Random Musings

So, North Korea’s probable missile test.

First, I don’t think we should make a preemptive strike against it unless we want a second Korean War. Our military is stretched out enough as it is.

I think the best hope right now is China. Hostilities in Korea would not be good for China; they do not want to deal with the refugee and economic crisis that would occur; they also do not want to stop the lucrative China-US trade. China has an incentive to diffuse this. They need to tell Kim Jong Il, “Either you let us come in and take away your nukes and run your reactors and make sure you never get nukes again, while we proclaim that you are under our nuclear umbrella and don’t need nukes of your own, or we tell everyone who’ll listen that we would like to see an antinuke regime in Pyongyang.” Kim would either become somewhat sane, or he’d be dead within a week. (Thanks to Orson Scott Card.)

# posted by Dan @ 5:33 PM 0 comments

Well, today was my lucky day. I got $100 from my old college for “Refund Account Balance.” I can’t remember what “account” I had with them that had any “balance” to be “refunded.” Well, now I know what a tax refund must feel like!

# posted by Dan @ 6:02 PM 0 comments

So now, it’s a human rights violation to only speak English. Do you see why many of us want a national language now? When did I become obligated to learn every language known to man? I want to know that, if I, for example, put up a warning sign in English, my ass is covered even if a Farsi speaker comes along. I don’t want to get sued by somebody who wants to buy something from me on eBay, but doesn’t speak English, and I don’t speak his language.

But hey, maybe I can benefit from this. Yahoo’s a US company, right? That means I can sue them here. Their Yahoo Japan subsidiary has auctions only in Japanese! Yahoo is facilitating a human rights violation! Thanks, liberals-were it not for you, I would have never known that I have a right to services in any language I want to speak, regardless of the country’s laws or customs. Next on the agenda-Sue every store I patronize for not providing service in Klingon.

# posted by Dan @ 9:53 PM 0 comments

There is legislation in Congress (The PERFORM Act and the Audio Broadcast Flag Licensing Act) that would force digital radio makers to cripple their offerings. Listeners would not be able to record specific songs, play the songs they have recorded in a particular order, or burn their recordings to CD. If you don’t want your digital radio crippled by the RIAA, write your Congressman to oppose this legislation.

# posted by Dan @ 6:00 PM 0 comments

The Copyright Cartel is pressing for a law (S.2686) that would mandate a broadcast flag. This could, among other things, prevent devices like TiVo that allow you to skip commercials from reaching the market. If you don’t want the Copyright Cartel telling you what you can and cannot do with your TV and radio, write your Congressman to oppose this.

# posted by Dan @ 6:06 PM 0 comments

The copyright industry is up on arms about the alleged analog hole. Basically, DRMed digital content has to be converted into regular analog content before you can view or listen to it. The industry doesn’t like this. After all, this “hole” lets people copy CDs and movies to portable players instead of paying twice for the same thing! Can’t have that now, can we? So, Congress has introduced the Digital Transition Content Security Act, which mandates the use of an anticopying watermark that costs $10,000 to even look at! Secret technology should not be mandated by law. I personally think the “analog hole” isn’t a problem-Organized crime pirates will not be stopped by this, or by any DRM scheme, only legitimate users-but, even if everyone insists on a watermark, shouldn’t it be an open standard that everyone can study, to avoid a repeat of the Sony rootkit fiasco?

# posted by Dan @ 4:25 PM 0 comments

I’ve been in New York this week for Law Preview. If anyone reading this is getting ready to go to law school, I strongly advise them to go to this.

I feel really confident about law school now. I seemed to be able to participate well in class. It was a lot of work, though. I didn’t really have time to explore New York. I still liked being there though. And a bonus-my last class got out early, which was a good thing, because there was some kind of problem with the trains.

Well, I’m exhausted tonight, and I have a friend’s graduation party tomorrow, so good night.

# posted by Dan @ 9:34 PM 0 comments