TECHNOLOGY: APPLE is enforcing its headlock on “their” hardware

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

http://www.macrumors.com/2011/02/15/ibooks-1-2-1-detects-some-jailbreaks-disables-ibookstore-purchases-in-response/

*** begin quote ***

Users of devices jailbroken by one of the methods that allows Apple’s test binaries to successfully run who attempt to open content purchased from the iBookstore are met with the following error message:

There is a problem with the configuration of your iPhone. Please restore with iTunes and reinstall iBooks.

Restoring a device from iTunes obviously removes the jailbreak, again rendering the device in compliance with Apple’s standards.

Apple’s tactics are of course drawing some scrutiny from jailbreak fans, many of whom are pointing to recent actions by the U.S. government to explicitly allow jailbreaking. Consequently, Apple’s move to prevent access to legitimately purchased iBookstore content just because the user attempts to view it on a jailbroken device is seen as interference with legal usage.

*** end quote ***

Now, I remember why I didn’t like LOTUS. And, why I shouldn’t like APPLE.

DRM!

APPLE sells me some hardware and dares me to use it.

Henceforth and forever more, all APPLE hardware is, be definition, “NOT RECOMMENDED”. Windoze may be “bad”, but at least you can be “OPEN”!

On to Linux!!!

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Posted by reinkefj

GOLD: The poor man’s gold investment

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

http://www.survivalblog.com/2011/02/the_nitty_gritty_on_nickels.html

*** begin quote ***

$300 face value (150 rolls @$2 face value per roll) fit easily fit in a standard U.S. Postal Service Medium Flat Rate Box, and that weighs about 68 pounds.) They can be mailed from coast to coast for less than $25. Doing so will take a bit of reinforcement. Given enough wraps of strapping tape, a corrugated box will securely transport $300 worth of Nickels

*** end quote ***

Everyone will laugh at “investing” in nickels, but he who laffs last …

Today, pre-64 silver coins command a 20 times face value. And, that’s what you get retail.

2011 – 1964 = 47 years

20x = 2000%

2000 / 47 = 42% roi

There is NO reason to think that nickels won’t have a similar experience.

Like the author says, the only the things that are certain in life are death, taxes, and inflation!

In fifty years, you’ll be saying “Shoulda, coulda, and woulda! if I’d a listened to that crazy fat old white guy injineer, I’d be rich.” I will be dealing with other problems when you say, so I will be unavailable to say “I told you so.”

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Posted by reinkefj

RANT: Gooferment abuses its power

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

http://www.cnbc.com/id/41372870

http://www.loweringthebar.net/2011/02/immigration-officer-puts-wife-on-the-no-fly-list.html or http://tinyurl.com/4qghpxg

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1351937/Immigration-officer-fired-putting-wife-list-terrorists-stop-flying-home.html

http://tinyurl.com/67ofkgo

*** begin quote ***

A UK immigration officer decided to get rid of his wife by putting her on the no-fly list, ensuring that she could not return to the UK from abroad. This worked for three years, until he put in for a promotion and — during the routine background check — someone investigated why his wife was on the no-fly list.

Okay, so he’s an idiot. And a bastard. But the real piece of news here is how easy it is for a UK immigration officer to put someone on the no-fly list with *absolutely no evidence* that that person belongs there. And how little auditing is done on that list. Once someone is on, they’re on for good.

That’s simply no way to run a free country.

*** end quote ***

Gooferment just does stuff. No appeal. No checking. No oversight.

There’s a reason that the judicial systems requires a battle of adversaries to determine the truth.

Where’s the “Appeal to God” when you need it? You know like in the movie “Ivanhoe”.

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Posted by reinkefj

MACBOOKAIR: Fails to restart from sleep

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Don’t think I lost anything. No obvious error message. Send report to Apple.

Argh!

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Posted by reinkefj

DATA: Open Gooferment data in New Hampshire

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/02/08/0112246/New-Hampshire-Begins-Open-Data-Efforts

*** begin quote ***

Now, with over a dozen Free Staters elected to the NH legislature, these geeks are starting to affect government data-sharing policy.

*** end quote ***

http://techpresident.com/blog-entry/new-hampshire-opens-its-states-legislative-data

*** begin quote ***

Chalk up a new one for the open-government-data geeks.

In the past few days, New Hampshire’s General Court, as the state legislature is officially known, started releasing data on legislation and legislators in nerd-friendly, “pipe-separated” files, uploaded daily. In non-geek speak, this means the data is presented in a way that any competent web developer can easily process for use in an application or a researcher can feed into a database system to explore.

*** end quote ***

Seems like the “crazy Free state Project members” are making a change that was completely unexpected.

