Archive for June, 2002
Afghan king’s wife dies in Rome
“The wife of Afghan king Zahir Shah has died in Rome only a few weeks before she was to return to her homeland to be reunited with her husband.
Homaira Shah, 84-years-old, died two days after being admitted to hospital with breathing problems and heart trouble.”
BBC
In Defense of S.U.V.’s
This was in today’s letters section of the New York Times, and it explains why they will never print my letters … Did they print this because SUV owners are under-represented? Was it out of irony? I love the last line!
“To the Editor:
Is there no limit to the demonizing of the sport utility vehicle (letter, […]
New US law would allow music-sharing sabotage
“The entertainment industry could be given new powers to deliberately sabotage internet music and movie file-sharing services, under proposed US legislation.
Californian Congress representative Howard Berman has proposed a bill that would make it legal in the US for companies to disrupt peer-to-peer file-sharing to protect their copyright.”
New Scientist
Russia approves land sales bill
“Most of Russia’s farmland is still owned by the state
The lower house of the Russian parliament has approved the sale of farmland across Russia, for the first time since the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.”
(BBC)
US telecoms giant admits huge fraud
For those who don’t know. “Worldcom” is the owner of “MCI.” We knew they were crooks when it took us half a year to get some money refunded that they had incorrectly billed to our phone bill.
“Wednesday, 26 June, 2002, 08:46 GMT 09:46 UK
US telecoms giant admits huge fraud
WorldCom, the number two US long-distance phone […]
Court Reverses Finance Ruling on City Schools
“A state appeals court yesterday overturned a ruling that New York State had failed its constitutional duty to ensure "a sound, basic education" for New York City schoolchildren, giving state lawmakers at least a temporary reprieve from a daunting financial and political challenge.
…
A panel of the Appellate Division of Supreme Court, in Manhattan, ruled yesterday […]
The God of Literary Trends
“The Importance of Being Exotic
What is it that makes a certain ethnic genre hot? If I could nail that one down for sure, I’d be rolling around in a room filled with nothing but money. But one can hazard some guesses.
Many of the Asian-American and Latina books had lots of incense and spirits — "ancient […]
At Los Alamos, Two Visions of Supercomputing
“Moore’s Law holds that the number of transistors on a microprocessor
Mugabe tells farmers to down tools
“President Robert Mugabe ordered 2,900 commercial farmers to stop work yesterday, as Zimbabwe faces its worst food shortage for 60 years.”
(Guardian)
Arms deals hinder war on terror, says Amnesty
“G8 governments are undermining their "war on terror" and their claims to want to end armed conflict by supplying massive numbers of weapons to developing countries, an Amnesty International report will warn today.”
(Guardian)
An anthropologist and documentary filmmaker, 
