Sunday, May 16, 1999

National Imagery and Mapping Agency blamed for bombing of Chinese embassy in Belgrade. The Los Angeles Times reports Sunday that "...the U.S. National Imagery and Mapping Agency has a record of providing military pilots with faulty navigational data, including the outdated map used by NATO in the accidental May 7 bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade that killed three people and injured 20." [Yahoo/Reuters]

Saturday, May 15, 1999

Yahoo/Reuters: Yeltsin survives Duma impeachment attempt -- "Despite the impeachment vote, Yeltsin's stand-off with the Duma is far from over. He must now seek approval for his choice of prime minister, Sergei Stepashin. If the Duma rejects him three times, Yeltsin must dissolve the chamber. The first approval vot is Wednesday."

Friday, May 14, 1999

CNN: Yugoslavia says village death toll tops 100 -- "Yugoslavia blamed NATO Friday for an attack on a Kosovo village it said left at least 100 people dead. NATO said Friday it had attacked several targets in the area, but had no details on the incident."

Wired: Belgrade satellite link safe -- ``"We appreciate the hundreds of supportive emails and Loral Orion's decision not to shut down the link, at least for now," said BeoNET co-founder Alex Krstanovic, in an email. However, he said he was concerned that the United States may still decide to censor information coming out of the war-torn country.' '

Stratfor: Further Consideration of NATO's Faulty Map Explanation

Federal Computer Week: Russia backs out of high-tech NATO exercise -- "The exercise, which began May 6 in Baumholder, a town near Ramstein Air Force Base, is part of NATO's Partnership for Peace (PFP) program to standardize communications technologies used by allied militaries around the world."

Yahoo/Reuters: U.S. lawmakers agree billions for Kosovo war, aid -- However..." To offset the cost of the Central American aid and some of the other non-defense items in the bill, House and Senate negotiators agreed to cut $1.25 billion from the federal government's food stamp program, as well as cut funding for public housing and for environmental initiatives favored by Vice President Al Gore...."

Thursday, May 13, 1999

Schizophrenic Senate? -- "In a remarkable day of rapid shifts that had the powerful gun lobby on the defensive, the U.S. Senate Thursday passed two new gun control measures and reversed itself on the controversial issue of requiring background checks on buyers at gun shows." [Yahoo/Reuters]

Wired: US May Pull Belgrade Bandwidth -- "A crucial satellite link to Yugoslavia's Internet may be severed to comply with a United States government embargo. Under the trade embargo signed last week by President Clinton, US satellite carrier Loral Orion may be ordered to drop a satellite uplink arrangement that supplies bandwidth to two of the country's major Internet service providers (ISPs)."

CNN: Reno defends computer-search caution in Los Alamos case -- "The FBI was not allowed to search the computer of a nuclear weapons lab employee in 1997, long before his eventual firing, because of insufficient evidence and concern the information collected might be dated, law enforcement sources told CNN."

Wednesday, May 12, 1999

CNN: Yeltsin fires prime minister on eve of impeachment hearings. Primakov's replacement, Sergei Stepashin, "also heads Russia's police forces and internal security units."

Yahoo/Reuters: US Senate Defeats Gun Control Bids By Democrats. The Senate defeated the measure, which would have required instant background checks for firearm purchases at gun shows, by a 51-47 vote.

Federal Computer Week: Navy: DOD must balance Y2K preparation, public perception -- David Wennergren, deputy chief information officer of the Navy, stated that ``preparing for possible interruptions -- what he called 'consequence management' -- needs to be balanced with preventing public distrust and worry -- what he called 'perception management.' ``

Wired: House passes Y2K bill. "The legislation would curtail the flood of lawsuits expected to occur if computer systems are severely damaged by the still-theoretical millennium bug. It would limit class-action suits, encourage mediation, and place a US$250,000 cap on punitive damages." (I find it interesting that Wired refers to the millennium glitch as "still-theoretical.")

Tuesday, May 11, 1999

CNN: China wants more answers on embassy bombing -- "An apology was one demand China issued to U.S. Ambassador to China James Sasser on Monday. The others included a full and public investigation into why the bombing happened and severe punishment of all those responsible."

David Horowitz: Stop This War

China and Russia step up demands for an end to NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. The U.S. is adamant that the air war must continue. [Yahoo/Reuters]

National Guard's Y2K Mobilization -- WorldNet Daily discusses the May1-2 national communications drill by the National Guard and also explores the continuing controversy as to whether or not the Guard is planning a national mobilization in response to Y2K.

Sunday, May 09, 1999

Reuters/Yahoo: China suspends military ties with U.S. -- "'China has decided to postpone its consultations with the United States in the fields of proliferation prevention, arms control and international security,' the statement said."

