Favorite Spam of the Day

From: "Enid Harden" < lhip2qogh@yahoo.com.hk>
Subject: My accountant thinks I'm crazy... hecugeclmcg


Crazy like a fox? Or like someone who spouts gibberish at the end of sentences?

AT&T Wireless Having Major Technical Difficulties.

As I mention on Bob of Montreal, my AT&T screwed up my voicemail. After 2hrs on the phone with technical assistance, they concluded they need 3-5 business days to fix it. I'm without voicemail for 3-5 days.

Is this just me, is it a large fraction of AT&T wireless, or is it their entire system?

Statement -- October 23, 2003

Looks like Bob Graham is pushing for a voting paper trail for eVoting machines. See here.

Pre-announcement

Steve Jobs usually doesn't appreciate people jumping the gun like this.

Ashcroft steps aside, and Sen. Schumer is happy

So Ashcroft stepped aside from the probe into who leaked clandistine CIA operative Valerie Plamme's name to the press
(article here). Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), who led the call for a prosecuter, says he's happy with the naming of a US Atorney (in Chicago) to lead the investigation.

Someone leaked this information, and there's no doubt the leak was illegal. All that remains now is to figure out who did it.

Go Pope! It's your birthday!

My favorite part is where he says they are fueled by "a misunderstood sense of rights".

Now, I don't deny that I didn't really pay attention during CCD classes, but I think I really missed some huge section of indoctrination at some point. This must be something they cover in confirmation.

Looks like I have more moral duties to shirk.

Pope, gunning for next year's Nobel Peace Prize, says gay marriage wrong wrong wrong.

In a speech on the feast of the holy family, the Pope took the opportunity to say that people who back gay marrriage misunderstand "rights", and called upon everyone who opposes it to come together to fight it.
See article here.

Then the pope lead the assembled faithful in a game of Smear the Queer.

Re: Action

Bob confirms taking the downside on Sean Penn for Best Actor in MYSTIC RIVER against Robin.

Paris Hilton beat out by LORD OF THE RINGS

After 30 days at the top of the Yahoo! Buzz Index, Paris Hilton has finally dropped to LORD OF THE RINGS.

The Omnipresent David Brooks

Brooks appeared this morning both on panels on FACE THE NATION and CHRIS MATTHEWS.

On FACE THE NATION, Brooks predicted that gay marriage would not be an issue in the Presidential election. Even though it is the most divisive social issue in the country, with well over half favoring a constitutional amendment against it, he thinks the Republicans will not even raise the issue, because he believes that no one wants to talk about it, so who ever brings it up, loses.

Of course, what's the worst it could do?

Bush Still Eating Beef Despite Scare, Aide Says

The $100 Apple mini-Ipod

As rumored on /. Holding 400-800 songs.

If so, that would be my price point.

Are You High?

Due to an elevated volume of threatening communications, the US Department of Homeland Security has raised the terrorism threat level from 'Elevated' to 'High'.

What to do? Be Ready!

Wired News: E-Voting Undermined by Sloppiness

Secretary of State (from California) Kevin Shelly says,
with regards to the fact that Diebold Voting Systems, loaded uncertified software in all 17 of Califonia's counties for the election which placed Schwarzenegger in the governor's office:


"The core of our American democracy is the right to vote," Shelley said. "Implicit in that right is the notion that that vote be private, that vote be secure, and that vote be counted as it was intended when it was cast by the voter. And I think what we're encountering is a pivotal moment in our democracy where all of that is being called into question."

See the Wired article here (Thanks to Steve who saw this first).

Reports of RIAA's demise...

...may be premature. The labels can still sue P2P uploaders (their original tactic) in both the US and Canada; they just have to get a traditional subpoena, from a judge, in order to file the suit. Assuming the ruling of the three-judge panel from the Third Circuit holds.

What the RIAA had been up to involved provisions of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (thank you, Clinton!) that, they claimed, allowed them to demand the identities of "copyright violators" directly from the ISP, without a court order. The panel has ruled that this claim is specious. Back to the judge for your subpoenas, boys.

That said, I'm all in favor of raising a toast to Canada. Just look at that Canadian dollar go!

More P2P stuff

In other P2P news, the Netherlands courts have ruled Kazaa legal.

