January 2002 Archives
Ariel Sharon - "In Principle, I'm Sorry That We Didn't Liquidate Arafat" [Plastic]
From what I've read about this bozo in "Body of Secrets", I've seen nothing to counter the idea that he is a complete and utter asshole. Trying to sink the U.S.S. Liberty and slaughtering Egyptian villagers out in the desert, a sure sign of leadership.
F---edCompany: Macromedia talking to MS?
What would MS do with Flash? Flash.NET anyone? Let designers use any tool they want with .NET as well. Why only have c#, perl, and other geeks things. Make something for the art guys! ;-) [from whatdoiknow.org
test from home...
The Pentagon Cannot Account For $2.3 Trillion [Plastic]
Heh, I did the same thing just last week...
test of radio 8.0.3b1...
come in cloud server, do you read me?
Nope...damn.
Et tu, National Review?. Even conservative pundits are blasting the Bush administration for its Enron stonewalling. [Salon.com]
Bandwagon!
After the gold dust. The dot-coms went bust, but the Chemical Brothers are still office-partying like it's 1999. [Salon.com]
A new Chemical Brothers CD came out and I missed it? Shame...
Dick Cheney's bonehead Enron play. The veep from Big Business just doesn't get it: Hiding behind executive privilege only reinforces the sense that he's hiding something smelly. [Salon.com]
I wondered what that smell was...
On The CSS/XHTML Redesign. A few people have asked what's up with the CSS-only design on this site and how it works in Netscape... [scottandrew.com]
What do you mean I can't make every copy of Netscape 4.x go away forever?!?!
Creative's Nomad 3 Goes FireWire [MacSlash]
So much for my USB 2.0 theory ;-)
USB 2.What? ~ survey reveals 80% of computer users don't understand hi-speed USB 2.0 technology ~ [AnandTech Web News]
USB 2.0 will be neat for MP3 players that don't go to Firewire, but I don't see video people going for it, especially with Firewire 2.0 about to double up.
'The People' Weigh in on MS Case. Thanks to a little-known piece of legislation, the government is required to field public comments before handing down antitrust rulings. Here's a peek at what advocates are claiming they're saying about the Microsoft deal. By Farhad Manjoo. [Wired News]
After having to deal with an Active Directory problem yesterday, I hope they get reamed...
What a joke. The President will speak of "corporate greed" and "greater disclosure" for business in his State of the Union address. What about greater disclosure for the Vice President? What about greed in the White House?
It's just pretty darn frustrating to listen to...
And now Guiliani is pimping for a California Governor, Bill Simons. Funny how people forget everything he ever did before September 11.
BBC Reopens Ogg Streams [Slashdot]
Streaming ogg is such a good idea. I know that most people can't play it "out of the box" but every player that people use has a plug-in for it and it will save you a butt-load of cash. It's good to see a major player like the BBC blazing a trail for others to follow.
Public Survey For NASA's Planetary Research Priorities [Slashdot]
Well, I know I want a ride on the Space Shuttle...
This Modern World. Rational Republicans agree: The Enron scandal is a nonstarter! [Salon.com]
It hurts to read it is so true...
EverQuest and the UN [Slashdot]
How long before the EQ economy is larger than Russia's? Russia is 76 right now and EQ is 77. Scary? You bet.
Fighting The Good Fight: Cheney Pulls A Nixon On Enron Docs [Plastic]
Ho ho ho. Have fun Tricky Dick!
Bye bye, TABLEs. If this site looks a little different, that's because it is different. I've redesigned scottandrew.com to be an all-XHTML, all-CSS,... [scottandrew.com]
This plain just rocks.
HP: 65 Percent of Employees Support Compaq Merger [AnandTech Web News]
Did they ask the ones that will get layed off? I know one who doesn't like it and won't get layed off. Oh well...not my call.
New GeForce4 MX cards show up today in...Macs! [AnandTech Web News]
Wooo! I'm sure that people who don't want macs still won't buy them, but now at least mac people will get first class hardware.
Ashcroft Orders Semi-Nude Justice Department Statues Clothed [Plastic]
Bwahahahahaha. I love this guy... He makes my case for me.
