November 2003 Archives

The move, I am thankful to report, is done finally. I am tired, sore and hungry right now. I have been awake since 7:45, and now am forced to try to keep myself awake until at least midnight, nearly 6 hours away. The problem is that that would push me well beyond my normal waking hours, and the challenge already appears far greater than I am capable. I have a headache from my waking hours being thrown off kilter, and I fear if I stay awake much longer it can only get worse. I am happy my parents are in their new home, and I can once again enjoy my days off in rest and actually begin to accomplish things here. I have 10 draft posts, and hope to soon get back to the business of this blog. For now, though, I think a brief nap is in order, just to rest up.

One of the web's most popular blog tools, Movable Type, has been found to have a little problem that is allowing spammers to use installations of the tool to send spam through other people's mail servers that are otherwise secured from such uses. The hole, in the mt-send-entry.cgi file, has been fixed by those who maintain the tool, and the patched file version is available by either single file download or by simply installing or upgrading to the current 2.64 version. On the same topic, of spam and blogs, MT-Blacklist version 1.62-beta is now available for beta testing for those on the cutting edge of their installs. The tool prevent annoying bots and users from spamming on your blogs, and gives an easy interface for removing those that do from being able to post.

Ok, so I was home, and I left, and I am back and now I am finally able to have the time needed to actually form my thoughts on Timeline. The book was great, with mention of quantum computing and time travel. The movie had a quick mention of quantum computing and a very different explanation of what the company who found it can actually do with their machine. In the book, the president is sent by his employees to plague era, and in the movie they can only go back to the same time, 1357. In the book there are glass cubes and cages, in the movie there is one big circle thing with mirrors, and this ruins part of the ending, in that they need two medallions, and this tells one character he should stay back. Sorry, I think I just gave away half the book and the movie.

Overall the movie was good, but it put too much emphasis on Paul Walkers character, which was one of my worries earlier. I do not want to give away much more, but the central character is not Paul Walkers, and the story was far shorter than I expected it would be. The book made movie could easily have been done as 3 hours and would still have needed cutting parts. The movie had a few parts I do not recall, and yet others that I am sure were not in the book, as well as parts that were major in the plot and the.. err, timeline of the book that were not even touched on, but they found ways around it so there is not much that someone who did not read the books will have a problem with. There was no overt sexual scenes, and it was overall fairly good. I give it a 4.

Ok, well, this was unexpected. I was expecting to be up significantly earlier, and out to the St. James area. The game starts in like 20 minutes, and while they do have a little preamble, they usually get it out of the way before hand. I also do not expect to be there for the full game, as the movie I want to see, Timeline, starts at 4:25, and the game is likely to be about halfway through the third at that point. I may, though, just catch the whole game, and find something to do for the hour or two from the end of the game until the 7 PM showing of the movie, but I guess it depends on if the Moose are winning. I will be sure to do a full review as soon as I can of the movie, though it may need to wait.

So, I have some busy plan for the weekend, and things I had hoped to do were sacrificed but there was nothing else to do. Saturday will be spent watching a Manitoba Moose game, then going to the Silver City megaplex next door to watch Timeline, a movie based on the Michael Crichton novel about archaeologists who have to go back in time to save their teacher who is stuck in 1357. The book was amazing, and I can only hope the movie is as good, or at least sticks in part to the book, even if the technical aspects are mostly fiction and cannot be forced into a specific box. Sunday, though, will be much less predictable or fun, as I have to help my parents move to their new place. Hopefully the helping them lately that I have done will minimize that which must be done tomorrow.

The battle between Microsoft's team of goons and Lindows' Michael Robertson is about to get very dirty, as Microsoft has tried to intimidate one Dutch reseller of Lindows over supposed infringement that the OS's name causes with the title of the Microsoft OS, and they have also decided to hold several claims that have been filed against the Redmond giant in regards to a class action settlement in California, simply because MS believes they were filed from a Lindows form that tabulated the refund due. This all comes after the two warring factions have revealed their court date, that was supposed to start shortly, has been pushed back even further due to scheduling conflict. One day it may be that the battle between Microsoft and the rest of the world will end. One day, perhaps.

