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December 2001 Entries
I love data about data. Google released their year-end summary of web searches. They call it the Year-End Google Zeitgeist: Search patterns, trends, and surprises. They have a really cool timeline of significant events throughout the year and how they affected searches. They also have monthly summaries going back to January 2001. Who would have guessed that Nostradamus would be "most searched for man" on Google in 2001? And who in the world is Josh Hartnett? (Actually I searched on him and found out who he was pretty quickly. Did you know who he was?)
posted @ Monday, December 31, 2001 11:57 AM | Feedback (0)
Roger Ebert publisehd his list of the best movies of 2001. And I haven't seen a single one of his top ten. As I write this on December 31st, two of them haven't even been released nationally yet. Everybody wants a shot at the Oscar.
posted @ Monday, December 31, 2001 11:20 AM | Feedback (0)
The Death Penalty Debate Intensifies is an older article. It was originally published in June. However it contains this amazing quote:
Based on new evidence that either proved their innocence or cast doubt on their guilt, some 95 inmates have been released from death row since 1973. Republican Gov. George Ryan of Illinois declared a moratorium on executions 16 months ago because of what he called his state's "shameful record of convicting innocent people and putting them on death row."
Ninety-five innocent people sentenced to die by our courts. Not a very good record. The article further says:
Death penalty supporters respond that such cases show the system correcting its own errors and stress that nobody has proved the innocence of any of the 717 people executed since 1976. True, but misleading: After an execution, the exhausted defense lawyers and others typically have little remaining incentive to dig up evidence of innocence and when they do, they often face resistance from state officials who are more interested in protecting themselves than in the truth.
I just read an article in the Kansas City Star about a man released from prison after 27 years. There were a number of problems with his conviction but it took that long to get it overturned. I used to be a proponent of the death penalty but when I hear about people wrongly convicted it really makes me question how well the system really works. How many innocent people have we executed?
posted @ Sunday, December 30, 2001 10:40 AM | Feedback (0)
It's almost 2002 which means another Tour de France is starting in July. We'll see if Lance Armstrong will finish in the yellow jersey for a fourth straight year. Unfortunately there won't be an America's Cup Challenge until January 2003. They are holding the America's Cup International Regatta in February of 2002 featuring Team New Zealand's dominating NZL60 boat. I guess that will have to hold me over.
posted @ Friday, December 28, 2001 3:08 PM | Feedback (0)
Newsweek as a very in depth article on the events of September 11th called The Day That Changed America. An interesting part is Section XII - Conspiracy Theories. It's a in interview with Mohamed Atta's father:
The heavyset, bespectacled lawyer laid out his case in a bombastic voice with a slight undercurrent of desperation. "The Mossad kidnapped my son," he said. "He is the easiest person to kidnap. Very surrendering, no physical power. He is not a capitalist and does not have money for bodyguards. They used his name and identity. They forced him to make a phone call under threat after the attack to cause controversy," he said, referring to a call he claims to have received from his son the day after the attacks. "Then they killed him. This" -- the attack on the World Trade Center -- "was done by the Mossad, using American pilots."

While it's understandable for a father to deny their son is evil, contrast that with William McVeigh's attitude toward his son's actions. Adding this to the information posted below on EgyptAir 990 and you wonder if some of these people are capable of dealing with an objective truth.

posted @ Thursday, December 27, 2001 4:12 PM | Feedback (0)
And while I'm posting things I finally got a chance to read The Crash of EgyptAir 990. You may remember EgyptAir 990 as the plane that crashed into the ocean in October 1999. The only real cause so far seems to be that the reserve co-pilot intentionally crashed the plane. Unfortunately Egypt has stonewalled the investigation by refusing to accept this theory.
I thought of the question that had plagued me all along: not whether the Egyptians were right or wrong but whether they really believed their own words. Loeb had said to me, "Do they believe it? I believe they believe in fear."
Atlantic Monthly also has an interview with the author about how Egypt's attitude relates to their response to September 11th.
posted @ Thursday, December 27, 2001 1:20 PM | Feedback (0)
As I read an article (in the LA Weekly no less) taking the left wing to task for their random comments regarding the military operations in Afghanistan I was reminded of an interesting article (Looking the World in the Eye) in Atlantic Monthly about the effictiveness of a liberal foreign policy. It's really an article about Samuel Huntington but it's very timely and appropriate.
posted @ Thursday, December 27, 2001 1:03 PM | Feedback (0)
Whenever I go home for the holidays my parents always have some magazines on hand from the library. This year they had two Vanity Fair issues. One had Brad Pitt (open shirt) on the cover and the other had Tom Cruise (no shirt). These to go with the assorted Newsweeks, US News & World Reports, Discovers, Popular Mechanics and Motor Trends. These two looked a little out of place. I was very suprised to find both Vanity Fairs had some great articles on the September 11th tragedy.

