isracast - do it yourself hydrogen?

the new technology from isracast is promising to make hydrogen cars easier. and affordable.

i hope so.

--cid

the six dumbest security practices

i don't necessarily agree with all the viewpoints, but this brings up some interesting points.

--cid

0wn your security practices b4 they pwn u

hbo poisoning bittorrent

according to this article on techreport.com, hbo is poisoning bittorrent by running bogus peers which claim to have a file, but actually send out bunk data chunks (which slows the progress of the download).

pretty smart. dirty, but smart.

--cid

the life artificial

this pdf tells about the plan for artificially spawning new life. interesting.

--cid

0wn your nucleic acids

msh (microsoft command shell)

arstechnica has an article about the new microsoft command shell (msh) and i've gotta say i'm impressed. it looks like somebody over at redmond actually thought about it.

--cid

guimp: world's smallest website

found it on geekblue dot net. ::guimp:: world's smallest website.

--cid

ethanol

well, if we can't get off internal combustion, maybe we could at least get on the ethanol train.

--cid

mastercard announces no-touch rfid credit cards

mastercard has announced plans to deploy no-touch radio frequency credit cards.

they better do a good job.

--cid

who's 0wned _your_ wallet?

sun's open source drm project

yup. you read it correctly. it said sun microsystems is working on an open source digital rights management. i know this is kinda old, but it deserves a link, at the very least.

lemme know what _you_ think...

--cid

faster than the speed of light?

a team of european researchers claims to have influenced the speed of light--specifically slowed light traveling down a fiber, and also sped it up (apparently faster than light's s'posed to go).

this could be cool.

i wanna see optical computing--optical wavelength processors rather than semiconductors, fiber optics everywhere, stunning optically piped displays. oooooooohh...

--cid

0wn yourself

i wanna get some blades

i want blades. like the ones by cubix or ibm or sun.

blade servers powering a blade pc setup threaded throughout my house. a massive raid array.

anyway, i want some kind of cluster. it just seems like the way to go. if it works so wonderfully well for things like video rendering, why can't we use it for normal stuff like running os'es simultaneously, or making better versions of games?

forget dual core. i want a dodecahedral core.

--cid

titan - an intriguing possibility

this article at space dot com talks about the changing section of opinion regarding the location and possibility for extra terrestrial life.

see, titan's pretty cold, chillin' out there with saturn, but if you think about extremophiles (or creatures which live in extremely inhospitable environments--i.e. boiling or freezing temperatures, or environments with extreme ph or salinity).

in particular, a particular kind of extremophile, a psychrophile (here's the wiki) could thrive in the frozen temperatures of titan.

now, don't get me wrong, here. i don't necessarily think this is like some major breakthrough or anything. so far it's all speculation, but it would be pretty cool if we found some crazy bacteria living on another planet (in our own back even).

the reason i'm glad--the reason i'm posting this, is because at least people are starting to think about things like this again. at least it's a topic. science took a backseat for awhile, and i think that's starting to change. at least i hope.

--cid

the tsa claims they can't access their own database

maybe they need some help...

effector newsletter talks about the tsa and their scramble to deal with this latest database they've collected.

after hundreds of requests for information they (sort of) started to comply, though now they say they lack the ability to search the database by keyword, and apparently they've already deleted a big chunk.

interesting...

--cid

olsen finally made it

gotta give shouts to this guy--greg olsen--the first space tourist. that's hot.

--cidViscous

0wn yourself

hackermedia.org - just givin' a shout

shout outs to hackermedia.org! (bang)

--cid

chinese space program moving right along

i think this article about the chinese space program should really drive home the point of how the rest of the world is both interested and very well educated in the sciences.

we need to wake up.

--cidViscous

0wn your country

new sparcs lighting big fires?

sun microsystems new sunfire servers with the new ultrasparc iv+ chips.

hafta wait and see how they do.

--cid

secure google wi-fi

this is new--secure wi-fi vpn through google.

i wonder what all they'll be logging?

--cid Viscous

0wn yourself

cool concept car con

badass concept car snippets from extremetech dot com.

most of it's not really that great, but there are a few gems.

--cid

hp with the hardware

new drm from hp (licensed from intel) and developed with phillips?

that's a mouthful.

i guess it's no surprise. hardware drm seems to be harder than software management techniques (no pun intended). it's not the first step down a long, dangerous path of crippled and outlawed technologies designed more with a thought to how they're gonna protect the corporations' intellectual properties than to how it's gonna benefit the end users.

we need to pay attention.

--cid

headline reads 'rocker bashes digital rights management'

now, this is the kind of attitude you've gotta give shouts to--rocker bashes digital rights management.

from what i've heard, they didn't have any control over stopping the inclusion of digital rights management (drm) on their latest cd, so they apologized to their fans and apparently put up instructions for bypassing the restrictions (which stopped users from importing the songs to their portable players).

now that's cool. shouts, guys.

--cid

0wn yourself

snoop onto them as they snoop onto us

analyzing the sounds of keystrokes to tell what's being typed (with something like 96% accuracy).

creepy, though interesting.

for some reason it reminds me of an idea i once read about for a biometric security feature that would continuously run a hash of certain of the users physical input parameters--i.e. the rhythm of your typing or the way you move your mouse around.

better than a password because it's harder to steal--you have to fake it--and also because it keeps working the whole session, in the background, so, if an intruder did somehow manage to breach security, if the computer realizes that the biometric usage patterns don't match, then the session can be interrupted--something that can't really happen with a password.

--cid

interesting....

a security forum called first, cisco, and ebay, among others, are urging everybody to adopt a 'commov vulnerability scoring system' (cvss) for the purpose of simplifying and unifying network protection and anti-malware efforts.

if practiced, having a simple, accurately descriptive way of classifying and explaining new exploits could be very useful to many parties (most of who would be the actual parties you'd _want_ to be involved in the process).

now, we'll just have to wait and see if ppl dig it (will use it properly) and if they do it right.

--cid Viscous

0wn yourself

north korea's playing ball?

north korea says they'll begin dismantling nukes provided (among other things) that the us supply a light water reactor to give power to the people (electricly speaking).

*shrugs*

i s'pose i'd sooner like to have us building their reactors than them actually having a nuclear program of their own. i didn't know if they were gonna play ball or not.

--cid

vista for free?

vista for free? open source windows?

i don't know about that....

--cid

twenty eighteen (2018) ? seriously?

astronauts back on the moon in twenty eighteen? are you kidding, nasa? just telling us something outrageously far away so if you do it faster you'll look like heroes?

what's wrong with like--i dunno--two thousand six or something? have we forgotton something since we did it the last time? misplace the blueprints? we (meaning the citizens of the united states of america) need to start thinking bigger and making better use of our strengths.

sometimes i think americans have forgotten what it means to be american.

while i'm glad the space program has at least been giving the appearance of moving again, i think we can do better than two thousand and eighteen, neh?

the current shuttle orbiter design is ancient and unreliable. we neet to create a new design for a (truly) reusable spacecraft, but until that time arrives, it does not mean that we shouldn't be twiddling our thumbs.

there is a lot to learn, still.

we need to send up more automated tests and experiments and probes to increase our knowledge, and we should also be experimenting with extended stays out of earth's gravity and protective magnetic field. (this pdf should give you the idea...)

we should (and can) put people on the moon very much sooner than 2020 or 2018 or any other such number. by then we should have a permanent colony (or reseach labs or something) on the moon. our natural satellite can serve as a playground for learning how to best build habitable environments outside of earth.

we've had our terrestrial biodomes and the international space station as stomping grounds already. now we need to branch out to the moon (and mars once we solve certain problems associated with extended space flight--the effect of microgravity on the human body (possibilities include so called 'rotational gravity' which is centrifugal force) and the secondary radiation caused by particles being emitted from radiation shielding when it's bombarded (which could be dealt with through new plastics being developed, layers of shielding on a different scale than previously planned, or possibly even through magnetic field manipulation).

interesting times we're living in, but i hope we can start making some real progress soon.

