General

BTW, I’ve been getting all kinds of emails saying that the Google rep did say the deal with Blogger is about synergy. It’s also in today’s NY Times article. I’m a little too close to this to say that Google has to be really careful about tying their weblog hosting service with their search engine, but it’s true anyway. I’ve heaped praise on Google in the past for their integrity, for not selling placement in search engine results. Everyone is going to be watching to see if they tilt the search table to favor their weblogs. And even if they don’t we really do need a second search engine, in case there’s too much synergy. [Scripting News]

As Halley writes, some seriously nasty snow here…

I’m finally digging out from under the blanket drifts on my bed — I’ve been sleeping non-stop since yesterday because my flu came back, the nasty thing — and now that I dug my way out of the covers, it seems the snow is really beginning to hit us hard here — so I’ll dive back under. I’ve been reading and managed to make myself some lunch — macaroni and cheese — first thing I’ve eaten in days it seems like.

It’s one of these sideways storms, the snow doesn’t just fall down, but blows in sideways with such force it looks like they’re sandblasting the the side of the building. What a winter this has been. Get those spring dresses with the flirty skirts ready and slingback shoes — give me some warm April weather and a summery spring evening in a cafe, barelegs, pretty sandals, painted toes, enough of these wool socks and boots. [Halley’s Comment]

Subscribed I am…

News Update. Jon Johansen has a new blog called “So sue me”. I find this hilarious. Subscribed. (Best of all, itâs running… [Aaron Swartz: The Weblog]

Here’s something I’ve gotta try: RSS feeds from Outlook. Most of my life is in Outlook. I’d love to build an RSS feed that my boss can aggregate from Outlook. Thanks to Scott Hanselman for this.  [The Scobleizer Weblog]

I am trying to think through the reasons people are opposing this war.  This is not an indictment of those reasons, it is just me thinking them through.  Not everyone who opposes the US on this war will support all of these reasons (many would actually oppose many of the reasons listed).  The opposition is a diverse group.  Here is my list:

• Opposition to all war.
  
• Frustration with the US, as the sole superpower in the world, exercising its military power without considering the desires of the rest of the world.  This is tied to the hope, that global activism in combination with strict fealty to the UN, can contain US power.
  
• Opposition to the US across the board (anti everything the US does).  
  
• The US is the #1 source of global evil (this is a stronger version of the above).
  
• Belief that UN inspections and sanctions can work to prevent Iraq from ever becoming a threat -or- that Iraq has already been disarmed.
  
• Belief that war is more of a threat to the Iraqi people than living under Saddam for another couple of decades.

Any more add to this list? [John Robb’s Radio Weblog]

Question.  It appears that the inspection process made much more progress over the last few weeks that it has made in last 10 years (mostly since that for most of that time it was suspended due to Iraqi actions).  It’s clear that the presence of 130,000 US troops on its doorstep and a willingness to use those troops made the difference in Iraqi attitudes.  If that is what it takes to make Iraq comply, is the rest of the world ready to underwrite the costs of keeping them there indefinitely??  I don’t think so.  [John Robb’s Radio Weblog]

This should be interesting to watch.

‘Human Shields’ Gathering in Baghdad: American and European peace activists wrapped their arms around posts on a bridge over the Tigris River on Thursday, symbolizing their intent to act as human shields in any U.S. war on Iraq. [Adam Curry: Adam Curry’s Weblog]