rent Teeth." Edgy does not equal mysgony.

"A New York woman has became the first person to receive a pacemaker wirelessly connected to her doctor, enabling monitoring and checkups without all that mucking about examining people." Very cool.

"A Stanford engineer has invented a new technology for decoding DNA and used it to decode his own genome for less than $50,000. Dr. Quake’s machine, the Heliscope Single Molecule Sequencer, can decode or sequence a human genome in four weeks with a staff of three people. The machine is made by a company he founded, Helicos Biosciences, and costs “about $1 million, depending on how hard you bargain,” he said."

"Planetary scientists are keenly observing an equinox on Saturn on 11 August, in a bid to learn more about the gas giant's ring system. At equinox, the Sun is high over the rings, so irregularities show as long shadows on the otherwise flat surface."

"I want to release the artwork for these icons as open source. They’re free for you to use and (hopefully) improve upon. I hope that you’ll find these useful for any web or print design projects that you’re working on. All you need to get started is a vector illustration program that can open up an EPS file."

"The thing is—and this is based on like 10 minutes of research—any change to a contract that benefits one part over the other represents a chance for the other party to cancel the contract without facing any penalties or fees."

"For Mythbusters Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, DIY isn't just for their Discovery Channel TV show—it's a way of life. Jamie and Adam guest edited the September issue of Popular Mechanics, and gave PM exclusive tours of their workshops. In this feature, the Mythbusters show us around, explaining the history of the show and demonstrating how they develop—and test—their favorite ideas." Fun article.

"Facebook has acquired FriendFeed, we’ve learned." And confirmed by both parties.