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Oh man, are you serious? Come on. That's gonna be a pretty fruitless argument, unless you want to argue that false hypotheses, trial and error, etc. never contribute to scientific progress.

Besides, this isn't evidence of sloppiness. It's actually evidence that we need more research:

The cells' contamination has been caused by how scientists grow them in the lab.

The cells cannot multiply by themselves in a petri dish, so researchers typically grow them on top of a "feeder" layer of embryonic cells taken from mice. The human cell cultures also are bathed in a serum derived from fetal calf tissue. The human cells absorb nutrients from the mice and calf cells. ...

Scientists are trying to develop ways to grow stem cells in the lab without relying on animal feeder cells or serum that contains animal products. The job is a challenging one because scientists do not know exactly what chemicals are vital to human stem cells as they grow, Varki said.

Two minutes with Google could have set you straight.

It should be noted that SAIC is the same company who just cratered on the FBI's new Virtual Case File software contract. The one that cost us $170 million dollars and is probably going to be thrown out and replaced with COTS software(which will probably cost millions more). SAIC is one of the elite cadre of companies that specialize in using political influence to land huge government contracts worth billions that they often never deliver anything worth a plugged nickel for. Some other big names CSC, EDS, Lockheed, Boeing, Hallibiburton/KBR, Bechtel....

Virtual Case File was actually only 1/3 of a larger contract called Trilogy to modernize the FBI's computer systems. In total its a $600 million dollar project and it kind of sounds like the 2/3rds of it CSC is doing isn't going a lot better.

I'm wagering this is just one of many case studies in the U.S. government squandering money in knee jerk reactions after 9/11 that were awarded before any actual thought had been put in to them. The contractors all make out like bandits though. Remember that when you see the $300-$400 billion budget deficits and the slash and burning of domestic spending to pay for "homeland security". Its open to debate if any of the billions that hve been spent on "homeland security" have actually made the homeland more secure.

their actions were nothing compared to the atrocities that Iraqi soldiers have inflicted

You are correct. Cutting off someone's head is far, far worse than sodomizing children on camera. Or gang-raping Iraqi women (although to be fair, the Americans just took pictures while Iraqi security did the gang-raping). Or executing incapacitated enemy soldiers on the battlefield. Or using Mark-77 firebombs.

When a car-bomb at a military check-point kills civilians, it's an atrocity. But when our bombs level a neighborhood, it's collateral damage. When a member of one of the many disparate and decentralized groups resisting the occupation kills an American soldier, it shows that our enemies are animals. But when evidence comes to light of torturers in our ranks, the few who are caught are dismissed as an exception.

Apparently, they arrested the 'anonymous' tipster who told them about the four chinese illegals entering the country. Jose Ernesto Beltran Quinones was detained by Mexican authorities, and the FBI wants to extradite him. Why? Because he informed the 'good guys' about a plot to smuggle Chinese illegals into the country. Illegals he said planned to set off a dirty bomb made of nuclear oxides.

Chinese illegals are being deported after being forced down in the plane smuggling them through Texas. Guess who co-owns the plane? Afzal Hameed, president of a flight school that caters to Saudi Arabian flight students. You can read about some of their clientele here. However, no dirty bombs were found.

(More details available over at Michelle Malkin's blog.)

The moral of the story? Unless you're the President of the United States, you're in deep shit if they don't find the WMDs... But I'm not saying anything, because I don't know about any terrorist activity.

Iranian Blogger Arrested

20 Iranian Bloggers and Journalists Arrested

Iranian President calls for Investigation of Blogger Torture

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's president called Sunday for an investigation into journalists' allegations they were tortured into confessing to charges such as insulting sacred beliefs and endangering national security after publishing articles critical of conservatives in the government.

Unless TS is offering briefcases with unmarked bills inside, I don't think this rises to the level of a civil tort.

I can't think of any other news organization so willing to cater to potential informants.

Then you're not thinking very hard.

