Author: Mark Linton

What It Takes to Be a Neo-Neoconservative

A war against an enemy whose threat to us remains a matter of debate. The need to commit troops indefinitely. Growing doubts at home. As the American involvement in Iraq has become a commitment of unknown duration, comparisons to the Vietnam War are more and more common.

Whether or not the comparison proves valid, there is another historical parallel to the Vietnam War, one that involves a group of intellectuals responsible for articulating the rationale for the Iraq war. Among the enduring legacies of the earlier era was the split between liberals who opposed the war and the small splinter group that would become known as the neoconservatives. The group’s decision to support the Vietnam War — or at least to oppose those who opposed it — was a shift that would lead them to a new level of power and influence.

SimpleBits | Styling Nested Lists

Recently, I was building a site map and realized that it is basically an outline of sorts. So how should I go about marking it up? I settled on a series of nested tables — ha! gotcha — nested unordered lists.

A Dislike Unlike Any Other? (washingtonpost.com)

The words tumble out, the hands gesture urgently, as Jonathan Chait explains why he hates George W. Bush.

It’s Bush’s radical policies, says the 31-year-old New Republic writer, and his unfair tax cuts, and his cowboy phoniness, and his favors for corporate cronies, and his heist in Florida, and his dishonesty about his silver-spoon upbringing, and, oh yes, the way he walks and talks.

U.S. Troops Order Comfort, With Fries on the Side (washingtonpost.com)

Welcome to Iraq, home of the Whopper.

Deep inside Baghdad International Airport, past a vehicle search, a body search and four checkpoints, soldiers are lined up for burgers and fries. They have come by plane from Mosul, 220 miles north, for onion rings. They have picked up Chicken Royale sandwiches while picking up buddies flying back from a two-week home leave. They have begged and borrowed Humvees, making up any excuse for a trip to the airport and a reminder of what the pink mixture of ketchup and mayonnaise oozing from a fresh Whopper tastes like.

Students, Nuns and Sailor-Mongers, Beware

It has lain dormant in the darkest recesses of American law for 125 years, but this month Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft introduced critics of the administration to his latest weapon in law enforcement.

BBC NEWS | Business | Microsoft launches ‘leak-proof’ e-mail

The latest version of Microsoft’s popular Office software will, the company claims, allow users to send e-mails that will “self-destruct” after a set time.

Breakfast this morning was a glass of orange juice.



<ins datetime="2003-10-20T13:01:00-05:00">I walked downtown to McLanahan&rsquo;s Downtown Market &mdash; around three miles &mdash; and got myself a <a href="http://68.9.143.167:84/yocrunch/granolainfo.html" title="YoCrunch">YoCrunch Raspberry Mild Lowfat Yogurt with Granola</a> for lunch.</ins>



<ins datetime="2003-10-20T19:42:00-05:00">After lunch I walked down to the center of campus &mdash; maybe two  miles round trip. For dinner tonight, Gretchen made baked butternut squash, stuffed with saut&eacute;ed mushrooms and mirepoix. Also, we finished the Double D.</ins>

• antique collecting
• archery
• archeology
• architecture
• art history
• astronomy
• backpacking
• bad science fiction movies
• bike rides
• bowling
• brewing beer
• building electronics kits
• camping
• camp counseling
• candle making
• canoeing
• composing music
• cooking
• dining out
• dressing well
• driving cars (road trips)
• enamel on copper making
• fishing
• fossil collecting
• gambling
• going to baseball games
• going to museums
• going to performances
• hammered copper making
• hat collecting
• herb gardening
• hiking
• horseback riding
• house plants
• interior decorating
• landscaping
• leaded glass work
• leatherwork
• learning (taking classes)
• listening to music
• long hot showers
• macramé
• magic tricks
• martial arts
• meditation
• model railroading
• musical instrument collecting
• needlepoint
• photography
• playing backgammon
• playing cards
• playing foosball
• playing golf
• playing music
• playing pool
• playing racquetball
• playing ultimate Frisbee
• playing video games
• pottery making
• programming
• psychology
• reading
• reading about the latest technical research
• remodeling
• riflery
• Robert Frost’s poetry
• rock climbing
• rock collecting
• rocketry
• shell collecting/shelling
• skiing
• skin/scuba diving
• sleeping in
• sociology
• solitude
• stained glass making
• swimming
• talking to people with similar interests
• traveling
• tropical fish
• vegetable gardening
• weight lifting/nautilis, exercising
• window shopping
• woodworking
• writing
• zoology

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

But make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream — and not make dreams your master,

If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings — nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much,

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And — which is more — you’ll be a Man, my son!

Kipling, Rudyard. &ldquo;If&hellip;&rdquo; <i>Rewards and Fairies</i>. 1910. <a href="http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_IF.htm" title="Poems - If--">&lt;http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_IF.htm&gt;</a> (19 October 2003).