Canada has also declared P2P downloading legal.

Bob, get yer Mac Kazaa client fired up. I'll send you cheap CD-R media, and you can send back legally downloaded material, cheap prescription drugs, Cuban cigars, and smoked meats.

Let's all take a moment to appreciate our friends to the north in America Jr.

Downloading Music? Your ISP won't tell.

A Federal appeals court ruled that ISPs can't be compelled to disclose who is sharing music, according to this WAPost article.

Wooo hooo!

More on Globes

More on the Golden Globe nominations. Apart from Diane Keaton, Jamie Lee Curtis has garnered a nomination in the Actress/Comedy category, for her role in "Freaky Friday." This presages a prediction of A.O. Scott's that her role in that movie be considered Oscar-worthy. Scarlett Johansson is nominated twice for her roles in "Lost in Translation" (Comedy?) as well as "Girl with a Pearl Earring" (Drama). "21 Grams" is ignored completely.

Jose Padilla Gets a Lawyer

Only eighteen months after being detained as an "enemy combatant" by our ruling proconsuls, Ashcroft and Rumsfeld, Jose Padilla has been delivered (some of) his Constitutional rights as an American citizen on American soil by a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court in New York City (NYT front-page story).

A few comments. First, this was a close one: The ruling was only 2-1, so as a nation we were actually one swing judge away from Absolute Executive Power. If the Executive had indeed been granted "enemy combatant designation" discretion by the judiciary, the last check on its authority would have been removed. Of course, we are not out of the woods yet - a further appeal of this ruling, by Proconsul Ashcroft, seems likely.

Second, the court said nothing about Ashcroft's abuse of the material witness statues - under his interpretation, which has actually been affirmed by a panel of the Third Circuit, any "material witness" (so designated by him) may be held indefinitely without rights of habeas corpus. We will not be free until this perversion, also, is reversed.

Third, the court said nothing about the other enemy combatant-American citizen, Yaser Esam Hamdi. Since he was captured in Afghanistan, apparently, the provisions of the Constitution may not apply. Does this disturb anyone?

Finally, it has taken 557 days for Jose to get his rights. Too long; and let us remember, he has not seen a lawyer - or been released from military to civil detention - as yet.

Robin's Slog to Victory

It's been five years of Oscar Contests and nary a win for Robin.

Lo, but this year, Robin hedges by plunking some change down in a single-shot bet, with Derek and Bob taking the downside, on Diane Keaton for Best Actress, in SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE.

And Ms. Keaton slogs forward, with

a Golden Globe nomination, showing that she's at least in the running.

Could this be Robin's year for victory? Let's watch.

Brooks, honesty

Bob's criticism of Brook's column appears to be a disagreement about the relative merits of honesty, candor, and directness versus diplomacy and cunning. However, this is not the issue. The problem is that Bush and his administration have been neither honest, straightforward, nor candid, especially about the connection between Saddam's regime and terrorism. I don't think I need justify this last point to this group. I would be quite happy to risk whatever daggers the international community might aim at the American kidney if it were only because we were candidly, honestly, directly doing what we had to for our own safety from terrorism.

Be the smart guy, not the one giving the finger to the room.

David Brooks thinks it's just too bad that our former allies can't stand that Bush's administration is so honest.

Brooks repeats the classic hawk intellectual fallacy: "They can't stand the truth: we are a 300 lb man capable of kneeling on their chests and drubbing them into stupidity."

Actually, it's not the truth of that statement which bothers our former allies. It's the actual kneeling on their chests and drubbing we're giving them.

The polite, mature and intelligent country -- that country we had before George W. took office, which Brooks disdains in today's article -- knows how to move quietly about the room, smiling, chatting, and subtly flexing its 300 pounds of muscle to make the crowd open up a way to the buffet table. It's called, Mr. Brooks, "Using your charisma", using your brains much more than your brawn. Even better when doing so reveals an honest consideration of the needs and aspirations of other people in the room.

And between the two choices, using your charisma -- and truly caring about your friends' needs and aspirations -- is far smarter than honestly shoving your friends aside in your storm the buffet table. Because when the daggers we don't know we don't know about come out (apologies, Rumsfeld), your friends are more inclined to collect around you than to say "Let tough guy take it on his own."

