July, 2003
June, 2003
May, 2003
For IE Users: Wizbang Trackback Bookmarklet
For Mozilla users:Wizbang Trackback Bookmarklet
Drag the link to your toolbar. Instructions here
![[RSS 2.0]](http://web.archive.org/web/20030801093004im_/http://www.aylwardfamily.com/images/rss2.gif "RSS 2.0 feed"){kind=small}
![[Valid RSS]](http://web.archive.org/web/20030801093004im_/http://www.aylwardfamily.com/images/rssvalidated.gif "Validate my RSS feed"){kind=small}
![[blogShare]](http://web.archive.org/web/20030801093004im_/http://www.aylwardfamily.com/images/bslisted.gif){kind=small}
![[GeoURL]](http://web.archive.org/web/20030801093004im_/http://www.aylwardfamily.com/images/geourl.gif "View my neighbors in cyberspace"){kind=small}
MediaReview - Keeping tabs on print and television journalism, so you don't have to...
Saturday, May 31, 2003
GOP Candidate Forgets To Register As Delegate, Loses By One Vote
John Andrews is the reason I went to the convention, as our neighborhood knew him from a term on the school board where he really fought for our area. He signed me and others in my neighborhood up as delegates. There was one delegate form he forgot to fill out, his own. He paid a heavy price for that mistake today. From the Loudoun Times-Mirror article:Nowhere was the heartbreak of losing more evident, however, than in the Potomac District race for the Board of Supervisors. John A. Andrews II lost to Bruce Tulloch by one vote after he failed to register as a delegate and was unable to vote for himself.
"This will be a story told for years," Andrews said to the delegates assembled in the gym at Heritage High School in Leesburg, where the county's Republican Committee held a rare convention-format candidate selection process that lasted for more than eight hours.
"I was so caught up with signing up delegates that I overlooked the fact that I didn't fill out my own form," Andrews said afterward.
My unofficial count was Tulloch - 87, Andrews - 86.
I've got more stories from the convention room floor, coming later tonight...
Off To The Convention
In my quest to finish my piece on the Smart Growth in Loudoun County, I'm off the the Republican Primary convention. Go read some posts by Jay or visit RightWeAre!
Button needed!
The Running List Of Blogspot Defectors needs an icon. My graphic skills suck... Anyone want to whip one up? All I can offer in return is gratitude and, of course credit.I've got a link in the about box on the left, but I'd rather do a deal like Kate has on her logo, with code people can cut and paste to put it on their site and link to the list... The whole plan is idle due to lack of graphics. I may get over to the build you own, but I think bigger would be better than the cute little rectangles.
Here's another link to the list.
1. Personally, I love your graphic. I'd steal that in a heartbeat...if I were to go with buttons.
Da Goddess :: Fri, 2003/05/30, 23:29
2. I've already copped to lifting the site logo idea from a Google image search. That does give me and idea, maybe I get the blogspot logo and put the universal no sign around it.
Kevin :: Sat, 2003/05/31, 05:24
3. Damn! Shame on you for having cheesy comments where links won't work.
As I was saying, the universal no thing is a great idea.
Jay Solo :: Sat, 2003/05/31, 11:29
4. Sorry, I can't take credit for that. BlogWorks XML 1.2 will add that capability. As it is you get one link per comment.
Kevin :: Sat, 2003/05/31, 17:18
5. In the interest of honesty, my blog is listed twice under blogspot defectors, once as "ham fisted theatrics" and again as DC Pierson's weblog. If you could kindly delete the DC Pierson one, that'd be great (although the traffic has been nice!)
Thanks!
dc :: Sat, 2003/06/21, 22:20
Friday, May 30, 2003
Weekend Caption Contest
If OTB can do it, so can I...
*** From: Howard Owens - Visit his site and see the whole slideshow...
Winner will be picked Sunday evening from comments. Who is this guy? If you have to ask this might not be the contest for you.
Winner announcement...
1. Is that the sun in your pants or are you just glad to see me?
michele :: Fri, 2003/05/30, 20:36
2. See, the sun really does rise and set on Glenn.
Venomous Kate :: Fri, 2003/05/30, 20:41
3. Glenn smiles knowing InstaPundit is in good hands while he is lounging, having hired Jayson Blair to take over the reigns for a few days.
Tiger :: Fri, 2003/05/30, 20:47
4. Glenn is in a good mood after his hour-long session at the asian massage parlor... he swears it was only to treat his "bloggers elbow" of course.
Watcher :: Fri, 2003/05/30, 21:54
5. Fifty thou a year buys a lot of beer...
The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades.
robyn :: Sat, 2003/05/31, 05:30
6. Hey baby, come sit on my lap, so I can show you the biggest sunrise you've ever seen!
Tony S. :: Sat, 2003/05/31, 07:07
7. "Get me my puppy latte' bitch!"
kelley :: Sat, 2003/05/31, 09:53
8. Wow! That's a fine bunch of captions. New captions may be added, but since the contest is over I reserve the right to delete new captions that don't measure up to the "offical entries".
Kevin :: Sun, 2003/06/01, 21:11
But Dad The I Want To Hookup The Monitors And Play!
A new video game called The Journey to The Wild Divine features a USB biofeedback gaming device as its controller. Details of the technology and the game here.Anyone remember that lame game show hosted by John McEnroe, The Chair? Same concept...
Via Slashdot
This Is Your Leader?
With apologizes to Howard Owens. Please visit his site to see the whole slideshow of his Tennessee trip.No wonder there was a fire at Hosting Matters, that shirt is electric! Glenn makes an honorary appearance in the Running List Of Blogspot Defectors, since he was on Blogspot for one whole day. Congratulations on the move off of Blogspot!
Modified Friday - One
I saw the Friday Five. I've never done it, maybe I will next week, but the questions and a new traffic light going up down the road made me think that I would share this story instead.The incident took place September 30, 2000. I was reminded of it because of the Friday Five question about what you had done in the last ten years that you were proud of. Well naturally I thought of the birth of my nearly 2 year old twin boys. Then I though a bit farther back.
Here's the Washington Post article that gives an overview of what happened after my wife and I left the movies that Saturday night.
I promise to finish writing this post
Sorry I just never got around to telling the story. Read the Washington Post article, it covers all the basics.
Amazing Race 4
God dammit, I forgot to set a season pass on AR4, so I missed the first episode. Is there a possible heir to Flo's throne this year? With all the shitty places in the world right now, I'm curious as to what the course will look like. Maybe they'll make a stop in Middle East? Not likely a good spot for a group of backpack wearing Americans with cameras following them.Update: The season pass is now set, I'll have to pick it up at week 2. Maybe I'll head over to SirLinksAlot AR4 page and see what happened.
Update 2: Now I'm really bummed I missed it. Reality News Online reports that Flo's name was already invoked by one of the teams:
Headed for the pit stop, we have Amanda and Chris fighting while Millie and Chuck just stroll right by them. Amanda is dragging and Chris yells at her, "Come on, Flo!" Ah, he obviously watched the third Amazing Race. Chuck says that Millie motivates him. Isn't that sweet?
I grew up in La Jolla (a San Diego suburb), and have been a Pardre fan as long as I can remember. I was at all three games in the 1984 LCS against the Cubs and the two home World Series games against the Tigers, watched the miserable LCS in 96 against the Cardinals in 1996 on my honeymoon, and played hookey from work for the run to the World Series in 1998. Even with all of that I can hardly bring myself to search out, let alone watch a game. I guess the retirement of Tony Gywnn and the dismal fortunes of this years team just suck all the air out of me...
Baseball rant over...
1. It WAS the retirement of Tony Gwynn.....and the parceling out of all the players after the World Series that has led to the demise of the Pads.
You know, the idea that San Diego lost the Series because our team was old...that was crap. What we had then was a family team. FAMILY. A good solid team which hadn't been given enough time to finish coming together.
Henderson in. Vaughn out. Henderson out. Vaughn in. Nobody could make up their minds. I knew plenty of people on the team who were sick of the indecision of the management. For the most part, the players didn't want Henderson because of his attitude. When Vaughn was the one finally chosen, the players were ecstatic! So was most of SD.
Then, they lost the Series. What was management's solution? Scatter the team and rebuild with a bunch of players who hadn't proved themselves and who didn't fit in with the remaining core Pads.
Quickest way to create a losing team. It's only gone downhill from there.
Sorry - I went off on that one, didn't I?
Da Goddess :: Fri, 2003/05/30, 23:36
2. Yep, I loved that 98 team. Rob Neyer (I think) had a great article at ESPN a year or two ago about the ecomomics of a WS team. He basically proved that teams like the A's, Angel's and Padres could make runs every 2nd or 3rd year. That would be fine with me... I'll look for the story...
Kevin :: Sat, 2003/05/31, 05:28
3. Would love to see that article!
And, did you notice that I didn't hold growing up in La Jolla against you? (Coming from an RB brat....)
Da Goddess :: Sun, 2003/06/01, 07:56
4. Still looking for the article. I did notice that you were a SD blogger. Imoved in '87, RB then was the "new" LJ". Didn't want stir up and town rivalry though. :-)
Kevin :: Sun, 2003/06/01, 12:22
TPS Due Today
It's TPS report day here at IniTech. I've been working on it all week and it's due today. Apparently people seem to believe that I didn't get the memo about the new cover sheets, as most of my eight bosses have forwarded the memo to me again. I'm avoiding eye contact with my direct supervisor. It seems like a good idea.Just found out yesterday that a couple of "management consultants" are going to be interviewing every on in the department. Of course they want me to work this weekend as well. You know what? I'm not going in Saturday. In fact, I think I'm just going to stop going period.
In other office news, maybe someone can explain to me what the hell my co-workers are doing here.
Thursday, May 29, 2003
Democrats - Any Chance in 2004?
Trent Telenko at Winds of Change has this excellent post on the Democrats' chances in 2004. I won't spoil it for you, but here is a quote:Democrats are unable to accept the existence of evil or the necessity of winning in war. This resulted in collapse of public confidence in the Democrats' ability and willingness to protect the American people, even if many Democratic internationalist proposals have merit.
A must read for those on either side of the aisle...
1. Between the swing voters getting turned off, the Democrats that jump ship to become Republicans, and the extreme left-wing Democrats that feel more at home in the Green Party... there won't be much left of the Democrats in 2004.
Watcher :: Fri, 2003/05/30, 10:19
RSS Reader
I've been through a bunch, but Luke Hutteman, had a real nice RSS reader called SharpReader you should look at. It requires .NET framework, but hey you're going to have to get that monstrosity some time, right?Kate has a post about news readers/aggregators that included this link. Pick me a winner Billy. (Quoted from a famous movie).
The Fox Spin On The Peterson Baby Autopsy
Fox News has this piece with details of the Peterson autopsy.A source close to the investigation told Fox News that it's possible the baby may have been born before he died.
Previous news reports have said that Laci's womb was intact when her body was found.
But sources say the latest news is subject to debate, since the fetus was in good condition, and his tissue was very soft, indicating that he had been in the water for some time.
The state of the fetus also could indicate that the baby was inside the mother's womb under water and expelled naturally, but now the discovery of the plastic tape around the baby's neck raises questions as to how and why it was there. What was around the unborn child's neck could also be a combination of nylon, twine and plastic, according to the autopsy report.
