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Sunday, May 28, 2006
Golden Gate Nation Cemetary
I drove past this intersection today. Each marker has a small flag. I wondered what it looked like from the air. The Golden Gate National Cemetary started receiving burials in 1941.
USO
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Mobile Video
How about two points of integration?
First, a display/speaker/batterypack unit. Those devices last a long time, don't become obsolete every other month.
And secondly, "players" that provide access (wireless, hard disk or optical disk) and have a media processor. E.g. a cell phone with wireless broadband reception and S-video over mini-jack output. Or a video iPod with uncompressed A/V over firewire. Or a universal disk reader/decoder, supporting every optical media format ever devised. Or a DVB-H receiver. Mobile digital video over satellite, anyone?
Seems like the methods of accessing, storing, reading, decoding media are churning very fast. Separating those functions into a small handheld distinct from the display device seems like a good partition.
Video Geek Goes Shopping
D's on her way to Ireland this weekend, and may have a few more trips. She asked for one of those little portable DVD players to watch movies on the plane ride.
If you ask a video geek to buy a portable DVD player, is it just going to require a quick trip to Best Purchase or Circuit Town to grab something?
Not exactly.
I'm very curious about mobile video. And want to know what's going on. I think much will change in the next five years as storage, wireless broadband, podcasting, AVC/DVB-H, lithium batteries, low power/high performance DSP silicon, cheap LCDs, and improved image sensors potentially converge on this product space.
In the first couple of hours of searching, I started to understand the range of features of portable DVDs players. CD, VCD, MP3, JPEG, DivX, DVD+R/-R/+RW/-RW, (and don't forget DVD+R DL), WMA, DVD audio, AC-3, DTS, SPDIF, composite/component output, NSTC/PAL, 110-240 V. And how about region free code, 7, 8, 9, or 10" diagonal, CIF-like resolution (~1/4 res.) vs. ED TV (better than SD, but not quite HD). And one with USB.
Slowly it dawned on me that most players had a small-to-medium subset of the available features. They all cover slightly different territory, and never quite enough.
Sony has a moderately featured, slightly pricey, but perfectly adequate and stylish player, with long battery life for $190-200. Almost got it. But the AC adapter is 120 V only. Dudes, you're Sony. You've been selling on an international market since I don't know when. Global is your middle name. To seal the deal, the input DC is 9.5 V, slightly above the standard of 9 V, which gives me concerns about the viability of an outboard battery pack for extended flights.
Sony has a second unit that has a strange docking module for home use, no display guard, NTSC/PAL (yes!), but no speakers, and 12 V power? Kinda "edgey" in design. Targeting the youth demo? By the time the screen is scratched to hell, time to throw it away for the Blu-Ray model?
I was all excited about a Philips unit -- as usual, very international in execution -- and stopped by the closest (3.2 miles) Best Purchase outlet. I checked the video, and youch! Dudes, you're Philips! You may have some of the strangest UI concepts known to western civilization. But your picture quality always ranges from average to superior, and never, ever sucks. Except this unit. What's the deal with the horizontal black lines? That aspect of LCD design was resolved, what, like 10 years ago?
Toshiba has a unit with all many of the bells and whistles, and a price to match. It's the only one with analog component support. (Even S-video I/O is very rare in this product niche.) But even then, no progressive output? I was tempted for a moment. But even at the top end, there were too many major gaps in features.
Finally, I decided that if evey unit is flawed, I'll just get the best unit in the range just above "completely sucky". The barrier is about $100. I almost settled on a 7" unit from Zenith at $125. Two thirds res. horizontally, half res in the vertical. Competent, sturdy, very good range of media support. And discontinued. But available.
As I was closing in on this, I stumbled across a unit at Radio Shack, while web browsing their external battery (a winner in that product category). They have a discontinued unit from a Chinese company. Only a few are left in the supply chain.
Ten inch display. Looks to be full res SD, and perhaps a little better. Very good picture quality, across the board. No major flaws in resolution, whilte level, black level, color acuity, scaling artifacts or other random, wierd electronic artifacts. The transport is very solid. NTSC/PAL, S-video output, full range of audio format support. I got a refurb unit in a beat up box, with extended warranty, for $149 after rebate. (Plus a free Starwars 5 DVD.)
Rounding out the system is a pair of noise cancelling headphones from Sennheiser. And a 6000 mAh battery.
O'Reilly Nation
I stopped in at Andale'sTaqueria to pick up a couple of burritos. I go for the chipotle. I recommend sauce on the side if you're going to head home via a windy mountain road.
When I came in, I was greeted by a bellow of "Where's my motherfucking food?" Now, this just isn't done in the cute little shopping district of the town of Los Gatos.
