tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-290699292012-01-26T11:27:11.818-05:00Opinionated? Damn straight.<br> Nobody posts, so I must be right.<br> And, I did all this on hotbot in 1994.<br><br> Neither left nor right - common sense is irritating, isn't it?jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.comBlogger1011100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-23975956767418856162012-01-26T10:58:00.002-05:002012-01-26T11:27:12.033-05:00

Going between client sites all the time I also get to touch a lot of "enterprise" time tracking software packages. Most of these must be the most retarded (apologies to those with mental disabilities, there is no way you could actually invent something that dumb).Of course, companies need to know what their employees and consultants are spending their time on. This is not the problem. But ERP

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-42507052248559657952012-01-18T10:26:00.003-05:002012-01-18T10:39:16.023-05:00

Apparently it still costs $10 to see Dr. Martin Luther King's speech in case you missed it.Awesome. People will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their bank account and depth of their rolodex.In other news, the SOPA protest is in full swing. It is definitely an interesting list of supporters, who won't be getting any of my money. Ironically, the right-wing "let

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-69329221980746054092011-01-26T11:24:00.002-05:002011-01-26T11:27:35.549-05:00

Well, I can't say I am surprised.I went to look to download Adobe's PDF Reader today, but it kept on wanting to install some third party download manager. Since that's now impossible, I wanted to read about what kind of data the download manager collects, and what it does to your system. Naturally, I went to the EULA (End User License Agreement) page.Surprise! They're all in PDF format.I'd have

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-14847502216077649242011-01-20T11:08:00.002-05:002011-01-20T11:21:47.447-05:00

I have been spending the last couple of months working educating a client about cloud computing, building demos, and so on. If I hear another sales droid try to explain cloud computing in the terms of their products, I'll puke.A couple of observations that most sales droids seem to not be aware of:Having VMWare installed is not cloud computingOracle software (including WebLogic) is fundamentally

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-62128525412160662222010-02-02T15:07:00.002-05:002010-02-02T15:17:39.944-05:00

In its infinite wisdom, VANOC included bits of Leni Riefenstahl (yes, that Leni Riefenstahl) in its promotional videos. Awesome - now all we need is bits of 1984 in there, and we'd have the perfect video track to what's turning out to be the largest military presence in western Canada since World War II. Fifteen minutes of hate, anyone?In other news, almost 1000 new CCTV cameras now go live in

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-16580321922593572402010-01-19T10:24:00.003-05:002010-01-19T10:34:33.372-05:00

Microsoft contends on its security blog that a heretofore unknown vulnerability is responsible for the EPIC breaches at Google. Logic would let one surmise that this is likely the same attack vector used to breach DoD contractors' systems too, to get to the supposedly unclassified specificatons of the F-22 Raptor as well as some submarine technology.Affected are IE 6, 7, and 8, most revisions,

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-55272202778704411592009-12-21T13:24:00.009-05:002009-12-21T13:58:55.075-05:00

Just in: Vancouver Olympics Committee embarrassed to ask Vancouver Symphony to "Milli Vanilli" their music.It's true, I read it all on the CBC (credit them for the pic on the right too).First comes the article:http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/12/19/symphony-olympics.htmlAnd then their hasty apology:http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/12/20/

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-28935617295195794772009-12-10T16:21:00.003-05:002009-12-10T16:31:44.689-05:00

I keep seeing the ads for the Intel (r) Core (c) i(tm)7(tm) (sorry to any lawyers if I messed up the r's and c's there) processors with the "turbo boost" feature.Did you know my IBM PC XT clone had this too?Does anyone at Intel remember why few 286 and even fewer 386 boards (PC Chips 386SX boards excepted) even bothered still including pins for the "turbo button"? (Yes, I know it's something you

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-6685779006334515792009-10-05T14:37:00.003-04:002009-10-05T14:57:02.850-04:00

Well, I guess it was inevitable - a successful DDoS attack on a moderately popular service hosted in the Amazon cloud. Blog posts from Jasper detailing the attack are here.For starters, Amazon tried to hush it over, although the different outages amounted to more than a few hours, with the excuse that disclosure would enable more effective attacks (and hence the corporate idiocy tag). The hubris

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-84297358895059777902009-07-31T15:14:00.003-04:002009-07-31T15:19:45.129-04:00

I am getting sick of hearing "cash for clunkers is out of money" between dealership car ads.So let me get this straight - anyone dumb enough to buy a car that didn't even get 20 mpg, bitched about it, gets a reward of up to $4500 for my stupidity.Got it, thanks - the rest of us responsible proles subsidize the stupid and self-centered once again.

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-50074421293019081002009-07-14T12:22:00.002-04:002009-07-14T12:26:47.454-04:00

This is almost too funny to pass up - DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier calls iPhone users cowards for using an application that alerts them to DC speed cameras, and then laments how getting the software banned would be impractical. I guess they get brownie points for going to DC in the first place, but NO points for going the speed limit.I call them cowards for having their digital rights managed.

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-41929563953484556582009-07-13T11:41:00.004-04:002009-12-21T13:59:49.161-05:00

I read this, thought about it, and after a while, wondered why nobody else picked this up.Read it on the CBC!I am sure they'll be near the arctic circle, if they don't arrest people for applying for a "permit to protest." Add to it the recently filed lawsuit against the RCMP going by known protesters' houses and telling them "we're watching you" and this is taking on a whole new dimension.

