Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Al Qaqaa: Proof of MSM/DNC Bias



Click here for AmazonI've been saving this story for a while, because it's so delicious. In March, Jonah Goldberg expertly recalled the shrill rantings of the MSM/DNC (a singular noun) regarding al Qaqaa. You'll recall that al Qaqaa was, for a week prior to the presidential election, the most important story on Earth .

Al Qaqaa was the monstrous weapons cache that wasn't properly secured after Saddam fell. Or so the stories went. And it was due, one would surmise from these stories, to the ineptitude of (a) President Bush; (b) Donald Rumsfeld; (c) the U.S. Military; or (d) all of the above. Problem was... the story didn't hold water. I haven't seen many references to al Qaqaa since the election. I'm not the only one.

The New York Times splashed the news on its front page and didn't stop splashing it for a week. In all, the Times ran 16 stories and columns about al-Qaqaa, plus seven anti-Bush letters to the editor on the subject over an eight-day period. Editorial boards across the country hammered the "outrage" for days. It led all the news broadcasts. It became the central talking point of the Kerry campaign, with John Kerry bellowing his indignation at the administration's incompetence at every stump stop. Maureen Dowd wrote a column about it, titled "White House of Horrors." ...

...So, anyway, I'd forgotten about all this. Bush won the election despite the al-Qaqaa drumbeat from Kerry and his surrogates in and out of the press.

But Byron York, my colleague at National Review, didn't forget. He wondered, whatever happened to The Biggest Story on Earth? The answer, it turns out, is nothing. The Times has not run a single story about the al-Qaqaa story since November 1...


Read the whole thing. And, please, sit down while you're reading it.

Jonah Goldberg: Remember al-Qaqaa?
 

Monday, April 25, 2005

Iran: Condition Uh Oh



Click here for AmazonThe "Voice of Bahrain" reports that Iranian cleric Rafsanjani intends to run for president of Iran.

Powerful Iranian cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani declared yesterday he was set to stand again for president in the June 17 election and challenge a field of candidates so far dominated by hardliners.

"The issue of the presidency is my current preoccupation and although I would like somebody else to take this responsibility, I think I must take this bitter medicine," the charismatic cleric was quoted as saying by the official Irna news agency.

Rafsanjani has been seen as the leading contender in the race to replace incumbent reformist Mohammad Khatami, who is nearing the end of his second consecutive term in office, and a string of recent informal opinion polls have put him ahead of his potential rivals by a wide margin.


If this weren't so terrifying, it would almost be funny. Rafsanjani, of course, is the stable, seasoned Mullah who was reported to say (just after 9/11, no less) that Muslims should use nuclear weapons against Israel. And, not to worry, Rafsanjani is perfectly willing to sacrifice millions of Palestinian men, women and children, too... so long as the evil Jews are destroyed.

If a day comes when the world of Islam is duly equipped with the arms Israel has in possession, the strategy of colonialism would face a stalemate because application of an atomic bomb would not leave any thing in Israel but the same thing would just produce damages in the Muslim world...


So... Rafsanjani is going to run against a field of hard-liners. Wow. I think we need to raise the Mideast Instability Level to "Oh, Sh*t".

Gulf Daily News: Rafsanjani to run for president

Update: WND puts the story in context with its cheery reporting: Iran plans to knock out U.S. with 1 nuclear bomb (Tests missiles for electromagnetic pulse weapon that could destroy America's technical infrastructure) and Wargaming Scenario: NYC hit by terrorist nuke
 

Where, oh where, has my Editor gone?



Click here for AmazonThe Washington Post, to which we lovingly refer as WaPo, treats its readers to this enjoyable snippet in an article on Internet vigilantes.

...He said he has received thousands of dollars in donations, as well as some ominous death threats. One warning came in a handwritten letter mailed to Weisburd's house. Another letter on a Web site declared that he should be beheaded and it listed his address. For his protection, Weisburd keeps a loaded 38mm pistol in the house...


A 38mm  pistol? Good grief, that thing must be heavy.
 

