scottsimpson.net

Preachers and congregations throughout American history have built bonfires and tossed in books and other materials they believed offended God. (read more)

Ah, good ol’ Christian tradition. Religion of Tolerance my ass.

Breedlove said a city fire inspector suggested shredding the offending material, but Breedlove said that wouldn’t seem biblical.

Yeah, it would remind too many in the congregation of their former employment at Enron.

“I joked with the guy that St. Paul never had to worry about fire codes,” Breedlove said.

You’re just a regular laugh riot, Mr. Breedlove. Though I assume that the Fire Department of a large town in Minnesota might take issue with that.

It’s a little bit funny (this feeling inside…) Oh, wait, no. This is pretty funny. Years after the web grab, there’s still conflict over domain names (in this case, kerryedwards.com) The guy that owns it (one Kerry Edwards… clever, huh?) says he’ll sell it to the Democrats if they pay him what its worth (someone got his hopes up and told him its worth more than $150,000). I say he ought to lease it to them. It won’t be of much use in a few months when the election is over, so he could just take it back in that time. Or give it to them with the stipulation that he’d be the Secretary of the Interior or something crazy if Kerry gets elected.

So I feel really British this morning. I’m listening to the BBC streaming radio (complete with tinny robotic-sounding announcers thanks to over-compression), had an Earl Grey tea this morning with my pastry, and I was listening to Morissey (‘Irish blood, English heart…’) this morning on my drive.

And I’m getting a little bit annoyed listening to this stream. It’s about Yukos (of Russian political persecution fame) and the interaction between the Kremlin and the fledgling Russian private sector in general. I wrote a paper about German Foreign Direct Investment in Russia some time ago for George Bergstrom’s class. And now, thanks to world events, it’s irrelevant. Putin just disproved my theory in the paper, that investment would trump political bickering for the improvement of Russia. I was hoping to use it later on, but it’s invalid now. Gr. At least Yukos probably won’t go the way of Magnetorsk (of variable-spelling fame).

Ah, the A-to-Zed list of Programmes. I miss England.

I suppose it kinda figures. There’s a security patch for Mozilla out now. It’s a good idea to get it. Sheesh, can someone make secure software?

The Los Angeles city council is cracking down on cyber cafes following a string of shootings.

They approved an ordinance Wednesday that would require cafes with at least five computers to obtain police permits, install security cameras and ban minors during school hours.

Cafes that allow kids to rent the computers to play video games during school hours could lose their permits. The regulations will take effect later this summer.

The ordinance was proposed after two people were injured in a fight at a Northridge cafe in 2002, and a man was followed home from the same cafe and killed.

Several other cities have enacted cyber cafe regulations, including Diamond Bar, Santa Ana and Orange Grove.

– Associated Press

Um … right.

“Doesn’t the government have better things to do?”
Are you suggesting that education, health, freedom and peace are more important than keeping Janet Jackson’s breast out of sight? You damn liberal! – slashdot commenter ‘not_a_product_id’

So the FCC has decided to require broadcasters to maintain tapes of their broadcasts, following such earth-shattering events as the Janet Jackson Debacle and the Howard Stern Fiasco. Sounds kind of like a good idea at first, but then you get to thinking. In our country, in civil proceedings, the burden of proof rests entirely on the complainant. The complainant must show, with a preponderance of evidence, that an offense in fact occured, that it was perpetrated by the accused, and that it caused some kind of harm. By being forced to maintain tapes of their broadcasts, the networks become party to their own demise. How? Well, I can’t legally record things from broadcast media (excepting the uber-cool-sounding ‘time-shifting’ to avoid commercials, which i’m sure will be illegal in the immediate future), even for my own use. As such, it would be tricky to present a preponderance of evidence in a courtroom. Enter the FCC. Did I think there was something offensive said that I, being a moron, took to heart as a personal offense? I can just call up the network, talk to an operator, and proudly proclaim, “Network, damn thyself!” and then ask for a broadcast of what I thought was offensive. What evidence could preponder more than a video from the broadcaster?

Networks are just as private a company as any other, and as such should not be required to keep records of every word said. The network has little control if any over people that it interviews, and in my opinion, if someone is yapping about something you find offensive, call in to their show or change the freakin’ channel. This offensiveness thing has got out of control. We need common sense instead of overbearing laws. Vote for me. Erm, at least don’t vote for Bush. Or this Kerry Edwards fellow thats been cropping up on signs. If you were running for President, wouldn’t you make sure your signs were a little more clear? You know, I’m not sure who I’m voting for. Batman, I think. Just imagine the photo-ops. French President Chirac and Batman in Paris. Batman and Karzai in Kabul. I wonder if he’d keep the pointy hat on in the Oval Office. And I’m sure as hell not voting Libertarian this year. Check out the loony bat the Libs are running in November. ‘Gun control means being able to hit your target.’ Dumbass.

A bill that would make filesharing illegal in addition to the Internet itself, and cable television, and the telephone, and talking, and thinking. It seeks to ban anything that ‘induces’ copyright infringement. Like talking to a friend about a band. How’s that song go? Dum dum de dum dummmm da da da daaaa… oh, drat, I’ve been arrested.

The Senate and House bills to reinstate the draft as early as Spring 2005. And include women (um, yay for equal rights?) And being a college student won’t exempt you from this one. I suppose the folks that introduced these are looking to push our generation out of the country. I for one have no problem living in England if this passes. And I have a feeling most of my fellow students wouldn’t mind leaving either. My government wants to let me get killed instead of pursuing diplomatic service for them? I’ll take my degree to Europe, thank you.

The UN’s new taskforce against a growing epidemic of … spam. If Corporate America can’t stop it, how can the UN?

Funny Microsoft Support Documents

“The liberties of our country,
the freedom of our civil Constitution,
are worth defending at all hazards;
and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks.
We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors:
they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood,
and transmitted them to us with care and diligence.
It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is,
if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle,
or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men.”

“..It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate,
tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds..”

-Samuel Adams

Open markets and oil, satellite nets and Islam. Welcome to the city-state of Dubai, the new media capital of the Middle East. (read more)

…coooooool.

Dubai authorities allow the free zones to operate independently of UAE law. Where most other Arab states require foreign investors to partner with a local firm or individual, Dubai’s free zones permit 100 percent foreign ownership. And Dubai offers tax-free imports and exports, demands no personal income taxes, and no corporate taxes for up to 30 years.

Like a book I once read, Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. Read it.

I bought music yesterday. I do that, sometimes, for groups that I think have real artistic talent. Plus I’m hawking iTunes and I figure I should actually buy something with it. Moral credibility, ya know.

The conservative Family Foundation said in a statement that gay rights groups are “willing to frighten and mislead their supporters simply to further their own political agenda.” (read more)

Um, yeah, they’ve got that backwards. Since when does extending a right to increase equality frighten anyone with a functioning brain? It’s the conservative side in this mess that is more than “willing to frighten and mislead their supporters simply to further their own political agenda.” Which group is out there saying that the world will end in a hail of fire, and the earth will swallow the people, and the beasts will have the run of the earth if Adam gets to marry the proverbial (and oh-so-clever) Steve? I mean seriously. Equal marriage rights will provide a number of benefits to society:

  vs.  

…you pick. Dell Computer is stooping so low as to pay people to send in their iPods in a futile bid to get them to buy a Dell music player. Sure, iPods are more expensive. So? They look and function much better as well. Check out the buttons. And is that a roll-wheel in the middle? Shame on you, Dell. Shame.