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Yearly Archives: 2005
Best Stuff From Other Sites Dept.
JWZ found a site answering the question “How Hard Is It To Shoot Off A Lock?” Answer: Very, unless you’re using a shotgun slug.
However, we note after consulting with Senior Heathen Shootin’ & Lawyerin’ Correspondent Triple-F that the test is sort of stacked against pistols via round choice. A jacketed hollow-point or ball round isn’t meant to penetrate anything but, um, soft targets, whereupon it’s expected to expand. Rifle rounds are typically fully jacketed and NOT meant to expand, so all things being equal you’d expect such a round to go through more stuff than a bullet engineered for expansion. At the same time, all the rifle rounds used are smaller in diameter than the larger handgun rounds.
The test remains valid in a mythbusting sense, though, as movie gunmen would typically be loaded with “normal” pistol bullets like those used, not some armor-piercing round. (A bullet meant to go through stuff is less useful for stopping bad guys than a more traditional round.) We’re just curious about the corner case of a hard-alloy or fully-jacketed pistol round from a large caliber, high-velocity pistol.
Mostly because we’re very, very geeky. So geeky, in fact, that we sent email asking this version question. Watch this space for a follow-up.
Lest Ye Forget
Diebold would still like to destroy our democracy. (Mefi link)
In June, over 200 people traveled to Sacramento to voice their concerns at a public hearing before a panel of advisors to the Secretary of State on voting systems. Since then, every scheduled meeting of the Voting Systems Panel has been cancelled, and now the Secretary has simply disbanded the VSP without notice, without hearings, without any type of due process.
Trouser Immolation: the Bane of the Executive Branch
The Administration was told on 9/21/01 that there was no link between Saddam and 9/11, nor was there one between Saddam and Al Quaeda. This briefing is still classified, and they refuse to release it to Congress even as a classified document.
Because it just seems like a good idea
The Chinese Have Taken The Lead In Creepy Birth Control Methods
Ladies and Gentleheathen, condom-in-a-can.
Ew.
Papers, Please.
It’s happening again.
Dept. of Dinosaurs
Prof. Felton on DRM in General
Today on Freedom to Tinker, Prof. Felton outlines what’s wrong with even the non-rootkit DRM on CDs. Put simply, there’s no way to make such a scheme work without adding software to your computer that watches for the CD in question and keeps certain things from happening. Given the house-of-cards nature of Windows, this is a recipe for disaster even if we don’t worry about the security implications — and those are even bigger concerns. You don’t NEED to install software on your PC to play or rip a CD. Period.
It’s important to recognize that these problems are caused not by any flaws in SunnComm and Sony’s execution of their copy protection plan, but from the nature of the plan itself. If you want to try to stop music copying on a PC, you’re going to have to resort to these kinds of methods. You’re going to have to force users to use extra software that they donÕt want. YouÕre going to have to invoke administrator privileges more often. You’re going to have to keep more software loaded and running. You’re going to have to erode users’ ability to monitor, control, and secure their systems. Once you set off down the road of copy protection, this is where youÕre going to end up.
So, Remember that Play We Were Talking About?
The Chronicle review is out, reproduced in its entirety here for ease of reading:
Full Circle reveals moments of genius
By EVERETT EVANS
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
Infernal Bridegroom Productions’ lively and provocative Houston premiere of Charles Mee’s Full Circle marks the first time one of Mee’s works has been staged in Houston. So this IBP outing is doubly worthwhile, for the play itself and as an introduction to a noteworthy contemporary playwright. Mee’s plays have been described as “blueprints for events.” He bases them on earlier works, from Euripides’ Orestes to Gorky’s The Lower Depths. But Mee doesn’t write adaptations. He tosses essentials of pre-existing works into the Cuisinart of his imagination, mixing in new ideas and characters, fictional and historical. Full Circle typifies his technique. Based on Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle (and the 14th-century Chinese play that was Brecht’s original source), Full Circle retains the tale of a peasant woman fighting to keep the baby she has cared for, against the wishes of the child’s neglectful birth mother. But Mee intertwines this plot with the saga of American socialite Pamela Dalrymple (based on real-life socialite Pamela Harriman), who is in East Berlin attending a performance by the Berliner Ensemble when revolution breaks out and the Berlin Wall comes crashing down. Pamela has