Wonder why I place daily news links on my website? Read why.

March 30, 2002
Journalist Richard Seven writes about the mysteries of autism and his son Derek. From the ranch to your table, read this fascinating article about a journalist who purchases a beef calf and follows the animal's journey to his table. So what happens to your t-shirt when you donate it to your local charity house? Susie Bayer's t-shirt ended up on the back of a Ugandan.

March 27, 2002
Performance tableside, the young NY Times food writer, Amanda Hesser, writes about a restaurant new trend toward the once dying tableside service. Here in Texas we just follow the smokey smell of barbeque to find some savory ribs, but in Manhattan, a barbeque joint takes some engineering. Read this fascinating article about painter James Wyeth and the late ballet star Rudolph Nureyev.

January 29, 2002
Scientists find a surprisingly sophisticated and well engineered cooling system in dolphins. Here in Texas, sadly, recycling is a joke, but in Nova Scotia, Canadians are turning their trash into money through compost. Listen or read this Living on Earth segment on Nova Scotia Compost. During my trip to europe, my friend Betty and I went to the Gellert Hotel Baths in Budapest, Hungary. NPR recently did a segment on the bath phenomena including an extended section on the Gellert Hotel Baths! Listen here with RealPlayer.

January 8, 2002
Fast food icon Dave Thomas, founder of Wendys, dies at 69. And for those of you who are adventerous with your food, why not try Russian sushi or Japanese spaghetti in Queens, NY.

The following are interesting NPR segments from the past month:
Cuban Celebrations - Storyteller and actor Antonio Sacre has a story about his father’s life in Cuba and tales of celebrations on the island.
Internet Food - Jim Leff, the creator of the food-obsessed website chowhound.com, takes Jon Kalish on a tour of his favorite New York eateries while explaining the Chowhound way of life.
Gerard Woodward - Author of several books of poetry and unpublished novels, Woodward has been nominated for England's Whitbread Prize. If he wins, maybe he'll quit his job stocking vending machines.

January 4, 2002
Educate yourself on the soy milk craze that's hitting this country. See New York Times photographer Chang W. Lee's images from daily life in Afghanistan. And the Clinton's dog, Buddy, leaves this world.

December 27, 2001
Listen to the story behind Burt's Bees: famous for its lip balm but with an ecological agenda. IBM researchers have developed the Artifical Passenger to chat, play word games and change radio stations for those long solitary car rides. Read about the latest gadgets on the market for geeks.

November 26, 2001
This holiday season has special meaning for many families in the United States. Take a break and share these websites with your family!
Tate's 2001 Advent Calendar - Follow the story of Tate the French cat every day until Christmas! Always a wonderful new story every year.
Christmas Recipes - Find, share and rate recipes for the holiday season.
Christmas.com's WorldView - Bone up on your world geography and find out how Christmas is celebrated around the globe.
The Nutcracker Ballet - Find a showing of the legendary Nutcracker Ballet in your neck of the woods, and look forward to a winterwonderland of beautiful dancing and music.

September 25, 2001
Lately everyone has been able to keep up with current news due to the tragic events surrounding NYC's World Trade Towers and the Pentagon. I would like to encourage everyone to learn about America's past and current relationship with the Arab nations and about the Islam religion. Here are some resources...
- Learn about Afghanistan & the Taliban
- Read What the Arab Nations Are Saying
- Inspiring Photos from Around the World

August 20, 2001
A month exactly since my last daily news pick! Sorry for the delinquency. Some of you maybe interested in the fact that I am now engaged to the Seattle boy Johnny, and of less interest, I am now 24 years old. That's news for you.

July 20, 2001
On this day in 1969, man walked on the moon; see and read The New York Times' original front page story here. Research using human subject is halted at John Hopkins University, the suspension could potentiall cause problems for current subjects on experimental drugs and treatments.

July 16, 2001
Russia and China sign a Good Neighbourly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation.What would you do to improve the life of your unborn child? Read this article on a controversial spina bifida fetal surgery.

