Life can apparently continue now. Yahoo Mail will now let people register for email addresses that include the word “allah” in the username. From Yahoo! today:

“A small number of people registered for IDs using specific terms with the sole purpose of promoting hate, and then used those IDs to post content that was harmful or threatening to others, thus violating Yahoo’s Terms of Service,” the statement said. “‘Allah’ was one word being used for these purposes, with instances tied to defamatory language. We took steps to help protect our users by prohibiting use of the term in Yahoo usernames. We recently re-evaluated the term ‘Allah,’ and users can now register for IDs with this word because it is no longer a significant target for abuse.” [Source]

This came after Linda Callahan of Ashfield, Mass was not allowed to register with “allah” somewhere in the username. Her son, Ed, set up a page to protest and after the Register and Slashdot got ahold of it, Yahoo seemed to have changed their policy.

Chad adds: Her son, Ed Callahan adds the following on a post of his talking about the Yahoo! ban and unban.

I’m getting emails from folks that have registered Allah_@yahoo.com. Does anyone really think Muslims needed Yahoo!s protection from such dangerous attacks? Muslims can register Jesus_@yahoo.com. It’ll be a fun little contest that doesn’t include blowing stuff up, won’t that be an improvement?

The Google “Don’t be Evil” search engine had agreed to censor searches in China, something I’m sure everyone has heard already. Evidently, Michelle Malkin has been asking for submissions for a new Google logo. The folks over at Discarded Lies have a great one.

Ah. There’s nothing like Tiananmen Square to be blocked by technology where China was the closest to Democracy since Communism took over. Dean Esmay has used the Chinese Google search engine and found weird results.

All to make the allmighty dollar, Google has caved into the demands of Communist China and will be censoring words like ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy.’ It’s not evil, but it’s quasi-evil.

See more of the entries here and here.

The British intelligence organization, MI5, has compiled a listing of more than 360 private companies, university departments, and government organizations in eight countries that have purchased goods and technology for use in weapons programs.

The listing is displayed on a secret document entitled Companies and Organisations of Proliferation Concern which indicates a much more extensive arms trade market than previously made public. As a result, MI5 is warning against exporting arms-related products to organizations in South Asia and the Middle East and, in particular, front companies in the United Arab Emirates, an apparent hub for the trade.

From the Guardian Unlimited:

The 17-page document identifies 95 Pakistani organisations and government bodies, including the Pakistan high commission in London, as having assisted in the country’s nuclear programme.

[ … ]

Some 114 Iranian organisations, including chemical and pharmaceutical companies and university medical schools, are identified as having acquired nuclear, chemical, biological or missile technology. The document also attempts to shed some light on the nuclear ambitions of Egypt and Syria: a private chemical company in Egypt is identified as having procured technology for use in a nuclear weapons programme, while the Syrian atomic energy commission faces a similar charge. Eleven Israeli organisations appear on the list, along with 73 Indian bodies, which are said to have been involved in WMD programmes.

The document also highlights concerns that companies in Malta and Cyprus could have been used as fronts for WMD programmes. The United Arab Emirates is named as “the most important” of the countries where front companies may have been used, and 24 private firms there are identified as having acquired WMD technology for Iran, Pakistan and India.

Representatives of the various governments are formulating their responses to the report. A Pakistani official, Abdul Basit, the Deputy High Commissioner, believes it to be “absolute rubbish” to include his country and the UAE claim to have worked “very closely” with British authorities.

There may be errors, but I suspect that the document has considerable merit. Potential links to rogue organizations need to be known by exporting agencies.

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

Yahoo seems to be accountable for the jailing of a Chinese reporter who was jailed in April 2005 for “illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities.” Nice going Yahoo.

Shi Tao, a journalist from Hunan province, was jailed in April for “illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities”. He was accused of having e-mailed a pro-democracy activist in New York details of a government order barring Chinese media from marking the 15th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders has published a translation of the court’s verdict which showed that Yahoo!’s Hong Kong subsidiary had provided Chinese investigators with the detailed technical information that allowed them to prove that only Shi could have sent the e-mail in question.

