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WTF is pornagraphy?

Maybe it's what pornography is called when the likes of bin Laden hide messages in scans of Miss July...

Hmmm...that explains her nipples having a slight greenish tinge...

The story was in the September 10 USA Today, and September 11 Wall Street Journal. I searched, but don't find a Slashdot story about it.

There is a pretty favorable review in USAToday that mentions among other things that this crew is a little weary of new items such as "Phase Pistols" and "Transporters"....It gets 3 stars out of 4.
Can someone tell me why this did not get picked up by a more respectful network?

The numbers come from JD Power and Associates -- a top research firm for the automotive industry. The results were summarized in a 2001 article published by USA Today.

I didn't mean to be agist.

In the US, for example, 26% of people are between the ages of 18-29 and about 45% of people are over 40. Only about 20% of people are in their thirties.

The average age of car buyers ranges from 38-60,
depending on the make of the car (see here for a cool table). Mostly, the car-buying population is made up of people in their 40s.

My assumption was not that anyone older than 30 can't use an MP3 player; I meant that the percentages of MP3 users that are also car-buyers decreases as age increases. Since the age distribution is stacked towards people in the higher age brackets, the market for this type of product is really small.

So I basically meant that both the price and the product geared the MP3 player towards a market of people aged 40 at the low end; And, in my opinion, meant a pretty small margin.

and greater surveillance are introduced, when not planning face to face, terrorists will just have to send personal couriers?

If Government could 'crack' everything, terrorists have no choice. Either that - or they get caught.

NSA EXPERT EVEN ADMITTED TERRORISTS COULD GET AROUND IT

Do you agree that Government are using terrorism as excuse to spy on everyone?

After all - for starters, it will save them all that business about getting legal permission first.

They will be able to trawl for information - looking for key words.

I was responsible for several data capture systems linked to network and can tell you - it will be possible for them to analyze your finances.

Heaven help you - if you cannot account for every cent when they get around to scrutinizing your taxes.

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

I would not want anyone to have this power over me.

Why should they be allowed to violate everyones basic human right to privacy?

United States Department of Commerce violates First Amendment - WIPO.org.uk

I live in Utah, where the ruling Mormon Party has created a Porn Czar for the State.

Now let's say I begin to harshly criticize the local government (not hard to do, by the way), to the point of really pissing someone off. Let's say I come under the watchful eye of Senator Hatch's office (for, say, criticizing his role in the DMCA), and those who want me to shut up are just itching for an excuse to shut me down.

People start snooping. If they learn that I ordered a hard-core porn DVD on the internet, that might land me in hot water. (I don't know if the laws prevent only the selling of hard porn or also the possessing of it as well.)

What's at stake for us privacy advocates is this very kind of selective prosecution. Sure, if I'm a normal Society Droid, nobody cares what I buy, but if I commit a thoughtcrime, then all sorts of things can be dug up on me if everything is trackable.

I make $50k/year and I use cash for *everything* that I can. Every payday I withdraw my entire paycheck from the bank (which, by the way, establishes this as normal behavior, if you're worried about getting a SAR -- Suspicious Activity Report -- on your record). I pay as many bills in person with cash, then use postal money orders with the rest.

For those rare cases when I can only get something with a credit card (car rental, for example), I bite the bullet and use my wife's card. :-)

I get a great sense of relief that as of a year ago (when I began doing this) that the paper-trail of my spending habits went from th size of an 8-lane interstate highway to no more than a spotty trail of bread crumbs. It really is a liberating feeling.

Forget nextgen, Britney Spears announced back in June that she will be releasing an immersive video later this year on current game consoles using Enroute's FirstPerson Video.

The hardware requirements for delivering immersive video are not that great, and the bandwidth requirements are probably do-able using DVD as the delivery media.

There are several companies working on immersive video right now and there have been for several years. The biggest problem they face is parallax.

Since it is believed that Bin Laden (if he is in fact behind the attacks) hasn't been using the Internet at all, how would this kind of wiretapping crap prevent similar attacks? Isn't it just a cheap excuse for creating a police state?

If it would save the lives of other innocent people, I would personally print out all of my communications and had them to the FBI.

