Things Fall Apart

Posted on November 5, 2007

In this space back in 2003, I wrote about the future of Pakistan:

[Gen. Pervez] Musharraf is another of these two-bit thugs keeping himself at the trough at the expense of his people. But, we feel, we can’t let his government fall, or else he’ll be replaced by radical Islamists — there’s no doubt they’d win if a fair election were held in Pakistan today. So, we do whatever it takes — including letting the cream of al-Qaeda off scot free — to prop him up; and in doing so, we create more radical Islamists out of ordinary Pakistanis who feel the Islamists are the only way available towards a better life; which makes supporting Musharraf more essential; which breeds more Islamists, and so on.

The key fact in that kind of a system is that it can’t last forever; eventually things will boil over in Pakistan — the people will get fed up and toss Musharraf out. The real question is, who will be writing the plans for what happens when that day comes?

Looks like we may be about to find out…

The government of Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, making no concessions a day after seizing emergency powers, rounded up leading opposition figures and said Sunday that parliamentary elections could be delayed for as long as a year.

Security forces were reported to have detained about 500 opposition party figures, lawyers and human rights advocates on Sunday, and about a dozen privately owned television news stations remained off the air. International broadcasters, including the BBC and CNN, were also cut off.

The crackdown, announced late Saturday night after General Musharraf suspended the Constitution, was clearly aimed at preventing public demonstrations that political parties and lawyers were organizing for Monday.

In case you needed reminding, Pakistan is estimated to have between 25 and 50 nuclear weapons. 

I Think It Needs a Rewrite, Bob

Posted on October 31, 2007

From the Unfortunately Phrased Ad Copy Department comes this gem:

Because the last thing you want your screwing to be is less flexible.

George W. Bush: All Hat and No Cattle

Posted on October 29, 2007

Seen on WashingtonPost.com today, a news flash from the Department of the Obvious:

"Bush has not matched his words with action"! Oh my god! President Bush has never substituted macho talk for real action.  Never!

Except when he said we would do "whatever it takes" to rebuild New Orleans, of course. (He didn’t.)

And the time he responded to reports of insurgents attacking our troops in Iraq by taunting them to "bring them on", without taking the steps that would be needed to protect our troops from more attacks. (They did.)

Can’t forget the time he said that if they ever found out who blew Valerie Plame’s CIA cover, he’d make sure that person was "taken care of", either. (They weren’t.)

Oh, and when he declared "mission accomplished" in Iraq. (It wasn’t.)

Or the All Time Greatest Of Them All: when he swore, five years ago, that he would bring in Osama bin Laden "dead or alive". (He hasn’t.)

And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

George W. Bush has raised ineffective blustering to a kind of perverse art form. Why should we be surprised that he’s blustering about Darfur, too?

Fun With Spam: How Would You Know? Edition, Part II

Posted on October 29, 2007

The "insulting spam" trend appears to be picking up steam…

A Simple Test

Posted on October 24, 2007

Did you know that it’s "Islamofascist Awareness Week"? No? Well, that can only mean one thing: that you are a sane and well adjusted person. Shame on you!

On his blog, Matt Yglesias has been considering whether "Islamofascism" is even a valid term — whether it describes something real, or just a confection of free-floating anxieties lurking in the minds of the wingnut fringe. I think this is a pretty easy question to answer. Whenever you hear someone use the word "Islamofascism", just ask yourself this question:

In the last five years, how often has this person been right about anything?

In 99% of cases your answer will be "never", which ought to tell you everything you need to know about the validity of the concept of "Islamofascism".

Myself, I use the word as a time-saver; if I hear someone use it, I know that I can safely disregard anything else they say from that point forward. Saves a lot of energy.

Your Tax Dollars at Work?

Posted on October 23, 2007

Seen on wmata.com (the Web site for Washington’s Metro system) today:

Click image for full-size version

They’re running Google ads on the Metro site.

The Metro site that is paid for with tax dollars.

Are you even allowed to run ads on a government site?

Look, guys. I know that you’re hurting for cash. But this is just tacky. 

UPDATE (Oct. 24, 2007): In the comments, Sandy quite rightly points out that WMATA has a long and storied history of whoring out every square inch of physical space it controls to raise revenue (including wrapping the trains themselves in ads), so it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that they’re whoring out the Web site too.

Why I Built A New Computer

Posted on October 22, 2007

To play Team Fortress 2, natch.

Watch this and you’ll understand:

That’s not some pre-rendered demo movie; it’s actual footage from the game. The whole thing looks like you’re playing a Pixar movie.

Yes, I’m a dork. Discuss.

Time to Get Gutsy!

