One of the most disturbing projects I have ever seen:
Expert judgment on Markers to Deter Inadvertent Human Intrusion into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
And one of the incredible markings associated with the effort to deter human and alien intrusion:
THIS PLACE IS NOT A PLACE OF HONOR
NO HIGHLY ESTEEMED DEED IS COMMEMORATED HERE
NOTHING VALUED IS HERE
THIS PLACE IS A MESSAGE AND PART OF A SYSTEM OF MESSAGES
PAY ATTENTION TO IT!
SENDING THIS MESSAGE WAS IMPORTANT TO US
WE CONSIDERED OURSELVES TO BE A POWERFUL CULTURE
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
Dear Representative:
As one of your constituents, I wish to bring to your attention a very important issue about jobs being lost from the United States, and ask for your support in any and all legislation that will help keep decent middle-class jobs in this country.
Recent studies indicate that U.S. employers will move about 3.3 million white-collar jobs and $136 billion in wages overseas in the next 12 years. The most recent study by Gartner, Inc. ("U.S. Offshore Outsourcing: Structural Changes, Big Impact") reports that an alarming 500,000 IT jobs will move just in 2003 and 2004. That’s about one in 10.
Major high-tech companies, such as IBM, Hewlett Packard, and Microsoft, have already started moving work to cheap labor countries such as India, Russia and China. Do we really want to export our technical know how to China? In many cases, U.S. employees are required to train their foreign replacements, and then they are laid off. With the current economic recession and the depressed state of the high-tech industry in the U.S., this is the most unpatriotic action a company can take.
What is most alarming is that these are highly technical jobs that require advanced college degrees, and commonly become the basis of knowledge for business critical application development and military technology that our nation’s security and economy depends on. We are exporting our know how, and our information based technical specialization that was supposed to replace the Industrial Economy we just shipped overseas last decade.
I am one of many developers who came up from the ranks of IT development to make major contributions to both the private and military sector. Commonly the job boards overflow with requests for highly trained IT professionals with secret clearance, these jobs often remain open for months at a time. On the other hand the mid level IT jobs aren’t available, and developers go without wages for months at a time because the competition is high for the few remaining jobs, and are forced to contract for brief periods with no benefits. How do you expect that our country will be able to fulfill the demands of an information age if we don’t grow that talent internally so that a few large companies with no interest in America can save pennies on the dollar?
I strongly urge you to support any and all legislation that will:
1. Require U.S. employers to disclose the jobs they are moving, and provide incentives for keeping high-tech jobs in the U.S., and provide deterrence to moving them abroad.
2. Eliminate the H-1B and L1 visa's which allow foreign workers to take U.S. high-tech jobs. The IT unemployment rate is high enough that experience U.S. workers can likely fill all available jobs currently being performed by foreigners.
I hope I can count on your support.
Sincerely,
Clay Graham
Software Engineer
As one of your constituents, I wish to bring to your attention a very important issue about jobs being lost from the United States, and ask for your support in any and all legislation that will help keep decent middle-class jobs in this country.
Recent studies indicate that U.S. employers will move about 3.3 million white-collar jobs and $136 billion in wages overseas in the next 12 years. The most recent study by Gartner, Inc. ("U.S. Offshore Outsourcing: Structural Changes, Big Impact") reports that an alarming 500,000 IT jobs will move just in 2003 and 2004. That’s about one in 10.
Major high-tech companies, such as IBM, Hewlett Packard, and Microsoft, have already started moving work to cheap labor countries such as India, Russia and China. Do we really want to export our technical know how to China? In many cases, U.S. employees are required to train their foreign replacements, and then they are laid off. With the current economic recession and the depressed state of the high-tech industry in the U.S., this is the most unpatriotic action a company can take.
What is most alarming is that these are highly technical jobs that require advanced college degrees, and commonly become the basis of knowledge for business critical application development and military technology that our nation’s security and economy depends on. We are exporting our know how, and our information based technical specialization that was supposed to replace the Industrial Economy we just shipped overseas last decade.
I am one of many developers who came up from the ranks of IT development to make major contributions to both the private and military sector. Commonly the job boards overflow with requests for highly trained IT professionals with secret clearance, these jobs often remain open for months at a time. On the other hand the mid level IT jobs aren’t available, and developers go without wages for months at a time because the competition is high for the few remaining jobs, and are forced to contract for brief periods with no benefits. How do you expect that our country will be able to fulfill the demands of an information age if we don’t grow that talent internally so that a few large companies with no interest in America can save pennies on the dollar?
I strongly urge you to support any and all legislation that will:
1. Require U.S. employers to disclose the jobs they are moving, and provide incentives for keeping high-tech jobs in the U.S., and provide deterrence to moving them abroad.
2. Eliminate the H-1B and L1 visa's which allow foreign workers to take U.S. high-tech jobs. The IT unemployment rate is high enough that experience U.S. workers can likely fill all available jobs currently being performed by foreigners.
I hope I can count on your support.
Sincerely,
Clay Graham
Software Engineer
Saturday, November 01, 2003
Back to life blogging. We went out for Halloween last night, had a bunch of fun. We went to neighborhood parties. I really like North Park, it is very authentic and way better than fight the boob jobs down at the Gaslamp. We were Edgar Allen Poe and The Rave. It fun reciting lines from the poem within dread, while she yelled "Nevermore".
Clay and Stephanie hamming it up at Bacchus House
Most of the wierdo we met during the night, they were all fun!
Basically we had a blast.
Just painted a picture with my buddy Tom. Fire breathing aura...
Clay and Stephanie hamming it up at Bacchus House
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Most of the wierdo we met during the night, they were all fun!
Basically we had a blast.
Just painted a picture with my buddy Tom. Fire breathing aura...
Thursday, October 02, 2003
Ok, its official. Iraq is for sale.
The good ol' boys will show you exactly how to get your foot in the door with the new Iraqi regime, as long as they make their cut along the way.
New Bridge Securities has been set up by a bunch of Bush cronies to help businesses find those gleaming gems of opportunity in the post war Iraq. Wow, this is colonialism in the information economy huh? A website. The site makes it very clear the political relationships that the principals have with the Bush administration, heck its selling point.
Yahoo! News - Washington Insiders' New Firm Consults on Contracts in Iraq
The good ol' boys will show you exactly how to get your foot in the door with the new Iraqi regime, as long as they make their cut along the way.
New Bridge Securities has been set up by a bunch of Bush cronies to help businesses find those gleaming gems of opportunity in the post war Iraq. Wow, this is colonialism in the information economy huh? A website. The site makes it very clear the political relationships that the principals have with the Bush administration, heck its selling point.
Yahoo! News - Washington Insiders' New Firm Consults on Contracts in Iraq
Monday, September 22, 2003
Well I wrote another letter to Rob, why am I doing this?
Rob,
You know today you said one thing I never thought you would say, that
software patents are becoming too large an issue for anybody to manage
or write off. that is very true. IBM is using them against SCO, again a
bad idea.
The GROKLAW letter is about end users who feel threatened small and
powerless compared to the endless PR telling them they are thieves. They
are making an honest attempt to address what they see as the evil in the
world when they meant to do no harm. Totally human.
If they removed your comment I think that wasn't a good idea though, I
am sorry. Believe it or not, I see you as another person with a unique
perspective to be understood and appreciated. Instead you have been made
an enemy, which I think is a bad idea.