--cid

0wn yourself

twenty things we now know four years after 9/11

twenty things we now know...

interesting.

--cid

voice analysis determines concentration

the so-called jerk-o-meter is ready to analyze your voice patterns to tell how much attention your paying (which it can then relay to whomever you're talking to). though, i can think of some other interesting uses this technology could be put to.

can you?

--cid Viscous

0wn yourself

spam map

the mailinator has a new trick--spam maps. it uses google maps and their own database to plot out the location of wicked spam clogs. kinda cool.

--cid

new airgo wifi chip

airgo has a new chip for wireless.

the new mimo chip (Gen3 or something like that) is s'posed to support up to 240 Mbps and apparently they're claiming that in real-world tests they're getting actual, sustained throughput of over 120 megs of uncompressed traffic--which is slightly faster than ethernet standard 100BaseT.

so let's see it. put it in the stores, put a good price on it, and we'll buy it already....

--cid Viscous

daypop

daypop - a current events/weblog/news search engine

hmmm..... i wonder how they keep things current? clusty, the clustering engine is an interesting one, too. and i just found bloogz, too.

it's interesting to watch this whole process evolve and build on itself.

--cid

zen garden css project

css zen garden: the beauty in css design, is a project which showcases the creative css tricks that can be accomplished through style sheets.

the homepage is an html framework and a css sheet. artists are encouraged to download the style sheet and modify it to suit their tastes--but they can't change the html for the index.

if the zen garden accepts your sheet, it will be added to the list. as you click on the name of each style sheet, it's loaded into the index page giving it drastically different looks and feels, but all with the same html framework.

shouts to the css zen garden project.

--cid

0wn yourself

joone

joone - java object oriented neural engine

it's an open framework for setting up artificial neural networks.

swett.

--cid

lojack for your laptop

new laptop sports built-in tracer. they don't say how the technology works, but apparently, if it's not found within sixty days, you get a refund of up to $1000--which is just super on a laptop which costs twelve or thirteen hundred dollars containing who knows how much (possibly sensetive or irreplaceable) data.

gateway is doing it, along with another embedded security device--a tpm (technical protection measures) chip. i don't think i like it.

this chip could be used to enforce drm at the hardware level, it contains a uniquely identifying number which is never a good thing, and, on the whole, seems to be set up to protect a corporation from losing important data on a stolen laptop, and retrieve their computer than actually protecting an end user from data loss or even really (in some cases) get enough money to even cover teh hardware.

i'm not impressed.

--cid

pulling a fema?

people are saying fema lacks disaster experience. off the hook's emmanuel goldstein wants everyone to start using it as an insult.

you fema'ed us this time, didn't you? go fema yourself. you are _such_ a fema. he's gone and pulled a fema?

i'm all for it.

--cid

0wn yourself

aggregated carbon nanorods

aggregated carbon nano rods. s'posed to be harder than diamond.

sweet!

--cid

0wn yourself

twenty things we now know four years after 9/11

twenty things we now know four years after nine over eleven. it's on liberal slant.com, so i think you'll see where it's coming from.

wild.

--cid

study shows airlines now safer for terrorists

this excellent article on sierratimes dot com brings up some very good points (after starting with a chilling story of the airline security confiscating the dull pocket knife the author had inadvertantly left in his bag while missing the four (count 'em) four smal combat knives he had in the same carryon bag.

and what's worse is he (or possibly she, actually, i didn't look at who wrote it...) made it through multiple airport screenings, at different airports, going both directions, and all they found is the pocket knife.

unbelievable.

or, actually, i s'pose that's all-to-believable these days anyway. oops. there i go again.

i did agree with the logic of the article tho, and the conclusion reached--namely that it's impossible to disarm all of the criminals all of the time, and it's impossible to pick them out all of the time. apparently, it's also very improbable that they could put armed personnel on every flight, and if they did that it could (and prolly would) create an entirely new set of problems (i.e. crazy terrorist flight attendents with guns).

also the solution proposed in the article makes a lot of sense if two conditions are met--a) permit holders are allowed to bring their concealed weapons on all the flights and b) proper gun control and licensing were maintained and (i know, i said two) c) carriers not be identified (singled out) as concealed weapon carriers.

random searches just aren't effective (by any means) and they are also not what this country is supposed to stand for.

--cid

0wn yourself

http://www.sierratimes.com/archive/files/sep/27/armp092701.htm
http://slate.msn.com/id/2064257/

whatever happened to 'that's my bush'?

bush dividing the country? bush popularity at an all time low?

i even heard that his popularity ratings are equal to those of nixon just before the impeachment. but then nixon didn't have partisan control of every branch, did he? i dunno what's going on here, but it doesn't seem like very many people like the president right now.

you know what i miss, tho..? 'that's my bush'--was it comedy central? yeah, it was trey parker and matt stone, the dudes from south park and orgazmo. i wish that show would've lasted through the presidency.

*sigh*

i'm surprised by the way the country is reacting to this whole disaster thing, though sadly, i'm not all that surprised at how badly the situation turned out.

looting and rioting? snipers? the whole city wiped out? minimal communications. trouble getting in and out. the tsa bumbling around hand searching evacuees (or so the story goes...) from the 'cane.

we (as a country) need to start working as a whole to better ourselves and our land. we need to fortify our defenses and expand our education exponentially. we need to get resources to the people. we need to rethink a few laws, rethink some policies and break down a few barriers.

we need to forget about politics for awhile and work on survival and self preservation and expansion (not necessarily of our borders (at least not on this world) but our abilities and talents and resources, we need to expand). it's time for another renaissance.

i sure do miss that show...

--cidViscous

0wn yourself

inflatable spacecraft by bigelow

space dot com's talking about the new inflatable spacecraft design by bigelow aerospace. bigelow's been working with nasa--i guess they're working on some kind of space hotel.

space tourism is gonna be a reality soon, methinks.

it's this kind of attitude (not necessarily the capitalistic 'siezing newly blossoming opportunities in newly forming markets' kind of attitude, but capitalism )_does_ yield results.

space kinda got put on the back burner for a decade or so as the world realized what cyberspace was (and as cyberspace came into existence as we know it today). now, i think the ball's finally starting to roll again.

private companies like bigelow and lockheed martin and many others have broken a lot of ground (indeed, creating the commercial space industry) in areas that were formerly only the domain of governments.

does that say something about technology, the state of nasa, or the state of corporate economics? private rewards and challenges (most prominent example: the ansari x prize) have contributed to this phenomenon, as well.

me? i'm just glad we've still got our eyes on the stars (and lately mars, if you'll pardon my unavoidable rhyme).

--cid

sony touts evolving walkman

sony has announced an 'evolving walkman' that will learn certain information about its' users' taste in music, etc. kind of cool (if they do it right (which i doubt they will)), but also potentially kind of scary (if they use the technology to report back (i.e. datamine) with the info it learns about it's owner.

we'll see.

--cid

e164

e164 provides a service where you can map pstn numbers with voip routes or something. i haven't got it all figured out yet, but it seems pretty cool. i'll let you know when i figure out more.

--cid

new texas instruments semiconductor

ti's got a new semiconductor that's s'posed to make it easier to make sweet video devices (like media players, palm/pocket computers, and phones).

s'posed to be out by the end of the year. i can't wait.

--cid

0wn yourself

phone scoop dot com

i'm sure i've done it before, but i just wanna take a second to pimp phonescoop dot com for scoopin' all those phones.

also in the lineup is howard forums. and then pla (not to be confused with the pla) out there losing with phones.

bell's mind, old skool phreaking at binrev dot com, verizown--they never stop phreaking for us, phone trips, strom dot com, north american numbering plan administration, skype, free world dialup, and everything else that has to do with telephone networks.

i like phones.

