Osama is a Nutcase

Eradication, the sooner the better. I should think our special ops guys could get to him if our intelligence has developed in the past 3 years.

OSAMA EXCERPTS: (Tape of October 30)

Excerpts from the video tape by Osama bin Laden that was broadcast on Al-Jazeera Friday: "You, the American people, my message to you is about the best way to avoid a new Manhattan, about the war, its reasons and results. I tell you: security is an important element of human life and free people do not give up their security. If Bush says we hate freedom, let him tell us why we didn't attack Sweden, for example. It is known that those who hate freedom do not have dignified souls, like those of the 19 blessed ones," he said, referring to the hijackers of Sept. 11. "We fought you because we are free people who want to regain the freedom of our nation. As you undermine our security, we undermine yours."
Bin Laden said the relationship between Bush and his father, the former president, reminded him of many Middle Eastern regimes. "We did not find it difficult to deal with Bush and his administration because it is similar to regimes in our countries in that half of them are ruled by the military and the other half are ruled by the sons of kings and presidents. We have a long experience with them .... Bin Laden said that when the senior Bush, the former president, visited the Middle East, he was impressed by their regimes. "He envied them for staying in power for decades and embezzling the nation's wealth. So he transferred tyranny and oppression to his son and they named it 'homeland security law' under the pretext of fighting terrorism. Bush, the father, did well by installing his sons as governors of states, and he did not forget to transfer the expertise of forgery to Florida to benefit them in critical times."
"In spite of our being in the fourth year after the incidents of the 11th (of September), Bush is still misleading you by hiding the real reason from you. Therefore, everything is there to repeat what happened. I will talk to you about the reason behind these attacks and will tell you about the moment that this decision was taken. God knows that it had not occurred to our mind to attack the towers, but after our patience ran out and we saw the injustice and inflexibility of the American-Israeli alliance toward our people in Palestine and Lebanon, this came to my mind. The incidents that affected me directly go back to 1982, and what followed when America gave Israel the permission to invade Lebanon with the help of the American 6th Fleet. At this difficult time, many thoughts came to me. They brought a strong desire to reject injustice and they created a strong determination to punish those doing this injustice. While I was looking at the destroyed towers in Lebanon, it came to my mind to punish those unjust people in the same way, to destroy towers in America to make them feel what we had felt, and to deter them from killing our children and women."

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2004?

Drudge reports the following. Can Cronkite be serious? Has he gone senile? This is a crazy accusation. Why didn't King follow up??
+++++++++++++++++++++
Sat Oct 30 2004 16:31:19 ET

Former CBSNEWS anchorman Walter Cronkite believes Bush adviser Karl Rove is possibly behind the new Bin Laden tape.

Cronkite made the startling comments late Friday during an interview on CNN.

Somewhat smiling, Cronkite said he is 'inclined to think that Karl Rove, the political manager at the White House, who is a very clever man, he probably set up bin Laden to this thing.'

Interviewer Larry King did not ask Cronkite to elaborate on the provocative election eve observation.

Developing"

The New York Times > Business > Your Money > Gretchen Morgenson: Jackpot Du Jour: It Pays to Quit

If these facts are correct, the perpetrators of this ripoff will be in court pronto. Nice work reporting this, Gretchen.

The New York Times > Business > Your Money > Techno Files: The Stock? Whatever. Google Keeps On Innovating.

A list of Google's recent accomplishments. Impressive...and Gmail is wonderful, but needs a few more features, e.g., its handling of HTML and the ability to create groups or lists in your Contacts file.

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: The Apparent Heir

No surprise that Thomas endorses Kerry. But he's wrong.

www.AndrewSullivan.com - Latest Posts

Sullivan, The conservative, makes an error in judgment by endorsing Kerry. I'm disappointed in Sullivan.

Yahoo! News - Massive Voter Turnout Drive Under Way in Ohio

The big lie, repeated often enough becomes the 'truth' for losers. What a terrible tragedy when disinformation rules the hearts and minds of so many people.

