Jobarts' Public Journal

05:19 pm - Job offer

You've probably read on my mom's 'blog that I got a tentative job offer from the Consumer Assistance Program with the State. Now it's official! The start date is April 1st. (Hope it's not a joke!) They're sending the details by mail tomorrow. Yay!

Current Mood: happy

10:30 pm - A box of oatmeal is like a basket of socks.

Who can guess why?

Current Mood: relieved

11:15 pm - Good stuff

My computer class is over now, and it looks like I'm going to get an A. Yay! (It'll be a while before official word is out.)

Other good news:
According to CNN, The king of Bhutan (a country between India and China) says he's going to make his country a democracy, and it looks like he means it.
Story on CNN

Pluggd is making a search engine for podcasts that shows you a time-line of the podcast The parts where your terms show up highlighted in a "heat map" style.
Story on Wired News

Current Mood: content

08:37 pm - Ramming speed!

I got some RAM last week, bringing my computer from 128MiB to 256MiB. It's so much faster now. ($15 off of Craig's List. I like that site.)

I recently found out that most GNU/Linux distros (and other OSs?) use otherwise unoccupied memory as a disk cache, which explains why it's faster now than before even when doing things that didn't make it use virtual memory (when the computer uses hard disk space as memory, which is really slow).

If you want to learn how to upgrade RAM yourself, here's what you'll need to know about finding RAM that's compatible for your computer:

Check out Kingston's memory guide. Of particular interest is their memory compatibility checker. You also might want to read some of the Wikipedia's article on RAM. (Check out the external links section at the end.)

Be sure to read about how to install memory properly, as putting it in wrong can damage your computer. (In addition to their precautions, I'd recommend not wearing a sweater or other static-encouraging clothes while you're doing this.)

I didn't know about their guide and checker before I bought my RAM, so I checked it myself. If they don't know about your motherboard, search for it on Google to get the specs. (Google search for my motherboard.)

Here's what you'll need to dig out of the specs:

1: Form factor
The shape of the memory card. Here's some photos of all the common form factors. (Make sure you get the right number of pins.)

2: Speed
Computers are only designed to handle memory modules of certain speeds. The speed is usually written as "PC100" or something like that. (Wikipedia has a list of speeds and how they're labeled for DIMM/DRAM cards, which most computers use these days.)

3: Size
Look at the specs for to find out how big of a card your computer can handle. Note that "upgradable to x MiB/MB" does not mean that it can handle a card of size x, that just means that the total memory can be that big. (My computer is upgradable to 768 MiB, but can only handle cards of 256 MiB each.) Make sure you find out what the per card limit is.
Also, unless it's significantly more expensive, you'll probably want to get one big card rather than two smaller cards (if you're getting that much anyway), as that way you can upgrade later without giving up the RAM you're putting in now.
(I'm lucky to have a box that accepts three cards. I have the original 128MiB card, another one that I added, and one slot leftover for when I eventually decide to up it to 512MiB. I think most computers have two slots.)

(By the way, I wrote this post on MacJournal [2.6, the last free one] because I'd already started on it and saved it there.)

05:41 pm - Maybe a different extension...

When you tell Performancing to update a post that's already there, it posts the new version as new entry. So now I'm trying another Firefox extension, this time it's "Deepest Sender". (How do they come up with these names?)

My initial impression of Deepest Sender is that it's better designed for LiveJournal. It doesn't support as many 'blogging sites, but it takes advantage of LJ features that the other one didn't, like setting your current mood, music, and post permission group. If you install the FoxyTunes extension, DS is supposed to be able to get the currently playing song through that. (I haven't tried it.)
(FoxyTunes can control music in different programs, I don't know which ones yet. DS can also get the information itself if the music player puts that info in a text file, or if you're running Windows and the player puts that into the registry.)

It can also do spell checking via the SpellBound extension, but I had trouble installing that. (I haven't upgraded Firefox to version 2 yet.)


One nice thing about this editor is that there's a simple editer mode with buttons for formatting (like a word processor), and a source code editing mode. Performancing has that too, and they both give you the option of having the easy mode encode the formatting with HTML (old way) or CSS (new way).

