"Mr. Bush has lost us. We are gone. Enough. That's the end," said Diaa Rashwan, head of the comparative politics unit at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. "If America starts winning tomorrow, there will be suicide bombing that will start in America the next day. It is a whole new level now."

The anger was a clear sign that U.S.-Arab relations, despite the Bush administration's campaign to win hearts and minds, was at a low point.

"Bush is an occupier and terrorist. He thought he was playing a video game," said George Elnaber, 36, a Arab Christian and the owner of a supermarket in Amman. "We hate Americans more than we hate Saddam now," he said, referring to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The popular al-Jazeera satellite television network broadcast the funerals of those killed at the market. It repeatedly showed pictures of severed body parts and wounded toddlers bandaged and crying in hospital beds.

"Those pictures have showed that America's war is not only against the Iraqi regime and the Iraqi army, but also against the Iraqi children and elderly. How can we trust them now?" said Mahmoud Sahiouny, 19, a Syrian computer science student who lives in Beirut.

Someone on the radio just said, "Judge a moth by the beauty of its candle." Well, ours was nice, wasn't it?.

UPDATE: This is pretty interesting:

"And following the name was the fascination of the flag. The Reverend Slaughter happened to come across a February 25, 1776, copy of the London 'Morning Chronicle,' and in it he saw, as he called it, 'a remarkable article in these words': 'The Americans have a flag with a snake with 13 rattles on it, in the attitude to strike, and with the motto, "Don't tread on me." It is a rule in heraldry that the worthy properties of an animal on a crest should alone be considered. The rattlesnake is an emblem of America, being found in no other part of the world. The eye excels in brightness. It has no eye-lids, and is therefore an emblem of vigilance. She never begins an attack, and never surrenders, and is therefore an emblem of magnanimity. She never wounds until she has given warning. Her weapons are not displayed until drawn for defence. Her power of fascination resembles America - those who look steadily on her are involuntarily drawn towards, and having once approached, never leave her. She is beautiful in youth, and her beauty increases with age. Her tongue is forked as lightning.'"

Whether history shows we've lived up to this or not, it's still a striking ideal.

(Sorry.)

• I Hate the French Vanilla
• Iraqi Road
• Smaller GovernMint
• Nutty Environmentalist

`Look at it this way. No matter how bad it is we will not all die. We have hoped for some other way but nothing has worked. 12 years ago it went almost all the way but failed. We cannot wait anymore. We want the war and we want it now`

Coming back to family members and telling them of progress in the talks at the United Nations on working some sort of compromise with Iraq I was welcomed not with joy but anger. `No, there is no other way! We want the war! It is the only way he will get out of our lives`

. . .

From a former member of the Army to a person working with the police to taxi drivers to store owners to mothers to government officials without exception when allowed to speak freely the message was the same - `Please bring on the war. We are ready. We have suffered long enough. We may lose our lives but some of us will survive and for our children's sake please,, please end our misery.

. . .

But what of their feelings towards the United States and Britain? Those feelings are clearly mixed. They have no love for the British or the Americans but they trust them.

`We are not afraid of the American bombing. They will bomb carefully and not purposely target the people. What we are afraid of is Saddam Hussein and what he and the Baath Party will do when the war begins. But even then we want the war. It is the only way to escape our hell. Please tell them to hurry. We have been through war so many times,but this time it will give us hope`.

Oh, and another thing. One might be forgiven for discounting the opinions of those who have been pro-war from the start, and who have never themselves been to Iraq. Well, since these people were anti-war until they went to Iraq, upon which they changed their minds... doesn't that make them the most worthy sources of all, except for the Iraqis themselves?

...Okay, fine.

Look, I'm not some zealous patriot that thinks the U.S. is always right, or that you can't criticize the Government, and so on. Before this war is started, you can criticize all you want, when this war is over we can discuss/evaluate the tradeoffs of what was accomplished. During this war, stay the hell out of the way, and watch what you say. Indecisiveness in war is a way to get more people killed, so it should be treated as the life threatening mamby-pambyisms that it is.

I enjoy looking at problems from many sides, sometimes I even enjoy diplomacy and debate. But war is what happens when diplomacy and debate have failed; and they have failed. Our armies are trained to take land, kill people and break things; that's their job. When it is time for them to do their job, all else pales. Warriors understand this, some other people don't. This isn't the 60s sit-in, and is not a time for us all to remember our youths. Frankly, the peaceniks got many more killed than they helped anyways. If you don't like this war, so what? I don't like tax & spend policies, economic mugging that is a progressive tax system, and so on. There's a time and place to talk about it, and a time not to. This is the time to shut up. When the doves come out in a time of war, you don't get your hymnal, you get your shotgun.

For the record, no, I don't endorse statements like "watch what you say"-- particularly taken out of context. I agree with Every's primary point, that a lack of commitment to the objective will make the war take longer and cost more lives; that supporting the troops ought to take precedence over trying to sway the government from the course we've taken. I don't agree that everybody should just shut up if they have a dissenting opinion during wartime for fear of jackboots at the door. And I don't think that's what he was saying in any case.

Disagree with the war's circumstances or motives, sure. Wave signs, fine, if you have to, if you don't mind the thought of the troops seeing you on TV and wondering whether the country is behind them or what. But don't throw rocks at National Guardsmen.

Dear IRAQ ! What can I do to Help?

