May 2nd, 2008
For those of you out there familiar with Astrology, everybody was excited for a time about the Age of Aquarius. There’s been a great deal of debate among people who care about Astrology about whether the Age of Aquarius has begun, is about to begin, or began upwards of 500 years ago.
I’d like to offer an alternative theory: Astrology is crap.
A case in point.
The past month has been witness to massive protests in and outside of Tibet over continued Chinese rule in that Buddhist nation.
Notice, any mainland Chinese listeners who are breaking through the Great Firewall to listen to this program, that I used the small “n” in nation. It’s a bit subtle over the radio. You may be able to dispute whether Tibet is a country, but you can’t dispute the existence of the Tibetan people. They’re a small “n” nation, like the Kurds, Sioux, and SubGeniii, distinctive national groups living within big “N” Nations.
Where was I? Oh yeah, proving that Astrology is crap.
We saw massive protests around the world against the Chinese government following their recent crackdowns in Tibet. The passage of the Olympic Torch, bound for the Summer Games in Beijing, through several Western countries was cause for great demonstrations and waving of Tibetan independence flags.
What does this have to do with Astrology? Well I have proof that we’re not living in the Age of Aquarius. There’s no way, because we’re actually living in the Age of Irony.
Are some of those flag-waving Tibetan protesters among our listeners? I’d like to offer a question to them: Just where do you think those flags are being made?
China. A significant number of the Tibetan independence flags being sold today are actually manufactured in China.
Aside from the great confusion in this country over the link between high gas prices and a government run by former oil executives, I can’t think of a better proof that the Age of Irony is upon us.
But now, upon you, is the Timothy Jordan Show News for the 2nd of May, Ought-Eight.
How about those former oil executives? The Commander-in-Chimp, best known in the oil industry for the incredible feat of bankrupting an oil company, appeared before the Press earlier this week to claim that it wasn’t his policies that have resulted in record-high fuel prices in this country.
No, it wasn’t a failed invasion that destabilized the Middle East, or a complete and total disregard for holding the major oil companies to account, or active distain for increased fuel economy regulations.
No, the reason, according to the President, that we’re facing $4 per gallon gasoline prices was the failure of Congress to authorize oil exploration and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Perhaps this is how he managed to run an oil company into the ground. Could it be that he thinks oil derricks and pipelines can spring into existence by acts of will, or Congress?
According to the President, “The Department of Energy estimates that ANWR could allow America to produce about a million additional barrels of oil every day, which translates to about 27 millions of gallons of gasoline and diesel every day.”
His analysis is flawed on a more than a few levels.
Let’s consider those 27 million gallons of gas that the President suggests would flow from the Arctic Refuge. The official Department of Energy estimate is that ANWR oil production would peak in 2024 at 876,000 barrels of oil per day. Since the average refinery can produce 19.5 gallons of gasoline from a barrel of oil, we can determine that the Department of Energy’s prediction of peak gasoline production for ANWR-derived oil should be a little over 17 million gallons per day.
But the President said that we’re going to produce 27 million gallons of gasoline, or 62% more than the Department of Energy’s own estimates indicate is possible. Apparently he’s created an oil refinery that’s over 62% more efficient than existing refining technology?
Then even the optimistic government projections being passed around in 2004 indicated that actual production in the Reserve wouldn’t begin until 2013. How drilling in 2013 was going to offset current prices, short of some kind of oil time machine, isn’t clear. Maybe that’s how he’s getting the extra 62% of gasoline into the pipelines, too. Maybe he’s stealing gasoline from the future!
Everybody who thinks that the President has an oil time machine, raise your hands. Anybody out there who raised their hand is going more senile than John McCain.
He added that, “Another reason for high gas prices is the lack of refining capacity. It’s been more than 30 years since America built its last new refinery. Yet in this area, too, Congress has repeatedly blocked efforts to expand capacity and build more refineries.”
Exxon announced quarterly income of over $10 billion yesterday. If they wanted to expand capacity or build new refineries there isn’t much to stop them from doing so. They like these high oil prices.
The way things are going for the major oil companies these days, Mr. President, Congress would have to force them to build new refineries.
