Sunday, April 30, 2006

Imperialism

Imperialism is a policy of extending control or authority over foreign entities as a means of acquisition and/or maintenance of empires, either through direct territorial conquest or settlement, or through indirect methods of exerting control on the politics and/or economy of other countries. The term is often used to describe the policy of a country in maintaining and dominating over distant lands, regardless of whether the country calls itself an empire.
Imperialism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Clockwork Red White Blue - The US, the last imperial force in the world today?

Although the US repeatedly says that it's saving the world for democracy, history has clearly shown otherwise. In fact, when such a challenge arose, the US actually backed away from its rhetoric, letting democracy and freedom be trampled by underfoot by a ruthless dictatorship.

TP: Fallout from the American Imperial Project

Saturday, April 29, 2006

From noreply@apple.com

Epeus' epigone - Kevin Marks weblog - Apple is holding my data hostage

The Majors - The Real Music Pirates

Tracks sold over the Internet usually go for about 99 cents. About 70 cents of the sale price goes to Sony. The bands are getting about 4 1/2 cents per song, according to the suit, rather than the approximately 30 cents they claim is rightfully theirs.

Cheap Trick, Allman Brothers Sue Sony - Yahoo! News
(via fefe)
"A major label like Sony BMG likely receives 80 cents of every 99 cent download. Out of that 80 cents, 4.5 cents goes to the Allmans based on their existing terms. "

So that leaves 75.5 cents to Sony per track. You'd think, with scratch like that, they could develop a better root-kit. To their credit, they have at the very least spent wisely on lobbyists.

The Digital Music Weblog

Friday, April 28, 2006

Corrupters of youth

The free access which many young people have to romances, novels, and plays has poisoned the mind and corrupted the morals of many a promising youth; and prevented others from improving their minds in useful knowledge. Parents take care to feed their children with wholesome diet; and yet how unconcerned about the provision for the mind, whether they are furnished with salutary food, or with trash, chaff, or poison?

Boing Boing: Predecessors of anti-game hysteria: anti-novel, anti-waltz, anti-phone!

We need a "War on Idiots", not a "War on Terrorists"

More than 1,000 convicted foreign criminals, including killers, rapists and child abusers, have been freed from prison without being considered for deportation and hundreds are missing, Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, admitted yesterday.

Telegraph | News | Hunt for 900 dangerous criminals freed in error

A Clockwork Red White Blue - We need to know that

Seems like that the TIA is not dead.

A Clockwork Red White Blue - You don't need to know this

National Archives Says Records Were Wrongly Classified - New York Times

Starting today, all passwords must contain letters, numbers, doodles, sign language and squirrel noises

So where did the “change passwords once a month” dictum come from? Back in the days when people were using mainframes without networking, the biggest uncontrolled authentication concern was cracking. Resources, however, were limited. As best as I can find, some DoD contractors did some back-of-the-envelope calculation about how long it would take to run through all the possible passwords using their mainframe, and the result was several months. So, they (somewhat reasonably) set a password change period of 1 month as a means to defeat systematic cracking attempts. This was then enshrined in policy, which got published, and largely accepted by others over the years. As time went on, auditors began to look for this and ended up building it into their “best practice” that they expected. It also got written into several lists of security recommendations.

This is DESPITE the fact that any reasonable analysis shows that a monthly password change has little or no end impact on improving security! It is a “best practice” based on experience 30 years ago with non-networked mainframes in a DoD environment — hardly a match for today’s systems, especially in academia!

CERIAS Weblogs � Security Myths and Passwords
(via schneier)

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

How AdSense works and how you never see a dime

It’s clear to me now why Google has so much cash in its coffers — stealing from the little guy!

Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: The great Google float

Punching Craig David in the face

If you copy Craig David's CD you get ten years, but if you punch him in the face and pummel him into a seven day coma you will only get six.

(via Fefe's Blog)

On planing a project and man-months

One thing that I get sick of is how people take an estimate, expect it to be accurate, feed it into a plan, and when the plan is (inevitably) proven wrong, blame the estimate. This is a fallacy from the era of Waterfall development, but it still lingers on in many Agile environments. ... Consider this: in Australia, it's usual for every person to get 4 weeks of leave per year (which, on average, they take all of it eventually).
Surprise! People take vacations!

Expecting an estimate made several months earlier to be accurate is crazy - but people still do it.

Software is too expensive to build cheaply...: Estimation vs planning

Majors using misleading information?

Never! Lies! Filthy lies !!11!ONE!!!ELEVEN!!!!

Judge orders record labels to turn over documents | CNET News.com

Monday, April 24, 2006

What have all terrorists in common?

They hate the US UN.

What have all terrorists in common?

They hate the US UN.

