July, 2002 full listing

• July seemed like a much longer than usual month.
• Raving Lunacy: If the government is as successful in the war on terrorism as they have been in the war on drugs (hey, glowsticks are drug paraphenalia now!), it's going to be a long haul. [instapundit]
• John Stossel's Is It Time to End the War on Drugs? parallels his show that ran last night, I'm told. Didn't see it, but it was highly recommended. [endwar]
• Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now! aired a report Monday showing how many current and former military officers including members of the Joint Chiefs say Saddam Hussein poses no imeediate threat the the U.S. Mainstream media mentioned this as well, including MSNBC [Jim]
• DoS Attack disables music industry Web site - just the type of attack that would be legal for the RIAA to make on other people if Rep. Berman's bill becomes law. [fark!]
• Hear about how MLB shut down Mets Online, a fan-run site? Yeah, that's a way to get some good press before you lock the players out. An example at Baseball: Fan's Site Is Foul Play: Major League Baseball forced a 6-year-old Mets Web site, started by an upstate fan when he was 14, to shut down yesterday after league officials said it illegally used registered team and league trademarks and profited from the team's name. [scripting and instapundit]
• Major media is getting Flogged by bloggers whoc fact-check the stories and aren't at all shy about pointing out inaccuracies. [instapundit]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 31, 2002     July 31 in History

• I added notes about the Wüsthof Trident Factory Outlet and Pepitos of Eden Prairie to Scott's Local Interest Section yesterday.
• Animal rights activist said Ribfest is cutting her out by letting a truck park between her display and the sidewalk. [strib]
• Organic Industry's Thin Skin: Whole Foods has been sued because under CA law, all bread contains substances that need to be listed as possible carcinogens. It's the same reporting that gave Whole Foods a good market for their food. Their response? Sic the lawyers on the guy who points out that this whole thing is silly. [fark!]
• Odd Todd gets to keep his unemployement checks! Getting donations for a website isn't work, rules the court. [fark!]
• Black Sabbath Songs Recorded in Latin, including samples at Sabbatum. Now you know what to buy me for X-mas. [fark!]
• Ian Gillan's archive anecdotage inlcudes some fairly fun reading. But then it shouldn't be a surprise that Ian can write, should it? He is, Hafter Hall, Ha Rock Star. [some guy]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 30, 2002     July 30 in History

• Space station visible in Minnesota, and sure enough, at Saturday's Saints game, a couple thousand of us saw it just after the game had finished because I'd printed out the Strib article: A bird? A plane? No, it's the space station to hand to Eric, the PA guy, and he'd announced it to the crowd. [strib]
• This month's Minneapolis Critical Mass created some controversy. Apparently, the Green Institute decided on their own to impose a community garden tour, and even got press in the paper about it before the ride. Though that in and of itself may be a good thing many of the riders in the usually "leaderless" group felt they'd been hijacked. This Indymedia report has more.
• Fuck your Macintosh Lifestyle (warning: flash, sound). This parody is better than most of Apple's commercials. Move to Iceland!
• Remember the to-do when Unisys decided to enforce the GIF patent? Forgent Networks Clarifies Licensing Arrangement , which they claim covers JPEG. BOHICA. Say it with me: software patents are bad.
• WebTV Virus Dials 911 (warning, popups galore). Y'know, it seems to me that writing a virus to hit WebTV is kinda like kicking a cripple. Most people who one WebTV aren't going to know what to do, and if the box can't phone home to get an update, how are they ever going to fix it? Then again, it's a Microsoft product, so it's not surprising someone would pick on it. [fark!]
• The Little Spacecraft that Could: Pioneer 10 is 30 years old. It was designed to last 21 months, but can still answer when NASA sends it a signal. [fark!]
• Watch the skies for August asteroid which will pass close enough to be seen with binoculars (magnitude 9.3). No chance of seeing it with the naked eye or from the city. [fark!]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 29, 2002     July 29 in History

• It's not that I don't love you. I just need a break.

Weather in Minneapolis for July 28, 2002     July 28 in History

• Taking the weekend off. Seeya again on Monday.

Weather in Minneapolis for July 27, 2002     July 27 in History

• So the alternatives lately have been to do the daily Dave's Picks update before it's technically "today" or to do it late enough in the morning that folks are supposed to be working already by the time I get done. I'm not sure what the long-term solution is going to be, but tonight I'm doing another evening update, since I've got other stuff to do in the morning as you're reading this.
• True Porn Clerk Stories I caught another jerker in the porn section today. It's amazing - I'm already jaded about it. Part of it was that I just caught him on the security camera, so I had that distance, and he was really more of a stroker than a jerker. [...]
  I thought about calling the police, then figured screw it. I got on the Voice of God mike and said Sir, you need to keep both hands where I can see them. [Reed]
• 10 Things You Don't Know About Women and should. From Esquire. [fark!]
• Negril's beach boys and the American women they service. [fark!]
• Woman kills sex offender. One scumbag down. A couple million to go. [some guy]
• Nicollet strip club invites teens in battle with city. Since the city's requiring the dancers to remain somewhat clothed, the club decided that they'll open the doors to anyone over 16.
• Panties for Christian gals. Heh! Testify![davezilla]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 26, 2002     July 26 in History