If you are not a terrorist, then how does printing out your communication and handing them to the FBI help prevent terrorism?

Are you all so stupid, that you deny the TRUTH?

THEY EVEN ADMIT - ENCRYPTION WILL NOT WORK ON TERRORISTS

USATODAY article

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Despite warnings from top government officials that terrorists would use exotic technology to communicate, suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden instead has used "no-tech" methods, foiling efforts to track him, former U.S. intelligence officials said.

Intelligence agents once could keep tabs on bin Laden when he used a satellite phone that could be picked up by U.S. spy gear and matched to his voiceprint. That capability leaked to bin Laden, so he swore off talking on the phone, according to Marc Enger, former director of operations at the Air Intelligence Agency, the Air Force's intelligence arm.

Madsen said the hijackers could have communicated by means of seemingly innocuous messages on Web sites, impervious to the most vaunted surveillance tools in use by U.S. intelligence.

All the Carnivores and all the Echelons in the world would do very little to hamper that kind of operation," referring to the FBI's e-mail surveillance box and a widely suspected NSA surveillance network.

********

I say, ask those that deny it this:

Do you not think - once back doors and greater surveillance are introduced, when not planning face to face, terrorists will just have to send personal couriers?

Perhaps you think Bin Laden cannot afford it - dimwits.

The answer to trademark and domain name problems is at WIPO.org.uk

Are you all so stupid, that you deny the TRUTH?

THEY NOW ADMIT - IT WILL NOT WORK ON TERRORISTS

USATODAY article

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Despite warnings from top government officials that terrorists would use exotic technology to communicate, suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden instead has used "no-tech" methods, foiling efforts to track him, former U.S. intelligence officials said.

Intelligence agents once could keep tabs on bin Laden when he used a satellite phone that could be picked up by U.S. spy gear and matched to his voiceprint. That capability leaked to bin Laden, so he swore off talking on the phone, according to Marc Enger, former director of operations at the Air Intelligence Agency, the Air Force's intelligence arm.

Madsen said the hijackers could have communicated by means of seemingly innocuous messages on Web sites, impervious to the most vaunted surveillance tools in use by U.S. intelligence.

All the Carnivores and all the Echelons in the world would do very little to hamper that kind of operation," referring to the FBI's e-mail surveillance box and a widely suspected NSA surveillance network.

The answer to trademark and domain name problems is at WIPO.org.uk

My message a few days ago for FBI and CIA:

Do you not think - once back doors and greater surveillance are introduced, when not planning face to face, terrorists will just have to send personal couriers?

Perhaps you think Bin Laden cannot afford it - dimwits.

The Government use terrorism as excuse to spy on citizens. In my opinion, only those of low intelligence would believe otherwise.

THEY NOW EVEN ADMIT - IT WILL NOT WORK ON TERRORISTS

USATODAY article

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Despite warnings from top government officials that terrorists would use exotic technology to communicate, suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden instead has used "no-tech" methods, foiling efforts to track him, former U.S. intelligence officials said.

Intelligence agents once could keep tabs on bin Laden when he used a satellite phone that could be picked up by U.S. spy gear and matched to his voiceprint. That capability leaked to bin Laden, so he swore off talking on the phone, according to Marc Enger, former director of operations at the Air Intelligence Agency, the Air Force's intelligence arm.

Madsen said the hijackers could have communicated by means of seemingly innocuous messages on Web sites, impervious to the most vaunted surveillance tools in use by U.S. intelligence.

All the Carnivores and all the Echelons in the world would do very little to hamper that kind of operation," referring to the FBI's e-mail surveillance box and a widely suspected NSA surveillance network.

The answer to trademark and domain name problems is at WIPO.org.uk

because it was already ruled unconstitutional! If it is already unconstitutional to allow people to come up with their own encryption schemes, how can the government enforce the law it's proposing?????

This is why El-Al employs professionals in this capacity.

Still around. You can see some basic info about that program (pre-bombing) on the FAA site. (Report at DOT site on the program is also available.) 9-15 USA Today article also discusses this.

