Blog Roll

Ginsberg has a point

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:56 GMT

Conservative talk show hosts have been blasting Ruth Bader Ginsberg lately over her remark that the U.S. Constitution might not be the best model for a new country's constitution. She favored the Canadian and South African constitutions, and while constitutional scholars might be able to find weaknesses in those two, the U.S. Constitution isn't exactly perfect, either.

Take the Second Amendment:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

It took over 200 years for that language to get some clarification in District of Columbia v. Heller. (Ginsberg was on the wrong side, by the way.)

The reason the U.S. Constitution works so well is because the people in the U.S. have so much faith in it as a founding document. Without that faith it would be a useless piece of old paper, and perhaps that causes a little bit of insecurity at the mere mention that it wouldn't serve as a good model for others.

There are plenty of reasons to criticize Justice Ginsberg, but her suggestion that there might be better constitutions shouldn't be one of them.

For more, see Ganging up on Ginsburg — way too quickly via Volokh.com.

IRS just trying to be helpful

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:17 GMT

Most people probably have a love/hate relationship with the IRS. The IRS folks are just doing their jobs. The politicians are the real enemies. They created an incomprehensible tax code monster and tasked the IRS with the responsibility for enforcing it. But it seems, at least to this lone observer, that the people at the IRS are fully aware of the monster and really do want to make it easier for us.

So from time to time they come up with little things that do seem helpful. For example, there's an IRS app for smart phones with which the user can check the status of a refund. Or he/she can use it to watch IRS videos, like this one telling about the App. Whether the IRS could use the App to track the taxpayer down isn't mentioned.

Then there's the exempt organization search engine which really does look useful. Not too long ago many small exempt organizations got caught off guard because they didn't know that all exempt organizations, not just the biggies, were required to file some variation of the form 990 each year. And those that had not filed one for three consecutive years lost their exemption status, at least until they could get it reinstated. Tax accountants probably made a killing that season.

Anyway, potential donors can use that search engine to find out whether those little groups soliciting money were savvy enough to have filled out a simple online form. Very handy info to know.

British TV show wants Midland family for twin city family swap

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:20 GMT

This really sounds intriguing, if it isn't a scam.

There's an outfit called Knickerbockerglory that is looking for a fun family in Midland, Texas, to swap places with a family in Wirral, North West, England, which they say is Midland's twin. The following is an email I received this afternoon.

Hi

I hope you are well,

I'm currently working on a brand new exciting primetime TV series called 'Twin Towns' where families from the US will swap lives with families from the town their home town is twinned with in the UK.

We are looking for families from Midland, Texas who will get the chance to have an all-expenses paid trip to the UK where they will spend a week living in Wirral, North West which is the town that is twinned with your own.

The family we choose will get to act as US ambassadors for Midland and will get to see how the other half live by living the life of the British family they swap with. A family from Wirral would also swap lives with them and would get to see what fabulous things Midland has to offer.

We are looking for fun families who would be available for a week between the dates of 16th April and 31st June and would be interested in being on television.

I've seen your blog online and wondered if this is something you might be interested in or I wondered if you could help us spread the word to other people who might be interested in this exciting opportunity by potentially putting the ad below on either your blog or any social media site you might have. Also if you do know of any families yourself who you think might be interested please can you pass on our details or alternatively recommend them to us?

Do let me know what you think and I would be highly grateful of any help you can give me on this.

Kind Regards

Sarah

Would you and your family like an all-expenses paid trip to the UK as part of a brand new primetime TV series?

Would you like to spend a week living in a UK town that is twinned with your own?

Could you and your family act as US ambassadors for the town you live in? If so we would love to hear from you - please email
twintownsus@knickerbockerglory.tv

Sarah Speirs
Casting Producer

Knickerbockerglory
The Ugli Campus at Centre House
56 Wood Lane
London W12 7SB

0208 740 6300
07912 732 479
Sarah@knickerbockerglory.tv
www.knickerbockerglory.tv

I telephoned the Better Business Bureau to inquire if this is a known scam, but they had not heard of it. The fellow who took my call did note that foreign scammers will typically ask for money in the form of a deposit or fee. So if you respond, and they ask for money, drop it like a scalding hot crumpet. Otherwise, have fun and please drop us a line!

Update: I emailed the address at the Knickerbockerglory.tv contact page and received a reply from Jonathan Stadlen, the managing director. And he assures me that the show "Twin Towns" has indeed been commissioned as a 10-part series for broadcast on UK tv and is not a scam.

