Little Green Footballs

LGF Archives: September 2001

Sunday, September 30, 2001

the roots

Sun, Sep 30, 2001 at 3:48:59 pm PDT

In 1990, Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies Bernard Lewis wrote a perceptive essay for the Atlantic Monthly titled The Roots of Muslim Rage.

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Sun, Sep 30, 2001 at 11:51:59 am PDT

At the LA Times: U.S. Believes More Attacks Are Planned.

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Political Science by Randy Newman No one likes us - I don't know why We may not be perfect, but heaven knows we try But all around, even our old friends put us down Let's drop the big one and see what happens We give them money - but are they grateful? No, they're spiteful and they're ...

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masterpiece

Sun, Sep 30, 2001 at 9:23:18 am PDT

Now here's something to really piss off an Islamic extremist: Bikini Masterpiece Theater. Everything they love to hate in Western culture. (via i.me.michael.)

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analysis

Sun, Sep 30, 2001 at 8:57:59 am PDT

A good analysis of the investigation to date: Hijackers Led By Core Group.

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top 10 mistakes

Sun, Sep 30, 2001 at 8:31:52 am PDT

We are still reading and thinking about web design around here. A good article at WebReview lists the Top 10 Mistakes in Site Planning.

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bin laden's journey

Sun, Sep 30, 2001 at 8:07:41 am PDT

The NY Times, with another look at the life of a killer who is worshipped by many: Bin Laden's Journey From Rich Pious Lad to the Mask of Evil. Also: Hatred of U.S. Burns in Pakistan's Biggest City.

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words of a torturer

Sun, Sep 30, 2001 at 7:46:27 am PDT

The former bodyguard of Afghan leader Mullah Omar: I was one of the Taliban's torturers.

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secular islam

Sun, Sep 30, 2001 at 7:23:47 am PDT

At the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society, a Statement by Ibn Warraq on the World Trade Center Atrocity. ...to pretend that Islam has nothing to do with Terrorist Tuesday is to wilfully ignore the obvious and to forever misinterpret events. Without Islam the long-term strategy and individual acts ...

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Saturday, September 29, 2001

double life

Sat, Sep 29, 2001 at 6:56:34 pm PDT

Another look at the double life of a shy, caring, deadly fanatic.

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ground zero at night

Sat, Sep 29, 2001 at 6:45:29 pm PDT

Jim Galvin's crew put up lights so rescuers could work through the night at ground zero. (Quicktime and Java panoramas. via 2020 hindsight.)

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why so surprised?

Sat, Sep 29, 2001 at 6:12:00 pm PDT

Today I went to a nearby Big 5 Sporting Goods store. I hadn't really noticed before, but this store is owned and run by a Pakistani family. As I was paying for my sporting goods, I asked the guy behind the counter if he was a Muslim. He said, "Yes." ...

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ripples of randomness

Sat, Sep 29, 2001 at 4:27:29 pm PDT

I'm not sure what to think about this far-fetched, but seemingly well-documented research into randomness at Princeton University. Since 1998, the Global Consciousness Project at Princeton University has been monitoring the outputs of up to 40 random number generators (RNGs) around the world. Each of these RNGs sends 200 bits ...

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IM warnings

Sat, Sep 29, 2001 at 2:44:16 pm PDT

Could be a rumor, but very interesting if true: Instant Messages To Israel Warned Of WTC Attack. Addendum: here's more info on the IM warnings received by Odigo.

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the islamist fantasy

Sat, Sep 29, 2001 at 12:37:59 pm PDT

An Arab Moment of Truth. A fantasy is loose in the world, the fantasy of an Islamic supremacy destined deservedly to triumph everywhere. Like Communism before it, this Islamic fantasy aims to impose its vision on others—and call it peace. In an unexpected form, here is another totalitarian movement with ...

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friends like these

Sat, Sep 29, 2001 at 9:33:48 am PDT

At Salon, Eric Boehlert with a look at "moderate" Saudi Arabia: Friends like these. ...much has changed in Saudi Arabia during the last 20 years. Once run as an opulent welfare state, where college graduates were virtually guaranteed cushy, 30-hour-a-week white-collar jobs, Saudi Arabia today is battling rising unemployment, particularly ...

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an open letter

Sat, Sep 29, 2001 at 8:59:05 am PDT

Portland playwright Charles Deemer with an open letter to the peace movement. Some of you are cultural relativists and believe that the Taliban's treatment of women, to list one example, is "a cultural phenomenon" about which we should not make value judgments. But I believe a war of historic proportions ...

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through a glass darkly

Sat, Sep 29, 2001 at 8:42:44 am PDT

A fascinating article by Richard Engel at Jane's Security: Inside Al-Qaeda: a window into the world of militant Islam and the Afghani alumni.

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more details

Sat, Sep 29, 2001 at 8:13:12 am PDT

More details about the terrorist plot are emerging, with evidence of a very substantial German connection: U.S. Develops Picture of Overseas Plot.

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Friday, September 28, 2001

everyday dangers

Fri, Sep 28, 2001 at 7:47:05 pm PDT

Peter Maas is in Pakistan and he's writing about it. (via matt welch.)

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my concern

Fri, Sep 28, 2001 at 7:26:07 pm PDT

I'm concerned that, in our modern world of overheated images, moral equivalency, really bad education, and cynical marketeers who exploit all of the above, we're already losing that kicked in the gut, plunged into a nightmare world feeling we had on September 11. We're going to need that feeling to strengthen ...

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been there, done that

Fri, Sep 28, 2001 at 6:33:29 pm PDT

Brink Lindsey at the National Review, with an article that examines the record of history to come to an inescapable conclusion: The Last Totalitarians. At first glance, shadowy Islamist terrorists look very different from any enemy we have ever faced. And indeed, the tactics they employ are novel, as are ...

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the saddam problem

Fri, Sep 28, 2001 at 12:47:45 pm PDT

Transcript of a very interesting online discussion with Laurie Mylroie, author of "Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War Against America."

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the blowback myth

Fri, Sep 28, 2001 at 8:22:13 am PDT

The conventional wisdom is that the CIA helped create Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda terror network. Nonsense, says Peter Beinart.

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notes for murder

Fri, Sep 28, 2001 at 6:46:20 am PDT

In Mohammed Atta's luggage (that didn't make it onto the plane with him when he transferred flights) investigators found a call to planning, prayer and death.

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Thursday, September 27, 2001

the motive

Thu, Sep 27, 2001 at 6:10:19 pm PDT

Hitchens again, at the Guardian: Murder was their only motive. He makes the cogent point that the killers probably intended their swath of destruction to be much larger: Perhaps, like me, you have been receiving various communications about the true meaning and motive for the immolation of the World Trade ...