Sources say it's possible the baby may have been strangled and that it's not likely the tape was placed around the neck after the body was discovered.
They did not rule out that the plastic somehow got wrapped around the baby's neck while he was under water, and that the plastic may have been debris.
Geraldo gets a byline credit... Along with every other talking head at Fox...
Sport Site That Suck!
So I was going to post a little entry about Rashaan Salaam catching on with the 49ers, and I wanted to do some background research. All I remember of him was that he played high school football in my hometown, and won the Heisman at CU. He neverI clicked on the link in the Google search results pane and 5 new windows pop open, 3 different Active X controls try to install, just pure evil. Fuckers, they're going into my IE Restricted Sites Zone. Never ever visit them, stick to sports sites you know...
If Google really wants to add a cool new feature, how about adding a feedback option, which you can permanently filter shitty site like this out of your results.
1. I thought Salaam played for the Bears, or did you mean he was never successful in the pro's?
jaboobie :: Thu, 2003/05/29, 19:43
2. When he came out playing for the Bears and not being in the league were synonymous :0
Strike out applied...
Kevin :: Thu, 2003/05/29, 20:22
3. yes, come to think of it I don't remember seeing the Bears playing on TV that often and they certainly didn't play many Monday nights.
jaboobie :: Fri, 2003/05/30, 06:19
Experiment in the Ecoshpere
With apologies to Jay, I'm using this whole Rat Race to test some of the limits of the Ecoshpere and Technocrati. I'm curious to find what they do and don't catch as links. In perversely evil form, I am continuing to link to Jay, without moving him up the rankings. This is a temporary measure. Once the contest is over all of the original links will return. Mostly I came up withe idea just to see if I could do it.1. I agree. I think things are a little funky and I had actually been fixing to track it a little. I have started saving a copy of the JS and RWA detail pages from Ecosystem each day for potential analysis.
Jay Solo :: Thu, 2003/05/29, 21:41
Another Contest...
RWN is giving away some add space and other prized goodies.Click here to learn all about it...
Mom, Dad, that means you too!
Yes, I am following Acidman's winning formula for getting 20 people to click my link.
From The Wizbang Archives: Case of another 'Laci' languishes in obscurity
At my old blogspot site I noted a San Francisco Chronicle had a story: Case of another 'Laci' languishes in obscurity. At the time, the Chronicle article got some press as an early preview of one of the avenues of a possible defense for Scott Peterson.I'm not sure if they are mentioning her now, but they are talking about a devil worshiping serial killer theory now. The theory goes that there is a serial killer roaming the Bay Area decapitating pregnant women and dumping them in the bay. You will hear the name Evelyn Hernandez quite a bit in the coming month, most likely from Petersons defense attorney as a deflecting mechanism. There may or may not be other similar murders in the Bay Area, but expect the defense to put on a full court press that the Modesto police have failed to follow-up on this angle.
Update (Via Kate who wants someone to fry for this..): Tanya examines the Chandra Laci link here
1. I had heard that another woman had suffered a fate similar to Laci.
That article doesn't see to have any idea why Laci is a news story and the Hernandez women is not. Well, maybe because the Hernandez woman was having the baby of a married man.
Certainly she deserves the same attention from the law as the Peterson case but you can see the dilemma it provides the media.
jaboobie :: Thu, 2003/05/29, 18:04
2. It's a pretty old article. It was the first of the "hey why's Laci getting all the attention" articles in the Chronicle.
Kevin :: Thu, 2003/05/29, 18:36
Tape Looped Around Peterson Baby's Neck
Evidence that the trial of Scott Peterson may not be the slam dunk everyone thinks is will be may have leaked out. MSNBC is just out with this report.The body of the fetus found near its slain mother, Laci Peterson, on the shore of the San Francisco Bay had one and a half loops of plastic tape around its neck, according to a portion of the coroner’s report on the autopsy on the fetus obtained exclusively Thursday by NBC News. The finding could be used by the defense team for Scott Peterson, Laci’s husband, who is accused in her death, to bolster its theory that Laci and the fetus were killed in a satanic ritual.
MSNBC's Dan Abrams got the scoop. He is going to be the breakout reporter on this story. He always does an excellent job with the legal stories.
1. That's weird. Usually there is no evidence when the defense uses a Satan Worshipper defense. Maybe it was just ocean junk around the baby. I find it amazing people can know what happened to a body after it spent so long underwater.
jaboobie :: Thu, 2003/05/29, 15:37
2. See the post above for another tidbit... String too many of these together and they may have something. Remember OJ walked...
That said, I don't know anyone (outside of his family) who believes he is not guilty.
Kevin :: Thu, 2003/05/29, 17:06
Any Plumbers?
Glenn had a link to and analysis of story a while back about the service economy winners of the future. On site folks like plumbers and electricians looked like good bets for future success vs. techies whose jobs may be shipped off to India.All of this leads me to the real point. Moxie is having some problems with the pipes at her place. If learning about giant purple geyser doesn't get you just a little bit curious, remember it is a link to the wonderful world of Moxie who I once compared to Kim Novak.
RightWeAre
I've finally picked a horse in this race. I'm big fans of both side, but I'll go with:
in this contest. Jay's links at this page still take you to his page, but they are temporarily engineered so as not to reflect a link for tracking purposes.
Remember - RightWeAre is the place you want to link to. Jay's page is place visit regularly. Now that I have a way to continue linking Jay without giving him points in the race, its much easier to abandon my neutrality. Jay has a fine blog, but chicks rule!
See how they fare on Technorati: RightWeAre Jay
Sometimes A Post Stops You In Your Tracks
So you wakeup this morning, go to your RSS reader, and find this. The frivolity of the moment is replaced with awe and respect. You've got to give Maripat credit for candor and clarity. It takes a lot of courage to hit the submit button on a personal post like that.Very moving, and deeply personal. Thank you for allowing us this insight.
Another thing - any trolls who abuse her will get my reign of vengeance heaped upon themselves.
1. Thanks for the kind words Kevin. I really didn't expect anyone to link that post...
Maripat :: Thu, 2003/05/29, 20:12
Wednesday, May 28, 2003
Carnival of the Vanities Week 37
Dean has the new here. Note that the site is not responding, I guess due to the fire at Hosting Matters. Kathyis keeping track of the status of that situation.My entry is here.
Get Your InstaPundit Fix
InstaPundit is on the emergency backup site at Blogspot. Even he notes the irony...
Rain Rain Go Away...
The Washington Post today celebrates an anniversary DC metro area residents would just as well forget:The Washington area has a special anniversary to celebrate today -- one couch-lounging, candy-bar-bingeing, closet-cleaning month -- one month without a clear, sunny day. The skies are the dull-gray color of file cabinets, and almost daily bouts of rain make it seem as if Zeus is spitting on us.
It really sucks to not see the sun in a month, my kids are going nuts. Now I know what it feels like to live in Seattle.
Switzerland's Vote Is For Sale
These gals and this guy are involved is a good natured contest to race each other up the Ecosphere ladder. I like both of them, and up to this point I've been officially neutral. Neutrality works about as well in the blogosphere as it does in politics...Let is be known to the two camps that my vote is for sale... Anything except real money will be considered. You get my links and temporary delinking of the other party. It should be known that I maintain 2 main blogs, and at least 4 other testing blogs that show up in the Ecoshphere. I can also create other blogs as necessary.
PS - I'm pissed that I didn't think of this kind of stunt myself :-).
1. Maripat is very clever that way.
I am at a loss. I'll see if I can think of something, but offhand so far all I can think of is lots of linkage, maybe with prominent placement.
Jay Solo :: Wed, 2003/05/28, 11:35
2. Well you do get points from me for being the first to link me... Riding on your coatails up the food chain is a pretty good offer...
Kevin :: Wed, 2003/05/28, 11:51
3. Kevin - if you link and endorse RWA in this contest, I'll send people you're way everyday, with either Maripat's Web Site of the Day or my ever clever "Do not Visit this site today, whatever you do" link. How's that sound?
Maripat :: Wed, 2003/05/28, 12:07
4. I forgot to specify the number of days I'd link you - 7 days not including weekends (since weekends tend to be slow)
Maripat :: Wed, 2003/05/28, 12:08
5. Sounds good.
Kevin :: Thu, 2003/05/29, 05:35
Comments - Inline or not?
I've got no time to code a cool little show/don't show comments inline link in ASP, so I've just enabled them. I like the participatory feel at DailyPundit who has a very interactive site due to the level of inline comments. I'm probably in no danger of that kind of volume. My informal look around doesn't find a lot of support for showing comments inline by default. I'm open to suggestions..1. I like the comments showing kevin
Maripat :: Wed, 2003/05/28, 12:32
New Look...
You may have notice the new look... I really liked the grey template based on the Blue Robot templates. There were just some bits of it that I didn't think made for easy reading. I'm going to rework the grey template, and add a skin picker to the site when I get some spare time. In the interim this template seems to work pretty well...Tuesday, May 27, 2003
This is scary!
The OPM's new e-government initiative, e-QIP may be the scariest thing I've seen in a long time. Sure it looks all nice and pretty and convenient, but the OPM may be playing with fire. Security clearance data will be accessible online for applicants starting in June 2003. How long before the site becomes target number one for hackers? Credit card stuff is bush league compared to the kind of dirt you could pull from these files. Of course security will be high, but the data will sit there forever. Even OPM acknowledges that you typically fill out the form, and don't revisit the information for years.Anyone who has ever filled out a security clearance form (SF-86) knows the gory detail of your life that they get into. They also know that maintaining the data to complete the form is hard, and an electronic means to fill out the form is the preferred method of completing this monstrosity. There is a piece of software called EPSQ to fill out the forms, and their are Word and PDF versions of OPM form SF-86 available.
For those of you who have no experience with the form or process, here's a list of some of the section headings:
| Name/Address/Etc. | Your Military Record |
| Where You Have Lived | Your Selective Service Record |
| Where You Went To School | Your Medical Record |
| Your Employment Activities | Your Employment Record |
| People Who Know You Well | Your Police Record |
| Your Spouse | Your Use Of Illegal Drugs And Drug Activity |
| Your Relatives and Associates | Your Use Of Alcohol |
| Citizenship Of Your Relatives and Associates | Your Investigations Record |
| Your Military History | Your Foreign Activities |
| Your Foreign Activities | Your financial Delinquencies |
| Foreign Countries You Have Visited | Public Record Civil Court Actions |
| Your Association Record |
These questions cover a period of 7 to 15 years depending on clearance and agency. The form is designed to be comprehensive. That's a serious list of personal information to be stored in an Internet accessible database. If you are applying for a clearance would you use this system?
Update: After discussing this site with James at OTB, it might not be as bad as it looks, at least to begin with, but there my guess it that there will still be plenty of hackworthy data behind the site.
The e-OIP site indicates that you can enter, update, and retrieve (print) your data - although it appears that when the site comes online you will only be able to do this during the process of completing a form. It does look like initially your data is saved in a holding database until you send it to the agency. Once send, it would in theory be "out" of the system then and harder to hack (of course the devil is in the details - rarely is information really deleted from databases). It looks like the capability to get at your data will be in the systems at some point (from the e-QIP FAQ).
