As much as I dislike Apple politically (or, maybe just Apple devotees), they do make some interesting stuff.

More from Boing Boing on stealing intellectual propert.

What exactly does it mean that Putin has agreed to put missile defense technology in Azerbaijan? Or, I should say, to suggest doing so, since I believe Azerbaijan is a sovereign nation. I haven't kept up on the whole former Soviet bloc nation thing, to know what the actual political relationship might be.

Some information on the Creation Museum, linked without comment.

Celebrity Report: I'm not surprised that Will Smith and Bruce Willis are friends, nor that Smith has doled out some good advice.

Here's Kasparov on Putin and Russia. As Ayn Rand said, evil requires the sanction of the good to prosper, and nowhere is that more clear than with Russia and the West.

A one-minute case against environmentalism.

Bill Gates has always been poor philosophically, but this is pretty disappointing even for him.

Digg Report: Today's #1 Digg, at a brisk 8203 Diggs, is a story about Paris Hilton's sudden release from prison. If the story is true, it would appear that the five days she spent behind bars (not three as indicated in the Digg headline) is typical for the crime. So, just the typical misleading Digg hyperbole.

Nothing to see here. Move along.

Those wacky ancient Peruvians!!!

I thought deja vu was caused by transitory timing glitches between each eye. I guess I was wrong, and this explanation makes more sense anyways. It's also sort of freaky.

While I'm a fierce proponent of intellectual property protections, both patents and copyrights, I do believe that advances in technology might require additional reform of the patent system. Amazon.com's "one-click" patent and, apparently, its cousin, seems to support this notion.

I'm not a patent law expert, though, and so I would rather err on the side of protecting intellectual property. The sooner such things get resolved, though, the better, I think.

Here's another chapter in the US government's on-going war against the evil corporation. In an age of increasing global competition, what we really need is for our government to do everything in its power to make the American economy less competitive.

The money sentence in this story: "There doesn't seem to be an easy way for the RIAA to monetize their problems." "Monetize" their "problems"? Is this a euphamism for "get paid for their products"?

Read the whole thing for the context.

This isn't such a new concept. I remember getting Atari fever back in the day, and Commodore 64osis, which was always quite painful.

While we were playing Space Invaders and Joust, our collectivist enemies were playing strangly nondescript games like "pass." Yes, that would be a driving game, which apparently was the most common video game of the Soviet Empire. Obviously, the proletariat was jonesing for the automobile, big time.

Update: Here's more information. Apparently, the Soviets were way ahead of us in the self-esteem movement--no high scores.

Freedom to steal intellectual property. Freedom to exploit children for sex.

The Pirate Bay. The darling cause of the IT Left.

I don't pretend to understand this quantum mechanics stuff. I also have an inherent distrust of it. I'm not sure how transmitting "information" across a distance can be the same thing as transmitting matter. I'm not sure anyone really does.

Well, this is good news, I supposed. I only wish Fox had listened to the browncoats, and resurrected Firefly.

Digg Report: Today's #1 Digg, at 5949 Diggs, is the worst sort of Digg misinformation. Here, Guiliani allegedly had some "journalist" arrested merely for asking a question. That's not how I see the video, and note that this was a private GOP event.

And, these were Truthers. Enough said, I think. Read the comments if you want a good laugh.

If you're so inclined, here's Scott Adams latest controversy honeypot. Chime in if you want to join the rabid pack.

Yegads. And this guy's running for President.

Ask.com has a new look. Check it out. It's a tad slower than Google, but it provides more compelling results in that they're also categorized. I can't say that the results are more pertinent; only additional testing will flesh that out one way or the other--and how has time for that?

This is a little techie, but I wonder: is Google just replaying the old "centralized vs. decentralized" game in a different way? After all, people wanted their own computers with their own applications and data for reasons. What makes the Web so different than the old legacy mainframes? And, once Google applications start running on the client, they're no different than Microsoft applications--and, they'll probably start being held to the same standard.

I think people accept Google's simplicity because it works for Web apps, and people appreciate their Web applications being quick and snappy. The same isn't true for client applications--people expect those to be robust and feature-rich. Sure, I might only typically use 1% of Microsoft Word's capabilities, but when I want that other 99%, I want it. I use Word because it has a very deep feature set, even if I don't use it most of the time.

The next few years should be interesting. I think some poeple are writing Microsoft off far too quickly.

