March 2000

• You knew your property was guilty until proven innocent, right? Well it is if you're charged with a drug crime. Luckily, there are efforts going on to change this situation. Senate OKs Bill Limiting Seizures is the current effort. You might want to send your Senator a thank-you note (if appropriate) and urge your Representative to do the right thing on this. HR1658 Bill Summary & Status gives the current status.
• The Socialist to English Dictionary offers a light-hearted look at some politically correct jargon.
• Thought Reform 101 examines political correctness on college campuses. Some of the things are straight out of 1984 or Mao's China. Apparently college freshmen need to be reeducated before they can be educated. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't pay to have someone do that to me.
• The Kevin Tuma Cartoon Page (and the associated archives) has some wickedly funny cartoons. Bill over at End the War on Freedom pointed it (and some of the other links) out. Thanks, Bill.
• The Grasshopper and the Ant in Amerika is an update of a fable reflecting the current reality. It's from Bill's Mom.
• The Voluntaryist rejects electoral politics and seeks to delegitimize the State through education. Lofty goals.
• The Federalist gives rebuttals to liberal politics.
• To keep and bear arms repeats the arguments I'm pretty familiar with, but adds the point that the people who are trying to control guns are the same people who want to control everything else about our lives.

Weather in Minneapolis for March 31, 2000     March 31 in History

• Keeping an eye on war is an editorial about Antiwar.com, a website that tracks news about unconstitutional and illegal wars and which has scooped CNN on some of the stories coming out of Kosovo.
• Kosovo, the bottomless hate pit. Remember last May...Kosovo was saved, right? I don't think so. David Hackworth gives it to the Commander in Chief. I haven't updated my pages about The Kosovo Situation since last August, but it sure looks like things are going to heat up again. In Kosovo Attacks Stir U.S. Concern, the Washington Post seems to agree.
• NATO used depleted uranium in Kosovo and it's suspected of causing health problems.
• Michael Kelly - Anarchy in Kosovo takes a look back at the events of the past year.
• Kosovo as viewed from London is another look back. Mrs. Albright's diplomacy actually led to the unfortunate NATO war in Kosovo. and The Kosovo war will be earmarked in history as the beginning of the end of historical NATO. are two quotes from the article. Some fine work from the Washington Times.
• Michael New is an American soldier who's been court-martialed for refusing to wear UN Blue in Macedonia. He's appealed and if he loses, will try to take the case before the Supreme Court. The Court Martial of Corporal Michael New has more information about the actual court-martial. And Military Court to review New's court-martial tells about the appeal. He's raising money for his legal battle by selling a book. If you buy through Amazon, it's $19.95. If you buy direct, $24 will get it, but more of the money goes to the defence fund.

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

• Silicon Genesis is a collection of oral histories of Silicon Valley on videotape. At the moment, you need to go to California to see them, but maybe they'll put 'em online some day.
• Marylaine Block wonders how we are learning to be competent without knowledge being passed down the generations. It's a good question.
• If I play Guess the Dictator/Sit-Com Character but answer for myself, I end up as Barney Gumble if I say I drink Duff Beer (I actually drink mostly Summit, which is nothing like Duff, and I'd be Homer if I worked in a nuclear plant), Magnum, P.I. if I claim to drive a Ferrari, or Jim Rockford if I don't. Hmm. Do I need to get a Ferrari? I've got the 1992 Camaro, which I think makes me more Rockfordesque (though I really should have a 1979 Firebird).
• Joe Clark has a review of Usability at epinions.com. He should make it an epinion! Or perhaps not.
• Bury the news at Wounded Knee - The Grass Roots Oglala Lakota Oyate took over Wounded Knee on January 16th. Why did it take so long to hear about it? Probably because the atmosphere this time is peaceful.
• Rich Gray on Two Patent Topics is another update on the patent situation. He has some insights I haven't seen elsewhere.

