Things I Think About Things I See.
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Friday, November 30, 2001
I guess I'll find out for sure later tonight when I get home but ZDNet doesn't think I'm at a huge risk of losing my fast internet.
Posted by 04:42:34 PM | Permalink for Entry 7540354.
Analysts don't expect the service to be closed, putting the odds Friday at about 35 percent that Carlson will rule that Excite@Home can shut down, leaving its cable partners and 4.1 million customers in the lurch.
Lack of sleep will do it to you. Court told of sleep deprivation clue in Selby train case. I've often said that driving while sleepy is every bit as bad as driving while drunk but people tend not to hold a sleepy driver in the same contempt as a drunk driver. Another example of inconsistancy in the laws here in the US.
The 911 tape (999 in the UK) of all this is interesting.
I think I need to find out who this guy has his insurance with.
Posted by 02:55:07 PM | Permalink for Entry 7537577.
A man who says he uses marijuana for medicinal purposes received $5,525 from his insurance company after arguing that the backyard crop police ripped up was covered by his homeowner's policy.
It's only been within the last few years that astronomers have been able to find evidence of other planets outside of our own solar system. Due to the nature of one of these planets atronomers were actually able to see the planet rather than just infer its existence from the wobble of the star that the planets gravitational pull caused. Well, some clever scientist figured out how to analyse the atmosphere of that planet and CNN gives us this headline:
It's a straight forward and interesting read. However, compare it to the headline about from Guardian Unlimited which states:
CNN.com - Atmosphere detected on distant planet - November 28, 2001
Now which story would you rather read. :^) Posted by 09:20:17 AM | Permalink for Entry 7529709.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | New planet sparks hopes for alien life.
It was yesterday that Dori had her surgery. Apparently all is well. Rest and get well soon, Dori.
Posted by 06:22:42 AM | Permalink for Entry 7526786.I went to sleep with the tv on last night. At some time, I've never known exactly when, the all night news comes on and I often wake up just enough to get bits and pieces of news stories. One of the stories that sunk in and invaded my dreams was George Harrison dies
.
He was probably the Beatle I had the most respect for. Though he was a follower of a different religion than me, Harrison was a Godly man. Harrison's family issued a statement saying: "He left this world as he lived in it, conscious of God, fearless of death, and at peace, surrounded by family and friends." There isn't a much better way to leave life. Rest in peace, George.
Thursday, November 29, 2001
I really don't think this ought to come as a surprise to anyone.
Posted by 09:00:51 PM | Permalink for Entry 7516615.
Scientists found that women who do not drink at all can actually take longer to become pregnant than those who drink up to two alcoholic beverages a day.
Well, this is disheartening. Excite@Home is playing games with AT&T and it could likely lead to an outage for me @ my home. My service is through Comcast and their assurances to me aren't very assuring:
The really sad part is that I think my modem is out. Posted by 04:01:32 PM | Permalink for Entry 7508844.
Comcast: Spokeswoman Jenni Moyer said the company was "continuing to talk with Excite@Home and working to try and reach a resolution." She would not comment on the company's plans in the case of an outage.
In a letter sent to customers, Comcast said it was working "to develop a Comcast-managed network" to provide service. The letter also gave customers phone numbers and Web sites for more information, and stated that the company would automatically credit customers' accounts for time without service.
Speaking of Tom and Dori, it doesn't matter whether Al Gore won or lost, he isn't president, he isn't going to be president for at least three more years, if then. Let's get over all this and deal with the realities that we have.
Posted by 12:38:25 AM | Permalink for Entry 7491811.Dori's having a little surgery tomorrow. She's someone that I've never met, and probably never will, but I read her and Tom's stuff over at
Wednesday, November 28, 2001
I've been listening to a lot of boasting from football fans lately. I've also been listening to a lot of excuses being made after the boasting fell short of its mark. You see, football is all about coming up with a good plan and working the plan. If the plan is good and it's implemented to perfection then you've got a win. A lot of coaches can come up with winning plans but when going head to head only one of the two teams is going to win, regardless of how well both sides plan.
It all boils down to the implementation of the plan. Even a poor plan can result in a win given good implementation if the otherside fails to implement their plan properly. Planning is only half of it. Remember that.