I do understand that (I was in HS when that prop was passed) but the inflated property values mean the taxes aren't cheap- just cheaper percentage-wise of the value. My $400k house was costing about $3500 a year in property taxes. It certainly was helpful that the taxes were not double that, but it was still quite a big chunk to chew when my income dropped after a couple layoffs. With other higher costs of goods and services, I would still submit that life in metro-CA is significantly more expensive than other places.

Good article in today's SF Chronicle
And in the San Diego Union-Tribune

Honestly, I'm not the only one in the situation. :-) It took me longer than normal to want to settle down (travel, career changes, etc.), so I am paying for it by being behind the market.

I agree with a lot of these ideas. This is what we did in San Diego county, CA, which I thought did a pretty good job (as opposed to the problems that we had with electronic voting machines in the march primary).

1) Optical scan ballots. Scantron style. Verifiable. The absentee ballots were identical to the normal ones, (is this normal?) and although very long, very very straightforward. We in california had about 60 things to vote on this year.

2) Although I cannot find reference for this, I was told that there is a 1% recount- 1% of all ballots are recounted manually to make sure that the machines agree with reality.

3) well, of course we still have the problems with provisional ballots, not a holiday,etc., but you can do early voting, and is quite easy to get an absentee ballot. In fact, some candidates mailed out a postpaid absentee ballot request form to you, that was already filled out with your name, address, etc. All you had to do was sign it, and drop it in the mail, then you got your absentee ballot. An excellent idea for a campaign.

3) Unfortunately, this situation is going to change- we're apparently going to go back to the pure electronic systems once they are "certified". However I like this system better. Hopefully other people will agree, now that they have used it.

4) Something interesting that happened in san diego specifically: The mayoral race became very interesting. In march, we had a primary, choosing between which of the 3, mid fifties, white moderate republicans that we wanted for mayor. Up until about 6 weeks ago, we had to choose between 2 of them, and they were splitting the vote nrealy 50-50. Neither of them was that popular, and there are currently a lot of scandals going on at city hall (i.e. we underfunded the pension system by 1.2 $Billion (with a B). So, a very popular city council member who had the lone vote in city council meetings to fix the pension system decided to run as write in. And it looks like she will win. One advantage of the optical ballot- you already have a pen and paper in your hand, with which to wrote someone in... The final vote: 35%, 34%, 31%. Note that the 35% is the total "write in"- they're still counting the ballots and are about halfway through.

Here's a pre-election article about the race. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/cities /20041018-9999-1m18mayor.html

Current results: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/cities /20041110-9999-6m10work.html
Another interesting website: http://calvoter.org/
The California Voter Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization promoting and applying the responsible use of technology to improve the democratic process.

I agree with a lot of these ideas. This is what we did in San Diego county, CA, which I thought did a pretty good job (as opposed to the problems that we had with electronic voting machines in the march primary).

1) Optical scan ballots. Scantron style. Verifiable. The absentee ballots were identical to the normal ones, (is this normal?) and although very long, very very straightforward. We in california had about 60 things to vote on this year.

2) Although I cannot find reference for this, I was told that there is a 1% recount- 1% of all ballots are recounted manually to make sure that the machines agree with reality.

3) well, of course we still have the problems with provisional ballots, not a holiday,etc., but you can do early voting, and is quite easy to get an absentee ballot. In fact, some candidates mailed out a postpaid absentee ballot request form to you, that was already filled out with your name, address, etc. All you had to do was sign it, and drop it in the mail, then you got your absentee ballot. An excellent idea for a campaign.

3) Unfortunately, this situation is going to change- we're apparently going to go back to the pure electronic systems once they are "certified". However I like this system better. Hopefully other people will agree, now that they have used it.

4) Something interesting that happened in san diego specifically: The mayoral race became very interesting. In march, we had a primary, choosing between which of the 3, mid fifties, white moderate republicans that we wanted for mayor. Up until about 6 weeks ago, we had to choose between 2 of them, and they were splitting the vote nrealy 50-50. Neither of them was that popular, and there are currently a lot of scandals going on at city hall (i.e. we underfunded the pension system by 1.2 $Billion (with a B). So, a very popular city council member who had the lone vote in city council meetings to fix the pension system decided to run as write in. And it looks like she will win. One advantage of the optical ballot- you already have a pen and paper in your hand, with which to wrote someone in... The final vote: 35%, 34%, 31%. Note that the 35% is the total "write in"- they're still counting the ballots and are about halfway through.

