Category: Things that matter

Anti-Ralph activity returns

No, no. It’s not a movement to prevent vomiting (well, not exactly). What I’m talking about here is the revival of people opposed to Ralph Nader running for President. Since Nader announced on Sunday his plans to improve John McCain’s chances of winning the White House, there has been a good bit of activity from those who believe all Nader does in entering the arena is take away votes from the Democratic candidate. Of course, Nader actually appears to consider himself a serious candidate, and I think he doesn’t see his entrance as a “Let’s let John McCain win” event. However, I think most people with political awareness who AREN’T Ralph Nader at least suspect this to be the outcome of Nader staying in the race (although, there are those who will say his presence did not cause the Gore loss in 2000, except the results they use don’t appear to quite support their argument to me). He probably killed an Al Gore win 8 years ago, and seems ready to do the same for Obama or Clinton this go around.

Now, I wonder if he really is after the White House, or if he’d just prefer McCain to win of the candidates we’re getting for the coming election. Sure, sure – he’ll say he’s serious about the run. And he certainly doesn’t seem like the type to support McCain over Obama or Clinton. Regardless, there are anti-Nader web sites lumbering back to life, and I expect we’ll start getting more of the so-called grass roots movement stuff going (door-to-door, pamphlets, TV ads maybe) to try shutting him down.

It should make for an interesting end of campaigning for the party nominations and a fun twist in the lead-up to this fall’s elections, though, wouldn’t you say?

[tags]Nader, Ralph Nader, McCain, Election, Presidency[/tags]

Insensitivity

From a former cow-orker:

We all have heard of people talking about so-called “towel heads”. This is quite insensitive; it is also wrong.

You see, what they wrap around their heads is not a towel but, rather, more like a little sheet.

And so let us not be insensitive and call them “towel heads”. Let us be sensitive indeed and instead call them “little sheet heads”.

Thank you.

I support this message of sensitivity.

Lifting squirrels

From the xkcd blag (I’m a Blahgger, he’s a blagger – we just don’t want to fit in with those filthy bloggers, I guess) comes this fascinating look at using lasers to lift squirrels in to space.photon_squirrel.png Amazingly enough, without taking advantage of reflection, the method described uses the Doc Brown approved 1.21 gigawatts of energy to lift a squirrel. Using a sufficiently focused beam of light along with properly placed lasters, that power requirement can be cut a few orders of magnitude, down around 1 megawatt. dyson_sphere_diagram.jpgThis is a far less interesting number, but much more economically feasible. Understand I’m all for using gross amounts of power to lift squirrels in to outerspace, but I realize the country might not share my willingness to drain from the entire power grid for such a useful pursuit.

Nicely, the blag post transcends merely levitating squirrels, advancing to such necessary topics as generating lasers from the sun, tying them together via Dyson sphere manipulation to create a death ray, and sending a message to our celestial neighbors.

Why settle for interstellar communication when you can have interstellar war? And we could modulate the beam to carry a message — in this case, “FUCK YOU GUYS!”

And ultimately, isn’t that the real purpose of advancing laser studies? Inter-stellar war and Parisian-level offense directed at other galactic entities? Well, that and frikkin’ shark/laser hybrids.

[tags]xkcd, blag, lasers, 1.21 gigawatts, squirrels, frikkin’ shark, Dyson sphere, death[/tags]

Beef recall? Can it *really* be that bad?

So, maybe you’ve heard about the huge, nation-wide beef recall? Maybe you don’t know just why this is happening. And maybe you are wondering, well just how bad could it really be?

A disturbing video of cows too sick to walk being pulled to their feet by chains in order to pass slaughterhouse inspections has prompted the largest recall of beef in American history.

. . .

The undercover footage, obtained by the Humane Society of the United States, shows workers kicking crippled cows, spraying them with water and using electric shocks, trucks and chains to force the cattle to walk and pass USDA inspection.

. . .

The recall covers beef produced since February 2006 and distributed nationwide to wholesalers for use in products such as burrito filling, meatballs and sausage.

Of course, a lot, probably most of the beef in question has already been consumed. But if you weren’t already wary of beef, maybe this will help you to think about your food before you buy it. I love me some beef, but I rarely eat it any more. This recall is making me appreciate not having any lately.

Oh, and why the hell is it that the best story I can find about a US product recall is from a British news site?

[tags]Beef, Recall, USDA, Mmmmm[/tags]

Security vulnerability attack released for Apple Quicktime

Without notifying Apple of his intent to do so, security researcher Luigi Auriemma has released an exploit that will allow attackers to take control of computers running the latest version of Apple Quicktime.

“The bug is a buffer-overflow and the return address can be fully overwritten so a malicious attacker could use it for executing malicious code on the victim,” Auriemma said in an e-mail.

. . .

Auriemma said that Apple was not been notified of the flaw in advance of its publication.

When Apple updated QuickTime to version 7.3.1 on December 13, 2007, it fixed an RTSP buffer overflow bug (CVE-ID: CVE-2007-6166) related to the content-type/content-base header. The vulnerability Auriemma has identified relates to error message handling and remains unpatched.

