] These are the key points of the US Secretary of State
] Colin Powell's briefing to the Security Council on Iraqi
] non-compliance with UN resolutions.

I watched this one live, and found it extremely compelling. The parts that had the least weight for me were some of the audio tapes of conversations between Iraqi officials, since I could easily see those as being taken out of context -- they didn't "prove" anything to me. But the discussion of links to Al Qaeda, the flow of weapons and support from within Iraq to terrorist activities in Jordan and Europe -- that was sobering. Also, the video of a fighter jet fitted with a spray nozzle, on a training mission and spraying simulated anthrax over a wide area... That was chilling, to think of such a weapon being used on our own troops.

Now, I'm very curious to learn what the rest of the world thinks of this evidence, and whether it's changing any other minds out there. If Iraq does have to be disarmed by force, I would far rather that it be done by a coalition of nations and not just the U.S. But if we do decide to go in alone, I will still support it.

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things."

BBC | Powell UN briefing: Key points

] In a move that raises questions about the security of
] governmental domains, the Bush administration has pulled
] the plug on a .gov Web site pending an investigation into
] the authenticity of the organization that controlled it.
]
] Until recently, visitors to the AONN.gov Web site were
] treated to a smorgasbord of information about an agency
] calling itself the Access One Network Northwest (AONN), a
] self-described cyberwarfare unit claiming to employ more
] than 2,000 people and had the support of the U.S.
] Department of Defense.

Feds pull suspicious .gov site

Decius wrote:
] Elonka wrote:
] ] Ah, just to be clear, I don't have a problem with ID checks at
] ] bus terminals, hotels, and train stations, either. Those are
] ] private companies who have the right to refuse service, so I
] ] believe that they also have the right to institute reasonable
] ] security measures, and I see an ID check as a reasonable
] ] measure.
]
] You kind of wriggled around my point to an extent, so I want
] to reengage it a bit...

Heh. I feel like you're trying to force me into the position of defending the legality of a wide spectrum of behaviors. But I'm not prepared to do that. I'm not an attorney or a lawmaker, I'm just a private (but voting) citizen who has my own views on what is and isn't acceptable for *me*. If you don't share those views, that's fine, I respect your right to have a different opinion.

] First off, and I'm not really very familiar with the law in
] this area, but I don't think private companies have a "right
] to refuse service." For example, I'm fairly certain that its
] illegal to put a big sign in front of your store that says
] "Whites Only." There are certain things that buinesses can
] refuse service for (proper dress, behavior), but this isn't a
] right like freedom of speech is a right. Its a legislated
] issue. You can refuse service in certain contexts. I don't
] know exactly what those contexts are. In some cases (such as
] the American's with Disabilities Act) you are forced to
] provide service.
]
] However, I won't pursue this point any further. For the
] purpose of this dicussion I'll conceed that it ought to be
] legal for companies to require ID for their services for
] simple identification purposes. I wouldn't do business with
] such a company, and I'm not sure it should be legal, but its
] too much of a tangent to explain.

Private companies *do* have the right to refuse service. If someone's on a bus or a plane, and starts raising a ruckus, the transportation company has the right to throw them off such vehicle. As you mentioned, there are indeed certain race- or disability-based exceptions, but in general, no one has a "constitutional right to ride a particular bus."

To be even more clear, I'll bring it into my own industry, of multiplayer games. As a private company, we have policies about what behaviors are and aren't allowed in our games. If someone doesn't abide by those policies (or even if they do), we can choose not to do business with them. No one has any constitutional right to be allowed to log into one of our products. We have the right to refuse service to anyone, and we exercise that right on a routine basis.

] The core point that I'm concerned with is that an ID check is
] meaningless unless it is correlated with a database.

I disagree quite strongly on this point. ID check... [ Read More (0.3k in body) ]

RE: How to fly without ID!

] Generally speaking, a filter of manners is missing in
] today's business world. This [gaming] industry, in
] particular, attracts young people, many of whom have been
] raised in a society where shock value is celebrated and
] etiquette dismissed. This isn't about which fork to
] use at an upscale restaurant, or whether you should hold
] the door open for a female, this is about fundamental
] decency. Something that shouldn't even have to be
] taught, but perhaps should be.
]
] Game agent, Jay Powell, of Octagon Entertainment believes
] it a key issue in an industry he describes as "way too
] small to burn bridges." Says Powell, "there is far too
] much turnover, and if you don't know a person's history
] you can really put yourself in a bad position later.
] Blowing off a producer at a small publisher could hurt
] you down the road if that person suddenly takes a job at
] EA, for example. They're going to remember how they were
] treated the first time."

Amen!

The current guesstimate in my industry, is that the average tenure at one company is less than two years. It's rare to see anyone stay at a single job for longer than that time, before they're jumping (or more likely forced) into the jobmarket again.

The companies may come and go, the products may rise and fall, but the skilled and qualified people remain the same, regardless of which company's URL may be on their current business card. In a small industry, today's loathed competitor could be tomorrow's potential business partner. Be courteous to *everyone*, is my motto!

