(idea) by DerekL Sat Dec 15 2001 at 21:30:01

Quote of the Day:

The one function TV news performs very well is that when there is no news we give it to you with the same emphasis as if there were.
- David Brinkley

News and Views:

  • The remaining Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces appear to have been trapped in a pocket in eastern Afghanistan.
    The key question appears to be how long it will take to root them out. The Afghanis will have a hard enough time building a nation and an economy without an ongoing guerilla war within their borders.
  • President Bush has formally notified the Russians that the US is withdrawing from the ABM Treaty. This allows the US to proceed with the development, testing and deployment of it's missile shield.
    Some critics claim that the shield is useless because it would not have stopped the attacks of Sept 11, 2001. Of course it wouldn't, it *was not designed to*! The current generation of ABM defenses are designed to defeat the existing and growing threat of rogue nations gaining nuclear arms and ICBM's.
  • A brief article in the New York Times describes how birdwatchers and the Audubon Society have created an 'interactive online database' to share sighting information with scientists and ecologists.
    Astronomers have been using/cooperating with amateurs for decades. It's nice to see that the Internet is making this cooperation easier for other disciplines as well. Many eyes make light work?

Nodes of Note:

I like it!