This is absolutely the driest humor I have ever come across. Two parts, slightly dated to winter of last year but spot on humor. Don't miss the analysis of the instabilities inherent in The Shire's pipe-weed based economy in Part 1.

] Chomsky: Is there any kind of idea that men should live
] in peace with the Orcs?
]
]
] Zinn: Think of the scenes in the prologue with all the
] arrows hitting these thousands of Orcs. We're supposed to
] think that this is a good thing.
]
]
] Chomsky: I think this is a tragedy, this story. Because
] it's about two cultures. And poor leadership. It's a
] human tragedy, and an Orcish tragedy.

Unused Audio Commentary By Howard Zinn & Noam Chomsky, Recorded Summer, 2002, for The Fellowship of the Ring (Platinum Series Extended Edition) DVD, Part Two

] Talk Time: Val McDermid
]
]
] Crime author Val McDermid's book, The Distant Echo, is
] out now
]
]
] Interviewed by Hamish Mackintosh
]
] Thursday August 7, 2003
]
] The Guardian
]
]
] Do you keep up with advances in computer profiling and
] databasing? I try to stay as up to date as I can but I
] tend to rely on carbon sources rather than silicon. It is
] much better to talk to the people who do this kind of
] stuff as they tell you what you want to know, but also
] stuff you didn't realise you wanted to know! The science
] is changing very quickly. When I wrote Killing The
] Shadows, the geographic profiling software was only being
] beta tested and wasn't being used in live situations.
] When the book came out, people were beginning to trial it
] in live situations. By last year's Washington sniper
] case, the FBI called upon Dr Kim Rossmo, the guy who
] developed the system I use in my book.
]
] How involved are you in running your site? I have a
] webmistress who takes care of all the practical stuff -
] it could eat up my entire life if I did it myself. She's
] known me since I was 18 so she knows how I want to come
] across. We do newsletters and I'm pretty active on the
] forum, which has become its own little discussion group.
] I sometimes want to bang on the computer screen and shout
] "never mind about Jeffrey Deaver and Michael

Guardian Unlimited | Online | Talk Time: Val McDermid

Last week, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in New Mexico finished testing the system on human volunteers. The Air Force now wants to use this Active Denial Technology (ADT), which it says is non-lethal, for peacekeeping or riot control at "relatively long range" - possibly from low-flying aircraft.

Microwave beam weapon to disperse crowds (New Scientist)