Succinct analysis
Washington Post: "Nearly five years after Bush introduced the "axis of evil" comprising Iraq, Iran and North Korea, administration has reached a crisis point with each." (article)
Washington Post: "Nearly five years after Bush introduced the "axis of evil" comprising Iraq, Iran and North Korea, administration has reached a crisis point with each." (article)
Pulled from The Examiner and elsewhere:

I was disoriented this morning when parakkum told me of the attacks in London this morning. I had stayed up late last night finishing Gentlemen's Game, a Greg Rucka novel that starts off with a coordinated attack on the London Underground.
We live in era where the terrible attacks that our fiction writers imagine become reality. I hope that amidst today's attacks the good that we imagine comes to life as well.
I know that several of you reading this have strong ties to London, and my thoughts and feelings go out to you, the ones you care about, and the city you cherish.
Might be a little too gross to bust this one, though: Iranian woman 'gives birth to frog'
I was a bit confused by all the Prince Charles rumor denials, but Neil Gaiman is right there to clear things for us:
a) the goat was not, in fact, Spanish, but Portuguese, and is currently living safely in a wildlife preserve in East Molesey.
b) The Tango is a dance made famous in Argentina. "Erotic licking" plays no part in the Tango. Neither, of course, do balloons.
c) only a lunatic would apply shoe-polish to a weasel.
d) if the alleged incidents had in fact occurred in broad daylight during a car-boot sale in Harrow then there would be photographs, and quite possibly a plaster cast.
e) by now the "Use by" stamps on the yoghurt would have expired, indicating it as unfit for human consumption.
I would also like to add that any rumors suggesting my involvement are ludicrous, and midgets? Please. They were clearly dwarves.
I think this can help clear up this nascent trend of pre-denying for politicians. The first thing a candidate should do when running for office is to deny all of the rumors about some scandalous incident. If people don't know what you're referring to even better, but if it somehow the unnamed allegation you were deny gets out, and people start saying, for example, that you are a grope-monkey, you have to proceed to step 2, which is to combine your denial with an apology. Here's a pretty good example:
"I know that the people of California can see through this trash politics. Let me tell you something, let me tell you something. A lot of those that you see in the stories is not true, but at the same time, I have to tell you that I always say, that wherever there is smoke, there is fire. That is true. So I want to say to you, yes, that I have behaved badly sometimes. Yes, it is true that I was on rowdy movie sets and I have done things that were not right which I thought then was playful but now I recognize that I have offended people. And to those people that I have offended, I want to say to them I am deeply sorry about that and I apologize because this is not what I'm trying to do." (link)
This was a pretty good denial, though he left a loophole by saying "a lot of those...is not true." He would do even better to give an flat out denial. Then you would have a beautiful catch: Those that accuse you are liars guilty of trash politics. Only those who haven't accused you are telling the truth, and to them you apologize.
"There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to."
It's one thing to read about stories in the news, it's an entirely different experience when there's a personal connection, even if you're not directly involved. I just found out that a friend's dad had two rockets fly into his hotel room during the al-Rashid hotel attacks. He had the amazing presence of mind to take cover under a bed and escaped with his life and an injured arm, which should recover fully. My thoughts go out to my friend, his dad, and his family, who will be reunited soon.
cus anime is teh s uck - Ah, the rare opportunity to use lj as a means for serious communication.
A generator hitch filled with 40 rocket launchers was used to launch an attack on the hotel Wolfowitz was staying in, with half of those rockets managing to hit the hotel.
CNN.com - Attackers target Wolfowitz's Baghdad hotel - Oct. 26, 2003
My introduction to the Concorde was in Concorde: Airport '79, which featured a hilariously cheesy drone shaped like a calligraphy pen chasing after the noble plane. I had very little taste in movies then, but I adored that movie. I guess it's appropriate that my only real association with the Concorde is a airline-disaster flick, as the Concorde is finally being decommissioned, a retirement that was sped along by footage of flames shooting from its rear.