• I added a review of Johnson Meat Company / Market to Scott's Local Interest Section Wednesday morning.
• First cases of West Nile virus found in Minnesota. It's here now.
• The DARPA IAO (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Information Awareness Office) is creepy enough just for its very existance. Their logo makes them even creepier. Especially if you've ever read The Illuminatus Trilogy [Jim]
• My Stateless Neighbors: The Amish: Whenever I see an Amish horse and buggy or see them working in their fields and gardens, I am reminded that it is possible for individuals to live their lives without the "help" of the state. In this age of limitless government, it is good to see at least some people actually practicing a useful form of political anarchy.
• White House reconsiders decision against letting pilots carry guns. But somehow they think that the government will need to spend $250 million a year to train the pilots to shoot. My understanding was that most of them already had been taught when they learned to fly in the armed services. [strib]
• Could Hollywood hack your PC? Apparently Congress is thinking about allowing it. The lucky thing is that they're nearing the end of the term, so hopefully won't have time to pass this one. [fark!]
• Buying Trouble by buying seemingly innocuous things that look suspicious when the government goes snooping. [some guy]
• Folks driving on I-4 in Florida are getting pulled over for no reason. Well, the State Patrol is actually doing a survey. Does this strike anyone else as more than a little intrusive? [skrymir]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 25, 2002     July 25 in History

• Grain Belt beer brand revived in New Ulm. Schell's bought 'em. Yay! No word on the Pig's Eye brand though. Boo! [strib]
• Minnesota horse owners warned to look for West Nile virus since it now exists in North Dakota, Wisconsin and Manitoba. Time to stock up on Deep Woods Off. [strib]
• Give that CEO a pay raise!: How an attempt to cap executive salaries a decade ago inadvertently led to the corporate mess plaguing us today. [fark!]
• New breed of TV ads popping up. I'm already paying over $40 per month for cable. And now they're going to make the "product" less appealing? Well, I guess they're allowed, but I'm also allowed to stop watching (and paying). [flutterby]
• I've had Scheduling Difficulties lately. Too many things going on. Too busy to think about what I'm doing. I've missed appointments. Other people miss appointments with me, and I don't have time to wait an extra half-hour to see if they're just running late. Life seems frantic lately. On top of that, I'm still trying to shake the remnants of the cold I caught back at the start of the month. Why should you care? Well, I may end up changing my schedule for Dave's Picks. Or maybe it's time for a hiatus. We'll see. At least we got a cool website finished recently, so there's one less thing to worry about.

Weather in Minneapolis for July 24, 2002     July 24 in History

• Okay, so I cheated and published the links for Tuesday late Monday night. Sorry about that, but the alternative would be no linky goodness for Tuesday....
• One Hundred Albums You Should Remove from Your Collection Immediately. I can't say as I agree with their list, what with owning ten of the top 25, 25 of the hundred, and as a special bonus, all of the Grateful Dead studio albums. I'm so tragically un-hip. [boing boing]
• Got a link in Madeleine Kane's Notables Weblog, thanking me for linking to her "On Wall Street" song and saying You never know what fun, quirky links you'll find at Daves Picks. Boy! Ain't that the truth. I never do know what links I'll be finding.
• A google mirror site. If you type things backwards, it works! [flutterby]
• björk's a blogger?!? Huh! Well, more likely, one of her people, but still. [evhead]
• Using mathermatics to improve baseball batting line-ups. Short answer, put your best hitter 2 or 3 and your worst hitter 7 or 8. Funny how almost no baseball managers do that. [fark!]
• Bracing for the WorldCom storm and possible problems with KPNQwest in Europe. It'd be ugly if either one shut off their part of the net. [instapundit]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 23, 2002     July 23 in History

• Telco Customer Data Goes Up for Grabs, FCC OKs Sharing of Phone Company Customer Data, and FCC To Let Carriers Share Customer Data are three articles about the new regulations for local telcos. I tell ya, I really need to get wireless service from my ISP so I can just dump the landline. Well, except for the hundreds of business cards I've given out to people. D'Ohh! [cam]
• Fair use advocates silenced at DRM "public" meeting. Just like with the DMCA, no input from consumers to speak of. [some guy]
• Operation TIPS Hotline Transcript [fark!]
• Security bill loses ID card, TIPS: Dick Armey included language in his markup of the legislation to prohibit the Justice Department from initiating the Terrorism Information and Prevention System, also called Operation TIPS. Thanks Dick! [instapundit]
• Transportation security chief forced to resign because the added security wasn't working. [some guy]
• Marathon swimmer arrives in Twin Cities and is already gone. Martin Strel started swimming in Itasca on July 4, and hopes to hit the Gulf of Mexico in early September. [strib]
• I posted a Review of Baker's Ribs to Scott's Local Interest Section on Friday. Yummy food.

Weather in Minneapolis for July 22, 2002     July 22 in History

• Heat advisory in Minnesota today. Hot hot hot. [strib]
• Saturday's Saints game was the official PeTA (People Eating Tasty Animals) night. It was a pretty good time, especially since the opposing team's bus broke down, and they were 5 hours late for the game (the game started 3 hours late), which meant just that much more time for us to sit in the parking lot eating all the good grub people had brought and drinking adult bevereages. Many pictures follow. Some of them are even pretty good.

