Yearly Archives: 2006

Harry Browne Dead at 72

Posted on March 2, 2006 by Kevin

Harry Browne, perennial (quadrennial?) Libertarian Party presidential candidate, has died at 72.

bq.. Former Libertarian Party Presidential Candidate, noted scholar, and investment advisor Harry Browne died at his home in Franklin, TN on the night of March 1, 2006, after a long illness.

A well-known inspirational speaker and writer, Harry was the author of 12 books that sold more than 2 million copies. In 1996 and 2000, he was the Libertarian Party’s candidate for President of the United States, with popular vote totals of 485,798 and 384,431 respectively.

Harry was the founder of DownsizeDC.org, a non-profit group dedicated to reducing the size of government and forcing governmental institutions into compliance with the Constitution. He authored several popular books on the libertarian movement and philosophy including, Why Government Doesn’t Work and The Great Libertarian Offer. In addition to these works on Libertarianism, Harry wrote investment advice books including You Can Profit from a Monetary Crisis and Fail-Safe Investing.

During Harry Browne’s campaigns, he made appearances in almost every state and was credited with over 1,000 media appearances. He was often praised by the media, and won the endorsements of multiple talk-show hosts and journalists.

“Harry Browne’s actions and rhetoric were inspirations for me,” stated Sam New, acting director of communications for the Libertarian Party. “Through Harry’s writings, I began to understand what Libertarianism is. I trace the beginning of my involvement with the Party to him. His contributions to the Party will forever be evident. Harry will truly be missed by many supporters, followers, and friends around the world.”

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Black and White Twins

Posted on March 2, 2006 by Kevin

Via the Daily Mail:

bq.. Remee, who weighed 5lb 15oz, was blonde and fair skinned. Her sister Kian, born a minute later weighing 6lb, was black.
Both Kylie and her partner Remi Horder, 17, are of mixed race. Their mothers are both white and their fathers are black. According to the Multiple Births Foundation, baby Kian must have inherited the black genes from both sides of the family, whilst Remee inherited the white ones. […]

Twins

Skin colour is believed to be determined by up to seven different genes working together.

The odds against of a mixed race couple having twins of dramatically different colour are a million to one.

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Homeland Security Expands the Scope of Their Duties?

Posted on February 17, 2006 by Kevin

If I were a xenophobic isolationist crackpot, I would be more scared of the Department of Homeland Security than the UN and the “New World Order”.

From the Washington Post:

bq.. Two uniformed men strolled into the main room of the Little Falls library in Bethesda one day last week and demanded the attention of all patrons using the computers. Then they made their announcement: The viewing of Internet pornography was forbidden.

The men looked stern and wore baseball caps emblazoned with the words “Homeland Security.” The bizarre scene unfolded Feb. 9, leaving some residents confused and forcing county officials to explain how employees assigned to protect county buildings against terrorists came to see it as their job to police the viewing of pornography.

After the two men made their announcement, one of them challenged an Internet user’s choice of viewing material and asked him to step outside, according to a witness. A librarian intervened, and the two men went into the library’s work area to discuss the matter. A police officer arrived. In the end, no one had to step outside except the uniformed men.

They were officers of the security division of Montgomery County’s Homeland Security Department, an unarmed force that patrols about 300 county buildings — but is not responsible for enforcing obscenity laws.

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Bye Bye, PalmOS

Posted on February 16, 2006 by Kevin

PalmOS is officially dead and replaced by Linux. From the press release:

bq.. ACCESS Co., Ltd., and its wholly owned subsidiary, PalmSource, Inc., today announced the ACCESS Linux Platform (ALP), the latest evolution of Palm OS(R) for Linux. The ACCESS Linux Platform is designed to be an integrated, open and flexible Linux-based platform tailored for smartphones and mobile devices.

p. From Wired Gear Factor:

bq.. The four horsemen of the PDA apocalypse are mounted up and ready to ride, and Palm OS is now officially dead. With Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5.0 now running on Palm devices and Palm OS developer PalmSource long since sold to the Japanese company Access, it was only a matter of time. Access is putting Palm OS to bed in favor of a completely rebranded and totally redesigned mobile operating system built entirely on Linux. The new OS will still run legacy Palm software in addition to lots of Linux-based apps, but it won’t even have the word “palm” in the name. Instead, it’ll be called Access Linux Platform. Of course, it’ll be a while before the new OS comes to a handheld near you, as the developer’s kit won’t even be available until much later this year.

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1337 Emoticon of the Day

Posted on February 9, 2006 by Kevin

Just saw this one on Ars Technica:

\m/ (>.<) \m/

D0000000000d! :-)

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Future American lawyers to be proud of

Posted on January 25, 2006 by Kevin

From Insomnia’s LiveJournal:

Alberto Gonzales spoke before law students at Georgetown today, justifying illegal, unauthorized surveillance of US citizens, but during the course of his speech the students in class did something pretty ballsy and brave. They got up from their seats and turned their backs to him.

