10:39:17 PM    

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Russian Company Acquitted of Digital Piracy 

"In the first test of a digital piracy law, a jury acquitted a Russian company accused of selling software that allowed users to circumvent security features in an electronic book."

The jury did not like the idea that purchasers of digital content had no rights to manipulate it.  Score one for the common sense of the jurors.

10:17:38 PM    

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caterina.net on business and the Buddha "A few of the Amazon reviewers of this book complained that business and making money aren't Buddhist pursuits, but I disagree. There is no domain of the world that couldn't benefit from practicing humility, compassion and integrity, and the world of business is one that could benefit most. Roach points out that the more resources you have the more good you can do. Bush, for example, is in a position to do a great deal of good, probably more than you or I could ever hope to do. So is Bill Gates."

10:09:21 PM    

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A Portrait of the Prophet Behind Islam 

"PBS seeks to fill the gap tonight with a two-hour documentary, "Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet." It evocatively if sparingly lays out the biographical material unfamiliar to most Americans: Muhammad's childhood as an orphan in Mecca, his marriage to a wealthy widow almost twice his age, his visions of the Angel Gabriel, his military battles and his victory over Arab paganism."

Perhaps not surprisingly, it appears that this documentary pulls its punches.  The review does give it credit for addressing the Prophet's execution of the Jews of Medina, but points out that that the program goes to great lengths to dissassociate this act from any historical animosity between Jews and Muslims.  Besides the oft-quoted respect of the Prophet for "People of the Book" -- Jews and Christians -- it is perhaps worth noting once again that Christian atrocities against Jews over the past 2000 years overshadow the comparative tolerance that the Arab and Turkish regimes exercised during the same period.

9:58:00 PM    

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Of Ghosts and Mississippi (New York Times) "Karl Rove came back to his West Wing office after yet another fruitless meeting on the topic of "How to pry the Senate gavel from Trent Lott's cold, dead hands while pretending to be mildly supportive," to find his desk occupied. Lee Atwater was spinning around in Karl's chair like a little kid."

9:51:15 PM    

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