Bush's honesty and candor, as Brooks calls them, has made sure we have no more friends in the room. We won't know until we feel the dagger in our kidneys.

For all the money spent on anti-terrorism efforts, pissing our friends off counters those efforts; the best anti-terrorism effort makes the rest of the world friendly and dependent upon us, and us friendly and dependent upon them, so that we protect each other. We should be friendly and pleasant, if muscular, and not kneel on their chests drubbing them.

Blog This!

I just found out that the reason Bob blogs all the time is that he's got a link in his favorites bar which gives a handy blogtool which is described here.

Alternatively, here's the link itself:
Blog This! . Just drag it to your favorite's bar, and use it when you are on a page you want to blog.

Braun Screws Up Her South Park References

In talking to kids about poverty in Concord, NH, Presidential Candidate Carol Moseley Braun said

"Even if your mother is Cartman's mom, you ought to be able to go and get a quality education," demonstrating that she didn't know that it was Kenny's mom who is the poor one.

Better Electronic Voting In The Making.

Slashdot reports: Electronic Voting in the News. Parallel measures in the House and the Senate will require a paper audit trail, ban the use of "undiscolosed" software, and and require mandatory surprise recounts.

This would make electronic voting reliable. Watch Diebold get out of the business now (why be involved if you can't steal elections?).

You Know It's a Bad Day when you Lose Half Your Army

Three hundred (of 700 total) members of the new Iraqi army
up and quit today.

These -- the first joiners after the war -- were those who were most likely to be sympathetic to being with the Coalition Provisional Authority. This is a very bad day in a long hard slog.

Boo Hoo

USC is going to the Rose Bowl instead of the Sugar Bowl because of their weak playing schedule. It couldn't have happened to a better team (I'm not being sarcastic here, USC is #1, there are no better teams). BCS claims that a computer decides what team goes to which bowl, and must have done some tricky math to come up with this solution. I suspect it is the same computer that comes up with your credit score when you're buying a house. In a world where this can happen, it can only mean one thing:

The terrorists have already won.

Another Card Comment

The fact that Andrew Card responded to Wolf Biltzer's request for a reaction to John Kerry's quote regarding Bush's Iraq Policy: "Did I expect George Bush to f..k it up as badly as he did? I don't think anybody did." with nothing more than a mild request to use cleaner language when berating the President's policies just may reveal that Card is completely irrelevant in the White House.

Card obviously hadn't given any thought to defending the President's policies. How the heck can he be in charge of managing the President's activities and not know that he was supposed to respond to the attack on those policies, not on the use of a vulgarism to attack them?

It's been a long time since there was a Chief of Staff who didn't know how to defend the President's policies. I presume he's just another secretary in the building, and that Rove is directing things from the inside, making Card truly irrelevant.

William Novelli: A Seniors Moment

When asked if, prior to being a registered Independent, if he was ever in any party, the president of the AARP -- which recently endorsed the $400 Billion Medicare bill, precipitating 15,000 AARP membership cancellations due to the fact that the bill is widely regarded as upping drug costs --- William Novelli said:
I don't remember. I honestly don't. I may have been a Republican when I was working on the Nixon campaign." (In 1972, not 1968).

William -- if you were working on the Nixon campaign in 1972, then the question isn't whether you were a Republican then -- you were -- but whether your "Independent" registration functions as anything other than political cover.

Card a Card

White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card took exception to John Kerry's use of the word "fuck" in a recent Rolling Stone magazine interview, where Kerry was quoted as saying, in regards to the President's Iraq policy: "Did I expect George Bush to f..k it up as badly as he did? I don't think anybody did." Card reacted to the quote on CNN's Late Edition:
I've known John Kerry for a long time and I'm very disappointed that he would use that kind of language.

No word on whether Card did, actually, expect George Bush to fuck up his Iraq policy (I saw the show -- Card bizarrely sidestepped the question of the content of Kerry's criticism).

This is FAT

Yesterday Microsoft announced that they are going to begin charging royalties for companies that include the FAT file system on their devices. The fees appear to be set at $250,000 per company for a license, and 25 cents per device. This file system is included on digital cameras that use compact flash, smart media, SD, etc, so naturally SanDisk and Lexar were the first to license the technology.

