Slashdot Mirror

they are saying that NOTHING is going to happen

These two articles from the Daily Telegraph give a fairly detailed descriptions of the military preparation that is underway:

SAS to play key role in capturing bin Laden

SAS to join American special forces

Both articles describe a scenario involving cruise missles and air strikes followed by special forces brought in by helicopter. One article says the assault could begin within a week.

For the sake of your families - be prepared.

As I explained on /. before:

IT IS ALL A LIE

Carnivore and Echelon will not work against terrorists.

People were complacent - because of this LIE.

They knew billions was being spent on Carnivore & Echelon for just this sort of problem.

Terrorists know they are being looked for by Carnivore and will get around it by other measures.

When not planning face to face - they would use personal couriers.

Perhaps give mobile for single message when required - just using message - go with plan a / b or abort.

I have always said - terrorism is just the excuse they use, the US to raise funds for Carnivore - the UK to justify R.I.P. bill - to spy on the people.

The "you've nothing to fear - if you are not breaking the law" argument is made to pressure people to acquiesce - else appear guilty.

It does not address the real reason, why they want this information. They want a surveillance society.

This is like having somebody watching everything you do - all your thoughts, hopes and fears will be open to them.

All your finances available for them to scrutinize - heaven help you if you cannot account for every cent when they check on your taxes.

Do not believe the lies of Government - even more money spent on Carnivore will not protect you - IT IS A LIE - TERRORISTS WILL GET AROUND IT.

You are a simple-minded dimwit if you believe different. What a big supprise it will be to you, when they use chemical or biological weapons to kill thousands.

Carnivore will not help you one bit. Government are immoral to use this excuse - especially at this time.

***

In the news today: Bin Laden British cell planned gas attack on European Parliament

Quote: "ISLAMIC terrorists based in Britain and controlled by Osama bin Laden planned a devastating attack in February on the European Parliament building in Strasbourg.

Sarin gas is an easily made chemical weapon, 26 times more deadly than cyanide. Developed during the Second World War by the Nazis, it is odourless and almost impossible to detect. Its potential for use in a large crowd was proved when Aum Shinrikyo, a Japanese cult, killed 12 people and affected 5,000 more using sarin gas on the Tokyo underground in March 1995."

Telegraph Newspaper [telegraph.co.uk]

***

The authorities hide simple solution to trademark and domain name problem to abridge your free speech rights. The US Government violate the First Amendment - WIPO.org.uk

For the sake of your families - be prepared.

Living in the UK, if I were terrorist, I could destroy the transport infrastructure of the country within a week.

I would wind it up with suicide vehicle bomb in channel tunnel - totally destroying it.

You are pathetic idiots if you believe the lies of Government.

As I explained on /. before:

IT IS ALL A LIE

Carnivore and Echelon will not work against terrorists.

People were complacent - because of this LIE.

They knew billions was being spent on Carnivore & Echelon for just this sort of problem.

Terrorists know they are being looked for by Carnivore and will get around it by other measures.

When not planning face to face - they would use personal couriers.

Perhaps give mobile for single message when required - just using message - go with plan a / b or abort.

I have always said - terrorism is just the excuse they use, the US to raise funds for Carnivore - the UK to justify R.I.P. bill - to spy on the people.

The "you've nothing to fear - if you are not breaking the law" argument is made to pressure people to acquiesce - else appear guilty.

It does not address the real reason, why they want this information. They want a surveillance society.

This is like having somebody watching everything you do - all your thoughts, hopes and fears will be open to them.

All your finances available for them to scrutinize - heaven help you if you cannot account for every cent when they check on your taxes.

Do not believe the lies of Government - even more money spent on Carnivore will not protect you - IT IS A LIE - TERRORISTS WILL GET AROUND IT.

You are a simple-minded dimwit if you believe different. What a big supprise it will be to you, when they use chemical or biological weapons to kill thousands.

Carnivore will not help you one bit. Government are immoral to use this excuse - especially at this time.

***

In the news today: Bin Laden British cell planned gas attack on European Parliament

Quote: "ISLAMIC terrorists based in Britain and controlled by Osama bin Laden planned a devastating attack in February on the European Parliament building in Strasbourg.

