News and Notes -- July 28, 2005

• I am in NYC. Is it the Big Apple, or the Big Ripoff? I'll tell you on Sunday!
  
• I was officially admitted to UIUC. I have a letter and everything.
  
• "Dan's Last Stand" party will be held on Wednesday. More later.
  

Update: Dan's Last Stand will be held on Wednesday, August 3rd. It will begin at 8:00pm. Please let me know that you will be attending and plan to bring something to share.

New York City, Greatest Hits

Cab Drivers
I get off the plane and step into a cab. I am in a huge rush. I have to get across Manhattan to Chelsea Piers in about 1 hour. The cabbie tells me that it will take 45 minutes -- perfect, right on time.

The beginning of the ride was calm. So calm, in fact, that I almost dozed off. It had been a long day so I was in the mood for a nap. As we entered the Midtown Tunnel I came to. As we ascended from the tunnel in Manhattan, the traffic gripped us.

For the next 1/2 hr, we lurched our way through side streets, up town, cross town and down town.

We're at a stop light and the van next to us wants to get out. So, instead of negotiating an entrance with my cab driver via a series of intricate, yet ultimately disgusting, hand gestures, he simply wedges his car between my taxi and the one in front of us.

As the light turns green, my driver refuses to let him in despite the atom-wide gap between the van and my taxi. The van and my taxi roll forward at the same pace hoping to end up in the same place. Finally, the game of chicken ends when my cab driver relents. He does so as kindly as can be expected:
"You f*ing idiot."
Now, once this van cuts us off, he stops in the middle of the intersection.
"Go you f*er."
"Mother f*er."
I'm trying to figure out the best way to exit the cab once it starts to go down. Finally, we are able to get around the cab and as we speed away, my cabbie leaves the van driver with this gem:
"You f*ing monkey!"

He turns to me calmly calmly says, "Welcome to New York." Welcome indeed.

As we rolled into Chelsea Piers, my driver began emphasizing that the fare was $45 plus tip. I had just witnessed this maniac's temper, so I recalculated my originally meager offering.

I was meeting Amanda at the Piers and as the driver pulled my bag from the trunk he heard Amanda yelling after me. He asked, "is that your girlfriend?" I said, "yes!" Then, as if rallying his fellow Hispanic cab drivers, he yells, "Aye Caramba!" while pumping his fist in the air!

Welcome to New York.

China Town
My mom and Aunt, were walking through Chinatown on Wednesday. My mom slips and grabs my Aunt for support. Aunt Patsy asks, "What's wrong?" Mom replies, "I slipped on a chopstick." Aunt Patsy sighs and says, "did you expect a fork?"

David Letterman
Because of the recent kidnapping threats, Letterman no longer accepts pre-orders for live-audience tickets. The only way to get a seat to a taping is to go on the morning on the show and register for the lottery. I was designated as the Letterman-ticket-getter. As such, I marched over on Thursday morning around 10:30. I was greeted by the interns and handed a form. I filled out some information about myself (for security) and then started to list those who would be attending with me. There was only space for my name and one guest. I asked the intern, "There are four of us in my group, where should I put their names?" He replied that I was only allowed to request two tickets at a time.

I immediately realized that I was in a no-win situation. I had to choose between:
1. My Aunt: She came from Florida to be with us, loves Letterman and has never seen a taping.
2. Amanda: Has been dying to see the show and has asked me everyday since I mentioned that it was a possibility almost two months ago. And,
3. My mom: Her merits stand in the name alone.

Well, I lose. Plain and simple. I started to panic. If I chose wrong, the next four days would be very long. The city is big, but not big enough to escape the wrath of three angry ladies!

I rationalized like this: I am absolutely the big loser if I try to pick my Mom or Amanda over one-another. So, the choice became obvious: Aunt Patsy is going to Letterman. I figured that equally left-out is better than unfairly included.

Despite my efforts to do the right thing, I was the loser that day. The sun has yet to set on the pain that I inflicted in Amanda and mom. The picture below should relate their obvious disappointment.

(coming soon)

For those of you who may have been watching Thursday's Letterman, Aunt Patsy and I were in the very back of the bottom deck. Billy Murray is a great guest, and Dave was wonderful and funny as always.

Next time, though, someone else is getting the tickets!

The Bathroom
The hotel room is about the size of my closet. With for people, that hardly leaves room to even turn around. If you were selling the hotel room, your real estate agent would necessarily use the word "quaint" in the advertisement.

