http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Tue, 22 Nov 2005 16:41:49 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/11/22/164149.php Barry CampbellSo tonight is Ted Koppel's last Nightline show. (See, e.g., the AP story for the kind of wet, sloppy farewell sendoff he's been getting in the media in the last several days.)I am old enough to remember Nightline before it had that name... back when it was a nightly briefing about the Iranian Embassy crisis called "America Held Hostage: Day (#)" (where the number represented the number of days the hostages had been in captivity.)Like any program that's been on the air for twenty-five years plus, Nightline has had its ups and downs, but it has consistently been one of the most intelligent news shows on network television.In all the coverage of Koppel's legacy, however, I haven't read or heard *anyone* make, to me, what is the most pertinent observation. (And pardon me while I channel Joe Franklin for just one second...)My friends, Koppel is the only person in the history of the television medium to go up against Johnny Carson, in Carson's time slot, and survive.In fact, moving Nightline onto the permanent roster in 1980 was a masterstroke of counterprogramming. Nobody was going to compete with Johnny in a talk-show format. But it turned out that there was a late-night audience for hard news, and Nightline found it, and developed it, and made a bunch of money for ABC over the years.(Also posted at enrevanche.) Culture39928@blogcritics.org Tue, 22 Nov 2005 16:41:49 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/15/212036.php Barry CampbellLook, let's face it: Wi-Fi (wireless Internet) security is a godawful mess.It's incredibly confusing, and yet at the same time it's terribly important. You've got a little radio transmitter and receiver in your laptop (that's what wireless is, after all) and unless you secure it, every time you make a wireless connection you are broadcasting all of your private data in the clear to anyone within range.(And, psst! Anyone who can use Google can find freely available programs that will help them eavesdrop on you.)Don't believe me? Here, just go read the official security statement from the Wi-Fi Alliance, an industry group.And consider that WEP, the kind of security that most of the people with "secured" home networks are currently using has become such a complete joke that the Wi-Fi Alliance is too sheepish to even mention it on their site. In fact, their attorneys have probably advised them against it.Like a lot of you, I guess, I am the designated System Administrator for my network of friends and my extended family. I'm the guy they call when the computer eats their homework, or they get infected with spyware from surfing porn sites ("I have no idea how this happened!") or iTunes suddenly stops working on them.I achieved this honor by having worked in the computer industry for the last 20 years and being a general propellerhead, but I have never made my living in the realm of PC security technology.I have managed to secure my home wireless network pretty well, using the much stronger WPA standard; when I take my corporate laptop on the road with me, the IT staff of the big multinational consulting firm that sends me regular paychecks has thoughtfully provided me with Virtual Private Network (VPN) software and a SafeWord card that allows me to log in securely from almost anywhere, whether it's a wired connection in a hotel room or a wireless connection in a random airport somewhere.So until recently, I haven't spent too much time worrying about wireless security. I've either been able to handle it on my own, or I've had some very smart and well-educated security folks handling it for me.Then my wife and I bought a new "family" laptop with built-in wireless.And we started using it occasionally from public access points, like coffee shops, or branches of the New York City Public Library.I've been realizing, in the back of my mind, that I ought to do something about securing our new wireless laptop. I can't use the corporate VPN, for obvious reasons.What I really needed, I figured, was some kind of *personal* VPN service that we could subscribe to... a service that, for a few bucks a month, would let us create a secure connection (that couldn't be eavesdropped on) from anywhere we happened to be.In the course of searching out information on such a service, I stumbled upon something simply wonderful.It's a $10 electronic book (e-book) called "Take Control of Your Wi-Fi Security." And if you're at all concerned with the issue, it'll be the best $10 you've spent in a long long time.The authors, two guys with enormous geek credibility (one is the editor of the consensus-best Wi-Fi news and info website, the other has been writing and editing the Macintosh tech newsletter TidBITS since 1990), take the confusing tangle of Wi-Fi security issues and break it down for you in plain language.The book is a marvel of excellent technical writing for a general audience, and I say this as a technical writer of some 20 years experience. It is completely current and up-to-date as of this writing (published exactly one month ago today: September 15, 2005) and packs a ton of information into a brief (115-page PDF) package; it's full of links to resources on the Web, too, and every link I've tried works: click it in Adobe Reader, and your browser goes right to the site.