Monday, December 06, 2004

My kingdom for a time machine!



Click here for AmazonLet’s go back exactly 17 years - to November 30th 1987. You want to register a domain name. To date, only 99 .com domains have ever been registered. Yours will be the 100th. So, what do you get?

Music.com? It’s available! Games.com? Available! Loans.com? Drugs.com? Cars.com? All unregistered! Take your pick. Think carefully now… which will you choose?

Decision made; it’s got to be… nynexst.com...

The 100 Oldest Currently Registered .COM Domains
Created Date Domain Name
----------- -----------
03/15/1985 SYMBOLICS.COM
04/24/1985 BBN.COM
05/24/1985 THINK.COM
07/11/1985 MCC.COM
09/30/1985 DEC.COM
11/07/1985 NORTHROP.COM
01/09/1986 XEROX.COM
01/17/1986 SRI.COM
03/03/1986 HP.COM
03/05/1986 BELLCORE.COM
03/19/1986 IBM.COM
03/19/1986 SUN.COM
03/25/1986 INTEL.COM
03/25/1986 TI.COM
04/25/1986 ATT.COM
05/08/1986 GMR.COM
05/08/1986 TEK.COM
07/10/1986 FMC.COM
07/10/1986 UB.COM
08/05/1986 BELL-ATL.COM
08/05/1986 GE.COM
08/05/1986 GREBYN.COM
08/05/1986 ISC.COM
08/05/1986 NSC.COM
08/05/1986 STARGATE.COM
09/02/1986 BOEING.COM
09/18/1986 ITCORP.COM
09/29/1986 SIEMENS.COM
10/18/1986 PYRAMID.COM
10/27/1986 ALPHACDC.COM
10/27/1986 BDM.COM
10/27/1986 FLUKE.COM
10/27/1986 INMET.COM
10/27/1986 KESMAI.COM
10/27/1986 MENTOR.COM
10/27/1986 NEC.COM
10/27/1986 RAY.COM
10/27/1986 ROSEMOUNT.COM
10/27/1986 VORTEX.COM
11/05/1986 ALCOA.COM
11/05/1986 GTE.COM
11/17/1986 ADOBE.COM
11/17/1986 AMD.COM
11/17/1986 DAS.COM
11/17/1986 DATA-IO.COM
11/17/1986 OCTOPUS.COM
11/17/1986 PORTAL.COM
11/17/1986 TELTONE.COM
12/11/1986 3COM.COM
12/11/1986 AMDAHL.COM
12/11/1986 CCUR.COM
12/11/1986 CI.COM
12/11/1986 CONVERGENT.COM
12/11/1986 DG.COM
12/11/1986 PEREGRINE.COM
12/11/1986 QUAD.COM
12/11/1986 SQ.COM
12/11/1986 TANDY.COM
12/11/1986 TTI.COM
12/11/1986 UNISYS.COM
01/19/1987 CGI.COM
01/19/1987 CTS.COM
01/19/1987 SPDCC.COM
02/19/1987 APPLE.COM
03/04/1987 NMA.COM
03/04/1987 PRIME.COM
04/04/1987 PHILIPS.COM
04/23/1987 DATACUBE.COM
04/23/1987 KAI.COM
04/23/1987 TIC.COM
04/23/1987 VINE.COM
04/30/1987 NCR.COM
05/14/1987 CISCO.COM
05/14/1987 RDL.COM
05/20/1987 SLB.COM
05/27/1987 PARCPLACE.COM
05/27/1987 UTC.COM
06/26/1987 IDE.COM
07/09/1987 TRW.COM
07/13/1987 UNIPRESS.COM
07/27/1987 DUPONT.COM
07/27/1987 LOCKHEED.COM
07/28/1987 ROSETTA.COM
08/18/1987 TOAD.COM
08/31/1987 QUICK.COM
09/03/1987 ALLIED.COM
09/03/1987 DSC.COM
09/03/1987 SCO.COM
09/22/1987 GENE.COM
09/22/1987 KCCS.COM
09/22/1987 SPECTRA.COM
09/22/1987 WLK.COM
09/30/1987 MENTAT.COM
10/14/1987 WYSE.COM
11/02/1987 CFG.COM
11/09/1987 MARBLE.COM
11/16/1987 CAYMAN.COM
11/16/1987 ENTITY.COM
11/24/1987 KSR.COM
11/30/1987 NYNEXST.COM


Andrew Moulden: My Kingdom for a Time Machine

Bias beyond a reasonable doubt



Click here for Amazon...The question is, Who is right? Is there a left- or right-wing bias, or have the media actually managed to be objective? A serious assessment requires quantification of the output put forth by the media. The best analysis I know along these lines is the ongoing study "A Measure of Media Bias," by professors Tim Groseclose of UCLA and Jeffrey Milyo of the University of Missouri.

