This morning, I received an email from a co-worker of long ago. Not just a any old co-worker, but my first UNIX mentor. We have managed to stay loosely in touch over the years and I have always thought him to be one who is impeccably cogent but one who does not suffer fools --just do a google groups search on his name to see what I mean by this. I've rambled enough, here's the email:

,----
| I'm not a peace monger, by which I mean I can imagine conditions in
| which I would fight or let my child fight. But I'm also quite
| against getting into fights:
|
| which we can't get out of;
|
| which are unlikely to have a clear outcome;
|
| which don't have the full support of the people;
|
| which don't seem likely to achieve their stated goals;
|
| which have a far greater potential cost than potential
| reward.
|
| I thought that there was a general consensus about all this after
| Vietnam.
|
| What Bush and crew are attempting in the Middle East seems an
| example of the kind of hubris that is likely to cause great and
| lasting damage to this country. In their argument for war, they
| pile fact upon fact in the manner of conspiracy theorists, and
| similarly leap to a conclusion that isn't supported by those facts.
|
| The president is being goaded by advisers into an adventure just as
| Lyndon Johnson was -- the parallels seem quite clear.
|
| I am sure that I am not the only one making these observations, and
| that there are many Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and
| liberals, war veterans and lifelong civilians, who are thinking
| along similar lines.
|
| If you believe that this might be a colossal mistake, please say so
| in a voice we can all hear.
|
|
| - Michael Sierchio
`----

Is it just me, or is there something darker going on
here? Is this a warning system or a heinous tool
constructed to manipulate the masses?

I submit this for your consideration: after a brief
training period (setting the indicator to high levels
when there is an actual emergency, and setting the
indicator to low levels when the populace is to be
lulled) you can begin to elicit a conditioned response at
will.

The democratic national convetion is about to meet in,
say, Atlanta then set the indicator to 'high' and put the
American populace on edge. Set the indicator on 'low' for
the Republican convention.

I'm sure that you get the idea.

Tom Ridge makes Joseph Goebbels look like a pious Sunday
school student in short pants. A-A-And the tools, nay
weapons, that Ridge has at his command --portable,
community-sized skinner boxes and video games to name
just two of them-- to manipulate the American
consciousness are hellishly frightening.

I'm afraid to say this almost. Chomsky is an optimist,
these guys are way beyond consent. Way beyond the zero.

Beyond the Zero

Here's a look at Bush's rap sheet. Drug arrest, draft evasion, insider trading...

George W. Bush, Jr. - The Dark Side

Earl Grey tea. Hot.

L25> The idea of printing a light bulb may seem
L25> bizarre, but US engineers are now
L25> developing an ink-jet printing technology
L25> to do just that. The research at the
L25> University of California in Berkeley will
L25> allow fully assembled electric and
L25> electronic gadgets to be printed...

New Scientist

How bad are you?

Badvogato

Here's a funky little site which appears to have been put together by one of Robert Crumb's kids. I have no affiliation yadda, yadda, yadda...

CRUMB PRODUCTS - 3-D Figurines, Comics, Books, Posters, More...

actually, tech and society. annalee newitz's columns are often excellent

sfbg.com