Justin's Journal

Societal Indicators

How can you tell when society has hit rock bottom with no chance of climbing back out? Perhaps this could be an indicator that we're close.

Fishingmatters

My friend, Robert Wilson, came by and got my canoe last night to keep it until I get moved and situated. He's running a fishing log called Fishingmatters that also acts as an anchor for his fishing mailing list. I think I need to get my fly rod out again and my license renewed.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Hmmm, It appears that the State of Washington believes that their officers of the court are entitled to more privacy than the rest of their citizenry.

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BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

     { NEW SECTION. } Sec. 1. A person or organization shall not,
with the intent to harm or intimidate, sell, trade, give, publish,
distribute, or otherwise release the residential address, residential
telephone number, birthdate, or social security number of any law
enforcement-related, corrections officer-related, or court-related
employee or volunteer, or someone with a similar name, and categorize
them as such, without the express written permission of the employee
or volunteer unless specifically exempted by law or court order.

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The bill goes on but more or less it is saying that while it will still be legal to print and publish names, addresses, phone numbers and other more personal but public information about the average Joe in Washington state, law enforcement officers' personal but public information is protected.

It passed the state house and senate and is just waiting for the governor's signature to become law. This is going to be interesting to see what constitutional arguments come out of this.

burningbird is leaving

Shelley Powers tells us she's being published by a non-tech publisher and also that she will be discontinuing her 'blog while she searches for employment. Shelley, I'm really going to miss you but I understand the needs here. You have been the catalyst for a lot of conversations that needed to take place over the last few months that I've been reading your 'blog. I can't express how much I'm going to miss it. I'm not going to say I'm going to miss you because I hope this isn't going to mean that your occassional comments disappear from mine and other's 'blogs.

Get yourself well, get yourself working and come back to us. Okay?

Unisys, Microsoft to launch anti-Unix ads

The fact that Unisys and Microsoft are about to launch anti-Unix ads isn't all that interesting, I would expect nothing less from them, but this quote from the article is somewhat amusing:

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The same ad depicts a scene in which a computer user has painted himself into a corner with purple paint. Sun's servers are manufactured in a shade of purple similar to that in the ad. Executives from Sun could not immediately respond to the campaign. Unisys said the paint color was a mere coincidence--it was suggested by a customer who happened to have some in the garage.

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If the color of the paint wasn't an intentional reference to Sun then they need to find a new ad agency.

scottandrew.com

Have I ever mentioned that I really, really dig scottandrew.com? I like his 'blog and I like his music. One other thing I really like is his take on the CBDTPA.

For Sale

Well, I put my house on the market last night. The move is becoming more and more real every day. I know a lot of the people reading this are probably thinking, "so he's moving, what's the deal?" For a lot of people there isn't a deal with that. With me I'm leaving a town that I've lived in for the past 45 out of 47 years of my life and moving to a town that I've recently said that I would never want to live in. The house I just put on the market is one that I just moved into 16 months ago because it was about as close as it gets to our dream house.

I guess I need to explain why we are moving. My wife is a claims manager for casualty claims with a national insurance company. The company has had a local claims office here in Chattanooga for the past twenty-five years. They are closing it. She was offered a position in the Atlanta area. My job doesn't necessitate me living in Chattanooga as long as I'm within driving distance of my customers. The Atlanta area is within driving distance of my customers and living there actually offers my company some advantages in developing business in and around the Atlanta area.

By June I should be relocated. I'm waiting for school to be out for the summer before leaving. I have two sons that want to finish out the year here. The oldest will turn 18 in May and still has one more year of high school to complete. He says he's staying. I guess the summer will tell. Signing those papers last night was hard.

Two Friends

I've got a couple of friends, Barry and Akrum. Barry is a Canadian Jew who has been living in the US for a number of years. Akrum is a Palestinian who immigrated to the US several years ago from Isreal to get his family away from the violence. Akrum is a restrauntuer running a pizza and deli place near the local university. He makes some wonderful middle-eastern meals. Akrum and Barry are very good friends. On occassion they discuss the politics of the Middle East.