1. Hope: At this critical juncture when war is the buzz word of the War Mongers, many Muslims are left in despair and in a state of hopelessness. It may seem that the death of millions of innocents is now inevitable, but we must continue to strive our utmost to defend them and to spread the truth about this immoral war. Above all, we must remember that Allah Ta'ala has control over all things and can provide help in ways we do not even understand. Not even the 'greatest' superpower can overpower Him! No falsehood is to remain forever. No oppression is to remain forever. After hardship comes ease. The bitter reality of the Muslim nation will come to an end, and tomorrow will be definitely better than today. We should have HOPE in the ALL encompassing MERCY and HELP of Allah Ta'ala under all circumstances, whether it be in victory, defeat, happiness or sadness.
   Hadhrat Ibn Abbaas(radhiyallahu anhu) reported that : " I was(once) behind Nabi(sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam) when he said to me: 'O son ! I shall inform of a few things: Remember Allah, and He will protect you. Remember Allah, and you will find Him close to you. When you have to ask for something, ask of Allah Ta'ala. When you require aid, seek His aid. Believe firmly that if all the creation desires to benefit you in anything, they can never benefit you, but, that which Allah has decreed for you. If they ALL unite to harm you, they will not be able to harm you in anything, but that which Allah has decreed for you." (Tirmizi)
2. Duaa: Make ernest, sincere duaa. Try to shed tears and beg Allah Ta'ala to alleviate the suffering of the Muslims in Iraq; and other places where Muslims are oppressed, not forgetting to make duaa for the brave "Human shields ". Beg Allah Ta'ala with sincerity.(like a child begging his mother). Also, conscientise the family and the children at home to also make duaa.
3. Nafl Salaat: Even if;one is not a regular performer of Tahajjud salaat; atleast for the sake of the lives of the innocents; get up at the time of Tahajjud and perform two rakaats of salaah; contemplate on the sufferings,that the Ummah is facing today; beg Allah Ta'ala for His Divine Help and assisstance.Shed some tears; Ask for Forgiveness and help for the Abstention from sin and for Allah Ta'ala's Divine Solution.
4. Participate in Peace Rallies and Anti -war campaigns: keeping in mind the shariah injunctions of good character, proper conduct, hijab, peace etc.
5. Charity(Sadaqah): Give some charity(sadaqah) on behalf of the Muslims in Iraq; on behalf of the orphans; the widows;the martyrs and those that are the victims of oppression. This sadaqah may even be a loaf of bread or bottle of milk to a needy person in your area.
6. Fast: Keep a nafl fast on any day of one's choice. At the time of breaking one's fast ;Beg Almighty Allah Ta'ala, to alleviate the sufferings of the Muslim Ummah in Iraq and other parts of the world where Muslims are unjustly being oppressed.
7. Relief and Financial Aid: The lives;homes and infra-structure of the people of Iraq have been devastated over the last 12-15 years. Assist by aiding financially to a legitimate Relief agency in your area. Spare ourselves from over indulgences and financially aid our Brothers and sisters in this hour of need.
8. Make News outlets Aware: Keep a vigilant eye on the news outlets; magazines etc. and respond timeously to their bias comments and views. Participate in phone-in sessions on the Radio. If one is unable to do so; make those who are able to do so; aware of such comments; articles etc. so that timeous responses are made. Forward pertinent and relevant articles you come across to the International and local media outlets.

Call out Gouranga be happy.
Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga.
Say Gouranga my friend..
Gouranga.......That which brings the highest happiness.

UPDATE: Ah.

The plane's logo and coloring resembled that of Iraqi Airlines, said Getty Images News Service executive Brian Felber, based in New York.

The photograph, showing two rifle-toting Marines in front of the mural, was shot by staff photographer Joe Raedle, who is accompanying the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force from Task Force Tarawa.

U.S. forces in Iraq are using specially trained dolphins to help look for anti-ship mines in the waters off the key southern port of Umm Qasr. But it's not the first time such creatures have been used by the military.

The U.S. military has used intelligent sea creatures for three decades, including sea lions brought to the Persian Gulf to guard against attack by providing early warning of enemy saboteurs. Many sea lions have been trained to come to the surface to signal an intruder.

For the U.S.-led war in Iraq, having dolphins locate the mines would make it easier for troops to clear them. That would make it safer for military and humanitarian supplies to be delivered to Umm Qasr or another port city.

I was not impressed. The video was introduced by the Minister of Information, who told us to wait for an important and "historic" speech from Saddam. It then cuts to the - what's it called - station ID playing the national anthem for a least a couple of minutes. Only then do we get to the actual video.

A couple of things struck me about it. If the translation was right, Saddam refers to the invasion starting "today"; of course, the video was being shown several days after the start of the invasion. Also, lots of names were thrown out, but nothing specific. He did mention Umm Qasr and there has been strong resistance there, but he made no specific reference to that. Finally, he made no mention of the American POWs, a sure way to alert the world that he was alive and in control.

The CNN pundit (with one of those sneering British accents Lileks has been talking about) seemed overly impressed. She was certain that this proved Saddam was alive. After all, he mentioned Umm Qasr and Mosul! (Though nothing specific about Mosul.)

A different idea sprung into my mind: This was a tape created before the start of the war. A number of different tapes were created at that time, each with a different set of names and places. After the start of the war, the tapes with the most relevant names could be played. It would be kind of a propaganda mix tape. In a few days we'll probably get another tape full of vague references to current events but nothing specific.

"Led his country in confrontation the aggression launched by 33 countries led by US. which waged war against Iraq, the Iraqis' confrontation of which is called by Arabs and Iraqis as the Battle of Battles (Um Al-Ma' arik) , where Iraq stood fast against the invasion, maintaining its sovereignty and political system. "

I can't believe I stayed up for the "historic speech from Saddam". It looked like another file piece. There was no way to put a date on it. It was intorduced by the Minister of Information who I increasingly suspect of running the country since he is the only official we really hear from. I want the last hour of my life back.

"Don't you listen to Powell on Voice of America radio?" [the Iraqi driver] said. "Of course the Americans don't want to bomb civilians. They want to bomb government and Saddam's palaces. We want America to bomb Saddam."


We just sat, listening, our mouths open wide. Jake, one of the others, just kept saying, "Oh my God" as the driver described the horrors of the regime. Jake was so shocked at how naive he had been. We all were. It hadn't occurred to anyone that the Iraqis might actually be pro-war.


The driver's most emphatic statement was: "All Iraqi people want this war." He seemed convinced that civilian casualties would be small; he had such enormous faith in the American war machine to follow through on its promises. Certainly more faith than any of us had.

Perhaps the most crushing thing we learned was that most ordinary Iraqis thought Saddam Hussein had paid us to come to protest in Iraq. Although we explained that this was categorically not the case, I don't think he believed us. Later he asked me: "Really, how much did Saddam pay you to come?"

• The US' national security
• The Iraqi civilian population
• Iraqi troops willing to surrender
• The UK and other nations in the "coalition of the willing"

• Saddam Hussein and his sons
• Iraqi troops loyal to Saddam
• Islamic terrorists operating out of Iraq or anticipating Iraqi assistance
• France
• The anti-war protesters

Some customers have reported that over time their iPod's battery life has declined. This update enables the iPod to more accurately monitor its battery charge, thus using the entire battery capacity and regaining long battery life. The result is longer playback time and extended standby time. After updating the iPod, customers can expect at least 10 days of standby battery life on a full charge.

Prior to this update, the iPod would sometimes mistake a temporary low voltage condition as an indication that the battery was discharged. This resulted in the iPod shutting down prematurely, even though the battery was still capable of powering the iPod.

