I haven't mentioned SARS recently, but it continues to spread and kill.  Interestingly here is the entire genome of the SARS virus.  Weird to think that this seemingly meaningless string of just four different letters encodes something which actually kills people, isn't it?  So far scientists say there are Few Clues from SARS Gene Sequence.

Mean Mr. Mustard notes "we are voting with our bases".  First the announcement that the U.S. is withdrawing its military presence in Saudi Arabia, and now Donald Rumsfeld indicates we're pulling out of Germany, too.  Isn't it great the way the  Bush administration does stuff, instead of just talking about it?

The Daily Standard salutes John Howard, the Australian prime minister, for his loyalty to the U.S.  Yep, just as we should boycott French and German companies, we should patronize English and Australian ones.  Personally I'm drinking as much Penfolds Shiraz as possible.

Even as President Bush is announcing that Major Combat is Over, Yahoo reports Anti-war activists say their cause is not dead.  What is it with these people?

Ken Layne helps the NYTimes with a little math.  Does 25 = 170,000?  No.  [ via InstaPundit ]

So what did you think of the Bush carrier landing / speech?  I didn't see either one.  The carrier landing was a stunt, sure, but it wasn't a kitschy one.  Landing a plane on a carrier is how you get to a carrier, and it is a little dangerous.  Early returns on the speech are positive.  Scrappleface has a great take on this...

Yep, that's the idea.
[ from Dave Winer ]

Jeremy Zawodny ponders the iTunes Music Store, and wonders why it can't learn what you like and dislike, and make suggestions accordingly.  (a la Amazon and Netflix.)  So far we have a 1.0 product, Jeremy, which is pretty cool; but I bet there is a lot more which will be added going forward...

Wired ponders whether iTunes is a Bargain or Rip-Off?  They mention the $.50 price point I think is the true sweet spot.  Time will tell, according to Billboard Apple sold 275,000 tracks in the first 18 hours.  { Hey, did you ever think Billboard would be authoritative on the success of online commerce? }

Ed Cone discusses the curious case of media like newspapers which prohibit their employees from blogging.  "Creativity is not a finite resource. It feeds on itself. As a writer, I write better and more fluidly the more I write. It's more like a candle lighting another candle than a ladle emptying a pot."  [ via Dave Winer ]

This is interesting: Google has hired Lise Buyer, a high-profile financial analyst.  Google is arguably the most watched private company in America, with a projected public value of $5B; Lise would be very helpful in crafting an IPO story and managing investor relations afterward....

You've Got Mail dept: AOL reports it blocked 2B spam emails in one day.  Wow.