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Timing too good to believe
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What a remarkable coincidence. Just as the Senate begins debating Iraq policy, the White House releases a National Intelligence Estimate it falsely believes helps the president’s position, and then (careful not to step on the NIE headlines) announces a major terrorist capture. And wouldn’t you know it, the terrorist is on-message, too.
The highest-ranking Iraqi leader of al-Qaida in Iraq has been arrested and told interrogators that Osama bin Laden’s inner circle wields considerable influence over the Iraqi group, the U.S. command said Wednesday.
Khaled Abdul-Fattah Dawoud Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, who was captured in Mosul on July 4, carried messages from bin Laden, and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, to the Egyptian-born head of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Ayub al-Masri, said Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a military spokesman.
“Communication between the senior al-Qaida leadership and al-Masri frequently went through al-Mashhadani,” Bergner said. “There is a clear connection between al-Qaida in Iraq and al-Qaida senior leadership outside Iraq.”
Why, that’s remarkable! Just yesterday, the collective conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies was that al Qaeda and AQI were merely affiliated — the latter was inspired by the prior, and exists to resist a U.S. occupation — and then today we gain whole new insights that bolster all of Bush’s talking points.
How politically fortuitous for the White House! As David Kurtz notes, however, there are a couple of reasons to be skeptical.
First off, the capture took place two weeks ago but was not announced until today. Hmmm, have we seen that before?
And the detainee just happened to confess to a greater level of coordination between AQ in Iraq and Osama bin Laden’s global AQ, right in line with the official White House line that AQ in Iraq and AQ are one and the same. The White House is already highlighting the capture in its daily email to reporters. Go figure.
For all the talk that Americans are too cynical, I’m frequently reminded that when it comes to the Bush White House, I don’t think we can be cynical enough.
People playing chess on roller coasters
inspired by this comic
More pictures here
Dignified
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Cartoons
TSA doesn’t like the looks of an iPod recharger
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He asks what it is. I tell him it is a battery charger for my iPod. He asks if I made it myself, to which I reply that I purchased a kit over the internet. He says that he can’t let me on the plane with it. I explain to him that I have flown with it 4-6 times a month for a year now and nobody has questioned it. He says, “Not on my watch and not with my people.”
He swabs the device and runs it through the calorimeter. Again, no residue.
I ask why it can’t be taken on the plane and he said, “Because it looks like an IED.”
[..]
A handful of people with no knowledge of physics, engineering, or pyrotechnics are responsible for determining what is and what is not safe to bring on a plane. They’re paid minimum wage and told to panic if they see something they don’t recognize. Does this make me feel safer? It doesn’t really matter. Implementing real security would bring the cost of flying up, which would likely cause a collapse of the airborne transportation network this country has worked so hard to build up.
The UK banned laptop computers in carry-on luggage for a few days and quickly reversed the idea. The lack of laptops would make the option unattractive to business professionals. Security would cost more than money and many passengers wouldn’t have accepted it.
So the TSA finally let me onto my flight with the two devices they told me they weren’t going to let me take on my flight. They told me the device looked like an I.E.D., then let me on the plane with it.
Does that mean I can bring them on my flight next week?
Last Harry Potter leaks online
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The new Harry Potter novel — Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — has hit the Internet days before its publication. The publisher spent a reported $20 million on keeping the book secret. Was the money well-spent? As Bruce Schneier points out, the kind of person who downloads a series of photos of the pages of a giant novel is also the kind of person who’ll line up and buy a copy the night it comes out.
Me, I’m just glad to finally know what happens who dies at the end of the final Harry Potter novel — SPOILER ALERT! Select the text below to read it.
The publishing industry.
Seriously, though. With the last book, the publisher was so freaked out about ebook “piracy” that they refused to release an official electronic edition. The result? Fans made their own electronic text in 24 hours. And other fans translated the book into German in 45 hours.
That’a a lot of fan-energy, sitting out there, looking for ways to love these books. Surely there’s a smarter way to deal with that kind of love than attempting to suppress it?
Four days before it hits bookstores, I’ve got a copy of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” I downloaded it from a link posted at the Bittorrent file-sharing site the Pirate Bay.But hold on. It’s not as sweet as it sounds. What I’ve got is not really the book but a series of photographs of the book — someone has meticulously snapped shots of each page. Some who’ve discussed leaked copies say that they’ve seen only Pages 1 through 495. But the copy I have includes all the pages; I could, if I wanted to, tell you the very last line of the very last Harry Potter book right now.
Microsoft Windows patent will spy for advertisers
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If you thought adverts on the web have become more offensive and more intrusive than ever before, then it might be time to find alternatives to using software from Microsoft.
Microsoft has filed a patent (here) that threatens to breathe life into Bill Gates’ and Ray Ozzie’s Frankenstein-like Windows Live “vision”, unveiled in November 2005, for putting annoying, in-your-face internet adverts inside your most important Windows applications.
The giant has claimed what it calls an “advertising framework” that would suck “context data” from your PC so advertisers can display ads on the client, and to split revenue with the advertiser and the owner of the application supplying the data.
According to the patent, any application such as - oh, say - a word processor or email client - may “serve as both a source of context data and as a display client.” Microsoft’s advertising framework would also stipulate “acceptable” advertising - so no porn popping up in your Dynamics CRM or ads for SAP - “restrictions on use of alternate display clients” (so no money for you, Linux), and “specifying supporting media” - forget Real Player and QuickTime, the future is Silverlight.
The patent, filed with the US patent and trademark office, would allow for more targeted, relevant and context-sensitive ads, according to Microsoft.
“Targeted advertisements is highly valued by advertisers because it allows placement of advertisements that are theoretically of greater interest to a particular audience member than blanket advertising,” Microsoft’s filing said.
Why would you pay money to a company when you are the product the company tries to sell?
SPOILER ALERT: you’ll note that the “invisible” spoiler shows in plain text in your RSS feed
drat. Well, I’ll leave it in since it’s such a minor spoiler…
I loved every second tanks J.k 4 de best book yet