Wednesday, April 09, 2003

Keys to Success  Good Review of Hotel booking sites. "Do more hotel booking sites mean better deals for consumers? Not necessarily. Hotel bargains on the Internet are getting hotter by the week." The Washington Post 12:16:29 PM

From The ResourseShelf: Web Search--Yahoo Preview the New Yahoo Search 11 Key Points: 1) The underlying database content hasn't changed. Materials comes from Google (web pages) and Yahoo (directory). Remember, Inktomi is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yahoo so don't be surprised if the underlying web database content moves away from Google. 2) Advanced Interface Looks Similar to Google's. Nice to see several domain limiting options actually enumerated. You will probably also notice that the default database is the web database. The directory (the Yahoo original) is still available but continues to take a reduced role. 3) Interface is clean. Tabs to search 6 different databases (Web, Directory, News, Yellow Pages, Images, Maps). 4) The image database is new. Results are identical to Google's Image Search. 5) Results pages list 20 hits (default) in addition to sponsor matches. Also, a refine search box at the BOTTOM of the page offers a second "box" that will automatically "Not" terms. 6) One result per domain is listed. Be careful with this don't disregard the "more results from this site" link. No option is available in the preferences menu to change this. 7) Some pages have "cached copies", others do not. For example, this search for the term "chicago". Results 1 and 2 don't have cached copies but result 3 does. Results 5 and 7 do not. 8) Spell check is available. 9) Language limits are available on the preference page. 10) Yellow Page search is U.S. only. It would also be nice to have a White Pages search option. 11) ResearchBuzz Also Includes Info on Some Special Yahoo Syntax. See Also: More from Search Day and News.Com 12:10:35 PM

This is AdLand, a commercial-laden delirium of heaven and hell for advertising addicts 'round the world- access to over 10025 TV commercials in our mighty ad archive, including 25 comprehensive years of Super Bowl commercials. 11:28:59 AM

The wonderful gay world of Disney A new guidebook created for and by gay and lesbian fans of the Disney theme parks offers useful travel tips, gossipy behind-the-scenes tidbits, and a catty and comprehensive look at the attractions--and all that gay subtext 11:25:07 AM

From Rick Klau: Is Your Television Watching You?. Here's a nice article for all of you interested in privacy issues. It turns out that under the beloved Partiot Act, the government can now demand from non-cable companies such as TiVo or DirecTV a list of everything you've watched on your TV - and those companies will be forbidden from telling you that the information has been requested. So, not only can they find out what books you've been checking out of the library, they can also see what sort of subversive programs you've been watching. I'm sure the "Joe Millionaire" watchers are probably considered upstanding Americans, but I'm not sure about all you PBS viewers... [Techdirt] Whoa. 11:21:00 AM

Russell & Tate: We get yo' money! Advertising our firm on Saturday Night Live has been the best thing we ever did. At the law firm of Russell & Tate, we strive to provide the best representation for our clients that money can buy. Our record speaks for itself - and our resumes show just how good we are. Have you been injured recently? Do you think you are entitled to some money? If so, then Russell & Tate can help you. 11:16:43 AM

Implementing Visicalc: Bob Frankston's account This is my long-delayed attempt at writing about my experience in writing VisiCalc and the many design decisions that we made along the way. But even after nearly a quarter century I remember many of the details though maybe my memories have evolved. 10:22:24 AM

The True Gentleman The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others, rather than his own; and who appears well in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe. - John Walter Wayland (Virginia 1899) 10:19:07 AM

