Project Aardvark
"If an army or government murdered my loved ones, they'd discover that there are far more vicious things than a Muslim looking for virgins." -- George Potter
# I posted the following yesterday at clairefiles about the atrocity in London. I doubt I'll say much more about it.
About today's bombings in London. So far we have a claim that some Islamist web site had a message from "The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe", variously translated, taking credit for the bombings. Can anybody name a single member of that group? Can you give me any reason to believe that the claim is true? Can you show means, motive, and opportunity for at least one actual person? Can you illucidate how you would go about finding actual individuals who were responsible? Might it have something to do with ensuring that the evidence isn't shipped to China or otherwise lost as was done in Waco, Oklahoma City, and New York City?
Islam is one billion people. Assuming that the "Secret Organization of al-Quaida in Europe" includes any Muslims at all, which it may not, only a few hundred or a few thousand Muslims had anything whatsoever to do with this bombing. If you're angry at all Muslims because of this, and I expect that only one or two people reading this are, you're way out of line.
Personally, I see no reason to give any credence whatsoever to the mainstream story about who did this. I consider it more likely that the British government was having a hard time selling their latest National ID program, and they contracted with someone to do some marketing. Maybe those people are Muslim. Maybe not. Their religion may have nothing to do with it. I may be a purely business deal, between magots with no respect for life, which describes most politicians as far as I'm concerned.
# Say Uncle - The Other BAG Purchase - on May 2, Say Uncle posted a picture of some AR-15 lower receiver forgings that he intends to turn into rifles. Yesterday, he posted pictures of one of them with the holes drilled and firing components attached to the outside (still not hollowed out), and his intention to engrave them "For civilian use only". Bravo! [codrea]
# Jeff Quinn at Gunblast - Sphinx 3000 .40 S&W Auto Pistol - a Swiss pistol as perfect as a Swiss watch. Sabre Defence's 2005 catalog (PDF, linked from their products page) says they will be available in the U.S. in September for $1995. Shinx Systems Ltd. also makes 9mm and .380 pistols. [gunblast]
# Jim Lesczynski at The Village Choice - Closing the Door on Political Correctness - scroll down to the "rant of the week". Good real-world example of where "profiling" is the right thing to do. Should the government do it at airports? No. They should get out of the sekurity business, and let the individual airlines choose to protect their property and their customers as each of them chooses. [villagechoice]
# Jim Lesczynski at New York City Indymedia - NO POKER, NO PEACE! - penny-ante poker tournament at the foot of police headquarters in Manhattan to protest their recent raid of two poker clubs. July 14, 6pm, One Police Plaza. Press conference before the tournament at 5:30. [villagechoice]
# Joel on Software - Project Aardvark Midterm Report - on the development of www.copilot.com, Fog Creek Software's next great thing, a service providing a simple way to control a remote computer. The project has a blog, and they're taking beta applications now. Not a new idea, but it appears that their implementation, unlike the competiting products I've tried, will be a joy to use. Way cool!
That's the general idea behind the new Fog Creek CopilotSM service. In a nutshell, you go to copilot.com and get an invitation code. You tell your uncle to go to copilot.com and type in that same invitation code. You each get a little program to download and run. When you run the program, your uncle's computer screen shows up in a window. When you move your mouse, his mouse moves. When you type something, it appears on his computer. Etc. And now you fix the problem and log off, and peace is restored and your aunt gets home safely and your uncle dances at your wedding instead of boycotting it and holding up unpleasant signs across from the hotel where said wedding is taking place.