11 Nov 2004
Congratulating the Winners

This is an excellent column by Robyn Blumner: read it and weep.

You wanted a man in the White House who talks to God as his only adviser - a man who is willing to stop the advance of science if necessary to uphold his religious convictions - and you won the day. Congratulations. Tomas de Torquemada, the Spanish Inquisition's inquisitor-general, would be proud.

(link) [St. Petersburg Times]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

AOL axes Nullsoft - whither Winamp, Shoutcast?

Actually, I find this kinda hopeful: when M$ stopped further developement on Internet Explorer, it gave the Mozilla Foundation the opening it needed to challenge the Evil Empire. This could have the same effect in the media player space, especially for streaming servers. We'll see.

AOL split itself into four this week, and one of the casualties is the team that provided its musical credibility. And of course, we don't mean Spinner.com. After hemorrhaging employees for months, only three Nullsoft employees are left after the shake-up.

(link) [The Register]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

TV Stations Cancel 'Saving Private Ryan' (AP)

Ah, the dangers of censorship! Of course, there's a difference between Janet Jackson's costume failure during the Super Bowl, and Schindler's List. And there's an equally obvious difference between Romeo and Juliet and kiddie porn. But how, exactly, does one legally define that difference?

Censorship opponents have often claimed that the mere existence of such laws have a "chilling effect". I think this incident proves it ...

AP - Several ABC affiliates have announced that they won't take part in the network's Veterans Day airing of "Saving Private Ryan," saying the acclaimed film's violence and language could draw sanctions from the Federal Communications Commission.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

Is Microsoft Crawling Google?

Illegal or just unethical? Or neither? You decide ...

Jason Dowell over at WebProNews has written a piece questioning a tactic Microsoft might be using to beef up it's new search engine. He thinks they might be dipping into Google's results to supplement its own. Dowell likens it to leaving your garbage on the curb--anyone could conceivably go through it and take whatever is there for their own.

(link) [Slashdot]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

Author Chang found dead at 36

This is a huge loss for history buffs: her books were on topics rarely covered by Western writers, and always thoroughly documented and well written.

Best-selling writer Iris Chang is found dead in her car in California with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

(link) [BBC News | World | UK Edition]

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