(4.4.2005)
Hitachi Says It Can Improve Hard Disk Memory Space By a Factor of Ten They want to roll out "perpendicular recording" by the end of this year. Instead of recording ones and zeroes on the flat surface of the disk in parallel with the surface, they want to turn those sectors 90° and mount them up or down on the disc surface. 
(4.4.2005)
"Metallic Glass" on the Way It's three times stronger than industrial steel and incomparably malleable. It slows the crystallization of metal alloys, thereby keeping them from becoming brittle. 
(4.4.2005)
Mock Terrorist Attack Underway 
(4.4.2005)
Tony Blair to Ask Queen to Dissolve Parliament Looks like they'll have a general election next month. Polls put Blair's Labour just ahead of the Conservatives, with the Liberal Democrats farther behind.
(4.4.2005)
200 Dignitaries to Attend Pope's Funeral Even the wedding for Prince Charles has been postponed to make way. Some of the memorial articles in the papers have gotten a little far-out, like the one about the Pope's shoes. Pope John Paul II is being remembered fondly by Eastern Europeans, who remember him for helping destroy Communism.
(4.4.2005)
France May End the EU Process The EU Constitution can't be ratified without all of the member states voting "yes," so five opinion polls anticipating a "non" out of one of the charter members could mean the end of the process. Ironically, French opposition is strong from those who think the new constitution is too laissez-faire; if their vision of "too free-market" includes the EU's 325-page Constitution with provisions for everything from unemployment to equal pay laws, then they have set the bar curiously low. It's not that those policies are necessarily bad by definition, but they're pretty hard to justify as constitutional principles. Any constitution that requires an annotated edition is probably not especially free-market. Meanwhile, there's some anti-EU feeling emerging in Turkey, which has been trying to get into the club.
(4.4.2005)
Why Textbooks Matter South Korea is upset over plans to whitewash portions of history in Japanese textbooks -- portions including the occupation of Korea. North Koreans might have something to say, but they probably aren't any better off under their Communist dictatorship anyway.
(4.4.2005)
Self-Appointed Militia to "Guard" Arizona Border The Second Amendment calls for a "well regulated Militia", not groups who "volunteer" to patrol the border. Constitutions shouldn't be changed or subverted for light and transient causes; that's what dictators like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe do. 
(4.4.2005)
SCOTUS Says Bankruptcy Can't Take Your IRA
(4.4.2005)
Path to an Easy Retirement in Japan: Become a Bureaucrat Despite official policy ("Appointment of former bureaucrats should be strictly restricted"), 40% of the people serving on government advisory panels are ex-bureaucrats
(4.4.2005)
US Influence for Democracy Overseas The line between supporting reform and encouraging disorder may be a fine one |
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