December 2000

• The New England Rubbish Deconstruction Society (The NERDS) didn't win Scrapheap Challenge 2000, but they did finish a close second. The show was aired in the US as Junkyard Wars on TLC, and I should've warned you about it earlier. They've also got their own website at the Junkyard Wars home page now, which is where you'll apply if you want to be on the US version of the show. The Channel 4 site at Scrapheap Challenge 2000 is by far the richest in content, though.
• Pathology in the Hundred Acre Wood: a neurodevelopmental perspective on A.A. Milne. With the right supports, including methylphenidate, Pooh might be fitter and more functional and produce (and remember) more poems. Yeah. The bear needs ritalin. Oh, and Tigger is not a good Role Model for Roo.
• Judge finds 12 protesters not in violation of law - It seems the police can't just round up anyone handy at a protest and slap 'em in the pokey. Who'd a thunk?
• FCC Slaps Anti-Drug TV Shows - when the White House sponsors a show for an anti- drug message, they should be identified as a sponsor.

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

• Say NO to government fingerprinting! is against a specific law in Georgia, but there's information to help you if your state is planning to require fingerprints with driver's licenses.
• The Social Security Scam.
• Campus Debate Pits Speech vs. Discipline
• The Ten Immutable Laws of Security was written by Microsoft, but it's actually a pretty darned good list.

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

• My friend Kari Tauring is having her Second Annual Yuletide Celebration tonight and tomorrow.
• Big Music Fights Back: the labels are finally figuring out that they need to have a good story for online distribution of music. And then they have to reconvince consumers that music is worth paying for.
• The original Register article Stealth plan puts copy protection into every hard drive has spawned a kuro5hin.org discussion of HDD content protection. Once again, copy protection is rearing its ugly head, and now the excuse is coming from the music and video side to computers.
• You've probably never heard the best Minnesota album of the '90s. Well, I'm not sure it was the best, but I liked reading the article. Brought back some memories.
• Bert Records is run by a guy I know. He's continuing to do it, which is cool. When he started, I wasn't sure how it'd work out, but it's a good thing.
• One of the bands that's got some stuff on Bert Records is The Auto Body Experience, which is fronted by my friend Scott. They're goofy and fun to watch perform, but they don't do it often enough.
• I discovered Rockbitch a while ago. (The new site is at Official Rockbitch Headquarters, and has different content, but hits you with sound right away, so turn down your speakers if you're in the office.) I like 'em. Post-punk crunchy hard-rock guitar. There's nudity on their website, so if you're offended by that, don't click the link. There are lyrics that will disturb some in the samples that are available online at Rockbitch.Org - the official fan club, too.
• The Rosenbergs were written up in Wired Magazine ... they rejected a farmclub.com label deal (Universal's Interscope/Geffin/A&M) ... made a deal with Napster; swapped the right to distribute mp3s with napster for tour promotion.
• Fay Wray is the band of a friend of a friend of mine (Hi Dan). He recommends their song Baywatch.
• Courtney Love's Manifesto made a big stir when it first came out. It's time to remind people about it.
• My friend Jim runs the Minnesota Music website, but never has time to update it and points people to Minnesota Coalition Records. That's a shame, since Jim's band list is more complete for the bands I want to know about, even if some of the links are dead.

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

• Three parties call for Nice referendum. Seems there's those in Ireland who worry that the EU is turning into a military superstate and threatening Irish neutrality and sovereignty.
• The IRS is soliciting comments about Internet use by non-profits. It seems they're concerned about a whole raft of things that might enable 'em to yank an organization's tax-exempt status.
• Publican chases Clinton over unpaid bar tab £24.70 that Clinton walked out on. It was just a few months ago Hillary did the same thing at a restaurant in NY. I guess the Clintons just aren't used to having to pay for things.
• Thomas Targets ''Regulation Without Representation'' is a press release from last June that I found when searching for ''Regulation without representation''. I hope this will become a battle-cry similar to ''no taxation without representation.''
• The LA Times describes A 'Modern Democracy' that can't count votes. Of course we're A Republic, Not a Democracy, but that doesn't seem to matter to many.
• Anarchism versus Right Wing 'Anti-Statism' talks about the reality of anarchism versus the rhetoric we hear from most politicians. While the actual article raises some interesting points, as is common with IndyMedia postings, the follow-up comments are more interesting than the original article.
• FBI agents march to protest Peltier clemency review.

