Dean's World

How human beings really work: The Monkeysphere.

(Via Jerry Kindall.)

The 2004 Slate 60: Donations - The 60 largest American charitable contributions of the year. Compiled by the Chronicle of Philanthropy

Susan T. Buffett—$2.55 billion to the Buffett Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation, Susan A. Buffett Foundation, and Spirit Foundation. Buffett, a director of Berkshire Hathaway, in Omaha, Neb., who died on July 29, 2004, at 72, left approximately $2.4 billion to the Buffett Foundation, in Omaha. Ms. Buffett was the wife of Warren E. Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway's chairman and chief executive officer, and was the president of the foundation, which supports education, medical research, and efforts to curb population growth. She also left $50 million to the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, in Decatur, Ill., which was founded by one of her two sons. The foundation supports wildlife and environmental causes and education and human services programs. Buffett gave $50 million to her daughter's fund, the Susan A. Buffett Foundation, in Omaha, which supports early childhood education for low-income families, the arts, reproductive health, and Christian organizations. She left an additional $50 million to the Spirit Foundation, in Omaha, which is run by her son Peter A. Buffett, and supports arts, education, and human service organizations. According to Susan Buffett's will, the money derives from 31,707 shares of Berkshire Hathaway stock that she owned at the time of her death. The exact amount of the gift to the Buffett Foundation will depend on changes in the value of the stock once Buffett's estate is settled later this year. Susan Buffett was the wife of Warren E. Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway's chairman and chief executive officer.

And:

William H. (Bill) III and Melinda F. Gates—$627 million to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Bill Gates, 49, chairman and chief software architect of the Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., and his wife, Melinda, 39, paid $627 million toward a pledge of approximately $3.35 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in Seattle. This most recent infusion of cash came from a Microsoft stock dividend that Bill Gates received in late 2004. (A profile of the Gates Foundation appeared in the Nov. 11, 2004, issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy.)

The world is truly a better place for having them in it...

Via Yahoo:

Lebanese Government Resigns Amid Protests

Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karami announced the resignation of his pro-Syrian government Monday, two weeks after the assassination of his predecessor, Rafik Hariri, triggered protests in the streets and calls for Syria to withdraw its thousands of troops.

Bismilaahir-ArRahmaanhir-ArRahiim

Hariri was a man who not only had close ties to the U.S. and Bush, but he was paying millions of dollars in taxes to the U.S. government which has killed over 300,000 Arabs in the last 2 years alone.

In fact, despite the wars of aggression conducted by the U.S. against Arabs in the last 2 years, Hariri was still planning on building a mansion that would have necessitated his paying even more taxes to the U.S. government - taxes that are consistently being used to kill Muslims and Arabs world-wide.

Exactly what type of loyalty to Arabs, to Muslims, does such a person have if they are willing to shake hands with, do business with, and pay for the activities of those people who are harming and killing Muslims???

If you are protesting to get the current government removed in Lebanon then do so on the basis that their ties to Syria need to be made public and strengthened. Do not do so on the basis of the killing of a man who did not seem to have any real loyalty to his region and religion.

On the website Ecce Libano, in a post titled "Why am I not an Arab?", a Lebanese blogger discusses the relationship of Lebanon with the Arab world.

With the recent assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister, Rafiq Hariri, the topicality of Lebanon has resurfaced in academe and in the media, and the debates that had plagued Lebanese politics for the past 90 years of modern Lebanon's existence have re-emerged as areas of interest among analysts and visionaries of the impending New Middle East. This is so primarily because Lebanon, a unique Middle Eastern exercise in multi-ethnic coexistence - failed as it might have been in the eyes of some analysts- could serve as a valuable template for a re-emerging Iraq and a future, more coherent Middle East.

Lee Harris has written a remarkable essay that explores the depths of The West's sympathy for Palestinian Terrorism, and why phrases like "the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people," "Zionist occupation" and "the cycle of violence" do nothing but muddle our understanding of the situation.

Hmm. It appears that members of FDA panels that approve drugs also routinely receive money from drug companies.

You know, drug companies do a tremendous amount of good in the world. I also often think the FDA does as much harm as good, by holding up the release of drugs instead of just informing patients of risks and letting them make their own choices.

Still: am I the only one who thinks there's a fundamental conflict of interest issue when people who are supposed to monitor safety also have profitable arrangements with those whose work they are overseeing?

Looks like Ward Churchill might be bought out and given early retirement.

Sure, why not? Then he can go on to found the "Che Guevara Institute for the Study of Why America Sucks" and go on an international speaking tour on how evil white Amerikka is.

After all, it's the American way...

Hey check it out, Chief Wiggles has a store!

Man I gotta get me one of those!

When I was a kid I liked the series "Battlestar Galactica." Although even back then I saw significant flaws in the show, I always loved the concept. In execution the series was, well, a late 1970s TV show with spotty writing and somewhat cheesy acting--just like most late 1970s TV shows.

When I heard they were remaking this old show as a miniseries I wasn't sure what to think. I saw parts of it and was intrigued. It was uneven, but showed a tremendous amount of potential.

Well now the show is a full-blown series and I have to say, it's far and away the best science fiction show I've ever seen on television. The writing and directing is top notch, and the cast is exceptional. Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell are both particularly stellar performers, but the rest of the cast is quite solid. The show is gritty, tense, sexy, tightly written, and full of mystery and surprises. It's terrific television all the way around.

In a rather surprising move, the producers have put the entire first episode of the series (not the somewhat uneven miniseries, but the first episode of the regular series) online, free for viewing. It's mildly gutsy, only in the sense that most television studios are extremely skittish about this sort of thing. But they couldn't make a smarter move. This initial episode, "33," is some of the most riveting TV I've seen in a long, long time. Most of humanity has been wiped out, and this ragtag band of barely 50,000 people is fleeing wildly from an enemy hellbent on destroying them completely. I expect that anyone who watches it will find themselves wanting to tune in to see the subsequent episodes. The series is just that good.

If you're looking for high concept drama or really just very good (and rather cutting edge, for the genre) television, I suggest you CLICK HERE TO VIEW "33".

(Obviously you'll need a broadband connection.)

The latest Carnival of the Capitalists is available at Coyote Blog.