I agree with most of this. When I write, I find myself using about 1% of Micrsoft Word's capabilities. I could probably write as well in Notepad--maybe better, because there are fewer distractions. I like technology, even complex technology, as long as it doesn't get in its own way.

This is as close to political as I've seen Dilbert get, and I even like it.

Would Boing Boing find a graphic novel about the Nazis "gripping, savage, and thoughtful," and in a good way? After all, the Nazi's were on the "Other Side" as well... Maybe the author will put out something on al Qaida next, perhaps showing the bliss experienced by the martyrs as the planes slammed into the buildings and they ascended in an instant to paradise.

This Boing Boing post contains a reference to likely the most popular error made about intellectual property and digital rights management (DRM): that DRM "(adds) restriction on what can be done with something (people have) paid for." A purchase is a two way transaction, between a purchaser and a seller. Both have terms that define the transaction. For example, in the case of media such as CD's and DVD's, the seller's terms are clearly laid out on the packaging: no unauthorized copies are to be made, which in practice means no copies, because none are authorized by the seller.

DRM actually only applies to materials sold in purely digital form (hence the name) and to which DRM has been attached. By definition, DRM can't hamper one's right to "do something" with what he's "purchased," because the DRMed product is specifically what was sold. Implicit in this sale (and, I'm sure, laid out clearly in the sales agreement with whatever online store sold the material) is the idea that the DRM will remain in place and will dictate the product's use. The purchasers right, if he doesn't like those terms, is to simply not purchase the product.

Only if one asserts that a sale is an open-ended transaction for the purchaser, with no rights allowed to the seller and with the right to do anything he wants allowed to the purchaser, can one make the claim that DRM somehow stops the purchaser from using a product appropriately. Instead, DRM actually defines quite cleary what the purchaser is buying: that is, a digital product with certain inherent restrictions.

The fact that DRM is circumvented does not mitigate its appropriateness. Many people know how to circumvent automobile security, but there are no calls claiming that the inability to protect an automobile from theft means that it should no longer be subject to protection. Rather, automobile manufacturers continue to develop new and better ways to protect them.

The same should be done with intellectual property. Some sellers have given up on DRM, and are selling unprotected materials. That's their right, of course. It's a great evil, however, that they do so primarily because they see no other choice.

Intellectual property protection remains a misunderstood and misconceived notion. I personally don't know a single soul who knows or cares about DRM; it's mainly a core group of Left-leaning, technologically savvy elites who make all the noise on the issue. Like the typical Leftist anti-globalization and anti-industrial (read, anti-capitalist) "rallies," the anti-DRM movement is not made up of typical people (i.e., you and me).

Some day, people will have a real reason to keep pet mice.

Digg Report: Today's #1 Digg, at 5440 Diggs, is about... a picture. "The Most Awesome Pic EVER!"

Um, okay.

And, more evidence that Ahmadinejad's a crazy bastard.

And I'm sure that this is just being taken out of context like all of Ahmadinejad's other comments.

It looks like the cozy relationship between the Iranian and Venezualen crazies is bearing some rotten fruit.

Is this the first step to Putin remaining in power? If so, I can't say I'd be surprised.

Celebrity Report 2: In a real bit of celebrity goodness (and, a bit of a shocker, as well), we have Jack Nicholson thanking the troops at the MTV Music Awards. (!) I'm surprised because I didn't think of Nicholson this way, and never expected this sort of thing at any event even marginally associated with MTV.

Good for him.

Celebrity Report: Bruce Willis seems to really embrace technology. Here he is in Second Life promoting Die Hard 4.

Is it just me, or is there a real surplus lately of loony national leaders?

Ama.. Amj... Ami... the guy from Iran. The little bastard from North Korea. Chavez in Venezuala. Putin. The list seems endless.

I'm not sure I completely understand this story, but whatever it's saying, the author says Ayn Rand predicted it. I think it's saying that regulations have driven the cost of producing tangible goods so far beyond the costs of producing intangible (and presumably less regulated) goods that we're facing a collapse of the "tangible goods" market.

I would agree with that, except I'm not sure it's true that "intangibles" are any less regulated. And, our economy continues to show remarkable resiliency, and I don't see Atlas Shrugged happening anytime soon. We're likely to continue limping into the foreseeable future.

Still, worth a quick glance.

I still say: if your toothpaste is made in China, toss it and buy another brand. I've been told by Crest that it's toothpaste is made in North America.

