"This virus tricks the user with an old psychological tactic called reverse psychology. Apparently the curiosity created by the message has been too much for thousands of users," said anti-virus researcher Bob Atibop. According to Atibop, this isn't the first time reverse psychology has been used. In 1998, the "Don't Pee on Your Keyboard" worm caused a flood of damage.

Posted by at January 31, 2002 10:32 PM

Some 150,000 Irish children passed through the institutions, a mix of work camps and boarding schools, from the early 20th century through the 1990's, and 20,000 are alive today. More than 3,500 adults have applied for hearings at a court-run inquiry that was set up two years ago to investigate claims of abuse, and also simply to provide a sympathetic forum for people to tell their stories.

Posted by at January 31, 2002 08:04 PM

Keep this in mind: In December I was invited to testify at the first Senate Commerce Committee hearing regarding the Enron collapse. I attribute this honor not to the fact that I have any particular insight, but that people in the highest reaches of our government value what the entire Motley Fool community has to say, and are interested in the things that individual investors in American businesses are thinking.

Posted by at January 31, 2002 07:19 PM

Mr Downer's spokesman said the address would have been inappropriate because it could have been interpreted by China as official recognition for the Dalai Lama as head of Tibet's government in exile.

Posted by at January 31, 2002 07:15 PM

``In fact,'' she said, ``we found that he became quite reluctant to move his arm to the reach command once the cursor was introduced into the game. Apparently it was easier just to think about reaching.''

Posted by at January 31, 2002 06:42 PM

Britain called for the suspension because of President Robert Mugabe's crackdown on political opposition and the media. But the Commonwealth's secretary-general, Don McKinnon, says cutting Zimbabwe off would leave the international community with less influence over President Mugabe.

Posted by at January 31, 2002 01:57 PM

Saying he was in Mexico on business, Eggleton claimed he mistakenly waited to share the information with the prime minister upon his return to Canada.

Posted by at January 31, 2002 01:56 PM

According to the Chronicle, the White House, which acknowledged that aspects of the Lay memo resembled parts of the energy plan formulated by a Cheney-led task force, would not say whether the three-page memo was included in the notes Cheney refuses to make public.

Posted by at January 31, 2002 01:54 PM

The latest e-mail reiterated that "if America will not meet our demands we will kill Daniel" and "this cycle will continue and no American journalist could enter Pakistan."

Posted by at January 31, 2002 01:09 PM

My birthday is on Monday, and I really could use one of these.

Posted by at January 31, 2002 12:10 PM

Vivendi picked Moncton to make its way into private water management in Canada -- unsurprising as Vivendi is based in France, and Moncton is one of the larger French-English cities in bilingual New Brunswick. I was asked for a quick word on how to research Vivendi and what I thought.

The quickest way to find corporate dirt on the net is to search "companyname sucks" -- as in "Vivendi sucks". Not all protest sites identify themselves with "sucks", but an awful lot do. There was a vivendiuniversalsucks.com web site but it was taken away from its creator and given to Vivendi in a controversial decision by WIPO (the body governing, among other things, who has the right to use a given domain name). This is unfortunate, since "sucks" sites tend to attract a wide range of negative comment on a corporation. It's quite normal for that corporation to try to shut down a "sucks" -- the odd thing here is that WIPO, with its usual flair for random judgements, granted it.

So we're stuck with more conventional sources (Financial Times, Forbes, Fortune, The Economist). The Economist has some excellent articles on Vivendi but unfortunately, they're now in the archives, and cost about $3 USD to retrieve. That's not an unreasonable charge, but it's unsuitable for a fishing expedition.

Besides, this is one of those scenes where it doesn't matter if Vivendi is charming and talented most of the time -- because "most of the time" is not an acceptable answer to "is my water safe to drink?" So while this article from Business Mexico about their positive privatization experience is interesting, what we really need to see is the downside -- the problems in Africa and South America:

There have been striking examples of private sector failures. When Cochabama, Bolivia, turned over its water system to a private consortium led by engineering giant Bechtel, water prices increased so dramatically that riots broke out. A 17-year-old boy was killed, and thousands were injured in clashes with police. Water services were returned to public control.
After water was privatized in Puerto Rico in 1995, poor communities complained that they had no water while water giant Vivendi supplied tourist resorts and U.S. military bases with as much water as they could consume.
In Argentina, when the French company Generale de Eaux got a contract for water delivery, prices doubled and quality deteriorated. The company was forced to pull out when people refused to pay their bills.

waterindustry.org does have some good information. I would expect Environment News to have good information as well but it has surprisingly little. Global water privatization is an issue that does not seem to be getting its due airtime in North America, however.

My take on all this:

The question is not, "should water management be privatized" -- the question is "how can the public enforce fair management on whomever is in charge of the water?" Walkerton -- the little town in Ontario where seven people died of e.coli poisoning amid government cutbacks and mind bogglingly lax water care -- has shown that government can't be trusted to keep water safe.

It doesn't matter if the water is managed by a government chimpanzee or a corporate baboon as long as the result is clean, safe water with equitable distribution and fair prices.

A contract with Vivendi must must restrict how Vivendi is permitted to raise the price, include regular public evaluations of infrastructure and water quality, establish a substantial emergency/good-conduct fund which a public water management body can draw on for repairs should Vivendi be found in breach of standards, and most of all, the contract should be terminable at the city's discretion with very little notice.

If Vivendi finds those terms inconvenient, tough. It's a competitive world and somebody else will be happy to make the money and provide you with some security. I would not accept corporate water control with anything less than the above restrictions, as corporations have no natural incentive to behave well -- they can only be provided with financial ones.

Corporations like to make money. They will make it any way they can. The only way to control them is to make it economically unfeasible for them to do anything but behave themselves, and make behaving themselves have enough payoff to be worth doing. That there is money in water management has already been established. Vivendi wants money -- so the best way to control Vivendi is to make it easy to take money away from it. Other cities have failed by not making it easy enough to take money away from Vivendi when it misbehaved -- so make the good conduct fund a big fat one, Moncton.

Posted by at January 31, 2002 10:15 AM

The Moscow software firm faces $2.25 million in fines if convicted of breaking the law, enacted in 2000 to bar the creation or distribution of technology that can be used to circumvent copyright protections.

Posted by at January 31, 2002 08:31 AM

Posted by at January 31, 2002 05:15 AM

``We would have strongly preferred to avoid litigation in connection with this matter,'' Walker wrote. ``But given the request by the four Senate committee chairmen and subcommittee chairmen, our rights to this information and the important principal and precedents involved, GAO will take the steps necessary to file suit in United States District Court.''

Posted by at January 30, 2002 11:15 PM

Two students have been suspended from Juneau-Douglas High School after being in a group that unfurled a banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" as the Olympic torch passed the school last week.

Posted by at January 30, 2002 01:44 PM

If Enron received no special deals from the Cheney task force, that is at least in part because the task force recommendations have not been enacted by Congress as the Senate is now in opposition to many of its proposals. The task force's 105-point plan was premised on the declaration of an "energy crisis," which, to the extent it ever existed, has now passed as energy prices have fallen sharply since the spring of 2001.

Posted by at January 30, 2002 12:16 PM

New York's first attempt to remember the twin towers collapsed on January 18th amid the sort of racial politicking people once hoped had disappeared on September 11th. The idea was for a big statue outside the fire department's headquarters in Brooklyn modeled on the famous photograph of three firemen raising the stars and stripes amid the rubble of the World Trade Centre°with one small difference: two of the (white) firemen would become a black and a Latino. Many in the 94%-white fire department objected.

Err, why wouldn't the statue be of the actual guys who raised the damn flag?

Posted by at January 30, 2002 12:07 PM

Finance Minister Gary Collins said the pay cut is symbolic. "It's not about a lot of money," he said. "It is to try and send a message that we're going to take a certain amount of the burden personally."
Ms. MacPhail, who is the leader of the New Democrats, called the Liberals' voluntary pay cuts an "empty gesture," saying she and Ms. Kwan wouldn't participate.
"This ridiculous small gesture is a gimmick, as far as I'm concerned," she said. "No one in B.C. should have to donate money to Gordon Campbell so he can spend it wildly on tax breaks for the rich."
Mr. Collins retorted: "If the NDP members don't want to help contribute to clean up the mess they created over the last decade, either financially or by showing some leadership, that's their call."

Posted by at January 30, 2002 11:42 AM

Poet Sarah Jones said she was surprised by the ruling, because she wrote the song as a criticism of the degradation of women in hip-hop. Her lawsuit, filed in federal court on Tuesday, asks the court to overturn the FCC ruling and seeks an injunction against a $7,000 fine imposed on KBOO-FM of Portland, Ore., for airing the song.

Posted by at January 30, 2002 11:40 AM

"[ . . . ] there was no explanation of how a trio of middle-aged western boozers had acquired proficiency in C-4 plastic explosives, a skill we now know was part of the regular curriculum at al-Qaeda training camps."

Posted by at January 30, 2002 11:38 AM

"It is amazing that Bush, officially and in a combative tone, describes ... Iran, Iraq and North Korea as terrorists," state television reported him telling a gathering of journalists from Muslim countries. "It is possible that Americans will cheer Bush as the congressmen did, but we will not be threatened by such aggressive language."

Posted by at January 30, 2002 11:36 AM

Microsoft is already planning a future in which you will rent its software as a set of services over the Internet. Microsoft will then monitor your computing activities and charge you for them. Essential services will be dependent on databases that store much of your private information at Microsoft data centers and run your transactions through them. The only way to stop this is to restore competition in operating systems, office applications, and Internet applications now.

Posted by at January 30, 2002 11:34 AM

Also like many others, he was deemed deportable early in his detention and agreed to leave the U.S., only to remain in jail without any word of release. Other complaints ring familiar to attorneys and advocates who have been monitoring the situation of detainees. Baloch has charged that he was kept from contacting lawyers and Canadian officials. It took them and his family nearly two months to track him down, since he had been apprehended without notice to anyone and since, according to the habeas petition, the jail on occasion flatly denied that Baloch was being held there. A Voice request to visit Baloch, with his lawyers' support, was passed from the prison to the Justice Department, which turned it down.
Canadian government spokesman Reynald Doiron says the U.S. government forwarded him a copy of a waiver Baloch signed soon after his arrest, limiting Canada's ability to intervene on his behalf. "Now, was he under stress or duress? I don't know," says Doiron.

Posted by at January 30, 2002 10:54 AM

Mr Milosevic, who has previously rejected the court's legitimacy, said the trial was "an attempt to turn the victim into the culprit."

Posted by at January 30, 2002 10:34 AM

Diplomats say it would have to have been a significant meeting for the opposition leader to come out of her home. She did not even attend the Martyr's Day ceremony last year which marks her father's assassination.

Posted by at January 30, 2002 10:27 AM

"Ikeja mortuary is filled; they have started to use other government facilities," he said. "It's a disaster. We did not anticipate it would rise to this level."

Posted by at January 30, 2002 10:25 AM

Suspicion is now focused on the cleric, Sheik Mubarik Ali Shah Gilani, who had ties with Muslim groups in the United States and who has disappeared from sight. He has a home in Rawalpindi and is described as the guardian of a mystical shrine in Lahore, Pakistan.

Posted by at January 30, 2002 10:19 AM

Mark Palmer, an Enron spokesman, said the commercial shredding was a routine matter. The materials destroyed by a private company, Shredco, included items like payroll runs, old personnel records, performance reviews, medical records and other items that he called "sensitive employee documents."

Shredco didn't notice the public's interest in Enron documents?

Posted by at January 30, 2002 10:13 AM

'°ÆIf you look at the systems of other countries,°Ø°Ø [Prince Abdullah] said, °Æ°Æyou see a lot of people who are beholden to whoever put them in office, whether that°Øs a company or a group,°Ø°Ø he said. °Æ°ÆI°Øm not trying to be critical of elections, but what may work for you may not work for us. Look at the stalemate in Florida in your own elections. Elections may not be the most efficient way. The objective is to have good government which improves the lot of its people.°Ø°Ø

Posted by at January 30, 2002 10:00 AM

"There is no justification for maintaining the current distinctions between same-sex and heterosexual conjugal unions in the light of current understandings of the state's interests in marriage," the study says.

Posted by at January 30, 2002 09:24 AM

Guy Chevrette, 62, and Jacques Brassard, 61, announced yesterday that they were quitting politics immediately. Both were disappointed by what they concluded to be a deliberate effort to encourage them to step aside to make way for a younger cabinet.

Posted by at January 30, 2002 09:21 AM

These cards are not some made-up form of "reality entertainment" - these guys are real...in someways, people may not even share this much about themselves with close friends. We asked everyone a whole bunch of funny, odd, and plain old cool questions about their lives, likes and experiences.

Posted by at January 30, 2002 09:21 AM

The closest thing to a universal rule is that most men like a woman who's comfortable with her body, whatever her body happens to look like. Similarly, most men are pretty frustrated about women who reject their bodies. Given a choice between a supermodel who always feels fat and the chubby lady who feels sexy, most men will take the chubbette in real life, where it counts.

Zat so, fellas?

Posted by at January 30, 2002 09:12 AM

Two scientists who were adept at discovering fundamental equations and especially perceptive about the role of mathematics in science were Albert Einstein and the almost comparably brilliant theoretical physicist Paul Dirac. Neither was a mathematician per se, but both were remarkable in their ability to write down new equations that were as fecund as the greatest poetry. And both were captivated by the belief that the fundamental equations of physics must be beautiful.

Posted by at January 30, 2002 09:03 AM

"They totally ambushed us with snowballs," one reporter said, recounting his approach to high school students who might have known Amy Gehring.

Posted by at January 30, 2002 07:17 AM

Peter Blake, one of the world's most successful yachtsmen, who was killed by armed pirates in the Amazon last month, tried to defend himself against his attackers but died after his rifle jammed, a court heard yesterday.

Posted by at January 30, 2002 06:29 AM

Ottawa argues it was merely matching subsidies that Brazil provides to support Embraer SA, Bombardier's biggest rival.
But even if it ultimately loses at the trade body, politicians and bureaucrats hinted Ottawa still won't back down.

Posted by at January 29, 2002 04:57 PM

A man who covered his mouth with a towel stormed into the Saito-Moroyama outlet of Family Mart in the Nagase district of Moroyama shortly before 10 p.m. Monday. He threatened an 18-year-old part-time employee with a tree branch, and demanded money. "I'm a robber. Give me money," the man was quoted as saying.

Posted by at January 29, 2002 03:59 PM

The proposal put forward by the former head of the government's disbanded pardons commission, Anatoly Pristavkin, would free thousands of women by extending an amnesty approved in November by the State Duma lower house of parliament. That pardon freed roughly 23,000 women and children under 16, but included only women who were pregnant, disabled, over 50 or single mothers.

Posted by at January 29, 2002 03:16 PM

Witnesses said a crowd of 750,000 to one million people was jamming the city centre in support of opposition presidential candidate Marc Ravalomanana, who alleges the December election was rigged.

Posted by at January 29, 2002 02:53 PM

Noelle Bush was picked up by police at a Walgreens store and charged with fraudulently obtaining a controlled substance, a jail spokesman said. Police said she was attempting to obtain Xanax, which is used to treat anxiety disorder. The drug can make users feel drowsy and dizzy as it reduces nervousness and tension.

Posted by at January 29, 2002 02:50 PM

Postal Service spokesman Gerry Kreienkamp said that there is a certain irony to the fact that the agency has sealed a marketing deal with Microsoft while the Justice Department and state attorneys general are locked in settlement talks with the software company over antitrust charges, but said there is no conflict.

Posted by at January 29, 2002 02:06 PM

At as little as $50 a chip, Cantion is striving to be the low-cost leader (its microfabricated chips are designed to be thrown away after each use). By designing the modules to link to a doctor's PDA or computer, the company saves further on expensive instrumentation.

Posted by at January 29, 2002 01:54 PM

"There's a book called How to Build a Better Beowulf that's 230 pages long and tells you how to set up clusters with Linux," Dauger said. "We have a one-page manual (PDF) that shows you how to do it on PowerMacs. We've had high school students do it. We've had junior high school students do it. We even had a sixth grader in Hawaii do it."

Posted by at January 29, 2002 01:46 PM

Interior Minister Prince Nayef told the official Saudi Press Agency that of the 158 Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners being held at the Guantanamo Bay camp, 100 are Saudis.

Posted by at January 29, 2002 01:34 PM

Prime Minister Jean Chrtien said Canada expects the U.S. will treat the prisoners humanely. He added that a preliminary agreement said the U.S. would respect international law, but the details still have to be worked out.

Posted by at January 29, 2002 01:32 PM

The CAC concluded that this 15-year-old boy had his reputation tarnished, and was suspended from school for using 35mm film canisters to store his fishing lures. °ƒThis tells us that the drug dog needs a new nose, and Newport City Police officers need to get a life and a new job they can handle,°± commented CAC founder Leonard Browning.

Posted by at January 29, 2002 12:57 PM

Goofy looking site that actually has a number of links to interesting Taliban-related material.

Posted by at January 29, 2002 12:45 PM

The president's initial decision about the captives was apparently made on advice from Attorney General John Ashcroft who, a senior administration official said today, "didn't think about the world reaction." Mr. Ashcroft has held to his position, and appears to be supported by Vice President Dick Cheney. It is unclear what advice Mr. Bush received from Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser.

Posted by at January 29, 2002 10:37 AM

Senior government officials acknowledge Canada may well give up "some" sovereignty by further integrating with the U.S. military. But they worry that the alternative might be worse: to have the U.S. act on its own, putting NORAD or any new command structure for North America strictly under U.S. control.

The dog generating all that crap also has all the guns.

Posted by at January 29, 2002 10:24 AM

"We're very much committed to (Kyoto), but we have to make sure we have a clear understanding before we ratify it." Dhaliwal noted the U.S. generates 25 per cent of global greenhouse gases.

In other words: we're committed to less dog crap on sidewalks, but we haven't yet decided to stop our dogs from crapping on the sidewalks, especially because there's this one big dog doing a fair bit of crapping all by himself. How's that again?

Posted by at January 29, 2002 10:21 AM

A court official said the court dropped the most serious charges against 38-year-old Li Guangqiang, who had faced the death penalty. It convicted him of "illegal business operations" and sentenced him to less than the maximum of 5 years for smuggling more than 30,000 Bibles for use by members of a fundamentalist sect called the Shouters.

Posted by at January 29, 2002 10:19 AM

The move against TV-6 confirmed a pattern that has been taking shape since Putin assumed office just under two years ago. Engaging and even ingratiating overseas, he can be implacable at home, determined to build a political system where you question or embarrass the state at your peril. NTV learned this to its cost last year, and TV-6 became a prime target when it adopted the same stridently critical approach to Kremlin policies. Since Putin endorsed the war against terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks, the West has been mostly silent about Putin's continued crackdown on the media and in Chechnya.

Posted by at January 29, 2002 10:15 AM

Ms. Parrish, like MP Carolyn Bennett, criticized Mr. Chrtien's recent cabinet shuffle, suggesting the image of six white males sworn in simultaneously as new secretaries of state speaks volumes about where women stand in Ottawa.

Posted by at January 29, 2002 10:00 AM

The statue is truly larger than life, standing seven feet tall and weighing a hefty two tons of Carrara marble. By all accounts, it successfully captures the unflinching resolve and imperious character of its subject, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (plus handbag).

Posted by at January 29, 2002 07:17 AM

"Marriage is indissoluble... it doesn't make any sense to talk about the 'imposition' of human law, because it should reflect and protect natural and divine law."

