>>From the BBC website - www.bbc.co.uk
Tuesday, 8 October, 2002, 09:43 GMT 10:43 UK
Fake bank website cons victims
West African criminals have used a fake version of a British bank's online
service to milk victims of cash, say police. The fake site was used to squeeze
more money out of people they had already hooked.
The site has been shut down. But UK National Criminal Intelligence Service,
(NCIS), said at least two Canadians had lost more than $100,000 after being
taken in by the fake website.
The scam behind the fake web domain was the familiar one that offers people a
share of the huge sums of money they need moved out of various African
nations.
NCIS said the use of the web was helping the conmen hook victims that would
otherwise spot the scam.
Convincing site
News of this latest scam was revealed by BBC Radio5Live. It found that an
unclaimed web domain of a UK bank had been used by conmen to get more cash out
their victims.
A NCIS spokesman said the domain looked legitimate because it had "the" in
front of the bank's name.
"I have seen the microsite myself and it's very sophisticated," said the NCIS
spokesman. "It's very convincing especially to people not very experienced
online."
Once the con was discovered it was quickly shut down. However, the people
behind it have not been caught.
NCIS does know that at least two people have lost more than $100,000.
The bank involved has bought up the domain used in the con as well as many
other permutations of its name to limit the chance it could happen again.
Domain games
Usually people are first hooked in to what has become known as Advanced Fee or
419 fraud by replying to an unsolicited fax or e-mail offering a share of any
cash successfully moved out of Africa.
The '419' refers to the part of the Nigerian penal code dealing with such
crimes.
Like any con, there is no money to be moved at all and instead anyone taking
the bait is asked to pay increasingly large sums to supposedly bribe
uncooperative officials and to smooth the passage of the cash.
Although this con has been practiced for years, people still fall victim to
it.
NCIS estimates that up to five Americans are sitting in hotel lobbies in
London everyday waiting to meet people connected with this con.
Cutting edge fraud
Often the conmen provide fake banking certificates to give the con an air of
legitimacy.
People tricked into clicking on fake sites
But a spokesman for NCIS said fake or spoof websites are now being used in
place of the certificates.
"To many people nowadays the cutting edge of banking technology is web
technology," said the spokesman.
One of the first groups of conmen to use this method set up a fake website
that supposedly gave victims access to accounts held at the South African
Reserve Bank, the country's national bank.
Typically, victims are given a login name and password and are encouraged to
visit the site so they can see that the cash they are getting a share of has
been deposited in their name.
But before they can get their hands on the cash, the victims are typically
asked to hand over more of their own money to help the transfer go ahead.
Once the South African police discovered the ruse they declared it a national
priority crime and soon arrested the 18 people behind it.
Modern gloss
An briefing paper prepared by NCIS in August on organised crime noted that
criminals were increasingly turning to the web to lure new victims and give
old cons a modern gloss.
The NCIS spokesman urged people who have fallen victim to 419 fraud to come
forward and help it track down the perpetrators. He said in the last two
months it had arrested 24 people overseas involved with this type of fraud.
He said any e-mail, fax or letter making an offer that looks to good too be
true, undoubtedly is.
One of the first companies to fall victim to website spoofing was net payment
service Paypal.
Conmen set up a fake site and asked people to visit and re-enter their account
and credit card details because Paypal had lost the information.
The website link included in the e-mail looked legitimate but in fact directed
people to a fake domain that gathered details for the conmen's personal use.
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Tuesday, 8 October, 2002, 07:55 GMT 08:55 UK
Lennon killer seeks parole again
The man who shot dead former Beatle John Lennon is making another bid for
early release from prison - the day before what would have been Lennon's
62nd birthday.
Mark David Chapman, 47, was jailed for life after he admitted killing the
superstar outside his New York apartment building in 1980.
It is the second time in two years that Chapman has sought parole from
Attica state prison.
At a 2000 hearing, he argued that he was no longer a danger to society and
had overcome the psychological problems which led him to shoot the
ex-Beatle.
Chapman had said that a voice in his head told him to shoot the star.
Shot dead
Lennon was shot four times as he emerged from a limousine outside his New
York City apartment on 8 December 1980.
He and his wife Yoko Ono were returning from a late-night recording session
during which time they had been working on Walking on Thin Ice.
Only hours before the shooting, Chapman - who had come to New York from
Hawaii - was photographed with the singer outside the same building as
Lennon signed a copy of his album Double Fantasy for him.
The killer said Lennon had been just "a picture on an album cover" to him
before the shooting.
'Deserved death'
Chapman has said that he should have received the death penalty for his
crime.
Lennon's widow told the 2000 parole hearing that she would not feel safe if
Chapman were released.
Lennon's songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney propelled the
Liverpool-based pop group to international stardom and unparalleled
commercial success.
The Beatles front man, peace campaigner, and all-round iconoclast, would
have been 62 on Wednesday.
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>I'd normally never buy this but the Xbox is Eur300 on IOL's shop, a very
>large company are making a loss on it and:
>
>
>
>Mandrake has been released for it.
isn't it ¤250 in Smyths?
don't forget to add to that the modchip, and the time to put it on.
(/me thinks unless you want 3d graphics, www.mini-itx.com is the way to go :))
L.
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Evangelicals' threat to new archbishop
Direct action threat over liberal views on sexuality
Stephen Bates, religious affairs correspondent
Tuesday October 8, 2002
The Guardian
Evangelical fundamentalists last night stepped up their campaign to oust
Rowan Williams, the incoming Archbishop of Canterbury, before he even takes
up his post, by threatening to take "direct action" against him.
The council of the Church Society, the Church of England's oldest
evangelical body, joined a younger evangelical pressure group called Reform,
which is also opposed to Dr Williams, in calling on him to recant his
supposedly liberal views on sexuality or stand down.
Following an emergency meeting, the 167-year-old society, whose leaders met
the archbishop last week, proclaimed their continued opposition to his
appointment and called on all Anglicans to spurn him.
The move is the latest stage of an increasingly aggressive attempt to
destabilise the new archbishop, whose leftwing political views are regarded
with deep suspicion by the conservative fringes of the evangelical movement.
Some evangelicals object to Dr Williams's acknowledgement that he has
ordained a gay priest, something many bishops have done, and that those who
have sex outside marriage need not necessarily be spurned. The new
archbishop has repeatedly assured them that he respects the canons of the
church.
Nevertheless, the society said: "It is clear that he prefers his private
judgment to the voice of scripture, to the voice of tradition and to the
common mind of the church. As such he can only be a focus of disunity.
"The council... called upon loyal Anglicans to pray specifically that Rowan
Williams would see the error in his teaching, change his views or stand
down," it said.
The society claimed to have drawn up an "action plan," including calling on
bishops and primates of the 70 million worldwide Anglican communion, of
which archbishops of Canterbury are the leaders, to distance themselves from
Dr Williams's doctrinal and ethical position. It promised it would be
"taking steps towards appropriate direct action".
It added that Dr Williams remained on the editorial board of a journal
called Theology and Sexuality which, six months ago, published articles
allegedly commending homosexual behaviour.
Despite its claim, the society does not represent the common mind of the
church. Dr Williams, currently Archbishop of Wales, was chosen by the crown
appointments commission of church members, including evangelicals, and his
appointment was endorsed by the prime minister and the Queen.
He is due to succeed George Carey, who retires this month, and will be
formally enthroned at Canterbury cathedral in February.
Asked what form direct action might take, the Rev George Curry, the
society's chairman, said: "Watch this space." Presumably it could involve a
small minority of parishes repudiating the new archbishop and seeking
alternative oversight or even demonstrations at services where Dr Williams
is present.
Church of England bishops, who have hitherto largely kept their heads down
during the row, are meeting next week to discuss their response to the
evangelical extremists' challenge, which appears to have grown in the
absence of a robust rebuttal.
A letter by senior theologians in today's Guardian, however, repudiates the
evangelicals' tactics, calling them unseemly and contrary to biblical
teaching.
On the BBC's Thought for the Day yesterday, Angela Tilby, vice-principal of
Westcott House, Cambridge, accused Dr Williams's opponents of presumption
and blackmail. "It is in fact a thoroughly aggressive way to behave. It is
attempting to force an issue by emotional violence... manipulating to get
your way is often preferable to painstaking negotiation," she said.
Last week, Dr Williams said he was deeply saddened. "Matters of sexuality
should not have the priority or centrality that Reform and the Church
Society have tried to give them. The archbishop cannot withdraw his
appointment since so many, including evangelicals, have urged him to take
the post... the archbishop believes it to be his duty under God."
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Weevil pest warms to life in south-west London
James Meek, science correspondent
Tuesday October 8, 2002
The Guardian
They're chomping in Chelsea, Fulham and Pimlico, but despite their fancy
taste in London addresses they are neither posh nor particularly fussy: they
are vine weevils and they want to eat your plants.
Two species of vine weevil previously unable to survive Britain's cold
winters have been discovered in south-west London, and one has also been
detected in Surrey, Cardiff and Edinburgh.
"This is probably the most serious new garden pest in recent memory," said
Max Barclay, the curator of beetles at the Natural History Museum in London
who discovered the creatures in the UK.
The black vine weevil has long been native to Britain, causing enormous
damage to glossy leaved plants such as laurels. But the two new species,
otiorhynchus armadillo and otiorhynchus salicicola, not previously known
north of Switzerland, are now prevalent in south London. "It's very likely
these weevils have been introduced to Britain through imported ornamental
plants from Italy," said Dr Barclay. "It looks like they're here to stay."
He found otiorhynchus armadillo on the window of a Chelsea department store
in 1998, but as the shop sold imported house plants, he assumed it was a
migrant. It has now quietly become the most common species of vine weevil in
south-west London. The second invader is not so numerous, but has
established itself firmly in the same area.
Apart from laurels, vine weevils attack bay, viburnum, ornamental ivy, and
grape vines. An early sign of trouble is that notches appear in leaves. The
soil-dwelling larvae bite the roots off below the surface.
One possible explanation for the invaders' successful colonisation of
Britain is global warming. Earlier springs and milder winters are already a
fact.
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spamassassin-contrib@msquadrat.de changed:
What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CC|                            |spamassassin-
|                            |devel@lists.sourceforge.net
AssignedTo|spamassassin-               |spamassassin-
|devel@lists.sourceforge.net |contrib@msquadrat.de
------- Additional Comments From spamassassin-contrib@msquadrat.de  2002-10-08 04:16 -------
I'm gonna fix this one. I think the best solution will be to copy the modified
rules to blib and install them from there. Then the rules files will be
changed on build time and not install time, too.
------- You are receiving this mail because: -------
You are the assignee for the bug, or are watching the assignee.
You are on the CC list for the bug, or are watching someone who is.
-------------------------------------------------------
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Welcome to geek heaven.

