September, 1999

27. September, 1999 - Bonus Monday edition. I didn't spend enough time outside enjoying the nice weather this weekend. permalink

• No One Wins in Cases of Asset Forfeiture. The assets the government takes are roughly equal in value to the victim costs from crimes of violence and robbery. The US Government takes as much from people (using asset forfeiture) as crooks do. That's Just Plain Spooky.
• A chiasmus is a reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases. Such as Never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you. Much more information these sorts of things is available at chiasmus.com.
• The Language Construction Kit lets you build your own language. Huh!
• Tagged students defy Big Brother. They object to wearing the number of the beast (social security number) around their necks. See also Tagged students, Part 2.
• WorldNetDaily is A Free Press for a Free People.
• Liberty Unbound is the web site for Liberty Magazine.

Weather in Minneapolis for September 27, 1999     September 27 in History

24. September, 1999 - Back to a more normal, fun tone. permalink

• The Register: Senate Y2K Committee underwhelmed by Y2K preparations.
• The Register: Transmeta reveals radical new chip design. So that's what Linus has been up to.
• The Register: Crackers get £1m ransom from banks for promising not to reveal customers PIN codes.
• Dan Gillmor: You can have a say about H-1B visas.
• Dan Gillmor: Government still assuming there's a compromise on encryption, which is Just Plain Wrong.
• Encryption in crossfire between industry and the Attorney General.
• Nothing left but its good domain - an internet company that didn't make it.
• Icon Poet is a writing toy for human/machine collaboration.
• iFigure can probably solve your niche computing needs.
• Jumping Jesus On A Pogo Stick is pretty funny. It's also part of Pissed Off.

Weather in Minneapolis for September 24, 1999     September 24 in History

17. September, 1999 - A collection of y2k-related things. I really don't like adding to the hype, but folks (especially outside the computer biz) keep asking if there are going to be problems. permalink

• How to play the Y2K blame game
• Technologically, 9-9-99 is a Z-Z-ZZ
• Y2K Computer Remediation: Assessing Risk Levels in Foreign Outsourcing discusses the risks to security caused by having foreign nationals fix Y2K problems. The fix may be worse than the problem.
• The UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office has an international Y2K readiness page.
• US State Department Y2K links isn't actually that useful, but it does collect a lot of links in one place.
• Action 2000 lists the official websites countries have put up stating how ready they are for Y2K.
• U.S. sees Y2K disruption potential in Latin America
• And not a Y2K thing, but very important nonetheless: Encryption limits to be eased tells how the US may be easing crypto restrictions. Administration updates crypto policy is the Fact Sheet, and Clinton's Letter to Congress was released as well. Government still assuming there's a compromise on encryption and Encryption in crossfire are the take of the San Jose Mercury News.

Weather in Minneapolis for September 17, 1999     September 17 in History

14. September, 1999 - Bonus anarcho-libertarian edition. permalink

• Lysander Spooner's No Treason No. VI: The Constitution of No Authority is one of the greatest anarcho-libertarian rants ever penned.
• The Binary Bunker is ranting and raving from a slightly paranoid, militant Libertarian.
• Any attempt to pass or enforce an unconstitutional law -- especially any law that violates the first ten amendments to the Constitution, commonly known as the Bill of Rights -- is a crime punishable by ten years in prison and a ten thousand dollar fine for each offense (Title 18 U.S.C, Sections 241 and 242).
  If you'd like to see that law enforced, go to L. Neil Smith's "Talk Me Into It" Site and make your wishes known.

Weather in Minneapolis for September 14, 1999     September 14 in History

10. September, 1999 permalink

• In Bush Fire, meet Zack Exley: computer consultant, online satirist, pain in the ass.
• Surfers aren't paying attention banner ads. Maybe advertisers will quit using them. Yeah. Right.
• Workers are Resisting corporate computer surveillance. One more reason to encrypt your email.
• The Luddite Reader is The last place to look... for luddite reading...
• SNAPCITY! adds a new set of snapshots every week. Mostly of the SF area.
• Cosource.com is a cooperative market for open source. Interesting!
• Fortune: How Yahoo! Became a Blue Chip. I'm still puzzled by internet stock valuations, but this helps explain things.
• CDT Policy Post 5.21 talks about the FCC mandated new telephone surveillance features.
• Y2K bug eats into S. African economy
• counterspace is dedicated to typography and its history
• Graphical User Interface Gallery. A museum of GUIs.

Weather in Minneapolis for September 10, 1999     September 10 in History

3. September, 1999 permalink

• The Libertarian: Darn these inconvenient revelations about Waco. Vin's Book is Send in the Waco Killers.
• Slate Magazine: Getting the best beer for your money.
• Unisys tries to milk LZW patents again. Sigh. Now only if more browsers supported PNG.
• The Register: Red Hat plays trademark card and causes fear and loathing in the Linux world.
• The Register's Apple's Power Mac G4: a tale of two boxes is a good analysis of why you want to wait for a Sawtooth G4. Of course it looks like you're going to have to wait even for a "Yikes!".
• SIMI is the Search for Intelligent Monkeys on the Internet.

Weather in Minneapolis for September 3, 1999     September 3 in History