Sorry Indeed

This morning, I was alerted to a major retailer's print-at-home coupons. As a general rule I don't use coupons because I can never remember to take them with me when I go to the store. Also, finding coupons online, then printing them out at home to take to the store with you later just seems rather crude and primitive. However, sometimes I'm something of a compulsive clicker, and what can I say? I saw the link, and I went for it. I don't know whether I'm more disappointed as a Linux user or as a person who knows a thing or two about Web development.

First, I was able to bypass the "We're sorry" message with Chrome by spoofing the user agent string for Safari 4 on OS X. That strikes me as shoddy programming, but what on Earth is the "Coupon Print Activator"? Well, apparently, the Coupon Print Activator is a Java applet specifically designed to make downloading and printing coupons more difficult than it has to be. A Java applet. To print images from a site that anyone (with the right browser) can access.

Still, I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised. Target's internal systems are still using software based on some combination of Windows XP/2000 and IE 6.

Cause for Celebration

People are celebrating the demise of Osama bin Laden. It seems to me that a man's death should never be cause for celebration. While the abstract principle of "justice served" is worth celebrating, we should bear in mind that killing bin Laden was not really about justice. In the U.S., justice is decided by due process. It's an impartial examination of facts leading to a legal determination of what is fair.

The U.S. conducted a military operation inside Pakistan (with whom we have an extradition treaty) without even the courtesy of a heads up. I wonder how the U.S. government would feel about armed soldiers dropping into a city the size of Albany, and killing a known terrorist. How would ordinary citizens feel? If the U.S. wanted to "bring him to justice" as President Obama stated, shouldn't they have at least notified the Pakistani government of their plans?

I think, rather than justice, what Americans got was vengeance. I can't blame people for feeling some small amount of grim satisfaction that the self-admitted architect of the September 11th attacks will never cause such destruction again, but the ebullience, bordering on exaltation, that people have expressed is a bit alarming.

The United States just assassinated killed a man (maybe they tried to bring him out alive, but I doubt it). This isn't some great accomplishment. It isn't as if we discovered a vaccination for HIV or the proverbial "cure for cancer". The vast majority of humanity (and in this day and age, shouldn't we be thinking on a global scale?) won't see any clear benefit from this man's death. I know, many Americans seem to believe that Osama bin Laden's death signifies the end of terrorism, but the truth is, bin Laden was a symbol for terrorism, just as Saddam Hussein was a symbol for oppression. Oppression didn't die with Hussein, and terrorism has not died with bin Laden. Perhaps, instead of jubilantly basking in the elimination of a single terrorist, we should take a good, hard look at terrorism, and try to eliminate that.