++++++++++++++++++"'I think the big factor in getting people in the black and brown community to vote in this election is what happened in Florida four years ago where 90,000 people were disenfranchised by the Bush forces,' said Steve Hughes. a coordinator for the Kerry campaign in charge of turning out the black vote in Cincinnati and suburbs."
++++++++++++++++++

My Way News - Bin Laden Tape 10/29/04

Let's see how the pacifists and those that oppose the U.S. preemption doctrine respond to Bin Laden's appeal to 'leave us alone and we'll leave you alone suggestion?'"But he made little mention of Bush's Democratic challenger John Kerry, saying: 'Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or al Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands and each state which does not harm our security will remain safe.'" Appeasement is out of the question. The only realistic approach is eradication of terrorists.

The Osama Litmus Test

Three cheers for Brooks and Bush! Kerry's previous statements that he would be satisfied if terrorism were reduced to a 'nuisance' signal that he just doesn't understand the threat in his gut, as Brooks indicates. Because Kerry is cerebral on this issue, he would likely opt for decisions that leaned toward appeasement, IMHO. Eradication of Bin laden and his kind is the only alternative at this juncture and Kerry states that he agrees with this. That's good. Programs and initiatives that might persuade the Muslim world that their hatred of America is ill-founded might help long-term, but war is the only alternative for now.

Vermont Commission on Prison Overcrowding

Vermont is struggling with a prison population growing uncontrollably. Below is the Executive Summary of the findings of the Commission.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=

Accumulating and corrosive overcrowding in Vermont’s correctional system has taken a
serious toll on offenders, the Department of Corrections, Vermont communities, and the
state’s budget. Bold action must be taken to bring the problem to a manageable level.

The legislature, DOC, and the Administration have some good choices for reducing both
overcrowding and the overall cost of Corrections, while in the process avoiding the
construction of another major correctional institution.

Using a combination of GPS technology for both non-violent detainees and sentenced prisoners, discharging persons who are ready to be released, establishing one work camp per year for each of three years, and employing a variety of other techniques, could result in bringing back all out
of state inmates, greatly reducing overcrowding thus making the system work better, providing for inevitable growth over the next decade, and avoiding many millions of dollars of unnecessary General Fund expenditures.

At some point, if a major institution is required, it should not be a general population
facility, but should be one designed to provide short term confinement for detainees who
are not suitable for release.

Implementing these recommendations will: lower overall correction costs; bring capacity
back in line with demand; allow the regional system to be used as it was designed; and
greatly soften the serious, demoralizing, and financially crippling effects of overcrowding
on staff, offenders, and Vermont communities.

This Commission has proposed what we believe to be imaginative and achievable
solutions, which if implemented, would have far reaching benefits not only to the
corrections system but to the State’s General Fund health. Millions of dollars could be
saved by doing business in new ways (see Appendix 1) to help solve other important
problems such as drug treatment or health care needs.

Refocusing our efforts throughout the criminal justice system to achieve the statutory
purposes as articulated in Title 28, is essential to reforming the system.

The New York Times > Washington > Missing Explosives: Video Shows G.I.'s at Weapon Cache

This drama continues to unfold, yet the evidence is not conclusive as to when the explosives were taken or by whom. What's terribly unfortunate is that 3 days before the election the media and others are messing around with a detail of war, when there are mush bigger issues at stake. This is a terribly sad commentary on media motives, the campaigns and the candidates... focusing on such minutiae.

Political jihads and the blogosphere | Perspectives | CNET News.com

In the realm of politics and news, blogs matter!

Voter and Election Fraud

Unless there's a Bush-Cheney landslide (unlikely), this election will be fraught with legal wrangling on both sides. A most critical issue will be to safeguard the original ballots or electronic results for recounts that will be inevitable is some places.
While there will be fraud and errors (there always have been some in our elections), my greatest concern is that the legal challenges will be heard first by state judges who themselves are elected, thus are political animals. See this site:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/justice/que/maptext.html

for a list of states and how judges get to be judges. Note that many of the 'battleground states' elect their judges. This is potentially a very bad problem which will consume time for briefs, hearings and appeals. Eventually it's likely that most of these contested votes ( but will contested registrations stay in state courts because voter registration is a 'local' issue?) will wind up in Federal court because this is a Federal election for President. For better or worse, Federal judges are appointed not elected.

One of the most contentious series of battles during the next Presidency, regardless of who wins, will be the appointment of Federal judges, particularly to the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, there's a left-leaning Senator from Vermont likely to be back in Congress for 6 more years doing all in his power to assure liberal judges are appointed.

