save my joints

Posted on Monday, 2005 August 15 by Anton

For my sins I’m entering thousands of addresses into a LookOut contacts list, and find that each one takes a surprising number of mouse-clicks. It would go much easier if I could simply type them into a textfile and convert it somehow; is there a way to do that?

Posted in neep-neep | 2 Comments

it ain’t easy

Posted on Saturday, 2005 August 13 by Anton

On a list devoted to systems of writing, the subject of repetitive strain injuries came up, and Peter Daniels remarked:

Why do you suppose there are so many works for piano left hand? They didn’t stop being written after the one-armed [war injury] pianist Paul Wittgenstein retired and stopped commissioning them.

Daniels previously commented of the Wikipedia page about him that

It was quoted to me once, and yes, it had some “accurate facts” in it.

Posted in general | Leave a comment

Dear SFPD

Posted on Saturday, 2005 August 13 by Anton

Next time you protect me from a harmless druggie, could you not step on my foot?

Posted in California, drugwar | 1 Comment

I still haven’t been carded but

Posted on Tuesday, 2005 August 09 by Anton

Once upon a time, one saw signs at liquor stores and the like that said “If you’re lucky enough to look 26 or younger, please be prepared to show proof of age.” (Or maybe it was 24.) Over the years the cutoff has crept along; I’ve seen at least one that said 40.

Today it occurred to me: could that be because amphetamine addicts age rapidly?

Posted in drugwar | Leave a comment

one small step forward, one big step back

Posted on Saturday, 2005 August 06 by Anton

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.

Posted in pets | Leave a comment

libertarian realism

Posted on Friday, 2005 August 05 by Anton

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?

Posted in militaria | Leave a comment

QotD: heresy is vital

Posted on Thursday, 2005 August 04 by Anton

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

Posted in humanities | Leave a comment