Thursday, January 17, 2002

Canadian Space Agency - The International Charter on Space and Major Disasters' Website when Time is Critical Thought this sounded like a much better goal in space than a missile defence system. Here's the short version (from their website) The International Charter aims at providing a unified system of space data acquisition and delivery to those affected by natural or man-made disasters through authorized users. By the way, we developed and host the website for the Central Fraser Valley Search and Rescue Team. If you haven't done anything nice for your local search and rescue team lately, give them a call and see what you can do to help. These people are every bit as brave and selfless as the Fire Fighters in New York City, except they're generally volunteers. If you're a member of a team, and you need a website, contact us. Special rates in effect on an ongoing basis for selfless heroes! [CNW] 7:34:56 AM

Joshua Allen, on his "Better Living Through Software" weblog recently posted the following quote from a US Airforce report dating from 1999. "The fundamental guideline of the military strategy of the Chinese Peopleâs Liberation Army is the active defense. Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, no matter how the world situation changed, Chinaâs military strategy always remained defensive in nature. China has not occupied a single square inch of foreign soil, nor has it possessed any overseas military base. Furthermore, China has not retained any military presence beyond its own territory. Instead, even though parts of Chinese territory are still occupied by its neighbors, China has shown great restraint and patience as it calls for peaceful solutions to the territorial disputes left by history." Interesting quote. I think there are many Tibetans that might beg to differ with the US Airforce on this one. Oh, what's that? China's military actions have been defensive in nature? Yes, I can see where it was necessary for China to defend against the Buddhist Scourge threatening to engulf it's 1 billion citizens. BTW, this is not meant to be a criticism of Joshua, his weblog offers an entertaining and enlightening view of life inside Microsoft. I just thought it rather odd that someone of his obvious intelligence would quote such a passage. 5:49:54 AM