You know what? He's right. Marriage is a religious construct that is improperly codified into the state. Marriage should give no innate benefits whatsoever, because it is a purely religious affirmation that a couple of people are going to live together. No man-made law should assume or perpetuate that, because it unfairly values the regulations of one church over another. Let legal marriage be abolished -- consigned to the same level of lovely, family-based ritual as baptism and bat mitzvah -- and all partnerships and child care agreements be set out in a concise standardized contractual agreement between as many people of whatever gender or race as desire to be involved, with tribunals to judge whether the agreement (which would involve ensuring certain minimum levels of support for children and certain minimum standards of conduct) has been observed. You can't force someone to be spiritual -- you can't force someone to keep a promise to love -- the state should never oblige such a thing, which belongs strictly in the province of the individual.

Posted by at January 29, 2002 07:10 AM

In the 500 or so words allotted, altaboy was able to lay out several clear and compelling reasons to consider WestJet as an investment. But don't bother scouring the exchanges for it if you live in the U.S., it's only available on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Posted by at January 29, 2002 06:53 AM

Article 9 of the current Constitution which dates back to 1921 reads: "Every law requires the approval of the Prince in order to gain legal validity." In the revised article of the government's draft a second sentence is added: "If there is no approval within six months, it is considered as turned down." The Constitutional Commission of Parliament had suggested to allow the possibility of a plebiscite in those cases in which the Prince refused his approval. A majority in a national vote should then suffice for a law to gain legal validity. However, this "overruling regulation" would not apply to law which dealt with the legal standing of the Prince.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 08:08 PM

A Treasury Board report distributed to all government departments advises that travel reports and hospitality expenses of cabinet ministers and political staff are no longer public information.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 12:47 PM

Google does not allow pop-up ads of any kind on our site. We find them annoying. So why do they occasionally appear when you search on Google?

Posted by at January 28, 2002 12:27 PM

Czerwonka says staffing shortages are to blame, but that the problem only occurs sporadically; the last time being on New Year's Day.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 12:01 PM

Posted by at January 28, 2002 11:09 AM

"There is needlessly, I think, a lot of tossing out the coffee cups. They are becoming an eyesore," says Gillan.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 10:08 AM

"The secretary of state has requested that you reconsider that decision," White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales wrote yesterday in a memo to Mr. Bush. "Specifically, he has asked that you conclude that GPW [Geneva Convention II on the Treatment of Prisoners of War] does apply to both al Qaeda and the Taliban. I understand, however, that he would agree that al Qaeda and Taliban fighters could be determined not to be prisoners of war (POWs) but only on a case-by-case basis following individual hearings before a military board."

Posted by at January 28, 2002 09:45 AM

Possible Portrait of the Anthrax Perpetrator

• Insider in US biodefense, doctoral degree in a relevant branch of biology
• Middle-aged American
• Experienced and skilled in working with hazardous pathogens, including anthrax, and avoiding contamination
• Works for a CIA contractor in Washington, DC area
• Has up-to-date vaccination with anthrax vaccine
• Has clearance for access to classified information
• Worked in USAMRIID laboratory in the past, in some capacity, and has access now
• Knows Bill Patrick and has probably learned a thing or two about weaponization from him, informally
• Has had training or experience in covering evidence
• May have had an UNSCOM connection
• Has had a dispute with a government agency
• Has a private location where the materials for the attack were accumulated and prepared
• Worked on the letters alone or with peripheral encouragement and assistance
• Fits FBI profile
• Has the necessary expertise, access and a past history indicating appropriate capabilities and temperament
• Has been questioned by FBI

Posted by at January 28, 2002 09:43 AM

...foreign-exchange speculators often seem to trade at least as much on psychology as on economic analysis, and the government of Prime Minister Jean Chrtien actually seemed to welcome a lower dollar.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 09:20 AM

The defence is compiling a mountain of newspaper clippings and radio transcripts about Operation Printemps 2001, last spring's police sweep. More than 100 people were arrested as suspects in the gang's drug-distribution and money-laundering networks.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 09:17 AM

In any ranking of Canadian prime ministers, there is Sir John A. Macdonald and there are the others. But Robert Borden is among the great ones, not only because of his resolute wartime leadership, but his continuous and persistent assertion of Canadian sovereignty.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 09:12 AM

[Dr. Carolyn Bennett] noted that there was only one woman ° Susan Whelan ° among the 10 new members of cabinet. And she told the reporter that the image of six men lined up to become secretaries of state sent the wrong message to Canadian women because the new group was dominated by "white male faces."

Posted by at January 28, 2002 09:10 AM

Power shutdowns have become increasingly common in Russia as Unified Energy Systems tries to collect unpaid bills from government agencies, including the military.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 09:04 AM

U.S. special forces on Monday stormed a hospital where al-Qaida gunmen had barricaded themselves for nearly two months and had threatened to blow up the facility if anyone tried to remove them.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 09:02 AM

Today, United Poultry Concerns' President, Karen Davis, called Larry Brayman, the Director of Corporate Affairs for CKE Restaurants, which owns Carl's Jr. and Hardee's franchises, to inquire whether the "nuggets" ad will be removed, as UPC, other animal advocacy groups, and many California and non-California residents have requested. Mr. Brayman said the company plans to continue running the ad, which shows men poking around the body of a live chickens, looking for the bird's "nuggets." The ad implies an anal search of the chicken's body and is completely offensive. It models itself on scenes of gang rape and on a medical examination of one's body that no one would consent to have publicly aired.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 09:00 AM

"Anyone who insinuates that I dye my hair insinuates that I always lie," Mr Schroeder is reported to have said.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 08:58 AM

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires companies to give employees 60 days notice before mass layoffs or a plant closing, was originally intended to help blue-collar workers deal with plant shutdowns. Now, laid-off tech workers are finding out that it can apply to them as well, and they're taking action.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 08:57 AM

As he left Kabul on the weekend, Karzai told reporters that he intends to press for a larger multinational peacekeeping force in Afghanistan. He wants more troops, as well as a promise that the soldiers will stay on past June °© when Karzai's temporary administration is replaced by a government chosen by a grand council.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 08:56 AM

Posted by at January 28, 2002 08:53 AM

Angela Migally, a law student at the University of Pennsylvania, said the war on terrorism had "a chilling effect" on donations to Palestinian causes. She said that her group at Penn wanted to contribute to a charity that said it built playgrounds in Bethlehem but that students feared the foundation might turn up on a list of terrorist fronts and that contributors might draw unwelcome attention.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 08:50 AM

The Canadian Association of Journalists and the Quebec Federation of Professional Journalists, in a joint submission to all parliamentarians released on the weekend, decried actions of the media giant as "a disturbing pattern of censorship and repression of dissenting views."

Posted by at January 28, 2002 08:39 AM

Mr. Yunas said he had found a piece of paper showing an American flag on the windshield of one of the compound's destroyed trucks. Large letters on the paper read, "God Bless America," and in one corner, someone had written: "Have a nice day. From Damage, Inc."

Posted by at January 28, 2002 08:36 AM

It is still unclear whether the helicopter, carrying General Mikhail Rudchenko - the man in charge of security in southern Russia - exploded in mid-air or crashed on landing north-west of the capital, Grozny.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 08:34 AM

Gates could probably buy Haiti without a mortgage, but he isn°Øt looking to rescue a particular country. His goal is to bridge the most fundamental gap separating the poor countries of the world from the rich ones: the gap in human health. His manner doesn°Øt betray a lot of softhearted emotion; he rocks slightly as he talks, using eye contact only as punctuation. He speaks more freely of strategies than goals, and seems more moved by numbers than by anecdotes. But the numbers are daunting and he knows them by heart. Infections that can be prevented or treated for pennies are killing 11 million people every year. Two billion lack access to basic, low-cost medicine, such as penicillin. As U.S. life expectancy approaches 80, some 27 countries have yet to achieve life expectancies of 50.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 08:31 AM

This site is designed to keep you informed about our efforts to stop this transaction. It includes the independent analysis of our financial advisor, Friedman Fleischer & Lowe, LLC, press releases and the latest SEC filings. If you have any questions please call our proxy solicitor, MacKenzie Partners, Incorporated, at 1-800-322-2885.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 08:14 AM

This letter may be as a surprise since it is coming from someone you may have not met before. My name is Kenneth Lay, and I was the chairman of the world's largest energy trading company on paper. However, I have now resigned that position so as to become a civil advisor to the Nigerian National Petroleum Ministry (N.N.P.M.) and make you aware of a situation here in Nigeria with which your assistance could be vital.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 07:01 AM

A compilation of 555 numbers from movies, television and radio.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 06:58 AM

...last November [Ashcroft] and Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson staged a major event in the Great Hall, to announce their plans for restructuring the Justice Department to address the new challenge of fighting terrorism. Many papers the next day used a photo of the attorney general with ° you guessed it ° Minnie Lou and that breast right over his shoulder.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 06:56 AM

> Lindgren wrote some 30 books and several plays, many of which have been made into films, television series, radio shows and cartoons.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 06:03 AM

Ottawa's Rideau canal, the world's longest outdoor skating rink, is the consistency of a daiquiri. It is the first time in 32 years that the five-mile-long canal has not opened by mid January.

I saw the "ice sculptures" yesterday. They looked like a snowplow left them.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 05:55 AM

"We have been very successful in making bio-gas from pig waste, so our next step is to try it on human beings," Piyasvasti Amranand, head of Thailand's energy policy office, told Reuters.

Posted by at January 28, 2002 05:49 AM

Neuroscientist Jean Decety of France's Institut de la Sant et de la Recherche Mdicale and a visiting professor at the University of Washington's Center for Mind, Brain & Learning heads up the study along with and developmental psychologist Andrew Meltzoff, co-director of the center. "This work is important because imitation is a natural procedure. We don't learn to imitate. It is part of our biological nature and we are born to imitate," said Decety. "A 3-year-old feels empathy and will pat another child on the shoulder or comfort his mom when she's crying," Meltzoff said. "We believe empathy has roots early in life. It may be linked to imitation, which we know babies do from a very early age."

Posted by at January 28, 2002 05:47 AM

The missiles struck an open area under Palestinian control where a cemetery and agricultural fields are located, the security sources said. Four Israeli tanks then proceeded 200 meters (yards) into Palestinian-ruled territory, they said.

Posted by at January 26, 2002 07:01 PM

The conference also stressed the need to set up a focal point for women's national councils of Africa. Kenya was nominated to take up the challenge and to co-ordinate the resultant activities as yet another way forward.

Posted by at January 26, 2002 06:58 PM

Witnesses arriving from Coriolei district 80 kilometres south of Mogadishu said 15 people had been killed and another 20 wounded in fighting between farmers and cattle herders who normally get along. Hundreds of families have fled four villages that were burned in the fighting.

Posted by at January 26, 2002 06:51 PM

In a highly unusual move, Tiffany & Co.'s sole Toronto store suspended sales in mid-December. Peoples Jewellers followed suit on Jan. 1, after the diary of a former personal secretary to Osama bin Laden revealed al-Qaeda had dealings in tanzanite.

Posted by at January 26, 2002 06:22 PM

According to an opinion poll by ROMIR-Gallup International, 26 percent of the Muscovites polled said they viewed the conflict over TV6 as an economic dispute. Only 15 percent of those polled regarded the conflict as the Kremlin's onslaught on press freedom.

Posted by at January 26, 2002 06:15 PM

A spokesman for the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think tank, says a scholar hasn't been punished for plagiarism in China for at least six years. "This case has gotten a lot of attention, not because the problem is getting worse, but because the press situation is opening up, letting the public know the truth," says the spokesman, who did not give his name.

Posted by at January 26, 2002 06:13 PM

"He was discovered inside a vehicle parked between two medians," police spokeswoman Pat Whitty said. "A suicide note was found at the scene. There was no sign of foul play. Inside his wallet was an ID indicating he was an employee of Enron."

Or as the charming and brilliant Fred Lapides says, remember that the guy from Enron who killed hiself had to resort to a bullet because he was too big to fit into the shredder.

Posted by at January 26, 2002 06:03 PM

Ashcroft said both Canadians were born in Tunisia, but now hold Canadian passports. The two were last seen living in the Montreal area. He said law enforcement officials are not sure where either man is now, but he encouraged anyone who knows to call the FBI or the nearest U.S. consulate.

Posted by at January 26, 2002 05:41 PM

Hollywood has whitewashed much from Nash's life; besides working to dodge the Korean War draft out of fears that it would hurt his career, Nash fathered an illegitimate son whom he refused to help care for, despite the fact that his own circumstances were far better than those of the child's mother. The woman he married, Alicia Larde, is portrayed in the film as the one and only love of Nash's life; no mention is made of their 1963 divorce. (Nearly forty years later, the couple remarried.) To read Nasar's biography is to discover fascinating episodes like Nash's stint in Europe, when he attempted several times to renounce his American citizenship and obtain political asylum, and his encounters with fellow patient and Pulitzer prizewinning poet Robert Lowell in a Massachusetts mental hospital.

Posted by at January 26, 2002 04:05 PM

Before his death in 4 B.C., Herod suffered an array of symptoms - intense itching, painful intestinal problems, breathlessness, fever, swelling in the feet, convulsions and, finally, gangrene of the genitalia.

Posted by at January 26, 2002 04:02 PM

The Sydney woman, who moved to Western Australia three weeks ago, said the unwanted calls began in July last year and she later found out her number was listed for a service offering acts like the "Dirty Doctor" and "Cowboy Elvis."

Posted by at January 26, 2002 03:16 PM

Iritani mentioned that the meat would be "more healthy" than normal pork, although it was too early to say whether it could be considered as healthy as spinach.

Posted by at January 26, 2002 03:11 PM

I just realized another problem with Blogger Pro -- for group blogs, the bill is footed by whomever created the blog. But, dear darling Fred Lapides -- a sweet man but technically rather undeveloped -- has two blogs created and set up by the saintly Dr. Menlo. I imagine there are other cases where it's inappropriate for the blog creator to have to foot the entire bill.

Posted by at January 26, 2002 03:07 PM

This has some nice features, though frankly, I wouldn't pay for it unless it was to give back to Ev after he's given so much to us, etc -- because I don't like the posting limits of 100k per month and $3 per additional 100k. It's not just because I'm broke (which I am) or because the Canadian dollar is worth about 60 cents US, meaning Blogger is near twice as expensive for me (which it is), as that I find when I know I have a limit, I'm more conservative -- and that does not work well for me, I need to be able to wave my wild tail where it pleases.

The one-size-fits-all approach seems like a bad business model since it means those who post a lot -- and consume the most resources -- will not pay. A small ($20 for 100k, $2 per extra 10k), medium ($35 for 250k, $3.50 per extra 25k) and large ($50 for 500k, most relevant for group blogs, $5 per extra 100k -- best value!) plan would probably generate more revenue.

Ev's stated he's going to raise the price on Blogger Pro to $50/year sometime soon. As much as I like Blogger, Greymatter's not too shabby -- it's good enough for that kid from Star Trek.

I had intended to, grudgingly, scrape the Blogger Pro bucks from somewhere when the rumour was it would cost $30/year and before I heard about the posting limits.

Posted by at January 26, 2002 02:58 PM

Few details were immediately available, but authorities are treating Baxter's death as a suicide. He had been shot in the head.

How entertainingly convenient! Everybody break out yr conspiracy theory guides!

Posted by at January 25, 2002 01:11 PM

"Hello Mr. Lastman? This is Maurice Boucher," says Mr. Audette, during the interview, broadcast last night on CKMF.
"Hi," Mr. Lastman responds.
"But you can call me "Mom," it's my nickname," Mr. Audette continues.

Posted by at January 25, 2002 11:46 AM

"They are not going to steal explosives from a military base," Albright said. "They are going out and then going to a grocery store, a pharmacy, a medical supply store, and buying chemicals and then making them themselves. So it was a group that was being taught to be self-reliant."

Posted by at January 25, 2002 08:57 AM

The Rove associates say the recommendation, which Enron accepted, was intended to keep Mr. Reed's allegiance to the Bush campaign without putting him on the Bush payroll. Mr. Bush, they say, was then developing his "compassionate conservativism" message and did not want to be linked too closely to Mr. Reed, who had just stepped down as executive director of the Christian Coalition, an organization of committed religious conservatives.

Posted by at January 25, 2002 02:17 AM

MEPs on the parliament's petitions committee, defying suggestions that they were trying to harmonise rules made in the kingdom of heaven, said they would investigate Mr Owen's case.

Posted by at January 25, 2002 02:03 AM

The insurgents made their move, a defeat for the House Republican leadership, on the second day of the new Congressional session, collecting the final signatures needed on a petition to send the bill to the floor. They said their quest to ban the unlimited contributions to the political parties known as soft money had been revived by the collapse of the energy trading giant, Enron, and the tales of how the company spread nearly $6 million in campaign donations across Washington since 1989. More than half of the contributions were soft money.

Posted by at January 25, 2002 01:09 AM

1. Open an email window to microsoft.atr@usdoj.gov (with a subject of 'Microsoft Settlement').
2. Read through some of the many comprehensive resources on this case and the Tunney Act proceedings:
   • Dan Kegel's excellent collection of resources (mirror is here).
3. Pick your favorite problem with the proposed judgement. One is fine; hopefully a lot of people will be doing this.
4. Compose a simple, polite, email describing the problem and how you feel about it.
5. Send the email, and if you like, bcc (important do not cc) us at tunney@codeweavers.com.
6. [Optional, but nice] Print your letter out (maybe reformat it a little), and mail it to:
   
   Renata B. Hesse
   Antitrust Division
   U.S. Department of Justice
   601 D Street NW
   Suite 1200
   Washington, DC 20530-0001

Posted by at January 24, 2002 11:11 PM

"These journalists applied for tourists visas only because they had no other choice to cover the news. We ask the government to give them accreditation and let them work freely" said Robert Mnard, RSF General Secretary. "With presidential elections due in March we fear that Zimbabwe is hardening its stance against the local and international press" added Mr. Mnard.

Posted by at January 24, 2002 11:02 PM

Mr Lamptey writes: "HIV/Aids is likely to surpass the Black Death as the worst pandemic ever, as without access to drugs, most of the 40m people living with HIV will die.

Posted by at January 24, 2002 11:01 PM

I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.

Posted by at January 24, 2002 10:22 PM

"He was very Canadian in the sense that he didn't bask in the public spotlight. Instead, he shuffled in the public spotlight."

Posted by at January 24, 2002 07:59 PM

Geetee should contact Holly about the status of the Hypercube using an alternate email address.

Posted by at January 24, 2002 07:38 PM

Gzowski became a fixture in Canadian homes during his career on CBC Radio. For three hours most mornings, Gzowksi brought Canadians a steady diet of news, music and conversation about their country. Many Canadian writers and musicians credited Gzowski with launching their careers.

Posted by at January 24, 2002 05:46 PM

My software is not compatible with you.

Posted by at January 24, 2002 02:44 PM

Laid-off staffers of the collapsed energy trader Enron got some more sour news in their severance checks last month. Though they'd already lost an estimated $1 billion on their 401(k) plans, that didn't stop the bankrupt company from deducting a final contribution for the retirement accounts.

Posted by at January 24, 2002 07:53 AM

"There's an aging population out there," said Sun Youth executive director Sid Stevens. "This problem has to be addressed. We've had phone calls from seniors who have been victimized and didn't call police because they are too terrified."

Posted by at January 24, 2002 07:17 AM

Here are the representation figures, and as you can see, someone in Nunavut has roughly 4.3 votes to every vote cast in Vancouver, Toronto or Calgary.

Posted by at January 24, 2002 07:00 AM

Back in 1995, Nixon was kicked out of a [Vancouver Rape Relief] training group for peer counsellors by a shelter representative who discovered that Nixon had not always been female. A transsexual woman, who had gender reassignment surgery in 1990, Nixon, though born biologically male, has lived as a female for more than 20 years.

Much of this article is noise, but the underlying story is quite interesting. It's a pity the author wastes so much space on her own pseudo-poetic musings.