Sarin gas is an easily made chemical weapon, 26 times more deadly than cyanide. Developed during the Second World War by the Nazis, it is odourless and almost impossible to detect. Its potential for use in a large crowd was proved when Aum Shinrikyo, a Japanese cult, killed 12 people and affected 5,000 more using sarin gas on the Tokyo underground in March 1995."

Telegraph Newspaper

***

The authorities hide simple solution to trademark and domain name problem to abridge your free speech rights. The US Government violate the First Amendment - WIPO.org.uk

The full article is at
http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml= /news/2001/09/16/wbin116.xml

Extract:

Forget those earnest statements from Taliban spokesmen that bin Laden is under house arrest in Kandahar or that his communications equipment has been confiscated. These things are said to deceive the simple-minded, and to distance the Taliban from his activities.
...

Bin Laden has one of the most sophisticated communications systems in the region. A communications vehicle is stationed at a distance from him, and his calls are routed through it. That way, if they are intercepted, he won't be hit by some smart weapon fired from a distance.

But he makes few calls anyway; instead, when he wants to speak to people in Pakistan, he sends his Afghan spokesman quietly across the border. No amount of international eavesdropping can detect that.

Other bin Laden agents make for the internet cafes that have sprung up in the Pakistani border town of Peshawar. They use the most common service providers, all of them American, and refer to each other and to bin Laden himself by their first names. In the welter of e-mail traffic their messages go unnoticed. If approval for the World Trade Centre operation came from bin Laden, then this is how it would have been done.

Terrorists do not attack America because they hate you for having freedom, or any other propaganda give by Government. It is because of US policies, that they hate you enough to be willing to commit suicide.

For the sake of your families - do not believe the lies of the Government.

Further to my post of yesterday.

In the news today: Bin Laden British cell planned gas attack on European Parliament

Quote: "ISLAMIC terrorists based in Britain and controlled by Osama bin Laden planned a devastating attack in February on the European Parliament building in Strasbourg.

Sarin gas is an easily made chemical weapon, 26 times more deadly than cyanide. Developed during the Second World War by the Nazis, it is odourless and almost impossible to detect. Its potential for use in a large crowd was proved when Aum Shinrikyo, a Japanese cult, killed 12 people and affected 5,000 more using sarin gas on the Tokyo underground in March 1995."

Telegraph Newspaper

The authorities hide simple solution to trademark and domain name problem to abridge your free speech rights.

The US Government violate the First Amendment - WIPO.org.uk

The Daily Telegraph in London is still up:

"THOUSANDS are feared dead after terrorists launched an astonishing and brutal attack on America, demolishing the twin towers of New York's World Trade Centre and striking at the heart of the US military machine."

> Fringe murmurs hit the major media this weekend when Nigel Short declared that he believes he has been playing Bobby Fischer online. (Another report of the report here from AP.) Rumors of Fischer playing internet chess have been going around for months now and have caused a furor amongst the usual fans and foes. Most of these stories go as follows: 1) Mr. X insists that both players log on as guests and all communication is handled by way of an intermediary. 2) Mr. X plays crazy openings, often moving his king back and forth to intentionally waste time. 3) Despite this, Mr. X destroys top GMs in these blitz games, making virtually no errors. 4) The games are never published, Mr. X never says he is Fischer or makes comments suggesting he is. 5) Mr. X occasionally answers trivia questions about Fischer's life.

You don't need to be Johnny Cochran to know the difference between concrete and circumstantial evidence, and what we have above is a wheelbarrow full of the latter. Nigel Short, speaking in the Sunday Telegraph Review article that is also devoid of substantiation, says that he is "99 per cent sure" he has "been playing against the chess legend." This is based on four sets of games, none of which are given or commented on, other than to say that Short lost the first set 8-0. (The article also says Short went 6-6 in a blitz match with Kasparov in 1995. From the context of Short's actual words these were apparently casual games.) The Telegraph doesn't call the evidence circumstantial, it calls it "overwhelming." Johnny Cochran would be proud.