"I got a letter from a general at the Pentagon when the name change went through and he says it was great to have the employ of the commander of the Autobots in the National Guard."

Al Gore ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Gore is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through his innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.

Al Qaeda wouldn't collaborate with Saddam because they're religious zealots and he's a secular tyrant. Gimme a break. Al Qaeda demonstrated clearly in their planning for September 11th they'll do whatever it takes to smite their enemy, even if that means suffering through lapdances in the strip clubs of the Great Satan. If they can buy box cutters in our Wal-Marts, I'm sure they could suck it up to borrow a few kilos of anthrax from Saddam.

What Clwyd says - clearly, unforgettably, indelibly - is something that some people think is unsophisticated or crude or manipulative. What she says is that the Saddam regime is evil. I'm aware of the argument that there are many evil regimes in the world and we aren't invading to destroy all of them. But there comes a point at which such arguments say less about the world and more about the people making them. Saddam's regime is certainly one of the vilest on earth. Its malevolence and brutality is documented beyond dispute. In a world in which morality matters, the leading theologians and moralists and politicians would not be bending over backwards to find arguments to leave this regime alone, to lend credence to its lies, and to appease its poisons. They would be casting about for reasons to end it. I think that is what has given Blair his strength these past few months. He knows he's right.

UPDATE: CapLion thinks so. Although in response to his "But don't take my word for it, just spend a few days in San Francisco..." I'd have to say that I don't have to take his word for it-- I live here. :) I just bought a house here. I signed the bleedin' papers this morning.

And while I know most of the population of California is concentrated in the cities, one shouldn't discount the massive numbers of people who live in rural areas or small towns throughout the state. I grew up in one. You're as likely to find Young Republicans or Harley dudes in any of these places as hippies-- hell, I grew up behind the Redwood Curtain, and it wasn't until I moved to Pasadena and lived next to Dabney House that I first smelled marijuana.

This may be the state that saw to Jerry Garcia's ascendancy; but it's also the state that gave us Ronald Reagan.

And with 75% of the public supporting the war (a record in recent memory!), even in the face of more-strident-than-ever protests, we would do well to remember that just because the few are louder here than elsewhere, it doesn't mean that the many deserve to be flushed. There are still a lot more of us than there are of them. Even here.

I have a better idea. Shoulder-to-shoulder block, yes. Non-violent, no. Beat them into frigging pulp.

Well, yes. I have no doubt that that's what it would come to-- these are peace activists, after all. Hardly the least violent of nature's beasts. But what I mean is, non-violently is at least how the blockade ought to start. Even if just to play out everybody's scripted role.

        "We go out of our way to avoid targeting civilians".

        It's not just "not our style", it's the reason why we've been spending
billions and *billions* of dollars over the past decades to develop
weapons which take out not just the target *building*, but the target
*person*. We have missiles that can fly into an individual person's
house's *window* and leave the adjoining buildings on either side
completely intact. We have Predator drones that target terrorists in
their cars where they're as isolated as possible from innocent
civilians. We even have EMP weapons designed to disable electronics so
enemy weapons systems become useless, without even a single *military*
life having to be lost.

        Why the heck would a country that has nuclear weapons capable of
leveling cities devote all its attention to creating weapons that cause
*less and less* damage, with more and more specific and targeted
results? It's because minimizing civilian casualties is the paramount
goal of American military development, and we've achieved more toward
that goal than any other country in history.

        People who whine about "killing innocent civilians is wrong" will get
no argument whatsoever from US military leaders; however, they *might*
get a frustrated punch in the mouth.

Q253912: Out of Memory Error Messages with Large Amounts of RAM Installed
"WORKAROUND: Reduce the amount of memory that is installed in your computer to 512 MB or less."

Q149525: Poor Performance May Occur During FTP File Transfers
"If a send request occurs that is less than one segment, Silly Window Syndrome (SWS) can occur."

Q175362: January 1 May Appear as February 1 in a Date
"When you enter or fill dates in a worksheet in Microsoft Excel 97, a date that should appear as January 1 may instead appear as February." Hope you, like, didn't need that date for anything.

Universal Soldier receives a near perfect Van Dammeter score because of its massive clash of JCVD clichés where a sassy female reporter shows up during the splits-filled muddy fight scene in the rain. During the fight she's hit by an exploding grenade, but through what must have been the filmmakers' lack of knowledge of what a grenade is, she gets right up a few minutes later.

UPDATE: CapLion is considerably less put out by "freedom fries" than I am. (I'm trying to come up with a pun that involves "put out" and "put in" or perhaps "poutine", but failing.) But J Greely suggests a better name for them would be New York fries. It's not terribly inaccurate, considering that New York has always been such a hotbed of newly imported foods brought by immigrants or cultural exchange; and besides it's got plenty of WoT cachet. (Whoah-- perhaps I should avoid using French words like cachet... much as the British deliberately pronounced words like fillet and ballet with a hard T and the emphasis on the first syllable, so as to de-Francify such words.)

Well, either way, I like the sound of New York fries... pending legal clearance with the food-court restaurant of the same name. Somehow I doubt they'd mind much.

On a more minor front, I was walking the beagle on Saturday in my local D.C. park and stumbled across the pretty-in-pink "Women For Peace" demo. The demonization of the president was far more evident than any criticism of Saddam Hussein. In the few conversations I managed to have without losing my cool, I asked some of the demonstrators whether they were aware of how many people Saddam Hussein had killed in his short time on earth. "Not as many as Bush," came one reply. "America is the true terrorist nation," another opined. Now I am second to no-one in defending these people's right to say whatever they believe, and it was a beautiful day for a feisty demonstration. But what can one make of the arguments one hears? Maybe it's because I'm surrounded by these sentiments, but it's hard not to wonder what these people will say or do once this particular phase of the war actually gets under way.

When RCMP and paramedics arrived, McAulay learned she was going to be held up for another few hours because she had to give police a statement. She called Frank's Pizza and asked a co-worker to phone her supervisor and fill him in.

When McAulay finished with investigators and returned to the restaurant about 10:30 p.m., Boyd was there to deliver the bad news.

"He said, 'What the hell were you doing there?'" she said. "He told me I was fired because I was a threat to the business."

McAulay said she tried to explain, but Boyd told her he "didn't care."

"I was shocked. Actually, disgusted," she said. "I'm not an EMT and I know that, but ... I wouldn't want anyone to turn away from me. It's a person's life that's at stake."

