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Microsoft used Firefox in a press image they sent out promoting their MSN Search.

Laws and Regulations provides links to English language translations of the Chinese law of copyright, trademarks, patents, etc. There is not much here that would look unfamiliar to the U.S. or any of it's major trading partners. No one is expecting any immeadiate changes on the street, but building a solid IP portfolio is beginning to look like a good business practice even in China. Microsoft Notebook: Piracy battle is key in China

There are news bites coming out about Firefox everywhere you could possibly imagine.

Thanks, but we've already heard about Google News.

Or how they kidnapped Japanese civlians.

Or how they starve their own population.

Or even how they test biochemical weapons on whole families - children and all: "The parents were vomiting and dying, but till the very last moment they tried to save kids by doing mouth to mouth breathing."

Fuck those bastards. We should nuke them

So yeah, they're crazy enough.

Of all the evil regimes to be apologetic for, North Korea is about as bad as it gets. Anyone who defends them is objectively defending evil.

It can't take that long to purchase anything at Micro$oft. Daniel Feussner somehow managed to get nine million dollars worth of software purchased internally for his group which he then flogged on eBay. Of course Feussner later died of ethylene glycol (antifreeze) poisoning so you have to wonder if the programmer who made this mistake will end up having the same thing happen to him.

In the Seattle PI blog page linked in the post, the Microsoft marketing team has done their part:

As expected, the world's greatest development team (Microsoft) have rewritten the search engine rules. The new MSN search blows EVERYTHING else out of the water, it's simply incredible. Google should be very worried. The "search builder" is a phenomenal development (hats off to MS research labs), no other search engine comes close. I was amazed at the accuracy of the "near me" feature - it correctly located a store just 25 miles from my house! I won't be going back to Google, I advise you to do the same. Search with the best, search with Microsoft Search.
Posted by: David Cross at November 12, 2004 08:43 AM

Blatant, much?

There were over 11 million copies of GTA3 sold and more that 13 million copied of GTA:VC sold worldwide. So what are you talking about? There is an enormous following of the GTA series and the PS2. Substantially more sales of each iteration of GTA than Halo, of which Microsoft now claims to have sold 5 million copies. The same holds true for the PS2 vs. the XBox. Actually, the sales of each GTA title, since GTA3, to date, is very close to the number of actual XBoxes in the worldwide market. With this information, there are no "...HUGE assumption(s)..." being made on my part. Sony has over 70 million PS2 units in the market compared to about 15.5 million XBoxes in the market today.

GTA: SA sold more than 3 million copies worldwide through the first weekend. This is double the "pre-orders", which is really the number of units that were shipped out by Microsoft, for Halo 2. So, in less than the first week, GTA: SA has sold three fifths of the total sales of Halo 1 since it's release.

There were over 11 million copies of GTA3 sold and more that 13 million copied of GTA:VC sold worldwide. So what are you talking about? There is an enormous following of the GTA series and the PS2. Substantially more sales of each iteration of GTA than Halo, of which Microsoft now claims to have sold 5 million copies. The same holds true for the PS2 vs. the XBox. Actually, the sales of each GTA title, since GTA3, to date, is very close to the number of actual XBoxes in the worldwide market. With this information, there are no "...HUGE assumption(s)..." being made on my part. Sony has over 70 million PS2 units in the market compared to about 15.5 million XBoxes in the market today.

GTA: SA sold more than 3 million copies worldwide through the first weekend. This is double the "pre-orders", which is really the number of units that were shipped out by Microsoft, for Halo 2. So, in less than the first week, GTA: SA has sold three fifths of the total sales of Halo 1 since it's release.

There were over 11 million copies of GTA3 sold and more that 13 million copied of GTA:VC sold worldwide. So what are you talking about? There is an enormous following of the GTA series and the PS2. Substantially more sales of each iteration of GTA than Halo, of which Microsoft now claims to have sold 5 million copies. The same holds true for the PS2 vs. the XBox. Actually, the sales of each GTA title, since GTA3, to date, is very close to the number of actual XBoxes in the worldwide market. With this information, there are no "...HUGE assumption(s)..." being made on my part. Sony has over 70 million PS2 units in the market compared to about 15.5 million XBoxes in the market today.

