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Monday - 17 September 2001

DeCSS Gallery. You can follow this link here to take a look at everything you would ever want to know about the DeCSS algorithm for reading encrypted DVDs. Included, for purely academic purposes, is the full source code. In fact, there are several versions at the site you may want to examine. I found the site while looking for something else and have the link above for the legal issues this case highlights. I do not know if the code actually works (I assume you need a C compiler) so you are on your own on that. YMMV.

Changing Times. InfoWorld's Bob Lewis has an interesting column this week on change (see it here). His main theme is that people don't resist all change, just change that they feel is not in their best interest. His way of getting a positive response to change is to involve the people affected in how to implement the change.

Mental Monday. Monday's will be busy for me because I have class and as usual, I have to read a couple of hundred pages for each class. Next semester will be even worse when I take two classes. Technically, I'm taking two classes this semester but one of them is the Practicum that I already finished this past summer. By the way, I got an "A" on my 28 page paper </pat_on_back>

To fill space </truth_in_advertising>, below is something done by Canadian Gordon Sinclair in 1973:

The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French and British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany. It has declined there by 41% since 1971 and this Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least-appreciated people in all the earth.

As long as sixty years ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I read of floods on the Yellow River and the Yangtse. Who rushed in with men and money to help? The Americans did.

They have helped control floods on the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges and the Niger. Today, the rich bottom land of the Mississippi is under water and no foreign land has sent a dollar to help. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy, were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of those countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.

When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.

When distant cities are hit by earthquakes, it is the United States that hurries into help... Managua Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples. So far this spring, 59 American communities have been flattened by tornadoes. Nobody has helped.

The Marshall Plan .. the Truman Policy .. all pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now, newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent war-mongering Americans.

I'd like to see one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplanes.

Come on... let's hear it! Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tristar or the Douglas 107? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all international lines except Russia fly American planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or women on the moon?

You talk about Japanese technocracy and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy and you find men on the moon, not once, but several times ... and safely home again. You talk about scandals and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everyone to look at. Even the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, most of them ... unless they are breaking Canadian laws .. are getting American dollars from Ma and Pa at home to spend here.

When the Americans get out of this bind ... as they will... who could blame them if they said 'the hell with the rest of the world'. Let someone else buy the Israel bonds, Let someone else build or repair foreign dams or design foreign buildings that won't shake apart in earthquakes.

When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke. I can name to you 5,000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble.

Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

Our neighbours have faced it alone and I am one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles.

I hope Canada is not one of these. But there are many smug, self-righteous Canadians. And finally, the American Red Cross was told at its 48th Annual meeting in New Orleans this morning that it was broke.

This year's disasters .. with the year less than half-over, has taken it all and nobody...but nobody... has helped.

Aloha!

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Tuesday - 18 September 2001

Can't Get There From Here. Connectivity to the Internet is down this morning so you will get this when I can transfer it up and out.

I Can See Clearly Now. Yes, this is a new kind of war. Unfortunately, it's becoming clear that it will be fought the old way. First, by diplomatic means, then legal, then by the air, then through masses of military men and women. Extra points if you realize this sounds like what happened in the Gulf conflict.

But this war won't be won by such tactics. Instead of the Gulf, think of Vietnam. Think of attacking a people on their own land. Think of a previous invasion by another power who became mired in a war of attrition where the enemy silently moved from location to location (using tactics straight from the American Revolutionary War against the British). Think of how we came in, touting our supposedly superior firepower, technology, and rightness of purpose.

Are we prepared for that kind of war? Time will tell, but one thing is clear - if we aren't, this could spiral out of control and light the match that will consume the world.

Maluhia

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Wednesday - 19 September 2001

Mail Call.

From: Jan Swijsen
To: Dan Seto
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 6:29 AM
Subject: Afgani'etnam

The big difference, and one that may be decisive, is that in Vietnam there was a big 'super' power providing means (weapons, amo, medicine, ...) to the opponent.

Same with the retreat of the Russians from Afghanistan. They lost mainly because the Taliban were (silently) supported by the US.

(my spell checker wants to replace Taliban with 'tailbone' <g>)

--
Svenson.