Short was also impressed by Mr. X replying "Siegen 1970" when the Englishman asked him if he knew Armando Acevedo. Well, I not only know of him, but I met the simpatico Mexican master in the flesh 10 years ago. But that's another story. Acevedo lost to Fischer in the 1970 Siegen Olympiad. That many a Fischer fan and anyone with a database would also know this seems to have been overlooked in this latest continuation of the rampant desire to believe Fischer is not only alive and well, but just biding his time before coming back to take his rightful crown at the age of 58. (It is not as if the person playing these games, Fischer or not, would be unaware of the intense speculation that has been ongoing in the chess community. Fischer was the only Grandmaster the Mexican faced, at least as far as his published games are concerned.) Who is qualified to ask Fischer a question that only Fischer would know? Not many people, and probably not Nigel Short. (Here's one for Bobby: Buenos Aires, 1996. What did you say Mickey Kantor was too busy doing to protect your rights? The rude comment the interpreter wouldn't translate, but you caught her and repeated it several times? But most people at that press conference would know this one...)

Personally I have no problem at all believing Fischer plays online anonymously. Despite the obvious decline in his mental health, he was still very animated by chess when I met him in 1996. I do not doubt that if he played into shape he would be a tough opponent for the top 10 today and more than a match for Armando Acevedo. But acting as though he would be an invincible demigod after 30 years of almost complete removal from competitive chess is silly. He played a few dozen games against Spassky in 1992 and the rare flashes of brilliance only glimmered brighter due to the thick layers of rust on his game. His knowledge and insight helped Peter Leko several years ago when the two would meet in Hungary, this we know. We cannot imagine a Fischer who has left chess behind.

As I said above, if you have good arguments you don't need junk. A master playing with strong computer assistance would have little trouble demolishing a top GM in blitz, we know this from experience. Even in rapid games humans make too many mistakes to compete successfully against CPU power on a consistent basis. I'm quite willing to believe that Bobby Fischer is "out there" and playing blitz online, but it will take published games, and more than just a few, to make this into anything more than a rumor.

The final "proof" that Short was playing Fischer in cyberspace came when the Briton asked: "Do you know Armando Acevedo?" - an obscure Mexican player. The response was immediate: "Siegen 1970." Fischer had played Acevedo in the Siegen Chess Olympiad of 1970. "The guy was obviously trying to tell me something," said Short.

The original Telegraph article is much longer and talks about the economics of production, and other developments in the fast-plane industry.

We should all encourage, and monitor, our children's internet useage. For that matter, kids should be encouraged to learn regardless, but the Internet is what makes learning beyond traditional means possible. I know my library has very few books on Linux, or Eagle Talon's, or case modding, or religious persecution, but thanks to the Internet, that info is easy to find. Make sure they're not getting into things they shouldn't, but encourage learning, and a self-motivated desire to learn. It will aid them greatly in their lives to 'love to learn.' It's helped me, and I didn't even have the Internet until I went to college. Just think what I could have learned in grade school if I had.

An independent report, Illegal Firearms in the UK, to be published by the Centre for Defence Studies at King's College in London tomorrow, says that handguns were used in 3,685 offences last year compared with 2,648 in 1997, an increase of 40 per cent.[Bamber, 2001]

Here you go.

--

Ah yes, remind me...

Which country has a higher percentage of its population in prison?

Which administration is more likely to launch a missile attack? Which may or may not hit its target?

Or crash their secret spy plane, for that matter?

Which country recently lost its seat on the U.N. human rights committee?

In other words, you probably have to buy one from Russia.

Yes, that could never happen. With Russia being so stable and all.

the US is pushing for increased Canadian border security and unified policies on security and entry into North America

No one ever gets anything past the Canadians.

suitcase nukes are low-yield.

Uhhhh... Yah.

After all, look how nice the world is being to China, what with giving them the Olympics and all (worked really well in Berlin in 1936, didn't it?).

This is Yes, you are absolutely right. Jesse Owens' televised humiliation of "Aryan superiority" having lead to WWII and all...

You have to understand that the Mutual Assured Destruction policies of the Cold War don't apply to unstable and fundamentalist regimes.