The Feds visit Annie Jacobson



Click here for AmazonLGF points us to this startling read regarding Ms. Jacobson's reporting on the possible terrorist dry run on Flight 327:

So what do you say to four federal agents at your kitchen table on a bright Tuesday morning? The first thing I clarified for the agents was that, prior to my experience on flight 327, I had never heard of a “probe” or a “dry run.” For the record, I explained, I had never heard of the James Woods incident either. [In case you’re not aware, the actor James Woods flew on an American Airlines flight from Boston to Los Angeles one month prior to 9/11. Alarmed by the behavior of a group of four Middle Eastern men, Woods summoned the pilot and told him that he was “concerned the men were going to hijack the plane.” A report was filed with the FAA on Woods’ behalf but, tragically, no one followed up with Woods or the men. A few days after 9/11, several federal agents showed up in Woods’ kitchen. Woods can’t talk about what was said — he believes his testimony will be used in the trial of the supposed 20th hijacker, Zacarias Moussaoui— but, in an interview with Bill O’Reilly, Woods revealed that his flight “was a rehearsal [for 9/11] with four men.”]

Standing in my kitchen, one of the agents said, “What I can tell you is this: Mohammed Atta was one of the passengers on that flight with James Woods.” (Apparently, this information has never been made public.) With that, the agent pulled out his chair, opened his notebook and started in with his questions for me (at which point the other three agents opened up their notepads almost simultaneously).

During my meeting with the agents, what was not said was often as revealing as what was said. Naturally, the agents “were not at liberty” to tell me anything about the 13 Syrian men aboard flight 327, but they asked a lot of questions regarding my “intuition” about the situation: Intuition told me something was not right. Intuition is why I began noting the men’s actions from the get-go. And it was exactly these details in which the agents seemed most interested. One of the agents commented on the fact that I took a lot of hits in the press — that I was called a racist and a bigot simply for sticking with my gut instinct. To me, the agents’ story that Mohammed Atta had been on James Woods’ flight was a wink and a nod to the fact that it’s fine to trust your intuition. If you’re wrong, you can always stand corrected...


Annie Jacobson gets a visit from the Feds
 

Steyn on the Bolton Hearing



Click here for AmazonThe genius -- Mark Steyn -- nails the namby-pamby GOP turncoats to the wall in his latest offering, courtesy of the Chicago Sun-Times.

...who is Voinovich? What is he? Well, he's a fellow called George, and he's apparently a senator from Ohio who's on this Foreign Relations Committee. He was, alas, unable to interrupt his hectic schedule to attend either of the committee's hearings for John Bolton's U.N. nomination, but nevertheless decided last week he could not bring himself to support Bolton's nomination. ''My conscience got me,'' he said. Maybe one day his conscience will get him to attend the hearings he's paid to attend...

...As Sen. Biden put it, ''The USAID worker in Kyrgyzstan alleges that she was harassed -- not sexually harassed -- harassed by Mr. Bolton.'' This was a decade ago, in some hotel. John Bolton allegedly chased this woman down a corridor in a non-sexual manner. It's not clear from Biden whether he would have approved had she been chased down the corridor in a sexual manner, as the 42nd president was wont to do. But the non-sexual harassment was instead about policy matters relating to Kyrgyzstan...

...I'll bet Pope Benedict XVI is glad that his conclave doesn't include either Cardinal Biden or Cardinal Voinovich... Apparently, the New York Times was stunned that their short list of Cardinal Gloria Steinem, Cardinal Rupert Everett and Cardinal Rosie O'Donnell were defeated at the last moment by some guy who came out of left field and isn't even gay or female but instead belongs to the discredited ''Catholic'' faction of the Catholic Church.

...The rap against John Bolton is that he gets annoyed with do-nothing bureaucrats. If that's enough to disqualify you from government service, then 70 percent of citizens who've visited the DMV in John Kerry's Massachusetts are ineligible. Sinking Bolton means handing a huge psychological victory to a federal bureaucracy that so spectacularly failed America on 9/11 and to a U.N. bureaucracy eager for any distraction from its own mess...


