August 23, 2005
Newsflash: Unlike what your sixth grade teacher told you....
... you can't be whatever you want when you grow up. And even if you do, that doesn't necessarily mean you're good at what you do because you were trained in it. Strangely enough, the most successful in our times seemed to do only average in education. Bill Gates did decently in high school but dropped out of Harvard. His friend Paul Allen was only an average student at Washington State University.
It's all about the out-of-box thinking. Education is merely a foundation.
Rebecca MacKinnon, who is now running the distinguished project Global Voices comments on not having gone to journalism school herself and her experiences with j-school interns when she was the CNN Asia bureau chief:
Often times the kids who hadn’t been to j-school ended up being a lot more useful as interns (and thus better candidates for paid jobs) than the j-school kids. The j-school kids tended to be more prima donna-ish, less street-smart, less likely to think outside the box, more concerned about their careers and resumes and less interested in doing a good job at critical but sometimes menial tasks we assigned them.
This strange phenomena doesn't just fall within the journalism arena. It is everywhere, with business majors believing that they are right for managing people out of school, and those that take leadership courses believing that they are made of that leadership material.
Sorry to break out the whip of reality on ya'll but it just isn't so.
Jay Rosen believes that journalism isn't just a profession anymore but a practice, as does Rebecca. I agree, but it doesn't stop there. Everywhere, American educators need to stop and think about what they're teaching the youth. Education is important like the foundation in a building. But to create your towers and skyscrapers, requires critical thinkers applying out-of-box ideas. Without those people, there wouldn't be this thing called "Yankee ingenuity."
And we'd all still be a bunch of great looking pieces of concrete.
Posted by darkmoon at 04:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Support the Wikimedia Foundation in their funddrive!
Being the Foundation behind Wikipedia and getting over 800 million hits a day, it costs money to keep knowledge free. In fact, the Foundation has said that for this quarter alone, they're looking to raise $200,000 in the next three weeks.
How many times have you accessed Wikipedia and found useful information there? Honestly, I have used it so much in the last year or so, it's worth way more than the measly donation I sent in. But every little bit counts.
Support Wikimedia Foundation and keep the knowledge free.
Posted by darkmoon at 01:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 11, 2005
George W. Bush is a Bonesmen
Back in the day of 2000, I watched the box office bomb The Skulls, about a secret society located at Yale and how the most powerful of people and families are inducted into this semi-secret society.
Then today, as I was sipping on my latte, enjoying my vacation in the Great Northwest, I happened across the book, The Secret Societies Handbook.
Now in this book, it talked of the Priory of Scion, and the Illuminati, as well as groups such as the Majestic 12. The first two, are usually recognized by anyone that has read author Dan Brown. But the one that caught my eye was the Skull and Bones.
Little did I know, the movie blunder of 2000 was based on a real society of America's most powerful.
Then I happened across two interesting names. John Kerry and George W. Bush. Apparently even Prescott Bush, and George H. Bush had been Bonesmen. Amazing.
What's more interesting are the list of families that are the core families involved:
Smith, Walker, Allen, Brown, Clark, White, Day, Johnson, Jones, Miller, Stewart, Thompson, Cheney, Taft, Williams
See some interesting names? Little known fact is that Vice President Dick Cheney also attended Yale on an academic scholarship for three semesters until dropping out due to poor grades. Was he also to be tapped seemingly being one of the core families of the Bones? Hard to say.
In any case, it's interesting to note that the Bonesmen do hold some of the highest positions of power in the United States. Is it truly a democracy, or is it just a powerplay by the Bonesmen? We'll never know for sure but it definitely raises some eyebrows.
Posted by darkmoon at 07:46 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 03, 2005
On Management
When it comes to management, I always refer to Paul Graham's essay, "Revenge of the Nerds." It explains exactly how management thinks and perpetuates why business schools continue to pump out dime-a-dozen MBAs that believe they could manage a product or people without knowing either.
The synopsis of a manager can be seen in Graham's depiction of the pointy-haired manager:
The pointy-haired boss miraculously combines two qualities that are common by themselves, but rarely seen together: (a) he knows nothing whatsoever about technology, and (b) he has very strong opinions about it.
As an engineer, this is OFTEN seen by technical people in the field. There are always finance types, or even MBA graduates that lead a technical corporation. In my opinion, there just something wrong about this scenario. Often, these management types do not make it a point to learn the products, and learn the technologies. In this case, I believe that there are few managers that can lead a company alone on raw talent.
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. - Peter Drucker
What I never understood is that back in the days of the Greeks and Romans, the successful leaders were the ones that rose through the ranks. Socrates and Plato were all disciples at one point in their lives until they sought after the truth and had their own students. In the same regard, the wisest and most knowledgeable should be the leaders and managers. Why business schools create a generic position is beyond me.
So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work. - Peter Drucker
This leads to why there is ALWAYS top-heavy large corporations. Corporations have managers that do not understand the jobs of their employees, work on useless Powerpoint presentations, and never listen to their workers when it comes to creating a more efficient approach to working out a problem. Usually, the excuse is that it is too much work to change a little bit to help the corporation. Interestingly enough, many have viewed that those that don't wish to do any real work get promoted into management positions.
The first duty of a leader is to make himself be loved without courting love. To be loved without 'playing up' to anyone - even to himself.- Andre Malraux
To that I say, "Feh." Leaders are those that are willing to change, and listen to the ones they lead. There is always room for better improvements. You do not delegate your work, but point your workers in the right direction and let them work their magic. If they do not understand how to do it, you must show them, being that you should be the most knowledgeable.
A good manager is best when people barely know that he exists. Not so good when people obey and acclaim him. Worse when they despise him. - Lao Tzu
Take heed. Managers are a dime-a-dozen. When the world wakes up, management will be the first to be on the chopping block.
Posted by darkmoon at 09:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 01, 2005
What's the deal with everyone wanting a biotech center?
Disclaimer: This thoughts are mine, and mine alone. Don't go busting Ed Kitchen's chops because of me. I'm just sharing what I remember and my thoughts on the topic. And on with the show.
I've asked this question a number of times but no one can ever give me a straight answer. It wasn't but a few months back that City Manager Ed Kitchen (this was right before he retired from his position) gave a talk at an ActionGreensboro Groundbreaker's meeting. In it, he asked a similar question:
Why is the Triad looking towards biotech?
Now don't get me wrong (nor Ed for that matter). I believe that the fledgling biotech corporations in the Triad have great products as well as great processes/procedures to offer. But trying to establish our Triad as the biotech middle of the world is ridiculous. Why is this?
My father is the CTO of a well established medical instruments corporation. Being such, I have been hearing about biotechnology for about as long as I can remember until my ears instantly bleed when the subject is mentioned. Large cities such as Denver and Seattle have been establishing themselves in biotech positions since the mid-1990s. Even the RTP area has a large biotech center with some well established firms residing there.
Competition with such cities is terribly futile. They bring in more capital, have more population, and not to mention rank higher in the Forbes' "Places to be for Singles" category. So why are we trying to compete?
I have no friggin' clue. Someone, somewhere got the bright idea that we could do it with our biotech firms in the Triad. So we keep pushing for it and we keep losing. Everyone loves the story of David versus Goliath, but in a betting world, the odds on David winning are about 100 to 1.
