Monday, July 23, 2007

Web Pros Taking Intellectual Property More Serious? We'll See

This seems like a bit of good news on the intellectual property scene. I'd love to think that the professional Web, at least, is getting more more serious about recognizing and protecting copyright.

It's a good trend. I'll be watching to see if it continues.

World Bank Doesn't Think Much of Russia

Russia received another bad report from an international organization (not that I necessarily put much stock in such international organizations). This time it's from the World Bank, which ranked Russia pretty darn low on a bunch of statistics.

I won't quote them here. Go to La Russophobe (the link above) to get the details.

Digg Report

Digg Report: Today's #1 Digg, at 4224 Diggs, is a link to a wacky conspiracy site that asserts that Bush has signed a law prohibiting anti-war protests.

It's a fun read, if you're into making fun of crazy-insane conspiracies. Obviously, 4224 Diggsters (so far, it's still early) found the story of interest, although I think they actually believe it.

Ahmadinejad Spells It All Out

Read this. It provides a glimpse into the mind of Iranian President Imajihadi (or whatever his name is), which supports each and every claim that Iran's goal is nothing short of the destruction of the West. These are his own words, written in a manifesto presented to his government in 2005, thus explaining just about everything he's said and done since then.

Anyone who wants to appease this guy is a fool.

Iran and Syria Trip Over Their Own Tongues

This is one of the least coherent set of statements I've read in quite some time from a government spokesperson. The story's headline implies that it's really all about Israel making up the "secret arms deal" between Iran and Syria (yeah, right), but goes on to assert that Israel is failing and the West with it, and we better watch out now that Iran and Syria are allies.

Very curious. I swear, these guys are either just buffoons, or they're crazy, or even scarier, they're both.

Global Elders for Our Global Village (Gag!)

Here's a very particular take on the "Global Elders" (Nelson Mandela, Desmond TuTu, Richard Branson, Peter Gabriel, Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan, Li Zhaoxing, Mary Robinson, and Muhammad Yunus) who plan to do something. I haven't commented on it myself until now, because I don't get what it's all about and the group includes Jimmy Carter and Kofi Annan, who exemplify ineffectiveness and corruption, respectively--thus warranting more study.

I do like this quote from the post, which was quoted from the group's Web site:

We are moving to a global village and yet we don’t have our global elders. The Elders can be a group who have the trust of the world, who can speak freely, be fiercely independent and respond fast and flexibly in conflict situations.

Wow. "...moving to a global village..." As if, Iran, Syria, North Korea, and other rogue states are just huts next to ours, and our Global Elders will smoke the peace pipe to resolve conflicts between us.

I swear, I don't know how people get that much time on their hands. Although I do believe I understand the psychology behind the thirst for power and delusions of grandeur.