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Opinari - Latin term for Opinion. Opinari.net is just what it seems: a cornucopia of rants, raves and poignant soliloquy.

Friday, April 30, 2004

I about choked on my saliva when I read this one:

Pressure is mounting on the Department of Education and Skills to provide a Muslim-friendly student loan.
Representatives of the Federation of Student Islamic Societies met with the education secretary, Charles Clarke, last week to discuss the problem, which affects students and their families who believe that taking out a student loan contravenes Islamic sharia law.

The law dictates that Muslims should not pay or receive interest on loans.

However, the Muslim community is split over whether student loans, which incur inflation-only levels of interest, are against sharia law. Student activists say that some Muslims are being asked to break their faith or forgo the opportunity for financial assistance during their studies.

Then borrow the money from somewhere else! There is no law that mandates that the Muslim community borrow their money through traditional means. If you have a right to practice religion, I respect that, and tolerate that. However, I have an equal right to profit from the loans that I make, and, as a taxpayer, I have a right not to subsidize your religious beliefs by paying the interest on your loan. This is called freedom. It's something you likely know very little about, if you practice sharia, but it's how we do things in the western world. No one is making you pay interest on a loan. Get over it.

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.: posted by Dave 10:41 PM


Why haven't we heard anything about this in the mainstream media?

ON APRIL 17, as reported in THE WEEKLY STANDARD, two American women and an American man were slain in Kosovo, and eleven people were injured when they came under armed attack by a Palestinian from Jordan. The killer was a member of the same body in which they served: the United Nations police force in the territory.

The male American, who died of his wounds, was Gary Weston, of Vienna, Illinois. The Palestinian, Sergeant Major Ahmed Mustafa Ibrahim Ali, was killed when members of the contingent in which the Americans were traveling returned fire.

In the days since the first reports of the crime were received, more details have emerged, which make what was already a scandal for the United Nations in Kosovo even more alarming. First and most disturbing is that the dead assailant, Ali, is being investigated for connections with Hamas, the Palestinian terror organization. Second is that the same Ali had visited the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, home of the Wahhabi Islamic sect that produced al Qaeda, only a month before he was sent to Kosovo in March.

More thorough descriptions of the incident are horrendous. The group of Americans, along with some Turkish personnel, were leaving a prison in the northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica when the attack began. It was their first day on the job. According to the Associated Press, they were "trapped between a locked gate and Ali's assault rifle."

[...]

The Associated Press account states chillingly, "When he had shot all those he could see, Ali paced around the vans [in which the Americans had been riding], searching for more victims."

Again, I ask... where's the press coverage on this? And what the hell is a Hamas agent doing working for the UN police force?

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.: posted by Dave 10:29 PM


Boortz on the 9/11 Commission and their meeting with the President:

There was one pretty unbelievable development in all this. The 9/11 Commission pressed for weeks and weeks to meet with the president and the vice-president. It absolutely had to happen, we were told, for them to complete their report. It was a very important priority. So with that as a backdrop, once they get their meeting in the Oval Office with the president, what do two of the Democrats on the commission do? They leave early! Vice chairman Lee Hamilton left the White House 70 minutes early, saying that he had a meeting with the Canadian Prime Minister. Bob Kerrey also left in the middle of the questioning, because he had a previous commitment to meet with Senator Pete Domenici on Capitol Hill. Why did they leave early? They left early because they weren't drawing any blood. They left early because the president was performing above all expectations. They left early because their agenda was not to gather information, but to embarrass the president. So .. .if your agenda isn't being met, leave!

Sounds typically partisan to me.

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.: posted by Dave 10:22 PM



I just created my new GMail account. Yeah, I admit, I was skeptical, when they issued the press release on April 1st saying that they were going to offer 1000 MB of email storage space. Well, I'm giving it a test run. The only drawback thus far... no IMAP or POP3 support. So for now, it will just be another email address.

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.: posted by Dave 10:05 PM


The family and I (wife, son, dog, and me) are on our way to East Tennessee in a week. I'm posting this hoping that some of my fellow RTBers (and anyone else who might be reading) will be able to help me out.

I would like to know where in the Knoxville area I can find "hotspots" for Wi-Fi access. Campus? Old City? Farragut? Airport area?

I don't even have dialup access for East Tennessee, so finding a place where I can do some surfing and high speed dawdling would be nice. My alternative? The Palm and Bluetooth via the Sony Ericcson T68i. It's efficient, and relatively quick, but not exactly what I am used to using.

So... can anyone point to some good quality Wi-Fi? If all else fails, I know I can go to Borders and use the T-Mobile connection, but I'd rather have other alternatives.

UPDATE: Well now, when did Krystal on campus add Wi-Fi? I guess I will be grabbing some Gutbusters... they don't have those up here in Connecticut, by the way.

UPDATE 2: It looks like Krystal on Lee Highway in Chattanooga does, too. That's good, since graduation is in Hamilton County. Maybe I won't be so "disconnected" after all!

UPDATE 3: Add the Mellow Mushroom, Leaf & Ale, and the Steak Escape to the Wi-Fi list. Fast food, here we come!

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.: posted by Dave 5:31 PM


As you can see, I am actually free to do some blogging today. I finished my last final exam today. All that is left are a couple of projects, and my design portfolio.

One week today, we depart for the Volunteer state. I can't wait.

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.: posted by Dave 5:20 PM


Color me skeptical. Google's IPO has been the big buzz among techies this week, especially with their Dutch auction way of distributing the shares. Two points:

1) I don't much care for the Dutch auction, since I have to go through one of two big brokerage houses to offer on the IPO. Why can't I buy into it without opening a $10,000 brokerage account? How is this getting the "little guy" into Google stock? Answer: it isn't.

2) Remember Red Hat's IPO, which sprang to well over $200 per share? Well, I do. Several of my friends bought into it. (I told them not to buy into a company that offers a FREE product, but that's another topic.) I think Google will be very volatile initially, and then will eventually value around the $10-15 that is being projected for the IPO.

Melanie Hollands of the IT Manager's Journal says:

If it were me, I'd buy whatever I could get in the IPO or at the opening bell and flip out of it ASAP. But as a long-term hold (long-term meaning in this case anything more than a few days), I wouldn't touch it.

I concur.

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.: posted by Dave 5:14 PM


While I was away...

