Thursday, June 28, 2007

Putin: Russia Owns North Pole

I'm sure Santa's going to be a bit upset, although he always did seem to have some Communist tendencies. I'm not sure how Putin thinks Russia would secure such a claim, which tends to lend some weight to the "Putin as a buffoon" theory.

It's interesting to note, though, that there's twice as much oil up there than is in Saudi Arabia. That could become a real point of contention sometime in the near future.

Germany to Fund Wikipedia Propaganda

This is truly bizarre: Germany is going to pay people to post "accurate" articles on Wikipedia. I guess they just can't get propaganda out of their system.

Bruce Willis on O'Reilly

Celebrity Report: I can't stand O'Reilly, but every now and then Bruce Willis says some decent stuff. I think he's a generally patriotic guy, and should be supported for it. I'll go see the new Die Hard flick.

Putin: Genius or Buffoon?

Putin continues to outflank American and European leadership on important issues. This one's energy.

Again, the question looms: is Putin a genius or a buffoon?

Blogging Success a Daunting Reality

I can only dream of this sort of blogging success. It's inspirational. I don't think it will last, but that's another story entirely.

Cox and Forkum on Poor Leadership

As usual, Cox and Forkum captures the essence of the inherent weakness of our leadership when it comes to the war against radical Islam.
Digg Report: Today's #1 Digg, at 6111 Diggs, is a story about an airline complaint. It's humorous, yes, but, as with so much in Digg, I wonder at the veracity. Even if true, I wonder at the collective mindset* of Digg that pushes such an ultra-important question to the front page.

*Sardonic humor.

Politics, Columbian-Style

And I complain about American politics...

Best of Times, Worst of Times

It's either a really good time to be starting a freelance writing career, or a really bad time. I suppose it depends: companies tend to ramp up spending on sales (if not marketing), which often requires sales copy writing, and so that could be good. Or, they'll just tighten their budgets and all work will dry up.

So, any suggestions of what a struggling writer with IT, business, sales, and marketing skills can do to supplement an income without giving up and taking another in a line of lame full-time positions?

FTC Says No To Net Neutrality

This is good news. We need competition, not the government, deciding how the Internet plays out. Yegads, but it's barely a decade old. Things like this take care longer to mature.

Senate Wants NSA Wiretapping Info

And, of course, I believe that this has nothing to do with politics. If important national security information is revealed, then that will do nothing but further demonstrate the tragedy of contemporary politics.

RFID <> Privacy

Here's one privacy issue I agree with: implanted RFID tags. Encryption has not reached the point where it's unbreakable, and such tags could contain very important, truly private information.

Printer Companies vs. Toner Pirates

This is one of those issues that seem questionable on the surface, but upon reflection make a little more sense. After all, who are printer manufacturers to limit how their customers buy ink and toner for their legally purchased printers?

Keep in mind, though, that there are numerous scam artists out there who provide shoddy product that provides very little actual ink and that causes real damage to equipment. It’s not unreasonable for printer manufacturers to want to protect against this sort of true “piracy” (which is a term used in the copier world for a very real and very damaging problem).

It’s unfortunate that the casual user and honest purveyor are caught up in the net, but sometimes that can’t be helped. And remember: printers are cheap because the printer companies make their money on toner and ink. You don’t even want to THINK about how expensive the equipment would become if the manufacturers lose their revenue stream from ink and toner.