Twisted Mickey: Hamas Martyrs Micky Mouse as Children's TV Entertainment

Graphic source: MEMRI.

Transcript Source: The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

June 29, 2007 Clip No. 1497

Farfour, Hamas' Mickey Mouse Character, Is 'Martyred' in the Final Episode of the "Pioneers of Tomorrow" Children Show on Hamas TV.

Following are excerpts from the final episode of "The Pioneers of Tomorrow," a children's TV show featuring Farfour, a Mickey Mouse character in a tuxedo, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on June 29, 2007:

Farfour's grandfather: I want to give you something in trust before I die, and I want you to safeguard it, Farfour.

Farfour: What is it this trust I am supposed to safeguard, grandpa?

[...]

Farfour's grandfather: This land, which was [occupied] in 1948, is the land I inherited from my fathers and forefathers. I want you to protect it. It is a beautiful land, all covered in flowers and olive and palm trees. I want you to take care of it, Farfour.

Farfour: What is this land called, grandpa?

Farfour's grandfather: The land is called Tel Al-Rabi'. But unfortunately, the Jews called it "Tel Aviv" after they occupied it.

[...]

I want you to safeguard this, Farfour. Keep this key with you. When the land is regained, use this key, Farfour.

Farfour: This key, grandpa?

Farfour's grandfather: That's right. And these are the documents proving that the land is ours, Farfour. I am entrusting you with this, Farfour. Make sure you don't give up the land, Farfour.

Farfour: Don't worry, grandpa.

Farfour's grandfather: Farfour, I am very tired. I feel that I am about to die. I feel very close to the land of Tel Al-Rabi'. I hope you will protect it.

Farfour: Yes. Grandpa... Grandpa...

Farfour's grandfather: Grandpa entrusted me with this great trust, but I don't know how to liberate this land from the filth of the criminal, plundering Jews, who killed my grandpa and everybody.

"Farfour is interrogated"

Farfour: What do you want from me? Why have you brought me here?

Israeli interrogator: Sit down, my dear Farfour.

Farfour: I don't want to.

Interrogator: Sit down, Farfour.

Farfour: Okay, I will sit down.

Tell me what you want.

Interrogator: We've heard your grandfather gave you the keys and the documents of the land.

Farfour: Who told you?

Interrogator: It's none of your business who told us, Farfour. What we need...

Farfour: Well, what do you want from me?

Interrogator: Farfour, we want you to give us the land documents.

Farfour: These are the land documents which my grandpa entrusted to me, so that I would safeguard them and use them to liberate Jerusalem. When the lands are liberated, we will go and live there. Give them to you? My grandpa didn't tell me to give them to you.

Interrogator: You'll get lots of money, and we'll take the documents, and that't it.

Farfour: No, we're not the kind of peole who sell their land to terrorists.

Interrogator: Farfour, give us the documents we want.

Farfour: I'm not giving you the documents.

Interrogator: Farfour!

Farfour: I won't give you the documents.

Interrogator: Give us the documents, Farfour. Will you or will you not give us the documents, Farfour?

Farfour: I won't give them to criminal despicable terrorists.

Interrogator: You're calling us despicable terrorists, Farfour?

"Farfour in prison"

Host, Saraa, a young girl: Yes, my dear children, we have lost our dearest friend, Farfour. Farfour was martyred while defending his land, the land of his fathers and his forefathers. He was martyred at the hand of the criminals, the murderers, the murderers of innocent children, who killed Iman Hijo, Muhammad Al-Dura, and many others.

Cf. MEMRI

Raw Data for Petraeus

Petraeus and the U.S. military came through to provide an opportunity for the surge to work. What didn't work is the fledging government of Maliki and Iraq. The surge provided breathing room and is an impressive effort against all odds. The surge put more troops in harm's way than ever before; yet, American losses are down. The U.S. military provided space for Iraq to settle political differences.

If Iraq is to make it, it is up to the Iraqis to make it work. The U.S. military did its part; it is high time for Iraq to do the same. Despite recent talks with opposition leaders I would not be optimistic about Maliki's chances of success.

Deaths due to IED’s are down for the third month in a row.

Combat deaths due to causes other than IED’s are at one of the lowest points in the last twelve months.

Last statement: January 15 through May 31, 3,184 Enemy KIA, 6 IED cells dismantled; 17,946 detained.

This is a summary of what we know by tracking deaths in Iraq by: Period, US deaths, Total deaths, and Average number of deaths in the month:

8-2007, 49, 53, 2.52;

7-2007, 79, 88, 2.84;

6-2007, 101, 108, 3.6;

5-2007, 126, 131, 4.23;

4-2007, 104, 117, 3.9;

3-2007, 81, 82, 2.65;

2-2007, 81, 85, 3.04;

1-2007, 83, 86, 2.77;

12-2006, 112, 115, 3.71;

11-2006, 70, 78, 2.6;

10-2006, 106, 110, 3.55;

9-2006, 72, 77, 2.5.

The raw data is hard to read in this format and in the table below but the message and numbers are clear. The U.S. is experiencing fewer deaths and casualties in Iraq.

Period US UK Other* Total Avg Days
8-2007 49 4 0 53 2.52 21
7-2007 79 8 1 88 2.84 31
6-2007 101 7 0 108 3.6 30
5-2007 126 3 2 131 4.23 31
4-2007 104 12 1 117 3.9 30
3-2007 81 1 0 82 2.65 31
2-2007 81 3 1 85 3.04 28
1-2007 83 3 0 86 2.77 31
12-2006 112 1 2 115 3.71 31
11-2006 70 6 2 78 2.6 30
10-2006 106 2 2 110 3.55 31
9-2006 72 3 2 77 2.57 30

Gunplay Kills the Net

Computerworld explained why my Net was so slow yesterday. I wondered why. Apparently gunplay that damaged a network cable near Cleveland was blamed for an Internet slowdown.

Internet service providers in the U.S. experienced a service slowdown yesterday after fiber-optic cables near Cleveland were apparently sabotaged by gunfire.

TeliaSonera AB lost the northern leg of its U.S. network. Technicians pulled up the affected cable, it appeared to have been shot, according to Anders Olausson, a TeliaSonera spokesman.

If just anyone can shoot out a cable and down the Net then our infrastructure is not really very secure now is it?

Iran's Abuse of Academic Freedom for Iranian-Americans

Graphic source: The Wilson Center.

The AP reported today that a detained Iranian-American academic accused of conspiring against the Iranian government was freed on bail. Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, had been in a Tehran prison since early May.

Iranian authorities investigated Esfandiari and Kian Tajbakhsh, another detained Iranian-American, who was also accused of conspiring against the country's security.

Esfandiari was broadcast on Iranian televsion on a video which also featured Tajbakhsh, an urban planning consultant with the Soros Foundation's Open Society Institute. Some have found the broadcast to have been coerced.

Two other Iranian-Americans face security-related charges: Parnaz Azima, a journalist for U.S.-funded Radio Farda, and Ali Shakeri, a founding board member of the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding at the University of California, Irvine. Shakeri is in prison, while Azima is free but barred from leaving Iran.

No developments were announced in the case of the other three Iranian-Americans.

The Wilson Center is a nonpartisan institution established by Congress in 1968 and funded through private and public funds. Its Middle East program focuses on several areas, including "analysis of internal domestic and social developments in Iran; the aspiration of the younger generation for reform and expansion of individual liberties."

Biden's Support of MRAPVs

Senator Joe Biden's press conference in Charleston, S.C. from July 23. Two local companies displayed Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAPVs). The Biden Amendment funding supplemental included funding for accelerated procurement and deployment of these vehicles. The vehicles are four to five times safer against IED attacks and account for 70% of our casualties in Iraq.

