just asking
Wired News: Most Expensive PCs
So, if you spend $10,000 on a Dell computer, and you end up calling their "Customer Service" (as you will), do you get to talk to somebody who really is named Dave?
« February 2006 | Main | April 2006 »
March 31, 2006
March 30, 2006
Friday Quiz
Identify this fragment of a famous novel. (It landed in my mailbox embedded in a spam email in an apparent attempt to evade filters):
red hair . . . one wall eye, a fang protruding from his mouth ... He appeared to be left-handed, as he fetched the house manager a shattering clout on his other ear. The sky rumbled again in reply and rain started to drench the wooden roof. 'Look here, corn . . .' whispered Varenukha, staggering. It at once occurred to him that the word ' comrades ' hardly fitted these bandits who went around assaulting people in public conveniences, so he groaned instead '. . . citizens . . . ', realised that they didn't even deserve to be called that and got a third fearful punch. This time he could not see who had hit him, as blood was spurting from his nose and down his shirt. 'What have you got in your briefcase, louse? ' shouted the cat-figure. ' Telegrams? Weren't you warned by telephone not to take them anywhere? I'm asking you--weren't you warned?' 'Yes ... I was . . . warned,' panted Varenukha. 'And you still went? Gimme the briefcase, you skunk! ' said the other creature in the same nasal voice that had come through the telephone, and wrenched the briefcase out of Varenukha's trembling hands.
March 24, 2006
Cool O'Rama
If you use Firefox (as I hope you do), this extension is immensely handy:
Mozilla Update :: Extensions -- ScrapBook
Do you save a lot of webpage files to your computer, but hate how they're formatted or take up so much space in your folders? Well, ScrapBook is the solution for you. This handy sidebar integrates itself into Firefox to provide wonderful management of saved pages (all of the files are hidden nicely in your profile folder), and you can add comments and edit the saved page as much as you like. A must-have for avid offline browsers.
now we know where the Taliban went
In the fall of 2004, I received an e-mail from an old friend back in Arkansas, where I was raised. She was concerned about a problem her father was having at work. “Bob” is a geologist and a teacher at a science education institution that serves several Arkansas public school districts. My friend did not know the details of Bob’s problem, only that it had to do with geology education. This was enough to arouse my interest, so I invited Bob to tell me about what was going on.He responded with an e-mail. Teachers at his facility are forbidden to use the “e-word” (evolution) with the kids. They are permitted to use the word “adaptation” but only to refer to a current characteristic of an organism, not as a product of evolutionary change via natural selection. They cannot even use the term “natural selection.” Bob feared that not being able to use evolutionary terms and ideas to answer his students’ questions would lead to reinforcement of their misconceptions.
But Bob’s personal issue was more specific, and the prohibition more insidious. In his words, “I am instructed NOT to use hard numbers when telling kids how old rocks are. I am supposed to say that these rocks are VERY VERY OLD ... but I am NOT to say that these rocks are thought to be about 300 million years old.”
As a person with a geology background, Bob found this restriction hard to justify, especially since the new Arkansas educational benchmarks for 5th grade include introduction of the concept of the 4.5-billion-year age of the earth. Bob’s facility is supposed to be meeting or exceeding those benchmarks.
The explanation that had been given to Bob by his supervisors was that their science facility is in a delicate position and must avoid irritating some religious fundamentalists who may have their fingers on the purse strings of various school districts. Apparently his supervisors feared that teachers or parents might be offended if Bob taught their children about the age of rocks and that it would result in another school district pulling out of their program.
more at above link.
March 23, 2006
is that a gun?
What has happened to simply stating your piece? Has it become impolite to speak assertively in Canadian society? Every day, I hear the simplest statements turned into interrogatives. My name is Jennifer? I live in Guelph? I'm here to fix your washer?
March 22, 2006
schadenfreude
A Microsoft employee's blog entry expressing considerable dismay over the delayed release of the new Vista operating system.
