This update involves three changes:

1. When you hit a blogid that does not exist you get an error message.

2. When you click on a link it no longer opens a new window. I know that there are many of you who really liked the way this worked. I'm basically bowing to Nielsen's greater wisdom on this. I will make this configurable later.

3. The thread display trys to eliminate redundant posts.

Happy New Year!

] "The Commission was set up by the British government to
] look at how intellectual property rights might work
] better for poor people and developing countries."

This is covered in the new issue of Technology Review. A view on the IP problem that is not absolutist.

Commission on Intellectual Property Rights

] "In Washington, as in other parts of the country, pay
] phones are disappearing from the landscape."

The death of the fortress phone. A sad day. If these are eliminated this will create a market for anonymous "recallers" that operate like remailers.

Requiem for the Pay Phone (TechNews.com)

] "Ivanescu said the problem isn't so much sensitivity as
] getting clear face scans. The technology works well "as
] long as you can control the lighting, the glare and the
] position of the camera," he said."

Face recognition systems aren't good for scanning crowds.

Wired News: Biometrics Benched for Super Bowl

] "Seeking to mirror its aggressive pursuit of executives
] on Wall Street, the Justice Department is putting a new
] focus on Silicon Valley, pursuing managers of the
] technology boom who are suspected of crossing the line
] into securities fraud and insider trading."

The feds are now hitting Silicon Valley companies. Several familiar names are on the block for problems dating back to the mid 90s.

Finding Wrongs, Through the Prism of Silicon Valley

] "Al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite television channel known
] to broadcast statements from Osama bin Laden (news - web
] sites), will reach out to the West starting in February
] with an English-language Web site. "

Yes!

I've been craving the opportunity to read the Al-Jazeera news stories directly, and not just be limited to excerpted bits from BBC and CNN. I have yet to find a good online translator that would convert Arabic websites into something English-readable. So it'll be great to get Arabic news from the source (or at least closer to the source).

Al-Jazeera to provide English-language Web site

] "Many of the substances prohibited today were legally
] available in the past. This small exposition contains
] samples of the many psychoactive medicines widely
] available during the late-19th century through the
] mid-20th century."

Before Prohibition: Images from the preprohibition era

] "I believe that if those calling for war knew that their
] children were likely to be required to serve and to be placed
] in harm's way — there would be more caution and a greater
] willingness to work with the international community in
] dealing with Iraq. A renewed draft will help bring a
] greater appreciation of the consequences of decisions to go
] to war."

On the one hand, I agree with this sentiment despite stories of cushy positions in the military given to the children of the elite who happen to be drafted. The reason is that Americans are quite used to being arm chair ass kickers. War is a very different matter when your ass is on the line. I think that the draft would cause a significant shift in America's view on this war. For that reason I don't think it will be enacted.

As a pratical matter, you really don't need a bunch of cannon fodder drafties to sit in an airconditioned room and operate smart bombs/robots.

On the other hand, I don't think dealing with Iraq is neccesary, and so I don't think I'd be interested in dieing for it.

Bring Back the Draft

Rattle wrote:

] On the other side, I really hope they are not full of shit,
] and have sucessfuly done it. I really like the idea of the
] history books reading that the first human clone was created
] by a nutty group of loons with dreams of immortality who
] thought that humans were genetically engineered by aliens.

The problem is that this sends a really bad message about cloning. This baby, if real, is probably going to be fucked up. People looking for an excuse to ban genetic engineering (some of whom have reasons that are no more realistic then those of this Alien group) will hold up this poor child as an example of the bad things that happen when you screw with genetics.

It is wrong to take poorly understood genetic techniques and apply them to a real human being. Its mad science, in the English sense. Its science that hurts people.

We are increasingly in an environment where alarmist, reactionary thinking rules the day. Look at the Stock Market. Thats people betting AGAINST future growth in this country. Take Bill Joy, Fukuyama, and the DMCA, throw in 19 terrorists and this Alien group... shaken, not stirred. We may be heading toward a dark time, when certain kinds of thoughts, explorations, and considerations, are simply not allowed in the light of day, and must occur under a shrowd of secrecy regardless of how responsible they are. I kept hearing that theory from everyone at Defcon. I discounted it, but it is a distinct possibility.

RE: Cloned humans, aliens, and history books

Anti-Americanism is growing at a startling rate in South Korea, potentially escalating into a serious problem that could jeopardize the future of the U.S.-Korean alliance.

An interesting look at the sources of Anti-American feelings in South Korea. Essentially, South Korea doesn't feel that it is respected by Americans. It is right. In this case, disrespect will ultimately cost the Americans a lot.

I think that the conclusions in this article are a little one sided. Americans could benefit from a better understanding of South Korea, too. I think many Americans mistake a number of Korean products as being Japaneese (Ask a random friend what country Samsung is from). Furthermore, products that have been specifically marketed as Korean have been low end products like Kia cars. Americans tend to respect countries that produce technology that they preceive as being superior in some ways to domestic counterparts. If there was an effort to illustrate some of the high end, high quality consumer products that Americans use that come from South Korea this would likely raise South Korea's profile in this country. This would make racial slurs and similar banter on television a lot less popular.

I'll also add that this article has the undertones of strategic psy-ops and is interesting from that perspective as well.

Anti-Americanism in Korea [PDF]