A life in words

  • If You’re A Member of Congress, Vote ‘No’ on Health Care Reform!

    To quote one of my favorite economists, Gary Becker: Despite the long debate, many provisions of both the House and Senate bills remain highly controversial. These include, among many others, the way the uninsured would get coverage, the de-emphasis on health savings accounts, the postponement until 2018 of the elimination of the tax advantages from…

  • “No Man Is A Failure Who Has Friends”

    So wrote George Bailey’s guardian angel, and as I was flooded by your kind thoughts and congratulations today I felt rather like George Bailey being saved by those who loved him. Though I may not be who I wish I was, I know I’m not a failure because I have the thoughtfulest, kindest family and…

  • Boring But Useful Post: Printing to BYU Printers from Linux

    BYU uses the Pharos print system around campus. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be direct Linux support for Pharos. But linuxers are in luck, because it is still possible to print to the campus printers. On Ubuntu 9.10 I did the following: Opened http://localhost:631/ in Firefox (not Chrome—this didn’t work for some reason) Clicked “Adding…

Of a commonwealth, whose subjects are but hindered by terror from taking arms, it should rather be said, that it is free from war, than that it has peace. For peace is not mere absence of war, but is a virtue that springs from force of character….Baruch Spinoza, Tractatus Theologico-Politicus V.4, 1670, trans. A. H. Gosset 1883