Two of New York's most prestigious publications are ripping Rudy Giuliani a new one. I was going to blog about this one from The New Yorker Magazine when it came about two weeks ago, but I didn't get around to it. It's hard on the former mayor - The New Yorker takes Giuliani to task about everything from Kerik's corruption to the broken firefighters' radios (which had been a problem for months before 9/11). If one sentence sums up the article, it's this: "[M]any of those who are most knowledgeable about what happened on September 11th, or at least had the most at stake, are actively opposing Giuliani's bid".
But now The New York Times is out with, if anything, a much more critical article. It's virtually impossible to muster up any sort of positive feelings for Giuliani after reading this thing, unless Giuliani himself pulled you out of a burning car. Which, based on this article, he probably did not do unless you did him a political favor. One quick example (of many, many such examples) - not only did he make sure no one who worked for David Dinkins, his opponent in the mayoral race and the previous mayor, was allowed to work for his administration, he would even have his lackies call private employers and pressure them not to hire former Dinkins people. Holy ****.
Anyway, if Giuliani manages to climb out of the hole he's been in, and even more improbably, becomes the next President of the United States, watch as he retaliates against both of these publications. I myself will be watching from Canada.
--YY
2008-01-23
2008-01-16
Let Kucinich Speak
MSNBC, by refusing to let Senator Dennis Kucinich speak at their debate, is setting a very dangerous precedent. I'm not a Kucinich supporter, but like Ron Paul (who I also don't support), he is a dissenting voice in the elections. Virtually every candidate on both sides fits into a very narrow segment of the political spectrum. The fundamental political philosophies of Romney on the (relative) right and Clinton on the (relative) left are much more similar than either politician would care to admit. By censoring Kucinich, MSNBC is impoverishing the range of the debate (just like FOX has been doing with Paul). With so many problems facing the nation, perhaps some political diversity and fresh thinking is in order? Let's at least allow the edgier ideas to get out there.
But that's not the real problem - this situation demonstrates the mixing of corporatism and politics at its worst. A private company should not be able to dictate the political discourse of a democracy. The FCC exists because the medium of television has such a profound effect on the culture - the FCC is supposed to make sure "that operation of [television stations] would be in the public interest" (source). The FCC doesn't regulate cable, for better and for worse, so MSNBC is not under their jurisdiction. Nevertheless, the FCC's very existence highlights how powerful a voice television producers have, and how the government was cautious from the very beginning about limiting the power that the private owners of the medium have. Now that that power is so centralized, it's even more important to be cautious. And when networks like MSNBC presume to dictate the terms of American politics, they have more than overstepped their bounds.
--YY
But that's not the real problem - this situation demonstrates the mixing of corporatism and politics at its worst. A private company should not be able to dictate the political discourse of a democracy. The FCC exists because the medium of television has such a profound effect on the culture - the FCC is supposed to make sure "that operation of [television stations] would be in the public interest" (source). The FCC doesn't regulate cable, for better and for worse, so MSNBC is not under their jurisdiction. Nevertheless, the FCC's very existence highlights how powerful a voice television producers have, and how the government was cautious from the very beginning about limiting the power that the private owners of the medium have. Now that that power is so centralized, it's even more important to be cautious. And when networks like MSNBC presume to dictate the terms of American politics, they have more than overstepped their bounds.
--YY
2008-01-10
Sneak Preview
I just read this Salon article about Star Wars by sci-fi author David Brin from 1999. It is a brutal attack on Star Wars and George Lucas, and even though it is already almost a decade old, it is still very relevant in terms of popular culture today. The same arguments can be made against Golden Compass (the books as well as the movie), I Am Legend, Harry Potter, and countless other science fiction/fantasy movies (especially fantasy).
I have a big post in the works about the article, so stay tuned! Meanwhile, read the article - it's well worth the read.
--YY
I have a big post in the works about the article, so stay tuned! Meanwhile, read the article - it's well worth the read.
--YY
2008-01-06
From The 50's To The 60's
I've felt for the past few years that America was living in a weird, funhouse reflection of the 1950's. Bush is something of a distorted Eisenhower - both conservatives from Texas, with a folksy demeanor. Of course, Eisenhower was a war hero who really was from Texas and who warned about the Military-Industrial Complex. Bush, by contrast... well, no need to state the obvious here.
The 1950's political climate was dominated by the Cold War and McCarthyism. Today the War on Terror serves as the analog to the Cold War, another ongoing, shadowy, and vague ideological conflict (if anything, the War on Terror is more shadowy and vague, and even harder to "win", assuming victory is even possible). George Clooney's 2005 film Good Night, and Good Luck served to remind the country how similar the political climate in America has been to those bad old days.
The successor to the 1950's in America was, of course, the 1960's, a period which favored the word "revolution". The Cold War was still in full swing, and became even more bleak and serious as the 60's progressed, with the onset of the Vietnam War.
But there was also a sense of wide-eyed optimism - the iconic image of hippies putting flowers into the guns of soldiers captures the era perfectly. It was also a time of much domestic unrest and violence. People were "mad as hell, and not taking it anymore"*.
What prompted me to write this now was Barack Obama's brilliant victory speech in Iowa. Among all the Democratic candidates, he is the visionary Kennedy that the Democrats crave. He is the current-day analog to JFK.
If this country does decide to transition from a 1950's mentality to a 1960's mentality, it will be on Barack Obama's shoulders.
--YY
p.s. I haven't mentioned the Civil Rights movement (at least not explicitly), because I don't see a clear contemporary analog. Obama did invoke the March on Selma in his speech, though.
p.p.s. This is not an endorsement of Obama - my point is that if the Bush era has mirrored the Eisenhower years, Obama is very likely to mirror the Kennedy years.
* Yes, I know that Network came out in the 1976, but it was still a movie with roots in the 1960's.
