Preston L. Bannister { random memes }

For those who are a little foggy about our current President-Bush and his spending habits.

Cato-at-liberty » Trillion Dollar Man
The recent budget update from the Bush administration shows that federal spending will be $2.918 trillion in fiscal 2008. That means that spending increases under Bush will break the $1 trillion mark when the new fiscal year begins in October. Spending was $1.863 trillion when he came to office in fiscal 2001.

Bush’s last budget year will be fiscal 2009, at which time he is projecting to spend $3.016 trillion. Thus in eight short years, with relatively low inflation, this president and spendthrift congresses will have blasted through both the $2 trillion spending mark and the the $3 trillion mark.

Yes, in two terms (one turn at the office), President Bush as the primary Republican of the 2000’s has increased the size of federal government spending by a solid TRILLION dollars. Cannot blame Democrats for this profligate spending, as the Republican Congress was in charge long before Bush took office, and during most of most of the reign of President Bush (Jr.).

Just to make the point clear – from the nation’s founding (call it 1776), it took 224 years to almost get to 2 trillion dollars in the federal budget. Bush Junior added a cool trillion dollars in only eight short years!

The lesson to take away from this? Do not look to either the political parties – Republican or Democratic – for fiscal responsibility. Look instead at your local representative (whatever his or her party), and ask if this person is going to do a good, responsible job. Certainly the Republicans – as a party – have proven in recent years that they cannot be trusted any more than the Democrats – as a party.

Geez – who are these “analysts” and who is foolish enough to take their advice? At the same rate (if sustained) AT&T could end up selling 35 million iPhones. How exactly does this count as “disappointing”?

At first I thought this was a joke…

IPhone Use Disappoints; Apple Slides – New York Times
Apple’s shares slumped 6 percent on Tuesday after AT&T said the early surge of iPhone buyers starting service on its network was smaller than some analysts had anticipated.

AT&T, in reporting its second-quarter earnings, said 146,000 iPhone owners activated service in the day and a half between the phone’s debut and the quarter’s end. Given the frenzy around the phone’s introduction, some analysts had predicted that AT&T would report as many as 500,000 to 700,000 activations in that period.

The report sent shares of Apple down $8.81 to $134.89, while AT&T’s shares fell 35 cents to close at $39.68.

Caught this bit of nonsense on the way home.

Marketplace: No newspapers is bad news
Neil Henry: I had no idea the job cuts at the San Francisco Chronicle would be this sudden, this deep, this personal. Some of my former students facing unemployment.

We know what happened: Marvelous search engines like Google with magical new powers to spread news and information. Along the way they’ve profited enormously.

But for a host of reasons, the actual producers of the Web’s news content — the reporters and editors — get very little benefit from this technological marvel.

And so we live in a world of paradox, don’t we?

Internet companies provide more news every day, free of charge no less! Yet highly skilled people doing the expensive work of digging, finding and reporting the very best of it are endangered.

It’s hard for me not to wonder if corporations like Google feel any tug of civic responsibility. After all, their breathtaking success as news aggregators has sprung indirectly from the fruit of professional journalism.

Few things to me are more vital than journalism practiced according to high standards. Simply put, Google could do much more to protect this public trust: Offer support to journalism education and professional groups dedicated to truth seeking and time-honored ethical values. And assist newspapers directly, just as I think it’s time for newspapers to band together to sue to protect content.

Journalism is flourishing to an extent never before seen – it’s just not coming from ex-journalism students. The number of people writing in public about topics they know well is far greater than at any time in the past.

By in large “professional journalism” is vastly overrated. Newspapers are primarily in the business of selling advertising. Most of the content that fills up newspapers is frivolous crap. As for “truth seeking and time-honored ethical values” – few stories are carefully researched, well informed, and objective. Most are quickly written by someone with little knowledge of the subject, and little concern for accuracy.

As the Google’s “civic responsibility” … the implicit assumption in this statement is that we are losing something of value. We are not.

Amusing is an odd way…

O.C. sheriff is denied use of law enforcement data – Los Angeles Times

A law enforcement network that gathers intelligence on organized crime has cut off the Orange County Sheriff’s Department because of the sheriff’s association with various businessmen, including a Las Vegas strip club owner with reputed mob ties now serving time for racketeering.

Sheriff Michael S. Carona minimized the effect of the suspension, saying it would have zero influence on his department’s police work and that he had never heard of the Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit until the chairman contacted him last year about the potential suspension.

