Coal? No thanks!

Germany has subsidized coal mining for many years now to protect jobs that otherwise would be lost. This program to protect those jobs is now to be down-scaled until it then eventually is to disappear, which is expected to take place in 2018. This step is taken for two reasons for one it will decrease the production of fossil fuels and make it easier for Germany to comply with the EU standard norms. Also this subsidiary system put a great strain on Germany's budget in the form of 2.5bn Euro it can be argued however that maintaining a inefficient production is cheaper then to force thousands out of jobs which would mean that a number of those who lost their jobs will be likely to life off welfare. Also they are less likely to spend money since the amount available is smaller.
If this decision is a good one or not time will show, however this plan is to be checked in 2012, and only if the commission then decides that this plan is good for Germany, will the plan be concluded.

Relevant articles
German plan to close coal mines (BBC)
2018 ist Schicht im Schacht (KSTA)

How to punish a naughty Dictator...

The US has now finally found the punishment that they want to impose upon North Korea, this punishment is supposed to punish the North Korea for the Nuclear weapons test last year. This punishment is a ban on certain products, such as fine wines, Ipods and fast cars. This punishment could easily destabilize the North Korean government while it is supposed to warn North Korea of further weapons tests without consulting the other countries or respecting their wishes. This also is intended to make North Korea aware of the fact that even though that North Korea wants to be independent that they are in fact a country that is very dependent on imports. Thus leaving a great deal of power over it in the hands of the exporting countries. The effects of this might be that it positions the North Korean government in a corner from which they feel that only a more aggressive approach would help. Many countries think that the only way to be accepted in international politics is being seen as a strong country, a country that can win a war against other countries. That the only thing that other countries respect is strength and power.

Related articles
Cognac and iPod ban for N Korea (BBC)

Ray-Gun?

The ray-gun is essentially nothing but a upgraded microwave emitter that can be adjusted. This weapon is currently defined as a 'Non-Lethal' Weapon and is to be used in crowd control. This of course is curious since the Microwave emitter could have many side-effect, which are not known at this point but nonetheless this weapon is now facing fielding. The problem is that if this emitter is upgraded a bit it easily can become an offensive and very lethal weapon.
Here is some more background information...
1 360-degree operation for maximum effect
Antenna, linked to transmitter unit, can be mounted on vehicle
Automatic target tracking
2 Antenna sealed against dust and can withstand bullet fire
3 Invisible beam of millimeter-wave energy can travel over 500m
4 Heat energy up to 54C (130F) penetrates less than 0.5mm of skin
Manufacturers say this avoids injury, although long-term effects are not known

Relating article.
How hot is the heat-ray gun? (BBC)

Safer? Never!

The internet is not overly safe, this is more true then ever today now that Hackers have built up a share information further the law still has not caught up with this problem and this allows for a the hackers to rampage. Also today's hackers usually focus on the internet because that allows for more money then it does attacking a single system. Those thieves do not have to fear anyone but each other and trust does not go along way among them, but that in the worst case scenario means a loss of several thousand a month. But since the hackers still make more then enough money that does not matter to them, of course that annoys them to lose that kind of money. Yet, since the governments can not do anything, such as suing or imprisoning hackers.
The problem is a) tracing is not easy almost impossible and b) even if hackers are located that does not guarantee that the hacker has to face legal actions since the problem is the lack of evidence most often accompanied with these crimes.

How can normal home-user protect themselves against those attacks?
Well first the user should keep the computer updated, using a current browser is the first step into that direction, those would currently be Firefox 2.0 or Internet Explorer7 while I would suggest using Firefox, IE7 is a good browser too.
Further using good Anti-Spyware programs and keep them updated, of these one can use more then one I for one use all of the ones listed here (they are also free of charge), Spybot Search&Destroy, Windows Defender (I only started using this recently but must say it has worked reliably until now), Adaware Personal edition.
Now after these programs comes the Anti-Virus which has a wide variety I offer three different ones here that have good names but there are many more, Avast Home edition(this one is free), Norton 2007, NOD32, the latter two both charge money.
Next would be a software firewall, (the integrated one for XP is not good), Zonealarm, Comodo and Norton Firewall(This one costs money).
All of these are good software programs, and further all of the different kinds should be used, Anti-Spyware, Anti-Virus, Firewall and New Browser all of these should also be kept up to date. Since otherwise they are not effective, if you use a high speed connection you should scan at least every 5-7 days with slower connections it is still suggested but not as important since the slower systems are more likely to be left alone.

One Interesting bit of information many of the new hackers come from Romania, and they are accepted to be the best or among the best in the world.

Relevant article:
Tackling the hackers face-to-face (BBC)
Cyber criminals move focus to web (BBC)

Problems everywhere...