As such, the bathroom is no bigger than the shower. One would expect that given such tight quarters, the hotel would be perfectly maintained. One would, however, be wrong!

On the ceiling of the bathroom was a giant blister of water. Apparently a pipe had burst on the floor above and water had collected between the ceiling and the wallpaper leaving a huge sack of water. Of course, I was tempted to poke at it until it burst. Except for the fact that I couldn't find something to poke it with, I would have lanced that blister.

As the water continued to accumulate in the sack, it began to drip. Did I mention that the blister was directly above the commode? Yes, well, it was! I was trying desperately to avoid the bathroom until the sack broke or we could find a different room. My intestines had different plans altogether.

I was sitting on the porcelain for no more than 10 seconds when I felt the first drip of water make contact with my body. Landing in the small of my back, that dribble of water felt like ice. Apparently the pipe that burst was carrying cold water not the luke-warm water that would have made the situation bearable. Reaching for protection, I immediately replaced the shirt that I had discarded -- I have to strip before I can go to the bathroom!

That was no good. The water quickly saturated that small portion of the shirt and rendered its safety void. So, I took off the shirt and grabbed a towel. I wrapped it around me like a shaw and shivered as I did what-I-had-to-do.

Needless to say, until you've done your business while being subjected to a cruel version of water torture, don't talk to me about inconvenience.

More Scientists and Mathematicians

Following up on my award-winning coverage about the lack of scientists being produced by American schools, an astute reader led me to this article.

The Business Roundtable has joined the list of groups that are calling attention to this very serious problem. They, however, have supplemented their moaning with some action.

The action proposed has five parts. All are described in the article, but two of the five are interesting enough to summarize here:
"Upgrading elementary and secondary teaching in math and science to foster higher student achievement": Finally, it appears that someone recognized the true source of the problem. Unfortunately, math and science are not the only fields that need more funding in elementary and secondary education -- every field needs that.

"Reforming visa and immigration policies to enable the U.S. to attract and retain top science, technology, engineering and math students from around the world to study and stay to work in the U.S.": Holy cow! Someone who actually realizes that people in other countries may be able to help America! Right now the math and science education available in India and China are far superior to America at the elementary and secondary level. So, why would we turn away those people who have helped to perfect that system when ours is in desperate need for help?

The rest of the article is very interesting and I recommend that you read it. Feel free to leave comments.

More Personal Golf News

As you probably didn't know, the United States Senior Open starts tomorrow. Players are chosen for the tournament based upon their past play (professional status, past major tournament victories, etc) or their play in a series of qualifying tournaments.

Steve Pinger, a good friend of mine, will be competing in this year's Open. He made it to the tournament by way of great play in a sectional qualifier. As a matter of fact, his score of 68 was good enough to win that qualifier.

I met Mr. Pinger during my years of employment at the California Golf (and racquet) Course. Also, I was good friends with both of his sons. His approach to the game of golf is different than almost anyone else I have ever known!

I wish him the best of luck this weekend. His US Open experience will begin tomorrow morning at 9:16am. He'll be playing with the well-known David Estes and Terry Florence.

I will keep this post updated with his scores as they are made available.

Update 1: Mr. Pinger shot four over par (+4) in his first round. The leader is seven under (-7). Mr. Pinger tees off in the early afternoon tomorrow and I will keep everyone updated.

Update 2: Mr. Pinger had a rough second round. He played great in the qualifier and it was great to see him in one of the most prestigious golf tournaments in the country. I am sure that his game will lead him to at least one more Open before his career is over.

Karl Rove is Turd Blossom

Thanks to Gary Trudeau, no one will be left wondering the true identity of Turd Blossom twenty years hence.

In today's Doonesbury strip, it is revealed that Turd Blossom is actually Karl Rove.

Some of those who print the syndicated strip have decided not to print today's edition. According to the manager of the service that syndicates Doonesbury, each paper has the right to refuse to publish a particular strip without notification. For this reason, there is no real way to tell how many papers have passed on today's Doonesbury.

Read more about it at CNN.

John Roberts Nomination Hearings

I stumbled upon the transcripts of the Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of John Roberts' to the D.C. Circuit court.

I am sure these have been publicized before, but I found a few particularly interesting passages. The entirity of this transcript can be found here.