So what's the solution? Don't ask me. I'm not in biotech. If I was, I would probably look to establishing a niche market and surround myself with similar corporations to bolster the regional strength. In my opinion, forget a general biotech center. Believe it or not, there are plenty of businesses in North Carolina that I didn't even know had their roots here. Playing the general biotech game is like hoping for a royal flush on the river card.
Posted by darkmoon at 09:38 AM | Comments (14) | TrackBack
July 31, 2005
The incompentency of governmental IT
I will say that the Information Technology staff that I have "heard" about in most governments could probably be compared side-by-side to the Australian IT staff (management included.)
But this is the exact reason I have despised many-a-IT staff member for their incompetency by flinging around certifications like they actually meant something. Usually these are the same numbskulls that have never touched a linux box in their life, don't know what CLI means, think open-source software means no support, and are paid somewhere between 50k-100k for technical fervor equivalent to a wet blanket.
And you ask, why all this animosity? Case in point. Slashdot posts that eighteen AIX servers from the Australian government were not wiped, with ALL financial, payroll and other records still intact, along with backup tapes. All this for fourteen US dollars a server.
While most geeky people would just laugh at the government for such a stupid mistake, I point my finger at the IT management and staff for blame. Why? Management should know better. I have never liked technical positions managed by a bunch of suits that couldn't tell you what the difference between RAM and ROM was. IT staff should get fired for not knowing better to security wipe those AIX servers. Backup tapes were given? They should have gone to a secure waste disposal facility.
Harsh? Perhaps. But Information Technology has been long overdue for a change in the ranks. As we push further into the Information Age, those that are not willing to look for alternative solutions and be open to all solutions need to be filtered out. IT is not an easy money field as most tend to think. Then again, you could always act like the Australian IT guys.
Posted by darkmoon at 10:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 30, 2005
What is Quran and Shari ah?
I got bored and decided to catch up on some local political blogs over the weekend since my better half wanted to catch up with a college friend. So I wandered onto our favorite Greensboro Republican Party's blog, The Chairman's Corner.
Lo and behold, I find another baffling word as last time I wrote regarding his blog. This time it was the "Quran." This post also had a funny way of defining Sharia Law.
I have a friend who had an idea about allowing the Quran for the Swearing in Oath in court. This would be a new twist. He said he thought that we should maybe take it a step further and let those who want this to have their cases adjudicated under Shari ah Law. Robbers have hands cut off and so forth. Beheadings and the like. Interesting concept. don' think the ACLU would like it.
And so I went on another quest to search for this words and their meanings. I swore up and down that I thought it was Qu'ran but what do I know.
Here it is again:
Also I note you objection to the Bible, but not to the Quran....( so your view is also antiquated?)
So from context, it sounds like "Quran" is actually meant to be Qu'ran. I wonder if the Chairman decided to withhold the apostrophe because it wasn't important enough to respect the other religion's spelling. If so, then I would imagine he would not like it if other religions started spelling Bible, "bibl"... But benefit of the doubt is given yet again.
So back to educating myself on Sharia Law, since the Chairman said that it was about beheadings and the like. Obviously this sounds interesting.
In practice the new Sharia courts in Nigeria have most often meant the re-introduction of relatively harsh punishments without respecting the much tougher rules of evidence and testimony, such as the necessity of four eyewitnesses, with a woman's testimony counting no less than that of a man. The punishments include amputation of one/both hand(s) for theft and stoning for adultery. Such measures are usually introduced to gain support of local ulema who are often community leaders in rural areas. But overall in the eyes of Islam the the proper implementation of the Sharia law means a just society where the law and people live in complete harmony. Many Western views have considered the punishments described above as harsh, but if implemented properly these punishments are suppose to serve as a lesson to the society to abstain from crime, once the basic requirnments of the society are meet.
So basically this is no different than from some of the other European laws that I've studied in the past. Just as DUI carries a lot heavier punishment in EU, here theft and adultery are punished a lot more severely. What really got me was the next section under the Wikipedia entry:
Like Jewish law and Christian canon law, Islamic law means different things to different people in different times and places. In the hands of moderates, religious law can be moderate, even liberal. In the hands of post-Enlightenment readers of philosophy, religious law becomes associated mainly with ritual, theology, or history and no longer regulates society or the state.
In the hands of fundamentalists, it is legally binding on all people of the faith, and even on all people that come under their control. Islamic law to American Muslims in Dearborn, Boston, or Houston is a very different thing than Islamic law to religious Muslims in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Gaza Strip, western China, Nigeria[1], Indonesia or Pakistan. All of them are following Islamic law, yet it varies as much as individual Muslims vary.
What this section meant was that such like Christianity, Baptist does not equal Catholic and vice versa. Even regionalization made a significant difference and it CANNOT be grouped together in a general sense.
What is most amusing about this whole research is that Sharia is not a law form, persay, but a way of life. This is where the lines of religion and actual day-to-day life blur together. Singling out points of the Sharia Law just shows that there are people out there that have not done their homework on whom they speak to and about.
It's a scary world out there, but it's even scarier when certain people perpetuate facts out of context because they only read the Cliff Notes.
Posted by darkmoon at 07:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 29, 2005
Why IE7's Phishing feature is plainly stupid
Interesting that people actually see some use of the IE7's beta features, especially the feature on phishing. This morning, a colleague of mine and I were IMing about the ridiculousness of Microsoft's IE7 and how the only unique feature between Firefox and IE7 was the phishing filter.
Then he went to point out why it was bad. Microsoft is doing a URL block. "That is true," I replied after further study of the beta. "And phishing sites only stay live for an average of two days now," I said thoughtfully. "Exactly," he answered.
Back in March of this year (2005), phishing sites were on average staying alive for six days. May of the same year, the Anti-Phishing Working Group shows on average 5.8 days of live activity.
The way Microsoft implemented it gives you a false sense of security. It doesn't do squat, seeing that most phishing sites have no URL and probably aren't documented until it's too late (Microsoft compares the phishing sites to a list). If you must have it in Firefox, it already exists in extensions. Dan, my friend, your request was answered even before you asked.
Posted by darkmoon at 04:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 27, 2005
Rockstar deals with more stupidity
Rockstar has to deal with more stupidity as an eighty-five year old grandmother is suing Take Two Interactive and Rockstar Games for engaging in false, misleading and deceptive practices.
Maybe Rockstar Games should countersue for stupidity. Apparently this grandmother didn't read the "rated M" for mature when she bought it for her fourteen year old grandson.
I hope that this teaches a lesson to all. Get an education before you go around suing people for stupid things because the backlash can get really ugly when a corporation actually has money and is in the right.
Posted by darkmoon at 11:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Movie industry uses open-source? Wait one second...
Troubled he is. This is most puzzling.
Most of the major studios use Linux -- such as DreamWorks with more than 1,500 Linux desktops and 3,500 Linux servers.So you ask why, I would be troubled by the mere fact that Slashdot is reporting that major studios are using linux? To me, after all of the copyright infringement cases and trying squash Bram Cohen's reputation (BitTorrent), they have the nerve of exploiting the uses of open-source? The nerve.
So they're trying to make billions, making the users pay, making the innovators of technology that THEY USE face punishment and wrath. Somehow, this is not fitting. Let us view this in another analogy. This is like yelling at manufacturers for creating guns and then going out and buying that brand of gun.
Don't get me wrong here. I am an avid open-source pusher, and my employer along with my business partners are all for supporting open-source. But then again, we don't go exploit the goods of open-source after bashing it to hell.
