"Why?" "It's the law." "What law?"

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Grounded: Millionaire John Gilmore stays close to home while making a point about privacy
SAN FRANCISCO -- John Gilmore's splendid isolation began July 4, 2002, when, with defiance aforethought, he strolled to the Southwest Airlines counter at Oakland Airport and presented his ticket.

The gate agent asked for his ID.

Gilmore asked her why.

It is the law, she said.

Gilmore asked to see the law.

Nobody could produce a copy. To date, nobody has. The regulation that mandates ID at airports is "Sensitive Security Information." The law, as it turns out, is unavailable for inspection.

There are things, I'll grant, that the government may conceal from general knowledge. I'll further concede that some of those things it shouldn't even explain why they are secret, because that would reveal too much.

But the law that gives them the power to do it is - must be - in the public domain.

"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world"

The Register | FCC 'crosses the line' with broadcast flag - court
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) overstepped its authority by requiring devices capable of receiving digital TV broadcasts to recognize data called a 'broadcast flag' that can prevent copying, a federal judge has said.

US Circuit Judge Harry Edwards told the FCC that it had "crossed the line" when it required DRM technology to be included in all DTV devices on sale in the USA from 1 July. This would include TVs, set top boxes, PC tuner cards, VCRs, DVD players, and similar devices.

The FCC argued that its ancillary powers authorize it to regulate the reception of broadcasts, not just their transmission. While Congress did not authorize the Commission to regulate the proper designs of the devices, it also didn't expressly forbid it, which FCC takes as a license to issue specifications.

"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world," judge Edwards observed.

Judge David Sentelle wondered if FCC thought it could regulate washing machines, since Congress didn't expressly forbid that, either.

Warms the cockles of my heart, it does.

Where is that dusty old document... Ah, there it is:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

Seems pretty clear to me.

Great minds

I used this concept (the natural extension of linked databases for looking up customer information) in a parody bank commercial for ARTC back in 1997, but I have to admit that I've been topped. This new version, a flash animation commissioned by the ACLU, starts with a pizza order. (Heard it from Neal Boortz.)

You could think of it as a glimpse of the near future, if it makes you feel better, but the technology to do it is in place right now. And given the recent attempt to have public schools include your child's body fat index on his report card (not to mention having the kids wear radio frequency ID badges to track their movements), it's obvious that the inclination to use it in this manner is there too.

Ooh, that last story. "Nobody on this campus knows every student," the principal says. Well, who decided it was more efficient to have six hundred kids in an elementary school? (There's no law that says elementary schools have to be that big, but that's the current trend. Why? Because certain kinds of federal matching funds are only available to schools of that size, and most local school boards will jump through any hoop to get those matching funds. Don't get me started.)

Unintended Consequences

CBS News | States Mull Taxing Drivers By Mile
College student Jayson Just commutes an odometer-spinning 2,000 miles a month. As CBS News Correspondent Sandra Hughes reports, his monthly gas bill once topped his car payment.

"I was paying about $500 a month," says Just.

So Just bought a fuel efficient hybrid and said goodbye to his gas-guzzling BMW.

And what kind of mileage does he get?

"The EPA estimate is 60 in the city, 51 on the highway," says Just.

And that saves him almost $300 a month in gas. It's great for Just but bad for the roads he's driving on, because he also pays a lot less in gasoline taxes which fund highway projects and road repairs. As more and more hybrids hit the road, cash-strapped states are warning of rough roads ahead.

Officials in car-clogged California are so worried they may be considering a replacement for the gas tax altogether, replacing it with something called "tax by the mile."

...The new tax would be charged each time you fill up. A computer inside the gas pump would communicate with your car's odometer to calculate how much you owe.

The system could also track how often you drive during rush hour and charge higher fees to discourage peak use. That's an idea that could break the bottleneck on California's freeways.

And wipe those smug smiles off the hybrid owners' faces. I probably shouldn't even mention that car prices will go up, since they'll be required to include a GPS to facilitate highway tax collection.

