How Vista Lets Microsoft Lock Users In

By Cory Doctorow, Information Week

Vista is the first operating system to begin to use the features of the Trusted Computing Module, though for now, Microsoft is eschewing the use of "Remote Attestation" where software is verified over a network (they've made no promise about doing this forever, of course). No company has spent more time and money on preventing its competitors from reading its documents: remember the fight at the Massachusetts state-house over the proposal to require that government documents be kept in open file-formats?

more...

Captitol Crimes: Bill Moyers explains the Jack Abramoff scandal

Originally broadcast on PBS in October as part of the Bill Moyers on America specials, this two-hour report is still available on the web, and is as absorbing as any movie. Besides Jack Abramoff and Tom DeLay, the definitive Republican scandal involves Ralph Reed, Grover Norquist, and to a lesser extent, Karl Rove and the Dubya itself.


In October, 2005, Tom DeLay was indicted in Texas for conspiracy to violate the state's campaign finance laws. Two weeks later, he flew to Houston in a corporate jet provided by R. J. Reynolds, a company that had once contributed to the U.S. Family Network, and surrendered to the authorities. "I said a little prayer before I did the fingerprint thing and the picture," DeLay said. "My prayer was basically, 'let people see Christ through me. And let me smile.

"Capitol Crimes" homepage with links to streaming webcast and transcript.

mp3 audio podcast version

Iraq Study Group: Bush policies failed

One hundred years from now, this will be the picture of epic cluelessness.

WASHINGTON -
President Bush's war policies have failed in almost every regard, the bipartisan
Iraq Study Group concluded Wednesday, and it warned of dwindling chances to change course before crisis turns to chaos with dire implications for terrorism, war in the Middle East and higher oil prices around the world.

more...

Link to complete report.

I hate second life!

I just started a new blog, about the whole hyped-up-the-ass Second Life virtual world thing. If my new blog goes anywhere, (and most of them don't) I hope that it'll be part satire, part news, with a bias toward preserving a reality-based internet. I'm not saying that this isn't the future of the net, as some have suggested. I'm just saying: please shoot me when that happens!

http://www.ihatesecondlife.blogspot.com

There's a contact page featuring information about where reasonably courteous participants of any point of view whill be able to post directly to the site via email, at least if I understand how the new blogger beta works.

I have posted a kind of manifesto entitled "I'm not out to ruin anybody's fun"-- and honest, I'm really not... unless it will ruin your fun to have me laugh at your silly cybergoth avatar ... in which case, sorry, you're screwed.

The fucking computer is down.

The Curveball Report regrets to inform our loyal readership (estimated at approximately... well, approximately zero) that my daily schedule of publication has been interrupted by technical problems. But I've been working hard at getting my best yard sale computer in shape for continued publication, probably tomorrow. I'm using it right now, so the prospects are good.

Anyone who has embraced the alternate lifestyle known as "Linux Geek" will probably relate when I tell you that whenever my fancy, multithreading, P4 computer goes down, a perverse part of me rejoices at the prospect of using my Linux skills (which are below average for a Linux Geek, but excellent for a normal person) to get the maximum performance out of a computer that cost me 20 bucks, with another 30 bucks thrown in for a new CD ROM drive. In this case, we're talking about a Gateway 2000 Pentium II with 192 megabytes of RAM. I've been trying to find just the right version of Linux. Last time this happened, I ran SUSE 10.0 and got good results. This time, I've installed SUSE 10.1, and it seems slower than before, so I'm downloading the SUSE 10.0 disks right now. By the time the disks finish downloading, I'll decide if I really want to start all over again.

Democrats' Victory Is Felt On K Street

By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writer



The Democrats' takeover of Congress this month has turned official Washington upside down.

Labor and environmental representatives, once also-rans in congressional influence, are meeting frequently with Capitol Hill's incoming Democratic leaders. Corporations that once boasted about their Republican ties are busily hiring Democratic lobbyists. And industries worried about reprisals from the new Democrats-in-charge, especially the pharmaceutical industry, are sending out woe-is-me memos and hoping their GOP connections will protect them in the crunch.

more...

Ten things I'm thankful for

1. Richard Stallman-- the father of free software. If not for Stallman, Linus Torvalds would be world famous as the inventor of nothing, and I'd be running Windows. God bless you Richard, even if you are an athiest.

2. My parents' divorce. My parents divorced when they were around my present age and I had just left home. Divorce can be painful for the children, even when the children are grown, but when you see your parents undergo wrenching change in midlife and go on to be succesful and happy, it can also become a helpful and instructive example for one to follow.

3. Jon Stewart and 4. Cat Litter for making life with six cats and George W. Bush bearable.

5. My Pedometer because I appear to be losing weight.

6. Michael J. Fox for helping to expose You-Know-Who for the ignorant, bullying, self-aggrandizing, and above all lying sack of you-know-what that he is, and always has been.

7. Blogger, for making me a published author and editor.

8. Keith Olbermann, for saying what needed to be said, and for finally making glasses on men sexy.

9. Family Dollar, for rendering Walmart superfluous.

10. William Shakespeare, for The Tempest.

Bonus: The Hives, for "Main Offendor"

A Couple of N-Words Walk into a Comedy Club

by John Ridley, The Huffington Post



"As an ex-stand up, I can tell you that a comedy club isn't a place you go looking to get the abuse you just can't seem to find in daily life. The stage is a performer's domain. You protect that domain. You are not on stage to take what's given just 'cause you're getting paid. If you are attacked, you retaliate. If you can be high minded and pithy with your retribution, bravo. But if necessary, if you need to be brutal, such is the nature of things. You go for a heckler's weakness - physical failings, appearances, or stereotypes. Such as: the stereotype of SOME blacks who are unable to be demure in public. SOME blacks who are oblivious to a code of conduct.

"Some would call such individuals niggers."

more...