20. I have completed this form in the past. Why doesn’t this system have that data?
In the future e-QIP will be able to retrieve the data you are entering now. Earlier data has not
been loaded into this system.
There will probably be a manual process to get the data back from the last agency you submitted a form to. The security posture of the site may rest on whether or not your data remains accessible to this web app. The trade off for the site is that if you can't easily get to your previous submission(s) what's the point of using it. It's not like they are going to stop using the paper form anytime soon. It is the functionality (which is alluded to) that allows authenticated users to get at previous data that would allow for hacking attempts...
Monday, May 26, 2003
Atkins Studies - Sucess?
This NYT article (registration required) has some details on the new studies of Atkins vs. Low fat diets.Their spin - Atkins dieters lose more weight, both groups gain it back.
The truth - The study participant gained back weight because the abandoned Atkins, and went back to eating a high carb diet. How is it surprising that they gain back the weight? What part of the Atkins book do people not understand? Go back to the carbs in pre diet levels and you get back the weight. Once you find the sensible level of carbs for you, you eat as diet that is not all mayonnaise and steaks...
Here's the Times experts take on the "model" diet:
If you want to try a diet that many experts concerned about both weight and health now recommend, it should contain about 25 percent of calories from fats primarily from vegetable sources like olive, canola and nut oils, avocados, beans, nut butters, nuts and seeds, along with fish and lean red meats and poultry adding up to about 20 to 25 percent of calories from protein.
Rounding out this diet are whole grains and ample amounts of vegetables and fruits. On this less restrictive diet, the weight loss may be slower than with Atkins, but it is more likely to stick.
Sound surprisingly similar to the Atkins ongoing maintenance phase. It is amazing the hangups people get about the induction phase of Atkins. Having lost 40 pounds and kept it off for a year, I can tell you that it is the modified long term eating habits, and the choices you make about what you eat that keep the weight off. The "model" diet they talk about is right of the Atkins cookbooks and plan. He advocated vegetables and some fruits, and some whole grains. Jeez, keep bread, milk, and pasta out of your long term diet and you'll be fine.
1. Yep. Thankfully, I didn't need to lose 40 pounds, but I took off 20 or so and it's been off well over a year now. I went from eating pasta 3-4 times a week to maybe once or twice a month. It's an amazingly easy diet to stick to, since you can eat all the meat, chicken, nuts, beans, and other tasty, filling food you want.
James Joyner :: Tue, 2003/05/27, 14:08
2. Unfortunatly when the wife got pregnant with the twins I was right there with her adding sympathy weight. Happily we are both down below the pre pregnancy weights.
Kevin Aylward :: Tue, 2003/05/27, 15:09
3. You are right. Atkins works if you have slight discipline. I don't like all the heavy carbs or the sugars now, so it's been a good permanent modification.
After saying that, why can't I lose the last 20???
Carl :: Tue, 2003/06/03, 20:15
Kate's Blogger's Manifesto
Venomous Kate has some rules about reading her blog. Do you think she cares?
Running List Of BlogSpot Defectors
Due to the size of this list I have moved it to its own (non blog) page. Please adjust you links. The code and link on the Wizbang home page contains up to date links to the lists new home page.View the Running List Of BlogSpot Defectors
I will be scraping comments as I update the list. I may decide at some point to DELETE some of the comments that I have added into the list - I haven't made up my mind on that yet. If you don't want to leave a blog in the comments, I'll take it via E-mail and add it to the list.
1. Yee Freaking Hah! And this is a great idea!
Velociman :: Mon, 2003/05/26, 20:30
2. Well, here I was going to point out Velociman's defection but he beat me to it. ;)
There's a new defector on the way as a result of my fervored anti-blogspot campaign. I'm not naming names, but sgt. hook is switching camps.
Whoops. Did I say that?
Venomous Kate :: Mon, 2003/05/26, 23:04
3. I moved about a month before your deadline although I'm curious why you picked May 15 if you're trying to test the Google effect. Google bought Pyra back in February.
James Joyner :: Tue, 2003/05/27, 13:39
4. The May 15 date was purely arbitrary. It just seemed easier to track new moves rather than find folks who have already moved and spread the word.
That said Feb. 15 will be the new date in the post to tie the date to the Gilmor article...
Kevin Aylward :: Tue, 2003/05/27, 13:52
5. I defected before May 15th, but expect 2 more Blogspotters to join Blogmosis soon.
Laurence Simon :: Tue, 2003/05/27, 14:00
6. I moved off blog*spot about the same time as James at Outside the Beltway. from arguewithsigns.blogspot.com to http://www.arguewithsigns.net/mt/
bryan
arguing with signposts...
I posted before that TypePad could really be soaking up some customers right now *if* they had a product.
bryan :: Tue, 2003/05/27, 14:48
7. My friend and co-worker, Jennifer, was originally on blogspot at
http://findingherlife.blogspot.com
But I talked her into a site redo, MT and her own domain at:
http://www.jennerallyspeaking.com
Go peek!
Joni :: Tue, 2003/05/27, 15:22
8. I moved from BS to poliblogger.com in mid-April.
Steven :: Tue, 2003/05/27, 18:54
9. And I've just started a crusade to get people to get off of blogspot. I'll point any successes here...
Kathy K :: Tue, 2003/05/27, 19:05
10. We moved from blogspot in March sometime - went to MT on our own domain.
dan :: Wed, 2003/05/28, 16:20
11. I moved on May 21st. My last post in my BlogSpot blog says it all - Silly me!
I just 'upgraded' my blog last night to blogger's paid service, thinking that would give me more reliability, speed, etc. Well now I can't publish any more! ARGH!!! And Blogger has ZERO customer support. I've managed to sneak in the back door to make this post to let you know that this blog's new home is http://www.tradermike.net
Michael :: Wed, 2003/05/28, 21:42
12. I broke free 5 days ago. Been running ever since. No more chains!!!
From http://tech-is-in.blogspot.com to http://tonytalkstech.com
Tony S. :: Thu, 2003/05/29, 03:27
13. My blog is not top shelf by any stretch of the imagination but I made the switch from http://dheayankees.blogspot.com to http://cobranchi.com/blog.html on May 4th. I haven't yet figured out MT so I'm still using the Blogger software to post.
Daryl Cobbranchi :: Fri, 2003/05/30, 18:06
14. I began my blog about April 4, 2003, using Blogger and Blog*Spot. I had my own server space but was in the middle of changing domains. The very first time I could not access Blog*Spot, I began publishing my blog to my own domain. After approximately a month of having difficulties with archiving and permalinks, I gave up on Blogger and installed MT. I was on Blog*Spot for two days, so you decide if I belong on the list.
Tiger :: Fri, 2003/05/30, 18:55
15. Weekend Pundit made the move from Blogger to Blogmosis on February 15th.
The URL is now:
http://weekendpundit.blogmosis.com
DCE :: Sat, 2003/05/31, 07:31
16. Thanks to Joni Electric at WebJones.com I will be absconding with every post blog*spot didn't eat.
Ought to be up and running this week.
Claire :: Sat, 2003/05/31, 18:22
17. Add two more - Silent Running, and <a href="http://alisainwonderland.silentrunning.tv">Alisa in Wonderland</a> (set her up as a subdomain, a la Blogmosis). Have joined the Underground railroad, and am actively helping others escape also...and be sure to check out <a href="http://silentrunning.blogspot.com">parting shot</a>, with re-direct
Wind Rider :: Mon, 2003/06/02, 16:32
18. I just moved from b*s to www.freakinjen.us/weblog.php. Just in case you were wondrin'.
Love the new anit-b*s logo, btw.
jen :: Tue, 2003/06/03, 11:03
19. I just moved my blog, Damnum Absque Injuria, to xrlq.com. It will be visible there just as soon as the friggin' domain resolves.
Xrlq :: Thu, 2003/06/05, 18:38
20. Actually, the Instapundit maintains a backup site on BlogSpot:
http://instabackup.blogspot.com
DCE :: Fri, 2003/06/06, 04:43
21. Thanks! It's good to be free.
Jonathan Gewirtz :: Fri, 2003/06/06, 04:57
22. Off blogspot as of 12 hours ago. Yee-haw, y'all!
Deb :: Fri, 2003/06/06, 09:19
23. I saw this post linked at USS Clueless, and thought I'd comment. I left blogger sometime September of 2002, after "upgrading" to Blogspot Pro in the hopes of adding images to my website. I'd used Blogger from around March of 2002. Never looked back. Using Moveable Type now, and hosted on a friend's server. Someone asked me the other day about starting a blog, I told them to try Blogger for a few weeks, and then to switch if they found they had an interest. "Training wheels" is an apt description.
Cheers.
Robert :: Fri, 2003/06/06, 13:57
24. Damn kids. Instapundit was on Blogspot for over a year. Doesn't anyone remember instapundit.blogspot.com? :)
Ian S. :: Fri, 2003/06/06, 15:01
25. I know I do... Oh, the irony of being back on the list (even if it was due to a fire at HM). Thank goodness someone remembers history...
Kevin :: Fri, 2003/06/06, 22:48
26. It's me again (see comment #11). Does anyone know how to cancel a Blog*Spot acct. I've scoured their site, and can't find how to do it. Do I just have to tell my credit card company not to pay them?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Michael.
Michael :: Sun, 2003/06/08, 12:39
27. Click on the link to learn how to delete a blog. Also try philringnalda.com for more tips and tricks...
Delete A Blogger Blog :: Mon, 2003/06/09, 13:04
28. Lots of work to do, but I am free!!!
Carl :: Tue, 2003/06/10, 00:31
29. gee, add us to your list. I defected last year (hmmm... about a year ago)
wrote about it here:
(and I was holding back... too...)
Please add this one:
Dog News
http://radio.weblogs.com/0107233/2003/01/27.html#a1363
I'm sure that Google will resurrect and revamp blogger.
don't ya think... they've already got a beta service going.
If you want a laugh, go visit
dognews.blogspot.com
and see how many times blogger "burped" Some stories repeat and repeat and repeat, like the energizer bunny. never got an answer. guess they're too busy counting their money...
I bought an adfree blogspot... it didn't go adfree for quite a while and then the old pages were still showing ads... hmmm... wonder if they ever fixed it.. oh well... I gave up long ago.
M. Ford :: Wed, 2003/06/11, 11:55
30. Am I allowed to mention my own defection? I just got fully set up yesterday thanks to Dean's great help!
Max :: Fri, 2003/06/13, 23:52
31. Max I got you... M. Ford, the list is for new moves. Congrats on the move, but it is too old a move for this list...
Kevin :: Sat, 2003/06/14, 19:41
32. With Dean Esmay's help, Blaster's Blog is now powered by MT on <a href="http://www.overpressure.com">www.overpressure.com</a>
blaster :: Sun, 2003/06/15, 09:50
33. Did you get everyone Dean has helped? He has a list of 45, and 5 more in progress. I know some weren't BlogSplat, but most were. Just wanted to be sure...
Jay Solo :: Tue, 2003/06/17, 13:49
34. I left Blogger.
RandomActOfKindness
http://www.randomactofkindness.com
trigger :: Tue, 2003/06/17, 23:03
35. Jay - Got them all... Running this with Blogrolling is much easier to update...
Kevin :: Wed, 2003/06/18, 10:26
36. I left Blogger!
Joel Fuhrmann :: Thu, 2003/06/19, 19:16
37. Hi Kevin! I started on blogspot in April, and then on June 9th the wonderful Pixy Misa set me up on his server with MT. By June 15 I was broadcasting from the new digs. So put me on the list! Thanks!