Dual 1Ghz G4 PowerMac With Extra Yummy [Slashdot]
Yeah I want one!
Four Easy Steps To Appearing Smarter (Than You Are) [Plastic]
I think I'm going to dumb down my appearance to lower expectations....
128MB graphics cards roundup at Digit-Life [AnandTech Web News]
I'm holding out for 256MB cards...
test
slashdot has an interesting story about "technology" to get enough time for another 30 second tv spot into a show. Great.
Quanity, never quality...the advertising motto.
U2 - The Vaguest Political Band? [Plastic]
Is that like calling Pet Shop Boys the vaguest gay band?
1995: "I want Undo in the Finder." 
[Scripting News]
Was it worth the wait?
system.verbs.builtins.radio.macros.weblogPostForm changed on Mon, 28 Jan 2002 01:23:06 GMT: If system.temp.radio.misc.initialPostText is defined, initialize the edit box with that text and consume it. [Radio.root Updates]
This may be the answer to my question....
NY Times: Powell Asks Bush to Reverse Stand on War Captives
Once again, the only voice of reason in that administration speaks out.
Red Hat Network for the Masses [Slashdot]
Sweet. $5/month for RHN isn't that bad...especially if you installed off an ISO ;-)
Adam Curry: "I've crammed all kinds of cool functionality into my setup." [Scripting News]
...broke the table based theme too. I know my theme does it too, I'm working on replacing it today. Maybe...
This is insane...am I doomed to fail forever?
system.verbs.builtins.radio.macros.weblogPostForm changed on Fri, 25 Jan 2002 22:31:38 GMT: Handle the flPostToHomePage postArg -- set adrpost^.flNotOnHomePage to true or false accordingly. [Radio.root Updates]
heh, they warned me about changing macros in radio.*. My blockquote stuff is gone now. Now I have to figure out how to do it the right way. No worries...who needs sleep.
Charles Wiltgen: A .NET primer for Mac users. “Since .NET’s relevance is fairly intuitive if you understand it, the goal of this primer is to bring the Mac users up to speed with .NET.” [mac.scripting.com]
Another choice quote, "By 2010, I predict that Java will be an also-ran."
No offense, but...whatever.
AP: "A former Enron Corp. executive who challenged the company's questionable financial practices and resigned last May was found shot to death in a car Friday, an apparent suicide, authorities said."
That is pretty messed up...
I'm in that strange state right now, where even though I didn't get any sleep...I feel "okay"...sorta. A hard crash is coming soon. Tomorrow isn't going to help either. Have to meet up with kat in Sacramento for her reuinion/party thing, but first I need to help Py move. I know I don't have to, but I feel like I should. It's what friends do for one another.
Man...two hours of sleep just isn't enough.
reuters.com: Almost All Probing Enron Received Campaign Money
In the words of Adam Carola, "I'm shocked and appauled."
WSJ. Microsoft failed to report extensive lobbying it made to influence DoJ case against it.>>> Microsoft Corp. failed to comply with a federal law aimed at preventing political contributions and lobbying from influencing antitrust settlements with the government, the law's author said.
Former Sen. John V. Tunney, who wrote the act named for him in 1974, said in an affadavit filed with the Justice Department Thursday night that Microsoft's three-page disclosure on its lobbying activities two months ago fell far short of what the law requires.
In its Tunney Act filing, Microsoft narrowly interpreted what it was required to disclose and reported only a handful of contacts with the government. It didn't report any of its extensive lobbying of Congress or a White House meeting last summer between its chief executive, Steve Ballmer, and Vice President Dick Cheney. <<< [John Robb's Radio Weblog]
This administration is not pro-business. It is pro-executive officer. Let the rich get richer, while the lagging economy drives real people out of their homes.
Restore honor and dignity to the White House? Please...Bush and Cheney make me sick. I'll take Clinton back in a second compared to these creeps.
It's Showtime! Enron Hearings Start With Auditor Taking The Fifth [Plastic]
Wow. Wait. I take that back. I'm not suprised by this in the least. Enron is turning into Mos Eisley [read: a wretched hive of scum and villainy].
