Monday, March 15, 2004

MPAA-AG. A letter by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, which is being circulated to state AGs, seems to set the stage for a legal assault on the makers of p2p file sharing software, a "dangerous product." The kicker? Wired News reports that the letter's MS Word metadata identifies the drafter or editor of the letter as a VP with the Motion Picture Association of America. [Hit & Run] Evidently p2p software presents a clear and present danger to Bill Lockyer's campaign financing. 12:50:49 PM    comment () Dihydrogen Monoxide, Die!. Your local officials at work. "Embarrassing" doesn't begin to cover this one. Calif. Officials Nearly Fall for H2O Hoax The Associated Press ALISO VIEJO, Calif. City officials were so concerned about the potentially dangerous properties of dihydrogen monoxide that they considered banning foam cups after they learned the chemical was used in their production. Then they learned, to their chagrin, that dihydrogen monoxide _ H2O for short _ is the scientific term for water. "It's embarrassing," said City Manager David J. Norman. "We had a paralegal who did bad research." The paralegal apparently fell victim to one of the many official looking Web sites that have been put up by pranksters to describe dihydrogen monoxide as "an odorless, tasteless chemical" that can be deadly if accidentally inhaled. As a result, the City Council of this Orange County suburb had been scheduled to vote next week on a proposed law that would have banned the use of foam containers at city-sponsored events. Among the reasons given for the ban were that they were made with a substance that could "threaten human health and safety." The measure has been pulled from the agenda, although Norman said the city may still eventually ban foam cups. "If you get Styrofoam into the water and it breaks apart, it's virtually impossible to clean up," Norman said. [Thanks to Adrian Moore, director of The Reason Public Policy Institute] [Hit & Run] It's not at all surprising that this happened in California. Some years ago there was a statewide ballot measure that would require the owner of pretty much any building (restaurants, apartment buildings, offices, etc.) to post warning signs if the building contained any amount of dangerous chemicals. It passed. Since dangerous chemicals are present absolutely everywhere, even if it's only in harmless trace amounts that are barely detectable, virtually every building in California (with the exception of private homes, and maybe not even then for the newer ones) has one of those signs posted somewhere near the entrance. 10:36:44 AM    comment () Question: Do you think your country can keep you safe from terrorists?. Voters in Spain answered this question on Sunday.  Many said no.  They are not alone.  Many people in the US and other parts of Europe reading this think the same thing.  This reaction is key to understanding what is going wrong globally.  The nation-state is in decline.  It has failed in its most basic task:  to provide for the safety of its citizens.  It has lost its monopoly on violence.  It is losing its control over its economy (a quick glimpse at the US trade deficit is a case in point).  Increases in globalization and new technology exacerbates this process of decline. The consequences of the delegitimization of the nation-state will be central to life in the next century. [John Robb's Weblog] The answer is yes, I do think my country can keep me safe from terrorists. However, that's not really the question John is asking. He's really asking if I think my country's government can keep me safe. The answer to that is an emphatic "no." In fact, not only can the government not keep me safe, it does many things both internationally and domestically that make me dramatically less safe. 9:23:57 AM    comment ()

© Copyright 2006 Ken Hagler. Last update: 2/15/2006; 2:00:14 PM.