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-19321003898093548222009-06-23T14:19:00.003-04:002009-06-23T14:30:12.634-04:00

Well, well, this is like the Herpes virus of VoIP: Ooma got another round of funding - a whole $14 million's worth. I guess by the preceding sentence I am nowhere near as optimistic about their survival as the author of the column I linked to.While I applaud Ooma for their ability to convince some people to hand over other peoples' money, one needs to look between the lines of what's going on in

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-12889786417526911012009-06-12T19:55:00.004-04:002009-06-12T20:13:40.348-04:00

Well, us proles will now have to live with digital transmission "quality."My disclaimer: I have cable, from none other than Comcast. I always wonder if there is a good cable company, but that's enough for a whole blog on its own. And don't ask me about the esteemed products by Scientific Atlanta (now Cisco)...Here are my notes:1. So you transmit a HD signal, right? Why would you then use it to

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-61354527746215107932009-04-07T18:57:00.002-04:002009-04-07T19:16:40.349-04:00

From her AP soapbox, Deborah Hastings once again makes her point for gun control, stating that since the murderers responsible for the latest shootings had permits (to possess, not carry), we're all guilty by association.She knows so little about the reality of firearms legislation that she confuses the license to possess (required in New York state, for instance) and a license to carry (called a

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-85335766323103062812009-03-18T16:07:00.003-04:002009-03-18T16:14:57.490-04:00

The Yahoo Story.Totally stuck up dot-com ridealong company gets bought by suit-and-tie company able to admit that they sometimes don't know what they're doing.This will end in tears.Let me see now, I saw a picture last night that reminds me of this situation:Credit to the good crew at AR15.com - they make some of the funniest pictures.

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-51888638880561464452009-03-18T15:44:00.003-04:002009-03-18T16:05:51.623-04:00

So I have been working at this gig at a client site. They're pretty much squared away, and don't question that there are huge advantages to minimizing the installed software on systems. Stopping unneeded services isn't enough. With operating systems as big as Solaris 10, you'll blow your maintenance windows if the latest patch cluster has to patch everything. Never mind that you're enabling the

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-76831389950643829932009-03-05T13:22:00.002-05:002009-03-05T13:26:42.075-05:00

Well, I think Sirius is doing a thorough job of mismanaging their acquisition, XM Radio.First, they kill off the best channels, even the mildly alternative Fred, Lucy, and Ethel.Now they want to charge for everything, including online listening (you know, for those people who work somewhere where their mobile XM receivers don't work).XM NavTraffic never worked convincingly, although I think part

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-77649978435543022242009-02-12T12:21:00.003-05:002009-02-12T12:30:02.916-05:00

So apparently this guy and his buddy supposedly managed to get a few million dollars' worth of free calls: Fugitive VOIP hacker cuffed in MexicoNice. I am sure there is a lot of amortized equipment (corporate jets and the like) in that price. How many minutes does that work out to? Tens of millions? It's not like they're in orange tokens like AT&T commercials or anything. Let me guess - they

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-35889849318389160962009-01-30T12:12:00.002-05:002009-01-30T12:13:40.721-05:00

Awesome. Gun, yep. Liquor, yep.It's nice to live somewhere where you can do that, and not cause a panic in the sheeple.

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-30049282997003805582009-01-30T11:30:00.003-05:002009-01-30T11:33:14.896-05:00

Thanks to AT, who reminded me of this snippet.Rumor has it that Yoomba, the contact-list-spamming VoIP service was shut down this week.www.yoomba.com is down, FWIW. Sad to see that at best, highly impolite business practices survived this long.

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-44408924510792212702009-01-30T11:20:00.002-05:002009-01-30T11:26:05.156-05:00

I realize that this blog has strayed from technical stuff to politics, but unlike politics, most technology seems to achieve what it sets out to do.So now, get this: apparently the homeland secretary wants criminal aliens out of the US.As a law-abiding, legal alien, I am surprised to learn that this is not the case already. But then, they don't kick illegal aliens out, either. Why am I following

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-78532330930235700092008-11-01T12:55:00.006-04:002008-11-01T13:37:50.855-04:00

Voter apathy abounds once more, as people get tired of the hyping for the big election. But no matter who wins, the real winner is big government. You have two candidates promising to expand government to do this and do that, and insisting the USA can support its debt load to pay for it. While that may be true, I remain unconvinced that more government is the cure to the ills that ail us.Let's

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-4528823446016469912008-10-13T11:48:00.002-04:002008-10-13T11:57:07.986-04:00

As there is further evidence of the bills on the unsustainable becoming due, let me remind you, humbly, of this:Eight billion in farm subsidies. (Federal budget, 2006)One trillion in oil company subsidies. (est.)One trillion in nuclear energy subsidies. (est.)Now, please explain to me where the capitalism part comes from.For all of the blaming of the "free market's" role in the economic

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-91856168432329973542008-10-06T10:03:00.002-04:002008-10-06T11:37:58.085-04:00

Bound to happen. Why you ask?Because the markets weren't afraid of the correction. They were afraid of government's reaction to a healthy correction.It just goes to show you that Congress is really run by CNN hype-mongers.Edit:Washington Post's Howard Kurtz looks at this, and comments on how journalists are told that "well, you don't have an MBA. Trust us." Had I been there I would have shot back

