As well as a large amount of pure garbage, there is some useful stuff buried amongst the miriad of sites on Geocities, so I hope that Yahoo or somebody else is archiving it somewhere. Yahoo aren’t saying that they will retain any form of archive, and it would be a pity to see some of that data get deleted, but I can understand their decision…I’m sure that they don’t make much money on it, in fact I wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised if they make a loss on it.
The end of Geocities has reminded me that I have one page on there from a few years back (2005 to be precise) and another related handful of pages on another free hosting service. I’ve been meaning to archive them on this site for a while…I suppose there’s no time like the present.
A bill making its way through Congress proposes to give the U.S. government authority over all networks considered part of the nation’s critical infrastructure. Under the proposed Cybersecurity Act of 2009, the president would have the authority to shut down Internet traffic to protect national security.
The government also would have access to digital data from a vast array of industries including banking, telecommunications and energy. A second bill, meanwhile, would create a national cybersecurity adviser — commonly referred to as the cybersecurity czar — within the White House to coordinate strategy with a wide range of federal agencies involved.
Actually, I don’t know what’s more troubling here. The idea of giving any single man the power to turn off the Internet at will, or the government gaining access to data from the banks and telcos…and seeing as this includes the term “digital data” it could very well be a new form of “warantless wiretapping”.
Silicon Valley executives are calling the bill vague and overly intrusive, and they are rebelling at the thought of increased and costly government regulations amid the global economic crisis.
Others are concerned about the potential erosion of civil liberties. “I’m scared of it,” said Lee Tien, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based group.
“It’s really broad, and there are plenty of laws right now designed to prevent the government getting access to that kind of data. It’s the same stuff we’ve been fighting on the warrantless wiretapping.”
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W. Va, who introduced the bill earlier this month with bipartisan support, is casting the legislation as critical to protecting everything from our water and electricity to banking, traffic lights and electronic health records.
“I know the threats we face.” Rockefeller said in a prepared statement when the legislation was introduced. “Our enemies are real. They are sophisticated, they are determined and they will not rest.”
The bill would allow the government to create a detailed set of standards for cybersecurity, as well as take over the process of certifying IT technicians. But many in the technology sector say the government is simply ill-equipped to get involved at the technical level, said Franck Journoud, a policy analyst with the Business Software Alliance.
“Simply put, who has the expertise?” he said. “It’s the industry, not the government. We have a responsibility to increase and improve security. That responsibility cannot be captured in a government standard.”
I’m afraid that I couldn’t help myself. After hearing about this I was compelled to nominate Sen. Jay Rockefeller for Casey Hendrickson and Heather Kydd’s “jerk of the week” on KXNT:
* Your “Jerk of the Week” submission
Sen. Jay Rockefeller
Why should this person be the “Jerk of the Week”?
For trying to give King Obama the power to turn off the Internet. The Internet is the only way those of us on the other side of the world can find out what’s happening in the US…this bill could be the start of a reclusive North Korea type regime.
Your Name (Optional)
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Oh, and turning off the Internet in the US would also take this website offline…but I’m slightly more concerned about the lack of access I would have to the US media.
It is starting to get on my nerves that I can not post anything here for a week and I’m bound to get an email enquring about my health (and not just from a spammer offering to sell me some magic cure in exchange for my bank account details), but if the emails come, there’s bound to be others wondering.
Right now my Internet connection has been shaped (read: slowed down to a tad faster than dialup) as I’ve exceeded my monthly download quota (first time for everything eh?) and in order to make the Internet even remotely bearable I’ve disabled images on all websites by default (except for Seek which seems to have issues with the “apply for a job” form not submitting if the images haven’t loaded, and a couple other sites on a case-by-case basis) and even then I’m using the Internet less due to the annoying nature of the issue.
All goes back to normal in about four or five days, but for now I’m posting here less, because I have less to post.
Unfortunately this means that photos of the Belconnen Bus Interchange won’t be uploaded for a few days as I don’t feel like sacrificing the rest of the Internet for the next four or five days while the images upload.
On the bright side though, I can still get the KXNT webstream (it its 32kbps glory) without a problem, and it’s sounding better than usual at the moment as the ad replacement (where ads for the broadcast station are replaced by other ads on the webstream) doesn’t appear to be working, meaning that I get to hear the normal ads and promos from KXNT and don’t lose bits of sentences when the ad replacement kicks in at the wrong time. Oh, and unfortunately Rush Limbaugh is taking the next two days off (pity as I’ve been enjoying his show when I haven’t been on a 2am walk) but he has Mark Steyn filling in for him tomorrow (Friday 2am-5am Canberra time) which will be good, I haven’t heard Mark for a few months.