These researchers use a clever statistical technique to construct an objective measure of conservative or liberal bias in the news coverage of major U.S. television and radio stations, newspapers, magazines, and the Internet. Their main finding is that the liberal inclination of the mainstream media is clear. Among 20 major outlets, Fox News and the Washington Times emerge as conservative, but the other 18 range from slightly to substantially left of center.

Groseclose and Milyo's analytical method begins not with the media but with the voting records of members of Congress...


Yes, the media are overwhelmingly liberal

Iran's nukes: a missing detail



Click here for AmazonThe Telegraph reports that the International Atomic Energy Agency bowed to pressure from the mad mullahs of Iran, and removed a small detail from their final report on Iranian nuclear compliance.

That small detail is the Iranian purchase of "huge amounts" of a metal used in the construction of nuclear weapons: Watchdog ‘bowed to pressure from Iran’ on bomb materials.

The world nuclear watchdog dropped a claim that Iran bought large quantities of a metal used to trigger explosions in atomic weapons after bowing to objections from Teheran.

The International Atomic Energy Agency at first accepted Western intelligence reports that the Islamic republic had bought “huge amounts” of beryllium from “a number of nations”, but removed the claim from its final report on Iranian compliance with nuclear non-proliferation rules, published 10 days ago.

An earlier draft of the IAEA report, seen by The Telegraph, said that Iran had manufactured material to use with the beryllium that it had purchased as a “nuclear initiator in some designs of nuclear weapons”.

A spokesman for the IAEA conceded that the agency had removed any mention of beryllium from its report, but said that the change was insignificant. She said: “There are all kinds of technical details in first drafts which are later removed. That’s part of the drafting process.”

Jacky Sanders, the American ambassador to the IAEA, however, said that Iran’s assertions that it has never acquired or used beryllium were no longer reliable.

The climbdown by the IAEA reflected Teheran’s insistence that it had never acquired or used beryllium, and helped Iran escape immediate referral to the UN Security Council over its nuclear ambitions.



Iran's nukes: a missing detail

Welcome to Gitmo




Saturday, December 04, 2004

O'Reilly and Rumsfeld



Click here for AmazonWhen the history of the Republic is written, it is my opinion that Donald Rumsfeld will have his name listed with the greatest cabinet members ever involved with coordinating our national defense; in a list including Henry L. Stimson and Elihu Root.

BILL O'REILLY: ...I think the American people are very worried about Iran, don't you?

DONALD RUMSFELD: I do, I ...

BILL O'REILLY: I think the American people are very worried about Iran. They're harboring Al Qaeda, as you've pointed out. They're developing nuclear as you pointed out. Now we find out they got long-range missiles, I mean, the Israelis can't like that.

DONALD RUMSFELD: That's true.

BILL O'REILLY: So, what are the odds of us having to confront these people militarily?

DONALD RUMSFELD: Well, [SIGHS] I guess that's, those are calls for the President to, or for the, or for other leaders of other countries to make.

BILL O'REILLY: But we can't let a North Korea develop in Iran, can we?

DONALD RUMSFELD: Uh ...

BILL O'REILLY: Where they got nuclear weapons, we can't let that happen.

DONALD RUMSFELD: The um, the Iranians are making a lot of mistakes, let me just put it that way.

BILL O'REILLY: All right.

DONALD RUMSFELD: And they're notably unhelpful in Afghanistan and they're notably unhelpful in Iraq.

BILL O'REILLY: I'm going to take that as a, we can't let another North Korea develop in Iran.

DONALD RUMSFELD: I generally say roughly what I think. And I said they are being unhelpful...


O'Reilly and Rumsfeld

Chinese repression... American Style



Click here for AmazonHow do you make the government of the world's most important rising power quake in fear? You hold a few signs, pass out brochures and engage in peaceful street theater half a world away.

