] The Journal quoted Ali Ansari, an Iran specialist at the
] University of St. Andrews in Scotland, as saying that for
] 10 years analysts had been writing about Iran's need for
] economic reform. "In actual fact, the scenario is worse
] now," said Mr. Ansari. "They have all this money with the
] high oil price, and they don't need to do anything about
] reforming the economy." Indeed, The Journal added, the
] conservative mullahs are feeling even more emboldened to
] argue that with high oil prices, Iran doesn't need
] Western investment capital and should feel "free to
] pursue its nuclear power program without interference."

NYT | Thomas Friedman: No Mullah Left Behind

] A leading security company is exploring technology for
] verifying whether a user is a child or an adult by
] analyzing a bone in a person's finger.

CNN.com - Biometric device can verify age - Feb 10, 2005

] University police found assault rifles and more than one
] ounce of marijuana during a traffic stop early Monday
] morning.

] Officer Jason Myatt stopped a Ford Expedition around
] 1 a.m. Feb. 7 after it made an illegal u-turn on MTSU
] Boulevard, according to the police report.

] The weapons included a Model 26 Glock semiautomatic
] handgun, a Stag Arms AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, a
] Russian-made AK-47. Police also found $1,250 cash.

That is some pretty serious hardware to have on campus. Sounds like they were dealing as well.

I like this quote about assault weapon carrying potheads:

] Glenn said that MTSU is an extremely safe campus, but
] that in his experience, but that people who carry assault
] weapons are on different plane.
]
] "They don't see the world like you and I do," Glenn said.
] "It's not a response to a threat on their part; it's a whole
] different way of looking at the world."

Two arrested with marijuana, guns - The Sidelines - News

] Second. The US disclosed its attempt to topple the
] political system in the DPRK at any cost, threatening it
] with a nuclear stick. This compels us to take a measure
] to bolster its nuclear weapons arsenal in order to
] protect the ideology, system, freedom and democracy
] chosen by its people.
]
] It is the spirit of the Korean people true to the Songun
] politics to respond to good faith and the use of force in
] kind.
]
] We had already taken the resolute action of pulling out
] of the NPT and have manufactured nukes for self-defence
] to cope with the Bush administration's evermore
] undisguised policy to isolate and stifle the DPRK.
]
] Its nuclear weapons will remain nuclear deterrent for
] self-defence under any circumstances.

They have tested numerous missiles as well. If they do have a working device, its likely deliverable. Not good.

BBC | North Korea: We got nukes, phbttt

] In the first case of its kind, a California video game
] maker is suing an entire community of software tinkerers
] for reverse engineering and modifying Xbox games that
] they legally purchased.

] The harm isn't just to the wholesome values of Dead or
] Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, hinted Tecmo spokesperson
] Melody Pfeiffer. There's a principle at stake. "Hackers,
] if they're allowed to do this kind of thing, will be
] allowed to hack into any game, anywhere," Pfeiffer warns.
] "We spent millions of dollars to develop these games, and
] people are coming in and changing the code to their
] liking, and that's illegal."

Ok, so let me make sure I have this straight... Because a very small segment of the user market is making and using game modifications that modify characters, we gotta make a trip to the fair use rights grinder. This has been going on for over a decade, going back to the dawn of computer games. How is an after-market for video game mods is such a threat? Unless people are selling the mods, they can only attract more people to buying the game.

If the characters being inserted into the game were in violation of someone's trademark, I could see it as being a reasonable thing to get in a huff over. Otherwise, this is trivial and an undue attempt to restrict users' rights and privileges.

] A message on ninjahacker.net reports the site was taken
] down on January 25th, a few days after the lawsuit was
] filed. Greiling did not return a phone message Wednesday.
] In a telephone interview, Glynn said he hosted
] ninjahacker.net as a favor to Greiling, but that he had
] no other interaction with the site or its users.
] "Basically, I was hosting this website," Glynn says. "I
] don't own an Xbox and I wasn't into modding or skinning
] things."

And your bonus chilling effect of the day is the loss of another online community, and a reminder to anyone who runs one, that we are the bitch of anyone with a team of lawyers and large cash flow.

Hackers sued for tinkering with Xbox games

] But from what I can tell, the penalties laid out for
] downloading one season of a TV show with BitTorrent are
] much harsher than if you actually stole a DVD set of the
] same show from a government store. I lay out a practical
] example in detail below, but to cut to the chase: For
] stealing the DVD you could face no more than up to 1 year
] imprisonment and up to a $100,000 fine; for downloading
] the same material you could face statutory damages of up
] to $3,300,000, costs and attorney's fees (ie: the other
] guy's attorneys), as well as up to 1 year imprisonment,
] and up to a $100,000 fine.

A legal analysis of the punishments set forth for shoplifting a physical item versus downloading a TV show off of bit torrent. Links to all applicable case law are provided.

Off The Shelf - Stealing is cheaper than downloading

] By now, many of you will have gone and tried out the new
] Google Maps application. By and large, you have to admit
] that it's pretty damned slick for a DHTML web application
] -- even my wife was impressed, and that's not easy with
] geek toys. So, in the spirit of Google Suggest and GMail,
] I've decided to have a quick peek under the hood to
] figure out what makes it tick.

A review of Google's web ninja technique.

Mapping Google Maps

] Because nothing says "legitimate" like blog.

Best Slashdot Comment Ever.

AskJeeves Steps Into RSS with Bloglines Acquisiton

Google Maps is extremely cool. Great interface. The maps are very good, however they are missing a few things, such as the direction of one way streets. It also does not support Safari yet.

Google Maps

] In a rare and exclusive interview in Tehran Sunday, Ali
] Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran's former president and the
] consensus frontrunner in June's presidential elections,
] talked with USA TODAY's Barbara Slavin about U.S.-Iranian
] relations, al-Qaeda, and Iran's alleged nuclear bomb
] program.

USATODAY.com - Iran's ex-president: U.S should show goodwill