We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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On the recommendation of a friend, this afternoon I went to see the IMAX 3D movie Space Station. I expected to enjoy it but I did not think I would be astounded by it. 3D filming sure has come a long way!
The experience was made even better by the entirely suitable venue of the IMAX cinema, which is the superb Science Museum in Kensington. After seeing the show, I wandered around and looked at the exhibits.
If you want to see the glory of what Islamic culture can produce, go visit the Alhambra in Spain. But if you want to see and understand the glory of what secular western culture can produce, go to the Science Museum and see the making of the modern world. This place is more than just a museum, it is a temple to the western mind and what makes us what we are. It is gallery after gallery of astonishing achievements, dead ends and curiosities. If you would know what you are then understand where you came from.
This is your heritage.
This research from Finland rates very high on the neatness scale.
It looks like it is useable anywhere with reasonably still air, so I can well imagine adverts floating in the aisles of department stores.
It’s a great Christmas gift for all those budding young tent preachers you know. They’ll get that Holy Appearance vetting them Officially for that lucrative TV contract they’ve always wanted. If your friends are of a more Shakespearean inclination, just think of the possibilities for their next production of Macbeth or Hamlet!
Ah, the future. I love this era.
There’s a market for “date rape” drugs and now a market for “anti-date rape drug” devices. Drink Safe Technology is producing ‘smart coasters’ which sniff chemical interference with drinks.
“You can carry this in your purse, take your drink to the bathroom with you, test it out, and if it comes out positive, you know something’s wrong with that guy you were talking to,” said Janita Patrick, a San Jose State University student. “Keep walking and get away.”
Just for the hell of it, here is a story that most certainly has its origins in someone’s exceedingly boring job. I mean, typing “go to hell” into Google is almost as bad as ego-googling.
According to Computerworld, the No. 1 search result is Microsoft Corporation’s home page. When asked about the devilish search result, Google spokesman Nate Tyler said it’s an anomaly that Microsoft ranks ahead of even Hell.com, not to mention AOL and UNC. Unsurprisingly, a Microsoft spokesman declined to comment on the results of the Google search; AOL didn’t return several telephone calls seeking comment. How on earth does a corporate spokesman deal with an enquiry like that?!
A reader of FlashGuru’s MX101 known as Atomgas says it’s not Google’s fault, but rather the result of all the Web site authors who have a bone to pick with Microsoft:
“It’s the they way Google works and what makes Google [the] best search engine ever,” Atomgas said. “The difference between Google and other search engines is exactly this: Google makes the priority of the found results by the number and target of found links. If many people have links ‘go to hell’ pointing at Microsoft, Google will think that this is the best match to show to you, so the result[s] just show the mood of many Web site authors, not Google’s opinion.”
Well, now we know why linking in blogosphere is such a big deal… 
NASA have attached a web cam to the shuttle’s external fuel tank and will be transmitting during the launch on the 2nd of October. There is a link on this page that takes you to NASA television.
Flight director Phil Engelauf (as quoted on the BBC web site) said:
the video’s “wow factor” should be high.
Regarding Dale Amon’s problem of uranium smuggling, he’s right, if the US can’t keep “wetbacks” out, and the UK can’t stop IRA terrorists from crossing from the Irish Republic, what chance for any country with a long, contested land border?
However, does anyone know anything EASIER to track remotely than radioactive isotopes?
If I were a terrorist I would order a truckload of ammonia and another of iodine, and a suitcase of coffee filters. A pistol to detonate the dynamite paste is probably the hardest item to locate in the UK (steal one from a police officer is probably the safest and most inconspicuous method).
In guerrilla warfare the optimum weapon is one that doesn’t break down, and is cheap. This is why the British Army’s SA80 rifle is a good weapon: no one has ever stolen one for terrorist use (because they are expensive and break if you look at them sideways  ). Until someone makes a mass-produced, miniature nuke which is less prone to malfunctions than Microsoft software, I’m not going to worry overmuch about the threat of nuclear terrorist attack.
Just a thought for the paranoia squad: how do you know there haven’t been a dozen dud nukes set off around the world last week in underground car parks? The triggers were just dodgy…
This is my favourite explanation for the non-appearance of Bin Laden: he’s waiting for the b***** things to go off
While doing some research on my previous news item, I ran across this fascinating article on the WWII German nuclear weapons program.
Much of it was shrouded in mystery and misrepresentation prior to the declassification of the “Farm Hall Reports” discussed in the aforementioned link. Werner Heisenberg was caught out by statements he made in a bugged room when first told of the American bombs. It is quite apparent he was indeed committed to building a German nuclear weapon and might have if not for an egregious theoretical error.
Sometimes the gods do smile on us.
You remember the DMCA? It’s that Digital Millenium Copyright Act that Americans concerned with freedom are getting so steamed up about. As usual the EU are not far behind in providing an equivalent for us over here to have bad dreams about. Chris Bertram of Junius has linked to an article by Julian Midgely which claims that:
…university lecturers or school teachers will need to appeal to the Secretary of State on each and every occasion that they need to make a copy of part of a copy-protected CD for teaching or research. Librarians, archivists, private individuals, and the disabled can expect to be similarly encumbered.
I stumbled across this site by accident. It’s getting almost scary when you can find and order copies of Meet The Press from the 1940’s! The list of names is a who’s who of that period of history.
We’re seeing more and more software ending up under GPL after it becomes abandoned or the original company goes out of business. I know how many lines of code I wrote in the 70’s for a company no longer with us, and if I imagine that multiplied by all the other hackers in the world, the total loss of human effort and creativity is simply staggering.
Times have changed. It appears people are now willing to buy the source for important packages rather than let them die. According to this week’s Debian News:
Blender is Free Software. After the company behind Blender, a very fast and versatile 3D modeller and renderer, went bankrupt, the Blender Foundation was created. The purpose was to secure and maintain the Blender source. 100,000 Euro were required to purchase the source from the company, and this was donated by many volunteers from around the world. To celebrate this, a conference will be held in October, closing with a party at which Blender 2.26 will be released as free software.
Although I am not a graphics person myself, I have it on the best of authority Blender is a magnificent piece of kit.
The September 2002 issue of Scientific American contains a truely amazing statement in “Clocking Cultures’ by Carol Ezzell:
Levine and his colleagues have conducted so-called pace-of-life studies in 31 countries. In ‘A Geography of Time’, published in 1997, Levine describes how he ranked the countries by using three measures: walking speed on urban sidewalks, how quickly postal clerks could fulfill a request for a common stamp, and the accuracy of public clocks. Based on these variables, he concluded that the five fastest paced countries are Switzerland, Ireland, Germany, Japan and Italy; the five slowest are Syria, El Salvador, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico. The US, at 16th, ranks near the middle.
I don’t know about you but… Ireland???? I suppose this means everyone emigrates from here to New York City for the laid back lifestyle?
Looks like some yellow-bellied, tenderfoot back East is kinda gettin’ his shorts in a knot:
“Mars could resemble the lawless Wild West if privately funded adventurers seeking to exploit the planet get there before government-backed expeditions, a leading British astronomer said on Wednesday.”
Well, let’s saddle up our hosses and ride the trail, pard’nurrs
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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