The New York Times' impotent rage regarding the new Pope is best exemplified by Maureen Dowd. She of the unraveling skill-set is now almost unreadable. Bulldog at Ankle Biting Pundits, however, has mustered the energy and concentration to read her nonsense (hat tip: PoliPundit) and reports her latest brain-droppings:

Unlike Ronald Reagan and John Paul II, the vice president and the new pope do not have large-scale charisma or sunny faces to soften their harsh “my way or the highway” policies. Their gloomy world outlooks and bullying roles earned them the nicknames Dr. No and Cardinal No. One is called Washington’s Darth Vader, the other the Vatican’s Darth Vader.

W.’s Doberman and John Paul’s “God’s Rottweiler,” as the new pope was called, are both global enforcers with cult followings.


Steyn: Bolton hearing monkey biz
 

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Google Satellite Maps... and Other Sensitive Locations



Click here for AmazonHere's another high-res image of a reactor (hat tip: B) at an unspecified location. There's really no reason I can think of not to obscure the satellite images of these venues.

Photo
Refinery at an unspecified location
And here's another candidate for obfuscation: refineries.

Just a few weeks ago, the NRO's Frank Gaffney wrote about the national security concerns related to refineries:

"This nation is dangerously vulnerable to severe economic dislocation and possibly dire national-security threats as a result of its excessive reliance on imported oil and the infrastructure that transforms most of that oil into fuel for our transportation sector... the limited number of aging and, in some cases at least, increasingly dangerous refineries is but one aspect of this vulnerability..."

Once again, I'd recommend that you do as I did and contact Google to request that certain venues -- like reactors and refineries -- be rendered in extremely low-resolution.

Google Maps: Contact Google
 

Holy Shnikeys



Click here for AmazonFor the love of... I happened to revisit Tony's A.J. Quinnell page yesterday. And what I found there was truly a surprise - and a gift.

You may remember Quinnell, if only indirectly. He is the author of Man on Fire and eleven other works of "fiction". I quote the word fiction simply because so much of what Quinnell writes about is based upon historical fact.

Man on Fire, of course, was recently made into a Denzel Washington film. Washington starred as Creasy, the quiet, deadly ex-mercenary. Broken down and alcoholic, Creasy is offered a position as a bodyguard for a wealthy industrialist's adolescent daughter. When the daughter is kidnapped, all hell breaks loose in this novel of redemption and ultimate revenge.

There are no better books in the this genre. In fact, it is a travesty that any of Quinnell's books are out of print. All of them are five-star, without question.

Want a free sample? The surprise that I discovered is that Quinnell has released a Creasy short story entitled Gladiator. Read it and then buy the rest of his books.

A.J. Quinnell: Gladiator: a Creasy Short Story; Embassy of France in the US: The French Foreign Legion.
 

Saturday, April 23, 2005

Google Satellite Maps... and Nuclear Reactors



Click here for AmazonAfter noting the obfuscation of the U.S. Capitol Building in Google's satellite maps, I decided to see what else might be similarly obscured. Whether at the behest of DHS -- or simply because it makes sense -- I would expect Google to render certain areas of the country somewhat opaque.

Consider nuclear reactors, for instance. I can't think of any good reason to show high-resolution detail of a reactor and its surrounding environs. So, for the heck of it, I tracked down the reactor (and I won't mention the location) pictured above. At least, I'm pretty sure it's a reactor. Email me if you recognize it as something else ("Ross, that's an amusement park in Beaver Falls, Minnohsota, you maroon!").

In any case, I'd recommend that you do as I did and contact Google to request that certain venues -- like reactors -- be obfuscated. Let's not make a bad guy's job any easier.

Google Maps: Contact Google
 

Google Satellite Maps... and the Capitol



Click here for AmazonHere's some evidence that the folks at Google have brainstormed with the U.S. Government, or at least just DHS. And this is a good thing. The accompanying image is Google's satellite map image of the U.S. Capitol Building. Note the pixellated, lower-resolution of the Capitol building and its surrounding area. Hopefully this is indicative of serious air defenses and other countermeasures that can be used to fend off suicidal dirtbags like Atta -- who is certain to be roasting in hell at this very moment -- and company.