GTA: SA sold more than 3 million copies worldwide through the first weekend. This is double the "pre-orders", which is really the number of units that were shipped out by Microsoft, for Halo 2. So, in less than the first week, GTA: SA has sold three fifths of the total sales of Halo 1 since it's release.

The article says it may go as far south as Oklahoma, but I haven't seen anything yet here in Colorado, although I did see some pretty nifty Aurora Borealis over Boulder, Colorado last year.

MSN recently came to profitability (for example: here. This has always been the plan. Which company is not out to make money??

If you think Bush hasn't been thinking about this, you better think again.

You left the part out about where they can come into your home, search your belongings, and remove belongings without telling you.

Thank goodness the laws had an expiration date on them. We have to remember, the number of terrorists convicted as a direct result of these infractions on our Bill of Rights remains a big 0.

To quote a small section I think is wrong:

"reasonably suspected based on credible evidence of engaging in terrorist acts or money laundering activities."

The "or money laundering activities" leaves an open invitation to abuse. This opens the uses of this law up to be used against just about anyone, not just terrorists. Take the abuses in vegas and dope busts. None of this activity will save anyone from any terrorist.

While I feel it is important for the US to maintain a sense of law and order, I do not condone such an extreme set of laws to bust pot smokers and adult entertainers for their doings.

--The Angry Liberal

People are crossing the Mexican border in higher numbers than Canada's and terrorists could well come from down south:
These are some potential first attempts

they have been starting to feel (at least compared to what they're used to) a rather nasty profit pinch over the last year or two.

Reality check: operating profit in every profitable Microsoft division was up this quarter over the same quarter last year -- Windows profits were up 6%, Office up 18%. All the money-losing divisions saw their losses decrease, as well.

American policy should, and is, made in order to benefit Americans firstly, and others as a secondary benefit. If we can manage to benefit the Iraqi people (by replacing a violent dictator with a mostly democratic republic) while defending our interests, all the better, but there is a definite ordering of the priorities.

What do you think is going on in Iraq right now? What do you think people are rebelling for - fun? They're rebelling for stuff like this: [Cite]

To quote directly from the article:

About 20m ahead of me, I could see the American Bradley armoured vehicle, a huge monster with fire rising from within. It stood alone, its doors open, burning. I stopped, took a couple of photos and crossed the street towards a bunch of people.

So, in other words, the American soldiers were responding to an attack and defending themselves.

If you believe the polls in Iraq, the majority of Iraqis (even when you include the pro-US Kurds) want the US to just leave.

And as I previously stated, their opinion is not being taken into account, nor should it.

Secondly, you attribute the violence to people who want an islamic theocracy. Pray tell, where did you come across this insight into the motives of diverse resistance groups across Iraq?

I don't attribute all of the violence to groups who want an Ismamic theocracy; there are still some of the old Baathists around too.

... random "No Blood for Oil" rantings, operating under the false assumption that we are over there merely to steal a few barrels of crude ...

Their "government" was millions of people. One of Bremer's admitted biggest mistakes was kicking all baathists out of public office (which he later rescinded), because even under Saddam, the government was still just people doing their jobs, apart from a relatively small number with blood on their hands.

The Baathists were "Just doing their jobs": what a wonderful excuse. Do you also apply this low standard to Private Lynndie England and her friends? Or only to non-Americans?

> their hospitals were even more shortly
> supplied, and their doctors lacked the freedom
> to leave the country.

Wrong.
[Cite]

To quote the second article you mentioned:

"I am afraid to ride to work in my car," she said, because of recent robberies, rapes, kidnappings and murders.

And then your last paragraph:

Oh, they certainly seem to be showing will. Power? That's arguable. They're certainly militarily weaker than the US, but they've been doing quite impressively nonetheless via the force multiplier of guerella warfare. And despite all of the innocents caught in the crossfire, polls show that those who are resisting have more popular support than us, the occupiers.

So these are your freedom fighters in Iraq? Do you want these people running the show over there? When your freedom fighters bomb a civilian location, that is merely acceptable "innocents caught in the crossfire", but when an American military vehicle is torched, and some civilians who where stupid enough to run towards the explosion instead of away get killed in retaliatory fire, that isn't?