Apparently the RTB's own SKBubba appeared in... Sports Illustrated? Who knew?

That reminds us, does anyone know Peyton Manning's IM handle?
Before the Tennessee-Alabama football game, UT blogger South Knoxville Bubba (southknoxbubba.net) pledged to donate to a local food bank $1 per offensive yard gained, $5 per snap taken and $10 per pass completed by Vols fan-favorite quarterback Jim Bob Cooter. Alas, Cooter never got off the bench.

Too cool.

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.: posted by Dave 5:07 PM


By now, I'm sure most people have heard or read about the Iraqi prison torture scandal.

Six Army reservists shown in graphic photos mistreating and humiliating Iraqi prisoners at a sprawling prison west of Baghdad are assigned to the 372nd Military Police Company based in Cumberland, family members and officials said last night.

In a story that aired last night, CBS's 60 Minutes II aired a series of pictures showing naked Iraqi prisoners who were forced to huddle in a pyramid or simulate sex acts with other prisoners. The pictures showed laughing male and female U.S. soldiers, some giving the thumbs-up sign, and a few were recognized by their Western Maryland neighbors.

In another picture, a hooded prisoner standing on a box appears to be wired to electrodes. The Army told the news program that the prisoner believed he would be electrocuted if he fell off the box.

The six reservists could be court-martialed. The New York Times says three of the six reported last month to be facing preliminary charges have been recommended for court-martial trials. According to the newspaper, a senior Pentagon official said late last night that the three have finished the military equivalent of a grand jury proceeding.

And they SHOULD be court-martialed. This is atrocious behavior, and any civilized person should think so. How do we maintain credibility in the world if we sanction this sort of treatment of enemy combatants?

President Bush vowed that the perpetrators would be harshly dealt with. Let's hope there is a quick, and stern resolution to this matter, and let it be a stark example to others - American soldiers have a responsibility to maintain civility, even (and especially) in a time of war. Those who don't will pay the consequences.

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.: posted by Dave 5:04 PM


Thursday, April 29, 2004

Try going to the UMass Amherst newspaper, the Daily Collegian, and you'll see that the site has been "slashdotted" or "googled" or whatever you want to call it. This is because some SOB in the paper's editorial department decided to run the byline "Pat Tillman is not a hero: he got what he deserved". Since the school's website won't come up right now, allow me to reprint his rant in its entirety:

When the death of Pat Tillman occurred, I turned to my friend who was watching the news with me and said, "How much you want to bet they start talking about him as a 'hero' in about two hours?" Of course, my friend did not want to make that bet. He'd lose. In this self-critical incapable nation, nothing but a knee-jerk "He's a hero" response is to be expected.

I've been mystified at the absolute nonsense of being in "awe" of Tillman's "sacrifice" that has been the American response. Mystified, but not surprised. True, it's not everyday that you forgo a $3.6 million contract for joining the military. And, not just the regular army, but the elite Army Rangers. You know he was a real Rambo, who wanted to be in the "real" thick of things. I could tell he was that type of macho guy, from his scowling, beefy face on the CNN pictures. Well, he got his wish. Even Rambo got shot in the third movie, but in real life, you die as a result of being shot. They should call Pat Tillman's army life "Rambo 4: Rambo Attempts to Strike Back at His Former Rambo 3 Taliban Friends, and Gets Killed."

But, does that make him a hero? I guess it's a matter of perspective. For people in the United States, who seem to be unable to admit the stupidity of both the Afghanistan and Iraqi wars, such a trade-off in life standards (if not expectancy) is nothing short of heroic. Obviously, the man must be made of "stronger stuff" to have had decided to "serve" his country rather than take from it. It's the old JFK exhortation to citizen service to the nation, and it seems to strike an emotional chord. So, it's understandable why Americans automatically knee-jerk into hero worship.

However, in my neighborhood in Puerto Rico, Tillman would have been called a "pendejo," an idiot. Tillman, in the absurd belief that he was defending or serving his all-powerful country from a seventh-rate, Third World nation devastated by the previous conflicts it had endured, decided to give up a comfortable life to place himself in a combat situation that cost him his life. This was not "Ramon or Tyrone," who joined the military out of financial necessity, or to have a chance at education. This was a "G.I. Joe" guy who got what was coming to him. That was not heroism, it was prophetic idiocy.

Tillman, probably acting out his nationalist-patriotic fantasies forged in years of exposure to Clint Eastwood and Rambo movies, decided to insert himself into a conflict he didn't need to insert himself into. It wasn't like he was defending the East coast from an invasion of a foreign power. THAT would have been heroic and laudable. What he did was make himself useful to a foreign invading army, and he paid for it. It's hard to say I have any sympathy for his death because I don't feel like his "service" was necessary. He wasn't defending me, nor was he defending the Afghani people. He was acting out his macho, patriotic crap and I guess someone with a bigger gun did him in.

Perhaps it's the old, dreamy American thought process that forces them to put sports greats and "larger than life" sacrificial lambs on the pedestal of heroism, no matter what they've done. After all, the American nation has no other role to play but to be the cheerleaders of the home team; a sad role to have to play during conflicts that suffer from severe legitimacy and credibility problems.

Matters are a little clearer for those living outside the American borders. Tillman got himself killed in a country other than his own without having been forced to go over to that country to kill its people. After all, whether we like them or not, the Taliban is more Afghani than we are. Their resistance is more legitimate than our invasion, regardless of the fact that our social values are probably more enlightened than theirs. For that, he shouldn't be hailed as a hero, he should be used as a poster boy for the dangerous consequences of too much "America is #1," frat boy, propaganda bull. It might just make a regular man irrationally drop $3.6 million to go fight in a conflict that was anything but "self-defense." The same could be said of the unusual belief of 50 percent of the American nation that thinks Saddam Hussein was behind Sept. 11. One must indeed stand in awe of the amazing success of the American propaganda machine. It works wonders.

Al-Qaeda won't be defeated in Afghanistan, even if we did kill all their operatives there. Only through careful and logical changing of the underlying conditions that allow for the ideology to foster will Al-Qaeda be defeated. Ask the Israelis if 50 years of blunt force have eradicated the Palestinian resistance. For that reason, Tillman's service, along with that of thousands of American soldiers, has been wrongly utilized. He did die in vain, because in the years to come, we will realize the irrationality of the War on Terror and the American reaction to Sept. 11. The sad part is that we won't realize it before we send more people like Pat Tillman over to their deaths.

