| Wednesday,
September 22, 2004
Nothing new here but the person saying it.
Louis
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3679706.stm
BBC News 22 September 2004
Africa 'better in colonial times' The average
African is worse off now than during the colonial era, the brother of South
Africa's President Thabo Mbeki has said. Moeletsi Mbeki accused African
elites of stealing money and keeping it abroad, while colonial rulers
planted crops and built roads and cities.
"This is one of the depressing features of
Africa," he said.
Moeletsi Mbeki also said that South Africa
should support democracy in Zimbabwe, and not tolerate violence.
President Thabo Mbeki has been accused of being
too soft on his Zimbabwean counterpart Robert Mugabe.
South Africa should "not tolerate use of
violence, torture and rigging of elections and, if necessary, we should
support the opposition," Moeletsi Mbeki said.
Downward spiral
He said that while China had lifted some
400,000 people out of poverty in the past 20 years, Nigeria had pushed 71
million people below the poverty line. <snip>
And check this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/04/
africa_africa___the_world0s_poorest_continent/html/1.stm
It is indeed depressing, and reminds us that
the best intentions do not always produce the best results: but of course
that is the essence of conservatism, isn't it? One must judge by results,
not by intentions.
=============
Subject: Are you paranoid when they write a special
law just for you?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3674430.stm
Wednesday, 22 September, 2004, 10:25 GMT 11:25 UK
The war against hats....
Did you hear the one about the man who isn't
allowed to wear a hat? It's just one example of the increasingly inventive
use of Asbos. The Magazine is keeping tabs.
There is unrest in Cardiff, where up to 100
stray horses have been roaming the city streets. They belong to travellers,
say locals. One horse chased a 12-year-old girl. Action is needed. An Asbo
has been rumoured.
Asbos - anti-social behaviour orders - are a
cornerstone of Tony Blair's commitment to crack down on the sort of everyday
nuisance acts that blight communities but, in the past, police have been
largely powerless to act on.
Each Asbo is a civil order tailored by the
courts against a named individual, forbidding him or her from repeating
specific "anti-social" acts. Breaking the Asbo could land the offender in
prison.
As Asbos become more widespread, the courts
have become bolder and more inventive about how to frame such orders,
leading to some pretty novel, sometimes bizarre, examples.
** Wearing a woolly hat, baseball cap or hooded
top now comes with unusual risks for 21-year-old Christopher Wood. **
Knocking on the front door of any home in
Britain could now land 30-year-old Londoner in jail.
** An Eminem and Dido fan who incessantly
played the musicians' songs at top volume was banned last month from owning
a stereo, radio, or TV. It was the first order of its kind.
Interesting. Of course saner immigration laws
would make all that needless, but that is apparently no longer an option.
There won't always be an England.
=============
Several items on
education:
Subject: Twice as likely.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040922-122847-5968r.htm
- Roland Dobbins
====
And from Sue:
Subject: Homeschooling Follow-up
http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/
index.ssf?/base/news-5/109586434486410.xml
Home-schoolers incensed by drill scenario
Wednesday, September 22, 2004By Sarah Meischand Lisa Medendorp CHRONICLE
STAFF WRITERS
Muskegon County emergency officials, along with
school and hospital personnel, learned a lot from a mock terrorist exercise
Tuesday, but the incident also became a lesson in sensitivity for one of the
event organizers.
In the exercise, a domestic terrorist group --
dubbed Wackos Against Schools and Education -- plants a bomb on a public
school bus loaded with students. According to materials handed out to
explain the fake scenario, the "Wackos" believe everyone should be
home-schooled. <snip>
Also from Sue
Subject: Public School Teachers- Buffy Willow
Public School teachers in the nation's largest cities
send their own children to private schools according to a new study out from
the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation. The report is highlighted on the
foundation's homepage and can be accessed as a PDF File.
http://www.edexcellence.net/foundation/global/index.cfm
Here's a newstory about the study from the NY Sun
http://www.nysun.com/article/1450
New York Teachers Sending Their Own to Private
Schools
BY JULIA LEVY - Staff Reporter of the Sun
September 9, 2004 URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/1450
Almost a third of New York City public school
teachers send their children to private schools, a new study says.
The study, released yesterday by the Thomas B.