That is what practitioners of Falun Gong have been doing in the streets of New York, San Francisco, Chicago and other cities, protesting their persecution in China. The demonstrations have prompted the Chinese government to try to export as much of its ham-handed repression to our shores as possible. For a little whiff of the people's power revolution that is convulsing Ukraine at the moment, and has brought democracy to places as far-flung as the Philippines and Eastern Europe, consider a street corner in any American city where Falun Gong has set up shop. They aren't going to topple the Chinese government, but the theme is the same -- individuals confronting a brutal state in a nonviolent manner.

Falun Gong is a form of an ancient Chinese practice of breathing exercises, with elements of Eastern religion and some downright bizarre beliefs tossed in. It shouldn't be the least bit threatening to a rational government, but Beijing has a communist dictatorship's traditional distrust of any organization outside the control of the government. It is still on edge from a peaceful demonstration in 1999 that had 10,000 Falun Gong demonstrators suddenly show up one day outside the compound in Beijing where the communist leaders live...


Chinese repression... American Style

Friday, December 03, 2004

Islamic Television USA



Click here for AmazonRobert Spencer looks at Bridges TV, the first nationwide American Muslim TV network; unfortunately you don’t have to dig very hard to find connections to extremism: Islamic Television USA.

Bridges TV declares that its intention is to "fuse American culture with the values of Islam in a healthy, family-oriented way." According to the network’s media kit, Hassan "wants Bridges TV to tell the countless stories of Muslim tolerance, progress, diversity, service and excellence to a nationwide audience." Boxing legend Muhammad Ali exults: "Bridges TV gives American Muslims a voice of their own on the airways for Americans of all races and religions to hear."

But what kind of voice? Will this channel do something truly positive, such as tell the truth about the elements of Islam that give rise to violence, and discuss the hard choices Muslims must face in order to prevent the continued growth of jihad radicalism and terrorism among them? It’s impossible to tell so early in the network’s life, but in the meantime, the Bridges TV website asks inquirers to "check the legitimacy of Bridges TV" with, among others, Nihad Awad, Executive Director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR); Aleem Rahman, President & CEO of IslamiCity.com, which it identifies as "the largest Muslim Web sitein North America"; and Alex Kronemer, who created and produced the PBS documentary Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet.

Questions about CAIR’s true commitment to moderation have swirled for years, unanswered by Awad and other CAIR officials. Awad himself helped found CAIR after working at the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), where he was public relations director. A former FBI counterterrorism official, Oliver "Buck" Revell, has called the IAP "a front organization for Hamas that engages in propaganda for Islamic militants." Terrorism expert Steve Emerson testified before a Senate committee on terrorism in 1998 that "the IAP has issued Hamas communiques calling for the killing of Jews, produced training videos for Hamas operatives, and actually recruited for Hamas in the United States." In 1994 Awad declared: "I am in support of the Hamas movement." This was well after numerous murderous Hamas attacks on civilians, which were duly celebrated on Hamas’s website until some more PR-minded person took it all down some time ago.

Aleem Rahman’s IslamiCity.com, meanwhile, sells auto pioneer Henry Ford’s notorious hate screed The International Jew, which draws abundantly from other classics of hatred and incitement such as the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The edition IslamiCity.com carries contains the Protocols as well. Nor is this farrago of lies and forgery presented as a historical artifact; the IslamiCity ad copy asserts that "in the so called ‘democratic, pluralist’ America this book has been systematically suppressed. The International Jew is a magnifying glass applied to the hidden sources of immorality, vile degeneracy, and subversion. ... By reopening this debate this book exposes the inherent danger of unchecked Zionism."



Islamic Television USA

The #$*%(#_@ French



Click here for AmazonThe Belmont Club highlights an especially vile case of French perfidy, during the blockade against Iraq in the 1990s. Read the whole thing for the details, but Wretchard’s closing comments say it all.

The United States was being played like a fiddle, its huge fleet and aerial assets led in circles in the sham blockade that we now know was set up by ‘friends’ on the Security Council who were running a covert rearmament effort called the Oil-for-Food Programme. History may show that Oil-For-Food; the corrupt regime of UN inspections, the AQ Khan nuclear proliferation industry — and much else — were all of a piece. Future generations will be astonished, not at how terrible that September day in New York was, but at how lightly the US got off for the folly of the 1990s, escaping not so much through vigilance as sheer good fortune.



