Tuesday, January 29, 2002
Google distances itself from pop-ups
It seems like we're seeing increasing confusion from users...in response to the Web-wide proliferation of pop-ups. We thought this was a good time to explain that Google does not show pop-up ads, said Matt Cutts, a software engineer at the company.
Google is great!
Black Hawk Down
I just finished reading Black Hawk Down. Wow. I've never read anything like it before. The detail was simply incredible. One criticism I've often heard is that the book doesn't provide enough background on the situation in Somalia.
New Tune at Celera
With President Craig Venter's departure, should the Rule Breaker still hold Celera?
In retrospect, I think that Celera provided a well-needed push to the The Human Genome Project, but I've never really understood how they intended to make money.
When Companies Go Bankrupt
Bill Mann tells it like it is: Investing in bankrupt companies is like setting your own money on fire.
OK UserLand - you sold me on this Radio thingamajig. The check is in the mail! (or rather, my credit card number is floating around on the internet - however that works...) It's on a very short list of software that I've actually been excited about purchasing.
For the curious, other software on the list includes Graphic Converter, BBEdit, and Frontier! (I bought it several years ago when I was a grad student.)
In Wartime, the People Want the Facts
Four months into the war, a review of news coverage reveals that over time Americans are getting fewer facts and more opinion - a narrow range of opinion, at that - from newspapers, magazines and television.
I'm sure that someone more clever than me can think of a witty comment about this story I found in the opinion section of the NY Times.
Personally, I'm a bit wary of stories presented as fact
. I prefer to hear the story from a variety of sources and determine for myself what the real story is - based on my own evaluation of the trustworthiness of each source, and how well their version of the story fits in with everything else I know
.
The Great Divide
Paul Krugman
The Enron scandal, on the other hand, clearly was about us. It told us things about ourselves that we probably should have known, but had managed not to see. I predict that in the years ahead Enron, not Sept. 11, will come to be seen as the greater turning point in U.S. society.
I wouldn't go as far as Krugman, but I think that the importance of Enron's demise is still being underestimated.
To anyone who stumbles across this weblog (all two or maybe even three of you...) - I'm kind of new to this blogging
thing and haven't really found my voice yet. Right now I'm just posting random links to stuff I find interesting.
The weird thing is that I have plenty to say, but it seems hard to actually say it. I don't mean that it's hard in any technical sense - this Radio software is perfectly suited for someone like me - I'm familiar with the technology underneath and interested in how it works, but I really don't want to deal with it on a day to day basis.
Writing in a public space forces me to think about what I think. Even if no one ever reads any of this, the possibility that someone could read it is leading me to question what I think in a way that writing in a journal never would.
Hey, that wasn't too hard...
Let Them Be P.O.W.'s
...the law is clear: We should presume that detainees are P.O.W.'s and then convene a tribunal to sift among them and exclude those who did not fight in the Taliban army.
More on the POW debate.
Justice at Guantánamo
The convention states that any dispute over prisoner of war status must be resolved by acompetent tribunaland that detainees shall remain protected under the convention until their status has been decided.
I seem to have missed this part of the debate. Since there is a mechanism built into the Geneva Convention for dealing with ambiguity in the status of prisoners, it seems reasonable to me that we should follow the mandated procedures.
A P.O.W. Tangle: What the Law Says
Prisoners of war do not have to disclose anything beyond their name, rank, serial number and date of birth. [ ... ] Prisoners of war have to be released at the end of hostilities.
Some background on the Geneva Convention related to the treatment of prisoners of war.
Bush's call on captives
Powell is not merely parroting what his counterparts in in London, Bonn, and The Hague are saying. As a soldier and a commander of soldiers, he knows that the original reason for the United States to sign the Geneva Convention was to win a guarantee that captured US soldiers would be treated properly as prisoners of war.
There's no doubt in my mind that the prisoners should be treated properly; however, designating them as prisoners of war seems like the wrong decision. Upon cessation of hostilities, POWs must be returned to their homes, the idea being that the soldiers themselves are not responsible for the policies of their leaders. The captives may be citizens of various states, but they are not fighting for any particular state.
Archbishop in name only
Joan Vennochi
No political leader could escape ultimate responsibility and penalties for such complicity in wrongdoing. No chief executive could either. Why should Law?
Cardinal Law just doesn't get it. The more he clings to power, the more ordinary Catholics (like me) lose respect for the Church.
Guerrilla group vows to kill US troops
Abu Sayyaf rebels, saying they could quickly draw thousands of fighters into their ranks, are vowing to kill the Americaninvaders, as they term the troops sent to assist the Philippines in its attempt to snuff out the vicious criminal gang.
Town hopes for antismoking trend
Framingham is looking to win converts to its war on smoking, and not just because it is concerned about its neighbors' health.
I don't understand the concept of a smoke-free bar. It's not exactly a health club, right? As for smoke-free restaurants - I think that decision should be left to the owner. (Note to any restaurant owners in the Boston area - if you advertise that you've decided to go smoke-free I'll be happy to patronize your establishment.)
Beginning Perl for Bioinformatics
This book shows biologists with little or no programming experience how to use Perl, the ideal language for biological data analysis. Each chapter focuses on solving a particular problem or class of problems, so you'll finish the book with a solid understanding of Perl basics, a collection of programs for such tasks as parsing BLAST and GenBank, and the skills to tackle more advanced bioinformatics programming.
The changing dynamics of Central Asian terrorism
Washington's success in enlisting the support of Central Asian governments in anti-terrorist initiatives has heightened fears that the security of the region could be compromised. Tamara Makarenko examines the motivation of Central Asian governments and the attitudes of the region's Islamists.
Gary Trudeau's Doonesbury
Mr. Butts and Mr. Jay meet as the sin lobby gins up for another year
.
Butts: Mr. Jay!
Jay: Buttsy!
Butts: Gimme some love, Dude!
Jay: Hey, tough guy. How's it going?
Butts: Great! Just got the new numbers in. Turns out I'm still smokin' over 400,000 folks a year. So how about you? How many did you kill?
Jay: Uh... none.
Butts: None?
Jay: Zippo. The only thing that I caused was 735,000 arrests.
Butts: Well. Okay! You bad! You bad!
Jay: Yeah, right. Next to you I feel like a total fraud...
Personally, I can't stand smoking - whether it's tobacco or marijauna - but as long as you don't blow smoke in my face I don't see why it should be any of my business what you do to your lungs.
