BUTT SEX IS AWESOME: Xeni Jardin discovers holes in the MSN Spaces censorware. Other problems here.
Archive for 2004
December 2, 2004
THE WEBLOG AWARDS are online, and voting is underway.
MY EARLIER REVIEW of John Scalzi’s forthcoming book, together with comments on some other science fiction, led Hiawatha Bray to email and recommend Orphanage, by Robert Buettner. I haven’t read it myself, but here’s what he sent:
Old Man’s War sounds great. I haven’t read much SF in recent years, and probably would have ignored your review. But by sheer chance, a few weeks ago I stumbled across another SF war novel in our book editor’s discard bin. I started to skim it, and was immediately hooked. It’s called Orphanage, and it’s a real page-turner in the manner of classic Heinlein. By all means check it out.
I will.
I’M GLAD I DIDN’T BUY A VAIO, and I think I’ll avoid buying any Sony products this Christmas. That’s because Sony has been rather mean to Jason Kottke, and in a fashion that certainly seems quite unreasonable.
Jeff Jarvis thinks we need a bloggers’ legal defense fund, and he may be right.
But Sony needs to be encouraged not to pick on bloggers.
JOHN DANFORTH HAS RESIGNED as Ambassador to the U.N.: “Danforth, who has been described as frustrated with the slow-moving U.N. bureaucracy, had recently told friends that he was running out of patience, especially with the Security Council, whose deliberations he considered difficult, Mitchell reported.” He’s also disappointed that Condi Rice got the nod for Secretary of State, a job he apparently wanted.
UPDATE: Hmm. Maybe all my talk about the growth in online shopping this Christmas season is right. Just saw a segment on Kudlow & Cramer saying that online shopping is way up, and that it may be partly responsible for the softness in other retail sales. And apparently a lot of women are shopping online for the first time this year, just like the InstaWife.
UPDATE UPDATE: Reader Mark Hessey emails:
The speed of order fulfillment seems unsurpassed as well. Of three orders placed with three different merchants; I’ve had UPS knocking within two days on two and three days on the third (and that includes Amazon’s free shipping that they intimate will be considerably longer). In fact, now that I think of it, they were all free shipping.
I can’t say I’ve noticed unusual speed — but it hasn’t been any slower, which is an accomplishment in itself.
ANOTHER UPDATE UPDATE: More on online shopping, with particular attention to WalMart, here.
A DEMOCRAT RESPONDS to Peter Beinart’s essay in The New Republic.
Not out of the wilderness yet, and still worshiping the golden calf of McGovernism.
UPDATE: These thoughts by Patrick Spero are worth reading, too.
I’M ON CKNW radio, Vancouver, talking about problems with the U.N. You can listen live by following the link.
UPDATE: Er, well, I was on, but when they came back to me after the break I lost the connection.
BUSH VISITS CANADA, and a major Canadian grievance (mentioned here earlier) is addressed. Coincidence? Or more evidence that big corporations want to make Bush look good?
HEY, MAYBE I’M PART OF A SHOPPING TREND: “Web sales strong even as traditional retailers struggle.”
“TRANSFORMERS” NOSTALGISTS will enjoy this commercial for Citroen.
UPDATE: Yes, this is who I had in mind.
IT LOOKS LIKE WAR between Keith Olbermann and Black Box Voting.
GAYPATRIOT is back from Australia and blogging up a storm.
GEORGE GALLOWAY has won a libel judgment against the Telegraph. Apparently his support for Saddam’s regime was freely given, rather than bought.
UPDATE: Actually, it’s not so clear that the charges were proved false; the question seems to have been whether the Telegraph was neutral not whether it was accurate, and truth is not a defense in British libel law if I recall correctly. But Galloway’s certainly treating it as a vindication, and is already working on a comeback:
Fresh from his libel victory over the Daily Telegraph, George Galloway this evening announced his intention to challenge the Labour MP Oona King at the general election.
Mr Galloway – who was expelled from the Labour party over his opposition to the invasion of Iraq – believes the large Muslim community in Ms King’s Bethnal Green and Bow constituency, in east London, would welcome his anti-war message.
He is seeking the nomination of the anti-war Respect coalition, which he co-founded with the Socialist Workers party to capitalise on the recent renaissance of the peace movement.
If anybody knows more about the truth issues, send me a link. I’ve looked at several stories and none actually says the charge was disproved.
