4 - 2004 | ***Dave Does the Blog

Condi Talk

Well, managed to have a relatively stable audio stream for a most of the hearing, though I missed most of the first half-hour intro by Rice to her 911 Commission…

Well, managed to have a relatively stable audio stream for a most of the hearing, though I missed most of the first half-hour intro by Rice to her 911 Commission Hearing testimony.

(I had the CNN.com screen up there. The picture of the story kept changing, from Condi Smiling to Rice Glowering to long shot of the hearing chamber. The headline kept changing, too.)

Overall, I thought she handled things pretty well. Some of her answers were obviously prepped, but some flowed fairly naturally. There were some clear sensitivity to certain implications being made, to some of the press and Clarke accusations, and to issues of classification. And, yes, there’s possibly some defensiveness over what wasn’t done that should/could have been. I don’t think there were any smoking guns lying on the floor afterwards, for what it’s worth.

As for the questioners, I spent less attention to them than (i.e., who they were) than the answers. The questions, though, seemed to be half-split between folks who were asking for info, and folks who wanted to make speeches (from both partisan sides). It was a bit better than I would have expected, but it was still disappointing that there were folks there who either (a) wanted to nail Rice, or (b) beatify her.

Sum total? I don’t think anyone will be changing their minds, only convinced of what they already believed. Certainly those who think Bush was guilty of negligence (or complicity) won’t be reassured. And those who think otherwise won’t have been disillusioned. Or, as this post sums it up …

Overall, Rice supporters will describe her performance as: “a home run,” “putting doubts to rest,” “answering all the questions,” “showing Clarke to be a liar,” and/or “letting us get on to the people’s business”; bonus (if they are really partisan) “refuting the demagogues on the other side”
Overall, Rice detractors will describe her performance as: “raising more questions than it answers,” “a missed opportunity to inform the American people,” “vindicating Richard Clarke,” and/or “raising troubling questions about this Administration”; bonus (if they are really partisan) “you’re the demagogue” (followed by: “am not!”; “are too!”; “am not!”; etc.)

I don’t expect to hear any (new) calls for impeachment, nor do I think the testimony will have any significant effect on the November elections. Heck, not even much to disqualify her from the Veep Sweeps, should that still be on the table. And so it goes.

UPDATE: Text of the testimony is here.

Technical note

Streaming Video (and Streaming Audio) across our WAN sucks. Where the hell did I put that (low tech) radio?…

Streaming Video (and Streaming Audio) across our WAN sucks. Where the hell did I put that (low tech) radio?

Legacy

The USAID report on mass graves in Iraq is online. “We’ve already discovered just so far the remains of 400,000 people in mass graves,” said British Prime Minister Tony Blair…

The USAID report on mass graves in Iraq is online.

“We’ve already discovered just so far the remains of 400,000 people in mass graves,” said British Prime Minister Tony Blair on November 20 in London. The United Nations, the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch (HRW) all estimate that Saddam Hussein’s regime murdered hundreds of thousands of innocent people. “Human Rights Watch estimates that as many as 290,000 Iraqis have been ‘disappeared’ by the Iraqi government over the past two decades,” said the group in a statement in May. “Many of these ‘disappeared’ are those whose remains are now being unearthed in mass graves all over Iraq.”

Need for speed?

The city of Pleasanton, Calif., is introducing a new weapon in the fight against speeders: Smart Stop Lights. If a sensor notices folks traveling a bit beyond the speed limit,…

The city of Pleasanton, Calif., is introducing a new weapon in the fight against speeders: Smart Stop Lights. If a sensor notices folks traveling a bit beyond the speed limit, the light changes to stop them.

On one level, it’s an attractive answer. The question is, will it actually reduce accidents? Never mind the libertarian whinging …

It’s all a little too much for Ken Pattee, a 52-year-old construction inspector from Livermore who sometimes rides his Harley-Davidson down Vineyard Avenue. He said he doesn’t feel good about the electronic eye.
“It’s depriving you of another one of your liberties — going fast,” Pattee said. “If they implement it everywhere, there will be nothing but red lights. Nobody does the speed limit.”

… my question is, will folks be encouraged to simply ignore the stop light, or roar ahead that much faster (and unsafely) once it turns green?

One further oddity here:

In addition, red rage could become an issue as drivers can be guilty by association if a speeder is just in front of them, just behind them or moving simultaneously in the opposite direction.
Pleasanton plans to address at least one of those issues: the opposite-direction speeder. The Pleasanton signal will allow a red light to shine in just one direction, letting the light stay green for the nonspeeding driver in the opposite direction. In such cases, any cross traffic will continue receiving the red light.