- Final Concorde Flight Lands at Heathrow (washingtonpost.com)
I'm sure the US is only mad because Isreal got a piece first.
CNN.com - Syria seeks condemnation of Israeli airstrike - Oct. 6, 2003
The NYTimes has an interesting article on how China is using immigration to slowly secularize the Tibetan region.
- Beijing Sends In the Masses to Make Tibet More Chinese
Iraq is now a hotbed of terrorism. Imagine that?
- U.N. Staff's Immunity From Terror Ends (washingtonpost.com)
- A Mission Imperiled
- Charles Taylor has finally stepped down: CNN.com - Taylor quits under pressure - Aug. 11, 2003
- HP is expected to announce today that (a) they want to be your digital media hub, (b) from now on Carly will wear black sweaters and ripped blue jeans, and (c) HP commercials will have white backgrounds: H-P's Power Play (TechNews.com)
- North Korea reprocessing fuel rods: CNN.com - North Korean nuclear claims 'serious,' U.S. official says - Jul. 15, 2003
- Mozilla.org Foundation formed. I don't know if this means this is a validation of AOL's support of open source Mozilla, or if AOL is giving Mozilla.org $2M to go hang itself (Mozilla Foundation Announcement)
- One minor reason why the iMac is more popular than the Vaio W: Sony unveils bigger, badder Vaio W, but there isn't a single mention of it on Sonystyle. In fact, there isn't even a picture of it on the front page of the "Computers and Peripherals" section.
- Wired on Softbank's newest money sinkhole: gigabit Ethernet for the masses
- With Inktomi already crawling all over my site (they seem to use dozens of crawlers, as opposed to Google's three that crawl this site), BBC NEWS | Yahoo pays $1.6bn to add Overture to its arsenal
Update: AOL/Netscape question kinda answered. Yes, AOL is giving Mozilla $2M to go hang itself, but either 10% or all of the Netscape employees have been laid off by AOL.
- Hasek to Return to Red Wings (washingtonpost.com)
- The Shuttle's 'Smoking Gun' (washingtonpost.com)
- Athlon64 set for Sept. 22 release (CNET News.com)
- Gasp - Britney acknowledges she's not a virgin (cnn.com)
- Thailand's online gamers face curfew
Gone for four days, some shortbread:
- BBC NEWS | Technology | Graphics format wins freedom
- Supreme Court Gives Partial Support for Affirmative Action (washingtonpost.com)
- Supreme Court upholds CIPA requiring filters for public schools and libraries (washingtonpost.com)
More on Apple's bad marketing statistics:
- Tom Yager: Apple, please don't mess with SPEC
- AMDZone Apple PowerPC G5: IBM's PowerPC 970 Unleashed
- Register: Apple accused of cheating over G5 benchmarks
- Oracle raises PeopleSoft offer to $6.3B
- Beckham is in fact going to Real Madrid (despite previous denials)
- Linus leaves Transmeta for Open Source Development Lab
- Ace of Diamonds caught
- US Court of Appeals allows detainee names to be kept secret: here and here
- Angola loses a 727 airliner
Tony Kornheiser has a column on the rise and fall of Washington sports fever (now that Jordan and Jagr will no longer be around).
Also in today's washingtonpost is an article summarizing the confusing details of Jessica Lynch's capture and rescue. In similar news, Lynch's story is also highlight the wonders of media conglomeration: CBS News Defends Its Multi-Pronged Pitch to Lynch.
Fall of the mighty:
- Two top New York Times execs resign: Executive Editor Howell Raines and Managing Editor Gerald Boyd (staff memo)
- Martha Stewart resigned yesterday after indictment (article)
- Sosa's stock still falling after corked bat incident, though 76 of his bats tested clean (article)
A co-worker of mine recently took a trip to the Three Gorges region and came back with pictures of the work there, including plans for the huge dam. One of the interesting photos he had was of a small city that had been relocated higher up the river bank. You could see the old abandoned city below and the new city essentially rising out of it. Soon I guess it will be like Atlantis.