Got a note from Art Chrenkoff this morning:

Dear Dean

The fact that so many people, and not just the Sunni sheikhs, now want the piece of the Iraqi action perhaps tells us more about the true situation and future prospects in Iraq than most current news reports. As the old saying goes; victory has many fathers, defeat is an orphan. That the waiting room of the Middle Eastern maternity ward is getting increasingly crowded with paternity claimants is a good - if an indirect sign - that the things in Iraq might be going better than one would think based on the mainstream media coverage.

Of course. Despite an unparalleled string of history-making successes, the news media has as usual given us little but fear and death and despair when it comes to Iraq. Although I'll give them some credit: after having the undeniably stunning success of the Iraqi elections rubbed in their faces, many of the news media suddenly seem to have decided that maybe they can find something positive to say after all.

I assume it's short-lived, but I'll take fair-weather patriotism over no patriotism at all I guess.

Anyway, everybody: be sure to click here to read Art Chrenkoff's Good News From Iraq: Part 22.

(50 lashes with a wet noodle for any twit who comments without clicking the link and reading it first.)

* Update * Oh, and don't miss Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's editorial in this morning's Wall Street Journal: The Task Ahead.

Many people oppose Social Security on Moral grounds (I support it on those grounds), and thus wish to get rid of it. The morality of Social Security is something which is certainly open to debate. Before any debate can happen, though terms need to be defined. What I have noticed is a complete misunderstanding of how social security works. This is fair- Social Security is a complicated thing. Here's how it works:

Old: Every week (I get paid weakly weekly), about 15% of my check goes to social security. That money gets sent to my Grandmother. It used to be (pre 1984) that social security outflow and inflow were (roughly) equal.

Post 1984: Every week, about 20%12.4* of my check goes to Social Security, and 9% (These numbers are a bit rough. But the fact of the difference is more important (for this discussion) than the size of the difference) of that goes to my Grandmother. The remaining 5% is used to buy Treasury bills.

See, in 1982, President Reagan hired Allan Greenspan to figure out how to keep Social security running when the Baby Boomers started retiring in 2018. Greenspan came up with the idea that perhaps we should begin saving for it early. So, the payroll tax was increased. The extra money was to be given to the Social Security Administration. However, since leaving extra billions (trillions?) of dollars laying around in the coffers of a government agency is a dangerous thing, the decision was made to invest the extra money in Treasury Bills. Treasury bills take money from the holder of the money, and give money to the US government. In exchange for this, the holder gets a certificate saying that the US government will give the holder more than they paid at some agreed-upon future point. This is the famous "accounting trick". Something to keep in mind is that if the US government decides not to pay off the holders of those treasury bills when the money comes due, the US economy will collapse. That money will either be repaid, or we'll have bigger problems than social security...

Starting in 2018, the Social Security administration will stop taking in extra money, and start cashing in those T-bills. The Social Security Administration's median projections (they make 3 sets of projections, one really bad, one really good, one *ahem* just right. The "just right" one is the number bandied about most often) show that the Treasury bills will run out in 2047-- when the youngest Baby Boomer is 87...

All of this isn't to say that there aren't problems-- repaying all those T-bills is going to necessitate an income tax hike, the system (if untouched) will only be able to pay 75% of promised benefits starting in 2047-- but we need to understand what the problems are, and why they are what they are, before we can fix anything...

Now I am off to work, I have to earn some money for Grandma...

*Mr. Jack Grant was kind enough to provide this number. The 9% is still a rough estimate of how much actually gets used for current beneficiaries. Of course, this number is getting closer to 12.4% with every passing year, so *shrug*

We linked to these amazing color photos from World War I this weekend. If you were impressed by those, you might also want to see this collection of early color photographs.

Interesting how colorful people's clothing was, eh? You totally lose that when you see nothing but old black and white or sepia-toned images.

I'm never sure what I think of the Academy Awards. It seems to me like they get more attention they deserve. But like everyone else I wind up watching at least a little of the show and being pleased to see some of the winners. The Washington Post has a list of the major winners.

Meanwhile, Pundit Guy notes a minor weiner.

Pretty cool for Jamie Foxx. I always liked him just fine but man, if you'd told me two years ago that he'd be winning an Oscar for Best Actor I'd have been shocked. Not that he doesn't deserve it. But you just never know who's going to come out of nowhere and rock the world.

Another new virus is attributed to monkeys:

WASHINGTON - Two new retroviruses never before seen in humans have turned up among people who regularly hunt monkeys in Cameroon, researchers reported on Friday.

Like the AIDS virus, these viruses insert their genetic material directly into cells and perhaps even into a person's or animal's chromosomes. Closely related versions of the viruses cause leukemia, inflammatory and neurological diseases.

The two new viruses are called human T-lymphotropic virus types 3 and 4 or HTLV-3 and HTLV-4. They are closely related to two known viruses called HTLV-1 and HTLV-2, which experts believe were transmitted to people, like HIV, from monkeys and apes.

This is news because of constant research going on about the origin of AIDS:

"Because HIV originated as a cross-species infection from a non-human primate virus, the question was how much cross-species retrovirus infections are occurring and what are the consequences of these infections," said Walid Hemeine of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who led the study.

They examined blood samples from 930 Cameroonians who had handled or eaten bush meat — monkeys or apes hunted for food.

They used antibody screening and genetic analysis to find at least six different simian retroviruses had infected 13 of the people.

"Two hunters were infected with two previously unknown HTLV viruses. One person was infected with HTLV-3, which is genetically similar to a simian virus, STLV-3, and represents the first documented human infection with this virus," the researchers told the 12th Annual Retrovirus Conference being held in Boston.

"The second hunter was infected with HTLV-4, a virus distinct from all previously known human or simian T-lymphotropic viruses."

So what happens next?

"It's totally new so we don't know any other simian virus that is related to it," Hemeine said in a telephone interview.

Now the team, which includes researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, plans to look more extensively in Central Africa for the virus, Hemeine said. "They could be more widespread than we think they are," he said.

Firefox has been updated and reportedly just got better:

Experts at SophosLabs(TM), Sophos's global network of virus and spam analysis centres, have advised businesses and home users to update their version of the Mozilla Firefox web browser, in order to protect against a number of security vulnerabilities.

Firefox 1.0.1 addresses a number of security flaws involving download dialog boxes and code injection. It has also changed the way it handles International Domain Names (IDN). The IDN vulnerability can help phishers fool users into believing they are visiting a legitimate banking website, rather than a bogus site designed to steal confidential data.

Read this.