First, Mr. Roberts discusses the role that personal beliefs should make in crafting a judicial decision:

There's no role for
advocacy with respect to personal beliefs or views on the part
of a judge. The judge is bound to follow the Supreme Court
precedent, whether he agrees with it or disagrees with it, and
bound to apply the rule of law in cases whether there's
applicable Supreme Court precedent or not. Personal views,
personal ideology, those have no role to play whatever.

I understand that there is a difference between a Circuit Court judge and a Supreme Court judge in terms of making versus enforcing the law. However, the statement above is fairly strong and says something about Roberts' personal characterization of the job of a judge.

In the following two passages, Roberts talks about his views of having a politically minded judge on the bench:

Yes, you know, if it all came down to just
politics in the judicial branch, that would be very frustrating
for lawyers who worked very hard to try to advocate their
position and present the precedents and present the arguments.
They expect the judges to work justified. And if the judge is
going to rule one way or the other, regardless of the
arguments, well, he could save everybody a lot of work, but the
rule of law would suffer.

He argues that the lawyers prepare and tune the presentation of their case under the assumption that their arguments will be judged based upon their merits and not the alignment of those arguments with a particular political ideology.

He then speaks to the question of having his rulings interpreted as partisan politics:

I know one of the things that frustrates
very much the judges who are on that court, all of
whom are very hard-working, is when they announce a decision
and they're identified in the press as a Democratic appointee
or a Republican appointee. That makes such--gives so little
credit to the work that they put into the case, and they work
very hard and all of a sudden the report is, well, they just
decided that way because of politics. That is a disservice to
them. And I know as an advocate, I never liked it when I had a
political judge, when I was in front of a political judge,
because, again, you put a lot of work into presenting the case,
and you want to see that same work returned.

This must all be taken with a grain of salt since these hearings are largely choreographed. But, I think that his statements show that he has very little interest in being a political judge.

Moreover, he seems to have a healthy respect for the law of our land. If a judge is able to expunge politics, preconceptions and peer pressure from their mind as they deliberate on a case then that is enough to satisfy me. I may not agree with the ruling, but I do agree that the only way to make decisions about controversial subjects is through a rational, clear, unencumbered analysis of the arguments presented.

Of course, I always reserve the right to change my mind!

The Internet, Cell Phones and London

9/11 was one of the first worldwide news stories that occurred within the context of the Internet and Cell Phones. After the news broke that the World Trade Centers had been hit, people flocked to online news sites. However, the sites were largely unavailable. This caused an almost paradoxical drop in overall Internet traffic as people turned to reliable broadcast mediums -- radio and TV -- for their news. (ref).

Once people figured out exactly what happened, they wanted to ensure that their friends and family were safe. To do this, they turned to cell phones. Unfortunately, much of the cell phone infrastructure was demolished when the towers actually fell. This led to frustation and confusion about the safety of friends and loved ones.

Today, more than that awful day in September 2001, people use the Internet and cell phones as a means to get the news and communicate during catastrophic events.

Unfortunately, the recent terror events in London have given us an opportunity to assess how the infrastructure that powers the Internet and cell phones has grown and matured since 9/11.

Starting with the Internet, this press release from the BBC offers some interesting insights:

The BBC News website recorded the highest volume of traffic in the site's history on the day of the attacks, with an estimated figure of 115.7 million page impressions.

The BBC News website figure is more than double the previous highest figure of 50.6m page impressions, recorded on the day of the UK election results in May this year.

At peak, the BBC News site was receiving 40,000 page requests per second.

These are incredible figures. What impact did all this have on the actual infrastructure itself? I posed that question to the PR department at the Linx Internet Service Provider.

Linx is the world's largest Internet exchange point and handles 90 percent of all U.K. Internet traffic.

Malcom Hutty, the Regulation Officer at LINX, responded:

The awful events of 7/7 in London did not have an operational impact on the functioning of the exchange at LINX.

Later, he says this:

Aggregate traffic was not noticably affected by these incidents.

The dip in overall traffic during 9/11 does not appear to have occurred during 7/7. Does this mean that people were satisfied with the reliability of the web and didn't feel the need to turn to TV and radio? That's certainly one possibility. The other, of course, is that people worldwide were not as interested in 7/7 as they were 9/11.

Mr. Hutty offered his opinion about why Internet traffic remained steady during the day of 7/7:

... the 9/11 attacks caused considerable destruction of core communications industry infrastructure: this was not the case in London.

Interesting.

As for the usage of cell phones on 7/11, nothing was "as usual". All three of the major cell phone providers in Great Britain reported approximately twice as much usage as normal.

