In the most recent incident the Boston PD attempted to diffuse what they thought to be a bomb but was actually a traffic monitoring device that had been placed there by the city. A few weeks ago the Boston area was “terrorized” by a mooninite invasion. I don’t know who is more at fault, the Boston PD or the citizens of Boston who called the police.
More mooninite coverage.
This video gives a great explanation and what is at stake. I consider myself very knowledgeable about technology, but until I saw this video I didn’t fully understand the issues or the consequences.
Via lessig.orgÂ
From TownHall.com 
Democracy or Liberty
By Walter E. Williams
In Federalist Paper No. 10, James Madison wrote, “Measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.” That’s another way of saying that one of the primary dangers of majority rule is that it confers an aura of legitimacy and respectability on acts that would otherwise be deemed tyrannical. Liberty and democracy are not synonymous and could actually be opposites.
Dr. Williams serves on the faculty of George Mason University as John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics and is the author of More Liberty Means Less Government: Our Founders Knew This Well
This kind of moral courage in a politician gives me a small sliver of hope for the republic.
From: Politico.com
Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut told the Politico on Thursday that he has no immediate plans to switch parties but suggested that Democratic opposition to funding the war in Iraq might change his mind.
Lieberman, a self-styled independent who caucuses with the Democrats, has been among the strongest supporters of the war and President Bush’s plan to send an additional 21,500 combat troops into Iraq to help quell the violence there.
Bob Drogin of the L. A. Times outs 3 CIA pilots involved in extraordinary rendition operations where suspected terrorists are transferred to countries other than the United States for imprisonment and interrogation.
A group of Dutch techies have developed a system that uses a projector to follow a green laser to project “light graffiti” on the sides of buildings.
Don’t spend your money with corporations who invest in state sponsors of terrorism. The Center for Security Policy is dedicated to informing the public on which companies do and do not invest in hostile governments. The best way for the public to voice its opinion in a capitalistic society is with its money.
I just found this awesome site that ranks the characters of “24”. The rankings vary according to what happens during each episode. If you love “24”, you will love this site.
The Washington Post has a great site where they keep track of every vote in the House of Representatives and the Senate. The site even has an RSS feed for each member of congress.
Michael Crichton on the current state of science and the history of how science came to the point it is at.
There is a new product out for the XBOX 360 that has two extra fans to cool the console, as well as converting the proprietary input to work with most standard A/V cables and includes a 4-port USB hub. What more could a gamer ask for….and it is only $30. IGN has a first look at the new add-on.
I had nothing but disdain for Molly Ivins and this below articulates better than I could, why. She made Rush Limbaugh seem like a voice of moderate reason and I was fairly certain that her incessant colloquialisms were just plain made-up shit.
This from our friend Britt.
“After the death of Molly Ivins, the Star Telegram went nuts over her passing. Every day there were anywhere from one to literally six pages (yes, one day there were six pages) of adulations over her life, works and contributions to society and how great of a woman she was. I have never seen so many articles and so many square inches of print devoted to any one subject.
Yesterday, the below appeared in the Letters to the Editor section.”
“After seeing the paeans to the late Molly Ivins on your opinion pages, I realize this letter has about as much chance of being published as a meatball has of getting past Luciano Pavarotti, but here goes.
It’s clear that Ivins was a hero to liberals because she captured and personified the left-wing mentality in her writing and represented the quintessential far-left position of “Always pander; never listen.”
Her columns pimped and catered, producing sounds that only a fellow left-winger could hear. But that was her audience, because that was her rice bowl. Like many professional liberals — Bill Moyers, Bill Maher and Jon Stewart come to mind — Ivins learned early that a livelihood could be had by slavishly procuring applause from the left.
She prided herself on her writing — basically a mealy, watery brand of aw-shucks invective mingled with childish attempts at country-fried pseudo-endearments that rarely made sense and were often idiotic and silly (“mad as a peach orchard boar”).
The fact is, she lived her life in a state of perpetual tantrum, hands clamped tightly over her ears, all traffic outgoing, nothing resembling intellectual or reasonable discourse allowed in.
Trying to reason with Ivins was like X-raying lead. Once she had established herself in her own mind as Will Rogers’ evil twin and got paid for it, she was immovable, dense and impenetrable. Never swayed by logic, undeterred by reason or facts, she played strictly to her liberal audience for the sweet sound of unconditional approval and, of course, was never disappointed.â€
John Stevens, Perrin
When I first played the demo for Lost Planet, I had high hopes for the game and the graphics looked amazing. Sadly, Ars Technica’s review of the game points out some major flaws, while referencing one of my favorite movies; Starship Troopers.
From: CNET
In a rare open letter from CEO Steve Jobs on Tuesday, Apple urged record companies to abandon digital rights management technologies.
By George F. Will
Newsweek
… Over the millennia, the planet has warmed and cooled for reasons that are unclear but clearly were unrelated to SUVs. Was life better when ice a mile thick covered Chicago? Was it worse when Greenland was so warm that Vikings farmed there? Are we sure the climate at this particular moment is exactly right, and that it must be preserved, no matter the cost?
What is one to do when an electronic form of a government document is laden with DRM? Jerry Brito at the TLF has some great commentary on the subject when DRM restricted him from copy a portion of the 9/11 Commission Report of all things. It is almost too much to take, but I will continue to fight it.