A new trophy (and possible rich source of info on the insurgency) is now in the hands of the Iraqi government: Sadaam Hussein's half-brother.

And they way they got him is no coincidence:

CAIRO, Egypt - Iraqi officials said Sunday that Syrian authorities had captured Saddam Hussein's half-brother and 29 other officials of the deposed dictator's Baath Party in Syria and handed them over to Iraq in an apparent goodwill gesture.

Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, a former Saddam adviser suspected of financing insurgents after U.S. troops ousted Saddam, was captured in Hasakah in northeastern Syria near the Iraqi border, two senior Iraqi officials told The Associated Press by telephone on condition of anonymity. Hasakah is about 30 miles from the Iraqi border.

They added that al-Hassan was captured and handed over to Iraqi authorities along with 29 other members of Saddam's collapsed Baath Party, whose Syrian branch has been in power in Damascus since 1963.

So this is a BIG haul. And if you're asking yourself "What's the big deal?" it's this:

The Iraqi officials did not specify when al-Hassan was captured, only saying he was detained following the Feb. 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut, Lebanon, in a blast that killed 16 others.

Syria has come under intense scrutiny following Hariri's death, with many in Lebanon blaming Damascus and Beirut's pro-Syrian government for the killing. The United States and France also have called on Damascus to withdraw 15,000 Syrian troops from Lebanon.

Washington has long accused Syria of harboring and aiding former members of Saddam's toppled Baathist regime suspected of involvement in the deadly insurgency against U.S.-led forces in Iraq.

"The capture appeared to be a goodwill gesture by the Syrians to show that they are cooperating," one Iraqi official told the AP.

Syria has been under the microscope since the Lebanon assassination. The U.S. called home its ambassador, angry Lebanese held demonstrations, and many European countries condemned Syria. This shows that all these pressure together led to some kind of action in Syria. Is it significant? Or too little too late? Time will tell.

Why do we call it the Israeli/Palestinian conflict?

Via Yahoo: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Sunday that peace efforts with the Palestinians would be frozen if they do not crack down on militant groups in the wake of a weekend suicide bombing that killed four Israelis outside a Tel Aviv nightclub...

..There were conflicting accounts as to who was responsible for the attack. Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group with leadership in Lebanon and Syria, claimed responsibility Saturday after first denying any connection to the bombing.

Abbas blamed the attack on a "third party," which other Palestinian officials said was the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran.

Hezbollah denied the accusation.

A senior Israeli military official said Hezbollah had nothing to do with the attack but was vigorously working to carry out other attacks on Israel. Police remained on heightened alert throughout the country Sunday.

Sharon blamed the attack on Islamic Jihad militants, working on the orders of their leaders in Syria.

"We know this for certain," he said.

Syria denied involvement.

How are peace efforts supposed to succeed when the "Palestinian issue" is just a weapon used in larger war against Israel?

Arab nations have vowed to fight this war "to the last Palestinian." There are signs that the Palestinians are getting tired of being cannon fodder. At least they've stopped celebrating attacks:

In contrast to the dozens of previous suicide bombings, no celebrations were held in the West Bank on Saturday and militant groups didn't hang the customary posters of congratulations at the bomber's home.

A MUST READ and CLICK post is this post by Stephen Green in which he shows you a link he found to color photos of World War I. The crystal clear photos in color make history come alive...and you realize it wasn't that long ago after all.

Then be sure to visit Wizbang which gives you another crucial link to take you back even further in time -- and again make history more vivid.

Depending on where you stand politically, you can say this IS the "the child left behind"...or it's "No Child Left Behind." You can say it's a p.r. masterstroke, or a dumb. gimmicky, cringe-inducing idea that may actually backfire with some people on the fence:

The battle over Social Security has been joined by an unusual lobbyist, a 9-year-old from Texas who has agreed to travel supporting President Bush's proposal.

The boy, Noah McCullough, made a splash with his encyclopedic command of presidential history, earning five appearances on the "Tonight" show and some unusual experiences in the presidential campaign last year. He beat Howard Dean in a trivia contest at the Democratic National Convention and wrote for his local newspaper about his trip to see the inauguration.

"He's very patriotic and very Republican," said Noah's mother, Donna McCullough, a former teacher and self-described Democrat. "It's the way he was born."

In a sign of how far groups go to carry their message on Social Security, Progress for America has signed up Noah, a fourth grader, as a volunteer spokesman. He starts on spring break from James Williams Elementary School in Katy, Tex.

The Times explains that Prorgress for America is planning to spend $20 million on Bush's Social Security plan. It already spent $1 million on TV ads and is now sending experts around the country. One of the will be Noah, who can't get Social Security for 60 years:

Noah will travel to a handful of states ahead of visits by the president and will go on radio programs, answer trivia questions and say a few words about Social Security. Though he is obviously not an expert (and not really a lobbyist, either), officials say the effort is a lighthearted way to underline Mr. Bush's message.

"What I want to tell people about Social Security is to not be afraid of the new plan," Noah said. "It may be a change, but it's a good change."

Will seniors and younger voters say, "Now I KNOW this is a good idea because a brilliant 9 year old opened my eyes!" Don't be cynical, though. Surely this was an offhanded p.r. idea tossed in to help the plan get some extra media ink and time — not something that'll be done to death, and most certainly not an attempt to make a 9 year old the image of Social Security reform. Right? Well......:

The trip was a brainchild of Stuart Roy, a former aide to Representative Tom DeLay, Republican of Texas, who recently joined the DCI Group, a political consultancy here with ties to the Republican Party and Mr. Bush.

The firm is heavily involved in Progress for America's efforts. The president of the organization, Brian McCabe, is a partner at DCI, and the organization contracts with the firm. In the 2004 campaign, the Progress for America Voter Fund paid DCI about $800,000, records show. Mr. Roy knew Noah because the boy lives in suburban Houston, part of Mr. DeLay's district, and the House majority leader has met him. "We'll have Noah there as the face of Social Security reform," Mr. Roy said. "It's about the next generation."

In other words, will we see the AARP and other groups opposing the White House plan or insisting on extensive compromise be showing pictures of seniors, etc while Progress for America focuses on elementary school age faces and perhaps teens? It's an interesting idea. If done right it might not hurt; if overdone it could be disastrous. And Noah is on message:

Noah plans to run for the White House in 2032 - and he wants Social Security addressed before then.

"It will be bankrupt when I'm president," he said.