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-8131811781453980302008-07-07T17:40:00.004-04:002008-07-07T18:07:22.829-04:00

One of my big pet peeves is when fraud prevention systems become customer prevention systems. I was actually going to comment on how cool the game Portal is, but getting an impulse buy declined always irritates me.Valve's Steam service takes it to new extremes. Every other month or so (when I am trying to buy a $9.99 add on or something else impulsively), all my credit cards and my paypal account

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-55784773353276924902008-06-17T10:52:00.002-04:002008-06-17T11:18:06.661-04:00

Canada currently imposes a "fine" on all digital and analog media purchased, ostensibly to compensate artists for copyright infringement you'll do with that media. If you use your CDs for a more legitimate purpose than fair use, you paid the fine anyways.Obviously, you're guilty, proof being irrelevant. This is akin to gasoline having a surcharge added for the speeding ticket you're expected to

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-60679760668739765972008-06-11T10:04:00.003-04:002008-06-11T10:17:28.764-04:00

It looks like another suspension of the 5th amendment is under way in congress. John Conyers (D-MI) introduced HR4279, "Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008". Slashdot of course has the discussion of this.What this bill purportedly does is create an office of intellectual property enforcement within the "Department of Justice", with powers to seize

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-41474978823586416302008-04-02T11:59:00.003-04:002008-04-02T12:15:34.073-04:00

Well, I posted this on Slashdot, as I am sure there were other submissions as well.Here is the story - a user named "Daniel_K" "modded" (I hate that term) the driver suite that Creative distributes for their sound cards to re-enable some features their driver disables in Windows Vista. Notably, these features work just fine in Windows XP, and Creative seems to be pushing this as a way to make

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-72418188272330542752008-03-22T16:00:00.005-04:002008-03-22T16:12:14.499-04:00

From the CNET story: Well, the suspect's lawyers have not used the entrapment defense, since you pretty much need to be forcibly coerced into doing something by law enforcement for that to work.Even a challenge to the warrant, based on the IP lease information from the ISP, to the house that had an open access point, didn't fly. Nice - so someone with a WEP cracker (10 minutes) can download porn,

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-68042264645767023592008-03-22T15:50:00.002-04:002008-03-22T16:00:05.490-04:00

Funny for a couple of reasons. Or sad.So this guy registered donotreply.com (Washington Post, warning, reg req'd sometimes) as a joke in the 90's, and gets confidential emails from all sorts of places - Halliburton's now-famous KBR in Iraq, some banks, and with them all sorts of legal threats from technical luddites who seem to think he's wrong for opening or reviewing emails sent to his address.

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-26787586670804311742008-02-09T15:51:00.000-05:002008-02-09T15:59:58.469-05:00

While up here in Canada on a bit of a sabbatical I took the opportunity to spin up BitTorrent to get the latest distributions of Ubuntu, and will probably pick up Centos and others later.Which brings me to my current topic: It seems that Shaw Cable up here is taking a book from Comcast and injecting bad packets into BitTorrent traffic. Comcast has amended its subscriber agreement to weasel out of

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-68560647735005271242008-01-29T17:25:00.000-05:002008-01-29T17:29:26.113-05:00

This blogger was invited down to the local FBI office for his trip through the wringer for posting criticisms of laws, the FBI, and homeland security. Oddly enough, he had the guts to post about that too.Apparently they censored his blog first though.Nice!

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-24075110501747893082008-01-23T14:17:00.000-05:002008-01-23T15:13:29.718-05:00

In from the Gestapo tactics department:On January 18th, 2008, Officer Jarrod Shivers of the Chesapeake Police Department was shot during entry while serving a "no-knock" warrant for marijuana in the middle of the night. As a result, the lone occupant, Ryan David Frederick, was charged with 1st degree murder after the original group of police called in SWAT for assistance. (Virginia Pilot)First

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-26444545353876677272008-01-18T18:10:00.000-05:002008-01-18T18:15:18.828-05:00

Well, I guess I had better post these links, just in case you, dear reader, don't follow the ones on the right.Reason Magazine made a convincing case (to me, anyways, even though the title asked who did it) that longtime friend and business associate Lew Rockwell wrote some of the bigoted vomit into Ron Paul's newsletters. Ron Paul stated that "some crazy staffer" did it. Then it sounded like his

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-37776707813163237042008-01-18T18:01:00.000-05:002008-01-18T18:07:00.028-05:00

Well, finally something work related.So what did I miss? Apparently everyone dumped Visio (tm) and other technical drawing products, and replaced them with PowerPoint. Four years ago I lamented the same thing with a PowerPoint presentation being considered a "Product Plan."Architecture Consultant: "We need a state diagram and a sequence diagram."Developer: "Here it is."AC: "That's a Power Point!

