Saturday, February 28, 2004
Friday, February 27, 2004
MWO
MWO:
"I nominate Elisabeth Bumiller and Jeff Gerth of the New York Times for Mediawhores of the Week, for writing an article that blames the Democrats for the August 14 blackout.
The article contains no mention of the bill sponsored by Democrat Sam Farr in June 2001 to provide loans to upgrade the delivery infrastructure, which bill was opposed by Bush and voted down by Republicans. In fact, the article makes no mention of the fact that the blackout was caused by a failure of the infrastructure, not by a supply shortage. What it does say is that the Bush-Cheney plan would have prevented the blackout if only those nasty Democrats hadn't gotten all political about it. But who could have known that more oil wells in Alaska would have prevented an overload of the power supply network in the Great Lakes region?"
M Cowan
FailureIsImpossible.com
Media Whores Online
Media Whores Online
A-List Whore Roster
- Fred Barnes
- Michael Barone
- Richard Berke
- Mona Charen
- Linda Chavez
- Ann Coulter
- Howard Fineman
- David Gergen
- Jonah Goldberg
- Sean Hannity
- Betsy Hart
- Christopher
Hitchens
- David Horowitz
- Brit Hume
- Mike Isikoff
- Mort Kondracke
- Charles
Krauthammer
- Chris Matthews
- Michael Medved
- Dick Morris
- Mike McCurry
- Peggy Noonan
- Bill O'Reilly
- Kathleen Parker
- Geraldo Rivera
- Cokie Roberts
- Tim Russert
- William Safire
- Tony Snow
- Andrew Sullivan
- George Will
- Mort Zuckerman
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Monday, February 23, 2004
Sunday, February 22, 2004
Friday, February 20, 2004
Thursday, February 19, 2004
Saturday, February 07, 2004
IC Failures Linked to Resin Series?
IC Failures Linked to Resin Series?:
"In about June 2001 a rumor began circulating through the industry that certain Fujitsu HDDs were failing at an unusually high rate. One after another, 3.5-inch HDDs mounted internally in desktop and other PCs were failing to spin up. The cause was a failure in the drive controller, the CL-SH8671 (codename: Himalaya 2.0) from Cirrus Logic, Inc of the US. The failure was caused by a short between pins within the integrated circuit (IC) package.
Originally the issue was thought to be affecting only HDDs, but more recently similar defects have begun appearing in a range of other equipment, including set-top boxes, PC main boards, IC test systems and industrial machinery. The issue is developing into a major problem, and has rapidly come to involve a host of equipment and IC manufacturers.
Friday, February 06, 2004
Stephen Wolfram: A New Kind of Science | Online
Stephen Wolfram: A New Kind of Science | OnlineWolfram and company have released the entire contents of NKS on the Web.
EFF: Online Policy Group v. Diebold, Inc.
EFF: Online Policy Group v. Diebold, Inc.
Online Policy Group v. Diebold, Inc.
Diebold, Inc., manufacturer of electronic voting machines, has been sending out many cease-and-desist letters to Internet Service Providers (ISPs), after internal documents indicating flaws in their systems were published on the Internet. The company cited copyright violations under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and demanded that the documents be taken down.
Now EFF and the Center for Internet and Society Cyberlaw Clinic at Stanford Law School are fighting back, seeking a court order on behalf of nonprofit ISP Online Policy Group (OPG) and two Swarthmore College students to prevent Diebold’s abusive copyright claims from silencing public debate about voting, the very foundation of our democratic process.
“Diebold’s blanket cease-and-desist notices are a blatant abuse of copyright law,” said EFF Staff Attorney Wendy Seltzer. “Publication of the Diebold documents is clear fair use because of their direct relevance to the debate over the accuracy of electronic voting machines.”
The documents include email messages written by Diebold employees describing security flaws in the systems, as well as email discussions about how to resolve, or in some cases, obfuscate those problems.
The DMCA contains a "safe harbor" provision as an incentive for ISPs to take down user-posted content when they receive cease-and-desist letters such as the ones sent by Diebold. By removing the content, or forcing the user to do so, an ISP can take itself out of the middle of any copyright claim. As a result, few ISPs have tested whether they would face liability for such user activity in a court of law.
From the Inquirer, they seem to be keeping on top of this issue.
From the Inquirer, they seem to be keeping on top of this issue.
Diebold 'abused copyright laws' to scupper fee speech:
"VOTING MACHINE MAKER, Diebold, faces allegations from the Online Policy Group that it has sought to use copyright laws in an attempt to scupper free speech.
The adversaries will come face to face in court on February 9, following a row over the publication of a selection of the company’s internal emails online. The mails highlighted certain flaws in the company's vote-counting systems and procedures that the Online Policy Group and a non-profit ISP along with two students from Swarthmore college maintain it was in the public interest to bring to light.
The OPG claims that Diebold abused copyright law in threatening the Internet connections of those who published or linked to a corporate email archive indicating flaws in Diebold's voting machines and irregularities with certifying them for actual elections.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has taken up the case on behalf of the OPG and the students. Its legal director, Cindy Cohn, claimed Diebold had used 'phony' copyright claims to silence public debate about voting. 'Copyright law must not become a tool of censorship,' she said.
Diebold threatened not only the ISPs of direct publishers of the corporate documents, but also the ISPs of those who merely publish links to the documents. The ISP OPG refused to comply with Diebold's demand that it prohibit Independent Media Network (IndyMedia) from linking to Diebold documents.
'As an ISP committed to free speech, we are affirming our users' right to link to information that's critical to the debate on the reliability of electronic voting machines,' said OPG's Colocation Director David Weekly."
Growing Mushrooms-AMI
Growing Mushrooms-AMI: Because sterile conditions are required to begin the life of a cultivated mushroom, the entire operation begins in a laboratory. The spores, or natural seeds of the mushroom, are so minuscule that the mushroom grower cannot handle them. Laboratory personnel inoculate sterile cereal grains with the spores and incubate them until a viable product is developed. These grains become "spawn" which can then be sown like seed.
At the farm, the grower carefully prepares the compost, the basic growing medium for mushroom production. Two types of starting material are generally used for mushroom compost: synthetic compost consisting of wheat or rye straw, hay and/or crushed corn cobs or manure-based compost made from stable bedding from local race tracks and horse stables. Both types of compost require the addition of other supplements.
The compost is produced outdoors on a concrete slab, commonly referred to as a composting wharf. The ingredients are thoroughly mixed, wetted, and placed in large piles to initiate the composting process. As the starting materials degrade, the compost continues to be mixed, watered and supplemented for about 15-25 days. The outdoor process is followed by an indoor pasteurization cycle to kill any pests that are present in the compost.
Inside the growing houses, the pasteurized compost is placed in stacked, wooden trays or beds, the spawn is mixed in and a top layer (usually of peat moss) is applied. From this point, it takes about a month to produce the first mushrooms for harvest. Throughout the growing period, temperature and humidity are carefully controlled.
Mushrooms mature at varying times, so picking by hand is continuous for six to ten weeks. The tray or bed is then completely emptied and the entire growing area is pasteurized with steam before a new crop is started.
Mushrooms are one of the most difficult commodities to grow. Intensive labor is required to produce a consistent, high-quality crop. Also, mushroom farms today are highly technical operations, complete with extensive computerized systems to monitor each point in production.
How Pictsweet mushrooms grow
How Pictsweet mushrooms grow: "The mushrooms you buy in the store today began their life in a laboratory about 3 or 4 months ago. No seeds or cuttings are planted. Mushrooms are grown from microscopic spores. Under sterile lab conditions, billions of microscopic spores were collected as they were released from the gills of a mature mushroom. The laboratory conditions are controlled so that no contamination takes place. Cereal grains - rye, wheat, millet and other small grains - are soaked in water and chalk and sterilized. Then they are injected with the mushroom spores. Soon, the spores send out tiny, white threads called mycelium. These mycelia are the 'roots' of a mushroom that collect water and nutrients to enable mushrooms to grow. The grains are incubated to promote full colonization of the mycelia, at which point the mycelia-laced grains are known as spawn. These spawn will be the 'seeds' the mushroom farmer will plant."