Carona also downplayed his relationship with topless-bar owner Rick Rizzolo, whom the Intelligence Unit identified as one of several individuals who associate with the sheriff and “have pled guilty to or are suspected of involvement in criminal activity … including traditional organized crime activity.”

How should we read the part about “zero influence on his department’s police work”? Does that mean the information from the “Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit” have no value, or does this mean Carona has no interest in using their information?

The intelligence network, a 51-year-old professional association that collects and shares intelligence on organized crime, terrorism and gambling, notified its membership of the decision in an internal memo issued in June. The group comprises about 250 police agencies in four countries.

Might this organization know more about Carona than was made public? Could it be that Carona is a lot dirtier than we might otherwise know?

I chose to replace the stock Ubuntu apache2.conf. The stock configuration created and maintained by Ubuntu is a somewhat clever collection of included files, but … the stock Trac and Subversion install did not do what I wanted. Figuring out what was not working was tricky enough, so I simplified and re-built the configuration from scratch.

Since I am not especially familiar with configuring Apache, and since I prefer exact control, reducing the configuration to a single file was a lot easier to understand.

This Trac server was meant for use inside a company intranet. As such it made sense to allow anyone already on the intranet to read anything in Trac or Subversion. Only authenticated users are allowed to make changes. Basic authentication is sufficient, in this context. The extra protection offered by SSL (i.e. https://) was not needed. I did want performance to be reasonably optimal.

What this does:

• Subversion access is via Apache (HTTP).
• Multiple Subversion repositories are allowed.
• Multiple Trac projects are allowed.
• Anyone can browse Trac or Subversion, but only authenticated users can make changes.
• The same username/password file is shared between Subversion and Trac.
• mod_python is used for (more) optimal Trac performance.
• The Expires: header is set for static web files used by Trac.

#
#   Apache2 configuration
#

TransferLog /var/log/apache2/access.log
ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log
ServerRoot /etc/apache2
DocumentRoot /var/www

#LogLevel debug

ServerAdmin preston@bannister.us
ServerName trac.bannister.home
Listen 80

User www-data
Group www-data

AddDefaultCharset UTF-8
DefaultType text/plain

LoadModule dir_module           /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_dir.so
LoadModule env_module           /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_env.so
LoadModule info_module          /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_info.so
LoadModule mime_module          /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_mime.so
LoadModule alias_module         /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_alias.so
LoadModule autoindex_module     /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_autoindex.so
LoadModule dav_module           /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_dav.so
LoadModule dav_svn_module       /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_dav_svn.so
LoadModule auth_basic_module    /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_auth_basic.so
LoadModule authn_file_module    /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_authn_file.so
LoadModule authz_host_module    /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_authz_host.so
LoadModule authz_user_module    /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_authz_user.so
LoadModule authz_svn_module     /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_authz_svn.so
LoadModule python_module        /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_python.so
LoadModule expires_module       /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_expires.so

TypesConfig /etc/mime.types

Alias /icons /usr/share/apache2/icons

#
#   Access to Subversion
#

<Location /svn>
    DAV svn
    SVNParentPath /var/lib/svn

    <LimitExcept GET PROPFIND OPTIONS REPORT>
        Require valid-user
    </LimitExcept>

    AuthType Basic
    AuthName "Subversion Repository"
    AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/projects/users

    AuthzSVNAccessFile /etc/apache2/projects/access
</Location>

#
#   Access to Trac
#

<Location /projects>
    SetHandler mod_python
    PythonHandler trac.web.modpython_frontend
    PythonOption TracEnvParentDir /var/lib/trac
    #PythonDebug on
    ExpiresActive On
    ExpiresDefault A10
</Location>

<LocationMatch /projects/[^/]+/login>
    AuthType Basic
    AuthName Trac
    AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/projects/users
    Require valid-user
</LocationMatch>

<LocationMatch /projects/[^/]+/chrome>
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
    ExpiresDefault "now plus 12 hours"
</LocationMatch>

The last part is a bit of a trick. Naturally it is possible to have Apache serve the static files directly, but this approach is nearly as efficient, and a lot less trouble. Since I am building Trac checked out from Subversion (the 0.11dev trunk), the path to the static files changes with each update and build. With this approach static files are served through the python code – which is less efficient – but this only happens once. The “Expires:” header allows the browser to use the local cached static files on subsequent requests – which reduces server load and improves response times.