Fucking amateurs

List of military nuclear accidents - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And the Darwin award in the category "Stupid nuclear scientist" goes to:

Canadian physicist Louis Slotin manually assembles a critical mass of plutonium while demonstrating his technique to visiting scientists at Los Alamos, causing a fatal criticality accident.
May 21, 1946

List of military nuclear accidents - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Wikipedia rivals IMDb

While I still like to go to the IMDb to fast find "which actors played in that movie" and "where have I seen this actor before" type of information, I think they are loosing the race to Wikipedia.

Just compare www.imdb.com/title/tt0096697/
with en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simpsons and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:The_Simpsons.
(Just compare the URLs!)

Or take for example: Ned Flanders on the Wikipedia

Give people the tools to contribute information ("content") as easy and as fast as possible, without big hustle, and they will create something that is bigger than the sum of its parts. While the IMDb is actually as well open for adding information, the process isn't clear and AFAIK involves creating an account and having your information reviewed. And while the rigid design of the IMDb might seem like a good idea at first glance, it is the Amazon of movie sites with dozens of links that lead somewhere else and information that is nice to have but shouldn't be thrown into your face like for example the certifications. (Do I need a paragraph telling me the certifications a film received in Island, Singapore and Brazil on the 'main detail' page right after the actors?)

There are still plenty of people adding information to the IMDb, but I wonder how long it takes before a majority moves on to Wikipedia.

Movie probs

and other movie related stuff.

Bayrider

A bloody pink shirt

Currently for 99 cents on eBay.

eBay: 1317 UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION Peasant's Bloody Pink Shirt! (item 7612253008 end time Apr-27-06 21:30:00 PDT)

Oh my, where has the internet come to?

petistic

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Why do I have word verification on my posting form?

Word verification on the posting form is meant to be a spam reduction mechanism for BlogSpot in general, and is applied to certain potential spam blogs by an automated system. Because this is automated there will necessarily be some false positives, though we're continually working on improving our algorithms to avoid these. If your blog is one of the false positives, we apologize.
I H A T E to enter this god damn stupid code everytime, it sucks big time, it is stupid and intrusive.

Don't apoligize, make a better system.

And why do I have to track down the information that my blog has been flagged as spam by some automated system? Please, in the future, give clearer information.

Blogger Help : Why do I have word verification on my posting form?

Schneier on Security: Terrorist Travel Advisory

There have been no significant terrorist attacks against the U.S. since the release of the iPod in October 2001, thus demonstrating the value of iPods in fighting terrorism.
Schneier on Security: Terrorist Travel Advisory

Yeah, say what! Whaza know about the lord?

YouTube - THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH

Cynical, tragical, funny

This isn't true, right?
FBI TOP 12 DEATHS OF THE YEAR

[Update] Actually, it is not true.

Linus, a loveable troll

From: Linus Torvalds [email blocked]
Subject: Re: Linux 2.6.17-rc2
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 10:58:46 -0700 (PDT)

I got slashdotted! Yay!

On Thu, 20 Apr 2006, Linus Torvalds wrote:

> I claim that Mach people (and apparently
> FreeBSD) are incompetent idiots.

I also claim that Slashdot people usually are
smelly and eat their boogers, and have an IQ
slightly lower than my daughters pet hamster
(that's "hamster" without a "p", btw, for any
slashdot posters out there. Try to follow me,
ok?).

Furthermore, I claim that anybody that hasn't
noticed by now that I'm an opinionated bastard,
and that "impolite" is my middle name, is lacking
a few clues. Finally, it's clear that I'm not
only the smartest person around, I'm also
incredibly good-looking, and that my infallible
charm is also second only to my becoming modesty.

So there. Just to clarify.

Linus "bow down before me, you scum" Torvalds
Linux: vmsplice() versus COW

Stranger than fiction

Movie News - 'United 93' Actor Says Entry to US Denied - AOL News
(via fefe)

Thursday, April 20, 2006

WTF?

as the secret launch codes had been mysteriously circulated

Tecumseh's curse - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Bigmouth strikes again

The fact that a British woman may face a prison sentence in the US for joking at customs that she had bombs in her bag is bad news for us all. Civil liberties aside, if saying something stupid is a crime, an awful lot of people are in trouble.

BBC NEWS | Magazine | Bigmouth strikes again

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Who names a structure SHITEMID?

SHITEMID - Google Search

How To Be A Successful Evil Overlord

One of my advisors will be an average five-year-old child. Any flaws in my plan that he is able to spot will be corrected before implementation.

How To Be A Successful Evil Overlord

On attention and lightbulbs

Q: How many people with ADD does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: HEY! Let’s ride bikes!!!

