The guys have hit the nail on the head with the Sep. 30 strip! Some servers just need to be put out of our misery.

Washington State supreme court has ruled that ‘up-skirt cams’ are not illegal. Essentially, the court has concluded that the voyeurism statute does not apply to public locations. So if you’re travelling to the Everpeep Evergreen state, be sure to think twice about packing a dress or skirt.

Last week I mentioned MIT’s exciting new program, Open CourseWare (OCW). The program aims to ‘advance education by increasing access to academic materials through the Internet and the World Wide Web’. MIT’s OCW pilot is the first step in making all their academic materials publicly available. The pilot is scheduled to run for a year, during which time a sample of MIT work will be available, and the project managers will use feedback to mold and shape the program in preparation for making all their materials available late next year.

I’ve taken a look at some of the offerings, and although there isn’t too much at this point in time, the materials that are there are well worth spending some time on. I encourage you to make use of OCW, and give the project management any feedback which you think may help improve OCW.

Need a little action to perk things up in the office? [H]ard|OCP have figured out the perfect solution: paper airplanes! Just make sure you don’t crash land in the boss’ coffee!

The TV was fixed this afternoon. It appears that a power surge fried one or two minor components, it cost around $15 to fix - including labor. No complaints except for the hour or so spent in traffic as maintenance crews continue to wreak havoc in their pathetic attempt to resurface the streets in the city centre.

The Tennessee Attorney General’s office has successfully prosecuted several big names in the music industry, on charges of price-fixing. The responsible parties will be forced to pay approximately $143 million dollars in cash, and music CDs. Although this is a victory for the consumer, $143 million dollars is a drop in the ocean for companies like EMI, BMG, and SONY. Yes, they have been convicted of price-fixing, no this will not reduce the prices of their CDs. In fact, the consumer will be fortunate if the corporate bosses decide not to pass the court costs on to buyers by raising that price of CDs.

Ok, so let’s tally things up: I’m down to a TV that was produced sometime in the early part of the 80s, not remote, poor picture quality, 20 channels max. Not good. Now add to that the fact that this morning discovery channel is flip-flopping between English and Russian! Let’s hope that when it flops its last flip it will land on English.

Always current, Glenn points to new developments in the US-German fissure.

Sheesh! You would think that Woods would have been able to pull something off. Not so good.

Schumacher is on pole again this year. Look for a good tussle between the Ferraris as they stomp the rest of the field. Read more here. It starts at 13:00 CST, 18:00 GMT - adjust your programming accordingly.

I am just about done with the chopsticks guide, but don’t expect to see it for another day, or two, or more. In the meantime, I just thought I’d warn you that chopsticks are no good when trying to eat breakfast cereal, or toast for that matter. I think the use of chopsticks is heavily reliant upon food preparation before the meal starts.

Even if it has been out for a couple of months already, The Manual is a enjoyable collection of writing, suitable for reading on a lazy afternoon, or even in those spare moments before you turn out he bed-side lamp. The Morning News is full of other exciting items too.

A 1.2-mile-wide asteroid should miss earth in 2019, scientists said that there was only a 1 in 250,000 chance of impact. To my knowledge 1 in 250,000 is higher than your chances of winning the lottery. I hope the scientists got it right.

After a poor start yesterday, the US team succeeded in pulling one back in the afternoon session, and have managed a sensational comeback today to pull level with the Europeans. Let’s hope Tiger performs better in tomorrow’s singles pairings than he has in the team pairings. Should be an exciting game tomorrow. * I can’t believe I just used the words “golf” and “exciting” together.

If, like me, you have nothing else to do this Saturday afternoon, Mark Newhouse has produced a fine article for the latest edition of a list apart, and you had best have a read.

Absolutely brilliant! The TV just kicked the bucket. Not that there’s ever very much on the TV worth watching, but it’s Friday evening, no chance for a repair before the weekend. How am I expected to watch the US formula 1 GP this weekend? In case you’re wondering, the TV will probably be out of commission for about two weeks now - I remind you that customer service and expedience is not a Romanian business ethic.

Court records show that the FBI gave secret government documents to the 20th hijacker, Mousssaoui, during his defense preparations. Now you know that this guy has zero chance of not being sentenced.

Todd has a series of new pics up. If you haven’t done so already, I strongly advise you to visit Quarlo for the finest photolog around.

