Sorcerer Software Users Newsletter Issue 0408 Welcome to our monthly newsletter, covering the latest updates, tips and user questions about our software programs. If you have an issue or question you would like to see addressed in a future newsletter, either by me or by your fellow users, please email me and I'll include it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- August 31, 2004 CONTENTS: with the 3rd anniversary of September 11 upon us, I decided to depart from the usual format of this newsletter and reprint part of (and a partial summary of) an article recently published in Atlantic Monthly magazine entitled "Inside Al- Qaeda's Hard Drive". It is a fascinating view of some of the inner workings of the Al-Qaeda terrorist network. Due to the gravity of the above subject, I decided to lighten things up in the second part of this newsletter with the inclusion two more "lists" that I came across. Instead of worst opening lines in literature (last month's reference to the annual Bulwer-Lytton Contest), this month's first list, courtesy of the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), is the list of the 100 worst movies ever made; followed by a list (by real scientists!) of the 10 best science fiction movies. 1. Inside Al-Queda's Hard Drive 2. What's the worst -- and the best -- movie ever made? (Sort of...) Next month... a new Abacus (version 3.0) build, and more on counting Headers and Footers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inside Al-Qaeda's Hard Drive First, let me say that this is not intended to be a political statement of any sort. I plan to do my best to keep my personal political beliefs, well, personal. Except to say this: Get out and vote at election time! Exercise your constitutional right to vote -- a right which I'm sorry to say does not exist in some parts of the world, but hopefully that is changing. This is, however, intended to expose readers to an interesting piece of journalism that I recently stumbled across. The article that I refer to was recently published in the Atlantic Monthly, a magazine that I normally don't read. (Not for any specific reason. It's just that there are only so many hours in a day, and I feel compelled to read the computer magazines and the golf magazines, so something has to give...). At any rate here is my take on the article and some reprinted paragraphs, taken verbatim when in quotes, by Alan Cullison from the September 2004 issue of The Atlantic Monthly. Mr. Cullison is a journalist who was in Afghanistan covering the war against the Taliban in autumn of 2001. In the course of his travel, he lost his laptop computer to a motor vehicle accident and therefore set out to buy a replacement (in Kabul!). According to Cullison: "The regime that had forbidden television and kite flying as un-Islamic had also taken a dim view of computers. I searched through the bazaars and found Soviet- era radios and television sets, but the electronics dealers had never even seen a computer..." He did find one dealer who could help him, however, and... "This was the man who that December would take $1,100 from me in exchange for two of al-Qaeda's most valuable computers -- a 40 GB IBM desktop and a Compaq laptop. He had stolen them from al-Qaeda's central office in Kabul on November 12, the night before the city fell to the Northern Alliance. He wanted the money, he said, so that he could travel to the United States and meet some American girls." Once Cullison realized what he had, he notified his superiors who, in turn, notified American authorities -- who ultimately confiscated the computers. But not before Cullison had the hard drives copied, and from them he wrote this article. The author reports that... "What emerged was an astonishing inside look at the day to day work of al-Qaeda, as managed by its top strateic planners -- among them bin Laden, al-Zawahiri, Atef, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and Khalid Sheik Muhammad, all of whom were intimately involved in the planning of 9/11, and some of whom (bin Laden and al-Zawahihi) are still at large. The documents included budgets, training manuals for recruits, and scouting reports for international attacks, and they shed light on everything from personnel matters and petty bureaucratic sniping to theological discussions and debates about the merits of suicide operations. There were also video files, photographs, scanned documents, and web pages, many of which, it became clear, were part of the group's increasingly sophisticated efforts to conduct a global internet-based publicity and recruitment effort." The author then procedes to reproduce some of these commmunications, including letters both before and after 9/11. It makes for fascinating reading, and I recommend it highly. You can access the complete document at: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/print/200409/cullison -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And now for something completely different... What's the worst movie ever made? I've seen some bad movies in my days. In fact that's one reason I subscribe to NetFlix (http://www.netflix.com) -- so I can see movies that could turn out to be a total waste without having to fork over $16 at the box office and another $59 or so for popcorn and Pepsi for the two of us (my wife and me). But until you've seen the movie in question, how do you know if it's just bad, or if it's REALLY bad? You can always check with your friends or your favorite movie critic -- and I like Roger Ebert, myself. Or now, you can check out this list of the 100 worst movies ever made. I must admit that I have seen a few of them, eg, "Superman IV" and "Speed 2". But I'm proud to say that not only have I NOT seen the #1 worst movie, I've never even heard of it! Not surprisingly, and given the amount of recent attention, the notorious "Gigli" as well as at least one movie by Governor Schwartzenegger made the list. I won't spoil it for you beyond that. Go see for yourself. Give yourself a break from life's routine: http://us.imdb.com/chart/bottom But wait! There's more... What's the best science fiction movie ever made? "Now there's scientific proof: according to 60 of the most influential scientists in the world, including British biologist Richard Dawkins and Canadian psychologist Steven Pinker, Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982) is the best science fiction film." This list, based on opinions of actual scientists (as opposed to science fiction authors, critics, computer geeks, and others who dabble in this realm), enumerates the 10 best science fiction flics of all time, complete with a discussion explaining their ranking. Read the entire list at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,1290561,00.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's all, folks. Look for our next newsletter in about 4 weeks... -- Bill bill@sorcerersoftware.com Sorcerer Software http://www.sorcerersoftware.com To read all the old newsletters, go to: http://www.sorcerersoftware.com/archives.htm To be removed from our mailing list, send me an email with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.