Category Archives: bad code

John Gilmore wrote Declan a letter about an extraordinary measure of our times. Gist: John was wearing a “Suspected Terrorist” button on a flight to London. BA turned the airplane around on the ground and returned to the terminal to enable the captain to eject him. Read the full story. Continue reading →

another cost of losing eldred. Continue reading →

Mr. Richard Bennett accuses me of “latent fascism” for deleting a comment from a post. In fact, I have never deleted any comment from any post, his included. I should think, rather than calling someone a fascist, the decent thing to do when one suspects such a thing is to simply ask.

I’m happy to have you “disagree with [me] on my blog,” Mr. Bennet. And as to the claim you say you posted, viz, that I “can’t be that ignorant” about the Sony Bono Act “harmonizing” the US term with the EU.: in fact, as Professor Karjala nicely demonstrates, the Sonny Bono Act did no such thing. That’s precisely why members of the EU are now pushing to increase terms for recordings — to catch up to the longer term that US law sets.

And if you have trouble posting a comment again, let me know. I’m happy to help. Continue reading →

So on May 22, at 11:49am I posted my offer to spammers that I’d be happy to read their spam sent to a special spam email address if they promise to pay $500 for the privilege. At 9:58 this morning — less than 2 days later — I received my first acceptance. How exciting! Continue reading →

So I have this from an extremely reliable source, who vouches totally for the facts that follow.

Story one: Last month while visiting Charleston, three women went into a Starbucks. They were spending the weekend together and one of them had a disposable camera with her. To commemorate their time with one and other they decided to take round robin pictures while sitting around communing. The manager evidently careened out of control, screaming at them, “Didn’t they know it was illegal to take photographs in a Starbucks. She insisted that she had to have the disposable camera because this was an absolute violation of Starbuck’s copyright of their entire ‘environment’–that everything in the place is protected and cannot be used with Starbuck’s express permission.

Story two: At our local [North Carolina] Starbucks, a friend’s daughter, who often has her camera with her, was notified that she was not allowed to take pictures in any Starbucks. No explanation was given, but pressed I would think that the manager there would give a similar rationale.

I wonder what would happen if hundreds of people from around the country experimented this holiday weekend by taking pictures at their local Starbucks … Continue reading →

Chris Kelly has been keeping a keen eye out for silliness. Here’s his latest find. Continue reading →

I know it’s trendy to say nasty things about Amazon (one-click, etc.), but man do I wish they’d expand into really useful services, like banking. I’ve been struggling through nightmare experiences with “online banks” — none of which have online services that are half as reliable or convenient as Amazon.

I’ve been through Merrill Lynch (awful awful awful), and then TD Waterhouse (sleek, but thin on service: no download to Quicken, for example), and now the latest was Citibank.

Citibank was recommended to me by Intuit. Said to be one of the “best” online banks. So I applied — in February. Today, three months and at least 10 calls and 5 faxes later, I stopped the “application” process. Seems they were unable to verify my address (a house we’ve owned since September 2000) after my wife and I sent in document after document. Today it took them 15 minutes to determine that they weren’t “sure” which documents would be needed, but then they helpfully gave me a list of three more I could fax in and they’d then determine whether that was enough.

Forget it, I told them. So I’m back to square-one: Does anyone recommend an online bank which: (1) has direct download to Quicken, (2) Amazon-like-reliability online? Continue reading →

Tim Wu has a nice paper about “network neutrality.” The basic idea is familiar: the original end-to-end internet is increasingly under threat as network providers develop technologies to discriminate among network users. For many years, this fear of discrimination led many to support “open access” campaigns � requiring providers to permit competitors to use their lines. Competition would, the argument went, weaken the incentives for certain forms of discrimination.
“Open access” has worked extremely well in Japan (where you can get 100 mbs for $50 a month), but it didn�t work well here. Tim�s proposal is for a different form of regulation aimed at neutrality. I recommend it strongly, and would be eager to see any feedback. Continue reading →

So in 1998, as a Christmas present to my parents, I promised to give them broadband service when it became available. They live just outside Hilton Head, SC. No San Francisco, no doubt (where broadband at 1.5 mbs is available at about $50 a month), but still, no backwater.

For the first time this year, service is getting close. A company called Hargray promises 768kbs for the amazing low price of $100 a month. No cable service available from AT&T. And no service available from anyone in the 1.5 mbs range.

Meanwhile, to repeat again: Here in Japan, they are selling 100 mbs for $50/month, 12 mbs for $25. Continue reading →

Insanely destructive problems with my machine here in Japan, so I apologize for the silence and unanswered emails. To my pleasant surprise, however, I discover that my Powerbook G4 has a world wide warranty. So after finding a number of the Apple Japan website, I called to get support. The Apple Store helpfully gave me an English speaking “toll free” number to call. At this point, of course, I didn’t care squat about the toll; I wanted a voice that could fix the problem. I dialed the number. Couldn’t connect. Over and over again, no luck. So I called the Apple Store back. “Are you trying to call this number from a business or university?” “Yes,” I told her. “You can’t call this number from most businesses or universities. You’ll have to go to a payphone on the street and call from there.” “Isn’t there another number, maybe a non-toll free number I could call?” “No, only the toll-free number. We don’t want to charge for support.”

Yes, it is true, like America at the beginning of the last century, you can’t call all numbers from every phone in Japan. (For a great historical account of that, see Mueller’s Universal Service). And while after explaining that it would be a bit inconvenient to trouble shoot a technical problem standing at a phone booth, I was able to convince the Apple Store people to have the Support Center call me, you begin to understand something of why this interesting and beautiful place is not more Mac. (I’ve often wondered what those guys standing outside of office buildings at payphones with PowerMacs were doing….) Continue reading →