I’M OFF ON A FAMILY VACATION, and blogging is likely to be light next week. I plan to kick back and relax and spend very little time on the Internet. I’m taking a bunch of science fiction novels and only one serious book, Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures: A True Story from Hell on Earth — I figure if Kofi Annan tried to suppress it, it’s probably worth reading. (To give you an idea of how seriously intellectual the trip will be, I’m also taking along the entire first season of Gilligan’s Island on DVD.)

Daniel Drezner will be guest-blogging over at GlennReynolds.com next week, so be sure to stop by. See you later!

MERDE IN FRANCE HAS MOVED: Note the new location.

NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE:

A useful self-replicating machine could be less complex than a Pentium IV chip, according to a new study (PDF, 1.73 MB) performed by General Dynamics for NASA.
General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems recently concluded a six-month study for NASA’s Institute for Advanced Concepts that examined the design of “kinematic cellular automata,” a reconfigurable system of many identical modules. . . .

The study also examined machine designs that would meet guidelines established by the California-based nanotech think-tank Foresight Institute to ensure the safety of self-replication techniques. The preliminary study is believed to be among the first U.S.-sponsored studies on self-replication in two decades.

This is quite significant. I hope we’ll see more research — instead of mere speculative pooh-poohing — on this subject.

WINDS OF DISCOVERY is a survey of scientific news items, from the Winds of Change folks.

DANIEL DREZNER has interesting news on Hugo Chavez and Venezuela.

THE HATRED JUST GETS WORSE:

Human beings, who have imaginations, can see a recipe for disaster in the making; Republicans, whose goal in life is to profit from disaster and who don’t give a hoot about human beings, either can’t or won’t. Which is why I personally think they should be exterminated before they cause any more harm.

From the opening paragraph of a theater review (!) in The Village Voice. (Via Jason van Steenwyk, whose blog should be a regular stop). Republicans — not human, and in need of extermination? Sheesh. Hugh Hewitt is right: The Left has come unhinged.

THE MOST HIGHLY DECORATED SERVICEWOMAN OF WORLD WAR II: Very interesting item. (Via Hiawatha Bray).

ROGER SIMON has thoughts on right, left, and what’s “progressive” these days. Some other people seem to be rethinking those subjects, too.

UPDATE: More here.

TAXPROF notes a report on the seamy side of state tax incentives.

DAVE KOPEL REVIEWS the new Harry Potter movie.

JIHAD SUMMER CAMP: Appalling, but not surprising.

MORE ON REP. JIM MORAN and charges of anti-semitism.

SOLDIER STORIES: Worth reading on this anniversary weekend.

SLACKERNOMICS: I haven’t read it, but it sounds kinda interesting.

ANOTHER BIG DAY over at Stephen Green’s. He seems to be on a hot streak.

MORE THOUGHTS ON insufficient diversity in the media.

INTERESTING DEVELOPMENTS:

Algerian forces took custody on Friday of a man believed to be one of North Africa’s most powerful Islamic terrorists in a highly unusual multinational operation deep in the desert of Niger, according to an official from one of the countries involved. . . .

Germany paid Mr. Saifi nearly $6 million in ransom for the hostages’ release, American and Algerian officials say. He is reported to have used the money to recruit fighters and buy weapons for the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, which is fighting to establish an Islamic state in Algeria. [Thanks, Germany! Jeez. . . .]

In March, Chadian rebels captured 17 members of the group after a battle near the border with Niger. Mr. Saifi is believed to be among those captured.

The rebel organization, the Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad, approached the United States and other countries involved in the American-led campaign against terrorism in hopes of delivering the prisoners and reaping a political benefit from its good deed.

There seems to be a lot of interesting stuff going on in the Sahara.

MATT WELCH notes Kerry’s support of a crackdown on broadcast indecency and observes:

There’s nothing I’ve seen to indicate that a Democrat-run FCC would be a damned bit better than Michael Powell’s boobs, and Kerry’s comments about media consolidation in the same interview indicate a stronger willingness to regulate.