Yahoo! News - Harvard Plans Major Engineering Expansion

Interesting that Harvard will expand its engineering and science curriculum to the tune of 1/2 $billion. This statement, though, is incredulous:

++++++++++
"Narayanamurti said Harvard would complement the Massachusetts Institute of Technology more than compete with it, because the schools are so different."
++++++++++

The Harvard Crimson Online :: News

Westin makes a good point, but I regret to say that people will not be satisfied with facts instead of opinion. They'll continue to want both. I prefer facts and objective reporting but there is less that I trust these days because of editorial and journalistic bias. I also believe that thinking people can discern fact and opinion. Westin would do well not to sell Americans short.

Witness the NY Times stories on Monday and Tuesday about explosives missing in Iraq and the failure of reporters and editors to make mention of the 'fact' or at least the strong possibility that they went missing before the U.S. got to the ordnance depot, opting instead to leave the impression that the explosives were very recently missing. That is NOT objective reporting.

Meanwhile, whether in collusion or not, (I use innuendo because this is an opinion blog; I'm not a news reporter) the Democrats and Kerry hopped on this as a campaign issue and may very well wind up wrong. Sponsoring innuendo as truth is the same as lying. Kerry has really put his foot in it this time without knowing the facts, as did he and the Democrats at the time of the CBS forged documents fiasco. He has once more demonstrated he is unfit to be President.

Long lines, busy signals fuel voting frustration in Broward: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Another voting disaster in the making in Florida! Why can't these people get their act together. Or is this a bit of sensationalized reporting?

APC: U.S. Election Observers

Fascinating! I had heard that some observers were coming. This analysis, though biased toward the right, is valuable to understand what's motivating the groups sending these observers.

While our elections aren't perfect and never have been, we don't need international 'help' like this. I'm sure our partisan attorneys rather than foreign observers can assure that voting anomalies are brought to light!

I wish all Americans viewed voting both as a right AND a responsibility based on informed choices. In my view, an uninformed voter is worse than no vote. Increasing the number of voters is a goal seldom accompanied with emphasis of the need for informed voting.

The New York Times > Washington > Campaign 2004 > The Candidates: Iraq Explosives Become Issue in Campaign

This news story by Sanger is nothing more than highlighting news that the Times attempted to make on Monday. It rehashes old news that the Times published yesterday (being very careful not to say when the explosives disappeared thus leaving the impression that they disappeared recently!)...published only in an attempt to embarrass the Bush administration in the waning days of the campaign. Decisions to run this news story and the one on Monday show the intense liberal, let's-see-if-we-can-help-Kerry bias, of the Times. They should be ashamed of themselves, serving up fodder on Monday for the Kerry campaign and front-paging reactions to it today. The Times should admit to biased news journalism, then at least they'd be honest. This quote below from a story on the CBS News site says the explosives disappeared before the US invasion. Yet Kerry and his tribe are suggesting that the someone stole the explosives recently. Kerry and the Times are seemingly in cahoots here. With egregious examples such as this, neither can be trusted.

"NBC News, which had correspondents embedded with the U.S. soldiers who reached the al-Qaqaa site in April 2003, said the GIs never found the explosives but did see other stockpiles of conventional weapons."

Kerry and Edwards simply do not tell the truth and the Times is not much better when it comes to the possibility that Bush will win this election.

A face that launched 1,000 pixels | CNET News.com

Got to see "Polar Express!"

Scripting News: 10/26/2004 The NYT Judith Miller Controversy

Dave Winer is carefully examining the issue of a NY Times reporter, Judith Miller, defying a court order to reveal her source(s) for a reporting on the outing of a CIA secret operative, the wife of a Democratic whistle-blower diplomat. The outing of a secret intelligence operative is a felony. So far, Winer is coming down on the side: famous reporters should have no more legal rights under the Constitution than bloggers.

This is a tough issue, but my initial reaction is to agree with him, particularly since the issue at stake is a felony. Why should there be legal exceptions for high-powered reporters, unless the statute makes exceptions for reporters, which I don't think it does?

Blogging surely churns up the status quo.

