May 2000

• I had a small revelation this morning as I was reading Hungary cracks down on gun ownership. There's a quote in which the Hungarian government says it's not the task of civilians to fight armed criminals.
  That single statement clarified things for me. On the one side, there are the people who think the government should protect us. They claim we don't have the right to defend ourselves and shouldn't have to take responsibility for our actions. They're wrong. On the other side are the folks who believe people should be responsible for themselves. I'm definitely in the latter camp.
• Using the above as a guideline, when Annan says UN must rethink peace-keeping role it's much clearer to me why this is the wrong approach. It's yet another government trying to protect us, mostly from ourselves.

Weather in Minneapolis for May 29, 2000     May 29 in History

• The Saint Paul Saints started their season last night. During the game, another of the fans was passing around some heckling lines he found at the Baseball heckle depot site. Figured I should point it out.
• I also had to correct some of the thomas.loc.gov URLs I'd put up in yesterday's picks, so you get a rare Saturday morning edition. Thanks to Bill of End the War on Freedom for pointing out the problem and suggesting a solution.
• Bill also pointed out that Claire Wolfe called the tacked on amendments I was grumping about Land-Mine Legislation. That's a link worth passing along.

Weather in Minneapolis for May 27, 2000     May 27 in History

• War on drugs might promote sneak searches. Well. They're going after the Fourth Amendment again. The Hacker News Network's Fight CESA Page has more information. One of the most disturbing bits is that some legislator is trying to sneak this legislation in by way of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2000 (in H.R.833 Sec. 1791 - you'll have to click on link, and then scroll to the end, and click on the SEC.1791 link. I wish there was a better way to do this, but I can't find a permanent URL that'll work.) What, praytell, does gutting the Fourth Amendment to wage the War On Drugs have to do with bankruptcy?!? Maybe I'm being unrealistic, but why not have a law only address one thing at a time so the citizens actually have a snowball's chance in hell of figuring out what's going on in the District of Corruption? I think it's pretty handy that you can get the text of legislation from thomas.loc.gov, but it frustrates me sometimes in that there's just no good way to find the culprit in cases like this until it's too late, and there's no good way to tell who introduced which section.
• More depressing news on the attack on the Fourth Amendment: Taking cash into custody is a good rundown of the current state of asset forfeiture in the US. A good series by the Kansas City Star on a depressing topic.
• Barr pleads the Fourth has yet more infromation, including Bob Barr's surprise at the provision being included in other bills. Included is the tidbit that the insertion of the section gutting the Fourth amendment was made by Bill McCollum, R-Fla. If you're a constituent, you might wanna splain him about the importance of the constitution.
• From Tidbits: Threat Models and Domination Systems. Good reading if you're the slightest bit concerned about security or privacy, and given the previous two news-bits, you may want to be. Or maybe not.
• Serbs To Charge Western Leaders With War Crimes. Seems they think bombing civilians is something that ought to be punished. Maybe it is, but what jurisdiction does any international tribunal have? There's no provision for such a thing in international law, unless a treaty specifically sets up such a court, and none has.
• On a slightly related note, after seeing a headline saying: Panel Recommends Disbarment of Clinton (and the discussion about why) a friend of mine suggested that the right punishment for Bill Clinton is that he register as a sex offender, and be required to inform the neighbors whenever he moves into a new neighborhood. She's pretty smart, I think. If you're curious, you can read The Disbarment Letter yourself, too.
• CNET had an OS Death Match between Mac OS 9 and Corel's Linux distribution. The results surprised me a bit, but not for the reason CNET thought I'd be surprised.
• Finally, on a lighter note: Rules That Guys Wish That Girls Knew. Indeed.
• The Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie Homepage has plans.

Weather in Minneapolis for May 26, 2000     May 26 in History

• It's been pointed out to me that I haven't mentioned VersionTracker.com recently. They offer information about the latest Macintosh Software Updates.
• The Sad, short and perplexing life of computer whiz Phil Katz. Sad indeed.
• Freshmeat.net gives us negotiating for nerds, which is a good article.
• GRC's OptOut is something I'd like to see on the Mac. Then again, maybe just the tools to detect malware would be enough.
• Does NRA stand for Not Rational Anymore?
• They Write the Right Stuff: the software that powers the Space Shuttle. It's software engineering for grown-ups.
• stinkymeat.net
  

  Gasp! Oh my God. Look!
  Maggots in meat wave hello.
  StinkyMeat dot net

Weather in Minneapolis for May 22, 2000     May 22 in History

• Physics toys from the APS. A bunch of Java applets that let you play with physics.
• An Open Letter From Metallica to Napster is the Brunching Shuttlecocks' contribution to the Napster debate. Napster throws Metallica a curveball by complying. Heh. Heh. Heh.
• Alex Chiu's Eternal Life Device. Only Alex Chiu has the solution to a unified world, unless you can think of a better one. He has the answers! Well, unless you can think of better ones.
• In The Fix is Out, Taki suggests how Bill Gates should have dealt with the Clinton administration.
• Drink More Beer - It's better for you than wine! Of course they mean in moderation. I knew there had to be a catch. Speaking of beer, Quantum Beer Theory has some interesting information and essays. There are also some suggested pub crawls.
• Children's Letters To God, Answered in a way some folks might take offense at (with, to). It made me laugh, though.

Weather in Minneapolis for May 12, 2000     May 12 in History

• Romenesko's Obscure Store and Reading Room has stories you may have missed. I may end up adding it to my morning list of sites to check for news.
• Martha Barnette's funwords.com offers just what it sounds like.
• Apple Heads for Interface Oblivion. This is a catastrophically bad thing. Indeed. Steve Jobs wants a lickable interface. I think he needs to be more careful what he's licking.
• Seatbelt, Senor? offers the seatbelt index to determine how libertarian a country is. Interesting take, and it's got me thinking about the nanny-state we live in. Fields of Glory also investigates the nanny-state, looking back on the candidacy of W. C. Fields for president in 1940.
• Aetna Feb 00 shows some steam rings blown by a volcano. Cool.
• The Gallery of the Absurd.

Weather in Minneapolis for May 8, 2000     May 8 in History