That company (Voters Outreach of America) ran registration drives in other states, but so far the allegations are confined to Nevada and Oregon, which are hardly swing states. One is +5.7% for Bush, and the other is +5.0% for Kerry.

and rarely vice versa,

Hardly: http://washingtontimes.com/national/20041015-12132 5-3896r.htm

Read the part about ACORN. They also mention the problems with Voters Outreach.

probably a fraction of the total fraud going on.

You are right about that:

• Breaking into offices of political adversaries.
• Throwing cinder block bricks through the front door of offices of political adversaries.
• Shooting bullets through the windows of offices of political adversaries.
• Laying siege to offices of political adversaries
• Bullyingvoters in line at polling places.

Oh, and did I forget to mention that 110,000 tons ha[d] been destroyed by June 2004? And another 138,000 tons were captured?

And even the NYTimes admits that the explosives were probably moved before combat. A single truck can carry (or is it Kerry? :)) 10 tons, so that would be around 40 trucks of explosives rolling out of Baghdad under heavy fire from US troops. Highly unlikely, therefore it was probably moved well before the US troops were near the place, or even before the invasion.

Gad. If only 350 tons escaped out of 600,000 tons, I'd say we did a pretty "bang-up" job, if you pardon the expression.

Because Lawrence Lessig is cool Stanford Professor that argued in front of the Supreme Court about copyright extensions, and Richard Stallman is hippy-looking MIT drop-out that argues with geeks about Linux really being GNU/Linux?

I know this is a trendy thing here to insult Richard Stallman, but please at least stick to facts. First of all, he is not an "MIT drop-out." Back in 1971, as an 18 years old freshman at Harvard University he was hired by MIT as a hacker in the AI Lab. If working as a teenager in The Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in the early '70s is not "cool" than I seriously don't know what is.

Second of all, it is slightly more complicated than "Linux really being GNU/Linux." You might want to read the GNU/Linux naming controversy article on Wikipedia for a good start. Do you remember the Seattle Times interview with Linus Torvalds which was posted here just a week ago? This is the first sentence of the opening paragraph: "Linus Torvalds [pronounced LEE-nus] started a revolution of sorts in the computer industry when he created the Linux operating system and decided to share it with fellow programmers on the Internet."

The problem is that Torvalds didn't start any revolution in 1991. The revolution had already been happening becuase that very operating system had been being written since Linus was 14 years old. Eight years later he wrote the final piece, the kernel, and finally made GNU usable.

This was a great achievemnt. But the fact that taking an 8 years old project and renaming it after one's name can often start flame wars should not be surprising to anyone. Do you remember the recent outrage with CherryOS and PearPC? There are a lot of strong emotions involved where one puts many years of hard work into a project. But that is even not the most important thing here.

It is not important whose name is on the project. It is not important who started it, but it is very important why. The GNU project was started because of some ideals. Those very ideals made it possible. And those ideals made it needed in the first place. When people read such intervies and get the impression that Torvalds wrote the entire operating system starting a revolution and don't even know that GNU has ever existed, they read "Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary" Torvald's autobiography and get the impression that it is all about fun. Meanwhile, the real revolution has started because of freedom and nothing else.

And this revolution was not about starting something new, but rather saving something old.

I strongly urge you to read Free as in Freedom written by Sam Williams to know how, when and why the revolution was started. The entire book is released under the GNU Free Documentation License and is available on-line.

Stallman, an MIT hacker in the 1970s, wanted a source code for his printer drivers to fix them. A fellow programmer refused to give it to him because of an NDA. It outraged Stallman who considered it a personal insult and who repeatedly refused to get software which was offered to him for free but with an NDA, alienating himself and making his life as a programmer much harder, because at the end he was pretty much the only person in the AI Lab with no access to all of the proprietary software there.

There are strong emotions involved. There are ideals, fight for freedom at the cost of personal sacrifices. It is not "just for fun." Richard Stallman was not an "MIT drop-out." He r

Check this story out. Dasani Water comes from city tap water. City tap water is purified sewage water.