French Perfidy Watch

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Slavery in the 21st Century



Click here for AmazonThere's a thriving slave trade active -- even now, in the 21st century -- in certain corners of the world. I'll leave it up to you, my esteemed reader, to determine where responsibility lies for this abomination.

Slavery... is alive and well in the Islamic world. This report comes from Sandro Magister in Chiesa:

"Sudan’s first saint, Iosephina Bakhita, was canonized by John Paul II in the year 2000. From an early age she was made a slave, sold and resold at the El Obeid and Khartoum markets. She was fortunate to have ended up in Italy. It was in 1890 that she was finally freed and baptized.

"Yet today, more than a century later, there are still slaves found between the Sahara and the Nile. What’s more, it is slavery having its basis in Islam, inheritor of the trade which for centuries has forcibly sent 11-14 million Africans from the sub-Sahara region to Arab and Muslim countries.

"Little is studied or said about the trade, the opposite being true of slave trade directed toward the Americas. The last general assembly of the African Catholic bishops conferences took place in Dakar in October 2003, where a session was dedicated to the issue, being introduced by statements such as the following:

"'Analyses of this issue have been prohibited at length. One cause of the paralysis of this historical conscience has been the attitude of many intellectuals and Muslim rulers regarding the trans-Saharan trade. For reasons of religious sensitivity they don’t want to properly admit to Arab and Islamic responsibility in this drama, whose evil effects still continue. Today in the Arab world the word ‘black’ simply means ‘slave.’ The tracks of the trans-Saharan trade have formed geographic roads leading to Maghreb and the Middle East.' ...


It's an old article, but one well worth reading.

Slavery in the 21st Century

Tuesday, November 30, 2004

The Archives of Doug Ross @ Journal





Honor Killings



Click here for AmazonFrom Terrorism Unveiled (Hat tip: Polipundit)... a haunting review of the egregious and barbaric practice of "Honor Killing" prevalent in certain cultures. I'll let you figure out for yourself exactly who the culprits are.

To kill a girl because she has sex is quite sickening, especially when the guy is deemed as only giving into the girl’s "seductions."

It’s even worse when the person who chooses to kill the girl is her father, brother or uncle. I guess it reminds me of the passage in the Bible where Jesus rescues the woman who is about to be stoned and says "he who is without sin cast the first stone."

When a family learns that the girl has threatened their "honor" in the community, they discuss this without the girl’s presence, even with the mother, and they just "know" that the girl has to be killed in order to regain their standing in the community—even though the community may not know about the relationship. It’s not even a choice, but a duty.

The mother knows this is the fate for her daughter, and even agrees to it, sometimes choosing the manner in which she will die…perhaps being burned alive, her throat cut, stoned or clubbed to death.

The family leaves the house, and the person who is chosen to kill her comes in and does it as the family is away so there are no witnesses. The whole community knows of the killing and accepts the family into the community with open arms because they have wiped their slate clean with the blood of their child.

Today I was visiting the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan and my roommate, we’ll call here Sally, went with me because she had to meet with the same professor as I.

She started crying in the taxi on the way back home telling me about her experience the other night with her Jordanian boyfriend, we’ll call him Malik...


Read the whole thing.

Terrorism Unveiled: Honor Killings

Miscellaneous Image Post



Alarmist Link of the Day



Click here for AmazonLittleGreenFootballs, with some choice comments from readers attached.

Yossef Bodansky told the Jerusalem Post yesterday that a massive WMD attack is 'inevitable.' (Hat tip: PDM.)

Bodansky was in Israel for the second annual Jerusalem Summit, an international gathering of conservative thinkers, the Post said.

Al-Qaida has not carried out a second major attack, Bodansky explained, because the first one sufficiently sent the message to the Islamic world that the U.S. could be penetrated, and a second attack necessarily would have to be more grandiose.

Now, however, the re-election of President Bush has set the stage for a massive attack with non-conventional weapons, Bodansky believes.

There has been a debate between bin Laden allies and some Islamic leaders over the propriety of such a large-scale attack on U.S. citizens, he told the Jerusalem paper. But, according to bin Laden’s mindset, that has been resolved by the American electorate backing Bush and thus "choosing" to be enemies of Islam.

Though some debate and doubt may linger, the planning for an attack is finished, Bodansky believes.