I don't care which side of the political spectrum with which you align yourself, for you to use these pejoratives to describe Pat Tillman is egregious, and downright nonsensical. Mr. Gonzalez has decided to use his lectern as a place from which he can spew forth his ideology, while denigrating Mr. Tillman in the interim.

This poor excuse for journalism deserves a good fisking, and I hope someone in the blogosphere finds the time to do so. As for me, I have important things to do, like study for finals. Mr. Gonzalez claims that Pat Tillman would be called an "idiot" in his neighborhood. Perhaps he should return to his roots, where it seems that he might just fit in a little better than he does in mainstream America.

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.: posted by Dave 5:53 PM


From this morning's Wall Street Journal: Tech Jobs Start to Come Back
In U.S. After Three-Year Slump

After a deep three-year slump that erased more than one million jobs, U.S. technology companies have begun hiring again, marking a so far modest but solid trend that could well brighten the country's economic outlook.

The gains to date are tiny -- fewer than 20,000 jobs since late last year -- and concentrated among smaller companies. Tech-job seekers still must fight strong headwinds, from continuing layoffs to outsourcing of jobs abroad. Executives remain cautious after the long downturn, and job gains could quickly evaporate if sales slip. Yet even the small increases herald a significant shift.

This is good news, because of how engrained we are in the information economy. I can attest to this uptick in hiring, as I have received 6 job inquiries in the last 2 weeks, and I am not actively looking for a new position.

My opinion: If you're in the tech world, and you can't find work, either you're looking in the wrong places, not looking hard enough, being too narrow in your job search, you're too new to the industry, or you are just plain incompetent.

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.: posted by Dave 9:05 AM


Wednesday, April 28, 2004

My next political read is going to be the new Woodward book, "Plan of Attack". From today's Wall Street Journal:

Mr. Woodward describes a December 2002 Oval Office meeting in which CIA Director George Tenet and a deputy brief the President, Vice President, National Security Adviser and White House Chief of Staff on the status of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. According to the Woodward account, so far undisputed, Mr. Bush responded to the presentation by calling it a "nice try" but "not something that Joe Public would understand or would gain a lot of confidence from."

The President continued, "I've been told all this intelligence about having WMD and this is the best we've got?" At which point Mr. Tenet is said to have thrown his hands in the air and remarked, "It's a slam-dunk case!" Mr. Bush pressed again, "George, how confident are you?" Mr. Tenet: "Don't worry, it's a slam dunk!"

It isn't a shock, of course, that the CIA believed Iraq possessed stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. The Clinton Administration bombed Iraq for four days in December 1998 based on that assessment. Every other major intelligence agency in the world believed the same. What is new in the Woodward account is the extent to which Mr. Bush appears to have been a thoughtful and critical consumer of such intelligence. The President reportedly told Mr. Tenet several times, "Make sure no one stretches to make our case."

All of which puts the "Bush lied" crowd in a rather awkward spot. "He misled every one of us," John Kerry has said. "He lied to me personally." Ted Kennedy: "Week after week after week after week, we were told lie after lie after lie after lie."

Perhaps Woodward's account will finally set aside the "Bush lied" canard.

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.: posted by Dave 11:46 AM


Our town's budget meeting is tonight. It comes at a bad time for me, so I don't anticipate attending. I doubt these Yankees are ready for some perspective from a Southern boy anyway. This place is a far cry from what I am accustomed to. The main difference? Republicans and Democrats are essentially the same party. Want proof?

Councilman John Tait thinks (the town budget) should be approved as is.

"I could approve (the town manager's) budget tonight," Tait said. "I'm hearing from people that, yes, it's worth the hike in (property) taxes. Because if you want to live in a dead town, in a flat town, in a zero-growth town, then go somewhere else. Because this town has to expand."

It has to expand? By what mandate? I could stand some downsizing of local government, and privatizing some of these so-called services, or at least attaching fees to them for those that actually use them. This town has more services than it needs for 45,000 people anyway. Some of them, it does not do well. Just look at the streets in front of our houses, and see the litter, and the leftover salt from the winter.

This is not a Republican mentality. Really, there should be two parties here. The Democrats, and the (d)emocrats.

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.: posted by Dave 11:24 AM


Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Nothing says bliss and joy like correcting 30 pages of your masters' design portfolio, when you really want to be watching baseball.

Ugh.

Someone make this academic pain go away.

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.: posted by Dave 6:31 PM


Is Big Brother spying on your blog? If he's not, apparently, he will be.

Some blogs are whimsical and deal with "soft" subjects. Others, though, are cutting edge in delivering information and opinion.

As a result, some analysts say U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials might be starting to track blogs for important bits of information. This interest is a sign of how far Web media such as blogs have come in reshaping the data-collection habits of intelligence professionals and others, even with the knowledge that the accuracy of what's reported in some blogs is questionable.

Do the Feds think that the blogosphere is a threat to them, much like the Chinese think blogs threaten them? Probably not. They want to track them "ostensibly" because they are "closer to (some) situations, and may serve as early alerts". For what? Terrorism? That's doubtful.

Blogs are mainly opinion and they will likely stay that way. Al-Qaeda surely isn't logging their exploits about the globe. I'm sure Hamas has better things to do than to comment on Amish Tech Support about how pro-Zionist the site is. More to the point, the FBI, NSA, and CIA has a lot of catching up to do if they are going to rely on blogs for their intelligence.

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.: posted by Dave 6:30 PM


Monday, April 26, 2004

We're coming down the proverbial stretch here on this Masters' degree thing... one presentation, one final exam, and a weeklong trip back to Tennessee... and it will all be over.

Until then, blogging suffers. [sigh]

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.: posted by Dave 7:51 PM


I have always maintained that if a party doesn't truly believe in their candidate, if they cannot get excited about the candidate, their chances in the election are not that good. If you believe that, then you might like President Bush's chances at being re-elected:

(According to a Fox News Poll) Among Kerry supporters polled, 41% say they're backing him for essentially negative reasons ("Not Bush" 38%, "Electable/can beat Bush 3%). Only 43% give positive reasons ("Positions on the issues" 22%, "Character/values" 7%, "Iraq" 7%, "Intelligent" 3%, "Strong leader" 3%, "Veteran/military service" 1%). Eleven percent give the neutral reason that they're backing him because he's a Democrat.