Now Barry is supportive of Isreael but he will be the first to tell you that he is a Canadian, not an Israeli. Akrum is a supporter of the Palestinians and would like to see a Palestinian homeland but he also will acknowledge Israel's right to exist and absolutely opposses terrorism.

I've learned a lot from these two. I've learned that two people can have passionate feelings about opposing views and still be great friends. I've learned that being pro-Israel doesn't have to mean anti-Palestinian and that being pro-Palestinian doesn't have to mean anti-Israeli. I've also learned that one can be a Jew and also appalled at some of the things that Israel has done. I've learned that one can be a Palestinian, disagree with Israel's policies and still acknowledge the right of Israel to exist and denounce all violence toward her.

I wish more people could get to know Barry and Akrum.

Meryl and Shelley on opinions.

Meryl, I agree with you that not every opinion is due respect. What I believe Shelley most likely meant was that we all respect each other's right to have their opinion (or we should) regardless of how ridiculous that opinion might be.

Sen. Fritz Hollings is the Anti-Christ

I've just figured it out. Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-South Carolina) is the Anti-Christ. He's the guy that just introduced the CBDTPA (Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act) into the Senate. He wants to make the tech industry and their employees responsible for the entertainment industry's continued success with an antiquated business model. Think I'm a little harsh with my "Anti-Christ" crack? I don't think so. This bill is pure evil and Senator Hollings name is on it as the author. That makes him the author of pure evil.

"Justin," you might say, "lay off the hyperbole." It isn't hyperbole. This bill, if it ever becomes law will cause you, the hardware designer, and you, the programmer, to include a prescribed method of copy protection on any piece of hardware of software that is capable of reproducing anything that could be copyrighted. Remeber that "Hello World" demo program you wrote it one line? Hunh, it just jumped to 50 lines to include the prescribed method of copy protection because someone copyrighted that phrase years ago.

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"The definition will cover just about anything that runs on your computer -- except maybe the clock," said Tom Bell, a professor at Chapman University School of Law who teaches intellectual property law.

Then Bell paused for a moment and reconsidered. "There's a risk you could say it covers things like even a digital clock program on your computer," he said.

According to the CBDTPA, any software with the ability to reproduce "copyrighted works" may not be sold in the United States after the Federal Communications Commission's regulations take effect. Even programmers who distribute their code for free would be prohibited from releasing newer versions -- unless the application included federally approved technology.

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There are both civil and criminal penalties you can face if you screw up and don't abide by this law and they aren't light penalties.

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Anyone violating the CBDTPA would be subject to statutory damages ranging from $200 to $25,000 per violation. An irked content owner would have a quiver of legal arrows to aim at a violator: Search warrants, impounding or destruction of equipment used in the illegal activity, plus attorney's fees, reimbursement for lost profits and actual damages.

That's not all. Anyone who ignores the CBDTPA's prohibitions -- and does it for "commercial advantage or private financial gain" -- would face the same criminal penalties that once threatened the Russian hacker Sklyarov: up to a $500,000 fine and five years in prison.

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There is also some enforcement measures in the bill that I'll reserve comment on, not because I'm currently without opinion but I'm sure as soon as you read the article you'll have exactly the same "punched in the gut" reaction that I had to them. There are also export and import restrictions that will essentially firewall the US off from the rest of the world. Bye-bye world-wide collaboration on open source software.

Now, I've never been one to advocate anything but the high-road in political campaigns but this has upset me enough to wish to find evidence of Senator Hollings personally renting out storage space to Brent Marsh with full knowledge of what would be stored there. Senator Hollings must be defeated. Maybe someone can find the pictures of him actually in bed with the Mouse.

