Joho the Blog: The Myth of MythTV
“Shouldn't be a problem” in linux-talk means that it requires only one Linux Day to get up and running, where a Linux Day equals 8 hours of hacking by someone who knows linux inside out (Greg), 12 hours of “helpful suggestions” from a Windows user, and two pizzas.
You could write the same thing about Windows, only sometimes the problems are insoluble, but the selling point is that the problems tend to happen when you add something after the initial install.
Someone has come up with a Firefox exploit — one that doesn't affect IE users!
You can find links to the details, at Boing Boing: Shmoo Group exploit. Here, however, is the simple info on how to protect yourself (probably):
1) Goto your Firefox address bar. Enter about:config and press enter. Firefox will load the (large!) config page.
2) Scroll down to the line beginning network.enableIDN — this is International Domain Name support, and it is causing the problem here. We want to turn this off — for now. Ideally we want to support international domain names, but not with this problem.
3) Double-click the network.enableIDN label, and Firefox will show a dialog set to 'true'. Change it to 'false' (no quotes!), click Ok. You are done.
I say “probably” because even though this fix works for me, there are reports that it doesn't work for everyone. The test of the exploit is here.
I was actually modestly cheerful this morning, reading about the Bush administration coming out against some of the most atrocious farm subsidies.
It would be nice to have a government initiative I could actually agree with.
Comes now Brad DeLong, assisted by Mark Schmitt, to bring me back down to earth…where in fact this is just another example of the Washington Monument ploy, or perhaps even just an other episode of Dingbat Kabuki.
Sigh.
Fairness and Accuracy in Media, not one of my favorite groups but people worth at least listening to, claims that the NYT spiked a story about Bush carrying in mechanical aids into the debates: The Emperor's New Hump
On Thursday, just three days after that first exposé, the paper was set to run a second, perhaps more explosive piece, exposing how George W. Bush had worn an electronic cueing device in his ear and probably cheated during the presidential debates.
… But on October 28, the article was not in the paper. After learning from the reporters working on the story that their article had been killed the night before by senior editors, Nelson eventually sent his photographic evidence of presidential cheating to Salon magazine, which ran the photos as the magazine’s lead item on October 29.
Cowards. (spotted via Orcinus)
I just saw “Sideways” which is a remarkably good movie. Googling around to try to find out the origin of the title, I found this outstanding review:
Entertaining? Definitely, although this is a very subtle movie. It's got NO explosions in it whatsoever.
Says it all, really.
The first section of my brother's column today for WashingtonPost.com is a must-read on Social Security.
And there I was thinking he was just into the 'I am a camera' thing. But no, this is hard-hitting stuff.
Recent Bluessky Posts
Jotwell Blenderlaw