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Browsing category archives: General

This is indefinite dictatorial power.

I read Schneiers blog on a fairly regular basis.

The "The Security Threat of Unchecked Presidential Power" article is a must read. I am more than disturbed by this and some of the recent events around the patriot act and the anti-torture acts (which got passed but that the US president was not supporting).

One of the points made is that the presidents puts itself above the law.
But note that the US as a whole does not recognize jurisdiction of international treaties such as he International Criminal Court (see `American Service-members’ Protection Act of 2002′ for the motivation).

Old Concerns… the Nimbus 2000

The Nimbus

I just stumbled on an article by “The Concerned Women for America”. Its about the Nimbus 2000 a vibrating broom. The concerned women for America are concerned about the fact that their 12 year old girls put these brooms between their legs — as it happens when you are playing ‘whitch’ and fly around the room.

Toys are best marketed through the parents; I want to buy my 5 year old son a PSP… not for him off course. I want to buy him Technical LEGO (age 12+), not for him off course. I wonder how many concerned women for America actually bought the Nimbus 2000 for ‘their daughters’ after they became aware of its secret potential.

Paardenlul

Its the ladies smile that does it…

I was not sure about the spelling of ‘paardenlul’. The 1995 spelling rules change never really got etched into my brain.But fortunatelly the official spelling rules, including a list of dutch words, can be found on-line.

Note that the ‘n’ in paardenlul is silent.

Star Wreck in the Pirkinning

Gordon Lennox pointed me to “Star Wreck in the Pirkinning”. This effort deserves to be hyped!

Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning is a feature-length sci-fi parody, seven years in the making. It is the product of a core group of five Finns, and over 300 extras, assistants and supporters. The film combines world-class visual effects, a rough-and-ready sense of humour, and a passion that provide the basis for the first-ever Finnish science fiction adventure.

Its been a while

Its been a while since I last wrote here. I started a new job with NLnet Labs and it just took all my energy. Besides plog and Safari do not really work together and Ecto does not allow picture uploads so at times its just to much hassle.

Anyway things are settling a bit. I’ve finished my DNSSEC deployment project at the NCC, its in its final stages and it won’t be long before secure delegations will be offered. As for deployment taking up on a more global scale; I am not willing to take bets.

While writing this I am watching Top Gear. They are presenting the new Citroen C6 Oh-la-la…. I can’t wait until that machine hits the road and we get to see it life. Although I am not a car person but I do wonder what cars can get the ‘classic’ status of the Citroen DS, 2CV and the Volkwagen Beatle. I guess we have to wait about 20 years to have the authoritative answer.

During the IETF in Paris I did some shopping and heard some classic New Wave and Punk songs in a Bossa Nova setting. I asked the guy behind the counter. It was Nouvelle Vague. So off to FNAC I was. (FNAC is this really cool music, movie and media chain). In FNAC “Nouvelle Vague” was sitting next to a set of headphones which played “Sufjan Stevens”;

Sufjan Stevens’s Illinoise is one of the best musical purchases I made this year. Its an incredible mix of styles. His website is pretty cool too. If I’d take a bet on Sufjan’s record collection I would say it contains Stever Reich, Frank Zappa, The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, and a nice bluegrass collection.

I did listen to another but that was not as catching nor accessible as Illinoise. I’m sure I’ll buy more of this fellow.

[Post publish edit Oct 6: corrected sufjan.com link]

Today 60 Years Ago

Quotes from the poem:

AH POOK THE DESTROYER …
William S. Burroughs (Feb 5, 1914-Aug 2, 1997)

(…)

Hiroshima, 1945, August 6th, 16 minutes past 8 AM
Who really gave that order?
Answer – Control. The ugly American. The instrument of Control.

(…)

Bryon Gysin has the all purpose nuclear bedtime story.
The all purpose bedtime story, in fact.
Some trillions of years ago a sloppy, dirty giant flicked grease from his fingernails.
One of those gobs of grease is our universe on its way to the floor.
Splat

Kurz and Sin City

Yesterday I went to see Miller’s and Rodriguez’ Sin City.

I like graphic novels in general and I like Miller’s rough and morbid edge. I have a few comic books from his hand, notably the Batman Returns series and "Hardboiled". Sin City is a comic book on celuloid. As a movie it doesn’t really stick out but if one takes ones interest in comic books into the theatre you do have a very enjoyable couple of hours.

What struck me most in the movie was the scene where Marv is about to rip the head off Cardinal Roark. That little dialogue brought a deja vu of one of the final scenes of Apocalypse now where Colonel Kurz mumbles away in darkness.

If they ever are going to do a remake (and I am not suggesting that "they" should") of Apocalypse the casting of Kurz is easy; Rutger Hauer.