July 26, 2002

If the Government of Canada wants to join the US in investigating corporate dealings, here would be a good place to start. 11:14:20 PM

Today was Sys Admin Day. 11:09:32 PM

Dude, you're getting a bunch of Dells In addition to going into the printer market Dell may also be planning to sell handheld computers. 11:06:58 PM

Target, Target, Target, Target, Not a Target but in a bus with a Target Next time you read about Hamas offering to stop murdering civilians you should consider whom they consider to be a civilian. Newsweek interviewed Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, one of Hamas’ dominant political figures in the Gaza Strip and he said: We always try to limit ourselves to attacking soldiers What do you mean? How does Hamas define civilians? (Newsweek) An Israeli civilian is someone who never took part in the fighting. If he participated in the fighting in the past, years ago, he is not a civilian. That’s why Israelis are still pursuing the Germans who took part in the Holocaust, though some of these people are in their 80s. They are still considered soldiers. So you consider all Israeli men combatants because they at one time or another served in the army and do reserve duty? (Newsweek) Yes. What about Israeli women? (Newsweek) Most Israeli women served in the army. According to these criteria, what percentage of the Israeli population do you consider combatants? (Newsweek) The majority. We choose military targets. If civilians are liable to die, that isn’t a reason to stop the attack. But we don’t set out to kill civilians. So basically nobody in Israeli is a civilian, but even in this sick logic, how does this thug explain attack pizza places and discos full of young teenagers. 10:55:03 PM

Stefan Puffer, a Houston computer security analyst is facing two counts of fraud for demonstrating to a county official and a newspaper reporter that a local court’s wireless network was insecure. Meanwhile Steve Ballmer has described how he and other Microsoft executives used an insecure wireless network he reached in a hotel room to connect to the Microsoft internal network. No suggestion that they will be charged with hacking. I'm sure someone will sue over the general default insecurity of wireless networks which has been described as a "train wreck." 10:44:32 PM

Timing It In his Salon.com Ask the Pilot column, Patrick Smith has this observation about long flights and timing them. I have experienced the JFK-Johannesburg route myself, as a passenger on South African's flight "Springbok" 202 (to borrow their radio call-sign), and can attest to the ride of 14 hours and 46 minutes being less uncomfortable than you'd expect. Annoyingly, a digital timer bolted to the bulkhead and triggered by a retraction of the landing gear gave a minute-by-minute rundown of our flight time. Watching the hours tick by was a torturous proposition, until a certain passenger was bold enough to tape a piece of paper over the clock. On an El Al flight to Israel there was a similar timer and world map with our position on it. What an absolute horror it was to watch the minutes tick by and our little plane icon inch across the ocean. 12:41:26 AM

Microsoft will no longer certify drivers for Windows 98 Second Edition or Windows NT 4.0. While hardware vendors can still produce items such as video cards with non-certified drivers, already some such as ATI say they will not produce uncertified items. Windows 98 SE is only 4 years old, this is a rip-off. 12:29:13 AM

For an architect Eyal Weizman who works with Israeli human rights organization B'tselem is sure clueless. In talking about Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza an article notes: Only by looking at the original architectural plans, he argues, would one register something so simple as the fact that each house is built with its bedrooms innermost, its living quarters facing the vista. Maybe the people living the homes want to avoid being shot while they sleep. 12:21:28 AM

Ha’aretz has a detailed look at the factors that led to the decision to kill Salah Shehadeh, commander of the military wing of Hamas. 12:20:06 AM