New York City Nuclear Truck Bomb... and the Patriot Act

There's this:

December 18, 2005 — Federal officials are investigating the deaths and horrific injuries that would result if a nuclear truck bomb were set off by terrorists in Manhattan, The Post has learned. A national medical expert has told them the aftermath of such an attack would be a blood-curdling picture out of Dante’s “Inferno” — and the city is ill-prepared to relieve the horror. Cham Dallas, director of the federally funded Center for Mass Destruction Defense, discussed his conclusions at a Nov. 10 closed hearing of a congressional panel. He showed lawmakers data predicting 1.6 million New Yorkers could be killed, maimed, burned or sickened if a 20-kiloton nuke exploded at Broadway and Warren Street downtown. “We are not prepared for the 100,000 burn victims,” Dallas said. “It will be a picture out of Dante’s ‘Inferno,’ with all these people screaming in agony for days, and you won’t have enough people there to help them.” A bomb that size, similar to the weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is considered “relatively small” by today’s standards for thermonuclear weapons, and could be detonated from the back of “a small rental truck or even a van,” Dallas said.

And then there's this, the 16 provisions of the Patriot Act that go by the wayside...

"Section 203(b) permits the sharing of grand jury information that involves foreign intelligence or counter-intelligence with federal law enforcement intelligence protective immigration, national defense or national security officials." In other words, that is a part of the Patriot Act that goes away. Does that sound familiar? You know what just get's re-erected? The Gorelick wall! The same thing that prevented us from being able to "connect the dots" prior to 9/11 goes back into effect on January 1st, because that provision's dead, the provision that permits the sharing of grand jury information that involves foreign intelligence or counter-intelligence with federal law enforcement, federal intelligence, protective immigration, national defense or national security officials. That's gone. So now anything learned by one agency can't be shared with another. Thanks to the Gorelick wall. It's back. "Section 206 allows federal officials to issue roving John Doe wiretaps for spy and anti-terrorism investigations." That's gone. "Section 207 increases the amount of time that federal officials may watch people they suspect are spies or terrorists." That's gone. "Section 209 permits the seizure of voice mail messages under a warrant." That's gone. "Section 212 permits Internet service providers and other electronic communications and remote computing service providers to hand over records and e-mails to federal officials in emergency situations." That's gone. "Section 215 authorizes federal officials to obtain tangible items like business records, including those from libraries and bookstores, for foreign intelligence and international terrorism investigations." That's gone. "Section 217 makes it lawful to intercept the wire or electronic communication of a computer hacker or intruder in certain circumstances." Computer hackers will now be, once again, protected because that provision is gone. "Section 220 provides for nationwide service of search warrants for electronic evidence." That's gone. "Section 225 amends FISA," this is the court, "to prohibit lawsuits against people or companies that provide information to federal officials for a terrorism investigation." That's gone.

Here's how the vote to end filibuster on the Patriot Act went:

YEAs -- 52 Voted for the Patriot Act Lamar Alexander (R-TN) Wayne Allard (R-CO) George Allen (R-VA) Robert Bennett (R-UT) Christopher Bond (R-MO) Sam Brownback (R-KS) Jim Bunning (R-KY) Conrad Burns (R-MT) Richard Burr (R-NC) Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) Tom Coburn (R-OK) Thad Cochran (R-MS) Norm Coleman (R-MN) Susan Collins (R-ME) John Cornyn (R-TX) Michael Crapo (R-ID) Jim DeMint (R-SC) Mike DeWine (R-OH) Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) Pete Domenici (R-NM) John Ensign (R-NV) Michael Enzi (R-WY) Lindsey Graham (R-SC) Chuck Grassley (R-IA) Judd Gregg (R-NH) Orrin Hatch (R-UT) Kay Hutchison (R-TX) James Inhofe (R-OK) Johnny Isakson (R-GA) Tim Johnson (D-SD) John Kyl (R-AZ) Trent Lott (R-MS) Pete Lugar (R-IN) Mel Martinez (R-FL) John McCain (R-AZ) Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Ben Nelson (D-NE) Pat Roberts (R-KS) Rick Santorum (R-PA) Jeff Sessions (R-AL) Richard Shelby (R-AL) Gordon Smith (R-OR) Olympia Snowe (R-ME) Arlen Specter (R-PA) Ted Stevens (R-AK) Jim Talent (R-MO) Craig Thomas (R-WY) John Thune (R-SD) David Vitter (R-LA) George Voinovich (R-OH) John Warner (R-VA) Not Voting -- 1 Christopher Dodd (D-CT)

NAYs -- 47 Voted against the Patriot Act (Republican Saps Shown in blue) Daniel Akaka (D-HI) Max Baucus (D-MT) Evan Bayh (D-IN) Joe Biden (D-DE) Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) Barbara Boxer (D-CA) Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) Maria Cantwell (D-WA) Thomas Carper (D-DE) Hillary Clinton (D-NY) Kent Conrad (D-ND) Jon Corzine (D-NJ) Larry Craig (R-ID) Mark Dayton (D-MN) Byron Dorgan (D-ND) Dick Durbin (D-IL) Russ Feingold (D-WI) Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) Chuck Hagel (R-NE) Tom Harkin (D-IA) Daniel Inouye (D-HI) Jim Jeffords (I-VT) Teddy Kennedy (D-MA) John Kerry (D-MA) Herb Kohl (D-WI) Mary Landrieu (D-LA) Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) Patrick Leahy (D-VT) Carl Levin (D-MI) Joe Lieberman (D-CT) Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) Patty Murray (D-WA) Bill Nelson (D-FL) Barak Obama (D-IL) Bill Pryor (D-AR) Jack Reed (D-RI) Harry Reid (D-NV) Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) Ken Salazar (D-CO) Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) Chuck Schumer (D-NY) Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) John Sununu (R-NH) Ron Wyden (D-OR) Bill Frist (R-TN)*

*Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) changed his vote at the last moment when he saw the NAYs would win. This allows him to call for a new vote at any time.

The Democrats (and handful of RINOs) are playing with fire. In fact, playing with nuclear fire. They're gambling with American lives that their partisan machinations won't result in yet another catastrophic attack on the United States. They are re-erecting "the Gorelick Wall" that prevented intelligence agencies from sharing information that could have prevented 9/11.

Only the next time may not be a conventional attack.

And this is reason #4,812 in my continuing series entitled, "Why the Mediacrats can't be allowed anywhere near the levers of power in this country."

Do you believe in magic?

This recent Powerline article by Paul Mirengoff speaks for itself. Go ye therefore hence and read it all, for it is good.

