Friday, June 29, 2007

Digg Report: No Digg report today, because at this moment (which is, of course, the pseudo-random moment that I've selected, which can't be changed) Digg isn't responding. Probably got burned by the iPhone--a phenomenon that I don't really understand, but that demonstrates Apple's incredible marketing savvy.

2nd UK Car Bomb Discovered

Another car bomb found in the UK. The scariest part: these were most likely set to go off at a specific time, probably coordinated. How many others are there? It's impossible to know, and incredibly lucky that this second one was found.

Update: Via Little Green Footballs, apparently UK officials have a picture of the man who drove one of the car bombs into place. He's Muslim, and he might have been released after being held for a previous plot. Wonderful.

Sci-Fi Author Blog List

For sci-fi fans, here's a list of authors' blogs. Bookmark it, and pick out some feeds that look interesting. I know I will.

John Mackey and Whole Foods Hearts Ayn Rand

Apparently John Mackey of Whole Foods is a good guy. That's good to know.

"Indirect Tactics"?

I might be wrong, but I'm not sure that this story defines what "indirect tactics" would mean for American special forces. Maybe someone can read the article and enlighten me.

Iraqi Surge Causes More Casualties - MSM Clueless

Once again, the mainstream media has demonstrated its ignorance of the simple fact that when one goes on the offensive in war, one tends to suffer more casualties. Again, that's just War 101.

Iraqi Surge Causes More

Once again, the mainstream press seems to misunderstand that the more one goes on the offensive in war, the more casualties one suffers.

UK Terrorist Attack Averted

I don't think anyone knows much more about this yet, but it's good news nonetheless. It also demonstrates that the threat remains real.

Rolling Stone Mag is Smoking Something

I think it's the height of naivete to believe that music piracy would have ended if only the music labels had struck a deal with the original Napster. I'm not sure why it's so difficult for some people (cough, Boing Boing, cough) to believe that millions of people want music for free--because they're cheap, because they're dishonest, because they simply don't believe that they should have to pay for music.

Had such a deal been struck, it would be no different than it is today with numerous paid music sites. Other pirate services would have sprouted up, and the situation would have been no different. Did the labels lose some money by not getting paid for downloads earlier? Maybe. But they've lost billions through piracy, and that wouldn't have changed.