Paul Graham has too much stuff.

The worst stuff in this respect may be stuff you don’t use much because it’s too good. Nothing owns you like fragile stuff. For example, the “good china” so many households have, and whose defining quality is not so much that it’s fun to use, but that one must be especially careful not to break it.

Another way to resist acquiring stuff is to think of the overall cost of owning it. The purchase price is just the beginning. You’re going to have to think about that thing for years—perhaps for the rest of your life. Every thing you own takes energy away from you. Some give more than they take. Those are the only things worth having.

We in the Lawrence Household pride ourselves on how little stuff we accumulate. We buy about 10% of things that we think we want to buy but still we buy about 50% too much.

Less stuff. It’s what’s good for you.

Gordon Brown was over here last week. I have been eager to see what identity he would carve out for himself. Sounds like he is off to a good start…

Put simply, Brown sees the struggle against radical Islamism entirely differently from Bush, and therefore Blair. While their focus was on rogue regimes that posed a threat to the west, and the use of force to remove them, Brown sees a battle for the hearts and minds of the Muslim world. While the favoured comparison of the Bush-Blair era was the second world war against Hitler and fascism, Brown looks to the cold war with Soviet communism.

The Dems tried (and failed) to frame the battle against Osama and his buddies as a police action rather than a struggle of Good vs Evil. Brown is framing it the same way:

 But while the president said the west confronted “an ideology of darkness”, Brown declared that “terrorism is not a cause; it is a crime”. That immediately denies the terrorist the dignity of an enemy and casts him instead as a mere criminal, to be hunted down chiefly by policework and intelligence.

and

Perhaps more importantly, Brown wants the west to regain the moral high ground he believes is essential to victory in any ideological struggle. He’s long been an advocate on Aids, poverty and debt. But now there’s an added urgency. If the west is seen to be acting justly, then it will be that much harder for Osama bin Laden to rail against wicked western imperialism.

Quotes from The Guardian.

Every now again I get some spam that’s actually interesting to read. I thought I’d share it.

So here’s Heather Locklear on the beach playing football, flirting, and generally acting young. And while her body is still in great shape, the signs of ageing are starting to show. Most notably in her face, where it seems she skipped her last Botox appointment (or maybe her face-lift could use a little tightening).

Sadly, she’s also showing signs of getting older in her arms and legs, where she’s starting to get a bit of that “old lady waddle.” In fact, the only place it looks as though she hasn’t aged is around her boobs, which are still remarkably perky (though the reason for that is probably an easy guess.)

I enjoyed this one because, when I was 14, my friend Alex was totally in love with Heather Locklear. He probably still is. (Alex, are you out there?)

It makes such a pleasant change from the usual

Hey, man! Great post! Buy Tramadol…

that it made me wonder about the future of comment spam.

Maybe, one day, the spammers will hire professional writers to craft entertaining spam. There may be annual awards for Best Comedy Spam and Best Spam series. Bloggers will compete to have the top spammers leave comments on their site. Hey! It might happen!

Here’s a more likely prediction: most bloggers set their moderation policy to approve first comment only. It won’t be long until armies of professional commenters will be hired by the spammers to leave real comments, thus opening the door for the spambots to spew their filth. And then we’ll need a new policy.