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Martin A posted:
Tassos Papadopoulos, the Greek sculptor behind the plan, judged that the
limestone of Mount Kerdylio, 70 miles east of Salonika and not far from the
Mount Athos monastic community, was ideal for the patriotic sculpture.
As well as Alexander's granite features, 240 ft high and 170 ft wide, a
museum, a restored amphitheatre and car park for admiring crowds are
planned
---------------------
So is this mountain limestone or granite?
If it's limestone, it'll weather pretty fast.
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Hi all,
apologies for the possible silly question (i don't think it is, but),
but is Eircom's aDSL service NAT'ed?
and what implications would that have for VoIP? I know there are
difficulties with VoIP or connecting to clients connected to a NAT'ed
network from the internet wild (i.e. machines with static, real IPs)
any help pointers would be helpful,
cheers
--
rgrds,
Bernard
--
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E: bernard.tyers@dcu.ie * W: www.physics.dcu.ie/~bty * L:N117
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Nobel Honors 3 for Astrophysics Work
Tuesday October 8, 2002 12:00 PM
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Two Americans and a Japanese won the Nobel Prize in
physics Tuesday for using some of the most obscure particles and waves in
nature to understand the workings of astronomy's grandest wonders.
Riccardo Giacconi, 71, of the Associated Universities Inc. in Washington,
D.C., will get half of the $1 million prize for his role in ``pioneering
contributions to astrophysics, which have led to the discovery of cosmic
X-ray sources.''
Raymond Davis, Jr., 87, of the University of Pennsylvania shares the other
half of the prize with Japanese scientist Masatoshi Koshiba, 76, of the
University of Tokyo. The two men pioneered the construction of giant
underground chambers to detect neutrinos, elusive particles that stream from
the sun by the billion.
Neutrinos offer an unparalleled view of the sun's inner workings because
they are produced in its heart by the same process that causes it to shine.
In fact, Davis' early experiments, performed during the 1960s in a South
Dakota gold mine, confirmed that the sun is powered by nuclear fusion.
Koshiba won his share of the prize for his work at the Kamiokande neutrino
detector in Japan. That experiment confirmed and extended Davis' work, and
also discovered neutrinos coming from distant supernova explosions, some of
the brightest objects in the universe.
The Italian-born Giacconi, a U.S. citizen, was awarded half of the prize for
building the first X-ray telescopes that provided ``completely new - and
sharp - images of the universe,'' the academy said.
His research laid the foundation for X-ray astronomy, which has led to the
discovery of black holes and allowed researchers to peer deep into the
hearts of the dusty young galaxies where stars are born.
When academy officials reached Giacconi by phone at his home outside
Washington, he said he was ``dumbstruck'' to learn of the prize. Koshiba
also was phoned at home in Tokyo, but the academy was still trying to reach
Davis, spokesman Erling Norrby said.
This year's Nobel awards started Monday with the naming of Britons Sydney
Brenner, 75, and Sir John E. Sulston, 60, and American H. Robert Horvitz,
55, as winners of the medicine prize, selected by a committee at the
Karolinska Institute.
The researchers shared it for discoveries about how genes regulate organ
growth and a process of programmed cell deaths that shed light on how
viruses and bacteria invade human cells, including in conditions such as
AIDS, strokes, cancer and heart attacks.
The winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry will be named on Wednesday
morning and the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of
Alfred Nobel later the same day.
The literature prize winner will be announced on Thursday, the Swedish
Academy said on Tuesday.
The winner of the coveted peace prize - the only one not awarded in Sweden -
will be announced Friday in Oslo, Norway.
The award committees make their decisions in deep secrecy and candidates are
not publicly revealed for 50 years.
Alfred Nobel, the wealthy Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite who
endowed the prizes left only vague guidelines for the selection committees.
In his will he said the prize being revealed on Tuesday should be given to
those who ``shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind'' and
``shall have made the most important discovery or invention within the field
of physics.''
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which also chooses the chemistry and
economics winners, invited nominations from previous recipients and experts
in the fields before cutting down its choices. Deliberations are conducted
in strict secrecy.
The prizes are presented on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in
1896, in Stockholm and in Oslo.
---
On the Net:
Nobel site,
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Lioness adopts fifth antelope
Rory Carroll, Africa correspondent
Tuesday October 8, 2002
The Guardian
Kamuniak the dysfunctional lioness has forfeited another meal by adopting
her fifth baby oryx this year, an aberration of nature which has baffled
wildlife experts.
The young lioness in the Samburu national park in northern Kenay adopted her
latest baby at the weekend, a wildlife service warden said yesterday.
Each time Kamuniak, whose name means "the blessed one" in the local Samburu
tongue, has tried to protect the antelopes from other predators and allowed
the natural mothers to feed them.
Unfortunately for her, one oryx ended up in the belly of a male lion while
Kamuniak slept; the others were either rescued by wardens or retrieved by
their natural mothers.
The wardens think the latest adoptee, nicknamed Naisimari ("taken by
force"), was adopted at the weekend.
"She must have adopted her on Sunday because they are in harmony," said
Gabriel Lepariyo, a warden.
Naisimari's natural mother has been seen shadowing the odd couple at a
distance.
Theories to explain the phenonemon abound: not having her own cubs, Kamuniak
is lonely; she is colour-blind and short-sighted and thinks the calves are
cubs; the oryx were too frail to flee, breaking the classic prey behaviour
and confusing the hunter; Kamuniak wants to be a vegetarian; Kamuniak wants
to be loved.
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Ananova:
Dracula theme park could be switched to Bucharest
A controversial scheme to build a Dracula theme park in Romania could be
switched away from Transylvania.
Consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers is now recommending that it be built in
Bucharest instead.
It comes after Prince Charles led international protests against the
original proposals to build it in the medieval town of Sigishoara.
PricewaterhouseCoopers name Bucharest, originally believed to be an outsider
in the race to host the park, as the most profitable location for the
project.
But that has angered residents in Sigishoara, where Vlad the Impaler, the
inspiration for Dracula, was born. They are counting on the park to boost
the local economy.
Evenimentul Zilei reports that Sigishoara was placed behind the capital with
the Black Sea port of Constanta third choice.
Dorin Danesan, mayor of Sigishoara, said: "The pre-feasibility report from
PWC shows that the park would attract more tourists if it was located in
Bucharest. But I still think that Sigishoara is the best location for it."
The park would include hotels, a Dracula roller coaster, catacombs, a ghost
train and a house of horrors, as well as vampire dungeons located around a
reconstruction of Dracula's castle and an artificial lake.
The project has also been objected to by the world heritage organisation
Unesco fearing Sigishoara might be spoilt.
PricewaterhouseCoopers is to present its final report on the project on
October 15.
Story filed: 13:16 Tuesday 8th October 2002
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Ananova:
Newspaper's readers complain over 'let's have sex' picture caption
Readers of an African newspaper have complained after a picture caption
about jewellery contained the words "let's have sex".
The mix-up highlights the problems caused by the wide range of languages
spoken in Namibia.
Callers to the Namibian were angered by the use of the word tulumweni, which
translates roughly as "let's have intercourse" in the Oshiwambo language.
It was used in a caption concerning people in the Caprivi who use rings from
the femidon - female condom - as jewellery.
According to the The Namibian , an activist involved in care for Aids/HIV
patients spelt the word tulumweni for the journalist.
He intended it to mean "you will see for yourselves" in the Siyeyi tongue.
One caller said the complainants "should be considerate of other people's
languages. It is very clear that the picture was taken in the Caprivi ...And
that the word is from Siyeyi. It is not Oshiwambo".
Others indicated that various words might have different meanings in various
Namibian languages, such as omakende, an Oshiwambo word for glasses which in
Siyeyi means testicles.
Another word with a double-meaning is tulikunde, which in Oshiwambo
translates as let's talk, but which in Sisubiya translates as let's have
intercourse.
The Herero word for a hat is ekoli, which is an Oshiwambo word for a vagina.
Story filed: 12:37 Tuesday 8th October 2002
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HUBBLE SPOTS AN ICY WORLD FAR BEYOND PLUTO
------------------------------------------
Astronomers have discovered a distant body that appears to be the
largest object in the Kuiper Belt, a body half the size of Pluto that
raises new questions about the definition of a planet. The icy world
2002 LM60 has been dubbed "Quaoar".

