Author: Bobby Rockers

Fear & Love

Returning to the question of being feared or loved, I come to the conclusion that, men loving according to their own will and fearing according to that of the prince, a wise prince should establish himself on that which is in his own control and not in that of others…
-Niccolo Machiavelli

Crypto and Security

Cryptography is part of my work, a part time hobby, and (with my current reading list) something I do during my free time. So let me pass along some of my wonder.

I found a spectacular NOVA article on Enigma . Specifically how it worked. If you are interested in security in general then be sure to check out Cryptome. Its technical articles has be kinda “thick” at times but much of its information is useful for other purposes. And, because we all need to improve ourselves one way or another, here is Bred Miller’s Guide to Lock Picking.

Nethack is kicking my ass…

Couple more Nethack links for the day. Beginners Guide for NetHack. Its an absolute must read if you want to survive more than a half dozen levels or so.

For a funny but entirely feasible journey into the NatHack universe check out planetfargo’s A guided Tour of NetHack. Its funny cause its true.

Finally, if you had a wand of polymorph what NetHack Monster would you be. Take the test and fine out. FYI I would be a cockatrice.

The Fall of Giants

A great article by Jeff Reifman has summed up what many of us in the tech industry have been seeing for the last year or two. Namely that Microsoft has lost is technological advantage because of its own size and protectionist tendencies towards its core markets. The rate of innovation comming out of Microsoft cannot even compare to that of Open Source development (in general) and internet technologies.

Any objectively minded business scholar will tell you this is not unexpected. All monopolies and almost all large corporations lessen in their ability to innovate because of corporate momentum. Its like turning a boat in the water. A small agile speedboat can turn much faster than a huge oil tanker. Small business, and businesses that must compete constantly, innovate at a much higher rate because their very survival depends on that innovation.

Libertarian Research

The Cato Institute is a non-profit public policy research foundation. Its libertarian focus on limited government, individual liberty, free markets and peace have made for some of the best policy research available anywhere. Its focus is most consistent with the direction of the founders of our nation. Much of the site requires a subscription, but the “Research Areas” and “Publications” sections have a huge volume of information available to those interested in public policy. Cato’s Congressional Handbook is almost required reading for US Congressmen (although they never seem to follow it.)

Morning Links

A few cool resources I need links too. Gpart is a partition recovery program for when your primary partition table goes fubar. Filesystem support include everthing from ext2 and fat12 to QNX and BeOS. Anyone every buys used harddrives comes away amazed at the number of drives that simply have the partition table deleted.

If you want your data permanently deleted (i.e. almost NSA certified) check out Autoclave. Its a Linux boot floppy that allows you to choose the level of your hd wipe. Level 5 is 25 passes, some random, some patterned. Very, very perminate.

And what is possible the most enlightened usage of the internet I have seen in a long time check out The Map of Springfield. Yes, you can actually see a detailed map of the town the Simpson’s live in; complete with stores, buildings, and popular tourist attractions.

Bush’isms

I have been getting inquiries into my opinion of President Bush and, more specifically, why I am probably not going to be voting for him. I have a article I am currently writing that will delve into more details concerning my current political leanings but for now here is the short list. Things that Bush has done that bother me:

  1. No Child Left Behind – Because its unconstitutional.
  2. Medicare Reform Act – Because its the largest entitlement program in 30 years.
  3. Legal Status for Illegal immigrants – Because you don’t reward illegal behavior.
  4. McCain-Feingold – Because it made it illegal for me to express negative views about a candidate during certain parts of an election.
  5. Patriot Act I – Because it trampled on the rights that it was suppost to protect.
  6. Patriot Act II – See above.. only worse.
  7. Ashcroft rewards Microsoft for being a monopoly – Because Teddy Roosevelt is rolling over in his grave.
  8. American citizens as enemy combatants – Because the constitution is suppost to protect ALL citizens of the US. Regardless of our crimes.
  9. Deficit spending – Because Republicans used to be considered fiscally responsible.

Things that Bush has done that don’t bother me:

  1. The War in Iraq – Everyone thought they had WMD. Think 9/11 with mustard gas.
  2. Tax cuts – I don’t have a problem with tax cuts, just with excessive spending.
  3. The economy – Anyone who gives Bush a hard time about the economy is either an ignorant fool or trying to score political points. The economy is the one thing Bush handled VERY well.
  4. World displeasure with the US – Its not the job of the President to do what is best for the world; just for the USA. When was the last time France acted in the best interest of the US?

The Catholic Vote

Jason pointed me to this article drafted by Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs Diocese. The synopsis of the letter is that Catholics should not vote for politicians who oppose abortion and gay marriage, going so far as to they may not receive Holy Communion.

This triggered a response by Democratic members of Congress calling the letter “deeply hurtful” and “miring the Church in partisan politics.” The general consensus by Democratic members of Congress is that the letter is hypocritical in as much as it fails to mention other Catholic positions like the War in Iraq and the death penalty.

Now totally ignoring the gay marriage issue (because I have discussed it before), I think the point that is being made about abortion, as opposed to the death penalty or Iraq, is that to the Catholic Church abortion involves the murder of about 1.2 million children a year. Thats an estimated 35 million children sense the roe vs. wade decision. The death penalty, with a couple hundred murders a year, pales in comparison. In Iraq the US has lost about 750 soldiers in the last year. Thats about as many people killed as are aborted every five hours.

From the vantage point of the Catholic Church, abortion amounts to an institutionalized holocaust. I believe its reasonable for the church to allow disagreement on most issues while drawing a line against this particular issue. If abortion is considered by the Catholic Church to be the single most pressing issue in the world today (which it does) then its not hypocritical to expect Catholics to support candidates that uphold life.

Over the course of the last thirty years the Democratic party has steadily been loosing the Catholic vote to the Republicans. This is in spite of a long tradition of civic responsibility to the poor and social justice. Why? The long and the short answer is Abortion. You would be amazed at the number of times the Priest at my old church advocated social programs that assist the livelihood of the poor– and then tell you to vote for the pro-life candidate. Its hard to talk about civic responsibility while ignoring the murder of a million-two children every year.