The conclusion the court came to is that, based on medical testimony and Terri’s CAT scan, her cerebral cortex has basically turned to liquid. The cerebral cortex is the seat of all our higher brain functions. Without a cerebral cortex, it is impossible for a human being to experience thought, emotions, consciousness, pain, pleasure, or anything at all; nor, barring a miracle, is it possible for a patient lacking a cerebral cortex to recover.

We have American solders dying in a foreign country, Iran buying nuclear technology from our "ally" Pakistan, strained relations at best with most of the European community, and our representives are wasting legislative time grandstanding for the right-to-lifers? Regardless of your opinion on euthanasia, I am disgusted with both parties for dragging a tragic, JUDICIAL matter into Congress.

Schiavoct CAT Scan Image JPEG Image, 400x265 pixels)

[From the Mission Statement]
The best approach to take in these situtations is to do the right things directly next to the wrong thing, where all can clearly see.

Regardless of your opinion about Interz0ne, I glad that for those who have problems have decided to act constructively instead of simply bitching.

A group has organized an event for people who are intown for only a short time to meet, relax and discuss their projects in a free and open enviroment. These types of exchange are *always* important and should encouraged and supported. Period.

I am however kind of surprised that my name appears on the Outerz0ne page, as I had nothing to do with it. I plan to split the time that I have visting my friends, and not really care about the politics of it all. If I have a room to do that instead of a smokey bar or a public lounge then that's cool.

Outerz0ne 2005!

cerkit wrote:
] Herein a US Marine tells a slightly different tale about how
] our good buddy Saddam was captured. Whats striking to me is
] how much more likely it is, that this is what happened.

Hmmmm. You have a former marine of a certain ethnicity being interviewed by reporters in his home country. He makes claims and offers no specifics. What unit was he in? What was the name of the soldier who died? Why didn't Saddam shoot himself? Sounds like a former marine grandstanding to his neighbors.

] And that he was taken prisoner no-harm-no-foul, in the middle of a
]large campaign that spanned the entire region (of which he was the
]leader).

Saddam was hardly leading the war against the US. Around May 2003 or so, the 2nd Gulf War became the Iraqi Civil war. After that its just the Sunni's killing the Shiites and us, with the Kurds hoping no one decides to head north.

In Fact, the capture probably went like this...

Saddam: You're not one of my Republican Guards... who are you?
Ash: Who wants to known?
Saddam: I am Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq, Lord of Arabia and leader of its peoples.
Ash: Well hello Mister Fancypants! Well I've got news for you pal, you ain't leadin' but two things: Jack an shit... and Jack just left town.

RE: What makes sense?

] ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Abdul Qadeer Khan, the disgraced
] scientist dubbed the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb,
] provided Iran with centrifuges that can be used to purify
] uranium for nuclear weapons, the Pakistani government
] said on Thursday.

Disgraced. Pardoned for all crimes and embraced by the Pakistani "President." It's all relative really.

] "He has given centrifuges to Iran, but the government was
] in no way involved in this," Pakistani Information
] Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told Reuters.

As whole, I tend to disbelieve anything an Information Minister says.

Former Iraqi Information Minister Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf: We are killing the Americans left and right! The street run red with their blood. [US tank appears in background]

Pakistani 'Hero' gave centrifuges to Iran

] Just some of the themes you'll find reflected in this
] year's ETech program are: The grand vision of web
] services is morphing into the more useful--and
] profitable--goals of providing alternate interfaces to
] data and services. Social networking services are groping
] for more dimensions of value. Wireless meshes made of
] small devices continue to accelerate decentralization.
] Mobile devices of many forms and functions now inhabit
] desktops, pockets, and cars. Hackers have discovered the
] joys of cracking open devices to prod and mod, using
] cheap, off-the-shelf technology.

Conference Schedule for E-Tech 2005. I am really loooking forward to several talks, and reconnecting with people that I met at FOO Camp. I will be presenting during the Maker's Faire Wednesday Night.

However I am more and more confused about this conference the more I think about it. I've talked with Decius and we both agree: This conference seems to have an identity crisis. Who is their target audience? I'm not sure I know. With an extremely heavy price tag ($1250 for early-bird special), it is out of reach to all except people sent by their companies. My feel is the conference is aimed at getting corporate support/adoption of new waves in technology. Certainly putting together a showcase of possible "the next thing"s and presenting them is one way. But you alienate all your small/Hobbyist OSS programmers/researchers who *are* developing the next thing. If you are running a conference on "Emerging technology," who do you want as your audience? Hackers or Suits (or hackers with a picture of a suit printed on a black T-shirt)?

Take Blogging for example. It is largely a grassroots effort. IBM didn't embrace social networking and help drive it into the mainstream. While corporate support can certainly drive technological adoption of practices or standards, it is not required. In fact the road to hell is paved with corporate pushed bullshit "technologies." So I guess the question isn't who is the conference aimed at, but rather what do the organizers hope to accomplish?