For an excellent review of the diverging trains of thought and power management between America and Europe, read Robert Kagan’s “Power and Weakness.” The article is treasure-trove of thought on the emerging rift in thought and policy on the two sides of the Atlantic.

In the furore over Chancellor Gerhard Schröder’s remarks regarding US foreign policy on Iraq, during his re-election campaign, and the ‘souring’ of diplomatic relations between the two countries, many have started to examine the possible impact it may have. Marc Fisher looks at generational differences in German-American sentiment, in the wake of the fall of the Iron Curtain. At least they are doing a good job of rounding up the terrorists in Germany itslef, and that is important. Steven Den Beste examines a Germany without the United States.

I would like to see a split between the two powers. The world’s third largest economy has a lot to offer, and have been good allies for the last 50 odd years. Let’s hope the politicians have their tit-for-tat, and leave it at that.

Scientists have found a way to grow teeth in the lab. The Boston Globe has the story on how “the work raises the possibility that dentists of the future could dispense with mechanical implants - such as dentures, bridges, and crowns - and literally grow new teeth for patients on demand.” Pretty damn cool!

Andrew Sullivan produces a good piece on the close relationship between President Bush and Prime Minister Blair, entitled “The Odd Couple.” Especially interesting are Sullivan’s views on what the relationship means for the PM and the UK. “It has vaulted the British prime minister into the position of being the most influential global actor after the American president. This means he has unequalled clout with the president, but it also means he has unusually large influence with other world leaders. In Blair’s dealings abroad, from outreach to Russia and Pakistan and France, Blair speaks with far greater impact because of his tightness with Washington.”

Sullivan’s conclusion is particularly flattering: “Perhaps it’s his Christian faith, shared with Bush, that acknowledges that there are times when evil cannot be appeased, ignored or simply forgotten, but must be confronted. But both men clearly hold that there are times when political leaders must do things simply because they are the right and moral thing to do, that there are moments when conscience matters, in fact, when conscience is the only thing that matters. This core conviction, a bedrock for both men’s different faiths and divergent politics, is what will keep them together in the coming difficult and dark months. The forging of a new and potent Anglo-American relationship for the next century could well be the result.”

*emphasis added

John Bono graphically reproduces the Mirror’s article as it should be considered. Richard Wallace had better hope that he leaves camp x-ray before the marines there get word of his article. Though I doubt that the prisoners at camp x-ray have the same sense of freedom that they had in Afghanistan, I am certain that the living conditions are no worse than the tents in which they lived prior to their capture. These people committed dispicable acts, and Wallace thinks they have rights… forget it.

His speech at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco the other night certainly didn’t earn him any points in the eyes of just abut everyone in the blogging community. Rachel Lucas really doesn’t like Al Gore. I too question the scruples of a man who would cower in the shadows with his about-face policies and dare to second guess a highly popular President, and to do so when the nation is at war. Shameful.

In what might seem like a campaign to get more people to despise her (not sure if it’s possible), Britney Spears is advocating against online piracy. Nelly and Missy Elliot are also getting in on the action. RIAA’s she-devil, Hilary Rosen, explains: “We want to hit fans with the message that downloading music illegally is, as Britney Spears explains, the same as going into a CD store and stealing the CD” Actually, its more like borrowing a friend’s CD, or casette tape (80’s style) and using it to make a mix. Not, as you claim, a misdemeanor. I refuse to pay exorbitant prices so that people like Ms. Spears can afford breast implants.

Milosevic’s rule as an oppressive tyrant, who supervised the Serb-Croat war, and the Kosovo conflict, without lifting a finger to prevent the death and suffering of hundreds of thousands of people, should be a crime in itself. Where does this obsession with due process come from? It does not matter whether we can prove in excruitiating detail that the man is directly connected to the deaths of every single person who died. His programme of persecution is undeniable.

As the prosecution of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic resumes today, I am forced to wonder why the International Court of Justice, or the UN Security Council are not actively pursuing Saddam Hussein. Milosevic is charged with genocide in the Bosnian war, and in Kosovo. Writing in the New York Times, Nicholas Kristof points out: “Slobodan Milosevic was indicted when he was still in power, in 1999. The indictment was one factor that helped result in his ouster from power in 2000. And in 2001 he was sent to The Hague for trial.” Following his overthrow, the United Nations and the Hague Tribunal undertook intense efforts to track down and arrest Milosevic.