Posted on October 18, 2007

Today’s the day: the latest version of the terrific Ubuntu Linux operating system, Ubuntu 7.10 (codename "Gutsy Gibbon") has hit the streets. If you prefer KDE to GNOME, Kubuntu 7.10 is out now too.

What’s new in Gutsy? Take the tour and find out.

If you’re tired of dealing with the headache that is Windows, you owe it to yourself to give Ubuntu a try. You can test drive it without installing anything — the download includes a version that you can run entirely off a CD. And of course, being Linux, it’s free (in both senses of the word).

So what are you waiting for? Get to downloading!

How to Recognize the Future Before It Lands On You

Posted on October 10, 2007

Today is the day: users who bought Radiohead’s new album direct from the band online are now able to download it.

Predictably, the music industry is freaking out because Radiohead has completely disintermediated them: 

You can’t make a TV show by yourself. Certainly not a movie. Not that anyone can see. But you can make a record all by your lonesome, it doesn’t cost that much. And you can say exactly what you want, you don’t need to clean it up for Wal-Mart. And, you can distribute it yourself online. That’s what Radiohead is doing.

I would just like to take this moment to say…

I predicted this not one, not two, but seven years ago:

You probably don’t know who Sarah Lentz is.  That’s OK; neither did I, until recently.  And then while clicking through MP3.com one day, I found her page.  A quick perusal gave me the 411; vocalist and pianist, struggling indie artist, known for striking, deep voice, plays clubs in New York City. Intrigued, I took a listen to one of her songs, "Disintegrate". A few minutes later, I was downloading all of her songs, and they got my attention enough to lead me to order her CD. In the space of a couple of days, I’d gone from not knowing who Sarah Lentz was to being a huge fan.

This is what should terrify the record companies.  Because every Sarah Lentz I discover on my own leads me one step away from their paradigm, in which I need a big corporation to lead me by the hand to the approved artists I should like, and one step closer to declaring independence and disintermediating them once and for all…

The [music] industry provided us with a safe place in the analog cyberspace of gramophones and 8-track tape players to meet new artists that we could be reasonably certain we would enjoy. In exchange for providing that space, however, they extorted a dramatic toll from artists and listeners. Now they are terrified that they might be losing the traditional revenue stream that community has provided them. What they should be worried about is what will happen if one day the Napster users discover MP3.com and decide they don’t need that safe space at all. Then the Sarah Lentzes of the world will finally get paid what they deserve, music will finally cost about what it should, and the only people who will weep when the community closes its doors for the last time are the newly unemployed A&R men.

(Emphasis added)

The only difference between the scenario I painted and Radiohead’s move is that they contracted with someone other than the now-defunct MP3.com to handle the back-end fulfillment. If those radio execs had taken my words to heart, they could have worked out a way to be that back-end fulfillment provider themselves, and keep a portion of the transaction instead of what they will get from Radiohead now — nothing.

Of course, I’m too humble to say that reading Just Well Mixed every day will make you a prescient forecaster, enable you to see the big changes in the world coming before everybody else does.

Oh wait! No I’m not.

You’re welcome.

You Know Your Band Is Popular When…

Posted on October 10, 2007

Seen on my Facebook home page this morning:

Coldplay is their own genre now?

“He Should Have an AK”

Posted on October 9, 2007

When I noted that this year is the 60th birthday of the AK-47 assault rifle, I included lots of links to sources testifying to that weapon’s quality and reliability — especially when compared to the weapon U.S. soldiers have carried since the Vietnam era, the M-16 rifle. Here’s another one.

I was reading a thread on Phillip Carter’s excellent site Intel Dump today and found a link to an interview that shows just how low the M-16 is still rated compared to the AK-47, even after decades of improvements. It’s a PBS interview that includes some talk with one of the original designers of the M-16, a fellow named Jim Sullivan. Sullivan compares the improvements that have been made to the AK family over the years to those made to the M-16, and when asked by interviewer Paul Solman which one he would rather have his son carry into battle in Iraq, Sullivan is pretty blunt:

JIM SULLIVAN: He should have an AK.

PAUL SOLMAN: Really?

JIM SULLIVAN: Yes.

It’s a sad statement about our military procurement system when we can always find the money for the latest mega-budget project with no clear rationale for existing, but when it comes to providing the  basics for the grunts on the ground — rifles that don’t jam, body armor that stops today’s bullets, vehicles that shield their crew from injury — we can’t seem to make it happen.

Really, You Could Have Just Made a Campaign Contribution

Posted on October 9, 2007

I’m sure he appreciates the enthusiasm, but I bet if you asked Ron Paul what he’d like his supporters to be doing to help his campaign, his first answer would not be for them to dance around in a pizza suit singing “Ron Paul wants to eat me”.

