Terrorism losing it’s edge?
Kelly asks the question: is there a law of diminishing return for acts of terror?
What the heck is this?
Blogging…I’m pretty sure that term was invented by the same group of irritating people who more recently came up with “podcasting”.
I’ve had what I call a “vanity” website for about 9 years now. I have been posting stuff about myself, that interests me, or that I wanted to experiment with all that time. But I’ve never really called what I do “blogging”, even though my most recent website incarnation has looked an awful lot like a blog.
Lo, I have sunk into the depths of consumerisim…
I am far from being a "trendy" kind of guy. I tend to be either ahead or behind the curve in terms of whats cool and whats not. Case in point: I had my first "website" before the Internet existed...okay, it was a BBS, but it was up and running in 1980. Arguably it was a blog, since I posted opinion pieces, and it was as close to the 'web' as you could get in 1980. And it had a forum of sorts. I was 16 at the time, and in those days no one except a real loser had a computer. Flash forward to 2005. Everyone is on the Internet. Blogs are the "new" cool thing. Years ago, all the trendy folks started buying iPods. I was pretty skeptical, and even recently I stated some rather negative opinions about the gadget itself. But I finally went out a couple of weeks ago and bought an iPod. I was seduced... ...the little gadgets carry gigabytes of music around. In the case of the one I bought, 20 gigabytes. My entire existing digital music library is only about 3 gigabytes. But worse than that...a couple of months before I bought the iPod, I connected up to iTunes. And that was what did me in: quick and easy access to music the way I want it. I pay my $0.99 per song, I can pick and chose the songs I want from a library of something like a million tunes, I can burn them on CDs, play them on my computer (up to five different computers), or play them on...an iPod. I found iTunes hit the magical "sweet" spot for me: I want to legitimately pay for my music, but I don't want to be robbed of my right to choose how and when I want to play it. Sure, I'd rather pay a more reasonably $0.49 a song or something, but iTunes seems for me at least to be a reasonable compromise between what I want and what the music industry seems to demand. Why not go the subscription music route, like Napster or whatever? That way, you get as many songs as you can squeeze onto your hard drive, all for one monthly fee. The whole "subscription" music idea bothered me: paying a monthly fee to pick any music I want sounds good on the surface, until you realize the music stops playing when you stop paying...all of the music. And to make this "it disables when the fee runs out" work, the music is encumbered with a ton of digital rights management stuff. Sure, you can hack that stuff out by re-recording, but I have no desire to feel like I'm "cheating" or "breaking the law": I figure the music companies should either offer me music the way I want it, or I simply won't buy the stuff and I'll listen to the radio instead. I bought the iPod because it works and plays well with iTunes. I can't say I'm overly impressed by how well it works: Apple seems to have some problems dealing with the Windows XP environment, and I've had a couple of "hiccups" when transferring music to my iPod. The worst so far was when it started "pretend" synchronizing- the "syncing your iPod" message would appear and then the "safe to remove" message, but nothing was being transferred. A full reset/re-imaging of the iPod fixed that, but the average user wouldn't have had a clue what was going on. iTunes itself is great, but the Windows iTunes to iPod experience isn't perfect...maybe a 7 out of 10. But the "iTunes accessories" experience is awesome and more than makes up for the "iTunes under Windows talking to iPod" problems. Just for the existence of a huge selection of add-on gadgets, cases, connection kits, speakers, and so on alone...I would say the iPod is worth the premium compared to other comparable portable music devices. Find a 20 GB mp3 player: it will probably cost you about $300. An iPod of the same size will cost you $350...I'm saying that difference is probably worth it. Netting it out, am I happy with my iPod? Yes, for sure. Has it transformed my life, taken existence to a higher plane, made me want to have Steve Job's children? Hell no. It's a well designed gadget, which is good. I still think Steve Jobs is an arrogant prick with a grossly over-inflated reputation (most of his "genius" was stolen, quite literally, from much smarter people like Steve Wozniak). And Apple has no one's best interests at heart other than their own...so the fact that some of the stuff they make is good does not elevate them to some sort of religious and philosophical greatness.