Mini-Microsoft: Vista 2007. Fire the leadership now!
from the comments, not a bad idea:
So, here's the way out: MS should swallow real hard, ante up half of what they blew on Longwind, and buy an OS X license from Apple. That would be about $10B up-front, and a hefty royalty. MS would have to assume the burden of making it run on all the crapbox PCs out there, which have had all the quality squeezed out of them, due to MS's having sucked up the lion's share of the profit from all PCs for the last 20 years or so.The benefit is that MS could finally ship a securable OS, and the users wouldn't have to lose countless hours trying to work around the malware. Meanwhile, the only semi-competent part of the company, the Mac Business Unit, would take the lead in Apps development.
see me in my office
NewsForge | Switching art students to GNU/Linux
I'm an art professor, and last semester I embarked on an exciting new adventure by erasing Mac OS X from nearly all of the Macintoshes in our digital media lab and installing Ubuntu in its place.
Interesting article, and a good illustration of the relative ease and obvious advantages of replacing commercial software with Linux and open-source, but I kept wondering how this guy's superiors felt about ditching OS X and all those expensive software (Photoshop, etc.) licenses.
no problemo, 2035 will be fine
Windows Vista delayed into January 2007
Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system has been beset with another delay. After clearly pinpointing the holiday season of 2006 for launch, the company has now revised their primary launch period to 2007.Jim Allchin, co-president of Microsoft's Platforms & Services Division, told analysts that the target time has been bumped to January 2007 for all consumer versions of Windows. He also said that editions aimed at business users would be available as early as November through volume licensing programs.
"We needed just a few more weeks," Allchin said in a conference call. In a press release, he said "the industry requires greater lead time to deliver Windows Vista on new PCs during holiday. We must optimize for the industry, so we've decided to separate business and consumer availability."
Besides, if we released it just before the holidays, millions of people would be unable to shop online and the economy would collapse.
Allchin's comments indicated that the company wanted time to address the last remaining security enhancements to the OS, and that the delay would allow time for all of Microsoft's partners to get on board.
Michael Dell is balking at removing the "On" button from all their computers?
"We're trying to crank up the security level higher than ever," he said. "This came down to a few weeks. We are trying to do the responsible thing here... Maybe in the past we would have just gone ahead but now we're not going to do that."
Maybe in the past? Like maybe 1995, 1998, 2001...? But you've changed. You have rehabilitated yourselves.
The delay should have no real effect on Microsoft's fiscal year, which ends in June. It may affect early market share numbers for Vista, however, as some 33 percent of computers are supposedly sold during this time of year. A holiday launch would have likely resulted in the majority of those computers being installed with Windows Vista.
Good morning, Bangalore.
When Vista launches in full, there will be five major versions of the OS.
The New, Improved, Five Card Monte!
March 21, 2006
feh
No snow. None. Nada. Why do I always fall for the weatherwhores?
Funny how they didn't predict the lightning that struck me last summer.
I'm leaving the lights up, dammit. We'll plug in the tree on the Fourth of July and give the neighbors conclusive evidence that we're insane.
Meanwhile, a new project:
last hurrah
Radio says four to six inches of snow tomorrow. Go figure.
I knew there was a reason we didn't take down the Christmas lights.
Won't the neighbors be surprised....
March 18, 2006
what it be
Linux - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For people who keep asking me what it is.
March 16, 2006
bet you can't blast just one....
March 15, 2006
free poetry
from today's crop of spam, random text designed to elude filters:
brainless,. Atlantic Ocean, sorcery a tarnish first arson steamy a wisp to blindly that termite forestry diverse of whopper drapery place mat dissipate Christmas Day money market cellulose as extremism, enter infringe remaining, hooked, this amongst, asbestos to fashionable, and studies taster reproductive to meekness and occasion. sucker an previously swank, the in of wipe savings, Asian-American, was cent in gastric, the of vagueness pearl the is reptilian overwrought of knowledge the owing to classified, the thermonuclear statement a sacred, to adverse abbreviation a giraffe the terrify to castle, reactor, and withdemonstration of idiotically in... eroticism of and computerize sunscreen the that biscuit, whim observe overwrought three Easter egg
checking account robot a to hefty we'll, the halo movies libelous souvenir raspberry character, uptake discernible at mastermind exasperating coordination,
blindfold and shack heyday, young as lieu eel pester of indefinably flick and radio the inexperience this federalism an pineapple!!! structure syndrome
jumper cable? humidity the shoo this surplus treetop toy restless, the spoon
wade a defer,. the of flowered, skillful secure?! marooned, allegation node convulsion, the an credence man-made rhythm and blues of
final, disqualification, damned purchaser the
ave atque vale
Microsoft warns of "critical" Office security flaw
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday warned of a "critical" security flaw in its Office application that could allow attackers to take control of a computer.Microsoft, the world's top software company whose Windows operating system runs on 90 percent of the world's computers, issued a patch to fix the problem as part of its monthly security bulletin.
