I've posted a very significant update to the site, but unfortunately, its one of those things where, if I've done my job properly, you won't be able to tell. I've made some significant changes to the Database to aid scalability.

Three changes you will see:
1. The main site now updates daily.
2. Thread links display the number of posts.
3. When you reply it tells you who its forwarding the reply to.

As always, tell me if you have any troubles...

] "But nowadays, if you consult the writings of the
] conservative and neoconservative penseurs, you will see
] that they are beginning to relish that very word.
] "Empire? Sure! Why not?""

Now, I've heard this twice. That the "conservatives" are actually using the word "Empire." This seems to be a meme. Both times I've heard it from people on the left. What do they mean by "conservatives." Exactly who are they talking about and how significant are they? I want a reference for this. I imagine that these references are always vauge so as to make this seem more significant then it is. Its the sort of thing you repeat without thinking about.

"Did YOU hear that CONSERVATIVES are now using the word EMPIRE in reference to the U.S.??"

"Gosh!"

Imperialism - Superpower dominance, malignant and benign. By Christopher Hitchens

flynn23 wrote:

] ] This is just stupid. If you were a terrorist would YOU show
] up
] ] for the INS roundup?
]
] that's exactly the point. It makes it much easier to catch the
] bad guys when everyone else is at the party across town.

Nice try, but if this was the case then they wouldn't have arrested so many people. You are over estimating the intelligence of your government beaurocrats.

1. I don't have a problem with the round up, only with the arrests.

2. They arrested people for simple paperwork problems (failed to file a change of address form) and "other crimes" which presumably includes traffic warrants, something the INS usually doesn't care about. They arrested as many people as they possibly could.

3. They arrested enough people to cause a scare, so if they run a similar program in another state there will be a large number of people who would otherwise have shown up who will not show up because they are afraid (maybe they have a traffic warrant out). The result is that if the intent is to observe who doesn't show, than these efforts will be LESS EFFECTIVE in the future because of the arrests. If the government is crafty enough to run this as a decoy, then they are crafty enough to make sure they don't ruin its usefulness for this purpose in the future.

4. All they had to do with the people who had paper work problems is give them an opportunity to fix things. This would serve the purpose of stirring up the community enough to notice the odd man out, it would get the INS paperwork in order, and INS ends up looking like someone you can trust.

5. Not showing up is a pre-tense for deportation of registered aliens. People are afraid to show cause they'll get poped for a traffic warrant, and now the feds have a reason to deport them.

6. Basically, the simplest explanation is that this is a fishing expedition. They can't haul the whole community in for questioning directly, but they've found a loophole that lets them net at least a quarter of the community.

7. The use of force beyond necessity is the definition of tyranny. (See 4.)

RE: Yahoo! News - Hundreds of Muslim Immigrants Rounded Up in Calif.

] "Hundreds of Iranian and other Middle East citizens were
] in southern California jails on Wednesday after coming
] forward to comply with a new rule to register with
] immigration authorities only to wind up handcuffed and
] behind bars."

This is just stupid. If you were a terrorist would YOU show up for the INS roundup?

Yahoo! News - Hundreds of Muslim Immigrants Rounded Up in Calif.

...by taxing all computer equipment... its not the best idea I've heard, but it is significant to hear this kind of thinking coming from someone like this.

Will Smith's lawyer wants to allow p2p music swapping...

] "The DMCA is one of those laws that limits criminal
] prosecutions to willful violations. In other words,
] Congress only wanted violations of the DMCA to be
] criminal when the person actually knew that they were
] violating the law and did it anyway. Because the San Jose
] jury was not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that
] ElcomSoft knew they were violating the law, the jury
] acquitted. "

politechbot.com: GWU prof Orin Kerr explains why Elcomsoft acquittal happened

] "In his experiment, Potter places a droplet of solution
] containing thousands of rat neuron cells onto a silicon
] chip that's embedded with 60 electrodes connected to an
] amplifier. The electrical signals that the cells fire at
] one another are picked up by the electrodes which then
] send the amplified signal into a computer. The computer,
] in turn, wirelessly relays the data to the robot.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Technology Review - Rat-Brained Robot

] In one skit, former Administrative Executive Peggy
] Menchaca played the part of Kinder as he received a
] budget report from then-President Jeff Skilling, who
] played himself, and Financial Planning Executive Tod
] Lindholm.
]
] When the pretend Kinder expressed doubt that Skilling
] could pull off 600 percent revenue growth for the coming
] year, Skilling revealed how it could be done.
]
] "We're going to move from mark-to-market accounting to
] something I call HFV, or hypothetical future value
] accounting," Skilling joked as he read from a script. "If
] we do that, we can add a kazillion dollars to the bottom
] line."

The video even contains a skit with both George Bush v1 and v1.9a.

Feds Want To See Enron Videotape

Little vs Big Brother:

Oakland sets to pass civil liberties resolution countering unconstitutional provisions of Patriot Act.

I like this idea, but its going to take a hell of a lot more then 50 cities to make this point. And the one I'm in is never going to participate. People in Nashville like doing what they are told too much.

12.17.02 - ACLU Press Release - Oakland City Council Expected to Pass Resolution Opposing the USA Patriot Act and Executive Actions

1. Ultimately, No. Wires supply bandwidth to wireless endpoint devices. Small cells = more bandwidth. This means you're going to want a wire in your house, just like you have now. There may be a transitional phase where you are routing backbone traffic across a wireless device, but eventually you're going to want that bandwidth locally. This is especially true in urban areas. Rural areas may need less in the way of wires. You may see rural wired telecom go away.

2. I want a device that streams over wifi and is a phone and is a PDA and is an mp3 player. Streaming will provide a short term IP solution. VoIP will happen because I don't want to also carry a phone, so my wifi phone from my house is also my wifi phone outside my house is also my ipod...

3. WiFi sort of. More bandwidth will be allocated. It will be more controlled. It will look a little like cellular ultimately, but more open. You'll have the same sort of AP in your house that your cellular company has out in the street. Small cells win. Platforms you can innovate on win. Using the same network card in my house, office, and on the street wins. 3G is a high power big cell solution that doesn't work for everything. You will PAY to use your neighbor's wifi. The networks will charge a flat rate and pay people who run access points a metered amount.

4. I have no idea. In some cases yes. In other cases no. This is basically how telcos generate cash to pay down debt; let the local government eat them... It will depend on how well the telco managers deal with their debt problems, if they can be dealt with at all.

5. The cost of dealing with this on top of the current debt load could really kill the RBOCS. I have no idea about Cisco/Lucent/Nortel.

6. I don't know on the technical side. However, I think the IETF is too dogmatic for its own good. Its totally subverted by the vendors and cannot see its own flaws. It may become irrelevant very rapidly as running code tends not to be produced there anymore. The market makes you interoperate, and having a standard is as easy as publishing a document. Interoperable standards always win. If people need QOS, the networks will build it. The networks will eliminate IP spoofing and solve the relay problem. These will be features that the router companies offer the ISPs/updates to sendmail. You will need to explicitly tell the network if you want to provide a service, and your OS will update automatically every night. You may do MPLS tagging on your desktop. The networks can enforce MTUs. It will be "IP" but it might look a hell of a lot like ATM and the network will become as smart as possible in an attempt to avoid commoditization of the service.

Now, who the hell should I invest in? I have no idea who is going to make the right decisions here, and there are many people in positions to do so. Shame I'm not one of them.