Pull Up a Chair - Thomas Friedman OpEd

I saw this on Doc Searl's weblog and as bad as I hate to say it, it makes a lot of sense. I don't want to see the US turning into the world's police force but we have and it looks like we are going to have to accept that role whether we like it or not. The only thing that really worries me about this is if we do as Thomas Friedman proposes then we are going to hear the term "empire builder" thrown at us from every camp that is looking to paint us in a negative light. Of course if we do nothing then we will be tagged as isolationists and bullies that throw our weight around and then leave without solving any problems.

Mystery Shrouds EgyptAir Co-Pilot Blamed for Crash

After blogging the report that the copilot crashed the plane to get to a superior, now we are hearing that this wasn't confirmed.

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Sources familiar with the investigation said U.S. officials were unable to conclusively corroborate one possible explanation -- reports that El Batouty had just learned he was being demoted and could have crashed the plane for revenge.

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We really don't need speculations like this right now. Do we?

Google Search: Scientology Clambake

Hmm, after doing a Google search it appears that the below entry may not be quite accurate. A number of the links that were reported removed by Google popped up in this search.

Google removes anti-Scientology Site over DMCA threat

Xenu.net was removed from Google based on a DMCA notification from the cult of Scientology. It seems the xenu.net webmaster received a letter from Google explaining the matter. There are a number of specific links on the Xenu.net website that are at issue. I'm debating whether or not to list those links here.

For years I've been troubled by reports of Scientology's handling of critics. From everything I've read, these folks are ruthless and not an organization I could ever cozy up to. If what has leaked out about them can be believed I just sit in wonder as to how they continue to amass followers. I have toyed with picking up a copy of Dianetics just to learn about the organization but then the stories I've heard about them are so fantastic that I've become disinclined to waste the time reading it.

Still I'm also disinclined to become a critic of theirs. First, because they really mean nothing to me but, second, because I've heard of their ruthless legal tactics and I'm really not in a situation to fight the good fight against such a well prepared and well funded opponent. I still wonder, though, why do people fall for their BS?

A Nation Online - What? No digital divide?

Remember a couple of years ago when everyone was up in arms over the "Digital Divide?" Well, it seems their worries were for naught. A couple of points of note in the Executive Summary of the report are:

• The rate of growth of Internet use in the United States is currently two million new Internet users per month.
• More than half of the nation is now online. In September 2001, 143 million Americans (about 54 percent of the population) were using the Internet ? an increase of 26 million in 13 months. In September 2001, 174 million people (or 66 percent of the population) in the United States used computers.

The report goes on to tell that this growth in usage spans all income levels. It appears that we could possibly have looked back at the growth of television to have predicted this outcome. In the beginning technology is always going to be adopted by the rich first but as the technology matures and the economy of scale kicks in important technologies become available to all groups that desire it.

GM says it is close to deal to acquire Daewoo Motor

I guess this isn't going to do a lot in the short term to make the US look less imperialistic to the S. Koreans. Perhaps the fact that Daewoo will continue to build cars and continue to employ S. Koreans it will eventually be seen as a plus by them.

Revenge drove EgyptAir pilot to crash

Remember that EgyptAir flight that crashed off New England in 1999? This is the one that looked like the pilot was committing suicide. Well, it may have been a little more involved than that. It looks like the guy was about to be grounded for sexual misconduct and the fellow that had reprimanded him was on board the flight.

This makes me think of four orders of foreigness that Orson Scott Card introduced me to in his "Ender" series. Not all but a lot of middle easterners are "framling" to me. It is going to be very difficult for me to understand what these people are thinking.

Google Search: TVA, Sequoyah, and Chickamauga Lock and Dam

I was playing around with the "Google It!" feature I added to my journal a couple of weeks ago and clicked on my entry for TVA, Sequoyah, and Chickamauga Lock and Dam which I journaled a few days ago. I wasn't in the results but MarkPasc.blog had 'blogged my entry and had snagged the first entry in Google on it. My entry that Mark is referring to isn't even listed. Mark's page rank is a 6 compared to my 5 so that explains why he would be ranked ahead of me but why wasn't my entry listed?