Boyd told The Selkirk Journal he didn't fire McAulay because she helped the gunshot victim.

"She wasn't dismissed because she was at the shooting scene," he said. "She was away from her job for no good reason."

It reminds you that a truth, repeated enough times, becomes a cliché. Once the smart set identifies something as a cliché, it?s stripped of its truth and regarded simply as a trick - regardless of how true the cliché may actually be.

A British Army source in Kuwait contacted me to explain how the extraordinary surrender bid unfolded. The source said: "The British guys on the front-line could not believe what was happening. They were on pre-war exercises when all of a sudden these Iraqis turned up out of nowhere, with their hands in the air, saying they wanted to surrender.

"They had heard firing and thought it was the start of the war.

"The Paras are a tough, battle-hardened lot but were moved by the plight of the Iraqis. There was nothing they could do other than send them back.

"They were a motley bunch and you could barely describe them as soldiers - they were poorly equipped and didn't even have proper boots. Their physical condition was dreadful and they had obviously not had a square meal for ages. No one has ever known a group of so-called soldiers surrender before a shot has been fired in anger."

UPDATE: Then again, the British troops may not be the best-equipped force in the world either:

Not all the Challenger II tanks, which broke down on exercised in Oman last year, have been adapted for desert use.

And the replacement of the SA80 rifle, which showed a tendency to jam in dusty conditions, is not complete so some troops are likely to still be armed with it.

But what is less well known is that soldiers are also short of even the most basic of kit - their boots.

Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Paul Keetch is in Kuwait where some British troops are already stationed.

He says he has been shocked to learn how short of equipment the British are.

They have acquired, he says, the nickname "The Borrowers" because the borrow so much from the Americans.

Yikes.

The UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix, currently the man who has a great deal of saying wether there should be an "American" invasion of Iraq - judging to if he believes Iraq has "satisfied" his inquires or not - is a man of Jewish ancestry and has a background in Zionist circles of his native country, Sweden.

Williams, who has worked in security at the mall for more than nine years, said he signed the complaint on the orders of his boss, assistant director of security Fred Tallman. Those orders came after Tallman told the Guilderland police officer working the case that he (Tallman) was too busy to come to the police station and that Williams represented the company and should sign.

"I just followed directions of management of that mall to the letter," Williams said Friday evening. "And I get fired for doing my job."

France: Hey all, what's up?
US: Putting together an RvR raid, hitting Iraq.
France: No frikking way, dood. Look, I'm part of Alliance leadership, and I say no way do we go in there. I'm using Alliance veto.
US: WTF? Alliance Veto?
France: Yeah, it's in Alliance charter. Me, Germany, US, Russia, and China can all cancel any Alliance raid event.
Bulgaria: Hey, me and the other Eastern Europeans wanna go...
France: STFU, n00b. Your guild got no say in this.
Bulgaria: ,,!,,
Germany: I don't really want to go either.
US: ...
France: Yeah, we veto. No guildies go to Iraq.
US: What about you, Russia.
Russia: Well, if everyone else goes, it's ok, but if France and Germany say no, then that's cool.
US: Jeezus. Dood, show some balls. You used to love going on raids.
Russia: Yeah, but that Afghanistan raid a while back was a disaster. Total group wipe-out.
US: Yeah, but you were in different alliance, man. This is different. Besides, we pwn3d last time we went on Iraq raid.
France: Doesn't matter. I say no.

being a woman of islam, ill answer q's 2,3 and 4.
i am not sure about q1.

2) Why is a woman's testimony only worth half a
man's?

this is true because women tend to work more from
emotions. they have a softer heart and relent to
temptation faster.

3) How come Islam allows men to beat their wives?

Islam doesnt allow men to beat wives just for
fun. a man can not hit me unless ive gone against
the path of Allah or adultery. Even then he can
not hit me right away. there are steps leading
upto it. first he tells me its wrong. then he
separates his bed. and if even then i dont
listen, he can hit me with a miswak (wooden stick
used to cleanse teeth) no longer than his thumb.

this intends to attain two things...
1) if the woman has any haya in her, she'd stop
by the time the man separates the bed. if not,
she really s evil.

2) the length of the miswak... the length of a
thumb... it can never hurt u. the intention is to
reprimand not to injure.

also remember to judge a religion by its
scripture not its people. what muslims do today
is not what they are taught... just as christians
or jews or believers of any other faith. just
becoz a person does something doesnt mean the
whole faith does it.

q4... the lashing... and stoning... im still not
sure about this and i know there are conditions
that apply. i had it in a book which i cant place
right now.

however... even if the conditions are same...
lets remember that a woman is built less inclined
towards sex than man. it is tougher for her to
succumb to temptation. also, by her indulging in
fornication, she puts her lineage into threat.
especially if she's maried and i think stoning is
for married women only. it is also a way for men
and woen to be punished in this world rather than
facing it in the hereafter... which would be a
tougher and more brutal punishment.

salamoalaikum... all errs are mine and mine
alone... Allah is free of All errs.

A French company has been selling spare parts to Iraq for its fighter jets and military helicopters during the past several months, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

The unidentified company sold the parts to a trading company in the United Arab Emirates, which then shipped the parts through a third country into Iraq by truck.

The spare parts included goods for Iraq's French-made Mirage F-1 jets and Gazelle attack helicopters. . . .

We started every day with classroom prayer at St. Mary's School, of course, but Sister Rosanne said there was a difference between voluntary prayer in a private religious school and prayer in a school paid for by every taxpayer--a distinction so obvious that Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft are forced to willfully ignore it.

. . .

This is really an argument between two kinds of prayer--vertical and horizontal. I don't have the slightest problem with vertical prayer. It is horizontal prayer that frightens me. Vertical prayer is private, directed upward toward heaven. It need not be spoken aloud, because God is a spirit and has no ears. Horizontal prayer must always be audible, because its purpose is not to be heard by God, but to be heard by fellow men standing within earshot.

. . .

This simple insight about two kinds of prayer, which is beyond theological question, should bring a dead halt to the obsession with prayer in public places. It doesn't, because the purpose of its supporters is political, not spiritual. Their faith is like Dial soap: Now that they use it, they wish everyone would. I grew up in an America where people of good breeding did not impose their religious convictions upon those they did not know very well. Now those manners have been discarded.

• Caramel is a "burnt-sugar" confectionary material frequently used in candy bars.
• Carmel is a town on the California coast frequented by tourists.

