| Home | Recent Comments | Categories |
My flight back…
… is tomorrow. I haven’t posted any pictures, because my bandwidth here in the resort was too low - and if the choice is to wait an hour for a few uploads, or go out in the sun, well, you can guess what my choice was…
but I will show you some of the underwater beauty of Curaçao once I’m back and unpacked!
Microsoft COO Tells Google Keep Off Corporate Search
[Quote:]
“Those people are not going to be allowed to take food off our plate, because that is what they are intending to do.” Impassioned words, coming from the chief operating officer of Microsoft, Kevin Turner, at a company conference.
The “people” that Turner was referring to was Google, and the “food” was corporate search customers. Google has been wading into the world of enterprise search with its Google Search Appliance, which sells for around $2,500 pop. The software allows company employees to search through platforms like intranets, content management systems and file servers.
But Turner, who joined Microsoft from Wal-Mart Stores 11 months ago, was adamant that corporate search is “our house.” “Enterprise search is our business, it’s our house and Google is not going to take that business,” he told 7,000 delegates in Boston.
*snif* *snif*
I smell fear…
T-Shirt
|
Putin rejects Bush’s Iraq democracy model
[Quote:]
During a joint news conference Saturday in St. Petersburg, Bush said he raised concerns about democracy in Russia during a frank discussion with the Russian leader.
“I talked about my desire to promote institutional change in parts of the world, like Iraq where there’s a free press and free religion, and I told him that a lot of people in our country would hope that Russia would do the same,” Bush said.
To that, Putin replied, “We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy that they have in Iraq, quite honestly.”
Gee, I wonder why Putin said that…
[Quote:]
Gunmen kidnapped the head of Iraq’s Olympic committee and more than a dozen employees Saturday after storming a sports conference in Baghdad, police said. The kidnappers wore camouflage Iraqi police uniforms and security guards outside the meeting said they did not interfere because they thought the gunmen were legitimate law enforcement, police said.
Ahmed al-Hijiya, president of the committee, was taken in the assault, which came a day after the coach of Iraq’s national wrestling team was killed by kidnappers, said police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud.
[..]
In other violence, Iraqi soldiers and gunmen clashed in Baghdad, leaving at least three people dead and 11 wounded, police said.
Seven people were injured in a mortar attack near Haifa Street in downtown Baghdad, blocks from the Green Zone, which houses U.S. and British embassies and the Iraqi government.
Similar clashes broke out blocks away, injuring four and killing two civilians. U.S. troops sealed off the area after the attacks, said Iraqi Army Maj. Salman Abdul-Wahid.
The area along Haifa Street has seen heavy violence in recent weeks, which prompted Iraqi leaders.
Iraq’s parliament voted Saturday to extend a nearly two-year state of emergency in Baghdad for another 30 days.
Much of United States in heat wave
[Quote:]
Temperatures in the 90s or higher blanketed large areas of the United States on Friday from southern California to southern New Jersey.
In California, the operator of the state’s electrical grid asked residents to cut back on power use because the heat was expected to drive demand to record levels. The National Weather Service predicted temperatures topping 100 in the Santa Ana Mountains and inland areas, the Orange County Register reported.
The heat, combined with high winds, helped spread a massive wildfire near the San Bernardino National Forest.
The weather service also declared a red flag warning for parts of North Dakota because of the danger of wild fire.
In the Phoenix area, where the temperature was expected to reach 113 degrees, record power demand was also expected, the Phoenix Business Journal said. In North Texas and parts of Oklahoma, temperatures were also in the triple digits, with the NWS predicting no break earlier than Monday for Dallas/Fort Worth.
In Chicago, the city has opened six cooling centers to help those who live without air conditioning.
The disclosure of this weather is disgraceful. We’re at war with nature, which wants to hurt the United States of America, and for people to leak that weather, and for a newspaper to publish it, does great harm to the United States of America.
dolchstosslegende
[Quote:]
Every state must have its enemies. Great powers must have especially monstrous foes. Above all, these foes must arise from within, for national pride does not admit that a great nation can be defeated by any outside force. That is why, though its origins are elsewhere, the stab in the back has become the sustaining myth of modern American nationalism. Since the end of World War II it has been the device by which the American right wing has both revitalized itself and repeatedly avoided responsibility for its own worst blunders. Indeed, the right has distilled its tale of betrayal into a formula: Advocate some momentarily popular but reckless policy. Deny culpability when that policy is exposed as disastrous. Blame the disaster on internal enemies who hate America. Repeat, always making sure to increase the number of internal enemies.
The week in Armageddon
Van Hilleary For U.S. Senate, door-to-door campaining
From the campaign website:
[Quote:]
I believe innocent life must be protected. I have always been pro-life.
