A Spontaneous Protest? Yeah. Right.

BBC News is carrying the story of a massive protest in downtown London. Thousands, perhaps as many as 100,000 people, descended on Westminster and 10 Downing Street. According to what I've been seeing and reading, the vast majority sided with Hezbollah. All were screaming for an end to the fighting, and most made it sound as if this were all Israel's fault. One can find fault with many things that Israel does, but, folks, this ain't one of 'em.

Remember, Israel left Lebanon. They pulled out of Lebanon. First Hamas then Hezbollah conducted raids into Israel, killing several soldiers and taking a total of three hostage. Both Hamas and Hezbollah rant and rave about how Israel is killing Lebanese. Er, um, yeah, they are. Only because they are firing back at the people firing at them. And the people firing at them, whether Hamas, Hezbollah, or Walter-the-paper-hanger, are using the Lebanese as human shields. The Hezbollah / Hamas / whatever want as many casualties as possible. The more, the merrier. Don't know if this has to do with they want as many people as possible to find their 72 virgins (or strum their golden harp because, according to the press, many casualties are Christians). What I do know is that, the more innocent people in Lebanon die, the better for Hamas.

But the story doesn't stop there. Israel very quickly began circulating the story that Iran was behind this. At first, to me, the unitiated, that seemed plausible, but strange. I thought Israel might be trying to shun responsibility. Now, it not only seems plausible or possible, it seems probable. As the Marines say, let me break it down shotgun style.

First, Iran re-started their nuclear program. The world is concerned because Iran now wants the bomb. You don't believe that? Consider this item: Iranian's President , when speaking about the United States, said,

"How do you justify this logic of having a full arsenal of nuclear weapons, but when it comes to nations such as ours, you do not even allow research?"

Ah, so now he's no longer saying that the nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, it's for research. Ahhhh! I see. Research for... what? Frankly, you have an elected President stating outright that he wishes for the demise of another country. That country, of course, is Israel.

Second, just when the European community and the US are about to come breathing down Iran's neck over its nuclear "research" program, Hamas and Hezbollah attack Israel. Coincidence? Perhaps. But I find it interesting that they attack almost the exact same day that the Western World gathered to discuss what to do with Iran.

Third, there are now protests in downtown Baghdad against the US, against Israel, and in support of Hezbollah.

It's a triple whammy.

Yet, that's not enough. Now the milquetoast liberals come out of the woodwork in London to rally against Israel and "for" the people of Lebanon. "Ceasefire now", many placards say. "Stop the fighting!", they scream. Except the "they" the protesters want to stop are the Israelis. The Hezbollah can kill as many as they want.

Getting to the Internet through Comcast

Do you have a Comcast high-speed connection to the Internet? If so, are you having difficulties getting to the Internet? (Obviously, if you are, you're not on the computer from which you're having the difficulty. Either that, or you went through a particular connection and you went back to the old connection.)

Here's the typical scenario: You were connected using a particular computer, but you decided to add another system. So, you popped over to Best Buy and bought a router, such as are sold by Linksys or D-Link. Now, you can't get anywhere.

Here's why. First, some background. Every single ethernet connection is required to have a MAC (MAC = media access control) address. The MAC address, typically just called "the MAC", is essentially a serial number for each device. It uniquely defines that particular device. For example, you most likely have an Ethernet connection on your computer. It could either be a NIC (network interface connection) card or a connection that is direct on your motherboard. Either way, this connection has its own MAC address. If you are using a NIC card, such as made by D-Link or any of the others, it will have a MAC address. You can have two of the exact same make & model NIC cards, but they will each have a different MAC address. As I said, each device will have its own, unique MAC address.

The same goes for routers, wireless access points, on and on and on. Each will have its own MAC address.

What does this have to do with you not being able to connect to the Internet through Comcast? Simple. Let's say that your old connection was a PC connected directly to your cable modem. What happened was this: Comcast registered your connecting by using the MAC address of your computer. It's a form of security. If someone else tried to take over your connection, they wouldn't know your MAC address. (Yes, for those technical people out there, it's possible to spoof it. But that requires more work. Hackers tend to be, among other things, lazy.) Remember I said that every device has a different MAC address? Well, when you got that shiny, new router, it also had a MAC address. And it was different than that of your computer. When you plugged it into the cable modem, Comcast did not recognize that new MAC address. Therefore, it essentially locked you out. No Internet for you! (Note: That last sentence was said in the same voice as the "Soup Nazi" from "Seinfeld".)

