As usual one discovers some bugs as a large change bakes in over the course of a day. I fixed a number of issues too minor to mention. Let me know if you find more... More soon...

noteworthy wrote:
Yes, though "apologists" is rather loaded language. I'm not particularly interested in an argument, but what part of Bin Laden determined to strike in US requires further explanation?

Simply put, the part where that justifies law breaking by the executive branch. In particular, many of the legal arguments for the power of the executive to do things like engage in warrantless surveillance are directly tied to the Authorization for the Use of Military Force which obviously did not exist at this time. I don't agree with those arguments anyway, but they are now completely irrelevant, and the executive is left with not even their own arguments for why these programs were legal.

This is not about whether or not the NSA should be survielling Al'Queda. Obviously they should be and obviously the law ought to allow them to. No one has ever, ever argued to the contrary.

This is about whether or not there are checks and balances in our system of government wherein the actions of the executive are reviewed or authorized by the judicial and or the legislature. Prior to this revelation the sentence beforehand included the minor caveat "during the war on terrorism." Now that caveat has been removed. We are now talking about whether or not the NSA needs court authorization to spy on Americans AT PEACE TIME.

RE: Pre-9/11 wiretap bid is alleged - Los Angeles Times

Former Chief Executive Joseph Nacchio, convicted in April of 19 counts of insider trading, said the NSA approached Qwest more than six months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to court documents unsealed in Denver this week.

Details about the alleged NSA program have been redacted from the documents, but Nacchio's lawyer said last year that the NSA had approached the company about participating in a warrantless surveillance program to gather information about Americans' phone records.

This is something that I'd noticed but hadn't posted on yet. I've kind of been waiting for another shoe to drop, but the implication is that increased NSA spying was a policy of the Bush administration that was unrelated to 9/11. Apologists will argue that islamic terrorism was a threat prior to 9/11 and the government knew it was a threat, and now it is clear that this sort of program is necessary. Frankly, the same is basically true for the USA PATRIOT Act, which was a collection of various law and order wish lists that were easy to pass in the wake of 9/11 but designed and desired in advance.

Pre-9/11 wiretap bid is alleged - Los Angeles Times

A very interesting series of articles by Columbia Law Professor Tim Wu about zones in the American legal system where laws are not enforced... Where otherwise illegal activities are legal. There are multiple sections, but I'm linking the second, which is about drug use:

The current program of drug legalization in the United States is closely and explicitly tied to the strange economics of the U.S. health-care industry. The consequence is that how people get their dopamine or other brain chemicals is ever more explicitly, like the rest of medicine, tied to questions of class.

Antidepressants and anxiety treatments aren't cheap: A fancy drug like Wellbutrin can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $2,400 a year. These drugs also require access to a sympathetic doctor who will issue a prescription. That's why, generally speaking, the new legalization program is for better-off Americans. As the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University reports, rich people tend to abuse prescription drugs, while poorer Americans tend to self-medicate with old-fashioned illegal drugs or just get drunk.

The image painted here is of a society whose psychology is largely chemically modified, and has been largely chemically modified for a long time. Wherein low tech drugs like cocaine and cigarettes, which are taken regularly in small doses in other societies, have been replaced with high tech drugs that have the exact same effects in both low and high doses, but which are also extremely expensive due to patents.

I'd argue that the act of getting high for the thrill of it is far more innocent than maintaining a regular drug regiment in order to feel normal... to feel happy about one's life. Now, there is such a thing as mental illness... some people really do need drugs in order to "feel normal." But one wonders how much of our health care budget goes to substance abusers maintaining addictions... putting an artificial sheen on life. There is no way to systematically tell the difference.

American lawbreaking: How laws die. - By Tim Wu - Slate Magazine

The eventual takeover of mankind by machines comes one step closer with the creation of this giant robot hand. It was built by untrained volunteers for the Robodock festival in Amsterdam last month, and is actually capable of crushing everything from shopping carts to small vans. The hand itself is 25 feet long, weighs about 5,000 pounds and was built from scrapyard parts including I-beams for the fingers and a digging machine truss as the forearm.

The coolest part is that it has an immersive interface. It actually works as an extension of the user's real arm!

Gigantic Car Crushing Robot Hand

How has the geography of religion evolved over the centuries, and where has it sparked wars? Our map gives us a brief history of the world's most well-known religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. Selected periods of inter-religious bloodshed are also highlighted. Want to see 5,000 years of religion in 90 seconds? Ready, Set, Go!

History of Religion

skullaria wrote:
Maybe in a world 60 years ago witches were fictional characters, but today there is a large group of people who claim ownership of that term (many of whom I call friend.)

I recall when I was in high school we wrote a play which contained the words "that sucks!" We performed the play for students and parents, who mostly seemed to enjoy it. The next morning we were informed that the school had received widespread complaints from parents about references to oral sex in our play. We had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. Someone literally had to spell it out for us. In retrospect I'm still not sure their outrage makes any sense. It seems more likely that the use of the word "sucks" in a disparaging way is more likely a product of the old expression "sucks eggs" than a reference to oral sex.

For a more clear example, consider the fact that in Italy, giving someone the "thumbs up" literally means the same thing that giving someone "the finger" means here. If you go to Italy, and you are not aware of this, and you give someone the "thumbs up," are you guilty of attempting to offend them? Obviously not.

That fact that you've misinterpreted my words and also taken offense at them does not make me guilty of being offensive. If I did not intend to offend you, then what I said was not offensive. The offense occured in your mind and not in my expression. Someone who has never heard of Wicca (which is, frankly, nearly everyone) cannot possibly be thought guilty of a hate crime for hanging a witch. Such offense is just as ridiculous as conservative christians who oppose the celebration of halloween because they argue that it promotes witchcraft! Halloween is a game for children. Its not serious, and it is silly to take it seriously.

RE: Halloween decoration or hate crime?

The "Forward to a Friend" page has been removed from the site. This is an attempt to make MemeStreams a bit easier for new users to understand, by making the user interface more similar to email. You can now choose who you are forwarding a post to on the same page on which you compose it.

This change simplifies a few aspects of the site. In particular, there are now buttons throughout the site that give you one click access to the interface needed to send a MemeStreams user a private message.

As always, let us know if you have any feedback or if you run into any bugs.

In September, Iraqi civilian deaths were down 52 percent from August and 77 percent from September 2006, according to the Web site icasualties.org. The Iraqi Health Ministry and the Associated Press reported similar results. U.S. soldiers killed in action numbered 43 -- down 43 percent from August and 64 percent from May, which had the highest monthly figure so far this year. The American combat death total was the lowest since July 2006 and was one of the five lowest monthly counts since the insurgency in Iraq took off in April 2004.

Iraq: Better Numbers

PhreakNIC 0x0b

PhreakNIC is an annual gathering in Nashville, TN, for hackers, makers, security professionals, and general technology enthusiasts. Hours upon hours of both informative and entertaining presentations are given by volunteers and many areas are set up with the intent of encouraging socialization. In our 11th year, we are now the longest running non-commercial hacker convention in the United States.* PhreakNIC is organized by the Nashville 2600 Organization, which is a 501(c)(3) tax deductible charity. However, it takes many resources to organize, and help is given to PhreakNIC by other 2600 groups in the South East United States, as well as the Nashville Linux Users Group. Our thanks go out to all who contribute.

This is next weekend BTW. I'm speaking twice.

PhreakNIC Technology and Hacker Culture Convention