Our teachers used to ask us to write letters to troops sent overseas to make them feel happy, but today...

Egypt's quasi-dictatorial President, Hosni Mubarak, claims he wants to see free multi-party elections this year.

It'll be interesting to see if he's telling the truth--right now, frankly, I'm skeptical, especially if he doesn't like the results of the elections, or jerry-rigs things to make it impossible for real challengers to mount effective campaigns. It would be nice if it were more than just words, though...

Is it time for society to truly focus on this issue and get a grip?

Identity theft: its not hard to do, it impacts individuals, whole economies -- and can help out terrorists who seek to create "new" identities. Random Fate gives you a slew of solid details and links -- and raises some troubling issues.

....may get a little less mysterious....

There will be prayers in Rome today. And the Pope will join in.

But silently:

Pope John Paul II will join in Sunday's Angelus prayers from his hospital room but will not read them out, the Vatican said Saturday as the pope recovered from a throat operation to ease a breathing crisis.

The Holy See made clear that the 84-year-old pontiff would not appear at a window at Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic hospital during Sunday's blessing, a weekly tradition dear to the pope. A Vatican official later confirmed there were no plans for a papal appearance.

Doctors had advised the pope not to speak for several days as he recovers from surgery to insert a breathing tube into his throat.

In reality, no one can say for sure what his prognosis is:

The next major health decision could involve the tracheotomy tube.

In some patients the tube is left permanently, requiring significant changes in speech. Some people learn to talk through the tube. Another option is to briefly plug it — akin to holding your breath — and speak in short bursts. Either choice would be complicated by the pope's Parkinson's disease, which causes hand tremors and difficulties in coordination and muscle control.

But he can still communicate — using the written word...and he is doing so already:

After the operation, he wrote a note to aides saying, "What did they do to me?" Navarro-Valls said, describing it as a joking message.

"I am always `totus tuus"' — the pope's motto in Latin that Navarro-Valls translated as "I am completely in your hands."

The image drove home a clear Vatican worry: that the pope's ailments gradually reduce his abilities to communicate — a hallmark of his 28-year papacy that's included 104 international trips and several best-selling books.

"This is a big problem," said Vatican Cardinal Renato Martino, mentioning the pope's temporary inability to speak. "He will find other ways to communicate, that we know already."

With this Pope, where there is a will, there is a way...

UPDATE: The Pope again showed he has a will -- and found a way to briefly connect with the people who he loves so much:

Today was the first time in his 26-year papacy Pope John Paul II did not lead prayers in Saint Peter's Square. He even kept the tradition after being shot nearly 20 years ago.

But he did appear at his hospital room window, waving to the faithful. An Italian news agency says the pope's medical condition is satisfactory. The Vatican isn't sure when the pope will be able to leave his Rome hospital.

The P.C. Police SWAT Team is at it again — this contingent coming from an animal rights group that is at war with Kraft Foods since it dared to make a candy poking fun at dead animals.

You read it correctly the first time:

TRENTON, N.J. - Animal rights activists are disgusted by a new candy from Kraft Foods Inc. that's shaped like critters run over by cars — complete with tire treads.

The fruity-flavored Trolli Road Kill Gummi Candy — in shapes of partly flattened snakes, chickens and squirrels — fosters cruelty toward animals, according to the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

"It sends the wrong message to children, that it's OK to harm animals. And that's the wrong message, especially from a so-called wholesome corporation like Kraft," said society spokesman Matthew Stanton.

That's right! I couldn't simply be that kids might find them funny and leave it at that. If kids see and eat candies like that, it's going to make them run over animals with their bikes, stomp them, and roadkill will be increased. So, this stands to reason:

The society is considering petition drives, boycotts and letter-writing campaigns to get the candy pulled from the market, Stanton said.

You see, there are a lot of people who have lots of time on their hands but can't bring themselves to funnel it into things such as tsunami relief, organizations that help hungry children throughout the world, or genuine animal rights issues involving authentic animal abuse or conservation of endangered species. For instance, the late Johnny Carson's will reportedly left $1 million to help primates in a zoo. Why didn't Carson leave it to battle Kraft Foods on this candy issue? How could he be so short-sighted?

Of course, Kraft is dismissing this complaint. It's telling them that they have the right to manufacture, promote and sell a candy that is not offensive to anyone, except someone looking to create a fight and get lots of publicity. It's telling them that they're acting like a typical contingent of the P.C. Police — out to clamp down on something that out of the blue is declared shockingly offensive, thus reducing the existing boundaries even more so institutions or people have less room to freely express ideas, no matter how serious, vapid or silly. Right? NOPE:

After receiving a complaint from the NJSPCA Wednesday, Kraft officials pulled an animated advertisement from Trolli's Web site that featured car headlights and animals. No other decisions on changes have been made, said Kraft spokesman Larry Baumann.

"If you look across the Gummi category we certainly have many products that are offbeat, and that's what we were doing in this case," Baumann said. "We didn't mean to offend anyone."

So once again, the PC Assault Force gains some ground.

Why didn't Kraft simply tell the New Jersey ASPC it had a useful suggestion where its group's members might put its critter candy so no one can see it?

Note to New Jersey readers: If you donate to the ASPCA there we hope you're pleased with this report on how some of your money is being used.

This excellent Iowa State Daily feature explains blogs and blogging's increased roles to the average reader. Our favorite quotes are from Stephen Green:

"It was bloggers who uncovered the 'Rather-Gate' memos as being fakes, it was bloggers who kept on Eason Jordan, it was bloggers who kept on the Gannon story a couple weeks ago," he said..

"When you've got a couple thousand people from all over the spectrum talking about the same subject, eventually the truth will come out," Green said.

The other blogger quoted in the story always makes a lot of sense to me.

The New York Times has a great article about an average shmoe (and we DO mean "shmoe") who did a video of himself looking truly dorky lip syncing a Romanian folk song and how it has now gotten totally out of hand.

He decided to put his truly hilarious (almost professional looking) lip sync on the Internet. It was linked, and now he has become a monster celebrity, getting invitations from the network morning news shows, etc. Today he wants to get away from his new found fame as a overweight guy in a waving his arms and making faces and generally looking screamingly lame:

He has now sought refuge from his fame in his family's small house on a gritty street in Saddle Brook. He has stopped taking phone calls from the news media, including The New York Times. He canceled an appearance on NBC's "Today." According to his relatives, he mopes around the house.