Product Warnings
Product warnings are getting silly. "Warning: product in this container may be hot!"...on a cup of coffee or a hot apple pie. Or how about "Warning: side effects of this product include drowsiness" on a sleep aid. Its all about litigation: someone sued the product manufacturer once, and probably won, so the warning on the container is intended to prevent other idiots from saying they weren't smart enough to figure out that coffee might be hot. Its all part of the gradual dumbification of our society...the assumption that we must all be freaking idiots, because there is so much evidence to prove it. I was reading a little "joke" posting on Slashdot today, which lead me to the Enchanted Mind site, which I found has some interesting humour. But the thing that got my attention today was their list of warnings based on modern physics, which I shamelessly repeat here. NEW CONSUMER LAWS The combination of modern physics and consumer protection laws leads to a new wave of product labeling. NOTICE: Due To Its Mass, This Product Warps Space and Time in Its Vicinity. WARNING: This Product Attracts Every Other Object in the universe, Including the Products of Other Manufacturers, with a Force Proportional to the Product of the Masses Divided by the Square of the Distance Between Them. CAUTION: The Mass of This Product Contains the Energy Equivalent of 85 Million Tons of TNT per Net Ounce of Weight. The Manufacturer warrants that this product is to be used only as matter and will not be responsible for injury or damage if it is converted into energy. HANDLE WITH CARE: This Product Contains Minute Electrically Charged Particles Moving at Velocities in Excess of Five Hundred Million Miles Per Hour. CONSUMER NOTICE: Due to the "Uncertainty Principle," it is impossible for the User to know precisely and simultaneously where this product is located and how fast it is moving. ADVISORY: There is an Extremely Remote Chance That, Through a Process Known as "Tunneling," This Product May Spontaneously Disappear from Its Present Location and Reappear at Any Other Place in the Universe, Including Your Neighbor's Domicile. The Manufacturer Will Not Be Responsible for Any Damage or Inconvenience That May Result. READ THIS BEFORE OPENING PACKAGE: According to Certain Suggested Versions of the Grand Unified Theory, the Primary Particles Constituting this Product May Decay to Nothingness Within the Next Four Hundred Million Years. THIS PRODUCT IS 100% MATTER: In the Unlikely Event That This Merchandise Should Contact Antimatter in Any Form, a Catastrophic Explosion Will Result. The Manufacturer cannot be held responsible for resulting injury or damages. PUBLIC NOTICE AS REQUIRED BY LAW: Any Use of This Product, in Any Manner Whatsoever, Will Increase the Aggregate Amount of Disorder in the Universe. Although No Liability Is Assumed Herein, the Consumer Is Warned That This Process Will Ultimately Lead to a state of "Warm Death" of the Universe. NOTE: The Most Fundamental Particles in This Product Are Held Together by a "Gluing" Force About Which Little is Currently Known and Whose Adhesive Power, therefore, Can Not Be Guaranteed Indefinitely. No responsibility is therefore assumed for the structural integrity of this product. ATTENTION: Notwithstanding Any Listing of Product Contents Found Hereupon, the Consumer is Advised That This Product Actually Consists of 99.9999999999% Empty Space. NEW GRAND UNIFIED THEORY DISCLAIMER: While the Manufacturer is Technically Entitled to Claim That This Product Is Ten-Dimensional, the Consumer Is Reminded That This Confers No Legal Rights Above and Beyond Those Applicable to Three-Dimensional Objects, Since the Seven New Dimensions Are "Rolled Up" into Such a Small "Area" That They Cannot Be Detected. PLEASE NOTE: Some Quantum Physics Theories Suggest That, When Unobserved, This Product May Cease to Exist or May Exist Only in a Vague and Undetermined State. Therefore all warranties are in effect only while this product is under the direct observation of a human being. COMPONENT EQUIVALENCY NOTICE: The Subatomic Particles (Electrons, Protons, etc.) Comprising This Product Are Exactly the Same in Every Measurable Respect as Those Used