Posts for 2003-12

2003-12-07t14:49:38Z | TAGS: Bush/War. Politics. Science. Tech. zMisc.
Mega Link Dump

I've had a backlog of links for long enough. I've decided to organize them, comment on a few of them and put them here. Besides clearing off a task that tends to cling to my to-do list, I also got to see what sort of links I'm interested in. I have 5 major categories here:

1. Bush/War
2. Politics
3. Science
4. Tech
5. zMisc

I noticed a maddening number of Bush/War related links. In a good democracy: the people get the credit for all the good and the leader is invisible. As things stand, there is too much focus on Bush because he is supposed to represent us but he's doing his own agenda.

1. Bush/War

   • AIDs

     • HIV spreads under Bush Africa policy

     • Condoms are crucial in HIV prevention, says Christian Aid

     • President Bush Discusses Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief

   • Diplomacy

     • Dude, where's my coalition?

     • Reluctance to Share Control in Iraq Leaves U.S. on Its Own
     • Bush to World: Drop Dead!
     • 2003-09-23 Transcripts of UN Speeches:
       • UN Sec. Gen. Kofi Annan
       • US Pres. George Bush
       • French Pres. Jacques Chirac
     • The Post-Modern President: Deception, Denial, and Relativism: what the Bush administration learned from the French
   • Economy
     • A flood of red ink
     • U.S. Administrator Imposes Flat Tax System on Iraq :: That's so cute
     • Bush Cuts Steel Tariffs, Declares Victory
     • 'International law did, however, get a bit of a boost when the U.S. decided to comply. But it's only a half victory as the idea of law is that people will obey them first of all, not just after they get caught.'
     • More indications of the fine quality of Bush's character... NOT!
   • Faith
     • How big is your god?
     • Mr. Bush and the Almighty
     • A little God talk from the chief
       • Jews, Christians, Muslims
     • the same God
     • The Latest Bushism is Not so Humorous
     • Wrong and Divisive
     • The Widening Crusade: Bush's War Plan Is Scarier Than He's Saying
   • Green
     • Personal Voices: Ashcroft's Attack On Greenpeace
     • U.S. May Expand Access To Endangered Species :: More of Bush's "To save it, we have to kill it", ala Iraq & Forests. See Jane's take.
     • There was much more on Bush's anti-Green behavior. I'm surprised I didn't log them.
   • Iraq Schools
     • Now children, time for spelling--B is for-
     • Bechtel?
     • success story
   • Iraq War
     • Analysis: Instilling democracy in Mideast
     • Liberal views force soldier out of military
     • Is Iraq becoming Vietnam?
     • New Attacks Intensify Pressure on Bush [2003-11-03] ::: 240 since the end of major combat ops
     • Bush Says Attacks Are Reflection of U.S. Gains
     • US soldiers bulldoze farmers' crops
     • A Little Perspective on $87 billion
     • US soldier kills rare tiger
     • Iraq Chaos May Cloud Bush's Sept. 11 Legacy
     • Chaos in Iraq is breeding support for terrorists
     • 'Bring us home'- GIs flood US with war-weary emails
     • America 'admits it used napalm bombs in Iraq'
     • Pentagon admits Iraq mistakes
     • Oct. Report Said Defeated Hussein Would Be Threat

     • Predictions on Iraq, terror earn grades of A through F

     • No bodies found after Iraq gunfight

     • Accounts differ over Samarra

   • PR
     • Many soldiers, same letter :: How lame
     • A White House Smear
     • He's Canadian, if you know what I mean
     • Bush's PR Problem
     • What's this? I didn't log any urls on the "Mission Accomplished" banner?
   • Staff
     • Is Rumsfeld Losing His Mojo?
     • The Man Who Knew ::: Colin Powell
     • Top terrorist hunter's divisive views :: Gen. Boykin. Can you say "Crusade"?
     • Cheney's Long Path to War
     • Cheney's oil
   • War and Peace
     • Oiling up the draft machine?
     • New American Strategies for Security and Peace
     • In D.C., a Diverse Mix Renews War Protest
     • Why Are We In Iraq? (And Liberia? And Afghanistan?)
     • Beware technology that disconnects war from politics ::: About regime changing & Clausewitz's
     • A Nation of Assasins
     • USS Clueless - Microscopic view ::: The why's of the war arranged like a logical argument but littered with weak premises.
     • Bush rebukes Syria, Iran
     • Veterans for Common Sense
     • John Dean's analysis of the administrations case for War
   • WMD
     • 'No President has lied so baldly and so often and so demonstrably' L1
     • WMD hunters switched to security duties
     • Search in Iraq Fails to Find Nuclear Threat :: What?! Again?
     • FACTBOX-Key Bush quotes on Sept 11 attacks, war on terror
     • White House Didn't Gain CIA Nod for Claim On Iraqi Strikes
   • zMisc
     • Bush big, bold, visionary, but is he out of touch?
     • Michael Totten replies to Matthew Yglesias
     • Taking Bush Personally
     • A Dislike Unlike Any Other? : Writer Jonathan Chait Brings Bush-Hating Out of the Closet

