Cheryl Morris - Weblogs

There is something very chutzpah-ish about the current efforts to tame a mud volcano in Indonesia. Frankly, I don’t know whether to laugh or applaud the scientists who are trying to plug it with concrete balls. Surely, they have some .
If you want more background, see this article in National Geographic News.

Checking the documents at FAS, I found this one from 1998, A National Obligation: Planning for Health Preparedness for and Readjustment of the Military, Veterans, and Their Families after Future Deployments. I’ve not yet had time to read it, but I will. Here is the first paragraph from the Recommendations:
The Federal Government has an unwavering […]

Today’s shocking news revealed that, if you believe Libby’s account, Cheney (with Bush’s approval) had authorized Libby leaking CIA National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) data to a reporter.
This act appears to be a political vendetta against Joseph C. Wilson IV for questioning one of the major “reasons” for going to war in Iraq. The leak […]

This week we found that Cheney has the authority to classify documents; he did not respond to the question of whether he could declassify them. Can he? Did he? The NY Times reported on February 15th:
“There is an executive order that specifies who has classification authority and obviously focuses first and foremost on the president […]

Last Monday, after almost 10 years without a problem, the family cat, Scruffy, scratched me and the scratch led to a lymphedema incident. It was in the evening that I noticed I was cold and my left arm was itching. Upon checking, I found red striations and swelling. Damn. I knew those signs only too […]

All Saints has been a vocal parish for decades. In the 50s or early 60s, Pasadena was heavily split between liberals and the John Birch Society. That split extended to the Board of Education where two members (one from each side) became so hostile that the then Rector of All Saints refused them communion until […]

Two items have been reported. One is the “unbelievable” gaffe made by former First Lady, Barbara Bush, during a tour of the Houston Astrodome. What she said has been reported by several major newspapers, for example, the New York Times:
“And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway,” she […]

One risk management firm put the cost at 100 billion. I don’t know what they are counting - just a look at the satellite maps of New Orleans and the amount of damage to businesses, individuals, and infrastructure - tells me that that is too low, far too low. I fear the multiplication factor is […]

Kanye veered from his script on the fundraiser for flood victims and let loose!
I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, “They’re looting.” You see a white family, it says, “They’re looking for food.” And, you know, it’s been five days [waiting for federal help] […]

I am hoping that fellow bloggers will ferret out the details of the Sidney Blumenthal article that appeared in Salon, “No one can say they didn’t see it coming“. We need to explore the charges made within this article — take a look at the lead in:
In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking […]

My grandmother kept a daily diary from 1915-1960. This is her entry for May 8, 1945:
1945. Tuesday - Beautiful. Arose at 6 a.m. to hear Pres. Truman’s Proclamation. VE Day - Big programs all day - meeting at Baptist church 3-4 p.m. Entertained Ministers & wives - 20-25. Big party.
At this time, grandma lived in […]

In Scientific American today is a news note on two research groups that have been able to identify what image a subject was looking at based upon the MRI data. In the first experiment, there were eight possible visual stimuli composed of stripes in various directions. The researchers were able to tell which one of […]

An article in Scientific American yesterday, mention was made of research done with mice whiskers. The researchers discovered they had “changed into neurons and two other cell types–known as astrocytes and oligodendrocytes–that are associated with neurons.” The report said that when the cells were left for longer periods, they could differentiate into different cell […]

The earthquake(s) and tsunami in Southeast Asia have created unimaginable damage and loss of life. There were no tsunami warning systems in the area that could have saved lives. Why? Tsunamis are rare (perhaps historically unknown) in that area. So much for risk assessment; it is, in this case, a huge failure.
Could the tsunami […]

The Privacy Commissioner of BC has released his final reporton the privacy issues raised by this act. Basically, if a Canadian company or government entity should subcontract any personnel records to a US company, the US government can data mine the information under the PATRIOT Act. The BC government is in the process of amending […]

I admit to becoming angrier and angrier every time I enter a supermarket. As I go up and down aisles, I wonder what the store would look like if:
They removed all the high sodium content foods
They removed all of the foods featuring high sugar content
They removed all of the foods containing wheat
They removed all of […]

United States Patent Application 20040230959
November 18, 2004
IS NOT OPERATOR
“Abstract
A system, method and computer-readable medium support the use of a single operator that allows a comparison of two variables to determine if the two variables point to the same location in memory.”
What do the Microsoft patent lawyers know that we don’t …. lots, but this seems […]

I’ve still not read the entire document –only the conclusions. It seems that the troublesome laws for compliance with our GATT agreements are the Wire Act, the Travel Act, and the Illegal Gambling Business Act. The latter two are out of compliance when they are “read together with the relevant state laws.” (Dispute Settlement […]

For a project in Information Policy, I have been working on the enforcement of government policy on the ban of Internet gambling. Yesterday, the WTO released its Final Report . I will need to read through it and see what the arguments are. What will be the result for the government position […]

There have been crooked elections, but (while reprehensible) these have been confined to small geographic areas. With e-voting the possibility of even a tiny “fudge” having huge consequences is covered in “Small Vote Manipulations Can Swing Elections” in the October 2004 issue of Communications of the ACM.
We’ve all heard the story […]