I do think that there is just as much of a "dedication" (you like to
call it religion) that some people have for MS as for OSS, and they have
have their cults too, fringe cults who will not listen to the truths
they see before them. They are the ones trying to hold on to their own
dogmas, hold on to what they knew, and don't try to thrive with what may
be coming.
I agree with you on one point, the OSS of today IS DOOMED absolutely,
and the actions of these types of people just bring it it closer to the
next phase where the religion is gone and the business really begins.
The phase that IBM services and the RedFlag distribution has started.
OSS will have a long and full real world business oriented life, and
will become the way of the world. As I mentioned before, regardless of
the trepidations of a few zealots, the shrill harping of an
"intellectual property victim", or the misgivings of a few analysts.
Really, our words are the crickets chirping to the great redwood. They
have little bearing on its success or failure.
Clay
Rob,
You know today you said one thing I never thought you would say, that
software patents are becoming too large an issue for anybody to manage
or write off. that is very true. IBM is using them against SCO, again a
bad idea.
The GROKLAW letter is about end users who feel threatened small and
powerless compared to the endless PR telling them they are thieves. They
are making an honest attempt to address what they see as the evil in the
world when they meant to do no harm. Totally human.
If they removed your comment I think that wasn't a good idea though, I
am sorry. Believe it or not, I see you as another person with a unique
perspective to be understood and appreciated. Instead you have been made
an enemy, which I think is a bad idea.
I do think that there is just as much of a "dedication" (you like to
call it religion) that some people have for MS as for OSS, and they have
have their cults too, fringe cults who will not listen to the truths
they see before them. They are the ones trying to hold on to their own
dogmas, hold on to what they knew, and don't try to thrive with what may
be coming.
I agree with you on one point, the OSS of today IS DOOMED absolutely,
and the actions of these types of people just bring it it closer to the
next phase where the religion is gone and the business really begins.
The phase that IBM services and the RedFlag distribution has started.
OSS will have a long and full real world business oriented life, and
will become the way of the world. As I mentioned before, regardless of
the trepidations of a few zealots, the shrill harping of an
"intellectual property victim", or the misgivings of a few analysts.
Really, our words are the crickets chirping to the great redwood. They
have little bearing on its success or failure.
Clay
Sunday, September 21, 2003
Every great religion has a dogma, and yes I find that even the best dogmas use censorship and control of their mission for propaganda. I feel like Judas sometimes, "hey I am over here just checking out the truth, and telling it like I see it". Well commonly I find that the powers of the world, even the meager ones who have good intentions, will twist words or edit the voices to their own ends.
Well here, no one can edit my voice, in any way. It is all mine to say what I please so here goes:
I read this article by this guy, Rob E., who said that open source is like religion, its his way of making Open source sound like some fringe cult, anyway here is his article talking about how the open source hippies want free love and free beer.
The battle for belief
Ok, so what open source religion do the governments of China, Korea, and Japan belong to? Maybe its the religion of good sense. Their governments are collectively spending millions to provide a open source Linux based solution for their government data centers, replacing NT, has that sunk in yet? The plan is to remove their dependence on opaque proprietary solutions and control the code base themselves. Over a billion people go that way, you feel the sucking wind blow, hey maybe they got something. Guess what...the three industrial power houses of Asia are bellying up to the bar for "free beer". Look, this isn't about "religion", or hippies wanting their "freedom" its about good economics and complete control of mission critical systems.
The keepers of the dogmas characterize OSS as if we are all going to go to Burning Man and have a Open Source be-in. What is more likely is that all of Asia is going to go to go to the be-in and we'll miss the boat if we fail to look at the trends around us.
Japan, South Korea and China discuss working to promote Linux
Here's what I wrote him:
Rob,
Let me say that when I read your article it made me me think of your perspective. Why would you be coming from this with the angle you did? Do you have your own agenda, because it seems like a tactic of associating open source with a freedom based fringe cult. In your article you align the open source movement with a "religion", this perspective is clear. I contest this perspective strongly.
This is a GIANT mistake, as I have tried to point out to you even if it was in a little tongue in cheek way. It seems that putting the open source movement in the light of something religious, you are aligning it with "spiritual freedom". There may be some in the OSS movement that see it this way but I do not.
The reality I am attempting to establish, and point out, is that MOST of the motivations in the open source movement are entirely business oriented.
Look, when I can install an entire blade rack for my customers data center at a quarter of the cost it would take me to provide the same features using an NT based end-to-end solution the economics are clear. I don't care what type of mumbo jumbo Microsoft tries to tell me that NT costs less, you can't lie to someone who does this all the time. I am not the only one either, entire *industries* are looking at the economics and seeing the same thing.
And the embedded world is seeing the same thing too. There are now Linux kernels running on top of your TV, in MP3 players, and in new game consoles. If you think that China's "unique agenda" isn't entirely business and manufacturing oriented you are not really looking at this issue with an open perspective. The reason Red Flag is growing and will probably take over Asia is *entirely* based on economics, and if we don't face it then we can kiss major US technology dollars goodbye.
This is why SCO doesn't have a chance, except possibly in the USA where litigation commonly defies good sense. Already they have been given fines in Germany for their actions, and are facing the same in Australia if they start sending invoices. So what will be the effect then if they receive their miracle ruling? Open source will thrive in businesses everywhere in the world but in the United States. That sounds great for the American technology economy, huh?
Open source doesn't need to worry about its zealots, it will survive any transgressions they may make, the question is can America survive technically living in a world without OSS?
Clay
I have to say, I am very sorry but OSS *can* be like a religion. Its got its blind patriarchs (and I mean that figuratively) who are busy in the confessional feeling up choir boys and then covering it up by paying millions. It certainly has its own dogma, and lord help you if you point out the inconsistencies of some of the more vocal members. I am wondering if I should just remain an independent, the outward observer, I can stand there be aloof and never make a mistake. That would be allot easier wouldn't it? And I would probably look cooler too.
So from now on I will feel no anger towards SC OX I will feel no emotions whatsoever, I am the great oak. The greatest winds do not sway me. Because when it comes down to it OSS doesn't need me. One billion people want it, they will have it no matter what I do or say, or what SCO does or says, or what Rob E. does or says. We don't matter any more.
So with this I say, both goodbye and hello.
Well here, no one can edit my voice, in any way. It is all mine to say what I please so here goes:
I read this article by this guy, Rob E., who said that open source is like religion, its his way of making Open source sound like some fringe cult, anyway here is his article talking about how the open source hippies want free love and free beer.
The battle for belief
Ok, so what open source religion do the governments of China, Korea, and Japan belong to? Maybe its the religion of good sense. Their governments are collectively spending millions to provide a open source Linux based solution for their government data centers, replacing NT, has that sunk in yet? The plan is to remove their dependence on opaque proprietary solutions and control the code base themselves. Over a billion people go that way, you feel the sucking wind blow, hey maybe they got something. Guess what...the three industrial power houses of Asia are bellying up to the bar for "free beer". Look, this isn't about "religion", or hippies wanting their "freedom" its about good economics and complete control of mission critical systems.
The keepers of the dogmas characterize OSS as if we are all going to go to Burning Man and have a Open Source be-in. What is more likely is that all of Asia is going to go to go to the be-in and we'll miss the boat if we fail to look at the trends around us.
Japan, South Korea and China discuss working to promote Linux
Here's what I wrote him:
Rob,
Let me say that when I read your article it made me me think of your perspective. Why would you be coming from this with the angle you did? Do you have your own agenda, because it seems like a tactic of associating open source with a freedom based fringe cult. In your article you align the open source movement with a "religion", this perspective is clear. I contest this perspective strongly.
