Web Wanderings

You knew I was a snake ...

2010-06-08T21:36:00.002-04:00

WSJ.com Mobile Edition The oil spill in the Gulf is a disaster, without a doubt. And BP should face whatever civil and criminal punishments that fit the circumstances. But as I read this article, I couldn't help noticing the similarities in the rhetoric compared to that of the financial crisis. And then I had a realization: they're only doing what we let them.

It's kind of difficult to impose a "moral obligation" on a company. Sure, there are people that are directing the company. But they have other obligations too; to the shareholders, the employees, their families, and others. And they can be replaced. A company's reason for existing is to make money, and to repeat that over and over. So that's why I'm not surprised that BP is probably going to pay its quarterly dividend to shareholders.

BP is largely at fault here. As I said above, they deserve the coming repercussions. But the government and regulators share a part of the blame. Companies are going to operate within the boundaries set for them. If you relax the boundaries - like we did with the financial and oil industries - the companies will take advantage of any new opportunities the relaxed regulatory environment provides.

On its face, that sounds like a very "big government" perspective. In many instances, financial penalties deter unwanted actions or make up for any damage that results. And other times the world's economy circles the bowl and the Gulf fills with oil. The downsides sometimes require strict enforcement of effective regulations because companies can't be expected to always police themselves.

That's not an indictment of the companies. It's what they do and we knew that at the start. But it's also the reason the government has a role in regulatory enforcement. Maybe I feel this way because I'm a government auditor; then again, that might give me the right perspective.

Well this is embarassing ...

2010-03-01T11:05:00.005-05:00

It appears that I was a little too eager with my last post. Although none of you pointed it out -- most likely to be polite -- I was about 2 weeks early on the awesome.

I know, I know. Pretty much every one of you probably knew about it already. But I'm making this announcement just in case there are a few folks out there that, like me, didn't know that the International Day of Awesomeness is on March 10.

So, again, thank you protecting my fragile ego and not pointing out that I totally biffed on the awesomeness. On the other hand, when you're as awesome as I am then every day seems like the International Day of Awesomeness.

I'm sure you can understand why I had trouble remembering the date.

Word of the month -- Awesome

2010-02-25T23:26:00.003-05:00

Well after that title, this post has a lot to live up to. I'm not gonna lie to you, Marge (that's a reference to the Simpsons, for the uninitiated) -- it may not live up to its title. But here's what it will do:

1) It'll keep this blog somewhat active.
2) It'll let me share a few of the things I really enjoy about the 'net with you.

Don't let number 1 detract you from number 2 (heh heh). Even though this is an effort to make me use the blog, the things that follow really are awesome, in my opinion.

First, there's this fellow named Wil Wheaton - self-professed geek. You may have heard of him. He was the main character (Gordie) in the movie Stand By Me and Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Ok, so now you kinda remember him. Well, forget all that because it was a long time ago.

Nowadays Wil is an actor and a writer. He's written a few non-fiction books (which are great, by the way) and he's got a blog that he uses all the time. Lately some of his posts have been about the acting gigs that seem to be cropping up more often. Add in his tweets and there's just a whole lot of awesome to keep up with.

Secondly, there's FARK (Warning: it can get downright offensive over there sometimes). Interestingly enough, I caught back up with Wil Wheaton over at Fark - he used to comment on some of the news stories more regularly and I recognized his name but couldn't place it. Now FARK is an interesting place. Basically, people with no lives (and living in their mother's basement) find news stories online and submit them to FARK. And this is where you're saying to yourself, "So What?" Right, I agree. Well, instead of using the articles' headline, they make up their own, funny (hopefully) headline. For example, here's the headline for an article about an Indonesian Park Ranger that got attacked: "A ranger was feeding a komodo dragon...until he got rescued". Ok, so it's not the funniest thing you've read, but it gives you an idea.

