December 3, 2002

Writing in Ha’aretz, Akiva Eldar states that any Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank would require an international force to patrol the area and prevent terror attacks on Israelis. He states that Canada is preparing a framework for such a mission. The main problem is that any such mission would become a terror target. How long would Americans or Canadians wish to have troops or police in the Palestinian areas if they are being repeatedly attacked? 12:40:15 AM

Salon.com has an article on why books are so expensive. It's not the printing costs, through the price of paper has risen, rather the costs of editing, distributing, and promoting books and paying for the returns. A similar discussion in regards to science fiction and fantasy novels occurred in rec.arts.sf.written several years ago. Both the article and the discussion propose printing books on demand as a way of eliminating returns and reducing inventory overhead. Electronic books are also a possibility once more advanced portable ebook readers are become cheap and readily available. 12:23:56 AM