"They got the kosher stamp from the Islamic world to use nuclear weapons," he said.

Bin Laden’s theme has shifted since 9-11, Bodanksy said. Previously, perpetual confrontation and jihad against the U.S. was seen as the only way to protect Islam. Now, the emphasis is on punishing American society.

"Just as the West was challenging the quintessence of Islam by means of the globalization era, there was a parallel need by Islamic extremists to strike at — and hurt — the core of American society, this time with weapons of mass destruction," Bodansky said.


So, just as the West challenged barbarism, irrationality, and slavery, with freedom, education, and science; so Islam will challenge freedom, education, and science, with barbarism?

Just as the West challenged islamic oppression of women, so shall Islam challenge the free women of the west with oppression?

Just as the West challenged Islam with religious tolerance, so shall Islam challenge the west with religious persecution?


Wretchard at Belmont Club once detailed the cruel, horrific logic which would follow a nuclear strike on the US. If it looked as though there was only one weapon then there would likely be no nuclear retaliation, but instead a massive conventional one where all countries connected to Islamism would be attacked in some form and Islamist resources around the globe hammered into extinction.

If however it appeared that the enemy was able to deliver successive nuclear strikes then something like MAD would kick in. 1x10^9 people would be killed.


Perhaps the "we're sorry" idiots can wave their signs at the nuclear explosion and make it go away.


...they always have another excuse for hating us. That is why appeasement is such a stupid way to deal with these savages. If whatever condition they demand is met, they will always have another complaint and another threat. The bottom line is that they simply want to murder us. If we don't stop them, they will eventually reach their goals.


A nuclear attack on US by anyone would result:

Total global recession and starvation on a mass scale especially in 3rd world countries. US would eventually recover, large part of the world will not especially after what follows...

Nuclear strikes on Iran, N. Korea, and most of middle east would be demanded and would occur. Dont think for a minute that terror supporting nations will be able to hide behind anonymity of terrorists they will simply parish. No investigation will be needed, the US will simply lash out. I predict that such nations will immediately go through a massive pretense of investigations, arrests and disarmament anything in a rash effort to save their own bacon and appease a deranged US. The effort will prove futile and they will have only themselves to blame. Immediately following the strike US Muslims would be the first to feel the wrath of an angry populace followed by identifible liberals who wont be able to help themselves in somehow blaming us for the attack and praising the brilliance of the manuever. 9/11 anger would pale in comparison.

It will be the greatest tragedy in human history and will change everything everyone ever knew. Following the carnage the Arabs will be a small world minority with a claim to their own self-inflicted holocaust. Ironically, Arab survivors will have to rely on world sympathy to carve out a parcel of land for them to live after radiation renders much of the middleeast uninhabitable. Maybe they could be placed somewhere where all of their neighbors immediately attack them and attempt 'drive them into the sea.'



Alarmist Link of the Day

No Need for Nukes



Click here for AmazonThe Iranian regime owes Bush a thank-you note--and disarmament...

It is these ambitions that reveal the mullahs' intentions. Iran is not simply another democratic state like Britain, France or Israel. Iran is a sponsor of terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Hezbollah, and it does not govern with the consent of the people. The Iranian mullahs' claim to legitimacy is simply raw power. A nuclear weapon would give them even greater power, but not any more moral legitimacy.

It is therefore reasonable to wonder what they would do with this new power. The simple answer is that they would feel protected behind a nuclear umbrella even as they shelter and support terrorist networks. But to what end? Either from the outset or somewhere down the road, Iranian mullahs will find that their nuclear-backed state has some global influence. The authoritarian regime inside Iran will come to see itself as a power capable of checking moderate influences in the Middle East.

Indeed, there is already ample evidence that Iran sees itself as a check on America. From taking Americans hostage in 1979 through trying to destabilize the interim Iraqi government today, Iran has sought to displace the U.S. from the Middle East. In the coming year, it is likely that Iran will emerge as the nation-state antagonist in the war on terror. That much more than offering shelter, Iran will provide terrorists with a symbol of a successful Islamicist check on the West. And from Osama bin Laden on down, terrorists fighters will attribute that success to nuclear weapons...


No need for nukes

The Grassroots Can Save the Democrats



Click here for AmazonJoe Trippi, Howard Dean's campaign manager, weighs in on the changes that must be made to Democratic party strategy.

