The Greedy Capitalist

New Toy

The Swiss Army knife for the 21st century:

(Found here.)

7,700mph

Wow:

An experimental pilotless plane has broken the world speed record for an atmospheric engine, briefly flying at 7,700 kilometres per hour - seven times the speed of sound, NASA says.

The SCRAMjet program is an attempt to find a replacement the Space Shuttle. The air-breathing supersonic engine is NASA's prime candidate for the next generation of smaller, lighter, and much more efficient reusable space vehicles. The technology has the potential to revolutionize space travel, but the program is still in its infancy, and faces significant technical challenges such as sustaining thrust at hypersonic speeds and developing a composite replacement for the space shuttle's "tiles." Given the nature of NASA's bureaucracy, I think it's more likely that an intermediate Shuttle-era replacement will be developed in the meantime. Meanwhile, several X-Prize teams plan to use a variations of a supersonic-combustion ramjet engine. My bet for the next-generation spacecraft is Burt Rutan.

Building a New Computer

I made the dubiously wise decision of selling my current computer to my dad, after not being able to fix his old one. My intention was to fallback to my Linux box, but I discovered to my horror that my hard drive is not supported by my backup pc, so I won’t have access to my data until I get a new computer put together. I tried to check my email via the web, and discovered that I had 120 emails from the last day, 99% of which were spam – and the mail interface didn’t make it easy to sort it out. So, I won’t be checking or replying to much mail until I build a new pc. I’m thinking of following the guide at SharkyExtreme as a model, though the Athlon 64 looks pretty temping. Any suggestions?
This will be my fourth computer, and the third I've built myself, though I’ve done so many upgrades to all of them, (it’ll be my 6th motherboard) that like Theseus’s ship, it’s hard to say where one computer ends and another begins.
Update: I ordered all the components today, and should be online on the new pc by next weekend :-)

Backlink

I've been using a PHP backlinking script from Laze.Net for a while now to show the referrers to my site. Unfortunately, the script hasn't been updated to reflect changes in Yahoo's new search string. So, I updated the string parsing code to correctly show the search terms. You can find the code below.

Warning: Adding recent referrs to your blog has some interesting consequences, which you may want to consider before making them publicly visible.

PHP:

---


$recentfile = "backlink.txt";
$mydomain = "rationalmind.net";
$displaynum = 10;
$displaychar = 30;




$recent = file($recentfile);

$start = 0;

$amount = count($recent);


if ($amount >= $displaynum) {

    $start = 1;

    $amount = $displaynum;

}

for ($x = ($amount-1); $x >= 0; $x--) {


    if (eregi("google.", $recent[$x]) || eregi("search.msn.", $recent[$x]) ||


            eregi("atomz.com", $recent[$x]) || eregi("lycos.", $recent[$x]) || eregi("yahoo.", $recent[$x]) ||


            eregi("altavista.", $recent[$x])) {

        if (eregi("google.yahoo", $recent[$x])  ) {  


            list($first, $rest) = split("p=", $recent[$x]);

        } elseif (eregi("lycos.", $recent[$x])) {


            list($first, $rest) = split("query=", $recent[$x]);

        } elseif (eregi("q=&q=", $recent[$x])) {


            list($first, $rest) = split("q=&q=", $recent[$x]);

        } elseif (eregi("yahoo.", $recent[$x])) {


            list($first, $rest) = split("p=", $recent[$x]);

        } else {

            list($first, $rest) = split("q=", $recent[$x]);


        }

        list($temp, $toss) = split("&", $rest);



        $temp = eregi_replace ("+", " ", $temp);


        $temp = eregi_replace ("%22", "\"", $temp);

        $temp = eregi_replace ("%27", "'", $temp);


        $temp = eregi_replace ("%26", "&", $temp);

        $temp = eregi_replace ("%20", " ", $temp);


        if (eregi("atomz.com", $recent[$x])) {

            echo "<b>ls: </b> ";


        } else {

            echo "<b>s: </b> ";

        }

        echo "<a href=\"" . rtrim($recent[$x]) . "\">" . substr($temp, 0, $displaychar - 3);


        if (strlen($temp) > $displaychar - 3) {

            echo "...";

        }

        echo "</a><br />\n";


