News of Interest for 9/05/06

Rally opposes Tasers
"Since 2005, 13 people have died while in custody of the Escambia County Sheriff's Office -- two white men and 11 black men, Movement for Change members said."
Are Physicists Smart? Disciplined Professionals serve Power
"I’m a physicist and I’ve trained physicists and I’d like to advance a different view: That generally, physicists, as a group, are pretty stupid, and certainly no smarter than any other group of self-centered and self-serving professionals."
Iraq's inflation rate hits 70%: minister
"Fuel and electricity prices saw the highest increase, standing at 374 percent higher this July from the same month last year, Baban said. The transport and communications sector saw a 218 percent rise, while goods and services prices increased by 37.3 percent."
"Did You Hear the One About Hitler?"
"A new book about humor under the Nazis gives some interesting insights into life in the Third Reich and breaks yet another taboo in Germany's treatment of its history. Jokes told during the era, says the author, provided the populace with a pressure release."
Ramadan work hours apply to ‘all employees’
"ALL companies operating in Qatar have to comply with the law stipulating that working hours during Ramadan should not exceed six hours a day, Labour Department assistant director Faisal al-Emadi said yesterday."
Gathafi wants to hand oil wealth to poor people
'In a blistering indictment of the state of Libyan society and its economy, [Gathafi's son] Seif had said: "Let's stop kidding ourselves that we are living in a paradise, one in which public sector officials act as though they own the companies they manage. The beneficiaries of this chaos are a group of state employees and big wigs united in an unholy alliance resembling a mafia."'
Still Called by Faith To the Phone Booth
"Built by several nearby Mennonite families, the oil tank-turned-phone booth connects them to the rest of the world -- sort of. And sort of -- when it comes to the estimated 1,600 Old Order Mennonite and Amish residents who still ride horse-drawn buggies down the roads of St. Mary's County -- is the point."
Tech advances raise privacy fears
"A relatively unknown branch of the CIA is investing millions of taxpayer dollars in technology startup companies that could map the future of spying. Some of their products can pry into Americans' personal lives, not just for the government but for big business as well."
Robotic Frisbees of Death
"It ain't easy, picking out evil-doers in the urban canyons of the Middle East; there are so many places to hide. Taking 'em out can be even harder, what with all those noncombatants hanging nearby. But the Air Force thinks it might have an answer to this most vexing problem in counter-insurgency: frisbees."
Don't be fooled by this reform: the IMF is still the rich world's viceroy
"Like most concessions made by dictatorial regimes, the reforms seem designed not to catalyse further change, but to prevent it. By slightly increasing the shares (and therefore the voting powers) of China, South Korea, Mexico and Turkey, the regime hopes to buy off the most powerful rebel warlords, while keeping the mob at bay. It has even thrown a few coppers from the balcony, for the great unwashed to scuffle over. But no one - except the leaders of the rich nations and the leader writers of just about every newspaper in the rich world - could regard this as an adequate response to its problems."
FBI Shows Off Counterterrorism Database
"Grigg said that before 2002, it would take 32,222 hours to run 1,000 names and birth dates across 50 databases. Now agents can make such a search in 30 minutes or less, he said."
Brick computes boons, costs of going "Wi-Fi"
"Picture this: Police learn of a fight in one of the township's high schools. With a few clicks of a mouse, they are watching the situation unfold inside the school. A student is home sick but doesn't want to miss his lesson. Relying on a classroom webcam, he watches the teacher's lecture from bed and completes the homework for class the next day."