I confirmed these figures with the media department of Orange. Orange is the mobile phone division of France Telecom. Stuart Jackson, the head of UK media operations for Orange, responded to my request for confirmation with this information:

Due to the number of high calls made on the Orange network on Thursday July 7, some customers in London experienced difficulty making calls on their first attempt and may have had to try several times before they got connected. Twice as many calls were being made on the Orange network than normally expected on a Thursday morning. The peak calling period was between 10.30 and 11am. We increased traffic capacity on our network in the London area to cope with the demand and calling rates began returning to normal levels after midday. The Orange network, although busy, remained intact and fully operational. Orange contacted the authorities on Thursday morning offering its assistance and we are now helping the appropriate agencies with their investigations wherever required to do so.

Orange - along with the other mobile network operators - has the power to invoke an Access Overload Control (ACCOLC) system on the network. This enables us to give priority calling to groups of pre-defined customers over other customers. The government can request Orange to invoke ACCOLC or we can invoke it of our own accord to protect the network. This was NOT requested of Orange on Thursday 7th July.

Jackson said that the emergency services are an example of a group that would benefit from ACCOLC. Members of the "elite" group are identified based upon the code contained in the phone's SIM card. For those of you with Cingular or T-mobile in America, you will be familiar with the SIM card. Calls from those who are not members of the pre-defined special group are immediately rejected.

It is interesting to note that this system was not invoked during 7/7. This seems to imply that the British authorities were not worried that people would use cellular phones to detonate the further attacks and that there was enough network capacity to allow civilian usage without interfering with emergency communications among first responders.

Overall it seems that 7/7 had much less of an impact on our communications infrastructure than 9/11. It is easy to attribute this to the fact that much of the communications equipment in NYC was destroyed in the 9/11 attacks and almost no equipment was rendered inoperable in the recent London attacks.

I hope that by studying how the infrastructure responds during terrible events like this, we can ensure that reliable information and efficient communication are available to emergency personnel and the family/friends of victims in the future.

Fun With White House Press Briefings

Tonight I have embarked upon some review of this year's White House press briefings.

Yes, I was very bored!

With the advent of the Karl Rove controversy, White House press secretary Scott McClellan has come under fire. He and the White House have taken the position that they are not going to comment on an ongoing investigation. This does not keep the press corps from pressing him on the matter.

The current theory is that when the press corps gains momentum, McClellan has a "go to" reporter by the name of Raghubir Goyal. McClellan knows that once called upon, Goyal will ask a question that is totally unrelated to the Valerie Plame leak inquiry.

But, does this hold up to analysis? Has Goyal been recognized in the press briefing room now more than in the past? There's only one way to find out -- analyze the transcripts.

Press briefing transcripts are readily available at the WhiteHouse.gov website. So, I downloaded all of the briefings or gaggles that McClellan has given since the beginning of 2005. At first I figured this would be easy.

If McClellan answered questions by calling on the reporter by name, I could do a simple text search for "Goyal" and easily determine the frequency. In these briefings, however, McClellan usually points or nods to give a particular reporter the floor.

I had to attack this problem differently.

Consider this: an incoming email is either spam or ham (the "technical" term for a legitimate email). There is great software available to read an incoming message and assign it a spam rating. This rating translates into the likelihood of that particular message being spam. The only problem is that these software filters must be appropriately trained with a set of messages that are human-identified as ham and a set that are spam.

Why couldn't this software be used to decide if a question was asked by Goyal? All I had to do was find a set of questions that I definitely knew were posed by Goyal and train the filter accordingly. Occassionally, McClellan will call on a reporter by name. I did a search of the transcripts for "Goyal" and used the context clues to create a set of "Goyal questions".

The human-identified "Goyal questions" became the training set for the spam filter. I could easily identify about 18 questions from Goyal. I took an equivalent number of questions posed by other reporters and used those as the ham training set.

In order for the questions to be processed by the spam filter, they had be turned into "legitimate" emails -- these means adding header information. Since I didn't want the spam filter to associate particular header information with the "Goyal questions", I chose to append identical headers to each message. It is my hope that this will force the spam filter to only identify the message based upon its content -- the question, in this case.

To do the actual filtering, I chose to use spambayes -- a bayesian spam filter written in Python.

