Jan 24th, 2003
I was really pleased. I had manage to acquire a copy of the album (”through a game of chance” we’ll say) a couple days ago. It was fairly evident right away that it was going to take a couple listens to really get into.
Yet somehow the concert last night made it all come together for me. The whole thing just sort of made sense on a different level than before. Granted there were still a couple Corgan power ballads and even a couple typical bad Corgan jokes but generally the show was very impressive.
I wish I could say the same for the sound system. The PA system in the Metro was totally overwhelmed with sound time to time. I guess it didn’t help that we were not far from one of the stacks as we were about five feet from the left part of the stage. I still can’t hear completely out of my left ear.
Jan 23rd, 2003
A security researcher has revealed a little-known vulnerability in many locks that lets a person create a copy of the master key for an entire building by starting with any key from that building.
The researcher, Matt Blaze of AT&T Labs-Research, found the vulnerability by applying his area of expertise — the security flaws that allow hackers to break into computer networks — to the real-world locks and keys that have been used for more than a century in office buildings, college campuses and some residential complexes.
The paper, which Mr. Blaze has submitted for publication in a computer security journal, has troubled security experts who have seen it. Marc Weber Tobias, a locks expert who works as a security consultant to law enforcement agencies, said he was rewriting his police guide to locks and lock-picking because of the paper. He said the technique could open doors worldwide for criminals and terrorists. “I view the problem as pretty serious,” he said, adding that the technique was so simple, “an idiot could do it.”(nytimes)
I think it’s officially time to upgrade from the lock and key to something a little more secure.
Jan 23rd, 2003
They became the status symbol for politicians in the 1990s: big, tinted-windowed, extra-loaded SUVs that ferried around the governor, the mayor, Cabinet secretaries, and other government officials who shunned the plain sedans of their predecessors.
Now, as environmental concerns over the gas-guzzlers mount, the Romney administration is considering eliminating
all but the most essential sport utility vehicles in the state government fleet, in favor of lighter, smaller cars that get better mileage.
”The price tag for SUVs is 50 percent more than regular cars and it’s 50 percent more to operate,” said Douglas Foy, the newly appointed coordinator of housing, transportation, environment, and energy under Governor Mitt Romney. ”Aside from the environmental issue, it’s a budget issue in these austere times.”(The Boston Globe)
It’s finally nice to see a state take some responsible steps in dealing with budgets and the unnessacary use of SUVs. It’s really mind blowing how many government/stats officials are riding around in these beasts while they harp on what we can do to help better the enviroment (not to mention the safety of our highways).
Jan 22nd, 2003
“So say the findings of a new survey released Wednesday by the Lemelson-MIT Invention Index at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which asked which of five inventions Americans could not live without. The toothbrush emerged the undisputed champ, beating out the car, the personal computer, the cell phone and the microwave — in that order — as the most prized innovation.
It makes a lot of sense,” said American Dental Association spokesman Dr. Richard Price. “Your teeth are always with you. … You can always update your car or a computer, but you just can’t update teeth.”(CNN.com)
I’m not sure I see it. I mean in a pinch you could always throw some toothpaste on your finger and go to town. My vote would be the automobile or the personal computer.
Jan 21st, 2003
Billy Corgan’s new Band Zwan has emerged and they’re on the warpath. The album Mary “Star of the Sea” comes out next week. But before that 5 (!F!I!V!E!) sold out shows at the metro in Chicago.
Corgan’s never been accused of making small plans, and Sunday his ambitions were evident, greeted with full-throated enthusiasm by an audience that sounded like it had been waiting for this moment since the singer’s old band, the Smashing Pumpkins, fell silent in December 2000. He’s got the artillery in place for another, Pumpkins-like push: a record label, Reprise, with a new president hungry to make amends after the previous regime let one of its best bands, Wilco, get away; a high-profile manager in Elliot Roberts, who has overseen Neil Young’s career for three decades; and a new band of accomplices, plus one crucial holdover in drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, that is versatile and muscular enough to go toe-to-toe with any of today’s rock giants.(metromix.com)
I’ll be there Thursday night fighting for some elbow room on the balchony. Can’t wait.
