Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Spot the Fake(s)

Posted on July 5, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

At least one of the following is fake.

  • The Forgotten Technology A “a retired carpenter with 35 years experience in construction” rediscovers a technology that would have allowed a remarkably small number of low-tech workers to build Stonehenge or the Pyramids. Quote: “I found that I, working alone, could easily move a 2400 lb. block 300 ft. per hour with little effort, and a 10,000 lb. block at 70 ft. per hour. I also stood two 8 ft. 2400 lb. blocks on end and placed another 2400 lb. block on top. This took about two hours per block. I found that one man, working by himself, without the use of wheels, rollers, pulleys, or any type of hoisting equipment could perform the task.”
  • Speed of Light May Have Changed Recently Quote: “A varying speed of light contradicts Einstein's theory of relativity, and would undermine much of traditional physics. But some physicists believe it would elegantly explain puzzling cosmological phenomena such as the nearly uniform temperature of the universe. It might also support string theories that predict extra spatial dimensions. The threat to the idea of an invariable speed of light comes from measurements of another parameter called the fine structure constant, or alpha, which dictates the strength of the electromagnetic force.”
  • DVD Rewinder Quote: “Too many DVDs, and CDs and not enough time to rewind? Are your DVDs running a bit too slow? The DVD rewinder is the perfect solution! This rewinder has the exclusive Centriptal Velocity Spindle providing the world’s fastest DVD rewind!”
Posted in Science/Medicine | 7 Comments

Safire In Outer Space

Posted on July 5, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

William Safire has a column which, even by the relaxed standard of his work in the last 12 months or so, is filled with Cheney-style delusion. Jack Balkan nails most of the big points, so I'll just add the one Jack missed.

It is beyond weird to suggest that Sec. Rumsfeld has at any relevant times been solicitous of the rights of detainees. The military tribunals he proposed were justly attacked by all and sundry as lacking almost all the elements of fairness and due process.

The extent to which these rules were deficient is highlighted by the recent announcement that the separate annual 'reviews' planned by Rumsfeld & Co. are now known to be seriously deficient.

Why Safire feels a need to repeatedly kow-tow to Rumsfled is mysterious. If it's for past favors they must be well past, since I can't think of a really good leak Safire's gotten recently. If it's a down payment for future favors, it better be a big one.

Posted in Guantanamo | 2 Comments

Even Spam Has A Use

Posted on July 5, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

If you want proof that every cloud has a silver lining, consider the use I have found for spam. I am now getting 2000+ spams per day, which is a major problem. But the good news is that when several hours go by and I have received no spam, I know my email is down again.

(Although it is up as I write this, back home and jet-lagged, my mail went down for hours at a time repeatedly while I was away.)

Incidentally, I have been forwarding all my mail to a gmail account in order to test its spam filtering capabilities. I have detected almost no false flagging of spam since the second day of use, which either shows gmail is doing something right, or my ability to scan spam for the real mail is withering as the quantity of spam increases and the real/fake ratio shrinks. Of the 2000+ spams I get, though, gmail is treating dozens a day as real mail. In other words, the false positive rate is better than the filters I wrote myself, but the 'failure to block rate' is about the same. I let through everything purporting to be from a UM account, which accounts for about half the spam I don't filter. I haven't figured out why gmail lets in what it does.

Removing spam via Gmail is still less annoying than on PINE, as you can easily mark many at a time for deletion from your inbox by clicking checkboxes. But I predict it will get harder to identify the spam once spammers adapt to gmail's showing you the first few words of text in list mode, and start putting more plausible text there.

Posted in Internet | 3 Comments

Annoying Filter Update

Posted on July 3, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

Since the supreme court cares about the quality of blocking and filtering software, it may be appropriate to report that SiteCoach, the blocking software used on the internet kiosks in the lobby of the Amsterdam hotel I am staying in blocks Atrios for using the f-word, and the Volokh Conspiracy for “Forbidden Keyword free sox”. Actually, the “o” in that last should be an “e”—I'd post it more clearely, but that would just ensure I couldnt access my own blog any more.

Posted in Law: Constitutional Law | 7 Comments

Iraq Coverup Unravels A Little More?

Posted on July 3, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

It has seemed very strange that Gen. Sanchez would be sent to 'get to the bottom' of the Iraq atrocities mess when he seemed implicated in them himself. Of course, if you want a cover-up, send the guy with a lot to hide. Now Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, not obviously the world's most disinterested source herself, fingers Sanchez, and maybe Rumsfeld, for ordering the use of dogs and other “types of coercive interrogation methods for detainees at Abu Ghraib'” like those that Gen. Sanchez approved for use on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Note also that “The Pentagon denied the assertion Thursday,” so this may be CYA by Karpinski…

Posted in Iraq Atrocities | 2 Comments

Gutless

Posted on July 2, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

Excuse me if I don't join the NYT editorial board in its cheers for the Senate's Vote to require the administration to account for all the prisoners it has captured abroad, and to turn over information about US military prisons to the Red Cross, and to comply with the Geneva conventions.

This cheering is wrong on multiple levels.

First, the Senate's action comes just a little late. The administration was able to invade Iraq because Congress didn't do its job in asking questions and holding it to account. And news about problems in the prisons is hardly new. There were rumors of trouble long before the infamous photos. One can argue about whether the legislature was on notice before they emerged. But there's no question that they have been on notice for weeks, yet this vote comes only in the shadow of the Supreme Court's reassertion of long-standing verities of separation of powers.

Notably, the Senate's resolution requires nothing significant beyond what likely would happen anyway as a result of the Supreme Court's recent decisions.

And, the Senate's action is limited to military prisons, leaving the CIA gulag in the shadows.

Last, but not least, Art. VI, Clause 2 of the US Constitution reads,

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

It shouldn't require legislative action to compel the President to take care that the “supreme Law of the Land” be observed, and indeed I wonder if it could be a bad precedent to even suggest in any way that but for legislative action the President ought to feel any freedom of action to unilaterally disregard fundamental norms of international law such as the Geneva conventions.

I'll cheer when the legislature starts investigating the CIA's network of interrogation camps. Does anyone ever get out alive?

Posted in Iraq Atrocities | 4 Comments