The next step is to ask the spam filter about each question. I stripped out all the questions from the transcripts and formatted them as individual emails. The formatting was done with the identical header information that was appended to the training set questions -- with one exception. I added a special X- field into the header so I could link the questions to the briefings where they were asked.

Each message will receive a score that indicates the likelihood that it is spam. Again, spam correlates to a question posed by Goyal.

Of approximately 4500 questions submitted to the spam filter, about 470 were given a spam rating. This implies that in the past year, about 10 percent of the questions were asked by Goyal. I am not a White House press corps expert, but this does seem a little high.

Now, what about the most important question: Has the frequency of "Goyal questions" increased recently as the Karl Rove controversy heated up?

Here is the graph created from my collected data:




The x axis represents each of the briefings. The y axis represents the number of questions asked at each briefing by Goyal, as identified by the bayesian spam filter. For the sake of clarity, the x axis lists each briefing using a unique id. These ids were assigned simply: the first briefing of the year was given 1, the second 2, etc.

I will let you, the dedicated reader, draw your own conclusions.

Comments?

Is the Military Making up Quotes?

What do the following two quotes have in common?

"'The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the ISF and all of Iraq. They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists,' said one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified."

"'The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the children and all of Iraq,' said one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified. 'They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists.'"

"Almost everything," you might say. These quotes appeared in press releases by the US military following two separate terrorist attacks in Iraq. CNN.com has the full story.

The military has acknowledged the problem and said that it was the result of an administrative error.

Do you think that the unidentified, resilient, and defiant Iraqi is a fabrication? I've heard of anonymous sources, but this is taking it too far!

1,2,3,4,5,6 ... 7

It's official. Lance Armstrong has won his seventh consecutive Tour de France.

I can't even begin to describe what this means. It is absolutely incredible. He's a machine, an inspiration, and a symbol of hope for everyone faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges.

His stardom, dedication and hardwork have singlehandedly driven the sales of 52 million Livestrong bands. That's 52 million people who have donated some of their money to the fight against cancer.

I don't care why people choose to wear them. Do they want to look cool? Do they want to give quiet support to anyone ever faced with the disease? Either way, the idea of sacrificing something to help others, even one dollar, is something that should be praised.

In total, the sale of those bracelets translates to $52 million donated to support cancer research and awareness. So, before you scoff at everyone who wears yellow, consider what a positive impact they have had on the community.

The Lance Armstrong Foundation has raised over $85 million for the same cause. Some say that his selling power will fade after his retirement, but I disagree.

People don't want Lance Armstrong's autograph. They want to touch him. That's a sentiment that will never change.

See Me on CNN

Tonight at 7pm or Sunday at 10am!

Backstory: Last night I attended a taping of "On The Story" at George Washington University. The show is about how the journalists gather and report the news.

For those of you familiar with CNN's woes when it comes to being first with breaking news, you'll realize just how comical this whole premise is. But I digress.

"On The Story" consists of a panel of the CNN reporters who covered the big stories of the week. This week was particularly interesting with London, Roberts and Rove all making news. The show was hosted by Kyra Phillips and the panel consisted of Christian Amanpour, Suzanne Malveaux, Kelli Arena and Ed Henry.

As we entered the studio, producers asked us to submit questions for the panelists. Being a CS guy, you can imagine what my question was. I assumed that the selected questions would be posed to the panelists by Kyra Phillips.

When you assume ...
The questions, as it turns out, are posed by the audience member who wrote them. The floor producer was in charge of finding those selected and reseating them in view of the cameras. The first five people to ask questions were selected before the show began. I was not one of those. During the commercial breaks, the producer continued to call people's names. Eventually my name was called and I had to switch seats ( I was actually mad since I did have a great seat!).

So, there I was, F-13 -- The F block, asking question 13. During the commercial break before the F block, I was reseated to yet a third seat and Kyra Phillips was positioned to my left. She came over and introduced herself. I told her I was a big fan (that's an inside joke, sorry)! She was very polite and shook my hand (which she promptly wiped on her pants).

The plan was simple: come back from commercial, Kyra introduces a package and then, after the footage, I ask my question. During the package she asked me to stand and get ready. As it turns out, she's about 3 feet tall. I felt like Andre the Giant standing over Hulk Hogan in Wrestlemania III.

So, there I was standing, waiting, and trying to figure out where to put my hands while the clip was playing. The "arms crossed" stance just makes you look annoyed, so I quickly decided against that. The pockets are right out. The "clasp in front" looks too much like you're reciting the pledge of allegiance. I decided on the only remaining option: hands in my back pockets. Classy!

