A Minor Political Screed ‘The following piece came to (a Slashdot poster) as a personal letter from

David Brin. David is a prominent scientist and author of best-selling novels like

The Postman, who has shared entertaining and provocative views with us in the past. His letter

struck us as so biting and timely that we asked permission to post it before the whole Slashdot

community, in order to provoke your rambunctious discussion. David graciously agreed, on

condition that you all remember, it was written first of all as a private person sharing his

“cranky political opinions” with a few friends. “It goes over the top in a few places,” he

warned. “First draft expressions of outrage tend to be that way.” So as friends, let’s not get too

vexed with him. Above all David is interesting, as usual….’

Will this be the winter sensation after you stow your Razor when the snow flies?

Where ‘caught in the crossfire’ can leave no room for doubt: ‘When I read the word “crossfire”, I reach for my pen. In the

Middle East, it almost always means that the Israelis have

killed an innocent person.’ Independent

CDRW Troubleshooting: a four-part series on troubleshooting — when your Windows system has been perturbed by the installation of a CDRW drive; when data isn’t written properly, etc.