But fear not! There is hope. You have two options. The first is to clone the MAC address of your old connection to your new router. The other option is to get Comcast to recognize the MAC address of your new router (or whatever new thing is connecting to the cable modem.)

To go with Option #1, use whatever method is necessary to configure your router (or whatever) and look for an option to clone the MAC address. On my Linksys router, for example, I open my Internet browser, open the web-based configuration page (by typing "http://192.168.1.1" into the address bar), then enter the administrator password. From the main "Setup" page, there's an option called "MAC Address Clone". On that page, I select "Enable" next to "MAC Clone Service". At that point, the "Clone" button is no longer greyed out. I press that button and it clones the MAC address of my computer. (NOTE: I don't know how it knows which MAC address to clone if there are multiple items connected to the router. It could be that it simply clones the MAC address of whatever computer is being used to set the configuration settings. Again, I don't know this for sure.) Finally, click the button at the bottom that says, "Save Settings".

From there, you should be able to connect to the Internet.

Option #2 is to simply disconnect your cable modem from the cable connection. You will need to leave it down for at least 12 hours. (Note: I've not tried this. I'm simply quoting what some others have reported.) At that time, Comcast will release your IP address. When you connect back to the Internet, it will allow you to re-register with a new MAC address.

Best of luck to you!

Gajimmy

Dixie Chicks: The Victims of Intolerance?

The poor Dixie Chicks. Hard to not feel sorry for them. After their slamming the President and the war in Iraq, the Dixie Chicks tucked their tails between their legs and headed home. They were threatened, yelled at, had every epithet in the world thrown at them. All for merely speaking their mind. They told a London audience that they were ashamed that President Bush came from their home state of Texas.

After that, they were slammed in public and even threatened in private.

Now they are back on tour with a new album. It includes a new song, "Not Ready to Make Nice". This is a song they claim has to do with how they feel about the whole episode. After that incident, they put out some apologies, but no one seemed interested. Their reaction was, "We're being muzzled. We should be allowed to speak our minds."

Yup, that's absolutely right. But when other people, you know, us common folk, express our minds, don't act surprised. What were you expecting? Okay, here's another question: Why didn't you say this in Texas? Why did you have to fly 3600+ miles away from your "home" in Texas to speak your mind?

I know, I know, you were so muzzled in Texas. They're nothing but a bunch of hicks. Such simpletons. Only the English would understand.

Mind you, I don't like the guy who threatened you. I think that idiot should be put in a nice, 6 x 9 cell with his roommate, Rufus T. Buttlove.

But those people who merely expressed anger and outrage at your antics and expressed it by NOT buying your albums, calling the local radio stations to request that they NOT play your music, well, you had that one coming.

How Microsoft Hijacked the Internet

Remember when the Internet was first born? Remember how anyone with a simple command of HTML could post their own web page? And, so long as your browser supported the HTML *standard*, you could read that web page?

Obviously, that did not make Microsoft happy. Was it Netscape pushing Microsoft back into the corner & out of the limelight that did it? Who knows? What I can say is that they not only came back and pushed Netscape off of the map (Netscape who?), but they also took over the Internet. How many times have you gone to someone's web site and seen those dreaded words, "This site REQUIRES (my emphasis added) Internet Explorer Ver X or higher". What happened to the HTML standard? Did it die? Pull a MacArthur ("just faded away" for those of you who are a little short on history)?

Again, no. Microsoft said, "Hey, let's not only destroy Netscape, let's take over the Internet, too! HTML? BAH! We don't need no stinkin' HTML! We're MICROSOFT!"

So it goes. Obviously Microsoft was not content to merely suck the life blood from a competitor. Who would be?

Now I'm stuck occasionally having to use Internet Exploder, despite my wish to use Mozilla's Firefox whenever I can. I can say that I've noted several attempts (looking at firewall logs) of outside entities trying to get through to my computer. I've also noted that they line up perfectly for when I'm using IE as opposed to Firefox.

IE = lots of attempts
Firefox = all's quiet on the binary front.

Sigh.

Don't Bother, Bin Ladin

I see bin Ladin has raised his ugly head. He scurried out of his rathole long enough to "warn" the US of future attacks, but to also diplomatically offer a "truce" if we pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan. In other words, he wants us to return to the status quo ante.

The only problem is that we were in neither Afghanistan nor Iraq on 11 September 2001.

Enough said.

What else you got to sell, idiot.