Jan 16th, 2003
The recording labels and two high-tech trade groups have cut a deal at your expense. A pox on their pax.
On Tuesday, the two industries signed an armistice in their war over how to deal with the theft of digital music and videos. They agreed to work together instead of demanding that Congress choose between them.
This is starting to get a bit scary. I really hope this starts to spark a serious fair use movement in this country. It’s time for the public to act and let it be known where the majority of Americans stand on this issue.
Jan 15th, 2003
The challenge of the Copyright Term Extension Act has been rejected
by the Supreme Court 7-2.
Jan 7th, 2003
Every US resident who bought a CD in the US between 1995 and 2000 is entitled to up to $20 from the music cartel as part of a court-mandated settlement over the labels’ illegal price-fixing, which is one way that the music industry has ripped off the public.
All you need to do is sign up at this site, and the RIAA will mail you a check. If so many people sign up that the settlement ends up getting spread too thin, the RIAA will mail charitable organizations the checks instead. You can’t lose!
Unless you don’t sign up. Despite notices of the settlement in TV Guide and throughout blogistan, the cash remains unclaimed. What are you waiting for? Claim it! (boingboing.net)
This is fantastic. What a great way to stick to the “man”.
Jan 6th, 2003
I know I can’t seem to get enough of this topic but it’s so mind boggling that I have to post a couple more stories.
Mill Valley resident Penny Wright-Mulligan bought her first Hummer in October. She loves the macho frame and 316 horsepower V8 engine. And she doesn’t seem to mind that, on average, her vehicle gets 10 miles to the gallon — particularly when she has to shuttle four children between the ages of 11 and 16, and three dogs.
“I drive it to pick up the kids at school,” said Wright-Mulligan, who previously drove a Suburban but said the Hummer is more comfortable and easier to park. “I get a lot of funny looks. People love it or hate it. It upsets some people because it’s a big SUV and a gas guzzler. But it’s what we need. And I just love feeling like I’m higher up. It’s like driving an armored car. Every time I look at it, it makes me smile.” (sfgate.com)
Why she needs anything that can cross a 20-inch-deep stream, climb a 60-degree grade, power over boulders and logs, and ford rivers and streams is beyond me. Not only is this mom endangering her Children and eveyone else on the road but she’s burning 2-3 times more gas than someone in a typical Volvo or BMW wagon (which have as much or more room than the Hummer)
From the other coast comes this story that speaks to the joys of SUV ownership:
The limit on the Turnpike during blizzards is 35 mph. That limit makes perfect sense on a snowy road, especially for SUVs. They are noted for having longer braking distances than cars, and those distances increase greatly on a slippery surface.
“I just don’t know if people think four-wheel drive provides better braking,” Orlando said.
It doesn’t. Four-wheel drive is great for providing traction in low- speed situations, such as on beaches and on dirt roads, but at higher speeds it just provides a false sense of security.
“Some bozo in an SUV came speeding down my block and spun out,” Zeke told me. “He nearly clipped my BMW.” Instead, the bonehead ended up on the lawn.
Other SUV drivers weren’t so lucky. The front page of The Star-Ledger the next day carried a photograph of an overturned SUV being pulled out of a ditch by a tow-truck operator named Jerry Burke.
Burke used to work out in Jackson Township, along Interstate 195. This is the flattest, straightest stretch of freeway in New Jersey. It has no hills and no curves, yet whenever the weather gets bad its shoulders are lined with spun-out SUVs.
How do they do it? Burke asked that question of the driver whose SUV graced our front page. “He told me, ‘We were going along and the next thing we knew we were upside-down.” (nj.com)
When will this maddness end?
