Month: March 2002

Mugabe pledges rapid land reform. Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe is sworn in for a new six-year term,
promising to speed up his controversial land reform programme. [BBC News: world]

Since attempts to defeat Mugabe through what passes for a democratic process in Zimbabwe have failed, the farmers there are doomed to lose everything. I think the best they can do now is follow the example of the marijuana legalization advocates who were murdered by the US last year. They should destroy all the buildings and equipment on their property, salt their fields, and then leave the country with as much of their wealth as they can manage. Don’t leave anything behind to fall into the hands of the communists.

Charles Puckett’s Last Testament. Lee Sutterlin at KeepAndBearArms.com –

Charles Puckett’s Last Testament – Mr. Sutterlin is a captain in
the Kentucky State Militia. Mr. Puckett gave him this letter in case
he had to flee, which he did, just in time. They were planning to
arrest him today on additional charges. [kaba]
bq.
After September 11th, our whole great country changed. Our Congress,
(without EVER reading the Patriot Act of 2001), passed this
legislation with only a summary to read of what the bill was
about. Three people voted against it. Those three men are great
Americans. The Draconian powers created by this so called “patriot
act” will forever ruin America.

I have nothing but love in my heart for this great nation. There seems
nowdays to be very little relief or justice for some in our country. I
am one of these people. It is my last testament that I have NOT
committed ANY criminal acts, nor will I donate years of my life for
something that I have NOT done. I have never burned down a church &
killed innocent children for make believe reasons. I have never shot a
15 year old child in the back & I have never shot a woman in the
face. Government officials have done all of the above with no one
accountable for those acts to date.
[End the War on Freedom]

Noble sentiments, but I don’t give much for Mr. Puckett’s chances of survival.

Java on Handheld Devices? [Slashdot]

Waba for the Newton has been around for a while. It’s a very impressive technical achievement, but the usefulness of it is questionable. Of course that’s true of Java in general from what I’ve seen.

Boston.com / Can e-mail seal a sales deal? Judge says yes, refuses to dismiss lawsuit claiming breach of contract [Privacy Digest]

I’m all in favor of email being legally binding, provided that it’s properly signed–using PGP for example. In this case, the judge ruled that the emails were signed purely on the basis of the sender’s name being typed at the bottom. This is quite foolish, since it’s trivial to forge an email. Only a digital signature should be considered valid.

If you are not using the Google toolbar in your browser, get it.  One of the best items on it is the PageRank meter.  It provides immediate info on how well your site is doing in popularity.  When you pass your mouse over it, a number will be displayed.  However, more granular info is available via green bar under the word: P-a-g-e-R-a-n-k.  The scale looks like it is logarithmic.  That means that each number in popularity, or letter in the visual display, is ten times greater in popularity than the one previous.  For example, my site is a full “R” or ten times more popular than a full “e” my site was rated three months ago.  Very cool.  [John Robb’s Radio Weblog]

I’d probably download this and try it out myself if there was a Mac version. It sounds interesting. But of course there’s not a Mac version.

Apple to open store in Los Angeles [MacNN]

It will be located at The Grove, a new shopping center next to Farmer’s Market on Fairfax. It’s in the middle of the city, a few miles from where I live. According to the newspaper, it opens today.

Divisions grow over Zimbabwe poll. International opinion is increasingly split between Western and
African nations over Robert Mugabe’s victory in the presidential
election. [BBC News: world]

I wonder if we’ll ever know what the real result was?

Escape Velocity Nova goes gold [MacCentral]

Apparently this will be a CD release–the previous two EV titles were downloads. I hope they will provide an option to download the who thing for those of us with cable modems! Once I get this I expect it will consume all my free time for the next several months, just as the previous titles did.

Guess who’s tracking you by cell phone?. Ben Charny at ZDNet News –

Guess who’s tracking you by cell phone? – another good reason to
avoid cell phones. [bluebutton]
bq.
The nation’s cell phone service providers will soon know exactly where
every one of their customers is, at all times, and privacy rights
groups are asking what they plan to do with the information.
[End the War on Freedom]

Leaving your phone off when you’re not using it, and paying cash for a pre-paid cell phone are both helpful in maintaining your privacy.

Israel in massive new offensive. Up to 30 Palestinians and six Israelis are killed as the Israeli army
mounts its biggest ground offensive for 20 years. [BBC News: world]

Sharon has exercised uncharacteristic restraint, but now the Israelis are fighting back effectively. It’s been obvious from the beginning that the only hope of stopping the terrorists is to get them before they strike, and now that’s finally happening. Unfortunatetly, although fighting is the only thing that can work against the PLO, there’s still no guarantee of victory. We’ll just have to hope for the best.