Posted by at January 24, 2002 06:58 AM

Asserting that Mr. Bush did not suddenly bring up the anecdote about his mother-in-law, Mr. Bartlett said he first heard the president mention it at a private meeting of the White House economic team on Jan. 10. He also said that had the response been orchestrated, there would have been no need for Ms. Hughes to call him at the White House from West Virginia to seek more details about Ms. Welch's $8,000 Enron investment.

Posted by at January 24, 2002 06:52 AM

Lay will remain on the board of directors but will retire as an employee, which entitles him to a lifetime pension of $475,000 per year, according to Enron's 2001 proxy statement. That presumes Lay is credited for service through age 65.
The multiple criminal, congressional and U.S. regulatory investigations into Enron's stunning collapse are taking much of Lay's time and making it "difficult to fully concentrate on what is most important to Enron's stakeholders," he said.

Posted by at January 24, 2002 06:49 AM

Looking inward and outward at the same time, the new Canadian vanguard gathers currency because of vague similarities to other alienated indie films with international appeal. While retaining regional characteristics, what makes them hip is that they aren't typically "Canadian" (that is, typified by documentary realism, identity insecurity, technological determinism, insufferable boredom).

Posted by at January 24, 2002 04:48 AM

Posted by at January 24, 2002 04:36 AM

They removed and stored the creatures' ovaries in liquid nitrogen, then successfully transplanted them into rats that were genetically identical.
Although the transplanted ovaries were less efficient after freezing, more than half ovulated normally and one recipient became pregnant.
Lead researcher Professor Roger Gosden, of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, said that if the technique could one day be applied to humans, it would offer an option to women and children who would otherwise be sterilized by chemotherapy.

Posted by at January 24, 2002 04:35 AM

No questions are asked and the weapons are exchanged for tools such as ploughs, bicycles and sewing machines, with the arms being disabled by the Christian Council of Mozambique and then passed on to the Maputo, Mozambique-based Nucleo de Arte association.

Posted by at January 24, 2002 03:54 AM

The complaints now before us seek to apply s. 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act to communication via the Internet. It is alleged that by posting material to the Zundelsite, the Respondent, Ernst Zndel, caused repeated telephonic communication that was likely to expose Jews to hatred or contempt. We are therefore asked to determine whether it is a discriminatory practice to post material on a Website if the material is likely to expose a person to hatred or contempt. What limits, if any, are to be applied to repeated communication of hate messages via the Internet? Finally, if applied to the Internet, is this a permissible restriction on freedom of speech under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms?

Posted by at January 23, 2002 09:07 PM

``Mr. Duncan should not be punished for exercising his constitutional rights,'' Giuffra wrote, citing instances during the investigations of Watergate, Iran-Contra and Whitewater in which witnesses invoking the Fifth Amendment were not compelled to appear.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 08:45 PM

The revised bill would allow foreigners to be accredited "for the purpose of covering a specific event over a limited period of time," provided they observe other still restrictive clauses in the bill.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 07:27 PM

One of the operatives in Indonesia, a Pakistani, was deported 10 days ago by Indonesian authorities to Egypt, where he is wanted for immigration violations and is also being questioned by American law enforcement officials, a senior Bush administration official said. The man, Hafiz Mohammed Sasa Iqbal, has been linked by American intelligence to the attempt by the so-called shoe bomber to blow up the American Airlines jet from Paris to Miami.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 07:26 PM

...Libya will be obliged to pay financial compensations for the victims of the Lockerbie incident.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 07:25 PM

``Terrorists groups from Xinjiang province were operating in Afghanistan under the command of al-Qaeda,'' Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah told reporters in Beijing. ``They were not there alone for the cause of Afghanistan. The program was to use the soil of Afghanistan for their own purposes.''

Posted by at January 23, 2002 07:17 PM

The proposal would only protect nature in defined zones of special environmental interest and green groups could not bring cases against companies themselves -- both fatal weaknesses in the proposal, Ferrigno said.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 07:15 PM

Officials say the temporary halt is not linked to the recent wave of criticism of the prisoners' treatment - the base simply cannot accomodate the several hundred prisoners still being held by the US military in Afghanistan.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 07:12 PM

Truth is used to vitalize a statement rather than devitalize it. Truth implies more than a simple statement of fact. °ƒI don°Øt have any whisky,°± may be a fact but it is not a truth.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 06:40 PM

CYBER-GRIPERS PUBLISH Web sites with complaints about corporate behavior, often using a creative form of the company’s name combined with the word “sucks.” Harvilla is so worried cyber-gripers might become extinct that he is heading a group called the "Free Speech Center," which will dole out clever “sucks.com” variations — such as Company.comsucks.net — to anyone who wants one.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 06:16 PM

...Albert Angel, whose company, ICN, runs 900 services for the Weather Channel and state lotteries, among others, says customers can refuse to pay 900 bills, insisting they didn't make the calls. Often, he said, denial sets in when spouses see bills from psychic or sex lines.
Under the law, their telephone service cannot be taken away if they refuse to pay; the worst that can happen is that their phones would be blocked from making 900 calls in the future.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 06:05 PM

The investors suing Idealab--including Dell USA, T. Rowe Price Science & Technology fund and Moore Global Investments Ltd.--say there is little for the incubator to do and it could easily operate on a $1-million annual budget. Instead, Idealab maintains offices in Pasadena, Silicon Valley, Boston and London and recently doubled the salaries of Gross and Goodstein.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 05:53 PM

The cells seem to grow indefinitely in culture, like ESCs. Some cell lines have been growing for almost two years and have kept their characteristics, with no signs of ageing, she says.
Given the right conditions, MAPCs can turn into a myriad of tissue types: muscle, cartilage, bone, liver and different types of neurons and brain cells. Crucially, using a technique called retroviral marking, Verfaillie has shown that the descendants of a single cell can turn into all these different cell types - a key experiment in proving that MAPCs are truly versatile.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 05:43 PM

This will be nothing less than the ultimate intelligence-gathering tool. And we intend to construct it, at no cost, exclusively for the use of the federal government.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 05:41 PM

The computer industry's most famous garage tinkerer said he believes the time is right to develop a new class of consumer electronics to take advantage of advances in satellite tracking, wireless networks and more powerful computer chips.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 05:40 PM

But it was the murder of Mr. Ly that brought the confluence of gangs and computer games ° once the province of harmless nerds ° to a dangerous level.
"That was a wake-up call," said Bruce A. Broadwater, 60, who has been the mayor of Garden Grove for eight years. "We suddenly thought, What's going on here? Are these cafes places where hoodlums hang out, like pool halls in the old days?"

Posted by at January 23, 2002 11:16 AM

The disclosure from al-Libi marked the latest example in what U.S. officials characterize as an intelligence windfall from al Qaeda and Taliban fighters, documents, videotapes and other material seized in Afghanistan. U.S. officials say information learned in Afghanistan has helped thwart possible attacks in Singapore and Bosnia.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 10:51 AM

Posted by at January 23, 2002 08:30 AM

How much is it? $30 a year (eventually will be $50 a year). You can have a dozen blogs, but there is a posting limit. 100k per month for that price.

100k per month can't be right. That's far too low.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 08:11 AM

A woman, who wasn't named, had a nervous breakdown when she discovered that Rocco stole her red slip with "kiss me, you stupid" written on the back.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 07:58 AM

This site is a public forum for poor service and that which Air Canada does not want you to know (at least in a timely manner).

Posted by at January 23, 2002 07:56 AM

LAVANDERA: Then Ken Lay read a question that had been submitted anonymously.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I was surprised he actually read it, but he asked Ken Lay literally, are you on crack.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 01:38 AM

The offshore system was central to Enron's collapse. Frank Karam, an attorney at Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes and Lerach who is working on a suit against top Enron executives, explained that Enron used offshore partnerships "to borrow at least $10 billion from banks. Enron guaranteed these loans with its own stock. They traded with themselves and reported the money as income -- as revenue and profit."

Posted by at January 23, 2002 01:32 AM

Posted by at January 23, 2002 01:09 AM

"I've come to [Afghanistan] to meet with other innocent victims," said Rita Laser, 70, of New York City, whose brother Abe Zelmanowitz died in the World Trade Center.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 01:08 AM

Most of these citizen scientists have dreams of miracle cures and billion-dollar patents. Others pursue wild conspiracy theories. A few, including Harris, have even dabbled in chemical or biological weapons.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 01:06 AM

The reasons for the Crown motion are covered by a publication ban.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 01:05 AM

Even body posture, such as the left-handed gestures or a boot sole pointing the wrong way could cause offence, Walshaw said.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 01:04 AM

Dallaire, 55, had to watch helplessly while up to 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu moderates were slaughtered by Hutu extremists, unable to persuade the rest of the world that he needed more help to stop the genocide.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 01:03 AM

"We need more than a patchwork system of security screening left in the hands of private contractors," Mr. Wing said.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 12:58 AM

According to the PLP Leader " some of the President advisers are satanic, they pretend that they mean well for the President, but they are evil. Some of these satanic advisers are working against the interest of the President. They are all out to destroy him and our democracy, that is why they are giving some of these advices that put him against the people"

Posted by at January 23, 2002 12:55 AM

The debate on the media bill, which would bar foreign correspondents from the country and impose new penalties for reporting that caused "alarm and despondency", was postponed last week and the privately-owned Daily News quoted government sources on Tuesday as saying there would now be major amendments.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 12:53 AM

In its statement, the IFJ said that claim was "untested by the international community." The IFJ said the destruction of the broadcast facilities was a repudiation of European Union and UN support which helped set up the Palestinian broadcasting system.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 12:41 AM

``The government violated the audience's right to information, and they took very dubious steps in implementing the court decision,'' said Anna Kachkayeva, professor at the Moscow State University and a media observer at U.S.-funded Radio Liberty. ``They may have decided to cut all ropes to TV-6 on concern the channel will keep an umbilical cord to Berezovsky.''

Posted by at January 23, 2002 12:39 AM

In an interview last night, Castaneda said that document shredding at Enron began before Christmas and continued through last week.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 12:37 AM

An Iraqi foreign ministry spokesman said the two sides would also exchange the bodies of 1,183 Iraqis and 574 Iranians who had died in prison.

Posted by at January 23, 2002 12:34 AM

Set of ten photos of downtown Ottawa. I've ditched the picture-of-the-day idea and now am posting whatever happens to manifest pleasingly as soon as it does. Have quite a backlog from this month. Baby needs a digital camera -- birthday's soon and everything.

Posted by at January 22, 2002 11:52 PM

"I would call child pornography an epidemic in the city of Toronto. We're one of the centres in the world," said Toronto Police Staff Inspector Gary Ellis. "It's our hidden crime, it's our hidden shame."

Posted by at January 22, 2002 11:16 PM

Dr Aldroubi and Dr Grchenig think they have come up with a set of mathematical algorithms that will allow the fast and robust reconstruction of signals from digital samples without the need to worry about band limits or uniform sampling. Any wave, no matter how complex, can be described by what is known in maths-speak as a function. The aim of systems such as CD and MRI, which turn digital data back into analogue so that people can interpret the result, is to reconstruct this function from the digital data. Dr Aldroubi and Dr Grchenig are able to do this from data that are the result of non-uniform sampling. That allows a signal to be digitised in a more sophisticated way°sampling it at frequent intervals when it is changing rapidly, and less often when it is changing slowly. Band limits imposed by uniform sampling thus go away.

Posted by at January 22, 2002 10:15 PM

"The book has been described as fantasy, but not by me," Pullman said at the prize-giving. "I like to think of it as stark realism. The fantasy elements are there to help me say more about being a human being."

Posted by at January 22, 2002 10:12 PM

The American woman used the toilet, but pushed the flush button before standing up.

Posted by at January 22, 2002 09:48 PM

It's also hard to judge because it isn't fashionable to look for young intellectual talent any more. People once believed there were notable independent intellectuals because they were instructed to seek out and prize them. "The most brilliant young critic of our day," trumpeted the cover of Norman Podhoretz's first book, an anthology of essays that was published when he was 33. There is no such trumpeting today, partly because there are no such anthologies being published today. I can think of several brilliant young critics who deserve them.

Posted by at January 22, 2002 09:43 PM

Amazon.com wowed Wall Street Tuesday with its first profit ever: a penny a share in the fourth quarter.

I think I made a penny a share this quarter, and I didn't have to spend FIVE BILLION DOLLARS to do it.

Posted by at January 22, 2002 09:36 PM

"Certainly, fast food is marketed overtly to children and my guess is if you looked closely around the internal documents of the fast food industry and processed food industry it would shock me if they didn't have very sophisticated studies about their consumers," said Richard Nagareda, Vanderbilt University Law School professor. "Whether you can take that to the level of a successful lawsuit is not so clear."

Posted by at January 22, 2002 10:47 AM

The board - which includes Wendy Gramm, a former government regulator and the wife of Senator Phil Gramm, Republican of Texas; John Wakeham, a member of the British House of Lords and a former British cabinet leader, and Norman Blake Jr., the chief executive of Comdisco Inc., a computer-services company - even went so far as to suspend Enron's code of ethics to approve the creation of the partnerships between Enron and its chief financial officer, according to the report of a preliminary investigation conducted at Enron's request by the law firm of Vinson Elkins.

Posted by at January 22, 2002 12:51 AM

The Communications Ministry has hired 180 women. The Ministry of Higher Education plans to fill half the freshman class at Kabul University with women when the school year begins in March.

Posted by at January 21, 2002 04:38 PM

"Oh, that. Waiting to see if the world would end at the end of the millennium."

"Did it?"

She shrugged. "Maybe."

And, was the lipstick cranberry colour or flavor? Cranberry kisses all night long...

Posted by at January 21, 2002 02:16 PM

The Minolta DiMAGE X is approximately ®™ of an inch thick. Making a camera this thin would be impossible with conventional zoom lens technology. However, the unique design of the 3x optical zoom lens allows it to move, or °ƒzoom,°± vertically within the camera body. That means that when the lens moves from wide angle to telephoto, it always remains inside the camera body.

Posted by at January 21, 2002 12:41 PM

The Minolta DiMAGE X is approximately ®™ of an inch thick. Making a camera this thin would be impossible with conventional zoom lens technology. However, the unique design of the 3x optical zoom lens allows it to move, or °ƒzoom,°± vertically within the camera body. That means that when the lens moves from wide angle to telephoto, it always remains inside the camera body.

Posted by at January 21, 2002 12:38 PM

...at what point should a person who had undergone a sex-change be treated as being of the opposite sex.
She said Mrs Bellinger was not entitled to recognition as a woman and parliament must decide the other question.

Which highlights how silly it is to have distinctions wired in to marriage in the first place. What difference does it make if a kangaroo wants to marry an astronaut as long as everybody's able to make up their minds that they want to?

Posted by at January 21, 2002 11:28 AM

The AirGen Fuel Cell Generator is conceived as a backup generator, but at $7,995 the only buyers will be those who really need a secondary power source, perhaps for medical reasons. The 1.2-kilowatt unit could power a computer, phone, fax, and light for 8 to 10 hours before refueling. And since the only byproduct is water, it can be safely positioned indoors, unlike traditional generators.

Posted by at January 21, 2002 11:21 AM

Japanese officers are trained in martial arts but believe they may need something extra to control European soccer fans because of their bigger size.

Posted by at January 21, 2002 11:15 AM

The Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and Attention Disorder in Kenilworth, Warks, thinks sufferers have an undeveloped cerebellum - the coordinating part of the brain.
But research found it could be kickstarted with exercises like throwing a bean bag from hand to hand, climbing stairs with eyes closed and following a finger moving from left to right.

Posted by at January 21, 2002 11:10 AM

Over the next few years the women collected information, surreptitiously measuring office and lab space with tape measures, and chronicled what top administrators called a convincing pattern: Women received smaller salaries and less lab and office space than men of similar rank and experience, and had to raise a larger share of their grant money from outside the institute. Men who threatened to leave M.I.T. were coaxed to stay with raises and resources; women were allowed to leave. They also found that more women than men were enrolled in undergraduate sciences, and women were well represented among graduate and postdoctoral students. The disparity was at the top: 15 full professors were women, to 194 men.

Posted by at January 21, 2002 10:54 AM

Mr Ruddock told 3AW that 55 people, none of them children, still had their lips sewn together.

Posted by at January 21, 2002 02:38 AM

Many times, repeated tests indicate fecal bacteria is in the water and nothing is done except maintaining the boil-water advisory.

Posted by at January 21, 2002 02:27 AM

On balance, it should not be surprising that the bombing campaign in Afghanistan produced a significantly higher civilian casualty rate than did the 1999 campaign in the Balkans, where there was at least one civilian death for every 46 bombs dropped. As noted earlier, initial field investigations have suggested that the Afghanistan campaign actually claimed more than 1000 civilian lives -- or more than one for every 12 bombs or missiles expended.

Posted by at January 21, 2002 02:04 AM

...it is concern about accidents caused by dim lighting, tripping in showers and repetitive movement injuries that has resulted in NSW's peak workplace safety watchdog coming to the aid of sex workers.

Posted by at January 21, 2002 12:15 AM

Philips, because of conformity issues, has warned the record labels that the discs are actually not CDs at all and must bear warning labels to inform consumers.
"We've made sure they would put a very clear warning that you're not buying a compact disc, but something different," Wirtz said. "We've been warning some labels to begin with, and they've adjusted their behavior."
That means labels would also be barred from using the familiar "compact disc" logo that has been stamped on every CD since Philips and Sony jointly developed the technology in 1978.

Posted by at January 20, 2002 11:53 PM

One of the fired employees, Clayton Vernon, had asked Kenneth L. Lay, Enron's chairman, during an earlier internal online discussion whether Enron had used aggressive accounting to overstate its profits. It is unclear whether Mr. Vernon's question to Mr. Lay, which came in September, two months before he was dismissed, played any role in his firing. But a coarsely worded message critical of Mr. Lay that Mr. Vernon posted in November under a screen alias was traced back to him in less than a day.

Posted by at January 20, 2002 11:42 PM

The suggestion that Leicester played such a central role in Al Qaeda's British operation has startled some Islamic leaders. "This was totally out of character with what's happening within the mainstream Muslim community of Leicester," Mr. Khan said.

Posted by at January 20, 2002 11:41 PM

"I don't read The Globe and Mail because I find it to be too much of a left-wing paper, but I had my secretary pull up a couple of your columns in research for this date," he says, as though I were a family of Afghan refugees he was offering to put through college. "So tell me about yourself, Leah. I presume you don't want to write a social column for the rest of your life."

Posted by at January 20, 2002 11:41 PM

Demolition crews began blowing up buildings in Fengjie county Sunday, a 2,300-year-old town chosen as the first to be destroyed for the mammoth project, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Posted by at January 20, 2002 11:38 PM

"At the height of the standoff, according to both a C.I.A. official and a military analyst who has worked with the Delta Force...the Administration ordered the United States Central Command to set up a special air corridor help insure the safety of Pakistani rescue flights from Kunduz to the northwest corner of Pakistan."

Posted by at January 20, 2002 11:32 PM

In a ruling on January 7th, Louis Pollak, a federal judge in Pennsylvania, decided that fingerprint evidence was unreliable. He declared that he will no longer allow fingerprint examiners testifying in his courtroom to tell juries point blank whether prints from defendants and those collected at crime scenes do or do not match. Instead, they will have to present evidence to persuade a jury that they are the same or, as the case may be, are not.

Posted by at January 20, 2002 09:50 PM

Psychologists who studied more than 100 chess players say the game attracts sensation-seekers with a thirst for action and adventure on a par with skydivers, scuba divers, mountaineers and skiers. When men win a game, the experts say, the rise of testosterone levels in the blood is just the same as that experienced by people who go in for risky sports.

Posted by at January 20, 2002 08:55 PM

It's alleged he crept into the McKellar ranch, Mount Pleasant, then loaded his van up with a tank of bull sperm.