By contrast, among Bush supporters only 7% say they're backing him because he's "Not Kerry" and another 7% because he's a Republican. Fully 81% have positive reasons for supporting the president ("Doing good job as president" 28%, "Character/values" 19%, "Positions on the issues" 14%, "Strong leader" 11%, "Iraq/Saddam" 8%, "Tax cuts" 1%).

This is why Dole couldn't beat Clinton, and Mondale couldn't beat Reagan. Calling yourself the "anti-Bush" just isn't quite enough, even among your own.

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.: posted by Dave 7:50 PM


Saturday, April 24, 2004

The WSJ on the Canadian socialized health care system:

The hidden costs include the poor quality of services, and the costs imposed on customers (aptly called "patients" in this case) who have to wait in queues.

Quality is subjective and can only be evaluated through consumer choices, but the government won't let consumers make choices and vote with their feet if they are not satisfied. Anecdotal evidence of questionable quality is everywhere. In a recent piece in Montreal's Gazette, a Canadian related her own experience, and contrasted the "kindness, discretion and professionalism" of staff in U.S. hospitals, with the frequent rudeness of unionized personnel in the Canadian system.

Long waiting lines are a fixture of the system. The Fraser Institute, a Vancouver think tank, has calculated that in 2003, the average waiting time from referral by a general practitioner to actual treatment was more than four months. Waiting times vary among specialties (and, less wildly, among provinces), but remain high even for critical diseases: The shortest median wait is 6.1 weeks for oncology treatment; excluding radiation, which is longer. Extreme cases include more than a year's median wait for neurosurgery in New Brunswick. The median wait for an MRI is three months. Since 1993, waiting times have increased by 90%.

Waiting lines impose a real cost, which is approximated by what individuals would be willing to pay to avoid them. Waiting costs include health risk, lost time (especially for individuals whose time is most valuable), pain and anguish. Socialist systems are notoriously oblivious to anguish, discomfort, humiliation and other subjective factors which bureaucrats cannot measure or don't value the same way as the patient does.

A Québec physician, Dr. Jacques Chaoulli, is suing the government for not allowing patients to pay for better care. The Supreme Court of Canada will hear his appeal of lower-court rebuttals in June. Last month, a class-action case was launched against Québec hospitals on behalf of 10,000 breast cancer patients who, since October 1997, have had to wait more than eight weeks each for post-surgery radiation therapy.

This is what happens when a monopoly, given such status by writ of government edict, controls the resources of medical care and their allocation. Such ideas should fail in the court of public opinion based on their sheer absurdity in light of market mechanisms, but, given the woeful state of teaching of economics in the U.S., it is no wonder that so many people can be convinced that "if the government can be given license to provide this service, it will be cheaper and better." That idea is hogwash, and the politicians who push such things know it. This is John Kerry's idea of health care (at least this week, it is), and that is yet another reason not to vote for him in November.

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.: posted by Dave 8:16 PM


Friday, April 23, 2004

Courtesy of the always hilarious Watley Review:

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.: posted by Dave 8:08 PM


From Neal Boortz:

Train collision and explosion in North Korea. Yesterday we hear that 3000 were killed. Today we hear the number was closer to 200. Later today Hillary Clinton will tell us that 2800 were brought back from the dead by North Korea's superior government-run health care system.

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.: posted by Dave 2:58 PM


The emissions testing fiasco is becoming larger each day here in Connecticut. Now, Akbar wants to sue the state for suspending the program prematurely.

I have trouble sympathizing with Akbar on this issue. The software written for emissions equipment is flawed, and allows some people to pass who shouldn't, and fails others who should. (The Hartford Courant notes that the software assesses weather conditions, thus affecting pollutant content perception within the software, by using a weather website, instead of actually analyzing the conditions outside at the moment. That was a fundamentally poor and lazy design feature, in my opinion.) Additionally, somebody made the stupid decision of putting LEDs on the surveillance cameras, meaning that the operator can simply look up to see if he is being filmed or not. This renders the cameras useless. It should be noted that fraud was the main complaint from the previous contractor, where at least a dozen people were caught accepting bribes from customers to "look the other way".

The whole program is a result of a bunch of poor bureaucratic decisions, and so now we are at this point. Akbar needs to address these issues openly, and reimburse people who had repairs done without cause. Otherwise, they should not be administering any program of this sort.

The real issue here should be how to clean up the smoggy air in Connecticut. Emissions testing might do a little, but until industrial pollution is controlled downwind (in other states), the result will be akin to tossing a cup of water on an inferno.

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.: posted by Dave 2:00 PM


Interesting photos of flag-draped coffins are shown on the Memory Hole.org website. The Pentagon seems to be up in arms about showing pictures like these. I don't understand the hubbub. Shouldn't we want everyone to see the remains of our beloved soldiers coming home? Shouldn't this be a "lest we forget" moment, instead of a "censor at all costs" moment? Personally, I find these photos to be moving, and very tasteful. If the Pentagon is afraid that the American public seeing coffins draped with Old Glory is going to set back the effort in Iraq, I believe they are mistakenly underestimating the American public.

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.: posted by Dave 1:48 PM


What kind of person walks away from millions of dollars doing something he has done his entire life, and decides to enter a combat zone, for little glory, even less pay? Pat Tillman was that kind of person.

I was saddened to read today about his death in combat in Afghanistan. Tillman was reportedly affected deeply by the events of September 11th. I can understand that, especially from a loyal, passionate person like Tillman was. I recall his playing days with the Arizona State Sun Devils, when Jake Plummer was leading them to the PAC-10 title. Tillman was fierce, hard-nosed, and stood out on the defensive side of the ball.

Today, the football world is saddened by his loss. This man was something of an anomaly today. Athletes are pampered, and made to feel self-important. Such things meant nothing to Tillman. If my son is to grow up to emulate any one sports hero, I hope that it is someone like Pat Tillman.

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.: posted by Dave 1:17 PM


Adware programs are becoming a big pain in the ass, especially on the enterprise level, when people unwittingly open themselves up to myriad nuisances like these. Such is the case with one I encountered this week. As of this moment, I have not figured out which website was responsible, but I do know the files, and how to remove them.

