Harvesting items, newsworthy or not

 
I missed Mike's post on Jan. 1 until today, and it prompted a few thoughts. I would add what I said in his comments: The WSJ has every right to hold its editorial opinions, and I have every right to decide I disagree with them and not buy the paper. Fox has every right to put commentators on its air whose views I abhor, and I have every right to switch channels (OK, so it might be to ESPN rather than some useful news programming, but that's my choice, right?). And one more example: Pat Buchanan can write a book titled The Death of the West, published this month, and I can refuse to buy it. I can and do go to the polls everytime there is an election, on the simple theory "don't vote, don't bitch." I will continue to gripe about the continuing dissipation of American civil rights by an overweening John Ashcroft and his Department of Justice, with the blessing of a President whose election remains questionable. I will also wholeheartedly agree that people who disagree with me have every right to say so, and should. It is a privilege to have been born into a society which has so much to be thankful for, and we too often forget it in the minutiae of daily struggle.

End of speech.
posted by Link Meister at 5:37 PM

 
Results of random surfing: the Institute of Official Cheer; I think this is meant to be ironic, although its stated mission is to eliminate same. It includes such things as The Gallery of Regrettable Food, Interior Desecrators, an Orphanage of Cast-Off Mascots, and a Permanent Collection of Impermanent Art. Thanks to Sherahi for the link. And today's Tolkien fix comes courtesy of Pix; he passed it along in an IM chat, so there's no reference on his journal, but he's well worth reading anyway. Hmmm...today appears to be LJ-specific, for no particular reason, except perhaps to alert folks that the system seems to be working far better than it did as recently as two months ago.
posted by Link Meister at 4:09 PM

 
If ever there were an instance pointing out the futility of war, this insanity must be it. It also shows how war can devastate an economy in subtle ways. In an odd coincidence, that story appears the same day as this one, which may prove to be an after-the-fact method of finding all those mines.

On to less apocalyptic items: should Americans put a fork into the post-Christmas sale? For that matter, should the same be done to some cancer tests? From current to past: who's really buried in Midas' tomb? And from the same correspondent, a statue, purportedly a gift from Midas, may, regrettably, be of ivory, not gold. Back to the future: new data seems to indicate that John Maynard Keynes may have been right; intelligent life may not coincide with the end of the universe.

Today's privacy horror story; "pretexting" to obtain information. More privacy (of the journalistic sort): remember the true-crime reporter who was jailed for refusing to turn over her source material to federal prosecutors? She was released from jail today. Unrelated to privacy but certainly as political is the lead story from Howard Kurtz in the WashPost. It's a rather impassioned defense of members of the Vietnam-era anti-war movement.

And finally, in light of Hoopty's haircut issues, perhaps this could offer an answer?
posted by Link Meister at 4:39 PM

 
In case the odd LOTR fan makes it here before making it to the Ruminator, he found a wonderful link to Ian Mckellen's journal kept while playing Gandalf for the making of the movie. It is as much personal reminiscence as it is a daylog, and it's very good indeed.
posted by Link Meister at 11:23 PM

 
AOL IM Users, take note: Messaging bug opens hole for computer worms.

Cynicism about sports? This guy's got it in spades. In a similar vein, sometimes conspiracy theories have merit. Speaking of things off-key, "what would happen to the sound of the bagpipes if they were played in the helium/oxygen mix used by deep-sea divers?" Oh, and here's another discordant note regarding the new Mayor of NYC (Faith, take heed!)