07:56 pm - This is a test

I've been 'blogging using only MacJournal, since that way I keep a local copy (and I like MacJournal). Obviously, MacJournal is only available for Macs, so I can't use that on my GNU/Linux system. (That's one of the reasons that I haven't been blogging much lately. Not the only reason by a long shot, just one of them.) Anyway, so now I'm trying out the "Performaning" extension for FireFox. I don't think it has a local save feature, I'll have to look around

What's that button do? That doesn't look right...

powered by performancing firefox

04:03 pm - Oops.

At least I got some of it done on time. Unless noted otherwise, I haven't looked at these as thoroughly, so this info might not be as good as normal. By the way, I decided to vote yes on 1C.

Proposition 83. Sex Offenders. Sexually Violent Predators. Punishment, Residence Restrictions and Monitoring - Yes
One major thing this does is put GPS ankle bracelets on released sex offenders. I haven't studied it in detail, but it sounds like a good idea, and I haven't heard any strong opposition to it. (The only argument against it I've heard is that 'It's unfair to put the devices on committers of minor offenses.' [Referring to statutory rape. Not good enough for me.])

Proposition 84. Water Quality, Safety and Supply. Flood Control. Natural Resource Protection. Park Improvements - No
Yet another bond. 1E seems to focus more on flood prevention, whereas 84 focuses on reducing water pollution. Good stuff to do, but it doesn't warrant a loan.

Proposition 85. Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of Minor's Pregnancy - Yes
This doesn't let the parents make them stop, it just requires that they be notified (except for certain cases such as abuse, or if immediate abortion is needed to save the minor's life). This should enable parents to get their kids into counseling, which they'll probably need whatever they decide.

Proposition 86. Tax on Cigarettes - No
According to the legislative analysis, only 11% goes to stop smoking. Most of the rest goes to medical stuff entirely unrelated to smoking. First, if this does stop smoking, all those programs lose the funding this gives them. Second, smokers are no more responsible for most of the needs covered by this than anyone else is.
If it was only funding anti-smoking campaigns and medical efforts directly related to smoking, I'd be all for it, but this is just a "we don't like them, so stick them with the bill" kind of thing.

Proposition 87. Alternative Energy. Research, Production, Incentives. Tax on California Oil Producers - No
Economic impact
The cost of oil is determined by supply and demand, just like everything else. If you increase costs for oil companies, that's equivalent to reducing the supply. You're not likely to see a sudden California-specific change as a result from this, but over time the world market will adjust to this and raise costs for everyone. (Tom Sullivan, who's been an investor since the '70s, agrees with this view.)
Furthermore, if it is more economical to get oil out of state, then that's what they'll do. Case in point: many people don't like that China is bad to it's workers, but practically all of us have stuff made in China. Businesses care even less about such things. This will result in a loss of jobs in California, though I have no idea how much of a loss.

As for making it illegal to pass on the cost, the text only says that it'll be illegal. There's no information on how that'll be enforced. It won't be unless someone finds a way to prove that's the reason they raised the prices. They'll just (honestly) say "We just want to make more money." or "That's just where the market is right now." It's entirely unenforceable.

Also, the tax pays for bonds that pay for this right away. Great, now we have hidden bond acts. The taxes are supposed to stop when the bonds are paid off, so this is a one-time kind of thing rather than an ongoing program.

Effectiveness of the alternate fuel programs
There's a debate about the effectiveness of the programs that all this would fund, but I don't know enough to know how it really is. I will point out, though, that some oil companies (such as BP) are doing alternate energy research so that they'll survive when oil is replaced, and maybe end up on top. Odds are, the companies will be watching their programs better than we'll be able to watch ours. The point I'm making here is (if they weren't able to pass on the cost), why take money away from companies to do research if the companies have better odds at getting somewhere with their research?

Proposition 88. Education Funding. Real Property Parcel Tax - No
First, it's a flat rate small property owners pay the same as huge land owners (residential or commercial), as long as it's all in one parcel. Also, people in time-share agreements get taxed the same as if they owned it entirely. This also appears to go against the intention of Proposition 13, and could encourage more taxes like this to be created later, potentially destroying mom-and-pop stores.
More than 50% of our taxes already go to schools. We need to work on using those funds more efficiently, rather than dumping more money into the system.

If I could know that the teacher evaluation part would work, I'd like that, but I don't know enough about how that'd work, and that part doesn't get much of the money.