Doug: THE USA TRY TO ENTER HEAR FOR OUR WATER. WE DONT WANTH AMERICANS HERE!! I AM A BRAZILAN RESERVE SOLDIER AND I WIL FIGHT IS ANY AMREICAN ENTER ON MY COUNTRY!

HolyWarrior: I used to say that sort of thing too before the Gulf War -- then next thing you know, they show up with their planes, tanks, deathrays, robot monkeys, deathstars, all sorts of stuff and you say forget about it -- might as well watch "Baywatch" and chant USA USA!

Doug: i understand.... the americans is the modern rome!!

A West Yorkshire head teacher has banned books containing stories about pigs from the classroom in case they offend Muslim children.

. . .

Mrs Harris said in a statement: "Recently I have been aware of an occasion where young Muslim children in class were read stories about pigs.

"We try to be sensitive to the fact that for Muslims talk of pigs is offensive."

The head teacher sent a memo to staff saying fiction books containing stories about pigs should be removed from early years and key stage one classrooms.

Mrs Harris added: "The books remain in the school library and there is nothing to stop our younger children having stories such as 'The Three Little Pigs' in small groups."

UPDATE: The school's decision has come as a surprise to local Muslims, as Aziz forwards me:

Inayat Bunglawala, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said, "This is bizarre. There is nothing to stop children reading about pigs. The ban is simply on the consumption of pork and pig products." ... Trying not to be too harsh in the face of a rare sensitivity to Muslims, the Muslim Council of Britain asked the school district to quietly repeal the edict. Continued Bunglawala, "There can be a cultural misunderstanding and it is good for everyone to discuss it and clear it up."

Well, good. I certainly hope Mrs. Harris takes them up on that offer.

IF WE STEP BACK for a minute and consider the broader implications of this new global map, then U.S. national-security strategy would seem to be:  1) Increase the Core's immune system capabilities for responding to September 11-like system perturbations; 2) Work the seam states to firewall the Core from the Gap's worst exports, such as terror, drugs, and pandemics; and, most important,  3) Shrink the Gap.  Notice I did not just say Mind the Gap.  The knee-jerk reaction of many Americans to September 11 is to say, "Let's get off our dependency on foreign oil, and then we won't have to deal with those people."  The most naďve assumption underlying that dream is that reducing what little connectivity the Gap has with the Core will render it less dangerous to us over the long haul.  Turning the Middle East into Central Africa will not build a better world for my kids.  We cannot simply will those people away.

Terrorists linked to al Qaeda have targeted U.S. military facilities in Pearl Harbor, including nuclear-powered submarines and ships, The Washington Times has learned.

According to officials familiar with the reports, al Qaeda is planning an attack on Pearl Harbor because of its symbolic value and because its military facilities are open from the air.

The attacks would be carried out by hijacked airliners from nearby Honolulu International Airport that would be flown into submarines or ships docked at Pearl Harbor in suicide missions, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

UPDATE: Marko notes: "Nevermind that, I'm just freaked that Ron Jeremy is the Al Qaeda mastermind!"

UPDATE: Yes, yes, I know .Hack is actually an RPG about playing an MMORPG. But c'mon, it was funnier my way.

One of the latest group to arrive in Baghdad, mostly Europeans, were welcomed to the Rasheed hotel , which is like the Waldorf Astoria of Baghdad, no other hotel is more expensive and exclusive. All of them were wearing T-shirts with what was supposed to be "Human Shields" in Arabic, but they had it all wrong it said "Adra'a Basharia" instead of "Duru'u Basharia" which got them a few giggles and a new name; they are now the "Adra'a" just to show how clueless they are. A lot of funny Arabic these days with all these HS's running around, a van with a foreign number plate standing near the ministry of information has "No War" written all over it in many languages the biggest in Arabic. All over the front of it is says "La Harba" which is wrong and sounds like a night club, my cousin thought that was cute. Anyway, what really got my goat this time was finding out that they get food coupons worth 15,000 dinars per meal, 3 for every day.fifteen thousan.
Do you know how much the monthly food ration for a 4 person family is worth, for a whole month not per meal (real cost, not subsidized) ? 30,000 dinars, if you get someone to buy the bad rice they give you for a decent price. 15,000. What are they eating? A whole lamb every meal? Let's put this within context. Today in the morning Raed, our friend G. and I went for a late big breakfast we had 2 tishreeb bagilas (can't explain that, you have to be an Iraqi to get it otherwise it sounds inedible) and a makhlama (which is an omelet with minced meat), tea, fizzy drinks and argila afterwards (the water-pipe-thingy) all for 4,750 dinars, and we were not going super cheap. A lunch in any above-average restaurant will not be more than 8,000 dinars and that includes everything. 15,000 thousand is a meal in a super expensive restaurant in Arasat Street, in one of those places that really almost have an "only foreigners allowed, no Iraqis welcome unless you are UN staff" sign on it. I will stop calling them tourist when they stop taking all this pampering from the Iraqi government. Did I tell you about the tours? Today was Babylon day. You are really missing it, the cheapest way to do the Iraq trip you have wanted to do but were too scared.

UPDATE: A reader points out that in this story, this line appears: "She was named al-Adra'a because Fatima never lost her virginity." So does "Adra'a Basharia" mean "Human Virgins", or what?

UPDATE: J Greely does, however: "Worst first date ever!"

Libeskind's design beat the THINK team's "World Cultural Center" plan, which envisioned two 1,665-foot latticework towers straddling the footprints of the original towers.

The new building is planned to be taller than the trade center towers, which briefly stood as the world's tallest at 1,350 feet. Libeskind's tower also would surpass Malaysia's 1,483-foot Petronas Twin Towers, the tallest buildings in the world.

wow, didnt expect such lengthy replies, thanks to all who did reply. its very valuable to know. i know that if the draft ever does come back they wont take me for various reasons, mainly because id disable myself before i go out and slaughter ppl because the gov says so.

UPDATE: Actually Chris tells me that the deal with the "Australian" mustard was that the company had created a more-or-less synthetic blend that it thought would appeal to the "Australian" palate. And much to his chagrin, he liked it. He's embarrassed that after all his talk of his Third Rule-- I am not the target audience-- he actually turned out to be the target audience.

Fie! Fie upon the mainstream!

UPDATE: Steven Den Beste tells me that everything I expect about what's coming is wrong. Boy oh boy.