  Al and Terry (with Brian in the backtground) 640x480(68k)	Dave, taking a picture of our neighbors 1600x800(288k)	The other Dave 512x800(89k)
  Amelia decorated herself up pretty with duck tape 400x560(19k)	She did her sandals, too 800x600(85k)	Rose (Amelia's mom), in the stands 400x500(42k)
  Markee (the shy 14-year old) made a halter out of duck tape. 240x600(35k)	Tommy, Karen, Rick, Markee, Jody (Three players, two gals) 640x480(65k)	Puppy in wading pool. Ain't he cute? 1024x768(161k)
  An early group shot 1600x640(193k)	The gang. Someone else was taking a picture from the front. 2400x720(125k)	The PeTA gang from the front (added 28Aug2002) 1500x1200(177k)

  As for food, here's the best I can reconstruct what we had:
  • Me: Beef fillet with horseradish, beets and greens. Garlic bread with blue parkay and mozzarella. Strawberry-Apple mead.
  • Brian: Cornish Game Hen
  • Dave & Candy: Walleye bites, french fries, lasagna, buffalo wings
  • Pete: Venison & habañero chile
  • Terry: Marlin steaks
  • Tony: Bacon-wrapped beef tenderloins
  • Bruce & Lynn: Pizza Rolls, buffalo steak
  • Al's Mom: Sushi
  • Al: Buffalo steak (roast?)
  • Dr. "Scott's Uncle" Yoho: Pheasant (or was it chicken - the label wasn't clear)
  I'm sure I've missed at least a few food items, but maybe I can fill them in later.

Weather in Minneapolis for July 21, 2002     July 21 in History

• I got a call Friday afternoon from the Congressional RNC asking me what I thought the biggest obstacle to retaining a Republican majority in Congress was. I answered that I thought the biggest problem was The Shrub's attempt to turn America into a police state. Apparently they've heard that answer more than once, and I think that's a Good Thing.
• Mindless Security, 2002. Yeah, I feel a lot safer now.
• Operation TIPS-TIPS: Report TIPS informants Heh! [scripting]
• I find myself wondering whether the existence of TIPS is enough of a threat to my personal security that I might qualify for a concealed carry permit in Minneapolis now (Sure I've got a permit. It's called the Second Amendment. -Ted Nugent). I'm pretty sure I'd rather have someone else be the test case on this one, though.
• Gilmore v. Ashcroft -- FAA ID Challenge: Secret rule demanding Your Papers Please claimed unconstitutional by John Gilmore. I like the FAQ , too. Why are you challenging the ID requirement? Before I answer that question, may I see your papers, please? Gilmore's one of the (main) folks behind the EFF, but this is an extracurricular activity. Good for him. [scripting]
• I don't think it's time to Shoot The Bastards (Yet), but I spent some time behind the Iron Curtain (E. Germany, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia) in 1980 when I was going to school in Austria. There's an awful lot of what's going on lately in the US that has the same vibe to it, and that worries me.
• Independence Party enters next phase, now that Jesse's stepping down. Jesse's defection from the IP disappoints me. He isn't the best politician, but he's one hell of a symbol, and I think the IP would be stronger with him around to shoot his mouth off. Even if he's not going to run again, he should remain active in the party that got him elected.
• Doug Grow: Tim Penny a bit rusty at political game, and a bit cranky about politics as usual. I thought the whole point of the Independence Party was being cranky about politics as usual. But I'm one of those fringe voters who believes in limited government and freedom and crazy shit like that. [strib]
• Utah attorney general calls colleges' gun bans illegal. Try as they might, Universities are still governed by state law. [fark!]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 20, 2002     July 20 in History

• The Blog MEETUP Day yesterday was something of a bust. Scott and Kat, and Tim were there, but we didn't see anyone else. We also realized that the MeetUp folks really need to have some better way for people to identify each other at this sort of thing. Maybe a mailing list so we could've all agreed on some goofy hat or something. Oh well, live and learn. It was still relatively fun.

  Scott, Kat and Tim

  1400x600(150k)

• Tanya over at Redsugar Muse pointed to these pictures of wet pussies (bathing cats, actually, but let's give the googlers something to look at, eh). Ouch. I'm laughing so hard it hurts. Add in the facts that she shoots, likes dogs, and says that Mike's Field Guide To Tough Chicks describes her perfectly, and I think I'm in lust.
• Why didn't anyone tell me about Madison Slade's tips for men who like women (for the totally clueless) years ago?!? [doc]
• Carwash ringleader bares it all after vote. A followup to the topless-carwash story I pointed to a while back. The Moscow Idaho City Council passed a new ordinance making it illegal to show the outside or bottom of the female breast in public. Which makes a lot of bikinis illegal. [fark!]
• Schell makes bid for Grain Belt label, recipe [strib]
• And remember, the Minneapolis Aquatennial begins tonight with the block party. More information (and annoying flash movies) at the official site. [strib]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 19, 2002     July 19 in History