Fordham Foundation, found that 32.5% of the city's public school teachers
send their sons and daughters to private or parochial schools, compared to
just 22.7% of all New York City families.
"Those who know best what's happening in the
public schools are not sending their children to public schools," said one
of the authors of the report, David Alan DeSchryver. "It's a flag. It's an
indication that maybe something is not what it should be in those schools."
<snip>
Is anyone astonished?
Subject: French teacher and multiplication tables
Dr. Pournelle,
The post about the French schoolteacher and his
'traditional' teaching techniques was slightly disturbing given the age of
the students whom he was "steering...through their times tables." The
California public elementary school I attended in the early 80's required us
to learn our multiplication tables (through 12's) in 3rd grade (i.e., age 8
or so, not age 10!). By 'required' I mean that we had to get more than 90%
correct on a 100 question timed, five-minute test in order to advance to the
next grade level (admittedly, some students had to spend a lot of extra time
practicing, and take the exam several times). Incidentally, we were also
expected to be able to do it in reverse, though not quite as fast (the
division test only had 90 questions).
Before you posted this article, I had viewed much of
the negative commentary on the American education system on your site as the
grumblings of (no offense) my parents' generation. But if people are
actually impressed by this French schoolteacher and want similar things in
the US, then the degradation of the American system in the last 20 years
must be much higher than I thought.
Thanks for a wonderful website,
Joe Beaver
It is later than you know...
========================
This is wonderful:
Subject: Legal Carry-on Baggage?
I've long been a fan of "The Phantom" (bummed when the
locap paper stopped carrying it, happy to find online sources for current
strips) but got a special giggle out of today's strip:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/phantom.asp?date=20040922
David L. Burkhead
I have long been a Phantom fan, but of
course the Los Angeles Times is FAR too PC to have anything like that in
place of some of the most egregiously boring comics of any paper in history.
Ah well.
=====================
A letter about Iraq,
with some inclusions
Hi Dad:
I hate to send depressing news, but this email pretty
well sums up what's going/gone wrong in Iraq.
Brief summary:
The Central Library of the largest University in Iraq,
in Baghdad (the capitol), was looted immediately after the war. Yes,
librarians had SPECIFICALLY identified this as a crucial cultural asset,
marked for protection. No, it was not protected.
And, with $17 billion in appropriations for Iraq
reconstruction still unspent--you guessed it--no one has even looked at the
place, let alone given them the money to, for example, replace their burned
library furnishings.
I could, literally, fix a lot of this tomorrow. Well,
not tomorrow, but by the end of the month. Housewives solution: give them
some money. Send them shopping. Make them show what they bought. Then give
them some more. If you look at the list below, they aren't even asking for
all that much.
Please, read the below--as a scholar you will
appreciate the loss, and the necessity for restoring libraries as part of
any plan to build democracy--and pass it along to anyone you think might
care.
Best, jenny
----- Forwarded by Jennifer Pournelle/CAS on
09/22/2004 03:37 PM -----
iraqcrisis-request@listhost.uchicago.edu Sent by:
iraqcrisis-admin@listhost.uchicago.edu
09/22/2004 01:00 PM
Today's Topics:
1. Report on the Central Awqaf Library & Report
on the Central Library of Baghdad University / Al-Waziriya (Charles E.
Jones)
----- Message from "Charles E. Jones" <cejo@midway.uchicago.edu>
on Tue, 21 Sep 2004 12:40:05 -0500 ----- To: Iraqcrisis@listhost.uchicago.edu
Subject: [Iraqcrisis] Report on the Central Awqaf Library & Report on the
Central Library of Baghdad University / Al-Waziriya
Report on the Central Awqaf Library & Report on
the Central Library of Baghdad University / Al-Waziriya The Middle East
Librarians Committee on Iraqi Libraries has received permission to publish
the following two reports, one on the damage done to the Central library of
Baghdad University / Al-Waziriyya, the second on the Central Awqaf library
in Baghdad. The two reports were written by one of the most energetic
archivists working in Iraq today, Mr. Zain Al-Naqshbandi. He is primarily
responsible for the investigation and content of the two reports. The report
on the Waqf library is certified by Mr. Salah Karim Hussein, the head of the
Library, Mr. Asim Dawud Al-Khattab, a specialist in libraries (with five
degrees in library and information science) and Mr. Muhibb Al-Din Yasin
Ibrahim, one of the employees of the manuscripts section of the Awqaf
library who was able to save 109 manuscripts, and find a further five in the
post-looting stage. The reports were transmitted to the committee by Hala
Fattah, who also prepared the English translations. The full English and
Arabic text of these reports appears on-line at: http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/zan.html
Zain Al-Naqshbandi 28/6/2004 Report on the
Central Awqaf Library
This is the oldest turathi (heritage) and
cultural institution in Iraq. Its collection consists of waqfiyyas
(endowment documents) of important personages and contains 6,500 mss in all
fields of knowledge. The library also had a collection of 45,000 printed
books, of which 6,000 were books in the Ottoman script. There were also
three collections of medical books in the Central Awqaf library; each
collection possessed close to 4,000 medical books. ONLY 5,000 MSS REMAIN.
