Daily Archives: February 12, 2007

Digital Restrictions Management (DRM)

This entry was posted in Microsoft on by

Yea, I stole the restrictions word from Kurt’s comment to this Bruce Schneir post.
DRM is another good reason to stay away from Windows Vista:

Unfortunately, we users are caught in the crossfire. We are not only stuck with DRM systems that interfere with our legitimate fair-use rights for the content we buy, we’re stuck with DRM systems that interfere with all of our computer use–even the uses that have nothing to do with copyright.
I don’t see the market righting this wrong, because Microsoft’s monopoly position gives it much more power than we consumers can hope to have. … Some researchers think that this is the final straw that will drive Windows users to the competition, but I think the courts are necessary.
In the meantime, the only advice I can offer you is to not upgrade to Vista. It will be hard. Microsoft’s bundling deals with computer manufacturers mean that it will be increasingly hard not to get the new operating system with new computers. And Microsoft has some pretty deep pockets and can wait us all out if it wants to. Yes, some people will shift to Macintosh and some fewer number to Linux, but most of us are stuck on Windows. Still, if enough customers say no to Vista, the company might actually listen.

Now would be a perfectly good time for Apple to release a version of its operating system that runs on any Intel platform. This is their next step, isn’t it?
Via

Update: Coyote Blog agrees and has more.

Historic Dead

This entry was posted in GD Music on by

Over at dead.net the folks have started a new weekly feature. Well, new to me, as it kicked off in the last week of November 06:

In this space, every Monday, you will find information on the recorded history of the Grateful Dead’s music as it pertains to that week, specifically focusing on the shows for that week, through the band’s 30 year performing history, that reside in the Grateful Dead’s storied tape vault. Although not everything is in there, with more than 1,600 of the band’s 2,400-odd shows represented, there is plenty about which to talk. Check back weekly for new entries and insight into the vault, as well as exclusive audio clips relating to that week in the Grateful Dead’s recorded history.

The audio clips are all MP3 which may bother purists but, hey, in addition to stuff from previously released material there is plenty of unreleased vault stuff that many of us have never heard before.

My lunchtime choice today Dark Star>China Cat Sunflower>The Eleven>Caution (MP3 46.05MB) from 2/22/68 at Kings Beach Bowl.

Flatulence

This entry was posted in bush Ecology Humor on by

It would be all to easy to attribute this fine piece of oratory to great leader:

We don’t know what those other cycles were caused by in the past. Could be dinosaur flatulence, you know, or who knows? We do know the CO2 in the past had its time when it was greater as well. And what happened when the CO2 was greater since then and now? There have been many cycles of up and down warming.

But, credit should be given to whom it is due. This was crafted by congress critter dana rohrabacher who apparently attending the same speaking schools as w.
As to “…what happened when the CO2 was greater since then and now?”:

Presumably, Rohrabacher was referencing a period known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Then, as in now, “sharp rises in temperature were initiated and driven by large spikes in greenhouse gases. … It took over 100K years for the ocean, atmosphere, and temperatures to return to their previous state. The result was a mass extinction event that took millions of years to recover from.” But scientists believe that massive methane releases from the ocean floors — not dinosaur farts — were the cause.

Via The Galloping Beaver.