Month: June 2004

Coat Hanger Fatalities

In the “just because it comes up often enough in discussions” category. I have found a link by Cecil Adams of the Chicago Reader that exposes the popular abortion rights myth that “10,000 American women a year died from illegal abortions before Roe v. Wade.”

My favorite quote from the article comes from one of the primary author of this urban legend Bernard Nathanson, originally with NARAL, when he says, “I confess that I knew the figures were totally false, and I suppose the others did too if they stopped to think of it. But in the ‘morality’ of our revolution, it was a useful figure, widely accepted, so why go out of our way to correct it with honest statistics?” Nathanson has sense become a Pro-Life advocate.

Fear & Love

Returning to the question of being feared or loved, I come to the conclusion that, men loving according to their own will and fearing according to that of the prince, a wise prince should establish himself on that which is in his own control and not in that of others…
-Niccolo Machiavelli

Crypto and Security

Cryptography is part of my work, a part time hobby, and (with my current reading list) something I do during my free time. So let me pass along some of my wonder.

I found a spectacular NOVA article on Enigma . Specifically how it worked. If you are interested in security in general then be sure to check out Cryptome. Its technical articles has be kinda “thick” at times but much of its information is useful for other purposes. And, because we all need to improve ourselves one way or another, here is Bred Miller’s Guide to Lock Picking.

Nethack is kicking my ass…

Couple more Nethack links for the day. Beginners Guide for NetHack. Its an absolute must read if you want to survive more than a half dozen levels or so.

For a funny but entirely feasible journey into the NatHack universe check out planetfargo’s A guided Tour of NetHack. Its funny cause its true.

Finally, if you had a wand of polymorph what NetHack Monster would you be. Take the test and fine out. FYI I would be a cockatrice.

The Fall of Giants

A great article by Jeff Reifman has summed up what many of us in the tech industry have been seeing for the last year or two. Namely that Microsoft has lost is technological advantage because of its own size and protectionist tendencies towards its core markets. The rate of innovation comming out of Microsoft cannot even compare to that of Open Source development (in general) and internet technologies.

Any objectively minded business scholar will tell you this is not unexpected. All monopolies and almost all large corporations lessen in their ability to innovate because of corporate momentum. Its like turning a boat in the water. A small agile speedboat can turn much faster than a huge oil tanker. Small business, and businesses that must compete constantly, innovate at a much higher rate because their very survival depends on that innovation.

Libertarian Research

The Cato Institute is a non-profit public policy research foundation. Its libertarian focus on limited government, individual liberty, free markets and peace have made for some of the best policy research available anywhere. Its focus is most consistent with the direction of the founders of our nation. Much of the site requires a subscription, but the “Research Areas” and “Publications” sections have a huge volume of information available to those interested in public policy. Cato’s Congressional Handbook is almost required reading for US Congressmen (although they never seem to follow it.)