Flutterby™! From 2001-11-01 to 2001-11-30

Ashcroft has announced crackdown on immigrant supporters of various "terrorist" groups. I can't find a list of those groups yet, but I think you can't yet be deported or denied entry for supporting EFF and the ACLU. Sadly, I'm becoming less and less sure.

[ related topics: Politics Free Speech WTC/Pentagon attacks ]

In Salon there's a basic fluff overview of Linux in the visual effects industry. Nothing cosmic, but it's interesting to have that multi-page spread at the same time that Amazon is crowing about having saved millions with Linux.

[ related topics: Free Software Open Source ]

I'm a month late on this, but the 2001 Interactive Fiction competition games are out.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Games ]

Via Pursed Lips, the bubonic plague may have given Europeans stronger HIV resistance, accounting for some of the reasons that AIDS is a much worse problem in Africa than Europe or countries settled by Europeans. Relatedly, if you haven't read Guns, Germs and Steel yet, you should.

[ related topics: Books Health History ]

Welp Palm OS 4.1 is out and has some niffty improvements but is it enough? Microsoft has had their usual 4 years of screwups and has probably become dangerous in the palm device market.

Long sigh...sometimes it's like watching a train about to hit a school bus. You scream for the driver to move forward but she's too scared

[ related topics: Humor Microsoft Software Engineering moron ]

Well, with the end of the month done and bills paid, I finally got off my butt and sent $250 to the ACLU, the EFF, and The Nature Conservancy. Still up, some money to RAWA and Software in the Public Interest, as both of those prefer mailed checks. I've already gotten the CBLDF for this year, and I'm not sure whether to renew my NRA membership, before September 11^th I was just going to let it lapse, but I'm sure I'll find a few other necessary worthy causes. I should probably look at the participants in the current "Ashcroft vs Free Speech (Coalition)" (parentheses mine) case for a starting place.

[ related topics: Politics Privacy Free Speech Nature and environment Law ]

Pentagon seeks ideas on combating terrorism. How about firing everyone at the U.S. Department of State and getting rid of decades of mismanagement of our foreign policy?

[ related topics: Politics Current Events WTC/Pentagon attacks ]

The latest Pixar film, Monsters, Inc, opens today. Sam is one of the voices. Let's hang reviews off this entry.

[ related topics: Pixar Animation Movies ]

So yesterday California Governor Gray Davis warned of attacks on suspension bridges. This morning traffic seemed heavier than usual on the Richmond-San Rafael bridge, probably compensating for what traffic reports said was an unusually light day on the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges. We were trying to think of ways to take out suspension bridges yesterday evening, and weren't coming up with surefire methods that wouldn't currently be fairly well protected against. I mean, sure you could take out some roadway, but bringing down the bridge seems pretty tough. But what really blows me away are the people who, after that warning, avoid those bridges, presumably in favor of the other bridges. "Hey, security's tight on two of the 5 bridges that are essential to the Bay Area economy..."

[ related topics: Politics Photography Bay Area WTC/Pentagon attacks Golden Gate Bridge ]

Via NTK, David Dewhurst, Texas "Homeland Security" chief, and a Republican running for lieutenant governor, took out an ad in Texas Monthly asking us to support our armed forces, only the graphic artist compositing the ad used an image of retired Brig. Gen. Peter Schmitz, Germany's former defense attache, in a German Luftwaffe uniform. This is why I don't make it a point to read The Onion, real life is just so much more... errr... entertaining.

[ related topics: Web development ]

Check out this Batwing Sail

Via FactoVision, the New Scientist Marijuana Special Report

[ related topics: Drugs Invention and Design ]

The latest developments in the Sara Jane Olson trial fascinate me. She plea bargained with the prosecutor in the courtroom, walked outside and said "I pleaded to something of which I'm not guilty" because she thought she wouldn't get a fair trial, and now the judge in the case wants to examine if the trial should go forward, if she can plead one way in the court and another outside.

What amazes me is that it's as though Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler thinks this has never happened in his court. And this also brings up similar questions from my recent jury experience. What sort of ethical blinders to judges wear that they think that the law, or the process of law, has that high a correlation to right and wrong? Or are they really moral eunuchs of such a magnitude that it takes a case like this, and a defendent like this, to knock them from their lassitude?

[ related topics: Ethics Law Current Events ]

Those that liked my Octal Joke will find this Good Reading but if your on the other side of the filter here are some Bushisms (stolen from Camworld) to make you giggle.