Previously, I've reviewed MRAPVs and how they are deployed effectively.

One of Ten Top Ten Cool Tools

Graphic source: Computerworld.

Computerworld reported on the top ten cool cutting-edge technologies. The Eleksen Group's wearable gadgetry is an idea whose time came some time back. One reason I detest laptops is that they are not handy enough, they are bulky, and they take so long to boot up.

The idea behind the Eleksen Group PLC Sideshow Wearable Display Module though makes it more handy, not bulky since you are actually wearing the display, and you don't really boot up.

The ElekTex is a fabric-based, pressure-sensitive control interface that can be integrated into jackets, bags and other textile products. The ElekTex fabric controls come with an LCD display to interact with Windows Vista’s Sideshow feature. The ElekTex exports information from a Vista laptop to a secondary display. Thereafter, mini-applications, or “gadgets,” written for Sideshow can then wirelessly deliver e-mail, alerts or other updates to the remote screen even if the laptop remains in its case and turned off. That is handy.

One reason I enjoy my HP Jornada is that it boots up quickly, is so much smaller, and as a mini-PC it is not bulky at all. The ElekTex combines these features in one.

Out of the Mouths of Babes?

Children the world over learn what they are taught.

Food for Thought

I caught one of these videos before and this new one is just as thoughtful.

Disappointing Dennett

Ordinarily, Daniel C. Dennett is worthwhile reading but in Breaking he has written a disappointing book.

The "Roots of Religion" section is truly weak and does not make reference to leading thinkers on the origins of religion. No one can ask another to write the book they would like, but even with Dennett's caveats and how he notes his limitations, he fails to grasp important work in the roots of religion.

Dennett has a section entitled "Should Science Study Religion?" F. Max Mueller thought so: in the 1860s he began calling for a "science of religion" (William E. Paden, Interpreting the Sacred: Ways of Viewing Religion, p. 67). Independent of confessional agendas, Mueller called for objective, scientific studies of religion just as inquiries into natural things such as geology were conducted.

How could someone discuss the origins of religion and yet have no reference to such leading lights as F. Max Mueller, Edward Burnett Tylor, or Andrew Lang? Dennett does not even mention the leading lights in the origins of religion, who worked deliberately in the nineteenth century as a result of Darwin's insights, and in contradiction to Dennett's assertion that his Darwinian approach to natural religion is something new.

Dennett implies that students of religion have worked in a vacuum and without reference to Darwin. This is not true.

He notes that there have been natural histories of religion but that these efforts have been marred by either deference or hostility to religion(pp. 31-32). Dennett's dismissal of natural historians is a gross overstatement.

By the 1880s Mueller knew that Darwinism was too powerful of a force to ignore. Religion, due to Darwin, was viewed as a natural organism. At the turn of the 20th century, the Oxford anthropologist R. R. Marett was to declare that "anthropology is the child of Darwin" (Eric Sharpe, Comparative Religion: A History, p. 48). Andrew Lang's study of folklore was motivated with the understanding that folklore preserved anthropological data and is therefore worthy of study. Tylor, since he was a Quaker, well neither ill-disposed towards religion, nor did he have a penchent for Christian orthodoxy.

Dennett blithefully dismisses truly important historians of religion who viewed religion worth of study as a natural, organic, phenomenon.

Dennett seems to equate ordinary religious practitioners with the most serious scholar of religion which is a serious gaffe.

Two reviewers made trenchent remarks:

The most striking gap in Breaking the Spell is its lack of humanistic commentary from anthropology, aesthetics, and confessional literature. (...) Breaking the Spell is an insidious book; not because it breaks taboos by asking uncomfortable questions of religion, nor because its author is an ardent atheist, but because it is written by a brilliant philosopher who betrays his academic standards by proceeding from emotive, ill-informed prejudice.

- John Cornwell, Sunday Times

Breaking the Spell , however, not only differs in tone from Dennett's earlier work in being amicable and almost meek, but is also largely bereft of critical analysis. (...) In the end, its 400-page analysis yields little more than platitudes.

- Jerry A. Coyne, Times Literary Supplement

Sobering NYC Intelligence on Radicalization

Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat by Mitchell D. Silber and Arvin Bhatt, Senior Intelligence Analysts at the NYPD Intelligence Division, provides sobering reading.


The authors state: "There is no useful profile to assist law enforcement or intelligence to predict who will follow this trajectory of radicalization. Rather, the individuals who take this course begin as `unremarkable' from various walks of life."


A radical is not born with horns on their head but the authors conclude, based on foreign and U.S. examples that a process of radicalization takes place for the eventual jihadists. Although Europe has been hit, and homegrown U.S. radicals have largetly been thwarted, the danger remains. They state:

Despite the economic opportunities in the United States, the powerful gravitational pull of individuals’ religious roots and identity sometimes supersedes ghe assimilating nature of American society which includes pursuit of a professional career, financial stability and material comforts.

The implications for homegrown radicalization make the efforts of law enforcement extremely difficult.


They conclude:

The global jihadi-Salafi movement poses a significant challenge to law enforcement and intelligence since the radicalization phenomenon that drives it is spontaneous, indiscriminate, and its indicators are subtle. Identifying whether an individual is being radicalized is hard to detect, especially in the early stages.

How is law enforcement to determine when and if simply radical talk is just that, talk? But this stage is when an individual may be stopped before they actually commit any violence.

•The individuals are not on the law enforcement radar. Most have never been arrested or involved in any kind of legal trouble. Other than some commonalities in age and religion, individuals undergoing radicalization appear as `ordinary' citizens, who look, act, talk, and walk like everyone around them. In fact, in the United Kingdom, it is precisely those `ordinary' middle class university students who are sought after by local extremists because they are `clean skins'.

None of these types of people would attract any attention. They look like any other pod.


The authors continue:

•In the early stages of their radicalization, these individuals rarely travel, are not participating in any kind of militant activity, yet they are slowly building the mindset, intention, and commitment to conduct jihad.

As evidenced by all eleven case studies these groups, or clusters of extremists:


"Act autonomously, can radicalize quickly, and often are made up of individuals, who on the surface, appear to be well-integrated into society."


They may be spontaneous which makes detection difficult. Silber and Bhatt state that the jihadists:

Are not “name brand” terrorists or part of any known terrorist group. For the most part, they have little or no links to known militant groups or actors. Rather they are like-minded individuals who spend time together in clusters organized, originally, by previously established social network links.

They are not engaged in activities which would get them noticed because they "Are not crime syndicates and therefore, applying organized crime strategies will fail."


Finally, the authors conclude:

The challenge to intelligence and law enforcement agencies in the West in general, and the United States in particular, is how to identify, pre-empt and thus prevent homegrown terrorist attacks given the non-criminal element of its indicators, the high growth rate of the process that underpins it and the increasing numbers of its citizens that are exposed to it.

These are sobering words. Americans have to be vigilant but respectful of privacy and American liberties. This is a difficult path to follow when the threat is real, it is here, and it is covert.


As the Middle East has gone, so has Europe, as Europe has gone, so has New York City, as NYC goes, so goes the U.S. The threat is real; the threat is here.

Wave of the Future?

Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen and former gang member, convicted. He was a star Al-Qaida recruit. Padilla sought to kill, and sought to obtain material support for terrorism. However, I see this as a more to come scenario with additional cells coming to light over time.

Egypt, Kuwait, and Asia to Profit In Iraq

Despite the title in this post I don't imagine many will object to Egypt, Kuwait, or some in Asia profiting from Iraq. Many would object and sloganeer phrases such as "No Blood for Oil" but as some countries profit from Iraq no one bats an eye.

Yesterday Iraq begain auctioning off $300 million as the minimum bid price for mobile licenses in that country. An Egyptian, Kuwaiti, or an Asian company are the leading bidders. The next highest bidders come from Turkey.

