Joe Sobran: Addicts of the State
You might almost suspect Fukuyama of gallows humor when he says that only the government could be counted on to send firemen into buildings. We all know what happened to those firemen and those buildings. We mourn them, but we don’t celebrate the event as a triumph of government.
Libertarian Rant doesn’t exactly hear voices:
I’d be interested to see if other folks are getting cryptic messages from their voice recognition software. There may be something larger at work.
politechbot.com: Hollywood wants to plug “analog hole,” regulate A-D converters
The people who tried to take away your VCR are at it again.
Which raises the question: if “they” couldn’t do that, how did they since get powerful enough that preposterously intrusive and costly anti-copying mandates are now debated seriously?
Mesh Radio. The idea is to link subscribers to each other with multiple tiny dishes, rather than all to a central station. I hope it works: existing schemes lack redundancy at the consumer end.
Later: It has been pointed out to me that each relay introduces a delay.
“Jane Galt” (Megan McArdle) remarks in passing that “our bodies aren’t really up to the strain of physical labor for our new, improved lifespans.” Which reminds me of a puzzler: In all those stories where a drug/virus confers immortality, what about wear on teeth? Do Tolkien’s Elves grow a new set every century or so, or are their teeth simply made of stronger stuff?
Ananova: EU rejects call to change flag. Whew, and yet – Is anyone somehow a bit disappointed?
Am I the only one who remembers a cartoon carnivore saying “And then it’s lunchtime!” as he plotted to catch the innocent rodent or boid? Does anyone remember him less hazily than I do?