The New York Times > Technology > Intel to Join in a Project to Extend Wireless Use

But the real competitor may be the cellular companies as I indicated in an earlier post. Nevertheless, the single standard and the availability of spectrum are the keys to their possible success.

"Intel executives said on Monday that they believed that by creating a single global standard for WiMax technology, wireless access could become an alternative to digital subscriber lines and cable."

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Thus Ate Zarathustra

Brooks is masterfully funny in this piece. However, the factual bits below suggest the American electorate has a long way to go before it declares itself informed. Remember, these are voters, not including those who don't vote!

"He must give broad hints of the hidden structures that shape the electorate. He must make sure his listeners do not recall that most voters have only the foggiest notions of what they are voting on. As a Cato Institute study reminds us, 70 percent of voters do not know about the new prescription drug benefit, 60 percent know little about the Patriot Act, and during the cold war, only 38 percent of voters knew that the Soviet Union was not a member of NATO."

Wi-Fi Networking News: Why Cable Companies Have a Shrinking Pool

An interesting semi-technical discussion of broadband cable and DSL considerations and some of the improvements ahead.

Church Tower Cell Antenna

Today's Burlington Free Press reports that the District Environmental Commission in Newport, Vermont (on the Canadian border) is reviewing, apparently based on a few complaints about RF radiation fears, an application by Verizon to locate cell antennae in a Catholic church tower located high above the town. No visible tower will be required. The church leadership has approved the deal overwhelmingly, but a few neighbors raise the RF issues. Once again Vermont's environmental watchdogs will force a cell service provider to spend large amounts of money unnecessarily for RF tests.

When will this foolishness about cell phone RF dangers to human health be put to rest? Probably not soon because people have irrational fears based on evidence showing no scientific cause for concern when FCC RF ceiling are met. Local control of cell antenna siting, that's the very expensive name of the game and one reason Vermont deserves it's business-unfriendly reputation. Meanwhile, many of the folks complain that cell phone coverage in Vermont is second rate. So it is and this episode is another example of why that's true.

Note: the Burlington Free Press refuses to archive it's content online so I cannot reference the article with a permanent link.

Yahoo! News - Intel Invests in New Wireless Venture

This technology is intriguing, but it will compete with broadband provided via cellular providers. Verizon and Sprint (EV-DO) and Cingular (GPRS) and others are investing billions in their networks nationwide. Intel and McCaw will be playing catchup and may not be able to gain enough momentum to be important players, assuming the technology is viable.

In final push, Kerry tries to close a perceived 'God gap' | csmonitor.com

Ah, yes. Now Sen. Kerry and his supporters seem to believe he has a 'God gap' and is trying to close it by using different language to swing religious voters his way. This is a charade. Does he take us to be fools to believe that at this stage of his campaign he can turn on his religious rhetoric and we will believe he has been born again?? Kerry is about as religious as my mailbox.

DirecTV to write-off Net-via-satellite effort | CNET News.com

Broadband access via DirectTV satellite will not happen. The birds will be repurposed for TV broadcasting. Landline and last mile wireless are the apparent winners long term, particularly with the FCC's recent ruling not requiring the telcos to share their last mile fiber optics systems with competitors. Now the cable and telco guys are on a reasonably even basis at least from a regulatory perspective to compete for broadband Internet access.

The New York Times > Business > Your Money > Identity Theft Is Epidemic. Can It Be Stopped?

An excellent article on identity theft. Below is the really scary part!

"Last year, Dr. Collins completed a study of more than 1,000 identity theft cases from 1999 to 2002, the results of which she plans to publish soon. She said the report would indicate that about 5 percent of the crimes examined were linked to known or suspected terrorists.

Law enforcement officials say they believe that members of the Irish Republican Army and terrorists involved in the foiled plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport relied heavily on identity theft schemes to finance their operations. Operation Web Snare, a Justice Department investigation of cybercrimes that was begun last summer, found possible links between identity theft and terrorism financing, according to a government report on the investigation."

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Cooking His Own Goose

While I disagree with Maureen Dowd's political philosophy, I admit she's a marvelously engaging journalist. A great writer.

