Category: observations

Yet More Dingbat Kabuki!:

“I simply cannot afford to read the newspapers anymore. I might remember something they print, forget where it came from, and so believe it.”

I’m sure some clever people are on this already, but mention it here to vote for it.

Mossberg Takes on DRM, Urges CD-DRM Boycott:

To make it happen, people need to learn which CDs use DRM and which don’t. One way to tell on CDs is to look for the official CD logo on the package. If the CD logo is missing, the disc probably doesn’t comply with the CD standard, and the noncompliance is probably caused by DRM. Alternatively, somebody could set up a website with information about which discs used DRM. It would be nice, too, to have a site with information about DVDs, to keep track, for instance, of which discs force viewers to watch movie previews before seeing the movie they bought.

It can’t be too hard to set up such a site. If you put ads on it, you could probably make a profit. Who wants to build it?

Yes, I bet this would make a few bucks: seems like an obvious fundraider for EFF, either directly or on their behalf.

I know one beggar who would ride.

My blog is worth $25,968.84

How much is your blog worth?

. . . bodies and blood represent market share.

The Open-Source War – New York Times:

IN September, the Defense Department floated a solicitation for a company to build a “system of metrics to accurately assess U.S. progress in the war on terrorism” and make suggestions on how to improve the effort. As a software executive and former Air Force counterterrorist operative, I began thinking: how would I build this system and what would I recommend?
My first task would be to gauge our progress in Iraq. It is now, for better or worse, the epicenter of the war on terrorism. By most measurements, the war is going badly.
[ . . . ]
If an open-source counterinsurgency is the only strategic option left, it is a depressing one. The militias will probably create a situation of controlled chaos that will allow the administration to claim victory and exit the country. They will, however, exact a horrible toll on Iraq and may persist for decades. This is a far cry from spreading democracy in the Middle East. Advocates of refashioning the American military for top-down nation-building, the current flavor of the month, should recognize it as a fatal test of the concept.

Interesting perspective. So much for our MBA president and his flowchart/flipchart management style.

Now playing: In Bloom by Nirvana from the album “Nevermind” | Get it

Imagine, sung by George W. Bush | Ourmedia:

I heard this on the radio the other day: the subversive nature of it made me smile, even in traffic.

Rebecca Blood said it, not me, but I agree 100%. News is news, whether it’s a human tragedy or something more like a Greek tragedy, complete with hubris, arrogance, and greed.

Reporters: Lost in the ‘Fog’?:

[I]n the Lake George stories, details, background and context were as natural as using a headline and a lead paragraph, yet the breaking Frist story was written as if the events occurred in ghostly isolation, disconnected from others like them, from society, and from humanity in general.
One story, Lake George, has a certain neutrality about it. It’s real news (it’s not political scandal). So reporters and editors fearlessly get it all for us. They do not just report the events, they pull all the relevant facts (laws, history, similar events, speculations, social impact) out of the thousands of bits of information floating around– out of the fog.
The other story is also news. In terms of what will or will not happen to us in the future, it is significantly more important. All the bits and pieces that I’ve tossed in here can be found, without too much effort. Yet, they’re not there. They’re still lost in the fog.
If I said that that it is because it involves a very powerful man backed by a very powerful political party with lots of supporters who attack the press when they feel their leaders are attacked, most reporters and editors would say no, they would never make a decision to report based on fear or favor. Yet virtually everyone handled the story the same way.
Just as reporting all the details about the Lake George incident seems natural, it seems just as natural that the intersection between Frist’s money and politics, the other insider trading in the administration, the corrupt and criminal practices that are the basis of Frist’s fortune went unremarked. Under-reporting in such circumstances has become institutionalized. That’s why the fog remains.

We — democracy — deserve better than this.

I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower

My iBook was returned this morning, before lunch, with a new disk drive and a new logic board. Unbeknownst to me, the logic board replacement program included this machine, so it’s looking like a newer 2 year old iBook than I was expecting.

I haven’t installed or restored anything to it, as I try to work out my next move. Given the entropy around here and the gradual or not-so-gradual decay of all the systems here, replacing the newest system seems not to be such a good idea. Instead, I think I will replace the aging G3/G4 with a mini, selling it off to help defray the purchase.

I have my eye on a larger/faster disk for the iBook that will keep it running well a bit longer. So that’s all right.

The next thing to be upgraded/replaced is the 2000 vintage iMac. And a refurbished G5 can be had for less than $900. Refurbed minis are nicely priced, too.

My iBook disk died today, but since I bought AppleCare the too-small, too-slow disk will be replaced at no charge. Can you say “mixed blessing?” I knew you could.

And I have an up-to-date, almost-complete backup. I say almost complete, since I left some things out of the list of files to backup (like my tasks database). But what I did backup is current as of last night.

It could be so much worse . . . .
Continue reading “notes to self: buy AppleCare, setup reliable backups”

The Sanctity of Marriage Handbook – Bryan Harris – Penguin Group (USA):

In November 2004, the right wing won elections across the country by spinning a vote for the right as a vote for family values. And yet these same politicians judge others by a standard that they themselves cannot uphold.

Composed of short profiles of some of the right wing’s most vocal “defenders” of marriage, The Sanctity of Marriage Handbook takes a satirical look at these leaders to see how well they live up to the sacred ideal they profess to be defending against “defilers” of marriage, such as gay couples hoping to marry. Seldom has hypocrisy been so funny. Bryan Harris profiles some of our moral forerunners as they lead by example. Just a few include:

– Newt Gingrich: served his wife with divorce papers while she was incapacitated by cancer and receiving treatment in a hospital room. He is currently enjoying the sanctity of his third marriage.
– Representative Bob Barr, author of the Defense of Marriage Act: before the age of fifty, Representative Barr had three marriages under his belt. The old Beltway joke goes, “Exactly which marriage is Bob Barr defending?”
– Rush Limbaugh: between Rush and his current wife, Marta, there are six marriages and four divorces. Rush is currently in the process of divorcing Marta.
– Senator Dan Burton: Republican senator who called Clinton a “scumbag” and who runs his campaigns on family values. Burton fathered a son out of wedlock.

This book needs to be thrust into the hands of everyone who voted “red” because they thought it was a vote for “family values,” and it is required reading for those blue blue-staters who might want to feel a little sanctimonious themselves.

Ah, Newt, elder statesmen and moral paragon. How sweet it is to remember that the current crop of corrupt demagogues are the direct result of his stewardship. His first wife was his former high school teacher: creepy.
Continue reading “hypocrisy alert”