That, I think, is going to lead to confusion.

Stlll, I’ll be curious to see how it turns out.

(via BoingBoing)

Best damned decision I ever made

Nine years ago today … Love you, my love….

Nine years ago today …

Love you, my love.

Well … that’s … um … disturbing …

Take the Firefly Personality Test (via Stan)…

Take the Firefly Personality Test

(via Stan)

Sin City

Cool. A Sin City movie. Frank Miller’s apparently pretty heavily involved in it, which makes me think that it’s likely to be relatively faithful to the source material (or…

Cool. A Sin City movie. Frank Miller’s apparently pretty heavily involved in it, which makes me think that it’s likely to be relatively faithful to the source material (or at least interesting in its own right).

(via Randy)

Protecting me from myself

I recently installed Outlook 2003 on my machine, which is kind enough to protect me from other virus-laden Microsoft products by refusing to let me open up an Access MDB…

I recently installed Outlook 2003 on my machine, which is kind enough to protect me from other virus-laden Microsoft products by refusing to let me open up an Access MDB somebody sent me.

Huh?

Fortunately, it doesn’t delete the little puppy, it just keeps me from accessing it. Which means that I can forward it. To my personal account.

Which I did, and Outlook Express doesn’t have the same restriction, and I can now access it. Yeesh.

What we don’t know can hurt us

Here’s a long and fascinating article about something I touched on briefly yesterday, the tension between security and privacy. Immediately after 9/11, politicians and pundits slammed the Bush administration for…

Here’s a long and fascinating article about something I touched on briefly yesterday, the tension between security and privacy.

Immediately after 9/11, politicians and pundits slammed the Bush administration for failing to “connect the dots” foreshadowing the attack. What a difference a little amnesia makes. For two years now, left- and right-wing advocates have shot down nearly every proposal to use intelligence more effectively—to connect the dots—as an assault on “privacy.” Though their facts are often wrong and their arguments specious, they have come to dominate the national security debate virtually without challenge. The consequence has been devastating: just when the country should be unleashing its technological ingenuity to defend against future attacks, scientists stand irresolute, cowed into inaction.

In a sense, the no-budge attitudes of privacy advocates serve a useful purpose — to keep constraints on what data-based security we use, and thus, potentially, abuse. That dynamic tension usually serves as useful restraints on governmental power, and drives reforms (as in law suits to create ways to get peoples’ names off of security lists).

The question is, will that useful purpose also lead to preventable further loss of life? And is that a cost we’re willing to pay?

Pop-up probs

I have two levels of pop-up protection. First off, I have (from of old) PopUpCop, which does a really fine job of pop-up filtering, particularly of different types and different…

I have two levels of pop-up protection.

First off, I have (from of old) PopUpCop, which does a really fine job of pop-up filtering, particularly of different types and different technologies; it has a good control interface, too.

And I have the pop-up protections of SlimBrowser, which cover what PopUpCop doesn’t.

I have to be careful, though. If I tell PopUpCop to turn off scripts, then I can use the little B/I/U editing buttons in my blog (and others), since they use onclick scripts. And if I tell SB to block pop-ups based on appearance, then it treats those same onclick commands as something dangerous, and shuts down legitimate (whitelisted) pop-up windows (like, say, MT comment windows, for those who use that interface).

Annoying. Because, of course, when I let that stuff through, other crap gets through, too.

A constant struggle, I tell you. Rat bastard pop-up vendors …

If printer manufacturers made automobiles

April 1st fun from Ed Foster’s Gripelog….

April 1st fun from Ed Foster’s Gripelog.

Roleplaying Theory

Doyce has been seriously getting into the theoretical side of RPGs of late. While, like academic theory and critical literary analysis and the like, this can sometime venture into the…

Doyce has been seriously getting into the theoretical side of RPGs of late. While, like academic theory and critical literary analysis and the like, this can sometime venture into the Theory For The Sake Of Sounding Profound, he’s dug up some good, thought-provoking gems, like this one. A few excerpts I found of intriguing:

… So look, you! Mechanics might model the stuff of the game world, that’s another topic, but they don’t exist to do so. They exist to ease and constrain real-world social negotiation between the players at the table. That’s their sole and crucial function.