Posted by at January 20, 2002 08:44 PM

I have self-published a short novel, DIMENSION OF MIRACLES REVISITED, 44,000 words, which I am self-publishing together with two short stories. I will sign and number this book, which will come in 8 1/2 by 11 format, tape-bound, with a Mylar cover.

Posted by at January 20, 2002 08:10 PM

Some migrants have also vanished, leading authorities to suspect that more than just kidneys are being removed. Vital body parts, like livers, may also be harvested from unsuspecting men and women and sold on the black market.

Posted by at January 20, 2002 02:37 PM

"Ourselves and certainly a lot of other wineries now are getting very, very nervous about what the rest of the winter may bring," says Norman Beal, owner of Peninsula Ridge Estates Winery.

Posted by at January 20, 2002 11:36 AM

IBM, n. -- small penis. This recent acronym for itty bitty meat is ironic, since IBM (International Business Machines) is one of the largest computer corporations in the world.

-- Alan Richter, Sexual Slang

Posted by at January 19, 2002 11:18 PM

The Americans were intent on blocking Al Qaeda's money in the wake of its coordinated attacks on two U.S. embassies in east Africa. But a senior sheik said it would be difficult to distinguish between Al Qaeda funds used for criminal activities such as the bombings and money meant for what he viewed as more acceptable training of Islamic rebels in Bosnia and Chechnya.

Posted by at January 19, 2002 09:41 PM

"Biotechnology is biblical. When God created Adam and Eve, he just multiplied cells from one tissue. There is nothing new and no fears should arise. We have only enhanced the speed of multiplication in modern times," Mukiibi said.

Posted by at January 19, 2002 09:35 PM

"Everyone knows that the Americans spy on us," said one Chinese official. "But I am not sure if the government will want to use this incident against the US because relations are supposed to be getting better these days."

Posted by at January 19, 2002 09:28 PM

Under the new rules, general portal sites must install security programs to screen and copy all e-mail messages sent or received by users. Those containing "sensitive materials" must be turned over to authorities.
Providers are also responsible for erasing all prohibited content posted on their websites, including online chatrooms and bulletin boards.

Posted by at January 19, 2002 09:26 PM

...Kenneth Lay, Enron°Øs chairman, disposed of shares worth $3.5 million (°Ã2.4 million) only five days after being warned that Enron could °ƒimplode in a wave of accounting scandals°±. Details of the share disposal, which was made in two tranches on August 20 and August 21, emerged yesterday amid a congressional inquiry into Enron°Øs collapse. It is already known that Mr Lay sold huge amounts of Enron stock between 1999 and July 2001 through 350 transactions.

Posted by at January 19, 2002 09:25 PM

So far, nothing made public about Enron would have justified the appointment of an independent counsel. There are no charges that President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney or any member of the Cabinet had complicity in Enron's financial failure. Yes, Enron Chairman Kenneth L. Lay was a major financial supporter of Bush and thus had access to the president and Cabinet members. But such access has always been an inherent feature of the American political system. With no evidence of improper favors, it is at most an impropriety. The remedy is campaign financing reform.

Posted by at January 19, 2002 09:19 PM

The group estimates that more than 12,000 bombs were dropped over Afghanistan in 4,700 sorties between Oct. 7 and Dec. 10, and that between 1,000 and 1,300 civilians were killed.
In contrast, the study says, NATO warplanes dropped 23,000 bombs in 13,000 sorties in the 78-day Yugoslavian campaign in 1999, which killed about 500 civilians.
Carl Conetta, PDA co-director, said the death toll of civilians in Afghanistan contradicts the notion that the campaign has been cleaner than earlier missions.
"Despite the adulation of Operation Enduring Freedom as a finely tuned or bull's-eye war, the campaign failed to set a new standard for accuracy," he said in an interview.

This war unquestionably could have been conducted better, as armed conflicts go -- the UN never should have permitted the US to treat it as a vengeance mission. It should have been conducted by a broad-based coalition with a clear mandate to remove the Taliban, dismantle whatever al Qaida apparatus they ran into, and establish a stable government. Unfortunately this requires the US president be a human being instead of a thug. I've never understood why Dubya's getting approbation for what he's done -- a trained walrus with the US arsenal could have done the job equally well. Instead, he's demonstrating the Bush family trait of pulling out before the job's done. Why was Saddam left in there, anyhow, resulting in a decade of crippling murderous sanctions intended to drive him out? Some theoretical delicacy about not attacking other world leaders? What kind of nonsense is that?

Posted by at January 19, 2002 09:17 PM

...the official responsible for the new museum - which the government hopes will be ready in time for the 2004 Olympics but currently only exists on paper - will formally ask the British Museum for the sculptures on Monday. On Tuesday, British Museum director Robert Anderson ruled out lending the sculptures to Greece.

For those of you not following, the Greeks and the British are wrestling over rights to a set of Parthenon marbles purchased by Lord Elgin in 1816. The marbles were badly weathered, and Elgin had them placed in the British Museum. Ever since, the Greeks have wanted them back, understandably, since the marbles are a substantial part of their cultural heritage. However, the Greeks also have a substantial amount of other significant sculptures which are inaccessible to the public because the museums don't exist to display them. As mentioned above, the new museum which would theoretically house the marbles doesn't exist yet either. I can't help regarding neglect of important cultural artefacts as no better than their overt destruction (such as the Ottoman fort the Saudis trashed recently or the Taleban's destruction of the Banyan Buddhas) -- so even though the Greeks provided us these roots, they'd better be prepared to justify caretaking them -- and good intentions alone don't cut it. They've got no business asking for the marbles until they've built suitable and secure homes for the other stuff they're squatting over as well as the marbles themselves. However, once they have shown a commitment, they should be allowed to caretake again -- you don't let an abusive or indolent father take out the kids until he's proven his love is more than his idiocy, but if he does prove it, he does have a right that it's fair for him to assert.

Posted by at January 19, 2002 07:16 PM

It will come as no suprise to Kenyans that their police force tops the list of bribe-takers in the first Kenya Urban Bribery Index released by Transparency International.
But they may not know that the six out of 10 urban residents who routinely bribe police to avoid mistreatment or denial of service end up paying what amounts to a "tax" of 2 670 shillings (about R385) a month or one-fourth of the average salary of the cop who flags them over to demand "something small for tea."

Posted by at January 19, 2002 06:54 PM

According to unnamed sources quoted by La Provence, Mr Reid sent an e-mail to several recipients in which he announced his plan to bomb the Roissy to Miami flight and die as a "martyr in the cause of Islam".

Posted by at January 19, 2002 06:47 PM

The Red Hat negotiations -- which are still fluid -- are the latest indication that AOL Time Warner, the world's largest media company, is looking for alternatives to software made by Microsoft, whose Windows operating system runs 90 percent of the world's PCs. The longtime competitors have fought over an array of rival consumer technologies lately, including online subscription services, instant-messaging systems and Web-based video and audio players.

Posted by at January 19, 2002 06:43 PM

A group of Qwest DSL (digital subscriber line) competitors contends that consumers are not being told they have other choices besides MSN, and that once high-speed DSL customers choose MSN it is unreasonably difficult and expensive for them to leave.

Posted by at January 19, 2002 06:33 PM

"We have assumed that the brain did not repair the lesions during more chronic stages of multiple sclerosis because we believed the new cells were not being generated.
"We may be able to manipulate the cells produced by the brain so the cells complete the repair process."

Posted by at January 19, 2002 03:42 PM

Those e-mails revealed publicly for the first time that Cheney ``mentioned Enron'' in his June 27 meeting with Sonia Gandhi, president of India's opposition Congress Party.

Posted by at January 18, 2002 10:34 PM

"One of the things that should come from this is that we should be learning the lessons of what went wrong in Walkerton and we should design our system dealing with the different aspects of delivering safe drinking water so as to ensure that people in Ontario never face the tragedy and the trauma that the people of Walkerton have had to endure," he said.

Posted by at January 18, 2002 03:13 PM

The female genetically modified goats can act like silk protein factories when they give birth and start producing milk in February.

Posted by at January 18, 2002 12:19 PM

In late December, Nortel warned that it would have a net loss of 63 cents US a share for the fourth quarter. The results issued Thursday were slightly better than forecast -- a per-share loss of 57-cents for the final 2001 quarter.

Posted by at January 18, 2002 12:04 AM

As this may indicate, the war bloggers are a hawkish bunch. Sure, Gabrielle Taylor's Moonfarmer presents a fairly catholic link collection with little commentary. Brian Lamb calls his Blowback a "link-bearer for alienated left-wing bloggers everywhere," and he's got the links to The Guardian to prove it.

Thanks for the hat-tip, Tim, even if you seem to think us warbloggers a tiny bit silly.

Posted by at January 17, 2002 11:03 PM

Mathematicians called in by the Metropolitan Police think they have worked out the best way to beat crime in the capital: NDb -(60% x Nc/Nt 40% x Dc/Dt) x 17,585.

Posted by at January 17, 2002 09:10 PM

Posted by at January 17, 2002 08:53 PM

Early reviews have been exultant, heralding Ambrose's ability to create verse that is at once unique and yet, somehow, instantly memorable, as in the book's first poem, "The Fall of the House of Usher":

Posted by at January 17, 2002 02:43 PM

Posted by at January 17, 2002 02:35 PM

When it's fully developed, the SoloTrek would fly at speeds up to 80 mph. The vehicle would run on gasoline and it might go 120 miles without refueling. To prevent the odd gust from crashing you into a tree, the vehicle comes equipped with a sophisticated gyroscopic stabilizing system, which Moshier said is one of the toughest parts of the vehicle to develop.

Posted by at January 17, 2002 01:44 PM

cursor.org's page on Enron. Includes copies of Enron email to employees.

Posted by at January 17, 2002 01:29 PM

Coded files stored on the al-Qaeda computer describe a planned mission to scout Israeli embassy buildings and obtain "preparatory devices for explosives from inside Canada."

Posted by at January 17, 2002 01:25 PM

Ottawa is setting an "extremely alarming" precedent by sending Canadian soldiers on a combat rather than a peace-keeping mission in Afghanistan, the NDP said Thursday.

Posted by at January 17, 2002 01:20 PM

The Truncheon or the Twat

They also tend to have certain ideological characteristics: to a man (and woman) they are as scathingly intolerant of any and all dissent on the War question as they are vehement in their contempt for Arabs °© all Arabs: that is, Arabs as such °© and support for the state of Israel. It's frightening, really, with so many sites °© there must be hundreds of these little war-bots spawned in cyberspace, springing out of the psychic ether like Myrdmidons and lunging at anyone who doesn't toe the Party Line.

On the other hand, I'm in favour of the war -- not because the US has a (comprehensible) vendetta against bin Laden but because the Taliban were a pack of disgusting evil sadists and needed to go. Their treatment of women, homosexuals, and anybody else they considered a deviant was appalling. They had to go, and they would have gone sooner or later anyhow. Not being psychic, I can't be sure that the body count in the US-Afghan conflict is lower than it would have been if Afghanistan had had another civil war, but it seems likely that overall this was the most humane method (which is like saying amputation is superior to death by gangrene).

It's rare that an anti-war commentator offers a better way of handling the Afghan problem -- or related issues like the rise of aggressive anti-Semitism in pre-WWII Germany, apartheid in South Africa, genocide in Rwanda, und so weiter. You can't eliminate a theocratic dictatorship or oligarchy by sanctions because one of the first tenets of virtually all ruling theocracies is "the hardship of this life is inversely proportionate to the pleasure of the next". So anyone with substantial convictions will only be, paradoxically, strengthened by your resistance, and those who are not hardcore are probably not in a position to accomplish anything.

A better solution is to disrupt the state, either by smashing it or subverting it. Smashing it is quicker, but produces more recoil, and must be followed up by the same tactics involved in subversion. Subverting is slower, but has more lasting effects, plus introduces a strategy that can be supported on the long term. Out of the mouths of babes and Dubyas came that 'hearts and minds' crap which, though true, is being completely disregarded in any meaningful sense. Dropping food packets, vacillating about leaving a permanent garrison, sucking the Canadians in to do your dirty work, and then letting warlords like Rostum run all over murdering and looting is not a good way to win anybody's heart (outside of the Bush clan, at least, I don't presume to know what works for him personally).

While a long term, intelligent, and completely shameless subversion strategy would obviously be best, nobody has the realpolitik cold blood necessary. Positioning a hundred free-to-those-who-wash-their-hands porta-falafel-stands in the Tora Bora hills (though clear the mines first, wouldja boys) and, say, a thousand give-an-orgasm-get-an-orgasm prostitutes (protected by at least an equal number of SEALs or Marines) would've done more to win 'hearts and minds' than a thousand dumbass smart bombs. Sadly, I don't see anybody signing up to Whore For Peace (even though whoredom was a respected profession before you men were let in charge).

The real nature of this war was, and continues to be, about freedom versus repression. Whether the US gov't intended to serve freedom by booting the Taliban is irrelevant; they did a good thing by booting them. Human freedom is worth paying lives for -- if that's how it has to be got, which it is, because there is no government on the planet sane enough, or feminine enough, to win with the twat instead of the truncheon. Whoring for peace may not sound as nice as bombing for peace, but there's a much greater chance of physical love (even commercial, bought-and-paid-for-love) turning into emotional love -- than, say, a bullet in the head turning into emotional love. Isn't love what all this fighting's about?

However, solving global problems by ineffective sanctions or questionably effective violence is the order du jour -- while something better would be nice, one has to be intelligent about one's odds and take the best thing available (while continuing to agitate, of course). One has to keep one's eye on the goal and do anything that furthers that end. Any more fastidious attitude is egotistical and doomed -- the biggest problem with the left is that it predominantly wants what it wants and it wants it in a very specific and stylized sort of way. Sure, it would be nicer if the Taliban could be peacefully replaced with a democratically and gender-balanced set of wise elders. But put that way, doesn't it sound... unlikely?

So get over yourselves, warbloggers, and don't be so sure you can control the debate: there are some of us who just won't be "disciplined" all that easily.

Nobody controls the debate. Nobody can control the debate. The internet is live, global, and pervasive. I don't watch news on teevee because it is controlled; some idiot is deciding what's going to be interesting to me for the next half hour to an hour interspersed with commercials for stuff I don't want. I can get the same amount of information off the net in five minutes or my pizza's free. If I go to a website and it bores or otherwise doesn't impress, I click away. Everybody (with some exceptions in countries foolish enough to think they can control the internet, hoc etiam transibit) can do that.

With hundreds of millions of people online (some of us who have been blogging even longer than Mister Raimondo -- now now, I won't be like that) what's the point in flipping out about a few people who get excited enough to, on their own dime and time, do their own extended dance remix of the world news? Isn't it more amazing that, not only is it possible and cheap to do so, but that people care enough to get involved? This isn't high school, this is the world. There's room for more than one group of Cool People.

Posted by at January 17, 2002 12:52 PM

"If we find ourselves in a situation of conflict ° it's a hypothesis ° of war, of confrontation, we wouldn't make threats, we'd act," said Villeneuve.

Posted by at January 17, 2002 11:26 AM

Robinson says most legal experts disagree with Washington's view that the fighters are illegal combatants and therefore not protected by the Geneva Conventions.

Duh.

Posted by at January 17, 2002 11:24 AM

The NORAD home page declares its mission to include "the detection, validation, and warning of attack against North America whether by aircraft, missiles, or space vehicles." It may seem ungallant to say the obvious, but since no one else has, I will: At the aircraft part of this mission, NORAD sucks.

Posted by at January 17, 2002 11:11 AM

If Harris and his cabinet didn't hear the plainly sounded alarms, it was because they didn't want to, and didn't want the public to either, the report suggests.
With the government determined to slash red tape, even worried scientists and other officials felt powerless to push for tighter rules, the report concludes.
The result was long-lasting confusion in the protocol for reporting bad water that kept health officials in the dark and allowed Stan Koebel to keep quiet when he learned Walkerton's water was contaminated.

Posted by at January 17, 2002 11:00 AM

No one knows whether the original thief came back for Perron's car after police left, said lawyer Cathie St-Germain, who represents General Accident.
Maybe a new thief took advantage of an opportunity upon noticing the Acura's steering column was broken and the ignition forced with a screwdriver, she added.

Posted by at January 17, 2002 10:57 AM

In Montreal, Haouari's former lawyer said the U.S. criminal justice system made an example of his client with the harsh sentence. Joseph Elfassy said Haouari might have received a lighter punishment in Canada. He added that the sentence probably would have been reduced if Haouari had co-operated with authorities from the moment of his arrest.

Posted by at January 17, 2002 10:54 AM

"The law allows (a person) to come to the door naked. It just doesn't let him go outside," said Pelote, D-Savannah. "I don't even want him coming to the door naked."

Posted by at January 17, 2002 10:22 AM

The researchers isolated the neutrons from the three other forces in a specially designed detector. They were able to show the slow-moving, uncharged particles fall under the influence of gravity as predicted. The particles jumped from one height to another.

Posted by at January 17, 2002 10:22 AM

Dear Doctor Rude,
I think I understand what a "platonic kiss" is, but could you explain to me the difference between the following kisses?
1. Aristotelian kiss
2. Hegelian kiss
3. Wittgensteinian kiss
4. Godelian kiss
Signed,
Flummoxed in Florida

Posted by at January 17, 2002 09:53 AM

Getting to the bottom of Enron's 3,000 or so partnerships and subsidiaries, nearly 900 of which are offshore, will not be easy. What is known is that the dealings between Enron and the various partnerships were not conducted at arm's length, as the company contended until questions arose last fall. In some partnerships, Enron's shareholders were responsible for partnership debts even though they did not benefit from the entities.

Posted by at January 17, 2002 09:44 AM

°ƒDefeating terrorism is going to require undermining the ends-justify-the-means amorality of terrorism, and the only way to do that is to reaffirm human rights as particular suspects are pursued,°± executive director Kenneth Roth said in an interview.
°ƒOtherwise, you may end up capturing a particular terrorist but you reaffirm the logic of terrorism ° the view that anything goes in the name of a cause,°± he said.

Posted by at January 17, 2002 09:42 AM

The South Korean court said it ruled against him because he neither attended trials nor appointed an attorney to defend himself -- equivalent to a confession under South Korean laws.

Posted by at January 17, 2002 09:40 AM

"What can we do? We are hungry. We have no food in our homes. We have to dig up these things and sell them," Mohammad said. "We don't worry about our history. We just think of our hunger."

Posted by at January 17, 2002 09:37 AM

The 75-year-old queen is described as caring more about dogs and horses than her subjects and damned as a failed mother whose negligence towards her dysfunctional family has damaged Britain's 1,000-year-old monarchy.

The British monarchy has such a history of family unity -- hardly ever beheaded any ex-wives.

Posted by at January 17, 2002 08:31 AM

PW: I like to think of this as the Napster recession. If you plot the stock markets before September 11th, you can see that the crucial court rulings are almost like hinge points where the market bends up or down. The stock prices go up after a favorable ruling for Napster and drop afterwards. It's probably a bit silly to ascribe all of the market's zeitgeist to one company, but the end of Napster is really the biggest roadblock for the personal computer. Until Napster crashed, everyone kept predicting more, bigger and better things for the humming space heaters under the desks.

LL: This is an important and under discussed point. We have seen a dramatic crash in the market. Why? Most attribute it exclusively to "irrational expectations." But meanwhile there has been a very dramatic change in the legal environment within which the take-off occurred. This change must have had an effect.

Posted by at January 17, 2002 08:22 AM

The Confederation took the step to avoid presenting a "third-world image" during the most high-profile tournament on the continent.

Posted by at January 17, 2002 08:20 AM

"This is the new sex, or certainly the new safe sex," Weintrob says. "People are more willing to be sexually open when they don't have to touch each other. Now they can see and hear one another -- and someday they'll maybe even be able to feel each other -- without any actual human contact."