Now let's look at what this has to do with IT security software firms cooperating with the FBI and their Magic Lantern program. From what I'm understanding, Magic Lantern is a way for the FBI to covertly plant keylogging software on a suspect's computer without ever physically entering the suspects location of operation. The keylogging software is used to grab passphrases used with encryption software the suspect may be using on his computer. This software isn't new, building into it the ability to covertly install it over the internet is. This could well be one of the promised uses of viruses for the "good" of mankind.
But wait a minute. Even if it is a virus for the good of mankind, the bad guys aren't going to view it as such. Are they? So off go the bad boys to the local Software, Etc. to purchase anti-virus software from McAfee and Symantec. This is some good software and it should catch those virii before they can do their damage. Won't they? Well, they should and this should pose as a stumbling block for the FBI because even though those G-men are just as clever as the hackers they are sometimes after in building a virus or a trojan horse to install their keylogger software, as soon as the exploit they have found becomes known McAfee and Symantec owe it to their customers to close that hole and detect that virus.
At least one would think so.
Symantec's chief researcher, Eric Chien, says:
"If it was under the control of the FBI, with appropriate technical safeguards in place to prevent possible misuse, and nobody else used it - we wouldn't detect it," said Chien. "However we would detect modified versions that might be used by hackers."That's their plan. Of course, Nebraska really planned to beat Colorado last week, too. The problem is I see no guarantee that Symantec can successfully implement their above stated plan. There are going to be clever hackers who are going to be able to figure out how to present themselves as FBI approved software. What is Symantec's plan then?
Just something to think about. Posted by 04:31:44 PM | Permalink for Entry 7479612.
Well, now, isn't this loverly:Excite@Home could pull the plug Friday Comcast hasn't said squat to me about any impending loss of service.
Posted by 01:14:00 PM | Permalink for Entry 7474752.This came to my attention about Symantic agreeing to cooperate with the FBI over Magic Lantern. I've got a rant formulating on this but I don't have time to get into it right now. Check back latter if you are interested in my opinion on this.
Posted by 08:30:58 AM | Permalink for Entry 7468477.Montgomery County, Maryland, wanted to do something about indoor air pollution so they set about to enact an ordinance that would fine folks for pollutants that left their property and bothered someone else on their property. Tobacco smoke was included as one of those pollutants. Well after global ridicule, they changed their mind regarding the anti-smoking portion of this bill.
Now, I haven't read the actual bill but I have been reading, here and there, about it and based on what I've read, I could have supported this bill. Instead of diminishing property rights it would have enhanced those rights. There was only a problem when the pollutants crossed a property line and became an irritant to a neighbor. Isn't that what property rights is all about, protecting one's property from incursion by other's? I missed one aspect of this though.
While I don't see how someone in one house could credulously claim that they were being bothered by the cigarette smoke eminating from another house, I hadn't considered apartment dwellers. Still if I smoke and live in an apartment I should be considerate of my neighbors and my non-smoking neighbors would have every right to expect to not have their home invaded by cigarette smoke. I agree with the above, though, the actual aggrevation would not matter if neighbors just didn't like each other. Posted by 07:36:23 AM | Permalink for Entry 7467671.
"Upon further consideration, however, it has become clear that the tobacco smoke provisions will be nothing more than a tool to be used in squabbles between neighbors, and that significant resources will be required to address these complaints."
Okay Monday I posted about McAffee's cooperating with the FBI. This morning I'm reading that that isn't the case. Never has been, never will be. The reporter that broke this news is standing by his original story.
At this point I'm going to give McAfee's and NAI the benefit of the doubt. McAfee's is being adamant enough about their lack of cooperation with anyone to weaken their product that I don't want to jump the gun on condemning them . . . for this. They have not had the greatest record in keeping their foot out of their mouth in the past with rumors, some of those being stoked by NAI officials, circulating about backdoors and such. Perhaps because of their successes they are targets of rumormongers. Perhaps they just haven't learned to keep their mouths shut.
Tuesday, November 27, 2001
I was listening to Duke and The Doctor tonight on a trip down to pick up some school supplies for my youngest son.. They were talking about health and choices and for the first time I heard Dr. Jan McBarron acknowledge that we will not live forever. A lot of our choices not only determine how long we will probably live but also how well we enjoy ourselves while we are living it. They were suggesting an 80/20 plan. For 80% of our time we eat healthy and do healthy things, the remaining 20% should be spent on decadence, my word, not theirs but that is essentially it. And I agree with them on this.