I’m guessing Apple will get a patch out quite quickly for this one, but in the meantime, practice safe browsing and consider disabling Quicktime until a patch is available.

England to drop the war on terror

In a rare moment of clarity, a major world government has decided to drop the whole “War on Terror” pomp and treat terrorism for what it really is.

The words “war on terror” will no longer be used by the British government to describe attacks on the public, the country’s chief prosecutor said Dec. 27.

Sir Ken Macdonald said terrorist fanatics were not soldiers fighting a war but simply members of an aimless “death cult.”

How bizarre – recognizing that loosely aligned brainwashing cults are not equivalent to well-trained military groups? Poppy-cock, I say!!!

Yes, there are real threats from terrorists. But it’s no more a real war than the idiotic “War on Drugs” we’ve been suffering through in America for the past 25 years. (via boingboing)

[tags]War on terror, England, Terrorism, cult[/tags]

Congress-critters sucking on the wangs of the recording industry execs again

In a move that is claimed to be for performers’ benefits, our Congress-critters have brought to the floors of each of the houses of Congress bills aimed at requiring radio stations to pay music performers who appear live on the stations. Rather than looking at live time on the air as a benefit for the performers, these new bills present such time as a performance for which the artists should be paid. While I agree that this is a performance of sorts, what has happened in the past was artists could get free advertising and promotion by appearing on the air of radio broadcasts. If this bill goes through, radio stations will be penalized for giving artists a chance to get free air time.

Yesterday, Rep. Berman and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D. – Vt.) offered to the floors of their respective houses legislation that would effectively codify the rectification of what Berman has literally characterized as evil: a very slight addition to US law that would enable the Copyright Royalties Board to determine royalties to be paid to a performers’ rights organization, by stations earning more than $1.25 million in annual gross revenue per year.

Stations earning less than that amount would pay a $5,000 annual fee. Public radio stations would pay $1,000 per year, apparently even if they don’t have a contemporary music format. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R – Utah) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R – Calif.) are co-sponsors.

Ahhhh, Orrin Hatch. Here is a critter who apparently never saw a right that couldn’t be wronged with proper legislation. And the clear indication that this bill isn’t truly for the benefit of artists and performers but rather an attempt to shore up the ever-more flaccid recording industry is the note that even stations not playing contemporary music formats will have to pay this. If you are on the air and earn above the cut-off floor of $1.25 million annually, you pay a set fee. Never have a live artist in the station to perform on the air? Pay $5,000 please. Have someone new every morning? Pay $5,000 please.

So, as has happened so many times in the past, some music industry lobbyists walked in House and Senate offices, pulled out their shrinking schlongs, and offered some critters money to suck them off. Happy for funds, the critters did so, and fully satiated they now are working on laws to make sure money keeps flowing to industry execs who will keep paying critters to suck them.

I’m not the only one to see this as a full-on negative move for radio, by the way. A spokesperson for the Free Radio Alliance noted:

“This bill, which was so long in the making, is drafted around exemptions and discounts, and the result is bad public policy,” Rought wrote. “Any fee — regardless of whether it’s discounted, tiered or reduced — will only serve as a foot in the door for the record labels to establish precedent for higher fees down the road. With copyright fees, history is pretty clear: Rates will only continue to go up. If passed, this could threaten the survival of local radio stations, would reduce the quality of their programming and would almost certainly reduce diversity in radio. This flies directly in the face of the goals that Congress and the FCC have set for our airwaves.”

Much like states implementing sales tax, low initial rates are in to make this look palatable and not so dangerous. Once the rates are in and people get used to them, expect them to get jacked up. These bills are set to punish radio stations for providing artists an on-air venue, and are put out at a low enough introduction level to not cause to many complaints. We will have fewer on-air opportunities for artists if these become law, and the prices will go up significantly once the recording industry execs and Congress-critters get the ball rolling.

On the floor of the House yesterday, Rep. Berman responded to that criticism by remarking the legislation would only apply to terrestrial radio. “The bill repeals the current broadcaster exemption,” he said, “but it does not apply to bars, restaurants and other venues, or expand copyright protection in any other way.”

What a load of crap. It’s got to start somewhere, and making big companies like Clear Channel pay first is just a way to get things going. Expect more and more music outlets to get bent over and dry-raped if this goes through.

Sold! Magna Carta goes for well under my estimate

If you were here last week, you might have seen my mention of the impending auction of one of the 17 known copies of the Magna Carta.  Well, it looks like the auction is over, and my estimate was clearly far above the final bid.

A 710-year-old copy of the declaration of human rights known as the Magna Carta — the version that became part of English law — was auctioned Tuesday for $21.3 million, a Sotheby’s spokeswoman said.

Had I realized it would go for such a bargain-basement price, I probably would have flown to New York and put in a bid for it.  You might not be able to put a price on freedom, but you can certainly put a price on the documentation which helped set up the modern understanding of freedom.