----- Original Message -----

From: Dan Seto
To: Jan Swijsen
Subject: Re: Afgani'etnam
Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 06:57:38 -1000

Good point, and I agree there are differences. But I think the Taliban already has their own backing. Not only the hundreds of millions that bin Laden himself has, but also the secret backing of various governments that pay, what I would call, extortion fees. That is, pay Bin Laden or he will bring terrorism to your country, so many countries pay their millions into Swiss accounts or off-shore banks in the Bahamas.

It is also important to note that even though the US may be the most powerful nation (militarily) in the world, our economy was already headed into a recession. The attack has, I believe, pushed us into a deep recession which may take years to come back out of. For example, one week of not flying is pushing many airlines to the brink of bankruptcy [if you believe the airlines - ed.]. Think about that. One week of lost revenue and tens of thousands of people are out of work. This could only happen in a weakened economy. So even the US does not have unlimited money to fund a protracted war.

But again, I think something must be done. What to do I don't know, but a long war of attrition could very well break our economy.

So what do we do? Is the fact that bin Laden does not have super power backing enough to tip the balance? I don't know. The troubles in Northern Ireland seem to continue just fine [if you can use that word - ed.] without super power backing. But it brings up a point that needs to be pursued further. Namely, the economic component.

Any organization, including a terrorist one, runs on money. In this case, lots of it, perhaps in the millions per year. Money to train. Money to do research. Money to create false documents and identities. Money to buy the support of other governments. Money to buy arms and munitions. Money to invest in stock markets around the world to create more money (and money to buy the expertise, that is, the financial advisors, to make that money).

So if it's true that money is required, then the old saying about following the money trail certainly applies in this case. People need to be tracking the money. Where does it come from? What services or goods are purchased? Who is making money on this?

Once that is determined, accounts need to be frozen. People need to be jailed and companies need to be put out of business - the business of terrorism.

Maluhia

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Thursday - 20 September 2001

KDE 2.2.1: Dan 0. Dependencies, hawk, spit. I downloaded version 2.2.1 of the KDE desktop from one of the Australian mirrors on Tuesday. I then tried installing it yesterday into my Caldera OpenLinux eDesktop 2.4 installation at work.

It wasn't pretty. First up was trying to install the latest required version of Qt. That had nine dependencies. So I begin. I need libbz2.so.1.0. Fine. I can get that at www.rpmfind.net.

So I begin again by installing the rpm. Until it coughs and says there is, now wait for it, a dependency. I need libc.so.6 (part of GLIBC 2.2). Fine. I can also get that at rpmfind.net.

So I begin again by downloading the 4MB GLIBC file and trying to install the RPM. But, wait for it, it says I need to use a later version of RPM to install this RPM (it actually says this version of RPM can only open files <=3.0. Isn't that special.

Fine. I can get RPM 4.0.2 either at rpmfind.net or www.rpm.org. So I download the latest stable version, in RPM format. Notice, I said in RPM format. Extra points to those who know what's coming next. Yes, that's right, you have to use version 4 of RPM to open a version 4 RPM. So, since version 3 can't open version 4, and I need version 4, I need to download a gzip tarball and install that.

Fine. I can get that at rpm.org. I download and install that without problems (ha! thought I couldn't do anything right didn't you. [well, the thought did cross my mind - ed.]).

So I have version 4.0.2 of RPM installed and I try to use it to open the GLIBC rpm. But, wait for....all heck, you know what's coming. Dependencies. Thirty-eight of them. Let me repeat that, 38 failed dependencies. Sigh.

Let's review. I wanted to install the latest stable version of the KDE desktop. But in order to do this, I have to first install the latest version of Qt2. But in order to do this, I need the latest version of libbz2.so.1.0. But in order to do this, I have to first install libc.so.6. (which is part of GLIBC 2.2). But in order to do this, I have to first install RPM version 4.0.2. But in order to do this, I have to satisfy 38 dependencies.

Hmmm. I think I've found what I want to do to bin Laden. He will be sentenced to upgrading Linux apps for the rest of his life, or until he goes mad. Whichever comes first.

By the way, yes I know if I had the latest version of OpenLinux, or any of the other latest Linux distributions, I probably wouldn't have as many dependency problems (since the latest versions would already be installed). But that's not the point now is it? If it were, it would be like having to buy the latest version of Windows every time you wanted to upgrade MS Word. Hmmm. Come to think of it, nah. I better not give MS any ideas about changing their business model...

