Now don’t get me wrong, a lot of people are suffering badly because of the current credit crunch, created by insane money-inflaters. Still, Dutch ASML had the best year ever in it’s history. Who is ASML you say? They are the #1 supplier (together with Nikon if I’m not mistaken) to the chip producing industy. Think dozens of ASML machines (called wafer steppers) humming away in Intel’s, Toshiba’s, Samsung’s etc. factories.

And where are all those chippies going? <sarcasm>In the things we really cannot miss in our day to day struggle. Like erm, flat screen TV’s, iPad’s. Yeah we’re doing bad.</sarcasm>

I truly feel sorry for the people who find themselves stuck at the wrong end of the current issues. And for those who truly think they cannot do without the iStuff.

Jon Stewart breath my gas. Onward Christian soldiers!

What an uplifting site.

Tim O’Reilly (yes the publisher; if ever you need a technical book and find one on the subject,my experience is you can buy with your eyes closed. Always top material) is an amazingly outspoken person on his Google+ account. A short excerpt from his latest post, referring to an article in the Washington Post.

“… The list of powers acquired by the U.S. government since 9/11 puts us in rather troubling company.”

Here’s a list of the issues discussed in the article:

• Assassination of U.S. citizens
• Indefinite detention
• No right to a civilian trial
• Warrantless searches
• Secret Evidence
• US officials have immunity from War Crimes prosecution
• Secret courts with secret evidence
• Immunity from Judicial review
• Continuous monitoring of citizens
• Extraordinary rendition

It was easy to blame Bush for introducing these new powers in the anti-terrorist mania after 9/11. What’s inexcusable is the way that President Obama’s administration has extended these powers. Change indeed. The first politician who really stands for restoring freedom would make me abandon Obama in a heartbeat. Give me a politician of any party who will make a serious commitment to restoring our nation’s commitment to freedom, and he or she will have my vote.

I am reluctant to blare from the other side of the pond, but I do think the sentiment is spreading here, for whatever it’s worth. OK, back to the crazy political climate here, sigh.

On this side of the pond I can assure you a few people are disappointed by the withdrawal of Mrs Bachmann. I for sure had sort of enjoyed Palin II sort of scenes. Oh well, can’t have it all.

Oh come on, I know a few people sharing the same sentiment on your side ikoni

I have no idea how “hot” Iraq is in the US after the withdrawal of the troops. Notwithstanding, IraqBodyCount published the latest data, all in interactive, informative graphs. Some data:

• Total body count: 162.000
• Civilian percentage: 79% those 162.000
• Under age 18: 8.5% of deaths with obtained age record (45.779)

The number of civilian deaths in Iraq in 2011 was almost at the same level as in 2010 – there has now been no noticeable downward trend since mid-2009. As observed in IBC’s previous annual report, recent trends indicate a persistent low-level conflict in Iraq that will continue to kill civilians at a similar rate for years to come.1 While these data indicate no improvement, time will tell whether the withdrawal of US forces will have an effect on casualty levels.

For starters here’s an interesting news item. I can’t help but wonder who paid the tab for doing the engineering/research [sic]. What Yoshihiro Kawaoka did is not science, it’s technology. But of course most folks don’t know the difference. Here’s the story sent to me by a friend:

A University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist who is an expert on the avian flu virus is under scrutiny because of concerns his new research may fall into the wrong hands.

Kawaoka has created a contagion virus in his lab, a UW official confirmed. But the official said he couldn’t discuss the nature of the virus because it would compromise the publication of Kawaoka’s research. [emphasis mine]

While the article posits that Kawaoka’s work could fall into the wrong hands, the reality is that what Kawaoka created has probably been “absorbed” by DOD and its corporate allies. How would you like to die?

Erm yeah, I f***** up. I might have deleted your comments account. We have/had some nasty injected redirection code you might have seen and erm well, seems like I have been  a bit too rigorous. Sorry.

British BAE (a defense contractor), on the brink of contracting Microsoft for their Office365 services, bailed out. Although MS had promised their data would be stored in the UK (Dublin data center), they could not exempt BAE, or actually themselves from the US Patriot Act, which basically forces any US based company, or any foreign company with a US office, to hand over any data about any client also forbidding to inform the client this information has been requested and turned over. No thanks, up yours.

And yes, of course this also holds for me writing this on a US based hosting service, my gmail, etc etc. And yours.

Added December 16: Europe is working Data Protection Directive, which seems to be a head-to-head with the US government, actually forbidding companies to share data about EU citizens. One rules seems to be that a company cannot requested directly to hand over data about a EU citizen, but that such a request should always be funneled through national law enforcement. My opinion: utter window dressing BS. 1) US law enforcement will easily arm twist the Microsofts and Googles of this world, especially when it’s about non US citizens. 2) National governments will easily be arm twisted to comply. In politics, everything is merchandise,

Brilliant shot by Henrik Nillson