• Any dead birds in your yard? If so, it could portend the arrival of a mosquito-transmitted virus that has proven sufficiently lethal to worry about mosquito bites. Perhaps you ought to consider what makes you attractive to the beasts. [Reed]
• I'm assuming that Dave didn't link to this list of Greedy Bastards because it was just so obvious. [Well, that and 10 just isn't a long enough list of shame. -DaveP] [steph]
• News: Standards stalled over royalty disputes: A key Web standards body is bracing for a vote [this] week that could decide once and for all how it will handle patented technology that comes with royalties attached. [zeldman]
• The Spam Has Got To Go. I'm pretty sure I said that sort of thing back in 1996. [scripting]
• Celebrity pill pushers, sponsored by the drug companies, but pretending to just be telling people about their illnesses. I don't think it should be illegal, but it sure oughta be publicized so folks know they're listening to paid shills. [evhead]
• Anti-Spam Legislation Opposed By Powerful Penis-Enlargement Lobby. There's something witty I could say about this, but I'll let the article speak for itself: Cock-lengthening is, no pun intended, a consistent growth industry in the U.S., and this bill would severely emasculate it. As usual, it's the little guy who suffers.[boing boing]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 18, 2002     July 18 in History

• I lived at 717 for ten years (August 1985 to August 1995). Considering how much booze was consumed there, I have a surprisingly large number of good memories of the place.
• In the immortal words of Homer Simpson: To Alcohol! The cause of and solution to all of life's problems.
• Son, he said.... A fine bit of advice. [empty bottle]
• Speaking of fond memories... Obit: Roger Awsumb, TV's Casey Jones, dead at 74. R.I.P. I wish I could find the picture I have of me with Casey. I think it was my sixth birthday. [strib]
• Tony Pierce's Fashion Tips, with pictures. 45 of 'em (click on each photo to go to the next). Enjoy! [doc]
• Let's face it, life stinks sometimes. Another photo-essay. [doc]
• Justin and Cory aren't wearing LinkJackets and neither am I. This is a good discussion, and I'm glad the boys shared it. [boing boing]
• Ridiculous Infomercial Review. A reader submission. I'm not so sure about it, but since I got a TiVo, I haven't watched a lot of commercials, so someone has to point this sort of thing out to me. [some guy]
• Funny Song Parody -- On Wall Street, to be sung to On Broadway. Oh yeah, the stock market's down. Personally, I think that means it's time to invest, but what do I know? [some guy]
• My month with a Mac. A long-time Windows user switches.
• Are Mac users smarter? It sure looks like it if you look at it in terms of Mac web-users. But you all knew that, right? [cam]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 17, 2002     July 17 in History

• Confusing E-Mail about Opt-Out Number Sends the Wrong Message, saying that you can call a toll-free number to opt out of credit reporting to anyone who asks. The toll free number just lets you opt out of getting "pre-approved" credit solicitations. You still have to call each credit-card company directly to tell them to keep your information private, too. [librarian]
• Is That Flight Really Necessary? If it is, J. J. Johnson has some suggestions on how to deal with the security screening. [endwar]
• Bush planning to turn us into a nation of narcs, who'll spy on each other and report suspicious behavior to the secret police, who'll kick in doors at 3 in the morning. Okay, I'm making up the 3 in the morning part, I hope, but the proposal would mean a higher percentage of informers than the East German Stasi had, which seems a mite extreme. Stavros the wonder chicken has a suggestion for How to respond to Operation TIPS. [some guy]
• Internet portals in China sign pact to restrict access, signing a voluntary pledge to purge the Web of content that China's communist government deems subversive. [some guy]
• Consumer Group Assails Digital Copyright Efforts, basically asking Congress to wipe the slate clean and start over because it's only been the businesses that have been advising lawmakers so far, and the consumer voice has gone unheard. [some guy]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 16, 2002     July 16 in History

• Bare more flesh, please. A Munich city official has issued a plea for more public nudity. [fark!]
• Super Sluts This is an interesting site. I particularly like the nudie pick doctored to look like superheroines. Super-heroines. Or something like that. I bet there's a male counterpart, and I bet I don't want to link to it. [some gal]
• Summer of Love by Judith Levine: The Romance a Teenage Camper Couldn't Have Today talks about her first love. [instapundit]
• A Mating Call in the Concrete Jungle is a gal who's trying to find Mister Pretty-Close-To-Right in New York and blogging the experience. [nick denton]
• The Date Project chronicles a single-man's attempts to find love. Going Bridal is a gal who's getting married in about a year and The Divorce Project chronicles One man's journey through Hell. [evhead]
• I've had the blues, the reds and the pinks, one thing's for sure: love stinks. I'm starting to see the wisdom of J. Geils again.

