It Seems to Me...

You know the adage, a friend is someone you call to help you move, a true friend is someone you call to help you hide a body.

What do you call a true friend who's trying too hard?

I'm an Hikikkomori--by the standard definition.  I don't leave my room save to go to the kitchen and sneak some food, or to use the bathroom, or on a 7-11 run.  My world consists of the Internet and a hyper-detailed fantasy life where nothing that hurts is allowed to exist. 

Or at least I was.

Sure, I am still on IRC, 3 networks to be precise, friends with the same people, talking, chatting, you name it (yes, that too...).  It gets to be that one forgets the difference between the fantasy world and the Real World(TM).  Except here, unlike my stint on DALnet while at the University of Maryland in 2000, I had people on the inside, "digital people" helping me get out.

It seems to me that we're, and this is treason, nigh-on heresy for a technologist, that we are too connected.  We have twitter so people know our every move, so long as it's 150 characters or less (great for chess...), we have AIM, Skype, etc., etc., etc.  But when people seriously believe they are their digital life, that Meatspace is just a means to getting more shiny stuff to better enjoy their interactions not with real people but with the "digital people" they've surrounded themselves with, it's time to take a step back and unplug.

No, I'm not going Amish, and no, "digital people" friends of mine, I am not going off the grid or leaving IRC or anything.  I mean philosophically.  What did we do before all of this?  Books, radio, TV, movies and penpals.  Pretty much the same things we do now, right?  Well, on the last, I'm blessed, I've two, one in England, the other in an undisclosed location because I don't want to incur her ire.  Movies: YouTube and TPB get them ahead of time.  TV, well, that's why we have tuner cards and Myth.  Radio: podcasts.  Books?

I became Hiki the second time primarily due to writers' block, when I had 2 working manuscripts and couldn't think which one was worth saving, which to stick in a drawer, what to do at all.  Among other things.  So I surrounded myself with "digital people."

And fell for one.  Fast.  Hard.  I'm not going to gush or wax poetic or even give details.  Privacy is a thing to be treasured, cherished, guarded under lock, key, and the 82nd Airborne.  Oh, and some hamsters, just to confuse.  A "digital people" friend of mine kept warning and warning and warning me of my love, trying to do one thing: stop us both from getting hurt.  See, I'm in NY.  M'love?  Not.  Same country, different timezone.  Long distance is hard enough when you start out physically together and diverge.  My "digital people's" theory?  It's even harder when you start out apart and converge and diverge like a double-helix.

In a sense, he's right.

But it seems to me, that with all of my need to unplug for a while, optimism, even rose-tinted glasses (No, love, not a blue rose, rose rose)...wait.  A blue rose...hmm.  Blue roses are impossible.  They cannot exist.  But maybe, in this age of microblogging, "digital people" and going Hikikkomori, maybe the blue rose of a double-helix working is exactly the emblem of the times:

It seems to me that everything impossible socially, somewhere, in some corner of the globe, or some corner of the 'Net, is somewhere to be found.  And, it seems to me, even for "digital people" friends who mean all the world and who try too hard, even blue roses will eventually come to pass.

I guess I should pick up botany as a hobby?

Thank You for Saving Me a Blog Post...wait, isn't that what this is?

Thank you, Vermont, for your overriide Governor Jim Douglas' veto of a bill that would legalize gay marriage. 

Thank you, Vermont, for making history by legalizing gay marriage even after a veto. 

Thank you, Vermont for being brave and sparing us all what some despise (Not me--I think Roe was necessary and legislating from the bench is necessary from time to time.  Miranda and Tinker come to mind...).

Thank you, Vermont.

Thank you, Iowa, too.

Thank you both for saving me my ire, bile, vigor and vitriol that would've gone your way save what you've both bravely done, saving said ire, bile, vigor and vitriol for all the other sh%t that pisses me off.

Conduct Unbecoming of a Senator

I hate to delve into politics. Okay, I actually love it. But some stories make me foam at the mouth and load me with venomous hate.

Like this one. Richard Burr (R-NC), supposedly took the oath to Protect and Defend the Constitution. He supposedly has a similar oath, unwritten, unsaid, between himself and his constituents. Now, it's more than likely--okay, it's guaranteed--that at least one of said constituents either is serving or has served this country in time of war. It's also guaranteed that at least one of his constituents needs the services of the Veterans Affairs administration.