Some days I’m reminded that it takes all types, even kooks, to make this planet tick. Today’s reminder came via an ad in Gmail:
U.S. v. Somali Pirate – FreeSomaliPirate.com – Support the Somali Pirate Today. Prosecution is not the Solution.
So if prosecution isn’t the solution, what is? These pirates took prisoners and have stolen ships, which at the very least is akin to kidnapping and theft…perhaps we should drop all charges against, and release, all people accused and/or charged with kidnapping and theft.
The website in question is run by some New York based organisation called “Uplift Our Community”. Well, I’m sure releasing thieves and kidnappers will uplift the community…we could have an entire uplifted community running around stealing each other’s stuff…this would probably be followed by an increase in fatal shootings…how uplifting.
Back to the question: what do we do if we don’t prosecute? The website’s front page contains the cryptic message “The solution begins home”. Clicking through to the “about us” page shows the true colours of this “uplift” organisation…they’re effectively spurting the “America is evil for having lots of money and they should give it all to Africa” tripe.
Sorry but, he (allegedly) did the crime, he should expect to do the time (if found guilty). Excusing him because his country has less money is an absolutely crazy idea, and effectively says that I can justifiably rob anyone who is richer than me…a notion that tears at the very fabric of our society.
Naturally I clicked on the link to ensure that these kooks are forced to pay for their bizarre intrusion in my Inbox, however I will not be linking to them from here as they just don’t deserve a link without paying through the nose for it.
When I heard the idea of making public transport "free" in Sydney, I couldn't stop laughing. The whole idea is just nuts.
The trains are practically full as it is, so I don't know how the MP who came up with the plan expects to be able to carry the extra passengers who would be attracted by the plan, especially when the government would not only lose the billion dollars or thereabouts of revenue from the public transport fares, but also any money they might have otherwise received from drivers paying tolls etc, who would be paying nothing for public transport under the plan.
And if a train breaks down and has to be replaced…which department's budget has to cover that cost? Education? Health? The Premier's limousine service? Probably not the latter.
Finally some good news for Channel Nine Sydney’s news and current affairs department:
Nine’s Today Show outrated it’s Seven rival Sunrise on Friday for the first time in five years.
The Sun Herald reports that Sunrise, which was broadcasting from Melbourne’s Good Friday appeal, was watched by 275,000 viewers on Friday compared to 279,000 watching Today on Nine, which was presented by Lisa Wilkinson, Karl Stefanovic, Mark Ferguson and Andrew Voss.
Today also won Sydney 107,000 to 96,000.
Executive Producer of Today, Tom Malone, told the Sun Herald: “We’ve been slowly closing in on them for 18 months. It’s a small but significant step in the breakfast TV ratings war. This year I think we’re up about 10 per cent and they are down about 10 per cent. We’re really happy, but it’s one day so there’s a lot of work still to do.”
One does have to wonder if the excellent Mark Ferguson has anything to do with the recent gains by Today. I know that I stopped watching Nine News when they booted him in favour of Peter Overton. Peter is a good journalist, but he just doesn’t have the “anchor vibe” in my books.
Anyway, all of this gives me an excuse to run a video I’ve been holding on to for a very long time, just waiting for the right moment.
This could very well be the first Easter Sunday in living history that I have not eaten a single Easter Egg. It will be after midnight by the time I get home, and that’s where the Easter Eggs are.
Last night was a bit odd for a Saturday as well. I was delaying The Bill until the conclusion of the Carlton Vs Essendon AFL match at 10pm, however I was tired and was planning on getting up at 3am, so it’s recorded but unwatched.
I might watch it after I get home in the early hours of tomorrow morning…or I’ll hold it over until the daylight hours. I haven’t decided yet.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seems to think piracy is funny.
I’m not sure that the Captain of the Maersk Alabama Richard Phillips, who is currently being held hostage by Somali pirates, sees the funny side of it.
And Hillary, why are the navy a mile away? If they were a tad closer they might have been able to rescue the good Captain when he nearly escaped by jumping in the water overnight.