This is a GIANT mistake, as I have tried to point out to you even if it was in a little tongue in cheek way. It seems that putting the open source movement in the light of something religious, you are aligning it with "spiritual freedom". There may be some in the OSS movement that see it this way but I do not.
The reality I am attempting to establish, and point out, is that MOST of the motivations in the open source movement are entirely business oriented.
Look, when I can install an entire blade rack for my customers data center at a quarter of the cost it would take me to provide the same features using an NT based end-to-end solution the economics are clear. I don't care what type of mumbo jumbo Microsoft tries to tell me that NT costs less, you can't lie to someone who does this all the time. I am not the only one either, entire *industries* are looking at the economics and seeing the same thing.
And the embedded world is seeing the same thing too. There are now Linux kernels running on top of your TV, in MP3 players, and in new game consoles. If you think that China's "unique agenda" isn't entirely business and manufacturing oriented you are not really looking at this issue with an open perspective. The reason Red Flag is growing and will probably take over Asia is *entirely* based on economics, and if we don't face it then we can kiss major US technology dollars goodbye.
This is why SCO doesn't have a chance, except possibly in the USA where litigation commonly defies good sense. Already they have been given fines in Germany for their actions, and are facing the same in Australia if they start sending invoices. So what will be the effect then if they receive their miracle ruling? Open source will thrive in businesses everywhere in the world but in the United States. That sounds great for the American technology economy, huh?
Open source doesn't need to worry about its zealots, it will survive any transgressions they may make, the question is can America survive technically living in a world without OSS?
Clay
I have to say, I am very sorry but OSS *can* be like a religion. Its got its blind patriarchs (and I mean that figuratively) who are busy in the confessional feeling up choir boys and then covering it up by paying millions. It certainly has its own dogma, and lord help you if you point out the inconsistencies of some of the more vocal members. I am wondering if I should just remain an independent, the outward observer, I can stand there be aloof and never make a mistake. That would be allot easier wouldn't it? And I would probably look cooler too.
So from now on I will feel no anger towards SC OX I will feel no emotions whatsoever, I am the great oak. The greatest winds do not sway me. Because when it comes down to it OSS doesn't need me. One billion people want it, they will have it no matter what I do or say, or what SCO does or says, or what Rob E. does or says. We don't matter any more.
So with this I say, both goodbye and hello.
Tuesday, September 09, 2003
In a letter to USA Homland Security chief, the UA is balking at requirements to provide Flight Data to fight "terrorism" as was posted on the "The Practical Nomad". Finally somone is saying, hey you might not mind tromping all over constitutional rights on the other side of the pond old boy, but over here your little police state won't fly. *Thank You*
The RIAA is suing people now, about 216 of them, including a 12 year old girl who's mom just settled for 2000 bucks. Like the Register says, "make her cry!". Next stop, fully 64 byte encrypted key file sharing with trusted PGP key members. I am suprised it isn't already a part of Gnutella.
Well my girlfriend an I had a giant blowup over who cleans more. I will share the chore calendar with you all when I am finished with it. The thing she doesn't understand is I have a digital camera and I am very good at documenting.
The RIAA is suing people now, about 216 of them, including a 12 year old girl who's mom just settled for 2000 bucks. Like the Register says, "make her cry!". Next stop, fully 64 byte encrypted key file sharing with trusted PGP key members. I am suprised it isn't already a part of Gnutella.
Well my girlfriend an I had a giant blowup over who cleans more. I will share the chore calendar with you all when I am finished with it. The thing she doesn't understand is I have a digital camera and I am very good at documenting.
Monday, September 08, 2003
Well this weekend sucked.
I spilled about an ounce of diet coke on my laptop and it just *stopped*. Do you know how many hours I spent getting stupid Windows XP to work with my Linux box? Goddamn it has been crippled so you can't use it in a domain, and then they want you to pay another 200 dollars just so it will. Stupid. I hate MS more and more every day.
If Macromedia MX studio was on Linux I would switch in a second.
rant, rant, rant.
Clay
I spilled about an ounce of diet coke on my laptop and it just *stopped*. Do you know how many hours I spent getting stupid Windows XP to work with my Linux box? Goddamn it has been crippled so you can't use it in a domain, and then they want you to pay another 200 dollars just so it will. Stupid. I hate MS more and more every day.
If Macromedia MX studio was on Linux I would switch in a second.
rant, rant, rant.
Clay
Friday, September 05, 2003
SCO To Invoice Linux Users
"Because SCO's Linux invoices will be based on a disputed claim, analysts question the technique's effectiveness. The invoices 'are an interesting gambit,' Yankee analyst Laura DiDio told NewsFactor. Yet the company 'cannot enforce' its payment demand, because its legal claim is still pending, she noted. "
"Because SCO's Linux invoices will be based on a disputed claim, analysts question the technique's effectiveness. The invoices 'are an interesting gambit,' Yankee analyst Laura DiDio told NewsFactor. Yet the company 'cannot enforce' its payment demand, because its legal claim is still pending, she noted. "
Thursday, September 04, 2003
If anyone does receive an actual invoice they should immediately file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commision here:
https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01
Demanding payment for a product that they have been given the legal ownerships rights to is as clearly a violation of law.
--Shaun
https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01
Demanding payment for a product that they have been given the legal ownerships rights to is as clearly a violation of law.
--Shaun
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
So I have taken an even bigger step to chip in on the fight against SCO. I have donated hosting space and time to GROKLAW. This is a website written by this paralegal who researches all the nasties surrounding SCO and put it out there for all to see. Soon this will be on http://www.groklaw.com/ but for now you can see it by going to http://www.newobjectivity.com/groklaw/
I haven't posted in a while, sorry. I am currently reading the Transmigration of Timothy Archer. It has this great theory about Jesus being a drug hippy fraud. Remember guys, don't be to judgmental, this is fiction.
I haven't posted in a while, sorry. I am currently reading the Transmigration of Timothy Archer. It has this great theory about Jesus being a drug hippy fraud. Remember guys, don't be to judgmental, this is fiction.
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
Office of the Attorney General of California
Public Inquiry Unit
P.O. Box 944255
Sacramento, CA 94244-2550
Party Complaining:
Clay Graham
3401 Adams Ave. #A
PMB 164
San Diego California 92116
Complaint Against:
The SCO Group
355 South 520 West
Suite 100
Lindon, Utah 84042
Phone: 801-765-4999
Fax: 801-852-9088
Was a contract signed? Yes, GNU General Public License, attached
Can we send this complaint to the party you are complaining about? Yes
Mr. Bill Lockyer,
I am writing to express my concern over the actions of The SCO Group, Inc. Certain of these actions may have significant negative effect on California individuals and businesses.
In brief, in March of this year SCO filed a complaint against IBM (amended complaint filed June 16) in the US District Court for the District of Utah, alleging contract violations by IBM. In general SCO claims that IBM added intellectual property of SCO to the open source operating system Linux, in violation of the terms of various contracts to which SCO is the successor in interest. Since then IBM filed a counter claim in the same court (August 7), and Red Hat Inc., a Linux vendor has filed for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief in the US District Court for the District of Delaware.
My concern arises from actions taken by SCO since these filings. SCO has shifted their focus from IBM to all users of Linux, claiming that as Linux contains unlicensed intellectual property of SCO, all such users must pay SCO for a license to use Linux. They have further stated that they will vigorously pursue such users, and prosecute them should they not buy this license.