July 11, 2001
Federally funded stem cell research continues to spurr ethical debates as scientists at a Virginia fertility clinic have mixed donated eggs and sperm to derive embryonic stem cells for medical experiments. President Bush remains silent as China's bid for the 2008 Olympics speeds ahead. Read a family's travel journal titled, "An Indoor Family Goes Outdoors."

July 9, 2001
Today's news comes from the Washington Post. Taiwan's Nationalist Party issued a policy paper showing that sentiments toward a confederation with China increases in this pro-independence country. A study shows that voting errors were much higher in low-income, high-minority areas. What can be more romantic than a wedding in the South of France: Saying 'I Do' in Provence.

July 2, 2001
Today's news comes from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer; take a look at their front page. The saga continues as mideast violence escalates in the midst of a June 13th cease-fire. Read this special report on one woman's journey back to Vietnam, the country that her family fled when she was three-years-old.

June 13, 2001
Can Japan's young government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reduce smoking in a country where cigarette vending machines are "as common as water fountains"? You can now live in a piece of historical Colonial Williamsburg - just buy the blueprint! "In the beginning, there was Fortran" - read about the birth and legacy of the Fortran programming language.

June 3, 2001
Still busy.

May 23, 2001
Sorry for my delinquency with these daily picks. Life has been pretty hectic these past few weeks.

May 9, 2001
My grandfather is fighting with stage 4 cancer, so this article about Chinese medicine and the use of arsenic to cure cancer has a special significance for me. Nathaniel Brazill, a 14-year-old boy who shot his teacher in middle school stands trial as an adult in Florida. Should a 14-year-old child, who had just gotten suspended for throwing water balloons, be tried as an adult? Is this justice or vengence? On a lighter note, read or listen to William Grimes' review on New York's famed themed fine dining restaurant Le Cirque.

May 4, 2001
The tainted diamond trade: read about the atrocities surrounding the mining of these precious stones. Surrounded by a century old feud between the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church, Pope John Paul II visits Greece: where no pope has gone since 1054. Is sushi is chic... maybe too chic: is the art of sushi fading away?

May 1, 2001
Do helmets impede bicyclists' moblility and freedom? Read this article on mandatory children's helmets, and think about your own safety. Across the world in Nepal, Maoists gain numbers in Nepal and declare a "people's war" against the state. As Austin grows, the importance of mitigating pollution rises; read about Austin's Ozone Action Days, and participate in improving this city's air quality.

April 26, 2001
"A strongly indignant China on Thursday accused President Bush of further damaging already strained ties with his blunt warnings about America's will to defend Taiwan." The F.E.R.C. will be at work to possibly cap California's electricity prices. Read harrowing accounts of a Vietnam War assignment to Thanh Phong that went wrong.

April 24, 2001
The Supreme Court rules that minor traffic violators can be handcuffed and sent to jail! Peru returns home the Baptist missionary and her daughter who were accidentally gunned down. Described as " the Brad Pitt of Japan", baseball player Ichiro Suzuki bats for the Seattle Mariners.

April 9, 2001
Read about an Iraqis radio station headed by Saddam Hussein's that plays American rock music or a psychology professor who is making intelligence tests smarter. Learn about live organ transplants through the lens of an observer in the operating room.

April 4, 2001
The Chinese government demands an apology to the Chinese people and continues to hold the 21 US crew members. Read this incredible story of the Lost Boys of Sudan: a group of boys and young men who escaped civil war in their country to seek refuge in Kenya and now America. Environmental Republicans are shaken by setbacks.

March 26, 2001
Ethnic cleansing in Kosovo: go to this handy dandy timeline to learn about the progression of events behind the conflict in Kosovo; then read about the latest news on this ethnic/religions struggle in neighboring Macedonia. And San Francisco feels the effects of a cooling economy.

March 20, 2001
No electron is an island; read this article on how social theory is intertwined with physics theory. Are we too clean in America? The "cleanliness hypothesis" says that over protective parents over clean their houses and deprive their children of necessary germs to stave off asthma.

