Archive for December 2010
remember judith miller?
Judith “aluminium tubes” Miller was the so-called journalist for the NY Times who acted as a stenographer for the US government rather than as an actual reporter.
What ever happened to her?
a debugging story
The Expert sat down in his chair again, waiting for it to crash. It took something like six hours of waiting, but it crashed again. He still had no idea what was causing it, other than the fact that it happened when the room was crowded. He ordered that the job be restarted, and he sat down again and waited.
–link
the stupidity of the national review summarized
The blizzard is definitely a force for conservatism, and not only because it has had the global-warming crowd scrambling for explanations.
phd challenge winner
The 2010 PhD Challenge was quite simple:
The goal of this year’s challenge is to get the phrase “I SMOKE CRACK ROCKS” into the final, camera-ready version of a peer-reviewed academic paper
A winner has been announced.
i was thinking the same thing
via Brad LeDong:
I saw “Black Swan” after reading the book, and I must say, Nicholas Taleb must be wondering what the hell happened in development.
poor bastard will see the bats soon enough
More of the insanity that is the writings of Tom Friedman:
More than ever, America today reminds me of a working couple where the husband has just lost his job, they have two kids in junior high school, a mortgage and they’re maxed out on their credit cards. On top of it all, they recently agreed to take in their troubled cousin, Kabul, who just can’t get his act together and keeps bouncing from relative to relative. Meanwhile, their Indian nanny, who traded room and board for baby-sitting, just got accepted to M.I.T. on a full scholarship and will be leaving them in a few months. What to do?
So what do you think his answer is, in this hallucinatory allegory of the American economy, to his question of “What to do?”.
Go ahead, guess. What do you think his recommendation is?
Answer: violin lessons for the boys.
propaganda
Senate Homeland Security Committee chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said the New York Times may have committed a crime by publishing classified documents provided by WikiLeaks and called for the Justice Department to investigate.
“To me, New York Times has committed at least an act of bad citizenship. And whether they’ve committed a crime, I think that bears very intensive inquiry by the Justice Department,” Lieberman said when asked whether the Times could be charged for publishing the documents.
During the interview with Fox News, Lieberman also questioned why WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has not been charged with treason by the Justice Department.
–link
A judge could order an indictment of Assange sealed until such time as the US is able to apprehend him, or until he is in custody in a nation from which he is likely to be extradited. The purpose of such secrecy would be to keep the WikiLeaks chief from going even further underground.
At least one prominent US legal analyst thinks this is just the sort of thing that is going on.
“I would not be at all surprised if there was a sealed arrest warrant currently in existence against [Assange],” said CNN legal expert Jeffrey Toobin on Wednesday. “That question is whether the American authorities can find him and bring him back to the United States for trial.”
In recent days US military officials have been talking about the WikiLeaks matter as if more is going on, legally speaking, than may meet the eye. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has said that the military has enlisted FBI agents in its investigation of the matter, which could mean that someone who is not a uniformed US military person is about to be charged, or has been.
–link
The United States is pleased to announce that it will host UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day event in 2011, from May 1 – May 3 in Washington, D.C. UNESCO is the only UN agency with the mandate to promote freedom of expression and its corollary, freedom of the press.
The theme for next year’s commemoration will be 21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers. The United States places technology and innovation at the forefront of its diplomatic and development efforts. New media has empowered citizens around the world to report on their circumstances, express opinions on world events, and exchange information in environments sometimes hostile to such exercises of individuals’ right to freedom of expression. At the same time, we are concerned about the determination of some governments to censor and silence individuals, and to restrict the free flow of information. We mark events such as World Press Freedom Day in the context of our enduring commitment to support and expand press freedom and the free flow of information in this digital age.
–link
dont tread on me
The leader of the Tea Party thinks it is fine for the government to tax me without representation.
D Clarity 
