Wednesday, November 24, 2004
We discover a record label that isn't evil
We discover a record label that isn't evil: "WHEN MUSICIAN and composer Jan Hanford was signed to an independent record label, she and husband John Buckman were delighted. But despite glowing reviews, Jan's CD ran into a brick wall when the small label tried to bring her music to a wider audience.
'The label got screwed at every turn,' recalls Buckman, 'distributors refused to carry their CDs unless they spent thousands on useless print ads, record stores demanded graft in order to stock the albums, and in general, all forces colluded to prevent this small, progressive label from succeeding... In the end, she sold 1000 CDs, lost all rights to her music for 7 years... and earned a total of $137 in royalties paid.'
Buckman realized there had to be a better way of doing things, for Jan and for other artists who didn't fit in a music industry dominated by giant corporations. So he founded his own record label."
Microsoft doesn't own Excel, it appears
Microsoft doesn't own Excel, it appears: "Excel Software told NewsFactor hacks that it received a cease-and-desist letter about 15 years ago. But it replied by informing Microsoft it had the name first, and it has never heard from the lair of the Vole since. ?"
Xerox tracks your photocopies
Xerox tracks your photocopies: "GIANT PHOTOCOPYING firm Xerox has admitted designing its colour photocopiers so that they put a hidden code on your copy that will help the US government identify you"
the scene server
the scene serverWelcome to the Swiss Scene Server. It's nice to see your interest in art and computer creations of an unofficial union of computer freaks in Switzerland.
This homepage tries to be a central point for all scene related stuff in Switzerland. A point where you can exchange your art stuff, find old and new creations, publish your own creations, find other scene related homepages and exchange news in a modern news database.
Monday, November 22, 2004
Friday, November 19, 2004
Custom Car Stereo - Main Page
Custom Car Stereo - Main Page Site has basic info on working with fiberglass.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Saturday, November 13, 2004
YellowBites - News
YellowBites - News: "Welcome to the cyberspace home of YellowBites and the cool stuff they make. To navigate this site, use the bar to your left.
YellowBites is a small company producing native software titles for the BeOS/Zeta platform. Our products will not run on any version of Windows, MacOS, Linux or any other operating system."
java.net: Through the Looking Glass
java.net: Through the Looking Glass: "Having heard a few rumors about Project Looking Glass, I was still unprepared for the difference of this desktop: a translucent 3D space that looked like it had come out of a virtual reality 'playback' experience from Strange Days (Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Tom Sizemore, 1995), an amazing sci-fi thriller that both predates and smokes The Matrix. Looking Glass has been scoffed at as 'eye candy' by technologists, pundits, and users who don't value the emotion of user interface design or the power of word of mouth among the gamer demographic in creating hit software. Looking Glass is dependent upon processor speed and graphics card and system advancements, as well as on the coming of Java 3D. What follows is my interview with Hideya Kawahara, creator of Project Looking Glass."
Lexmark accused of installing spyware - ZDNet UK News
Lexmark accused of installing spyware - ZDNet UK News: "Reports on the comp.periphs.printers Usenet newsgroup claim that Lexmark has been planting spyware on its customers' PCs in the form of undocumented software that monitors the use of its printers and silently reports back to a Lexmark-owned company Web site."
Bushed
Bushed: "You've probably already seen the reports of things like the voting machines whose memory cartridges began counting backwards once they'd reached a certain number of votes, the 800-voter Ohio precinct that recorded nearly 4,000 votes for Bush, or the Florida counties where high percentages of registered Democrats nonetheless translated into low percentages of votes for Kerry."
Wired News: House Dems Seek Election Inquiry
Wired News: House Dems Seek Election Inquiry: "Three congressmen sent a letter to the General Accountability Office on Friday requesting an investigation into irregularities with voting machines used in Tuesday's elections.