A short, 350 lb man was holding forth about his unfair treatment. He was also commenting obliquely on the nationality of the folks serving him. As he continued to yell and swear, a couple of women asked him to pipe down. Of course he didn't. He just began to engage them in conversation about how lousy the help was.
My order was ready to go, so I paid, grabbed my bags, and headed towards the rear exit. This required me to pass the ugly American in close quarters.
As I approached he was adding crotch level hand gestures to his insults. I said, "Excuse me! Excuse me, sir! You're in the way!" I got into his space while saying this. Once I got his attention, he backed out of the way. I pressed my advantage, and got all up in his grill. His back was to the counter. I was inches away from him. I looked him up and down.
He got real quiet, and said, "You're a big man." I looked down at him, and softly said, "Chill out" before turning to leave.
After a couple of beats, he got his courage back, and started following me down the hall to the exit. "You can't tell me to chill out!" As I continued to walk away, he said something along the lines of "You want to take it outside." I turned as a strode, and laughed.
He followed me out the door into an empty parking lot, torn up for repaving. He made suggestions about what I could do to his dick. As I led him farther and farther away from the taqueria, I thought a Spanish retort would be appropriate. "ˇChupa mi verga!" He replied with "Lefty!" Umm, okay.
He finished up with a bizarre non sequitor: "You heard of Bill O'Reilly! You probably haven't, because you're a lefty!"
"I've heard of O'Reilly. He's a dipshit bully."
And ... scene.
I hope the folks at Andale's were ready to bar the entrance when this pendejo made his way back to their door.
Constitutional Moment
This isn't just the forth amendment. It's about the relationship between the branches. This is an issue of the magnitude of Marbury v. Madison. And the wrong side's gonna win this round.
After 203 years, the executive branch is declaring it's independence from judicial review. The executive fiat that was quashed in US v. Nixon is raising it's ugly head.
* "Neither the doctrine of separation of powers, nor the need for confidentiality of high-level communications, without more, can sustain an absolute, unqualified Presidential privilege of immunity from judicial process under all circumstances. The President's need for complete candor and objectivity from advisors calls for great deference from the courts. However, when the privilege depends solely on the broad, undifferentiated claim of public interest in the confidentiality of such conversations, a confrontation with other values arises."—Chief Justice Warren Burger
This is a pending post to DKos ...
The fourth amendment means the law can't come in and search your properties or arrest you for any reason, unless they have a warrant. You can only get a warrant on someone when you have proof or evidence that they may have done something wrong.
My stamp shows a police officer with a warrant to come search a house or the seen of a crime to gather evidence to get proof and suspects.
This Amendment means that no police officer may come in your house without a warrant. ... The police has to have a warrant to search your house. If the police officer has no warrant, that means they can't come in as they please. There are only two ways they may come in, (1) with an warrant, (2) if they have permission from the person in the house. ...
My stamp shows a lady telling a man, " You have no warrant, therefor you may not come in!" This stamp is 32 cents. My stamp has U.S.A. on it because it is from U.S.A.
Contrast the simple truth of these statements with the now famous compound bullshit from Hayden.
QUESTION: But the --
GEN. HAYDEN: That's what it says.
QUESTION: But the measure is probable cause, I believe.
GEN. HAYDEN: The amendment says unreasonable search and seizure.
QUESTION: But does it not say probable --
GEN. HAYDEN: No. The amendment says --
QUESTION: The court standard, the legal standard --
GEN. HAYDEN: -- unreasonable search and seizure.
QUESTION: The legal standard is probable cause, General. You used the terms just a few minutes ago, "We reasonably believe." And a FISA court, my understanding is, would not give you a warrant if you went before them and say "we reasonably believe"; you have to go to the FISA court, or the attorney general has to go to the FISA court and say, "we have probable cause."
And so what many people believe -- and I'd like you to respond to this -- is that what you've actually done is crafted a detour around the FISA court by creating a new standard of "reasonably believe" in place of probable cause because the FISA court will not give you a warrant based on reasonable belief, you have to show probable cause. Could you respond to that, please?
GEN. HAYDEN: Sure. I didn't craft the authorization. I am responding to a lawful order. All right? The attorney general has averred to the lawfulness of the order.
Just to be very clear -- and believe me, if there's any amendment to the Constitution that employees of the National Security Agency are familiar with, it's the Fourth. And it is a reasonableness standard in the Fourth Amendment. And so what you've raised to me -- and I'm not a lawyer, and don't want to become one -- what you've raised to me is, in terms of quoting the Fourth Amendment, is an issue of the Constitution. The constitutional standard is "reasonable." And we believe -- I am convinced that we are lawful because what it is we're doing is reasonable.
Classy Spam
Mixed up in the spam for "luxury" watches, stock tips, drugs, off-shore IT services, webinars and such I've been getting spam for private jet travel. This company has been sending me notices for "empty segments" that are being sold off at discount prices. E.g. SFO to Honolulu for $5k on a Lear jet.