Posted by at January 17, 2002 08:03 AM

I SHOPPED AT the Audible.com site to find out exactly how much it would cost me to get the Otis player. By purchasing a 12-month Basic Listener subscription for $12.95 a month--which includes one audio book and a one-month subscription to the content program of your choice--I could get the Otis player for $74.90 ($49 for the player, $12.95 for the first month, plus $12.95 shipping and handling to my New York address). For an extra $3 a month, I could get a Premium Listener subscription, which includes two audio books a month instead.

Posted by at January 17, 2002 06:47 AM

Nick Park has set into production 12 exciting new Wallace and Gromit films all to be released later this year, free of charge with the help of the internet. Each film features one of Wallace's unique new inventions and runs for approximately 1 minute.

Posted by at January 17, 2002 06:33 AM

Ottawa refused to say if the Canadian passport used was a fraudulently obtained document.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 08:59 PM

A mid-level diplomat at the time, Knyazev, 46, was driving in Ottawa on Jan. 27, 2001, when his car hit the two women as they walked on the sidewalk.

The incident created an uproar over diplomatic immunity, which increased in intensity with revelations Knyazev had been accused of driving drunk before.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 03:11 PM

Prime Minister Jean Chrtien°Øs biggest-ever cabinet shuffle promotes the able, rewards the loyal and punishes those who haven°Øt measured up. Thus, Foreign Affairs Minister (and prime ministerial hopeful) John Manley becomes deputy prime minister and minister of infrastructure and Crown corporations, while former Public Works Minister Alfonso Gagliano, dogged by controversy, becomes ambassador to Denmark.

Being posted to Denmark is punishment? He's still got a fucking job, unlike 8% of the rest of Canada, the prick!

Posted by at January 16, 2002 03:07 PM

We, the undersigned, demand a Special Prosecutor to investigate all of the crimes that preceeded the collapse of Enron, and the possible involvement of the Bush administration in those crimes.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 11:19 AM

If a dozen years ago you had asked an ecologist uninterested in politics to name the countries with the most fragile environments, the most urgent public health problems and the most severe overpopulation (measured against available resources), the answer would have included Afghanistan, Burundi, Haiti, Iraq, Nepal, Rwanda, Somalia, Yugoslavia and Zimbabwe. The close match between that list and the list of the world's political hot spots today is no accident. In contrast, countries with well-maintained environments and modest populations, such as Belize, Bhutan and Norway, are no danger to us.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 11:18 AM

The kickoff at the Montreal courthouse attracted few spectators to watch Boucher, 48, relaxed and smiling, walk shackled into the prisoner's box. Wearing a black turtleneck and tan pants, he scanned the room for familiar faces.
He found none until a young Hells supporter showed up with his head shaved. On one side of his head was a Harley-Davidson tattoo while the back of his skull had "Kill the Rock Machine" stenciled in crude jailhouse writing (the Rock Machine, a rival gang, has been absorbed into the Bandidos, another biker gang). The top of his head contained a racist skinhead sign.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 10:55 AM

Andersen has said its Houston auditors started deleting Enron e-mails on Oct. 23 and stopped Nov. 9. Bedser said his firm has been able to recover Lotus Notes e-mail messages that were deleted up to eight months earlier. Andersen used Lotus Notes.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 10:49 AM

How can I get personal belongings still at the office?

Please call 713-345-7624 and leave the following information: your name, the business unit you worked for, floor you worked on, and a contact number. Someone will call you within the next day or so to arrange a time for you to come to the office to get your personal belongings.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 10:40 AM

Foss is a member of a three-party coalition government led by Lutheran clergyman Kjell Magne Bondevik of the Christian Democratic party, which opposes gay marriage. Foss, however, was openly gay when he joined the party, and it has not infringed on his political career.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 10:29 AM

"If Mr Pasko launches an appeal for a pardon, it will be looked into," Putin said at a joint press conference in Paris with French President Jacques Chirac.

However, the journalist made clear that he is not keen on requesting a pardon, which he has earlier would indirectly be an admission of guilt.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 10:14 AM

Wiley's disappearance had raised concerns about a possible terrorist connection because he had done research on a number of potentially deadly viruses, including Ebola, a highly contagious and lethal fever.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 10:08 AM

Along with other top Enron officials, Lay's problem--both as an executive and as a possible criminal defendant--wasn't that he lacked information; it was that he denied it to others. The "warning" about the partnerships was likely met with a shrug: Tell me something I don't know.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 10:05 AM

The fired partner, David B. Duncan, called a meeting of auditors at the firm's Houston office and ordered "an expedited effort to destroy documents" on Oct. 23, the day after Enron disclosed that the S.E.C. had begun its inquiry, the firm said. The destruction apparently did not end until Mr. Duncan's assistant sent an e-mail message to other secretaries on Nov. 9 that said "stop the shredding," the firm said. Andersen had received a subpoena from the S.E.C. the day before.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 10:01 AM

"Youth is not absolution for treachery, and personal self-discovery is not an excuse to take up arms against one's country. Misdirected Americans cannot seek direction in murderous ideologies and expect to avoid the consequences," Ashcroft said.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 09:59 AM

Among the largest Enron shareholders, according the personal financial disclosure forms, are senior adviser to the President Karl Rove and Undersecretary of State Charlotte Beers, who each held between $100,001 and $250,000 of stock when their forms were filed. Others include Zoellick and Undersecretary of Commerce Grant Aldonas, who each owned between $15,001 and $50,000 of stock when they were nominated.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 09:40 AM

This is that rare thing, an encyclopaedia you want to go on reading. Some entries are terse and functional, but most celebrate the intimacy between physiology and achievement. Hygeia was the goddess of healthy living and hygiene has a powerful role in the battle against disease; but it didn't take 20th-century savants long to get to less healthy ideas of racial hygiene, or start worrying about sexual hygiene. Here you go straight from sexual hygiene to hymen, with the additional information that the Virgin Mary's unbroken hymen was likened by medieval thinkers to "a pane of glass that the sun passed through without piercing". The stuff that follows on hyperbaric chambers is almost as gripping, and there are entries on physical actions such as gasp and gaze so neatly put as to provoke a deep, near maximal inspiration through an open mouth, followed by a wide-eyed stare.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 08:43 AM

The Trash Compactor Debate turns on whether the Death Star ejects its trash into space. I, for one, believe it does. Though we never see the Death Star ejecting its trash, we do see another Empire ship, the so-called Star Destroyer, ejecting its trash into space. I therefore see no reason to suspect that Empire protocol dictating that trash be ejected into space would not apply equally to all Empire spacecraft, including the Death Star.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 08:21 AM

Think newspaper. In the roll-to-roll system, amorphous (non-crystalline) silicon transistors are deposited in precise patterns onto a continuously unwinding ribbon of plastic as it rolls through a vacuum chamber. The final cost of four to eight cents per square centimeter is "vastly lower" than that of crystalline silicon wafers, says Sheats, making it affordable to space transistors as far apart as the pixels in a display.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 08:17 AM

Under general damages, Corbin is seeking $20,000 for pain and suffering, $5,000 for embarrassment, humiliation and emotional distress, $85 for damaged clothing and $9.50 for the salve and hot chocolate.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 08:00 AM

...Mr. Krause said New Year's Eve passed "smoothly and quietly." Six hundred frozen McCain mini-pizzas had been warmed up and distributed as promised to prisoners after their 10:30 p.m. lockup. But by the next day, rumours had begun circulating that while the medium-security male offenders were in their cells munching their 50-cent pizzas (taken out of their food allowance), they were also treated to a pornographic broadcast through the institution's internal cable system.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 07:52 AM

Garlic industry attorney Mike Coursey said imports from Thailand suspiciously shot up last year, and that domestic garlic producers estimate between 4.5 and 6.8 million kilos of Chinese garlic leaked into the United States illegally.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 07:46 AM

A debate is heating up in the academic community over whether software that is generated by publicly funded research must be released with an open source license. The Internet is one example of how releasing research code benefited the public, but the trend seems to be changing now, and universities are more likely to consider the profit opportunity. The Bayh-Dole Act paved the way for the privatization of publicly funded resources, but not everyone is happy with the results.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 07:34 AM

MISSING-IN-ACTION: Two lower-torsos, 179 stuffed 'lips' and several metres of luminous plastic strips.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 06:56 AM

The exit of Sun Media from the [Canadian Newspaper Association] would represent a significant blow to the industry group, a defender of the interests of daily and community newspapers, particularly in government relations. Industry sources estimate about 20 per cent of the CNA's annual $2-million budget comes from Sun Media, about $400,000.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 06:46 AM

Peroch said he had not insured the collection because he believed his security was impregnable to thieves, and had not thought about fires.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 06:44 AM

When a person thinks, parts of the brain need more oxygen. Having performed fMRIs on people engaged in guilty-knowledge tests, Langleben claims to have isolated the location in the brain active during willful deception. He believes it is the anterior cingulate cortex, a part of the brain often associated with conflict. Though a subject might control supposed autonomic responses, this discovery is promising because we could pinpoint the very act of deception.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 06:31 AM

As for the pop-behind ad, being used more and more, e-Poll found that 72.4% of surfers "always close this type of ad without paying attention to it," and 40% said their opinion of advertisers that use pop-behinds is lowered, while 36% said the same about the Web sites that allow such advertising.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 06:25 AM

"In the early days [porn] may have been number one perhaps because then there was not much else to do online [....] The amount is completely over-exaggerated."

Posted by at January 16, 2002 06:23 AM

"This is the first interactive documentary. These are real people's lives and real events over which viewers are going to have some control. Nobody knows what's going to happen," said Jeremy Mills, Lion Television director. "We'll be looking at these players as people, because what goes on off the pitch affects what happens on the pitch," he added.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 06:19 AM

The suspected Ramses mummy found a home at a museum affiliated with Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Scientists there are comparing his DNA to that of other royals to see if he really is the famed king.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 06:17 AM

If the word "diesel" brings to mind boggy performance, clattering under the hood, and the reek of kerose, fear not. These cars accelerate decently, and they don't stink or clatter. The smaller one, Volkswagen's teeny Lupo 3L TDI, is a celebrity in Europe, where its fuel consumption of just three liters per 100 highway kilometers (about 99 mpg) makes it the efficiency champ. The featherweight Lupo has a tiny three-cylinder, 1.2-liter engine, but it is nourished by a variable-output turbocharger that inhales cool, dense air from an intercooler. Combined with the latest in electronic direct fuel injection, these features coax 61 horsepower and surprising low-end torque from the little power plant. Which is enough to carry you about your daily rounds, we learned.

Posted by at January 16, 2002 06:07 AM

Lusaka newspapers Tuesday quoted the youths as saying they understood that Mwanawasa had directed an end to ``suggestive and provocative'' or ``slut wear'' dressing by women.

Posted by at January 15, 2002 03:50 PM

The court refused to strike down Section 43 of the Criminal Code, which permits parents, teachers and guardians to use corporal punishment to correct behaviour. But the ruling did place strict limits on what kinds of physical discipline are acceptable.

Posted by at January 15, 2002 02:34 PM

The Kifah al-Arabi daily noted that "this incident highlighted the harmful effects of the fast-food products promoted by the 'globalization' of the United States."

Posted by at January 15, 2002 10:32 AM

Many of our entries detailed ways to compensate the victims who lost most of their pensions when Enron collapsed. maccdw seemed to have the best idea:

Posted by at January 15, 2002 10:27 AM

The internal company documents will be made public to show that Ottawa was justified in passing one of the world's toughest tobacco legislations, government lawyer Maurice Regnier told the court, reading parts of those memos into the record.

Posted by at January 15, 2002 06:10 AM

Posted by at January 15, 2002 05:40 AM

Now, the exciting part! As soon as your friends fill in their secret details in the questionnaire, the data will be mailed to you!! 99% of the time, your friend will fill in all their secrets. Imagine knowing all your friend's secret just like that.

Posted by at January 14, 2002 11:27 AM

UN field commander Daniel Opande said the peacekeeping force should congratulate itself "for a job well done".
He told the rebel commanders: "Your task now as civilians is to sustain the peace you have now given your people, especially the children who have to go to school."
The rebels earned a reputation for press-ganging children into their ranks and cutting off limbs in a war marked by brutality to civilians on all sides.

Posted by at January 14, 2002 10:47 AM

"Computer forensics is going to play an important role in recovering documents in the Enron case," said John Patzakis, president and general counsel of Guidance software, a company in Pasadena, Calif., that makes hardware and software used by law enforcement authorities as well as the Big Five accounting firms.

Posted by at January 14, 2002 10:46 AM

"The Mayor of Toronto is THE FRIEND OF HELLS!" screamed the front page of the province's best read daily, Le Journal de Montreal, which also ran logos of the mayor gladhanding the outlaw biker atop its three pages of coverage on the largest outlaw biker gathering in Toronto's history.
The handshake from Mel also made the front page of Le Soleil and appeared in La Presse, appearing just as a series of biker trials are beginning in Quebec.

Posted by at January 14, 2002 10:42 AM

...in 2001, 232 people were shot dead by police, compared to 23 victims of criminals - meaning that the forces of law and order were responsible for 90% of gunshot deaths.

Posted by at January 14, 2002 10:41 AM

Safiya Husaini was sentenced in October by a court in Sokoto after being found guilty of adultery. Because she is a divorced woman who gave birth to a baby girl in Feburary, the court ruled she was guilty of adultery.
Ms. Husaini's lawyers will argue she was raped and, therefore, not liable under the law. They will also argue that the alleged offence took place before Islamic sharia law came into effect, making the sentence retroactive.

Posted by at January 14, 2002 10:40 AM

"Six of them did full-time national service in the army," the Straits Times declared pointedly on its front page, setting off alarm bells in this security-conscious city state.

Posted by at January 14, 2002 10:38 AM

To start, Lynch has a good deal of musical talent. Pop A Little Bit Special into your CD player and before you have processed the Lyrics your ears will be happy. The album starts off with a lovely little "Lullaby" that sounds much like any other soothing bedtime story: "Hush, little girl, sweet baby don't cry tonight/Daddy is here and he'll sing you a soft lullaby tonight." But Lynch's warped sense of humor shines through in the next few lines, as he explains why Mommy's not here anymore: "Cause daddy like porno and ten dollar whores."

Posted by at January 14, 2002 10:36 AM

"The laws are patently illegal and designed to deprive the media of its constitutional right to freedom of expression," spokesman Zoe Titus said.

Posted by at January 14, 2002 10:32 AM

Pastrana was responding to a 14-point negotiating blueprint produced by commanders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- known by the Spanish initials FARC -- on the brink of a government deadline after two days of intense talks with a special U.N. envoy. The rebel negotiating document, produced with the help of U.N. mediator James LeMoyne, was "not satisfactory for the government or the president," he said.

Posted by at January 14, 2002 10:31 AM

Administration officials said Enron did not get any special help from them. But Democrats in Congress are gearing up for hearings into the close ties between Enron and Mr. Bush's administration.
In a letter sent to Mr. O'Neill and Mr. Evans today, Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, the senior Democrat on the House Committee on Government Reform, asked whether the administration's contacts with Enron had given them early warnings of the company's financial trouble that could have helped avert big losses for shareholders and employees.
"The purpose of the request," Mr. Waxman's letter said, "is to determine why the administration apparently did nothing to mitigate the harm of the Enron bankruptcy to thousands of its employees and shareholders."

Posted by at January 14, 2002 10:30 AM

The outside world is trying to help bring some measure of stability to the country. The United States, or "the Big Boss," as many here call it, continues to bomb suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban hide-outs almost nightly in the south and east of the country in an attempt to root out terrorists. International peacekeepers are beginning to patrol the capital, Kabul. Aid agencies are flying and trucking humanitarian supplies as quickly as possible into a country where the United Nations operates on its highest threat level.
Despite such efforts, this is a land so perilous it can boggle the mind of anyone who has lived in peace. Afghans say that, since the fall of the Taliban, murder, bribery, kidnapping, extortion--crimes committed primarily by soldiers working for one warlord or another, most believe--have only grown worse.

Posted by at January 14, 2002 10:24 AM

"It is not a reasonable expectation for there to be an immediate de-escalation on the border," the Indian foreign minister, Jaswant Singh, said Sunday. "We have to see if there are any gaps between what is said and what is done." Mr. Singh said "the lessening of tensions on the border is entirely dependent on the steps inside Pakistan to operationalize the steps that have been stated by his excellency, General Musharraf."

Posted by at January 14, 2002 10:23 AM

Though there are no firm rules on how long accounting firms must retain documents, most hold on to a wide range of them for several years. Any deliberate destruction of documents subject to subpoena is illegal. In Arthur Andersen's dealings with the documents related to Enron, "the mind-set seemed to be, If not required to keep it, then get rid of it," says Ken Johnson, spokesman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, whose investigators first got wind of the Oct. 12 memo and which is pursuing one of half a dozen investigations of Enron. "Anyone who destroyed records out of stupidity should be fired," said committee chairman Billy Tauzin, a Louisiana Republican. "Anyone who destroyed records to try to circumvent our investigation should be prosecuted."

Posted by at January 14, 2002 10:17 AM

These links take you directly to the "opt out" feature of the ad server listed. Clicking these links stop the advertising from that adserver.

Posted by at January 14, 2002 08:02 AM

The low-salt, low-protein diet allowed 2,900 milligrams of salt per day; 2,400 is the maximum recommended by the American Heart Association. But people were allowed only about three-quarters of an ounce of meat per day, with just over an ounce of cheese or other dairy protein.

Posted by at January 14, 2002 07:35 AM

...Shuster contended their most enduring classic is a spoof of a Shakespearean baseball team, the Stratford Nine, with some of it going like this: "O, what a rogue and bush league slob am I, who has 10 days gone hitless."

Posted by at January 14, 2002 07:19 AM

"It's time to take the Alliance out of the closet. It's time to break all the stereotypes of the party being racist and anti-gay and make it a truly national party," he said.

Posted by at January 14, 2002 07:14 AM

One of this writer's favourite programs generated random numbers and just shoved them into the memory at random addresses until the computer crashed with a multicoloured flashing mess on the screen. Then you pulled the plug out and started again. I wouldn't have any idea how to do that to a PC and I doubt a PC could survive it.

Posted by at January 14, 2002 05:28 AM

A well-known First Nations' columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, Cuthand wrote an essay last week sympathetic to the plight of Palestinians in Israel.
He said their loss of land, placement in camps and control by a more powerful force, made them similar to Canada's aboriginal peoples. But the column was axed by editors at both Southam newspapers, part of the chain controlled by the Asper family of Winnipeg through its media giant, CanWest Global Communications.

Posted by at January 13, 2002 06:08 PM

The attackers carried their weapons onto the course in golf bags and used a rocket-propelled grenade to kill officials.

Posted by at January 13, 2002 06:06 PM

"It's unbelievable that [Mugabe] should have become what he has become. I've said sometimes that he's almost a caricature of the kind of leader that the world thinks African leaders tend to be. And it's a great sadness, great sadness to see the subverting of the rule of law, seeking to cling to power, at all costs. It is horrible, horrible, horrible. And we have to, in a way, hang our heads in shame." -- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Posted by at January 13, 2002 02:04 PM

"The agreement raises legitimate questions since it appears to provide a means for flooding a part of the kindergarten through high school market in which Microsoft has not traditionally been the strongest player (particularly in relation to Apple) with Microsoft software and refurbished PCs," Motz wrote in a 21-page opinion.

Posted by at January 13, 2002 12:03 PM

We are ex-porn addicts or are experienced with porn addiction to different degrees.

Posted by at January 12, 2002 09:14 PM

So, while the Ottawa Sun has the Auditor General saying "Gagliano actions 'not appropriate", the Globe and Mail reports that the federal ethics counsellor will not be investigating charges of patronage nonsense coming out of Public Works. Could that illustrate that the federal government shouldn't be in charge of keeping itself honest?