The 1950's political climate was dominated by the Cold War and McCarthyism. Today the War on Terror serves as the analog to the Cold War, another ongoing, shadowy, and vague ideological conflict (if anything, the War on Terror is more shadowy and vague, and even harder to "win", assuming victory is even possible). George Clooney's 2005 film Good Night, and Good Luck served to remind the country how similar the political climate in America has been to those bad old days.
The successor to the 1950's in America was, of course, the 1960's, a period which favored the word "revolution". The Cold War was still in full swing, and became even more bleak and serious as the 60's progressed, with the onset of the Vietnam War.
But there was also a sense of wide-eyed optimism - the iconic image of hippies putting flowers into the guns of soldiers captures the era perfectly. It was also a time of much domestic unrest and violence. People were "mad as hell, and not taking it anymore"*.
What prompted me to write this now was Barack Obama's brilliant victory speech in Iowa. Among all the Democratic candidates, he is the visionary Kennedy that the Democrats crave. He is the current-day analog to JFK.
If this country does decide to transition from a 1950's mentality to a 1960's mentality, it will be on Barack Obama's shoulders.
--YY
p.s. I haven't mentioned the Civil Rights movement (at least not explicitly), because I don't see a clear contemporary analog. Obama did invoke the March on Selma in his speech, though.
p.p.s. This is not an endorsement of Obama - my point is that if the Bush era has mirrored the Eisenhower years, Obama is very likely to mirror the Kennedy years.
* Yes, I know that Network came out in the 1976, but it was still a movie with roots in the 1960's.
2007-12-29
Programming And Politics
I've recently gotten interested in Wiimote programming for the PC. One of the things that has definitely piqued my interest is Johnny Chung Lee's amazing work with homebrew Wiimote applications (Lee is a graduate student at CMU).
I recently decided to play with the relatively simple GlovePIE software, written by Carl Kenner (no linkie for a reason). I opened up the ReadMe to learn how to get started. So my jaw dropped when I saw this:
Yikes!
I believe that the author has the right to put whatever conditions and restrictions he wants on his software, however uninformed and misguided. And I doubt any court of law would prosecute an Israeli for using his software. But it goes without saying that I'm not going to use this thing. And that I'm seriously disappointed about that.
At least, by wearing his nutty politics on his sleeve, I know not to support his work in any way (not even linking to it on my blog). I'm sure there are plenty of other projects that I do like and I do support authored by someone who reads The Protocols of the Elders of Zion every night as a bedtime story. Maybe I'd just rather not know...
--YY
P.S. This is not news - GlovePIE has had such language in its license for years. But it's news to me :-) And as the Wiimote is becoming more popular, GlovePIE is becoming more visible.
I recently decided to play with the relatively simple GlovePIE software, written by Carl Kenner (no linkie for a reason). I opened up the ReadMe to learn how to get started. So my jaw dropped when I saw this:
You may not export this software to Israel, or use it in Israel (including the occupied territories), until Israel has ended its occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria, and anywhere else it may occupy. If you try to run it in Israel it will give you an error.On his actual website: You may not use this software on military bases, or for military purposes, or in Israel (which amounts to the same thing). Violation of the license agreement will be prosecuted.
Yikes!
I believe that the author has the right to put whatever conditions and restrictions he wants on his software, however uninformed and misguided. And I doubt any court of law would prosecute an Israeli for using his software. But it goes without saying that I'm not going to use this thing. And that I'm seriously disappointed about that.
At least, by wearing his nutty politics on his sleeve, I know not to support his work in any way (not even linking to it on my blog). I'm sure there are plenty of other projects that I do like and I do support authored by someone who reads The Protocols of the Elders of Zion every night as a bedtime story. Maybe I'd just rather not know...
--YY
P.S. This is not news - GlovePIE has had such language in its license for years. But it's news to me :-) And as the Wiimote is becoming more popular, GlovePIE is becoming more visible.
2007-12-25
New Favorite Word
That would be disfluency: it's the formal linguistic word for the um's and uh's that we have in our day to day speech. "You know" and "like" are other common American disfluencies (different cultures have different disfluencies). There's actually a recent Saturday Night Live skit which was basically a guy who could only speak in disfluencies. Funnier than it sounds :-)
Via Powerset, which was via Wired.
--YY
p.s. Also, ummmm... never mind, whatever.
Via Powerset, which was via Wired.
--YY
p.s. Also, ummmm... never mind, whatever.
2007-12-08
DNA Testing and Healthcare
Wired Magazine has an article about "decoding your DNA". The company 23AndMe will, for a grand, "take a sample of your DNA, scan it, and tell you about your genetic future, as well as your ancestral past".
There's obviously a long-term concern about a Gattaca-like scenario (gene discrimination). But in the short term, is it possible that health insurance companies will make gene testing mandatory to apply for coverage? They already exclude pre-existing conditions in many cases. Now they can deny you coverage for a disease you never had, but are slightly more predisposed to (assuming you get coverage in the first place)!
So this technology has the potential to significantly reduce coverage at a time when America is already suffering from too little coverage. The system has to change drastically before this technology becomes prevalent.
--YY
p.s. I didn't even address privacy concerns. Legally speaking, if you are covered through your employer, the plan's administrator is not allowed to discuss your health records with the employment decision makers (AFAIK, IANAL). But as someone pointed out to me, people talk off the record all the time...
p.p.s. If you haven't seen Michael Moore's Sicko, you really should, even if, like me, you don't like the guy. I prefer to debate based on the merits of an argument, not the person making them.
There's obviously a long-term concern about a Gattaca-like scenario (gene discrimination). But in the short term, is it possible that health insurance companies will make gene testing mandatory to apply for coverage? They already exclude pre-existing conditions in many cases. Now they can deny you coverage for a disease you never had, but are slightly more predisposed to (assuming you get coverage in the first place)!
So this technology has the potential to significantly reduce coverage at a time when America is already suffering from too little coverage. The system has to change drastically before this technology becomes prevalent.