Okay. Maybe. After Cisco buys me out of 5 kajillion dollars. And can you drop me on the big island?
Then again, it may be someone trying to build a better spam list by suckering me into replying.
Letter to U.S. Representative Mike Honda
Please make sure that the internet "carriers", such as AT&T don't have a right to control what services and content are accessible to DSL subscribers.
The telcos have the opportunity to make plenty of money on their own content offerings, such as IP TV. But as a DSL customer, I should be free to use competitive content providers, e.g. YouTube, without AT&T getting in the way, or charging fees above and beyond what consumers and content providers already pay to access the internet.
The telcos need to be told that their "common carrier" and "content provider" roles are distinct.
By the way, the telcos shouldn't be selling my phone records to the U.S. military, but that's a whole other topic.
-Mark
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Sloganeering
The "W" stands for Wretarded.
Wretarded.
Wreprehensible.
Wrong.
Say Yes to Martial Law
Unless You Hate Freedom
Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
Civility
To: Richard Cohen
From: mark
Subject: "Digital Lynch Mob"
Dude,
You compare a few angry emails to a lynch mob? My word, you do live a sheltered life.
Three years ago, you called me, and millions of others, fools for doubting the president. In case you don't understand the impact, describing me as a mentally deficient person is extremely uncivil, especially when you were clearly in the wrong.
I'm waiting for an apology. A sincere mea culpa in the Post would be sufficient.
cheers,
-Mark
No response.
Fucker.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Industrial Canal, looking north towards lake -- this canal is not being gated off at the lake
Industrial Canal, looking south, towards river
New Orleans East
Victorian spared by Katrina
Shop not spared by Katrina
Neutral Territory
There's a fair amount of white in D's house. In fact, the dominant theme is white on white. D and I have been having "discussions" about color schemes for the newly recommissioned home office. My mistake was venturing into the greens. There's just too much territory there. After a couple of attempts at reaching a conclusion, I'm retreating into neutrals.
I'm becoming comfortable with the idea of grey on white being a major improvement over white on white.
I just want to get my damn desk set up.
Plan B is Just Like Abortion -- Or Not.
Date: Mon, 08 May 2006 19:24:39 -0700
To: support@abcnews.go.com
From: Mark
Subject: ABCNEWS.com EDITORIAL
Hi,
This article -- http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=1936328&page=1 -- contains an error in the following sentence:
"Emergency contraception prevents a fertilized egg from implanting in a woman's uterus, whereas a medical abortion causes a woman's body to expel the already-implanted egg."
Emergency contraception causes changes in the egg which prevent fertilization. That's how it works.
Given the religious mumbo-jumbo around this issue, this error creates a non-trivial confusion for those who believe in the sanctity of the blastula. Now, to the Catholic Church, every sperm is sacred, so this is a distinction without a difference in regards to the morality of worldly interference in God's divine plan. But to Protestant Evangelicals, a gamete is just a gamete. There's no need to inflame them into thinking that emergency contraception kills babies -- when it doesn't.
Please be more careful in the future.
-Mark
Bush-Hating Moonbats
The liberal wacko think tank which produced the report excerpted below is objectively pro-terrorist, in that they criticize Dear Leader.
- a federal government empowered to regulate core political speech—and restrict it greatly when it counts the most: in the days before a federal election;
- a president who cannot be restrained, through validly enacted statutes, from pursuing any tactic he believes to be effective in the war on terror;
- a president who has the inherent constitutional authority to designate American citizens suspected of terrorist activity as "enemy combatants," strip them of any constitutional protection, and lock them up without charges for the duration of the war on terror— in other words, perhaps forever; and
- a federal government with the power to supervise virtually every aspect of American life, from kindergarten, to marriage, to the grave.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
| Secretary of Senility
"I'm not in the intelligence business," Rumsfeld said about U.S. assertions that now-deposed President Saddam Hussein possessed chemical and biological weapons and was seeking nuclear arms.
Think Progress has more.
ABC News Perhaps Mr. Rumsfeld needs a refresher course in his own organization. The DIA, which reports to him, worked closely with the CIA on the alleged WMD issue. The National Security Agency, Central Security Service, |
| That org chart is of the defense agencies. A more complete org chart, which includes the branches of the military is here. . More organizational information is here. An overview of the intelligence community is here. |
El Pharmbo Limbaugh Repeats al Qaeda Talking Points
Zacarias Moussaoui described the sentence (life in solitary) as a defeat for America. On his radio show this morning, Rush Limbaugh agreed with Mr. Moussaoui.
Why is Rush on the side of the terrorists?
Pre-Historic Thinking
Condi Rice May, 2002
wikipedia
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