the great unanswered (actually unasked) question

on the Moscow bomb, did it go off in front of or behind the primary security line (e.g., the x-rays/metal detectors/etc)?  i watched the coverage during lunch and nobody actually even mentioned it, but it makes a HUGE difference on the assumptions of security...

ok, AP updated on that, a little - it went off in "international arrivals", but descriptions keep being vague about whether it not that was the waiting area outside the customs-and-immigration area, or within it.  (from a Dulles airport example, is this at baggage claim #14, which anybody can walk up to, or the other side of those double doors where people are awaiting customs and therefore have already been on a plane from somewhere else outside of the country...)

It makes a difference on whether or not the perp got the bomb through an airport security system (and if so, which one) or just walked up from the outside (like the LAX shooter a few years back).

on the unromantic practice of fixing bugs...

How to hack your app to make contenteditable work « Access Garage:

Please don’t read on if you are allergic to sports analogies, or if you just want to hear how great Mozilla technology is. Quality would be higher if there were one or two fewer initiatives for the Next Great Leap, and more concentration on just fixing the old boring bugs. There are obviously a lot of big world-changing initiatives going on at Mozilla, and there should be. However, as a community we should be realistic that three point shots are awesome when they go in, but they are easy to miss. Lots of simple plays, like rebounds and layups, are still necessary. Sometimes I think that fundamental bug fixing gets lost in the drive to make news headlines. Honestly, you don’t have to go that far out on the edge to find problems. I don’t believe this is an engineering issue. I think it’s actually Mozilla’s leadership not wanting to pour resources into what seems like an endless problem where great results don’t provide immediate mind-share benefits. However, as we all know, this stuff is super complicated, and in order for the web to move forward things have to “just work”. Either Mozilla has to fix the behavioral bugs or every web developer who uses the feature has to track down what the problems are and try to find a hack for it.

on "libertarians" in the Tea Party (and the real lack there-of)

The Non-Libertarian Tea Party : Dispatches from the Culture Wars:

The keynote speaker was former Governor Gary Johnson who is rumored to be running for president. Gary is highly regarded in the state for his outstanding leadership during two terms as governor. He slashed the size of state government during his term and left the state with a large budget surplus. His speech brought enthusiastic applause from the sparse crowd. Governor Johnson should have stopped while he was ahead.

When Tea Party members were invited to ask questions, someone asked the governor if he supported legalization of marijuana. Gary responded that he did. His remarks brought a chorus of boos from the crowd. Gary went on to make the case for legalization based on the cost of incarcerating pot smokers, but the crowd wasn't having it. The boos erupted again.

anybody surprised? not really. there is no common strand in the tea party whatsoever beyond "if the Democrats want it, then by God, i'm against it". and existing solely as the antithesis of another party is a great way to grab headlines, but a shitty way to run a country.

better still if the media just stopped giving them headlines.

on the other hand, supporters of the health care bill can say stupid (and mostly irrelevant) things as well:

Democrats Say Dumb Things Too : Dispatches from the Culture Wars:

Rep. John Lewis of Georgia being asked about the individual mandate in the health care reform bill and where in the constitution the authority to impose that mandate comes from. He was utterly clueless.

Q: What area of the constitution do you think gives Congress the authority to require that individuals purchase insurance?

A: Well, you start off with the preamble to the Constitution, you talk about the pursuit of happiness. You go to the 14th amendment, equal protection under the law. We have not repealed the 14th amendment. People have a right to have healthcare; it's not a privilege, but a right.

One can say it is a right under a (wide) reading of the 9th Amendment, plus use the known arguments for the bill as being defended by the Commerce Clause, the Taxation Clause, and the Necessary and Proper Clause (the 14th would only be used to make sure that there was no discrimination in the Bill, and perhaps defends the end of pre-existing conditions measure).

But you'd be better off saying those things rather than quoting the Declaration of Independence (which is, for that matter, NOT binding law in any way at all) while claiming to be quoting the Constitution.

Especially not a mere 2 weeks after the Constitution was read out loud in the House Chambers.