30 Apr 2003
This Cart will Self-Destruct

This carries the concept of 'planned obsolescence' to new heights - or should that be depths? On the one hand, I can see the companies arguments, as inks do degrade over time. On the other hand, I believe a printed warning would be more appropiate than simply shutting down the printer. Incidentially, if you try to reverse engineer these things, that'll get you all kinds of grief via the DMCA.

Ink Cartridges with Built-In Self-Destruct Dates [Slashdot]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

Helping Telemarketers

Sprint to cash in on telemarketers. A new service from the company helps telemarketers avoid steep fines by preventing them from calling people who have signed a "do not call" list. [CNET News.com]

This could've been done years ago - I know, because I did it years ago. Of course, years ago, without legal backing for do not call lists, there were no users (it was bundled) for my little product.

Sometimes laws can actually be a good thing - something the libertarian in me was always loathe to admit, but which is becoming increasingly apparent as my age increases....

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

29 Apr 2003
Meetings with Remarkable Men

Well, what a moot! I finally got to meet Steve McNallen, Valgard Murry and Böğvar - three folks I've wanted to talk with for years. And I was not disappointed.

In fact, it was to my great honor that I was asked to take Mr. McNallen to the St. Louis airport on the way home to Indiana. Steve McNallen is the founder of the modern Asatru revival in America - he started the first organization (the Asatru Free Assembly) in 1972. A three hour ride with the man who more or less got the ball rolling to build our heathen troth in Vinland. One word: wow!

My youngest daughter went with and really got plastered on good mead - first time in her life she'd ever been drunk, and, (considering her hangover the next day) most likely the last. She had opened her big mouth following a Friday night sumbel and answered a challange by a very much older and much more experienced drinker (and a personal friend) to a 'last man standing' .... I wouldn't have let her participate had I thought it would go much past one horn of brew, but she's a stubborn heathen girl and stood her ground. In fact, she won! Much, I might add, to the chagrin of my friend!

She was made an honorary member of 'Clan Hurling' the following day - much to her own embarassment!

Good food, great fellowship, a fine time. I'll have lot's more to say on the ideas emerging from this Moot in the future - Asatru is at a crossroads. It is a "golden moment" where we can choose to work together and accelerate our growth, or fall back into the sniping and backstabbing that have characterized many of our efforts to date.

There were 30 people at the Moot two years ago - this time we topped out at 90, not counting children. With any luck, we are on the track to "seize the day" and achieve even more.

We shall see.

00:00 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

28 Apr 2003
One Good One

Well, at least one Congresscritter is on the side of common sense (and the consumer) ...

Congressman With a Copyright Plan. Five years after it was enacted, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act has lived up to its critics' worst fears. But Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Virginia) thinks he knows just how to fix it. He explains in an interview with Lucas Graves from Wired magazine. [Wired News]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

Stalin Would Be Proud

This should have been titled "How to Embrace and Extend" ...

Writing history with Microsoft's Office lock-in. No XML please, we're arbitrary [The Register]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

Cattle Poisonings

Good grief - if the terrorists start hitting us out here, it's gonna get real ugly real fast. Hopefully this is just some kind of screwup. Hopefully.

Cattle poisoned in U.S. heartland [CNN US]

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

24 Apr 2003
OSX Utilities

From Daring Fireball comes news of a bevy of command line utilities for OS X. These include command line PHP - one of the most useful little languages I've run across, and a appswitch utility... once I get back from the Moot I've gotta get some of these.

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

Off to the Moot Tomorrow

Well, it's only 12:45, but I'm off to the Moot tomorrow, so I think I'm gonna turn in early. This'll be my last entry until Sunday, when, gods willing, I'll give my first impressions of what promises to be a great weekend.

In attendence at this Moot will be two guys I've wanted to meet for years - Steve McNallen of the AFA and Valgard Murry of the Arizona Kindred and Worldtree, finest seller of Asatru related jewelry, books, etc. on the planet. McNallen basically started the modern revival in North America, and Valgard has been around since the beginning as well. I've corresponded with each, but our paths have never crossed physically. So am I excited? Sure.

That, and Hilary's going with us! She's never been to a national Moot before - she did make a couple of the Indiana gatherings, but nothing on this scale. I certainly hope she has a good time.

So, I'll be back on Sun's Day evening and let you know how it went.

00:00 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

Engineering the Human Race

Good grief - where do I put this gem from Wired?

'Musings' seems like the best choice for this diatribe against genetic engineering the human race. Although it could go into 'Technology' or 'Asatru' or even 'Patently Copywronged '.... sooner or later, if this happens, you can bet even money that somebody'll patent a human being.

00:00 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

23 Apr 2003
Patent Processes

A very nice article from Scientific American on the absurdities in the modern patent process.

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

Edgar Codd, RIP

The father of the relational database has dropped normal form ... his books and ideas were not only groundbreaking and interesting, they were useful.

Edgar Codd, database theorist, dies at 79. The mathematician laid the theoretical foundation for the standard method by which information is organized in and retrieved from computers.


The New York Times [CNET News.com]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

22 Apr 2003
Reading and Re-reading

Ah, vacations are a wonderful thing! I just finished reading The Eight by Katherine Neville - wonderful book. And I've another in the queue that promises to be just as good: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Have heard lots of good things about this book. I'll let you know ....

00:00 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

Legal Headaches for New Tech

This is a good summation of the hazards of bullshit patents and draconian copyright laws .... they'll kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, eventually.

New technologies face legal headaches. Companies developing emerging technology need to be aware of rivals wielding patent and copyright laws to thwart competition, attorneys told developers at a conference. [CNET News.com]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

Final Postings

Online, Some Bloggers Never Die. The messengers are gone, but their messages live on. The final posts from webloggers now deceased have become a popular topic of discussion on some weblogs. By Christopher Null. [Wired News]

One more way to keep alive the memory of our ancestors.

00:00 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

Sweet Threats

I ran into this bit of appaling news via Secular Blasphemy.

Sugar Industry Threatens WHO

The sugar industry in the US is threatening to bring the World Health Organisation to its knees by demanding that Congress end its funding unless the WHO scraps guidelines on healthy eating, due to be published on Wednesday.

Having taken just about every other sensible, pleasent pleasure out of our lives, these busybodies (WHO) are now seemingly stealing candy from the mouths of babes ....

I know that the recommmedations made by WHO are reasonable - but I also feel so burdened by bullshit regulations on seemingly everything that I'm really beginning to resent it.

The real issue here is power - the control we cede to the government over our individual lives. What's next on the agenda? Too much sugar can make you fat and sick - will being overweight become a crime?

Anyone who thinks I'm going overboard on this should consult a smoker or any of the tobacco companies ..... or read this article by R.J. O'Rourke.

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link