--YY
p.s. I didn't even address privacy concerns. Legally speaking, if you are covered through your employer, the plan's administrator is not allowed to discuss your health records with the employment decision makers (AFAIK, IANAL). But as someone pointed out to me, people talk off the record all the time...
p.p.s. If you haven't seen Michael Moore's Sicko, you really should, even if, like me, you don't like the guy. I prefer to debate based on the merits of an argument, not the person making them.
2007-11-11
E-Commerce Solutions Roundup
I've been playing around with basic e-commerce packages lately, trying to set up an online store. My requirements are basically a reasonably core set of features, like catalog management, a shopping cart, and order management. I also require it to be a CSS-driven layout, to make design changes easier. I would also like bulk import/export of products as a "nice-to-have". I am not affiliated with any of the solutions being described here, although I have worked with some of them.
The landscape of different solutions out there for setting up an online store is daunting, to put it mildly. There are services where you sign up for a complete package, including hosting (Like Shopify, MonsterCommerce, and Yahoo Small Business), free software to be downloaded and installed on your own server, (like Zen Cart and osCommerce), and various commercial software (like Miva Merchant).
I'm leaving off heavier stuff like Microsoft Commerce Server, which is more of a set of libraries for developers to build their own e-commerce site. It's definitely not an "out of the box" package, and is comparable to almost building a site from scratch (at least version 2000 was, maybe 2007 is more suited for my needs). For semi-completeness, there's also The Apache Foundation's ofbiz ("Open For Business"), which is a complete enterprise business solution, which never met an acronym it didn't like:
I know some of those TLA's, sort of, but yeesh... English, please!
I'm also leaving out ecommerce modules that sit on top of Content Management Systems like Joomla. Mainly because there's a double learning curve - Joomla, which brings with it a hefty amount of overhead, on top of the module itself. If I already had a serious Joomla site going, I would consider adding a module like that to enable ecommerce functionality for the existing site, but doing it from scratch with a CMS just seems like overkill. The complexity and time factor basically disqualifies this approach from the get-go.
I'm sure I'm missing about 99% of the solutions out there, but these are the ones I've actually heard of and have checked out (if briefly, to be honest).
What's interesting about many of these offerings is the "tiered" approach to selling the products. For example, MonsterCommerce lets you set up a website for $50/month, but if you want to change what your website looks like in any significant way, you need to upgrade to $100/month. Yikes. Miva seems to be one version for everyone ($1000 one time payment for a "domain license", but you can find lots of hosts who offer it for $15/month or so). ZenCart is free but support isn't. There are no "getting started" links. You need to buy the book for that...
Staying with ZenCart for a moment - I liked their feature list, and their marketing copy:
Sounds good to me. A little too good. And in fact, the out-of-the-box installation I did looks like this:
Ack! I'm not sure what that's supposed to be, but it doesn't look like a respectable store. I could tell immediately that I would have to spend my time just cleaning out the banner ads, polls, latest news, and all the other stuff I just don't need (telling customers their IP address in the footer is not something I want as part of my store). I didn't find the admin tool to be intuitive enough to figure out how to do all these things quickly and painlessly, and so far I'm not inclined to buy the book to learn this.
My next stop is Shopify. So far this is my favorite overall solution, at least for my purposes. It's the easiest interface I've seen by far, although they seem fixated on the T-shirt business model. I'm not being facetious - T-shirts have specific properties that don't apply to my site, like sizes. Every t-shirt is typically available in a variety of sizes (S, M, L, etc). Since it doesn't make sense to have a separate product for each size, the standard practice is to use "variants". But, again, since variants don't really apply to my site, it mostly just gets in the way for what I'm doing (Shopify requires a variant for every product, and it takes some hacking to get around that).
One of the cooler aspects of Shopify is the "collections" feature - it works largely like a playlist. You can have regular collections (just add products to the collection one by one) and "smart" collections (give the collection a bunch of rules, like between $500 and $1000). Then you can use the collections throughout the site.
It's also the easiest that I've seen to customize as far as layout goes. It comes with a bunch of pre-designed layouts that "just work", and look good. The template system is based on Ruby, which is a great choice. It's definitely the fastest and easiest way to get a small site up and running, like a boutique shop with a small inventory. It gets a little pricey as they charge both for transaction fees (up to 3%! And not even including 3rd party checkout transaction fees for credit card processing) and hosting fees, however. And it's hosted, which could be a dealbreaker for some (I personally prefer using my own hosting solutions).
This article is getting a bit long-winded, so I'll just wrap up with Miva and MonsterCommerce. I have extensive experience with Miva (version 4 - they're now up to 5), most of it negative. Miva has a large feature set, but I've had baaad experiences with them. Miva 4's out-of-the-box store was the opposite of ZenCart's - instead of a huge mess, it was practically empty (and the colors and fonts that were there were downright ugly). The only default navigation is a clumsy category tree on the left. The layout was table based, and very hard to customize. The only way to really work with Miva 4 was to buy 3rd party modules, each with their own quirks and problems. Also, Miva uses DBF files for data storage, as opposed to to a SQL solution, like MySQL. It makes it easier to install, but it also means that it's really really hard to work with the underlying data directly (if you're writing custom software, which I have). Which means the path of least resistance is to use MivaScript, Miva's hideous custom scripting language. I'm not getting started on that. But Miva is actually very easy to get started with, since many hosts offer Miva as an option with plans as low as $15/month. So it does have some appeal. But it's definitely off the menu for me.
To be fair, Miva 5 might address many of these issues. I spent about 5 minutes with the Miva 5 admin interface (also ugly, clunky, and confusing), and I saw very little that seemed different than 4. And while I'm forgiving, I would really have needed Miva to be rewritten from the ground up for me to even consider it at this point.
