 Chris Goh's "On the Net"
Morals are meant to be the unswerving and resolute principles a community agrees to abide by. I listen with sadness as many of my colleagues and even my family, who were immigrants, support the government in the decision to not allow refugees in our country.
The reasons seem to change with the wind, underpinned only by a fear of foreigners, despite the fact that those arguing the case were once foreigners themselves.
I am saddened that a strong nation like ours believes it is so susceptible to desperate people fleeing a war torn region in search of a safe haven.
I find it disconcerting that our fundamental duty of care to others - a key lesson in all faiths - is suddenly abandoned for the perception that Australia cannot support the refugees.
As paranoia grows, we are excusing our moral beliefs for a strange sense of security.
The unasked and unanswered is why we have ended up in this state. So many of the fundamental things we believe about equality and 'a fair go' are discarded because we believe, paradoxically, that the refugees' lives are somehow lower in value than our own. The bitter irony is that it comes from a nation that was founded on castaways and convicts. That fact alone should demonstrate to the nation the potential that all individuals have irrespective of our backgrounds or differences.
HotNews
Just when Moore's Law (that PC processing speeds will double every year) seemed destined to be proved wrong within a decade, Intel has announced a new technology called Bumpless Build Up Layer. Normally, transistors on the CPU are connected to the outer area of the chip, via a thin solder. But under a microscope, it looks like little bumps, which means there is a limitation to the range of frequency. Intel's new breakthrough will (in 5-8 years) allow a PC to run at 1.5 THz (TeraHertz) which is 1,500 GHz. Since the fastest Intel CPU today is 2GHz, that's some multiplication.
AMD has finally launched its long-awaited answer to Intel's Pentium IV - the XP 1800. With a name like that, AMD has obviously allowed the marketing people go crazy, without a clue about the PC market. When the name of your PC indicates the speed at which it runs, the XP has been described yet another Pentium killer let down by its branding. The XP benchmarks show that it's capable of taking over where the Athlon left off, beating Intel's 2 GHz Pentium IV in benchmarking.
News agencies Reuters and AP yearly review of the world's most competitive nations has added to the woes of the USA. Finland, last year in 6th place, has ended America's long reign at No. 1 to be judged the most competitive nation. Meantime, US economic forecasts are grim in the wake of September 11, with a seasonally adjusted jobless rate of setting a 9 year record. Almost half the job losses occurred in the wake of the terrorist attacks.
So much for the IT downturn - Microsoft has announced a $1.2 billion profit from total revenues of $16.8 billion. Licensing in the cheapest way to make money from products - as long as someone needs it or likes it you're on a winner. Unlike making money from retail sales, licenses are like a tax on what you already own. The major reason in the discrepancy between total revenue and profit was the number of sour investment choices made by Microsoft, not to mention some sticky lawsuits.
Intel came, they tried, they new it was tough. Intel recently decided to diversify in to consumer electronics - web cams, electronic gadgets and even digital cameras. Now they've announced that they're selling it all, complaining about high costs and low margins. You don't have to climb into a fridge to know it's cold.
Australia will bear witness to a landmark aviation event when the Woomera rocket range launches a Hypersonic engine, dubbed a Scramjet. After recent failures by NASA with their Scramjet launch. Scientists hope that the Australian trials are more fruitful, leading to sustained air travel at more than 10 times the speed of sound (the current world record is 3 times) More information on the Hyshot project can be found at www.uq.edu.au/news/hyshot.phtml
It's no surprise that the top three web searches on Lycos are Osama Bin Laden, Halloween and Anthrax
Hotsites
http://researchcenter.zdnet.com/
One of the webs best kept secrets is Zdnet's Research centre. When I'm in a hurry and seeking some important information I usually visit this site and about.com because they contain excellent and accurate reference materials for people looking into any facet of electronic business and technological developments in business. It has a number of white papers that will cost you money, but there is a lot that won't cost you anything (exceot maybe your contact details), and it provides you with some good reading.
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