Good Etiquette Is Good Business

A page that lists the dozens of different language interfaces that Google is currently offering. Very pretty to look at, especially if you scroll down and look at all the flags.

They're also looking for volunteer translators, to add pages in any languages that they're *not* covering yet.

They do have French, Italian, Russian, Chinese, etc., but for a laugh, be sure to check out the google pages in such languages as Klingon, Pig Latin, Hacker, and "Elmer Fudd"! (I'm Feewing Wucky!)

Go Google!

Google International

] The Yugoslav parliament has voted itself out of
] existence, dissolving the Yugoslav federation after
] nearly 74 years.
] From now on it will be called just Serbia and Montenegro
] - the two remaining republics joined in a loose union.
] Yugoslavia lost its other four republics in the bloody
] wars of independence in the 1990s, as Croatia, Slovenia,
] Bosnia-Hercegovina and Macedonia broke away.

As two of my grandparents were born in Croatia, I definitely count part of my heritage as Yugoslav. I spent a year there as a child, and was emotionally devastated when war broke out several years ago. I would lie awake at night, horrified to think that bombs were falling on places where I had played as a child.

Though I've come to an acceptance that the union forged by Tito would eventually completely dissolve, the news today that Yugoslavia is no more, fills me with sadness, like hearing that a childhood home I once lived in has been bulldozed over.

I console myself with the knowledge that some of the separate states are now better off with their own independence. And my hope, of course, is that once the final old bonds have been removed, that the entire area will have the freedom to grow even more, with honor, and peace.

Elonka

Yugoslavia Is No More

I've been having fun tracking the hits to my steganography (elonka.com/steganography) and Kryptos (elonka.com/kryptos) pages on Sitemeter. And I've especially been getting a kick out of seeing links to my site from search engines in other languages such as French, German, Italian, and Polish. Today, I got a link from a Google search engine which looks like it's in Hebrew. I got a smile out of it for many reasons: The international nature of it, the interesting font, and if you click on the link, you'll see that Google even went to the trouble of right-justifying their listing, so it lines up on the right side instead of the left!

Israeli Google

Decius wrote:
] Elonka wrote:
] ] But in terms of security at airports? I agree with the sign
] ] that is posted at St. Louis Lambert International Airport,
] ] which, to the best of my recollection, says: "Passengers
] ] wishing to fly are not required to submit to search of their
] ] persons or belongings. Such search may be refused, in which
] ] case the airlines have the right to refuse to allow the
] ] individual to board the aircraft."
]
] You might be interested in this, its a lawsuit covering this
] issue which is currently in the courts:
]
] http://cryptome.org/freetotravel.htm
]

Interesting, though I can't say that I necessarily agree with everything in the suit.

]
] 1. You state that an ID requirement to fly is ok if it isn't
] also coupled with ID requirement as bus terminals, hotels,
] train stations, and other travel related businesses. The case
] argues that it is.

Ah, just to be clear, I don't have a problem with ID checks at bus terminals, hotels, and train stations, either. Those are private companies who have the right to refuse service, so I believe that they also have the right to institute reasonable security measures, and I see an ID check as a reasonable measure.

Where I would draw the line (and I understand that *my* location for drawing the line is completely different from other people's location -- this is just my personal stance), is where someone is required to show ID even when traveling *under their own power*. So in my world view: getting on a Greyhound requiring an ID check to cross a state line? Okay. Having to routinely show an ID when driving across a state line in my own car? Not okay.

] This also creates an incredible opportunity for abuse.

Such opportunities exist everywhere, alas. If I may be permitted an "abuse" rant on a related subject:

I have to admit that I've been amused and horrified at some of the laughable security procedures that have gone into place after September 11th. For example, though I saw it as a good idea to limit access to airport gates to ticketed passengers only, then they turned around and said that an E-ticket was sufficient proof that you were a ticketed passenger. I laughed when I heard that, because e-tickets are *trivial* to forge -- Anyone with access to a single E-ticket, a printer, and any kind of HTML editor (including Notepad) could churn out an infinite number of e-tickets with any name that they wanted, within about 30 seconds. Though these forged e-tickets would *not* be good enough to actually get someone on a plane, at the security checkpoint all that would be checked was that the name on the ID matched the name on the printout, and you'd be waved through. I also have personal experience of times that I'd accidentally show the wrong e-ticket to security at an airport (like I said, I do a lot of flying, and sometimes ... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

RE: How to fly without ID!

] Interesting article, but the links are even more interesting.

Perspective: The first 'e-war'

] Kozer said she wasn't roped into the roles -- she
] auditioned for them after she quit law school and was
] saddled with huge loans while studying real estate.

Roped... Saddled... Ah, journalism at its best. ;)

Original article, with a few of the bondage pics in question, is at the following URL:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/kozer1.html

Joe Millionaire's Sarah has no apologies for bondage flicks