A lot of trouble to go to, just to be sure all those scofflaws with their hybrid gas/electric cars still pay their "fair share". I wonder how they plan to hit the all-electric drivers? Maybe they figure that with their limited range between rechargings, they don't cover enough miles to be worth it.

Hey, this should lower the taxes for those evil SUV drivers, shouldn't it?

One man's terrorist is another man's... neighbor?

Yahoo News (AP) | Rooster Recording Terrorizes Neighbors
BERLIN - A couple in northern Germany terrorized their neighbors by playing sounds of a rooster crowing in the middle of the night, police said Tuesday.

Sleep-deprived, the neighboring couple reported to police in the town of Wacken three times over the past week, saying the pair in the other half of their semidetached house seemed to have left a rooster in their home while on vacation.

The animal crowed "at an enormous volume" for 20 minutes between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m., the couple told police.

Police entered the home Monday and discovered a recording set on a timer to play daily, with the speaker placed directly against the neighbors' wall. The 55-year-old man and his 50-year-old wife, still on vacation, were cited for causing bodily harm and disturbing the peace, police said.

Investigators said the motive was unclear because there was no known strife between the neighbors.

I'd be the first to admit that this would be extremely annoying, and I'd've called the police myself. "Disturbing the peace"? Surely. "Causing bodily harm"? That's a bit of a stretch.

But "terrorized"? Is that what the AP stylebook calls it these days?

"Artist Stan Lee"?

I don't watch a lot of TV, none of it on Wednesday nights, so I didn't see the big show... by which I mean, of course, 60 Minutes and its story about Stan Lee's lawsuit against Marvel Comics. (What's that? Something else was on? State of the... what?)

But Mark Evanier did see it, and has some comments and follow-up. As with most mainstream media, CBS News' reporters don't understand how comics are created, and referred to "artist Stan Lee" without knowing or caring (pick one or both) that Stan is a writer. It's possible they don't know comics have writers.

The show also perpetuates the myth that Stan created Marvel Comics singlehandedly out of thin air. This Mark blames on CBS, not Stan. Stan Lee is not shy about self-promotion, it's true, but (according to Mark, who would know) he's also sensitive to charges that he takes credit for things he didn't do, and is careful to point out in interviews that (to pick two conspicuous examples) Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko had a lot to do with it as well.

It's not Stan's fault that, in the few minutes of footage they used, they chose not to mention that Stan even had colloborators, let alone name them.

But here's the part I like:

It's the responsibility of any TV reporter to do at least a little independent fact-checking on their interviewees. Can you imagine a newsman going out to do a story on Paul McCartney who didn't know of John Lennon? I don't know how you could fact-check Stan Lee in the slightest and not discover that Spider-Man has been hailed by everyone, including Stan himself, as the joint creation of Lee and Ditko.

...And just think: As I write this, these people are covering the State of the Union address, the War in Iraq and the proposals for revamping Social Security...all, probably, with the same dedication to accuracy.

Every bit of it, I'm sure. It's a wonder they get George W. Bush's job title right. That's probably why they put it on the podium when he speaks.

UPDATE: See also Variety's Bags and Boards and Comicon.com's The Beat.

I'll take "The Flippin' Obvious" for $100, Alex

Yahoo News (AP) | Bush Pushing Agenda in State of Union
I thought he was going to discuss whether Mickey Mouse was cuter before they started drawing pupils in his eyes.

Sorry, you didn't phrase it in the form of a question.

Not an Onion headline

Yahoo News (AP) | DiCaprio Gets Lifetime Achievement Award
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - On the heels of an Oscar nomination, "The Aviator" star Leonardo DiCaprio wrapped a high-flying week by accepting the Platinum Award from the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

... "It's a lifetime achievement award, which is completely and utterly surreal, given I'm only 30 years old," he continued, with a laugh. "But, you know, what has it been? Almost 17 years now. I've done quite a few films. But what's really exciting, for me, is that this is what I really love doing. It's what I want to do for the rest of my life."

You know, this could be a subtle way of telling him his career is over. Or should be.

Whatever happened to...?