The NSLU2: One, Big Linksys Bug Report

I purchased a Linksys NSLU2 Network File Server some time back. I recently upgraded the firmware to the latest version (called 2.3R63). Some time after that, I noticed that the hard drive (a Maxtor OneTouch 120 GB USB 2.0 hard drive) was being accessed every 2 - 3 seconds. At first, I thought my NSLU2 had been hacked. I have several firewalls, all of which are logged. I checked them all and found nothing. Still, I loaded an old computer with Linux then ran Ethereal in promiscuous mode. Again, nothing. The only thing from the server was a standard broadcast letting the network know every now and then that it was there and alive.

So began my journey. Rather than walking step-by-step, let me summarize what I discovered:

* The problem of the disk being accessed constantly (every 2 - 3 seconds) is in the latest firmware (2.3R63). No matter what I tried, it always had that problem. I tried different format types (NTFS, FAT32, and the original EXT3). The only thing that worked was reverting to a previous firmware version (2.3R29).

* After reverting to the previous firmware version (2.3R29), I noticed that I could read and write much quicker.

* Resetting the box is not as easy as it sounds. I tried resetting the box, but found that some settings (the server name, DNS addresses, gateway address, e-mail address) always stayed. It took me a while to figure out how to actually ERASE EVERYTHING. I discovered one method to do a partial reset (Method #1 below) two methods to reset everything (#2 & #3 below):

- Method #1: Using the tip of a paper clip, push in the reset button for about 3 seconds and let go. The box should beep. Then push in the button until it beeps again (should take about 10 seconds). This resets the IP address to 192.168.1.77. The second time resets the password. Note that neither of these does anything with such settings as the DNS, gateway, or the e-mail address.

- Method #2: From the home page of the web interface, go to "Administration" followed by the "System" page. At the bottom of the page is a button called, "Restore Default Config". Hit this button and wait! It will take about two minutes for it to completely reset. At that time, all of the memory should have been dumped. Any accounts you set up should be gone as should all of the other settings.

- Method #3: Use a program downloaded from Linksys called "EraseAll". I downloaded it from Linksys in a file called "EraseAll.zip". It was a zipped (meaning "compressed") file. Inside was a program called "EraseAll (for EFG120).exe" Even though it says that it's for the EFG120 (another Linksys network server product), I tried it (out of desperation) and found that it worked. And by "worked", I mean that it completely erased the previous firmware, EVERY setting, and installed the new firmware. I also used it to go back to previous firmware versions. When I used it, it was as if I had just taken the unit right out of the box. NOTE: I used an older Windows 98 computer to use this program. I did not try it from my Windows XP box. It would probably work; I just did not attempt it.

* If you have had a hard drive connected to the NSLU2 under previous firmware versions (2.3R29 or earlier), it had to be formatted using the web interface. The format version is compatible with Linux. (As a matter of fact, I connected the hard drive directly to a computer running Fedora Core 4.0 Linux. It was able to read the hard drive, see the files, and read the filenames. However, I could not access any of them.) If you use the newest firmware (2.3R63), you will be able to format a drive using either NTFS (the NT/2000/XP) format or FAT32 (older Windows format) then connect it directly to the NSLU2.

* The Linksys NSLU2 manual says, in several places, not to disconnect a drive when the unit is powered on. Unfortunately, it does not say what the consequences are. Therefore, turn the unit off before connecting and disconnecting a drive.

* To turn the unit off, just push in the button on the front until the unit beeps. Then let go.

* When connecting a drive, turn the unit off (see above), connect the drive, turn the drive on, then turn the NSLU2 on. It will take about two minutes for everything to be ready.

Best of luck to you all!

Court TVs "Anatomy of Pursuit": Pursuing the Truth

I'm watching "Court TV". The show is "Anatomy of Crime: Hot Pursuit". It's showing most of the issues surrounding high-speed pursuits between cops and criminals. I say most because they are concentrating on the cops and the innocent people who are hurt or killed during the course of the pursuit. I hear people talking about how the cops are at fault, that the pursuit never should have happened, how the policy in one case allowed the bad guy to go free, but the cop felt at fault for letting him get away, on and on and on.

But guess what is missing? The fact that the criminals being pursued are at fault. Perhaps its a sign of the times that we blame everyone but those responsible. Society is at fault, the government is at fault, blah, blah, blah. But what about the criminals themselves? What of them? Are they not at fault? Not according to this show. It would appear that running from the cops is the way to go. Go ahead! Do it! Even if you hurt or kill someone else, you won't be at fault! It will be the cops fault! It will be the government's fault! The victims will blame both of them and you'll be free and clear! Hell, it might even put you up in the eyes of your cellmates. (One of whom, I hope, is named, "Rufus T. Buttlove.")