Apple woes begone. My thanks to everyone who wrote me today with Apple Airport advice. [scottandrew.com]
Scott thinks Apple should write better docs. So do I. I'm glad Scott has also found a huge positive about owning a mac: hordes of freaks like myself going out of their way to help you get up and running.
Having dealt with *nix, win*, and mac I would have to say that I would rather deal with mac heads any day.
Testing upstreaming from home again...probably won't work.
Men behaving oddly. "The Other Half" does nothing to quell the Oprah-ization of TV. "The Man Show" simply runs it over with a manly power mower. [Salon.com]
The funniest thing The Man Show did was when they hit the streets to stop women's suffrage. Only one woman got the joke. She didn't think it was very funny. I laughed my ass off.
Tom the Dancing Bug. Ricky and Debbie visit Enron. [Salon.com]
Ouch!
Joel talks about how he
didn't start from scratch. Again. ;-)
[Joel on Software]
Apple hardware woes. The problem with Apple stuff is that it usually works wonderfully right out of the box, but you're in trouble... [scottandrew.com]
Yikes. Scott is having a helluva time with his new base station. I'll have to send him to the macintouch archives on base stations...
system.verbs.builtins.radio.macros.xmlCoffeeMug changed on Thu, 24 Jan 2002 17:36:33 GMT: Now works with the standard image as decided in this survey. [Radio.root Updates]
Sweet.
The End of Cyber BS [Slashdot]
I wish I could turn Jon Katz off in my rss feed from slashdot. I know, I know...if I don't want to read it...don't, and don't link to him. Yeah yeah yeah. Sometimes you have to point out what you don't like. Ignoring it won't make it go away ;-)
It's A Steal - "Free Winona" T-Shirts Hit L.A. But has the public become so mindless that they need to latch onto a meaningless, unimportant political statement rather than consider more important issues? [Plastic]
Yes.
Let's test out Radio 8.0.2 and see if it likes my home firewall yet.
Not yet...
"Dave" seems to think it's related to an OS bug. I think it's a firewall bug. Or at least, I think my paticular problem is a firewall bug since I can take my laptop to work and upstream just fine and dandy. Of course, it may be an OS bug with my firewall!
I work with some really smart people. Beej is one of them. He wrote a whole guide just on socket programming.
system.verbs.builtins.radio.webServer.firewall changed on Wed, 23 Jan 2002 23:35:33 GMT: When checking referers for POST requests, allow requests through if the referer is non-local, and Radio's IP address is a standard NAT IP address. This fixes a problem where people running Radio with NAT and port forwarding could not POST remotely. [Radio.root Updates]
I wonder how many bugs left in the database? Only one left that I really care about ;-)
It's another hell day at work. It looks like we have promised to break the laws of space and time, for a small fee. Unfortunately I forgot my book on Special Relativity at home...
MacFixIt.com To Begin Charging For Old Content [MacSlash]
More of things to come...
Song of the Day: Wake Up...Time to Die from Pop Will Eat Itself.
Glass jaw, alcohol whore
Cardboard cut-out lying on the floor,
Lame brain's drunk again...
Stupid dumb-dumb cold plumb insane.
I've felt worse but I've felt better,
A human see-saw to the letter
It makes me feel so bad, so nice So bad, so nice!
News.Com: Netscape Sues Microsoft.
Maybe now something will happen to get Microsoft under control? I doubt it. It's a big F-you to the consumer...
This Modern World. Enron and the "genius of capitalism." [Salon.com]
The Blue Light Dims - Will K-Mart Pack It In? [Plastic]
Remember Carter USM doing "Suppose You Gave A Funeral And Nobody Came"?
I'm a bottom feeder right now. Radio has contributed to my bottom feeding. Most of my Radio posts are link to other weblogs that have links to interesting stories. I need to use Radio for good and not lazyness ;-). Time to only subscribe to news sources so I can move up the weblog food chain.
AP: Amazon.com Posts First-Ever Profit.
Did hell freeze over and I missed it or something?