I was reminded of my co-worker's trip after reading this Washington Post article, which makes me scared about the whole affair. Here's a short summary of the scarier points:
- "Officials have been arrested for providing construction companies with shoddy materials"
- "Of the 90 tributaries entering the reservoir, 60 are now considered heavily polluted"
- "Millions of water rats have scampered up the bank... their carcasses will now roll back into the reservoir laden with poison."
- "Each year, the area around Chongqing will dump 350 million cubic meters of wastewater and 400 million cubic meters of industrial waste into the reservoir"
Now all he needs is a earthquake machine and locust breeder: Thai king to receive rain-making patent. 27/05/2003. ABC News Online
(posted for Amanda's benefit)
The European Central Bank is thinking of adding RFID tags to banknotes to protect against forgery (story).
In addition to anti-forgery benefits, think of all the efficiencies the tags will introduce: ATMs won't give out the wrong amount, banks can count stacks of bills faster, thieves can choose their victims more carefully. With RFID crime does pay... efficiently.
News notes:
- Bombing in Riyadh kills 29+, declared by Powell to be Al Qaeda
- New $20 bills with colored background
- Johannson officially leaving Caps, feels slighted at short ice time in final game
- Beijing declares SARS under control as number of cases in China eclipses 5100
Vietnam reins in SARS
SARS travel advisory for Toronto
North Korea admits it has nukes in talks with US
US, Korea finally beginning talks
Debates over Palestinian terrorist detained in Iraq
- Oslo Peace accord appears to have given him amnesty
- Italy wants him to serve life in prison sentence
- Responsible for hijacking of cruise liner
- 7 US POWs released
This is the "big day" for our hawks. There's looting, celebration, and fighting in the streets of Baghdad. Images of Iraqis beating up toppled Hussein statues are everywhere, and the journalists's minders have disappeared.
Iraq updates
- Baghdad quiet, majority of Iraqi troops may have deserted
- Looting in Baghdad
New Bin Laden tape
- calls for suicide attacks on US, British interests
- US forces in central Baghdad
- Body of 'Chemical Ali' found
- US performs another "decapitation attack" on possible Saddam location. Bombs location within 12 minutes of go order.
- info minister promises "untraditional" "martyrdom" strikes
- Baghdad airport secured by coalition forces
Saddam walkabout
- shown walking among cheering crowds, oil fire smoke visible
- speech broadcasted (no video?) mentioning downing of Apache helicopter by farmer
- US within 10 miles of Baghdad
- F-18 may have been shot down by Patriot missile
A-day in Iraq
- "Shock and awe" supposed to happen today
- rapid series of explosions on TV
- supposedly hitting presidential palaces
- US Marines forces to take down US flag, not occupiers
- France announces it will veto any resolution allowing US/Britain to administer post-war reconstruction
- Port of Umm Qasr (Iraq's only outlet to Persian Gulf) under coalition control
- More than 1,000 sorties on Iraq
- 3 American casualties thus far
- Major riots in Cairo
Sonicblue filing for bankruptcy
Senates votes to slash Bush tax cuts by half
- previously only making room for war costs
Iraq updates
- Uprising in Basra may finally be occurring
Battle for Baghdad begins
- attacking Republican Guard protecting southern advance in Iraq
Oscars were last night, who cares?