Mail Call.

From: John Doucette
To: Dan Seto
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 7:39 PM
Subject: This could only happen in a weakened economy

Dan I think the problem goes beyond the weak economy. The problem is that many publicly traded companies today only look at stock prices and aim to please the stock holders.

If the big three automakers looked at the balance sheet instead of stock prices, the fed would not be looking at the possibility of giving them financial aid along with the airlines.

John

----- Original Message -----

From: Dan Seto
To: John Doucette
Subject: Re: This could only happen in a weakened economy
Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 06:36:47 -1000

I agree there is more than just a weakened economy, and your point about the influence of stock holder expectations may be a big part of the problem. But I think there may be other factors going on here, but I don't know for sure.

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From: Jan Swijsen
To: Dan Seto
Subject: Re: Afgani'etnam
Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 08:26:42 +0200

Even if they have the extortion fees from governments as backing that won't help them much. Most of these will dry up once America gets into action. And money on Swiss banks will not help much in the fighting on the ground.

In Vietnam the border to the north was open for supply lines, with Russia and China pouring in resources. Afghanistan doesn't have the luxury of unlimited supplies. If aid is provided it will have to come via Iran and/or Pakistan. Neither of which can risk too much. While Iran may want to help they must be cautions because they still have to be weary of Iraq. Russia is not going to support them, they will be more than happy to get Afghanistan down as this would cut support for the rebels in their own southern republics down. The Russians were kicked out by the Taliban because Pakistan was free to pass on the American (and other) supplies.

Yep, the US is the most powerful nation in the world. Military but also (still) economically. If the US doesn't have the funds for a long war than nobody has. In effect a real war could be a good thing for the economy. Not in the short run. But if you switch to a war economy you break the short-term profit drive that is undermining the economy right now. Then, when the war is over you switch back and start to rebuild your economic resources. This will only work if America doesn't go for it alone. It doesn't need the rest of the world for its military actions but needs the rest of the world for economic support. Of course if you try to wage a war and keep the economy running for profits you are going to bleed seriously.

(my spell checker keeps insisting on replacing Taliban with 'tailbone', a real pain in the ass <g>)

Maluhia

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Friday - 21 September 2001

It's Friday!

It's ironic that today would have been the end of the annual Aloha Festivals celebrations. In past years, SWMBO and I would go to the Waikiki Ho'olaulea to view the arts and crafts and perhaps munch on some of the ethnic foods available right on Kalakaua Blvd. (closed to traffic for the event).

Alas and alack, 'tis will not be the case this year. I don't know when the celebrations will begin again, but until then, as the song says, keep a little love in your heart.

Thought for the Day: You may fly over a land forever; you may bomb it, atomize it, pulverize it and wipe it clean of life -- but if you desire to defend it, protect it, and keep it for civilization, you must do this on the ground, the way the Roman legions did, by putting your young men in the mud. - T.R. Fehrenbach

Mail Call.

From: Jan Swijsen
To: Dan Seto
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2001 11:38 PM
Subject: Ireland

<quote> The troubles in Northern Ireland seem to continue just fine [if you can use that word - ed.] without super power backing. </quote>

The IRA did and still does gets lots of money from the US. Not CIA but private funded all right.

Tracking the money going to anti-American terrorists may well deal a blow to other terrorist and separatist organizations. Probably pushing these organizations to other money gathering venues (drugs, smuggling and selling people, etc.) It would of course be galling to the Brits (especially the English) if a terrorist attack in the US was all that is needed to tackle IRA funding.

<quote> ...rest of his life, or until he goes mad. Whichever comes first. </quote>

The Mad came first, several years ago.

--
Svenson.

----- Original Message -----

From: Dan Seto
To: Jan Swijsen
Subject: Re: Ireland
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 07:42:17 -1000
re: IRA funding from the US.

The unmade point I was trying to make was that the IRA's support was from private individuals, based on their religious affiliation. Likewise, funding for bin Laden could, and does (knowingly or not), come from many members of his religion, in other countries, including probably the US.

I also like your point about the possible unintended consequences of shutting off one source of income being replaced by perhaps an even more unseemly (if that is possible) source. Good call.

As to his being already mad, undoubtedly so. Probably about the time of the 1.1 kernel. <g>

Aloha - Dan

Maluhia

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