Danny Yee >> Pathologically Polymathic (blog)

November 2003

<< October 2003 | December 2003 >>

an Italian government directive on software - LWN
no explicit preference for free software, but interoperability, reuse, and anti-lock-in criteria
Naomi Klein on police terrorism in Miami - CD [via ProRev]
nice piece on Dutch novelist Harry Mulisch - Guardian [via CR]
I've read The Assault and The Discovery of Heaven, and want to read more
with IDF conscripts on the West Bank - Guardian
a fearsomely elaborate attempt to revive glottochronology - Nature [via CT]
strong euro or weak dollar? - Economist
"In so far as a 'dollar policy' exists, it is being set in Tokyo and Beijing, not in Washington."
Umberto Eco on the future of the book - ElAhram [via Link]
Save the Children censors itself for donors - Guardian
the constraints of fund-raising can easily interfere with NGO campaigning
a new translation of Hans Christian Andersen - Slate [via CR]
Americans no longer so welcome in Mosul - IHT [via AntiWar]
ATMs were infected by Welchia worm - NewScientist [via ProRev]
using Windows XP to run an ATM is like installing a car just to get a 12 volt power supply
big instruments are out of fashion - Guardian [via ProRev]
"the tuba, bassoon, double bass and trombone are too ugly and expensive for a new generation of teenagers"
the background static of the Internet - Register
"modem users lose about 20 bits per second to Internet junk"
an overview of the latest changes at Google - SearchEngineGuide [via /.]
not that anyone outside the SEO business will really care
a lucid overview of Digital Rights Management prospects - EDN [via JWalk]
eight experts on possble "exit strategies" for the US in Iraq - Guardian
how common are Chomsky sentences? - Lang
and can you spot them in ordinary speech?
a group blog on South American politics - Southern Exposure [via referers]
I've reviewed a book called Southern Exposure, but that was an anthology of Okinawan literature...
no US federal funding for "unpatriotic" area studies? - YaleDaily [via Moor]
Sorrows of Empire - PresentDanger [via AntiWar]
supressing racial prejudice is cognitively demanding? - Econ - Zimmer - S+N [via Cosma]
a $50,000 grant from Victoria to promote open source - SMH
to white-ant the public sector and educational strongholds of Microsoft
Eben Moglen on the SCO claims - FSF [via /.]
Nabokov was a lepidopterist! - PSU [via Lang]
bleached conditionals and the Eskimo snow words hoax - LanguageLog [via Cosma]
archives reveal the sordid side of Ba'ath totalitarianism - IHT
Lula's revolution off to a slow start - Houston [via Agonist]
"Brazil will shell out a whopping $46 billion in debt service payments this year"
Sun gets a big desktop deal in China - SiliconValley [via OSAU]
Bremer sacks 28,000 Iraqi teachers - Menafn [via AntiWar]
this is stupidity on a par with sacking the army
overview of the Massachusetts gay-marriage ruling - Prospect [via Cosma]
the Israeli army fights for its soul - WP
animal flight and the Strouhal Number - style.org [via /.]
a new species of whale? - NewScientist
does Linus Torvalds have more resources than Bill Gates? - Yahoo [via /.]
Romila Thapar's masterful study - Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300 [review]
counter-scamming Nigerian scammers - Guardian
US takes reprisal against buildings in Iraq - Billmon
collective punishment for the families of suspected insurgents
Italian official resigns from Iraq administration - Yahoo [via Agonist]
they're mismanaging reconstruction, out of touch with Iraqis and only fueling their anger
an improvement on the Political Compass - Cosma
factor analysis gives left/right and "idealist/pragmatist" axes
interviews on the effects of Israel's wall - EI
"the West Bank has been divided into impoverished cantons subdivided into ghettos"
Australia's contrived "migration zone" keeps shrinking - Asia
blogging map fragments with commentary - Maps and Territories [via CT]
time for reform of Australian defamation law? - Age
the screw-ups of military "intelligence" in Iraq - Asia
"intelligence officers who cannot speak Arabic and are not familiar with Iraqi, Arab or Muslim culture [are] creating enemies instead of eliminating them"
an orphan in post-war Hungary faces a difficult choice - The Circumcision [review]
accessibility analyses of US presidential candidate sites - OptWeek [via JWalk]
one-time friend of Saddam Hussein, now 13th richest man in Britain - Guardian
"he has been able to collect British politicians the way other people collect stamps"
the case for war: an unambiguous misreading of intelligence - NYROB
"The CIA is as serious, as prudent, as honest as the presidents for whom it works -- never more."
the Red Cross ends West Bank food program - Independent
"Israel must live up to its responsibility as an occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention to meet the economic needs of the civilian population"
the Saudis tidy up rapidly after Riyadh bombing - BBC
Hitchens not impressed by Patrick O'Brian movie - Slate - the books
more of my Iceland travelogue, including - Skógar to Þorsmörk
possibly the most scenic walk I've ever done
former Shin Bet heads criticise Israeli policy - JersualemP [via Billmon]
"a catastrophe for Israel if a peace deal with the Palestinians is not reached quickly"
an interview with the new chief economist - World Bank
common features of fascist regimes - SecularHumanism [via JWalk]
if the NRA were serious about marketing guns to women... - MLite