Edward Jonathan Krastof, a 38 year old resident of Concord, CA, has confessed to breaking into the office of an analyst that was hired by Wells Fargo and stealing several pieces of hardware, including a computer that had personal information about the bank's customers. "Concord Police Sergeant Steve White told Reuters that investigators recovered the computer gear - along with "equipment used for scanning identity cards and cheques" - when they raided Krastof's home. White described Krastof as a "low-level ID theft kind of guy."(The Register) Well Fargo has offered a $100,000 reward for info that led to the culprit's arrest and conviction, though as Krastof turned himself in and confessed, it is highly unlikely that anyone will get the sweet reward.

Ok, so I just finished watching the companion DVD that comes in the Collectors set for Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition, and it was nice to see how they have created the series of sculptures, I would have really liked to see more than a minute or two on the process, as the rest of the rather shows DVD content was reserved for Peter Jackson and others involved in the movie telling how they love these types of statues, and showing off the others that are available without once mentioning the cost, which is high based on a surf to the site of the company who is mass producing them. The items they have made, including the Gollum statue that corresponds to the Smeagol one I already have, are quite nice, and well done, but $150 is a lot no matter the currency.

If you are a subscriber to my mail lists, you will know by now that there was a mailing out to all of the lists today. A reply would have received a bounce message. I have closed all of the mail lists on this site, as they have been 0 posting and many spam reception lists, and that is a waste of my time. I have, though, changed the name on one of the lists, and have proceeded to relaunch it due to the fact a friend from chat, the Codemuffin herself, has asked it to be brought back and together we shall bring forth a list worthy of messages. The list, called Designers, will be about web design and all that is involved in making web pages that work for most people. I am hesitant to put up a link to the list info page until I have customized it, but sending an email to me will get you a link.

So I have this nice, long rant on the music business and manufactured crap they put out. I had written a bit, and hit a roadblock, so I stopped for about 20 minutes to get my thoughts straight. Well, when I came back to the post, and finished typing it, I noticed that all of my net apps were trying to connect and fail. Thankfully before pressing Save I copied and pasted it into a Notepad app, but that still means I am currently without an internet connection. Let's see. I am unable to connect to the net, my email account is losing emails, and I cannot sleep, even though I have to be up in about 5 or 6 hours. So the highlight of my day was the Two Towers DVD set and the Gollum Statue, once I got it out of the box, which nearly an hour of fiddling.

So, how's your morning going? If you are in the US, or of American descent, you are likely getting some form of poultry or mock bird ready for cooking and eating later tonight, and the rest of the world, or at least my world, we have a day off for the US Holiday. I guess they figured we would get very few calls on Thanksgiving. I was going to call my ISP, but I am fairly certain my answer would be given by an answering service, so it is dead useless to try to get some satisfaction tonight. If, though, the connection is not back, if those two blinking lights on the modem are not gone by morning, I will call, complain, and have someone out here very bloody quick. At the end of hour 2, I am a little frustrated, but I am going to make it through I have no doubt.

I recall when I was listening to music, my parents said they missed the days when it wasn't just noise, instead it was real art. Well, I now find myself at a much younger age than they were truly missing when music meant something. Music as an art is long past, only following 09.11 was their a resurgence of music that meant something, the years before and the few since have, in my opinion, been a wash. The only song that comes to mind when I think of music with meaning, music as an art, that I have heard in the last 12 months has been Johnny Cash's rendition of Hurt. Cash made great music, and he sang with a passion that has rarely been equalled, and never surpassed. Toby Keith is an artist now that has the ability to bring passion and art to music.

Alan Jackson, Alabama, these are others even though Alabama has stopped making new music. There are dozens of new artists a month, and few have the ability to write good music, and fewer even who can put passion in the music they sing. There is a song on the radio, Streets of Heaven by Sherrie Austin, and that is one song that is sung with passion, and heart, and is one that is enough to bring a tear to the eye of the listener, one that invokes emotion in the listener. I miss these days, when one could realistically see themselves in the place of the singer in the tale, when one would actually feel the song. These times do exist, but they are far fewer than I can ever recall. The problem is evident, and the source and chief cause is clear, though a solution is not.