Do a damn web search before you start insulting people, would you? It took me about two seconds for a Google search on "terrorists steganography pornography" to turn up, from ZDNet,

During the recent U.S. Embassy bombing case, several documents came to light that suggest Osama bin Laden and his associates have been using steganography to hide terrorist plans inside pornography and MP3 files that are freely distributed over the Internet.

They're referencing a USAToday story with more details, which you might read if for any reason you'd like to look like less of an ignorant twit tomorrow.

For an older, but even more bizarre bin Laden link:
Check out USA Today

This article in USA Today says yes, it's delayed along with lots of other stuff...especially the Spiderman preview trailer with the WTC...somebody better mirror this fast!!!

USA Today has this interesting explanation of why/how the towers fell.

They all survived ( http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001/09/12/sun .htm )

Let my first say that my thoughts are by the victims and their families and I'm still shocked by this inhumanity which were done there yesterday.

But:

Sorry, you are talking out of your ass. Do you have any idea about the terror such a regime like the taliban does to their people?
They are the only one having weapons, they are the only one having cars. The country has essentially no infrastructure and no industry.

What should the people do?

And really, they would have much stronger reasons to get rid of their government than the fact that it lets terrorists in their country. Check out www.rawa.org
These taliban terrorize their own people in ways we cannot imagine (or have seen in history, try http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2001-05-22-tali banids.htm)

Go, read something about the history of of Afghanistan. They are in war since USSR occupied them in _1979_. 6 Million people (1/3 of the population) fled the country to Iran or Pakistan. About 2 Million still are in Iran(!) today. That people flee to Iran might give you a picture how nice it has to be to live in Afghanistan.

And let's not forget that the taliban were supported by the USA, back before 1998, but when their totalitarean, women-repressing politic was still crystal clear. Sultan Amir, Pakistans chief of secret service, trained by green berets in Fort Brag, is said to be the founder of the the taliban. Even bin laden is said to have been supported by the usa back in his fight against the USSR in afghanistan.

According to USA Today, this attack was all in the making if Bin Laden is the case. The article is only about 3 months old, but it details on how Osama Bin Laden used encryption inside of pictures most likely to hide possible attacks. They say this is Bin Laden's latest encryption scheme to convey terrorist information. So when the CIA says did not know this was going to happen, really maybe they are covering up the fact that they sort of knew this but didn't think it would amount to anything.

In this article USA today kinda lays it out. (this was over 2 months ago) Bad news for encryption.

1. Pay back is a bitch
2. Get on with your life, tommorow is another day
3. Pay back is a bitch

It appears that our Mr. Hollings is easily swayed by corporate soft money donations:

from http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/files/101899. html:

"Sen. ``Fritz'' Hollings (D-S.C.) received more than $250,000 from the banking, insurance and securities industries during that same period. He was -- coincidentally? -- the only Democrat to vote for a bill that would eliminate the firewall between banks, insurance and securities companies and water down laws requiring banks to serve low-income communities."

from http://www.usatoday.com/news/index/finance/ncfin31 5.htm:

"Hollings is one politician the long-distance companies can't ignore. He is the top Democrat on the Commerce Committee, which controls telecommunications policy. The phone companies' money has helped Democrats flood the airwaves with ''issue ads'' supporting Hollings."

Sounds like scum to me.

umm, if you live in GA you need to worry about the god damn woman who thinks she can
hear dead people talking to her.
I am sick and tired of idiots being elected to office and deciding that there is this need for extremely harsh legislation.

I am very very frightened about the fact that whatever that group of software giants is called (the one w/MS and Adobe, etc) has such influence over government.

We elected these idiots to protect *us* not them!

"I targeted Hotmail because Microsoft currently has the best filters, [...] If you find a hole in Hotmail, you've found one that will get through filters everywhere."

I don't understand exactly what this cross-site scripting is all about and how it can defeat firewalls etc, but does it really mean that all websites are even less secure than Hotmail??

If you really mean that, and you're not opposed to spending a lot of money for one, check out the iCEBOX. There are two versions, the CounterTop and the FlipScreen.

USA Today wrote a review of the unit here.

Those nasty tech journals have dragged the precious name of journalism through the mud.

