Fuck this guy

The nation's top spook Michael McConnell told El Paso Times reporter Chris Roberts last week that debating the nation's spy laws in public means "some Americans are going to die" and that companies being sued for helping the government spy on Americans did help the government, an admission that Bush Administration lawyers have repeatedly told courts was a secret that could put Americans at risk. The astounding interview was published on Wednesday. (Debating Spy Laws Kills Americans and Telcos Did Spy on Americans, Spy Chief Says)

What a weaselly mother fuckin' thing to say.
First, more Americans will die crossing the street. Do you think they'll ban cars?
Secondly, there are risks with Liberty. It is not only soldiers who take those risks. Who told the American people that Liberty was all safe and cushy? It's not. We all are at risk. That is the cost. If you are not willing to take that risk then I say you are not an American. You are a gutless pig.

Link dump

I've been a bit occupied lately. It is Summer after all.
Here's a collection of articles and websites that have most stuck me in the past couple of weeks (In no particular order):

• NewsTrust - About this Story - China threatens 'nuclear option' of dollar sales

• Don’t Go There: Top 20 Taboo Topics for Presidential Candidates - 10 Zen Monkeys

• Boing Boing: Court rules US air travelers can't refuse security searches at airports

• Bush adviser: Draft worth considering - U.S. Security - MSNBC.com

• Boing Boing: Guiliani: Freedom is about authority

• How parents can battle power of McBranding - Kids & Parenting - MSNBC.com

• The War as We Saw It - New York Times

• ALEX JONES - Info Wars

• Threat Level - Wired Blogs - DHS Data Mining Program Suspended After Evading Privacy Review, Audit Finds

• Disinformation :: Private Mercenary Armies: A Looming Threat To Freedom

• Science of Magic - New York Times

• Automotive addictions and general tomfoolery

'Nuff said

A figure from my Oi! boy heyday has a couple of things to say about the WoT...

Habitué à négliger les détails

Habitué à négliger les détails et à ne regarder que les cimes, il passait de l'une à l'autre avec une promptitude surprenante et les faits qu'il découvrait se groupant d'eux-mêmes autour de leur centre étaient instantanément et automatiquement classés dans sa mémoire.*

Jules Henri Poincaré (April 29, 1854 – July 17, 1912) (IPA: [pwɛ̃kaˈʀe][1]) was one of France's greatest mathematicians and theoretical physicists, and a philosopher of science. Poincaré is often described as a polymath, and in mathematics as 'The Last Universalist', since he excelled in all fields of the discipline as it existed during his lifetime.

This is the first time I remember hearing of this fellow. It was from a Wikipedia piece about Marcel Duchamp who was interested in his work.

"The things themselves are not what science can reach..., but only the relations between things. Outside of these relations there is no knowable reality," -Poincaré

He also was essential for work on the Three Body Problem.

More at Wikipedia.

*He neglected details and jumped from idea to idea, the facts gathered from each idea would then come together and solve the problem. - Belliver, 1956

PK Dick story on NPR

"Philip K. Dick Collection Aimed at New Generation

All Things Considered, July 29, 2007 · Science fiction writer Philip K. Dick left behind more than 160 short stories and novels when he died in 1982. Many of his tales have become successful films, such as Blade Runner and Minority Report. Now, four of Dick's novels from the 1960s have been bundled into one book to give a new generation the opportunity to discover his futuristic visions.

Novelist Jonathan Lethem, the editor of the collection, speaks with Jacki Lyden."