] In presence of ten foreign ministers from nations with UN
] Security Council seats and many other diplomatic
] missions, UN weapons inspectors declared that they have
] found nothing valuable in Iraq.
] . . .
] The two men told along with about thirty minutes that
] Iraq’s cooperation was constructive in al fields.

So interesting to hear both what the Iraq paper says, and what it *doesn't* say, at the same time. ;)

Iraq Daily Newspaper: Inspectors Affirm Iraq Void of Banned Weapons

] According to a report published today in the journal
] Nature, people are nearly twice as likely to lean right
] instead of left when puckering up.

Kissing the Right Way

] Solid majorities in key European countries think that
] greed is our motive for wanting to depose Saddam Hussein
] . . .
] Although Americans are divided on the wisdom of an
] invasion, only 22 percent of us subscribe to the cynical
] view that it's just about oil.
] . . .
] This doesn't mean that oil is entirely irrelevant to the
] subject of Iraq. It does matter in one very important way:
] Oil revenues make Saddam Hussein much more dangerous than
] your run-of-the-mill dictator, because they give him the
] ability to build not only palaces but also top-of-the-line
] weapons of mass destruction.

A good op-ed piece from the New York Times, discussing the oil part of the war equation.

A War for Oil? Not This Time

] A national "do-not-call" list intended to help consumers
] block unwanted telemarketing calls is moving closer to
] becoming reality and lawmakers say it will likely go into
] effect this year

Please please please, can we also have a national "Do Not Email" list??

House OKs National 'Do Not Call' List

Read Carefully

I love the part about the 128,000 troops. :)

404 - Cannot Find Weapons of Mass Destruction

] Mr. Abdullah told German investigators that he lived with
] Mr. bin al-Shibh in a Qaeda camp outside Kandahar,
] Afghanistan, in early 2000. According to the
] investigators, Hamburg cell members, including Mr. bin
] al-Shibh and Mr. Atta, traveled to Afghanistan in late
] 1999 and early 2000 to solidify plans for the Sept. 11
] attacks the next year.
]
] Mr. Abdullah has provided a detailed description of life
] in a camp occupied by Qaeda leaders including Osama bin
] Laden. He told investigators that Mr. bin al-Shibh,
] referred to by his nom de guerre, Obeida, was a prominent
] figure there.

I found this article of interest because it's information that's been coming to light from the trial of Motassadeq, a suspected member of the Hamburg terrorist cell. As usual, there is no reference of the terrorists using steganography to communicate -- instead, it was personal meetings, phone calls, voice-mail messages, and the like.

I saw also in this article that now I have yet another spelling of confirmed cell-member "Binalshibh's" name, as "bin al-Shibh," plus now I also have to research the name "Obeida," too? Argh.

Atta, Motassadeq , Binalshibh, Tomaytos, and Tomahtoes

] The inside story of the MIT Blackjack team's conquest
] of the casinos.

Hacking Las Vegas

] SAN FRANCISCO, CA - February 11, 2003 - The International
] Game Developers Association (IGDA) has announced the
] nominees for the Third Annual Game Developers Choice
] Awards.

There are several categories, covering things such as "Rookie Studio of the Year", "Most Original Game Character", Excellence in Audio, Game Design, Writing, Level Design, Programming, Visual Arts, and Writing.

As an IGDA member, I've been randomly selected as one of the official voters for this year's awards. I've done this before, and, as usual, there are several games on the ballot which I've never even heard of, let alone played. I'd like to make an informed decision though, so I'm asking around my circles of friends and colleagues for advice. If anyone on Memestreams would like to give me a review or opinion on any of the games on the ballot, please let me know, either by posting here or sending an Email to elonka@aol.com, by Wednesday, February 19th.

If you do decide to offer a suggestion, please be as detailed as possible -- I'm not interested in comments such as, "I hear this game is good," or "It was fun" (except possibly for the Level/Game Design categories) -- I want discussion of the production values involved, since, after all, these are awards being given to encourage quality game development, and not just mass popularity.

If there's enough interest, I'm fine on starting a thread for each of the categories, but for now, I'll just list the finalists for "Game of the Year":

- BATTLEFIELD 1942 (Digital Illusions)
- GRAND THEFT AUTO: VICE CITY (Rockstar North)
- METROID PRIME (Retro Studios)
- NEVERWINTER NIGHTS (BioWare Corp.)
- TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL (Ubi Soft Montreal)

Thanks in advance for any help,

Elonka :)

Game Developers Choice Awards - Final Ballot

The single-player game "The Sims" has been the biggest selling game of all time. According to some metrics, it was the #1 game for 2000, 2001, and 2002. Its core version, not counting expansion packs, has sold 8 million units. Including expansion packs, that number soars to 24 million units.

Electronic Arts put $25 million into the online version of the game, "The Sims Online," and the marketing push for TSO was bigger than I'd ever seen for *any* online multiplayer game.

They were hoping to capture at least 10% of the 8 million players of "The Sims" to sign up for subscriptions, at $10/month. So far though, they have only sold 100,000 units, of which 80,000 people have signed up for free trials, and 40,000 have paying subscriptions. So instead of 10%, they've got less than 1%.

Though TSO is technically a competitor with my own games, I can't say as I'm happy to see these numbers -- I know and like several of the people on the TSO team, and feel badly for them. Things may change in the future though -- I look forward to seeing how things pan out!

Early Numbers on 'The Sims Online'

] Physicists have long jokingly referred to the lower
] reaches of the ionosphere -- which fluctuates in height
] around 40 miles -- as the "ignorosphere," due to the lack
] of understanding of this mysterious realm of rarefied air
] and charged electric particles.

Cosmic bolt probed in shuttle disaster / Scientists poring over 'infrasonic' sound waves