Wat, you no talk da kine pidgin?

You know wat?  I can hea when people trying fo talk English, but dey get what is called pidgin inflexion.  I still remember, I had one teacher long time ago yah, who wen tell me dat, "You might think you're speaking English, but your speech has a pidgin inflexion."  I was like, "Heh?  Wat dat?"  Nah, nah, nah, actually, I wen say, "What's pidgin inflexion?"

An if you haole, you no can understand, cause you no can hea what I was trying to say, in written words.  Go watch Lilo and Stitch, den bum bai, you can try understand.  If not, try harder.  If you still no can understand, no badda askin how come.  Eh brah, you might be lolo, but no worry if you one big bambucha.

Wen just finish watching one show on OPB on Pidgin, an I was like, ho boy, I almost wen forget how fo speak da kine.  Nah, not really, I still remember.

I hate stupid people, part two.

Vicki Van Valin of Portland and Neil Mertz of Seattle have filed a class-action lawsuit against Google in Oregon District Court, for invasion of privacy, because Google disclosed that its Street View vehicles had inadvertently collected private data from unsecured WiFi networks.

Now, I'm all for privacy, and what Google did was a mistake at best, or a badly conceived idea at worst.  To their credit, it was Google that came out and announced that, upon inspection of their hard drives, that in fact personal data had been collected.  Subsequently, Google came out with SSL searches so that no one could look at what you were searching for.

But in their own complaint, these two brainless fools have made some incredulous claims.

• They claimed that they had a reasonable expectation of privacy.
• Mind you, they weren't using a third party's network, this was their own.  It was their decision to leave their networks wide open with no encryption key to access it.  Anyone could have used a publicly available packet sniffer to grab their data and look at the raw data, without any problems - such as having to break through encryption.
• Do you suppose they've enabled encryption on their networks now?  And if they did, wouldn't that be an admission of knowledge that their open networks were...OPEN?
• Van Valin claimed that she works in the high tech field (her linkedin profile says she works in the internet industry), and works from home, and therefore private company data was taken.
• I have a problem, if she's working for an internet-related tech company, and said company did not REQUIRE her to set up a VPN (virtual private network).  Even if you operated over an open WiFi, having a VPN would have added a layer of protection with - assuming corporate IT has some sense - 512-bit (or higher) encryption.
• Of course, I have a serious issue, if she's working in the internet field, to leave her WiFi completely open, and using it for work-related access.  You'd have to be pretty stupid to do something like that.
• The two claim that their private searching was compromised.
• Yeah, that's why you can't get anywhere on the internet, if you reject first-party cookies.  What sort of morons do we have here?  Their data is completely wide open to all sorts of companies on the internet, wherever they go.  Tracking cookies know where you've been and what you've searched for.  The only way to ensure private searches online, is to access via a proxy server.  If these two imbeciles created their own open networks, wouldn't it be hypocritical of them to assert a lack of privacy, if they weren't using proxy servers for their searches?
• They claim that Google decrypted the data they collected and stored that data, accessible to the thousands of Google employees.
• No where, not anywhere, has Google ever stated that they used secondary software to interpret the raw data.  What they did say, is that between collecting SSID and MAC information, they inadvertently included code that collected payload data. 
• Further, if Google is like most other large corporations, they have a variety of servers, of which, depending upon your role and division in the company, your access is highly restricted to only that which you would normally need access to, to do your work.  Intel does this, IBM does this, HP does this...I don't imagine any company NOT having user rights segregating access to various servers.
• If the raw data collected hasn't been interpreted, the only thing you've collected are the SSIDs and MAC addresses, none of which are personally identifiable on their own, unless someone would be dumb enough to use their own first and last names as an SSID.
• They claim they should be awarded unspecified punitive damages, as well as statutory maximum of $10,000 per person (class action plaintiffs), per violation of the US Code Title 18, Chapter 2511 (Interception and disclosure of wire, oral, or electronic communications prohibited).
• Here, they have to prove that Google intentionally collected payload data, which will be practically impossible to prove intent.  They will have access to emails and the raw data, and if nothing shows intent, the judge will summarily dismiss after discovery.

Now, if they were regular coffee shop internet users who surfed the net over open WiFi, or were using the library's open WiFi, I can see a more-valid argument.  However, even with data being open, most of your data that was personal in nature, would have been over SSL or SFTP (secure file transfer protocol), such as internet banking, shopping or emails.

And unfortunately for them, I know that they've just made themselves targets for war-driving hackers.  My advice for these two people, is to shut down their WiFi completely, and use a wired ethernet network with additional firewall software protection.  Seeing as they're idiots however, I'm guessing they won't take the necessary precautions...I mean heck...an OPEN WiFi??#!#!?!!