Google Satellite Maps: Capitol Building
 

Google Satellite Maps... and Area 51



Click here for AmazonHere's a blogger that (a) has entirely too much time on their hands; (b) an almost voyeuristic interest in Google's new satellite mapping capability; and (c) apparently thinks the movie Independence Day is a documentary.

So tonight I spied on Area 51
 

Letter to Senator Voinovich



Click here for AmazonHere's an open letter to Senator Voinovich, which has been copied to his office. I would encourage you to write similar letters (either email or hardcopy) and call his office to register your polite complaint regarding his mini-rebellion. His office phone number is 202-224-3353.

Senator Voinovich,

I would like to register my extreme disappointment with your handling of the Bolton nomination.

The U.N. has proven itself to be relentlessly corrupt, willing to prey on the innocent, and unable to marshal any meaningful support for millions of true victims throughout the world.

Into this mix is thrown John Bolton, a man who speaks his mind and will not back down to those at the UN who have such egregiously poor track records.

President Bush supports John Bolton. I expect any Republican Senator worth his salt to do the same. Here's hoping you get realigned with the President on this issue... and fast.

Many of my peers in Ohio are similarly outraged regarding your mini-rebellion. I can assure you that we will remember this incident during any campaign in which you choose to engage from this point forward. And we will work hard either for you or against you based upon these actions.

Sincerely,

Doug Ross


Contact Senator Voinovich
 

Friday, April 22, 2005

A Soundless Sound System



Click here for AmazonElwood "Woody" Norris pointed a metal frequency emitter at one of perhaps 30 people who had come to see his invention. The emitter -- an aluminum square -- was hooked up by a wire to a CD player. Norris switched on the CD player.

"There's no speaker, but when I point this pad at you, you will hear the waterfall," said the 63-year-old Californian.

And one by one, each person in the audience did, and smiled widely.

Norris' HyperSonic Sound system has won him an award coveted by inventors -- the $500,000 annual Lemelson-MIT Prize. It works by sending a focused beam of sound above the range of human hearing. When it lands on you, it seems like sound is coming from inside your head...


One use for this technology I haven't seen discussed is telephonic. In a car or on a plane, wouldn't it be nice to talk quietly into a directional microphone while listening to a caller? While handling absolutely no equipment?

Inventor creates Soundless Sound System
 

What really happened in Deadwood?



Click here for AmazonI'm a serious fan of the hit series Deadwood. And that's saying something, given that I watch about two hours of TV a week. The show is a multi-layered drama based upon real events that transpired in the late nineteenth century near Deadwood, South Dakota. The town erupted as gold fever infected the region, which signalled prospectors, charlatans, officials, hoods, and every combination thereof to attempt to take a piece of the action.

And if there's a better actor on the planet than Ian McShane, pictured above, I haven't seen him.

In any event, I just happened upon a site that distinguishes the historical from the fictional in this outstanding series:

What really happened in Deadwood?
 

The Glamor of Travel



Click here for AmazonTed Neward, who I discovered through Pete's blog has an exceptional description of the true glory of business travel. Ted is a hardcore trainer in the enterprise OO area (i.e., J2EE and .NET) and therefore has a tough, yet rewarding (on multiple levels), road to hoe.

Ted Neward: The Glamor of Travel
 

The Daily Worker: Kos



Click here for AmazonThe Daily Kos site (no link, intentionally) is the premier home of the anti-American, left bank moonbats. In a delicious irony, Kos is not only the leading paid blogging panderer for the Democratic party but also has a stunning "oh-fer" record. Every single candidate he raised funds for lost their elections... some in absolute landslides. Candidates would probably be better off paying Kos for his non-support... or perhaps his endorsement of an opponent.