Finally, MonsterCommerce. I haven't really played with it yet, mainly because it's a bit hard to. There's no real demo (just a single annotated screenshot that you inexplicably get when you click on "demo"), and no trial to sign up and play with it. My main attraction to Monster is that the live sites they link to who are using MonsterCommerce look really good, and pretty close to what I want. But since the lowest price of admission is $100 ($50 "setup fee" + $50/month), which is a bit of a commitment, I'm not biting without a lot more information (preferably hands-on).
So there you have it. There may be the perfect e-commerce package (for me) out there, just waiting to be discovered, but I'm a bit skeptical at this point. There's always going to be considerable tradeoffs.
Hopefully this has been helpful for you, if, like me, you're evaluating e-commerce solutions.
UPDATE: T was nice enough to offer some suggestions in the comments: Magento, which is free open source software you install yourself, and Volusion, a hosted solution. A rep from Volusion also left a comment. Magento is still in beta, and under heavy development, but looks very promising. Volusion looks great but is pricey. See the comments for more info.
--YY
p.s. I didn't get to osCommerce and Yahoo. Yahoo is really expensive ($50 setup fee + $40/month), but seems featureful. No demo sites to log into and play with, though. Plentiful screenshots, but screenshots are not enough if I'm plunking down hundreds of dollars... osCommerce has serious marketing problems. Their screenshots are tiny even when you click on them. Even so, I've played with it a while ago - maybe it's time I gave it another shot...
The landscape of different solutions out there for setting up an online store is daunting, to put it mildly. There are services where you sign up for a complete package, including hosting (Like Shopify, MonsterCommerce, and Yahoo Small Business), free software to be downloaded and installed on your own server, (like Zen Cart and osCommerce), and various commercial software (like Miva Merchant).
I'm leaving off heavier stuff like Microsoft Commerce Server, which is more of a set of libraries for developers to build their own e-commerce site. It's definitely not an "out of the box" package, and is comparable to almost building a site from scratch (at least version 2000 was, maybe 2007 is more suited for my needs). For semi-completeness, there's also The Apache Foundation's ofbiz ("Open For Business"), which is a complete enterprise business solution, which never met an acronym it didn't like:
The Apache Open For Business Project is an open source enterprise automation software project licensed under the Apache License Version 2.0. By open source enterprise automation we mean: Open Source ERP, Open Source CRM, Open Source E-Business / E-Commerce, Open Source SCM, Open Source MRP, Open Source CMMS/EAM, and so on.
I know some of those TLA's, sort of, but yeesh... English, please!
I'm also leaving out ecommerce modules that sit on top of Content Management Systems like Joomla. Mainly because there's a double learning curve - Joomla, which brings with it a hefty amount of overhead, on top of the module itself. If I already had a serious Joomla site going, I would consider adding a module like that to enable ecommerce functionality for the existing site, but doing it from scratch with a CMS just seems like overkill. The complexity and time factor basically disqualifies this approach from the get-go.
I'm sure I'm missing about 99% of the solutions out there, but these are the ones I've actually heard of and have checked out (if briefly, to be honest).
What's interesting about many of these offerings is the "tiered" approach to selling the products. For example, MonsterCommerce lets you set up a website for $50/month, but if you want to change what your website looks like in any significant way, you need to upgrade to $100/month. Yikes. Miva seems to be one version for everyone ($1000 one time payment for a "domain license", but you can find lots of hosts who offer it for $15/month or so). ZenCart is free but support isn't. There are no "getting started" links. You need to buy the book for that...
Staying with ZenCart for a moment - I liked their feature list, and their marketing copy:
Some "solutions" seem to be complicated programming exercises instead of responding to users' needs, Zen Cart™ puts the merchants and shoppers requirements first.
Sounds good to me. A little too good. And in fact, the out-of-the-box installation I did looks like this:
Ack! I'm not sure what that's supposed to be, but it doesn't look like a respectable store. I could tell immediately that I would have to spend my time just cleaning out the banner ads, polls, latest news, and all the other stuff I just don't need (telling customers their IP address in the footer is not something I want as part of my store). I didn't find the admin tool to be intuitive enough to figure out how to do all these things quickly and painlessly, and so far I'm not inclined to buy the book to learn this.
My next stop is Shopify. So far this is my favorite overall solution, at least for my purposes. It's the easiest interface I've seen by far, although they seem fixated on the T-shirt business model. I'm not being facetious - T-shirts have specific properties that don't apply to my site, like sizes. Every t-shirt is typically available in a variety of sizes (S, M, L, etc). Since it doesn't make sense to have a separate product for each size, the standard practice is to use "variants". But, again, since variants don't really apply to my site, it mostly just gets in the way for what I'm doing (Shopify requires a variant for every product, and it takes some hacking to get around that).
One of the cooler aspects of Shopify is the "collections" feature - it works largely like a playlist. You can have regular collections (just add products to the collection one by one) and "smart" collections (give the collection a bunch of rules, like between $500 and $1000). Then you can use the collections throughout the site.
It's also the easiest that I've seen to customize as far as layout goes. It comes with a bunch of pre-designed layouts that "just work", and look good. The template system is based on Ruby, which is a great choice. It's definitely the fastest and easiest way to get a small site up and running, like a boutique shop with a small inventory. It gets a little pricey as they charge both for transaction fees (up to 3%! And not even including 3rd party checkout transaction fees for credit card processing) and hosting fees, however. And it's hosted, which could be a dealbreaker for some (I personally prefer using my own hosting solutions).
This article is getting a bit long-winded, so I'll just wrap up with Miva and MonsterCommerce. I have extensive experience with Miva (version 4 - they're now up to 5), most of it negative. Miva has a large feature set, but I've had baaad experiences with them. Miva 4's out-of-the-box store was the opposite of ZenCart's - instead of a huge mess, it was practically empty (and the colors and fonts that were there were downright ugly). The only default navigation is a clumsy category tree on the left. The layout was table based, and very hard to customize. The only way to really work with Miva 4 was to buy 3rd party modules, each with their own quirks and problems. Also, Miva uses DBF files for data storage, as opposed to to a SQL solution, like MySQL. It makes it easier to install, but it also means that it's really really hard to work with the underlying data directly (if you're writing custom software, which I have). Which means the path of least resistance is to use MivaScript, Miva's hideous custom scripting language. I'm not getting started on that. But Miva is actually very easy to get started with, since many hosts offer Miva as an option with plans as low as $15/month. So it does have some appeal. But it's definitely off the menu for me.
