Misc. Ramblings

Speaking of circles, one has to wonder about the management at Friendster. They recently fired an employee for, apparently, blogging (see this site for additional links) that they had switched from JSP to PHP. If this is true, and I don't have any reason to doubt it, you have to wonder what closet they keep their brains in because they surely aren't walking around with them.

Even if you take it at face value, it's not like you can't tell they've switched to PHP since the extensions on their pages changed. So if a cluefull person knows of the change, can you still claim it is a trade secret? I...don't...think...so.

In any case, if you are a member of Friendster, you may want to re-evaluate your use of that service and take a look at one of their competitors (see this site that lists a few alternatives).

</bush>

Aloha!

Not that I'm going to rush out and buy a high definition TV set but I've begun to research what's out there and what's around the corner. One of the things that I find interesting is the swing back to projection TVs.

I think it was the early 1970s or so when the first large screen consumer TVs came out (e.g., the Henry Kloss designed Advent VideoBeam TV) and all of them were projection models. At the time, these things were huge and most had three light sources (one each for red, green, and blue) that were carefully aimed and focused at special, highly reflective white screens.

So now comes electronics giant Sony to turn projection TV on its head with a black screen. The Sony screen supposedly adsorbs all light except pure red, green, or blue. The theory about this is to absorb the random ambient light that most rooms have, especially during a sunny day, and reflect back only the light from the projector. Hence, contrast should be improved giving deeper, richer colors even with high ambient light.

Whether this screen technology actually works I can't say. But if it does, it would bring us back full circle.

MovableType 3.1 is out. The long awaited update to version 2.6x includes the choice between static or dynamic page functionality, sub-categories, post scheduling, and other new features. As usual, the thundering herds will probably be at the trough (although its a small 1.7MB file so it won't take long to get once you're there). Note, you have to be registered (free) but it will probably be worth it to do so. I know I will heading off to download it right after I finish uploading this post. Note also that the free version includes no support and is set-up for one author and no more than three weblogs. If you need more power (Scotty, we...need...more...power!) you have to pay $69.95 for the five author unlimited weblogs version.

I’ve found a site with many different WordPress themes. Alex King has done a great job of creating some of his own and gathering the best from others in one place. If you are using WordPress and are interested in changing the look of your site, by all means visit Mr. King’s site.

I’m starting with one called “Blue Fade” that I will, over time, edit to match my own taste.

I’ve tried fixing whatever is broken in MT 3.1 but have not been successful. So I decided to temporarily load something else so I could at least get a post out.

So, what I’ve installed is Wordpress. I could not believe it when they said their install would take only five minutes and I was right. It took less. Not only doesn’t it matter what directory you install the application, you don’t have to worry about permissions or paths. All you have to do is know your database configuration (username, database name, password, and if needed - hostname) and that’s it.

The install ran without problems and here we are.

Having said that, “here” is looking a little sparse and I still need to figure out how to display links but that will come. Of course, I’m still worried that it dynamically creates pages so if the database ever becomes corrupted, lost, or hit by aliens joy riding on a Saturday night all will be lost.

Oh well, I gotta go…

Aloha!

Microsoft has launched their iTunes-like music store (see it here). It’s not much to look at and certainly is not as user friendly as iTunes but I guess it’s a start.

Having said that, the same artists that aren’t available on iTunes (e.g., the Beatles and Led Zeppelin) aren’t on MSN either. In addition, MSN is charging the same as iTunes. So, other than downloading in a different format, MSN seems to be on the short side of the ledger.

It seems to me that if MSN wants to get a larger share of the business, in an environment in which they are not the leader, they have two choices: sell at a lower price or provide a better user experience (Did he just say “user experience"? -ed.). Since MSN has historically done everything except lower prices (removing functionality, yes. Prices, no.), they had better get going on re-doing the interface.

For example, they provide a short clip of a song so you can preview it before deciding to buy. Only, they don’t make it obvious how to hear it. Even when you click on the song, nothing appears to be happening even though the clip is in fact being downloaded. They need to give the customer some visual feedback that indeed, something is happening (especially on slow dial-up accounts).

Oh, by the way, depending on what browser you are using, you may in fact get no response when you click on a song. I tried using Firefox and Opera and couldn’t get either to work but using MS IE did (after I added the URL as a trusted site).

Another example: you shouldn’t have to scroll around the screen to find navigation links. They have some links at the bottom of the page that go to complete listings of, for example, the most popular songs and new albums. This means you have to scroll down to use them (unless you are running on a screen resolution higher than the 1280 X 1024 I’m running). This assumes, of course, you hang around long enough to discover the links. Many people won’t because they don’t have the time to waste.

In addition, upon clicking one the links, IE blew up. After restarting I tried to see how I was supposed to create an account. I figured I would try “My Account.” I clicked on it and was taken to page saying I had scripting disabled so I had to go through a different process by clicking on a button marked “Continue.” So I clicked on the button and was taken to what looked like a login screen. It asked for my email address and below it was a box for something. I assume it was for my password but there wasn’t anything saying one way or another. Since it looked like my Hotmail/.Net Passport would work (they had a small .Net/Passport graphic) I tried that. Nope, no joy. In fact, since all there was on page was the two boxes, plus a small check box I’m not sure how I’m supposed to setup an account. Trying to click on “Buy” just took me to the same place.