Sure: the backdoor draft, for those naive enough to think that enlisting for a tour will get the chances of being fed into the Iraqmire meat grinder over with quickly. Thanks for the invite. While we're at it, we can note that the Democrats tried to get a draft started before the war, to prevent rich and connected Republicans from avoiding the effects on their families of sending other kids to war for them. Bush's "no draft" plans will turn out to be "misunderstimations" of the failure to recruit, already underway, when he flipflops to the "last resort" draft in a heartbeat (someone else's, of course).

*snicker*. I need to read K5 to become better informed? That's like reading Slashdot to improve your social life.

Perhaps YOU need to read and inform yourself a little better.

Drivers, 75 years old and more, are more dangerous than every other group except teenagers (who also shouldn't be allowed to drive so young). They are 400% to 600% more deadly than every other age group.

I guess you'd rather let a group of innocent toddlers and young children playing on a soccer field be killed by an elderly driver who went up a curb, through a field and plowed into them be killed than dare take a license away from from those holiest of holy "The Greatest Generation".

It's a pity that, at the peak of the Linux desktop hype in the late 1990s, when evangelists predicted the near death of Microsoft, KDE and Gnome were rushed out of the door, and GNUstep development remained obscure.

Very true...

It is interesting to note that the new GNUstep Live CD was announced on GNUstep Core News in June:

What is it?
GNUstep Live CD contains a lot of software for GNUstep, a free implementation of the OPENSTEP framework (which was also the base as Cocoa in Mac OS X). Display Postscript is one of its powerful features. It includes an excellent application called Gorm for RAD (Apple Software Design Guidelines). More about the Objective-C Language.

Features
Software using GNUstep (Addresses, Agenda, AClock, Affiche, CamelBones, Camera, Charmap, Cenon, Connect, Cynthiune, DisplayCalibrator, EasyDiff, EdenMath, Gridlock, GMines, Gorm, Gomoku, GNUMail, GNUstep-icons, GNUWash, GWorkspace, HelpViewer, ImageViewer, LuserNET, MPDCon, ProjectCenter, PRICE, Poe, Preferences, PlopFolio, Preview, Renaissance, Stepulator, StepTalk, StepBill, Terminal, TalkSoup, TextEdit, ViewPDF, VolumeControl, Waiho, WildMenus, Zipper)

In development and not yet on the CD (3DKit, AgentFarms, Burn / CDPlayer, Duncan, Emacs on GNUstep, Encod, Expense, GTAMS, GRASStep GIS, GShisen, GNUstepWeb (WebObjects 4.x), GNUstepWrapper, ILogin, Installer, InnerSpace, LaTeX Service, Localize, MusicKit, MyWiki / MyLibrary, ModPlugPlay, Paje, Pixen, Popup, Position, Rhydot / Skfxdemo, RSS Reader, WebKit / SimpleWWW, Tryst)

The currently used window manager is Window Maker.
Rescue System (lde, gpart, parted, grub, raidtools, portmap, nfs-common, QTParted)
3d Software Blender, Wings3d, Games NetHack, Jump n Bump and SuperTux, LaTeX, TeXmacs, Emacs, GIMP2
Tools (screen, irssi-text, ngrep, tcpdump, openssl, ssh, imagemagick, netpbm, nail, iptraf, mc, gnupg, ibackup, cowsay, hdparm, feh, tetradraw)
The Debian GNU/Hurd K6 mini.iso for easy installation in /cdrom/hurd
C Compiler and development environment
Webbrowsers (dillo, links2), TV Software (xawtv, alevt)
Some music (www.chiptune.com, www.maktone.tk)

This is a very interesting project, though of course not as popular as Knoppix.

It was the first time that distributed free software development defected from its proven practice of implementing standardized, proven APIs and technology (like POSIX) and created major APIs of its own. [...] Imagine the massive development efforts on KDE and Gnome, including the massive rewrites of their codebases, would instead had gone into GNUstep, so that the GNU/Linux and *BSD desktop would be OS X/Cocao source compatibile today [and companies developing for OS X port their software to Linux basically with one more compiler run]...