To be fair, Miva 5 might address many of these issues. I spent about 5 minutes with the Miva 5 admin interface (also ugly, clunky, and confusing), and I saw very little that seemed different than 4. And while I'm forgiving, I would really have needed Miva to be rewritten from the ground up for me to even consider it at this point.
Finally, MonsterCommerce. I haven't really played with it yet, mainly because it's a bit hard to. There's no real demo (just a single annotated screenshot that you inexplicably get when you click on "demo"), and no trial to sign up and play with it. My main attraction to Monster is that the live sites they link to who are using MonsterCommerce look really good, and pretty close to what I want. But since the lowest price of admission is $100 ($50 "setup fee" + $50/month), which is a bit of a commitment, I'm not biting without a lot more information (preferably hands-on).
So there you have it. There may be the perfect e-commerce package (for me) out there, just waiting to be discovered, but I'm a bit skeptical at this point. There's always going to be considerable tradeoffs.
Hopefully this has been helpful for you, if, like me, you're evaluating e-commerce solutions.
UPDATE: T was nice enough to offer some suggestions in the comments: Magento, which is free open source software you install yourself, and Volusion, a hosted solution. A rep from Volusion also left a comment. Magento is still in beta, and under heavy development, but looks very promising. Volusion looks great but is pricey. See the comments for more info.
--YY
p.s. I didn't get to osCommerce and Yahoo. Yahoo is really expensive ($50 setup fee + $40/month), but seems featureful. No demo sites to log into and play with, though. Plentiful screenshots, but screenshots are not enough if I'm plunking down hundreds of dollars... osCommerce has serious marketing problems. Their screenshots are tiny even when you click on them. Even so, I've played with it a while ago - maybe it's time I gave it another shot...
2007-10-16
What? It's Only Been Three Months...
I'm definitely glad there's something called Blog Action Day. It reminded me I had a blog!
BAD participants were supposed to post yesterday about the environment, so I'm not technically a participant, since I missed it :-/ But I do have what to say about the environment, and BAD raised me from my bloggy slumber.
You may not know this, but I was the president of the environment club* at my high school. I didn't know jack about the environment, or the political/socio-economic factors that contribute to it, which was probably for the best. I was a pretty lousy president, mainly because Al Gore was the vice president (of the US, not the club), and there wasn't much for me to do besides organize an annual T-shirt sale.
I did know, even then, that we have a culture of mass consumption that simply isn't sustainable. Unfortunately, sustainability is often expensive. No chemical plant wants to buy filters to put on their smoke stacks if they don't have to. Which is why regulations are usually necessary to force companies to do this sort of thing. But the habits of individuals are as critical, if not more so, than those of industry. And it's much harder to regulate people. Unless we start making laws telling people how much toilet paper they can buy in a year (not a good idea**), change is going to have to come from a sense of personal responsibility. In other words, it's the 1970's all over again.
The energy crises of the 1970's in particular forced Americans to realize how energy is a vital resource, and also how energy is a limited resource (scarcity does that). We're in a comparable position today - mostly rising oil prices over the past five years have created a new "green" market. Consumption is once again costly. Greener cars, houses, and food are hugely popular.
Bu that's the cynical way of looking at things - perhaps people are buying green because they genuinely want to help the environment? Unfortunately, I'm going to take the cynical view. Environmentalism waned for years when there was plenty. Now that scarcity has been put back into the equation (thanks, W!), environmentalism has made a staggering comeback (if I have time, I'll try to find some numbers, like donations to major environmental organizations). In other words, people behave when it's cost-effective for them to behave.
So there you have it - environmentalism shedding light on human nature***. That's why I find it so interesting!
--YY
* It was called S.A.V.E.: Students Against Violating the Environment. Not my choice - back off.
** Although note consumer habits during WW2...
*** I think one of the reasons that the environment has this relationship with human nature is that it's so abstract. Using a Styrofoam cup harms the environment, but that harm is so small relatively that we can't see its impact. If I throw garbage on the floor in my apartment (a micro-environment - emphasis on micro :-/ ), however, the impact is immediate and obvious. So most people clean up their homes. So apparently they wouldn't if the impact wasn't visible!
BAD participants were supposed to post yesterday about the environment, so I'm not technically a participant, since I missed it :-/ But I do have what to say about the environment, and BAD raised me from my bloggy slumber.
You may not know this, but I was the president of the environment club* at my high school. I didn't know jack about the environment, or the political/socio-economic factors that contribute to it, which was probably for the best. I was a pretty lousy president, mainly because Al Gore was the vice president (of the US, not the club), and there wasn't much for me to do besides organize an annual T-shirt sale.
I did know, even then, that we have a culture of mass consumption that simply isn't sustainable. Unfortunately, sustainability is often expensive. No chemical plant wants to buy filters to put on their smoke stacks if they don't have to. Which is why regulations are usually necessary to force companies to do this sort of thing. But the habits of individuals are as critical, if not more so, than those of industry. And it's much harder to regulate people. Unless we start making laws telling people how much toilet paper they can buy in a year (not a good idea**), change is going to have to come from a sense of personal responsibility. In other words, it's the 1970's all over again.
The energy crises of the 1970's in particular forced Americans to realize how energy is a vital resource, and also how energy is a limited resource (scarcity does that). We're in a comparable position today - mostly rising oil prices over the past five years have created a new "green" market. Consumption is once again costly. Greener cars, houses, and food are hugely popular.
