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Opinari - Latin term for Opinion. Opinari.net is just what it seems: a cornucopia of rants, raves and poignant soliloquy. |
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Deep Throat has been revealed to be... Linda Lovelace? No... Mark Felt, the second highest ranking individual in the bureau at the time. At least, Mark Felt is saying so. No word yet from Woodward and Bernstein, or the WaPo.
UPDATE: WaPo confirms Felt is Deep Throat. Bob Woodward's piece will appear in the Post on Thursday.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
11:59 AM
Monday, May 30, 2005
If you can't teach your young'uns good eating habits, how about spying on them instead?
As Garin Hughes picks through his school-lunch burrito and unidentifiable apple-pear dessert, he has a secret. Hidden underneath the eighth-grader's right leg is a chocolate cookie in shrink-wrapped plastic. That's for dessert. In the past, his parents had no clue when he bought a treat at school. Now, thanks to a new school-lunch monitoring system, they can check over the Internet and learn about that secret cookie.
Health officials hope it will increase parents' involvement in what their kids eat at school. It's a concern because federal health data shows that up to 30 percent of U.S. children are either overweight or obese.
"My parents do care about what I eat. They try, like, to keep up with it," said Hughes, a 14-year-old student at Marietta Middle School.
Of course, as homeschooling parents, this won't be a problem in the Opinari household, as we will simply send the kids out to play in the backyard and let them scavenge off the land.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
10:33 PM
If anyone has a downloadable video file of this, let me know. I would love to see it!
A TV girl was sent to report on an orphan squirrel being raised by a pet cat — and killed the rodent by accidentally stepping on it.
Inka Blumensaat, of German station NDR, had hoped to film the heartwarming tale of the unlikely animal pals.
But it all went wrong as the squirrel climbed up her leg and she panicked.
Cat owner Heike Reher, 45, of Luebeck, said: “She leapt about like a mad woman and squashed it.
“Everyone looked in horror where the squirrel lay in a pool of blood. I was in tears.”
NDR chiefs apologised.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
10:29 PM
For fans of the Fox TV show 24 who are going through withdrawals tonight (and you know who you are!), here's a link to Dave Barry's hilarious liveblogging of the entire fourth season. I hope he does the same thing for season five.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
10:27 PM
ABC News is now podcasting some of their content:
ABC News is now offering podcast versions of "Good Morning America," "Nightline" and other programs via ABC News.com. The network is also creating several podcast-only shows. One, "The AfterNote," offers political commentary every evening and builds on "The Note," the network's morning newsletter. It also plans to deliver four one-hour podcast exclusives, including "Real Life Desperate Housewives with ABC's John Stossel" and "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith--The End of an Era."
And MSNBC isn't far behind:
For its part, NBC plans to start podcasting hourly news updates from select cable and network programs in June. The podcasts will include highlights from prime time shows, including MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" and "Countdown with Keith Olbermann." They'll feature business, political and technology headlines from MSNBC.com too, the company said.
Segments from "Today" and "NBC Nightly News" and programs created exclusively for podcast are on tap as well, the network said.
NPR has been podcasting their content for months now, which leads me to the following conclusion - liberal media is far more in tune to the tech world than conservative media. Case in point, Fox News hasn't shown any initiative toward digital content as far as I know (although they are at least available on XM and Sirius satellite radio, which is a plus). The Wall Street Journal has a daily radio show, but it is only available through services such as Audible.com, a pay service. The National Review Online has a semi-regular podcast done by John Derbyshire called Derb Radio, but it's not consistently linked, and it has no RSS feed.
See a pattern here? I do, and, for a media consumer who prefers to get his news from the right side of the fence, it's not a pleasant one.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
9:47 PM
Iwo Jima Monument in Newington, CT.
Today is Memorial Day. Memorial Day has become an extension of the weekend for most, but Memorial Day is much more important than that. Today, the nation honors its military, and those who have so honorably served in it. From the colonial days to modern times, it is our military that has defended us against aggression, and fought for freedom and independence. Today, we honor the sacrifices of these men and women.
On my my uncles was such a man. He was serving in the merchant Marines during the 30s, guaranteeing frieght ships safe passage in the Mediterranean. During a storm, he was swept from the boat, and was lost at sea. His body was never found.
My wife's grandpa is another example. He served as a medic is Austria during the end of the second World War. Fortunately for us, he is still alive and kicking today.
If you know individuals such as these, tip your hat to them. Shake their hand. Smile at them. And thank them for their sacrifices.
