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Alternate Blog

I've decided to start a web log over at Live Journal. I found that I've been having a hard time finding time to blog, and when I do find time, I don't have my computer around. So instead, I'm going the route of least resistance.

The new journal can be found here.

posted at 22:19 [] #

Movie Review: Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

Let me start this post by saying I fucking hate George Lucas!!! That should set the tone.

I won't ruin it for those who haven't seen it yet. Let me just say that the story, what there was of it, was uneven and poorly told. We all know that Anikin becomes Darth Vader and Padme is the mother of Luke & Leia. It's how we get there that is the interesting part. That's why I wanted to see this movie.

The problem was, Lucas wrote himself into a corner with the crap that he put out for the first two movies, and then needed to tie it all up with this one. There was just too much disparity between the story we all grew up with and the new movies.

There were some cool battle sequences. But between them was too little story. You find people on all sorts of planets for no clear reason. Characters are introduced, but then nothing is done with them. Fucking Chewbacca was in it and he didn't have anything to do. It was a waste.

One of the funny things is I really wanted to like this one. I was really looking forward to each of the films and was disappointed again and again. After the initial positive reviews, I thought, okay he's going to redeem himself and fix things. I was expecting way too much. I was disappointed yet again.

posted at 03:14 [/movies] #

New Arrival

Many of you already know this, but on Monday of last week (March 7, 2005) our new daughter Ripley Lynn arrived. She was 4 weeks early, but weighed in at 7lbs 4ozs. G was happy that she came a little early because otherwise she would have been a monster.

G was a trooper through the whole thing and went completely natural. She didn't even have an asprin for pain relief through the ordeal. It was painful to watch, but I'm sure it was nothing in comparison to what she was feeling. By the time she did ask for something, it was too late to give her anything. I have a new found respect for anyone who can manage this.

Outside of watching my wife in pain, it was miraculous to watch. Seeing Ripley arrive was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. I know this is completely cleche, but it's true.

Now before I get a bunch of hate mail, here are the pictures.

posted at 20:58 [/misc] #

Interesting Articles: Evolution and stem-cell research

A couple of weeks back, I saw this article that was an interesting discussion about human evolution, neanderthals, stem-cell research and how they are all related. It is a fun read.

It always stuns me that people still can't come to terms with Evolution even though many aspects of medicine are directly based on the fact that it's true. How else would it be possible to do medical research using non-human animals? Seriously.

posted at 18:25 [/articles] #

Mythbusters

It shouldn't be a big surprise, but Mythbusters is one of my favorite TV shows. G & I watch every new episode together. If you haven't seen it, it's kind of "Mr. Science" meets "Monster Garage" for lack of a better explanation. They look at popular urban myths and figure out whether they are plausible or crap. Generally, something gets blown up in the process.

Anyway, they were the draw at one of the vendor parties last night. Frankly, it was the only reason I went because my company, or at least my division, has no need for this specific product. So, I went for free beer, hors douvres and the Mythbusters. It was very cool because they had a Q&A period, followed by the bloopers that they can't broadcast due to content, and then socialization. I got to talk to Adam for about 20 minutes asking him various questions about things on the show and just BSing. Very cool. Plus I got my picture taken with them. I'll post it when I get access to a scanner (I don't carry one to conferences :-).

That was the high point of the week.

posted at 18:20 [/misc] #

Rants: National ID Cards

Last week legislation was introduced and passed by one of the houses that introduces a de facto national ID card. The purpose of the law is to crack down on illegal immigration. One of the provisions says that all states must have specific information available with driver's licenses in an electronically exchangeable format. The government will also not accept IDs for any official purpose that don't comply. States that don't comply will be denied funding from the Federal Government. This is a problem.

This won't actually solve the problem. It will just ensure that people find ways to get government issued IDs with other false credentials. I'm all for cracking down on illegal immigration, but this isn't the way to handle it. It may reduce the services that are offered to illegals, but I don't see this fixing the problem. You need to create stiff penalties, like deportation with no future hope of citizenship or legal entry. Of course, that is only an incentive for people that are seeking citizenship. This won't dis-incent terrorists or people that are just coming here for a higher (not high) standard of living.

I guess my point is that a simple thing like disallowing IDs to illegals and forcing all of us to have a de facto National ID doesn't fix immigration problems. It only tracks people that follow the rules, or can get around the rules. It doesn't confirm legitimacy.

posted at 16:59 [/rants] #

RSA conference

I've been spending this week in San Francisco at the 14th annual RSA security conference. It's been educational. There have been a number of sessions that have made me scratch my head and wonder how these idiots got to speak to this number of people. Then there were the talks that I came to see.

The funny thing is that there are more people here that I know and have read their books and papers than any other conference I've ever attended. Many of you reading this probably know that I like to read about security and crypto for fun. I don't get a lot of the higher level math, but I still think it's cool. Any way, I'm here hearing the big names in the field speak.

I saw a talk by two of the names at RSA (The 'R' and the 'S' specifically). Talking with them was Diffie of key exchange fame. How often do you get that? Then later in the day I saw a talk by one of my personal favorite writers, Bruce Schneier, who's work I often link. All of these were educational.

Then there were two talks by Richard Clark. You know, Mr "I told you so" on the whole 9/11 thing. It was cool to see him speak, but it was more of the same old thing.

I guess the most entertaining was the opening keynote by Bill Gates. It was kind of amusing having him speak at a computer security conference when his products are the biggest problems on the Net. The most amusing part of his talk was his pronouncement that SPAM has topped out and should decline, especially because of new technology that Microsoft is working on. He actually thinks that he can profile SPAM in a way that won't be circumvented in a day or two.

