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Wednesday, February 12, 2003
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Someone mentioned that there is a run on plastic sheeting and duct tape.
Somehow this reminds me of the Duck and Cover propaganda of the cold war. At the time it was felt that the public had to be given a sense that they could do something ... even though it was pointless.
how fitting ....
Now if people wanted to do something perhaps a surtax on gas prices is appropriate. The average family uses about 1200 gallons of gasoline a year and there are something more than 100 million families in the US. Estimates of the cost of Desert Storm 1.1 range from fifty to two hundred billion dollars. I would guess, if you include nation building, that the larger number is more likely. So a $1 a gallon tax would help cover the cost of the war without increasing the already ballooning national debt ...
4:29:37 PM 
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Greg points out this clever, somewhat dumb and somewhat desirable object of art -- a digital sundial.
I almost hate to admit it, but I want one.
8:33:05 AM
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RSS reader/aggregators are the current hot thing and everyone and their dog seems to be writing one. There is an incredible amount of garbage out there. NetnNewsWire Lite is smooth and efficient by comparison and has been best in class for many months. The highest praise I can give is to note that it has fundamentally altered my surfing habits. It had a greater impact on my browsing experience than my move from a dial up connection to a cable modem.
NetNewsWire Pro 1.0 is now out and is even better - far and away the best news aggregator I've seen on any platform. If you have an OS X Mac you simply need it. If you don't have a Mac, this is a good reason to get one.
6:14:57 AM
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Eric, Dave, Gregg, Tim, Nancy and many others have probably been playing text based adventure games like zork that have been moved to z code.
It turns out that Andrew Hunter has an OS X interpreter called Zoom.
Let's see ...
Welcome to ZORK
West of House
This is an open filed west of a white house, with a boarded front door,
There is a small mailbox here.
There are literally hundreds of games available in Z code ... including the old Infocom games, hint books, etc. available on the ifarchive site. Also note that the mirrors are frequently more usable than the main site.
Going to the Douglas Adams site (sigh ... it is so sad that he is gone) and taking this link, will get the z code version of the Infocom HHGTTG.
6:14:22 AM
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On a more disturbing note, the NY Sun ran an editorial suggesting that we cease to be a democracy ... everyone who doesn't go along with the administration is treasonous. These guys are working towards the one true (at least for them) Amerika.
Of course the paper is entitled to its view, but this sort of thinking seems to be strong in the administration.
I keep having this uneasy feeling that the terrorists are making real progress and their most potent tools are members of the Bush administration.
6:13:40 AM
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War seems so likely at this point that there seems little to do besides watch it ... I have a sense that the administration is in way over their heads on this one. A few days ago I was reading a biography of Lincoln and was struck by a line in a speech he made in Congress in 1848 when he voted against going to war with Mexico. Arguing that President Polk was motivated by a desire for military glory to cover up short comings at home ...
.. that attractive rainbow that rises in showers of blood, that serpent's eye that charms to destroy."
6:13:18 AM
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