The New York Times > Education > New York City Needs $5.6 Billion More to Run Schools, Panel Says BILLION?! MORE?! Are they nuts?

NewsForge | The Linux Show is dying :(

PC Pro: News: Microsoft loses China contract at last minute

Rather deserves respect But he would deserver a lot more respect if he had "retired" before going off the deep end on several occasions. The last half of his career has been mere comedy.

NewsForge | Ten axioms of computing? Call them Windows flaws Done.

My Way News: "LOS ANGELES (AP) - Godzilla received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Monday, 50 years after he stomped onto movie screens and hours before the premiere of his latest film, 'Godzilla: Final Wars.'" About damned time too! Unfortunately the effort to capture his footprints on the walk of fame lead to the destruction of two restaurants and a movie theater nearby.

Obit: Kenneth Iverson - Charismatic mathematician who invented the APL computer programming language: "Iverson was married to Jean, who survives him, along with their four children. Kenneth Iverson, inventor of the APL programming language, was born on December 17, 1920. He died on October 19, 2004, aged 83." Sad news.

Law Prohibits Dog and Cat in Same House Government gone mad.

Seeing Red - Spontaneous anti-American demonstrations? Think again.: "The WPC was created by Moscow in the 1950s and had only one task: to portray the United States as being run by a 'war-mongering government.' To make it look like a Western organization, Moscow headquartered it in Paris, but in 1954 the French government accused the WPC of being a Soviet puppet and kicked it out of France. Therefore, its headquarters were moved to Soviet-occupied Vienna, and then to Prague when Austria became neutral. It is remarkable that, after the Soviet Union collapsed and the United States remained the only superpower, Romesh Chandra moved his WPC to Athens and focused its operations toward 'waging a struggle against the New World Order.' According to its current charter, adopted during a 1996 Peace Congress in Mexico, the WPC has now 'broadened into a worldwide mass movement' whose task is to support 'those people and liberation movements' fighting 'against [American] imperialism.'"

U.S. Air Force Selects Microsoft Software and Services In Technology Transformation Effort to Increase Security: "525,000 Software Licenses Awarded Through Dell; Microsoft to Standardize Infrastructure, Provide Support for One of the World's Largest Global Enterprises"... "The combined value of the contracts could total more than $500 million over a six-year period." OK, so in case you fainted when you read that the government saved $100 million in the article below, the gloating Microsoft version of the article makes the math pretty simple. Roughtly 500K desktops. Then 500M over 6 years. Getting out my calculator... That $1000 per seat! Now YOU may think that is a great example of government barganing power, and some government morons, excuse me, CIO, may think so too. But I bet they are paying less than that per seat for the hardware. Balmer: "Bend over General!" General: *salutes* "Yes Sir!"

Techworld.com - US military gets its own secure version of Windows Gov't CIO's = fuckwits. Nuff said.

U.K. government hit with another large computer failure - Computerworld: "Microsoft Corp. and Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS) run the DWP's network as part of a $3.8 billion information technology contract." "The DWP, which is responsible for providing a variety of state benefits to about 24 million people, attempted to downplay the effect the computer problems will have on its customers, saying that the department's mainframe computers were not affected." Good ole mainframes. As to all that PC shit: Time to ask for a refund maybe?

Yahoo! News - Bush Wins New Mexico by 5,988 Votes

My Way News Photo - UKRAINE ELECTIONS In Ukraine, the thugs that run things at least LOOK like thugs. Hey, they swear on the Bible now. I wonder what they swore on before. Das Kapital?

CBC News: Risk of death from obesity overestimated for Americans: "ATLANTA - Mathematical errors may have caused scientists to inflate the number of obesity-related deaths in the U.S., health officials said Tuesday." Thank goodness biologists are lousy at math!

HEALTH: Girl Power Needed to Fight AIDS: "The good news is that global spending on AIDS has risen three times since 2001 to 6.1 billion dollars a year, and that access to key prevention and care services has improved significantly. Yet the disease continues to spread. " Some people have odd ideas about what constitutes good news.

ABC News: Dan Rather to Leave 'CBS Evening News' This hardly seems like punishment. What was I thinking?

Is Freedows Linux a better Windows than Lindows?

Microsoft gave the press an MSN Search screenshot ? using Firefox, but denies that it had done so

local6.com - Sports - Two Fans Sue Pacers Over Brawl: "According to WDIV-TV, the Indiana Pacers and three of its players -- Artest, O'Neal and Jackson -- are named as defendants in the lawsuits. The Palace basketball arena may be included in the lawsuit at a later date, according to the station's reports. It is unclear at this point what, if any, damages are being sought."

