Month: January 2004

what’s the difference?

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: January 11, 2004 – January 17, 2004 Archives

Let me add my voice to those criticizing the ABC News story on Dean and the state trooper on his security detail who apparently was guilty of spousal abuse. As nearly as I can tell, this person who worked on his security detail beat his wife. But there’s no evidence in the piece that Dean knew it. Then, while this guy was beating his wife or after it had occurred, Dean filed a three page affidavit for use in a custody hearing attesting that the trooper, Dennis Madore, was a good father.

But, again, there’s no evidence that Dean knew anything about the abuse! [my emphasis] Or really, any evidence that he should have known. Without going into all the ins and outs of the story, Dean seems to have played it by the book at every point.

World O’Crap noted this from Jonah Goldberg:

For Bush to have lied, he had to have known that there were no WMDs, right? It’s not a lie unless you know the truth. If you say something you think is true that later turns out to be false, we don’t call that a “lie,” we call that a “mistake.”

So Governor Dean, with no knowledge to the contrary, continues to employ and testifies on behalf of a state trooper based on his service and that makes him guilty by proxy . . . of what, I’m not sure. At the same time, the President can declare war on Iraq, killing hundreds of US military servicepeople, thousands of civilians, at a huge cost, based on the still-unproven “certainty” of weapons of mass destruction.

What’s the difference?

With a mistake, an apology and an offer to clean up the mess usually covers it. I’m not sure that’s going to be sufficient here.

[Posted with ecto]

wanna help write MSFT’s new slogan? have you heard the one they’re using?

“Microsoft: Your potential inspires us to create software that helps you reach it.”

What? What did they say? My potential makes Microsoft reach for my what?

Not sure anyone needs to be providing free marketing help to The World’s Largest Software Company . . . . .

I’ve chuckled at the ineptitude of that slogan. But then I remembered the buildings at their HQ are too low to make elevator pitches practical. You can get it out as you climb a flight of stairs, though.

If you want to try your hand, read on . . . .

My suggestions:

  • Microsoft: we didn’t get this big by accident.
  • Aren’t you glad you use Windows? Don’t you wish everybody did? (with apologies to the folks @ Dial)
  • Windows: hacker-tested, DoJ-approved
  • Trust us: we’re Microsoft . . .

[Posted with ecto]

fair trade for the Americas?

Fast Company | The Wal-Mart You Don’t Know

“People ask, ‘How can it be bad for things to come into the U.S. cheaply? How can it be bad to have a bargain at Wal-Mart?’ Sure, it’s held inflation down, and it’s great to have bargains,” says Steve Dobbins, president of thread maker Carolina Mills. “But you can’t buy anything if you’re not employed. We are shopping ourselves out of jobs.”
[ . . . ]
“We want clean air, clear water, good living conditions, the best health care in the world–yet we aren’t willing to pay for anything manufactured under those restrictions.”

Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell, and that strikes me as a side-effect of this unending quest for lower prices. Those prices represent wages, after all.

It might be instructive to see how many “Buy American” bumper stickers you can find in Wal-Mart parking lot. I don’t shop there, nor do I own stock in them. if you do, think of what your dollars are voting for.

[Posted with ecto]

a possible business model for downloadable music?

Saw this mentioned on BoingBoing . . . .

We believe that most people like to be treated as customers and not potential criminals – DRM is easily circumvented and just puts obstacles in the way of enjoying music. Apple has even privately stated that they decided to use a weak form of DRM solely to get major labels onboard.

Finally, buying music through Bleep means that you are supporting the artists work, and in some cases you are getting mp3’s encoded by the artists themselves. After the bandwidth charges and Bleep running costs are subtracted, the artist gets half of the album or track price.

While the first part of that is interesting (it echoes a conversation Josh and I had some time back, and that I tried to work out a solution to here), I’m more interested in the second part. Someone — a small label, of course — is taking a chance on their customers. There are a few factors at work here. The artists on this label are not commoditized hit machines, and have a relationship with their audience that makes this less of a risk. Also, the label’s business folks are likely to have chosen their vocation and even the company itself out of a love of music, rather than just a way to make a living (or a killing, as the case may be).

I still think it makes more sense to let Apple, TiVo, et al, take small bites out of the DRM obstacle and let their (and our) position strengthen. It’s not like this is a big secret, but if we lose enough small battles out of “principle” we risk losing the war.

now playing: Love Song from the album Themes for Great Cities by Simple Minds
(this track was converted from an LP: it would be nice if the RIAA cartel would take the chance Warp is taking and release their back catalogs: but they love money more than music and have forgotten how to make one with the other, it seems).

[Posted with ecto]

Smoking Accessories!!! (indeed)

Spam Poetry Contest

Yes folks, it’s the first-ever J-Walk Blog contest. More specifically, it’s a Spam Poetry Contest.

My humble entry . . .

The PI Resource Center Public Records Alert!

No long Medical questionaire. We respect your privacy
Re: Your Software
Experience Rock Hard Erections for the New Year 8l9px
Safe and natural
choose from a range of medications swordfish amazona resurgence
Smoking Accessories!!!

MCSE, translated

Flocculent Device

Someone has compiled (OK, made up) a list of other ways you can spell out MCSE: the canonical version is “Must Consult Someone Experienced” but I think some of these are even better.

I liked these 5 best:

  • Management Can’t Send E-mail
  • Maintenance Costs Significantly Extra
  • Minion of the Crappy Software Empire
  • More Co-opted Standards Everyday
  • Making Computers Susceptible to Exploit