Category: Historical

6 hours until it’s time to wake up. Don’t you hate it when you can’t fall asleep?

Check out my friend B-dawg’s blog!

So the US continues to hype the Abu Abbas story as a big “terrorist” bust. I don’t see it, though. How is the capture of a man living comfortably in Iraq, accused of a hijacking of an Italian cruise ship in 1985, in order to press for Palestinian independence, this huge break? How is it that we should be excited that we caught someone who had reportedly “renounced” violence as part of the Olso Accords, and had been allowed to travel to the Gaza Strip by the Israelis, as a spectacular capture? What happened to the supposed Iraq-Al Qaeda connection we were promised by the Bush administration? Isn’t it there? Can’t they find it? Is this the best they can do? Half of America is convinced Saddam was personally involved in the 9-11 attacks, thanks in part to the rhetoric we’ve gotten from the neocon hawks, and the best they come up with is some old Palestinian militant wasting away in Baghdad because there’s no place for him in today’s world?

For that matter, where are the chemical and biological weapons we were promised? I’m still waiting for those, too. Oh, wait, silly me! They’re in Syria now! Along with members of Saddaam’s regime. Powell assures us it’s not time for regime change, part II, yet, but Israel would certainly be happy if it was. I’m sure Paul Wolfowitz wouldn’t mind, either.

I was reading a review in Wine Spectator on bottled waters, and I discovered the definitions of bottled water. I had never realized that the topic was even regulated, let alone the differences. Just thought I’d share this tidbit.

An article I read in last Friday’s BusinessWeek essentially confirms that I had suspected with regards to the financial health of the Democractic Party. With the new campaign finance laws banning soft money contributions, I expected that the Dems would lose handidly when it came to raising funs.

In the first test of the new world of campaign-finance reform, Republicans collected far more money than Democrats. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) pulled down $22 million in the first three months of the year — more than triple House Democrats’ $7 million take. The Democratic National Committee, outraised by Republicans by more than 4 to 1 in the first two months of 2003, refused to release an estimate for March, citing an Apr. 20 statutory deadline.

Isn’t it funny how campaign finance reform, an issue that Democrats had campaigned on for years, would end up hastening their own downfall? A friend of mine, who has worked as a campaign staffer on a Democratic Congressional Campaign last election hasn’t been unable to find a position for this year (granted, there aren’t a whole lot of races, it being an off-year). But if the Dems can’t get their fund-raising in gear, how well will they fair next time around?

Personally, I would send them a check, but I can’t seem to figure out what the party stands for anymore. In 2000, the campaign revolved around a strategy of “What you like about Clinton, without the scandals of Clinton”. In 2002, I don’t think I could find ANY coherent message from the party. Obviously, neither of these have produced any significant gains. So someone call me when you have a message besides “We’re not Bush”, because I don’t quite think that alone is going to do it.

If you want me to show you the money, you gotta show me the leadership.

First, some additional info on Abu Abbas. Apparently the debate on what his status is has begun.

The weather outside is wonderful today. After one of the snowiest winters in the past several years, with temperatures routinely staying below freezing, it has been pleasant to see the trees blooming and feel some hot sun. I was out for lunch today and had the chance to enjoy driving with the top down again. Come July, this will (hopefully) feel old hat by then, but in the Spring it’s still new.

Now, if there was just something I could do about all that pollen…

Slate’s Chatterbox had an amusing article on Rep. Cubin (R-Wyoming). My personal favorite: “I know what Victoria’s Secret is. She’s a slut.”

I wonder if this is part of the reason why the Pentagon essentially announced an end to the combat phase of the invasion of Iraq. It would make it easier, when rounding up militants, to no longer have to provide for them under the Geneva convention if you consider your combat complete. Plus, this has the added benefit of any guerrillas picked up there being placed in a murky legal status, such as Palestinian guerrilla leader Abu Abbas.

For instance, under what jurisdiction would he fall? Israel would be interested in him, I am sure, as would Italy. Yet Israel, from the tone of the article, would have been able to arrest him some time ago, since they were aware of and allowed his movement in to Palestinian areas in Gaza. Italy, potentially, if we extradite him. But under what legal status would the US have picked him up in the first place?

Of course, it seems more likely he would just disappear, like plenty of others have. That’s certainly easier than dealing with murky legal questions.

According to an article in Businessweek, NTT DoMoCo, the cell phone company that made the wireless internet from a cell phone concept famous due to its success in Japan, is finally making a resurgence after splurging on its 3G implementation and missing out on the initial photo-phones.

The recovery started with a return to basics. After missing out on the initial boom in camera phones, DoCoMo last June launched its first photo handsets, which work on its older, Second Generation, network. Thanks to the flashy design and easy picture and video messaging, DoCoMo has sold 9 million of the phones in the past 10 months. That’s more than twice the number sold in the same period by Japan’s photo-phone pioneer, J-Phone Co., owned by Britain’s Vodafone Group PLC.

I actually read somewhere that some men were using them on stairs and escalators to take photos up women’s skirts. The camera phones were more inconscpicous than a regular camera would be, which made it easier.

Even DoCoMo’s 3G service, Foma, is showing signs of life. After launching the high-speed wireless Net service in October, 2001, an overconfident company president, Keiji Tachikawa, predicted Foma would attract 150,000 users in its first five months. By last March, only half that number had signed up, and many customers griped about spotty coverage and bulky phones that ran out of power in just a few hours.

Tachikawa then swung into action, pressuring handset vendors to develop lighter, longer-lasting models and promising to subsidize their development. This March, DoCoMo unveiled a new $250, 3G video phone that weighs just 130 grams and has enough battery power to run for a week. Aggressive ads push the message that 3G offers the cheapest rates for sending and receiving data. Moreover, the network now provides coverage to 90% of Japan’s population, compared with just 60% a year ago. All of this has attracted 330,000 Foma subscribers; nearly 140,000 signed up in March alone. “We’re at a turning point,” says Atsushi Shimazaki, senior manager of DoCoMo’s marketing division. He predicts Foma will reach 1.5 million users by next March.

If anyone could make 3G service work, it would be DoMoCo. As an investment for the foreseeable future, I have little faith of a strong return. But a camera that sends video and can last a week on its battery sounds like a dream, considering I’m happy if I can last two days with sporadic use on my Motorola T720.

On a semi-related note, I finally cashed in the last of my tech stocks. Buh-bye, Cisco and AOL.

And I love it! Nothing makes the day like driving home from work with the top down.

This morning on the ride in, I had the pleasure of cycling through L’Arc~en~Ciel’s Click Singles CD. I love the way they can make the electric guitar wail and sing in their music.

Oh, Ayumi Hamasaki was featured in the May edition of Wired Magazine’s Japanese Schoolgirl Watch. Time Magazine actually had a story on her (March 25, 2002 Asia edition). One quote for the article is particularly memorable; “Her voice is screechy, even irritating sometimes,” says Arisa Kaneko, a 28-year-old TV writer. “But that just makes her more human. You know she’s singing her heart out.” As an avid listener of her music, this definately rings true. The first time I listened to one of her songs, I couldn’t believe my ears. But after a few listens, you begin to understand why she’s so popular…

Of course, I still prefer Love Psychedlico to either of them.