Ted Ritzer: Got Duct Tape?

Fri, 11 Apr 2003 03:20:23 GMT

Saddam curios for sale online. Saddam Hussein has become an unlikely internet celebrity, with memorabilia related to him appearing for sale on the web. [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]

Fri, 11 Apr 2003 00:34:41 GMT

PM launches new Iraqi TV. Media: Tony Blair and George Bush will address the Iraqi nation later today on a new television station set up by coalition forces in a bid to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. [Guardian Unlimited]

Low Cost AGMs-Electronic Meeting Software

Tue, 08 Apr 2003 03:30:04 GMT

Low Cost AGMs-Electronic Meeting Software

This article was my attempt at providing a backgrounder on how to save money by not travelling for AGMs by using the Internet to facilitate electronic meetings. Check the article out at:

http://blogs.salon.com/0001455/stories/2003/04/07/lowCostVirtualAgms.html

Mon, 07 Apr 2003 03:48:47 GMT

Kerry on supporting troops. Senator John Kerry describes the Bush administration's one-sided approach to "supporting troops," which seems to consist of lambasting anyone who decries the war as unsound policy while simultaneously slashing veteran's benefits and education for military families.

Unfortunately, this administration has failed to honor the service of citizens who are doing what's right. After Sept. 11, Americans wanted to contribute and to serve. This administration told them to go shopping. They have cut AmeriCorps when we should be expanding it so every young person has the opportunity to perform national service. But nothing flies in the face of the values of duty and service more than what this administration is doing when it comes to fulfilling our obligation to our troops, our veterans, and their families. We can do better -- and our soldiers deserve no less...
And at the same time that American soldiers are engaged in battle at home, this administration is proposing substantial cuts in federal school aid to children of military families. As we learned the hard way after Vietnam, our duty to our troops doesn't end when the battle is won. Those that put their lives on the line have earned a lifetime of support. And America must live up to that commitment.
Yet, two months ago, this administration announced it would suspend enrollment in the healthcare system of at least 160,000 qualified veterans. And now they want to deny another 230,000 veterans the healthcare they deserve.

Link Discuss [Boing Boing Blog]

Sun, 06 Apr 2003 21:31:11 GMT

Mary Riddell: A morally hollow victory. Iraq comment: No amount of PR will disguise the fact that this war is an outrage against humanity, says Mary Riddell. [Guardian Unlimited]

Fri, 04 Apr 2003 13:34:32 GMT

QTVR of NYC Hearings on 9/11 attacks. Hans Nyberg writes: "I have a new masterpiece by the New York VR photograper Jook Leung, made yesterday at the hearing in New York about the Terrorist attacks. In this shot, the mayor of New York City is testifying." Link to fullscreen QTVR panorama, Link to 9/11 Commission website, Discuss
[Boing Boing Blog]

Fri, 04 Apr 2003 03:36:03 GMT

Live QTVR blogging from Sydney protest, with sound. Australian photographer Peter Murphy writes:

Hi, Xeni -- my vr blog today features an action panorama from an antiwar protest in Sydney yesterday -- with location sound streaming audio accompaniment.

Link, Discuss
[Boing Boing Blog]

Fri, 04 Apr 2003 01:19:56 GMT

Wired News on Ex-Intel VP fighting for detainee Mike Hawash. Story in today's Wired News on the case of former Intel employee Mike Hawash, a Palestinian-born US citizen arrested and detained in solitary confinement two weeks ago by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force (link to earlier post on BoingBoing).

A friend and former colleague at Intel, Steven McGeady, is championing Hawash's case. McGeady, a former vice president at the chipmaker who hired Hawash as a programmer in 1992, was a high-profile witness in the Microsoft antitrust trial.
"People say this doesn't happen in this country," McGeady said, "but one of my neighbors has been disappeared. It's not what he might have done that matters to me -- they disappeared him. They need to question him and let him go, or charge him. It's like Alice in Wonderland meets Franz Kafka."
McGeady set up a website, Free Mike Hawash, that urges supporters to write politicians and donate to a legal defense fund. The site is drawing considerable attention online, climbing the charts on Daypop and Blogdex. Because of the campaign, the office of Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden has promised to contact the FBI about the case, McGeady said.

Link to Wired News story, Link to SF Chron story, Discuss [Boing Boing Blog]

Thu, 03 Apr 2003 13:05:47 GMT

Muslims urged to join jihad. 7.15pm: Iraqi official addresses nation· US backs checkpoint killings soldiers· 26th British soldier killed [Guardian Unlimited]

Thu, 03 Apr 2003 12:59:50 GMT

The New Yorker. Seymor Hersh. Read it and be worried. This line shot me to the core:

“The only hope is that they can hold out until reinforcements come.”

