Category — General

Postfix Attack. 12 Aug 2003: In this weeksSecurity Alerts, we look at problems in Postfix, DB2, stunnel, OpenSSH, up2date, eroaster, wget, xfstt, xpcd, pam-pgsql, xtokkaetama, and Half-Life. [RootPrompt.org -- Nothing but Unix]

time to check the mail servers, all seems good here.

(Re)Touching Reality.

Greg's Digital Archive

Damn, ever wonder why so many women have body issues? Here is one big reason shown in action. Its not all good when it comes to photoshop. Well its nice on the eyes, but nasty on the psyche.

[Abstract Dynamics]

The whole and extensive manipulation of reality is the problem, not so much the body issues. as computing power becomes cheaper and techniques become standard how long of a delay in a live broadcast will you need to do this sort of thing on the fly? probably not much. Just pull the semi trailer with the computers right next to the production truck and tada…….

You Don't Own What You've Bought. Just a sad reminder that, thanks to ridiculous software licensing practices, if you buy used equipment on eBay, you might not be able to use it. In fact, if it's from some companies like Cisco, you might want to make sure you hide it from anyone who works there. People who have bought used equipment, and then had the original company find out about it are discovering that the company is saying their software license is not valid and they need to buy a new one – even though the equipment was already paid for by the original owner. Apparently “owner” is the wrong word, because these companies are basically saying you never actually own what you've bought. This is nothing new, of course, but the stories included in the article demonstrate just how ridiculous this practice is. Buy a data storage system for $4,000, and then have the company tell you you need to pay $15,000 if you actually want to use it? Have a Cisco rep spot a router you bought on eBay and have them demanding relicensing fees and an “inspection”? Thanks to bizarre intellectual property rules, you no longer own what you buy.
[Techdirt]

Apparently, owning something is an Industrial Age pint of view. In the Information age, we only get to lease something, even if we have possession of a physical object. What happens if the company goes belly up? Well, someone still holds the rights and can keep anyone else at bay. This is one problem of copyrights in the digital age. Incremental value can never be added because of the often stringent licensing agreements made, usually by lawyers who have no clue to the real worth of something. [A Man with a Ph.D. - Richard Gayle's Weblog]

This is why GNU exists… You own you nothing, you license everything, well software-wise most of the time. If you write software you could own it, but in all likelihood you do not because you were working for someone else and they own a part.

I Was Early, the Train Was Late. Which meant I had to spend almost two hours waiting at New York's Penn Station. I couldn't actually leave the station: I didn't know when exactly the train might arrive, but I did know that my husband would be disembarking… [Invisible Adjunct]

Doughnut aesthetics is a grossly underappreciated field, but everyday life indicates it should be otherwise.

Presents of Mind. The Unemployed Philosopher‰¥ús Guild began in 1992 when two students of philosophy found their inner creativity in the midst of a dwindling academic job market. As it turned out, fulfilling gift giving needs proved to be almost as satisfying as probing eternal questions. They offer such items as “Freudian Slippers”, “Nietzsche's Will to Power Bars”, “Brainy Beanies”, and “Dorothy Parker Martini Glasses”. [MetaFilter]

I've had this in my links list forever… it is just full of classic nonsensical gifts.

Deans world has a question for all women:

what do you like about men?

the answers are somewhat surprising, somewhat overtly sexist, but i'm not sure that's always bad anymore.

in any case, go read and respond.

Misuse of Science. In a report recently complied by Rep. Waxman (D-Calif) and the minority staff of the House Government Reform Committee's special investigations division areas in which the Bush administration has manipulated science to the benefit of his political agenda are highlighted. The report has an accompanying website. [MetaFilter]

The site mentioned above reveals that the bush science policy is basically anti-science to the extent that if anything infringes upon prior belief or faith, it is not supported. In short, you can clearly see that this regime relies on something other than science, which has been clear for some time actually.

On the Futility of Reading. KF is writing about the need to re-read. Well, here's a disconcerting thought: reading is a woefully inefficient way of processing information. (I know, I know: who reads just to “process information”? But bear with me a moment.) Let's say… [Matthew G. Kirschenbaum]

books yes, but what about the journal articles, ick. if it weren't for conferences, i doubt i'd be able to keep up with what's going on.

Users Rights to Communications Services.

The Commission for Communications Regulation, Ireland has released a new publication Users Rights to Communications Services (Protecting Users in a Developing Communications Market), which is the decision governing the regulatory framework for the protection of users of electronic communications services. This decision follows their consultation 03/26 (Protecting Users in a Developing Communications Market Implementing Measures under the National and EU Communications Framework ).

The consultation focused on how the national regulatory framework in this area would evolve in light of changes in the EU framework, in particular, the EU Directive on Universal Service and Usersâ Rights. It dealt with measures such as transparency of information for users, operator codes of practice for complaint handling, contracts and the publication of quality of service information.

[ITU Strategy and Policy Unit Newslog]

This seems to be an interesting report, but i think it forgets that profit is tied to knowledge, and if users don't know, they pay more. not that it is right, but that is the way profit works.

The Technoarchy.

Technoarchy: a form of oligarchy where society is controlled by those who use technology the best. Unlike traditional oligarchies technoarchies are generally emergent. For the most part they are not created deliberately, but rise out of the properties of the dominant technology of the time, ie the networked computers of the 21st century.

According to google it was used with a potentially similar meaning once before, in an essay I have yet to get my hands on. If anyone knows of any other prior uses, please let me know. Same goes for other words with a similar meaning.

Expect an essay in the near future.

[Abstract Dynamics]

saint-simon wrote significantly on technoarchies, interesting things, as they may even rule without being the apparent rulers, but they need not be oligarchical, they can be polities or democracies. it all depends on the technics and the education