However, then along comes the topic of smoking. Now I'm not a smoker, I haven't been for twenty-five years. I don't really like being around smokers but some people I care a lot about are smokers. I wish they would quit but I know they won't. The word from The Duke and The Doctor is quit smoking. It isn't we think you ought to quit, or we sincerely encourage you to quit, it was quit. Period. It is very good advice.
The trouble is that it is advice that many won't follow. It's kind of like, . . . no, it is exactly like teaching sexual abstinance to teenagers. It's excellent advice that many will follow but not all and for those that won't follow it we teach safe sex. Now, I'm not about to suggest that we teach safe smoking. It can't be done, but we can give nutritional advice to people who, for whatever reason, choose to continue to smoke.
The problem is that health issues are decided more often by special interest groups than by healthcare professionals. Two health problems are tackled in two entirely different ways due to public opinion. Do we teach abstinance or precaution? Well let's look at the polls to decide or let's listen to the loudest special interest group to decide, the polls will follow them shortly anyway.
Personally, I just wish there was some consistency in the way we handle things.
Monday, November 26, 2001
Okay, the FBI is working on eavesdropping tools and hacking methods to allow themselves access to our computers. Hurray for them, I'm glad they have these tools at their disposal. As long as they are used legally I have no problem at all. Afterall, they are out after the bad guys. Aren't they? Let them get a court order to use these tools and everyone, except the bad guys, should be happy. Right? That's the way it works. Isn't it? Here's the rub for me, though:
That isn't McAfee's place. McAfee can either look out after their customer's best interest or they can look out after the FBI's best interest, but they can't do both. I'm uninstalling every bit of software I have from them and finding an alternative that is out to protect me from all intruders. Posted by 11:47:43 AM | Permalink for Entry 7413506.
At least one antivirus software company, McAfee Corp., contacted the FBI on Wednesday to ensure its software wouldn't inadvertently detect the bureau's snooping software and alert a criminal suspect.
Well, it looks like the Borg are closer than we thought:
Maybe a step like this is something that is needed to stave off Vernor Vinge's Coming Technological Singularity. ;-) Posted by 06:20:04 AM | Permalink for Entry 7407514.
The latest issue of the British journal Advanced Materials offers a case in point: Picture grafting a microelectronic circuit directly onto a human brain cell. Do this successfully, and you've opened the floodgates for bioelectronic devices from brain implants, therapies and prosthetics to neural computers.
Sunday, November 25, 2001
Okay, some people got hurt, and that's not funny, but the incident still drew a smile from me
Now shouldn't these folks have known by their horoscope that attending this party would be a bad idea? :-) Posted by 11:27:39 PM | Permalink for Entry 7401815.
It was unclear how many people were on dance floor when it collapsed. Zavinsky said more than 500 people attended the party, which began at 10 p.m. Saturday. The event was billed as a celebration for people with the astrological signs Scorpio and Sagittarius.
About twenty-five years ago my younger brother was heavily involved in racing slot cars. He and some of his friends decided to attend a race event being held in Cinicinatti. It was a rainy night, miserable for driving, as they made their way through Kentucky heading for the races. Suddenly they found themselves being pulled over and surrounded by police cars. My brother and the other occupants were pulled out of the car, not even being allowed time to put on their shoes, in the rain with state troopers holding riot guns on them. They matched the description of a group of men that had just knocked over a bank, killing a security guard in the process.
It was soon figured out that my brother and his friends were not the culprits they were seeking and they were allowed to go on their way, wet and miserable for the next couple of hours of their journey. I really expected my brother to be really pissed at the police officers that had pulled him over and treated him that way but he wasn't. He understood that circumstances required that he be treated the way he was until they were sure that he and his friends were not the ones responsible for the robbery and murder and were not any threat to the police officers.
That understanding may be wearing thin on the hundreds who sit in custody after the 9-11 attack.
Like my brother, I would imagine many of these folks understood that circumstances required that they be held in custody. Also, like my brother, I imagine those same folks aren't really too happy about the circumstances. After two months, though, I would think that most of them are getting a little tired of being patient and are ready to either be turned loose, deported or face charges. At least, that's the way I would feel about now. Posted by 07:25:43 PM | Permalink for Entry 7396207.