ASTRONOMERS SLICE AND DICE GALAXIES
-----------------------------------
New views of star birth and the heart of a spiral galaxy have been
seen by a state-of-the-art astronomical instrument on its first
night. The new spectrometer has a revolutionary ability to 'slice'
any object in the sky into sections, producing a three dimensional
view of the conditions throughout entire galaxies in a single
observation.

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Actually, I'd be more inclined to look into:

Avoiding giving any cash to a certain corporation
P
> -----Original Message-----
> >I'd normally never buy this but the Xbox is Eur300 on IOL's shop, a very
> >large company are making a loss on it and:
> >
> >
> 3A%20Xbox%20Linux%20Mandrake%209%20Released
> >
> >Mandrake has been released for it.
>
> isn't it ¤250 in Smyths?
>
> don't forget to add to that the modchip, and the time to put it on.
>
> (/me thinks unless you want 3d graphics, www.mini-itx.com is the way to go
> :))
>
--
Irish Linux Users' Group: ilug@linux.ie
 for (un)subscription information.
List maintainer: listmaster@linux.ie


Rohit Khare wrote:
>
> Why am I so passionate about decentralization? Because I believe some of
> today?s most profound problems with networked applications are caused by
> centralization.
>
> Generically, a centralized political or economic system permits only one
> answer to a question, while decentralization permits many separate
> agents to hold different opinions of the same matter. In the specific
> context of software, centralized variables can only contain one valid
> value at a time. That limits us to only representing information A)
> according to the beliefs of a single agency, and B) that changes more
> slowly than it takes to propagate. Nevertheless, centralization is the
> basis for today?s most popular architectural style for developing
> network applications: client-server interaction using request-response
> communication protocols.
I think the ability to maintain an inconsistent database
is key to decentralization.
Databases enforce consistenty with every transaction.
Bounded transactions, like an ATM, enforce consistency
by have some play with time and value
Most people keep inconsistent data in their heads, it's
called congnitive dissonance theory
Most businesses keep inconsistent data, documents, tationale
and ideas to support their work activities, it's called real life.
I don't think it matters so much where it's located, i.e.
decentralization. I think that decentralization is the workaround
from technical limitations.  The fallout being that the only way
inconsistent information spaces can be maintained is by
protecting them through a set of trust barriers and boundaries.
The local information when combined with the technical
troubles of providing "just enough" forced synchronization
to remote information provide workable data consistenty, i.e.
enforcing local constraints or ignoring global ones when
concerns are more immedidate.
Tolerating temporary, irreconcilable deviations is how
people cope, otherwise you'd be like Nick Gatsby unnecessarily
pre-occupied with a spot of shaving cream on McKee's neck
who thinks that if he can just wipe that spot off that the
whole world would be a little more perfect and everything,
including his pre-occupation with Daisy, would consistently
be in its proper place.
Greg


-----Original Message-----
Subject: please give generously
> >
> >
> >
> > Please give generously...
> >
> > URGENT - DUDLEY EARTHQUAKE APPEAL
> >
> > At 00:54 on Monday 23 September an earthquake measuring 4.8 on the
> >
> > Richter scale hit Dudley,UK causing untold disruption and distress -
> >
> > * Many were woken well before their giro arrived
> >
> > * Several priceless collections of mementos from the Balearics and
> >
> > Spanish costas were damaged
> >
> > * Three areas of historic and scientifically significant litter were
> >
> > disturbed
> >
> > * Thousands are confused and bewildered, trying to come to terms with
> >
> > the fact that something interesting has happened in Dudley
> >
> > One resident, Donna-Marie Dutton, a 17 year old mother-of-three said "It
> >
> > was such a shock, little Chantal-Leanne came running into my bedroom
> >
> > crying. My youngest two, Tyler-Morgan and Megan-Storm slept through it.
> >
> > I was still shaking when I was watching Trisha the next morning."
> >
> > Apparently though, looting did carry on as normal.
> >
> > The British Red Cross have so far managed to ship 4000 crates of Sunny
> >
> > Delight to the area to help the stricken masses.
> >
> > Rescue workers are still searching through the rubble and have found
> >
> > large quantities of personal belongings including benefit books and
> >
> > jewellery from Elizabeth Duke at Argos.
> >
> > HOW YOU CAN HELP
> >
> > * £2 buys chips, scraps and blue pop for a family of four
> >
> > * £10 can take a family to Stourport for the day, where children can
> >
> > play on an unspoiled canal bank among the national collection of
> >
> > stinging nettles
> >
> > * 22p buys a biro for filling in a spurious compensation claim
> >
> > PLEASE ACT NOW
> >
> > Simply email us by return with your credit card details and we'll do the
> >
> > rest! If you prefer to donate cash, there are collection points
> >
> > available at your local branches of Argos, Iceland and Clinton Cards.
> >
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October 8, 2002
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IN THIS ISSUE
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* BUSH COVERS THE WATERFRONT
* THE BIGGEST CABLE HOOKUP
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BUSH COVERS THE WATERFRONT
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It may seem like all Iraq, all the time in the Oval Office, but
the president has at least one other thing on his mind this
week: that pesky port lockout. The freight still isn't moving,
factories are running out of parts, produce is rotting, and
retailers are more freaked about Christmas with every passing
day.
On Monday, Bush stepped in and appointed a three-member panel to
see how badly this shutdown is hosing the economy. (We hope this
isn't a difficult question, as the panel's been given all of one
day to report back.) When Bush gets the report on Tuesday, the
next step might be a court order to reopen the ports under the
1947 Taft-Hartley Act. That would send employees back to work
for 80 days while federal mediators duke it out over the
disputed contract and retailers lower their Xanax dosages.
Invoking Taft-Hartley requires a threat to national health or
safety -- not the economy. But Labor Secretary Elaine Chao
covered that base in a statement on Monday, saying the work
stoppage threatens the flow of supplies to the military (we knew
Iraq would be in here somewhere). "Union officials quickly
responded that their members have been unloading military cargo
throughout the 10-day shutdown," said the L.A. Times, but an
anonymous Bush administration official "said that only a portion
of what the Defense Department needs has made it ashore."
Politically, this has been a tricky one. Using Taft-Hartley
would annoy labor right before congressional elections. On the
other hand, "Voter discontent with Bush's handling of the
increasingly fragile economic recovery has begun showing up in
polls, and such concerns may have outweighed the political
danger to the Republican administration," said the San Francisco
Chronicle. Also, Bush stepped in on the same day that a poll
reported two-thirds of Americans wanted him to focus more on the
economy. "Though the administration promised an unbiased
examination of the lockout, Bush appeared to have made up his
mind that it was hurting national security and the economy,
andmerited federal intervention," said the AP.
As for Taft-Hartley, it's not exactly famous for solving labor
disputes. Often the 80-day cooling-off period ends, and workers
simply walk out again (or get locked out again, in this case).
One gets the sense, however, that fixing the dockworkers'
contract isn't the point of this particular 80 days. It's 78
days until Christmas. The race is on. - Jen Muehlbauer
President Acts To Halt Port Lockout for 80 Days (Seattle
Times)

Bush Expected To Act on Ports Crisis

President Moves Toward Forcing the Reopening of West Coast
Ports

Bush Takes Step Toward Halting Lockout After West Coast Port
Talks Break Off (AP)

White House Intervenes on Docks Dispute (Financial Times)

Cooling-off Period Likely in Port Fight (SF Chronicle)

Bush Moves Toward Halting Port Shutdown

Trouble On The Docks

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Charges of Politics Have Dogged Taft-Hartley Act