From reality:
[Quote:]
But Hilleary is counting on television ads to remind people that he is running for U.S. Senate. Hilleary said once they find out, they say, ‘Gosh, you’re my guy.’
Meredith Hilleary, Van’s wife, who was out walking door to door in 90 degree heat while being eight months pregnant, said she hears the same thing “five or 10 times a day.?
Ecuador volcano spews molten rock, villagers flee
[Quote:]
Ecuador’s Tungurahua volcano spewed ash, gas and molten rock for a second day on Saturday, driving hundreds of evacuated villagers into nearby schools and churches in search of refuge.
Tungurahua, located about 80 miles (130 km) south of Quito, has been increasingly active since May, when it blew out big clouds of hot gas and prompted officials to renew a limited state of emergency in nearby towns.
Civil defence authorities and police continued to evacuate seven small villages around the volcano, whose name means “throat of fire” in the indigenous Quichua language.
Wiretap Surrender
[Quote:]
Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) has cast his agreement with the White House on legislation concerning the National Security Agency’s warrantless surveillance as a compromise — one in which President Bush accepts judicial review of the program. It isn’t a compromise, except quite dramatically on the senator’s part. Mr. Specter’s bill began as a flawed but well-intentioned effort to get the program in front of the courts, but it has been turned into a green light for domestic spying. It must not pass.
The bill would, indeed, get the NSA’s program in front of judges, in one of two ways. It would transfer lawsuits challenging the program from courts around the country to the super-secret court system that typically handles wiretap applications in national security cases. It would also permit — but not require — the administration to seek approval from this court system, created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, for entire surveillance programs, thereby allowing judges to assess their legality.
But the cost of this judicial review would be ever so high. The bill’s most dangerous language would effectively repeal FISA’s current requirement that all domestic national security surveillance take place under its terms. The “compromise” bill would add to FISA: “Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit the constitutional authority of the President to collect intelligence with respect to foreign powers and agents of foreign powers.” It would also, in various places, insert Congress’s acknowledgment that the president may have inherent constitutional authority to spy on Americans. Any reasonable court looking at this bill would understand it as withdrawing the nearly three-decade-old legal insistence that FISA is the exclusive legitimate means of spying on Americans. It would therefore legitimize whatever it is the NSA is doing — and a whole lot more.
New House Majority Leader Keeps Old Ties to Lobbyists
[Quote:]
Representative John A. Boehner won the job of House majority leader amid a post-Abramoff clamor for an overhaul of lobbying and ethics rules. But nearly six months later, the changes are still tied up in Congress.
And far from trying to put the brakes on lobbyists and the money they channel into Republican coffers, Mr. Boehner, who has portrayed his ties to Washington lobbyists as something to be proud of, has stepped on the gas.
He has been holding fund-raisers at lobbyists’ offices, flying to political events on corporate planes and staying at a golf resort with a business group that has a direct stake in issues before Congress.
Adobe
Zidane headbutt outrage: new video evidence
[Quote:]
Pity if you will poor old Zinedine Zidane: sent off during the World Cup final for a serious infraction of FIFA’s “no headbutting Italians” rule and now reduced to the status of French national hero with enough cash in the bank to enjoy a lifetime of truffles, stuffed songbirds and fine vintage champagne.
Indeed, while the rest of the world was struggling to contain its outrage at Zidane’s unsportsmanlike use of the Glasgow handshake, Jacques Chirac counterattacked with: “I would like to express all the respect that I have for a man who represents at the same time all the most beautiful values of sport, the greatest human qualities one can imagine, and who has honoured French sport and, simply, France.”
Well, therein lies the rub, mon ami. How you view the whole thing depends largely on your national perspective, as nicely demonstrated by a viral email we received this morning:
As seen by the Germans:
As seen by the French:
As seen by the Italians:
As seen by the Americans:
As seen by the press:
|
Dutch delicacy
I’m lucky enough to live across the street from Vishandel Koning. His product this year is indeed excellent. If you click the link, you can read that the yearly tests conclude he’s the best in the country, again. Last year he came in second, year before that he was the best as well.
but before you click, please be aware that I’m talking about raw herring
Fokke & Sukke
Bende tassendieven in tram
[Quote:]
• De politie waarschuwt dat er een bende tassendieven actief is in de tram. Op camerabeelden van de HTM is duidelijk te zien hoe drie mannen te werk gaan bij het stelen van tassen van passagiers.
Puik idee hoor, om die camera beelden op het net te zetten. Prima gedaan, dat je alle overige, onschuldige, passagiers even afplakt zodat ze niet herkenbaar zijn.