Hmm. Strange that the rest of the civilized world seems to disagree. Of course, I'm sure this is the only time that Bush would dare propose breaking an anti-nuke treaty. I mean, any guy who's cutting the EPA by 6.5% while giving an additional 13.6 billion to defense has his priorities totally straight. That, and his unbiased choices to head the EPA show that he isn't swayed by special interests. Which is why ultimately, other countries everywhere love and respect and cherish him and support his wise policies.

Don't let the facts stop you, though, Michael.

Yeah, whatever man.

W
-------------------

Maskirovka

--
Copy protection (noun). A class of methods for preventing incompetent pirates from stealing software and legitimate customers from using it. Considered silly.

- New Hackers Dictionary

"Compare this with health-care. Citizens of USA pay twice as much for health-care (total cost of various health insurance systems including private and medicare) than their European counterparts, and probably get on average about same level of service (everywhere with enough money you can, of course, get even better health-care from private hospitals... but I'm talking about basic health-care majority of people have) "

I think the US pays 11-14% of GDP for health care compared with 6-9% in Canada and western Europe. Last year, World Health Organisation ranked the US 37th in the world: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=005310846313580&r tmo=qKqdudR9&atmo=rrrrrrrq&pg=/et/00/6/21/nwho21.h tml.

The researchers did mention "security through obscurity", and also noted that they had less information and tools than a serious attacker would have. They also used information in a patent, so they did better than the British codebreakers who ignored Enigma patent information due not not believing German cryptographers would make such an obvious mistake.

Perhaps we should clean it all up by outlawing all criticism of our government? Would that make it all better?

I would like the plagurism of AlphaKinetic and Saalim Chowdhury exposed. My work, and the work of others, is the subject of a recent SlashDot article called "Electronic Pricetag Alteration", although we are not attributed. I published an article which was plagurized by Saalim Chowdhury and used as the subject of a press release. An article was subsequently published by TheTelegraph and mentioned by TheRegister. This article was cited by ZDNet, syndicated to Yahoo, then this article was cited by SlashDot.

I published an article called "Flaws In ECommerce Systems" in the Autumn issue of 2600 Magazine. This article is available at http://www.xirium.com/product/mtecs/doc/secure/ and http://www.basketlogic.com/doc/secure/ . This article:

• States how loosely integrated ECommerce sites do not check prices.
• Cites a wine merchant with such a vunerability.
• Cites a domain name re-seller with such a vunerability.
• Explains how to move decimal points to reduce prices and why this action should succeed, but has never been substantiated.

On 25 Jan 2001, TheRegister reported an article in TheTelegraph which:

• Cites an undisclosed "glitch" that allows prices to be modified.
• Cites a domain name re-seller with such a vunerability.
• Cites Saalim Chowdhury as the "chief executive of e-commerce software development company Alphakinetic which discovered the flaw".
• Omits all references to moving

AlphaKinetic press releases 4 and 5:

• State that AlphaKinetic "found this security hole whilst developing our own secure e-commerce system, and our forthcoming e-commerce solutions".
• Cites the purchase of wine by this method.
• AlphaKinetic does not specialise in security.
• "What astonished us was when we contacted our secure payment provider about this they stated that they had be aware about the possibility of this hole existing for the last 5 years".

All attempts to contact all parties have been ignored. This inaccuracy has now been extensively propagated during the last two days. The additional information that was unsubstantiated is now the subject of recent articles and the estimated proportion of vunerable sites has risen from 10%-20% to 40%.

There is circumstantial evidence that Saalim Chowdhury read my work in 2600 Magazine (the source of the information) and this can be verified by checking domain name registrations. 2600 has a pre-occupation with purchasing domains of the form *sucks.com then printing the "cease and desist" "nastygrams" from lawyers. AlphaKinetic (the source of the plagurism) is highly anomalous because they have registered alphakineticsucks.com themselves, although this problem only affects large companies.

I would like the plagurism of AlphaKinetic and Saalim Chowdhury exposed. My work, and the work of others, is the subject of a recent SlashDot article called "Electronic Pricetag Alteration", although we are not attributed. I published an article which was plagurized by Saalim Chowdhury and used as the subject of a press release. An article was subsequently published by TheTelegraph and mentioned by TheRegister. This article was cited by ZDNet, syndicated to Yahoo, then this article was cited by SlashDot.