    } else {

        $temp = rtrim(substr((eregi_replace("www.", "", $recent[$x])), 7, $displaychar));


        echo "<a href=\"" . rtrim($recent[$x]) . "\">" . $temp;

        if (strlen($temp) > $displaychar - 1) {


            echo "...";

        }

        echo "</a><br />\n";

    }

}

$recent[$amount] = $HTTP_REFERER . "\n";


if ($HTTP_REFERER && !(eregi($mydomain, $HTTP_REFERER)) && !(eregi("Outpost", $HTTP_REFERER))) {


    $fp = fopen ($recentfile, "w");

    for ($y = $start; $y <= $amount; $y++) {


        fputs($fp, "$recent[$y]");

    }

    fclose ($fp);

}









Earth stops slowing down

The next environmentalist mass hysteria is at hand: the earth is slowing down. Collision with sun/moon is imminent.

Correction: what I meant to say is that after billions of years, the earth has stopped slowing down -- since 1999 that is. The difference is less than a second a year, but the missing leap-second is significant to scientists and many communication systems.

Cloned deer at A&M

Texas A&M has cloned a deer, which brings up the total number of species cloned at Aggieland to six. Nice to know that my own little neck of the woods is at the forefront of cloning research.

CodeFellas

Now here is a job my advisor didn't tell me about : tech suport for the mob.

Why Online Voting is a Good Idea

Much debate has been raised recently about the wisdom of online and electronic voting. Much of it has been confused by ignorance and fear of technology. As an “amateur expert” in computer technology and information security, I can say with confidence that electronic voting systems are inherently more secure, accurate, and less tolerant of tampering than any paper-based system could ever be.

Let’s examine some arguments against online voting, as the most commonly attacked version of electronic voting:

No paper trail:
Obviously, this is true by the definition of electronic voting. However just because there is no paper trail, does not mean that there is no electronic trail. In fact, digital trails are much longer lasting and much harder to erase then the physical version. For example, right now, I can retrieve information deleted and overwritten on my hard drive months ago. I can tell you exactly who has been to my website in the last year, what operating system, browser, and ISP they use, and which city they live in. With a warrant, the police could easily turn than into a name. Likewise, electronic and online voting systems can keep records than no one without physical access to the voting server, much more time than an election night, and very advanced expertise could alter. Yes, it is possible, but punching a few extra holes in ballots or simply “misplacing” a few thousand ballots from an opposition-party district is far easier.

E-voting systems can be hacked:
Any online computer system can be hacked -- in theory. But that hasn’t stopped banks from creating a nationwide electronic network. Even if you don’t use online banking, all your funds can be accessed remotely from any other bank or ATM machine in America. Yet despite trillions of dollars held in virtual savings accounts there has never been a case of a banking system being hacked. Yes, many people have impersonated identities to steal funds, but the 512-bit security keys the banking system uses is for all practical purposes impregnable. Compare that to picking a lock on a ballot box and punching a few extra holes in paper.

The identity of online voters can’t be confirmed:
Perhaps, but can the officials at your local election center confirm your identity? They can check your ID, but that can easily be faked. What if they’re the ones rigging the scam? Clearly, physical elections are no more secure to identity fraud than virtual ones. Compare the thick, outdated books currently used by election offices to state-wide databases that are automatically kept in sync for your latest information, and automatically scan for any anomalies or patterns better than a going through thick old books could do in a million years. Millions of digital-certificates that securely identity one’s identity to a third party are used by businesses today to conduction millions if not billions in transaction, and could surely be adapted for voting.

Lost data if the system crashes:
What is the a bank’s computer system crashes? Banks use a variety of means secure their data in case of a hardware or software failure. Transaction logging allows computer system to immediately recover lost data. “Hot” backup centers allow credit card processing centers to immediately recover from a failure without any lost data even if one of their facilities is completely vaporized. Certainly, something like this can be rigged for voting system.

Lost anonymity of voters:
Privacy is a real concern with distributed electronic systems, but one that can be effectively addressed. It is possible to “anonymize” votes immediately after they are received and the voters identity confirmed. As long as the system is designed with privacy and security in mind, this is not a major risk.

Besides the above arguments, consider that because electronic system store information digitally, in one and zeros, there can be no doubt as to which way a particular vote went. Voting results could be obtained immediately, and recounts and contested election dramas would be a thing of the past. More importantly, the largely non-voting technologically-savvy but politically apathetic generation would vote in much larger numbers. This in itself is not guaranteed to result in better politicians being elected, but more scrutiny of just who is getting elected will.