Liberal Democrats do. They believe that our economy can roar along producing prosperity and millions of new jobs no matter how over-regulated and over-taxed its participants are. They believe that if we properly salute all the gods of political correctness, our enemies will finally recognize our fundamental goodness and lay down their arms. Until that day, they believe we can discover our enemies' plans without properly funding our intelligence agencies and without allowing them to engage in serious spying. Al Qaeda may use our public libraries to figure out how to make their attacks more lethal. It may communicate with their agents in the U.S. through cell phones. But we must not aggressively spy on these activities. We are expected to thwart al Qaeda through magic. The Carter administration represents the apotheosis of the Democrats' reliance on magic. The unmitigated disaster that administration produced paved the way for Republican ascendency. The Clinton administration (constrained by a Republican Congress) eschewed a magical domestic policy, and thus produced only half of a disaster. Clinton also taught the Democrats not to publicize their magical thinking. Thus, many now vote for hard-headed measures in which they do not really believe or, if no vote is required, hold their tongues. If they later wish to oppose these measures, they can always claim that the administration misled them. The president's decision to have NSA listen to terrorists' phone calls provides the latest example. The Bush administration advised leading members of Congress, including Democrats, about what he was doing and, as far as appears, they had no objections. Can one even imagine Democrats, in the aftermath of 9/11, telling the president that, no, he shouldn't act promptly to listen to conversations in which new attacks might be discussed, but instead should wait for a court order? I can't. But now the Democrats are again claiming that they were misinformed...

Yes, misinformed. Not to mention visionless and ill-prepared for leadership.

BlackBerry War: News Roundup

The latest news on the RIMM/NTP dispute, carefully gathered from hand-picked news sources around the planet:

USPTO to complete patent review with "special dispatch"

The LA Times reports the Patent Office will move with alacrity:

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said it would try to complete with "special dispatch" a review of patents that could result in the shutdown of Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry e-mail device in the U.S...

Bloomberg News adds more detail:

``Given the district court's concerns that the office has delayed the proceedings and the outstanding public interest in ensuring that these proceedings are acted upon with special dispatch, the office has assigned a dedicated examining team to handle all of the co-pending proceedings,'' the patent office said in a Dec. 14 letter. The patent office was responding to a request by NTP to give it more time to respond to actions by the agency. The patent office shortened the normal 60-day response time to 30 days. The agency, in rejecting NTP's request, said the 30 days was all that was required by law. There were five patents involved in the lawsuit. Two were found to be infringed, two were found not to be infringed, and one was sent back to the trial court by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, which specializes in patent law. The patent office, in a first round of review, rejected all five patents. The three non-final rejections were in a secondary review, and the agency has said it expects its next step to be a final rejection. Spencer yesterday ordered the two sides to submit written arguments on the injunction issue to him by Jan. 17, with responses due Feb. 1. He said he will set a hearing date in January. ... The court case is NTP Inc. v. Research In Motion Ltd., 01cv767, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia (Richmond).

Is NTP trying to "bog down the patent office"?

RIMarkable reports:

The reason for the urgency is because the USPTO claims that the patent holder, Virginia based patent holding firm NTP, is improperly attempting to slow down anticipated rejections of the patents RIM was found guilty of infringing upon. “NTP has been improperly attempting to slow down the anticipated rejections from the patent office, even going so far as to recently attempt [sic] to bog down the patent office with a highly unusual request to process filings for over 30,000 new patent claims,'’ Research In Motion spokesman Mark Guibert said in an e-mail.

Court timing details

RIMarkable also has more clarity on court proceedings and their timing:

U.S. District Judge James Spencer has set final brief filing deadlines of February 1st for NTP and Research in Motion in the NTP vs. RIM patent infringement case. Both sides have until January 17th to file briefs and until the start of February to respond to each other before filing final briefs. Judge Spencer will contact representatives from both sides to schedule a court hearing next month and it is believed that it would occur about a week after the final brief deadline.

Microsoft Mobile Devices Under Legal Fire

There's no safe haven for mobile email users, based upon this article by David Haskin:

Research In Motion's ongoing legal battle against NTP has been much-discussed and could well lead to BlackBerry service being stopped in the U.S. Now, Visto has sued Microsoft, claiming that Windows Mobile 5.0 infringes on its mobile e-mail patents. And, even more intriguingly, it has licensed NTP's patents and is now co-owned by NTP... ...Visto would like you to think that it is a safe harbor compared to either RIM or Microsoft. But from where I sit, its gambit is risky; should it lose, a relatively small company like Visto could disappear in a hurry. In either case, as has been the case with NTP, it could take years for it to win or lose its case against Microsoft.

"...the unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages... national security..."

Today's Presidential radio address simply nails it:

...Yesterday the existence of this secret program was revealed in media reports, after being improperly provided to news organizations. As a result, our enemies have learned information they should not have, and the unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk. Revealing classified information is illegal, alerts our enemies, and endangers our country. As the 9/11 Commission pointed out, it was clear that terrorists inside the United States were communicating with terrorists abroad before the September the 11th attacks, and the commission criticized our nation's inability to uncover links between terrorists here at home and terrorists abroad...

The Defeatocrats, as usual, end up on the wrong side of history. First they criticize the President for not following the 9/11 Commission's dictates. Now they pillory the administration for following the commission's recommendations. But that's typical of their divided party, which can't reach consensus on anything important, least of all the war on terror.

By the way, you have to get about fifty paragraphs into the original New York Times article to read this little gem:

...[In 2002,] Justice Department lawyers disclosed their thinking on the issue of warrantless wiretaps in national security cases in a ... brief... [which said] that "the Constitution vests in the President inherent authority to conduct warrantless intelligence surveillance (electronic or otherwise) of foreign powers or their agents, and Congress cannot by statute extinguish that constitutional authority."

In other words, the practice was considered by the Justice Department and ruled legal.

Times two-fer: compromising national security and flogging books

The New York Times headline read:

Bush Secretly Lifted Some Limits on Spying in the United States After 9/11, Officials Say

The story goes on to say how W instructed the NSA to start spying on Americans as they made international phone calls or conversed via email with those outside the US.

The author of the story is James Risen, who -- shockingly -- has a book coming out. In about a week. On this very topic.

Can you guess who the book is published by? How about Simon & Schuster, which is owned by Viacom. You may remember Richard Clarke's "scandalous" 2004 book, which was accompanied by a 60 minutes feature. Clarke's ridiculous tome was, of course, another S&S book. Oh, did I forget to mention that Viacom owns CBS too? Talk about an integrated marketing campaign.