Enter double-amputee Iraq veteran Maj. Tammy Duckworth, an Obama appointee for a senior position at the VA. Now, one would think that being the head of the State of Illinois' own Dept. of Veterans Affairs would be enough to get on the short-list. Being the one woman who spearheaded a from-the-ground-up overhaul of the state's system should be enough to put her at least in the top two. But that Illinois' current system, under her watch, is now the model that every other state in the Union is trying to clone, so successful that she's not only the head of the short-list, but the nominee, all of this should be clear she has the resume to sail through the nomination.

Enter Richard Burr. Now, when I say 'supposedly,' I know he took the oath. But did he have his fingers crossed behind his back when he took it? Was it "opposite day?" Was he under duress?

No.

Supposed-Senator Burr is holding up her nomination for "due dilligence" reasons, all-but-putting her on a hold, pulling the breaks such that it'd take everything shy of a unanimous motion in the committee to unglue her nomination so it can go to the Senate entire. All but a hold. As of this minute, it's 'delayed.' Whether it's on hold or not depends on who your news comes from.

That Burr wants "due dilligence" is well and good for him. He gets to look like he's a watchdog to his conservative constituents. But that the nominee he holds up is, if anything, overqualified, no offense, no offense at all, Maj. Duckworth, is unconscionable. It's beyond the pale, beyond cavil, beyond reason.

There is no excuse, 'Senator' Burr. That you would hold up a nominee to the VA, the one part of the government that needs, needs, needs an overhaul the most, that you would use whatever petty notions that run about your head saying "Don't do it! Don't do it!" to hold up the most qualified nominee for this post, that you are listening to your inner devils, that, that, that conduct is unbecoming of any government official. That you, time and again, refuse to even hint at why you have 'delayed' her approval by the Senate entire, that you hold up her nomination for no reason, no reason at all, it would seem, is conduct unbecoming of a Senator.

Mister Burr, resign your seat or let Maj. Duckworth's nomination out of committee and to the floor of the entire Senate for their 'consent' as is per the Constitution. You have toiled too long in the land of unreasonable pettiness and slavish adherence to a pitiful excuse for a set of morals, a set of morals that forces you to do such an untenable act.

Mister Burr, sir, resign your seat or remove what is little else if not a 'hold' on the motion to approve and to send her nomination to the floor.

Mister Burr, if you wish, in good conscience, to continue to 'serve,' if what you have done to and with Maj. Duckworth can be called 'serving,' if you wish to continue to 'serve' your, my, our Country, if your oath means anything to you, remove your hold.

Or resign.

I wish, I truly, truly wish that you could be impeached for your Conduct Unbecoming of a Senator. That said, I do find your 'hold' a crime, a high crime, a high crime against the people, especially the veterans who ever increasingly need Maj. Duckworth's expertise to assist them, a high crime against the people, the veterans, and the good-faith protection and defense of the Constitution. If only you could be impeached for this, sir.

Then again, I, and many others, could call your acts treason, as your choice to allow veterans to suffer does, in its own way, provide aid and comfort to the enemy, rather than the veterans you are supposed, required, sir, required to aid and comfort. You, it seems, it seems clear as a noon day sky, cloudless, it seems Limouges Crystal clear that you would rather aid and comfort terrorists than your own constituents, and that, that sir, is treasonous in spirit, if not in letter of the law.

Mister Burr, sir, let Maj. Duckworth's appointment leave committee, or resign, resign for Conduct Unbecoming of a Senator.

...the America of Our Founding

Far be it for me to quote (*shudder*) Rush Limbaugh when he say that the only way for us to return to "The American of Our Founding" is for President Obama to fail in every part of his economic policy programs, his foreign agenda (stopping international drugs from entering the US is a good thing?  Well, if it's OxyContin, Rush would...no, that's a below-the-belt joke), and his Health and Human Services nominee's appointment and confirmation by the Senate.