(The links alone are worth $10; compared to what you'd have to pay at the local bookstore for an already outdated print copy of Teach Yourself To Be A Wireless Dummy in 15 Days, the e-book is an incredible bargain.)Look, there are plenty of good, free Wi-Fi information sites on the Web. I'm going to list some of them at the bottom of this post, in case you're too cheap to shell out $10 to a couple of guys who have done all the skull-sweat for you.And you can Google around and discover that there are, indeed, private VPN services like the ones I was describing above. Your choices include: PublicVPN - Works on Windows (Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP), Mac OS X (10.2 or later) $5.95 per month, $59.95 per year HotSpotVPN - Ranges from $8.88/mo. to $13.88/mo, depending on encryption strength; multiply by 10 to get annual cost. (Has a day or week-priced option for infrequent travellers.) WiTopia personal VPN (Windows XP) - Regularly:$79.00; currently priced at $39.50 All well and good.But it took me over an hour to sort all of that out, my friends. (I signed up for a couple months of PublicVPN service and am currently testing it out; if it works out, I will point all the users in my "support community" to it.)And then when I stumbled on the book, I saw... grrrrrr!... that the authors had already figured this out for me! Oh, the time I could have saved myself. Dammit. Okay, here are the free resources I mentioned. But go buy that book, really. WiFi Networking News Daily Wireless Unstrung MuniWireless - About municipal wireless efforts worldwide TechDirt Wireless Reiter's Wireless Data Weblog Om Malik's Broadband Blog - "Unwired" topic DISCLAIMER: Although I must sound like the worst corporate shill ever, I discovered "Take Control of Your Wi-Fi Security" on my own, bought it with my own money, have never met either of the authors and have no business relationship (or any relationship whatsoever with them.(Also posted at enrevanche.) Books37972@blogcritics.org Sat, 15 Oct 2005 21:20:36 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/22/111830.php Barry CampbellWas talking a few weeks back with good friend Chap of the Chapomatic blog.Chap, a career Naval officer, was concerned to learn that I had been putting in some late hours in the office and actually missing a few meals. He promised to send me some emergency rations from the base PX when he had a minute. Yeah, right, I thought. Ha ha. I've known Chap for (cough, cough) over twenty years now, we kid each other about stuff all the time, and I didn't really think anything more about it.Until a package arrived in the mail several days later. The contents: two complete Meals Ready to Eat (MREs), the military's standard field rations these days. There was an "international" MRE ("Chicken in Thai Style Sauce") and a vegetarian MRE ("Veggie Burger in Barbecue Sauce") in Chap's care-package.You know what I had to do.Herewith, the enrevanche Test Kitchen report on MREs (sample size n=2.)(Click on the pictures to see larger and higher-resolution versions.) Step 1. Unpack your MRE. (Camo tablecloth optional.) Step 2. Put entree in chemical heating pouch, add water. Stuff back in cardboard carton. Step 3. Rest entree heating assembly on an incline for 10-15 minutes. Step 4. Open the pouch (careful, contents are hot)... Step 5. ...and plate it up. (Plate not provided.) Mmm, mmm. So, how was it, I hear you asking?The Thai-style Chicken wasn't too bad, actually, once you added enough of the (provided) hot pepper flakes to give it a little punch, though it was still too sweet for my liking. The pineapple chunks were plenty tasty. What's for afters? The included dessert was somewhat less successful. The French Vanilla Cappuccino beverage powder (I kid you not) was pretty awful, and the creme-filled vanilla wafer cookie was only passable. Peanut-butter M&Ms were fine, however.The Veggie Burger, complete with two thick slices of shelf-stable bread for sandwich assembly, was, well, kind of a travesty. Veggie burger meal, plated up. Proof that I actually tasted it. With enough Tabasco sauce (also included) it was barely edible, but the smell scared the cat and even my portly yellow Chow Chow, who will eat anything (and was actually pretty interested in my Thai Chicken) turned her nose up when I offered her a taste. For the love of God, more Tabasco! On the plus side, the included brownie in this meal was surprisingly good, though it didn't survive packaging and shipping intact, and the dried cranberries were just fine.Here's the complete photoset at Flickr. I recorded the process for this week's podcast, too.(Originally posted at enrevanche.) Tastes29918@blogcritics.org Sun, 22 May 2005 11:18:30 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/04/02/122639.php Barry CampbellHaving had the same e-mail address for years and years, I accumulate quite a lot of Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail (aka spam) every day.Happily, my e-mail provider has very effective spam filters in place, and I never see 95%+ of the spam that arrives in my account... it vanishes into my Bulk E-Mail folder, and I usually toss it sight-unseen. I do lose the occasional legitimate message from an actual human being this way, but if it's important, I figure they'll write back eventually.Occasionally, however, I wade into the spam folder to see what's up. And an interesting picture emerges, of me as viewed by bulk-mail advertisers: I am obsessed with sex, particularly web-based pornography, including some of the more outré fetishes. (Principally, I seem to really have a thing for teenage web-cam girls, although roughly 10% of the cam-spam, which is interestingly right in line with Alfred Kinsey's famous estimate, is for web-cam guys.) Although obsessed with sex, I apparently also suffer from a severe case of erectile dysfunction, and am an excellent candidate for Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, etc. as well as "natural" remedies. Amusingly, these drugs are often offered to me in "generic" form, which would puzzle and outrage their manufacturers, as all are still under extremely severe patent protection. I can't read any of these names without recalling Seth Stevenson's trenchant observations: "Viagra" is supposed to suggest vigor and Niagara. Ehhh. "Cialis" is supposed to suggest--well, I have no idea. And then there's "Levitra." I love this name. It sounds like the Harry Potter spell for summoning an erection. Levitra! Also, I have a really really small penis, which I desperately want to enlarge. This is becoming depressing. I'm hooked on porn, and I have a small, flaccid member. This is not a good combination. Probably due to my impotence and porn addiction, I am depressed, anxious, and constantly in terrible physical pain, and thus need to buy Xanax, Prozac, Vicodin, etc. from Mexican pharmacies. I am also wrinkled, fat, and bald(ing), and need to address all of these situations immediately. Well, okay. Even a blind hog finds a few acorns. Although (or perhaps because) I seem to have really poor credit (and thus am deluged with ads for secured credit cards and "Christian debt counseling" -- do they do some kind of loaves-and-fishes thing with my bills?) I am apparently in the market for a dodgy, cut-rate mortgage with "no questions asked." I am aching to serve as a middleman for transactions involving members of the African economic aristocracy who are currently in strained financial positions. I love pirated software, and would be happy to give my credit card numbers to anonymous website operators in a former Soviet republic. Hey, $30 for Microsoft Office 2003! How can you beat that? You get the picture. I would write more, but I have to go pop a little blue pill and give my secured Visa card number to a web-cam hooker.(Originally posted on enrevanche.) Sci/Tech27663@blogcritics.org Sat, 2 Apr 2005 12:26:39 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/11/225316.php Barry Campbell"The Americans are identical to the British in all respects except, of course, language." -- Oscar WildeWhich brings us to today's text, courtesy of WRAL-TV (Raleigh, NC) news: Bill Would Establish Shaggin' License PlateRALEIGH -- The Daughters of the American Revolution have one. Recipients of the Purple Heart and the Silver Star have one, too. You can even get one to show your support for sea turtles.State Sens. David Hoyle and Tony Rand are co-sponsoring a bill that would establish a license plate paying homage to shag dancing.The proposed license plate would bear the phrase "I'd Rather Be Shaggin'" and would also have a picture illustrating two shaggers.For such a license to be printed and issued, the Division of Motor Vehicles must get 300 or more applications.Okay. When Southerners talk about "shagging," they mean to reference a rather stylized dance that one performs to "beach music."In much of the rest of the English-speaking world, especially the UK and environs, people will think you're talking about this.Personally, I will always treasure the memory of asking (in all freshman innocence and earnestness) a beautiful English exchange student, at a college party where beach music was being played, whether she'd like to shag.