The problem is an industry that has grown lazy, weak and far too comfortable making bad music. The days of a CD full of good songs are gone past, and artists who once aimed to make every song the absolute best have slowly been convinced to increase the so called B-side material to the point it seems to have taken over the albums that are created and currently it is considered a good album if there are two or three decent tracks. There was a time when Joe Satriani and Steve Vai were the kings of guitar, now we are lucky to get the once had talent but now are only fit for a lounge act players. We once had great voices that could carry a tune all the way from LA to New York, now the tun couldn't be carried in an armoured truck by the so called stars.

Talent and artistry once meant something, but somewhere around the Beatles the consumer lost control, and the labels took over. The created copies of that which was great, new, fresh and style changing, and it has only become worse. It is the same in rap, country, and whatever they call rock these days. I grew up listening to The Gambler, The Guess Who's greatest hits, and Johnny Horton. Now I listen to a dozen copies of Billy Ray Cyrus, and he himself who's ability has not changed since Achy Breaky Heart. I see Dozens of copies for every age of the New Kids on The Block, which weren't that good themselves. I see Britney, Shania, and others who sell a 'style' and an 'attitude' that really means they sell their Tits and their Ass.

I hope to one day see real artists making music again, but I fear it will not happen until it takes real effort to get into music, not just the ability to be a copy of an original. Amanda Stott has a lot of talent, but all the videos I see by her it is clear of one thing. They are trying to make her sensual and attractive, or at least however much they can for her age. Don't get me wrong, she is attractive, but I want to hear music, not see her strutting down a country road in tight pants and a halter top. I honestly think that the music video killed the music. Before people could be seen on millions of TV's worldwide and the visual was as or more important than the talent, the talent was king. I once heard it said that Roosevelt would never have had a chance at the White House if he ran today.

I think the reverse should be applied. I do not care if a person is black or white, full figured or totally disfigured. I don't give a damn if the person is Christian, Islamic, or Jew. It does not matter to me if a person has the perfect body, or is fatter than the Goodyear blimp. Perhaps I am alone in this, but Rita McNeil was an awesome vocalist, but ridicule for her weight caused the younger generation of Canadian to shy away from her music, and make rude and cruel jokes. Britney Spears has no vocal talent, but has a body that most men would love to have in their beds, and girls feel the stupid need to imitate, and she is rich off this and this alone. There is something wrong when the talented are shunned for the young and attractive, just as there is something fundamentally wrong with a CD for $20 that has one to three good songs.

Ok, I need the help of all of you, my faithful readership, or at least the Winnipeg ones for sure. Dizz, a friend at work, is doing a small party on New Years at an undisclosed location. The party is called Back 2 the Future, and it is supposed to be one hell of a rave. The problem is that my main duties are to be a photographer, and from everything I have read, the camera I own is bad for such situations. Does anyone at all know what would be a good but not easily damaged camera that would be good for a low light club situation that may have frequently alternating lighting patterns? Does anyone in Winnipeg know a place the allows the loan or rental of such high quality digital cameras?? I need this info in a very short time, as the show is in about a month.

An underwater cable running between North America and Europe was the cause of a massive internet disruption between the two major landmasses Tuesday afternoon. "The fault occurred in the TAT-14 fiber-optic cable system that connects the United States, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom, and is understood to have left the system unusable for traffic at present. TAT-14 is owned by a consortium of telephone companies. According to BT, a member of the consortium, the disruption occurred between France and the Netherlands and disrupted a range of telecommunications services." This problem impacted overseas ISP's more than North American ones, but it showed the major issue with underwater cabling.

The RIAA and the MPAA have convinced Orrin Hatch, who once hated the music industry and described their business practise as: "it's kind of like paying off your mortgage, but the bank still owns the house," to broaden their monopolistic holds on those industries in response to the Webcasters Alliance lawsuit against the RIAA for violations in anti trust laws. Now I am brought back to a certain radio show host I regularly heard defend Microsoft and tell anyone who was listening that they were innocent, only doing business, and their competitors forced the government to bring about the case, and I have no doubt he would now be in support of this, as he also has a show dealing in music, and is strongly against anyone trying to stop the labels control.