The congressmen, Democratic members of the House of Representatives from Florida, New York and Michigan, cited a number of incidents that came to light in the days after the election. One was a glitch in Ohio that caused a memory card reader made by Danaher Controls to give George W. Bush 3,893 more votes than he should have received. Another was a problem with memory cards in North Carolina that caused machines made by UniLect to lose 4,500 votes cast on e-voting machines. The votes were lost when the number of votes cast on the machines exceeded the capacity of the memory cards."
Bushed
BushedIn the 2000 election, the problem was that the numbers in Florida (not the only such state but the most obvious) were within the margin for error. This time round, there seem to have been at least two such states – Ohio and New Mexico. This seems to me the key issue: probably no system we ever devise will be perfectly accurate down to a single vote, so there will always be a percentage difference below which the count is unreliable.
Slashdot has been collecting reports, of course, but the central clearinghouse is the Election Incident Reporting System site, where more than 31,000 incidents were logged and counted. The raw numbers don't tell you anything, of course. Many of the logged incidents are minor-league stuff, like people who have been issued with absentee ballots wanting to vote in person instead, or people unable to find their polling places. What matters, and will take much more lengthy analysis, is the pattern of these incidents.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
CJR November/December 2004: Blinded by Science
CJR November/December 2004: Blinded by ScienceHow ‘Balanced’ Coverage Lets the Scientific Fringe Hijack Reality
By Chris Mooney
On May 22, 2003, the Los Angeles Times printed a front-page story by Scott Gold, its respected Houston bureau chief, about the passage of a law in Texas requiring abortion doctors to warn women that the procedure might cause breast cancer. Virtually no mainstream scientist believes that the so-called ABC link actually exists — only anti-abortion activists do. Accordingly, Gold’s article noted right off the bat that the American Cancer Society discounts the “alleged link” and that anti-abortionists have pushed for “so-called counseling” laws only after failing in their attempts to have abortion banned. Gold also reported that the National Cancer Institute had convened “more than a hundred of the world’s experts” to assess the ABC theory, which they rejected. In comparison to these scientists, Gold noted, the author of the Texas counseling bill — who called the ABC issue “still disputed” — had “a professional background in property management.”
Schneier on Security: The Problem with Electronic Voting Machines
Schneier on Security: The Problem with Electronic Voting MachinesIn the aftermath of the U.S.’s 2004 election, electronic voting machines are again in the news. Computerized machines lost votes, subtracted votes instead of adding them, and doubled votes. Because many of these machines have no paper audit trails, a large number of votes will never be counted. And while it is unlikely that deliberate voting-machine fraud changed the result of the presidential election, the Internet is buzzing with rumors and allegations of fraud in a number of different jurisdictions and races. It is still too early to tell if any of these problems affected any individual elections. Over the next several weeks we'll see whether any of the information crystallizes into something significant.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Big green energy machines - The Industrial Physicist
Big green energy machines - The Industrial Physicist: "A more developed design might circulate oxygen and add methane when needed by local injection to make expansion almost isothermic. Dual cycles, maximum capacity, and changes in temperature in the regenerator with such dense gases all need to be imaginatively considered by physicists and engineers in a grand concourse of designs.
Fortunately for transmitting mechanical power, the high pressures shrink the machinery in a revolutionary way and so permit the turbine to rotate very fast. The generator could then also turn very fast, operating at high frequency, and appropriate power electronics would slow the generated electricity to 60 cycles."
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Monday, November 08, 2004
Is Microsoft Ready to Assert IP Rights over the Internet?
Is Microsoft Ready to Assert IP Rights over the Internet?: "Some of the RFC protocols that Microsoft asserts that it may have IP rights over, such as the TCP/IP protocols and the DNS (Domain Name System), form the very bedrock of the Internet's network infrastructure.
'Microsoft does not specify how this list of protocols was derived and to what extent they have investigated their possible rights holdings over these protocols,' Blunk said. 'The list appears to be a near but not completely exhaustive list of public protocols implemented in Microsoft products."
...
44
"Further, because Microsoft provides no reference to any proof of applicable rights holdings [such as patent numbers], it is impossible to ascertain whether Microsoft indeed has legitimate rights holdings."