Despite the fact that that inane sock puppets get segments on morning news shows.

Despite the fact that this is America's second favorite newspaper.

Despite the fact that this paper has any chance of gaining respectability, and has lost circulation because the mainstream media now covers what it's been covering for years.

Despite the fact that this guy is let anywhere near a camera, even though he is blatenly biased and seems to have fabricated data in one of his reports.

Look. If you're reading slashdot to get an unbiased opinion of the world you live in, you need to have your head examined. I read it to find out when Linus has another baby or what the latest crazy thing that ESR or RMS has said. I believe that for various reasons, a lot of tech journals have very little in the way of ethics, and that software and hardware reviews are often favorablewhen the shouldn't be.

OTOH, I challenge you to pick up Cosmopolitan and find an article taht says "Such-and-such lip moisturiser is crap" or "Most designer fashions aren't worth the extra money." Why? Partly ad revenues, and partly that plugging products sells magazines, and panning them doesn't. Do you think that car magazines would sell vey well if they had "2002: A mediocre year for cars" splashed on the front cover?

The tech magazine boom has opened up a lot of information to the average reader, but this has come at a price. We all have to evaluate the truthfulness or slant of what we read. This isn't a new problem, in fact it's a very old problem Now there's just more of it.

Read This.

Artists already make the bulk of their income from touring. For them the album is basically PR for the concert tour.

Pete

The Kyoto treaty is a slick piece of Anti-U.S. legislation that will not stop global warming.

As for blocking restrictions on international arms sale, don't forget, it was only 10 yers ago when we put up the lion's share of shutting down the world's biggest bio-war offender.

Problem is, you guys keep walking around with your stupid "peace in our time" mentality.

When will you learn, paper & talk are cheap when compared to U.S. blood'n'guts !

I wonder how many others in the lifer contingent are similarly only pro-life because it's either convienent or because they have a selfish cause of their own to be pro-life. How many of them, faced with a decision like "back stem cell research or spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair," would say "YEAH BABY! LINE THOSE FETUSSES UP!" Perhaps it's just that while they feel fetusses are human life, all human life is not created equal. Seems to me that if your politicis are pro-life, any choice other than rejecting all stem cell research (And anything that comes from that research) out of hand is complete hypocracy. I wonder just how many hypocrites the future will show the lifer demographic to have...

From USAToday:

FBI agents installed the key logger system on Scarfo's computer after getting a search warrant allowing them to break into his Essex County business and look for a password that would unlock files they believed contained records of the illegal enterprise.

The defense argument is that the FBI should have gotten a warrant for a wire-tap instead (apparently much harder to obtain). In other words, either the FBI was simply lazy, or they didn't have enough evidence to begin with. The judge is probably wondering whether this "device" should properly be called a wire-tap in which case all the evidence from the computer will be tossed (note that IANAL).

2001-07-20 19:01:18 Company says experimental powder may weaken hurricanes (articles,news) (rejected)

We've been trying to find a way of manipulating the weather for a long, long time...

Interesting stuff we've thought about trying. (http://www.usatoday.com/weather/askjack/wfaqhurm. htm for the goatse.cx paranoid)

I agree media coverage of the Sklyarov arrest has been a (non-existant) travesty. I have an idea, bear with me for a paragraph here. I noticed over the past few days that a USA Today reporter named Dennis Cauchon has written two stories on First Amendment arrests (although they were buried on the inside pages) here and here. To quote his story, "At the Justice Department's request, a federal judge jailed freelance writer Vanessa Leggett on July 20 on contempt of court charges after she refused to turn over notes, tape recordings and other material she collected while researching a book on the slaying of Doris Angleton in 1997. Angleton was the wife of Robert Angleton, a millionaire ex-bookie who was acquitted in 1998 of hiring his brother to commit the murder."

Seems to me 'ole Dennis might be interested in the current party going on in Dimitri's Las Vegas cell, if only he knew about it. And USA Today might print what 'ole Dennis dug up on the story. So I'm gonna email 'ole Dennis at dcauchon@usatoday.com and give him an earful of URLs. Why don't ya'll email 'ole Dennis, too, and show him what the Slashdot Effect is all about?