Is Bush's Fuel Cell Plan Hot Air?. Experts say the Bush administration's new focus, fuel-cell technology is at least a decade away, and its dismissal of current goals of fuel-efficient cars will increase America's dependence on foreign oil. By John Gartner. [Wired News]
Maybe he wants us to be more dependant on Bush, errr, I mean Texas, err I mean domestic oil ;-)
Paul Boutin. Bill Gates' memo paints a picture of a Web free world:"When we started work on Microsoft .NET more than two years ago, we set a new direction for the company -- and articulated a new way to think about our software. Rather than developing standalone applications and Websites, today we're moving towards smart clients with rich user interfaces interacting with Web services. We're driving the XML Web services standards so that systems from all vendors can share information, while working to make Windows the best client and server for this new era. " Bill Gates wants to kill the browser as an interface (Note: Microsoft has halted all development on the browser). In Bill's perfect world, every Website would transition to a rich desktop client using .Net as its basis.
[John Robb's Radio Weblog]
Everyone needs to understand this. How the government let them off is beyond me.
XonX: XFree86 4.2.0 has been released. [mac.scripting.com]
Do I wait for fink to get the xfree-base done first?
DOM Level 3 Working Drafts. The W3C recently released new working drafts of the DOM Level 3 specification. Significant changes are still being clarified, but... [scottandrew.com]
Time for some light reading...
Non-MP3 Codecs? [Slashdot]
You mean, like...Ogg?
MacUserUK 1GHz Power Mac Tomorrow [MacSlash]
A machine that is four times what my TiBook is.... *drool*
UpsideToday Puts Apple On Trial [MacSlash]
This is how the myths about Apple continue to live on.
NPR Talks About Apple [MacSlash: A daily dose of Macintosh News and Discussion]
Curse you Real Player!
NYT. Video pirates. This quote is classic:"We're fighting our own terrorist war," said Mr. Valenti, whose lawyers sent 54,000 letters to Internet service providers last year requesting the removal of copyrighted material from customers' Web sites. The association also regularly refers cases to law enforcement officials and assisted the Customs Service in an antipiracy campaign that included raids on college campuses last month. "The great moat that protects us, and it is only temporary, is lack of broadband access," Mr. Valenti said. [John Robb's Radio Weblog]
Yeah, I'm scared...and if you aren't you should read this again.
What Makes the Sun Flare. A team of scientists is discovering that solar activity, manifested by turbulent surface flares, actually emanates from deep within the fiery ball. By Louise Knapp. [Wired News]
Why does the sun shine? ;-)
Another Airport Security Snafu -- "That Medal of Honor Looks Mighty Suspicious" [Plastic]
It just keeps getting worse...
Business Week Report: The Future of Apple [MacSlash]
Ahhhh...nothing like the sound guessing about the future.
Editorial note: None of the following should be construed to mean that I don't love users. I do I do. I named my company after them. But.. [Scripting News]
I'm one of those users right now. I can't upstream to the cloud server. I've tried everything. I program for a living and I still can't find what's wrong. Should a user have to know how to use tcpdump and netstat to not be a pain in the ass? Or does that just make me more of a pain in the ass? ;-)
It's all good "Dave" 8-)
I don't feel too bad asking for help since I did purchase my copy of Radio.
Quick Manila-Blogger test
Warnings to Red Hat about AOL Buyout [Slashdot]
I'm your father Luke. Give in to the dark side of the force you knob!
AOLinux is, "...it's the very definition of hell."
Well said ;-)
BusinessWeek: Toward a Hack-Proof Mac. “Apple has incorporated a solid barrier in OS X to keep intruders out of its kernel, or core software. Trouble is, you need to go into something called ‘command line mode’ to configure the firewall and make it useful. Yes, you heard right.” [mac.scripting.com]
Yeah, because that Windows XP "Don't hack me" button is soooo much easier. Security is not easy. Can it be made easier? Probably. If Apple had shipped Mac OS X with the firewall enabled and with a secure setting, a lot of people would have called it broken. Plus, if no ports are on by default...