Certainly, Milosevic faces serious charges on many accounts. Shouldn’t Saddam Hussein also be held accountable? Saddam has initiated two wars, making him culpable of agression. Hussein is directly responsible for the genocide of thousands of Kurds, and the sustained systematic torture, assasination, and execution of political prisoners. Saddam is a bloodier Tyrant than Milosevic ever was, and presents a greater danger to the world. Why then do European policy-makers refuse to act? Perhaps Jon Bennett offers a partial response: “Because the Europeans fear them [him]. They fear rising oil prices, increases of Muslim terror inside their borders, and especially, protests from angry idiot hippies, who see any action against any non-White nation as modern day Colonialism.”

Certainly, “Nuremberg was not a substitute for D-day.”, and I do pretend that we can oust Saddam from his palace via the court room. The point out, however, is that not only do the majority of the European powers oppose decisive military measures against Saddam Hussein’s belligerent tyranny, they refuse to indict him either. Another fine exhibition of Europe’s collective socialist stagnation.

I hardly believed Andy Baio when he said this was the best optical illusion ever. I think he’s right.

Ok, now ladies, before you lynch me… ahh … you’re gonna lynch me anyway… women drivers.

I am an avid lover of many things Asian, specifically things from Korea, Japan, and China, architecture, philosophy, and especially food. It was a long time ago that I learned to use chopsticks, but I must admit that my skill base has been waining in the past year or so. Why? Mainly because I’ve become accustomed to the college student culture of ordering chinese take-out, and then just using the plastic fork that comes in the bag.

Previously, I had the luxury of eating at friends’ houses, but their families have left now, so that is no longer an option. There aren’t many Asian restaurants in Bucharest: 4 or 5 Chinese places, 2 Korean establishments and 1 Japanese place. None of these, except the Korean eateries, have a reputation that you would want to put to the test. So as far as practice goes, Asian cuisine isn’t going to be on the menu.

I still have the ornately decorated chopsticks that I bought off the waiter in the Asian Cafe in Den Haag (in the Netherlands) on one of my visits there. So I’ve decided that for the foreseeable future, I will be eating all food, served here at home using my trusty chopsticks. Given that this could make for some interesting material, I am going to do a little research and produce a series of articles on chopsticks, the history, art, etiquette and anything else interesting I can dig up. Stay tuned.

Looking to create a peer-to-peer adult content network, Private Media Group are bidding to buy Napster. I suppose PMG are banking on the napster name kick-starting their little venture. It’s interesting to point out that PMG’s share price jumped 24% after making the bid!

Workers are more likely to surf the net for news, than they are to go scouting for porn. Apparently news is “morally neutral”. Heh! I’d like to see what they’d make of that if they paid attention to all the warblogging going on at the moment. BBC News

MIT’s Open CourseWare pilot starts next Monday. OCW will make MIT materials, such as lecture notes, course outlines, and reading lists freely available online. This could very well be a great source of knowledge, and should also contribute to the idea of freely available information online.

the dpreview guys are at this year’s photokina trade fair in Cologne, Germany with great news on some incredible new products on display there. Among other things in the new product index:

- the much talked about Canon EOS 1ds, which offers 11 megapixels of goodness!

- the Kodak Pro DCS-14n which jumps out of the box with a 14 megapixel resolution!

- and the consumer level Canon PowerShot G3, whose predecessor (the PowerShot G2) was arguably one of the best consumer-level packages available.

Hopefully these new releases, esp. the ultra-high resolution 1ds, and 14n, will push prices down on older models like the Canon EOS-d60, so that I can afford an upgrade soon.

So you don’t shave for a couple of days, and things don’t seem too bad. Inevitably, however, a day will come when the stubble gets just long enough to be annoying. When it starts to curl ever so slightly, and the tip digs into your skin, and you’re forced to scratch every so often. You know that you have to shave it, and soon. Today is that day.

Seems a few of you are having blogger troubles out there at the moment. Both Nick and Beverly have mentioned it. I thought EV Head would have made a note of it, but I guess he’s working on it right now.

Dean Allen has no comment. Oh well, everyone has their off days.