Not very secret

So, back to the Times: was a decision to tap into suspect international calls really a super, duper W secret? Apparently not. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), other congressional representatives, a FISA court, and a judge presiding over the FISA court all knew about and approved the taps.

Interestingly, Risen has no interest in anyone else's involvement. Risen doesn't care about Rockefeller. Or other members of Congress. Or the FISA court. Or the Judge.

The Barrett Report

EIB points out an interesting parallel with the Barrett Report. Remember the Barrett Report?

This was the product of an independent counsel investigating the Clinton administration's abuse of the IRS in targeting its political foes. An investigation that finished in 2004 but has not been released to the public due to political maneuvering by various Clinton-era officials.

I don't know about you, but I don't recall much interest by the Times in the civil liberties issues raised by this investigation. That is, the Times has plainly ignored the Clinton administration's alleged use of the IRS as a vindictive tool to suppress political targets. And if an administration deploys the IRS to abuse citizens, isn't that an affront to all we hold dear? Isn't that an affront to our civil liberties?

Well, the Times couldn't care less.

The Times: Selling out National Security to Pitch Books?

Risen's book comes out next week. In the course of its daily efforts, the Times continues to spit out national security secrets like a Pez dispenser, with the express purpose of politically damaging the administration. And, apparently, to sell more books for Viacom.

I can't wait for the investigation of this particular leak. We can compare and contrast the amount of media coverage with that of Plamegate. Of course, the Times' latest blundering efforts truly impact national security. So my guess is we'll see more coverage of the forthcoming Rocky VI movie than any related leak investigation.

The case of the missing fax

If Kentucky Coach Tubby Smith had only found that missing fax a few months earlier, this whole painful mess could have been resolved long ago.

The NCAA had earlier ruled center Randolph Morris ineligible for the entire 05-06 season. According to ESPN, Morris had taken funds from an agent -- SFX -- in advance of the draft. In fact, the agent issued a press release stating that Morris, come hell or high water, was going to stay in the draft. Morris thus lost his college eligibility.

Then the bucket of ice-cold reality doused Morris and SFX: the talented big man went undrafted by the NBA.

So Morris appealed the NCAA's ineligibility ruling for the 05-06 season. Over the summer, the NCAA requested documentation that would have shown Morris had intended to return to school and had simply misunderstood the agent's representations.

Memo to readers Let's suspend our disbelief for a moment and gloss over the fact that the rules are quite explicit: retain an agent, lose eligibility. Those five words capture their entire complexity.

So where was the documentation that Morris had intended to return to UK? It had gone AWOL. A May 9, 2005 fax from Morris to the Coach had been misplaced.

Luckily, this week, after carefully cleaning out his desk, Coach Smith found the letter with the magical phrase that all of Ruppland had hoped for:

I would like to announce my intentions to 'test the waters' in the 2005 NBA draft. My intent is not to obtain an agent so as to maintain my collegiate eligibility.

After receiving the documentation, the NCAA ruled that Morris would retain eligibility after serving a relatively brief 14-game suspension. What a coincidence! Just after a vicious pounding by arch-rival Indiana exposed the Wildcats' need for a true center... and just before the brutal SEC season.

Thank goodness Coach Smith found that fax this week!

The accompanying image is a parody illustration only and does not imply that the University of Kentucky cheated, forged or bent the rules. While UK's history is, uhm, illustrious, I know of no evidence that the current program has violated any rules whatsoever.

Firefox Extensions and the end of Windows?

For some time now, the pundits of the software industry have speculated on Google's affinity for the Firefox browser. When Google registered the Gbrowser domain name, for instance, the whole blogosphere was abuzz. And hiring some Firefox developers certainly did nothing to quiet the rumor mill.

Recent stories on Google's blog point to further development of Firefox extensions, which are modules used to -- uhm -- extend the capabilities of the Mozilla-based browser. For instance, Google's Blogger Web Comments extension allows a surfer to see what other bloggers are saying about the site they're visiting... and to add related commentary on their own blog.

But this is tangential to the point of this post. The key question remains: what is Google really up to?

A Google PC?

In May, SquirrelNet had an interesting take:

GBrowser would make it easier for Google to control both data and applications, bypassing Microsoft entirely. In fact, it's conceivable that Google could launch its own PC which wouldn't need any Microsoft software. Here's what the Google PC could look like: * A low-cost PC running the Linux operating system (saves $100 to $150 versus Microsoft's operating system) * Features the GBrowser, the much speculated Google Browser

Throw OpenOffice into the mix, Evolution as a thick-client email package, well, you get the picture. Google could offer a full-fledged PC -- virtually indistinguishable from a Windows-based system -- at a significant discount from any competing Windows platform.

Firefox as the OS?

A parallel path is simply to continue to augment Firefox with capabilities until it is the operating system. Tight integration with Google's online properties (search, email, local services, etc.) is happening as we speak. Future integration will come in the form of VoIP (voice-over-IP) telephony, IPTV (television delivered over the Internet), and converged services we have yet to imagine.

Furthermore, Google's continued experimentation with -- and support of -- AJAX portends a day in which thick-client applications are altogether unnecessary. AJAX (a universally loathed acronym among developers) represents a set of technologies that allow faster, easier user-interfaces on browsers. An example is the drag-and-drop interface used by Google Maps.

Continued development and support of AJAX by the Google and Firefox teams mean that more and more users will simply not need thick-client applications like Word, Excel, or Access. Over time, those applications will run as commodity services -- over secure connections, mind you -- at a server farm.

These services could run at Google's farm or could be installed within a company's firewall. Google already sells a bright yellow box called the Google Search Appliance, which delivers internal network (intranet) search for organizations.

Google Search Appliance

The Google search appliance is simply one example of a plug-and-play box that companies can simply strap into their infrastructure.

Consider a Google Office appliance that would deliver Microsoft Office capabilities for a fraction the cost of licensing Office for every desktop.

The roadmap...

The roadmap might simply be: hook users on free services that leverage the tremendous power of Google's serverplex. Deliver an increasingly capable set of services without requiring licensing costs. Upsell companies appliances that securely deliver similar services within the corporate firewall.

At what point do we become so dependent upon Google for the services that facilitate our every day lives (and our businesses, for that matter) that the OS becomes irrelevant? For many users, that day has already come and gone.

The end of anonymity on the Internet?

