TEARS FOR PIERS, and his plummeting ratings.

SHOCKER: Obama apparently does not “regret staking out that (misleading) claim” about the sequester.

REPORT: Life Inside The Aaron Swartz Investigation. “I am a journalist of hackers. They are my beat and my friends, so I’d seen people harassed and persecuted. Some piece of research or conference presentation would suddenly become an investigation, phone calls and meetings with lawyers. We came to expect raids, surveillance, and threats from powerful men who couldn’t tell the good guys from the bad in my world.”

UPDATE: Reader Kristo Miettinen writes:

Thanks for all you do. The link to Quinn’s article on Swartz was very illuminating!

First, it confirms what I have pointed out before: this was mainly about breaking and entering, more than about open access to archived scholarly articles. Swartz himself put it that way initially to Quinn, and the open access manifesto wasn’t even known to prosecutors at the time that they offered, and Swartz refused, the plea deal. At that time Swartz was being prosecuted for his ways, not for his ends. It is his defense (especially posthumously) that wants to make this about ends in order to cast him in the most positive light.

Second, the article opens the lid on a world of emotional children with the power to make very adult decisions. Both Quinn and Swartz reveal that they need to do a lot of maturing (Swartz has since regrettably opted out of growing up). But I can’t help but look at these two and fear that they are
like Iranian Ayatollahs with nukes. Less crazy perhaps, and less physically dangerous, but still that same sort of combination of immaturity of judgment and capability to do harm.

To tie it all back to a strongly related but superficially different topic, this is why we raise children to handle weapons. It’s not for hunting, not even (we hope) for self-defense, it is for mastering power, for learning to be responsible as you develop great personal capability. I’ve been reading Jeff Cooper lately, and I feel that if Aaron Swartz had known more of Cooper’s philosophy, he would have stayed out of the wiring closet and would still be alive today.

Well, the Swartz case has to be read against MIT’s long-time culture of tolerated pranks and break-ins (they have, or had, intramural lockpicking, and there’s a famous MIT lockpicking guide on the Web). But the Cooper point is a good one.

AN MSNBC Twitter scandal?

UPDATE: Link was wrong before. Fixed now. Sorry!

POLITICS: “Sperling Admits Obama Misled in Debate: The President Did Propose the Sequester.”

JUST FINISHED READING Toby Buckell’s The Apocalypse Ocean. A very worthy followup to Crystal Rain, Ragamuffin and Sly Mongoose, all of which I very much enjoyed.

An interesting thing is that the writing of this book was funded by a Kickstarter project. I think we’ll see a lot more of that sort of thing, particularly from writers, like Buckell, with established fan bases.

I read it, by the way, on my new Kindle Paperwhite. The display is considerably sharper and clearer than the already-good display on my previous-generation Kindle, and the backlight is very nice and addresses one of the major shortcomings of previous models.

NPR: Is Obama Overexposed? “You get this sense that you can’t turn on the television without one of the Obamas on it.” I’d say he’s the subject of too much press, but not enough journalism.

VIDEO FROM THE BOTTOM OF AN ANTARCTIC LAKE. This is not my kind of diving. My regulator is rated for sub-freezing temps, but I’m not. . . .

AT AMAZON, markdowns and specials in the St. Patrick’s Day Store.

Hey, it’s not St. Patrick’s Day without one of these.

BEWARE OF THE QUEEN BEES: “Their assaults harm careers and leave no fingerprints.”

Plus: “In 2010, the Workplace Bullying Institute, a national education and advocacy group, reported that female bullies directed their hostilities toward other women 80% of the time–up 9% since 2007.”

THE RISE OF THE WELL DRESSED MAN: “Designer fashion is no longer just for gay men and Europeans.”

FROM MINIMUM WAGE to Minimum Grade.

SARAH HOYT: I really wanted to title this “How to pack for Armageddon” but that is not right, and not something I can do anyway.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: 9 Reasons to Dump Your Corporate Gym for a Family Gym. “If you told me six weeks ago that I would be strapping on boxing gloves every day and punching muay thai bags until my knuckles were red I would have snorted and said, ‘Are you high?'”

AT AMAZON, coupons galore in Home & Kitchen.

ARE ORTHODONTIC PROBLEMS a Disease Of Civilization?

HEH — I WORKED ON A TRADE CASE INVOLVING CHINESE LAUNCH SERVICES BACK IN THE NINETIES: China targets 15 pct of satellite launch market.

READER BOOK PLUG: From reader/thriller-writer Robert Ferrigno, The Girl Who Cried Wolf, which comes with a warning: Be careful who you kidnap.

GETTING CRAFTY: Why Coders Should Try Quilting and Origami.

“OKAY, I’LL TAKE TEN.” The making of Alan Sherman’s first record. This is my favorite Alan Sherman song.

THIS TOM FRIEDMAN COLUMN ON CLIMATE CHANGE, FOOD SHORTAGES, AND GLOBAL INSTABILITY ISN’T BAD. But there’s one word missing from it: Ethanol.

IS CHINA’S HOUSING MARKET HEADING FOR A CRASH? Here’s a direct link to the article by Greg Stein that they discuss.

KATRINA ON THE HUDSON: Bloomberg Flees Rockaway St. Patrick’s Parade After Locals Boo Him.

CHARLIE MARTIN: 13 Weeks: How Scales Lie. “Waist down 3 inches, weight up 2 pounds. When what you care about is improving health, scales lie.”