Lots of good stuff over at Jerry Pournelle's place:

It seems that the flap over Microsoft data mining was the result of a mix up of what data would be collected for software activation and bug reports. Still, the whole activation scheme is nothing more than Microsoft going to the model of software rental rather than the one-time purchase of a software license. I could care less; I will be Microsoft-free by the end of this year. Uncle Bill can do whatever he wants.

An interesting quote:

How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.

A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities - but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.

Sir Winston Churchill (The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50 (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899).

And more on the politics of Global Warming and other scientific pursuits.

Today will be a short day at work and a long day of movies. Nestina, one of her friends, and I will be hitting the first full day of the Traverse City Film Festival. We will be seeing The Axe, Mondovino, My Summer of Love, and The Woodsman. All of them sound like they could be really good or really bad. I'll report on them tomorrow.

That's all I have time for right now.