Washington Post: FBI Sought to Suppress Report on TWA Crash -- "In January 1997, six months after TWA Flight 800 crashed off the coast of Long Island, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms concluded that mechanical failure had caused the tragedy. But FBI officials, still convinced terrorists had downed the plan with a bomb or a missile, dismissed the 24-page report as 'unprofessional and reprehensible,' and even persuaded a Treasury Department undersecretary to help them suppress it."

salon.com: Web of Doom -- "The Littleton shootings have set off the most intense and broad-brushed wave of anti-Internet paranoia since the Great Net Porn Scare of 1995."

Washington Post: Battle Lines on Y2K Liability Catch Gore in Cross-Fire -- "Republicans and key business lobbyists are using the Y2K glitch to force Vice President Gore to choose between two important Democratic constituencies: trial lawyers and Silicon Valley."

Saturday, May 08, 1999

CNN: NATO bombs Chinese embassy in Belgrade

CNN: Florida's 1923 electric chair replaced -- "'The existing electric chair is showing many signs of age and wear and tear,' said a report by Barkley Consulting Engineers."

Chicago Tribune: Bugs force FAA to put older radar system back -- "Molinaro said the FAA does not have a fallback strategy if the kinks in ARTS 6.05 are not worked out by June 30 or--in a worst-case situation -- by Dec. 31. Asked what the FAA would do if such a scenario came to pass, Molinaro said: 'I wouldn't even to speculate on it.'"... "The system's predecessor, ARTS 6.04, has fewer bells and whistles but operated nearly flawlessly until being retired last August. At this late date, the FAA said, there is no intention of investing the money needed to render ARTS 6.04 Y2K-certified in case the bugs with the newer model cannot be eliminated."

Time: The Russians Are Crashing: The Russians are scrambling to get their missile systems ready for Y2K. The war in Yugoslavia isn't helping. -- The Pentagon's annnouncement on April 19 that the U.S. and Russian would continue to cooperate towards remediation is greeted with skepticism by some analysts.

Thursday, May 06, 1999

Wired: Landmark Ruling on Encryption -- "Encryption programs are protected by the First Amendment and can be freely shipped overseas, a federal appeals court ruled in a landmark decision Thursday."

Federal Computer Week: DOD's 'lousy' computers create financial mess -- "DOD has been at the center of a financial management storm for the past year, since the General Accounting Office found in the first consolidated financial statement that the government's books are riddled with financial discrepancies, missing equipment records and overpayments. The federal government spends roughly $1.9 trillion a year, and DOD is the largest spender."

Nando Times: Gore pushes Internet limits to 'honor the lives' of Columbine victims -- "In the wake of the Colorado school shooting, Internet companies have consented to providing new tools for parents to restrict and monitor online material such as violent video games and hate-group Web sites, Vice President Al Gore said Wednesday."

Tuesday, May 04, 1999

Marine Corps exercises in Richmond, VA get mixed response. -- "The Marines and governments that have worked with the service on other exercises say the Marines are just getting ready to deal with crises that take them into increasingly dangerous urban areas overseas." On the other hand, "some Virginians [are] worried about secretive encroachments on civil liberties, accident hazards, and misguided use of the American military." [Richmond Times Dispatch]

These two stories make an interesting counterpoint --

Feds print billions of bucks to counter Y2K [Newsbytes] -- "Back home on Texas turf over the weekend, Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, pounded out the message that the Federal Reserve is prepared to meet any eventuality that the year 2000 may bring, including a run on the nation's banks brought on by fearful Americans."

Feds lose billions on Y2K [Wired] -- "Congressional auditors have found that federal agencies have lost track of the billions of dollars they requested to rid their computers of Y2K glitches."

CNN/Reuters: French nuclear plants could be jeopardized by Y2K bug -- "France relies more than any other nation on nuclear power and also supplies many of its neighbors with electricity."

Parents worry about kids on the Internet -- "only 28 percent agreed with the statement, 'The Internet can help my children learn about diversity and tolerance.' " [Nando Times]

Monday, May 03, 1999

Repealing the law of supply and demand -- California seeks to outlaw price gouging between Oct. 1, 1999 and April 1, 2000. Discussion I've seen so far on this suggests that the bill is a sure-fire means of guaranteeing huge price increases and creating black markets. On the other hand, I'm not an economist. ;-)

The Amish and Y2K -- An interesting perspective on interdependencies from the Amish point of view.

Saturday, May 01, 1999

salon.com: Another Littleton waiting to explode? -- Death threats and an uncaring school system convince one mother to move.

Y2Knewswire.com: Check out the Internet's first plain-English translation of the Year 2000 Council's report. Wondering what John Koskinen really said in that lengthy .pdf format report?

CNN: Protesters encircle NRA convention site.

Rev. Jesse Jackson reportedly wins release of three American soldiers.

Wired: DejaNews backtracks on tracking.

Nando Times: Virgin Atlantic won't fly on New Year's Eve, but not because of the date rollover.