More from the War on Drugs

The Hinchey-Rohrabacher Amendment (which would have taken medical marijuana enforcement from Feds, leaving it to the generally more leniant states) didn't pass. Actually, it got thumped pretty hard, 264 to 161, with most of the opposition coming from Republicans.

I'm pleased to say that my Representative--a Republican named Brady--was on the side of virtue and decency anyway.

It apparently did a little better than a similar amendment last year by about 13 votes.

Story at Drug War Rant.

I can't believe how long this is taking, though I suppose the civil rights movement and abolition could have given me a clue. I was arguing against the war on drugs back in the seventies. I think it took fifteen years for people to go from laughing at the idea to getting angry at the horrifying prospect of no war on drugs. At this point, the proportion that's against at least some of the war on drugs is up, and for those who aren't, it's more of a standard arguments dance.

More from the War on Drugs

The Hinchey-Rohrabacher Amendment (which would have taken medical marijuana enforcement from Feds, leaving it to the generally more leniant states) didn't pass. Actually, it got thumped pretty hard, 264 to 161, with most of the opposition coming from Republicans.

I'm pleased to say that my Representative--a Republican named Brady--was on the side of virtue and decency anyway.

It apparently did a little better than a similar amendment last year by about 13 votes.

Story at Drug War Rant.

I can't believe how long this is taking, though I suppose the civil rights movement and abolition could have given me a clue. I was arguing against the war on drugs back in the seventies. I think it took fifteen years for people to go from laughing at the idea to getting angry at the horrifying prospect of no war on drugs. At this point, the proportion that's against at least some of the war on drugs is up, and for those who aren't, it's more of a standard arguments dance.

Quote of the day

The Wizarding World as a whole does not subscribe to the Geneva Conventions.

from ajhalluk.

I have no idea what that error message means. The html looks ok and works.

More exactly, the preview has an error message of "Error running style: Died in S2::run_code running EntryPage::print(): Can't use an undefined value as an ARRAY reference at (eval 335) line 320.", but it doesn't show up in the actual lj.

This is almost as wonderful as not being able to preview lj-cuts.

Quote of the day

The Wizarding World as a whole does not subscribe to the Geneva Conventions.

from ajhalluk.

I have no idea what that error message means. The html looks ok and works.

More exactly, the preview has an error message of "Error running style: Died in S2::run_code running EntryPage::print(): Can't use an undefined value as an ARRAY reference at (eval 335) line 320.", but it doesn't show up in the actual lj.

This is almost as wonderful as not being able to preview lj-cuts.

Notion of the day

If It Can't Be Abused, It's Not Freedom

I think it's a sound principle, but I'm not completely sure I'm right. What do you think?

From Flow, an idealist libertarian blog.

Notion of the day

If It Can't Be Abused, It's Not Freedom

I think it's a sound principle, but I'm not completely sure I'm right. What do you think?

From Flow, an idealist libertarian blog.

The Mac, calligraphy, and much else

A speech by Steve Jobs.

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Link from Cyberscribes, a medium-traffic yahoogroup.

The Mac, calligraphy, and much else

A speech by Steve Jobs.

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Link from Cyberscribes, a medium-traffic yahoogroup.