] The first two explosive devices were "completely
] ineffective" at penetrating the armored bulldozer, Dailey
] said.
]
] "The machine had a half-inch steel plate with a layer of
] concrete, and another steel plate," he said. "On the
] front of the machine, there were two rifles mounted where
] he could shoot straight ahead."
]
] At the height of the rampage, the bulldozer demolished or
] heavily damaged a concrete batch plant, the town hall, a
] bank, a library and the local newspaper offices. The
] property of the former mayor, who held office at the time
] of the zoning dispute, was also damaged.
]
] "Every indication is that these were all targeted hits...

WOW... This is almost as cool as the time that guy went through San Diego with a tank!

CNN.com - Armed Bulldozer Rampage

A photoblog of Baghdad. Offers an interesting glimpse of the city. There is a weblog and a small arabic tutorial here. Someone trying to reach out. Looks like a wealthy family.

Pictures in Baghdad

] After 219 years, the University of Georgia could become
] the school with no name.
]
] UGA's already messy divorce from its fund-raising
] organization took a nasty, unexpected twist Thursday: It
] turns out that the university doesn't hold the trademark
] to its own name. Instead, in papers filed last year, the
] University of Georgia Foundation has declared itself the
] owner of all things labeled "University of Georgia."

Man, present Tech students must be loving this...

UGA to loose rights to bulldog.

] Former Vice President Al Gore delivered a major foreign
] policy address in New York City Wednesday, sponsored by
] MoveOn PAC, linking the Abu Ghraib prison abuses to deep
] flaws in President Bush's Iraq policy and calling
] for the resignation of 6 members of the Bush
] Administration team responsible for the failed policy and
] abuse of prisoners in Iraq.

The speech is long. My quotation is just the beginning. The transcript doesn't do it justice like these video clippings. How dare they 2 is my favorite.

How dare the incompetent and willful members of this Bush/Cheney Administration humiliate our nation and our people in the eyes of the world and in the conscience of our own people. How dare they subject us to such dishonor and disgrace. How dare they drag the good name of the United States of America through the mud of Saddam Hussein's torture prison.

Gore ][

] After tens of thousands of generations of human
] evolution, flab has become widespread only in the past 50
] years, and waistlines have ballooned exponentially in the
] last two decades. In 1980, 46 percent of U.S. adults were
] overweight; by 2000, the figure was 64.5 percent: nearly
] a 1 percent annual increase in the ranks of the fat. At
] this rate, by 2040, 100 percent of American adults will
] be overweight and "it may happen more quickly," says John
] Foreyt of Baylor College of Medicine, who spoke at a
] conference organized by Gifford's Oldways group in 2003.
] Foreyt noted that, 20 years ago, he rarely saw 300-pound
] patients; now they are common.

A long article on obesity.

The Way We Eat Now

] Pushed by their government, Chinese firms are shunning
] technological protocols invented abroad and developing
] their own.
]
] They want Chinese-made video discs to run on
] Chinese-invented players. They want Chinese consumers
] linking up with China-developed mobile gadgets.

A very interesting strategy. If Chinese people have Chinese electronics that only communicate using Chinese protocols then incompatibility will limit their exposure to "corrupt" western culture.

CNEWS - Tech News: China seeks to develop its own technology standards

Islamists believe that the Church can go hand in hand with Science.

How do you explain that the need for intellectual objectivity in the pursuit of science exists regardless of culture when the person you are speaking to is operating under a belief system?

Islamists believe that you can stop theft by cutting off people's arms.

How do you explain that they are solving a minor problem by teaching people to resolve differences with extreme violence? How can you show them that this is the origin of other violent tendencies in their culture when your own culture still has the death penalty and doesn't understand it. How can you prove to them that they are frequently dismembering innocent people when they believe their government is run by god and is beyond question.

Islamists don't believe in the separation of Church and State.

How do you explain that god really isn't guiding the hands of their leaders when you can't explain this to people who live in the South Eastern United States?

Why don't we see more essays from Islamists? We read western authors all the time. We know the Islamists are on the internet. Where is the dialog, anyway? I haven't read an Islamist author since the last time I was in Malaysia. Maybe I ought to start reading their paper. I'll bet its online in English.

Even if we had dialog, how do you tackle the problem of absolute beliefs? I can't even do it amongst my friends.

This is not a war that will be won with bullets. Bullets are required, but they are not the answer. This war, like every war, is a war that will be won with words. It will be won in the hearts and minds of people who might consider radical Islam. Like every war.

Are we fighting it? Do we know how?

] Specialized Reading List for "Literary History of the
] Beat Generation," a course taught by Allen Ginsberg
] at Naropa Institute during the summer of 1977.

Many of the texts are linked from the page. Looking for some summer reading?

Ginsberg's Celestial Homework

] Intelligence professionals should always resist the temptation to
] become policy advocates because, being mostly human, intelligence
] analysts want to be right -- and when they are advocates of a strategy,
] they will be tempted to find evidence that proves that policy to be
] correct and ignore evidence that might prove the policy in error.
] Advocating policies impairs the critical faculties. Besides, in a world in
] which opinions are commonplace, there is a rare value in withholding
] opinions.

] The United States' invasion of Iraq was not a great idea.
] Its only virtue was that it was the best available idea
] among a series of even worse ideas.

] This means the goal of reshaping Iraqi society is beyond the reach
] of the United States. Iraq is what it is. The United States, having
] performed the service of removing Saddam Hussein from power,
] cannot reshape a society that has millennia of layers.

I guess William Safire would say that future "revisionist reportage" will blast Stratfor as "ignoble ethnic-racist" "naysayers."

Strategic Forecasting decides to offer an opinion...

] The Bush administration stepped up criticism of Israel
] Thursday for its operations in Gaza, and called on the
] government to exercise restraint.
]
] President Bush said during a Cabinet meeting he was
] seeking clarification from the Israeli government about
] the innocent loss of life in Rafah on Thursday.
]
] "I continue to urge restraint. It is essential that
] people respect innocent life, in order for us to achieve
] peace," Bush said.

CNN.com - U.S. sharpens criticism of Israeli action in Gaza - May 20, 2004