Peter's Place

Our very good friend, the UAE, has seized all history textbooks from an American -operated private school, because it considers that the textbooks "smell of racism." Just what did the UAE's Ministry of Education find to be offensive and racist? According to the Khaleej Times , the textbooks presented Islam and Muslim countries in the Middle East in a negative light and Israel in a positive light. To wit, "Israel is one of a few democracies in North Africa and the Middle East today. Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Morocco are all kingdoms; the country of Syria has sponsored terrorism by giving aid to radicals in the Palestine Liberation Organisation, known as the PLO." Further, the article reports that "While there are clamour for change in the Middle East, one has to understand that these are the books coming from the so called 'free world'. This is a typical example of how textbooks are used to manipulate the thoughts of young minds," affirmed [Asst....

This is just an interesting example of how free-form thought on the Internet can produce surprising results. For instance, in my last post, I was trying to find a web site that spoke about suicidal ideation, and I came across this site: Understanding Chronic Pain I knew that there was some sort of a relationship between pain and depression . For instance , people who are depressed often experience headaches, back pain, joint pain, and abdominal pain. Of this list, I would say that the major symptom in my case is the back pain that I have -- nothing else can explain it. In fact, one study states Up to two-thirds of those with unexplained pain meet the criteria for major depression Now, take what they have to say about chronic pain and depression : Consider some of the more devastating psychological effects of chronic pain: 1. Loss of mobility. Chronic pain and suicide ideation have been shown to be strongly related. However, recent research shows that chronic pain is usu...

Well, the good old George W. Bush-defended UAE has continued its policy of censoring web sites. This time, they've struck out against one of the sites I regularly visit: Boing Boing . I've recently blogged about United States hypocrisy regarding its chastising of US search engine companies operating in China and adhereing to Chinese local laws governing censorship of the Internet. But now, the UAE, which censors the Internet for its citizens, has been granted control of perhaps the six largest US shipping ports. Where's the public outcry from the administration/government officials here? I certainly can't find any. Can you? In its article , Boing Boing points out that US President George W. Bush has recently defended a UAE takeover of control and administration of six of the United States's international shipping ports: "I think it sends a terrible signal to friends around the world that it's OK for a company from one country to manage the port, but n...

I used to be an ardent support of the police -- those uniformed women and men in blue whose jobs it is to protect our lives. But lately, and especially after some recent interactions I've had with them lately -- including one where a certain Town of Harrison Police Department Detective commanded patrol officers not to render any aid or assistance to me in my request to be taken to a psychiatric hospital because I was feeling suicidal (with the assistance of a patrolman who ignored the detective's orders, I was helped to a psychiatric facility where I was treated for my chronic depression / suicidal ideation on an inpatient basis for approximately two months) -- has both left me with a bitter taste in my mouth, as well as shattered my faith in the police to be fair and honest. This story is just one of what I'm certain are thousands of incidents that occur aross our country on an all-too-frequent basis. CBS 4 - South Florida's Source for Breaking News, Weather, and S...

True or false: We live in a free society? Sadly, the answer to that question, in my opinion, is becoming more false than true as time marches on, especially in today's day and age. And now, we're going to have to pay -- out of our own pockets, so to speak -- for some of the restrictions that are increasingly being placed upon us. Thanks to Nelson Minar , a Google employee , for the heads-up on this story : College campuses in the US are being asked to foot the bill to allow law enforcement to eavesdrop on their students' online conversations. What's that, you didn't know that law enforcement was eavesdropping on the online activities of the American higher education system? The Electronic Frontier Foundation explains it all. Additional resources on this or related topics include Wikipedia's article about the current controversy of the United States spying on its citizens;the Foreign Policy In Focus think tank's wonderful article by a retired U.S. Army ...

My first entertainment-related post, and it has to be a downer. The first time I saw Don Knotts on television was as his portrayal of landlord Ralph Furley in the 1980s hit sitcom, Three's Company . Knotts was a prolific entertainer; he has 113 entries in the Internet Movie Database . Thanks for all the laughs, Don. I'll certainly be one of those who will miss your slapstick wit. BBC NEWS | Entertainment | US comedy star Knotts dies at 81

This is kind of interesting. I've been participating in distributed computing projects for some time now. For instacen, I've been searching for signs of Extraterrestrial Intelligence using my home computer for some time now. In fact, I've been a member since 16 October, 1999 , and I've even started a SETI@Home team . But back to this interesting distributed computing project. This is what it's all about (taken from their web page): The M4 Project is an effort to break 3 original Enigma messages with the help of distributed computing. The signals were intercepted in the North Atlantic in 1942 and are believed to be unbroken. Ralph Erskine has presented the intercepts in a letter to the journal Cryptologia. The signals were presumably enciphered with the four rotor Enigma M4 - hence the name of the project. Neat, huh? I think I'll join in helping to crack an unsolved mystery . M4 Message Breaking Project

Trevor Clarkson dishes out the skinny on making money on the 'net with web sites. The long and short of it: Chances are, you shouldn't quit your day job, but you might be able to afford to go out once a month or so. SKETCHi Studios » blog » Quick Guide to Internet Advertising

OK, you know that blogging has gone mainstream when mainstream, major celebrities start blogging. I mean, we all know that lesser-known celebrities like Margaret Cho have blogs and have been blogging for a while. But when MC Hammer starts a blog? Look out, world! By the way, I think Hammer's blog is a great example of what can be done with mobile blogging and photoblogging. I also think that they need to come up with new terms for mobile and photo blogging ... maybe m-phlogging? Moblogging? Mobbing? Phoblogs? Hrm ... it needs work, it definitely needs work .... Blogging = Mainstream. What's your blog (leave a comment with your blog's address)?

Lately, the United States recently warned China that it needs to do more to open up its markets to US companies. (I'll leave the dicsussion over discussion over the United State's hypocritical actions regarding censorship where it stands now in my previous post .) Now, the United States is being accused, by Venezuela, along similar lines: Venezuela's National Aviation Institute said in a statement: "We have exhausted all avenues with the US aeronautical authority. "We have been forced to reduce the frequency of flights of US airline companies from the US." The institute accused the US aviation authorities of failing "to give Venezuelan airlines the rights they deserve under bilateral agreements". BBC NEWS | Americas | Venezuela cuts US airline flights

We are Americans, but we also are human beings who live on a planet with hundreds of other nations, and myriad other life forms, all of whom we must get along with if we are to evolve and continue our existence. - Peter C. Frank (yes, that's a quote I came up with -- I should search the web to see if anyone else has published this before I have, though ...)

Well, it seems that one of my favourite organizations, the Empire State Pride Agenda , has finally grown a set . I was really dismayed when Matt Foreman (note: Matt, you need to add some more stuff to your Wiki bio), its former Executive Director, left ESPA to head the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force ( NGLTF ). I mean, it's great for Matt -- I've had a few conversations with him (Matt, that is) at various lobbying events and I think he has a great mind, a level head, and is really committed to the cause. But I knew nothing of ESPA's replacement for Matt as its new ED, Alan Van Capelle , and very little about Joe Tarver , its spokesperson. I have to admit that I haven't really been all that active in the gay rights struggle since my car accident, so I haven't been paying all too much attention. But from what I recall, nothing that ESPA has done -- until now -- has really stood out in my mind. I think it's great that Mr. Van Capelle has called the Democra...