Thursday, September 05, 2002

Storage technology clears key hurdle. A technology that promises to bridge the worlds of data storage and networking has passed a key point on its path to becoming a usable standard. [CNET News.com] 8:26:12 PM

The Bully's Pulpit. The Bush team's pronouncements rely on doublethink, the ability to believe two contradictory things at the same time. By Paul Krugman. [New York Times: Opinion] 8:24:19 PM

How We Won the War. Recently, in an elaborate war game, the American fleet confidently steamed off to war in the Persian Gulf and promptly got creamed. By Nicholas D. Kristof. [New York Times: Opinion] 8:21:58 PM

Linux Replacing Windows More Than Unix [Slashdot] 5:49:22 PM

Math = beauty + truth / (really hard). Explaining what the winners of the world's top awards in mathematics actually do isn't as easy as adding 2+2. But we'll give it a try. [Salon.com] 5:47:46 PM

A couple of DirectX 3D demos, crammed into 2 64-kilobyte .EXEs. That's some impressive cramming. (via StronglyTyped) [TheFlangyNews News] 5:36:58 PM

Mixing God and politics. Congress is voting on a bill to let religious leaders endorse candidates from the pulpit. The right can't lose: If it fails, they'll have a campaign issue to use against opponents in November. [Salon.com] 11:08:47 AM

Senate Democrats Reject Another of Bush's Judicial Nominees. A Senate committee rejected Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen for a federal appeals court seat today. By The Associated Press. [New York Times: Politics] 11:06:52 AM

An Alternative to Microsoft Gains Support in High Places. Governments around the world, afraid that Microsoft has become too powerful in critical software markets, have begun working to ensure an "open source" alternative. By Steve Lohr. [New York Times: Technology] 11:04:44 AM

http://www.ozzie.net/blog/2002/09/04.html#a56 Bob and Dan are dead-on:  The browser has served us well.... ...  the most wildly successful wireless mobile productivity device won't be the 3G phone, or even the BlackBerry, but the ubiquitous and inexpensive WiFi notebook.  In a shape and size to suit every need. Servers and browsers are like two peas in a pod, and the Web has largely run its course.  In terms of the value that we can get from our own personal computers and the Internet, however, we're still at the dawn of a new era.  An era in which software matters, and architecture matters. [Ray Ozzie's Weblog] Now I understand why it sounds like Gates likes Groove alot. 10:52:34 AM

Arab-Americans, one year later. A new PBS documentary delicately explores the lives of "100 percent American, 100 percent Arab" citizens, who find themselves permanent outsiders in a season of war. [Salon.com] http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/01/arts/television/01FREE.html "Caught in the Crossfire," however, explores only one facet of the dynamic: the Arab-American as victim. In trying so hard to make an audience like its major characters, and so to accept Arab-Americans as decent folks just like us, the film actually strips those characters of the complexity of emotion and experience that makes them fully human. But the attacks were not just what one of Mr. El-Yateem's fellow clergymen calls a "terrible, sad thing that happened to all of us." They were undertaken, or at least rationalized, by Mr. bin Laden in the name of Arabs and Muslims worldwide. So what do Ms. Dergham, Mr. El-Yateem and Mr. Nasser think of that? What could it have been like to be an Arab-American cop last fall when the search for Al Qaeda confederates in New York and elsewhere began? What did Ms. Dergham, as a journalist writing for the Arab media, make of conspiracy theories of Israeli involvement? One never knows, either because the filmmakers never asked or they chose to excise the answers. Ms. Dergham talks only vaguely about the importance of seeing both sides of an issue. Very early in the film, Mr. Nasser offers an apology for the Sept. 11 assault. But that misses the point. It's not an apology a viewer seeks; it's insight into what three articulate and decent Arab-Americans think and feel in their innermost selves. [New York Times] http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/26979.html The register’s article is pretty pro Palestinian and shows a bit of the European Palestinian support. Finally, the actual disputed history account is here: http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=3989#c0014 10:22:12 AM

A post-9/11 American nightmare. Garad Jama was branded a terrorist. His business was shuttered, his assets frozen. He couldn't support his family. Nine months later the U.S. government said, "Never mind." [Salon.com] 10:12:40 AM

Karzai survives attempt on his life. Afghan President Hamid Karzai escapes an assassination attempt - only hours after at least 10 people were killed by a car bomb in Kabul. [BBC News | WORLD] 10:08:40 AM

Key Palestinian leader due in court. Senior Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti is due to appear in court on charges of ordering attacks against Israel. [BBC News | WORLD] 10:08:24 AM

Huge car bomb found in Israel. A 600kg car bomb is detected and made safe as suspected militants try to take it into northern Israel from the West Bank¸ police say. [BBC News | WORLD] 10:07:52 AM

Iraq strike 'would open hell's gates'. Foreign ministers of the Arab League warn that a military strike on Iraq would lead to major instability in the region. [BBC News | WORLD] 10:07:37 AM

Microsoft unveils Windows Media 9. The software goliath reveals its long-awaited digital media software in an effort to establish dominance for its operating system in distributing high-quality digital content. [CNET News.com] 9:56:53 AM

Protesters Interrupt Powell Speech as U.N. Talks End. Demonstrators in Johannesburg jeered Secretary of State Colin L. Powell on Wednesday to protest the administration's environmental and foreign aid policies. By James Dao. [New York Times: Politics] 9:53:50 AM

DNS vulnerability 'critical'. Fix available - at a price [The Register] 9:22:32 AM

Novell intros cheaper licenses for Web services. New Deal [The Register] 9:20:55 AM