(Hat tip: Ruby Sinreich) Culture26609@blogcritics.org Fri, 11 Mar 2005 22:53:16 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/11/214858.php Barry CampbellThe "browser battle" between emerging upstart Mozilla Firefox and monopolist Internet Explorer has been getting a lot of play in the technical press for quite some time now.The mainstream press has also weighed in on the story, including heavy hitters like the Wall Street Journal's technology columnist Walt Mossberg, who gave Firefox high marks in his December 30, 2004 column (WSJ subscription required), praising it for its tabbed-browsing features and integrated RSS support.But until recently, analysis of the business case for choosing between Firefox and IE has been curiously lacking, as has a solid market analysis of current conditions.Enter Knowledge@Wharton, a newsletter from the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania, with their article, "Browser Wars: Will Firefox Burn Explorer?" They offer interviews with Wharton School faculty and experts on the topic. For example: As far as browsers go, customers are disgruntled with Microsoft. The non-profit Mozilla Foundation, formed in July 2003 with funding from America Online's Netscape unit to promote open source web software, cites 25 million downloads of its Firefox browser in the last 100 days. Web measurement company WebSideStory reports that Firefox had a U.S. market share of 5.69% as of Feb. 18 compared to Internet Explorer's 89.85%. While it's far too early to call Microsoft's browser an also-ran, Internet Explorer had a market share of 95.48% in June 2004, says WebSideStory. Globally, the trend toward Firefox is the same. On Feb. 28, Amsterdam-based web analytics company Onestat.com put Firefox's market share at 8.45% globally, up 1% from November 2004. "The Internet Explorer is a terrible browser and it has security problems," says Wharton legal studies professor Dan Hunter. "Firefox is just a better browser, but I would argue that its market share gains have come because spyware and other hacks plague Explorer." [...] According to [Wharton marketing professor Peter] Fader, increased marketing of Firefox is unlikely. After all, Mozilla doesn't have the marketing budget to do a sustained campaign. Meanwhile, Microsoft has one asset that is almost unbeatable: Inertia. Microsoft's browser is packaged when you buy a PC. Other software such as Outlook and Office is included. Are people going to go out of their way to download a Firefox browser or some open source alternative to Microsoft products? "Sure you could argue that some of Microsoft's products are bloated and suboptimal, but they do get the job done reasonably well," says Fader. Okay, so it's not exactly rocket science. But the Wharton business geeks make some solid points and demonstrate a reasonable understanding of both technical and market issues with respect to the Browser Wars, 2005 edition. It's worth a read if you're interested in the subject.(Disclaimer: I've been on record for a long time as a Firefox supporter, and have not only blogged about in the past, I've urged people to switch. Just so you know where I'm coming from.)Also posted on enrevanche. Sci/Tech26604@blogcritics.org Fri, 11 Mar 2005 21:48:58 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/10/102926.php Barry CampbellI just saw this story come burbling over the AP wire: BATES TOWNSHIP, Mich. - A man cooking in his kitchen was shot after one of his cats knocked his 9mm handgun onto the floor, discharging the weapon, Michigan State Police said. The wound was apparently not fatal; otherwise, I think we would've just been introduced to the latest candidate for the 2005 Darwin Awards.Please, gun-and-cat owners: if you are going to disregard the fundamental rules of firearms safety (hint: never ever leave your semi-automatic pistol lying around with one in the chamber!), please practice good Cat Awareness.Cat Awareness 101: If your personal property is sitting in a location where your cat might like to lie down, it's toast. My good feline buddy Mister Gato, in his unending quest for lebensraum, has knocked everything from the day's mail to expensive electronic equipment onto the floor.There is, of course, ample literary precedent for the pistol-packing kittycat. Come to think of it, Behemoth carried a nine, too.(Also posted at enrevanche.) Culture26524@blogcritics.org Thu, 10 Mar 2005 10:29:26 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/02/22/022429.php Barry CampbellThe Committee to Protect Bloggers has declared February 22 to be "Free Mojtaba and Arash Day."