slow day overall

slow to read, slow to post

and another slow day begins. You would think that with all I have to do myself (work on my patent, prepare taxes for the company created to commercialize my patent, rewrite the business plan, study for yet another certification, etc...) that i would somehow not have slow days.

So the mid east is following all the latest fads these days. Egypt has declared 'open' elections, a new thing for them. In the more intense situation in Israel has left people asking if no deaths equals cease fire.

in other news:

The NYTimes is running a lovely little article discussing the problems with China and patent infringement. In another magazine, Inc to be specific, there is an article related in topic about how Lionel is playing dirty and stealing IP from competitors. The story, entitled 'Train Wreck' reads like one. The common practice in Asia of taking company secrets with you when you switch companies paved the way for Lionel to buy secret designs used by a major competitor. A law suit was filed and won, and resulted in the person who stole the information being jailed for 2 months. Another law suit was filed in the US against Lionel directly. Again the ruling was in favor of the wronged party. Rathe than pay up, Lionel declared bankruptcy and is continuing business as usual under that protection, including the use of the stolen designs! So the happy go lucky approach to IP and patents that is common in much of Asia and especially China is directly affecting business here in America, causing no end of trouble.

Moving along to yet another illegal activity, counterfeiting ID for the purpose of getting a beer! It seems that In the ID Wars, the Fakes Gain. Specifically the fact that with computers, hard to produce Identifications are easy to re-produce. This article also discusses the upcoming changes to ID, that they will require standardized format, and possibly rfid or electronic chips. All of this will not deter the fakers or the college students buying them. The bigger problem is that this innocent form of illegal stupidity (getting into bars underage) is no dangerously close to a not so innocent form of illegal stupidity (supplying ne'er-do-wells with valid looking ID for the purpose of terror) and that means stiffer penalties and harder crack down. SPiraling into more and more of a 1984 police state like existence. As I mentioned when I linked to the article on the fellow who refuses to show ID to get on a plane, ID, especially photo ID, is really rather pointless as a security measure. Obtaining the real deal is not hard, and obtaining a fake is even easier. At best it says "I am who I say I am" it says nothing about whether or not I can be trusted. That makes it useless against someone who does not expect to make more than one attempt (suicide bomber/shooter/driver/attacker of whatever sort). I promise, the guys who need it for more than one use (the masterminds) are either using good fakes or real ID for created identities. The CIA has a term for picture ID, they call it a 72 hour identification. It will stand up to a quick check (this is an ID, it has data on its strip, and it sets off no flags or alarms) but a concerted look into the history of this person/identity will set off lots of alarms as the person does not exist. that concerted look used to take 72 hours, now its probably down to 24. Either way its more than enough time to rent a u-haul, check into a hotel room, board a plane, or whatever needs to be done. By the time anyone notices that either A)This is a fake identity or B)This person looks like but is not in fact the person on the ID the deed will be done. PIcture ID is useless for security. Use it to check people taking tests, use it in low security spaces, use it when you know that X people need to be here and all X have been thoroughly checked and now I need to make certain that all X are here and are themselves. None of those situations include air or rail travel.

enough on that, lets move on.

I once thought the world bank was a serious attempt to do right that was being mismanaged. Now I know its not a a serious anything.

BIRD FLU TIME:

and the its keep on rolling.
A Nurse in Vietnam has contracted H5N1 strain of flue, otherwise known as bird flu. There is also a story on it over at chinadaily take your pick as news source.

ENVIRONMENT:
The EPA has a new head. Wasn't it just yesterday that Christine Todd Whitman was being replaced for not doing the bidding of the all powerful energy lobby? What happened to fellow who replaced her, the one that was supposed to strike a balance between industry and environment? I could go look it up but I don't care enough.

Bush has been collecting criticism again. leave it to the Brits to compare President Bush to Nero. I am not certain if thats really a criticism though.... I mean Nero was an accomplished actor, musician, orator..... debaucher.... but anyway, some people (The Royal society, the oldest existing fraternity of scientists and a bunch of generally brilliant people) are claiming that Bush's lack of movement on the issue of global warming is tantamount to 'fiddling while the world burns'.... hey wasn't there a great song by midnight oil to the same general tune?

And humans can be proud, We are outdoing Mother Nature

The Philstar (filipino publication) is running an article looking at population and environment and how they affect each other which is a rather nice more holistic approach, one that is surprisingly not obvious to most of the world.

Amazingly NASA has not yet replaced Space with Stupidity in its name. It seems they put instruments for one rover into the other and vice versa. Which kinda makes me wonder if a labeler is too high tech for nasa to use correctly. I used to defend NASA, say such things as 'yes they did that wrong but look at how many amazing things they have done right' but the more I learn about NASA in the post foam shielding debacle, the more I realize they have not been good... they have been lucky. Time to change that.

An article on Cold fusion and recent advances in the field involving the idea of producing it using collapsing bubbles I wonder if there is anything to it this time.

New battery technology on the horizon

This is frightining. Some company has decided to start selling an in home android. From the pics it looks like a mannequin standing in different poses. They claim it will NOT be able to have intercourse but something tells me they will figure out that it might become a selling point. the things they claim it CAN do are pretty out there. Set the table, do the dishes, walk bipedal, understand spoken english commands, do the laundry, re-order food supplies.... its a bit much but if its for real......

Some company in Tokyo is selling an assistive (it is so a word) suit that will allow frail people to walk, climb stairs, sit and get up again on their own, all without any real effort. Two things, one is that the US army has been working on this for years which either says something about the armies ability to get things done or this companies ability to overcome technical obstacles. The other is, can I use one? I don't want to exert any effort ever again.

Ever wanted to own the whole world? Well its for sale in Dubai. And check out the time lapse photography. Its freaky.

Back to robots: The days of the terminator are coming and we have takent he first steps to bring them to fruition. (terminator, matrix, galactica.... whatever)

ALARM CLOCK OF THE FUTURE...TODAY!