I agree media coverage of the Sklyarov arrest has been a (non-existant) travesty. I have an idea, bear with me for a paragraph here. I noticed over the past few days that a USA Today reporter named Dennis Cauchon has written two stories on First Amendment arrests (although they were buried on the inside pages) here and here. To quote his story, "At the Justice Department's request, a federal judge jailed freelance writer Vanessa Leggett on July 20 on contempt of court charges after she refused to turn over notes, tape recordings and other material she collected while researching a book on the slaying of Doris Angleton in 1997. Angleton was the wife of Robert Angleton, a millionaire ex-bookie who was acquitted in 1998 of hiring his brother to commit the murder."

Seems to me 'ole Dennis might be interested in the current party going on in Dimitri's Las Vegas cell, if only he knew about it. And USA Today might print what 'ole Dennis dug up on the story. So I'm gonna email 'ole Dennis at dcauchon@usatoday.com and give him an earful of URLs. Why don't ya'll email 'ole Dennis, too, and show him what the Slashdot Effect is all about?

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution - (grade: C+) "Maybe Darwin was wrong: this remake shows no sign of evolution."

• Chicago Tribune - "...a rouser, a screaming-banshee fun house."

• CNN.com - "...this is one really bad script."

• Deseret News (Salt Lake City) - (3 stars) "...when it's good, it comes close to being great."

• E! Online - (grade: C+) "...offers an eye-appealing world but a truly disappointing story."

• Entertainment Weekly - (grade: C+) "...[features] everything...but imagination."

• L.A. Weekly - "...underwritten..."

• Los Angeles Times - "...over-plotted and under-dramatized..."

• Mr. Showbiz - (rating: 2/5) "...despite its presentation, the film is so very ordinary, without urgency or revelation."

• New York Times - "...both a gas and distant, a toy sealed in its unbreakable box."

• People - "The fault lies not in the stars here but in the script."

• Roger Ebert - (2.5 stars) "I expected more."

• Salon - "...stops far too short of being completely seductive."

• San Francisco Chronicle - "...an amazing display of imagination."

• TV Guide - (2.5 out of 5 stars) "...sorely deficient on the story front."

• USA Today - (3 out of 4 stars) "...[the costumes] allow the power of the performer inside the ape gear to break on through."

• Search the Movie Review Query Engine

Tim Burton's "Planet of the Apes" wants to be all things to all men, and all apes. It's an action picture and a satire of an action picture. It's a comedy and then it gets serious. It's a social satire and then backs away from pushing that angle too far. It even has a weird intra-species romantic triangle in it. And it has a surprise ending that I loved, even though Matt Drudge spoiled it last weekend with a breathless "scoop."

The movie could have been more. It could have been a parable of men and animals, as daring as "Animal Farm." It could have dealt in social commentary with a sting, and satire that hurt. It could have supported, or attacked, the animal rights movement. It could have dealt with the intriguing question of whether a man and a gorilla having sex is open-mindedness, or bestiality (and, if bestiality, in both directions?).

It could have, but it doesn't. It's a cautious movie, earning every letter and numeral of its PG-13 rating. Intellectually, it's science fiction for junior high school boys.

I expected more. I thought Burton would swing for the fence. He plays it too safe, defusing his momentum with little nudges to tell you he knows it's only a movie. The 1968 "Planet of the Apes" was made before irony became an insurance policy. It made jokes, but it took itself seriously. Burton's "Planet" has scenes that defy us to believe them (his hero survives two bumpy crash-landings that look about as realistic as the effects in his "Mars Attacks!"). And it backs away from any kind of risky complexity in its relationships.

The key couple consists of Leo (Mark Wahlberg), who is the human hero, and Ari (Helena Bonham Carter), who is the Eleanor Roosevelt of the apes. They're attracted to each other but don't know what to do about it, and the screenplay gives them little help. Leo is also supposed to be linked romantically, I guess, with a curvy blond human named Daena (Estella Warren), but her role has been so abbreviated that basically all she does is follow along looking at Leo either significantly or winsomely, as circumstances warrant. At the end, he doesn't even bid her a proper farewell.