Far be it for me to ever knock door-to-door-Religion-salesman (okay, there's no 'price,' but they're selling my soul for their time.  There's a few ways (such as the "Other People" trick) to drive them off), but when I, in my wheelchair, have to go answer the door (you try opening a door lock when you're stuck for the day in a chair, when the lock is at eye level, but the house alarm switch is an inch out of reach), I am reminded of what was the "America of Our Founding."

• No health care of any sane manner.  Amputation, leeches, sulpher drugs, etc.  Forget about battling an HMO over blood transfusions or surgery.  There weren't any, period, and HMO's amounted to doctors who happened to be barbers--the red and white rotating stripe?  Clean and used bandages drying.  No real health care of any kind.
• No mass production.  Almost everything we use in our daily lives, even my precious cigarettes, energy drinks, and my computer?  Either not invented or so expensive (Ethe idea of printing something for the world to read?  I.e. a blog in King George's time?) they might as well not exist.  I'd be writing drafts for my manuscripts in pidgeon feather quill using black berrys and sulpher ink on parchment, so typos and dead drafts would be prohibitively expensive.
• Our war in Afganistan wouldn't cost us trillions, it'd bankrupt us.  Then again, no 9/11, but no way of fighting the people behind its equivalent.

Oh, and,

• NO OxyContin, Rush.  You'd be on Morphine and too stoned to do anything, addicted until death or madness, as it was cut with whatever was on hand, because there was no such thing as standardize medicines.  Patents and Snake Oils all over the place.

I heard on MSNBC that he wants America to fail.  Maybe it's just he prefers dying of something penicillin and some 'tussin with codeine could cure, plus a little bedrest (some days off the radio'd actually do him *good,* but that's just me...).  Or maybe he's so hard-core about getting a 'high' better than his Hillbilly Heroin, maybe he wants us back to strick Morphine, that since he can't get a script, he'd rather we also not have any of the things that make his 'job' possible.

Let him use the Republican Time Machine that makes Reagan look like a Saint to go back to the "American of Our Founding" and overdose on Hillbilly Heroin's big brother, Morphine salts, let him go back in time, and let's just go forward like we're meant to.  Maybe that's what he wants.  F$&k him, his show, and I'll see what I can do about giving him some Oxy for a "I Love You for Being Insane" present.

Then again, if Jindal and the rest take his side?  I'd be dying of laughter at their insanity.  Is their plan to be so insane as to kill us all from how stupid they sound?  Maybe.  Sounds illogical enough for it to be something they'd dream up.

All to get us back to othe America of Our Founding.

Green is the "New Black"

Spokane County passed a law that bans the sale of laundry detergents that contain phosphate levels higher than 0.5%. Problem is, the detergents that meet that arbitrary criterion don't clean very well. Most detergents, even store brands, contain about 9% phosphates. So, is the county repealing the law? No--they're sitting on their hands as the residents drive to, yes, Idaho to buy what they can't in Spokane, namely, the same detergent they used to buy before...

Green became the "New Black."

Yes, we have ecological disasters all over the world. Tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, global warming, dying oceans, reality TV, Rush Limbaugh and Prop 8 in California.

But passing laws to "Go Green" when they inconvenience large populations? "Going Green" for the sake of it because it's a fad?

That's what eco-aware thought has become--the New Black. People are "keeping up with the Jones's" over who is 'greener,' while what we really need, a 96-square-mile solar array in Arizona or New Mexico or Nevada, something that could provide thousands of jobs and help with the current fiscal disaster while also producing enough energy so that we'd never need to use oil for anything other than plastics, pharm products, and cars; a legitimate Volcano monitoring system (Look at Alaska, Senitor Jindal); studies to tell us not what, but how we can stop the seemingly runaway global processes, rather than just informing us of the apocalyptic scenarious; and, of course, some way of teaching science to children without teaching what is nothing other than Religion, because it is only by teaching science, objective, proof-based and experiment-based science, that we can produce a generation capable of approaching the challenges our greed, such as the phosphorus in our water supply due to improper waste-water handling due to 9% phosphate detergents, we need science taught so the next generation can make a detergent with less than 0.5% phosphates so that people in Spokane won't be in Idaho every time they need more Tide.

We need science, we need teachers to teach science.

But it won't happen so long as Green is treated as a Fashion Statement.

Stop thinking Green is the new Black. Green is a necessity, Green is forward thought, a new paradigm, it's everything but that wasteful, vapid, void of all redemption realm of fashion or fad.