Proposition 89. Political Campaigns. Public Financing. Corporate Tax Increase. Campaign Contribution and Expenditure Limits - Abstain
I know nothing about this, except that it's not a constitutional amendment.

(Right now my policy is to abstain on statues that I don't know about, hoping that other people understand it. I don't like people throwing around constitutional amendments, so I vote no on those if I don't know what they do [and try to avoid that situation].)

Proposition 90. Government Acquisition, Regulation of Private Property - Leaning No
Supposed to stop eminent domain abuse. (Look up Kelo vs. New London for background info if you don't know about this issue.) There's concern that businesses will be able to use it to rip off taxpayers, because they can claim damage for loss caused by new regulations.
However, they can only claim damages for new regulations; you can only claim damage if the rules were added after you bought the property. There's also exceptions for health and safety laws. So, I can't buy land where I know I can't build and then hold the city accountable for "damages."

So, that would sound good to me, but city plans are often out of date. Many may not factor in environmental damage from construction. If we notice that there's a problem after the land is bought, we have to pay damages or let them go ahead and ruin the place. The opposition says that Oregon did something similar, and now is unable to protect their environment or enforce new zoning laws.

I think I'd vote yes if it were just statute, but it's a constitutional amendment, so this would be hard to get fixed later. Tricksy!

Inside insight from SMUD
By brother-in-law who works for SMUD (training pole climbers if I remember right) posted a comment last time around when we were voting on whether to have an advisory vote for SMUD's expansion. He says that we used to have two electric companies servicing the same area, using different voltages. Apparently this system was unreliable, and that's when we made SMUD. I still wonder if there's a feasible way to solve the technical problems; it'd be so much better if we could.


I'm tired of this, and half of you probably voted by now, so I'll stop here. Yeah, I know I was supposed to talk about the Kings. If any of you care about reading that, post a comment saying so.

Current Mood: tired

08:36 pm - SMUD expansion (Measures H and I in Yolo County, and Measure L in Sacramento) - Yes

Rates
        SMUD's residential rates are 30% lower than PG&E's. SMUD has said that the full cost of the expansion will be paid for with most of the difference between their rates and PG&E's rates, so that Yolo's rates will be only 2% lower than what they're paying now until the cost is paid off. After that, they get the same rates as us. Our rates will not be affected no matter how expensive it is, as a higher cost just means that Yolo will have to wait longer for the full rate reduction.

Capacity
        The argument that SMUD will not have the capacity to serve us and Yolo County at the same time is false. SMUD is going to get the resources that PG&E currently uses to serve Yolo County, so things will stay pretty much as they are. (I wonder just what the people who make that argument think the cost of the takeover is paying for.)

Jobs
        SMUD has also announced that they are willing to hire all PG&E employees who lose their jobs as a result of the takeover. (They'll need people to run things in Yolo anyway, and that way they could have people working exactly where they are right now: nice for the workers, and a smoother transition for SMUD.)

Eminent domain
        Some opponents have said that this is wrong because, in their mind, it's using eminent domain to take resources from one business and give it to another. I disagree, as SMUD is a publicly-owned utility, not a private business.
        Then they say that having a public utility taking over a private one is "fundamentally wrong." Why? An open market system is generally better than only having state-run systems, but we don't have an open energy market right now anyway. If you're on PG&E's turf, you get your electricity from them. The only other options Yolo citizens currently have are to live without electricity (impractical) or to move somewhere else. It's wrong to force people to move anytime they want to change where they get electricity.

        I think that it'd be best if we made it so that a number of companies could service the same area, but SMUD is the best choice that we have right now. If they raise the rates, then we can remove whatever officials are responsible for it, and put in whoever promises to change it back. Yes, I know that's not easy, but the point is that it's possible. The only ways to force PG&E to change are to either get a majority of PG&E's stock (good luck on that), or organize a huge boycott (same there).

12:03 am - Propositions 1A-1E

"Here we go, here we go again..."

Proposition 1A "Transportation Funding Protection" - Yes
Four years ago, we passed a proposition to create a gas tax to fund road construction and maintenance. Those funds have been diverted to other uses, and while those causes are deserving, they should be coming out of the general fund, not the gas tax. This proposition would require that all funds collected through the gas tax be used for the original purpose, the one that voters authorized.

