Current Events

In a previous article, I complained about spammers who were pretending to collect funds for tsunami victims. Turns out, the practice became widespread quite quickly. Now comes some good news. At least one of the bastards has been caught.

It's been an awful long time since I've been upset or offended by a spam message. I recently received a spam from one of the Nigerian fraud spam gangs. The advance fee fraud these scammers run typically prey on the greedy and stupid. This time, however, they were pretending to be the Red Cross, collecting funds for tsunami victims. I hope there is a special room in hell reserved for these evil people.

As I watch the ongoing canonization of Ronald Wilson Reagan, I notice a feeling coming over me that I recognize. It's one that strikes every December, as I watch people celebrating an event that I do not observe. I try to be respectful of others who may hold different beliefs, but that soon gives way to irritation. I'd be glad to give them their space if they'd just show some small regard for those of us who do not share their beliefs.

I have a lot of genuine sorrow for his passing. I lost a grandfather to what may have been Alzheimer's, and it was terrible. That human tragedy doesn't change the fact that his administration was responsible for some horrible things, such as Iran-Contra and record deficits that persisted 'til the turn of the century. I'm perturbed by those, particularly in the news media, who try to whitewash the record.

What's worse than a Florida-style election that degrades into a recount quagmire? How about an election that can't be recounted at all?

When it comes to election integrity, "just trust us" is not a viable strategy. Yet, that's the direction we are headed. Throughout Texas, including Travis County, we are deploying electronic voting machines (that's good!) that lack a verifiable audit trail (that's scary!).

I usually don't write about pop culture, but I am so disgusted with last night's Academy Awards I'm making an exception. It's not that I didn't like Lord of the Rings, but give me a break. I think a sack of shit would've won if it had "Frodo's Poop" scribbled on it.

I'm mostly irked about that Annie Lennox song from LOTR winning Best Original Song. I remember when it played at the end of the movie, I felt like I was being whapped on the head by a soggy wooden club.

The Belleville Rendez-Vous (Real Audio sample here), on the other hand, was a delightful romp, which I thought deserved to win. Les Triplettes de Belleville was a marvelously fun movie, and the music played a large part in that. (There was no dialog.)

I'm tickled that Mitch and Mickey were nominated. Of course, Kiss at the End of the Rainbow didn't deserve to win any more than Blame Canada did, but it was nice to see it recognized.

This is terrible. My faith in Hollywood is shaken.

Last week offered yet another reality check on how disconnected webloggers can be from the real world. Last Friday was Fair and Balanced Friday. I participated along with scores of other bloggers. It was a very, very big thing in the ... *roll eyes* ... blogosphere.

But out in the real world, nobody much cared. A Google News search on the phrase fair and balanced locates 470 articles. Refining the search to just those articles dealing with the Friday event yields zero.

So the bloggers patting themselves on the back about their grand protest may want to consider that maybe nobody noticed. Particularly Fox.

Thank you for visiting my humble weblog. I know there are something like 50 or 60 other blogs on the Interweb you could be reading instead of mine. I am grateful that you've decided to pass over the A-list bloggers, and reach way down to the D-list to find my blog.

To bring you a more optimal user experience, I am implementing a new site policy. From here on forward, this site will present a fair and balanced weblog.

Really, it's going to be the same old crap we've always done, but now we're gonna slap a fair and balanced label over it. We hope the change makes your visits here even more enjoyable.

Link: Recording Industry To Begin Collecting Evidence And Preparing Lawsuits Against File "Sharers" Who Illegally Offer Music Online

Today, the Dixie Chicks rewarded the fans who stood by them by throwing them to the wolves. Here is the quote they lent to the RIAA press release:

It may seem innocent enough, but every time you illegally download music a songwriter doesn't get paid. And, every time you swap that music with your friends a new artist doesn't get a chance. Respect the artists you love by not stealing their music. You're in control. Support music, don't steal it.

If they had any respect for their fans, this is what they would have said:

It may seem innocent enough, but every time you illegally download music a songwriter doesn't get paid. That's why we are breaking ranks with the big record labels and calling for "compulsory song licensing." That way you can continue to enjoy the music you want, at a fair price, and the musicians will get their proper reward.

Rather than standing for what's fair, they want to turn legions of music listeners into criminals. Just so you know, I'm ashamed they are from Texas.

This week I saw the first positive sign that relief from this recession may be ahead. I didn't find it on CNBC or the Wall Street Journal. I saw it on Ebay.

During the boom, Internet companies were wasting fistfuls of money on Aeron chairs and pallets of 1U and 2U servers. When these companies went bankrupt, their only assets were piles of crappy code, desk chairs and rack servers. The code ended up flushed down the toilet--along with the employees. The hard assets, however, ended up on Ebay.

When I looked several months back, there were some great deals to be had on rackmount servers. You could find tons of them on Ebay. It must have been a fearsome sight to server manufacturers: all of these computers available for a fraction of the cost of the unsold machines in their warehouses. In fact, I had a theory that manufacturers were pushing the blade form factor in a cynical attempt to make people think 1U and 2U servers were obsolete.

When I checked last week, I was surprised to discover the glut had dried up. There was little used equipment to be had. About all I could find were Intel ISP1100 barebones chassis servers, which are fairly lightweight (old socket 370, 100MHz bus) and somewhat awkward (no video, no CD).

This means that server purchases are going to have to go to the manufacturers rather than the used market. It also suggests somebody out there has been buying servers. This could mean recovery is ahead, and once technology spending picks up, the recovery will accelerate.

I'm doing some work for EFF-Austin, helping to support the Texas Open Source Software bill, SB1579. Last night, I spent some time on the state Ethics Commission web site, looking over their list of registered lobbyists. I'm trying to determine which tech companies that have an interest in OSS might have a legislative presence, and, therefore, might be helpful.

I found a few, but I'll tell you what I found more of. The healthcare industry, the insurance industry, and--man oh man!--SBC Communications have so many freaking lobbyists, it makes my head spin. There truly is a strong correlation between evil, profiteering industries and size of legislative presence.

I believe lobbyists (or lobsters, as a friend in the HRO calls them), serve a useful purpose. It's important for constituencies--both businesses and interest groups--to help legislators understand how proposed laws and regulations affect them. Some of these industries, however, have amassed such overwhelming armies, it's clear the goal is not to inform but to conquer.

There are 188 people registered with the State of Texas to lobby on behalf of Southwestern Bell, SBC Communications, or one of their subsidiaries.

No wonder homeowners are getting screwed so badly on insurance, patients and doctors are getting the shaft, and Ma Bell gets whatever it wants. I feel sick and I feel dirty, and I want to go take a shower.