Weather in Minneapolis for July 15, 2002     July 15 in History

• This OpenSSH Security Advisory came out in June, but I figured I was obscure enough that I didn't need to worry right away. Well, Friday night a couple folks were jiggling the doorknob on my server, so I spent a good chunk of yesterday applying security updates. Ugh.
• Las Vegas' top-level trauma center reopens after brief shutdown, but only because some doctors agreed to become county employees for a month and a half (so they're covered under the county's policy). Will the state step up to find a long term solution?
• At Lake Harriet, women gain from step back in time to the 1890s, as the Victorian Era restrooms are reopened after renovation. Ceremony at 4pm today. [strib]
• A bridge so near. Duluth's Aerial Lift Bridge. [strib]
• Gun Course in U.S. Is Focus at British Terrorism Trial. A Briton came to the US to learn how to shoot. Apparently he's a terrorist in the UK now. Maybe the guy was a terrorist, but they should have more evidence than the fact that he took a course on how to shoot. [endwar]
• The man who gave a ride to Zacarias Moussaoui, and his descent into indefinite federal detention. No charges against him, and he's been held in solitary for ten months, and he'll probably continue to be held until he's testified in the Moussaoui trial.
• NRO Staff on Joel Mowbray and the State Department. NRO contributor Joel Mowbray was detained Friday afternoon at the State Department after an acrimonious exchange with top Foggy Bottom press flack Richard Boucher. and for at least a few minutes, Mowbray had a harder time leaving the State Department than many Saudis have had entering the country. [instapundit]
• I mentioned The Pickle Jar Theory before. It was brought home to me again last month. There was a public meeting I wanted to go to. I completely forgot about it until after an hour after it had started. But I was thinking about the new server I've been setting up. And the work I had to do the following week. And my 20th high-school reunion. And whether I could make it to Critical Mass in June (I didn't). And those other rocks, pebbles, and sand distracted me from one of the things on my schedule that I should've been dealing with. On top of it all, I was doing my normal morning routine of surfing the web while I wake up. And then it was too late. [zeldman]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 14, 2002     July 14 in History

• Inside the Apple iPod Design Triumph. It's a pretty cool piece of hardware. Dunno about the accuracy of the article, but it seems to be in the right ballpark. [boing boing]
• Page Data Bookmarklets that let you play with things within a web-page.

• Poster from German Macintosh Introtuction

  1024x768(42k)

  Saving Collectibles to the Macs talks about how some Apple-branded stuff is worth an awful lot of money. I wonder how much my German poster from the Macintosh introduction would be worth. (It translates to: It was time that a capitalist changed the world. Apple has invented the Macintosh.)
• Cult Film, 1999's 'Office Space,' Transforms Swingline Stapler. Now they're actually making staplers in Candy Apple Red. All because of a cult-movie. [daypop]
• Amish aren't technophobes -- they're techno-selective What is one to make of the Amish elders prohibiting home electricity but encouraging state-of-the-art barbecue grills? In short, they judge technology not upon whether it will make their lives easier or more efficient, but rather whether it will contribute to the values of their community. Is there insight here even if you don't share Amish values? For example, you might reject carrying a cellphone in spite of the safety and convenience it offers, because you don't want to become the always-on, always-connected, always-available sort of person. [I find a lot that's attractive in this article's description of Amish life. Wouldn't want to sign up, but I think that the reason the ringer on my cell-phone is usually off is similar to the reasons an Amish would give. -DaveP] [Reed]
• According to the Archie McPhee Nerd Test, I'm 23% nerd. Which puts me at about the same level as Steve Jobs, and way behind Britney Spears on the nerd scale. It fits in with the Amish link. I'm pretty selective in my early-adopter-hood.

Weather in Minneapolis for July 13, 2002     July 13 in History

...but that doesn't mean ya should just lay down and call it a night....

• Blind Psychic Gropes Buttocks to See Future. It's like palm-reading, but Ulf Buck claims that The bottom is much more intense -- it has a much stronger power of expression than the hand in my experience. Well, I'm a bit skeptical, but like Davezilla, if any of my female readers want to volunteer, I'd be willing to predict some futures. It's not groping, it's science! [davezilla]
• Aluminum Bras Hit Paris Runways (photo). My first thought was of the ring-toss at the State Fair, but I'm an admitted goofball. [davezilla]
• spider man will make you gay. No, really. Or maybe you'll blow your morning coffee out your nose. Either way, I win. [davezilla]
• Mrs. Robinson Syndrome More Common Than You Think. Well, at least more common than I think. I don't believe it happens. Any older babes wishing to prove me wrong, shoot me a note. [fark!]
• And a pair from Nerve...you could be Dating a Jerk-Off. I dig Em & Lo. I think I want to have their puppies. But if they're not handy, a guy can always have A Happy Ending... if he's willing to pay. Or so I read.

Weather in Minneapolis for July 12, 2002     July 12 in History

• Welcome to all the folks coming in from the New York Times.
• I've written up my experiences with ordering a Logitech Pocket Digital camera to use with my Mac. It's not been a particularly satsfying experience so far.
• Passenger taken off flight for drunk pilot joke: shortly after boarding when the woman asked flight attendants if they had checked the crew for sobriety. ... America West spokeswoman Patty Nowack said the crew decided to take the woman off the aircraft after determining that her remarks constituted a potential security problem. Yeah, wondering if your pilot can fly the plane is a pretty big risk. Or maybe the heightened security at the airports is open to abuse. Naw, couldn't be that. [instapundit]
• Defamed on Web? Just One Year to Sue, according to the New York Court of Appeals. It doesn't apply everywhere, but they're using a 1948 precedent. The New York Times article has more information. [instapundit]
• House OKs Guns For Airline Pilots. A great first step. But it looks like it'll face stiff opposition in the Senate. Time to lean on your senators. Our Senators from MN will almost certainly oppose it.
• St. Paul Saints poking fun at Selig with 'Tie' night last night. I don't see how Selig could manage baseball any worse. And now he's claiming at least one team will not be able to meet payroll next Monday. Well, fine. Fire his ass if he can't keep things running smoothly. Or maybe it'll just take the fiasco of a team stopping competition in mid-season. Major League Baseball is hosed. [fark!]
• E-mail spam never sleeps. It's going to get worse before it gets better, and the writer doesn't have any ideas for solutions. [strib]
• Salon.com on Spam. Mostly about SpamAssassin. [cam]
• No-call list cheers folks with telemarketing hang-up, but some people are receiving calls, even after getting on the list. The reason? For a marketer to have to learn all 26 of the rules [for each state] and abide by them, it increases the chance for errors, and it increases the cost of services provided by the marketers. Don't you just feel awful for those poor telemarketers? I know I do. [fark!]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 11, 2002     July 11 in History