And now they're talking about prosecuting cops for participating in high-speed pursuits. Just what your average beat cop needs, another armchair quarterback. (Note: I really loved the fact that one of the people talking most stridently about going after cops if the pursuit goes wrong is a "Professor of Criminology". One of the types of people I detest the most are armchair academics. They feel that they can solve all of the worlds problems with talk and reason. Yeah, prof, whatever...) None of the people talking about prosecuting cops are (or were) cops. Hmmm.

Could we make fleeing from cops in a vehicle (not on foot) a crime similar to firing a gun in public? Think about it. A thousand pounds of vehicle is a very deadly weapon, especially at high speeds. If we consider it a deadly force crime, the cops would be allowed to shoot at the criminals. I've seen many pursuits where the cops were able to, at one point, get close to the driver. They were able to reach in to the car, but they could not wrestle with the perpetrator. I think that if they were allowed to shoot the criminals, the pursuit would be over much quicker. Further, the criminals would think twice about fleeing if they knew the cops could shoot them for it.

Okay, all (sick) joking aside, here's the problem. Today, running from the police stands at the same level as drunk driving did many years ago. Then, Candy Lightner started MADD in 1980. That changed the way people looked at driving drunk. It's not funny anymore. But high speed pursuits are still cool, or not that big a deal. It's almost funny. People love watching them on TV. (Remember the so-called "pursuit" of OJ Simpson?) But they shouldn't be cool anymore. People need to look at them as sick and disgusting. How would they feel if, instead of a car weaving erratically all over the road, the helicopter camera showed a man with a gun indiscriminately shooting people? How would they feel? Thrilled? Or disgusted? That's how we should feel when we see a high-speed pursuit.

Why Am I Always the Only One?

I have both a Roku Soundbridge and Zonealarm installed on my computer. If you own both of these items, you probably already know the problems that arise. No matter what I do, I cannot make them coexist. So, if I want to listen to music on my Soundbridge, I have to temporarily disable my Zonealarm. Soundbridge has an interesting feature that allows you to "telnet" into it in order to make some changes (such as manually set the IP address) or play around with the display.

But telnet is a communication program. And Zonealarm is designed to make it as difficult as possible for programs to communicate. As hard as I've tried to make Zonealarm usable, it's just not possible. I've tried:

* to add "telnet" as a program to Zonealarm. No matter how many times I try, it won't show up on the Zonealarm program list.
* add a rule in the zones to allow telnet to communicate. No matter how I configure the settings, it won't work.
* add a rule in the zones to allow any program in the Trusted zone to communicate. And it won't work.

So, here I am with a firewall that is overly aggressive. You'd think that, as long as Zonealarm has been on the market, someone would have already tripped across this problem. Nope, I'm the first. How do I know? Because I've scoured the Internet looking for something similar (Don't bother looking on Zonealarm's web site. It sucks.)

Every web site I've been to says the party line of, "Add "telnet" to your list of approved programs" and "Put your Soundbridge in the allowed zone". But neither of these options works. Further, there are many settings that are possible for both of these suggestions, but no one will tell you what settings to use.

No dice. I'm the first. Frankly, this is not one of those times when being the premiere on something has its advantages. It's no advantage at all. It just sucks.

Sigh.

Dear America: Stop Your Whining!

I spent this afternoon driving home from work listening to a talk radio channel on XM. I'm guessing that it was a left-leaning talk show because I was subjected to several callers discussing how their lives sucked because George W. Bush was the President of the United States. That was how conversations started, then it invariably went into how the mainstream media will not go after Bush on his stance on various issues, including the war in Iraq.

Before that, I spent some time with some colleagues who are anything but left-leaning. Frankly, some of them would make Rush Limbaugh appear more to the left than Abby Hoffman. They talked about how America was going down the drain because of the attacks on religion, the attacks on Christians by those opposing intelligent design, etc, etc, etc.

I, for one, am sick of all of it. Left and right. Now hear this, you are all idiots.

America, by my definition, is still the greatest country on Earth. (So I'm biased. So sue me.) It's the idiots like you who are flushing it down the commode of history. Stop your whining. Just because George W. Bush is President of the United States does not mean your life is over. If you truly believe that life here is that bad, the borders for outbound people are open. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.

As for those of you who think that your religious views are under such attack and persecution, find your "Mayflower", weigh anchor, and shove off. Sorry, fellas, but life is just not that bad. Frankly, my life, for all of its faults, is pretty damn good. Perhaps I'm too much of a simpleton, but I have three squares a day, a nice place to live (cramped though it is), a wonderful wife, and good job (despite some of my idiotic colleagues), and a family that is mostly healthy.