THE REST HAVE BEEN LOOTED OR COMPLETELY BURNED.
The materials that were stolen from the
Library:
* 1,477 mss in all fields of knowledge. * 5
Rizzo machines. * Bookbinding equipment. * Two photocopy machines. * A
Reader * One English/Arabic typewriter. * A mimeograph machine. * A
refrigerator in which microfilms were stored. * 12 air conditioners. * 12
air conditioning split units. * 10 fans. * 45 rare manuscript canvasses.
What was burned:
* 70 teakwood book cases donated by the
Gulbenkian Foundation. * The largest air conditioning unit in the library. *
A microfilm reader (for 35 mm. films). * A microfilm reader (for 16 mm.
films). * A reader typewriter (?). * 45,000 rare books and periodicals. *
5,00 books in Ottoman script. * 5,000 medical books (obviously part of two
awqaf collections belonging to individuals bequeathed to the Central Awqaf
library). * 5,300 books in Ja'afari ( Shi'i) fiqh or jurisprudence. * 60
steel cabinets. * 120teakwood chairs. * 18 reading tables.
Compensation: No party or humanitarian
organization has helped in returning this civilizational (turathi) legacy to
Iraq. We appeal to honorable people to offer their services to this library
which is counted as one of the oldest cultural institutions in Iraq, taking
into consideration the fact that the conditions in this library are the same
as those in other Iraqi libraries, whether burned or not burned. The Central
Awqaf library must be rebuilt, renovated and refurbished according to the
most up-to-date international standards in terms of library collections,
equipment and furniture. These include all services and a fully equipped
library (with photocopying machines, microfilm readers etc.etc) Internet
facilities, digital cameras and other such equipment so that the library can
offer its services to its readers and researchers in the proper manner.
Signed by Salah Karim Husain, the Director of
the Library; Asim Dawud Al-Khattab, library expert (with five international
degrees in library science), and Muhib Al-Din Yassin Ibrahim, an employee in
the mss section who rescued (an untold number of) mss from the Iraqi
Scientific Academy ( al-majma' al-ilmi al-iraqi), 109 missing mss ( I'm not
sure if he means that they belonged to the majma' or to the Central Awqaf
library; the text is unclear) and found 5 missing mss (again, I'm not sure
in which library).
Zain Al-Naqshbandi 22/6/2004 Report on the
Central Library of Baghdad University / Al-Waziriya
The library was established in 1959, and is
considered the second largest library in Baghdad after the National Library.
It comprises three-quarter-of-a million publications consisting of the
greatest reference works in the Arabic language and foreign languages, as
well as periodicals, and many individual titles. It is also the chief
repository for Master's theses and PhD dissertations produced at Baghdad
University. Finally, it holds several ancient books, especially foreign
ones.
What was Stolen and Burned:
* Close to 20 computers * Photocopy machines *
Typewriters * Refrigerators, air conditioners, split units, home heaters (sobat).
* Only 1% of the books were stolen.