Firewalls are not something that should be taken lightly. They play a very important role in security. They are not by themselves security. It's not enough to say, "Oh, we ship with a firewall built-in, so you are safe." That would be irresponsible.
It's a tough spot to be in as a company that sells operating systems. Red Hat now asks about a firewall config during installation, but many have said they wouldn't trust "RedHat rules" on their box. Why should we trust any default rules that come out of the box?
The author's point about Apple providing an interface to the firewall software is a good one though. Again, I don't think it's a good idea for people to think that just because they clicked a couple of check boxes that they are safe. Maybe an IDS would also be needed. But then, how do you handle it after you know you box has been 0wn3d?
Tough stuff to deal with...
Woman Gives Jehovah's Witnesses A Taste Of Their Own Medicine [Plastic]
This is choice!
So most of my quick one-off posts are now going to my Radio Weblog. [The Log Of Pat]
How sick am I? Link recursion!
The push for privatization in government scares me. First, lets define what a private business really does. Private business is to designed make money for the people who own the business or the share holders if it happens to be a publicly owned business. Contrary to what some people may think, business is not about efficiency. It is about maximizing profit. In some cases that can be done through efficiency, but it doesn't have to be. The benefit is not to the customers or the employees.
The theory that the most efficient business will be the one that prevails works great on paper, but then so did communism. When it comes down to it, people are involved and will make the "on paper" argument invalid. So just go ahead and scratch that idea.
Even if business was about efficiency, look how it would be spun inside of a company. A business would have to figure out how to have as few people as possible, do as much work as possible, while charging as much as possible. This is not equivalent to providing the best possible service, only service that is just good enough compared to the next guy so they can still turn a profit.
Uplifting thoughts eh? Should I flush this out into another business article? Yes No
Philips Lobs Grenade Into RIAA's Copy-Protected CD Plans [Plastic]
Keep hope alive. They may have something just as evil up their sleeve, but it's nice to finally see a big company have to deal with the DMCA.
What a hunk of crap that is...
Washington Post: "AOL Time Warner Inc. is in talks to buy Red Hat
Speaking of black holes...looke like Red Hat is about to meet The Singularity that is AOL/Time Warner. Nullsoft got bought and we still get WinAMP. Netscape got consumed and Mozilla is still in cvs. It might not be bad, but how can one company just lumber around and suck up smaller companies. You think Microsoft might raise some anti-trust issues? God, wouldn't that be ironic!
Black Holes Disputed [Slashdot]
Damn, just when they were starting to catch on too...
If Enron isn't a political scandal, nothing is. So what if Bush and company didn't bail out Enron? The outrage lies in what politicians did for the company on its way up, not the way down. [Salon.com]
Bingo!
iPod Continues To Defy the Naysayers [MacSlash]
Yeah, I want one of these too...
Kazaa Halts Download Distribution. The Kazaa file-trading application is off the market. The company distributing the software pulled the plug while it contends with copyright infringement lawsuits. By Brad King. [Wired News]
Maybe they will come back with their own file format...
Hey "Dave", I went legit and purchased Radio for OS X today.
The more I use it, the more I like it, the more I want to dig into the heart of it.
Forget the Force -- "The Lord" rules!. I, too, once loved "Star Wars." Then I grew up and learned to appreciate "The Lord of the Rings." [Salon.com]
It's not always wise to call something childish...somebody will always have something that trumps your "adult" stuff.
A new version of the Manila-Blogger Bridge Tool is coming. The next step is to make it work with non-news-item-oriented Manila sites, like the site I used to test Manila in 1999. It's still running and still useful. I read that Mark Pilgrim wants to use this. I wonder how many others do. Love Manila Month continues.
Corporate America Wary of Subscription Software [Slashdot]
Knowing how long it takes to get a stable environment with all the apps you use in a business setting, I can understand why. Just when things get stable, along comes a new version.
I really hate Microsoft in these situations since they usually do things to break any non-MS hacks you had been using to try and get some damn work done. But I'm not bitter. I'm still sitting on Exchange 5.5 and Win2k. It almost works like it should.