Monkeys’ brains move robotic arms: researchers at Duke have conducted experiments in which monkeys learned to operate a robot arm using only their brain signals.

In response to Yahoo's refusal to delete a listserv run by "banned separatists," the Indian government forced Indian ISP’s to ban the entire Yahoo Groups community. The easily circumvented ban is one of many instances of censorship in India and Pakistan. I’m curious as to whether the site is still being blocked. Perhaps some readers in India could enlighten me...

Music news...

Winamp 5 is in beta. I have just two words to describe it: GET IT

In other news, iTunes is now available for Windows. I was not particularly impressed with it. On the plus side, $1 per song is a lot cheaper than buying CD’s, especially since you only pay for the songs you like. On the downside, the iTunes software is not very powerful and does not support WMA. With my very limited student budget, I’m still waiting for an unlimited subscription model, even one that doesn’t allow songs to be stored locally.

What I’d really like, is music that plays in surround sound to justify the 5.1 speaker system I bought…

Property Rights on the Net

The Internet has often been compared to America’s expanding western frontier during the 19th century. Like all frontiers, it has the potential to create enormous wealth through the exploitation of new technologies by the cowboys of the digital domain. The creation of a global communication network has attracted millions of entrepreneurs who are eager to make a name and a dollar for themselves by finding new opportunities and business models that take advantage of the unique nature of the Net.

The Internet is not just a source of wealth – it is also a source for the creation of new kinds of property rights. Domain names, broadband access, website designs, digital databases, digitized content, and quasi-public networks are all becoming new and valuable virtual property with little or no existing guidelines for the assignment of property rights to their owners. As governments worldwide struggle to catch up and resolve disputes by establishing property rights in these new areas, businesses must often act to secure their property when the Law is unable to provide adequate protection. This applies to intellectual property such as music and images as well as to virtual property such as domain names and private networks.

The proper role of government in this new domain is to create new kinds of property rights to protect the new forms of wealth created by the Internet. Organizations like ICANN have been commissioned by the US government to oversee private corporations like VeriSign that have larger been relatively successful in establishing and protecting property rights on the Internet.

Two major challenges persist: the status of digital media such as music and movies, and the status of publicly available but privately owned networks, such as instant messaging services. Even a well-meaning, intellectual property-respecting consumer like me is bound to have a hard time knowing which actions infringe on someone’s rights – and I don’t mean knowing the law – simply knowing which actions are ethical requires some technical knowledge. For example, is it ok to copy CD’s to mp3 to play on your computer? Can you copy those mp3’s to another computer you own? What if you lose the original CD? What about posting text and images from online articles – how much is fair use and how much infringes on someone’s right? In a rational society, there would exist clear standards for what actions are ethical, but in our mixed-economy state, where respect for intellectual property is rare, there are bound to be rights violations both in infringing and in the attempt to protect private property. Organizations like RIAA often abuse the courts in their attempt to protect their client’s legitimate property. Everyone agrees that CD’s cost too much, but is their price market-driven, or is it made artificially high by a government monopoly?

Another area where property rights are hazy right now are instant-messaging networks. AOL has been struggling to shut own competitors using its protocols (and AOL’s servers) for years, and Yahoo and Microsoft have recently attempted to shut out third-party clients like Trillian. All three claim that they are only blocking their competitors because of security or technical reasons, and all three claim to be dedicated to establishing open-protocols, but it’s blindingly obvious that their goal is to preserve the revenues from the ads displayed in their clients. If AOL, Microsoft or Yahoo simply said “my network is private property, and you may not use a third party client to connect to it,” then a clear precedent would be established, but instead they offer pathetic excuses like this:


“Because fighting spam is a top priority, we are proactively implementing preventative measures to help keep Yahoo! Messenger the high-quality environment our users have come to expect," Osako said. "If this upgrade affects the way in which other services will interact with Yahoo! Messenger, it is merely a byproduct of our efforts to help protect our users from potential spammers.”