--cid

ipod nano--cute. very cute....

seen apple's newest hardware media player, yet? looks like it's all geared up to take the place of the mini (or maybe the mini'll get some kind of upgrade and/or price reduction).

in spite of myself, i want one. it's just too cute. i dunno about the price, tho. and i still hate teh itunes software.

anyway...

--cid

0wn _your_ media, or 'be the media' as the man said...

their president's last name is talabani?

saddam confesses to slaughtering kurds. and their new president's name is talabani... wtf?! where have i been?

*shrugs*

--cid

geneSat one

projects like this are great. this is what we need more of. lets send up thousands of these experiements. let's put 'em in orbit. let's land 'em on the moon. let's gain more knowledge. let's get the ball rolling. let's expand. let's explore our solar system. let's explore the galaxy.

that's my rant. we now return you to regularly scheduled whatever.

--cid

0wn your satellite

hd-dvd losing steam?

is hd-dvd already losing steam?

whatever happened to the crazy multimethod storage media that was gonna shatter the curve on these new hd format wars? iomega, where are you?

--cid

note to self--check this out

Hexen2 for Linux : Hammer of Thyrion--be there!! (bang! bang!)

--cid

0wn yourself

i wanna talk to my computer in plain english

computer gimme a summary of the career history of president bush, and play me some music while you search, some hard jungle. go.

--cid

the internet all over again - or - how we lost our computers

wired has an article talking about new ititiatives (like geni--the global environment for networking investigations) being funded by the nsf, in an effort to redesign the internet from the protocols up.

while i do agree that tcp over ip technologies (and most of the other protocols out there) leave much to be desired in certain areas, i think the computer industry's done all right for itself with what it's been given. we _do_ need a new set of protocols, but we need to do it right, so it'll be done for the next thousand years.

let's write the 'perfect' set of protocols and the 'perfect os' and just be done with it. easily expandable, serviceable and upgradeable. universal across devices, and linking with new and legacy systems and devices. stable and self-maintaining.

virtually unbreakable.

and then we can just worry about content. doing and creating and consuming knowledge.

--cid

we're watching you amdocs...

tv over the internet. we may not be watching your tv/ip (tv over ip) but we're watching _you_, amdocs.

--cid

0wn yourself

is law enforcement wasting resources protecting big music?

well, i know i'm getting this up late, but it still deserves some attention.

tnw's got an article talking about how law enforcement seems to be wasting resources trying to protect big music (and media in general) from piracy.

we need to reexamine our priorities.

--cid

four phones -- four pimps?

i dunno about that, but i _am_ curious to see how the afforementioned pimps completed phone pimping turns out. pimp away, my artistic friends, pimp away.

the phones!!

--cidViscous

nasa building plastic spaceships

nasa is working on a new plastic which is lighter and stronger than aluminum which is also better at protecting from radiation. sweet.

just one more reason...

--cid

ibm has soul?

the soulpad, by ibm.

the soulpad, in a nutshell, is gonna be a little module (connected via usb) which will contain users' preferences, docs, and other personal info. you carry your soulpad around and just plug into whatever computer you want, wherever you go, rather than lugging around a whole laptop.

i think it'd be cool to integrate a touchscreen (on some kind of arm-based chip) into the design--that way you could still access (some of) your data on the fly.

and wireless. oooh.. you could even make it modular--the soulpad would just chill on your belt or in your pack or something, and it could wireless to a little touchscreen for access, and a communications module to access cellular and data networks.

the possibilities are endless....

--cid

0wn yourself

orgasmica on line

orgasmica online.

funny. very funny.

--cid

0wn yourself

shouts to the adbusters

just because.

keep busting, my friends, keep busting...

--cid

command dot com

'member the commandkomm (command.com)?

any (former) dos users out there? just gotta give this site shouts for beauty, simplicity, nostalgia, clever wording and class.

whoever you are, you made my day.

--cid

0wn your COMMAND.COM

proof that good can be done

us v. councilman victory--i.e. they overturned a previous decision that 'allowed an email service provider to secretly monitor content of users' incoming messages'.

proof that when people stick together (and to their guns) change can effected.

--cidViscous

0wn yourself

passed futures or future's past?

where did all the payphones go?

i saw one yesterday.

i wanted to make a telephone call-

but the payphone ran away.

where did all the cells come from?

i saw one yesterday.

the owner screamed 'hey, where you at?'

and then he was on his way.

what's this mail? this email thing?

i got one yesterday.

this morning i opened my inbox-

and the spam swept me away.

how come letters don't get sent?

they used to make my day.

you'd write and fold and stamp and lick-

and the mailman'd take it away.

how long can this poem go on?

it's getting pretty gay.

getting's just not quite the word-

it started out that way.

where did this inn tar net come from?

it's bigger every day.

it doesn't matter what you're into-

you can find it anyway.

where did all the phone phreaks go?

did the bells chase them away?

who will find the holes in the system-

as they dial numbers and play?

can i stop this from going on?

will it go that way?

what if i can never stop-

and i just--nah. just kidding!! (bang bang)

--cid

origami telescope

origami telescope folds to the size of a briefcase?

that's clever.

--cid

iq for ai?

they're talking about an intelligence quotient (iq) test for artificial intelligence (ai) systems.

granted, alan turing pointed out this need (with the turing test) a long time ago.

nonetheless, a good idea.

now, the thing we want to make sure of is that the test isn't worthless. in other words, we wanna take our time and make sure that the test gives us relevant, useful, accurate information, and that we truly _understand_ what the results we are given _actually mean_.

if we (and when i say 'we' what i really mean is whoever ends up making this thing (work)) can accomplish these two things, then the resulting test might actually be a wonderfully useful tool.

rather than just raw tech specs (which, sadly, not enough people actually understand anyway) a user could get a human-readable list of functions or categories of functions (which will be easily understood to project _how_ this new device or program will integrate into their daily lives--useful information).

what this would accomplish is the same it would accomplish in any other field or application--it creates a standard.

and a _good_ (get me here, i'm talking a GOOD) standard can spark innovation like _no_ amount of proprietary technology can.

case in point--the modular desktop pc (the oldschool ibm and it's clones). that open standard started the revolution that _BUILT_ the computing industry as we know and think about it today.

so, i guess i'll say it once more--this will be cool (and good, and useful, and wonderful) if and only if....they do it right.

--cid

0wn yourself

infant terrorists--starting 'em young?

no, seriously. cnn's talking about infants that were refused boarding (of their planes) because their names (or something similar) being on the no-fly terrorist list.

now, granted, we all know how much the media likes to blow things out of proportion, but this (very clearly) illustrates the ridiculousness of the system in charge of 'security' in these kinds of situations.

i'd like to say i'm shocked, but somehow, this really doesn't surprise me.

--cid

crm - controller rights management

this is how greedy they are, folks. microsoft will be putting in a system that will reject any peripheral (i.e. controller) not digitally signed by microsoft.

are they doing this to protect the end users' investment? well, no. are they doing it to protect the xbox itself? no? well, maybe they're doing it to ensure that only quality products make it into consumers' homes. wrong again.

they're doing it to force other manufacturers into paying licensing fees for access to a technology implemented to create the need for access. access which can (supposedly) only be given by microsoft.

now you and i both know that the reason i put the word 'suposedly' into that last paragraph is because about ten minutes after they start selling these things, some crafty little hardware hackers somewhere will have reversed the protocol and bypassed the whole scheme.

but in the land of the dmca, will this sort of creative free enterprise even be allowed?

sadly, i think it won't.