So I have one little plea for the movie industry. Please tell us which team you're playing on since you can't be on both. Either help the movement, or face the Rebellion.
Aye. Young Master.
Via Slashdot
Posted by darkmoon at 05:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
ESRB: Regulate yourself before you regulate others
I wrote about this on the ESRB ratings a while back. Strangely enough, gambling games are still rated for Everyone. Teen games? Apparently Fatal Frame is rated "T". While a fan of horror games, my girlfriend and I both agreed that there were many parts to that game that were totally out of the 13-16 age group. Siren, which is in the same genre, is rated "M". Want more? God of War is Rated "M" but has full frontal nudity in one scene. Did I mention The Sims has an nudity hack err... modification?
Now ESRB is going to punish Rockstar Games for a mod? HELLO? Anyone home? Obviously Senator Clinton along with the other so-called game rating specialists at the ESRB are in the same boat. They have never played any video games. Modifications have been around since the age of PCs. CounterStrike originated as a Half-Life modification. Quake would not have made it quite as big if it wasn't for the modifications such as Quakeworld Fortress, or Weapons Factory Arena.
ESRB and political cronies: you need to get a hold of your powerhousing and redetermine if we gamers really care about your stupid ratings. Obviously they don't mean anything since you promote gambling to kids, and what would classify as a rated R film made it as a PG-13 rating with you. MPAA even have their ratings messed up, but at least they're semi-consistent. Your ratings are so out in left field, you can hear the crickets chirp in discord.
Posted by darkmoon at 11:30 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
The Grokster versus Smith & Wesson argument
Some things in law never make any sense. Take for example the whole debate on Grokster. RIAA/MPAA won against Grokster for creating a technology that supposedly empowered people to infringe on copyright. We need not go into the good of peer-to-peer technologies and how it takes a lot of the burden off of Internet providers and servers by using the populace as an uploading mechanism.
While in the similar context, the Supreme court decided a while ago that Smith & Wesson cannot be sued for people that murder with their products.
So here it is in a detailed diagram.
GROKSTER -> P2P -> USER -> USER-ILLEGAL-DEED -> GROKSTER LIABLE
SMITH&WESSON -> GUNS -> USER -> USER-ILLEGAL-DEED -> SMITH&WESSON NOT LIABLE
Go figure. Talk about inconsistent.
Posted by darkmoon at 11:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 14, 2005
What the heck is a "blogg"?
It's strange when I'm reading up on my latest blogs and find Marcus Kindley going off on some other tangent. He's the stupendously wonderful Guilford County Republican Party's chairman.
Intrigued, I venture over there to see if lightning has struck again at Google's Blogger servers.
I behold the word "blogg". I am baffled. Perhaps he means blog? No. There it is again.
As quoted:
For all you Republicans out there hoping that the MSM, especially the large print media in your neighborhood is somehow becoming more balanced and fair... don't hold your breath.
I've been doing this blogg for close to six months now. When I initially started I let one of the reporters at the Greensboro News and Record know and he mentioned it on the News and Record Blogg page in his writing.
and here in the comments again:
I alluded to the mention in the Inside Scoop in this blogg. But that is the last time it appreared in the N&R to my knowledge.
and here yet again:
I ask in all sincerity, do you really think that an elected official writing a blogg isn't thinking about the next election with every keystroke.
So from context, he obviously meant the word blog, and not "blogg", at least so I am to believe. Now go back to the first quotation. There, Marcus is going off on how the News and Record was blacklisting him because John Robinson, the editor, didn't blogroll him even after he's been going at it for six months. Here is John's response to the blogroll complaint.
So after this spectacular six months of technological wonder, Mr. Chairman, I only have one question for you. What the heck is a blogg?
Posted by darkmoon at 11:31 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Two Chinas: Part II
Disclosure: Yes, I am an ABC (American Born Chinese). On with the commentary. Part I is here.
I am forever reminded of people making decisions while being uneducated on the subject matters when it comes to Asian culture, politics and history.
The News and Record did a column by independent columnist Rosemary Roberts on how China is not a military threat on July 8th. In it, Ms. Roberts claimed that there was nothing to fear from China as a military power. What's to fear? They have already dominated economically.
This is easily looked upon as American greed gettin the best of us. For years, we have been acquiring product lines from China because it was cheaper to produce and import than to make in our own country. Now China holds pretty much the all the cards when it comes to manufacturing.... pretty much everything. Oh well, c'est la vie.
Ms. Roberts quotes a couple from the Midwest:
3) if China started firing missiles at Taiwan, the independent island-nation that China claims to be an integral part of China.
Sorry. Taiwan is an independent state, not a nation. One nation, two governments. Read your history books. Ms. Roberts' goes on:
But Item 3 (Taiwan) is the long shot. Despite China's angry noises about Taiwan, it has reason to pause. The Bush administration has said it would defend Taiwan from an unprovoked attack.
Defend Taiwan? Come on. American corporations would suffer billions if we did anything with Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack. The more likely story is that we need them since we're caught upon buying things so inexpensively. Philosophy class has always taught that Communism is the sibling of Capitalism. This is shown clearly here.
Ms. Roberts is a bit late on something that has been obvious to all American-Chinese.
Then in the N&R, the Letters to the Editor has one Mike Crouch that writes:
And, if we don't think the Chinese are a threat, their military leaders certainly consider us the most likely military adversary. And the Chinese are in a rush to lock in their oil supplies. Sort of reminds one of the Japanese "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" of the 1930s and '40s. But, not to worry. Rosemary reassures us there is nothing to worry about. I will certainly sleep better tonight.
You have got to be joking. The Japanese were looking to get us by the seat of our pants. The Chinese already have it. Take a look at the textile and manufacturing industry around you. Again, capitalism plays well when it comes to cheap everything. Walmarts are everywhere. We have gone to a country of bulk-sizing everything from fast-food to laundry detergent.
I think the issue is pretty plain and clear. Americans have yet to understand who the Chinese are and where they have been going. Understand the people and you'll understand the plans. Unfortunately, by the time we realize what's going on and try to wave down the China bus, the bus has already left for the next station.
Posted by darkmoon at 10:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 28, 2005
Senator Richard Burr on Real ID
Yesterday, I received another one of those interesting letters postmarked from the United States Senate. Ripping into the envelope, I realized that this was due to the e-mails and faxes when I was fighting to get Real ID canned from Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief of 2005.
For those that are wondering, that is the full title of the Act.
Amused as I read on:
There have also been some concderns associated with the REAL ID Act about a national identification card. The REAL ID Act does not create a national identification card, rather it increases the security surrounding drivers' licenses and personal identification cards by setting new minimal standards that states must meet in order to have their cards used for federal purposes.
Maybe I missed something. If you mandate states to meet requirements so that the drivers' licenses can be used for federal purposes, is that not a national identification card then?
Then the Senator begins on how the REAL ID Act was brought into legislation due to some immigration issues, particularly in North Carolina. There is no doubt that the Senator is correct in stating that we have issues with illegal immigrants working in this state particularly. But REAL ID won't solve anything if you have government workers that do not bother with checking if the paperwork is fake or not. Thus the issue with 9/11 terrorists with North Carolina licenses.
I have to admit that while I am disappointed that Senator Burr cannot see through the plain issues of this Act, it will eventually come back and bite the people in the behind. Thank you for writing back, Senator. It is much appreciated.