The juxtaposition of this Businessweek story, about learning to drive more slowly, as just preceding this one in my blog reader borders on ironic.

I want a BMW M5. And, it's not to drive slowly. 500 horses, an 8250 RPM redline, and 0-60 in 4.5 seconds. That's making my Infiniti G35 seem downright pedestrian.

Of course, my G35 didn't cost over $80K.

I'll take two! Seriously, though, a PC is a tool, and I wonder just how much one could accomplish with this model from Asus. Linux aside (and Linux is fine, for people who can use Linux), I wonder what else one gives up with something like this.

I've spent $189 for a notebook battery by itself. How long does this thing run on battery, 20 minutes?

Ironically, selling drugs is (by itself) a victimless crime. Stealing intellectual property isn't. And yet, some complain that the latter is being treated as seriously as the former.

If you want to steal video content, here's your tool: The Democracy Player! This isn't new, but it's coming out of beta and so presumably will be more widely accessible. I'll have to play with it and see how it stops me from stealing other people's property.

I'm sure it's ironclad. This is via the People's Republic of Boing Boing, of course.

If these were private ventures, the measure of success and failure would be clear and incontrovertible. They would also be moral, by requiring those who use such wireless Internet services to pay for them directly and by not providing an unearned benefit to those who don't.

And so it all continues: more content on YouTube. I don't understand the whole thing--YouTube has horrible quality, and it's not particularly convenient. But, at least it's by virtue of some sort of voluntary agreement.

I used to jones for one of these big-time. It wasn't until I was able to purchase a Timex Sinclair 1000, however, for $99, that I experienced computer ownership for the first time.

As I ponder the issue of racism, what sometimes strikes me is the historical gyrations that some go through to both make their own race look good, and another race look bad. For example, I remember a documentary from a few years back about Egypt, which included a black activist's complaint about Elizabeth Taylor playing Cleopatra in the movie by the same name.

The complaint was centered around the fact that Egyptians were Africans, and thus presumably black. Casting white actors to represent Egyptians was therefore a form of white supremacism. It's not my point here to debate the true ethnicity of the Egyptians, nor the question of how historical figures should be represented.

Rather, my point is that this same activist, later in the documentary, could be heard lamenting white slaveowners as evil men. However, if the Egyptians were indeed black, then they were some of the most notorious slaveowners in history. Many blacks are religious, and so must be well aware of the story of Moses and the Jews--and, they must believe it, or renounce their faith.

And so, one must wonder at how people can so easily compartmentalize historical facts to support their own positions, even when these facts are contradictory and yet must be actively held at essentially the same time. Certainly, this isn't unique to the issue of racism, but it certainly applies in that context.

Well, even if they did get here first, they didn't do much about it.

I think scientists are finding many more species than they're demonstrating are actually going extinct.

Light blogging day, incidentally. Personal stuff to take care of.

Good.

This is tragic, but I don't think they can blame it on the Republicans...

This Digg story takes some things a bit out of context, I think. But then, that wouldn't be a surprise.

Cox and Forkum's (as usual) on-target take on the Russian response to the European missile shield.

Idiot Alert: Man tases self.

If Ray Bradbury says Fahrenheit 451 is not about government censorship, then I think we have to take his word for it. In this story, he's talking about television, but I think the Internet is even more on point for what he's saying about the on-going destruction of the attention span.

Here's a new blog, by John Cox of Cox and Forkum fame, that's worth a subscription. Recommended.

I'd go blind if I tried to use this for any extended period of time. Why, then, do I still want one?

I suppose it's because I often find myself needing to jot down a quick note, or just as often to edit something, and my current Tablet PC isn't with me. Although it's of reasonably small size and weight for a convertable Tablet, it's still too bulky to carry around. That's where the OQO Model 02 would come in handy. I could take it on bike rides, hiking excursions, and in general everywhere I go, significantly increasing my productivity.

I sometimes use my Sprint Treo 650 for that sort of work, but the keyboard's just too small for anything but quick notes. I need something that I can take with me, that would allow for periodic bursts of real writing. It'll be awhile, though, before I'll be able to afford nearly $2000 for this sort of thing.

Digg Report: Today's #1 Digg, at 5156 Diggs, won't win any Pulitzers. It's a story about a cat with a Webcam attached to its head.

A cat. With a Web cam. #1 Digg.

Makes perfect sense to me.

Again, if this were Israel, it would be a massacre. The UN might even start writing some letters.