[ related topics: Cameron Barrett Interactive Drama Web development Perl Open Source ]

Sunbrothers Studio, the guys who did the much raved over roses (both Todd and I have a piece from them), are doing their corn show next Saturday, November 10^th, at the Townhouse Bar & Grill in Emeryville, 6:00 to midnight. I've eaten at the Townhouse before, and it was very nice California eclectic, had a Cobb salad I'm still trying to recreate, but if you want to eat there you should probably start trying for reservations now.

[ related topics: Burning Man Todd Gemmell Food Art & Culture ]

High School student dresses as a vagina for halloween and gets busted

[ related topics: Children and growing up Humor ]

I think I probably would have been a little more co-operative but Nancy Oden is banned from airport for passive resistance.

[ related topics: Coyote Grits ]

While I've never been a big flash fan, the lack of plugin support for Opera made sure I at least had Mozilla operational. I installed the Opera 5.05TP version last night. Flash works, Acrobat is ornery, and Java isn't any better.

BTW, Lynda has been playing alot of ActiveX games from the MSN.COM site on a fairly pristine WinME box with IE5.5 and all the updates. She has to turn off the machine (not just reboot) at least once a day. Microsoft's games on Microsot's website utilizing Microsoft's technology in Microsoft's browser on Microsoft's operating system causes big-red-switch lockups!

[ related topics: Humor Games Microsoft Open Source moron ]

A Salon article on Star Wars Episode 1.1: The Phantom Edit.

Until the "Phantom Edit" controversy, the role of the editor has rarely been appreciated by the public. And in a way, "The Phantom Edit" illustrates that editors are not automatons serving a dictatorial director, but artists in their own right, contributing as much to a finished film as a writer or cinematographer.

[ related topics: Star Wars Movies ]

Yeah, whatever, the only surprise is that it didn't happen faster. Microsoft's Passport service cracked to reveal subscriber credit card numbers. Cam has more notes on the fallout in the November 3^rd and 4^th entries.

[ related topics: Cameron Barrett Microsoft moron ]

Via Saturday's Backup Brain from Instapundit where it's credited to Darren Kaplan:

Question: if a woman dies a 'martyr' do 72 male virgins also service her? Is this any kind of reward, 72 clumsy teenagers pawing you for all of eternity while they ineptly try to figure out how to make things 'come together?' No wonder only the men blow themselves up!

[ related topics: Religion Quotes WTC/Pentagon attacks ]

Wow. You ever have one of those mornings where it seems like someone else is doing what you do, but way better? Also via Backup Brain, Polygamy Porter is making waves in Utah. From the Utah Brewer's Cooperative, it's marketed with slogans like "Why have just one?" and "Take one home for the wives!"

[ related topics: Religion Humor Beer ]

Hey, Charlene wants a voice recognition system. I think Kiki uses Dragon's NaturallySpeaking. Anyone out there got experiences?

On Saturday we did a belated Birthday dinner for Jeanne, and gave her gifts. One of which has a story that... well... we won't go into detail, but it's cool even without the backstory. It's a cowboy (who happens to be Woody) that shoots pool. In the right image you can see motion blur (a reason I need to buy that D-30, trying to capture that with the S100 was hard). Yeah, the pool table is a little blocky, but Charlene and I needed to hide the mechanism and didn't know how large it'd end up being. The crank is on the other side.

[ related topics: Pixar Photography Dan's Life ]

Alan Dershowitz appears to be coming out in favor of using torture while interrogating suspected terrorist. I don't think that is quite the way he meant it. I will agree with him that nothing should be beyond discussion. Some things just don't have to be discussed at length before figuring out that they should be rejected. I believe torture falls into this category.

[ related topics: Free Speech Current Events Law Enforcement Civil Liberties ]

Salon tries to tie a link between computer games and drugs, which we can extrapolate into some potentially bizarre results, like the CPL professional computer gaming league might have to classify marijuana and cocaine as performance enhancing drugs. Snicker.

[ related topics: Drugs Games Health ]

I wish Spectator updated more regularly, it seems that the day after I check it and find nothing new, links to articles show up on Pursed Lips or Daze Reader. In this case, it's My Adventures in "John School" Or How S.F. Vice Tried to Brainwash Me into Hating Sex with Hookers

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Bay Area Law ]

Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics has been involved in a legal dispute with CRC Press. It's now back online, but Eric's tale of the struggle should be a strong warning to any author who's writing for the joy of being read (as many technical authors are) who thinks that dead trees might bring a wider audience.

