Tag Archives: In English

over Wikileaks

Umberto Eco over Wikilleaks:

But let’s turn to the more profound significance of what has occurred. Formerly, back in the days of Orwell, every power could be conceived of as a Big Brother watching over its subjects’ every move. The Orwellian prophecy came completely true once the powers that be could monitor every phone call made by the citizen, every hotel he stayed in, every toll road he took and so on and so forth. The citizen became the total victim of the watchful eye of the state. But when it transpires, as it has now, that even the crypts of state secrets are not beyond the hacker’s grasp, the surveillance ceases to work only one-way and becomes circular. The state has its eye on every citizen, but every citizen, or at least every hacker – the citizens’ self-appointed avenger – can pry into the state’s every secret.

How can a power hold up if it can’t even keep its own secrets anymore? It is true, as Georg Simmel once remarked, that a real secret is an empty secret (which can never be unearthed); it is also true that anything known about Berlusconi or Merkel’s character is essentially an empty secret, a secret without a secret, because it’s public domain. But to actually reveal, as WikiLeaks has done, that Hillary Clinton’s secrets were empty secrets amounts to taking away all her power. WikiLeaks didn’t do any harm to Sarkozy or Merkel, but did irreparable damage to Clinton and Obama.

Dat wat een schrijver onderscheidt van een prutser is het vermogen om in een paar zinnen een waarheid neer te zetten waar je als prutser niet omheen kunt en als mede-schrijver enkel respect voor kunt hebben.

Umberto’s woorden zijn waarheden waar ik niet omheen kan en waar ik niets anders dan respect voor kan hebben.

euphemisms

“The company expects to finalize details of the restructuring and to reach cash flow breakeven for core operations within the next month. The savings are a combination of non-workforce related changes and a modest reduction in SCO’s workforce.”

Or, to put it more bluntly: “Daryl McBride, you’re fired!

FireWire and FCA-202: workaround

Based on the ‘news’ that Apple changed stuff in AppleFWAudio.kext I decided to try to fix my problems by replacing the current 10.4.10 AppleFWAudio.kext with that from 10.4.9. After clearing the kernel-cache (with Onyx) and rebooting, I had working audio.

For those not proficient enough to figure out all steps on their own, here’s a step-by-step breakdown:

  • Download all needed tools. The aformentioned Onyx, a copy of pacifist and the 10.4.9 combo-update DMG.
  • Disconnect any unneeded USB and FireWire peripherals, just in case.
  • Make a copy of the files in /System/Library/Extentions/AppleFWAudio.kext (ctrl-click and choose ‘make archive’. Drag the .zip-file in /System/Library/Extentions to a safe place.
  • Open the DMG in pacifist. Inside, find (-F) a file called Archive.pax.gz, and extract that to your Desktop.
  • Open Archive.pax.gz in pacifist. Find the directory /System/extensions/AppleFWAudio.kext, and extract that to its default install location. Pacifist will prompt for your password and a confirmation that you want to overwrite a system file.
  • Start Onyx, click the ‘Cleaning’-button, and go to the Caches-tab . Check the System and Kernel caches. Application and Font caches are not relevant for this operation. Click execute, and wait until Onyx is done. Onyx will suggest a reboot, and I suggest you do that.

After rebooting your audio should work once again.

(keywords for google: Apple, Macbook, 10.4.10, Firewire Audio, Behringer FCA-202 FCA202)

WSJ.com: Immigrant Innovators

Washington Wire – WSJ.com : Immigrant Innovators
Immigrant Innovators

Start-up engineering and technology companies that had at least one immigrant founder produced $52 billion sales in 2005 and employed about 450,000 workers, according to a study by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley and Duke University.
The study surveyed 28,776 engineering and technology firms that were started between 1995 and 2005, and found that one-quarter had either a chief executive or a chief technology officer who is an immigrant. Of those, one-quarter had Indian-born founders. The biggest share of the start-ups is in California, where almost 40% of new engineering and technology companies have immigrant founders.
The study also found that 24% of international patent applications by U.S.-based inventors were filed by noncitizens. That’s up from 1998, when 7% of patent applications had a foreign inventor or co-inventor. The Berkeley and Duke authors said they reached that conclusion by analyzing World Intellectual Property Organization records for international patent filings by U.S.-resident inventors.

Do Not Pry Open Until Christmas

Het uitpak-leed nadert met rasse schreden:

Do Not Pry Open Until Christmas
On Amazon.com, one reviewer of the remote-controlled Roboreptile by Wow Wee singled out the toy’s solitary confinement: “Getting him out of the box was a major pain. Apparently they’re concerned about packs of them escaping and running amok devouring Barbies in the stores at night or something.”

Blijkbaar een jaarlijks slachtveld met 6000 gewonden door ‘plastic cuts’ op de eerste hulp van ziekenhuizen. En ik herken het probleem ook wel. Van die leuke plastic blisters die tegenwoordig van steek- en kogelwerend plastic zijn. Te dik om te knippen, te taai om met een afbreekmesje te snijden.

Radia Perlman speaks out

Q&A: Sun’s Radia Perlman speaks out on being stuck with IP, new life for spanning tree and her answer to data security: the ephemerizer – Network World

Recently a recruiter for a company sent me e-mail saying “We are particularly interested in you as a female thought leader.” I didn’t reply, because I wasn’t interested in a job, but I fantasized replying: “Thank you for your interest. Although my credentials as a thought leader are impeccable, I must warn you that I am not that qualified as a female. I can’t walk in heels, I have no clothing sense, and I’m not particularly decorative. What aspects of being female are important for this position?
🙂

Kan iemand de corrupte fascist even uitlaten?

Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.co.uk
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi joked about declaring war on France on Friday and pretended to massage President Jacques Chirac, making light of a clash between their two countries over energy mergers. Leaving for the second day of European Union summit, Berlusconi told reporters: “There is no news, unless you journalists want us to declare war on France.”

but now it is somehow my fault

A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts: “Excuse me, can you help me? I promised my friend I would meet him half an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.”

The man below says: “Yes. You are in a hot air balloon, hovering approximately 30 feet above this field. You are between 40 and 42 degrees N. latitude, and between 58 and 60 degrees W. longitude.”

“You must be an engineer” says the balloonist.

“I am” replies the man. “How did you know.”

“Well” says the balloonist, “everything you have told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I am still lost.”

The man below says “You must be a manager.”

“I am” replies the balloonist, “but how did you know?”

“Well”, says the man, “you don’t know where you are, or where you are going. You have made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. The fact is you are in the exact same position you were in before we met, but now it is somehow my fault.”