January 2003 Archives
I was joking around today and I intentionally made the typo when writing /dev/null. Some of the resulting comments were great.
"There should totally be a /dev/dull."
JoeMillionare > /dev/dull
Tivo and ReplayTV should have a /dev/dull.
Phase 1: Log, mine, and drill everywhere possible
Phase 2: Profit
Phase 3: There is no Phase 3
Phase 1: Lower taxes
Phase 2:
Phase 3: Strong economy
Phase 1: Kill evil-doers
Phase 2:
Phase 3: World peace
Josh has a slightly different take on the plan:
Preface: I'm a moron.
That being said, I wish fink would tell me when I'm being a moron.
$ fink install flac
It appears you want to install flac, you do know there
is a version that doesn't depend on X11 right? You will
save ~40MB if you use the nox version.
Would you rather install flac-nox? [Y/n]
Yes, yes, yes...I know that I could easily get around this problem by not being a moron and RTFM or look at the entire fink list before I go to install a package. Sometimes not being a moron just isn't an option.
Brookings Scholar Is Detained by INS [Washington Post: Front Page]
"Oops."
Of course we only hear about it because they screwed with the wrong guy. A journalist. One with good enough connections to get out of dodge and get the word out.
The Post gets in an oldie but a goody dig in at the INS when they remind us that two of the dead 9/11 terrorists were sent student visa approvals.
While looking around for a database palette for OmniGraffle I found Cretin Tracker. I want to use it, but I know I shouldn't...at least not on a computer that I have in the office. Since I have my laptop is in the office a lot, it gets ruled out as a possible host for this app. Oh well. It's probably better that I forget these little "transgressions" and get back to work.
"One by one, the terrorists are learning the meaning of American justice." — George W. Bush
It's always interesting to read an analysis from another country.
So I played Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for the first time tonight. I was over at Ryan and Josh's place, and Ryan was showing off his TV, so I grabbed the controller to see what all the fuss was about. It was cool. It wasn't earth shattering though. I didn't feel compelled to stay there for hours and hours, until I couldn't keep my eyes open to play. But it was fun. The story line was interesting. I can definitely see how parents should not buy this for little 8 year-old Timmy though.
TMW@Salon: We'll waste as much gas as we want, thank you very much!
Discovery Health Channel: "This research sends an important message to a population that is spending more and more time working and staying up late watching television or using the internet. Adequate daily sleep should not be considered a luxury, but an important component of a healthy lifestyle."
Of course, the study also found that people that slept more than normal also suffered similar health problems. I think The Onion put it best though:
"Death, a metabolic affliction causing total shutdown of all life functions, has long been considered humanity's number one health concern. Responsible for 100 percent of all recorded fatalities worldwide, the condition has no cure."
BBC: "Pirated copies of the latest Lord of the Rings DVD flood into the UK after they were made from a disc sent to Oscar judges."
So I'm trying out Brad Choate's cool MTIfEmpty plugin to try and work around having posts with no category having a dangling "Archived in:" label.
Here goes something!
Yay! It worked. Mostly...
Seth Finkelstein: Another sign that the copyright debate has gone mainstream: The Eldred decision is the plot of today's FoxTrot comic... [Infothought]
Well, even though the Raiders completely blew it, a team with a pirate theme did win. So the game wasn't a total loss ;-)
ABC News: "World number one chess player Garry Kasparov has crushed the champion computer program Deep Junior in his trademark aggressive style."
Yay for wet-ware!
The messy stylesheet that I was using is dead. It was a nice clean stylesheet when it first started. A simple default MT file. Then I started adding, and adding, and adding, until one day I look at it and said, "this has to go."
Is it due to the recent design debacle at diveintomark.org? Partially, but not completely. There are a couple of imporant differences. The first is that Mark typically has interesting content, so more people see his site. The other is that Mark will eventually end up with a very nice looking site, while I only hope to have a site that isn't complete crap.
Maybe I'll use the new EFF look... ;-)
You have to ask yourself, do you feel lucky?