Bu that's the cynical way of looking at things - perhaps people are buying green because they genuinely want to help the environment? Unfortunately, I'm going to take the cynical view. Environmentalism waned for years when there was plenty. Now that scarcity has been put back into the equation (thanks, W!), environmentalism has made a staggering comeback (if I have time, I'll try to find some numbers, like donations to major environmental organizations). In other words, people behave when it's cost-effective for them to behave.
So there you have it - environmentalism shedding light on human nature***. That's why I find it so interesting!
--YY
* It was called S.A.V.E.: Students Against Violating the Environment. Not my choice - back off.
** Although note consumer habits during WW2...
*** I think one of the reasons that the environment has this relationship with human nature is that it's so abstract. Using a Styrofoam cup harms the environment, but that harm is so small relatively that we can't see its impact. If I throw garbage on the floor in my apartment (a micro-environment - emphasis on micro :-/ ), however, the impact is immediate and obvious. So most people clean up their homes. So apparently they wouldn't if the impact wasn't visible!
2007-08-06
FaceSpam
I was told recently of a pretty disturbing new trend - Facebook Spam (or FaceSpam). One version is that bots can go through the Facebook database and request to be friends with somebody, using the optional message feature, where the spammer would put their shpiel. This is one loophole for people to send messages to someone they're not friends with (and really, who would befriend a spammer).
A much worse one (IMHO) is that a spammer could "poke" a user. If the user is dumb enough to poke the spammer back (as I was), the spammer will be able to see the user's information for a week (one of the side effects of Facebook's "poke" feature) - ample time for the spammer to grab all of the victim's information (to be honest, I'm not sure I was poked by a spammer - it may have just been a friendly stranger). Definitely something for you Facebook users to look out for, though.
--YY
p.s. Yes! One more thing to worry about! I'm going to have to blog something positive and fast!
A much worse one (IMHO) is that a spammer could "poke" a user. If the user is dumb enough to poke the spammer back (as I was), the spammer will be able to see the user's information for a week (one of the side effects of Facebook's "poke" feature) - ample time for the spammer to grab all of the victim's information (to be honest, I'm not sure I was poked by a spammer - it may have just been a friendly stranger). Definitely something for you Facebook users to look out for, though.
--YY
p.s. Yes! One more thing to worry about! I'm going to have to blog something positive and fast!
2007-07-30
HDCP Hell
I should have known better... after all, I've blogged about the evils of DRM before, although not HDCP in particular (here's a nice intro). HDCP is basically DRM that "works" (as we'll see in a minute, I'm hesitant to say it works at all) over a digital hi-definition connection. All that BluRay/HD-DVD jazz works mainly with HDCP, supposedly to prevent unauthorized copying.
If you're trying to watch HDCP content, every component on the way has to support HDCP. A simple example would be a BluRay player hooked up to an HDTV. If the HDTV doesn't support HDCP, the BluRay player will refuse to play the disc (or it may reduce quality). For computers, it's much more complicated. In order to play an HD-DVD on your computer, your player software, operating system*, HD-DVD drive*, video card, and monitor must all support HDCP. Any one of those are not up to par, and your HD-DVD will again either not play, or play at relatively poor quality (* I'm not sure about these components). Certainly not the Hi Def you paid for.
And of course, my friends, this exact situation happened to me. I purchased a very fancy-shmancy LCD monitor with HDCP support advertised. Then, to take advantage of my purchase, I bought an upconverting DVD player. Soon I would be watching my old DVD's in high definition!
Well, no. My dvd player would simply not allow me to select a resolution higher than the minimum 480p, even though my monitor supports the much higher 1080p! Why not? Who can say? But I strongly suspect that one of the components is screwing up when it comes to the HDCP "handshake".
Here comes the kicker - neither company is particularly enthused about helping me out with this problem. The monitor people don't even seem to have a clue what HDCP is, even though it's a selling point of the monitor! I'm going to call the DVD people, but guess who they're going to blame.
My only recourse at this point, short of returning the DVD player, is to see if there are any 3rd party firmwares that disable HDCP on the DVD player.
Anyway, it's an ugly, anti-consumer situation. Caveat Emptor...
--YY
If you're trying to watch HDCP content, every component on the way has to support HDCP. A simple example would be a BluRay player hooked up to an HDTV. If the HDTV doesn't support HDCP, the BluRay player will refuse to play the disc (or it may reduce quality). For computers, it's much more complicated. In order to play an HD-DVD on your computer, your player software, operating system*, HD-DVD drive*, video card, and monitor must all support HDCP. Any one of those are not up to par, and your HD-DVD will again either not play, or play at relatively poor quality (* I'm not sure about these components). Certainly not the Hi Def you paid for.
And of course, my friends, this exact situation happened to me. I purchased a very fancy-shmancy LCD monitor with HDCP support advertised. Then, to take advantage of my purchase, I bought an upconverting DVD player. Soon I would be watching my old DVD's in high definition!
Well, no. My dvd player would simply not allow me to select a resolution higher than the minimum 480p, even though my monitor supports the much higher 1080p! Why not? Who can say? But I strongly suspect that one of the components is screwing up when it comes to the HDCP "handshake".
Here comes the kicker - neither company is particularly enthused about helping me out with this problem. The monitor people don't even seem to have a clue what HDCP is, even though it's a selling point of the monitor! I'm going to call the DVD people, but guess who they're going to blame.
My only recourse at this point, short of returning the DVD player, is to see if there are any 3rd party firmwares that disable HDCP on the DVD player.
Anyway, it's an ugly, anti-consumer situation. Caveat Emptor...
--YY
Where Family Guy Gets Its Ideas
I'm a big Family Guy fan, but I've been a Simpsons fan for longer, and I caught many of the, um, homages to the Simpsons present in Family Guy. The video below should give you a good idea of what's what:
--YY
--YY
2007-07-23
The End Of The World As We Know It
I try to be an optimist, but it's hard when watching this interview of E. O. Wilson on the Bill Moyers Journal (Wilson being one of the most accomplished and honored American scientists and authors alive today). Some choice quotes from the interview:
Well, there you have it. We're all going to die. Thanks, Dr. Wilson!
--YY
BILL MOYERS: Why... should we care if the woodpecker goes? I mean, we've lost---how many species have we lost? We don't know how many species we've lost in the millennium.
E.O. WILSON: No. But-- how many species going extinct or becoming very rare do you think it takes before you see something happening? ... And more than that-- we lose the services of these species.
BILL MOYERS: The services of these species.
E.O. WILSON: Yes services of these species to us. Like pollination and water purification…
BILL MOYERS: That we get free from nature.
E.O. WILSON Yeah. Here's an easy way to remember it. We get from nature scot-free, so long as we don't screw it up and destroy it-- approximately the same amount of services as far as you can measure them in dollars as we ourselves produce each year. It was about $30 trillion a year. T. Trillion.
...
E.O. WILSON: If we do not abate the various changes we're causing-- climate, habitat destruction-- the-- continuing pollution of major-- river system-- systems and so on we will, by the end of the century, lose or have right at the brink of extinction-- about half the species of plants and animals-- in the world, certainly on the land.
...
BILL MOYERS: I'm sitting here trying to believe-- is this distinguished man, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, author of 25 books, telling me that he conceives of the obliteration of nature?
E.O. WILSON Yes.
...
BILL MOYERS: The end of nature. The end of-- what do you mean by--
E.O. WILSON I mean the end of-- a large part of the rest of life on-- the planet.
Well, there you have it. We're all going to die. Thanks, Dr. Wilson!
--YY
2007-07-19
Don't Call Me Null
I got this as the subject line in a spam message yesterday:
--YY
Null, Shamanism can help you get what you want.Who're you calling Null?
--YY
2007-07-18
"A Fox, A Wolf And A Whole Lot of Bull"
In case you had any faith left in the media, particularly Fox News, watch this amazing video dissecting how Fox and CNN twisted Ron Paul's words in an apparent attempt to marginalize him. In case you don't have time to watch the video, the short version is that Ron Paul said, citing the 9/11 Commission Report and CIA reports, that American interventionalism overseas helped create a climate of hate (of us) over the years. Giuliani immediately jumped on the opportunity to twist this into an implication that America brought 9/11 upon herself, which is clearly not what Paul said. Fox News took this even further, asserting that Paul is a conspiracy nut and a member of the 9/11 "truth" movement*. In other words, they make it seem like Paul said that Bush was involved with the attacks. They of course take a few potshots at Democrats as well, while they're at it.
Anyway, it's quite clear from the video that the GOP does not want Paul to run. He's not towing the line, and they want him out. Although I've criticized some of his positions in the past, I sincerely hope I did it honestly and accurately, disagreeing with what he actually said and believes, not what others want him to say or believe.
The saddest (and in a way, most encouraging) part of this video is watching Paul calmly weather the storm during interviews, knowing full well that the attempt is being made to destroy him.
--YY
p.s. Here's the Simpson's take on the Liberal Media :-) Get it while you can...
* Michelle Malkin (I'm 99% sure it's her) makes a loathsome grandstanding appearance here. The most amazing part of this interview is when Malkin criticizes the mainstream media (except for Fox, of course) for not spending more time debunking internet myths, when one of her major causes is the internet's (i.e. bloggers) debunking falsehoods perpetrated by mainstream media (or MSM, as she puts it)! Puh-lease.
Anyway, it's quite clear from the video that the GOP does not want Paul to run. He's not towing the line, and they want him out. Although I've criticized some of his positions in the past, I sincerely hope I did it honestly and accurately, disagreeing with what he actually said and believes, not what others want him to say or believe.
The saddest (and in a way, most encouraging) part of this video is watching Paul calmly weather the storm during interviews, knowing full well that the attempt is being made to destroy him.
--YY
p.s. Here's the Simpson's take on the Liberal Media :-) Get it while you can...
* Michelle Malkin (I'm 99% sure it's her) makes a loathsome grandstanding appearance here. The most amazing part of this interview is when Malkin criticizes the mainstream media (except for Fox, of course) for not spending more time debunking internet myths, when one of her major causes is the internet's (i.e. bloggers) debunking falsehoods perpetrated by mainstream media (or MSM, as she puts it)! Puh-lease.
2007-07-15
Pick A Galaxy, Any Galaxy
Via Slashdot, a really cool idea - Galaxy Zoo:
I was never a space-head, but maybe this site will change that... and it's more interactive than SETI@Home or Folding@Home. Richard Feynman always said that he felt like his work was really play, and by turning identifying galaxies into a game, Galaxy Zoo is cleverly capitalizing on that.
--YY
Welcome to GalaxyZoo, the project which harnesses the power of the internet - and your brain - to classify a million galaxies. By taking part, you'll not only be contributing to scientific research, but you'll view parts of the Universe that literally no-one has ever seen before and get a sense of the glorious diversity of galaxies that pepper the sky.
Why do we need you?
The simple answer is that the human brain is much better at recognising patterns than a computer can ever be. Any computer program we write to sort our galaxies into categories would do a reasonable job, but it would also inevitably throw out the unusual, the weird and the wonderful. To rescue these interesting systems which have a story to tell, we need you.
I was never a space-head, but maybe this site will change that... and it's more interactive than SETI@Home or Folding@Home. Richard Feynman always said that he felt like his work was really play, and by turning identifying galaxies into a game, Galaxy Zoo is cleverly capitalizing on that.
--YY
2007-07-08
Blame Facebook
Returning to blogging is like returning to anything else - the longer you've been away, the harder it is to get back into it. One of the reasons my blog output has been so paltry is that I've been spending way too much time:
Facebook is a lot of fun, and a bit overwhelming (it seems to be populated primarily by my ex-girlfriends - yikes). It's also an unbelievable privacy risk - who I am, who I know, how I know them... it's all there. The reason I joined FB is to check out their slick new API, but since these third party applications all have their own privacy policies, and I can't seem to find said privacy policies, I've been avoiding them (even the indispensable ones).
