The BBC notes that the German government warns against using MS Explorer

The German government has warned web users to find an alternative browser to Internet Explorer to protect security.

The warning from the Federal Office for Information Security comes after Microsoft admitted IE was the weak link in recent attacks on Google’s systems.
…

However, Graham Cluley of anti-virus firm Sophos, told BBC News that not only did the warning apply to 6, 7 and 8 of the browser, but the instructions on how to exploit the flaw had been posted on the internet.

The Microsoft response, after admitting the problem exists and they have no fix, other than to crank up the security settings to 11.5, was “don’t worry, be happy”, we’ll do something eventually.

Actually this wouldn’t be a major problem, except that the flaw is “in the wild” and the attacks will start.

Update: The authorities in France and Australia have joined the Germans in calling for people to avoid IE.

Update II: Microsoft patches Internet Explorer hole. Patch released at 1800 GMT [Noon CST] 01/21/10.

[Attention – IE is poisonous.]

OK, first off the military is not acting as “Meals on Wheels” in Haiti or anywhere else, except where individual members volunteer their time to the program, which many of them do. The military community provides a lot of support to aid agencies through direct payroll deduction. Although they are not paid like bankers, they have always been generous.

Much of what the military is doing in Haiti is good training for their primary mission, and they have to train to maintain that proficiency. The pararescue mission is no different in collapsed building caused by earthquakes, or those collapsed by bombing. Setting up emergency airfields in primitive conditions, is what Special Tactic teams of the Spec Ops Command does, and they are working with aircraft from multiple nations, as they do in NATO operations, like Afghanistan.

When the amphibious force under the USS Bataan arrives they will start moving cargo from ships to shore where no docking facilities exist. That’s what their military mission is, and this is just another mission.

The Haiti mission will probably include at least one field hospital, and military medicine has been doing this since at least the Civil War.

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