__ _____ _ ___ __
\ \/ / | | / / | / /
\ / /| | | /| / / |/ /
/ / ___ | |/ |/ / /| /
/_/_/ |_|__/|__/_/ |_/http://www.acronymchile.com/yawn.html
2003-04-28
Be not sad.
Be like the sun at midday.
###!!!!!###### ARGENTINA ###########################(RW)##################
Argentinian workers have been occupying factories rather than allow them to
be closed down, and have continued production. Now, police are moving
against such people:
As the federal judge wrote in Brukman's eviction order, "Life and
physical integrity have no supremacy over economic interests."
This obscene and nauseating comment must be read in the context of how the
workers came to be operating the Brukman factory to be fully appreciated in
all its disgusting glory:
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0424-03.htm
Following presidential election on Sunday, it will be interesting to see
how the new administration handles matters.
###!!!__###### ADVICE ##############################(##)##################
Thought this sounded like good advice, from Douglas Rushkoff's weblog:
I spoke with Grant Morrison about all this the other day, and he says
he's decided not to think about the war and all this mess, at all...
... I find the disconnection difficult, however, and am still striving
to find a balance between informed concern and pointless obsession. The
key to achieving this balance is spending one's concerned time engaged
in activism of some kind, rather than powerless pining. In other words,
either educate yourself, educate others, and do something, or not. And
when you're in "not" mode, really go there and nourish yourself.
http://www.rushkoff.com/2003_03_01_archive.php#90761148
###!!!__###### VENEZUELA ###########################(##)##################
Grassroots media in Venezuela:
http://www.aporrea.org
(in Spanish). Commentary here:
http://www.narconews.com/Issue29/article742.html
http://www.narconews.com/Issue29/article745.html
And of course...
MartÃn Sanchez: Yes, the page is completely built by scratch, by hand.
We use free software with Linux servers, PHP language, and a MySQL
database, that is a collaborative, gratis, and non-commercial effort by
thousands of people.
Also from Narco News is this piece regarding John Perry Barlow's opinions
on life in Brazil compared to North America:
http://www.narconews.com/Issue29/article728.html
###!!!__###### VENEZUELA II ########################(##)##################
Reading down through some reader comments on Narco News (which are better
informed and expressed than those found on many online fora) I came across
a particularly interesting one highlighting a development I was not previously
aware of:
http://www.narconews.com/viewcomments.php?ForumID=1#000015
Steven Hunt comments that some Western-media South American reporting has
begun to link Venezuela with terrorism. A quick search of GoogleNews does
not show any particular trend in this direction, but it might be something
worth keeping an eye open for.
###!!!--###### GRUB ################################(IB)##################
A distributed computing project called Grub, which harnesses individual
users' spare computing power and internet bandwidth, began cataloguing
millions of web pages:
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993644
http://www.grub.org/
http://www.incunabula.org/blog/archive/2003_04_21_index.html#200178308
###!!---###### BURN ################################(##)##################
On Debian Weekly News:
http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2003/15/
This interesting story:
Watch your machines people, because if you
don't, bad things can happen. If you notice a burning smell, check
your power supply for [1]loitering dragonfly brooches as Hugh Saunders
[2]experienced.
1. http://h.arqz.com/broachfan.jpg
2. http://lists.debian.org/debian-curiosa-0303/msg00008.html
###!!!!_###### TALKS ###############################(##)##################
Doolin Technologies is presenting its first series of technology talks in
Dublin. All are welcome to attend. Upcoming topics include:
Linux Clustering: Heartbeat vs. Red Hat Cluster Manager"
GTK+/GLADE, The Gooey Details
SSH: We Shell Overcome!
Meetings at 7:30pm on Thursdays, Meeting Room 7, Liberty Hall, Beresford
Place, Dublin 1. Details of dates and topics here:
http://www.linux.ie/pipermail/ilug/2003-April/002037.html
###!!!!!###### GUNS 'N' BUTTER #####################(##)##################
Seymour Melman, professor emeritus in industrial engineering at Columbia
University has written extensively on the effect of military exuberance on
the civilian economy. Sample article, well worth reading:
http://www.counterpunch.org/melman03152003.html
His arguments are well presented, so I will make no attempt to summarise.
Ralph Nader on same ground:
http://www.counterpunch.org/nader01202003.html
A review of his most recent book:
http://www.geonewsletter.org/melmans.htm
Equations
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=40&ItemID=3501
Website has articles and extracts from his most recent book:
http://www.aftercapitalism.com/
Reminds me a lot of Michael Albert's participatory economics.