Microsoft is defending the Digital rights Management system that is integrated with Vista, while the Russians protest against the expansion of the Rocket shield to Poland and the Czech Republic. Because that shield would clearly threaten Russia's safety or so Russian military leaders state. The EU is adjusting it laws for online sales, to insure a fairer trade online in Europe, some of the smaller companies state that this could endanger their income and threaten their existence. In China the tiger is at the brink of extinction due to the enormous recent growth in China, living space for the tiger has become a rarity. Also a rock band in Australia has banned its fans from bringing national flags because they fear that those could cause racial clashes and violence might ensue, instead it caused a long row over the right to carry a flag in Australia. While in the German NRW (a part of Germany) a storm caused tremendous damage it had been the worst storm in 40 years in Germany. The damage is enormous in museums, stores, pants and homes. Now the female RAF Terrorist Brigitte Mohnhaupt might be released at the age of 57, the RAF is a left extreme group which connected itself with the Soviet Union bey calling themselves RAF or Red Army Faction. At the South coast of Britain a Tanker is sinking which is likely to cause enormous environmental damage.

The questions one has to ask once reading all those events (only a small selection is shown here) is it hopeless? Did the world always face so many problems at the same time? Are we causing many of these problems? If so what can we do?

The list of articles used...
Vista copy protection is defended (BBC)
EU laws 'will hit online trade' (BBC)
Missile shield 'threatens Russia' (BBC)
China's tigers pushed to the brink (Al Jazeera)
Flag row rocks Australia concert (Al Jazeera)
Mosaik hat zahlreiche Schäden (KSTA)
RAF-Terroristin bald auf freiem Fuß? (KSTA)

Child's Play...

I forgot to post this earlier...sorry...

Child's Play 2006 is over and the contributions reached a new high, Child's play is supporting children hospitals in five countries with the donations.
Lets see how next time goes...n_n

Child's play Homepage

News?

Sometimes the problem that occurs to me is that even though that I write on current events which ones actually matter enough? Airbus has fixed the wiring bug, the problem is that this seems fairly mundane compared with the wars going on in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa. Which ones of those are more important? Are there any that can be called more important? Most of the more recent news seem to focus around the little world of the westerners who in their comfort are suffering great crises such as the E-ON (German) trying to take over the Spanish energy giant Endesa. Political problems...and of course the lack of political activism in the younger generations.
While else where people are starving or dying of the lack of medical care. Most westerners life in a fairly safe world and still are afraid...of what? The greatest part of the resources which the western world has available goes to a certain few, 10% of the worlds population owns 90% of the worlds riches. Instead of drawing the line at one point we accept consumerism and capitalism in their full beauty and gather more and more things that we do not need. The house with more then 4 bedrooms for a small family or only a couple, the car park while you can only use one vehicle at a time. Why would anyone need more then one TV or more then one PC? Is there a need to own all forms of entertainment?
To protect our markets we rather destroy products instead of sending the excess to people in need. Westerners have everything and more while others have less or nothing is that the world we wanted to built?
The focus is centered around things that might affect the western style of life; Lack of oil? No problem we can invade! If we destroy the world for everyone in the process is something that only appears on the sidelines.
Is there a point at which we stop and ask ourselves :"Is this what I want and need? Or is that something I can really life without." Or will we just continue as we have until now without regard for anything else but our comfort.

Weather and Hillary...

Hillary Clinton is now running for US president and declares that she is "...in to win!" This would make her the first first Lady to seek the Presidents office. Further she blames the Bush Administration for the loss of position in international position of the US and declares that she plans on recovering this loss.
This is a very aggressive move on Hillary's side, and until now there has not been a elected female US President, this could indicate a shift in the political world of the US and also of the US policies.

Open Source and Europe

A report funded by the European Commission states that switching to open source software would be cheaper then buying software packages such as Windows or Mac OS. Since open source due to its flexibility allows anyone to add to the software available it allows for a high rate of growth. The main problem would be that since the only open source OS is Linux that personal would have to be trained on this new and different OS which could mean slightly higher costs in the short term. This is the first time that a government agency has positioned itself on the side of the open source software in such a manner. This also is the first time that a government made the suggestion of using open source to the private sector.
The flexibility underlying open source especially gains importance with Vista on the market and the only other alternative being Mac OS and Linux.

Open source gets European boost (BBC)

Violence?

Now many have heard of the criticism against violent material, Germany has had laws in place for many years now which enabled the government to outlaw movies and/or games that were considered to contain an excessive amount of violence or deemed to be propaganda. This system has only shown limited success this is explained with the rest of the EU not having joined into this program while the borders are open. Thus students could travel into Britain and obtain a game or movie outlawed in Germany and bring this game with them when coming back without the fear or risk of being detected. Now as many as 27 other countries want to help to create a program that can involve more of the EU or even the EU entirely. This is then allows a more effective protection of the youth. If those measures will life up to the hopes will be seen but it certainly does put pressure on the companies to keep their games less violent and the same counts for the Movie makers.