Finally, there's Woot. This is an online store and they only sell one thing a day. That's it. One thing and when it's gone they don't sell anything else until the next day. And it's usually really cheap (I got an upscaling DVD player for $30). They don't really specialize in anything. I think they basically buy excess inventory from anywhere and sell it off. So, one day they might be selling a DVD player that they have 150 of the item. They'll sell it until all 150 get sold and then they're done for the day. And then the next day they might be selling a wet/dry vac. But, periodically they have these things called a "Woot-Off". During these woot-offs (which tend to last 2-3 days) they'll sell one thing an hour until it sells out or the hour is up. They get a lot of inventory moving during these things and it's kind of interesting to keep track of what's for sale.

So there you have it. The blog post of awesomeness. These are some of the things that keep me busy on the intartubes. That's a FARK-related joke - remember that Senator that described the internet as "a series of tubes"? Well, the ridicule on that guy grew legs and took off. But I digress. Have a look around at the corners of the 'net that I've just shone my light on. Who knows, maybe you'll find something there that you like.

Wow! The speed of tech integration is awesome.

2010-02-15T10:06:00.002-05:00

This past week I committed the tech faux pas of sending out some videos in a not-so-common format. And, more than one recipient couldn't get the files to open. Of course, Youtube would have been the best way, but I didn't see it under the 2 years of dust that accumulated since I'd last used my account.

So, over the past few days there has been a flurry of activity on many of my social media apps - Twitter, Youtube, Picasaweb, and even the antiquated (in tech terms) Googlechat; I hooked up with an old friend that I hadn't talked to in years. And of course, here's Blogger's time in the spotlight.

The main reason for all this activity (aside from being snowed out of work for a week) was the launch of Google Buzz. After I saw all the opportunities to integrate different apps to create a stream of multimedia and communication, I started to dig a little more. Now I think I've got everything set up, accessible, and pretty convenient for me to use.

I could always sit at my desk at home and upload things and make blog entries. But, between having the attention span of an ADD chimp drinking coffee and a 2 y/o at home, you can just look at my sites and see I haven't kept up very well. But, it's pretty awesome that I can take pictures or videos, or compose this blog post with my blackberry and just email it to the web. Within minutes, and most likely seconds, my additions to the webosphere will be posted.

Wow!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Reflecting on Concerts

2008-04-08T03:55:00.003-04:00

Man, I really love concerts. I mean, I reallly, really love them. Most of my family and friends know I like going to concerts, but only a few friends share my love of live music. I've been seriously deprived while living in Germany, and now that I'm gearing up to move home it has really hit me that I've been missing out on doing something I really love.

But, all that's going to change in June!

Pearl Jam announced tour dates for 2008 and they're stopping DC on June 22nd! I just happen to be arriving in DC for work on June 21st! So, I had some luck and scored some tickets from Ticketmaster (no link for them -- their surcharges are ridiculous) I'll be rockin' out with Eddie & the boys the night before my work training course.

This will be the first real concert I've been to since moving to Germany. I'm not counting a Meatloaf concert I saw here -- that was a combination of being a good husband and being desperate for live music. But, I've been lucky to have notched quite a few memorable shows in my belt so far:

The highlight is obvious: Phish. New Year's Eve 1999. Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation. Nothing can top 3 days of camping with your best friends, 2 days of music, and a 7-1/2 hour midnight-to-dawn set to ring in the new year!

But, I'd be remiss if I didn't also count the 3-day Hampton Reunion run in 2003. Fresh off their hiatus, Phish still had a little rust to shake off at these shows. But well worth it.

And my first Pearl Jam show, of course! Man, I paid $160 for that ticket. At the time, Pearl Jam was boycotting TicketMaster and I was worried it might be the last time I
could see them live.

Finally, getting to see Pearl Jam in a small(ish) venue in '98 at the D.A.R. Constitution Hall at the Voter's For Choice benefit concert is one of the highlights.