I do think we can hold out. Americans are much tougher than many think. It won't be pretty (given the destruction of a car full of women and children today). But there won't be a total collapse.

[John Robb's Radio Weblog]

Thu, 03 Apr 2003 12:58:27 GMT

Here is a fear that I have been dreading for a while: the US has become Israel. We needed a target for our rightous indignation and thirst for revenge re: 9/11. The long slow process of terrorist hunting wasn't enough to satisfy this need. We didn't have Palestinians to beat up on so we manufactured them in Iraq. [John Robb's Radio Weblog]

Thu, 03 Apr 2003 12:56:16 GMT

cronkite on arnett. Walter Cronkite: "Mr. Arnett's firing is more than a personal setback. With him gone from the airwaves, Americans have lost an eye on Baghdad that had proved a valuable addition to our knowledge of a mysterious enemy." [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog]

Tue, 01 Apr 2003 16:14:19 GMT

'You didn't fire a warning shot soon enough!'. Daily briefing: A journalist's account of the killing of a car full of Iraqi civilians by US soldiers differs widely from the official military version, says Brian Whitaker. [Guardian Unlimited]

Tue, 01 Apr 2003 03:11:25 GMT

Atwood: America is selling itself out. Margaret Atwood, Canadian literary star and author of "The Handmaid's Tale," wrote a stern open letter to the USA in yesterday's Globe and Mail. The war isn't what's got her upset, though: it's the Bush Administration's exploitation of the war to undermine the civil liberties that define America as the city on the hill, the democratic proving ground to which all other democracies can aspire.

You're gutting the Constitution. Already your home can be entered without your knowledge or permission, you can be snatched away and incarcerated without cause, your mail can be spied on, your private records searched. Why isn't this a recipe for widespread business theft, political intimidation, and fraud? I know you've been told all this is for your own safety and protection, but think about it for a minute. Anyway, when did you get so scared? You didn't used to be easily frightened.
You're running up a record level of debt. Keep spending at this rate and pretty soon you won't be able to afford any big military adventures. Either that or you'll go the way of the USSR: lots of tanks, but no air conditioning. That will make folks very cross. They'll be even crosser when they can't take a shower because your short-sighted bulldozing of environmental protections has dirtied most of the water and dried up the rest. Then things will get hot and dirty indeed.
You're torching the American economy. How soon before the answer to that will be, not to produce anything yourselves, but to grab stuff other people produce, at gunboat-diplomacy prices? Is the world going to consist of a few megarich King Midases, with the rest being serfs, both inside and outside your country? Will the biggest business sector in the United States be the prison system? Let's hope not.

Link Discuss (Thanks, Greg!) [Boing Boing Blog]

Tue, 01 Apr 2003 03:07:32 GMT

AP: "NBC fired journalist Peter Arnett on Monday, saying it was wrong for him to give an interview with state-run Iraqi TV saying that the American-led coalition's first war plan had failed because of Iraq's resistance. Arnett himself called the interview a 'misjudgment.'" [Scripting News]

Mon, 31 Mar 2003 23:43:56 GMT

Jim Moore: "There is an emerging second superpower, but it is not a nation. Instead, it is a new form of international player, constituted by the 'will of the people' in a global social movement. " [Scripting News]

Mon, 31 Mar 2003 23:40:05 GMT

Command Post and Agonist: Scoping Out War News. I want to commend to you two "gifted-amateur" warblogs that strike me as a cut above the others. One is... [Dan Gillmor's eJournal]

Mon, 31 Mar 2003 23:38:32 GMT

Warblogs and Tomorrow's Journalism. Baltimore Sun: Weblogs cover the war without mainstream restraints. The best blog writers hew to the Mike Royko-Herb Caen style... [Dan Gillmor's eJournal]

Sun, 30 Mar 2003 21:50:37 GMT

Internet sites rage at US, but Bin Laden silent. Sydney Morning Herald - Osama bin Laden, usually eager to rally Muslims by highlighting US "atrocities" around the world, has not been heard from 10 days into the US-led war on Iraq, leading to new speculation on his fate.
Another stepping stone Washington Times
US says destroyed possible al Qaeda base in Iraq Reuters AlertNet
Washington Post - The Age - Ninemsn - Raleigh News - and 15 related » [Google Technology News]

Sun, 30 Mar 2003 21:44:50 GMT

First anti-war protest in China. Chinese students stage rare state-sanctioned demo as part of worldwide protests against war. [Guardian Unlimited]

