June 02, 2004
Free _is_ better
superultra on slashdot has a very nice summary of why I'll be switching to WordPress:
I'm not a cheapskate. I believe in paying for good software.
But I won't pay for Movable Type. Here's why.
On SixApart's behalf, they made several big mistakes in launching their pricing structure. Since they announced MT3 and that they were going to charge for it, they also promised a free non-crippled version of MT3. Blogging is generally a communual experience. I blog casually, and I have a couple of friends who write posts on my blog from time to time, and a wife who keeps her own blog. The free version of MT3 is crippled, because it limits the users and number of blogs. Limiting user base is bad thing to do when blogging is still relatively new.
Secondly, the pricing structure is much higher than what people anticipated. Those in the beta test for MT3 had absolutely no idea that it was going to cost this much, and many who did participate have publically stated they wouldn't have if they did know. Why the hostility
Two reasons. It's the community that made MT what it is now. There's not really that much new functionality in MT3 that makes it worth paying $100 for (the $70 is a temporary discount remember). Many of the features that made MT2x worth using were coded by non-SixApart people. Users - with no profit motive whatsoever - coded hundreds of MT plugins that exceeded the coding ability of SixApart. Others wrote far more detailed tutorials and instructions than SixApart provided for their own software. So, SixApart is compensating them by running a contest for the best plugin That's insulting, honestly.
Secondly, there are blogging apps that do as good a job as MT3, if not better. And, they're [textpattern.com] free [wordpress.org]. Others have similar pricing structures as MT3 but do more. So, why MT3 And let's get this straight: using something for free isn't necessarily being a cheapass. If maintaining my blogs as they are will cost me upwards $150, why shouldn't I migrate to a free solution Imagine if Windows had the same stability and security as Linux, but cost the same as it does now for a company to run. Why wouldn't a company move to Linux Are companies being the durgatory form of cheapskates by moving to a lower priced product No. It's common market sense, and because of its love for linux and open source, slashdot should be aware of this better than anyone. Some MT users probably are cheapass, and will warez the MT software if they can or do whatever they can to avoid paying.
But a larger portion are paying for accounts on livejournal and blogger. They are paying for internet access and webhosting. They're not cheapskates. Instead, like me, they just don't want to pay $150-200 for what is basically a hobby, and a hobby that can continue for free if we switch software. Why should we support a company that doesn't announce its pricing structure beforehand, and keeps it as close to their chest as possible Why did SixApart do that Why didn't they announce it before time Because they knew people would be pissed. This reaction is no surprise to anyone.
June 01, 2004
The Fastest Defeat In Chess
The big name for us in the world of chess is Gibaud, a French chess
master.
In Paris during 1924 he was beaten after only four moves by a
Monsieur Lazard. Happily for posterity, the moves are recorded and so
chess enthusiasts may reconstruct this magnificent collapse in the comfort
of their own homes.
Lazard was black and Gibaud white:
1: P-Q4, Kt-KB3
2: Kt-Q2, P-K4
3: PxP, Kt-Kt5
4: P-K6, Kt-K6
White then resigns on realizing that a fifth move would involve
either a Q-KR5 check or the loss of his queen.
-- Stephen Pile, "The Book of Heroic Failures"
Power Plant Shut - to Tune Piano
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE via Planet Ark via Fark.com reports:
OSLO - One of the Nordic region's biggest power stations shut Friday to let an expert tune a grand piano for a concert undisturbed by the hum of huge hydroelectric generators.
"When you put a big piano in there, you also need to tune it, and that is very difficult if the machines are running," said Tron Engebrethsen, senior vice president at Norwegian power company Statkraft.
The generators will be switched back on after Friday evening's concert which is being staged in an enormous underground hall at the 1,120-megawatt Sima power plant.
The hall, built in a rock cavern inside a mountain in the scenic Hardanger fjord in western Norway, is renowned for its acoustics.
Engebrethsen said a concert was held at the plant about once a year, but it was the first time they had shut down production to tune a piano.
