Can dead Arabs lie?

"IT SEEMS that Nasrallah survived," Israeli newspapers announced, after 23 tons of bombs were dropped on a site in Beirut, where the Hizbullah leader was supposedly hiding in a bunker.

An interesting formulation. A few hours after the bombing, Nazrallah had given an interview to Aljazeera television. Not only did he look alive, but even composed and confident. He spoke about the bombardment--proof that the interview was recorded on the same day.

So what does "it seems that" mean? Very simple: Nasrallah pretends to be alive, but you can't believe an Arab. Everyone knows that Arabs always lie. That's in their very nature, as Ehud Barak once pronounced.

Is Beirut Burning? | BaltimoreChronicle.com

A Real War in the Middle East

And a war of words on the blog of BBC employee. Read the comments, it's worth it.

BBC NEWS | The Editors | Gaza stories

Fight Terrorists with Garlic Bread

Now I don’t believe for a minute that the bulk of ordinary Jews around the world have the ‘total destruction of the children of yishmael & esav’ at the top of their personal todo lists but there again nor do I believe that the majority of Muslims hate me for my freedoms.

What I do believe is that bombing the crap out of people isn’t going to solve anything; with or without a side order of garlic bread.

Famous for 15 megapixels: Luring the Messiah Earthwards with fresh-baked pizza

What is the difference?

If the government of the United States shows the same lack of respect for the basic human rights as the terrorists it claims to be fighting, then what is the difference between the US government and Al-Q?

I do, respectfully, take issue with the position that the demands of this war require us to accord a lower station to the moral imperatives that should govern our conduct in war and peace when they come in conflict with the unyielding inhumanity of our vicious enemy.

Torture's Terrible Toll - John McCain - Newsweek National News - MSNBC.com

Poor Charles Petzold

Seems like Charles Petzold doesn't know how to pay for his website. Or for his flat. Or his food. Because he is so poor. He has written a book about Windows Programming some time ago (a book, I own in the hardcover version). Included in the hardcover version is the book itself in electronic version. Which is simply GREAT. Not only can you search in the electronic book, the electronic version is in the English original, while I have the book only in German. So, I have almost NEVER used the hardcover version of the book, only the electronic version. I started using the electronic version seven years ago.

But today I couldn't do this. Because I must have been the only person who bought the book.

The fifth edition of Programming Windows includes an EBook version in CHM format on the included CD-ROM. At the time the book was published, this seemed like a good idea.

I'm not sure when it started seeming like a bad idea.

And it must have been me, who send the electronic version to someone putting it "on the internet". Sorry Charles.

So it seems that nobody bought the book, everybody only copied it. Charles has hard data on this, just look at his blog post. And as I mentioned, I know that Charles doesn't know how to pay for food, because his book sells so poorly. Look for yourself at Amazon. As I looked, only Amazon Sales Rank #26,691 (15,311 the day before). Which is rather poor, for a book updated 1998.

But Charles is in for a surprise, if he finds out that people use modern technology called 'Scanners' and 'OCR'. In a process, for which I don't have time to explain here, people 'scan' books, extract the text by a magical technology called 'OCR' and even put the final thing, mainly in a obsucre format called 'PDF' (the format of choice of all book 'pirates'), on the, lo and behold, 'Internet'.

Poor Charles.

I could try to explain, that if I would be interested in WPF (Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation), which I'm not, I wouldn't buy his book, because what good is a book for software development, you can't search? Unless of course, Charles is writing fiction just like John Grisham or J.K. Rowling and his book is intended to be read by the fireside, with a glass of red wine and some nice smoke (no, I don't smoke and I don't have a fireside).

I could try to explain, that if would be interested in obtaining a 'pirated' electronic version of his book, I could simply 'go on the internet', use something called 'P2P' (look it up, Charles, you could learn something, P2P is mainly the hiding place of people exchanging kiddy pron, bomb plans of Al-Q and Charles Petzold's books), no matter if his stupid book contains a CD or not. And that he does only hurt the people buying the book and the people who aren't interested in buying his book (and just want a electronic version for free) don't give a damn if the hardcover contains a CD. And most don't even care about hardcovers, softcovers and CDs anymore. They will get an electronic version even if Charles doesn't supplies one...

But I'm afraid that Charles wouldn't understand. He just sees that his work is being 'pirated' and these 'pirates' must be stopped. Good luck Charles, I'm afraid you don't understand your enemy (one could even argue if there really is an enemy) and understanding you enemy is the first step in winning a war. A war you seem to be starting.