stepped out of the audience to become embroiled in a discussion of art and politics with Berliner Ensemble director Heiner Muller and his cast when the frenzy outside their theater overtakes them. Erich Honecker, head of East Germany’s communist regime, flees with his wife, who leaves her baby in the arms of hapless student revolutionary Dulle Griet (a figure Mee has imported from Dutch folklore and the paintings of Pieter Bruegel the Elder!). Kindhearted Pamela takes Dulle Griet and the baby under her wing, and they flee from officers determined to confiscate the infant (apparently fearing Honecker’s heir somehow will lead to continuity of his regime). In their picaresque adventures, the women keep crossing paths with American tycoon Warren (based on Warren Buffett), who becomes Pamela’s love interest. Mee has written that he does not care for the traditional “well-made play” and well-made Full Circle certainly ain’t. It’s unwieldly, often slap-dash, sometimes self-indulgent. It’s also spottily brilliant, full of originality, surprises, mordant satire, pungent absurdity and feeling. I don’t mind a play that tries my patience a bit here and there, as long as it pays off — as Full Circle does time and again. Director Anthony Barilla captures the work’s freewheeling spirit and questioning irreverence in a deftly paced, vividly staged production. A scene in which Pamela and Dulle Griet teeter across a perilous rope bridge, represented by two lengths of rope held by extras, demonstrates just how much suspense Barilla and his cast can summon through skilled use of a simple device. Tek Wilson, whom longtime Houston theater goers will remember as a mainstay of Stages’ early seasons, does her best work with a delightful portrayal of Pamela, seemingly superficial and lah-di-dah, yet revealing layers of warmth, wit, compassion and surprising resourcefulness. A.J. Ware’s wise, caring and resilient Dulle Griet represents an earthier sort of womanhood. Paul Locklear is inspired and mercurial as Heiner Muller, especially in a marathon monologue that dares us to decide it has overstayed its welcome, but keeps redeeming itself with unexpected insights. Locklear’s delivery is a triumph of sardonic brinkmanship. Tamarie Cooper is delectably rotten as the child’s real mother. Jeff Miller makes a droll yet somehow sensible Warren, absurdly spouting optimistic aphorisms. Indeed, everyone in IBP’s busy troupe comes through with banners flying. With direction and acting that enter wholeheartedly into the revolutionary spirit of Mee’s unique material, Full Circle emerges as IBP’s strongest all-around effort since its memorable 2003 mounting of Ionesco’s Rhinoceros.
Dept. of Weird Heathen Dreams
So, last night I dreamed I had a job working with a partner luring small bears out of vending machines by stuffing magazines into the product-drop slot. If done right, the bear would come bounding out of the slot, and we’d catch him. (It’s not clear if the bears were reading the magazines, or what.) Rolling Stone worked the best, but we didn’t have many of those, so we horded them. Ladies’ Home Journal was useless. My partner kept wanting to try the National Review, but for reasons that didn’t survive the transition to waking life, I insisted that wouldn’t work at all.
Whisky. Tango. Foxtrot.
As it happens, not EVERYTHING they do in Redmond sucks.
Microsoft will open its Office file formats to all comers; they’re being submitted to Ecma for documentation.
Of course, around here we still prefer text files, so there you go.
Just how much ass will McCain kiss?
Pandagon points out he’s in bed with the CCC-backing son of George Wallace in Alabama even as we speak. McCain, you disappoint us at every turn. It’s often said a man is known by the company he keeps. What does McCain’s choice of company tell us about his principles?
Alfred Anderson, 1896 – 2005
The Guardian reports that the last known veteran of the 1914 Christmas Truce passed away today.
God Bless Texas
The Heathen Adopted Homestate has filed a civil suit against Sony BMG over the rootkits, as they violate a state anti-spyware law. Said law provides for fines of up to $100K per violation.
More on DRM, and why distribution != copying
Pamela Jones over at Groklaw nails it. Read this.
The King Is Dead
BoingBoing reports that Link Wray, the king of rock-and-roll guitar, is dead at 75.
Dept. of Career Choices
You know, it really comes as no surprise to us that a 75-year-old jewel thief might have an interesting story to tell. (Widely blogged today.)
Mossberg Smackdown
No, not the shotgun; the columnist. Influential Wall Street Journal tech writer Walt Mossberg explains just how dumb the new Sprint music store is. Case in point: the songs cost $2.50, and are very restricted in use — this compared to Apple’s iTunes Music Store, which has a universal $0.99 price point and fewer use restrictions. Sprint’s songs won’t play on an iPod at all, so we’re sure this is just gonna take the world by storm.
