June 30, 2003
We Support You!
This website (Flash Presentation) is just awesome, check it out if you get a minute.
June 27, 2003
U.S. Military's New Laser Defense System
Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) Program
The fixed-site version Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) THEL, was developed by TRW Inc. under a $89 million contract. During several tests in teh USA, the system has shot down 25 Katyusha rockets, but has not been deployed.
The system has not progressed much since the end of the demonstration program, since the lack of mobility and the fixed base limitations of the system made in insufficient to counter long range rockets currently employed by Hezbulla at the Israeli northern border with Lebanon. While Katyusha rockets had a range of 20 kilometers, and could hit only a few urban targets, the long range rockets have a range of 70 kilometers and can hit strategic facilities and large urban areas in the Haifa bay. A laser-based defense against such weapons must rely on more systems, which could be rapidly mobilized to protect a much larger area. Similar threats could face US contingencies in other parts of the world. This requirement is driving the need for an air-mobile version of the beam weapon.
A study completed in 2001 concluded that the rocket interceptor has "lots of promise" and further development should be pursued, primarily in enabling system's mobility. Mobility considerations for the future mobile systems include system mobility (road and off road capabilities) and air transportability, including the type of transport aircraft it should fit on (C-130, C-17 or C-5). Conclusions of these studies will define the necessary size- reduction technologies required for the future version.
Further studies of the system include the use of such laser beam weapons to provide "hard kill" defenses against artillery projectiles, UAVs and cruise missiles.
Donotcall.gov Freedom from Telemarketers!
If you want to stop telemarketers from calling your phone then check out Donotcall.gov
this is a brand new government website setup to support the new FCC rules which will keep most telemarketers from calling you.
What's better is you can file a complaint as well! Yea.
June 26, 2003
Chante Mallard Found Guilty
Chante Mallard the "Windshield Killer" has been found guilty of Murder and Tampering with Evidence. I am glad to see our justice system FINALLY did what it is supposed to do. The fact is she hit this guy on the street, he was lodged into her windshield. Chante then proceeded to drive home, park her car into the garage, close the garage door and go inside. He was still alive.
What's even more amazing is her friends told her to call 911 and she became "angry"? What the heck is that!?!? The hearing heard testimony from an EMT, doctor and other in the medical field who all said the two or so hours he hung upside down in her windshield he could have been saved. He did Not have to Die.
Instead of wasting our tax dollars on this low life we should allow Gregory Biggs's family to run her down in their cars.
June 25, 2003
Muddysmind.com back up and running
Well, it seemed we exceeded my daily bandwidth on my site so they shut it down. After finding it down Thursday, I called up and was told it would be back up in 2 hours. This pattern continued until Tuesday Morning when my webhost was able to get their server problems fixed. Now we should be ok. I have moved the madden2003 files off this server to another so it should reduce the bandwidth problem.
On with the show!
- Muddy
Hooked On Madden 2003 Video's a Hit!
Oh My! I can't believe that a lone Madden 2003 fan created these videos by himself.
To say I'm impressed is an understatement. Even if you don't like games these rock.
There are two sizes... (both windows media format .wmv)
Download them via the links section on the right.
Kudo's To Virtute, these videos are beautifully done.
June 14, 2003
How far do you trust Microsoft?
Technology analyst Bill Thompson wonders who would trust an anti-virus product from Microsoft
This week Microsoft announced plans to buy a Romanian anti-virus technology company, and instantly the technology sites were full of speculation about what it all means.
Shares in anti-virus firms dropped in value, comparisons were made with the browser wars when Microsoft used illegal tactics against Netscape's Navigator web browser, and everyone assumes that the whole anti-virus market would be completely turned upside down.
The regulars from the industry, like Graham Cluley from Sophos, are wheeled out to make their pronouncements, and Microsoft gets a massive amount of publicity for very little effort indeed.
To bundle or not to bundle?
It helps that that GeCad, the company involved, makes one of the few serious anti-virus tools for Linux, as this fuels another level of the grand Microsoft conspiracy theory.
Since GeCad's RAV software will be discontinued if the deal goes through, the paranoid argue, all Microsoft are really trying to do is weaken the market for open source software.
There are, of course, examples of technologies which were doing very well as third-party add-ons until Microsoft decided to bundle them with Windows and take over the market.
The web browser is the most obvious, but disk de-fragmenters, disk compression tools and network software all came first.