Debian -- Debian-InstallerRC 2 of Installer out. I'm tempted to blow away one of my existing systems just to try it out. Production level Sarge is gonna be SO cool.

Saudis, Arabs Funneled Millions to President Clinton's Library - November 22, 2004 - The New York Sun: "The governments of Dubai, Kuwait, and Qatar and the deputy prime minister of Lebanon all also appear to have donated $1 million or more for the archive and museum that opened last week." Not that that necessarily MEANS anything of course.

People still thick despite internet | The Register: "Sadly, web utopians will just have to accept that the internet is ultimately no different to that previously-hailed great leveller: the printed word. As the old saying goes - you can lead a horse to the complete works of Shakespeare but you can't make it read."

Collaboration by consent: "Custom applications support interagency data sharing, including both inquiry-based and message-based solutions. JNET is built on the Java Message Service, which allows application components built on Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition to create, send and receive messages. User querying of other agencies' databases via JNET can be done with Web browsers or Web applications that send requests to the messaging service."

UN staff to vote on no-confidence motion against Annan

Yahoo! News - Clinton Unveils His 'Gift to the Future' Some sort of giant vibrating cigar maybe?

New York Post Online Edition: entertainment: "'You only need five words. Alexander says, 'Stay with me tonight, Hephaistion,' and you get it. If you don't get it, f--- you, it's your problem.'" F-YOU Oliver Stone. You are a typical Hollywood moron.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Clinton due to open his library: "'It was maddening to be president and see people make judgements that were completely disconnected from what we were doing every day,' he said." Yeah. I bet he got a lot more intern-tail than the press let us know about. Yes Virginia, ANYONE can become President.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Clinton due to open his library Hey it really DOES look like a trailer! Clinton's only regret on this occasion was the need to return to Arkansas.

OpinionJournal - Come Clean, Kofi - The U.N. secretary-general ducks responsibilty for the Oil for Food scam.

The Incredibles -- The Official Movie Website Good thing about animations: No political opinions!

My Way News Bleh. Oil and water.

Technology News: Wireless: Wireless LANs Gain Popularity Despite Risks Ocean City Reference.

Yahoo! News - WHEE TIME!: "So great ventures, democratic in composition, are struggling for historical affirmation. They are animated, ultimately, by the transcendent human ambition, which is to live as free as possible in a world in which so many claims are made on us."

CNET Holiday Countdown - CNET.com I just got e-mail from CNET. I figured they would be out of business by now. Obviously they need to have a few more layoffs. Oh... I get it. Christmas season, and all of the coverage is abut things you HAVE to buy. For a sec there I thought they had let those silly technical people back into the building. Nope. Still content-free. *whew*

Techworld.com - Gates declares death of passwords What an idiot!

ThankYouTony.com: A site to thank Prime Minister Tony Blair for his support of the American actions in Iraq.

Microsoft showing signs of total disarray "Nope, the Vole is too busy trying to get security patches out for its existing code base and reworking Longhorn so it can get it to ship by late 2006, gutting out an (allegedly) revolutionary file system. And to top it all off, Steve Ballmer is running around saying that a $100 PC would stem piracy, but doesn't really discuss how a $100 PC would solve the problem of the $200 list price for Windows XP."

Economist.com | Intellectual property"In 1998 America introduced so-called ?business-method? patents, granting for the first time patent monopolies simply for new ways of doing business, many of which were not so new. This was a mistake. It not only ushered in a wave of new applications, but it is probably inhibiting, rather than encouraging, commercial innovation, which had never received, or needed, legal protection in the past. Europe has not, so far, made the same blunder, but the European Parliament is considering the easing of rules for innovations incorporated in software." Hmmmm, let's see, who was that guy in office in 1998?

The New York Times > National > Members of Cuban Troupe Say They Will Seek Asylum: "AS VEGAS, Nov. 14 - In what appears to be the largest mass defection of Cuban performers to date, 44 dancers, singers and musicians, here to stage a revue, plan to seek political asylum in the United States, troupe members said on Sunday. Most of the artists intend to deliver their applications for asylum personally on Monday morning at the Federal Building here, the performers said in interviews in an auditorium at the Stardust Resort and Casino, where their 'Havana Night Club' revue is booked for a three-month run. Seven other members of the ensemble have already sought asylum from United States officials in Berlin; those performers were due to travel to Las Vegas in time for the show's opening on Tuesday."

