Category: Uncategorized

Christian Right Lobbies To Overturn Second Law Of Thermodynamics

Canadians: Government pot not up to par.

“Click It or Ticket” represents another bold step along the road to serfdom. History knows of no totalitarianism agenda where noble goals weren’t used as justification. Nazis used “for the good of the German Volk” and the Soviets used “for the good of the proletariat” as their justification. Health and safety have become the American justification for attacks on liberty.

Tim sent me a link to Skype, a new P2P telephony application from the makers of Kazaa. I was skeptical at first, but a test call changed that. It’s encrypted, reaches callers behind firewalls and NAT’s, has very high quality, and is extremely simple to use. The only downside is that it uses third parties to route calls when direct connections aren’t possible. If you want to try it out, you can add me by searching for [email protected]

I’m playing with the VB.Net-based DotNetNuke portal. Although it’s very new, the superiority of the .Net platform is allowing it to rapidly catch up with mature LAMP-based portals. It really gives a whole new meaning to RAD development. (Btw, did you know that you can run .Net on Linux/Apache using Mono and the ModMono Apache module?) I’ve already set up a blog, and I’d like to move my homepage to .NetNuke, if only I could find a .Net host. Anyone interested in getting a free Unix account in exchange for some space on a .Net-enabled host? I’d host it on my pc if Cox hadn’t blocked port 80…I’ll be damned if they make me upgrade to a commercial account just to run a web server. Speaking of which, the value/quality of the service Cox offers is ridiculous, but they have a local monopoly on cable Internet service, and I’ve disabled my landline, so I can’t get DSL. Incidentaly, I just found I get free web hosting at http://cox-internet.com/david, but Cox offers no scripting support, making my account rather useless.
Anyway, you should seriously consider using .Net for your web/GUI/Unix development needs. I’m going to do just that…right after I cash my check from the MS marketing dept.

That is the slogan of the eco-terrorists group known as “ELF.” In the last few years, these home-made terrorists have not only been causing untold millions of dollars in damage, but have also been committing murder for “crimes against nature.” Ted Kacynski’s ‘revolution against the industrial system” is just one example of their methods, along with assassinating political opponents, and large-scale harassment and intimidation campaigns against American companies. A few years ago, they went after an insurer of a drug-testing company:

Employees have had their homes vandalized with spray-painted “Puppy killer” and “We’ll be back” notices. They have faced a mounting number of death threats, fire bombings and violent assaults. They’ve had their names, addresses and personal information posted on Web sites and posters, declaring them “wanted for collaboration with animal torture.”

While the scale of death and destruction caused by eco-terrorism has been growing, neither the police nor any federal agencies have pursued these groups with any seriousness, in large part due to the political power of the environmentalist movement.
Earlier today, a terrorist was finally arrested in CA for causing over $1 million dollars in damage. Their bold-faced lies are astounding:

[The offender’s] roommate insisted he had no role in the vandalism.
“We absolutely condemn it,” she told the Daily Bulletin. “We think it was wrong. We’re peace activists. We feel like we’re being unfairly targeted because we disagree with our government.”
Lopez said the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were continuing an investigation of federal crimes, which would be added to Connole’s state crimes charges. The FBI, after the arson and vandalism spree, released surveillance video from a Ford dealership in Duarte that showed two young men spray-painting SUVS.

Despite the scale of violence coming from these groups, a much more serious threat to our lives comes from the non-violent mainstream movement, which is just as dedicated to the wholesale destruction of human life. I think Glenn Woiceshyn sums it up best:

Since man survives only by conquering nature, man is an inherent threat to the “intrinsic value” of nature and must therefore be eliminated. Environmentalism makes man the endangered species.

Continue reading “If you build it — we will burn it”

An MSNBC story reports on RIAA’s suit against 261 music pirates:

The stories of the RIAA 261 are emerging across the country. Many defendants say they are surprised by the suits, that they were unaware that such song swapping could be illegal, or that they were ignorant of the activities of others using their computers, such as children.

Innocent and ignorant victims, huh? As misguided and counter-productive as I think RIAA’s actions are, the “RIAA 261” were all sharing at least 1000 songs – not a number you can easily download in a single afternoon, or even a week. It takes a dedicated downloader to download and share thousands of song for a period long enough to get RIAA’s notice. Anyone using P2P software that much can hardly be excused for being ignorant of the law, especially with all the disclaimers and warning most P2P applications present, and the widespread coverage the RIAA actions have received in the media.
Regardless of how the current suit turns out, in the long term, the RIAA effort is futile, and it is inevitable that some sort of music subscription service will supplement CD’s. Nevertheless, the media should not irresponsibly present music pirates as innocent victims when the great majority of them knew full well that what they were doing is illegal and wrong, but ignored such considerations with the pragmatic attitude that is common today.

Cult! Fear and loathing in College Station

Last night’s Objectivism Club meeting went well, though I didn’t get to finish the introduction to Objectivism that I was writing, so I won’t be putting it online for a while. We had a decent turnout, and a very positive response from the audience. One delusional Keynes-worshipper apparently came to the meeting solely to argue economics with us – and I was more than willing to take him on. Later that night, I read some positive responses to our meeting on a local forum, and saw the usual ad-hominem attacks against “extremism.” I wrote a lengthy reply on the forum talking about some of my experiences with Objectivism, and included it below. I don’t really expect to convince anyone, but it’s been a long week of classes, and I needed to let some steam off.
Continue reading

More news of interest: Patriots for the Defense of America issued “America’s Failing War Effort: A Report Card,” girl of 12 settles with RIAA for $2,000, and faced with losing their precious pools, Germans are turning to (God forbid!) private enterprise to save their badekultur.
Also:Tim’s article appears in today’s Mises Daily Article. It’s a decent story, but I don’t get his obsession with capitalizing the word “State.” Like using too many exclamation marks, it rapidly loses effectiveness with overuse!