Monthly Archives: June 2002

separation of powers

Vin Suprynowicz often complains about decay in the separation of state powers, particularly about public school teachers (and other employees of the executive branch) holding part-time legislative office; today’s column is on that subject, and the link ought to be … Continue reading

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pedantry vs hyperbole

A newspaper headline caught my eye: Search ends in tragedy. What, did the search somehow cause the death of the missing child, or of one of the searchers? No, it’s simply that the child was found dead. Classically, a tragedy … Continue reading

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first taste of Bollywood

Watching some Indian equivalent of MTV, my housemate remarked, “Got good songs, now they need decent choreography. Call Paula Abdul!”

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Iceland

For three centuries beginning in 930, the Norse settlers of Iceland enjoyed the literate world’s nearest thing to a stateless society; possibly the largest non-nomadic society ever to lack territorial monopolies in government. Competition between the goðar (customarily and poorly … Continue reading

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overspecialization

When I returned from fetching her tacos and Hostess Sno-Balls, my One True Ex quoted a familiar aphorism. I asked who said it; she didn’t know; so I googled and found it attributed to one Ernestine Ulmer. Who? So I … Continue reading

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funnies

Here’s a webtoon I haven’t plugged before: Something Positive. Others recently read: Wigu; Rusty Shrapnel; Megatokyo. Also volatile: GirlHacker’s Random Log

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is shareware still infected?

Heather Madrone has an interesting question. My 13-year-old daughter downloaded some software this week. I asked her to check with me next time, so I could show her how to scan it for viruses before she installs it. Then I … Continue reading

Posted in neep-neep | 1 Comment