Susie :: Sun, 2003/07/06, 07:34
38. p.s. Pixy moved his own blog, Ambient Irony, off of blogspot a couple of days before he set me up, so add him to the list, too! Thanks again.
Susie :: Sun, 2003/07/06, 07:40
39. Hey kevin--as you well know I moved off. However, I'm obliged to thank you for your encouragement to make the move and Dean Esmay's tremendous offer to set me up on my new server. Thanks Again!
Adam :: Sat, 2003/07/12, 17:47
Daily Pundit Back In The Groove
Bill Quick at Daily Pundit has returned to serial posting after a brief end of term hiatus for paper grading. Hooray!! Stories and comments are back to thier ususal short shelve life there... All is right in the blogoshpere...
It Sucks To Be Ricky Nelson's Brother
Via Asparagirl. Apparently if your name is Dave Nelson you are likely to be a terrorist, according to the TSA (Totally Screwed-up Agency)."If your name is David Nelson you can expect to be hassled, delayed, questioned and searched before being allowed to board aircraft anywhere in the United States for the foreseeable future.
Since the horrific attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the federal Transportation Security Administration has, without any public announcement, created a two-tiered list of names "to protect our aviation system," says Nico Melendez, the agency spokesman for the West Coast, who is based in Los Angeles.
The name David Nelson apparently is on one of those lists...
This week 18 men named David Nelson, all residents of Oregon, confirmed they have been repeatedly delayed at airport counters and security checkpoints in the last year or so...
As David Nelsons all over the country have learned, once your name is on the list, there's no way you can get it removed. Every time you go to an airport, you're assumed to be guilty until you can prove yourself innocent..."
Remember Ozzie and Harriet's son, David Nelson? "I got stopped at the John Wayne Airport" in Orange County, Calif., he said by phone from Los Angeles this week. "Two police officers knew who I was and tried to explain to the guy behind the security desk. It didn't faze him at all." Even as another officer was saying he had once met David's mother, Harriet, David was being instructed to remove his shoes, he says. "I asked, 'Does the guy on the list have a middle name of Ozzie?' He said, 'It just says David Nelson.' "...
The full story is here.
Sunday, May 25, 2003
Michael Moore hacked...
Via Tim BlairA picture of the hacked site is here. Here is the text of the hack:
Mr. Moore, your documentary "Bowling for Columbine" is fictitious, not factual. David Hardy's Truth About Bowling is simply damning. You deliberately deceive your viewers, who are only expecting a slightly biased factual report. Mr. Moore, my personal hope is that you publicly apologize, not for your ideas, but for dubbing your lies the truth.
Please see revoketheoscar.com.
Love always,
NHA Crew.
The site is now erroring out...
Google News - The begining of a war for inclusion and exclusion?
Steve H. at Little Tiny Lies has a post about how the IndyMedia mess over at Google News has spilled over to the other side. The American Daily site that he occasionally post to has been removed by Google News, presumably in a deliberately targeted campaign by the IndyMedia folks still smarting over their recent banishment.As Steve points out, this was inevitable, but in a way sad. Google News has the potential to be a great service, and many would argue that it already is. The makeup of the service could be the next battlefield in the left vs. right battle for the hearts and minds of the news consuming audience. The left has had its way for a long time, but with the forces of the blogosphere on the case it could turn into an ugly campaign (on both sides) to silence the other.
The problem with the Internet and Google specifically, is that unless you are out there for the world to easily find you don't exist. If you are or aspire to be a news outlet (regardless of the left/right slant) Google News listing is pretty much a requirement. If you don't exist there, do you really exist?
Friday, May 23, 2003
Blogspot Is Toast
I started a trend. Or maybe I just followed - who can keep track. All the cool bloggers are leaving Blogspot :-)Remember the big hoopla the Blogger made about how the were adding servers and mirrors to handle the traffic for the Where's Raed site (never blogrolled here!). Maybe the Google folks decided they need to beta test a new searching service for EBay auctions...
Anyway the list as I know it of recent defectors:
Me
The Volokh Conspiracy has moved to its own domain volokh.com.
Tim Blair has bolted to timblair.spleenville.com
Damian Penny's Damimnation! is off to damianpenny.com. You really must see his redirect page from the old blogspot site, it's quite good.
Next up: Jay Solo has been searching for hosting firms.
The really bad news for Blogger is that some of these blogs were paying customers (not me). If Google (The new owner of Blogger) is going to get some sort of street cred, they're going to have to recruit back some name bloggers. Marketing needs to get on the case. If MSNBC can snatch up some high profile blogs, Google can go after some big names... Start at the top of the Link Cosmos or Blogoshpere Ecosystem
Update: Tobacco Road Fogey is now amongst the ex-Blogspoters. His new home is tobaccoroadfogey.blog-city.com. He recomends blog-city.com for those not interesting in a full MT installation.
I Love Google Image Search
I deceided it was time to get a logo for this site. Thank goodness for Google Image Search. With a little searching I found a suitable candidate for repurposing as a site logo. A quick trip through Photoshop, and a new logo is born. I'm still working on the templates for this site...Thursday, May 22, 2003
Smart Growth In Loudoun County, VA (Or How To Piss Off All Of The People All Of The Time) - Part I
Note: I've been working on this post on and off for a week, but I have yet to finish. Rather than hold off posting it I figured that I would split it into two pieces1) Background - This post
2) Analysis - Read it here
Here is Part I - The background...
Loudoun County is the second fasted growing county in the nation according to recent Census numbers. Population in the county has exploded over the last 10 years as the telecom and technology industries rise fueled the population explosion of the Washington DC metro areas Northern Virginia suburbs. The rise of the outer ring suburbs is not unique to the Washington area, similar population and business relocation dispersion patterns have occurred in Houston, San Diego, Denver, Los Angeles, as well as most other Sunbelt metro areas. The current population estimate is 211,000. Loudoun County covers 517 square miles.
Loudoun County is somewhat unique in that it is in effect a suburb to a suburb (Tysons Corner, VA). Tysons Corner has more office space than every east coast city except New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington, DC. Many of the residents of Loudoun County work in the Tysons/Dulles Airport corridor (a stretch of 12 miles that includes the major tech centers of Northern Virginia). Residents of Loudoun County commute to downtown Washington DC and Montgomery County, MD.
Development of the formerly agricultural Loudoun County was planned. Area-wise the county encompasses 517 square miles, yet 80% of the population has been squeezed into 15% or the counties eastern edge. All of this pre planning envisioned a slow and steady growth rate utilizing such staples as planned communities, mixed use development and developer proffers. The county succeeded in attracting headquarters of such heavyweight companies of the Internet boom as MCI/Worldcomm and AOL. Everything was turning up roses for the county government as the tax base increased by addition and the market run up of real estate prices.
If you are curious about the population density patterns in Loudoun County here are two images that may be helpful: Image 1 and Image 2
A strange thing happened on the way to fast growing prosperity - the spread of the population influx could not be limited to the eastern portion of the county. New house development ate up every last inch of the eastern zoned residential areas of the county and started pushing westward into farm lands and country manor estates. Western residents of the county who generally where older and wealthier than their eastern neighbors used every political device they could to maintain a power base in the county. Loudoun County is home the Middleburg - a ritzy county estate burg that is home to old money and celebrities like Robert Duvall and Lynda Carter. The westerners made sure that representation on the Board of Supervisors was geographically oriented and that the rural areas of the county had at least the opportunity of keeping a working majority on the board.
Even with the political and financial means to thwart the westward expansion of the suburban sprawl, the power of the real estate market mania was too hard for land owners in western Loudoun County to resist. Many owners sold and developers were willing to build McMansions on larger parcels as required by zoning regulations. Supply and demand was giving owners of small farms a chance to cash in on the boom. State law as it related to counties in Virginia didn't look very promising for Loudoun County, Read this article about the Dillon rule to find out why.
Politics makes strange bedfellows and in the last election cycle special interest groups funded by the aforementioned wealthy residents of the Middleburg area and outsiders made stopping sprawl the ONLY issue in the election. They used PAC names like Voters to Stop Sprawl and Piedmont Education Council, but the magnitude of the money and advertising ensured that every candidate from both parties had to run as a smart growth candidate to have a shot at winning. Long story short, the smart growth candidates (mostly moderate Republicans) took over the board and chairman positions. Rather than paying lip service to the growth issue they set about to implement all of the policies that the PAC money (which they gladly took) was paying for.
January 6, 2003 Loudoun County supervisors adopted the region's most ambitious and controversial set of building restrictions making good on their campaign promises of "smart growth".
This Washington Post article summarizes the restrictions. From the article:
The new zoning ordinance, approved 7 to 2 yesterday, sharply reduces the number of houses that can be built per acre in a 300-square-mile area of western Loudoun. Until now, the county has allowed one home per three acres in most of that area, which spurred the development of large lot subdivisions dotted with high-end homes.
Now, developers need 10, 20 or 50 acres to build one home, depending on the location and whether new homes are clustered together to preserve the bulk of the land as open space. In an attempt to make up for potential decreases in land values and to insulate the county against lawsuits, officials added a list of new economic ventures, such as country inns and rural retreats, that landowners could develop in lieu of subdivisions.
Later the Post railed against density limits as a tool to stop sprawl in this article. They noted that developers and consumers would just bypass a county implementing such measures. Remember this is the Washington Post bashing the plan, not a noted sanctuary for libertarians or conservatives.
All of this leads us to the most interesting part of the story. How a majority Republican board of supervisors concocted a plan to use tax dollars to buy the development rights to land in the agricultural western part of the county, and how the resulting fallout split the Republican party for the upcoming elections. It's a story full of deceit and shame, but it will have to wait for Part II of the series.
1. Interesting summary. I must say, it's rather bizarre. I moved to Loudoun County last August and have liked it, but it's different than anywhere I've ever been before. The fact that most of the shopping facilities and housing developments are tucked away behind berms so that they are almost impossible to see from the road is both rather soothing and somewhat frustrating for the newcomer. I guess the move from quaint hideaway to DC exurb is a tough one for longtime residents to take. And I'm surprised at the total disconnect longtimers feel from the District, despite the relative closeness. Most people here almost never go to DC.
James Joyner :: Fri, 2003/05/23, 06:14
2. I've been so long removed from the District I don't even have disconnect anymore... I do miss the ability to find any spot from it address via the alpha and numeric grid. I don't miss the parking hassles and tickets. DC can't do much right, but the are highly efficient at ticketing (and collecting fines).
OTB encompasses so many areas I didn't know we are practically neighbors.
Kevin Aylward :: Fri, 2003/05/23, 09:28
Stir Crazy
Help... I'm chained to my desk working on a large project report and its 11:00pm. I've been looking at the same paragraphs for so long in in that zone. You know the one where your can't see the forest for the trees. Arrgghh!!!I just printed the bitch out so I could see it a different way. Same shit, new look. Also I noticed a disturbing trend in my writing: I'm putting HTML and ASP directives and comments in places in my Word document that I need to work on later. For some reason this scares me...
Here's my nugget for tech writers everywhere: Always start with a kick ass template, that way even if you print the report out after writing just a little bit; it still looks real nice. If you start with a great template when you have to send the file off to your boss well before you want to send it, they'll notice the pretty formatting not the lack of content. Don't say I never gave any good advice here.
Move Complete
So I get all my old posts moved and they're basically a jumble of old and new. Not the smoothest transition. Anyway here is a link to my last post on Blogspot (migrated to this site). The 20 posts below that follow the chronology of the old Wizbang site (except for the Tucker Calson post). I didn't migrate comments; I may later...
Site Update
Comments are now working. Had the file pointed to the wrong directory...1. Comments are working, yeah!
Kevin Aylward :: Thu, 2003/05/22, 14:51
2. Congratulations on the move!
Steve H. :: Thu, 2003/05/22, 15:41
3. Thanks!
Kevin Aylward :: Fri, 2003/05/23, 09:23
Best Of Wizbang
Some Wizbang items you may have missed:Intuit To Discontinue Product Activation - TurboTax users read this!
Comments - Enough To Set A Web Master Over The Edge? - Did a hacker cause the Case Western shootings?
Circular hypocrisy - Guns and kids...
Kidnapping Lands Egyptian Grandmother In Maryland Prison - Investigative journalism, some of it my own.
A Modest Proposal - What if the RIAA paid you to stop sharing MP3's?
Drug Problem, or Pain Problem? - Expansion on a Winds of Change topic.
MSNBC - A shift to the right? - Linked by the almighty InstaPundit.
Tucker Carlson is a spudgun freak - Who would have belived it?
I will probably link this into the menu at some point.
Circular hypocrisy
Maybe I'm just opening myself up for flames, but the whole assault weapon ban debate has me in twisted in knots of pretzel logic. First a couple facts:1) Growing up I hunted, and all the men and some of the women in my extend family hunted. We fly fished a lot as well, but that's not so important. My grandfather was a midwestern lawyer who lived on a large ranch in Kansas. My dad and siblings grew up on the ranch.
2) I own no guns.
3) My wife, to my knowledge has never fired a gun.
4) We do not let our kids play at a house where we know the owners keep guns.
5) I believe that people have the right to own guns.
That list may or may not put me in a large group of the citizenry, I don't know and I'm not really interested in finding out. My problem with guns mostly centers around automatic weaponry. For self defense and AK-47 is just not necessary. I grew up on shotguns and rifles. Imagine how much easier the whole debate would be if handguns and automatic weapons did not exist. It's real hard to "conceal" your shotgun. Concealed weapons are what freak me out. If I know you have a gun (because I can see it or your shotgun racks) I'm in gun safety mode. It's a learned habit, you could not accompany the adults on a pheasant hunt without the proper amount of training and respect for weapons in our family.
So if you really want an automatic weapon, my question is why? For sport? To kill the bad guy real good? I just don't get it. There is plenty of fire power legally available in gun and sporting good shops. None of us are in such danger that we need to spray 1000 rounds a minute at anyone. Again I harken to the midwest where your pickup does your talking. Every other pickup has a gun rack and a good many have an unloaded or loaded weapon in them. Not the place to whip out your Saturday Night Special, when probably 25% to 50% of the population has the drop on you.
In the postage stamp world of suburbia the equation is different. I don't know how many of my neighbors have guns, and I'm not really looking to find out. But when a neighbor announces that they keep a gun in the house, they are off the playlist. It's not my job to police them for gun locks and proper safety conditions. Logic dictates that I must assume that they are dumbshits and any small child could find and discharge their weapon as easily as they could stuff a popsicle in the VCR.
So there you have it, I'm all for gun rights, except for your tripod mounted Bazooka, and Matthew and Andrew can't come over to play today, they're uh sick, yeah that's it...
1. I'm afraid you've been misled. The assault weapons ban has nothing to do with fully automatic weapons.
No, really. Automatic weapons were already restricted before the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994. They'll be just as restricted when the ban expires in 2004. Some discussion:
http://www.lesjones.com/archives/2003_05_20_lesjones_archive.html#200313831
Les Jones :: Thu, 2003/05/29, 08:04
2. I read your post, it was very informative.
I guess my question still is other than range practice where does a Uzi come in handy.
What if you could you could only rent or store purchase ones at ranges? Just a thought.
Kevin :: Thu, 2003/05/29, 16:52
3. Well, where does being able to legally drink 100 different kinds of alchohol come in handy? Couldn't state-run liquor stores offer just one kind?
Where does being able to legally have alternative sex come in handy? Shouldn't everyone be content with the missionary position?
Where does legally being able to have a Porsche come in handy? Shouldn't everyone be content with a Buick?
The real question is whethere there's an overriding public interest in outlawing certain kinds of weapons. If so, does it present more of a burden on law-abiding citizens than it does on criminals.
Uzis look scary to some people (they look like a great piece of engineering to me). But if they aren't any more dangerous than other kinds of guns, then why should the government be able to deny them to people like me who want one?
I happen to think that background checks are a good thing. Convincted felons try to buy guns all the time and are turned down thanks to background checks. I can even live with waiting periods within reasonable limits (certainly no more than week). But there's a difference between the government practicing due diligence and the government making blanket proscriptions with no basis in reality.
Les Jones :: Thu, 2003/05/29, 18:38
4. OK, I see your point.
As far as the danger arguement, it there a point at which one gun is more dangerous than another. If you accept, for example, that there is a public interest in legislating certain weapons what is the dividing line?
The existing feature checklist seems not to work, so I'd be curious what would be acceptable to a Uzi user.
Remember I'm a shotgun, rifle hunter, that's it so I've got no experience with the other classes and capabilities.
Kevin :: Thu, 2003/05/29, 22:23
Why Programmers Should Have Kids
OK this is a bit of a stretch, but caring for infants is sort of like debugging a program. Until they are about 2 years old they are mostly a series of problems to be solved. Baby crying, investigate the possible causes: Hungry, check; Dirty diaper, check; Sibling took their favorite toy, check, etc. It is all about getting through the day with the minimum of disturbance to their environment and your sanity. For those who are creative problem solvers dealing with an infant is for the most part a joy, especially as you find patterns and tricks that make you, but most especially your infant happy. Tickling, Baby Einstien videos, trips to the mall, etc. can all be answers to the problem of bored/crancy/fussy infants. You will get much satisfaction is solving these "problems".At around 18 months to 2 years old the rules of the game change and it is not at all like debugging a program - it is more like a battle of wills, theirs vs. yours. In this arena programmers may be overmatched by the social and manipulative skills of their children...
Driving in Boston - What $14.6 Billion Dollars Buys
As a resident of the fast growing suburbs of Northern Virginia there is little in the way of traffic that can shake a jaded occasional commuter like me. I've been in Boston for the last couple days and have noticed some improvement with the partial opening of some of the Big Dig project.My first indication that something had changed was taking a cab out of Logan to my downtown hotel. On the way through the Frozen Hitting Legend Tunnel (Ted Williams) I spotted a SUV ahead of us. I asked the taxi driver how that person was able to use the tunnel, since the last time I was in Boston ( a few weeks prior to 9/11) the tunnel was for commercial vehicles only. He told me the tunnel was now open to anyone willing to pay the $4.50 toll, and that the extension to Mass Pike was open. My head spun in amazement at the possibilities this opened up. As an employee of a outer beltway tech company I used to leave the office 3 hours before my flight. Remember this was pre 9/11 when you could get to most airport 30 minutes before your flight and be fine...
The little strech of road from Mass Pike getting onto 93, then into the Sumner Tunnel (I know it is called something like the Callahan Tunnel going towards the airport - but I call it the Sumner Tunnel in both directions) was the closest thing to a permanent gridlock situation I'd ever seen. It almost didn't matter what time you went It was always an adventure. At rush hour - forget it, but even non rush hour you just never knew what the $14.6 billion dollars of the Big Dig was going to do to your driving experience.
There is a flowery Washington Post article on the benefits now being seen by Boston commuters. What the don't tell you is that when new sections open all hell breaks loose as people careen into one another since now no one knows where they are going. Another item that seems to be missing from most reports is that all of the money spent on the Big Dig seems to have done absolutely nothing to ease congestion in downtown Boston. Sure traffic has been rerouted and nice new tunnels have replaced older elevated and non elevated roadways, but to my eye I did not notice the "LA effect" - namely throwing more lanes at the problem. Traffic jams on northbound 93 are still visible at rush hour, and 93 southbound is not done yet so I'm sure it still sucks. Much of the traffic getting onto 93 to go to Logan now uses the Mass Pike extension and the Frozen Hitting Legend Tunnel, but is that really worth $14.6 billion dollars? I think you could have paid every man woman and child in the Boston metro area to use rapid transit for the last 20 years and still have spent a lot less.
I really have no conclusion about the Big Dig, it is nice that it is providing some traffic relief, but the fact that it is sooooo expensive and will probably be out of date before it is finished is not in my opinion a lasting legacy. The lasting legacy is that this big government project was sink hole that ran over budget every time they revised the budget ( I think it started at $2 billion dollars).
One tidbit I learned from my cab driver:
The cost of the section of I-90 recently completed ($6.5 billion for 2.5 miles of road) exceed the cost of building the entire length of I-90 from Boston to Seattle.
Update: Jay Solo check's in with a local's perspective in the comments and at his blog. The last sentace of the original post now references I-90, not I-93. For the record we are both correct on the tolls. Non-comercial traffic is $3, but it will cost you $4.50 if you are in a cab. Toll information.
Drug Problem, or Pain Problem?
M. Simon has a provocative read on Winds of Change about whether drug enforcement policy can ever really be effective if what we call addiction is in fact self-treatment of undiagnosed pain.He gave me a head up a few days ago to the article in reference to my review of John Stossell addiction program on ABC. After hearing about his article, I recalled the book I read by Dr. John Sarno on healing back pain. Dr. Sarno presents a very good case that back pain and other mystery ailments are actually the brains mechanism for self-treatment of undiagnosed pain. This pain, in Dr. Sarno's view, is in fact the avoidance of physiological pain that causes the brain to "invent" the physical pain. The physical pain is real, but the causes are not physiological, but physiological - hence the do not respond to traditional medical treatments well.
If you are a back pain sufferer, see if this is you: Your back pain really gets to you on stressful days. If you are a spouse, when you come home and if it has been a shitty day, you are bound to hear about the pain in your spouses back.
The good news is that you don't have to resolve your physiological pain to make the physical pain go away. You simply have to acknowledge that your brain is trying to "protect" you from having to deal with the physiological pain by presenting physical ailments. Once you acknowledge the link, the physical pain disappears.
As to the drug problem, it is not a stretch to imagine that indulging in various narcotics is another manifestation of physiological pain avoidance that you brain is using to divert attention.
Read the Sarno book, it may help you with pain...
MSNBC - A shift to the right?
As the war winds down and networks and cable news outlets assess their relative strength, consider the case of perpetual also-ran MSNBC. Clearly the cable news outlet has the talent and resources to compete (NBC and Microsoft as owners), and they do effectively compete on the Internet - with msnbc.com regularly besting cnn.com. The cable news side of the house stocked with NBC's minor league team and featuring cameos by its heavy hitters should be doing better.Ratings for the war indicate the extent of MSNBC's problem. Fox News attracted an average of 3.3 million viewers between March 19 and April 12, up from 716,000 during the same period a year ago. CNN saw viewership increase 374 percent to 2.6 million viewers. MSNBC had the biggest viewership gain, 397 percent, but remained a distant third with an average of 1.4 million viewers.