Here's a pre-election article about the race. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/cities /20041018-9999-1m18mayor.html

Current results: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/cities /20041110-9999-6m10work.html
Another interesting website: http://calvoter.org/
The California Voter Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization promoting and applying the responsible use of technology to improve the democratic process.

If Bush won it would be a bad omen for his last 4 years, if Kerry won it would mean next election would be even more dumbed down - millions of people would be watching the Redskins to see the result, and political journalists and news stations would actually be basing their predictions on it. Then there would be some kind of scandel over who got paid to take a fall. All I can say is GO GREENBAY! DOWN WITH BOOSH W00T!

However, this really doesnt fill me with confidence:
"Oh, yeah, he's going to win. It's guaranteed," said Packers safety Darren Sharper, a Kerry supporter. "I don't have to vote now. Don't even have to go to the polls. Saved me a trip."

The co-ops are the Che Cafe, a popular counterculture hangout; Groundwork Books, a bookstore with eclectic, leftist selections; the General Store Co-op, which features notebooks, sweat shirts and snacks; and the Food Co-op, which sells organic and health foods.

Each operates as a nonprofit, funneling any profits back into operations.

An attorney who has battled the administration on behalf of the co-ops in the past decade, said this is the university's latest attempt to eliminate the co-ops, which are less lucrative for UCSD than commercial businesses.

"This is the third major attempt by the administration to eviscerate the co-ops," said attorney Lottie Cohen of Los Angeles. "The administration wants control and money."

http://www.hispanicheritage.com/health/immigrantva ccines_08_02.htm

Please research the jobs that illegals are taking. If you do this you will find that it is mostly the starter jobs and the low wage jobs which, before this invasion, where taken by blacks. Just look at the unemployment rate in the black community.

Deportees are liinked to Mexico crime rate.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040912/n ews_1n12deport.html

http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/10513 206p-11432370c.html
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20040825112521 -6070r.htm

See, unlike you I don't live in a dream world where I can just make shit up. You own me an appology.

Please provide sources for your contention that Bush lied about his record.

Gladly. Not that it will matter to you, though, will it? Hell, evidence for conservatives is just an excuse to exercise their rhetorical skills.

Lie: CNN 2/13/04: "We've released all of [the documents]. You should take our word for it and this is the evidence."

Fact: AP 9/9/04: "After the [60 Minutes II] broadcast, the White House, without comment, released to the news media two of the memos, one ordering Bush to report for his physical exam and the other suspending him from flight status."

Lie: Bush, NBC 2/9/04: "Well, I was going to Harvard Business School and worked it out with the military."

Fact: Boston Globe, 9/8/2004: "On July 30, 1973, shortly before he moved from Houston to Cambridge, Bush signed a document that declared, 'It is my responsibility to locate and be assigned to another Reserve forces unit or mobilization augmentation position. If I fail to do so, I am subject to involuntary order to active duty for up to 24 months... ' Under Guard regulations, Bush had 60 days to locate a new unit.

"But Bush never signed up with a Boston-area unit. In 1999, Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett told the Washington Post that Bush finished his six-year commitment at a Boston area Air Force Reserve unit after he left Houston. Not so, Bartlett now concedes. 'I must have misspoke," Bartlett, who is now the White House communications director, said in a recent interview."

I could keep going all day with this crap, but it won't matter one slice of cheese to you. If there is one thing I have learned, it's that conservatives have abrogated all pretense of morality seeking the truth, and instead just seek myriad ways to twist the truth to their advantage.

The San Diego Open Source Software Assoc/Linux Users Group just had the architect of the local paper's website in to give a Python/Zope/Plone talk.

At the end of the meeting, he said there were a couple of Zope books coming out this fall. Not sure if they'll be the same caliber as the Dive Into... book, but it's a start.

The presentation he gave should be on the SDOSS website soon... and as an aside, they primarily use Debian for their servers, desktops, etc.