Alleen, doe dat dan niet in PowerPoint zodat elke 11-jarige bavo scholier de grijze vlakjes weg kan halen…
Zahrani
Missiles fired from Israeli jets hit the Zahrani bridge in south Lebanon July 14, 2006.
From the looks of it, Israel tells journalists where the air strikes are going to hit…
Smoke billows from an Israeli air raid on Beirut airport. Israeli and Lebanese residents are braced for increased hostilities after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed “open war” amid Israeli attacks that have raised international fears of a devastating regional conflict(AFP/Joseph Barrak)
G8 agenda
Here is the agenda of the G8 summit meeting.
[Quote:]
This year, we plan to urge our partners to redouble efforts to ensure global energy security. We believe that today, it is crucial to find a solution to a problem which directly influences the social and economic development of all countries, without exception.
I am convinced that our efforts towards attaining this goal should be comprehensive and must stimulate stabilization of the global energy markets, development of innovation technologies, use of renewable energy sources and protection of the environment. We believe that today, we must think very seriously about ways to bridge the gap between energy-sufficient and energy-lacking countries.
The spread of all kinds of epidemics in the world emphasizes the need to step up the fight against infectious diseases. We are convinced that the creation of a global system to monitor dangerous diseases, the development of regular interaction between experts from different states, and broader exchange of research information about dangerous viruses will have a major positive influence on the solution of these serious problems.
In addition to the current agenda, we also plan to raise the issue of education in the G8. In our opinion, the time has come to focus on ways to improve the quality and effectiveness of national education systems and professional training. We must find tools for encouraging the international business community to increase investment into this sector.
Add that to a potential World War III brewing in the middle east right now, and you’ll certainly understand and appreciate the vital issue the British Phonographic Industry wants on the agenda as well: downloading MP3’s.
Jesus Fucking Christ on a pogo stick, these guys really need a few whacks with a clue stick.
Drowning in data - complexity’s threat to terror investigations
Maarten, I think you said something like a five minute follow-up?
[Quote:]
The Committee’s report accepts that the increasing number of investigations, together with their increasing complexity, will make longer detention inevitable in the future. The core calculation is essentially the one put forward by the police and accepted by the Government - technology has been an enabler for international terrorism, with email, the Internet and mobile telephony producing wide, diffuse, international networks. The data on hard drives and mobile phones needs to be examined, contacts need to be investigated and their data examined, and in the case of an incident, vast amounts of CCTV records need to be gone through. As more and more of this needs to be done, the time taken to do it will obviously climb, and as it’s ‘necessary’ to detain the new breed of terrorist early in the investigation before he can strike, more time will be needed between arrest and charge in order to build a case.
All of which is, as far as it goes, logical. But take it a little further and the inherent futility of the route becomes apparent - ultimately, probably quite soon, the volume of data overwhelms the investigators and infinite time is needed to analyse all of it. And the less developed the plot is at the time the suspects are pulled in, the greater the number of possible outcomes (things they ‘might’ be planning) that will need to be chased-up. Short of the tech industry making the breakthrough into machine intelligence that will effectively do the analysis for them (which is a breakthrough the snake-oil salesmen suggest, and dopes in Government believe, has been achieved already), the approach itself is doomed. Essentially, as far as data is concerned police try to ‘collar the lot’ and then through analysis, attempt to build the most complete picture of a case that is possible. Use of initiative, experience and acting on probabilities will tend to be pressured out of such systems, and as the data volumes grow the result will tend to be teams of disempowered machine minders chained to a system that has ground to a halt. This effect is manifesting itself visibly across UK Government systems in general, we humbly submit. But how long will it take them to figure this out?
|
Sara Pipalini
Three Italian nuns die and go to heaven. At the Pearly Gates, they are met by St. Peter. He says, “Sisters, you all led such exemplary lives that the Lord is granting you six months to go back to earth and be anyone you wish to be.
The first nun says, “I want to be Sophia Loren” and *poof* she’s gone. The second says, “I want to be Madonna and *poof* she’s gone.
The third says, “I want to be Sara Pipalini…” St. Peter looks perplexed. “Who?” he asks. “Sara Pipalini” replies the nun. St. Peter shakes his head and says, “I’m sorry, but that name just doesn’t ring a bell.”
The nun then takes a newspaper out of her habit and hands it to St. Peter. St. Peter reads the paper and starts laughing. He hands it back to her and says, “No sister, the paper says it was the ‘Sahara Pipeline’ that was laid by 1,400 men in 6 months.”
« Older Entries
Welcome back, John. Please don’t forget those mermaid shots…
Welkom thuis…
Ha John! Tijd geleden! Je hebt gedoken op curacao?? Ben erg benieuwd hoe dat was! Zelf ga ik naar Bali binnenkort om te duiken!
En vanavond even het zwembad in voor een tune-up!