Speaking of privacy violations, Caltrans is expanding the use of Fastrak, their automatic toll collection system. They’re adding antennae along the highways, to collect realtime traffic info. This makes tracking individual drivers that much easier — another step down the slippery slope.
Britain is now calling for the US to allow UN weapons inspectors back into Iraq. The poignant quote from Britain’s UN ambassador: “Even the closest ally cannot answer for the United States.” They’re joined by the rest of the UN, of course. How much longer can we bear this undue influence in our affairs? Hasn’t Britain learned their lesson? Our friendship is not unconditional.
Cory Doctorow just posted an excerpt from an upcoming novel. “An urban fantast/magic-realist thing about community wireless networking.” It’s a fun read; kind of a Charles de Lint vibe filtered through the transfictionalist nerdcore point of view. Hm, or maybe vice versa. Definitely vice versa. Imagine one of those Charles de Lint scenes where we get to know a somewhat fey stranger, except instead of all the folk music he’s into wireless networking. There you go.
CafePress seems to be a mite closer to launching their book printing arm. I just got an intriguing email offering me the chance to beta it; alas, I don’t have a book all ready to go. C’est la vie. However, the email does have some hints about formats. They want page sizes of either 4.18 × 6.88 (mass market paperback), 5 × 8, 7.5 × 9.25, 8.5 × 11, or 6.625 × 10.25 (comic books). That’s inches, one assumes. They offer saddlestitch binding for lower page counts and wire-o for full fledged books. Maximum page count is 600 pages. ...
Den Beste (original) notes a $500 million drop in American tourism (original) over in France. Meanwhile, the ITA Office of Travel and Tourism notes a 7.6% drop (original) in visitors to the United States for Q1 2003. This follows a 8.3% drop (original) last year. Putting that into perspective, a little over 600,000 fewer people visited the US in the first quarter of 2003. If each of those people would have spent an arbitrary $1,000, which is probably low, then the US has lost over $600 million in one quarter. The article on France implies that their drop is $500 million total. Per capita, $500 million represents more for France than $600 million does for the US, of course. ...
I have, on occasion, argued that attempting to control terrorism by controlling the states that sponsor terrorism is futile. It’s too easy for non-state sponsored terrorists to build weapons, and getting easier. As evidence, I offer the home-made cruise missile.
The similarities between this (original) (here’s part two (original)) and this (original) are amusing as all hell. This doesn’t really say much about the people parodied, though, since both of ‘em are pretty similar to this (with another part two (original) — will wonders never cease?). Lesson: pundits are goobers.
“According to Square Enix, Bakusou Yankee Damashii will be the first online MMORPG that will let players enjoy the world of Japanese motorcycle delinquents.” Via Dispatches From Revland (original), which has a link to the trailer. It seems to be 2D isometric and I want to play it very badly.
Eric Rudolph (original) — you know, the guy who bombed the Atlanta Olympics, a gay bar, and a couple of abortion clinics — was captured over the weekend. About time. It appears that sympathetic locals may have helped him stay a fugitive. The Washington Post goes for the gusto and labels him a Christian terrorist. Given the typical bent of the Christian Identity movement, I don’t see why we shouldn’t just go all the way and label him a Christianofascist. ...
I actually wasn’t gonna link to the long list of administration statements about Iraq’s WMD (original). But then I thought about it some more, and I came up with a thought experiment. Let’s assume the best. Let’s assume Bush and the rest believed everything they said. Let’s assume Wolfowitz’s rationale for misinformation is justified. Great. But now you know the government either a) bungles intelligence information, or b) is willing to stretch the truth a good long way to get your support. So when the next one comes around — when Bush starts talking about Iran’s Al Qaeda connections (original) — how can you trust that? You gotta have more evidence than just his assertions, because they have been proven wrong before in similar situations, and that is true no matter who you blame or don’t blame for that inaccuracy.