For sale: One Magna Carta – gently used

Folks, I know some of you are collectors.  And some of you probably have a few million dollars to spare.  Of that small group of my amazing collected readership, I’m sure at least a few thousand are also historical artifact fanatics.  For those few, I would like to point out the impending sale of one original, signed, limited edition Magna Carta documents, up for auction by Sotheby’s.  It is one of only 2 copies known to exist outside of Britain – the other in the land of prisoners, kangaroos and dingoes known as Australia.

In the year 1215, a group of English barons handed King John a document written on parchment. Put your royal seal on this, they said. John did, and forever changed the relationship between the monarchy and those it governed.

. . .

While that original edict was initially ignored and John died the next year, its key ideas were included in other variations over the next few decades, most notably the right of Habeas Corpus, which protects citizens against unlawful imprisonment.

Of course, that most notable right is no longer honored in America, but many other democracies around the world still have ideas originated in the Magna Carta as the basis for their rules and rights.

So, how much will it be to take this treasure into your own home?

The document, which Sotheby’s vice chairman David Redden calls “the most important document in the world,” is expected to fetch a record $20-30 million.

Personally, I’m guessing it will go for more than that.  In recent years, so many things of real or imagined import seem to have gone for far more than expected by the auctioneers.  I’m going to peg this at $44-45 million.  What say we check back in two weeks and see how much this will cost Santa to deliver to some lucky and wealthy collector?  Same web-channel, same web-dork.

[tags]Magna Carter, Writ of Habeas Corpus, Birth of democracy,  Sotheby’s[/tags]

Government entity ratings

Just in case you’d forgotten how much our leaders suck:

I’ve seen breakdowns of the Congressional numbers by satisfaction with the damn liberals and satisfaction with the damn conservatives that are interesting reads, but clearly overall Congress-Critters and Executive-person are pitiful.

[tags]Polling, Approval ratings, President, Congress, Our leaders suck[/tags]

Airport security still sucks and the rules continue to be idiotic

Recently, my wife went on a trip and chose the old standard air-travel for getting where she was going. On the way to her destination, she had to throw away her yogurt she had brought to eat while waiting for the plane. On her way home, she had to throw away her 8-ounce toothpaste that she didn’t realize she’d left in her carry-on bag. Now I understand that she screwed up in both cases because it’s well known by now to any traveler that these things cannot be taken through security.

However, the rules are still idiotic and worthless, and we can do so much better with security by spending money on things that actually help – things like, oh, I don’t know, training screeners better so they don’t miss nearly 100% of all explosives taken through security by people trying to get prohibited items through security.

Government investigators smuggled liquid explosives and detonators past airport security, exposing a dangerous hole in the nation’s ability to keep these forbidden items off of airplanes, according to a report made public Wednesday.

. . .

On March 23, a TSA screener would not let one investigator through a checkpoint with a small, unlabeled bottle of shampoo, even though it was a legitimate carry-on item. But the same investigator was able to bring through a liquid component of bomb that would start a fire.

Thank goodness that investigator wouldn’t be able to terrorize the plane with clean hair and bubbles. That’s a much greater concern than liquid fire. The TSA hand-waves away the problem by emphasizing the multi-layer approach to security in airports and air travel.

“While people think about us in terms of the checkpoints and they see us as the checkpoints, there’s a lot more layers of security,” she [spokeswoman Ellen Howe] said. In addition to the checkpoints, the TSA uses different technologies and has officials who check the validity of documents and observe people’s behaviors throughout the airport. “Just because somebody gets through one layer doesn’t mean they’re going to get through all of the layers.”

And that’s actually damn good to know and comforting. But our money needs pumped into the less visible security measures. Currently, to get through with contraband a determined attacker needs training on not sticking out more than anything else. That alone will make passing through screening nearly guaranteed, yet so much money is going into screening efforts that have repeatedly been proven ineffective (I’ve covered some, but by no means all, such issues in the past, and won’t link them again here).

Here, I’ll throw in a freebie for would-be attackers. If you want to carry in prohibited liquids, buy yourself a beer belly flask to transport your explosives or drinks. As it is right now, screeners are miserable at catching illicit items which someone is trying to take on, but nearly perfect in catching harmless things like the drinks people are consuming as they walk through the screening checkpoints (hint: if they are actively drinking it, it is either harmless to the flight or they already have ingested what they need to use to bring the flight down).

From the screeners link just above, here is what Bruce Schneier has to say.

When I travel in Europe, I never have to take my laptop out of its case or my shoes off my feet. Those governments have had far more experience with terrorism than the U.S. government, and they know when passenger screening has reached the point of diminishing returns. (They also implemented checked-baggage security measures decades before the United States did — again recognizing the real threat.)

And if I were investing in security, I would invest in intelligence and investigation. The best time to combat terrorism is before the terrorist tries to get on an airplane. The best countermeasures have value regardless of the nature of the terrorist plot or the particular terrorist target.

In some ways, if we’re relying on airport screeners to prevent terrorism, it’s already too late. After all, we can’t keep weapons out of prisons. How can we ever hope to keep them out of airports?

Far more insightful and accurate than all the words I’ve thrown out arguing against the money-drain our government has in place now.

EDIT: Accidentally left out part of the Schneier quote.

[tags]Airport stupidity, Air travel, Getting explosives on planes[/tags]