Imagine the efforts on Knoppix would instead had gone into GNUstep Live CD... Imagine the development efforts on Linux would instead had gone into The Hurd... Just imagine... The entire computing world as we know it would be completely different. But what do we expect? People have no idea that GNU even exists, let alone the kernel development! Just few days ago Slashdot posted a story about the Seattle Times interview with Linus Torvalds with this opening paragraph: "Linus Torvalds [pronounced LEE-nus] started a revolution of sorts in the computer industry when he created the Linux operating system and decided to share it with fellow programmer

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The Guardian

-jim

I think what motivates people's unease is a gut sense of the numbers - since Dick Cheney gutted the military, we don't have the numbers required for an indefinite occupation of two countries. We're only where we are now thanks to an unprecedented callup of the National Guard and Reserves - if we need more troops, where are they going to come from?

I'll grant you that by itself, re-appointing people to draft boards is no big deal. However, it is the height of foolishness to take this administration's word that everything is rosy - particularly given their track record with WMD and the economy. We're in a situation now where the US is delaying ground action in Fallujah until after the US election, for domestic political reasons.

Are you familiar with a "special skills draft"? I think it's even shown up on Slashdot. Take a look at the slightly contorted statements Bush is making - he's not ruling out a special skills draft, or even mandatory national service (military service optional).

Did you know that the chairman of the RNC threatened legal action against Rock the Vote for trying to use a threat of a draft to motivate college students? Do you feel comfortable with political parties deciding what is or isn't acceptible speech?

Of course, the mainstream media wasn't bothered by the chairman of a party that controls all branches of government threatening legal action for stating an Unfact. I think that proves my point, which was that you can't be educated paying attention to the mainstream media.

Here is an article with more detail about Torvald's move to Portland.

the CBC is far worse. It's basically anti-America TV

Mr A. C. is right! Canadians are a bunch of socialists, with their medicine and gun control! Me and A.C. know this, because Bill O'Reilly told us so, and he's from the only truly objective, balanced news channel, Fox News.

O'Reilly pointed out that because of their socialist ways, Canada is teetering at the brink of bankruptcy. O'Reilly even said he might declare a boycott of Canada, which would ruin their economy, just like his French boycott did to France.

Sorry - I accidentally posted this as an A.C. above.

the CBC is far worse. It's basically anti-America TV

Mr A. C. is right! Canadians are a bunch of socialists, with their medicine and gun control! Me and A.C. know this, because Bill O'Reilly told us so, and he's from the only truly objective, balanced news channel, Fox News.

O'Reilly pointed out that because of their socialist ways, Canada is teetering at the brink of bankruptcy. O'Reilly even said he might declare a boycott of Canada, which would ruin their economy, just like his French boycott did to France.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/20 02059735_webbushoffice11.html

How sad is it that the Dems and the AFL-CIO have resorted to violence?

It is also interesting how little news coverage there has been of this issue. If these were Democrat offices, the airwaves would have been full of protests and accusations of civil rights violations. I mean, Jesse is already holding press conferences and we haven't even started the election!

Democrats were only accused of doing this by the Republicans and only laptops (the easiest and most valuable hardware to steal) were taken, quickly from an office where they were plainly visible from the street.

Engaging in vandalism against Bush offices by teenagers is not quite as bad as tearing up valid registrations.

Criminally negligent op-ed pieces do not facts make.

Accusing a group of committing illegal activities with no evidence is a typical Republican tactic.

Press releases aimed at creating a non-existant scandal and failing are pretty weak as a source.

Finally, defrauding a company by making up fake voter registrations to earn more money in a $9 per hour job is not making people think they are registered when they are not.

Democrats were only accused of doing this by the Republicans and only laptops (the easiest and most valuable hardware to steal) were taken, quickly from an office where they were plainly visible from the street.

Engaging in vandalism against Bush offices by teenagers is not quite as bad as tearing up valid registrations.

Criminally negligent op-ed pieces do not facts make.

Accusing a group of committing illegal activities with no evidence is a typical Republican tactic.

Press releases aimed at creating a non-existant scandal and failing are pretty weak as a source.

Finally, defrauding a company by making up fake voter registrations to earn more money in a $9 per hour job is not making people think they are registered when they are not.