This Has Been Another Installment of “You Should Have Listened To Me The First Time I Told You”

Posted on September 27, 2007

Two and a half years ago, I made some suggestions as to how Palm Inc. could improve its flagging fortunes, including this one:

The Personal Smartphone is currently completely AWOL from the PalmOne lineup. What do you do if you are enamored with the Treo, but you can’t shell out $500 for a cellphone? Right now, you go give your business to someone else, which doesn’t do PalmOne any good. So a cut-down Treo would be quite important.

Today, Palm makes an announcement:

Palm Centro Brings Palm Ease of Use to Traditional Mobile Phone Users for $99.99, Exclusively from Sprint

New Compact Design Available in Two Colors

NEW YORK, Sep 27, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Designed for individuals and traditional mobile phone users looking for a better way to manage their professional and social lives, Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq:PALM) and Sprint (NYSE:S) today introduced the Palm(R) Centro(TM) smart device, at $99.99.

More details on the Centro are available, if you want them.

It’s always nice to see people taking my advice, though I think they’d have been much better off if they had done so two and a half years ago than they will be by doing so now. Palm Inc. is so far gone these days that it would take an act of God to make them relevant in the marketplace again.

Still, ten years ago you could have said the same thing about Apple (and people did), and look where they are now. So as long as Palm is solvent and doing smart things, you probably shouldn’t count them out completely. 

Is It 2009 Yet?

Posted on September 26, 2007

Seen in the Washington Post today:

Sigh.

On Free Speech

Posted on September 24, 2007

I was a little disappointed this morning to open my newspaper and discover that Columbia University was coming under criticism for allowing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak there.  Not because I thought they shouldn’t have allowed him to speak, but because I thought the "controversy" was just plain ridiculous.

Once upon a time, I ran a university lecture program myself. One of the questions I asked myself when I took that gig was whether there were people who simply shouldn’t be allowed to speak. The classical way this is phrased is "if it were 1938, would you have allowed Hitler to speak on your platform?"

My answer was: yes. Yes, I would have. Speech — even hateful and factually untrue speech — is never best countered by suppression; that only drives it underground and gives it a martyr’s mystique that it does not deserve. The best counter to hate speech is more speech; only by contending with the ideas of the hatemonger and overcoming them in the minds and hearts of the people can we ever truly drive them out.

That’s why I was so disappointed to see people like Abraham Foxman, the head of the Anti-Defamation League, calling for Columbia to refuse to let Ahmadinejad speak. Implicit in Foxman’s argument is the idea that the people are too weak-minded to see Ahmadinejad’s arguments for what they are; that we must be protected from them, or else they will inevitably overcome us.

When run properly, a platform is neutral; you do not endorse a person’s opinions simply by providing them a space in which to air them. The question which drives the choice of who to allow to speak from your platform should not be "do I agree with this person?" Rather, it should be "are this person’s ideas affecting the world we live in?" Given the central position that Iran currently occupies in our foreign policy discourse, it’s hard to see how Ahmadinejad fails that test.

In the end, the students and faculty of Columbia appear to have proven Foxman’s fears ungrounded; they met Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric head on, as free-thinking citizens of a free republic should. I applaud Columbia for showing Ahmadinejad and the world what free speech looks like — from all angles.

Only the Good Die Young

Posted on September 24, 2007

I miss Mitch Hedberg.

That is all.

The Cost of Waiting

Posted on September 16, 2007

On June 3, I wrote in this space about the tragedy of the "let’s wait for the Petraeus report!" approach:

The real reason for the delay, of course, is that it lets our “leaders” weasel out of making a tough decision for awhile, and hope that Events will somehow bail them out in the meantime.

I call this “pathetic” because (a) everyone knows what the conclusion will be in the end, delay or no, and (b) each day the decision is delayed, U.S. soldiers are dying for a cause that their leaders have already given up on.

Well, General Petraeus finally came before Congress last week, on September 10 and 11.

So how many soldiers died while our political class was twiddling its thumbs waiting for Petraeus? Here’s the complete list of confirmed U.S. military fatalities in Iraq for the period between June 4 and September 9 (courtesy of icasualties.org), with causes and dates of death: 