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return of nimda

Thu, Sep 27, 2001 at 5:26:33 pm PDT

Security researchers have discovered that the Nimda worm is set to propagate again at 1:00 am EST tonight.

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the photos

Thu, Sep 27, 2001 at 3:41:44 pm PDT

The FBI has released photographs of the creatures who committed the crime.

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eager little killers

Thu, Sep 27, 2001 at 8:15:34 am PDT

Jack Kelley at USA Today, writing about the 6000 extremist madrassas ("terror schools") in Pakistan: Trainees eager to join 'jihad' against America. At the Haqquania madrassa, a student who says he has just attended one of bin Laden's training camps pulls out a training manual, called the "encyclopedia," which U.S. ...

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blind to the idyll

Thu, Sep 27, 2001 at 7:43:31 am PDT

Many Americans are asking the question Richard Cohen poses at the Washington Post: Blind To the American Idyll. What scares us now, what terrorizes us and just plain mystifies us, is that 19 men did see America, did live among us, did have a house in the 'burbs, did shop ...

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the manual

Thu, Sep 27, 2001 at 7:28:23 am PDT

More about the terrorists' chilling hijack and murder manual at the Irish Independent.

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DEBKAfile

Thu, Sep 27, 2001 at 7:03:44 am PDT

Here's an Israeli news site with perspectives and information you probably won't find elsewhere: DEBKAfile. (via Ken Layne.)

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Wednesday, September 26, 2001

ground zero, september 22

Wed, Sep 26, 2001 at 5:50:01 pm PDT

Meryl sent us a link to this aerial photo of Ground Zero, 11 days after the attack.

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no alternative

Wed, Sep 26, 2001 at 12:25:46 pm PDT

Interesting to see David Rieff—who's been very critical of US policies—now writing that there is no alternative to war. Odd and indeed disgusting as it is to find oneself writing that there is no alternative to war (and knowing full well how filthy and degrading that war will be), I ...

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fleeing kabul

Wed, Sep 26, 2001 at 12:19:49 pm PDT

People are fleeing Kabul, as the religious police force their way into homes and drag young men away to fight: Kabul Right Now Is Empty.

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waiting to be free

Wed, Sep 26, 2001 at 8:50:25 am PDT

Very disturbing: Hate-Filled Words Behind a POW's Gentle Voice. Salahuddin Khalled has a gentle voice, angelic eyes lined thickly with kohl, and is a graduate from a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. Mention the fact that about 6,500 people are feared dead in the attacks on New York and the ...

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islam's flawed spokesmen

Wed, Sep 26, 2001 at 8:41:06 am PDT

An excellent article at Salon: Islam's flawed spokesmen. Some of the groups claiming to speak for American Muslims find it impossible to speak out against terrorist groups.

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coping with a bad client

Wed, Sep 26, 2001 at 8:00:40 am PDT

Here's a good article about coping with bad clients at creativepro.com.

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chemical training

Wed, Sep 26, 2001 at 7:36:15 am PDT

If you're still not convinced that radical Islamic groups are planning chemical/biological attacks (and I have seen several people on the news say we "shouldn't panic" about it), read this article at the Washington Post: Chemical Weapons Training Revealed.

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Tuesday, September 25, 2001

more about afghanistan

Tue, Sep 25, 2001 at 8:05:39 pm PDT

With all the down and dirty details, here's an unflinching look at the history of Western involvement in Afghanistan.

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no libraries in afghanistan

Tue, Sep 25, 2001 at 7:21:30 pm PDT

Librarian Michael Sauers has put together a great list of links to resources: Attack On America - Tuesday 11 September 2001.

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deep space 1

Tue, Sep 25, 2001 at 6:36:31 pm PDT

The Deep Space 1 mission has sent back incredible photos from the heart of a comet.

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of sin

Tue, Sep 25, 2001 at 3:33:26 pm PDT

At The Nation, Christopher Hitchens with a fiery article directed at the apologists, the people who blame all the problems of the world on the evil Western powers, directly or indirectly saying we "had it coming," and ignoring the gun that's being pointed at their heads by Islamic extremism. He calls ...

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the plot

Tue, Sep 25, 2001 at 7:09:16 am PDT

At TIME.com, an excellent summary of the investigation: The Plot Comes Into Focus.

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Monday, September 24, 2001

some of it

Mon, Sep 24, 2001 at 8:21:07 pm PDT

OK. I take back (some of) what I said about the telethon.

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in moments

Mon, Sep 24, 2001 at 6:12:15 pm PDT

At the NY Times, an article examining the collapse of the WTC: Years to Build and Moments to Destroy: How the Twin Towers Fell.

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layoffs

Mon, Sep 24, 2001 at 4:15:22 pm PDT

Al Qaeda to lay off 5,000 or more holy warriors.

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terror's first victims

Mon, Sep 24, 2001 at 6:53:20 am PDT

Terror's first victims are women, in countries ruled by extremist Islamics. This article at Salon makes a very good point; if you want to know which countries are fostering terrorism, look first at how they treat their women. In Afghanistan, a woman who wears nail polish can have her finger amputated. ...

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Sunday, September 23, 2001

bin laden's network

Sun, Sep 23, 2001 at 4:40:20 pm PDT

At the Chicago Tribune: Peering into bin Laden's network. One of the bombers of the US embassy in Nairobi survived the explosion and gave a detailed confession to authorities.

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we see you

Sun, Sep 23, 2001 at 2:48:33 pm PDT

Satellite images of bin Laden's Darunta training camp for terrorists.

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slow to anger

Sun, Sep 23, 2001 at 12:34:58 pm PDT

Military historian Victor Hanson, with a thought-provoking piece: Western nations are slow to anger, but lethal in their fury. My father was a peaceful farm boy in 1941. Within a mere 24 months, he had been turned into a brutal agent of the apocalypse as he and other tyros in ...

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another box cutter

Sun, Sep 23, 2001 at 10:44:54 am PDT

Another box-cutter knife has been discovered stuffed under a seat cushion—this time on a flight that was supposed to go from San Diego to New York. The third plane now to have hidden box-cutters. Of course, it will be difficult to prove that the knives were planted as part ...

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silly cow

Sun, Sep 23, 2001 at 9:56:57 am PDT

Glad to see Elise back with a new weblog, Silly Cow.

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Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders

Sun, Sep 23, 2001 at 9:48:28 am PDT

Here is bin Laden's declaration of war from February 1998. Maybe if we just wish really hard for peace he'll feel our love and give us all big hugs. You think?

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isaac stern

Sun, Sep 23, 2001 at 8:57:26 am PDT

One of the great violinists of our age, Isaac Stern has passed away at the age of 81.

