Article

2005-07-07

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Posted by Fred 2005-07-07 00:00|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 My suggestion would be have a script that will redump data according to the other category headings such as Al Qaeda, have the script dump all individuals affiliated with AQ, etc.

HTH

Posted by badanov 2005-07-07 00:33|| http://www.freefirezone.org]">[http://www.freefirezone.org] 2005-07-07 00:33|| Front Page Top

#2 I noticed that a lot of the big names are repeated many times over, due to their affiliations or the different regional names Rantburg has used over the years

eg:
2446 Hafiz Mohammad Saeed Jamaat-ud-Dawa India-Pakistan
708 Hafiz Mohammad Saeed Lashkar-e-Taiba
2047 Hafiz Mohammed Saeed Jamat-ud-Dawa India-Pakistan
321 Hafiz Muhammad Saeed Lashkar-e-Taiba
324 Hafiz Muhammad Saeed Jamaat al-Dawa Afghanistan/South Asia Supremo
325 Hafiz Muhammad Saeed Markaz al-Dawa wal-Irshad Afghanistan/South Asia Supremo
1136 Hafiz Muhammad Saeed Markaz ad Dawa
1492 Hafiz Muhammad Saeed Jamaat-ud-Dawat India-Pakistan
1516 Hafiz Muhammad Saeed Markaz Dawah Wal Arshad India-Pakistan

Could that be reduced down to just one link that brings up all the different pages associated with that list?

Posted by Paul Moloney 2005-07-07 00:56|| 2005-07-07 00:56|| Front Page Top

#3 The non-standardised spelling of Arabic names presents a big problem, since one turban can be listed a multitude of times because of a K or Q; or an A or AA etc.

Posted by Paul Moloney 2005-07-07 01:09|| 2005-07-07 01:09|| Front Page Top

#4 Lol - When I was writing programs in SaoodiLand the spelling issue (not to mention the Al and El prefix idiocy) was always among the first considerations.

You wouldn't believe the shit I got for asking:

If everybody has an "al" prefix, what's the point?

Posted by .com 2005-07-07 01:32|| 2005-07-07 01:32|| Front Page Top

#5 I'm an avid reader of rantburg and truly enjoy it, but am not sure how to register. Having spent years living and travelling through the mid-east would be happy to help research Thugburg. Let me know how I proceed..
Regards
Chris Patterson

Posted by Speaper Clock8331">Speaper Clock8331 2005-07-07 04:11|| 2005-07-07 04:11|| Front Page Top

#6 Come up for air Fred! What are the numbers on the left of the page? Looks like lot-o-work keeping up with these guys. I like the check-off list for those that have checked out to the land of the dancing virgins. Must be a spelling problem in jihandland--all the els and als, etc.

Posted by John Q. Citizen 2005-07-07 08:31|| 2005-07-07 08:31|| Front Page Top

#7 The search routine compensates for some of the more obvious name problems, but compensating for too many of them creates other problems. I tried doing a Soundex search on them and that produced garbage.

I consider the identical spelling/different organizations thing to be significant -- those are the joins in the org chart in many cases (and misidentifications or misspellings in others, but we're dealing with output from the press here...)

I've got a combined search routine on my list, as well as a limit routine to guard against searches on "Osama bin Laden," which'll return most of our current 66,000 articles and cause the server to gag as it tries to write them onto a single web page.

First thing I noticed from your comments was that I hadn't closed the routine down. Leaving the editing function open to everyone is an invitation for Boris and his Minions of the Night to come in and do terrible things. It should be read-only now, and if it isn't, let me know.

Chris, thanks. I'd love a volunteer or two. Email me and I'll set you up.

Posted by Fred 2005-07-07 09:40|| 2005-07-07 09:40|| Front Page Top

#8 For Fred...

One day, a rather studious-looking young dude was walking down a road. His thoughts were interrupted by a voice saying, "Help me! Won't you help me, please?"

He looked down and saw only a frog.

But the frog spoke again, "I'm really a princess. An evil witch turned me into a frog, but if you'll kiss me, I'll turn into a princess, again."

The young dude picked up the frog, looked it over for a moment, smiled, then stuffed it in his pocket and continued on his way.

A little while later, he paused and pulled the frog out of his pocket.

Immediately, the frog said, "Please! I'm really a princess... a beautiful princess! If you'll only kiss me I can turn back into my true self!"

The young man smiled, stuffed the frog in his pocket and continued walking.

Awhile later, he paused again and pulled the frog from his pocket.

Once again, the frog implored him saying, "Don't you understand? I'm a beautiful princess! I've been wrongly turned into a frog by an evil witch! If you'll only kiss me, I'll turn back into a princess! Please! I promise I'll stay with you for a week and do ANYTHING you want! Please!"

He smiled, returned the frog to his pocket and ambled on down the road.

When he finally stopped again, and pulled the frog from his pocket, the frog/princess was beside herself. She said, "Please! What's wrong? I've offered to stay with you for a week and do anything you want! What more can I offer? What more can I do? Just kiss me and I can become a beautiful princess, again, and do anything you may command of me! Please!"

The young man finally spoke, "Hey, I'm a programmer. I don't have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog is cool."

With that, he stuffed her back in his pocket and continued on his way.

;-)

Posted by .com 2005-07-07 10:42|| 2005-07-07 10:42|| Front Page Top

#9 There's a good reason that one has dinosaur pee on it... it's a keeper.

Posted by Shiipman 2005-07-07 11:50|| 2005-07-07 11:50|| Front Page Top

#10 Appears to be a "Read Only" file. But you know some people can screw up a good wet dream.

Posted by John Q. Citizen 2005-07-07 12:33|| 2005-07-07 12:33|| Front Page Top

#11 Fred, what I meant by the last comment is that some computer geeks and hackers make a career out screwing up other people's computers.

Posted by John Q. Citizen 2005-07-07 12:35|| 2005-07-07 12:35|| Front Page Top

#12 Here's an even older one, Ship... can you read ASCII poetry?

The Crash Poem

<>!*''#
^@`$$-
!*'$_
%*<>#4
&)../
|{~~SYSTEM HALTED

(reads:
Waka waka bang splat tick tick hash,
caret at back-tick dollar dollar dash.
Bang splat tick dollar under-score,
percent splat waka waka number four.
Ampersand right-paren dot dot slash,
Vertical-bar curly-bracket tilde tilde CRASH.)

Posted by .com 2005-07-07 13:31|| 2005-07-07 13:31|| Front Page Top

#13 LOL! Took me 3 passes to get the rhythm. Circa 1982? VAX?

Posted by Shipman 2005-07-07 16:35|| 2005-07-07 16:35|| Front Page Top

#14 Datewise, that'd be about right - IBM PC's came out Sept-Oct of '81. Sadly, I have a complete collection of mainframe-era schtuff, lol! Inveterate packrat, I guess. DEC, Unix, all waaay pre-VAX, heh.

Posted by .com 2005-07-07 16:46|| 2005-07-07 16:46|| Front Page Top

#15 Fred / All - Looking for suggestions on this image. Anything can be changed, but I'm thinking mainly of the labels. Input appreciated.

Posted by .com 2005-07-07 17:19|| 2005-07-07 17:19|| Front Page Top

#16 Looks pretty accurate to me, but shrinking it down to 250 pixels will destroy the gradations... And shouldn't MSNBC and ABC be reversed?

Posted by Fred">Fred 2005-07-07 19:24|| 2005-07-07 19:24|| Front Page Top

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