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-42072957666228611202008-01-17T13:05:00.001-05:002008-01-17T13:11:36.910-05:00

The Telegraph has an article where police admit openly that drunks are not deterred from attacking each other, or the occasional passersby, by the proliferation of CCTV cameras. This was admitted in front of the House of Lords, no less.Just imagine - the drunken rabble does not care that it's being recorded while stomping the head of a hapless victim against a curb. And they'll get away with it -

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-20520442820289071862008-01-14T11:08:00.000-05:002008-01-14T11:25:00.871-05:00

I find it very interesting that any company can post what they want on your credit report, and then you have to prove it's not true, with no accountability, and little recourse to the company posting wanton incorrect information.Example: You go to the hospital. What you don't know:Each department does its own billing, so that makes:ER doctorERSurgeonAnesthesiologistHospital Surgery

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-41512103261525691392008-01-05T12:52:00.000-05:002008-01-05T13:01:18.090-05:00

Oh no!The Washington Post reports here that terrorists are using low tech, simple codeword transliteration to foil attempts to monitor them. No kidding. Dough becomes explosives, the hospital becomes jail, and ... you should get the picture.Scared?You should be. According to the article, in 2005 Andrew Rowe was sent to prison for 15 years because authorities felt they found a code book mapping

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-2454336127132805472007-12-20T14:40:00.000-05:002007-12-31T12:56:12.395-05:00

(Explicit Language, you have been warned)Well, since the Turks are knocking the terrorists (wait, WP says "rebels" so they must be the good guys, right?) about in northern Iraq, I have had a number of email exchanges with concerned friends. As an outside observer, but having had the pleasure of standing in the same spot in Ankara a couple of days after a suicide bomber (also a "rebel" - shame on

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-32103703515352888282007-12-01T13:57:00.000-05:002007-12-01T14:09:05.046-05:00

Well, I guess it's that day of the year again where we should all feel bad about not having done enough to ... well, have done something.Everyone agrees that what's been done is not enough. The profit-oriented pharma industry has developed hideously expensive drugs of dubious value, and denied them to those unable to pay. Those with insurance have found their benefits limited, and bump into the "

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-89150936169783657752007-11-21T13:51:00.001-05:002007-11-21T13:59:15.866-05:00

Well, there could be another outcome of the US Supreme Court Case. It's highly unlikely, but considering that the purpose of the second amendment is:Protect the People from the GovernmentProtect the United States from foreign subjugationOne could reasonably expect that the founding fathers deemed that the arms to be kept by the people, by their nature, need to be of military relevance to be

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-67886413182818004362007-11-21T12:39:00.000-05:002007-11-21T12:50:20.927-05:00

Well, this ought to be interesting. We have DC on one side, saying the right to have a firearm is not being infringed if it's denied outright, and a security guard denied a permit to have a firearm in the district on the other side, all of this backed by the Cato institute.The NRA-ILA was against this, since, well, their reason for existing was being threatened.So what happens if firearms

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-27367480122251029172007-11-06T17:18:00.001-05:002007-11-06T17:43:45.855-05:00

First off, I hope you voted. For someone that will defend your rights and freedoms, and not take them away "in order to protect you."On the digital freedom front, Apple not only manages your digital rights for you (meaning you have none, kind of like having emergencies managed, and oxymoron and a federal agency) and has been super busy removing or blocking access to people complaining on its

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-17876251759758674382007-10-04T15:17:00.000-04:002007-10-04T15:22:33.902-04:00

I have had this in my bookmark list for a long time, and read it again today. Basically, it's the government crackdown at the behest of sheeple and the mollycoddling politicians of this country to stymie home science in the name of public safety.Before you nod and say "rightfully so" note that most great discoverers, entrepreneurs, and thinkers all experimented to some extent while being children

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-19310164327459908192007-10-04T12:52:00.000-04:002007-10-04T14:06:11.476-04:00

As I am sure everyone has heard by now, Blackwater is in the midst of a scandal because of the shooting of "unarmed civilians" in Nisoor Square. Pundits fell all over themselves to leap to conclusions, and as is normally the case, the first casualty is the truth, and the second is critical thinking.I am sorry that people died. I am sorry for them and their families. But I won't let emotions cloud

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-53483553835103333962007-09-24T14:15:00.000-04:002007-09-24T15:27:59.268-04:00

Ok, time to get off my soap box (although I am watching Ahmadinejad on CNN right now), and to write something technical:I bought a Nokia N80 Internet Edition phone a couple of weeks ago, and spun this up on my T-Mobile service. A short overview of the features:Quad-band GSM phoneWCDMA 2100 (G3) compatibilityGPRS and EDGE supportWi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g)Bluetooth3 megapixel back digital camera,

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-150595255395896062007-09-11T19:06:00.000-04:002007-09-11T19:30:32.824-04:00

As I mull over the moments that I had at a backup site to the stock exchange, hastily evacuated out of fear that the attackers would also hit financial backup sites of the USA, coming home to see the smoke from the Pentagon from my balcony, and accommodating those were stuck in the district after a complete lock-down, I find it interesting on how the news networks harp on and on about patriotic

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-64804489463267542942007-08-13T19:25:00.000-04:002007-08-13T19:54:42.472-04:00

Just when you thought it's not going to get any worse:Airline passenger data is being shared between the EU and the USA. Well, only one way - the USA gets the data.Any name can appear on a "terror watch list" with no due process, and no process to get that name offMore and more cameras record crime and terrorism - have they ever stopped something?Renewal of the warrantless wire tap measures in

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-37019899452701309472007-08-07T14:53:00.000-04:002007-08-07T15:07:53.952-04:00