###!!!__###### ICE AGE #############################(RW)##################
Freeman Dyson reviews "The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and
Change" by Vaclav Smil. Thought this passage was interesting:
We know that there is a natural cycle that has been operating for the
last eight hundred thousand years. The length of the cycle is a hundred
thousand years. In each hundred-thousand-year period, there is an ice
age that lasts about ninety thousand years and a warm interglacial
period that lasts about ten thousand years. We are at present in a warm
period that began twelve thousand years ago, so the onset of the next
ice age is overdue. If human activities were not disturbing the
climate, a new ice age might begin at any time within the next couple
of thousand years, or might already have begun. We do not know how to
answer the most important question: Does our burning of fossil fuels
make the onset of the next ice age more likely or less likely?
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16270
###!!___###### AGONY ###############################(##)##################
Noted War Blogger Cops to Copying. Sean-Paul Kelley, of
http://www.agonist.org
was using material from a subscription mailout produced by commercial
intelligence company Stratfor to bulk up his blog with top stories. Full
story here:
http://wired.com/news/print/0,1294,58346,00.html
Nicely:
"...Stratfor and Kelley have agreed that he can use no more than two
Stratfor items per day, and always with attribution."
(story courtesy P2PJ mailing list)
###!----###### NINJA ###############################(##)##################
http://www.realultimatepower.net/
Hi, this site is all about ninjas, REAL NINJAS. This site is awesome.
My name is Robert and I can't stop thinking about ninjas. These guys are
cool; and by cool, I mean totally sweet.
Facts:
1. Ninjas are mammals.
2. Ninjas fight ALL the time.
3. The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people.
###!!!!-###### DATA ################################(EFF)#################
Bruce Schneier explains how enormous law-enforcement databases like the
National Crime Information Center should give innocent people reason to
worry, particularly as current trends are Towards a relaxation in quality
control.
http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-0304.html#7
Particularly good as it is nicely backed up with numbers.
###!!!--###### CRAZY ###############################(EFF)#################
Apparently, documents regarding civic responses to hazardous waste
emergencies are now classified. The government
is sending plainclothes agents into libraries, posing as patrons, and
repossessing the hardcopies:
http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleprint/1439/-1/172/
###!----###### WTF #################################(OB)##################
Madonna spikes P2P networks with an mp3 of her saying "What the f*ck do you
think you are doing?".
http://www.advogato.org/person/highgeek/diary.html?start=54
Lots of links to the story elsewhere from that blog entry.
also related from The Register, probably:
Like a virgin - Madonna hacked for the very first time
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/30356.html
###!!---###### BOOKS ###############################(OB)##################
Free development (not necessarily software!) books online:
http://www.humaninfo.org/free.htm
###!!!--###### LOOT ################################(##)##################
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,934357,00.html
Critics said that Britain and the US appear not to have realised the
scale of the crisis. The laissez-faire approach was underlined by Mr
Hoon on Monday when he appeared to praise looters for "liberating"
equipment from the regime.
"I regard such behaviour as good practice, perhaps, but that is not to
say that we should not guard against more widespread civil
disturbances," he told MPs.
###!----###### XXXX ################################(##)##################
In The Register:
Trojan defence clears man on child porn charges
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/30385.html
###!!---###### MIRROR ##############################(##)##################
ILUG mention of how to mirror a particular architecture and release of
Debian. Download will still be huge of course :-)
http://www.linux.ie/pipermail/ilug/2003-April/002229.html
###!!!!-###### VIEWS ###############################(##)##################
Analysis of polls and public opinion. Couple of interesting comparisons
made between Bush-Junior and his Father in aftermath of their respective
wars. Junior looks the more vulnerable. Also interesting is that:
"This is the first time since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 that
domestic economic problems have dominated the public's political
agenda."
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/7633
Also interesting are these observations:
For example, in the poll cited above, just 51 percent say their taxes
are too high -- a figure that is lower than at any time since the 1960s
... In addition, by a better than two-to-one margin (66 percent to 31
percent), the public says that having the government provide needed
services is more important than cutting taxes. Even more impressively,
80 percent say that maintaining spending levels on domestic programs
such as education, health and Social Security is more important to them
than lowering their taxes (a priority favored by just 18 percent).
What makes all of this commentary most interesting is that it draws on a
range of opinion polls.
###!!!--###### SPIN ################################(##)##################
Generally good, regularly updated:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/
###-----###### CEPR ################################(##)##################
Columns by Dean Baker:
http://www.cepr.net/columns/baker/
###-----###### FIN #################################(##)##################