News of Interest for 8/28/06

Welcome to your new holiday home. Please beware of the danger of bombs
'But one elderly Corsican woman living in the Coggia area, where "FLNC" is sprayed on walls near summer villas, said: "If Corsicans can't even afford a small plot of land to make their home, what would you do? Money is the root of all war. As long as no one is killed, then the struggle is OK."'
-Via The Guardian UK
Activist's Remark Starts FBI Probe
"Jim Bensman thought his suggestion during a public hearing was harmless enough: Instead of building a channel so migratory fish could go around a dam on the Mississippi River, just get rid of the dam.

Instead, the environmental activist found himself in hot water, drawing FBI scrutiny to see whether he had any terrorist intentions."
-Via the Washington Post
Cyber Bug Flies High in Crime Fighting
"The next time you look up in the sky you many notice the latest technology in law enforcement."
-Via WTVM.com
PLAYING WITH WAR
"The western way of war in the 21st century is a pale shadow of the warfare it waged in the 20th. The reason is simple: for western societies war is no longer existential. Instead, it's increasingly about smoothing market flows and tertiary moral concerns/threats."
-Via Global Guerillas
Video Cameras Learn from Insect Eyes
"What we want to do," he says, "is to wire this into existing camera sensor technology - our software would be written to a computer chip that would sit between the sensor and the digital converter."
-Via PhysOrg.com
The Crime-Fighting, Life-Saving Webcam
"In what may stand as testament to the ubiquity of the increasingly watchful eye of the camera's lens, a Texas man was able to help police in Liverpool, England, foil a burglary while the man watched a Beatles-related webcam on his computer, according to Reuters."
-Via ABC News
Smile for the camera, criminals
'"One reads about something like this on a weekly, if not daily basis," Mr. Henning added, calling the trend "one of global proportions" and unlikely to end any time soon.
'"These incidents are going to grow in frequency," he said, "because you rarely will get out of sight of someone who will have a camera phone."'
-Via the Washington Times
General Says Iraqi Soldiers Refuse Duty
"About 100 Iraqi Shiite soldiers refused to go to Baghdad to support the security crackdown there, marking the second time a block of Iraqi soldiers have balked at following their unit's assignment, a U.S. general said Monday."
-Via The Washington Post
Troops use up ammo as war with Taliban claims 14th life
"British forces suffered their 14th combat death in Afghanistan yesterday as commanders admitted that intense fighting against the Taliban meant they were using up missiles, rockets and spares at an alarming rate."
-Via Telegraph UK
Experts warn U.S. is coming apart at the seams
"The American Society of Civil Engineers last year graded the nation "D" for its overall infrastructure conditions, estimating that it would take $1.6 trillion over five years to fix the problem."
-Via The Seattle Times
Is this Bush's secret bunker?
"Mount Weather is a top-security underground installation an hour's drive from Washington DC. It has its own leaders, police, fire department - and laws. A cold war relic, it has been given a new lease of life since 9/11. And no one who's been inside has ever talked. Tom Vanderbilt reports"
-Via The Guardian UK