Taft-Hartley Act No Quick-Fix For Port Dispute (Reuters)

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THE BIGGEST CABLE HOOKUP
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wo birds want to join forces and the FCC is about to cry "fowl."
We mean "foul." The two dominant direct broadcast satellite
players want to join forces, the better to compete with Big
Cable. Federal regulators, both the FCC and the Justice
Department, are concerned that the resulting conglomerate of
DirecTV with Dish Network would command roughly 95% of satellite
service in the US.
The press could not settle on a price tag for the proposed
merger between EchoStar Communications and Hughes Electronics --
it was described as being worth anywhere from $15 billion and
$25 billion. It was a challenge to keep the players straight, as
some outlets talked of a merger between the corporate parents,
and others referred to the service monikers. Hughes is DirecTV
and EchoStar is Dish. All straight?
The two companies sent a letter to the FCC urging them to hold
off ruling on (read, rejecting) the merger until the Justice
Department has spoken. EchoStar and Hughes offered unspecified
"major revisions" to the deal that they want to discuss with
Justice in the next weeks.
The Wall Street Journal delved deeply into the form those
revisions could take -- specifically, selling some frequencies
to Cablevision. The Journal reported that Cablevision has wanted
to get into the satellite business for 10 years and outlined the
cable company's plans and past spending on such a project.
TheStreet.com turned in an extensive analysis of the deal for
investors in the satellite space. It seems the market for
expanded-service television may be nearing saturation.
TheStreet.com quoted an analyst's report which concluded,
"Consumers should benefit from ... continued rivalry, but
shareholders may realize much smaller returns."
The New York Times and the Journal both mentioned Rupert Murdoch
waiting in the wings. Last year Murdoch's News Corp. bid for
DirecTV, but lost out at the last minute to EchoStar. If the
current deal falls through, he'll be back. - Keith Dawson
EchoStar and Hughes Propose Concessions in Bid to Save Deal

(Paid subscription required)
Regulators Set to Block EchoStar's Hughes Purchase

(Paid subscription required)
'Last-ditch effort' (Rocky Mountain News)

EchoStar, Hughes See a Glimmer of Hope

F.C.C. Asked to Put Off Merger Ruling

EchoStar, Hughes ask FCC to defer decision

EchoStar, Hughes offer merger changes (Reuters)

Delay in satellite-TV merger OK requested (AP)

EchoStar, Hughes Seek to Delay Ruling

EchoStar pleads to FCC on merger (Denver Post)

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SEC Probes AOL-Oxygen Pact For Double-Booking of Revenue

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Tivo Raises $25 Million in Stock Offering (AP)

WorldCom Officer Pleads Guilty to Fraud

Two Magazines Are Shut and a Third Revamps

Regulators Say They Have CSFB 'Smoking Gun'

Expected Cold Winter Could Increase Natural Gas Prices

Frozen World Found Beyond Pluto

Fool Me Once

New Northwest System for Internet Bookings

The Fastest-Growing Tech Companies

Debating the Baby Bells

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Silicon Valley Is Yearning For User-Friendly Microsoft

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Written by Deborah Asbrand (dasbrand@world.std.com), Keith
Dawson (dawson@world.std.com), Jen Muehlbauer
(jen@englishmajor.com), and Lori Patel (loripatel@hotmail.com).
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From: Steve Speer
Subject:
[not sure what the rules for crossposting between the two groups is...
my reasoning is that it's a major newspaper reporting evidence of
alien life so.... /t]
--
 ......................An "open loop": shows every Saturday!
 .......................... submit to the calendar.
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--- In forteana@y..., "D.McMann"
wrote:
> Robert Moaby, 33, who sent death threats to staff, was also jailed
> for hoarding indecent pictures of children on his home computer.
> =========
>
> Hmm, if I didn't trust our government and secret police, I could
look at
> this another way....
There is a bit of circumstantial evidence - apparently some MT
listers were approached by him (via email) - a little research in
dejanews/google groups showed a number of messages from him, clearly
hoping to contact girls, appearing in "alt.teens" and similar groups -
I just tried a Google Groups search on "Robert Moaby" and some of
them came top of the list.
Note for Marie - "MT" stands for Mark Thomas, a slightly slimmer, UK
version of your Michael Moore - the mailing list is named after him.
Rob
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I seem to be having a little trouble with it. My printers.conf is:
Info Hp4050
Location locals
DeviceURI ipp://192.168.2.90:9100/
State Idle
Accepting Yes
JobSheets none none
QuotaPeriod 0
PageLimit 0
KLimit 0
and cupds uses that to make a printcap of:
lp:
Sounds dodgy to me. If someone has an example printers.conf/printcap for
a JetDirect printer, I'd appreciate it if they sent it on.
John
--
Irish Linux Users' Group: ilug@linux.ie
 for (un)subscription information.
List maintainer: listmaster@linux.ie


On Tue, 2002-10-08 at 14:13, John Moylan wrote:
> Hmm, speaking of cheap machines etc, has anyone tried this sort of
> thing:  ? or more importantly
> has anyone had any positive/negative experiences with the Via mini-itx
> boards/via c3 processors.
> I recall a thread last year about building a custom MP3/CD/Game/vcd
> recorder machine, these systems seem to hit the mark. Also, I need to
> build a new box, and I was thinking about something that would be as
> unobtrusive as possible in my living room;)
>
> John
The forums there are very informative, and there is also more info on
using linux on the mini ITX boards at
A couple of the autopc projects make interesting reading in this regard:
 but most of them seem to use windows for some
unknown reason.....
HTH
Phil
--
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List maintainer: listmaster@linux.ie


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On Tue, 27 Aug 2002 MICGRANGER@aol.com wrote:
> Concerning this mail, what is your intention?
When posting to this list excerpts from books I've just read, I usually
refrain from adding any comments, letting the listmembers interpret them
as they see fit.
But since you asked....
I chose to post this text simply because I thought it was a particularly
risible example of Doyle's invincible faith and his refusal to accept the
fucking obvious.
bc
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David asked:
> My wife noticed something odd.  The nearly-full moon was about 30
> degrees above the horizon.  There was a notable glow on the horizon,
> except under the moon.  The moon seemed to be in a column of darkness
> that was about three times the apparent width of the moon.  We could see
> the column over its entire length as a strip of sky darker than the sky
> around it.
>
> Any of you ever see this?  Do you have any idea what could have caused
> it?  I suspect it's due to some pecularity of the visual system, but
> have no clear idea.
I'm surprised to not find this phenomenon in Corlis. I could have sworn I
saw it there. He does have the somewhat similar dark sky between a rainbow
and a secondary bow. I personally have seen a rainbow enclosing a
semi-circle of darker sky.
I know I've read about pillars under the Sun and Moon elsewhere, but I can't
recall if they were reportedly dark or bright. I do know these sorts of
things are supposed to be quirks of optics not of the visual system. I'm
sorry I haven't got any answers, but a search through some books on
atmospheric optics ought to turn a few hints up.
Bill
William Jacobs
Freelance Unemployed Person
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>peter fwded:
>>Finally, Constable Evans hurled a thong at the animal, hitting it on the
>>head.
>
>I know this isn't *quite* as funny to Australians as it is to
>everyone else. Honestly.
>
>Rachel
>not that walloping it with a flip-flop isn't hilarious too...
>--
well unless you used the thong like a sling shot.....
--
Fel

Weird Page: ~felinda/WeirdPage.html
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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>David asked:
>> My wife noticed something odd.  The nearly-full moon was about 30
>> degrees above the horizon.  There was a notable glow on the horizon,
>> except under the moon.  The moon seemed to be in a column of darkness
>> that was about three times the apparent width of the moon.  We could see
>> the column over its entire length as a strip of sky darker than the sky
>> around it.
>>
>> Any of you ever see this?  Do you have any idea what could have caused
>> it?  I suspect it's due to some pecularity of the visual system, but
>> have no clear idea.
Bill Jacobs:
> I'm surprised to not find this phenomenon in Corlis. I could have sworn I
> saw it there. He does have the somewhat similar dark sky between a rainbow
> and a secondary bow. I personally have seen a rainbow enclosing a
> semi-circle of darker sky.
>
> I know I've read about pillars under the Sun and Moon elsewhere,
> but I can't recall if they were reportedly dark or bright. I do know
> these sorts of things are supposed to be quirks of optics not of the
> visual system. I'm sorry I haven't got any answers, but a search
> through some books on atmospheric optics ought to turn a few hints up.
Some links:
comprehensive