Green isn't the new Black. It's the new Red Cross.

Cigarette Songs

[Now, before the RIAA gets on my case for this, this is my idea, and all of this is "fair use" under the DMCA--you wrote the damned thing, so, I guess, abide by the sections you, um, don't like, too?  I guess that's only fair?  Oh, right, I'm talking about digital music and cigarettes.  And it's the digital music part that's got you ready to Cease and Decist me?  Good values.  Oh, and attempt #2 to quit starts Saturday.  Yay...]

It took me long enough to go all 2.0, what with a blog, a Twitter account, Skype for VoIP, and some other stuff.  Pandora?  Come again?  I can create endless streams of songs that have a ton musically in common with the ones I tell you I like?  Where have you been all my life?  Come and sit down, my friend, the roads are tiring and treacherous.  I'll get you a glass of ale?

Yes, Pandora.  Digital music.

Any one ever heard of "Cigarette Songs?"  Anybody who isn't a writer, that is.

In short, they're any song that, if you are working on something and you hear it, somewhere in the back of your subconscious is this voice softly screaming at you to smoke, take a break and listen to the song.  It becomes a "Cigarette Song" when the song itself is enough for you to do so, through a Pavlovian trigger.\

Until Pandora, I had 2, Loreena McKennit's "Raglan Road" and Matt Nathanson's "Sing Me Sweet."

Now?

Somewhere around 6?  All because they sound so similar to the original pair.  I've got to either quit Pandora (yeah, right, and listen to, what, C-SPAN while I work?  Been there, done that, swear to God), or create really, reaaaaaaaaaallllllllllly complicated "Stations" so "Cigarette Songs" don't derail my life.

Then again, that's what the Nicorette supposed to do, right RIAA?

Cybercrime as Journalism Toy, Business Model

itNews reports a disturbing trend in the realm of cybercrime:  Companies that offer malware software for a fee, as low as $400, and webhosting with custom configuration for a scant $50 more.

In other words, Cybercrime is being outsourced.

According to the CEO of Vasco Banking, Vlado Vajdic,

"It was inevitable that services would be sold to people who bought the malware toolkits but didn‘t know how to configure them.  Not only can you buy configuration as a service now, you can have the malware operated for you, too. We saw evidence of that this year.  Investors get malware developers to write code for them and then get the writers to host and distribute it, too."

Kits for these turneky hacking operations even come with maintenance, tech support, and a pre-written user's manual.  The software is even developed using the tried, true, and effective code-compile-build-test-repeat method.

With all of the talk of AIG and banking collapse, people have begun to forget about how entirely weak their cybersecurity really is.  In Eastern Europe, the hackers involved see themselves, most of the time, as the tried-and-true meme used by mobsters, "I'm just a respected businessman!"

According to these coder/hackers for hire, the software is for research purposes, and what the user does with it is the user's problem, not theirs.

But it doesn't stop there.  The BBC bought, for investigational purposes, a 22,000 PC 'botnet.'  The program, called 'Click,' used chat rooms to gain control of the computers and warn them of their vulnerabilities as well as provide information on how to shore up their defenses.

But if the BBC could do it, so could anyone else.

Botnets are an ad-hoc network of compromised machines waiting for a signal from their 'master,' which usually is to spam a list of targets or, more often, everyone in their address book.  This is how a person gets spam from their Grandma.  Less often, these compromised PC's are used to constantly send message after message to the same server until it crashes, an attack known as a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) Attack.

In fact, the BBC 'Click' investigation proved its concept by doing just that, against a backup site owned by the UK Security Company 'Prevx.'  60 machines, yes, 60, were enough to make it crash into a compromised state.  Compare that to the power the entire botnet could have done to all of Prevx.  Or to all of any other collection of services.

DDoS, the BBC notes, are usually the threat used to extort money.  It's an extortion/kidnapping tool.

Last but not least, Botnets are also used to steal personal information from the machines themselves.  The 'street' price for 1000 US or UK computers is around $500, due to the value of the information they contain.  $11,000 later, the BBC did all but use the computers.  There's a problem in US and UK law--'owning' a botnet isn't a crime.  Using it is.