Taking a Break from Political Stuff...

Front page of the WaPo:

The Airwaves, They Are A-Changin'

Bob Dylan -- singer, songwriter, former counterculture figure and voice of a generation -- has added another line to his rsum: radio DJ.

The enigmatic troubadour has signed on to host a weekly show on XM Satellite Radio, the D.C.-based pay-radio provider. Dylan will select the music, offer commentary, interview guests and answer e-mail from listeners during the one-hour program, which will start in March, XM said yesterday.

Yet another reason to get down to Wally-World and buy that in-home XM receiver I've been thinking about for over six months. The Captain got XM in his Denali (it's actually my daughter-in-law's Denali, The Captain drives a GMC truck) last spring and we listened to XM almost exclusively during this summer's jaunt from Salt Lake City to Bath, Maine and back. XM is SO good that we listened to just one CD during the whole trip, and that one CD was because XM played a cut off the self-same John Hiatt album we had with us. And now Bob's on...

Pop Notes:

Jesse Helms is a U2 groupie. The uber-conservative former Republican senator from North Carolina dined with singer and activist Bono before the band's performance in Charlotte on Monday. The unlikely pair met several years ago and have since become close allies in the fight against the AIDS epidemic in Africa.

That's it, just what you see above. Nothing else. Has Bono lost street-cred? First the White House, now Jesse Helms? I mean, How could you! [ed: you said you were taking a break... I know, shaddup, already]

Tech:

CANNES, France -- On this rocky stretch of Mediterranean coast, playground for the glitterati, where the day begins with lunch and lunch gives way to a nap, cocktails and the discotheque, France is attacking its national unemployment crisis with a dream that seems positively un-French: It aims to cultivate a new Silicon Valley.
At a research-and-development park overlooking the sea, scientists in futuristic campuses develop a system that could allow doctors to monitor patients' vital signs and drug regimens at home. Others master technology allowing shipping companies to track inventory on rail, road and sea. Lunch is rushed. Coffee is carried to labs in paper cups. Talk is of wireless and satellite, of Internet protocol and the architecture of computer chips.

...

The notion of a notoriously bureaucratic French government stage-managing innovations in the high-tech sector -- typically known for fierce competition and a libertarian ethos -- seems paradoxical. But in France, business remains a risk-averse activity in which industry looks to the government for succor. Proponents say this is precisely what makes the initiative necessary: France has proven skilled at research but weak at transforming ideas into money -- a step requiring government orchestration.

Well, now. It starts out good, n'est ce pas? I mean, given the choice of working in Cannes or, say, Cupertino, Redwood City, or anywhere on Route 128, what would you choose? Then they go and screw it all up by bringing in the gub'mint. The French gub'mint! Zut, alors!

And finally...Crime in Clovis! (Clovis is 19 miles up the road from Portales. Thought you might wanna know.)