Danny's Pathologically Polymathic: November 2004

nation-building in Moldova - Far

"Moldova, once a prosperous component of the Soviet Union, is now the poorest country in Europe"

intimidation of homicide witnesses in Boston - CSM

... just imagine how much worse this must be in Baghdad

video of Palestinian forced to play the violin shocks Israelis - Guardian

"disturbingly reminiscent of Jewish musicians forced to provide background music to mass murder"

interesting election results in Romania - HWD

UK government department loses 80,000 machines in Windows upgrade - Register [via Link]

Ursula Le Guin comments on Earthsea miniseries - UKL [via Fantastic]

I think I'll be avoiding this one, and will stick to the books

the FDA takes a hit and the drug bosses tremble - Economist

the classic Serbian novel - Migrations [review]

the influence of Islamic design on US architecture - SFgate [via Moor]

the WTC towers drew on inspiration from Saudia Arabia!

fruit of Indian "suicide tree" also used for murder - Lycos [via GS]

"in the southwestern state of Kerala, 537 deaths can be attributed to odollam poisonings in the 11 years between 1989 and 1999"

Bhopal is still waiting for justice - Guardian

wargaming Iran versus the US - Atlantic [via AntiWar]

Scotland puts an end to the last feudal property - BBC

disputes over water drilling in the West Bank - Haaretz

making US government sites child-friendly - Wired [via ProRev]

"The National Reconnaissance Office used to be so hush-hush that officials wouldn't admit it existed. Now the spy-satellite agency has gone cute."

a petition to stop a UK ID card - no2id-petition [via CL]

I fear Australia is going to end up with a national ID card too

the Ukrainian election is on hold - Guardian - Economist

I didn't know that Canada has a million people of Ukrainian descent

flying into Baghdad is an experience - MSNBC [via AntiWar]

putting dust-mites on the racetrack - Nature

"a single mattress can sustain up to 1.5 million mites in the right conditions"

Krugman says an economic crisis is "when, not if" - Truthout [via SideS]

South Africa gets an television show on Open Source - ZDnet [via /.]

Romanians remember coal miners being brought into Bucharest in 1991... - FOE

a bus strike in Finland - Crikey

following events in Ukraine - FOE [via CT] - EuroPhobia - Neeka

private security guards in Baghdad are better armed than the police - KR

and are paid up to 100 times as much

Chinese water use in Xinjiang threatens Kazakhstan - Asia

the effects of "shoot on sight" in Falluja - Independent

"a large number of people including children were killed by American snipers. US forces refused repeated calls for medical aid for injured civilians"

locust swarms reach Cairo - AA

Israeli officer guns down a frightened 13 year-old girl in cold blood - Guardian

... but is only charged with minor offences

Amartya Sen on historical relations between India and China - NYROB

an excellent introduction - The Geology of Australia [review]

Kevin Sites describes filming the Falluja mosque killing - MSNBC

the US has forced Iraq to accept biopatents - GRAIN

"Inserted into Iraq's previous patent law is a whole new chapter on Plant Variety Protection"

US troops find it hard to trust the police in Mosul - Alertnet [via AntiWar]

"The US spent millions of dollars setting up Mosul's 4,000-strong police force, only to have 80 percent of it desert the moment insurgents threatened"

colour laser printers are encoding serial numbers onto documents - Yahoo [via /.]

great for catching counterfeiters, not so great if you want a document to be anonymous...

how intellectual property policy is made - FT [via CT]

a look at how the European Database Directive has worked

US casualties in Iraq may number as many as 30,000 - CBS [via AntiWar]

gamelan concert in Sydney - Puspanjala: weaving tapestries of flowers

my gamelan group is putting on a gig: this Sunday 28th November

the DNA of literature: interviews with writers from the 1950s - Paris Review [via JH]

Isak Dinesen, Lawrence Durrell, T.S. Eliot, William Faulkner, E.M. Forster, Henry Green, etc.

could a single-gene mutation have led to the bats? - New Scientist

a blognovel with quote/links - "Er, could you explain this a bit more?" [via Kit]

blogs get to claim pieces of the text, with reciprocal links...

