Reknamorken wrote:
] Heh. Check out this table right under the picture. I think
] it's an interesting comparison.

That Bush speech writer who is making the rounds promoting his book discussed this question on NPR last week. Basically, he claimed that the deal is that the strategy is not related to the severity of the problem, its related to what might work. The administration beleives that diplomacy will work in NK, but it will not work in Iraq.

However, one might observe that the worst case scenario in an Iraq conflict is that he'll lob a biological or chemical weapon into Israel. Israel has good defense systems in place, and its not even clear that Iraq's weapons work.

On the other hand, NK can nuke Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taipei, Hawaii, and parts of Alaska. Defense systems for this do not exist. We know the nukes work. This makes war a much riskier proposition from a purely tactical strategic perspective. More risks on one side of the balance sheet make the other side more attractive.

Conversly, this is why NK is acting so beligerant in response to our cutting off their oil. They want us the beleive that they are crazy enough to actually do something like this, even though they know their country will be destroyed. I don't think anyone really buys it. Its obviously not in their self interest to do this unless they are already about to loose a conventional war.

RE: Hail to the Thief!

] SBC Intellectual Property President Harlie Frost said the
] patent claims are "related to frames" before referring
] more questions to SBC's public relations representatives.

Computerworld's says the rumors are true. SBC is actually claiming that most of the web sites on the Internet are in violation of a patent they have. This patent covers navigation bars like the one to the left of the text you are reading now. I don't think the courts will uphold this... We shall see...

Patently outrageous? SBC claims patent on framelike browsing - Computerworld

] A popular Japanese show turns VC pitches into reality TV.

Maybe that's why all our ISP's failed: we weren't selling noodles out of the back of a pickup in Tokyo!

Sand Hill Road Rules:

] Hillary Rosen said Wednesday she would step down as head of
] the organization at the end of 2003, after a controversial
] five years at its helm.

!!!

RIAA chief to step down - Tech News - CNET.com

] When Al Jazeera expands its Arabic-language programming
] to offer an English-language website and eventually a
] full satellite broadcast, it could dramatically influence
] the way Americans perceive many Mideast issues.

Elonka recommended this article. I'm interested in these developments. I think Americans are too introspective. More intercommunication will encourage both sides to seek peaceful solutions. However, I think this is more important at the individual level then at the level of major news media.

GN Online: Comment: Al Jazeera can change American perspective

] NetLogo is a programmable modeling environment for
] simulating natural and social phenomena. It is
] particularly well suited for modeling complex systems
] developing over time. Modelers can give instructions to
] hundreds or thousands of independent "agents" all
] operating in parallel. This makes it possible to explore
] the connection between the micro-level behavior of
] individuals and the macro-level patterns that emerge from
] the interaction of many individuals.

NetLogo User Manual

] People who hope cloning will resurrect a pet will be
] disappointed, said Duane Kraemer, one of A&M's animal
] cloning experts. Experts say environment is as important
] as genes in determining a cat's personality. And as far
] as appearance, having the same DNA as another calico cat
] doesn't always produce the same coat pattern.

People are paying thousands to have their pet's DNA frozen so they can clone it when the techniques are perfected... Pet Cemetery anyone?

I think that this mostly demonstrates that people still do not understand what cloning is. I don't think this is likely to be commonplace outside of pet breeding circles.

CNN.com - Copied cat hardly resembles original - Jan. 22, 2003

] Pareto claimed that in just about every society, the
] probability of having a certain wealth follows the same
] mathematical relationship for the best-off members of
] society. If you plot a graph of per-capita wealth against
] the number of individuals who are worth each amount, the
] curve is always the same - it has a mathematical form
] called a power law.

More social power laws.

Wealth spawns corruption

] Michelin this week revealed that it has begun fleet
] testing of an RFID transponder embedded in its tires to
] enable them to be tracked electronically.

This is EZpass on steroids. These will essentially allow you to track people's movements in a very scalable and automatic way. RFID does offer the ability to track serial numbers easily without having to worry about damage. I don't see an easy answer that gives the tire industry what it wants without enabling tracking. We'll probably need a law against reading these without permission, which will, of course, work about as well as jay walking regulations....
Hrm...

RFID Journal - Michelin Embeds RFID Tags in Tires

] This is all part of the Big Flip in publishing generally,
] where the old notion of "filter, then publish" is giving
] way to "publish, then filter." There is no need for
] Slashdot's or Kuro5hin's owners to sort the good posts
] from the bad in advance, no need for Blogdex or Daypop to
] pressure people not to post drivel, because lightweight
] filters applied after the fact work better at large scale
] than paying editors to enforce minimum quality in
] advance.

Its often really infuriating to see someone else get a lot of credit for saying something that you've been saying for, well, at least a year and a half now. Someday, hopefully, enough people will be using this site that I can actually go to the music industry and negotiate the proper rights needed to do memestreams with music.

And, BTW, I don't happen to think that Slashdot/Kuro5hin have "solved" the filtering problem. :)

Shirky: The Music Business and the Big Flip