If, when closing your browser, you get a popup ad directing you to belgiandip.com, the culprit is a little 64K file called pup.exe, which runs in your WINNT directory (assuming that you run NT or 2000). This file creates a similar, but differently named file in SYSTEM32, with a seemingly random name (mine was bdsfk.exe). The file is 64K is size also. The way to tell that it does not belong is, 1) it has the Visual Basic executable icon, and 2) right-clicking it and viewing its properties will inform you that it was created by "werule", and its name is "totempole". Delete both of these files. The SYSTEM32 file cannot be deleted until you close the process (CTRL-ALT-DELETE | Task Manager | Process tab | Close Process). Then, go to the registry and delete all keys that refer to pup.exe, or any of its spawn.

I found that Spysweeper and Ad-aware do not recognize this software yet, so the above steps are needed to remove it. It's not going to crash your system, but it's damned annoying.

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.: posted by Dave 11:11 AM


Sunday, April 18, 2004

Three weeks from today is graduation. Looking at my checklist, I have to finish

  • ASP .NET website with a SQL Server backend
  • Comprehensive evaluation of a dozen Requirements tools
  • .NET Console Banking Application
  • Design Portfolio


    • And all I have to finish this is three weeks? Wait, (checking calendar) grades are due a week before. So... two weeks? Yikes.

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    .: posted by Dave 9:33 AM


    I've officially purchased Opinari.net, and I'm going to host it on my own server. I'm not sure if I am going to stick with Blogger, or another blog software, or maybe in my spare time (insert laughter here) I'll write my own.

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    .: posted by Dave 9:27 AM


    Want some real telling economic news? Well, consider the state of things here in Connecticut, rich in industrial and manufacturing jobs, worried perpetually about the next corporate merger, or mass layoff, and always seeing the clouds covering the silver lining:

    After years of grappling with deficits, Connecticut suddenly finds itself on the verge of a possible budget surplus this year that could reach as high as $100 million, officials said Friday.

    With the arrival of the April 15 filing deadline this week, tax revenue has been coming in at an unexpectedly fast rate. As a result, what had been a projected $30 million deficit only a month ago has suddenly turned into a projected surplus of about $50 million for the current fiscal year, said Marc S. Ryan, Gov. John G. Rowland's budget director.

    You know why? Because the imbeciles who run this government, Democrats and Republicans alike, decided to give us a tax rate increase this year, from 4.5 to 5 percent. I maintained all along that the rate increases were unnecessary, and the anticipated surplus validates that assertion.

    So, now would be a good time to reduce rates, or even rebate some of the surplus, right?

    Still, the rosier financial picture is not expected to lead to any major tax cuts soon, Ryan said.

    Is there any sane reason why these people who administer our government cannot see it fit to give us OUR money back? Why can't this make any sense to anyone but me? If it is in the power of the government to force us to pay more in times of "fiscal crisis", why can't the people demand a refund when receipts are unexpectedly high?

    This state needs what Bill Hobbs has been championing for Tennessee - a Taxpayers' Bill of Rights.

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    .: posted by Dave 9:23 AM


    A Louisville police officer was fired after shooting a teenager. To read that sentence, one is going to assume that the officer acted with malice, and basically killed the kid for no good reason. But the officer's story seems to indicate otherwise:

    Mattingly, who is white, told investigators he believed Newby, 19, was carrying a concealed weapon as the two struggled over the officer’s service handgun. Police described the incident as an undercover drug buy gone awry.

    Granted, we don't yet know the facts in the case, but ask yourself, "If I were a police officer, and someone on the street was trying to take my gun, what would I do?" I think the officer is probably being used as a scapegoat, because of the high number of violent acts by police against perpetrators recently. It's a dangerous world out there, especially in crime-ridden urban areas like the one this officer was policing. I, for one, would not have liked to have been in his position.

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    .: posted by Dave 8:24 AM


    Saturday, April 17, 2004

    The funniest thing just happened, and I have to blog about it. My son was peacefully watching a presentation in church about the Sabbath and religious liberty. In the presentation, President Bush was speaking to the Seventh-Day Adventist church. My son was attentive and content. Afterward, Hillary Clinton was given the same opportunity to speak. My son erupted into tears, crying as loudly as he ever does.

    I guess we have determined his political leanings.

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    .: posted by Dave 9:57 AM


    Thursday, April 15, 2004

    One more good reason not to vote for John Kerry:

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    .: posted by Dave 7:17 AM


    Sunday, April 11, 2004

    Well, at long last, I finished my income taxes. (If you read today's posts below, you will see that profligate taxation is the theme.) What a nightmare. Connecticut and Georgia both handle taxes differently. One wants me to file separate from my wife. The other wants me to file jointly. How to please everyone? I have no idea.

    Also, it turns out that my Connecticut property tax is not deductible because of residency issues. So, there goes that $350 tax credit. Better luck next year. All in all, I saved a bunch over last year (about $10,000 actually). Most of that is because I got married, and had a son. But a couple grand was saved because of the "evil" Bush tax cuts.

    Connecticut did their best to soak me for as much as they could. It turns out that I owe them about six C-notes. All in all, I managed to avoid the usual withholding deficits. Next year will be a substantial surplus, if you can call the government giving you back your own money a surplus.

    You know the best thing about death? No taxes. Wait, they tax that too, don't they? Never mind.

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    .: posted by Dave 10:46 PM


    We don't need no stinkin' sunshine laws...

    All the Democrats on the town council and board of education - the voting majority of the town's two most powerful boards - held a private meeting Thursday night for what they said was to be a discussion of politics, strategy and the town budget.

    The decision to exclude the public was approved by the town attorney, but questioned earlier Thursday by a spokesman for the state's Freedom of Information Commission. The legal distinction, they both agree, is whether this gathering was a "meeting" or a "caucus."

    So all they have to do is call it a caucus, and that makes it exempt from FOI requirements? That's freakin' absurd.

    State law says that a "caucus" is not a public meeting, and it defines a caucus as "a convening or assembly of the enrolled members of a single political party who are members of a public agency within the state or a political subdivision."

    According to Hennick, the content of the discussion of Thursday's meeting is irrelevant.

    Bullshit. The meeting content is not irrelevant. Check state law. You cannot covertly conduct town or state business. Period.

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    .: posted by Dave 9:51 AM


    Enfield, town of prescience and foresight, apparently has a software problem.

