Dot, Not Feather

Fall Practices Have Begun!

And Ron Zook is Geeked!

Remember those ultra-modern passports

that the US started requiring and caused such a flap around the rest of the world because of their cost? They had RFID chips and various other security-minded features. Well, apparently they're easily hackable and as easily copied as the old passports. Suhhweeet!

In a demonstration for Wired News, Grunwald placed his passport on top of an official passport-inspection RFID reader used for border control. He obtained the reader by ordering it from the maker -- Walluf, Germany-based ACG Identification Technologies -- but says someone could easily make their own for about $200 just by adding an antenna to a standard RFID reader. He then launched a program that border patrol stations use to read the passports -- called Golden Reader Tool and made by secunet Security Networks -- and within four seconds, the data from the passport chip appeared on screen in the Golden Reader template.

Grunwald then prepared a sample blank passport page embedded with an RFID tag by placing it on the reader -- which can also act as a writer -- and burning in the ICAO layout, so that the basic structure of the chip matched that of an official passport. As the final step, he used a program that he and a partner designed two years ago, called RFDump, to program the new chip with the copied information. The result was a blank document that looks, to electronic passport readers, like the original passport.

I'm just going to get under my desk and roll up into a little ball.

What the Fuck?

At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

David Bernstein over at Volokh.com

always seems to protest too much. Especially as it relates to Juan Cole. He once claimed that Cole said that "Israel is the most dangerous regime to American interests in the Middle East." Not surprisingly, Prof. Bernstein had materially misquoted Prof. Cole. By contrast, Cole's quote, which was admittedly provacative, was that "Ariel Sharon's government was the regime that did the most damage to US interests." In the comments to his post, I argued that Bernstein's omission of the word regime altered the entire meaning of the quote.

Similarly, this Bernstein post over at the Volokh Conspiracy strains credibilty. First, he quotes Cole:

As for the Iraq War, puh-lease. Opinion polling shows that in spring of 2003, some 75 percent of Americans wanted to go to war against Saddam's regime. At the same time, only a little over 50 percent of American Jews supported the war. "Jews" did not cause the Iraq War. George W. Bush caused the Iraq War. He had Gentile advisers who wanted him to go for it. He had a handful of Jewish advisers who wanted him to go for it. But he is the president. It was his decision. And the American Jewish community was distinctly lukewarm about the whole idea, and very divided.

He then tries to contrast this statement with several Cole quotes assigning some blame for US mid-east policy to Likud, Ariel Sharon and their US allies (namely the neo-cons). Those quotes, Bernstein says, conflict with the passage above. Hmmm... indeed.

Would Bernstein really have us believe that Likud is the same as the international Jewish population? Hell, even Ariel Sharon moved out of Likud in the years after we invaded Iraq. I know a lot of jews (I also have black friends) and most of them were and are agaisn the Iraq war. But we're to believe that they're Likud party members or Ariel Sharon supporters?

I hate to go all ad hominem at this point, but I'm pretty happy I didn't have Prof. Bernstein for a law school teacher.

Desi Moms Everywhere Rejoice!

Apparently, a new, potent sunscreen has been approved. My wife actually wanted to buy some in Europe because we couldn't get it here. Now we don't have to travel abroad.

These Rankings are FIFAesque

Who knew that Institutional Investor ranked analysts? Well, their third-ranked computer analyst reported this just before Apple reported earnings:

Apple Computer Inc, maker of the Macintosh personal computer, may report its slowest profit growth in more than two years as demand wanes for its iPod music players.

Net income in the third quarter ended July 1 probably rose 17% to $375 million, or 42 cents a share, from $320 million, or 37 cents, a year earlier, said UBS AG analyst Benjamin Reitzes, Institutional Investor’s third-ranked computer analyst. His estimate is 2 cents lower than the average of 21 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

About half an hour or so later, Apple "said third- quarter profit rose 48 percent on demand for Macintosh computers," according to Bloomberg.

I Need Something to Catch the Drool

Dear Stepmill 7000pt,

You are a cruel, cruel machine. Like a battering spouse, you lure me in with the "I love you's" and "I want you's." Within thirty minutes, though, there I am, aching, soggy and out of breath, my ass thoroughly kicked. Yet I come back for more.

Why? Could it be the "I am only doing what's best for you's" or the "you need me's?" Could it be my own insecurities about my physical appearance? I don't know what binds me to you.

But sometime, when I think about you, I feel twin rushes of desire and revulsion. I know you will shape me into something prettier than I am now. But I know your chiselling will cause me great pain.

Why do I come back?

Allow Me to Pimp....

TripAdvisor.com, for its usefulness in planning a vacation. I used it to plan our honeymoon and it couldn't have been more spot on in terms of hotel reviews and area summaries. In fact, both hotels that I booked using TripAdvisor were amazing experiences. La Villa Marbella was a wonderful little B&B, located in the old town but within a ten-minute walk of the beach. The service there, along with the rooms, was first-class. Casa Camper was a revelation, located in the heart of Barcelona's artsy Raval district. Truly my kind of hotel.

The third hotel, which I got a good deal on, but is part of a 5-star chain, was just OK.