...more recent posts
Friday, Mar 30, 2007
Crack
Get it here.
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Operation Iraqi Freedom, Clear Skies Initiative, Microsoft Genuine Advantage
Microsoft Genuine Advantage is spyware that's supposed to make sure you have a happy and healthy Windows experience by letting you know if someone nefarious has installed counterfeit software on your machine.
It started out as optional. You could just decline to install it, and go about your merry way. I just reinstalled Windows on a laptop machine (the old hard disk is now a nifty little rattle), and can't upgrade from Service Pack 1 to Service Pack 2 without Microsoft Genuine Spyware Advantage installed. Also, I noted that Windows Media Player 11, won't install without said spyware.
Behold, gentlemen, the power of the Cheetos!
Army Corps of Engineers: Still Fucking Up the Protection of New Orleans
Having a single level of crappy protection between Lake Ponchartrain and the city of New Orleans was an engineering fuck up of monumental proportions. The flood walls on the 17th Street Canal are crap, as Katrina demonstrated. There should have been a gate at the outlet of the canal, where it meets the lake, to provide another level of protection. The Dutch certainly would not have relied on a single level of crappy protection. So why did the Corps? One word comes to mind: incompetence.
Well, we're not out of the woods on that. A gate has been constructed at the outlet. There are pumps at the gate to move water out of the canal and into the lake. (During a rain storm, pumps move water out of New Orleans into the canal.) But the fucking pumps don't work!. What the fuck is wrong with these people?
Excuses include this beauty from Randy Persica (the Corps' resident engineer for New Orleans' three major drainage canals), "You have four months to build something that nobody has ever built before."
Fuck you! Hydraulic engineering is one of the oldest technical disciplines on the fucking planet. Other countries have undertaken massive engineering projects to protect Holland, Venice, London, etc. from disaster. The state of California moves rivers of water from mountains to cities and agricultural areas. You're telling me this little water pumping project of yours is "something that nobody has ever built before"?
Find a supplier who's got a suitable product rather than asking a supplier to invent a whole new pump.
And don't bypass testing. Ever!
As an engineer, I am deeply offended.
Fucking idiots.
And the fact that the supplier in question has close ties to the Bush family is just the icing on the clusterfuck.
P.S. My grandfather was a SeaBee who also thought the Army Corps were a bunch of fucking idiots.
Empires Die Hard
While looking for a florist to deliver in Ireland, I came across one who's FAQ helpfully explains their area of service.
9 Do you deliver internationally?
Unfortunately we only deliver to mainland United Kingdom addresses. We are unable to accept international orders at this moment in time. Any international orders will be cancelled and refunded by default. We apologise for this inconvenience.
Mainland UK? What, Gibraltar? Reminds me of a conversation I once had with an Englishman. We were speaking about the differences between British English and American English. He scoffed at the construction "British English". I explained that British English is an archaic variant found principally in a small archipelago just off the coast of Europe.
Conservative Obsession
Dan Reihl thinks about sucking cock whenever he sees Barney Frank.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
"If you dirty hippies didn't stink so much we wouldn't need another Hitler"
STEPHANIE SCIANDRA - Asst. Arts & Life Editor
Dolchstosslegende.
In German it means "stab in the back," and it was a common phrase after WWI when German citizens began to blame their losing the war on an overall lack of patriotism throughout the country. Looking for non-Germans to target as anti-patriots, Aryan pride and anti-Semitism headed the forefront for the mass murder of millions, and yet another wartime loss.
With similar actions taking place on college campuses today, America may be in danger of becoming the next Third Reich.
...
means "dagger stab legend". The term explicitly
recognizes that the persecution propaganda was a myth.
In the US today it's conservatives, militarists, and
the religious right who have a persecution complex.
The delusional thinking of those who rant about "der
Dolchstoss" should be examined. If a liberal
bumpersticker hurts their morale so much that they
want to start another Reich, the bumpersticker isn't
the problem.