Perhaps Yahoo is reluctant to declare their network private property because it is planning to release its own multi-protocol client. Meanwhile, after failing to break into AOL’s IM protocol, and publicly releasing theirs to put pressure on AOL, Microsoft is clamping down on its own IM network. Personally, until a company says “private property, keep out ” I plan to keep using Gaim, a free multi-network IM client.



Damn you, Cox!

My Internet connection has been mostly down the last four days, thanks to Cox Internet. I tried to do some off-line activities on my computer like finishing some unfinished essays and doing some coding, but even that seemed futile offline. After looking at a blank screen for a few hours, I resumed reading .NET Enterprise Design. It’s a neat book, even if it is ironic that I decided to read a book on designing effective networks while the internet was out.

Skype

Tim sent me a link to Skype, a new P2P telephony application from the makers of Kazaa. I was skeptical at first, but a test call changed that. It's encrypted, reaches callers behind firewalls and NAT's, has very high quality, and is extremely simple to use. The only downside is that it uses third parties to route calls when direct connections aren’t possible. If you want to try it out, you can add me by searching for [email protected]

Google for h4x0r's

Finally, all those wanna-be 1337 h4x0r's have a search engine of their own .
(Props to Tim for the link)

A Spammer's Club?

Wired has an article on "A Support Group for Spammers" if you're into that stuff. If you hate spam as much as I do, I recommend one of the server-side filtering tools, such as SpamAssassin. It filters out over 99% of spam when properly configured. If your ISP doesn't provide you with a proper spam filter, ask me, and I'll give you a free full-featured @rationalmind.net or @objectivismonline.net email account.

When arguing against interventionism, I often say sarcastically “imagine the state of computers if the government made operating systems.” Apparently, several asian governments didn’t find the notion as ludicrous as I.

CD-Recordable discs unreadable in less than two years

Long before I got my first CD-RW drive, I had friends make CD’s for me and stayed up late in the school’s computer lab to transfer my files by ftp and back up my stuff on the ancient 2X burners. Because CDR’s store data digitally and CDROM drives do not touch the surface when reading them, I always assumed that my CD’s would last forever – just like the manufacturer promised. You can imagine my shock when I read that many CDR discs become unreadable after just two years! A little research confirms that CD’s are not nearly as long-lasting as their manufacturers claim. This makes me very concerned about the dozens of CDR’s I’ve accumulated over the years. While I usually use name-brands like Memorex and Imation, I’ll be testing my old cd’s to see how they held up. When I scanned my family’s old black and white photographs to preserve them, I was sure the cd’s would outlast the photos!

Sun Microsystems is a Hypocrite

I've spent the last two days installing and playing with Windows Server 2003. It ads some much-needed features and improvements to IIS that make it a much better server OS than the Windows 2000 line. Aside from some unnecessary hardware and software compatibility issues, I have one complaint: it’s missing Microsoft’s own optimized version of Java. Is this a case of Microsoft trying to "bully" Sun? No, the missing Java is a result of a Sun lawsuit intended to force Microsoft to scuttle its superior version of Java in lieu of Sun's because Microsoft’s implementation is "incompatible" and “obsolete.” My own experience with both versions indicates that Microsoft’s Java is better, faster, and just as compatible as Sun’s.

In the latest decision, the judge ruled that by producing a better version of Sun’s “open” standard, Microsoft was using its monopoly power to help its .Net platform. Apparently, making your competitor's product (which MS had a license to) work better is "anti-competitive." To his credit, he ruled that (for now) Microsoft does not have to include Sun’s inferior Java in Microsoft’s own operating systems.

Why is a company supposedly dedicated to innovation and open standards preventing others from making their own improved versions? How can Sun criticize Microsoft for being “monopolistic” while trying to force its Java into Windows and engaging in the same deals with computer manufacturers as Microsoft to bundle Java onto desktops? There are many complex licensing and technical issues here, but it is clear to me that Sun has realized that its client and server-side Java products are inferior to .Net and (like SCO) is trying to win in the courts where it has failed in innovation.

NEWCARD

The following article on the upcoming NEWCARD standard to replace the old PC Cards is an interesting look at the issues that must be considered when impementing a hardware standard.

Men everywhere should mark this day. Women...well, they have one less excuse.

So I'm learning Visual Basic.Net

So I'm learning Visual Basic.Net and I'd like to focus my learning efforts on making a program that's actually useful to help me stay motivated. Can you think of a simple GUI program that you might like to use? If so, please leave me a comment!

