Did you know you can sign into Windows Live without entering your password?  That’s right; you can use an Information Card (a digital certificate) to sign into Windows Live.  Do note that the service is still in beta (testing mode) and it has been for a while.  But if passwords are annoying to you (as they are to me), then you can use the alternate way to login.

See Microsoft developers’ blog about it at http://winliveid.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!AEE1BB0D86E23AAC!931.entry , then when you have your Info Card and are ready to log into Windows Live, click on the link below:

Sign Into Windows Live with an Information Card>>

What: Colombian Chiva tours NYC
What’s that?  It’s a party bus in the traditional style of a Colombian chiva (See the NYTimes article).  Music, Drinks, Food, Friends, Fun!!
When: Saturday 08 Aug 2009, at 8pm (hora Colombiana)
Until: 1am
Is there parking?  Yes, there is parking at the pickup point.
How much moolah?  $49, includes Colombian dinner also!
RSVP: Email me, leave me a comment, RSVP on the event on facebook, whichever but DO IT BY MONDAY 02 AUGUST 2009!  You can definitely join us after that, but RSVPing by Monday guarantees you a seat.

Ruben’s empanadas, located on 1st Avenue between E 7th Street and St Marks Place, has empanada specials.  Today I had special #1, rice and beans and one empanada (ham & cheese, pictured below).

These are baked empanadas, not fried.

They also have other locations of Ruben’s Empanadas. (Fulton Street, Pearl Street, Nassau Street, Church Street, Broome Street, and First Avenue).

Descriptive subject lines are two way streets: give a good one, get a good one back.

The problem is so many people don’t care for good subject lines.  A succinct subject line is as important to good communication as the medium that is used. It’s as important that an email is sent and received successfully, as it is that the email be properly understood.

If your email inbox is empty, context might not matter and meaning is mere presence.  If your email inbox is full, context, brevity and succinct meaning make email messages stand out.

Of course, the real problem is that email as a killer app long ago stopped being useful.  No one writes meaningful email messages any more; there is too little communication happening, and people are using media other than email to do it. (Remember hearing/reading about the incident when someone was fired thru a message on facebook?)

Death toll from 1976 "swine flu" illness: 1
Death toll from 1976 "swine flu" vaccine: 25
Number paralyzed with "Guillain-Barre syndrome" from vaccine: around 500
Remember this before you get your "swine flu" vaccine next month.

It's incredible the reaction people have to this thing; some people become ultra paranoid, some reject alarmist tones. A few people have a measured response of preparedness and increased awareness.

Some joke about it:

"It was once said that a black man would be president when pigs flew. Well behold 100 days into his presidency, swine flu!"

I could write more and get more nuanced but I don't think it's as important a subject. I just wanted an excuse to reflect on people's viral reaction.

Nosotros decimos no (we say no)

Eduardo Galeano

The translation to English is after the jump.
Este discurso fue presentado en inauguración de las jornadas de «Chile crea», en Santiago de Chile, a mediados de 1988 por el autor Eduardo Galeano. La traducción al inglés está al final. (leer más).

Hemos venido desde diversos países, y estamos aquí, reunidos a la sombra generosa de Pablo Neruda: estamos aquí para acompañar al pueblo de Chile, que dice no.

También nosotros decimos no.

Nosotros decimos no al elogio del dinero y de la muerte. Decimos no a un sistema que pone precio a las cosas y a la gente, donde el que más tiene es el que más vale, y decimos no a un mundo que destina a las armas de guerra dos millones de dólares cada minuto, mientras cada minuto mata treinta niños por hambre o enfermedad curable. La bomba de neutrones que salva a las cosas y aniquila a la gente, es un perfecto símbolo de nuestro tiempo. Para el asesino sistema que convierte en objetivos militares a las estrellas de la noche, el ser humano no es más que un factor de producción y de consumo y un objeto de uso; el tiempo, no más que un recurso económico; y el planeta entero una fuente de renta que debe rendir hasta la última gota de su jugo. Se multiplica la pobreza para multiplicar la riqueza, y se multiplican las armas que custodian esa riqueza, riqueza de poquitos , y que mantienen a raya la pobreza de todos los demás, y también se multiplica, mientras tanto la soledad: nosotros decimos no a un sistema que no da de comer ni da de amar, que a muchos condena al hambre de comida y a muchos más al hambre de abrazos.

Decimos no a la mentira. La cultura dominante, que los grandes medios de comunicación irradian en escala universal, nos invita a confundir el mundo con un supermercados o una pista de carreras, donde el prójimo puede ser una mercancía o un competidor, pero jamás un hermano. Esa mentirosa cultura, que cursimente especula con el amor humano para arrancarle plusvalía, es en realidad una cultura del desvínculo: tiene por dioses a los ganadores, los exitosos dueños del dinero y el poder, y por héroes a los uniformados rambos que les cuidan las espaldas aplicando la Doctrina de seguridad Nacional. Por lo que dice y por lo que calla, la cultura dominante miente que la pobreza de los pobres no es un resultado de la riqueza de los ricos, sino que es hija de nadie, proviene de la oreja de una cabra o de la voluntad de Dios, que hizo a los pobres perezosos y burros. De la misma manera, la humillación de unos hombres por otros no tiene porqué motivar la solidaria indignación o el escándalo, porque pertenece al orden natural de las cosas: las dictaduras latinoamericanas, pongamos por caso, forman parte de nuestra exhuberante naturaleza y no del sistema imperialista del poder.

El desprecio traiciona la historia y mutila al mundo. Los poderosos fabricantes de opinión nos tratan como si no existiéramos, o como si fuéramos sombras bobas. La herencia colonial obliga al llamado Tercer mundo, habitado por gente de tercera categoría, a que acepte como propia la memoria de sus vencedores y a que compre la mentira ajena para usarla como si fuera la propia verdad. Nos premian la obediencia, nos castigan la inteligencia y nos desalientan la energía creadora. Somos opinados, pero no podemos ser opinadores. Tenemos derecho al eco, no a la voz, y los que mandan elogian nuestro talento de papagayos. Nosotros decimos no: nos negamos a aceptar esta mediocridad como destino.

Nosotros decimos no al miedo. No al miedo de decir, al miedo de hacer, al miedo de ser. El colonialismo visible prohibe decir, prohibe hacer, prohibe ser. El colonialismo invisible, más eficaz, nos convence de que no se puede decir, no se puede hacer, no se puede ser. El miedo se disfraza de realismo: para que la realidad no sea irreal, nos dicen los ideólogos de la impotencia, la moral ha de ser inmoral. Ante la indignidad, ante la miseria, ante la mentira, no tenemos más remedio que la resignación. Signados por la fatalidad, nacemos haraganes, irresponsables, violentos, tontos, pintorescos y condenados a la tutela militar. A lo sumo, podemos aspirar a convertirnos en prisioneros de buena conducta, capaces de pagar puntualmente los intereses de una descomunal deuda externa contraída para financiar el lujo que nos humilla y el garrote que nos golpea.

Y en este cuadro de cosas, nosotros decimos no a la neutralidad de la palabra humana. Decimos no a quienes nos invitan a lavarnos las manos ante las cotidianas crucifixiones que ocurren a nuestro alrededor. A la aburrida fascinación de un arte frío, indiferente, contemplador del espejo, preferimos un arte caliente, que celebra la aventura humana en el mundo y en ella participa, un arte irremediablemente enamorado y peleón. ¿Sería bella la belleza si no fuera justa?, Sería justa la justicia si no fuera bella?. Nosotros decimos no al divorcio de la belleza y de la justicia, porque decimos sí a su abrazo poderoso y fecundo.

Ocurre que decimos no, y diciendo no estamos diciendo sí.

Diciendo no a las dictaduras, y no a las dictaduras disfrazadas de democracias, nosotros estamos diciendo sí a la lucha por la democracia verdadera, que a nadie negará el pan ni la palabra y que será hermosa y peligrosa como un poema de Neruda o una canción de Violeta.

Diciendo no al devastador imperio de la codicia, que tiene su centro en el norte de América, nosotros estamos diciendo sí a otra América posible, que nacerá de la más antigua de las tradiciones americanas, la tradición comunitaria: la tradición comunitaria que los indios de Chile defienden, desesperadamente, de derrota en derrota, desde hace cinco siglos.

Diciendo no a la paz sin dignidad, estamos diciendo sí al sagrado derecho de rebelión contra la injusticia y su larga historia, larga como la historia de la resistencia popular en el largo mapa de Chile.

Diciendo no a la libertad del dinero, nosotros estamos diciendo sí a la libertad de las personas: libertad maltratada y lastimada, mil veces caída, como Chile, y como Chile, mil veces alzada.

Diciendo no al egoísmo suicida de los poderosos, que han convertido al mundo en un vasto cuartel, nosotros estamos diciendo sí a la solidaridad humana, que nos da sentido universal y confirma la fuerza de fraternidades más poderosas que todas las fronteras con todos sus guardianes: esa fuerza que nos invade, como la música de Chile, y como el vino de Chile nos abraza.

Y diciendo no al triste encanto del desencanto, nosotros estamos diciendo sí a la esperanza, la esperanza hambrienta y loca y amante y amada, como Chile: la esperanza obstinada como los hijos de Chile rompiendo la noche.

This is a translation to the English, by me. Note that I am not a linguist or a trained translator or interpreter, but am a fluent speaker and writer in English and Spanish.

We have come from different countries, and we are here, meeting in the generous shadow of Pablo Neruda: we are here to accompany the people of Chile, who say no.

We also say no.

We say no to the praise of money and death. We say no to a system that puts a price on things and people, where the one who has the most is worth the most, and we say no to a world that allocates two million dollars every minute to the arms of war, while every minute it kills thirty children of hunger or curable disease. The neutron bomb that saves things and kills people is a perfect symbol of our times. For the assassin system that converts the night stars into military targets, the human being is nothing more than a factor in production and consumption and an object of use; time, nothing more than an economic resource; and the whole planet a source of rent that must give up its juice to the last drop. Poverty is multiplied in order to multiply wealth, and weapons that guard that wealth is also multiplied, that wealth of few, and that hold the line against the rest of the poor, and also solitude is multiplied meanwhile: we say no to a system that does not give something to eat nor something to love, that condemns many to the hunger for food and many more to the hunger for hugs.

We say no to lies. The dominant culture, that the large communication media radiate in universal scale, invites us to confuse the world with a supermarket or a race track, where your neighbor can be a merchandise or a competitor, but never a brother. That deceiving culture, that as in a cliche speculates with human love to extract the profit, is in reality a culture of unlinking: it has made the winners into gods, the successful into owners of the money and power, and into heroes the uniformed rambos that guard their backs while applying the doctrine of national security. For that it says and for what it suppresses, the dominant culture lies that the poverty of the poor is not a result of the wealth of the wealthy, but that it's an orphan, it comes from the ear of a goat or the will of God, who made the poor lazy and dumb. In the same way, the humiliation of some men for others has no reason to motivate the solidary indignation or scandal, because it belongs to the natural order of things: Latin American dictatorships, for instance, are part of our exuberant nature and not the imperialist system of power.

The disdain double-crosses history and mutilates the world. The powerful opinion manufacturers treat us as though we did not exist, or as if we were silly shadows. The colonial heritage forces the so-called third world, inhabited by third-class people, to accept as its own the memory of its victors and to buy the other's lies to use it as their own truth. They reward us for obedience, they castigate us for intelligence and they discourage us for creative energy. We are opined about, but we cannot opine. We have the right to echo, but not to a voice, and those that rule praise us for talent in parroting. We say no: we refuse to accept this mediocrity as destiny.

We say no to fear. No to fear of speaking, to fear of making, to fear of being. The invisible colonialism, more efficient, convinces us that we cannot speak, we cannot make, we cannot be. Fear disguises itself as realism: to make reality not seem false, we are told by the ideologues of impotence, the moral shall be immoral. In the face of indignity, misery, lies, we have no option but resignation. Marked by fatality, we are born lazy, irresponsible, violent, foolish, colorful and condemned to military custody. At the most, we can aspire to convert ourselves into prisoners with good conduct, capable of paying punctually the interests of a gigantic external debt to finance the luxury that humiliates us and the stick that beats us.

In this situation, we say no to the neutrality of human words. We say no to those who invite us to wash our hands in the face of quotidian crucifixions that occur around us. To the boring fascination of a cold art, indifferent, contemplating a mirror, we prefer a hot art, that celebrates the human adventure in the world and participates in it, an art irreparably in love and fighting. Would beauty be beauteous if it weren't just?, Would justice be just were it not beatiful? We say no to the divorce of beauty and justice, because we say yes to their powerful and fruitful embrace.

It happens that we say no, and in saying now we are saying yes.

Saying no to dictatorships, and no to the dictatorships disguised as democracies, we are saying yes to the struggle for true democracy, that will not deny anyone bread or word (voice) and that will be beatiful and dangerous like a Neruda poem or a Violeta song.

We are saying no to the devastating empire of greed, that has its center in the north of America, we are saying yes to another possible America, that will be born of the oldest american traditions, the community tradition: the community tradition that the indigenous in Chile defend, desperately, from failure to failure, since five centuries ago.

We are saying no to peace without dignity, we are saying yes to the sacred right of rebellion against injustice and its long history, long like the history of popular resistance in the long map of Chile.

We are saying no to liberty of money, we are saying yes to the liberty of people: mistreated and hurt liberty, a thousand times fallen, like Chile, and as in Chile, a thousand times risen.

We are saying no to the suicidal egoism of the powerful, who have turned the world into a vast barracks, we are saying yes to human solidarity, that gives us universal feeling (or senses) and confirms the strength of brotherhoods more powerful than all the borders with all its gatekeepers: that strength (or force) that invades us, like the music of Chile, and like the wine of Chile embraces us.

And we are saying no to the sad enchantment of disenchantment, we are saying yes to hope, the starving and crazy hope that loves and is loved, like Chile: the obstinate hope like the children of Chile breaking the night.

Mis padres siempre me contaban de que "cuando Trujillo las cosas no eran así" cuando veían una u otra situación.  Resulta que Trujillo era un dictador y en nuestros tiempos eso está fuera de fashion, y los dominicanos nos creemos poseedores de una democracia que, aunque no perfecta ni óptima, es en fin de todos y nos permite llevar nuestros valores, asuntos y negocios adelante en relativa paz.

La cuestión de la basura y la pudredumbre es una de esas cosas que me contaban no eran aceptables durante la dictadura.  No podía ninguna persona, aun en su niñez, andar descalzo, sin importar cuánta era su pobreza;  no podía verse basura tirada en ningún rincón, sin importar el barrio.  Se arriesgaba el ofensor a una pena severa, quizás excesiva.  Cierto, tampoco podía un hombre andar con greñas sueltas ni una mujer entrar a ciertos edificios vistiendo pantalones.  Era una dictadura, y se afirmaban los valores de una persona, para bien o para mal.  Sin embargo, hay algunos valores que de verdad hay que preguntarse si van con el interés domincano o no.

¿Realmente queremos vivir en una sociedad con tanto ruido?  Si nuestro trabajo nos produce cierta prosperidad como para poder comprar tal o cual estéreo, ¿realmente tenemos que hacer alarde de aquello, subiéndole el volumen para que la cuadra entera lo oiga?  Y despues quejarnos que aquél que no tiene estéreo ni modo de conseguir la prosperidad que lo engendra tome la oportunidad de meterse en nuestra casa y se lo lleve, porque esos son sus valores, o esa es su prosperidad?  ¿A quién no le gusta andar en una yipeta?  A eso aspiramos, a la prosperidad material.  Aquél que la tiene es admirado o envidiado, aquél que la carece despreciado y marginalizado.

No creo que sea la culpa enteramente de el gobierno, porque el gobierno son personas, tan dominicanas y dominicanos como los que no son del gobierno.  No se puede confiar que solamente las personas en el gobierno fomenten valores y cumplan y hagan cumplir las leyes.  Ese es un trabajo de todos los que vivan en territorio quisqueyano.  No obstante, sí tiene el gobierno un importante papel que desempeñar en materia de construir una sociedad más orientada al derecho, la equidad, el civismo y el bienestar social de todos los dominicanos.

También estoy de acuerdo en que debemos educarnos en familia, pero debemos reconocer que hay fuerzas más allá del alcance de la familia o el gobierno que no se pueden enfrentar solos.  Las fuerzas de la economia global, el desempleo, la competencia nacional e internacional en campo de la inversión y los mercados pintan un panorama en el que casi no llevan pincel nuestras familias y nuestros conciudadanos.

Comparar a Quisqueya con Gringolandia es incomprensible; comparar los recursos de unos con los de los otros no tiene sentido, como lo es comparar la historia del desarrollo de una sociedad con el de la otra, midiendo de paso los logros que aquellos recursos hacen posible.  Lo que debemos hacer es conocer los valores que como sociedad dominicana deseamos ver cumplir, ya sea para nosotros mismos y nuestras familias y futuras generaciones, como para todo dominicano, y acatarlos en toda oportunidad.

http://aliciaestevez.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/se-pudre-el-paraiso/#comment-846

Pieza original disponible en [ http://aliciaestevez.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/se-pudre-el-paraiso/ ]

No le dejen el trabajo sólo a Dios, hagan sus leyes valer. ¿Acaso no existe ley en la República Dominicana protegiendo la propiedad privada? ¿Acaso no existen el poder ejecutivo y el poder judicial para hacer cumplir las leyes?

¿Qué es, en fin, lo que no existe en la República mía? ¿Será que no existen la voluntad de ser una sociedad de leyes y derechos, y la fortitud de mantenerlas benefíciese o caiga quien fuere? ¿Y los hombres y mujeres dominicanos de recto carácter e iniciativa?

Quizás sí existen, pero muy pocos. Quizás el materialismo y la inequidad son mayores que el civismo y la condescendencia y el respeto al derecho, propio, ajeno y colectivo; y quizás los dominicanos de mala voluntad también son más que los de buena. Si es así, en verdad hemos caído, y en algo hemos fallado todos como dominicanos.

Pieza original disponible en [ http://aliciaestevez.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/por-si-vienen-los-ladrones/  ]

1. Decide how much information to reveal about yourself.  Joining social networking web sites and signing up for online services usually requires providing personal information; decide before using those services how much of your personal information you are going to share.  Information such as social security and credit card numbers, date of birth, and your home address and telephone number should not be given to any site unless you absolutely trust them to only use it for good.  Also, don’t share information about others unless you are absolutely certain that it’s true and you are absolutely certain it will not harm them.
2. Use secured and up-to-date software.  Many software programs are not secure if they are not updated often.  For example, Windows vulnerabilities and threats are discovered very often, and if it is not updated frequently it can become insecure.  Updating your software is the best way to make sure the software you use has the best protection against known security problems.
3. Install and use a third-party firewall and anti-virus program.  Firewall and anti-virus programs help prevent general problems from damaging the normal functioning of your computer and may even help prevent data loss.  Like all software, don’t forget to update it frequently.
4. Learn more about safer computing.  Learn how to identify web sites with secure protocols and certificates.  Learn about digital signatures and email encryption.  Learn about which web sites are safe places to download software.  Learn about prevention of junk email (spam).  There is always more to learn.
5. Guard and monitor your identity periodically.  You can perform a Google search for yourself or any aspect of your identity.  Learn how to set a Google Alert about your search.  Monitor your credit report for legitimate and suspect activities; the earlier you know, the sooner you can act.

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.

Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.

Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle. But you shall be a miracle.

Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God.

- Phillips Brooks

Wikipedia has some biographical information on Phillips Brooks.

On his weekly address on 14 February 2009, President Obama quoted President Kennedy with similar words (watch this weekly Presidential address on YouTube, quote happens at 4:00 to 4:15).  One can assume Kennedy was paraphrasing Brooks, and in turn, Obama was paraphrasing Kennedy.

An easier life would not contribute to your growth, whereas becoming stronger would.

Connections: Brooks was a priest in Massachusetts. The Kennedy family was from the Massachusetts area.  Obama sees in Kennedy a model for being President and a better American.

Also, Obama understands how people in the United States feel about the Kennedys and uses that connection (“This morning I’m reminded of words President Kennedy spoke..”) to elicit a certain kind of response.  He does not quote Brooks; that connection does not have as much value as the Kennedy one.

Name: Eduardo
You can call me: Eduardo, Edward, Edu, Ed
Age: 29
Hometown: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 
Currently Living in: The Bronx
Interest: Information Technology 
In New York Since: 1989
Hobbies: Traveling, Cooking, Writing, reading, eating, board games, Music, ethnic food, the outdoors…

I have to say that I read another blogger’s blog and was so delighted and inspired by reading it that I wanted some of that to rub off onto my blog, so I took the format of one of the entries in that blog and made my own entry in that style.

If you wonder what I have been up to, you may want to check out the following:

• My Facebook
• My blogs:
  • My Computers & Technology blog at NYU
  • My Political Observations blog at NYU
  • My Information Technology Services blog at NYU
  • My Language blog at NYU
  • My Food blog at NYU
  • My LiveJournal blog
  • My Windows Live blog
  • My EduBlogs blog
  • My Tumblr blog
  • My Blogger blog
  • My Wordpress blog
• My Flickr
• My personal web site, http://eduardodeleon.com

Welcome and thank you for visiting!  Your feedback is always welcome and I would love to hear about you too!

Eduardo

from now on, i'm not attending a meeting without an agenda or without clear objectives.. this is my new way of contributing to meetings:

NYTimes.com: Meetings are a matter of precious time

We have learned that, so far, we can trust Wall Street even less than we can trust government. Wall Street stuck its hands in our pockets and gambled with our money. Heads should roll. They are lucky the people have not rioted over this. But it is not over yet.

Tom Holladay, at http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/economicsunbound/archives/2008/12/is_social_secur.html?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_news+%2B+analysis

On Sunday some of us gathered at CP's.  We arrived around 12:30pm and spent hours there.  The food was eaten, the wine was drunk, the children and the music played.  A good time was had, friends old and new.  Pictures and video were taken, they exist somewhere.

NYTimes' Bits blog has a posting about "Separating Real From Fake on the Internet" [ link ].

Look at all the comments posted to that blog entry.  Now look at the names of the posters (look at mine too).  This is one of the great and awful things about the Internet: encourages participation with (varying degrees of) anonymity.

Different sites focus on different things.  The New York Times on The Web wants to take itself as seriously as it takes its print business, and it wants its readers/consumers to do the same.  So there are certain things they will publish on it, and certain processes they follow to ensure that goal is achieved.  Certainly the print business and the Internet/web business differs, so they have to change things (think of balancing the speed of news on the web with the accuracy needed for anything with the brand "NYTimes", advertising/business models, feedback, transparency etc)

Facebook has no "print business" equivalent or anything other than its web business; there is nothing anchoring it to the real world except relationships between emails that belong to people in the real world. Facebook would be worthless without these relationships.  The "web of trust" mentioned by #2 Tobias is inherent in the design of Facebook: one person's email address "validates" another person's email address by "accepting a friend request".  The more friends from your real life whose email address is accepted as a "friend" in Facebook, the more valuable the social network.  The flaw in this is that, this being on the Internet and therefore providing a certain degree of anonymity, there are going to be many ways in which these social networks are exploited for all sorts of bad things; once something is accepted as legitimate or trusted in Facebook, it keeps gaining trust even if it is not deserved.  Remember, Facebook exists only online; there is no office on campus somewhere that verifies that something is true or legitimate.  If many people who individually and voluntarily provide truthful information and who trust each other, decide that something is legitimate and trustworthy, it will become so even if undeservedly.

Providing some truthful information gets you trusted, but then is that a guarantee that all the information you provide is trustworthy?  In real life, trust comes much more slowly than online; a shortening of this "time-to-trust" can be achieved by using "trust authorities" such as banks and DMVs and courts.  In the online world, there exist "certificate authorities", but these are not available in the Facebook-type of social networks.  Other "web of trusts" do exist, but are used by too few people (thawte, PGP, etc) and in any case these do not provide one of the great advantages of other social networks: voluntary sharing of personal (truthful, legitimate, trust-inviting) information coupled with the freedom of some anonymity (by passively not providing truthful information or actively providing untruthful information).

My thoughts.

From NYTimes article at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/sports/football/23pennington.html :

“He has dug them out of a hole. Is it fun to watch? Yeah. Am I rooting for Chad a little bit? Yeah.”

Am I annoyed at people who ask and answer their own questions? Yes.

Do I feel like I’m carrying the torch of George Carlin by saying all the language things that annoy me? Probably.

"Capturing Osama bin Laden is something we clearly would love to do," he said. "There are 30 days left."

Dick Cheney, interview on ABC News

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/21/AR2008122100869.html

From “European Crass Warfare”, NYTimes article at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/opinion/15krugman.html

you can’t have a coordinated European effort if Europe’s biggest economy not only refuses to go along, but heaps scorn on its neighbors’ attempts to contain the crisis.

so the socialism can't be just one state, it must be all states- The Communism! Latvia is the new Argentina: that certainly provides perspective. So much for the "stronger economies" of the EU deriding the PIGS (Portugal Italy Greece & Spain): gains and profits go to the "stronger economies"; losses must be shared by all. Does this sound familiar?

Scribd.com is a website that allows you to upload documents and embed them as you would a YouTube video.  No plugin installation necessary.  You don’t have to have Microsoft Word or Adobe Reader to view a document of that type. Simply have Adobe's Flash installed and you're good to go.  It’s a technology they call iPaper.  Check it out:

Nifty, huh?