“He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.” — Thomas Paine
Archive for September, 2007
Who wrote your encryption system?
“Never underestimate the stupidity of some of the people we have to deal with,” William A. Reinsch, Under Secretary of Commerce for the Bureau of Export Administration, said while being grilled about whether terrorists and criminals would be naive enough to use the technology being pushed by the Administration.
How many men will it take?
There are tasks that cannot be done by more than ten men, or less than one hundred.
Survivor: China and My Idea for Next Season
I just finished watching the first episode of the latest Survivor. That is the only TV show we watch regularly, and it’s simply scary to see how these people get mixed together, and don’t kill each other. Of course, Jeff Probst and the producers use the same formula that was used back in the early [...]
Freedom of Speech
“I have always been among those who believe that the greatest freedom of speech was the greatest safety, because if a man is a fool, the best thing to do is to encourage him to advertise the fact by speaking.” –Woodrow Wilson
Excuse me?
“We have to get away from the ethos that knowledge is good, knowledge should be publicly available, that information will liberate us,” said University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Arthur Caplan.
Verizon Billing Sucks
Remember a couple weeks ago when I shared my glorious experiences with Verizon? And I was assured my billing would be ok? I just got my September Verizon bill in the mail. Any one want to take the bet that the billing was ok?
My old billing is still in place. I called Verizon, yelled [...]
Leave me alone
The right to be let alone is indeed the beginning of all freedoms. –William O. Douglas, Associate Justice, US Supreme Court
PATRIOT Act Passage
“They played all kinds of games, kept the House in session all night, and it was a very complicated bill. Maybe a handful of staffers actually read it, but the bill definitely was not available to members before the vote.” –Rep. Ron Paul, TX, on how few Congresscritters saw the USA-PATRIOT Bill before voting overwhelmingly [...]
Can you do all this?
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, [...]