Weather in Minneapolis for December 18, 2000     December 18 in History

• I'm still trying to decide if the Dilberito from Scott Adams Foods is real or just an elaborate joke. I think I'm going to have to look more closely in the freezers next time I go to the grocery store. I've heard from friends that they're real, but not terribly appetizing. Drat.
• Man pleads guilty to forgery in spamming case because he forged the From: address. He could get seven years in jail.
• Personal Firewalls Fail the Leak Test. Most are unnecessary and don't work, anyhow. Steve Gibson of Gibson Research Corporation gets a mention for giving away a utility to test firewalls called LeakTest.
• Theo de Raadt Responds to slashdot reader questions. Theo's one of the folks behind OpenBSD, so the questions and answers cover a lot of security issues.
• Business Week asks Will Google's Purity Pay Off? I sure hope it will. I like Google.
• Why Apple Is Losing Its Appeal Again talks about Apple's current troubles. There's some flaws in the analysis (including comparing a Mac with a $4000 monitor to a PC system with a cheap CRT), but there are some points worth pondering.
• From the April 1999 issue of Scientific American, a new gun is Taking Ballistics by Storm. It's odd I didn't notice this back then.

Weather in Minneapolis for December 15, 2000     December 15 in History

• I'm working on the 2nd ed. of Mead Made Easy and have been pondering what typefaces I'll be setting it in. I'm probably going to defer the decision to pneuma graphic design.
• Chank's Online Font-Making Tutorial tells you how the prolific chank makes all those fonts.
• Lines & Splines is a typography-related weblog.
• David Siegel's Type and Typography page has links to his fonts, plus a bibliography.
• Fonts and Art from the Scriptorium. Pity some of their frames code doesn't work right.
• Celtic Faery fonts is a collection of free- and share-ware TrueType fonts.

Weather in Minneapolis for December 11, 2000     December 11 in History

• Online privacy fears are real is a relatively good (if long) article on MSNBC.
• High tech's missionaries of sloppiness. Time to Market thinking results in a lot of shoddy products. Not unlike the auto industry of the 1950s and 60s, there's a good chance that quality will eventually shine through, in the form of competition to today's giants. American computer and software companies are making too much money in the current environment to care.
• People are Undoing the Mac OS Facelift by adding hacks that disable the new features. ''Aqua is pretty different and there's a lot of people who are not willing to make a drastic shift in how they use their computer.''
• A Special Guide For Single Men at Tech Holiday Parties tells guys how to better their odds of ''hooking up'' at a tech holiday party. Dressing so you look gay seems to play a part in it.
• In the U.K. and Europe, they've got mad-cow disease (BSE) to worry about. Here in Minnesota, the E. coli hamburger recall grows. Sigh. At least with e. coli, you don't have to worry if you cook the meat thoroughly. Of course I'd be happier if the meat didn't get bumped into the cow-shit in order to get infected in the first place....
• Letter Carrier Suspended After Kicking Dog. I like dogs a lot, but if the dog attacks the mailman, it deserves what it gets. And besides, it wasn't a poodle-punt or anything like that. Pity, that. From the sound of it, the dog deserved to go into orbit.
• Fast Finn fined for speeding around Helsinki. The amount of the fine is the amazing part. It was 70% higher than the previous record fine in Finland. And only for doing 70kph in a 40kph zone. That's 45 in a 25 for you miles per hour types.
• Finally, some good news, NASA to Contact Oldest Spacecraft on 35th Anniversary. That's happening on December 16th, I think, so there may be a followup with the story of a successful contact.

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

• Police defend latest crackdown in Seattle. After all, they told the crowd to disperse, and the crowd didn't. Of course there was the small matter of being surrounded by the police so there was nowhere to disperse to....
• Of Myths and Monsters, by Dave Jiles. Why are patriot, militia, and anti-government dirty words?
• Assume Responsibility or Go Away. Amen.
• Libertarians tip balance in Washington state and achieve major-party status.
• Bob Murphy is advocating anarchy and is careful to point out that this does not mean chaos.
• And finally, for the grinch in all of you, Bethlehem cancels Christmas.

Weather in Minneapolis for December 4, 2000     December 4 in History

• It's World AIDS Day | Day Without Weblogs, but that's not stopping me.
• The Wpoison web poisoning tool might be one way to fight spam. I doubt it'll work for long.
• May The Best Man Lose explains why the current election system in the US has some problems.
• Eeyore Urged to Concede ''For Good Of Wood''. Heh!
• FDA: Eggs To Carry Health Warning. No sunny-side. No over easy. No drippy yummy yolk to dip your toast in. They've gotta be cooked hard. Or maybe we could have the egg-growers not have the chickens pooping on each other so they'd be less likely to get salmonella.
• Late skirmish mars peaceful WTO II
• IRS may muzzle what nonprofits can say on the Internet. Chilling, since one of the websites I host is the one for my neighborhood association, a non-profit.
• Net Myths You Should Ignore
• If Architects had to work like web programmers. Or just about any other programmer, for that matter.

Weather in Minneapolis for December 1, 2000     December 1 in History