2008 April

A fingerprint scan may be the security feature for access to a laptop. It may be the security clearance needed to enter a restricted area. It would seem that the fingerprint is an important personal identifier. Nevertheless, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff does not consider these biometric data to be personal and private:
“OTTAWA - [...]

France seems to have created legislation that will cause confusion and claims of media suppression, especially the internet. The legislation targets the web sites that promote ultra-thinness:
“PARIS –In image-conscious France, it may soon be a crime to glamorize the ultra-thin. A new French bill cracks down on Web sites that advise anorexics on how to [...]

BUSH LEAGUES: “President Bush threw out the first ball the other night at the Washington Nationals’ home opener. Boy, wasn’t it nice to see Bush throwing out something other than the Constitution?” — Jay Leno, The Tonight Show, April 1, 2008.
EXPLOSIVE SUCCESS IN IRAQ: “Vice President Dick Cheney, you know where he is right [...]

Washington D.C.’s “public” (government) schools are often denounced for their wretched performance. Students incarcerated in that system regularly rank near the bottom in tests that measure academic achievement.
Yet, according to the Cato Institute’s Andrew J. Coulson, bad schooling in dangerous and dilapidated buildings doesn’t come cheap.
The average cost of educating a child in Washington [...]

Eight-year-old Eathan Harris was suspended from Harris Park Elementary School in Westminster, Colorado.
His offense? He used a black Sharpie marker to color a small area on his sweatshirt. When a teacher saw him smelling the marker and the spot on his clothes, the teacher sent the eight-year-old to principal Chris Benisch, who promptly suspended [...]

The following is a filmed exchange between filmmaker Jan Helfeld and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid:
HELFELD: If the government is in the business of forcefully taking money from some people in order to pay for the welfare of others, how will the people whose wealth is being taken feel about the government?
REID: Well, I don’t [...]

I can’t connect to the internet with my laptop I brought in.
Go into a conference room and plug it in - you’ll hook right up.
[5 minutes later]
It says `server not found’.
Did you plug it in?
Yes, the battery was low.
You have to use one of these cables to plug it in.
Oh, I thought you had a [...]

computerworld.com: As Dell Inc. approaches its one-year anniversary of selling laptop and desktop computers preloaded with Ubuntu Linux, the company is continuing to expand the fledgling program to new computer models and markets. Dell representatives said sales of the Linux-loaded machines are encouraging.

Fourth-largest US bank resorts to emergency fundraising
America’s fourth-largest bank, Wachovia, is raising $7bn (£3.52bn) through emergency fundraising as the subprime mortgage crisis in the US continues to reverberate through the banking sector.

Bush speaks on the possibility of another 9/11
US President George Bush has said he believes another 9/11 attack on the United Sates should be considered a strong possibility and warned that such an attack could originate from Pakistan.
In an interview with America’s ABC TV, Mr Bush said: “If another September 11 style attack [...]