Wow - I never thought I'd live to see marsupial justice in an American venue...

Opening arguments get underway in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, against Salim Ahmed Hamdan -- Osama bin Laden's driver -- in what is the first U.S. war crimes trial since World War II. But Hamdan faces a lifetime behind bars if convicted or acquitted. He's deemed an enemy combatant, which the Bush administration says means he can be held indefinitely.

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 07:09 /Politics | 0 writebacks | permanent link

No comment.

An advertising world first has been launched in London - pitvertising.

(link) [Watching TV Online]

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 07:06 /Humor | 0 writebacks | permanent link

I don't know what to think about this trend - part of me wants to yell "Yippee! They're finally getting it!", but another part of me thinks the folks who do this are missing the point entirely, and simply substituting one set of middlemen in the food chain for another.

A new breed of business serves city dwellers who insist on eating food grown close to home but have no inclination to get their hands dirty.

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 07:00 /Agriculture | 0 writebacks | permanent link

Yum! Fresh squab! They really are delicious ... but I gotta wonder who gets to put the RFID tag on them and report their every roost.

With global demand for meat threatening to topple the food system, it's time we put Pollan on steroids and remembered: pigeons are fowl.

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:45 /Agriculture | 0 writebacks | permanent link

Ya gotta love this quote from the article:

"We live in an age of technology where you can bar-code a banana," said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. "We've got to work this through with the industry and come up with something that's reasonable. The more confidence consumers have, the more goods they will purchase."

So, apparently, it's not just livestock that's destined for "complete traceability" - it's every food item. You can be, however, that Dole and Chiquita will probably get an exemption from barcoding every banana - they'll get to mark each container or shipment, since they do "too many" fruits, just like Tyson and IBP will be exempted from RFID tagging every pig or chicken because there's too many ... only the "little people" will have to mark everything, and it'll put us out of business.

And won't that make the big agribusinesses sad ... losing their local competition just when it's starting to pick up and take off.

How is it that people cannot see it: proposals like this are designed by big business, for big business and they benefit big business. Regulation does little or nothing to protect the public from real or imagined dangers, but it does a whole lot to restrict access to markets and lock out new and smaller players from the game.

Capitalism, my ass! This is state socialism a la the Soviets and Cubans, and the cracks are beginning to show in the system, just like they did (and are) in those two failed economies.

AP - The tomato scare may be over, but it has taken a toll — it's cost the industry an estimated $100 million and left millions of people with a new wariness about the safety of everyday foods.

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:38 /Agriculture | 0 writebacks | permanent link

It ain't just catfish farmers that are feeling the pinch - a fifty pound bag of chicken feed that I paid $8 for this time last year now goes for $13.29.

Unable to cope with the soaring cost of feed, catfish farmers across the South are draining their ponds and wondering what comes next.

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 06:59 /Agriculture | 0 writebacks | permanent link

Lesson of the day: we monkey around with Mother Nature at our own risk ...

A once-ubiquitous symbiotic intestinal microbe, H. pylori, is now found in just one-fifth of young Americans, thanks to antibiotics. Its disappearance may be linked to a rise in asthma rates, researchers suggest.

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:53 /Technology | 0 writebacks | permanent link

OK, forget the ammo - praise the Lord and pass the snakes!

The pastor of a Kentucky church that handles snakes in religious rites was among 10 people arrested by wildlife officers in a crackdown on the venomous snake trade.

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 06:50 /Humor | 1 writeback | permanent link

Wow. At least he gets the fact that TR was a conservative: in fact, he orchestrated the The Triumph of Conservatism, and altered the American political landscape in ways we're still uncovering. McCain has adopted a very dangerous role model indeed.

In an interview, Senator John McCain called for a government that is frugal but more active than many conservatives might prefer.

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 06:47 /Politics | 0 writebacks | permanent link

I've blogged about this for years - how can anyone still pretend we have a "free market" when government (at all levels) is constantly skewing the rules and stacking the deck?

