It was pretty nice out when I woke up this morning. 20F (which isn’t bad for mid-January in Minnesota) and clear, if windy. At least it looked nice through the window. But the temperature is supposed to drop all day (it’s down to 12F as I write this about sunrise), and while the wind will let up some over the weekend, the temperature doesn’t bounce back until next week. It looks like the kind of weekend I’d prefer to spend hibernating, but that’s not going to be an option.
Yesterday was a pretty full day. I started working before posting for the day (getting a compile or two running so I could move into high-gear after breakfast), and didn’t finish up until it was time for supper. It was like having a full-time job or something.
Today looks similarly full. I’ve got two websites to update for clients, a phone call to make for another client, more Mac programming to be done, and that form to fill out for mom that I was going to get to earlier in the week. I also need to drop the new server off over at my ISP so I can get started on configuring it. That’s something I’ve been meaning to do for almost a year now. I also ought to finish writing the social-security rant I’ve been working on all week, but I suspect that will slip yet another day.
- In some over-zealous spam-fighting attempts, Verizon’s E-Mail Embargo of Europe has some people pretty upset. [wired]
- For the first time, Feds Can X-Rated Spam, shutting down six of the biggest purveyors. Funny, I can’t see any difference from here. [wired]
- EU Politicians demand fresh start for patent directive. I guess a fresh start is okay, but I’m pretty sure I’d rather just see them drop the whole thing. [slashdot]
- DRM is bad for you: Hackers Tune In to Windows Media Player, using its DRM to install viruses and other spyware on computers. [slashdot]
- News flash: Ballistic Fingerprinting Doesn’t Work. Here’s a low-res scan of the report and other versions are available. The report directly contradicts
facts
set out by the Brady Campaign. Note that of the four “hits” (for 160 checked, and 32,500 registered) lauded early in the report, all were guns stolen from dealerships. The tracking system would have been able to do nothing to track down the bad guys. Further, most guns used in crimes are not the kind of guns that even get entered into the database. [kim] - StrategyPage has some military news about Iraq. The two quotes that caught my eye:
Iraqis indicate, to anyone who will listen, that they have no intention of folding under Baath pressure, and a growing desire to come down hard on the Sunni Arabs who support the violence. The Kurds and Shia Arabs have lists of names, because Saddam’s thugs didn’t wear masks when they ran things for three decades. Guess who is going to lose? But that thought is what is driving the resistance. The Baath Party thugs know what they will have to face eventually, if they don’t regain control of Iraq.
and
[instapundit]Although the Arab media makes a big deal about how impossible it will be to run the elections, the Iraqi people don’t think so. To the average Iraqi, the elections mean the difference between a free and prosperous future, or more Baath Party tyranny.
- Apparently Snooping by satellite, or rather, bugging your car with a GPS tracker, is legal for the cops to do. I wonder if sticking that tracker on a police car is equally legal. I also find myself wondering where I buy the detector for ’em so I can make sure my car is clean? [slashdot]
- Hmm. The ‘vCJD timebomb’ fears discounted, as it turns out Britain’s death-toll from eating BSE-laden cattle is probably going to be in the hundreds, not thousands or tens of thousands, as initially projected. Seems only some people can actually get vCJD, and some more can get infected, but never show symptoms. Seems like an awful lot of cattle destroyed for very little gain at this point. Time for a celebratory Whopper! [kim]