[ related topics: Writing Law Mathematics ]

Sorry, Topspin put me in a tabloid mood. Here is the story

[ related topics: Current Events ]

Justin reported an open FAA relay. I verified that it was open yesterday and fired off mail to the FAA postmaster (hopefully not opening myself up to legal responsibility under some new "anti-terrorist" draconian rules). While anyone used to reading headers is used to going down a few "Received" lines, as Justin points out: Having genuine reverse-resolvable FAA IP addresses in headers is bad.

[ related topics: moron ]

Via RC3 comes a mirror of a Newsweek report on a study by Alan Krueger and Stacy Berg Dale, an economist at Princeton, and a researcher at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, respectively, who normalized by SAT and, although the article doesn't get explicit, apparently a few other factors, and found no differences in earning potential. "The only exception was poorer students, regardless of race; they gained slightly from an elite school".

Which is odd, 'cause although I've posited this jokingly, more recently I've said seriously that if I had to do it over again, I'd get into the best school I could and party my ass off, so that I'd meet that professional network of friends earlier.

[ related topics: Children and growing up ]

Cockroaches predate dinosaurs. No fossil record yet found for accurate dating of Strom Thurmond, however...

[ related topics: Cool Science ]

People are rapidly moving from broadband back to dial-up.

[ related topics: broadband Current Events ]

Robot Party this Friday & Saturday at the Seemen HQ. "10 Bucks buys you an evening of driving a robot that could kill you"

[ related topics: Robotics Bay Area Heinlein California Culture ]

The B&H digital catalog arrived, with lots of cool toys that I can't possibly justify. But, interestingly, the Mega-Vision S3 and the Fuji Luma are 36x24mm 3k by 2k CCD backs for medium format SLRs. This is the holy grail of 35mm photography, equivalent resolution to better films, with CCD sensitivity and grain, so although it costs $15 to $20k right now and is limited to the medium format, it's just a matter of waiting.

[Meta snicker: The categorizer thought California Culture was an appropriate tag for this entry. I think it keyed off "sensitivity"...]

[ related topics: Photography ]

So I'm reading the Squid list, and see an event at the Odeon which includes "ethno tribal techno experimental music". Ummm... Yeah... right... Nice D.J., have a biscuit? [while Dan edges along the wall looking for an escape route...]

[ related topics: Music Bay Area ]

Recommendation that everyone should follow, but nobody (not even me) ever will: Parse your #*(&^@$)%! XML before you publish it!!!!! This will help ensure that it is XML. Thank you.

[ related topics: Web development Content Management ]

Stanford cardiovascular surgeon says he bought Las Vegas strip club to fund medical research.

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Current Events Las Vegas ]

Distro Watch has info on 40 different Linux packages. WOW!

[ related topics: Free Software Open Source Software Engineering ]

Ken Kesey, dead at 66.

[ related topics: Current Events ]

Prediction about the whole "new biology", bioinformatics and genomics craze: The failure of the boom will come because people will not want to pay more for healthcare. For successes, look towards use of biology in nano-manufacturing processes, and in places where it decreases costs, but not to places where it causes increased capabilities at increased costs.

[ related topics: Bioinformatics ]

Interesting look at the failure of the Metreon.

"Authentic urban districts offer creativity and surprise... the place is the major attraction, the crowds, the people-watching," Musbach says. "If you have the real experience at hand, why pay money for an ersatz version?"

[ related topics: New Economy Bay Area ]

Berkeley city council to mayor: Muzzle it. Apparently only one group feels they have the right to use inflammatory speech to forward their political agendas.

[ related topics: Politics Bay Area moron ]

Sigh. Not much to say this morning. Via Larkfarm, go check out Matthias's Marble Machines for a good starting point to look at neat kinetic sculptures.

[ related topics: Art & Culture Matthias Wandel ]

Just because we are "that" kind of publication: Via Scripting News: The pictures that accompany "I've got the world's longest tongue." are well worth a look. If this young woman grows up straight, lesbians across the globe will lament.

[ related topics: Erotic Current Events ]

Proof once again that copy protection only serves to piss off legitimate customers: Windows XP activation codes cracked in Thailand.