As for the theory presented, that anything that threatens the labels is bad and must be stopped, I would simply say the same thing I have in the past, which is that the labels just need either adjust their business models to the new way things are or they need to die off and let evolution begin again. If the government had protected the TV networks when cable came about or the movie industry when the VCR came along, those industries would not be as open and free as they are. There wouldn't be nearly as many independent movies, and while this may not be as good, there would not be as many TV channels(and still not that much on, even if we are not at the whim of a few execs as to what is showing). I think the RIAA and MPAA need to adjust, not users.

I am now one of the happiest people right now. I just got home, and I have a rather large box that includes 5 DVD's, a book, and a small statue. Yes, those who are fans will know what I have. Lord of the Ring: The Two Towers Extended Edition Collectors Box Set. I am overjoyed at this purchase, and as soon as Enterprise is over I plan to watch at least two of the DVD's. The main decision is what exactly to watch. There is the Gollum DVD and the four main disks. The two could be the movies, and then I could watch the other ones tomorrow, but there is still the matter of several hours of DVD watching to be done. I have taken over 20 pictures of the set, and I will post those to the Photolog as soon as I can get to them and pick the best over the worst.

A new worm called Sysbug has been making its way around the internet by preying on the most lascivious of desires, and the most common use of the net, porn. This is not the first time a virus has pretended to be a picture or file that is meant to arouse the desires of the intended victim, but it may be the first to use full out porn as it's bait. "Sysbug," which comes with the subject line of 'Re[2] Mary,' pretends to be a personal e-mail from a friend called James who has attached photographic evidence of a recent tryst. The e-mail actually contains a malicious program that will allow a PC to be taken over. Systems affected are Windows 2000, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT and Windows XP."(CNet) Update. Scan. Don't open attachments.

• Check your sums, Debian advises developers after breach
• Congress Expands FBI Spying Power
• Dutch blogsites fight cyberwar against spammer
• Exploit Code on Trial
• Finding Bounty Hunters Online
• Former HP-Compaq server guru heads to Nokia
• Intel produces chips for next generation
• Intel talks up 65nm process with SRAM cell demo
• MS faces EU shackles on Media Player, Windows servers
• MS scorns Israeli OpenOffice defection
• New IE may burst pop-up bubble
• Next-gen console unveilings in spring '04
• Nigerian fraudsters 'shop early for Xmas'
• Princeton open-source hater a loose cannon
• Regulating the Hacker Chase
• Scoring SCO's Legal Games
• Secrets of The King
• SuSE updates desktop, corporate Linux
• Wi-Fi hacker caught downloading child porn
• Wired 11.12 Intel's Tiny Hope for the Future
• Busting the Worm Writers
• IT Failures In The Great US Blackout
• Sharp confirms next-gen Linux PDA specs
• Scripting flaws pose severe risk for IE users
• Dell routes support back to the USA
• Phones To Port or Not to Port
• New Linux version expected in December
• Blackouts highlight network vulnerabilities
• One company arms both sides in spam war

So, as the US government finally seems to be moving closer to a spam killing law, the question being raised across the net is whether the spam war is over. There are, of course, those who think the death of spam is a long way off, that this law will only legitimize a lot of spammers and increase their mailings. Others, though, think this is an important first step in reclaiming the net against the assault of spam on our inbox's. Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM), was voted in the Senate, and the Congress and the President will be next. The best news comes from Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., who said: "In cases where e-mail marketers don't comply with the CAN-SPAM bill, the penalties are very severe...Spammers are actually on the hook for (per e-mail) damages, with a cap of $2 million."

Spam, of course, has become such a big problem that some researchers say more than 50% of the email sent now are spam messages. Imagine if half the time you watch TV, it's commercials that during the afternoon hours is for sex lines and during the Saturday morning cartoons you get Viagra and get rich commercials. That is how bad the spam problem has become, and there are an increasingly large number of people that just leave the net due to the massive problems caused by spammers, viruses and other such nuisances and threats. I really cannot blame anyone anymore who decides enough is enough and leaves the internet behind completely. Hopefully this law, and the threat of $2 million fines per email will curb the spam and weaken this as a business plan.

