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After Holding Out Hope, Ahn' Chanawongse's Family Officially Notified |
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| Topic: Local Information |
8:52 am EDT, Apr 17, 2003 |
] Waterford - With grace and sorrow, Tan and
] Paul Patchem shared with the world Wednesday the news
] that their son, Marine Cpl. Kemaphoom "Ahn"
] Chanawongse, missing in Iraq since March 23, has been
] confirmed dead.
]
] A DNA match of remains recovered last month determined
] that Chanawongse, 22, was one of six Marines killed
] during a fierce firefight and heavy sandstorm near
] Nasiriyah. His amphibious unit helped secure a bridge
] over the Euphrates River that American forces crossed to
] reach Baghdad. Very sad. We were all hoping he'd be found alive. After Holding Out Hope, Ahn' Chanawongse's Family Officially Notified |
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Salon.com Technology | Despite SARS genetic code, experts puzzled |
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| Topic: Current Events |
11:56 pm EDT, Apr 16, 2003 |
] The newly revealed genetic code of the suspected SARS
] virus still doesn't explain how it arose or how to stop
] the spread of the deadly flu-like illness, federal
] officials said Monday. Salon.com Technology | Despite SARS genetic code, experts puzzled |
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| Topic: Current Events |
11:55 pm EDT, Apr 16, 2003 |
On April 10, a day after Saddam Hussein's regime collapsed and Baghdad was in the hands of U.S. military forces, the National Museum of Iraq was ransacked. In a matter of hours, thousands of Iraqis, some thought to be working for art dealers, clambered into the museum that had been closed to the public for years. After two days of looting, almost all of the museum's 170,000 artifacts were either stolen or damaged. Ancient vases were smashed. Statues were beheaded. In the museum's collection were items from Ur and Uruk, the first city-states, settled around 4000 B.C., including art, jewelry and clay tablets containing cuneiform, considered to be the first examples of writing. The museum also housed giant alabaster and limestone carvings taken from palaces of ancient kings. ... Coalition forces are trying to restore civil order in Baghdad, a city of 4.5 million, and the looting has almost ended. However, the pandemonium and destruction that occurred have cost the Bush administration credibility and trust in Iraq and across the Arab world. Silliman, who's now a law professor at Duke University and executive director of the Center for Law, Ethics and National Security, says the coalition forces may have violated the Fourth Geneva Convention, which calls for an occupying force to protect cultural property. Even if the coalition forces didn't intentionally breach the Geneva Conventions, he says, "the effect [of the looting] will be more in world opinion, than in legal sanctions." It's amazing that we had troops stationed at the Ministry of Oil in Baghdad to protect it. There's no oil in that building, it's purely administrative. Here we have literally thousands of years of culture being systematically disassembled and sold to the highest bidder while Rumsfeld chuckles and makes statements to the effect that boys will be boys. Dolemite The end of civilization |
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| Topic: Miscellaneous |
11:55 pm EDT, Apr 16, 2003 |
This is Very cool. Luminex |
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Wired 11.04: How Hydrogen Can Save America |
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| Topic: Society |
11:55 pm EDT, Apr 16, 2003 |
] Oil has held the United States hostage for a century, but the
] nation can be energy-independent in 10 years. Here's a five-point
] plan to reshape the economy. Wired 11.04: How Hydrogen Can Save America |
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MidAmerican to build Largest Wind Farm in the World |
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| Topic: Technology |
11:54 pm EDT, Apr 16, 2003 |
MidAmerican Energy Company announced today it plans to build 310 megawatts of wind energy generation facilities in Iowa, the largest land-based wind project in the world. The project will consist of 180 to 200 wind turbines, each generating approximately 1.5 to 1.65 megawatts. A site has yet to be selected, but the facilities are expected to be located in the northwest or north-central portion of the state. The project also will require investment in associated energy transmission facilities. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack has stated his goal for Iowa to become energy independent and to develop into a national leader in renewable energy. The governor labeled MidAmericans announcement a huge step toward achieving both goals. Although wind is an intermittent generation source, 310 megawatts of wind capacity provides enough electricity on average to power approximately 85,000 homes. I have challenged regulators, business professionals and utility companies in Iowa to work toward achieving 1,000 megawatts of renewable energy by 2010, which will require the addition of more than 500 megawatts of renewable energy facilities, Vilsack said. I am pleased that MidAmerican is taking a leadership role in that effort. Now that just plain rocks. It's nice to see some good news these days. MidAmerican to build Largest Wind Farm in the World |
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A Social Network Caught in the Web [PDF] |
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| Topic: Technology |
11:54 pm EDT, Apr 16, 2003 |
We present an analysis of Club Nexus, an online community at Stanford University. Through the Nexus site we were able to study a reflection of the real world community structure within the student body. We observed and measured social network phenomena such as the small world effect, clustering, and the strength of weak ties. Using the rich profile data provided by the users we were able to deduce the attributes contributing to the formation of friendships, and to determine how the similarity of users decays as the distance between them in the network increases. This research is a collaboration between HP Labs and Google. It will appear in a future issue of First Monday. A Social Network Caught in the Web [PDF] |
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Defending Against an Internet-based Attack on the Physical World [PDF] |
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| Topic: Technology |
11:54 pm EDT, Apr 16, 2003 |
We discuss the dangers that scalable Internet functionality may present to the real world, focusing on a simple yet impactful attack that we believe may occur quite soon. We offer and critique various solutions to this class of attack and hope to provide a warning to the Internet community of what is currently possible. The attack is, to some degree, a consequence of the availability of private information on the Web, and the increase in the amount of personal information that users must reveal to obtain Web services. Avi Rubin's latest effort; this paper is profiled in today's NYT. Defending Against an Internet-based Attack on the Physical World [PDF] |
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| Topic: Technology |
11:54 pm EDT, Apr 16, 2003 |
Katie Hafner writes about "Net evaders" -- people who steer clear of the Internet and its services despite being in close proximity to connected computers and other avid Internet users. The article is based on survey research by the Pew Trust. As a bit of a "cellular evader" myself, I would submit that this phenomenon is not specific to the Internet. Eluding the Web's Snare |
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| Topic: Current Events |
11:54 pm EDT, Apr 16, 2003 |
] Technological savvy could turn 600 million tons of turkey
] guts and other waste into 4 billion barrels of light
] Texas crude each year
]
] Gory refuse, from a Butterball Turkey plant in Carthage,
] Missouri, will no longer go to waste. Each day 200 tons
] of turkey offal will be carted to the first
] industrial-scale thermal depolymerization plant, recently
] completed in an adjacent lot, and be transformed into
] various useful products, including 600 barrels of light
] oil.
]
] In an industrial park in Philadelphia sits a new machine
] that can change almost anything into oil.
]
] Really.
]
] "This is a solution to three of the biggest problems
] facing mankind," says Brian Appel, chairman and CEO of
] Changing World Technologies, the company that built this
] pilot plant and has just completed its first
] industrial-size installation in Missouri. "This process
] can deal with the world's waste. It can supplement our
] dwindling supplies of oil. And it can slow down global
] warming." Anything into Oil |
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