But, as I was told to "standby", I was again facing the same problem. Having my hands in my back pockets was okay while we were killing time off camera, but it's totally inappropriate for the integrity of cable news. With few options, and very little time, I decided to go with the standard "national anthem stance". Yes, this is the same as the "pledge of allegiance" stance, but I thought a new name would spice up the story.

When she finally put the microphone in front of my face, I considered grabbing it Jerry Springer style and yelling, "My question is for the sex crazed midget, er, little person in the chaps!"

For those of you related to me (I identified myself by full name), you'll be glad to know that I refrained.

The question went off without a hitch. The best part, though, was that Kyra asked a follow up while I remained standing. More free face time for the Hawk! With the question out of the way, I used the extra time for good: flashing the peace sign, and pointing to the Hospice Golf Outing logo on my tee-shirt. And, for those of you who can read lips, you're in for a special treat.

Kidding.

As usual, what could have happened is so much funnier than what really did.

My question comes near the end of the one hour show. So, if you're too impatient to wait to see me, I will post a screen capture of it here as soon as it is available.

Update: 52 minutes after the show starts, Will takes the reigns! For the record, here is what I say:

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I'm Will Hawkins (ph) from Charlottesville, Virginia. And I was wondering what you considered to be your best technological asset when you're tracking down a breaking news story. (ref)

As soon as I can get a screen capture from the show, I will post it here.

Technical Distractions

Email, cell phones, instant messenger, etc are driving users to distraction. This new study shows that the typical office worker is interrupted every 3 minutes with an email, instant message or phone call. According to scientists, it takes about 8 minutes for our brains to enter that creative state where real thought is accomplished.

The result is obvious. Our mind races all day putting out the fires stoked by those instant messages, emails and phone calls. Add to that the occassional fax and your brain may just fizzle out.

This is exactly what happened to me. At one point I was getting absolutely no work done while sitting in front of the computer. In between checking away messages, logging in to check email or answering phone calls, I was completely unproductive.

I realized that I had to make a change. I had to decide which technology was the most disturbing and the most dispensible. Since my email is a condition of employment, that could not be dispensed with all together. I have no home telephone line, so I couldn't get rid of my cell phone. However, IM was not a work requirement and is certainly not a primary means of communication.

So, away it went. As soon as I freed myself from the burden of checking away messages and responding to IMs from friends, I felt more relaxed and regained my lost productivity. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's true. I felt so good that I didn't stop there.

I decided that I didn't have to be shackled to my email every minute of the day. I slowly started to limit the amount of time I spent checking and responding to email. First, I checked every 1/2 hour, then every hour and now I go hours without checking. So far nothing terrible has happened and I don't expect that it will.

This all reminds of the CNN advertisement that claims they provided 24 hours news before people even knew that it was necessary. The statement is incredibly misleading since CNN was the reason for people's fixation with the 24 hour newscycle, presidential body watch and fascination with celebrity news events. With the exception of the sporadic, true breaking news event, why couldn't people live happily without live news updates every 15 minutes between midnight and 6am?

I think self-imposed necessities, like 24 hour news and instant email responses, are a huge problem in our culture. We can send messages instantly, so we demand instant responses. We can contact anyone, anywhere, anytime and therefore expect that everyone should be reachable anytime and anywhere. But, what happens to that creative energy so many people are wasting as a result? Will America lose its role as inovator when our best and brightest are too busy responding to chain emails to think great thoughts?

Like some others, I am putting my foot down. You should do the same!

Kevin Hall at the PGA Tour

When I was playing on the junior golf circuit in Cincinnati, I met Kevin Hall. As a child, Kevin had meningities and lost his hearing as a result. After graduating from High School, Kevin went to OSU where he was the first African-American in OSU history to be on a golf scholarship. In his senior year, he won the Big Ten tournament by a record 11 strokes.

After college, Kevin has made three starts on the Nationwide Tour. The Nationwide Tour is the minor league of professional golf and is considered a proving ground for the PGA Tour's up-and-coming stars. This week, Kevin got a promotion: a sponsor's exemption to play in his first PGA Tour event.

Kevin's story is absolutely incredible. He is mature, focused and has a great sense of humour. It is great that he is getting this opportunity to play on the PGA Tour.

Kevin was set to tee off for his first round today at 2:30EST. However, there are thunderstorms in the area and play has been suspended. I will update this post as his scored are posted on the Internet.

