Michael's Mind

Making a Statement

If any of my three readers happens to live in Texas, here is my recommendation for the nine proposed constitutional amendments:

Vote no on all of them.

Proposition 2, the "protection of marriage" amendment is a no-brainer: this is a naked attempt by cro-magnon bigots to institutionalize second class citizenship for gay Texans. Rick Perry is a big booster of the amendment. That should be enough by itself to vote "no".

Along with the rest of them, these execrable extrusions are the product of one of the least intelligent, least productive, and thoroughly disgusting legislatures that has ever disgraced a state house in this country. Voting no will let them know that maybe things won't all go the way they want.

(Update) I have little hope that Proposition 2 will be defeated. One thing Texas has in ample supply is yahoos and knuckle draggers who like to go howling across the landscape after the goblins that terrify their tiny minds, and the idea that people who are similarly plumbed might share aspirations of recognized legal status with them is their main goblin-du-jour.

And it really doesn't help that the biggest knuckle-dragging yahoo in the state is also the governor.

Bastards

Microsoft couldn't logroll the Massachusetts decision on Open Document Format their way so they've decided to cheat: » Is Massachusetts' OpenDocument decision on the rocks? | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

Hardly surprising for a company with business ethics that would make a Jamaican posse leader blush. They couldn't bluster Massachusetts into accepting their flawed version of XML, so they went and bought a few legislators; standard Microsoft practice.

Why innovate when you can steal? Why compete when you can bribe a few state officials to swing your way?

Bastards.

No Porn on Video Ipods?

Wired News: No Porn for You, Video IPod!

So, basically, they're saying that sleazeballs will honor this "gentleman's" agreement not to market porn to owners of video ipods?

Why is it that "sleazeballs" and "honor" don't seem to jell? Is it just me?

This will last, oh, I give it maybe a day.

Tops.

Porn is probably the biggest "I got mine, screw you" industry on the planet. The idea that scumbags will pass up their profit because their brother porn dealers might get heat from government or citizens groups is a joke. It's kind of like a Palestinian "cease-fire": it won't last long enough for the ink to dry on the agreement.

Separated at Birth?

I'm just sayin...

And Another Viewpoint

Bird flu sparking human epidemic is 'science fiction': Spain

Another View (of the Bird Flu)

Here's another perspective on bird flu, from ground zero: Cure worse than disease

Oncoming Threat

Bird flu making inroads in Europe? More than 1,000 poultry found dead in Macedonia

Local authorities say it's not, but "were testing the dead poultry, with results expected within a few days."

I have to wonder if sick birds will be slaughtered and rushed to market before they're noticed.

Greedy Bastards

Here (
Biggest Wi-Fi Cloud Is in Rural Oregon) is an example of what can be accomplished when greedy telephone companies are not in the picture.

They tried like hell, through their trained lap dog, Phil King, to outlaw municipal wireless in Texas, but were beaten back, for now. But one constant in life is the overweening greed of these companies, so they will be back. They always come back.

And the thing is, if they had won, they wouldn't be out there putting in wireless service. They just don't want anbody else doing it. That's how telcos do "innovation".

In the DFW area served by Southwestern Bell, if you wanted a DSL line before cable modems became common, all you would get from SWB was a runaround. They had no interest in doing residential DSL until the cable companies started getting market peneration.

Now they've bought themselves a law that gives them an advantage over the cable companies in distributing video, but if you are in an area that doesn't already have cable, don't look for them on your street. Serving areas that don't have cable doesn't advance their plan to put the cable companies out of business.

It's Official

Okay, I officially hate people who download a file on Bit Torrent, and when it's done, bug out and don't leave the torrent open for those less fortunate.

I am at 42%, and so is every other member of the swarm, just waiting for someone to drop by who has more of the file available.

Another One Gets Away

Okay, I leached this off Groklaw, but wow: University's Linux migration cuts costs and boosts SAP performance

I love this part:

"Two upgrades"? SP1 and SP2 perhaps?

80 minutes to 12 AND users could work normally while it was crunching.

Microsoft is furiously building higher walls on ground that is crumbling away beneath their feet.

Good riddance, bastards.

Right Wing Wrongs Rights

Now that the Democratic Party has decided to go baying at the moon, off on a left-wing wild-goose chase that alienates them from the mainstream, Republicans are showing what bad, stupid legislation they can come up with, with no one across the aisle to keep them honest: Shield Law Sponsor Lugar: Bloggers 'Probably Not' Considered Journos

I swear to god, I think I hate all of them.