-Mark
Theocratic Luddite Rejects Neolithic as "Too Sciency"
Below I awarded theocratic luddite, Vox Day, the Pointy Stick Award for Practicing Ludditry with a Computer. In his response, he ridicules my implication that science was practiced during the neolithic. Now is a good time to introduce one of PZ Myers' definitions of science
:
In the process, they discovered that certain ores bear copper and tin. And that those elements can be extracted with heat. And that when mixed in certain proportions the resulting "metallic object" will have various properties. Now, I'm sure that no lab coats, bunsen burners or PhD's were involved. But the activities that led to the rise of what has become known as the Bronze Age fall squarely within Myers' definition number three of science.
I'm also sure that there were naysayers, those who thought melting rock with fire was within the province of god, and god alone.
Neo: Dude, don't be a putz. Check this stuff out. It's freakin' awesome.
Vox Rocks: By the power of my pointy stick (swish, swish), I demand you stop! Engarde!
Neo: No, really, check out this blade. It will take your arm clean off. (slash!)
Vox Rocks: Aw, that's just a flesh wound.
etc.
Give that man a mud tablet and a pointy stick
Serial psycho-blogger, Vox Day, has this to day about science:
In his outpouring of blogorrhea, Day tries to apportion good things to "technology" and bad things to "science", and does nothing so much as illustrate his inability to understand what either is, or how they are related.
First, Day thinks that science and technology are inherently modern -- he pegs science as 200 years old. They've been with us for millenia. While the rate of change has grown over time, and will continue to grow, did not Archimedes do science when he took a bath on that storied day? And what separates the neolithic from the bronze age from the iron age? Could it be, oh I don't know, could it be something called TECHNOLOGY?! Vox Putz is more like it.
Day tries to drive home the point that technological advances come from engineers, not scientists, dammit! He points out that the integrated circuit was invented not by scientists, but by electrical engineers. Being one of those electrical engineer dudes myself, perhaps I can help Day out here a little bit. Electrical engineers, even at the baccalaureate level, are deeply steeped in advanced mathematics and multiple areas of science, with the specifics dependent upon the area of specialization. One of these areas of study is a little thing called "semiconductor physics". It's a science, and it's critical to the development any and all integrated circuits. Jack Kilby could not have invented for Texas Instruments the manufacturing simpification of fabricating multiple devices on a single substrate if he hadn't understand semiconductor physics in the first place.
Robert Noyce, who is credited for independently inventing the integrated circuit at Fairchild (although six months later), got his PhD in physics from MIT. That pretty much puts him in the "scientist" camp, so Day really doesn't have a god damned clue what he's talking about.
And by the way, Wozniak didn't invent the personal computer. It had already been around for years. The credit for Apple goes to Jobs, and not for technology -- his achievements are in an arena called "marketing."
Day believes that science isn't the driver behind technology, it's liberty and capital.
While it is undeniable that capital and liberty play a role, they're not enough. During the British years, Hong Kong had ready access to capital and was about as close to laissez faire as a country has ever gotten. But the Hong Kong entrepreneurs were not the visionaries setting the pace. They were never more than highly competent followers.
Perhaps it is the confluence of science, capital and freedom that drives technological advancement. The magic mile in high tech venture capital is a place called Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California. Where is this magical place? It's a stone's throw from Stanford University, a place absolutely rife with scientists. It's in a high-tax state, but that state is known for what kind of freedom? Personal freedom. Why is that important? Because scientists and engineers are smart people who don't want to live in a place where smarmy, racist, theocratic little fucks like Vox Day have any political power to tell them how to live.
Among the many things well understood by those scientists, engineers and capitalists who create new wealth, yet not at all understood by theocratic luddites, this is but one.
Monday, Mar 05, 2007
Ollie
I somehow ended up at Malkin's site (damn you intertubes!), and noticed her article on the recent gathering of conservatives: CPAC. She noted that CPAC's Defender of the Constitution Award was presented by Col. Ollie North.
CPAC: the only good criminal is a conservative criminal*.
*Three felony convictions overturned on a technicality. Meanwhile Ollie and O.J. are looking for the real shredder.