Apparently war is good for business.

The $300 million starting price is for three 15-year mobile licenses moderated by Communications Minister Mohammed Allawi.

These lucrative 15-year licenses replace three short-term contracts awarded soon after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The leading bidders are Cairo-based Orascom Telecom Holdings, Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunications Co. MTC, and AsiaCell, said Siyamend Othman, head of the National Communications and Media Commission.

Linux Still Not Working Like a Lion

A solid review which identified the major problem many of us still have with Linux, although I for one am ready to get on board ASAP, is the problem of "dealing with text in varied forms" as Sharon Machlisas notes in Computerworld. Her review of nine Linux text editors reveals that no single editor does the job. Like her, I need an application that handles plain ASCII text and rudimentary HTML. We also share an enthusiasm, not for me the Windows environment, but in an inexpensive and useful tool like NoteTab Pro. Neither is available on Linux. NoteTab has no plans to migrate to Linux.

Alas, Machlisas found no single killer text editor workable. I know some have the leisure of using several applications but this seems terribly inefficient to me.

She does report that an UltraEdit version for Linux is on the way and perhaps I would try again at that point, till then, I'm married to Windows unfortunately.

Truth and Honesty on Wikipedia

A beginning graduate student at the California Institute of Technology, Virgil Griffith, invented Wikipedia Scanner, a tool that exposes the anonymous edits in Wikipedia. The tool can trace the IP address of those who make edits which does not exactly specify who did the edits but it obviously reveals the person at least had access to the respective IP addresses: close enough most of us would say to reveal who is responsible for the shenanigans.

While there are meticulous records of changes on Wikipedia, a person can make changes without identifying themselves, but the changes often create digital fingerprints that provide information about the user, such as the location of the computer used to make the edit.

Many of the changes are innocuous, but the scanner also traced entries to people at several large companies who appear to have altered potentially damaging content for concerns such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and Diebold Inc. Someone at the BBC poked fun at George Bush, Al-Jazeera's edits were fairly extensive, and someone at the CIA changed some wording as has the Vatican in one instance.

The Mormons changed a couple things, the Episcopals didn't like some of the word on them, and numerous Christian groups and colleges revised as they saw fit as well.

Wired collected an extensive list of the edits which is handy to see who wants what changed and we can figure out the embarrassing whys in most instances.

As an example, someone at the Vatican edited the Wikipedia entry on Gerry Adams.

Source: Wikipedia

Gerry Adams
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Revision as of 12:54, 17 October 2006 (edit)
217.59.51.67 (Talk)
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==Fresh murder question raised== ==Fresh murder question raised==

- In October 2006, it was alleged that Adams's finger- and hand-prints were found on a car used during a double murder in 1971.[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2091-2383263,00.html Paisley, Brady in historic meeting] by Christopher Morgan and Liam Clarke, ''The Times'', 1 October 2006[http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1698223&issue_id=14715 Adams Prints Murder Link] by Alan Murray, ''The Sunday Independent'', 1 October 2006 However, no link between Adams and the killings has been shown. + In October 2006, it was alleged that Adams's finger- and hand-prints were found on

==References== ==References==

NSA Scrutinized

The post-911 National Security Agency (NSA) spying program has been argued at a U.S. appeals court hearing. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) questioned AT&T's no-warrant monitoring of citizens' communications. The court agreed on Wednesday to weigh a government motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging the NSA monitored phone lines and e-mails without a warrant. The EFF filed a class action lawsuit against AT&T Inc. claiming the company violated the privacy rights of its customers when it cooperated with an NSA program of monitoring AT&T customer phone calls and e-mail traffic without warrants.

Liberal Says War Can Be Won

"A War We Just Might Win"

That is what liberal commentators Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack of the Brookings Institution stated in the New York Times following their recent visit to Iraq.

Here is the most important thing Americans need to understand: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms.***
After the furnace-like heat, the first thing you notice when you land in Baghdad is the morale of our troops. In previous trips to Iraq we often found American troops angry and frustrated — many sensed they had the wrong strategy, were using the wrong tactics and were risking their lives in pursuit of an approach that could not work.

Today, morale is high. The soldiers and marines told us they feel that they now have a superb commander in Gen. David Petraeus; they are confident in his strategy, they see real results, and they feel now they have the numbers needed to make a real difference.

Everywhere, Army and Marine units were focused on securing the Iraqi population, working with Iraqi security units, creating new political and economic arrangements at the local level and providing basic services — electricity, fuel, clean water and sanitation — to the people. Yet in each place, operations had been appropriately tailored to the specific needs of the community. As a result, civilian fatality rates are down roughly a third since the surge began — though they remain very high, underscoring how much more still needs to be done.

Open source Alternative to Project

Graphic source: Projity Inc.

Projity Inc. released its OpenProj software as an Open source project. This alternative to Microsoft may take market share away from their Project product. OpenProj is compatible with Microsoft Project though and seems to have most of the same features. OpenProj plays with Linux (in fact it is bundled with various Linux distributions) and Macs as well as Windows. The final version will be released in Q4.

Too Much Face (book)

The popular social networking site Facebook showed a bit too much face recently. The source code that drives the site was leaked to the Internet due to a misconfigured Web server. I guess there is such a thing as too much face.

Positive Middle East Trend

A report on Defensenews.com related how India seeks Israeli assistance to fill their need for an unmanned combat helicopter. The story outlined how the Indian Navy is exploring collaboration between local and Israeli defense companies. Admiral Sureesh Mehta, chief of the Indian Navy, and Vice Admiral David Ben Bashat discussed the possible joint development and other defense programs Bashat’s visit to India, the first official visit to India by an Israel Navy chief.

The Indian Navy projects 30 to 50 unmanned combat helicopters reflecting a greater cooperation between India and Israel since 1999. Israel is working on a the co-production of nuclear-capable cruise missiles, air defense systems and anti-ballistic missile systems. The country is the largest supplier of UAVs for the Indian Defence Forces.

In terms of great Middle Eastern security this is a positive development in that Israel is not isolated in the region by reaching across the Middle East to India, India is stepping up its greater regional role which as the world's largest democracy it should be doing. Two democratic regional powers flanking the Middle East is a good thing.

Life Almost as Real as the Gaming World

Screenshot Source: Morteza Nikoubazl, Reuters.

A screen shot from the Iranian-made computer game shows an Iranian commander (unseen) killing a U.S. soldier.

Designed by the Union of Islamic Students a game released in July, Rescue the Nuke Scientist, is sure to be jihadically correct. Once an American game company released Kuma\War's Assault on Iran, the students responded with a game of their own. Rescue's basic premise is that U.S. troops capture a husband-and-wife team of nuclear engineers during a pilgrimage to Karbala, a holy site for Shiite Muslims, in central Iraq. Game players take on the role of Iranian security forces carrying out a mission code-named "The Special Operation," which involves penetrating fortified locations to free the nuclear scientists, who are moved from Iraq to Israel. In this way both the U.S. and Israel can be attacked by Iranians.

All this from a country whose president has already denied the reality of the Holocaust.

College Hijinks?

Campus Technology today ran a story about Professors building an Open-Source educational gaming engine. Washington State University Vancouver professor Scott Wallace and University of Puget Sound computer science professor Andrew Nierman were awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to build a gaming engine designed to make learning computer science more absorbing for students. If only this were available across the board to make all education more involving.

Turkish Trio Hacks UN

Photo source: Giorgio Maone screenshot from his blog.