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Jews, Israel and America

It's hard to avoid surmising that this all results (long term) in the biblical Armageddon

Scudder Parker Calls Gov. Douglas "Mean- Spirited"

On WCAX's "You Can Quote Me," this morning Scudder Parker, the rabid Vermont Democratic Party Chair just called Governor Douglas 'mean-spirited' and extremely partisan. Scudder is way off the mark. Governor Douglas is an even-tempered moderate Republican who has garnered support from moderate Vermont Democrats.

Scudder Parker Calls Gov. Douglas "Mean- Spirited"

On WCAX's "You Can Quote Me," this morning Scudder Parker, the rabid Vermont Democratic Party Chair just called Governor Douglas 'mean-spirited' and extremely partisan. Scudder is way off the mark. Governor Douglas is an even-tempered moderate Republican who has garnered support from moderate Vermont Democrats.

Corel Corporation acquires Jasc Software: Digital Photography Review

I missed this announcement last week. My digital photo software is JASC and has been for years. I surely hope Corel will continue their product improvement and keep Paint Shop Pro and Paint Shop Pro Photo Album as stand-alone products.

John Robb's Take on Guerilla Financing

Robb is a leading edge thinker on what motivates Global Guerillas and how they finance their activities and recruit people to do the dirty work. If Iraq is awash in money, the ability to improve this situation hinges on controlling in some fashion the financing of terrorist activities.

The New York Times > International > Middle East > Dozens of Iraqi Soldiers Found Shot to Death

Another terrible tragedy of Iraqi against Iraqi. These killers must be eradicated. There can be no stability while these terrorists are killing at will. This kind of military action is different than suicide bombers, but suggests that Iraqis require steely resolve if they are to have a reasonablyfree country rather than reverting to the iron-handed rule of a dictator.

Satellite TV station airs hatred of U.S. globally - The Washington Times: World - October 23, 2004

Interesting to speculate whether the West will ever decide to 'take out' the sources of these vile broadcasts.

The New York Times > Washington > Campaign 2004 > Big G.O.P. Bid to Challenge Voters at Polls in Key State

These challenges to newly registered voters seem based on substantial evidence. All this portends an election fraught with legal challenges. Though never perfect, voting should be as clean a process as possible.

"The Republican challenges in Ohio have already begun. Yesterday, party officials submitted a list of about 35,000 registered voters whose mailing addresses, the Republicans said, were questionable. After registering, they said, each of the voters was mailed a notice, and in each case the notice was returned to election officials as undeliverable."

Start-up crafts nanoparticles for energy, explosions | CNET News.com

Nanotechnology is powerfully fascinating. Technology marches on!

The New York Times > Technology > Circuits > State of the Art: Google Takes On Your Desktop

Google Desktop Search seems a great tool, but needs to search secondary hard drives (where I keep my thousands of photos), Blogger blogs and Gmail. I know that Gmail and Blogger have their own really great search capability, but for true search integration, Google should allow the display of results from its own products, specifically Blogger-based blogs like mine and Gmail, my primary email tool. This integration only makes sense. Perhaps this essential integration is planned later. I certainly hope so. Meanwhile, I'll wait before installing GDS.

The New York Times > Technology > Circuits > Where Good Wi-Fi Makes Good Neighbors

Seems a neat solution for city apartment living or close-packed condo dwellers, but of little practical value in a subdivision. Neat idea, nevertheless.

The New York Times > Opinion > Editorial: John Kerry for President

No surprise that NYT endorses Kerry, they are the liberal newspaper of record. I wonder when they last endorsed a Republican?

The New York Times > AP > Technology > FCC to Seek Internet - Based Phone Oversight

"Powell, who reiterated his belief in minimal regulation of VoIP services, said questions of its taxation and connectivity to 911 emergency assistance are best left to the federal government because the technology erodes geographic barriers."

Another quote from Powell's speech:

It’s wrong, just plain wrong to not recognize the potential of VoIP, or to see it through the lens of the old telephone network regulatory model. VoIP is a data application and as such has all the hallmarks of the Internet itself.
Like the Internet, the change is cosmic; it obliterates the importance of time and distance. There is no need to organize the regulatory regime around per minute prices and costs as we have done with common carriers. VoIP service is offered in flat bundles, recognizing the efficiency and small incremental costs of information services. We have seen the great advantages of cell phone buckets of minutes and what that did to increasingly erase the idea of long distance as a distinct service. VoIP will complete the circle and collapse any such geographic distinctions in all voice service."