The neat thing about shows is they serve as a snapshot in time. To me, music has a temporal quality -- play the right songs in the right setting and it's like a my mind gives a wink and a nod to my conciousness, saying "Don't worry, I'll be right back." Then I get this feeling of being sucked back in time and the feelings and emotions of that time period wash over me for a couple seconds. Combine that with the friends you saw the show with and you've got a nicely packaged representation of your life.

So, to all those that spent these moments with me, thanks for coming along.

Do you value your privacy?

2008-04-04T04:59:00.006-04:00

Well, do you? The founding fathers of our country did. That's why the fourth of first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution (collectively known as the Bill of Rights) addressed this very subject. The fourth amendment states,

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Now, you may have already heard about the Justice Department memo recently declassified declaring military interrogators weren't bound by federal laws that prohibited assault, maiming, and other crimes. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation reports, there is a footnote in that memo that states,

... our Office recently concluded that the Fourth Amendment had no application to domestic military operations.

Oh, that's nice. "Oh, by the way, we decided to take away one of your rights granted by the Constitution. Just thought you should know."

So the big question to be answered is, does the administration consider the warrantless wiretapping program a domestic military operation? And what else is considered a domestic military operation?

The fourth amendment is the constitutional right that underpins the requirement for warrants before eavesdropping on private communications of citizens. Based on this legal footnote, which refers to a full memo (not yet released) documenting this decision, a warrant isn't required for domestic surveillance if it's done as part of a military operation. So, what is the distinction between domestic surveillance and military domestic surveillance?

The last time I checked, we weren't at war with anyone in the United States. We're really not at war with Iraq or Afghanistan anymore, we're at war a rogue band of outlaws - Al Quaeda - in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of course, we're also at war with a concept - terrorism.

Is the surveillance we did prior the the war much different than the surveillance we're doing now? Prior to the war, didn't we eavesdrop on the communication between someone in the U.S. and a suspected enemy outside the U.S.? Prior to the war, we got a warrant to do that. It didn't take very long to do so and it was only denied a few times since the 70s.

So, basically the Justice Department concluded that when surveillance is done during wartime, the fourth amendment of the Constitution no longer applies. According to an AP report, the Administration no longer holds that view. Well, that's fortunate but when the country is in a war that could conceivably never end -- our choices are an enemy that can't surrender and a concept -- it's scary that our "Justice" Department ever came to that conclusion.

In one undisclosed memo, the possibility of permanent, warrantless, total surveillance of electronic communications within the U.S. became real. Don't think it's possible? It may have already happened, or is continuing to happen. Think about that next time you pick up the phone, send and e-mail, chat over instant message, place a Voice-Over-Internet Protocol (VOIP) call using Vonage or Skype, or just browse the internet.

4 April 1984

Rock on! - Frets on Fire

2008-03-20T05:11:00.003-04:00

Many of you have probably heard about the video games Guitar Hero (I, II, and III) and Rock Band. Well, my geeky leanings have paid off once again!

I just found out about a game called Frets on Fire (FoF) that is free (as in beer) and free (as in speech -- more on this in a later post). For the geek-inclined, there are ways to modify the sounds & graphics used in the game and even ways to make your own songs for the game.

FoF works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can use your keyboard to play, or you can play using a Xbox360 Guitar Hero wired controller if you have one (or check Ebay if you want one). I haven't played the game yet, but hopefully I'll get around to it this weekend.

Rock on!

FISA Reform: Spectacular Senate Failure

2008-02-13T05:02:00.010-05:00

Yesterday, 12 Feb 08, the U.S. Senate came through with another spectacular failure for the citizens of this country. Our own Senator Mikulski contributed to this problem, while I'm happy to report that Senator Cardin stood with his constituents. If you're not familiar with the issue, I refer you to a summary of the issues prepared by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

Basically, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is approaching its sunset clause and needs to be extended to remain a vehicle for the federal government to conduct foreign surveillance. There are numerous contentious points in the legislation, including the warrantless wire-tapping program used by the National Security Agency (NSA). However, the issue I'd like to raise deals with legal immunity for telecommunications companies that cooperated on the warrantless wire-tapping program.

