This make me sooooo mad. A programmer who gave away his software for controlling model trains is being sued by KAM for $203,000 for allegedly infringing on their intellectual property. Never mind that they didn’t take a patent on similar software until AFTER this programmer had release his code, or that there are several other free software packages that do similar tasks. — Are our IP laws really THIS screwed up?

From the article: “Finally, in January of this year, Jacobsen responded by pointing out that he didn’t believe the KAM patent would withstand a challenge in court, noting that there was plenty of prior art, including his allegedly infringing software, which was available before KAM filed their patent application. He also pointed out that KAM’s lawyers must have known this all along. In February, KAM’s lawyers responded by claiming that they know of no invalidating prior art, and that they still viewed Jacobsen’s work as infringing on their patent rights.”

My favorite myth is the one that has some system administrators forcing their users to change passwords ever month or so — In my experience that only accomplishes three things: 1) It upsets the users, 2) It forces users to use HORRIBLY weak passwords so they can remember them –or- it forces users to WRITE DOWN their password, and 3) It greatly increases the number of times an administrator has to reset a password.

From the article: “In the practice of security we have accumulated a number of “rules of thumb” that many people accept without careful consideration. Some of these get included in policies, and thus may get propagated to environments they were not meant to address. It is also the case that as technology changes, the underlying (and unstated) assumptions underlying these bits of conventional wisdom also change. The result is a stale policy that may no longer be effective…or possibly even dangerous. Policies requiring regular password changes (e.g., monthly) are an example of exactly this form of infosec folk wisdom.”

Google recently changed their server farms from the Intel to the AMD platform. I’ve been told by one of my techie friends at Google that the power savings are significant — to the point where the upgrades will pay for themselves in mere months from the power savings alone — to say nothing about the boost in processing power. Knowing this, it’s no wonder that AMD is pushing “Green Computing” as the next frontier… and even if it is a marketing angle, they may just be right.

From the article: “As an independent, non-profit association, The Green Grid is open to any and all IT industry professionals with an interest in addressing global energy consumption issues, particularly datacenter managers and IT operations executives. Founding membership is also open to companies such as ISVs, IHVs, systems integrators and VARs, analyst firms, utility companies and anyone else concerned about energy efficiency issues in the enterprise.”

This is an interesting article that shows the recent emphasis being placed on the original charism of the various religious orders. While some of the brothers might take this as a slap in the face to those who are passionate about issues of social justice, I believe that it is really just a call — a plea really — from a Church that is looking to its traditional “heavy hitters” to give move social/intellectual relevance to a Church that is gearing up to fight relativism. In other words, “you can’t debate the merits of truth if you don’t speak the language and have the currency of the audience.

From the article: “Invoking the Jesuits’ special vow to fulfill missions assigned by the pope, Pope Benedict XVI asked the Society of Jesus to concentrate on teaching and research in theology and philosophy, dialogue with modern culture and the Christian education of future generations.”

This is TOO cool. I was all for Boeing’s “Economy over Size” approach that they took with their Dreamliner 787, but this aircraft looks SLICK. More than that, it’s an entirely new airframe for passenger jets, paving the way for a new generation of aircraft that take advantage of the blended wing concept.

From the article: “Boeing is preparing a 1000 passenger jet that could reshape the Air travel industry for the next 100 years. The radical Blended Wing design has been developed by Boeing in cooperation with the NASA Langley Research Center. The mammoth plane will have a wing span of 265 feet compared to the 747’s 211 feet, and is designed to fit within the newly created terminals used for the 555 seat Airbus A380, which is 262 feet wide. The new 797 is in direct response to the Airbus A380 which has racked up159 orders, but has not yet flown any passengers.”

This is actually quite exciting. Cardinal Martini is one of the most influential Cardinals in the Church and he is not known for off-the-cuff, inflammatory remarks. The fact that he is willing to at least MENTION an alternative view of a long-controversial stance on sex is a hopeful sign for the faithful.

From the article: “Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini said that in couples where one had HIV/Aids, which could pass to the partner, the use of condoms was “a lesser evil”.

The Vatican says condoms should never be used, even to stop Aids spreading from one married partner to another.”

From the article: “NEW YORK — The internet is supposed to be limitless — a boundary-free exchange of digital information and profit. So how can it be running out of real estate? The answer, according to information technology experts, lies in cyberspace’s ever-growing popularity. In theory, each new user who wants to log on needs a new address, as does each new internet-enabled gadget, like smartphones that can access the web. Routers, which allow multiple users and devices to use a single address, are helping stave off the problem for now, but it’s only a stopgap measure.”