Please don't stop there now. You have start sueing! Use lawyers.

And by the way, isn't it unfair, that people pay only once for your book? You should use some material for your books, that destroys itself after a year. So you could charge every year for your book. Just imagine how rich you could get.

I'm certain there is much more money to be made, by taking away value for the paying customer, but you might want to talk to the movie or music mafia about that, Charles.

Good luck on your endeavour to end electronic 'pircay', you will need it.

Petzold Book Blog - EBooks and Piracy

(Just unsubscriped from his RSS stream. Oh, my, I just realized, I could simply copy his blog entries on my website, just like people did with his book! Evil HTTP! Evil HTML! Evil RSS! Evil TCP/IP! Evil ASCII! Evil Computers! Charles, please stop publishing your blog or you will be pirated!)

You know what, I will just do that, 'pirate' his complete blog entry.

EBooks and Piracy

July 29, 2006
Roscoe, NY

Several people have asked me: Will my WPF book come with an electronic version?

The fifth edition of Programming Windows includes an EBook version in CHM format on the included CD-ROM. At the time the book was published, this seemed like a good idea.

I'm not sure when it started seeming like a bad idea. Perhaps it was the first time I saw the entire text of my book (decompiled from the CHM into HTML files) on somebody else's web site. Or perhaps it was the second or third time. Or when I lost count.

Perhaps it was getting word that these public postings of the book were just the tip of the iceberg, and that the EBook was freely circulated among certain circles.

Perhaps it was the number of emails I've received requesting an index for the book. (Of course, the printed edition has an index; it's the EBook that doesn't.)

Or perhaps it was the email I got from a programmer in a faraway land who proudly told me that he finally broke down and bought a printed copy of the book, unlike everybody else he knew.

Whatever the reason, I have to consider the experiment with the Programming Windows EBook to be a failure.

It's too bad. I know that an EBook is convenient for searching. I know that an EBook is convenient for reading on public transportation. I know that an EBook is convenient for taking on the road when visiting clients. I know that some people would prefer sampling a downloadable EBook in the spirit of "try before you buy" (much like shareware), and that I might even sell a few more books this way. I know that an EBook saves trees and doesn't take up valuable shelf space.

My experience, however, is that it doesn't work. We would all like it to work, but nobody seems to know how.

So the answer, unfortunately is: No.

(c) Copyright Charles Petzold
www.charlespetzold.com

Charles has a lot of information about WPF on his blog, don't buy his book, just copy his blog!

Just a snapshot...

You could be on a secret government database or watch list for simply taking a picture on an airplane.

TheDenverChannel.com - News - Marshals: Innocent People Placed On 'Watch List' To Meet Quota

From London with Love

Outcry as border guards seize British 'dirty bomb' lorry heading for Iran | the Daily Mail

Another coincidence...

CIA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR "BUZZY" KRONGARD MANAGED FIRM THAT HANDLED "PUT" OPTIONS ON UAL

Deutsche Bank - Demopedia

Benamar Benatta

It was as though Benatta became invisible. His name never appeared on lists of detainees. His family in Algeria believed he had vanished. No defense attorney knew of his existence until a federal defender in Buffalo was assigned his case in late April 2002.

A Prisoner Of Panic After 9/11 (November 29, 2003, washingtonpost.com)

Release From Jail Sought for Cleared Terrorism Suspect (December 31, 2003, washingtonpost.com)

U.S. Is Faulted Over Algerian's Detention (March 22, 2005, washingtonpost.com)

Now he is free.

"He was fully cleared by the FBI of any connection to terrorism . . . but the label stuck, so a man with no previous criminal record was detained [for five years] for a visa overstay."

Operation Litani

Though it took the form of an Israeli military incursion into Lebanon, Operation Litani was grounded in the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict. From 1968 on, the PLO, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other Palestinian groups established a quasi-state in southern Lebanon, using it as a base for raids on northern Israel. This was exacerbated by a massive influx of PLO militants fleeing a defeat in the Jordanian civil war and regrouping in southern Lebanon. Israel responded with damaging attacks against Lebanese villages and PLO bases and an escalating cycle of violence began, eventually culminating in the 1982 Lebanon War and the ejection of the PLO from the country.

