] Prof. Thomas P.M. Barnett, Senior Strategic Researcher at
] the U.S. Naval War College, is maybe the hottest military
] thinker in the world right now. His work, which focuses
] on the connections between development and security, and
] in particular his book, The Pentagon's New Map: War and
] Peace in the Twenty-First Century, has become deeply
] influential with forward-thinking members of the
] military.

[ There were at least a dozen quotes I thought would be good to hook this article, but I couldn't decide on one, so I chose the above, deliberately general, introduction.

I found the interview to be filled with fascinating thoughts. There's a lot to think about here, and I feel like this is sort of a doorway to a whole lot of things I hadn't thought much about previously. I imagine the rabid right and the rabid left will be equally dismissive of this work, but the rest can, at least, find room for sensible debate.

I encourage people here to read it... it's somewhat long, but well worth it. A gold star, if not for this interview itself, then for the extended discussions surrounding it around the web, and, hopefully, here. -k]

Thomas P.M. Barnett: The Worldchanging Interview

] Someone who is very close to me (who will remain nameless
] for the moment) just presented the opinion to me that,
] for various reasons, she strongly suspects there are no
] lawyers who work for the ACLU who are also Christians,
] since she was also of the opinion that the ACLU isn't
] interested in the constitutional rights of Christians --
] a theory which I attempted to pop by bring up two
] examples in the last year of the ACLU being very much
] interested in their constitutional rights. Nevertheless,
] she continued to profess her opinion that there were no
] Christian lawyers at the ACLU.
]
]
] Naturally, I was appalled at this statement and told her
] that I would make it my mission to find her an ACLU
] lawyer who was also a Christian, and that upon finding
] such a specimen, that I would ask her to consider the
] possibility that one could be a Christian and a lawyer
] and consider as one's mission the constitutional rights
] of all Americans. I have a call in to my local ACLU
] branch, but I imagine they'll listen to the voice mail
] and suspect I'm insane, so:
]
]
] If you are a lawyer who loves Christ and are either on
] staff or has worked for the ACLU, would you please come
] forward to say hello? Also, if it's not too much trouble,
] if you could explain how being an ACLU lawyer is
] consistent with your faith, that would be greatly
] appreciated. Just go ahead and leave a message in the
] comment threads.

[ Mostly linking for myself. There's a comment about a third of the way down by a law student named Casey Holland who's got a handle on a lot of what i feel, but don't always articulate well. -k]

Whatever: Yes Virginia, There Are Christian ACLU Lawyers

] BIG earthquakes occur infrequently, but when they do they
] usually come unexpectedly and with horrendous power. It
] is, of course, dangerous to live in an earthquake-prone
] area, but what area in the world can we say is
] earthquake-safe? Surely the people in the Mississippi
] Valley feel they are safe, as do the people in New York
] City. Yet, New York has a fault line going across 125th
] Street that I would guess 99 percent of the city's
] population does not know about.
]
]
] And even if they did, they would likely be no more
] concerned about it than they are about La Palma.
] Americans have always lived in dangerous places - on the
] flat cyclone fields of the Midwest, on the hurricane
] battered coasts of Florida, on the flood plains of the
] South. We live in these places because we are uncertain
] about the time and place of the next disaster, and we are
] an adventurous culture. We believe that lightning never
] strikes twice in the same place, despite the many times
] it has.

[ I guess the point is, prepare for the worst... -k]

When Nature's Wrath Is History's Reminder

] Donkey Kong is "lame." Tetris is "boring." Space Invaders
] "needs a superbomb or something." And why play Pong when
] it's more fun to "jump up and down on one foot"? Hey,
] save your irate letters--we didn't say this stuff. The
] nostalgia-nuking commentary is from EGM's November 2003
] issue, in which we had kids of the PlayStation generation
] playtest classic games from the '70s and '80s. Mortified
] gaming grown-ups wrote in to call it blasphemy--and call
] these outspoken scamps a name that rhymes with "brittle
] truckers."
]
]
] It was our most popular article ever. So we're doing it
] again, with a new batch of brittle truckers and a new
] bucket of classic games. Kindly address all knee-jerk
] missives to EGM@ziffdavis.com.

