But Mr Murdoch denies he has been forced into "panic buying" internet companies because of falling ad revenues. At a conference last month, the WPP group chief executive, Sir Martin Sorrell, accused Mr Murdoch of buying web operations "willy nilly".

"There's no panic, and there was certainly no overpayment," he says. "It was a very careful strategy to go for the two biggest community sites for people under 30. If you take the number of page views in the US, we are the third biggest presence on the internet already.

"Now we're not the most profitable, or anything like it; we have a huge amount of work ahead to get that whole thing right. And we're working very hard to keep improving.

"News Corp began its $1bn new media spending spree in July when it bought myspace.com parent company Intermix.

MediaGuardian.co.uk | Murdoch predicts gloomy future for press

People don’t engage with each other in order to exchange viruses; people exchange viruses as an excuse to engage with each other.

Observe yourself the next time you’re listening to a joke. You may start by listening to the joke for the humor - because you really want the belly laugh at the end. But chances are, a few sentences in, you will find yourself not only listening, but attempting to remember its whole sequence. You’ll do this tentatively at first, until you’ve decided whether or not it's really a good joke. And if it is, you'll commit the entire thing to memory - maybe even with a personalized variation, or a mental note to yourself to fix that racist part. This is because the joke is a gift - it's a form of social currency that you’ll be able to take with you to the next party.

At the Industrial Memetics talk at PhreakNIC I used a joke as an example of a meme. It remains the best example I've been able to come up with. There are many similarities between what I said and what he said here. I will have to remember his take on it, and incorporate it into my own. Key thing about memes is that they are mutually supportive.

Douglas Rushkoff on Memes

CNN was airing Vice President Dick Cheney's speech live from the American Enterprise Institute in Washington -- when a large black 'X' repeatedly flashed over the vice president's face!

The 'X' over Cheney's face appeared each time less than a second, creating an odd subliminal effect.

As this DRUDGE REPORT screen capture reveals, while one 'X' flashed over Cheney's face CNN ran a headline at the bottom of its screen: "CHENEY: I DO NOT BELIEVE IT IS WRONG TO CRITICIZE."

One top White House source expressed concern about what was aired over CNN. "Is someone in Atlanta trying to tell us something?"

Something was on the fritz with CNN's mind control equipment during Vice President Dick Cheney's speech at the American Enterprise Institute. For a short time, viewers were able to see messages normally only visible to people with the glasses from They Live.

A CNN official gave this response to the matter via TVNewser:

"Upon seeing this unfortunate but very brief graphic, CNN senior management immediately investigated. We concluded this was a technological malfunction not an issue of operator error. A portion of the switcher experienced a momentary glitch. We obviously regret that it happened and are working on the equipment to ensure it is not repeated."

"Put the glasses ON!!!"

Dick Cheney, CNN, Matt Drudge, and the mysterious X

He may announce his resignation, thereby setting off a 21-day period during which Mr. Katsav can seek alternative government coalitions consisting of at least a 61-seat majority in Knesset. Should this fail, then elections will follow 90 days following the 21-day period.

The second option, Sharon may request from the president that he dissolve the Knesset and then is left with a similar 21-day option to reestablish a new coalition. Should that fail, the 90-day election timer beings counting down.

In either scenario, elections will take place within a maximum of 110 days.

Israeli politics are about to get interesting. I don't know enough about the political layout to give any useful commentary about what's going on.. But from what I've been able to gather, Sharon is ditching the right-wingers and attempting to create a centrist party. This can only be a good thing as far as the Palestine situation is concerned.

Arutz Sheva - Israel Political Restructuring

The general impetus toward information-sharing among government entities and the massive investment in technical solutions may eventually deliver to the government the ability to process data efficiently. Finally, the rate at which individuals shed transactional data simply by living in a networked world seems to increase daily. The composite picture of individual activity that can emerge from such data is often of startling clarity, and will likely sharpen with in the future.

We don’t really have a coherent legal theory to address appropriately the growing privacy interests in this kind of data. The full-scale judicial supervision accorded electronic surveillance and physical searches is probably overkill, and far too cumbersome for data for which basic investigative access is justified. On the other hand, the Miller view that the "consensual" delivery of this data to third parties strips it of any privacy interest looks untenable when one considers the effect of the information aggregated.