• Neal St. Anthony/On Business: Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of the SEC [strib]
• Bush defends stock dealings; ex-WorldCom execs are silent. I don't expect Bush will go far enough in his efforts, but he's making the right noises at the moment, at least. But again, there's really no need for new laws, just a need to enforce the existing ones and to stop turning a blind eye to cooked books. Nick Denton may have a longer rant on the issue, but I can't double-check it right now, as his site's down. The real reason to attack corporate corruption, and to let the fatcats swing from the rafters, is to defend the system of American capitalism. The CEOs who inflated earnings, the investment bankers who encouraged them, and the accountants who turned a blind eye: they are not just white-collar criminals, they are traitors. They have done more to undermine the freewheeling culture of American business than any external enemy. [strib and instapundit]
• The Technology Secrets of Cocaine Inc. They're pretty high-tech. Of course, they've got money to spend on buying cool technology. See also Biker gangs putting Web to deadly use. [some guy]
• The Baen Free Library really gets how to deal with piracy. [some gal]
• A Last-Minute Plea To Save Internet Radio. [some guy]
• Rep. Boucher Outlines 'Fair Use' Fight, which would, among other things, prevent record companies from making copy-protected CDs. [some guy]
• The librarian of Congress' Determination of Reasonable Rates and Terms for the Digital Performance of Sound Recordings and Ephemeral Recordings; Final Rule. Well, there it is, then. [doc]
• Stadium talks stuck; Twins expect to go back to Capitol because they want to build in Minneapolis, and that can't happen with Hennepin County excluded by the current law. When I first saw the headline, I read it as Stadium talks suck. and said to myself I bet they do. [strib]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 10, 2002     July 10 in History

• Frodo Baggins Charged With War Crimes: Frodo Baggins of Bagshot Row, Hobbiton, The Shire, Middle Earth, has been called before the International Criminal Court to answer charges of war crimes brought by Sauron the Dark Lord and Saruman the White in a joint filing. And there's more. Jocularity, jocularity, jocularity. And a fine satire pointing at international courts, too. [instapundit]
• The Bible in Five Words. A five word description of each of the books of the old testament. Now if only I could devise a mnemonic to remember the whole thing.... [davezilla]
• Shot-glass Chess Set A novel chess set where the chesspieces are shot glasses with shapes approximating those of the real thing. To distinguish sides, you must fill with contrasting liqueurs of your own choice -- whiskey vs. gin for instance [though whoever has to drink the gin loses in my book. -DaveP]. Of course the booze must be consumed during play, but by whom? It'll make for a conservative game if you must drink each of your opponent's captured pieces. Though the set is for sale you could probably make your own [which might be a good plan, since they're asking £100 for the set]. [Reed]
• Y'know, I wouldn't mind being a Booty Call now and again. A Booty Call is very convenient for living a shallow existence. Hey, better shallow than none at all, right? As long as the Catholic Guilt (or non-Catholic) doesn't get in the way.
• Rich Hailey tells of his need for a date in Hillary's House of Hillbilly Love (and Bait Shop). Looking for Mr. Right? Then keep looking sister! There's a fine personal ad here, and I think I might have to crib from it, especially the paragraph: I'm not looking for one night stands; I believe you should really get to know, like, and respect a person before you tie them to your bed and whip them, but I'm getting ahead of myself. That stuff can wait until the second date. He's a pretty wise man, it would seem. [instapundit]
• Oh, and I put the LaserMaster Research and Development Big Gihugic Lexicon of Sick & Twisted Jargon & Slang online a while back. None of the folks who were supposed to proofread it have complained about anything, so I guess it's okay to tell everyone about it.

