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Feb 07 2003
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The betrayal of the Kurds

Posted by | politics | No Comments

Saddam Hussein is a monster, he did gas the Kurds and although the west did little at the time, it is part of the argument against the current Iraqi regime. Part of the deal struck with Turkey to use military bases there, is reassurance against a successful Kurdish uprising in Turkey. To ensure this the Turks want to follow US forces into ethnically Kurdish Northern Iraq. Any deal, must be to sustain the fragile equilibrium and that includes not buckling to some Turkish demands. If the treatment of Iraqi Kurds is part of a moral argument against Saddam then it would be hypocrisy to betray them. KurdishMedia Reports – latest Reports and opinion regarding Kurdish issues

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Feb 07 2003
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The origin of Jingoism

Posted by | politics | No Comments

We don’t want to fight, But by Jingo if we do, We’ve got the ships, We’ve got the men, And got the money too. We’ve fought the Bear before, And while we’re Britons true, The Russians shall not have Constantinople. By Jingo / We don’t want to fight

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Feb 07 2003
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John Robb’s PacketPC

Posted by | design | No Comments

Jon Robb considers wifi enabled hardrives: “1. Digital still cameras. 2. Digital video cameras. 3. Portable radios. 4. Portable CD players. 5. TiVo (if shipped in combo with a base station that contains a hard drive). 6. Digital audio recorders. 7. Car DVD and tape players (with FM transmission add-ons for the Archos or iPod). In all of those cases, the core element is the portable hard drive. The recording and/or playback feature functionality is merely a dumb peripheral (directly connected or connected via wireless). Add wireless and server capabilities and it can power your PC, your TV, and your stereo. “ John Robb’s Radio Weblog

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Feb 07 2003
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Bill O’Reilly: you’re wrong, I’m right, yah boo sucks

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Tom Tomorrow writes: “I caught a bit of the O’Reilly Factor during dinner last night, during which Bill berated Jeremy Glick, a signatory of the Not in Our Name ad whose father died in the 9/11 attacks… …The last few seconds of that exchange were really something to watch. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a shouting head actually tell his guest to ‘Shut up! Shut up!’ or to tell his producer to ‘cut his mic.’ “. This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow:O’Reilly factor partial transcript

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Feb 06 2003
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Weblog music publishing

Posted by | metadata | No Comments

It is obvious now that the major record labels are screwed. But what about this from Clay Shirky: “The internet has lowered the threshold of publishing to the point where you no longer need help or permission to distribute your work. What has happened with writing may be possible with music”. What would weblog software geared around musicians having weblogs where they distribute their samples of their music consist of? A weblog posting would have infomation about the song and a link to an MP3. A parallel RSS feed could have metadata about the song and the MP3 could be delivered as an enclosure. RSS aggregators would take advantage of metadata within the music RSS module. Shirky: The Music Business and the Big Flip via Scott Schrantz

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Feb 06 2003
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Are life vests on aircraft a PR stunt?

Posted by | Uncategorized | No Comments

“Vietnam Airlines passengers flying to the Southeast Asian nation’s ocean getaways have found one safety item to be an irresistible souvenir — an aircraft life vest to use while swimming at the beach.” Are life vests on board planes there just to reassure us? Can anyone remember any plane crash over water that involved people bouncing down inflatable slides to safety? Reuters

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Feb 06 2003
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The lingering floppy

Posted by | technology | No Comments

Jack Schofield writes about Dell’s latest attempt to ditch the floppy drive. A five year old article from CNET on a previous attempt at standardization gives some insight as to the problem: New floppy drive announced – Tech News – CNET.com “The other problem is history. Weilerstein says that when the 3.5-inch floppy became a standard years ago, there were only two companies of significance in the PC industry–Apple and IBM. After these two companies adopted the drives, everyone else followed.” The mere existence of the anachronistic floppy drive is a testament to a fragmented industry that cannot agree on standards. The only thing approaching a standard to compare with the floppy is the CD-R which is an inconvenient form factor and scores low on ease of use.

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Feb 05 2003
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Adlai Stevenson day

Posted by | politics | No Comments

Today was supposed to be the ‘Adlai Stevenson’ moment when Powell showed conclusive evidence to the UN about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. Unfortunately, this was no Adlai Stevenson revelation of deception, rather a series of fragmentary evidence which has done nothing to change the mind of those who are against the war, France in particular. If it is obvious that Iraq has a weapons of mass destruction program, why dilute the argument with spin about Al Qaeda? “There must be a temptation for London and Washington to exaggerate intelligence that fits their view of Iraq. That is not to say they have given in to it. But perceived exaggeration or spin would be counter-productive.” BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Analysis: Danger of spinning Iraqi case

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