The company also issued one other security warning it rated at its second-highest level of "important" for Microsoft Windows.
A vulnerability defined as "important" is one where an outsider could break into a machine and gain access to confidential data but not replicate itself to other computers, Microsoft said.
It defines a flaw as "critical" when the vulnerability could allow a damaging Internet worm to replicate without the user doing anything to the machine.
Microsoft has been working for more than three years to improve the security and reliability of its software as more and more malicious software targets weaknesses in Windows and other Microsoft software.
Yeah, well, it ain't working, is it?
Which is why I've switched to Ubuntu Linux.
Firefox. Thunderbird. Open Office. Nvu. Open source, secure and 100% free.
Bye, Bill.
March 8, 2006
lucky dog
CNN.com - House contract carries long-term leash - Mar 8, 2006
SCOTT CITY, Missouri (AP) -- Housing contracts can get complicated in a hurry. Just consider the clause that Jared and Whittnie Essner agreed to when they bought their first home last week:"Rocky will be allowed to remain in home (with lots of love, care and attention) and negotiated visitation rights from current master. Chain link fence stays for him."
Our house came with a cat. Puff had belonged to the former owner's wife for ~18 years (her "childhood cat," as she put it), and when they divorced, the wife (hereafter known as Creep #1) decided to leave Puff behind when she moved out. Nice. Ex-hubby (Creep #2) tossed Puff into the garage (she had been an indoor cat) and fed her low-grade dry cat food. During her exile Puff was attacked by dogs and nearly killed by a raccoon. When we bought the house we said we'd take Puff as well, and moved her back inside where she lived happily until her death at age 20 two years later. She loved American cheese and would stand by the refrigerator every night demanding her bedtime slice. She was a sweet, if somewhat imperious, old coot. If she wanted to sit in your lap, you let her.
How two people can dump a cat they've had for 18 years still escapes me.
March 7, 2006
yet another holy huckster unmasked
Dark Portrait of a 'Painter of Light' - Los Angeles Times
Thomas Kinkade is famous for his luminous landscapes and street scenes, those dreamy, deliberately inspirational images he says have brought "God's light" into people's lives, even as they have made him one of America's most collected artists.A devout Christian who calls himself the "Painter of Light," Kinkade trades heavily on his beliefs and says God has guided his brush — and his life — for the last 20 years.
"When I got saved, God became my art agent," he said in a 2004 video biography, genteel in tone and rich in the themes of faith and family values that have helped win him legions of fans, albeit few among art critics.
But some former Kinkade employees, gallery operators and others contend that the Painter of Light has a decidedly dark side.
In litigation and interviews with the Los Angeles Times, some former gallery owners depict Kinkade, 48, as a ruthless businessman who drove them to financial ruin at the same time he was fattening his business associates' bank accounts and feathering his nest with tens of millions of dollars.
[snip]
It's not just Kinkade's business practices that have been called into question. Former gallery owners, ex-employees and others say his personal behavior also belies the wholesome image on which he's built his empire.
In sworn testimony and interviews, they recount incidents in which an allegedly drunken Kinkade heckled illusionists Siegfried & Roy in Las Vegas, cursed a former employee's wife who came to his aid when he fell off a barstool, and palmed a startled woman's breasts at a signing party in South Bend, Ind.
And then there is Kinkade's proclivity for "ritual territory marking," as he called it, which allegedly manifested itself in the late 1990s outside the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim.
"This one's for you, Walt," the artist quipped late one night as he urinated on a Winnie the Pooh figure, said Terry Sheppard, a former vice president for Kinkade's company, in an interview.
More at above link. No surprises for anyone who has read Elmer Gantry.