Leo, to be sure, is not one for effusive emotional outbursts. He's played by Wahlberg as a limited and narrow person with little imagination, who never seems very surprised by anything that happens to him--like, oh, to take a random example, crash-landing on a planet where the apes rule the humans. He's a space jockey type, trained in macho self-abnegation, who is great in a crisis but doesn't offer much in the way of conversation. His basic motivation seems to be to get himself off the planet, and to hell with the friends he leaves behind; he's almost surly sometimes as he leads his little band through the wilderness.

The most "human" character in the movie is, in fact, the chimpanzee Ari, who believes all species were created equal, casts her lot with the outcast humans, and tells Leo, "you're sensitive--a welcome quality in a man." Helena Bonham Carter invests this character with warmth, personality and distinctive body language; she has a way of moving that kids itself.

There's also juice in a character named Limbo (Paul Giamatti), a scam artist who has a deal for everyone, and a lot of funny one-liners. That he sounds like a carnival pitch-man should not be held against him.

The major ape characters include the fearsome Gen. Thade (Tim Roth), his strong but occasionally thoughtful gorilla lieutenant Attar (Michael Clarke Duncan), and Sen. Sandar (David Warner), who is a parliamentary leader and Ari's father. There's also a cameo for Charlton Heston, as a wise old ape who inevitably introduces a gun into the plot and has a curmudgeonly exit line. Watching the apes is fun all during the movie, while watching the humans usually isn't; the movie works hard to bring the apes to life, but unwisely thinks the humans can take care of themselves.

It's interesting that several different simian species co-exist in the planet's ape society. It may be a little hard to account for that, given the logic of the movie, although I will say no more. One major change between this film and the earlier one is that everyone--apes and humans--speak English. The movie explains why the apes speak English, but fudges on how they learned to speak at all.

The movie is great-looking. Rick Baker's makeup is convincing even in the extreme closeups, and his apes sparkle with personality and presence. The sets and locations give us a proper sense of alien awe, and there's one neat long shot of the ape city-mountain that looks, when you squint a little, like Xanadu from "Citizen Kane." There are lines inviting laughs ("Extremism in the defense of apes is no vice") and others unwisely inviting groans ("If you show me the way out of here--I promise I'll show you something that will change your life forever"). And a priceless moment when Leo wants to stop the squabbling among his fugitive group of men and apes and barks: "Shut up! That goes for all species!"

"Planet of the Apes" is the kind of movie that you enjoy at times, admire at times, even really like at times, but is it necessary? Given how famous and familiar Franklin J. Schaffner's 1968 film is, Tim Burton had some kind of an obligation to either top it, or sidestep it. Instead, he pays homage. He calls this version a "reimaging," and so it is, but a reinvention might have been better. Burton's work can show a wild and crazed imagination, but here he seems reined in. He's made a film that's respectful to the original, and respectable in itself, but that's not enough. Ten years from now, it will be the 1968 version that people are still renting.

Copyright © Chicago Sun-Times Inc.

Let's make a tradition of this!

Ever hear of this guy? Edmond Pope is a US Citizen (I'm a friend of his daughter) who was held in Russia for a year, convicted of spying for purchasing plans that have been publically available for almost 10 years. There was almost no outrage here in the US, except here in his hometown of State College, PA. President Clinton even refuse to meet with his wife, for fear of damaging US-Russian relations. even though he was extremely ill (leukemia), Russian doctors refused to allow his doctor to see him, and there was no international outcry over his treatment.

And you think it wouldn't happen to an American? My thoughts are with Sklyarov, and I plan on continuing to write to my legislators and spreading word of his abuse under a law that has no place in this country.

( for the wary, the link is to http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/columnists/tm oran/tm33.htm)

It's missing. Check the story from 1999 in USA Today. I bought a video and info book from these guys years ago and the thing actually worked, although the flight time is really short. Do a Google search for "rocket belt" and you'll get a lot of hits.

Yeah, I'll probably loose karma for quoting Ecclesiastes 1:9, but it is Sunday, and we are talking about China ... and it's no like we haven't talked about this subject before, even on our beloved /.