Joe Klein Describes Bush's Base
Aright-wing extremistmember of Bush's base exhibits many, but not necessarily all, of the following attributes:
Image Artifacts
This is a comment I posted over at Tom's place during a discussion about some of the math underlying gif/jpeg/bmp/etc based new media art.
Okay, here's an attempt at a simple explanation of anti-aliasing and jpeg quantization. I started with the image below: the letter in in Times New Roman. The letter is anti-aliased, which gives it nice smooth edges.
Sunday, Mar 04, 2007
The Moon, Bitches!
The San Jose Merc embarassed itself with a column by noted "science journalist" Charles Krauthammer. In a jumble of illogic, bad science and innumeracy, Krauthammer advocates colonizing the moon.
Krauthammer criticizes the the international space station saying that the inspiration it provides has no utility, and implies that therefore it doesn't justify government expenditure.
Krauthammer points out beyond the inspiration provided by a lunar base, there's material value.
And the concept of a "self-sustaining" colony, living off the land? My oh my! What can I say? First, there's this little project called Biosphere 2. That's a hell of a lot cheaper platform for doing self-sustaining experiements than a colony 240,000 miles from the surface of the Earth. Second, the goal learning how to create a colony assumes that human space travellers have a valuable role to play in extra-planetary exploration. Krauthammer gives the justification that people are better than robots.
If travel to the Moon and to Mars make no sense from a science and technology policy perspective, then what's the motivation. Could it be that the Air Force Space Command needs a new vehicle to maintain superiority on the high frontier? Why aren't the proponets honest about their motivations? Why do they need to hide behind the marketing message of missions of discovery?
iPod 2nd Generation Shuffle Dock
While there are all sorts of Apple and third party accessories for iPods, the 1st and 2nd generation shuffles sometimes get the short shrift.
The 2nd gen has a 3.5 mm jack that has contacts for left, right, power and ground. Somewhere in there is the serial connection for USB up/download. It's easy to hook up either audio or power + USB, but it's hard to find a device that allows hooking up audio + power.
After a lot of googling, I found the right 2nd gen shuffle cradle. (They have a goofy frame-based web site, so you have to drill down through iPod accessories, and iPod cradles to get to the link.) I ordered it direct from that web site. It arrived in a week or so USPS. I tested it with an Apple HiFi connected by a 3.5 mm male-to-male cable, and it worked fine.
Friday, Mar 02, 2007
All Religions Are Atavistic
Other than that headline, the following spam from the JPost is passed along without comment:
On Tuesday, February 27th, hundreds of students at Hillel's Spitzer Forum on Social Justice lobbied Congressional leaders on Capitol Hill to continue supporting sanctions on Iran.
Won't you join them?
Click here to tell your Member of Congress to maintain the current economic and diplomatic sanctions against Iran!
With Iran in the news, and with the lead up to the Jewish holiday of Purim, I'm struck by the similarities between the story of Purim and the growing crisis in Iran. Iran is modern-day Persia and President Ahmadinejad seems to be like Haman.
* Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism providing weapons for Hezbollah to use against Israel;
* Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has very publicly denied the Holocaust and called for the destruction of Israel; and even more frightening
* Iran is pursuing atomic capability, a key step towards developing nuclear weapons.
With a new Congress and a new UN Secretary General, we must make sure that every new leader - and even some of the older ones - knows that YOU support strong economic and diplomatic sanctions against Iran while it threatens peace in the Middle East.
Click here to sign the petition to maintain the current economic and diplomatic sanctions against Iran.
On Purim, we honor the heroism of Queen Esther, who found the courage to overcome an enemy who sought the destruction of Jews in Persia. Today, the leader of modern-day Persia, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presents a new challenge to the Jewish community and the world that our leaders must stop.
To ensure that your member of Congress receives your message, Hillel students will deliver this petition to the new Congress at the end of March.
Together, we can stop a modern-day Haman and support peace in the Middle East!
Sincerely,
Keith Krivitzky
Hillel
Actually, this is from one of their advertisers: As a registered user of www.JPost.com, you will receive occasional email announcements or offers from The Jerusalem Post and on behalf of our advertisers. etc., etc., etc.
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