On the bottom of the home page was a link to Customer Service so I tried that. From there was a link to creating an account. Okay, but what I see there isn’t what I see when I try to create an account. I assume again it’s because I have IE running with no “features” enabled. I checked out the system requirements page and found I must enable cookies, ActiveX controls, navigation across domains, and accept the installation of something called MSN Music Assistant (requires that something called “Background Intelligent Transfer Service” is enabled). And, of course, you would need to be logged in with Administrative rights to allow the background installation of MSN Music Assistant.

From this, as far as I can tell, MSN wants you to run only IE and only with very little security enabled. I’m not going to go into a long rant about just how insecure IE is and how even CERT recently took the unprecedented step of recommending people think about using, as one of several possible steps towards higher security, another browser. But if MSN wants any money out of me, they better try creating a site that is standards compliant and doesn’t require me to use insecure procedures to access it.

I then tried downloading Microsoft’s new Media Player 10. It’s a 12MB download and took a little less than 20 seconds to download. After installing, it appears using the Media Player is a much better way of listening to music on the MSN site. But, when I tried to buy some music, I ended up at the same page with the two boxes that I saw before. And as before, I was not able to create an account. Sigh.

The only good thing I can say about the MSN site is that I heard a couple new songs that I wanted so I fired up iTunes and bought them there.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

I use HTML-Kit as my HTML editor mostly because of a plug-in called Tidy (recently updated, fixing some bugs that have bothered me for years. The download is separate from HTML-Kit.). This plugin does an HTML syntax check and automatically brings, as much as possible, the HTML into compliance with the W3C standards.

While HTML-Kit is not designed to accommodate entire websites, it does a pretty good job of editing one page at a time and worked just fine with MovableType.

Now that I’m using WordPress, I see that it (WordPress) takes the output from HTML-Kit and inserts a <BR> tag at every line break. This does nasty things to the HTML. I found out how nasty when I imported my MT posts into WordPress. For now, you can take a look at some of the old posts that I imported from MT and see broken links and other strange artifacts caused by this behavior. If anyone has any ideas on how to do my editing in HTML-Kit and then copy the text into WordPress without having additional line breaks but in let me know.

I think the best thing to do is delete the MT posts and just link to the static files which MT created. As you may have noticed, I am a big fan of static files as they will always be there no matter what happens to the database itself (which is not the case with WordPress).

I’ve hand edited a few of the old pages but have decided that it’s not worth my time to go through the hundreds of old posts to correct these problems. If anyone knows of a good solution let me know. Otherwise, I’m going to eventually delete the imported posts and just link to the MT archives.

Marc Andreessen said it best when he said; “In a fight between a bear and an alligator, what determines the victor is the terrain.” So it will be interesting to see who wins this race between NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon and Formula One champion Michael Schumacher in the 2004 Race of Champions in France.

Aloha!

If the government comes to your house saying they want to borrow your land for military exercises and that they will clean up the land afterward - run, run for your life. The military needs to be ready for the missions set before them. One way towards that goal is to practice using “live” ammunition. The problem with using things that go boom is sometimes they don’t. That is, the artillery or mortar shells sometimes don’t explode and instead embed themselves in the ground. Hence, when it comes time to clean up the land and return it to the owner, well, all I can say is don’t tread too heavily upon the land.

I’m in the process of re-installing MovableType 3.1. I think I know why the install didn’t work the first five times I did it. It wasn’t the permissions nor the paths. The 500 error I got was because the Perl scripts couldn’t find the files they were trying to execute. Why? Because I had set my FTP program (WS_FTP) to convert all file names to lower case letters. I do this because I standardize all file names that way to be consistent.

In a Unix based operating system like FreeBSD, case is important. I don’t want to jinx things so I’ll say no more until I have MT up and running.

Please remember to bookmark my current.html page as that will always point to the current post. Thanks for your understanding.

Aloha!

First up, version 3.11 of MovableType (hereinafter MT) is out. It fixes a bunch of installation bugs and other things found in version 3.1. Unfortunately, as of yesterday, the instructions don't say how to install the upgrade over a 3.1 installation.

Having now used both WordPress (hereinafter WP) and MT, I think I can do a short comparison. WP's install is much more robust and easier to do. This is not surprising given rival MT has a business designed to do the installations. Hence, MT has an economic incentive to make the install as difficult as possible so you will pay them to do it for you. WP has no such incentive so their install runs smoothly.

Once installed, WP appears to be less polished then MT. WP apparently assumes you will do all your writing in their GUI. Hence, as a feature, their interface automatically inserts line breaks. Unfortunately, if you use another editor to prepare your posts, and then copy the results into WP, it will insert line breaks where it chooses. Even if that is in the middle of a tag. Inserting a <br> tag within another tag disables the tag. This is not a Good Thing. MT has an option to disable this function but, as far as I can see, WP does not.