William Messner-Loebs' run on the Comico version of Jonny Quest was without equal. His version of Jonny's departed mother was far better than Hanna-Barbera's own, when they got around to telling the tale. His other work (Journey, The Flash, Wonder Woman) wasn't half bad, either. It's a shame that, after a whopping four years away from the comic-book biz, the editors seem to have forgotten his name.

Whatever happened to Bill Messner-Loebs?

LATER: There's more, from Newsarama.

I love the web

And now, for your amuseuemt and edification: Six of the best known motion pictures of the last half century (plus three iconic slasher films)... Condensed to thirty seconds and re-enacted by bunnies.

Darth Tater

Once a potato, always a potato.

It's getting easier to spot these things

You know, it really doesn't bother me that the Democrats are making a concerted effort to take over the "Letters to the Editor" section of every newspaper in the country. I've seen plenty of letter-writing campaigns before, and every one of them warns participants to write their own letter and not to copy the sample. And many ignore that advice. What surprises me is that newspapers are falling for it.

I saw it in the Wall Street Journal, and at Boortz' Nealz Nuze. Considering the sources, I was prepared to believe the phenomenon wasn't as widespread as they made it sound. So I conducted an experiment, which I encourage you to duplicate. Do a Google search for the first few words of the letter: "President Bush is endangering my retirement and the retirements of millions..." (No need to go beyond that: Google limits its search queries to ten words.)

The WSJ reports five nearly-identically-worded letters. I get seventeen, although the further you read, the more they begin to paraphrase. Nobody bothers to change that first sentence, though. (But then, my sample is skewed: That's what I searched for.) And that's only the papers whose letter columns are web-searchable.

Here's someone who claims to have actually written the letter, and of course I've no reason to doubt it--other than those other sixteen results. (Scroll down to the fourth post, from "LNAB".)

Great casting

I don't want to get into the various reasons why I (unlike so many people I know) am not utterly enthralled by the Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy and am not counting the days until the release of the big-screen movie, but I have to say it was a stroke of genius to cast Alan Rickman as the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android. Can't you just hear that lovely, contemptuous voice saying:

Do you want me to sit in a corner and rust or just fall apart where I'm standing?

Now I know you're making it up

Okay, Australia does have a reputation for importing animals that destroy the local ecology. I know about the bunnies that now wash across the outback in massive seething tides. I know about the foxes that were imported to control the bunnies, but developed a taste for the slower-moving wallaby and left the bunnies alone.

I even know about the golden eagles that have forgotten how to hunt, preferring to lounge around the dingo fences and wait for the bunnies to pile up.

Faced with these disasters, you'd think the Australians would have learned their lesson, but no, there's also the cane toad, which they imported to control insect pests in the sugar cane crop, but which no local species will eat because they are actually poisonous.

Nor are these the only examples.

But, c'mon. Half a million feral camels? Yes.

Camels and Rubber Duckies

This is what happens when you follow random links. I was at the Accordion Guy's page (see previous), and there was this link on the side labeled Camels and Rubber Duckies. I ask you, would you have been able to resist?

Anyway, that took me to Tucows' developers' page, The Farm, and the above image (wouldn't that make great wallpaper?), which in turn links to an essay called, not too surprisingly by this point, Camels and Rubber Duckies. The surprise is that it's by Joel Spolsky, whose Fog Creek Software markets the excellent web site management program I use, CityDesk.

Joel may think this article is about pricing software, but actually it's about pricing just about anything.

"The internet has helped to polarize people."

Here's a look at the 2004 election in which the words "cowboy," "Vietnam" and "red/blue" are never spoken. It's quite refreshing, and fascinating. Joey deVilla, the "Accordion Guy," presents his notes from the Internet+Society 2004 Conference, held Dec 9-11, sponsored by the Berkman Center at Harvard Law School.

(The participants in this panel are: Chair: Prof. Heather Gerken, Harvard Law School; Chuck DeFeo, eCampaign manager, Bush-Cheney '04; Zack Exley, Director of Online Communication and Organization, Kerry-Edwards 2004; Prof. Sunshine Hillygus, Harvard University; Dan Gillmor, journalist, San Jose Mercury News and SiliconValley.com.)