The program includes music from Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" and Stravinsky's "Agon."
The generators, which will be down for nine hours, will be switched back on at 2200 local time.
NORWAY: May 31, 2004
Police: Flirting Leads To Man's Death
MIAMI -- Police say a man was shot to death while driving on Interstate 395, shortly after flirting with a car full of girls.
Police said Malcolm Marshall was in the back seat of a car, and was flirting with several girls in another car driving on I-395 toward the beach around 1 a.m. Monday.
Miami police spokesman Delrish Moss said another vehicle, a rented Chevrolet Tahoe pulled along side Marshall's car, and Willie James Lumsdon, 37, who was in the back seat of the Tahoe, began mocking Marshall.
When the cars exited the interstate, police said Lumsdon pulled out a gun and fired at the car Marshall was riding in. Investigators said a shot went through the back window of Marshall's car, striking him in the head.
The driver said he tried to get Marshall to a hospital, but got lost, and called 911, but Marshall was already dead, police said.
Lumsdon, of Pompano Beach, is charged him with first-degree murder. Officers said he confessed to killing Marshall.
Copyright 2004 by Local10.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Fire On The Seattle Monorail
Witnesses said a large grinding sound was followed by an explosion and flames on the blue train; dozens of passengers were evacuated and eight were taken to the hospital.
SEATTLE - Fire struck one of Seattle's monorail trains outside the Experience Music Project at the Seattle Center Monday afternoon.
Firefighters used ladders to evacuate dozens of passengers from the "Blue Train," one of two trains in the monorail system.
About 40 people were evaluated at the scene for respiratory problems from the smoke, Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman Helen Fitzgerald said.
Nine people, including a firefighter who injured a knee, were taken to Harborview Medical Center, but none of the injuries was considered serious, and none appeared to be burns, she said.
Witnesses reported a metallic grinding for about 3-5 seconds as the train exited the tunnel through the EMP and then a loud explosion. They said smoke then started pouring out from beneath the train. People on board the train started moving to the front of the train and that's when the flames broke out.
People tried to get close to the ground and away from the flames. A short time later, monorail officials pulled up the second monorail train so people could evacuate to the red train. But one witness says the wind was blowing the smoke into the red train, so they abandoned that idea.
The fire department arrived a short time later and brought the fire under control. They then began evacuating passengers from the red and blue trains via ladder trucks.
Fire officials said the fire was brought under control Monday evening. Streets were closed in the area.
About 150 people were on the train at the time of the fire. Fitzgerald says the cause was caused by a short in the electrical wiring to the motor.
The fire occurred as thousands of people gathered at the Seattle Center for the annual Folklife Festival on the holiday weekend.
The Experience Music Project is a rock 'n' roll museum known for its unusual design as well as its collection of music artifacts.
The monorail, which includes both the "Blue Train" and a "Red Train," runs through the museum on its pathway between the Seattle Center and downtown Seattle.
Video from our photographers shows extensive damage to the blue monorail, with part of the floor and roof melted at part of one section.
Both trains will be out of service for an undetermined amount of time.
The monorail was originally built for the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle.
There have been several incidents over the years when the fire department's high-angle rescue team has been called out to remove passengers when a train broke down.
Brazil prison riot leaves at least 34 dead
The Associated Press (via MSNBC/Google News) reports:
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Police entering a prison after a three-day rebellion found the bodies of at least 34 inmates, some of them mutilated, police said Tuesday.
Police were still securing the Benfica detention center and feared they could find more bodies, said Raphael Martins, a Rio police spokesman.
At least 14 of the 900 inmates escaped and three were recaptured.
The revolt started Saturday and ended Monday night after police gave in to a demand by inmates to separate prisoners belonging to different gangs. A 42-year-old guard who was held hostage was later shot dead by inmates Sunday as he tried to escape the prison in the northern Rio district of Leopoldina.
Relatives of inmates camped outside the detention center claimed the guard had been killed by police, who mistook him for a fleeing prisoner.
