An earthquake of 6.3 magnitude struck the city of Barn in Iran on Saturday. Casualty estimates vary from 5,000 to 20,000 dead. Eighty percent of the historic city was destroyed and the truth is that no one knows how many are dead in the rubble. The government of Iran has appealed for international aid and US and European aid teams are expected to arrive beginning today. It is freezing cold in the city and many people only have the clothes that they were wearing when the quake hit. The city ha...

I go to my local library a lot, but usually I know what I want. I recently has some time when I was early for an appointment, visited the local branch and came out with three diverse titles that were all really enjoyable. The first that I read was William Gibson's Pattern Recognition. I am a big Gibson fan, going back to Neuromancer. This book, while still classified as Science Fiction, is very close to today's current events. It is a wonderful commentary on today's art and culture, particuar...

I took my nine-year old daughter, Lauren, to see the new Peter Pan today. A really enjoyable film, I must say. I am referring to the latest version of Peter Pan, from Universal Studios. The movie stars Jeremy Sumpter, Jason Isaacs, Lynn Redgrave, Ludivine Sagnier and Olivia Williams. Except of course for Lynn Redgrave, I was not familiar with any of the cast members. But the quality of the acting was quite good and, in the context of this being a children's fantasy film, they created believa...

I've been in business for about 25 years, as a middle or senior manager for about 20 of those years. I've worked for some pretty successful organizations and some unsuccessful ones. Successful organizations have a number of qualities in common, whether in healthcare, finance, telecommunications or technology. When I worked for Henry Ford Health Systems, managers received training in the Edward Deming method of Total Quality Management or TQM for short. I've been through a lot of training semi...

Tonight marks the start of the Hanukkah holiday, a festival lasting eight nights. Each night an additional candle is lit on the Mennorah, Hanukkah being the festival of lights. Most non-Jews know that it is a holiday, but not what it is about. Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem. In 168 BCE (Before the Common Era) an army of Hellenistic Syrians invaded and conquered Israel. The Syrian king, Antiochus, decreed that everyone had to adopt the customs of Greece. He out...

Yesterday, Wal-Mart launched its on-line music store. Offering songs for download at $.88, below the $.99 price of iTunes, Wal-Mart is hoping to lure customers by offering cutomers "Value. Selection. Simplicity." When the world's largest retailer enters a market, you have to take notice. Some quick comparisons lead me to call the Wal-Mart store the "budget" store for on-line music purchases. Lacking a user interfce as slick as Apples, Wal-Mart instead relies on customers having Microsoft Wind...

The guiding principle of General Semantics is that "The map is not the territory." Maps, like words, are symbolic representations. That is to say, what we call a thing doesn't change that thing. But in politics, the words we use sure do change the perceptions of people and things. When a word is used too often and too abstractly, it loses all meaning. It can mean anything and also nothing. Liberal and Conservative are perfect examples. They mean so many things, describe so many positions, tha...

I have been trying to get some enthusiasm for a Democratic candidate- any Democratic candidate. But I just can't find anything to be enthusiastic about. I wanted to see Howard Dean's reaction to the capture of Saddam Huessein so I went to Dean's blog (http://blog.deanforamerica.com/) to check the response. To his credit, Dean did say "this is a great day for the Iraqi people, the US, and the international community" but then continued: "This development provides an enormous opportunity to ...

At Las Vegas' Comdex event, Chairman Bill Gates announced that Microsoft will soon be offering new products to combat spam, protect computer networks and track information that passes through users computers. The ant-spam solution will be called SmartScreen and is a series of filters designed to work with Outlook and Outlook Express. It is designed to keep spam and malicious attachments from reaching a user's desktop. It will be available in the middle of 2004. Internet Security and Accele...

This is a reprint of a story that appeared on the HonestReporting.Com website regarding media bias. It seems that the AP and Reuters news services don't think that the terrorist attacks in Israel are worth reporting. Now that is different than saying the attacks are justified. To deny that the attacks are even worthy of being listed.....well, words fail me. *************************************************************************** AP, REUTERS OMIT TERROR IN ISRAEL Dear HonestReporting...

D Squared Software thought it had the ultimate scam. The San Diego based software company used Windows Messenger Service pop-ups to sell a software product that blocked, you guessed it, Messenger Service pop-ups. The company thought that this was a legitimate sales tool. The FTC thought that it was extortion and a Federal Court judge agreed. Messenger Service (not to be confused with Windows Messenger Instant Messaging program) is a little used feature in Windows. Designed to allow Network...

Bobby Hatfield, one half of the singing duet The Righteous Brothers, was found dead this morning in his hotel room in Kalamazoo, Michigan. An autopsy showed that he died of natuaral causes. He was 63 years of age. In 1961, Hatfield and his partner Bill Medley formed the group The Righteous Brothers. The Righteous Brothers were known as performers of what has been termed "blue eyed soul music" because of the Motown influence on their style. Their best known single, "You've Lost that Lovin' Fee...

I am going to jump on the Laker bandwagon. Let me start by saying that I am not a Laker fan. The Lakers are, for me, the basketball equivalent of the New York Yankees; the team that I love to hate. But I think that this Laker team has all the ingredients to be one of the great teams of all time. Certainly they are loaded with talent. In Kobe, Shaq, Malone and Payton they have four sure Hall of Famers. But the Lakers also have experience, hunger and chemistry that will make this a team to reme...

In a move aimed at stemming the tide of destructive viruses, Microsoft announced the creation of a $5 million fund for information leading to the arrest of virus authors. Microsoft said the first two rewards it will offer will be for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the spread of the MSBlast.A worm and the SoBig virus unleashed earlier this year. The company offered $250,000 rewards for each. Microsoft executives made the announcement, flanked by re...

Researchers will begin testing an experimental HIV vaccine on 24 human volunteers in South Africa, a country where almost 5 million people are infected with the AIDS-causing virus. The vaccine contains parts of a weakened strain of Venezuelan equine encephalitis and a harmless gene from a South African HIV strain. It is very early on, but with millions of people effected by the AIDS virus, keep your fingers crossed for the success of this vaccine!