Kudlow's Money Politic$"The brilliant stock strategist Elaine Garzarelli says that if the 80-month moving average of the S&P 500 closes about 1166 on November 30th, it would be a new buy signal. This has only happened 10 times since 1906 (that is, a breakthrough on the 80-month moving average.) Every time, it has led to a very strong bull market. Right now, the S&P 500 index is 1177. Lookin? good."

Yahoo! News - Dollar's Decline Is Reverberating: "Amid worries about bulging U.S. budget and trade deficits, the greenback dropped last week to a record low against the 5-year-old euro, a 12-year low against the Canadian dollar and a nine-year low against an index of major currencies. Many analysts don't see anything that will stop the decline." And many left-wing "analysts" see another oportunity to pounce. If you get your news from sources like this, don't dabble in the stock market, stick with your passbook savings. These guy would rather try and make a political point than actually cover financial news.

Yahoo! News - Boston Archbishop Reveals Pain of Closings: "Parishioners from at least seven churches that have been shut down have refused to leave the buildings in protest of the archdiocese's downsizing plan." Maybe they should have protested some of those lawsuits huh?

Dutch Muslims Dismayed by Anti-Islamic Backlash

MinGW - HomeMinGW: A collection of freely available and freely distributable Windows specific header files and import libraries combined with GNU toolsets that allow one to produce native Windows programs that do not rely on any 3rd-party C runtime DLLs.

Outsourcing to Arkansas | News.blog | CNET News.com

Rural Sourcing, Inc.More power to the red states! Who picked that color scheme anyway? Some undercover commmie no doubt.

local6.com - News - 11-Year-Old Girl Suspended For 'Dangerous' Cartwheels At SchoolMore idiocy from government-run schools.

EllisblogGood one.

Telling the Truth about the Palestinians - Middle East Forum: "I continue to witness what is happening to the Palestinian media under Arafat. Many of my Palestinian colleagues actually envy me for writing for an Israeli paper. Working for the PLO, I was not able to write a word of my own free will. Yet in two years at the Jerusalem Post my editors have never told me what to write. I can function as a journalist at the Jerusalem Post in a way that many Palestinians have tried to function under Arafat, but have failed."

Chicago Teacher In Teen Sex Bust - November 10, 2004Another Teachers Union Success Story.

USATODAY.com - Terrorist says orders come from Arafat

Yahoo! News - Checks Stolen From Dem. Campaign CommitteeYou campaign contributions at work. NOT.

Government Executive Magazine - 12/1/01 Rejected "Some observers say visa processing should be pulled out of the State Department and put into the INS. E. Wayne Merry, a senior associate at the American Foreign Policy Council, a Washington-based think tank, says Foreign Service officers have a service mentality, rather than a law enforcement approach. ?As a 26-year veteran of the Foreign Service, I am skeptical the Foreign Service can inculcate its officers with a law enforcement mentality.? In his March 2001 article, Jones suggested that the bureau merge with INS."

MercuryNews.com | 11/11/2004 | Study: Too much vitamin E adds risk More news from the Sleeper file.

Kudlow's Money Politic$

MSNBC - All in the Family: "Though they groused about the campaign's tardiness and loved to gossip about Teresa, the reporters on the Kerry tour were at the same time somewhat protective of the candidate and reluctant to pass on rumors. Kerry might not be the warmest or jolliest politician, but he was still their candidate, the man they spent day and night following around the country, and whom some of them might follow right to the most prestigious beat in Washington, the White House. No hint of the Kerry-Heinz domestic discord crept into their stories, and the reporters sometimes gave the candidate the benefit of the doubt when he rambled or talked in circles. Reporters on a campaign plane are usually not competitive loners; over the days and weeks, they bond and at deadline time compare notes, out of a sense of collegiality and mutual self-defense."

MSNBC - All in the Family: "The happy-family-vacation scenario was disintegrating in plain view. The candidate tried to bravely soldier on, pulling along his sullen wife and children to show them the magnificent condors flying overhead. It was a losing battle; he was the only one who looked interested." So why DIDN'T the press report this during the campaign?

ELLE.com?I feel that I am not qualified to speak on behalf of something that I'm curious about, that matters to me in a very significant way, because I have not done the work that is required in order to substantiate my opinions. And that's true. I haven't worked for the Red Cross. I haven't been to Sudan to see what's going on. And because of that, I feel that anything that I might speak on behalf of, I'll do more damage to.? An honest Hollywood person!