The slogan for MSNBC is, if memory serves, "we're the lowest-rated cable news outlet!" The following, near-hysterial description of the "Trusted Platform Module" possesses all the intellectual rigor of a calculus contest with Jessica Simpson as judge:

...over 20 million PCs worldwide are equipped with a tiny security chip called the Trusted Platform Module, although it is as yet rarely activated. But once merchants and other online services begin to use it, the TPM will do something never before seen on the Internet: provide virtually fool-proof verification that you are who you say you are... ...once you’d registered yourself and your computer with an Amazon or an e-Bay, they’d simply look for the TPM on your machine to confirm it’s you at the other end...

Uhmm, suuuuuuuuurrrrrre. Let's see... I routinely use at least four machines to access the Internet. And, on any given day, I might use someone else's machine (say, my Dad's computer) to shop or surf. So Amazon is going to not let me order because I'm not on my "trusted platform"?

The odds of this happening are about the same as MSNBC beating Fox News in the Nielsens.

MSNBC: The end of anonymity on the Internet?

The 10 Most Puzzling Ancient Artifacts

This will set the hairs on the back of your neck to tingling...

#10 The Grooved Spheres: Over the last few decades, miners in South Africa have been digging up mysterious metal spheres. Origin unknown, these spheres measure approximately an inch or so in diameter, and some are etched with three parallel grooves running around the equator. Two types of spheres have been found: one is composed of a solid bluish metal with flecks of white; the other is hollowed out and filled with a spongy white substance. The kicker is that the rock in which they where found is Precambrian - and dated to 2.8 billion years old! Who made them and for what purpose is unknown...

The 10 Most Puzzling Ancient Artifacts

The media's war

The invaluable Thomas Sowell just nails it in his latest at Townhall:

The media seem to have come up with a formula that would make any war in history unwinnable and unbearable: They simply emphasize the enemy's victories and our losses. Losses suffered by the enemy are not news, no matter how large, how persistent, or how clearly they indicate the enemy's declining strength... ...The fact that these [doom-sayers] have been proved wrong, again and again, does not [stop the media. They] claimed that terrorist attacks would make it impossible to hold the elections last January because so many Iraqis would be afraid to go vote... But a higher percentage of Iraqis voted in that election -- and in a subsequent election -- than the percentage of Americans who voted in last year's Presidential elections...

If Churchill had had to contend with the negativism of today's mediacrats, the British population would today speak German. To the extent that the defeatocrats refuse to take global Islamofascist terror seriously, the electorate should likewise refuse to take them seriously. As candidates, appointed officials, or anywhere near the halls of power.

Microsoft's Local Live

Here's a "bird's eye" view of a neighborhood in Maryland, courtesy of Microsoft's Local Live service. Zooming around the country, I now half-expect to see people coming out of their houses and waving their fists at me to quit spying on them.

Visual Studio 2005: "Upgrade with extreme caution"

T has an entertaining description of attempting to migrate his Visual Studio projects to Giant Cluster**** of incompatibility version 8, *er*, I mean Microsoft Visual Studio 2005.

...First up is the new winforms-based UI that immediately takes a 200MB chunk of your system memory. You'd think that with that much system memory being used, the entire application and all supporting libraries would be running directly out of RAM, thus making the interface very snappy...but you'd be wrong. It is easily 30-50% slower for things like button clicks, menu pulldowns, and most disturbingly, compilations. These inefficiencies all seem to root from the "highly-polished" (read: stupid animations) of just about every thing on the screen...

Giant Cluster**** of incompatibility version 8

BlackBerry 7290 Review: Outstanding convergence device

I'd heard lots of complaints about the 72XX's abilities as a phone. It's definitely not an ideal form-factor, but it works. And with the hands-free device (included), you should have very, very few issues.

As an email and web-surfing device, it excels. While it may not have the full GUI of the "brick-style" (heavier and larger Windows Mobile) devices, you get most of what you really need without having to download entire attachments. That's right, the BlackBerry server will download and read the attachment and send only the fraction you need to see on your display. It works seamlessly and saves a lot of time and effort - there's no need to download an entire file when you just want to read the first page or two.

I've played with all the latest devices (even new Windows devices that haven't come out yet) and I wouldn't trade any of them for the BlackBerry 72XX. It's lighter, smaller, and easier to use. The convenience of the thumbwheel acting as a selector and the button next to it "escaping" out of any menu is something that 98% of all other devices haven't figured out yet.

A couple of nits to pick: the earpiece on the hands-free needs a better way to attach firmly to your ear. In addition, I haven't yet figured out how to keep my place on a web page and check my email (without backing out of the web page). Maybe there's a way, but no one I know has figured it out either. Other than that... great device. Highly recommended.

Restaurant without a kitchen

Interesting idea for an entrepeneur in the food services realm:

Amsterdam's Food Facility [is] a temporary restaurant without a kitchen, hosted by Mediamatic. Diners at the venue go online to check out menus from existing take-out restaurants in the area, while a food advisor informs them about the quality of the food and estimated delivery times, and then places their order. A food DJ takes the order from the delivery person and does away with the packing materials, before the food advisor serves the food at one's table. Mixing and matching is encouraged: negotiating with other guests makes it possible to have Tom Ka Ka as a starter, spareribs as a main course and tiramisu for dessert...

Restaurant without a kitchen

Fighting terrorism without military options

Interviewed on Fox News, Mort Kondracke notes:

I think this has been a disastrous week for the Democrats across the board. When they're not incoherent, then they're defeatist.... And then we have John Kerry who's back in the picture. Made another speech today, which basically said that George Bush is doing nothing except military operations in order to -- in order to fight Islamic terrorism...

'Nothing except military options'? Is there another option against suicidal extremists who target women shopping, children at toy hand-outs, and civilians lined up for jobs? What would Kerry do? Sit down in the Brussels Hilton conference room, hand out courtesy gift bags commemorating the event, and negotiate terms of surrender with Al Qaeda?

If there are other options besides terminating the fanatics with extreme prejudice, I haven't heard about them. And this is example #4,323 in my continuing series entitled, "yet another reason why the Defeatocrats can't be allowed anywhere near the levers of power in this country."

Avoiding Rookits by disabling CD "Autoplay"

In the aftermath of the Sony DRM rootkit debacle, it may be wise to disable the "autoplay" feature that is -- by default -- enabled in Windows XP. Here's how to do it without touching the registry: "Totally disable AutoPlay in Windows XP with no Registry editing".

I guess I was wrong

Headline: "Suicide-bomber bicyclist kills seven, wounds dozens in Bangladesh".

That's weird. I didn't think the Bangladeshi Army was in Iraq. I guess I was mistaken. Because, according to the Democrats, the extremists are only blowing up civilians because Allied countries are "occupying" Iraq.