Aqua Mozilla In The Works [MacSlash]
Mmmmm, lickable browser windows...
Norfolk Island Wants To Ban People With AIDS From Living Or Visiting [Plastic]
Didn't anyone tell them the truth about cooties?
X Marks The Spot - X-Files Wraps It Up In May [Plastic]
Ding-dong the witch is dead.
Tim Jarrett’s Manila Envelope is an AppleScript Studio application for editing a Manila site. It communicates via SOAP. Source code is available. [mac.scripting.com]
Woooo! Now I don't have to write it ;-)
Universal Broadband Access to be in State of the Union? [Plastic]
No quite as cool as a cure for cancer...
A Response to Jon Katz [MacSlash: A daily dose of Macintosh News and Discussion]
Katz still writes for slashdot? Wow...guess my filter prefs are still working.
Bruckheimer Considers 9/11 Film [Plastic]
Noooooooooooooo! No. No. No. No. No. Not some blow-em-up-triumph-from-tragedy-fluff movie about this event in history. No. No Jerry. Don't do it. Leave it alone you money grubbing bastard.
Apple Earnings Right On The Money [MacSlash: A daily dose of Macintosh News and Discussion]
<sarcasm>
Which means they must still be knocking on Death's door. Yup, going out of business any day now. Yup, another nail in the coffin. Yup.
</sarcasm>
I'm a brilliant artist... I just never implement anything...
Radio 8 Hits The Airwaves [MacSlash: A daily dose of Macintosh News and Discussion]
Got "Dave" some flow. Woo.
Enron's California smoking gun. Did the Bush administration do the disgraced company's bidding during the state's electricity crisis? [Salon.com]
Does the Pope get eye boogers?
Pat Robertson is evil. He can say that SF will be wiped away by a terrorist attack because *gasp* gays live here but if I criticize Ashcroft or Bush I'm anti-American? What an asshole.
New and Improved Ad Accounting. In an effort to woo advertisers back online, the leading Internet trade group devises new guidelines for measuring the effectiveness of ads. By Julia Scheeres. [Wired News]
Oh boy...here we go. BTW, I work for an online ad agency...
xmldatastorage.com must be getting crushed by Radio 8. I would love to see how much data it's chewing on. I'm sure some people are saying, "If only xml weren't so verbose, they could be saving so much bandwidth!"
Update: "Dave" said it was a network outage.
Don't blame Clinton. Conservatives who once ridiculed and obstructed the former president's aggressive efforts to fight terrorism are now trying to pin Sept. 11 on him. They have a lot of nerve. Part 2 of a debate. [Salon.com]
Heh, the blame game...
You know who I blame for this...
Why can I only crank out stories when I'm really angry. When I take time to think, I think myself out of all my ideas...
A corporate welfare state nightmare. The Enron scandal exposes how the U.S. political system is bought and paid for. [Salon.com]
How many times does something have to be exposed? Don't forget to Vote Pat in 2008.
Apple Debunking Myths [MacSlash: A daily dose of Macintosh News and Discussion]
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Too bad some myths seem to last forever... When I'm 64, I'll still be hearing that Apple is on the verge of dying and that they have no market share, and their products are too expensive, and they just aren't as cool as all the "Apple Faithful" think they are.
Whatever...
Billy Bragg fan fiction. No kidding.... [scottandrew.com]
Nor can I ever pass up a Billy Bragg link...
Yea, Though I Walk Through the Valley of Porn, I Will Fear No Evil [Plastic]
Can't pass up pr0n links...
...but I fell asleep. I was going to get going on my next business story about the customer always being right and what that really means.
Oh well.
This Modern World. Return with us now to those fabulous days of yesteryear -- the '80s! [Salon.com]
Once again, it's funny because it's true. Painfully true.
NY Times: "Signs of a rebound appear in the high-tech heartland." [Scripting News]
Yeah, sure... I'm seeing more work, but things are still so crappy that no new people are being hired. I guess it's "Business Math"...
ICANN Weblog: "I'm not ready to put 'find me on Google' on my business card in place of my e-mail address and domain name." [Scripting News]
Heh...