Filed under: Contests, Euro, Motorcycles Ducati and its awe-inspiring 1098 has delivered a knockout blow to its competitors with the 2008 International Bike of the Year trophy, winning the coveted award with 22 total votes, 13 higher than the next closest motorcycle, the Triumph Street Triple. This award goes to the best motorcycle of the year and is voted on by 15 independent motorcycle publications. Not only did Ducati take the top spot overall
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Filed under: Car Buying, Euro, Crossovers/CUVs, FordClick above for high-res gallery of the UK Ford KugaThe Ford Kuga is a terrific-looking little ute that combines the sporty nature of the Euro Focus chassis with an uber-efficient 2.0-liter Duratorq TDCi common rail diesel powerplant. The best part for inhabitants of the UK is that all that kinetic design goodness and a combined 44.1 mpg will set them back just £20,495 for the Zetec and £22,495
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Cat: Lily

Microsoft has released documentation on their Office binary formats. Before jumping up and down gleefully, those working on related open source efforts, such as OpenOffice, might want to take a very close look at Microsoft's Open Specification Promise to see if it seems to cover those working on GPL software; some believe it doesn't. stm2 points us to some good advice from Joel Spolsky to programmers tempted to dig into the spec and create an Exc
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Blist, a darling of the DEMO 08 conference, is announcing this morning that they have raised a $6m "A Round" of venture capital. Who knew that spreadsheets made social = big investments? That's what they do, they make database information and spreadsheet social. Wonder at their uninspired blog, wonder at their nerdish CEO's executive background at Microsoft and Smith Barney but more than anything wonder at their DEMO video - embedded below. A
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Tim Russert: "Will you run in 2008?" Hillary Clinton: "I have no plans to run for president."--NBC's "Meet the Press," 9/15/02 Really? According to a prominent supporter and Arkansan who's known her a long time, Hillary's apparently always had her sights set on the Oval Office. Retired General Wesley Clark, a member of Team Hillary, appeared on today's Morning Joe and had this exchange with host Joe Scarborough. View video here. JOE SCARBOROUGH:
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AP - The former head of MI6 denied Wednesday that the British intelligence agency was responsible for the car accident that killed Princess Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi al Fayed, in 1997.

AP - Hollywood director Steven Spielberg's decision to quit the Beijing Olympics over the Darfur crisis is drawing condemnation by China's state-controlled media and a groundswell of criticism from the Chinese public.

Wheel of branding, turn turn turn, tell us what resonates with our target demographic. Lego? anime? pokémon! Windows Vista Sensei spends his time "traveling from place to place in a quest to help the underprivileged global citizens? With his sense of clarity he possesses the things that legends are made of." If that marketing copy isn't compelling enough, there's a game, a conference, a web comic and a series of "webcasts" you can complete to
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What do making a poultice out of deer fat, IDDQD & IDKFA, and balancing the tonearm on a turntable have in common? They are obsolete skills.

RickRolling the Baby. [YouTube, 30 secs.] Via.

If approved, the deal would create the world's largest airline and could be followed by more consolidation. Delta and Northwest are close to a deal that would create the world's largest airline and jump start what is expected to be the industry's biggest consolidation wave in decades.

A growing industry involves buying, selling and profiting from life insurance. Robert Mannheim was stunned when he found out that strangers wanted to lend his mother in West Los Angeles money to buy her a $2-million life insurance policy and pay her premiums.

Slaughterhouse rules are easily sidestepped, according to USDA. An agency audit warns of a health threat. Slaughterhouse workers watch every move of federal inspectors. They know when they take bathroom breaks. They use the radio to alert one another to the inspector's every step. They even assign the pretty talkative woman to work n
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A powerful earthquake struck western Indonesia on Wednesday, killing at least three people, injuring 25 others, and damaging several buildings, officials said. No tsunami was detected.

The National Retail Federation warns that many such products might be stolen and could be dangerous. Popular health and beauty products sold on Internet auction sites could be stolen, tainted and possibly dangerous, according to a warning issued today by the National Retail Federation.

Israel Museum displays Nazi loot in an exhibit aimed at identifying owners. Few claims are expected. JERUSALEM -- The Nazi plunder of European art collections during World War II left a trail of unsolved mysteries. The rightful ownership of Claude Monet 's masterful and elegiac study "Snow at Sunset" is but one.

Few expect any dramatic reforms or the advent of Western-style political freedoms after Castro relinquishes power. Fidel Castro 's resignation as Cuba's president arrived on a long-awaited yet disappointing day for U.S. leaders who unsuccessfully worked for decades to help bring about his government's collapse.