THINGS TO DO ON MEMORIAL DAY:
Visit In Remembrance, a wonderful site dedicated to fallen servicemen and women.
Read a relevant book to the occasion, such as One Soldier's Story, by Bob Dole.
Go to your town's Memorial Day Parade.
Travel to a local monument, such as Connecticut's Iwo Jima Memorial.
UPDATE: The Knoxville News-Sentinel has an article about the history of Memorial Day.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
8:13 AM
Saturday, May 28, 2005
(Soon Not to Be) Home Town News:
Voters in the Thompsonville Fire District on Thursday approved a budget for the district's fire department that reduces spending while maintaining services and requires no tax increase.
So if the fire department can reduce spending and keep taxes from rising, why can't the town? Oh, I forgot... it's for the children.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
2:13 PM
Lexis-Nexis was compromised by a group of "hackers" recently, exposing over 300,000 user accounts (including Social Security numbers) to the outside world. Wired magazine has an interview with the misfits detailing how they accomplished the feat:
According to the hackers, none of them knew about LexisNexis or Seisint until they stumbled upon a Florida police officer's Seisint account.
A friend of Krazed masqueraded as a 14-year-old girl online and engaged a Florida police officer in a chat session, the hackers said. The friend sent the officer an attachment, which he said was a slideshow containing naked pictures of the girl he was pretending to be. When the officer clicked on it, a Trojan horse downloaded silently to his computer, which gave Krazed complete access to the computer's files.
A law enforcement agent confirmed this general account of the breach.
Among the data Krazed found on the computer was a password file with information for accessing an Accurint account. Krazed said he gave the account info to several people who searched celebrity names like Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Arnold Schwarzenegger to obtain Social Security numbers and other data.
In the meantime, a 19-year-old hacker who lives near Cam0 in Massachusetts searched for other active Accurint accounts using a Java script. He found an account named Null, which he later learned belonged to a Texas police department. The hacker asked to be identified as "Null" for this story.
Posing as a LexisNexis tech administrator, he called Seisint under the guise of running diagnostic tests on the Null account and convinced someone at Seisint to reset the account's password to "Null." Then he used the account to create new accounts under the auspices of the police department.
"A whole bunch of user names were made and people were trading them and passing them around like candy," Null said. "It was getting real bad."
First of all, a cop scouring the Internet for child porn should have had two separate boxes - one for his online work, and another for his database searches and secure applications. Secondly, the Seisint administrator that reset the password should find another line of work. Either that or Seisint's procedures for resetting passwords should be much more stringent. From where I sit, that's not hacking. That's stupidity.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
1:41 PM
Sabbath Irony:
Today's lesson in church - Sound Doctrine
The irony - The sound system malfunctioned not once, not twice, but three times. Add that to the myriad sounds emanating from my infant son, and you can surely see the humor.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
10:53 AM
Friday, May 27, 2005
What's wrong with the E.U. constitution? Among other things, Tech Central Station's William Niskanen and Marian Tupy write:
(T)he definition of individual rights, as enshrined in the (E.U.) Constitution is deeply problematic. The U.S. Bill of Rights, with one exception, is a list of the rights of individuals against the state, not a list of claims by individuals on services to be provided by the state. The one exception is the right to a trial by jury. In contrast, the EU Constitution includes a list of rights to services provided by the state. The list, for example, includes rights to education, a free placement service, paid maternity leave, social security benefits and social services, housing assistance, preventive health care, services of general economic interest, and high levels of environmental and consumer protection.
In other words, Brussels wants to codify a continental commitment to creating the world's largest welfare state. And this is progress? It's no wonder that even the French are reluctant to ratify such an absurd document.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
10:14 PM
Living on Prince Edward Island? Feeling suicidal? You had better make sure your bout with depression doesn't happen after hours.
A Canadian province will shut its 24-hour suicide hotline and replace it with one that operates only during business hours.
Prince Edward Island, a small province on Canada's East Coast, says it is too expensive to operate the hotline around the clock. Starting June 1, it will be open only between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The plan drew protest from mental health groups across the country on Wednesday.
"How many times, when you get upset or worried or concerned about things, is it in the middle of the day? It's usually at 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning when you wake up," said Joan Wright, executive director of the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention based in Edmonton, Alberta.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
9:50 PM
Teapot Dome Scandal.
Watergate.
Abscam.
