No more, no more - 10 April 2008

Oy, meeting days. And there’s yet more to be done tomorrow. Fan-freaking-tastic. So let’s get to it. If you can swallow the idea of Potter anime, then the rest is easy.

Contingencies are being set up for indefinite United States troop presence in Iraq. No doubt hinging on whether President Bush’s War can successfully be elected to a third term. Out at HuffPo, Frank Schaeffer suggests reinstituting the draft as a way of curbing the tendency of warmongering

Scott Thill calls into question the motivation of the Federal Reserve, citing a pattern that the Fed is “rewarding the criminals and screwing the victims” with their monetary policy and bailout of Bear Sterns, among other things. bradhicks takes a similarly dim view of the Republican governments of the last few decades, which have so many scandals involving financial gain that it will take a long time to root out all the corruption if we start as soon as possible. To help with that, bringing back an independent judiciary would help.

Taking control over a power grid turns out to be surprisingly easy, thanks to social engineering which delivered a payload to computers at the power company.

Delve into the redesigned Sweet Valley High. Assuming you feel like spotting the changes and wading through the story.

More about Anonymous, the eponymous protesters against Scientology. They’re strange enough that the media wants to keep coming back to them and trying to figure out why doing it for the lulz works, and why a sufficiently large mob can occasionally converge on something and work together to bring it down. Even if that thing is known for ruthlessly threatening and working to bring individuals down and drag them through the mud.

Last for tonight, a very odd thing - samurai swords have been banned outright in England and Wales. *sigh* Yes, some people use them for a manner other than decoration or practice. Although supposedly the ban is only on the cheap stuff, and anything aged more than 100 is exempted from the ban.

And that’s a wrap for tonight.

Bringing forth the stuff - 11 April 2008

There's no business like the business that I'm in. It has so many variances, chainsaw-juggling acts, and general attempts at stressing me out that it's a wonder anyone makes it through the career without completely breaking down. And that's just the minor stresses that I'm going through right now being blown out of proportion. When we actually have real stresses, I wonder what I'll be like. At least I'm not the editor that has to deal with a press release for a a likely mediocre book that says nothing in a lot of words. Why yes, I am Mojo Jojo, for that is who I am, and my name is Mojo Jojo...

You, however, get the finest in news that many people don't care about. Like the employment of "black ops"-style dumpster diving to gather names and information on environmental groups among other bits of skullduggery, all for the corporations that hired them. Or Coffee made from cat droppings, starting at $100 per cup.

The following article cannot end well. Parents arguing over which gang their 4 year-old generated a call to the authorities. Not for the content, but the vehemence of the argument. There is no such thing as a good ending to this. Nor the girl who hurt herself trying to get others in bigger trouble for taking down an anti-illegal immigration poster.

Unsurprising, and also a bad ending. Cheney and others gave their approval to torture. While trying to keep Mr. Bush out of the loop as much as possible. Plausible deniability, I'm guessing, or knowing that they needed George's unvarnished honesty to say that we didn't torture. Because he didn't know. More details at ABC on the systematic approval of torture.

Look closely at the image in the link. Then, head, meet desk. Those who do not recognize their history are doomed to FAIL.

Make your own gorilla suit. Not just a monkey suit, but the whole thing. Then you can do that neat test where the guy in the gorilla suit walks through the people playing the basketball. Your place in history will be enshrined. Okay, so maybe you'll have to moonwalk through the picture.

Drawing the real and the virtual ever closer together, music heard in the game Grand Theft Auto IV can be tagged for purchase through Amazon. Calling a particular number on the game's cell phone will provide information and the ability to buy the song in real life. Could we do this for all sorts of games? There are a lot of soundtracks I need to purchase. Out in real, QR codes, pixel pictures with URLs embedded in them, make their debut in San Francisco. Take a picture with your cell phone camera and your mobile browser will launch to the appropriate website page. Is that our future? And what happens if we start wearing enhanced glasses - will we suddenly get a face full of pop-ups for looking at a pattern for too long?

Also drawing real and virtual together too much, botnets are expanding, taking control of ever more computers. All told, the big botnets can control more than one million compromised computers, to the tune of more than one hundred billion spam messages per day.

Float a balloon, get solar power? Certainly less expensive than orbital mirrors, but can they be anchored properly and provide enough power?

Last for tonight, items that double as weapons. For personal protection. Or foiling spies that think the guns are for decoration. Then again, with the way that GPS devices are being used to keep track of everything, the spies and thieves might have a lot more trouble doing their work.

And on the postscript, because it's just that interesting, a look into the Cuddle Puddle of Stuyvesant High School, a group of teenagers unafraid to experiment with and find out the truth about their sexuality and what they like. They're not too afraid of labels, and some are busy coming up with new terms to describe themselves. I think a lot of us, young and older, could use a cuddle puddle.

And that's the stuff for tonight. Have fun, everybody.