… So here’s a better way to get suspense in gaming: put off the inevitable. Acknowledge up front that the PCs are going to win, and never sweat it. Then use the dice to escalate, escalate, escalate. We all know the PCs are going to win. What will it cost them?

… PCs, like protagonists in fiction, don’t get to die to show what’s at stake or to escalate conflict. They only get to die to make final statements. Character death can never be a possible outcome moment-to-moment. Having your character’s survival be uncertain doesn’t contribute to suspense, as above, just like we don’t actually ever believe that Bruce Willis’ character in Die Hard will die. Instead, character death should fit into what it will cost. This thing, is it worth dying for? Obi-wan Kenobi and Leon say yes. In fiction, You never die for something you haven’t staked your life on.

Lots of other good thoughts there surrounding (and, perhaps, explaining) these. Take up and read.

Orgasms are good for you

Or at least for me, and other guys. Backing up the results of a previous study, a new US study confirms that frequent ejaculation is corellated with reduced prostate cancer…

Or at least for me, and other guys.

Backing up the results of a previous study, a new US study confirms that frequent ejaculation is corellated with reduced prostate cancer rates.

The US study, which followed nearly 30,000 men over eight years, showed that those that ejaculated most frequently were significantly less likely to get prostate cancer. […] In the US study, the group with the highest lifetime average of ejaculation – 21 times per month – were a third less likely to develop the cancer than the reference group, who ejaculated four to seven times a month.
[…] Men of different ages varied in how often they ejaculated, so the team used a lifetime average for comparisons. Compared to the reference group who ejaculated four to seven times a month, “each increase of three ejaculations per week was associated with a 15 per cent decrease in the risk of prostate cancer”, says Leitzmann.
“More than 12 ejaculations per month would start conferring the benefit – on average every second day or so,” he says.

‘Nuff said.

(via BoingBoing)

Don’t they know there’s a war on?

I mean, there’s the old War (on Drugs), and a current War (on Terror). With all of that going on, you mean to tell me that the DoJ really has…

I mean, there’s the old War (on Drugs), and a current War (on Terror). With all of that going on, you mean to tell me that the DoJ really has the resources for a new War on Porn?

I mean, regardless of your personal tastes in the matter, it sure seems like it should be waaaaaay down the priority list (particular in computer resources) compared to some other DoJ activities.

(via InstaPundit)

Plot hook

I will do this, some day. But not with my current campaign. Probably….

I will do this, some day.

But not with my current campaign.

Probably.

Real Hell

I guess we should be glad that Hellboy wasn’t offered to Fox TV. The efforts by the studios to tinker with the Hellboy story read like a classic example of…

I guess we should be glad that Hellboy wasn’t offered to Fox TV. The efforts by the studios to tinker with the Hellboy story read like a classic example of Things Man Was Not Meant To Tinker With.

“An executive said to me, ‘What about a regular actor who gets angry and turns into Hellboy?’ ” said del Toro, wrinkling his face in disgust. “I go, ‘That’s … not … very good.
“Then they would say, ‘What if you call him Hellboy and he comes from Hell and all that, but he looks like a guy?’ Then they would suggest things like, ‘Can he have a Hellmobile?’ ‘Can he have a dog? A pet dog that comes from hell and is red?’
[…] “It went through every permutation. I had studios where I would start a meeting, and they would say, ‘You’re not making him red are you?’ And I go, ‘Yeah, he’s red.’ ‘You’re not doing the tail are you?’ ‘Yes, I’m doing the tail.’ ‘You’re not doing the horns? ‘Yes, I’m doing the horns.’ “
Here was fear underlying those questions: What good is a movie star like The Rock, Nicolas Cage or Vin Diesel if he’s obscured under the heavy makeup and prosthetics necessary to recreate the comic-book version of Hellboy?
[…] “The thing I told studios again and again, and this is something that demonstrates how Hollywood thinks, I said to them, ‘If I told you Hellboy was a $30 million (computer-animated) character, you guys would be happy. But if I tell you this is the right actor, you’re not.’ What an obscene contradiction.”

In some ways, making the story at all was Del Toro’s greatest achievement of all.

(via Doyce)

No Fly

I think most people would agree that there’s a good reason to try to prescreen folks flying for possible terrorism security risks. Grabbing peoples’ tweazers is an imperfect art at…

I think most people would agree that there’s a good reason to try to prescreen folks flying for possible terrorism security risks. Grabbing peoples’ tweazers is an imperfect art at best, as we know, so trying to deal with the human side of the equation makes sense.