This afternoon, I should get to meet the Mythbusters at one of the booths in the expo hall. That will be cool. G & I love their show. I will post a picture of me with them if I manage to meet them.

posted at 16:51 [/misc] #

Rants: Election '04 part 3

I watched both of the speeches this afternoon. I need to say that I have respect for Kerry conceding the race. He could have pulled the bullshit that went on in the last election, but he faced the reality that he couldn't win and took the high road. It takes courage to do the right thing. I know that his supporters aren't happy with the outcome, but they supported a man that did the right thing. I also give him credit for wanting to head off some of the division that this election caused and I hope that it wasn't just posturing on the part of both candidates.

I've been reading posts by a lot of people in their blogs. Most of the people that I read seem to be diehard Kerry supporters. I am the minority among my friends and the blogs that I read. I find it really appalling that the people writing these blogs are such sore losers. Neither of the candidates was a real prize. I understand that this was an emotional election for everyone, but let's get real. George W. Bush cannot destroy this country by himself. He is not the anti-Christ. He is not entirely bad for this country. He is not entirely bad for the world. Get the fuck over it. Kerry was not going to fix all of the world's problems.

I don't like a lot of the policies of this administration. I think Ashcroft seriously needs to go. I'm not a big fan of the religion factor. I'm flabbergasted by the treatment of science.

Having said that, I am all for someone that is willing to take a stand and keep with his convictions. Even if I don't agree, you know where George stands. I wanted a candidate that I would feel comfortable with, and the Dems gave us John Kerry. You could never nail him down on specifically what he wanted to do. One of my co-workers summed up the problem: if you couldn't put together a candidate that could beat W. with all of his problems, especially after the 2000 election, you are a loser. All I needed was something other than "I'm not George Bush". I'm not going to vote for someone that won't tell me what he stands for. All he needed to do was answer the questions about what specifically he was going to do. I never heard that answer and I watched all of the debates. George was repetitive but he's done things to make things better. He's also made some things worse.

We all need to just relax a little bit. If you've been watching the way elections go, in order to get elected you need the support of the Christian Right. It is just a fact in elections. That is why both candidates reinforce that they go to church regularly. Now that George isn't going to be running again, there is the very real possibility that he won't pander to the right as much as he has. He needed their support in order to get elected and then re-elected. Give the man a chance. He is now free to veto things that he doesn't necessarily support. I don't believe that he is as far right as people make him out to be. He went right because he needed the Evangelical support.

People are also doing a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking on the Iraq thing. Congress saw the same intelligence and voted to allow the war. Bush couldn't do it without them. Everyone forgets that. It was his recommendation and others came to the same conclusions. The data was faulty, but knowing what he knew, I think he made the right decision. If he hadn't acted and there had been a terrorist attack, he would have been strung up and American civilians would be dead. He made the right choice, he may not have handled everything correctly, but he is human just like all men are. The upside is that Iraq will have free elections and Saddam is out of power. In addition, it will help stabilize the oil flow eventually so all of the American's can have their gas guzzling SUVs. I see a lot of them with Kerry stickers, and they don't see the irony in this.

Face it, as American's we want it both ways. We want safety, but we don't want to send troops into harms way to ensure it. We want stable energy sources, but we won't support other sources from oil. We are spoiled and we don't want to give anything up. Kerry promised "bread and circuses" and wouldn't tell how we were going to get it because I'm convinced he didn't have a plan to deliver. Bush at least is willing to do the unpopular thing because it is his job to do it.

posted at 18:13 [/rants] #

Rants: Election '04 part 2

It's the morning after. I'm batting about .500 on the election so far. The local stuff I wasn't even close on. Apparently we will be spending money in wasteful areas. Yeah... my taxes are going up. Fuck. And we passed a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage or any non-marriage union "that approximates marriage", what ever the fuck that means. On the up side, we did repeal a law saying you can't have any other laws giving special rights to gays; not that I am for "special" rights, but I think it was divisive and didn't help the city any.

Contrary to my hopes, we still don't have an official President-elect. It looks like Ohio will be the deciding factor. Part of me wishes that it was another state. Part of me is glad that my home state is the deciding factor in the election.

The biggest problem I have with this whole thing is the fact that neither of the candidates was what I wanted. You have two idiots that shouldn't be running for President, yet they are the only choices we have. Frankly, who ever wins, we don't. Personally, I would rather have a form of direct election. I think the electoral college is an antiquated system that fucks with the results every time. There is a summary of alternative voting methods in this month's Wired magazine.

posted at 07:20 [/rants] #

Rants: Election '04

As I feel it is my duty, I voted today. In all the years I've been eligible to vote, I think I've only missed 2 elections. I think that is a pretty good record. This year was a tough choice. I just needed to go with my gut on it, and hopefully my candidate wins because I'll hate it if the other guy wins.

My new problem is I am officially embarrassed to be from Ohio. Apparently, everyone else in the state thinks that gay marriage is wrong. They also think that we shouldn't recognize unmarried couples. This is plain wrong. As I've mentioned before, I don't think that its any one else's business if two gay people want to get married. I don't see how this affects my marriage.

I'm going to go to sleep and I wonder if there will be a President-elect when I wake up... Last time, I was in Boston and it was stressful hearing it go back and forth. I'll never forget getting on the plane in Cincinnati hearing the election going one way, getting off at Logan hearing it going the other way, then switching several times before I fell asleep. I'm not up for that this time.

posted at 22:26 [/rants] #