Those of North Carolina: Contact your Senator Burr here.
Posted by darkmoon at 11:11 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
June 17, 2005
Skype beats mobile? Uhh. wrong technology
Dan Gillmor compares two different technologies. One is the wonderful VoIP by Skype versus a mobile phone. As an engineer that works in the telecommunications industry, I
The comparison is as wrong as comparing your Ferrari to the next guy's Yugo. Both are automobiles, but they're on performance levels that differ so greatly that they're not even compared to each other.
Likewise, comparing VoIP to cellular is ridiculous. Sure the end-user seems the same thing, but the technology is vastly different.
Let's look at what Skype does not have to deal with as opposed to cellular:
- Skype does not need to pay for cellular spectrum.
- Skype does not operate base stations or towers
- Skype does not use the same vocoding.
- Skype does not deal with pilot pollution or pilot surprise.
- Skype does not deal with fickle RF optimization.
- Skype has no hardware operating costs
The list goes on and on. Perhaps it's better to compare Skype with Vonage, but wait... you still need Skype-out to gateway into landline world.
Cellular is a totally different creature to VoIP. There are more intricacies that I have to deal with so that the end-user doesn't even realize the existence of the infrastructure. The late nights at BTS stations, driving back and forth between cellular sites to make sure that every sector was covered, going over quality numbers that could make you go insane, it's all there.
In fact, not only do I have to deal with all of this, but I have to deal with the provider since we make equip them to do their business. This is the life of an RF engineer in the field. So while I do not speak for the rest of the telecommunications industry, I voice an opinion that rings true to many RF engineers' ear... VoIP != Cellular.
UPDATE: Roger comments on Dan's blog:
Skype is a form a VOICE COMMUNICATION OVER A NETWORK.
Mobile phones are also VOICE COMMUNICATION OVER A NETWORK.
It's entirely appropriate to compare the two, especially when it comes to voice quality, and reliability of service, neither of which is particularly stellar in the mobile phone networks.
So while we're on this analogy, let's compare Macs with PCs since they're both computers. How about dogs with cats under the pet category? I'm sure a lot of people would really be ticked off if I told them that a Protestant was the same as a Catholic since they are all Christians.
If it was that simple, then I better go trade in my Dell for that G5 since it's "all the same".
As far as voice quality goes, that's a matter of cellular technology. CDMA is newer, and carries quality better than GSM which is more mature. Then there is a coverage issue. Ever wonder why your phone might work when it's next to your head, but when it's in the cupholder, it doesn't? RF environment. Interference. Uh. No.
UPDATE 2: Dan updated his blog. Thank you.
But it's scandalous that mobile phone service, here in the heart of Silicon Valley, remains outrageously flaky. The carriers would rather sell new subscriptions than offer reliable service. What's more, they all suck, as far as I can tell.
Can't help you there. I'm sure you realize that GSM is not the same as CDMA and applicable 800Mhz(CDMA) or 900Mhz (GSM) or 1900Mhz CDMA makes a whole lot of difference. I can tell you one thing. There are certain providers out there that are not concerned with coverage anymore as much as capacity. That particular provider also leads in the coverage base for CDMA. Being said, if you are using a GSM based phone, no wonder your coverage is shoddy. If not, I'd call and launch some major complaints if it's in suburbia. If you live out in the country, then I have no sympathy. Can't have all the technologies and live out in nice countryside too! *grin* I doubt that's the case in Silicon Valley though.
Posted by darkmoon at 03:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 14, 2005
On Chinese "free" speech
At first, I wasn't going to weigh in being that the big guns have already taken their place - with Rebecca MacKinnon against the government censorship and Robert Scoble for. Our own Ed Cone even covers this passionate dispute.
Both sides have their merits. But Rebecca puts it in the best terms when she says: "...I can tell you one more thing about the Chinese. They hear what you say, then they watch how you do business. From there, it's pretty easy to figure out what your real values are."
I've learned one thing while living in the South. We Chinese are very much like Southerners. Southern hospitality prevails on face value, but when you get down to how they think, they will never tell it to your face.
Chinese operate in the same fashion. They judge you by your words and then how you follow-up with your actions.
There are two different operators in China. The government, and then the people. If you operate a business that deals with the government, then Scoble is exactly correct. It's not your place to delve into matters that do not concern you. However, if you look at free speech from the people's point of view, it's a whole different matter. Rebecca covers that angle especially well.
In the end, it's who you talk to and where it comes from. In the end though, the values remain the same. It's not our place to force the Chinese government since it's not our place, but as self-proclaimed protectors of free speech and democracy, it's difficult to ignore the cries of the people.
Posted by darkmoon at 11:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 27, 2005
No one gives one damn about efficient money use in IT
Having personally had my fun times with GCS IT on the issue of open-source, a meeting that was planned and scheduled by my friends at the Greensboro Linux User Group between RedHat and the City of Greensboro that ended nowhere, and my latest e-mail transactions between my wonderful City Councilwoman that represents myself....
I've decided:
No one in this city gives one damn about efficiency when it comes to money being used for Information Technology.
Why the hard stance? It's been a long year. I have personally fought some very ugly battles to help break Weaver Academy out of the bureacracy of Microsoft driven wanna-be geeks. I had the support of the Business Council, the support of the school, the support of the students. Even so, that was not enough.
Everywhere else in the world, people are opening their eyes to uses of linux and how it could save some money if their IT staff used their brains a bit and hunkered down to get things working. The British government posted a study that a savings of up to 25% for software and hardware happens when using open-source.
My friends at Greensboro Linux User Group and other such are still going at it and trying to help any business willing to look into integrating open-source technologies.
Open your eyes, fair city of Greensboro. Embrace open-source and see the powers of academia bind with do-gooders, hobbyists, hackers and programmers around the world. Instead of throwing money at problems and hoping that they go away, why not actually solve the problem itself with the help of the masses of nerds and geeks.
Posted by darkmoon at 10:07 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 26, 2005
Greensboro City Budget coming up and I have a score to settle
And I want to know why we're not implementing open-source to save taxpayers money. Yes it requires some thought, and probably a bit more "smarts". But I've found one thing during the years that I've been in the Information Technology field:
"Those that use OSS were usually the ones that could get the job done with unique and low-cost solutions, than the ones that pushed for IT solutions sold by others."
Why is open-source so important? It's written by academics and others that are looking to better the field. It's a shared resource among the technical community. Large scale technology corporations such as Motorola, Lucent, Hitachi, Toshiba, and IBM implement open-source technologies not only within products, but within their own IT systems.
Update: Locally, News and Record Interactive also uses open-source technology (Thanks Herb!)
Being that we're an hour away from two of the largest supporters of open-source software, I find it almost blasphemous that the Triad has not picked this up and ran with it. Locally, many of the technical crowd has met severe defiance to open-source solutions.
So in the end, I'll give this to the taxpayers... why are you supporting people that are throwing money at problems instead of solving the problems? Take the initiative and make the city see that there are alternative solutions to use. If they don't understand that, I don't see why we as constituents of this beautiful city should be paying for people that don't think outside the box for our sake.
Posted by darkmoon at 09:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 20, 2005
Computer Science is not Information Technology
Dan Gillmor posted that there's a shortage of engineers after quoting the Herald Sun about information technology and then moves into the shortage of Computer Science.
I agree with Dan that there is a shortage of engineers, but Dan... a little fact-checking please. Computer Science is not Information Technology.
