"Me and God's worked hard. Don't screw it up."

This is the best thing that you'll see all day long.  I promise.



Hat tip: American Digest.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

That sure was a fun film.  Fun with depth, but not too much depth, and not depth that challenges SWPL assumptions.

I liked it anyway, rather a lot.  Go watch it - it was nominated for a Golden Globe. The nice thing about well done films in the "adequately predictable" category is that it's the acting that makes them stand out.  It's particularly good here.

Also, it makes me want to go visit Jaipur.  That's not bad, either.

Reminder: one week for the Atlanta gunblogger meetup

Anyone in the Atlanta area who wants to get together for gunbloggy meetup social hilarity, next Sunday is the date.

Date: Sunday 24 March

Time: 2:00 - 5:00 PM

Location: Lucky's on Roswell Road in Roswell GA (they are dog friendly on the porch, and I'll bring Wolfgang).

I had Wolfgang there last weekend and it's a great place for people and dogs.  If you want to bring your dog, they're welcome.

Tab clearing

There's a new peer-reviewed paper out "confirming" Mann's "Hockey Stick" global warming paper.  It shows that things are hotter than they've been in 10,000 years.  The Press has been all over this, as you'd imagine.  You might have heard if it.  Well, Steve McIntyre heard about it, too.  McIntyre, you might remember, if the guy who took down Mann's junk "Hockey Stick" paper.  It seems that it's still true that it's a bad day if you're a climate scientist and Steve starts looking at your work.  Pwned.

Phoenix cop lies, gets innocent woman sent to death row for the death of her 4 year old toddler.  Overturned on appeal after 22 years because cop is a serial perjurer and that information was suppressed at her trial.  The State of Arizona is appealing to the Supreme Court.  Rope.

That National Vulnerability Database that was taken down because it was infested with malware?  Seems it's been infected for months.  Uf da.

GDP is closely correlated with energy consumption, so proposals to eliminate inexpensive power generation like coal screw the developing world.  Environmentalists hate the poor?  Well knock me over with a feather.

What will really pop the higher education bubble?  The bad outcomes are disproportionately effecting women:

Do these realities register? Not really, and explaining them to the future feminist “superstar” in question won’t help much. They’re certain that they are all special snowflakes, and that is the end of the conversation. Men suffer from irrational ambition as well but, as evidenced by our inferior rates of degree attainment these days, we aren’t being suckered into the academic ruse quite as readily as women are.

There are millions of broke dudes running around confident that they can all become big time producers, rappers, athletes, musicians or businessmen, even if there is little objective reason to believe so. The difference is that not quite as many of them are tying a college education (and the large amounts of debt that come with it) to these ambitions. Their female counterparts, who are all dying to be big time designers, fashionistas, writers, courtroom superstars (like the ones they see on Law and Order) and the like, are carrying much larger debt loads to service their ambition.

Higher education screws its students; women and minorities hurt the most.  I must be a sexist, oppressive tool of the Patriarchy.  Or something.

Was there a coup attempt in North Korea?

Watch global cyber attacks in real time.  Cool.  Not sure how accurate it is, but it's pretty dang cool.

It seems I'm a sexist, oppressive tool of the Patriarchy

Judgy Bitch muses on the study showing that men who like big boobs are sexist:

Benevolent sexism is when men treat women nicely. ANY special treatment, like opening a car door, or giving up your subway seat, when done for a woman, by a man, constitutes sexism. Differential treatment on the basis of gender is always, ipso facto, sexist.

Unless it’s women treating men differently on the basis of gender. That’s okay then. No opening doors, you sexist, condescending pig! But I will totally let you carry that heavy box for me.

...

I really don’t understand the rationale behind wanting to live in a world in which people are not pleasant to one another and do not notice one another’s physical attributes. What is to be gained by defining men’s tendency to be polite and cordial to women as OPPRESSION? There is so much to be lost, obviously, but what is gained? What do we gain when we refuse to see one another as fully human, including aspects of our gender and sexuality?

Is it a question of all the fat miserable bitches making sure no one is treated with kindness because they themselves are not? There is another solution to that, you know: lose some weight and try smiling.

I've been so shamed by the Sisterhood that I shall offer a penance, and promise to toe the line.  As much as I can ...

Need coffee

Err, but I think I'll wait for the pot to finish brewing ...

Cheese, Gromit!

Wolfgang and I share a cheese tray at a local dog-friendly restaurant.




The first really warm spring evening brings out the crowds (and the live music) for al fresco enjoyment.




Wolfgang is still getting used to crowds.

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Reagan sure was a crazy, senile old man

The "Star Wars" program only stayed alive because he wouldn't let it die: (1987)

The question is no longer whether Star Wars will work. Rather, in the face of repeated findings by independent experts that it won`t, the mystery is its continuing political and financial survival. What`s keeping it afloat? The buoyancy comes from President Reagan`s fervently expressed faith in Star Wars as the principal military innovation of his administration, along with a misguided national faith that for every serious problem--from hostile missiles to dread disease--science and technology can provide an answer. However, the onrushing reality is that both ingredients are rapidly fading. So are the fortunes of the Strategic Defense Initiative, or Star Wars.