AP on the Sony Debacle
Via Yahoo:
BOSTON – It’s been the better part of a decade since Napster and other free song-sharing services began scaring the daylights of the music industry. And still recording companies can’t find an effective anti-piracy technology to save their hides. The fact that so-called digital rights management might always be a doomed experiment became painfully clear with the fiasco that erupted after Sony BMG Music Entertainment added a technology known as XCP to more than 50 popular CDs. After it was discovered that XCP opened gaping security holes in users’ computers — as did the method Sony BMG offered for removing XCP – Sony BMG was forced to recall the discs this week. Some 4.7 million had been made and 2.1 million sold. Factor in lawsuits that Sony BMG could face, and it’s worth wondering whether the costs of XCP and its aftermath might even exceed whatever piracy losses the company would have suffered without it. That’s not even accounting for the huge public relations backlash that hit Sony BMG, the second-largest music label, half-owned by Sony Corp and half by Bertelsmann AG. “I think they’ve set back audio CD protection by years,” said Richard M. Smith, an Internet privacy and security consultant. “Nobody will want to pull a ‘Sony’ now.” Phil Leigh, analyst for Inside Digital Media, said the debacle shows just how reluctant the labels are to change their business model to reflect the distribution powers — good and bad — of the Internet. He believes that rather than adopting technological methods to try to stop unauthorized copying of music, record companies need to do more to remove the incentive for piracy. “The biggest mistake the labels are making is, they’re letting their lawyers make technical decisions. Lawyers don’t have any better understanding of technology than a cow does algebra,” Leigh said. “They insist on chasing this white whale.” It’s easy to understand why the music industry wishes songs could magically be prevented from being ripped from CDs and shared freely. … [But] “It’s an arms race that the content owner can never win,” said Yankee Group analyst Michael Goodman. “In order to make it usable, you also have to make it beatable. If you really truly want to lock it down, it is possible to lock it down. But it is so onerous on the user that they’d never want to use it in the first place.”
What’s Google doing with all that dark fiber?
Cringely thinks he knows. (Via /.)
In which we wonder geeky things
At Heathen central, we have a large jar full of pocket change. It takes a year or so to fill up, at which time we cash it in and have a free couple hundred bucks. Usually, we use the change-counting machines in grocery stores — I mean, who’s got time to count all that change by hand?
Anyway, this morning we wondered how close an estimate of the jar’s value based only on (a) the distribution of each denomination of coin (i.e., in circulation) and (b) the known weight of each coin denomination might be, and further where we might get those data points so that we could make a guess before we turn it in. Anybody care to guess how close we’ll come?
Lies & Lying Liars, etc.
Atrios: What They Knew; Atrios quotes Bob Graham:
In February 2002, after a briefing on the status of the war in Afghanistan, the commanding officer, Gen. Tommy Franks, told me the war was being compromised as specialized personnel and equipment were being shifted from Afghanistan to prepare for the war in Iraq — a war more than a year away. Even at this early date, the White House was signaling that the threat posed by Saddam Hussein was of such urgency that it had priority over the crushing of al Qaeda. […] At a meeting of the Senate intelligence committee on Sept. 5, 2002, CIA Director George Tenet was asked what the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) provided as the rationale for a preemptive war in Iraq. An NIE is the product of the entire intelligence community, and its most comprehensive assessment. I was stunned when Tenet said that no NIE had been requested by the White House and none had been prepared. Invoking our rarely used senatorial authority, I directed the completion of an NIE […] Under questioning, Tenet added that the information in the NIE had not been independently verified by an operative responsible to the United States. In fact, no such person was inside Iraq. Most of the alleged intelligence came from Iraqi exiles or third countries, all of which had an interest in the United States’ removing Hussein, by force if necessary.
Ha!
Nobody sane thought Alabama was really going to beat Auburn this year, but if the Tide can’t win, we’re still happy as long as Tennessee loses. To Vanderbilt.
The Volunteers (4-6, 2-5) will finish without a winning record and not be eligible for a bowl for the first time since 1988, another crushing blow in the worst season in coach Phillip Fulmer’s 14-year tenure.
Coolest. Powerbook. EVAR.
We’re not sure we’d laser-etch our new PowerBook, but this one sure looks awesome.
About that 22-hour flight
There’s been some news buzz lately about the nonstop flight from Hong Kong to London put on by Boeing to demo a new long-range plane. When we first heard about it, we opined to Mrs Heathen that presumably that was the distance over land, i.e. flying west out of Hong Kong. In fact, we were wrong (we blame Mississippi public schools).