Oracle, who a fair time ago offered to do the hostile takeover of PeopleSoft, has clarified that it tis still dedicated to buying out the company, and feels the $7.3 billion offer is still on the table, and will be successful. The company, and the debate over the offer, has been quiet of late, with PeopleSoft and Oracle doing the cancelled/not cancelled dance once a month or so. Oracle has big plans to do the deal when the next shareholders meeting for PeopleSoft happens in June, and PeopleSoft simply says it is ignoring the attempt and trying to move on in business and fix some missteps it has made. Whether PeopleSoft and Oracle will one day be one company, I have no idea, but in the end this is not going to end anytime soon.

The kid who broke the CSS code that protects DVD's from ripping, and who is going to court again soon for the same thing, has beat back the fair use killers by creating a new program to save a stream from iTunes. "Jon Lech Johansen, better known as DVD Jon for his authorship of the DeCSS decryption software, has produced a simple Windows command line utility which will install a DLL which dumps the output of a QuickTime stream to a file. The short C program is called "QuickTime for Windows AAC memory dumper"."(The Register) formally called QTFairUse, the program has a non Open Source competitor called MyTunes, but as Jon's is free and captures high quality audio files, not to mention his notoriety, Jon is likely to be targeted.

I am not happy. I get mailings in regards to New Line's movies. New Line, fans will recall, is the maker of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the third movie of which is to hit theatres in less than a month. Back in the late summer they sent a mailing saying some theatres would be showing the first two movies of the trilogy in their extended formats at select times, with one marathon of movie watching playing the day before the third is to launch, culminating with the third movie showing around midnight. Well, I immediately did the click thing and began searching feverishly for info on Canadian, specifically Winnipeg showings. I checked with Famous Players and the two Silver City theatres in person and got no where.

Guess what I just saw when hitting FamousPlayers.com? All theatres except Kitchener and BC are sold out. Winnipeg has 1 showing of the marathon, at Polo Park. Arrrggghhhhh!!!!! I just want to see the movies on the big screen. Why the hell can they not do a second one at the Silver City location? I guarantee they would sell out as well, but this time I might have a chance to get tickets. I know one person who has tickets to it, and her boyfriend and like brother or something are going with them, I know I could find at least one person who would happily go to St Vital to see it, and I have no doubt I could find another dozen or two. Toronto is showing has having had 3 theatres showing it. Move one of those BC ones here, even. I want to see the damned Marathon.

You may have noticed a slight... change. The change is one I have been investigating and researching diligently for more than a few days. Ok, well, I was waiting to ambush this guy in IRC to get explicit instructions for the absolute simplest way to do it, and tonight in about 15 minutes I did it. He posted here on his blog how to do it, but I was not sure if it was as easy and simple as he made it seem. I got him in chat, and he outlined that it does not need conversion to PHP(though he swears that this is equally as simple) and after following all of his instructions and the removal of all the annoying but apparently necessary title tags that the service added in, I got the stuff in order, and now I have begun to add to that which I could not. There are now only 3 mentions of BlogRolling.com, and those are just fun code.

Today is the beginning of the new FCC regulation that forces telecom companies to grant their customers the right to keep their phone number if they switch providers, be it from cell to home, vice versa, or between cell phones. The ruling, according to most providers, is being used more as a threat than an actual demand for change. Most users, though, say the only thing stopping them is the contracts they have with their current provider. "Cingular has had me in lockdown mode. They've given me horrible service and knew there was nothing I'd do because I didn't want to switch my number. But now, they've recently become more accommodating." said Carlos Quintero, one of a handful of customers at a San Francisco Cingular store.(CNet)

The U.S. House of Representatives has voted nearly unanimously(and I hope those who voted against this will get their just reward the next time their voters are up) to pass an anti spam bill, that now goes up to the Senate for approval before hitting the US Presidents desk. The bill, titled the "Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act" (CAN-SPAM), is only American, and does not reach to other nations, but it lays a framework for a much needed elimination of the plague that spam has become, and the fact there is a law against spam may slow down or eliminate the spam that is sent the world over. There are those in the tech media that have said this will do nothing to stop or slowdown spam, but I hope to god they are wrong.