[ related topics: Microsoft Current Events ]

Mea culpa: I have ranted several times recently about "journalistic integrity" and how weblogs seem to get a much higher truth level than the mainstream press. This morning's coverage of the American Airlines crash in New York City on NPR and other places seemed to totally drive home that point. It's sweet irony, therefore, that I have to comment about my link to a News.com article about broadband defections. Back then (5 days ago), the headline was Broadband defectors on the rise, today's broadband article is headlined Cable modem use rises.... Sigh.

[ related topics: Weblogs broadband Aviation Current Events Journalism and Media ]

Sometimes I get into these slumps about the costs of living in the Bay Area, and maybe I'd be happy if I could find a good job somewhere in the heartland, and pay cash for a house and... Then the Chattanooga folk unwittingly drag me back to reality. There's a big push to do "10 Commandments" related stuff in Hamilton County, resulting in County Commissioner Curtis Adams challenging atheists to meet him face to face: "Any weakling can write letters. Let's see if he has the guts to face us." Mike Kelley forwarded me this report tom has taken him up on the offer. Go tom! Ya know, it's very beautiful there, and I love the ready access to the outdoors, and I know a bunch of really cool people, but I am remembering that it wasn't just the career that made me come to the Bay Area.

[ related topics: California Culture Chattanooga ]

Stolen from Debra who got it from Jamie Joy Gatto, the really interesting bit about the recent donation of a huge porn archive to the University of Toronto by CBC radio producer Max Allen is that much of the collection is illegal in Canada. That entry below about culture in Chattanooga versus the Bay Area? Ditto for Canada versus the United States.

Carolyn Tuohy, vice-president of policy development and deputy provost, denies there was undue delay. "We get individual books and artworks all the time, but to have a full collection donated is not all that common," she says. "My role has been to make sure we do our due diligence, consider what costs it might impose, where it fits into the university, the complexities on the legal side. We had to seek advice on privacy issues and on whether the university could incur civil and criminal liabilities, since the collection contains material it's illegal to possess under the Criminal Code." Access protocols are being developed, Tuohy says, to ensure only genuine researchers can see the collection.

Something else that I get shivery feelings about is this idea of "genuine researchers". What distinguishes an archeologist from a grave-robber? Largely who they work for. The idea that we've passed knowledge over to be the domain of a set of monopolistic institutions scares me.

[ related topics: Books Erotic Privacy Sexual Culture Coyote Grits Sociology Law Current Events Work, productivity and environment California Culture ]

This one's for Todd and Leo: the Power Goth Girls.

[ related topics: Humor Todd Gemmell ]

Part of my current work is going to be deployed on Solaris Intel. We've been doing development on Linux. Obviously every OS has its own quirks, but first impressions are that the I/O subsystem in Solaris is roughly half the speed of Linux. It's no wonder that Microsoft sees Linux as "the" threat to Windows.

[ related topics: Free Software Microsoft Open Source Software Engineering Work, productivity and environment ]

One of my favorite pet-peeves is people who use the phrase "journalistic integrity". Mahesh Shantaram has collected some great examples of "journalistic integrity".

[ related topics: Journalism and Media ]

There has been some really annoying fearmongering and speculation on this American Airlines crash, both in the mainstream media (way too many bad calls to enumerate here), and in some weblogs (ie: 1 / 2 / 3). First off, engine separation problems are not unknown, in 1979, a DC-10 lost an engine pylon on take-off roll, the structural damage took out the hydraulic system and caused the airplane to crash, and there are quite a few more reported uncontained engine failures. Pigeons have caused crashes of a 737, and seagulls a DC-10. There are all sorts of reasons that this aircraft might have gone down. Justin put together a few of the confirmed damage reports and started the most reasonable speculation path I've seen yet. You'd think the so-called "aviation experts" that keep getting quoted would have access to Google and a brain.

[ related topics: Weblogs Aviation Journalism and Media ]

Salon has an interview with Carl Djerassi, creator of "the pill", that's worth a quick read. It also points to Carl Djerassi's personal website which might be worth some exploration.

[ related topics: Sexual Culture ]

Learn a new thing every day: The Italian Association of Cuckolds just had their annual gathering.

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Current Events ]

I'm missing the old days of regularly updated personal pages, before they were weblogs and "the next big thing", back when we used to cross-link and carry on debates across sites and such. Dave Winer, RageBoy and Doc Searles recently had an exchange about memes that I thought was completely ridiculous, but reminded me that community and discussions are why the world is interesting. Any suggestions on how we can revive that feeling of community across web sites?