The problem is that the claims that SCO has put forward are generally held to have little, if any merit by expert technical and legal opinion. If this is true, then SCO demanding license fees from users of Linux is questionable at best. Further, if one reads the public statements of SCO executive and SCO press releases on this matter, one sees that SCO has adopted a deliberately and unnecessarily threatening stance.
One responsibility of a party seeking redress in such matters is to mitigate. This SCO has consistently refused to do. The developers of Linux have been unanimous in their request that SCO tell them what parts of Linux are infringing upon SCO IP, so that they may remove it. SCO has stated that they will not reveal this information. In this light, the demand for license fees from Linux users borders on the extortionate.
I believe that it is appropriate for the Office of the Attorney General to make an initial assessment of this situation, with a view to possible further investigation. There are many users of Linux in our state, they use Linux because of the many benefits it confers. All these are under threat by SCO. Private users, charitable institutions, churches and schools may use it by reason of it's cost it is free. SCO has begun invoicing such users to pay them $200 for every desktop, and $700 or more for every server. This price will last till only October 15, after which the prices will approximately double. If they do not pay, SCO promises to sue them for damages.
Corporations choose Linux for technical reasons, not primarily for cost. SCO's actions include a challenge to the GNU General Public License, the terms under which Linux is distributed and developed. Besides the financial burden SCO's licensing would place on small business, SCO would also destroy the mechanism that was fundamental to Linux realizing the technical superiority which caused it's adoption.
In conclusion, I feel that the actions of SCO are unjustified and unwarranted, and if allowed to continue unchecked, will cause material harm to private and corporate citizens of our state. I have presented here only the briefest summary; as with any such controversy there are many factors and issues bearing on one's ultimate conclusions but any study, even brief will tend to support my position.
Should your office make such assessment as I have asked, I urge you not to stop with media pundits, but consult expert and informed opinion. To this end, I have attached a list of resources that that can serve as jumping off points for further research.
Please feel free to contact me at any time. Also please note that I am writing as a private citizen of California, not as an agent of my employer.
Thank you for your consideration of my letter.
Clay Graham
Concerned California Citizen
General Public License - http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.txt
Rosen Position Paper - http://www.osdl.org/docs/qa_re_sco_vs_ibm_html.html
Open Source Legal Position - http://www.opensource.org/halloween/halloween9.html
Perens Analysis of Disputed Code - http://perens.com/SCO/SCOSlideShow.html
Redhat Legal Position - http://www.redhat.com/about/presscenter/2003/press_sco.html
Monta Vista Software Legal Position - http://www.mvista.com/sco-ibm.html
Public Inquiry Unit
P.O. Box 944255
Sacramento, CA 94244-2550
Party Complaining:
Clay Graham
3401 Adams Ave. #A
PMB 164
San Diego California 92116
Complaint Against:
The SCO Group
355 South 520 West
Suite 100
Lindon, Utah 84042
Phone: 801-765-4999
Fax: 801-852-9088
Was a contract signed? Yes, GNU General Public License, attached
Can we send this complaint to the party you are complaining about? Yes
Mr. Bill Lockyer,
I am writing to express my concern over the actions of The SCO Group, Inc. Certain of these actions may have significant negative effect on California individuals and businesses.
In brief, in March of this year SCO filed a complaint against IBM (amended complaint filed June 16) in the US District Court for the District of Utah, alleging contract violations by IBM. In general SCO claims that IBM added intellectual property of SCO to the open source operating system Linux, in violation of the terms of various contracts to which SCO is the successor in interest. Since then IBM filed a counter claim in the same court (August 7), and Red Hat Inc., a Linux vendor has filed for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief in the US District Court for the District of Delaware.
My concern arises from actions taken by SCO since these filings. SCO has shifted their focus from IBM to all users of Linux, claiming that as Linux contains unlicensed intellectual property of SCO, all such users must pay SCO for a license to use Linux. They have further stated that they will vigorously pursue such users, and prosecute them should they not buy this license.
The problem is that the claims that SCO has put forward are generally held to have little, if any merit by expert technical and legal opinion. If this is true, then SCO demanding license fees from users of Linux is questionable at best. Further, if one reads the public statements of SCO executive and SCO press releases on this matter, one sees that SCO has adopted a deliberately and unnecessarily threatening stance.
One responsibility of a party seeking redress in such matters is to mitigate. This SCO has consistently refused to do. The developers of Linux have been unanimous in their request that SCO tell them what parts of Linux are infringing upon SCO IP, so that they may remove it. SCO has stated that they will not reveal this information. In this light, the demand for license fees from Linux users borders on the extortionate.
I believe that it is appropriate for the Office of the Attorney General to make an initial assessment of this situation, with a view to possible further investigation. There are many users of Linux in our state, they use Linux because of the many benefits it confers. All these are under threat by SCO. Private users, charitable institutions, churches and schools may use it by reason of it's cost it is free. SCO has begun invoicing such users to pay them $200 for every desktop, and $700 or more for every server. This price will last till only October 15, after which the prices will approximately double. If they do not pay, SCO promises to sue them for damages.
Corporations choose Linux for technical reasons, not primarily for cost. SCO's actions include a challenge to the GNU General Public License, the terms under which Linux is distributed and developed. Besides the financial burden SCO's licensing would place on small business, SCO would also destroy the mechanism that was fundamental to Linux realizing the technical superiority which caused it's adoption.
In conclusion, I feel that the actions of SCO are unjustified and unwarranted, and if allowed to continue unchecked, will cause material harm to private and corporate citizens of our state. I have presented here only the briefest summary; as with any such controversy there are many factors and issues bearing on one's ultimate conclusions but any study, even brief will tend to support my position.
Should your office make such assessment as I have asked, I urge you not to stop with media pundits, but consult expert and informed opinion. To this end, I have attached a list of resources that that can serve as jumping off points for further research.
Please feel free to contact me at any time. Also please note that I am writing as a private citizen of California, not as an agent of my employer.
Thank you for your consideration of my letter.
Clay Graham
Concerned California Citizen
General Public License - http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.txt
Rosen Position Paper - http://www.osdl.org/docs/qa_re_sco_vs_ibm_html.html
Open Source Legal Position - http://www.opensource.org/halloween/halloween9.html
Perens Analysis of Disputed Code - http://perens.com/SCO/SCOSlideShow.html
Redhat Legal Position - http://www.redhat.com/about/presscenter/2003/press_sco.html
Monta Vista Software Legal Position - http://www.mvista.com/sco-ibm.html
Monday, August 25, 2003
It has been a little while since my last post, I guess I haven't had any strange dreams, or been consumed with anything too creative. Does that tell you something? I guess I have to say I am happy that I at least have my applications at home, lord knows I haven't been able to code at work in a long time.
I just upgraded my RedHat 9 to XIMIAN Evolution , and I love it. If you are a Linux head just go get it now. The really cool thing about it is that they have an MS Exchange connector, so IT can start migrating over to Linux desktops, at least in some portions of thier company. This means as more and more applications become available for Linux, MS becomes more and more legacy. I know I am not the only one thinking this.
RedHat also just announced that they are going towards a "bundled application server" strategy for RedHat 10, with builds of JONAS built right into the install. Then if you look at Eclipse JDT that has a direct plug in for the application server built in, you are looking at the future of web development for the next two years. I promise.
