Here is an idea for improving Google.  With each search, display a side column of topics related words in the query as well as general topics.  For example, searching for 'ivory' should bring up topics like 'Soap', 'Color', and 'Animal' as well as 'Company', 'Product', 'Geography', 'History', etc.  Clicking on a topic will change the query to filter by topic.  Search result click-through feedback is used to associate links with topics.  A fringe benefit is that adwords can be mixed into with the topic column to grab eyeballs.

So the Iraqis have learned something from the last war: hiding among civilians, ambushing, faking surrender, and forcing house to house battles.  Only two options at this point.  First, let the Kurds take Baghdad by opening the way for them and giving them weapons.  Second, remove the damn restraint against targets near civilians.  Carpet bomb them after giving them enough warning and time to get out of the way.

You can't rid a ship of rats without sinking the ship.  If you don't want to sink the ship, then get a cat.

Having spent a good deal of my spare time reconstructing the battles of 101st Airborne from Normandy to Germany, I am shocked to hear of fratricide in a 101st brigade HQ.  The suspect is a sergent attached to an engineering unit, a Muslem convert.

Extremism is an aspect of religion I really dislike.  While being helpful to most people, religion drives some people insane enough to destroy lives.  Maybe there should be a medical warning posted at churches and mosques.

Warning: you may become a terrorist.

FM RadioStation was useful enough for me to recommend it, but I just stopped using it after a week.  Why?  Because it was too slow to start.  I usually run Radio only when I am about to post something and Radio is slow to start itself.  With RadioStation, I have to wait twice as long before I can write my post.  I am also not too happy with amount of memory and CPU cycles both programs use.

Programmers certainly have gotten sloppy with resources over the years.  I don't expect them roll assembly code nor am I expecting extreme frugality like Steve Gibson, but people need to remember that speed and small footprint are important features.  Speed, particularly, is making a come back now if popularity Apple's Safari is any indication.

Acrobat is another program that could use some speed.  Imagine much happier Acrobat users will be if it was twice as fast.  Microsoft Office suite is also a pack of dogs when it comes to speed.  Just try saving a word file as a text file using a non-English encoding.  A dialog pops up with a list of encodings, a few checkboxes, and a preview.  Depending on the size of the file, I have to wait 10+ seconds before I can click on anything, and another 10 seconds after selecting an encoding.  Are they out of their minds?  If an Office-killer appears in the future, speed will be a big part of it.

Prototyping is good and incremental development is good, but one must occasionally refactor or rewrite to keep the software alive.  Dave should consider rewriting Radio from scratch using Python.

While blogspace continues to sprawl along, growing incrementally, I have been scanning the horizon for what might come next.  I think I may have found a big one.  In every democratic society, there is a very small group of important people who really need blogging tools to broaden and enrich their ability to communicate with rest of the society: the elective branch. 

Today, Senators and Congressmen are more like distant cousins to their constituents.  Using blogs, Senators and Congressmen can reach their constituents with far more regularity, depth, and interactivity than mails and polls.  Through their blogs, they can inform the people they serve about their daily activities and thoughts.  This will enable them to be closer to their constituents and bring about a more efficient democratic society.

A blog portal (BlogNation or BlogCongress sounds good)  is also needed to amplify their messages and to broaden perspectives.  Your comments are welcome.

Congressional Blogs

Government Blogs

White House Blogs

Debates

Portals

 

Bush started the war early by interrupting Saddam's secret meeting with some Tomahawks and smart bombs via F-117.  Saddam returns the favor by tossing some Scud missiles at US positions.  At least one is supposedly intercepted by new and improved Patriot missiles.  Interesting how war changed so much.  Couldn't they just agree to fight the war inside a PlayStation2?

GUI being one of my specialties, I am emotionally sensitive to quirky UI.  I have been annoyed by Office's attempt to be overly smart by hiding menu item I don't use often.  Its more than annoying when I am searching for a menu item.  I looked for a way to disable it without success.  If anyone knows of a way to turn this 'bug' off, please let me know.

So the Iraq war started on my 11th wedding anniversary.  I woke up at 5:30pm after working through the night and early morning, washed vegetables, cooked the side dishes, slapped a few steaks on my grill — first time I actually used it myself — and opened a nice bottle of red wine.

Black Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon is wonderful folks.  Taste is relatively rich yet affordably priced to be enjoyed every night.  I tend to avoid expensive wines because a good bottle could really ruin your taste like a one nighter with a supermodel could ruin your marriage.  Steak turned out great.  Side dishes were so so.  Baked potato was a hit though.

We turned on the TV and there was a war on.  My wife and I toasted again to celebrate the end of a long wait.  My wife thanked me for cooking dinner.  I told my wife "I'll cook again on our 22nd wedding anniversary."  My wife said, "No, you should cook every year."  I said, "I doubt not even Mr. Bush can start a war every year."

Saddam is not surrendering nor leaving Iraq.  He is either the dumbest dictator in history or has a joker or two up his sleeves.  Saddam lost big last time and now he gets another try.  If Hitler had another chance, would he make the same stupid mistakes?  Is Saddam that stupid?  While the odds are stacked against him, he now knows what American forces can do.  So he will fight this war much differently.

I think he will refuse to fight in the open, choosing to fight in the cities instead.  Tanks and Iraqi infantries will be hidden away in buildings near civilian houses to ambush American tanks and infantries.  With engines off, its difficult to locate them from the air and each attack will cause large civilian deaths.  Also, American tanks will be vulnerable in the cities without infantry support.  So American infantries will have to clear Bagdad building by building.

A quick victory is possible only if all of Saddam's forces take a nice drive out to the desert and into a certain slaughter.  Since Saddam is not stupid nor suicidal, we'll have prolonged war lasting several months with American deaths in thousands and American wounded in tens of thousands.  I wish otherwise, but this is what I am expecting at this point.