- Chicago wins
- Polanski wins
Iraq updates
- US know believes Hussein alive because of second TV appearance
- Some believe that Iraq is creating impression of more dissent than there is
Indiana abducted girl found
- found along highway in Northern California
- Lindsey Ryan, 14
- Amber alert system used up and down California
- white Dodge Dakota repainted black
- Al-Jazeera shows video of capture/killed US soldiers, some shot in head
- Intense fighting around An Nasiriyah
- CNN reports explosion outside US Cent Comm in Qatar, news of this disappears
- Second appearance of Hussein on TV, cites battles in Basra an Umm Qasr
- US soldier may be responsible for grenade attack on own troops
- Patriot missile may have shot down Royal Air Force plane
- Northern campaign stalled due to failed negotiations for base rights in Turkey
- Calvalry half-way to Baghdad
Iraq updates
- first confirmed US/British deaths: CH-46 Sea Knight crash kill 12
- British secure Faw Peninsula
- US Intelligence sticking to its guns that Hussein was in bombed bunker
- "Shock and awe" strategy clearly a ruse
- US keeps hinting that attack is coming
NCAA tournament starts with little fanfare
Operation Iraqi Freedom updates
- Marines cross border into Iraq
- first clashes reported
- Iraqi oil fields on fire
- Turkey opens airspace for US
- More intense air campaign over Baghdad
- uncertainty as to validity of Saddam's appearance on TV
- missiles fired into Kuwait, 2 intercepted by Patriot missiles
Data recorder found for Columbia
- Sean O'Keefe admits that NASA may never know what happened
6:50PM PST, reports that Iraq attack has begun
US "coalition" airplanes begin striking Iraqi artillery sites
- targets struck were in range of troops moving into position
- military convoy headed towards Iraq
- small amounts of Iraqi troops already surrendering
- streets of Baghdad deserted
Bush to give Saddam 48-hour ultimatum to leave Iraq
Serbian Prime Minister Djindjic assassinated
- responsible for handing over war criminals
- possibly related to efforts to combat crime
US still seeking one more vote for UN resolution vote
- resolution will still be vetoed by France, Germany, and Russia
The Guardian Unlimited has just posted an article on the capture of one of the 9-11 participants. The article asserts that "Echelon played a key role in the capture."
- Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | How mobile phones and an £18m bribe trapped 9/11 mastermind
US calls action serious provocation
Iraq says it will destroy Samoud 2 missiles
Really tall design chosen from WTC
Mr. Rogers dies at 74
Iraq/Hussein will probably disobey order to destroy Samoud 2 missiles
Iraq updates:
- Blix inspection report delivered to UN, "not impressed" with Iraq's cooperation.
- mixed review doesn't give US hawks much to seize upon.
Dolly the sheep dead
- euthanized after progressive lung disease diagnosis
- in January 2002 was diagnosed with arthritis
Locutus preview release
- Ian Clarke's secure P2P solution
- wants to target enterprises with this software
France, Germany and Belgium blocking NATO efforts to send defensive equipment to Turkey
- Turkey has called for assistance under Article 4 of NATO
- France, Germany and Belgium believe that it will hurt diplomatic efforts with Iraq
Yugoslavia splits into Montenegro and Serbia
- will share a union for 3 years, then have the option to split
Comdex operator bankrupt
- Key3Media Group
NASA Columbia investigation turning towards CA
Microsoft order to ship Java stayed by Appeals court
LeBron James high school status still in turmoil
- status suspended due to replica jersey gifts
Nothing new in Columbia explosion
- Politicians vow that commitment to space travel will continue
- President Bush expected to propose funding increases, previously had wanted to slash NASA's budget
West beats East in NHL All Star game, 6-5
- Heatly scores 4, rising star
January 4, 2003
Boring playoff games
- Jets beat Colts 41-0