In most places this is illegal, thanks to the power of featherbedding labor unions. They are responsible for the minimum-wage laws, and hence for high unemployment among young and poorly educated people. They DEFINITELY don't like competing against volunteers or unpaid apprentices.

The Democrats are so in hock to the unions for manpower and money, they ignore the fact that unions regularly shit all over the most marginalized workers in our society, and destroy the impulse for volunteer civic betterment.

-ccm

"Sorry to interrupt you, Alex, but the contestant was actually correct!"

In all seriousness, though, your very cropped quote is quite disingenuous, given the important omission of the following:

Thirteen Democratic members of the House of Representatives, raising the specter of possible civil rights violations that they said took place in Florida and elsewhere in the 2000 election, wrote to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in July, asking him to send observers.

Furthermore, I see no political slander anywhere, neither in the grandparent post nor in the article itself. I assume what you must be talking about would be this:

Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee of California agreed.

"This represents a step in the right direction toward ensuring that this year's elections are fair and transparent," she said.

"I am pleased that the State Department responded by acting on this need for international monitors. We sincerely hope that the presence of the monitors will make certain that every person's voice is heard, every person's vote is counted."

If we as a nation truly have nothing to hide, this will be a nice vindication of our way of doing things. On the other hand, if there are real issues, best to find them and deal with them.

I have to wonder why there isn't a well-meaning bunch of people out there putting the beatdown to people like this.

I mean... You've got nutcases out there just looking for a reason to go off on someone. You've got terrorists out there looking for someone to attack, or as is more often the case, something (ie, "World Trade Center"). You have racist guys out there looking for someone to attack in the name of their "cause". You've got stalkers using the Net to hunt down their victims before attacking them...

So why isn't there a secretive group of good guys out there anonymously hunting down and beating on all these people who so deserve it? Something like the A-Team meets the Town Bully (film at 11)!

For some reason, I like the romanticism associated with a group of people who hold bullys, terrorists, and their ilk responsible for their diatribe and threats. I can almost picture them communicating and travelling secretively to anonymously deal out justice for the little guy. The slow, and pathetic justice system that we have (at least here in the USA) obviously isn't making a dent in the number of people who are abusing others, and spreading fear through the anonyminity(SP?) of the Net. More often than not, the people responsible for terrorizing others get away without so much as a warning. Meanwhile normal, innocent people are threatened, and sometimes hurt because of these jerks. Face it... Terrorism, whether to an individual or a group, works. If it didn't work, and/or if people were held accountable for their actions more often than not, perhaps this wouldn't be the case.

Example: Let's say that "Billy Bob" rapes someone, and while out on bond, awaiting trial (we'll say this is his... 3rd offence) he gets the beating of his life from a bunch of people he doesn't know, along with a threat that there'll be more if he touches someone that way again. I'll bet he would reconsider his actions a lot more than if he gets off with a fine, and another year tacked onto his probation.

The cops obviously aren't out hunting for such people. They're too busy sitting on the side of a highway, or under an overpass, waiting for crime to come to them. The cops tend not to get involved until after a threat is made a reality, and someone is severely injured or killed. We need someone(s) out there looking for warning signs, and/or precursors to a larger crime, and addressing these people before they hurt someone. A van full of "good guy terrorists" with a bat and a message seems to fit the bill!

I want to see something like that Simpsons episode where Homer becomes a good guy avenger, throwing pies at the bullys he comes across. Only without the pastries and fat guy, of course. :)

Perhaps if there was an anonymous threat on the table, and evidence that these guys can get to you outside of the law if you're a bad person, there wouldn't be so much anonymous bullying and slander.

At least it sounds nice. I'm sure it would raise all kinda questions about who decides who's good or who's bad, and of course what accountability would befall someone in such a position. But when I see stories like this and this, I have to think that it'd be nice to know that these people are going to get a better deterant against future crimes then a night in the clink, and a fine for their deeds. Hell, most people who go to jail for beating on someone are out within 24 hours and are able to go after their victims again, knowing that a court date is more or less a formality that they won't have to deal with for quite some time.