• Private 1st Class Justin A. Verdeja, hostile fire, June 5
• Sergeant Andrews J. Higgins, hostile fire, June 5
• Technical Sergeant Ryan A. Balmer, IED attack, June 5
• Staff Sergeant Matthew J. Kuglics, IED attack, June 5
• Staff Sergeant Timothy B. Cole Jr., IED attack, June 6
• Sergeant Matthew Soper, IED attack, June 6
• Private 1st Class Shawn D. Gajdos, IED attack and hostile fire, June 6
• Sergeant 1st Class Greg L. Sutton, IED attack, June 6
• Senior Airman William N. Newman, IED attack, June 7
• Sergeant Cory M. Endlich, hostile fire, June 9
• Private Scott A. Miller, hostile fire, June 9
• Airman 1st Class Eric M. Barnes, IED attack, June 9
• Staff Sergeant Brian M. Long, explosion, June 10
• Specialist Adam G. Herold, IED attack, June 10
• Corporal Meresebang Ngiraked, IED attack, June 10
• Corporal Llythaniele Fender, IED attack, June 10
• Private 1st Class Cameron K. Payne, IED attack, June 11
• Lieutenant Colonel Glade L. Felix, non-hostile, June 11
• Private 1st Class William C. Johnson, IED attack, June 12
• Lance Corporal Johnny R. Strong, hostile fire, June 12
• Specialist Damon G. Legrand, RPG attack, June 12
• Private 1st Class Casey S. Carriker, non-hostile, June 13
• Specialist Josiah W. Hollopeter, hostile fire, June 14
• Specialist Val John Borm, IED attack, June 14
• Specialist Farid Elazzouzi, IED attack, June 14
• Sergeant Derek T. Roberts, IED attack, June 14
• Staff Sergeant Michael A. Bechert, IED attack, June 14
• Specialist Dustin R. Brisky, explosion (non-hostile), June 14
• Sergeant Richard K. Parker, IED attack, June 14
• Major Kevin H. Sonnenberg, jet crash, June 15
• Private 1st Class Michael Patrick Pittman, IED attack and hostile fire, June 15
• Specialist Grass. Zachary A., IED attack, June 16
• Sergeant Danny R. Soto, IED attack, June 16
• 1st Lieutenant Frank B. Walkup IV, IED attack, June 16
• Private 1st Class David A. Wilkey Jr., IED attack, June 18
• Sergeant Eric L. Snell, hostile fire, June 18
• Private 1st Class Larry Parks Jr., IED attack, June 18
• Private 1st Class Jacob T. Tracy, IED attack, June 18
• Sergeant Frank M. Sandoval, hostile fire, June 18
• Specialist Darryl W. Linder, IED attack, June 19
• Private 1st Class Joshua S. Modgling, IED attack, June 19
• Sergeant 1st Class William A. Zapfe, IED attack, June 19
• Staff Sergeant Stephen J. Wilson, hostile fire, June 20
• Sergeant Shawn P. Martin, hostile fire, June 20
• Staff Sergeant Darren P. Hubbell, IED attack, June 20
• Private 1st Class David J. Bentz III, IED attack, June 20
• Specialist Joe G. Charfauros Jr., IED attack, June 20
• Major Sid W. Brookshire, IED attack, June 20
• Private 1st Class Thomas R. Leemhuis, IED attack, June 21
• Private 1st Class Anthony D. Hebert, IED attack, June 21
• Sergeant Ryan M. Wood, IED attack, June 21
• Private 1st Class Daniel J. Agami, IED attack, June 21
• Sergeant Alphonso J. Montenegro II, IED attack, June 21
• Private 1st Class Raymond N. Spencer Jr., IED attack and hostile fire, June 21
• Specialist Karen N. Clifton, RPG attack, June 21
• Private 1st Class Jerimiah J. Veitch, RPG attack, June 21
• Specialist Dominic N. Rodriguez, non-hostile, June 22
• Specialist Carter A. Gamble Jr., hostile fire, June 22
• Sergeant Michael J. Montpetit, non-hostile, June 22
• Private 1st Class Shane M. Stinson, IED attack and hostile fire, June 23
• Sergeant Chris Davis, IED attack and hostile fire, June 23
• Staff Sergeant Michael D. Moody Jr., IED attack and hostile fire, June 23
• Specialist Derek A. Calhoun, IED attack, June 23
• Sergeant Jimy M. Malone, IED attack, June 23
• Sergeant Joel A. House, IED attack, June 23
• Lieutenant Daniel P. Riordan, IED attack, June 23
• Sergeant William E. Brown, hostile fire, June 23
• Airman 1st Class Jason D. Nathan, IED attack, June 23
• Sergeant Joel A. Dahl, hostile fire, June 23