Cheer Up, Again

HoustonChronicle.com - Chances of bird flu pandemic called 'very high'

And so it goes

CNN news just reported 1300 bird deaths in western Turkey, thought to be from avian flu. The area is a major migration crossroads to Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Karma will get you

Remember the imams saying the tsunami was Allah killing infidels in Thailand, and Katrina was Allah killing infidels in New Orleans?

Looks like Allah decided to balance the scales: Earthquake Kills 1,700 in 3 Asia Nations

This one hit in the Muslim world, no infidels in sight.

Another Day in the R.O.P.*

8 killed in shooting at mosque - The Boston Globe

*Religion of Peace

A Whore by any other Name

Maureen O'Gara, also known as the SCO Whore, writes a sleazy piece about SCO's motion to compel discovery from IBM, which was heard today by magistrate judge Wells.

Here is some of her deathless prose:

Sounds bad for IBM, doesn't it?

Just one small problem: SCO lost at the hearing, big time. Judge Wells essentially told them they misunderstood her discovery order (the one Maureen is so enthusiastic about) and DENIED their motion to compel. And to add some frosting to the cake, she cut their request for additional depositions from 25 to 10.

I am sure that nothing is permanent except death and taxes, that the sun will rise in the east tomorrow, and that O'Gara, SCO whore that she is, will write an article spinning this in SCO's favor by the end of next week.

Stay tuned.

Smoke'em if you Got'em

"Smokey" Joe Barton, who never met a polluter he didn't like (or take campaign donations from) is at it again: Star-Telegram | 10/07/2005 | Bill to help build refineries would weaken clean-air laws

Smokey Joe is the U.S. House member from TXI. And don't you forget it.

See this movie. Go now.

I just came back from seeing Serenity.

My god, this is why movies are made, or at least this should be why movies are made. Do I really need to point out that this blows George Lucas and all his muppet infested crap out of the water? No, I didn't think so.

SEE THIS MOVIE.

I am so getting this when it comes out on DVD.

Don't Panic

Stories like this one: US sends mixed message on bird flu threat are keeping a small pilot flame of incipient panic alive in the back of conciousness, so that if an outbreak of avian flu actually occurs, and particularly if it occurs in the United States, there will be severe panic. The avian flu is being ignored for the most part, but the stories are out there, comparing it to the Spanish Flu of 1918 with stories of how bad that pandemic was. An actual outbreak of human transmitted avian flu will be the trigger for mass hysteria in the developed countries that could be as bad as the outbreak itself.

And when people learn that the vaccine that is being promised is 18 months away, what then?

I Had a Little Bird ...

The reconstruction of the 1918 flu genome has been completed, and the virus has been determined to be ... an avian flu virus, one that jumped directly to humans.

Experts Unlock Clues to Spread of 1918 Flu Virus | theledger.com

Sucking Up to Monsters

First of all I wish Google every success in their war with Microsoft. Given Microsoft's nasty behavior, Google is reacting like a cornered wolf, which Microsoft will soon realize to their displeasure. The Sun collaboration in particular may be very distasteful to Microsoft.

But given all that, Google's posturing towards China is disturbing. Try entering "Taiwan" at maps.google.com for an example. Or "Tibet". Google is so obviously prostrating themselves to the Chinese regime, it's disgusting.

Google Maps - Taiwan

Here's a clue, Google: Taiwan is a free country, not a "Province of China".

We were born free. Our freedoms made companies like Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google possible. Now those companies are willing to turn their backs on that to suck up to one of the bloodiest dictatorships on earth for a few bucks. Sad.

Proof Positive

... there are a lot of idiots in the world: BBC NEWS | Africa | Mandela wins BBC's 'global election'

Noam Chomsky??? George Soros???

What are these people on, anyway?

Interglobal Warming

Apparently global warming is much worse than I imagined. It has reached all the way to Mars:

Probably the same greenhouse effect that's shrinking the north polar ice. Who knew it could reach so far?

Media Whores

Twenty congressmen proudly proclaim that they are Hollywood's whores: Politicians want to raise broadcast flag | CNET News.com

As far as I can tell, they're pretty cheap whores, too.

Scary Stuff

I am watching "The Return of the Black Death" on Discovery, a program that examines the considerable evidence that Black Death was not the bubonic plague.

But if it wasn't, what was it? And why did it disappear? And what if it comes back?