URLs Du Jour (3/9/2005)

  • Rich Galen's Mullings is a Monday/Wednesday/Friday stop for me, and today's installment is particularly good.
  • Jeff Jarvis comments lucidly on the Hiawatha Bray matter I wrote about a few days ago. He quotes heavily from the Boston Globe's ombudsperson's article discussing the matter. Ick. Have I mentioned recently that I'm not sorry to have dropped my Globe subscription? Oh, yeah, I have.
  • At Tech Central Station, James Glassman makes a similar point to the one I tried to make a couple days ago about the Social Security debate:

    Forget about the projections of fiscal calamity or paradise. We have known from the beginning of the argument the central fact: the two sides like different things. … One side likes the government to take care of people, whether they need it or not. The other side -- which I'm on -- likes people to make their own choices and take responsibility for their own lives.

    He urges "our" side to "start slugging it out over principle." I think that would be more interesting and honest. But I'm not sure it's the way to win.

    This reminded me a lot of Thomas Sowell's great book A Conflict of Visions. (Which you should buy and read, if you haven't already.) So it's probably far from coincidental that Glassman's article is also linked to by "Katie" in her blog A Constrained Vision. Katie's obviously a kindred spirit, and I've added a link to her blog over there on the right.

  • My friend Jim Cerny points me to the website of the Mount Washingtion Observatory, which will almost surely make you happier about any inclement weather you might be experiencincing. As I type, they report -15.1°F with a windspeed of 84 mph (gusts to 95 mph); this works out to a wind chill of -53°F. From their front page:

    Observer stats:
    Lowest wind chill: -76
    Number of unsuccessful runs to the precip can: 1 (so far)
    Hours spent shoveling the same doorway: Still at it...
    Biggest NEW snow drift: 7 Feet
    Total staff hours of sleep: 5!
    Broken Crowbars: 1!
    Figuring out that you can't keep your feet grounded by tower railing...Priceless

    It pays to have a good sense of humor when you're up there, obviously.


Last Modified 2022-10-04 5:09 AM EDT