"The Definition of a Gentleman" by Cardinal Newman, from The Idea of a University, a series of lectures given in Ireland, 1852. Hence it is that it is almost a definition of a gentleman to say that he is one who never inflicts pain. This description is both refined and, as far as it goes, accurate. He is mainly occupied in merely removing the obstacles which hinder the free and unembarrassed action of those about him; and he concurs with their movements rather than takes the initiative himself. His benefits may be considered as parallel to what are called comforts or conveniences in arrangements of a personal nature; like an easy chair or a good fire, which do their part in dispelling cold and fatigue, though nature provides both means of rest and animal heat without them. The true gentleman in like manner carefully avoids whatever may cause a jar or a jolt in the minds of those with whom he is cast --- all clashing of opinion, or collision of feeling, all restraint, or suspicion, or gloom, or resentment; his great concern being to make every one at his ease and at home. He has his eyes on all his company; he is tender towards the bashful, gentle towards the distant, and merciful towards the absurd; he can recollect to whom he is speaking; he guards against unseasonable allusions, or topics which may irritate; he is seldom prominent in conversation, and never wearisome. He makes light of favors while he does them, and seems to be receiving when he is conferring. He never speaks of himself except when compelled, never defends himself by a mere retort; he has no ears for slander or gossip, is scrupulous in imputing motives to those who interfere with him, and interprets everything for the best. He is never mean or little in his disputes, never takes unfair advantage, never mistakes personalities or sharp saying for arguments, or insinuates evil which he dare not say out. From a long-sighted prudence, he observes the maxim of the ancient sage, that we should ever conduct ourselves towards our enemy as if he were one day to be our friend. He has too much good sense to be affronted at insults, he is too well employed to remember injuries, and too indolent to bear malice. He is patient, forbearing, and resigned, on philosophical principles; he submits to pain, because it is inevitable, to bereavement, because it is irreparable, and to death, because it is his destiny. If he engages in controversy of any kind, his disciplined intellect preserves him from the blundering discourtesy of better, perhaps, but less educated minds; who, like blunt weapons, tear and hack instead of cutting clean, who mistake the point in argument, waste their strength on trifles, misconceive their adversary, and leave the question more involved than they find it. He may be right or wrong in his opinion, but he is too clear-headed to be unjust; he is as simple as he is forcible, and as brief as he is decisive. Nowhere shall we find greater candor, consideration, indulgence: he throws himself into the minds of his opponents, he accounts for their mistakes. He knows the weakness of human reason as well as its strength, its province and its limits. If he be an unbeliever, he will be too profound and large-minded to ridicule religion or to act against it; he is too wise to be a dogmatist or fanatic in his infidelity. He respects piety and devotion; he even supports institutions as venerable, beautiful, or useful, to which he does not assent; he honors the ministers of religion, and it contents him to decline its mysteries without assailing or denouncing them. He is a friend of religious toleration, and that, not only because his philosophy has taught him to look on all forms of faith with an impartial eye, but also from the gentleness and effeminacy of feeling, which is the attendant on civilization. 10:16:17 AM

10:11:21 AM    

THE BEST OF 'COMICAL ALI' Dubbed Comical Ali by some British newspapers, the Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf has become a cult figure because of his colourful language and wild claims. With a grinning face and wild gesticulations, he is the man charged with giving the Iraqi side of the story. Here are a selection of some of his quotes: "We will push those crooks, those mercenaries back into the swamp" - Al-Sahhaf makes his debut as the Coalition launches its first bombing raids. On an air attack on Najaf, he said: "What they say about a breakthrough [in Najaf] is completely an illusion. They are sending their warplanes to fly very low in order to have vibrations on these sacred places . . . they are trying to crack the buildings by flying low over them." Early in the campaign, al-Sahhaf accused the Allies of booby-trapping pencils. "The authority of the civil defence ... issued a warning to the civilian population not to pick up any of those pencils because they are booby traps," he said. He added that British and American forces were "immoral mercenaries" and "war criminals". He continued: "I am not talking about the American people and the British people. I am talking about those mercenaries. ... They have started throwing those pencils, but they are not pencils, they are booby traps to kill the children." 'A despicable creature' At one point in the campaign, Al-Sahaf said the Iraqis had "shot down a lot of those cruise missiles" and said the war's impact was "trivial." "I can assure you that those villains will recognize, will discover in appropriate time in the future how stupid they are and how they are pretending things which have never taken place," he added. And he has a low opinion of US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld. A "crook" and "the most despicable creature" is how he describes him. He was dismissive of footage shown by several media outlets showing American troops defeating Republican Guard units on the outskirts of Baghdad: "These images are not the suburbs of Baghdad," he said. "From what I glimpsed, these gardens with rows of palm trees on the side, which you saw in the images, are located in the south of Abu Ghreib, where we have surrounded the Americans and British." After the Americans seized Saddam Airport and TV cameras were allowed in, al-Sahhaf continued to deny the reports: "We butchered the force present at the airport," he said. 'We are destroying them' Al-Sahhaf perhaps saved his best performance for the moment American tanks rolled into Baghdad. "There is no presence of American infidels in the city of Baghdad," he declared to journalists on the roof of the Palestine Hotel as gunfire echoed across the city and tanks fired from the banks of the Tigris just a few hundred yards away. As the audience of bemused reporters pointed out the fierce firefight across the river, he continued: "There is no presence of the American columns in the city of Baghdad at all. We besieged them and we killed most of them." "Today, the tide has turned,'' he continued confidently. "We are destroying them." And after an American tank shell hit the hotel, killing two cameramen, he moved to reassure the world's press corps. "We are not afraid," he proclaimed, adding paternally "And don't you be afraid". Asked on Tuesday whether Iraqi soldiers should surrender, he said: "They [the Americans] are going to surrender or be burned in their tanks. They will surrender, it is they who will surrender."

Last Updated: 06:44 UK, Wednesday April 09, 2003

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