Weekend Warriors

The carpenters replaced the outside stairs that leads from the first floor to the second of the front house on Friday. Of course, they don't do painting and the forecast for the weekend included words like thunder and storm so SWMBO and I decided to do some house painting yesterday. It took us about three hours to put a coat of primer on the stairs but we think it was worth it. If, that is, it had rained. Which it didn't. Yet.

Spring Break

Traffic this morning was very light due to the Spring Break which means kids everywhere are on vacation. This year, we have two state holidays this week. Tomorrow will be Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Day (see this editorial here).

Friday will be "Good Friday." This is not the time or the place to get into a long discussion of the separation between church and state. Suffice it to say that I would gladly give up Good Friday if it would keep Government out of my religious life. And for those who don't know yet, yes, I am a Christian. But as a Christian, I am sensitive to other people's beliefs, or lack thereof. Hence, for my own self-interest, because I don't want them meddling in my own affairs, I don't want any special treatment or advancement of my own religion nor theirs.

But since I will be on holiday, there is a low probability of any post tomorrow or Friday.

Speaking of Holidays

Shalom to our Jewish friends who will be celebrating Passover (see one site here) beginning Wednesday after sundown (the biblical day runs from sundown to sundown).

You can follow the link above to read about what Passover is commemorating but most folks have at least heard about Moses and the plagues that were visited upon Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II, which, in the end, made Pharaoh "let My people go..."

Cascading Cacophony

Everyone seems to be hopping on to the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) bandwagon lately due to, among other things, finally being able to control the exact placement of elements within a web page. Or at least, so they think. See this site here (link courtesy of InfoWorld's Brian Livingston) which shows examples of how what you think you see is not what you get. Get a grip folks, it not about the design, it's about the content. It's not the cover, it's the conversation. It's not about packaging, it's about people.<Doc="off" />

Aloha!

See Wednesday.

An Open Letter

To the Honorable Daniel K. Inouye, US Senator - Hawai'i

Sir:

Up to now, I have never written anything to you regarding any proposed legislation. But I am doing so now because I am very disappointed to find you are a cosponsor to S. 2048, the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (short title). While I fully support efforts to secure the legal and ethical protection of copyrighted material, I believe this bill does violence to the principle of fair use and thus throws into chaos the long, and hard fought, delicate balance between the two values.

As you are aware, and with your strong support, Hawai'i is trying to become a high-tech center, much as those in other communities on the mainland and throughout Asia, with all of the high paying, high-skill jobs that come with it. But I would submit to you that passage of this bill, in its present form, would effectively kill any such efforts and would relegate us to no more than a backwater community of bellboys and waiters serving the new lunas of Disney, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

It is ironic then, that S. 2048 would literally "limit, rather than promote, consumers' access to the greatest variety of digital content possible." How would it do so? By creating monopolies, by closing content to everyone except the rich and privileged, and by degrading the quality of the very content that it is trying to protect.

Monopolies
No business, least of all the MPAA and RIAA want competition. And one way of manipulating the marketplace is to create government regulation which would stifle, or be so onerous towards, small start-up ventures, as to make it impossible to compete. Passage of this bill would do just that.

Rich and Privileged
Once a monopoly is established, price gouging soon follows. That is, the lack of open competition leads to higher prices and less diverse content. Prices the poor and middle class cannot afford, thus blocking access to these materials. How does this promote the greatest variety of digital content?

Degrading Quality
I know of no copy protection scheme ever implemented that did not substantially degrade the quality of the original data. Whether implemented in software or hardware, even digital content can be degraded. And yet, nowhere in the Security System Standards section of S. 2048 is there any mention of prohibiting such degradation. Yes, there is mention that the technology must be reliable, resistant to attack, renewable, modular, etc. But it is absolutely silent on it being non-destructive to the original quality of the data. Is this merely an oversight or an acknowledgment of this very basic flaw? Where is the concern for the customer, i.e., the people? All I see is a deck stacked towards the producer, i.e., Disney, the MPAA, and the RIAA.

I ask you personally to reflect upon about what this country stands for. What you so bravely fought for in the fields of Europe. What my uncle, Daniel K. Brown died for in Korea (the man for whom I am named) and how this bill would hurt, rather than help the people who follow the law and pay for their copies of movies or music. Perhaps this is yet another Zen-like situation in which in order to gain something, we must first let it go free.

Thank you for your kind consideration in this matter and I strongly urge you to consider withdrawing your support for this bill. I hope you will be able to attend the Hawai'i Democratic Party State Convention in May, where we may discuss this issue in greater length and detail.

Aloha and yamato damashi - "Go for broke"

Daniel K. Seto

Speaking of Sharks

A 17-year-old Kaua'i youth is recovering in the Queens Hospital in Honolulu this morning after surviving a shark attack while bodyboarding on his home island. The shark grabbed the boy by his leg and shook him (the boy) like a rag doll several times and then pulled him under water for what he estimates to be about a minute.

Even while this was happening, the boy kept his wits about him as he punched the shark in the gills, nose, and finally gouging the shark's eye out with his fingers. Losing one of its eyes seemed to get the shark's attention and the boy was released. But not before losing his left foot to the shark.

He made it shore where, what I can only describe as divine intervention, a vacationing nurse was on the beach. The nurse provided immediate first aide, including the application of a tourniquet to stop the massive blood loss. The boy was flown from Kaua'i to O'ahu for emergency care and is in serious condition. He is expected to survive, but is facing a lot of pain and physical therapy. But everyone figures if you have the strength to gouge the eye out of a shark that you will persevere over just about anything.

The morning newspaper gives the some advice about what to do if a shark attacks (follow the link here).

EnronGate

The noose ever tightens as the evidence slowly comes out. Yes, the Bush administration is desperately trying to spin the story to their advantage but how can you do that when their own documents show the kind of insider access that big money buys?

The documents, released by court order and fought tooth and nail by the administration (which they, the administration, heavily censored), show at least 11 meetings with the oil industry and none with customers, environmentalists, or conservationists while formulating energy policy. So what you say? Isn't this one-sided access exactly what you would expect from a Republican administration? Isn't this one of the differences between Republicans and Democrats? Well, yes it is. But even accepting that, you have to assume the Bush administration is supremely cynical when it comes to telling citizens the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

It wasn't that long ago, before the election, that candidate Bush was painting a picture of a New Republicanism. One sensitive to women, minorities, the aged, and the environment. Only to show their true colors once elected. I feel sorry for all of the above groups because they are well and truly screwed.

Aloha!

First Friday

Tomorrow is a holiday so today is my first Friday. As before, it is doubtful that I will post anything tomorrow, barring the opening of the seventh seal. So what you see is what you're going to get.

In the beginning

ZDNet is saying they know who was the first to SPAM the Internet (see this article here). And wouldn't you know it, ZDNet says it was two lawyers. Who'd a thunk it?

Tail wagging the Man

In what can only be described as an interesting twist, an article in the journal Nature Australia indicates the early relationship between man and dogs may be characterized as not so much a case of "man who domesticated the dog, it was the dog that domesticated man." See one review here.

Coffee House Justice

Who says there aren't any judges with half-a-brain? One of our British brethren ruled yesterday that "McDonald's customers should know that coffee and tea are served hot and can burn them if spilled." Well, duh. Just goes to show you that only in the US would you get any money for being stupid.

Aloha!

Second Friday

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!