Timeglider Software Outlines Rosenberg Spy Case 99
An anonymous reader writes "Related to the previous story on Slashdot on the release of the Vassiliev Notebooks: the Cold War project has created a timeline on the Rosenberg spy ring (using Timeglider — a web-based, Flash-powered software for creating timelines), integrating the documentation from the Venona Intercepts, the FBI files related to industrial and atomic espionage, the Rosenberg trial papers and the Vassiliev notebooks in a easy-to-digest, complete picture of the evidence on the Rosenberg's involvement in atomic espionage. It can be accessed via the project's webpage. The use of Timeglider makes understanding the complex nature of the case and the newly available documentation more manageable."
Re:It was a queer, sultry summer (Score:4, Informative)
Parent is not off-topic.
It's a quote from Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar [wikipedia.org].
Re:Timeglider, eh? (Score:1, Informative)
It's not just you. This timeglider thingie does an excellent job of confusing the user.
The Zoom-out feature is especially silly: When you zoom out to see an overview of the timeline, it hides all but one event, and creates the illusion that almost nothing happened. why it doesn't simply make the data smaller I have no idea.
Great way to get lost in data with no way to find yourself. Well done Timeglider folks!
This is a job for... (Score:5, Informative)
Consider the following far-more-useful timeline presentations...
http://newstimeline.googlelabs.com/ ...The shame of it all is that Timeglider fails to beat the above three technologies, and NONE of them use Flash.
http://simile.mit.edu/timeline/examples/religions/religions.html
http://www.timerime.com/
Massacre or fight for freedom (Score:5, Informative)
Let me help you. What he meant was, that more people had died in the war which ensued following the US invasion of Iraq than had died in peacetime under Saddam's regime. He's right.
If you believe Amnesty International's figures, there were fewer than 200 hangings in Iraq per year before the invasion (some might say that's enough), and even as his regime responded to uprisings, they killed fewer Iraqis than were killed as a direct result of the US invasion.
The difference is that when Saddam's regime killed people to put down the uprising, the US called it a massacre. When the US killed thousands of Iraqis during and since the invasion to suppress opposition, it is described as a necessary but tragic consequence of ridding Iraq of a dictator.
I am not an admirer of Saddam or his yobbish sons, but the story is not as clear cut as you would like to believe.
Re:This is a job for... (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.timerime.com/ ...The shame of it all is that Timeglider fails to beat the above three technologies, and NONE of them use Flash.
eh, then why does that last one say
"You will need Flash Player 8 (or higher) to view this website."
Re:What is treason? (Score:2, Informative)
Wikipedia is your friend. They have a whole article about casualties of the American invasion and occupation [wikipedia.org], and some good stuff about the Iran-Iraq war, too, though it's not as well-documented for obvious reasons.
It looks like GP is correct - Bush's war has probably killed more Iraqis than Saddam's did.
Re:Massacre or fight for freedom (Score:4, Informative)
Ok, so he hung 200 people publicly a year. From 1991 to 2003 is 12 years so 2400 people.
Then add a conservative 5000 (Probably closer to 10000 since many of the injured died of complicationis) from the Halabja poison gas attack [wikipedia.org] and we're just getting started. That was just one part of the Al-Anfal Campaign [wikipedia.org] where he killed roughly 100,000. That's just violence against the Kurds which is the most well documented. And the hangings don't account for the shootings and killings post Gulf War when he quelled the Shiite Rebellion. Body count puts the Iraq war collateral damage total at about 100,000. [iraqbodycount.org] So in fact we haven't killed as many Iraqis as Saddam.
Motivations for war aside, the operation has been exceedingly poorly executed, and may be inexcusable. But lets not delude ourselves into thinking "Well, Saddam wasn't that bad". He was worse.
Re:What is treason? (Score:3, Informative)
We are a democracy. We make our decisions collectively and/or have duly elected representatives subject to periodic elections make the decisions. What makes you think your or Rosenberg's morality in matters of public policy is greater than the wisdom of the democracy? Rosenburg had no right to endanger the ENTIRE population of the country by giving atomic secrets to Stalin. No one man has a right to substitute his opinion for that of an election of the people. Rosenberg wasn't engaged in civil disobedience by waving a sign in the park, he enabled a ruthless genocidal dictatorship (Stalin) with the power to destroy the country in a nuclear holocaust.
Re:What is treason? (Score:3, Informative)
In the U.S., treason is narrowly defined as "levying war against [the U.S.], or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort." The Rosenbergs did not make war against the U.S., and no state of war existed between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., so we were not enemies. We were rivals in a geopolitical game including nuclear brinksmanship and other brutal and stupid behavior on both sides, yes, but not enemies. (Indeed, at the time the Rosenbergs started their activities, we were allies with the U.S.S.R. against the Nazis.)
As for the Vassiliev notebooks -- they're crap [thenation.com]:
So Vassiliev did what crank authors due when presented with criticism: brought suit under the U.K.'s libel laws [wikipedia.org].