August 28, 2002

The Israeli military is taking actions to ensure that Rachel's Tomb; the burial site of the biblical matriarch Rachael is included in any security perimeter around the city of the Jerusalem. Essentially the third-most important Jewish religious site is being annexed by Israel. This should have been done immediately in 1967, but better late than never. 11:55:19 PM

Another NY Times story : Following up on stories of a cat living in Fulton Street subway station for at least five years, a Times reporter spied the cat and later the woman who regularly feed it. In novel The Book of Night With Moon, Diane Duane shows how a team of cat wizards are responsible for maintaining a series of inter-dimensional portals in the New York train and subway system. Maybe she was on to something? 11:45:26 PM

The NY Times pans (reg. required) DataPlay music discs, which are smaller, more expensive, and more heavily copy protected than CDs. 11:44:26 PM

The Saudi government has realised that with 15 out of 19 9/11 hijackers from their country and a lack of support for action against Iraq they are becoming the enemy in the eyes of the American people (NY Times - reg required) Their solution: TV ads. How about actually doing something to improve relations by cracking down on terrorism and changing the conditions within Saudi Arabia that lead to a disgruntled population. 11:32:10 PM

If anyone reads the novel The Shiva Option by David Weber and Steve White and thinks that it reads like a game (a very long one!), they are right. The novel and its prequels, Crusade, In Death Ground and chronologically later but released earlier sequel, Insurrection are based on scenario books from the Starfire gaming universe. The book also reads a lot like post-Midway World War 2 in the Pacific. A few more close battles but soon it’s all over but the final bombing. Given what the book is based on I wonder if that could have been avoided. 12:31:36 AM

TheStreet.com discusses Canada as a cheap vacation destination. 12:07:52 AM