13 Dec 2004
Ethical fair trade - you knew it made sense until MS embraced it

The quote from the article says it all...

We at The Register have been asked to believe some remarkable things by Microsoft in our time, but this one's outstanding. One buys, say, fair trade Nicaraguan coffee because one is concerned about ethics and wishes to support local growers rather than give money to multinational megacorporations, while one buys genuine Microsoft software in order to... Quite. Even if Microsoft did not have a well-documented history as an ethically-challenged company, it's quite a stretch to view Bill Gates and his merry men as poor, oppressed peasant farmers.

(link) [The Register]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

Winter Has Arrived

And a couple of weeks early, at that! The wind was howling here all night: out of the northwest at 30 mph, with gusts up to 50 mph. And while the air temp isn't too extreme, the wind chill make it feel like it's approaching 0°F. Burrr...

Peanut returned from his petting zoo gig yesterday, only to find his surrogate momma (Wulfie) mysteriously gone. Funny how cattle can bond: since Peanut and Wulfie were the only cows here for a couple of months, they'd formed a herd of two: now that we have all of our cattle back on the property, one with a new calf (who's doing just fine), and the herd cow gone, Peanut's at a bit of a loos. He hesitates to eat with the rest of the herd, and stands off a considerable distance when grazing ... he'll get reintegrated eventually, but it's interesting to watch the social dynamics up close.

It makes me feel sorry for the beasts that are jammed together in feedlots: they have no real opportunity to form a herd - they're just a disjointed group. And it's no wonder that they get sick more frequently than free range cattle: they've gotta be stressed to the max.

00:00 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

Buildings to go up like never before (USATODAY.com)

Of course, if we recognize the cause of this massive population growth we could fix the problem rather than paving over more farmland in search of a cure.

USATODAY.com - Residential and commercial development in the next quarter-century will eclipse anything seen in previous generations as the nation moves to accommodate rapid population growth, according to a Brookings Institution report Monday.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

Are We Puppets or Free Agents?

Oh, boy! The insanity reaches new levels! My question about this has always been: why does it matter if the perpetrator is nuts? Did he do the crime or not? That's the only standard of guilt or innocence a rational civilization can have. Because, by definition, if you got around killing people for fun, you're crazy!

Once you get into the insanity plea, it's a very short step the "the devil made me do it" ... and where would that lead?

Interpretations of the insanity plea have changed through the ages, but advances in neuroscience promise to redefine free will and personal responsibility, and change the way we think about punishment. By Rowan Hooper.

(link) [Wired News]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

More Questions for Florida

True or not, this highlights one thing: the absolute need for open source software on voting machines. If you can't see the code, how can you trust the machine?

An apparent whistleblower is generating buzz by saying a Florida official sought vote-changing software, but cautious observers say there's plenty of room for doubt. By Kim Zetter.

(link) [Wired News]

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