SHE used to be his boss at 2UE and is now his breakfast co-host and yesterday Sandy Aloisi certainly tried to counsel Mike Carlton when he went on a predictable tirade.
Looks like the Daily Telegraph have a template for this story. That opening sentence seems far too familiar.
The self-described atheist praised the decision to de-Christianise Royal North Shore Hospital’s chapel and criticised aggrieved Mosman Mayor Dominic Lopez.
Carlton then talked over an exasperated Aloisi – to the point she told him not to silence her with a kill button.
A 2UE source ensured us there was no such button.
They’re right, there isn’t a “kill” button, but if Mike Carlton is the panel operator, there is a button for him to turn Sandy’s microphone off.
Anyway, that article gets my award for “useless non-story of the week”.
After watching yesterday’s video about Clive Robertson, I noticed these two videos about a device which replaced possibly the worst job in telecommunications history…the job of sitting in front of a microphone and announcing the time every few seconds.
This first video is about “George” the speaking clock being installed in Melbourne in 1954. The fact that the recorded time announcements were stored on three optical discs makes the whole thing look like some ancient Godzilla sized CD player.
And in 1990, news camera footage from “George” being retired and replaced by a digital system. Features an interview with the new (and current) voice of the speaking clock Richard Peach, who replaced Gordon Gow.
It may, at this stage, only be an experimental feature, but after five years and a week or so of existence, Gmail supports inline images.
Posted by Kent Tamura, Software Engineer
Well, it’s about time. You no longer have to use workarounds to put images into your messages or attach images when you really want to inline them. Just turn on “Inserting images” from the Labs tab under Settings, and you’ll see a new toolbar icon[.]
Click the little image icon, and you can insert images in two ways: by uploading image files from your computer or providing image URLs.
I’ve never really had much use for inserting images inline, but on the one or two occasions where I have needed it, it has been very annoying to not be able to make it happen. One of life’s little annoyances has been fixed.
This video popped up on Radioinfo earlier in the week and I thought it worthy of sharing. It’s a documentary of sorts about Clive Robertson thirty years ago when he was presenting breakfast on 2BL in Sydney (now 702 ABC Sydney).
I’ve got to say, I don’t think much has changed (which is a good thing).
Back in late December I noted that a song had been playing on the PA system in the IGA in Deniliquin and that until then I didn’t realise that it was actually a song, as I had only heard the bed from the song used as a bed for an ad, but I couldn’t remember who the advertiser was. This bugged me for weeks, until mid-February when I was upstairs and I heard the music on the television downstairs, so I ran down the stairs (nearly tripping over Nattie on the way) and caught the tail end of the ad.
The song, as you may recall, was In Grid’s You Promised Me
And I’m pleased to be able to say that the advertiser is Michael Hill Jeweller.
I’m even more pleased to say, given my current financial position, that I was not subconsciously forced to buy stuff from Michael Hill Jeweller…or maybe I was and that’s where the money went. Hmmm.
…”where the big jet engines roar“. Oh, sorry, that’s LA International Airport. Still, seeing as my editorial on the matter is now delayed until some time over the next few days, you can probably put up with one sentence of confused textual singing from me.
Do you support Canberra Airport’s expansion to a full international airport?
No real surprises there, especially considering that from a legal standpoint, similar behaviour from any of us would see a nice policeman waiting for us at the next stop.
Earlier this week I rang KXNT‘s Alan Stock when he was discussing research which claims that women find it harder to resist tempting food than men. I had to contradict the research with the fact that I ate an entire packet of Tim Tams in the space of about an hour on Sunday night without noticing.
My mention of Tim Tams was great with “a packet of what?”. They were short on time, so on the advice of Alan’s producer, I revised it to “a packet of chocolate cookies”. I was later stunned when I checked the Wikipedia article for Tim Tams and found that they are only sold in Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand.
I have subsequently emailed the Wikipedia article to Alan, and have decided to use part of my stimulus payment to buy a packet of Tim Tams and post them to Alan and the crew at KXNT. I informed Alan of this in my email and he apparently discussed this on the air with his colleagues this morning (a segment which I regrettably missed) and they are all apparently looking forward to receiving the biscuits. As such (and I haven’t told Alan this) I think I’ll be generous and buy two packets for them. If they’re anything like me, they’ll need the second packet!
The Tim Tams will be my second voluntary use of my stimulus payment (which is yet to arrive), behind purchasing Mark Levin’s book “Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto” as I mentioned yesterday.