$ fink install evolution
passwd:
The following package will be installed or updated:
evolution
The following 123 additional packages will be installed:
audiofile audiofile-bin audiofile-shlibs bonobo bonobo-conf bonobo-conf-dev
bonobo-conf-shlibs bonobo-dev bonobo-shlibs control-center
control-center-dev control-center-shlibs db3 db3-shlibs db31
docbook-dsssl-nwalsh docbook-dtd esound esound-bin esound-common
esound-shlibs freetype2-hinting freetype2-hinting-shlibs gal19 gal19-shlibs
gal21 gal21-shlibs gconf gconf-dev gconf-shlibs gdk-pixbuf gdk-pixbuf-shlibs
glib glib-shlibs glibwww glibwww-shlibs gmp gmp-shlibs gnome-libs
gnome-libs-dev gnome-libs-shlibs gnome-mime-data gnome-print gnome-print-dev
gnome-print-shlibs gnome-vfs-ssl gnome-vfs-ssl-dev gnome-vfs-ssl-shlibs gtk+
gtk+-data gtk+-shlibs gtk-doc gtkhtml gtkhtml-dev gtkhtml-shlibs
gtkhtml1.1-shlibs guile guile-dev guile-shlibs imlib imlib-shlibs intltool
libghttp libghttp-shlibs libglade libglade-shlibs libjpeg libjpeg-bin
libjpeg-shlibs libpng libpng-shlibs libpng3 libpng3-shlibs libtiff
libtiff-bin libtiff-shlibs libungif libungif-bin libungif-shlibs libwww
libwww-bin libwww-shlibs libxml libxml-shlibs libxml2 libxml2-bin
libxml2-shlibs libxslt libxslt-shlibs mozilla mozilla-browser
mozilla-chatzilla mozilla-dev mozilla-dom-inspector mozilla-js-debugger
mozilla-mailnews mozilla-psm mozilla-shlibs netpbm netpbm-bin netpbm-shlibs
netpbm10-shlibs oaf oaf-dev oaf-shlibs openjade opensp3 opensp3-shlibs
openssl openssl-dev openssl-shlibs orbit orbit-bin orbit-shlibs passwd
pkgconfig popt popt-shlibs readline readline-shlibs scrollkeeper
sgml-entities-iso8879 system-xfree86
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
Well? Do you, punk?
So the lady that hit me called me up to tell me that I lied to my insurance company. Since I never wrote down what happened, here is my version.
I was driving north on Lombard Street, towards the Golden Gate Bridge. I had changed into the middle lane about halfway through a block. Coming to the next intersection there was a truck turning left, stopped, with traffic stopped behind it. A black Jeep Cherokee tried to come into the middle lane and it's front right headlight went into my back driver's side door.
When we pulled over into a parking lot the driver got out and asked me if I saw her blinker. I said "no." Now, should it matter? I was in the middle lane. Merging traffic has to yield, right? She was in a hurry to get around a stop in traffic. No problem there, except that I was already in the lane.
Now she called me up today and started yelling at me about how I lied. I wasn't in the lane and I was trying to get by her. I was the one who was moving and she was the one trying to get around a truck turning left. She didn't see me. She said she looked over her should and saw me in the other lane. If I was in the other lane, how did she manage to hit me in the middle lane? She hit when she first started to come into the middle lane.
So she is pissed that Allstate is trying to get money from her. She got a letter from Allstate saying that she had made an unsafe lane change. I didn't say that. Allstate is the one trying to get the money. But nothing will change the fact that she hit me.
Drew Clark pens "Bowdlerizing for Columbine?" on Slate and breaks down the ideas and laws behind the great Video/DVD editing scandal currently raging between Utah and Hollywood.
I don't know, but from my view it looks like a clear cut case of copyright infringment. Not that I agree or disagree with what "they" are doing to the films, but just as a matter of law. IANAL and this is not legal advice, but then you already knew that... ;-)
Anytime I hear "Utah" I can't help but think of Sheep on Drugs and their live album "Two for the Show" where one of the band members tells the audience that he doesn't care that, "I can't get the drugs that I want, that I can't get a drink when I want, this place is beautiful! Salt Lake City, you've got it all, you've even got Sheep on Drugs."