This is old news. IPv6 is NOT a new technology and the need to new IP addresses is really on shaky ground. There are actually very few computers that NEED a real IP. Most of us are fine, and safer by the way, sitting behind a NAT firewall. Though we may EVENTUALLY want IPv6 when telephony and handheld devices all have their own real IP address, about the only proponents of IPv6 in the short term are hardware companies looking to add another product cycle.

From the article: “Congress is pushing a law that would abandon Network Neutrality, the Internet’s First Amendment. Network neutrality prevents companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast from deciding which Web sites work the best — based on who pays them the most.”

Your local library shouldn’t have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to have its Web site open quickly on your computer.

More after the Jump »

From the article: “In her foreword to the 2005 report on the result of the audits, which was released in late March, Patricia O’Donnell Ewers, the National Review Board chairwoman, called for “strong fraternal correction” of Lincoln Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz and Melkite Archbishop Cyrille Bustros over their refusal to participate.

Bishop Bruskewitz released a sharply worded response March 31.

“The Diocese of Lincoln has nothing to be corrected for, since the Diocese of Lincoln is and has always been in full compliance with all laws of the Catholic Church and with all civil laws,” Bishop Bruskewitz said in a statement. “Furthermore, Ewers and her board have no authority in the Catholic Church, and the Diocese of Lincoln does not recognize them as having any significance.”

According to Church law, the Bishop absolutely does not have any responsibility whatsoever to listen to the Review Board or even the U.S. Bishops’ Conference. However, that attitude is going to draw ire and contempt from a contemporary Church that is still stinging from that very same isolationist, some might say arrogant, worldview of certain Bishops. If we, as a Church, are to regain the confidence of our faithful — ALL OUR FAITHFUL — we need to be sensitive to oversight and lay collaboration in the decisions that most affect the Church Millitant.

This is a short but interesting blurb on the Tiered Internet debate that is currently raging — If you’ve wondered why the Telcos are getting so far with their “we OWN the Internet (even though the US Public paid for it’s research and deployment) and we’ll do whatever we please” attitude, take a look at these numbers…

• Verizon Communications Inc. $81,870,000
• SBC Communications Inc. $58,035,037
• AT&T Corp. $53,349,499
• Sprint Corp. $47,276,585
• BellSouth Corp. $33,732,827
• Qwest Communications International Inc. $24,523,480

That’s not how much each company makes… that’s how much each Telco has given to congress over the course of 8 years. — Things that make you go…. hmmmmmmmm…

Those who believe that the persecution of the Catholic church is behind us need to open their eyes and take a look at what is happening in the world. A Catholic center in India is under fire by Hindu radicals while bibles are being burned in a suspicious church firein Pakistan. Last week I posted a story about a Catholic priest who wasdeported for celebrating massin Saudi Arabia.

From the article: “Religious persecution got a fair amount of press during the heyday of communism. There was never any doubt in people’s minds that where communism flourished, faithful Christians suffered.”

I’ll admit that I was one of the Catholic Faithful who cringed when I heard the name “Joseph” announced from the balcony overlooking the plaza. Cardinal Ratzinger had not endeared himself to my community and so I was worried about where the Church was heading. Yet, a year after, Benedict has proven to be something completely other than what I had envisioned. — Prayerful, Patient, Pastoral — There is all sorts of hope blooming for this Papacy.

From the article: “Benedict is a supple thinker, and unpacking his approach on any given question requires nuance. Because his points of departure are the 2,000-year tradition of the church, coupled with his own judgments about the character of people under consideration, rather than the ideological categories of secular politics, his decisions will sometimes strike the outside world as surprising and out of character.”

It was only a matter of time — With Carbon Fibre popping up in everything from Airplane parts to car hoods, it was inevitable that some manufacturer would use the ultra-tough material to make a super-durable laptop. That allure of a rugged and yet lightweight product drew thousands of consumers to Sony’s SZ 160 series of notebook. The premium version, marketed as including a carbon fibre shell, sold for a hefty $500-800 more than it’s “non-premium” counterparts. The problem is that, contrary to the advertising, the notebook itself does not contain any carbon fibre…. whatsoever.

From the article: “The claim is Sony advertises notebooks with carbon fibre, and ship notebooks that appear to be carbon coloured. Sometimes. Tech support appears equally clueless, sometimes offering refunds, other times denying the problem. If you take a look at the pictures in the first thread, you can clearly see the differences between the case types.”

