And besides, with $100,000 you could probably buy Newsweek

Ann Althouse (June 27^th):

As an intellectual, I would like to study how that worked. I’ll write a book about it if someone will send me the raw material I need — the complete archive of the Journolist.  I need a Deep Throat.  I promise not to regard you as disgusting.

Breitbart raises (on June 29^th):

...In the interests of journalistic transparency, and to offer the American public a unique insight in the workings of the Democrat-Media Complex, I’m offering $100,000 for the full “JournoList” archive, source fully protected.  Now there’s an offer somebody can’t refuse.

(Althouse reacts.)

Reynolds ratchets up the pressure (today):

(1) If, as Jonathan Chait says, there’s nothing there, why not relieve Breitbart of his bucks?

(2) If you’re worried about your own stuff being released, you don’t really safeguard it by not selling out to Breitbart — you just ensure that if one of the 400 other members does, you won’t get the $100K.

(3) Here’s your chance to be Deep Throat — and maybe to settle some scores along the way . . . .

Iowahawk says, “I’ll take a cashier’s check.”


Backstory (and more links) at Ace of Spades:  1-2-3-4

LATER (100701, via IP):  Eric finds it all too convenient

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 18:31:35 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 212 words, total size 4 kb.

Read on...

Via Instapundit, 26 Ways to Prevent Summer Reading.

It’s long been my contention that the best way to eliminate any enjoyment of a book is to make it required reading for high school English.  And the most effective aversion therapy for reading in general is to saddle a kid with a while-you’re-on-summer-vacation read-these-and-report-on-them list.  Ugh.

Posted by: Old Grouch in Geezering at 16:17:48 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 61 words, total size 1 kb.

Varmints!

Roberta X is a bit exercised over Indiana’s program [PDF] to “encourage” the Allegheny Woorat [caution: Nature Conservancy link].

Meanwhile,

Spotted in my back yard last evening. Undoubtedly the critter who’s been decimating my hydrangeas.  Hey Tam!

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 15:33:41 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 40 words, total size 1 kb.

Snakebit

Via: Sisu

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 15:57:11 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 11 words, total size 1 kb.

World Cup Sucker

If stuff like this (and this, and this) had gone on during– say– a weekend’s NBA basketball, the feds would have been all over Las Vegas, looking to find out who had money down on what.

Previously:  Oh, so THAT’S why...

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 15:36:29 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 46 words, total size 1 kb.

Well, after the Army’s experience with Rolling Stone...

Instapundit:

CHANGE: Michael Yon invited by Brits and US to embed again.

Related:

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 18:10:48 GMT | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 27 words, total size 1 kb.

Maliciously scripted

If you’re gonna do this:

...then you had better watch out for this:

First Things website had a Malware attack today.  We are working on the problem now.  The warning messages should go away by tomorrow afternoon.  We have removed the ad script that was causing the problem so there is no chance that you will get an infected browser.  It looks like if you run Internet Explorer you won’t see the warning messages but, with Chrome, Safari or Firefox you will still see the messages.

By the way, the attack came from China.

Not a new problem, and in most cases fixable by not permitting scripting code that originates from (or receives variables from) third-party sources, i.e., ad networks.

Of course the networks would scream, but they’ve repeatedly.been.found to be untrustworthy.

And since we seem doomed to a bright new javascript-required-for- even-minimal-functionality web^[1], wouldn’t it be nice if some browser creator would come up with javascript controls that give us greater granularity than No Scripts At All/All Scripts?   Possibly one that blocked any scripts not originating within the parent domain, or maybe even one that could be configured to block (or at least warn) when some of the language’s more problematic functions (“eval,” anyone?) are called?

Elsewhere:

(Via)
------

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 17:48:50 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 234 words, total size 4 kb.

All you need to know about FinReg

“nemo paradise”:

The people trying to keep a straight face while suppressing the urge to yodel are the lawyers, because they are going to be very, very busy for a long time to come.

No one can agree on what this bill actually says, since the one thing that is clear is that nothing is clear at all.  This is hardly surprising, and very much in line with what most lawyers really expected.

Barry Ritholz:

If [FinReg had been law in] the year 2000, the only part of it that might have prevented, or at least slowed down the crisis, was the new minimum underwriting standards for mortgages.  No more “No Doc, NINJA, or Liar loans.”  That Lenders must verify income, credit history and job status certainly would have prevented the worst vintages of sub-prime and exotic mortgages from ever being written, or subsequently securitized.

Other than that, there is not a single element of the reform that would have prevented the last crisis.

Elsewhere:

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 16:18:46 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 198 words, total size 3 kb.

Compare and contrast

Yeah, I know anecdotes != data, and there’s always an exception.  Still, the variations continue to amaze me.


There’s no question which I’d rather associate with.

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 22:52:11 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 39 words, total size 1 kb.

Replacement paws for Oscar

Popular Science:

When Oscar the cat lost both his hind paws in a farming accident, it was feared he'd have to trundle around in one of those wheeled-cat apparatuses. But Noel Fitzpatrick, a neuro-orthopedic veterinary surgeon in Surrey, pioneered a groundbreaking technique instead, installing weight-bearing bone implants to create a bionic kitty.

What’s revolutionary is that these “intraosseous transcutaneous amputation prosthetics” are attached directly to the bone, and the skin grows into place around them.  Picture and video at the link.

Elsewhere:
Via:  Slashdot

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 18:26:37 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 112 words, total size 2 kb.