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the law of unintended consequences

Sun, Sep 23, 2001 at 8:32:59 am PDT

Tom Clancy, with an interesting viewpoint: How We Got Here: Call it the law of unintended consequences. The intelligence community was successfully assaulted for actions taken under constitutionally mandated orders, and with nothing left to replace what was smashed, warnings we might have had to prevent this horrid event never ...

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across the river

Sun, Sep 23, 2001 at 8:14:57 am PDT

At McSweeney's: Across the River.

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Saturday, September 22, 2001

why do they hate america?

Sat, Sep 22, 2001 at 7:41:06 pm PDT

Brian Appleyard in the Sunday Times, with support for the US when we need it most: Why Do They Hate America? Anti-Americanism has never been right and I hope it never will be. Of course there are times for criticism, lampoons, even abuse. But this is not one of them. ...

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the roots of hatred

Sat, Sep 22, 2001 at 5:39:44 pm PDT

An excellent article at the Economist: The roots of hatred. America defends its interests, sometimes skilfully, sometimes clumsily, just as other countries do. Since power, like nature, abhors a vacuum, it steps into places where disorder reigns. On the whole, it should do so more, not less, often. Of all ...

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beneath the veil

Sat, Sep 22, 2001 at 5:24:22 pm PDT

Last October documentarian Saira Shah took a trip to her father's homeland, Afghanistan, and at great personal risk produced a riveting and deeply disturbing film called Beneath The Veil. I saw it last week and highly recommend it, for an unprecedented look at what life is like for women under ...

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cropduster manual

Sat, Sep 22, 2001 at 4:18:01 pm PDT

Jeez. The news keeps getting scarier. TIME is reporting that among other things found in the belongings of one suspected terrorist was a cropduster manual.

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alternative suspects

Sat, Sep 22, 2001 at 3:24:41 pm PDT

Israeli intelligence suspects that the attacks actually originated in Iraq. In addition to Bin Laden, we may soon be seeing a lot of these names as well: Imad Mughniyeh and Dr. Ayman Al Zawahiri. Directing the mission, Aman officers believe, were two of the world’s foremost terrorist masterminds: the Lebanese ...

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hama rules

Sat, Sep 22, 2001 at 11:07:30 am PDT

At the NY Times, a very well written article by Thomas Friedman examining the history of Islamic extremism: Hama Rules.

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stolen identities

Sat, Sep 22, 2001 at 10:57:47 am PDT

There's evidence that Bin Laden's sleeper agents stole the identities of murdered students.

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by the book

Sat, Sep 22, 2001 at 10:29:50 am PDT

At the Nando Times: Found manual provides lessons for Muslim terrorists.

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to be muslim and american

Sat, Sep 22, 2001 at 9:54:48 am PDT

At the LA Weekly: To Be Muslim and American in L.A. This is my neighborhood. The mosque that's discussed in this article is the same one I've written about here several times. And while I was struck by the great decency and compassion of the Muslim spokesmen quoted in the ...

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now what?

Sat, Sep 22, 2001 at 9:27:13 am PDT

Now what?

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quiet path to terror

Sat, Sep 22, 2001 at 7:52:54 am PDT

A fairly detailed look at the life of Mohammed Atta: A Fanatic's Quiet Path to Terror.

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more attacks planned

Sat, Sep 22, 2001 at 7:33:01 am PDT

More chilling evidence that further attacks were planned, but had to be aborted: Sweeps Find Box-Cutters on Two More Airliners.

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Friday, September 21, 2001

bread and circuses

Fri, Sep 21, 2001 at 9:47:30 pm PDT

So I'm watching all these celebrities on every damn TV channel, reading words from teleprompters, asking us to give money, and thinking, "Hey, Tom Hanks. Hey, Whoopi. Hey, Adam Sandler. Hey, Bono. Why don't you just open up your own petty cash checkbooks and part with a few million?" I guess ...

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fault lines

Fri, Sep 21, 2001 at 6:27:59 pm PDT

Good commentary at the New Republic by Peter Beinart: Fault Lines. Although everyone is calling our struggle with bin Laden a "new war," in many ways it is a continuation of the same war the United States has been fighting since 1989. Bin Laden, after all, is an ethnic cleanser. ...

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reason: the options

Fri, Sep 21, 2001 at 9:03:19 am PDT

Thanks to davezilla for pointing out this clear headed look at our options. When the military prepares for action, the public debate is usually a simple either/or: Will there be peace, or will there be war? Not so now. Fresh from the bloody assaults on the World Trade Center and ...

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i'm tired of it too

Fri, Sep 21, 2001 at 8:50:13 am PDT

If I ever meet James Lileks, I'm going to ask him if he's my dad. LILEKS (James) The Bleat: I'm tired tonight. I'm tired of people who can watch 5,000 people from 62 nations burned alive and crushed to death, and think: well, you know you had this coming. I'm ...

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the rats are scurrying

Fri, Sep 21, 2001 at 8:23:46 am PDT

Taliban soldiers are looting and robbing in Kabul. I thought they were supposed to be holy warriors, in a sacred jihad against the Great Satan. Odd way to show it. "Armed men are entering people's homes under the guise of checking to see if they have arms, are watching a ...

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da speech

Fri, Sep 21, 2001 at 7:46:26 am PDT

He remains the worst public speaker ever to reach the office. The speech itself was pretty good, although a bit florid (“history's unmarked grave of discarded lies?”). I recommend reading the text; it comes across very differently without the mush-mouthed delivery. But damn. He got me with the policeman's shield. That ...

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hunting osama

Fri, Sep 21, 2001 at 7:17:43 am PDT

At Salon, an interview with the author of “Black Hawk Down” about the Special Forces operatives who will be hunting Osama.

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Thursday, September 20, 2001

the end of air travel

Thu, Sep 20, 2001 at 6:00:26 pm PDT

The Financial Times is reporting that the entire world's airlines may shut down on Monday, because insurance carriers are refusing to cover acts of war.

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only love

Thu, Sep 20, 2001 at 5:37:25 pm PDT

A beautiful piece at the Guardian by Ian McEwan: Only love and then oblivion. Last words placed in the public domain were once the prerogative of the mighty and venerable - Henry James, Nelson, Goethe - recorded, and perhaps sometimes edited for posterity, by relatives at the bedside. The effect ...

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bin laden's world

Thu, Sep 20, 2001 at 4:59:23 pm PDT

The Washington Post has a good multimedia presentation with a clickable map of Central Asia: Bin Laden's World.

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ken layne

Thu, Sep 20, 2001 at 2:45:27 pm PDT

Journalist Ken Layne has a very good weblog; tons of links and well written commentary.