One article discussed the American intelligence failure to anticipate the attacks. Apparently when bin Laden was kicked out of the Sudan, the Sudanese itelligence service offered to share their very complete and detailed files with us. The US State Departement under Albright refused to allow the FBI to work with them saying the Sudan wasn't doing enough to stop terror. It seems to me like offering to share files on terrorists is a step in the right direction. Add to that America's attack of a pharmaceuticals plant in the Sudan in August 1998 following the bombing of two American embassies. Incidentally we're now getting sued over that little fiasco. The article is a great read. Unfortunately Vanity Fair doesn't make their content available online so this is probably the last mention you'll see of them. But if you come across either of these issues take a second and read the articles. Good stuff.

posted @ Thursday, December 27, 2001 11:12 AM | Feedback (0)

This past October Jamie received his balloon license. Here are a couple of photos from the ceremony that followed.
posted @ Thursday, December 27, 2001 10:46 AM | Feedback (0)
Adcritic is gone. They hosted some of my favorite commercials like the John West Salmon Bear Fight and the Dodge Aries K car spoof commercial. If I were a company that had commercials hosted at Adcritic I'd give them a boatload of cash to keep going. Are you listening Nike?
posted @ Saturday, December 22, 2001 5:48 PM | Feedback (0)
It's getting hard to tell the players without a scorecard. I was pretty sure Pakistan was our ally. Sort of. At least they were helping us in Afghanistan. India, the world's largest democracy, is accusing Pakistan of involvement in the attack on their Parliment. Pakistan is demanding proof. That sounds familiar. Pakistan is also home to many of the schools that train and recruit young boys for the Taliban. While not an Islamic state they are a military dictatorship. I hope they are only a friend of convenience.

Suprisingly enough, Iran has been opposed to the Taliban since it's inception. That's mainly because Iran is mostly Shiite Muslims and the Pashtun's are Sunni Muslims. Iran is gradually returning to the world after their revolution in 1979. With each election they've installed more moderates in power. Just the fact that they have elections is pretty amazing. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Iran.

posted @ Saturday, December 22, 2001 5:35 PM | Feedback (0)
USA Today (and nearly everyone else) is reporting that Hamas is stopping attacks on Israel. After two days of fierce fighting between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority they agreed in the name of "Palestinian Unity". Many of the articles quoted Islamic Jihad spokesman as saying they would continue attacking Israel. Hamas also clafied they would stop attacking Israelis in Israel proper but would continue to do so in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel continued their call for actions, not words.
posted @ Friday, December 21, 2001 8:54 AM | Feedback (0)
USA Today has an amazing article about the WTC collapse:
Nobody survived on the floors above him. But on his floor and below, an amazing story unfolded: Nearly everyone lived. The line between life and death that morning was as straight as a steel beam. Everyone on the 92nd floor died. Everyone on the 91st floor lived.
The plans put in place after the 1993 bombing performed exceptionally well. There is also an interview with the author on CNN's site.
posted @ Thursday, December 20, 2001 4:27 PM | Feedback (0)
A Pakistani columnist has an refreshing look at the Islamic countries of the world. In Illusion of Muslim Unity he writes:
we are net importers of technology, and we will continue to buy the products of western minds for the foreseeable future. There is no research worth the name going on in any of the forty plus countries with Muslim majorities. So even if we could miraculously form an economic union, our economies would not benefit much from a union as they are not complementary. Basically, we only export primary products and low-tech goods. In brief, there has been very little value-addition in the realm of ideas.
The article encourages the Muslim world to look at themselves rather than the West for the causes of their challenges. I think many of the countries he refers to are dictatorships first and Islamic states second. And I don't think the dictatorships are too excited about opening up their economy. He also has some interesting articles in his archive.
posted @ Thursday, December 20, 2001 8:56 AM | Feedback (0)
I saw The Lord of the Rings tonight. I spent the first 30 minutes or so trying to figure out how they did all those cool things. How did they get such great graphics for the battling armies? How did they get the Hobbit's to be short? After that I just enjoyed. A very well done movie and faithful to the book. I would like to read a review by someone who had never read the books though. I'm curious how much they'd understand. Highly recommended.
posted @ Wednesday, December 19, 2001 11:14 PM | Feedback (0)
Read How to Save the Arab World. I can't say it any simpler than that. Fareed Zakaria has written a number of great Newsweek articles on the Middle East and Islam since 9/11. He says that American policies toward countries such as Egypt and Saudia Arabia help create a climate that allows Islamic fundamentalists to flourish. This article discusses specific steps we can take to help these counties economically.
Wherever Muslim fundamentalists have been involved in day-to-day politics--Bangladesh, Pakistan, Turkey, Iran--their luster has worn off. People have realized that the streets still have to be cleaned, government finances have to be managed and education attended to. The mullahs can preach, but they cannot rule.