Weather in Minneapolis for July 9, 2002     July 9 in History

• Busy weeks around here usually mean that something ends up slipping through the cracks. A couple weeks ago, it was missing MacHack because I was too busy to figure out when my high school reunion was. But when I get too busy on a weekend (which is almost always related to going to a Sunday Saints game) the thing that usually goes wrong is the Monday morning trash collection. I wake up shortly after 7am, look out the front window and realize that none of the other dozen people living in the house (it's a four-plex), nor the landlord or any of his hired help have moved the trash bins the 20 feet from the driveway to the curb that ensures the old, stinky trash will be taken away. And a few minutes later (before I get outside), I hear the noise of the truck picking up the neighbors' leavings. It's not a huge crisis in the winter, but by next Monday, we're going to have some major league funk going on out there. Sigh.
• What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?, where "it" is the idea that eating fat makes you fatter. [boing boing]
• Strike looms for Major League Baseball. It's an ugly situation, and it's not going to get better until baseball gets its collective finances in order. Bet on a work-stoppage sometime between now and the start of next season. [strib]
• Looking for more cooked books? Try U.S. government. At least with Enron or Worldcom, you aren't forced to buy the stock. With the government, there's not much choice, and the accounting practices are even worse than in the shadiest of corporations. [strib]
• Labels to Net Radio: Die Now. Perhaps the reason they're trying to kill web radio is because they're worried about small labels having a chance of competing? [scripting]
• Saturday's Star Tribune had an editorial regarding Police collusion in killings of Catholics in Northern Ireland. The report from the official inquiry into this has been delayed, but the BBC did a report - PANORAMA | A Licence to Murder that verifies what everyone already knew. The Police and the British Secret Service actively assisted in the killings of Republicans in Northern Ireland. [Jim]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 8, 2002     July 8 in History

• Hall Famer Ted Williams dead at 83 - Friday July 05 - The "Splendid Splinter" is no more. The last player to hit .400 in a season he also had 521 career homeruns and didn't even take steroids. [Jim]
• Corporate caution dampens Hamm's Bear birthday (the 50th). But Miller, who owns Hamm's now, doesn't want to be seen as doing anything that might appeal to children. [strib]
• Portugal scraps law that tightened drink-drive limit, saying it didn't make any difference in the number of accidents. [fark!]
• 87% of US commuters travel 18 miles or less to work daily - 93% of those do so alone. Corbin Motors has a possible answer. The Sparrow is a one seat electric car. Convinced you have to have a gas engine? The Merlin Coupe gets 70-80 MPG. Both are legally classified as motorcycles and safe for freeway travel. [Jim]
• The Gizmo EV is yet another electric car - designed to be used for shorter trips. Top speed is about 40 MPH and has a top range of about 45 miles per charge. It costs about $8900 ($4000 less then the Sparrow). The Gizmo is supposedly comfortable for anyone up to 6'4" (sorry, Dave). [Jim]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 7, 2002     July 7 in History

• Talked to my neighbor Larry (across the street) last night. He wasn't especially hip to the impromptu fireworks display last night at 3am, either. But apparently John from the next block is the real hero, because he walked over and told the people who were making the noise to cut it the hell out. Me, I was too lazy/tired to get dressed to go yell at people and just called 911. The cops apparently never showed. There's a shocker.
• Actually met Scott McGerik at last night's Saints game. He seems like a pretty reasonable sort of folk. And if you're in Minneapolis and haven't checked out Scott's Local Interest Section, you probably should. He's putting together restaurant reviews of locally-owned places, and it's already a big list. But maybe you could add one (I know I could... if I put in the effort). I keep thinking that Scott and I should collaborate on the smoker's guide (which is also useful for non-smokers), since it would be a pretty good fit, but I just don't think I have the time to take on yet another project at the moment, and I never quite finished up all the code that needs to be written for the guide.
• Wanna live on a Really Big Boat? The Freedom Ship looks like a pretty cool place to live. The only downside is that they're not pushing the envelope and trying to declare themselves a nation.
• Schell's eyes buying Grain Belt beer. No word on whether they'd consider saving Pig's Eye, but I doubt they will. [strib]
• In Dave Winer's review of Minority Report, Dave grumps about the commercials that show before movies. That's part of the reason I don't see movies in theaters anymore (the other part is that at 195cm tall, I fit poorly in their seats). Hell, it's seldom worth even $5 to see a cheap matinee in the atmosphere provided in most theaters. I'd rather wait a few months and buy the DVD and watch it at home. Which way makes more money for the studios, I wonder? I suspect they get richer from me buying the DVD, but I don't know for sure. It's definitely a much more pleasant experience on my end when I buy the DVD and sit and home to watch a movie. [scripting]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 6, 2002     July 6 in History

• So last night was the first fourth of July when some fireworks were legal in Minnesota. I'm not very impressed with the Relaxed Regulations. If you want things that go bang or fly around, you still have to make the hour-long drive to Wisconsin, and they're still illegal to use in Minnesota. Even more people seem to have made that drive this year, including my stupid neighbor, who was outside firing off batches of firecrackers at 3am this morning. It really doesn't matter what the law says - some people are just assholes.
• Las Vegas Trauma center closes; ERs gear up and commentary from Al at ViewFromTheHeart. Okay, so if you get run over by a car, get shot, blow off your hand with fireworks or have some other traumatic injury in Vegas now, they'll do their best to patch you up in the ER, and if that ain't good enough, you get helicoptered to California or Arizona. Are more laws and lawyers involved in medicine the answer? Somehow I don't think so. But if this is the start of a trend, it's going to get ugly.
• No-call lists make phone ringing welcome again in Colorado. Reed points out a post by Vince Mease about how nice it is.
  
  Well, sort of, as the MN law seems to be somewhat weaker than the one in CO and allow telemarketing by those businesses which don't close sales over the phone. That includes the pesky mortgage companies looking to get me (a renter) to re-finance.
  
  For more info on nationwide no-call policies: Links to other states' no-call laws.
  