Ok, I have just spent the better part of my post work night trying to solve a problem that was surprisingly resilient to all forms of resolution. When I left home yesterday(Sunday) Cody had told me that the computer had given off an error, so I rebooted to a very slow reboot and EXPLORER.EXE using over 200 MB of memory. Having to leave for work, I knew I would be haunted by this on my return, and I was unfortunately 100% correct. It turns out that a video file I had left trying to play the night before was causing the usage, having been launched from the Explorer window the night before, but even after several reboots, whatever had a hold of the program would not let go, and thus my suspicions of it being a virus were borne.

I updated my AV, disconnected from the net the hard way, and proceeded at 1:30 AM to begin a virus scan with Explorer getting the lowest priority in resources, and NAV getting the most. Still, nearly 2 hours later the AV came back with a clean bill of health, so I decided that scorched earth was needed. Instead of the normal format that most do, though, I decided Safe Mode was my best option and proceeded to force a hard reboot into Safe Mode, as 3 straight attempts at soft reboots lasted over 25 minutes. Once in Safe Mode I tried to excise the suspect file, all to no avail, and then needed a command Prompt Safe Mode to get rid of it, though now my system runs like a dream. I still, though, do not know if it was virus riddled.

• AMD admits 90nm production slippage
• Archive.org to Vivendi we'll host MP3.com's files
• California mandates e-voting paper trails
• Comdex A look toward 2004
• Don't say nothing to the SCO cops, Gartner advises Linux users
• DRM music goldrush is a race for losers - mp3.com founder
• E-Votes Must Leave a Paper Trail
• Intel commits to 4GHz Prescott P4 by Q4 '04
• Novell looks to Linux to pull it out of the red
• Red Hat, researchers in name tiff
• Senate may move on bill to ban Net-access tax
• Senators ask P2P companies to police themselves
• Sentencing postponed in nuclear lab hack case
• Wal-Mart to write own name on notebooks
• Apple fixes security in Panther, Jaguar
• China unveils 'DVD killer' video disk format
• Comdex Little fish in a smaller pond
• Domain owner seeks to revolutionise Scottish legal system
• IBM to add clock throttling tech to 90nm G5 chip
• In a flash, Intel loses memory lead
• Intel sets the bar at 4GHz
• Linux veteran tries again
• Panel Shared work, not suits, key to open source
• Record Label Sings New Tune
• We reveal major UNIX™ IP violations
• Why Linux Is Wealthier Than Microsoft
• Microsoft's new security mojo
• Bill Gates Unplugged
• Security expert proposes hackers' union
• Court grants FCC extension on cable ruling
• Macintosh users join Kazaa network
• Judge rules in favor of pop-up purveyor
• Apple crops up in Windows world
• Sun drops more hints on Opteron servers
• 'Don't shoot the MP3.com archive,' pleads founder Robertson
• MS TCO study fails to dislodge OSS trials from Newham council
• Aussie students escape jail for online music piracy
• Net Porn addict claims unfair dismissal

In a bit of news that has not yet reached the news sites I check(I found out through a mention on SecFoc lists) Debian revealed on Friday that some of their servers, 4 of them hosting services like the Debian site, the mailing lists and so on, have been cracked open, and the maintainers have begun a long and dirty task of verifying that the code available has not been altered and anything that is up for download that is in question be replaced by secure versions matching a verified hash. NewsForge has the same press release as the Debian site, with no analysis of this news, but eWeek and Internet News both have articles on the topic.

On Friday the RIAA and Pacific Bell Internet, a subsidiary of SBC Communications, faced off in court over the RIAA's mass lawsuit method of trying to maintain it's monopoly over music. "SBC is challenging the legality of subpoenas from the RIAA that sought information on SBC Internet subscribers alleged to have offered copyrighted songs for download through peer-to-peer services such as Kazaa. Those subpoenas were a prelude to lawsuits the RIAA subsequently filed against more than 300 people for copyright infringement. SBC contends that the original subpoena process was unconstitutional, because the RIAA had not yet filed any case against a subscriber." Sadly, SFGate is reporting that the judge is leaning towards the side of the RIAA.

