Thursday, January 1, 2004
I think that lawsuits would not necessarily be a bad thing. While Apple computers and iPods do look nice, I am tired of the company is being portrayed as some kind of heroic foil to that other computer company. Apple is not really that much better of a company; they just have good [...]
Thursday, January 1, 2004
There is something about the state newspapers functioning in totalitarian governments that tickles me. It is the same with supermarket tabloids and the Iraqi information minister; they must know that they are not telling the truth (I assume, perhaps wrongly, that the journalists at the Korean Central News Agency are allowed access to external [...]
It is sorta rough, but I am proud of it. Choose a Democratic candidate, tweak the election results, and see who wins. The link is http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~dodoo/election2004.cgi. Go try it now!
Robert Cringely has posted his predictions for the world of technology in 2004. As always, he has interesting things to say. Whether or not they will happen, of course, is another story; Cringely is visionary, but he is too optimistic sometimes. Anyway, read on for my take on the individual predictions:
Saturday, January 3, 2004
This blog post from the Clark Community Network talks about this Boston Globe article which makes (you guessed it) predictions for 2004. The first question is about the Democratic primaries and their effect on the general election. While the article states that Kuttner believes that Dean will win, only to lose to Bush, [...]
Saturday, January 3, 2004
I found this New York Times article especially compelling. It is about the Manthey brothers, Polish Germans expelled at the end of the Second World War. The writer, Richard Bernstein, noted that the brothers are much richer than the the Polish couple that now own their ancestral farm and most of the other [...]
Saturday, January 3, 2004
Got these poll results from Atrios's blog. While the percentage points of support for each candidate were interesting, I found the "core levels of support" more compelling:
93% of all those saying they will vote for Kerry are strongly committed to Kerry.
89% of all those saying they will vote for Dean are strongly committed [...]
I preface this entry by admitting that I have not gotten any sleep in the last 23 hours. Lack of sleep makes me slightly irritable.
I have InstaPundit as one of the many RSS feeds in the RSS Reader extension I installed in Firebird yesterday. From an annoying entry about Clark's campaign funding (intensifed [...]
This New York Times article about the Bush re-election team is interesting. Not for the stalker-like tone Elisabeth Bumiller adopts in the beginning ("Unfortunately, Mr. Oliver's table was too far away for effective eavesdropping…"), but because the entire article is about Bush's response (or lack thereof) to Dean. And only Dean. None [...]
I was in the bathroom in the Science Center today when I had a thought. The urinals use infrared technology so you do not have to touch them. The sinks use infrared technology so you do not have to touch them. The soap dispensers, however, have to be pushed.
Admittedly, this would not [...]
It *might* be the translation from Russian, but this Pravda article makes it clear that the distinction between Chechens and terrorism is none too sharp in the Russian mind. This quote is especially damning:
We traditionally call terrorists Chechens, but we should keep in mind that criminality has no nationality. Special services must work [...]
This New York Times article, is entitled, "4 Americans Were on Plane That Crashed in the Red Sea." But look at this quote:
The passengers included Edward Zalaznick, a 42-year-old New Yorker who lived in Paris with his wife, Isabelle Fouchard, 43, and their three children, David, 12, Paul, 9, and Thomas, 6. Mr. Zalaznick [...]
Wednesday, January 7, 2004
This BBC News article about a group in Northern Nigeria perked my interest. Not only do they call themselves the Taliban (or Taleban, as the BBC spells it) and are led by a man called Mullah Omar, but they have raised an Afghani flag.
Wednesday, January 7, 2004
This article from the New York Times talks about how virtually all Khmer Rouge leaders have not been convicted for the crimes they committed during their reign.
Wednesday, January 7, 2004
I found Nicholas Kristof's latest op-ed in the New York Times the most refreshing piece on the proper role of religion in politics that I have read in a long time. I am not a religious person, but I still feel offended every time I hear Pat Robertson wax about "godless liberals" and then [...]
Wednesday, January 7, 2004
Both Le Monde (for the Francophones) and Pravda are reported that tATu (wtf is up with that capitalization? Who do they think they are, KaZaA?), the world's favorite lesbian pop group, wants to run for president of Russia. I am not sure whether the idea that they can avoid the age limitation (35 [...]
Thursday, January 8, 2004
Here at Harvard, majors are called "concentrations." I am in government, the second largest concentration:
Dear government concentrators,
Welcome back!