This story's title is bad enough: the subtle implication that being a successful businessman could necessarily be a political liability. The story itself is full of equivocation and compromise, and sets Romney at a great disadvantage, as far as I'm concerned.

Anyone who apologizes for being successful as an honest businessman will never get my vote.

One can rarely pin such things on governments. The fact that it's more likely to be some shadowy group associated with someone like Putin doesn't surprise me a bit.

And why is it, exactly, that state legislatures are spending the time to select file formats? Given that such matters are so politicized, is there any doubt why corporations are so heavily involved in politics?

Celebrity Report: "So, you're going to have my daughter home when?"

To me, this and European soccer games represent a sort of mob mentality. It happens in America, to be sure, but mainly at Leftist "rallies." There's something ugly that happens when people lose themselves in a crowd, and it says something about a society where it often happens.

What's most interesting about this story on Google and its search algorithm is how Google maintains it as a closely-held trade secret. There's considerable debate, even among intellectual property advocates, over whether such algorithms are subject to patents, copyrights, or neither. Apparently, Google doesn't want to take a chance either way.

Thanks to Little Green Footballs for pointing out John Murtha's innate craziness. One should be able to read this interview and recognize that the man is intellectually and philosophically bankrupt, and adds nothing of value to the debate over how best to respond to Islamic fundamentalism.

The Left, though, will certainly spin this to show his great wisdom. Hell, to them, it might really seem wise. And that's the scariest part.

I need to hurry up an publish my bestseller. I fear that copyright is an endangered species, and my ability to profit from my writing, over the long-term, is at risk.

I agree: if Google Street View were a government project (specifically, a Bush Administration project), it would draw the ire of folks such as Boing Boing. This creates a real conundrum for the Left: do they attack Google for being a large, successful company, which would be their tendency, or do they give Google a pass because it's not a part of the Bushitler Regime?

Ultimately, I predict they'll overlook what they naturally see as an attack on "privacy" (which really means whatever they want it to mean) because it's Google. In their ends-justify-the-means mentality, Google is their champion against the evil Microsoft, and they'll support whatever makes Google more powerful in this context. That will last until Google becomes their evil corporation of the moment, at which point suddenly Street View will be an insidious effort to destroy privacy for the almight dollar.

Here's a Little Green Footballs post that made it to the front page of Digg. which is surprising. It speaks of a documentary about the making of Palestinian terrorists, and I would have expected it to be buried.

Frightening stuff, showing the truly evil nature of our adversaries. I can imagine that the Nazi youth were something like this, and it has no allegory in the West (unless perhaps among the most fanatical environmentalists and bible-thumping evangelical Christians). Its demonstrates a complete disdain for human life, or even more than that--a fundamental joy in taking human life as a means for entering Paradise.

Strongly recommended for anyone above the age of 15.

She was a beauty, alright. Reminds me of my wife in some ways.

I remember when the Amish would rather skin their favorite hog Joshua before he was fully fattened than use electrical power for anything. Now they're using solar panels.

I consider this a sign of the Apocalypse.

Digg Report: Today's #1 Digg, at a light 2304, is a story about... well... Digg. I've noticed that whenever there's news about Kevin Rose, one of Digg's founders, it tends to go straight to the top. That seems a little solipsistic to me, but whatever.

My Sprint Treo is getting a little long in the tooth. I want one of these.

There's no such thing as an emission-free vehicle. At best, the emissions simply happen somewhere else. Of course, some methods for producing energy produce less emissions than others.

Shouldn't it be call the "Lord Jesus Library" instead?

Better to die free?

Ahem. And the last arms race went so well for Russia, didn't it?

A positive story about an American businessman. It doesn't happen very often, so enjoy.

When you've been on the inside of something, your words should probably carry some weight.

Hypocrisy is bad enough. Armed hipocrisy is another thing entirely.

This is good news and bad news. Good, because it was foiled. Bad, because such plots are on-going.

This is a fascinating story, for all it says about the UN, Russia, Iraq, and for all it doesn't say.

As far as I'm concerned, they're looking in the wrong place.

And the National Kitchen Utensils Association is to blame...

Doesn't have as much of a ring to it as does the NRA.

Huh. This is going to get more and more interesting as time goes on. Do we need virtual police to protect our virtual selves and our virtual property from virtual crimes in a virtual world?

Say that ten times fast, and you might hurt yourself.

