Britain and France Build Robocarrier: The F-35B will be the primary warplane on the British carriers. But it's also likely that many, or all, of the next generation of aircraft on these ships will be robotic. But first, the ship has to be equipped with an unprecedented degree of automation. Biff- originally linked at the highly recommended blog http://www.deanesmay.com/

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MSM Plagiarism Strikes Again – AP Welcome to the Party : We contacted an AP senior editor and ombudsmen both and both admitted to having had the article passed on to them, and both stated that they viewed us as a blog and because we were a blog, they did not need to credit us. ...by using a term like blog to somehow excuse plagiarism, the mainstream press continues to lower the bar for acceptable behavior.

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The Stone Face of Zarqawi : Since February 2004, there have been numberless attacks on Shiite religious processions and precincts. Somewhat more insulting to Islam (one might think) than a caricature in Copenhagen, these desecrations did not immediately produce the desired effect. Grand Ayatollah Sistani even stated that, if he himself fell victim, he forgave his murderers in advance and forbade retaliation in his name. This extraordinary forbearance meant that many Shiites--and Sunnis, too--refused to play Zarqawi's game. But the grim fact is, as we know from Cyprus and Bosnia and Lebanon and India, that a handful of determined psychopaths can erode in a year the sort of intercommunal fraternity that has taken centuries to evolve. If you keep pressing on the nerve of tribalism and sectarianism, you will eventually get a response.

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移民是香港神話的鑰匙:　許多香港人在提及自己居住的城市的時候，都念念不忘一百六十多年前，這裡僅僅是南中國海邊毫不起眼的荒蕪小島。一百多年來，正是大批大批的移民在歷史轉彎的時候流入，才把香港從漁村變成商埠，從工業製造基地變成亞洲的娛樂和金融中心。許多人把今天的香港稱之為「家」，可是幾十年、甚至十幾年前，在南來北往的移民眼裡，這裡僅僅是移居海外的跳板、踏腳石，只是人生旅途的中轉驛站。- Biff - while Taiwan's government keeps out foreign immigration and suffers from a pronounced brain drain (just take a gander at the bumpkins left behind crowding the streets), the HK government is trying to attract foreign immigration to remedy the same problem. Presumably Taiwan's government is following Japan's conservative model to keep social problems to a minimum; but Japan can afford xenophobia (and make it work) because, to the best of my knowledge, it doesn't have much of a brain drain.

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Combat Fatigue: the ruling DPP—and, for that matter, its leader Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian—seems like a one-trick pony, and a tired pony at that. "We spend too much time on Chen and his independence," says Lee. "We have more important and deeper things to discuss." Biff- Dissidents, like other uber-patriots, tend to make poor politicians. If you consider the near pathological pig-headedness required to be a dissident during martial law, you can imagine the incapacity to listen to others and make concessions during the democratic era.

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The Economist - Our correspondent is leaving South-East Asia after four years. He reports that politics and economics there have never seemed so smooth: ...Foreigners wanted to take advantage of the region's devalued currencies and foundering conglomerates to buy up local firms on the cheap. Local businessmen, naturally enough, wanted protection from such depredations. Biff- Apparently it's unpatriotic for foreign companies to contribute to domestic economies. ...Singaporeans can now chew gum, read Cosmopolitan and dance on bar tops. Soon, they will be able to gamble too, thanks to the authorities' decision to license two casinos. Instead of simply scolding voters, the government has taken to pandering to them:

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Instructions To Taxi Drivers: The brakes too, operate in a gradual manner, rather than in binary on and off positions. Every time you clumsily jab at the brakes, my stomach comes out my throat. In addition, please be aware that the brakes are not the only way of making your car slow down: an alternative is just to take your foot off the accelerator. Gradually.
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港人反政治竊聽捍衛免於恐懼的自由: 梁國雄的議員辦公室和家裡，都安裝反竊聽裝置﹔身為立法會保安事務委員會主席的民主黨議員涂謹申，假設每一刻都被監聽。親北京的民建聯主席馬力、政協委員劉迺強等，透露被監聽的經驗。