ANOTHER UPDATE: David M. has looked further, and believes that the charges probably were false, though the legal posture didn’t require their truth to be proved or disproved. So I guess Galloway was giving it away, rather than charging for it.
MORE: Even more here, from someone who seems to have followed the trial closely: “It also looks like the judge also did not question the authenticity of the documents, although he didn’t verify them either. His verdict was based upon the Telegraph making claims that supposedly went beyond what was contained in their evidence, such as calling Galloway a ‘traitor’.” Yes, it’s certainly unimaginable that anyone would think Galloway disloyal.
Andrew Sullivan has more.
MAX BOOT: “What we won in Fallouja.” Not the ability to agree on a spelling, apparently, but otherwise he thinks things went rather well.
HOW CLEVER IS TENNESSEE GOVERNOR PHIL BREDESEN? Bill Hobbs observes: “He has made cutting government spending on healthcare attractive to one of the state’s largest liberal special interests.”
CATHY SEIPP WRITES on Bill O’Reilly’s odd defense of Dan Rather.
THE GRONINGEN PROTOCOL: It sounds like the title of a Robert Ludlum novel, but it’s not. Hugh Hewitt writes on infant euthanasia in the Netherlands, or what some people are calling “post-birth abortion.”
I don’t know whether this is really illustrative of abortion “mission creep” as some pro-lifers (including Hugh) suggest — I’m not familiar with the Netherlands’ law on abortion, but in general abortion is somewhat harder to get in Europe than it is in the United States (it says here that there’s a 5-day waiting period, and no abortion after 24 weeks, but I haven’t researched the matter beyond a quick Google search). For the rest, I highly recommend Eugene Volokh’s article on slippery slopes.
UPDATE: In a related post, Eric Olsen notes that current U.S. abortion policy is resulting in steadily falling numbers of abortions.
And here’s more on the Dutch policy.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Peter Singer takes another view, reportedly. So long as they’re not animals!
And Diplomad observes a contradiction:
One of the “joys” we Diplomads overseas get to handle are the constant attacks on the USA at the UN and elsewhere from European diplomats, journalists, and NGOs (e.g., Amnesty International) because about 40 US states have the death penalty on their law books, and a few of them, e.g., Texas, Florida, Virginia, Alabama, actually use it . . . .
No country has been more firmly against the death penalty than the Netherlands.
Obviously we should relabel our executions “euthanasia.” To relieve the psychic pain of murderers.
NANOTECHNOLOGY IS ANOTHER TOPIC THAT I HAVEN’T PAID ENOUGH ATTENTION TO lately. But Howard Lovy has an interesting piece on underground nanotechnology and the coming atomic age.
I’VE BEEN DISTRACTED with election stuff and so on, and haven’t paid enough attention to the Iraqi bloggers lately. But luckily the Carnival of the Liberated has been rounding up their posts.
AS I MENTIONED EARLIER, I’ve done all my Christmas shopping so far right here, though I may venture to the mall today. The InstaWife, who’s never shopped online in previous years, decided that she didn’t feel well enough to go shopping and bought everything from Amazon, too.
I think that this is a trend, as I’m hearing the same from others. And here’s some support:
Web sales doubled to $133 million on Thursday, Thanksgiving, from a year earlier and surged 40 percent to $250 million on Friday, according to ComScore Networks, an Internet researcher.
Chuck Davis, president of Shopzilla Inc., a Los Angeles- based operator of a site where shoppers compare prices, said more people with faster Web connections at their homes helped spur the increase, as did consumers wanting to avoid crowds.
“At a time when gasoline and traffic are at record levels, the convenience of online saves time, which is priceless,” said Davis in an interview. “Our Shopzilla sales shot up very heavily on Friday and Saturday.”
Traffic, etc., is worse every year. Or maybe not, soon, if more people are shopping online.
F.I.R.E. is strongly endorsing Evan Coyne Maloney’s documentary, Brainwashing 101. I’ve seen it, and it’s very good. You can watch it online for free, or order a DVD, by following the link.
MICROSOFT ENTERS THE BLOG MARKET with MSN Spaces.
KERIK LIKELY TO REPLACE TOM RIDGE: If it happens, The Anchoress will claiming vindication.
Nebraska Governor Mike Johanns will be Secretary of Agriculture.