In fact, Microsoft had its own bundled anti-virus program for DOS and Windows 3.1 back in 1994, but it was not a success, primarily because the company could not get updates out to people reliably.
This was before the rapid growth of the internet, when viruses spread on floppy disks, and getting new signature files to people meant posting them.
However it does demonstrate that not everything Microsoft wants to do is a success, and this may be doubly true for a modern anti-virus product.
Lots of support
First, it is hard to do.
The successful vendors have massive teams of developers analysing new viruses, providing customer support and running around to make sure that large-scale outbreaks are contained.
They do not just deal with home users, either. Big companies spend lots of money on virus protection because of the potential damage to their business.
Microsoft may have bought in some expertise for writing the software, but it will take a lot to get the support structure in place, and customers who have been unhappy with its level of support for the software it provides today are unlikely to be convinced it can do this well.
This leads to the second point. Microsoft has a poor track record when it comes to the security of its products and its ability to deal with these problems effectively.
Some of the patches it sends out to customers cause new problems and have to be recalled, and many computer administrators are suspicious of software updates in case they break working programs.
Security holes
Why should anyone want a Microsoft anti-virus program?
We do have good and effective anti-virus software today. I have never been infected, and I get a lot of e-mail and have a permanent connection.
The combination of a third-party firewall and a third-party AV program keeps my Windows computers safe from harm.
But I know what damage the interaction between the various components of Microsoft Office and the Windows operating system can do.
It opens up security holes, gives virus writers the hooks they need to install their software on my system and has required dozens of patches and software updates over the years to make it even moderately safe.
How can I be sure that Microsoft will not decide to make its own anti-virus software 'easier' to use, or 'more convenient', and in the process damage its effectiveness?
The competition among the AV software firms, and their independence from the operating system vendor, is the best guarantee I have that they will protect me.
Price for using Windows
They have no interest in protecting Microsoft's public image, they have no access to the internals of the Windows operating system, and they have a lot to lose if they get it wrong.
I do not want to be stuck with a Microsoft anti-virus program as the price of using Windows.
If a team of anti-virus writers come on board and get unrestricted access to the source code of Windows so that they can spot the bugs and errors that a virus would use to damage my computer, then they could be useful.
But that would be because they make it harder for virus writers to work, not because they have written a new anti-virus program.
I suspect I am not alone in saying that I would never buy, trust or install an anti-virus package with the Microsoft name on it.
SCO may expand Linux case soon
The SCO Group soon may open another front in its legal battle against Linux by filing suit against a major hardware manufacturer in North America, a company executive said.
In an interview with CNET News.com, Chris Sontag, senior vice president at SCO, said the Lindon, Utah-based company likely will file a new suit or amend its controversial lawsuit against IBM to target other companies SCO believes are illegally appropriating its Unix source code.
"The fact that there are other companies infringing our contract... (means) there could be other complaints," Sontag said.
In particular, Sontag said that a "major" hardware vendor inserted code protected by SCO's Unix intellectual-property rights into a Linux product.
The identity of that company remains a mystery for the moment, as the major Unix manufacturers appear to be ruled out. Sontag said it is not an overseas manufacturer and that Sun Microsystems had a very strong licensing agreement with SCO that allows the server giant to make derivative Unix products. Sun has paid nearly $100 million to license Unix over the years, he added.
"They have rights that no other Unix vendor has," he said.
A Hewlett-Packard spokeswoman, meanwhile, denied it was HP, to the best of the company's knowledge. SCO's major Unix licensees in the computing hardware business are IBM, Fujitsu, NEC, HP and Sun. SCO also recently signed a licensing agreement with an unnamed major hardware manufacturer.
Other Unix hardware vendors include SGI, but these companies are second-tier players. Of course, there are several hardware and chip companies that do not specialize in Unix but that participate in Linux development.
SCO shocked the technology industry in March by suing IBM, claiming major portions of the Linux software the Armonk, N.Y., company distributes are based on Unix source code SCO controls. SCO is likely to up the ante against IBM soon by seeking to revoke the company's Unix license.
The dispute has grown to rattle the growing movement to boost corporate use of Linux, embroil SCO in spat with former business buddy Novell and possibly open a new front in Microsoft's war against Linux.
Sontag said SCO has found numerous other violations since filing the IBM suit. "We keep finding more stuff every day," he said. "There's (allegedly infringing) code in all the Linux distributions."