Atmospheric Light Phenomena

interesting observational stuff from the prior millenium including pix
(click 1997 / colour plates)

more pix, many of which flip to negative to highlight details (hover cursor)
~iluukkon/taivas/valok/88.html and
subsequent links
john k
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> An illusionist has emerged after 24 hours underwater in a case in New York's
> Times Square.
I'd just like to recommend the newest Viz to ukers just for the hilarious "David
Blaine: Stalag Magician".  The ego'd one is in a WWII prison camp and sort of
trying to escape.  Several times he seems to have escaped and the british
officers celebrate before it's revealed he's been buried alive or hiding in a
freezer.  At one point he's asked why and says "Well it's not for publicity"
Cracking stuff.
Stew
--
Stewart Smith
Scottish Microelectronics Centre, University of Edinburgh.
~sxs/
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> So now Osama bin Laden is Hitler. And Saddam Hussein is Hitler. And
> George Bush is fighting the Nazis.
Someone should shout "Godwin!" at him at a press conference.  Then he'd have to
shut up.  Or does that only work on Usenet?
Stew
--
Stewart Smith
Scottish Microelectronics Centre, University of Edinburgh.
~sxs/
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On Tue, 27 Aug 2002 10:15:36 -0500 (EST)
Jay Lake
wrote:
>Second, one could make the assumption that ancient or future civilizations
>would not be hydrocarbon based. There are alternative fuel sources,
>including seabed methane, biomass and all the usual suspects -- solar,
>hydro etc. Some of these could be exploited on a decidedly low-tech (ie,
>emergent civilization) basis. However, it is difficult to conceive of an
>industrial civilization that doesn't employ wheels, axles and bearings,
>all of which require lubrication. I'm not an engineer (Robin, anyone?) but
>it's my understanding that vegetable lubrication breaks down under stress,
>and that oil or graphite lubricants are the only reasonable choices for
>high temperature/high rotation applications, at least prior to extremely
>advanced modes of chemical synthesis.
This is a good point. There are a lot of alternatives to hydrocarbon
products derived from petroleum, but these have often been developed as
a replacement for petroleum after the technology has been established -
there is a growing industry in plant-derived plastics and lubricants,
but this is to replicate materials that have been previously created
much more easily within the petrochemical industry.
Vegetable-derived lubricants have been used. The Russians used sunflower
oil in the lubrication systems of tanks and trucks during the second world
war, and work is being done in the UK to produce diesel fuel derived from
waste cooking oil from fast-food restaurants.
Jay's correct in his opinion that vegetable oil is not as durable as
petroleum oil, but this is only because of the lack of sophistication
of the chemistry involved. Synthetic fuels and lubricants are continuously
being developed, and I don't see any problems with synthetics ultimately
matching the performance of the more conventional products. As the rock
oil runs out, plant oil derivatives *will* be developed to fill the
gap. In parallel, changes will occur in the designs of the machines to
cope with any changes in performance of the lubricants.
My big concern is if the technology were ever to be lost for some reason.
Re-creating a petrochemical industry from scratch without petrochemicals
(that is, going immediately to plant-based synthetics) would be extremely
difficult, especially if it were necessary to recreate *all* of the
petrochemical-derived products (not just lubricants and fuels). I suspect
that, bearing in mind the ingenuity of the human race, it would happen,
just at a different pace. Imagine an industrial revollution based on,
for example, methane from pig manure, or diesel oil from sunflowers.
All we would then have to do is get used to all the machines smelling
like pig farms and fish and chip shops...
Robin Hill, STEAMY BESS, Brough, East Yorkshire
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In a nutshell - Solaris is Suns own flavour of UNIX.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kiall Mac Innes
> Sent: 22 August 2002 17:23
> To: ILUG
> Subject: [ILUG] Sun Solaris..
>
>
> Can someone explain what type of operating system Solaris
> is... as ive never seen or used it i dont know wheather to
> get a server from Sun or from DELL i would prefer a linux
> based server and Sun seems to be the one for that but im not
> sure if Solaris is a distro of linux or a completely
> different operating system? can someone explain...
>
> Kiall Mac Innes
>
>
> --
> Irish Linux Users' Group: ilug@linux.ie
>  for
> (un)subscription information. List maintainer: listmaster@linux.ie
>
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Tuesday, 27 August, 2002, 21:35 GMT 22:35 UK
Cambodia temple ruins yield treasure
Workers clearing dense jungle near the ruins of an ancient pagoda in
northern Cambodia have unearthed 31 Buddha statues - 27 of them solid gold.
The statues - which are 10 centimetres (4 inches) tall - are in good
condition and believed to be hundreds of years old.
They were found on Saturday as workers were rebuilding the Po Pich temple
about 100 km (65miles) north of the capital, Phnom Penh.
The pagoda, in the Batay district of Kampong Thom province, was torn down
during the reign of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s and the area became
overgrown.
Community care
Deputy police chief of Kampong Thom province, Hang Sithim, said the statues
- three of which were silver and one bronze - were buried in about one metre
(3.4ft) of earth and each weigh around 500 grams (1lb).
''I think that these Buddha statues had been buried hundreds of years ago,
when the last temple was fully operating," Mr Hang Sithim said.
Provincial authorities initially planned to take the statues to a nearby
town for safekeeping, but opted to allow the Buddhist community at the
temple to take care of them.
''We believe they are safe there,'' said Som Somphat, deputy governor of
Kampong Thom province.
''The people of Po Pich pledged to treat them with respect and honour.''
Reign of terror
A police guard has been placed around the site to protect it from looters.
The Khmer Rouge waged civil war in Cambodia between 1970 and 1998 and
controlled the country between 1975 and 1979.
The regime outlawed religion and destroyed many objects regarded as decadent
or culturally impure.
About two million people died in the Khmer Rouge's drive to turn Cambodia
into a farmers' utopia.
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Britons stand tall, if slightly heavy, in Europe
John Carvel, social affairs editor
Wednesday August 28, 2002
The Guardian
Not every European dimension has been harmonised in Brussels yet. According
to the Department for Trade and Industry, the average Briton stands head,
shoulders, girth and bottoms above their continental partners.
The figures come in a new edition of the department's handbook of
anthropometric and strength measurements, compiled by ergonomists at the
University of Nottingham to help manufacturers design products to fit
people's shape.
The volume provides 294 measurements ranging from the distance between the
inner corners of the eyes to the length of the leg between the crease below
the buttock to the crease at the back of the knee.
It has discovered that the average British man is 36 millimetres (1 inches)
taller than his French counterpart.
The mean height of UK citizens is 1,755.1mm (5ft 9in). Among European men
only the Dutch are taller, averaging 1,795mm and with a clear height
advantage over the US men's average of 1,760.4.
The average British woman is 1,620mm tall (just under 5ft 4in), compared
with 1,604mm for her French counterpart, 1,610mm for the Italians and
1,619mm for the Germans. Swedish women average 1,640mm, Dutch 1,650mm and
Americans 1,626.7mm
More disturbingly, British men and women are heavier than all the other
nationalities except the Americans, averaging 79.75 kilos for British men
and 66.7 for women.
The average British woman has a chest measurement of 1,007.8mm (39.7
inches), compared with 965mm for the Italians, 912.6mm for the Japanese and
806mm for Sri Lankans. American women also top this scale with an average of
1,047.2mm.
The average British woman's waist is 840.6mm (33 inches) - also second
largest behind the Americans. But her bottom at 873.7mm is considerably
smaller than the Italians at 916mm who beat the Americans into second place.
The average British male foot is 266.8mm long (10.5 inches), 6mm longer than
the French and Germans, 3mm more than the Italians and 1mm more than the
Swedes. But they are just beaten by the Americans at 267.8mm and massively
outstripped by the Dutch at 275mm.
However Dutch women have daintier feet than the British, averaging 240mm
compared with 241.1mm in the UK (9.5 inches). German women average 242mm,
compared with 245mm for the Swedes and 242.1mm for the Americans.
The DTI has a less than exhaustive record of ring finger lengths, but on the
available evidence the British man's finger at 78.7mm (3.1 inches) is 1.7mm
longer than his German counterpart, but 0.2mm shorter than the American
average.
The British woman's ring finger at 72.6mm is 0.4mm smaller than her German
counterpart and 0.3mm smaller than the American.
Beverley Norris, research fellow at Nottingham university's institute for
occupational ergonomics, said the figures were useful for product designers.
The department has recently completed a study of the pulling force needed to
open ring pull cans.
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The Electronic Telegraph
Emigrate to Russia? That's a steppe too far
(Filed: 28/08/2002)
So you think you've got it bad: fed up with Folkestone, bored with Birmingham
or sick of Sheffield.
Those 54 per cent of Britons - according to a Daily Telegraph/YouGov survey
this week - who dream of a stress-free life in sunnier climes should perhaps
heed a word of friendly advice on the realities of living abroad.
Kommersant, a Russian daily newspaper, yesterday offered those dissatisfied
with life in Blair's Britain a taste of what to expect should they choose to
emigrate to provincial Russia.
After reading about the gripes of affluent Britons, its tongue-in-cheek
article admitted, however, that the grass was not always greener on the other
side.
"The inhabitants of foggy Albion keen to travel could go to any Russian city
deep in the provinces where things are quiet," said Kommersant.
"In any central Russian district, life, by British standards, is unseemingly
cheap and remarkably laid back. By 11am most of the working population are
becoming 'traditionally' relaxed."
The time for elevenses in Britain - perhaps the opportunity for a quiet cup of
tea and a chocolate Hobnob - is known in Russia as the Wolf Hour.
It was so named in Soviet times because at 11am a wolf appeared from the
famous animal clock at the Obrasov Puppet Theatre in Moscow. It is also
opening time in the nation's vodka shops.
And the vodka, like all other spirits, is cheap. Kommersant pointed out that
"the money a Briton can earn from selling even the most shabby house would be
enough to support them at the local standard of living for the rest of their
life.
"The local shops are full of all they would need and they could buy a bottle
of whisky for kopecks."
There are 100 kopecks in a ruble and the ruble is currently worth about a
halfpenny in sterling.
The whisky is cheap, however, because it is unlike anything the average Briton
will have consumed before. It is made of samagon - home-distilled, moonshine
vodka - coloured with tea, and is a popular beverage in rural areas and among
diehard alcoholics.
While alcohol is plentiful and cheap, food may not be so easy to come by. The
newspaper pointed out that traditional British foodstuffs - it selected oxtail
soup as an example - were in short supply. However, the wealth of the British
settler should overcome the difficulty.
"For a modest reward in most Russian villages, the locals would happily cut
off the tails from the entire collective farm's herd of cattle."
One or two potential emigrés might be deterred by language difficulties. There
are few English speakers to be found among the green hills of Tula on the
Mongolian border.
However, Kommersant pointed out, language difficulties were not considered a
deterrent by the 13 per cent of Britons who nominated France as the country in
which they would like to live.
France, the Russian paper claimed, was a country "where English is only known
by the beggars, Belorussian prostitutes and Russian tourists".
Despite the low cost of living and the easy-going lifestyle, the Russian
weather remains a major stumbling block for Britons.
Even in the most temperate regions, winter temperatures of -20C are common.
And somewhere like the Sakha Republic - east of Siberia and the coldest place
in the world - enjoys just one month of summer and endures winter temperatures
that drop below -70C. Houses are built on concrete stilts because the
permafrost makes digging foundations impossible.
Again, the Russian paper had a word of reassurance. While acknowledging the