Government and corruption go hand in hand. For a more immediate example, look no further than in Tennessee. Lots of blogs are giving the story adequate coverage, so I'm not going to bother weighing in much, except to say this:
A limited government has much less incentive to be corrupt. The more power we give to the government, the less control we will have over our affairs. Perhaps if we, as the citizens of this country, take ownership of and responsibility for own own affairs, instead of expecting elected officials to do it, we can root out this kind of corruption through attrition. After all, if we don't ask to be needlessly governed and regulated, we won't need corrupt officials to needlessly govern and regulate.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
11:59 AM
Have you heard of the childrens' book called "Rainbow Party"? Neither had I until I read Michelle Malkin's column:
The book is "Rainbow Party" by juvenile fiction author Paul Ruditis. The publisher is Simon Pulse, a kiddie lit division of the esteemed Simon & Schuster. The cover of the book features the title spelled out in fun, Crayola-bright font. Beneath the title is an illustrated array of lipsticks in bold colors.
The main characters in the book are high school sophomores supposedly typical 14- and 15-year-olds with names such as "Gin" and "Sandy." The book opens with these two girls shopping for lipstick at the mall in advance of a special party. The girls banter as they hunt for lipsticks in every color of the rainbow:
"Okay, we've got red, orange, and purple," Gin said. "Now we just need yellow, green, and blue."
"Don't forget indigo," Sandy said as she scanned the row of lipstick tubes.
"What are you talking about?"
"Indigo," Sandy repeated as if that explained everything. "You know. ROY G. BIV. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet."
"That's seven lipsticks. Only six girls are coming. We don't need it."
What kind of party do you imagine they might be organizing? Perhaps a makeover party? With moms and daughters sharing their best beauty secrets and bonding in the process?
Alas, no. No parents are invited to this get-together. A "rainbow party," you see, is a gathering of boys and girls for the purpose of engaging in group oral sex. Each girl wears a different colored lipstick and leaves a mark on each boy. At night's end, the boys proudly sport their own cosmetically-sealed rainbow you-know-where bringing a whole new meaning to the concept of "party favors."
This is the stuff being published for our kids to read these days? If this is "juvenile fiction", I think my kids will stick to Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, thank you very much.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
11:39 AM
Bad Day for Pfizer, and For The Erectile Challenged:
Many years ago, it was a well-circulated belief that masturbation caused blindness, among other things. Today, the FDA is reporting that blindness might be a side effect of erectile dysfunction medications Cialis and Viagra, thereby creating a dilemma for sex-starved baby boomers with malfunctioning "equipment".Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
10:58 AM
I-L-L-E-G-A-L Immigrants:
The Hartford Courant's Helen Ubinas, one writer who I will certainly not miss when I move to Texas in a few weeks, has a bug up her butt about the stigma attached to illegal immigrants. Go here to read her tirade. However, the most telling paragraph in the whole piece reads like this:
Nobody raised this question: If an immigrant kid who survived a trek across the border and made good in school despite growing up without English, living below the poverty line and moving constantly to avoid the IRS; if despite all that she beats out your kid raised right here in Connecticut for a spot at UConn, doesn't she deserve a shot?
That's akin to asking "if a person holds up a bank, gets away from the scene without incident and with a tidy sum of money, don't they deserve a shot at keeping the booty and gaining amnesty for their crime?"
No, Helen. They don't deserve anything because they didn't gain anything LEGALLY. Read that capitalized word carefully. L-E-G-A-L-L-Y. No one I know is averse to immigration. No one I know is racist in the way you like to insinuate in your article. But everyone I know, including the LEGAL immigrants want the ILLEGAL ones to either immigrate the LEGAL way, or be deported for not doing so. This is the point you continue to miss, and I am skeptical that you will see it differently anytime soon.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
10:50 AM
Dumbest Idea of the Year:
LONG, pointed kitchen knives should be banned as part of a concerted effort to reduce the terrible injuries and deaths caused by stabbing attacks, doctors warned today.
Accident and emergency medics claim the knives serve no useful purpose in the kitchen but are proving deadly on the streets of Britain, with the doctors claiming the knives are used in as many as half of all stabbings.
The doctors claimed they had consulted leading chefs who said the knives were not needed for cooking - a claim disputed by chefs contacted by The Scotsman.
Latest figures from the Scottish Executive show that in 2003, 55 of 108 homicide victims were stabbed by a sharp instrument - often a kitchen knife.