Fighting computer viruses

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:02 GMT

It seems that every few weeks we hear about some big database getting hacked by villainous characters and their malware viruses. Most individual computer users have some sort of anti-virus program running on their machines. So it's always interesting to see the unique approaches the big guys come up with for computer protection.

According to a January 2012 news report, the Japanese Defense Ministry awarded a three year contract to Fujitsu in 2008 to develop an anti-virus virus. That would be a virus assigned to hop from computer to computer in a search and destroy mission to locate and wipe out an enemy virus. They've tested it on a closed system and concluded that it works. But Sophos Naked Security says that it's a bad idea for a variety of reasons, not least of which might be unintended bugs developing from the fix in all those computers healed by the anti-virus virus.

Here's an approach that looks like more fun -- feed hackers fake info. This protection system sniffs out website users who are using automated tools that look for system weaknesses. Then the system plants a supercookie onto the offender's computer so that it can be identified when the offender returns. According to TechnologyReview.com, the goal is to play tricks on the offender. Excerpt:

Mykonos's software creates the illusion that the hacker is making progress. "We can intercept their scans and inundate them with fake values," says Koretz. "It takes much longer [for an attacker to scan a site], and the results are useless."

A scan that might usually take five hours could take 30, Koretz says. Other tactics include offering up dummy password files, which can help track an attacker when he or she tries to use them. "We'll let them break the encryption and present a false login page. We have the ability to hack the hacker," says Koretz.

As a promotional tool to impress potential clients, Mykonos engineers have built versions of the company's software that taunt attackers. One directs a hacker to a Google Maps search for nearby criminal attorneys. Another parodies Microsoft's now-defunct anthropomorphic paper clip, Clippy, with the message: "It looks like you're an unsophisticated script kiddie. Do you need help writing code?"

One of my childhood friends would like that. He had a clever/cruel trick he would play on passers by. He wrapped a brick in Christmas paper tied with a nice bow which he then placed in the street. We hid and watched as the glee of someone who thought they were getting something for nothing turned to the frustration of being had.

Is it me, or ...

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:05 GMT

... was one of my favorite Super Bowl ads also a political plug? Overall, a pretty good selection of ads in tonight's broadcast ... some variations on a theme from last year (Doritos), some variations on an even older theme (Ferris Bueller/Honda) some whose attraction continues to elude me (Go Daddy), and some that I liked a lot more than most of the others. One of those was Chrysler's tribute piece featuring Clint Eastwood ...

I liked everything about the spot ... well scripted and well-shot, and a wonderful job of editing and audio-mixing in the post. I'm guessing that the credits for this spot would include some of the same names as Chrysler's spot (with Eminem) in last year's Super Bowl ... which was my favorite spot in THAT broadcast.

But even before the spot hand ended, I was wondering if "the second half" was alluding to a second four-year term for President Obama. And I've noticed that this same line of thought has already been popping up elsewhere on the net.

What do you think?

By the way my other favorite spots included Chevy/Apocalypse ... of course, I can hardly be objective about THAT. And I'm definitely going to hang on to my Chevy pickup until 2012 is over and done with!

... and I absolutely LOVED the way this Budweiser spot made me feel!

A good laugh for dog lovers

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:19 GMT

Anyone who either likes dogs, dislikes busybodies, or enjoys a good retort should appreciate this. It's a letter from novelist E.B. White dated 4/12/51 to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in response to an alleged complaint from the said ASPCA that Mr. White was harboring a dog without a proper license.

Mr. White's letter implies that Minnie is a very coddled canine. Here's an excerpt:

Dear Sirs:

I have your letter, undated, saying that I am harboring an unlicensed dog in violation of the law. If by "harboring" you mean getting up two or three times every night to pull Minnie's blanket up over her, I am harboring a dog all right. The blanket keeps slipping off. I suppose you are wondering by now why I don't get her a sweater instead. That's a joke on you. She has a knitted sweater, but she doesn't like to wear it ...

Read the whole thing at Lettersofnote.com. You'll be glad you did.

Photo source: Wikipedia.org.

It depends on your perspective

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 07:19 GMT

Sometimes a problem might appear insurmountable. But if you step back and look at it from a different angle you might get a completely different perspective. For example, well, see for yourself:

Freie arbeiten via Kaspar Allenbach.

331.6

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 06:05 GMT

331.6