When the details of this program came to light we found out that some of the major telecommunications companies, namely AT&T, didn't question the legality of their actions when turning over vast amounts of information to the NSA. To spare you the geeky details, basically all telephone and internet traffic that ran through major telecommunications hubs operated by these companies was copied and sent directly to NSA computer systems. This information wasn't filtered to ensure that only the information pertaining to those persons the NSA had an interest in was siphoned off and sent to the NSA. Every telephone call and all internet traffic information was copied and sent directly to the NSA -- the NSA had its own computer systems installed in at least one of AT&T's hubs so that it only required running the wires into a secured room.

So what does this have to do with extending FISA? The President has stated he won't approve any FISA extension bill unless it contains full and retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies. Even though the concepts are sufficiently unrelated as to require me to explain the connection, the two ideas are being discussed as inseparable. Not only is this unnecessary, it's irresponsible.

Now, we've yet to find out if or to what extent these companies may have broken the law, but the evidence already gathered is compelling. It's also telling that the telecom companies and the President are both unwaivering in their demand for retroactive immunity. Granting full and retroactive immunity carries enough of a burden that it requires its own debate, separate from the FISA extension. Coupling FISA and telecom immunity together in one bill is a loaded proposition -- of course FISA should be extended (responsibly). But according to the President, Congress can't extend FISA without also granting retroactive immunity.

Whatever chances we have of finding out whether the telecom companies acted illegally and infringed on our constitutional rights will be lost forever by the passage of this one bill granting retroactive immunity.

Luckily, the House of Representatives still remembers to whom it is responsible. Although the Senate version of the bill includes the immunity clause, the version that passed the House's vote doesn't grant immunity. Before the bill can be sent to the President, the Senate and the House must reconcile the differences in the bills. If you are concerned about what Senator Mikulski and the rest of Congress aren't doing on your behalf (in my opinion we should all be concerned), take a moment to let them know your thoughts on the matter.

Phone your Congress-person in the House
Email instead

Check how your Senator voted regarding telecom immunity.

Wine Probe in the Rheingau

2004-08-01T19:20:00.003-04:00

*Edit 3/3/2010* - I salvaged the post below from another blog that I started in Germany. I deleted that one but I wanted to save this post. */Edit*

Julie and I just returned from a Wine Probe (tasting) in the Rheingau Wine District of Germany. It's about 20 minutes away from our house in downtown Wiesbaden, out in the country along the Rhine River. We arrived to a glass of rotwein sekt (red champagne) for a welcome and then went on to sample 7 different types of wine - 1 red, 1 rosee, and 5 different types of Reisling white wine. In addition to the tasting we enjoyed a traditional meal of Herb cream soup, roasted pork with sides of spatzle (german noodles) and red cabbage. We finished it all off with Oma's (grandma's) apple strudel.

Not only did we enjoy outstanding wine, but we also learned alot about German wines and wines of the Rheingau in particular. For example, only 4% of the grapes grown in the Rheingau are blue grapes for red wine; the rest are the white wine grapes and are predominatly the Riesling grape. Also, a bacteria brought to Europe from the U.S. in the 1800s decimated the grapevines by destroying the root; strangely, American grape vine roots weren't effected by this bacteria. To this day, by law, all European grape vines have to be grafted onto roots from American grape vines; most of the vineyards maintain their own supply of vines/roots of the American strain of the grape vine.

To cap off the entire evening, Helmut, the Lord Mayor of the town where the vineyard was located, invited us down to the wine cellar below his home. His home was the oldest in the town, existing as a sole house on the hillside before the town was even begun. During the 30 Years War in the 1600s it was burnt to the ground, but afterwards it was reconstructed exactly as it was. Being underground, the wine cellar wasn't destroyed, so we were able to go into an 800 year old wine cellar that was originally built by monks in the 1200s. Down there, Helmut opened two bottles of Riesling Spatlese that was from his family's own collection and not for sale to the public.

Quite an experience!