But of course... end the violence by taking away the tools. (Isn't this how the gun control movement got started?) Listen, ye Scottish doctors, and listen good. Banning a kitchen implement is not going to solve anything, nor is such an absurd law enforcable. If someone wants to hurt someone else, they will find a way to do it. In fact, two very predominant methods of killing are drowning and physical assault without a weapon. Should we also ban water and fists?Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
10:42 AM
Friday, May 20, 2005
Not your typical drive-by shooting:
An 11-year-old boy remained in custody Friday, a day after he shot at another youngster, police said.
The boy was on his bike on Henry Street about 2:30 p.m. Thursday when he fired at least one round from a semiautomatic pistol at a 14-year-old boy, said Bonnie Winchester, a police department spokeswoman.
Police said that after firing the .25-caliber handgun, the boy fled on the bike and was spotted trying to pass the weapon to a 14-year-old friend.
Both boys were taken into custody by police. Their names were not released because they are juveniles.
When I was eleven, I was playing sports, reading books, and hanging out with friends. It never would have occurred to me that, "hey, today might be a good day to put a cap in the neighborhood bully." I don't even feel like getting into the responsibility of the parents, society as a whole, and the personal culpability of the boy himself. What troubles me is that we have gotten to this point as a society where a child this age is acting like a gang-banger.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
11:23 AM
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Those Two Magic Words:
Yesterday, I announced on the blog that I will be soon taking a new job in Texas. I've been contemplating this move for several weeks now, most of which have been spent agonizing about the actual decision to go, mainly because I love my current job, and the people there, and we would be faced with yet another uprooting from one place to another. Whenever life changing decisions have to be made, I always ask myself “Is this the right thing?” Until Wednesday, I was sure, but not TOTALLY sure. Well, now I am sure. Why, you ask? My dear wife calls me at 5 pm, asking when I am coming home as is her usual custom. However, in the midst of the conversation was this unmistaken phrase, one that signifies that your life is about to change yet again: “I’m pregnant.”
Yes, those two magic words were all it took to convince me, at long last, that moving to Texas is the right thing for us all. Today, I feel inordinately and undeservedly blessed. I am lucky indeed to have this wonderful wife, this terrific child, and every blessing of prosperity that a man could ever want. To our friends and family, thank you for your support and your prayers. To my few blog readers, I hope I can still find the time to post a few times per week! And to God, thank you for everything you give to me, even though I don't deserve any of it.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
8:52 AM
Friday, May 13, 2005
Opinari is Moving:
Not the URL mind you (at least not until I finish setting up my own server), but Opinari and family are changing physical locations. As the charter Rocky Top Brigade correspondent in Connecticut, I have to say that it has been a blast. Each day, I have been privileged to be able to laugh at the subtle cultural differences between the Northeast and the South. Also, I have learned some interesting things, such as the definition of "grinder", and the fact that Northeastern drivers are no better at navigating in the snow than Southern drivers are. (I didn't believe it either until I lived here.)
So what is the new destination? Texas. Hot, sweaty, diametrically opposite in culture and climate to the present locale. The assignment? To manage the IT shop for a major manufacturing company supporting over 1200 users, three dozen systems, a dozen legacy databases, and two ERP systems (of which I am aware). Why the move? Lots of reasons, including cultural ones (great music, awesome beef BBQ, and three Chick-Fil-A shops in town as opposed to none in Connecticut), financial ones (pay raise, full relocation, sign-on bonus), and career ones (more responsibilities, ownership of all the IT systems, new implementations of custom systems, etc.)
The only downside really is that I love the people with whom I work, with whom I attend church, and with whom I socialize on a semi-weekly basis. But the upside of moving is much larger than the downside, and besides, we need a new challenge. So in a few weeks, Opinari will say "Hasta la vista" to the P.R.C. and "Hola!" to the Lone Star State. Stay tuned.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
9:47 AM
Here's an interesting article about one of the best pure hitters in baseball probably in my lifetime, Ichiro Suzuki, and his approach to his craft. (Warning: This will only be interesting to you if you like baseball. Heh.)Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
9:40 AM
The big story in my hometown of Enfield, Connecticut (besides the below mentioned execution) has been the contentious town hall meetings where a group of citizens concerned with escalating property taxes have been facing off with town officials. The advocacy group, called the Enfield Taxpayers Association, has been distributing flyers detailing allegations of waste in the school system, and how it will lead to tax rate increases for the coming fiscal year.
I understand the sentiment coming from the group. In fact, on principle, I wholeheartedly agree with them. Taxes in this town are monstrous, and are driving businesses and residents away to other communities. The last proposed budget was for a 3.7% increase in education spending. Each previous budget has had similar increases (at least since I have been here). At some point, the spending increases MUST be replaced or supplemented by a leaner budgetary process, or the consequences will not be good for the town.