"If it were a few lines of code, I'd give it to you," he said. SCO wasn't aware of any potential infringement until CEO Darl McBride began to ask engineers to investigate how Linux could have grown so quickly. Statements by IBM to shift customers away from its Unix product AIX to Linux also prompted the company to consider if Big Blue was violating any licensing agreements.
Linux software companies could also become SCO targets. "Do we have potential issues with Red Hat, SuSE and other commercial Linux distributors--yes, we might," Sontag said, adding that chances for negotiating with such companies appear to be slim.
"Red Hat has been saying all along, 'We don't believe in licensing IP (intellectual property),'" he said.
A Red Hat representative said that the company has not been contacted by SCO regarding possible legal issues and that Red Hat's approach to intellectual property is to only distribute software under the open-source general public license.
Sontag said SCO planned to have suggested remediation measures ready by next month for companies it believes to be infringing on its Unix rights, including the 1,500 corporations that received warning letters from SCO last month.
"Hopefully by July, we'll have some solutions we can offer," he said.
Those remedial measures, however, seem to point toward some sort of royalty payment, as SCO does not believe that its intellectual property can be easily extracted from Linux. Not only are there lines of SCO's code in Linux, but also derivative products based on SCO intellectual property have been created, Sontag said. Getting all of the protected bits out, assuming SCO's claims are valid, would be a huge chore.
"Our biggest issues are with the derivative code," he said. "It would be almost impossible to separate it out."
By David Becker and Michael Kanellos
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
June 13, 2003, 4:16 PM PT
June 08, 2003
Why do those who came from other countries love the US more than natural born citizens?
THE SECOND rover is scheduled for launch later this month, and both vehicles are to arrive at Mars in January.
The rovers were officially named on Sunday. Third-grader Sofi Collis, 9, of Scottsdale, Ariz. chose the name Spirit for the first rover and Opportunity for the second in a nationwide contest that drew 10,000 entries.
“I used to live in an orphanage. It was dark and cold and lonely,” said Sofi, who was adopted from Siberia at age 2. “In America, I can make all my dreams come true. Thank you for the spirit and the opportunity.”
Thats what I'm talking about.
June 07, 2003
LinuX r0X0r's j00!
Yea ok, haX0r talk is dumb.
I totally waxed my mandrake 9.0 install, so I attempted Gentoo (Again!) 1.4rc4.
After 2.5 days of compilling and installing I got it to boot to console, weeee! better than last time I tried it. However this time it refused to load the tulip module I needed for my nic.
So I had to admit I'm not has cool as some and revert back to Mandrake only I opted to upgrade to 9.1.
Well I worked most of my time saturday getting mythtv to work and it's running solid now. I'll post the files I use and some tips for Mandrake 9.1 users when I get home. Oh and btw.. KDE 3.1 is da' Bomb! I'll post some screen too in a bit.
The war in Iraq
Okay, not trying to beat a dead horse here but VOANews.comis reporting a classified Defense Intelligence Agency report from last September suggests Washington was less certain about Iraq's weapon systems than Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top U.S. officials indicated before the war.
Also consider
this
June 06, 2003
Muslim Women has to unveil for drivers license
From
signonsandiego.com
Finally some common sense in the judicial system.
I seen a picture of her without the veil on CNN. They obviously didnt show her face to the judge because if they did then she would be forced to wear it all the time because
SHE IS UGLY!!!!
June 03, 2003
Gay & Lesbo Awareness??
Ok, I got into work and pulled up the company web page as I do every day.
What do I see on the front page news?
It’s Gay & Lesbian Awareness Month Read More...
Now I have to ask, what does the perverse sexual acts people practice in private have to do with my job?? There is no reason to have that on a corporate web page.
That is such total and complete garbage man, I think there is more relevance to having a color blindness awareness or handicap awareness month than a gay/lesbo month.
I'm sick and tired of this type of backwards thinking in society.
I don't care what people do in private, but why is it necessary for me to be aware of it? Especially at a supposed professional place of business. I think it's sad.
If society thinks we need to be aware of this, then perhaps we should have necrophiliac awareness month, and hermaphrodite awareness month. That's how stupid this is.
Our country is trying so hard to be sensitive to the few we're becoming abrasive to the many. It's a sad testimony to our public school systems change from teaching knowledge and facts to teaching feelings.
- Muddy