On attention and lightbulbs | 43 Folders

Our greatest problem

Vimeo / Bill Maher - Real Time. Clip on global warming video clip

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Schneier on Security: Air Force One Security Leak

Exactly how this information endangers anyone is unclear.
...
As for hitting the medical oxygen tanks to destroy the plane, you'd have to be really, really lucky to do that while the plane is moving at any significant speed. And if it's standing still and you are after the President and armed with a high-caliber sniper rifle, why wouldn’t you target him directly? Besides, if you wanted to make the plane explode, it would be much easier to aim for the fuel tanks in the wings (which when fully-loaded hold 53,611 gallons). Terrorists don’t need a diagram to figure that out. But a rescuer would want this information so that the oxygen valves could be turned off to mitigate the risk of a fire or explosion.

Schneier on Security: Air Force One Security Leak

Neill Blomkamp

Wow. Watch out for this guy.

Tempbot
Alive in Joburg
Showreel

The truth behind Star Wars Episode IV

Only in Japan

TMSUK:T-52援竜ホームページ

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

A Clockwork Red White Blue - Naurus is watching you

All About NSA's and AT&T's Big Brother Machine, the Narus 6400
Narus knows what you are doing on the network
Carriers use Naurus to shape internet traffic
(via fefe)

US Military Webserver endangers Air Force One

And Google helps...
The aircraft oxygen system is divided into three separate and independent systems: the flightcrew, passenger, and medical dispensary oxygen systems. The dedicated storage cylinders for these systems are located right side of forward cargo compartment aft of the forward cargo door.


D:\Technical Pubs\00-105E-9\00-

Monday, April 10, 2006

Are vegans allow to swallow?

Dürfen Veganer/innen eigentlich schlucken?

The US Military is testing a small nuclear bomb...

...but without a nuclear bomb. They simply use 700 tons of explosives and try to hide it as a conventional bomb test. As far as I know, no airplane is capable to carry a 700 ton bomb.

And all the funny code names that the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) uses:

In addition to Divine Strake, the DTRA has conducted or is planning to conduct, I've now learned, tests and experiments called Divine Buffalo, Divine Invader, Divine Helcat, Divine Kingfisher, Divine Umpire, Divine Zorro, Divine Warhawk, Divine Albatross, and my favorite Divine Hates, a test, according to DTRA documents, that will gauge "WMD production and storage tunnel complex functional defeat."

Early Warning by William M. Arkin - washingtonpost.com

Saturday, April 08, 2006

What NYC can do to you

Downward Spiral - Jokaroo.com

Genius behind stupidity?

Der Pferdeflüsterer - The man behind GWB

Yeah, right.

It's also believed that Hanssen sold the Russians a computer program designed to track enemies, and, in turn, the Russians sold that to Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.

Yeah, right. And I believe he sold the information on GWB bush's shoesize to Disneyland, and, in turn, Walt Disney sold it (together with the box cutters used on 9/11) to Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
Robert Hanssen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Pictures of Assholes"

Male Celebrity with male friend must be gay.

Gordon-Levitt - HITRECORD.ORG

(YouTube , via BatzLog)

Friday, April 07, 2006

Finally a church for me

I don't have a clue what they are after...

Church for the Inadvertent Encouragement & Glorification of God's Holy Terrorists

(Bonus points for every blot-post containing clue or clueless)

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Who Should The US Invade Next?

Thomas Hawk's Digital Connection: Who Should We Invade Next?

Of power supplies and commodities

Any company that spends time designing a good power supply for a laptop in a market where no one else even thinks about that has a special place in my heart.
I think everybody (including me and Apple) is still clueless about what impact Boot Camp will have. Let's see.

shahine.com/omar/ - At long last, and what a great name

I want to be a arcetecture

I am very interested in rockets and their purpltion sistims.

The Old New Thing : What seventh-grade students want to be when they grow up

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Save life and assign blame

Looking for someone to blame doesn't solve the problem. I'm not saying that one should never assign blame, just that doing so doesn't actually solve anybody's problem. (If you want to blame somebody, do it at the bug post-mortem. Then you can study the conditions that led to the mistake, assign blame, if you're looking for a scapegoat, and take steps to prevent a future mistake of the same sort from occurring. As a lifeguard, you first rescue the drowning person, and then you lecture them for not wearing a life preserver.)
How true.

The Old New Thing : Doing the best we can until time travel has been perfected

Give me a RGB histogram

I want a RGB histogram for my Canon EOS 20D. This could be fixed with a new firmware, I guess.

Canon EOS 30D Review: 8. Displays: Digital Photography Review

Of Pirates and Price Points

And surely, if Movielink is going to be less than sucessful, it's the fault of the damned pirates and not because of the price point...

Movielink