Proposition 1B "Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act of 2006" - No
There's that "b" word. Why does everything have to be paid for on credit these days?
This is a regular, expected expense, not some unexpected emergency. It should be paid for out of the general fund. It's not like the freeways are literally collapsing or anything. This is no more urgent than any item in the budget, and that's where it belongs.

Proposition 1C "Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act of 2006" - Undecided
This act would borrow money to pay for various housing programs and related projects. Now, this is something that should come out of the normal budget, but you've got to have have some sympathy for homeless people, abuse victims, etc. who are trying to make their lives better.
I'll have to point out that the proponents claim that this will not raise taxes; this is nonsense. While the proposition itself does not include a tax increase, the money will have to come from somewhere, either by raising taxes normally, or by cutting other programs.

Proposition 1D "Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2006" - No
Yet another bond act to pay for something that should be in the general fund. Before anyone says 'Don't you care about the kids?', this includes community colleges, so I'm one of the 'kids' that would directly benefit. Using the proverbial charge card for everything will only cause more budget problems in the future, making us less able to fund schools or anything else.

Proposition 1E "Disaster Preparedness and Flood Prevention Bond Act of 2006" - Yes
Yes, this should come out of the general fund too, but the fact is that we haven't been paying enought attention to our flood prevention systems, and it'd be really bad if they failed. While I'd prefer they'd be more specific about the projects that this will fund, I don't think that's enough reason to vote against in this case.
To those people who say the feds should pay for it: This is the richest state in the nation. Our economy is compared to those of entire countries. Grow up.


To be continued. Tune in next week- no, it'll have to be sooner than that.

09:14 pm - School, cycling and "Life in Sacramento"

        Alright, here's an update. I'm going to City College again (taking Introduction to Computer Information Science and Orientation to College) and a couple weeks ago my bike odometer hit 200 miles. (I'm getting a little less that 5 mi. per round trip to school. Both of my classes are Tuesday/Thursday.)
        For computer class, I was supposed to type up and format a page about my favorite vacation destination, but I don't get all that excited about travelling, so instead I wrote about why I like Sacramento. You can read the nicely formated PDF version, or just read the copy pasted below. (Yeah, I'm gonna study and post about politics sometime, hopefully before election day this time. By the way, I very much dislike the Maloofs, Arco Arena, and the arena proposal. I'll tell you why later.)
        Oh, how could I forget?! My (only) nephew just turned one. So cute! - I gotta go now.

Life in Sacramento
(Name deleted for blog)
I had trouble starting this assignment because there isn’t any place that I strongly want to visit. So instead, I’ll write about why I like living in Sacramento.

The trees
I like trees. They help keep the city cooler in the California summers, absorb some of our pollution, and just add some color and life to the landscape. We have lots of parks too, it seems that most homes are within walking distance of a park.

Transportation
The fact that Sacramento is flat makes it a lot easier to get around by bicycle. (Cyclists in San Francisco must have incredibly strong legs.)
I also really like light rail for getting around. Sometimes I think of it as a sort of ‘hyper-gate’ since it’s so good for supplementing biking. (Maybe I’ve played too many space-trade games.) I like looking into the unused operator rooms to watch the speedometers while I ride. The official maximum speed for the trains is 55 MPH, but I saw one hit 57 once. They’re about as fast as cars in good traffic, and far faster when it’s busy.

Mild winter
I can’t stand cold weather. I can wear two sweaters and a jacket and still be cold on some days. I’m sure glad not to live where it snows! Though day-trips to the snow are fun - if there’s hot cocoa handy. That’s another nice thing about this city: two hours of driving and you’re in the mountains or at the beach. I love California.

07:15 pm - Link:Keeping cool without an air conditioner

Wikihow.com has an article on how to cool yourself without air conditioning.

Current Mood: hot

12:41 am - How I'm voting and why

        (I verify as many facts as I can myself, and try to note when I was unable to do so, but I'm still human.)
        I procrastinated too much to look at the office candidates in any detail, so I'm only posting about the propositions and Measure H. I need to write that priority calculator...