• Presdential Press Conference 4/29/08
• DOE, Analysis of Oil and Gas Production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge PDF (346.2KB)
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In a case of damned either way, legally purchased music authorized by a Microsoft server will longer function, while a recent flurry of copyright infringement notices by the RIAA is hitting public universities across the country.
Given the potentially high legal costs of violating copyright laws and sharing music online, it’s understandable that many people sought to legally purchase their music. But users of the MSN Music service will themselves out in the cold later this year when Microsoft turns off the validation server for their defunct MSN Music website.
Without that server, the Digital Rights Management software embedded within each song purchased from Microsoft is unable to authenticate that it’s a legally purchased song. Everything will work so long as former MSN Music customers don’t want to upgrade their operating systems, change hard drives, or buy a new computer. Any one of those actions would require re-authorization of their purchased songs, no longer possible after August of this year.
The same issue potentially affects any music purchased with DRM software embedded. If the authentication server is ever turned off, then so is the song, and your legally purchased music becomes legally inaccessible data clogging up a hard drive.
Meanwhile, the Chronicle of Higher Education is reporting that universities across the country are handling a veritable surge of copyright violation notices from the Recording Industry Association of America.
The notices, usually accompanied by a request for information about a specifically identified user on the university network, averaged 5-10 per week at George Washington University, according to the Chronicle.
Last week they received 123 notices.
This burst of legal activity by the RIAA comes at a time when their tactics are coming under increased judicial scrutiny. The organization faced setbacks over both the legality of their data-mining techniques, as well as an increased burden for proof of copyright violation.
Like all dinosaurs, they have a lot of momentum behind them. It’ll be a while before this dying industry rolls to a halt.
• EFF, Microsoft DRM: An Open Letter
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The number of Federal and State wiretaps issued increased by 20% last year, to a record 2,208. Most of the cases, some 1,792 of them, were related to drug offenses.
Two annual reports from the Department of Justice, and hosted by the Threat Level blog, reveal how commonplace wiretapping is becoming in our country.
Some 2,200 authorized wiretaps may seem low in a country with hundreds of millions of people, but keep in mind that these were only run-of-the-mill wiretaps for ordinary crimes. We also have to include the more than 2,700 wiretaps authorized Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, in addition to an unknown number of secret wiretaps from the President’s warrantless program.
Even so, the actual figures involved in a single wiretap can be surprising. In the case of one year-long narcotics investigation in New York, investigators intercepted 185,600 messages, of which 100,000 were incriminating, from a single wiretap.
Nearly 4,800 Americans were targeted in the questionable realm of National Security Letters (NSL) in 2006. Estimates for last year aren’t yet available because the FBI doesn’t yet maintain a consistent record of NSLs issued.
That seems kind of important, so let me go over that again. The FBI doesn’t really know how many secret requests for information on Americans that it’s issuing to companies, schools, and public offices. Over 12,000 were issued in 2006… they think.
• Threat Level, FISA wiretap reports PDF (132.2KB)
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It could be worse. You could be an accountant for the Pentagon.
That’d make me want to curl up and hide. Excellence, excellence comes this week in a place to do just that. It’s…
Ever wanted a place to hide from the world for a little bit? It’s hard enough to do, even in your own home. I mean, it’s not as if you can slip aside into a secret doorway when nobody’s looking.
Or could you? Creative Home Engineering is a company, based out of Arizona, that could help you do just that. They specialize in building secret passages into homes.
How freaking cool is that?
It’s possible to configure a secret doorway hidden inside a bookcase or dresser right from their website, and set for installation in your own home or office. I kinda like the idea of installing one at night in the office over the break room door. It’d confuse the hell out of people, and you’d have your own private break room.
More complicated hidden rooms are available, featuring bulletproof vault doors, staircases that lift to reveal other stairs underneath, and pool tables that rise up out of the floor.
Looking over what they offer, I get the feeling that it’s one of those places where your imagination is only limited by the depth of your wallet.
To sum up, Astrology is crap, but hidden passageways are excellent, and so is Creative Home Engineering for being bold enough to specialize in building them.
And that’s the News for the 2nd of May, Ought-Eight.