Salon’s Ask the Pilot has a great piece on this today. Hong Kong to London is not a new route, and in fact typically takes more like 12 hours — and, as we expected, goes in a westerly direction, not east over two oceans (for reasons discussed below, using either basic compass point is a gross oversimplification, but you get the idea). This new Boeing flight is notable not because it went from Hong Kong to London, but because it took the long way around as a distance demo (and in so doing covered something like 11,664 nautical miles, a commercial record). As the world is “only” about 21,600 nautical miles around, a flight of better than half the planet’s circumference means any two cities are now easily connectable by the Boeing jet.
Of course, connectable and financially feasible are two different things; plenty of routes are theoretically possible, but lack passenger volumes to justify them. No airline will be adding the HKG-LHR route Boeing used, but there are 10K+ routes that might make sense. The Pilot (linked above) has more.
Also, if, like us, you are amused by the prospect of considering whether east or west is the best route for these long flights, you’ll probably also enjoy his earlier discussion of Great Circle navigation. Remember, our mental images of the world are utterly broken, since almost everyone studies flat maps. These work if you’re driving, or flying from Houston to Dallas, but when you start covering thousands of miles the straight line routes mapped on globe start differing dramatically from those foolishly plotted on planar representations thereof. (For example: the route from New York to Hong Kong goes not west or east but north.)
It’s only a matter of time before someone makes a Daredevil joke
Slashdot is running a piece on a New Scientist story reporting that researchers have created mice without fear.
Have Fun
Untitled States will allow you to create amusing signs of your own.
(Here’s a nasty one we made we’re too nice to actually post here.)
The Best of All Possible Worlds
It has come to our attention that there exist not one but TWO “Bacon of the Month Club” offerings on teh Intarwub. To Wit:
You know, a traditional gift-giving season is upon us; perhaps you should show your appreciation for certain snarky web sites by sending us bacon.
Dept. of Truly Awful Marketing
Granted, all consumer marketing is garbage and lies shoveled into the media in a foolish attempt to generate demand for crap people don’t need. Still, it’s hard to imagine something more hamhanded and absurd than Hitachi’s The Hard Drive Is The New Bling.
Infernal Bridegroom Does It Again
Last night, Mrs Heathen and I took in the preview for IBP’s newest production, “Full Circle,” by Chalres Mee.
You really gotta see this thing. It’s fucking brilliant, almost “Medea”-level great. Certainly better than any other show you might consider seeing in Houston. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first production of Mee’s work in Houston, so you’ll also be ahead of the art curve by coming to see it. Some other fine bits:
- Actors speaking hilariously awful fake Chinese;
- A revolving stage (no, really);
- Marxism (the Karl kind; it takes place during the fall of the Berlin Wall);
- Marxism (the Groucho kind; the cops are hilarious);
- Literal translations of Beatles songs;
- Gratuitous use of Journey songs;
PLUS THREE LIVE BOOBS!
We’re not kidding – and all for FIFTEEN BUCKS. What’s not to love?
Logistics:
FULL CIRCLE by Charles Mee,
presented by Infernal Bridegroom Productions at The Axiom (2425 McKinney)
Opening Night Thursday, November 17 — for only $5.99!
Fridays & Saturdays through 12/17, plus a pay-what-you-want on Monday 12/5.
RESERVATIONS 713 522 8443
Chapter Six Million of “Our Lawmakers Understand NOTHING About Technology”
TechDirt has a great post explaining YET AGAIN (a) how technologically ignorant congresspeople tend to be and (b) why DRM is pretty much doomed to failure.
Dept. of What You Can Get Us For Christmas
In NO way are these acceptable.
Sony Roundup Part II
Also from BoingBoing; this time, even the government’s calling bullshit:
The Department of Homeland Security’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team advises that you never install CD DRM: “Do not install software from sources that you do not expect to contain software, such as an audio CD.”
Geekiest. Earrings. EVAR.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
We wonder what percentage of the Heathen would know this question from Jeopardy.
Why we didn’t think of this when we were single?
BoingBoing points to a story about a Craigslist participant who fixes computers in exchange for sexual favors.
Terribly Inappropriate Things We Did Not Say On a Bar Association Reference Check
- “Frankly, we think that whole animal-cruelty thing was blown way out of proportion. That monkey had it coming.”
