Behind the recent bad news lurks a much deeper concern: The world economy is now being driven by a vast, secretive web of investments that might be out of anyone's control.

Ugh, depressing.

The black box economy - The Boston Globe

So, I typically don't do this kind of thing... by which I mean use this site for essentially personal stuff, but i have a feeling any responses might be useful to other people too, given the level of expertise of folks on this site.

My question is this : Is there an inexpensive commercial router/gateway that isn't a piece of shit?

I ask because I've stumbled on a need for a wired network again, after years of being all wireless (e.g. cable modem directly into AirPort Express). I wish to have wired and wireless networks that coexist in the same address space, don't give me any shit, and aren't enormous security holes.

In days past I'd be knee deep in PC hardware and a BSD install, but I'm so over all that fucking work, so requiring a minimum of maintenance is key.

Anyhow, thoughts? Does such a device even exist?

A young girl rocks out on a church organ to the tune of Carry on My Wayward Son by Kansas. Turn it sideways to activate Super Power!

So awesome!

Amazing Young Organ Player Rocks Out�Video

Though it is a bill that is presented every other year in the GA congress, the current form of the Sunday alcoholic sales bill is expected to gain the most ground ever, but still fail. This bill, along with some other previous renditions basically allows a county and/or city to let the citizens decide on afternoon Sunday sales with a vote. The most recent action is that the bill got recommitted in to the Senate 2 weeks ago, but this was after almost a full year of nothingness.

There are some big name supporters behind this bill, including a laundry list of senators and reps. Two of the biggest names are Kroger and Publix. All state breweries and wineries support the bill, of course. The convenient store chains support it, though some smaller package stores are iffy about having to produce a Sunday payroll.

There are plenty of groups highly against the freedom to allow citizens to put the issue to a vote. Already infuriated by the law changes in the last few years allowing home delivery and higher alcohol content in fermented beverages, various religious and socially conservative groups are being vocal.

The bill has a chance of reaching the governor's office. But it is expected that the governors morals and values will prevent him from allowing counties and cities to chose for themselves in a democratic fashion. In an election year dominated by national economic, war, and presidential issues, and with local water and housing issues, this bill and it's subsequent repression of democracy will be overlooked.

[ Of course, I think banning alcohol sales on sunday is an absurd load of shite, but my second biggest gripe about the ban as it stands is that it's so hypocritical. I can drink a glass of wine with my dinner out, but not go buy a bottle for my dinner in. That's fucking retarded. It's a compromise that people who genuinely believe in this ban shouldn't have tolerated. 100% stupid. -k]

Sunday Alcoholic Beverages in Georgia

Nose, face, spite.

Changes reportedly made last night in the stimulus package would reduce its effectiveness as stimulus. Although the package includes a reasonably designed tax rebate, the two most targeted and economically effective measures under consideration — a temporary extension of unemployment benefits and a temporary boost in food stamp benefits — were zeroed out, apparently at the insistence of House Republican leaders.

The two respected institutions that have rated stimulus options in recent days — the Congressional Budget Office and Moody’s Economy.com — both give their two highest ratings for effectiveness as stimulus to the two measures that were dropped.

what a bunch of assclowns.

Reported Stimulus Package Would Provide Little Immediate Boost Due to Removal of Most Effective Provisions

Scientists in Maryland today said they had built from scratch an entire microbial chromosome, a loop of synthetic DNA carrying all the instructions that a simple cell needs to live and reproduce.

The feat marks the first time that anyone has made such a large strand of hereditary material from off-the-shelf chemical ingredients. Previous efforts had yielded DNA strands less than one-twentieth the size, and those pieces lacked many of the key biological programs that tell a cell how to stay alive.

On the basis of earlier experiments, the researchers believe the new, full-length loop would spontaneously "boot up" inside a cell, just as a downloaded operating system can awaken a computer -- a potentially historic event that would amount to the creation of the first truly artificial life form.

Synthetic superbugs, here we come! Everyone got their space suits ready?

Md. Scientists Create Full Chromosome of Synthetic DNA - washingtonpost.com

Stefanie wrote:
I've been voting since I turned 18, but not once have I voted for a Democrat. As you mentioned, it's not just because there's a "(D)" beside a Democratic candidate's name, but because I know the party itself, and I've heard what a particular candidate from that party has to say and/or seen what he's done in the past, and concluded that there are simply too many issues on which I disagree with him (and often his party's platform, as well).

I'm confused, are you merely saying that the (D) is a quick indicator that you will *likely* not support the candidate, once you've eventually done the research to see what they're all about? I'm not really being snarky, because frankly I do this same in the other direction sometimes. Being affiliated with the Republican party doesn't automatically mean I couldn't support someone, but it probably does. I'm going to look at candidates starting from the other side and work my way over, perhaps. Of course, for major elections, I already know enough about the major candidates to have a somewhat reasoned opinion.

Still, the concern I have with the party system is precisely the presumptive affiliations. Of course a lot of people are going to naturally cluster based on the most fundamental values they hold. Still, I think attaching an arbitrary title to such people, when they vary quite widely on a lot of less fundamental, but still extremely important, issues is a disincentive to bother actually thinking or examining anyone. As I said, I do it too... it's a convenience, but it's one that i don't particularly think is healthy for the execution of our government.

But, then, if voting was any harder than it is, even less people would do it.

Anyway, if a voter has thought at all about their own values, some candidates can be quickly ruled out (at least on a first pass basis) due to a small number of specific disagreements. I don't feel the need to look hard at Giuliani, for example, because I detest his foreign policy attitudes and his utter lack of development on most other issues. That was easy. On the Dem side, I find Clinton distasteful because of her Senate record, foreign policy stance, censorship positions and her entrenched-politician attitude. She's not at the front of the list for me.

Still, party affiliation itself does matter. If an individual Democrat were to go against his party and agree with me on enough key issues to get my attention, his election could wind up giving his party a majority in the House or Senate, affecting the leadership, committee appointments, etc. I'm not saying that's the determining factor, just that it should be considered when "voting for a person, not a party or an ideology."

Well, i think this argument sounds circular. You're saying that even voting for that rare candidate you find superior to all the others, despite being from a party you typically wouldn't, i... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

RE: Against Independent Voters - Stanley Fish - Think Again - Opinion - New York Times Blog

IP addresses, strings of numbers that identify computers on the Internet, should generally be regarded as personal information, the head of the European Union's group of data privacy regulators said Monday.

hear hear...

IP Addresses Are Personal Data, E.U. Regulator Says - washingtonpost.com

The camera, which researcher Michelle Hauer and her team recently filed a patent for, is small enough to be implanted directly on the eye's lens, and feeds image data to a chip at the back of the eye, where it can either be fed into the optic nerve to aid the blind, or just into a portable hard drive to aid the creepy.

Creepy my ass... I'd love to not have to carry around a damn camera. Imagine the possibilities.

Ideally, you'd need it to have a 1-5 second buffer of images, which you could capture with a gesture or something. Later, you can go back and pull out that perfect image that you would never have had time to capture with an unprepared camera.

Rev this tech up!

Researchers develop eye-implantable camera - Engadget

It is our view that Computer Science (CS) education is neglecting basic skills, in particular in the areas of programming and formal methods. We consider that the general adoption of Java as a first programming language is in part responsible for this decline. We examine briefly the set of programming skills that should be part of every software professional’s repertoire.

Moderately interesting. I agree about Java, certainly... it's effectively useless as a pedagogical tool.

Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow?