Category: Random Ramblings

Anything that catches my fancy as a topic I want to cover. Truly random crap.

Salon.com in favor of taking away Americans’ rights

There is a lot of good commentary on Salon.com, in my opinion, even though there is a massive liberal bias to what is published there. I recently paid for a subscription because there was enough on the site that I wanted to read but couldn’t that I felt it was worth investing a few dollars to be able to access it. However, the latest article I’ve read on Salon would sound to me like the creation of any of a large number of well known conservatives (also on video so you can hear it yourself) trying to restrict out rights and freedoms were it attacking any American right other than the 2nd amendment guarantee of our right to bear arms. But rather than the more well-known conservative grabs for restricting Americans’ rights that we’ve seen recently, this Salon article is a liberal call to repeal the 2nd amendment, claiming (in reference to the recent Virginia Tech massacre) &147;hitting the delete button on the Second Amendment surely would lower the odds against future mayhem.&148; Maybe I’m a moron, but I don’t see that ridding the US of the 2nd amendment would necessarily and assuredly lead to the reduction in odds of future mayhem. On the other hand, I do believe that allowing students with carry permits to actually carry firearms on campus would lead to fewer victims in future cases, simply because those most in danger are also best set up to defend themselves. But like I said – maybe I’m just a moron for thinking that.

April 18, 2007 | WASHINGTON — Fifteen unambiguous words are all that would be required to quell the American-as-apple-pie cycle of gun violence that has now tearfully enshrined Virginia Tech in the record book of mass murder. Here are the 15 words that would deliver a mortal wound to our bang-bang culture of death: “The second article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.”

Continue reading “Salon.com in favor of taking away Americans’ rights”

Your GPS could be lying to you

“Warning! Undead pirate zombie ninja battle ahead!!!” Someday soon, such an alert could come to you on your GPS system. Well, maybe not quite the end-of-fucking-civilization(TM) alert that undead pirate zombie ninjas would dictate (yes, I just said the end of civilization would hinge on a battle of undead pirate zombie ninjas – leave a comment if you think I am wrong!), but certainly other startling alerts like Terrorist attack or Bull fight in progress could come through. Thanks to the insecure method of alert delivery made possible by FM subcarrier channels (known as RDS), some GPS systems will pick up local news alerts and inform you of problems before you get caught in a bull fight or otherwise dangerous zone.

Two security experts have discovered a way to inject false messages– some amusing and others potentially frightening– into car satellite navigation systems.

Andrea Barisani, chief security engineer for Inverse Path Ltd. and Daniele Bianco, a hardware hacker at Inverse Path, used off the shelf equipment to transmit messages to their car satellite navigation system warning of conditions ranging from foggy weather to terrorist attacks. They presented their findings on Friday at CanSecWest a security conference taking place this week in Vancouver.

. . .

Barisani and Bianco found that they could build a device that transmits over the RDS channel. Through trial and error, they discovered that transmitting certain code numbers translates into certain warnings that are displayed on the satellite navigation system.

Some were amusing. One code number alerts users that there’s a bull fight in progress. Another one indicates delays due to a parade.

But some weren’t so funny. One tells users that there has been a terrorist incident. Another indicates a bomb alert and another an air crash.

Maybe its just my twisted sense of humor, but I think there needs to be an undead pirate zombie ninja battle ahead alert, too. Of course, it could just be that I like saying undead pirate zombie ninja. But you might have already picked up on that. (via /.)

[tags]Undead pirate zombie ninja battle ahead – prepare for end of civilization, Fake GPS alerts via FM subcarrier signalling[/tags]

WKRP on DVD Tuesday

You may remember last year that I wrote how WKRP in Cincinnati was an unlikely DVD release.  Well, it looks like WKRP in Cincinnati will be available on DVD this week on Tuesday.  However, as I reported last year, it is unlikely that much of the original music will make it to the DVD release intact.  Roughly ten years ago, the replacement music was already well entrenched on the show.  I’m not sure what else will be changed in the newest releases, but you can be pretty sure little will remain from the original show.   Expect cut or changed scenes and dialog to even remove references to popular music that was originally in the show.

I got a copy of the first season of WKRP in Cincinnati and the news is not good. Which is disappointing to say, because I was lobbying for this release and believed – and still believe – that it would have been possible to reduce music costs without damaging the integrity of the show. That’s not what’s happened here.

So someone has already taken the time to put together the changes list.  Check it out and see if you are interested in the  changed version on DVD or will just remember the show as it was 30 years ago.

[tags]WKRP in Cincinnati on DVD Tuesday 2007-04-24, WKRP now on DVD but with much changed music, Recording Industry continuously working to make consumers less and less interested in their product[/tags]

Are cell phones killing all the bees?

I’m predicting no. But there are some folks who say bees are being killed off by excessive cell phone radiation.

It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world’s harvests fail.

They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world – the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon – which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe – was beginning to hit Britain as well.

The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees’ navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up.

Color me skeptical. Cell phones have been around for decades now. Bees have just started dying out. Unless there were a massive spike in the number of cell phones in use in the past year, I’d label this claim improbable. Luckily for me, there are others who doubt this theory as well. This way, I won’t be the only one looking foolish if cell phone radiation does turn out to be the culprit. But I’m not too worried that will happen:

Many beekeepers are skeptical of the reports or at least how they’re adding up. For 100 years, beekeepers have logged periodic reports of sudden and inexplicable bee die-offs.

People refer the latest die-off by its initials “CCD,” but one Georgia beekeeper instead calls it the “SSDD” crisis for “Same Stuff, Different Day.”

“People have lost bees from the beginning of time,” Sowers said. . . ..

Most empty hives have been discovered at large, commercial migrating bee farms – and that has led some beekeepers to theorize that it’s the stress of being trucked cross-country that’s killing the bees.

“The (bee’s) instinct is to go out and collect pollen and nectar, and that’s what they do. When they can’t get out of the hive, it puts them under stress. They need to go to the bathroom on a regular basis, but they won’t go in their hive,” said Ken Ograin, an Elmira beekeeper. . . ..

Finally, beehives simply die. Scattered reports of large-scale mortality date from 1915, 1960 and 1987. Scientists don’t always know why.

“This may be a repeat of that situation where we simply don’t figure it out,” said Morris Ostrofsky, president of the Lane County Beekeepers Association.

In fact, some farmers say they are puzzled about the dire news stories appearing in local, state and national media in the past several weeks.

“It’s not new this year,” Williams said. “If you know what I mean.”

So yes, that skepticism thing I’ve got going on looks pretty reasonable right now. Of course, if I’m wrong and we all die because of this in a few years, I’ll apologize on the other side.

[tags]Are cell phones killing all the bees (hint: probably not), Theory on massive bee die-off: cell phones did it![/tags]

Super Mario Bros. – version from hell

If you are a long-time gamer, you reallllllly need to watch this.  I’ve not finished it, but I can’t quit laughing at every failure this guy has in this modified Super Mario Bros. ROM.  I wouldn’t have to patience to play it, but it’s great to watch.  Definitely not safe for work (NSFW).  Video runs over 20 minutes.

[tags]What Mario would be like in hell[/tags]

Tennessee House responds to V. Tech shootings

From the local newspaper:

NASHVILLE – In a surprise move, a House panel voted Wednesday to repeal a state law that forbids the carrying of handguns on property and buildings owned by state, county and city governments — including parks and playgrounds.

“I think the recent Virginia disaster … has woken up a lot of people to the need for having funs available to paw-abiding citizens,” said Rep. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains. “I hope that is what this vote reflects.”

So good news for those who appreciate the legal right to self-defense.

[tags]Tennessee repeals state/county/city government property firearms restrictions[/tags]

Shocking news headline of the day

Sometimes, you just need to stick to the disposable stuff.

Japan’s leading toilet maker Toto Ltd. is offering free repairs for 180,000 bidet toilets after wiring problems caused several to catch fire, the company said Monday.

The electric bidet accessory of Toto’s Z series caught fire in three separate incidents between March 2006 and March 2007, according to company spokeswoman Emi Tanaka. The bidet sent up smoke in 26 other incidents, the company said.

So be careful how you clean our backside.  On the other hand, fire is an extremely effective manner of cleaning and disinfecting.  I suppose it all depends on how much you value quality sterilization.

[tags]Bidets catching fire in Japan?[/tags]

Rare show of clarity in Congress – No rush to new gun control

I’m not used to seeing this kind of reaction from the liberals, but Senator Harry Reid has suggested caution in any push for stricter gun control laws in wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy.

After the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid cautioned Tuesday against a “rush to judgment” on stricter gun control.