[ related topics: Dan's Life Weblogs Dave Winer Flutterby Meta ]

When Columbine pointed out that Bombay had the biggest film industry in the world I chalked it up to interesting trivia. Then I ran across this great Mahesh Shantaram quote:

Year after year, almost all Grammys and Oscars go to American artists and producers. There must definitely be an imbalance here. Is America really the Mecca of art and entertainment? To be fair, we have to blame the Indian film industry too for dishing out trash with a consistency that will meet ISO 9001 standards.

[ related topics: Quotes Movies ]

Whoah! Via Daze Reader, a spectacular adaptation of Picasso's "The Dream" as a sand sculpture.

[ related topics: Erotic Art & Culture ]

Walked out of Bandits last night. Yes, I know, we probably missed the big plot turn, and the first hour or so was quite compelling, and the "oh, I recognize that location" was fun, but then the characters just turned into ridiculous whacked parodies and I ceased to care what happened to them. A shame, 'cause it had a really neat set-up.

[ related topics: Movies Bay Area ]

Meteor storm of a lifetime this weekend. Might actually be clear in the Bay Area, although not over Marin, so we'll probably have to drive somewhere.

[ related topics: Bay Area Astronomy ]

Crap. I was just about to power down my BP6 based machine to ship off for colo, when I noticed that a flakey that I was worried about cropped up. Obviously this is not a box for colocation thousands of miles away. And at this point I'm frustrated. Anyone got a suggestion for a stable, out-of-the-box server? I'd be ecstatic if I could get it with Debian installed.

[ related topics: Flutterby Meta Open Source ]

The Leonids were a good show last night. At least one time when 5 or 6 were visible in the sky at once. It seemed to peak way after the predictions, our best viewing was in the 2:30 to 2:45 range.

[ related topics: Astronomy ]

Mick LaSalle uses Intimacy to talk about sex in European film. The reviews have been so-so thus far, but on the basis of this I'd like to see Intimacy for its treatment of the subject.

[ related topics: Erotic Sexual Culture Movies ]

Okay, I'm not sure this is interesting, and it echoes a discussion that all of us have had before, but it's an example of the cross-blog discussion that I think is necessary. So Jake told a story about being forced to do outlining as "make-work". Wes commented that about half his college experience is make-work. Dave and Dori had an exchange, in which she said: "Does he think that Wes should drop out of college just because he had to do make-work?"

Well, I did. And I think my life is richer for it. Make-work doesn't require practice, make-work simply requires motivation. Sometimes that motivation is "we'll pay you for it". But as I've said before, if you're part of an organization or entity that values make-work, you need a career change.

It's time to start pointing out in earnest the ridiculous myth that the "education" system is in any way associated with learning. Heck, even people paid by Princeton admit that the university system is mainly useful for filtering (I linked to this earlier). Education as it's been practiced for the past 75 or 100 years is primarily about turning out mindless drones to fill factory jobs, because humans are cheaper than automating the process, and creating automated systems requires skilled labor.

[ related topics: Children and growing up Current Events Work, productivity and environment ]

Syrian archeologists find slab depicting a woman with an open book and a plume from roughly the 2nd century CE.

[ related topics: Language Books ]

In a move that completely vindicates full-disclosure of bugs and security holes, Microsoft has admitted that they knew of the latest IE bug for a week before it went public, despite earlier complaining that they first heard of the bug when it was announced to the public.

"We are obviously not going to respond instantly. We have to sieve the wheat from the chaff to determine how reliable the vulnerability warning is," said Laver. "Until we can investigate the issue, we are not going to issue a bulletin, as that would create a crying-wolf situation."

In other words: The only way to get Microsoft's attention is to publish the complete exploit, including code, otherwise they'll sit on it while they "sieve the wheat from the chaff".

[ related topics: Privacy Microsoft moron ]

The LA Times reports that libraries are being ordered by the federal government to destroy reports - over concerns that the information could be used for malicious means. They also mention that the American Society for Microbiology is taking heat for not yanking research papers about Anthrax. My favorite quote?

Members of the public will be the ones to suffer, [John Phillips] said. "Restricting information may make us feel good, but terrorists aren't dumb. They'll still be able to get at this information somehow."

[ related topics: Politics moron Current Events WTC/Pentagon attacks ]

In honor of Thanksgiving, Seth Gordon passed along the Atlas HDA. "You can get to your files all day / on Atlas' HDA / (except your thesis)"

(Definitions for readers who are not MIT alumni of a certain age: "Project Athena" is the networked computing environment at MIT. "Zephyr" is the Athena analog of Instant Messenger. "zfwrite" is a program that lets you forge the return address on Zephyr messages.)

