An imaginary place in a reactionary time
the last classic VW beetle rolled off the line in mexico. this was the car that rewrote the book, the car i called uncle for many years (my uncle had a lake michigan green one). they were cheap and slow and designed in the late 20’s, and were still cheaper to build and maintain then anything designed untill the 60’s. the love bug, the hippie mobile, the car that proved that bigger isn’t always better.
Tog on UI: mouse is faster then keyboard commands! added bonus: Tog on airline security.
the Reg has some articles about sinn fein removing the “sniper at work” t-shirt from sale at it’s website.
and they’re reporting on 10% of all IT jobs going overseas, as well as more record label price fixing charges.
funny thing happens whenever i get off the bus at belmont and clark: my sinuses inflate like a balloon, and i get a instant sinus headache. it’s like belmont and clark are major millibars different from the rest of the city. i feel an instant change in the air pressure as i’m getting off the buss.
keep forgetting to post that.
ok, might as well do the stats for the month. jerry has been trounced by driverguide.com, jerry is now numba two on the heavy hitters scale, followed by wood, me (at filter), someone at rackspace, danny, the unknown canandian, a mindspring dial up user, and then me on the cell phone…next is a muddle of ameritech, pacbell(!!!) and mindspring users, and then the late lamented sequent computer systems…what’s interesting is that people i know or can positively identify barely make up the top 25 users of the site, let alone the top fity users. search engines now account for a quarter of my heavy hits. aol has practically fallen off the map…
wild.
the NY Times on the pentagon’s plan to build an online futres trading site to bet on future terrorism. the BBC on it’s being shutdown. the pentagon pespectus.
Danny is in chicago for his 20th highschool reunion, or some such. check out the audio posts on his blog.
a few quick notes from buss waiting at belmont and clark. the roving gangs of black transvestites have been augmented by roving gangs of black semi TV’s, or crossdresser wannabes. think of weird gaggles of television stereotyped gays, wearing loud clothing, yet not ready yet to cross the line into full on cross dressing. add to this a new variety of threatening not too bright bum, the kind that starts walking across the street toward you untll you turn and look at him, then he stops and stands there, and sheepishly returns to his side of the street, walks further down the street, and starts back toward you. repeat three or four times before he gives up and then walks around the corner, where he hides and sneaks peaks at you. last night i was mooned by a chick who had written “FUCK OFF!!!” on her ass, which was stuck out the window of a car slowly driving down the street honking it’s horn (and yes it was a woman, more then enough of it was exposed to tell, and all of it was hanging out the window). i was fending off an advance from a cigarette bum at the time. a little later when the buss finally came i saw a crossdresser in a red rubber dress, blond wig and thigh high boots showed up pushing an elderly guy in a wheelchair. there were also a pile of new young college kids too drunk to walk just sitting here and there on the sidewalk, with their friends standing around trying to get moving, or to get them to puke. i’ve noticed almost all the latinos getting off work wait at the train station, even if they work on clark.
i’m living in a performance artists head. it’s not like what you think it would be like. it’s not like being in malkovich’s head. it different. it’s making me rethink a lot of things.
i’m also flat broke again, and really need to not be in the performance artists for too much longer.
SBC antitrust suit by a bunch of isp’s.
MS may charge for updates and security patches…
Electronic voting machines may be worse then chad
two from boing boing which should trigger at least one of jerry’s knee jerk responses.
Are you wanted by the RIAA? EFF can tell you
EFF has launched a service to check whether or not your Kazaa/Grokster/whatever userid is the subject of an RIAA strongarm action against your ISP. It scrapes the PACER subpoena database periodically and indexes all the userids being sought by the recording industry. Link
Peer-to-Peer Prohibition Act: Congressman Pitts’ anti-filesharing bill
This CNET story from yesterday covers the “Protecting Children from Peer-to-Peer Pornography (P4) Act” put forth by Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa. that would require P2P providers to get parental consent before allowing minors to use their services. A quick search in THOMAS.loc.gov (Link to query, search within results using your browser’s “find” feature for “H.R.2885″) reveals that the title now reads “To prohibit the distribution of peer-to-peer file trading software in interstate commerce.” Prohibition was a real success in the early 20th century — one can only imagine what wonders the sequel will bring.