--cid Viscous

0wn your cons0le

harvard's looking back through time *cough*

tee enn dubs again, y'all... harvard is starting a study of the origins of life.

hmm..

ok. my first problem with this whole debate is that nobody's ever gonna win (unless god makes a guest appearance or somebody builds a time machine)--that's it. i don't care _how_ good your conclusions are, you CANNOT PROVE IT!!

secondly, why do the theories have to be two separate, disparate entities? why do they have to conflict? why can't evolution be the method the Creator used in the Creation? is that too far fetched or something?

and meanwhile, what are we teaching the kids? and on _that_ topic (y'know, the whole 'church and state' thing?) i'd have to say that evolution (as the point people are arguing, not necessarily the definition of the word) seems to be pushing the view of atheism--which, like it or not, is definitely a religious point of view.

but when i think about evolution, working backward it all makes sense--you can see the changes over millions of years and even see the planets and stars and nebulae formed from spinning dust and gas, right back all the way to the moment of the big bang.

and then we're left with the question 'and what caused that?' when i think of creationism, i'm thinking not just about life on this planet, but the creation of reality as we know it (and reality, as it may exist beyond what we know).

we live in the fourth dimension (six degrees of freedom, plus time) there are a few people who may understand more (though many have trouble just getting past three (on either side)) but much beyond that, we just don't know.

i just think that's what we need to be teaching our kids--we don't know. this is what we _do_ know, these are the things that people _think_, but nobody who was there is here, now, so we just don't know.

--cid

death penalty just underlines

supreme court justice john paul stevens has been talkin' th' smack about th' death penalty.

he brings up a couple of very good points (and by that i mean two very horrible things to point out, but clever and insightfully highlighted)--there have been people innocently (as later proven by dna evidence) executed, mistakes which (much like prison time served undeservedly) are not mistakes which can be remedied, but (unlike prison) is permanently so.

and, two, he brings up the point that the jury selection process (specifically the ability of the prosecution to dismiss prospective jurors who have reservations about the death penalty) can unfairly tip the tables out the 'jury of your peers' territory.

also, he talks about the strain on the court system these cases place, but the other side of the coin is the strain lifers (and, indeed the recitivism rate) actually place on the country.

neither solution seems very palatable, and yet clearly something needs to be done. the _execution_ of an innocent person should chill us to the bone, i think, but in this age of terrorism (should we start calling 'em terries?) there seems to be more and more of the apathetic uncaring-ness spreading itself around.

i guess (like most anything) a strong case can be made for more than one side....

--cidViscous

0wn yourself

today the jews left home

well, today was the day.

the people who decided to stay got served (notices, not breakdance moves), there were a few riots, no injuries (as far as i've yet heard/read, anyhoo).

*shrugs*

i dunno what to think. what d'you think?

--cid

0wn your country?

arrive, survive and thrive... m.a.r.s--mars, bitches!!

looks like the mars foundation are red planet bound. s'posedly, anyhow.

me? i'm glad to see it. i've been screaming it for years, actually. i think we need to get some people off this rock permanently--colonies, generation ships, planetary habitats, free floating space stations--all good ideas at this point.

we've got the technology. we've certainly got the manpower (out of six odd billion, you're bound to get some volunteers). all we need is to get the ball rolling.

we'll learn quickly, i think, once things start to happen, but taking that first initial plunge is the tough part.

that's why i'm so happy to see programs like this (taking the subject serious, with attainable goals in the foreseeable future) and the int'l space station. we need to just start _doing_ it. everybody knows it's the next frontier... and to the 'arrive, survive and thrive' crew, i wish you luck and prosperity.

mars, bitches!!

--cid

0wn your s0lar system

covert call calling it quits?

wonder what happened to covert call? i hope everybody's ok. kinda creepy.

--cid

everything but the toaster?

i'm sure you've heard, but here's the netBsd toaster--somebody hadda do it, right?

--cid

0wn yourself

crazy employee discounts style on american cars....

employee discount programs extended all over the place. gm (general motors) started the whole ordeal, i belive, and then chrysler and ford followed suit.

now two questions immediately spring to mind--is this really an actual, honest-to-God employee discount equivalent, or are they just playing some numbers game to jerk people around, here. and two--what caused the other two big names in american vehicular production to play the copycat role--necessity? just to see if they could get away with it? are they all in on it together?

the first question is relatively straight-forward, but number two seems to bring up even more questions.

although, i s'pose if the answer to number one is no, then the answer to number two shouldn't really matter, now should it?

--cid

0wn yourself

farewell peter jennings

longtime abc news anchor peter jennings died from lung cancer. wild.

my condolences to his friends and family.

--cid

flattening the field

tnw is talking about the broadband investment and consumer choice act, introduced by nevada senator john ensign.

i haven't had a chance to delve into the details, but on the surface it looks like just what we need.

--cid

beacon of light for british rights

bbc says the british may be getting their own version of the eff, to help fight for the digital rights and freedoms of consumers and citizens in general.

gotta give shouts for that.

--cidViscous

0wn yourself

brain dead woman gives birth

after cancer and a stroke, this brain-dead woman gave birth after being hooked to life-support for like three months. cool.

kinda creepy, but definitely cool.

--cid

is this line secure?

phil zimmermann, creator of the pgp (pretty good privacy) encryption scheme, has announced plans for a secure voip telephony system.

he hopes voip providers (vonage and packet 8 are two of the biggest) as well as voip telephone manufacturers (like cisco) will start building pgp security in.

kinda reminds me of an old program (and the author's name escapes me right now) called pgpfone (or maybe php-phone?) back in the day which utilized pgp to encrypt voice connections--i'm pretty sure it was an independent author who wrote it, tho i could be mistaken (as i've said, i can't remember his or her name and can't find my copy right now).

privacy is good.

--cid

0wn your phone

artificial intelligence in games--it's about time

if it had to be lucas, then so be it. i'm just glad someone's pushing for better use of ai in games. i guess he's got the (monetary) muscle to get the ball rolling, anyway.

artificial intelligence needs to be expanded, and fostered, and incorporated into our lives. we could benefit so much by having intelligently designed devices, tools and systems which can learn and make themselves _smarter_.

--cid

vonage over wiMax?

vonage and their new wimax partner?

cool. i say, give it to me. get it out there--the sooner we stop thinking about communications and data connectivity as two separate things, the better.

--cid

mozilla goes corporate?

mozilla has gone corporate. scary.

could do some good, though, if they don't get swallowed by the evil. hehe. lemme hear your thoughts...

--cid

0wn yourself

pharewell, phrack

the final (?) issue of phrack was released.

sigh.

--cid

heat shield repaired in orbit--cool

why couldn't they have repaired spacecraft by spacewalking before now?

i think it's great. i also think it's time to retire the shuttle and come up with a new one. (maybe a one-piece this time?)

power to the space program...i mean people.

--cid

defcon thirteen

well, defcon thirteen went down--next time. even cnn's writing about it.

and here's defcon wifi shootout where they go for distance. pretty soon it'll be time for hackers on planet earth again.

can't wait.

--cid

banks let two point seven five _billion_ walk out the door

..er website, i guess.

vnunet's got a story about banks and a scam known as phishing (whereby one sets up a fraudulent site--that looks like the real one--in an attempt to harvest peoples' docs).

according to this new study by an independent analyst firm, banks could've prevented $2.75 billion--that's B-I-L-L-I-O-N dollars--from being conned out of them simply by having tighter, more well though out security policies and practices.

makes you think, eh?