Weather in Minneapolis for March 24, 2000     March 24 in History

• I'll start with an overview of the latest flap: No winners in NRA brouhaha gives a pretty good description of what the big deal was.
• Gore Fires Back At NRA over Wayne LaPierre's comments, and even the Shrub rebukes NRA.
• I was almost ready to drop my NRA membership before LaPierre went on TV on the 12th. This is the kind of rhetoric I've been looking for from the NRA. Now they need to stick to their guns.
• Even Salon has a comment with When liberals lie about guns. But it is equally true that many members of the chattering classes feel such a visceral aversion toward guns that they are inclined to accept shaky anti-gun arguments and to disregard any evidence that, perish the thought, Charlton Heston may sometimes have a point.
• Speaking of having a point, Heston accuses Clinton of lying in guns dispute - How do you tell when a politician is lying? His lips move.
• Robert Ellis gives us Violence is not a function of firearms in The Libertarian Enterprise. About 99.8% of all firearms, and more than 99.6% of all handguns in this country will not be used to commit crimes in any given year.
• Idaho to boycott anti-gun businesses? It doesn't sound like a bad idea at all.
• Liars in high places examines the honesty deficit in the District of Corruption... err, Connivance... oh heck, let's just call it D.C. and move on. There is no debate about whether Clinton lies. It is a proven fact. The debate is whether he's a pathological liar or only lies when it is expedient. To editorialize a bit, this is my biggest complaint with the two major party candidates. I don't believe either tells the truth unless he has to. Maybe I'm being unrealistic, but I expect better from a President.

Weather in Minneapolis for March 20, 2000     March 20 in History

• The Irish Times is a good newspaper. They also have a pretty easy URL to remember. And a lot of coverage of St. Patrick's Festival 2000 (though it'll be too late for anyone who isn't already in Dublin).
• From MotherJones.com: Don't Cry for Bush, Argentina. If you want to get business done in Argentina (or Nigeria or Kuwait), it helps if your last name is Bush. Or even Shrub.
• Comment from Greg Aharonian on An Open Letter from Jeff Bezos. Greg's site is Internet Patent News. There's also O'Reilly Network: The Harm of Patents, which is a conversation between Tim O'Reilly and RMS. If you're interested in continuing coverage of this mess, watch Greg's site, Dave Winer's Scripting News, or Dan Gillmor's News, Views and a Silicon Valley Diary. One other resource that nobody seems to have mentioned is the League for Programming Freedom which was one of the first to want to fight software patents. Unfortunately, their site is really slow. As for me, I've had about enough of the issue this time around. I still think software patents are a bad idea, but I'm probably done linking to things about 'em for a while.
• A very important message from Harry Browne tells how Harry (a Libertarian candidate for president) is planning to deliberately violate campaign laws, and then fight them in court. What can you do? If you've got more than $1000 to contribute, and are willing to risk a small fine, send 'em the money (once they've determined they're actually going through with it). They also need contributions now to pay the lawyers to figure out whether this scheme will even work.
• In Denver, No-knocks net little jail time. Of 146 no-knock raids last year, the result was two felony convictions. And one suspect killed. That doesn't seem like a very good average to me.
• On a lighter note, Tale of a teen-age communist - how a few years at Amherst turned a budding collectivist into a libertarian. I think his parents got their money's worth out of their son's college costs.
• Apple - Homeschool is Apple's collection of links with Home Schooling resources. The most interesting thing about this page is that there's not a link to it from anywhere else on Apple's site (as far as I can determine). The only way to find it is by searching. I suppose that's due to complaints from schools or some such, but it's kind of disappointing to have the page so well hidden. So I had to point it out.
• In Seattle, Washington: Anti-spam e-mail suit tossed out. That's a setback for the forces of good, I think. Sigh.
• Thursday night I got a call from the Keyes 2000 folks. Since Alan is back in the money for matching funds (he did good in Utah), I was expecting it. The ironic thing was that the phone call interrupted me in listening to Sympathy for the Devil. I think it was some sort of sign.
• Smut for Dull Men 'nuf said.

