Tag: Superdickery

Missing the Point

I seriously don’t understand Oracle. The bought up Sun Microsystems a while ago and have been working hard on ruining all obtained products as quickly as possible. Although Sun was never good at monetizing what they produced they made some great stuff and were usually pretty open with it. Java, OpenOffice, and Solaris were all open source products by the time they ended up being bought by Oracle.

The main benefit of Java has always been the ability to “write once, run everywhere.” Java doesn’t always deliver on that promise by nine times out of ten it does. I know a lot of people still give Java flak for being slow, bloated, and a device to butcher babies but frankly anybody who’s worked with it on a serious project generally walks away feeling that Java is a viable tool to get jobs done. I rather enjoy the fact that I can write a piece of software, compile it once, and then run it on my Windows, Linux, and Mac.

Apparently Oracle doesn’t understand this advantage and are now looking to monetize Java. I have no problem with monetizing a product, I’m a free market advocate after all. The problem I have is how Oracle is planning on going about monetizing Java. Their talking about releasing to version of the Java Development Kit (JDK), a free one and a premium one. By the sounds of it the premium version of the JDK will contain performance improvements in addition to some additional libraries (mostly for interacting with Oracle’s other products).

For a product like Java divergence is a bad thing. Once you remove the guarantee that an application you wrote will run on any platform with a Java Virtual Machine you’ve also removed the only real advantage. If there are two versions of the virtual machine the most likely outcome is people will only write software to target the free version as that’s the only version you can guarantee people will be willing to obtain. Java has always had a reputation for poor performance (a reputation that should be abolished at this point) so having performance only in the paid version is going to hurt the product’s reputation even more.

Frankly I just don’t understand Oracle’s strategy. They seemed to have purchased Sun just to ruin their products as fast as possible. Thankfully this purchase happened after groups already implemented clean room developments of the Java Virtual Machine and Application Programmer Interfaces (APIs) which gives us an alternative to whatever Oracle comes out with.

Everybody Has an Asshole

There was a recent incident at a Rand Paul rally where somebody stomped the head/shoulder (depends on who you ask) of a MoveOn individual. Of course bleeding-heart liberals are using this as an example of how violent the liberty minded side is. Snowflakes in Hell has a good write up on the situation.

Personally I’m not going to say both side were equally at fault here. Yes the MoveOn employee was being annoying but that isn’t illegal nor dangerous. People claiming themselves to be liberty minded (at least I assume that’s what the face stomper would claim judging by the pin he was waring) should know that everybody has the freedom of speech, even if you don’t like that speech. The MoveOn employee was being annoying but nothing else that deserved violence brought against her.

This brings me to a universal fact, everybody has an asshole. It doesn’t matter what your group stands for or what they’re trying to accomplish, somebody in that group will inevitably be an asshole at some point. In the libertarian movement we have the assholes who scream at anybody who doesn’t perfectly subscribe to their view of “correct libertarianism.” They’re annoying but certainly shouldn’t be used as examples of how the majority of the movement acts.

Of course we also have the people claiming the stomper is likely a MoveOn plant meant to stir up trouble. Personally I refuse to subscribe to such accusations without a lot of supporting evidence. I’ve not seen any such evidence and hence I believe the guy is just our asshole.

Sony Going After Hackers

Although I do not speak German and thus am reliant on another person’s translation it appears as though Sony is going after hackers. I’m not talking about malicious hackers who break into computer system, I’m talking about hackers whom are hacking their own PlayStation 3 (PS3).

A bit back a USB dongle was released that jailbroke the PS3. Sony apparently wasn’t happy just going after the manufacturer of the USB dongle (which is irrelevant as there is now an open-source implementation of the crack) and have decided to take legal action against people who purchased it. I’m not sure about German law but in the United States if you purchase a piece of hardware it’s legally yours to do with as you please. For instance if you purchase an iPhone and hack it you’re completely legal regardless of what Apple says.

I’ve been done with Sony products since they stole the built-in Linux capabilities of the PS3 (I paid for it, they removed it from their system, I can’t use the system to go online without removing the Linux capabilities meaning I lose a feature no matter what, and in my book that’s theft). If I hadn’t already given up on the PS3 this would have certainly made me do it.

CNBC Does a Hit Piece of Remington

Yet another piece of news I missed during my time in Texas has bubbled up to my attention. The Firearm Blog reports that CNBC did a hit piece of the Remington Model 700 series.

CNBC’s report claims the Remington Model 700 can fire without the trigger being pulled and that flaw has resulted in injuries and deaths. Of course as The Firearm Blog points out pre-1982 Model 700s were known to have that particular flaw (although if there were injuries and deaths involved I don’t know, just make it a point to not walk in front of any firearm and you can avoid that potential cause of injury/death). As the CNBC report mentions this flaw going back 60 years I believe they are digging up an old story, claiming it’s new, and ignoring the fact that the problem was fixed in 1982.

I also have to agree with a point made on The Firearm Blog. In this day and age there isn’t a single issue a firearm can have that won’t go across the entire Internet. Just look at the Ruger LCP when it came out, every issue on the planet was brought up on almost every firearm message board on the planet. The Remington Model 700 is incredibly popular with hunters, military, and police. If there was a major flaw in the gun it would be well known.