--cid

0wn yourself

oh, and i'd also like to give shouts for mr. tom sanders (the author of the article) for not referring to these phishy criminals as hackers.

nlrb says no

no fraternizing. no dating. no parties. no dinner. no ballgames. no friends you work with.

conflict of interests? how 'bout a conflict of morals? what about a conflict of freedoms? who gave these guys the right to tell our employers they can tell _US_ how we spend our _TIME OFF_!?

the national labor relations board has given companies the power to tell their employees who they're allowed to be friends with outside of work, not just when they're there.

pretty soon we're all going to be 'singing the corporate anthem' and shopping at the corporate store--living in corporate authorized housing, visiting doctors the company says we're allowed to visit, buying the things they want us to buy, going the places they want us to go--it's insane!

what are they thinking?

do they not realize that these bonds are the same bonds that are holding their employees together? what do they expect to happen?

are people going to stand for this? this underlines the corporate ideal that intellectual property (read:money) is more important than the people who make the world go round.

i'm livid. i'm gonna stop now, before i write something i regret. tell me what you think.

--cid

0wn yourself before somebody does it for you

new twenty six hundred--on stands now....

get yours today!! (bang-bang)

haven't got a chance to read through every article, yet, but it looks like it's gonna be a good one.

lots of google talk--most people don't realize it, but google offers a plethora of interesting and powerful tools (and with the right creative use of those tools, they become even more powerful) and services (mostly for free) to play with.

also, i've gotta give shouts to the author (can't 'member your handle right now--sorry) of 'where have all the implants gone?'. extra sweet.

he (or she) pretty much summed up most of the thoughts that have been going through my head these last couple of years. we've got some amazing technologies in the pipe that we (the body of consumers) prolly won't see any time soon simply because the current big corporate players are making too much money to give it up (or even risk losing market share).

that means it's up to us.

--cidViscous

0wn yourself

have dog will clone....

well, slashdot says that korean scientists have cloned a dog.

horse, sheep, dog....where are the people?

i figured someone would've done it by now. not that i think it's a particularly good idea or anything, but under the surface, it's definitely a pressurized debate waiting to spring back into the headlines.

--cid

tenth planet or hundred millionth kuiper belt object

well, they found something else orbiting the sun, but they can't seem to agree whether or not to call it a planet.

if they do decide to call it a planet, they'll hardly be able to call it number ten (as there are some previously discovered objects floating around out there already which could lay just as much claim to the name), but it's really just semantics.

point is--we found something else out there that we had no idea about. this just underscores how much more there is to know about our own little corner of the universe (not to mention the great expanse beyond).

--cidViscous

0wn yourself

central american free trade agreement

cafta aproved (barely) by house.

--cid

lapd datamining their own

the lapd is going to use a computer to track complaints (and other 'warning signs') to get a handle on their officers.

sounds like they just need to fire a few people (especially in the higher-ups).

--cid

drm is choking the life out of creativity, convenience, and fair use...

seth schoen, of the eff, recently published four short articles (number one, two, three and four) about his experiences at windows hardware engineering con and some of the new techniques and strategies they're going to be employing in the near future.

digital wRongs management is going to be marbled throughout every layer of the new version of windows.

these restrictive subroutines will be able to tell your computer what it's allowed to play, record, copy, store and even what hardware it's allowed to talk to (not to mention what programs it's not allowed to run).

think about it--telling _YOUR_ computer what it can _DO_!!

noncompliant software and hardware will be blacklisted (by microsoft, at the behest of any corporate entities it's in bed with) and new media will be able to require a certain version of the blacklist to be in place or else it just won't play.

lemme let that sink in for a second. this means that you can buy a new dvd or cd or something, bring it home and put it in your player, and the _dvd_ can tell you that you've gotta hook up to the global interweb and go get the new list or else it's not gonna do what you paid it to do. your dvd.

same with software.

if you load a player (or other piece of software) that windows doesn't like, it can simply stop working until you agree to play by it's rules.

nonsense.

and if the industry really thinks this is the magic bullet for stamping out piracy, they are in for a rude awakening. granted, a lot of lazy, apathetic and (plain) ignorant consumers will go right along with this (whether for agreeing with them, not realizing/caring/being inconvenienced, or just because they don't know what else to do) that unless we (the body of consumers) can unite and stand up to this, drm's not going anywhere anytime soon--in fact, it's prolly gonna progress to the hardware level (which raises it's own set of security/privacy concerns) in a further attempt to tell consumers what they can and can't do with equipment they legally purchased.

it just gives me a headache.

longhorn (or vista, or whatever you're calling it now), au'revoir! hello *nix (and other more enlightened, user-friendly platforms)!

speak _your_ mind....

--cidViscous

0wn yourself

gta still in the headlines? c'mon.

i can't believe this is still in the headlines!! (bang-bang)

get over it, ppl.

so they put a little porn scene buried in the code. it's not accessible through normal gameplay and so it shouldn't have anything to do with normal activities, rules and regs surround the game. so what if the code's in there?

if you're just playing the game, you can't see it anyhow. just because it's in the code, doesn't mean that it's part of the normal game. and besides that, it's not a game for kids anyway.

i know, i know, it's (at least it was) legal to by in some places if you were seventeen, and pr0n's only s'posed to be for eighteen or older, but seriously, get over it already.

kids get porn, anyway (not that that one last year really means all that much), but that aside, they've changed the rating--it wasn't part of the publicly released game in the first place, and it's really no big deal. let's drop it.

// end rant //

--cid

new knee knows needs

this is an article about a bionic replacement knee which uses ai algorithms to learn how the user moves, and then adjusts performance accordingly.

very cool.

--cid

0wn your joints

amazing new japanese android

bbc's reported on a new female android developed by professor hiroshi ishiguro of osaka university.

and she bears an uncanny (creepy) realistic appearance. soft silicone skin and delicate arrays of motors attempt to simulate human movements. right now she can't walk, but after what we've already seen out of honda's asimo and sony's qrio, i wouldn't be surprised to see some combination of approaches soon.

--cid

0wn yourself

quantum entanglement in secure communications

quantum entanglement may lead to a method of secure communications.

the theory goes--if you can entangle two particles so they influence each other, and use that as a medium for transfer, any attempt to monitor or tap the system would be detectable by the effects the attack would have on the paired particle.

an interesting thought, and by the looks of this paper, they've successfully performed the entanglement procedure (though they're still, admittedly far from using this as a new communications medium). stanford has an interesting article with a little more of the subjects history.

quantum mechanics are showing some promise.

--cid

0wn yourself

roberts docs dropped?

looks like mr. roberts got some of his docs dropped recently. interesting.

--cid

assistive mechanical suits in japan

in japan, they're working on mechanized assistive armor to help the elderly get around and function in day to day life. you gotta check this out.

i want one.

with machine guns and rockets and laser targeting and stuff.

--cid

0wn yourself

microsoft--are you serious?

the guys in redmond _really_ stretched it this time. i'm sure you've already heard, and it you haven't, then have yourself a good laugh.

--cid

bbc opens more content

gotta give s'more shouts to the bbc for projects like their open sourced content. slashdot says that they're even opening more.

openminded projects like this and mit's opencourseware project (in which they o/s'ed a sizeable portion of their curriculum for the general public to have and learn from) are exactly what we (the ppl of the world) need right now.

maybe with enough support and forward-thinking philanthropic attitudes we can spark a new renaissance in the new millenium. art, music, language, writings, theatre, cinema, sciences, philosophy, debate, exploration...

that's what i'm striving for. let's remix our world.

--cid

0wn yourself

out with the old, in with the new... (telcos and the cable guys, i mean)

well, i (and many others) have been screaming it from the rooftops for quite a while now. this article agrees with me.

it's time for a new set of rules.

cable, internet, telephones, and cellphones don't do different things anymore. they all do the exact same thing--they just do it with different methods, but the crazy regulations (and government endorsed monopolies) need to stop. the playing field needs to be flattened.

--cidViscous

0wn yourself

challengers of the e911

this is an interesting read.

