drat fink



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Sunday, May 12, 2002

you know the drill

"A year ago, the Hebrew University sociologist Baruch Kimmerling observed that "what we feared has come true - War appears an unavoidable fate", an "evil colonial" war. His colleague Ze'ev Sternhell noted that the Israeli leadership was now engaged in "colonial policing, which recalls the takeover by the white police of the poor neighbourhoods of the blacks in South Africa during the apartheid era". Both stress the obvious: there is no symmetry between the "ethno-national groups" in this conflict, which is centred in territories that have been under harsh military occupation for 35 years."

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take this god and shove it

"The 3.5 million Jewish residents of New York City are quite diverse, from ultra-Orthodox to radically secular humanist, Buddhist and New Age, said Steve Fenchel, a church planter there. Although Southern Baptist work in New York City began in 1957, work with the Jewish people is just getting started, he said. Prayer walks, canvassing of colleges and universities, as well as street evangelism provide avenues for outreach by volunteers."

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flagging interest


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Saturday, May 11, 2002

pollar winds

"More than half of Israelis believe withdrawing troops from Palestinian territories and dismantling most Jewish settlements there will help put the peace process back on track, according to an opinion poll."

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Friday, May 10, 2002

op politics


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Thursday, May 09, 2002

group ugh

not nearly as important or deserved as jims blastoff into the bloggerati, dratfink is less than ashamed to reveal his acceptance into the reprobates club of america (and associated colonies). now if only the link actually pointed to my page, im sure a flood of traffic would come my way and then recede with even greater haste.

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the eyes have it

"What that means, basically, is that it's hard to speak and think at the same time. Shneiderman says researchers in his computer science lab discovered through controlled experiments that when you tell your computer to "page down" or "italicize that word" by speaking aloud, you're gobbling up precious chunks of memory -- leaving you with little brainpower to focus on the task at hand. It's easier to type or click a mouse while thinking about something else because hand-eye coordination uses a different part of the brain, the researchers concluded."

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live evil

"The uncovering of these proposals for an offensive biological weapons program comes at a critical political juncture. The US has rejected a legally-binding system of United Nations inspections of suspected biological weapons facilities. At the same time, the Bush administration is aggressively accusing other countries of developing biological weapons and expanding its so-called "Axis of Evil" based in large part on allegations of foreign biological weapons development."

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wailing wall

"Building a fence to keep out Palestinian terrorists: It's a beguilingly simple idea that continues to gain currency in an Israel tormented by Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Indeed, as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon hastens back from Washington after yet another suicide bombing, his government is already starting to demarcate land for barriers and quietly thinking through what's euphemistically known in Israel as "separation." But a fence is a counsel of despair. While the idea has clear appeal for Israeli politicians, it's dubious security policy and rash diplomacy."

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smells like destiny

"Songs like this one, which combine different hits without adding any original music, may represent the first significant new musical genre to be lifted out of the underground, developed and then spread, mostly via the Web. The songs, called mash-ups or bootlegs, typically match the rhythm, melody and underlying spirit of the instrumentals of one song with the a cappella vocals of another. And the more odd the pairing the better."

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