August 6, 2003

Found at http://watch.windsofchange.net/ "Khomeini grandson attacks 'religious dictators'" (Anton La Guardia, The Daily Telegraph, 2003/08/05) "A grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini, the late leader of Iran's Islamic revolution, has denounced the country's religious regime as "the worst dictatorship in the world", reminiscent of the "church during the Dark Ages in Europe". In extraordinary remarks that will outrage hardliners among Teheran's ruling mullahs, Hossein Khomeini almost seemed to invite America to overthrow the clerical regime, as it did to Saddam Hussein in Iraq. ... Mr Khomeini was quoted by the London-based al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper as urging "separating religion from the state and ending the despotic religious regime reminiscent of the rule of the church during the Dark Ages in Europe". He added: "All those who came to power after [the death in 1989 of] my grandfather exploited his name and that of Islam to continue their unfair rule." ... In comments reported by the Star-Ledger newspaper in New Jersey, Mr Khomeini praised the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. "I see day by day that [Iraq] is on the path to improvement. I see that there's security, that the people are happy, that they've been released from suffering," he said." 12:08:11 PM

Study Says Online Kids Do Better In School New Orleans Channel.com, LA - Looks like surfing the w-w-w can help kids with the three-Rs. A study by Michigan State University said children who spend time online appear to perform better in school. The three-year project is looking into how home computer use affects low-income families. Early findings show that children who were introduced to the Internet at home improved their grades and performed better on standardized reading tests. 6:12:49 AM

Computer use may disrupt sleep patterns CANADA.COM - If you want to get a restful night's sleep, make your nightcap a warm glass of milk, not a thrilling video game. Playing a video game suppresses melatonin, the hormone that helps you sleep, say Japanese researchers at Akita University School of Medicine, who monitored male students using computers late at night. 6:00:54 AM

Microsoft Downplays Mail Worm Wired News - Microsoft is warning its customers about a computer worm that exploits a flaw in its Internet Explorer browser. A security bulletin on the company's website says Microsoft started investigating a "mass mailer worm," dubbed W32/Mimail(at)MM, late Friday morning. The worm spreads through e-mail if recipients open an attached zip file — used to condense information so it can move faster over the Internet — then open an HTML file inside the zip file, the bulletin said. 5:57:46 AM