In addition, plugins written for WP are still in the early stages of development (as is WP itself). So, you should not be surprised if changes in WP break certain plugins or if the plugins themselves don't work. For example, a port of MT-Blacklist (an anti-comment spam plugin) for WP doesn't work. Another plugin, one to automatically close comments after a certain number of days, actually closes the database to all changes (making it impossible to login or out of WP nor to add any new comments at all).

I assume these kinds of problems will be corrected and that WP will become more polished and usable. Until then, I'll continue to use MT.

Aloha!

For those two people out there who are interested in government accounting comes this article from the National Review that tries to explain why out national debt is actually tens of trillions of dollars more than the Administration is willing to say it is.

It's called cash accounting and massively distorts the true economic consequences of increasing spending while reducing revenues. Whichever accounting system is used, the debts will still come due. In fact, some of the debts are already here and is mounting.

But I guess it's not something that is important to most people (until your taxes go up).

Fellow Daynoter Dave Markowitz has a nice essay on the Assault Weapons Ban or go to this site here if you want more information.

Personally, I don't think taking away the freedom to own whichever firearm I want has made the world one bit safer so I don't care if this sunsets. In fact, I wouldn't loose any sleep if the Patriot Act also left the building.

I've also finally gotten around to remembering that Dr. Keyboard has put up a passel of posts for your dining enjoyment.

Fox's Bill O'Reilly responded to a letter from a person by the name of Jack Mehoffer. As Fark.com puts it, he'll soon be getting some letters from Mike Hunt and Heywood Jablowme.

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

It looks like Firefox 1.0PR will be out sometime early next week

Talk like a pirate day is Sept 19 so mark it on your calendars. Now. Before you forget. I'll wait.

Arrr. Now that you're back you bilge rats, let me run you through with me trusty cutlass.

We live in dangerous times, made more dangerous by some who would do anything because the ends justify the means.

As you may have noticed, I've stayed out of saying much about politics since my post on the 'silly season.' At that time, I said this is the time when you will hear lies, damned lies, and statistics. And sure enough, that's exactly what has happened.

I realize producing a cloud of fear, uncertainty, and doubt, so as to confuse people and get them to either vote in a way they wouldn't otherwise, or not vote at all, is the point of this exercise.

But if we believe the lies, if we don't use our common sense, then democracy fails (Greek words demos, meaning "the people," and kratia, meaning power, rule).

It fails because government would no longer be of the people, by the people, and for the people.

It fails because power would no longer be in the hands of the citizens.

It fails because we would become servants, not free citizens.

Instead, power would be in the bloody hands of an elite who believe they know what's best for them (and don't give a rat's behind about you).

As we enter the last week of primary voting here in Hawai'i, (the general election will be in November) I expect things to get even worse. But there is still time. I challenge all of you to think about what is being said by both sides. Then carefully examine what each is actually doing.

Do they claim one thing, but do another? If so, don't believe what they say.

Do they work towards inclusion? That is, empowering all citizens? If not, don't believe what they say.

Do they put freedom and personal responsibility before safety? If not, don't believe what they say.

And most importantly, don't vote for them. It's up to you. You decide.

Aloha!

Speaking of volcanoes. Okay, so I wasn't talking about volcanoes but Mauna Loa on the Big Island is acting up again. But I can't get too excited about it, even if Mauna Loa is the largest volcano in the world, because its happened before and is a natural hazard of living next to a volcano.

The scientists there use very accurate GPS monitors to track the movement of the ground (because it's easier to track than magma underground) to infer what is happening below the surface.

In addition, seismic activity has recently picked up but it is too soon to say when there will be an eruption. Even when it does, and it will at some point, it typically takes about nine to 10 months for the lava to flow from the caldera down to inhabited areas (and it's been about 3,500 years since it reached the ocean).

Having said that, you probably don't want to be in the way of molten lava. And while there have been efforts to divert flows away from structures, the results have generally have been inconclusive at best (although there was some success in Iceland).

In any case, when it does start flowing, it is one of natures wonders to see. The glow from the lava can be seen for miles.

Aloha!

Speaking yesterday of forgeries... The experts that outed the CBS documents have now determined that the US Constitution is a forgery (see the unequivocal evidence here). This is a slam dunk. Clearly this is a forged document. Hence, how can we believe anything written there? I speak especially about the amendments therein. Surely there are questions.

Surely the framers meant to include religion in government.

And free speech? Who needs free speech. Everything should be copyrighted for 10,000 years, or as long as Jack Valenti is alive (whichever comes first).

And unreasonable searches? There's no such things as an unreasonable search. All searches are reasonable to the "authorities". Perhaps not the person being searched, but then, they're guilty so who cares about them.

And indictments by grand juries of their peers? Or juries at all. Why bother. Just lock people up. For any reason, for any length of time (see the Imperial Patriot Act).

And a speedy trial (see Patriot Act above)? Just arrest the person and throw away the keys. No need for inefficient niceties like due process and transparent government.

And, of course, slavery. What was wrong with that? Talk about a sweet business model! Talk about low cost manufacturing. You don't get any lower than free!

What a country!

Speaking of browsers, Firefox Preview Release 1.0 is supposedly out. I say supposedly because, as of this writing, following the link they have to download the file ends in a 404. My guess is they released it then found a show stopper and pulled the file. I assume they will put the file back in due time but remember the PR is considered betaware so don't use it in a production environment without testing it first.

