Archive for May 3rd, 2004

Google Ads

Posted by David on May 3rd, 2004

As you may have noticed, I have added Google Ads to my blog. I earn a few cents for each click, so please consider sponsoring my site :-) (Note: the ads seem to be showing only intermittently due to low click-through rates. Feel free to remedy this!)

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Posted by David on May 3rd, 2004

Austin is one of the very few places in Texas where this kind of thing could happen:

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Partygoers apparently hoping to catch a glimpse of nude sunbathers crowded on one side of a floating barge, prompting the ship to capsize and dump all 60 people into Lake Travis.

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American Sci/Tech Slipping?

Posted by David on May 3rd, 2004

The NYT has a scare-piece that claims that the United States has started to lose its dominance in critical areas of science and innovation. I think the reality is that the spread of capitalism has spread and accelerated scientific and technological achievement to nations that formerly had neither the freedom nor the money to afford it. Advancements in science and technology are a benefit to everyone, regardless of which country they happen in.

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Re: Pat Tillman

Posted by David on May 3rd, 2004

Conservatives say some stupid things every now and then, but it’s leftists who really make me sick.

Regarding the “torture” of Iraqi prisoners: admittedly, it’s unprofessional behavior for a soldier, but where is the media outrage over the bastards who brutally tortured, dismembered, and burned U.S. soldiers and civillians? Whatever happened to photos like this?

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U.S. Government Censorship

Posted by David on May 3rd, 2004

The U.S. government concocted a brilliant plan a few years ago: Why not give Internet surfers in China and Iran the ability to bypass their nations’ notoriously restrictive blocks on Web sites?
…
But an independent report released Monday reveals that the U.S. government also censors what Chinese and Iranian citizens can see online. Technology used by the IBB, which puts out the Voice of America broadcasts, prevents them from visiting Web addresses that include a peculiar list of verboten keywords. The list includes “ass” (which inadvertently bans usembassy.state.gov), “breast” (breastcancer.com), “hot” (hotmail.com and hotels.com), “pic” (epic.noaa.gov) and “teen” (teens.drugabuse.gov).
…
That’s the sad irony in the OpenNet Initiative’s findings: A government agency charged with fighting Internet censorship is quietly censoring the Web itself.

Should the US government be involved in circumventing foreign censorship at all? If it is in fact important to our national security, why not just support the many private groups already doing this?

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