What was Burned:
* The card catalogue on the 1rst floor, and the
effects of the fire are still visible. * Some wiring was burned but workers
were able to reconnect the power on a temporary basis so that students can
still work in the library and have access to the sources they require. * No
responsible authority has visited the library with the exception of the
University President's one visit, and this after hours. He did not visit the
burned first floor, or so the workers at the library informed me. * An
Engineering team was drafted to gauge the damage and to repair it from last
Ramadan, but up till now nothing has been heard or seen of their repair
initiative. * On the other hand, many newspaper and media outlets have
written investigative reports in the following newspapers: Tariq al-Shaab,
Al-Nahda, Al-Da'wa, and Majallat Al al-Bayt, all of whom demanded the
authorities to repair the library, but to no avail. * The Iraqi tv station
visited the library and filmed it (on the same day as the funeral of the
President of the Governing Council, Izz Al-Din Saleem, may God have mercy on
him). * An American librarian visited the library, along with her
interpreter, and offered to help repair and renovate the library but since
the staff of the library did not have a mandate to come to a decision on
their own (laysu ashab al-qarar), they passed along the information to the
main library on al-Jadiriya campus which then contacted the President of the
University, which refused the American librarian's offer, saying they
already had a set amount specified in reserve (al-mablagh marsud) to repair
the library! * The library staff and researchers are all waiting for succor
(faraj).
Omissions, Suggestions and Demands:
* To rapidly repair and renovate the library
(things missing: doors, windows, floors, paint, electrical appliances; the
summer recess will be a good time to do this). * Re-equipping the library
with photocopiers and computers. * The institution of a central air
conditioning and heating system. * Create an Internet hub in the library. *
Reopen the department of gifts and exchanges (before the Iran-Iraq war, this
department used to correspond with 400 cultural institutes around the
world). * Buy a large generator to be used when power is down. * The library
staff are not included in cultural exchange and visits with other centers of
learning, as if the library were a private institute and not a government
university (this is the feeling of the staff). * The library atmosphere is
unhealthy because of the consequences of the fire.
The Fight Against the White Ants / Termites (urdha)
that have Burrowed into the Library Walls: ( Translator's Note: The English
name for this wood-eating worm is white ant; it is a worm that burrows in
the walls of buildings and literally eats through them; Iraq is infested
with them. They are thought to be the result of the importation of Asian
woods in the thirties and forties).
Suggestions: Because the colleges (on the
campus of Baghdad University, Bab al-Muazzam/al-Waziriyya such as the
College of Education / Ibn Rushd, College of Education / Ibn al-Haytham, the
College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Languages, the College of
Journalism / Media Studies, and the College of Islamic Sciences) were not
moved to al-Jadiriyya (the central campus), the library of the Bab al-Muazzam
/ al-Waziriyya campus should be separated from the library on al-Jadiriyya
campus, both administratively and financially. There was in fact a
separation of both libraries from 1991 to 1995. At that time, there was a
race between the two library administrations to maximize and to develop
library services, each in their fields. There is a feeling between
researchers and staff at the Baghdad University library in al-Waziriya / Bab
al-Muazzam that this library is neglected, so much so that the Head of the
Library only visits it each month.
* The library needs to be restocked with recent
books in the Arabic language and in foreign languages, in addition to films,
slides, projectors and digital cameras. * The library needs laser discs[?] (aqras
layzarat) of journals in history, geography, Qur'anic studies,
jurisprudence, religious studies and other subjects, * The library needs to
re-subscribe to Iraqi, Arab and international periodicals. * It needs to
build a new (organizational and cultural?) base for conferences and
meetings. * From my extensive knowledge of this library, and my use of it
for over 20 years, I now have a feeling that this library has been neglected
in a large way and there have been several attempts to shut it down and move
it to al-Jadriya campus. This would be an irresponsible action and would not
take into consideration the following : * Most of the Liberal Arts colleges
are situated in Bab al-Muazzam, close to this library, and this library is
considered the sole resource for students, researchers and professors, from
every department and school, of which the following: * The second College of
Education / Ibn Rushd which comprises the departments of Arabic language,
History, Geography, Psychology, Kurdish language, Sociology and Islamic
Education. * The College of Languages which comprises the departments of
English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, and the Oriental languages such
as Farsi, Turkish, Arabic and Kurdish. * The College of Arts which comprises
the departments of Sociology, Psychology, Geography, History, Arabic,
English, Translation. * The College of Journalism and Media Studies which
comprises the departments of Journalism, Radio Broadcasting and television.
* The College of Shari'ah (Islamic Law) which comprises the departments of
jurisprudence, al-da'wa (the call), Arabic language, Islamic education,
Qur'anic sciences/ Teaching.
The question that immediately imposes itself is
why should the interests of thousands of students, researchers and
professors be hurt by the move of the library to al-Jadiriya campus.