Hackers formerly associated with Turkey defaced a UN site with anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli messages. The attack was chronicled by an Italian software developer Giorgio Maone on his blog and later reported by the BBC. The hacker trio, "Kerem125," "m0sted" and "gsy," claimed responsibility for the defacement which forced the UN site down and the site was still unavailable by Sunday evening. According to Maone the incident is a SQL injection exploit, which let the attackers add their own HTML code to the site. SQL injection attacks are a common tactic by defacers. Maone expressed surprise because "this is a very well known kind of vulnerability, fairly easy to avoid and very surprising to find in such a high-profile site."

In the past, "Kerem125," "m0sted" and "gsy," are names that have been used by would-be hackers claiming to be from Turkey,

Secure Flight Not all that Safe

Today's IDG News Service ran a story about the Department of Homeland Security air passenger screening program which is changing procedures.

The DHS announced plans for an overhaul of its Secure Flight program, with the agency no longer no longer assigning risk scores to passengers or using predictive behavior technology, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff stated. The Transportation Security Administration, part of DHS, will check domestic passenger lists against terrorist watch lists, instead of the airlines.

I appreciate an advance on privacy issues, but in contrast to Marc Rotenberg, executive director of privacy advocacy group the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), I don't think the DHS is correct in its focus on matching passenger names to terrorist watch lists instead of trying to predict behavior.

The terror in terrorism is that it is unpredictable. by focusing on previously drawn up lists, the terrorist in the making will slip through.

Rotenberg states: "Instead of open-ended profiling ... the revamped Secure Flight focuses on the problem at hand," which is precisely the problem. The problem of today surely will not catch the innovative would-be terrorist. Another effective screening process is needed, profile based I would imagine.

As difficult as the task is, I believe we precisely need to develop tools that predict behavior.

Notwithstanding the Secure Flight program suspension in February 2006 due to two government reports that outlined security and privacy problems the revised program does not address the security concerns of behavior profiling.

It's All Greek to Me

The new translation tools are being implemented with some sucess in business applications although I have previously expressed my skepticism with the effort. A Computerworld story online today illustrates how the new efforts are going. Most results to the present have been sketchy requiring human translators.

Ford Motor Co. has used “machine translation” software since 1998 and has translated 5 million automobile assembly instructions.

Ford uses Enterprise Global Server from Systran Software Inc. but this is just the beginning. English instructions are written by engineers and then parsed by a homegrown AI program into unambiguous detailed directions, such as, “Attach bracket No. 423 using six half-inch bolts.” Each instruction is then stored as a record in a translation database.

Systran’s tool uses a reliable translation technique called rules-based translation. Such systems use bilingual dictionaries combined with electronic style guides containing usage and grammar rules. The commercial translators are then supplemented with assembly line application-specific glossaries from Ford.

The glossaries are cumulative in that they are combined with “translation memories,” databases of previously translated text in the form of source and target sentence pairs. These memories are usually compiled over time by users. If the translation system (or a human) finds an exact match for the sentence it’s trying to translate, it just retrieves the corresponding sentence in the target language from the database. Near matches or “fuzzy,” matches are flagged for review by a human translator.

Statistical machine translation is a newer technique. It uses collections of documents and their translations to “train” software. Over time, these data-driven systems “learn” what makes a good translation and what doesn’t and then use probability and statistics to decide which of several possible translations of a given word or phrase is most likely correct based on context.

The systems as a result develop their own rules and fine-tune them over time.

Google Inc. uses Systran’s rules-based software but is also developing its own statistical-based systems to translate to and from the more difficult and non-Western Romance languages due to their significant differences from Western languages.

Sites may include a link to Google’s system at Google translation for free.

Other large companies are in need of translations and use them such as Microsoft Corp. which incorporates a rules-based natural-language parser in its Word software.

FedEx Corp. rolled out Trados GXT, a product of Maidenhead, England-based SDL International. It consists of translation memories integrated with an enterprise translation workflow system but has not obviated the need for human-based translation services.

A new development and increasingly sophisticated translation systems combine multiple methods. A statistical machine translation product from Language Weaver Inc. in Marina del Rey, Calif., can now be used with translation management software called WorldServer from Idiom Technologies Inc. Customers can tap into WorldServer to retrieve previously translated content in a translation memory or generate new translations — through Language Weaver’s algorithms — when no matches are found.

At SRI International in Menlo Park, Calif. researchers are working with the U.S. Department of Defense to automate the translation of Arabic and Mandarin Chinese — structured and unstructured text as well as real-time speech — into English.

It's all Greek to me; but, actually I do know Greek so if I can learn perhaps machines can as well.

Democracy Is Not Built in a Day

Peter Kenney of Denver relates his experience of building local democracy in Baghdad.

Do you think freedom is free?

China Not "Red" Anymore

The adventure with the Chinese-made lamp looks like it has taken China out of the red and into the black. So far, the replacement lamp is doing fine. The low cost is the attraction and the website, Made in China, demonstrates the wide variety of goods available. Differences between manufacturing standards predominates, but the Food and Drug Administration is working with Chinese officials to address issues of quality. The consumer activist, Ralph Nader, weighs in with his opinion.

The OLPC: Should Not a Controversy Be

On 23 July 2007 eWeek ran a story that has been controversial for too long. The story discussed the ongoing battle about the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) project which is ambitious, has potential benefits for many computer users across the board, and is timely. The project should garnish a great deal of attention but this really should not be contentious. The project though gained attention not only for its humanitarian goals and the groundbreaking technologies it's introducing but also negativity is connected to it for the wrong reasons, a fixation on product pricing, and assumptions about capabilities.

The OLPC and its founder, MIT iconoclast Nicholas Negroponte was in a segment of "60 Minutes." The segment unduly focused on the OLPC's XO laptop (more commonly although not completely accurately known as the $100 laptop) and the organization's goal to provide inexpensive computing resources to children in the developing world.

First Intel and then Dell has taken potshots at the project. Intel has since gotten on board.

The XO system is close to its final release state and although on paper the posted specifications of the XO seem underpowered: a midrange AMD processor, 256MB of RAM, and a small, flash-based drive. The XO is actually a powerful system.

The display technology is innovative and is readable even in bright sunlight, and its environmentally conscious power management and provision capabilities to its wireless mesh capabilities allow an entire village of children to connect. The XO will have a huge impact on the lives of the children who use it. I know countless kids who could use it now.

The compact laptop technology is ahead of the curve which should usher in a competitive wave of more efficient and capable mobile systems.

The laptop is a helpful marriage of Linux-based Sugar software that runs on the XO laptop. The basic programs in Sugar are simplified versions of ordinary desktop tools such as word processors, including though a collaboration environment.

Graphic source: OLPC

This is a product that looks like a toy but it is not. In the hands of impoverished children, this can be an effective digital tool that helps to close the digital divide. Hopefully, Dell's objection is not only that OLPC is a competitor of theirs.

Graphic source: Wikipedia, showing the mesh mode in Sugar software which makes it possible to interact with other users and systems on the XO's wire mesh network.

Is Aunt Betty on MySpace These Days?

Spock.com is a new people-focused search engine that aims to compile profiles based on info from social networking sites. I'm looking for Aunt Betty but I don't think she's on MySpace.

CEO Jaideep Singh claims the search will include every person in the world within the next nine months. A search will provide biographical information including age, city of residence and job title as well as tagged descriptions and images aimed at providing a complete picture of a person. It ranks search results based on the amount and relevance of information.

Come to think of it, maybe that's how we can find Osama.

Is a USB Port Good for Anything Other Than a Massage?

Computerworld ran an interesting survey on USB ports and their accessories. A USB port is handy even if you don't need a massage or a beverage heater, or cooler. All three devices are available though if you would like.

Hello? Is this Johnny's Teacher?

Source: Center For the Digital Future

According to the Center For the Digital Future, teachers have embraced newer ways of communicating with constituents. More so than government officials and health care professionals, teachers in K-12 situations use electronic means of communication. Before the Internet, teachers rarely had telephones in their classrooms, and most communication between teachers and parents occurred through infrequent conferences or notes carried by the student.

