Terrorists can not destroy America. Every day we articulate a long war, every time we pretend we are fighting for our survival we not only confer greater power and importance to terrorists than they deserve but we also at the same time act as their main recruiting agent by suggesting that they have the slightest potential for success.

A response to the long war. There are good points and bad points in this.

Early Warning by William M. Arkin - washingtonpost.com

WHAT ARE THE NVCA MODEL VENTURE CAPITAL FINANCING DOCUMENTS?

A "template" set of model legal documents for venture capital investments put together by a group of leading venture capital attorneys.

Has anyone worked with these?

National Venture Capital Association - Model Documents

The "Long War" is the name Washington is using to rebrand the new world conflict, this time against terrorism.

I wonder if they are poking at the worst Wired article ever? Can Wired PLEASE run a Long War issue with an unhappy face on the cover!? Please, Please, Please??? Anyone on speaking terms with Kevin Kelly??

And now, your moment of zen:

"I'm an artillery officer, and I can't fire cannons at the internet," he says, referring to what he sees as one of the key weapons of the modern age.

BBC | Planning the US 'Long War' on terror

Biotechnology’s advance could give malefactors the ability to manipulate life processes--and even affect human behavior.

Big article on BioTerrorism.

Garage Bio Terror - Technology Review

Francis Fukuyama writes:

In our ever-more-polarized political debate, it appears that it is now wrong to ever change your mind, even if empirical evidence from the real world suggests you ought to.

I find this a strange and disturbing conclusion.

Enjoy this clip of Jon Stewart on Larry King, from March 2006.

Why shouldn't I change my mind?

"The question of how economics is taught in France, both at the bottom and at the top of the educational pyramid, is at the heart of the current crisis," said Jean-Pierre Boisivon, director of the Enterprise Institute, a company-financed institute that sponsors the internship program for economics teachers that Scache took part in.

This is the most intelligent analysis of the protests in France that I've seen thus far. The students are doing exactly what they have been taught to do.

Economics, French-style - Europe - International Herald Tribune

A motorist drove through a crowd of students blocking the road in protest of the government’s new youth jobs law Friday, injuring seven people. Furious demonstrators overturned the car and tried to pull out the driver before police intervened.

I watched the cops haul the car away on a flatbed. Protesting today was light and peaceful. Mostly just kids beating on drums.

TorontoSun.com - World - France protest turns violent

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales suggested on Thursday for the first time that the president might have the legal authority to order wiretapping without a warrant on communications between Americans that occur exclusively within the United States.

"I'm not going to rule it out," Mr. Gonzales said.

Gonzales Suggests Legal Basis for Domestic Eavesdropping - New York Times

Given that there are approximately 50 million .COM domains registered, it is indeed true that the low-hanging fruit domain names are overwhelming taken, and your chances of lucking upon an unnoticed available three-letter acronym (TLA) are close to zero, and your only recourse would be to haggle with domain speculators.

Some interesting data about the state of available domains.

Dennis Forbes - DNS is full. Go home.

Stop worrying about Avian flu already!

According to a significant study published in the prestigious British journal Nature recently, the H5N1 bird flu virus is at least two large mutations and two small mutations away from being the next human pandemic virus. This virus attaches deep in the lungs of birds but cannot adhere to the upper respiratory tract of humans. Since we can't transmit the virus to each other, it poses little immediate threat to us.

So why did the "flu hunter," world-renowned Tennessee virologist Robert Webster, say of bird flu on ABC that there are "about even odds at this time for the virus to learn how to transmit human to human," and that "society just can't accept the idea that 50 percent of the population could die . . . I'm sorry if I'm making people a little frightened, but I feel it's my role."

I'm sorry, Dr. Webster, but your role is to track influenza in the test tube, not to enter into broad speculation on national television. By your way of thinking, we should all be either building an escape rocket ship or killing every bird we see before it can kill us.

A Pandemic of Fear