Monday - 6 March 2000
Top of the mornin' to you. The weather was great this weekend. Clear and warm. Perfect weather to go to the beach and then do some gardening.
Win2000, The Sequel. So, in spite of the best advice not to install Win2000 you've gone and done it anyway. And now you ask; "What's next?" Well, you don't think that money making machine is going to stop there do you. Coming up are "upgrades" to BackOffice applications, Datacenter Server, 64-bit NT, Whistler, and Next Generation Windows Services (NGWS). You also have to figure their biggest cash cow, Office, will probably also be reved within the next year or so. Have fun.
Speed Kills. Credibility that is. Both Intel and AMD have pushed up release of their 1Ghz CPUs. Or at least, they have pushed up official announcements of each. This, at a time when finding 800Mhz-level chips are as scarce as a honest politician. Expect long waits for these chips. YMMV.
I have a meeting this morning with the head Librarian of the law library here so I gotta' run. I will try to do a noon update. See you then.
***** Noon Update *****
A hearty welcome to the newest members of the Daynotes Gang. Here's looking forward to informative discussions and accurate, timely technical information. And if that doesn't put enough pressure on them, I expect them to be funny also (and their cheques to clear).
Speaking of Vacations. My plans for May have firmed up. SWCNBD and I leave early in May and return two weeks later. Must do our best to help the economy so we will spread copious amounts of cash everywhere we go. Ahem. Well, maybe a few greenbacks here and there. OK. So maybe we'll visit a few McDonalds and have a burger and fries. Satisfied now? You should be ashamed of yourselves.
Cable Ties. We were surfing the channels last night and saw "The Godfather" playing (the movie, not the wrestler). Even though I had seen the movie when it first came out in the early 70s, it kind of surprised me by how much graphic violence there was in it. While I am opposed to most forms of censorship, I hope parents take their roles seriously and don't let their children watch this kind of movie until/if/when they are ready to. There's been enough scientifically controlled studies to indicate that watching violence does lead to more violent behavior (at least in the short-term). So think about it before letting the kids watch.
Test Pilot. No. I'm not referring to some new flight simulator. The meeting this morning with the head librarian of the state Supreme Court Library was to go over some new things they are doing with their web site. It is an intranet site so you can't see it. But, in general, they are trying to get people interested in some potential uses of the 'net. For example, discussion groups, surveys, dissemination of up-to-date information. I suggested some sites for server resources so they could implement some of the things they are talking about. Especially their need to load Perl from activestate.com. Once they have that going, they will have the basic infrastructure laid in. Every time I meet with someone from the library I am impressed at how lucky we are to have such good people working for the state. If only everyone were as helpful...
Aloha!
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Tuesday - 7 March 2000
Super Tuesday. Oscar winning actor Ben Affleck is the latest addition to the soon to filmed here "Pearl Harbor." Already signed is fellow Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr. Rumored to be in negotiations is Gwyneth Paltrow and Gene Hackman. Gee, an all Oscar winning cast. It will probably bomb. <g>[Someone must stop this man before he does this again. - Ed.]
Texas Fried Chicken. What a difference a year makes. The University of Texas football team scheduled playing the University Hawai'i at a time when UH was 0 and 12. Then came coach June Jones and the turn-around of all time. Now the University of Texas Leghorns, ahem, I mean Longhorns, want to back out of their contract and are willing to pay UH $100,000 rather than play. Whatever happens, the UH comes out looking pretty good and the Chickens just looked plucked.
Passing Gas. As the summer vacation period approaches, the one sure thing is that gas prices will go up. A gallon of unleaded here is now going for $1.60/gallon USD. It is projected to hit $1.80 to $2.00 by June. Should this occur, inflation would explode and this would sound the death knell of the longest period of economic growth the US has seen. See the story here from the Los Angeles Times.
Weak Solutions. So security firm VeriSign, is buying registry giant Network Solutions (hawk, spit). Surely there must be some hidden advantage to this acquisition. What that could be I don't have a clue. It seems to me people are leaving Network Solutions as soon as they can due to poor service and high prices. This, as more and more registries come on line. That is a deadly combination. So what is really behind this? Who knows.
Aloha!
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Hump Day Wednesday - 8 March 2000
But they didn't inhale. Last night was the internal state Legislative deadline for voting on bills to be sent forward from one house to the other. And both the Senate and the House passed bills to legalize marijuana use for medical purposes. This is the first time in our history that this has happened. While both bills have a ways to go before they would reach the Governor for signature, it does appear likely that at least one will make it there.
Six other states - Alaska, Arizona, California, Maine, Oregon, and Washington have already approved marijuana for medical uses. Of course, Federal law still prohibits it. Hence, if you puff some Kona Gold, you could end up in Federal court.
Affirmative Action. I know there is a backlash against the idea of affirmative action in the more conservative states. But it's good to know that not everyone is against doing what is right vs. what is popular. An estimated 10,000 people flooded the Florida state Capitol grounds yesterday chanting "shame on [Gov. Jeb] Bush" for his plan to end affirmative action there. So far, only California, Washington, and Texas have reversed the tide of affirmative action. I would guess others will follow. To the loss of all of us.