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design goal

Thu, Sep 20, 2001 at 2:28:15 pm PDT

The NY Times with another great article: Design Goal: Keeping Jets From Misuse as Missiles.

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eating the flag

Thu, Sep 20, 2001 at 12:51:13 pm PDT

Uh oh. Now we've done it. We've pissed off the pro-Taliban Pakistanis so badly that they're eating the stars and stripes. Probably the first decent meal they've had in months.

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phone call from flight 11

Thu, Sep 20, 2001 at 8:35:17 am PDT

As I was reading this LA Times article, I suddenly realized I was saying "Oh God, no" over and over: Aboard Flight 11, a Chilling Voice.

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training camps

Thu, Sep 20, 2001 at 8:12:15 am PDT

Indian intelligence has been sharing details with the US about terrorist training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Chilling photos here, and this quote: "Islam must rule the world and until Islam does rule the world we will continue to sacrifice our lives," Al-Badr spokesman Mustaq Aksari told CNN in an ...

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unraveling the taliban

Thu, Sep 20, 2001 at 7:32:46 am PDT

Another good article at the LA Times this morning: Taliban Will Unravel if Key Players Gone.

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the cyber war

Thu, Sep 20, 2001 at 7:24:08 am PDT

At the LA Times: Terrorists Are Winning the Cyber War.

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Wednesday, September 19, 2001

more on the way

Wed, Sep 19, 2001 at 9:32:13 pm PDT

The Times is reporting that more attacks may be planned for this Saturday, September 22nd. If you're planning air travel, reschedule. They have not increased their security enough. The FBI is concentrating its energies on deterring more attacks this Saturday. "Yes, we have heard something about September 22 but nothing ...

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afghan women

Wed, Sep 19, 2001 at 9:05:01 pm PDT

This is what life is like for women under the Taliban.

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respect it

Wed, Sep 19, 2001 at 7:15:44 pm PDT

I think I really needed this. But please, in the name of all that is holy, if you want to hang on to what little remains of your sanity, don't click here. (via leuschke.org.)

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the daily

Wed, Sep 19, 2001 at 5:40:04 pm PDT

Well, Google's new daily scan feature is definitely working. We're getting hit with a metric tonne of search requests for info about the Nimda worm. Welcome, Nimda info seekers. Now, would you please patch your frickin' IIS servers before the next worm takes down the whole internet? I wonder how many Windows systems ...

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out of context my ass

Wed, Sep 19, 2001 at 12:40:38 pm PDT

Columnist Mark Morford at SF Gate: Jerry Falwell Blames You. And here's the actual venom as it spewed from Falwell's mouth and dribbled into the doughy folds of his triple chin. (Link is to a Quicktime movie.)

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domain name warnings

Wed, Sep 19, 2001 at 11:41:00 am PDT

This is very creepy, and may end up being a valuable lead (if it isn't totally bogus like a lot of the rumors flying around): Internet Domain Names May Have Warned of Attacks. The terrorists who planned and executed the September 11 attack on America may have registered as many ...

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no degrees

Wed, Sep 19, 2001 at 11:13:50 am PDT

Tim Blair, at i7 news in Australia, writing about the torrent of anti-American sentiment: No degrees of separation.

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nimda update

Wed, Sep 19, 2001 at 10:06:47 am PDT

The latest info on the Nimda worm, at the Washington Post: Virulent Nimda Worm Hits Computers Worldwide. The page also has good links to patches and other resources.

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nuclear safety

Wed, Sep 19, 2001 at 9:42:26 am PDT

Here's our scary article for the day, at The Nation: Nuclear Safety. What happens if a suicide bomber drives a jumbo jet into one of America's 103 nuclear power reactors?

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the denial

Wed, Sep 19, 2001 at 9:08:16 am PDT

What a surprise: Iraq denies role in US attacks. Cool. Thanks, Saddam. You take care now.

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Tuesday, September 18, 2001

the conspiracy

Tue, Sep 18, 2001 at 7:36:38 pm PDT

The Chicago Tribune has more details about the terror plot.

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arrests

Tue, Sep 18, 2001 at 6:32:57 pm PDT

The latest details on the investigation: 75 Detained and Four Arrested.

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code green?

Tue, Sep 18, 2001 at 6:00:46 pm PDT

Why have I been seeing so many search requests for "Code Green Virus" or some variant? I've been noticing these requests for several weeks, although I've never seen a mention of "Code Green" anywhere online...anyone know?

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nimda info

Tue, Sep 18, 2001 at 4:08:56 pm PDT

Steven Champeon just forwarded this information to the webdesign-L list: Infection vectors: a) Email as an attachment of MIME audio/x-wav type. b) By browsing an infected webserver with Javascript execution enabled and using a version of IE vulnerable to the exploits discussed in MS01-020 (e.g. IE 5.0 or IE 5.01 without SP2). c) Machine to machine ...

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just for being americans

Tue, Sep 18, 2001 at 3:40:10 pm PDT

Dave Barry, writing on September 13th: Just for being Americans . . . I'm not naive about my country. My country is definitely not always right; my country has at times been terribly wrong. But I know this about Americans: We don't set out to kill innocent people. We don't ...

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a very aggressive worm

Tue, Sep 18, 2001 at 2:03:00 pm PDT

The W32.Nimda worm is an extremely aggressive attacker. It tries to exploit 16 known vulnerabilities in Microsoft's IIS software, contains an FTP component, spreads through email, and worst of all, it exploits a bug in Internet Explorer that can cause an .EXE file to be automatically executed simply by viewing ...

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scary hybrid

Tue, Sep 18, 2001 at 10:51:01 am PDT

Wired is on the Nimda worm story too: Scary Hybrid E-Mail Worm Loose. TruSecure's release also said, "We cannot discount the coincidence of the date and time of release, exactly one week (probably to the minute) after the World Trade Center attack."

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in the wild

Tue, Sep 18, 2001 at 10:27:35 am PDT

More info about the Nimda worm at the Washington Post: Code Rainbow Loose In The Wild. Kudos to the Post for getting on this so quickly.

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here we go again

Tue, Sep 18, 2001 at 10:17:02 am PDT

This could be a bad one, folks. My cable modem light is flickering like crazy, and I've already received several emails containing random attachments. The evolt mailing list is sending me a steady stream of 'Mail Delivery System' errors, warnings from mail servers, and even this: The Department of State ...

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another worm

Tue, Sep 18, 2001 at 9:15:41 am PDT

In the midst of all this, there is a new worm attacking servers at this very moment. We've already encountered several sites that were compromised. An article at Slashdot with more info: New (More) Annoying Microsoft Worm Hits Net.

