Oil hits $40 a barrel. “Forty-dollar oil might be here for a while,” said Bill O'Grady, analyst at A.G. Edwards. “As long as there is the possibility of a terrorist attack against Saudi oil facilities, oil will have its fear-premium.” “All you need is one person with a block of explosive in their lunchbox in… Continue reading hits
Month: May 2004
If we win the global war on terrorism, it will be through a moral victory. How did abu Ghraib impact that war (from the perspective of those watching from the sidelines, mostly outside the US)?
- It demonstrated a lack of respect for Arabs, Muslims, and Iraqis.
- It belied the American claim it was in Iraq for the betterment of Iraq's people.
- It demonstrated that American values — process of law and human rights — are false.
How do you recover from this? Are we even making any progress in this war?
NOTE: Beyond the humiliation captured in the famous photos, I have read of rape (including using implements), murder, and severe beatings. It's been implied that Rumsfeld's unreleased video/pictures depict these crimes. [John Robb's Weblog
If we win the global war on terrorism, it will be through a moral victory. How did abu Ghraib impact that war (from the perspective of those watching from the sidelines, mostly outside the US)? It demonstrated a lack of respect for Arabs, Muslims, and Iraqis. It belied the American claim it was in Iraq for the… Continue reading If we win the global war on terrorism, it will be through a moral victory. How did abu Ghraib impact that war (from the perspective of those watching from the sidelines, mostly outside the US)?
- It demonstrated a lack of respect for Arabs, Muslims, and Iraqis.
- It belied the American claim it was in Iraq for the betterment of Iraq's people.
- It demonstrated that American values — process of law and human rights — are false.
How do you recover from this? Are we even making any progress in this war?
NOTE: Beyond the humiliation captured in the famous photos, I have read of rape (including using implements), murder, and severe beatings. It's been implied that Rumsfeld's unreleased video/pictures depict these crimes. [John Robb's Weblog
Astoundingly Easy Powerbook Upgrade
Astoundingly Easy Powerbook Upgrade. I'm in awe of Apple. I just finished getting my new Powerbook running and it was astoundingly easy. Having spent many years in the Windows camp, I'm conditioned to think that moving all your programs, data, and settings from one computer to another is supposed to take an entire weekend and… Continue reading Astoundingly Easy Powerbook Upgrade
Break out the violins
Break out the violins. Doh!. We're functioning with peacetime constraints, with legal requirements, in a wartime situation in the Information Age, where people are running around with digital cameras and taking these unbelievable photographs and then passing them off, against the law, to the media,… Donald Rumsfeld [The Obvious?] [Curiouser and curiouser!]
You dare to dicker with your pontiff?
You dare to dicker with your pontiff?. Watching The Agony and the Ecstasy as I code. Rex Harrison as Pope Julius II — my kind of Pontiff. I wonder what the direction to Rex was, something like: “Get on that horse and be… Popish!” [Curiouser and curiouser!]
VOIP: Be Very Afraid
VOIP: Be Very Afraid. Here's what Michael Powell had to say about voice over IP to the main cable industry trade show: “If you're a big incumbent and you've sort of enjoyed a competitive advantage . . . you, in my opinion, ought to be terrified.” “I think it's going to be the very,… Continue reading VOIP: Be Very Afraid
Twenty Years Later, we're still losing data to crashes
Twenty Years Later, we're still losing data to crashes. It happened again. I lost a whole bunch of unsaved work due to a crash. This time, I was converting some scribbles to lovely design documentation in OmniGraffle when my G4 suddenly shut down. (It's been doing that lately; this time I reset the power manager… Continue reading Twenty Years Later, we're still losing data to crashes
Blogs: The Other Half of Customer Relationship
Blogs: The Other Half of Customer Relationship. I've been reading with great interest recent posts by Robert Scoble and Tim Bray about blogging in a corporate context. As Scoble and others have shown, blogs are a powerful way to quickly react to negative publicity, to establish real credibility, and build lasting bonds with customers and the… Continue reading Blogs: The Other Half of Customer Relationship
“Understanding the hosted messaging market”
“Understanding the hosted messaging market”. “Industry analysts and outsourcing experts said that even though hosted e-mail services have their pluses and minuses, they can add increased security and productivity to many companies' messaging equations. However, for one user, those assertions don't add up. The experts, who spoke this week at TechTarget's Enterprise Messaging Decisions conference,… Continue reading “Understanding the hosted messaging market”
Sick of Spam? Prepare for Adware
Sick of Spam? Prepare for Adware. Adware and its spyware cousins now account for more than 12 percent of all technical support calls, says Dell. It's the single largest category of complaints, and it's only getting worse. Can anything be done to stop the problem before it becomes an epidemic? By Amit Asaravala. [Wired News]