Objects in microscope may be smoother than they appear: Werner Hofer and a team has shown that the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope, which is used to produce extremely high resolution images of objects, may actually pull atoms away from the object's surface, making them look rougher than they really are. Their paper appears in Physics Review Letters' December 3rd issue.
Bush has frozen the assets of three organizations he says are linked to Hamas, including a charity based in Texas: Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. The group says it is not involved with Hamas.
P3P Viewpoints: attempting to make the W3C's Platform for Privacy Preferences and the debate around it understandable. [via Politech]
Statewatch, which focuses on European civil liberties, has a special section on the impact of post-9/11 laws. [via nettime]
Brazilian architect Argus Caruso Saturnino is planning on riding his bike through 29 countries, posting photos and journals to the web as he goes, with translations to English and French.
Reaction to the last two days of bombings in Israel: Sharon declares war on terror and the Israeli army goes after Arafat's headquarters and helicopters. They attack the headquarters again while Arafat is inside. The Israeli Cabinet declares the Palestinian Authority a terrorist organization. Arafat arrests 110 Hamas and Islamic Jihad members and calls on Palestinians to stop attacks. Bush supports Israel's response.
With the Progress finally firmly docked, NASA is trying again to launch Endeavour this evening at 5:45 Eastern. Update: It's scrubbed due to weather. Next try is tomorrow night at 5:19 Eastern.