There are some good comments on the National Security Letter situation in this post at The Volokh Conspiracy. I've been meaning to comment on this at length, but it's not going to happen any time soon. I have some reading I need to do. I'm not nearly as familiar with the justices' opinions in United States vs. Miller as I would like to be. I've been meaning for awhile now to sit down with a cup of coffee, read, and fully digest that case.

The Volokh Conspiracy - More on National Security Letters

JS/UIX is an UN*X-like OS for standard web-browsers, written entirely in JavaScript (no plug-ins used). It comprises a virtual machine, shell, virtual file-system, process-management, and brings its own terminal with screen- and keyboard-mapping.

File under "stupid web tricks". This is neat, but I can't think of a single useful application.

A more advanced security model for Javascript in web browsers is necessary. I have no idea what this adds to the argument.. Aside from the fact that it's a good example of how you can do much more with Javascript then is widely understood. Acidus has been doing some interesting research in this space. I look forward to the point when he can quit being tight-lipped and share some of the stuff he has come up with. It's the kind of stuff that will send a shockwave through the security and web development community.

JS/UIX - Unix implemented in Javascript

The 6th Amendment right to legal representation did not afford everyone "the most resourceful defense attorneys with bountiful investigative support."

"The 6th Amendment is satisfied when [defense] counsel's conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance, thereby ensuring that criminal defendants receive a fair trial," he said.

This case is interesting... Muddy... IMHO If the state is going to kill you it ought to consider all of the evidence. The idea that it need not seems ignorant of the finality of death.

Alito and the Death Penalty

Family members of Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi renounced the terrorist leader Sunday after his al-Qaida in Iraq group claimed responsibility for the Nov. 9 suicide attacks on three Amman hotels that killed 59 people.

The family of al-Zarqawi, whose real name is Ahmed Fadheel Nazzal al-Khalayleh, reiterated their strong allegiance to Jordan's King Abdullah II in half-page advertisements in the kingdom's three main newspapers. Al-Zarqawi threatened to kill the king in an audiotape released Friday.

"A Jordanian doesn't stab himself with his own spear," said the statement by 57 members of the al-Khalayleh family, including al-Zarqawi's brother and cousin. "We sever links with him until doomsday."

The statement is a serious blow to al-Zarqawi, who no longer will enjoy the protection of his tribe and whose family members may seek to kill him.

The Jordan street is not reacting to the attacks like al-Zarqawi would have liked. Let's hope that the pattern repeats as he tries to expand his terror network outside of Iraq.

U: Has al-Zarquwi been killed? Cross your fingers..

Al-Zarqawi's Jordan family renounces him

An unnamed Bush administration official told the Washington Post's Bob Woodward the identity of a CIA analyst almost a month before it was publicly revealed, the reporter said in a statement published Wednesday.

Woodward said he was contacted to testify after his source went to Fitzgerald to discuss his contact with Woodward related to the leak investigation.

In his statement, Woodward did not disclose the name of his source, citing the official's refusal to waive that aspect of their confidentiality pact. All three sources cleared the Pulitzer Prize-winner to testify, he said.

The plot thickens...

So if Woodward continues to refuse to disclose his source, are they going to toss him in jail? Keep in mind, this is one of the two reporters that blasted open Watergate. He is a much stronger target than Judith Miller, and it creates an interesting situation. When it came to Watergate, by not disclosing Felt's identity he was protecting a whistle-blower. This time around, it is to protect someone who was basically attempting a character assassination.

CNN.com - Bob Woodward: My CIA leak source not Libby

When checking my email this morning, I was quite infuriated to find a spam email advertising a child pornography site. I submitted the email to the FBI's TIPS page, and got a phone call from them within 3 minutes. Impressive. It's nice to know they watch that thing so closely.

They forwarded me on to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's CyberTipline web page, which is apparently the best clearing house to file these type of things.

I figured I'd share this information. It's not a hassle at all to report this stuff when you see it.

FBI Tips and Public Leads