Maybe the Israeli really thinks that they can eject Hezbollah from Lebanon, just like they did back then with the PLO. But there is a difference: The PLO was a Palestinian group operating in Lebanon, the Hezbollah is a Lebanese group operating in Lebanon. YMMV
Operation Litani - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nothing ever changes

The Lebanon War, also known as the Operation Peace of the Galilee, began June 6, 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon. The Government of Israel gave a green light for the invasion as a response to the assassination attempt against Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov by Fatah - Revolutionary Council and to artillery attacks launched by the Palestine Liberation Organization against populated areas in northern Israel.

1982 Lebanon War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Operation Grapes of Wrath

Operation Grapes of Wrath is the Israeli Defense Forces code-name for a sixteen-day military blitz against Lebanon in 1996 in an attempt to end shelling of Northern Israel by Hezbollah.

And we all know how succesful this was.

The conflict was de-escalated on 27 April by a ceasefire agreement banning attacks on civilians.

Operation Grapes of Wrath - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Options

The worst thing the actions of the IDF have accomplished is to diminish the options Israel has. Israel's government has only three options now:

1. Continue the IDF attacks and solidify the blockade on Libanon
2. Stop the IDF attacks
3. Escalate further with ground troops, attacks against Syria, Iran

The question is, why didn't Israel use any diplomatic channels? Why didn't it slowly turn up the heat? One thing Israel's government has always is targeted-killings. I don't like it, but it is sure the better option that these cowardly attacks.

So why didn't they send one rocket to Hisbollah's HQ in Beirut? That would have left the Israeli government with all options.

Now, a lot of dishes are brocken. And I don't see that the Israeli government has any intention on putting them together again. No, what I see is a route to escalation. They want war, this is The Summer Rain. This is what they were heading for, the one war, that will wash away the Syrian and Iranian government. These are The Last Days of Mankind, this is the same feeling the people had in Austria before the first world war. Back then in Austria it was "Serbien muss sterbien!" (Serbia must dia), a little pun using "sterbien" instead of "sterben" ("dia" instead of "die"). Back then, everybody wanted war, the one war that will away all enemies like a big summer rain.

Now it is "Syria must dia".

War: first, one hopes to win; then one expects the enemy to lose; then, one is satisfied that he too is suffering; in the end, one is surprised that everyone has lost.
Karl Kraus

Muito Elegante de Brasil

Music thing: Super-hot boutique effects from Brazil

Israel's Victimhood

Just to repeat: Murderers are on both sides, the actions of both sides are unjustified.

"Targeted Killing" Israel - Google News

Adobe "Open" Source "Wiki"

Hehe, nice, a Wiki which you can not edit. And despite the link, can not create an account. Liars.

Log in / create account - Adobe Open Source Wiki

Even if I can fix the following problems, I can't add them to the "wiki"

error LNK2001: unresolved external symbol "public: void __thiscall std::_String_base::_Xlen(void)const " (?_Xlen@_String_base@std@@QBEXXZ)
and
error LNK2001: unresolved external symbol "public: void __thiscall std::_String_base::_Xran(void)const " (?_Xran@_String_base@std@@QBEXXZ)

Both from StaticXMP-debug.lib and StaticXMP-release.lib

[Update] The problem comes from an old XMP lib. Hope Adobe can supply the new lib soon...

Black monday in middle east

It seems the latest escaltion in the middle east was to be expected. The major players on both sides have strategies they follow. They have options to react and if they choose one option, the other side chooses their reaction accordingly. "You hit me, I hit you", basicly an eye for an eye situation, one giant saloon brawl.

Black Monday (1987) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

War and truth

Claims by a state that's carrying out the military attacks don't really amount to very much, in terms of credibility. If they have evidence, it would be interesting to see it.

In war, truth is the first casualty - Aeschylus

If there's a conflict going on, aside physical war, not in a military conflict going on, abduction -- if soldiers are captured, they are to be treated humanely. But it is not a crime at the level of capture of civilians and bringing them across the border into your own country. That's a serious crime. And that's the one that's not reported. And, in fact, remember that -- I mean, I don’t have to tell you that there are constant attacks going on in Gaza, which is basically a prison, huge prison, under constant attack all the time: economic strangulation, military attack, assassinations, and so on. In comparison with that, abduction of a soldier, whatever one thinks about it, doesn't rank high in the scale of atrocities.

