Wednesday, October 16, 2002

Salon has a feature on the sniper subculture of the NRA in their premium section. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/10/16/sniping/index.html I really wonder if the framers of the Constitution would accept ultra accurate/ultra deadly weapons as "arms." It can be argued that the major danger of using a firearm in the late eighteenth century was from the infection resulting from a wound. In any event there are enthusiasts who love super accurate/super deadly rifles http://www.snipercountry.com/ http://www.snipersparadise.com/ For an interesting experience, call your representative and ask for their current view on gun control. You will only get a staff memberwho is generally untrained on the subject, but the conversation can be interesting - particularly if the staffer is female. I'm sure that I'll get a position letter in the mail thanking me for my interest in public policy and for supporting the second amendment (my rep is the NJ Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen). Somehow I was once placed on an NRA mailing list after such a call. Both parties are "respectful" (some might say afraid) of the NRA, but one seems to take dictation from the organization. Check out the NRA site http://www.nra.org/ Among other things they are screaming about a vote in LA that would ban .50 caliber rifles in city limits. My gosh -- how will people protect themselves from runaway hippos and elephants? Of course, in the spirit of full disclosure, I must note that I'm biased - one of my uncles was murdered by a shooter in San Francisco. 8:27:47 AM     Perhaps there are limits on "clickwrap" contracts, although this appears to be a very messy legal area. There will be much more on this subject over the next few years. http://online.securityfocus.com/columnists/113 The opening paragraph is great. 7:55:17 AM     In the US we rarely worry about the anthropology of consumerism, but the subject is fascinating. The Ecologist ran a great article by Fritjof Capra (The Tao of Physics) on the subject recently. http://www.eetimes.com/sys/news/OEG20021011S0040 The Ecologist, if you haven't come across it, is a great read. There is something great in every issue. Bonnie makes an interesting point that there seems to be a meme on the part of social critics where aspects of primitive societies are provided as an example of how we could do better. She notes that these examples rarely hold and that the New Guinea example is flawed. This is too bad as the points on ecology and consumption stand by themselves. 6:44:40 AM     Salon marks the launch of AOL 8.0 with an article http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/10/15/save_aol/index.html They built an empire by being fairly simple and focusing on communication rather than content. In the past few years they seem to have lost their way and survival has been linked to the inertia of their customers more than anything else. The growth periods for the Internet and AOL are gone and it is unclear if AOL's new strategies will work. They need to carefully develop their broadband strategy - the bits that have been articulated suggest they haven't been thinking deeply. 6:44:25 AM     My major source of news as a graduate student was CBC's "As it Happens" - a fine Canadian view of the news, often with amazing reporting. Barbara Frum (sadly gone) was amazing and the undisputed goddess of reporting in my book. She had a tendency to ring up world leaders and put them on the spot. http://www.radio.cbc.ca/programs/asithappens/ Check out the classic clips - particularly Alan Maitland's piece on resuscitating frozen chickens. Weird humor aside, AIH is a nice counterpoint to US and UK news. I usually listen on shortwave, but discovered that WUNC offers it at 9PM Eastern - you can stream from their site. 6:44:08 AM

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