The Times did some impressive reporting on this vital story, too:

"I don't know what's wrong with him," his grandfather, Kalman Telkes, a Hungarian immigrant, said the other day while taking out the trash.

You can see this classic video here (click on WATCH THIS MOVIE...Then Click on Watch Without Subtitles or Watch With Subtitles. Their "Original Version" has some adult stuff and other material inserted. Not as funny as Watch Withouth Subtitles so skip it) and remember: this could be YOU...

The Faeriewizard took his camera to a cemetery in Boston and came back with some interesting photos (including one of Paul Revere's grave marker.) Thought I'd drop in for a sec and share them with you! Enjoy.

....is truly in the eye of the beholder.

Big news from Wichita, Kansas where police announced a decades-long search for the BTK Killer (self defined: "Bind, Torture, Kill") is over with the arrest of a suspect.

But they're not phrasing this as a 'maybe' in this latest twist on the case of Wichita's most notorious serial killer, now connected with eight unsolved homicides from 1974 to 1986 :

"The bottom line: BTK is arrested," said Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams.

I worked on the Wichita Eagle-Beacon from 1980-1981 (before being moved out to San Diego by the San Diego Union. According to the Eagle, " Dennis Rader of Park City has been arrested for first-degree murder of the eight victims known to be tied to BTK."

What's particularly fascinating in this case is that it seemed to come to a dead end — until BTK recontacted the news media...sending tidbits that modern criminology and science could apply, changing the dynamic of the case. MSNBC (see first link on this post):

Since re-establishing contact last year, authorities said the killer has sent at least eight letters to the media or police, including three packages containing jewelry that police believed may have been taken from BTK's victims. One letter contained the driver's license of victim Nancy Fox.

The new letters sent chills through Wichita, but also rekindled hope that modern forensic science could find some clue that would finally lead police to a killer most thought was dead or safely locked in prison for some other crime.

Thousands of tips poured in, and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation conducted hundreds of DNA swabs in connection with the BTK investigation.

Surveillance gave police their "first big piece" of evidence, leading authorities to a vehicle and a "person of interest", said a source who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity earlier on Saturday. On Friday, investigators searched a house in a Wichita suburb Friday, seizing computer equipment.

Police haven't released any details about who they arrested. What's interesting about this case is it's almost like the old cliche about a killer always returning to the scene of the crime (sort of like when I return to post on my own blog each Sunday night).

...those journalistic buzz words of the day. Read this then list some others in our comments box.

Since Dean's World is the Internet's hub for detailed — and lively — discussion about AIDS and HIV, we offer these news items for your consideration and comments:

A NEW DRUG:

A researcher at a Boston conference reported that an experimental drug that blocks the AIDS virus from entering cells shows promise as a treatment.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the drug being developed by GlaxoSmithKline PLC or London is in a new class of drugs named CCR5 receptor blockers. James Demarest of Glaxo's research group in Research Park, N.C., told the 12th Annual Retrovirus Conference that in a clinical trial the drug suppressed levels of the HIV virus by 98 percent after 10 days of treatment.

Glaxo licensed the drug from Ono Pharmaceuticals of Japan.

The new drugs, including others being developed by Schering-Plough and Pfizer, are designed to block the portal through which the virus enters human cells. Researchers say they are especially important because of the HIV virus's ability to develop resistance to the drugs now in use.

BLACKS HARDEST HIT BY HIV?

BOSTON - The prevalence of HIV infection in Blacks doubled in the past decade while remaining stable among Whites, according to the federal government's most detailed, ongoing survey of the U.S. population's health.

The findings, presented to a gathering of AIDS researchers here Friday, is further evidence the nation's AIDS epidemic is becoming a scourge disproportionately suffered by African-Americans.

The prevalence of HIV infection in Blacks ages 18 to 59 in 1991 was 1.1 percent, about five times higher than what was found in Whites. In 2001, it was 2.14 percent, and the gap had increased to 13 times that seen in Whites. The hardest-hit group was Black men ages 40 to 49, 3.6 percent of whom were infected with HIV when contacted through the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

"It is a disturbing trend," said Geraldine McQuillan, a researcher from the National Center for Health Statistics who described the findings at the 12th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, the annual midwinter AIDS meeting in the United States.

She said, in fact, that "if anything, the findings are an underestimate" of the lopsided racial profile of the AIDS epidemic.

There's more on that one (which you might want to read in its entirety)

Writer Hunter Thompson's final conversation with his wife was was a blast: literally.

It now turns out the world-famous "new journalism" writer may have killed himself while talking to his wife. Details:

The widow of journalist Hunter S. Thompson said her husband killed himself while the two were talking on the phone.

"I was on the phone with him, he set the receiver down and he did it. I heard the clicking of the gun," Anita Thompson told the Aspen Daily News in Friday's editions.

She said her husband had asked her to come home from a health club so they could work on his weekly ESPN column — but instead of saying goodbye, he set the telephone down and shot himself.

Thompson said she heard a loud, muffled noise, but didn't know what had happened. "I was waiting for him to get back on the phone," she said.

And apparently she had to wait a while. He was disconnected. More:

Her account to Rocky Mountain News reporter Jeff Kass is slightly different: "I did not hear any bang," she told Kass. She added that Thompson's son, who was in the house at the time, believed that a book had fallen when he heard the shot, according to Kass' report.

Hunter Thompson, famous for "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and other works of New Journalism, shot himself in the head Sunday in the kitchen of his Aspen-area home. He was 67.

His son, daughter-in-law and 6-year-old grandson were in the house when the shooting occurred.

Don't hold that against him. Look, the guy was a family man. He wanted his young relatives around him when he blew his brains all over the walls. And then there's this:

Anita Thompson, 32, said her husband had discussed killing himself in recent months and had been issuing verbal and written directives about what he wanted done with his body, his unpublished works and his assets.

His suicidal talk put a strain on their relationship, she said.

Yes, I can imagine it did.

SHE: Honey, I want to get a Jack LaLanne Power Juicer...

SHE: I don't want to wait.

HT: It'll be like Bob Dole without Viagra: it won't be long now.

SHE: Hunter, baby, I want to make sure I'm with you on our anniversary night.

HT: You won't fit in the urn.

SHE: Hunter, what can I say to make you smile?

HT: Say those three little worlds that will make me walk on air.

SHE: 'I love you?'

HT: No: 'Go hang yourself.'

