Berlin Wall or Tienanmen Square

I've seen a few positive revolutions in my life - end of Apartheid in South Africa, the fall of the Berlin War, the fall of Communism in the Soviet Union, and a ground swell of protest in Tienanmen Square. While the last revolution failed to stick, the others were successful. (sorry but I barely remember any of the civil rights battles in the US so I can't count that one). Sunday I witnessed the start of another revolution, this time in Iraq. Ink stained fingers held up in defiance of evil and terror give us cause to celebrate. I kept expecting someone to say they would give up freedom "when you pry it from my dead, ink stained hands". Will this one stick? Time will tell. I pray it is the birth of a nation and not the beginning of the end. At least for now the supporters of freedom really rocked the vote.

The shareef don't like it
(He thinks it's not kosher)
Rocking the Casbah
Rock the Casbah
The shareef don't like it
(Fundamentally he can't take it)
Rocking the Casbah
Rock the Casbah
The shareef don't like it
(You know he really hates it)
Rocking the Casbah
Rock the Casbah
- from the song "Rocking the Casbah" performed by The Clash (c) 1982

Around the World in 72.9 Days

The challenge: become the fastest person to sail solo around the world on a multi-hull boat
The current record: 72 days, 22:54:22 by Frenchman Francis Joyon in 2004
The challenger: 28-year old Englishwoman Ellen MacArthur

Ellen started the challenge November 28, 2004. As of January 30th at 21:00 London time on she is 41 hours ahead of the record pace. Read about her on-going Odyssey here or view some photos here.

Mother, mother ocean, I have heard you call
Wanted to sail upon your waters since I was three feet tall
You’ve seen it all, you’ve seen it all
- from the song "Pirate Looks At Forty" by Jimmy Buffett (c) 1985

We Think Your Baby Should Die

Two months ago, following reports of an Amsterdam hospital "euthanizing" babies, I wrote "The value of life continues on a 30-plus year decline in Western society". Here is another example from Europe. This time in the UK.

Charlotte Wyatt was born three month premature in October 2003. She weighed 16 ounces (454 grams) at birth, was the length of a ballpoint pen, and was expected to have a very short life. Doctors told the family she would not make it to her first birthday. With underdeveloped lungs she needed oxygen to live. Between her birth and last October, Charlotte stopped breathing three times and had to be revived. The hospital did not want to revive her a fourth time, her parents did. The hospital took the parents to court and a High Court judge ruled October 7, 2004 that the hospital was not to revive Charlotte.

Today she weighs 14 pounds (6.35 kg) and is showing signs of improvement. The parents have gone back to court to have the judge suspend his order, so far he refuses.

Makes me wonder would the parents be charged with violating a court order if Charlotte stopped breathing and they resuscitated her? Perhaps that is the reason the father is only allowed to visit his daughter when accompanied by a hospital security guard (the guard can´t be worried the father will injure the child, after all the hospital as already proven in court they are unconcerned with the life of the child).

Like I said back in December:
Pre-Born, Post-Born what is the difference?
It is just a matter of time before "quality of life" will be used more and more as an argument to actively terminate babies (and the elderly). How long before a non-life threatening, physical deformity qualifies a child for death "to prevent suffering"? How long before poverty is used as an excuse?
"Sorry mom and dad but you are poor and your baby is ugly, we have to stop her suffering right now"

A culture that refuses to protect the helpless is ultimately doomed.

Who really cares?
Who´s willing to try to save a world
That´s destined to die
When I look at the world it fills me with sorrow
Little children today are really gonna suffer tomorrow
Oh what a shame, such a bad way to live
All who is to blame, we can´t stop livin´
- from the song "Save The Children" by Marvin Gaye (c) 1971

P.I.: The Tale of Two Universities

PRIVATE EYE: Two small examples of a problem too large to ignore.

Universities are the forefront of society. We place our hope for the future in the brightest minds - both students and instructors. Forward thinking, concerned with the issues of today, and solving the problems of tomorrow is how I like to envision our institutions of higher learning. So they are aware of identity theft and the need to protect an individual's personal data, right? Think again.

Story #1: The University of Northern Colorado announced that a computer hard drive is missing. They are not sure if it was stolen, thrown away, or misplaced. What they do know is the disk contained the personal information of 15,790 employees - a list that dates back to 1997. What sort of information? Just the usual employee data: name, address, bank account numbers, Social Security Numbers, etc.

I know some of you are saying "University of Northern Colorado"?!?! Not exactly your Ivy League university is it? Well listen up you academia snobs to the next story.

Story #2: Harvard University (yes that Harvard) just pulled the University Health Services (UHS) Pharmacy website because students and employees' drug history was accessible via the Internet. All it took was the non-confidential student number and birth date. Per the article at TheCrimson.com, undergraduate birth dates are published to fellow students.

One of the laws of programming is "you can never prove a program is bug-free, you can only prove it has bugs" and there are reams of statistical data showing the number of undiscovered bugs is directly proportional to the number of discovered bugs. So how many more privacy breeches are out there waiting to be discovered by the white hats? How many are being exploited right now by the black hats? How many have YOUR data?

It doesn't really matter if it is unsecured data on a website or unsecured hardware with data, the bottom line is we all need to be more cognizant of our private data.

Are you getting paranoid yet?

I've been caught stealing;
once when I was 5...
I enjoy stealing.
It's just as simple as that.
Well, it's just a simple fact.
When I want something,
I don't want to pay for it.
- from the song "Been Caught Stealing" performed by Jane's Addiction words by Perry Farrell(c)1990