Proposition 81: "California Reading and Literacy Improvement and Public Library Construction and Renovation Bond Act of 2006" - No
        Still the same as my first impression: this should be paid for out the the normal budget, not yet another loan (especially when the governor is reporting a budget surplus). Also, why should the state have to pay for local libraries? It doesn't mention any specific library, just more funding for libraries to be selected later, so it doesn't seem to fill any special need.

Proposition 82: "Preschool Education"- No
Even if you support preschool, this particular proposition has problems:
        Prop. 82 would likely draw teachers away from normal schools, as it requires that the preschool teachers are paid similarly, even though they would have smaller classes to deal with, have an aide, and wouldn't have to grade homework or issue tests. They wouldn't require as much education, though, so new, less experienced teachers could fill some of these positions. On the other hand, that would mean having the least experienced teachers at the most critical time for emotional development.
        It is likely that the teachers' unions support this proposition because this would create more teaching jobs, thus more members, meaning more funding for them to spend on future campaigns.

        Most of the people that 82 would provide preschool for can already afford it if they want it (not verified, heard on talk radio), and would have tax-payers pay for those that are already in preschool.

        The program would cost $2.4 billion per year (according to the Attorney General), would be paid for with new taxes, and requires that the funding be used for preschool, even if other programs (smaller, normal classes or family literacy classes, for example) are later found to be more effective.

        This proposition would change the state constitution to require preschool, making it harder to reverse, even though a program like this could be made under the current constitution.

Now, as if that's not bad enough, preschool itself:
        It seems that preschool might help kids whose parents don't give them enough attention, but is no replacement for real parenting.
        From a study published by the C.D. Howe Institute (PDF):
        "Several measures we looked at suggest that children were worse off in the
years following the introduction of the universal childcare program. We studied a
wide range of measures of child well-being, from anxiety and hyperactivity to
social and motor skills. For almost every measure, we find that the increased use
of childcare was associated with a decrease in their well-being relative to other
children. For example, reported fighting and other measures of aggressive
behavior increased substantially. Our results are consistent with evidence from
the National Institute of Child Health and Development Early Childcare Research
Network (2003), showing that the amount of time through the first 4.5 years of life
that a child spends away from his or her mother is a predictor of assertiveness,
disobedience, and aggression." (Emphasis added)

        A study conducted by researchers at Stanford and Berkley found that preschool has a strong negative effect on the social behavior / emotional stability of children.
        (The effect on black children's social behavior was about three times as bad the effect on other children. [Normally I wouldn't care much about how effects differ by race, but three times more damage is intriguing.])

        The positive effects of preschool fade by fourth grade. (I found various articles that refer to the study that found this, and found that it was listed at an online library, but it requires a subscription so I was unable to read it myself. If you have a subscription to JSTOR, please take a look and tell me what you find.)

Measure H: "Ordinance Requiring Advisory Votes on Proposals to Expand
Sacramento Municipal Utility District" - Unsure/Abstain
        I like SMUD and think that Yolo County would benefit by SMUD going there. (At least) two members of the Yolo County Board of Supervisors want SMUD, and are opposed to this proposition. Also, SMUD directors have claimed that they are going to have binding vote on the matter in November. (They may be referring to the vote that will be held in Yolo County, which current customers of SMUD can't participate in.)
        However, this is not a proposition to block the Yolo County expansion; it is a proposition to require SMUD to hold a non-binding advisory vote among it's current customers before expanding, this time or in the future.
        More information made public is good, but I'm note sure that we need to worry about this. (Maybe that's a reason to demand a vote...) The expansion will probably cost us some, but it'll save Yolo County from continuing to be over charged by PG&E.

        If they'd find a way set up their own system there and and have it work along-size PG&E's and have some fair competition, instead of seizing PG&E's stuff there by eminent domain, then we wouldn't have this problem.

03:39 pm - California's June Elections (first impressions on props.)

        Only two weeks! I'll post about the propositions and measures first, then state officials. As always, if I get something wrong, tell me.
        I haven't gone through them thouroughly yet, but here are my first impressions on the propositions: (See smartvoter.org for more information.)

81: "California Reading and Literacy Improvement and Public Library Construction and Renovation Bond Act of 2006"
        This should be in the state budget, there's no reason why we need to get yet another loan for this. (At least the interest wouldn't be more than the principle this time.)