BlackBerry: Summary of 11/30/05 USPTO Filing on NTP Patent

Interesting tidbit from the Right to Create blog:

...the USPTO has issued a non-final rejection of the patent at the core of the BlackBerry case, according to new reports (additional coverage here). The summary of a USPTO document dated Nov. 30 states, "the next office action is expected to be a final rejection of all current claims."

Combined with the US Government's intercession -- asking the court to delay any injunction at least 90 days -- it looks like RIMM may be in better shape than Gartner had anticipated. And if RIMM escapes without paying a cent to NTP, albeit by the skin of their teeth, the shareholders should throw one hell of a monster party.

The US Government intercedes in the BlackBerry dispute

I've carefully read the US Government's statement to the court regarding the NTP patent lawsuit against RIMM (the maker of BlackBerries). And I've noticed some interesting tidbits that haven't been mentioned in the news. The government stated:

...in the formulation of any injunction, it is imperative that some mechanism be incorporated that permits continuity of the federal government’s use of BlackBerry™ devices and establishes some procedure for identifying those devices that lie outside the scope of any injunction entered in this action...

Okay, the US Government wants to keep their BlackBerries operational whether or not an injunction occurs. Fair enough. But...

...in NTP’s Proposed Scheduling Order, filed November 1, 2005, it stated that it will propose an injunction with exceptions for federal, state and local governments, as well as first responders, such as the American Red Cross...

If this interpretation is correct, then, in the event of an injunction, RIMM must be permitted time to acquire and filter all federal, state, and local user network traffic. That is, someone will have to assemble a comprehensive list of all federal BlackBerry users, government contractors, the affected personnel in all fifty states, a countless number of localities and first responders, etc.... before the injunction can be levied!

And, to complicate matters further:

...according to RIM, it does not maintain a listing of e-mail addresses associated with government users, so that one might attempt to segregate addresses that end in .gov or .mil... Rather, RIM relies upon a PIN (Personal Identification Number) as a means of uniquely identifying every BlackBerry™ device. Thus, there is no simple way in which federal government users can be easily identified to assure that their service is not being cut off along with commercial users. The same would apply to state and local governments, and any other authorized users...

No wonder RIMM seems to be dawdling. Just assembling that that list might take longer than the US Patent and Trademark Office's final determination on the patents.

And here's another interesting tidbit:

...After recognizing that BlackBerry™ devices permitted emergency communications during times when other communications systems were inoperative, Congress issued them to every member...

Every member of Congress has a BlackBerry? That's quite a constituency.

The Government also mentions the patent review, in which the USPTO has ruled (in a preliminary determination) that some of NTP's patents may be predated by "prior art", which would render them useless.

...It is further worth noting that the five patents involved here are all undergoing re-examination by the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). Given the potential complexity and expense involved in inventorying the government’s BlackBerry™ devices, it may make sense to stay any consideration of the reimposition of the injunction for at least 90 days, during which time the PTO may issue a final decision regarding the re-examination...

The phrase "may issue" is interesting. Why would the PTO make a final determination within 90 days? Unless, of course, something is happening behind the scenes...

Lastly, the government notes that civilian users will be impacted:

...There may also be a substantial public interest that would be impaired by enjoining commercial use of BlackBerry™ devices... it is quite possible that there is a strong public interest in being able to convey health or public emergency warnings to non-governmental users who have BlackBerry™ devices, and can take immediate action in response to such information...

Having read the entire statement, I think I now understand why RIMM is playing "four corners".

US government steps in to BlackBerry litigation

Update 12/10/2005: Forbes notes that in the few cases the Government interceded with a similar sort of patent dispute, the Judge determined no injunction was necessary and/or threw the case out. While the latter possibility is unlikely, patent lawyer Jesse J. Jenner, partner at Ropes & Gray called the letter 'very powerful' and likened it to eminent domain.

Which programs are auto-starting on your computer?

From SysInternals' invaluable Mark Russinovich (of Sony DRM Rootkit fame), comes this fantastic free utility that will scope out all of the automatically starting programs and libraries on your Windows system. This is the tool Microsoft should have shipped instead of MSconfig.

Streamlining CSS using PHP

Tyler Hall has published a clever treatise on improving CSS files using PHP. Imagine being able to define constants in your style sheets. Say you've come up with a great foreground color that's used repeatedly in your CSS. Wouldn't it be nice to just define that once? Here's how.

The soldier who wouldn't quit

In February of 1974 on the island of Lubang, Japanese soldier Hiroo Onoda laid down his rifle after spending 29 years fighting a war that had long been over.

On December 17, 1944, the Japanese army sent a twenty-three year old soldier named Hiroo Onoda to the Philippines to join the Sugi Brigade. He was stationed on the small island of Lubang, approximately seventy-five miles southwest of Manila in the Philippines, and his orders were to lead the Lubang Garrison in guerrilla warfare. As Onoda was departing to begin his mission, his division commander told him, "You are absolutely forbidden to die by your own hand. It may take three years, it may take five, but whatever happens, we'll come back for you. Until then, so long as you have one soldier, you are to continue to lead him. You may have to live on coconuts. If that's the case, live on coconuts! Under no circumstances are you to give up your life voluntarily." It turns out that Onoda was exceptionally good at following orders, and it would be 29 years before he finally laid down his arms and surrendered.

Creatine and Military Training

Headed to boot camp or a similar intense training regimen? Stew Smith has some interesting advice regarding the advisability of using creatine when in the midst of serious military training.

Hmmm. Never thought of it that way

The Gunner's Guru -- Jeff Cooper -- writes in Guns & Ammo magazine:

[Marine Colonel Christopher] Bourne is explicit... in pointing out that while we are winning the [war], the world press would have us believe otherwise. Just why it is that the leftist media insist upon giving us us such bad press calls for explanation. These news people are simply committed to the viewpoint that the American Right must be wrong. Among other things, it wins elections, which is intolerable to a socialist.

Hey, at least I didn't say that!

RSStroom reader - the toilet paper printer

Hooked on RSS feeds to get your news? The RSStroom reader is a gadget for your bathroom that prints RSS news feeds directly onto toilet paper. Never be without news again.

Act now! Operators are standing by.

December 7

On this day 64 years ago, a massive surprise attack by Japan on the U.S. Pacific Fleet inaugurated America’s entry into the Second World War. Unlike today, Democrats did not protest the war against Germany, even though the Nazis had nothing to do with the Pearl Harbor raid, and they did not demand a timetable for the return of U.S. troops.

PoliPundit

The Defeaticrats' Latest Outrage

Howard Dean:

The idea that we are going to win this war is an idea that unfortunately is just plain wrong.