To be fair, the San Diego Union Tribune posted the story first, and rightfully so since Crick died in San Diego.

Word to the respective mothers of Union-Tribune staff writers Scott LaFee and Bruce Lieberman for a very good article.

I'm seriously considering filing for an absentee ballot, but I'm sure they'll find some way not to count it if it doesn't have the answers they want.

3000 absentee ballots in the San Diego primary one month ago were miscounted. 'The miscounts occurred because multiple scanners simultaneously fed the absentee ballot data into the computer tabulation system....

At least in this county, I think what they were doing was feeding the absentee ballots into the Diebold system.

It might be the rule for most counties using Diebold systems.

I guess this stuff is OK so long as it has a big pharmecutical company's trademark on it.

Though we shouldn't be too surprized- it's not much different than the air-force kids that we pumped up with methamphetamine before the bombed the first Canadians in Afganastan.

Well, this isn't quite the same, but UCSD recently found that some of their machines were compromised. They sent out notices that, while there was no evidence to show that anyone's information had been taken, the compromise did put the attacker in a position where they could get ahold of students' and people who applied to be students' personal information, including social security numbers.

They sent notices to everyone who was in the system with instructions on how to protect themselves, and reported it to the local media. A San Diego Union-Tribune Article is here.

Admittedly, it's not the same, as a state-run university isn't the same as a traded company running a website, but they obviously felt it important to inform anyone who was potentially hurt by this.

Google on ESPN and cable TV for more info on how ESPN is the single most expensive channel on your cable bill.

FCC Requests Comments on a la Carte Cable Subscriptions
At the mercy of cable monopolies
Will Disney deal affect cable rates?
Why your cable bill is soaring

Using current analog cable technology, it would be improbably to offer many choices above basic cable. Most "basic" cable block all channels above a cutoff frequency using a filter at the street connection. To allow selection of various packages in "expanded" cable, there would need to be developed "notch" filters to remove spans of channels, which would not be perfect.

If everyone was converted to digital cable boxes, they could just turn on and off the channels you are allowed to see. Not terribly hard, they already do it for premium channels.

An article indicates that only around 46% of a barrel of crude is actually used for gasoline. The other half goes into various petrochemical products, like asphalt and plastics. So until we give up driving completely, and start making things out of wood and stainless steel again, I don't see us eliminating our dependency on crude oil.

Broadly speaking, we have a society that is divided into those who 'own' and those who don't. For the majority of society, that is not the owners, life is structured around working to survive.

When something is done in a new and more efficient way then in a sense, society benefits. However, those who really benefit are 'owning' segment of the population, not the 'workers.'

Apparently Jim Crow laws are still on the books of several southern states.

I read that too, and was frustrated that I couldn't figure out where they were coming up with that. According to this story:

"For a few minutes after SpaceShipOne began its descent, it was unclear whether Melvill had reached his goal. But the mission announcer finally said the mission had been successful as the craft prepared to land at Mojave Airport, accompanied by three chase planes. "

Looks like Globe and Mail just jumped the gun. thpt.

The posting is a bit late, check out this story. The ship has already set the record and landed.

Apparently Halliburton's financial staff in Kuwait are staying in the five star Kempinski Julai'a Hotel and Resort. The tab is $10,000 a night. A 100 people apparently ran up a one million dollar bill in 3 months. The Army tried to move them to tents but they refused.

Some other examples apparently from ex employees and whistleblowers:

"Abandoned $85,000 trucks because of flat tires and minor problems."

"Paid $100 to have a 15-pound bag of laundry cleaned as part of a million-dollar laundry contract in peaceful Kuwait. The price for cleaning the same amount of laundry in war-torn Iraq was $28."

"Spent $1.50 a can to buy 37,200 cans of soda in Kuwait, about 24 times higher than the contract price."

I like the truck story the best. If true it appears the Iraqi insurgents can decimate the U.S. supply lines by throwing sharpened jacks in the road in front of Halliburton's convoys. Once the trucks are abandoned they are most probably looted, stolen or burned.

