| War rages on over Microsoft's OOXML plans
OOXML is Microsoft's alternative take on ODF (Open Document Format), a file format approved as an ISO standard in May 2006 that describes the data held in office productivity documents such as word processing files and spreadsheets. Microsoft proposed its own standard to take advantage of its stranglehold on productivity software via its Office application. But the proposal has been met with strong opposition -- both by competing vendors that had already put their energy behind the ODF effort, and by government and industry stakeholders from around the globe. Microsoft's specification, officially termed DIS29500 by ISO, failed to achieve the minimum number of votes required to immediately be approved as an ISO standard during a ballot in September 2007. Consequently, Microsoft has been given six months to address the issues raised by those national standards bodies that voted no.
Gas Industry 1991-2000
Service companies were given the status of affiliate share-holder companies in which Gazprom was given stakes of 51% and more.
The process of turning Gazprom into a share-holder company was controlled by Viktor Chernomyrdin and conducted in the interests of the company's management. Initially, the distribution of shares was the following: until 1999, 40% was to belong to the state of which 35% could be used by Gazprom to vote, 28.7% was to be sold for privatization vouchers, 15% was to be sold to the Gazprom personnel, 10% reserved for the later sale on foreign stock exchanges, 5.2% for sale to the population of the Yamal-Nenets autonomous region (YaNAO), and 1.1% was to be given to the company Rosgazifikatsiya.
On 14 December, Viktor Chernomyrdin became prime minister.
A turbulent life
1989: Benazir publishes her second book, Daughter of the East. 1990: Benazir is accused of corruption and dismissed by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan. Her husband Asif Zardari is arrested on kidnap charges. She becomes the leader of the opposition. Nawaz Sharif becomes prime minister. 1993: Leading the opposition to an election victory, Benazir becomes president once again. She begins to cement ties with the military, which had been instrumental in her 1990 ouster. 1996: Corruption charges continue to dog Benazir and she is again dismissed from her post. 1998: With courts examining various corruption and kick-back charges against Benazir and her husband, the former Pakistani leader goes into self-imposed exile in Dubai. 2002: A constitutional amendment bars Benazir from holding a third term as prime minister should she win future elections or running in parliamentary elections.
U.S. Troops Fight Taliban, With Jobs
The Taliban tried to stop the project, issuing threats over its radio station and through "night letters", which appeared on residents' doorsteps, warning that them and their families would be killed if they participated. But the men showed up for work anyway. In the months ahead, the road will be paved.
It is an important trade route.
"The roads all run through here," Woods said, standing near a heavily bombed bridge where he has just won permission from tribal leaders to remove trees, which provided the bomb planters with cover. Listen To Cami's Report: "Anything But Bullets"
Listen To Cami's Report: "Opportunity To Work"
Listen To Cami's Report: Deadly Hidden BombsTribal cooperation is key to the U.S. Military, but winning their support is not always easy.
Wild Card/Vacation Day 11 of 12
Only two more shopping days until I return to the final days of the City Council campaigns. Then, we'll have fun taking apart the campaigns. Any dirt yet? Any mudslinging. You know, the good stuff. Or is everyone behaving? My wife is now looking over my shoulder -- literally -- so I have to pretend that I'm just checking ball scores. See ya in two days. Here's Wild Card ... .
MAKING CENTS - Use your credit card with care
Credit cards: They can be a short-term financial savior or a jump-start to long-term debt. With the proper use, credit cards can be a positive component of your spending habits.This may seem simplistic, but be sure you really need to make that purchase before you swipe your card. Credit cards are best used as a financial rescue mechanism, saved for larger items you need but don't have the cash to spend on. That piece of plastic is not free money.''And while we're on the subject, it's never a good idea to use a credit card as a substitute for cash. Routine purchases like groceries, gas and even clothing are best made with cash. Those cash back'' and rewards'' points can be enticing, but they're not really worth much.It's a good rule of thumb to stay within 25 percent to 30 percent of your credit limit.
Jonah Goldberg's deeply "conflicted" thoughts on war and torture
In this week's version of their borderline-unwatchable (though, I confess, perversely engrossing) Internet chat show, Jonah Goldberg and his friend, Peter Beinart, amicably debate waterboarding. Jonah protests the unfair treatment of what he calls the "pro-waterboarding camp's position." Waterboarding, you see, is a "tough question" and Jonah feels "very personally conflicted about it." What Jonah calls "one half of his brain's problem with the debate" is that it is an "open question" if waterboarding is even torture at all. All very riveting.
To explain his objections to the use of the "pro-torture" label for those who are merely "pro-waterborading," Jonah creates an analogy which very well may be the most deceitful and hypocritical claim ever uttered. The "pro-torture" label is unfair because it obscures what Jonah calls -- seriously -- all of the "nuance and principled objections involved on the side of those willing to condone waterborading." He then unleashes his analogy:It's sort of like calling people pro-war.
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