This, my friends, is the ostensible leader of the Democratic Party. And he thinks we're losing a war we're winning. Dean thinks our military is lying when they say we're winning the war on terror in its central front. That he is doing so strictly to score political points -- not because he's correct or it is the right thing for America -- is an outrage. And it is precisely why the Mediacrats can't be allowed anywhere near the levers of power in this country.

Mark Steyn says -- paraphrasing Peter Worthington -- that "'there's no such thing as an unpopular won war.' [But] the Democrat-media alliance are determined to make Iraq an exception to that rule."

Steyn calls them 'the Defeaticrats.' They are indeed, and in more ways than one. They are defeatists in every sense of the word. And they certain to be defeated at the polls in '06 and '08 and in every major election until they have a pro-American agenda worthy of JFK, Truman, or FDR.

Here's John Kerry on Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer last Sunday:

[T]here is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, uh-uh-uh, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the -- of -- of -- of -- historical customs, religious customs, whether you like it or not. Iraqis should be doing that.

You heard that right. John Kerry is accusing the US military of terrorizing Iraqi kids (and children, for goodness sakes!). Never mind the car bombers. Or the head-choppers. Or the female suicide bombers. Or the evil criminals that shred children with explosives during toy hand-outs. It's the US military that's terrorizing the Iraqis!

After returning from Vietnam, Kerry fabricated stories of atrocities he'd never witnessed. He accused his comrades of committing those atrocities. Today, he's no more witnessed our military terrorize kids (or children, for that matter) in Iraq than I've dated Tyra Banks. But he is freely echoing the Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy Left Bank of today's Defeaticratic Party. And no one, least of all Bob Schieffer, voices even the slightest concern.

As Iraq turns into another Afghanistan -- another stepping stone on the road to victory in the war on terror -- the Democrats wail and gnash teeth. They accuse our military of terrorizing civilians. They claim defeat when victory is certain.

And that, my friends, is today's Mediacratic, Defeaticratic Party in action. Writing in yesterday's Journal, George Melloan notes:

Mr. Bush made it clear at the outset that this war would be a long one... it is being fought in the shadows on many fronts... the strategy couldn't be clearer: defeat the fanatics and tyrants by promoting freedom and democracy. The strategy is in fact working...

Shhhh. Just don't tell the Defeaticrats.

The Differences between Democrats and Republicans

The differences between Democrats and Republicans become painfully obvious when one examines their voting records. Jayson at PoliPundit has captured voting ratios for each party on all major legislative reform packages since January, 2005. Some of the more noteworthy items:

Deficit Reduction Act 0/200 = Democrats in favor (0%). 217/231 = Republicans in favor (94%). Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act 16/194 = Democrats in favor (8%). 212/217 = Republicans in favor (98%). Firearms Liability Reform 59/199 = Democrats in favor (30%). 223/227 = Republicans in favor (98%). CAFTA Free Trade Statute 15/202 = Democrats in favor (7%). 202/229 = Republicans in favor (88%). Renewal of the Patriot Act 43/199 = Democrats in favor (22%). 214/228 = Republicans in favor (94%). Anti-Flag Burning Const. Amendment 77/194 = Democrats in favor (40%). 209/221 = Republicans in favor (95%). Energy Reform (Nuclear, Coal, Natural Gas) 75/199 = Democrats in favor (38%). 200/231 = Republicans in favor (87%). Death Tax Repeal Act 42/202 = Democrats in favor (21%). 230/231 = Republicans in favor (99%). Class Action Lawsuit Reform 50/197 = Democrats in favor (25%). 229/230 = Republicans in favor (99%).

So, even if we ignore the Mediacrats' reprehensible stance on the war -- their willingness to turn the war on terror into just another partisan play-toy -- their domestic sensibilities are just as flawed. They are anti-deficit-reduction, pro-tax, anti-energy reform, and anti-tort-reform. Sounds like quite a platform.

Google's top ten golden rules

The latest issue of Newsweek features a fascinating article co-authored by Google chairman Eric Schmidt. Schmidt postulates that the productivity of the "knowledge worker" (a term coined by Peter Drucker in 1959) is key to the company's success. Any potential roadblock to productivity is therefore removed. Summarized, the top ten golden rules at Google are:

# Hire by committee. Virtually every person who interviews at Google talks to at least half-a-dozen interviewers... # Cater to their every need... on top of [fringes] are first-class dining facilities, gyms, laundry rooms, massage rooms, haircuts, carwashes, dry cleaning, commuting buses... # Pack them in... The best way to make communication easy is to put team members within a few feet of each other... # Make coordination easy... each Googler e-mails a snippet once a week to his work group describing what he has done in the last week... # Eat your own dog food. Google workers use the company's tools intensively... # Encourage creativity. Google engineers can spend up to 20 percent of their time on a project of their choice... one of our not-so-secret weapons is [an ideas application allowing] everyone to comment on and rate ideas... # Strive to reach consensus... [it] sometimes takes longer, but always produces a more committed team and better decisions # Don't be evil... We foster to create an atmosphere of tolerance and respect, not a company full of yes men. # Data drive decisions... almost every decision is based on quantitative analysis... We have a raft of online "dashboards" for every business we work in that provide up-to-the-minute snapshots of where we are. # Communicate effectively. Every Friday we have an all-hands assembly with announcements... [and] remarkably broad dissemination of information within the organization and remarkably few serious leaks. Contrary to what some might think, we believe it is the first fact that causes the second: a trusted work force is a loyal work force...

It goes without saying. Read the whole thing.

Unusual cutaway drawings of World War II equipment

Fascinating period drawings, most in the cutaway style, are featured at the "Unusual cutaway drawings of World War II equipment" website.

State of the art computer games

If you want to see state-of-the-art computer games -- from 1984 -- look no further than the Internet Archive, which features a full video capture of a televison show from that year. EA's Trip Hawkins and Bill Budge are featured. Products demoed include Pinball Construct Set, Larry Bird Basketball, and Space Shuttle.

"Space Shuttle"? Never heard o' that one. And by all appearances, it wasn't exactly a big hit even in '84.

Faux Outrage over Real News (reprised)

The invaluable NewsBusters notes a San Francisco Chronicle cartoon that simulates Al Qaeda propaganda planted in a US newspaper. The supposed analogy is, of course, the report that Iraqi journalists were paid to report news stories that portrayed the US military in a positive light.

Let's ignore the moral equivalency aspect: that the US military, liberating an entire country, is somehow equivalent to death-dealing terrorists that intentionally target children during toy hand-outs.

And let's ignore the fact that the mainstream media had very little to say when CNN revealed it had covered up Saddam's atrocities for years so that it could keep its Baghdad bureau open.