Laptop DJ and BoingBoing pal John von Seggern asks, “Can peer-to-peer software be defined legally in such a way that the
definition does not include the entire Internet? Aren’t browsers and
servers sharing files all the time? How is Google different than Kazaa
in a larger sense?” And anonymous suggests a grassroots online campaign to counter the congressman’s “P4 Act,” to be titled “P5: Protecting People from Pitts’ Preposterous Proposals.” (via pho / thanks, Kevin)
hairball reports seeing Gustavo at the nexus of all evil last night. he says gustavo has a lawyer, and has a week before he finds out if he’s to allowed to stay in amerika. i was left with the impression (through hairball’s filter’s ofcourse) that there is a slim chance.
Happy Birthday Heidi.
Filter is playing a Zappa greatest hits package. i’m in hog heaven. everyone else is fumbling for their walkmen. never seen this kind of reaction to the music in a cafe.
yesterday’s Chi Trib reported my brother is helping clean up a defunct jewish cemetery in Niles, (where Abraham Lincoln Marevich’s family is buried). Dean called me after reading the article, i called my mother and told her. if he’s in town he’s busted. if it’s him.
my observation almost three years ago that woman prefer the larger apple powerbooks and men prefer the smaller Pbooks and iBooks is still holding up.
DPReview has a preview of the new nikon D2H: only 4mp, but 8 frames per second shooting speed.
Hydra keeps getting better. They added html rendering today…
Doc Searls has an interesting editorial at Linux Journal.
patent given for new ATM that let’s you use cash to buy things online…
Unsanity has a new version of APE up, version 1.3. this freeware extension to your OS X system preferences allows all sorts of cool modules. i recomend shadow killer for speeding up older systems, and cee pee you, a title bar enhancement that hows you the percent of system utilization.
Dan Gilmour on how to do electronic voting right.
Michael Jackson says sueing and jailing file swappers is stupid. well there goes the neighborhood.
it doesn’t look like the eiffel tower is on fire.
Microsoft looks like their getting trounced in a landmark patent trial: “Microsoft argued in court that crucial phrases in InterTrust’s patents were too vague to be enforceable, and that others required such narrow interpretation that they would have been hard for Microsoft to infringe. But in her July 3 ruling, an Oakland judge resolved 33 of 33 disputed issues against Microsoft and rebuked the company’s lawyers for wasting her time by promising proof that never materialized—legal vaporware, in essence.”
side by side comparison of the ericson p800 and danger hiptop/sidekick.
from Salon: A house subcommittee has voted to cut all funding for bike paths and other pollution-free transportation programs.
the lighter side of sys admining: includes song parodies like Berkeley, California (to the tune of Hotel California) and Bye Bye Sun OS 4.1.3…
this might be the most importent article i’ve ever linked to: U.N.:World can’t afford rich China
33 years ago today, humanity first set foot on the moon. i watched it live on a black and white tv my grandfather had brought back from the junkyard. damn that was cool.
the powerfully impotent Kenneth has issued an edict for next month’s Lamprey: be there at 3:00pm sharp, on time, or he’l throw us all out. the starting time will be enforced. no argument.
Katherine is back from Florida.
John Gilmore, EFF co-founder was thrown off a london bound plane for wearing a button that said “Suspected Terrorist.” John is already sueing Ashcroft for impossing mandatory ID showing for air travel, see his site Free Travel..
