Firefox addins

• LinkedIn Companion for Firefox
• Firefox Companion for Kodak EasyShare Gallery

  Organizing and sharing your pictures is easier than ever with Firefox Companion for Kodak EasyShare Gallery. Upload photos directly to your Kodak EasyShare Gallery, all within your browser.

• Wizz RSS News Reader

  A constantly improving RSS and Atom feed reader. It is fairly powerful, feature rich and is well supported.

• Cache Status
• Google Send To Phone
• BugMeNot addin

  Bypass compulsory web registration with the context menu via www.bugmenot.com.

DeBeers class action]

De Beers is the largest supplier of rough diamonds in the world. Beginning in 2001, Plaintiffs in several states filed lawsuits against De Beers in state and federal courts alleging that De Beers unlawfully monopolized the supply of diamonds, conspired to fix, raise, and control diamond prices, and issued false and misleading advertising. De Beers denies it violated the law or did anything wrong.

The Settlement Agreement provides that $22.5 Million be distributed to the Direct Purchaser Class, and that $272.5 Million will be distributed to the Indirect Purchaser Class. De Beers also agrees to refrain from engaging in certain conduct that violates federal and state antitrust laws and submit to the jurisdiction of the Court to enforce the Settlement.

I hope you got your claim in. The deadline was a few days ago.

Article in The Atlantic Have You Ever Tried To Sell A Diamond?

Jumpers: The fatal grandeur of the Golden Gate Bridge

New Yorker article on suicides at the Golden Gate Bridge. Fascinating in a macabre way.

Update 2008-10-12: Golden Gate Managers Vote to Build Suicide Net

SAN FRANCISCO -- After decades of debate, and unknown numbers of lost lives, the board that controls the Golden Gate Bridge took a major step toward building a suicide barrier on Friday, voting to erect a net under the span.

The 14-to-1 vote came after several failed efforts over the years to support a physical barrier on the Golden Gate, where troubled souls have long leapt to their deaths.

The current plan still must pass a final environmental review, including a look at how a net might affect pelicans and cormorants, which frequent the bridge. It also needs financing: the estimated cost of the metal net is $40 million to $50 million.

It's nice of them to do this after so long but still a bit troubling that it might be blocked by its estimated effect on pelicans.

Revisionist theory that Russian invasion of Manchuria (Operation August Storm) caused Japanese surrender, not American atomic bombs.

• edge.org

  On the morning of August 9, Soviet troops invaded Manchuria. Six hours after hearing this news, the Supreme Council was in session. News of the Nagasaki bombing, which happened the same morning, only reached the Council after the session started.

  The August 9 session of the Supreme Council resulted in the decision to surrender.

  The Emperor, in his rescript to the military forces ordering their surrender, does not mention the nuclear bombs but emphasizes the historical analogy between the situation in 1945 and the situation at the end of the Sino-Japanese war in 1895. In 1895 Japan had defeated China, but accepted a humiliating peace when European powers led by Russia moved into Manchuria and the Russians occupied Port Arthur. By making peace, the emperor Meiji had kept the Russians out of Japan. Emperor Hirohito had this analogy in his mind when he ordered the surrender.

• wikipedia: Operation August Storm

  Tsuyoshi Hasegawa's research has led him to conclude that the atomic bombings were not the principal reason for capitulation. Instead, he contends, it was the swift and devastating Soviet victories on the mainland in the week following Joseph Stalin's August 8 declaration of war that forced the Japanese message of surrender on August 15, 1945. His claim, however, has been criticized because it ignores the fact that the Imperial Headquarters in Tokyo was unaware of how badly the fighting in Manchuria was going.

• The Guardian

  It [the use of atomic weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki] did not bring about surrender. With 62 Japanese cities destroyed by firebombs and napalm, Japan was not overwhelmed by the destruction of one more. The army minister, General Korechika Anami, told the supreme war council that he would fight on. What actually brought about surrender was the combination of the Soviet Union's entry into the war on August 8 and the US decision to let Japan retain the emperor.