Today over half (50.3%) of all Internet users have used email to communicate directly with teachers.

Reach out and a teacher will be there.

Another Blow to Microsoft and Digital Rights

Computerworld ran a story from the IDG News Service about a hacker who released a way to strip DRM (Digital Rights Management) from streaming Netflix Inc. movies. This is another blow to Microsoft's technology designed to prevent people from saving the content. Many hackers object to the design of DRM which limits how music and movies can be used. Netflix's Watch Now service allows people to watch movies and TV shows immediately on their computer. Users can watch a certain number of hours of streamed content per month depending on their subscription.

However, hacker Dizzie wrote on the Rorta hacking forum against Netflix and words of his exploit made the rounds of various blogs and Web sites.

The exploit is not for the unitiated since it is a detailed 14-step process that uses FairUse4WM, a program created by another hacker, to remove Microsoft's DRM from the content. The involved process removing the DRM may take several attempts, and the process does not remove the time limit imposed by Netflix on viewing the content.

Microsoft revised its DRM technology twice before to block the threat of FairUse4WM but last month hackers on the Doom9.org forum announced they defeated Microsoft's DRM again.

The violation of rights is clearly wrong but a large deal of the problem is the murkiness and inapplicability of current copyright law. The various less proprietary and more open copyright options that have emerged, are a step in the direction.

The shakeout is far from clear. Universal Music Group, the world's largest music label, sells songs DRM-free.

Challenge to FedEx and DHL, File Transmittal Services

It must be that setting up an FTP server on your home/work computers and providing your intended recipient with log-in information is really beyond the grasp of most computer users.

As a challenge then to the big mailing companies, FedEx or DHL, some companies have an online alternative for the really big, or digital files.

In contrast, file transmittal services all let users send files of up to 100MB for free, and many will go higher. Driveway, whose motto is "Size really does matter," lets users send files up to 500MB for free. Pando has a 1GB limit for nonsubscribers, while Civil Netizen is currently the most generous, with a 4GB limit.

Iran's Blood for Oil

What Tehran and Baghdad have in common is trading for oil. Tehran and Baghdad are expected to agree on a deal on a pipeline soon to transfer crude oil to refineries in Iran from oilfields in Iraq.

I take it Iran is willing to trade blood for oil.

Meanwhile, many Iranian young people, especially women strive for their freedom.

You Can Trust Al-Jazeera . . . To Be Al-Jazeera

"Kidnapped workers building U.S. embassy in Baghdad" screams the Al-Jazeera headline so let us have a look at this shocking story. The story by Ahmed Abdullah states:

"An American civilian contractor revealed shocking evidence about how Filipino construction workers were tricked last year into building the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, according to an article on The Times Online. The 51 men were originally told that they’d travel to Dubai to construct hotels there, but instead found themselves in a Baghdad-bound plane!"

The story is based on the statement of Rory Mayberry testifying before a congressional committee.

The Filipinos were reportedly upset at being deceived but their protests were quelled by: "a gun-toting air steward [not named, emphasis mine] ordered them to sit down. . . . [and a] security guy [not named, emphasis mine] working for First Kuwaiti waved an MP5 [sub-machinegun] in the air that people settled down."

On the other hand, the same story ran on the AP by Teresa Cerojano, Associated Press Writer. The gun-toting enforcers are not mentioned and a reasonable person would conclude that the guns are a complete fabrication.

The upshot of the story is that a Philippine special envoy is traveling to the Middle East to investigate allegations that a Kuwaiti contractor took Filipino workers to Iraq without their knowledge to build the U.S. Embassy. The meat of the story is that Filipinos, contracted by the First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting Co., thought they were going to work in Dubai and ended up in Baghdad instead.

The story really involves the Filipoino workers and a Kuwaiti company.

You don't get that impression from Al-Jazeera with the shock tactic of the U.S. kidnapping people.

People believe what they want to believe. In fact, jobs in Iraq have been a boon for many Filipino workers.

Chatting with Alexander the Great

If you could chat with Alexander the Great, what would you say? We need more protection for those auxiliary troops don't you think? What is it with this hoplite innovation?

That possibility was not possible of course but a newly launched site allows front-line soldiers to submit combat technology ideas. TroopIdeas.com allows anyone in the U.S. military to detail their need for combat tools.

The troop ideas are then evaluated by Gestalt, the technology consulting firm and government contractor that operates the site. Gestalt will either work to develop the tool itself or route the information to the best suited areas within the U.S. Department of Defense, stated William Loftus, Gestalt's president and CEO, in a story carried yesterday by Computerworld.

The Wisdom of "George" on War

George Kennan (1904-2005)

The roots of American involvement in the Middle East go back so much deeper than the current contentious debates about "George," actually, the American people should be talking about George, but George Kennan, not Bush. Kennan is a key figure in the development of U.S. Cold War policy as the "father of containment" in the newly founded CIA in 1948.

Kennan saw a new type of warfare for Americans in the Post-War period.

The Problem

The inauguration of organized political warfare.

Analysis

1. Political warfare is the logical application of Clausewitz's doctrine in time of peace. In broadest definition, political warfare is the employment of all the means at a nation's command, short of war, to achieve its national objectives. Such operations are both overt and covert. They range from such overt actions as political alliances, economic measures (as ERP--the Marshall Plan), and "white" propaganda to such covert operations as clandestine support of "friendly" foreign elements, "black" psychological warfare and even encouragement of underground resistance in hostile states.

2. The creation, success, and survival of the British Empire has been due in part to the British understanding and application of the principles of political warfare. Lenin so synthesized the teachings of Marx and Clausewitz that the Kremlin's conduct of political warfare has become the most refined and effective of any in history. We have been handicapped however by a popular attachment to the concept of a basic difference between peace and war, by a tendency to view war as a sort of sporting context outside of all political context, by a national tendency to seek for a political cure-all, and by a reluctance to recognize the realities of international relations--the perpetual rhythm of struggle, in and out of war.

3. This Government has, of course, in part consciously and in part unconsciously, been conducting political warfare. Aggressive Soviet political warfare has driven us overtly first to the Truman Doctrine, next to ERP, then to sponsorship of Western Union [1-1/2 lines of source text not declassified]. This was all political warfare and should be recognized as such.

4. Understanding the concept of political warfare, we should also recognize that there are two major types of political warfare--one overt and the other covert. Both, from their basic nature, should be directed and coordinated by the Department of State. Overt operations are, of course, the traditional policy activities of any foreign office enjoying positive leadership, whether or not they are recognized as political warfare. Covert operations are traditional in many European chancelleries but are relatively unfamiliar to this Government.

5. Having assumed greater international responsibilities than ever before in our history and having been engaged by the full might of the Kremlin's political warfare, we cannot afford to leave unmobilized our resources for covert political warfare. We cannot afford in the future, in perhaps more serious political crises, to scramble into impromptu covert operations [1 line of source text not declassified]. . . .

What is proposed here is an operation in the traditional American form: organized public support of resistance to tyranny in foreign countries. . . . Our proposal is that this tradition be revived specifically to further American national interests in the present crisis. . . .

d. Preventive Direct Action in Free Countries.

Purpose: Only in cases of critical necessity, to resort to direct action to prevent vital installations, other material, or personnel from being (1) sabotaged or liquidated or (2) captured intact by Kremlin agents or agencies.

Description: This covert operation involves, for example, (1) control over anti-sabotage activities in the Venezuelan oil fields, (2) American sabotage of Near Eastern oil installations on the verge of Soviet capture . . . .