     • AWOL Bush

     • Administration messes with the CIA c1 c2 :: Good thing they're not letting this story pass
     • US fires Guantanamo defence team
2. Politics
   • Al Gore
     • Gore on Bush [2003-11-09]
     • Mr. Gore's Blurred View
     • Gore's speech at NYU
   • Deregulation
     • Problems in Electricity (de)Regulation
     • Lights Out on Deregulation
   • Conservatives, The Right, GOP, Republicans, etc.
     • Davis Says GOP Trying to 'Steal' Election
     • Why the right hates Ann Coulter
     • The One Remaining Republican Principle
     • Conservatives use language to dominate politics
     • Virtue is its own drawback :: related: v1 v2 v3 v4
     • A Questionable Kind Of Conservatism
     • The Liberal Within: Is Bush A Conservative?
     • New Friends for Old ::: These freaky NeoCons want to dump our allies
     • Only U.S. Strength Can Defeat Islamism ::: More NeoCons. Our military is strong but is it our greatest strength?
   • Conspiracies.
     • Northwood
     • NW & WTC
     • bin Laden Flight
     • DemocracyUnbound.com
     • Conspiracy Theory: Who's Controlling History?
   • Elections
     • Politics of hate won't beat Bush
     • How To Beat Bush
     • Democracy Aid 2004
     • Where the candidates are getting their money.
     • GOP Seeks Lasting Majority
   • General Smedley Darlington Butler
     • "War is a Racket"
     • bio1
     • bio2
     • bio3
   • General Wesley Clark
     • Iraq: What Went Wrong By General Wesley K. Clark

     • General Clark says he'd relieve Rumsfeld of his command

   • Howard Dean
     • The Anti Bush
     • Dean's questions for Bush, annotated

     • Transcript: Howard Dean on Hardball [2003-12-01]

   • Israel
     • Israel outraged as EU poll names it a threat to peace
     • On Hating the Jews
     • Israel decides to uproot Arafat Sharon's Cabinet gives go-ahead for security services to 'remove' Palestinian chief
     • American deaths may pull U.S. into conflict
   • Jeb Bush ::: He's a jerk like his brother.
     • Governor Jeb Bush Sends Lawyers to Represent a Fetus: Targeting A Mentally Retarded Pregnant Woman for Pro-Life Intervention ::: Multi-angled article.
     • FL: State Pension Investments, From Enron to Edison
     • State pension fund investment criticized
   • Media
     • Inside Fox News
     • We're Not Losing the Culture Wars Anymore :: this liberal media thread is so old

     • Good, bad and ugly ::: Julie Burchill leaves The Guardian

     • Censored 2004: The Top 25 Censored Media Stories of 2002-2003
     • Press Underreports Wounded in Iraq :: Is the media really too liberal?
     • Media Carta & manifesto
     • White House Puts Limits on Queries From Democrats
   • Noam Chomsky
     • Questions for Noam Chomsky
     • "Dominance and Its Dilemmas" by Noam Chomsky
   • Social Policies and Corporations
     • Corporism: The Systemic Disease that Destroys Civilization
     • Road to Ruin: How America is Ravaging the Planet
     • Kick A(ll) A(gricultural) S(ubsidies)
     • 8000 US Doctors demand Canadian style healthcare
   • zMisc
     • Two fallacies: international Marxism and reverse Marxism
     • Times Change, Principles Don't
     • Russia to price oil in euros in snub to US
     • Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
     • An Open Letter to Paul Krugman
     • Johnny Depp Says U.S. Is Like a Stupid Puppy
     • Not all of us Americans are evil
     • "The Abduction of Modernity". Parts:  1 2 3 4 5 6a 6b 6c
     • Alabama Tied in Knots by Tax Vote ::: Amazing story