Just so you all know, I'm not trying to make the "A-list." I'm not that delusional.
Back From The Protest
Just got back from the protest. It was totally amazing. I've never seen so many people in one place in my life (in person or on TV). Estimates range from 350,000 to half a million people. [On Lisa Rein's Radar]
Oh my freakin' god! Last war protest there were between 40 and 80k...
Lessig on what we do next:
on building rather than suing: The Eric Eldred ActAmong the hundreds who have written, Kevin Kelly writes "[y]our stand before the court will only be a failure if we fail to follow through with what is next." Many more ask, "what can we do next."
Here is something you can do right now. In this NYT op-ed, I describe a proposal that would move more work into the public domain than a total victory in the Supreme Court would have. The basic idea is this: 50 years after a work has been "published," a copyright owner would be required to pay a copyright tax. That tax should be extremely low--this proposal says $50, but it could be $1. If the copyright holder does not pay the tax for 3 years, then the work is forfeit to the public domain. If the copyright holder does pay the tax, then its contacting agent would be made a matter of public record. Very quickly we would have a cheap, searchable record, of what work is controlled and what work is free.
Read it, and think. And if you agree, then please, do something about it. Write your congressman or congresswoman. Donate via PayPal to free.mickey@foobox.com to help us spread the idea.
First from BoingBoing:
Supreme Court rules against Eldred, Alexandria burns This AP wire reports that we lost Eldred, 7-2. That's the Supreme Court case that Larry Lessig argued to establish the principle that the continuous extension of copyright at the expense of the public domain is unconstitutional. This blog will be wearing a black arm-band for the next day in mourning for our shared cultural heritage, as the Library of Alexandria burns anew.
(Thanks, Gnat!) [Boing Boing Blog]
The opinions are online.
How can this be? What part of limited times am I missing? I'm sure there will be many analysis of the decision online as soon as people get a change to digest this.
A little birdie told me about Send It To The EFF, which is asking you to give your music industry settlement cut to EFF. I say go for it ;-)
Unswitch: You've failed me for the last time, OS X. Out you go. [scottandrew.com]
Yikes. Looks like Scott didn't have a good experience. Me? I've been doing fine, but then Mac OS X is just the OS that I hate the least. I hate all computers on some level. We all expect them to be perfect, or at least "just work," all the while forgetting that they aren't perfect because they are made and maintained by people.
Cindy Cohn, the Legal Director for EFF, is also on the board of directors of Human Rights Advocates. Just spreading a little google-love around...
Cory Doctorow's book,Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, has hit the shelves, so to speak. You can read it online if you want. Yes Virginia, the whole book is online, in multiple formats, under a Creative Commons license. That's just so freaking cool. Cooler than sharks with lasers on their heads! Cooler than Laser Floyd! Okay, I'm sure you get the point...it's cool.
Oh, and you can buy it if you want.
An exchange between Helen Thomas and Ari Fleischer.
Q My follow-up is, why does he want to drop bombs on innocent Iraqis?
Sounds like a fun briefing to be in on. But wait, it gets better! Check out this question asked by Russell Mohbiker.
Q Ari, other than Elliott Abrams, how many convicted criminals are on the White House staff?
The Universe, as a Babe of 400,000 Years. Astronomers have produced what they say are the most detailed pictures yet of the infant universe. By Dennis Overbye. [Fresh Stuff]
Why do I let myself get sucked into these kinds of debates? It's like watching realists argue with utopians. The realists say X won't happen because of Y and the utopians cry that we can never achieve X unless we, at the very least, try to achieve X. X can be almost any topic from the semantic web to world peace.
It makes my mind spin, then I get dizzy and fall down. I often find myself stuck in the middle with you. Of course we would like to see things like world peace, and we often do what we can to work towards it. But deep down we know it will probably never happen. That doesn't mean we stop working towards it though. Maybe we just manage our expectations accordingly to how big an X we are working towards.
"The house that google built" is a cool phrase though...
One habit of mine that should have died by now is lifting the mouse. Even a slight tilt to the now ubiquitous optical mouse will give you "funky" on the screen. I keep thinking it's the mouse pad that is causing the laser to not track properly, which it is clearly an operator error.