And if you think I'm being a tad harsh with the "anti-American" sentiment, rest assured I'm not. Nearly every instance of death in Iraq is highlighted on his site and, in some cases, glorified while news of any victories for the Iraqi people is not-so-mysteriously suppressed. Oh, and Kos pays lip-service to our troops... while villifying them indirectly.

Charles Johnson at LGF has been playing close attention to Kos' behavior. His history of censorship and information suppression... changing links and content... are the classic tools of socialists, communists and/or leftists the world over. Kos is no different, one must assume from his behavior.

Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of Daily Kos has done his best to make it hard to find the comment he posted on April 1, 2004, about the Americans who were torn apart and hung from a bridge in Fallujah. He erased it from the Google cache and the Internet Archive, and redirects the “permalink” on the page to an unrelated page at his site, but I managed to find a URL that still works—until the Daily Koward notices our referrals: Daily Kos: Corpses on the Cover.

Every death should be on the front page (2.70 / 40)

Let the people see what war is like. This isn’t an Xbox game. There are real repercussions to Bush’s folly.

That said, I feel nothing over the death of merceneries [sic]. They aren’t in Iraq because of orders, or because they are there trying to help the people make Iraq a better place. They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them.

by kos on Thu Apr 1st, 2004 at 12:08:56 PDT


UPDATE at 4/21/05 10:06:04 pm:

To see Kos’s back-room machinations at work, click the date next to his name at the bottom of the post, which is supposed to be the permalink to his comment, and see where you end up.


Daily Kos' Elusive "Screw Them" Comment
 

Thursday, April 21, 2005

You can't coach height



Click here for AmazonHow about a 7 feet, 9 inch center? Despite his immense physical size, Sun is definitely no lock for an NBA roster slot. Just being able to look down on Shaquille O'Neal... or even Manute Bol... isn't enough in the premier league of hyper-athletes.

Sun Ming Ming, whose head measures above most door frames, follows Keith Gatlin into Fitness by Design for a late morning workout.

Ball in hand, Sun, 21, muscles his 350-pound frame into training partner Dshamal Schoetz, a 7-footer who played at Greensboro College who is nearly nine inches shorter. Sun pivots and places the ball firmly into the hoop. Swish.

Photo
Sun's grasp on a basketball resembles most people holding a softball. (Joseph Rodriguez)

Sun, who is from Harbin, China, is training in Greensboro for a shot at the NBA. His agent, Charles Bonsignore, paired the prospect up with former client and former professional basketball player Keith Gatlin. Gatlin, a managing partner with 334 Sports, a local firm that trains athletes, has worked with Sun for about five weeks.

"With his size, that intrigues everybody," Gatlin said. "He can really shoot the ball to be that size. The challenge for him now is to get mobile, to get up and down the court."

Sun also can handle the ball and has a sweet outside shot that swishes with the quick flick of his wrist. When it comes to dunking, he doesn't need to leave the ground.

Basketball, Gatlin will tell you, is not Sun's problem.

Sun's weakness is his flexibility and his lack of weight training. While playing for the Junior Olympic team and then Da Qing, his province's club squad, Sun never lifted weights and is just now building upper-body strength...


News & Record: Nearly 7-foot-9 player from China training for NBA in Greensboro
 

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Enemy of Jihad



Click here for AmazonInteresting remarks regarding the new Pope by an LGF reader. And, no, once again the mainstream media doesn't have the story -- the blogosphere does.

From my conversations with him in the late 70s, when he was archbishop of Munich, I learned a few things about him:

1) That he hated the Nazis even during his short time in the Hitler Youth. He was a nominal member, but was exempted weeks after his compulsory joining because of his fragile health and studies in the Catholic seminary (many boys actually joined Catholic institutions to avoid service in the HJ.) His teen years had a lasting effect on him as he was able to see the difference between reality and what the Nazis taught. His love for truth and being truthful all the time stems from this early experience.

2) He was a progressive Catholic in his early year (played an important role at the 2nd Vaticanum), but the intolerance of 1968 made him change his mind. He abhorred communism and the carefree nihilist thinkings in these times and became a conservative, but not a reactionary, as many claim.