--cid

0wn yourself

cable modems learn a new trick...

superfast new cable broadband is on the horizon. according to finnish company teleste, speeds could hit something like a hundred megabits per second. pardon me while i wipe my chin.

they're saying that that the low end of the curve will be around thirty megs (where do i sign up, again?), but it'll prolly take at least a year or so before it's deployed. and god only knows when it'll show up in this market, but...

verizon offers (in some markets) a fiber optic to home service called fios, which touts up to fifteen megs.

military looking at microsatellites

and they're not the only ones...

small, relatively inexpensive satellites are starting to look better and better. it's quickly becoming more cost-effective to perform a lot of missions that wouldn't have been possible a short while ago.

hopefully, devices like this one will be able to perform service and maintenence on other satellites, eliminating the need for a spacewalk, and allowing for repairs, adjustments, and upgrades that simply wouldn't be possible by any other means.

hopefully this will also (by lowering overall cost) allow for some new and interesting uses of satellite technology. there's still a lot we don't know about the third rock from the sun.

--cid

nypd doing search-and-seizure on subway riders

well the new york police department are gonna be conducting random searches of subway riders' bags, purses, backpacks, and briefcases as they enter the system, and even while riding the trains.

donna lieberman, executive directer of the new york civil liberties union, seems to be keeping a more realistic point of view, here. she points out that while the chance of success is very small (think 'needle in a haystack'), the hassle this will cause commuters is going to have much more impact.

i'm just wondering to myself how, if the airport, who scan and search bags, scan passengers (make you take your shoes off?) can consistently miss lighters (which can be illustrated by the number of people in the smoking lounge who possess one), what kind of security do they expect to create by nosing around in someone's purse or backpack. maybe it's just me, but it seems like this isn't gonna do much for catching people, but it's gonna make a pretty big impact on day-to-day life for a _lot_ of people.

what do _you_ think? let's hear it.

--cid

0wn yourself

moon maps

you've heard of google maps?

how 'bout google moon maps?

--cidViscous

0wn yourself

gta adult only, now

mature just wasn't a strong enough rating for gta:san andreas (one of the grand theft auto games by rockstar).

*shrugs*

i'm not even gonna get started...

--cid

what do these guys do, listen to old binrev and rfa?

is the cnn tech department just hurting for stories, or are they really that far behind the times? stank (among others) have pointed out time and time again how much google knows about you. and pretty much everyone else, for that matter...

i don't see how this is even a question. of course they're gonna store data--it's their effing job! that's what they _do_. that's why it's so important to not do anything stupid (or at least not do it under the watchful eye of anyone keeping any kind of database), and to be _aware_ of the kind of data collected by these services.

as far as the law enforcement part--that's life. any database can be subpoenaed. part of living under the us legal system. but as to the part about google hacking--the use of cleverly structured queries to obtain knowledge contained within the database, though not necessarily the most easily accessible through regular public means.

i guess that sounds kinda sinister, but really, it's just about being smart with the way you use a tool.

and as far as cnn--you're a little behind the times...

--cid

0wn yourself

[insert clever 'beam me up' / afterlife joke here]

well, i'm ashamed to tell you where i heard this, but james doohan (scotty on star trek) died on wednesday. you'll be missed, scott dood.

--cid

losers dot org

losers dot org. i'm so happy.

--cid

more junk from the 'blogosphere'

i hate that word. i dunno why. i like the format, and i don't even really mind the word 'blog'. just really don't like the whole blogosphere thing. but, anyway, the reason i'm posting is because i found tony pierce.

this is why i wanted to mention the site. dunno if he made 'em yet or not, but...



and



--cid

strange site...

what a strange (and strangely beautiful?) weblog.

*shrugs*

--cid

0wn yourself

itaniums get new bus

intel is s'posed to be putting in a six hundred and sixty-seven megahertz frontside bus on the new itanium2's.

now, i've never said i know a lot about hardware, but could somebody who does explain to me how they've had 800Mhz fs buses on pentiums for awhile, now, but for itaniums (the server chip) 667 is s'posed to be a big deal?

i've been so impressed with hybrid projects like cell, that i seem to be getting cranky that we're seeing such a slow implementation of new math crunchers and clusters.

multicore is cool, but i wanna see something good. soon. give me some really meaty computing power, so software has to play catch up. then i'll be happy.

--cid Viscous

0wn yourself

how is this a bold move?

why is this such a shock? the bush admin's been putting right wangers into all sorts of offices since they took over. can you really blame them?

if i were in office, i'd put people who shared my views, too. and if i were less than moral, i might even put a few people into power i had under my thumb.

--cid

make poverty history

i'm not saying they have all the answers, but they have good intentions.

make poverty history
whiteband

--cid

thank you mr. dvorak...

...for starting such a debate. i learned a lot. and i found magnatune and cc mixter dot org. so i'll be checking these out and, as always, keeping my eyes open for new good things...

--cid

creative commons under collective fire

mr. john dvorak (of pc mag fame not of simplified keyboard fame--that was august) has written a pretty nasty article about creative commons which is like a volunteer-made extension of the copyright system.

it doesn't seem to do much that copyrights don't aside from making it almost instantly known whether the author allows people to use the covered material (and what they are allowed to use it for) without looking through pages of legalese. well, that, and provide something like eleven pre-made licenses which provide varying degrees of freedom for how the covered work may be used (without having to go to law school yourself).

oh, and did i mention that it also provides machine-readable tags which allow search engines and other software tools to classify the documents based on what license is used?

i guess i don't really know quite enough about the details to give a whole-hearted opinion one way or the other, but the article certainly sparked some interesting debates. these days, the consensus about dvorak will usually be that he's not much more than a bitter old man (commonly referred to on (/.) as 'troll'), but i digress.

like i said, i'm not one hundred percent sure whether this is the way to do it or not, but i _do_ recognize the need for a change in the way the system works. you can't sing the birthday song without violating copyright laws, these days.

and about a million authors all came out of the woodworks to express how horrible it is when people 'steal' their work, and blah-blah-whine-whine-blah...metallica..sob...whine-grumble-grumble-whine-sob. well, i'm an artist, too. i write (i didn't say how good...) so that makes _me_ an author. i'm a musician. i'm a photographer. and i'm flat broke!

sure, i'd love to make some money doing what i do, but just because i have to work a real job to pay the bills, doesn't mean i'm gonna stop being creative. and it doesn't mean i get to throw a fit if someone uses a sample of something i made.

that's another thing that seems to be overlooked in this whole copyright/fair use thing--almost no idea is original anymore. you can argue all you want (if you've got a good example that proves me wronge, let's hear it), but pretty much everything 'new' that comes out has at least one (and often dozens, if not hundreds) of precedents that it can be traced back to.

nobody can _BE_ original, anymore (in the copyright legal sense of the word), because pretty much everything's been done in one form or another. show me a creative work and i can find a precedent for it.

not everything, mind you. with a universe of infinite possibilities comes, well, infinite possibilities, but truly unprecedented _newness_, for lack of a better word, is very rare indeed.

the thing is, anyone's creative work (art, music, writing, inventions, whatever...) is influenced in some way or another by everything that they experienced previous to the creation of said creative work. period.

unless you were born and raised in a societal vacuum, you _HAVE BEEN_ influenced by the creativity of someone else, who was influenced by someone else, and on and on and on...

it's been this way for a lot longer than these debates have been going on, but now, thanks to a particular music scene, we've got a name for it--remix.

everything's a remix, now. and i love it.

you take a piece of this, and a sample of that, splice in undertones of a couple of these, with hints of those and voila--a new creation. in any medium, in any country, that's the basic way art (in all its forms) works. and, to be honest, that's pretty much how technology, law, and money work, too.

the creativity of a particular piece or artist cannot be measured by what went in, only by how creatively it was assembled.

please don't take this the wronge way, either. copyright laws were made to protect the interests and rights of the creative individual. and truly stealing something, claiming it as your own, and then making money or fame off it is exactly what copyright laws are s'posed to stop--but they're being used to sue people that don't necessarily deserve to be sued. they're not used to protect artists freedoms, now, they're used to _hinder_ those freedoms.

and what they protect (in a lot of these cases) are the interests of greedy corporations and individuals.

i think we need to step back and take a look at what our legal system has become. and i think we need to dig back into our roots to see the culture that's already there, and then maybe we'll have a more clear picture of where we came from, where this situation came from, and what we should do to make it better.

if you have any ideas, comments, suggestions--i'd love to hear about 'em. if you just want to tell me i'm a wanker, that's okay, too. and if you just wanna flame, troll or generally be mean, you can send those here.

and in the mean time, get out there and remix some culture. put your voice into the mix...

