10/05: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Was anyone else shocked when Bush nominated Madame to be the next Supreme Court justice?

THESE DAYS

About 1.5 percent of the $1.6 billion awarded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for Hurricane Katrina recovery contracts has gone to minority businesses, less than a third of the 5 percent normally required.

A vow of abstinence is a part of a sentence imposed on a 17-year-old female drug offender by Texas state district judge Lauri Blake.

Popular students appear to be more likely to take up smoking than their less popular peers, a new study of sixth and seventh graders in Southern California shows.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Hates Pete Rose, loves Arrested Development and the New Pornographers... just a glimpse into the World of B.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Jakob Nielsen's Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005

Kevin Smith trying to revive his career: Clerks 2: The Passion of the Clerks

MP3s from Van Morrison's 1967 contractual obligation record Bang Records Sessions

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"She's the first Supreme Court nominee whose eyeliner is thicker than her curriculum vitae."

-- Blogger J. Michael Luttig, on Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers