] Edwards said that Office 2003 beta's handling of the XML
] file format means that firms will not be able to tap the
] rich collaborative features of Open Office 2003 without
] resorting to proprietary Microsoft file formats. And to
] truly unlock its collaborative potential, firms will have
] to standardize on the Windows XP operating system (Office
] 2003 won't run on Windows 9x), as well as Windows 2003
] Server, SharePoint Server, Exchange Server, etc. As for
] the file formats, he called Office 2003's XML "crippled,"
] because it strips XML files of all presentation and
] formatting information when saving them in the XML file
] format. It does not do this when saving files in
] Microsoft's proprietary file formats.

Hardly surprising but anyway...

Will Office 2003 Lead to Lock-in?

] The legislation includes an exemption in cases in which
] the procedure is necessary to save the mother's life.
] Abortion rights supporters say the ban is an attempt to
] restrict women's reproductive rights and vow to challenge
] it in court.

Senate Votes to Ban Late-Term Abortions

] The world's first brain prosthesis - an artificial
] hippocampus - is about to be tested in California. Unlike
] devices like cochlear implants, which merely stimulate
] brain activity, this silicon chip implant will perform
] the same processes as the damaged part of the brain it is
] replacing.

World's first brain prosthesis revealed

] Command-and-control organizations, Hock says, "were not
] only archaic and increasingly irrelevant. They were
] becoming a public menace, antithetical to the human
] spirit and destructive of the biosphere. I was convinced
] we were on the brink of an epidemic of institutional
] failure."

This is a starting point for some extremely rich and interesting ideas.

The founder of Visa on Corporations

] BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Aviation officials said they could
] not disclose the purpose of a small aircraft whose night
] flights over Bloomington have raised terrorist worries
] among residents.
]
] The white, single-engine propeller airplane has been
] circling the city of 69,000 late at night and about noon
] recently, The Herald-Times reported today.

Weeeeeeird

Flights around Bloomington raise concerns

] The Republican-backed measure would outlaw cloning
] experiments — or, more precisely, the scientific
] procedure known as somatic cell nuclear transfer — either
] for baby making or medical research. Scientists who
] cloned human embryos would face up to 10 years in prison
] and a $1 million fine. The bill would also prohibit the
] importing of medical therapies derived from cloning
] research.

A blanket ban on all cloning is a Bad Idea as it will cripple
US biotech interests compared to e.g. China which has no such
compunctions.

The medical technology that will develop
from cloning in the next 50 years will be spectacular. Need
a new heart? Give us some blood, come back in a few weeks
and we'll implant a fresh, new cloned one. No immunosupressing drugs, no waiting for a donor, no compatibility. Its your own damn tissue! Congenital heart defect? We'll patch the bugs in your DNA.

House Is Set to Make Cloning of Humans a Crime

] WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 — North Korea has restarted a reactor
] at its primary nuclear complex, American intelligence
] officials said today. Over time, the reactor could
] provide a continuing source of plutonium for nuclear
] weapons.

Reactor Started in North Korea, U.S. Concludes

] The nation's Bell companies are quietly lobbying the
] nation's top regulators at the Federal Communications
] Commission. Their goal is to slap new charges on

This article reminds me of the forwards that went around a few
years ago that the USPS was going to start taxing e-mail. While
the RBOCs may get the FCC to let them charge for net to POTS calls,
I have a hard time imangining them having any way to do anything
about net to net calls ....

Will the Bells crush Net calling?

This document discusses IAB concerns that ongoing research is needed to further the evolution of the Internet infrastructure, and that consistent, sufficient non-commercial funding is needed to enable such research.

This is a really cool ID ... and puts a finger on a trend that I've been vaguely aware of that the IETF seems to be spending more and more time designing SNMP MIBs and less time on fundamentals.

My boss (director of a lab at CMU) made a remark a few months ago
that sums up the problem: "Why should we work this if industry
can do it?" Academics are simply not interested in building
practical systems! They want to push the limits of the design space. They want to build something that is information-theoretically secure and completely useless in practice.

But industry doesn't seem to be able to do it either: they are
too often brain-damaged by a bean-counting, 6-month-returns mindset.

I would work on this stuff full-time if someone would pay me to do it but noone will since I don't have a PhD and if I did, I probably wouldn't want to anymore!

IAB Concerns Regarding Internet Research and Evolution

] I'm starting to wonder if were aren't watching something
] like the same strategy again. In other words, it's
] possible Cheney and company are actually bluffing. This
] time, instead of trying to terrify the Soviets into
] collapse, the objective is even grander. If I'm right
] about this, they have two goals. Neither involves actual
] war, any more than the MX missile did.

The thought had occurred...

John Perry Barlow provides a personal perspective on Dick Cheney