Long before Bush, and years before the formulation of the overt Eisenhower Doctrine, the U.S. was in the Middle East in a new type of warfare in the Post-War period. Although the faces of the enemy may change, we are not facing the Soviets anymore, but the geographical area of contention, the Middle East, and the product, oil, is now a part of political warfare in American life. The troublesome aspect for Americans seems to lie in the fact that this warfare is overt, as opposed to George's covert operations in 1948. But the present George is following the broad outlines of American foreign policy that is decades old by this point.

Reference:
269. Policy Planning Staff Memorandum

Washington, May 4, 1948.

Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 273, Records of the National Security Council, NSC 10/2. Top Secret. No drafting information appears on the source text. An earlier, similar version, April 30, is ibid., RG 59, Records of the Department of State, Policy Planning Staff Files 1944-47: Lot 64 D 563, Box
11. The Policy Planning Staff minutes for May 3 state: "There was a discussion of the Planning Staff Memorandum of April 30, 1948 on the inauguration of organized political warfare. This paper was generally approved and Mr. Kennan will present it tomorrow for discussion at a meeting of NSC consultants." (Ibid., Box 32)

Upcoming Attraction! See it now! History Made Dumber! "War Made Easy"

History Made Dumber is not the name of War Made Easy--a film which "reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq"--but perhaps it should be.

Based on the book by Norman Solomon, you may look in vain for any mention or sound bite of Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Carter, or Ford but you will not see them or hear any references to them in this film. If I'm not mistaken they were American Presidents of the past 50 years. Nonetheless, bad boys LBJ, Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton all have their cameos but the real targets are the Bushes, father and son.

As an attempt to review the past 50 years of American warmaking it fails miserably. It is tolerable if you like the sort of presentation that claims to be an expose of recent wars under the Bushes and to a lesser extent, Clinton. As a competitor to the Michael Moore style of film making it has the obligatory repetition of key quips, and quotes thought to be particularly germane and cutting.

One of the typical refrains is about the lack of WMDs as is to be expected. No reference is made to the other popular refrain at the time which was "No Blood for Oil," you don't hear that old canard much any more. And, the lack of expression is for good reason. Gas prices hit the highest level in American history. And, judging by the number of filmgoers who used cars, trucks, and SUVs to attend the same screening as I, the insatiable American thirst for oil is not abating.

If Americans were truly sincere about getting the U.S. out of Iraq, then they should sell their cars, and the next likely event to occur is that American politicians will stop the war drumbeats. In the meantime, as any president Republican or Democrat is bound by the Constitution, they will continue on the war course mapped out. Americans are tied to their inefficient internal combustion engines and American politicians are acting in the national interest, that is, keeping the flow of oil to the U.S.

In the film history is reviewed in the person of Senator Wayne Morse (D-Oregon) who is acclaimed as one of few American lawmakers who was brave enough to oppose the war in Vietnam. He makes a particularly embarrassing point about the President simply being "an administrator of the people's foreign policy."

God bless you Senator but not in my Constitution.

The film is on a bit better ground as an analysis of how the corporate media has echoed Washington's drumbeats during Persian Gulf I and II. The struggling print media, newspapers, are in dire straits and they are being eclipsed by digital communications, infotainment, the internet, and other new media. The new media is not directly as a result of government control but recent administrations have been savvy enough to adjust their message catered to the new media.

There are alternatives: turn off the TV, read bloggers, watch clips on YouTube, read foreign newspapers, catch Al-Jazeera, this works for me and I stay informed thusly.

The film is for the liberal choir exclusively so they can hum along to the old gospel song that gained some popularity during the Vietnam era, "Down by the Riverside," whose chorus echoes a heart-felt desire of people:

"I ain't gonna study war no more
I ain't gonna study war no more
Study war no more…"

C++ for Anyone from MIT

C++ is not exclusively for adult programmers but MIT has released programming for anyone through MIT's Media Lab. Researchers in the Lab's "Lifelong Kindergarten Group" created a program called Scratch, a graphical programming language geared to be programming learners, including children and teens.

A good introduction can be seen on how to create interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art with Scratch (http://scratch.mit.edu).

Google Educational Offerings

Campus Technology today released a story that Google is offering researchers a closer look at their search capabilities. Two new services are offered to the individauls in higher education--access to Web search and machine translations--as part of Google's University Research Programs effort. The program for investigation, "the University Research Program for Google Search," has merit if it can unleash the incredible data hidden via the web, and certainly Google is one company that has revealed the resources of the web more than any other entity.

The second service, Google Translate, seems less promising although I have not taken it for a spin just yet. I still have to get over my bad experience with DragonDictate, c. 1998, when I spent an inordinate amount of time teaching a recalcitrant program and computer how to talk like me. Come to think of it, that may have been the problem.

"I Wanna' Be Like Osama"

The 60th Edinburgh Festival Fringe is featuring "Osama the Musical" which is a:
"Sensational new musical comedy set to incite violent applause and a new cult following featuring insightful satirical sequences including "I Wanna' Be Like Osama. The West shall not be won (again) so long as we have a high-kicking chorus line!"

Those Irresistible Nerds

Graph source: Source: Robert Half Technology, May 2007

Mary Brandel published a story in the 6 August 2007 issue of Computerworld reviewing what technology skills are in short supply. The list of skills follow below: Machine learning, Mobile applications, Wireless networking, Project management, General networking, Network convergence, Open-source programming, Business intelligence, and Embedded security.

Nothing "GNU" (New) in China

Wikipedia representatives have stated that Baidu.com Inc., the largest search engine in China, may be their worst copyright violator. Baidu plagiarizes Wikipedia without attribution or honoring the GNU license.

The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. has never sued a copyright violator and the Foundation has no plans to sue Baidu but this looks like an attempt to shame the company into compliance. All Wikipedia needs is the company to respect its copyright license by simply attributing Wikipedia entries on Baidu Baike, the company's Chinese-language Web encyclopedia.

"They do not respect the license at all," said Florence Nibart-Devouard, chairman of the board of trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Pentagon Describes How to Combat IEDs

Speaking of worthwhile blogs to read, The Danger Room in fact carried a story about an excellent research paper--AN ASYMMETRIC THREAT INVOKES STRATEGIC LEADER INITIATIVE: THE JOINT IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE DEFEAT ORGANIZATION by WILLIAM G. ADAMSON, COL, USA, that is worthwhile reading.

The report has some good news and some bad news. The Pentagon is praised for its "resilience, learning and adapting to the IED threat." It credits JIEDDO's chief, retired General Montgommery Meigs, with "vision [and] leadership." And the paper notes that "casualty rates per IED attack are down, indicating that the cumulative effort of training, better protective equipment, and improved intelligence [have] had a positive effect."

On the other hand, what we hear in American journalism is true as well. The paper states that the American effort against improvised bombs has been an "unsatisfactory performance [with] an incomplete strategy." What's more, the JIEDDO-led struggle against the hand-made explosives has a "strategic flaw" that may keep the U.S. from ever gaining the upper hand on the bombers, Adamson notes: The lack of authority to knock bureaucratic heads. He recommends instead establishing a separate, Executive Branch agency with a "laser-like concentration on the hostile use of IEDs."

I'd like to be knocking some bureaucratic heads and it would be helpful if journalists would be carrying stories that reveal how insurgents can be effectively met, and defeated.

A List of the Second Best Blogs in the World

I know you are enthralled to stay here at Blog Smith but are there any other cool places to go? A 6 August story from Computerworld noted the top Geek Blog Sites. In no particular order the list is:

Hack a Day

Lifehacker

IT Toolbox Blogs

Danger Room

O’Reilly Radar

Techdirt

Feedster

Rough Type

The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Elliott Back’s blog

4sysops

Go ahead, check them out, I won't be offended if you read the second best blogs in the world.