I published an article called "Flaws In ECommerce Systems" in the Autumn issue of 2600 Magazine. This article is available at http://www.xirium.com/product/mtecs/doc/secure/ and http://www.basketlogic.com/doc/secure/ . This article:

• States how loosely integrated ECommerce sites do not check prices.
• Cites a wine merchant with such a vunerability.
• Cites a domain name re-seller with such a vunerability.
• Explains how to move decimal points to reduce prices and why this action should succeed, but has never been substantiated.

On 25 Jan 2001, TheRegister reported an article in TheTelegraph which:

• Cites an undisclosed "glitch" that allows prices to be modified.
• Cites a domain name re-seller with such a vunerability.
• Cites Saalim Chowdhury as the "chief executive of e-commerce software development company Alphakinetic which discovered the flaw".
• Omits all references to moving

AlphaKinetic press releases 4 and 5:

• State that AlphaKinetic "found this security hole whilst developing our own secure e-commerce system, and our forthcoming e-commerce solutions".
• Cites the purchase of wine by this method.
• AlphaKinetic does not specialise in security.
• "What astonished us was when we contacted our secure payment provider about this they stated that they had be aware about the possibility of this hole existing for the last 5 years".

All attempts to contact all parties have been ignored. This inaccuracy has now been extensively propagated during the last two days. The additional information that was unsubstantiated is now the subject of recent articles and the estimated proportion of vunerable sites has risen from 10%-20% to 40%.

There is circumstantial evidence that Saalim Chowdhury read my work in 2600 Magazine (the source of the information) and this can be verified by checking domain name registrations. 2600 has a pre-occupation with purchasing domains of the form *sucks.com then printing the "cease and desist" "nastygrams" from lawyers. AlphaKinetic (the source of the plagurism) is highly anomalous because they have registered alphakineticsucks.com themselves, although this problem only affects large companies.

I would like the plagurism of AlphaKinetic and Saalim Chowdhury exposed. My work, and the work of others, is the subject of a recent SlashDot article called "Electronic Pricetag Alteration", although we are not attributed. I published an article which was plagurized by Saalim Chowdhury and used as the subject of a press release. An article was subsequently published by TheTelegraph and mentioned by TheRegister. This article was cited by ZDNet, syndicated to Yahoo, then this article was cited by SlashDot.

I published an article called "Flaws In ECommerce Systems" in the Autumn issue of 2600 Magazine. This article is available at http://www.xirium.com/product/mtecs/doc/secure/ and http://www.basketlogic.com/doc/secure/ . This article:

• States how loosely integrated ECommerce sites do not check prices.
• Cites a wine merchant with such a vunerability.
• Cites a domain name re-seller with such a vunerability.
• Explains how to move decimal points to reduce prices and why this action should succeed, but has never been substantiated.

On 25 Jan 2001, TheRegister reported an article in TheTelegraph which:

• Cites an undisclosed "glitch" that allows prices to be modified.
• Cites a domain name re-seller with such a vunerability.
• Cites Saalim Chowdhury as the "chief executive of e-commerce software development company Alphakinetic which discovered the flaw".
• Omits all references to moving

AlphaKinetic press releases 4 and 5:

• State that AlphaKinetic "found this security hole whilst developing our own secure e-commerce system, and our forthcoming e-commerce solutions".
• Cites the purchase of wine by this method.
• AlphaKinetic does not specialise in security.
• "What astonished us was when we contacted our secure payment provider about this they stated that they had be aware about the possibility of this hole existing for the last 5 years".

All attempts to contact all parties have been ignored. This inaccuracy has now been extensively propagated during the last two days. The additional information that was unsubstantiated is now the subject of recent articles and the estimated proportion of vunerable sites has risen from 10%-20% to 40%.

There is circumstantial evidence that Saalim Chowdhury read my work in 2600 Magazine (the source of the information) and this can be verified by checking domain name registrations. 2600 has a pre-occupation with purchasing domains of the form *sucks.com then printing the "cease and desist" "nastygrams" from lawyers. AlphaKinetic (the source of the plagurism) is highly anomalous because they have registered alphakineticsucks.com themselves, although this problem only affects large companies.