The staggering defeat of the Democratic Party and its ever-accelerating death spiral weren't obvious from the election results. Two factors masked the extent of the party's trouble. Without the innovation of Internet-driven small-donor fund-raising and a corresponding surge in support from the youngest voters, John Kerry would have suffered a dramatically larger defeat. And the true magnitude of the Democrats' abject failure at the polls in 2004 would have been more clearly revealed.

Mr. Kerry raised nearly half of his war chest over the Internet. He was so successful at this that he actually outspent the Bush campaign. But it was the outsider campaign of Howard Dean, reviled by most of the Democratic establishment, that pioneered the use of the Internet to raise millions in small contributions; Mr. Kerry was just the beneficiary as the party nominee. And it was the risk-taking Dean campaign that forced the risk-averse Kerry campaign to opt out of the public financing system. Had that decision not been forced on Mr. Kerry, he would have been badly outspent by George Bush; he would not have been competitive at all throughout the long summer of 2004...


The Grassroots Can Save the Democrats

Monday, November 29, 2004

Powerline on Palestine



Click here for AmazonThere will be a student council election tomorrow at Al-Najah university in Nablus, on the West Bank. The [accompanying] photo... shows a group of students participating in the student council election on behalf of Hamas. The Associated Press report says:

Palestinian supporters of the Islamic Hamas group, holding a big map of what is now Israel and the Palestinian Territories, including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.... The map reads in Arabic: 'Muslim Palestine.'


This is the heritage of Yasser Arafat. When Europe, the United Nations and the Clinton administration legitimized Arafat, they legitimized the fantasy that the Israelis can be exterminated and their country turned over to the Palestinians. This is, and always has been, the goal of Hamas, Fatah, the PLO, and so on. Today a new generation of Palestinian "leaders" are following in the terrorist footsteps of Arafat and his henchmen, preferring the fantasy of genocide to the hard work of dealing with the Palestinians' dysfunctional society, corrupt government, and primitive economy...

Click here for AmazonThe [accompanying] photo... shows a campaign rally for Chairman Abbas, which took place earlier today in Nablus. I get the feeling that the Palestinians still don't quite have the hang of this democracy thing. The world pretty clearly has lower expectations of the forthcoming election among the Palestinians than of the just-completed election in Ukraine. It's interesting to consider why this is...


Powerline on Palestine

Oh, that Global War on Terror



Click here for AmazonThe FBI has told Spanish investigators that one of three men believed to have planned the Sept. 11 attacks from Spain in the summer of 2001 also gave the order to carry out the Madrid blasts, the newspaper ABC reported. ...

Investigators have long concluded that the Sept. 11 attacks were partially planned in Spain in July 2001. Hijacker Mohammed Atta, believed to have piloted one of the airliners that crashed into New York’s World Trade Center, visited Spain two months before the attacks and met two men. One was Ramzi bin al-Shaibah, who is being held by U.S. authorities, while the other was unidentified.

ABC said investigators now believe that third man was the one who in December 2003 activated the Qaeda cell that carried out the March 11 attacks, which Spaniards call “our Sept. 11.”

ABC said investigators had narrowed his identity down to three candidates and believed he was a lieutenant of Mustafa Setmarian, increasingly considered to have been a leader of the Madrid train bombers and who may have held a leadership role for al Qaeda in Europe. Setmarian, aged 45 and of Syrian origin, was already wanted as part of a separate investigation into Islamic militant activity in Spain and is the subject of a Spanish wanted notice issued through Interpol.

The State Department said on Nov. 18 it was offering a $5 million reward for information leading to the capture of Setmarian, also known as Mustafa Setmariam Nasar or Abu Musab al-Suri. It described him as an al Qaeda member and former trainer at “terrorist camps” in Afghanistan.


Report: FBI Finds Link Between 9/11, Madrid Bombs

Sunday, November 28, 2004

Letter from Fallujah



Click here for AmazonAt 2Slick’s Forum, an extraordinary letter from an Army officer who took part in the Battle of Fallujah: Letter from Fallujah. (Hat tip: M. Simon.)