--cid

0wn yourself

america needs more hardware nerds

i hate to say it, but gates actually kind of has a point.

--cid

gibsonian stories of corporate defection...

microsoft's apparently suing google for stealing one of their boys. they're suing kai-fu lee, too, claiming breach of contract because he signed on with google less than a year after his employment with redmond.

right now, it's money and lawyers. pretty soon they'll have to sneak 'em past private corporate soldiers and security perimeters to kipe a good employee from another corporate superpower. and of all the software superpowers out there right now, i think it'll be interesting to watch if google and microsoft start duking it out.

well, i'm watching....

--cid

0wn yourself

bletchley park

slashdot, as usual, coming through for me. bletchley park site with sixty years of memex, young codebreakers section (with basic cipher info), and a remembrance of alan turing.

--cidViscous

0wn yourself

are you gonna drop it already, riaa?

well, tnw had this interesting little snippet talking about a couple of songs that are not only topping the p2p lists, but also slamming out millions of copies on the billboards.

as the man said, 'the numbers seem to speak for themselves'.

--cid

facism-court--cat lovers?

so, i admit it. some times i hit the next blog button, just to see what pops up. this time i found this. i'm not sure what the sites about (and you've gotta wonder, with a name like like fascism court), but those are some darned cute pictures, i must also admit.

--cid

oss os/2 os? yos, er, YES, please!!

maybe they could open source it like tomshardware suggests.

here's hopin'..

--cid

20 guns for os/2

i'd call it a gun short, because they're not really dropping support for os/2, just putting it on a subscription basis (which i understand the reasons for). i just hate to see it go.

also gotta give ibm shouts for pointing remaining os/2 users (who can't afford or don't need a contract) towards linux as a replacement.

ibm, you're not quite the same beast i grew up loving, but my hat's still off to you (whatever part of you we may be calling 'you' now).

--cid

0wn yourself

laws because we can't do it for ourselves?

well, they're finally starting to round up some laws about data security.

and, like most things, i've got mixed feelings on the matter. on the one hand, i'm generally opposed to making a law anything that people can take care of themselves.

but, on the other hand, it's pretty much impossible to stop corporations (or private orgs and individuals) from collecting whatever kind of data they want to. and on that note, i'm still about the free flow of information--i'm not saying i _like_ being in all these thousands of corporate databases, but i _am_ saying that i feel anyone who wants to make a database of pretty much anything that's legally (and morally) acceptable to gather, should be allowed to do so.

but the thing is, most of the people and entitites building and maintaining these databases don't necessarily know a whole lot about security (or don't care or prioritze it correctly).

so, while i usually don't like the government stepping in to do things that people and companies should be taking care of themselves, it can easily be argued that they _aren't_ being taken care of.

if they do it right (which i doubt they will), maybe it'll stop incompetance like we saw back with cardsystems solutions when they lost forty million numbers and names that they weren't even s'posed to be _storing in the first place_!!

and that's it. they got off just fine. we should have dismantled that whole company (or at least given affected people the option of getting a new card number issued to them).

we've gotta take responsibility for our country or else someone else will...

--cid

sco--drop it, already

i can't believe this is even still in the news. this one just seems to put one more nail in the coffin.

i also can't believe sco hasn't dropped this by now. they've gotten nothing but bad publicity and a million skript kiddies DoS'ing their site again, and again, and again. and it still doesn't look like they've got a legal leg to stand on.

--cid

see bush backtrack. backtrack, bush, backtrack.

well, now president bush has apparently released another statement which raises the threshold or lowers the accountability (however you wanna look at it).

according to this, now the word is that anyone'll get canned who is found to have 'committed a crime' in the leak of the cia operative's name, not just whoever was found to be the leak.

he opened his mouth before he should have and now he's trying to fix it before it's too late. *shrugs* i s'pose that it's gonna play out the way it's gonna play out, but i don't think we should let him get away with going back on his word.

i'll be happy as long as the american body of citizens don't get any more of our personal freedoms stripped away in the process.

--cid

0wn yourself

laugh and liberty

here's the doj's description of the usapatriot act. what's scary is that it almost sounds like a good thing on their webpage.

just make sure you get the whole scoop (and you understand what it is that they're saying) before you delve too deeply into their marketing campaign.

it's true that the patriot act makes it 'easier' for law enforcement agencies to work together with coordinated effort, but it also violates many of the basic rights our country was built upon.

it basically let's them use the word 'terrorist' to break the laws when they feel it's warranted. now say what you like, but i think that any law enforcement that's public, open, or through the normal course of the system should be held to the same letter of the law that they are trying to uphold.

now, i also realize that the concept of terrorism (and in fact any kind of guerrila warfare) doesn't leave many options for 'playing by the rules' and some of the most effective strategies for dealing with true terrorism are blatantly illegal by our own standards. this creates a conflicting situation.

this creates a need for some kind of black-ops system. special forces, undercover intelligence agents, surveillance equipment, etc. the problem i have with this is that black ops should remain _BLACK_.

i don't wanna hear about it in the news, i don't want to read about it in any credible source. i want tv, books, and movies to be as far as the truth makes it into the public eye.

the problem with the patriot act is that it's not really about true terrorism. it's not about their people, it's about ours. laws like this can make anyone a 'terrorist'. and oops, if you're a terrorist you don't get any rights in this country. you just disappear until you do whatever it is that they want you to do.

who is this conspiracy-theory style 'they' i'm talking about? well, to be blunt it's the government. no, not the whole government--i haven't lost my mind.

the act has two kinds of supporters--those who did it, and those who are going along with it. to be specific, it's anyone who understands the true scary power of the usa patriot act and supports it anyway.

i've personally talked to a lot of people who are in favour of laws like this, and the only explanation i can find is that they read the shiny label on the packaging and then stop. you can't be a freedom-loving, blue-blooded american, read through the text of that bill, and then tell me that you believe in what they're trying to do with it. it's _UNconstitutional_!

if you haven't, go read it. and if you don't have the attention span, go read about it. here's a legal analysis of it.

bad stuff.

bad stuff being played off like it's good stuff.

and people eating it up. scary.

--cid

3ducat3 yourself

presupice? really??

presupice?
okay, maybe i'm crazy for caring, but can this guy really be the only one to spell precipice with a u?

--cid

ebay pricing calculator

look what i just stumbled across.