- “He sure looks great now that he’s had his meth-mouth fixed.”
- “M___, or Melinda as he now prefers to be called…”
- “Tell him he still owes me for the poppies.”
- “Isn’t he dead?”
The Sony thing WILL NOT DIE
BoingBoing reports that a clever guy managed to use the DNS system to determine roughly how widespread Sony’s malware is. The answer is perhaps best expressed by “HOLY SHIT!” If he’s right, it means Sony has infected a huge number of networks, many of them government or military in nature.
Really, really cool.
David Cross Speaks Truth
The pinheads at Fox have cancelled Arrested Development despite its laundry list of awards and accolades. Cast member David Cross has a bit to say about it in this set outtake. (local copy.)
Holy Crap
Freedom To Tinker has examined the uninstaller Sony has offered for download to “undo” their rootkit shenanigans, and discovered it is very very dangerous; details to follow. Can Sony just not do ANYTHING right?
“The End of News?”
It’s a long article (NYROB, so that comes with the territory), but it’s worth reading.
Things you were pretty sure you’d never see me say on this site.
“Ok, who wants to explain statistics to me?”
No, seriously. I used to be a big math geek (though I was never a Mathlete). I expect to be able to understand these sorts of things; I just never got around to bothering with statistics. One concept that’s come up again and again that I have only just now looked up is standard deviation.
I’ve always understood, on a basic level, that standard deviation is a way of measuring how spread out your data is, on average. There are actually two ways to look at this, it turns out. There’s variance, which is the average of the squares of the distance to the mean of your data (which glosses over the difference between “mean” and “expected value,” which is also something I don’t understand), and standard deviation, which is the square root of the variance.
This is where I get somewhat confused, however, because the articles linked above mention that there are TWO formulae or methods for getting variance and standard deviation: one used when you’ve got the whole population (and these formulae are the basic versions you can derive from what I’ve written above), and one you use when you’ve only got a sample. Why is this?
The differences seem big; using Excel and the set (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), the variance for the whole population is 2, and the St Dev is 1.41.
We get there simply: the average is 3, so we add (3 – 1)^2 + (3 – 2)^2 + (3 – 3)^2 + (4 – 3)^2 + (5 – 3)^2 and get 10, and then divide the lot by the number of values (5) to get 2. The square root of 2 is 1.41.
However, Excel tells me that the sampled variance is 2.5, and the sampled St Dev 1.58. So I ask you, lazy Heathen, if someone might enlighten me. (Does it have something to do with assuming a normal distribution?)
Dept. of Excellent, Achewood Division
Achewood has a Wiki of its own as well as a fairly comprehensive Wikipedia article. (Via — and we’re not making this up — TotalFuckingArmageddon.)
Lest you forget: Who lies more than Sony Entertainment?
This Administration, particularly on the point of torture and detainee homicide.
Sony Roundup
BoingBoing has this roundup of the Sony rootkit fiasco for your enjoyment. Remember: don’t put a Sony CD in your computer.
Fred’s Still Slamming Left Behind, and It’s Beautiful
From a recent installment wherein he points out (again) how bizarrely wrong about just about everything LeHaye and Jenkins are, and how poorly their narrative holds together:
This disregard for continuity makes it difficult to read Left Behind as a single, coherent narrative. It forces the reader to regard the text as a collection of disparate, discrete stories — some of which apply to one set of storylines, others of which apply to another set. This is, of course, exactly how dispensationalists read the Bible. (It’s a complex, difficult system, but it allows you to pretend that the Sermon on the Mount doesn’t apply to you.)
Freedom To Tinker Reminds Us That Sony Is Still Unworthy of Trust
While Sony has promised to stop using the rootkit stuff for a while, Alex Halderman over at Freedom to Tinker points out that they’re still lying bastards who want to put spyware on your computer without your consent.
See, many Sony title use something called MediaMax that (a) installs on the sly and (b) lies to the user — ie, the OWNER OF THE COMPUTER AND CD — in the process. Furthermore, Sony provides no way to remove this software.
Remember:
- If you have to run windows, disable AUTORUN. If you turn this off, software can’t get automatically installed from a CD without your consent.
- NEVER install software from a music CD. There’s no reason to do so. If it’s a real music CD, your computer can play it with no extra programs. If it won’t play, take it back.
- If at all possible, consider moving to a more secure platform. While Sony does try to infect Macs, this can only happen if the user actively runs the Sony spyware. There’s been no real attempt to control Linux machines at all.