in lieu of radio ...

a somewhat random collection of pages and thoughts started sept 16 2001. now that i'm not on the radio 6 hours every day, blogger allows all of us to harangue...

Wednesday, July 31, 2002

So just how is the DCMA is killing fair use and denying due process? Link: Copyright as Cudgel (Siva Vaidhyanathan, Chronicle of Higher Education)

More resons why war in Iraq is a bad thing. Includes interesting comments from bullethead and form arms inspector Scott Ritter. (I wonder if he'll be called to testify in fron of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee?) Link: The Coming October War in Iraq (t r u t h o u t - William Rivers Pitt )

The UN's outgoing human rights commissioner, Mary Robinson, says she was prevented from continuing in the job because of pressure from the US, which she has accused of neglecting human rights during the war against terrorism. America forced me out, says Robinson (Guardian UK

Monday, July 29, 2002

Good, longish, examination of non-reporting from Palestine. Israeli complicity/enforcement of same. Link: Why Do They Do It? (Linda Belanger, CounterPunch)

The Onion 18 January 2001: Bush: "Our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over"     Also "During the 40-minute speech, Bush also promised to bring an end to the severe war drought that plagued the nation under Clinton, assuring citizens that the U.S. will engage in at least one Gulf War-level armed conflict in the next four years."

Friday, July 26, 2002

Not a photograph, not a painting. An image from a scanner. What do we call it? "A scanage"? "A scainting"? Link: 39x.jpg (JPEG Image, 1084x1024 pixels)

Because people have a need to glue things to other things Link: ThisToThat

Monday, July 22, 2002

Do your part for the USA! Become part of Bush/Ashcroft's "TIPS" program!!!! You don't even have to be a postman or a meter-reader...You can just mark them as informants!!! Link: Operation TIPS-TIPS: Report TIPS informants

Friday, July 19, 2002

Amazon.com has produced a few "star reviewers", but this guy is too cool for school!! Link:Henry Raddick's Public Reviews

So let me get this straight... First the governmet wins a case declaring Microsoft a monopoly... then it spends taxpayer money(CNN) on making windows secure ... then it "asks" consumers (lists.jammed.com) to install it.

Thursday, July 18, 2002

Rigorous and closely argued, the excellent Allen Barra in Salon Even good writers are doing bad stories on the issues behind the looming baseball strike. Why is the media peddling the owners' line?
Bud Selig's buddies

Monday, July 15, 2002

Good page (by Janis Ian, of all people) about downlaoding/RIAA/MPAA stuff. An artists' perspective indeed. Whith some very pointed things to say about that scumbag Michael Green (of NARAS). Link: Janis Ian Articles THE INTERNET DEBACLE - AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW (written for May 2002 issue of Performing Songwriter Mag.) (thanks to L for the link)

Excellent, in depth FAQ on the TCPA/Palladium plans from MS and Intel/AMD. By Ross Anderson, U. Cambridge) Will George Bush really be able to turn off your computer remotely? TCPA / Palladium Frequently Asked Questions

Friday, July 12, 2002

Buffet invests in Level 3. Interesting, convoluted speculation on how BillG might soon own the internet... Old friends complicate Buffett's foray into telecom (USA Today)

Wednesday, July 10, 2002

A brilliant and daunting Spamdemic Map of spammers and their interrelationships. See how many of the companies on the list are regulars in your inbox. (from Clueless Mailers)

Friday, July 05, 2002

I'll admit it, I'd forgotten "blipverts". Henry Juenkis reacts to that guy from Turner... Networks say watching TV without the ads is theft. Will blipverts be next? Link: Treating Viewers as Criminals (MIT Tech. Review)

Thursday, July 04, 2002

Think the press hasn't swallowed M$'s spin on Paladium?
Here is the pull-quote from this story:
“If [Paladium] works, it will be the first time in the history of computing that [this level of security is obtained.]” Bruce Schneier Cryptography expert
And here is the quote in context:
“If this works, it will be the first time in the history of computing that it works,” said Bruce Schneier, a cryptography expert and author of “Secrets & Lies, Digital Security in a Networked World.”
“Lots and lots of encryption is broken all the time because it's done wrong,” Schneier said. “The odds are actually zero this will be secure.”

Link: Microsoft Tackles Cyber-Security (CBS News)
Of course, The Reg has a different take on it, especially with regard to Linux: MS to eradicate GPL, hence Linux.
And then there is the most recent tweak from the M$ camp Palladium tech up for discussion, says MS security chief

Wednesday, July 03, 2002

test

test

Tuesday, July 02, 2002

The challenge now is to restore the balance between the private and the commons that the Founders sought to establish. "If communism versus capitalism was the struggle of the 20th century," Professor Lessig writes, "then control versus freedom will be the debate of the 21st." Tollbooths of the mind

Up to 50 percent of new mothers could die in the sub-Saharan African countries with the highest HIV prevalence rates. is just one of the Facts, Figures From AIDS Report

This surely is the hour of John Kenneth Galbraith, grand old man of American economics. But those who travel to the leafy suburbs of Boston in the expectation of a giant and gloating "I told you so" will come away disappointed. Link: Shocked and Angry: The Prophet Whose Warnings Over Wall Street Were Ignored (Independent, UK)

Monday, July 01, 2002

Behind the crisis in corporate America is a combination of pernicious Southern conservatism and unadulterated greed, argues Will Hutton. Link: Bye bye American pie *(Guardian UK)