Dec
22
2005

URLs du Jour -- 12/22/2005

  • I wish Johnny Damon the best. In fact, I hope he bats .350 next year and hits a grand slam to pull the Yankees within one run of the Red Sox in the seventh game of the ALCS with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning. Then, I hope A-Rod strikes out; Boston goes on to meet the Dodgers (with Grady, Nomar, D-Lowe, and Bill Mueller) in the World Series.

    Unfortunately, all that would probably give me a heart attack somewhere along the line. But still, that's the dream I'm going for. Soxblog concurs in wishing Johnny well, and has more informed speculation as to his probable performance.

  • More on the allegations that Department of Homeland Security agents visited the home of a UMass-Dartmouth student because he requested a copy of Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung via Interlibrary Loan: The student remains anonymous. Inside Higher Ed reports that the DHS has "adamantly denied" the visit. Although the original newspaper report claimed the book was requested through UMass-Dartmouth's ILL program, the librarians there denied handling the request for the book. The student now says he directed the request to UMass-Amherst. (Although it's not clear whether the reporter bungled this in the original story, or the student changed his story on this debunked detail.)

    I'm strongly leaning toward the theory that the student made this up out of whole cloth, gulled his professors, who then (unexpectedly) told the story to the equally gullible reporter, who in turn (applying the stringent editorial standards of the Mainstream Media) told the Whole Wide World.

    Meanwhile the story is being echoed uncritically on the Web. (See here, here, here, here, or here.)

  • On the other hand, here's a non-anonymous report of an actual government official threatening a civilian for activities protected under the First Amendment. Exercise for the reader: explain why this won't be similarly echoed 'round the web.
  • Judicial follies: a Santa Fe District Court judge has issued a temporary restraining order against David Letterman. Prof Volokh has the story and comments appropriately.
  • The most twisted programming tutorial I've ever seen: Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby. Worth taking a look even if you have no plans to learn Ruby, or any programming language, ever. To say any more would ruin the surprise. Go. (Via Linux Weekly News.)

Last Modified 2017-03-02 5:24 AM EDT