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war of the worlds

Tue, Sep 18, 2001 at 8:26:35 am PDT

Shelby Steele cuts through fuzzy thinking with a sharp essay at the Wall Street Journal: The West must stop apologizing. In looking at difficulties in the black American community over the years, it has always astounded me how much white Americans take for granted the rich and utterly decisive heritage ...

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what do the pilots say?

Tue, Sep 18, 2001 at 7:47:06 am PDT

If you want to make air travel safer, why not ask the people on the front lines—the airline pilots?

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Monday, September 17, 2001

the israel issue

Mon, Sep 17, 2001 at 7:35:59 pm PDT

This is a must read—the letters to the editor following publication of Gary Kamiya's article titled “The bloody Jordan river now flows through America.”

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interview

Mon, Sep 17, 2001 at 2:17:34 pm PDT

Another interview with bin Laden, at TIME.com: Conversation with Terror.

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altruism in nature

Mon, Sep 17, 2001 at 1:08:25 pm PDT

In the New York Times Health section today: Of Altruism, Heroism and Nature's Gifts in the Face of Terror. Altruism and heroism. If not for these twin radiant badges of our humanity, there would be no us, and we know it. And so, when their vile opposite threatened to choke ...

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aftereffects

Mon, Sep 17, 2001 at 9:45:21 am PDT

a site we've referenced before, bushorchimp.com has decided that their site is no longer appropriate and have taken it down, perhaps permanently.

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escape

Mon, Sep 17, 2001 at 8:34:46 am PDT

Dramatic photographs of office workers evacuating WTC 1. Some of these images will break your heart (again); images of firefighters rushing up the stairs as everyone else rushes down.

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the crust of rancid sugar

Mon, Sep 17, 2001 at 8:13:22 am PDT

Once again, James Lileks from the heart: Readers tell where they were when they heard the news. Driving to the Star Tribune today, I snapped the radio off a half-dozen times, and always for the same reason: too damn happy. Too stupid, too chipper, too normal.In some ways, it feels ...

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them against fire

Mon, Sep 17, 2001 at 7:52:04 am PDT

After the bombing of the USS Cole, Ambrose Beers wrote a very insightful piece for suck.com titled Them Against Fire. He makes the simple point, supported by decades of psychological, sociological, and military research, that the people who commit acts of terrorism cannot and do not operate alone. (via kottke.org.) ...

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nightmare battlefield

Mon, Sep 17, 2001 at 7:12:36 am PDT

This is what we face—Afghanistan: A Nightmare Battlefield.

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lost moments

Mon, Sep 17, 2001 at 7:08:07 am PDT

Around the world, webloggers are posting their first entries of the new week, Monday September 17; and since most weblogs are set up to show a week's worth of posts, the last day of the old era is now symbolically disappearing from many of their pages. Including this one. Last Monday, ...

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Sunday, September 16, 2001

know thine enemy

Sun, Sep 16, 2001 at 6:20:39 pm PDT

More about Bin Laden: Architect of New Global Terrorism.

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a fire inside

Sun, Sep 16, 2001 at 5:57:45 pm PDT

Michele, who runs a great weblog called a fire inside, had relatives caught up in the attack. Our hearts are with you, and with the families of all the heros who gave their lives rushing into those buildings.

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it could get worse

Sun, Sep 16, 2001 at 5:46:00 pm PDT

As bad as this attack was, there's a very real potential that things could get much, much worse.

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signs at the mosque

Sun, Sep 16, 2001 at 12:41:21 pm PDT

Sign at the Culver City mosque.

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longing and loathing

Sun, Sep 16, 2001 at 12:21:31 pm PDT

Another good piece exploring feelings toward the US in the Arab world: America Inspires Both Longing and Loathing.

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mozilla 0.9.4

Sun, Sep 16, 2001 at 12:00:53 pm PDT

Can't keep a good geek down. On September 12, Mozilla 0.9.4 was released.

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the hijacker next door

Sun, Sep 16, 2001 at 11:24:58 am PDT

They just blended right in. They were smart, technically proficient, and ambitious in their own peculiar way. They were comfortable with the Internet and the modern modes of business travel. They were the kind of people who could have succeeded in America if they hadn't wanted to destroy it. ...

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makiko's photos

Sun, Sep 16, 2001 at 11:17:48 am PDT

Makiko Itoh has done a beautiful slideshow of photographs of the New York skyline as it existed in our shared dream, before this terrible week. : : : : : Maki : : : :

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bin laden's bomb

Sun, Sep 16, 2001 at 11:00:55 am PDT

At the New Delhi based Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, an article that made my blood run cold: Osama bin Laden and Weapons of Mass Destruction.

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the nuclear threat

Sun, Sep 16, 2001 at 10:30:24 am PDT

There's a lot of talk about how the murderers did not need high-tech weapons to carry out their plan. While this is true, and while there are numerous ways for the beasts to kill us with ordinary everyday objects, we can't ignore the ominous fact that they are also working ...

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why

Sun, Sep 16, 2001 at 9:34:47 am PDT

Commentary at the National Post: Why They Did It.

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james lileks

Sun, Sep 16, 2001 at 8:23:18 am PDT

James Lileks: I've heard a few people suggest that we shouldn't stoop to retribution, that this somehow brings us down to their level. I've heard the Ghandi quote a dozen times: "an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind."With all due respect to Ben Kingsley, this is moral imbecility. Self-defense ...

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the new breed

Sun, Sep 16, 2001 at 7:45:53 am PDT

At TIME.com, frightening details about the plot: The New Breed of Terrorist.

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Saturday, September 15, 2001

swallowing tacks

Sat, Sep 15, 2001 at 7:12:50 pm PDT

In the aftermath of September 11, Elise Tomek has closed her weblog.

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the daily report

Sat, Sep 15, 2001 at 6:21:15 pm PDT

Jeffrey's daily report is back online. I was born in New York. I spent the first 10 years of my life in Queens Village, before the family moved to Hawaii. In Hawaii, I followed the construction of the World Trade Center with the fascinated intensity of a geeky, too smart for ...

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hatred rooted in failings

Sat, Sep 15, 2001 at 2:13:12 pm PDT

More about Islamic fundamentalism's hatred of the US: A Hatred Rooted In Failings.

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old war on a new front

Sat, Sep 15, 2001 at 12:17:50 pm PDT

Another good article on the history of radical Islamic terrorism and bin Laden in particular: Holy Warriors Escalate an Old War on a New Front.

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cause and effect

Sat, Sep 15, 2001 at 9:02:25 am PDT

At the National Post, an editorial piece exploring the motivations of the murderers: Suicide bombers guided by shame, humiliation. I haven't read the National Post before this; I believe it has the reputation of being pretty far to the right on most issues. Without knowing any of that context, this piece ...