Frustrated by Clearwire's service.

Lately - meaning the past 2 months - Clearwire's service has been SLOW, as in, under 2Mbps slow.  When I signed up, they promised "up to 3Mbps", but I saw my speed steadily increasing as high as 6Mbps.  Then suddenly things changed.  I no longer achieve my 3Mbps on any given day.

That is frustrating, and it's becoming a waste of money to use Clearwire, as I can't watch HD shows streaming via Netflix, CBS or other sites.  I might have to drop Clearwire's WiMax for something else more price competitive with consistent, faster speeds.

Tea Party humor aka "Get a BRAIN! MORANS"

via political.about.com

If you have a complaint rate of 0.078%, should you be concerned?

The NHTSA announced that between 2000 and May 2010, they've received 6,200 complaints, and have attributed 89 deaths and 57 injuries related to unintended acceleration.  To date, the vehicle affected total 8 million.

• 0.078% complaints compared to number of vehicles affected
  
• 0.0018% deaths and injuries compared to number of vehicles affected
  

The last time there was this much uproar about a defect, Ford had to recall 6.8 million OEM tires on Explorers sold between 1991 and 2000.  If you divide that 6.8 million tires by 4 (4 tires per vehicle), that was 1.7 million vehicles actually affected.  The federal government's final report stated that over 700 people were injured and 200 people died as a result of faulty tires resulting in rollovers, with over 2200 complaints.

• 0.129% complaints compared to number of vehicles affected (based upon 4 tires per vehicle)
  
• 0.053% deaths and injuries compared to number of vehicles affected (based upon 4 tires per vehicle)
  

Just for comparison's sake:

• 0.00014% chance of getting hit by lightning in the US.
  
• 19 - 23% lifetime chance of dying from cancer in the US.
  
• 0.090% chance of dying from smoke or fire.
  
• 1% chance of dying in a car accident.
  

Maybe you noticed, that you have a greater chance of dying in a car accident, than being involved in an accident involving unintended acceleration in an affected Toyota?

Went in to the dentist out of fear of a cavity that needed attention...

I was worried that it would end up in a root canal and crown. It does not matter if you have insurance or not, root canals and crowns cost at least $2000, if you're lucky.

Thank goodness, it was a chipped tooth that had caused my sudden acute sensitivity to cold, that was easily repaired.  Got a deep cleaning as well.  Total cost to the wallet: $280.

And I have to go back in to get a full x-ray to verify if there are any invisible cavities, and to repair a cracked filling.  That'll cost me another $330.

But that's a lot less than $2000+ for a root canal.

Are we borne towards predetermined fates?

I wonder, when we're born, are we not also born with a personality from the start, or do we all begin with a clean slate, shaped by our environment, where the only hereditary traits are those physical, which control how we define ourselves via social interaction?

As I look back into time, I am self-aware that I am in fact, that same person I was 30 years ago.  I am the curmudgeon of authority, I am the doubter, I am the visually and tactile-stimulated person that I was when I was just a child.  I am the same person 30 years ago who, like a pendulum, swung from extreme confidence to sudden lack of self-confidence.  The same person who three decades ago could walk alone in the dark and not be scared, harbored no fear, and used intuition as my guide.  I am that same kid that could write eloquent prose, or disjointed sentences.  I am the same person who 30 years ago, could solve a physical three-dimensional puzzle in relatively short time, and had no trouble with tangrams.  Still the same whimsical person I was 30 years ago, too.

Or am I just different from everyone else, in that I am self-aware and, for the fact that I am self-aware, have allowed myself to simply be who I've always been, rather than fight who I am or let environments change who I am?

A very important type of phishing attack you should be aware of!

This one can easily fool you, if you're not attentive to what you're doing.  I won't go into explaining it, because Krebs On Security does it very well, and the source of the material shows you a proof of example as to what can be done.  Suffice to say, pay attention to all those tabs you have open on your browser!

Google keeps its free pac man alive.

Go here to play Pac Man for free, via Google.  For those of us with a G1 phone, we have free Pac Man downloads via the Android Market, which is not bad at all with the G1's scrolling button, though nothing can replace a bona fide joystick.

What is BP doing?

If BP, against the EPA's rules, uses an oil dispersant which is highly toxic, what good is it, if it still kills wildlife?  Worse, according to the chemical's MSDS, "component substances have a potential to bioconcentrate."  The chemicals will be with us for a while; sit back, have a cup of coffee and enjoy the exposure while you can.
Oh, and when you do read through that MSDS, you should note that they only tested two species for toxicity for 48 hours.  You can imagine how the EPA must feel, weeks of exposure, what they think of the risk of BP's current solution.
(via NYT)

---

On a separate note, it looks like oil and gas companies along with commercial banks, have decided to line the pockets of Republicans in 2010, to regain their status quo of deregulated markets.
(via WaPo)

I hate stupid people.

But you can turn them into your own muse.  The key is not to get angry at how stupid they are, but to poke fun at them.  Turn their own comments around and target them with their own words, then watch as they backtrack and try to change the subject.

It's a very amusing way of annoying them and watching them go into fits.

Google's celebration of Pac Man's 30th anniversary!

On Google's home page, they've got a doodle of the Pac Man screen, to celebrate its 30th anniversary.  Except, this is no static doodle.  IT'S A FULLY FUNCTIONAL GAME!!!

It took a lot of guts for these Republicans to vote for finance reform.

Republican senators Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Scott Brown and Charles Grassley crossed the aisle and voted for the finance reform bill, which is now headed for conference with the House's version.

In the process, Senator Brown (R-MA), the Tea Party's candidate of choice, crossed the aisle to show that he's an independent person, not beholden to politics.  Just as interesting, was that of Senator Grassley (R-IA) showed that he's able to politics above policy, and come back to the center which he rapidly abandoned last Summer.  I guess if Tea Party activists were tired of politicians playing politics, they got the right guy, even when he doesn't support their specific Libertarian-leaning causes, eh?

Senators Collins (R-ME) and Snowe (R-ME) really didn't have to worry about their votes, as Maine is a bastion of independent-minded folk that care less about political affiliations and more about policy.

BUT, it's important to note that Senator Feingold (R-WI), a strong proponent of regulatory reform, voted against it, worried that it was insufficient.  He's a smart guy, so it's hard to ignore the concern that banks and Wall Street will find loopholes the second the final bill is signed into law.

Some photos at home on the balcony.

Green onion sprouting flowers.

Bamboo grass.

It's raining so hard right now.

The sun has popped out, and I can actually see individual - GIANT - raindrops/hail about 1000 feet away, falling down from the sky.  Interesting to see that phenomenon.  Reminds me of being in Hawaii, and seeing the actual rain falling down, and coming closer to me, as in some torrential downpour.

Speaking of torrential downpours, I kinda miss those big thunderstorms where you could just stare outside and watch the lightning.  I remember driving to Manoa Elementary School at dusk, and sit there watching the lighting go crazy in the valley and over the ocean.

View Larger Map

My favorite 30 love/soft songs (rock / pop / soul)

I started out with 20, then increased it to 25, and finally settled on 30.  The 30 songs I'd hate to do without.  I could go on for another 20, but I won't.  Note: I didn't buy any of these via Amazon, I'm just linking to them for anyone that wants to hear the song; I actually own the albums of these songs, with a handful of exceptions where I bought just the MP3.

1. Ain't No Sunshine (Al Jarreau)
   
2. Human Nature (Michael Jackson)
   
3. If (Bread)
   
4. Ready or Not (After 7)
   
5. Against All Odds (Phil Collins)
   
6. Always and Forever (Heatwave)
   
7. No Ordinary Love (Sade)
   
8. Anytime (The Jets)
   
9. Summer Breeze (Seals and Crofts)
   
10. I'll Write a Song For You (EWF)
    
11. I Won't Hold You Back (Toto)
    
12. Hard Habit to Break (Chicago)
    
13. Babe (Styx)
    
14. Longer (Dan Fogelberg)
    
15. After the Love Has Gone (EWF)
    
16. Rock Witcha (Bobby Brown)
    
17. True (Spandau Ballet)
    
18. Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong (Jennifer Warren and Joe Cocker)
    
19. Somewhere Only We Know (Keane)
    
20. Here I Am (Air Supply)
    
21. Cruisin' (Smokey Robinson)
    
22. Let's Stay Together (Al Jarreau)
    
23. I Honestly Love You (Olivia Newton John)
    
24. Sometimes When We Touch (Dan Hill)
25. How Deep is Your Love (Bee Gees)
    
26. Run (Snow Patrol)
    
27. Always (Atlantic Starr)
    
28. Waiting For a Girl Like You (Foreigner)
    
29. Truly Madly Deeply (Savage Garden)
    
30. Guilty (Barbra Streisand)
    

THE woman I'd love to get to know.

Vienna Teng, musical artist.

Why I don't do drugs.

Not a PSA. I bring this terse post up, because I read this article in the NYT about chefs using marijuana to relieve the stress from their work. And you know, I don't care what other people do. See, I know LOTS of people who do take a toke or two. But I never have and never will, for one simple reason.

- and no, it's not because it's illegal and I'm some Dudley Do-Right-

It's because being illegal means that Mary Jane will typically require the involvement of unsavory people who have no compunction to use violence. There is no difference between someone at the head of Halliburton whose monetary incentive allows them to overlook vices of his or her trade, regardless of the consequences, and a drug dealer. I have a serious personal problem with that. Other people, if they feel that their actions have no consequences, let them be. Maybe I'm wrong; maybe drug dealers are actually humanitarians?

I guess we'll never know what happens to Sylar.

NBC cancelled Heroes, according to the Hollywood Reporter. I hate it when shows get cancelled without concluding the storyline, especially ones that have gone on for at least a few seasons. I invested my time into the series, and they killed it; at the very least, give it a few episodes to wrap up the whole story line, don't just leave us hanging.

The Hurt Locker producer doesn't want you to watch his movie.

Recently, it was reported that Voltage Pictures had signed on with a private venture company called US Copyright Group (isn't that misleading, as if it's tied to the government?) and was prepared to file thousands of lawsuits against people who had downloaded their movie, The Hurt Locker.


A fella from Toronto shot off an email to the producer of the movie at Voltage Pictures, a Mr. Nicolas Chartier voicing his displeasure and subsequent boycott of The Hurt Locker.  Mr. Chartier, already something of a loose bolt that was banned from the Oscars this past year, responded by critiquing people who should voice an opinion contrary to his. Some highlights from his email:

• I'm glad you're a moron who believes stealing is right.
• I hope your family and your kids end up in jail one day for stealing so maybe they can be taught the difference.
• Until then, keep being stupid, you're doing that very well.
• And please do not download, rent, or pay for my movies, I actually like smart and more important HONEST people to watch my films.

And of course, Mr. Chartier ended his email with his regular digital signature (pre-assigned text/images at the tail of an email for a template):

best regards,
Nicolas Chartier
Voltage Pictures, LLC

Now, aren't you glad that you're not as smart as Mr. Chartier?


Suffice to say, I now have name recognition of the smartest guy in the world and the company he represents.

via Boing Boing

A good liar is a smart kid?

Or something like that.  Researchers have determined that kids who are good at lying, have surpassed a developmental milestone that enables them to demonstrate considerable cognitive abilities.  Parents, instead of being distressed, should instead be assured that their children are growing up, and that it is a normal process.

But what's really humorous, is reading the comment section in the SF Chronicle, where people, lacking strong cognitive abilities themselves, immediately follow each other into critiquing good liars as politicians and business people.  I would think that, the best liars are the ones you never catch in the act, you know?  Lying is not easy to do; we express our lies through body language that can be detected; in order to lie, you have to fabricate an entire story with a plausible outcome and reasoning.

WSJ via the SF Chronicle

In keeping with cool volcano videos...

Great time lapse video and audio remix of Eyjafjallajökull via BoingBoing

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.

Ravens console each other?

Apparently friends of a bird that loses a fight, will console their friend after the fight. Interesting.

via Wired

PS Dogs still rule.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bump/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

End do not justify the means?

A Catholic bishop in Phoenix, after a nun under his purview was excommunicated for her role at a hospital's ethics committee's decision to allow for an emergency abortion to save the life of a pregnant woman, remarked:

I am gravely concerned by the fact that an abortion was performed several months ago in a Catholic hospital in this diocese. I am further concerned by the hospital's statement that the termination of a human life was necessary to treat the mother's underlying medical condition.
An unborn child is not a disease. While medical professionals should certainly try to save a pregnant mother's life, the means by which they do it can never be by directly killing her unborn child. The end does not justify the means.

I'm curious how the bishop is able to justify HIS ends (saving an unborn child) by allowing the mother to die (the means). This bishop inserts his own interpretation that the hospital considered an unborn child as a disease, which is comical, if not pathetic. Has Arizona moved back into the early 20th century, predating civil rights, equal rights and common sense? Or maybe the Church has lowered the intellectual bar for entry into the celibate life?

via BoingBoing, feministing.com

Mount Saint Helens eruption 30th anniversary

When I first moved to Portland, I went to Mt. St. Helens quite often to see it from the observation areas, and later to go on hikes.  These days, not so much.  Still, it's a fascinating place to see, and since the recent minor eruptions, you've been able to catch on most days, small puffs of smoke coming out of the vents.

I found these really great interactive videos that allows you to pan around while the video is playing, so that you can see 360+ degrees.  I say 360+, because you can go all around 360 degrees plus up and down, zoom in and out.

NOTE: When it's playing or when it's paused, you can change direction of your view by pressing down on the left button of your mouse and follow the direction you want to go.

First is the view along the crater's edge.

Second is a blast zone fly-over.

Third is flying right into the crater to take a look at the lava dome that had built up since the recent activity.

Cool eh?

via US Forest Service

My current reading list.

• "The Plastics Handbook" by Chris Lefteri
  
• "21st Century Design" by Marcus Fairs
  
• "The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook" by Luke Herriott
  
• "The Long Tail" by Chris Anderson
  
• "Fooled by Randomness" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
  

Yeah, not much of a fiction reader.  I get my SciFi on, at SyFy, or more accurately, on SyFy via Hulu.  I get the rest of my fiction from Netflix.  Escapism for the chronically ADHD; 2 hours or so.  If they had Cliff Notes for some of the non-fiction books, I'd read that instead; most authors are simply verbose.  I can't tell you how many times I've come across non-fiction books where the author repeats the same concept over and over; at that point, I usually don't finish the book.  To tell the truth, Fooled By Randomness is starting to track that way.  I put it down for the past three months now, and I'll eventually pick it up again, but after reading the first 3 chapters, the basic premise has already been presented and explained.

I guess 100-page books don't sell well, or for very much, huh?  Honestly, I never cared much for reading long literature; I've always had a preference for poetry.  I blame my English teachers in middle and high schools.  Reading became a chore, and I hate doing my chores.  (Rebel)

Oil plumes IN the Gulf.

Well, as expected but a lot worse than anyone had previously thought, there are large plumes of oil within the deep waters of the Gulf.  According to a NYT article, one plume is 10 miles long, 3 miles wide, and 300 feet deep.  That's from Santa Monica to the LA Airport, from the ocean to I-405, a football field high.  That's a lot of oil.

I could never buy an b/w e-reader.

How can people enjoy 16 shades of gray?  Some suggest that people generally can only see between 16 and 32 shades of gray.  I don't know.  It seems like people should be able to see between 24 and 32 shades, at the very least.

16 shades of gray, is like the 16 shades of green from that 7" green plasma screen of the Compaq Portable from the mid-80's. 


16 shades of gray is like going back to the 70's and reading print from a black and white copy machine with that lousy black ink powder that flaked off if the paper was wrinkled.


It seems okay at a shrunken, dithered image like this excerpt from Amazon's Kindle, taken from The Economist.  But if you've played with an e-reader in the store, images just look horrible.


I'd rather wait for a color e-reader, but I have a minimum 256 color requirement, which isn't exactly that good.  That's like playing with Microsoft Paint from the early 90's.  Does anyone remember how awful - by today's comparison - Windows 95 looked?



Really, how many shades of gray can the average person see, anyway?  I created this quick chart to test my eyes, and I can see at least 50 shades of gray, although because of the way Photoshop works, it won't let you do fractions of gray, so the 40-shade and 50-shade gradations are actually the same between the first two grades on the farthest left side.


I am visual; I need more than 16 shades of gray.  I don't know about other people, but I'd rather have a tablet than a b/w e-reader, especially considering that the current generation of e-readers can only do 3 fps animation.  Maybe by the end of this year, the new e-readers will have 24 fps, but I have my strong reservations about how their images will look, because instead of changing images 24 frames per second, the e-reader is actually turning on and off 24 images per second.  I have this suspicion that it will resemble more of a flickered video than a smooth video, even if running at 24 fps.

BP's oil spill, in pictures.

Crazy sad.

It reminds me that everyone in the media has been talking about the concerns of the oil reaching land, but look at that photo of the Bottlenose Dolphins swimming under the oil-covered water. It disturbs me that BP and others are treating this as, out of sight, out of mind. Think of all the organisms that live in the water, affected by over 4 million gallons of oil in the water, and the chemical dispersants used to sink the oil to the bottom of the ocean floor. What about those unique species living on the bottom of the ocean floor; are they not of any concern to us?

via Boston Globe thru BoingBoing

Loud music and TV while falling asleep...

and why I won't wake up immediately when the alarm clock radio starts playing in the morning. It's like a sleep aid - to fall asleep and to dream - that makes sleeping enjoyable such that I wake up refreshed.

The aural disturbance actually keeps me in the partial state of being awake and completely sleeping, which is when I dream the most. I know this to be the case, because I can literally hear the TV ad in my dreams, and how it's difficult to make sense of the two, concurrent events. It's what actually gives me the ability to produce lucid dreams, where I can actually guide the dream to where I want to go, or do things that I want to do, as if I were awake and aware of being asleep. If you've never had a lucid dream, you're missing out!

And if you get to wake up to sunshine, life is truly awesome. Nothing can beat having a lucid dream, then waking up to sunshine and sitting in the sun for 15 minutes. Talk about a rush of happiness.

*Disclaimer* I woke up after a lucid dream this morning, and am sitting in the sun right now, which is why this post is borderline giddy. :D

1 in 4 Americans have no landline.

According to a story in the NYT, the CDC - I know, why the Centers for Disease Control - reports that 25% of Americans are now completely wireless, with people under 35 leading the way.

Makes sense, especially in our society that places a premium on connectivity. That land line is too restrictive, and just ends up sitting in its cradle. It took me a full year after getting a wireless plan with 1500 anytime minutes, to finally cut the cord, but I've been cord free for the past 3.5 years now. Most of my friends have only wireless, too. Well, except the older ones.

On intelligence and ignorance.

I read this excerpt about how many not-so-intelligent people seem to have one particular trait: confidence. Now, I know from experience that when we're young, we tend to be exuberantly confident about ourselves, and that as we get older and gain more experience, we tend to realize that, in fact, we barely know much about the world, the universe and ourselves. Self-awareness is a good thing, right?

But have you ever noticed that, when you look all around you, regardless of age, there are people who simply have impeccable confidence about their intelligence, looks, and personality? Looking through the Craigslist classifieds, how often do you find some hideous person exclaiming that they're beautiful and/or sexy? Why do people have to point out that they're intelligent? Are they afraid that those of us who are intelligent won't be able to discern them from their style of writing, their grammar and their vocabulary?

In fact, if I see ads with keywords, "intelligent", "beautiful" and "great personality", I consider them as markers for people who are in fact, unintelligent, grotesque and bland. (So judgmental, I am!)

Now of course, what I'm talking about isn't exactly what the article is referring to, because what I'm describing is more likely a sign of a lack of confidence, exhibited by outward proclamations of intelligence, beauty and personality. Nonetheless, extremely confident people always freak me out, because there are a lot of downsides to that confidence.

And so do people who drive expensive cars that live in low-income housing. That's another dichotomy.

Fallacy of logic on...NBC News?

On tonight's NBC Nightly News, Chuck Todd delivered his interpretation of the data that showed a slight majority (51%) of Americans willing to allow racial profiling to catch terrorists, stating that "they're willing to give up some of their own personal rights and they're willing to see some racial profiling."

Well, Chuck, you presented the first fallacy in logic.

White people don't have to worry about racial profiling, when the thinly veiled message is that terrorists are from the Middle-East. Of course a majority of (white) Americans are willing to see some racial profiling, since they're not the target of racial profiling. So what personal rights would THEY (White Americans) be giving up?

Hey, we know there are Islamic terrorists (Abu Sayyaf) in the Philippines; do you suppose we should use racial profiling on all Filipinos as well?

And we are presented with the second fallacy of logic: Exactly HOW would racial profiling nab Jihad Jane? It just doesn't work; it's never going to work; only idiots think racial profiling can work to help catch terrorists.

Greece and the US.

Paul Krugman has a great post about the differences between Greece's situation and that of the US' debt and current fiscal situation. In short, we don't belong to the Euro, and the primary cause of our fiscal deficit is from joblessness.

Of course some people will argue that the US has been running deficits for most of its history, which is only partially true. Much of the time between the end of WW-II and the start of Vietnam War, there were generally small budget surpluses or relatively modest deficits. The last 4 presidents (aside from Obama) to START a federal deficit increase were all Republicans (Nixon, Reagan, Bush senior, GW Bush).

The last 3 Republicans actually massively shot up federal deficits. Reagan pushed massive deficit spending, when he got his huge tax cuts passed and pushed to increase military spending in an effort to modernize it. Bush senior obliged his predecessor's low taxes while engaging in Gulf War I, which continued to push huge federal deficits. GW Bush pushed Medicare expansion and tax cuts simultaneously, arguing that the massive surplus created under Clinton, was the taxpayer's money, and shouldn't be kept.

Tea Party supporters should be asking, "Where will you CUT SPENDING?" Forget CUTTING TAXES; it has never worked to create a federal surplus.

Brian Cushing lost his AP rookie of the year award.

The news came out that Brian Cushing lost his appeal to the NFL, and will now be suspended as a result of a positive test for banned substances, stemming from a test last September. Immediately, sports writers including Peter King used their bully pulpits to proclaim that Brian Cushing cheated.

Say WHAT?

Okay, let's take a look at this for a moment.

Brian Cushing took a lie detector test to testify that he didn't take a performance enhancing drug. If you look at the NFL's list of banned substances, you are shit out of luck if you suffer from asthma, because beta2-agonists are banned. If you have nasal congestion, forget the Sudafed. Forget the diuretics (stuff people used in the 70's and 80's to lose weight). Of course, methamphetamine is also listed.

And that's what I really think it is. One plus one equals two. He tested positive for a banned substance, but it wasn't a steroid. I'd like to believe it was Sudafed or an anti-depressant, but I think it's meth.

Now, unfortunately for Brian Cushing, if it was meth, he'd be in more trouble than just being suspended for 4 games, but it also means that he's got a serious drug problem.

On the other hand, if it was because of a serious depression issue, this means that he's too embarrassed to come out about it, and he's being crucified by the press for treating a potential mental disease.

Either way, Cushing won't say what he was tested positive for, so if we take his lie detector test at face value, it seems most likely that he's telling the truth, but that the truth behind the truth is either embarrassing or just as bad as steroids, but not performance-enhancing i.e. elicit drugs.

But you know those media people, they're brilliantly endowed with incredible powers of deduction. Without looking deeper, they've already proclaimed that he cheated.

My favorite 5 tech advancements.

1. Speed of the ethernet / internet.

   15 years ago, most people ran dial-up 56 Kilobit internet connections and 10 Megabit ethernet networks. 10 years ago, most people were just getting used to 768 Kilobit and 1.5 Megabit internet speeds and 100 Megabit ethernet. Today, FTTH delivers 50 Megabit internet speeds, and wired networks are running at 1 Gigabit. In another year or two, Google will be delivering 1 Gigabit internet, and wireless networks will be able to run at Gigabit speeds. In less than 5 years, we will be streaming high definition movies from the internet, and people will be buying less physical media. Some people already watch 720p/1080p content from Youtube, and Netflix is already delivering 720p content via set-top boxes.
   

2. Capacity of hard drives

   In the late 70s through the early 80s most people stored data and ran programs from 5 1/4" floppy drives with 720 kilobytes of storage. When IBM's first PC - the first PC/MS-DOS computer - was introduced (1981), it carried anywhere between 16 kilobytes to 256 kilobytes of onboard storage. By the early 90s, most of us were using 3 1/2" floppies storing 1.44 megabytes, and PCs with monochrome screens and 5~10 megabytes of hard drive storage. At the point that Windows 95 came out, we were using hard drives between 120 megabytes and 1 gigabyte of storage. By the time Windows 2000 came out, most computers were shipping with 20 to 40 gigabyte drives. Jump 10 years after Windows 2000, and even my netbook has 160 gigabytes of storage, and my workstation has over 1.5 terabytes of internal storage. Within a few years, densities of hard drives will exceed 5x what they are today. Forget the terabyte home networks of today; we'll be talking petabyte home networks in five years. By the end of the decade, we might see solid-state drives overtake traditional platter drives, and then another 10 years, optical drives.
   

3. Moore's Law

   It's not necessarily about speed, but specifically about the number of transistors within a CPU. In 1965, Gordon Moore first described the phenomenon of the number of transistors doubling every 18 months. Some people believe this trend will begin to hit the wall in 2015. I think not. At some point, quantum computing will become reality, and we will have a huge paradigm shift. (Maybe 25 years from now?)
   

4. The move away from a fossil fuel economy.

   Prior to the last huge and prolonged drop in oil prices, the US - under the Carter Administration - moved to create the first national energy code. Come 2010, we have LEED 3.0, and we're starting to see net-zero buildings. We're seeing commercialized photovoltaics with 20% efficiency, and there are 40% efficiency technologies in the lab right now. Along with LEDs gaining efficiencies and prices dropping fast, many new homes and buildings should find it easier to achieve net-zero within a decade.
   

5. Price.

   This isn't about technology per se, but about how the price of technology continuess to drop rapidly. In 1980, a personal computer would set you back $3000. In 2000, a laptop would set you back $2500. Today, you can get either one for less than $500. The refurbished netbook I'm working off of, cost me $215, and still has more transistors and storage capacity than a laptop from 2004, but for less than 1/3rd the cost.Along these lines, the next two books I'm reading,"Free" and "The Long Tail" by Chris Anderson, will hopefully provide entwined ribbons of thinking about the future of society, alongside what I've already read in Thomas Friedman's, "The World is Flat". I suggest people read Thomas Friedman's book, as it tends to suggest that we're stuck in the backside of a paradigm shift, as intellectual property is more valuable than production capacity.
   

Sketch Up plug-ins.

Yes, there are many; I don't use most of them, however. I hate managing plug-ins. Nonetheless, they are nice shortcuts, and here's a list of them from the Sketch Up [Plugins] Blog.

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Picked up this book over the weekend - used - for $24.95.
I was in the bookstore, searching on my G1 to see what online retailers were selling it for, but the prices weren't that much cheaper, and this used book looked to be in better condition than the new one sitting next to it. (In the past 1.5 years since I've had my G1, I've probably saved over $100 by verifying online prices to stuff I find while shopping in the store.)