Saturday, November 06, 2004
Friday, November 05, 2004
Computer Laboratory - Xen virtual machine monitor
Computer Laboratory - Xen virtual machine monitor: "Modern computers are sufficiently powerful to use virtualization to present the illusion of many smaller virtual machines (VMs), each running a separate operating system instance. Successful partitioning of a machine to support the concurrent execution of multiple operating systems poses several challenges. Firstly, virtual machines must be isolated from one another: it is not acceptable for the execution of one to adversely affect the performance of another. This is particularly true when virtual machines are owned by mutually untrusting users. Secondly, it is necessary to support a variety of different operating systems to accommodate the heterogeneity of popular applications. Thirdly, the performance overhead introduced by virtualization should be small.
Xen is a virtual machine monitor for x86 that supports execution of multiple guest operating systems with unprecedented levels of performance and resource isolation. Xen is Open Source software, released under the terms of the GNU General Public License. We have a fully functional ports of Linux 2.4 and 2.6 running over Xen, and regularly use it for running demanding applications like MySQL, Apache and PostgreSQL. Any Linux distribution (RedHat, SuSE, Debian, Mandrake) should run unmodified over the ported OS.
In addition to Linux, members of Xen's user community have contributed or are working on ports to other operating systems such as NetBSD (Christian Limpach), FreeBSD (Kip Macy) and Plan 9 (Ron Minnich). A port of Windows XP was developed for an earlier version of Xen, but is not available for release due to licensce restrictions."
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Screenshots...: If you talk bad about President Bush...
Screenshots...: If you talk bad about President Bush...: "It. Is. A. Federal. Crime.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00000871----000-.html:
'Whoever knowingly and willfully deposits for conveyance in the mail or for a delivery from any post office or by any letter carrier any letter, paper, writing, print, missive, or document containing any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States, the President-elect, the Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President of the United States, or the Vice President-elect, or knowingly and willfully otherwise makes any such threat against the President, President-elect, Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President, or Vice President-elect, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.'
In the legal application of that rule on a similar case, where the threat was clearly not an actual threat, see here:
Watts v. United States, 394 U.S. 705 (1969).
Point is, she's clearly innocent of any real attempt to kill the president. But what she did was enough to warrant an investigation."
Screenshots...: If you talk bad about President Bush...
Screenshots...: If you talk bad about President Bush...: "They can harass a blogger but they couldn't stop Sept 11th? WTF?"
Screenshots...: If you talk bad about President Bush...
Screenshots...: If you talk bad about President Bush...: "In the so-called 'Land of the Free', the Secret Service can even harass a blogger who pokes fun at President Bush in a weblog or in a satire. This is how she-blogger Annie pleads, and how she mitigates the unenviable situation by erasing all that she has said that 'offended' the-power-that-be in USA (but Google cache remains):"
anniesj: a word to the wise
anniesj: a word to the wise: "For all my LJ-loving friends, this is a word of warning, a word to the wise, and a word of utter exhaustion after the wringer I've been put through in the last twenty-four hours.
A couple of weeks ago, following the last presidential debate, I said some rather inflammatory things about George W. Bush in a public post in my LJ, done in a satirical style. We laughed, we ranted, we all said some things. I thought it was a fairly harmless (and rather obvious) attempt at humor in the face of annoyance, and while a couple of people were offended, as is typical behavior from me, I saw something shiny and forgot about it, thinking that the whole thing was over and done and nothing else would come of what I said.
I was wrong.
At 9:45 last night, the Secret Service showed up on my mother's front door to talk to me about what I said about the President, as what I said could apparently be misconstrued as a threat to his life. After about ten minutes of talking to me and my family, they quickly came to the conclusion that I was not a threat to national security (mostly because we are the least threatening people in the entire world) and told me that they would not recommend that any further action be taken with my case. However, I do now have a file with the FBI that includes my photograph, my e-mail address, and the location of my LJ. This will follow me around for the rest of my life, regardless of the fact that the Secret Service knows that I am not a threat.