• Specialist Joseph P. Kenny, non-hostile, June 23
• Specialist Eric C. Palmer, hostile fire, June 24
• Private 1st Class Henry G. Byrd III, non-hostile, June 24
• Private 1st Class Andre Craig Jr., IED attack, June 25
• Sergeant Trista L. Moretti, rocket attack, June 25
• Sergeant 1st Class Nathan L. Winder, hostile fire, June 26
• Corporal Derek C. Dixon, hostile fire, June 26
• Staff Sergeant Daniel A. Newsome, IED attack, June 27
• Private 1st Class Cory F. Hiltz, IED attack and hostile fire, June 28
• Specialist Dustin L. Workman II, IED attack and hostile fire, June 28
• Sergeant Giann C. Joya Mendoza, IED attack and hostile fire, June 28
• Sergeant Michael J. Martinez, IED attack and hostile fire, June 28
• Sergeant Shin W. Kim, IED attack and hostile fire, June 28
• Sergeant William W. Crow Jr., IED attack, June 28
• Specialist James L. Adair, IED attack, June 29
• Staff Sergeant Robb L. Rolfing, hostile fire, June 30
• Private 1st Class Jonathan M. Rossi, IED attack and hostile fire, July 1
• Specialist Victor A. Garcia, IED attack and hostile fire, July 1
• Sergeant 1st Class Raymond R. Buchan, hostile fire, July 1
• Staff Sergeant Michael L. Ruoff Jr., hostile fire, July 1
• Lance Corporal Juan M. Garcia Schill, hostile fire, July 1
• Lance Corporal William C. Chambers, non-hostile, July 1
• Lance Corporal Jeremy L. Tinnel, non-hostile, July 1
• 1st Lieutenant Christopher N. Rutherford, IED attack, July 2
• Private 1st Class Steven A. Davis, grenade, July 4
• Chief Warrant Officer Scott A.M. Oswell, helicopter crash, July 4
• Private 1st Class Andrew T. Engstrom, non-hostile, July 4
• Specialist Michelle R. Ring, mortar attack, July 5
• Specialist Anthony M.K. Vinnedge, non-hostile, July 5
• Sergeant Keith A. Kline, IED attack, July 5
• Major James M. Ahearn, IED attack, July 5
• Lance Corporal Steven A. Stacy, hostile fire, July 5
• Corporal Jeremy D. Allbaugh, hostile fire, July 5
• Specialist Jeremy L. Stacey, IED attack, July 5
• Sergeant Eric A. Lill, IED attack, July 6
• Corporal Kory D. Wiens, IED attack, July 6
• Private 1st Class Bruce C. Salazar Jr., IED attack, July 6
• Serge
  ant Gene L. Lamie, IED attack, July 6
• Private 1st Class Le Ron A. Wilson, IED attack, July 6
• Petty Officer 1st Class Steven Phillip Daugherty, IED attack, July 6
• Petty Officer 1st Class Robert Richard McRill, IED attack, July 6
• Petty Officer 1st Class Jason Dale Lewis, IED attack, July 6
• Colonel Jon M. Lockey, non-hostile, July 6
• Specialist Roberto J. Causor Jr., IED attack, July 7
• Private 1st Class Jason E. Dore, IED attack, July 8
• Captain Maria I. Ortiz, mortar attack, July 10
• 1st Sergeant Jeffrey R. McKinney, non-hostile, July 11
• Sergeant Courtney T. Johnson, hostile fire, July 11
• Sergeant Allen A. Greka, land mine, July 14
• Private 1st Class Christopher D. Kube, IED attack, July 14
• Sergeant John R. Massey, IED attack, July 14
• Private 1st Class Benjamin B. Bartlett Jr., RPG attack, July 15
• Specialist Eric M. Holke, non-hostile, July 15
• Specialist Robert D. Varga, non-hostile, July 15
• Lance Corporal Shawn V. Starkovich, non-hostile, July 16
• Private 1st Class Brandon K. Bobb, IED attack, July 17
• Private 1st Class Ron J. Joshua Jr., IED attack, July 17
• Sergeant Nathan S. Barnes, IED attack, July 17
• Chief Petty Officer Patrick L. Wade, IED attack, July 17
• Petty Officer 1st Class Jeffrey L. Chaney, IED attack, July 17
• Private 1st Class James J. Harrelson, IED attack, July 17
• Specialist Zachary Clouser, IED attack and hostile fire, July 18
• Specialist Daniel E. Gomez, IED attack and hostile fire, July 18
• Specialist Richard Gilmore III, IED attack and hostile fire, July 18
• Sergeant 1st Class Luis E. Gutierrez-Rosales, IED attack and hostile fire, July 18
• Sergeant Ronald L. Coffelt, IED attack, July 19
• Corporal Brandon M. Craig, IED attack, July 19