Let me be the first to suggest al Qaeda doesn't need to; MSM is doing just fine on their own. But seriously, if they were to plant stories the headlines might read like this: We’re on a road to nowhere - Huffington Post Prisons of Darkness - The Villiage Voice The Insurgencies Are Winning - Tom Paine Reports of Secret U.S. Prisons in Europe Draw Ire and Otherwise Red Faces - New York Times Taking on torture: Vermonter arrested while protesting U.S. military school - Vermont Guardian Democrat asserts that Army is 'broken' - Boston Globe

One need only take a gander at Al Jazeera's website. Their talking points -- the Al Qaeda spin regarding US involvement in Iraq -- are straight out of the Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer playbook. And they are readily echoed, on a daily basis, by the willing mainstream media.

The Chronicle's bogus analogy has all the intellectual honesty of Pinnochio on a losing streak in Vegas. Maybe the mediacrats will get one right someday, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Unless I was being driven around on Martha's Vineyard by Teddy Jo Kennedy.

Top ten ways to destroy the Earth

Trying to destroy the Earth? It may be a bit harder than you thought. LiveScience offers the Top ten ways to destroy the Earth:

You've seen the action movies where the bad guy threatens to destroy the Earth. You've heard people on the news claiming that the next nuclear war or cutting down rainforests or persisting in releasing hideous quantities of pollution into the atmosphere threatens to end the world. Fools. The Earth was built to last. It is a 4,550,000,000-year-old, 5,973,600,000,000,000,000,000-tonne ball of iron. It has taken more devastating asteroid hits in its lifetime than you've had hot dinners, and lo, it still orbits merrily. So my first piece of advice to you, dear would-be Earth-destroyer, is: do not think this will be easy.

Six places you must use AJAX

Tips, pointers, and discussion on where and when AJAX should be employed.

Top Ten rules for Startups

It's on! You've got a really cool idea, a draft-version business plan, and a couple of interested angel investors. And what you don't know could fill a book. Solution: Evhead's got some tips that can lead you down the path of entrepeneurial enlightenment.

If Monday Night Football were covered like Iraq

If Monday Night Football were covered like Iraq:

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts, seeking to silence critics who say they are overrated, fell short of that mark on Monday night by outscoring the Pittsburgh Steelers by a mere 3-point margin in the first quarter. Despite the unspectacular first-quarter margin, Colts head coach Tony Dungy insisted that his team was winning the battle. “Hey, we’re up three,” said Dungy. “In my book that’s a lead.” But critics pointed out that the Colts gained their lead only as a result of a desperation 80-yard pass by quarterback Peyton Manning to Marvin Harrison on their first play of the game...

Faux Outrage over Real News

The EIB network covers the hypocritical mainstream media who, if memory serves, had nothing to say after CNN admitted covering up Saddam's atrocities in order to keep the Baghdad bureau open.

PRESIDENT BUSH: I'll continue to push for pro-growth economic policies, all aimed at making sure every American can realize the American dream. Thank you very much. BILL PLANTE, CBS NEWS: What about the planting of paid propaganda in the Iraqi press, Mr. President? RUSH: (Laughing.) "What about the planting of paid propaganda in the Iraqi press, Mr. President?" Can we go back, does anybody remember the name Eason Jordan? ...Eason Jordan was the bureau chief, or some executive position at CNN, and he purposely did not report the [atrocities] of Saddam Hussein because they wanted to keep their presence there. They wanted to keep their bureau open, and they were afraid that if they reported bad news that Saddam would kick them out. What was the point of staying if you weren't going to tell people the truth about what went on in Iraq? So here's a CNN executive who wrote a piece in the New York Times admitting all this, that he had to cover up bad news and not report it in order to keep the bureau -- and went on TV to say, "I believe it was very virtuous and there were a lot of journalists who did the same thing." Well, those journalists are absolutely worthless, then. They're worthless. If they're not going to tell us the truth. This is why you end up having to plant good stories around because you can't count on the mainstream press to tell the whole story... Now, they have the guts, the audacity to be upset over what is the planting of true, good news in Iraq. The crime is, it has to be planted... This is Reuters reporter Nadim Ladki, October 14th, 2002, dispatched from Baghdad, "Defiant Iraqis lined up to show their support for Saddam Hussein Tuesday as western powers were deadlocked over how to deal with the veteran leader they say threatens world security. Iraqis were in a festive mood as they turned out to vote in a presidential referendum Saddam is sure to win." Yeah, got 99% of the vote, the 1% that didn't vote are probably in a prison and dead by now. Talk about propaganda. We get propaganda in the news every day, propaganda from the Democratic Party, the New York Times is the Democratic National Committee Times. AP, Washington Post, all these networks, they're simply slaves to the Democratic Party. They're simply a giant collective house organ, and the news in Iraq is propaganda. The news on the economy, propaganda. It's not factual.

Hold your ground

Hugh Hewitt reprises Lord of the Rings:

Witness Aragorn's speech outside the gates of Mordor: Hold your ground, hold your ground. Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West! This is what warriors do. They don't cut and they don't run or take flight when they have been bloodied. Without men and women like this, I would not be free.

The Mr. T Nav System: "Turn Left, Fool!"

I think we'll be okay, just so long as they don't resort to using the voice of the uber-shrill Karen from "Will and Grace".

Everything he tells you to do -- everything -- starts with "Hey, Fool!" That's true even when he's telling you to do something dumb, like drive onto the lower level of the Queensboro Bridge when the upper level is the one you need. California company NavTones has contracted with Mr. T and the actors Burt Reynolds and Dennis Hopper to record voices that can be loaded into navigation systems...

First watch to use e-Paper hits the stores

The Japanese company Seiko is set to release a limited edition of 500 units of their new Spectrum SVRD001. It will be the first watch to employ flexible e-paper, a technology called EPD (electrophoretic display). The form-factor is that of a bracelet made of stainless steel, which incorporates a unique, large e-paper display.

Word to the wise: wait a few months. Remember, Roger Moore's LED watch from the 1973 Bond film cost a couple of grand. Just 18 months later, I think the street price was about three bucks.

Digg: "Bellsouth wants to rig the Internet"

The CTO of BellSouth raised a s**tstorm blogstorm of controversy when Digg picked up his comments that, "an Internet service provider such as his firm should be able, for example, to charge Yahoo Inc. for the opportunity to have its search site load faster than that of Google Inc." In other words, the carrier could decide which content provider gets preferential treatment -- not based on consumer demand or technical need, but on back-room dealings. This would mean the end of "network neutrality" and perhaps incite a war between content providers and ISPs intent on taxing packets.