    The issue is one of data sharing. Specifically, the town wants to maintain what it has now - real-time data sharing between the town government and the schools' financial software, Town Manager Scott Shanley said.

    For example, if the school system makes a payment for a number of desks or other equipment, a school system employee enters that payment in a computer. Folks at the town finance department want to see that transaction in their own computer software instantaneously, as they do now.

    But that type of communication takes a lot of work to design, and it costs a lot of money.

    You know, guys, some of you are software consultants by trade, as I recall. You should have realized that software needs to be standards-based. Next time, try implementing an ERP system that can import and export XML and XML Schemas. Unfortunately, this ignorance is likely going to cost the taxpayers thousands of dollars that could have gone elsewhere.

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    .: posted by Dave 9:45 AM


    Well, it's that time of year again. Yes, it's tax season, but not just personal income tax season. It's also tax increase season, as in town budget proposals. Our town manager has apparently decided a 1.54 mill increase should be plenty.

    Shanley cited declining revenues as a large part of the problem, including a projected lack of any increase in state funding, a drop in car values, an almost $400,000 decline in property tax reimbursements from the state and a decline in interest earnings on the town's assets.

    [...]

    Then there is the fact that fixed costs are rising. Labor contracts are up at least 2.75 percent, health insurance costs are up about 7 percent and electricity is up 5 percent, he said.

    Now, let me get this straight. We just have attracted a new huge insurance firm to town, which supposedly will bring with it more jobs, and a large tax base. This is something that was not here last year, yet our public officials can only complain because property values didn't climb enough to keep pace with the town's needs.

    Just exactly what is it that the town needs? Well, the school board at large, as always, is looking to siphon as much capital as possible from the budget. Last year was messy. This year, they are looking for cooperation. You know what happens when you have bipartisan support? Yep. You have a tax increase. Thus, the 1.54 mill proposal was born.

    Then you have other programs:

    The council also must remember that it added to its costs after it passed last year's budget, by reinstating the leaf-vacuuming program and improving its road maintenance program, for a total of $336,000, Shanley said.

    What if I don't want my leaves vacuumed? Can't I opt out? How about charging me less on my property tax, and letting me vacuum up my own yard refuse?

    As for the lousy excuse for road maintenance, don't make me laugh. It's the middle of April, and I still have a ton of road salt on my curb. Any plans to clean the byways, or should I invest in a power washer, and do it myself?

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    .: posted by Dave 9:28 AM


    From the Wall Street Journal:

    Gasoline prices could top $1.80 a gallon nationwide during the coming summer driving season, but prices could climb much higher in places such as New York and Connecticut, federal officials said.

    U.S. officials are particularly worried about big price jumps in the two Eastern states that switched this year to a new gasoline blend. This will be the first summer New York and Connecticut use ethanol instead of the gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, in response to environmental concerns. A switch to cleaner gasoline in the Chicago area, for instance, caused prices to jump as much as 30 to 40 cents a gallon.

    The pricing of gasoline is bad enough with lowered OPEC quotas, and rising demand. But to incorporate additional factors of scarcity into the equation, such as requiring additives, is insane. It is a fact that most of the air pollution on the East Coast comes not from the states themselves, but from the midwestern states downwind which are largely manufacturing states (such as Ohio and Pennsylvania). Using MTBE, or ethanol, has done little to curb air pollution in Connecticut. The states in question have applied for a temporary waiver from the EPA. Smart money says that, once gas eclipses $2/gallon here (and it is almost there), pressure will build and the waiver will be granted.

    Labels:

    .: posted by Dave 8:58 AM


    Saturday, April 10, 2004

    After I finish my MSSE this month, I've decided to pursue a dual MCAD/MCSD track for Microsoft Certification. In the meantime, I'm brushing up on my ASP.NET skills, and registering for some .NET classes.

    I was reviewing the curriculum of one particular training site, and was struck by the question of inline ASP coding vs code-behind ASP. It occurs to me that code-behind would be more appealing to the visual programmer, while inline coding would be more appealing to the traditional ASP coder.

    However, the whole idea of ASP.NET is to bring the visual programmer into the world of web interface design. In my IT shop, I would probably go with code-behind techniques. Why? Well, I think for two reasons. First of all, the visual programmer who relies on MS Intellisense cannot expect a full implementation with inline coding. For shops that must produce rapid apps, Intellisense is a godsend. Second, and more importantly, is the consideration of reuse and code separation. The abstraction of the UI from the processing is much more difficult in traditional ASP. Further, separation encourages developing reusable components, which is a primary goal of most modern IT shops.

    That being said, I guess the whole debate is one of the old ASP developer vs. the new ASP developer. I just cannot understand wanting to go with the old Visual InterDev "spaghetti code" mess that traditional ASP encourages. If you've ever tried to debug or maintain old ASP, you know what I'm talking about.

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    .: posted by Dave 5:41 PM


    This article is all I need to read to know why I will vote Bush instead of Kerry in 2004:

    When someone is blatantly lying to you, they want you to suspend your disbelief. They seem to be asking: Whom are you going to believe, me or your own two eyes? Kerry is asking taxpayers a similar question: "Who are you going to believe, me or my actual voting record?"

    When Kerry says he wants to be a fiscal conservative and cut taxes for working people, voters must remember the wise words of Ronald Reagan: Trust but verify. If Kerry fools us with his seductive rhetoric, just the way Clinton did 12 years ago, we should not say shame on him, we should say: shame on us.

    How Kerry Would Change Your Tax Bill
     
    Bush
    Kerry
    Capital Gains Tax
    15%
    20%
    Dividend Tax
    15%
    40%
    Income Tax Rate (Highest)
    35%
    40%
    Income Tax Rate (Middle)
    25%
    28%
    Income Tax Rate (Lowest)
    10%
    15%
    Per Child Credit
    $1,000
    $500
    Marriage Penalty Tax
    Eliminated
    Reinstated
    Death Tax in 2010
    0%
    55%


    Link courtesy of Alphapatriot.



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    .: posted by Dave 2:41 PM


    I'm thankful that my five-month old son has adapted quite well to having his own room. He usually goes right to sleep, unless he is just fussy, or sick, or hungry. My wife does a great job figuring out what is bothering our son, and handles it much better than I do.