[ related topics: Humor Software Engineering ]

Ziffle passed along A lesbian takes on the 'thought police', which was refreshing for its perspective, but felt kinda "talk radio"ish, the throwing around possible urban legends as fact and evidence of absurdity has worn thin on me recently.

[ related topics: Ziffle Sexual Culture Current Events Law Enforcement ]

Argh. The long-awaited second meeting of the Weblogger User Group happens this evening. Last night Alec called me up saying "Help, I have a test and I don't understand the subject." So, alas, I'm skipping the meeting to go help the alpha rat boy with complex numbers.

Tonight we're implementing a new rule: He gets a list of all of his tests for the rest of the semester. I will help him study immediately following a test, and we'll work on learning what the teacher should be teaching up-front, so by the time he gets to class it's all review. Now that I've taken on this project I'm kinda suckered into finding solutions, but it's damned frustrating 'cause I only have a limited amount of control and influence.

[ related topics: Children and growing up Work, productivity and environment ]

Yay Eric! The new server is in colo, now begins the task of trying to transparently move from one to the other without destroying anything.

[ related topics: Flutterby Meta ]

Yay! After a bone-headed mistake by me, we're back, and should be much faster.

[ related topics: Flutterby Meta ]

Via Meuon from /., Red Hat Proposes to Enhance Microsoft Settlement Offer By Providing Open Source Software to All U.S. School Districts:

Under the Red Hat proposal, by removing Microsoft's higher-priced software from the settlement equation, Microsoft could provide the school districts with many more computers--greatly extending the benefits Microsoft seeks to provide school districts with their proposed settlement.

[ related topics: Free Software Humor Microsoft Open Source ]

So if I said "In most places I've worked the sales staff has been ahead of engineering", would you interpret this as:

1. A sardonic comment indicating that marketing's pursuit of new products when they can't sell what they spec'd last year might be worthy of some examination.
2. A statement of praise for the various marketing departments referenced.

Your answers will be graded and might even be published on Fucked Company, in an indirect way.

[ related topics: New Economy Consumerism and advertising ]

Back from a very enjoyable long weekend at Disneyland, Disney's California Adventure, and a few hours at The Getty, with Charlene and various subsets of Jeanne, Alec and Zack. Pictures and travelogue in a bit, traffic on I5 was hell and we got in late this morning. Disneyland was cooler than I expected, I want to go spend more time at The Getty, we had a good experience with an LA waiter (most of the unemployed actors can't even act like waiters), an absolutely hilarious Birthday dinner for Alec at Joe's Crab Shack, and I'm glad to be back home.

[ related topics: Dan's Life California Culture ]

After the /. review of Design For Community I wasn't enthused, especially since I've never found any of Derek Powazek's sites all that compelling, but after the excerpt from Chapter 8 I'm thinking it might be worth a quick read.

Salon has an interview with Larry Flynt about his suit against the DOD for reporter access to Afghanistan:

You've filed this suit, but have any other news organizations done likewise?

No, and it's the mainstream media that should be filing this suit, not me. They've got more money than I've got. The only reason why they're not is that they all want to be politically correct. Each of them are concerned about who's going to get the next interview with George and Laura Bush, rather than getting out there and fighting for the First Amendment and preserving it.

[ related topics: Politics Sexual Culture Current Events Journalism and Media Civil Liberties ]

I've been so completely utterly disgusted by the actions of the U.S. Government recently that I've tried to tune out the continual encroachment on freedom. But the whole FBI "Magic Lantern" thing is yet another reminder that when 13 year olds do it, it's terrorism, when out-of-control government agencies with histories of badly abusing any special privileges we give them do it, it's for our own good. The idea is that there'll be a government sponsored worm that'll stuff itself in via known security exploits to directly capture keystrokes on target computers. Symantec has said that their anti-virus software will specifically not find it, McAfee has apparently flip-flopped on the issue. Luckily, we'll have the SSCA to protect us, expect the use of Linux to be considered evidence of illegal activity and grounds for a search within a year or two.

[ related topics: Free Software Privacy virus Open Source Free Speech Current Events Law Enforcement Civil Liberties ]

Coworker doing reinstall/fix of Microsoft Office 2000. Progress bar is actually going forwards, then backwards, then forwards again. Interpretation of this data left to the reader.