At every major Tier-1 university, IT is usually taught out of the business schools. Computer Science is out of an engineering school. IT folks do not have to take the mathematics that computer science does but do take business courses. For example, the school I graduated from had IT seniors required to take Visual Basic while CS freshman took C courses. The same IT seniors complained the C course was too hard, and had it stricken from the IT curriculum.
Maybe this would be viewed as a petty thing, but for a Computer Science person that has worked in IT and continues to do so, the difference between the strong suits of each field are vastly distinctive.
Note that I do realize the quote from the Herald Sun is misguided also. What do you expect from an IBM official, who is probably a management or human resources type to talk about CS/IT?
Via DanGilmor
Posted by darkmoon at 09:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 15, 2005
Bill Gates says that cell phones will kill the iPod BUT...
I was doing some morning reading of Glenn Reynolds an I noticed that he said at Blog Nashville, Dan Gillmor was showing Glenn his mp3/cellphone and how he didn't carry his iPod anymore. Until Motorola actually releases the Apple iTunes phone, I have a few comments for those that think likewise as Mr. Gates:
1) Battery life: Working in the cellular technology, size and battery life are inversely proportional. Your drain time for your cell phone is never quite the same amount as your iPod. Obviously these people, although well traveled, do not have a wide expanse of music to listen to nor care about battery life.
2) As said before, size and battery are inversely proportional. My cell phone is about half the size of my iPod.
3) Yet my iPod has more than seventy-eight times (yes, that would be a 78x) the amount of space in my cell phone.
Working in the telecommunications industry, I have to say that there are a lot of obstacles to overcome with only the battery and size issue. Many people are happy that they can store their entire CD collection onto one device and listen for a full day's worth of work without having to recharge. There is no way that could happen with a cell phone's Li-Ion.
Seeing how battery technology hasn't improved much in the last fifty years, I wonder how exactly those people that are early adopters of cellphone mp3 players feeling the pain of battery life.
Personally, I'd rather just deal with a BT enabled phone that can switch between phone and iPod tunes any day of the week until they (mobile device divisions of my employer and others) find the holy grail method of fixing this issue.
Posted by darkmoon at 10:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 27, 2005
A sucker is born every minute for good advertising music
It was not too long ago, that I got hit by the bug of ad music. It probably began with U2's VertigoiTunes), striking down dance-bug jitters into anyone that saw the special edition iPod commercial.
Then it was the hip-shaking lady from the new iPod shuffle commercial blazing away to Jerk It Out (iTunes) of the Caesars. Just swing that hair all over.
Apple was rocking my world, with some amazing advertising gurus picking songs that would stick in my head like panhandlers to a twenty dollar bill.
Then in an amazing turn of events, Sony released their PSP (Playstation Portable). Not to be out-done by the advertising genius of Apple, they decided to do a similar style of advertisement. Argh, I just can't get the PSP song out of my head! What was it... Franz Ferdinand's Take Me Out (iTunes).
Then by a miracle, someone guided me to AdTunes. Never again will I be lost and tearing my hair out trying to figure out who the artist was that was singing out of my picture box. I'll be able to throw more money at artists I've never heard of because of some person was jamming in some ad agency and thought the whole world should hear the same tunes.
All links were for the most part provided by AdTunes, so if you buy the albums through the links, proceeds go to AdTunes.
Posted by darkmoon at 08:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 20, 2005
Sonosite MicroMaxx
Disclaimer: I'm related to a chief executive for Sonosite and having seen Sonosite grow from a handheld division of another corporation to what it is now. All opinions are my own.
Sonosite has just released their MicroMaxx, a lightweight, portable ultrasound device that is supposed to transition between the handheld devices that they currently carry and current cart-based systems that are bulky, but have all the greatest features. Among the features are: 12 second bootup, optimized power design, and the ability to edge detect and measure arterial walls for analysis on cardiovascular risk.
I have personally seen Sonosite grow up from a spinoff from Advanced Technology Laboratories's handheld division to what it is now. The ideas are very sound and their minaturization of medical instruments can only spell out the advancements in future technologies. Just as laptops are soon to outgrow desktops, medical instruments such as these will provide a portable solution for a fast paced biotechnology era.
I hope to continue to see great technology arise from this corporation.
Via Engadget
Personal note: Way to go dad! Perhaps you didn't have a hand in this project, perhaps you did. But I'd like to recognize the fact that without your breakthroughs in handheld ultrasound, none of this would probably be possible. Cheers.
Posted by darkmoon at 01:39 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 14, 2005
GCS: Is saving $50k a year not enough for you to try new IT methods?
I would imagine that $50,000US could hire another teacher, staff member, or give a scholarship grant.
Are parents and teachers concerned if their children have the best resources in schools? I would imagine so. While I am not a parent, nor a teacher (although some may say that I am), I try to help educate by applying whatever means necessary to bring the school's maximum potential to play for minimal cost.
In other words, I try to save them money through alternative means in information technology.
All schools should have people that are looking for alternative ways to save money and maximize budget. Interestingly enough, Weaver Academy has a solution to solve an ongoing Internet issue that Guilford County Schools has been battling for the last couple of years, and has offered to be the test site of this solution.
Answer from Guilford County Schools IT? Silence. Not a word.
In fact, as of the last School Board meeting, the meeting notes have GCS IT asking for more money for bandwidth issues. Let me be the first to say that there is no "BANDWIDTH ISSUE". It's a bottleneck in the network on how content filtering is implemented. For the people that do not understand techie, content filtering is what makes it so the kids cannot view porn sites and other non-educational sites.
Problem: Guilford County Schools IT has had network issues as of late due to students having more and more online interactive coursework. Two major factors to this bog-down of the network which is easily fixed if someone bothered to just go and re-think the network.
1) The network runs on VPNs. Virtual Private Networks bog down a network since it creates a tunnel inside the current network. Think of fitting a smaller pipe in a larger pipe. No matter how you try, you will never get as much water through the smaller pipe as the bigger, but that's what you pay for when you want the security of the VPN.
2) They run ALL 100+ schools in the county to ONE point, the facility on Prescott. Any middle schooler can tell you that if you have all the cars from all the freeways ending up in one single point, there will be traffic and congestion. The current content filtering system footprint is at this location. This system also costs the school system $60,000 a year to run for all 100+ schools. One box, 100+ schools. You do the math.
Solution:
Myself and another of the CTP Business Council met with the Guilford County School IT at Weaver a couple months ago. The way I saw it, I proposed breaking out the school's Internet access so that the filtering was done at the school. In this fashion, the issue with the bad network design would slowly resolve itself as each school filtered its own content. GCS IT said sure. Give us $60,000 a year to run another box. Obviously they never learned from the second point above. Then the complaints went to there not being enough staff members to support and they were bogged down by current projects. In any case, I proposed we look into a linux box running a content filtering system solution. Price of savings for the school district? $50,000 with brand new equipment. We proposed that this system was to be installed by GCS IT during Spring Break of 2005, and tested at Weaver. Thus, GCS IT would have total control of the box itself, although my services were offered to do the install if they were not able.
Current scenario: It's been a week after Spring Break. One of the IT kids that keeps me informed on Weaver's standings told me the Monday after that nothing was done. You cannot believe the outrage for myself. I offer to do this on my off time, and I do take personal vacation to actually help these kids (yes, folks... gape in awe that I use parts of my 2+ weeks of vacation for a good cause). I even offered to do it, and to contact anyone from the IT Business Council for help if they needed it.