The Electronic Telegraph (story here) has an earlier article than the Washington Post. The ET article also gives several interesting offsite links (see under the "External Links" section on the news story).

The Telegraph has this nice equal-area graphic that lets you see which states have declared and compare the number of college votes visually.

Perhaps the tariff is so high because Sony had previously convinced the Japanese govt. that the PS2 might be usable for missle guidance systems. DVD player, 3-d gaming platform, computer, missle guidance system, is there anything out there that this black slab can't do?

From the UK Telegraph:

However, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry has decided that PlayStation 2 should be the first game console to join a list of 130 export-restricted items of Japanese computer technology. People hoping to take two or more PlayStation 2 consoles out of Japan will now need permission from the authorities.

The government's concern centres on a powerful processor responsible for the console's realistic graphics. Experts believe this could be converted for use in missiles that read visual information to home in on targets. Sony said it did not expect the restrictions to affect PlayStation 2's release in other countries.

but then, someone with a testosterone overdose will get into it "yes we were!", "No we were", etc.

[sigh]

Let's just give credit where it is due....

- - - - - - - -
"Never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem."

The newborn baby won't have the same disease as his sister. His cells were specifically screened against that. This article explains briefly the steps the doctors took in selecting his particular group of fetal cells.

"The modification gave Colossus an extra bit of brain, so to speak, to extend its repertoire," said Prof Michie. "There was a crash programme to build it, and more like it."

So, Windows 9x goes back further than we thought?

If you can stand the wet, cold climate it's not such a bad place in which to live.

A good story HERE about how sea levels actually appear to be falling.

U.S. scientists have collaborated to describe why it is that the net is resilient to random failures but highly vulnerable to deliberate attacks. As the net has sprawled in many directions, its growth path has not led to a random or exponential network. Rather, the pattern that has taken shape resembles the ordered hierarchy of a tree whereby a few nodes are highly connected and lead to scores of less connected nodes. While this design allows the net to chug its way through random hiccups, it makes an attack on one of the key nodes particularly damaging.

Seems as though it would be fare easier to 'control' what is sent, seen and viewed in the U.K. than in the U.S.

http://www.ne wsweek.com/nw-srv/printed/us/dept/cs/a26254-1999no v7.htm -"Say Goodbye to All That Videotape"

http://www.adobepremierewo rld.com/.getarticle/.433537609 - "Sony's Maxi Mini: HD Discam DCM-M1"

h ttp://electronics.cnet.com/cgi/crunch/FReview2.asp ?ptable=Camcorders&PID=1000357

MD-Data2 Blank

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=001583620556586&r tmo=r3b92hXX&atm o=99999999&pg=/et/99/11/11/ecncam11.html

http://equip.zd net.com/digitalimaging/video/2aa6/overview_2aba.ht ml

http://beta.cdad.com/twice/art icle.cfm?InputKey=1150

http://www.e-town.com/news/article.jhtml;$sessioni d$H3JLEUYAAABO3UPZJE NSFEQ?articleID=1221#mdcamcorder (1st review)
http://www.e-town.com/news/article.jhtml;$sessioni d$IQWF23QAAABSTUPZJEFCFEQ?articl eID=1246 (2nd review)

http://fina nce.individual.com/display_news.asp?doc_id=PR19991 102NYTU083

http://www.watch.imp ress.co.jp/pc/docs/article/990901/ifa2.htm

http://www.watch .impress.co.jp/PC/docs/article/991008/Dsc01363.jpg

http://www.heise.de/newsticker /data/cp-29.08.99-001/

http://www.minidisc.org/sony_minidiscam

...blatantly ripped from minidisc.org

Needless to say, given the well deserved reputaion of Communist style management, I think we might be able to kiss the chinese economy good bye over the next few years..

China orders its party cells into private firms
By Damien McElroy in Beijing
For the Electronic Telegraph (ww.telegraph.co.uk) 21 May 2000
e Registration, search for the author's name to find article)

Chinese Communist leadership has launched an ambitious drive to install party cells in the nation's flourishing private businesses in order to reassert an iron grip on the economy.

