I'm Back

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Sat, 21 Jul 2001 12:00:00 GMT
Lifts Beyond Conception

Independent
Of this body is my mind
When the call from the Golden Nightingale
Lifts and pours my being throughout
The Sky.

Independent of this mind is my
Heart

When God unfurls even a shadow of His tress
Upon my bare shoulder.

Sovereign of my illumined heart

Is the indivisible knowledge
In the gaze of my spirit's wings climbing to
Such a sublime height they each
Become the Sun
Itself

And reside — perched beyond every throne
Known to man.

Hafiz,
This Sufi path of love is so astoundingly
Glorious

That
One day each
Wayfarer upon it will become
The Inconceivable —

The Creator of God
Himself.

(The Gift: Poems by Hafiz, translations by Daniel Ladinsky)

I'm home from the Ukraine. Playing bachelor this weekend while my family is in Michigan. Sort of. I've got to maintain the menagerie. Woke up very early this morning, as expected.

A new Florida voting device. Received from a friend via email.

Dean Speir - Mark Penman (a/k/a Laissezfirearm) 22 February 1963 - 2 July 2001 - The author of Laissez Firearm is dead, apparently at his own hand. I have not been a reader of Mr. Penman's writings, though I remember seeing occasional references. Looks worthwhile. Sorry that his depression got the better of him. I was lucky during that part of my life. My belief in reincarnation made suicide a pretty ludicrous proposition. [picks]

Jeff Head at Sierra Times - The Stand at Klamath Falls - a stirring account of the taking of the Klamath Falls irrigation head by the feds and a re-routing of the water flow by patriots. They have won for now. There was no violence. This story reminds me of Ghandi's walk to the sea to make salt. I signed Mr. Head's petition. I urge you to do so as well. [unknown]

Kevin Tuma - Welcome to Klamath Falls - cartoon commentary on the destruction by government of the lives of thousands of farmers.

Sierra Times - The Bob Schulz Fast is Over!! - The Department of Justice and U.S. Congress have agreed, in writing, to a meeting about the legality of the income tax. Bob Schulz has ended his three week fast. This is a copy of the press release on the home page at We The People. They have a Daily Status page outlining the history of the fast. Mr. Schulz is asking for donations to help cover the costs of the hearings. [sierra]

Dave Shiflett at National Review - Another Levy Lost - Tennessee is still income tax free, thanks to thousands of protesters who descended on the capital while the state senate was about to approve the new tax. [zero]

boygottadobe.com was created in response to the arrest on July 16 of Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov. His crime: pointing out major security flaws in Adobe PDF and eBook software. Mr. Sklyarov's wife and two young children are now without their husband/father. Adobe should have written him a check and thanked him for helping them to improve their security. Instead, they have turned him into a political prisoner. Punish them. [wes picks]

Free Dmitry

NewsForge - DotGNU to face down .Net - There's a new .NET clone on the horizon. DotGNU has been accepted by the Free Software Foundation as part of the GNU system. It will be developed initially by FreeDevelopers.net. [newsforge]

The DotGNU Project

DotGNU will be a complete replacement for the .NET strategy - it will not be a Free Software implementation of .NET. While .NET has some very sound ideas, problems arise with its implementation, especially with the Authentication/Authorization systems which are centralized to Microsoft. DotGNU will use a decentralized paradigm, no single company, server or entity will control authorization. Secondly DotGNU will emphasize security, it will use encryption wherever possible to keep user data secure and hidden.

Don't read unpublished Microsoft information

In order to avoid falling into any legal traps, please be extremely careful to avoid reading any unpublished information from Microsoft.

...

What do you guys think of Microsoft's .Net and Hailstorm efforts?

Dangerous stuff. It is often said that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Unless we counter them, Microsoft's efforts are not only a threat to Free Software, they are also extremely dangerous tools in the hands of any Evil Government that wants to make their citizens unfree.

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