Of course CNBC isn’t exactly known for using facts and they’ve always had a major anti-gun slant as far back as I can remember. Hopefully this hit piece doesn’t cause too much trouble for Remington.

This is My Shocked Face

Can’t say that I saw this coming… who am I kidding? I saw this from a mile away:

An estranged former member of direct action anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd alleges it ordered its own boat to be scuttled to win public sympathy.

So why do I believe Mr. Bethune over the current members of Sea Sheppard? For starters Sea Sheppard are backstabbing assholes:

Sea Shepherd distanced itself from Mr Bethune during his detention – though it later claimed this was a ploy to gain a lenient sentence.

Yes while Mr. Bethune was in jail for doing exactly what Sea Sheppard advocates they distance themselves from him. Later of course they claim it was to get him a more lenient sentence. Maybe they should have used some of that money they’ve made for their shitty T.V. show to hire Mr. Bethune a top notch lawyer instead. At least that would have shown their fellow comrade support.

If you want to fight whaling that’s fine, so long as you do it peaceably. Harassing whalers and then boarding their ship isn’t going to go over well with anybody. Hell in most of the world boarding a vessel without permission is usually treated as attempted piracy. Try doing that on a Japanese navel vessel and see how well it goes over. Of course abandoning one of your fellows after he did exactly what he was told to do is just scumbag behavior. Who would join an organization that abandons their people when it’s politically convenient?

Finally I want to close with the following because I’m an asshole:

Sea Shepherd shot to prominence as the futuristic trimaran Ady Gil pursued the Japanese whaler Shonan Maru 2 through Antarctic waters in January.

Pursued it to the bottom of the ocean. Burn!

A Great Idea Ruined by Execution

One of the things I have despised about the iPhone from day one has been the locked down nature of the device. Google promised to provide an alternative solution that would be more open in the form of Android. Sadly ever since Androids initial release on the G1 handset manufacturers and carriers have been locking Android down more and more. It seems this locking down has gone to the next level on the new HTC G2.

When you reboot the G2 all the contents of /system are rewritten to factory defaults. This means any root acquisition is temporary until the phone is rebooted. The good folks over at XDA Developers have a thread talking about rooting the G2 and currently the issue mentioned in this post.

I must say this is a little ridiculous. It’s understandable that manufacturers don’t want to support Android devices that have been rooted. A lot can go wrong with you root a device including turning a fancy phone into an expensive paper weight. Reasons like that make a policy of voiding warranties on rooted phones likely and understandable. With that said if somebody is willing to void their warranty to root a phone they should be left to doing it.

This behavior seems to countermand one of the bigger selling points of Android which is the fact it’s not as locked down as the iPhone. Frankly as Android becomes more and more locked down I’m failing to see much reason why people should chose it over the iPhone. Currently it seems the most open phone on the market is the Palm Pre which could completely change if HP decide to remove the ability to easily activate developer mode on future devices.

Global Warming Will Kill Your Children

At least that’s what the following very gory advertisement I found via Dvorak Uncensored seems to indicate:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDXQsnkuBCM&feature]

Basically the global warming climate change disruption activists who made this film are saying we either do as they say or they’ll blow our children up. If you’re squeamish the video involves a teacher in a classroom lecturing her students on “saving Mother Gaia.” When the children question her she pushes a button and literally blows the student up. Yes the teacher blows the student up for questioning her authority.

Personally I don’t take kindly to threats and hence will continue driving my truck that gets 17 miles per gallon on the highway. I’m also looking into developing a reverse catalytic converter that will increase emissions from my vehicle. Take that you bastards!

If You’ve Got Nothing to Hide

Recently the Obama administration has been trying to require all Internet communication companies such as Skype to place back doors into their protocols. These back doors are to be used for law enforcement personnel to eavesdrop on conversations. Obviously the standard mantra of our government is, “if you’ve got nothing to hide you shouldn’t be worried.”

Well there is another danger in placing back doors into communication software as Bruce Schneier brings up:

These laws are dangerous, both for citizens of countries like China and citizens of Western democracies. Forcing companies to redesign their communications products and services to facilitate government eavesdropping reduces privacy and liberty; that’s obvious. But the laws also make us less safe. Communications systems that have no inherent eavesdropping capabilities are more secure than systems with those capabilities built in.

Any surveillance system invites both criminal appropriation and government abuse. Function creep is the most obvious abuse: New police powers, enacted to fight terrorism, are already used in situations of conventional nonterrorist crime. Internet surveillance and control will be no different.

Official misuses are bad enough, but the unofficial uses are far more worrisome. An infrastructure conducive to surveillance and control invites surveillance and control, both by the people you expect and the people you don’t. Any surveillance and control system must itself be secured, and we’re not very good at that. Why does anyone think that only authorized law enforcement will mine collected internet data or eavesdrop on Skype and IM conversations?

Any lock can be bypasses. The best option is to have the fewest doors possible. Ideally you have no doors to enter at all. By requiring yet another door our government is purposely requiring these protocols to be less secure. Of course this law is meant to protect them (government) not us so they don’t care.