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Monday, August 19, 2002
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Fog-light.
Although it has been linked to elsewhere in the blogosphere, I feel that this essay by John Fonte is simply too important to pass without mention here.
It's a long essay but far more than worth it. For me, it was more like a gripping novel; once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. It isn't just good, it's exciting because a lot of us have known for some time that there was something wrong in the world but it was difficult to pin down and put our fingers on. It was something that has no face and no name. Like fog it swirled all around us but not being corporeal we lashed out fiercely in all directions, landing blows on nothing. It was like an itch we could never scratch.
John Fonte has done us all a service by running his nails deliciously down that spot and we will hear more of him and, more importantly, much more of the 'Transnational Progressives' ("Tranzis") he so graphically disects.
[Samizdata.net]
I agree that the article is a "must read." Although the Evil Empire was defeated, the evil that pervaded it--the evil of collectivism--is still abroad in the world. Dr. Fonte's article shows the face that evil has taken in the modern world.
11:37:21 PM 
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Angry hippo survives the great flood. Zoo staff were amazed to see him emerge from the elephant enclosure and were said to be overjoyed after the torment of seeing their charges die last week. Petr Fejk, the zoo's director, said the hippopotamus was in "attack mode" when he was found but had calmed down after being given something to eat. [news.Telegraph.co.uk]
It's not that surprising. Hippos are semi-aquatic creatures, after all.
11:34:14 PM
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Frankly, the consensus (bolstered by my conversations this weekend) is that war with Iraq won't happen in the near-term. There isn't a casus belli, or at least one up to American standards. Given that Bush will be unable to muster the support he needs to send 250 k Americans to enjoy sun and fun in Qatar, Kuwait, and Iraq: he should stop this farce now. Every moment he delays, sinks our economy. He can't, despite his desire, correct the original sin of his father: to demonize Saddam and not eliminate him. [John Robb's Radio Weblog]
The consensus among whom? I don't know if Bush will really invade Iraq or not, but thinking that he won't because there's no casus belli doesn't make sense. Under the previous administration, the US invaded, occupied, or otherwise committed acts of war against Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Serbia, the Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and probably a few others I can't think of offhand. There was no casus belli in any of those cases, and there was none of the overwhelming public support that an invasion of Iraq has now.
Sure, there's no casus belli with Iraq now, and it would be illegal for the President to order in invasion without Congress first declaring war, but so what? When did little things like the law and what's right ever concern the US government? If Bush decides not to attack, it will be to avoid angering someone he can't afford to anger, or because the polls show a dramatic shift in public opinion against an attack.
I don't think it makes much difference one way or the other as far as the economy is concerned. It's sinking anyway, all a war will do is make it sink a little faster.
8:31:07 PM
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Ian Rowan writes: "You can force websites to respect your text size settings in Internet Explorer with this bit of mumbo-jumbo: Tools, Options, General, Accessibility, and check "Ignore font sizes specified on web pages." Screen shot.  [Scripting News]
I thought there would be a way to do it! It sure is well-hidden, though.
8:16:19 PM
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Triangulation. Both Jakob Nielsen and Jeffrey Zeldman ask Microsoft to let users control text size in MSIE/Win. Add my vote too. There are a few sites that I can't read because of text size issues. Some of them don't respond when I manually change the size. Further, MSIE resets the default font size when I choose it manually for one window, making me reluctant to ever set the font size through the menu. Instead I just don't read the sites that set the font size so small that my eyes can't parse the text. While MS is making changes, please also add a user pref that turns off the "open in new window" feature that Zeldman uses on his weblog. It's one of the most irritating things a website can do. [Scripting News]
The Mac version of Internet Explorer has several ways to do this. I haven't used the Windows IE very much, because it's not as good as the Mac version, but I'm a bit suprised that it doesn't have any of the options the Mac version does for changing font size.
3:22:31 PM
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Brits Develop Electric Armor System. The brainiacs at the British Defense Science and Technology Laboratory have created an "electric force field" that can protect light tanks and APC's. Using the tanks existing battery, two external plates, and a capacitor, it is able to protect the vehicles against repeated RPG-7 attacks. [kuro5hin.org]
The British seem to have a talent for armored vehicle defenses. The "Chobham" composite armor used by various NATO tanks (including the US Abrams) is also a British invention.
3:16:53 PM
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H.L. Mencken on Liberty and Government. "The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naive and usually idiotic.Ê He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched.Ê He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair." [Ludwig von Mises Institute]
A collection of quotes from a time when things weren't nearly as bad as they are now.
3:05:09 PM
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PGP has unexpectedly escaped the black hole of Network Associates and now once again belongs to an independent company. Phil Zimmermann and Bruce Schneier are on the technical advisory board. This is good news for computer security!
11:26:54 AM
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© Copyright
2006
Ken Hagler.
Last update:
2/14/2006; 6:52:03 PM.
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