Or it could be something completely else. Whichever.

UPDATE: I was able to get in and download the file. All seems to be okay but if you wait a week or so the first Release Candidate will be out.

You may have noticed that comments have been re-enabled. I don't know how long it will be until the spam bots find this site (yes, I have MT-Blacklist installed) and start spamming it again but until then, your comments are welcome.

Note that when you click on the comments link what you see will vary depending on your browser. It appears the MovableType folks wrote code that is interpreted differently by the major browsers. For Opera and Firefox I see a link that says "If you have a TypeKey identity, you can sign in to use it here."

But if I follow that link, and use my TypeKey identity to try to login I get an error messaging saying "The site you're trying to comment on has not signed up for this feature. Please inform the site owner." Heck if I know how to sign up since I have already inputed my TypeKey Token but I guess I'm supposed to do something else? I dunno.

If you are using IE, you probably won't see the link so it doesn't matter. But if you are using Opera or Firefox (and you should), ignore that link and just fill out the comment form.

UPDATE: I seem to have it figured out. In TypeKey, where it asks for the address of your applications it seems to mean where do you have, for example, mt.cgi installed. For some reason, I thought they were asking where the index.html file was (which in my installation are two different places).

In any case, I'm still having problems but I will note them by browser below:

For IE, if your security settings are high, you may not see the link to TypeKey for logging in. I tried changing my seetings by adding www.seto.org to my trusted sites and got the login link. But when I tried to login all I got was a blank screen. I'm not sure what other settings I need to change but if you get logged in, let me know.

For Firefox, it works without problems. 'Nuff said.

For Opera, I get the link but when I get logged in I get a blank page. I assume, like IE, the security settings are blocking things but I can't say for sure. More later if I get it figured out.

As noted before, you don't need to use TypeKey to login but it's there if you want/are able to use it.

I suppose it was only a matter of time before the first Gmail phishing attempt went out. This post here has an example of what appears to be an attempt to harvest Gmail logins and passwords disguised as a way of getting additional Gmail invites.

No word yet on when the pundits will start matching fonts to MS Word and saying it came from the Kerry campaign.

Aloha!

Speaking of things that aren't. A tip for a restaurant is not legally required. I know this seems obvious to most people, but one restaurant owner learned this when he had a customer arrested for not leaving a large enough tip. According to the story (see the follow-up here), this restaurant requires an 18 percent "gratuity" when serving large parties.

Said customer didn't feel the service received warranted such a large tip and left only 12 percent. The owner, enraged by the small tip, called the police and had the customer arrested.

Upon further reflection, the customer was released without charges as it is not a legal requirement to tip. In other news, restaurants start adding mandatory service charges for treating customers with disrespect.

Speaking of miracles. I find it a miracle that so many self-described typography experts have come out of the slime saying it was impossible for the CBS documents to have been created by a typewriter in 1972.

With all due respect to them, I have to question their conclusion because it cannot be supported by the evidence. That is, to say the documents could only have been done in Microsoft Word is to draw a conclusion no expert would make.

There is uncertainty in all things. At best, an expert can give a probability. But to say with metaphysical certitude (apologies to The McLaughlin Group) that a document is written by a certain person 30 years ago is not as easy task. In fact, using the faulty methodology used by some, almost any typewritten document could look like any other document.

Now, let me be clear, I don't know if the documents in question are forgeries or not. But remember, the Forces of Evil don't care if they are real either. What they want to do is spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt. All I can say about that is: Mission Accomplished.

Now that some more thoughtful people have weighed in, like PC Magazine in an article here, or another source here, there is some doubt about the doubters.

Again, I don't know if the documents are forgeries, but given the evidence that pundits have been using and methods used, neither can they.

For years, people have been trying to create emulators that don't suck. So far, as far as I know, no one has succeeded. Wired has an article saying someone has created an emulator that will run software developed for any platform to run on any other, without noticeable speed degradation.

If this is true, it would be a miracle. But. I'll believe it when I see it. Until then, I have some hot beach front property for sale. Cheap. No worries about neighbors. No need for a hot water heater or night lighting. Priced to move.

I don't know if blog comments will survive the onslaught of spam but there is this site here that has a few good ideas on how to reduce the chances you will be spammed.

Note, I said reduce but not eliminate comment spam. Right now, the only way to do that is to close comments. As such, one of things I'm doing is closing comments that are five days or older. So you have that many days to leave a comment on a particular post before it closes.

By the way, I just want to emphasize that you can leave comments here without using TypeKey. However, I have TypeKey enabled if you wish to use it but that is completely optional.

Other than that, I don't have any other comments today.

Aloha!

Whether you use Windows or Linux, each provides for the creation of users with different security privileges. That is, the ability to execute certain functions. In Windows, the highest level is Administrator and in Linux it's called root. For the purposes of this post, I'll concentrate on Windows for reasons I'll reveal in a moment (Oooh, the suspense. Can I possibly stand it? - ed).

However, these accounts are not intended to be used on a day-in-day-out basis. Rather, the accounts are used only to accomplish specific tasks (such as installing or configuring software) and very little else. This is to reduce the risk of causing inadvertent deterioration of system functions (who came up with that one? - ed.).

In other words, you reduce the probability of screwing up your PC. For instance, by not allowing a virus or Trojan horse program the ability to install themselves. Or by not deleting the database program that holds all the information for the share holders meeting in an hour.

If it's such a great idea, then why don't more people operate this way? Because, in Windows anyway, it's a pain in the okole. You have to logout and then log back in. This is not a trivial exercise and takes time.

But, there is another way. You could install a utility called MakeMeAdmin from Aaron Margosis.

When you run it, you get a Command Prompt running under your normal user account, but in a new logon session in which it is a member of the Administrators group. This Command Prompt and any programs started from it use your regular profile, authenticate as you on the network, but have full local admin privileges. All other programs continue to run with your regular, unprivileged account.

It's almost like using the GNU/Linux SU command to create a shell and then logging in as root. Now, I don't know if MakeMeAdmin is intended for your Aunt Minnie, but maybe some of the 11 people who regularly read this site may have a use for it. Or not. YMMV. Use at your own risk. Insert disclaimer here. Props to Aaron.

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

If you think an imperial presidency is impossible in America, think about this. While taking into account the source, i.e., the Minority of Office of the Committee on Government Reform, I think this report is important because it documents what the Bush Administration is doing, as opposed to what they are saying. In this case, the report documents the Bush Administration's attempts to close access to essentially all government records.

Two of many examples: the Freedom of Information Act, without which untold acts of government abuse against its citizens would remain secret. Rather than assuming government records are public, as was the case before, changes this Administration have made mandates the opposite and puts the burden on citizens to prove otherwise (which is a difficult exercise since you can't view the documents until they are released and they won't be released until you can prove they shouldn't be secret).

The Presidential Records Act, passed post Watergate, made the startling assumption that presidential records were public records. The Bush Administration has turned that around and made the assumption that everything is private and is none of your damned business.

The list goes on and on but I think you get the main point: The Bush Administration doesn't want you to know anything unless it's something they think backs up what they want you to know.

Perhaps you think this is how a democracy is supposed to be run but I respectfully disagree. A citizenship kept in the dark is unable to hold politicians accountable for their actions. Actions supposedly made on the behalf of the citizens. Indeed, actions made in the names of citizens.

It seems to me that the Bush Administration is run under the assumption that the President is infallible. I mean that in the Catholic sense in that the Pope is (presumed) incapable of error in pronouncing dogma.

Given this mindset, any information that proves the Bush Administration wrong is, by definition, heresy and must be crushed and those responsible publicly punished (to teach the lesson that all must obey).

I wonder how long it will be before the ThoughtPolice start their whispering web of lies against even small sites like this one. How long will it be before even your site will be targeted? How long will it be before you must worship the Beast or be threatened, tortured, or worse?

We live in dark times and I am resigned to believing that they will get even darker. Enjoy what little freedom you still have because time is rapidly running out.

Until then, remember what I've said here. Remember that while I may have been wrong in some instances, I've never lied to you. So when the lies against small sites like this begin, use your common sense, think critically, and note who is spreading the lies. Remember their names and...don't...believe...them.

Aloha!

Congratulations to fellow Daynoter Frank McPherson for being named by the Detroit Free Press as one of Michigan's best websites.

You can read his post announcing his achievement here.

I'll be in training learning how to access the Judiciary's new Information Management System (JIMS). Specifically, I'll be learning how to access the databases so I can do ad hoc queries. The training runs today through Friday so posting will be light.

Aloha!

Select * from SPRIDEN
where DOCKET_IND like 'C%'
order by OWNER;

I've tried to avoid using SQL because I'm lazy it's such an obtuse language. But I guess I just can't get away from it.

As noted yesterday, I'm in a week long training on how to access our new information system. The system is an Oracle database and consists of hundreds of tables. To query the database, you need to know how to use SQL, even if you are using a front end such as Crystal Reports, which we will be starting on today.

So, yesterday was spent going through the database tables and doing a few simple SQL queries. Today we will try using Crystal Reports to create queries similar to what we did yesterday and look at some of the features that will enable us to create the kind of reports we may need.

Aloha!

So we've started using Crystal Reports to do stuff we were using SQL the day before.

While I am no expert, after only one day of use, the major impression is you can do things faster from the command line using SQL but CR creates prettier looking reports and allows mathematical operators so you can do calculations, statistics, etc. With that deep insight, I gotta go.

Aloha!

Dear Friends,

Enough of the handwringing! Enough of the doomsaying! Do I have to come there and personally calm you down? Stop with all the defeatism, OK? Bush IS a goner -- IF we all just quit our whining and bellyaching and stop shaking like a bunch of nervous ninnies. Geez, this is embarrassing! The Republicans are laughing at us. Do you ever see them cry, "Oh, it's all over! We are finished! Bush can't win! Waaaaaa!"

Hell no. It's never over for them until the last ballot is shredded. They are never finished -- they just keeping moving forward like sharks that never sleep, always pushing, pulling, kicking, blocking, lying.

They are relentless and that is why we secretly admire them -- they just simply never, ever give up. Only 30% of the country calls itself "Republican," yet the Republicans own it all -- the White House, both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court and the majority of the governorships. How do you think they've been able to pull that off considering they are a minority? It's because they eat you and me and every other liberal for breakfast and then spend the rest of the day wreaking havoc on the planet.

Look at us -- what a bunch of crybabies. Bush gets a bounce after his convention and you would have thought the Germans had run through Poland again. The Bushies are coming, the Bushies are coming! Yes, they caught Kerry asleep on the Swift Boat thing. Yes, they found the frequency in Dan Rather and ran with it. Suddenly it's like, "THE END IS NEAR! THE SKY IS FALLING!"

No, it is not. If I hear one more person tell me how lousy a candidate Kerry is and how he can't win... Dammit, of COURSE he's a lousy candidate -- he's a Democrat, for heavens sake! That party is so pathetic, they even lose the elections they win! What were you expecting, Bruce Springsteen heading up the ticket? Bruce would make a helluva president, but guys like him don't run -- and neither do you or I. People like Kerry run.

Yes, OF COURSE any of us would have run a better, smarter, kick-ass campaign. Of course we would have smacked each and every one of those phony swifty boaty bastards down. But WE are not running for president -- Kerry is. So quit complaining and work with what we have. Oprah just gave 300 women a... Pontiac! Did you see any of them frowning and moaning and screaming, "Oh God, NOT a friggin' Pontiac!" Of course not, they were happy. The Pontiacs all had four wheels, an engine and a gas pedal. You want more than that, well, I can't help you. I had a Pontiac once and it lasted a good year. And it was a VERY good year.

My friends, it is time for a reality check.

1. The polls are wrong. They are all over the map like diarrhea. On Friday, one poll had Bush 13 points ahead -- and another poll had them both tied. There are three reasons why the polls are b.s.: One, they are polling "likely voters." "Likely" means those who have consistently voted in the past few elections. So that cuts out young people who are voting for the first time and a ton of non-voters who are definitely going to vote in THIS election. Second, they are not polling people who use their cell phone as their primary phone. Again, that means they are not talking to young people http://www.newsday.com/news/columnists/ny-nybres163973220sep16,0,5025667.column. Finally, most of the polls are weighted with too many Republicans, as pollster John Zogby revealed last week http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=859. You are being snookered if you believe any of these polls.

2. Kerry has brought in the Clinton A-team. Instead of shunning Clinton (as Gore did), Kerry has decided to not make that mistake.

3. Traveling around the country, as I've been doing, I gotta tell ya, there is a hell of a lot of unrest out there. Much of it is not being captured by the mainstream press. But it is simmering and it is real. Do not let those well-produced Bush rallies of angry white people scare you. Turn off the TV! (Except Jon Stewart and Bill Moyers -- everything else is just a sugar-coated lie).

4. Conventional wisdom says if the election is decided on "9/11" (the fear of terrorism), Bush wins. But if it is decided on the job we are doing in Iraq, then Bush loses. And folks, that "job," you might have noticed, has descended into the third level of a hell we used to call Vietnam. There is no way out. It is a full-blown mess of a quagmire and the body bags will sadly only mount higher. Regardless of what Kerry meant by his original war vote, he ain't the one who sent those kids to their deaths -- and Mr. and Mrs. Middle America knows it. Had Bush bothered to show up when he was in the "service" he might have somewhat of a clue as to how to recognize an immoral war that cannot be "won." All he has delivered to Iraq was that plasticized turkey last Thanksgiving. It is this failure of monumental proportions that is going to cook his goose come this November.

So, do not despair. All is not over. Far from it. The Bush people need you to believe that it is over. They need you to slump back into your easy chair and feel that sick pain in your gut as you contemplate another four years of George W. Bush. They need you to wish we had a candidate who didn't windsurf and who was just as smart as we were when WE knew Bush was lying about WMD and Saddam planning 9/11. It's like Karl Rove is hypnotizing you -- "Kerry voted for the war...Kerry voted for the war...Kerrrrrryyy vooootted fooooor theeee warrrrrrrrrr..."

Yes...Yes...Yesssss....He did! HE DID! No sense in fighting now...what I need is sleep...sleeep...sleeeeeeppppp...

WAKE UP! The majority are with us! More than half of all Americans are pro-choice, want stronger environmental laws, are appalled that assault weapons are back on the street -- and 54% now believe the war is wrong. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO CONVINCE THEM OF ANY OF THIS -- YOU JUST HAVE TO GIVE THEM A RAY OF HOPE AND A RIDE TO THE POLLS. CAN YOU DO THAT? WILL YOU DO THAT?

Just for me, please? Buck up. The country is almost back in our hands. Not another negative word until Nov. 3rd! Then you can bitch all you want about how you wish Kerry was still that long-haired kid who once had the courage to stand up for something. Personally, I think that kid is still inside him. Instead of the wailing and gnashing of your teeth, why not hold out a hand to him and help the inner soldier/protester come out and defeat the forces of evil we now so desperately face. Do we have any other choice?

Yours,

Michael Moore

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone - Aloha!

