I’m going to point to the interview with David Eggers in the Harvard Advocate, despite the fact that everyone else already has, because I finally got around to reading it, and you know what, it’s full of incredibly sage advice.

Stratfor previews foreign policy under a George W. Bush, Jr. administration.

Perhaps I’m overreacting, but I took the news that the polar ice cap has actually melted a bit hard. I generally fall into the “we don’t know enough yet” camp when it comes to global warming, but news like this still freaks me out. Sure, there’s a good chance that it’s not the fault of industrial society, but maybe we could at least try to hedge a little just in case.

For future reference: CC-MODE Version 4. Documentation for customizing cc-mode in emacs.

The DeCSS verdict is in, and guess what, Judge Kaplan blew it. Chalk up the win for big business and the legislation they bought and paid for, the DMCA. Not only did the judge rule that it is illegal to distribute DeCSS, he also ruled that it’s illegal to create a hyperlink to anyone else who’s distributing DeCSS. It seems obvious to me that 2600 lost the case because of who they are and who the plaintiffs are — the judge doesn’t seem to understand what DeCSS is, that DVDs can easily be copied without it, and that it’s really just a device for protecting the financial interests of the group of companies licensed to make DVD players. What a travesty.

I watched Al Gore’s acceptance speech last night. I’m no expert on political speeches, but I will say that he seemed to stay true to himself. I think that counts for something.

Mastercard has sued Ralph Nader for repurposing their “priceless” TV ad theme in a campaign ad. Now he doesn’t even have to pay to run the ad to have it widely publicized and talked about around the country.

Nautilus 0.1 is now available for download. I don’t have a very current version of Linux installed on my computer, but I’m ordering Debian 2.2 today, so hopefully I’ll be able to get Nautilus up and running soon.

According to Michael Dell, ten percent of the servers Dell ships have Linux preinstalled. That’s more than I would have thought.

Salon.com interviews Gore Vidal on the presidential election. He’s bitter and cynical, but he’s right.