Ok, enough geek stuff, on to politics. I heard that Warren Buffet was hired by Ahhhnold to head up an economic counsel and then Warren did the unthinkable; he said that property taxes were too low in California. The thing I do like about AS (compared to other elephants) is that he doesn't always tow the same old line as most of those jerks, but he isn't going to win of them over going with Buffet, he is a guy who makes his economic choices other than politics, he makes them based on sound economic thinking. That's something the conservatives continue to bring back Fs on their report cards on. What is pitiful about the Terminator though, and why I can not vote for him, is the first thing he did was discount his expert and say he was wrong. Why hire an expert if you aren't going to listen to them? It just makes me a little cynical that's all, politics isn't about fixing this stuff, its about the appearance of making change, without true expectations or accountability.
I just upgraded my RedHat 9 to XIMIAN Evolution , and I love it. If you are a Linux head just go get it now. The really cool thing about it is that they have an MS Exchange connector, so IT can start migrating over to Linux desktops, at least in some portions of thier company. This means as more and more applications become available for Linux, MS becomes more and more legacy. I know I am not the only one thinking this.
RedHat also just announced that they are going towards a "bundled application server" strategy for RedHat 10, with builds of JONAS built right into the install. Then if you look at Eclipse JDT that has a direct plug in for the application server built in, you are looking at the future of web development for the next two years. I promise.
Ok, enough geek stuff, on to politics. I heard that Warren Buffet was hired by Ahhhnold to head up an economic counsel and then Warren did the unthinkable; he said that property taxes were too low in California. The thing I do like about AS (compared to other elephants) is that he doesn't always tow the same old line as most of those jerks, but he isn't going to win of them over going with Buffet, he is a guy who makes his economic choices other than politics, he makes them based on sound economic thinking. That's something the conservatives continue to bring back Fs on their report cards on. What is pitiful about the Terminator though, and why I can not vote for him, is the first thing he did was discount his expert and say he was wrong. Why hire an expert if you aren't going to listen to them? It just makes me a little cynical that's all, politics isn't about fixing this stuff, its about the appearance of making change, without true expectations or accountability.
Tuesday, August 19, 2003
I had a dream last night that I went to the hot dog stand to get a delicious polish link, and I started talking to this guy while the hot dog vendor prepared it for me. I was kindof distracted by the conversation and I notice it starts to rain. I am so engrosed in conversation that the next time I look over at the cart I see my polish, but its soggy and wet, totally unedible. As I wring the water out I plead with the cart vendor to me me another. Reluctantly he complies.
Fishing on Sunday was great but very tiring. It was so nice of Stephanie to get me that gift, she hates fish and fish smells. To get me that gift was a real sacrifice for her. I really love her. Hopefully the picture that a few software developer guys I met on the trip from Pheonix took of me will come back and I'll show. More on the trip when the picture comes.
Fishing on Sunday was great but very tiring. It was so nice of Stephanie to get me that gift, she hates fish and fish smells. To get me that gift was a real sacrifice for her. I really love her. Hopefully the picture that a few software developer guys I met on the trip from Pheonix took of me will come back and I'll show. More on the trip when the picture comes.
Friday, August 15, 2003
I read the most incredible quote this morning while sitting on the pot: "tolerance is the rice pudding of modern behavior", man oh man is that ever true.
Well today is my birthday, and Stephanie made me breakfast in bed. Man if I didn't have her I would be lost. Its strange being 36, well I guess every one of them is strange, but I wonder if I am where I am "supposed" to be. Its a stupid thought I know, but it takes a concious mind to supress the call of Leviathan.
Strange dreams, lost a really fast go cart, and a movie star from Austrialia wanted me to be her butler. NO WAY!
Well today is my birthday, and Stephanie made me breakfast in bed. Man if I didn't have her I would be lost. Its strange being 36, well I guess every one of them is strange, but I wonder if I am where I am "supposed" to be. Its a stupid thought I know, but it takes a concious mind to supress the call of Leviathan.
Strange dreams, lost a really fast go cart, and a movie star from Austrialia wanted me to be her butler. NO WAY!
Thursday, August 14, 2003
I read about the blackout on the eastern coast what seems to be millions wandering the streets in some sort of J. G. Ballard world, and my eminent birthday (tomorrow), a vision pops into my tired brain. I had a bad day today, dealing with some people who are so myopic that it is questionable if they even see that they are alive. I am somehow drawn to think of Kali. Kali is a destroyer with a skin color of a storm about to break, she stands over Shiva who represents the consciousness of what IS.
The storm destroys the perceptions of what is, what is possible, and in doing that new possibilities occur. The destruction commonly is quite painful, so often we resist it. I seriously that myself and most of the world around me right now is much like Shiva in this picture. What will the storm be that makes new opportunities possible?
Wednesday, August 13, 2003
Absolutely enthraling web log GROKLAW, on the legal aspects SCO brew ha ha. So the real reason is the stock price, and an aquistion strategy. Oh well, you can find an a*hole who will be a jerk for a buck just about anywhere.
Tuesday, August 12, 2003
Well it is official. I have been swept away by IBM vs. SCO fever, totally transfixed on the whole soap opera. I guess my first question is what in the world is SCO thinking? It seems as obvious on the surface as a scam, kind of like the European City Guide scam or something. I just wonder who talked the CEO of SCO Darl McBride into doing this hair brained thing? They may sell a couple of licences by tricking scardy cat CIOs but in no way is that going to cover expenses from the counter suit.
Not to mention that people are now rooting for Goliath (how did IBM work that?).
KILL PINGUIN KILL!
Not to mention that people are now rooting for Goliath (how did IBM work that?).
KILL PINGUIN KILL!
Thursday, August 07, 2003
(CBS/AP) Still-secret sections of Congress' Sept. 11 report examine interactions between Saudi businessmen and the royal family that may have intentionally or unwittingly aided al Qaeda or the suicide hijackers, according to people who have seen the report.
It suggests that one, and possibly two, Saudi men who encountered the hijackers or their acquaintances were tied to Saudi intelligence and that a Muslim imam in the United States may have been a facilitator for some hijackers, the sources said, speaking to The Associated Press only on condition of anonymity.
Citing its own sources in its Saturday editions, The New York Times says, "These findings ... help to explain why the classified part of the report has become so politically charged, causing strains between the United States and Saudi Arabia."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/08/03/world/main566412.shtml
It suggests that one, and possibly two, Saudi men who encountered the hijackers or their acquaintances were tied to Saudi intelligence and that a Muslim imam in the United States may have been a facilitator for some hijackers, the sources said, speaking to The Associated Press only on condition of anonymity.
Citing its own sources in its Saturday editions, The New York Times says, "These findings ... help to explain why the classified part of the report has become so politically charged, causing strains between the United States and Saudi Arabia."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/08/03/world/main566412.shtml
Wednesday, August 06, 2003
Facing the Saudi problem
Perhaps the biggest unsolved mystery left over from the attacks is, How much help -- financial and otherwise -- does bin Laden get from old friends in Saudi Arabia, and why hasn't the U.S. dealt more harshly with the Saudi problem? Treasury officials have been arguing for months to come down harder on Saudis who were giving cash to known bin Laden charity fronts.
Last year Princess Haifa al-Faisal, wife of the Saudi ambassador to the U.S., Prince Bandar bin Sultan, was found to have given money directly to the family of a Saudi man in San Diego who befriended and assisted two of the 9/11 hijackers. Yet the Administration acted as if she had merely misplaced her ATM card.
