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Nabhal Amin, deputy director of Iraq’s National Museum of Antiquities, discovers the losses and damage done by looters to its ancient holdings.

Photograph by: Lucian Perkins — The Washington Post
More about Post photographer Lucian Perkins

Twice today I couldn’t believe my ears. On NPR of all places, I heard two different guest “experts” casually remark something to the effect of, “…to liberate the Iraqi people, which was why we went to war in the first place.” And neither of the hosts even blinked at these amazing assertions. It’s stunning how [...]

SecurityFocus.com has an article explaining that new so-called “Super-DMCA” laws (more restrictive versions of the federal Digital Millenium Copyright Act) stifle the legitimate research of Ph.D. students in Computer Science. Niels Provos is a graduate student in Michigan who studies steganography (techniques for concealing messages) and HoneyPots (a technique for detecting mailicious intruders). He’s worried [...]

emolument \i-’mäl-y&-m&nt\ noun
*1 : the returns arising from office or employment usually in the form of compensation or perquisites
2 archaic : ADVANTAGE
Example sentence:
“The president, one of the old trustees, had a right to his office, salary, and emoluments, subject to the twelve trustees alone.” (Select Speeches of Daniel Webster The Dartmouth Case, p. [...]

Minnesota Senator, Norm Coleman, who replaced Sen. Paul Wellstone after his tragic death, seems to think pretty highly of himself. In the Congressional Mag, Roll Call (subscription required), Coleman is quoted as saying,
“To be very blunt and God watch over Paul’s soul, I am a 99 percent improvement over Paul Wellstone. Just about on every [...]

Regular Slashdot readers know from a previous story that they can get a cheap desktop with Mandrake, Lycoris, or Lindows pre-installed from Wal-Mart.com, and the more savvy readers might know about Linux desktops from Pogo Linux or Penguin Computing. But, if you wanted a laptop with Linux pre-installed I only knew of Emperor Linux and [...]

In a previous entry here, I ranted about Virginia Tech’s Board resecinding affirmative action, dropping anti-discrimination protection of gays and lesbians, and prohibiting anyone who had “participated in illegal acts of domestic violence and/or terrorism” from meeting on the campus unless they obtained permission from the president. (The attorney general of Virginia who opposes affirmative [...]

An inter-faith peace organization, FOR, is collecting signatures of those who would like to ask the International Criminal Court to indict George W. Bush as a war criminal. The U.S. would not recognize such an indictment were it to occur. Read about the many useles legal options (Courtesy Jon Bonne). Here’s the text they ask [...]

Another U.S. Citizen has been whisked away by the FBI and held incommunicado without facing charges or having access to an attorney. (If you’ve been sleeping, we got rid of the Bill of Rights a while back…) Story from Boing Boing. Here’s an excerpt:
In an open letter to senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Intel SVP Steven [...]