82: "Preschool Education"
        Preschool has a net negative impact on society. Do you want your kids raised by state workers who aren't allowed to give any advice that might possibly have religious roots? Where is this world going?
        Even if preschool itself wasn't a problem, there's no reason why this has to be done through the initiative process. The (state) constitution doesn't need to be changed to allow this, it could be set up under the current educational system. It looks like this is meant to make it so that such a program can't be removed.
        As for the statute portion, most of these details should be worked out by the legislature, not voted on unilaterally by the people, as most of us won't read them. (At first glance, it looks about as complicated as those health care ones from last time.) This could either pressure the legislature into overruling the people to correct any problems they find in it, or pressure them into not fixing problems for fear of offending us. Not a good idea.

12:34 pm - Potatoes!

        My birthday was Thursday, and we had potatoes for dinner: baked potatoes, potato salad, and tater tots. Yum! (It's the Irish side of me.) I should've taken a picture before we started eating. Mom gave me a subscription to Popular Science. By the way, anyone want to know how to color titanium so that it'll never fade away, or program a Roomba to guard your house and accept commands from a cell phone?

        On Wednesday, I "babysat" an Elder (LDS missionary) who has a hernia and needs to stay off of it until he has a surgery. We had a good game of chess. I was sure he was going to win at first, but eventually I got him. At one point, he had all his pieces, including pawns, guarded while his bishop was pinning my knight to my king. I'd captured more of his pieces than he'd captured of mine, though, so I was able to trade them (somewhat blunderingly) for his and shuffled them around to guard each other. Then I sent my rook to keep his king on his back line, and attacked with my queen. (I guess I should've kept a log so I could explain it better.)

        (By the way, there was a leak at the library and they have to replace the carpet, so that's delayed my post about the Wikipedia. Fortunately, only twenty-five books were damaged.)

Current Mood: sick

05:59 pm - Absence

        I'm working on a long rant on the misrepresentation of the Wikipedia in the news. I should post it within a [cut] couple [/cut] few days. If you have any questions or concerns about the Wikipedia, let me know and I'll throw it in.
        I'm still going to the BloodSource, and I'm doing pretty much the same stuff as I wrote about before. Sometimes I talk about politics with Carl. (I can't think of a good nickname for him and he says that people shouldn't worry about privacy.) I usually fail to accurately represent my point of view, I think I'm better at writing than talking, more time to organize your thoughts.
        Every week I take home a bag of Goldfish crackers, and I started doing experiments with chocolate coating stuff. (It's fun.)
        I think I'm giving up on the secret identity idea, it's too complicated to maintain two identities. (One's enough!)
        Still trying to figure out watermarking my pictures. I don't like any of the currently existing proprietary solutions, and I don't know enough about math to do it myself. (Discrete cosine transforms, aah!) I might use a steganography tool for a make-shift watermark.

09:01 pm - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (the movie)

        Today, Goliath took Purple, Red, Blue and I to see The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It was really good (and I'm critical of movies). Some details left out, but that's inevitable when you're making a movie out of a book. There was also a couple minor inconsistencies, but overall it was impressive. As Goliath put it, it's "the best movie since the Lord of the Rings." They did a good job at expressing the pain of the battle without getting too gory, that's not something you find in a lot of movies.
        The rating from kids-in-mind is 1.6.1 (on scales of 0-10, 1 for sex and nudity, 6 for violence and gore, 1 for profanity). (See full review.) Kids-in-mind is great. Rather than trying to decide for which age groups a movie is appropriate for you, they rate them in the three categories and provide a review that includes just about everything that anyone could possibly have a problem with (with the exception of the use of the words "God or "Jesus" when they're not being used as (or part of) curses or insults). The one downside to reading the full review is that sometimes they reveal too much about the story. They're focused on ratings for kids, so spoiling a the story for the parents doesn't matter so much, and if you want to know how a movies is that you want to see for yourself, you can just go by the numbers.

P.S.:
The kids-in-mind message summary for this one is way off: "Sacrifice brings resurrection. Fight against evil and you will be rewarded by becoming king or queen." Someone needs to watch it again (or read the book).

11:29 pm - A fable for our time

        I was catching up on weblogs I read, and saw that my brother wrote a fable, "The Turtle and the Apple".

