Archive for the ‘misc’ Category.
Osama Bin Laden & Sesame Street’s Bert
Yahoo:
Demonstrators hold up a poster of terrorist suspect Osama bin Laden during a pro Bin Laden rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh Monday, Oct. 8, 2001. Within the poster, at center right, is a printed image of “Sesame Street” children’s television character “Bert.”
Azad Products, who manufactures the poster was not aware of the appearance of Bert in one of the collaged images that make up the poster. “We got the images through e-mails and off the internet. We did not give the pictures a second look or realize what they signified until you pointed it to us,” Mostafa Kamal, production manager, told The Associated Press. Sesame Street or Bert are hardly known in Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Pavel Rahman)
Previously covered in http://www.lindqvist.com/bert.php.
“I was one of the Taliban’s torturers”
| Terror isn’t only something that is done to people. It’s also what makes people to do terrible, terrifying things. I was one of the Taliban’s torturers: I crucified people is the brief story of Hafiz Sadiqulla Hassani, an accountant who committed hideous atrocities as a member of the Taliban secret police and finally as a bodyguard for Mullah Omar, the Taliban’s leader. The story is apocolyptic, right out of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, or the more familiar Apocalypse Now, with Osama bin Laden playing Col. Kurtz. Consider this narrative, which begins with a profile of Omar: |
| “He’s medium height, slightly fat, with an artificial green eye which doesn’t move, and he would sit on a bed issuing instructions and giving people dollars from a tin trunk,” said Mr Hassani. “He doesn’t say much, which is just as well as he’s a very stupid man. He knows only how to write his name `Omar’ and sign it. |
| “It is the first time in Afghanistan’s history that the lower classes are governing and by force. There are no educated people in this administration – they are all totally backward and illiterate. |
| “They have no idea of the history of the country and although they call themselves mullahs they have no idea of Islam. Nowhere does it say men must have beards or women cannot be educated; in fact, the Koran says people must seek education.” |
| He became convinced that the Taliban were not really in control. “We laughed when we heard the Americans asking Mullah Omar to hand over Osama bin Laden,” he said. “The Americans are crazy. It is Osama bin Laden who can hand over Mullah Omar – not the other way round.” |
| While stationed in Kandahar, he often saw bin Laden in a convoy of Toyota Land Cruisers all with darkened windows and festooned with radio antennae. “They would whizz through the town, seven or eight cars at a time. His guards were all Arabs and very tall people, or Sudanese with curly hair.” |
| He was also on guard once when bin Laden joined Mullah Omar for a bird shoot on his estate. “They seemed to get on well,” he said. “They would go fishing together, too – with hand grenades.” |
| This time, however, we don’t seem to be sending a Willard up the river to “terminate the Colonel’s command.” But when it’s over, if it ever is, how do we save this hell from itself? |
Spherical Mobile Military Robot
Spherical Mobile Military Robot. The NY Times has an article
on a new military robot proposed by Ranjan Mukherjee of
Michigan State University. Mukherjee has just received a patent for a
spherical mobile robot design that he has been researching for several
years. When in motion, the robot is a
featureless metal ball. When it comes to rest, it stablizes itself on
three legs and extends sensor and weapon arrays. [robots.net]
How Xerox got its engineers to use a knowledge management system
TechRepublic: How Xerox got its engineers to use a knowledge management system
One reason the Xerox staff was reluctant to use the KM system was that participation would be an added duty to an already tightly controlled workday—essentially, staff would need to ‘‘share” in the little downtime available to them. Xerox tried a number of incentives to book employee interest and learned that professional credit was the key. With a quick app revamp, Eureka provided engineers an ability to “author’’ their solutions.
“Once we enabled them to attach their name, it became a professional peer process. They’re proud of their solutions and are recognized for it,” Holtshouse explained.
Hitchens on the Left and Islamic Fascism
Hitchens on the Left and Islamic Fascism. Christopher Hitchens has been berating fellow leftists for even thinking that the WTC/Pentagon attacks had anything to do with what the US has done in the Middle East.
Let’s pause a moment to appreciate Mr. Hitchens in action.
< [More Like This WebLog]
Sun shows off mainframe chasing 106 chip StarCat
Sun shows off mainframe chasing 106 chip StarCat. Swinging hot swapping [The Register]
Ellison offers free software for national ID
InfoWorld – RECOVERY – Ellison offers free software for national ID.
There has been an ongoing debate in the U.S. during recent years regarding the creation of a national ID card system, based on the existing Social Security card, that would include a centralized computer-based registry of all U.S. citizens. While some government officials in the past have advocated the creation of such a system as a means of curtailing illegal immigration in the U.S., organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union have repeatedly voiced their opposition to the plan.
ACLU September 17, 1998 – Testimony Against Establishing a National ID Card. An old entry but becoming relevant again, especially due to Mr Ellison.