Over all, more than 1,200 people have been detained as part of the sweeping investigation, including men traveling the country with large amounts of cash and box cutters, and those who sought information on crop-dusters and flying lessons on large jets.
Saturday, November 24, 2001
Well, if you are looking to get married Atlanta, GA is not the place for you.
Posted by 09:39:53 AM | Permalink for Entry 7365194.Larry Ellison has just tattooed a big target on his ass. Aside from the fact that he's just invited every hacker in the world to converge on his new email server with his assertion that it was secure, he's also missed the boat in understanding why Exchange Server has so many security holes.
One of the major selling points of Exchange Server is how well in integrates with Outlook. Exchange Server has security holes in and of itself without Outlook but so does Outlook with the most dangerous of them residing in Outlook.
"We don't want people to migrate from Microsoft e-mail. We want people to throw out Microsoft Exchange for a server that works," Ellison said.
Organizations use the Exchange/Outlook combination due to all the bells and whistles that it has and its those bells and whistles that make it so easy to attack. For Oracle to offer the same functionality in their mail server as Exchange server offers they are going to have holes that someone will find and exploit. If they don't offer the functionality they aren't going to sell their server. Posted by 08:40:07 AM | Permalink for Entry 7364610.
You remember the guy that ran past the security checkpoint at Hartsfield International Airport last week? Do you remember all the flights that got screwed up because of his little prank? Do you remember him being blamed for several million dollars of lost revenue and increased expenses for the airlines? Well, that's not all of it, he's also being blamed for a market crash by The Taipei Times. Well at least he won't be facing any federal charges.
Posted by 07:54:16 AM | Permalink for Entry 7364218.In a nation where illiteracy is rampant and the average monthly income is $4 we are offering $25 milion for the capture of Osama bin Laden. Have you stopped to think what the average Afghan thinks of that? Most of them don't like bin Laden, regardless of of the demonstrations we see elsewhere. It seems most Afghans blame him for the destruction of their country but they are not going to seek out the reward. They are too busy seeking out food.
Posted by 07:43:13 AM | Permalink for Entry 7364130."Thanks for all the bombs, now leave." That appears to be the message that Northern Alliance Defence Minister Mohammad Quassim Fahim wishes to convey. He doesn't like all the Brits operating out of the Bagram airbase near Kabul. He claims they are there without the agreement of the Northern Alliance. I don't think things are going to go very well for Afghanistan in the future.
Posted by 07:17:27 AM | Permalink for Entry 7363931.Friday, November 23, 2001
I'm working on getting XML Newsfeeds from Moreover Technologies into my webpages and came up with this page for testing purposes. It seems farily handy so I thought I'd put a link to it here.
Posted by 09:55:34 PM | Permalink for Entry 7356932.Thursday, November 22, 2001
Line art copyright © Michael Halbert, Scratchboard Illustration Portfolio
Ya'll don't eat too much today. Okay? Posted by 09:41:40 AM | Permalink for Entry 7320437.
Wednesday, November 21, 2001
Dave, is there a little sour grapes here? Richard Stallman was given a gift, not paid for work done, when he received the Takeda Award. You get paid for pushing the envelope everytime you sell a package of Frontier. There is a difference there that you need to recognize. I'm not a huge Richard Stallman fan but I do recognize that he has been a huge promoter of open computing, the basis of the reward. The market place is your reward.
Posted by 02:04:44 PM | Permalink for Entry 7299691.Well, the toll from the attack at the trade center Is down sharply accourding to the New York Times. The count currently stands at just over 4,000 with officials thinking it will be down around 3,700. While that may make some people feel better, it doesn't change my feelings about the attack much at all. Don't get me wrong, I want that number to be as low as possible, but unless it reaches zero the fact remains that there was too much human life lost over this.
What my worry is is that some will use this lowered number in the same manner that some revisionist have used lower numbers of the holocaust to somehow make the Nazis look like not such bad fellows afterall. Al Qaeda is just as much of a menace to the safety of the world and just as evil of an organization whether 6,000 were killed in the attack or 600, just as the same as the Nazis even under revisionist claims.
Tuesday, November 20, 2001
TIME.com is suggesting that there may be bin Laden doubles which not only could make it difficult to capture or kill the right man, it could also allow al-Qaeda to continue claiming bin Laden to still be at large or alive even if he actually is captured or killed. However, John Le Carre points out the ego behind bin Laden and suggests:
I tend to agree with this and perhaps this is another area that biometrics will play a part in in the future.
