Archive for July 2005
July 28, 2005 - 04:51 PM
Senator Orrin Hatch (Utah-R)'s seat will be up for contest in 2006; and there is an upstart from the Utah House of Representatives who is going to
challenge him:
...Hatch, scourge of file sharers could be out of a job in 2006 if fellow Republican Steve Urquhart gets his way. Urquhart, House of Representative member and party whip form the land of Utah, has announced he is running against Hatch as GOP candidate in 2006, and wants internet users to boost a bi-partisan challenge.
Now, the reason that this is important is that Hatch has been pushing legislation that favor big business (Disney, Hollywood, etc.) over the rights of consumers - to the point that he is willing to legislate what kinds of computers and software are allowed to exist (Microsoft okay; OS X okay; everything else, including fair use, illegal), that copyright owners should be allowed to
destroy the computers of people that illegally download their works (can you say due process?), and legislation called the INDUCE act that essentially makes the internet illegal since file sharing networks run on it.
No, he's not my favorite.
Anyway, Hatch has some competition now, and depending on what he puts up as his platform, I may well support him. You don't need to be in Utah to do that. If you feel strongly about it, publicity, donations, etc. are useful even if you can't vote for him.
Phil Windley (former CIO for the state of Utah) has some
thoughts about the situation from a techie point of view.
Here are links to challenger Steve Urquhart's
campaign site and
blog (
"We received an e-mail that said, 'Let me know what I can do to help. I'll definitely vote for you, and I'll get everyone I know to vote for you.'... If this guy knows 2,000,000 people, I'm set." - heh!)
We'll see how this proceeds...
July 27, 2005 - 02:17 PM
"Judge rules Elizabeth Smart's alleged abductor mentally incompetent"Mental health experts who testified during six days of hearings were divided over what makes Elizabeth Smart's alleged kidnapper tick.
[...]
On Tuesday, 3rd District Judge Judith Atherton ended the dispute by ruling that Mitchell is not competent.
Mitchell will spend time in Utah State Hospital undergoing treatment; if in the future he is deemed competent he will stand trial.
Elizabeth's father, Ed Smart, said he and his wife were ''relieved'' by the judge's decision. "We really didn't want to have to have Elizabeth testify [at a trial], although I'm sure she's capable of doing it. And I don't have any hope of him improving, competency-wise."
He said a long-term hospital stay for Mitchell would be a satisfactory resolution to the case as long as the suspect is kept off the streets.
State of the Beehive
posted the decision, which can be
downloaded [pdf] from the court website.
The document includes an interesting description of Mitchell's life. He and his wife were, for some time, temple workers in the SLC Temple, but they "eventually stopped attending church services and withdrew from their temple assignments because they believed they would soon receive a higher and more pure calling."
Sad.
(Thanks:
Planet Utah)
I will say in regard to the Smart family's actions during this whole thing, that I have agreed with how they approach it at times (such as their reaction to this decision) and disagreed at others. The book (and 2nd book), plus TV movie, etc. have bothered me.
Each family of course must process their grief in such a way as suits them, I guess. And perhaps they need the money after the long ordeal (?). Then again, perhaps I'm giving them more leeway than I would a family that wasn't LDS. Time for a bit of
repentance...
July 22, 2005 - 05:03 PM
UPDATE: Sadly, Ragged Edges is no longer. I've removed the link due to the fact that someone re-acquired the account on that blogging service and posted pornography to it. I'm sad that the discussion was lost; I found it really interesting.
Ragged Edges has an
intriguing post about this topic (are the Rowling books evil? Harmless? In between?) with links to some discussions on various blogs. It's amazing just what people are thinking and saying about this, and how deep the rabbit hole of the debate goes.
I found some interesting items in the comments to his post, and responded with my 2¢; here's a clip:
To me, reading about the fight between good and evil isn't a bad thing. Reading about evil people isn't evil (unless the book is trying to make evil look like good - a common theme in Satan's plan). The fact that the characters in these books use wands rather than handguns, to me, is just background and setting.
Go take a look for the rest, and while you're there, check out Lance's blog and add it to your favorites or blogroll.
July 21, 2005 - 09:52 PM
A fellow geeky blogger, Accordion Guy, was nice enough to post this video gem from the Star Trek: The Next Generation "Season 5" DVD. He titles the post, "
Set Course for the Vaudeville System!" if that's any clue.
"Q!?" Heh.
July 15, 2005 - 01:07 PM
I wish I could get to the article this is
in reference to. But it's humorous enough on its own.
The three C's answers to some questions?
COWS
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that our government can track a cow born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she sleeps in the state of Washington. And they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give them each a cow.
CONSTITUTION
They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys and it's worked for over 200 years and we're not using it anymore.
COMMANDMENTS
Want to know the real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments in a Courthouse? You cannot post "Thou Shalt Not Steal," "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery" and "Thou Shall Not Lie" in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians! It creates a hostile working environment.
Ouchie.
Hat tip:
Phil Windley, whose blog you should read if you're of a techie-internet bent.
July 7, 2005 - 12:01 PM
I've been feeling a bit edgy already - the news that one's company is being purchased, and that one's job may or may not exist in one's current vicinity in one's future can have such an effect on one's nerves - and now today I find that I am having some of the same feelings as I did in the days and weeks following September 11.
As the death toll rises in London and the reports come in (Norm Geras is
following it), I find that I am now visibly irritable and disconnected.
I hope this doesn't last long.
July 4, 2005 - 04:33 PM
"Moscow - A Russian astrologist who says Nasa has altered her horoscope by crashing a spacecraft into a comet is
suing the United States space agency for damages of $300-million, local media reported on Monday.
[...]
"It is obvious that elements of the comet's orbit, and correspondingly the ephemeris, will change after the explosion, which interferes with my astrology work and distorts my horoscope," Izvestia daily quoted astrologist Marina Bai as saying in legal documents submitted before Monday's collision.
[...]
Nasa representatives in Moscow were unavailable for comment."
Some fun info on the planned probe crash can be found
here [slashdot.org].
July 3, 2005 - 10:28 PM
Do you have a blog? Take the
MIT Weblog Survey. It's non-commercial - a research project - and is fairly quick to complete. I did it in about 10 minutes. Plus, it made me think about a few things I hadn't before (how often
do I post? What do I talk about?)
July 1, 2005 - 11:05 AM
Should I email this to the ones I know, I wondered, or just post it?
Post it, it would seem.
Attention, blogging professors...
July 1, 2005 - 09:11 AM
Chuckles from
Slashback this morning regarding the US Supreme Court's Evil (capital E) decision allowing the government to
take land from private owners and give it to developers for the cause of increasing tax revenue - by, say,
building a hotel:
"Logan Darrow Clements has begun the application process to build a hotel on land owned by Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter. This could be allowed under Eminent Domain after the controversial 5-4 Kelo vs. New London ruling which Souter voted for. Justice Souter's home currently occupies the land. The planned hotel, to be called 'The Lost Liberty Hotel,' will include a public exhibit on the loss of American Freedom. 'This is not a prank,' said Clements, 'The Towne of Weare has five people on the Board of Selectmen. If three of them vote to use the power of eminent domain to take this land from Mr. Souter we can begin our hotel development.'"
Of course it won't go over, but wouldn't it be ironic if it did.
As amusing as it is, my overall feelings about this decision include: aghast, appalled, mortified, and scared (could it happen to me?).
We seem to be losing freedoms and rights at every turn these days.