Just a quick note that our concentration advisors are on a well
deserved break, and will be available [...]
Thursday, January 8, 2004
This post is for Greg, who noted I post a lot of New York Times articles. There is, of course, nothing inherently wrong with the Times, but I want to avoid getting in a situation like that in Sartre's play Dirty Hands, which takes place in World War II Yugoslavia.
In this letter to the editor, the Executive Director of the Canadian Music Publishers Association, attempts to defend the standpoint of songwriters, who are apparently the "real victims" in the music wars.
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
I have been busy the past few days with an exam, an end-of-semester project, three papers, and my nineteenth birthday. I do not really have anything to do until the 23th, so expect more blogging than has been done over the past few days.
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
This article from Pravda is interesting; there is constant discussion about how important it is to spread the values of democracy and freedom around the world, yet more than three-quarters of Russian citizens believe censorship is important.
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
This morning, after I woke up, I cleaned up several pieces of rubber (from a mousepad) from my desk and several pieces of plastic (from a CD case) from my floor. When I am angry at myself, I tend destroy small things (last year it was mostly pencils) that I own. I am [...]
Normally, I do not read the Philadelphia Inquirer; I can find most national news items in the Times, and the Boston Globe provides most relevant local news (not that I read the Globe often; I am more concerned about the forest than the trees, so to speak).
I am not sure whether I would buy this eBay item; the seller just joined eBay yesterday.
Seriously though, I am hoping that the high bids are because the money is going to charity, and not because someone hopes to make a profit when (well, technically if) he becomes president.
Before I begin, please note that I have no plans to turn this into some kind of "dream blog" or anything; this is probably a one-time occurrence.
I do not see why the editors of the New York Times published this letter; all of its objections are clearly covered in the original article.
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
I love this line in this press release on the Russian Ministry of the Interior's website:
The Head of the MOI of Russia Main Office in Northern West Federal District, Militia Colonel A. Novikov congratulated the guests on their professional holiday and thanked them for the true to life, objective and responsive publications as well as [...]
Thursday, January 22, 2004
Well, at least this would never occur in the United States.
Oh, wait.
Thursday, January 22, 2004
Stumbled upon this website from BoingBoing. In looking through the forum, it struck me how many people assumed that this was simply an American phenomenom (i.e. someone from Belgium) or as something that was only a (regrettable) part of the past. Few posters extrapolated about the consequences of the images in the [...]
Thursday, January 22, 2004
At some point sometime in the future, when people actually read this blog (yes, I know people stop by every now and then), I will receive a message from some stranger, asking "wtf is xor?!" Stranger, this entry is for you.
Thursday, January 22, 2004
As you have probably already noticed, I cannot fall asleep. I was checking my old Hotmail account. The sole non-commercial email was about UBoat, the first computer game I ever programmed (not including a HyperStudio game called "Dungeon of Doom" I made in middle school). I had forgotten that the site still [...]
Thursday, January 22, 2004
Was pointed to this Boston Globe article by Slashdot; Atrios calls it "bigger than the Watergate break-in." I disagree; this may become another Plame affair, but I doubt "heads will roll," so to speak.
I have always liked to think that the Democrats were more tech-savvy than the Republicans. Yet another shattered stereotype.
Saturday, January 24, 2004
I love the fact that the New York Times Magazine comes online on Friday evening. This says something about my Friday evenings, I guess.
Came upon this IKEA walkthrough when I was reading BoingBoing instead of studying for my last final. I find it a bit ironic, because I was thinking about installing Civilization 3. It was then that I realized something crucially important to my well-being.
It has come to my attention that posting comments causes a 500 error. The comment is still posted, so just ignore this.
Thursday, January 29, 2004
… to the Frog server at the Harvard Computing Society. It is running FreeBSD. Trackback works. Comments work.
I have not been this happy since Clark squeezed out ahead of Edwards in New Hampshire. Oh wait…that was barely two days ago…
I just received what I think is my first phishing email message from my old Hotmail account. The uncertainty is because although it was formatted in HTML, the contents were 300 kilobytes worth of email addresses, all starting with the letter "ca."
Saturday, January 31, 2004
When I first saw this article, I assumed it was written by some PETA shill, based on its blurb in the RSS feed:
Most of the mammals in the north change into a denser and deeper winter coat by late fall. Man survives by taking his coat from them.