How about a new spin on dial-up: upload defibrillator status to your doc. And could this explain Hoopty? Or does he use sunblock?
posted by Link Meister at 4:46 PM

 
Not quite random but certainly disjointed group of items today:

Ham radio; anyone ever used it? When Dad was in Antarctica in the early 1960's we would get occasional telephone calls patched through this system. You had to remember to say "Over" when through with your side of the conversation in order to let the ham op know you were done, so he (and in those days, they were almost all he) could flip the switch from transmit to receive and vice versa. Helluva way to talk, but from LA to McMurdo Sound on the phone was an amazing concept back then. From radio to Hawaiian music: this looks like a good site for those interested in such things. More Hawaii: while looking at local server providers, one bragged about a recent project completed for the Waikiki Aquarium, including webcams. Check out the sharks and seals!
"I don't want to be dependent on Mideast oil anymore. Countries in that region haven't had a good century in 700 years". Makes sense to me. Speaking of pipelines, they're now being made of silicon; a new form of engineering called microfluidics is emerging. In another piece of research, an explanation for why your backside hurts so damned much after riding horses. Capitalism enters the regulation business: in the absence of government oversight, private firms are providing information about the efficacy of vitamin supplements. On balance, I'd call that a GOOD THING. It seems appalling that the Feds don't seem to want to do it; after all, the "general welfare" of the population is affected by the ingestion of this stuff. In another instance of market-oriented medicine, fertility clinics are actively marketing their services. That leaves me a little queasy, and I'm not sure why. More queasiness: "He added that the company had not shared such information with other businesses 'and we have no plans to do it now.' " That's a spokesman for QWEST, which, reading that sentence, seems to say it reserves the right to sell info regarding your long-distance telephone calling patterns to marketing partners. Not to be outdone, there is a new thermal imaging device which detects lies by measuring your blush. Hmmm...be useful when dating. In the "less privacy is OK" area, a new website containing 1901 census data from England & Wales crashes on its first day; reminds me that a year or so ago the same thing happened to the LDS Church site. Despite that addition, the number of websites world-wide fell slightly between November and December of 2001.

As stated, pretty random.
posted by Link Meister at 5:38 PM

 
Now that it's over, I will confess that I absolutely hate what New Year's Eve does to my normally sensible neighbors. They all compete to see who can set off the greatest quantity of firecrackers of all sizes, which in itself wouldn't bother me much, but it worries my mother greatly and it terrifies my dog to the point of requiring heavy sedation. The barrage begins in early evening and (obviously) reaches its crescendo at midnight. Clouds of acrid smoke fill the air for hours afterward; it's a damn good thing none of us have asthma.

Our state legislature occasionally tries to limit the practice; last year they required $25 permits to purchase up to 5000 firecrackers, which may have helped curb the worst excesses, but they are petrified at the thought of trying to ban fireworks altogether, on the grounds that it is a long-standing Chinese tradition to set off fireworks at New Year's, and there are far too many voters who claim Chinese ancestry to risk offending them. Naturally, this gives everyone not of Chinese ancestry carte blanche to participate as well, and so the whole damned state goes berserk every December 31.

Oh, well, to keep it in perspective; yesterday I heard on NPR that the city government of Detroit was appealing to its citizens to celebrate by listening to church bells rather than firing guns into the air. Now that's a serious and asinine problem!
posted by Link Meister at 5:50 PM

 
NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH!

A small circle of friends and I have been working on this for two months, based on lyrics collected as a result of miscellaneous contests we've held in a club to which we all belong. We are all quite pleased with the product, although it will be an ongoing project. Without further ado, then, please let me present:

The International Lyrics Playground

Rube Goldberg would love this amusing New Year's card! This one is a stunner: Billboard's Top 100 chart for 2001 has a surprise winner; this result just blew me away. The first time in 30 years that the Beatles head the list? Huh. Give me a home, where the buffalo and doctors roam? Certainly, the WOTD for 12/30 (faineant \fay-nay-AWN\, adjective: Doing nothing or given to doing nothing; idle; lazy. Noun: A do-nothing; an idle fellow; a sluggard.) could not describe members of the Z-List! Lucky you live in America! Imagine the logistics of this process!

And finally, a heartfelt thanks to all the bloggers who have welcomed me into their community with wit, assistance, sarcasm and general good will in this horribly eventful year. I won't even attempt to thank individuals by name, but the collective group has been very kind to this novice!

Happy New Year!
posted by Link Meister at 12:59 PM