War profiteering is always ugly and if you go in to one of these war zones as a contractor that is basically what you are.

The problem with war profiteers is that when you have companies like Halliburton and its subsidary Kellog Brown and Root(KBR) who make a fortune off wars they have strong motivations to encourage and promote wars. KBR has been profiting off war since at least Vietnam when it was Brown and Root. I see another post that indicates they are doing the same thing in the Balkans.

It really disturbing when you have a Secretary of Defense, Dick Cheney, who rewrites all the Pentagon's rules and moves half the jobs formerly done by soldiers, like driving trucks and cooking, to contractors so KBR can an even better profit since the Army is now totally dependent on them. Cheney, as his reward gets a cushy job as Halliburton/KBR's CEO where he cashes in on his generosity as Secretary of Defense. He then returns to government as VP where he was the #1 cheerleader for a war waged under false pretenses where his old company is raking in billions in sole source contracts. Cheney denies he arranged the contracts. Well he didn't have to. KBR always gets all the Army's war zone logistics contracts and have for a long time.

Another disturbing example is Blackwater. Blackwater consists mostly of ex green berets, rangers, seals and delta force. Uncle Sam spends a fortune to train them. At the first opportunity they get out and join Blackwater where they make 6 figure salaries. They are mercenaries, plain and simple. The mercenary army is the single largest army in Iraq, after the U.S. and larger than the British contingent. The four mercenaries killed in Fallujah that started the month long war there were from Blackwater (Blackwater being the term for SEALS attacking from the water at night).

War profiteering really and truly stinks. It helps propel nations in to wars, for bad reasons, that get a lot of people killed.

Here in San Diego, dirt is so expensive that they pay us with checks. I made over $80K last year, but can't afford more than this miserable little apartment...

not 50 as the author mistakenly reported.

Also.. this is just an AP article.. Im unsure why a nytimes link was posted.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/computing/20040 525-1257-techshow.html

My suggestion for the RIAA is to actually lay off the worrying about piracy, and instead, run an information and advertising campaign informing consumers about how when they buy a used CD, they are in fact ripping off their favorite artist.

That was not the point to force the war.

I think that whatever Iraq becomes (democracy paradise, religious dictatorship, etc) it will not be a friend of USA.

Your sarcasm is welcome, but take note that the accused part are those that supposedly are given Iraq freedom, human rights and democracy

No matter what you think about what he does to Software, this is going to save Millions of Lives, and is very necessary since the guys in Washington have effectively disallowed this kind of operation to anyone who uses Federal Funds.

Article

At Legoland, the adult entertainment is not underhanded. It's just hard to see, and entertaining to an adult mind.

Panel: Don't use Diebold touch-screen voting machines

By Jim Wasserman
ASSOCIATED PRESS
12:51 p.m. April 22, 2004

SACRAMENTO - California should ban the use of 15,000 touch-screen voting machines made by Diebold Election Systems from the Nov. 2 general election, an advisory panel to Secretary of State Kevin Shelley recommended Thursday.

By an 8-0 vote, the state's Voting Systems and Procedures Panel recommended that Shelley cease the use of the machines, saying that Texas-based Diebold has performed poorly in California and its machines malfunctioned in the state's March 2 primary election, turning away many voters in San Diego County.

The recommendation affects 15,000 Diebold touch-screen machines in San Diego, Solano, Kern and San Joaquin counties.

Machines made by Diebold and other manufacturers in 10 other counties are unaffected, although the panel was to consider them later in the day.

The panel's recommendation has national implications for the voting machine maker, which has also supplied machines to many counties in Maryland and Georgia. It also comes as states are gearing up to spend billions of dollars on modernized election equipment in the wake of the 2000 disputed presidential election in Florida.

If Shelley follows through with the recommendation, the affected counties would have to revert to paper ballots or older voting technology.

Diebold was disappointed and disagreed with the recommendation, said its marketing director, Mark Radke. The company will quickly write a report outlining its objections to Shelley, who has until April 30 to make a final decision.

The vote doesn't affect thousands of Diebold optical scan machines that read marked ballot cards in 17 counties. Nor does it immediately affect an earlier generation of 4,000 Diebold touch-screen machines in Alameda and Plumas counties.