So if MSNBC is so messed up, what is the problem? Lack of identity!
Fox, "fair and balanced" claims to the contrary, caters to the right. CNN is the choice for the left, so where does that leave MSNBC? Logically you would assume the middle, right? Well MSNBC has muddled in the middle ground and found few ratings points there. I know Fox and CNN are not exclusively right and left networks, I'm doing a lot of generalizing here, but stick with me. MSNBC made a big deal of bringing in over the hill lefty Phil (Mr. Marlo Thomas) Donahue. Given the choice of Donahue, and scheduling his "talk show" against Larry King, you could assume that the target was CNN. Given the whole "mainstream liberal media bias" theory attacking CNN should have been popular with the MSNBC troops (since they would be left leaning as well). That experiment was a disaster, and seems to have crystallized the new thinking at MSNBC. Having failed to make any headway against CNN using a left leaning approach, MSNBC is now targeting Fox with a right leaning approach.
Consider the prime time lineup from Wednesday, April 23
6:00 P.M. ET BUCHANAN AND PRESS - Senator Rick Santorum is defending his controversial comments on homosexuality today in Pennsylvania. Robert Knight, a director with Concerned Women for America, the country's largest conservative public policy women's organization joins the show. Also; a new Palestinian cabinet has now been agreed upon in the West Bank. What will this mean to the White House's plan for mid east peace? Pat and Bill will ask James Zogby from the Arab American Institute.
7:00 P.M. ET HARDBALL WITH CHRIS MATTHEWS - The Hardball College Tour Senator John McCain, our most celebrated POW, on what our troops endure at the hands of the enemy.
8:00 P.M. ET COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN - Saddam's 55 most-devious -- The startling number of cards still on the table.
9:00 P.M. ET OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM - Lester Holt anchors Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich accused the State Department of undermining President Bush's foreign policy and denounced Secretary of State Colin Powell's plan to go to Syria as ludicrous. Richard Boucher, State Dept spokesperson, guest tonight to discuss this, as well as post-war Iraq, U.N. inspections, and lifting the U.N. sanctions against Iraq. Plus, Gen. Barry McCaffrey on rebuilding Iraq.
10:00 P.M. ET SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY - Teflon Powell? How liberals manage to criticize White House diplomacy, without pointing fingers at America's TOP diplomat.
OK, we've got Buchanan and Scarborough who are farther right than most anyone on Fox. Chris Matthews may have been a Democrat at one point (and possibly still is), but he slants seriously conservative. Keith Olbermann (the Dennis Miller of newscasting) slants towards viewers with a large vocabulary, as opposed to right or left. Lester Holt's show is more of a newscast than a personality driven show. Once the media decides that the war is over (not the actual fighting per se) expect to see Holt's hour renamed as a news program like the old Brian Williams show. Add to the mix wrestler-turned-politician Jesse Ventura and controversial radio host Michael Savage, and you have a deliberate attempt to capitalize on the successful formula Fox has employed.
MSNBC coverage of Sen. Rick Santorum's remarks, as discussed on Hardball last night, plainly indicated the shift out loud. There was a lot of time spent attacking the AP reporter for the parenthetical use of the word gay, and quite a bit of defense of Santorum. Chris Matthews accused Santorum of retreating to Fox to escape the liberal media, and acknowledged that MSNBC was now as conservative friendly as Fox when he chastised Santorum for not coming to MSNBC.
What does all this add up to? After extended watching of MSNBC over the last week it appears that the new enemy is Fox and the battle is for the viewship that likes "fair and balanced" *** reporting. Will it work? I'll keep you updated.
*** Should be read as "not the mainstream liberal media bias" kind of balance
Sorry About The Mess
As part of my move, I've had to shoehorn a bunch of posts that I wanted to bring along with me from Blogspot into this site. Unfortunately they are all dated May 22, 2003 now regardless of when I wrote them. Such is the price of freedom. As I put new content up they will fade into the archives. Thanks for your patience...
Kidnapping Lands Egyptian Grandmother In Maryland Prison
This is a story that caught my eye this morning as I scanned the pages of the Washington Post. Buried in the local section was a story about a a custody feud and kidnapping landing a grandmother in prison. The story is here.The unique angle to this story is the the custody holder is the Maryland father and the mother is the kidnapper. Her escape to Egypt was made substantially easier due to the fact that her family is very wealthy, and they were active participants in the kidnapping. I did a little digging and found various articles on the history of the story. Here are the relevant articles (in reverse chronology):
Fox News story story on the kidnapping
Fox News story on the sentencing
And in a bizare twist: The mothers recent add for an Au Pair in Cairo
After reading all the articles it is really hard to feel sorry for the grandmother, who could not be bothered to obey the first rule of fugitive justice - never return to the country you are wanted in. The allure of her San Diego condo was too great. Another strange part of the story is that the mother fled the country in the middle of a custody battle, that in most cases she would have won. By kidnapping the two children she automatically lost her case. Another odd piece of the story is that the mother and grandfather seem content to let the grandmother rot in jail rather than return the kids. Given the number of international custody kidnappings it would seem prudent for Maryland officials to keep the only bit of leverage they have (the grandmother) over the mother.
From: NY Daily News - Rush & Molloy
Read The Full StoryThe '70s folkie formerly known as Cat Stevens has become a voice of moderate Islam since the the Sept. 11 attacks. But Israeli officials are charging that thousands of dollars donated by the "Peace Train" songwriter for humanitarian causes in 1988 were rerouted to the terrorist group Hamas, GQ magazine reports.
The article by Jake Tapper claims that Stevens, who changed his name to Yusef Islam in 1977, gave the money to Mouhammad Abdel- Rahman, a son of the notorious blind sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was convicted in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
"We don't think this - we know it," Israeli government spokesman Daniel Seaman tells the magazine.
Islam also helped radical cleric Sheik Omar Bakri Muhammad get a lawyer after he was jailed for saying Britain's then-Prime Minister John Major was "a legitimate target" for assassination, the mag reports.
His brother, David Gordon, says Islam has distanced himself from radicals and argues "no one ever knows where the money goes" with such charities.
That's like acting suprised that a contribution to the Greenpeace would go to fund a bunch of hippies trying to intercept a Japanese whaling boat. Cat Stevens is an ass. At least he hasn't signed the pro Castro letter, yet...
Coming Soon US Version Of UK Hit Coupling
If you are a fan of Friends you owe it to yourself to check out the UK comedy Coupling on BBC America. Do this now before the only reference you have to the Coupling series is a NBC remake of the show coming this fall.NBC president Jeff Zucker is quoted in a NY Daily News article as saying the show would be slotted for a 9:30 PM time slot. The likely candidate night is Thursday, as the show would fit as a bookend to Friends.
Coupling is the smartest comedy of the genre on the air right now. Much like Seinfeld in its heyday, but more sexually edgy. I will not bore you with plot or character summaries, I'll just implore you to seek out the original version. For those without BBC America, I know that Coupling plays on some PBS stations. Search for it on Tivo - you do have a Tivo, right?
Unfortunately the character of Jeff, played on the BBC version of Coupling by Richard Coyle will probably be a disappointment to anyone who is a fan of the British version of the show. There is almost no way to describe what he adds to the show. The best analogy I can think of is Christopher Lloyd's manic Jim Ignatowski character on Taxi, but more focused on breasts.
A Modest Proposal
There has been a lot of press recently on the after effects of the decision against the major record labels in their case against Morpheus and Grokster. Much of the speculation has centered on the record labels potential use of proactive search and destroy programs against consumers. Most of the information coming out is aimed at the casual P2P user as a form of FUD (fear, uncertainty,and doubt). The record industry wants you to believe that they are the bogeyman who can lock your computer or erase parts of your hard disks if you continue your copyright infringements. For the most part, it's all BS.Technically all of the shadowy types of measures they are leaking to the press (see the NYT article - Registration required) are already available in the form of viruses, trojans, etc. Orin Kerr at The Volokh Conspiracy has some legal advice for the record companies, and was where I saw the NYT article first. There is nothing revolutionary being discussed, rather it is that the potential threat comes from multi billion dollar conglomerates as opposed to teenage hackers. There is almost no chance of the record companies crossing the line into proactive destruction of your computer property, there is only the perception that they are able to do it. If you believe that the record companies or their agents may launch such an attack against you, your file sharing behavior will change, so the logic goes. When that day comes, the record companies will have scored a partial victory in the war against music trading. Imagine if everyone on Kazaa stops sharing, figuring the other guy would share. When that day comes the service stops being effective.
So the premise is that the record company would like to index your computer for illegal media (MP3's) and remove them. Here is my offer to the record companies. I will opt-in to a piece of software that ensures that my computer does not store ill gotten music or media under one condition: You have to pay me!
My payment, of course, would be in music or credits to CD stores, online music services, etc. Basically I agree not to participate in music trading for a payoff. I am making a rational economic decision based on an examination of the music economy as it exists at this instant. There is a continuum in the music industry between free MP3's available on the P2P networks and the $15 to $19 CD I can get in the store. If I like a single song and want to listen to it, the marketplace leaves me little choice but to go to a P2P service to get it. It's not like I can walk into the CD store and pay for one song. If on the other hand I want to get the latest Dave Matthews album, I must make another choice between spending all of the time necessary to get every track off the P2P networks or just stopping by the store and paying the full price for the CD. Given that I have a job and kids, I do have a monetary value attached to my free time. Downloading and burning a CD could take at least an hour of my time, hence in most cases I would opt for the CD purchase (especially if the price were lower). Obviously students and teenagers have a much lower monetary value attached to their free time and may be less inclined to stop using P2P.
So if I let the record companies (and/or the movie industry) certify my PC as copyright infringement free, I expect that they will pay me for that privilege. Why? Say, for example, that I "steal" 50 albums a year at a loss to the record industry of $750 per year. Keeping my PC copyright infringement free would lead me to spend some portion of that $750 dollar loss on actual recorded music. For this example lets say that by participating in the "program" I buy $250 worth of CD's that I would not have otherwise bought. At this point the record industry has made incremental revenue gains of $250 with the added benefit that I cannot share the music with millions of my closest friends. Forrester estimates the record companies are loosing $3.1 billion dollars a year to 1 million or so users of P2P systems. In that case I would be costing them about $250 a month as an average user (sound a little high to me). So if the net benefit of my departure from the P2P field would be $3250 dollars a year, what would I really like from the record companies in return? How about a cut of the profits, by way of some free songs? The exact number and frequency are really not the point, market conditions and rational self interest will determine at what point I agree to "buy" the monitoring program. Is it one song a week, month, year? There are any number of levels that will satisfy various percentages of the P2P community.
If participating in the slow demise (one PC at a time) of the P2P networks earned me the opportunity to make one legal mix CD every couple months I would probably sign on. A lot of other casual users might sign on as well.
My premise is that the record companies are only really aiming at the casual user of the P2P systems. Hardcore users with nothing but time on their hands would probably be immune to any offerings. So as a casual user myself, why do I use P2P systems? It is most certainly not to get whole albums, rather it is to make "mixes" of favorite songs or artists or genres.