     • The Soldiers At My Front Door

     • 35 Heroes of Freedom
3. Science
   • Green
     • Germ-Wary Japanese Fuel New 'Green' Technology
     • Lots of Zoom, With Batteries. ::: 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 sec.
     • Wind Power cheaper than Coal. S1. S2. S3. S4.
     • Testimony of Dr. David R. Criswell: Senate Hearing on "Lunar Exploration" :: coincides with Hubbert's Peak?
   • Invention
     • Necessity Is the Mother of Invention.
     • I am a graduate student at MIT... My research is in the field of Engineering Design for Developing Countries. For my master's thesis I designed an improved grain mill for use in rural villages in Africa.
     • IDEAS is a competition started in 2001 at MIT to promote student innovation and inventiveness for community needs.
     • 2 as much time to grind the same
     • Mohammed Bah ABBA -- A True Human Scientist
   • Nanotechnology
     • Ailing Burlington textile company pins its hopes on nanotech

     • Are Molecular Assemblers Possible?

     • Milky Way Days ::: What will happen on the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' flight?

   • Space
     • Yes, you can use a regular ballpoint pen in space
     • Neil Armstrong. The awful truth. :: oldie but goodie
     • Tantalising evidence hints Universe is finite
     • NASA thinks we can find another Earth in another nearby star. When we do, how can we possibly travel light-years to get there? It might not be as hard as you'd think
     • The Blue Marble

     • Dusty disc may mean other Earths

   • zMisc
     • Gay at Birth?
     • Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki's Great Moments in Science
     • Bio Motion Lab's Walker
     • Gamma Ray bombs: Use Hf for mini-nukes
     • Nine Crazy Ideas in Science: A Few Might Even Be True
     • Evolutionary Game Theory ::: Including the Green Beard Effect.
     • Beauty Check. Research project on facial attractiveness.
       
4. Tech

   • Blogging

     • Power Laws, Weblogs, and Inequality
     • An Introduction to Weblogs
     • The Blogging Iceberg
     • why web journals suck
     • Deep Thinking about Weblogs. Nice summary.
     • Google to fix blog noise problem. I totally agree.
     • Most bloggers 'are teenage girls' - survey.
     • What makes a weblog a weblog? Dave Winer's definition of a weblog, technically and philosophically.
     • What We're Doing When We Blog. Meg Hourihan's basics of blogging.
     • Blogs bloomed in an era of news frenzy: 2001-09-11 and the fall of the World Trade Centers in New York City which built up to 2003-03-19 and the invasion of Iraq by the US and the UK. Move on people. Get on with your lives.
       • Blogs is a type of One-to-Many communication. It is only effective if you have excellent content or a ready audience. Please do not be afraid to go for quality instead of quantity if you are going to blog.
       • Blogs is a type of Many-to-Many commun9cation. This only happens if your site is involved in a popular topic. Please do not be afraid to communicate with a broad range of people.
       • Blog content is transient. It cannot replace the presentation of content, knowledge that grows and build with time. For that web and wikis are better.
     • Blogs are currently [2003-06] over-hyped and most of the blogs out there are just noise. How many blogs, web sites, news groups, mailing lists, newspapers, magazines, journals, etc. can a person take?
   • Open Source
     • How Microsoft's Misunderstanding of Open Source Hurts Us All

     • What's Wrong with the Open Source Community?