[ One ought not to be surprised by modern kids talking trash about old games. It interesting to see the dynamics though... the way the kids think about Mike Tyson, and the cache to be found in the original Zelda, in which the "old school" factor makes it cool. As cultural data, I find this very interesting stuff. -k]

Child's Play Part II from 1UP.COM

] In a demonstration that holds promise for future advances
] in nanotechnology, California Institute of Technology
] computer scientists have succeeded in building a DNA
] crystal that computes as it grows. As the computation
] proceeds, it creates a triangular fractal pattern in the
] DNA crystal.

[ Cool. -k]

Caltech computer scientists embed computation in a DNA crystal to create microscopic patterns

] I always hated the fact that there was no good "push"
] mechanism for getting UPS shipment updates. I don't want
] to go to their website every hour to see where my package
] is. I want to be notified when it moves. Of course I
] immediately thought of RSS, but I couldn't find anyone
] who had turned the UPS data into a feed. I then decided
] to make it myself in ASP.NET!

[ Nice. -k]

UPS Package Tracking With RSS

[

Merry Christmas all!

-k]

] Rosenthal, according to the Journal, has some ideas about
] the primary calendar:
] He suggests Democrats place the five closest states from
] the previous general election (Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio,
] New Mexico, and Wisconsin) first in the 2008 primary
] calendar to help tune up for fall battles.
] I agree with Josh that this is a pretty smart idea for
] the Democrats. And I think you could take it even
] further. Two points. First, a party that was thinking
] long-term and strategically about how to become a
] majority party would make a habit of this practice -- of
] continually shifting the primary calendar every cycle to
] put whatever states were closest in the last election at
] the top of the list for the next one. Such a schedule
] would put a premium on Democrats who fit the "persuader"
] type, who can win back the voters who in many respects
] should be voting for their party, but for various reasons
] did not.

[ Hear hear. As it happens, both Iowa and NH would still be at the front of that list, because they were close, but both of those states need to shut the hell up and accept that the primary schedule should be mutable... they simply oughtn't to wield the power they do year after year. -k]

TAPPED: December 2004 Archives

] The Fox network said Tuesday it will air a special next
] month, "Who's Your Daddy?", where a daughter given up for
] adoption as an infant attempts to guess the identity of
] her birth father for a $100,000 prize.

[ The complaits began immediately, of course. I'll throw in my lot with the "it's despicable" crowd.

"I find it curious that people are calling it that without having seen an episode," said Scott Hallock, one of three executive producers of the series for the Fox Television Studios. "You might get the impression from the title that it is somehow salacious or exploitive. But nothing could be further from the truth."

So, you have a woman searching for her biological father, and 8 guys trying to convince her that it's him, because if they do convince her to chose wrong, they get 100 grand. That won't be emotially torturous at all. -k]

CNN.com - New Fox show: Adoptee IDs dad for $100K - Dec 15, 2004

] B-to-the-E (BE), Budweiser's newest entry in a long line
] of innovative beers by Anheuser-Busch, is a distinctive
] new product for contemporary adults who are looking for
] the latest beverage to keep up with their highly social
] and fast-paced lifestyles.
]
]
] As the industry leader, Anheuser-Busch is the first major
] brewer to infuse beer with caffeine, guarana and ginseng.
] Well balanced with select hops and aromas of blackberry,
] raspberry and cherry, BE will offer a lightly sweet and
] tart taste - a great mixture of beer and new flavors for
] adults to enjoy when out with friends at a club or at a
] bar after work with colleagues.

[ What. The. Fuck. -k]

Anheuser-Buschs B to E Takes Beer to a New Level