He pushed this program in the face of repeated opposition from the Democrats of the day: (1986)

U.S. Rep. Marty Russo (D., Ill.), speaking Sunday at a press conference organized by the Illinois Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign, denounced increased spending by the Reagan administration on the Strategic Defense Initiative, popularly called ``Star Wars.``

``It could cost from $1 trillion to $3 trillion to develop Star Wars, and they still don`t know if it will be outmoded in a number of years,`` Russo said on the University of Chicago campus. ``We should try to do something to stop the nuclear arms race instead of encouraging it. We should be working toward a comprehensive test ban treaty.``

What a senile old geezer!  What a waste of money!  Wait, what? (today)

In the wake of North Korean missile and nuclear tests and what seems like increasingly belligerent pronouncements from Pyongyang, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced Friday that the US is beefing up its missile defense system.

That system, 30 anti-missile missiles based in Alaska (26) and California (4), is to be increased to 44 defense missiles in the coming years.

“We will strengthen homeland missile defense by deploying 14 additional ground-based interceptors, GBIs, at Fort Greely, Alaska,” Secretary Hagel said. “These additional GBIs will provide a nearly 50 percent increase in our missile defense capability.”

It is said that hypocrisy is the respect that vice pays to virtue.

Dealing with RoboCop

The Black Hat Briefings has been the best computer security conference for a decade or so.  Twinned with Black Hat is the not-corporate DEFCON meetings, often described in days past as where the freaks come out.  In a good way.  Kind of.

Well DEFCON has come a long way, baby.  The Director of the NSA briefed it.  The Feds have turned the tables on the long standing "spot the Fed" game by going there and hosting a panel called "Spot the l4m3r".  And the quality of the talks have gone way, way up.  This one from last summer's conference (by a West Point professor) is particularly interesting - RoboCop is already here, with automated detection and enforcement.  So what are the implications?



It's sobering that perhaps the only thing standing between us an dystopia is the Police Unions.

BTW, I'm planning on going to Black Hat and DEFCON this summer.  Any of y'all who are in IT (or Law Enforcement) should seriously consider going, too.  We could even have a blog meet, perhaps at the annual DEFCON machine gun shoot in the desert.

UPDATE 15 March 2013 14:49: This is the kind of cool stuff you get at DEFCON now: Building an open source drone. "Weaponized Lego" FTW.  And exempt from the ITAR because it's open source.  Cool.

Ironic hack is ironic

The National Vulnerability Database is the world's most complete repository for information about security bugs.  The database contains information on tens of thousands of security issues across all operating systems and applications.  As you'd imagine, it's an enormously useful resource for folks in my line of work.

The NVD is currently off-line.  It's off-line because they got hacked:

The federal government's official catalog of software vulnerabilities was taken offline after administrators discovered two of its servers had been compromised. By malware. That exploited a software vulnerability.

The National Vulnerability Database is maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and has been unavailable since late last week, according to an e-mail sent by NIST official Gail Porter published on Google+. At the time of this article on Thursday afternoon, the database remained down and there was no indication when service would be restored.

"On Friday March 8, a NIST firewall detected suspicious activity and took steps to block unusual traffic from reaching the Internet," Porter wrote in the March 14 message. "NIST began investigating the cause of the unusual activity and the servers were taken offline. Malware was discovered on two NIST Web servers and was then traced to a software vulnerability."

Actually this picture is a bit unfair.  This situation shows how pretty much anyone can get hacked these days.  If you're sloppy you'll get hacked faster, but even if you're good you are at risk to persistent attackers.  I don't know the folks at NIST and the NVD but I expect that this describes them: They understand the importance of security, they know the impact of a security breach to their organization's reputation, and they invest in security technology and staff.

And they still got hacked.  What's new in the last couple years is that people who have a clue are now getting owned.  That shouldn't give anyone the warm fuzzies.

Unicorns become possible again

Congratulations to blogfriend (and real life friend) Weer'd Beard, who (with Mrs. Weer'd) is expecting his first child.  This is the start of a long adventure, as you already know.  Enjoy the journey my friend, it's worth it.

As I wrote then looking back on the road that I've walked and that Weer'd is embarking upon:

Watching your children grow should make you think of how you grew. Watching your children grow should make you think of your parents, watching you grow. Watching your children grow should make you think of them, watching their children yet-to-be-born grow.

Time is a great river, never quite still in its flow. It's easy to get all caught up in the action in the eddy of the moment, and not see the flow towards the sea.

I hope that you have as much joy as I've had from this journey, Weer'd.

Bullies

In a week, Wolfgang will be 10 months old (and nearly 100 lbs!).  He's well into his "teenage" years, and for the last 3 weeks or so his play has been more aggressive.  That's been a problem, because I don't want to be "that guy with the big, mean dog".  And so I've been working with Wolfgang on timeouts when things get a little too spirited.

He's gotten quite good at coming when I call - even out of a scrum of dogs all wrestling with each other.  He's a good dog, and I can't really take much credit for training him, although it's good to know that I can control him with voice commands even when the fur flies.  It's been a noticeable improvement over the last few weeks.