--
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- Chuck Jones
IraqCrisis Moderator https://listhost.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/iraqcrisis
cejo@midway.uchicago.edu
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-_______________________________________________
Iraqcrisis mailing list - Iraqcrisis@listhost.uchicago.edu https://listhost.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/iraqcrisis
As Jenny says, depressing. She has only
recently returned.
===========
This ought to cheer you
up about space:
<gsfcpao@pop100.gsfc.nasa.gov>
Point of contact: Lauren Leo, Institutions and
Management, 202/358-1333
---------------------------------------------------------
Safety Climate and Culture Change Re-survey
On February 6, 2004, NASA awarded a contract to
Behavioral Science Technology (BST) Inc., to assist the agency in developing
and deploying an organizational plan for NASA safety culture and climate
change. This effort began with the deployment of a Safety Climate and
Culture Survey to provide a baseline measurement for a group of cultural
elements that have been shown to be important to safety assurance and
overall organizational excellence. From the survey results, BST recommended
a series of specific activities for NASA to undertake to strengthen its
organizational and safety culture.
The initial phase of activity took place at the
Glenn Research Center, the Stennis Space Center, the Mission Operations and
Engineering Directorates at the Johnson Space Center, and the Safety and
Mission Assurance Organizations at the Goddard Space Flight Center and the
Kennedy Space Center. For the past six months, these Centers and
Organizations have undergone leadership assessment and coaching, behavioral
observation and feedback, and team effectiveness training in an effort to
enable NASA to become an even better agency.
This week, BST will redeploy the Safety Climate
and Culture Survey to individuals at these specific Centers and
organizations to determine the extent to which progress has been made in
NASA's effort to strengthen its culture. Because true culture change takes
years to achieve, we do not expect the survey results to indicate
achievement of large-scale culture change but rather to reflect the forward
momentum that has already occurred and the commitment to achieve positive
changes in NASA's culture. We will share the survey results with you, along
with NASA's plan for the next phase of activity, as they become available.
I appreciate your personal commitment and
involvement to ensure the accomplishment of this effort and the future
mission success of the agency.
James L. Jennings Associate Administrator for
Institutions and Management
See how wisely they spend your money?
========================
Subject: "Go it alone"
Francis Hamit makes some really good points, but his
"we will have to continue to go it alone" is a joke.
Let's put it plainly. The four most useful militaries
in the world belong to the US, the UK, Israel, and Russia. We have two of
the big four on the ground in Iraq, a third supporting us, and the fourth
may come on board now after the school assaults. We also have troops from
several of the most militarily powerful regional players--Australia, Japan,
South Korea, Italy, Poland.
Who exactly else would be any damn good on the ground
in Iraq? I wish the Kiwis were there, and the South Africans still know
something about fighting. But Hamit's statement, boiled down, is "It's not
multilateral if we don't have the French and Germans." Pfft. They've let
themselves deteriorate too far to be any use.
Steve Setzer
Subject: More Hamit
I should have read Hamit a bit more closely. He hits
it right on the head when he says that "No other nations except China and
North Korea have really big armies right now."
But I think that undercuts his own arguments. Who
cares whether France and Germany are willing to help us in Iraq, if they
have no capability? Except for Russia, those who have capability either
would never help us anyway (China and NK) or are already helping us (UK,
Japan, Australia, South Korea).
China will emerge as a great power regardless of Iraq,
and the timing won't change; we could slow it down if we'd stop selling them
so much rope to hang us with, but we won't. Russia IS a great power, they
just took a decade off from history (the same decade we took off). India
will never muster the discipline to be a great power.
Steve Setzer
Russia took off more than a decade, and
are farther behind than you think, but I tend to agree with you.
Historically, though, the Russians have not been very good at projecting
power far beyond their borders. On the other hand, they had a long time of
experiencing the peculiarities of governing Muslims.
==================
Subject: Shooting ourselves in the foot.
We are losing more here than we can imagine, I fear.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,133099,00.html
<snip>
In high schools across the country vocational
classes ? auto shop, wood shop, metal shop ? are being phased out.
</snip>
So, the schools are admitting they cannot teach
anything useful to the lower half of the bell curve. They can't teach
anything useful to the upper half either, but I thought they would at least
try to maintain some semblance of producing a product other than people with
credentials.