March 19, 2001
President Bush will meet with a senior Chinese official to talk about two key military issues. "McMansions" invade quaint suburbs, and town officials, urban planners and irate neighbors seek ordinances to keep their neighborhoods green and open. Jet Blue Airlines adds a touch of retro style and service to air travel.

March 18, 2001
Illness carried by foods is still an issue in America today; read this article on food poisioning. Good weather, plentiful harvests and decreasing demand devistate American potato farmers. China allows a Chinese basketball star, 7-foot-1 Wang Zhizhi, to play in the NBA with the Dallas Mavericks.

March 16, 2001
Austin is in the midst of SXSW (South by Southwest), an incredible showcase of live music and unsigned bands; the legendary John Kelso takes this opportunity to mingle with a Beijing rock band. View SXSW photos. Or read this nicely written review of five restaurants in Athens.

March 15, 2001
The Chinese premier apologizes for a school blast suspected to have been an accident from the labor of children assembling fireworks. Legal battles on the web may provoke the advent of web passports? Decor for tweens. The home furnishings industries has begun to market to the 28 million children between the ages of 8 to 14, the tween years, the largest and wealthiest of its age group in two decades.

March 8-14, 2001
I'll be taking another break from the daily news picks. You can read old articles in the daily archive. Feel free to read articles on my favorite online newspapers... The New York Times, Austin American-Statesman, and The Seattle Times, or for a new spin, listen to the news with National Public Radio.

March 7, 2001
Russia's President Vladimir V. Putin went online to allow thousands of Russians to ask him questions ranging from politics to his personal life. Shanghai plans to put a magnetic levitation train, a failure in England, inside the city. Read this fascinating look at the science and history of Texas' Rio Red Grapefruit.

March 6, 2001
The abuse of methamphetamine shows more brain damage than previously found. As the fashion world moves toward younger teen models, these high profile working children face the dangers of a sick world; read about a 15-year-old model who was raped in a Milan club. And Confederate bank notes images are interpreted for their depicition of slave life.

March 5, 2001
U.S. companies who own factories in Mexico begin to feel pressure to improve working conditions. Although the Nationalist Party was swept out of Taiwan's presidency, the Democractic Progressive Party has a lot to learn about running a country. Price wars hit internet cafes in Vietnam where rates can go lower than $1 per hour.

March 2, 2001
Read this touching article in the Washington Post about efforts to bridge the cultural gap between Americans and Japanese after the fishing boat tragedy. Romanians in Bucharest attack a stray dog population problem as French actress Brigitte Bardot fights for humane treatment for these dogs. Read about how Americans spend their money or a journalist's weekend excursion to Niagara Falls.

March 1, 2001
Go to the Seattle Times and read about yesterday's earthquake. The strife in East Timor is compounded by sexual violence used as a war tactic. The US Supreme Court hears a case about holding Bible study in a public school. And Japanese researchers find no evidence linking green tea to a reduction of cancer.

February 28, 2001
If you missed President Bush's speech to Congress on his budget plan, then read the transcript online. China defends its repression of the Falun Gong movement siting it as an evil cult. Federal and Kentucky state police fight Appalachia's top cash crop, marijuana. And read about my favorite exotic cuisine, Ethiopian food!

February 27, 2001
A crusading Thai journalist is wanted dead by a local political kingpin for attacking them in print with his local paper. Scientists discover a fast evolving protein adding new rules to the egg and sperm chase, and archeologists report on records of dance. And read this personal account of a colon cancer patient and his bag.

February 21-26, 2001
Taking a short break. I'll be back with daily news picks on Tuesday, February 27th. Thank you for understanding.

February 20, 2001
Illegal immigrants have a new hope for legal status. An article investigates the controversy behind the infamous psychological inkblot test. And a computer science professor of Harvard University creates an unbreakable, mathmatically proven encryption code, but is an unsolvable code useful?

February 19, 2001
Pakistani journalists accidentally publish a letter attacking the prophet Muhammad. And a Brazillian decree allows pharmaceutical companies to copy expensive patented drugs for health emergencies, American companies object. New technology creates new possibilities for multisite art performances online. With all the protected parks around the world, why not have ocean parks to protect marine ecology?