Breakfast this morning was two more of those low-fat sweet rolls, a glass of orange juice, and hash brown potatoes.



<ins datetime="2003-10-19T15:16:00-05:00">Lunch was a hand full of peanuts.</ins>



<ins datetime="2003-10-20T07:21:00-05:00">Dinner was a big salad and a Double D. Afterwards, we went to the in-laws, where Gretchen&rsquo;s sister had made apple dumplings.</ins>

I found this recipe over at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/feature/-/54009" title="Amazon.com : Old-Fashioned Beef Stew">Amazon.com</a>.

Old-Fashioned Beef Stew

This is the classic recipe with beef braised in a red-wine and beef broth. Serve it straight up or ladle it over noodles, soft polenta, or rice.

---

Makes four main-dish servings

• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper, plus more to taste
• 1 pound beef stewing meat, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 5 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
• 1 cup red wine
• 3-½ cups homemade beef broth or low-sodium canned broth [28 ounces]
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
• 5 medium carrots, peeled and cut into ¼-inch rounds
• 2 large baking potatoes, peeled and cut into ¾-inch cubes
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• pepper to taste

1. Combine the flour and pepper in a medium bowl, add the beef, and toss to coat well. Heat 3 teaspoons of the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add the beef to the pot a few pieces at a time. Cook, turning the beef when browned on the bottom, until pieces are browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Add more oil as needed between batches.
2. Remove the last batch of beef from the pot and add the vinegar and wine. Cook over medium-high heat, scraping the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits. Put the beef back in the pot. Add the broth and bay leaves. Bring to a slow simmer.
3. Cover and cook, skimming the broth from time to time, until the beef is tender, about 1-½ hours. Add the onion and carrots and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Add the potatoes and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes more. Season with the salt and pepper. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Ladle into four bowls and serve.

After getting a bunch of links in tabs in Safari and running this script:

set link_list to {}
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
tell application "System Events"
    tell process "Safari"
        set winCount to count of windows
        set link_list to link_list & "<dl>
"
        repeat with i from 1 to winCount
            set tabCount to count of radio buttons of window i
            repeat with j from 1 to tabCount
                click radio button j of window i
                set theUrl to value of text field 1 of group 1 ¬
                    of splitter group 1 of window i as string
                set theTitle to name of window i as string
                set link_list to link_list & (" <dt>
        <a href="" & theUrl & "" title="" & theTitle & "">" & theTitle & "</a>
    </dt>
    <dd>
        
    </dd>
") as string
            end repeat
            set link_list to link_list & ""
        end repeat
        set link_list to link_list & "</dl>"
    end tell
end tell
set old_delim to AppleScript's text item delimiters
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to return
set link_list to link_list as text
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to old_delim
set the clipboard to link_list
tell application "Safari"
    activate
    display dialog "The tab definition list is on the clipboard." ¬
        buttons {"OK"} default button 1
end tell

I went and copied the first paragraph of each article into the corresponding <code><dd></code> and ended up with this:

Yahoo! News – Bush Ancestor’s Bank Seized by Gov’t

President Bush’s grandfather was a director of a bank seized by the federal government because of its ties to a German industrialist who helped bankroll Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, government documents show.

A conservative’s review of Al Franken’s “Lies and the Lying Liars”

I must say that only once before in my life have I ever felt as utterly shocked as I am at this moment. The time before was when I first realized that my boss at the time, Bill Sizemore, was greedy and dishonest. The foundations of my universe shook. What has utterly shocked me today is Al Franken’s latest book, “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.”

Windows iTunes sparks mixed reactions | CNET News.com

A large number of Windows users have jumped at the chance to try Apple Computer’s iTunes jukebox software — and reactions are ranging from unabashed praise to complaints of bugs.

3D Border Demo 2 by Chris Hester 16 Oct 2003

If you liked my recent 3D Border Demo then take a look at my new improved version. I’ve created a picture of a house using nothing more than stylesheets and borders. Absolutely no images.

United Press International: Sick, wounded U.S. troops held in squalor

Hundreds of sick and wounded U.S. soldiers including many who served in the Iraq war are languishing in hot cement barracks here while they wait — sometimes for months — to see doctors.

PressThink: What’s Radical About the Weblog Form in Journalism?

These ten things, for starters. Got others? Hit the comment button.

Wired News: Moms Battle Genetic Engineering

A group of New Zealand mothers led by a former pop star have launched a provocative billboard campaign to protest their government’s decision to allow agricultural genetic engineering. The billboard ads feature a four-breasted woman attached to a milking machine.