Silence.
Today (Apr. 14th), I was informed by Adam Wenner (brilliant IT extraordinaire of Weaver) that our backup linux box was finished building. The credentials on this kid are amazing (won state in computer applications and is going to the national competition). We had spoke of having a backup plan in effect when nothing was done this Monday.
So now we have the box ready to roll, no money out for the schools, and to disband the current content management system would save a magnitude of $50,000+ dollars a year. I think $50k is enough to hire another IT employee. Word from GCS IT?
Silence.
Synopsis: SO all of this leads me to voice out to the parents and teachers that are interested in their children's computer resources at school. The world is evolving, everything uses technology to drive home the education.
Why won't GCS IT look to open-source products to maximize monetary efficiency? It seems that the IT kids at Weaver certainly understand this concept.
Posted by darkmoon at 02:06 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
April 12, 2005
GetLocalNews Responds...
Usual disclaimer of Greensboro101 Board, opinion is own, yadda yadda...
Here is the point made clearly about citizen journalism by TDavid of MakesYouGoHmm:
The original press release style comment response isI think Dan Gillmor, who left a great writing gig, to evangelize Citizen Journalism, didn’t truly evaluate your program and instead was drinking the kool-aid over the concept of citizen journalism which is so not about the money.
Here is the key. The concept is not about money. It is about the people behind the words, just as journalism started. This being said, I can also say that it doesn't mean that there is not money to be made. While it isn't all black and white, there would have to be agreement within the community that it is more white than black.
You can read the comments from GLN on LUX here, on ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmm here, or if you choose to read comments upon Dan Gillmor's blog here. They are all a canned press release response since all three are the same.
Edgar Canon, of GetLocalNews.com responds:
You said you think we "have a shot," so we figure you saw some things you liked. We're not sure what those were because your critique focused on the problems -- we know we're not perfect -- and ignored what we think are the more significant positives:
Call me a cynic.
Our system can syndicate content to any or all of our 50,000-plus local and topical sites, so it creates a new kind of content distribution system completely unlike blogs. We don't see ourselves competing with blogs.
New kind of content distribution? As far as I know, Dave Winer authored RSS, which is undoubtedly the distribution method. Correct me if this is wrong. Also, having 50,000 domain names doesn't make 50,000 local sites. I browsed through the "sample" sites before and they all held the same articles.
Design: We agree with your basic point, that the design needs a lot of work. In fact, that's our primary focus right now. We hope to unveil a redesign soon. It was curious though that you'd say it was difficult to find the articles, as they fill the center column. In any case, design needs work; point well taken; we're on it.
Great. Hope to see something better. I recommend learning layout from print.
And remember we aggregate all the page views generated from all of an author's content posted at any time anywhere in our network, so the citizen journalist is building a portfolio of work that generates income as long as anyone reads it. Does this system benefit regular authors more than the one-shot contributors? Yes, but we don't think that's a bad thing, as it's good for us and good for our authors and readers.
Like mentioned by TDavid, your hopes are gathered in the fact that those that drive readership on their own, join your advertising network. While perhaps this may be the case, those will still be the key people pushing the pageviews and clicks on ads, while others fall by the wayside. Chances are, those are the same people that would not need a network to drive their readership (such as Instapundit or DailyKOS).
You say, "it is obvious that their goals are not for citizen journalists, but for advertisers." This comment shows a lack of background about our track record. In many instances, we have put a premium on news content and reader-generated interactivity at the expense of advertising.
Nice try. Having the ability to have a forum does not create citizen journalism. Our local newspaper, the News and Record, has had this conversation before. The beauty of them is that they have been having an on-going dialogue with the local bloggers is that they listen and implement what the citizens need to contribute and communicate. Likewise, Greensboro101 also has a track record listening to their readers and implementing immediately. So if you want to drag out your track record, then tell me that you are listening to your readers for the drive for features. If you do listen to readers for feature requests, then I would be seriously surprised that no one has pointed out the layout issue yet. BeneciaNews has been around since at least 2002.
Last, a petty critique of the canned response on Dan Gillmor's. While it was in the comment section, the name is LUX.ET.UMBRA, not Lex.et.Umbra. It means "light and shadow" in Latin. Lex means "law" if I'm not mistaken.
Reason for citizen journalism is to write for the joy of writing. To critique to opinionate, to give perspective. This is the whole reason I do not have ads, or will I ever have them on my blog.
Like I said before, everyone has room for change. Show me that you're doing it for the people and citizen journalism and I'll update the review and ask repentance from the blogger gods for me being a doubter. Until then, call it like it is. GLN is a advertising network, NOT citizen journalism.
Posted by darkmoon at 05:35 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 09, 2005
Slashdot Effect fizzling? I think not.
On a roll this morning. Jeff Jarvis of Buzzmachine, points out that the Slashdot Effect may be fizzling. But the arguments take were driven were two different styles of site takedowns.
1) Slashdot Effect is based on one single link from one site generating so much traffic to the destination site that the destination overloads.
2) Blog effect is from multiple sourcing to one destination site.
Where is this difference? Slashdot generates enough traffic to take down a site by itself. That's a very big deal. Multiple sourcing is very similar to denial-of-service attacks where multiple hosts ping the destination. Due to overwhelming response from so many hosts, the destination dies.
So how many other single sources could do the same as Slashdot? I would have to go with BoingBoing.
There is need to point out that Slashdot still slows down or kills the sites that it links to where BoingBoing usually does not. So in the end, Geek News still wins out the war when it comes to host death.
Via BuzzMachine
Posted by darkmoon at 10:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Review: GetLocalNews pays Citizen Journalists
Amusing thing when you wake up to see Dan Gillmor's saying that GetLocalNews is paying citizen journalists. So I gather my wits and sit down to review the facts presented.
Disclaimer: I do realize I'm on the Editorial Board of Greensboro101. All of the below is the opinion of myself solely. Make your own conclusions. No one is forcing you to adhere to mine. And whether or not I like it really shouldn't matter. So on with the show.
Review
Web design:
Poorly done. Citizen journalism is supposed to complement or for some, take on MSM. In this age, you CANNOT do it with poor design. On a 800x600 resolution, and a 1024x760 resolution, the featured site BeneciaNews was ladened with ads all over. It was difficult to even find the articles. Screenshot here.
Payment to users:
Took forever to find this, so I'll save the viewing public the trouble. See here. In case it changes, here is the screenshot. You get paid 50% of the ad revenues based on page views but here's the catch. You don't get your money until you hit $25. However, there is nary a word of this on the Terms of Service when you sign up. What does this mean? Reader contributions payment is not guaranteed and not covered under your contract. Meaning GLN could pull this at any time. (I do realize that I am not an attorney, but this is based on the crude knowledge of EULAs, TOSs, and AUPs that I've read). Backup of their current Terms of Service is here.
Community Publisher:
Thinking about creating your own community and getting paid for it?
1) You keep all revenues from Google Adsense, of which you must sign up for.
2) You split the revenues 50/50 with GLN that are not regional or national (I think that basically means local). Everything else is up to GLN.
Screenshot here. In the offchance that you thought you're protected by the parent company, think again. GLN is only liable for $100 of the aggregate liability and nothing else. It's all on the end Publisher. Screenshot here.