Black Muslim Bakery: A Bit of Upside-Down Cake?

The late Dr. Yusuf Bey created Your Black Muslim Bakery nearly 40 years ago, selling bean and carrot pies and hoping to inspire Oakland's poor to become "respectable and productive individuals."

This past Friday though, the bakery and its related businesses, a chain of bakeries, a security service, and a school among other businesses, was raided after the killing of 57-year-old Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey.

Seven people associated with the organization were arrested in connection with the killing and other violent crimes.

Bailey was working on an expose of the organization's finances when he was killed in a daring broad daylight murder by a masked gunman.

The gunman is believed to be Devaughndre Broussard, an employer of the group.

The Muslim group's headquarters at the original bakery and three Oakland houses tied to the group were raided.

Assistant Police Chief Howard Jordan said the raids were part of a yearlong investigation into a variety of violent crimes, including two homicides this year and a kidnapping and torture case.

Yusuf Bey elicited ire from the public in 1994 when he ran for mayor of Oakland. He received less than 5 percent of the vote after a campaign in which he said that women "belong back in the home" and that gays should not be allowed to teach school.

In 2002, Bey was accused of raping a girl but he died of colon cancer in 2003 while awaiting trial.

Bey tapped Waajid Aljawwaad Bey as his successor in his multimillion-dollar empire.

Five months later, Aljawwaad Bey's body was found buried in an unsolved homicide.

The group was plagued by additional violence. In 2005 the leader of the Bey security service, John Bey, was shot outside his Oakland home. He survived, and his attacker was never found. In 2005, Bey's 23-year-old son, Antar Bey, the organization's heir apparent, was killed in what police called a botched carjacking attempt at a gas station in North Oakland.

Shortly after Antar's murder, his brother, Yusuf Bey IV, took over the bakery empire.

Yusuf has pending charges stemming from a 2005 case in which he is accused of leading a Black Muslim group caught by surveillance cameras in November 2005 smashing up two Oakland corner stores. The men berated the stores' Muslim owners for selling alcohol to the black community even though alcohol is forbidden by Islam.

Your Black Muslim Bakery filed for bankruptcy last year.

After Friday's raid, county health inspectors shut down the bakery for health-code violations.

I often hear about how Muslims are targeted in the post 9/11 period but in any other circumstances, Your Black Muslim Bakery would be standard law enforcement activity.

The story reminds me how the Black Panthers, starting out with the best of intentions, dissipated to impotence by internal squabbles, violence, and police enforcement. The more things change, the more things stay the same.

I always liked Oakland, despite its grittiness, its an interesting mix of cultures, pleasant scenery, and working-class ethos. I stayed there this summer near Jack London Square while visiting San Francisco. I wish the city well.

Key Insurgent Killed

U.S. troops reportedly killed a key insurgent who was the planner of an important Shia shrine. This al-Qaeda leader who planned the attack on the shrine led to a major escalation in sectarian violence.

Haitham al-Badri plotted and carried out the 2006 and 2007 attacks on the al-Askari shrine in Samarra, which destroyed its golden dome and minarets.

Badri, allegedly the leader of al-Qaeda in Salahuddin Province, was eliminated on Thursday by US troops east of Samarra.

The attacks on the mosque horrified Shias which set off a wave of sectarian violence which claimed the lives of thousands of civilians.

While U.S. troops continue to do their job, the Iraqis are failing to create a viable and unified governmental structure.

A New Philadaelphia Story: The Archdiocese at the Movies

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia is now playing at the movies. Archdiocesen spokeswoman Donna Farrell announced an effort to advertise in a new medium, films, in the form of 30-second commercials running on 264 movie theater screens in the area. The advertisement will appear only on screens showing movies rated G, PG or PG-13, stated Farrell.

Enrollment decline has been precipitous: the archdiocese's Catholic elementary schools has dropped from 78,921 students to 62,559 over the past six years, while high school enrollment declined from 23,249 to 20,749 during the same period.

Note on Robert Dallek's book, An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917-1963

One of the most important assertions, and a point of controversy for historians when this book first came out, is that Dallek did not think Kennedy's presidency was damaged by his risky sexual behavior and bad health.

Upon reading though, just the panoply alone of drugs and injections was enough to convince me that Kennedy at least suffered a great deal. The evidence that he was conclusively and negatively effected by the drugs is not clear, it may never be. But, I found it alarming that so many physicians ruthlessly medicated the man without offering genuine relief.

Kennedy may be likened rather to a well-trained athlete who is medicated and medically treated beyond the norm. People can still function, even out-perform those around them. Kennedy had an incredible will; I think he really rose to the situation, he really was a war hero on PT 109. His endurance and commitment to his men after his boat was split in two by a Japanese warship is impressive. On the other hand, I don't think sinking into hero worship is sound, he certainly had his share of mistakes such as the Bay of Pigs, he just seemed to be a high-performing individual, warts and all.

As to the sex, well, I certainly was not aware of it at the time but enough evidence came to light over the years. I guess he enjoyed himself.

Dallek obtained documents indicating Kennedy had an affair with a 19-year-old intern in the White House: shades of Bill Clinton. He discovered 17 blacked-out pages in an oral history by Barbara Gamarekian, who was an aide to Kennedy Press Secretary Pierre Salinger.

Gamarekian refused to give him the name of the former intern to protect the woman but the pages were from 40 years ago so authentic enough. In fact, the New York Daily News subsequently learned the woman's identity and published an interview with her.

Many Americans consider Kennedy to be among the greatest presidents, but Dallek says most historians would dispute that, he fell well short of great or even near great. He failed to win passage for civil rights legislation and other major legislative initiatives and he stumbled in foreign policy with the Bay of Pigs and an escalation of the Vietnam War, Dallek stated in interviews about the book.

The assassination colors our perception. Kennedy has tended to be idolized as a result. Since I finally got around to the book I believe it is well worth reading and certainly presents a human presidential figure.

Copyright: Who Owns Creative Work?

What is the purpose of the "Copyright Clause?"

Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution, known as the Copyright Clause (the Copyright and Patent Clause, the Intellectual Property Clause, and the Progress Clause), empowers the United States Congress:

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

The clause actually confers two distinct powers: the power to secure for limited times to authors the exclusive right to their writings, and the power to secure for limited times to inventors the exclusive rights to their discoveries.

A number of United States Supreme Court cases interprets the text. The Court has determined that because the purpose of the clause is to stimulate development of the works it protects, its purpose is not to inhibit such progress.

After an author creates, they retain the rights, though not exclusively of course, fair use doctrine, while related, is primarily a First Amendment doctrine. It permits certain unauthorized uses of copyrighted material in the name of greater freedoms. In teaching for example, obtaining authorized use from every author would be ludicrous. No practical teaching could be done.

In instances of disagreement, who should prevail?

Here is one such example: "I understand that before I started volunteering with [insert academic JOURNAL here], there were some tensions between your editorial team and the [insert academic JOURNAL here] board."

So who owns the work? The guiding principle here seems to be the stimulation of works, not to prohibit "progress" however ill-defined and unwieldy. Especially in a democracy it seems one would want to err on the side of controversy and expression, unless one's intent was to inhibit such progress.

If the author of an unpublished work specifically objected to inclusion in an archive, I would argue that they retain that right.

However, the work of editors, redactors, and others have a creative aspect as well. That is their original contribution to the progress of the useful arts and sciences.

Therefore, I would strenuously object to the statement that "many of the items [archived materials] fall in to the category of [insert academic JOURNAL here] papers, as opposed to personal correspondence or work."

In this instance the editor did of course, "work," their creative contribution; in addition, the editor in question also has academic credentials, a Masters of Library Science, or their promotion of scientific endeavor. Thus, on two grounds I would argue that the editor is on sound constitutional ground.

