I'll see what I can do, Jim. 
Lee has got an excellent email from Vincent: "If conservatism still meant what it originally meant - small government, individualism, and free market (though I'm far from a fundamentalist on that particular point), I might feel comfortable calling myself a "conservative" of sorts. However, as you've stated many times on your blog, conservatism in this country, at least as embodied by the Republican Party, has become little more than a Christian Socialist movement".
Reason to leave Britain #324,122,942: 1984-style CCTV cameras with loudspeakers. While in the States, I can't remember seeing many security cameras at all. CCTVs deserve only one fate - vandalism. You need a bit of brains to pull it off - work out a way to disable the camera without it filming you doing so. If I ever serve on a jury, I would not convict anyone for vandalising a CCTV camera (they are simply defending our liberty from government tyrants). Most of these cameras must be fairly easy to disable - just snap the cable out the back, or put a baseball bat through the front. The so-called "tamper-resistant" ones could easily be sprayed over a few times with some paint - or maybe doused in petrol and set alight. Take note, young hooligans.
Want yet another reason to legalise cannabis? Well, today's revelations (ha!) are simple: drug laws are often enforced in a racist manner. That may have something to do with the fact that most prohibitionist movements start with racism - alcohol made a "brute out of a Negro, causing him to commit unnatural crimes [...] the white man being further evolved [...] takes a longer time to reduce him to the same level". Marijuana was often associated with "degenerate" Hispanic Americans, while cocaine was often associated with blacks - these were probably good reasons in the minds of the 'moral' legislators to ban said substances.
Web 2.0 Games is a blog listing in-browser games powered by Ajax and other Web 2.0-style technology. Is it truly 2.0? Who gives a shit - it's a good way to avoid working.
A beer Grazr, you say? Perhaps someone can have a hangover Grazr too. 
Kosso - now might be the time to switch airlines. I find it strange that they ban all laptops from a particular manufacturer, even though only certain models have the problems. Overreaction is where it's at, kids. You can't be in the air travel business - either as a business or as the government - without overracting to everything.
BoingBoing really has some lag. They've just posted a story which was circulating the blogosphere back in April of this year. But they make it all up with this story of an anime music video containing clips from over 100 anime movies and shows. The guy took a year to edit this film! There's a Google Video available - and I'm just downloading the iPod format - this one really is a keeper. Someone give this guy a video editing gig.
Jesus and Mo get the silliness of the Pope on Islam situation.
I'm really enjoying Learn French By Podcast and French PodClass.
Bryan Person: "We're hoping to hold PodCamp Boston 2 in the late spring or early summer of 2007. I can't wait."
I'm to blame for my slap-dash Apple products because I tie my girlfriend up with my Apple Power Adapter. So sayeth the great investment advice that is the Motley Fool website. There are two simple flaws with this theory - (a) I'm single (and not currently in to self-induced bondage) and (b) the power adapter gets far too hot to tie someone up with. Seriously, I have just been using this cable normally - two international trips (in hand luggage), a handful of commutes earlier in the year - but most of the time it's just sat on my desk going nowhere, and yet it's fallen apart extremely quickly. I'm not the only person to have this issue as the excellent Apple Defects wiki demonstrates. I wouldn't have such a big problem if non-warranty replacements of these poorly built items wasn't £60 a pop. I still like my machine, I just wish someone at Apple would pay attention to the problems it's users are having. This kind of thing is exactly why Apple employees should be able to blog openly. Your shareholders and investors are responding to this problem - so why isn't the relevant product team or product manager? This is a "pro" laptop - bits shouldn't be falling apart less than six months from delivery.
Fuck this 
I've found yet another good reason to leave Britain - my generation is utterly fucked. We're going to be paying - through taxes - for the financial misdeeds of the current retiring generation and their incompetent politicians. Well, fuck you very much - I'm not staying. I'm either moving to Holland, Ireland or the United States. Anywhere but Britain. This place is such a shithole, it's unimaginable. The reason that my generation is stuck at home is not because we want to be - it's because we have to be. One third of all marriages end in divorce and my generation is going to be paying 48% in tax.
The report that this article is based on states up front that "Older people will gain enormously from a rising state pension linked to earnings. But they will face little of the costs in financing it. Nor will they have to work longer: people over 47 today will still be able to retire at 65. In contrast young people must fund the increase in the state pension at the same time as facing automatic contributions of 3 per cent of their salary, combined with the lower wages that will inevitably result as employers compensate for their own compulsory pension contributions of 4 per cent of salary. In addition they face a higher state retirement age at 68."
This should get you angry. I'm not in masses of debt - I've got my student loan repayments to make, but that's interest and tax free. I've got a credit card which I pay off every month. I'm responsible with my spending. But I'm going to be forced to subsidise previous governments who have been completely irresponsible with their spending. Again, fuck that.