It discusses similar situations in the 70's and how we dealt with those. "A genuine entrepreneurial business class would be the single most important force for change in the Middle East, pulling along all others in its wake." It will be interesting to see how Bush deals with these countries. As long as America pushes an oil-based energy policy it will be hard to put political pressure on our oil suppliers.

posted @ Wednesday, December 19, 2001 10:17 AM | Feedback (0)
"When you commit treason against the United States of America, particularly at a time when the U.S. is in peril of attack and further attack, I believe the death penalty is the appropriate remedy to consider." -Rudolph Guliani (CNN)

So what do we do with John Walker? Apparently treason is a tough crime to prosecute. Guliani is famous for his "get tough on crime" attitude. What if an American citizen joined the Iraqi army? What if an American citizen joined Hamas or Islamic Jihad? Maybe we should strip him of his citizenship. He's going to get all the protection the constitution affords him even after he found little use for America and those same rights. If he didn't want to be in America maybe we shouldn't take him back. Maybe we should let the Northern Alliance deal with him. Maybe that will make the next young militant thank twice. Or maybe not.

posted @ Tuesday, December 18, 2001 3:22 PM | Feedback (0)
I'm not sure what to think of these guys. Are they professional stalkers? The friendly investigators over at Coincidence Designs will arrange chance meetings between you and that special someone. If you have $78,000 lying around! Why didn't I get into this business? "Tap her phones"? Who are these people? Maybe I'm just bummed because they won't work cheaper.
posted @ Tuesday, December 18, 2001 9:07 AM | Feedback (0)
I just can't get enough of Daniel Seligman's articles. I kept a subscription to Fortune for years just so I could read his work. He's part statistician, part economist and all curmudgeon. His most common themes are debunking common myths and shredding politically correct viewpoints. He started to write for Forbes a few years back and I've been able to read his stuff on their web site. You have to login and deal with their singing banner ads (I'm not kidding) but it's well worth it. His latest article, Mr. Diversity, attacks the proposition that students learn more in a racially diverse classroom. He responds "Really? They pick up calculus faster when their classmates have different skin colors? This is a breathtaking claim... Needless to say he pokes a few humrous holes in their arguement. You can find his previous work in the Forbes archive. I encourage you to find some time to read through a few of his columns.
posted @ Monday, December 17, 2001 9:14 PM | Feedback (0)
The LA New Times has an article up titled "Crying Whale". Apparently a group of environmentalists invented a threat to a group of whales. They succeeded in shutting down the construction of a salt plant in Mexico.
"Anyone who believes this was ever a debate on the science of gray whales is naive," says Vermont humpback whale researcher Roger Payne, the sole whale expert among 34 award-winning scientists named in ads opposed to the plant. "This was only about politics and stopping the world's largest corporation from ignoring legal protections on land where nothing should ever be built, no matter how many jobs it brings."

I think this is the same article that ran in the Pitch a few weeks back. Either way it's interesting to read how little this particular group of environmentalists care for the truth. I'm all for supporting the environment but I'd prefer a little honesty. The article is a little long but the first page is a great read.

posted @ Monday, December 17, 2001 1:58 PM | Feedback (0)
Plastic.com seems to be back up. They were down for about two weeks. They have a little blurb on what happened. They supply many of the interesting articles I link to so it's good to see them back in business.
posted @ Monday, December 17, 2001 9:50 AM | Feedback (0)
The new ReplayTV 4000's are out. They've actually been shipping the lower end units for a couple of weeks now. You can find some screenshots of the new interface. It doesn't appear the interface changed much. I'm guessing I'll probably upgrade my existing unit rather than buy a new one. There's no word yet on how "hackable" the new units are.
posted @ Sunday, December 16, 2001 10:54 PM | Feedback (0)
Over a year ago, Arafat promised to crack down on terrorist groups inside the PA controlled areas. This weekend he finally began closing the offices of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. He also called for a halt to all violence including suicide bombings. Doesn't that come a year late? Israel also killed two men trying to enter Israeli settlements. They had explosives strapped to their body. It will be interesting this week to see if Arafat can stop the terrorist groups.
posted @ Sunday, December 16, 2001 11:01 AM | Feedback (0)
And the new layout is up as you might have noticed. The blog information is now stored in XML so I can do some cooler things. The layout is pulled from the template at status.blogger.com. I updated some of the rest of the site. I'm not sure what to do with the rest. Most of this was just to make the XML part work. It does look cool though :)
posted @ Saturday, December 15, 2001 10:53 AM | Feedback (0)