February 17-18, 2001
Sorry... no daily news picks.

February 16, 2001
Physics and snow. In this brilliant article, physicists rediscover basic physics principles in the snow. Should art in public galleries be regulated by the government? A photograph titled "Yo Mama's Last Supper" by Renče Cox depicts a nude woman as Christ and may face scrutiny from a decency committee.

February 15, 2001
Investigations on the US submarine that destroyed a Japanese fishing boat while sufacing continues. Celebrate the 100th space walk in the history of the US space program, and listen to an interview of former NASA astronaut Captain Jerry Linenger and his description of a space walk outside the Mir space station. And WOW, another one of Jeffery's recepies online; check out master chef David Garrido's Chocolate Intemperance.

February 14, 2001
Read about migrant workers who gain peanuts for replenshing the ecology. Or yumm, buffalo burgers are safe alternative for beef eaters. And has Valentine's Day become the new foocentric holiday?

February 13, 2001
Torture practiced by the Chinese government is finally surfacing. On the other side of the world, women gain careers in athletics. And an extremely talented grad student writes a program to squence the 400,000 fragments of the human DNA.

February 12, 2001
At 3pm ET, the space probe NEAR will attempt to land on Eros, a 21-mile long asteroid. The International Space Station adds a room, Destiny, to their home. Or learn about the culprits behind food poisioning.

February 10-11, 2001
Thousands of poor New York State families will lose their federal aid benefits due to welfare reform enacted in 1996. And on a wealthier side of society, children of this fast-paced technology age are being mesmerized by interactive toys: is it too much? Read this woman's account of climbing Mount Washington in the winter.

February 9, 2001
Sahara Sunday Spain, an amazing 9-year-old child of a former black panther and global photographer publishes her first book. Men and decorating? Read about men who take pride in decorating their own living spaces. And if you're interested in physics, read about how the Casimir Effect, a tiny force of nature, can influence micro machines.

February 8, 2001
Women's sports have come a long way in the past two decades; read about the daughters of Title IX passing on the torch to a future generation. The book that's turning heads turns back to an era of traditionalism; a New York Times critic critiques The Surrendered Wife:A Practical Guide to Finding Intimacy, Passion and Peace With a Man by Laura Doyle. And the story of ginger, the herb that transcends Asian cuisine.

February 7, 2001
Read these fascinating stories of remanents from the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Stay in China and read about the famous, real-life Sichuan Opera face changers. And Al Gore lectures journalist students at Columbia University; read what journalists think about this off-the-record speech to future journalists.

February 6, 2001
Osama bin Laden on the web? A charm school for geeky MIT students? This world is a wacky place.

February 5, 2001
Read this interesting New York Times Magazine article on the drive to duplicate... humans that is. And the debate about the use of Ritalin and ADHD diagnoses continue. Tired of popping coins into that parking meter? Try a parking debit card!

February 3-4, 2001
Another daily-news-less weekend goes by.

February 2, 2001
Wrongly imprisoned for thirty-three years, an innocent man is sent free. And a father teaches his daughter how to ski: a beautifully written article.

February 1, 2001
Have you ever wondered how great conductors manage a musical score and multitudes of instruments all at once? Research enlightens the amazing talents of conductors. Or read about "a house in the high uplands of the Sonoran Desert halfway between Tucson and the Mexican border, where coyotes stalk prey in the nearby arroyo and quail and roadrunners come surreptitiously to sip water from the new pool" (New York Times).

January 31, 2001
It's spicy. It's yummy. It's tobacco in food? And the Chinese government finally informs the public of the Falun Gong burnings.

January 30, 2001
Bush takes a move to encourage religious organizations to deliver social services. And G. Gordon Liddy talks for the first time about the Watergate break-in. On a lighter note, read this article on umbrellas in New York and umbrella etiquette. And now that the Super Bowl is over, many people are suffering from lost bets; read about Kelso's bet on tofu.