- Falcons easily beat Packers at Lambeau, first ever playoff loss at Lambeau for Favre
January 5, 2003
49ers comeback over the Giants, 39-38
- 24-points behind in 3rd quarter, 38-14
- 1 minute left when Tai Streets scored
- 2 two-point conversions with Terrell Owens
- 25 unanswered points
- biggest in NFC playoff history
Steelers overcome 17-point deficit to beat Browns
- 0:58 left when Steelers scored
- Browns last chance ended with time running out and receiver diving out of bounds
January 7, 2003
Playstation 3 to use Rambus interconnect technology
- chip-to-chip and chip-to-ram
Jon Johansen acquitted on all counts by Norwegian court
- not illegal to crack personal property
Daschle not running for president, yeah
Raelians clone baby is a hoax, duh
January 8, 2003
There, Inc. launches
- wannabe Metaverse
January 10, 2003
North Korea quits nuclear non-proliferation treaty
- practical effect would be to remove nuclear programs from UN monitoring
- Bush: US has no intention of invading North Korea
January 11, 2003
Titans barely advance against Steelers, 34-31
- Nedney's 3 tries at kicking final field goal
- time out
- miss with penalty
- good
- game close throughout
Eagles easily beat Falcons
January 12, 2003
Big Dig to finally open
- I-90 tunnel section connecting to Ted Wiliams tunnel
Case to resign position at AOL
- will still be part of AOL in director role
Football get together at 1010
- Carl and Frank
- 49ers crushed by Bucs
- Oakland crushes Jets
January 14, 2003
Anthrax possibly back in DC post office
January 15, 2003
Extended copyrights upheld by Supreme Court
- even though possibly unwise, Congress has authority
Microsoft starts Government Security Plan
- lets governments see 97% of Windows code
- remaining 3% has to be seen in Redmond
Mariucci let go from 49ers
January 16, 2003
Weapons inspectors find empty chemical warheads in Iraq
- war in a couple weeks?
Plague scare: scientist accidentally broke vials, reported them missing
January 22, 2003
Germany joins France as countries that won't support war resolution
Verizon has to give up identity of file sharer to RIAA
LinuxWorld
Ford demos recyclable car
January 25, 2003
MS SQL Worm DDos-ing net
- 5 of 13 root servers down
January 28, 2003
State of the Union address
- Iraq, Iraq, Iraq
- $6B for "bio-shield"
- $10B to fight AIDS in Africa
Afghanistan battle
- biggest battle for US forces in a year
December 20, 2002
Lott stepping down (finally)
- Frist likely successor
- apologies, BET interview, didn't stop criticism
RNA interference Science Magazine's Breakthrough of the Year
- 'retro': could have been done 15 years ago but largely ignored
- possibilities for cancer treatment
December 18, 2002
NASA repairs Galileo from a distance
- revived recorder by repairing radiation damage
- annealed diodes by running current through them
- recoverying important data before shutdown in January 2003
ElcomSoft not guilty
- jury found that while program was illegal, intent was not criminal
- jury found DMCA confusing
December 12, 2002
Cardinal Law resigns (finally)
Kissinger steps down from 9/11 panel
- cites conflict of interest with private industry clients
'Nemesis' opens to terrible reviews
Everyone raving over Lebron James
- first televised high school game on ESPN2 in over a decade
December 10, 2002
Cardinal Law visting the Vatican
- discussing possibility of Chapter 11
December 9, 2002
Snow to take O'Neill's spot at Treasury
Mars theories being challenged
- Theory 1: Water abundant on Mars, but has mostly remained frozen
- Theory 2: 'Rivers' caused by wake of meteorites pounding surface
Lewis going to Michigan State
- 99% certain
Oil strike continues in Venezuala
- aimed at ousting President Hugo Chavez
December 6, 2002
Paul O'Neill, treasury sec, forced to resign
- Economic adviser Lindsey forced to resign as well
Iraq accepts UN resolution
- Husseins accepts after parliament rejected day before
Bin Laden reemerges as voice on tape
Toshiba licenses TiVo
Microsoft cancels Longhorn, focusing on Blackcomb (2005-6)
