Jonathan

Don Luskin links to what he calls a fascinating op-ed by Admiral Poindexter.

It is indeed a fascinating piece, partly because of what Poindexter doesn’t say. He discusses DARPA’s data-mining proposal mainly in terms of intentions rather than nuts and bolts. And he attempts to deflect criticism of the scheme’s intrusiveness by asserting that it was designed to use non-U.S. databases.

My main objections to the scheme are not that it’s ill-intended but that it will generate huge numbers of false positives and be an invitation to abuse in the future. (See this post and this post for related comments.) Admiral Poindexter says that the overseas databases that are to be used for the project do not contain information about U.S. citizens. However, there is reason to be cautious in accepting such assurances, as initial rumors had the scheme searching through precisely the kinds of U.S. financial records that Poindexter now insists are not involved, and DARPA’s description of the program has changed in response to public and Congressional opposition. Even if you take Poindexter at his word, it’s reasonable to be nervous about such a program, because it’s impossible to know who will be running it in the future and whether the system’s anti-snooping safeguards, which require us to trust the good will of whoever is administering it, will be followed.

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A dream about being in a coal mine prompted some googling. The historical reality isn’t pretty:

UK Mine Disasters — “Between 1880 and 1910, over 1000 fatalities occurred every year in British coal mines.”

Account of 1814 Visit to English Mine

List of Welsh Mining Disasters

U.S. Dept. of Labor Mining Disasters Exhibit

List of U.S. Mining Disasters

List of Major Coal Mine Fires and Explosions in Pennsylvania

Interesting site devoted to the conflict in Coal Creek, Tennessee over use of convicts as slave labor to mine coal. Note the obvious RKBA implications.

Here’s a book about the 1958 Springhill, Nova Scotia disaster. I looked this one up because I remember from childhood a dreary folk song about the same event. The reality seems to have been more interesting than the song.

Happily, things are better now. But note that even in 2002 there were 27 coal mining deaths in the U.S., and an average of 40 deaths annually in 2000 and 2001. Keep these numbers in mind the next time someone asserts that nuclear power generation is dangerous.

While searching the giant’s lair Rex the Komodo dragon encounters a wheel.

Our friend Jeff Lin, who is a fount of stock-trading ideas, has started a blog.