Democracy Now! | Noam Chomsky: U.S.-Backed Israeli Policies Pursuing "End of Palestine"; Hezbollah Capture of Israeli Soldiers "Very Irresponsible Act" That Could Lead To "Extreme Disaster"

Sitting Ducks

All parts of Lebanon are within easy flying distance by helicopter from sovereign British bases on the nearby island of Cyprus (Larnaka, etc.) Nothing would be easier than to set up a speedy airlift which could bring all Americans in Lebanon quickly to safety. Bush, despite his constant demagogy about protecting the lives of Americans, is pursuing a policy of flagrant indifference to what happens to these 25,000 American citizens. They are being hung out to dry, left as sitting ducks for whatever bloody false flag operation may be cooked up by the Israeli intelligence services.

TOTAL INFORMATION ANALYSIS

"A Clean Break"

Securing the Northern Border

Syria challenges Israel on Lebanese soil. An effective approach, and one with which American can sympathize, would be if Israel seized the strategic initiative along its northern borders by engaging Hizballah, Syria, and Iran, as the principal agents of aggression in Lebanon, including by:

• striking Syria’s drug-money and counterfeiting infrastructure in Lebanon, all of which focuses on Razi Qanan.

• paralleling Syria’s behavior by establishing the precedent that Syrian territory is not immune to attacks emanating from Lebanon by Israeli proxy forces.

• striking Syrian military targets in Lebanon, and should that prove insufficient, striking at select targets in Syria proper.

It is interesting who is behind this "study":

Richard Perle "the Prince of Darkness"

James Colbert is communications director of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), allegedly an asset of the Israeli war faction, and its neoconservative allies in the U.S., to influence governmental affairs in Washington.

Charles Fairbanks, Jr., a friend of Wolfowitz.

Douglas Feith, number three in the Pentagon from 2001 to 2005

Robert Loewenberg founded Institute for Advanced Strategic & Political Studies (IASPS-Jerusalem) in 1984, a neocon thinktank with the aim to influence the Israeli parliament (Knesset) and the U.S. Congress

Jonathan Torop is vice president for private wealth management of Goldman Sachs

David Wurmser is the Middle East Adviser to US Vice President Dick Cheney.

Meyrav Wurmser presumably a Israel intelligence operative, working for MEMRI (an Israeli Psyop outfit) and wife of David Wurmser.

These are the thoughts of people close to the US government. Warmongers. Fucking warmongers.

A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm - The Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies Jerusalem, Washington
(via Matthias Bröcker)

Nuclear waste dumps, aircraft carriers, and regime change

The government knows better than to get into the novel [writing] business, but in other fields where they have a natural monopoly, like nuclear waste dumps, aircraft carriers, and regime change, you'd find plenty of projects isomorphic to this one-- and indeed, plenty that were less successful.

Paul Graham - The Power of the Marginal

A business with the rare distinction of being both illegal and unprofitable

By conventional standards, Jobs and Wozniak were marginal people too. Obviously they were smart, but they can't have looked good on paper. They were at the time a pair of college dropouts with about three years of school between them, and hippies to boot. Their previous business experience consisted of making "blue boxes" to hack into the phone system, a business with the rare distinction of being both illegal and unprofitable.

:-)
Paul Graham - The Power of the Marginal

"Non-programming Goats"

Interesting: If you don't understand basic programming concepts you won't learn how to develop software, no matter what the teacher tries.

Coding Horror: Separating Programming Sheep from Non-Programming Goats

My Pal Osama from Al-Q

Mugniyah has extensive links with the Iranian intelligence services, and has been directly linked to al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, and recently deceased al-Qaeda in Iraq commander Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Everybody seems to know Osama bin Laden and his (deceased) Number 2, Zarqawi. Should make everybody wonder why the US are unable (or unwilling) to detain him.
Hot Air � Blog Archive � Breaking: Israel attacks Lebanese army (Update: Hostages being moved to Iran?) (Update: Hezbollah attacks Haifa) (Israeli ambassador: “War”)

[Update] You need to read the comments, comparing the current events to 1914 and the shoooting of Franz Ferdinand or saying that "Lebanese military capacity currently exists to be used against one entity only: Israel." Ahem, yes:

The government of Lebanon has contracted the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Jordan, and Egypt to assess Lebanon's military and security infrastructure to develop reform programs in the near future.

And the US, the UK and France are known enemies of Israel...
Unbelievable. There is one side shooting at the other side becase they are shooting at them. Of course, one side is right and the other wrong.

Bullshit, both sides are murderers, I just think that one side has the better weapons. And the IDF attacking the young lebanese democracy will cost Israel some karma points, bombing Beirut is out of style for at least a decade (Someone should tell that to Syria too).