Posted by at January 12, 2002 11:02 AM

The story of Chewco and Jedi and Enron's many other outside partnerships is central to congressional and federal law-enforcement investigations of the company's collapse, according to members of Congress and sources familiar with those inquiries.

Posted by at January 12, 2002 10:59 AM

Microsoft and Disney will become the most important allies in defending the core values of the Internet. -- Larry Lessig

Posted by at January 11, 2002 06:18 PM

When I was a child, my first paintings were of the bull dancers of ancient Crete, and their bare-breasted, snake entwined Goddess. I don't know why I had to paint Her, but I do know that my 5th grade teacher was embarrassed by my obsession with the imagery... this project brings me great joy!

Posted by at January 11, 2002 05:30 PM

He praised President Bush's response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, then added, ``The economy is something else, but I'm not going to make a political speech.'' Just as he seemed ready to do just that and shift into full campaign mode, he changed the tone: ``I am concerned about the economy. I was the first one laid off.''

Posted by at January 11, 2002 01:58 PM

Any list that ranks the Ramones (sorry Joey, but really) above the Stones is just trying to be stupid.

Posted by at January 11, 2002 01:50 PM

The technology works through a small electronic device that includes a 400-word dictionary of objectionable words. Every time these words are spoken, they are removed from the soundtrack and the viewer will hear a momentary gap in speech. In captions, the words are replaced by a series of XXXXs.

Posted by at January 11, 2002 01:40 PM

In the STRICTLY SPAM category, where entrants were required to construct a poem entirely out of phrases from spam emails:

Posted by at January 11, 2002 12:58 PM

"In November of 2001 AOL Time Warner, responding to a subpoena from Attorney General John Ashcroft, made available to the Justice Department a complete archive of all private conversations held over AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). Through the power of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Google was able to obtain a copy of this entire logfile, totaling over 2 terabytes of conversations previously thought to be private."

Posted by at January 11, 2002 12:25 PM

Posted by at January 11, 2002 11:09 AM

Saudi Arabia has been accused of the °ƒcultural massacre°± of Ottoman treasures after the al-Ajyad Castle was razed so that the bin Laden Construction Company could build an hotel, blocks of flats and a shopping mall.

Posted by at January 11, 2002 10:14 AM

The former soldiers ° most of whom were fighting Americans only a month ago ° are free to live and work here under a general amnesty. Most have not even bothered to change their distinctive headgear and beards.
They are accepted here. This is their home, and many in a city sliding into lawlessness bemoan the fall of Omar and his fundamentalists. One could not fly a kite or watch television, but there was little crime.

I notice it's mostly men bitching about how great the Tali-e-ban was.

Posted by at January 11, 2002 10:14 AM

Her °Ã25,000 bonus ° a fraction of the °Ã1.5 million given to two male colleagues ° had been °ƒpicked from the air°± and should have been °Ã170,000, the panel said.

Posted by at January 11, 2002 09:53 AM

But probably the most obvious case against the marriage lies in Disney's own recent ineptitude with the ink and paint. With Disney's in-house animation studio losing its touch at the box office, it is forced to rely on its 50-50 partnership with Pixar (Nasdaq: PIXR) to produce the sure things like Monsters Inc. and Toy Story 2. Who heads up Pixar? None other than Bill Gates' long-time arch-enemy Steve Jobs. With Disney newsgroup purists clamoring for the entertainment giant to find a way to get the Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and the Pixar chief more involved in helping Disney locate the vision Eisner has squandered, can anyone fathom the bizarre possibility that the next Microsoft CEO could be none other than Jobs? I sure can't.

Posted by at January 11, 2002 07:24 AM

New Yorkers who believe they saw American Airlines Flight 587 explode in flames before its tail sheared off have accused crash investigators of ignoring their eyewitness accounts and prematurely ruling out a terrorist attack.

On the other hand, eyewitnesses are notoriously unreliable.

Posted by at January 11, 2002 02:31 AM

"When you carefully consider FOIA requests and decide to withhold records, in whole or in part, you can be assured that the Department of Justice will defend your decisions unless they lack a sound legal basis or present an unwarranted risk of adverse impact on the ability of other agencies to protect other important records."

Posted by at January 11, 2002 02:14 AM

Are we as a nation forgetting what our international critics have been saying for years? Aren't we supposed to be a big, terrifying nation -- a Godzilla of capitalism, wrecking the globe? Since when does Godzilla flip out because he might have brushed against something in the mail room while he was devouring Trenton, New Jersey?

Posted by at January 11, 2002 02:12 AM

Little information is being released about the fatality but what is known is a 61-year-old Victoria woman was at work on Jan. 3. She told co-workers she had a sore left leg. Within 24-hours of developing flesh-eating disease the woman was dead. When she was found, her left leg had an open wound, and was five times the size of her right leg.

Posted by at January 11, 2002 02:07 AM

New documents -- taken from 148 volumes of personal papers and records kept by Gen. William J. Donovan during the Nuremberg trials -- will be posted every six months, along with commentary from scholars.

Posted by at January 11, 2002 02:05 AM

Litigants "cannot readily obtain (bin Laden's) address and should not be made to wait until his apprehension or demise to commence litigation," the judge said.

Posted by at January 11, 2002 02:02 AM

A Pentagon spokesman said the decision was made because the Red Cross raised an objection, contending the images would violate international laws on the treatment of prisoners. "The Geneva Convention prohibits humiliating, debasing photos," said Rear-Adm. Craig Quigley. "We need to be cautious in case there is a legal action somewhere downstream."
But officials at the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva said the organization had not contacted the Pentagon about photographs taken in Afghanistan.

Posted by at January 11, 2002 02:01 AM

Burhan Jan's 15-year-old son, Inzar, married a local girl about his age, and people came to Qalai Niazi from miles around for the wedding. About 3:30 a.m., while the family and their guests slept in the largest house after an evening of celebration, the U.S. planes attacked.

Posted by at January 11, 2002 01:59 AM

The investigators said they believe Reid was given the shoes containing the bombs only hours before he was scheduled to board an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami.

Posted by at January 11, 2002 01:26 AM

Bernard Shifman, "Computer Consultant" spammed me in November 2001. I reported him, as I have done with the other 12,000 pieces of spam I have received since 1998, to his ISP, et al. Shifman then began his assault by sending me an obscenity-laden email. I'm not sure, but I think he wants to have sex with me.

Posted by at January 10, 2002 11:18 PM

Meanwhile, hundreds of Zambian women have marched topless through the streets of Lusaka, in protest against alleged vote rigging in last month's elections.

Posted by at January 10, 2002 10:55 PM

The Predator spy plane and other unmanned drones and gunships (along with satellites, thermal imaging devices, X-ray scanners, etc.) not only search for the enemy, but fire guided missiles, drop powerful oxygen-sucking hyperbaric bombs, and guide bomb strikes from afar. There is no war in recent human history that involved so few humans, at least on one side of the conflict. The most staggering statistic out of Afghanistan might be that the first American combat casualty died nearly three months into the "war."

Posted by at January 10, 2002 10:46 PM

The assembly -- the lower of two parliaments -- is intended to work alongside a transitional government that also shares power between Hutus and Tutsis, in the hope of bridging Burundi's deep ethnic divide.
But fighting in the tiny central African country intensified immediately after the new cabinet was put in place. The main Hutu rebel groups have refused to sign a cease-fire, saying real power lies with the Tutsi-dominated army, not Bujumbura.

Posted by at January 10, 2002 10:44 PM

"Everyone is losing patience with Mugabe and the EU will tell Zimbabwe that it must live by the Cotonou agreement or face sanctions," one senior diplomat told the Financial Gazette.
Under the Cotonou agreement governing relations between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, Zimbabwe must uphold democracy, human rights and the rule of law, which Mugabe refuses to do.

Posted by at January 10, 2002 10:41 PM

Detective Chief Superintendent Ian Lynch, leading the inquiry, said that the detective, who has not been named, contacted the North Yorkshire force, which was then sent the missing woman's fingerprint details from South Korea.

Posted by at January 10, 2002 10:27 PM

The write-offs will be unprecedented in stock market history and will result in US businesses reporting losses of a magnitude never seen before. Although the write-offs are book-keeping exercises that do not involve any cash, they will prove to be embarrassing for many chief executives.

Posted by at January 10, 2002 10:25 PM

"The whole of South Africa was occupied by a biologically modern people who had evolved about 150,000 years ago," Henshilwood said. Now, he said, "there is no doubt that the people in southern Africa were behaviorally modern 70,000 years ago."

Posted by at January 10, 2002 07:39 PM

...even if the news reports are focusing on the hunt for Osama bin Laden and the fallen Taliban, the politics of Washington go on. What's not being covered are the previously debated policies of President George W. Bush and his administration and the wheelings and dealings of lobbyists that are going on in the dark wings of our threatened national security. There are issues and actions deserving of daylight and debate. There are decisions being made that could - that will - have as profound an impact on the future as an international web of terrorists.

Posted by at January 10, 2002 02:28 PM

New Brunswick lawyer Robert Basque says while the official response from Canada Lands is that it's inappropriate to comment on the allegations, everyone on the board knew what was going on.
"It was certain phone calls, in certain circumstances, being asked to hire certain people or to give contracts to certain persons, that kind of thing. Those are things that Mr. Grant has been telling the board of directors since my arrival on the board two years ago," said Basque.

Posted by at January 10, 2002 02:25 PM

It was the worst U.S. casualty toll of the Afghanistan campaign, and included the first woman killed since U.S.-led Afghan bombing began in early October.

What a crazy war!

Posted by at January 10, 2002 02:18 PM

However, Web site authors can include a META tag on their pages (and it will have to appear on every page if you want every page protected from Redmond interference) to prevent Smart Tags from appearing.
To protect your pages, cut and paste the following tag into the head of each Web page on your site(s):

Posted by at January 10, 2002 12:49 PM

This is an action to challenge the constitutionality of Congress's attempt to remove and radically deplete the supply of literary and artistic works from the public domain. Central to the constitutional design of our copyright system is the preservation of a rich and vibrant public domain in which books, paintings, drawings, music, films, photographs, and other artistic works are free for all to use and copy which, in turn, fuels the further creation of original works of authorship.

Posted by at January 10, 2002 11:22 AM

The long-running controversy surrounding Mr. Gagliano intensified Wednesday when The Globe and Mail reported that Jon Grant, former chairman of the Canada Lands Co., said the minister and his office repeatedly tried to interfere in the internal affairs of the Crown corporation, pushing for specific projects and the hiring of friends.

Posted by at January 10, 2002 10:29 AM

While Parkinson's fall from grace was temporary -- he was welcomed back into the cabinet fold after a suitable period of penance on the backbenches -- his former mistress and illegitimate daughter were forced to live in virtual secrecy.
The order was so strict that Flora was banned from appearing in school photographs or taking part in school plays. The media could not even report on the order's existence.

Posted by at January 10, 2002 10:20 AM

"Such news is just baseless speculation. China will increase its defense power based on its own needs," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi.

Would that just be 50 nukes then?

Posted by at January 10, 2002 10:05 AM

The confusion over the ministers and a possible local deal to release them raised questions over the control Kabul's interim administration exercises outside the capital and the role local warlords play in the hunt for leaders of the vanquished militia.

Posted by at January 10, 2002 09:39 AM

The fear of being fined keeps potential defectors in line, and the power to punish gives willing cooperators a sense of security. These dynamics may explain why early humans banded together into cooperative groups for hunting or warfare.

Posted by at January 10, 2002 07:14 AM

"If a woman wants to become an engineer, she will become an engineer," he said. "The point is that boys are behind in school, and the question is, why?"

Posted by at January 10, 2002 06:52 AM

The companies all agree on who makes the easiest target. "Men can always be seduced if the woman operative is reasonably good-looking," says Hiwatashi. "That's an absolute. Men are basically simpletons."
Japan's decade-long recession and the James Bond allure of the job make recruiting operatives easy. Lady's Secret Service receives more than 20 resumes a day, some from doctors, nurses and lawyers bored with their 9-to-5 lives, others from celebrities looking for a profession that will outlast their public appeal.

Posted by at January 10, 2002 06:21 AM

The great leap forward from a longer arm for the law to "1984" will have to be made by the private sector. How well a watchful federal government will actually be able to track its citizens will depend on how many places demand to see your driver's license. Airports already do. So do some supermarkets, if you're buying beer. But what about malls? Movie theaters? Sports stadiums? Banks and their ATMs? If all the places you go demand a swipe to weed out terrorists -- and are willing to pay for the technology to do the swiping -- then yes, Big Brother could know where you go and what you do while you're there.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 06:37 PM

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo set up the panel, modeled on South Africa's post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to help heal the trauma left by decades of military rule in Africa's most populous nation.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 06:33 PM

The building project had angered Christian groups worldwide -- including the Vatican -- who said it was disrespectful to build a mosque just outside the Basilica of the Annunciation, the largest church in the Middle East. Tradition says the Angel Gabriel foretold the birth of Jesus on that spot.
The decision to halt construction drew a furious response from local Muslim leader Salman Abu Ahmed, who called it a ``declaration of war'' on Israel's large Muslim minority.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 06:16 PM

LET'S FACE IT: Apple Computer's new iMac is cool. But what does that get you in 2002?

It looks sort of like a deflated volley ball.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 05:04 PM

"Many people assert that informed Netizens see this as a way of fragmenting the Net, of imposing geographic boundaries and destroying part of the fundamental location-agnostic nature of the web and the Net -- ie, that it's a Bad Thing. Is this really so? Does anyone see this as a good, or at least a neutral, thing?"

Posted by at January 09, 2002 03:34 PM

"I want to tell them that if you can hear me and enjoy my wit while the microphone is covered with a condom, then you surely can enjoy sex with a condom on."

Posted by at January 09, 2002 03:17 PM

They are seen by some as an attempt by the president to stack the odds in his favour ahead of bitter presidential elections in March.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 12:53 PM

For the past nine months, Cheney had refused to tell congressional Democrats Waxman and John Dingell of Michigan which power industry executives and lobbyists met with Cheney and his energy task force. The task force last May recommended expanded oil and gas drilling on public land and a rejuvenated nuclear power system.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 12:52 PM

New findings from a national survey of teens and young adults' experiences with and attitudes toward online health information were presented.

Among all 15-24 year-olds:

• Two-thirds (67%) support the law requiring Internet filters at schools and libraries.
• Two out of three (65%) say being exposed to online pornography could have a serious impact on those under 18.
• A majority (59%) think seeing pornography on the Internet encourages young people to have sex before they're ready.

Among the 95% of all 15-17 year-olds who have ever gone online:

• Seventy percent have accidentally stumbled across pornography online, 23% "very" or "somewhat" often.
• A majority (55%) of those who were exposed to pornography say they were "not too" or "not at all" upset by it, while 45% were "very" or "somewhat" upset.
• A third (33%) of those with home Internet access have a filtering technology in place there.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 12:14 PM

Posted by at January 09, 2002 11:40 AM

The White House has refused requests from the congressional General Accounting Office for records of Mr. Cheney's energy policy meetings. The GAO was forced to file a civil suit to force the administration to open its records; that suit is still pending.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 11:20 AM

Luckily the US is not bound by any soft-centred decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. In fact the US also needn't take any notice of the United Nations Convention against Torture either, because it was one of the few countries that had the sense not to sign the agreement in 1985. Argentina, Belgium, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Senegal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Uruguay made the mistake of signing it, and subsequently Venezuela, Luxembourg, Panama, Austria and even the UK and Afghanistan joined in, but America didn't.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 10:56 AM

"The president has great respect for Pakistan, the Pakistani people, and the Pakistani culture. Pakistan has been a strong member of the international coalition in the war against terrorism," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

Apparently not enough respect to say their full name. Would he consider that, say, "Frenchies", was an appropriate way to refer to the people of France? Will someone please euthanize this evil little thug who uses malapropisms to hide what a poisonous hateful creature he really is?

Posted by at January 09, 2002 10:37 AM

The Izz el-Deen al-Qassam brigades of the extremist Islamic group Hamas took responsibility for the assault, in which the two militants were also killed.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 10:23 AM

"He said an airline was thinking of hiring him and he'd be on the news Saturday," the friend, Emerson Favreau, said Tuesday.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 10:20 AM

It suggests that a terrorist working as a mechanic in Toronto could plant a three-kiloton nuclear bomb on a Buffalo-bound tour bus. A premature explosion on the Canadian side of the border near the Peace Bridge would wreak havoc across the border.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 10:06 AM

``It deals with the heroes on the ground and those people who broke the rules, invented new rules, and in some instances ... had to deal with something they'd never thought they would have to deal with,'' he said. ``It's a story of America coming together.''

We all saw the damn thing live on teevee when it happened -- what's the point of a movie?

Posted by at January 09, 2002 10:02 AM

...we polled 1,000 Canadians about my cousin, Charles Williamson, a very likeable engineer who I have often thought would make a good Member of Parliament, though he has never expressed any interest in running for office. In the poll though, I made him a cabinet minister. And a thousand times the question was put to Canadians, "Do you believe that the Hon. Charles Williamson, Minister of State for Economic Integration, should resign?"
The results, accurate to plus or minus 3.2%, nineteen times out of twenty, were quite definite: 73% of the Canadian public wanted him to go. They clearly weren't at all impressed with Charles Williamson or his non-existent portfolio. And [then Prime Minister] Brian Mulroney only scored 6% higher.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 09:58 AM

Mr. Gagliano's organization seemed to be run like ministerial offices in Russia or Ukraine, said Mr. Grant, who did business in those places when he headed Quaker Oats Co. of Canada Ltd.
He said Mr. Gagliano has surrounded himself with "political operatives" and "hangers-on" who directly call civil servants to try to shape their decisions.
"I didn't expect to see this in a democratic society," Mr. Grant said.

Silly Grant, Canada's a Dominion. Most of our politicians know precisely what that means.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 09:56 AM

US officials say the pirates - whose postings include the latest Microsoft software and recent films such as Harry Potter - are responsible for 95% of all pirated software available online, causing at least $1bn in lost revenues each year.

Emphasis added -- emphasis on ridiculous needs no emphasis.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 09:49 AM

there is lots of porn on the inter-net but i could not find any lego porn. until now!!!

Posted by at January 09, 2002 07:16 AM

The Food and Drug Administration says 147 people taking Accutane, which affects the body's central nervous system, either committed suicide or were hospitalized for suicide attempts from 1982 to May 2000.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 02:13 AM

Besides the computers and phones, "some small arms and training documents were also found," Myers said. "We're exploiting those as we speak."

Posted by at January 09, 2002 02:12 AM

The escape attempt underscored the difficulty of capturing hard-core members of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network. It came as Afghan officials considered a reported surrender offer from several top Taliban figures, including their former defence and justice ministers.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 02:09 AM

A summary of who's dead, who's captured, and who remains wanted "dead or alive" by the coalition, as identified by U.S. officials:

Posted by at January 09, 2002 02:07 AM

Bush told reporters Monday: "We are working hard to convince both the Indians and the Pakis there's a way to deal with their problems without going to war."

So it's okay if we start calling the Dubyettes 'those drunken sluts in DC' as long as we don't mean anything by it?