Ok, so what originally was supposed to be my and Cody going to a hockey game after he helped my parents for a fair bit at their new place turned today into Cody being dropped off here around 2:30, then my parents picking us up and taking us to Best Buy near the arena, and then after going there and drooling over a great number of things, we went to Polo Park and walked around until realizing that CBC and Shaw had a demo of HDTV service at the mall with chairs(damned uncomfortable ones I might add) and all, but we had sadly just missed the mega stars game being played outdoors at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium, but we were able to catch a few minutes(literally only a few) of the first ever outdoor NHL game between the Oilers and Canadiens.

Sadly, though, we had to run off to the Arena so we could catch the Moose game(against the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks) and so I could kick myself for not bringing ID, and which will necessitate my going to next Saturday's game at 2:30 at the Arena. The Moose began one goal down at the end of the first period, but solid goaltending on both ends kept the Moose to just one goal each other period and none for the Ducks, thus the game ended with everyone on their feet as the Ducks left their net empty for over a minute in the end in an unsuccessful attempt to tie the game. Cody and I then did the trek to Portage Avenue, in the knowledge that we might still need to wait for a bus, and a quick ride then transfer, then walk later, we were back at my place. 'Twas a good night.

Telecom giant AT&T announced today that they have sued eBay for an accused patent infringement of a patent covering third part secure transaction processing by the auction companies newly acquired PayPal division. "That patent, according to an AT&T release announcing the suit, describes "transactions in which a trusted intermediary securely processes payments over a communications system such as the Internet. The use of a trusted intermediary ensures that one party will not have to disclose sensitive information, such as a credit card number or bank account number, to the other party to the transaction." Wired writes that this is the latest suit in an online war of patents covering common online practises.

So, Comdex is over, eh? Well, I must say that a look back about a year brings a little bit of surprise that the once elite of all tech shows is even back, and looking back 9 months, there was some question about whether the company who runs Comdex, Key3media, would even be around at this time this year. Well, the reports from the big show in the heart of Vegas was smaller, about a quarter of previous years or less, but it also seems like it was a better show overall. TechTV didn't even make a trip this year, and while the show is now forcing itself into a long overdue rebuilding phase, there is no doubt the show will continue on for awhile yet. The show was still good by those opinions I read and trust, but it was definitely not the Comdex of the tech boom.

So the US Senate is expected to make a bill to kill spam, or at least fraudulent spam. The Congress is poised to vote on another such bill. The problem is that American's have heard this time and again, and are sick of it. Congress makes a bill, and it goes through, but then the Senate kills it. The same goes for bills out of the Senate. It is unclear how these keep dying, since the news sites keep reporting that all kinds of direct marketing agencies are all for it, but it would seem that somewhere there is a chink in the armour, a proverbial screw loose, because spam is still a huge problem. My web host says they block some spam at the root level. The thing is, more than half my emails a day are spam still and their tricks are not slowing or stopping. Hopefully someone, somewhere, will do something.

A last minute attempt by The United States Telecom Association to block the FCC's already upheld number portability requirement where users must be allowed to bring swap their phone numbers from home to cell and back, as well as between phone companies, has been rejected by the courts, meaning the requirement goes into effect on Monday. The USTA asked the FCC to delay the plan, but the FCC refused to do so, though they acknowledge there will be issues with those who want to move phones between area codes. The USTA then decided to go to court to stop the FCC plan from going in to effect, but the court, while saying it will hear the case and decide in the new year, refused to delay the plan. A number of Americans I know are eagerly awaiting this so they can swap providers.

Recent concerns have surfaced on the net that AMD, maker of the new desktop line of 64 bit processors, is no longer interested in making it's own product, instead focusing on the design aspect and letting others do the manufacture, ala video cards industry. Well, AMD announced that Dresden, Germany will be the new location for a 300mm fabrication plant adjacent to it's current 200mm wafer plant. "According to CFO Bob Rivet, Fab 36 will cost $2.4 billion to build and operate over the next four years, with more than half of that total coming from "external financing and government support". The $1.5 billion being offered to AMD includes $700 million in loans from a consortium of banks, plus $500 million in government grants and $320 million in equity funding from the local Saxony administration and other European investors."