     • How to Misunderstand Open Source

   • Programming
     • The Alice and Bob After Dinner Speech

     • Java's Cover

     • Are You Missing Out on Code Generation?
     • Too Much Free Software [2003/03/29].
     • Hackers and Painters [2003/05]. Programming philosophy compared with the style and Do of painters.
     • Strong Typing vs. Strong Testing [2003/05/02].
     • http://research.microsoft.com/projects/ilx/fsharp.htm. "F# is meant to bridge the best of the functional, imperative, object-oriented and typed-classed languages".
     • Migration Towards Web Apps
       • Desktop computers and desktop apps are not going away but there seems to be a trend towards web apps.
         • The web apps are ASP pages (Active Server Pages) and CGIs (Computer Gateway Interfaces) distributed on web servers across the Internet, intranets, extranets, and stand alone computers.
         • The database backend can be any DBMS (DataBase Management System) but the data should be exchanged as XML/XHTML.
         • The portal app to the web apps is the browser and its plug-ins, including custom plug-ins.
         • The apps and content are presented with HTML/DHTML/XHTML.
       • The thin client is not replacing the fat client because users still want the power of having their own data storage, media players, media recorders, video, audio, printing, super-joysticks, etc. 
     • Inter-Company Web Apps. My comments on 2001-09-14.
       • There is a current shift from intra-company apps and Web apps, to inter-company Web apps. This is a paradigm shift that has been paralleled with the shift from CLI to GUI (ie Command Line Interface to Graphical User Interface) since both required a change in thinking and the development of standards and tools.
       • Here is what the major players are calling their various implementations of this shift:
         • Microsoft's Microsoft.NET. EG: Microsoft is combining its Web services such as Hotmail, Passport, and MSN Messenger into .NET building blocks called Hailstorm.
         • Sun's Sun ONE.
         • IBM's WebSphere.
       • Here are some of the technologies being incorporated:
         • XML (Extensible Markup Language). XML documents are plain text formatted in a way that is conducive for the transmission and storage of structured data. XML was approved in February 1998 by W3C.
         • UDDI (Universal Description and Discovery Integration). UDDI is a standard with an XML based global registry that helps developers locate Web services (like a Yellow Pages) and exposes the Web services to the developers.
           • WSDL (Web Services Description Language). WDSL is an XML based language used by UDDI that enables distributed components across different platforms. It enables OOP via HTML and XML. WSDL is developed by IBM, Microsoft, and Ariba and thus replaces Microsoft's SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) and IBM's NASSL (Network Accessible Service Specification Language). WSDL is similar to ORB's IIOP (Internet Inter-ORB Protocol) and Sun's RMI (Remote Method Invocation).
         • J2EE (Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition). J2EE is a IBM and Sun effort to facilitate the development of thin client inter-enterprise OOP apps that connect to mainframes.
     • Page Layout Tools Merging.
       • Traditionally in page layout you need at least three apps:
         • A raster image app.
         • A vector image app.
         • A page layout app.
       • For the longest time, these were the apps that handled those three types apps:
         • Raster: Adobe Photoshop & Deneba Canvas.
         • Vector: Adobe Illustrator & Deneba Canvas.
         • Page Layout: Adobe PageMaker, Quark QuarkXpress, & Deneba Canvas.
       • No one ever paid attention to Deneba Canvas. Well, Adobe is finally starting to mimic Deneba Canvas and OOP (object oriented programming, eg COM & CORBA). It makes so much more sense to use objects and a streamlined app. Let's see how Adobe's InDesign app works out.
   • SCO
     • SCO vs Linux - the arrows fly
     • The Nigerian SCO Connection ::: Hiliarious
     • Why Don't You and He Fight? [2003/05/22]. SCO/Microsoft v IBM/Linux!
   • Supercomputing
     • IBM Introduces Petabyte-Capacity 'Storage Tank'
     • Ellison: Oracle Customers Will Embrace Grid Computing
     • Los Alamos get Linux clusters for supercomputing
     • From PlayStation to supercomputer [2003/05/27]. They made a supercomputer out of 70 PlayStation 2's and Linux.
     • Japanese 'Computenik' Earth Simulator shatters US supercomputer hegemony. The Japanese Earth Simulator supercomputer is number one on the planet as of 2003-05 with 35 TFLOPS: 5 times the previous by the US.
     • Mega-Bandwidth, Mega-Content
       • Bandwidth defines content, and content defines bandwidth.
       • Data transfer must become ubiquitous, fast, and easy to the point of invisibility.
       • Content must (and will) be developed to take advantage of this bandwidth. This include content like high quality digital pictures, audio, video, animation, and CGIs (Computer Generated Imagery). This also includes more powerful web apps.
   • Web
     • Tables vs FULL CSS INTEGRATION :: t1 t2 t3

     • Selectutorial - CSS selectors

     • The Semantic Web, Syllogism, and Worldview
     • HTML House of Horror: Things That Go <BLINK> in the Night :: I'm frightened!
     • tinyURL.com :: nice concept
     • KwMap.com
     • Amazon now makes all their books searchable :: More powerful than we realize a1
     • The Onion is profitable ::: Take that Salon!
     • BBC to put its entire archive online
     • Aggregators Attack Info Overload
     • You can use Google as a calculator