A leading House supporter of restrictions on firearms conceded passage of legislation would be difficult.

“I think we ought to be thinking about the families and the victims and not speculate about future legislative battles that might lie ahead,” said Reid, a view expressed by other Democratic leaders the day after the shootings that left 33 dead on the campus of Virginia Tech.

Yes, it will be difficult to get additional restrictions on firearms. There’s still that whole 2nd Amendment guarantee that needs to be protected. Sure, a few of the Senators have already started the gun control battlecries:

In the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, a few Democrats renewed the call for gun control legislation, and more are expected to join them.

“I believe this will reignite the dormant effort to pass commonsense gun regulations in this nation,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who was a leader in the failed drive to renew a ban on certain types of assault weapons that expired in 2004.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., was one of very few lawmakers to refer on gun control in the early hours after the shootings. “There will be time to debate the steps needed to overt such tragedies,” he said on Monday, “but today, our thoughts and prayers go to their families.”

Hopefully enough of them realize the problems that this won’t gain traction though. Personally, I look at this from the other side – had just one student in that classroom been carrying a firearm, the number killed by this nut could well have been far fewer. Restricting guns might reduce law-abiding citizens from carrying firearms, but it won’t slow down the criminals too much. Considering that the shooter acquired the weapon over a month before the shooting, it seems likely that he planned this and therefore would have pursued other means of arming himself were he unable to buy legally from a gunshop. I don’t believe restrictions on firearms would have stopped this, and I don’t think it will improve student safety in the future.

[tags]Senate Majority Leader cautions against pursuing stricter gun controls in wake of Virginia Tech shootings[/tags]

Adobe to deliver new media player

Hoping to cash in on some of the still unclaimed money floating around in the media-everywhere int4r-web thingie, Adobe has announced the imminent release of Adobe Media Player to the, ummmm, complete lack of notice to users everywhere. So what’s so great about Abode Media Player, and why should we be excited? Well, let’s see what the experts have to say:

Bruce Chizen, CEO at Adobe Systems Inc., commented that: “Adobe Flash has revolutionized the distribution of video content across the Internet and Adobe Media Player builds on this leadership position,” with regard to the company’s aspirations for the introduction of its newly integrated media player.

. . .

“Adobe has created the first way for media companies to release video content, secure in the knowledge that advertising goes with it,” said Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey in a Reuters report. “Control is something that media companies absolutely get high on,” he continued on the subject of media company reticence concerning the release of their content to the Web.

That’s right. Thanks to Adobe, you’ll now be able to get your media, secure in the knowledge that you’ll not miss out on your advertising when you receive your content. And if this product holds to the standard Adobe product features set, you can count on it being large, slow, intrusive, and possibly annoying.

I will give credit for one thing though – as much as I despise advertising, I do think having advertising tied in with the content distribution will get more premium content online for the enjoyment of consumers online. Not much more, but I believe it will help increase premium media distribution. It’s just dumb to proclaim how great it will be because it can force advertising in with content when sharing with end-users. Sell to them based on features they want – non-intrusive, lightweight, speed, ease of installation and use, and so on. Of course, Adobe might not be doing that in this case given the difficulty the company faces in producing applications that meet any of those requirements other than maybe ease of use.

[tags]Adobe announces new media player, Rest easy knowing you’ll not miss your advertisements in future distributed content[/tags]

Sony keeps showing hatred for customers

I’ll admit that I sometimes wonder how one company can hate potential customers so much that they would make their products non-functional and then tell customers to buy new hardware or wait for an update that is probably never coming. If you choose to invest your money in products from a company like this, might I suggest you have your head examined?

At this point, I honestly believe the smart thing to do is to download illegal copies of the movies or music that you want and then just send Sony a check for the amount of the product you would have purchased had it not been created in a manner as to make use difficult or impossible for customers who acquired it legally. That way Sony will still have your money and you’ll have a product that works.

YES ! It appears that Sony have done it again. In their zeal to make their DVD movies copyproof (yeah right) they have in fact made their latest releases unplayable on some DVD players, including my Sony DVP-CX995V DVD player. I recently rented “Stranger than Fiction” (2 copies) and “The Holiday” ( please no comments on my choice of movies) both by Sony Pictures. Both load up to the splash title screen and then load no further, then after about 60 secs the player turns itself off!