Google has consistently given me better search results than any other search engine out there. I still use the others when I'm doing some real serious searching but the results have told me to use Google whenever a quick lookup is all I'm needing. This tells me that on intensive research I still need to dig through results from other search engines. Google can miss things.

Saudi police 'stopped' fire rescue

I've got no problem with Islam. My problem is with governments that enforce the practice of Islam, or any other religion, on the individual.

Andersen Indicted in Enron Scandal

Arthur Andersen has been indicted in the Enron scandal. I don't like convicting people before a trial but it's pretty much been admitted by all that Enron documents were shredded at the direction of at least some Andersen partners in their Houston office. To me this is more dispicable than what Enron executives may have done. One expects business executives to do all they can to put their company in the best light possible. It is the responsiblity of companies like Arthur Andersen to keep these executives as honest as possible in the representation ot their companies fiscal health. Andersen betrayed that public trust and has cast doubts on the credibility of all accounting reports.This is not something that investors need to also be worrying about during a time that we are attempting a recovery in the stock markets from the technology bust.

Because these actions have made all accounting reports suspect I believe it is important to the credibility of the industry that the firm of Arthur Andersen stand trial for crimes they may be guilty of. I believe the DoJ is doing the responsible thing in persuing the prosecution of Arthur Andersen and I applaud their efforts.

That is why I'm finding some of the things being said in the Senate as being curious:

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Senators and accounting industry executives said Andersen may be doomed and that any collapse should be well-managed to avoid a negative effect on the markets.

''I think there's a possibility of Arthur Andersen going bankrupt,'' said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on possible reforms to accounting practices.

Such a collapse, said James Copeland, chief executive officer of Andersen rival Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, would hurt the public interest by limiting the number of auditor choices for companies and weakening competition among the big accounting firms.

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This almost sounds like Christopher Dodd could be making a plea for the DoJ to rethink this indictment. Doesn't it?

I'm also a little troubled by James Copeland's statement. Andersen is the fifth largest accounting firm in the country. If Andersen goes away then whoever is number six is going to take Andersen's place as number five. Correct? Andersen has tons of highly educated and experienced accountants who will be looking for employment by all the other firms that are going to pick up all the work that Andersen was doing should Andersen go under. Correct? The way I see it if Anderson goes away there will be a couple of months of semi-chaos and then a smaller firm will step into the place Andersen held and all the displaced Andersen employees will be picked up to do the work that the other firms have picked up from the collapse of Andersen.

At least that's the way I see it.

Google News

Alright! Google has Google News in BETA and it already has made my "daily read" list. Playing around with the search brought relevent and current results and the headlines are a godsend. Just the thing for a news junky like me.

'ATHEIST' plate raises a holy ruckus

The Florida DMV has canceled Steven Miles' "ATHEIST" license plate and demanded that he return it to them. Personally I've never understood why people revel in their disbelief of a god as fervently as people revel in their belief in a god but then, that's just me. I see nothing objectionable with this tag.

Congresscritters rarely change their stripes.

Dr. Keith Poole gives us evidence that your congressman isn't going to change his stripes. This is a scientific paper dealing with the voting habits of congress and comes to the conclusion that members of congress are consistant in their voting throughout their tenure in congress. Exceptions are noted but they are few and far between.

Bill comes due on Towboat site.

You remember me telling you about Ray getting the huge bill from his webhost for bandwidth overage when he put up the towboat pictures? Well, I got this in e-mail yesterday from him:

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Got the final bill from Rapidsite. A total of $2721.81. They gave me seventy-two hours to pay it!

Ray

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Ray can accept donations through PayPal if anyone is so inclined to help him. His e-mail is rayf@bellsouth.net. Oh, and you might want to tell Rapidsite what you think about this. According to Ray this occurred over a 2 1/2 day period with 85,000 visits to this website.