Anyone who has used P2P knows that getting a whole album is usually a less than satisfying experience. Whether it is poor sample rates, missing songs, or cutoff recordings, you usually spend a lot of time to make an album copy and the result is not always a great copy. Here's the secret the the labels just flat out don't understand:
The P2P services flourish because there is no good way to get a legal compilation of songs you want from the record industry!
Face it, no one wants a lot of the songs on most CD's. If I hear a Coldplay song I like, I might want to put it on a mix CD for the gym or the car, but at no point will I actually go buy their CD or spend the time necessary to download the entire album. So if you take it as a given that I will never buy a Coldplay CD, what if the record industry had a way to make money from me if I wanted a Coldplay song? This seemed to be the idea behind Apple's entry into the music field with the IPod service. As a side note, if retail music stores stocked only the top 100 CD's and had a machine that made on demand CD's from the catalog of recorded music I suspect that they would do as well or better financially as they do now.
So if the record company is going to pay me to opt-out of P2P wouldn't that cost them a lot of money? No. If the payment was in music that I could get for free from P2P it's pretty much a zero sum game for the record company. I would not be spending money on that Coldplay song either way, and there is only a small out of pocket royalty cost to the label (which I'm sure they would negotiate out of future artists contracts). Think of it like your friendly neighborhood drug dealer giving out samples of the goods, an investment of goodwill for a potential future paying customer...
Update: Charles Hill likes my idea, I think :-).
HobbsOnline A.M. weighs in.
Bush Declares Victory - Wiggles Approve
Is is just me or did the troops in the backdop of the President's speech on the USS Abraham Lincoln the other night look like the cast of the Wiggles? Maybe you have to have really young children to see it...
The Wiggles greet the President
Am I the only one who see's this? Considering I made a Wiggles greatest hits CD for my kids it might be a personal problem.
New Hampshire Bids to Protect Wireless Access Jumping
From the Security Wire Digest:Lawmakers appear poised to make New Hampshire the first state to protect computer users who get free rides on wireless networks by passing a bill saying corporations are responsible for keeping the networks secure.
The legislation was written to protect accidental bandwidth jumping, which occurs when laptop and mobile device users using WiFi to connect to one wireless access node actually find another, private access point. But it would also legalize "war driving," in which laptop users scan airwaves for open wireless local area network (WLAN) ports.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and groups such as FreeNetworks back the legislation, which shifts the onus of keeping unauthorized users off networks squarely to their owners.
To simplify setup, WLANs are shipped with minimal security features, a fact that last year prompted the Department of Homeland security to label them a terrorism risk.
The actual text of the bill is as follows:
I.(a) A person is guilty of the computer crime of unauthorized access to a computer or computer network when, knowing that the person is not authorized to do so, he or she knowingly accesses or causes to be accessed any computer or computer network without authorization. It shall be an affirmative defense to a prosecution for unauthorized access to a computer or computer network that:
(1) The person reasonably believed that the owner of the computer or computer network, or a person empowered to license access thereto, had authorized him or her to access; or
(2) The person reasonably believed that the owner of the computer or computer network, or a person empowered to license access thereto, would have authorized the person to access without payment of any consideration; or
(3) The person reasonably could not have known that his or her access was unauthorized.
(b) The owner of a wireless computer network shall be responsible for securing such computer network. It shall be an affirmative defense to a prosecution for unauthorized access to a wireless computer network if the unauthorized access complies with the conditions set forth in subparagraph I(a)(1)-(3).
Analysis
So the gist of the bill is that WiFi networks in New Hampshire must be secured against random access. Subparagraph (3) seems to be the most important of the affirmative defenses to unauthorized access in the case of WiFi. Given the insecurity of WiFi networks (even with WEP enabled) there is sure to be some legal tests regarding the owners responsibility for securing the wireless network.
Enabling WEP should protect a network owner from affirmative defenses for unauthorized access, since an unknown user would have to use a tool like AirSnort to capture your encryption key. While it is already been proven that the security in 8011.B networks provided by WEP is easily crackable, it should protect a network owner from the "I didn't know it was wrong" defense. You cannot accidentally crack and encryption key. The more interesting case would be an open network that uses a identifying ESSID. In this case you as the war driver or casual user would have to take the proactive step of changing your ESSID to match. But what if the ESSID was PRIVATE NETWORK, and you changed yours to match. Is the network owner giving you enough warning that even though this is an open network you are not autorized in any way that could be covered in subparagrah's I(a)(1)-(3)?
My judgement is that unless you enable WEP you will have no claim to the unauthorized access provisions of the New Hampshire law. I suspect there is a wide variety of opinion on this topic...
Time For Wizbang To Shitcan Blogspot
As with other Blogspot users I am now seriously caught up in moving off of Blogspot. Over at Jay Solo's Verbosity, Jay has been mulling over a move to MT. I've been using BlogWorks XML at MediaReview an have really been enjoying it. So I'm getting ready to pack up this site and covert it over to BlogWorks. The benefits are a RSS feed, comments hosted locally, trackbacks and all the other modern conveniences like indoor pluming.I had the motivation to get involved in COTV, and wouldn't you know it that's when Blogspot slow to a crawl. Coincidence? I think not...
Posting will be lite for the next day or two while I gather up my belongings for the move...
One thing about Jay: he is working his ass off at blogging. Pay him a visit, you'll be glad you did...
Update: The link to the new Wizbang is here. I've moved the last twenty posts from the Blogspot site over.
The Rise And Fall Of A Blogger
Dawn Olsen has a great post on how to generate traffic to your blog here. Forget all the posts on other blogs on the topic, Dawn owns it now.In a nutshell her advice for traffic seekers: Sell your soul to the devil
In a nutshell her advice for the rest of us: Blog from the heart
Loved the PS about marrying Moxie. That queue would make the Matrix Revisited opening night line look short by comparison.
P.S. - I'm not that guy, just happened to be the place where Moxie kindly gave me a mention - Thanks Mox!
Tucker Carlson is a spudgun freak
In a Darwin Award worthy story of a boy, a frog, and a potato gun unfortunately the loser seems to have been the boy. Blinded by a frog shot out of a spudgun seems to me to be like amputating your hand with a butter knife...Read all about it (halfway down the page) at SpudTech. Note: I guess your really can have the business of your dreams on the Internet. Imaging that guy's high school reunion - "Yeah I'm doing great I sell spudguns on the Internet".
Especially of note in the latest article on whether the "gun" misfired were comments by bowtie wearing CNN talking head Tucker Carlson.
Tucker Carlson, commentator for CNN’s "Crossfire," agrees there could be no hang fire, but since there is no trigger guard, the button could accidentally be pressed without the person knowing it, he said. Last year he wrote an article for GQ magazine on potato guns.
Mr. Carlson has four children and several spud guns. He closely supervises their use, he said.
"I like them. They are fantastic toys, but dangerous toys," Mr. Carlson said. "They’re all capable of hurting you. I had a stockade fence in my back yard and in one afternoon, we disintegrated it."
Carnival of the Vanities - Week 35
Wizbang is a proud participant in COTV. The 35th edition of Carnival of the Vanities is at cut on the bias. A collection of the weeks top posts from a variety of blogs await your clicks. For those passing through via COTV, I hope you will poke around the Wizbang site a bit, there's lots of good stuff here :-).
Another Reason To Hate Delaware
A quick getaway to Dewey Beach in Delaware this weekend, and what do I see in the local papers? Low-digit tags fetch six-digit prices. Here's a quote from the article:Low-digit license tags are all the rage in Delaware, where some equate small numbers with big status. The fad started before World War II but has taken off in the past decade, with single-digit tags now valued at prices normally associated with home mortgages.
A No. 9 tag formerly owned by Charles Murphy of Milford was sold at auction a few years ago for a record $182,500.
"I was offered $250,000 for it when I got home," said Wilmington developer Anthony Fusco.
Apparently there is too much money floating around the small state of Delaware when a license plate is worth over $100,000.
Update: For COTV readers, here is my original rant against Delaware (I-95 tolls and incorporation fees).
Friday Joke
Several men are in the locker room of a golf club. A cell phone on abench rings and a man engages the hands free speaker-function and
begins to talk.
MAN: "Hello"
WOMAN: "Honey, it's me. Are you at the club?"
MAN: "Yes"
WOMAN: "I am at the mall now and found this beautiful leather coat.
It's only $1,000. Is it OK if I buy it?"
MAN: "Sure, ...Go Ahead....If you like it that much."
WOMAN: "I also stopped by the Mercedes dealership and saw the new
2003 models. I saw one I really liked."
MAN: "How much?"
WOMAN: "$60,000"
MAN: "OK, but for that price I want it with all the options."
WOMAN: "Great! Oh, and one more thing....the house we wanted last
year is back on the market. They're asking $950,000."
MAN: "Well, then go ahead and give them an offer, but just offer
$900,000."
WOMAN: "OK. I'll see you later! I love you!"
MAN: "Bye, I love you, too."
The man hangs up. The other men in the locker room are looking at
him in astonishment. Then he asks: "ANYONE KNOW WHO THIS PHONE BELONGS TO?"
Intuit To Discontinue Product Activation
The loud and vocal protesting worked: Intuit backed down.Did you know there was an issue? Get the background information at ExtremeTech. The product activation idea probably sounded good to Intuit at the time, but the heavy handed implementation and their lack of preparation for the shitstorm that followed doomed their tax season.
Most users were unaware of the product activation requirements until after they had bought the product. As the publicity and complaints escalated Intuit tried to defuse the situation, yet the protests continued. Intuit did not meet their sales targets in large part due to lower than forcast growth in the TurboTax brand. The potential of a an organized boycott by loyal TurboTax customers next year seem to have had an impact at the corporate suite at Intuit.
H&R; Block tried to capitalize on consumer fears in a marketing campaign for their TaxCut product that proclaimed tax software should "instill confidence. Not install controversy." Most tax software users had already purchased their software by the time the controversy erupted, so H&R; Block didn't get a ton of traction. H&R; Block was poised to go on the offensive next tax season. Some TurboTax users were advocating a boycott of all Intuit products.
Don't think that this is an isolated case. Other vendors are mulling over the whole copy protection and activation issue. In this case a noteworthy failure in implementation by a major vendor may give them cause to reconsider.
Here's how Intuit addressed the issue in their press release:
"All in all, this was a solid tax season for us," said Bennett. "We grew faster than the industry and were successful in driving customers to new, higher-end offerings, though product activation didn't perform as we'd expected. Intuit has a long heritage of doing right by customers, and some of our customers didn't have the great experience they expect from Intuit. In addition, we didn't get the revenue and profit growth we expected. Therefore, we've decided to discontinue product activation next season." Bennett noted that next year, the company would include in-product technology to unlock marketing and trial versions of TurboTax products.
Times Meeting Details
Howard Kurtz at the Washington Post has the notes from the Times staff meeting. Read his column here. You've got to believe that the Post is just having so much fun watching this unfold. Remember it was the ass kicking they got (based on Blair's falsified stories) in their own backyard on the sniper case that started all of this.
Canada Labels Mossad Informer "Terrorist"
Via Marduk's Babylonian MusingsThe Canadian government in its continuing effort to piss off every government is used to have good relations with has label a Mossad agent a "terrorist" and refused his refugee protection request.