In addition to the ban, panel members recommended that a secretary of state's office report released Wednesday, detailing alleged failings of Diebold in California, be forwarded to the state attorney general's office to consider civil and criminal charges against the company.

Diebold Election Systems is an affiliate of Ohio-based Diebold, Inc., a leading ATM machine maker supplying banks in North and South America.

Panel member Marc Carrel, an assistant secretary of state, said he was "disgusted" by Diebold, which has "been jerking us around." The company, he said, has disenfranchised voters in California and undermined confidence in the new and developing technology of touch-screen voting.

Local elections officials in Kern San Joaquin counties, which use Diebold's touch-screen machines were surprised by the news, saying they had experienced no problems in the March primary.

"I don't understand how they can say they didn't work well," said San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters Debbie Hench. The county bought 1,626 Diebold touch-screen machines for $5.7 million.

This decision will be a "step backward" for Kern County, said Registrar of Voters Ann Barnett, who bought 1,350 Diebold touch-screen machines for $5 million.

Regardless of what happens in California, the head of Diebold Inc. told shareholders Thursday that the company is not considering getting out of the elections business.

Chairman and CEO Walden W. O'Dell told reporters after an annual shareholders meeting that "we will help in California if we are allowed. If we are not, we won't. I think whatever goes on in California is separate from what goes on in other states. Each state will make their own decisions."

O'Dell said the North Canton, Ohio-based company remains confident the machines are safe and secure.

California panel members, however, disagreed. They cited a litany of alleged problems with Diebold in recent months, including its sale of machines to the four counties without federal and state certif

If the hijacker has no previous criminal record, as with 9/11 IIRC, why would this possibly be of use?

Some of the 9/11 hijackers were already on a terrorist "watch list". The US government already had a list of 'bad guys' that was reasonably accurate. But this does no good if you can't match the list of bad guys against the list of people who are entering the country!

I wouldn't worry to much about SUVs since apparently they're the target of these guys who think that burning 500 pounds of irreplaceable inorganic material and rubbers is less harmful to the environment than just letting it drive around.

Would a "Kills people ever more dead" be a good marketing slogan?

banking on nanotechnology having progressed enough . . .

Agreed. Ted Williams' son just died recently and it's not clear whether he's also going to have his body at ALCOR. I believe there were a lot of issues like he never really paid the full bill for his dad's cryonics, and they possibly separated the head. I didn't know that Ted Wms' son had leukemia. Maybe he was banking on a cure for that or even using his dad's tissue to help with that.

I had something similar happen to me and my Subaru WRX while on Mount Soledad in La Jolla over a year ago. The keyless entry/alarm just wouldn't work when up on top of the mountain. Was a PITA as I didn't know how to disable the alarm after tripping it using the key to get back into the car and took me a while to figure out how to turn it off.

The keyless entry/alarm hasn't acted up since, but I also haven't visied the top of Mount Soledad since then, either. There is a good collection on antennas on the top of the mountain if you look in the background of the picture in the link above.

Ah, let's go down the list. Hmm, let's see...not a lot of industrialized nations on this list. In fact, the vast majority of the worlds economic and productive nations aren't anywhere to be found in this list!

Ah, I see you did not bother to look at the list. The countries that have signed number 120 (including the USA) and the countries that have ratified number 84. This is out of a total of 191 member countries in the UN.

Among the backwater, third-world nations is Germany, France, UK, Spain, Poland, Switzerland, China, Japan, Malaysia, South Africa, Mexico, Canada, etc. This is a much more impressive list than the "coalition of the semi-willing and black-mailed". It seems like the Bush administration is the backwater guys again.

Of course, I could also take the tack that all the Bush-hating, Saddam-loving liberals have taken in the war against Iraq.

Reason not to invade a sovereign nation like Iraq is much more than about loving Saddam or any other petty dictator. World affairs and international order are complex issues. Even Bush supporters are getting cold feet on the carelessness and ineptness of the Bush administration has shown when sacrificing 530 US soldiers lives in an unnecessary war.

