Fluffie, the senior cat, went missing last night. It appears that she got off the roof, sought admittance at the front door (after the humans had gone to bed), and was attacked there presumably by another cat. We try not to worry: at our previous dwelling, where she regularly went out to hunt rodents, she was absent a few times for several days at a time.

Pillow, despite his “all you can eat” diet, is not fattening up rapidly enough to make a convincing substitute for Fluffie.

Update: After presumably sleeping under a bush all day, Fluffie returned late the following night. She was admitted by my housemate, who did not happen to mention whether she was reeking of cheap booze.

Eric Raymond argues in favor of the war. Or rather, he argues in favor of some ideal war that will crush Islamic dreams of worldwide empire. What’s missing is any defense of the war actually in progress.

I like Russ Nelson‘s attitude:

How do you stop terrorism?

By not being terrified. By not overreacting. By not giving up essential liberties to obtain a little temporary safety. By not wasting treasure on useless tactics.

. . .

If terrorists came to America and killed 1,000 people a year, it wouldn’t even begin to show up on the causes of death. We can safely ignore terrorism. . . .

The above was published on Dave Farber’s IP list. I received several “attaboy”s and one comment saying “Anyone with a single brain cell would agree that we need to stop terror.” I disagree. Do we need to stop earthquakes? Hurricanes? Tornados? Volcanos? Blizzards? Or do we need to survive them?

If, instead of welcoming inquiry and criticism, the admirers of a great author accept his writings as authoritative, both in their excellences and in their defects, the most serious injury is done to truth. In matters of philosophy and science, authority has ever been the great opponent of truth. A despotic calm is usually the triumph of error. In the republic of the sciences, sedition and even anarchy are beneficial in the long run to the greatest happiness of the greatest number.

—William Stanley Jevons: Theory of Political Economy, 1871