And then at the park today there was some punk of a dog that decided he was going to pull out the "Alpha Dog" routine, even though Wolfie clearly outweighs him by 20 pounds.  And I saw the downside of my cunning plan.  Where ten seconds of full out response from Wolfgang, pinning the other dog down, would have reset that dog's attitude, Wolfie was shying away (and looking at me as he did it), even though I would give him encouragement.  I've trained my puppy to be bullied.

Dang it.

Because Wolfgang will attract this sort of thing.  He's almost always the biggest dog around, and so is the natural starting point for all the Alpha wannabes.

Has anyone else been in a situation like this?  I don't want to train him to fight on command, but I don't like seeing him knocked around because I've taught him some manners.

Gee, Doc - I'd like a second opinion.

The old ones are the best ones.

Well, I did not expect that

I actually like this doc. Can't remember the last time that happened.

I think it's because he combines data-driven explanation of his thought process/decision tree with a decent sense of humor. That sort of appeals to my engineering background.

My ticker seems to be in good shape. The Doc's view is that people die from either heart disease or cancer, so he's running tests oriented towards that.

And he more or less said I should suck it up with the cough. He said that some Docs prescribe things to get their patients to shut up. He offered to write me a prescription but said I'd likely be better in a week or so with it or without it. Kind of refreshing, that honesty.

All in all, a lot less frustrating doctor visit than usual.


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I hate going to the Doctor

But with (probably) bronchitis, that's the plan for this AM. Bah.

A word to the wise

St. Patrick's Day is coming.  Party responsibly.

Britain. It used to be great.

First went their right to possess weapons to defend themselves.  Now goes their right to speak their minds:

The three main parties are all deciding how they will kill off the last vestiges of freedom of the press in Britain.

Ed Miliband was hoping to sit down with David Cameron and Nick Clegg later on Tuesday or Wednesday to agree a historic new deal which would see newspapers regulated like the BBC.

But fear not, Citizen Subject, all shall be for the best, in the best of all possible worlds.  And if any of the newspapers dare to try to squirm out of the regulations, another quote from the same old, old play would apply:

... in this country it is found good, from time to time, to kill one Admiral to encourage the others.

An unwritten constitution is only as good as the Government's intentions.  Not that a written constitution is often much better.  But as they say, the dark night of fascism is always falling on America but somehow always landing in Europe.

In the New World, we have a more muscular view of our rights, and while the fascists are working 'round the clock to extinguish them they at least now have to explain how what's plainly written down and ratified isn't what it plainly says.  This goes for both the first and second amendments.  This (make sure you listen to the part starting at around 9:30.



For hundreds of years we've been different than the Mother Country.  Too bad about Britain.  It used to be great.

Let a Thousand Gun Control Flowers bloom

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

- Napoleon

Via Sebastian, we see just what the "Gun Control Loophole" really means to the Senate:

• Enacts defacto universal gun registration, because of record keeping requirements.
• All lost and stolen guns must be reported to the federal and local government. This means everyone will have to fill out the theft/loss form, and not just FFLs. You only have 24 hours to comply. If you lose a gun on a hunting trip deep in the woods, and can’t get back home to fill out the form in 24 hours, you’re a felon and will spend 5 years in federal prison.
• Want to lend a gun to a friend to go hunting? It’s a 5 year in prison felony.

There's more, so very much more.  The mask had to come off, in the form of actual text that the Senate votes on, although Chuck Schumer seems to have hid this from as many people as possible for as long as possible.

Add in the Congresswoman who said that banning assault weapons was only the prelude to banning handguns.  Add in the California police chief who said that they'll be able to disarm Americans in a generation.  Add in the Washington law that would allow the police to come into your house without a warrant or probable cause to check on your guns.  Add in the Governor of New York's comment that confiscation is an option.  Add in a sitting United States Senator's remarks that confiscation might be required.

Now add John Boehner's statement that the House will consider any plan that the Senate passes.

Napoleon looks down, and smiles.

In 1949, Mao drove the Kuomintang from the Chinese mainland, taking nominal control of the Middle Kingdom.  But as in any rapid takeover, the unanswered question was who was a true believing communist and who was a running dog Imperialist?  Mao decided to smoke them out.

In 1956 Mao introduced a program for the People to offer criticism to the Party, with the stated aim of improving the People's Revolution.  "Let a thousand flowers bloom" was the slogan, and criticism was offered liberally.  Astonishingly, the next year a draconian crackdown of the criticizers sent most to their deaths or to prison.  As Mao said, he had enticed the snakes out of their caves.

And so to the election of 2014.  Elections are choices.  The Left believes in gun control as a fundamental principle; majorities of both parties reject this.  We are not often given the chance for an actual bi-partisan choice.  John Boehner is enticing the snakes out of their caves.

Cream - Stormy Monday

But tuesday's just as bad.  And Wednesday's even worse.



I don't know that Eric Clapton is the greatest guitarist of all time, but I don't know that he's not.

Wait, Krispy Kreme sells Cheeseburgers?

I did not know that.  Has bacon!