<edit/>Update: In a response to my email to Rapidsite they have told me that the claims were unfounded. Personally, I now believe there may have been a bunch of misunderstandings here.

TVA, Sequoyah, and Chickamauga Lock and Dam

TVA's Sequoyah nuclear powerplant needs a new generator. This is going to result in one of the largest cargos to be loaded on a barge floating upstream on the Tennessee River through the locks at TVA's Chickamauga Dam.

Due to a mistake made back when the lock and dam was built back in the late '30s we've got a reaction going on between the concrete and the aggregate used to build the lock which means it is constantly being repaired. Year after year we hear about more funds being approved for repair to the lock. The lock really needs to be replaced.

BLOGGER

I'v been having some problems with BLOGGER the last few days. Things still haven't straightened out completely. I'm using Blogger Pro^™ with a subject line. The subject field keeps coming and going in the little bookmarklet window. Yesterday the window would never pop up. I guess I'm going to have to go ahead and make the move to Movable Type or GreyMatter but I really like the simplicity that Blogger has given me. I'll give it a few more days.

Missles deployed to protect the World Cup.

Via Flutterby. Looks like South Korea is going to deploy a couple of surface to air missles to protect the World Cup Games from terrorists. Not only that but they are taking measures similar to those used by the US in Salt Lake City.

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South Korea has set up an anti-terrorism unit and imposed no-fly zones for non-air force planes over World Cup stadiums and nuclear power plants during the tournament.

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I'm not real sure what to make of this. In a way it has me feeling better in that perhaps we aren't overreacting to further terrorist threats but I still can't help from feeling a rage build within me because decent people just can't be left alone. There really is an "axis of evil" out there, we just may not have them properly identified.

The Mouse That Ate The Public Domain

A wonderful article by Chris Sprigman gives us some hope that the Supreme Court may find that congress overstepped their authority in 1998 when they extended copyright protection way beyond 100 years. Copyright is granted for a limited time by congress through authority given it by the US constitution. Originally that time was for 14 years with the owner being allowed an extension of 14 more. Little by little over the years that has been stretched to "life plus 70" for works copyrighted by individuals since 1978. At some point these extensions will pass what can reasonably be considered as a limited time.

Christian Persecution

Christians are safe from persecution. Right? Perhaps in the US but what about the rest of the world? I need to check into this organization a little closer. The reports look credible enough but I'm not sure of the criteria ICC uses to define persecution. I was a little shocked to find France and Germany on their lists. It seems those two countries are cracking down on cults.

EditPlus

I just want to give a little plug for EditPlus. This editor does exactly what I need it to do and does it well. It is possibly the best money I've spent on a shareware editor since registering PCWrite way back in the '80s.

Proper use of the term "y'all"

Mark is learning to be a Southerner and is finding himself contemplating the differnt aspects of Southern colloquiallisms. It is common to hear the word "y'all" applied in both the singular and the plural. It is also common to hear the term "all y'all", which can make one believe that "y'all" is a singular term. Let me try to clarify things. "Y'all" is a term used to acknowledge membership to a group. If I say, "Y'all come on", what I'm really saying is, "All of you in the group that are coming, let's go." When I say, "All y'all come on," what I am saying is, "The entire group need to start moving."

USS Clueless - WTC painting at NATO

Tom pointed me toward this rant on USS Clueless that has a lot of iron. I think it can also give some of my international readers a glimpse at a lot of American's perspective on things. I'm not as positive as Mr. Den Beste is on our need to invade any of the other "axis of evil" members in our persecution of terrorism... at least not at the moment. I do agree with him that we need to rethink our need to remain members of NATO.

Search Broken

I broke my search function. I'm not sure how it happened but that's what I get for playing without a backup. I'll put the input box back in as soon as I figure out what I did.