Regarding Grand Theft Auto (the game), am I a bad person for playing it? Probably. It's a great game, though - I wish all games had that level of polish. I've actually become more conservative when it comes to real crime because of this game. Liberty City is a terrifying place to live, and highlights how good New Yorkers have it these days. Another interesting thing I've noticed is when you can steal a car, any car, no matter how nice, at will, you don't really value it or take care of it. Everything (and everyone) in the game is completely disposable, and you have no attachments whatsoever (particularly in GTA 3). This is in stark contrast to games like World of Warcraft, where the best gear takes hours, or even days, of intense play to acquire. So there's actually some interesting philosophical and psychological observations you can make playing this series of games. That's my excuse, anyway...
--YY
p.s. I'll try to blog a bit more often. I know there's nothing more boring than a blogger who writes about his own blog, so I'll leave it at that :-)
- Working.
- Playing GTA 3.
- On Facebook.
Facebook is a lot of fun, and a bit overwhelming (it seems to be populated primarily by my ex-girlfriends - yikes). It's also an unbelievable privacy risk - who I am, who I know, how I know them... it's all there. The reason I joined FB is to check out their slick new API, but since these third party applications all have their own privacy policies, and I can't seem to find said privacy policies, I've been avoiding them (even the indispensable ones).
Regarding Grand Theft Auto (the game), am I a bad person for playing it? Probably. It's a great game, though - I wish all games had that level of polish. I've actually become more conservative when it comes to real crime because of this game. Liberty City is a terrifying place to live, and highlights how good New Yorkers have it these days. Another interesting thing I've noticed is when you can steal a car, any car, no matter how nice, at will, you don't really value it or take care of it. Everything (and everyone) in the game is completely disposable, and you have no attachments whatsoever (particularly in GTA 3). This is in stark contrast to games like World of Warcraft, where the best gear takes hours, or even days, of intense play to acquire. So there's actually some interesting philosophical and psychological observations you can make playing this series of games. That's my excuse, anyway...
--YY
p.s. I'll try to blog a bit more often. I know there's nothing more boring than a blogger who writes about his own blog, so I'll leave it at that :-)
2007-06-27
Trends, Means, And Goals
Hans Rosling gave a talk over at TED about "the myth of developing countries". It's worth watching the presentation just to see how creatively data can be presented. For example, the United States' wealth per capita increased much faster than its health per capita did. Meanwhile, India (among other countries) has shown the opposite trend: it became healthier faster than it became wealthier. He also points out that the goals of development are not necessarily the same as the means of development. For example, development relies to a large degree on a stable government, but government is certainly not the goal of development. And while human rights is an extremely important goal of development, Rosling points out that it's not really crucial to modernization.
Anyway, it's a delightful talk - interesting and funny - and well worth the fifteen minutes. And I almost forgot - he does a magic trick at the end, to prove that "the seemingly impossible is possible."
--YY
Anyway, it's a delightful talk - interesting and funny - and well worth the fifteen minutes. And I almost forgot - he does a magic trick at the end, to prove that "the seemingly impossible is possible."
--YY
2007-06-24
Now I've Seen Everything
I was wondering what it would take to get me to say that, but the Avatar Machine definitely fits the bill. It's a fairly complicated rig that lets a person see themselves in third person, as if they're in a game. From the site:
I probably have seen weird things, but I can't think of any off the top of my head...
--YY
Avatar Machine is a system which replicates the aesthetics and visuals of third person gaming, allowing the user to view themselves as a virtual character in real space via a head mounted interface.
I probably have seen weird things, but I can't think of any off the top of my head...
--YY
2007-06-19
GWT versus Rails
I recently got into a debate with a friend of mine about which is better for developing web applications - Google's Web Toolkit (GWT) or Ruby on Rails. He argued for GWT, I for Rails. Neither one of us convinced the other, although we both got each other to watch the frameworks' respective screencasts (GWT, Rails).
Disclaimer: I've done quite a bit of Rails, but not any GWT, and I'm rusty with Java. So I may be totally off base with some of my analysis, but that's what the comments are for (besides, what else is new?).
Anyway, without further ado:
This post may get updated as I think of more pros and cons for each. Stay tuned!
--YY
Disclaimer: I've done quite a bit of Rails, but not any GWT, and I'm rusty with Java. So I may be totally off base with some of my analysis, but that's what the comments are for (besides, what else is new?).
Anyway, without further ado:
Advantages of GWT over Rails
- It's FAST. GWT is designed to be lightning fast, and as far as I can tell, it's pretty much as fast as it's going to get for an HTTP application.
- It scales extremely well. Because GWT relies quite heavily on the browser, there are fewer HTTP requests to the server, and the requests themselves are smaller. The ImageBundle widget is a great example of this.
- GWT gives you a toolbox of graphical user interface widgets to build your application with out of the box.
- There's compiling. That catches quite a few errors before deployment.
- Java is a much more mature language than Ruby.
Advantages of Rails over GWT
- Database support. It is very easy to work with almost any database in Rails with almost no configuration. Rails also gives you RDBMS-agnostic migrations so you can update your database without writing any SQL. In fact, you don't even have to manually create any tables in your database - Rails will create migrations for you to do that when you create your models. GWT has none of this as far as I can see.
- Multiple Environments. Rails supports as many environment types as you can think of. Out of the box they give you basic code for a development environment, a testing environment (more on this later), and a production environment. This includes different database connection strings for each. Simply change RAILS_ENV to whatever environment you're in.
- Ruby is a much easier language to learn and work with. It's also much lighter-weight as far as the amount of code you have to write.
This post may get updated as I think of more pros and cons for each. Stay tuned!
--YY
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