July 2000

• In A 100% Tax Cut?, an economist discovers a new way to think about taxes.
• The NSA has the National Cryptologic Museum. It doesn't get a lot of publicity, but that's not too surprising, given that it's run by No Such Agency. More interesting, Slashdot is helping you to Ask The NSA About Certain Things.
• Cancer linked to clean living and great vegetables. Living too healthy is bad for you.
• The Easter Egg Archive - in Computers, Movies, Music, TV, Books and Art.
• Coffee or Tea in Your Agony? Flying in coach class just isn't any fun.

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

• Minor-league marketers wield big shticks. Mime-o-vision is listed as one of the Bad Ideas, but it's not the worst (at least the mimes were quiet).
• Web Killing Newspapers? Ha! Most newspapers are making enough on advertising to make up for declining circulation.
• Only half would vote for Constitution. Nearly three quarters of the people polled view the federal government as primarily looking out for its own interests.
• John Hoffman's ''Mom'' talks about how people don't realize what government is doing in their names. And it's not just the older generation, there are plenty of folks my age or younger who think the way John's mom does.
• Gore, Bush, And the Big Lie of soft money. Is it any wonder that voter apathy is as high as it is?
• Lew Rockwell is Dreading GOP rule for good reason.
• Cthulhu For President Why vote for a lesser evil? Indeed. The best reason to vote for Cthulhu? Cthulhu cultists will be eaten last.

Weather in Minneapolis for July 28, 2000     July 28 in History

• Democrats Halt Meth Bill. Seems they've finally figured out there might be some constitutional concerns they need to address first. The House Judiciary Committee is going to readdress the bill on Tuesday, 25. July.
• Ruling suspends gun law in Cincinnati. The police there can no longer arrest people for carrying hidden guns. Look for it to become a major battle ground in the fight over gun control.
• Judge Voids DNC Convention Security Zone. Basically, they're not allowed to have a security zone large enough that protesters can't get to the delegates. you can't shut down the 1st Amendment about what might happen. You can always theorize some awful scenario.
• Database will track foreign college students, and it'll cost 'em an extra $95 per year for the priviledge.
• Surviving Big Brother is an article about the TV show, but also about surveillance in general. There are a lot of good links at the end of it.

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

• Our favorite lawsuit covers the FTC's suit again Toysmart for selling customer information it said it would never share. It's a perfect example of why we don't need new privacy laws.
• Matt Groening's family values is a longish piece about The Simpsons.
• Never Say Die, keep that old hardware ticking along. I've still got a Duo 280 running as my home-automation server, and it's getting more hours now that it's plugged in than it ever did when it was portable. The battery lasts longer, too.
• Bacteria can be your friend - the obsession with disinfecting everything in sight may not be the healthiest.

Weather in Minneapolis for July 21, 2000     July 21 in History

• General Mills acquires Pillsbury - it may not be big new in the rest of the country, but it's a pretty big deal here in Minnesota.
• Injecting Big Brother talks about anti-drug vaccines. It's kind of a spooky development. The libertarian in me sure doesn't like the idea.
• '100% success' for male pill trial. Interesting news. I'm not sure what I think of it yet, but if it works without side-effects, it seems pretty cool.
• Mitnick Free to Speak. He still can't work with computers, but at least they're giving him the chance to do speaking engagements, writing and security consulting.
• ICANN adds TLDs, which will probably lead to more conflicts, but the Register has the solution to cybersquatting (which actually seems like a pretty reasonable proposal).
• Mad Props talks about how G. W. Bush is using appearances with minorities to woo liberal white voters. And it appears to be working. I've had people mention his appearance in front of the NAACP's annual convention as a reason why he's not such a bad guy.

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

• Had too much to drink? The Blood Alcohol Content Calculator can give you an idea if you have or not.
• CookingByNumbers.com tells you what you can cook with the ingredients you have on hand. Kinda handy. Shame it doesn't work in iCab. The wonderful thing about standards is there are so many to choose from! is a quote that springs to mind. Well, to be truthful, in this case I think the problem is not following the standards, but I really don't care enough to figure it out.
• Gonna be travelling? Longtriptips.com has some tips that might help.
• Looking to send some fan-mail? The Celebrity email directory can help.
• Why to not develop for the Mac. Heh!
• The Large Hot Pipe Organ makes big sound. The LHPO's pyro-acoustic explodo-rhythmations will throbbatize your earholes and dance-ify your booty and make you realize what "Industrial Music" REALLY means!

Weather in Minneapolis for July 14, 2000     July 14 in History

• The Only Man For The Job discusses our choices in the upcoming presidential election.
• George W. Bush Running Mate Application - Apply early. Apply often.
• Crypto Users Can't See FBI.gov - if you're using a Freedom 'nym from Zero-Knowledge Systems, you get empty pages at the FBI. Coincidence? Conspiracy? Or just a technical snafu?
• Beresford v. IRS - Dr. Steven Beresford is suing the IRS, since they took tax money from him, in spite of the law stating that paying income tax is 100% voluntary (so he didn't).
• Twilight Of The Boomers - Before long, we will live in a glorious new world in which no one will ever again have to endure tales of Joan Baez's performance at Woodstock. A harsh article. I like it.

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

• Yesterday (after I'd pretty much wrapped up Dave's Picks for today), there was an incident of sorts. One of my neighbors started throwing things out the front door. Bugged the hell out of me, since I was in a mood to sit outside enjoying the evening, but there were flying plates and crockery cracking that I would have had to dodge.
• The role of police in combating domestic violence. I don't think the police would have been much help, actually.
• The National Domestic Violence Hotline might help long-term, but they're not much help for outbursts like that.
• I almost feel like throwing a Hissyfit about the whole mess, except I'd rather it (meaning the neighbor with the problem) just went away.
• The whole situation that brought it on reminds me of Andy Capp, but without the humor or loving attitude. Oh, and with a little kid involved.
• So now it's Friday, and my car was in the shop. Should be ready, but there's a part that broke in the course of replacing the previously broken part. It has to be ordered from Michigan and won't be here 'til next week.
• While I'm waiting to pick up the car, the FedEx guy stops by. Now I have to run to pick up the package at 4pm. Oh well, at least it's not UPS.
• And to top it all off, I think I'm going bald (which actually cheers me up).
• The Civility Webpage cheered me up, too. Haven't gotten any work done, but I'm feeling better.

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• EtherPEG sniffs your network for images and saves them on your hard drive. See what your co-workers are looking at.
  Warning: your company may not approve of this sort of behavior. It's possible that running this program could get you fired.
• DoubleClick tracks porn sites says the headline. It's worse than that, by DoubleClick's own admission, they track "about half of the internet's total traffic."
• Haiku Movie Reviews - Some fine movie reviews.

  You can't say much in
  Seventeen syllables, but
  That's haiku for ya

• Japanese Engrish is a collection of translations. Of sorts.
• Green Eggs and Hamlet
• "Junkyard Wars"
• Is Aol Worse Than TV?
• Apple may exterminate round mouse - It's about time!

Weather in Minneapolis for July 7, 2000     July 7 in History

• The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence - the first Americans to tell the British to get out of their hair.
• The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.
• The Texas Declaration of Independence
• UN Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples
• A New Declaration of Independence
• A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace
• And finally, while the following isn't strictly a declaration, it's a step in the right direction: Publius Censorship Resistant Publishing
• And in Welcome to Sealand. Now Bugger Off., wired provides more news about that offshore data haven that's trying to become a new country.

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