Faux Bin Ladens, particularly those born outside of the privileges and entitlements the real one inherited, may find that a tough act to mimic.
Posted by 02:52:53 PM | Permalink for Entry 7273129.
Dori disagrees with me and I'm not real sure why. Jake related a wonderful story about a fourth grade episode involving his teacher and a busy-work assignment. I'm the parent of two boys, twelve and seventeen, and I probably would have done the same thing that Jake's mom did in his story. Busy-work makes absolutely no sense at all and is a drag on an efficient workforce. Allowing our children to be conditioned to find this type of work acceptable only extends the acceptablity of doing this type of work into the next generation. Jake seems to have another take on busy-work.
An interesting aside, this exchange has spanned over a number of weblogs and journals.
Sunday, November 18, 2001
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D. California) is introducing a bill to address problems
in the U.S. Visa System. Overall I agree with a lot of what her bill is suggesting. I think it's time to require immigrants to carry Visas that contain biometric information so that we know the holder is the person described in the document. One part of the bill I have to wonder about though, is that part that does this:
Now, granted, the student visas are the most abused visas issued but, considering that the terrorist carrying out the 9-11 attack were not from any of these countries, this part may be going just a little too far. Posted by 08:51:55 PM | Permalink for Entry 7225866.
Prohibit persons from obtaining student visas if they come from terrorist supporting states. However, the Secretary of State could waive the ban if the student passes an extensive background check and the Secretary certifies that the student would not pose a threat to national security. In the last 10 years, more than 16,000 students have come from such terrorist supporting states as Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Syria, North Korea and Cuba.
Friday, November 16, 2001
Finally, I'm hearing a little recognition from the Europeans for what the US has been doing, and been expected to do, for a while. British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said in a call for the European Union to forge a rapid reaction force:
I know that as the last standing "Superpower" we have certain responsiblities in the world and I know that we haven't always lived up to those responsiblities. I also believe that we have been expected to intercede in places that we have had no business by members of the EU. If the EU is expecting to unify Europe into one political force that could be termed a "Superpower" then I believe it is time for them to also step up and accept the responsibilities to the rest of the world that that status entails. Posted by 03:04:11 PM | Permalink for Entry 7177428.
"There needs to be a recognition that we can't always depend on the U.S., that we've got to be contributing to capabilitiesand improving capabilities in a way that isn't possible within the relatively limited national budgets of a series of Europeanstates," Hoon said.
Thursday, November 15, 2001
If you decide to storm the cockpit of a United Airlines plane and you manage to get by the reinforced door you might be in for a shock. UA is installing Tasers in the cockpit for use by the pilots pending approval from the FAA. It's not a bad idea as long as training of the pilots on the use of the device is a part of their currency requirements.
Posted by 02:16:55 PM | Permalink for Entry 7149540.Wednesday, November 14, 2001
Dan Lyke over at Flutterby is looking for ways to build community between the weblogs, journals and personal pages on the net. It seems he misses the good old days, back around '95 and '96 when he feels that such a community existed. I've read Dan's pages since way before Flutterby and I've networked with his computers since way before the commercialization of the Internet in '94. He and I agree more often than not but he's been complaining about loss of community since Fidonet days.
Okay, Dan, how do you propose we do this. My comment system isn't as adaptive as yours so I'm not sure how well my readers can get involved with it but I'm game, if you are. How do we build this community?
I've always thought of Egypt as being one of the more progressive Arab nations, what with their peace settlement with Isreal and all. I guess that progressiveness doesn't extend to sexual orientation.
Boy, those Egyptians make the Cobb County, Georgia politicians seem like cheerleaders for Act Up. Posted by 03:12:55 PM | Permalink for Entry 7122467.
One man was jailed for five years with hard labour on charges of debauchery, contempt of religion, falsely interpreting the Quran and exploiting Islam to promote deviant ideas.
I took a little trip from my home in Chattanooga, Tennessee to Clarksville, Tennessee this past weekend for a roller hockey tournament. I bought gas in Manchester, Tennessee for $0.959 a gallon. My 12 year old son was baffled by the lowering of gas prices and asked me for an explanation. I had no satisfactory explanation for him.
