CCR on a Wrngler commercial. "Fortunate Son". The idiots use the lyric "...born to wear the red white and blue" Of course, they don't play the rest of the song, about the class divide revelaed in which American kids went to fight in Vietnam. Which leads one to wonder about our fearless leader's own service record. Of course, The Onion has been there already. "Silver spoon... Fortunate son" indeed!

New research suggests that Europeans have inherited a resistance to Aids because of the devastating effects of the bubonic plague. BBC Science In Action reports. Link: Black Death Aids (I'll see if i can get a comment from the resident epidemiologist/AIDS expert)

How to feel calmly patriotic and yet not the slightest bit reassured by Bush & Co. From Oct. 19, SF Gate, by Mark Milford. (thanks to S for the) Link: Evil Evildoers Of Evil

Reuters: Close shave gives insight into Bin Laden Personality

Two days late on this one. That's what i get for not listening to Rush. Thanks to L for the Link: Bin Laden, Dead?

Well, if they think that NPR is anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian, they're listening to a different edition of ATC than I am! Link: Public radio, private pressures

LA Times has a very mainstream, basic piece about WPA (Windows Product Activation, *not* the Works Progress Administration!!) Link:Safeguards Punish Consumers, Not Pirates

So, the house and Senate have both passed the USA Act with only 66 votes against in the House. The ACLU has posted some sobering fact-sheets on the various provisions.

• Sneak and Peak Serches
• Student Privacy at risk
• Dissent = Terrorism
• Indefinite Detention of Immigrants
• Financial Privacy?

Judges? Judges? ...We Don't Need No Stinkin' Judges!

Freedom To (Dis)Associate?

Fourth Ammendment?

CIA Can Spy Domestically

More from our own correspondent in Pakistan. Link: Afghan meeting as diverse, complex as country itself

Dry, academic, interesting look at the lessons of the 2000 election. Link:
Information Quality Mandate for Election Reform

Watch what you read! I know that we know this, but this shit is getting out of hand! Thanks to L for the link.

Good, in-depth look at Microsoft's current direction away from desktop OS and into net and entertainment-related business. Plus ca change... Link:Extending its tentacles

The U.S. Department of Energy's own computer-security watchdogs have a warning for Microsoft Windows XP and Office users who want to keep their work secret: The Beast might be able to read their PC's minds. Link:
Energy Department Issues Microsoft XP/Office Warning

Also, WTF is it that i am missing??!! Everywhere are reports of "the nation's anxiety", "peoples' sense of insecurity", "fear of anthrax". Is it really just because i dont watch the cable TV news? Or is it just that i am not sensitive enough. Sheeesh! Enough already!

A strong and touching story about current life in Kabul, provided as inspiration in response to the frustrations below. Link: Re: Frustration + On the Ground In Afghanistan

A personal letter from an NGO staffer on being told that her headquarters in Washington didn't want her to return to Jakarta. Good arguments for continued grass-roots US engagement abroad. Link:Thanks for your concern...

Star chamber for hackers? Cyber-court proposed

Wahsinton Times (!) interview with very interesting, engaged sounding adult writer on American high school. I was talking to a collegue the other day and he couldn't understand why i was so excersised about Americans' lack of world geographical knowledge. I wish i had this book to hand.

Feeling in need of a laugh? (Warning! Foul language, potentially offensive subject matter, but fuckin' funny)

Should there be full information about computer secuirty holes? Microsoft doesn't think so.

This article from Reuters was sent to me in an email by the wife of the writer (both well known to me) with the email subject line being "Even with the shingles, the man can still write..." Link: Clash of cultures muddies the water in Afghanistan.

Added "BlogBack" feature so you can add comments. We'll see if it works. Gotta have javascript enabled to make it work.

Even Il Duce Giuliani is telling New Yorkers to calm down. I wonder if he has watched the idiot local TV newscasts lately. They are scaremongers at the best of times, feel lucky that you don't watch them these days!

Wow! Here's a doooozy! I knolw a lawyer who worked for the RIAA on the Napster case, i wonder if he knew about this one. You gotta hand it to them, they got cojones! Link: RIAA wants to hack your PC

Hmmmmmmmm..... just have to say your prayers, i guess. Limk: Expats: Staying put through it all

Reporters Sans Frontieres site with details on censorship / pressures from all over. Includes their letter to Colin Powell. Link: RSF

Thorough and funny debunking with attitude. Link: The world will end tomorrow - official

The celebrated / villified "anti-scientist-philosopher" (or should that be philosopher anti-scientist, or anti-science philosopher-scientist?) Bryan Appleyard wrote this long defense of america for Rupert Murdoch's Sunday Times on 9/23/01 Link: Why do they hate America?. Odd how this article is already dated in its particulars, but not in its evangelism.

I wonder if there wil be more footbal (soccer) on US TV now that NBC to Buy Spanish Network Telemundo

Attention ad-blocker fans... Link: Sites seek to blast ad blockers Also an interesting discussion and flamewar in the Talkback section. (i gess i'll have to finish that still under construction privacy page

I counted at least 12 instances of the word "evil" in the President's press conference last Thursday. Do we have empirical proof that demonization works? Or is this a word that a simle man can understand. As for calling someone "the Evil One", don't get me started.