It's not exactly my cup of tea, but about 19 million people in the US tuned in to watch this TV series called Lost. It's about stranded survivors of an airplane crash. I only watched the first 10 minutes of it (it is one of three TV series being filmed in Hawai'i) so I can't give much of a review but I don't think I'll be watching more of it.

I then switched channels to one of the other series filmed here called, now wait for it, Hawaii.

I like Hawaii's heart, it tries to capture what this place is about much as Hawaii Five-0 did in its day. But the writing needs to be better. Somebody needs to edit the story lines for common sense. For example, I'm tired of seeing the good guys busting down the front door but leaving the back door uncovered so the bad guys can use it for their escape. Phuuulease. Stop that. Right now.

Having said that, at least Hawaii has a sense of place. The third series filmed here, North Shore, could very well have been set in Orange County, California (where most of their writers must be from). If they don't integrate what this place represents into their stories I won't be watching it either.

Still, three series in town is good for the economy so keep watching America!

Liking your customers will lead to their liking you. This translates into profits. Yes, I know, some people think profits are a bad thing. But it isn't. Not all the time anyway.

Here's one guy's open letter to the media industry and how the computer industry lied to them.

What if the US was like Iraq? What would that look like? Would we think it looked like something we would want? In some ways, we may already be there.

Who would have thought Santa Cruz would have a radio station that plays only Hawaiian music? Or hula studio, outrigger canoe club, ukulele club, or plate lunch stand? But according to this article from the Santa Cruz Sentinel here, things Hawaiian are going over swimmingly in far off California.

Aloha!

If the thought of loosing your bicycle because someone used a Bic pen to open your expensive bike lock was bad, think how'd you feel if your kids opened your gun cabinet using the same technique. See the story here.

Does economic status correlate with well being? How do you define well being? Interesting questions and someone at the American Psychological Society (sorry, I have no idea who they are) did a study (summary here) on just this subject:

Our thesis is that well-being should become a primary focus of policymakers, and that its rigorous measurement is a primary policy imperative. Well-being, which we define as peoples’ positive evaluations of their lives, includes positive emotion, engagement, satisfaction, and meaning (Seligman, 2002). Although economics currently plays a central role in policy decisions because it is assumed that money increases well-being, we propose that well-being needs to be assessed more directly, because there are distressingly large, measurable slippages between economic indicators and well-being.

I guess this site is for real but Virgin Galactic says they will be offering space flights to customers in two to three years. VG will be using three spacecraft built by the same company as Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne and will charge passengers (astronauts?) $170-200,00 USD.

There's an old saying by John Stuart Mill that says; "Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people... it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." If it is true, then it shouldn't come as a surprise that the kind of people who watch conservative Fox TV broadcaster Bill O'Reilly aren't as aware of current issues as those who watch liberal Jon Stewart (no relation to JSM).

According to this article here, O'Reilly called Stewart's audience "stoned slackers." But if education is any indicator, a Nielsen Media Research survey found viewers of Jon Stewart's show are more likely to have completed four years of college than people who watch "The O'Reilly Factor." In addition, a University of Pennsylvania National Annenberg Election Survey found viewers of "The Daily Show" were more likely to answer questions about politics correctly than those who don't. And finally, viewers of the Stewart show made more money.

Hmmm. Better educated, better informed, and making more money. Yup, sounds like stoned slackers to me, too. ;=}

Aloha!

Way, way back when I was in high school [wasn't that during the mesozoic era" -ed.] I was a fan of Maurits Cornelis Escher (better known as MC Escher, no relation to MC Hammer - ed.). But this site here has gone one better and actually built models of some of his objects.

The thing is, some of the models look like the originals only from certain angles, which is logical since many of Escher's object could not exist in our reality. Hence, I'm not sure what point is trying to be made. Is it to show that some of them can be made? If so, so what? I dunno.

Still, it is interesting to look at and you can probably guess where my wallpaper for the week comes from...

The Semantic Web. Is this the next big thing in cyberspace? According to this Tech Review interview with Sir Tim (Berners-Lee) it is.

Most of this stuff goes over my head as I find it hard enough to understand XML much less something that seeks to give context to data on the web. But what bothers me the most, being a lazy sort of person, is that it looks like more work for me.

As in all things, the question then becomes are the benefits worth the costs. I don't know if that question can be answered yet. But feel free to read the article and make up your own mind.

If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. - Samuel Adams, 1776

Many people love conspiracies. They love to wallow in it. They love to spread word about it because, perhaps, they feel it shows how superior they are to the target of the conspiracy and how they now know the "Truth".

One of the masters of the conspiracy is President Bush's Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President, Karl "Baghdad Bob" Rove. According to an article in the current Atlantic Monthly, and excerpted here:

So now we get some details about how the Rove treatment works -- and not just speculation, but with descriptions from former Rove staffers who helped organize some of his trademark whispering campaigns.

An article out this week in The Atlantic Monthly focuses specifically on a series of races Rove ran in Texas and Alabama in the 1990s.