Weather in Minneapolis for March 17, 2000     March 17 in History

• The National Taxpayers Union BillTally will tell you how much your Congress-critter has voted to spend (or save). Interesting stuff here.
• The Waste Basket is a weekly bulletin on wasteful government spending provided by Taxpayers for Common Sense.
• Patricia Neill asks What Is This Word Our Rulers Hate? She's talking about anarchy.
• Russell Laing's Story tells the tale of a man deprived of his civil rights by an overzealous PA cop.
• J.D. Tuccille suggests you Tear up that census form. More importantly, there are a ton of links within the article that might interest you.
• Army 'psyops' at CNN is a little disturbing. CNN flap is a followup. Goebbels comes to CNN talks about the original article. One of the things I don't like about WorldNetDaily is the way once they tell a story, they hammer you over the head with it repeatedly. Enough! I get it already.
• What are the Dumb Laws in your state? Well, this site is actually very little help, in spite of the number of recommendations for it flying around the net at the moment. . Of the laws they list for Minnesota (which has the law online), none of them actually exist. Dumb site.
• Secret service bullies tells of Julie Ann Davies, who was arrested under the official secrets act in England. It's not just our government here in the US that needs some work.
• On the personal front, and having nothing at all to do with the government, Olecranon Bursitis details what I've learned about this condition in the past week.

Weather in Minneapolis for March 13, 2000     March 13 in History

• An Open Letter from Jeff Bezos gives his side of the patent view. Just to make my position more clear, the affiliate program patent is the one that really bugs me. The fact that Amazon enforced the one-click patent has gotten me into the local Barnes & Noble a few extra times, but it wasn't enough to drive me completely away from Amazon by itself. Tim O'Reilly has his comments on Amazon's Patent Reform Proposal, and The Irish Times brings us Loss-making Amazon turns to bullying. The Amazon response to bullying charges is even more telling. What the heck are they thinking? For a PR guy, this one definitely needs a clue. Dan Gillmor offers Bezos has a point on patents -- so do I.
• Fortune brings us New Ethics... or No Ethics? which discusses some of the chicanery that happens with dot-com stocks. There's an amazing amount of greed out there. I think I understand it, and getting a piece of the pie is very tempting, but that doesn't make it moral, or even ethical. I'm glad I don't have to worry about the temptation.
• Bad Human Factors Designs isn't just about computers. It covers bad design in many walks of life.
• WinerLog is MOST excellent. If you've ever read Dave Winer, you'll appreciate this fine parody.
• Befuddle is dedicated to the effects of drinking.
• Salon gives us The truth about the polygraph. It's as much of a myth as the Tooth Fairy.
• Clever teenagers wait longer for first kiss.

Weather in Minneapolis for March 10, 2000     March 10 in History

• A couple contests that caught my eye: Obfuscripted AppleScate is a contest to write hard to read AppleScript. Don't dilly-dally too long, the deadline is April Fools Day. the 5k award is a contest to make a good web page in under 5k. Similar deadline. Completely different approach. Maybe.
• Silicon Graphics has a white-paper on the web that will tell you All about LCDs.
• Dan Gillmor has an Interview with Linus Torvalds. It's interesting reading.
• From LinuxPlanet - Reports: S/390: The Linux Dream Machine. This is one incredibly cool hack.
• MacSecurity.org covers security issues on the Mac, surprisingly enough. It's mostly geared toward Mac OS X, but also covers older versions of the OS.
• The Motley Fool has a Foolish Interview with Woz.

Weather in Minneapolis for March 6, 2000     March 6 in History

• NoWebPatents.org is fighting amazon.com. The affiliate program patent is not a good way for Amazon to encourage more affiliates. It's making me drop out of their program. noamazon.com offers alternatives to everything the evil folks in Seattle offer. And from O'Reilly.com: Ask Tim -- Software Patents Issue.
• In some good news, DoubleClick backs down. We'll see what they actually do, but it sounds like they're finally aware of the issue. DoubleClick throws in the towel on profiling has more from The Register.
• BBC: Bearded drinkers lose out and Irish Times on Guinness Research both got sent to me shortly after being published. I wonder if it's got anything to do with me having a beard and drinking Guinness? And Turly sends me A Pint of Guinness, which has even more trivia about the black stuff. Finally (?) Yet another Pint of Guinness mentions the benefits of having Guinness in your facial hair.
• Faisal Jawdat's Quotes File has an awful lot of quotes. Many of them got added to my rotating email sigs. And I even appear in it. Huh!
• Stickdeath.com tells one How to deal with bank robbers.
• Speaking of death, Hasbro to make JFK action figure. Maybe I'm just sick, but I wonder how many kids will be blowing the heads off 'em with BB-guns?
• And continuing the morbid theme, Computer expert Don Crabb dies. He'll be missed.

Weather in Minneapolis for March 3, 2000     March 3 in History