Posted by at January 09, 2002 02:02 AM

A report in the English- language newspaper The News yesterday quoted senior military officials as saying that China had sent five ships loaded with unassembled combat aircraft and a variety of weapons last month, after India's unprecedented military build-up. China has also been sending supplies via the Karakoram highway which links the two countries.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 02:00 AM

...Waxman noted that the day after the Lay-Cheney meeting, the vice president told a reporter he opposed the imposition of federal price caps on wholesale energy sales in California -- something that, Waxman observed, Enron also strongly opposed.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 01:58 AM

Raymond Villeneuve, the leader of a fringe Quebec separatist group, pleaded guilty Monday to two charges, including criminal harassment.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 01:51 AM

Reports say the prosecutor ordered the two men to be detained for four days pending investigation into the release of a shipment of zirconium silicate into Egypt, and also ordered the arrest of the importing company's owner.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 01:49 AM

"If I am wrong, I would be very happy to receive representations to show that he is still dealing in drugs and I would not hesitate to take action. For the moment, the man should not be given a bad name to hang himself. I am sure he has reformed," Mwanawasa said.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 01:48 AM

Multi-ethnic Nigeria, with a population of more than 110 million divided into about 250 tribes, is struggling with its worst cycle of ethnic bloodletting for more than 30 years.

What the hell is ethnic bloodletting?

Posted by at January 09, 2002 01:46 AM

Moyo accused Britain of double standards, saying its media laws were more stringent than Zimbabwe's, whose own legislation was based on its national constitution.

Posted by at January 09, 2002 01:45 AM

The unprecedented move by SAG's election committee does not result from any actions by Gilbert, 37, but rather from disregard of voting rules by employees at the union and at polling administrator Sequoia Voting Systems.

Posted by at January 08, 2002 11:35 PM

If, as some suspect, the Universe contains invisible, extra dimensions, then cosmic rays that hit the atmosphere will produce tiny black holes. These black holes should be numerous enough for the observatory to detect, say Jonathan Feng and Alfred Shapere of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Posted by at January 08, 2002 11:07 PM

...a newly released study shows that almost half of the men over the age of 50 are suffering from an alteration of libido, a lack of normal sex drive, and sexual dysfunction.

Posted by at January 08, 2002 10:56 PM

Even though inserting the gene into germ cells might prevent disease in the next generation, the agencies consider that alteration of the human germ line is so profound a step that it should not be attempted without further discussion.
Companies conducting gene therapy trials are therefore required to monitor where in the body the new genes are being inserted. In October, Avigen announced it had delayed its hemophilia trial because it had detected the presence of the gene's vector in a patient's seminal fluid.

Posted by at January 08, 2002 10:42 PM

Those questions are both personal (What do we really want to do with our energy, our labor, our lives?) and societal (How can we best use our tremendous creativity, good will, and wealth? Why are the things some of us can take for granted seemingly so far beyond the reach of other, equally deserving peoples? And how can that be fixed?).

Think about it.

Posted by at January 08, 2002 06:37 PM

GM, the world's largest automaker, unveiled a fuel cell vehicle at the Detroit auto show on Monday. The company said the fuel cell could rewrite the rules of how automakers design cars and make them much cheaper to build.

Posted by at January 08, 2002 03:10 PM

"They let us leave, but they told us, 'If you ever give news critical of the government, we will kill you,"' said Duverne, who is temporarily staying in Palm Beach County.

Posted by at January 08, 2002 02:43 PM

If the Taliban leader made his way out of Afghanistan, the hoard from the country's official accounts would go a long way toward securing safe passage and refuge abroad. One official with Kandahar's post-Taliban administration, Khalid Pashtoon, said last month that Omar had absconded with $100 million when he fled this southern city, which served as Afghanistan's working capital under the Taliban.

Posted by at January 08, 2002 02:27 PM

The rules in question cover reviews of pollution controls that occur when plants expand. Critics say that industries have been avoiding these so-called new-source-review requirements to upgrade their pollution controls by dismissing major investments as routine maintenance. Lawsuits are pending against 51 power plants for violations of those rules.

Posted by at January 08, 2002 02:22 PM

The Saudi authorities are said to have agreed to pull down the al-Ajyad Castle to build a housing complex to accommodate Muslim pilgrims visiting the holy shrines every year.

Posted by at January 08, 2002 02:21 PM

Posted by at January 08, 2002 01:43 PM

A common variation in a gene for an immune system protein increases a child's risk of developing Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) by 30 per cent, say Israeli researchers.

Posted by at January 08, 2002 11:50 AM

Cowan, Bressloff and their colleagues are ready to continue the work. Bressloff said, "It's just the beginning of a long program of studying more and more complex hallucination patterns, trying to see how far we can go with deducing the intrinsic circuitry of the cortex."

Posted by at January 08, 2002 11:45 AM

A trucking company can't install hidden cameras and microphones in employee bathrooms, a federal appeals court said.

Posted by at January 08, 2002 11:42 AM

So I'm a Nobel Prize muse? Leave me offerings and I shall fill your life with strange observations.

Posted by at January 08, 2002 10:22 AM

Posted by at January 08, 2002 10:03 AM

My name is Chip Rosenthal. In February of 1990--over a decade ago--I registered the domain UNICOM.COM. That's before the World Wide Web even existed in the United States. All this time, I've been using the domain to publish software and information. Now, some California company is trying to take it away from me.

Posted by at January 08, 2002 08:50 AM

Gates' own Lee Harvey Oswald is political activist Alek Hiddel who believed by killing the world's richest man he could spark a class war - though the official investigation draws scepticism from a general public mindful of a corrupt police force.

Posted by at January 08, 2002 05:49 AM

Somalia, named as one of the states the United States could target in a widening war on terror, is seen by many analysts as an attractive base for terrorists seeking secrecy because it is a lawless patchwork of fiefdoms ruled by rival militias.

Posted by at January 07, 2002 02:54 PM

Now that our social security and pension systems have dramatically reduced poverty among the elderly, growing up with only one parent has dramatically increased poverty among children. In this country we have managed to shift poverty from old folks to young folks. Former Clinton advisor William Galston sums up the matter this way: you need only do three things in this country to avoid poverty -- finish high school, marry before having a child, and marry after the age of 20. Only 8 percent of the families who do this are poor; 79 percent of those who fail to do this are poor.

Posted by at January 07, 2002 02:20 PM

Companies everywhere are shedding jobs. For biotech firms, though, it's business as usual: They're hiring like mad.

Posted by at January 07, 2002 02:15 PM

The article urged readers to steal hunting-rifles to respond to what Villeneuve called "the enemies of Quebec.''

Posted by at January 07, 2002 01:35 PM

The Canadian contingent is set to be in place by the middle of February at the latest, and could face "potential combat operations to destroy residual Taliban and al-Qaeda pockets," Mr. Eggleton said.

Shall we read that as, a dead Canadian soldier is less distressing to the voters back home than a dead American soldier?

Posted by at January 07, 2002 01:31 PM

China has agreed to step up its efforts to stamp out pirated software, but instead of paying for Windows, many organisations are switching to locally developed Linux distributions

Posted by at January 07, 2002 01:26 PM

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly acknowledged that the court had "put in place an intensive and expedited schedule", but argued that "certainly no one can claim that they [Microsoft] lack resources".

Posted by at January 07, 2002 01:22 PM

Radio Africa started broadcasting to Zimbabwe from Britain just three weeks ago, sidestepping the regime of President Robert Mugabe, which has cracked down on the independent media.

Posted by at January 07, 2002 01:18 PM

A ship seized by Israeli commandos after it was found to be carrying 50 tonnes of weapons may belong to an Iraqi national, the specialist shipping newspaper Lloyd's List says.

Posted by at January 07, 2002 12:57 PM

Tamerlane's grandson Baysunghur established the most famous fifteenth century atelier in Herat. A progress report now preserved at the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul is a record of projects under the head of the atelier Jafar Tabrizi (active 1412-1431). The report addressed to Baysunghur mentions twenty-two projects that are underway -- manuscript designs, architectural works, tents and other objects -- and includes the names of twenty-three artists --- painters, illuminators, calligraphers, binders, rules, and chest makers -- who worked individually or in teams. The leading role that Baysunghur played in the domain of arts is recognized in a contemporary doctoral dissertation (Harvard University, 1985) by Thomas W Lentz titled 'Painting at Herat under Baysunghur ibn Shahrukh'. Another Timurid descendant usayn Bayqara (died 1506) continued the royal patronage of arts in Herat -- once destroyed by Genghis Khan in 1220. Herat remained a major cultural metropolis. Herat artisans were to be found in Shiraz, Tabriz (Iran) and throughout the Ottoman Empire.

Posted by at January 07, 2002 12:56 PM

The Vaporware "winners" were chosen by the people who matter most to tech firms -- the ordinary men and women who have been told that the products are on the way, but who have so far seen neither hide-nor-hair of said innovations.

Posted by at January 07, 2002 12:39 PM

Bangladesh was the world's leader in attacks on journalists in 2001. Since Khaleda Zia's takeover as prime minister in October, activists of the two main rightwing parties in power (the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami) have attacked more than 50 journalists. The present government is doing nothing to curb this violence, and, as under Sheikh Hasina's regime, the attackers enjoy tacit impunity, according to RSF. In what is easily the most glaring case, journalist and human rights activist Shahriar Kabir has been held for more than 43 days for having interviewed Hindu refugees in India, victims of violence by pro-goverment thugs. RSF says it "has recently met with the Bangladeshi ambassador to France to protest against Shahriar Kabir's detention for 'sedition'".

Posted by at January 07, 2002 11:52 AM

"We commonly use images of famine and western aid that are 16 years out of date and relate to only a tiny minority of people in the developing world," the report warns.

Posted by at January 07, 2002 11:49 AM

Unwittingly, the boy may have revealed holes in the aerial safety net that many Americans believe protects the country's cities. When asked whether nothing could have been done to prevent Saturday's crash, a National Transportation Safety Board official said, "That's correct."

Posted by at January 07, 2002 11:47 AM

In particular, HarperCollins flagged an open letter to George W. Bush, in which Moore asks the president whether he's a functional illiterate, whether he's a felon and whether he is getting the necessary help for his drug and alcohol problem. [...] HarperCollins also wanted him to take out the chapter "A Very American Coup," about Dubya's dubious victory in Florida, and it objected to the title of an essay about race in America, "Kill Whitey."

Posted by at January 07, 2002 11:47 AM

The new documents provide a detailed look at the bitter dispute about U.S. support for a military dictatorship and include a rare example of an ambassador daring directly to oppose Kissinger, one of the most powerful figures in postwar U.S. history.

Posted by at January 07, 2002 11:46 AM

"Bio-invasion is one of the new threats that wasn't in our lexicon, say, 10 years ago. The pests that we're seeing displace some of our native species, mussels and amphibians and even plants are a result of the kind of open trade that we're having," says Ferretti.

Posted by at January 07, 2002 11:39 AM

The page cannot be fucking displayed

Posted by at January 07, 2002 11:34 AM

...for crashing a horse-drawn buggy into a car on Christmas, police said.

Posted by at January 07, 2002 10:23 AM

Shuttleworth, who said the entire project would cost less than his $20 million, hates being labeled a tourist, saying he will participate fully in the mission and take responsibility for radio and life support systems in the Soyuz capsule.

Posted by at January 07, 2002 10:17 AM

Those forms would include not only the identification of the people involved and where they lived but also their annual earnings, their education, any insurance policies they held and whether they had infirmities that included being classified as "crazy, lunatic, idiotic or silly."

Posted by at January 07, 2002 10:06 AM

Schools have evidently stopped teaching the difference between "million" and "billion." The Wall Street Journal reported Ford's fourth-quarter dividend at $270 billion. The Times had some New York City reservoirs holding 63,804 billion gallons. Business Week had OPEC cutting production by 1.7 billion barrels a day. Even small numbers are treacherous. A recent howler in FORBES: FedEx packages going down the conveyor at 540 feet per second. (Read "per minute.")

Posted by at January 07, 2002 10:01 AM

The 20,000 golden objects - ornaments, coins and figurines tentatively dated to 100 BC - were last heard to have been in an underground, steel-doored vault beneath the presidential palace in Kabul. That was in 1991.
Since then, the Tillya Tepe finds have been wrapped in rumor, acquiring a quasi-legendary status. Recent reports agreed that the hoard was once in the vault. In one of his last interviews before being assassinated this year, Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Massod confirmed this but said the Taleban - who looted and destroyed most of the Kabul Museum's exhibits - had gained entry.

Posted by at January 07, 2002 09:43 AM

"These figurines symbolize the cycle of eating and fertilization of the earth, which is a requisite for future existence," wrote Copia Executive Director Peggy Loar, according to a news release circulated Friday by the Catholic group.
To which Catholic League President William Donohue sarcastically responded in the release: "Now I get it: To show his appreciation of Mother Earth, Miralda had to show the pope and nuns defecating. But why couldn't he have chosen the Lone Ranger and Tonto instead? Or better yet, just Tonto and a few of his Indian buddies."

Posted by at January 07, 2002 09:40 AM

...Apple apparently gave the story to Time, which put the new iMac on its cover. MacMinute broke the story after obtaining a copy of the Time article. The issue went on sale at New York newsstands late Sunday.

Posted by at January 07, 2002 08:42 AM

The film is the result of more than 2,000 dives the spry German filmmaker undertook between 1974 and 2000, featuring images of fish and plants never before photographed, Riefenstahl said.

Posted by at January 07, 2002 02:56 AM

...instead of taking up precious desk space like a typical flat monitor, the iMac's screen floats in the air, attached to a jointed, chrome-pipe neck. It's also rimmed by a "halo," a translucent plastic frame that makes you want to pull it toward you-or push it out of the way. Jonathan Ive, chief of Apple's ID lab, says he designed it so that you would want to touch it, want to "violate the sacred plane of the monitor." The chrome neck is articulated and bends while maintaining the angle of the screen; it connects to the computer, an improbably small hemisphere at 26.4 cm in diameter-somewhat bigger than a halved cantaloupe. The machine bears an uncanny resemblance to Luxo Jr.-the fun-loving, computer-animated swing-arm lamp that starred in a short film by Pixar, the fabled computer-animation studio that Jobs runs. (Pixar creative chief John Lasseter has also made the first new iMac ad.) "It looks a little cheeky," says Ive. It looks alive.

Posted by at January 07, 2002 12:24 AM

The group, after soaking undifferentiated cells from the embryo of a Platanna frog in a special medium, transplanted the eyeball into a tadpole whose left eye had been removed before it was hatched, Kyodo said.

Posted by at January 07, 2002 12:19 AM

"We would like to track as many as we possibly can but it will depend on the price that we have to pay," he said, adding he hopes to have the system in place this year.

Posted by at January 06, 2002 11:58 PM

On Feb. 4, 2000, with MicroStrategy's shares at $142 and his paper wealth shooting into the billions, Saylor hosted a 35th birthday party for himself at Cities, the fashionable Adams Morgan restaurant. "Guess who's old enough to run for president?" the invitation said, and Saylor duly announced his candidacy that night, a would-be standard bearer for "The Technology Party." He was kidding. Or seemed to be. But at the time it seemed weirdly possible.
Then, just a few weeks later, it all crashed -- a flip of fortunes that was sudden even by the exaggerated norms of the late 1990s and the early part of 2000. Saylor's life and companybecame object lessons in how ephemeral success could be in the new economy, how perspective could be so easily lost, and how myths -- and stock fortunes -- could so easily vanish. When MicroStrategy's story began to unravel, at least some industry and Wall Street watchers believe, it signaled the end of that era. "This one popped the bubble," wrote James Cramer, columnist for TheStreet.com. "MicroStrategy forever changed the Internet mania."

Posted by at January 06, 2002 11:32 AM

After Baloch disappeared, his family asked Ottawa for help locating him. American officials initially denied he had been detained, according to relatives. Canadian authorities filed a formal complaint about the case in December.

Posted by at January 06, 2002 12:07 AM

For those who can't get enough of those best selling novels/authors, this level includes all round trip shipping charges and enables the member to borrow multiple "free" paperback novels with up to five books outstanding at any given time. The perfect membership for the most avid reader or couples!

Posted by at January 05, 2002 07:26 AM

"The Military Collegium (of the Russian Supreme Court) should immediately recognise the absurdity of (the) verdict and overturn the lower court's ruling," added Lupis. "Pasko's detention is a black mark on the Russian justice system and further undermines President (Vladmir) Putin's stated commitment to press freedom."

Posted by at January 05, 2002 12:58 AM

While Hustler might not be the first place most people go for news on the war, Flynt argues that real issues of press freedom are at stake. Past U.S. wars were every bit as dangerous as Afghanistan, and yet reporters were allowed to document the fighting, he says.

Posted by at January 05, 2002 12:51 AM

The clampdown also extends to intelligence agencies patrolling Internet cafes for Kashmiri Muslims communicating with Pakistan, the report said.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 10:51 PM

"It used to be that a person sitting in one place could get or send information anywhere in the world," said Jack Goldsmith, a professor of international law at the University of Chicago. "But now the Internet is starting to act more like real space with all its limitations."

Posted by at January 04, 2002 09:45 PM

"I am particularly concerned that some of these technologies may prevent or inhibit consumer home-recording using recorders and media covered by the" Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA), Boucher wrote. "Any deliberate change to a CD by a content owner that makes (the allowed personal copies) no longer possible would appear to violate the content owner's obligations.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 07:52 PM

Just before the festive break, the UK Government approved a °Ã28-million sale of a military air-traffic-control system to Tanzania, one of the poorest countries in the world. The deal was opposed by some Government ministers, but backed by Tony Blair (Prime Minister), Jack Straw (Foreign Secretary), and Geoff Hoon (Defence Secretary). The World Bank and agencies such as Oxfam also opposed the deal. The contract, for BAE Systems in the UK, will safeguard about 250 jobs; Barclays Bank will finance the deal. The system is said to be already obsolete, expensive to maintain, and unsuitable for civil uses.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 05:01 PM

"There is a fundamental sea change that is taking place in the Japanese business community," said Hirotaka Yoshizaki, president of Acorn, a business consulting company. The basic assumptions of a tight-knit structure that created the image of "Japan Inc." -- the promise of lifetime employment, promotions and pay based on seniority, industries acting in collusion rather than competition -- "all those traditional systems are virtually gone," Yoshizaki said.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 04:51 PM

"The politicians have drummed up this image of Canada the peaceful country with peacekeepers all around the world and now they're saddled with it and they won't spend the money to support it. We have the rhetoric of peacekeeping but not the capability."

Posted by at January 04, 2002 04:46 PM

West Midlands Ambulance spokesman Steve Evans confirmed flames engulfed the jet as it left the departure runway. "Five people have lost their lives. The exact cause of the tragedy is as yet unknown," he said. "We have had reports that there was a ball of flames and a thick black plume of smoke rising to about 100 feet.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 04:42 PM

It would be a much cleaner and safer method of launching vehicles, and much cheaper. NASA hopes to drive down the cost of rocket departures from $10,000 per pound to $1,000 per pound.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 02:03 PM

Police are urging local bars and restaurants to enforce their usual dress codes, and, if they wish, display signs provided by the police department that read, "No Gang Colours/No Gang Clothing."

Posted by at January 04, 2002 01:11 PM

According to a team of physicists from the United States and South Korea, nanotubes can be tuned with the movement of molecules rolling around inside -- like a trombone changes its pitch with the up and down motion of its slide. These adjustable electric properties offer a new kind of tunable circuit component, one that will join regular, unfilled nanotubes as the great multi-purpose device of the nanometer-sized world.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 01:11 PM

Lt. Gen Shaul Mofaz, the Israeli defence force chief of staff, said commandos boarded the boat on Thursday. He said the raid is evidence that the Palestinian Authority is not ready to talk peace.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 01:09 PM

"The court said that when real people are engaged in real business using the Internet, they have to follow fundamental tenets of ethical business practices," he said.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 01:02 PM

An opposition party in Rwanda, The Democratic Party for Renewal-UBUYANJA, says one of its senior members has become the victim of a political slaying.
KIGALI: The party said two assailants killed Gratien Munyarubuga in broad day light in the capital of Kigali.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 11:35 AM

The paper quoted security sources in al-Khartoum as saying that a plan was put for this purpose provides for toppling the Somali President Abdul Qasem Salad Hassan, noting that the British and American forces will provide during this plan an air and missile support besides the land support to be led by the Ethiopian and Djibouti forces on the territories of Somalia over the possibility of having Osama Bin Laden in it ( in Somalia).