Oakland crushes Denver in MNF at Ray's
Bonds unanimous NL MVP
Capellas leaves HP
- probably headed to WorldCom
- no role as #2
November 10, 2002
Jaguars blast 'Skins 26-7
- no offense for 'Skins
- poor field position all day due to great punting/poor returning
- terrible punts by Barker pinned Redskin defense
Malvo confesses to shootings, including middle school student
UN Security Council adopts Iraq resolution
- unanimous vote
Nancy Pelosi rises to Minority leader for Dems
Myers says Al Qaeda has adapted to US military tactics in Afghanistan
- Chairman Joint Chiefs
- calls for shift in priorities from hunting to reconstruction
Virginia will prosecute snipers
- Malvo will be tried in Fairfax
- Muhammed will be tried in Prince William
- Fed charges dismissed
Bali suspect confesses to bombing
New Brunswick father sues amateur hockey association for $300K after son doesn't get MVP award
Lott: "It'll feel good to be on offense"
- possible recount in South Dakota (Johnson (D) declared winner)
Gephardt steps down as House Minority Leader
Last mission of Galileo space probe completed
- expected to last only 2 years
- mission lasted 5 years
- will crash into Jupiter
Ballot measure to require organic, fair-trade coffee defeated in Berkeley
BMG to copy-protect all CDs
MNF at Alyssa's
- Pack slaughters Miami 24-01
- Green Bay improves to 7-1, best in NFL
- Constants turnovers by Miami
- Pack offense not very impressive, but good enough
Hunter teaching Caps how to draw
- faceoff percentage down to 30-35% in some games
MS antitrust ruling
- wrist-slap, upholds initial settlement
- plenty of loopholes
- 'security' clause
- can still retaliate if OEM offers a system w/o MS OS
ICANN drops directly elected board seat
Death toll in Italy earthquake now 28
No clues in Jam Master Jay's shooting yet
Yahoo News: Study says coffee makes women smarter (link)
Vick fined $5,000 for wearing red socks
Kilmer doing ads for Northrup Grumman
Gas killed all but one of 117 hostages in Russian theater
Game 6 of World Series
- Giants blow 5 run lead
- lose 6-5 in final innings
Bloody end to Russian Hostage Crisis
- 750 hostages rescued
- 90 hostages killed. Many may have died from gas
- 50 hostage takers killed
- late night raid using gas
Nathaniel Osbourne held as material witness in Sniper case
- co-owner of car
Sniper arrested
- caught at Maryland rest stop
- sleeping in car matching description police were searching for
- John Allen Muhammad and stepson Lee Malvo (17)
- former military
- You asked us to say, 'We have caught the sniper like a duck in a noose.' Reference to folk tale, where rabbit catches duck in noose, and is then dragged by duck into a tree stump, where it is stranded
- sniper made reference to Alabama shooting, which led to Tacoma, WA
- gun found link to shootings
- hole in trunk to shoot from
Giants even up series
- 4-3 victory on David Bell single to drive in JT Snow
Giants going to World Series
Another sniper shooting (seven corners)
September 27, 2002
Five year anniversary of Mars Pathfinder
- first signal only 3 mins after touchdown
- bounced 16 times on landing, landed on base petal
Kazaa, Morpheus, Limewire stealing link commissions for online purchases
- Amazon has cut-off payments to Morpheus
Study shows that Lorenzo's Oil works
- functions by breaking down fatty acids that are associated with the genetic disorder
- adrenoleukodystrophy causes victims to lose ability to move, hear, speake, and eventually breathe
Plants and animals can 'bottle up' evolution
Final Fantasy XI will require GeForce 4 for some features
500 arrests in DC for IMF protests
New (old) Nirvana song finally released
- "You know you're right"
Distributed.net completes RC5-64
- running since 1997
- longest running of distrib.net projects
XP to get Bluetooth
- Gartner expects 560 million Bluetooth-enabled devices by 2005
US shurgs off Hussein's defiant speech (ready to repel any attack)
FCC mandates digital tuners by 2007
Baseball players agree to steroid testing
Sprint deploying 3G