And in the end he chose suicide. P.S. Suicide is against the law. The penalty is death..

....but he's back...this time as a blogger (with a pretty lively blog, at that..)

But while he started a blog, this also happened.

...is now a BRAND PROTECTED name (I can't wait to buy future products!).

Q: What do you call a dog with no legs?

A: Doesn't matter, he isn't going to come anyway.

(How about you? Heard any good ones lately?)

Don't miss Rummel's piece on the utter and complete disaster that is the United Nations.

Someone asked me once why I criticized the U.N. instead of proposing how to fix it. I'll tell you why: the only way to fix it is to eject every non-democratic nation. Problem: a majority of the member nations aren't democratic.

Cool Blue notes that the Syrians claim they're pulling out of Lebanon, but they aren't telling the truth, and has lots more worth reading on related subjects.

Have I ever mentioned that we do take submissions of art work, poetry, and essays? We don't get 'em too often but if you look over there on the left, there's contact info for Trudy Schuett, or submissions editor.

Anyway, here's the latest neat submissions from artist Harvey B.:

For you budding cooks, the latest Carnival of the Recipes is available at Rocket Jones.

I have observed here more than once that a remarkable fact of life is that democratic nations--defined as those which enshrine universal suffrage, free speech, and free press into their systems of law--simply do not, as a rule, go to war with each other. The exceptions are generally short-lived, low-intensity, and debateable. If you doubt this, I have a simple challenge: name the exceptions.

I am not the first person to have observed this. That honor goes to political scientist R.J. Rummel--who, I am rather excited to see, has recently joined the pajama-clad hordes of the blogosphere.

I suggest that if you maintain a blogroll, you add him to it. He's got lots of good stuff on there, on a regular basis.

Something else that I've noted here on Dean's World before is that, in the last 100 years, it is impossible to find a case of a famine which was not caused by a government. I always startle people when I say it, because most people are convinced that famine is caused by overpopulation.

No, it isn't.

In the last century, mass starvation has, always and everywhere, been caused by political actions taken by governments. There has never been a time in the last century when there wasn't enough food available for delivery to starving people. The only places you ever find people starving is where some government is either grossly incompetent, or, as is more often the case, intentionally starving people for political reasons. There are also short-term, freak occurrences (such as people being cut off from food supplies by a flood), but food aide is always available before mass starvation occurs unless government actions prevent it.

While I've known this for a long time, it didn't occur to me until Rummel pointed out on his blog: even though democracies have often been struck with the awful droughts that would have created millions of deaths under other types of regimes, or had famines before they became democratic (remember, "democratic" is defined as univesal suffrage, free speech, and free press), in all of human history, not one democratic nation has ever experienced a famine.

If you doubt this, I suggest again that you try to name the exception.

So:

Lesson one is that free people almost never go to war with each other.

Lesson two is that they don't let each other starve, either.

Democracy isn't a slogan, and it's not a gushy feeling. It's a matter of both personal and national security: the more of it the world has, the safer we all are.

Anyway, be sure to check out Professor Rummel's blog.

Our friend Scott, a veteran, tells how he became a street protestor, and asks you to help him rally in San Diego on March 19.

Wish I could be there with you, Scott. San Diego'd be a bit of a drive, but man, it'd be worth it...

Man, the more I see of Mahmoud Abbas (a.k.a. "Abu Mazen"), the more impressed I am:

The Palestinian Parliament approved on Thursday a Cabinet of mostly new faces unassociated with the corruption-plagued era of Yasser Arafat, signaling a commitment to reforms viewed as key to peacemaking....

....The 54-12 vote, with four abstentions, ended days of wrangling between rebellious legislators and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei, who initially sought to retain political cronies from the Arafat era....

...Virtually all the new ministers are experts in the field they are to oversee, including 10 with doctorates, a medical doctor, a lawyer, several engineers and several with master's degrees. The new agriculture minister, Walid Abed Rabbo, has a doctorate in human resource management from the U.S. and served in Jordan's agriculture ministry before becoming a consultant to the Palestinian Agriculture Ministry.

Complete story right here.

Man. It's early yet, but is it conceivable that by the end of this decade we'll see stable, peaceful democracies in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, and even Palestine?

Hey, if you're gonna dream, dream big.

(Via Armies of Liberation.)

Susanna Cornett has reached her third blogiversary.

Hard to believe she only started two months before I did. While we don't always agree politically, she was a major early inspiration to me. Thanks for being out there, Susanna. I hope you never stop!

Athena is having an interesting debate/discussion with James Joyner on the meaning of "Islamism" and the compatibility of Islam with modernity. It's worth a read.

One of the thing that's long perturbed me about the right side of the blogosphere has been the bald assertion many make that the religion of Islam itself is fundamentally incompatible with modernity or pluralism or democracy. Those who take this position are fond of pointing to various suras (i.e. verses) in the Koran, almost invariably out of context, and using them to declare that the religion itself is hopelessly hostile and brutal--and, thus, America's "true enemy."

But you can take all sorts of verses out of the Christian bible, or the Jewish Bible (most especially the Torah sans the Talmud) and make it look brutal and intolerant. Yet Christian and Jewish laws and traditions are deeply woven into our system of law here in America and Canada, not to mention most European systems of law. It's buried so deep we mostly fail to notice it, but it's there. Yet somehow I've managed to go my entire life without meeting either a Christian or a Jew who's participated in, say, the stoning of an adulterer, or who's forced a widow to marry her dead husband's brother.

Throughout most of history in the Muslim world, the idea that Sharia would or could be the whole of the law was always open to debate. Ever since the death of Muhammed himself, various Muslim rulers have struggled with how to interpret Sharia. Over the last 1400 years numerous schools Sharia interpretation have sprung forth, because it simply isn't a complete system of law that humans can consistently apply to everything.

Believers in the Islamic faith will tell you that the problem is human limitations in understanding divine law; unbelievers will say that, just like the Bible, it's full of holes and contradictions. The simple fact is that all of the suras require interpretation and context, and not just textual but historical context. Most muslim scholars appreciate this. Even those who adhere to very rigid versions of it have arguments over proper interpretation. And not all schools of interpretation are particularly rigid.

