> On Tue, 11 Sep 2001, Richard Erlacher wrote:
> > > Sadly, the only way in which such acts can be anticipated and
> > prevented in the future is for us to give up some of the privacy we
> > cherish. Technology and law protect those who enjoy this privacy.
>
> On Tue, 11 Sep 2001, Sellam Ismail wrote:
> > "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary
> > safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin
>
> Thank you, Sellam
>
> Those who would destroy the country in the name of protecting it are a
> bigger enemy than those who attacked this morning.
>
> --
> Grumpy Ol' Fred
> To all of you over there:
> I can?t describe what I felt when having heard those bad news an seen the
> first pictures... Tears are in my and many German eyes feeling with everyone
> injured or the people who have lost relatives or friends... As my English is
> not very good I?m not going to try to say more. Words are missings for those
> feelings...
>
> Thomas
> (from Germany)
We live in very strange times.
My daughter's friend's dad may have lost his best friend on the 108th
floor of the 2 World Trade Center... but he doesn't know his friend's
status yet.
I think that most people around the world would feel for the loss of
life of the folks in the building. I grew up in New York and
attended schools there before moving to New Jersey.
I was a history major before getting in to this computer industry.
I've worked with folks from all over the globe in multinational
companies.
I don't think I'm unusual in my view that this type of action deserves
decisive punishment when the people responsible are found.
If you allow it to drive the civil population into a state of fear and
panic and if we begin to curtail freedom of speach and assembly they
will be winning.
The only way to avoid events like this is to increase security at
airports -- which often is lax in this country... I've heard
of real security at airlines like El Al which does a serious
baggage and weapons check.
I'd hate to see this anti-foreigner attitude take hold for real.
Historically it usually occurs for a short period of time before
people realize we're a nation built mainly of foreigners who came here
to avoid pogroms and repression on economic, religious and
ethnic grounds.
I really don't think I'm a great fan of either President Bush or
former President Clinton, but I really feel that the military and
intelligence community have not done enough to get ready for the
new non-traditional methods of conflict and we're headed for more of
this.
I've worked out of Fort Monmouth for DEC and other organizations and I
know the bureacracy there has kept the military from using the
commercially available technologies effectively.
The US military is way too wedded to the old mil-spec way of
doing things. Wired had a good article showing that they're beginning to
hire consultants to adjust their method of doing business.
They used to draw up specs for things they needed which caused their
costs to be hire than off-the-shelf technology would have been.
Building custom limited production devices is expensive.
Luckily they cancelled their MCF Military Computer Family project
which was building a Vax work-alike computer in the mid-80's
when the MicrovaxII became available off the shelf.
They're beginning to adapt. I hope it will allow us to avoid losing our
freedoms to have the security all folks want and deserve.
Bill
--
d|i|g|i|t|a|l had it THEN. Don't you wish you could still buy it now!
bpechter_at_shell.monmouth.com|pechter_at_pechter.dyndns.org
Received on Tue Sep 11 2001 - 19:37:10 BST