I've seen people who have it bad. You are not among them. If having Dubya as the head honcho is the worst that happens to you this decade, you've done pretty damn good.

The one reply I'm sure to get to anyone (Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?) reading this is, "I'm not whining!" My definition of whining is someone stating a problem in their life that has an indirect and intangible impact on their life. At best, Dubya is an indirect impact. Further, it's VERY indirect. Also, I prefer if you were to provide some substance to your smoke (And I sure wish I knew what you were smoking so I could try to place a ban on it...) I'm weary of hearing, "George W. Bush doesn't care. He lies. He does whatever he wants." Blah, blah, blah. Do you mind providing at least one tangible piece of evidence? Fact is, you can't. You listen to others bitch, piss, wail, and moan over the sorry states of their lives and you want to find a scapegoat. Fact is, your lives would be sorry without Dubya. You'd just find someone else to blame it on.

Same goes for you who complain about attacks on religion, Christianity, etc, etc, etc. Would you please provide one shred of evidence of how you are being attacked? One iota? No, don't hand me some magazine, such as Newsshit, Slime or one of the others. I want you to actually read something, process it for yourself, and give me a credible argument in your own words. Really hard to do, isn't it? Especially when you've never done it before. Instead, you want to find the party line of all of the other right-wing idiots (Rush Limbaugh, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell) and just continue to spout it. No, I want you to tell me what YOU think. Can't, huh? Didn't think so.

I want both sides to stop talking in extremes, grow up, and deal with the world as it is, not as you perceive it through your narrow filter. There is a lot more gray between these black and white views of yours. You morons.

Power to The Consumer? Or Sony?

With all of the recent drubbings of Sony in both the blogworld and big media, one would think that it was only Sony that was ignorant. I'm here to tell you that that is not the case.

It's the problem of "Who has the power?" When the commercial world came up with the standards for current digital video discs (DVDs), they gave the people who make the discs the power to control certain features during playback. For example, have you noticed that you cannot skip over the "FBI warning" at the beginning of a DVD? You can typically fast-forward through it (although I have at least one DVD that won't allow that, either). There are also DVDs that put previews (commercials for other DVDs) at the beginning of the DVD. You can't skip over those, either. Nor can you go directly to the menu to play the DVD. You know, the DVD that you actually paid money to watch? No, they gave the people who make DVDs the power and they took that power and ran with it. Don't like it? Too bad. They have the power and you are not getting it back. Do you remember that, when you had a VHS tape, you could pop in the tape, probably fast-forward through a minute of dire FBI warnings (of which my thought has always been, "Who would want to copy this?") or other junk, then get to the movie.

Not any more.

Now, in order to watch a DVD, you VILL vatch de commercials und you VILL vatch de FBI varning! UND YOU VILL LIKE IT!

Back to Sony. You remember, the same people who thought that Betamax was the wave of the future? Who didn't give up til the bitter end? The same people who still cling to the notion that they can sell their stuff, which is not much better quality than anyone else, for a much steeper price? Yeah, that's the one. They decided that they were going to one-up the pirates. By not screwing the pirates, but rather by screwing their paying customers. Why? Because they had the power. They sat down and said, "Okay, if we make it so that people cannot play the CDs in their computers without first loading our software, how can we use that to our advantage?" I imagine that, at some point, someone at Sony said, "Er, um, guys, this might be a bad idea. Aren't we just screwing our paying customers while not doing anything to the pirates?"

Okay, okay. I said that they are not screwing the pirates. And they're not. They might be slightly slowing down the pirates. Why? Because if the pirates want to rip off the CD, all they have to do is load the CD into a normal CD player (such as Sony manufactures), direct the audio from the CD player into a computer, and simply record the music from there. While it will reduce the sound quality by a bit, the music was crap to begin with, so who would notice? Remember that this is exactly how the pirates copy movies. They literally take a videocamera into the movie theater and record it while they are watching it. What's to stop them from doing the exact same thing with a CD? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

But why did Sony consider it necessary to do this? Because, right now, people have "the power". They can rip CDs, make them into small, easily transferred files, then use one of a few "file-stealing", er, *file-sharing* programs to share with friends. And there is no degradation in sound quality. None. Doesn't matter if you are the first person in line to get a shared file or the 100th. The bits, and sound quality, are the same. The internet drastically changed the equation. So, lots of people are (ab)using their power. They can steal music or movies for just pennies, as opposed to having to pay many dollars to purchase it legally.

What did Sony do? They tried to swing the power pendulum back. Then they abused the living hell out of the power they had for the short while they had it.

Both sides in this fight are as stupid as the other.