I have a degree in physics, but the time I spent
working in the wood shop in high school are some of my most cherished
memories. I can understand dropping auto shop. Who can work on their own
cars these days? But wood shop, metal shop, even the electronics shop?
Where will this sort of thing end? Why teach grammar?
Who uses that anymore? How about literature? If it isn't a movie or on the
Internet, is it really worth anything? Why have football in high school? Do
we really need to teach science in high school? Wouldn't it be cheaper to
wait until we know if the urchins are going to need it? What's the point of
teaching math? A computer can balance a checkbook and who really looks at
sales receipts anymore? Who needs to read anyway? Road signs are graphical.
TV and movies can present us with all the literature we need and make it
entertaining in the process.
<snip>
As the number of vocational education classes
have gone down, the high school dropout rate across the country has gone up.
Experts don't yet know if there's a correlation, but they do know schools
today are geared more for the college-bound than the blue collar-bound.
</snip>
Maybe that's the way it will work. Eventually we will
determine that everyone would be better off if they didn't know anything and
stop sending the kids to school all together. The teachers could then go
work for the TSA.
Braxton S. Cook (Worried about my country while I'm in
Italy.)
About half the population does not need
and cannot use "education". Of course that includes very few of those who
read this web site.
But this is not Lake Woebegone, and half
the population cannot much benefit from "education" in the sense of learning
how to learn. They can very much benefit from training. This is not
derogatory. I could not run a lathe and take pride in my work year after
year. I am not temperamentally suited to that. I can very much appreciate
those who can do that.
Our schools now exist to turn out people
with credentials. Many neither educate nor train.
=============
This one is a warning:
Subject: Opting in.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/22/opt-out_exploit/
----- Roland Dobbins
By opting out you opt in: read this.
==================
Subject: Paging Fred Hoyle . . .
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=15078
-- Roland Dobbins
I miss Sir Fred. He had the dryest sense
of humor of anyone I know: once after a long lecture from George Oswald that
was all warmed over Sagin I said "Fred, have you ever heard a more boring
lectures?" and he instantly replied "Yes, actually, it was in Cambridge in
1952..."
I have used the panspermia hypothesis in
most of my extraterrestrial science fiction.
=========
Please don't put my name or e-mail address on this one
as I don't want to end up on anybody's list....
Last week I read, via your link, the letter in the
Washington Post about the TSA at Dulles airport with some personal interest
as my wife and I were scheduled to fly out of Dulles last Saturday morning.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/
A60601-2004Sep3?language=printer
So I knew to take my shoes off, but did something else
to garner extra attention. As the TSA rep (who had neither a name tag nor a
badge number that I could see) picked up his hand held scanner, I clearly
heard him say, "Time to fire up the electric cattle prods". The thundering
response from his co-worker that overheard him (according to my wife, I
missed it) was along the lines of "It's to early in the morning for that."
The interesting thing is that I fly out of Baltimore-Wahsington
International (BWI) fairly regularly and I've never encountered anything but
a professional attitude there.
The TSA has got to go. In the bad old days I would
complain to the airline and they would understand that this was bad for
business. Today... As you say, we were free, once.
Name withheld by request
But we were born free... We're the TSA. We
don't care. We don't have to.
Subject: Frankenstien,
From
http://www.strategypage.com//
fyeo/howtomakewar/default.asp?target=HTIW.HTM
INFORMATION WARFARE: Dr Frankenstein is Alive and Well
and Living in China
September 20, 2004: It turns out, although China has
put a lot of effort into creating a cyberwar force capable of launching
attacks over the Internet, that their own computers are already overrun with
viruses and worms. A recent government survey found that 87.9 percent of
Chinese PCs connected to the Internet were infected during the last year,
and most were still infected. While the United States is regarded as the one
nation most dependant on the Internet, it is also the country with the
largest amount of effort dedicated to protecting it's PCs from infection by
"malware" (viruses, worms, Trojans and the like.) China, on the other hand,
has developed an outlaw mentality when it comes to software, so most users
have pirated operating systems and applications on their machines. While
there are pirated versions of anti-virus software available, using this kind
of protection is not popular.
heh
Subject: The lost tomb of Cheops?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1293377,00.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200408/s1188387.htm
- Roland Dobbins
What a find that would be!
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