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Was so sunny this weekend, both days. Got a bit red under the eyes from being in the sun so much. I've also decided that I enjoy sitting away from my workstation with the 24" screen, sipping my coffee while working off my 10" netbook, outside on the patio or next to the window, with the sun shining rays down on me. My eyes are doing a lot better on this 10" screen sitting 18" away, than my giant tv screen monitor sitting 12" away.

We are close to a major shift in music sales.

According to a NYT article, a year ago, digital sales accounted for 41% of all music sales, and this year it's 46.8%. By the end of the year, digital sales may make up a majority of all music sales, which is quite remarkable...

that it's taken this long.

Unfortunately, the RIAA and the large studios have stood as an obstacle to the digitization of media, first by trying to block the ability of people to rip music, then to add DRM to digital media, and of course attempts to muddle the truth by making wild assertions of billions of losses in sales because of digital piracy (to which the GAO said, the RIAA has no basis for their figures).

It has always been my assertion, that the lower the cost of media, the higher the sales (basic economics) and the greater of a disincentive for people to share digital files via P2P and other methods. The corollary also applies: If you raise prices, sales slow. When eMusic raised their prices, I quit.

These days, I don't like physical media, and I don't like paying (what I consider to be) high prices for media that is less than the highest quality, so I just stream my music from online radio stations listed at Shoutcast. No, I don't directly use Shoutcast as my streaming player; rather, I typically use VLC to stream.

TSA, unprofessional workers.

I had to digest this story and let it sink in for a little bit. At Miami International, a TSA worker was scanned by one of those full body scanners, a year ago during training. Subsequently for the next year, he endured ribbing about the size of his genitalia, and a couple days ago, lost it. He lashed out at a co-worker in the parking lot with a baton, and was arrested and charged with aggravated battery.


Now, obviously if someone goes up to your face and teases you for over a year, that person is begging for a beating, IMO. Consider, that if the guy tells you, "STFU or I'll blow your fucking head off", would you really continue teasing the guy? Well, that's what a witness reported occurred twice in the past, that the guy had warned his taunting co-worker, when trying to get him to stop the teasing.


So I got to wondering if there's more to this story than what is being said in public? I wonder if TSA supervisors at Miami International were complicit in the ribbing, or failed to do anything about it, despite knowing about the workplace harassment?

WTF?

Missouri SWAT police shoot a dog 4x and kill it with a young kid watching, when entering a home on a search warrant...and found only enough marijuana to charge the homeowner with a misdemeanor. Now, I'm sure that when you're serving a warrant for drugs, you're expecting the worst, but didya have to KILL a dog that was already hurt by your first bullet?


What do you think will sit in this kid's mind for the rest of his life: Drugs are bad, or police kill? Watch the video, but only if you can stomach the sounds of a dog screaming out of pain like you've never heard before.

It makes you want to throw up, especially after seeing the video of Oakland police shooting and killing Bambi, just a few days ago. A lot of police are just plain violent people.

Apparently I looked away too long.

The Dow Jones Industrials average just went nuts!  It was down 260 points from the opening bell, but in the half hour that I was searching data and typing my previous entry, the DJIA dropped an additional 400 points, in what looked like the cliff gave way in a sudden panic.  It has since gained most of that drop back, settling near 400 points down from the start of the bell, but high volatility frequently marks the last 30 minutes of the trading day, so I wouldn't be surprised if the DJIA ends up going for a downward run.


This Greece thing is apparently affecting the markets around the world, eh?

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EDIT: Turns out, the market did recover halfway off its bottom for the day, but in the last 9 minutes before the close, it dropped 80 points. Tomorrow will be an interesting day.

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EDIT#2: Could the big drop be a result of a trader's error? Craaaazy day! The market dropped briefly below 10,000, before it shot back up and recovered two-thirds of its losses for the day.

What really affects oil prices.

Speculation and demand affect oil prices, but since May 2nd (Sunday), we've seen the US dollar - as it strengthens against the euro - massively affect the price of oil (as oil is priced in US Dollars).  Between May 2nd and today, the US has gained 10% on the Euro, while oil prices dropped 11.6%.

Considering that one of BP's offshore platforms was destroyed two weeks ago (and consequently registering a short rise in prices), oil continues to drop as the US Dollar gains, which is quite remarkable.

Of course, traders are no doubt worried that the other countries in the Euro-zone might end up following Greece, or that Greece might in fact plunge Europe back into recession.  That would tend to lower demand, although Europe is hardly a big user of crude oil; the top two users are China and the US.  Still, those worries are on the minds of traders.

How fast is Google's Chrome browser?

This fast.

via Engadget

AT&Ts getting worse at dropped phone calls???

What's going on here?  Wasn't AT&T talking up how it was investing billions into its network?  Geez, I guess the battle against Verizon's not going too well.

via Fortune