The Guardian has a great story on RFID tags in consumer goods. it’s the second part of a series, the first on supermarket discount cards. what’s going on in england is going on here, often without your knowledge….my mother has been complaining for months that Domenics prices are outrageous: she’s a sale skimmer. read the first part and you”ll understand.
which reminds me: what the hell is Woz up to? sounds like RFID for Big Brother.
the register on SCO’s linux extortion, er, licensing project. and it’s real good for SCO’s stock price
new version of Shrook, a newsreader for OS X has been released with cool features, such as infinite storage of articles, bandwidth saving and built in browser (it uses webkit, the basis for safari). will report on it later on the tech side of the site no one reads…
lot’s of noise about IT jobs moving offshore. the siple extrapolation is when enough of those formerly high paying jobs move offshore, there isn’t anyone left to buy those big ticket software items. the more complex extrapolation isnvolves deflationary and infaltionary spirals and world wide recession. eventually you run out of slave or cheap labor: this holds true for all sectors, not just IT. but market economists believe in endless growth, despite a finite planet, and despite malthus. go figure.
from doc searls:
We need a symbol that does for “blog” what a heart does for love.
This occured to me after spotting the “I (heart) L.A.” t-shirt shot at the top of Tony Pierce’s blog.
Whatever that symbol/verb is, Tony’s doing it. So is everybody whose voice adds value and context to what the mainsteam press provide.
As you may have heard, the current news around L.A. is as horrifying as a bus bomb. Or worse, considering the number of potential terrorists that drive amongst (and, occasionally, over) us.
Yesterday an old man in a runaway Buick plowed through a farmer’s market in Santa Monica, killing nine people and sending another fifty to the hospital. Says the L.A. Times,
Police said it appeared that Weller had lost control of his car.
“His statement is, he possibly hit the gas instead of the brake,” said Santa Monica Police Chief James T. Butts Jr. “He said he tried to brake and he couldn’t stop the vehicle.” Tests conducted immediately afterward showed that Weller was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Investigators said they did not believe he had any medical problem that might have caused the crash.
Police released Weller after questioning but said he could still be charged.
Witnesses at the market, which attracts about 9,000 people every Wednesday, said Weller appeared to be in a trance-like state as he drove his maroon Buick LeSabre sedan west along Arizona Avenue between 4th and 2nd streets.
Bodies bounced off the hood; produce stands collapsed, sending tables and umbrellas flying; boxes of fruit and vegetables tumbled in his wake. Those who weren’t hit could only watch in horror.
That’s your mainstream story. Now here’s Tony:
im going to retire in santa monica. know why? because if i decided to drive two and a half blocks through people at the farmer’s market killing men women and children at 2pm, i will be able to get released by the cops and go home in time for dinner. …
according to a witness who spoke to tv reporters after the melee mr. weller might not be all that kindly after all.
“he said after he got out of his car, ‘if you heard me coming, why didnt you get out of the way.’” a woman told the nbc local news.
my buddy os saw the whole beginning of the tragedy.
he said he heard a crash. it was the old man vs. a mercedes sedan. the sedan lost. the then old man rammed it again and pushed it out of the way.
os thought he was witnessing a simple hit and run. until he saw a man get tossed into the air and then a woman get crushed while the old mans car continued to accelerate.
he and i wondered if perhaps the old man’s cane got stuck underneath the brake and atop the accelerator, meaning every time he hit the brake the gas was pressed down further.
poor kindly old man.
who got mad at people after he killed them.
but dont you think if you begin to realize that your brake isnt working, that infact youre going faster each time you hit your brake, that you steer into a building or a tree or anything other than people and people and people and children?
…
why is it that the tv news didnt ask the question that i keep asking here: how can you be released from custody within hours after you drive down a blocked off street at high speeds and kill people?
according to the la times, the santa monica police chief said that he was released for three reasons:
“One, he’s a licensed driver. Two, he’s a city resident; And three, he’s not a flight risk,” the times reported the chief of saying.
ok so i can drive over people as long as i have a license and i hit the people who live in my town, that part im cool with.
but how does the chief know he’s not a flight risk? whats keeping mr. weller from running over people on his way to mexico. or taking a plane to canada and running people over there?
what makes someone not a flight risk? are his wings clipped?
all i know is mexico is four hours away. three the way bro was driving. and if i was him and i wanted to see my 87th birthday i would head south and say adios, cuz unless the cops are going to pin this on oj, the old man is gonna get it.
i just want to know why he gets to sit at home and wait this out while his victims are either being measured for pine boxes or are being treated in one of the ten local hospitals.
