Japan threatens force against N Korea: "Japan has warned it would launch a pre-emptive military action against North Korea if it had firm evidence Pyongyang was planning a missile attack."

More than 150,000 U.S. troops in place: "The U.S. military buildup Thursday reached more than 150,000 troops within striking distance of Iraq, with more arriving daily to back up President Bush's promise to disarm Saddam Hussein by force if peaceful methods fail."

A Soldier's Viewpoint on Surviving Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Attacks: "Since the media has decided to scare everyone with predictions of chemical, biological, or nuclear warfare on our turf I decided to write a paper and keep things in their proper perspective. I am a retired military weapons, munitions, and training expert."

Fed report finds no environmental link to Fallon, Nevada leukemia cluster: "An investigation by the federal Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry into possible contaminant pathways found no environmental link to a childhood leukemia cluster in this northern Nevada town. The analysis of information collected by other agencies and area companies ruled out a jet fuel pipeline and the military base in Fallon as sources of the leukemia, scientists said Thursday. The ATSDR reports echoed findings of another federal study released last week showing elevated levels of arsenic and tungsten in area biological samples and drinking water, but no indication they were related to the cancers."

Hysteria runs riot; networks fuel the fear: "Where is our citizen war footing? Sixty years ago, enterprising and patriotic Americans saved tinfoil and bacon grease to help defeat Hitler during World War II, heeding the old Office of War Information motto, 'Use it up. Wear it out. Make it last.' They were not making a run on the local supplies of bottled water and duct tape in a hysteria somewhere between snowstorm panic and the last shopping day before Christmas. But then, the good folks on the home front were not pummeled by a 24-hour media with time to fill."

Are developers programmers or engineers? "'The act of constructing software is, in fact, not an engineering process,' Cooper said. 'Engineering to me is problem-solving, which is very different from solution implementations, which is what programmers [do].' Title inflation is endemic to the industry, he said. 'Web designers are called programmers, programmers are called engineers, and engineers are called architects, and architects don't seem to ever get called,' Cooper exclaimed."

I got my laptop back from Compaq today. Seems the problem was software related. Weird.

Betting on War's Outcome? 1991 Clues May Be Misleading:

Gold hit $418.10 an ounce on Aug. 24, 1990, three weeks after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, fell and then worked its way back to $404.50 on Jan. 16, 1991, the day before the air war began. By February, when the ground war began, gold was down to $358.30 an ounce; it went as low as $345.10 in September and finished the year at $355.20. From the August high there was a 17.5 percent fall to the September low.

Oil starting surging on the report of the Iraqi invasion, reaching $40.42 a barrel on Oct. 11. It fell and then bounced back to $32 a barrel on the day before the war began. Then it plunged, reaching $17.91 in February, before rallying a little to end the year at $19.12 a barrel. From the October peak, oil fell 55.7 percent to its February low.

But it is likely that gold, which closed at $363 an ounce on Tuesday, and oil, which ended at $35.44 a barrel, will perform differently this time because the aftermath of a war - even with a quick victory led by the United States - will be different than in 1991.

If the United States goes to war without the support of France, Germany and Russia, the geopolitical scene would remain tense after the war. There is also the threat of retaliatory terrorist attacks. The huge cost of rebuilding Iraq and putting an acceptable government in place could make projected record budget deficits in the United States even bigger. And there are the Iraqi oil wells and what Mr. Hussein decides to do with them if his country is attacked. Will they be safe? Will they be on fire?

Canadian schools ban the word 'gun': "The word gun was banned from spelling tests in one school only and not across the Upper Canada District School Board, board officials said Tuesday. Terry Simzer, the Brockville-based board's public relations officer, said the word was removed from Grade 1 spelling lists at Lombardy Public School where a complaint originated from a parent, not from all schools as had been widely reported. "

Brisk Sales Of Supplies Show Warnings Have Hit Home: "The scenario that many people had managed to push from their minds -- that terrorists would launch an attack on Washington, separating families and creating havoc -- came creeping back yesterday. For proof, one had only to visit the paint department of a local hardware store. There, plastic dropcloths were being evaluated with one aim in mind: Would they work to seal a room? A day after federal officials urged Americans to prepare their homes in case of a biological, chemical or radiological attack, and four days after the nation's threat level was raised from yellow to orange, many Washingtonians found themselves on a grim shopping trip, just in case."