The premise of the succeeding editor or board reveals the weakness of their position; they have to ask permission.

With the above in mind, we'd like to ask you to advise [insert University Archivist here] at the
[insert University's Library here] that items in the {insert original Editor's name here] Papers other than your personal correspondence be removed from the archive.

So who owns the work?

The original editor of course.

HP Unhealthy Print

A story on Computerworld yesterday released yesterday noted that Hewlett-Packard makes 90% of unhealthy laser printers tested by researchers. Of course, the researchers looked at a more HP printers than anyone else so this could bias the result. 83% of the total printers researched, were from HP.

Nearly all the laser printers fingered by researchers for spewing particulate matter into offices and homes are sold by HP.

The article in the American Chemical Society's Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T) journal, measured emissions of 58 laser printers, including models from Canon Inc., HP, Ricoh Co. and Toshiba Corp. Particle emissions, believed to be related to the ultrafine powdered toner, were measured and the printers ranked in several categories.

Of the "high emitters" at least for me, they do not effect me personally. I don't have any of the offending models: the Color LaserJet 4650dn; Color LaserJet 5550dtn; Color LaserJet 8550n; LaserJet 1320n; LaserJet 2420n; LaserJet 4200dtn; LaserJet 4250n; LaserJet 5; LaserJet 8000dn; and the LaserJet 8150n.

Anyone want to go back to carbons? Elementary kids got high from those.

Extraterritoriality, Extradition, and Hacking

According to a story yesterday on Computerworld U.K the United Kingdom will try a hacker's case against extradition to the United States.

In the old days of colonialism, a person who committed a crime in a colony was taken back to the home country, where presumably they would get a more sympathetic hearing. Today, this is a twist on the old legal principle.

In cyberspace, where is the crime?

Gary McKinnon is accused of causing $961,000 worth of damage to computers by hacking into the Pentagon, NASA, and U.S. military systems. McKinnon, an ex-systems administrator allegedly conducted the largest military hack of all time. He won the right to have his case against extradition to the U.S. heard by the U.K. House of Lords.

McKinnon maintains that the alleged offenses took place in the U.K. and that is where he should stand trial.

He could face a life sentence in jail with no chance of repatriation if he is extradited to the U.S.

The U.S. may be particularly adamant about prosecution since McKinnon hacked he systems shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The U.S. government may want to make an example of him as a warning to would be or potential terrorists.

That deterrent seems specious but I suppose he could be useful to analyze what he did to probe weaknesses in U.S. defense, goodness knows they are chronic.

I Give China a "Bath"

Being the forgiving sort, I've decided to give China another "Bath" and I exchanged the lamp for a new one: so far, so good, although its only been on a minute.

Let's see how the new one does.

Bed, Bath, and Beyond: Made in China

So I needed a lamp near my computer and I perused the aisles looking for one. I found a hip looking blue one which looked ideal. In and out in a flash, my idea of shopping since I'm on a meter. Less than a week later, kaput. Where from?

Bed, Bath, and Beyond: Made in China.

Good thing Fido was not hungry or I didn't need to brush my teeth.

"How's Your House," Ian Hunter on Hurricane Katrina

How's Your House by Ian Hunter (Song at NOMRF.org)

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Description: Ian Hunter courtesy of YepRoc Records for the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund. Video Produced by Grewvia. This song and 15 others by artists including Dr. John, Edwin McCain, James Andrews, Joe Topping and a new song by the Kaiser Chiefs are available at NOMRF.org. 100% of the proceeds will help the grass roots New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund.

Microsoft Struggles to Catch Google

In a story today on Computerworld Microsoft is attempting to catch up with Google and Yahoo in search capabilities. They have a long way to go. In June, Google sites captured 49.5% of the U.S. search market, while Yahoo sites ranked second with 25.1% of U.S. searches, followed by a distant Microsoft with only 13.2%, according to comScore Networks Inc.

Microsoft though began a new center, the Internet Services Research Center, as a part of Microsoft's research group. Interestingly enough though, the center will have teams in the U.S., but also some in Beijing.

Maybe Microsoft can go hard on those Chinese government types who are pushovers for Google.

Ahead or Behind the Curve?

Today, 29 July 2007, the BBC reported that Prime Minister of Great Britain, Gordon Brown, stated that the world owes the US a debt.

On the cusp of his first visit with George Bush, Brown stated that the U.S. leadership in the war against international terrorism is a debt that the world owes America.

Some analysts had speculated that Brown would distance himself from George Bush.

So far Brown has not publicly stated he would.

Newest Expansion Pack to Civilization IV: Beyond The Sword

One of the more intriguing developments in the gaming world, for an educator at least, is the accurate and realistic portrayal of history in the play. One of the best is Civilization IV. To the basic game is the newest expansion pack, Beyond the Sword, the second release after the Warlords edition.

The creator, Sid Meier, did not intend to write an educational game, precisely what makes it so fun probably, although an educator can do a great deal with the game to teach history. In a recent interview, Meier notes:

I read an interesting article recently about how some teachers actually use Civilization III in their classes as a teaching tool. Would you endorse or recommend the use of Civilization III as an educational product?

Sid: There's certainly nothing in the game that's just totally, flat-out wrong. I think Civilization is a good place to learn some basic ideas about history, and to be a part of it; to make the decisions. The great thing about a game is that you're the star of it. You're actually there making the decisions. Yes, it's been used in a lot of different educational situations, and if you can get a kid interested in history through a game, that's...We certainly lead them through the Civilopedia. We let them know that there's more out there if you want to explore it.

I've heard about a lot of people who played games as a kid and have gained a lot of useful knowledge that they were able to use later in life. So I certainly encourage people to use Civilization as a way to introduce them to history and make it exciting

Who Knows What Evil Lurks Inside a Cell Phone?

Ever wonder if something dangerous lurks in your cell phone? You should. In the tragedy that killed U.S. pets by ingesting tainted Chinese dog food, and to toothpaste that made people ill, a story in today's Computerworld alerted users to consider what's in your cell phone. In a widely publicized case, Zheng Xiaoyu, the former head of China's food and drug administration, was executed on corruption charges when it established that China did not have enough quality controls in place for the tainted goods leaving China.

And unlike toothpaste cell phones seem safe enough. However, cell phones can be lethal. A number of people in China have been killed because of problems with their cell phones. Indeed, a typical cell phone contains heavy, toxic metals such as lead and beryllium, poisonous flame retardants like bromide and enough cadmium to contaminate thousands of gallons of water. These ingredients expose the user to toxins.

The major cell phone manufacturing countries--the U.S., Finland, Sweden, Germany, South Korea, and Japan-- protect users with their rigorous safety procedures, and control and monitor the safety of cell phone manufacturing. National governments, consumer and industry groups, magazines and journals, and other actors monitor, test, and review cell phone safety.

If China is to be a successful major world economic player it needs to do everything it can to raise quality and review standards to ensure the safety of cell phone users.

Would You Like to Know What the U.S. Military Is Thinking?

Computerworldtoday released a story about classified U.S. military information and corporate data which is available over P2P (peer-to-peer file sharing networks).

Experts testified before Congress by relating that data leakage is worse than thought previously.

Millions of documents are housed freely on file sharing networks after being inadvertently exposed by individuals downloading P2P software on systems that held the data.

For example, would you like the Pentagon's secret backbone network infrastructure diagram, complete with IP addresses and password change scripts? You can have that. Also there is contractor data on radio frequency manipulation to beat Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) in Iraq; physical terrorism threat assessments for three major U.S cities; and, information on five separate Department of Defense information security system audits.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, (D-Calif.) heard this testimony.

Let's hope Henry gets good and sick of this breach and plugs the holes, the sooner the better.