Item 1: One of the things bouncing around the libertarian blogosphere is Radley Balko's recent whitepaper for the Cato Institute called Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America. It's about the absurd creation of SWAT-style teams for seemingly even the smallest towns. These teams often create violent confrontations where they appear not to have been necessary, … [Read more...] about SWAT CounterAttack
Ripley v.s. Rain
The rain always wins. Ripley is a curious and active cat, except when it rains. Then he retreats to the only room in the house that doesn't have windows, the main bathroom, and hides behind the door. Because, you know, there's water falling from the sky! Here he is during yesterday's downpour. We put down a pad for him behind the door because we figure the tile is cold. … [Read more...] about Ripley v.s. Rain
Windypundit 2.0
Windypundit is now Windypundit 2.0. "Web 2.0" is the big buzzword going around the web these days. There are lots of discussions of what constitutes a Web 2.0 site—interactivity, interoperation, customization, Ajax, user-designed content, blogging, social networking, syndication, wikis...the list goes on and on—and the web business bigshots are all picking sides … [Read more...] about Windypundit 2.0
Adorama Camera
Want to help me out at no cost to you? Read on. I buy most of my photographic equipment from Adorama Camera. Their site is well-organized and easy to search. For example, check out this page on 35mm & Digital SLR lenses (the link might be broken if you're looking at this article in my archives). As I type this, it shows 708 lenses. You can choose to filter the lenses … [Read more...] about Adorama Camera
Outsider Leader John McCain
In communist countries, the leaders like to pretend the revolution is still going on, that they're still standing up for the little guy. Twenty or thirty years after the revolution is over, the powers-that-be like to pretend they are still revolutionary leaders rather than, well, the powers-that-be. In that spirit, meet Senator John McCain, who still likes to pretend he's a … [Read more...] about Outsider Leader John McCain