Signs of the Times. What happens when a regulatory agency gets in bed with the industry it's supposed to watch dogging? Well, we get regulations that say if a food is made with less than 50% organic (as opposed to what? Strontium 90?) ingredients it can still be labeled as organic. At least that's what the US Department of Agriculture is proposing. I'd like to label the department as not needed if that's the best they can do.
Mail Call: And finally (for now), this in from Daynoter Brian Bilbrey on the gas prices in California:
To: Dan Seto
From: Brian Bilbrey [bilbrey@pacbell.net]
Subject: Prices at the cheap stations
Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2000 20:44:16 -0800
In Sunnyvale right now [$]1.72, 1.82, 1.92. It took PG [Proctor & Gamble] earnings warnings to melt the Dow, though. Hell, we can always go TAKE the oil <G>.
--
regards,
Brian Bilbrey
www.OrbDesigns.com
bilbrey@orbdesigns.com
---
I replied, in my best eastern dialect "Were you addressing me, a$$hole?" and the conversation went downhill from there. RBTFrom: Dan Seto
To: Brian Bilbrey [bilbrey@pacbell.net]
Subject: Re: Prices at the cheap stations
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 06:30:28 -1000>in Sunnyvale right now 1.72, 1.82, 1.92.
Are those prices serve-your-self? If so, I guess I'm even more lucky to be living here than I thought...>Hell, we can always go TAKE the oil <G>.
For that matter, we could just squeeze it out of Kuwait. So you want to raise the prices, eh? Remember a few years ago when we sent our sons and daughters to fight Sadam? Well, now it's pay back time...Or next time, we'll make you the 51st state. Manifest Destiny don't you know...<g>To: Dan Seto
From: Brian Bilbrey [bilbrey@pacbell.net]
Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2000 09:06:50 +0000
Subject: Re: Prices at the cheap stationsYah, that's self-serve prices, not Shell or Chevron either, but brokered gas station. Sigh.
.b
Aloha!
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Thursday - 9 March 2000
Pretty Bad Program. Both Tom Syroid and Shawn Wallbridge recommend PGP for authenticating email. Tom has a link to it in his posting this week. Based on their use, I downloaded and installed the latest version. I used the default installation and was a little surprised when it asked if it was OK to use the IBM Token-Ring PCI card. Hmmm. Must be part of its Virtual Private Network (VPN) capability. Everything seemed fine otherwise. I generated a pair of keys but when it was time to transmit the public key to the server it said it could not find it (the server). Hmmm. I fired up Opera and Opera said it could not find my default home page (which resides on our intranet web server). Hmmm. It also couldn't find anything else out there. So I opened a DOS box and ping myself first (127.0.0.1). That worked fine. I then tried pinging the DNS, gateway, and web server. Nothing. No connectivity at all. Hmmm. Everything was working fine before I loaded PGP so making an incredible leap of understanding, I figured PGP was causing the problem. But to make sure, I logged on to another PC and found access to the Internet working just fine. That clinched it. So I opened the online documentation and read the trouble shooting section. Unfortunately, I guess they think there are no problems with their VPN implementation because there was nothing relevant there. Hmmm. Well nothing to do but uninstall. So that's what I did. And now, everything is working fine.
Since all of this was taking place this morning, which is when I usually write my daily post, this is all I have until the noon update. Sorry. But the dog ate my PGP keys.
***** Noon Update *****
OK. So why would anyone want to digitally sign their email? And if that's what they wanted to do, how do you do it? There's a short tutorial here at C|NET. But when you sign a paper-based letter, or contract, or charge slip, you are authenticating that piece of paper. That is, you are saying that this is your sign and that no one is authorized, other than yourself, to use that sign. So it is with digital signatures.
I won't go into detail about the two major (and incompatible) types of signatures (S/MIME RSA and PGP). Suffice it to say that Microsoft supports RSA and everyone else uses PGP. If the people you are going to send to all use MS then use RSA ( Thwate will issue a free certificate. VeriSign is better known but charges you a yearly fee). Otherwise use PGP. I used PGP when I first got online in the BBS days (those of you who don't know what a BBS is didn't miss all that much). But I never did like having the public key cluttering up the email (it displays the key at the bottom of everything you sign as opposed to RSA which does not display anything in Outlook) and so switched to RSA about a year ago. And now I'm back looking at PGP. The more things change...
Country Roads. It's interesting to look at the server logs and see what country people are visiting from. I'm a little worried about the hits from Trinidad and Tobago and Czechoslovakia since they are known for their unsavory internet activities (scams and viruses respectively) but I digress. Have a look here at the list. This is truly a global village.
Will They Never Learn? The Register (story here) is quoting a San Francisco Chronicle story about how; "...when users of Sprint's new wireless data service call up a Web site, their cellphone numbers are embedded in the http requests." Hmmm. Not only does it act as a cookie, but now the SPAM sites can *CALL* you on your cell phone. And Sprint see this as a Good Thing. The story came out on the 3rd so perhaps Sprint is right. But if I were using their service, this would be a major WTF.
