A lot of people wanted that memo (original) about the US spying on other UN members to be a hoax. Just something the Observer made up. Today, the Observer came [ever so close](http://web.archive.org/web/20080517120442/http://web.archive.org/web/20080517120442/http://www.observer.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12239,910648,00.html (original) “The Observer | Special reports | GCHQ arrest over Observer spying report”) (original) to reporting that their source was arrested for violating the Official Secrets Act. (Via Electrolite.) Fortunately, nobody really cares about this stuff. Right? (original)

Here’s that London Times article I mentioned yesterday. It reveals that Blix mentions Iraqi drones in his written report, and accuses him of trying to cover this up by failing to mention them in his oral report. Only problem is, he did mention them in his oral report. “Inspectors are also engaged in examining Iraq’s programme for Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPVs). A number of sites have been inspected with data being collected to assess the range and other capabilities of the various models found. Inspections are continuing in this area.” ...

The EBay auction I blogged about earlier turns out to be blocked for a bunch of people — including myself, when I check it from home. EBay has voluntarily blocked German IP addresses from accessing auctions of Nazi memorabilia. Now, the item in question is an Enigma machine, which is not exactly prime fetish material, but I guess it counts under German law. It’s interesting how wide EBay’s net is, though. I’m in Worldcom IP space at home — I wonder if EBay blocks all of Worldcom? Or if not, why the chunk of IP space I’m in?

Things I learned from watching Mister Sterling tonight: Being a Senator gets you laid by the hot actress, plus if you’re noble and honest the sly fellow Senator from Nevada will still be interested in you for your mind. In a carnal way. Also, if you look agonized and persevere, you can write the letters. Even if you’re so poorly paid you have to live in a group house. Finally, Strom Thurmond is a Democrat from North Dakota. ...

There are geeky ways to ask someone to marry you, and then there are [geeky ways to ask someone to marry you](http://web.archive.org/web/20080706021039/http://web.archive.org/web/20080706021039/http://www.decipher.com/content/2003/03/030603lotrengagement.html (original) “The Lord of the Rings”) (original). I think that’s terminally sweet, but it is also terminally geeky. I will now demonstrate my own geek nature by asking if the One Ring isn’t kind of the wrong symbolism for a marriage? But I will come back from the brink at the last moment by not suggesting one of the other rings as a better choice. Phew.

I’m not normally much on the wishlist thing but if anyone out there is overcome with the desire to blow a few thousand bucks on me? Get me this (original). I can’t even begin to express how much I want this object. Wait, that’s a lie. I can easily express how much I want this object: less than five thousand dollars worth of want. I gotta say, this whole “money” concept is a very clever invention.

As the blogosphere gears up for the Blix report to the UN, Howard Bashman soldiers along talking about legal matters. His post on yesterday’s Supreme Court decisions is so good I felt like linking to it. It ought also to be of particular interest to Californians and Alaskans, since two of the cases decided relate to California’s three strikes law and one of them is about the Alaska sex offenders registry. ...

Eugene Volokh goes over the differences between Iraq and North Korea. He’s right, as far as he goes — but now let’s ask the next question. “If we can live with North Korea possessing and actively making nuclear weapons, why can’t we live with the possibility that Iraq may get nuclear weapons?” Or, put differently: assuming inspections fail, and assuming it’s impossible to stand between Saddam and nukes, what makes that world more dangerous than the one we live in? And please. Don’t tell me Saddam is more loony than Kim Jong-il.

Hey, let’s do that thing I see the hip kids doing where I stuff a bunch of links into one post! The Crossgates Mall, quite appropriately, has dropped the charges against Stephen Downs. Steven Kaye, in comments, pointed me at Eurasianet. Looks like a really good source of info on Turkey and other Eurasian states. (Hey, Steven’s looking for players for an 1890s CoC game. Or, anyhow, was in 1999. Hm.) ...

The DoD kicked out a press release today about Iraq’s oil. About what you’d expect no matter what you believe: promises to preserve the oil for Iraq, warnings that Saddam may intend to destroy the oil, ecological warnings, etc. I found this quote interesting, though: “Oil is a natural resource of Iraq that provides commerce, income for education and other needs, and infrastructure. The department considers destruction of that resource as an act of terrorism.” ...