The move is a throwback to the command system built by Mao Tse-tung, in which control over companies was exercised through a network of Communist cadres whose authority outranked that of managers. Western businessmen are privately saying that the consequences of introducing party control over what has been the only promising area of the national economy in the past two decades are likely to be devastating.

- - -

The move raises fundamental questions about Western assumptions that more trade with China will one day lead to increasing freedoms for ordinary people in the totalitarian country. The rising power of entrepreneurs and the increasing autonomy from Communist control of people who do not depend on the state payroll had raised the prospect of the party's dominant role giving way to more democratic politics.

However, faced with the possibility of its eventual displacement, the party leadership appears to have decided to deploy its 61 million members in vital positions in the burgeoning private sector. Although details of the plan have not been announced, it seems likely that the party committees will play the same role in private firms as they have in state enterprises.

The latter are top-heavy with party hacks whose role is to "supervise" professional managers. Every management meeting must include a party representative, whose responsibility is to report back to his superiors. If the party decides that a decision is wrong, the company has little choice but to change and comply with party directives.

The hallmarks of state-sector inertia - corruption and inefficiency - are in large part attributable to the second guessing, in-fighting and favour-seeking that is endemic to the existence of two rival power structures within one organisation.

Communist Party dominance over the economy has been significantly eroded by rapid growth of private businesses under economic reforms introduced since the Mao era. The sector now generates about a third of China's annual income.

Private companies are far more efficient than their state-owned counterparts, and have been helping to soak up large-scale unemployment from the sharply declining public sector, which now occupies less than half the urban workforce.

The reasons for the contrasting fortunes of the two sectors do not appear to have figured highly in deliberations leading to the new decision. Instead, the measure stems from a perceived need to bring all aspects of society under direct party control.

I usually hit national news three or four times a week-- NY Times, CNN, Wash. Post. Often they have the same Reuters or AP stories as the Republic, but usually there is more hard news as well as a wider range of opinion columns.

I read the London Daily Telegraph on-line almost every day, because:

1. I have relatives in England and occasionally visit.
2. Their international news is superb, with long thoughtful policy articles, as well as a great many amusing short fillers about cannibal warfare in New Guinea, or which politician got seen going into a whore house, etc. Here is a funny one from today:

   Bad photofit traps vain robber AN Austrian teenager who robbed a tobacconist was caught after he complained to his mother that a photofit picture of him was a bad likeness. The 19-year-old held up the shop in Schwanenstadt, near Linz, with an airgun and took £150 last December. This month, when he saw the photofit picture in local newspapers, the teenager complained to his mother that it was a terrible likeness - and she handed him over to the police. Michael Leidig, Vienna

3. They have great coverage of domestic U.S. news, albeit from a jaded-British-reporter-amongst-the-Yankee-rubes perspective.
4. I think they are easily the best quality newspaper in terms of their Web design. It's free (after registration) and they have on-line archives going back to 1996 or so.

-ccmay

cheers.

Whenever education is mentioned, there is a knee-jerk response - more money. This approach was tested to destruction in the UK, where failing schools got given more money by Local Education Authorities, and pupils were forced to attend them.
Then the policy was changed. Schools were funded on the basis of number of pupils, and allowed to choose how to spend the money themselves; the pupils were free to attend the school of their (parents') choice, the shcools got to select the pupils if oversubscribed. A lot of bad schools closed and good schools grew. Overall school results improved enormously - the schools competed for pupils.
Sadly, the current UK govt is reversing this policy, and giving power back to the Local Education Authorities instead of the schools, despite the evidence.

Not in the United Kingdom.

There was a recent case where the Argos online shop mistakenly offered colour televisions for £3 each. A lot of people seemed intent on making them honour their deal. Their defense that it was clearly an error and they didn't confirm any orders would not apply in Apple's case.

See: Telegraph article

You could even make the device look like a cell phone itself, so that everybody around you (on the train, for example) will think their cell phone is broken, while you, for a change, bore them out of their skulls talking into your little gadget.

Here's the story on Electronic Telegraph: Immobilising the mobiles