"The NRA has a lot of members. If it figures it can stand to lose a few of them in the cause of equal empowerment for women, who am I to disapprove?"
McDonalds gets "McJob" pulled from online Mirriam-Webster - Register
the latest (August) "Software Wars" graphic - ATai [125k PNG]
Linux is taking off in Thailand - Linux Insider - Register
70% of users getting Linux preinstalled are sticking with it, despite Microsoft selling Windows+Office for $37
list of countries with troops in Iraq - Guardian
notice Australia is not on the list...
there could be 50,000 guerillas in Iraq - Guardian
and the US may speed up the transfer of power to Iraqis
SCO subpoenas Linus and RMS - ZDnet [via Link]
the case against privatization of Iraq - Menafn [via Informed]
"to veil or not to veil is hardly the question" - Yahoo [via Moor]
"women's rights throughout the Islamic world [hinge] on matters of far greater substance"
the moving story of an Icelandic schizophrenic - Angels of the Universe [review]
does anyone know what's happened to Jorn Barger? - Robot Wisdom
I hope that hurricane isn't going to be simulated forever
study of bias in media coverage of Iraq war - FAIR [via /.]
from May/June, but new to me
programming skills as the next literacy - Guardian
"This is yet another reason why Windows is such a dangerous commodity"
Iraq: even the army is unhappy with the slow pace of the CPA - Guardian
"I keep listening to the television and radio and allegedly there is a plan. Initiate. Let's do it."
the dullest blog in the world - Dull [via JWalk]
requiring me to make no further comment
President Bush declares war on whales and dolphins - DeeperBlue [via JWalk]
dispute over Bush security for London visit - Guardian
what was Tony Blair thinking, organising this?
inequality in South America - Economist
student unrest at Baghdad university... - Baghdad Burning
meet anti-spammer Steve Linford, Spamhaus chief - IHT [via /.]
Belkin routers redirect random HTTP requests to advertising?! - Kuro5hin
note to self: never buy any Belkin products
more on NZ activist being prosecuted for offending the US embassy - Scoop
apparently he claimed that the US has napalmed children, invaded 72 countries, and resembles Nazi Germany...
Cathy Breen's diaries from Iraq - Voices in the Wilderness
Salam Pax now has a film camera... - Guardian
Gartner on Linux in Australian enterprises - ZDnet [via OSAU]
Reagan advisor Lawrence Korb is in Iraq - CfAP [via MSpeak]
the tribes aren't happy with the American occupation - Guardian
"The Albueisi fought against the British and even Saddam Hussein found them difficult to control."
The Grinch Who Stole Linux - Groklaw [via LWN]
Iranian reformists face defeat in February elections - IHT
"public recognition of the reformists' weaknesses is all too likely to keep voters at home, despairing that their votes can do anything to change their lives"
most walruses are right-flippered - BBC
Bush claims Saudi Arabia is more democratic than Iran - Billmon
"This is Your Market System on Drugs" - Cosma
"the real, inflation-adjusted price of a milligram of pure heroin in New York has dropped by 95 percent since 1980, and the price of cocaine by 90 percent"
what makes a face beautiful? - Regensburg Uni [via JH]
the Bush administration takes the British for granted - Spectator [via CR]
photos from a tour to the Galapagos + Machu Picchu - DavidBray
shades of Vietnam - AntiWar
strict controls on "bioterror" agents are back-firing - EurekAlert
"If the current trends continue, many scientists will not be willing to do research that could help protect people"
the Australian government panics over 20 refugees - Age [via RtoS]
and retrospectively removes 4000 islands from our "migration zone"
the CSS visual formatting model - W3
I think I need to print this and read it carefully
Sri Lanka: conflicts within the government threaten peace - Economist
what if the 1605 Gunpowder Plot had succeeded? - New Scientist
stereotypes of physicists - Register
judge gives WorldCom everything - MaxSpeak
$35 billion debt cancelled, assets retained, ...
has al-Jazeera lost its bite? - Asia
the World Electric Guide - Kropla
electrical plugs and adaptors, worldwide
Edward Tufte - The Visual Display of Quantitative Information [review]
the classic work on statistical graphics
UN report criticises Israel's annexation of Palestinian land - WashTimes [via AntiWar]
a new constitution for Afghanistan - Guardian
an Islamic republic with freedom of religion; Pashto and Dari as official languages; ...
Riverbend describes Ramadan in Baghdad - Baghdad Burning
Tariq Ali on the recolonisation of Iraq - Guardian
Eric Hobsbawm's autobiography Interesting Times - NYROB review
I haven't read that yet, but have read some of his other books
Iraqi resistance downs US helicopter: 13 dead - Guardian
the US's geopolitical situation, dispassionately assessed - Cosma
five variations on a theme of "we're fucked"
applying for the position of Evil Overlord (Planetary) - Stross [via DPH]
Fidel Castro on Arnold Schwarzenegger - Guardian
"Hopefully, the man has as much strength in his head as he does in his arms"
US soldiers and Iraqi elders talk in Tikrit - Guardian
a limited meeting of minds...
US-hired contractors in Iraq may outnumber the British - TBO [via Atrios]
and many of the contractors are effectively mercenaries
land reform and unions critical to building democracy in Iraq? - Informed
and read down the page for a first-hand account of the Al-Rashid hotel attack

<< October 2003 | December 2003 >>

Pathologically Polymathic (blog) << Danny Yee