• Corporal Rhett A. Butler, IED attack, July 20
• Sergeant Jacob S. Schmuecker, IED attack, July 21
• Corporal Christopher G. Scherer, hostile fire, July 21
• Sergeant Shawn G. Adams, IED attack, July 22
• Lance Corporal Bobby L. Twitty, non-hostile, July 22
• Sergeant Courtney D. Finch, non-hostile, July 24
• Corporal Matthew R. Zindars, IED attack, July 24
• Corporal James H. McRae, IED attack, July 24
• Lance Corporal Robert A. Lynch, IED attack, July 24
• Hospitalman Daniel S. Noble, hostile fire, July 24
• Staff Sergeant Joshua P. Mattero, IED attack, July 24
• Specialist Camy Florexil, IED attack, July 24
• Specialist Daniel A. Leckel, hostile fire, July 25
• Specialist Jaime Rodriguez Jr., IED attack, July 26
• Specialist Charles E. Bilbrey Jr., IED attack, July 26
• Sergeant William R. Howdeshell, IED attack, July 26
• Private Michael A. Baloga, IED attack, July 26
• Private 1st Class Cody C. Grater, hostile fire, July 29
• Staff Sergeant Wilberto Suliveras, hostile fire, July 29
• Sergeant Jack D. Richards, IED attack, July 29
• Corporal Sean A. Stokes, hostile fire, July 30
• Corporal Jason M. Kessler, RPG attack, July 30
• Private 1st Class Alfred H. Jairala, IED attack, July 31
• Private 1st Class Charles T. Heinlein Jr., IED attack, July 31
• Specialist Zachariah J. Gonzalez, IED attack, July 31
• Sergeant Stephen R. Maddies, hostile fire, July 31
• Specialist Daniel F. Reyes, hostile fire, July 31
• Sergeant Bradley W. Marshall, hostile fire, July 31
• Sergeant 1st Class Travis S. Bachman, IED attack, August 1
• Master Sergent Julian Ingles Rios, RPG attack, August 2
• Specialist Eric D. Salinas, IED attack, August 2
• Specialist Cristian Rojas-Gallego, IED attack, August 2
• Staff Sergeant Fernando Santos, IED attack, August 2
• Lance Corporal Cristian Vasquez, hostile fire, August 2
• Private 1st Class Matthew M. Murchison, IED attack, August 4
• Specialist Braden J. Long, RPG attack, August 4
• Private 1st Class Jaron D. Holliday, IED attack, August 4
• Corporal Jason K. Lafleur, IED attack, August 4
• Sergeant Dustin S. Wakeman, IED attack, August 4
• Specialist Charles E. Leonard Jr., RPG attack, August 5
• Specialist Blackwell. Justin R., hostile fire, August 5
• Private Jeremy S. Bohannon, hostile fire, August 5
• Specialist Kareem R. Khan, IED attack, August 6
• Corporal Juan M. Alcantara, IED attack, August 6
• Sergeant Nicholas A. Gummersall, IED attack, August 6
• Staff Sergeant Jacob M. Thompson, IED attack, August 6
• Specialist Christopher T. Neiberger, IED attack, August 6
• Sergeant Jon E. Bonnell Jr., hostile fire, August 7
• Corporal Reynold Armand, non-hostile, August 7
• Specialist Donald M. Young, IED attack, August 8
• Staff Sergeant Alicia A. Birchett, non-hostile, August 8
• Sergeant Michael E. Tayaotao, hostile fire, August 9
• Staff Sergeant Joan J. Duran, non-hostile, August 10
• Private 1st Class William L. Edwards, sniper fire, August 11
• Specialist Justin O. Penrod, IED attack, August 11
• Sergeant Andrew W. Lancaster, IED attack, August 11
• Sergeant Scott L. Kirkpatrick, IED attack, August 11
• Staff Sergeant William D. Scates, IED attack, August 11
• Specialist Alun R. Howells, hostile fire, August 13
• Private 1st Class Paulomarko U. Pacificador, IED attack, August 13
• Private 1st Class Juan M. Lopez Jr., IED attack, August 13
• Staff Sergeant Eric D. Cottrell, IED attack, August 13
• Private 1st Class Shawn D. Hensel, hostile fire, August 14
• Specialist Steven R. Jewell, helicopter crash, August 14
• Staff Sergeant Stanley B. Reynolds, helicopter crash, August 14
• Staff Sergeant Sean P. Fisher, helicopter crash, August 14
• Chief Warrant Officer Jackie L. McFarlane Jr, helicopter crash, August 14
• Chief Warrant Officer Christopher Johnson, helicopter crash, August 14
• Specialist Zandra T. Walker, hostile fire, August 15
• Sergeant Princess C. Samuels, hostile fire, August 15
• Staff Sergeant Robert R. Pirelli, hostile fire, August 15
• Specialist Kamisha J. Block, non-hostile, August 16
• Staff Sergeant Paul B. Norris, non-hostile, August 16
• Corporal Willard M. Powell, hostile fire, August 16
• 1st Lieutenant Jonathan W. Edds, IED attack and hostile fire, August 17
• Captain Michael S. Fielder, non-hostile, August 19
• Private 1st Class Donovan D. Witham, IED attack, August 21
• Staff Sergeant Sandy R. Britt, IED attack, August 21
• Corporal Nathan C. Hubbard, helicopter crash, August 22
• Corporal Joshua S. Harmon, helicopter crash, August 22
• Specialist Michael A. Hook, helicopter crash, August 22
• Corporal Phillip J. Brodnick, helicopter crash, August 22
• Specialist Jessy G. Pollard, helicopter crash, August 22
• Sergeant Garrett I. McLead, helicopter crash, August 22
• Staff Sergeant Jason L. Paton, helicopter crash, August 22
• Captain Derek A. Dobogai, helicopter crash, August 22
• Specialist Tyler R. Seideman, helicopter crash, August 22
• Corporal Jeremy P. Bouffard, helicopter crash, August 22
• Specialist Rickey L. Bell, helicopter crash, August 22
• Captain Corry Paul Tyler, helicopter crash, August 22
• Chief Warrant Officer Paul J. Flynn, helicopter crash, August 22
• Sergeant Matthew L. Tallman, helicopter crash, August 22
• Private 1st Class Omar E. Torres, IED attack, August 22
• Private 1st Class Edgar E. Cardenas, IED attack, August 22
• Sergeant 1st Class Adrian M. Elizalde, IED attack, August 23
• Sergeant 1st Class Michael J. Tully, IED attack, August 23
• Sergeant 1st Class David A. Heringes, IED attack, August 24
• Lance Corporal Matthew S. Medlicott, hostile fire, August 25
• Lance Corporal Rogelio A. Ramirez, hostile fire, August 26
• Specialist Tracy C. Willis, hostile fire, August 26
• Sergeant Joshua L. Morley, hostile fire, August 26
• Sergeant James S. Collins Jr., hostile fire, August 28
• Captain Erick M. Foster, IED attack, August 29
• Corporal John C. Tanner, hostile fire, August 29
• Specialist Edward L. Brooks, IED attack, August 29
• Staff Sergeant Andrew P Nelson, hostile fire, August 29
• Private 1st Class Justin T. Sanders, non-hostile, August 29
• Specialist Travis M. Virgadamo, non-hostile, August 30
• Staff Sergeant Jason M. Butkus, RPG attack, August 30
• Sergeant 1st Class Daniel E. Scheibner, IED attack, August 30
• Sergeant Kevin A. Gilbertson, hostile fire, August 31
• Specialist Christopher G. Patton, non-hostile, September 1
• Staff Sergeant Delmar White, IED attack, September 2
• Private Randol S. Shelton, IED attack, September 4
• Specialist David J. Lane, IED attack, September 4
• Sergeant Joel L. Murray, IED attack, September 4
• Specialist Rodney J. Johnson, IED attack, September 4
• Specialist Keith A. Nurnberg, hostile fire, September 5
• Corporal Javier G. Paredes, RPG attack, September 5
• Private 1st Class Dane R. Balcon, IED attack, September 5
• Corporal William T. Warford III, IED attack, September 5
• Sergeant 1st Class David A. Cooper Jr., non-hostile, September 5
• Sergeant Michael J. Yarbrough, hostile fire, September 6
• Staff Sergeant John C. Stock, hostile fire, September 6
• Corporal Bryan J. Scripsick, hostile fire, September 6
• Corporal Christopher L. Poole Jr., suicide truck bomb, September 6
• Sergeant Lee C. Wilson, IED attack, September 6
• Specialist Jason J. Hernandez, IED attack, September 7
• Specialist Thomas L. Hilbert, IED attack, September 7
• Captain Drew N. Jensen, hostile fire, September 7
• Lance Corporal Lance M. Clark, non-hostile, September 7
• Specialist Marisol Heredia, non-hostile, September 7
• Corporal Ryan A. Woodward, hostile fire, September 8
• Staff Sergeant Courtney Hollinsworth, IED and RPG attack, September 9
• Sergeant Alexander U. Gagalac, RPG attack, September 9