January 29, 2001
Do you wonder how AIDS is being attacked in poorer countries? What if patients don't have the money to pay for expensive drugs? See what Brazil has done to attack AIDS. Or read about a computer hacker turned good. And PBS has conjured up a new television show in lieu of shows like "Survivor." The show is called "American High."

January 27-28, 2001
I was out of town this weekend... sorry folks.

January 26, 2001
"Falun Gong is threatening to China's leadership precisely because it includes a remarkable cross section of people — peasants and professors, rich and poor — devoted to an organization that is not the Chinese Communist Party" (New York Times). Read more about Falun Gong, the resilient political opposition. Also, just another reason to detest HMOs. And the captain of Galapagos tanker takes the blame for the oil spill.

January 25, 2001
We all want those pesky mosquitos dead, but what does all that nightly mosquito spraying do to humans? And what about those annoying alarm clocks that wake us up from our peaceful slumber? Read a fun article on alarm clocks. And if you've got time, read this interesting sketch of Will Ferrell, SNL's Bush impersonator.

January 24, 2001
Home-grown energy: take a look at life off the grid. What's a kadhai? If you love cooking and eating, read this intriguing article about the Indian wok. Stop complaining about your small kitchen and be thankful you don't have a closet-sized kitchen. Also, read a short article on a study about teenage girls and alcohol. And be careful for those of you who travel Sixth Street late at night.

January 23, 2001
Seattle is known for being one of the most dangerous places to live because of the potential for earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis. Take a look at a recent study on Seattle and earthquakes. Maybe I shouldn't move back! And a man made danger, an oil spill, threatens the delicate ecosystem of the Galapagos islands.

January 22, 2001
Unions and dotcoms? Read about the beginnings of unions in the fast-paced web industry. Or read a commentary on how winter weather affects a person. And finally, Austin public buses will jump out of archaic coin technology and into the present with "Go Cards."

January 20-21, 2001
Did you miss the inauguration ceremony? Go to the New York Times or NPR to watch George Walker Bush's first speech as president of the United States. Or look through Austin Amercan Statesman's favorite photos of 2000. Also, children get an early look at the volatile market with the fall of Pokemon.

January 19, 2001
Afraid of heights? Read about the men who change the lightbulb at the top of the Empire State Building. Go to the New York Times Presidential Inauguration page and dive into the beginning of a presidency. You can even watch a slideshow of presidents from Teddy Roosevelt to Bill Clinton take the oath.

January 18, 2001
Want your own winery? The Hill Country Cellars is up for sale. Or read New York Times' Special Section on "How Race is Lived in America."

January 17, 2001
Catch the Live Senate confirmation hearing for Ashcroft, or read an article on automated reservationists at restaurants. And more on food: if you think butter is butter anywhere, then you've never tasted French butter. Also, copy the recipe for David Garrido's famous oyster nachos, delicate fried oysters on yucca chips with pico de gallo and habanero aioli, to your recipe book.

January 16, 2001
One of the things that we often take for granted is electricity on demand. Read how western United States is making an effort to keep the national light bulb turned on. Read a fascinating article on the sociology of finding a seat on the New York subway, or the price of a lucky cell phone number in China.

January 15, 2001
It's Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Day, and while many people rest from work and school, I'm at work! Read a retrospective on his "I Have a Dream" speech. And for all those snowboarders out there, a study shows that snowboarders are prone to wrist injuries... duh.

January 13-14, 2001
Listen to the news online! What a novel idea. NPR, National Public Radio, provides some of the most objective and professionally done news around. Also, listen to their Film Critic Bob Mondello quip about this years movie names(14.4 | 28.8), very very funny.

January 12, 2001
Are you paranoid about internet privacy? Feed your paranoia with this Austin American Statesman article on cyber-spying. Or read about Kelso's White House adventures.

January 11, 2001
Executive chef, David Garrido, at Jeffrey's has been invited to cook during Inaugural Week at Aquarelle. And Oh! those cell phones; read about new technologies that shut them up. And on the biotechnology news front, the first genetically engineered primate arrives!

January 10, 2001
Read great articles about Thai noodles and how North Carolina cares for their public teachers: all in today's New York Times Online.