That being said, the tactics of the Taxpayers Group don't sit well with me. They supplied in their flyer obviously incorrect information about the number of special education students in the town. In addition, the flyer misstated the average classroom size, making the system appear much less frugal than they should have. Even the group's president tacitly admitted their intent:
"Desperate people do desperate things."
Again, while I agree with the group's stance on taxes, the end in this case does not justify the means. I would prefer that they provide accurate information, emphasizing the unsustainability of the current tax rate increases, and let the residents of Enfield decide based on accurate facts how to proceed. Misinformation only detracts from their credibility, and will accomplish nothing positive.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
9:26 AM
Finally, the state of Connecticut has decided that enough was enough. Michael Ross, one of the state's most notorious serial killers, was executed via lethal injection at 2:25 am today. Here's a link to the Courant's coverage of the execution.
There has been a lot of handwringing and navel-gazing in the area, which is prone to view capital punishment as an unnecessary evil. The fact that it has been 45 years since an execution in New England, and the fact that Ross was convicted and sentenced to death 21 years ago attest to that. Talk radio was full of opinions from both sides of the debate, but the ones that particularly caught my attention were of those individuals who actually cried over the extermination of this individual.
Let it be said that in many, if not most instances, the death penalty is not the appropriate punishment. And let it also be said that the appellate process, while lengthy, is a necessary mechanism for making sure that an innocent person is not executed. However, in the case of Michael Ross, neither of these axioms apply. Take this item, for example, from the Courant:
Ross was a 25-year-old insurance agent in June 1984 when he confessed to kidnapping, raping and killing young women over a three-year period. His victims ranged in age from 14 to 25. "They were dead as soon as I saw them," he said in a 1994 interview.
Eight victims. All young women. All raped and murdered. Don't tell me this personification of evil didn't deserve this fate.
Another astounding statement comes from public defender Thomas J. Ullmann:
"It's just that they're shocked this is really happening. To me, as a human being, I feel I have an obligation to be here and help out. We know we're on the right side of this issue. To say that it's the law - well, so was slavery at one time. This is another human rights issue and eventually, we will prevail."
Slavery? There is a stark difference in the lynching of innocent human beings and the execution of cold-blooded killers. Nothing about human bondage and exploitation was right. Even if you disagree with me about the merits of capital punishment, this comparison is hyperbolic at best, and disingenuous at worst.
I believe one of the victims' relatives, Robert Baribeault III, said it best:
"His death will give us some closure, but will never bring back the lives he has taken," Baribeault said. "There will always be an open wound in the hearts of the families and friends who knew and love these young ladies. To Michael Ross, may you rot in hell."
All I can add is that it's about time this ordeal has come to an end.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
9:02 AM
Thursday, May 05, 2005
The SuperMegaHuge IT Conference comes to an end.
Observations:
To the chick in the back of the room - who are you, why are you here, and have you heard of rhinoplasty?
Remote site conferences need network access. Don't sit me next to a malfunctioning data port.
ERP systems suck. May they all burn in hell.
The End.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
1:38 PM
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
What I Learned From the IT Security Group:
The intelligensia that makes up the security testing team failed to inform our Norwegian unit that they were testing their firewall and inadvertently DoSed them. Cost to the business - millions.
The Asian unit is, for some unexplained reason, using the wrong proxy server. Instead of filtering unwanted HTTP traffic, the proxy makes all sites accessible. This has been going on for years. Until today, the security group had no idea.
In the interim, the security group found time to write an RFP to block eBay from the corporate internet.
Insert your own IT jokes here.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
1:11 PM
Well, after having a 90 minute bitch-a-thon about IT security (boy, are these foreign nationals feisty), we are now moving into the wonderful world of Sarbanes-Oxley. If God has a sense of humor, Sarbanes and Oxley will spend eternity auditing hell's IT systems.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
9:16 AM
The services guy giving this speech just admitted he was under the influence of muscle relaxants this morning. No wonder he is the only one enjoying it.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
7:43 AM
I'm sitting through a huge information technology conference for the second day. It started at 8 am. For the last 30 minutes, we have been looking at organizational charts in Powerpoint. I would compare this to reading the "begat" chapters in the Pentateuch.
Day one was more application-centric, and was thus more interesting. But 30 (35 minutes now) of org charts? Someone wake me when this is over.Labels: Archives_2005
.: posted by
Dave
7:35 AM
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