3) He saw the dangers of Islamic fanatism in the 70s already. Khomeini was a menetekel for him. At this time he didn't see Islam so much as a threat for Europe (yet), but for Asia and Africa.

4) He is more a friend of the Jews than most other Catholic priests. I remember him saying that Christians and Jews are on the same direction to salvation, just on different paths. Islam instead was an aberration that would lead humanity into a religious "dead end street" (Sackgasse was his exact word). He strongly favoured a rapprochement between the Catholic and Jewish faith, but didn't see any common ground between Christianity and Islam.

Latest proof of this was that he strongly supported John Paul II travel to Israel but did have a big headache about that voyage to Damascus. I doubt you'll see Benedict XVI visiting a mosque... ever. And he sees Turkey as a big religious threat to the judeochristian identity of Europe.

He may come across as the Great Inquisitor, but he has never refused discussion and arguments. He is firm on the "essentials" of the Catholic faith. The German Catholic professors he suspended clearly violated the essential principles of Catholicism. He is an extremely intelligent, bright personality... a bit shy with people though. He won't pretend to have the charisma of JPII.

And yes, I think, we'll see a few surprises from him in the next years. I had to chuckle when I heard the Chicoms demands today. Oh boy, they are messing with the wrong guy here.

Benedict of Nursia one restored the Christian faith in a devastated Europe. Commentators have focussed much on Benedict XV as the closest role model of Ratzinger. But I think he's much closer to Benedict XIV.

http://www.newadvent...

And yes, he loved the "Apfelmaultaschen" (pasta made with potato flour, filled with apples and powder sugar and cinnamon on top) my wife prepared for him :-)

They look like this:
http://www.donau.de/...

I guess you won't find this detail on CNN :-)


LGF Comments: Enemy of Jihad
 

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Antiques Auction Gets Punk'd



Click here for AmazonIdea for Saturday Night Live skit:

Scene: Antiques Auction in Memphis, TN. Lester Stack is a Nashville resident visiting the convention center. He is in line, carrying a painting of Elvis Presley -- the bloated, druggy Elvis from his later years -- on black velvet in an inexpensive, seventies-style wood frame. Lester is wearing a partially tucked flannel shirt, ripped jeans, and a cowboy hat. His cheek is bulging with chaw.

He is called out of line by Marcus Whitby III, an elegantly dressed gentleman who represents St. Michael's Appraisals of Manhattan. Whitby is immaculate, from the folded blue silk kerchief tucked into his Yves St. Laurent suit, to his Bally shoes, and his Brioni tie.

After introductions are made, the filming of the Antiques Auction segment begins:

Whitby: Mr. Stack, could you tell me how you acquired this piece?

Stack: My pappy gave it to me when I moved out of the double-wide into my own trailer. He said I needed something to decorate the walls. It's my favorite piece.

Whitby: Did your father ever tell you how he came across this work?

Stack: He won it in a card game, I think. Either that or he wrestled Bobby Joe Milton for it.

Whitby: So you really don't know much about the provenance of the piece?

Stack (stumped): Uhm... I guess... not.

Whitby: Let me tell you what I can determine... (turns painting over) we can see from this label and marking that the piece was resold, probably in a pawn shop. Note the label is from "Cash's Pawn" in Corbin, Tennessee. However, if we turn the painting back over to the front, notice the faint initials of LK. This is what we, as appraisers, yearn for. The lost painting of Elvis by Lucas Krypsuwski.

You see, there have been credible rumors for decades that the genius, the master, Lucas Krypsuwski had painted a single work of Elvis in his later years on black velvet. But no one, until this point, had ever substantiated this claim. No such picture existed so far as we could tell.

But, you, sir have found something we have longed for, yearned for! The proof that the genius Krypsuwski actually created such a work before he died in the great Milan-to-Paris train wreck of 1968. Yes, Krypsuwski, who painted the unparalleled masterworks of the "Orphan Backpacker" and "Still Life with Gin & Tonic"... (pauses, almost beside himself with joy)... well, I'm flabbergasted to see this lost painting found... and in such stunning condition!