The Washington Post notes that some view "[p]rioritization [as] just another word for degrading your competitor... If we want to ruin the Internet, we'll turn it into a cable TV system [that carries programming from only those who pay the cable operators for transmission]."

Some of the more noteworthy remarks at Digg include the following:

BellSouth is a phone provider, and historically they have received special treatment (such as rights to string their phone lines everywhere) in exchange for not discriminating in their services provided and such. They have often gotten common carrier status, sort of thing. If they are going to start "improving" the quality of their other services, thus degrading their competitors services, then they don't deserve that common carrier status any more. They should be held liable for anything transmitted over their networks, since they are exercising their abilities to give priority to certain types of traffic and possibly to filter some traffic. I don't understand this. Am I not already paying for the pipe that i use to access Yahoo, Google, vonage, etc? I dunno, It sounds like the high tech equivalent of a protection racket. "Mr. Google, you should probably pay us more money. We wouldn't want anything to 'happen' to your packets now would we?" These moldy old copper barons are really delusional about their place in the world these days. People pay them to get access to content on the internet. If the net's big content providers have any brains at all they will respond to the first ISP to do this by blocking that ISP's customers with a polite message stating why they are doing so along with some handy links to that ISP's competitors who aren't selling damaged service. The network is a commodity now, it's the content that matters. These guys have it backwards.

EduCase picked up one of my earlier articles on network neutrality. If you feel strongly about network neutrality, contact the FCC commissioners and let them know (politely) what you think about telcos trying to tax packets.


read more | digg story

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Geoff Fox
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SmartMobs

Uh oh

The "divinely inspired" leader of Iran has apparently raised the defcon-level in Israel:

"Israel, and not only Israel, cannot accept a situation in which Iran has nuclear weapons," Sharon told reporters, "We are also taking all the necessary preparations to be ready for this kind of situation."

Party of Defeat vs. Party of Victory

William Krystol, writing in the Standard:

Pelosi's endorsement today of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq makes the House Democrats the party of defeat, the party of surrender. Bush's strong speech today means the GOP is likely to be--if Republican Congressmen just keep their nerve--the party of victory.

Go ahead and say it. You know you want to. Go ahead. Indeed. Ahhhhhhh.

Doesn't that make you feel better? For more good times, visit GatewayPundit, whose maps illustrate various approval ratings. Go for the pictures, stay for the commentary. Then visit the virtual television commercial over at Blogmeister. He's showcasing a harsh rebuttal to the mediacrats over at "MovinOn.org" -- or whatever the hard-left, Soros-funded gasbags are calling themselves these days.

What would we do without Experts?

Headline in the New London, CT newspaper: Experts see frigid days ahead. Genius. Sheer genius.

How to write good

The mythical "Pete" over at DevelopingStorm has boiled down the writing process to an elegant, simple formula. Read it and be amazed.

Best of Bruce Schneier

There are two recent articles linked on Bruce Schneier's blog that are worthy of "special" attention: "Safecracking with thermal imaging" and "Hoofnagle's top ten privacy list". The latter is a set of recommendations for consumers to help combat identity theft. Check 'em both out. They're good. Real good.

Let that be a warning to you Flash web designers

I've been inundated with requests here at DR@J World Headquarters that usually go something like this: "Why doesn't Drudge Report link to me?" Well, let this be a lesson for you budding web designers. Matt Drudge likes spartan sites:

"For the wire stories, I've always looked for places with low graphics, without a lot of spinning Java tops on them," Drudge said, referring to the programming language that powers many animated banner ads that can sometimes slow the process of downloading a Web page. "When I send my readers someplace, I want it to be convenient for them to get there."

In the words of the immortal Frank Zappa, "Keep it texty so it go down easy," which I would take to mean keep your pages lightweight.

The "game" that makes people cry

From the research labs at Electronic Arts comes a weird, appealing new type of computer-based entertainment. I'm not sure it's even what we would traditionally call a "game":

Dragging clouds through the sky. That's the most exciting activity you can do in Cloud, a new computer game where you play a young boy who flies through the air above a small group of islands. Add in slow melodic piano music and beautiful water-colour graphics, and Cloud becomes the only relaxing game I can ever recall playing...

Implementing shadows with CSS

This lengthy -- but highly informative -- article describes in rich, lustrous, and fully illustrated detail how shadows can be implemented using style-sheets. Rock on, Shape of Days Blog. Rock on.

The scamera store

I don't think this rocket-scientist scamera store operator ever figured this story would spread like wildfire through the small network of computers we like to call "the Internet" (hat tip: T):

"I will make sure you will never be able to place an order on the internet again." "I'm an attorney, I will sue you." "I will call the CEO of your company and play him the tape of this phone call." "I'm going to call your local police and have two officers come over and arrest you." "You'd better get this through your thick skull." "You have no idea who you are dealing with." These are all direct threats that I received today from an individual who identified himself as Steve Phillips, the manager of PriceRitePhoto in Brooklyn, New York when I called to inquire about my order with them. My crime? Telling him that I planned to write an article about my unfortunate experience with his company regarding the camera order I had placed with him yesterday...

Don't paint your car... skin it

The AutoSkin is a custom-made, digitally colored "skin" for automobiles. High-res artwork can be drawn on the skin, which is then melded to the car. It is supposedly indistinguishable from a conventional paint job and is of photgraphic quality. Toyota's Scion line -- with its heavy emphasis on mass-customization -- ought to be all over this.

Byrd (Lorie, not Robert) let's 'em have it

L Lorie Byrd, operating over at Townhall, has a powerful message for the electorate.

...the actions of the Democrats over the past three years have exposed them as incapable of governing in today’s world of global Islamic terrorism... They have shown that not only will they endlessly debate until it is [impossibly] late but that after a military action has been initiated, in the face of difficulties and waning public support, many will back out and abandon the mission and the troops.

The opposition party, faced with exactly the same pre-war intelligence, failed to act. And, after voting to authorize the use of force, they have now decided to re-spin that vote for the purposes of political gain. They've not only withdrawn support, but advocated surrender and -- in turn -- demoralized the electorate and the troops. That's a lesson all of us must recall in '06 and '08 when we consider letting the mediacrats anywhere near the levers of power.

The $420 million key-logging scam

Early in 2005, Police foiled a $420 million key-logging scam:

...thieves attempted to transfer $420 million from a London branch of Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui. The thieves are believed to have hacked into the bank's computer systems using information gathered from keylogger programs, which allowed them access to sensitive passwords and other account information...