I’ve posted my pictures from OODE 8 online here. I got to play a live set Friday night, it went really well… I had a great time. Thanks to everyone there for listening! 🙂
Entertaining thoughts from a conspiracy nut
Look at this pic that was released today of the latest prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison. Notice the white chair in the lower left corner. Now – look at the chair Nicholas Berg is sitting in!! It’s the same chair!!
You gotta admit the video tape that shows a US citizen having his head removed is a little suspicious.
First, the timing of the release of this tape was perfect. The tape was released right in the middle of Congress’ hearing on the prison abuse issue–during a recess. If you saw Congress’ hearing, you would have seen the Senators return from lunch and rat-hole down the video tape issue for a long, long time. It took them a while to get back to the subject they were supposed to be addressing that day–the prisoner abuse scandal. Several of the Senators just wouldn’t let the beheading topic go; they wanted to talk about it for the rest of day it seemed.
Second, as this website above notices, Berg is sitting in the exact same style chair that is in the photos from the Abu Ghraib prison. Are white, stackable plastic lawn chairs the only kind of chairs people sit in in Iraq?
Third, why is Berg wearing the same kind of jumpsuit the military has been giving to prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison?
Fourth, why was the video released over the Internet? This doesn’t seem to fit the MO of terrorists. In the past they’ve always given this kind of stuff to Al Jazeer and they broadcast it over satellite TV.
Hmm. Well, maybe time will reveal what’s really happening over there in Iraq…
Excerpt from Stratfor essay: Tactical failures of the United States
Failure to rapidly identify errors and rectify them through changes of plans, strategies and personnel. Error is common in war. The measure of a military force is how honestly errors are addressed and rectified. When a command structure begins denying that self- evident problems are facing them, all is lost. The administration’s insistence over the past year that no fundamental errors were committed in Iraq has been a cancer eating through
all layers of the command structure — from the squad to the office of the president.
Failing to understand the political dimension of the war and permitting political support for the war in the United States to erode by failing to express a clear, coherent war plan on the broadest level. Because of this failure, other major failures — ranging from the failure to find weapons of mass destruction to the treatment of Iraqi prisoners — have filled the space that strategy should have occupied. The persistent failure of the president to explain the linkage between Iraq and the broader war has been symptomatic of this systemic failure.
Survey of System Virtualization Techniques
This paper discusses two main trends in the development of virtual machine systems: full system virtualization, where an entire hardware architecture is replicated virtually, and paravirtualization, where an operating system is modified so that it can be run concurrently with other operating systems that have also been designed for paravirtualization.
Response to Darlene Hooley
“By now, you’ve probably seen the reports about the abuses that have occurred in Iraqi prisons. Like most Americans, I am deeply troubled by these charges. Members of Congress like me who voted against going to war in Iraq as well as members who voted in favor of the war stand united in expressing our moral outrage… The best way for the United States to reaffirm our commitment to human rights and to regain credibility at home, in Iraq and with other nations, will be to fully and openly investigate these allegations with every avenue and resource available.” –Congresswoman Hooley, Oregon
Let’s get one thing straight–these were not “abuses,” these were acts of TORTURE under the definitions written by the United States and 80 other countries in the mid-70’s.
If we are going to talk “openly” as you state in your letter, let’s also talk HONESTLY: We, The United States, committed acts of torture against Iraqi citizens and prisoners.
I am relieved that you are as morally outraged as I am.
Gas prices: Supply and Demand Strikes Again
According to the Lehrer Newshour, SUV sales hit a record high last quarter, accounting for 29% of all new vehicles sold in the US. A U of Chicago professor says that, out of the $.45/gal average gas price increase we’ve seen in the last year, $.15 of that is SUV demand, $.20 is OPEC, and the rest is refinery production issues.
The show polled people on the street to ask, “When will you give up your SUV? $2.50/gallon? $3.00/gallon?” All people resonded, “Never.”
Website says more McDonalds = more murders
We believe that the United Nations (U.N.) commissioned McDonald’s corporate leaders to help control the increasing populations of its host cities by carrying out plans masterminded by the U.N. to systematically murder these cities’ citizens.
