Category: 2004 US Election

I have listened to some of this, more today than any other day as I had some driving to do and NPR is my co-pilot.
Continue reading “impressions of the 9/11 hearings”

The son of local magnate Tom Alberg was making ricin at home and discussing how he could add it to the water supply (I live a mile or so from two uncovered reservoirs).

So, when your father is a millionaire, a big Bush donor, on the board of a conservative/libertarian foundation, and a friend of the mayor, you get to to turn yourself in voluntarily to the authorities when you are found to be making a deadly poison and talking about using it in the water supply. And your father hires a public relations firm to tell everybody how well your family is cooperating with the investigation, and that you’re not responsible for your actions.

And the Washington Times never mentions your father, and begins its story with the information that you’re autistic, had no political motivations for possessing ricin, and never planned to actually use it.

more @ [World O’Crap]

I’m glad they took action before anything happened (at least I hope they did): it will be interesting to see how the case is handled, in these tense times.

This page is just chock-ful of liberty-loving quotes from everyone from Aldiss, Brian to Zappa, Frank.

Graffiti — Unknown News:

Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.
— George Washington

Insight from a man who would know. Are the causes and history of the American Revolutionary War still taught in schools?

The Presidential Daily Briefing for Aug 6, 2001 is online, or at least a declassified version of it. It’s pretty vague: what would be more useful would be to know what came of the 70 investigations mentioned therein.
Continue reading “read it yourself”

Freedom to Tinker: New Study of the Net’s Impact on CD Sales:

First, what the study found was correlation, not necessarily causation – it may be that some common factor is causing both Internet usage and CD purchasing. Second, the study measures marginal effects, not average effects. We cannot conclude that every Internet user in a metro area contributes an extra 3.5 CD sales; we can say only that adding one more Internet user would increase sales by that much.

What does it all mean? And how does this connect to previous studies on filesharing? For my answers to those questions, tune in Monday, when I’ll unveil my Grand Unified Theory of Filesharing.

So if this is true — that internet usage is correlated with music buying — the entertainment colossi who have interests in both music and internet access are missing a bet if they don’t work out some way to drive that even further to their advantage. Arresting music lovers would seem like the wrong approach.

3.5 CDs a month, at $5-8 profit per CD, is a nice revenue stream.

It will be interesting to see what Professor Felten has up his sleeve.

An Outsourcing Finger Exercise: Archive Entry From Brad DeLong’s Webjournal:

A Finger Exercise:
Let’s try a finger exercise to evaluate the effects of expanded international trade via “outsourcing” on an economy. We’ll set up a simple model–not a realistic model, an unrealistic model, a model that has only the features we absolutely need to understand the principal impacts of expanded trade on an economy.

The model is simple but works well enough to demonstrate what principals are at work here. And the comments, though a bit stroppy at times, are informative. Needless to say, not everyone agrees with the model or it’s conclusions.

How Sender Warranted Email Works

unwanted email
hawking pr0n meds enlargement
undone by haiku

haiku in headers
the art in five seven five
thwarts the email scourge

tip of the beret to MrG

Teal Sunglasses: NY 2012 Olympics logo

Okay, the New york in 2012 crew has unveiled their logo. It’s viewable here. According to the release, it’s purpose is to capture the spirit of the Olympic Games and New York City.

Go take a look at it, and try to convince me that your reaction isn’t the same as mine — that the logo looks like the Statue of Liberty is being mugged for its wallet.

Private Guards Repel Attack on U.S. Headquarters (washingtonpost.com):

An attack by hundreds of Iraqi militia members on the U.S. government’s headquarters in Najaf on Sunday was repulsed not by the U.S. military, but by eight commandos from a private security firm, according to sources familiar with the incident.

Before U.S. reinforcements could arrive, the firm, Blackwater Security Consulting, sent in its own helicopters amid an intense firefight to resupply its commandos with ammunition and to ferry out a wounded Marine, the sources said.

This is disconcerting. A US Marine has to be airlifted from a a firefight by a private security detail, while another group of non-military soldiers fends off an attack on a US government installation.
Continue reading “soldiers of fortune”

ongoing · Office Doofuses:

The message, insofar as there is one, is that people who work in offices are clueless doofuses, and that being around Microsoft Office will encourage poor grooming, juvenile behavior, and generally coming across like a complete moron. Microsoft is a smart company, and smart companies shouldn’t run dumb ads.

Smart but tone-deaf.