What is causing that error though? I think I've discovered my problem.
The Ergo-Police are probably headed my way now. But I've managed to situate my iMac such that it's almost impossible for me to operate something as simple as a mouse without screwing it up. Time for a computer shuffle.
BBC: "The United Nations' nuclear watchdog demands that North Korea readmit inspectors and abandon its atomic weapons programme."
So both sides claim they want to go back to where they were (N. Korea with no nuclear program in exchange for peace) apparently, but neither side wants to blink first. Is there something way different going on behind the scenes or am I just missing something obvious? If we aren't giving up anything more than what we already giving up before...what's the problem?
Sorry Arianna, Bob the Angry Flower beat you to it.
Studios Using Digital Armor. Media executives are locking up products with the same types of digital tools that people have used to get the products free. By Amy Harmon. [Fresh Stuff]
That's right kids. Soon you will not be able to tape certain pay-per-view shows off of cable. That is unless of course you would like to pay a little extra.
I'm so sick of cable. Todd Dominey is also getting fed up with low levels of customer service and high rates. There isn't a service out there that will (not can) provide what I want.
On the Scent of Terrorists. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is looking to develop a sniffing machine that can detect the enemy by their body odor. By Nicholas Wade. [Fresh Stuff]
BoingBoing: Great clip of a Daily Show satirical segment entitled, "So You're Living in a Police State!"Link (22MB QuickTime) Discuss (via On Lisa Rein's Radar)
Oh my...I have to start watching the Daily Show again. Pronto!
Washington Post: "President Bush has nearly doubled the size of the economic stimulus package he will propose next week in an effort to jumpstart the economy ahead of his reelection bid, administration officials said today."
I propose we take the entire package and buy lottery tickets.
AP: A lawyer wants a federal court to stop the Super Bowl unless the city expands access for the disabled at the stadium. [via SFGate]
How classic is this? The disabled activists must have forgotten to check with a public relations type person, because I doubt this will help the cause.
Vandeveld, who represents Walker, said city officials showed continued indifference to the concerns, leaving her with no choice but to "hit them in their pocketbook."
Which is all fine and good, except that this is going to generate way too much bad spin for disabled activists. You might as well trying to cancel the 4th of July or banning apple pie to further your cause The Super Bowl isn't just a local event helping to benefit San Diego or the owners of the stadium. The Super Bowl is watched around the world by over a billion people. Do you want over a billion people mad at you. Even if they shouldn't be mad at you, they will be. They aren't going to stop and think, "Gee, Qualcom really should honor the agreement they signed in 1977 to fix their bathrooms to be more accessible." They are going to think, "Those stupid gits shutdown the Super Bowl, I hate people in wheel chairs. They ruin if for everybody."
Sure the stadium people will feel some heat, but most of the bad press is going to land in the lap of the activist, who will probably be completely confused as to why over a billion people are hoping bad things happen to her.
Embattled Lott Takes Over Rules Committee. WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi will take over the Senate Rules and Administration Committee when Congress returns to Washington next week, the senator told The Associated Press Friday. By The Associated Press. [Fresh Stuff]
Everyone was wondering what kind of deal Lott would get and it looks like he didn't do too bad for himself. You know, considering he had to quit his job and all...
Well I don't have time to futz with some fancy shmancy ECMAScript/CSS solution for hiding/showing the answers. Yes, it's trivial, but it takes more than zero units of time. Time is what I don't have. So click on through to see the questions with the answers.
If you only want to see the questions, read this entry.
Once again, Team Gonzo took on the monumental task of running Trivia Night at the Mayflower Inn. Last time it went great. This time, it was a little rougher... Anyways, I'll post the questions now and I'll update with the answers tomorrow. I'm looking for a cool way to do it with CSS, but I'm braindead right now. Click on through to get the list of questions.
Wired: "The Bush administration's efforts in 2002 to poke into the private lives of American citizens prompt one privacy advocate to draw comparisons to Sauron, the all-seeing dark wizard in The Lord of the Rings."