In any event, can you venture a guess as to how much you think this is worth?

Stack: Uh... a grand?

Whitby: I won't keep you in suspense. The last time a Krypsuwski came up for auction, we recommended starting the bidding at $150,000. By the time the Japanese collectors were finished fighting for it, it sold for $275,000. And that was not a special, absolutely unique work like this one.

If you were to have this insured, I would recommend that you do so for a figure of $750,000.

Stack (speechless, mouth ajar): Uh... wow, holy sh*t, I'm rich! I'm rich! I'm frickin' rich!! Hey, boss, get stuffed, I'm quittin' - I've always hated you! You suck! Take your job and shove it! And Emmie Lou... I been cheatin' on you for five years! I'm leavin' you and goin' to Vegas... gonna buy a Viper... move out of the trailer park forever... this is awesome!

(Suddenly Ashton Kutscher pops out from behind a large, nearby Armoire): Dude, Lester! See that camera? You just got punk'd! You're on MTV! Whitby, how much is this painting really worth?

Whitby: I'd recommend spending no more than five to seven dollars on it. It's absolutely, stunningly bad. Virtually worthless.

(Roll credits as shots ring out in background)
 

Why PHP and not JSP?



Click here for AmazonI found a couple of interesting articles on PHP development that I thought I'd pass on. The first, from Robert Peake's blog, relates to the justification (to the typical, corporate PHBs) a move to PHP from JSP.

An associate of mine recently asked for some metrics to help him back up their decision to move away from JSP and toward PHP. In a recent post, I looked at the fact that many major corporations are using PHP, yet we rarely hear about it. To help address some of the concerns about deploying PHP in the enterprise, this month's article in International PHP Magazine will focus on, "Enterprise PHP Coding Standards" you can enforce in your organization to ensure high-quality code...


Robert Peake: Why PHP and not JSP?

The second article comes from the consistently entertaining PHP Everywhere blog, authored by John Lim. In this post, John addresses Ian Bicking's assertion that Python "could have been" PHP. In other words, it could have been the industry's juggernaut success story... instead of PHP. John critiques that assessment (and rightfully so):

I have used Python since 1997, even before I knew PHP. I smile when Ian says that PHP 5 is barely catching up with the 1995 version of Python. That's irrelevant because what made PHP successful is not what PHP is lacking but the features that PHP has that are superior to Python. Also people continue to confuse simplicity with deficiency. Here are some of the areas where Python remains inferior, despite a 5-year headstart over PHP:

* Python is not a template language, in the sense that you cannot mix code and html easily. PHP is a wonderfully flexible in this respect.

* Python is a so-so string processing language. One reason being it treats strings as immutable. PHP has much better string processing facilities: embedded "$var in strings", mutable strings, auto-conversion of other data types to strings, output buffering, etc.

* PHP's documentation is cleaner and much easier to understand than Python's. Probably because PHP is a simpler language.

* PHP has tighter integration of a lot of web related stuff. For example, HTTP and SERVER variables...


John Lim: Python never had a chance against PHP
 

Oh, Those   Risks of Outsourcing, Part Deux



Click here for AmazonI can't even begin to speculate what would happen to the outsourcing trend if a disaster recovery center became the site of a real disaster. The Kashmir separatists know full well what's happening in Bangalore and intend to make it more of a mess than John Madden's hair.

Bangalore is starting to appear on the radar of militant groups, Indian police warned this weekend, after uncovering a terrorist plan to target IT companies in the city widely regarded as the country's technology hub.

Bangalore, which is in the southern part of India, had been considered safe from possible terror attacks by separatist groups, which so far have mostly struck in India's northern and western states. But last week, Delhi police seized evidence pointing to a possible attack on certain IT companies in Bangalore...

...Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola and Texas Instruments. Additionally, America Online, Google and Yahoo opened centers in the city last year.


News.com: Bangalore Appears on Terror Radar