Yeah, it's not like the Democrats ever engage in criminal activities aimed at defrauding and intimidating their way into office.

Yeah, it's not like the Democrats ever engage in criminal activities aimed at defrauding and intimidating their way into office.

It would appear that I stand corrected...
Vapor yes, but it appears that they want it to see the light of day eventually. This from MS:

Thomas Rizzo
Microsoft Corporation

March 17, 2004

UPDATE: In spite of what may be stated in this content, "WinFS" is not a feature that will come with the Longhorn Operating System. However, "WinFS" will be available on the Windows platform at some future date, which is why this article continues to be provided for your information.

And how could I have missed THIS ARTICLE months ago? I'm going to have to beat the delivery boy.

Hehe...Nice try.

I was just commenting the other day about how SCO hasn't been in the news much lately. After all, yesterday's interview with Linus Torvalds didn't even mention SCO. That would have been unheard of a year ago.

Just when I thought SCO had finally slinked into irrelevance, Darl's spouting off to the press again. Maybe it's attempted damage control against upcoming summary judgments with IBM.

<a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nation world/2002052224_debatefox02.html">bogus article</a>

<URL:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationw orld/2002052224_debatefox02.html>

<a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nation world/2002052224_debatefox02.html">bogus article</a>

<URL:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationw orld/2002052224_debatefox02.html>

Being a little serious, both (political) sides are getting to offer their opinions here. I read at -1 so I can see both sides of the discussion.
How many people read (& post to) slashdot because it is fun? This does not mean that one lies about one's views (except for trolls) but that one can say things here that might not be appreciated elsewhere. For example, I do not hate Republicans and I will vote for one if he/she is the best candidate. However, I believe Bush and his crew really are a danger to our country. If fact, I think the terrorists have already won; we are at war with ourselves. How many of the federal cases brought by the Bush administration have offered serious evidence? Remember that lawyer in Portland, Oregon who was held for 17 (?) days because they decided he was involved in the train bombings in Spain? This was completely unrelated to the fact that he defended some Muslims ... . ( His release; also here, here.)

That is interesting, because the police don't believe they were:
After Bellevue police investigated, however, police spokeswoman Jessamyn Poling said, "There was no indication at the scene that this burglary was politically motivated."

Hmm, who to believe? I don't know. I mean, why would anyone want to steal laptops except for partisan political purposes?

Kerry voted against Kyoto? Gee, that's pretty amazing considering the Kyoto protocol was never submitted to the Senate for ratification.

Kerry had some problems with that version of the protocol but he definitely recognizes that we have to do something about global warming. That's why he has authored legislation to cut down on greenhouse gases.

Here's a quote from him on Kyoto:

"Bush's abrupt and unilateral decision to abandon discussions with the world community on climate change was early evidence of this Administration's misguided approach to dealing with the community of nations. Dropping out of international implementation of the Kyoto Protocol was foolhardy then, and it is even more obviously foolhardy today."

And here's some info on his legislative efforts regarding global warming:

Compare Kerry and Bush's environmental policies
Kerry and Bush sharply divided on response to global warming

Excerpt from the Seattle Times article:

"Kerry, like Bush, opposed American participation in the current Kyoto treaty. In 1999, he joined in a 95-0 Senate vote that stated that the United States should not ratify the treaty unless China and other rapidly developing countries were also required to reduce greenhouse gases.

But Kerry, who has called pollution a "mortal threat" to the climate, wants to reopen the Kyoto negotiations to refashion an agreement acceptable to the United States.

And even without U.S. participation in the treaty, Kerry has backed mandatory efforts to control carbon dioxide.

His most high-profile effort was a 2002 bill that he and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., submitted to the Senate to force automakers to improve automobile efficiency.

The bill would have required that average fuel economy for autos sold in the U.S. to rise from 24 mpg to 36 mpg by 2015. Lower fuel consumption would reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

That bill was opposed by the U.S. automotive industry and automotive unions, which argued that the target was too extreme. It failed to pass the Senate.

Kerry also supports at least modest federal caps on U.S. emissions of greenhouses gases, such as the caps contained in legislation submitted to the Senate last year by McCain and Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn.