Rio state legislator Geraldo Moreira said he counted 28 bodies.
“I saw severed heads. I saw body parts thrown on the ground and in the garbage,” Moreira told the Jovem Pan radio station. “It turned my stomach and, after a while, I had to walk out.”
The Rio revolt came slightly more than a month after prisoners at an overcrowded prison in the Amazon state of Rondonia killed 14 fellow prisoners.
The Rio prison uprising began when detainees attempting to escape broke through the main gate of the detention center. When police intervened, prisoners attacked officers, grabbed their guns and took 26 guards and staffers hostage.
Rebellions and jailbreaks are common in Brazilian prisons, which are often criticized by human rights groups for overcrowding and abuses.
In Sao Paulo, 250 miles south of Rio de Janeiro, six heavily armed men marched into a detention center Monday and ordered the five guards to release the center’s 188 prisoners, police said in a statement.
Police said 145 prisoners escaped, but 43 chose to remain at the center. Police later recaptured 67 of the escapees.
© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
An Eye for an Eye
A village jury in Pakistan ordered a 16-year old girl and her sister-in-law to be raped. The decision was made as restitution after the daughter of the rapist allegedly had relations with the brother of the girl. Police say the rapist had tried to rape the girl before but been prevented, so he sent his daughter to the family's home while the brother was there, then he called the other villagers and accused the boy of having an affair with his daughter. A village meeting was then called and the girls were ordered to be raped. The man then allegedly took them to an outhouse and raped them.
Pak Panchayat orders rape of two village women
Islamabad May 07, 2004 3:20:29 PM IST
In a bizzare developement, a local jury (Panchayat) in Pakistan's Punjab Province recently ordered the rape of two village women, both related to each other by marriage, as retribution for the alleged illicit relations of a landlord's daughter with the brother of one of the girls.
The incident, which took place in Multan's Dinga Kabirwala village on April 30, has sent shock waves across the country and through the ruling political establishment.
Even Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has taken strong exception to it, saying that such incidents contravene the basic social tenets of Islam.
Musharraf has directed the federal Interior Minister, Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat, the Punjab Governor and its Chief Minister Chaudhary Pervez Elahi to order an investigation into the incident and to present the report to him.
"When a proper legal system exists in the country then who allows such decisions to prosper that not only destroyed the life of two girls, but has ruined an entire family," the Daily Times and Online News quoted Musharraf as saying about the rape of the two women in Dinga Kabirwala village on the orders of a local jury.
According to the local dailies, a landlord with full knowledge and cognizance of the local jury raped a young girl and her sister-in-law on April 30 in Basti Danga Naich, a suburb of Kabirwala.
The order to rape the girls was given after the brother of one them was accused of having illicit relations with the rapist's daughter.
Muhammad Saeed of Kabeerwala police station told Daily Times a case had been registered against the alleged rapist and members of the jury. One of the accused has been arrested and the other five are at large.
Police said Ghaffar Jeer and Tajamal Naich of Basti Danga Naich had tried to rape Mumtaz, 16, on previous occasions and been told off by villagers.
On April 30, Ghaffar allegedly sent his daughter Shahina, alias Sanee, to Mumtaz's house while her brother Muhammad Riaz was inside. Ghaffar reportedly then locked the main door of the house and called the other villagers around, accusing Riaz of having an affair with Shahina.
Ghaffar then arranged for a panchayat of 50 people in his house. The jury, headed by Haji Muhammad Sultan, Haji Afzal Jeer and Ahmad Nawaz called Mumtaz and Riaz's sister-in-law Mudasan and ordered Ghaffar to rape them. Ghaffar allegedly took them to an outhouse and raped them.
Kabeerwala police registered a case against Ghaffar Jeer, Zahoor Jeer, Bashir, Haji Tajamal, Amir Nawaz and Haji Sultan on the complaint of Mumtaz's father Muhammad Nawaz.
Punjab Chief Secretary Kamran Rasool has directed Provincial Police Chief Saadatullah Khan to investigate the case.