Replace "Lebanon" with "Israel" in this story's title, and the media would be screaming of a "massacre."

What a surprise: a Leftist "protest" turns violent.

I've commented before on the issue of "personal" information in songs purchased from iTunes Plus. Certainly, one might not want some of the information to get around, in particular sensitive information like passwords, and even more particularly if that information isn't encrypted.

At first, I was tempted to say (actually, I did say) that one only need worry about the information if one was posting songs to the Internet. My conclusion was based in part on the idea that one has all sorts of information on one's computer, and songs purchased from iTunes would probably be the least of one's worries if a computer is stolen or lost.

However, I then realized the quite obvious and more important point: the songs are also kept on iPods, which 1) don't offer any way to encrypt information, unlike a PC, and 2) are far more often lost and stolen. Also, one doesn't really expect personal information to be stored there, and might avoid doing so on purpose (for example, by not using an iPod's PIM functions).

And so, I can see that some people might have a legitimate concern over this issue, and Apple should certainly provide more information on what they're storing in songs purchased from iTunes Plus. From the linked story above, this is also apparently the case for all songs purchased from iTunes.

Update: I also don't find the argument in this story to be compelling. One problem with unencrypted information on an iPod, even if just a name and email address, is that it's not very useful as an anti-piracy measure. If one's iPod were stolen, and all of the songs contained on it were made available via P2P sharing, how could the purchaser prove that he wasn't the one who uploaded them? Or, conversely, how could Apple prove that he was? In short, the information should be encrypted, and only Apple should have the key.

I don't think there's any reasonable assumption of privacy on a public street, or in windows that face a public street. That's why most people tend not to undress in front of open windows (unless one is into such a thing, and not that there's anything wrong with that).

Seriously, though, there are all sorts of pictures and video that one might end up in, whether it's for the news or a family snapshot. If one is worried about being noticed in public, than one should probably stay home.

If you have any toothpaste made in China, toss it. That is, unless you plan to go somewhere very, very cold, and your mouth could use some antifreeze.

Somehow, Ron Paul holds on to his high ranking on Technorati.

Beats me.

As I've said in other contexts, the mere fact that giving away intellectual property might, in some cases, make economic sense for the property owner, it's irrelevant to whether or not intellectual property protections should exist. Without such protections, the property owner loses the ability to decide such things for himself.

It's like saying that if someone hijacked a truckload of Toyotas on the way to a dealership and drove them around town, then Toyota should be happy with the free publicity.*

Of course, here's where someone will argue that Toyotas aren't like songs, because if you take away a Toyota the owner actually loses something, where with a piece of intellectual property the owner hasn't lost anything at all. The fact that, when someone downloads a pirated copy of a song, he doesn't have to pay the creator of the song, means nothing, I'm told--which usually returns to the circular argument that the creator will end up making more money anyways, so it's okay. The concept of controlling one's property and who benefits from it escapes some people, I suppose.

Actually, I agree with all 10 of these points. They seem well-reasoned to me, except for perhaps a little ad hominem in number 7 (which even then has some truth to it).

Okay, so, maybe this is possible. I mentioned the fleet's presence in the Persian Gulf in an earlier post, and am willing to consider that the talks with Iran in Baghdad might have been a final warning to Iran. Hosting them on Memorial Day, in that context, might even have been a subtle reminder that America has engaged in such actions before, and that we're willing to pay a price for our continued security.

I'll be waiting to see, but I won't be holding my breath.

Update: Oops, sorry. Hat tip to Little Green Footballs.

Update 2: But then there's this sort of thing.

Unfortunately, while I wish I could believe Fred Thompson, here, I don't think for a moment that if we were in Israel's shoes, we'd act with less "restraint." If the US had ever used "whatever means necessary to win the war" on Islamic fundamentalism, the thing would have been over a long time ago.

But, it is good to hear Thompson say such things. Maybe it's simply the way he thinks, which would be something in his advantage.

This year's Objectivist Conference is in Telluride, Colorado. Looks like a great time.

If I can scrape up a few bucks, I might just go.

I'll leave election politics to sites like Instapundit. They do it better than I ever could, and frankly, such politics both bore me and frustrated the hell out of me.

That's a bad combination.

Sometimes, people vote with their feet. 17% unemployment, high taxes, regulations, and blood sausage.

I'd certainly go elsewhere.

Thus, Putin acknowledges that he considers himself an enemy of the West. Will we listen to him?