Aircraft Carrier

As I mentioned yesterday, Microsoft has caved in to Chinese pressure and banned certain things from being posted on the Chinese MSN site. Over and above the fact that I'm appalled by the fact that Microsoft has felt it necessary to do this, I have to ask the question, why? Was the Chinese government threatening to block MS sites in China? I can't see that they would do that. The sites are required for software releases, patches etc. And what if they did manage to block MS sites in China? Would it really matter that much to Microsoft? Are they that worried about the China market? I supopse they could be, but they have such a hold on the PC market, I can't see that there could be anything to replace it. The whole thing smells bad to me. Click.

Michael Jackson is apparently going to change his lifestyle and not sleep with children anymore. Well that's good to hear isn't it. Some estimates are putting the cost of the trial at $5 million. That's just MJ's bill and he doesn't get any state help. There is also a bill for the tax payer of course.

Tony Blair says there is deadlock between himself and Black Jacques Chirac over our EU budget rebate. I can't see what the problem is here. We were awarded a rebate because we were paying too much, and every year Europe (read France) tries to stop it. Here's a good idea, let's just back out of Europe and not give the blood sucking bastards anything. We already contribute a cart load more than France. In fact, only Germany gives more. And where is this money going? I'll tell you. Mostly the common agricultural policy which the French won't discuss despite the fact that it's ruining farming just about everywhere. What are they even talking about? A debate like this should take 2 minutes and should run along the lines of. "Votre rebate est too grande", "We'll discuss the rebate if you discuss CAP". "Non!", "OK, Au revoir!"

Michael Howard says Blair has been out manoeuvered as the focus of debate has switched from EU constitution to UK rebate. I think Blair did it on purpose, preferring to face deadlock on the rebate issue than a knock down drag out fight over the constitution. I think Europe is drowning in its own juices.

Here's a story that caught my eye. A US highschool student has been charged with battery after vomiting over a Spanish teacher. The student claims it was an accident. Prosecutors and witnesses claim it was intentional. The student has since been expelled though it's not made clear whether the expulsion was in connection with the vomiting incident or not. Hell of a way to piss your Spanish teacher off if you ask me.

I'm an occasional reader of The Sneeze website and I particularly like the Steve don't eat it section. You should all definitely go and read the prison wine entry. I'm really tempted to give it a go.

Nearly killed myself trying to lift a huge server this afternoon. It's built like an aircraft carrier and I have to have the manual ready next week. It has twin motherboards, each with quad processors, and it supports up to 128 GB of memory. Is there anything in the universe that requires that much desk top computing power?