In Fallujah, the enemy had a military-type planning system going on. Some of the fighters were wearing body armor and kevlars, just like we do. Soldiers took fire from heavy machine guns (.50 cal) and came across the dead bodies of fighters from Chechnya, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Afghanistan, and so on...no, this was not just a city of pissed off Iraqis, mad at the Coalition for forcing Saddam out of power. It was a city full of people from all over the Middle East whose sole mission in life was to kill Americans. Problem for them is that they were in the wrong city in November 2004.

Now that it’s over, there is a lot of things that people back home should know. First of all, every citizen of Fallujah (non-insurgent) is getting $2,500 USD (that’s a lot over here) to fix up their house or buy new things that may have been destroyed in the fighting. Insurgents took up positions in resident’s houses so we were forced to destroy a lot of buildings.

There is over $100 million dollars ready to be spent to re-build the city. This may seem like a lot of money, but I can assure you that it is a small price to pay for the amount of evil people no longer alive, contemplating how to kill more Americans. The intelligence value alone is already paying huge dividends. Some of the 900 detainees are telling everything they know about other insurgents. And the enemy never expected such a large or powerful attack and they were so overwhelmed that they left behind all kinds of things, including books with names of other foreign fighters, where their money and weapons come from, etc.

I went into the city 3 times, but after a lot of the fighting had been done. It was amazing to see how the American military had brought the world’s most evil city to its knees. I have an awful lot of pictures that I am going to upload to my webshots site...it will blow your mind to see what the insurgents forced us to do to win this fight. And seeing the pictures of what I saw first hand will make you very happy to be an American and know that our country has this might if evildoers force us to use it.


Go read the whole thing; this is only a small part of it.


Letter from Fallujah

The Next Language



Click here for AmazonAfter almost 9 years of programming in Java, I have been thinking about where Java is going and how it fits into the continuum of programming languages in the enterprise...

...What Java didn’t provide was 4GL type tools, but then again nobody had 4GL type tools for web applications, so it was no big deal. It was expected that those would come. However, many years have past, and the vast majority of J2EE applications are still built by hand. A lesson that Microsoft has learned well is that for API’s to be toolable, they need to be developed concurrently with the tool and both the API and tool should depend on easily externalizable metadata. Java API’s were always written on the merits of the API’s themselves, and subsequent tools were predominantly code generators shunned by programmers.

The Java API’s grew into a morass of inconsistent and incomprehensible API’s, even the most simple things proved to be very complicated. The vast majority of J2EE deployments (over 80% according to Gartner) are simply Servlet/JSP to JDBC applications. Basically HTML front-ends to relational databases. It is ironic that much of what makes Java complicated today is all of its numerous band-aid extensions, such as generics and JSP templates, which were added to make these types of simple applications easier to develop...

...So let’s look at the requirements for today’s corporate applications:

# Handle XML (dynamic data with fluctuating types) well
# Quickly process text into objects and out of objects
# Most apps have limited logic consisting mainly of control flow
# No need for portability beyond Linux/x86 and Windows/x86
# Very thin veneer over the operating system for system services
# Tuned for 1-2 processor x86 machines

Given these requirements, Java does not fare very well:

# XML data is inherently unstructured and it has to be shoehorned into and out of Java, which is a strongly typed language that does not like new types of objects popping into its applications.
# Java is horrific at processing text since it can’t manipulate strings directly.
# While Java is great for complicated applications, it is not ideally suited for specifying control flow.
# Java is a magically portable platform, but there is no longer a requirement for portability other than Linux and Windows.
# Since there is no longer a portability requirement, developers want only a very thin veneer over operating system services like sockets, while Java provides a huge virtual machine in between the application and the operating system.
# Most J2EE implementations are tuned for 4-16 processor SMP boxes

So if Java does not meet these requirements, what does? Apparently what is needed is a language/environment that is loosely typed in order to encapsulate XML well and that can efficiently process text. It should be very well suited for specifying control flow. And it should be a thin veneer over the operating system.

Most Linux distribution in fact bundle three such languages, PHP, Python, and Perl. PHP is by far the most popular, Python is considered the most elegant (if not odd), and Perl the tried-and-true workhorse. All three languages are open source and free. As the following graphs show, PHP use has skyrocketed over the past few years...


The next language

Anatomy of a car wreck



Click here for AmazonT breaks down the cause-and-effect of a major traffic disruption that he narrowly avoided. What he doesn't say is whether he was driving the pimped-out Solara or the Porsche.

Anatomy of a car wreck