in the Products of Other Manufacturers, and Competitors' Claims to the Contrary are neither Justified nor Legitimate. HEALTH WARNING: Care Should Be Taken When Lifting This Product, Since Its Mass, and Thus Its Weight, Is Dependent on Its Velocity Relative to the User. The manufacturer cannot be held liable for injury or damage resulting from relativistic mass increase. IMPORTANT NOTICE TO PURCHASERS: The Entire Physical Universe,Including This Product, May One Day Collapse Back into an Infinitesimally Small Space. Should Another Universe Subsequently Reemerge, the Existence of This Product in That Universe, and its performance and suitability for any purpose, Cannot Be Guarantee
Tsunami…
I recall reading years ago about the potential destructiveness of a tsunami. Naturally, the speculative scenarios were somewhat sensationalized: 1,000 foot waves washing over the east coast of the good old USA...that sort of thing. Now we have the reality. A 30 foot wave washes over Sri Lanka, India, and other "3rd world" nations. 2,000 estimated dead...5,000...20,000...60,000...120,000. And thousands more no doubt yet to be found. Big sigh of relief: only a handful of North Americans dead! Thank the Lord! Better send some charity over there...how about $30 million? I look at this series of events and questions arise in my mind.
- Why is it when North Americans die, the estimate of death is usually higher than reality? When the trade centers fell, 10,000 people were estimated to be killed...the reality was less than 3,000. Yet third world nations seem to always report numbers woefully below the reality
- How can we feel good about the fact that we are sending a few tens of millions over to the "poor" people in India and Sri Lanka? 120,000 foreigners die, we toss over $50 million or so. When 3,000 Americans died, the U.S. spent $100 *billion* on getting some kind of revenge...not against the people who committed the crime, but against a leader who maybe helped the people who committed the crime. To put that in perspective: per person, the implication here is that an Indian flood victim is worth about $400, whereas an American victim of terrorism is worth $33,000,000. Seems a bit out of whack to me.
- The awesome destructive force of nature puts our pathetic squabbles to shame. I believe that the 8.9 richter scale earthquake that started the tsunami expended energy equivalent to well over 60,000 one megaton hydrogen bombs...probably closer to 100,000. That's an energy release equivalent 100,000,000,000 tons of TNT
- Just before Christmas, a near earth orbit object was identified as meriting "significant attention" (4 on the Torino scale...about a 2% chance of hitting based on data available at the time)...MN4 is 300 metres in diameter: if it hit it would release energy equivalent to about an 8.6 on the Richter scale. 23 years away from potential impact, that sort of thing is a threat we might actually be able to do something about...if we could quit fighting amongst ourselves. And I don't mean "all become good Americans"... The threat of the object (MN4) hitting has been reduced to "normal" or 1, by the way- observations provided better data to reduce the threat
A pittance of time…
My wife received a link at her place of work (RCMP) earlier this week. Its a small but poignant reminder of what today, November 11th, is about.
Sneakers…
I just returned from a business trip to the U.S.. It was a tiring affair, but so far as business travel goes, I guess it was about as good as can be expected.
That said, this was my first major trip since about 2000. I had read about but hadn’t experienced first-hand the post WTC security precautions when crossing the border, and I have to say that they are … odd. (more…)
On being sick…
Its nearly 2:00 am, and I’m sitting here in front of the computer. I have a cup of Neo Citran in one hand, and a tissue in the other. Occasionally I put them down so I can type. I have a cold, and its keeping me awake. (more…)
Sometimes…
I’m like most people: I complain about all the things in my life that aren’t quite the way I want them. My sore back. The fact that I’m not a millionaire. The high taxes I pay. The many years remaining on my mortgage. (more…)