Terra Viva Organics - Organic Gardening Supplies and Expert Advice
Terra Viva Organics - Organic Gardening Supplies and Expert Advice: "Shiitake Mushroom Kit
Lentinus edodes Next to button mushrooms, Shiitake is the most extensively cultivated mushroom in the world. It is used in many Asian dishes for its meaty texture and flavour.
As will as being a source of B vitamins, minerals, and protein, Shiitake is attributed with many health-giving properties including lowering cholesterol, immune system stimulation, and anti-tumour activity.
Shiitake mushrooms can be harvested at 2 week intervals for up to 16 weeks. A 50-80° F environment is ideal."
Terra Viva Organics - Organic Gardening Supplies and Expert Advice
Terra Viva Organics - Organic Gardening Supplies and Expert Advice: "Terra Viva Organics - Grow a healthy, pesticide-free garden for you and your family. Our site includes organic growing advice, organic fertilizers, natural pest controls, weekly tips, feature products, and a monthly newsletter.
Our monthly newsletter will give you growing tips and innovative ideas to make your garden healthy and beautiful.
If you have a gardening question or need advice, consult our frequently asked questions section for up to date advice and answers to common inquiries.
At Terra Viva Organics, you can order online, securely. Shopping for fertilizers, pest control products, and gardening gift ideas has never been so easy!
Terra Viva Organics
8480 Dayton Court
Richmond, BC
V6Y 3H6
Toll-free (866) 599-BUGS (2847)
Fax: (604) 448-9374
e-mail: info@tvorganics.com"
MykoWeb: Mushrooms, Fungi, Mycology
MykoWeb: Mushrooms, Fungi, MycologyWelcome to MykoWeb, WWW pages devoted to the science of mycology (the study of the fungi) and the hobby of mushrooming (the pursuit of mushrooms). It is a production of Michael Wood, a past president of the Mycological Society of San Francisco. MykoWeb was started in the fall of 1995 and since then has garnered several web Awards.
The biggest attraction at MykoWeb is The Fungi of California, an expanded version of the former "Fungi of the San Francisco Bay Area". The Fungi of California contains photographs and descriptions of over 400 species of fungi found in California (with over 1590 total photographs). Included are links to other online descriptions and photos of the species treated plus references to common field guides. Also included is a Glossary of mycological terms and a Bibliography of useful mycological references. The Fungi of California is a joint project of Michael Wood and Fred Stevens.
Low Cost Mushroom Production at Home
Low Cost Mushroom Production at Home: "Gourmet mushrooms like Shiitake, Oyster & Enoki mushrooms are growing in popularity but the retail price for many of these delicacies can often be out of range for many people. Mushroom lovers on a budget have another option - growing mushrooms at home.
Mushroom production might seem complicated but there are many kits on the market that make growing mushrooms easy. These kits provide the substrate, pre-inoculated with mushroom mycelia and simple instructions.
Mushrooms
When we think of mushrooms, we often think of the soft caps & stems that we see in the grocery store. Hidden underground, however, is the vast majority of the mushroom mass itself- the network of feathery mycelia. These mycelia, often seen when turning over compost, are what the mushroom uses to absorb food & moisture. The cap & stem that we commonly eat is just the fruiting body.
To grow, mycelia require an uncontaminated food source, free from other microorganisms, moisture, and temperatures between 60-80F. The food source can vary, depending on the species of mushroom, from sawdust & shavings to manure or compost. Once mycelia have colonized a food source, they begin to produce fruiting bodies, commonly referred to as pins. As the pins mature, they develop into recognizable mushrooms."
Shiitake Mushroom Kit from GrowOrganic.com - Buy online now!