Sun, 30 Mar 2003 19:08:06 GMT

Anti-war anger spreads worldwide. Demonstrators again take to the streets around the world, with the largest protest yet in Jakarta, and the first one in Beijing. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition]

Sun, 30 Mar 2003 19:01:44 GMT

The Forver War: time to read it again [bOing bOing]

Sun, 30 Mar 2003 17:38:28 GMT

Kevin Lynch. Kevin Lynch [News Is Free: Recent Additions]

Sun, 30 Mar 2003 17:36:47 GMT

Bloggers spearhead offscreen opposition. Media: The net has given free rein to opinion not expressed in mainstream media coverage of the Gulf conflict, says John Naughton. [Guardian Unlimited]

Sun, 30 Mar 2003 17:35:06 GMT

Angry Cook lashes out at war. Former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook calls on Tony Blair to bring Britain's troops home from Iraq. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition]

Sun, 30 Mar 2003 16:57:25 GMT

No let-up in anti-war protests. Demonstrators again take to the streets in many parts of the world in protest against the war in Iraq. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition]

Sun, 30 Mar 2003 16:55:40 GMT

Moore's new movie: Farenheit 911. Michael Moore's new movie, called "Farenheit 911: The Temperature at Which Freedom Burns," will trace the economic ties between Bush administration officials and bin Laden, and chronicle the erosion of Consitutional freedoms in America in the wake of the 9-11 attack.

According to Moore, the former president had a business relationship with Osama bin Laden's father, Mohammed bin Laden, a Saudi construction magnate who left $300 million to Osama bin Laden. It has been widely reported that bin Laden used the inheritance to finance global terrorism.
Moore said the bin Laden family was heavily invested in the Carlyle Group, a private global investment firm that the filmmaker said frequently buys failing defense companies and then sells them at a profit. Former President Bush has reportedly served as a senior adviser with the firm.
"The senior Bush kept his ties with the bin Laden family up until two months after Sept. 11," said Moore.

Link Discuss [Boing Boing Blog]

Sun, 30 Mar 2003 16:39:13 GMT

Bush's foreign policy blunders. As Ramallah burns and the Saudis and Iraqis make peace, the administration's plans for a new coalition to bomb Iraq continue to crumble. [Salon Headlines]

Sun, 30 Mar 2003 16:34:12 GMT

Are we terrorists?. I had a conversation with my dad on Friday night while I was on the way to a gig in Los Gatos, CA. We talked about the war in Iraq. Basically we came to two conclusions in common. First, we're pretty sure that if Saddam is out of the picture, the Iraqi people would at the very least be better off, and many of them will be happy that he's gone. The other conclusion we aggree about is that there's not much love of America and Americans to be lost in the Arab world as a result of the war. If we stay in Iraq long-term, it spells trouble. (We've already seen it.) My dad gave me the impression that he was in favor of the war in Iraq. I didn't ask him directly whether he supported the war or not. He was against the war in Vietnam, or at least I understood that he was. I'm not sure about that either. What I do know is that the longer that the war goes on, the less supportive I find myself of it. At first, I was on the fence, thinking that while war is something to avoid unless absolutely necessary, Saddam's regime is certainly tyranical, and removing him from power could be nothing but good. It was only later that I started to think about the longer-term ramifications of this war in Iraq, and the geo-political implications of our nearly unilateral actions there... At this moment, the feeling that rises to the surface faster than any other is fear. The whole world seems to be reacting to the war in Iraq as they will -- Europe dividing itself on historical lines, England and Austrailia sticking with the U.S. because that's what they do, North Korea, India and Pakistan posturing (along with Syria, Turkey and Iran). Today there's been a new suicide bombing in Israel, and God only knows what kind of mayhem is being planned by extrimists on all fronts. My overall visceral reaction is one of fear. After that I analyze -- I'm an analytical thinker, so that's what I do... But it doesn't stop me from being afraid. Isn't that the goal of terrorism? Are we terrorists? [Jake's Radio 'Blog]

Sun, 30 Mar 2003 16:30:54 GMT

Rumsfeld 'wanted cheap war'. A US magazine claims US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld forced military chiefs to send too small a force to fight Iraq. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition]

Sat, 29 Mar 2003 20:38:49 GMT

Newsweek's Steven Levy on warblogging + big media (and, kevinsites.net). Steven Levy tackles a much-blogged subject of late -- blogs, war, and conventional media -- with fresh insight in a Newsweek story today. He also coins a handy new term: embloggers. If you find this of interest, you may also want to check out this blog that Anil Dash recently built to document press coverage of the recently-suspended-by-CNN kevinsites.net. The items in that press clip archive are tracked because they reference Sites' blog, but they all explore broader issues of blogs as a tranformative force in modern media, as does Steven Levy's story below.