The Alabama races in particular haven't gotten that much national press attention in the past. And one of the most lizardly passages in the article describes how Rove launched a whispering campaign against one Democratic opponent suggesting that the candidate -- a sitting Alabama state Supreme Court Justice, who had long worked on child welfare issues -- was in fact a pedophile ... When his term on the court ended, he chose not to run for re-election. I later learned another reason why. Kennedy had spent years on the bench as a juvenile and family-court judge, during which time he had developed a strong interest in aiding abused children. In the early 1980s he had helped to start the Children's Trust Fund of Alabama, and he later established the Corporate Foundation for Children, a private, nonprofit organization. At the time of the race he had just served a term as president of the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect. One of Rove's signature tactics is to attack an opponent on the very front that seems unassailable. Kennedy was no exception.

Some of Kennedy's campaign commercials touted his volunteer work, including one that showed him holding hands with children. "We were trying to counter the positives from that ad," a former Rove staffer told me, explaining that some within the See camp initiated a whisper campaign that Kennedy was a pedophile. "It was our standard practice to use the University of Alabama Law School to disseminate whisper-campaign information," the staffer went on. "That was a major device we used for the transmission of this stuff. The students at the law school are from all over the state, and that's one of the ways that Karl got the information out—he knew the law students would take it back to their home towns and it would get out." This would create the impression that the lie was in fact common knowledge across the state. "What Rove does," says Joe Perkins, "is try to make something so bad for a family that the candidate will not subject the family to the hardship. Mark is not your typical Alabama macho, beer-drinkin', tobacco-chewin', pickup-drivin' kind of guy. He is a small, well-groomed, well-educated family man, and what they tried to do was make him look like a homosexual pedophile. That was really, really hard to take."

This is just one snippet from the piece. But when you read the whole thing, what happened in South Carolina in 2000 and what's happening now with Kerry and the Swift Boat business will all seem a lot more clear.

So just who is Karl Rove? This article here reports Rove mentored under one Donald Segretti. History buffs may remember Segretti, during President Nixon's administration, as a member of the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP). Segretti headed the section of CREEP charged with counterfeiting documents; spreading lies; false rumors/conspiracies and in general; fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

One of his more famous exploits include an attempt to hire prostitutes as part of an organized campaign to discredit Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson by putting him in what would appear to be a compromising position. Another, for which he served four-and-a-half months in prison and was disbarred for two years, was the creation of a document, on forged letterhead, falsely claiming that Senator Jackson had fathered an illegitimate child with a 17-year old girl.

At the knees of that master, did Karl Rove learn. In the 2000 presidential campaign, Rove targeted Senator John McCain (R-Arizona). McCain, fresh from a victory in New Hampshire over then Governor George W. Bush, needed to be stopped. So, using classic Republican techniques, Rove started a whispering campaign saying Senator McCain, rather than being a Vietnam war hero, acted as an informant while as a prisoner of war in Vietnam; that McCain had fathered an illegitimate African-American daughter (if it works against Jackson it'll work against McCain, but add in the African-American part to win the South); his wife's drug "abuse"; and finally, seemingly countering the illegitimate child angle, that McCain was a homosexual.

These techniques were eerie precursors to the present presidential campaign. The common thread being: attack the opponents strengths. If your opponent is a Vietnam hero, insinuate that he collaborated with or aided the enemy. If he is a good family man, say he fathered an illegitimate child. If he is a strong Christian, claim that he is gay. If his wife is anti-illegal drugs, whisper that she is a drug abuser.

The saddest thing of all is that these techniques sometimes work. Senator McCain lost in 2000 to George W. Bush while Bush went on to win against Vice President Al Gore.

But it doesn't have to be that way because, in the end, you can choose fear, uncertainty, and doubt, or you can choose freedom. You can choose fascism or you can choose democracy. You can choose openness or you can choose secrecy. Choose wisely.

Aloha!

Today's post is devoted to the passing of fellow Daynoter Mike Barkman.

Each of us plays many roles in life. Michael John Barkman was a husband, father, retired pharmacist/entrepreneur, and member of the Daynotes Gang. But more importantly, Mike was a rich man.

No, not in the way you are probably thinking.

Mike was rich in the way Emerson described Thoreau as being rich: "He chose to be rich by making his wants few..."

Mike was rich in having found a soul mate not once, but twice in life.

Mike was rich in the love of his children: Sue, Ross, and step-daughter Joanna.

Mike was rich in his beloved home in Rotorua, New Zealand.

But what struck me about Mike was that he wast most rich in his positive attitude and outlook on life. I think this was reflected in the name of his site, Icarus Ascending. In the many email discussions I've had with Mike over these too short years, he has always been a gentle man with an ever positive disposition. Even when he announced his medical problems, he never let it get him down. He would even joke about it saying whatever pain he was enduring was better than the alternative.

When, one day not too long ago, he wrote about the new prescriptions he was given I did some checking on what they were. From that, it became clear to me that Mike probably didn't have a lot of time left as these powerful and very toxic drugs were given only as a last resort. But you would never have known it from his postings or emails. Indeed, his last post ended with this ever positive sentence: "So that's me up-to date; still in there swinging!"

In closing, I'd like to say thank you to Mike for making me richer because of his example on how to live one's life:

If you aim for the sun,
You'll get close
to the heat.
Better that your wings melt
Than never to have flown.

Aloha O'e.. /Dan