To quote Georgetown law prof David Cole, who participated in the panel discussion:

When you’re a law student, they tell you if say that if you can’t argue the law, argue the facts. They also tell you if you can’t argue the facts, argue the law. If you can’t argue either, apparently, the solution is to go on a public relations offensive and make it a political issue… to say over and over again “it’s lawful”, and to think that the American people will somehow come to believe this if we say it often enough.

In light of this, I’m proud of the very civil civil disobedience that was shown here today.

Fan-n-n-n-tastic…nice Franklin quote, too (and a belated happy 300th, Ben!)

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The story of Schroedinger's cat (an epic poem)

Posted on January 14, 2006 by Kevin

Originally from Cecil Adams’ The Straight Dope column, May 7, 1982:

bq.. Dear Cecil:

Cecil, you’re my final hope
Of finding out the true Straight Dope
For I have been reading of Schroedinger’s cat
But none of my cats are at all like that.
This unusual animal (so it is said)
Is simultaneously live and dead!
What I don’t understand is just why he
Can’t be one or other, unquestionably.
My future now hangs in between eigenstates.
In one I’m enlightened, the other I ain’t.
If you understand, Cecil, then show me the way
And rescue my psyche from quantum decay.
But if this queer thing has perplexed even you,
Then I will and won’t see you in Schroedinger’s zoo.
— Randy F., Chicago

p..

bq.. Dear Randy:

Schroedinger, Erwin! Professor of physics!
Wrote daring equations! Confounded his critics!
(Not bad, eh? Don’t worry. This part of the verse
Starts off pretty good, but it gets a lot worse.)
Win saw that the theory that Newton’d invented
By Einstein’s discov’ries had been badly dented.
What now? wailed his colleagues. Said Erwin, “Don’t panic,
No grease monkey I, but a quantum mechanic.
Consider electrons. Now, these teeny articles
Are sometimes like waves, and then sometimes like particles.
If that’s not confusing, the nuclear dance
Of electrons and suchlike is governed by chance!
No sweat, though–my theory permits us to judge
Where some of ’em is and the rest of ’em was.”
Not everyone bought this. It threatened to wreck
The comforting linkage of cause and effect.
E’en Einstein had doubts, and so Schroedinger tried
To tell him what quantum mechanics implied.
Said Win to Al, “Brother, suppose we’ve a cat,
And inside a tube we have put that cat at–
Along with a solitaire deck and some Fritos,
A bottle of Night Train, a couple mosquitoes
(Or something else rhyming) and, oh, if you got ’em,
One vial prussic acid, one decaying ottom
Or atom–whatever–but when it emits,
A trigger device blasts the vial into bits
Which snuffs our poor kitty. The odds of this crime
Are 50 to 50 per hour each time.
The cylinder’s sealed. The hour’s passed away. Is
Our pussy still purring–or pushing up daisies?
Now, you’d say the cat either lives or it don’t
But quantum mechanics is stubborn and won’t.
Statistically speaking, the cat (goes the joke),
Is half a cat breathing and half a cat croaked.
To some this may seem a ridiculous split,
But quantum mechanics must answer, “Tough @#&!
We may not know much, but one thing’s fo’ sho’:
There’s things in the cosmos that we cannot know.
Shine light on electrons–you’ll cause them to swerve.
The act of observing disturbs the observed–
Which ruins your test. But then if there’s no testing
To see if a particle’s moving or resting
Why try to conjecture? Pure useless endeavor!
We know probability–certainty, never.’
The effect of this notion? I very much fear
‘Twill make doubtful all things that were formerly clear.
Till soon the cat doctors will say in reports,
“We’ve just flipped a coin and we’ve learned he’s a corpse.”‘
So saith Herr Erwin. Quoth Albert, “You’re nuts.
God doesn’t play dice with the universe, putz.
I’ll prove it!” he said, and the Lord knows he tried–
In vain–until fin’ly he more or less died.
Win spoke at the funeral: “Listen, dear friends,
Sweet Al was my buddy. I must make amends.
Though he doubted my theory, I’ll say of this saint:
Ten-to-one he’s in heaven–but five bucks says he ain’t.”
— Cecil Adams

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Behind the Scenes at a Steve Jobs Keynote Speech

Posted on January 5, 2006 by Kevin

Fascinating article about how much preparation goes into one of Apple’s Steve Jobs‘ keynote speeches.

bq.. Steve starts his preparation for a keynote weeks in advance, reviewing all the products and technologies he might include. Although development and release schedules are set far in advance, he still has to satisfy himself that the chosen products are keynote-ready. For software, this can be hard to decide: the engineering work is usually still underway, so he will make a preliminary determination based on seeing unfinished software. More than once this has caused some tense moments in rehearsal when programs haven’t behaved.

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