It seems like I'm not the only one having a hard time trying to explain the economics of the petroleum industry. Opec's new tactic to boost oil prices involves them lowering production by 1.5 million barrels a day but only if non-Opec members lower their production by 500,000 barrels a day. Russia says they are willing to lower their production a token amount but Norway sees no use in it. They appear to be at an empasse or even a Mexican standoff with Mexico also reluctant to reduce production. Perhaps between low fuel prices and the recent successes in Afghanistan we may be looking at one of the shortest recessions in recent history.
Now they are talking about turbulence and the vertical stabilizer being lost first, echoing a little of what I posted here yesterday afternoon.
So we are beginning to get a little good reporting and some more reasonable speculation on what happened. I've still got a problem with the blame being layed on wake turbulence, though that may have been what set things in motion. Expect a lot of speculation over American Airlines maintenance procedures over the next few days. Posted by 10:17:14 AM | Permalink for Entry 7115143.
Investigators and the manufacturer of the A300 wide-body airplane, Airbus Industrie of Toulouse, France, said they remained puzzled that both engines and the airplane's vertical tail fin cracked off for no apparent reason. In particular, several investigators spoke of being baffled that the vertical tail fin may have broken off first.
That loss is significant, as such a catastrophic event would have tossed the plane out of control, and might have set in motion severe forces that snapped off both engines. The engines landed a block apart -- one in a gas station and another striking a boat in a neighborhood driveway. The main body of the plane crashed two blocks to the west.
Tuesday, November 13, 2001
I was watching Good Morning America this morning on ABC trying to figure out why that plane crashed yesterday. They had John Nance on, their aviation consultant, and he was telling us what was known and trying to analize what had happened from these sketchy details. He had the following to say.
What's so difficult about this? The vertical stabilizer came off and as it did it caused the plane to violently yaw in one direction or the other. These forces caused the engine mount pylons to break away to avoid tearing off the wings, just the way they were designed to do. The only question is, why did the vertical stabilizer come off? Posted by 05:47:58 PM | Permalink for Entry 7099163.
Based on the sketchy details emerging from the crash site, ABCNEWS aviation consultant John Nance said two explanations are possible for the jet's downing. There could have been a loss of control of the aircraft due to an internal explosion for mechanical reasons, or there could have been an explosion of an incendiary device inside the plane.
The way the plane broke up, though, is puzzling, because it seems that there must have been more than one explosion to cause both engines to fall off and the vertical stabilizer to break off.
"There are a tremendous number of problems in trying to construct a scenario in why we found engines in different places, the fuselage in another place and an almost pristine vertical fin in the water," Nance said on Good Morning America.
Monday, November 12, 2001
Moulinex, a french appliance manufacturer is in bankruptcy and is being dissolved so the workers rig the factory with explosives because they aren't happy with their severence pay.
This doesn't sound like negotiations, it sounds like extortion. Posted by 09:17:03 PM | Permalink for Entry 7075283.
Union official Serge Robine said 100 members of staff had rigged the plant in northern France with explosives on Monday, threatening to blow it up unless they are offered special redundancy payments. Robine told Reuters news agency workers at the plant, in the Normandy town of Cormelles-le-Royal, have put bottles of oxygen, acetylene and butane as well as acids and petrol on the roof of the plant and near a gas cistern.
A little levity here because I really need it. German schoolgirl Annika Irmler has licked her way into the Guinness Book of Records with her whopping seven centimetre tongue. Gene Simmons, eat your heart out.
I'm just wondering if she bites it a lot.
Here's a list of Fatal Airbus Events. The A300, up until today, had only been involved in eight fatal events. Four of them involved hijackers killing passengers and no crash. Out of the other four, two involved pilot error resulting in a crash, one involved poor weather and one was shot down by a surface to air missle fired from the U.S.S. Vincinnes. I'm not speculating anything, just pointing out the history of the A300.
Posted by 04:07:00 PM | Permalink for Entry 7067163.Thursday, November 8, 2001
Okay, the cap on the amount of the radio spectrum that one wireless provider can own in a market is about to rise and eventually be abolished.(Wash. Post) I can't say that I disagree with this move. Eventually we are going to see about three choices in wireless providers and a move toward standards in wireless protocols that will allow secondary wireless services to actually thrive. We give up a little competition in one area to gain a whole lot more in the ancillary services that wireless has to offer.