[Update 2]

Better start this war off now, rather than later, as no one else (including our commander-in-chief) has the cojones to deal with Iran effectively.

Then again, this is the same thing the people in Austria and Germany said before the first World War. See Karl Kraus.

War: first, one hopes to win; then one expects the enemy to lose; then, one is satisfied that he too is suffering; in the end, one is surprised that everyone has lost.

I should have filed some patents too...

Is there a thing that isn't patented?

• Method of encoding a signal into a bit stream (Damn, if we only knew how to do that)
  
• Scaling filter and method thereof (There is so much to be gained by being able to scale!)
  
• Fast fourier transform processor (A FFT processor. Wow, the brainchild of a brainiac)
  
• Method and apparatus for performing a multiplication or division operation in an electronic circuit (I mean, come on!)
• Leading zero counter for binary data alignment (Can you spell cntlz?)
  
• Electric apparatus and method for game (WTF?)
• Light reflection intensity calculation circuit (Wow, impressive invention, how many NASA engineers do you need for that?)
• Data processing apparatus and method for converting a fixed point number to a floating point number (Damn, why didn't I think of that?)
• Data processing device with microprocessor and with additional arithmetic unit and associated method (We call it a "Laser" "Computer")
• Division algorithm (Division? What's that? Never heard of it)
• Data processing apparatus and method for performing floating point addition (What? Floating Point Addition? We can do that?)
• Method and apparatus for performing a divide instruction (Divide the bread and share it!)

Electrical computers: arithmetic processing and calculating patents (USPTO Class 708)
(via fefe)

Latest News from the Lebanese Army Official Website

Why is the Lebanse Army so quitet to the latest developments?

Major General P.S.C, Shawki Al Masri, inspected the Airbase of Beirut
7-7-2006

The Lebanese Army Chief of Staff, Major General P.S.C, Shawki Al Masri, inspected the Airbase of Beirut this morning, and met the Air Forces commander and officers, get acquainted with the different activities, as he praised the efforts exerted to maintain the constant readiness, and paid tribute to the sacrifices offered by the Air Forces besides the other Army Units. The Lebanese Army Chief of Staff also gave the instructions of the Armed Forces Commander and invited them to more vigilance and submission.

And while we are at it, don't forget to download a wallpaper.
Lebanese Army Official Website

A Dream

So you’ve identified your ideal job, written the resume, survived the interview, received -- and accepted -- the offer. And you start in two weeks.

Now what?

The Monster Blog: You’re Hired! Now What?

Muppet Wiki!

Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem - Muppet Wiki

Wonderful

Oh, how I miss that.

Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fox News under fire

"Bad guys shoot at anything."
"But it is Israel."
"Ahhh, ... but it's although, ... if he's correct ... "

The Raw Story | Fox crew shot at in Israel

Negative Infinity

Researchers of cognitive dissonance in the nineteen-fifties found that consumers would continue to read ads for a new car after they’d bought it but would avoid information about other brands, fearing post-purchase misgivings.

Sometimes less choice and less information is a good thing. Or to reitarte "Embrace your constrains".

It is always a painful experience for me to buy a sandwich at Subways. What size? What bread? What type? Chease? Grilled? What vegetables? Pepper? What sauce? And then, when I think I'm almost done: Take away? I want to yell: "I don't know! How the fuck should I know!? I just don't know! Just give me the fucking sandwich of the day! I just want a fucking sandwich!"

I guess I would go insane in a starbucks coffeshop...

The New Yorker: The Critics: Books
(Via 37 Signals)

Booooh!

The worst thing that usually happens at Old MacDonald's Petting Zoo, in Alabama, involves the resident emu who, visitors are warned, has been known to deliver a "hard peck".

Yet the zoo is listed as a critical potential target for terrorists, according to an internal audit by the US government that condemns the Department of Homeland Security for taking a too-broad approach to the risk of attack. The report, by the department's inspector-general, who serves as a watchdog, lists numerous other sites in the National Asset Database "whose criticality is not readily apparent" - including the Sweetwater Flea Market in Tennessee, Amish Country Popcorn in Indiana, a kangaroo conservation centre, a cheque-cashing outlet and a doughnut shop. Other, vaguer, entries include "a restaurant", "a travel stop" and "beach at end of a street".

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Ice cream parlour tops US terror list
(via fefe)

Can you spell R e d H e r r i n g?