Meanwhile, a human rights committee led by lawyer Sikandar Javed has visited the village and assured free legal aid to the victims.
Mumtaz told reporters that Ghaffar Jeer and Tajammul Naich had tried to assault her many times. She denied her brother Riaz had gone to Shaheena's house to meet her and alleged that Shaheena herself had come to meet Riaz when he returned from Karachi.
She said that Ghaffar had wrongly accused her brother of assaulting Shaheena. She said that her family was also threatened that they would be forced out of the village if they reported the incident to the police. (ANI)
A Really Open Election
CLIVE THOMPSON, The New York Times, writes:
This fall, as many as 20 percent of American voters will be able to cast their ballots on A.T.M.-style electronic voting machines. But to put it mildly, these machines -- where you simply touch a screen and a computer registers your vote -- have not inspired much confidence lately. North Carolina officials recently learned that a software glitch destroyed 436 e-ballots in early voting for the 2002 general election. In a Florida state election this past January, 134 votes apparently weren't recorded -- and this was in a race decided by a margin of only 12 votes. Since most of the machines don't leave any paper trail, there's no way to determine what actually happened. Most alarmingly, perhaps, California's secretary of state recently charged that Diebold -- the industry leader -- had installed uncertified voting machines and then misled state officials about it.
Electronic voting has much to offer, but will we ever be able to trust these buggy machines Yes, we will -- but only if we adopt the techniques of the ''open source'' geeks.
One reason it's difficult to trust the voting software of companies like Diebold is that the source code remains a trade secret. A few federally approved software experts are allowed to examine the code and verify that it works as intended, and in some cases, states are allowed to keep a copy in escrow. But the public has no access, and this is troublesome. When the Diebold source code was accidentally posted online last year, a computer-science professor looked at it and found it was dangerously hackable. Diebold may have fixed its bugs, but since the firm won't share the code publicly, there's no way of knowing. Just trust us, the company says.
But is the counting of votes -- a fundamental of democracy -- something you want to take on faith No, this problem requires a more definitive solution: ending the secrecy around the machines.
First off, the government should ditch the private-sector software makers. Then it should hire a crack team of programmers to write new code. Then -- and this is the crucial part -- it should put the source code online publicly, where anyone can critique or debug it. This honors the genius of the open-source movement. If you show something to a large enough group of critics, they'll notice (and find a way to remove) almost any possible flaw. If tens of thousands of programmers are scrutinizing the country's voting software, it's highly unlikely a serious bug will go uncaught. The government's programming team would then take the recommendations, incorporate them into an improved code and put that online, too. This is how the famous programmer Linus Torvalds developed his Linux operating system, and that's precisely why it's so rock solid -- while Microsoft's secretly developed operating systems, Linux proponents say, crash far more often and are easier to hack. Already, Australians have used the open-source strategy to build voting software for a state election, and it ran like a well-oiled Chevy. A group of civic-minded programmers known as the Open Voting Consortium has written its own open-source code.
But if our code were open, wouldn't cyberterrorists or other outlaws be able to locate flaws and possibly rig an election Well, theoretically -- except that it's highly unlikely that they could spot an error that escaped thousands and thousands of scrutineers. Indeed, it may be far easier to infiltrate a private-sector company and tamper with its software. Diebold, after all, kept quiet about the bugs it found in its programs -- including one that subtracted more than 16,000 votes from Al Gore in a single Florida country during the initial vote counting in the 2000 election. Open-source enthusiasts, by contrast, are precisely the sort of people you'd like to see inspecting the voting code; they're often libertarian freaks, nuttily suspicious of centralized power, and they'd scream to the high heavens if they found anything wrong.
From the classification of documents to the refusal to name detainees, the Bush administration's actions show a high regard for secrecy. In essence, it's hiding its code, too. Inside such closed systems, nasty things can happen, as we're learning to our chagrin. Perhaps a blast of open-source candor is exactly what America needs right now.