| |
| There are great benefits to connectedness, but we haven't wrapped our minds around the costs. |
|
Reliably Blocking (Flash) Advertisements in Gecko-based Browsers |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Technology |
3:05 pm EDT, Jul 5, 2004 |
Advertisements on websites are annoying, often breaking up text and flashing to get your attention. To stop about 99% of the ads on the internet from even showing, add the following code to your userContent.css file: I was finally sufficiently annoyed by obtrusive Flash advertisements at the Washington Post that I tracked down this information on hiding them from view. In the course of working through this issue, I was also annoyed to find that the Washington Post inserts web bugs of the form http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/google/tracker.gif?794673 on every story that it feeds. It's not exactly clear what they're doing with it, and why it's called a Google tracker, because they show up even when you're not coming from Google News. Reliably Blocking (Flash) Advertisements in Gecko-based Browsers |
|
Rights of Terror Suspects |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Civil Liberties |
12:17 pm EDT, Jul 5, 2004 |
Liberals, in the aftermath of Abu Ghraib and now with Supreme Court restraints on executive power, are piling on. It's safe; civil liberty is suddenly in vogue, at least until the next terror strike. Rights of Terror Suspects |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: War on Terrorism |
12:28 pm EDT, Jul 4, 2004 |
Enter the name of a US citizen or foreign national. The Oracle of bin Laden |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Movies |
12:27 pm EDT, Jul 4, 2004 |
Enter the name of an actor or actress. The Oracle of Bacon |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Music |
12:20 pm EDT, Jul 4, 2004 |
Like Joss Stone and Nellie McKay, Melua defeats the stereotype of the teen pop diva by singing grownup music in a grownup way. Like Norah Jones, Michael Bublé and Jamie Cullum, all of whom are under 25, Melua offers a return to quiet, shapely tunes that imply a more stable universe than the fractured worlds of hip-hop and rock. "The minute I met Katie, I knew she could be huge." Try "My Aphrodisiac Is You." Obviously Not Norah |
|
Feet forward | Salon.com Arts & Entertainment |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: TV |
11:39 am EDT, Jul 4, 2004 |
David and Keith provide a little more lightness than they did last season, with Keith taking a job as a bodyguard for celebrities that proves to be a little more challenging than he expected. "My job is to not put my hands on anybody," he murmurs huskily to David. "My job is to low-tone it and defuse the situation before it becomes a situation." HBO is such a cut above the rest that it's hard to compare. Feet forward | Salon.com Arts & Entertainment |
|
Non-Obvious Relationship Awareness |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Technology |
11:25 am EDT, Jul 4, 2004 |
NORA answers the question "Who knows who?" If security is the value proposition, then your ability to detect suspicious connections between individuals internal and external to your organization significantly decreases the threats of fraud, collusion, conflicts of interest, or even of the potential for corporate sabotage or terrorism. NORA enables companies to identify and address a problem before it becomes a problem. Like Keith, on Six Feet Under! (How's that for a non-obvious connection!) The software is optimized to adjust to the data terrain within an enterprise and performs just as well using poor data as it does using pure data. No Garbage In, Garbage Out to worry about here! Are you not eerily reminded of the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? Ask yourself, how many degrees are there between you and Osama bin Laden? It may be less than you think. Are you uncomfortable yet? Non-Obvious Relationship Awareness |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Civil Liberties |
11:14 am EDT, Jul 4, 2004 |
People too often get the impression that the only people who use the nation's civil liberties protections are lawbreakers who were not quite guilty of the exact felony they were charged with. Brandon Mayfield, a lawyer in Oregon, was held for two weeks, even though the only other connections between him and terrorism were things like the fact, as the FBI pointed out, that his law firm advertised in a "Muslim yellow page directory" whose publisher had once had a business relationship with Osama bin Laden's former personal secretary. So is this what you call a Non-Obvious Relationship? This nation was organized under a rule of law, not a dictatorship of the virtuous. The founding fathers wrote the Bill of Rights specifically because they did not believe that honorable men always do the right thing. About Independence |
|
The Smallest Court in the Land |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Politics and Law |
10:57 am EDT, Jul 4, 2004 |
Of the many thousands of sentences in the Supreme Court's decisions this term, the most telling came from Justice John Paul Stevens: "Even more important than the method of selecting the people's rulers and their successors is the character of the constraints imposed on the executive by the rule of law." The Smallest Court in the Land |
|
Guerrilla Raids Force Chechen Refugees to Flee Again |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: International Relations |
10:41 am EDT, Jul 4, 2004 |
Following raids by Islamic guerrillas the night of June 21 in the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia, Chechen refugees are in motion once more, saying they are being blamed for the guerrillas' success and must leave [returning to Grozy] or face retaliation in the night. They are deeply afraid. The guerrillas overran police stations and checkpoints here early last week, and, dressed in police uniforms themselves, systematically executed law enforcement and military personnel who tried to come to their besieged friends' aid. Nearly 100 people died before the guerrillas withdrew. In the days since, Russian and Ingush police, wearing ski masks and carrying assault rifles, have accused Chechen refugees of assisting and sheltering the guerrillas. They have been rounding up Chechen men for questioning and, the refugees say, for beatings. But Grozy is in ruins, occupied by the Russian Army. Armored vehicles roam what passes for roads. More frightening, civilians frequently disappear. Read on for details of beatings, forced confessions, and more. Guerrilla Raids Force Chechen Refugees to Flee Again |
|