That’s 271 more soldiers who gave their lives while Washington waited for Petraeus. So if you were wondering what the cost in blood would be for punting this debate into the fall — now you know.

You Have to Wonder If He Sent Monica a Free Copy

Posted on September 13, 2007

… of his new book:

“Dodos” Now On DVD

Posted on September 12, 2007

I’ve written before in this space about my friend Randy Olson’s excellent documentary on the battle between evolution and “intelligent design”, Flock of Dodos, which has been raved over by the New York Times, Variety, science blogger PZ Myers, and many others.

If you haven’t seen “Dodos” yet, good news! Thanks to the fine folks at New Video, it’s now available for purchase on DVD. You can buy it direct from New Video or from Amazon (where it’s a couple bucks cheaper) if you prefer.

So no more excuses! If you’re at all interested in this issue, buy this DVD. You’ll be glad you did.

It’s the End of the World As We Know It…

Posted on September 10, 2007

Some Mondays you just have to look at the headlines to know it’s gonna be a long week. 

Seen on the AOL.com home page this morning:

Poor AMD. By the time you get to their news story you’re too busy wallowing in despair to care about their new chip…

What Did You Expect, Exactly?

Posted on September 3, 2007

From the "duh" file:

One site that’s catching people off guard is Quechup: we’ve got a volley of complaints about them in the mailbox this weekend, and a quick Google reveals that others were caught out too.

The issue lies with their “check for friends” form: during signup you’re asked to enter your email address and password to see whether any of your friends are already on the service. Enter the password, however, and it will proceed to mail all your contacts without asking permission.

I don’t know why anybody would be surprised by this. You gave them the username and password to your e-mail account! You should be happy that all they did was use it to spam a few people, and not, say, e-mail a death threat to the President in your name.

I’m a little appalled that reputable sites like Facebook continue this practice of asking users to hand over the credentials to their e-mail accounts:

They are training an entire generation of users that it’s a good idea to hand out your passwords to random Web sites. News flash: it isn’t.  Do you really trust some random site enough to hand over the keys to your personal data to them?

Defenders of the legitimate sites that do this (like Facebook) will point to that little gray disclaimer at the bottom of the image above to assure us that everything is OK. Well guess what, Quechup has a disclaimer too: 

But you have to read the whole page to realize that the big red disclaimer doesn’t mean as much as you think it does. Check out this much larger screenshot of their give-us-your-email-password page to see what I mean. In smaller, less bold text, they actually kinda-sorta warn you of what they’re about to do, though in weasel-word language that obscures the truth:

Complete your account details below & we’ll check your contacts for matches on Quechup so you can choose who to invite to your Friends Network and invite non Quechup members to join you. By inviting contacts you confirm you have consent from them to send an invitation.

This makes it sound like you will have the option to send an invitation, not that Quechup will automatically send one for you. But they follow that immediately with this:

Quechup will not spam or sell addresses from your contacts.

… which probably put to rest the fears of the tiny minority of people who actually realized what they were agreeing to. 

So what? Well, if there’s one thing we know after more than a decade of building the Web, it’s that people don’t read Web pages. They just don’t. At best, they skim over them looking for the key points. That means that their big takeaway from these pages isn’t the tiny disclaimers, it’s that it’s OK to hand over your password to any site that promises you something shiny in return. And it’s not.

Look, once you’ve handed over your password to somebody, they can do whatever they want with your e-mail account, including reading your mail, sending messages in your name and selling your address to the highest bidder. The only guarantee that you have that they won’t do these things is their word – and the Quechup example shows how much that’s worth.

"But Facebook wouldn’t do that!" you say. How do you know? Have you read their privacy policy? Do you know if it contains any "gotcha" language like Quechup used?

Any reputable site that follows this practice should stop. I’m looking at you, Facebook. You’re training your users to do Bad Things, and other, less scrupulous people – people like Quechup – are taking advantage of that.

The Surge Is Working!!!

Posted on August 31, 2007

From the AP — US Lawmakers’ Plane Under Fire in Iraq:

A military cargo plane carrying three senators and a House member was forced to take evasive maneuvers and dispatch flares to avoid ground fire after taking off from Baghdad on Thursday night.

The lawmakers said their plane, a C-130, was under fire from three rocket-propelled grenades over the course of several minutes as they left for Amman, Jordan…

Sens. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and James Inhofe, R-Okla., as well as Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Ala., were also on the plane…

Cramer and Martinez said they had just begun to relax about five or 10 minutes after the plane took off under darkness.

Crew members apparently communicated to the pilots as they saw the initial RPG fired from the ground, Cramer said. After the first burst, the pilots maneuvered aggressively and set off flares used for drawing incoming fire away from aircraft.

Once the flares lit up the sky, lawmakers said, two more RPGs were fired as the pilots continued maneuvering.

Baghdad sure sounds safe, huh?

All the News that’s Fit to Print

Posted on August 29, 2007

Seen today on the Huffington Post:

Glad they are covering the really important stories…

MyPHPDocs: A Review

Posted on August 28, 2007

Here’s a nice review of MyPHPDocs.com by Keith Casey.

You can basically treat this as a quick table of contents and have everything you need just a click away. After using it for a couple days, my manual was added to my Toolbar.

Thanks, Keith!

“Why Would There Be A Penguin in a Wheat Field? EVER?”

Posted on August 27, 2007

If you missed the premiere of Season 2 of Frisky Dingo on Adult Swim Sunday night, you missed out. The first season of Dingo was funny but uneven, but if the premiere is any indication, S2 promises to be a riot.

You can actually watch the entire episode online at AdultSwim.com for the next few days, so if you didn’t catch it on the air, what are you waiting for?