Scary: Pictures from a Hamas kindergarten graduation via Tal G. Complete with cute little kids holding toy assault rifles, wearing fatigues or hoods.

Words to live by: Make a Bonfire of Your Reputations The gist: I give you this one rule of conduct. Do what you will, but speak out always. Be shunned, be hated, be ridiculed, be scared, be in doubt, but don't be gagged. The time of trial is always. Now is the appointed time.

Faux Orwell winner: The judges have made their decision. The winner of the Faux Orwell Contest is Nigel Nichols, of Luton, Beds., UK. His winning entry is The Perils of Rejecting Tobacco. We had seventeen entries from four different countries. A link to the entries and more details can be found on the main contest page.

No joke: An email I received this weekend made it very plain to me the changes in my thinking that have taken place since 9/11. It was from a friend, inviting me to a Fourth of July party. In part, it reads:

It is nearly time again to fan the flames of our patriotic fervor!
There will be fireworks, there will be bahn choux!
There will be tiny George W. Effigies on the barbecue!

The last line disgusted me, but why? It is true that since 9/11 my attitude toward Bush has changed from indifference to admiration, but that is not the reason. In the early years of the Clinton administration I admired Bill but wouldn't have minded seeing little Willies on the fire -- I would have enjoyed seeing him get tweaked a little and celebrated free expression.

But that was the free-wheeling '90s, when there was no real danger to America. The economy was growing, the Soviets were defeated, nothing needed to be taken seriously. That is why burning little George W. effegies is offensive -- because it indicates that people haven't realized that the world changed on 9/11, and it is time to act seriously, to be adults and have larger concerns than sushi, stock options and cell phones. More than others, this July 4th should be a time for each of us to reflect on the best way we each can defend this nation, the best way to apply our individual talents to preserving the freedom of all of us, so this state of war may swiftly pass and security allowing silliness may return.

WHCC Reminder: The next Whittier Heights Community Council meeting is tonight at 7:15.

Paul Trummel update: HobbsOnline relates the Trummel has changed his site to comply with Judge Doerty's order, settling for a free body over free speech. He is currently appealing to be able to reinstate website and remain a free man. Hope he succeeds.

Paul Trummel ruling: Here is Monday's ruling by Judge Doerty releasing Paul Trummel from custody and requiring him to remove content from his website (found via freepaultrummel.com).

Nirvana spat: Another link from the King County Superior Court. Apparently, Courtney Love is suing Dave Grohl and Chris Novoselic over management of Nirvana's assets. Love wants to change the agreement, claiming she was not mentally competent in 1997 when she signed it. Grohl and Novoselic wanted to compel her to be tested for competency but were denied.

Wedding page: Erica and I are getting married on August 17th. I've put together a wedding page for updates. It is very simple now, but more to come soon.

Students for an Orwellian Society: Columbia University students working to make 1984 a reality.

Monorail Plan, second draft: The ETC has released the second draft of their transit plan. Cost estimates have been greatly refined, and route and station alternatives are better defined. The complete plan is expected in early August: be sure to give your feedback. They seem to listen to it.

Don't forget: The Fremont Solstice Parade, Saturday at noon.

You gotta wonder... about Americans whose consciences condemn defending America.

That pesky first amendment: HobbsOnline reports on the case of Paul Trummel, a Seattle resident jailed for contempt after he refused to remove information from a web page he owns that a judge finds offensive. Trummel claims he is exercising his first amendment rights, but judge James Doerty disagrees, saying Trummel is not a paid journalist, so can't claim protection. Trummel, who is 68 years old, has been in jail almost four months. Doerty released him this morning, but on the condition that he remove the offensive content from his site; if Trummel refuses, back to the slammer for him.

By all accounts, Trummel is an obnoxious, spiteful man. His site, ContraCabal, contains personal attacks on individuals and lists names, addresses and salaries of people he disagrees with. Still, rougher stuff has been published in The Stranger, and none of its reporters has been jailed. It is unconscionable that a judge would lock up a person for exercising free speech rights--unless Trummel is inciting imminent harm, he has a perfect right to express his opinion, no matter how much it upsets others. Let's all remember James Doerty's actions come election time.

Permalinks: It took a bit of struggling with Blogger and republishing the archives, but permalinks are working now.

Faux Orwell update: The contest closed on May 25th. We received a total of 17 entries from four different countries. The judges are hard at work, and we will announce a winner on June 25th, the 99th anniversary of Orwell's birth. Check the contest homepage for updates.

Most Promising Route: The ETC has selected their preferred route for the monorail. As you can see, for Ballard the line would begin with a station at 15th and 85th NW, with another station at NW 65th and again at Market. NW 75th is a possible location for a future station. No real surprise here: 15th Ave NW has long been the preferred Ballard route, and the station locations are pretty obvious.

Blogarithm: You may have noticed the new format of the site (I like the blue better than the green), and also the box in the upper right. This is a link to Blogarithm, a project I've been working on with my friends Max and Fab. We noticed that we were often checking blogs only to find they had no new content. We created Blogarithm to fix that--you register your interest in a blog, and then receive email when it changes, a blogmail. We send at most one blogmail a day, containing a list of all your blogs that have changed in the last 24 hours. It is especially handy for blogs that update infrequently, but that you don't want to forget.

Among others, I use it to track Andrew Sullivan, who doesn't update on weekends, and Robert Cringely who only posts a column every few days. It doesn't work so well for Slashdot or Instapundit, because they update so frequently. But it is a handy way to keep track of the blogs I'm interested in.

Please try it if you are interested.

I'm back: My home system is finally back in a blogable state, so I should be updating more frequently.