(BBC News story here.)So, for one day, I will pause from narcissistic bloviation and focus on two really important things: freedom of speech and freedom of conscience.I've blogged before about the plight of Iranian citizen-journalists.This story, unfortunately, is more of the same: Arash Sigarchi and Mojtaba Saminejad are in prison in Iran for speaking their minds, in defiance of the authorities. In fact, Arash and Mojtaba apparently angered the mullahs by (among other things) protesting an earlier clampdown on prominent Iranian bloggers.What can you do about it, halfway around the world from where these unfortunate men are being unjustly imprisoned? In addition to blogging about the situation, the Committee has some suggestions: If you are in the United States, contact either the Representative at the Iranian Interest Section of the Pakistani Embassy or the Ambassador to Iran's Permanent Mission to the United Nations. (Iran has no embassy in the United States.) Here is the contact information.Dr. Mohammad Javad Zarif Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran 622 Third Ave. New York, NY 10017 Tel: (212) 687-2020 / Fax: (212) 867-7086 E-mail: Email the ambassadorIranian Representative Embassy of Pakistan Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran 2209 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W.Washington, D.C. 20007 Email the Interests SectionIf you are outside the U.S., as many of you will be, you can contact either the Permanent Representative to the United Nations or the Iranian ambassador in your own country.Read a little about Mojtaba and Arash's cases, then take five minutes and drop a line to let the Iranian diplomats know: the whole world is watching.(Originally posted on enrevanche.) Sci/Tech25830@blogcritics.org Tue, 22 Feb 2005 02:24:29 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/02/10/082239.php Barry Campbell"The Gates," Christo's latest public art installation, is being put together in Central Park by an army of "paid volunteers" (in my world, we call a "paid volunteer" an "employee," but whatever.)In the works since 1979, "The Gates" consists of a seemingly endless series of bright orange fabric flags, secured by posts, overhanging the walkways of Central Park. Budgeted at $20 million, the installation will stay up until the end of February.Christo groupies from around the world are descending on New York for the event. Already, the artsy-fartsy quotient at neighborhood restaurants and bars is nearing, ahem, Orange Alert level. Pretty soon you won't be able to buy a spare beret for love nor money.I've never thought much of Christo's "art," but I do admire the business acumen of anyone who can make a living by, e.g., wrapping buildings in huge swaths of fabric, paying for it with other people's money, and then selling signed photos and lithographs of the events both before and after the fact...Quick, how do you say "charlatan" in Bulgarian? Culture25340@blogcritics.org Thu, 10 Feb 2005 08:22:39 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/02/09/065425.php Barry CampbellYesterday's Christian Science Monitor runs a pretty well-informed article about bloggers getting fired for blogging about their workplaces. [Fired journalist Rachel Mosteller] learned a valuable lesson: If you have a job, blog at your own risk - "unless you're writing recipes and about how much you love puppies and kittens," Ms. Mosteller says. Okay, that puppy and kitten stuff is hitting a little close to home here, and I have so far refrained from posting my cornbread and pound cake recipes (any requests?) but she's got a pretty good point: if you go out on a limb in your blog, and especially if you blog about work, don't be surprised if there are consequences to be paid.The CSM article was okay, but even a cursory glance around the blogosphere reveals that blog-related firings have been a trend for some time now. PopeMark, over at The Papal Bull, has compiled a list of fired bloggers (see also the update here) going back a couple of years.Somehow, the author of the CSM story failed to notice and interview Heather Armstrong, who blogs at Dooce. Heather's firing a few years back gave rise to the term "dooced," meaning "to be fired for blogging."And CSM missed a highly relevant news peg: Google (which, ironically, owns and operates Blogger, the host of enrevanche and millions of other blogs) just fired a recently hired employee, Mark Jen, for blogging about working at Google (blog still active, but "objectionable" material apparently removed.)Generally speaking, I am not too impressed by anonymous blogging; I made the decision to go "open kimono" when I started my blog, and I tend to have more respect for people who are willing to sign their name to their opinions.But if you're going to blog about work, both anonymity and a modicum of active deception about the details you share with your readers would seem to be prudent.(Originally posted at enrevanche.) Sci/Tech25295@blogcritics.org Wed, 9 Feb 2005 06:54:25 EST