Daily Archives: October 29, 2003

Blogger Beware

This entry was posted in Blogging on by

This post lost Michael Hanscom his job. See details here.
This seems to reflect some pretty deep paranoia over at MS. To think, they have smurfs who spend all their time looking for stuff like this to snuff out. Probably a training camp for the ashcroft justice department.
In the meantime, all of you who are not tenured academics or retired MS mizillionaires take note: MS may not be the only employer who might frown on something you say in your blog.
Via Brad DeLong.
Update (10/30): The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported on this today.

Stalking with Lawyers

This entry was posted in Constitution on by

You all have likely already run across this but if not head over to Eschaton and read about it in this post and subsequent posts.
It seems Donald Luskin, self proclaimed Krugman stalker, has taken offense with one of Atrios’ posts and some of the comments therein:

You chose the unfortunate caption �Diary of a Stalker� for your link. More importantly, your readers, in responding to your invitation to comment, have posted numerous libelous statements regarding Mr. Luskin. Picking up on the theme you introduced, several have made false assertions that Mr. Luskin has committed the crime of stalking. Such a statement constitutes libel per se, an actionable tort subjecting both the author and the publisher to liability for both actual and punitive damages.

I haven’t been able to scrounge up the offending comment thread to read but I have no doubt some of the folks might have been a bit rude toward Luskin. Tsk. Tsk.
I suspect this is more a publicity stunt on Luskin’s part then anything else. And he will get his publicity but at what cost? I think Winds of Change nails it here:

And pundits who use slings ought to be able to take a stone or two, and the fact that Mr Luskin can’t – the fact assuming that the letter Atrios posted was genuine (and the lawyer’s name does check out on the firm website) – certainly drops him a few kilometers below credible in my view.

Will the luskin stalker meme top fair and balanced? Watch and enjoy.
Atrios provides a lengthy list of links to commentary on this here.
Via Skippy.

Weapons, Combat and the Movies

This entry was posted in Technology on by

zombyboy reports on an article about some new and improved military technology, in particular some advanced missile defense stuff which is pretty cool.
I’ve been a big fan of this kind of stuff since reading space opera stuff as a 5/6th grader.
I also know that this type of technology gives you an advantage for a time. Then some other technique is used to counter. Oh, and then your opponents have it so your cruise missiles aren’t effective any longer.
But it is fun to think about and I suppose we ought to be somewhat prepared if the SETI team runs across some real bad folk.
Also, very interesting is the right angle gun right angle gun a little further down the article. This could dramatically change the dynamics of individual combat especially in urban settings but also for the poor dude who used to have to be the one to stick his head over the rock to see if anyone was there. Also, apply to urban police ineractions.
Think of all the future tv/movie scenes that will change with the introduction of this weapon.
My question is….now that I see it …what took so long?

Preparing our Children

This entry was posted in Education on by

I wonder if there might be a relationship between these two articles. First, is this study that investigated what electronic stuff parents have been putting in their kid’s bedrooms:

The study showed significant percentages of children with TVs in their bedrooms in even the youngest age ranges: 30 percent for kids 3 and under, and 26 percent for kids under 2, compared with 36 percent for all kids 6 and under.

The second story, lost in the headlines about Bank of America taking over FleetBoston Financial is this story about BofA exporting some of their technical jobs:

But virtually no attention was paid just days earlier when BofA said it will move more operations abroad by setting up a subsidiary in India next year to handle key tech functions, many involving sensitive customer information.

Maybe these parents kind of intuitively know that there may not be any challenging work available in the US by the time these 2 year olds reach adulthood and are preparing them for the good life of a skilless job and evenings watching sitcoms or whatever other brain deadening fare is being served up.