Famous for 15 megapixels: Official 7/7 timeline turns out to be bollocks – fancy that

"It’s a lot worse over here [in Iraq] than is reported."

Foreign Policy: Seven Questions: Covering Iraq

(via telepolis, in German)

Super-Duper

No matter how sophisticated and super-duper are NSA's methods for identifying terrorists, no matter how big and fast are NSA's computers, NSA's accuracy rate will never be 100% and their misidentification rate will never be 0%. That fact, plus the extremely low base-rate for terrorists, means it is logically impossible for mass surveillance to be an effective way to find terrorists.

Schneier on Security: Terrorists, Data Mining, and the Base Rate Fallacy

Nothing like a good coincidence

If the "Doc Info" data [shown above] on the PDF version of Rumsfeld's Rules is accurate, someone had just finished updating the file less than an hour before the hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon.

Classic Planet PDF - AcroPDF Weblog for week of April 29, 2002
(via LewRockwell and wwww)

Florida, Airplanes and the CIA Part II

Southern Air Transport, based in Miami, Florida, is best known as a front company for the Central Intelligence Agency. It was founded in 1947 and became a subsidiary of the CIA's airline proprietary network, the Pacific Corporation. SAT's Pacific Division supported the US war effort in Southeast Asia. Although the CIA was ordered to divest its airlines in 1976, SAT continued to support US covert activities in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Angola, and elsewhere. In 1986 Nicaragua shot down a SAT cargo plane and captured SAT employee Eugene Hasenfus, leading to the Iran-Contra affair.

Southern Air Transport - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

USA - Protecting Freedom and Democracy since 1945

Afghanistan
Bolivia
Brazil
Cuba
Chile
Dominican Republic
Guatemala
Guyana
Iran
Iraq
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
Syria
Vietnam

Just giving one more or less random example for each country. Here is a more complete list. This is interesting as well. There are many more that can be added to this list, like Laos, Dominican Republic, Cambodia, Lebanon, Honduras, Bolivia, Somalia, Argentine, Ecuador, Greece, Yemen, Fiji, Venezuela, Haiti, Equatorial Guinea, some of which can only be claimed. And of course there are those little dirty covert operations by the CIA, many will never be known publicly...

The world would be a lot safer place, if the US would stop meddling with the affairs of other nations.

Jon Steward is da shit

Seriously, the house of representatives is filled with insane jackasses.

Best political comment from US TV in a long time.
BatzLog - Noch etwas Salz? � Giller-Gämes

Seven Guys?

The Miami Seven

Objective

I have no objective. What's the point when cold death is the final destination for us all? Can you explain that to me? I know I'm supposed to put something here, though, so here goes: Your objective is to hire me into a challenging position in a computer-applications-based field within which you feel I can "make a difference" and "contribute" in a team environment.

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Nihilist Job R�sum�.
(via Damien Katz)

Fuck eBay

Fucking monopolist. Fuck em.
(Yes, I use them too...)
eBay Bans Sellers from Using Google Checkout

"Not in my name, Tony."

BBC NEWS | UK | Images of 7 July: Bloodied and dazed

How not to protect passwords in software...

I'm told that one company's networking software from a long time ago had a bug just like this one. They used a very advanced "change password" algorithm, the details of which are not important. The design was that only heavily encrypted data was transmitted on the wire. That way, somebody who sat on the network and captured packets wouldn't see anything of value. Except that they had a bug in their client: When it sent the encrypted password to the server, it forgot to null out the unused bytes in the "change password" packet. And in those unused bytes were, you guessed it, a copy of the password in plain text.

The Old New Thing : Security: Don't forget to initialize the stuff you don't care about

Just a Coincidence?

The bus explosion also happened to occur right in front of the headquarters of two Israeli-based security firms, Fortress GB and ICTS UK Ltd, both based in Tavistock House, and having Underground-line security contracts.

Just a conspiracy coincidence, surely. The other explanation that comes to my mind is more along the lines of the "horse head in the bed", a warning send to these Israeli firms. But who send this warning, and what for?
July 7th Truth Campaign - The People's Investigation into 7/7

"Can't make this shit up."

Even Bush's Feces & Urine Are Classified Top Secret

(via fefe)

He's dead, Jim

Could we now stop this stupid occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan? Please?

C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden - New York Times

Bin Laden is dead

Dead, dead, dead.

CNN.com - CIA reportedly shuts down anti-bin Laden unit - Jul 4, 2006

F#cked

20 Amazing Facts About Voting in the USA