People should not fear their governments; governments should fear their people.
Hindu Riots in India Kill 38 Muslims. A Hindu crowd set fire to a block of Muslim homes Thursday, killing at least 38 people, including a dozen children, amid riots across the Indian state of Gujarat sparked by a Muslim attack on a train full of Hindu nationalists. [AP World News]
Just in case anyone was thinking that only Islam breeds homicidal maniacs like flies, here is a story about Hindu homicidal maniacs.
Guantanamo Detainees Refuse to Eat. More than a third of the detainees at this remote U.S. military outpost refused to eat breakfast Thursday after two guards stripped an inmate of his turban during prayer. [AP World News]
How is this a problem? Muslim fundamentalists are generally eager to die, and if they want to do it in a way that doesn’t hurt anybody else for a change, let them. Maybe we can start a service where fundamentalists can report to a US prison facility to starve themselves, blow themselves up, or whatever, without bothering anyone else.
Dan Gillmor: Trusting the News. What this hacker discovered is bad enough. But there are even more alarming scenarios. One of these days, someone is going to change the online news pages of the Wall Street Journal or New York Time or CNN or other major news organization, in a way that does severe damage. [Tomalak’s Realm]
This assumes that people are unwise enough to trust the news when it’s not being hacked. Every time I read an article in the mainstream media that covers an area I’m familiar with, the story is often wrong in some obvious way, and sometimes a blatant lie. This leads me to suspect the same is true of stories that I don’t have personal knowledge of.
Jeremiah, a New Series from B5 Creator, Debuts Sunday [Slashdot]
This sounds interesting. Between this new series and Stargate SG-1, I’m thinking of signing up for Showtime.
On this day four years ago the Newton was “Steved.” There is still no PDA that has reached the level of the MessagePad 2100, and it looks like it might easily be four more years before anything even approaches it.
I just found a new tip-jar service that uses e-gold. It’s remarkably simple to use: http://www.clicktwocents.com/?474846.
Computer Company Dell Anti-Gun?. On the 26th I placed another call this time to cancel the order. After a few hours I got a call back, with this amazing reason for the delay. It seems someone in Dell had already canceled my order, when I asked why I was told Dell was afraid I was going to use the machine for illegal purposes. When I asked why someone would think that I was told it was because of the name of my business ‘Weigand Combat Handguns Inc.’. Because I am involved in firearms I might be doing something illegal. [FirearmNews.com]
I recommend buying PC hardware from some other reputable manufactuer instead. Perhaps HP?
RIAA Almost Down To Pre-Napster Revenues [Slashdot]
This is hardly surprising, since Napster is gone. While it lasted, my record purchases from RIAA members went from nothing to not very much. With Napster gone, my purchases are back down to nothing. The RIAA can tell whatever lies they like, and who knows, maybe they even believe their own lies. But it won’t change the fact that the only thing that got me to buy CDs was Napster.
Digital Security Fomenting a Feud. A proposed bill with heavyweight support from the entertainment industry garners distrust from technology factions; it would make creating, selling or distributing digital systems without embedded copy protection a crime. Declan McCullagh reports from Washington. [Wired News]
This bill would be totally unconstitutional, of course. Not that this will make any difference to the government.
Ricochet Bounces Back, Cautiously [Slashdot]
Apparently the service will be turned back on in Los Angeles first, in the spring. This would be great, if it happens. I’ll certainly sign up again.