Shiitake Mushroom Kit from GrowOrganic.com - Buy online now!: "A mushroom treasured by many gourmets, Shiitakes are esteemed for both their health stimulating properties and their culinary value. This Certified Organic Shiitake kit contains a blend of sterilized, enriched sawdust, fully colonized with a select Chinese strain of Shiitakes. Shiitake mushrooms can be harvested at two week intervals, up to 16 weeks, with a total harvest of approximately 2-3 lbs. A 50°-80°F environment is ideal. Comes with detailed instructions."
Marijuana Seeds (Cannabis Seeds) Growing Marijuana, Magic Mushroom Kits, Marijuana Growing
Marijuana Seeds (Cannabis Seeds) Growing Marijuana, Magic Mushroom Kits, Marijuana Growing Did a google on growing Mushrooms and found this.
Thursday, February 05, 2004
3rd Wave HotSpot: Providing Free Wireless Internet Access to Atlanta
3rd Wave HotSpot: Providing Free Wireless Internet Access to Atlanta: "3rd Wave Wireless HotSpots in the News
February 5, 2004"
ABCNEWS.com : Manipulating Records and History Online
ABCNEWS.com : Manipulating Records and History Online: "As many of you know by now, the talk of this year's Super Bowl halftime show was Janet Jackson "
or rather, her right breast and its exposure during a musical number in which her costar, Justin Timberlake, was supposed to rip her leather bustier, revealing her bra. For whatever reason, millions of viewers witnessed a bit more.
In the wake of this embarrassing fiasco, I was searching for clues online about the veracity of claims made by Jackson, Timberlake, and MTV that this was unplanned.
Now I realize, in the grand scheme of things, that this whole discussion is immaterial, but it did get me wondering. I find it fascinating that some words, sounds, and images — like, for example, this moment beamed into 89.6 million homes — are captured forever digitally, but others, like the words contained in a press release issued by MTV right before the Super Bowl, vanish with nary a trace.
Within minutes of the incident, the Drudge Report (www.drudgereport.com) posted an image from the controversial portion of Jackson's performance. And shortly after the game, there was a link to a Yahoo item with the brief, apologetic statement MTV issued just minutes after the game. The site also included a link to a pregame MTV announcement that, according to the Drudge site, promised "shocking moments" during Jackson's halftime show.
I clicked on the link (http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1484644/20040128/jackson_janet.jhtml?headlines=true) and was taken to the original MTV press release — or rather, what was left of it. All that remained was the shell of a page. I tried searching its news archives for the original story, but although the headline "Janet Jackson's Super Bowl Show Promises 'Shocking Moments' " did show up, the link went back to the same blank page. (Ed Note: After press time, MTV republished the article with an apology added.)
ABCNEWS.com : Parasitic Ants Shake Up Colony Society
ABCNEWS.com : Parasitic Ants Shake Up Colony Society: "Herbers is dean of Ohio State's College of Biological Sciences, and she is one of the country's leading ant experts, so she's not often stumped when she peers inside the usually violent parasitic relationship between slave-maker ants and their hosts. But that changed a few months ago when one of her researchers, Chris Johnson, returned to the lab with an acorn she had picked up in a city park.
The acorn had tiny ants, each about the size of the tip of a ball point pen, and Johnson put them under a microscope for a closer look at a 'really weird looking queen,' Herbers recalls.
''I went over there and looked at it and said 'Oh my god, you've got minutissimus.''
Leptothorax minutissimus had only been found in four other areas of North America, and the species has baffled biologists ever since it was discovered in 1942 in Washington, D.C. The species has evolved to the point that it no longer has worker ants that forage for food and carry out other chores.
'It has lost the worker class,' Herbers says. Only queens are left.
So to survive, the ants must invade another colony and take up residence as parasites. Herbers wants to find out how they do that without bloodshed. That's a very different lifestyle from the 'slave maker' ants she has studied for so long."
Tuesday, February 03, 2004
Monday, February 02, 2004
Op-Ed Columnist: The Farewell Dossier
Op-Ed Columnist: The Farewell Dossier Neat!