The role of professional reporters is another matter. One blogger, freelancer Chris Allbritton, used his site to solicit $10,000 from readers to fund a trip to blog from the northern front. (He's just arrived in Turkey and will be in-country soon.) The BBC has a blog, and a Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter has been using a blog to describe her stay on the USS Abraham Lincoln. But when CNN reporter Kevin Sites' bosses found out he’d been blogging his experiences on an unaffiliated site, they told him to stop.
CNN's response was seen in the Blogosphere as one more sign that the media dinosaurs are determined to stamp out this subversive new form of reporting. But judging from the television and print reports from journalists embedded in military units, there’s another way to look at things. Consider the reports from embedded journalists working for media institutions. They're ad hoc, using quick-and-dirty high-tech tools to pinpoint the reality of a single moment. They are shaped by the personal experience of the creator rather than gathering news from after-the-fact interviewing and document collection. They are delivered in the first person, creating a connection with the viewer that sometimes bulldozes over the deeper realties of the events
In other words, they're a hell of a lot like blogs. Not the heavily linked Weblogs like The Agonist or Instapundit but the personal accounts of Salam--or the thousands of bloggers who use the technology to keep a running diary of their activities for a small circle of friends--or anyone who cares to listen in.
Instead of documenting a trip to the video store and a random encounter with an old girlfriend, these "Embloggers" describe firefights at Umm Qasr and MRE cuisine. So while the war in Iraq might only be beginning, the pundits of the Blogosphere can already register a victory. It’s a blogger's world. We only link to it.

Link to Newsweek story, Link to press clips blog, Discuss [Boing Boing Blog]

Sat, 29 Mar 2003 19:30:27 GMT

mellencamp. I heard John Mellencamp's anti-war song on the radio here last night. It can be downloaded freely from his site. [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog]

Sat, 29 Mar 2003 15:18:28 GMT

Blogs Falling Over Sideways from the Tip.

Tipped

"In the past week:

Weblogs cover the war without mainstream restraints
Reporting Reflects Anxiety
Public's Appetite for Instant War News Fuels Spread of Web Logs
On-the-spot blogs from war
It's instant, but how much can we trust?
A Medium Meets Its War
Improved Tools Turn Journalists Into a Quick Strike Force
War a Boon for News Sites, Blogs
War reporting goes hi-tech
Fascinating Web logs provide an unfiltered view of the war
War coverage with personal touch emerges
Blogs bring personal view of war
Net news: live from the war zone
War brings a surge of traffic on the Net
Blah, blah, blogs
US soldier "bloggers" report from war zone
Straight or Slanted, 'Blogs' Add Spice to War Reports
Web surfing for war junkies
He's glad to admit he's a 'warblogger'
Bloggers click on pulse of war news
For war newshounds, nothing beats blogging
Etc.

Um...I think we're outta the closet." [weblogged News]

[The Shifted Librarian]

Sat, 29 Mar 2003 14:24:28 GMT

Saddam's Bunker Stands Tough. According to the German architect of the bunker underneath Saddam's main presidential palace in Baghdad, the Iraqi leader can withstand anything save a direct hit with a nuclear bomb -- as long he stays within its walls. [Wired News]

Sat, 29 Mar 2003 14:18:38 GMT

How Saddam may see war. The BBC's Roger Hardy examines how Iraq's leader Saddam Hussein might review the first week of the war. [BBC News | World | UK Edition]

Sat, 29 Mar 2003 14:16:35 GMT

I just heard that Henry Norr, who I've known for almost 20 years, has been suspended from the San Francisco Chronicle because of his anti-war views. There are quite a few articles about this. "I don't write about national affairs, I don't write about national politics, I write about things like spam," Norr said in an interview. "To me, in any normal understanding of what is a conflict of interest, I didn't have one." [Scripting News]

Sat, 29 Mar 2003 14:13:48 GMT

Protesters continue march against war. Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators across the world have today once again taken to the streets to protest against the war in Iraq. [Guardian Unlimited]

Sat, 29 Mar 2003 00:30:27 GMT

Iraqi Dead Counted, Not Forgotten. With mounting civilian fatalities in Iraq, a unique website is drawing thousands of hits and increased media attention. The site, Iraq Body Count, keeps a running total of civilian deaths in the Iraq war. By Leander Kahney. [Wired News]

