Saturday, January 26, 2002

Libertarian goes to college: don't say the "g" word or you end up in jail!. Johnny Student at Samizdata - Libertarian goes to college: don't say the "g" word or you end up in jail! - a college student mentioned the second amendment in a philosophy class and was sent to the dean's office for an attitude adjustment. They nearly called the cops. Walter Uhlman posted a response, amazed at what our colleges have come to. As John Stuart Mill, a real philosopher once said: One person with a belief is equal to a force of ninety- nine who have only interests. Maybe that's the trouble. Today's professors can't bear the thought of people with belief expressing themselves. It might make other people think, and then where would we be? [End the War on Freedom] Not all colleges are like this. My friend is a history professor at a Southern California university, and he is a gun owner. He's also told me about conversations with students where several of them were gun owners, or thinking about buying a gun. comment () trackback ()  11:44:28 PM     Milestones in U.S.-Arafat History. In 1974, Yasser Arafat appeared before the U.N. General Assembly wearing a gun and holding an olive branch. That paradox has characterized his up and down relationship with U.S. officials. [AP World News] The real paradox is that an infamous terrorist could openly carry a gun in New York, but an ordinary law-abiding New Yorker carrying a gun to protect himself (from terrorists, for example) would be arrested and thrown in jail. comment () trackback ()  11:40:13 PM     Women Guard Detainees at Guantanamo. The Taliban fighters who wouldn't allow women to study in Afghanistan and punished them if a veil slipped or ankle showed now are getting orders from women guards and care from female doctors at this U.S. detention camp. [AP World News] This is a fine example of "poetic justice!" comment () trackback ()  11:27:30 PM     This morning I learned that at least two more people are reading this weblog. I was a little surprised, since I've done nothing to advertise its existence, and last time I looked it still hadn't shown up on Google. I think those people must have found this site through the weblogs.com "recently changed" list, or perhaps by looking at referers. Either way, it's pretty interesting that people are finding this log without any promotion on my part! comment () trackback ()  11:17:39 PM     Australia Rejects Immigrant Policy. Behind the razor wire at Woomera's detention center, illegal immigrants are referred to by number, not name. [AP World News] Are the numbers tatooed on their arms? comment () trackback ()  11:30:23 AM     DPS-FTP. DPS-FTP: trademarks are supposed to be industry specific, so if you sell Corn Flakes as a cereal, I can sell it as a brass polishing medium and neither one of us has grounds to sue the other. Not anymore. [nasm] DPS-FTP is a multi-threaded FTP client for GNOME. It was originally called Kevlar FTP, since its interface was inspired by Bulletproof FTP, and Kevlar is bullet-proof. But DuPont actually sent me a notice telling me that I can't use their trademarked product names in my product name. They were generous enough to allow me to say that my product contains Kevlar, however. After explaining to them that, being software, my "product" does not contain Kevlar, and that I'm not making any money from the "product", they still would not let me use it. So, I renamed the program to DuPont Sucks FTP, or DPS-FTP. [End the War on Freedom] This reminds me of the Power Mac 7100. Its codename in development started as "Sagan," and then changed to "Butthead Astronomer" when Carl Sagan found out and objected. comment () trackback ()  11:18:16 AM     New Radio 8 feature this morning. Now the Edit This Page button works correctly and opens the text of a story in a browser editing box. [Scripting News] Wow, I asked for this yesterday and here it is already! Only one problem--after updating, I went to my one story and there wasn't any button. Hmm. comment () trackback ()  11:00:47 AM     On Thursday I wrote that it would be nice if the "coffee mug" icon gave some indication of what it did. I just realized that the title attribute is set, so that if you move your pointer over the icon for a few seconds a description of what it is will appear. Okay, that's something. I would still like a more informative icon, but the title is a step in the right direction. comment () trackback ()  12:39:23 AM     Thought for the day: Anyone who wants to get rid of all guns, thinks that the earth should be ruled by large, strong men with swords and clubs. I think we already tried that. It was called the Dark Ages. Christopher Morton comment () trackback ()  12:32:10 AM     Protests Turn Violent in Argentina. Argentine riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at marauding demonstrators early Saturday, after what began as a peaceful nationwide protest against economic austerity measures degenerated into violence. [AP World News] I think "marauding" is an awfully harsh description of people whose life savings are essentially being held hostage by a government-imposed banking freeze. If my money had been stolen by a dictator, I wouldn't be taking it too kindly either. comment () trackback ()  12:26:16 AM

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