  Reading through the exceptions of who can still call you under the different state policies is fascinating and speaks of the effectiveness of the lobbies in those states. For example, in Arkansas: Motor vehicle dealers, insurance agents, real estate agents, funeral establishments or from licensed investment brokers regarding the sale of their products and services. [Reed]
• Clueless Mailers: The Latest Ugly Trend in Spamming. I linked to the map earlier. Here's another mirror. [some guy]
• Zimmermann to Network Associates: Sell PGP back to me, or open-source it. For what it's worth, NetAss hasn't supported me (a paying PGP 5.0 customer) for the past three years. Their ecommerce server wouldn't deliver software to me (apparently they think I'm outside the US), and even after I paid for an upgrade, they never delivered the software to me. Oh, and there's the small matter of their securities fraud a couple years ago. I lost thousands of dollars on their stock. But at least I got a check for $20 back as part of the class-action settlement! I wish PGP would somehow get free of their clutches, but NetAss are bastards enough that I expect them to drag it to the grave with them. [some guy]
• EFF, 2600 give up: Won't appeal loss in DVD descrambling case. Probably a good thing, since this wasn't the best case. There'll be a better case to fight. But that'll take time, and that's the problem with bad laws. They remain on the books until you get a good case to fight all the way to the Supremes so you can get the damn thing stricken from the books. [nick denton]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 5, 2002     July 5 in History

• In Numbers Speak Louder Than Words, Nick Denton points out a very powerful argument for free trade.
• MS security patch EULA gives Billg admin privileges on your box. More on Trustworthy Computing from the boys in Redmond. [cam]
• The Internet Debacle - An Alternative View by Janis Ian. She might know a thing or two about the music industry. She seems to think the RIAA is full of it. Nice debunking of their lies. [boing boing]
• Corporate Culture And You or How to fit in at Apple. [scripting]
• Conceal-and-carry legislation a hot issue in Minnesota. [strib]
• Action Squad: Minneapolis Urban Adventurers have done some exploring around Minneapolis. Cool! You could spend your entire holiday reading their site. Unless you decide to wander to the 4th of July Parade. [fark!]
• Finally, Cedeno's rare theft of home joins exclusive company. A brief history of folks stealing home. [fark!]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 4, 2002     July 4 in History

• Site Navigation Issues: Okay, I'm aware there are issues with the navigation here. If you're trying to get to something old, it's not clear how to best navigate the archives. If you read less than once every three or four days, you won't find everything on the front page. And if you're using a browser that's broken with respect to CSS2, the links to older days on the front page may be misplaced (which seems to be the case with IE 5.x on Windows). I'm aware of the problems, but they're probably not going to get fixed soon. Sorry about that, but between getting sick and having plenty of paying work to do, I don't always get to implement the things I'd like to around here. Heck, I've even though about going to something like Movable Type, except that would take work, too.
• freshblogs.com will watch weblogs for you, and will also help you publish the list you watch.
• In NPR renews rotten linking policy -- again, Cory tears into NPRs linking policy: The most harmful lie you can tell about the Web is that permission is a prerequisite for linking. Go get 'em, Cory.
• The International Blog MEETUP Day voting has begun for Minneapolis.
• The Webby Awards: 2002 Winners - for whatever reason I at least glance at the webbys every year. What caught my eye this time is the "People's Choice" winner in spirituality. Witchvox wasn't even nominated, but won as a write-in candidate. [some guy?]
• the5k.org "anything goes" entries. Many little websites. Some of 'em good.
• Tim O'Reilly's The Strange Case of the Disappearing Open Source Vendors points out that vendors going away isn't a sign of weakness in open source, but rather a sign of strength. [cam]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 3, 2002     July 3 in History

• My head still feels like a bowling-ball sized, snot-filled bag on top of my neck. No, even more than usual. But I'm going to try and catch up on the linkage a bit.
• St. John's Abbey creates Web site with abuse information. The website is Saint John's of Collegeville. There doesn't so much seem to be new content, as pulling together things from a number of other sites. [strib]
• The Pledge of Allegiance - Why we're not one nation "under God" [nick denton]
• Independence Party has high hopes for Penny. It'll be interesting to see how this race plays out. [strib]
• Cure For Cancer?: Medical Breakthrough Cures 200 Lab Mice. [fark!]
• Lawmaker: Let studios hack P2P sites. Howard Berman (D-RIAA) wants to allow motion picture studios the freedom to hack file-sharing sites. Okay, so the studios aren't content to produce crap and wonder why people aren't going to movies, but they'll hack your computer so you have to watch TV. [some guy]
• Moscow, ID is Steamed up over a topless car wash. Three gals who got fired for not showing up at work decided to engage in some free-enterprise. Why, there oughta be a law! Oh, that's useful, a sarcasm detector! [fark!]
• Play nice, kids [Warning, popups]: A Santa Monica principal bans tag because it makes some kids feel bad. We are one step closer toward raising a generation of paste-devouring Ralph Wiggums. [fark!]
• Clueless Mailers: The Latest Ugly Trend in Spamming offers a map showing the relationship between the various companies that send spam. [instapundit]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 2, 2002     July 2 in History

• Roads buckle, power fails as mercury climbs. It's still hot. Miserable weather to have a cold. Sorry there's not more linkage. [strib]

Weather in Minneapolis for July 1, 2002     July 1 in History