a long piece on Baghdad's Green Zone - Atlantic [via AntiWar]

malnutrition in Iraq has doubled since the US invasion - WP [via AntiWar]

the new Alexander the Great film doesn't sound like a success - I-of-S

twelve of Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus stories - A Good Hanging [review]

a US soldier on the Iraq shooting video, Poles and cats, etc. - Ginmar

"Watching the way people react to the concept of war crimes is like watching people react to news that Bobby the next door neighbor is a date rapist."

debates about how best to measure economic productivity - Economist - CT

three families that fled Falluja - BBC

the "taxi" trip from Baghdad airport to the city costs $5000 - BBC

Tony Blair will face the first impeachment motion in 198 years - Guardian

for "gross misconduct" in the war against Iraq

hiking skirts and mountain kilts - BGT - BP

how China drives exchange rates across the world - Economist

Mandarin speaking children are more likely to acquire perfect pitch - Guardian

a Tasmanian Devil FAQ - TasGov

looking at Microsoft-funded think tanks - Deltoid

heavy computer use and short-sightedness linked to glaucoma - JECH

a Japanese cross-sectional study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health

cutting off water to whole cities as a weapon - Rense [via AntiWar]

"The denial of water to civilians is illegal both under Iraqi and international law."

a test of jurisdiction: Nauru and Australia - HH

the Australian government is refusing to defend its own laws, to try to avoid publicity for refugees interned by Australia on Nauru

Ariel Sharon and the "bantustanisation" of Palestine - NYROB

"Sharon's government has continued to expropriate territory in the West Bank to expand the settlements"

Red Cross estimates at least 800 civilians have been killed in Falluja - EI

that seems on the low side to me, given the level of force employed against the city

sexual mores are changing fast in China - Guardian

Hindu-inspired pseudo-science - Wired

"We believe that cows' urine can cure cancer, renal failure, arthritis and a lot of other ailments"

hugin: a great-looking Linux panorama stitching program - Blackfish

a 2.5 gigapixel photograph - TNO [via DPR]

Flemish independence party banned by Belgian supreme court - BBC [via K5]

my background on this comes from reading The Sorrow of Belgium

more on Dan Brown's opening sentences - Lang

"if you are ever mentioned on page 1 of a Dan Brown novel you will be mentioned with an anarthrous occupational nominal premodifier and you will have died a painful and horrible death by page 2, along with several curiously ill-chosen cliches and mangled idioms"

Pol Pot's cremation site is a tourist attraction - AsiaPages [via Far]

a phone conversation with a dying Iraqi in Falluja - Australian

The Babel Guide to Hungarian Literature in English Translation [review]

three obols a day is not what it used to be - Stoa

I just received a cheque for $7.56 for the half a day I spent not being empanelled on a jury

AP photographer flees Falluja - Yahoo [via AntiWar]

the cats and dogs theory of politics - TroppoArmadillo [via JH]

"And no... you can't win an election by appealing to hamsters."

the US refuses to allow humanitarian aid into Falluja - Guardian

Doug is trying to download every song ever recorded... - MacNet [via JH]

the world's patent systems need reform - Economist

"there should be some embarrassment (and hesitation) in granting [patents]"

the CIA is to be purged of officers disloyal to Bush - NewsDay

a disaster for civilians in Falluja - Guardian

"it has become clear that US military claims of 'precision' targeting are false"

the state of literary translation in China - ChinaDaily [via CR]

copulation and courtship among octopuses - Pharyngula

Saving Private Ryan censored in the US - Guardian [via JWalk]

and yes, this is censorship - an unclarified threat of large fines is extremely intimidating

Ramadi and Mosul under insurgent control - Telegraph

and in Falluja, "rebels re-emerged in areas already secured by US marines"...

one sniper can hold up 150 marines, despite tanks and airstrikes - NYT [via AntiWar]

men fleeing Falluja are forced to return - ABC [via AntiWar]

is forcing people to remain in a battle zone legal?

gutting textbooks in Texas - Pharyngula [via CT]

journalistic "balance" gives too much to bad science - CJR [via /.]