Well, it seems press coverage of SunRocket's demise has finally waned. Some sites still have active discussion threads (usual suspects - dslreports), and the Washington Post still has some active discussions.Most right now are full of people touting this service or that service. Packet 8, Lingo, or whomever.Also, people are complaining loudly about the lack of service from Teleblend. At least

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1390090463494005362007-07-31T13:15:00.000-04:002007-07-31T13:24:51.980-04:00

One question I get asked on occasion is how does speaking out about mistakes affect things like a career.As I have stated before, honest analyses of what went right and what went wrong are hard to come by in any corporate environment. Most peoples' interest is protected by burying mistakes, this is how execs get hired again and again. The problem is this (obviously) does not serve the

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-64382017233781596122007-07-30T12:29:00.000-04:002007-07-30T12:38:46.012-04:00

Here it is - I opened my big mouth again, and gave an interview to Rich Levin. Pardon the voice quality - it was over SunRocket. I also got some press coverage locally in Connection Newspapers.As it turned out, he also interviewed my former boss from SunRocket. Interesting how seven months can change things.My last points are important: I am as blunt as I am in bringing up mistakes because one

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-75824495325723576452007-07-27T09:05:00.000-04:002007-07-27T09:20:26.903-04:00

There was a thread on DSL Reports earlier in the week that included the participation of Bill Fogg, who is stated as the CEO of USA Telephone. Nice that they're actually becoming active and shedding some light on the internal structure of the company. I do, however, find some of his comments incredibly odd, namely:"Probably the question I’ve seen most frequently relates to the equipment being

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-38746276995443528762007-07-26T15:53:00.000-04:002007-07-26T16:37:05.083-04:00

Scary stuff happening to the Rule of Law around here:First point is a Presidential Order issued on July 17, 2007, that effectively suspends/repeals the 5th Amendment ("nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;") for any person who "poses a significant risk of" undermining the stabilization and reconstruction of Iraq. Also see story on Slashdot, and an article

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-26896421982426479402007-07-26T09:46:00.000-04:002007-07-26T10:18:57.391-04:00

I guess I had to see this coming: the former CTO of AOL links to this blog and states that SunRocket wasn't a management failure. Mr. McKinley, of course "it was more fundamental than that" but beware of how you phrase your arguments. Between the lines I read "wasn't a failure of AOL managers". As the acrimonious guy in need of healing (thanks!), I'll tell you that the arrival of the AOL

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-21319783137815108512007-07-22T20:25:00.000-04:002007-07-23T14:34:17.401-04:00

What? Not something about SunRocket? Stop navel-gazing, read this, and think:Turkey is a secular democratic state, a NATO ally, but whose primarily muslim population seems to cause a great deal of fear and misunderstanding among Americans. It has troops in Afghanistan, sent AWACS planes to the USA after 9/11, and allowed America to station medium-range ballistic missiles on its territory in the

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-43118017278642418432007-07-20T15:45:00.001-04:002007-07-20T15:58:21.341-04:00

So my inbox has been deluged with people seeking my impressions of Oooma. Heck, they even have Blogspot blog touting how great this is. Newsflash: Most people heard the song "White Rabbit" and probably think that's what you're on. You had 9 hits when I looked this morning. Two was me - one yesterday, and one today to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.However, you're giving the press some tokes too

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1136784162610391142007-07-19T13:59:00.000-04:002007-07-19T20:42:29.533-04:00

(Corrected - thanks Chris!)So late last night someone posted the email from "Sunrocket" that they had received, pointing at two "preferred" services.One is Packet 8, whom we know, and some even love. I think their "Is the Sun setting on your phone service" ad is really cute.The other is this company called "Teleblend". Name aside, they're offering service starting at $12.95 a month. If you enter

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-50202676920363830952007-07-18T12:57:00.001-04:002007-07-18T14:38:46.093-04:00

I have to say I am still amazed how poor the state of journalism in the country is. I thought Geraldo pioneered drive-by journalism, but it's clear the folks and Washington Post are quick studies. Here is how to do it right.Errors seen in the Press:AP, Washington Post, Forbes: SunRocket was founded in 1994? It's 2004.SunRocket offered monthly service for $24.95, and annual service for $199.00.

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-51455650988190586092007-07-17T15:46:00.000-04:002007-07-17T16:19:56.200-04:00

I confess: Yesterday I could not stop hitting my browser's refresh button and watching the carnage unfold on dsl reports.It does seem some subscribers did the math and realized SunRocket, nor likely Vonage, are tenable the way they are/did business. It's true, given how they're structured, the more people they sign up, the more money they lose.I am not defending SunRocket, but:The other

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-73134126204192147082007-07-16T15:14:00.001-04:002007-07-17T02:08:10.096-04:00

I also got copied on the internal memo stating that they had not found a buyer. More than anything though, it seems pretty clear that people don't quite understand how the porting system works. The last dev remaining sent an IM my way saying that he was turning out the lights. If I had been in town I'd be pulling gear out of the lab right now, they had some really nice kit in there.Porting a

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-32973410973342657412007-07-15T21:58:00.000-04:002007-07-16T20:58:02.319-04:00

Other than the top-10 list I posted some time ago I suppose now that my stock options are worthless I have no incentive to hold back.I still dig top-10 lists, so here we go:10. Failure Framework: Hiring telco execs in CXO positions out of the gate. Who else to piss away money the fastest on "future proofing" while the sysarch has to explain why these "web servers" are necessary?9. Gotcha:

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-2149061241640010122007-07-13T17:26:00.000-04:002007-07-16T20:58:22.284-04:00

Well, the word is in: SunRocket is out for the count.As the guy who did the wiring diagrams for the place (now you know who I worked for), it's sad to see. Congratulations to the ex-AOL management (you know who you are!) that took over for a new record in running a company into the ground, and congrats to the board of directors for yet another successfully mismanaged venture.Internally,

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-47834814308817365512007-07-06T12:07:00.000-04:002007-07-06T12:42:21.967-04:00

Well, so more on the subject of nanny states - try California on for size:Every building, it seems, has a sign stating that "there are materials therein that can be harmful to reproductive health." It's nice that California cares about my sperm cells, but is it really that necessary to state the obvious? Or does this make Virginia buildings, without the warning, safer from the get-go?As far as

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-36920151233298310592007-06-12T03:54:00.001-04:002007-06-12T04:43:11.507-04:00

Well, the week before my vacation, work sends me to Japan. Yet another culture, and yet another mixture of individualism (well, almost none during the work day) and nanny state. These people have a serious sheeple culture, especially at work. The boss there could claim gravity a theory and not a fact, and nobody would have the guts to contradict him. That and the planning fetish - no wonder they

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-16438344386987395052007-05-18T17:20:00.000-04:002007-05-18T19:21:46.150-04:00

What a week.First AG Gonzales continues to play dumb in public about his role in the firings of federal prosecutors, with new allegations emerging that he bypassed the last acting attorney general, and instead got the signature on the wiretap opinion from then-hospitalized John Ashcroft. These sorts of revelations continue to paint a frightening picture of the advocates of the so-called New World

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-56255950001933681652007-05-01T16:52:00.000-04:002007-05-01T17:03:38.096-04:00

Today people around the country are protesting for the right of illegal immigrants. Great. I live here and work here legally but don't have a green card - so you're telling me that they have the right that I don't?I don't work hard? In fact, me being employed allows Americans to be employed. Beat that.I don't follow laws? I have followed one more law than you.Get in line - first one in initial

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-6663703594288337902007-04-18T11:51:00.000-04:002007-07-18T17:15:32.322-04:00

As the pundits continue their shrill noises about the VA Tech Massacre, other people are also starting to dig through some archive material. Checking up on this I found some interesting tidbits about how the nature of self defense is approached by some press outlets.Case in point: The Appalachian Law School Shooting in 2002.Failing law student Peter Odighizuwa shot the dean of the school and two

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-20799921026011991502007-04-17T20:55:00.000-04:002007-07-18T17:15:08.871-04:00

Wow, after watching Geraldo on the O'Reilly Factor was sobering. Something "beware of Asian immigrants with guns." They were looking at this NoVa kid's blog. Sickening. There is a link to Geraldo linking to the blogger that linked to the blog (you got that right, they linked to the Gateway Pundit's blog, not the original).20 minutes later (9:31PM), I just got off the phone with a friend in

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-56237275092076670262007-04-16T15:03:00.000-04:002007-07-18T17:14:47.094-04:00

First off, my condolences to the victims' families. Words cannot express the sense of loss they will continue to feel for the rest of their lives. May those injured recover speedily.Once the dust settles, and the police complete their investigations, there will undoubtedly be the chorus from the Brady Campaign and others to restrict firearms ownership. Simply put, my response is that first off,

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-56270735769269062802007-03-23T17:19:00.000-04:002007-03-23T17:28:47.099-04:00

Well, it looks like the secret is finally out. The social cost of tobacco and alcohol is higher than that of drugs. Of course, anyone with half a brain knew this to be true from the beginning. Hmm, let's see:When was the last time you saw a stoned person (marijuana user) get into a fight? Beat his girlfriend?How many people have you seen get belligerent when they can't find a joint?Now, I agree,

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-47954145638805351812007-02-23T14:35:00.000-05:002007-02-23T14:51:53.248-05:00

So as it turns out, the last couple of weeks were spent poking at the newfangled V445 servers. Just like a V440, right? Wrong. Sure, faster CPU's, smaller package, SAS drives, cool silver look (gunning to be acquired by Apple, aren't you?), plus these handy features:Same RAID controller as the T series. Wipe the disks, disk label missing, jumpstarts go into swedish chef mode (bork bork bork)...

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-11911089023992178492007-01-03T17:52:00.000-05:002007-01-03T18:15:30.641-05:00

As the Sun hardware manual for the T2000 series states that "minor changes" would need to be made to installations of Solaris 10 on that hardware, I thought I'd enlighten everyone what these changes actually are.As stated previously, this is the only hardware from Sun on which hardware drive mirroring for boot drives must be configured before installing the OS. This is bad enough. Read on.When

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-59120478876951337532007-01-02T15:10:00.000-05:002007-01-03T17:52:34.903-05:00

So this place I work for sends me over to the client site to clear up some "issues" with "following industry best practice." What a shock I was in for. Seriously. I don't blame Sun entirely for this, but they sure don't make it easy. Here is what I discovered:Sun systems administration courses apparently tell you to install everything on a production machine. Everything, including the (now in

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-20415632248873416102006-12-24T11:57:00.000-05:002006-12-24T12:11:49.592-05:00