“We already knew that Yahoo! collaborates enthusiastically with the Chinese regime in questions of censorship, and now we know it is a Chinese police informant as well,” the organisation said.

This doesn’t look good, but sadly it’s just a company trying to create inroads into other markets. In this case they helped prosecute a journalist who was trying to implement Demcrocay into China, a government style and word in which China strictly forbids.

Sound crazy? Will the San Francisco Chronicle has an article today regarding the US Air Force and their research of teleportation for military use:

Wouldn’t it be neat, they ask, if we could nab bin Laden via teleportation? In “Star Trek,” the characters traveled between spaceship and planet by having their bodies dematerialized, then “beamed” to another locale — hence, the characters’ familiar request to the ship’s engineer: “Beam me up, Scotty.”

That’s teleportation.

Although many physicists think such ideas are claptrap, it would be ideal if the United States could teleport U.S. soldiers into “a cave, tap bin Laden on the shoulder, and say: ‘Hey, let’s go,’ ” said Ranney Adams, spokesperson for the Air Force Research Laboratory at Edwards Air Force Base in the Southern California desert. “But we’re not there (yet).”

According to the article, the Air Force spent $25,000 last year on the “Teleportation Physics Study,” (.PDF available) looking at possible ways to teleport humans and objects through space.

It’s an interesting idea, but probably will never work. I would hope either bin Laden/Zarqawi/etc. would either die, be killed or caught before the USAF figures out teleportation. The article and study is an interesting read this morning.

Now that’s cool. I’d never heard of Google Print before, but somewhere I ran accross a story covering it. It is a scan of thousands of books that you can read online. While I cannot imagine reading a 500-page book online, I also note the research capabilities of such a search engine and repository.

Anyways, go over and check it out. It’s quite fascinating.

Creator of the Day by Day cartoon strip, Chris Muir, is asking everyone for one simple task. His sister has cancer and he is trying to raise awareness for the American Cancer Ablation Center. All he is asking is for you to click through to their site so it can generate some hits and publicity.

Easy enough, now please click here to support the center.

As only a few people know, this subject hits pretty close to home right now and I wish Chris’ sister the best as I wish his family the best in coping with a cancer patient. I’ve been told it is not an easy thing to be the family member of a cancer patient, but we all must do our best to support our loved ones.

What are you still reading this for? I asked you to click on through to the American Cancer Ablation Center. Sheesh. Some people never learn. Heh.

Jim Lynch of bRight & Early is fully underway in the 2005 Blogathon. The Blogathon is a 24-hour blogging charity drive. Jim’s Charity is the Freedom Alliance which goes towards funding scholarships for the children of U.S. soldiers.

Where it will get interesting is seeing how Jim, an early morning person, will cope overnight. As fatigue starts to weigh in on Jim later tonight, will he be able to keep it up? And if so, will he debate crushed ice versus cubed ice like I suggested to him?

Time will tell and in time I have on doubt that Jim’s site will be quite funny to watch as the night wears on. Head on over and show some support by commenting, reading or perhaps even donating to his cause. Our soldier’s family will appreciate it.

Arthur Chrenkoff is calling it quits due to a new job he is to start one month from now. Chrenkoff is one of the best bloggers around and his insight will sorely be missed.

I wish Arthur best of luck in his new profession and hope someone can fill his shoes. His ‘Good News From Iraq’ series is legendary, and his wit is remarkable. All bloggers aspire to be as good as Arthur and sadly this giant among so many little people is hanging up the keyboard.

I’ve tried to pimp out Jim’s participation in the Blogathon before, bit it seems the donations he’s received “are stagnant.” The charity which Jim has chosen to give to is Freedom Alliance.

For those that do not know, I had no clue either, Freedom Alliance builds scholarships for children of U.S. soldiers killed in action. Needless to say it is a worthy cause.

Go on and put a dollar or two into Jim’s Blogathon tip jar. You know you want to.

And if you’re looking for some fun, the Dirty Kafir has a nice little caption game with Ayman al-Zawahiri himself. I personally like the commented ones better than the suggested captions.

Hey, don’t ever say I didn’t try to entertain.