A very good book on this subject that I've mentioned before (and will undoubtedly mention again) is Muslim scholar Steven Schwartz' The Two Faces of Islam. This book gets a lot of criticism from a lot of quarters, and some of it is well-taken; Schwartz, as a Sufi muslim, is rather selective in where he applies his outrage. That said, he makes very good points about Sharia that most of us here in the West don't understand, including the fact that there are at least four major schools of interpretation of Sharia, and within those, there are minor and major variations. Muslims debate the meaning of various parts of Sharia as fiercely as Christians, Jews, or the adherants of any other faith debate their own holy books and traditions.

You can get a feel for what this really means by looking at countries such as Iraq or Turkey. It's said that Turkey is a rigidly secularist state but it's not; not only does the government there own all the mosques and often instruct those who run them on what is and is not allowed to be taught there, but parts of Sharia are and always have been in its system of law.

Iraq, even under Saddam, has always had a peculiarly functional and autonomous judiciary, built up over thousands of years with an interesting mix of Sharia, the Hammurabic Code, and even some Western influences. That didn't develop because the Mesopotamians "fell away from the true faith" over the last 1400 years, but because a mix of pragmatism and tradition and changing times and attitudes helped them develop what they have today. If in some ways it still seems backwards to us, just go back to what American courts looked like in, say, 1860: women couldn't testify against their husbands and often couldn't own property, atheists or Jews sometimes were not allowed to testify at all because they couldn't swear on the Christian bible, black people might well have no standing whatsoever, and so on.

Getting back to the meaning of "Islamism" and the compatibility of Islam with modernity, one of the reasons I like the term "Islamist" is that it lets us identify a pecularly radical form of virulently hostile, quasi-fascist muslim. zdomeone suffering under the delusion that Sharia is easily and simply interpreted, that everything is to be taken literally, that punishment for unbelievers is death, and so on. We should properly view such people the way we view, say, Jim Jones or David Koresh, or groups such as Kach and Kahane Chai.

I like the term "Islamist" precisely because it lets us sort the dangerous nutjobs like Osama Bin Laden or the Taliban from everyday muslims.

Are everyday muslims incapable of democracy and tolerance and pluralism? Don't tell the Turks. Or the Indonesians. Or, today, the Iraqis.

...that Firefox/Mozilla isn't invulnerable after all?

Discuss...

My lovely wife, the Queen of All Evil, has noticed who The New Mr. Magoos are.

Gallup has some intriguing numbers.

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Little-Known Song Titles That Answer Questions Posed in Better-Known Songs.

"The Bop Was Put in the Bop-Shoo-Bop-Shoo-Bop by Bristol-Myers Squibb, an International Consortium Dedicated to Improving Public Health Through Access to Medicine and Bop"

5 punning points if you get them all. I certainly didn't...

Astronomers have discovered an invisible galaxy:

The object appears to be made mostly of "dark matter," material of an unknown nature that can't be seen.

Theorists have long said most of the universe is made of dark matter. Its presence is required to explain the extra gravitational force that is observed to hold regular galaxies together and that also binds large clusters of galaxies.

Theorists also believe knots of dark matter were integral to the formation of the first stars and galaxies. In the early universe, dark matter condensed like water droplets on a spider web, the thinking goes.

[Link thanks to Ace of Spades]

Viet Pundit has an interview with a recently-released political prisoner in Viet Nam that you should read.

Randy Barnett says the Libertarian Party has hurt libertarians, and gives some excellent reasons for why he thinks so.

I find his analysis spot-on. This is why I think that libertarians really ought to be abandoning the pointless Libertarian Party and, at a local level, building up either the Democratic Freedom Caucus (if living in an area where the Democrats are in the majority) or the Republican Liberty Caucus (if living in an area where Republicans are in the majority).

By placing themselves where they are, Libertarians have essentially guaranteed that they will occasionally win local offices almost as a fluke, and nothing else--and their voices will otherwise rarely be heard in the halls of government.

Heh.

In case you don't know, Syria has been occupying Lebanon in the Middle East for the last generation. On Monday, a former Prime Minister of Lebanon, Rafiq Harriri, was killed by a terrorist bomb. Although largely considered a Syrian puppet, the result of his killing has caused an amazing transformation in Lebanon.

To understand this, your must-read column for today is by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius:

A crowd was still gathered at Hariri's resting place well after midnight early yesterday. Thousands of candles — many bearing Christian icons, others Muslim designs — flickered in a semicircle around the grave and melted together into a multicolored patina of wax. Mourners have written angry messages in Arabic on a nearby wall denouncing Syria, whose troops occupy Lebanon and which many Lebanese blame for Hariri's murder. "The Ugly Syrian," says one. "Get Out of Here," says another. For people who have been frightened even to mention Syria's name, it must feel liberating just to write those words.

Freedom of press, freedom of speech? Free elections? In an Arab country? Heresy!

But wait, it gets better. Ethnic tensions? Religious tensions?

"We have nothing to lose anymore. We want freedom or death," says Indra Hage, a young Lebanese Christian. "We're going to stay here, even if soldiers attack us," says Hadi Abi Almouna, a Druze Muslim. "Freedom needs sacrifices, and we are ready to give them."

The Druze are one of the major ethnic groups in the region. Ignatius also spoke to Walid Jumblatt, a Druze leader:

"It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq," explains Jumblatt. "I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world." Jumblatt says this spark of democratic revolt is spreading. "The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it."

The story is not without its disturbing element, as Hezbollah, a known terrorist organization, is portrayed as the "Lebanese militia." Nevertheless if Ignatius is right, it looks like they're getting more interested in driving out the Syrians and installing democracy than they are in simply killing infidels.

You can read the whole thing by clicking here.

Furthermore, today's Wall Street Journal reports that:

On Monday, tens of thousands of Muslim, Christian and Druze protesters took to the streets to demand that Syria withdraw its 14,000 occupying troops and end its de facto control, via its intelligence apparatus, of Lebanese politics. Hundreds of Lebanese expatriates protested outside of Syrian embassies in Paris, Stockholm, London and Kuwait City. The Lebanese Prime Minister has offered to resign; his rubber-stamp parliament will likely be swept in forthcoming elections provided these are conducted fairly.

Some like to portray the goal of democracy as mere idealism, but it's not. It's pragmatism combined with recognition of a certain fact of human nature: people with free speech & free press (and thus the right to dissent that goes with it) and free elections generally have better things to do than make war on each other--which is why, historically, democratic nations very very rarely make war on each other and, when they do, it's usually short-lived and low-intensity. The exceptions are rare indeed, and I invite anyone who doubts this to name one.