Some branches of the Saudi royal family (a clan with 7,000 princes) actively cultivate ties with radical groups to gain political support in their own country, according to a former senior White House aide. Yet in Washington mere mention of a Riyadh connection with the war on terrorism remains a weird taboo. The Administration forced the joint panel to black out 28 straight pages of testimony about Saudi financial support for terrorists.
CNN.com - Could it happen again? - Aug. 4, 2003
Perhaps the biggest unsolved mystery left over from the attacks is, How much help -- financial and otherwise -- does bin Laden get from old friends in Saudi Arabia, and why hasn't the U.S. dealt more harshly with the Saudi problem? Treasury officials have been arguing for months to come down harder on Saudis who were giving cash to known bin Laden charity fronts.
Last year Princess Haifa al-Faisal, wife of the Saudi ambassador to the U.S., Prince Bandar bin Sultan, was found to have given money directly to the family of a Saudi man in San Diego who befriended and assisted two of the 9/11 hijackers. Yet the Administration acted as if she had merely misplaced her ATM card.
Some branches of the Saudi royal family (a clan with 7,000 princes) actively cultivate ties with radical groups to gain political support in their own country, according to a former senior White House aide. Yet in Washington mere mention of a Riyadh connection with the war on terrorism remains a weird taboo. The Administration forced the joint panel to black out 28 straight pages of testimony about Saudi financial support for terrorists.
CNN.com - Could it happen again? - Aug. 4, 2003
Monday, August 04, 2003
I am planning to include co-joined twins or even tri-joined triplets in a new story that is loosely based on shock jocks. The idea is that shock jocks in the future will have porn stars on their shows, but instead of having fake boobs the porn stars have fake skin.
Joel had long greasy hair, a long nose like a the beak of a crow, and an awful voice that would cut through his guests/victims with the force of a rusty knife as he dissected the very nature of your depravity and then served it to you on a silver platter. There was a kind of genius to his technique; he reminded us that the human legacy is to suffer while we were willing eat from the tree of good and evil.
Joel Electra: Ok we have a great show for you today; you know it's so hard to get a date for a lot of desperate guys out there with all the genetic "diversity" we now have flying about. We have a show that I am sure a lot of guys are going to be beating off to tonight. Have you ever make wanted to fuck a chick with perfect skin? I mean perfect? Tonight we have one here tonight her name is Velveteen and she is also an adult digipal star so she is going to yield well and often if you know what I mean. Darling, how are you tonight? Can I pour a milkshake on your back and then lick it off please? My god there isn't one pimple on your back is there?
Velveteen: Sure Joel, I think you're cute.
Joel Electra: No you just know I am rich, you slut. My skin is gross, I have pimples that are bigger than my dick, and when they pop more comes out too.
Velveteen: You know me too well, but I would let you anyway.
Well this part isn't about the co-joins but it gives you an idea of where it is going, so if you are interested in cojoined twins twins then this story may be interesting to you, even if it is on the seedy side.
Just to make it clear, I think the Hensel sisters are way cool and very inspirational even if the subject matter I write about isn't.
Joel had long greasy hair, a long nose like a the beak of a crow, and an awful voice that would cut through his guests/victims with the force of a rusty knife as he dissected the very nature of your depravity and then served it to you on a silver platter. There was a kind of genius to his technique; he reminded us that the human legacy is to suffer while we were willing eat from the tree of good and evil.
Joel Electra: Ok we have a great show for you today; you know it's so hard to get a date for a lot of desperate guys out there with all the genetic "diversity" we now have flying about. We have a show that I am sure a lot of guys are going to be beating off to tonight. Have you ever make wanted to fuck a chick with perfect skin? I mean perfect? Tonight we have one here tonight her name is Velveteen and she is also an adult digipal star so she is going to yield well and often if you know what I mean. Darling, how are you tonight? Can I pour a milkshake on your back and then lick it off please? My god there isn't one pimple on your back is there?
Velveteen: Sure Joel, I think you're cute.
Joel Electra: No you just know I am rich, you slut. My skin is gross, I have pimples that are bigger than my dick, and when they pop more comes out too.
Velveteen: You know me too well, but I would let you anyway.
Well this part isn't about the co-joins but it gives you an idea of where it is going, so if you are interested in cojoined twins twins then this story may be interesting to you, even if it is on the seedy side.
Just to make it clear, I think the Hensel sisters are way cool and very inspirational even if the subject matter I write about isn't.
Saturday, August 02, 2003
This is what I was waiting for. First of all I was ranting about this just last week, and now there seems to be a solution, it is called E85 ethanol and FFV vehicles can run on it. The next car I am buying is the FFV Explorer which I just love. It is perfect for me. I want the 6 cylinder model.
Now they say that it doesn't run quite as efficient as regular gasoline, but it costs less and burns allot cleaner so it seems like it all comes out to be about the same, and best of all the fuel comes from beets. It also sounds as though there is a new Ethanol mixing plant opening here in San Diego so I bet California farmers will benefit. I have been looking at similar headlines around the United States. If I can make a beet farmer rich instead of a Saudi I am all for it.
The cost is very reasonable the sticker price for a fully outfitted Ford Explorer was about 30,000, and that isn't too far off from what I would have to spend on that car anyway. I found out about it because the alternative fuels station just opened up down the road from my house, in fact the next closest one is in Salt Lake City so I feel very lucky to have it so close. So if you live in San Diego and want one of these and I know you do because you are a patriot the contact:
Jarrett Joseph -AFV Sales Specialist jjoseph@pearsonford.com
My next mission is to get more E85 ethanol stations in the United States.
Now they say that it doesn't run quite as efficient as regular gasoline, but it costs less and burns allot cleaner so it seems like it all comes out to be about the same, and best of all the fuel comes from beets. It also sounds as though there is a new Ethanol mixing plant opening here in San Diego so I bet California farmers will benefit. I have been looking at similar headlines around the United States. If I can make a beet farmer rich instead of a Saudi I am all for it.
The cost is very reasonable the sticker price for a fully outfitted Ford Explorer was about 30,000, and that isn't too far off from what I would have to spend on that car anyway. I found out about it because the alternative fuels station just opened up down the road from my house, in fact the next closest one is in Salt Lake City so I feel very lucky to have it so close. So if you live in San Diego and want one of these and I know you do because you are a patriot the contact:
Jarrett Joseph -AFV Sales Specialist jjoseph@pearsonford.com
My next mission is to get more E85 ethanol stations in the United States.
Friday, August 01, 2003
Fryday, finally.
I guess I am so burnt its hard to even think about what I want to say. I'll start with SIGGRAPH. Siggraph was this week and in my former life I was a 3D graphics person. I am still interested in 3D but mostly its just a hobby now (servers pay the bills). So I expected allot of friends of mine to come to San Diego because it was here, mostly at the beginning of the week, and hoping that I would get to see some of my old friends.
It has been a little hard to find people I like in San Diego, and I guess I have been a little isolated, so it was really important that I get to see some familiar faces. So when Wednesday rolled up, and I still hadn't heard from any of them my sensitive side started showing.
Well sometimes you are loved when it seems as you are not. What happened next was entirely unexpected. The party bomb dropped!
Greg Kulz calls "Clay there is going to be a VJ war with killer video from 7-9, show up!, I am really sorry I couldn't call earlier!" Tony calls me at 6PM, "Clay you have to come down to my party, we are celebrating selling media machines to many one". Oh my god.