That said, and a few years after 9/11, it’s worthwhile asking how do we make that screening process as accurate and correctable as possible.

ACLU attorney David Fathi also is among those joining the suit. Fathi said he has been stopped from boarding planes at least five times and once at a border crossing, though in each instance he was eventually able to clear up the mistake and continue on his way.
“But try explaining that to your fellow airline passenger after you have been stopped, searched and interrogated in front of them,” Fathi said. “Even after obtaining a letter from the TSA stating that my identity had been verified, I am still subject to delays, enhanced searches, detentions and other travel impediments, all due to the no-fly list,” he said.
But it doesn’t happen every time he tries to fly. “Sometimes I have a completely uneventful experience,” Fathi said. “Other times I have been led away by police. I have been threatened by indefinite detention.”
“I’ve had one officer tell another to put me in handcuffs and take me away,” he said. Such inconsistent application of the list, “shows how deeply flawed the system is,” Fathi said.

That process of improving the system has been hampered (with some reasonability) by privacy concerns.

The TSA declined to comment directly on any pending litigation, but acknowledged, “It points to a very clear fact: We need to advance to the next generation of passenger pre-screening,” said TSA Spokesman Mark Hatfield. “We’re operating with a limited, inherited system that was designed in a different age to deal with a different threat,” Hatfield said.
A replacement, dubbed CAPPS II, has stalled as the TSA scrambles to implement several requirements mandated by Congress to ensure the new, more powerful screening system doesn’t violate privacy rights and provides a clear, unambiguous way for people to have their names removed if they have been unfairly tagged as a security risk.

Which is just what’s being asked for under the present system. That there’s still a need for people to sue to get their names off the list so that they can fly without being (once again) interrogated, delayed, searched, etc. — I think it’s perfectly reasonable for the ACLU to assist in forcing that action along. That’s part of the dynamic that keeps the process on an even keel.

Radio Daze

Frankly, I have no problem with explicitly liberal talk radio getting a national audience. Community of ideas and all that. I mean, if Laura Ingraham can get a radio program…

Frankly, I have no problem with explicitly liberal talk radio getting a national audience. Community of ideas and all that. I mean, if Laura Ingraham can get a radio program in major cities, certainly Al Franken ought to be able to.

Some folks — and not the Usual Gang of Right-Wing Suspects — are a bit more critical of the effort.

Sadly, it seems that nothing will be there to balance the utter whiteness of the network’s format. Considering that the Democratic Party would be a political nonentity without the support of black voters, the fact that they are shut out and marginalized at every turn is beyond insulting. Air America Radio is just another episode in a long history of callous indifference and clueless misunderstanding the Democratic Party and white liberals in general have shown toward the black community. White liberals need to wake up and realize that this sort of business isn’t going to cut it any longer, and black liberals need to speak up loudly and let them know it. Refusing to tune in to Air America Radio would be a good place to start. I know I won’t be.

(Speaking of Laura Ingraham, who I find as generally charming as Ann Coulter, if marginally less insane, I’m more than a little irked that KNUS has dropped its 5-7 news slot to run another talk show by Bill Bennett. Yeesh. The Denver area is desperately in need of more news on the radio, not more talk.)

And the hits keep on coming

More media goodness … an Earthsea miniseries on SciFi, to be shot in New Zealand. And also shooting there, here’s info on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe ……

More media goodness … an Earthsea miniseries on SciFi, to be shot in New Zealand.

And also shooting there, here’s info on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe … sfx by WETA — keen!

Just for sake of completeness …

… as I natter about various SF/Fantasy media stuff. Farscape is coming back as a miniseries on SciFi later this year. SCI FI announced it will be bringing back Farscape…

… as I natter about various SF/Fantasy media stuff. Farscape is coming back as a miniseries on SciFi later this year.

SCI FI announced it will be bringing back Farscape with an all-new miniseries — called Farscape: Peacekeeper War — slated to air in the fourth quarter of this year. The four-hour miniseries picks up where the cliffhanger series finale left off and will reunite John Crichton (Ben Browder), Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black) and the rest of the Moya crew.

Huh.

To be honest, as torqued as I was about Farscape getting torpedoed when it happened, I was immediately swept away by the (superior, to my mind) Firefly … and, of course, then immediately crushed. Only room for one love in my life, I suppose.

Ah, well.

When they do this, I hope they’ll rerun the final season shows, since I missed a few during their post-cancellation on-agani-off-again scheduling.