Obviously, I cannot link to the original LJ post that I made, because I have removed it from my LJ to protect myself and those who commented in that thread from receiving any further visits from the FBI. I apologized for the miscommunication, though I did *not* apologize for voicing my opinion of George W. Bush. I will never apologize for speaking my mind. I will, however, apologize when I say something wrong way and for unintentionally offending/threatening someone, because I am an extremely nonviolent person.
"
Blogger gets night visit from US Secret Service
Blogger gets night visit from US Secret Service: "Secret Service came a-knockin' on Annie at 9:45 PM, but arrived quickly at the conclusion that she wasn't a threat to National Security, more a chick living at home with her mum. Nonetheless, they made sure she got a file at the FBI including her photo, email, and medical records. I guess those boys really like to give the full service.
Agents told her that they had received a report (presumably saying that someone had dared to question the motives, sanity or intellectual capacity of The War President) from another blogger who had been reading Annie's site, and therefore followed up. Achtung!
The tale is a lesson to us all. Number one lesson is that what happens on the internet can and will bite you on the ass in real life. We've seen it time and time again with internet affairs and sordid emails - now, you'd better watch where you put your political commentating toes. Number two is that no matter how cool and geeky the community - and LiveJournal is both - there will always be someone that ruins it for everyone else. And they will probably be Republican."
Australian software checks US voter fraud
Australian software checks US voter fraud:
PHPSurveyor, a PHP based online survey tool is being used by Verified Voting Foundation, a non-partisan body which was set up after the 2000 US elections, as part of their Election Incident Reporting System.
Jason Cleeland, the developer of the application told the Sydney Morning Herald that he was really excited that his application was being used to monitor electronic voting machines which are being used have no paper trail.
The unbearable Internet Explorerness of configuration
The unbearable Internet Explorerness of configurationLose the JavaScript, Active-X, VB Script, applets…and make the damn thing so simple any browser can read it. This cannot be impossible, given that – again – it's not so long since you could do the whole thing with Telnet and text.
Saturday, October 30, 2004
Keyes-Obama debate 3 (Religion and Gay marriage)
Obama making little sense, Keyes making none. Obama argues that gays should have the same civil rights as other citizens, which means I guess that he thinks they do not now have those rights? Keyes makes me think that a psychiatric eval. should be required of everyone running for political office.
Labels:
Obama,
Politics,
Religion
0
comments
Thursday, October 28, 2004
London continues to be flooded by sewage
London continues to be flooded by sewage: "LONDONERS faced with many tons of sewage being dumped in their streets and parks whenever it rains too much are likely to get scant re-assurance from Watervoice today, which claims to be a 'strong voice' representing water and sewage customers in the UK."
BBC NEWS
BBC NEWS- US Elections MapVery impressive summary of the US election.
Labels:
Politics
0
comments
BBC NEWS | Americas | Florida ballot papers go missing
BBC NEWS | Americas | Florida ballot papers go missing: "Some 60,000 absentee ballots were despatched by authorities in Broward County, north of Miami, this month.
However, only 2,000 of them have been delivered.
Florida was the centre of controversies which delayed the result in 2000, with George W Bush eventually declared the winner in the state by 537 votes."
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Vacation Network, Inc - decided to sell our timeshare - I have called many times to find out why it has not sold and all I ever get is the run around: "Several years ago my husband and I decided to sell our timeshare through a company called Vacation Network, Inc. I beleive that we listed our timeshare with them five years ago to be exact and they have not done a thing to sell it, rent it or even contact us.
"
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
PRATT & WHITNEY THERMAL NUCLEAR ROCKET ENTRY: TRITON
This engine is not a jet, however and is powered by Nuclear Fission. It seems that P&W has responded to the need for Mars transportation by inventing the first commercially viable nuclear thermal rocket. They have improved upon the NERVA NRX design from the 60's, and have even solved the graphite ablation problem! This engine makes an "inexpensive" trip to Mars is possible."
