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Saturday, February 15, 2003 |
Google as Big Brother. The top ten Google privacy problems:
6. Google's toolbar is spyware:
With the advanced features enabled, Google's free toolbar for Explorer phones home with every page you surf. Yes, it reads your cookie too, and sends along the last search terms you used in the toolbar. Their privacy policy confesses this, but that's only because Alexa lost a class-action lawsuit when their toolbar did the same thing, and their privacy policy failed to explain this. Worse yet, Google's toolbar updates to new versions quietly, and without asking. This means that if you have the toolbar installed, Google essentially has complete access to your hard disk every time you phone home. Most software vendors, and even Microsoft, ask if you'd like an updated version. But not Google. [Follow Me Here...]
Ouch. So I just removed the toolbar.
11:06:22 PM Permalink
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John Robb Posts:
I am trying to think through the reasons people are opposing this war. This is not an indictment of those reasons, it is just me thinking them through. Not everyone who opposes the US on this war will support all of these reasons (many would actually oppose many of the reasons listed). The opposition is a diverse group. Here is my list:
- Opposition to all war.
- Frustration with the US, as the sole superpower in the world, exercising its military power without considering the desires of the rest of the world. This is tied to the hope, that global activism in combination with strict fealty to the UN, can contain US power.
- Opposition to the US across the board (anti everything the US does).
- The US is the #1 source of global evil (this is a stronger version of the above).
- Belief that UN inspections and sanctions can work to prevent Iraq from ever becoming a threat -or- that Iraq has already been disarmed.
- Belief that war is more of a threat to the Iraqi people than living under Saddam for another couple of decades.
Any more add to this list? [John Robb's Radio Weblog]
There are a lot of different reasons for opposing this war. For myself, I'd add these:
- Lack of confidence in the ability of the current administration to follow-up on the removal of Saddam with any conviction. Witness the lack of funds for continued aid to Afghanistan in Bush's budget proposal.
- Lack of confidence in the ability of this administration to tie any possible progress in disarming Iran to deal with the myriad of other problems throught the Mid-East, notably the Israeli-Palestinian problem.
- Disrust in the motives of an adminstration that seems to be less than interested in the variety of other dictatorships in the world, and to the people that live under them. And at the same time, this administraton doesn't seem to be shy about cozying up to other fiends as long as they are on "our side" about Iraq or Afghanistan (which is part of the reason why we got in this situation with Iraq).
There are more, of course, and maybe I'll add them.
10:57:14 PM Permalink
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sqlYOG
A couple months ago, as I started working with mySQL, I started a project to evaluate a number of GUI front ends. I have a spreadsheet of features, a bunch of notes, etc. It turned out to be pretty discouraging, because I just didn't like any of the programs I came across. Then one day in December, I saw a piece in Database Journal covering sqlYog. I added it to my list, downloaded it, and one day gave it a spin. Pretty much immediately, I gave up the evaluation project, and just started using this program to the exclusion of almost all others. For Windows, it has a nice, polished GUI, with nothing funky like a lot of the others have, and so far is very reliable. The keyboard shortcuts mimic, where appropriate, those from SQL Server's Query Analyzer, as does the look and feel. I have some complaints, but they're minor, and I'll address them. In the meantime, if you're working with mySQL and especially if you're coming from the SQL Server world, grab this one, it seems to be a winner.
5:46:13 PM Permalink
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Bo Diddley
Here's a terrific, long profile of pioneer and inventor of a signuture rhythm, Bo Diddley. Though unique in his contribution, part of his story is all to common:
Mr. Diddley recorded more than two dozen albums through 1974 for the Chess company. But with sales and bookings declining, he found himself in debt and worried about supporting his family. Mr. Diddley said he was "pushed into a corner" to sell the rights to his songs. But what has obsessed him for 25 years and makes him furious is that he "never saw a dime" in royalties during his heyday. The plaint is common among early rockers.
You know, when the RIAA takes worries as much about paying Diddley and others something of what they're due for decades of exploitation, then they might have some moral ground to stand on with regard to P2P and downloading. But until that unlikely date, it's hard to have any sympathy for them.
In the meantime, do read this piece. It's too bad the Times doesn't liink to the music in the article; it cries out for a soundtrack. Otherwise, it certainly wouldn't hurt to pick up one of his records.
3:59:52 PM Permalink
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Impeach Bush
The Utne Reader has some links and a paragraph about impeaching Bush. Google turns up about 18,000 hits on search for "impeach Bush." Certainly, what he's done to the country's standing abroad, his disregard and contempt for civil liberties, his contempt for the separation of church and state, his contempt for counting votes, his support for Total Information Awareness, and the Patriot Act II, for starters, are worthy of impeachment. This is far more serious than lying about sex in the White House. Don't even mention his failure to bring the perpetrators of 9/11 to account for the crime.
9:17:03 AM Permalink
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Suddenly Last Summer
Here's a rave review in the SF Chonicle of Suddenly Last Summer, which I saw the other night.
In part, her great aria is Williams' cry of anguish at the deviousness of a life in the closet as a gay man in the repressive '50s. "Summer" also is a ruthless critique of the manipulative selfishness of the privileged, whether wealthy individuals or powerful nations. It's a cathartic drama of the need to speak truth to power. "I know it's a hideous story," Catharine says helplessly, "but it's a true story of our time and the world we live in."
9:07:17 AM Permalink
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Powell at the U.N.
I was doing a bunch of work yesterday morning but keeping an ear open listening to the various speeches at the U.N. I was appalled, for a couple of reasons
First, though I'm pretty much against this war, while I was listening to the French and others, I didn't get a sense from any of them that they even acknowledge that there's a problem in Iraq that needs to be addressed. The attitude seemed to be very insouciant towards the whole problem. But the truth is, there is something very wrong in Iraq that needs addressing. I have lots of problems with the Bush administration being the bunch that seems to want to address this, and am afraid of what might be their motives, and doubt their ability to persevere over the long run, but don't doubt the need to do something, maybe even war.
Second, it's very depressing to see the low esteem this administration is held in by other countries. Colin Powell is a man of impressive bearing, and certainly deserves the benefit of the doubt. But his association with the rest of the administration has damaged his reputation so deeply it's hard to take him seriously. You see him pulling the same shenanigans that Dubya, Cheney, and Rumsfeld pull that he's damaged goods to so many. These shenanigans include forgetting and ignoring the past (neither Cheney or Rumsfeld have ever addressed their past support for Hussein), overstating evidence, withholding key facts, and the like. And finally, this administration's arrogance towards Europe and, for that matter, most of the rest of the world, is paying benefits of lack of respect.
Will the Bush administration do what needs to be done in Iraq after the war? The other day I heard Dubya addressing some Navy seamen. He said, about the U.N., that it was important that it keep its word. That day, though, also came the revelation that whereas Dubya had promised continued support for Afghanistan, that he had somehow negelected to include any such support in his budget.
There's just not a lot in anything his administration does to give one confidence that they're doing the right thing. But at every turn they give you reasons to doubt that confidence. They're digging us into a hole of distrust that will be hard to get out of.
8:59:03 AM Permalink
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© Copyright 2004 Steve Michel.
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