02 Feb 2006
First Smokes, Now Cokes

Hmmm, now where have I heard something like this before ...

Get ready for the next mass-tort crusade: protecting our kids from the ravages of Big Cola. According to news reports, a group of lawyers is gearing up to file lawsuits that will seek to blame Coke, Pepsi and others for obesity, tooth decay and other childhood health ailments. An article in the Boston Globe Magazine has called it part of a "national legal movement to make soft drinks the next tobacco." Instead of tar and nicotine, we'll be hearing about corn sweeteners and caffeine; maybe Dr. Pepper can stand in as the new Joe Camel.

(link) [The Los Angles Times]

via Overlawyered

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

Where I Spent My Day

The Unix Pit

00:00 /Home | 3 comments | permanent link

Borland Delphi 2006

I was one of those C++Builder developers, and I always had Delphi on the system, too, if for no other reason than modifying components for BCB that were written in Object Pascal. And, as I'm currently looking for a bit more coding work to supplement my income, this is a welcome upgrade. They've finally combined the products, and I'll only have to pay one upgrade price. It's on the wish list...

Developers out there who're still plunkering along with M$ tools like Visual Studio (which isn't really very visual) or Visual Basic (which is neither) should really take a look at Borland's offerings - I think you'd be pleasantly surprised.

2006, and Borland has confounded its critics. Delphi 2006 is not only a bug-fixed version of the previous release, but adds in C++Builder, a Win32 development tool that marries the C++ language to Delphi’s Visual Component Library. I won’t dive into the sad story of C++Builder X, but enough to say that C++Builder is back; to the delight of C++Builder developers, who finally have an update they can use.

(link) [The Register]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

Muhammad cartoon row intensifies

Danish FlagThis has really highlighted the intolerance and bigotry in the Arab world. (Click the flag to get to the 'Support Denmark' website.) An Egyptian commenter on another BBC story said "Freedom of speech has its limits when it concerns others...How would it feel if Jesus Christ was the one insulted instead?". I got news for this guy: it's done every day over here - and while it offends and upsets some, I've never heard of armed thugs from the Southern Baptist Convention burning down a newspaper office. Imagine that! I sometimes worry about it coming to that, but my main fear is that the Islamic fundies will inspire and motivate their Christian counterparts - it certainly hasn't worked the other way around.

This comes from a fellow in a nation whose papers regularly insult and demean Jews - in most Muslim states it's practically illegal to be anything but Muslim, and it is illegal to be a heathen or a pagan (we're not "people of the book"). Holding an Imbolc ritual in Saudi Arabia will get you killed. And if you convert from the "true" faith to some heresy or another, that's a capital offense, too. I've never noticed any death penalty protesters outside of those executions in Iran or Saudi Arabia...

They just don't get it. Even Harmid Karazi, the President of Afghanistan, who owes his very existence and that of his nation as a nation to Western military power and the true freedom it represents, "deplored" the cartoons.

We're giving democracy and freedom, from the barrel of a gun and the blood of our soliders, to peoples and places who elect suicide bombers, theocrats and terrorists as governments - replacing the dictators and thugs they had in the first place. Compared to the mullahs, the Shah was practically a libertarian!

This whole incident may have awakened Europe to the impending danger: note that the idiotic Racial and Religious Hatred Bill, backed by none other than Tony Blair himself, went down to defeat. Even the "Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys" reprinted the offending cartoons, and their President was recently caught rattling his nuclear saber!

I just wish we'd wake up over here - and stop sending our sons and daughters to die for the freedom of these morons to threaten, burn and murder those with whom they disagree religiously. I for one am sick of the US playing the role of world policeman, especially when the police end up supporting and even installing criminals in positions of power.

Isolationist? You betcha! And this outrage goes a long way towards justifying it.

European papers reprint controversial caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, defying Muslim outrage.

(link) [BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition]

00:00 /Politics | 5 comments | permanent link

Western Union Ends Telegram Services

Now these guys are the only game in town ...

Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union discontinued all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services.

(link) [LiveScience.com]

via Slashdot

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link