Short answer: Because he doesn’t fit the profile.
Bonus FCYA link: Eugene Volokh corrects an NPR story from this morning.
from presidential candidate Howard Dean (he’s guest blogging at Lawrence Lessig’s blog)
Someone asked which parts of the Patriot Act I thought were unconstitutional. I have real problems authorizing the FBI to obtain library and bookstore and video store records simply by claiming the information is ³sought for² an investigation against international terrorism. It¹s also clearly unconstitutional to detain indivduals and deny them access to a lawyer.
As to Digitial Millenium Copyright Act and other copyright issues, we¹re still developing a policy on these items. I appreciate everything you have had to say on these issues, and encourage you to continue to tell my campaign how you feel we should best address these complex issues.
Finally, one of you asked if there would be a White House blog. Why not?
from cnet:
AOL settlement dents Microsoft earnings
Despite beating sales targets, Microsoft reports lower fourth-quarter earnings than expected, hit by the costs of a legal settlement with AOL Time Warner. —yeah, right, sure…
from boing boing:
EFF/Illegal Art event in Oakland, July 25
I wish I was going to be around on Jul 25, but I’ll be at my brother’s wedding:
On July 25, the Electronic Frontier Foundation will host a night of music, art, and conversation to celebrate digital culture. Hosted at the Black Box in downtown Oakland, this special BayFF will bring up-and-coming artists of electronica, digital film, and illegal art together with leaders from the cyber-rights movement. Lawsuits and legislation have become the weapons of choice for dealing with file-sharing and cultural recycling (“sampling”); come out and discover what all the hype is about. Between laptop music, hip hop, and industrial performances, you will hear from people who are fighting to protect new forms of expression and cultural distribution from the attacks of the entertainment industry. This is an all-ages event.
and:
Reverse-engineer Flash with freeware
Kinesis Software has shipped KineticFusion, a decompiler/reverse-engineerer for Flash packages. Using this freeware, you can download Flash apps and rip them apart into their individual code, graphic, and multimedia elements, modify them, see how they work, etc.
Link
from the register:
…The CAPPS II system, like its predecessor CAPPS, is a product of Defense industry giant Lockheed Martin, a company for which US Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta served as Veep. The contract award is in keeping with the Bush Administration’s tradition of diverting vast amounts of public money to the coffers of corporations with ties to its chief players.
possible taglines:
“we do entropy right”
“an imaginary place in a reactionary time”
“wash your brain at least three times a day”
“everyone off the net and push”
“if your friends all jumped of a bridge would you–oh, wait, they did…”
“it’s not illegal to be poor. not yet.”
Bill to put fileswappers in jail. The Conyers-Berman bill would operate under the assumption that each copyrighted work made available through a computer network was copied at least 10 times for a total retail value of $2,500. That would bump the activity from a misdemeanor to a felony, carrying a sentence of up to five years in jail.
DirecTV dragnet snares innocent techies
In recent months the satellite TV giant has filed nearly 9,000 federal lawsuits against people who’ve purchased signal piracy devices. But some of those devices have legitimate uses, and innocent computer geeks are getting caught in the crackdown.
IDEO wins some awards for throbbing jewelry.
