Two views of the peach march: one says the peace movement is vitalized and reconstituted and the other says it was a case of 100,000 Communists giving aid and comfort to Saddam Hussein.

Both stories are on the rise on the new and improved Blogdex, with links to them presumably breaking down by ideology.

Which is the more accurate story? Here are some other views. Jim Henley was there, as was this blogger.

And last but never least, Glenn Reynolds gives his opinion on the Times Story.

Posted by jjdaley at 11:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (4)

For those with time on thier hands, here are two mix and match face scramblers. The first splits photos of different faces, and the second lets you construct your own personal evil clown.

Posted by jjdaley at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (3)

Here's a halloween costume that only a 'baaad' parent would buy for their kid.

Posted by jjdaley at 10:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (4)

I picked up a Nikon D100 last week. So far, I'm very impressed with the results of the camera. I didn't think I'd ever place digital ahead of film photography, but this is making me think it could happen.

Here are a few shots from over the weekend. I particularly like the auto ISO combined with noise reduction for night shots, which were taken in Roxbury and Dorchester. The beach and river shots are from the Marshfield and Situate areas, south of Boston.

Posted by jjdaley at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (18) | TrackBacks (1)

This Wired story says that someone (?) hacked into the email account listed on the website of the President of Iraq. The account is run on the Iraqi state run ISP, uruklink.

Lots of people who thought they were corresponding privately with Saddam Hussein were exposed by the hack. They included left wing American anti-war folks who offered the Iraqi leader advice in dealing with our government and businesmen that offered to sell goods in violation of the sanctions.

Then there is this crowd. Could we be so lucky as to have them sitting down to lunch with Saddam when the cruise missle comes through the window.

Posted by jjdaley at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (3)

Some people are saying that the DC sniper is finished for now. The reason: He has killed 9 of 11. Hogwash, of course, but another question has come up on the net. Would it be better if the sniper stopped killing now, and he never got caught, or would it be better if he continued killing innocent people until he was caught and killed himself?

Posted by jjdaley at 12:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Waxing nostalgic in these times of psycho snipers, the Postal Workers site asks: Whatever happened to the original disgruntled postal worker/psychopath, David ‘Son of Sam’ Berkowitz?

They're serious, too.

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In this op-ed piece, Woody Harrelson seems to be reprising his role as the stupid guy on Cheers. He describes what he’d do as President. (With Barbara Streisand as his National Security Advisor he could invite that Iranian dictator Saddam Hussein up to Camp David for a weekend of hemp weaving.)

Here is a site that takes Woody to task.

Posted by jjdaley at 12:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

NPR’s The Connection today featured a discussion on bad behavior in internet forum discussions. The guests were Nick Thompson, who wrote a piece for last Sunday’s Boston Globe on Flaming, and Mike Godwin, from the Well. Thompson blames the internet for the insults and outbursts and Godwin blames human nature. Godwin went on to explain that it’s important to welcome dissent and make an effort to be civil.

Ironically, in all my time on the internet, the biggest jerk I’ve ever run into was Goodwin himself, on the Well. It was a few years ago, but he was unquestionably the most uncivil, arrogant, blowhard I had run into in a discussion forum. We went back and forth for a while until he was scolded by other members of the group who apologized to me for his behavior (I was new to the group, he was the moderator.) Maybe he’s changed since then, who knows. Anyway, it was odd to hear him on a national radio show as the poster boy for on-line civility.

Posted by jjdaley at 11:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (4)

It was a good one. I have a couple of books to recommend since I’ve been gone.

Although Paul Auster let his name get tied up with that Mumia thing, he is still a writer worth reading. His latest, The Book of Illusions is about par for the course, well written and enjoyably melodramatic. One complaint: The Chekov gun on the wall (or in this case, in the freezer) was never really fired.

The second recommendation is for Steven Pinker’s “The Blank Slate.” I read and enjoyed his previous books The Language Instinct and How the Mind Works, and figured that he had said about all he had to say. That was confirmed for me with Words and Rules. So I was hesitant about buying the Blank Slate.

I was wrong. The book is really a tour de force, tying together advances and themes from linguistics, neuroscience, evolution, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, politics, religion and art. Mostly, he seems to say that new developments in the study of humans and human nature, taken together, tend to be more in line with conservative worldviews than with a liberal, utopian position. He kind of falls victim to his own arguments towards the end of the book, but all in all it is highly recommended.

Posted by jjdaley at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (1)