Still, I have to chuckle at the justification for easing these restrictions that politicos are using for the stand they are taking. Nancy Victory, assistant secretary for communications and information at the Commerce Department, sees this as a reason for the change:
Under those conditions there just isn't physically enough spectrum to satisfy the demand. Posted by 07:18:49 AM | Permalink for Entry 6964717.
"As a consumer living in a major market, I know that very often I go to dial up my cell phone and I can't get through. We saw that in a big way on September 11," Victory said.
They are called wake-up calls. A lot of times they aren't recognized for what they are and have to be pointed out bluntly to people. New York Democrats got one this past week with the defeat of Mark Green by Republican Michael R. Bloomberg. (NYT) The wake-up call? Quit saying that you are the minority voters friend and start showing it. One Democrat makes it clear that he understands the problem. Dennis Rivera, the head of the influential health care workers union, said this:
Need more indication of the problem? How about listening to what the Rev. Al Sharpton has to say:
"For a city that is five Democrats for every one Republican, and for the Democrats to have lost the last three elections, it's basically an indictment of the Democratic Party," he said. Mr. Rivera called the outcome "a rude awakening to the Democratic Party," and said much of that had to do with the way it treated minority voters in this campaign.
The Rev. Sharpton did not endorse Mr. Bloomberg but he sure made it clear that he wasn't supporting Mr. Green.
"I refused to help Green, and by anyone's estimation it hurt him," Mr. Sharpton said. "But there's nothing the party can do to me. What can they do to me?"
Now to be sure, New York is not changing from a town of Democrats to a town of Republicans. National, state and even local Democratic candidates still command a huge advantage over their Republican counterparts. However, unless the Democrats start working together and stop taking certain voter blocs for granted it may be a long time before we see another Democrat as mayor of NYC. Posted by 06:53:15 AM | Permalink for Entry 6964364.
Wednesday, November 7, 2001
It seems that people only want to look at the economic news to suit their on means. We hear everyday how much the terrorist attack of 9-11 cost this country in dollars but fail to see where those dollars are going - back into the economy. Anthrax is costing the postal service millions but then that money goes somewhere. Paper towels appear to be the winner on this one.
Posted by 02:46:56 PM | Permalink for Entry 6946332.Tuesday, November 6, 2001
Few things bother me more than open mail transports. These things can be used by spammers to relay their mail all over the place and they make it hard to really shut down the truely troublesome ones. This bothers me more. It's an open mail relay on an FAA server. Try telnetting to port 25 of 204.108.10.130. This is atos.faa.gov. I've managed to spoof email to myself and I've had a friend verify that he was also able to do the same. This isn't something that I've found just recently. Declan McCullagh has subtantiated this and publicized the fact that it is open on his Politech mailing list. Still the hole is open.
Think through the ramifications of this for a moment. Spoofing an email message from someone is trivial. I've played with people in my office sending them email from Bill Clinton a number of times. The headers always gives away the fact that it is a spoofed message. However, if I should spoof an email message from a high ranking FAA official and send it through this open mail relay on an FAA machine, suddenly it appears in the headers to be legitimate. Maybe legitimate enough for a reporter getting the email to run with a rumor that I want started.
What to do, what to do? That's a question any company has to ask themselves when their product attracts fans who want to make it better. Sony's Aibo is just such a product. People just love these little robots and they have so much untapped potential. With a little cleverness one can make these pets do so much more than Sony can do with its tools alone.
Actually, I can understand Sony's predicament. If they allow the hacks to go on they stand to lose control of their product and it won't be long before someone decides they can build their own hardware and puts the plans for it on the Internet. On the other hand, though, by shutting down the hacking tools they stand to alienate the very people that their product appeals to and they've lost sales.
On the surface, Alan Dershowitz appears to be saying torture may be acceptable, but I think what he is really addressing is our need to reexamine our resolve to be a nation of laws. Personally,I don't think anything should be above discussion or examination. When torture is being examined, though, it doesn't take much examination for me to reject the use of it as a tool for interrogating suspects . . . regardless of the circumstances.
Posted by 10:31:00 AM | Permalink for Entry 6911812.Copyright© 2001-2003 Dallas Bay Networks and Justin Thyme Productions all rights reserved.
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