The poop is hitting the fan over tax breaks given to ratings giant Nielsen Co., which pocketed millions in Florida jobs-creation tax concessions but has turned around and dismissed hundreds of local workers after inking a $1.2B outsourcing deal with Tata Consultancy Services of Mumbai. Lou Dobbs is on the case. Lou may go even more ballistic once he sees the Nielsen-Tata pact, which assures Nielsen that OT worries are a thing of the past ('there shall be no additional charge for overtime work'), allows Nielsen to have unsatisfactory Tata hires replaced within 4 weeks of starting with no charge for the original or re-performed work, gives Nielsen up to 6 man-weeks of free labor when a Tata worker is replaced, and allows Nielsen to make 'any TCS Resource' disappear with no more than 5 days notice if their presence 'is not in the best interests of Nielsen.' Nielsen execs have launched a PR counter-attack, pledging not to bully 85 year-old ladies in future layoffs. In a Letter to the Citizens, Nielsen CEO David L. Calhoun explained that Tata won a 'rigorous competition' to get the job, failing to mention that Tata was also tapped by Nielsen EVP Mitchell Habib in his CIO roles at both GE and Citigroup.

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:03 /Politics | 0 writebacks | permanent link

Amen! Praise the Lord and pass the ammo!

An Oklahoma baptist church has insisted it will proceed with its controversial plan to give away an AR-15 semiautomatic assault rifle during a - a move described as "a way of trying to encourage young people to attend the event", according to local KOKO 5 news.

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 06:52 /Humor | 0 writebacks | permanent link

I put this in my 'Home' category, even though it could've gone into Technology, Agriculture or Copywrongs. There's so much wrong with this whole scenario that perhaps I've should've taken the time to figure out how to link it from all of them.

Read it for yourself and see what I mean.

A semiconductor company is suing a Dutch university to keep its researchers from publishing information about security flaws in the RFID chips used in up to 2 billion smart cards.

(link) [Computerworld]

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:38 /Home | 0 writebacks | permanent link

I was on a smoke break at work about 2 today when a call came in on my cell from an unrecognized number, which was in itself somewhat remarkable. The contents of the call were even moreso.

It was a Border Collie breeder in Zionsville, who had gotten my number from Tim (who's also a breeder). A friend of theirs had found a stray Border Collie "out towards Crawfordsville" on State Road 32 and had brought her to them. The dog looked an awful lot like some of theirs, which had come originally from Tim, so they called him and asked if he was missing a dog. He wasn't but he knew I was, and had them call me.

It was Cubby. She's back home after nearly 6 weeks.

Count me officially in the camp that believes in miracles.

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:30 /Home | 3 writebacks | permanent link

Well, this shouldn't be too tough, seeing as how we'll almost certainly run out of fossil fuels long before then ...

Leading industrial nations have endorsed halving world emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050, edging forward in the battle against global warming but stopping short of tough, nearer-term targets.

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 06:30 /Politics | 1 writeback | permanent link

Well, this is like saying that all buildings should be erected using only a hammer, and a screwdriver. Very simple. That way construction workers could move easily from one building to the next without having to learn new tools.

The buildings wouldn't look very good, or be very functional, but who cares? We'd save a lot of money on tools and training!

AC writes "Upper management of the company I work at recently declared that all new development should be done with a single combination of development tools, language, and framework. The main rationale is that people can be relocated from one group / project to another faster, because they don't need to learn a new environment when they switch. Of course the chosen language / framework used by everybody does not need to be the best tool for the job, but it should be good enough to allow every project to get done. What does Slashdot think about this? Is it OK to use the same development tools and language for every project, instead of choosing what fits best? Will the time saved be sufficient to offset the time lost to the 'not the best tool for the job' environment developers will be forced to use?"

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 06:27 /Technology | 0 writebacks | permanent link