Powell is right to propose only Federal regulation for VoIP. A patchwork of state regulation would be a wet blanket on the VoIP upheaval now underway. His full speech is here and below and well worth a read. It's only 5 pages:

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-253325A1.pdf

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Kerry Off the Leash

Brooks, once more, has it right. Kerry's incompetence and naked ambition are showing. Pour on the lies, John&John. As Brooks concludes, voters are not idiots. That's a fact.

The New York Times > International > Americas > Storm-Battered Haiti's Endless Crises Deepen

Haiti is a failed state, failed for decades as a result of ignorance, poverty, power-grabbing corrupt politicians all aggravated by the latest natural disaster. The problems here are not fixable in the short term. Money and aid can relieve hunger and suffering temporarily while at the same time enhance corruption. There seems to be no morality that underpins Haiti's people and little in the country's history or culture that provides any hope of change.

I wish there were a simple solution, but none seems obvious.

The New York Times > Business > Importing Less Expensive Drugs Not Seen as Cure for U.S. Woes

Finally, a realistic review of the issues associated with drug pricing and why re-importation on a large scale is unlikely to be effective in the long run to reduce costs. I hope the advocates like Mayor Clavelle and Bernie Sanders take heed. More important will be a rational approach to this issue by lawmakers. There are mo easy answers to this dilemma. If drug R&D is reduced because less profitable revenue is available to the drug companies, will the public stand for that? And price controls seem unworkable. Perhaps we can find some way to get off our 'drug for everything' habit.

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Addicted to 9/11

Friedman is squarely in the Kerry camp and refuses to see terrorism for the threat that it is. We cannot wish ourselves back to September 10. Terrorism has changed the world for America. Terrorists must be defeated and Kerry hasn't the backbone for it, IMHO.

Study links cell phones, tumors | Tech News on ZDNet

Not good news, but study only relevant to analog cell phones. I doubt whether people will change their cell phone habits.

Google unveils desktop search | Tech News on ZDNet

This Google PC search tool is another BIG deal and will be competing with similar products from AOL, Ask Jeeves and Yahoo. I think I'll wait a while before downloading. I can already search for most of what I want to find in Gmail and using Google's Picassa for images (since I already have a method for naming file folders and retaining the camera generated image # for photos) on my hard drive.

The New York Times > Technology > F.C.C. Clears Internet Access by Power Lines

This decision is a VERY BIG DEAL for broadband deployment in the U.S. The FCC has done the right thing by enabling 3 big industries to compete for broadband customers, telco, cable and electric utilities...to say nothing of the wireless possibilities in the wings for the 'last mile.'. The howls of AT&T, commissioner Copps and Mark Cooper, the 'voice (perpetually) crying in the wilderness,' have been dutifully reported, but the broadband cat is out of the bag and America and consumers will be better off for it.

The New York Times > Washington > Campaign 2004 > Religion: Group of Bishops Using Influence to Oppose Kerry

This could be a big deal among faithful practicing Catholics. I fail to understand how Kerry, stating he is a practicing Catholic, can support the abortion and other issues which the Catholic Church opposes. He must be one of those 'liberal' Catholics mentioned in this piece.

FCC Complaint - Big Brother on CBS - Parents Television Council

I heartily support getting this filth off TV and radio, but here's the problem. The broadcast TV and radio networks are under stricter rules about indecency than the satellite providers, the CATV channels and the Internet. These three sources of information and filth do not fall under the FCC's legal ability to regulate or levy fines because they do not use the U.S. public airwaves (transmit frequencies). I believe what we will see is a migration of even more filth and indecency away from broadcast frequencies to the other transmission media, just as Howard Stern has decided to move to satellite radio away from terrestrial radio to avoid the FCC problems.

I'm afraid the fight against indecency is a losing cause because so many people want porn and 'edge' programming and there are so many ways to get it these days in a free society. This is a downside facet of "Freedom isn't Free"

The New York Times > Technology > Circuits > State of the Art: Fitting Your PC in a Pocket

A fascinating exercise in PC shinkage. David Pogue likes it, but will the OQO sell into the personal/home market at $2000+? Certainly some commercial users will find this new pocket PC useful. It will probably put a big dent in the high end PDA market.