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going forward

Sat, Sep 15, 2001 at 7:26:15 am PDT

Leonard Pitts at the Miami Herald: We'll go forward from this moment.

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the new terrorist

Sat, Sep 15, 2001 at 7:02:25 am PDT

These are different monsters than we have faced before. At the New York Times: A Terrorist Profile Emerges That Confounds the Experts.

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Friday, September 14, 2001

education of a holy warrior

Fri, Sep 14, 2001 at 5:05:02 pm PDT

NY Times Magazine, from a time that now seems so long ago—June 2000: The Education of a Holy Warrior (via kottke.org.)

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quiet across europe

Fri, Sep 14, 2001 at 2:46:59 pm PDT

Quiet across Europe.

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monsters among us

Fri, Sep 14, 2001 at 1:05:23 pm PDT

The creatures who attacked us lived openly in Florida while studying to become mass murderers. They had wives, and children who went to public school. "They were just regular people, didn't make a lot of noise," Mr. Habora said. "From their trash, you could see that they shopped at Wal-Mart ...

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american tune

Fri, Sep 14, 2001 at 12:05:04 pm PDT

American Tune by Paul Simon Many's the time I've been mistaken, and many times confused Yes, and I've always felt forsaken, and certainly misused. Ah, but I'm all right, I'm all right. I'm just weary to my bones. Still you don't expect to be bright and bon vivant, so far away from ...

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the downward spiral

Fri, Sep 14, 2001 at 11:44:08 am PDT

After pleading for mercy, then saying they have bin Laden under “house arrest,” the Taliban are now vowing revenge if the US strikes. The mask has come off.

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nothing to see here, move along

Fri, Sep 14, 2001 at 10:38:40 am PDT

No evacuation, no bomb. Just a psycho with a telephone. People like that are just as despicable as the terrorists. I talked to several neighbors, and to the police who were walking around the neighborhood. There's not a lot of good will toward that mosque, and it's not only because of ...

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here it is

Fri, Sep 14, 2001 at 9:20:49 am PDT

We may be asked to evacuate our homes. There are buses parked on our street.

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phony nostradamus

Fri, Sep 14, 2001 at 8:00:12 am PDT

About a dozen people have now sent the Nostradamus quote to me. When I first saw it, I didn't buy it. I guess my bullshit meter is pretty well-calibrated: Nostradamus and Red Tuesday... Don't believe the hype!

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Thursday, September 13, 2001

addendum

Thu, Sep 13, 2001 at 5:56:30 pm PDT

I've been a touring musician for much of my life. I've travelled to every continent except Antarctica, and even visited Yugoslavia and East Germany at the very beginning of the Cold War thaw, when the evil rulers of those countries were experimenting with opening their borders just a little. I ...

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the twisted sky

Thu, Sep 13, 2001 at 4:40:14 pm PDT

Michael Specter at the New Yorker Online: The Twisted Sky.

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patriotism

Thu, Sep 13, 2001 at 3:30:02 pm PDT

I preface this by saying that I may be the least patriotic person I know. But I am going to refrain from posting any more criticism of our President for the duration of whatever is about to happen. (Unless he does something really dumb.) Some visitors have apparently been seeing my criticism ...

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we predicted it

Thu, Sep 13, 2001 at 8:07:47 am PDT

After two and a half years of study, the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century (a bipartisan commission headed by Gary Hart and Warren Rudman) issued very strong warnings about the likelihood of a huge terrorist attack on US soil. What did the Bush administration do? Before the White House ...

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world war 3

Thu, Sep 13, 2001 at 7:40:32 am PDT

The New York Times has a very sobering and thoughtful editorial about what happens next: World War III.

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Wednesday, September 12, 2001

the pilots

Wed, Sep 12, 2001 at 6:19:14 pm PDT

How Good Were the World Trade Center Pilots?

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how you can help

Wed, Sep 12, 2001 at 5:55:54 pm PDT

Chris Hester posted this link in a comment, and it deserves a place on the main index. Lycos has put up a page with many links to ways you can help. Thanks to Chris and to Lycos.

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overcome

Wed, Sep 12, 2001 at 1:48:35 pm PDT

I just heard one of the newscasters on NPR break down in tears. And I'm weeping myself.

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more about flight 93

Wed, Sep 12, 2001 at 1:29:19 pm PDT

The Washington Post has an article with more details about what took place on flight 93.

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bin laden

Wed, Sep 12, 2001 at 11:39:51 am PDT

Frontline did a great series on Osama bin Laden. If you are not aware of his history (and the US involvement in it) this is one of the best resources I've found.

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what happened on flight 93?

Wed, Sep 12, 2001 at 11:23:32 am PDT

The final moments of flight 93. Heart-wrenching stories of the people who made cell phone calls as the plane was going down.

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bush's moment

Wed, Sep 12, 2001 at 9:21:35 am PDT

Bush's speech last night was just pathetic. Obviously rehearsed, not a word unscripted, totally devoid of anything real or spontaneous. Very disappointing. I really hope he can find it in himself to rise to the challenge and act courageously, for once in his spoiled rich party boy life.

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eerie silence

Wed, Sep 12, 2001 at 8:16:21 am PDT

I live not far from LAX, and there's an eerie silence this morning with no air traffic circling overhead. Oddly poignant.

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Tuesday, September 11, 2001

the collapse

Tue, Sep 11, 2001 at 6:31:01 pm PDT

I just heard a professor of structural engineering on NPR give his opinion on why the World Trade Center towers collapsed. He said (and it made sense to me) the impact of the airplane was not the deciding factor. Rather, it was the ensuing intense fire, fed by many thousands ...

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bullseye

Tue, Sep 11, 2001 at 5:55:33 pm PDT

"Bullseye," say Egyptians as they celebrate anti-US attacks.

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flight tracker

Tue, Sep 11, 2001 at 4:59:12 pm PDT

The New York Times has a graphical flight tracker that shows the flight paths of the hijacked planes.

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views of a nightmare

Tue, Sep 11, 2001 at 3:53:32 pm PDT

Jason Kottke has a lot of links to videos and photos of this nightmare. The latest footage I just saw on CNN chilled me to the center of my being; you can see the jet liner slice right through the tower. And parts of it keep on going. I keep thinking ...

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search for the monsters

Tue, Sep 11, 2001 at 1:37:44 pm PDT

The Washington Post has an article on early efforts to discover who's responsible for the attacks. We need to go after the nations that give safe haven to these terrorist beasts, because this cannot have been the work of a small group. They could not have succeeded without extensive financial, technical, ...