posted @ Saturday, December 15, 2001 9:02 AM | Feedback (0)
Anna Quindlen wrote an article about terrorism. She described a group that murders in the name of their God. She described a group that terrorizes young women. The Taliban? Hardly! See for yourself.
posted @ Friday, December 14, 2001 4:02 PM | Feedback (0)
Today is an especially good day for consumer complaints. These guys were denied rooms at a hotel. So they made a PowerPoint presentation about their evening to send to management. It's pretty funny!
posted @ Friday, December 14, 2001 4:00 PM | Feedback (0)
Newsweek has a good article on John Walker the "American Taliban". Did you know the Quran has 6,666 sentences? I'm sure that gets the Christians up in arms. I don't suppose anyone has counted that and can confirm it for me. Actually after I wrote that I checked Google. It found this article on the web site of the Islamic Propagation Office of the Islamic Seminary of Qom at The Center for Islamic Studies and Researches. Quite a mouthful. You can find the information about halfway down. I'd just search for 6666.
posted @ Friday, December 14, 2001 10:46 AM | Feedback (0)
The Atlantic Monthly Online may become my new favorite site. Lance regularly sends me links from the site and I just don't publish enough of them. But we've got a bevy today!
  • Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Islam: Is democracy compatible with Islam? Atlantic contributors from throughout the twentieth century take up the question. This is a neat article discussing the state of government in Islamic countries. Not exactly models of freedom.
  • Arafat's Last Stand? Three Atlantic articles shed light on Arafat's precarious position. You really have to read how he disbanded Black September. Sheer genius!
  • The Real Roots of Terror: The autocratic regimes of Saudi Arabia and Egypt distract their citizens from repression at home by directing their anger toward the U.S. This reinforces some of the themes from an earlier Newsweek article. Good reading!
I'd encourage you to visit the Atlantic Monthly regularly.
posted @ Friday, December 14, 2001 10:28 AM | Feedback (0)
This has been a long time coming. CNN is reporting the Israel has declared Arafat "irrelevant" and won't negotiate with him anymore. They have broken off communication with the Palestinian Authority. They even went so far as to knock down their radio station which they accused of inciting violence.
posted @ Thursday, December 13, 2001 8:11 AM | Feedback (0)
The PantsCam. It's everything you think it could be. Not for the faint of heart.
posted @ Friday, December 07, 2001 8:32 PM | Feedback (0)
This is just a little bit freaky: Jerry Falwell. Pat Robertson. Usama bin Laden. Can you tell them apart? Actually it's quite a bit freaky. They have quotes from each person and you have to match the quote to the person. I couldn't tell from reading the quotes who said what. Granted they were all taken out of context but still . . . some of these are pretty strong words.
posted @ Friday, December 07, 2001 1:55 PM | Feedback (0)
I just wanted to join the growing legion that are linking to KPMG. Fight the power!
posted @ Thursday, December 06, 2001 4:40 PM | Feedback (0)
Gary Huckabay of Baseball Prospectus fame has written a great article on Baseball economics entitled Baseball and finance: how they relate. "There are more previous owners trying to get back into ownership than new investors looking for something new."
posted @ Thursday, December 06, 2001 1:59 PM | Feedback (0)
It's interesting to note the White Houses reaction to Israel's missile attack on Gaza. For the last two months they've been urging Israel to show restraint. Since September 11th they've put quite a bit of pressure on Israel to not upset the Arab/Muslim nations. Now they are asserting Israel's right to defend itself. It appears that the US senses victory in Afghanistan and is more willing to support Israel. It's interesting that America basically destroyed the government of a country that harbored terrorists that attacked us. Israel faces a very similar situation. It will be interesting to see what the US says over the next few weeks.
posted @ Wednesday, December 05, 2001 12:04 PM | Feedback (0)
Technology Review published The Net Effect: How Not to Fight Terror. It's a pretty entertaining look at some of the laws our government is trying to pass to combat terrorism. The article says "Laws banning crypto will have no more effect than laws against flying fully fueled Boeing 767s into 100-story skyscrapers."
posted @ Wednesday, December 05, 2001 11:59 AM | Feedback (0)
Inside the Battle at Qala-I-Jangi is an account of the uprising at the Northern Alliance jail. Pretty amazing.
posted @ Monday, December 03, 2001 4:24 PM | Feedback (0)
Time has a good article discussing what options each side has in Israel right now. The triple bombing and Israel's response have left both sides in a precarious position.
posted @ Monday, December 03, 2001 3:57 PM | Feedback (0)
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