They are cracking the Gooferment data open like a dropped Chinese porcelain urn.

Imagine that people are actually interested in what the Gooferment is up to.

“Very interested”!

Now we just need to make the Gooferment switch to free Open Source Software and save some money.

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Posted by reinkefj

TECHNOLOGY: Serendipity! I get to watch a red light camera from wife’s ICU room

Monday, February 14, 2011

I find the Universe has a sense of humor.

In observing the Red Light Camera by Saint Peter’s University Hospital, I think it’s “unacceptable”.

I don’t have a stop watch to determine the timing.

Some folks obviously enter the intersection on red and it ain’t even close. Other’s not so clear.

If a car is in the intersection to make a left turn, and the light goes red, sometimes it “fires”.

If a car yields to a light’s ‘n’ sirens ambulance while in the intersection, it fires?

If a pedestrian interrupts some poor slob making a legal right or left, and he’s caught in the intersection, it fires.

To do a good study, we need to mark the pavement with what I’d call the 25mph line. If a poor slob is doing 25mphs, how much distance does the yellow give him to stop. I can’t tell with out some tools: radar gun; pavement markings; and a stop watch.

If the Old Lady is stuck in the ICU long, maybe I’ll have time to do a real study.

Make a movie?

Yeah, I have too much time on my hands.

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Posted by reinkefj

TECHNOLOGY: Red light camera as like an ATM to the Gooferment

Monday, February 14, 2011

http://reason.com/blog/2011/02/07/more-fights-over-red-light-cam

More Fights Over Red Light Cameras
Radley Balko | February 7, 2011

*** begin quote ***

Actually, the argument is that there’s good evidence showing that lengthening yellow times is a far better way to prevent intersection accidents than red light cameras. It’s more effective, and doesn’t come with the creepy surveillance state vibe. Somehow, that doesn’t seem as appealing a policy to city governments. Another reason we critics have impugned the motives of public officials is that several cities have been caught shortening yellow times at intersections after they’ve been outfitted with cameras. That would seem to be a pretty good indication of a government that values revenue more than safety.

*** end quote ***

Yes, cash-strapped jurisdiction would have a very good motivation to install the camera and then shorten the yellow.

See the Gooferment can’t be both a participant in the game and the game’s referee.

Any illusion that there is a difference between the supposed three branches of Gooferment is just a corrupt illusion.

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Posted by reinkefj

ADMINISTRIVIA: Happy Saint V’s Day

Monday, February 14, 2011

After a weekend of mostly “altered mental status” — with unexplained causes, and after the innumerable transports of Frau Reinke to the toilet, I returned her to the comfort of her recliner. She couldn’t get comfortable. In a raspy strained voice struggling for breath, she said: “I have to get fresh air. I have to stand up.” So for the innumerable plus one time, I helped her to stand. I doing most of the lifting. “Just stand here” was her quiet words as she tightened her grip around my neck and held me close. Like one of the many slow “dances” we shared forty plus years ago. Until her legs tired out, she said “thanks”, and I placed her back in the recliner. Where she promptly was sound asleep. And, I was energized for the innumerable plus two times to come. Happy Valentine’s Day.

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Posted by reinkefj

NETWORK: “In the same way”? Not Quite

Sunday, February 13, 2011

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/ipv6-marks-next-chapter-in-history-of.html

IPv6 marks the next chapter in the history of the Internet
2/03/2011 01:39:00 PM

*** begin quote ***

In the same way your phone is associated with a unique number, your computer is assigned a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address when you connect to the Internet. The current protocol, IPv4, allows for approximately 4 billion unique addresses—and that number is about to run out.

*** end quote ***

Unfortunately, not really.

I’ve had the same home phone number for more than three decades. Thru three PSPs (Phone Service Providers).

ISPs play all sorts of games with “my” IP address. Not to mention that I have wifi router that automagically “counterfeits” the mac addresses to allow me to “fool” the ISPs network.

Argh!

It’s more imprecise language that encourages fuzzy thinking.

We really have two different kinds of internet. An internet of things controlled by the manufacturers with mac addresses and the internet of people controlled by the ISPs.

We can say that the IPV4 problem is an ISP problem; not a User problem.

Certainly, not MY problem. I get nothing out of it.

I’m more interested in mesh networks and P2PDNS.

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Posted by reinkefj

FUN: Vote Betty White as the new Wonder Woman

Saturday, February 12, 2011

http://www.tvguide.com/photogallery/wonder-woman-cast-1029055

Photo GalleriesWonder Woman: Who Should Be Cast?

Why Betty White, of course. Who else is a wonder!

Vote Betty White! #wonderwoman #bettywhite

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Posted by reinkefj

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