Aloha!
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Aloha Friday - 10 March 2000
It's Friday!
X Files. So MS is getting into the game
console business and officially announced today the code
named X-Box. The X-Box site is here. And I
guess if you are into games this may get your trigger
finger a twitching. The specs are:
600 MHz x86 compatible CPU
Custom 3-D NVIDIA graphics processor
64 MB of RAM (unified memory architecture)
Custom 3-D audio processor
8GB hard drive
4X DVD drive with movie playback
Four game controller ports
Expansion port
Proprietary A/V connector
100 MBps Ethernet
Searching. I did a quick run through the other Daynotes sites to find out how many had a search engine of any kind pointing at their daynotes. As far as I could see, Dr. Pournelle, Thompson, Bilbrey, Tucker, Rota, and myself have them (my apologies to anyone if I missed them). Why am I checking on this? Well, each day, each Daynoter has links to interesting places. Places that I many not have time to go to that day. Or that week. And so, after the passage of a week or two [more like a minute or two - Ed.], I've long since forgotten who/when/where the link I'm looking for is.
Now, I know it's probably too much to ask if there is a service that can search multiple sights all at once. But if there is, can someone let me know about it? It would be invaluable to search all of the daynotes sights all at once. However, if there isn't such an animal, it sure would be nice if everyone had a search engine on their own page. Yes, I know, this is my problem and if I had half-a-mind, I could bookmark the site as I see them. But. Surely everyone sees the need to have the search capability for others? Or not. Maybe it's just me. Sigh.
Not much interesting going on today (at least as far I've been able to find) so far so this will be short post. Plus, I need to get ready for our regular Friday staff meeting so I'm outta' here. See you at the lunch break.
***** Noon Update *****
PGP Update III. OK, since Tom, Shawn, Phil, and Bo all are OK with PGP, I guess I am also [as they gang up on me and twist my arm 'til I say mean and nasty things about Bill Gates]. My main concern with PGP, other than all of things Bo says below, is that it includes the key as a visible footer to every email that you sign. Yes, you can configure PGP to automatically decrypt incoming email (and therefore you wouldn't see the key). But when it does that, it seems to change the font size to a smaller font. Now, being of the advanced age of 43 (I think. I was born in 1957, you do the math), small type is not something I can see very well anymore. But then, that's my problem, not yours.
-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Seto
To: Daynotes Gang
Sent: Friday, March 10, 2000 2:38 PM
Subject: PGP Keys-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1OK guys. Here's my key. But are we going to be signing everything we send? If so, we get these lovely pieces of gibberish at the bottom of each sent page. Is this OK with everyone? Or can/do we want to standardize on digital certificates (assuming we are going to standardize on anything)?
Just asking.
Aloha - Dan
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGPfreeware 6.5.2 for non-commercial use [http://www.pgp.com]iQA/AwUBOMldQkuaw7G/VeUuEQLb5gCfV23vZJExpyalladocious
=6VZI
-----END PGP SIGNATURE----------Original Message-----
From: Tom Syroid [tom@syroidmanor.com]
To: Dan Seto
Subject: RE: PGP Keys
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 14:49:22 -0600Dan,
I can['t] speak for anyone else, but I sign stuff I think is important to be signed (e.g., a file attachment or important warning). I don't sign everything, but I'd rather tolerate the "gibberish" knowing what it means. I have a cert, but I don't use. My reasons are on yesterday's update.
/tom
From: "Bo Leuf" [bo@leuf.com]
Organization: Leuf fc3 Consultancy
To: Daynotes Gang
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 22:30:28 +0100I'm currently downloading PGP 6.5.1 -- I've had *old* versions for a long time, but never really used it. I note that 6.5.2 is not yet available outside the US -- the legally international re-engineered versions are kept at http://www.pgpinternational.com
Sigh -- required-fields form registration and an 8 Mb file... (If I was German or French, it would be around 15 Mb, so I should consider myself lucky I suppose.)
Hmm...
"By downloading this software, you are agreeing to receive faxes, calls, or emails to upgrade this freeware software to fully licensed product. And, you will receive periodic updates on new products and programs that are available. You will have the option to UNSUBSCRIBE@nai.com after the first contact."
And...
"The customer shall not disclose the results of any benchmark test to any third party without prior consent from Network Associates."
"The customer will not publish reviews of the product without prior consent from Network Associates."
/ Bo
-----BEGIN AGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: AGPsalemware 9.9.9 for feline use, all byte and legal claws apply, warlock strength encryptation for gourmetsQwErtyuiOPåäölKhgFDSAZXcvBNMblabla,...
-----END AGP SIGNATURE-----
--
"Bo Leuf" [bo@leuf.com]
Leuf fc3 Consultancy
http://www.leuf.com/
© 2000 Daniel K. Seto. All rights reserved.