Synopsis
This is what I'm hoping to take on MSM? No wonder those in MSM are laughing at us bloggers. The transparency of GLN is very to the point. They want to be a parent advertising corporation in a pyramid structure. From their featured site, it is obvious that their goals are not for citizen journalists, but for advertisers.
Do they have a shot? I would say yes. It would take a lot of redesign work and getting a professional design team to do layout work on the general templates. As far as I could tell, the management team doesn't have that kind of skill. By the way... the featured site (BeneciaNews) won an award for General Excellence by the Online News Association back in 2002. You be the judge.
For bloggers everywhere, I have to say that currently GLN, you do not do us justice. But then again, since when has my opinion ever counted.
Posted by darkmoon at 09:11 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 28, 2005
Capital One Incompentency
What's in your wallet?
Just recently, a friend disputed a credit card charge with Capital One. Should be straight forward fraud charge that they should start an investigation, right? No.
Problem:
Apparently the vendor charged this friend a charge. Strange thing is, the friend has never had an account with this vendor. Even stranger, the vendor now has a disputed charge with another friend with the same last name. The disputed claim number is the same. Okay, what the heck? One note is that the disputed claim is on a Capital One Visa.
Capital One needs to get some people that understands English. This has been going on for the last four months and still on-going. No one has even tried to solve the problem, even though it seems rather obvious since the first friend doesn't even have an account with the vendor so obviously the charge is not authorized.
The other friend is the one that made that charge with a Mastercard (also Capital One). With the same last name however, Capital One SOMEHOW moved the charge from the Mastercard to the Visa.
Steps to take to a possible solution:
1) Switch the charge from the Visa to the Mastercard.
2) Apologize to the two people that it's effected for over five months.
3) Hire people that don't take shortcuts.
With all the recent screw-ups with ChoicePoint, this is just one more issue that corporations need to clear up before they go off and hire celebrities to tote their product.
What's in my wallet? Certainly never going to be a Capital One card.
Posted by darkmoon at 10:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 26, 2005
Two Chinas
Disclosure: Yes, I am an ABC (American Born Chinese). On with the commentary.
This topic REALLY annoys me. The whole thing about how it is Taiwan versus China, instead of the Republic of China versus the People's Republic of China. And there is a BIG difference.
I was taught at a very young age that the Chinese people are all Chinese. No matter, if you're from the province of Canton, Szhechuan, or from the island of Taiwan. We were are all one people. My mother was born in Taiwan, but she is Chinese. My father was born in Canton, but he is also Chinese. I am born in the United States, yet I am also Chinese.
HISTORY
During WWII, China was devastated by the Japanese. Massacred during the Sino-Japanese War, China turned to the Communist Party for help. The Communist Party agreed to provide weaponry in exchange for change. When the Community Party pushed out the Japanese, a civil war ensued. The Nationalist Party fled to what is now known as Taiwan. This is the way it is now, one country, two governments.
Analogy: It would be as if a war broke out between Democrats and Republicans and the Democrats got pushed into California, and the war ended. California would still be American, but ruled by a totally different governing body and structure.
WHERE WE ARE TODAY
Taiwan has been pushing or democracy for a long time, but Western media coverage is poor on the real facts. Taiwan has always been a part of China, just not the majority part. In this aspect, what China is doing is correct. This is also the reason why the United Nations has never taken Taiwan into the fold, even after nine bids for a seat. Note that the ROC did have a seat in the United Nations, but withdrew the seat in 1971.
Even the Government Information Office (ROC) states:
The Republic of China (Taiwan) is a free and peace-loving state, and its democratically elected government is the only one that represents the interests and wishes of the people of Taiwan.
More from Taiwan's GIO:
Taiwan is formally known as the Republic of China (ROC). Founded in 1912, the ROC is Asia's first constitutional republic. The ROC government, led by the Kuomintang (KMT), relocated to Taiwan in 1949 when the Chinese Communist Party established the People's Republic of China (PRC) on the mainland. It has since exercised jurisdiction over Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and numerous other islets. The two sides of the Taiwan Strait have since been governed as separate territories.
MEDIA INCONSISTENCIES
Where has the media gone wrong? Back when I was a child, material items were tagged with either PROC, or ROC. Nowadays, it just says "Made in China" or "Made in Taiwan". The true meaning is lost even more when media tries to designate the two sides as Taiwanese versus China. They are both China. One just happens to be the People's Republic, versus the Republic.
Analogy: This would similar to saying all Republicans are Texan. You're a Republican? no. You're a Texan. Doesn't quite ring true does it?
SOLUTION
When Germany was split down the middle with Russia and the US leading either side, it was one country with two opposing government bodies. Then the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, bringing together the nation that was divided. Until that happened, both governments were allowed a place in the world seat, even though they were two distinct governing bodies. Taiwan can also be placed in such standing. With regard, it has always been the ROC (Republic of China) versus PROC (People's Republic of China). In this sense, Taiwan (as ROC) should be allowed to be a democratic nation in the world community.
SUMMARY
Most people don't speak Taiwanese, they speak Mandarin. The actual number of people that descended from the islanders are very few, compared to the refugees from the Mainland. Mandarin is still the dialect that all Chinese abide by. Don't get me wrong, Taiwan should be free and a democratic state. But they need to be the democratic Chinese, not the Taiwanese.
In the end, I'm but an ABC who is proud to say that his heritage comes from China. While my family is divided by birthplace, they will always also be Chinese. And as I gaze past the Pacific with my dark Asian eyes, in the distance beyond my sight, there will always be two Chinas.
REFERENCES
Posted by darkmoon at 04:53 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 10, 2005
Bleh WiFi security advice from Triangle IT security specialist
I happen to check E-NC every so often to run across an article out of the News Observer (RTP). To paraphrase, the article was telling someone that was connecting to a insecure hotspot (an unknowning neighbor who didn't put up his/her wireless correctly) if there were security risks.
Mr. Jeff Crume, an IT security specialist (IBM Corporation), tells the person to not login to take advantage of insecure hotspots since hackers could be sniffing the networks.
This is a great idea. Not to mention, while it is not illegal to log into someone else's insecure WiFi, it is unethical. The violation of the network service agreement is on the user that is paying for the service, not the "uninvited guest", so it does not play a part from the guest's point of view.
Then Mr. Crume says one of the most generalized things known in security field:
As for security issues, the bottom line is that you should not connect to any network that "you don't personally control or can't be sure is trustworthy unless you are willing to assume that everything you see at your end of the connection could be seen by others," Crume advises.
Hello? Anyone home? Every network in the world is not controlled at the end-user. If you want to use the Internet, there is the chance that your cable company is sniffing your modem, a hacker is sitting at the node-router sniffing the network, and so on, so forth. Even applied to WiFi, his argument lies invalid since even if you own the WiFi hotspot, there is nothing that says a hacker can't still sniff the network. Wireless feeds mean that the laptop generates a signal and broadcasts to whatever range its little antenna can handle. Then hopefully, some antenna from the user-owned hotspot picks it up and decrypts the messages and sends it off to the wild blue yonder of the Internet. There is nothing stopping anyone from sniffing the airwaves (unless you think WEP/WPA actually does something). There is a reason behind Netstumbler, Kismet, and other wireless sniffing tools. The pairing of Kismet and Ethereal allows any hacker to read wireless packets if they are not encrypted.