Once again, my wireless network has become almost unusable.

A few years back, I hooked up a Linksys 802.11b router, and could use my HP laptop from the garage (in front), anywhere in the house, and out in the backyard. Speed was not as good as the wired network (not suitable for downloading CD/DVD images), but quite usable. Over time the range and data rate dropped off, until the wireless network became unusable. By this time most of my neighbors had bought 802.11g routers. In theory, 802.11g should not interfere with 802.11b, but I do not believe the theory.

So I bought an 802.11g router, and put an 802.11a/b/g network card in my laptop. Once again I had a great wireless connection, and the data rates were higher – a even a full rate 54Mbits out in the backyard. Over time the range and data rate dropped off, until the wireless network became unusable. Replaced the old NetGear router with a new DLink 802.11g router, and once again had great connections … for a while. Again the range and data rate dropped off, until the wireless network became unusable at the beginning of the year. Again replaced the router, with a new NetGear model (with “RangeMax”). Again the connection was … good for a while, then got worse. Added a NetGear WN511T 802.11n card to my laptop … no joy. Got a new NetGear WNR854T 802.11n router and … no joy.

Do not know what my neighbors are running, but there are a lot more (visible) networks nearby. Something nearby – wireless phones, networks, or both – is causing me a lot of grief. Some of the time I can get still get a connection from the backyard. Much of the time I cannot get a reliable connection, even when a few feet from the router. I live in southern California suburbia with perhaps 20-30 feet between houses on the side, and houses roughly a 100 feet in front and back. (BTW, my wireless phone is a rather nice 5.8Ghz Motorola model.)

After much experimenting, I had a bit more luck with the router set from channel 6 (the default) to either channel 1 or 11. This works really well … but only part of the time.

At this point I am extremely frustrated. Are my NetGear routers no good? Certainly the NetGear drivers are not helpful (often they fail without any useful feedback). The NetGear support site is crap. I wasted much of a day just trying to login (seems some – not all – of their login pages are broken). No response to an email support request, and not much useful information for diagnosing problems.

At this point I am half-inclined to acquire a field strength meter, just so I can tell what the source is for the interference. Otherwise – short of turning my house into a giant Faraday cage – randomly buying other 802.11n gear might(?!?) be my only hope.

Read this article a couple days back. A man was sentenced to “144 years and eight months in prison for beating and torturing his then-wife over a four-day period”. The crime occurred “at their Foothill Ranch home on April 14, 2005″ – my area, and generally otherwise relatively peaceful.

A couple years ago I heard some disturbing sounds – I generally have most of the windows open – went out back to listen. Perhaps it was no more than a TV through an open window (though I do not remember hearing a neighbor’s TV). Perhaps the sound was something else entirely. Since I had no idea as to where the sounds came and heard nothing further – there was nothing I could do. Could it be that this crime had occurred not just in the same area, but not far from my backyard?

Went poking around for any earlier or more specific report and found …. nothing. Do crimes like this happen routinely, without leaving any imprint visible from the internet? Should they?

“The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do.”
from Samuel Huntington

Ran across this quote before, most lately in a post from Tim Bray. The quote bothered me because it both contains an element of truth, and seems somehow incomplete. In what respect the quote was incomplete – this took a bit longer to elaborate.

The word you want to focus on is “organized”.

Violence is not a special quality of the West. Far from it. So how was it the “West won the world”? When one human attempts to kill another human, the better trained, equipped, and supplied will win. On the individual scale luck may be a significant factor. On the large scale and over the long haul – luck only counts when opposing sides are near evenly matched. Economic battles are not very different.

The West “won” because the sides were not evenly matched. Simply put, the West was better organized. Better social organization, better economic organization, better technology – we can argue about the definition of “better” – but in this case the final sum was when it came down to “organized violence”, the West won. What made the difference was the productive – not destructive – side of the equation.

The booming economies in China, India, and southeast Asia are enabled by the infusion of “Western” ideas and organization. Those economies are kept relatively safe by the threat of Western violence against those who would disrupt existing order.

In the long run, the human race is still very young. Our notions of social organization – on the large and small scale – are still very uncertain. Within that context of approximation – there is no escaping the conclusion that the West did indeed win the world on the superiority of its ideas.

As a quote: “The West won the world by its superiority in farming.” – contains more truth – if not as memorable as the quote from Huntington.