More of the reading orgy....
Jul. 27th, 2003 07:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jenkNYT covers 50th Anniversary of Korean War Armistice.
They also discuss the cost of spam. Some estimate it's in the billions, counting lost productivity; others note that "Hitting the delete key is far more efficient than carrying your physical mail from the mailbox over to the trash can." MCI, meanwhile, says "the biggest single cost to the company is unpaid bills from the spammers it evicts." In other words - if you know your account will be canceled for spamming, why pay the bill? Meanwhile, "AOL has developed methods to winnow the processing and storage demands of spam. If a spammer sends one million AOL members a message offering, say, coral calcium, the company can spot it as spam and store a single copy for viewing by as many of the intended recipients as want to read it." Meanwhile, over at Ebay: "We hear from bidders that they tried to contact sellers, and the sellers say they never heard from them, and it turns out they are both right because of spam filters," said Rob Chestnut, eBay's vice president for trust and safety.
Yes, I find that kind of stuff interesting. Geek is me.
Skipping over to the "The Week In Review" section, an article on the decision to release photographs of the bloodied corpses of Uday and Qusay Hussein quote an Iraqi shopkeeper's opinion of the recent shoot-out:
The Ethicist is asked what to do with two car-owners who conspire to save parking spots for each other, instead of letting "another parking-deprived New Yorker" have a space. The Ethicist's reply, in part: "Why should the non-car-owning majority allow the car-owning minority to store their private property, i.e. cars, on public property at no charge? Why should my every walk to the store be akin to a stroll through a parking lot?" He concludes: "I'm sorry: could you repeat the question?"
The article on a memory researcher notes that "It is not considered good judgment to wade into the issue of recovered memories without skin as thick as permafrost and caller ID on the phone."
A Cantonese student quotes his teacher, Mr. Wen, on living well: "Sing Song Drink Tea". He explains why he likes doing his homework in Chinatown restaurants: "Gifts of food are one of the happy byproducts of daring to speak Cantonese in Chinatown. Sometimes I think my motto should be - pace Mr. Wen - "Study Cantonese Gain Weight."
A nutrition headline caught my eye: "The Gorge-Yourself Environment"
The local paper tackles school boards: There he was, a school-board member, laying out the logic for sex education. And there she was, a skeptical parent, tilting her head and nodding. Then suddenly her face went pale. "And she said, 'Mr. Hughes, you are possessed by the devil,' " recalled Hughes, a member of the Lake Washington School Board. "Then she walked away."
They also discuss the cost of spam. Some estimate it's in the billions, counting lost productivity; others note that "Hitting the delete key is far more efficient than carrying your physical mail from the mailbox over to the trash can." MCI, meanwhile, says "the biggest single cost to the company is unpaid bills from the spammers it evicts." In other words - if you know your account will be canceled for spamming, why pay the bill? Meanwhile, "AOL has developed methods to winnow the processing and storage demands of spam. If a spammer sends one million AOL members a message offering, say, coral calcium, the company can spot it as spam and store a single copy for viewing by as many of the intended recipients as want to read it." Meanwhile, over at Ebay: "We hear from bidders that they tried to contact sellers, and the sellers say they never heard from them, and it turns out they are both right because of spam filters," said Rob Chestnut, eBay's vice president for trust and safety.
Yes, I find that kind of stuff interesting. Geek is me.
Skipping over to the "The Week In Review" section, an article on the decision to release photographs of the bloodied corpses of Uday and Qusay Hussein quote an Iraqi shopkeeper's opinion of the recent shoot-out:
"In reality, it's like a passport for Uday and Qusay to leave the country," said Mr. Hazim, 37. "There is a general understanding that there is a secret agreement between the U.S. and Saddam's family." He cited not only the American withdrawal in 1991, but also the aid the United States provided Mr. Hussein's government during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980's.Oh, and Dave Barry's column today sez: "Fortunately, I live in the United States of America, where we are gradually coming to understand that nothing we do is ever our fault, especially if it is really stupid."
Other Iraqis don't actually believe that Mr. Hussein will be returned to rule. But they have little faith — again, based on the quick exit that Americans made from Iraqi soil in 1991 — that the United States will have the long-range fortitude to prevent Hussein allies or members of his Baath Party from someday gaining power again and taking wide revenge on anyone who aided the Americans.
Given the depth of the United States' military commitment to Iraq, and its obvious importance to President Bush, Americans may be tempted to dismiss such sentiments as improbable paranoia. But consider the experience of a population that has had very little reliable information during the past 35 years, and has had far too much of rumor, conspiracy theories and propaganda. And, more to the point, terror.
[D]istrust of Americans is a lesson many Iraqis learned the hard way. On Feb. 15, 1991, during the Persian Gulf war, President George H. W. Bush publicly encouraged "the Iraqi military and the Iraqi people to take matters into their own hands, to force Saddam Hussein, the dictator, to step aside."
American land forces soon thrust across southern Iraq to oust Mr. Hussein's forces from Kuwait, but when that goal had been accomplished, the Americans suspended offensive operations and offered Iraq a cease-fire. Days later, they stood by as Mr. Hussein sent his helicopters to quash uprisings, or intifadas, that were spreading quickly from Basra across southern Iraq. Mr. Hussein's forces also lashed out furiously at rebellious Kurds in the north.
The Ethicist is asked what to do with two car-owners who conspire to save parking spots for each other, instead of letting "another parking-deprived New Yorker" have a space. The Ethicist's reply, in part: "Why should the non-car-owning majority allow the car-owning minority to store their private property, i.e. cars, on public property at no charge? Why should my every walk to the store be akin to a stroll through a parking lot?" He concludes: "I'm sorry: could you repeat the question?"
The article on a memory researcher notes that "It is not considered good judgment to wade into the issue of recovered memories without skin as thick as permafrost and caller ID on the phone."
A Cantonese student quotes his teacher, Mr. Wen, on living well: "Sing Song Drink Tea". He explains why he likes doing his homework in Chinatown restaurants: "Gifts of food are one of the happy byproducts of daring to speak Cantonese in Chinatown. Sometimes I think my motto should be - pace Mr. Wen - "Study Cantonese Gain Weight."
A nutrition headline caught my eye: "The Gorge-Yourself Environment"
The local paper tackles school boards: There he was, a school-board member, laying out the logic for sex education. And there she was, a skeptical parent, tilting her head and nodding. Then suddenly her face went pale. "And she said, 'Mr. Hughes, you are possessed by the devil,' " recalled Hughes, a member of the Lake Washington School Board. "Then she walked away."
