Weblog: Jan 2004

An E&P survey of the top 20 newspapers by circulation found that as of Wednesday, 13 had run editorials on Kay's resignation as chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq last Friday, and his statement that no WMDs exist in Iraq, and likely did not exist in Iraq during the U.S. run-up to war. Nearly all of those papers blamed intelligence failures for the miscalculation and called for a full probe. But eight of the 13 — most of which supported the war — also raised the issue of White House deceit and its possibly blind pursuit of intelligence that fit its plan for war.

—Greg Mitchell, "Editorials Question Bush's Role in 'Cooking' Up a War," Editor & Publisher, 28-Jan-2004

Ellen Goodman's 30-Jan-2004 piece, "Defogging war," cited this article:

In his waning years [Henry L.] Stimson was asked by an anxious questioner, "Mr. Secretary, how on earth can we ever bring peace to the world?" Stimson is said to have answered: "You begin by bringing to Washington a small handful of able men who believe that the achievement of peace is possible. You work them to the bone until they no longer believe that it is possible. And then you throw them out — and bring in a new bunch who believe that it is possible."

—James C. Thomson, Jr., "How Could Vietnam Happen? — An Autopsy," Atlantic Monthly, Apr-1968

I'm a (very small) Fidelity Investments account-holder, and I'm not comfortable with them backing Bush.

When President Bush appears at a Fidelity Investments facility in Merrimack, N.H., today to discuss the economy, his hosts will have a lot riding on his agenda. The mutual fund giant stands to gain billions of dollars worth of new business from administration proposals to create new private savings accounts. Bush inserted a brief reference to privatizing Social Security in his recent State of the Union address — a move that could be a potential gold mine for the company. Fidelity also opposes some proposed tighter regulations on the mutual fund industry following the exposure of market-timing practices elsewhere.

—Ross Kerber, "Fidelity lifts its political profile," Boston Globe, 29-Jan-2004

McDonald's food suppresses sex drive?

Neither Spurlock, 33, nor the three doctors who agreed to monitor his health during the experiment were prepared for the degree of ruin it would wreak on his body. Within days, he was vomiting up his burgers and battling with headaches and depression. And his sex drive vanished.

—David Usborne, "Film records effects of eating only McDonald's for a month," New Zealand Herald, 25-Jan-2004

Updated Franz ELI Emacs Lisp Files. Thanks to Christian Ohler at CMU for bringing Franz' updates to my attention. Let me know if any problems.

The NYT says, "We're sorry, Mr. Dean," the only way it knows how.

Krugman takes up the electronic voting machines issue: Paul Krugman, "Democracy at Risk," New York Times, 23-Jan-2004

"Yee-Haw! My Vote Cancels Out Y'alls!," The Onion, 21-Jan-2004

Don't ask:

(let ((a (regexp-opt '("Current" "Last" "Latest" "New" "Newest")))
      (b (regexp-opt '("Internet" "Microsoft" "Net" "Network")))
      (c (regexp-opt '("Critical" "Security")))
      (d (regexp-opt '("Pack" "Patch" "Update" "Upgrade"))))
  (concat "^\\(" a "\\)?"
          "\\(" b "\\(" c "\\)?" "\\|" c "\\)"
          d "$"))

Forecasting

I actively avoid Slate, but this piece has sufficient local relevance: Timothy Noah, "Kerry's Globe Problem," Slate, 21-Jan-2004

More than two centuries ago, the patriots of Brewster shut down the Colonial courts on Cape Cod in one of the first acts of resistance against the tyrannical rule of King George III. Now, deliberately evoking its Revolutionary history, Brewster Town Meeting has formally condemned the antiterrorist USA Patriot Act, united against the laws of a different leader named George.

—Thanassis Cambanis, "Resistance to Patriot Act gaining ground," Boston Globe, 20-Jan-2004

Anachronism of the day: Lee Meriwether, "How Working-men Live in Europe and America," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Apr-1887, posted at Harpers.org, 19-Jan-2004

Real gets reamed: Rob Pegoraro, "RealPlayer 10 Adds New Mistakes to Old," Washington Post, 18-Jan-2004

State Senator Marian Walsh, a West Roxbury Democrat, said Catholic lawmakers like herself, who grew up steeped in the church's teachings and culture, began to think critically about the church's reach only after the abuse scandal came to light. "It wasn't just about a cardinal or a bishop talking to leadership or members in their offices or at the cardinal's residence," said Walsh, who used to speak with Law monthly. "It was much deeper. It was in our fiber."

—Michael Paulson and Raphael Lewis, "Weaker church tested on marriage," Boston Globe, 18-Jan-2004

In 2002, Robert Hughes, Time magazine's art critic, put that question to Levin in an e-mail message later published in Tina Brown's column in a London newspaper. "How can I convey to you the disgust which your name awakens in me?" Hughes asked. "How can you face yourself knowing how much history, value and savings you have thrown away on your mad, ignorant attempt to merge with a wretched dial-up I.S.P.?" At least three books have now tried to answer that question, and a fourth is on the way.

—Adam Liptak, "The Making and Taking of AOL Time Warner," New York Times Sunday Book Review, 18-Jan-2004

Neocon capitalist purism. "U.S. To Give Every Iraqi $3,544.91, Let Free-Market Capitalism Do The Rest," The Onion, 14-Jan-2004

Compensation: competitive pay commiserate with experience

—Job posting for a Web project manager

Spammers have taken to registering random-string .biz domains, and I don't recall ever seeing a single legitimate .biz site, so the latest Privoxy actions file now blocks all of .biz. This will make my maintenance life a lot easier, as I was adding to the list of spammer .biz domains several times a day.

No graphic designer would do this Siemens box accidentally.

Released sigbegone.el version 0.8.

Looking in the trash for small DIMMs, found a small OED.

First weblog entry of the new year shall be on questionable practices:

"The policy requires a visual body cavity inspection of a juvenile's genitals and anus," the lawsuit states. "And these searches are conducted routinely, without any reason to suspect or probable cause to believe that the juvenile possesses drugs, weapons, or other contraband." [...] DeMarco said such strip searches, which can take place several times a week, can take an emotional toll on children who often already have issues with their sexuality.

—Farah Stockman, "Suit filed on strip searches by DYS," Boston Globe, 1-Jan-2004