Timothy P. Carney on Arlen Specter & Election 2004 on National Review Online

Boston.com / News / Local / Mass. / Inoffensive, ineffective: "Before Kerry strategist Bob Shrum convinces the next crop of Democratic losers to shun gays, shoot geese, and embrace Jesus, he ought to consider the possibility that voters did not reject John Kerry because he is a Massachusetts liberal. They rejected him because they could not figure out who he is or what his party stands for."

Oliver Kamm:"One of the most incredible sentences I've ever seen..." : "Chomsky is an intelligent man who knows how to use language. In this case he is using language to depict the United States as incomparably evil; in order to do that he must distort not only the US record in foreign policy, but also the historical record of the regime in recent history that really was incomparably evil. And that is what Chomsky does. "

diary of an anti-chomskyite: What Uncle Sam Really Wants: A Review

LIES

More Good News!: "Bush's victory sparked speculation that disconsolate Democrats and others might decide to start a new life in Canada, a land that tilts more to the left than the United States. " Don't let the door....

The New York Times > Business > Labor Market Snaps Out of Lull to Add 337,000 New Jobs: "Economists cautioned, however, that a one-month gain did not constitute a trend, since the economy has recorded encouraging spurts of job growth before that have just fizzled out in subsequent months." Let me add, having watched numbers like this being created by the federal government that the methodology used is mostly bogus, consisting of: 1. announce results to public. (First iteration you can just make up a number) 2. compare announce results to results from other sources. 3. take measurements and compare with announced number. 4. average old number, new measurements, measurements from other sources to generate next months number 5. Repeat.

Why Americans Hate Democrats?A DialogueRobert Reich: "Let's be clear: Bush ran on a moral agenda?God, guns, gays, and true grit in fighting the evils of Saddam Hussein and terrorism. Kerry ran on a policy agenda?affordable health care, deficit reduction, and combating terrorism through stronger international alliances and a smarter strategy." No let's be REAL clear: Many of us, when asked by liberal friends examined Kerry's plan and found it wanting (seriously). Many of us when urged to do so viewed Fahrenheit 911 and found it infantile. We wondered how thinking people could buy into these half-baked concepts. The notion that the right won the election based on the votes of ignorant people is belied by the well known fact that the left resorts to busing people who would otherwise not vote at all to the poles.

Yahoo! News - Bush Wins Iowa to Claim Last Three States: "Along with Wisconsin and Minnesota, Iowa and its seven electoral votes are part of the once-Democratic Upper Midwest that is growing more conservative with each presidential election. Kerry won Minnesota by just 3 percentage points, Wisconsin by a single point."

Yahoo! News - WE DIDN'T TELL YOU SO: "The Democrats will need to devise a means of making state socialism a reborn faith. Either that, or just go back to obstructionist tactics in Congress, and a renewed search for the golden boy. Maybe Edwards. He is photogenic and wears his afflatus confidently. "

Yahoo! News - ONE LAST FLIP-FLOP: "To Michael Moore, George Soros, Terry McAuliffe, Dan Rather, Al Franken and the whole gang at Air America Radio -- you were great, guys! Thanks for the help! We couldn't have done it without you!"

My Way News: "JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was declared clinically dead on Thursday in a French hospital, Israeli television said citing French sources." "But Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie denied the report, saying: 'I have just spoken to the officials in Paris and they say the situation is still as it was. He is still in the intensive care unit.'"

Walter Williams - Is politics the way?

The New York Times > Science > New Evidence on Main Cause of Cerebral Palsy Too late for all the OBGYNs that John Edwards sued to get a refund?

New UAE president elected - (United Press International) Elected? Let us not ever take REAL elections for granted.

Adobe dipping toes into desktop Linux waters | CNET News.com Good news!

My Way News - Stocks Surge on Presumed Bush Victory: "Stocks surged Wednesday, with the Dow Jones industrials posting a triple-digit gain moments after the opening bell, as investors expressed relief following the election and what's widely believed to be a victory for President Bush."

Global monitors find faults: printer friendly version: "As for electronic voting, Gould said he preferred Venezuela's system over the calculator-sized touchpads in Miami. 'Each electronic vote in Venezuela also produces a ticket that voters then drop into a ballot box,' Gould said. 'Unlike fully electronic systems, this gives a backup that can be used to counter claims of massive fraud.'"

VOTE.COM | Column | MISSING BIN LADEN

Guardian Unlimited | US elections 2004 |Tom Wolf: 'The liberal elite hasn't got a clue': "And John Kerry? 'He is a man no one should worry about, because he has no beliefs at all. He is not going to introduce some manic radical plan, because he is poll-driven, and it is therefore impossible to know where or for what he stands.'"

MadBlast - Political Rhapsody