Well it turns out these people really loved me, they just were not able to call or warn me that they wanted me around. Then I get calls from the other no shows: Fred and Vivian Outlaw, and Tom and Beverly. Party time central has landed. So to wrap it up my whole posse ended up coming over to my house last night and celebrating. Celebrating good business, freedom, love and each other. It was perfect.
It just tells me that when you are feeling sorry for yourself you shouldn't think that it isn't possible for the coin to flip.
I guess I am so burnt its hard to even think about what I want to say. I'll start with SIGGRAPH. Siggraph was this week and in my former life I was a 3D graphics person. I am still interested in 3D but mostly its just a hobby now (servers pay the bills). So I expected allot of friends of mine to come to San Diego because it was here, mostly at the beginning of the week, and hoping that I would get to see some of my old friends.
It has been a little hard to find people I like in San Diego, and I guess I have been a little isolated, so it was really important that I get to see some familiar faces. So when Wednesday rolled up, and I still hadn't heard from any of them my sensitive side started showing.
Well sometimes you are loved when it seems as you are not. What happened next was entirely unexpected. The party bomb dropped!
Greg Kulz calls "Clay there is going to be a VJ war with killer video from 7-9, show up!, I am really sorry I couldn't call earlier!" Tony calls me at 6PM, "Clay you have to come down to my party, we are celebrating selling media machines to many one". Oh my god.
Well it turns out these people really loved me, they just were not able to call or warn me that they wanted me around. Then I get calls from the other no shows: Fred and Vivian Outlaw, and Tom and Beverly. Party time central has landed. So to wrap it up my whole posse ended up coming over to my house last night and celebrating. Celebrating good business, freedom, love and each other. It was perfect.
It just tells me that when you are feeling sorry for yourself you shouldn't think that it isn't possible for the coin to flip.
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
Well today started out pretty bad, but I think I got some perspective from it.
There has been a collection company that got my phone number from their database listings as being a potential point of contact to track down their debtor. Great, just what I need to deal with is another phone tree where I am put on hold so that I can tell them to stop calling me. They called 9 times before I got sick of deleting their messages and called them.
So I call them up and ask "hey what is the deal here? Why are you calling me? I have nothing to do with this person and you keep calling me." So the guy on the other end says, "well our database matches similar names and calls people who *may* be related.
I started turning red instantly. So I said to the guy, "Ok let me get this strait you harass people who's names are nothing more than similar to the people you are looking for?", and he says "get your vocabulary straight mister, its not harassment, all you have to do is call us and we'll leave you alone".
Am I the only one who thinks this is absurd?
Well I told the guy I wanted to make a formal complaint and he just hung up on me. So I call back and ask to talk to a manager, she hangs up on me when I ask to file a complaint. Ok so the next part of this seems insane but it really happened, it goes all the way up the chain, each one as rude as or ruder than the previous all the way up to the General Manager.
I explain that I am planning on investigating the legality of their business practices, and that the main reason was that his entire company treated me without respect or dignity. At first he was just as big a jerk as the rest of them and asking "are you harassing us?", I said "no I am escalating". After 15 minutes of explaining where I was coming from he did the previously unthinkable: he apologized.
Is it really that hard? Really I never would have wasted my, his and all of his employees time if they had just been willing to show a bit of humanity, and compassion. I was fighting against the machine of dehumanizing phone operators whose psychic message tells you to talk to the hand. The anti life equation, the same equation that let us slaughter each other in grand numbers, the same equation that lets us step over the homeless on our way to the sushi restaurant.
This whole line made me put things into perspective though, my life is pretty good. I am not starving. I am not a political prisoner. I have goals and some sense of purpose. I have a girlfriend who I love, man I am really lucky! So if the whole of my problems is that some stupid collection agency in Florida treated me badly then my problems are probably pretty small.
There has been a collection company that got my phone number from their database listings as being a potential point of contact to track down their debtor. Great, just what I need to deal with is another phone tree where I am put on hold so that I can tell them to stop calling me. They called 9 times before I got sick of deleting their messages and called them.
So I call them up and ask "hey what is the deal here? Why are you calling me? I have nothing to do with this person and you keep calling me." So the guy on the other end says, "well our database matches similar names and calls people who *may* be related.
I started turning red instantly. So I said to the guy, "Ok let me get this strait you harass people who's names are nothing more than similar to the people you are looking for?", and he says "get your vocabulary straight mister, its not harassment, all you have to do is call us and we'll leave you alone".
Am I the only one who thinks this is absurd?
Well I told the guy I wanted to make a formal complaint and he just hung up on me. So I call back and ask to talk to a manager, she hangs up on me when I ask to file a complaint. Ok so the next part of this seems insane but it really happened, it goes all the way up the chain, each one as rude as or ruder than the previous all the way up to the General Manager.
I explain that I am planning on investigating the legality of their business practices, and that the main reason was that his entire company treated me without respect or dignity. At first he was just as big a jerk as the rest of them and asking "are you harassing us?", I said "no I am escalating". After 15 minutes of explaining where I was coming from he did the previously unthinkable: he apologized.
Is it really that hard? Really I never would have wasted my, his and all of his employees time if they had just been willing to show a bit of humanity, and compassion. I was fighting against the machine of dehumanizing phone operators whose psychic message tells you to talk to the hand. The anti life equation, the same equation that let us slaughter each other in grand numbers, the same equation that lets us step over the homeless on our way to the sushi restaurant.
This whole line made me put things into perspective though, my life is pretty good. I am not starving. I am not a political prisoner. I have goals and some sense of purpose. I have a girlfriend who I love, man I am really lucky! So if the whole of my problems is that some stupid collection agency in Florida treated me badly then my problems are probably pretty small.
Monday, July 28, 2003
Ok, so are you ready for a major rant about the mundane? I am f*n sick of the number of AC power adapters that I have to deal with on a normal day. I pack about 7 of them every single day. I am the Sisyphus of modern day mobility for crying out loud! And if that wasn’t bad enough I am constantly confronted with power strips that come from a planet where there are no AC adapters. The whole system is utterly rediculous.
So if you own a power strip company and you design your stupid strips so that only half of the plugs can even accept inputs because you placed them too close or even worse not a 90 degree angle from the length, or adapters flip the power switch because the plugs are idiotically placed next to them then I swear I will go to Hong Kong, find out where your factory is and go Columbine on your ass.
Here is the basic question, why is this stuff so hard? Not the software development, or bugs, or network configuration, why is the basic stuff like power adapters so stupid? Why does my phone need its own power adapter? I know the technical answer now tell me the real one, like they don’t care and haven’t for 20 years about solving the basic stuff. They can market to us new MP3 drives, and 1.5 GHz PDA but they still need these stupid AC adapters?
Please sell me a 750Mhz PDA that does not require an AC adapter instead.
What depresses me most is that I feel alone in this rage, am I really crazy? Well I may be, but not because of my feelings on this. Its like people are just focused on the wrong things, like having the new stuff, and we just don’t ever face how we never solved the basic problems in the first place. Could this problem be a symptom of the bigger problem in the rest of our world maybe? Like cars fueled with gas or sexuality being a substitute for creativity?
Here is what I want the talented Electrical Engineer to invent for me to consume in the meantime: A power system that lets me plug all my devices into one power bus. This bus is plugged into a single 110V power source and has an onboard computer to manage the power supply to the multiple devices. It should cost around $100 and be able to provide power for up to 5 DC devices. If you know where this device is for purchase I will pay you a $10 finders fee upon first successful use.
