Category: news

As I write this, weird things are afoot over at Digg.
It all started with a post about the key the HD-DVD encoding. One of the guys over at the Doom9 forums found the key, and so, like the DeCSS number, it spread quickly. People were plastering it everywhere. It made it to digg and was dugg up to the front page.

The MPAA requested that the number be taken down and digg complied. Some users were not happy about this and re-posted the story, which got dugg to the front page once more. Again, the MPAA asked them to remove the post and Digg complied. Here's a story on Slashdot about the fiasco.

Well, now that Digg has pulled the 2nd post, a swarm of users from around the web banded together and filled Digg's queue with posts about the HD-DVD hex key and dugg all of the stories to the front page. Currently the front page of digg is nothing but posts about HD-DVD.

The question was raised by coandco: Is this whole thing a deliberate move on Digg's part to help disseminate the key? If you remember the whole buzz around DeCSS, the powers-that-be tried to squash the story and prevent it from spreading, which only made it much more fun to spread (funny thing about human behavior), so DeCSS got plastered everywhere. Now, the same thing is happening with HD-DVD but it is accelerated by the number of blogs and social-networking sites linking them. Slashdot and Reddit both have HD-DVD keys posted and they aren't scared (yet) of any legal backlash, so has Digg been the first to fold? Is it deliberate or not? It'll be neat to see it play out.

And for what it's worth, here's my little rebellion:
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

update: It appears to have played out. With the Digg team bowing to the demands of their immense userbase. (Now we await the MPAA's reaction to Pandora's box being opened)

I found this article over at PhysOrg.com talking about this year's change in Daylight Savings Time. Normally, DST occurs on the first weekend in April, but this year we'll begin on the 2nd weekend in March. We'll also end differently too. Rather than "fall back" on the last weekend in October, we'll end on the first Sunday in November.

Why are we changing? Well, it goes back to the Energy Policy Act of 2005 where we decided to conserve energy by time-shifting our days. Which isn't much different at all from the original reason we adopted DST in the first place. From what I remember from some long-past history lesson, we adopted DST to conserve energy sometime back around the Great Depression (although that link might not be proven, it's just what I remember). The whole notion of getting up earlier to get the day over with one hour earlier would have reduced energy consumption at night for all those who stayed up late. According to wikipedia, in 1976 the US Dept. of Transportation concluded that DST saves the US 1% of the national energy consumption. (It doesn't sound like much, but I'm sure it's a substantial dollar amount.) On the otherhand, I'm pretty sure we've become more of a 24/7 global society than we were back when we started DST, so it's quite possible that the savings aren't nearly as high. history>
The article highlights some issues with the time change. Remember this is a US policy change, not global, so when we "spring forward" there will only be a 4-hour difference between GMT and EST instead of the 5-hour difference normally. Confusing enough? Think about any consumer devices that aren't linked to the national clock or some time setting service. It could be trouble for some people.

The article is likening it to another Y2K, and I agree. It'll be hyped by the media one day, but will fizzle out in reality.

Today I received my diploma from Lee College. I realized at the end of last semester that I had completed my Associate of Computer Science degree by completing the one class that I don't think they've ever offered at Lee: Data Structures. If they did, it was never as hard as it was here at LeTourneau. I'm tempted to go on a rant here about sub-par "higher education", but I'll hold that for another time.

It was kinda funny in completing it. It was almost by accident that I remembered this class would finish it. You see, when I was just about done at Lee, they told me that class wasn't being offered that year - not semester, year. They said if I took some other classes that it might be offered the following year, if there was enough interest. What? Wait a year, and then there might be a class?! (remember this was pretty much the only class I needed to finish...)

I quickly packed my bags and headed to SFA to go ahead and "get on with life". I figured if I could take the class at SFA, I would, and continue working towards my Bachelor's in the meantime.
Things didn't quite work out that easily and I lost some ground in transferring, so I was back to square one when I got to SFA. About the time I was to do Data Structures, I was offered a position at AMD. The next time I had a chance, was the summer of the wedding. No problem, I'll take the class at LeTourneau.
Again, I was set back by the differences in curriculum, so it wasn't until just last year that I could take Data Structures. (Maybe if I was still at Lee, I'd still be waiting?)

At any rate, no matter what happens, I can always fall back on this to seperate me from being a total failure. Not that an Associate's is such an accomplishment, but it's more than some.

Where will you be at 01:02:03 on 04/05/06? Though I could stay up until 1AM my old man complex I've recently developed puts me to bed well before that. I'll be up for the second one, though!

Grendel sez: That's 01:02:03pm for our more dense readers.

This evening Col. Oliver North came to LeTourneau University to speak on behalf of East Texans Against Lawsuit Abuse. (I hadn't heard of them either) Tickets to the event were $40 per person! (Free if you're a LeTourneau student)

Colonel North spoke of the misrepresentation of the current state of Iraq in the mainstream media and other misrepresentations put on by the highly sensational media. He shared some of his experiences as an embedded reporter in Iraq, his thoughts on the current state of affairs here in the US, the importance of the military and the honor our troops deserve. He joked about his employment with Fox News, made sly references to CNN and the liberal press, as well as gave candid wisdom gathered from his experiences. The talk was entertaining and enlightening. Plus I got a picture with him!