Sunday, October 24, 2004
The New York Times > Business > Record Labels Said to Be Next on Spitzer List for Scrutiny
The New York Times > Business > Record Labels Said to Be Next on Spitzer List for Scrutiny: "liot Spitzer, the New York State attorney general, has recently taken on a procession of corporate powers from Wall Street analysts to mutual funds to insurance brokers. Now he is casting his eyes on the music industry, particularly its practices for influencing what songs are heard on the public airwaves.
According to several people involved, investigators in Mr. Spitzer's office have served subpoenas on the four major record corporations - the Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, the EMI Group and the Warner Music Group - seeking copies of contracts, billing records and other information detailing their ties to independent middlemen who pitch new songs to radio programmers in New York State.
The inquiry encompasses all the major radio formats and is not aiming at any individual record promoter, these people said. Mr. Spitzer and representatives for the record companies declined to comment."
Wired News: When War Games Meet Video Games
Wired News: When War Games Meet Video Games: "War games that consider these scenarios are not new for the military, but they have never been attempted on such a grand scale, according to Blank. For instance, the simulation that JFCom is currently testing allows enemy forces (the 'red team') to hide up to 3,000 operatives in any of 65,000 buildings. The opposing 'blue team,' meanwhile, controls about 300 agents who use various tools to track the enemies.
The trick to keeping all this in motion is running the program on two Linux-based supercomputers, one at the Maui High Performance Computing Center in Hawaii and the other at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, and using concepts borrowed from artificial intelligence research to allow many of the characters in the simulation to make their own decisions without human input. This allows JFCom to run the simulations with only 30 or so human players at a time. These players consist mainly of retired military leaders and contractors who consult for the Department of Defense."
Salon.com Life | Would you drink this water?
Salon.com Life | Would you drink this water?: "NEWater looks like any other glacier-clear bottled H20. Except it gushes from the toilets of Singapore instead of a bubbling spring."
Feature Article
Titan Calling In a collaboration with the European Space Agency, Cassini, in addition to its own suite of scientific instruments designed to scan Saturn and its moons, carries a hitchhiker—a lander probe called Huygens. A stubby cone 3 meters across, Huygens was built for a single purpose: to pierce the cloaking methane atmosphere of Titan and report its findings back to Cassini for relay to Earth.
So it was quite a shock when Boris Smeds, a graying, Swedish, 26-year ESA veteran [see photo, "Unsung Hero"], who normally specializes in solving problems related to the agency's network of ground stations, discovered in early 2000 that Cassini's receiver was in danger of scrambling Huygens's data beyond recognition.
Friday, October 22, 2004
Scientists slice graphite into atom-thick sheets | The Register
Scientists slice graphite into atom-thick sheets | The Register: "An international team of scientists has made a new material just one atom thick, by extracting a single plane of carbon from a graphite crystal. Known as graphene, the new fabric effectively exists in just two dimensions, and could pave the way for computers built from single molecules.
In the latest edition of Science, published tomorrow, the scientists from Manchester University and Chernogolovka, Russia, explain that the atomic sheet is a fullerene molecule. Fullerenes are a class of carbon molecules discovered in the last twenty years. The first, the famous football-shaped Carbon-60 molecule, was named for architect Buckminster Fuller, because of its resemblance to his geodesic dome structures."
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
OBERON - OBERON - OBERON - OBERON - DL1000 V-Strom
OBERON - OBERON - OBERON - OBERON - DL1000 V-Strom: "DL1000 Bar End Weights "
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Circular Work in Carpentry and Joinery - Jeff Greef Woodworking
Circular Work in Carpentry and Joinery - Jeff Greef Woodworking: "This book was originally published in London over 100 years ago, and is probably the best treatise available on the subject. The focus is not furniture, rather it covers architectural work such as windows and roof construction. However, the geometric wizardry in this book applies equally well for both subjects.
"
• Key Players in the Plame Affair