ALL my other DVD’s and new releases from other movie companies play perfectly

I called Sony Electronics help line and they said to call Sony Pictures 1-800-860-2878 which I did.

The following is a compression of our discussion:

Sony Tech: We know about this problem. Its our new copy protection that’s making these discs unplayable in some players including our own, we do not intend to change the copy protection. The only correction to this problem is a firmware update to your player. The electronics division know about this and should have given you this information.

If you hit Google and search for whatever movie or music CD you want followed by the word Torrent you should have no trouble finding what you are after. If that doesn’t pan out, try The Pirate Bay and enter the movie or CD name in the search box there. After downloading, use Google again and search for instructions on burning your movie or music to a disc if you don’t already know how to do that. At this point, you’ll have a functioning copy of the product without the restrictions that make it fail like the legal product does. Now you can send your check to Sony along with a nice letter thanking them for the wonderful movie/music you’ve downloaded. Plus, you’ll have a backup ready in case your original gets destroyed.

If all that doesn’t convince you, at least look at what Amazon customers are saying about problems and lack of help from Sony. (via slashdot)

[tags]Sony hates customers more than before, Sony shows the hatred of consumers, Sony encourages downloading of pirated material[/tags]

Associated Press coverage of the Virginia Tech shooting spree

Since most of the sites on the web posting news about the Virginia Tech shootings appear to be getting their stories from the Associated Press, I’ll minimize my comments about the shooting and just direct my visitors to the AP special coverage section (here’s a shorter link if that one is broken) for more details.

I’m finding the site to behave poorly in K-Meleon, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. I don’t know if that’s an issue with my system or their code, but I wanted to mention it in case others have problems readying some of the site news.

Look for more coverage of the mishandling of the incident as more details are known. It’s easy for outsiders to second guess the administrators and security personnel now that we know what happened. Remember that knowing the appropriate response is much more difficult when dealing with the situation as it happens. I understand people saying that there should have been more effort to warn the student body and possibly close the school earlier, but the information available on the event as it happened may not have made that seem like the right option. Just be patient and see what we learn over the next day or so.

[tags]Associated Press coverage of the Virginia Tech shooting spree[/tags]

20 most annoying tech products

PC World has their write-up of the 20 most annoying tech products of all time. We’ll just knock out some suspense here – AOL CDs made number one. The rest of the list has some good ones, too, though. There’s also a picture guide to 10 of the worst, but honestly, it’s not worth the viewing time. Just read the full list and you’ll see the same things as hitting the photo guide.

Unlike PC World’s 25 Worst Products of All Time, irksome products aren’t necessarily bad, buggy, or dangerous. But they all have one or two traits that make you want to wrap them in 200 pounds of steel cable and toss them off the side of a boat. From stupid features and rude behavior to brain-dead design and poor corporate policies, these 20 products have truly annoyed us over the years, and some continue to do so.

Here are a couple of the annoying tech products from the list that really bug me, just to give you a sampling.

Adobe (Macromedia) Flash (1996 to present)

Adobe’s animation tool, introduced by Macromedia in 1996, has arguably done more than any other product to liven up our Web browsers. But it’s also the dominant technology behind those running, jumping, spinning, swirling, flashing, dancing, popping, peeling, and just generally irritating rich-media Web ads. We like Flash, but we wish Web designers would use its power for good and not evil.

. . .

Apple iTunes, Microsoft Windows Media Player, Microsoft Zune, Napster (2003 to present)

The media players themselves are mostly fine, but their incompatible digital rights management (DRM) schemes drive us nuts. Despite Apple’s recent decision to sell some DRM-free songs, most iTunes tunes still play only on iPods, a couple of Motorola phones, or a computer with iTunes software on it. (And the DRM-free songs cost 30 cents more.)

Windows Media files are worse–now, two different, totally incompatible DRM file formats use the .wma file extension. So if you buy a WMA file from a service that uses Microsoft’s PlaysForSure DRM (most notably Napster), it won’t work with the Zune (which uses Microsoft’s Zune DRM). Can’t we all just get along?

Microsoft has said it will “soon” sell DRM-free music for the Zune. We’ll see.

Yup. I hates me some DRM. But if you don’t know that by now, you either don’t visit here often or don’t know what DRM is, since I write against it quite often. Hit the end of the article for the list of 14 ways to be sure to annoy your customers. It’s a little treasure trove of sarcasm, too.

[tags]PC World’s 20 most annoying tech products[/tags]