Why don't you just come out and say what you're really feeling? You hate the U.S. It's that simple.

Where does all your hatred come from? Is it from having your illusions shattered? Free speech is very powerful and challenging. I am glad people like you don't represent a majority in the great country of the USA.

I tried submitting this last week when I saw the article in the Union Tribune because the rhetoric coming from Patriot sounds disgustingly like the crap spewing from SCO.
Here are some choice quotes from the article:

"It would suggest that every PC manufactured after 1994 or 1995 is benefiting from this technology," Wallin said. As the company put it in a recent news release, "It is now time for Patriot Scientific and its shareholders to be properly remunerated."

Wallin added, "This sounds terrible, but we intend to get around to everybody."

Intel is taking action already. They have filed suit against Patriot to prevent Patriot from threatening them.

I tried submitting this last week when I saw the article in the Union Tribune because the rhetoric coming from Patriot sounds disgustingly like the crap spewing from SCO.
Here are some choice quotes from the article:

"It would suggest that every PC manufactured after 1994 or 1995 is benefiting from this technology," Wallin said. As the company put it in a recent news release, "It is now time for Patriot Scientific and its shareholders to be properly remunerated."

Wallin added, "This sounds terrible, but we intend to get around to everybody."

Intel is taking action already. They have filed suit against Patriot to prevent Patriot from threatening them.

Actually it's not viable. It needs money, so it thinks that it can "sue it's way into wealth" ala SCO

Patriot's provocative plan

I just think of the lawsuit as a massive $50 million contribution from Microsoft to the university. We should probably name a computer lab, or maybe a e-toilet, after them...

I have about ten here in the office purchased within the past two years, as well as a few notebooks (shipment of those just before Thanksgiving, actually). According to this story, they're still third overall. Good machines, overall, but not much different than you'd get from HP or Dell.

The number of critical plaudits for this one is almost unbelievable, in such a usually divided field.

This discussion reminds me about the fall of the Soviet Union. The communist hard-liners attempted to shut down the media. Unfortunately, these men were so out of date; they didn't realize that the media was still able to communicate via fax machine. (This link [cato.org] points to a book review of a popular book on the subject.) That ability allowed reporters to communicate to the outside despite the crackdown of the Soviet government. Those communications ignited the entire country. All the eyes of Russia, and the world, were focused on Moscow. They were specifically focused on Boris Yeltsin. Modern technology enabled this communication. The Iraqis need information about as much as they need water. Imagine if every day of your life, you've learned to live in fear. You've been taught to keep your mouth shut, you're eyes turned away, and you allegiance sworn to a mad dictator. Add to the fact that even if you do heed all these warnings, you may still be randomly charged with treason.

The Iraqis who wish to be free need to organize and communicate. They need to learn about the outside world. Heck, even Saddam was shocked when he saw how openly we as Americans criticize our President. He was under the belief, that our government suppressed dissent (especially unflattering satire) like he did. Frankly, the Internet is probably the best, low-cost method to promote open communication. Take a look at countries like Brazil or India. They're IT is run on Linux (except the most high-end). They still use many low-end PCs. OSS fanaticism aside; I think in this case OSS can be quite useful. Isn't the free flow of information what true hacking is about?

On a slightly (perhaps greatly) off-topic, but related note:

I know we complain about "fascism" in this country. That's a joke. The Iraqis have quite a few problems ahead. They're fighting real fascism. They don't have Thomas Jefferson or George Washington. They don't have a slow progression and long history of open dissent. What they do have is a sudden vacuum of power, arguing radical religious factions, and a severe lack of resources.

Drugs, sex, and Iraq
Why Iraq's neighbors want to see democracy fail
The rise of crime and vigilates

Unfortunately, I can't hunt down the specific article I wanted to link to. It discussed the sudden increase of crime [especially prostitution] (see articles above) in Iraq. It also discussed the rise of a radical Islamic movement looking to cleanse Iraqi society. They argue these vices/sins have been "unleashed"/"unchecked" by the Americans. I hate to say it, but this whole war is FAR from over.