Here's the National Post story.
Another feather in the cap of the Chrétien government.
When is a diet pill worth $153?
So I'm on a work trip to Boston, watching TV in the hotel room when I see an infomercial screaming:"When is a diet pill worth $153?"
OK I'm mildly interested in the marketing pitch. They are trying to use the price as an indicator of product value. The product they are trying to sell is Leptoprin. Never heard of it?
I did a little snooping around and found a debunking site. I have no idea who these chicks are, but 3FatChicks have debunked this product by analysing the label. The major ingredients are calcium and aspirin.
In summary if you buy this product you are paying $5 a day for an aspirin and vitamin tablet. Sounds like a bargain, right?
1. i disagree, these "3fatchicks" have done a poor job at researching the product. they also failed to actually contact the company for any information relating to the product, or research it elsewhere for that matter, all of their "evidence" is extrememly unconvincing. i wouldnt trust 3 fat women who have no luck at dieting and poor research skills. a friend of mine actually lost a substantial amount of weight from that product without any major side effects.
anonymous :: Wed, 2003/05/28, 00:28
2. Yeah, but I lost a lot of weight on Atkins, and it didn't cost me but $4 for the book. Hell even Staker is cheaper than this stuff.
Kevin :: Thu, 2003/05/29, 22:16
Bronx Student "Fisk" Wall Street
No actual Fisking, sorry - I just liked the sound of it. None the less the students at Clara Barton Elementary in the Bronx are kicking you ass in playing the market. They're also kicking Wall Streets ass. Their game portfolio is up 44%. Their strategy? Invest in companies who's products they use.The New York Post op/ed piece details some of their picks like Timberland, Ticketmaster, JetBlue, and Microsoft. I wonder if they would be interested in taking over management of my 401K?
Comments - Enough To Set A Web Master Over The Edge?
The Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that a hacked post and deletion of web site files are what lead to the Case Western shooting last week. Loner's rage burned after ruin of Web site details the Biswanath Halder's obsession with blaming Shawn Miller for a nasty comment left at his web site and deleting the web site content. Millers was apparently targeted by Halder because he was the computer lab operator who suspended Halders account privledges.Halder's problems at CWRU began in June 2000, when a visitor to his Web site left a mocking message: "Bizzy Halder is a moron. This guy makes a living out of creeping people out. From his fake hair, to his fake teeth, his whitey tighty shorts and pants. . . . this guy is LOON."
A month later, someone Halder described as a hacker deleted his Web site files. Halder was convinced the culprit was Shawn Miller. He first complained to CWRU's administration, then to the University Circle police.
Miller has denied doing anything to Halder's computer files. Miller's lawyer argued that Halder focused on Miller because the lab assistant told Halder his computer privileges were suspended.
Given the nature of blogging let's hope there are no bloggers in the same state of mind as Halder. You wouldn't want to be the one to post a comment on his site and set him off.
Five Hurt in Badger Rampage
LONDON (Reuters) - An angry domesticated badger savaged five people, leaving one man so seriously injured he needed skin grafts, and chased away pursuing police officers during a 48-hour rampage through a quiet English town.One-year-old Boris launched what experts described as unprecedented attacks after finding himself hungry, alone and frightened after being stolen or released from a wildlife visitor center where he had been hand-reared and hand-fed.
"I have been involved with badgers for 24 years and I have never heard of anything like this, nor has anyone I have spoken to," Mike Weaver, chairman of the Worcestershire Badger Society told Reuters on Tuesday.
Weaver was brought in by police to catch Boris, who had bitten the five victims' arms and legs after getting loose near Evesham, Worcestershire, in central England.
The officers themselves had been chased onto the bonnet of their car as they tried to round up Boris, who was later put down.
Weaver said badgers were notoriously powerful animals and the incident showed the folly of trying to turn wild animals into pets.
I just had to post this. Why would anyone want to domesticate a badger...
Texas Woman: "God Told Her To Kill Her Kids"
There's just no way to imagine what could be going through this woman's mind: Mother charged in Mothers Day's murder. Deanna Laney's brother-in-law (the pastor at their church) delivered the following sermon Sunday regarding the murder. The Laney family were to all appearances a normal family, and Dee did not have depression problems according to early news reports. Deanna Laney killed her two older boys, and attempted to kill her 14 month old boy. 14-month-old Aaron, was in critical condition Monday at Dallas Children's Hospital. CNN is reporting that Laney is acting erratically in prison.Is there something going on in Texas we should know about? Sounds eerily familiar to the Yates case. On the topic of the Yates case, here is an interesting take: Satan Plays Major Role in Yates Murder Trial
The trial brought to light the influence of Michael Woroniecki on the Yates family. The Unrepentant Idealist has a lengthy take on the god of Woroniecki. My favorite line:
Can the "good news" be so trite as to be reducible to "you don't have to spend eternity in hell"?
It would not be surprising to find Woroniecki (or someone like him) tied into this case as well. Otherwise what could possibly posses a mother to commit such an obscene act?
1. "It would not be surprising to find Woroniecki (or someone like him) tied into this case as well. Otherwise what could possibly posses a mother to commit such an obscene act?"
There is: look closely at her Assembly of God charismatic pastor/brother in law. He made a sermon after the incident that cleverly interwove two dictates not to discuss facts with the media amidst a load of smokescreen gobbledeegook religious niceties, the true intent of the sermon. This true to charismatic style. Michael Woroniecki did the same thing with his statement to the press (DallasNews.com). He pointed his finger at Andrea and Rusty and accused them of living a lie making them responsible, but earlier in the letter he had said if destroying his reputation would allow her to live he would be willing to allow it. Woroniecki "doesn't give a hoot" about Andrea as pointing his finger proves his first statement is "baloney."
Check out my website on Michael Woroniecki: http://hometown.aol.com/pranalite/entrance.html There is a lot more there than meets the eye.
Niek0 :: Sun, 2003/05/25, 12:44
2. Thanks for reposting... I didn't go back and get the comments from the blogspot site...
Kevin Aylward :: Mon, 2003/05/26, 11:42
I've Been Promoted
Apparently I am the Canadian Minister of Environment and Labour. I wish someone had told me earlier I would have made some capricious decisions and resigned in protest over the governments decision to lick the boots of France.As to the nasty golf course battle: I reward golfers and piss off environmentalists. I guess the other Kevin Aylward is not so bad after all even for a lefty Canadian. I too am all for more golf courses. Of course I will be asking for Clintonesqe comped membership or rounds.
Update: I have resigned. And it turns out my minister position was for the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. There may have been some ulterior motives in my resignation from the post. Oh well...
Hollywood Invades The Blogoshpere
Of course I'm exaggerating. Production companies are not likely staking out blogs to acquire the film or television rights. What with all the media convergence though where is the one as yet unsown fertile field? The blogoshpere, of course.The assignment today is to give a representative movie, mini series, series, of actor/actress to go with a blog. Another way to think about it is imagine you were pitching a blog to a studio exec. How would you describe the blog in terms of a Hollywood reference. Maybe if you were pitching the BitchGirls you might describe them as Thelma and Louise on the Internet. For the record, yes I know there are more than two BitchGirls - it was just a quick example.
I haven't thought it through extensively but I'll throw out a few examples:
Blog Movie/Series/Star
Rachel Lucas Annie Get Your Gun
Amish Tech Support Witness meets Caddyshack
InstaPundit Dan Ackroyd in the Bass-O-Matic SNL spoofs
Moxie Kim Novak in Vertigo
That's all I have for now... The InstaPundit analogy only make sense if you have been following the filthy lie campaign at IMAO.
Discuss amongst yourselves - here, there, or anywhere...
GM Should Be Felating Murdoch For Buying DirecTV
In the neverending charade that is the Congressional hearing, Democrats were trying to do a little grandstanding at the expense of the potential new owner of DirecTV (See Ruppert Murdoch Defends DirecTV Purchase).What these asshats forget is how royally GM screwed the pooch on this deal.
Just 2 years ago GM blindly accepted EchoStar's $32 billion bid for DirecTV over a smaller News Corp bid. Still Murdoch was up there close to the EchoStar bid and had been in negotiations with GM for a long time. Any clown could see that a merger of the only two players in the satellite TV market in the US would invite regulatory intervention, and to no ones surprise that is exactly what happened. GM's sell off strategy always seemed to be to find anyone available to bid up the price against Murdoch, who clearly wanted DirecTV.
Fast forward to last month and GM had pissed away billions in profit and finally sold a controlling stake in DirecTV to Murdoch for $6.8 billion. Hughes (the parent company of DirecTV) tracking shareholders are furious at the losses that they have had to absorb. GM clearly needed to cash out, but over the course of shopping the asset to everyone but the one man who really wanted it they managed to deflate the selling price massively. I think News Corp. should have let GM twist in the wind a little more, but at the end of the day they got their prize and GM is left holding the bag.
Delaware Bashing
I was all set to do a big long rant on how I detest Delaware, specifically the government of Delaware. In a nutshell they operate like the Soprano's, constantly looking for new ways to shake down outsiders. The giant scam of their "forced robbery" on Interstate 95 was my major beef. So I started listing all of my grievances against the state, and in the process of doing research on exactly how much money they make off of the 11 mile stretch of I-95 that runs through their state I found Jonathan Chait's THE CASE AGAINST DELAWARE - Rogue State at TNR. He nailed it...Here are two major points with regard to how the state of Delaware forces you to help fund their state coffers:
Altogether Delaware collects some $120 million--around 6 percent of its budget--from tolls, most of it extracted from non-Delawareans.
..
Incorporation fees... Delaware collects so many of these fees that they, along with some associated revenues, account for a whopping one-quarter of total state revenues. The revenue stream is so large (relative to Delaware's budget) that the state needs no sales tax.
Damm I hate that toll.
Running List Of BlogSpot Defectors - History
Return to the ListI started Wizbang at BlogSpot in April 2003. I quickly outgrew its limitation, which have been detailed in many other places. Steven Den Beste compares Blogger to MT and CityDesk here, and Jay Solo details some Blogger tips here.
Once I moved to my own site, I noticed that I was not alone, and that keeping up with all the changes was putting a strain on the whole community of bloggers. My belief was that a good case could be made that the defector rate was high. I have not been proven wrong! It's an impressive list.
The point here is to be able to present a case that the complete crap that the blogspot infrastructure has turned into has cost Google an enormous amount of goodwill. Some top tier blogs where hosted on their pro and free service until recently. They've pissed it away - maybe that's what happens when the company gets sold.
A a side benefit of the list is that you have a single place to look for move announcements. We don't always get them first, but we do eventually get them...
How You Can Help:
Please add movers to the comments section of the list (NOT THIS POST), and pass the permalink for the list (NOT THIS POST). Even better get the code to show the logo on your site on the Wizbang main page. Please host the graphic (and update code) at your site if at all possible. Thanks to Kate and Courtney for the code listing trick.
No moves prior to Feb 15, 2003 (the announcement date of the Google buyout) will be counted. As you are reading this we've pretty much captured all the high profile moves that occured before I first posted the list.
I will be scraping (and possibly deleting) comments in the list post as I add items found there into the list. If you don't want to leave a blog in the comments, I'll take it via e-mail and add it to the main list
Return to the List