Plastic: World Economy Addicted To U.S. Consumer Spending

As signs accumulate that the U.S. economic recovery is gaining momentum, relief is palpable across the globe. That’s because the United States remains the engine of the world economy as a whole. But many economists believe that excessive reliance on America is the biggest problem facing the world economy today. As former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers once put it, “The world economy is flying on one engine.” And a plane that flies on one engine is a lot more likely to crash,” NH4 observes.

Adrants Steve Hall’s Advertising Weblog including, internet marketing and online advertising with news, commentary, and opinion.

Pamela Anderson has joined the ranks of celebrities who are urging the public to boycott KFC because of the supposedly uncivilized manner in which the handle breasts… um… chicken. Anderson says, “If people knew how KFC treats chickens, they’d never eat another drumstick.” Maybe she meant breasts but that’s besides the point because this article is supposed to be about breasts… I mean chicken, not breasts. Hard to concentrate here.

NPR : The Ombudsman at National Public Radio

On October 9, Terry Gross, longtime host of NPR’s Fresh Air aired her interview with populist political talk show host Bill O’Reilly. The e-mails and phone calls of outrage are still arriving.

Breakfast was two low-fat sweet rolls and a glass of orange juice.



<ins datetime="2003-10-18T18:54:00-05:00">Lunch was a hand full of peanuts. Dinner was stir-fried broccoli on rice noodles and dessert was a Double D Pale Ale.</ins>

I got this idea reading <a href="http://www.kryogenix.org/days/553.html" title="The tyranny of tabbed browsing - as days pass by">another blog</a>, but thought it was interesting enough to try myself. Here are the tabs I have pending, right now:

Apple – iTunes – Smart Playlists

A page listing some creative things to do with Smart Playlists in iTunes.

Fool.com: Apple [Post of the Day] October 17, 2003

A selected post from the Motley Fool message board from a guy who makes a plausible case for the Windows iPod/iTunes/iTMS being a Trojan horse.

Plastic: 100 Books To Read Before You Die

The discussion at Plastic about the Guardian Observer’s list of the 100 Greatest Novels of All Time.

Wired News: ITunes, Now for the Rest of Us

Wired’s coverage of the release of iTunes for Windows.

Plastic: But Mom, The Teacher Sucked Out My Brain!

A Plastic discussion about a Dallas Observer article that posits that some public education facilities may actually make kids dumber.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Purple frog delights scientists

A BBC story about… a purple frog.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Odd mishaps cause computer grief

The BBC’s top ten computer disasters.

Q&A: Choosing a Digital Music Service for Windows Users

Microsoft FUD about Apple’s iTunes Music Store for Windows.

RadTech | Products | Ice Creme

A company that makes a product specifically for removing the scratches from your iPod.

the typewriter-keyboard conversion

A guy explains how to convert a typewriter into a computer keyboard.

RSS Readers: Bringing the World to Your Desktop

A review of six RSS readers for Windows.

Question for Free-Market Libertarians (Aaron Swartz: The Weblog)

An interesting point about some people’s contradictory opinions.

Take two people, the homeless man pushing a cart in San Francisco, and the rich corporate mogul flying around the world in his jet. Now, arguendo, let’s grant the premise that the homeless man is homeless because he’s a worthless grunt who doesn’t contribute to society, and the rich man is rich because the market has determined he’s worthwhile. The homeless man shouldn’t get money from the state, because that would make him dependent and even less likely to seek out work. But what about their children? Rich man’s son will live in luxury his entire [life] without working a day. It’s pushing it to say that this was OK for his father, but can you truly say it’s fair because the market is rewarding him for choosing excellent parents?

I would think that libertarians would want a 100% inheritance tax, so everyone got a (more) equal start. But as far as I can tell, they don’t. Can anyone explain why?

All Published Appellate Opinions From State Available Free on Court’s
Web Site

An article from the Metropolitan News-Enterprise announcing that all of the appellate opinions published in California since it became a state in 1850 are now available online without charge at the state courts’ website.

Zipf’s Law, Benford’s Law

An article about some unexpected properties of numbers.

Breakfast this morning was again a glass of orange juice.



<ins datetime="2003-10-17T12:58:00-05:00">I rode the shuttle over to the Hub for lunch with the gang from the office today. I had a bowl of stir-fried tofu with green beens and onions on chow mien, a bowl of hot and sour soup, and a small <a href="http://www.sierramist.com/" title="Sierra Mist">Sierra Mist</a>. We walked back by way of the Pollock Commons telecommunications closet.</ins>



<ins datetime="2003-10-18T09:58:00-05:00">There is no football game this weekend, so Gretchen and I felt safe going into town and having dinner at <a href="http://www.ottospubandbrewery.com/index.html" title="Otto's Pub &amp; Brewery">Otto&rsquo;s</a>. We each had a Caesar salad and 1&frac12; beers. We also got our growler refilled with Otto&rsquo;s Double D Pale Ale.</ins>