Digital cameras need to have this filesystem in their embedded OS so that they can reformat these cards. Based on who produces these chips/embedded OSes, you'll see these companies begin to pay up for their licenses. That would be Kodak, Sony, Canon, Nikon, HP, Agfa, Windriver,.... (this list will go on for a while...)..

Preformatted floppies come with this filesystem on them. Maxell, 3M, and other companies who for some reason let part of their company fall off the tech bandwagon somewhere, will have to start charging .25 extra per floppy (of course if you're using a Mac, who cares?)

OS X includes this filesystem (to be able to read floppies/CDs/digital media cards), and it is unclear whether MS will be charging for the ability to read this filesystem, so this may affect Apple. Even so, $250,000 is not a very big sum for licensing. It is not a WELCOME added cost, but a reasonable amount for any of the aforementioned companies to afford.

The article mentions that possibly the reason for this shift in IP licensing is to encourage more companies to upgrade/update their systems to OSes that use NTFS (Windows 2000/XP/Me) which analysts see as a good move. I believe that there are more insidious reasons for this push:

1. NTFS filesystems include DRM capabilities. If/when companies switch from using FAT to NTFS, the reason will be for DRM. This falls in line with their "trusted computing" environment.
2. Linux uses the FAT file system. Red Hat, SUSE, and all the other distributions would be dead in the water because of this. Because:
a) Linux communities historically have been unable to raise money to pay for licensing. (Does anyone remember the effort to raise money for the DVD license?)
b) Even if a company (Red Hat for example) paid the fee, they would only be able to distribute a binary for the filesystem. This would violate the GPL, which the Linux community thrives upon.

The short story here is that most likely, Microsoft is using their IP to finally try and begin to kill their adversaries. Let's face it, MS being an $870B company, doesn't need the paltry $250k, and digital cameras are NOT their competition. Linux operating systems are.

I believe that it can be argued that the FAT filesystem on Linux was reverse engineered (circa 1992) when reverse engineering was legal (pre-DMCA), and if the dozens of coders who have contributed to that portion of the Linux project can prove that they have never seen code for the FAT filesystem, that the Linux community will have a rock-solid defense to keep this technology in their distributions. I'm sure that sometime in the near future, they will be asked to prove this. If they can't, the results will be devastating.

Bob of Montreal

To keep my rantings about Montreal separte from my rantings about film, politics, and society, we now have Bob of Montreal.

You call this cold?

I don't get it, but I remember Boston being cold. I've been running around without a scarf or boots this week, or long johns -- just wearing three layers and my coat, in my skivvies for all practical purposes, almost -- and it doesn't seem that cold at all.

And it's bloody like 24 degrees, tops.

Either something happened to me in California (well, it did, but not that) or cold just ain't what it used to be.

Bob in Montreal.

Primes

I think it was Bob who asked me the other day why no one seems to be looking for prime numbers anymore. Apparently, someone is, and is doing it via a distributed computing effort. This site reports that on November 17th of this year, someone's computer found the 40th Mersenne prime.

Sweet

I'm glad to see that Paul is joining me in declaring "Why isn't this front-page news?". Actually, I had previously asked "Why this isn't bigger news?", as I would have been happy if it made any newspapers at all.

Perhaps the critics of Diebold are having a tough time standing apart from the conspiracy theorists, precisely because this is so insidious.

At Last!

Long a subject of interest on this Blog, Paul Krugman
notes that Diebold is doing a shoddy job of providing reliable, verifiable voting in electronic voting machines.

In addition to being operated by a partisan board.

Why should the reliability of our Democracy take second priorty to Diebold's desire to protect trade secrets, that is, why should we permit them to not show anyone their software? The answer is, we should not. We wouldn't ask people to hand their ballots to a single counter who would then tell us what the answer was, and not permit those ballots to be recounted or verified. And we should not let that happen just because that single counter is a computer.

War On Terror taken to the high seas

CNN has an article which states that the US is willing to seize materials on the high seas. This would appear to be a clear violation of Article 2 from the International Law Commission's Convention on the High Seas.

This appears to be another case where international law is getting in the way of doing the right thing.