Cincinnati-based Citizen for Community Values are calling on Attorney General and the DOJ to put a stop to the pay-per-view adult entertainment offered in hotels across the US. USA Today quotes Phill Burress - the group’s President - as saying “hotels are distributing hard-core pornography”. Burress claims his group “represents at least 20 million families, and meets regularly”.

I think Burress and his group need to find something better to do with their time. If the average American family size is four, then Burress’ claim suggests that he represents approximately 80 million people - roughly 33% of the American population! I think not. But what can you expect from someone who says: “Right to read? It’s a bunch of hogwash, you don’t have the right to read anything you want.“

Watching pay-per-view in a hotel is optional. No one is forcing you to be ripped off for barely risque material that is freely available on the internet. I’m sure that if Burress and his cronies had their way, hotels offering in-room internet connections would be forced to filter content, and hotels would not be allowed to rent rooms to non-married couples, and thong-bikinis would not be prohibited in the pool area.

Watched an interesting spot on BBC World last night about this exciting new fuel source. Animal and vegetable oils and fats can be converted into a non-toxic diesel fuel, by simply extracting the glycerin. The fuel can be used in engines in it’s pure form, or in any mixture ratio with regular diesel fuel. The fuel is non-toxic, and offers a significant reduction in the quantity of pollution produced by motor-vehicle engines. The fuel also represents a way to cleanly dispose of, and at the same time recycle, the cooking oil that we use in our homes, supermarkets, and food-production facilities. The conversion process has the advantage of being inxepensive, and as such, biodiesel represents a fuel source that is just waiting for us to put it to use. The NBB BioDiesel Site has more information.

Micheal over at grillboy.net has started The Coffee Cup Project. An excellent idea for a project. So head over and submit a picture of your mug.

Another great spoof from The Morning News. This time: the news in puns.

The British-based band, massive attack, are also getting in on the action. Visit their site, and you’ll notice an annoying popup: “no war on Iraq!” Apparently the band protested the UN’s stance toward Iraq during the Gulf War conflict as well - sounds like they had no problem with Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, genocide of thousands of ethnic Kurds, or Saddam’s military spending which continues to deprive Iraqis of funds that could be spent on medicines, food, or education.

The format of the increasingly popular Google News has been reworked. The old interface worked just fine, and the newer version looks as if the design team are trying to go for something more reminiscent of CNN, NY Times, and USA Today. I hope they don’t try to imitate the interface too closely, I find most news sites tend to be too busy, with bits and pieces tacked all over the place - making it difficult at times to actually find anything.

Tamas Foeldi had the experience of a lifetime this weekend. The Winner of the McLaren-West Formula1 contest, Foeldi got the chance to race the McLaren Formula 1 car around the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic on Saturday. Even though I’m a Ferrari fan at heart, I’d love a chance like that.

The Sky News website has been running polls on the Iraq issue. Some of the results force me to think that some people are just incapable of dealing with reality. Asked: “Should the UK go to war to overthrow Saddam Hussein?” - the results are split evenly. When asked: “Iraq’s weapons offer: Do you believe Saddam?” - the numbers show 75% do not believe Saddam. What do the fence-sitters propose… sipping tea?

In response to studies that show “a high correlation between prompt beverage service and overall customer satisfaction”, researchers have developed a glass that will alert restaurant staff when your drink is running low, enabling them to serve you another before you run dry. New Scientist has the full scoop. I can just see it now: glasses get confused between orders, and you end up paying for the bill for the AA Annual General Meeting!

Friends won two awards at the Emmys last night. It certainly has been a long time coming, and considering that they’re in their last season one might have to think of this as merely a token award. Makes no difference to me, but I have two friends whom I know will be ecstatic.

Can’t connect to w3c, can’t check if my stuff validates. (don’t feel like downloading any validation tools). Few strange bugs on this layout, maybe I’ll figure where they’re eminanting from tomorrow.

no, not in the least! I don’t know what’s going on, but since thursday, I have been unable to load the world wide web consortium site. I cannot figure out what the problem is, but by George someone is going to hear about it if this continues. Most likely my ISP being stupid. Arghhh!!!

hmm… excuse me for being ignorant, but it does say “O-k-t-o-b-e-r” right? So why the hell does is all take place in September then? I guess it must be to alleviate all those German elections woes!

n.b. My bad, the celebrations start at the end of September, and run through into October. Still, I say it should all be in just one month - I mean how confusing is that after you’ve downed a couple of litres of the local brew!