Whenever the U.S. favors military action that France opposes (such as the disagreement in April 1986 that saw France denying U.S. F-111's overfly permission on their way to a bombing mission against Libya), jokes and sardonic comments about the prowess and fortitude of the French military inevitably ratchet up several levels in the American media. Hence the latest pithy anti-French quote making the rounds, this one emphasizing American frustration with France and expressing the attitude that having French support in military ventures is ineffective and irrelevant -- "going to war without France is like going deer hunting without an accordion."

These words were spoken by Jed Babbin, a former deputy undersecretary of defense in the first Bush administration, during a 30 January 2003 appearance on the political talk show Hardball. The full comment (offered during the course of a discussion about differences between U.S. and European policy towards Iraq) was: " . . . you know frankly, going to war without France is like going deer hunting without an accordion. You just leave a lot of useless noisy baggage behind."

If there's one thing that's clear now, it's that we'll never know what causes sports rioting until we ask the screaming mob of arsonists themselves. But they, of course, would light us on fire and kill us. So instead, we should focus on how to stop this type of activity in the future. There are a couple ways we can do this. The first is stricter crowd control. Today, police have a number of less-lethal methods at their disposal: tear gas, rubber bullets, fire hoses, sticks and more. These are all very cute. And while I agree with whichever little girl invented rubber bullets that we shouldn't open fire on every savage mob that comes along, remember, these are people who are destroying a city over a football game. We should be fighting that with flesh-eating acid. It might sound harsh, but let's not kid ourselves -- if someone's lighting your house on fire because a sports team didn't perform well, they probably aren't going to grow up to take sick children on trust-building whitewater rafting expeditions. Human life is a precious thing, to a point. And seeing the torch-carrying Raider enthusiast in front of you get melted down into a pile of steaming soup will probably make your savage brain think twice before you throw that brick at the firemen.

The senate's University and External Affairs Committee late Monday night dropped a controversial portion of the condemnation bill, killing a recommendation to raise the rent of the independent student newspaper because of the controversial cartoon. The Daily Cal leases its offices on the sixth floor of Eshleman Hall from ASUC.

Some senators said the authors cut that part of the bill under criticism from student groups and senate opponents.

The amended bill, SB 67A, proposes that all elected ASUC officials sign a letter calling for a printed apology on the front page of the Daily Cal "for using poor judgment during volatile times and possibly endangering students on this campus."

The proposal also asks the Daily Cal's editors to require mandatory sensitivity training for its staff.

If everybody thought like Saturday's marchers, it would be curtains for all of us. But we're not quite there yet, and reality will be breaking in very soon. Saying that Bush is the real "weapon of mass destruction" is awful cute the first nine or ten thousand times, but only if you live in Toronto or Paris or Madrid. Viewed by an Iraqi from the reality of Basra, it's pathetic.

Meanwhile, whatever Blair or the Brits or the French or the Timbuktooans might say or think, the USA plan is to take Iraq, and following that, over the next few years, to make itself a lot safer than now from terrorist attacks by (a) chasing terrorists, absolutely everywhere on the planet, and by (b) putting whatever pressure is necessary on any government anywhere which is now not chasing terrorists to switch to chasing terrorists with comparable zeal to the USA, thereby making the USA, and the West and the World in general, massively safer from terrorist attack than we all are now. And if that also makes the USA a whole lot more of a force in the world even than it is now, well, the Americans can live with that.

Although he makes no bones about loathing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government ("I disagree with every aspect of Sharon"), Ahmad maintains that neither he nor anyone in the group is anti-Semitic.

"I am a Semite, so I can't be anti-Semitic," says Ahmad, pointing out that the correct definition of the word "Semite" is anyone speaking a Semitic language, including Arabs.

"We all come from Abraham . . . the Quran says that if you don't follow all the prophets, you're not a real Muslim," he says as the others nod.

UPDATE: Dane Petersen says much the same thing, only a lot more succinctly. Plus he goes on to link to the bizarre movies and stuff I've been accumulating over the weekend. It's so good to see that some people still know when wry irony is appropriate (freaky pop-humor memes) and when it's not (waving US flags with swastikas instead of stars).

UPDATE: Ask and thou shalt receive; Mike Silverman comes through in the clutch.

One of the greatest architects of the era was Raymond Hood, who also worked on two modern icons - the Daily News building, which was a glass of cold water in the face, and the gorgeous McGraw Hill building, which isn't much known outside of New York. (It's up there with the Chrysler, in my book.) But he was adept at classical styles; his American Radiator building still overlooks Bryant Park, and it's another one of my favorites. Black stone, gold crown. He was not an innovator, but he captured the essence of a style and distilled it into the best possible expression.

If only we could bring him back to life and give him this job. I think I know what he'd do - it would be restrained, severe, symmetrical, and it would strike the sky like two great swords.

At the other end of the table, Mohammed Aldouri, Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations, listened to Powell's presentation and waited for his chance to respond. .

UPDATE: So much for "so much for 'let the inspections work'". I heard the Chilean and Angolan delegates' responses while on the way to work, and I had the same reaction that Ray did. Unbelievable. (And I didn't even get to hear what folks like Syria had to say.)

How the New Exploit Works

The exploit relies on especially crafted email headers, creating an attachment with three file-extensions. Standard email packages will not generate these headers; these emails must either be created by hand, or using hacker tools (many of which are freely available, MessageLabs warns).

The first extension (e.g. .jpg) is visible to the email user, and is intended to persuade them that the attachment is "safe". The final extension (also, for example, .jpg) is used by Outlook Express to set the icon to represent the application for opening the attachment.

However, the unusual middle extension (.EXE) is used by Outlook Express to determine how to launch the attachment, therefore an .EXE file will be executed if a user double clicks on an infected attachment. Other examples may include .COM, .PIF, .SCR, or .VBS.

UPDATE: John Poole did some experimentation and found that OS X's Mail.app is not susceptible to filename-extension trickery. I too am curious as to how it keeps track of the executable bit, and I wonder how it would handle a Classic-style monolithic-file executable (one that isn't a folder "package"). There's also the question of whether Apple intends to try to encapsulate OS X's per-file extension-hiding bit, and what implications that would have for virus.gif.pkg kinds of exploits...

It is highly probable that yesterday's crash will cause a major setback in the ISS program. Even if another design flaw is not found to be at the heart of the Columbia wreck, it is certain that the other shuttles will be grounded for at least a year. Columbia was, in fact, the oldest ship in NASA's shuttle fleet, built in 1981, five years before the Challenger tragedy. Though extensively refitted several times, most recently with a new cockpit, some sort of structural fatigue seems a strong possibility. It may well be that scientists still have much to learn about the huge stresses placed on metal which has to endure phenomenal stresses at launch and re-entry as well as the unique pressures of life in orbital space.