The New York Times > AP > Technology > FDA Approves Use of Chip in Patients

This will stimulate the juices of the privacy advocates. Nevertheless, this is an important experiment to determine how people and medicine will react to human implants that are scanable. George Orwell's and others' fears will be in the forfront of the arguments about this technology. Our Airedales have these scannable implants.

Wired 12.10: Point. Shoot. Kiss It Good-Bye.

Worth a read. Problem of cataloging and finding in the future digital images.

Wired 12.10: Point. Shoot. Kiss It Good-Bye.

Worth a read. Problem of cataloging and finding in the future digital images.

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Not Just a Personality Clash, a Conflict of Visions

Once more David Brooks nails it!

9news.com | News

The evil that lurks in the hearts of men.

The New York Times> Search> Abstract

Insightful commentary by David Brooks.

"But I think you'd be getting closer to the truth if you put it this way: The atmosphere of Kerry's mind is rationalistic. He thinks about how to get things done. He talks like a manager or an engineer.
The atmosphere of Bush's mind is more creedal or ethical. He talks about moral challenges. He talks about the sort of personal and national character we need in order to triumph over our enemies. His mind is less coldly secular than Kerry's, but also more abstracted from day-to-day reality"

Fryeburg Fair - A Favorite Photo 

BBC NEWS | Business | Millions facing pensions 'misery'

Another example of how yesterday's social support policies, whether pensions from the state in Britain or Social Security are running headlong into the demographic time bomb as life spans increase while population and active workers do not not keep pace to support retired and retiring workers.

When will the political will be strong enough to fix this? Probably not before the problem reaches crisis proportions.

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Contributor: Voting Our Conscience, Not Our Religion

"There are compelling reasons - cultural, socioeconomic and political - for this shift (Catholics voting Republican instead of Democratic). But if Catholic voters honestly examine the issues of consequence in this election, they may find themselves returning to their Democratic roots in 2004."

Here's a prime example of a libearla academic op-ed contributor (and the liberal NY Times giving space) suggesting that Catholics should vote for Kerry. His arguments expressed in the piece are shallow and unconvincing.

Abandoning landline telephones: Not quite there yet

We've come a long way, baby. Still a lot further to go.

The New York Times > Business > Inkjets Shrink, and Hewlett Sees Many New Uses

HP's inkjet manufacturing technology is a fascinating product line with tremendous upside potential in many fields, some of them highly competitive, e.g., consumer home entertainment technology, but the printer business is highly competitive, too. Joshi has done extraordinarily well leading HP's 'printer' business since the inkjet revolution.

Remember how far we've come from the days of dot matrix? Yet, many dot matrix printers are still cranking along because of the cost savings of ink ribbons over inkjet cartridges.

HP's business model is similar to the familiar Gillette's cheap razor/expensive blades success.

The New York Times > Technology > Phone Line Alchemy: Copper Into Fiber

This article is simplistic, but obviously meant for consumers. What it fails to mention is the regulatory regime at the federal level that needs to be unwound in order for fiber deployment to expand. At this point, the fiber deployment is only in locations that are part of the old GTE franchise areas, not subject to the Bell System breakup constraints.

The writer has also made a booboo: Unlike copper cables, glass fibers do not rust... Copper cables do not rust!!

PCWorld.com - Google Sends Out an SMS

This is a really cool service. Try it out if you have an SMS capable cell phone!!

Will Stern turn satellite radio into a star? | CNET News.com

Satellite radio has tremendous potential. It will be a shame to see it fail for accepting trash mouth Stern. Or will it turn into the porno distribution media...where the real money is?!

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Contributor: What I Really Said About Iraq

"...These were vital resources that Senator John Kerry voted to deny our troops.

Paul Bremer sets the record straight in this short and direct statement about his support for the war and President Bush's policies on terror in Iraq.

It's is patently clear that Kerry, who voted against the first war to liberate Kuwait and against funding this war would have taken a different tack. He cannot be trusted to adequately defend the U.S.

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Iraq: Politics or Policy?

Tough words form Thomas upon his return to the column.

The New York Times > New York Region > Area Codes, Now Divorced From Their Areas

Numbers, numbers everywhere!