By WILLIAM SAFIRE
Published: February 2, 2004
Intelligence shortcomings, as we see, have a thousand fathers; secret intelligence triumphs are orphans. Here is the unremarked story of "the Farewell dossier": how a C.I.A. campaign of computer sabotage resulting in a huge explosion in Siberia — all engineered by a mild-mannered economist named Gus Weiss — helped us win the cold war.
Weiss worked down the hall from me in the Nixon administration. In early 1974, he wrote a report on Soviet advances in technology through purchasing and copying that led the beleaguered president — détente notwithstanding — to place restrictions on the export of computers and software to the U.S.S.R.
Seven years later, we learned how the K.G.B. responded. I was writing a series of hard-line columns denouncing the financial backing being given Moscow by Germany and Britain for a major natural gas pipeline from Siberia to Europe. That project would give control of European energy supplies to the Communists, as well as generate $8 billion a year to support Soviet computer and satellite research.
President François Mitterrand of France also opposed the gas pipeline. He took President Reagan aside at a conference in Ottawa on July 19, 1981, to reveal that France had recruited a key K.G.B. officer in Moscow Center.
Col. Vladimir Vetrov provided what French intelligence called the Farewell dossier. It contained documents from the K.G.B. Technology Directorate showing how the Soviets were systematically stealing — or secretly buying through third parties — the radar, machine tools and semiconductors to keep the Russians nearly competitive with U.S. military-industrial strength through the 70's. In effect, the U.S. was in an arms race with itself.
Reagan passed this on to William J. Casey, his director of central intelligence, now remembered only for the Iran-contra fiasco. Casey called in Weiss, then working with Thomas C. Reed on the staff of the National Security Council. After studying the list of hundreds of Soviet agents and purchasers (including one cosmonaut) assigned to this penetration in the U.S. and Japan, Weiss counseled against deportation.
Instead, according to Reed — a former Air Force secretary whose fascinating cold war book, "At the Abyss," will be published by Random House next month — Weiss said: "Why not help the Soviets with their shopping? Now that we know what they want, we can help them get it." The catch: computer chips would be designed to pass Soviet quality tests and then to fail in operation.
In our complex disinformation scheme, deliberately flawed designs for stealth technology and space defense sent Russian scientists down paths that wasted time and money.
The technology topping the Soviets' wish list was for computer control systems to automate the operation of the new trans-Siberian gas pipeline. When we turned down their overt purchase order, the K.G.B. sent a covert agent into a Canadian company to steal the software; tipped off by Farewell, we added what geeks call a "Trojan Horse" to the pirated product.
"The pipeline software that was to run the pumps, turbines and valves was programmed to go haywire," writes Reed, "to reset pump speeds and valve settings to produce pressures far beyond those acceptable to the pipeline joints and welds. The result was the most monumental non-nuclear explosion and fire ever seen from space."
Our Norad monitors feared a nuclear detonation, but satellites that would have picked up its electromagnetic pulse were silent. That mystified many in the White House, but "Gus Weiss came down the hall to tell his fellow NSC staffers not to worry. It took him another twenty years to tell me why."
Farewell stayed secret because the blast in June 1982, estimated at three kilotons, took place in the Siberian wilderness, with no casualties known. Nor was the red-faced K.G.B. about to complain publicly about being tricked by bogus technology. But all the software it had stolen for years was suddenly suspect, which stopped or delayed the work of thousands of worried Russian technicians and scientists.
Vetrov was caught and executed in 1983. A year later, Bill Casey ordered the K.G.B. collection network rolled up, closing the Farewell dossier. Gus Weiss died from a fall a few months ago. Now is a time to remember that sometimes our spooks get it right in a big way.
E-mail: safire@nytimes.com
Get home delivery of The Times from $2.90/week
Virginia Tech to upgrade supercomputer to Xserve
Virginia Tech to upgrade supercomputer to Xserve: "SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University will upgrade its supercomputer that uses Apple Computer Inc. (NasdaqNM:AAPL - News)'s PowerMac G5 computers with Apple's recently introduced Xserve G5 servers that have two chips in each box, the university said on Tuesday."
• Key Players in the Plame Affair