March 6, 2006
it's not just a job, it's a metaphor
Guards Say Homeland Security HQ Insecure
WASHINGTON (AP) - The agency entrusted with protecting the U.S. homeland is having difficulty safeguarding its own headquarters, say private security guards at the complex.
The guards have taken their concerns to Congress, describing inadequate training, failed security tests and slow or confused reactions to bomb and biological threats.
For instance, when an envelope with suspicious powder was opened last fall at Homeland Security Department headquarters, guards said they watched in amazement as superiors carried it by the office of Secretary Michael Chertoff, took it outside and then shook it outside Chertoff's window without evacuating people nearby.
March 4, 2006
oh shut up
Hey, Stop Piggybacking on My Wireless - New York Times
For a while, the wireless Internet connection Christine and Randy Brodeur installed last year seemed perfect. They were able to sit in their sunny Los Angeles backyard working on their laptop computers.But they soon began noticing that their high-speed Internet access had become as slow as rush-hour traffic on the 405 freeway.
"I didn't know whether to blame it on the Santa Ana winds or what," recalled Mrs. Brodeur, the chief executive of Socket Media, a marketing and public relations agency.
The "what" turned out to be neighbors who had tapped into their system. The additional online traffic nearly choked out the Brodeurs, who pay a $40 monthly fee for their Internet service, slowing their access until it was practically unusable.
Yet another in a series of NYT articles celebrating the victimhood of yuppie computer users too stupid to RTFM. Previous articles included the one about suburbanites tossing out perfectly good PCs because they were infested with spyware and cleaning them up seemed like too much trouble. Reinstall Windows? Moi?
My favorite part:
Martha Liliana Ramirez, who lives in Miami, said she had not thought much about securing her $100-a-month Internet connection until recently. Last August, Ms. Ramirez, 31, a real estate agent, discovered a man camped outside her condominium with a laptop pointed at her building.When Ms. Ramirez asked the man what he was doing, he said he was stealing a wireless Internet connection because he did not have one at home. She was amused but later had an unsettling thought: "Oh my God. He could be stealing my signal."
Yet some six months later, Ms. Ramirez still has not secured her network.
Incidentally, how the hell do you "point" a laptop?
I like the part about the pop-up notifications
What's the probability that we're living in the Matrix?
The Matrix got many otherwise not-so-philosophical minds ruminating on the nature of reality. But the scenario depicted in the movie is ridiculous: human brains being kept in tanks by intelligent machines just to produce power.There is, however, a related scenario that is more plausible and a serious line of reasoning that leads from the possibility of this scenario to a striking conclusion about the world we live in. I call this the simulation argument. Perhaps its most startling lesson is that there is a significant probability that you are living in computer simulation. I mean this literally: if the simulation hypothesis is true, you exist in a virtual reality simulated in a computer built by some advanced civilisation. Your brain, too, is merely a part of that simulation.
From the Times Higher Education Supplement.
March 2, 2006
making the other cats seem normal
Plus, of course, Krakatoa
BIG DAY, today. From today, as you will have seen headlined in The Sunday Times, magnetic therapy is to be available on the NHS. Hitherto, patients like Cherie Blair had to pay £100 a pop to have magic magnets dangled over them, but now the treatment is absolutely free. And tomorrow . . .
March 1, 2006
good night and good luck
Homer Simpson, Yes; First Amendment? "Doh!"
.... The survey found more people could name the three "American Idol" judges than First Amendment rights and were more likely to remember popular advertising slogans.It also found people misidentified First Amendment rights. About 1 in 5 people thought the right to own a pet was protected ....
the daily feh
While we're on the subject of bands that need to crawl off and die, I'd like to nominate The Band. Yes, I know they're long gone, but that just seems to increase their air time. How can any sentient life form hear "Cripple Creek" at this point and not feel an overwhelming impulse to bolt for the nearest cliff?
Then there's that radio station on Cape Cod that apparently considers it their divinely-ordained mission to play everything James Taylor releases. I am told that he lives there, so perhaps that's the excuse, but there is no excuse.
Update: They are also preternaturally fond of Carly Simon. And Joni Mitchell. And Coldplay. Ghastly. Why no Yanni?
nice turn of phrase
from a BBC News story on encrypted torrent file sharing:
"This proposition brought us so much sh*t that it had to be continued on the next fan."