USA Today have a piece on the lengths that the travel industry are going to to coax every last penny from your pocket. Nothing too frighteningly new about this, but when you add up those bills you will realize that it’s nothing to sneeze at either. It serves as a good reminder of things to look out for when travelling.

Heather, the “girl who lost her job because of her website”, is back! Recently married, Heather returns to share her gripping content with us. Visit her at dooce.com Welcome back Heather!

C|Net are running an article about the possibility of the US Government working with Microsoft to ‘bug’ MS operating systems in China. “China thinks Microsoft software contains secretly embedded code that the United States government can manipulate at will. So, in case of war between the two countries, a Pentagon official can hit a switch and—presto!—cripple China’s computing infrastructure.” Hmmm… I wonder if this explains Government leniency in the Microsoft Antitrust case. C|Net

Just got this e-mail, some of it is rather funny:

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

to kill today because they pissed me off.

And also, help me to be careful of the toes I step on today

that I may have to kiss tomorrow.

Help me to always give 100% at work…

5% on Friday

And help me to remember…

and tell them to bite me!

You may or may not have seen this interview with leading web usability authority Jakob Nielsen. If you haven’t already seen it, have a gander, otherwise let me know what you think. pixelsurgeon is all new to me and so I’m just starting to browse what they’re doing.

Feeling creative are we? Well head on over and spice up Haiku the Blog. This is Firda’s little project, it’s a collaborative weblog open to anyone, where all posts are in Haiku form.

Todd over at Quarlo has some great new pics up today. If you have a minute or two to spare, go take a peek. Great pics, great archives! It’s Quarlo!

If so, then you can do what Steven Champeon has been up to: CSS renderings of photographs. Nice idea, but I don’t think that’s how I’ll be spending my free time. Zeldman was first.

just got an X2 cam popup ad that managed to work it’s way through the defenses here… it felt kinda strange seeing one of those… my mind thought for a secons: “hey! I remember those” To think I’d actually believed they had disappeared… ‘tis to laugh!

There’s a new strip up. Ok, maybe not so new, but it’s up, and it’ll give you something to ponder as lunch hour approaches.

Wired is running an article on GlobalSecurity.org, an independent intelligence group that are making satellite imagery of activities in the Persian gulf (i.e. what Saddam’s doing) publicly available. Read Rafe Colburn and you’d know this too. Satellite photos here.

Jason spent some time in Las Vegas last week, and has some interesting photos to share. Enjoy!

I’ve been busy these past couple of days. Took some shots in and around the city on Tuesday, and then ended up playing poker at a friend’s place (I really need to work on my card shuffling skills by the way). Yesterday was a 3-hour long product photo shoot, most of which will have to be redone, because of really poor lighting, and I lost my head with a few of the settings. Oh yeah, plus I have to totally rework a 300dpi 4000x8000 logo in Illustrator… I think I’ll pick up that graphics tablet that I’ve been wanting, when I go for a haircut tomorrow. Hopefully Friday will bring beer!

want to talk to the latest development in artificial intelligence? Go and have a chat with ALICE. It can be quite stimulating actually.

The Inquirer is reporting that Western Digital and Seagate will be joining Maxtor in reducing guarantees on their IDE hard drive from 3 years to 1 year [article]. I found no mention of this on either company’s website, so I cannot confirm this information, but it is disturbing. It is very likely that these are cost-cutting measures, but at what cost? I know that hardware enthusiasts such as myself will not be enthused with these moves. When I buy a product, I want to know that the company is going to stand behind it, and take responsibility for any inherent defects. Next to your monitor, your hard drive is probably the component that you keep for the longest period, and if I buy a drive, no matter whether it be 40gb or 200gb, it is going to be in use for longer than 1 year. I console myself with the hope of moving to SCSI based systems for all my systems sometime next year *counts money*

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, “rampant phone tapping [in Australia] puts the US in the shade”. The article states that apart from authorities in Australia having issued more warrants for phone taps that their US counterparts, if one takes the comparative population size into account, the number of warrants per capita is 20 times higher than the US statistic. What these numbers actually suggest, however, is that US authorities simply don’t bother with the warrant. You know the FBI isn’t going to be outdone by anyone. [slashdot]

Hats off to the boys in red once again! Great win at the Italian Grand Prix on the weekend. Come rain or shine Ferrari’s reliability and grit, matched with the likes of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, is just too much for the other teams. Great season guys! I plan on seeing you live next year!