[ related topics: Humor Microsoft moron ]

The disadvantage of being an atheist materialist: "Think good thoughts for her" seems kinda empty. Anyway, Dori goes for surgery.

[ related topics: Religion Health ]

A lot of people have wondered at the culture that breeds men willing to die to inflict damage on their enemies. Some have referenced the desperation of poverty and political alienation. Some claim religious fanatacism makes it possible. On July 1^st, 1916, 57,400 British men marched into German machine gun fire, to their deaths.

"The British moved forward in line after line, dressed as if on parade; not a man wavered or broke ranks; but minute by minute the ordered lines melted away under the deluge of high explosives, shrapnel, rifle, and machine-gun fire. The splendid troops shed their blood like water for the liberty of the world."

Techno-geek moment: The machine gun used against them, said to account for 90% of the casualties, was the Machineengewehr 08 designed by American Hiram Maxim.

[ related topics: Politics Sociology WTC/Pentagon attacks ]

Big storm and power outage here last night. The lights went out coincident with a "bang", after a short time the beeping got annoying so I powered down the 'puters, we lit up some candles, and played Scrabble. Dave, a UPS is not optional! Especially if you're trusting mail to MSexchange.

[ related topics: Dave Winer Microsoft Scrabble ]

Dwarf sues to overturn Florida anti-"Dwarf Tossing" law. Frankly, I'm glad to see that we're keeping people from being exploited for their physical differences and protecting them from the lure of being paid for dangerous and demeaning activities. In other news, I can't wait for the Winter Olympics.

[ related topics: Current Events Sports ]

Everyone and their little sister, including Pursed Lips, Daze Reader, and inexplicably fancy trash had linked to this Japanese Sex Toy Catalog, but I just got around to looking through it. Worth a read.

[ related topics: Sexual Culture ]

Who's having more sex? Welp it's the Yanks. Perhaps the Japanese need to rework some of those sex toy designs.

[ related topics: Sexual Culture ]

Just when I thought the Republicans were being so moronic I'd have to drop my "they're both about equally evil, just in slightly different ways" cynicism, the Democrats come through: Three Democratic Senators have told Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta to "keep it quiet" over delays in implementing the new bag check regulations. In a show of complete pointy-hairedness, Senators Ernest Hollings, D-S.C, Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. have ignored repeated FAA statements that new bag check procedures can't be implemented in the time allotted, and are now apparently playing "completion date negotiations" in public.

The assessment, however, did not deter Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., from insisting "it's not acceptable to the Congress for (Mineta) to announce you're not able to meet deadlines that we've established."

[ related topics: Politics Aviation moron Current Events WTC/Pentagon attacks ]

Excite creditors threaten shutdown to sweeten acquisition deals. I guess I just don't get it, it's not like AT&T should have problem getting fast IP to just about anywhere, the only real issue is mail servers and reconfiguring the DHCP stuff. Seems to me like @Home creditors should consider themselves lucky for any money at all they get out of this deal, and then they should kick themselves for investing in a company that paid over $700M for a weekend's worth of programming and some graphic designers. Oh well, I guess I'll see this evening if I still have connectivity.

[ related topics: New Economy broadband ]

An Ontario California man got $5,525 for confiscated pot plants:

A man who says he uses marijuana for medicinal purposes received $5,525 from his insurance company after arguing that the backyard crop police ripped up was covered by his homeowner's policy.

[ related topics: Drugs Law Enforcement California Culture ]

Ride in the buff go to jail

[ related topics: Nudity Law Civil Liberties ]

Ugh. Worked from home yesterday so I didn't infect my office-mates, was starting to feel fine, but then sometime late-afternoon I started to get a little short of breath and my chest on the right side started aching. If it had been my left, I'd have been to the emergency room in a hearbeat (well, depending on the heartbeat), but since it was on the other side I decided to grin and bear it. Today I'm at work as usual, but it feels like I've cracked a rib or something, except that there's very little surface tenderness. I'll muddle through the day (got a few meetings I don't want to cancel), but this does not feel good.

[ related topics: Dan's Life ]

Some people can't be fixed and I think this guy is one of them. This guy is going to be turned loose and somebody is going to get hurt. Either he will become a predator or some act of vigilantism will occur.

[ related topics: Psychology, Psychiatry and Personality Current Events Law Enforcement Civil Liberties ]