That bill seeks to ensure that the overall U.S. emissions in 2010 would be no higher than the overall levels back in 2000.

"There is also evidence that the Democrats are taking a page from Watergate history."

Give me a break. There is not even the slightest shred of evidence supporting anything of the sort in that article. There is an entirely unfounded accusation (from the State Republican Party Chairman; hardly an unbiased source) but not a hint of any proof. If this is your idea of evidence I certainly hope you never get called to jury duty.

When the last one hit, things like pantyhose were used to keep ash from destroying their engines.

I live a couple hours south of Portland and we got only a light dusting after the first eruption. My wife lived further north and was cleaning ash off of cars for days.

"September was one of the deadliest months for U.S. troops in the 18-month-old war in Iraq, and the death toll for the first time has risen four straight months.

At least 76 U.S. troops were killed this month, reflecting a steady increase in American deaths since the United States transferred sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government June 28, according to a count announced by the Pentagon."
From Seattle Times
I just see Rumsfeld admiting that large areas of Iraq are out of control.
I just see hundreds of Iraq people killed in bomb attacks each week, blaming USA on CNN for the lack of security.

Would you accept a Cheney bashing comment? How about Cheney bashing Cheney? I found the following on andrewsullivan.

"And the question in my mind is how many additional American casualties is Saddam worth? And the answer is not very damned many. So I think we got it right, both when we decided to expel him from Kuwait, but also when the president made the decision that we'd achieved our objectives and we were not going to go get bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern Iraq... All of a sudden you've got a battle you're fighting in a major built-up city, a lot of civilians are around, significant limitations on our ability to use our most effective technologies and techniques. Once we had rounded him up and gotten rid of his government, then the question is what do you put in its place? You know, you then have accepted the responsibility for governing Iraq." - vice president Dick Cheney, 1992

You can find the full context of the quote here and some newspaper spin here. Now personally, I don't have a problem with a person changing his mind. To me it's often a sign of common sense. But over in GOP-land it seems to be some kind of mortal sin! Or maybe only when a democrat does it...

I remember this story. IT was not a "Laundry Ship", but a merchant ship suspected of being a spy ship. The LT was a US navy observer onboard a Canadian Helo helping to conduct a personnel transfer from the USS Ohio, an SSBN (carries up to 24 nuke missles), when he got lazered from the ship. Optomitrists said his eyes had burns consistant with that of a laser, and the ship was searched several times for the cause of the injuries, but nothing was ever found. The pilot just lost a fight to get a Purple Heart due to ongoing problems caused by the laser. here's some links: http://www.dod.gov/advisories/1997/p06261997_p156- 97.html http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/155443_laser06 .html

Specific activity (picocuries of potassium-40 per gram of potassium) = 818 pCi/g (see here)

and the UK Radioactive Substances Act 1993 (c. 12) says you can't put radioactive waste in to landfills. I accept that they aren't really going to stop you but technically you shouldn't!

See also this article on radiological problems in food and other goods.

Ian

Sagan criticized the Cold War, and so he would criticize the misguided "war on terror" (which followed decades of propping up fundamentalist regimes to combat communism). The way to bring peace to the world is to lead by example, to educate, to promote free speech, to restrict the proliferation of all types of weapons, to reduce inequality, and to limit corporate meddling in other nations' affairs.

But of course science and politics are completely unreleated according to today's standards. I fear all we can hope for from this series is a watered down version of the science and none of the politics. With that attitude, is it any wonder that just three months ago, 48 Nobel Prize winners complained that "the Bush administration is undermining the nation's future by impeding medical advances, turning away scientific talent with its immigration practices and ignoring scientific consensus on global warming and other critical issues"? [source] Sadly, most scientists only bother to speak out when it is too late, if even then.

The feds are working on outlawing peeping Tom activities.

You need a lawyer to determine your rights which will depend on the laws and court decisions of your state and details like whether or not anyone caught on video was a minor (big no-no).

Of course there is the direct approach.

The feds are working on outlawing peeping Tom activities.

You need a lawyer to determine your rights which will depend on the laws and court decisions of your state and details like whether or not anyone caught on video was a minor (big no-no).

Of course there is the direct approach.