The immediate lesson remains, however, that this is a tragedy for everyone, not just the United States, India and Israel. We have all lost in this disaster. A technological challenge has been thrown down and once again, a warning given that in the unforgiving region of space, nothing can be taken for granted. The solutions may be a long time coming.

They will come. The struggle to conquer the space will go on. All that we can hope for is that, when the battle is won, the knowledge gained in the process will add to human happiness, not to human misery.

7 Astronauts die in shuttle blast over 'Palestine'

[Love the mockery-quotes. -ed]

"Once again we see that space technology can fail," Bruce Gagnon, international coordinator for the Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, told Arab News last night. "I'm troubled because the Bush Administration has recently announced a program called the 'Nuclear Systems Initiative', a $1 billion research and development program to expand the launching of nuclear power into space. The problem is that as you increase the numbers of launches carrying nuclear payloads into space, but you are also going to dramatically increase the chances of a catastrophic Chernobyl in the sky."

Asked why NASA was advising extreme precaution at the crash sites, Gagnon said: "We haven't heard that there was a nuclear payload on this shuttle, but one of the great hallmarks of the Bush administration is increased secrecy. I must admit that when NASA said no one should go near a site because of the toxic potential of the fuels and 'other reasons,' I couldn't help but wonder what those reasons are."

Due to cuts in NASA's budget in recent years, NASA has been forced to turn to the Pentagon for increased funding, said Gagnon. The result is that the space shuttles are now also NASA missions and carry both military and civilian technologies.

"What you have now is the military takeover of the space program. NASA is not just about gazing at the stars, it now also has a political and military agenda." What is of concern, he said, is that the Pentagon in now working on a program called the 'Space Based Laser.' "Its nickname is the 'Death Star,' and its job is to destroy other country's satellites, and also hit targets on the Earth below. NASA hopes to have the first operational tests by 2016 or 2017," Gagnon explained.

"This would give the US full control and domination of space and the earth below, because whoever controls space will control the Earth."

UPDATE: Meanwhile, Palestinians have expressed their heartwarming condolences, via LGF.

I am watching coverage on different networks. CBC Newsworld just interviewed writer Robert Sawyer for his reflections on the shuttle program and potential causes of the disaster. The Newsworld interviewer asked Sawyer whether the cause was "arrogance" on the part of the U.S. government. (Sawyer said no.) This is one of the most odious questions I can imagine. It took minutes for the CBC to twist a tragedy into a politically motivated theatre of hate. Talk about manufacturing consent.

Furthermore... the interviewer linked American "arrogance" explicitly to current potential conflict in the Middle East. My only surprise is the CBC did not manage to sneer at the death of Israel's first astronaut in the same breath.

What's bush up to?
I am not afraid to say this -

I guess bush's SOTU speech went over so poorly, he needed a disaster to distract us from his horrible actions and lies.

I am getting sick of this bull. How many more Americans must die for bush to look legit? How often will he need to kill to keep up his legitimacy?

How convenient that the first Israeli citizen was on the shuttle, too. Everybody rally behind Sharon and don't question or speak against him, either.

Immediate popular reaction in Baghdad on Saturday to the loss of the U.S. space shuttle Columbia and its seven-member crew -- including the first Israeli in space -- was that its was God's retribution on Americans.

"We are happy that it broke up," government employee Abdul Jabbar al-Quraishi said.

"God wants to show that his might is greater than the Americans. They have encroached on our country. God is avenging us," he said.

Car mechanic Mohammed Jaber al-Tamini noted Israeli air force Colonel Ilan Ramon was among the dead when the shuttle broke up shortly before its return to earth.

"Israel launched an aggression on us when it raided our nuclear reactor without any reason (in 1981), now time has come and God has retaliated to their aggression," Tamini said.

The specific reason for this hearing is to provide our witnesses with the opportunity to report on the shuttle and the shuttle safety in context of repeated transfers of funds from the shuttle program to the International Space Station. This spring NASA took $190 million out of the Fiscal Year 1997 shuttle budget--and that was over the objections of this Committee, I might add--and this was done to pay for Russian non-performance of the International Space Station. And just last week, the Appropriations Conference Committee on VAHUD, acting at NASA's request, cut another $50 million from the Space Shuttle Program for Fiscal Year 1998 and gave it to the International Space Station. Since most of these funds were going to be spent on upgrades which would improve the shuttle's safety and reliability, it seems self-evident that such cuts will have some impact on safety sooner or later. The only question seems to be, ''How many more times can the cookie jar be raided before we get punished?''

Contextual oddity: Just last night, I was watching the MST3K of 12 To the Moon, a 50s B-film about a moon shot where twelve of the World's Finest Ethnically Diverse Scientists banded together to symbolize Earth's unity in spaaaace. Now, the plot points themselves were laughable, but there was a subplot involving an Israeli scientist and a German whose father was a Nazi higher-up. The two nearly came to blows a number of times, but eventually had to reconcile and give their lives together in a maneuver to save the Earth. Clumsy writing, but a nice sentiment-- and one you probably won't see in movies made today.

(On top of that, the French astronaut turned traitor and tried to get the German to join with him and condemn the North American continent to being frozen by the Moon people, so the old European powers could have their glory back. The German refused and the American helped subdue him. Wait, when was this movie made?

We will consult, but let there be no misunderstanding: If Saddam Hussein does not fully disarm for the safety of our people, and for the peace of the world, we will lead a coalition to disarm him.

Microsoft Corp. itself was exposed to the virus-like attack that crippled global Internet activity last weekend because it failed to install crucial fixes to its own software on many Microsoft computer servers.

Although Microsoft contends its failure to keep up with its own updates did not cause major problems, security experts said it points to a larger issue: Microsoft's process for keeping customers' software secure is hugely flawed.

The virus-like attack, called "slammer" or "sapphire," exploited a known flaw in Microsoft's "SQL Server 2000" database software, used by businesses, government agencies, universities and others around the world. Microsoft had issued a patch for the flaw in July, but many _ including some units within Microsoft _ had failed to install it.

The result was that the attacking software scanned for victim computers so randomly and so aggressively that it saturated many of the Internet's largest data pipelines, slowing e-mail and Web surfing around the world.

