The parliament justly thought, that the king was too eminent a magistrate to be trusted with discretionary power, which he might so easily turn to the destruction of liberty. And in the event it has hitherto been found, that, though some sensible inconveniences arise from the maxim of adhering strictly to law, yet the advantages overbalance them, and should render the English grateful to the memory of their ancestors, who, after repeated contests, at last established that noble, though dangerous, principle.

From Hume's History of England

A Sheffield man who lent a penniless Australian tourist �5 to pay for a ferry trip in 1969 has been repaid his debt nearly 40 years later.

While Jim Webb was out, a card and �200 was hand delivered to his home by Gary Fenton, to repay the money he borrowed when they met in Ostend, Belgium.

A note inside read: "To Jim Webb, a good man. From Gary Fenton, a tardy payer of debts."

BBC NEWS | England | South Yorkshire | Man's �5 debt repaid 39 years on

Today is the 75th anniversary of that blessed day in 1933 when Utah became the 36th and deciding state to ratify the 21st amendment, thereby repealing the 18th amendment. This ended the nation's disastrous experiment with alcohol prohibition.

...

But let's hope it also serves as a day of reflection. We should consider why our forebears rejoiced at the relegalization of a powerful drug long associated with bountiful pleasure and pain, and consider too the lessons for our time.

Let's End Drug Prohibition - WSJ.com

On Jan. 18, 2006, Condoleezza Rice delivered a policy address at Georgetown University in which she argued that the fundamental threats now come from weak and failed states, not enemy powers.

In this new world, she continued, it is impossible to draw neat lines between security, democratization and development efforts. She called for a transformational diplomacy, in which State Department employees would do less negotiating and communiqué-writing. Instead, they’d be out in towns and villages doing broad campaign planning with military colleagues, strengthening local governments and implementing development projects.

Over the past year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has delivered a series of remarkable speeches echoing and advancing Rice’s themes. “In recent years, the lines separating war, peace, diplomacy and development have become more blurred and no longer fit the neat organizational charts of the 20th century,” he said in Washington in July.

...

Gates has told West Point cadets that more regime change is unlikely but that they may spend parts of their careers training soldiers in allied nations. He has called for more spending on the State Department, foreign aid and a revitalized U.S. Information Agency. He’s spawned a flow of think-tank reports on how to marry hard and soft pre-emption.

Op-Ed Columnist - Continuity We Can Believe In - NYTimes.com

Obama and Clinton are buying into a bottomed-out market vis-à-vis America’s position in the world. It is as if they will be buying stock after the market has crashed, and just at the point when a number of factors are already set in motion for a recovery. For President George W. Bush did not just damage America’s position in the world, he has also, over the past two years, quietly repositioned himself as a realist in foreign policy, and that, coupled with a bold new strategy in Iraq, known as the “surge,” has poised America for a diplomatic rebound, which the next administration will get the credit for carrying out.

I have to say I find that reasoning persuasive, although it is absolute heresy to the left. I wish Obama could have kept Condoleezza Rice on as Secretary of State. In retrospect, I think I think I have more respect for her than anyone else in the Bush Administration. As for having Hillary in that role. Well, hrm, ok, maybe, we'll see...

Obama's Foreign Policy: Buying in at the Bottom - The Atlantic (November 25, 2008)

One of the biggest frustrations facing journalists is being unable to get through to people on the phone. But as Mary Harper discovered, contacting the Somali pirates on the Sirius Star turned out to be child's play.

BBC NEWS | Programmes | From Our Own Correspondent | 'Mummy, can I phone the pirates?'

A CANCER is overtaking our space agency: the routine acquiescence to immense cost increases in projects.

this man comes across as a fool
all major spending projects go massively over budget - that's not a cancer - he's just trying to position himself to get a new job at NASA under the new administration
major spending projects go over budget - accept that and when they do you are forced to make choices between projects
I think he has a point that sometimes this is due to mission creep which is a more controllable factor but it is also a reality of political infighting between projects if the author lost some battles and left NASA don't cry about it now
plus when the spending control pencil pushers take charge NASA and science tend to be the losers

Op-Ed Contributor - NASA’s Black Hole Budgets - NYTimes.com

WHEN President Bill Clinton pardoned a billionaire fugitive from justice on his last day in office, even usually loyal Democrats were dismayed. Representative Henry Waxman of California called it “bad precedent” and “an end run around the judicial process.” He said it appeared to set a double standard for the wealthy and powerful.

Op-Ed Contributor - A Pardon to Remember - NYTimes.com

"Scientific American is reporting that 'data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter point to vast glaciers buried beneath thin layers of crustal debris.' Data from the surface-penetrating radar on MRO revealed that two well-known mid-latitude features are composed of solid water ice. One is about three times the size of the City of Los Angeles. This certainly makes the idea of establishing a station on Mars far more plausible."

Slashdot | Massive Martian Glaciers Found

Scientists in Spain have carried out the world's first tissue-engineered whole organ transplant - a windpipe - made with a patient's own stem cells.

BBC NEWS | Health | Windpipe transplant breakthrough