So if you own a power strip company and you design your stupid strips so that only half of the plugs can even accept inputs because you placed them too close or even worse not a 90 degree angle from the length, or adapters flip the power switch because the plugs are idiotically placed next to them then I swear I will go to Hong Kong, find out where your factory is and go Columbine on your ass.
Here is the basic question, why is this stuff so hard? Not the software development, or bugs, or network configuration, why is the basic stuff like power adapters so stupid? Why does my phone need its own power adapter? I know the technical answer now tell me the real one, like they don’t care and haven’t for 20 years about solving the basic stuff. They can market to us new MP3 drives, and 1.5 GHz PDA but they still need these stupid AC adapters?
Please sell me a 750Mhz PDA that does not require an AC adapter instead.
What depresses me most is that I feel alone in this rage, am I really crazy? Well I may be, but not because of my feelings on this. Its like people are just focused on the wrong things, like having the new stuff, and we just don’t ever face how we never solved the basic problems in the first place. Could this problem be a symptom of the bigger problem in the rest of our world maybe? Like cars fueled with gas or sexuality being a substitute for creativity?
Here is what I want the talented Electrical Engineer to invent for me to consume in the meantime: A power system that lets me plug all my devices into one power bus. This bus is plugged into a single 110V power source and has an onboard computer to manage the power supply to the multiple devices. It should cost around $100 and be able to provide power for up to 5 DC devices. If you know where this device is for purchase I will pay you a $10 finders fee upon first successful use.
Sunday, July 27, 2003
Well it is morning so I guess I will start with my dream. I had a dream that I was with the FBI. I don’t think I was an agent, just an observer. There were an insane number of agents on the raid like 200 or so, and they all converged on the place like a swarm. I think it was one of those Ruby Ridge type raids where the people had too many guns or missiles or something. The raid started to happen and it was like a choreographed dance, they would stand up in phases and fire. Suddenly shots came out of the house and there was mortal gunplay. Amazed I waited for the scene to unfold and suddenly a hand grenade came out of the house and landed 5 feet from me. I was paralyzed with fear, and one of the agents landed on it and threw it away saving my life. Shocked and grateful I look to the agent to thank him. I reach out to shake his hands I notice he is wearing my clothes and slightly resembles me in appearance and personality.
I haven’t gotten back to writing "skin", I guess the feeling hasn’t hit me yet. I wonder if a compulsion will move over me like a ghost possession and I find that I am driven to finish it. That is usually how things get done around here.
I haven’t gotten back to writing "skin", I guess the feeling hasn’t hit me yet. I wonder if a compulsion will move over me like a ghost possession and I find that I am driven to finish it. That is usually how things get done around here.
Saturday, July 26, 2003
Well she really liked her birthday, but she is not into the day after too much. Parallel 33 was good, I would give it thumbs up but its a little pricey. Basically we had split two appetizers and one main dish with a bottle of wine and it came out to 90 bucks. Very good, but for special occasions I think.
I had a dream about my cat Corbu. There was this television host who was doing a documentary type thing on how people eat cats. He took Corbu and skinned him right in front of me. Removed his eyes , tore off his skin. I could here Corbu purring, blindly, like he was in so much shock that he just broke down and let go completely. I was furious with the man I starting yelling at him "you have no right". He responded by saying "Corbu is sick and just a fag anyway, you have better cats". I told him I don't care, if I had a son that was gay I would accept him anyway.
This is pride week in San Diego.
More rambling about the gay lifestyle from a strait perspective later.
I had a dream about my cat Corbu. There was this television host who was doing a documentary type thing on how people eat cats. He took Corbu and skinned him right in front of me. Removed his eyes , tore off his skin. I could here Corbu purring, blindly, like he was in so much shock that he just broke down and let go completely. I was furious with the man I starting yelling at him "you have no right". He responded by saying "Corbu is sick and just a fag anyway, you have better cats". I told him I don't care, if I had a son that was gay I would accept him anyway.
This is pride week in San Diego.
More rambling about the gay lifestyle from a strait perspective later.
Friday, July 25, 2003
Today: Stephanie's B-Day. We are going to Parallel 33, which is supposed to be a fusion of all the countries on the 33rd parallel, is that post-modern or what? I will report back if it is good.
I wanted to rant about cars, and oil money in general. I am probably about 1 in 20 million people who is bitching about this sort of thing, which I think is a good thing because obviously it is a factor in the collective unconscious. I am really surprised how people think burning tons of oil in their SUV is patriotic. Isn't allot of the money going to foreigners, like the kind of Arabs we just fought a war with?
Maybe the government agrees on some level, maybe that's why we invaded. Iraq certainly isn't run by foreigners any more...
The enigma is Saudi Arabia. When you see adds on TV about how drugs are funding terrorism you really have to think, is this truth? What seems more true to me is that SUVs are funding terrorism. When over 90% of the Al-Queda operatives on 9-11 are from Saudi Arabia don’t you have to ask yourself where this global terrorist network is really getting its money?
Why do we protect Saudi Arabia? Why is their oil money permitted to continue to harm America? Two primary reasons: Their money lives in western banks, and we are beholden to the oil re-sellers who add their profit onto the trillions we already pay for crude oil.
A true patriot would back the farmers of America and attempt to create a fuel from grains or other sources of energy that are sustainable (trees, etc.). It doesn’t cost that much more to run your car with American home grown products, and it would be much better for the American farmer and therefore the American economy.
Create American jobs or fund Arab terrorism? What sounds better to a patriot?
I wanted to rant about cars, and oil money in general. I am probably about 1 in 20 million people who is bitching about this sort of thing, which I think is a good thing because obviously it is a factor in the collective unconscious. I am really surprised how people think burning tons of oil in their SUV is patriotic. Isn't allot of the money going to foreigners, like the kind of Arabs we just fought a war with?
Maybe the government agrees on some level, maybe that's why we invaded. Iraq certainly isn't run by foreigners any more...
The enigma is Saudi Arabia. When you see adds on TV about how drugs are funding terrorism you really have to think, is this truth? What seems more true to me is that SUVs are funding terrorism. When over 90% of the Al-Queda operatives on 9-11 are from Saudi Arabia don’t you have to ask yourself where this global terrorist network is really getting its money?
Why do we protect Saudi Arabia? Why is their oil money permitted to continue to harm America? Two primary reasons: Their money lives in western banks, and we are beholden to the oil re-sellers who add their profit onto the trillions we already pay for crude oil.
A true patriot would back the farmers of America and attempt to create a fuel from grains or other sources of energy that are sustainable (trees, etc.). It doesn’t cost that much more to run your car with American home grown products, and it would be much better for the American farmer and therefore the American economy.
Create American jobs or fund Arab terrorism? What sounds better to a patriot?
Thursday, July 24, 2003
This is my new blog. I guess I started it so it would be easy for me to just wrap about stuff that I am thinking about. So here's a start:
My website: This is just the start, I really need to write more in general. Here is a test of my crontab which should automatically update my blog.
Tommarrow is my girlfriends birthday, I wanted to get her another present but she found out about it early. That was a real let down, now I know why mys sister hated it when I did that. Well we'll se if she likes her present.
My website: This is just the start, I really need to write more in general. Here is a test of my crontab which should automatically update my blog.
Tommarrow is my girlfriends birthday, I wanted to get her another present but she found out about it early. That was a real let down, now I know why mys sister hated it when I did that. Well we'll se if she likes her present.
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