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interview with WTC architect

Tue, Sep 11, 2001 at 10:59:05 am PDT

This page at the Jerusalem Post contains an audio interview with Aaron Swirski, one of the architects of the World Trade Center. The buildings were actually designed to survive even something like this. In theory.

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everything changes today

Tue, Sep 11, 2001 at 8:50:30 am PDT

This is the start of a new era in civilization. God (if you exist) help us. The coordination and scale of this attack is unbelievable. It's important for us to realize that the creatures who do this evil will never stop. Their intent is to bring the entire world into a ...

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dark day

Tue, Sep 11, 2001 at 8:04:43 am PDT

I don't have words for what I feel. Shock and incredible rage. We are at war.

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Monday, September 10, 2001

placement of web page elements

Mon, Sep 10, 2001 at 6:56:53 pm PDT

Here's a well-executed academic study of where users expect things to be on a typical web page.

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joe sorren

Mon, Sep 10, 2001 at 11:43:59 am PDT

The art of Joe Sorren.

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structured referrers

Mon, Sep 10, 2001 at 9:43:22 am PDT

Here's a very cool experiment/art/thing by Milo Vermeulen. With a combination of PHP and Javascript, it builds a linked structure based on referring pages. Good clean fun!

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WEB2001

Mon, Sep 10, 2001 at 8:36:37 am PDT

Meryl over at meryl's notes (a great weblog we just discovered) writes about the Web2001 Conference, wondering whether it might be a bit too expensive. Since the cost of an unrestricted pass for the whole conference was a 4-digit number (and not a low 4-digit number), that was indeed the ...

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calling for testers

Mon, Sep 10, 2001 at 7:40:43 am PDT

I did a lot of work on lgf-artmail (my new "email an article" system for Greymatter) yesterday, and have it pretty close to a releasable state. It's going to be easy to install; all you'll need to do is add a line to your 'commentslink' template and your entry page ...

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Sunday, September 09, 2001

the pun is too obvious

Sun, Sep 9, 2001 at 10:51:08 am PDT

Here's something you don't see often: a house coated in cheddar cheese. With photograph. It's art. (...turning blue trying to hold back pun...must not make pun...) I guess there are no hungry people anywhere near this house who could actually eat that much cheese.

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PHP overdrive

Sun, Sep 9, 2001 at 9:54:49 am PDT

Announcing our new “email an article” feature! Obviously inspired by the similar feature in Manila (see previous entry), this lets you send email to up to 10 friends containing the text of any entry on our weblog. The text is converted to plain ASCII, with all Greymatter stuff and HTML ...

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Saturday, September 08, 2001

mail a story

Sat, Sep 8, 2001 at 9:04:18 am PDT

The Manila weblog system has a new feature: you can email any story to a friend, similar to features found on the big boys' sites (like the New York Times, for example). It's pretty cool; the email that gets sent is plain text with links turned into footnotes and other ...

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sexy max

Sat, Sep 8, 2001 at 7:16:02 am PDT

There is no joy in Estonia: Sexy Max has struck out.

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Friday, September 07, 2001

does it hurt?

Fri, Sep 7, 2001 at 5:39:03 pm PDT

Admit it—you've wondered about this too: Does beheading hurt? And, if so, for how long is the severed head aware of its plight?

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anti-creep code

Fri, Sep 7, 2001 at 11:07:42 am PDT

This is a great idea. I may do something similar; we get hit daily with creepy search requests just because we have the word little in our title. (Aside: dutchbint.org is a pretty cool site, but whassup with that constant page reloading business?)

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javascript for IE5 mac

Fri, Sep 7, 2001 at 10:45:35 am PDT

Here's a very enlightening article about the Javascript differences between the PC and Mac versions of Internet Explorer, at Apple's Internet Developer site: Working with Javascript - Windows/Mac IE Scripting.

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i've got news for this judge

Fri, Sep 7, 2001 at 8:03:41 am PDT

Fart for fart's sake, the judge declares. He said passing wind was "quite often involuntary" and just because a person bent over to make the situation "a little more comfortable" it did not prove that it was deliberate. "I don't believe ... you can turn that particular piece of human ...

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a puppet show

Fri, Sep 7, 2001 at 7:06:52 am PDT

Want to be in show business? This could be your big chance.

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Thursday, September 06, 2001

god gives shout out

Thu, Sep 6, 2001 at 3:47:29 pm PDT

Comedy genius at the Onion: God Finally Gives Shout-Out Back To All His Niggaz.

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roaming the asphalt prairie

Thu, Sep 6, 2001 at 2:54:45 pm PDT

Just after posting the previous entry I found this great rant (MP3 and RealAudio formats) at Salon: Roaming the asphalt prairie. I am the omnipotent ghost alone in a steel body of power.

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they're all out to get me

Thu, Sep 6, 2001 at 2:29:44 pm PDT

New insane driving phenomenon recently noticed: impatient freeway road-ragers who cut into entrance ramps, using them as right-hand passing lanes. I've seen freaks pull this gonzo maneuver 3 or 4 times in the past week.

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sam's bookmarklets

Thu, Sep 6, 2001 at 12:59:36 pm PDT

Sam Foster has a good collection of bookmarklets to aid in debugging and developing web pages. Unfortunately, most of them don't work with IE5 Mac; I may try to figure out why not.

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hippie anarchists of the web

Thu, Sep 6, 2001 at 11:11:43 am PDT

You may remember an incredibly stupid story in the LA Times last July, in which “telecommunications consultant” Thomas Nolle was quoted: The Internet is an important cultural phenomenon, but that doesn’t excuse its failure to comply with basic economic laws. The problem is that it was devised by a bunch ...

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MS off the hook!

Thu, Sep 6, 2001 at 9:28:34 am PDT

Bill's having a party tonight: Microsoft Stays in One Piece. The Justice Department has abruptly reversed its long-standing attempts to carve Microsoft into two independent companies. On Thursday, the department's antitrust division told Microsoft's lawyers that they no longer needed to fear a breakup, a prospect that had loomed over ...

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no more 404

Thu, Sep 6, 2001 at 8:01:31 am PDT

Microsoft is relentless. Whatever you think of their business practices, you have to admit their persistence is amazing. Here's their latest attempt to get people to drink the MS Koolaid: Microsoft gives error pages new direction. The Web's once common "page not found" errors are themselves going missing, stripped from ...

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black hole snack

Thu, Sep 6, 2001 at 7:28:34 am PDT

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory may have caught a picture of the huge black hole at the center of our galaxy as it chowed down on a comet.