Truthfully, I could probably bet that most insecure hotspots are usually from non-technical people trying to join the world of wireless without reading the manuals rather than hackers setting up evil twin-nodes. Twin-nodes rarely exist in residential areas since they are very low traffic.
All the respect for you and your work, Mr. Crume. I have always loved your work. But next time, note wireless protocols (WEP/WPA + Radius) instead of generalized network security protocols (VPN, SSL). Perhaps touch on what a person with an insecure hotspot can do to secure the site.
With all the precautionary measures, at the end of the day, there really is no wireless signal that is safe.
Posted by darkmoon at 02:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 24, 2005
Review: A White Wall and their Fight
Due to a pretty haughty commenter on JR's blog post, I decided to give benefit of doubt and read Asheboro Pediatrics.
Review of the content:
Very aggressive language that requires a reader to choose sides right away. Obviously there is an attack and a victim type of scenario. I do not doubt there has been administrative financing "bungles" after reading some of the documents. But the way it is written would make any publishing media source cringe in fear of looking like a side chooser instead of being objective. Reading the short version basically describes the push behind the physician advocacy and why the aggressive behavior. While my strong suit has never been English, I believe that the letters written to the Congressmen could have been more grammatically correct. In any case, the message is fairly clear.
Review of technicals:
Right off the bat, the web design is poor. Whether or not it is an advocacy page or Sony's corporate website, the first thing that anyone looks for is "no eye sores". The red text definitely draws your eyes to the letters, but reading it could make you go blind on top of the blue background. Also, this was a redirected site to A White Wall. Personal opinion, but I would never re-direct. People do not realize where they are. More formatting is in order to make this a better advocacy site.
Overall:
The message is very clear albeit not very concise. The author and colleagues are sick of bad administration and management, like most people from most career fields. Amusingly enough, there is no law against bad management of funds, whether it is through grants or other sources of money. A friend once told me, "you can cry, bitch, moan about your managers, but in the end there is no law against bad management."
The website needs a redesign, even if it follows a Microsoft template. I have found the best advocacy sites have always been well-designed and speak with a feisty message but without aggressive attacks. Especially when you look to bring others onboard to fight your fight, it becomes rather hairy.
I would suggest that the authors look to further their cause with a web designer and perhaps a lawyer to make certain the message is clear without offending those that could in fact sway their decision for the cause. Those would be the politicians, taxpayers, and most off the media.
I believe there is something there but without going blind reading, I cannot say that I would stand on the side that seems to be waving a gun instead of a flag.
DISCLAIMER: All of the above are the opinions of the author. If you do not like the opinions, forward immediately to /dev/null.
Posted by darkmoon at 02:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 22, 2005
Gaining 20 seconds of fame hanging off the coattails of citizen journalism
These aggregators take it far beyond simple feed organization a la Bloglines. The centerpiece of Greensboro101 is a "Featured Articles" section that includes highlights culled from local blogs, along with some articles exclusive to the site. Beyond that, there is an automatically updated list of the latest blog posts from several dozen active local blogs and LiveJournal accounts, with names like SouthernRants, Hogg’s Blog and Lux et Umbra. There are also active message boards, a media gallery (including phoned-in comments), and "open publishing" forms where even the blogless can upload an article or picture.
Personal note: Tears of joy, I tell you. This is my first step towards my first Bloggie. When I win, I promise I won't forget all of you...
Posted by darkmoon at 02:42 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 21, 2005
Blogging Activism or creation of a Trolldom?
I fully support the fact that VFW/NAACP are getting online and putting their voice out in the open where millions can read it. Promoting blogging activism is wonderful. But do your homework before you start slandering pioneers of the technology you're promoting.
Some members of the CAM Mafia such as Dave Winer just might find that traditional political bases start counting more than who has the latest and greatest technology or the best connections at Ivy League campuses.
I find that such attacks on Dave Winer obviously very amusing. If the author bothered to speak to Dave at the latest conference in the Triangle and read Dave's work, they would know that he is more cynical about MSM "getting it." Did I mention that Dave Winer has not been a part of the Cambridge crowd for quite a few years now?
Another flaw lies with your theory of best-connections based argument. Greensboro has fiber running straight into downtown right under the Guilford Building. DukeNet leases the bandwidth as do some local ISPs. While Ivy leagues also run fiber, this little southern city is pretty high up on the technological factors when it comes to bandwidth.
I'm also surprised with the blogging activism comments that there wasn't a mention for Downhill Battle, Public Knowledge, Civic Space Labs, and others whom have paved the way for your current movement.
Personally, I feel sorry for those associated with this comment since I know they're doing a great work for the community and they are being associated with an article with some issues on fact-checking. Keep up the good work: Tara, Dan and Ross.
Blogging activism. heh. Call it cynicism, but seems like a great start on creating a trolldom. And that is so 1997, just like the technology.
Posted by darkmoon at 10:21 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 19, 2005
G4TechTV at a new low
I never cared for TechTV. The Screensavers were the closest to geekdom that it got and while Leo Laporte sometimes incorrectly stated some issues and Kevin Rose looked like one of the punks from high school, they actually had a vast array of knowledge that definitely hit home for non-digerati.
Lately, I figured that I would try it again. So I turned on Filter. They plug devices that ThinkGeek has had for almost six months. The previous show was a game review show that paled compared to X-Play. They were plugging Getaway: Black Monday as a good game when the graphics were terrible and other review sites have given thumbs down for that game. Amusing. Perhaps paid off reviews?
I'm not saying that TechTV did not have some Microsoft plugging before the switch. For similar games, XBOX would almost always rate higher than PS2. Same game, different console.
But this is outrageous. Half of the people that I know who used to watch the old TechTV now have switched to other things. I'm sure the ratings on TechTV have dropped. The producers need to get a clue and get rid of the VH1/MTV style look and go back to what worked.
Geeky might be in, but obviously interviewing geeks isn't the same as being geek.
Posted by darkmoon at 01:04 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 15, 2005
N&R's Front Pew: Is it matters of faith, or actually matters of Christianity?
It has almost been a month since the launch of The Front Pew. A bit of what's been nipping me in the back of my mind is that I have been following this blog since the beginning and commented here on SR's rant back in January. The issue being?
"Welcome to the Front Pew, our blog on faith, religion and matters of the spirit."
As I responded before, religion encompasses more than just Christianity. Yet, the only issues that have been covered are purely Christian beliefs. Nothing wrong with that being that we are entrenched in the Bible Belt, but if religion is the topic to be covered, then there is Buddhism, Jewish, Islam, and others to be encompassed.
Why do I bring this up? I think Nancy Mclaughlin is doing a fabulous job at blogging about Christian issues and faith and I applaud her for doing a great job there. But even a slight quibble on Chinese New Year that has come and gone, or other non-Christian posts would be nice.
I suppose I'm asking too much want other religious aspects to be at least represented somewhat when the first post claimed such. Then again, it is called The Front Pew and if I'm not mistaken, a pew is only found in a church, which in turn is a building for Christian worship.
The moral of this story? Annoying people like me can get you on semantics. Maybe there will be corrections, maybe there won't. But I'll continue to read The Front Pew hoping for at least one single sliver of other religious content.
Posted by darkmoon at 04:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 14, 2005
Triangle Bloggerfest aftermath
Just a word before I head to bed after a grueling night of work.
I was reflecting on the Triangle Bloggers Conference and I realized a little something that I never got to say. Thanks Ed!
Why you might ask. While I was sitting there patiently with my hand half in