Well, Orwell's back in Canada. After the horrific shooting in Montreal on September 13, 2006, the gun control BS meter has hit another all-time high. (link)Here are the facts as admitted in the press:The murderer, Kimveer Gill, had his PAL (firearms license).The weapons used were all registered.All this implies that he passed all the background checks and other stuff needed to buy the weapons.To

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1163197107124031702006-11-10T17:01:00.000-05:002006-11-10T17:18:27.136-05:00

Well, the results are in, and people have spoken.Not exactly enouraging news, depending on whom you listen to and what you read. I personally never was in favor of the Iraq adventure, but I think it even more hideous to abandon the post once it's occupied. After all, the USA is responsible for the mess there, and anything that looks like abandoning this project will look like a major defeat of

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1161295568537913582006-10-19T17:52:00.000-04:002006-10-19T18:06:08.550-04:00

Noted an editorial on the USA Today opinion pages talking about universal healthcare.The ideas, as well as the comments on the bottom of the page are interesting.What I fail to see is why the right wing in the USA opposes universal healthcare, a la Canada, or perhaps the UK system. These countries spend less on healthcare per capita for a number of reasons. Sure, they pay doctors and nurses less,

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1160946072633029282006-10-15T16:49:00.000-04:002006-10-15T17:01:12.643-04:00

Ah, it's been a bad week in the world of hardware.Came back from Vancouver, where I had enjoyed the weather (read: mountain biking) immensely, to sunny Arlington. Took Friday the 13th to get sorted, and then hit the trail Saturday. I had figured that by skipping the 13th I was home free, but riding around the Fountainhead trails had no end of grief with my front derailleur and chain. I actually

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1160461209048912962006-10-10T01:56:00.000-04:002006-10-10T02:20:09.063-04:00

This just on the Washington Post: Bush's adminstration has reached a crisis point with each power named in his (in)famous Axis of Evil speech (link here). Now that's news. Let me take a different spin on this:You label three foreign countries as "evil".You refuse to actually negotiate, instead outsourcing negotiations to powers with different interests than your own.You invaded a country on the

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1160338072002910862006-10-08T15:47:00.000-04:002006-10-08T16:07:52.033-04:00

In the moderate degree of interest I received (recruiters excepted), I found myself in a lengthy discussion with a CTO of a company on my way back from an enjoyable mountain bike ride. I still had grit in my mouth. Ultimately the discussion came about the pay rate and how it's calculated. I realize this is where a lot of capable people fall on their noses - they do not know what their time or

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1159993985290014732006-10-04T16:27:00.000-04:002006-10-04T16:33:05.290-04:00

One of the more interesting observations of the last couple of days has been the number of emails I am receiving from "recruiting agencies." All state that they have seen my resume online - interestingly it's not posted anywhere public, and responding to one (just to see what would happen) simply resulted in getting more emails from other recruiters.In '02 a cold call from a recruiter landed me a

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1159565108904316892006-09-29T17:16:00.000-04:002006-09-29T17:25:08.930-04:00

It's interesting to discover things about yourself. In an age where most of us are defined by our jobs, how does one see oneself when you're "asked to leave"?This happened to me on Monday. What struck me most is the sense of relief I felt walking out the door, absolved of my responsibilities. Most people at work seemed rather shocked (this was an executive decision, and politically driven), and I

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1158269313689134252006-09-14T11:34:00.000-04:002006-09-14T17:28:33.770-04:00

Now that all the press has had their say, and sanity has regained its foothold over sensationalism, I'll say this:Goodbye, Crocodile Hunter. Steve, you have done more than anyone else in the last decade to contribute to the understanding and appreciation that younger folks have of the animal kingdom. Your tireless fight against ignorance will hopefully have a positive impact on the environment

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1154795556484328772006-08-05T12:18:00.000-04:002006-08-05T12:32:36.496-04:00

So I just saw the commercial, and had to check out the web site about "Facts on Fuel." So here the oil companies try to explain how the prices for their products are composed. Digging around will get you interesting tidbits and statistics - and we all know how easy it is to manipulate statistics.So, some factoids:Gasoline is almost as expensive as it was in 1918.Fuel prices have only increased

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1154352299943179262006-07-31T09:08:00.001-04:002006-07-31T09:24:59.976-04:00

Alright, so Israel says it's its right to defend itself. Fair enough and no disagreement, but why is there little mention made of the Hezbollah rocket attacks in the years before they also kidnapped the two soldiers? The point is that there comes a time when you need to put an end to the potentially lethal harassment - while any time may be fine for you, the time you choose to strike back will

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1154351324991515112006-07-31T09:08:00.000-04:002006-07-31T09:08:45.006-04:00

And I'll stop apologizing and post something new...

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1151688448825688232006-06-30T13:13:00.000-04:002006-06-30T13:27:28.840-04:00

No end of stories about this. Google News link here.Here are the arguments:Several HPV strains play a role in (ok, "cause") cervical cancerCervical cancer is expensive to treatCervical cancer kills a lot of peopleHPV is spread by sexThe anti-vaccination side, incidentally the same that's anti-sex-education, states that this will encourage kids to have sex. Bollocks. What do they think the highest

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1151687036403485222006-06-30T12:44:00.000-04:002006-06-30T13:13:06.970-04:00

While it's nice to see people actually do have the right to a fair trial when they are held on soil, the Bush administration and its supporters in congress still seem to believe that it's in the nation's interests to conduct trials under the following circumstances:accused not allowed to see all evidence against himaccused not allowed to call witnesses in his defenceprosecution may remove accused

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1151685850300678772006-06-30T12:42:00.000-04:002006-06-30T12:44:10.310-04:00

Sorry, I had some family issues to deal with (and will be dealing with for some time to come), so I had to interrupt my posts. I'll try to get the volume back up.