    I wondered how we would handle our son if he had sleep issues. Here's how Mark Frauenfelder handled his (ultimately):

    Some friends told us to "Ferberize" (out daughter) and we'd all be able to sleep soundly. We were skeptical, but we bought the book and followed the instructions faithfully. In a nutshell, Ferberization entails putting your baby in her crib, kissing her goodnight and walking out of the room. She'll cry, of course. After five minutes, you walk in and reassure her, then walk out again. This time you wait ten minutes. You repeat this, adding five minutes between return visits. It sounds cruel. As a parent, your instinct is to run to your baby as soon as she starts crying. But in this case, not following you instincts is the best course of action. It took exactly two nights to Ferberize our baby. She has learned to fall asleep on her own, and when she wakes up at night, she knows how to fall back asleep on her own. Best of all, she is happy, confident, and well-rested. And so are we. We have our nights, and as a result, our days back.

    Newborns have a different standard of attention, but, once the child reaches infant stage (like ours has), I would wholeheartedly advocate Frauenfelder's suggestion. Hopefully, my wife and I won't have to go there.

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    .: posted by Dave 2:27 PM


    As of now, I am glad I went with a Dell Digital Jukebox instead of the more trendy iPod mini. Why? Besides the obvious price difference, it appears the mini experiences substantial sound erosion because of the poor quality of the headphone jack connector. Let it be said that there are distinct advantages to buying second generation devices to first generation.

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    .: posted by Dave 2:17 PM


    Does the world really need a new functional programming language? Microsoft thinks so, and they are developing F# to that end. There's not much information available yet on the topic of F# (except for maybe a few Powerpoint slides). Let it be said that I hate functional programming languages like Scheme and ML. They force me to think differently than I do using more familiar O-O, or object-based languages like Java, C#, and VB. So, while F# might be a good academic exercise, I doubt that I will be implementing any code soon.

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    .: posted by Dave 2:06 PM


    Once upon a time, I was an AOL user. I kept AOL for so long because of the ubiquity of their dialup servers, but their mail client really rubbed me the wrong way. I hated that it lacked Eudora/Pegasus/Outlook functionality. I've never liked proprietary clients, and, ultimately, I left AOL for that reason.

    Now comes the new AOL email client, called AOL Communicator. It looks a lot like Outlook Express, with preview pane view, and mailbox view on the side. AIM is integrated into the email client as well. It supports POP3, IMAP, and also allows for migration of email from Outlook and Outlook Express. Also, the program allows you to digitally sign emails (like PGP?)

    For now, this software is only available for AOL users, but a non-AOL version is in beta testing. I'll be testing it then to see if it is worth using. One nice feature would be to allow the user to import old AOL personal filing cabinets into the client. I've been working on a program to transfer PFCs into Outlook PSTs, but if AOL wants to provide a tool for that, I'll let them do it for me.



    Labels:

    .: posted by Dave 1:55 PM


    Blogging absenteeism:

    This past week has been just way too busy. I, the wife, and the child, have all been under the weather in varying degrees. (Somehow, I think this has something to do with Daylight Savings Time... but, I digress). My taxes have been, well, time-consuming. This is my first experience with state income taxes, and I have two, not one, states in which to file. Last, but not least, I have been diligently working to complete my Masters of Science degree in Software Engineering. Graduation is in four weeks! Add the extra responsibilities to the normal ones, and you get... you guessed it, light blogging.

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    .: posted by Dave 1:37 PM


    Friday, April 02, 2004

    Howard Kurtz reviews Air America's debut:

    A good radio show has strong pacing and a deft mixture of ideology, confrontation and humor. Franken's "Factor" was meandering and discursive, almost NPR-like, sounding more like someone shooting the breeze at a dinner party than trying to persuade listeners. The "bumpers" between segments were soft and Muzak-like. With Franken speaking in a relatively low voice, the self-proclaimed "Zero Spin Zone" sometimes sounded like a zero energy zone.

    Go read the whole thing.

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    .: posted by Dave 1:44 PM


    I think I have discovered a bug in Blogger. I have each post forwarded to a personal email box. However, each time a post is forwarded, the previous post follows it. So, I get duplicates of each. I contacted Blogger customer support about the matter, and apparently it is indeed a bug, and they are looking into it.

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    .: posted by Dave 1:25 PM


    Fellow RTBers Barry, and Drawing Dead, along with me, and a few others, have embarked on a spring tradition - rotiserrie baseball. Our league cost nothing to start, nothing to join, and nothing to play. And there are no prizes. That's a far cry from these guys:

    Some fantasy leagues spare no expense on draft day. With members commuting in from Boston and Philadelphia, the 16-year-old Delta Beta League rented a conference room at a New Jersey Ramada Inn. And the menu wasn't exactly beer and wings. The night began with hors d'oeuvres and chicken francese and ended with Tapa Negra cigars and two $150 bottles of wine. "We don't mess around," says league commissioner Dave Taus.

    Now THAT'S a fantasy league.

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    .: posted by Dave 10:54 AM


    The Knoxville newspaper today talks about the trend in fast food towards accepting credit and debit cards. The article ranges from business owners who see their bottom line increasing to financial guru Dame Ramsey sharing his displeasure at the idea.

    Personally, I like it. Near my office, there are only two fast food places that accept plastic: Wendy's and DeAngelo's. For that reason, I patronize them both. My family lives in the Western Avenue/Oak Ridge Highway area. When I am in town, I frequent Long John Silver's and Wendy's for the convenience factor. For obvious reasons, I don't go to Central Park or Taco Bell. (My Connecticut bank charges $2.50 for an ATM withdrawal. Enough said.)

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    .: posted by Dave 10:30 AM


    Months of subpar job reports led to lowered economist expectations for the March employment figures. Imagine their surprise when they were told that 308,000 jobs were added to U.S. payrolls for the most recent month. The trend has always been that business hiring takes time to catch up in an economic recovery. 2004 is proving to be no exception. Some of the job gains can be attributed to the resolution of the California grocery strike, but only around 13,000. So, discounting the grocery strike, 295,000 jobs were added. Is this a trend? Only time will tell.

    ADDENDUM: More numbers:

    For the first time in 44 months, the nation's factories didn't lose jobs. Manufacturing payrolls, which have shed jobs since the summer of 2000, held steady last month.