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SMIL - you're a recommendation

Thu, Sep 6, 2001 at 6:59:40 am PDT

After what seems like centuries of deliberation, the W3C has finally issued recommendations for Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) and SMIL animation.

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Wednesday, September 05, 2001

P3P

Wed, Sep 5, 2001 at 7:18:01 pm PDT

Interesting article about P3P (the Platform for Privacy Preferences Project) at the New York Times: The Browser as a Cookie-Control Key. By the way—you do have to register to read the New York Times online. But my personal testimonial (unpaid, unfortunately) is: it's worth it. They have never abused the privilege, ...

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postgresqladocious

Wed, Sep 5, 2001 at 2:34:11 pm PDT

OK. I keep reading about this database. Nobody ever explains how in the heck you're supposed to pronounce it: PostgreSQL.

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sharks

Wed, Sep 5, 2001 at 9:00:41 am PDT

At the Washington Post, a harrowing story about the recent shark attacks in North Carolina: Ashore, 'Disbelief' After Shark Attack. "It makes you feel like there's a monster out there," E.J. Rymsza said. The doctor who first treated Zaloukaev in Avon couldn't disagree. "I've never seen injuries of these magnitudes ...

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Tuesday, September 04, 2001

new PHP slideshow script

Tue, Sep 4, 2001 at 4:45:49 pm PDT

Over the Labor Day weekend I wanted to scan and upload a few new photos for our slideshow (which you can view by clicking the thumbnail image at the top of the left sidebar). But I realized once again why I wasn't updating it very much—because it was composed of ...

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pondering da kine

Tue, Sep 4, 2001 at 11:34:12 am PDT

Question for the web developers in the audience: have you ever had a client who was determined to make a huge mistake with their site, and insisted on going ahead even after you explained all the reasons why it was a mistake? Just curious how others deal with a situation ...

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XP faux pas

Tue, Sep 4, 2001 at 8:52:55 am PDT

how did this get past the marketing moguls at M$?

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vital separation

Tue, Sep 4, 2001 at 8:33:27 am PDT

The founding fathers of the US had a really good idea—keep religion and government separate. If you need proof, just look here: Taliban put aid workers on trial.

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anti-spam tips

Tue, Sep 4, 2001 at 7:53:04 am PDT

There are ways to fight back against spammers. Here's a good article at fantomas about hitting spammers where it hurts the most. (via swallowing tacks.)

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DOCTYPE explained

Tue, Sep 4, 2001 at 7:43:18 am PDT

CSS guru Eric Meyer has an excellent article at O'Reilly: DOCTYPE Explained.

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Monday, September 03, 2001

we are robots

Mon, Sep 3, 2001 at 6:41:16 pm PDT

We are tin. We are titans. We walk among you. We Are Robots.

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golden gate tunnel

Mon, Sep 3, 2001 at 10:31:48 am PDT

Who knew? Next time I need to go from Marin County to San Francisco, I'm gonna give the Golden Gate Tunnel a try. With donuts and shiatsu massage along the way, how can you lose?

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Y2K windfalls

Mon, Sep 3, 2001 at 9:56:59 am PDT

Man. Talk about a cushy contract.

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CSS vulnerability

Mon, Sep 3, 2001 at 9:04:59 am PDT

A new Cross Site Scripting (CSS) vulnerability has been discovered, using the <link> tag to execute malicious Javascript code when an HTML email is read. One simple line of code is all it takes. If you're responsible for an HTML email application, I highly recommend you take steps immediately to ...

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et tu, yahoo?

Mon, Sep 3, 2001 at 8:24:06 am PDT

I wrote about it back on July 31st, and today I saw the first one. An X10 popunder ad at Yahoo. The stink of desperate greed is becoming overpowering. Joe Jenett has started a campaign against the cheapening of the web; we heartily support his efforts. However, if you really want to ...

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Sunday, September 02, 2001

the gift of the cow

Sun, Sep 2, 2001 at 7:33:21 pm PDT

No, no, no. The cow (and the gods) did not give you a present. The cow was impelled by biological reasons to excrete this substance. It's not a gift. It's cow piss. Good morning.

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principle of least astonishment

Sun, Sep 2, 2001 at 10:33:22 am PDT

Great common sense usability article at IBM DeveloperWorks: The Principle of Least Astonishment. Throughout the history of engineering, one usability principle seems to me to have risen high above all others. It's called the Principle of Least Astonishment -- the assertion that the most usable system is the one that ...

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random zappa

Sun, Sep 2, 2001 at 9:01:41 am PDT

When I played in the George Duke Band, we rehearsed in the same studio as Frank Zappa, and George had the same manager. So I got to meet Frank; his mind was like a laser beam, and his sarcasm could melt titanium. That's why I'm having so much fun reloading ...

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random chicken

Sun, Sep 2, 2001 at 6:50:39 am PDT

Why did the random chicken cross the road? (via swallowing tacks.)

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insanity

Sun, Sep 2, 2001 at 6:38:14 am PDT

Shrub to China: go ahead, build up your nuclear arsenal, we won't object. I had to read this article twice to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding it. But I wasn't. This is Bush's “strategy” to overcome Chinese opposition to his missile defense program. Sheer insanity. How did this even get past ...

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Saturday, September 01, 2001

god told me to steal these photos

Sat, Sep 1, 2001 at 7:00:42 pm PDT

Robert Scoble linked to this Flash-based interview with God in his weblog today. Normally I avoid treacly “inspirational” cruft like this, but the Scobleizer said it had beautiful photography and I'm a sucker for beautiful photography. (As you may have noticed if you visit regularly.) He was right, the photographs in ...

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pixelpile

Sat, Sep 1, 2001 at 5:07:04 pm PDT

Reid Stott (PhotoDude, man) has opened his new community photolog: PixelPile.org, with photographs and writing from a great group of talented folks.

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preprocessor jones

Sat, Sep 1, 2001 at 11:38:52 am PDT

The menace of PHP abuse is taking a toll on our nation's schools: Student Suspended Over Suspected Use of PHP. High school sophomore Brett Tyson was suspended today after teachers learned he may be using PHP. "A teacher overheard him say that he was using PHP, and as part of our ...

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copywrong

Sat, Sep 1, 2001 at 11:10:33 am PDT

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act stands as proof that our country's political decisions are increasingly being made not by the people, but by huge corporations. Salon reports on the latest review of the DMCA by the US Copyright Office: Copywrong?

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round and round

Sat, Sep 1, 2001 at 7:41:11 am PDT

I don't like to write about the Middle East. I don't even like to think about it. It's a dismaying quagmire of blind religious hatred and irrational Dark Ages thinking on all sides, impervious to logic or reason, perhaps the greatest imponderable stupidity in humankind's history. I give a slight ...

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