--cid

boi from troy?

boi from troy

boy, boi, you seem to have pissed off/annoyed a fair amount of people in a relatively short amount of time.

aside from the (aforementioned) fact that she didn't actually publish an article on the matter, i'd say you bring up a good point. she _could_ be protecting her source (which would mean she's doing the honorable, noble, 'journalistic-integrity correct' thing, here) and going to jail.

or, she _could_ be doing this as some sort of publicity stunt (i mean, it's only four months and it's not like she'll be in general population, anyway. not saying it'll be fun, but...) or something.

or maybe she really _doesn't_ have a source like boi suggested. it could be a way of stirring up media unrest. (perhaps to distract from something else? maybe just for the media whore's delight--a four month martyrdom? who knows?) in the past she has painted herself in a colour which some might call 'warmonger', though, i personally have to give her credit (whatever her motives) for sticking to her guns on this one. i'm not even gonna mention how i feel about rove on this one, but that aside, i think the supreme courts decision on this is ridiculous and have yet to hear a good argument to the contrary.

how is this situation different from attorney client privilege or doctor patient confidentiality? the source (assuming he or she existed) revealed something on the condition that he or she would remain anonymous. i can think of several reasons why someone would wish to remain invisible to the public. and now, because of this precedent, a reporter can't quite promise that anonymity with the solidity of the past.

thanks to the brave (whether selfish or not) actions of judy miller 'taking the bullet' for journalism, i s'pose one could make going to jail part of the promise, but what happens when they raise the sentence?

to the other commenters:

i think we all know that reporters prolly didn't give the orders. all the reporters did is do what reporters do--namely, hype up whatever topic is floating around like their job depends on it, and introduce whatever new, juicy new point of debate they can stir up.

the sad fact of the matter is that the 'liberal media' tends to take quite a conservative view these days, _skewing_ the truth as they need to in order to fit the demands of their corporate advertising base.

because of this model, mainstream media agencies make money that is more or less directly proportional to the ratings they generate (and consequent ad revenue they pull in based on those ratings).

if the corporate entity (and it's allied entities) which is paying millions for some of the ad spots on one of these media outlets doesn't like the view(s) expressed on said outlet, the outlet either complies or ceases to receive funding.

that kind of power tends to have the funny little ability to make people say (or not say) things they normally would. it makes people lose their jobs (and allows someone else to sell out...er, step up to the challenge of filling So-and-so's shoes).

now, don't get me wrong, here. not all media is bad. i find many, many interesting, insightful, and educated points of view on everything going on in the mainstream media (and more than you would ever realize that's not mainstream, but deserves to be...) from all kinds of sources.

but i find these great sources because i am always looking for them. there are a lot of great articles and reports and other sources of info, but much of it is not on the automatic stuff that gets piped into our faces whether we want it or not. most of that tends to be so heavily influenced by one point of view or another that you could pretty much call it propaganda.

i stress again--not all of it. and by no means is all indy media saintly, informed, and correct. there are some seriously malformed points of view out there, but that's why it's so important for us to, as citizens, educate ourselves. we need to look at all sides (or at least as many as we possibly can) and make up our own minds. we need to be aware of our world, and not just take what we're told at face value.

and when we see something wrong we need to speak our minds. do something about it. change the world.

jake, i think maybe she would look good in stripes (or maybe something in a nice, orange dayglo).

and i know i've been going on and on and this is only s'posed be be a comment, but why the hell would somebody in the whitehouse or otherwise even _be_ in a position to compromise an undercover agent? either the national intelligence system has just dramatically illustrated a massive flaw (i.e. an outside source leaking a name) in the way the system works, or else an internal source leaked the name (in which case everybody's looking at the wrong person). i dunno, but not everything about this story seems to add up.

anyhow, i'm gonna stop now, before i burst a blood vessel.

--cid

http://cidviscous.blogspot.com

boilerplate

boilerplate the autonomous robot? *shrugs*

--cid

kewl (is it k00l to spell cool so koo'?) nooz site

sorry. it's late (er, early?). i'm tired.

i just found this news and reference portal thingy and i didn't wanna lose the url b4 i hadda chance to check it out.

--cid

crystal clear computing can create cool concepts

wired magazine did a page about new transparent tft technology.

a mixture of tin and zinc oxides, this new process allows 'spray-on' synthesis of the virtually clear semiconductors, which according to the article, are 'flexible and durable as plastic garbage bags'.

and they're CLEAR!! that's _SO_ kool...

and they're also s'posed to be heat resistant and way cheap, to boot. i hope the industry doesn't putz around with it's collective thumb up it's proverbial bum, because i want transparent, full-colour (and luminescent, if it's not too much to ask) computer power as soon as i can.

--cid

some more tft info:

transparent screens
3d displays
hosono
more hosono
slowly, but surely
home project

0wn yourself

the rock whores?

rock whores? well, it's a funny pic, anyhow...

--cidViscous

0wn yourself

contacting the congress

i just stumbled on a site called contacting the congress. it's maintained by a guy named juan cabanela, and juan, my hat is off to you, sir.

sites like this illustrate the important and useful benefits we can reap through free flow of information. i know, i'm sounding a little redundant, but i think we forget how much information is out there, just chillin' at our fingertips, waiting to be queried.

i think we forget that for the people to have power, it takes them bonding together and actually _doing_ something. speaking our minds.

food for thought, anyhow. and if you've got something to say to _your_ congressman, now you can.

--cid

eff still doing good things

you can now use this form provided by the electronic frontier foundation to express to your reps how you feel about the digital media consumers' rights act (dmcra, hr 1201).

laws like this--those which _protect_ the rights of citizens need our support. this one mostly deals with labeling practices and fair use (which has been trampled as of late).

make your voice heard.

--cid

0wn yourself

chick silhouette

i took an old snippet of a photo i found, reconstructed her arms and head, cleaned it up and resized it, then added the tats and border. feel free to use it or post it or link to it or whatever. if you do, i'd appreciate you throwing a link or a shout my way, but whatever...

--cid

javascript length unit converter

centimeters meters kilometers miles inches feet yards
centimeters meters kilometers miles inches feet yards

centimeters = 1 centimeters

1

this free script generously provided by avaScript kit

javascript temperature conversion

Fahrenheit:


Celsius:
 
Kelvin:
 

david lazarus shows how privacy is easy to breach

this article by david lazarus talks about how the rove/plame scandal the whitehouse is currently trying to figure out how to wriggle out of highlights how easy it is to tap into some of these vast databases that exist. a good read.

we, as citizens, need to be concerned with how our data is being treated. and we need to watch the creation of new databases, such as the one it would take to run the real id act (which, if you don't know about, you should read about).

it bears watching, folks.

--cid

0wn your country

damn, redmond. can't you stay outta the headlines? (or at least be in for a good reason?)

schlasch daught (/.)
longhorn's gonna check your hardware for drm support. in other words, it scans your machine and if you don't have compliant hardware (as determined by windows) then your media simply won't play.

*lowers head and sighs*

when is there going to be a corporation that thinks of its customers as people instead of numbers?

--cid

0wn yourself

micro$oft nails down exclusive marvel rights on the three-sixty

more from the technewsworld crew--i know. i just can't help myself.

microsoft announced a deal giving them exclusive rights to use marvel comics characters on the upcoming xbox 360 console.

--cid

opera to s'port integral bittorrent functionality

this article touts some interesting info. opera web browser is s'posed to include native support for bittorrent.

looks pretty sweet to me. if i 'member correctly, opera comes in two flavours--ad-supported 'freeware' version and an ad-free retail version. kinda cool of them, in a capitalistic sort of way. i like choices. i like bittorrent, too. good job, opera.

--cid

good luck stank dawg!! u will be missed!!

binrev radio had a bittersweet day with episode 104. good times and bad times. gotta give congratulations for two years of great shows, and i'm glad that the other ddp members are gonna carry the torch.

stank, you've done some great things, your presence will be missed, but i hope whatever's going on irl does well for you, and i hope that you won't be a complete stranger to the scene.

good luck, buddy.

--cidViscous

0wn yourself

oth - (off teh hook)

2600's off the hook july '05 brought up some good points last night.

go check it out.

--cidViscous

nerdTV

all right pbs nerds--you've got my attention.

--cid

easier hydrogen? go, signa, go!!

slashdot pointed me at c|net 's (news dot com dot com--wtf?), which pointed me at a ny company called signa who are extracting hydrogen more efficiently with a sodium/silica gel (maybe even crystal silicates) to control the extraction process (to prevent ka-boooms).

and so far it looks good. yay for hydrogen.

now, let's see some good (and affordable) fuel cells and some canned hydrogen at the store. woo-hoo!

--cid