Microsoft spokesman Rick Miller declined to say which areas or how many computers at Microsoft were affected. He acknowledged that some servers were left unfixed because administrators "didn't get around to it when they should have."

Getting these sluts out of their panties requires such a fantastic level of hand-eye coordination and rapid reflexes that it becomes a death trap. Because if you masturbated using your amazing dexterity, there's a good chance it'll end with a pleasure-induced brain seizure and a fucking disturbing corpse for your landlord to find.

About 10 vehicles were set on fire, and crowds broke the windows of at least one television news van, police and witnesses said. One group of young men set debris on fire in the middle of a street and then posed for news photographers. Rioters broke nearly every window at a McDonald?s restaurant, which was also set on fire.

Tear gas wafted through the area, and some witnesses picked up rubber bullets fired by police.

Abridged version: "While war looms, let's have conservatives running things so that success can be assured, however, during times of peace, let us go back to liberalism so that societal problems can be ironed out by those who know how to iron."

Liberalism (Leftism) is what GETS US INTO WAR IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Why would we resolve a war at so great a cost and then revert to the insane philosophy that invites attacks on freedom?

Leftist policy makers ignored or appeased Islamic threats that resulted in a sucker punch on the U.S that resulted in the present war conditions. Leftist foolishness handed nuclear weapons to N. Korea and Leftist foolishness handed missile guidance systems to China. The later two are recipes for future wars.

Even worse, leftist thinking fragments our own society and dooms humans to mediocrity and failure.

When the war is over, don?t re-embrace the Democratic Party because of its willingness to squeeze the nation?s teats.
Embrace freedom instead. Isn?t that what we are fighting for anyway?

In Gaza City today, thousands of Palestinians marched in the streets, many firing weapons into the air. "With our blood and our souls, we will strike the orbital Zionists," chanted the protestors. Sheikh Yermani-Makr, appearing on Palestinian television, said, "It is not enough that the unbelievers have come on our land, but now they also take our heavens? How can this be permitted?" Palestinian youths also took to the streets in Nablus, chanting, "One! two! Where's the Arab manned space program?" In Nablus, three Palestinian youths were dragged through the streets by members of the al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade, who accused them of being "collaborators." Witnesses said that the teenagers were heard making positive statements about the American science fiction program Star Trek, several of whose main characters were played by Jewish actors. Reports of the teenagers having received "atomic wedgies" were unconfirmed.

July 24, 1997

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- No one expects to lose much sleep over it but, for the record, NASA has been sued by three men from Yemen for invading Mars.

The three say they own the red planet, and claim they have documents to prove it.

"We inherited the planet from our ancestors 3,000 years ago," they told the weekly Arabic-language newspaper Al-Thawri, which published the report Thursday.

Adam Ismail, Mustafa Khalil and Abdullah al-Umari filed the lawsuit in San'a, Yemen, and presented documents to the country's prosecutor general which they say proves their claim. There was no word on whether they had paid the appropriate inheritance taxes.

But as usual the Arab League which during its history and since the day of its foundation never missed an occasion, to miss an occasion which would contribute to the peace, hastened to publish a press release whose its silly thing seems to have reached paroxysm and a level of stupidity which exceeds all its preceding records.

Eighteen years ago, John Duggan was convicted to life in prison for beating his wife to death. And how did the prison staff reward him for this? By putting his money into a zero-interest prison account! This wicked deed will not go unpunished, and with justice on his side, John is now suing the prison system for an undisclosed amount of money he feels he would have earned through proper investment. Despite the possible loss of funds, the prison is still finding new ways to improve conditions. In fact, right after the announcement of the lawsuit, the prison guards announced a new holiday, Free Knife For Everyone Except John Duggan Day.

UPDATE: Okay, well, then again... perhaps BBB doesn't so much attempt to define the San Francisco experience as... uh, as just do a bunch of stuff with really huge elaborate hats. Fair enough... now I know better. And I've also got a better idea of the geography of North Beach/Little Italy... which I'm sure will stand me in good stead should I have a need to show someone around.

A Religious Injunction Regarding Football Given by a Particular Jurist

This is an extremely fine matter to comment on. Many jurists, such as Mufti-e-Azam of Pakistan, Moulana Rashid Ahmed Ludhyanwi have gone to the extreme. His point of view is as follows:
Firstly, he defines the words `physical exercise' into two.
a) One which is apparently linked with jihad.
b) And one which has no apparent link.
Mufti Rashid Saheb places football in the latter category. He then goes on to state, "For football to be permissible, due to it being linked with the latter group of physical activities, there are many pre-requital conditions, which need to be studied.
Firstly, there are three conditions:
1. There should be no physical or financial loss.
2. The person who takes part in such activities, himself, should not be encountering any loss, nor those who are participating with him.
3. The aspect of futile entertainment should not be dominant.
For the former two conditions he puts forward two ahaadith from which he puts forward his deductions.
The Holy Prophet has stated:
"Every play from which pleasure is gained is baseless (impermissible) apart from the practicing of bows and the training of horses or playing with his wife. Verily, these are permissible."

UPDATE: Ayn Rand wouldn't make a very good mufti. (Thanks to Josh Ellison for the link!)

I'll say this for his machine, though: if he ever wants to back up that 3.3 GB movie file on floppy disks, he's all set.

Mirza's background necessitates finding new ground - after all, you can't do many gags about being drunk and stoned when your religion demands abstention - and the material based on that culture is easily the strongest. She does have other gags that do not rely on her faith, but these are not always as assured.

The word terrorism came into wide usage only a few decades ago. One of the unfortunate results of this new terminology is that it limits the definition of terrorism to that perpetrated by small groups or individuals. Terrorism, in fact, spans the entire world, and manifests itself in various forms. Its perpetrators do not fit any stereotype. Those who hold human lives cheap, and have the power to expend human lives, appear at different levels in our societies. The frustrated employee who kills his colleagues in cold-blood or the oppressed citizen of an occupied land who vents his anger by blowing up a school bus are terrorists who provoke our anger and revulsion. Ironically however, the politician who uses age-old ethnic animosities between peoples to consolidate his position, the head of state who orders “carpet bombing” of entire cities, the exalted councils that choke millions of civilians to death by wielding the insidious weapon of sanctions, are rarely punished for their crimes against humanity.

UPDATE: Stefan Sharkansky has posted photos.

Thirty days in the hole
Thirty days in the hole
Thirty days in the hole
Thirty days in the hole