I finally saw the Target ad which uses the Daniel Johnston song! Apparently, it's been around for a while.

The Onion - spot on as always, but here's a real doozy. (Thanks to K. for the) Link: Be a Patriot, Shut Your Mouth

I give us less than one year to find, once again, the Law of Unintended Consequences in this sick puppy. Link: Terror Bill Clears Senate

Hmmm. Yes, well. The don't really tell us what the criteria are for inclusion in the list. Is it just folks who killed Americansor did shit on American soil? How about ETA, IRA, what about places like the Phillipines, Indonesia, Corsica, ....? Link: FBI 22 Terrorists

The ACLU has a handy-dandy chart of the various ways in which the two bills currently in Congress will gut the Bill of Rights even further. Link: ACLU chart P.S. Sen. Russ Fiengold (D, Wisconsin) is standing up to the awful senate bill. He appears to be the only true patriot in this whole thing.

It also happens to be a good place to look up the record company and catalog number of LPs you're searching for Curtain Going Up at the Performing Arts Library

Here's what the USA missed amidst all the bombing on Saturday Oct 7 2001. A great shame, it would have been nice to see even though ABC probably would not have hung around for the final twists...) Link: USA to Japan/Korea 2002!

Oh well, i suppose we gotta do the right thing. (even if, overall, they still suck) Link: Apologies to the RIAA?

A bunch of cool space pics from NASA. (compiled by someone who wants us the see "what we're about to blow up"...) Link: The Big Picture

Oh. puhhhleeeeze... Does anyone really think this will help?

From the reliable contrarians on the FAIR site ("Media Beat" column) Link: US TV a Militaristic Free-Fire Zone?

You might wanna write your favourite congressperson and have them hassle the senate about this one. Once again we must keep the 4th ammendment in mind... Link: Snoop Bill Heads to Final Vote

Longish, somewhat pointyheaded TNR piece. (Hey, at least we're not being told "they are the 5th biggest army in the world"!) Link: Why The Taliban Isn't So Tough

Not a new story, but worth keeping in mind. Link: Payola by any other name would smell just as...

Sony Music Entertainment's Steve Heckler: "Once consumers can no longer get free music, they will have to buy the music in the formats we choose to put out." You have been warned. Link:
Music biz wants tougher DMCA, CPRM 2 to protect copyright

Reaction to below item from an NGO worker stationed in Jakarta. Note the brazen lack of worry in her tone. (or perhaps it's because she has two passports...) Link: Reaction the the bombings in Afghanistan from Indonesia

So, i wonder if these guys know who works for an NGO and who works for a foreign government. Link: Indonesian Muslim Radicals Target Foreigners

The Muslim world cannot forever attribute all its ills to the Great Satan, America, writes the Iraqi dissident, Kanan Makiya. LInk: Fighting Islam's Ku Klux Klan

Long, interesting article about CCTV in UK and implications now for US. Lucid and cogent arguments against. (NYT free resistration) Link: A Cautionary Tale for a New Age of Surveillance

Paul Krugman gets it nearly right again. (Can an economist be a hero for our day?) Link: Fuzzy Math Returns

Interesting, quite long, article on "neuromorphic" engineering. (Economist UK) Link: Machines with a human touch

Yes, but what's the point if broadband penetration is still so low... Link:Music Publishers, Labels Near Deal on Subscription Services

``You have a situation which is favorable to terrorism if
you do not deal with these problems, such as the Middle East and inequalities of development,'' said Jospin, whose theme was sustainable economic development. Link: Schroeder, Jospin Say Inequality Breeds Terrorism

To all Netscape 4.7x users:
I am very sorry that this page does not render well in NN (odd fonts, text/link formatting looks off etc.) . It renders acceptably in IE and also in my recommended browser Opera

Yes, America should look a little deeper into its policies
and actions, but we're not the only ones who need to look in the mirror. (Friedman, NYT) Link: Yes, but What?

The world has been in ferment since September 11, but why weren't there similar outcries at earlier atrocities? (Pilger, Guardian UK) Link: A Classic "Yes,...but" (Guaranteed to annoy Mr. Friedman, above)

Surprise, surprise! Hilary Rosen & "Evil Hordes" set to do battle again. Link:We _love_ the record companies!

And they didn't mention "oenophiles" once! what a rip-off! Link: Dot-Com Dregs of a Tasty Sort

More MS silliness... (with a nasty sting in the tail) Reg. Link: Is your OS about to "expire"

But they also said that the United States had not decided what position to take on the most contentious elements, such as Jerusalem, borders and the fate of Palestinian refugees... (not to mention water) Link:
Bush Says Palestinian State 'Always' Part of Vision

A quick note from an aid worker in the far east... Link:...evacuations

Pretty good interview with a man thanked on Elton John's new album... Link:What A Difference a "B" makes

"We can feed the starving Afghan millions or mount a military campaign. We can't do both" says George Monbiot in The Guardian. Link: Genocide or Peace

The usually reliable Register has a serious warning for us. Link: Beware the Binary Beezlebub

Another reason to be thankful you don't work in commercial radio. Hey, maybe you're also lucky enough not to listen ... Link: Radio Requests