I’ve been working from time to time on the issue of where the Anglosphere differs from the rest of the West, and where the US differs from the rest of the Anglosphere. While I was doing that, I thought it might be interesting to compare the central documents that came out of the twin revolutions in America and France. Both had to deal with the problems of avoiding both anarchy and despotism; reconciling the interests of the individual with those of the collective interest; and the inherent tension between liberty and equality. What follows is my attempt to match the first 10 amendments to the US Constitution, called the Bill of Rights after its English predecessor from 1689, with its French counterpart, the Rights of Man.
Mitch Townsend
Over-Celling
When the woman in the Toyota Highlander drifted into my lane this morning, she apparently inhabited a Japanese-designed Cartesian monad, with her cell phone as the only source of sensory input. According to some recent research using a driving simulator, cell phone users are about as impaired as drivers with 0.08% blood alcohol levels. Some studies have reached similar conclusions. The literature has convinced state legislatures to restrict or regulate cell phone use while driving. Much as I would like to agree with the findings, I can’t do it. It seems far-fetched to me, judging by the number of people I see using cell phones while driving, that they constitute a hazard equal to an equivalent number of drunk drivers. The legislation is unwarranted.
Card Tricks
Wired had a pretty good article about preventing identity theft. This sort of thing predates the Internet by many decades. It happened to me when someone stole my mail, including my bank statement, some 30 years ago and tried to cash bad checks made out to me, using a fake ID. He happened to use the same bank branch I used and was caught immediately.
There is one more tip I think is worth mentioning: Your credit card company may be able to issue you a temporary credit card number linked to your real account number. This feature is provided by several large US and foreign banks through a company called Orbiscum. Depending on the bank, you can limit the time the number can be used and the amount that can be charged. It can also be restricted to a single transaction, so that once the transaction is complete, your credit card number is useless to anyone else. Consider the one-time use technique when dealing with unknown or dodgy vendors.