        (Downside to secret identity idea: can't refer to weblogs of relatives as such.)

11:18 pm - Looking for a content management system

        I'm trying to decide on a new CMS for my weblog entries, and for photos. I've decided that I don't want the system to handle that storage of the actual posts/images, but just keep track labels applied to them and where they are. I could just go back to basics and make a spreadsheet, but I want people to be able to look things up by label online. I'll have to look at what WordPress can do.
        By the way, I would really appreciate any comments to my earlier entry, Secret Identity?.

04:16 pm - Sony Boycott

        If I've ranted about Sony to you, then skip the first few paragraphs (or the whole post).

        Sony put software (provided by First4Internet) on millions of their Sony BMG CDs that automatically installs a rootkit (low-level system modification) on Windows systems. This rootkit hides all files with names starting a certain way from the user and anti-malware (anti-virus / anti-spyware) programs. Several internet worms have been modified to take advantage of this to avoid detection.
        The software shows you an agreement form the first time you insert the disk, but makes the installation before you get a chance to say no, and doesn't provide any way to uninstall it. The software also "phones home," telling Sony exactly when you listen to which songs.
        When this became public knowledge, Sony hastily rolled out an uninstaller, but to get it, users had to provide personal information which, according to their privacy policy, would be shared with third parties.
        Then it was found that when you run the uninstaller, it opens an even bigger security hole. MicroSoft has announced that they will provide uninstallers to fix the systems effected by all this. (It's speculated that MS is just doing this to improve their own image in preparation for the launch of their own music service and already existing games that compete with Sony products.)
        Ironically, the software, intended mainly to prevent copyright violation, itself violates the copyright of some open source programers. It also fails to deter pirates, as most CD copying programs copy the music without any problems, and even if you don't have such software, putting a piece of opaque tape on the outer edge of the data side of the disk disables the program. (The first session of the disk is standard CD audio; the only protection is in the clumsy software on the second session.) So they've done what they tried to keep others from doing, failed, and got a bunch of computers compromised while they're at it.

        Sony has said that they'll stop using rootkits, but they've said nothing about kernel extensions (the MacOS equivalent of rootkits, this time provided by SunnComm) also found on the disks. Sign a petition to Sony telling them that you won't buy anything from them until they end this nonsense. (You have to watch out for movies and stuff they're distributing, though.) DRM is controversial enough without using sloppy code. Use watermarking instead.

(By the way, MacOS requires that you give it an admin password before it'll install kernel extensions. Letting administrators control what goes on in the system, what a novel idea.)

Here's another, though unrelated mess Sony got themselves in:
        Sony has also offended fans of it's Star Wars Galaxy MMORGPG (Massively Mulitplayer Online Role-Playing Game) by drastically changing the gameplay to the point that it's in a whole other genre. Previously, players could select one of twenty careers for their character(s). One could be a merchant, mayor, whatever. People would spend/waste large amounts of time developing their character. Developing a character didn't just mean getting "skill points" as in some other games, instead they would get to know others in the game, and build up a reputation. Few players would become Jedi, as this required a certain amount of persistance and luck. Most of the game is non-violent, thuough you can choose to be a bounty hunter or some other career if you do want that kind of game.
        Now, however it's entiely different. The number of professions has been reduced to nine (if memory serves). Anyone can become Jedi, almost at the press of a button. So now the virual galaxy is, as some have put it, filled with lightsaber wielding newbies blowing each other and the rest of the world up. The formerly thriving virual economy is now practally non-existant, and the years of experience the old players have means nothing anymore. Making it even worse, they put in these changes just after they released an expansion pack whick gave access to new occupations and other customizations. As the expansion pack became unusable just days after it was made available, Lucas Arts has offered a refund to everyone who bought one.
        They took a RPG and turned it into a shoot-'em-up game. Why didn't they just launch it as a new game and keep the old players happy (and paying subscription fees) while getting new players for the younger age oriented game? I never did like them much.

11:41 pm - Crash update

        It turns out that Purple's arm wasn't broken, just banged up a bit. (Bad, but better than broken.) R's neck might not be broken, I'm not sure. I know it's injured somehow and they've already given him at least one surgery, but they expect a full recovery.

        Better go before Santa comes! Merry Christmas!