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Wednesday, December 18, 2002
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The price of gold briefly went over $350/ounce! I put my savings in gold instead of US dollars, and this price has reminded me that my savings would have lost about 10% of their value just this year if I hadn't done that. In addition to buying gold coins, I find "e-gold" a convenient way of saving my money.
11:24:32 PM 
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I figured out that the obscure problem I'd found with "MORE" was caused by an incompatibility with SmoothType. I can't be sure there aren't other lurking compatibility problems, so I've disabled SmoothType as a precaution
10:25:09 PM
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Cities Say No to Federal Snooping. A handful of U.S. municipalities are refusing to let their employees collaborate with federal officials seeking to spy on residents under the Patriot Act. Meanwhile, librarians are launching their own protests. By Julia Scheeres. [Wired News]
Unfortunately that sort of thing is purely symbolic--the Feds don't need help from local authorities to spy on people.
8:47:48 PM
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Pro-hunting writer held in cell after race claims. Robin Page, a columnist for The Telegraph, has been arrested on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred after making a speech at a pro-hunting rally.
Mr Page, 61, was detained in a police cell after being interviewed about remarks made by him at a country fair at Frampton-upon-Severn, Glos, on Sept 6.
[...]
Mr Page also told his audience that Londoners had the right to run their own events, such as the Brixton carnival and gay pride marches, which celebrated black and gay culture. Why therefore, he asked, should country people not have the right to do what they liked in the countryside.
[...]
Mr Page's opinions would appear to be no more controversial than those expressed by the Prince of Wales earlier this year. In a letter, leaked in September, the Prince said he agreed with a farmer from Cumbria who claimed that the farming community enjoyed less protection from discrimination than black or gay people. [news.telegraph.co.uk
No news yet one whether Prince Charles has also been arrested for political incorrectness. It's a little sad to see British civilization collapsing--and scary, too, since American socialists hold Britain up as a role model for what they want to do to America.
12:05:56 PM
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Andrew Orlowski: "What Spring does is what we wish Apple had been bold enough to do with OS X, and make a really radical departure from the 2D file/folder office automation metaphor of the 1970s into a more loosely structured and spontaneous UI more appropriate to an always-connected world."  [Scripting News]
This is an interesting idea. Apparently there's something similar for Windows called DesktopX--I think I'll take a look at it for my PC.
9:11:33 AM
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LawMeme (Yale) - Elcomsoft Not Guilty. The rationale given by the jury? "Jury foreman Dennis Strader said the jurors agreed ElcomSoft's product was illegal but acquitted the company because they believed the company didn't mean to violate the law." Says the foreman, "'We didn't understand why a million dollar company would put on their Web page an illegal thing that would (ruin) their whole business if they were caught,' [the foreman] said in an interview following the verdict. Strader added that the panel found the "DMCA" itself confusing, making it easy for jurors to believe that executives from Russia might not fully understand it." Not a huge victory for DMCA opponents, since the jury found Elcomsoft's product illegal but excused the company on other grounds--but it's a step. [Privacy Digest]
I've seen a few reports with overheated rhetoric about what a big deal it is, but this summary is more realistic. The verdict didn't really change anything, because the DMCA is not about actual court cases. It exists as a weapon to intimidate people, and it can do that just fine regardless of whether anyone is convicted--a criminal trial will ruin the life of an ordinary law-abiding citizen, even if they win.
12:08:40 AM
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© Copyright
2006
Ken Hagler.
Last update:
2/14/2006; 6:57:21 PM.
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