Posted by at January 04, 2002 11:34 AM

Heath evaluated multiple versions of disgust-laden myths about rats in soda bottles and people eating cat food mislabeled as tuna. In every instance, the researchers found that the most disgusting version became dominant.
Besides that powerful emotional message, legends that last have an internal logic that makes them potentially believable. Unlike lies and innuendo, urban legends gain credibility because the people who pass them along believe they are true. In the case of the anonymous woman with the Afghan boyfriend, the claim that the boyfriend had °ƒpredicted°± the Sept. 11 attacks gave his warnings about Halloween credibility.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 11:27 AM

If she wins, she says, she will throw a huge party at Stornoway, the official residence of the opposition leader, for the 300 Canadians who nominated her, wear a blue pin-striped suit, with a very short skirt, to ask her first question of the Prime Minister (it will be about the economy), and legislate that stores be required to carry size 13, stiletto-heeled shoes. She has to buy her heels in the United States.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 10:36 AM

"It was a good business to send people to America. But after Sept. 11, it has gone down. Because there is a clampdown on Pakistanis and Asians. That's why the Canadians are favourites. Immigration is easier there and jobs are easier to get," says the market merchant who did not wish to be identified.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 10:31 AM

When I began traveling to the Soviet Union in 1989 and after, the naive view was that Microsoft et al. should help the poor Russians/Ukrainians by giving them free or cheap software, but the locals vigorously rejected that approach, which would have had the side-effect of rendering their own entrepreneurial efforts useless. You can argue about degrees and mechanisms, but free software is no help to developing economies that are struggling to productively exploit their own local IT talents. They want investment and paying customers, not charity (or piracy).

Posted by at January 04, 2002 10:13 AM

A US leaflet dropped over Afghanistan purporting to show Osama bin Laden in western clothes has been questioned for its accuracy.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 10:01 AM

Unlike others Microsoft has vanquished, Linux is more a grass-roots religion than a vulnerable corporate target. While Microsoft jealously guards its core software code, Linux code is open and continually improved by thousands of top programmers around the world who believe software should benefit society.

Unusually perceptive for USAToday.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 08:32 AM

Xenotransplant research has generated intense controversy, so much so that Dr. Prather would not reveal the whereabouts of his four miniature pigs "because of security," he said.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 08:29 AM

From July 28th 1955, this is a handwritten letter by J.R.R. Tolkien author of The Lord Of The Rings. This is written in fountain pen ink on his personal stationary with matching envelope.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 07:44 AM

"Dominique has a lot of young fans and the furiers and fashion magazines take out provocative ads to try and lure young people into buying fur by making it seem sexy. We're making the statement that it's even sexier to care about animals."

Posted by at January 04, 2002 07:32 AM

A routine check of shelves discovered the 800-year-old statue of the Hindu god Vishnu. It is worth about °Ã2.8 million.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 07:03 AM

"It's not acceptable to destroy the artifacts of history, even if they are documented on paper," said Apodaca, a Native American. "Later generations can always question whether that documentation is accurate or even true."

Posted by at January 04, 2002 06:57 AM

It's true that the corporation had its allies among the Democrats; campaign finance corruption and influence peddling are generally a cover-all-your-bets bipartisan activity. But in this case, the amounts given to Democrats were puny and late, and there's no doubt that Enron rode to power primarily on the strength of Lay's influence with the Bush family. This fact is not mitigated by Enron now hiring Clinton's former lawyer and various top Democratic lobbying groups, except to note that these hired guns have no shame.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 01:51 AM

Krika'a told his interrogators that once the rocket was operational, instructions for making it would have been transferred to Hamas cells on the West Bank, so that cities in central Israel could also be threatened. The West Bank's "arms industry" is considered less sophisticated than that of Gaza.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 01:48 AM

The terrorist group functioned like a multinational corporation, with memos referring to al-Qaida as "the company" and its leadership as "the general management," the newspaper said.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 01:47 AM

Moussaoui's conversations with Reid were intercepted late in 2000 and ended in December of that year when Moussaoui left Britain and travelled to Pakistan, the Washington Times reports.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 01:28 AM

The experience of the 1970s and beyond has coloured the thinking of a whole generation of economic policymakers. Counter-inflationary policy is at the heart of the economic strategy of every industrial country. This is partly because conventional wisdom now accepts that price stability is a pre-condition for sustainable economic growth.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 01:24 AM

"They saved our government thousands over the years, thousands and thousands and thousands. So you just wonder, if that had been put into place could it have averted them from getting to the place they had on New Year's Eve?"

Posted by at January 04, 2002 01:15 AM

"The government authorities here in Shenzhen hate me," Mr. Zhou said, adding that a lawsuit he brought in July on behalf of female workers who had been strip-searched at a factory owned by South Koreans drew widespread media attention and embarrassed the city.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 01:12 AM

The G7 gathering -- a long working dinner Feb. 8 followed by meetings the next day -- will bring together Canada, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. The presidents of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, who sometimes join the central bankers and finance ministers, have been invited but have not yet confirmed whether they will come.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 12:39 AM

"If I sell genuine products, no one will come to buy them because they are too expensive, and I will become bankrupt," said Feng, who comes from the rural area in Zhejiang Province.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 12:34 AM

Mr Justice Bartlett, born in Bulawayo, won international admiration for his handling of the 1996 trial for the murder of a former State House aide, Jefta Dube, ordering an investigation of claims that Dube had been traumatised as the sex slave of Canaan Sodindo Banana, the former President. The credibility of President Mugabe°Øs denunciation of homosexuals as °ƒlower than pigs or dogs°± was shattered when it was revealed that there had been a 15-year cover-up of Banana°Øs activities.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 12:30 AM

from the communists-a-little-too-free-for-us dept.
The Politech mailing list has a note and follow-up on new trade restrictions levied against Ukraine, since they haven't complied with the U.S.'s demand for 'an optical media licensing regime.' John Gilmore's response puts the issue in perspective. Update: 01/03 23:08 GMT by M: The RIAA has a press release about the trade penalties and response to Gilmore.

Posted by at January 04, 2002 12:10 AM

Swiss army pocket knives with multiple short blades and tools are a popular souvenirs and are often found on sale in the country's airport shops.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 11:55 PM

Advocates say that Mr. Baloch has been unable to talk to his family, his lawyers and consular officials until recent weeks. Under U.S. and international law, prisoners must be allowed such contact with the outside world.
Canadian officials are perturbed that it took months for them to find out that Mr. Baloch was being held.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 11:54 PM

Galati claims the respondents ° which include Canada's justice minister, RCMP, CSIS and the government of France ° "engaged in an unlawful conspiracy to convict him, in absentia, as `pay back' for refusing to spy for Moroccan, French and Canadian secret (security) forces based on race, religion and political targeting of (Ouzghar) as a Canadian of Arab-Muslim origin."

Posted by at January 03, 2002 11:52 PM

Ngritude, or blackness, seeks to glorify the African past and to praise the harmony of traditional African society. It is, said Mr Senghor, °ƒthe totality of the cultural values of the black world°±. Some whites, while supporting its use as a weapon against colonialism, were bothered by its seeming racism, particularly when Mr Senghor said that African culture could revive °ƒthe world that has died of machines and cannons°±. Jean-Paul Sartre, a friend of Mr Senghor, argued that ngritude is °ƒan anti-racist racism°±, a well-meaning intervention that left people even more confused. Mr Senghor may have become bored with the semantics and diplomatically said that all cultures contributed to civilisation. He pointed out that while he wore European clothes, much of western popular music was based on African rhythms. He urged his followers to °ƒassimilate, not to be assimilated°±.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 11:45 PM

Ten years of liberalisation have failed to uproot the dirigiste instincts forged during 50 years of one-party rule. Though some state assets were at first sold successfully, the momentum for privatisation has slowed under the weight of unemployment concerns and special interests. Jittery investors now have little enthusiasm even for such choice offerings as the telephone monopoly or the power grid, let alone rustbelt industries that still keep some 300,000 workers on government wages.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 11:42 PM

Mr Mwanawasa added that protestors could be prosecuted and, if convicted in court, the offence carried the death sentence. "I leave it to the police. I have given instructions to the police to proceed the way they deem fit," he added.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 11:40 PM

"My wife gave birth to our third child on 15 September and I named him Osama in honour of Osama Bin Laden who has proved to the world that only Allah is invincible, by exposing America to shame despite its claim of being the strongest nation on earth."

Posted by at January 03, 2002 11:39 PM

In late December, The New York Times kicked up a stir by reporting that the Transportation Security Administration, a new federal bureaucracy, had backed away from plans to upgrade airport security by requiring personnel to hold high school diplomas. Such a requirement, it turns out, would remove one in four current employees -- 7,000 people -- from their jobs.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 11:37 PM

Management's recommendation is that we stop paying the Contributing Editors and assist the CEs in implementing programs that will cover the balance. This program will require the Community to pull together in the common cause of having a place to be published and have their voices heard and words read. If my passion were playing golf I likely would have to pay fees at a golf course. Seldom do the fees cover more than the operating cost of running the golf club. Without the green fees or dues there would be no one to cut the grass and maintain the asset and game would be over on that course.

Right, because, like a golf course, Suite 101 offers a prime location for activities not easily undertaken anywhere else -- they host your content for free! Unlike, say, GeoCities/Yahoo, Tripod, Mac.com, Topica, or BlogSpot! Suite 101 will also make sure somebody else makes money off your hard work _and_ make it look like it was their idea for you to do it! Thank you, sir, may we have another?

Posted by at January 03, 2002 10:44 PM

Lake Superior State University released its 27th annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness. The compilation draws from hundreds of nominations received from all over the world by mail and through the Internet.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 10:36 PM

``We've rounded down. We're charging 60 euros for straight sex for half an hour when we charged 120 marks before,'' said a sex worker at the ``Carena'' brothel in Berlin who declined to be named. ``We're only taking euros now,'' she told Reuters.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 10:30 PM

Some organizations, such as Gartner, see the wearable trend as being an integral part of society. Gartner predicts that by 2010, 40% of adults and 75% of teenagers will be utilizing wearable devices, and 70% of the population will spend 10 times longer per day interacting with people in the e-world than in the physical world.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 10:11 PM

Chinese central and local government will increase investment in information facilities in the region and the optical fiber cables will reach each counties in Tibet by 2004.
In addition, all of the towns of the region will be connected by telephone by 2005. And the number of Internet users will witness a sharp increase in the coming years.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 10:06 PM

"It might seem paradoxical that overactive p53 suppresses cancer but promotes ageing, given that incidence of cancer usually increases with age", says Ferbeyre. "But the problem can be resolved by the fact that cancer results from the malfunctioning of p53 in single cells, whereas ageing involves a tissue-wide process."

Posted by at January 03, 2002 09:55 PM

UFIL signed up with PEARL in 1999 and hired a law firm to press the claims in 2000. But the charges did not receive much press until this week, when a developer posted a message on the W3C's Web site claiming he had received paperwork from a law firm regarding the [RDF] patent.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 09:45 PM

Parents complained their children's education was on the line as disappointed students who collected anything but the full set of six dolls lacked the will to pursue their studies.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 09:32 PM

According to police investigations, the girl, whose name, age and school year are being withheld because she is a minor, gave birth to a baby girl at her home around noon Tuesday.

It's curious that this is headline news.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 08:51 PM

Knowing that the Taliban banned all images of living things - from historical documentary films to a schoolboy's crayon drawing of a horse - Mr. Asefi used watercolors to doctor more than 80 oil paintings last year.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 05:18 PM

Chief Justice Mathew Ngulube swore in Mwanawasa - who scooped a paltry 28.6 percent of 1.75 million votes cast - in a ceremony characterised by tight security and the conspicuous absence of the six regional heads of state who had been invited to attend.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 04:57 PM

Mauritania's Government has ordered the dissolution of an opposition party which campaigns for greater rights for blacks and the descendents of slaves.
The party, Action for Change (AC), is considered radical in a country where political power has always been held by Arabs and Berbers.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 04:54 PM

Scientists said it would be a good site for an underground physics laboratory. But Homestake, now owned by Barrick Gold of Toronto, insisted that it first had to be protected against lawsuits.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 04:50 PM

It also wags its rear antenna like a tail. Spookily the car will record and take pictures of its owner when it feels that the 'conversation' is good enough for the occupants to want to keep forever.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 02:00 PM

Posted by at January 03, 2002 01:52 PM

...using only half of the available female brainpower will lead to enormous social and national losses. Korea has never been out of the bottom of the OECD member rankings in terms of women's status and utilization of female resources.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 01:10 PM

Those pushing for televised trials hope the upcoming case of Zacarias Moussaoui, charged with conspiring in the Sept. 11 terrorism attacks, provides the opening they urgently seek. The case of Moussaoui, whose arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday morning, affects everyone in the country, they argue. In effect, we are all victims of Sept. 11--and no trial is more deserving of a public airing.
Opponents see the Moussaoui case as the perfect illustration of why trials should not be broadcast. An audience of millions, they say, would strip the proceedings of dignity, encourage lawyers to showboat, and subject jurors, lawyers and witnesses to the risk of terrorist reprisals.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 10:39 AM

Firefighters found the front section of the house in flames when they arrived Tuesday, then opened the garage and discovered Wallace in a car pointing a rifle at them, Moore said. Firefighters retreated and the man began shooting.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 10:38 AM

But the comments came amid reports of the first discoveries of forged euro cash, including a fake 500 euro note used to obtain almost 1,000 Deutschmarks ($450).

Posted by at January 03, 2002 10:36 AM

The compound raided by the Marines included caves, an obstacle course and 14 simple huts tucked against a deep ravine near a paved road in Helmand province, about a two-hour drive west from Kandahar, site of the main Marine base in Afghanistan. The site, which Marines and officers said showed no signs of having been bombed, apparently escaped U.S. detection during three months of war.

Posted by at January 03, 2002 10:34 AM

Posted by at January 03, 2002 10:33 AM

"Normally we would be inclined to provide a fix, but it is illegal to reverse engineer the AIM executable, so we are unable to provide a patch which will modify it"

Posted by at January 02, 2002 01:44 PM

The study says the decline in turnout also may be partly due to an irreversible change in Canadians' values and attitudes. Canadians are better educated, more informed, more independent in their thinking, less attached to their community, less accepting of authority and tradition, and less likely to be loyal to a particular political party, all of which reduces the traditional sense of a civic obligation to vote.
But the study concludes there are other attitudinal changes -- in particular, the increasing cynicism about politics -- that could be reversed by reforming the electoral system and Parliament. It cites surveys showing Canadians' confidence in governments has dropped from about 60% in the 1980s to 40% in the 1990s.

Posted by at January 02, 2002 01:22 PM

"Our allegiances can change hundreds of times in a day, at the click of a mouse or a remote control," said Jared Stein, the project's playwright and a graduate from the UCLA school. "That weakness of human character, the desire to associate with one group or another, is central to Homer's story."

Posted by at January 02, 2002 01:16 PM

-Some advisers have urged Mr. Landry to stay the course and maintain a conservative outlook largely because heading into the fourth year of a second mandate, his government still enjoys a 54-per-cent approval rating. But others say that if voters are to elect the [Parti Quebecois] a third consecutive time, they must be given a clear choice: sovereignty versus federalism.

Posted by at January 02, 2002 01:13 PM

"Lenny Bruce fell off a toilet seat with a needle in his arm and he crashed to a tiled floor and he died. And the police came and harassed him in death as in life. Two at a time, they let photographers from newspapers, magazines, and TV stations step up and take pictures of Lenny Bruce lying dead on the tiled floor. It was a terrible thing for the cops to do. Lenny hated to pose for pictures."

Posted by at January 02, 2002 12:06 PM

Goosenberg Kent may put off some viewers by starting off too strongly with the rather candid segment on sex. The image of these cherub-faced girls speaking so frankly is something some viewers have to work up to. Even so, the segment feels incomplete considering Goosenberg Kent neglects to offer the male counterpoint -- a glaring oversight for such an important topic.

At risk of overgeneralizing, most male humans are interested in receiving oral sex. So now you know.

Posted by at January 02, 2002 10:19 AM

"The only energy it takes is the electricity for the motors to spin the wheel and drive the water pumps."

Posted by at January 02, 2002 10:09 AM

The Internet bubble hasn't quite finished bursting. Most Web companies that aren't already profitable (and many already are) expect profits two or three quarters into the year. In the meantime, there will be more popping to be heard as cash-strapped large corporations give up half-hearted attempts at an Internet strategy and small companies find their funding drying up. They will either be acquired for peanuts or gone. By the spring of 2002, the landscape should be clean of debris. At which point, the survivors can march forward, with healthy business models and profits in hand.

Posted by at January 02, 2002 09:56 AM

Siobhan Vinish, WestJet spokeswoman, said the Calgary office taped the call that said a man on board the flight had a bomb. She said the woman gave her name.

Posted by at January 02, 2002 01:51 AM

In the 21st century, corporate competitiveness will be generated from womanpower. Utilization of female resources should not be viewed from the perspective of gender equality or consideration for women.

Posted by at January 01, 2002 11:53 PM

Haji Gullalai said he believed the cleric, who founded the fundamentalist militia in 1994, was hiding in next-door Helmand province, but said he could not give an exact location for the recluse who surrendered his power base of Kandahar to anti-Taliban Pashtun tribal forces on December 7.

Posted by at January 01, 2002 11:46 PM

Mr Duhalde, the populist Peronist senator for Buenos Aires Province, was confirmed by an overwhelming majority of 260 to 21 votes, with 18 abstentions, after a five-hour debate.
His election came after rival demonstrators clashed outside and police intervened with rubber bullets and tear gas.

Posted by at January 01, 2002 11:43 PM

Baloch has been detained since Sept. 20 for being in the United States illegally, Doiron said.
"That's all we've been able to obtain so far," he said. "We have not yet received the State Department reply to our diplomatic note," of mid-December, in which Canadian officials asked for an explanation of what had happened.

Posted by at January 01, 2002 11:39 PM

The IBM glass engine enables deep navigation of the music of Philip Glass. Personal interests, associations, and impulses guide the listener through an expanding selection of over sixty Glass works.

This is an utterly wonderful piece of multimedia and I highly encourage messing around with it if you're on a high speed net connection.

Posted by at January 01, 2002 10:34 PM

"Neglected" is too strong a word: "misunderstood," perhaps, or "undervalued" would be a better word. Undervalued to a dangerous extent. Rachmaninoff is not sufficiently recognized as a composer on purely musical -- and certainly on spiritual -- terms. People tend to overlook that. Remember the verdict in the fifth edition (1954) of Grove's Dictionary: that his music would not last and that it was artificial and gushing. To my mind, what Rachmaninoff has to express is of eternal value. I am convinced of that.

Posted by at January 01, 2002 10:25 PM

"Subject is snowballing," one member jotted in his notes. "Where do we go from here?"
One option, as a member put it, was to "sell the hell out of them as long as we can." Another option was to stop making them immediately. But the committee instead recommended "The Responsible Approach" -- phasing out its PCB products, but only once it could develop alternatives.The idea was to maintain "one of Monsanto's most profitable franchises" as long as possible while taking care to "reduce our exposure in terms of liability." The committee even drew up graphs charting profits vs. liability over time, and urged more studies to poke holes in the government's case against PCBs.
But the company's own tests on rats, chickens and even dogs proved discouraging. "The PCBs are exhibiting a greater degree of toxicity than we had anticipated," reported the committee chairman. Fish tests were worse: "Doses which were believed to be OK produced 100% kill." The chairman pressured the company's consultants for more Monsanto-friendly results, but they replied: "We are very sorry that we can't paint a brighter picture at the present time."

Posted by at January 01, 2002 10:54 AM