climatic problems, it said that "thanks to global warming this difficulty will
solve itself".
Kommersant also had an answer to the labour crisis that would be created in
Britain if 54 per cent of its citizens decided to opt for a life in Russia.
"Thirty-three million Russians could be sent to Britain to replace the 33
million who leave. We think that the required number could probably be found
amongst our citizens."
Unfortunately for those 33 million Russians, however, not one of those Britons
surveyed who wanted to move abroad nominated the Russian steppes as their
preferred new home.
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The Electronic Telegraph
Six arrested for attacking Palio jockey who defected
By Bruce Johnston in Rome
(Filed: 28/08/2002)
Police waded into the intrigues and enmities surrounding the Palio, Siena's
traditional bareback horse race, for the first time yesterday, arresting six
people for beating up a star jockey who defected to a rival team.
Angry spectators attack Giuseppe Pes at the Palio horse race in Siena
Giuseppe Pes, a champion jockey of Sardinian extraction who has won the Palio
nine times in 38 runs, was closely associated with the Istrice, or Porcupine,
contrada - section of town - until the race earlier this month.
Istrice did not have a horse in the contest - only 10 of the 17 contradas take
part in each Palio - but, despite promises to the contrary, moments before the
off Mr Pes mounted the horse of Lupa, or She-Wolf.
Lupa are Istrice's historic rivals, and the defection was not taken well. Lupa
did not win, victory going instead to Tartuca, tortoise.
As its supporters erupted into joyous celebrations, Mr Pes was pulled from his
mount by Istrice members and savagely beaten and kicked for seven minutes.
Mr Pes, 39, whose jacket with his contrada's colours was torn from his back,
was sent to hospital with fractures, cuts and bruises.
Three of his attendants who tried to intervene were also beaten. Police
yesterday arrested six people they said had been identified as the attackers
from video footage.
Experts said it was the first time that members of a contrada - known as
contradaioli - had been arrested for beating up a jockey, despite the fact
that such episodes belong to the race's ancient traditions.
The Palio, which was first raced in the 14th century, is held twice a year on
the cobbles of Siena's main square. For weeks beforehand supporters parade
through the city, singing, waving flags and wearing their contrada colours.
But by the day of the race the good humour evaporates.
The event has no rules and is prepared for and run amid an extraordinary
undercurrent of intrigue and even violence. Jockeys may swap sides at the last
minute, take bribes, and whip rivals' horses, and more, so long as they do not
grab their reins.
The origins of the contrada lie in the Middle Ages, when the neighbourhoods'
boundaries were set out to aid the many mercenary companies hired to defend
Siena's fiercely earned independence from Florence and other city states.
The first Palio of the year takes place on July 2, to commemorate the miracles
of the Madonna of Provenzano, and a second race on Aug 16 marks the feast of
the Assumption of the Virgin.
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Hamza's horrid - but we must tolerate him
Rod Liddle
Wednesday August 28, 2002
The Guardian
Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri, our maddest of mad mullahs and a cartoon bogeyman
to scare the kiddies, spent a quiet and contemplative bank holiday playing
with his own children in Victoria Park, Hackney.
I've often wondered what incendiary Islamic fundamentalist clerics do on
statutory public holidays. Head for the beach and maybe swing by B&Q on the
way home, I had hoped. I had this beguiling vision of Hamza paddling in the
sea, an ice-cream cone in his one good hand, the waves tickling his shins,
and the sheikh mentally preparing to fix those pesky shelves in the kitchen
for once, instead of planning the extermination of Zionism and America and
maybe me and you, too.
But B&Q and a day at the seaside is probably beyond Hamza's budget since the
Bank of England froze his assets, so Victoria Park had to do. But he sounded
happy enough when I spoke to him, with the babble of tiny, cheerful, Islamic
proto-warriors in the background.
You must know Hamza; he's the imam designed, it would seem, by the Daily
Mail's cartoonist Mac. Large metal hook in place of a left hand. One eye
covered by a patch, the other a baleful, watchful, milky-white. We don't
mock the disabled any more these days, unless it's someone like Hamza whom
we don't like; then, if you'll excuse the inapt phraseology, the gloves come
off. So Hamza is known (with that vaulting imagination typical of the
British right) as "Captain Hook", in articles which usually call for his
arrest, or extradition to the US, or deportation back home to Egypt or maybe
off to Pakistan or Afghanistan, where he fought the Russians for years and
thus sustained his disabilities - anywhere, really; just out of here. And if
we can't lock him up or chuck him out of the country, maybe we can force him
to shut up.
Because we don't like Hamza very much. We weren't that fond of him before
September 11, but afterwards, in that nervy, paranoid few months when we all
thought the sky might fall in, our disapprobation turned into political
persecution.
And now the Daily Mirror is agitating again for his arrest because they've
got hold of secret videos of the man behaving in an even more inflammatory
manner, urging warfare on and looting of enemies of Islam. All out of
context, and a very long time ago, says the imam, not unduly bothered. But
perhaps he should be, because our reputation for broad-mindedness and
tolerance towards people like Hamza was thinning even before the Mirror's
scoop.
Hamza preaches, or preached, at the scary Finsbury Park Mosque - so, earlier
this year, the Charity Commissioners banned him from doing so because of his
allegedly inflammatory remarks. I didn't know Charity Commissioners were
meant to do stuff like that.
He has had his passport seized and not returned; his assets have been
frozen. He is tailed by the police every now and then, and his access to the
media is restricted by internal policing within broadcasting corporations
and the press. And this last point is because, we tell ourselves, endlessly
- repeating the mantra over and over again, and fervently wishing it to be
true - Hamza is not "representative" of British Muslims, as if British
Muslims were a simple, homogenous thing with a single voice that one could
turn to every now and then for explanation. And perhaps succour.
The trouble is, in the first month or so after the twin towers attack he was
revealed to be rather more "representative" than the list of those
government-approved Muslim spokesmen who were - uncomfortably, I suspect -
dragooned briefly into statements of support for the war against terrorism
and a blanket condemnation of the Taliban.
An opinion poll commissioned by Radio 4's Today programme revealed that an
overwhelming majority of British Muslims were against George Bush's crusade.
One in six were, to put it mildly, ambivalent about the attack on the US
(the remainder condemned the attack unequivocally). A large majority thought
the war against terrorism was a war against Islam.
Which is what Hamza said, repeatedly. But it was something that, at the
time, we didn't want to hear. Now, if you quiz the man on present policy at
home and abroad he comes across - superficially, at least - as someone from
the liberal left. No war against Iraq; Britain to become independent of US
foreign policy and attempt rapprochement with Arab states; stronger action
against Israel; mistrust of global capitalism; redistribution of wealth.
Nor is he particularly anti-semitic, so far as I can tell, although I don't
suppose he will be holidaying in Eilat this year. In yesterday's Guardian,
the chief rabbi expressed a willingness to talk to Hamza and was grateful
for the sheikh's message of condolence when a London synagogue was attacked.
Which is not to say that Hamza is a peaceable Jeffersonian democrat who has
been wilfully misrepresented: he is, without question, rather more
inflammatory in private sermons to his own people than he is in public. His
ideology is an arid and uncompromising interpretation of Islam: he would be
happy, in a truly Islamic society, to stone women to death for adultery, for
example. You and I would find many - perhaps most - of his views utterly
repellent.
And that's the point. Because Hamza is the true test of our apparent desire
to be multicultural. Multiculturalism is not, surely, the cheerful
appropriation of bits of inoffensive minority cultural behaviour by the
ruling hegemony. That is a sort of syncopated monoculturalism.
Multiculturalism is, rather, the ability of society to tolerate views that
are antithetical to the dominant culture - and maybe learn from them.
The FBI has been investigating Hamza, but, of course, has found nothing
remotely incriminating. The real reason for his vilification and persecution
is simply the pungency of his views.
It is often said that we should shut him up or arrest him because his
rhetoric increases hostility against the Muslim population generally. This
is a perfectly noble argument, but it does not wash.
You don't defuse a difficult situation by pretending it doesn't exist. And
if British Muslims - maybe a minority, maybe not - feel a growing sense of
unease or mystification at the direction of western foreign policy, it is
not because they have been led in that direction by Hamza. Shutting the man
up, therefore, won't make a difference.
It is rather as Louis MacNeice had it:
The glass is falling hour by hour, the glass will fall for ever.
But if you break the bloody glass, you won't hold up the weather.
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Pro-hunt activists target top sight
ONE of Yorkshire's most famous sights yesterday became one of the first
targets in bizarre attacks on White Horse landmarks linked to the hunting
debate.
Villagers near Thirsk could not believe their eyes when they woke yesterday
to find the famous White Horse of Kilburn had acquired a rider during the
night.
In another incident, the Uffington white horse in Oxfordshire had a huntsman
and three hounds added to the ancient figure, which is thought to represent
a Celtic god or tribal symbol.
Pro-hunt activists in the Real Countryside Alliance (RCA)  a radical
alternative to the better-known Countryside Alliance  admitted
responsibility last night for targeting the two images.
The 314ft by 228ft landmark at Kilburn has been lovingly preserved since it
was carved in the limestone by schoolmaster John Hodgson and his pupils in
1857.
But during Monday night someone nailed on a massive figure of a huntsman
with a horn  which had been cut to scale out of a single piece of white
carpet. It was removed yesterday by members of Kilburn White Horse
Association, who found a Countryside Alliance badge attached to the carpet.
John Roberts of the association said: "It has obviously been very well
organised. It was a well crafted piece of kit: a figure of a huntsman with a
horn cut out of carpets.
"It was big and impressive and could be seen for miles about. They tied it
to bushes at the top and nailed it down. It caused all the stone chippings
to be pushed downwards, which will help turn the white horse grey. It will
not get another refit for another year.
"Whoever did it must have come with a vehicle  a tractor and trailer or a
lorry  because the carpet must have come in one piece. It was extremely
well planned and took several people an hour and a half to get it off."
The sculpture needs constant work because, unlike chalk horses in the south
of England, it is cut into limestone which is the wrong colour and needs
whitening.
Mr Roberts added: "The damage as such is not great but it adds to the
deterioration, which means it will need more work next time.
"We would have more sympathy if, having made the point, they would come to
take it away again because it was a major job."
Andy Wilson, chief executive of the North York Moors National Park, said:
"It is a scheduled ancient monument and the local residents are very proud
of it and go to enormous trouble to keep it white. There is also careful
consideration of what shape it should be kept with the constant growth of
vegetation so you can understand the alarm and regret at any changes. There
has not been a cut in the turf  which would be much more of a problem. It
would seem it was carefully plotted beforehand."
An RCA spokesman said: "Some people in the country are getting very
frustrated at the inaction. All we want is Ministers to take notice. Marches
don't seem to be doing anything good."
The Countryside Alliance said it did not have any part in the action.
Spokesman Adrian Yelland said: "The Countryside Alliance only ever advocates
campaigning that is lawful and dissociates itself from acts of vandalism and
regrets any damage that may have been caused by this incident."
The incident follows graffiti on road signs and motorway bridges in
Yorkshire thought to be RCA work.
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>>From todays Sun:

Your vote on Crop Idol
By OLIVER HARVEY
WELCOME to Crop Idol  your chance to choose Britain's most out-of-this-wor=
ld corn circle.
The intricate patterns, which some say are the work of aliens, are big news=
again thanks to the spooky new Mel Gibson film Signs.
Nine of the best are shown on the right. You can vote for your favourite by=
clicking on the image and dialling the number shown beneath.
Calls cost only 10p, or 12 cents from the Republic of Ireland (though it ma=
y be a bit more if you contact us from other planets).
Lines close at 6pm today. We will reveal the
winner tomorrow.
Aliens ... or hoaxers?
THE debate continues to rage over the origin of crop circles.
Many believe they are simply the work of human hoaxers  while others are c=
onvinced they are made by aliens trying to communicate with us.
Crop circle enthusiasts insist that some of the designs appear so quickly a=
nd on such a vast scale that it is impossible for humans to have made them. =
Witnesses even claim to have seen balls of light moving through the fields =
on the nights that circles appear.
Researchers have found connections between some patterns and symbols from a=
ncient religions, mathematics and even music.
Crop circles were first spotted in Britain in the early 1970s and now appea=
r throughout the world. The weird outlines are still most common in the sout=
h of England.
Theories about their cause include whirlwinds  known to circle experts as =
plasma vortexes  earth energies from ley lines or even forces from the huma=
n mind.
In the past the circles have also been blamed on mating roe deer, hedgehogs=
, helicopters and holes in the ozone layer.
Raymond Cox, Chairman of the Centre for Crop Circle Studies, said last nigh=
t: "It's a great unsolved mystery.
"We know not all crop circles are created by humans but we cannot say for s=
ure what is making them."
Plus lots of photos
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> Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri, our maddest of mad mullahs and a cartoon bogeyman
> to scare the kiddies, spent a quiet and contemplative bank holiday playing
> with his own children in Victoria Park, Hackney.
For an alternative, and rather more factually based, rundown on Hamza's
career, including his belief that all non Muslims in Yemen should be murdered
outright:

Martin
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The Times
August 28, 2002
It's August, and big cats are on the prowl
By Alan Hamilton
ROUND up the sheep. Pull on the gauntlets. Oil the shotgun. The British
countryside is crawling with pumas, black panthers, fen tigers and other big,
vicious cats. No corner of the nation is safe. Evidence released yesterday,
including sightings, photographs, paw prints, livestock kills and hair
samples, claims to prove that every county has big cats lurking in its
undergrowth, poised to pounce on man and beast alike.
Sightings have reached record levels in 2002, according to Daniel Bamping,
founder of the British Big Cats Society, which in the past 12 months has
received more than 800 reports of big cat sightings.
During the first six months we have seen an incredible amount of big cat
activity. We have now had reports in every single county; the response from
the public has been fantastic, Mr Bamping said. Big cats in Britain are
real. They are out there, they are breeding; theres more of them.
Scotland and Gloucestershire are said to be hotspots of big cat activity. Mark
Fraser, who heads the societys Scottish arm, said: Lynx are now present in
the Scottish countryside; I believe they are established and breeding. I dont
want to hazard a guess at the numbers; suffice it to say there are several
hotspots, notably Fife, Aberdeenshire, Inverness and the Borders.
Next month the society plans to unveil its full dossier of evidence, which
includes two dead wild cats, pictures of paw prints and tree scratchings, as
well as stories of a horse strangely lacerated in West Wales and a man in
Gravesham, Kent, who had to beat a hasty retreat to his garage after his hand
was cut by a creature the size of a labrador dog, except that it had black
hairy tufts on the tips of its ears.
The society is taking the sightings seriously. It plans to set up a network of
trigger-cameras throughout the country to capture further evidence of the
beasts, which it will then present to the Government.
It is not, however, clear on what it wants the Government to do about it all.
Throwing its weight behind the pro-hunting lobby might be a start.
Next in August: record abductions by aliens.
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The hunting community showing, yet again, how utterly out of touch they
are....(though the anti-Esso sign on the Long Man made me smirk last week)
>From: "Carol"
>
>The white horses at Uffington and Kilburn have had hunters painted
>onto them to 'keep the pro-hunt image in the media'
>
>
>
>*boggle* How can the pro-hunt people think this will help their cause?
>
>Carol
Giant horse images 'defaced by hunting activists'
Pro-hunt activists have defaced two of the country's national monuments -
the two giant white horses - to highlight their cause
Campaigners for the Real Countryside Alliance say they targeted the two
images, on hills in Oxfordshire and North Yorkshire, "to keep the pro-hunt
thing in the papers".
Ananova:
Giant horse images 'defaced by hunting activists'
Pro-hunt activists have defaced two of the country's national monuments -
the two giant white horses - to highlight their cause.
Campaigners for the Real Countryside Alliance say they targeted the two
images, on hills in Oxfordshire and North Yorkshire, "to keep the pro-hunt
thing in the papers".
Aerial shots show the 374ft-long Bronze Age image on the Berkshire Downs
near Uffington in Oxfordshire complete with three white hounds and a rider.
In North Yorkshire, a rider in full hunt regalia has been added to the 300ft
White Horse cut in to the hills at Kilburn, which dates back to the 1700s.
But no-one reported anything to the police.
A spokesman for North Yorkshire police said no reports had been received but
he had seen "a red blob" on the horse and had sent officers to investigate.
In Uffington, no-one in the village had heard anything about the reported
incident. A spokesman for Thames Valley police said he was not aware of any
complaints.
Activists say the image in Oxfordshire was drawn in paint used for marking
lines on grass tennis courts and will wash away in the first rains.
Story filed: 21:17 Tuesday 27th August 2002
Scott
"I cried for madder music and for stronger wine"
Ernest Dowson
_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:

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Apols if this has been posted before:

Rob
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>JUST as the pyramids of Egypt were built in honour of great kings, it was
>fitting that sandy replicas were created on Weymouth beach in memory of the
>king of the castle. Fred Darrington, who became the world's most famous
sand
>sculptor, died last week aged 91. His grandson, Mark Anderson, who has
taken
>over his Dorset seafront pitch, is determined that his grandfather's name
will
>not be forgotten, despite the impermanence of his creations.
Can someone please tell me what a "pitch" constitutes? I have an idea
it is somewhat like the spots street musicians claim, but this sounds
more formal.
------------------
Just an area of the beach by the prom where he's allowed to make his
sculptures.
Weymouth is where I spent my teenage years. My mum and one sister still live
there.
So I'm pretty familiar with the sculptures; pretty impressive, and very big.
(I think he uses some sort of armature for some bits - it's not just sand)
They usually get vandalised, though; after a lot of drinks, it obviously is
a good idea to break into the enclosure and kick all the sculptures to bits.
Then again, Weymouth is pretty run down, and attracts holiday makers of the
worst sort.
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On Tue, 27 Aug 2002 the voices made Robin Lynn Frank write:
> > Tony Svanstrom, on SpamAssassin-talk, noted this US patent:
> >
> >
> >tml/PTO/search-adv.html&r=62&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&s1=spam&p=2&OS=haiku&RS=spam
> I took a bit of time to review what is on the above URL.  If I were a news
> editor, the headline would be:
>
> "Inventor" from country that ignores patents and copyrights, seeks patent for
> inventing the wheel!
The wheel is already patented in Australia; Melbourne man patents the wheel:
The sad news is that there seems to be a lot of patents (pending or not)
that's for very basic/general ideas; it's the current form of "domainnapping",
and it might turn uggly when people start trying to enfoce these patents.
/Tony
--
# Per scientiam ad libertatem! // Through knowledge towards freedom! #
# Genom kunskap mot frihet! =*= (c) 1999-2002 tony@svanstrom.com =*= #
perl -e'print$_{$_} for sort%_=`lynx -dump svanstrom.com/t`'


>>>>> "M" == Mike Masnick
writes:
M> In which world are we talking about?  That may be true for the
M> first sale, but once something is out in the world, the
M> "creator" loses control... If I buy a chair you built, and then
M> decide to give it away to my neighbor, by you're definition, he
M> just stole from you.
I don't endorse the whole RIAA thing, but to be accurate, you would
have to duplicate the chair so that both you and your neighbour could
continue to sit down, and yes, I suppose that would be more serious.
They can sit on /your/ copy, but if you start churning out exact dups
of a name-brand artifact, people with law degrees start to smell
money.  For example, I could copy a Gibson Guitar /exactly/ so long as
(a) I don't put Orville's name on the headstock and (b) I license the
patented bracing methods.  If I instead try to sell a homebuilt guitar
on eBay with "Gibson" written in crayon on the headstock, and then
claim it is a true Les Paul limited edition, I expect people would get
upset.
M> Why is it that people don't understand that giving stuff away
M> is a perfectly acceptable tactic in capitalist businesses?
To play the Devil's Advocate here, it's not about giving /stuff/ away,
it is about granting endless and cascading duplication/distribution
rights.  Even if _I_ only make the copy I give to you, that doesn't
stop you from making 10000 copies to sell.
M> Access to free stuff often helps to sell other stuff.
This is the difficult question:  How will they draw the distinction?
The "other stuff" is just as easy to duplicate as the free stuff.
This is why MS is hunting people with illegal Windows; it's no harder
to dup than a Linux CD, only what is there that actually prevents
people from doing it?
Personally, I don't think the issue should have anything to do with
sales or units.  The issue is that basic phallacy that says a suit
should be able to "own" someone else's intellectual property.  Sarah
McLaughlin isn't suing you, it's her label's legal dept because it's
the label who stands to lose; Sarah's already fat beyond her wildest
dreams, so a few bucks here or there, or even if the well dried up
tomorrow, it's not going to really traumatize her (unless she's been
blazingly stupid with her money)
But the label ... like Disney and Mickey, they need the cash cow so
they can keep all sorts of uncreative hangers-on in limos and coke.
If you thought only Elvis or Brian Jones or Dennis Wilson had problems
with beautiful-people deadbeat leech "friends" draining their riches,
think again.
The problem is really very simple because it is semantic, and until we
make the semantic flip, it's unsolvable, but like trisecting an angle,
all it takes is looking at the same situation in a different
way.  Here's the revelation: Elvis never ever made a hit record.
Elvis didn't make the hits, his /fans/ made the hits.  His fans did
the work cleaning toilets, manning the convenience stores, driving
milk trucks, sitting at endless office desks, they did the /real/
labour that paid for every last one of Elvis Presley's pills.  All
Elvis did was sing into a microphone every so often, and pen or
collect the odd song that all those /people/ liked and wanted as
something of their own.  But it's not _Elvis_ who made them universal
statements, it is the universe of fans who slurped the songs into
their own lives, it was pull-technology, not push.
Therefore the question becomes: how many times must these fans pay
before they own what they themselves have created?  They pay royalties
for listening to the radio, for blank tapes, for concert tickets, for
a beer in a bar with a cover band ... they pay over and over and over
again for the /right/ to make some hack writer's song /their/
favourite song????  That's where the whole system has been seriously
warped by the record companies and ad companies reframing it into your
thinking that it is the Elvis who makes the Elvis.  It's not.  It's
the people who make them; the songs are already theirs.
--
Gary Lawrence Murphy
TeleDynamics Communications Inc
Business Advantage through Community Software :
"Computers are useless.  They can only give you answers."(Pablo Picasso)


> Ultimately, there was a big
> disagreement about how to sell the product (sales guys wanted to sell
> the thing for a gazillion dollars to megaclients, but we thought it
> would make more sense to get more people using it so we could get more
> feedback from many different places).  The bottom line was that the
> route we wound up going (megaclients for megabucks) had a megalong
> sales cycle.  The sales force staffed up and tried to sell the
> earliest releases of the software -- even succeeding in a few
> significant cases -- but couldn't get enough to cover their own
> expenses, much less the actual development of the product.
Now where have I seen that before.... oh yeah... its happening to me right
now...


>>>>> "A" == Adam L Beberg
writes:
A> I'm not displeased you're trying to help, just frustrated that
A> employers can demand such rediculous combinations of skills
A> with insane years of experience.
>>>From my 25+ years in the playing field, IMHO the art of job-hunting
(for those not yet de-jobbed) is the art of getting past the HR-stage
interview and into the engineer-to-engineer interview.  HR is not
being honest with you so there's no ethical quandry to be totally
honest with them: If they want experience numbers that would place you
in the OAK project, lead them to believe that you have "something
roughly equivalent" (ie "it wasn't 5 years, but it was three intense
years with plenty of overtime") -- they are playing a bluff in saying
/they/ know the job requirements so you're perfectly within poker
rules to bluff back to say you have it.
If you /don't/ have the requisite Right Stuff, the engineers can
usually suss it out pretty fast during the second interview.  Most
often, their choice is based 90% on "who can I work with" and only
maybe 10% on "how much/little will we have to tutor this candidate?"
--
Gary Lawrence Murphy
TeleDynamics Communications Inc
Business Advantage through Community Software :
"Computers are useless.  They can only give you answers."(Pablo Picasso)