    The service-producing industry added 230,000 jobs, more than at any time in the last year. That included 47,000 more retail-trade jobs, partly reflecting the return to work of grocery-store employees, who had been on strike in California. The professional-and-business-services industry added 42,000 jobs, the biggest increase in three months.

    Construction payrolls grew by 71,000, more than reversing a 21,000 decline in February. Government jobs increased by 31,000, twice as many as in February.

    Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal.

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    .: posted by Dave 9:54 AM


    Thursday, April 01, 2004



    I speculated earlier about Google's GMail being an April Fool's joke. Well, here is a legitimate April Fool's joke, courtesy of the comics at Google.

    Google is interviewing candidates for engineering positions at our lunar hosting and research center, opening late in the spring of 2007. This unique opportunity is available only to highly-qualified individuals who are willing to relocate for an extended period of time, are in top physical condition and are capable of surviving with limited access to such modern conveniences as soy low-fat lattes, The Sopranos and a steady supply of oxygen.

    The Google Copernicus Hosting Environment and Experiment in Search Engineering (G.C.H.E.E.S.E.) is a fully integrated research, development and technology facility at which Google will be conducting experiments in entropized information filtering, high-density high-delivery hosting (HiDeHiDeHo) and de-oxygenated cubicle dwelling. This center will provide a unique platform from which Google will leapfrog current terrestrial-based technologies and bring information access to new heights of utility.

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    .: posted by Dave 7:34 PM


    Thanks to Barry and Deb for the link to AllConsuming. I've been meaning to put up a reading list, and this makes it easy. You can peruse my ongoing reading by scrolling down, and viewing the right of the site, just above my Atom feed.

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    .: posted by Dave 5:47 PM


    My wife has been angry all day about the local paper showing the graphic images from the murder of American civilians in Iraq. I noticed that RTB steward SKB agrees with her.

    First, I want to offer condolences to the families of the individuals who were slaughtered there. God be with you all in this time of tragedy.

    I also want to mention that my first instinct was to wonder how willing newspapers would have been to show pictures if they would have helped, or hurt, a particular political candidate. It seems to occur to me more and more lately to question the media's agenda in almost every case.

    But I don't think that is it. I think there is a genuine dilemma when reporting these things as to whether or not they should be shown in any detail, or qualified as being graphic, or not shown at all. On the one hand, we deserve to know what is going on there, and this is evidence of the brutality that can arise from such hatred. On the other hand, is it necessary to show these things in full view of those who may NOT want to see them? As my wife said, "I don't want my son to see things like this when he opens up the paper." Being the father of the child in question, I agree wholeheartedly with that assertion.

    I'm not sure which is the proper stand for me on this matter. But I do know this. I do not want the media deciding for me what is right, and what isn't. I would rather them show the material, with proper warning, than to censor them from my view. I don't need the "nanny state" deciding that these images are too gruesome for my sensibilities. Ironically, we see a tendency of government to assume this role, on other issues... read: Howard Stern, and Bubba the Love Sponge. Now, does indecency and obscenity compare to gratuitious murder? Only in the sense that only I should determine what is right and proper for me to view.

    I was horrified by the images of the American civilians being hung from a bridge. I was appalled, and I was angered. But I was not once angry at the media for showing them. I was angry at the demons who did this evil thing. I wanted someone to right this wrong. And then, I had cause to assess our purpose in Iraq. To eliminate the evil of Saddam Hussein and his loyalists. To free Iraq from tyranny. To leave them a better place than when removed Hussein from power.

    The images, thus, reminded me of the pervasive evil that is still in this world, and the danger that is still in Iraq. This is something I think we need to be reminded of from time to time. Insulating ourselves from it will not change it. That does not mean you have to subject yourself to graphic depictions of violence. But, it also does not mean that you should hide it from public view.

    ADDENDUM: My wife mentions to me that it's not the images that are objectionable, as much as the fact that they appeared on page one, in full view. The fact that she could not choose to view or not to view them is the basis of her uneasiness with them. I have to admit to that being a pretty good point. The question then is how can that be accomplished in print media? Should the images be placed on, for example, page 8, where they can be removed from the paper and discarded? That's probably not a bad idea.

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    .: posted by Dave 12:10 PM


    I caught this blurb as part of a Hartford Courant write up about Mass Mutual moving their offices to Enfield:

    Deputy Mayor Lewis Fiore said the town repaved Bright Meadow Boulevard near the Phoenix site and added sidewalks to make the area more attractive to a prospective new occupant. That paid off because the insurance giant will bring substantial employment and tax revenue, he said.

    So the town invested in improvements, brought in a huge company with a lot of new tax revenue. Should I expect a property tax reduction? In my dreams.

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    .: posted by Dave 11:40 AM


    Now this has to be an April Fool's joke...

    Search engine challenges leading web email providers with free service offering 1GB of storage.

    Google is launching a free email service, offering 1GB of storage for each account, in what is seen as a major challenge to leading web email providers such as Yahoo and Microsoft-owned Hotmail.
    Gmail.com will be rolled out this month in what the company calls an experimental service.

    Each account will feature Google's search engine technology to make finding old emails easier.

    A gigabyte of storage? LMAO You had me goin' there, Google... for about 5 seconds.

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    .: posted by Dave 11:24 AM


    So I hear that the progressive radio network, Air America, debuted this week. I searched the commercial airwaves, and couldn't find it. It seems that they stream for free online, and they are also available on XM Radio.

    Actually, I'm all for this enterprise. That's exactly what America is all about - free enterprise, a marketplace of ideas, competitive spirit, etc. Of course, a lot of the ideals espoused by the patrons and hosts of Air America do not coincide with the ideas just mentioned, but that's not the point.

    Really, the left wing needs a place it can call its own. Major media has been anesthetized, catering to a less politically aware version of America. Conservatives think it's too liberal. Liberals think it's too conservative. Well, that's not going to be a problem anymore, I would imagine.

    Only time will tell how competitive Air America will be. Ideas are ideas, and, in a capitalist world, ideas have to be profitable. This is a reality that progressive radio must face.

    By the way, XM radio features "America Left". Sirius features the Wall Street Journal Today, World Net Daily, Fox News Channel, and Gun Talk. Coincidentally, I own three Sirius units, and stock in the company. Heh.

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    .: posted by Dave 11:18 AM


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    Contact me through Guru.com.




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