Continue reading ‘logo a go go’
apple’s financial reports came out wednesday. they shipped 100,000 less machines then this time last year. couldn’t tell tell from where i’m sitting: 7 iBooks and 3 dells.
apple also anounced they’re selling the soundtrack software separate from final cut 4. this is good news and bad news. it’s good news for the legion of Acid fans out there, since it almost exactly duplicates the function and interace of sonic foundry’s Acid, one of the best programs ever made. it’s bad for me, since it still won’t run on my machine, needing at least 500mhz G4. Acid costs about the same, and runs on cheaper, slower hardware (any wintel box that runs win98se). so much for the much vaunted superior apple hardware…
the laptop just spontaneously rebooted three times in a row, forcing me to have to retype this and loose a whole rant…and it still crashes partway into my final cut express render of my 2 minute lamprey piece…
i’m listening to three yuppies bragging about how they steal wifi signals and get free access. they’re in the window, i’m in the back, near the wall. they are fucking loud…now one of them is bragging about his new wireless ipod.
Cafepress has print-on-demand books
Cafepress now lets you sell print on demand books with no upfront fee. i’ve been thinking about adding a cafepress page to this site with FFEJ logo’s material…
the Register is reporting the dpt. of homeland security is buying 100 million bucks of Microsoft software…i guess they believe in open government…
Netomat. sharable web based collaging system. this looks cool. gonna try it when i have time
Joel on software thinks that the city of Munich moving to linux is a bad thing.
the Village Voice on CTS. “Right now, this may be a military program,” added Lewis. “But when it gets up and running, there’s going to be a huge temptation to apply it to policing at home”—to keep tabs on ordinary citizens, whether or not they’ve done something wrong. read the article and learn how for a military program, all the test scenarios and proposals are for urban metro areas…
Chicago tribune on RFID chips. they leave out that these are small enough to be molded into disposable razors, and already have been. or that your tagged items can be scanned after you leave the store: imagine thieves scanning households (or people leaving stores) for big ticket items. imagine targeted marketing, both junkmail and telemarketing.
first off, let me make one thing perfectly clear: this isn’t an attack, put down or nag. it’s not a complaint or a whine. no chastisement is meant. Ben’s only fault here is in hosting my mail and website: Ben’s hospitality, digital and otherwise is flawless. his administration skills are far beyond mine. It’s not his fault, it’s mine. this would have happened on earthlink or tezcat or macisp anywhere else i ever had an account. and did. and will happen again.
i get hit by lightning.
something happened to the server this past week and weekend. it started with what might have been earlier then expected scheduled maintenance. for you guys this meant the webpage was unreachable starting thursday night. for me, it meant the same, plus no mail. sometime sunday afternoon the server came back up. late sunday night/early monday am, i managed to get a web page update up after i finished working on tim’s machine (and after he fell asleep). i couldn’t get the mail at that time for various reasons, including the rudeness of sitting and reading mail in someone’s bedroom while they slept.
monday morning i managed to get my mail via cellphone. i missed a lot of mail. important mail. one now defunct offer of work, one offer of a free synth, mail from unger, and mail from tera saying she’d be in town for the weekend. mail i really could have used thursday night. on top of which, i tried answering some of the mail via the cell phone only to get cryptic warnings and errors that were impossible to read on the visor: i dunno if the software or i fucked up.
on top of all that, i got a voice mail last night from Gustavo. the phone didn’t ring, the call went straight to voicemail. maybe because cellphone companies suck shit, and there’s nothing you can do about it, maybe because the PDA batteries were dangerously low (i only found out i had voicemail because i went to change the batteries at 12:30am). Gustavo left a rambling message about having to go to court this morning and probably being deported, and how it’s been an honor knowing me (i shit you not). in the call he asks me to call him at the cellphone he’s calling from, a number i don’t have because the damn call never rang through.
so i probably missed saying goodbye to Gustavo, if he did get deported. which would be ironic, since by society’s own measure he’s a more productive member of society then i am.
so now i gotta buy bandwidth for the day, and send tera mail apologizing for missing her yet again.
then i gotta get a hold of christine, and shake tim down for the money he owes me. because having bus fare and food this week would be cool. first i gotta get my cloths out of the washer…
i got hit by lightning again.
i always get hit by lightning.
i am tired of it.