I was glued to the television yesterday afternoon, watching Mr. Bush speak to the UN General Assembly. The President’s address was admirable to say the least. Self-assured, Mr. Bush spoke well, at his own pace, and with a sterness that conveyed a true sense of accuracy and conviction. I was pleased to hear the SkyNews news team refer to President Bush’s address as ‘a remarkable display of statesmanship’.

Dean Allen serves up a tangible account of the floods in his region of France. “Gosh that’s a lot of water. Wow, it’s up to the mailbox! The mailbox is the same height as the car window. [blank stare] If you continue, the water will reach the car window. [blank stare] Oh, probably not a good idea to keep driving then.”

Canon prematurely posted details of the 1DS, their new high-end digital camera, on their site earlier this week. Upon learning of the slip up, the quickly pulled the page, and we’ll have to await for the official press release to learn more. Of great interest though, is that the 1DS will support a resolution of 11MP. That’s a resolution nearly twice that of the flagship models currently offered by Canon, or Nikon. Of course, the price tag is also a little bigger: $6000. Hmm… what would I do with that camera? Sell it and buy the curent 6MP flagship for a measily $2k instead!!

has a new strip up. Strange thing I realized while reading this one… I must be twelve years old again, because in the last week I watched: Shrek, Monster’s Inc, and Ice Age… oh yeah… and for some reason I have Mulan on divX!!*shudder*

makes a powerful argument in TheStreet.com

“Our country is strong. And our cause is even larger than our country. Ours is the cause of human dignity: freedom guided by conscience, and guarded by peace. This ideal of America is the hope of all mankind. That hope drew millions to this harbor. That hope still lights our way. And the light shines in the darkness. And the darkness will not overcome it. May God bless America.” [Bush Speech]

Business Central anchor, Richard Quest, received a viewer e-mail this morning regarding the Iraq situation. In it, this quote from Edmund Burke: “It is necessary only for the good man to do nothing for evil to triumph.”

I was always a little skeptical about buying Maxtor hard drives, even in the years when IBM’s ‘DeskStar’ could easily have been mistaken for ‘DeathStar’ - due to the high failure rate reported. Then last year, I was building a PC and was flat out of options for drives, I didn’t have time to wait for one from NewEgg, and my choices at BestBuy were between Maxtor and Western Digital. I knew quite a few people who were bragging about the performance and reliability of their high-end Maxtors, so I decided to go the same route. In the space of 6 months, I had to RMA the maxtor not once, but twice. I haven’t had a chance to use the 3rd replacement drive that they’ve now sent me, but I’m suspicious to say the least. In the meantime, my IBM and WD drives are working just great.

Now I see that Maxtor have reduced the guarantee on their drives from three years to one. Even if I were able to put aside my bad experiences with Maxtor, their new policy gets them a big fat “0” in my books, and while most other big names in the industry still offer 3 year guarantees on their products, it’ll be a long time before I even consider another Maxtor.

I was delighted with this year’s US Open. Who could possibly ask for more than to have two aging masters beat all expectations and face off in the final? Sunday’s match-up between Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi was one of the most enjoyable finals that I have ever seen. Long gone are the days that saw time-honored rivals face off against each other on the court. Matches between these two remind me of the glory days of Edberg and Becker; Graf and Seles; when great rivalries lived through the game.

On Thursday I mentioned that Kristen had remodelled her site, well she’s done it again! It looks pretty darn nice, and I think she’ll be sticking with it for a while now. Make sure to pay her a visit, and drop a compliment ;)

While performing maintenance on my growing list of bookmarks yesterday, I clicked on over to fragments and found a little something to keep me busy. It was a link to a short story by Cory Doctorow, winner of the John W. Campbell Award for best new science fiction writer at the 2000 Hugo Awards. 0wnz0red provides a fleeting glimpse into the somewhat ‘screwy’ mind of the hardcore computer and technology enthusiast. It’s a quick read, and does a have a few holes that need filling (that would turn it into a full-length novel), but proves to be quite fun and will make you smile - laugh even. It reminds me of a book I read when I was about 12 (this is a good thing): John Wyndham’s “The Day of the Triffids”. Wyndham’s book make me look at the world somewhat differently, and Doctorow’s short story will also keep me thinking about a few things. Enjoy!

