Chris Hall, an old friend of mine, who now teaches spacecraft design at Virginia Tech, posted a reply to my post in his own blog, which then got some interesting replies that I also think are worth reading. For anyone who'd like to check it out, please go to:

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Update: Whoops, sorry, the original URL I posted was incorrect, since I linked to the comments but not to his original post. The complete thread can be seen here:

http://www.aoe.vt.edu/~cdhall/Space/archives/001276.html

RE: Newt Gingrich on 'Runaway Courts'

] Grand Cayman was submerged in a 15- to 20-foot tidal
] surge as the storm passed yesterday. The island was for a
] time split into two, as the ocean swept across the west
] coast at Seven Mile Beach
 . . .
] . . . power and telephone service remains out, and
] more than half the island's buildings lost their roofs as
] the hurricane swept through.
 . . .
] The winds of the Category 5 hurricane ripped homes apart
] like ``matchsticks,''
  . . .
] Cars and trucks floated away like toys during the storm
] surge

I've been to the Caymans. It's a tiny tiny country, like a Gilligan's Island with less jungle -- just tiny towns of shops and banks. It had no mountains that I recall -- nearly everything is beach, or damn close to a beach. The entire country is smaller in area than New York City. It's easy to see how a massive hurricane would just charge through and flood *everything*. A big wave washing over the entire island.

Ouch.

Cayman Islands Devastated by Hurricane Ivan

] MOSCOW (Reuters) - A heavily armed gang has seized up to
] 400 hostages at a Russian school near Chechnya and
] threatened to shoot dead 50 children for any one of their
] comrades killed, a senior local official says.

My heart goes out to the hostages and their families. What a nightmare.

I try to imagine what the reaction would be in this country to something like this. If Al Qaeda or some other group decided to storm a school and hold hundreds of kids hostage, while demanding some sort of political change. The rage would be incomprehensible.

Barbarians.

Schoolchildren Held Hostage in Russia

Decius wrote:
] ] "What they saw were clear pictures of these young kids
] ] rioting. Chaos in their city." Next thing he knew,
] ] Richard Nixon had swept to presidential victory on the
] ] wings of a commercial proclaiming - above those
] ] selfsame pictures - that "the first civil right of
] ] every American is to be free from domestic violence."
]
] An interesting historical perspective

I heartily agree, and also enjoyed this quote:

] History never truly repeats itself. Prognostication is inherently
] unreliable. But what history can provide is a set of guidelines
] to wisdom -- guidelines many protesters refuse even to consider.
] Not all protesters. But enough protesters. All it takes is a few
] people to begin a chain reaction that could lead to disaster.

- Elonka

RE: The Village Voice: Features: Get Mad. Act Out. Re-Elect George Bush. by Rick Perlstein

] KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal's embattled government has
] offered to meet a demand by Maoist rebels to end their
] blockade of the capital after the guerrillas set off two
] bombs in and around Kathmandu.

During my travels, I spent a great deal of time in Kathmandu. It was a peaceful city when I was there. Not the cleanest place in the world, but full of beautiful architecture and living history, with Buddhist monks everywhere, and a population so gentle and committed to peace that they wouldn't even force a cow out of the road if it happened to be blocking traffic. They'd just let it stand there, chewing its cud, while cars weaved around it in the heart of the city.

It saddens me to hear of violence there.

Explosions in Kathmandu

Rattle wrote:
] On CNN there was some guy yelling about balloons the entire
] time after the Kerry acceptance speech. "Keep coming
] baloons, No confetti yet, Alright go balloons. All baloons.
] Come on guys lets move it, Jesus, we need more balloons. God
] damnit. Go confetti. I want more balloons. What happened to
] all the balloons. What's happening balloons there aren't. What
] the fuck are you guys doing up there? We want more baloons
] coming down, more baloons." It went on for at least a
] good three or four minutes. Unbelievable. Update: It
] was the director of the DNC..

I watched Kerry's speech and the balloon debacle from the CNN monitors at the airport, while I was traveling to Def Con. It had me and some others in the waiting area laughing out loud.

Regarding Kerry's speech, I tried to listen to it with an open mind. He did have a couple good lines, like "The future belongs to freedom, not to fear." However, many of the slams he took at Bush made me uncomfortable, or were just so completely illogical as to sound bizarre. For example, when Kerry was saying that we needed a President who could back up words with action... Huh? Who the hell can possibly claim that Bush is an action-less President? It's his actions that have been causing all the controversy!

Anyway, the balloon stuff at the end was hilarious. It made me wonder if the headlines about Kerry's speech the next day, instead of bannering, "Kerry says the future belongs to freedom" would be "Where are the damn balloons??" Heh.

I also wonder if any of the political cartoonists picked up on it. Especially since one of Kerry's recurring mottos is "Help is on the way", there'd be a great cartoon there with the balloons all stuck in a net, and a handiman coming up with a pair of scissors: "Help is on the way." ;)

CNN: Kerry and the Balloons

] A new hostage crisis erupted in Iraq Wednesday just a day
] after a kidnapped Filipino was freed, with guerrillas
] saying they had seized three Indians, two Kenyans and an
] Egyptian and threatening to kill them one by one.
]
] In video footage given to Arabic satellite channel Al
] Arabiya, masked gunmen said they would behead the
] captives unless the Kuwaiti company they worked for
] pulled out of Iraq.
]
] "We announce we have captured two Kenyans, three Indians
] and one Egyptian. We tell the company to withdraw and
] close its offices in Iraq," said one of the masked men,
] from a group calling itself the "Black Banners."
]
] The guerrillas also demanded that India, Kenya and Egypt
] withdraw their citizens from Iraq. None of the three
] countries are part of the U.S.-led military coalition in
] Iraq but many of their nationals work as drivers and
] contractors.

(sigh)

I am happy for the Filipino hostage who was released, and I rejoice for his family, even as at the same time I still believe that the Philippine government made the wrong decision. All that it did was to reinforce to the Iraqi criminal element that hostages have value. It has taught them that it's more powerful to capture someone and drag things out through the media, making threats, and occasionally beheading someone, than it is to simply shoot someone on the street.

Where does it stop? As absurd as it sounds, will people in the tech scene start adopting these tactics? Kidnap a software executive and threaten to execute him unless the RIAA changes its policies? Display an image of a blindfolded Microsoft employee on a website and demand that the company shut down?

The Philippines set a terrifying example, and I despair about where this is going to lead. :/

Another Iraq Hostage Crisis

] There's a new security threat at some of the nation's
] military bases -- and it looks uncannily like a can
] of Coke. Specially rigged Coke cans, part of a summer
] promotion, contain cell phones and global positioning
] chips.

When I first heard this, I thought, "Yeah sure, another hoax." But it's real, and is even covered on the official Coke site, which links to:
http://www.unexpectedsummer.com/lowband.html

Not an Urban Legend: Coke Cans with GPS chips

] The Philippines' hasty exit from Iraq to meet the demands
] of terrorists threatening to behead a Filipino contract
] worker held hostage received near universal condemnation
] in the world press this week.

I'm reminded of the quote by Winston Churchill:

"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last."

Feeding the Crocodile: Why Manila Caved to Terrorist Demands

] By Ibtissam Al-Bassam
]
] Although I am aware that my words of comfort will not
] lessen your grief and our rage and anger will not make
] your pain and burden any lighter, I want you to know that
] Saudis, near and far, mourn with you the loss of your
] husband Mr. Paul Johnson.

Palestine Chronicle - Open Letter to Mrs. Paul Johnson