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1149872246166315952006-06-09T12:34:00.000-04:002006-06-09T13:02:03.120-04:00

Ah, yes, the Canadian home-grown terrorists. How the left laments the failure of multi-culturalism, and the right sees this as an opportunity to point out the failures of Canada.I take issue with the LA Times Ed piece by Jonah Goldberg, link here.While I think that it raises some good points and questions, such as how far a country should go to accommodate the customs of its immigrants, Jonah

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1149870850107563542006-06-09T11:48:00.000-04:002006-06-09T13:03:09.543-04:00

With the US hyping the fact that they bombed the heck out of this man, and minimizing that to get him they also had to blow up a half-dozen civilians or so, the question remains: Does this matter?In my uninformed opinion, no. For one, the ethnic and religious tensions in Iraq are already out of control. Yes, he contributed to this, but he was not alone. Even allies of the Iraqi government have at

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1149868045709215962006-06-09T11:19:00.000-04:002006-06-09T11:47:28.476-04:00

Looks like the lobbyists for the cable and big telco companies are winning the hearts and minds in Washington on the net neutrality issue. What does this really mean? It means that Comcast can decide to block access to Google, Yahoo! or whatever service it likes unless the content providers pay for the traffic that their users (who also pay Comcast) generate. Chances are it will take some time

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1149723880574433162006-06-07T17:50:00.000-04:002006-06-07T19:44:40.600-04:00

I am seeing more in the online press on the large corporations' management of your digital rights. "All you create are belong to us" seems to be the undercurrent of the proposed laws. Some articles, like the one on arstechnica ("arse technica" ... awesome) likens the response of the content ownership corporations to that of the church when he adapted or re-invented the Chinese printing press to

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1149633710567936912006-06-06T18:38:00.000-04:002006-06-06T18:41:50.573-04:00

After a day of typing up documentation on how to build out the next generation stuff at where I work, I am beat. Boo-hoo. On the upside, I found one of my favourite coffee shops starring in a video aptly called the Coffee Nazi. Funny stuff, especially knowing the owner for real, and he can be like that.But, you can't argue with beans fresh roasted daily. Well, I certainly can't.

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1149529252801569712006-06-05T13:13:00.000-04:002006-06-05T13:40:52.843-04:00

I love top 10 lists, and I owe you something technical. Since the buck typically stops with the systems architects (i.e. " I can't figure it out. Ask the guy who designed it."), and people eventually feel entitled bypassing things like IT, the helpdesk, or the actual systems administrators, you get some of the best summaries of technological ignorance. It seems that when they can call the top

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1149455497334762152006-06-04T17:10:00.000-04:002006-06-04T17:25:21.233-04:00

It seems that the term iSheep did not come from the depths of my imagination, but in fact was precedented by the person/people at idont.com. Awesome. And they linked to a great video to boot : http://www.theroyalwe.org/1984.html.Reminds me of back when Adbusters was still cool. Now it's just a bunch of left-wing organic vegan hippies, or at least sounds like I would expect them to sound like. The

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1149452871696446502006-06-04T15:56:00.000-04:002006-06-04T16:27:51.713-04:00

Two days ago I lamented the stupidity of the iSheep(tm) with their swanky iPods(tm). Subjecting its' users to "digital rights management" (managing others rights, not the users'), and the blithe acceptance of this, the iPod has done more to erode consumer rights in the western world than just about anything else. I'll argue that it's sad that the music industry failed in its attempt to deprive

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1149359746145633132006-06-03T14:30:00.000-04:002006-06-03T14:50:30.420-04:00

Saw this on Slashdot, and had to go check it out. It turns out that Joe Volpe's campaign staffers have successfully gotten the Canadian internet name registry to delete a registration, knocking a site offline, and bragged about it to boot. Why? It was making fun of them and their beloved candidate, but in a not-so-nice way. Joe Volpe's campaign has been accused of some "dubious" donations, such

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1149288773537659992006-06-02T18:52:00.000-04:002006-06-02T18:52:53.536-04:00

Since yesterday's post was so long, I'll keep this post nice and short, and save the accumulated vitriol for tomorrow.Apparently a bill is proposed in Congress to legalize what is estimated to be 20 million immigrants, according to this Washington Post article (warning, registration probably required). Now, I am not an immigrant, but live in the States as a non-immigrant. What makes the people

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29069929.post-1149191688009474582006-06-01T15:28:00.000-04:002006-06-01T15:58:26.743-04:00

I had a chat with a friend yesterday, and while listening to her talk about how demotivated some of the people she has to work with have become, I asked "ah, so it's old media trying to understand new media?" Bingo. And here I was thinking this was such a 1998 topic, with this new thing called the "Internet" scaring the media giants about their control of our eyeballs.So in short, nothing has

jaydubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08943326839825003278noreply@blogger.com0