Still, for those who thought human rights weren't an olympic issue, just think of how much fun it's not going to be to go the Olympics and attempt to transmit stories and images of the results from behind the Great Firewall. So much for thinking that bringing commerce and communications would have the same effect as the barbarians did to Rome.

Hopefully, some clever hacks out there will figure ways of circumventing, if the price isn't too high. Sometimes I just wonder if we just shouldn't have listened to Patton and MacArthur and been done with the problem 50 years ago ?!

this went a bit under the media radar in usa, but here's a link
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/june01/2001-06- 27-worldcourt.htm

i'm sure it's not as relevant as i'd like it to be; however, the main point was that usa did not go quite the legal way in detaining and executing citizens of another country. thus they were put in front of the world court, and they lost. you'd figure they'd start to learn quicker ....

All the recent hubbub surrounding the California electrical generation capacity crunch has bandied about figures for big power plants that generate, oh, like 5 GigaWatts. Looks like there's a factor of about 1e8 before terrestrial generation gets anywhere close to Sol's warmth.

Given those magnitudes, I doubt man-made heat generation would be a problem.

I was reading this story on how americans feels that the 1st amendment goes too far, and it made me sad. It seems that the influence from the facist liberals like Joe Lieberman and Hilory Clinton are having their effect. Now that the public knows that censorship has "bipartisan" support, they've begun to tolerate it more, so know you have the liberal people saying censorship is ok, not just the religious right. It's scary to think that when americans are willing to give up their most basic freedom, what freedom will they be willing to give up next?

How much trouble/fines did the Tux Stencil campaign give IBM? :)

The point is that MS bought into these cable companies to ensure a market for their products.

Thus by Rogers going to a Linux based system it sends the message that MS's products don't cut it.

MS made a big push into TV by buying into a number of cable companies, buying WebTV, and starting up MSNBC. With Rogers ditching WebTV for a non-MS product it hints that MS's investments in TV may not be panning out. This is news because it shows that MS dominance in desktop OS's and software doesn't directly translate into dominance in other areas.

This contiues a trend seen with MSN (vs. AOL) and WinCE (vs. Palm) and thus may bode well for Linux, at least in the server market, and poorly for the Xbox.

Thus the bigger point is that its desktop monopoly and its bulging bank accounts don't guarantee MS dominace in every market it enters.

Steve M

• Toyota Prius, Compact 4dr sedan.
• Honda Insight, Subcompact 2dr coupe.

Coming soon:

• Ford Escape, SUV, available in 2003.
• Toyota Estima, minivan, available in 2003, Japan only.
• Honda Civic, sedan, 2003?
• Dodge Durango, SUV, 2003, mentioned in this hybrid USA-Today news story.

There are a few others, but most currently sound like vaporware...

It's a well known fact that dealing with repetitively stupid questions on tech support leads to a near constant pain in the ass. In fact, I only have to read a story like this and my ass starts hurting in sympathy for all the tech support people who had to deal with questions relating to it.

Consider a recent case in the book world. "The Wind Done Gone" was enjoined from being published because it was purported to be a violation of the copyright restrictions on "Gone with the Wind" (the former is a retelling of the latter from a different perspective), even though I gather that there are no verbatim copies of any part of the original in the later work. The later work wasn't even considered a parody or satire by the court that issued the injunction.

If this is allowed to stand as a precedent-- whether or not we might agree with this ruling-- it makes a strong case for not being able to read any source code and essentially reconstructing it, unless the original source code is public domain or otherwise disclaims copy restrictions.

My personal opinion is that only the form of a work should be protected, so that story lines, algorithms, and basic functionality are all open season as long as it can be shown that there was no direct copying or technical derivation involved (like taking a picture of a painting or using OCR to get code from a book).

Why is this insightful? from USAToday ''We've never tested and we never will test prices based on customer demographics,'' founder Jeff Bezos said in a news release late Wednesday.

This essay won a Silver Award in The Economist/Shell World in 2050 essay competition held last ear.

Meanwhile, some biological factories can still get you 10 years in the pen.