This website is obviously a joke, but they have a graph that tries to prove their case. I ran their numbers and came up with a slightly different hypothesis. Their chart used McDonalds restaurants per city, but McDonalds restaurants per 100,000 people would probably be a better metric:
Clearly, McDonalds does make cities more prone to murders if the number of McDonalds per 100,000 people goes above a certain point. But having too few McDonalds is also a problem. As you can see from the graph above, there exists an optimal number of McDonalds where the city is safest.
Based on this highly scientific research I conclude that each city should have bertween 4 and 5 McDonalds per 100,000 people–no more, no less. For example, my small town of 50,000 is running right on target–we have 2 McDonalds. Excellent. I feel safer already!
Nokia announces N-Gage QD, I have my doubts
I feel sorry for Nokia, N-Gage really makes a crappy game device. The button lag and tiny screen (size, not resolution) just kills my enjoyment on many games. THPS on N-Gage is pretty darn good, but the N-Gage controls IMHO make it unplayable. Plus, I dunno if I’m just old or what (26), but the tiny screen makes me sick after 15 minutes of staring at it. What I like about my game Vector Blaster is that it’s not a game you have to hold 8 inches from your face to see all the detail, you can sit semi-comfortably with it at arms length and still discern what’s happening.
When I first played Tomb Raider on the N-Gage I wondered if Scandinavians were all cross-eyed and the tiny display on the N-Gage was the result of a poor marketing study that didn’t take into account the rest of the world, or anyone over the age of 17, or anyone that wore glasses, or was far-sided, or never expected to play games on a bumpy bus/subway/etc…
I was hoping the N-Gage QD would fix the button-lag and display size issues, I feel that’s 20x more important than MMC, 5-way d-pad, and side-talkin combined. Game play should be #1 if they’re gonna sell it as a game device. If QD sells, its gonna sell as a phone, not as a game device. Sad.
GUFT Notes
I went to a talk on GUFT a few weeks ago, I meant to post my notes online.. Here they are, a little late… 🙂
The talk was given by Zach Welch, the infamous Gentoo fork’er. GUFT is a component of the Open Lean project.
He’s making the assumption that there’s an army of developers out there willing to work on what they’re told. i don’t think open source works that way. i think people work on what they are motivated to work on, or what they need to work on for their own personal/corporate project.
Open source people may not realize this, but keeping projects from forking keeps a central authority with a vested interest tied to the project and driving it. would redhat linux be the enterprise level / reliable operating system it is today if redhat, inc didn’t think they could make some money creating it?
This is enforcement of policy through tools… that never works :/
AT&T Wireless purchases Cellular One in Oregon
I’ve been a Cellular One customer for over 2.5 years. I’ve been very happy with the cost, quality of service, and coverage they offer in Oregon. I’ve been out in the boonies in the Oregon Cascades and have been pleasantly surprised that my phone still worked. TDMA in Oregon is amazing, I hope it never goes away. There’s hardly a square foot in this state that isn’t covered by TDMA antennas.
But today, I am very upset. Cellular One has decided to sell all of it’s Oregon business to AT&T Wireless. Someone at Cell One must be making a lot of money from this, because the customer is getting screwed. At Cell One my service was $10/mo, $.10/min in network, and $.35/min out of network (the “network” was basically the southern Willamette Valley and all of Eastern Oregon), with zero minutes per month. I love this deal.. my phone bill averages $12-$19 month.
Under AT&T Wireless my service will increase to $20/mo, $.45/min, with 60 minutes per month. That sucks. Compared to Cell One, that’s like paying $.17/min for my first 60 minutes and $.45 afterwards. Wow. What a great deal.
I’m shutting off my Cellular One service.
I think I’m going to switch to T-Mobile’s GSM network (I have an N-Gage laying around I can use). The coverage stinks, but T-Mobile’s pre-paid wireless works out to be much cheaper for the amount of calls I make. It basically works out to be $8.50/mo for about 55 minutes of talk time on their pre-paid plan if you buy a $25 card every 3 months. I know this is a little cheaper that Cell One, but you can’t make phone calls at 8000ft with GSM in Oregon. 🙂