Indeed. The anti-indecency move is bipartisan, and instead of blaming Bush, opponents should be explaining to the voters why it’s a bad idea. Because it’s not something being foisted on voters by a few right-wing zealots. It’s something with broad support, which is why Kerry and Bush are so close together on the subject.

QUOTING SCRIPTURE WHILE SHOE-BLOGGING: Surely a first for the Volokh Conspiracy.

NIGHTLIFE IN JENIN? Go figure.

DARFUR UPDATE: Some good news:

Commitment brings total U.S. contribution to nearly $300 million

The United States government will contribute an additional $188.5 million in emergency assistance to help ease the humanitarian crisis in Darfur in western Sudan, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Andrew Natsios, announced June 3.

Speaking at a Darfur donors’ conference at the United Nations in Geneva, Natsios said the pledge brings the total U.S. contribution for Darfur to nearly $300 million since February 2003.

The United States has been actively pursuing an end to the fighting in Darfur for more than a year, Natsios said.

Still a long way to go, but there’s also this:

WASHINGTON – The United States said Wednesday it was “deeply disturbed” at clashes in Sudan’s western Darfur region and renewed demands for Khartoum to act immediately to rein in pro-government militias blamed for much of the violence.

It may take more than opening our mouths and wallets to get traction here, though:

N’DJAMENA (AFP) Jun 04, 2004

The Sudanese air force Friday bombed a market in Sudan’s western region of Darfur, [reported] a mediator in Chad trying to bring about an end to a conflict which has sparked a serious humanitarian crisis.

Sigh.

UPDATE: More here:

Forty-five Members of Congress have signed a letter to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan urging him to travel to Darfur, Sudan, to help end the genocide that is taking place in the region, according to Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA).

Wolf, who already has sent two letters of his own to Annan urging him to go to Darfur, organized the joint letter.

It sounds like he’s not getting any more response to his letters than Sissy Willis has gotten. Guess they’re all too busy shredding documents in Kofi’s office to keep up with the correspondence. . . .

SANTEPHEAP is a Cambodia weblog that’s worth a look.

MORE EMBARRASSMENT FOR THE U.N.:

It is a story that might not sound out of place in any part of the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo but for one thing, the soldiers Faela is talking about are not the rebel groups who devastated Ituri Province, in north-eastern DR Congo, during the last four-and-a-half years of conflict. . . .

Dominique McAdams, the head of the UN in Bunia, admitted that there was a problem.

“I have heard rumours on this issue,” she said. “It is pretty clear to me that sexual violence is taking place in the camp.”

Ms McAdams is not the only member of Monuc to be concerned about the behaviour of their soldiers in Bunia.

Last month the UN announced that it would launch a full investigation into abuse within the camp.

Yet the gap between the intention to investigate and the reality of that investigation in Bunia remains large.

These stories just keep coming.

UPDATE: Sadly, so do these:

Thousands of Congolese attacked UN offices and peacekeeping bases yesterday, angry that fewer than 1,000 UN peacekeepers were unable to prevent 2,000 to 4,000 rebels from seizing Bukavu, South Kivu’s provincial capital, on Wednesday. The DRC’s military in Bukavu unexpectedly collapsed, the chief of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations said.

Fifteen DRC nationals working for WFP remained in the city, most of them hiding with their families for a second day.

The last two WFP international staff members in Bukavu were taken yesterday by a helicopter owned by the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC) to the north-eastern city of Goma.

If this were happening to U.S. forces, it would be frontpage news worldwide, amid invocations of Vietnam and claims that it symbolized America’s impotent brutality on the world scene. When it happens to the U.N., though, it hardly even counts as news.

THE ABRIDGED KEEGAN: I preferred the original.

DONALD SENSING HAS thoughts on eschatology.