Sat, 29 Mar 2003 00:29:24 GMT

Dolphins Deployed as Undersea Agents in Iraq. National Geographic - The hundreds of thousands of American, British and other forces stationed in the Persian Gulf region are currently employing some rather unusual allies in the battle to depose the Iraqi leadership.
Trained animals helping Navy clear vital port of Umm Qasr San Francisco Chronicle
Securing Umm Qasr News 8 Austin
USA Today - KNSD - CTV - Northampton Chronicle and Echo - and 20 related » [Google Technology News]

Sat, 29 Mar 2003 00:27:45 GMT

Iraq-o-meter provides dashboard glimpse of war. The Iraq-o-meter gives you displays continuously updated stats on the war in Iraq, including the number of bombs dropped, civilian casualties, oil wells aflame, Iraq soldiers surrendered, W.M.D. sites uncovered, and territory control. It was created by Russel Ginns, an artist, author, and ukulele player. Link Discuss [Boing Boing Blog]

Sat, 29 Mar 2003 00:24:48 GMT

Bush Administration Frustrated by War Doubts [New York Times: International News]

Sat, 29 Mar 2003 00:19:19 GMT

Nowhere is safe. Iraq diary: Although the skies over Baghdad have cleared after the sandstorms, the view from the ground is one of mangled bodies and shattered lives, reports Jo Wilding. [Guardian Unlimited]

Fri, 28 Mar 2003 21:35:43 GMT

US to double Iraq troops. The US prepares to boost the number of its ground troops fighting in Iraq, amid fears of a protracted conflict. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition]

Fri, 28 Mar 2003 14:04:46 GMT

Iraq Blog: Hubbub Over a Headlock. When the photos of daily life in Baghdad on an increasingly well-known Iraq-based weblog are mysteriously replaced with an image of President Bush engaged in horseplay with Saddam Hussein, speculation about the culprit runs rampant. By Michelle Delio. [Wired News]

Fri, 28 Mar 2003 14:01:19 GMT

Iraqi TV staggers on. Mobile transmitters and makeshift studios may be allowing Iraqi state TV to keep running despite an earlier coalition missile attack. [BBC News | World | UK Edition]

Fri, 28 Mar 2003 13:52:26 GMT

The New Yorker. A lesson of humility. An excellent article. Dwight Eisenhower said:

Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in blood of his followers and sacrifices of his friends.

Conceivably a commander may have been professionally superior. He may have given everything of his heart and mind to meet the spiritual and physical needs of his comrades. He may have written a chapter that will glow forever in the pages of military history. Still, even such a man—if he existed—would sadly face the fact that his honors cannot hide in his memories the crosses marking the resting places of the dead. They cannot soothe the anguish of the widow or the orphan whose husband or father will not return.

The only attitude in which a commander may with satisfaction receive the tributes of his friends is in the humble acknowledgment that no matter how unworthy he may be, his position is the symbol of great human forces that have labored arduously and successfully for a righteous cause.

Bush should remember that this is concept he had once espoused. The preening and strutting Bush exiting a helicopter and saluting a Marine is a sight to behold. Another telling blow:

Our most wrenching diplomatic trials lately have been with the French, and yet President Bush has not spoken to President Chirac in the past six weeks.

[John Robb's Radio Weblog]

Fri, 28 Mar 2003 13:40:42 GMT

Slate correspondent remains in Baghdad. Slate has been running daily reports from Baghdad by veteran war correspondent Nate Thayer. His last update, published Monday, ended on an ominous note:

I'm too distracted to follow tonight's assault very carefully. Iraqi officials are continuing to harass us. I was just told that we will be expelled first thing in the morning. They said we will have to drive to Syria -- a 20-hour ride on a highway that we've heard is under bombardment from the coalition. It's a suicide drive, and I am not going to do it. I have about six hours to figure out how to get out of it.

When this wasn't followed by any more updates, it sparked considerable concern among readers . For this reason, it's pretty lame that news of his well-being comes from Newsday rather than Slate. [Workbench]

Fri, 28 Mar 2003 13:37:23 GMT

U.S. Army awarded contracts to Russian GPS jammer vendor. Army contracts totaling $192,000 last year went to a Russian company identified in news reports as a supplier of GPS jamming equipment to Iraq. [Computerworld Mobile/Wireless News]

Fri, 28 Mar 2003 02:30:02 GMT

Oil shortage rocks markets. Oil prices climb 4% as the Iraqi conflict removes supply from the market while stock markets remain weak. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition]

Fri, 28 Mar 2003 02:20:41 GMT

Under fire in Nasiriya. US Marines are continuing to experience stubborn resistance from Iraqi troops around Nasiriya. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition]