21. desember 2003

Even more Saddam humour Saddam Hussein looked like a ready made cartoon character when he came out of his spider hole, and professionals and amateurs alike have been having fun at the ex-dictator's cost. Here is a nice collection of some of the best jokes about Saddam from America's professional comedians. My favourites: "Saddam was found cowering in his little hole in the ground. Supposedly, his goal was to remain in hiding until all the shooting stopped. Well, hey, it worked for the French." — Jay Leno "Saddam Hussein just gave himself up. I mean hell, Michael Jackson put up more of a fight." — David Letterman "Reaction coming in from all over the world to Saddam Hussein's capture. The British government praised the United States, the Spanish government said it was a great day, and the French government praised Saddam for the way he surrendered — 'We couldn't have done it quicker ourselves!" — Jay Leno For some reason, it's almost impossible to see anyone surrender and not think about the French. 10:49:27 PM    comment []  trackback []

Person of the Year The Time Person of the Year 2003 is The American Soldier. 10:37:17 PM    comment []  trackback []

The RIAA may force the Internet to become encrypted Clay Shirky writes that the RIAA may succeed in doing for the Internet what online privacy advocates ("cyberpunks") failed to do for decades: add secure cryptography to normal online activities. The file sharing conflict have given a large quantity of normal net users an incentive to hide themselves. As Shirky says, "to a first approximation, every PC owner under the age of 35 is now a felon." Governments have long feared that a significant proportion of the world's email traffic will become encrypted. As it is today, only a few cyberpunks and of course criminals tend to encrypt their email. Thus clandestine email sticks out to law enforcement like a sore thumb. If a significant proportion of the world's email had been encrypted, law enforcement would have a much harder job. The downside is that anti-terror work would be much more difficult, too. 9:08:13 PM    comment []  trackback []

Saddam with his new friends A group photo in the prison bakery. 2:22:22 PM    comment []  trackback []

New York under threat US authorities see a terrorist threat to New York, Los Angeles and Washington DC. 3:03:48 AM    comment []  trackback []

2nd court of appeal Here's the DC circuit court decision on Verizon v RIAA (PDF format). 2:19:00 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.01.2004; 02:47:00.