Perhaps this is just me and my flawed mine, though I am really unsure anymore. It is also possible my point of view is coloured by almost 3 years being single by choice. I wish I knew where to place the blame and how to solve the problem. I have found myself looking for a relationship lately in seemingly the wrong places. Those who I have confided in know whom I refer to, and there are more than just one, but I will not name names nor say anything that will give it away because I would hate for one of them to come by here and know I was mad at/about them, but I just wish that people would be open, honest, and explicit about their interests, or lack there of, instead of playing with people.

Few know I was single for so long, and that I am so easily fooled into thinking another is interested. I know that I was a very easy person to fool by love, or the impression of love, and I took the time off to try very hard to get over this. I will say that I have not thought there was love aimed my way for a long time, if ever, and I am not sure I felt real love(not lust or another emotion with e similar symptom) myself for a long time, but I know I had interest in these beautiful women and I got the impression that at least one had interest in me, and had hopes another could be a person I could be with, but I have come to realize that neither is a person who I will be with. Physical, emotional, and mental limitations are in the way of one or more of these becoming possibilities.

I nearly decided to go back on a relationship sabbatical, but decided that pushing possibilities away would not help me at all. I did, though, decide I will shut down my interest in anyone unless they explicitly tell me they are interested. This is the only was I can protect myself and my sanity. I know this will not be easy, and I know a lot of self control is needed to accomplish this lofty goal, but I have no doubt that I, who have gone through more than a quarter century of emotional and physical pain from a large range of people and relationships, can force myself to do this, I just need to put the passion I have thus far put into the wrong people, and channel it into waiting for the right person. Hopefully my sanity can be saved and I can avoid the next step.

The US Attorney General proudly announced today that the US government has arrested 125 people for a variety of computer related crimes from "hacking to fraud to selling stolen goods". The most disturbing thing about this whole story is the following quote: "The information superhighway should be a conduit for communication, information and commerce, not an expressway for crime," Ashcroft said." I am not sure about you, but I am fairly sure the term Information Superhighway went out of date about 1996. It is good to see the US government take computer crimes seriously, not just fighting their supposed cyber war, but I would like them to prove they actually have a bit of skill for notable computer crimes like virus writers, or is Microsoft the only one to do something?

• Apple preps second Panther OS update
• 'Hope Is a Lousy Defense'
• Tech-Job Meltdown in Final Stages
• Belgian watchdog fumes over Nokia battery statement
• Tech bigwigs dispute guru's pessimism
• Students fight e-vote firm's DMCA claims
• Storage companies synch up with Windows
• Siebel touts online wares at Comdex
• Road Runner messages 'censored', newsgroups complain
• Report Net attacks increasing
• Red Hat subscriptions beat expectations
• Proposed a Bounty for Bugs
• PalmSource launches online wireless store
• Nielsen music tracker adds online stores
• New music deal for European Internet radio buffs
• Music labels monitor P2P nets to list most popular songs
• Move Over DVD, Here Comes the EVD
• Microsoft to Give Music a Whirl
• Microsoft music store to open next year
• Microsoft brings locked music downloads to US
• Microsoft aims to 'shift the tide' in war on spam
• Linux leaders offer education discounts
• License terms set for Net video codec
• Kazaa ads tell P2P users to speak up
• ICANN wins first round of Wait List fight
• IBM donates code to open-source project
• Hungover CNET wakes up next to MP3.com
• Huawei-3Com tie-up approved
• GoDaddy sorry for anonymity snafu
• FSF eases Microsoft schema patent fears
• For Microsoft, it's the sound and the fury
• Does MSN get the message
• Cisco combats network worms
• CA offers free antivirus software
• Apple Unveils Latest Mac Models
• Apple adopts big screen for iMac
• Ad campaign tells drivers about new cellphone law
• 3Com and Huawei start China venture

Ahh, you gotta love it when a move comes back and bites the bad guy in the ass. Tarantella, a company whose sole product line is a web based remote access product, was once the owner of the SCO OS division that is now causing such hardships and mosquito like annoyances before the company sold the division to Caldera. That entity is now that annoying little mosquito still trying to get noticed for more than just being a blood sucker. Tarantella has now shown support for the new Novell acquisition SuSE and the well known Red Hat brand of Linux. Novell, for their part in this news story, have told SCO that they are full of it, that there was no agreement between the two over OS and enterprise tool creation, and invited them to screw themselves. I may be paraphrasing.