Open-Source Socialism?

When I first announced ObjectivismOnline, I got an email from a college CS major who warned me against using Open Source software because (a) the leader of the movement is a dirty marxist, and (b) free software in general is anti-profit, and this anti-capitalism. After doing some (very little) research, I indeed found out that Richard Stallman, the founder of GNU is a pretty sick character, who rants against self-interest and capitalism. (Not to be confused with Richard Salsman, who writes great articles.)Understandably then, I had to give a lot of thought to using free software, which is mostly released under the anti-IP GNU GPL license. There are other free software licenses such as the Creative Commons license, which features a dollar sign with an line through it as a logo, and the simple BSD license. (BSD="Berkeley Software Distribution") Not all free software is hostile to profits however. ImageMagik, a popular graphics library, starts out with John Galt's pledge, and simply asks for postcards in exchange for using it.

So is using and making free software consistent with supporting intellectual property and profits?

First, the very concept of a “software license” – whether GNU or commercial, entails the concept of “copyright,” since it restricts what one can or cannot do with software. The GNU cannot simultaneously use copyright law to restrict software rights and oppose copyrights at the same time.

In a similar sense, the GNU is not “free” either – it allows less freedom than commercial software in many ways. Owners of commercial software can dispose of their property in any way they choose, but users of GNU software face strict limitations on commercial usage and redistribution of modified code.

The advantages of open source software have already been covered at length, but I think the widespread usage of open source projects like linux, apache, php, and MySQL in commercial enterprises speaks for itself. For companies, open source projects are especially useful for creating standard platforms that they don't have to develop on their own, and that their customers don't feel chained to. From a personal standpoint, working on free software offers opportunities to develop new skills, work with a team on important projects, and show off your abilities. None of this is to say that there's something wrong with closed software development. Both have their own niche, and I think that one should decide what kind of software to use based on their technical merit.

This is interesting: "State computer

This is interesting:
"State computer with confidential medical data put up for sale.
A state computer put up for sale as surplus contained confidential files naming thousands of people with AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, the state auditor said Thursday."

I've been trying to buy up some old hardware from Texas A&M's surplus auctions myself. Wonder what info I'll find...

Scientists Shake Hands over Internet: Porn Industry Interested

As this Reuters story reports, scientists are developing a way to "recreate the sense of touch" over the Internet.
Says Reuters:


"Pushing on the pen sends data representing forces through the Internet that can be interpreted by a phantom and therefore felt on the other end," said Mel Slater, Professor of Computer Science at University College London (UCL).
"You can not only feel the resulting force, but you can also get a sense of the quality of the object you're feeling -- whether it's soft or hard, wood-like or fleshy."


I don't think I need to point out that as soon as this technology becomes viable, the porn industry is going to explode, and we'll all become mindless cyber-sex addicts.

In other news, it seems that there was a slight miscalculation in the amount of gas that was injected into the Russian theatre to free the hostages, killing at least 120 of the hostages by the toxic gas, while only one person died from being shot during the raid. I'm no fan of the terrorists, but I think the Russian government showed gross incompetence on many levels by not calculating the effects of the gas, not providing medical attention shortly after the raid, and then not informing the doctors of what the toxic agent actually was, so that they could provide the proper antidote. Afterwards, the Russian government refused to reveal the status of the hostages, the number dead, or the nature of the gas that was used, and told the doctors involved to stay mum or else. I think the general problem can be characterized as a complete disregard from human life by the Russian government, Soviet-style incompetence, and a disregard for free speech.



SPAM

I got spam from the Air Force Reserve today. Are they getting desperate or what? Maybe they should make a flight simulator game -- hey, it worked for the Army.
Would it work so that you were always fighting the enemy, and if so, who would you go after? Is it open season on Iraq yet?
I think I am going to have to write a letter to the Air Force:
"Dear Sirs,
Please take me of your subscription lists. I don't wish to receive any more unsolicited mail or email from the Armed Force, so if you could remove me from the spamming list as well as the draft rolls, I'd much appreciate it.
Sincerely,
David Veksler"
(Check out a little article I wrote about dealing those spammers here.)

For computer newbies

I wish I could just give one of these to all the people have who mess up their computers for no good reason and then come asking me how to fix it...