Wandering the Web

by Peter Saint-Andre

2001-10-29

Yesterday I surfed around a bit in the first few entries of Moira's blog and I came across a link to the website of A.E. Stallings, poetess extraordinaire. Stallings in turn links to the website of Dana Gioia, one of my favorite living poets. Both Archaic Smile and Interrogations at Noon are on my wish list, you can be sure!

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is arguing for national ID cards tied to huge government databases (all running his company's software, naturally). The tireless Declan McCullagh takes him to task.

In my continuing efforts to broaden my mind and question my assumptions, I paid a brief visit to Antiwar.com. Rep. Ron Paul has a good essay there on defending the U.S. only, not maintaining a far-flung empire of military installations. The folks at Antiwar.com seem to be what I would call left-libertarians, a direction in which I've tended myself. The recent attack on American soil has generally made people more conservative, I think, so it's good to see that some people are remaining consistent (even though I'm not sure I can agree with those who oppose military action against Osama and the Taliban).

Today's quote from Victor Hugo: "Navigation is education. The sea is a hard school. Cohabitation with these unmanageable phenomena produces a rough race of men who deserve to be cherished: the mariners. There are no other conquerors but them. Ulysses the voyager accomplishes more than Achilles the fighter." (The Toilers of the Sea, III.1.iii)

And another: "What is the invasion of kingdoms compared to the opening up of intellects?" (William Shakespeare, III.3.iv)


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