There are those who say Arabs are incapable of this culturally, or that they "don't care" about it. I say those people are wrong, because these are things that all people yearn for, whether they realize it at first or not.

Stay off diets. Donald Sensing relates his experience about gaining weight after the military, and then losing it:

My contention is that Americans who try to reduce but regain the weight they lost, as most people seem to do, fail because they go on a diet.

Believe me, I know. After I retired from the Army I started seminary within four weeks. I was a fulltime student, worked full time also, and tried to make sure my three young children and wife remembered what I looked like, too. Something had to give, and what gave was PT. My daily diet slipped, too. The result is what anyone might expect: I gained weight, far too much

Read about how he lost it. When I lost my weight, I had three problems - fast food, peanut butter and Coca-Cola. Largely because of those, I ballooned up to about 280 pounds. I drank 3 litres of Coke a day. I should also say that I never once ordered a Big Mac combo. I always ordered a Big Mac combo and a couple small burgers to boot!

My wake-up call was the day I noticed that my size 41 pants were tight. Size forty-one, folks! Then and there, I stopped drinking Coke, and I stopped eating fast food and peanut butter. No choice - those weren't just three things I ate a lot of. They were foods I was compulsive about. So I stopped. Not surprisingly, the weight started coming off. Another thing: I used a smaller plate for my dinner. In my experience, I didn't think I was full until I went back for seconds. When you use a saucer instead of a platter, that's ok. The weight continued to drop.

Then I started eating a full breakfast - which used to consist of a large Tim Horton's coffee (Canadians know the addictive potion about which I speak), two muffins and a Coke. When I stopped eating this garbage, the weight continued to drop.

Then I started walking at lunchtime. And, the weight continued to drop.

Over the course of a year, I lost about 100 pounds and my pant size dropped from size 42 (almost) to 32 (at one point, I could fit into a size 30!) The great thing is that I never once felt hungry. I've kept most of that weight off for over 10 years. And while I occasionally eat fast food, I have not had a Coca-Cola in almost 11 years (I do drink one Diet Coke a day, so I guess I'm trading fat for Alzheimer's.)

I'm still obsessive about my weight. I'm a little over 200lbs now (I'm 6'1".) But I still have a bad relationship with food. There're only two rules I follow really: First, a full breakfast every morning. Second: Everything in moderation - except Coke, which is heroin.

Anyway, read how I did it, and read how Donald did it. I think you'll agree both are pretty sensible.

Our friend James "Ibejo" Owens has opened his own quite nifty photoblog. Click here to check it out.

I particularly liked his article on the art and science of composition. I'd never heard the "rule of thirds" before but now that I've read about it it makes all kinds of sense.

Steven Malcolm Anderson of Up With Beauty has continued his most interesting series on political spectrums, the first give parts of which I mentioned here a few weeks ago (see below). He's completed his series with a final eight entries:

2-dimensional spectra, beginning with variations on the Nolan spectrum: Click here to read.

2-dimensional spectra, many more and deeper....: Click here to read.

....The Smith-Anderson spectrum: Click here to read.

Stephanie Estelle Xayananh on Murray S. Davis's spectrum: Naturalists, Jehovanists, and Gnostics: Click here to read.

A spectrum based on something Ayn Rand once said: Click here to read.

Some more on that spectrum, as it relates to war and the military: Click here to read.

Still more on that spectrum, the relations between the ideologies: Click here to read.

The Smith-Anderson spectrum in 3-dimensions, based on some Spenglerian-style polarities based on the 2 hemispheres of your brain: Click here to read.

...and that will complete the series.

He's one of a kind, our friend Steven Malcolm Anderson!

HHV-6, or Human Hervesvirus 6, is a fascinating virus. Some believe it is behind what is sometimes called "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome." Those who suffer from CFS hate that name, by the way, because the real problem as they see it is that their immune systems are chronically suppressed. "We're not tired, we're sick all the time" they say.

I've never known how to evaluate these claims, however, I've noticed that this virus seems to be popping up in the news more and more. It's thought to be present in a majority of the population (yes, that means most of you reading this). Saliva appears to be the main vehicle of infection, and interestingly, a new study suggests that most people pick it up before age 2, and that it causes more severe symptoms in infants than was previously believed.

Gay Patriot contemplates the matter.

Iran is becoming an increasingly dangerous place to blog.

To show solidarity with two Iranian bloggers who were jailed for the crime of free expression in Iran, the Committee to Protect Bloggers declared Feb. 22 Free Mojtaba and Arash Day:

According to Jeff Jarvis, this online protest had an effect - around the world and in Iran:

..According to Reuters, [Arash] Sigarchi is a newspaper editor and blogger who was arrested last month. A member of the Center for Defense of Human Rights in Tehran told Reuters that the charges against him are political and journalistic.

According to the group Reporters Without Borders, Sigarchi was arrested for keeping a banned blog called Panhjareh Eltehab (The Window of Anxiety), in which he reported the arrests of cyber-journalists and bloggers...

...Blogging has emerged in the past year or so as a powerful tool to make a difference in society. Hopkins said his group's next step may go beyond simply raising awareness about free-speech issues. The organization may seek to set up special server computers that would make it harder for a government to crack down on those speaking through blogs.

Aw shux.

If you could all take a moment to answer this question for me I'd appreciate it:

Brian Tiemann holds forth on the subject of media players. He finds Apple's QuickTime product the best of breed, though he is willing to point out some of its more glaring issues. Weirdly, he doesn't seem to use most of the features I do, and does use many features I don't. This tends to inform his opinion where I would come to different conclusions. Still, his analysis is spot on for what he is looking for, and I recommend a look...

Whenever Mark Steyn writes on foreign policy, he's worth reading and re-reading. In yesterday's Telegraph he made a most provocative statement regarding President Bush's trip to Europe this week:

America and Europe both face security threats. But the difference is America's are external, and require hard choices in tough neighbourhoods around the world, while the EU's are internal and, as they see it, unlikely to be lessened by the sight of European soldiers joining the Great Satan in liberating, say, Syria. That's not exactly going to help keep the lid on the noisier Continental mosques.

So what would you do in Bush's shoes? Slap 'em around a bit? What for? Where would it get you? Or would you do exactly what he's doing? Climb into the old soup-and-fish, make small talk with Mme Chirac and raise a glass of champagne to the enduring friendship of our peoples: what