Microsoft may start charging extra for software that works

Yes, that's Fark's headline for this story, and I wanted to say "Don't you think that's overreacting?", but the more I read, the more I agree.

CNN.com - Microsoft may charge extra for security software
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. disclosed plans Thursday to offer frustrated users of its Windows software new tools within 30 days to remove spyware programs secretly running on computers. But it might cost extra in coming months.

In a shift from past practice, the world's largest software manufacturer said it may charge consumers for future versions of the new protective technology, which Microsoft acquired by buying a small New York software firm.

...Microsoft's tool, expected to be available within 30 days, initially will be free but the company isn't ruling out charging for future versions. "We're going to be working through the issue of pricing and licensing," Nash said. "We'll come up with a plan and roll that out."

Linux developers, get ready. Your window of opportunity (so to speak) is imminent.

LATER: What do you mean, we don't actually own the software? We bought the company!

Holiday Self-Promotion

ARTC will be appearing at Memorial Hall at Stone Mountain Park to share a few of our favorite Christmas memories. Showtimes are 2pm and 4pm on Saturday and Sunday, December 11 and 12.

I might also observe that radio drama makes an economical and unique gift.

LATER: Just took advantage of Blogger timewarp to move this entry up. It looks like we're doing darned near a three hour Christmas marathon. And at that, we're going to have to leave out some scripts to make it fit. It'll be a fun show: Drop by.

Sunday morning protesters

Actually, that's not an insult, or a reference to Sunday (or Monday) morning quarterbacks. It's the literal truth. Photodude has something to say about the upcoming 51 Capital March, in which literally dozens of outraged voters will march on all fifty State Capitols, and the Federal Capitol, to protest the widespread fraud that created and perpetuated the absurd illusion that George Bush actually won the Presidential election.

Specifically, Reid observes that the organizers fit the stereotyle of Godless liberals, since they've scheduled their protest for noon on Sunday, December 12th. Either they wanted to keep the church-goers away (they would have been overwhelmingly Republican anyway, right?), or there simply are no church-goers among the organizing committee to have noticed this conflict.

I posted a comment there, but I'm so in love with the sound of my own voice that I'll post it again here:

I’m sure they were going for the synchronicity of twelves (the date is 12/12, the announced time is 12:00, and who’ll wager that the recorded beginning of the protest, or else a moment of silence, is set for twelve minutes after the hour?), just as local Veterans’ Day activities were scheduled for 11:11am on 11/11. They hope to make the event look more Significant by so doing. People love meaningless numerical convergence. (Are they correcting for different time zones?)

Yes, this particular group of Democrats is obviously not composed of church-goers. It is my perception, though, that politicians and activists at either end of the spectrum only mention God when they think He will deliver votes.

Who do they figure is going to be at the State Capitol on Sunday morning to witness them? If a placard falls in the middle of a rally and no one sees it, does it make a sound?

Maybe I'll set the VCR to catch the Sunday noon news to see if anyone does a live remote.

I know it's not spam 'cause it says so

After all, it says I signed up to receive this e-mail, and they wouldn't lie, would they?

It claims to be "From Microsoft and the Saprizo.com team!" and it tells me that I've won an X-Box. Of course, I never signed up for any X-Box giveaway, but the page hints that this particular prize was added later, and there are any number of sites that require an e-mail address, so I might have given it to someone who's giving away an X-Box. (This particular mail came to the address I give to people I don't want to have my address...)

Anyway, it almost looked credible. The e-mail mentioned a "pass code number" I'll need to claim the prize. The destination page wants my address. Well, that makes sense: How's it going to mail me anything without my address?

I'm going to have to pay shipping, it says, just to prove I'm an adult and eligible to win contests. On the form, the payment method says "debit card" (interesting default) but it's in a drop down box so I should be able to choose the disputable credit card... And when you click the drop-down arrow there's no other option. Interesting. The form goes on to ask for my debit card number, expiration date and PIN red alert red alert red alert...

Well, I'm glad it wasn't spam.

The page is gone now. I wonder whose "team" this will be from the next time I see it?