Emergency Vet Clinic and Barbeque

Chattanooga is famous for trains, famous battles of the Revolutionary War and the War Between the States. We are also famous for pieces of Americana like Rock City and Ruby Falls. The land around here is beautiful and it has earned us the name of the Scenic City of The South. We are truely blessed. Some things around here, though, our tourist board would rather not become well known.

So it is with Choo-Choo Barbeque and Emergency Veterinary Clinic. A well known site in this area just dripping with irony. These are actually two different businesses located in two different structures sharing a common parking lot. The barbeque is very good and the vets... well, they are vets.

Entertainment Execs, Fear Not the Net

Via Tamalak's Realm. I've been saying it, now Business Week is agreeing with me. The entertainment industries' problems don't stem from piracy, they stem from an outdated business model.

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And that's it in a nutshell. The real products -- movies and music -- aren't broken. But the old ways of doing things die hard, and that has lead to a massive disconnect between the purveyors of these wares and their customers. Help from Washington won't give people what they now expect -- and would probably pay for -- in their digital entertainment. That's something a savvy marketer such as Eisner, who has made a nice living giving folks what they want, should know.

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The carriage makers of the 19^th century became the auto industry's design shops in the 20^th century or they folded. The same type of transfomation is going to have to take place with the entertainment industry in the 21^st century.

Minor Changes in Justin's Journal

I've made some changes that should make the comment system available to those folks who don't do Javascript. If one of you kind readers who fit into that catagory could give me some feedback I would appreciate it.

NASA Contacts Pioneer 10 Spacecraft

Tom pointed me to this article about Pioneer 10 being successfully contacted after 30 years in space. Yes, this is very cool but I would have liked to have learned what the communication consisted of. Was this just a "ping" or was it something like "give me all the data you've collected since last time"?

The Gauss Rifle

This thing is simpler and cooler than building a Jacob's Ladder out of an old neon light transformer. I'm off to look for magnets and ball bearings.

Recreating the Wright's 1903 Kitty Hawk Flyer

Next year will mark the centenial of flight. Not surprisingly several groups are planning on building and flying replicas of the Wright's 1903 Kitty Hawk Flyer. This was not a stable aircraft, as folks are finding out.The trick is going to be to come up with something that can be considered a true replica but be safe enough to fly without to great of a risk to the life of the pilot.

Who should bear the cost of IP protection?

If I believe there is a threat of my house being broken into I purchase a burglar alarm system and pay for it myself. I am responsible for the cost of securing my property. I don't ask tool manufacturers to build anti-burglary protection into their crowbars and bolt-cutters or to require the that a tax be paid to help subsidize my purchase of security equipment. If anyone brought up this idea to congress they would be laughed at and ridiculed. Wouldn't they? Isn't this what the entertainment industry is suggesting?

Painful Memories from Childhood

Stavros, the Wonder Chicken talks about painful experiences from his childhood. He thinks it would be fun for him to wake up today to a few other's stories of mutilation. I've had a few of those.

The one that first comes to mind is the one where I was about ten years old and I was attempting to jump a dirt bank with my bicycle. I was pedaling as hard as I could to make it up a very steep bank with hopes of getting airborn over the top. There was a stump next to the very narrow path up I was on and I managed to hit it with my front wheel in such a way as to make my handlebars twist. The handle grip managed to nail me right in the, uhh... groin, mashing a delicate portion and bringing blood. I was out of my pants checking out my injuries after I recovered enough to stand up and do so. I was seriously afraid that I had amputated something.

The location was in the back of a small parking lot alongside a very busy portion of US Highway 27 that traveled through Red Bank, Tennessee. After seeing that everything was still attached, though bloodied, I very soon came to my senses to hear a number of cars blowing their horns at me. The pain was excruciating but I think the embarassment was what keeps this incident fresh in my mind.

About that towboat

Ray's page about the towboat has been mirrored at several different sites. This site has been sending quite a bit of traffic here. Ray, Dan and I are trying to tie in the rest of the story. Stay tuned.