If the point is to make money, this will certainly do it. However, having met and talked with several O'Reilly folks, my impression is profit doesn't drive all their actions (which is probably why I like them so much and want to do more with them in the future). They are recognized leaders in the publishing/media space, and I doubt this conference provides a massive amount of revenue for them (At least in my understanding, which is limited).

So what is the point? Major adoption of a technology by a corporation isn't necessary, and in fact can have the opposit effect. In my experience (and I have never really worked for a large company), large companies (certainly the ones that will drop $1200+ to send an employee somewhere) don't jump on the bandwagon of a technology, especially a OSS technology they didn't develope, over... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference 2005

] I'm not sure we should project western ideals and morals upon
] other groups of people.

I agree, and that is exactly my point. How was the war sold to the American people? Three parts really:

1- Dangerous madman who can launch WMDs in 45 minutes.
2- UN Violations
3- Lack of Women's rights, lack of democratic government, lack civil liberties and the what not.

The deafening silence left by the withdrawl of all WMD searchs pretty much kills issue one as reasonable. UN Violations are something we routinely overlook when it suits us, just as it served our interests to make such a stand over them on Iraq. All that was left was 3, and the news coming from Iraq recently seems to show those are fading quickly. How much the mullas can sway the government is unknown, but this is not going to be the Island of Democrasy that Bush rallied on.

Would some one please explain to me why we spent 1,417 American lives and $200+ billion to tranform a secular country with a contained dictator into a country that will most likely have constitution based on Islamic law?

RE: Leading Shiite Clerics Pushing Islamic Constitution in Iraq

] The clerics generally agree that the constitution must
] ensure that no laws passed by the state contradict a
] basic understanding of Shariah as laid out in the Koran.
] Women should not be treated as the equals of men in
] matters of marriage, divorce and family inheritance, they
] say. Nor should men be prevented from having multiple
] wives, they add.
]
] One tenet of Shariah mandates that in dividing family
] property, male children get twice as much as female
] children.
]
] "We don't want to see equality between men and women
] because according to Islamic law, men should have double
] of women," said Muhammad Kuraidy, a spokesman for
] Ayatollah Yacoubi. "This is written in the Koran and
] according to God."

Ahh yes, Democracy, so long as it doesn't violate Islamic law. You think Bush's "mandate from the people" has caused some aggressive policy proposals? This 3 page NYTs article discusses what the leading (and very conservative) Shiite Ayatollahs plan to do with their "mandate," and it has very little to do with freedom or equality. It haseverything to do with as Islamic of a state is possible. Try this on for size:

The leading Shiite clerics say they have no intention of taking executive office and following the Iranian model of wilayat al-faqih, or direct governance by religious scholars. But the clerics also say the Shiite politicians ultimately answer to them, and that the top religious leaders, collectively known as the marjaiya, will shape the constitution through the politicians.

Dance my puppets Dance!

Leading Shiite Clerics Pushing Islamic Constitution in Iraq

] Washington, DC %u2013 People For the American Way
] Foundation (PFAWF) President Ralph G. Neas said today
] that a Justice Department demand for nearly $400,000 in
] fees for a FOIA request regarding the decision to seal
] the records of immigrants detained in the wake of the
] 9-11 terrorist attacks is outrageous, and another in a
] series of strategies to deny access to public
] information.
]
] %u201CApparently, they%u2019ve taken the %u2018free%u2019
] out of %u2018Freedom of Information.%u2019 If you want to
] learn about secret trials carried out by your government
] with your money, you%u2019re going to need deep
] pockets,%u201D said Neas.

FOIA Inquiry? That will be $400,000 please

] Update 21-Jan-2005: Finally got an email from Sanborn
] "Dear John, This is not the way, Jim"
] However, for me, there are just too many coincidental
] things for this solution to be wrong... It just ties
] together so perfectly, so beautifully...

I remember reading this page a few months back and thinking it was a little too crazy. Oh course, Elonka is a hell of alot smarter than I, and maybe this type of stuff makes sense. This failed attempted just enforces a quote the Author Graham Handcock once wrote:

"People looking hard enough will find Shakespeare in the leaves of trees"

'Solution' to part 4 confirmed as wrong by Sanborn

] Isn't it Cobb County, rather than DeKalb County? I heard the
] story on NPR this evening and the federal court is in DeKalb
] County, I believe, but the case involved the school board in
] Cobb County.

Yes it is, and many memestreams, such as Palindrome, Janelane, and myself are all wonderful products of the public schools of Cobb County.

Even when I was in Middle School in the early to mid 90s, I remember crazy policies trying to silence evolution (though they didn't try that shit in HS).

6th grade science was the first time I ever heard about Evolution, and I remember the teacher perfacing it with "Today I'm going to talk with you about something, but you are not allowed to ask me questions about the material, because I am not allowed to answer them..." And in that lesson she didn't even come close to talking about Man-from-apes. She stuck with the "classic" examples of evolution, like the fossil record of horses evolving a hoof.

RE: DeKalb County Schools must remove evolution stickers...