Essential reading: Sean Penn’s two-part piece in the San Francisco Chronicle about his recent visit to Baghdad. To me the most surprising thing (apart from how well Sean Penn writes) was his description of the role of private security contractors – or perhaps “mercenaries” would be more accurate – such as DynCorp.
Author: geoff
Bone-chilling weather
Since it’s all over the news today, I hardly thought it was worthwhile pointing out that it’s really, really cold here. It got up to about 6°F today; right now it’s -5°F in Boston, heading for around -9°F overnight. (Up in New Hampshire, the intrepid weathermen atop Mount Washington are anticipating temperatures of -50°F which will break the record set back in 1934.) All of this is accompanied by blustery winds giving us a wind chill of -30°F.
As always, I turn to the One True Source for all this stuff: the home page for the Boston area office of the National Weather Service. One bit that I particularly enjoy is the discussions page, where the meteorologists discuss the forecast, the relative merits of the various computer models, and whatever else strikes them as important, all in uncompromising meterorological jargon. If you read this (and other offices have similar pages), you’ll understand much of of how that deceptively simple forecast comes to be made, and why and how things go wrong. Just remember: the “weatherman” on your local TV station is really just an entertainer: these guys are the professionals – geeks all.
Favorite blogs, redux [updated]
OK, I missed some really essential blogs.
First of course Wil Wheaton’s. His comment about saving throw vs. Irritated Wife is just brilliant. Thanks.
Next, Ray Ozzie’s. A geek’s geek.
The Baghdad Burning blog is essential reading. I came across it in this article in Smirking Chimp.
Blogging makes you think about blogs
Here are some of the blogs that I find interesting:
The kinder, gentler lawyer
Lawyers are everyone’s favourite group to hate, and it seems that many lawyers feel much the same way. There was a really good piece in today’s Boston Globe Magazine about lawyers who are sick of what they do and how they do it – sometimes physically sick, as in the case of one lawyer: “Every time she was due for court, she would vomit and have diarrhea.” The article discusses a variety of groups that are looking for an alternative to “toxic law” – a modus operandi that’s better for them and better for their clients. Encouragingly, they seem to be having some success. Recommended.
Computing-related pages
"The number of executions goes down pretty quickly" [corrected]
Quote of the day, from the Salon article about Howard Ahmanson Jr., the guy who’s bankrolling the schismatics in the Episcopal church. Rushdoony (who died in 2001) was a loony racist type who was a formative influence on Ahmanson.
Rushdoony spelled out his philosophy in painstaking detail in his 1973 magnum opus, “Institutes of Biblical Law,” which he self-consciously named after John Calvin’s “Institutes of Christian Religion.” In the 800-page tome, Rushdoony presents his vision for a new America in which the church subsumes the federal government and society is administered according to biblical law, or at least his interpretation of it. According to biblical law, he writes, segregation is a “basic principle,” and slavery is permitted “because some people are by nature slaves and will always be so.” Those who don’t comply with Rushdoony’s rules — disobedient children, “pagans,” adulterers, women who get abortions, repeat criminal offenders and, of course, homosexuals — would be executed. Mrs. Ahmanson, who described Rushdoony as “quirky in some ways,” qualified his extremism: “To impose the death penalty you need two witnesses. So the number of executions goes down pretty quickly.”
Aviation page now populated
The aviation page is now ready for your enjoyment.
My naivety is showing…
I was under the impression that the U.S. system of justice was a matter of public record – that if someone committed a crime, was arrested, charged, tried, convicted, and sentenced, these events would be in the public record. Of course some trial proceedings have to be in camera, some testimony or evidence has to be redacted for legal or security reasons, but I thought that the existence of the judicial events was a matter of public record.
Wrong. As this story in the Smirking Chimp (reprinted from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel) shows, there have been trials unconnected with matters of public safety or national security in which:
Neither case appeared on the court’s public docket, where it would have been assigned a number and scanned into a computer file. As a result, the public had no way of knowing they existed. Hearings were conducted behind closed doors, and all documents and legal motions were filed under seal. The sensitive court papers were kept separately in a vault at the court clerk’s office in Miami, according to attorneys familiar with the practice.
I thought such things only happened in police states….
My colour….
#FF1493 |
Your dominant hues are red and magenta. You love doing your own thing and going on your own adventures, but there are close friends you know you just can’t leave behind. You can influence others on days when you’re patient, but most times you just want to go out, have fun, and do your own thing. Your saturation level is high – you get into life and have a strong personality. Everyone you meet will either love you or hate you – either way, your goal is to get them to change the world with you. You are very hard working and don’t have much patience for people without your initiative. Your outlook on life is very bright. You are sunny and optimistic about life and others find it very encouraging, but remember to tone it down if you sense irritation. |