the Lancet Iraq study is flypaper for pundits ignorant of statistics - Deltoid

a debate over eminent domain and urban development - Reason [via ProRev]

water pollution in Shanghai and along the Yangtze - Guardian

a ballgown made of living grass - Stuff [photo]

fifteen years since German reunification - Independent

"East Germany has lost nearly two million inhabitants since the Wall fell, and the exodus continues."

a journalist reports from inside Falluja - BBC

Bush meets the Spanish opposition leader, but rebuffs the PM - Guardian

while taking control of Falluja, the US loses Ramadi - BBC

the full text of bin Laden's speech - MarkTaw [via GAB]

you might be an anti-spam kook if... - Rhyolite [via CT]

US Supreme Court to consider Oregon assisted-suicide law - Guardian

"zero-energy" houses are spreading in California - Wired

Microsoft pays Novell half a billion dollars - Register

for killing off Novell's NDS on NT

mapping of the US election results using population cartograms - Cosma

agriculture is behind Australia's water problems - Guardian

but like subsidies in the US and Europe, it's politcally untouchable

Borislav Pekic's novel of a man obsessed - The Houses of Belgrade [review]

capitalism and communism in Shanghai - Guardian

Google treats British National Party press releases as news - Register

a Mexican election observer on the US system - Alternet [via Bloghorrea]

"we could not help but notice the many ways in which the U.S. falls short of global best practices for election management"

two law professors argue about open source - FT [via OSWALD]

what is a just war? - NYROB - Arguing About War [Amazon]

French peacekeepers shoot down Ivory Coast government planes - Guardian [via HH]

"after the aircraft bombed a French position, killing a French soldier"

the US gay community fears rising intolerance - Guardian

Windows 2000 "the lowest risk choice" for Royal Navy combat systems - Register

the US has 10,000 troops massed for the attack on Falluja - Yahoo [via AntiWar]

Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita has the Orthodox Church in arms - Guardian [via Kit]

"the text is full of points which contemporary people, especially non-believers, will find very difficult to understand"

the gap between eastern and western Turkey - Guardian

"I don't know anything about Europe and I don't care about it. What I want is water and drains."

in Finland, tax returns are completely public - Crikey

there's even an SMS service for querying someone's taxable income in the last financial year!

Seymour Hersh answers questions about the election's consequences - WP [via ProRev]

Canada 2.0 - DollarShort [via JWalk]

any Democrats moving to Canada should think about moving to Ohio instead...

Argentina makes an offer to its creditors - Economist

"Will this end the largest sovereign default in history?"

US deserter from 1965 gets 30 days, dishonorable discharge - Far

sociological problems with virtual world design - Gamasutra [via /.]

a little bit of MUDing in the early 1990s is my only virtual world experience

improving relations between India and Israel - Asia

dispute resolution in virtual worlds - Wired

now Falluja will be flattened - Asia - KR [via AntiWar]

debate over trends in US heights - Nature

but average weight is up 11kg over the last 40 years

it may come down to a recount in Ohio... - CNN

...but it's not looking good. I think I'm more depressed by this than I was by the Australian election

they're already discussing Supreme Court involvement - Kos

"a Jim Crow law that was intended to deny blacks the vote and is being used that way today"

a computer scientists guide to election observation - Rice [via ProRev]

"No poll worker should ever connect a USB key to a machine, nor should they be inserting CDs or floppies."

Coca Cola is being used as a pesticide in India - Guardian

Andrew Tanenbaum is the votemaster - electoral-vote [via CT] - Computer Networks [review]

I think we can forgive him for taking the wrong side in the ISO versus TCP/IP war :-)

criticism of the Lancet Iraq mortality study has been feeble - CT

People, Landlords and Rural Turmoil - The Highland Clearances [review]

165 Palestinians killed in October - Haaretz [via AntiWar]

more Republicans who fear Bush - CBS [via Kos]

Uttar Pradesh offers gun licences for sterilisations - Guardian

Indira Gandhi tried this kind of thing in the 1970s...

squid are taking over the oceans - News [via Stross]

they are growing in numbers and size, as a result of ocean warming and removal of predators and competitors by fishing

everyone in the US is on edge - Kos

How many million hits an hour is Kos getting, and will the site stay up on Tuesday? Never have I followed a foreign election so keenly...