A few years ago a small group of my Jesuit brothers visited Beijing and were on an official guided tour of the city. One of the brothers asked about Tiananmen Square and the tour guide nervously looked around before avoiding the question entirely. — If anybody thinks censorship isn’t bad in China, consider this: Four Honor students at one of Beijing’s top universities were shown a picture of the “Tank Man” and they were not able to identify where it came from. — This site is a MUST SEE.

From the article: “One of the less sanitary aspects of life in Jesus’ day has come into play in the debate over who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls, how they lived and how they died.”

This is actually a fascinating article about how archeologists have used soil samples to find new evidence about the keepers of the scrolls. — Makes me think about what MY poop will tell future generations.

From the article: “One New York county has solved the “problem” of unauthorized access to unsecured wireless networks by passing a new law. Businesses operating in Westchester County will soon need to turn on security settings for their WiFi networks if they are used to access financial information for their customers. Calling it the first law of its kind, Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano said the new law would cut down on identity theft while allowing businesses to avoid the “public relations disasters” that accompany data breaches. He’s right about the second part, anyway. When CardSystems was hacked after deciding to contravene its agreement with Visa and keep names and credit card numbers used in transactions it processed, the result was an avalanche of bad press along with a lot of lost business.”

While I appreciate the interest in security, I think this is just another case of lawmakers who need to talk to some engineers before they make laws governing tech. The truth of the matter is that there have been VERY FEW cases of identity theft because of open access points. ID theft is much more likely to take place because of unshredded documents, careless employees and lost laptops than it is to happen because of wireless hacker.

When I first heard about this show I thought it was a joke. After reading the interview with the producer however, I realize that the Network’s choice of “God or Girl” is just a bonehead exec’s sell on what could be a pretty decent documentary.From the article: “Darryl Silver is a top reality show producer. With his latest endeavor, he turned his cameras from “Bound for Glory,” “The Apprentice” and “Survivor” to four young men discerning a vocation to the priesthood. The result is A&E’s “God or the Girl,” a five-part series which makes its premiere on Easter Sunday, April 16, 2006

I agree with most of what Cardinal Arinze is presenting — Mass needs to become a more reverent place of worship — Sometimes music can be an interruption and a distraction rather than an aid in prayer — all to often we sacrifice tradition for secular themed influences. However, I find some of the specific points he mentions, genuflection and the position of the tabernacle, to be not readily evidenced by my own experience in a parish. True reverence comes not from the hour a week we spend in mass, but from the rest of the week in which the mass spends within us.

From the article: “During a talk in Westminster Cathedral April 1, Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze called on priests to restore tabernacles to central positions in churches and for Catholics to rediscover the tradition of reverent genuflection in the presence of the Eucharist.”

About 15 years ago my father bought a $1100 Bose Accoustimass Speaker Setup to replace the $90 setup that I had purchased from the back of a tech magazine. We had hear all the hype and were excited by the prospect of having a “theatre quality” surround sound system in the house, but after a week of listening to the Bose we returned it in favor of my $90 special. Fast Forward 15 years — I now live in a Jesuit community in which some of our members believed the hype and bought a $1100 Bose surround system… these don’t sound any better and I’m left wondering why Bose is still selling outrageously overpriced gear.

From the article: “Paul Harvey , longtime Bose pitchman is heard by millions of listeners each day, many of who regard his word as infallible. Do I believe Mr. Harvey is doing his listeners a disservice by hawking Bose products? Of course not, the show needs advertisers and the product fills the needs of many of Harvey’s listeners just fine. But again I make the assertion that sometimes good or valuable is in the eye of the beholder and what’s adequate for one consumer falls very short of the mark for others.”

From the article: “But there was a gravely disturbing side to that otherwise scientifically significant meeting, for I watched in amazement as a few hundred members of the Texas Academy of Science rose to their feet and gave a standing ovation to a speech that enthusiastically advocated the elimination of 90 percent of Earth’s population by airborne Ebola. The speech was given by Dr. Eric R. Pianka (Fig. 1), the University of Texas evolutionary ecologist and lizard expert who the Academy named the 2006 Distinguished Texas Scientist. “

Let’s be clear… this guy is an EcoNut — He reminds me of that “grizzly man” character who managed to posthumously land a Discovery Channel special a few months back. They’re all high on the “let’s commune with nature and be one with a stable mother earth” but they don’t realize (as the Grizzly Man didn’t) that mother nature is ready to rip your throat out and eat your entrails.