     • Critics Balk at Efforts to Place Internet in Global Grip

     • HTML Charting in ASP: c1 c2

     • Millions in U.S. are content with life offline [2003/04/18].
     • You can do anything - but not everything [2000/05].
     • Martin Fowler's Bliki. I want to see how well this mix of blog & wiki goes. Others are calling the mix WikiLog.
     • The History of the Internet. Funny because it's all true.
     • Stupid Web Tricks. Some of these are pretty old but it's nice to collect them.
     • Customers need more assurance that if they give a company money, and something goes wrong, then they can get their money back.
     • Customers need different levels (breadth and width) of information. EG: If I go to a site that has different product/service lines, then there should be some place that gives a summary detail about each product line. I shouldn't have to dig into each specific product/service to get a general feel about that line.
     • Web and TV
       • Web sites will have a more "TV" like quality. TV will have a more "Web" like quality.
       • Web sites will have a production quality, style, and ease of use similar to TV. Most sites have tried to implement the glitz but have failed to implement the simplicity, speed, and reliability.
       • TV is already becoming more web-like. Digital cable TV has some of point-and-click features. Heck it already has embedded advertising.
     • Getting up to speed on wikis. Nice little blog piece on wikis.
     • Business Is Toying With a Web Tool [2003/05/19]. Wiki's are soo cool.
     • The History of the Internet. Funny because it's all true.
   • zMisc
     • Finally, an Opening for Apple in IT
     • Study: CDs may soon be as final as vinyl ::: Yep, it will happen.
     • Stupid Microsoft Tricks: Why the Richest Company on Earth Feels it Needs to Cheat ::: Simply delicious
     • Defend Your Code with Top Ten Security Tips Every Developer Must Know
     • The Economy of Ideas [1994/03].
     • Intellectual Property. Freedom of content. Content (information, knowledge, designs, ideas, visions, pictures, video, audio, etc.) should be free (public domain) as much as possible. Producers of content should get recognition and money. This is a variation of the open source concept. Keywords: OCW.MIT.edu, Wikipedia.org.
     • Wireless internet may very well destroy our chances of contacting intelligent life. Email conventions/criticisms.
     • The Tyranny of Email [2003/03/08]. So good that its like something I wrote. (There is also a follow-up article).
5. zMisc
   • Comic Art
     • The Meatrix
     • Jack Kirby would be turning 50
     • Killer cartoon
     • Suspended Animation
     • The End of the World ::: Funny animation with profanity.

     • Disney Character Family Trees

     • Fantagraphics.com. Fantagraphics is in financial trouble and needs our support. Fantagraphics is the top publisher of comic art, esp. alternative art.
     • Get Your War On. I've known about this site for along time but its worth entering in the archive. Bitter humor from Pre-o9-11 to 09/11 and beyond.
     • Synchopath.net/wtf. Outrageous distortions of old comics.
     • The Unh Project. Comical distortions of panels with sound effects balloons such as "Unh".
   • Faith
     • Mary Magdalene stuff m1 m2 m3 m4 m5 m6 m7 m8 m9
     • Guess Who Doesn't Believe In God?
     • The Crusaders :: Opus Dei
     • Founding fathers quotations about religion
     • E.T. and God
     • Science cannot provide all the answers
     • You can put your god over there
     • Faith in the game and the Metafilter comments on it
     • Vatican told bishops to cover up sex abuse
     • God and Beauty

     • On the European Tradition

     • America is not a Christian nation

   • Fun
     • 3 year old xylophonist ::: She's having a blast!
     • Matrix-style Ping Pong Low tech emulates hi tech.
     • Unused Audio Commentary [for the LOTR DVD] by Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky.
     • Honda Accord commercial. This was not computer animated, it took 100s of takes.
     • Starship Dimensions. Starships from different shows drawn to scale.
   • Martial Arts
     • Return to the Shaolin Temple

     • ASP Tactical Batons

   • Odd
     • Blunder Leaves Woman Awake for Surgery
     • Investigators Probe Bizarre Bomb Death of Pizza Man
     • The Time Travel Tale of John Titor
     • Man Impaled on Drill Bit
   • Philosophy
     • The uses and disadvantages of Socrates
     • Hot to Get Real ::: Skip Postmodernism for Critical Realism.
     • Gambling with the devil
   • Writing
     • How to Write A Thank You Note ::: I found this very useful.
     • 'The Chicago Manual of Style' enters the 21st century
     • Was It as Bad for You as It Was for Me?
     • Expletive deleted ::: Related: f1 f2 f3
   • zMisc
     • What does a professor do all day?
     • The Marriage Trap
     • For Best Results, Forget the Bonus
     • The Economics of Suicide
     • The Real Mother Goose :: The book is now online. g1 g2
     • Practical Advice and Solutions for Today's Small Business
     • Misc. Matrix links:
       • TheAniMatrix.com.
       • Matrix² effect.
       • God Is the Machine. A minor philosophical detour.
       • Unlocking the Matrix. WARNING: Spoilers.
       • The Matrix, Re-Explained. WARNING: Spoilers.
     • Poultry in Motion: With Invention, Chicken Catching Goes High-Tech. At 150 birds/minute, it does the work of 8 men. It is more humane: even PETA likes it. And I had no idea chickens were only 8 weeks old at slaughter.

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