The FBI and CIA are institutions that we assume know everything about ‘the other guy’, friend and foe alike. We expect these agencies to recognize and avert all significant threats before they materialize. The shock and surprise of 9/11 shook this belief to the core.

I will not lay the blame for 9/11 on either agency, despite what was, to quote the NY Times: “an intelligence failure on the scale of Pearl Harbor”. Intelligence gathering is a difficult business for a slew of reasons. To thoroughly process all information would require an unthinkable amount of manpower - and despite the eagerness of both congress and the American people to prevent another such tragedy, I greatly doubt the financial sustainability of an organization which would be many times larger than the CIA, FBI and NSA combined. Despite the greatest efforts, any organization of such proportions would inevitably suffer inefficiencies in the communication of relevant information. Moreover, it takes time to process whatever ‘intel’ is gathered, and this means that one cannot keep abreast of everything, all of the time. There are an infinite number of points one may choose to cite for the difficulties that prevent total success; but the need for change remains undeniable.

To date, very little change has taken place in either organization. As Nick Denton points out: “What the US security services need, just like US corporate world, is a purge so bloody that the lessons will be etched into the minds of trainees for the next 100 years.” Indeed, drastic measures need to be the order of the day. Eliminate the numbing bueracracy. Revitalize efficiency and thoroughness, delegating authority; reward initiative. Forego antiquated policies. Enforce accountability. Never has the role of these agencies been more clear than it is now. Let us hope that clarity will etch itself upon them.

Yes, that’s right, something will come of this all.

Today is the 75th anniversary of the invention of the television.

“In the summer of 1921, at the age of 14, while plowing a field near Rigby Idaho, 14-year-old Philo T. Farnsworth was struck with an inspiration that is still with us today. In fact, the screen you are looking at is directly descended from that moment in the potato field…”

Hmmm… and I always thought the TV was invented by some old german guy. Thanks for your invention Philo.

Well, this page at least. You know I’m gonna be throwing around a new design soon anyways ;)

Validation, validation, validation! template.php4 validates as xhtml 1.0 without a hitch (of course, it’s a farily basic file), but when I dare to vaildate the queried page: template.ph4?page=weblog, I see that for some reason multiple instances of the same DIV are not allowed. I’m off to research a well-formed solution to the problem…

Kristen has redesigned her site, and although the photography section is still out of commission, you will be doing yourself a favor by going to visit her deviantART gallery in the meantime. “Chinatown Green Sign” and “Chinatown Hobo Bike” are my favorite favorites.

My all-time favorite candy!

rc3.org daily produces a reasoned and informative view of the Iraq situation. At a time when it is easy to get caught up in the yes/no tug of war; when rational approaches to examining the issue are often few and far between, this post is one of those few.

Mark Pilgrim points to Jeffrey Zeldman’s article on CSS browser compatability issues. In so doing, Mark poingnantly produces the clearest and most easily understandable definition of website accessibility, compatability, and usability, that I have ever seen. I suggest that anyone writing a manual or reference that might encompass the issue take heed of these words. Bravo Mark!

Reading Jason’s pillow incident this morning really gave me a chuckle, I hope you’ll get a kick out of it too.

Tony Blair is an excellent public speaker. His press conference this afternoon went on for close to 90 minutes, during which time the media pummeled the Prime Minister with questions on Iraq, the Midde East, and the War on Terror. Although visibly tired from his hurried trip to and from the Earth Summit in South Africa, at no time did he show any signs of being surprised by any of the questions raised, and he discussed all issues with relative openness.

One could not expect the same of Schroder or Bush - who would either close up, or take some time in trying to formulate an answer - Chirac is always wordy, but fails to say anything meaningful; Putin always comes across intelligently, but with a metered sharpness that poses for shrewidity. None of them measure up to Blair’s excellent flair and form.

Evan Williams at this article on Walmart now selling PCs for as low as $199.86! Heck I remember not too long ago when we were arguing about when there’d be a sub-$1000 PC on the market!

Sporting the Lindows OS, and not including a monitor, or modem, the PC won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it certainly does make home-computing afforable for those people out there who need a low cost solution, or plan on adding a ‘DivX box’ - without the hassle of having to DIY.