The Daily Radar
Thursday, 27 July 2006 | 125 readers so far
For Dedicated Gamers, a PC With an Unearthly Look
I would love one of these.
The Alienware Area-51 7500 is the kind of computer that kicks sand in the face of wimpier PC’s. Based on Intel’s latest processor and motherboard — code-named Conroe for those who are keeping track — the 7500 has a processor speed of about 3 gigahertz, which means you’ll be able to play blindingly fast games of Solitaire.
I would NOT play solitaire on such a wonderful machine. There are so many other more useful things you could do with one of these sweet little rocket machines.
I’ll likely end up building my own custom again when replacement time rolls around. It’s just fun.
Kofi Annan accuses Isreal of murder
From Boortz:
An Israeli air strike yesterday in Southern Lebanon killed 4 U.N. observers at a post. Immediately, and without hearing Israel’s side of the story, Kofi Annan issued the following statement: “I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defense Forces of a U.N. Observer post in southern Lebanon.” The accusation is clear: Israel killed the U.N. observers on purpose.
Israel responded by saying they were shocked by Annan’s statement and that the air strike was an accident. Why wouldn’t it be? What possible motivation would the Israeli Defense Forces have for killing innocent U.N. observers? War is a messy business. Missiles go awry…coordinates get punched in by mistake…miscommunications happen. Remember when the United States blew up China’s embassy in Belgrade? It happens. Southern Lebanon is a war zone. It is a risky place.
Give your customer service rep a break today
I’ve complained before about how hard it is to understand some Indian customer service people. However, I’ve recently been privileged to work with an extremely competent Indian programmer. Instapundit relates his recent tech support experience involving a rep from the subcontinent:
ANOTHER NON-HELLISH CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCE: Installed a new wireless router, and had some trouble getting it to talk to the modem. BellSouth customer service was nice, but told me it was a Linksys issue. Talked to the Linksys guy — he said his name was “Joe” but he was somewhere in India, I think — and though it took a while we figured it out. He seemed pathetically relieved that I just went through the steps politely and didn’t yell at him.
I don’t like the outsourced tech support firms that force their employees to pretend they are in the U.S. However, I do think some patience is in order. If you’re having a hard time understanding your rep be patient. You might find out the person you’re dealing with is competent, even if they are somewhat hard to understand.
Patience is something I have had to practice a lot in the last year of my life. It can pay off sometimes.
Wall Street Journal on MilBloggers
Blackfive reports that the Wall Street journal is talking about milbloggers. Article here.
If you don’t know who JP Borda is you should. Visit milblogging.com right now. A great resource if you’re interested in the view from the ground in Afghanistan or Iraq.
Rare counting ability induced by temporarily switching off brain region
Just place a pulsing magnet over the correct area of your brain and become a math genius a la Rain Man. OK, it’s not quite that simple, but it is certainly interesting research. My dad has the ability to do a lot of math in his head, and I’ve often envied him that. Maybe I need the right kind of magnetic helmet so I can show him up at the next family meeting.
1 July 27th, 2006 at 2:39 pm
Elizabeth says:
re “What possible motivation would the Israeli Defense Forces have for killing innocent U.N. observers?”
Trevor, I’m surprised you can’t see why Israel would kill U.N. observers. They’re witnesses! Doesn’t every competent criminal kill the witnesses?
2 July 27th, 2006 at 3:04 pm
Trevor says:
Based on the preponderance of that empirical data you so generously shared, Elizabeth, it is now quite clear to me that Israel murdered innocent observers on purpose.
I wonder how you would react if I was killed by an incoming insurgent rocket over here. Would you have the same amount of vitriol for the perptrators of that act?
War is by nature, inherently dangerous. The U.N. observers who were killed knew they were in a war zone. They were all adults and they were all there voluntarily. As sad as the incident is, I see no reason to suspect that Israel is so stupid as to intentionally target U.N. observers. After all, there are millions of Lebanese witnessing the ongoing events who will testify to what is happening on the ground. What possible political gain could come from murdering four people when there are thousands more around who see what’s happening?
It isn’t as if the U.N. has massive credibility. U.N. incompetence makes America’s entrenched government bureaucracies pale by comparison.
3 July 27th, 2006 at 11:37 pm
Elizabeth says:
Trevor, your naivete is shocking, yet in a way endearing. You are so innocent sometimes.
The reason Israel does things that might seem on the surface to be stupid (as well as immoral) is because they’ve gotten away with it so many times without any real consequences. Whatever they do, the U.S. backs them up. Was anyone prosecuted for the war crimes that Israel committed in their first war against Lebanon? In their wars against the Palestinians? NO. (Although, if I remember correctly, several countries in Europe, and perhaps the U.K, threatened to prosecute some of the Israeli generals if they dared show up in those countries, which they didn’t). Israel gets away with almost anything it wants, because it has the world’s only superpower backing it up regardless. Trevor, all you have to do is READ something besides Neal Boortz etc. Why don’t you try:
http://www.independent.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk
4 July 28th, 2006 at 1:06 am
Shane says:
I built my own custom back in February; it’s pretty nice 8-). I’ll mail you the specs if you’re interested.
Kofi Annan is one to talk about morality.
5 July 28th, 2006 at 3:28 am
Elizabeth says:
Here’s a post from someone else’s blog that includes links:
http://kabobfest.blogspot.com/2006/07/why-israel-kills-un-observers.html