For more about Kevin, check out these stories: PGATour.Com, Fox Sports.

Update: The inclement weather persisted throughout the day Thursday and kept Kevin off the course. He will begin his first round sometime tomorrow morning. More as it is available.

Update 2: Kevin has finally started to play. He is 1 under par after 7 holes. He will play 36 holes today to make up for the cancellation yesterday. I will keep this space updated. You can also check here for a live scoreboard.

Update 3: Kevin finished his first round at 2 under par, tied for 35th! What a great start! He is set to tee off for his second round shortly. I will keep everyone posted.

Update 4: Kevin finished his second round. He shot 4 over par which brings him to plus 2 for the tournament. Not all the players have finished two rounds (due to the weather) but Kevin is currently tied for 114. The top 70 players and ties will make the cut. Although not everyone has completed their second round play, it does not look like Kevin will make the cut. I will keep you posted.

Patriot Act

Sadly, tonight the House of Representatives has agreed to reauthorize the USA PATRIOT Act. In the process of reauthorizing the act, House leadership prevented any ammendments from being considered that may have been received favorably by the members -- they failed to give ammendments a "simple up or down vote" -- something that Bush wants for his judicial nominees (as recorded in a May 9th statement).

For the record, I have recently borrowed the following books:
Next Generation Mobile Systems,
The Theory of Games and
Introduction to Control Theory.
Additionally, I have recently purchased the following books:
The Art of Mingling, and
24 Days.

They can get it anyways, why not save them the trouble?

For your information, the USA PATRIOT act is actually an acronym. It stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism. So put that on your docket and legislate!

Here is the result of the roll call vote on H.R. 3199: USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act. Find your representative in the record. If they are listed under the AYES, please contact them and find out WHY!

In the above document, names of democrats are listed in italics. Everyone knows that when printed in italics, letters slant to the right. So, I humbly ask why the names of the republicans aren't listed in italics?

The ACLU has already released a statement expressing their disappoinment with the decision to reauthorize the USA PATRIOT Act.

Ah yes, can you smell the freedom?

Flash is Evil

I think that we all agree: Flash is evil and should never be used on the web.

Or do we?

Kevin Lynch, the chief software architect for Macromedia, takes exception and believes that Flash can be "the platform for creating web content. (ref)"

Allow me to quote the best line of the article:

Every time you see some slick graphics on a website changing without the whole page reloading, Flash is likely involved.

Does that mean that Google Maps is written in Flash?

Rove Story Has Legs

Wow. I can now breath a sigh of relief. When President Bush announced his nominee to the Supreme Court many believed that the Rove story may be gone. Bush's timing could not have been better if his intention was to take the pressure off of his friend and advisor Karl Rove.

Fortunately, media outlets are not giving up so easily. The Washington Post is now answering the question that everyone is asking: Was Valerie Plame's identity actively being protected by the government at the time of the leak?

If the answer is yes, then whoever knowingly leaked that information could be held criminally liable and serve up to 10 years in prison. If the answer is no, then the person resposible for the leak can only be thought to have acted unethically.

The Post's answer is YES: Valerie Plame's identity was being protected by the US Government at the time of the leak. This information comes from a source describing the original memo that linked Plame to Joe Wilson. I covered this memo earlier. In the memo, the paragraph that identified Valerie Plame was marked with an "S", for secret (who'd have guessed S meant secret?!).

From the Post article,

[a]nyone reading that paragraph should have been aware that it contained secret information, though that designation was not specifically attached to Plame's name and did not describe her status as covert, the sources said.

Well, the only thing left to determine with certainty is how Karl Rove learned Plame's identity. Was Rove telling the truth when he testified to having learned Plame's identity from journalists? Or, did Rove learn about Plame as a result of this memo? I have my opinions, but I want to hear yours!

John Roberts Nomination

In 2003, President Bush nominated John Roberts to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. He was confirmed and, as previously reported, heard some very interesting cases.

Roberts' nomination was received by the Senate on January 7, 2003. He was confirmed by a voice vote on May 8, 2003. Because he was confirmed by a voice vote, there are no records as to which Senators voted against his confirmation. In total, his confirmation took 4 months.

Between 1992 and 2003, John Roberts was nominated to the D.C Circuit Court on three separate occassions. Each of these nominations was returned to the President under "the provisions of Senate Rule XXXI, paragraph 6 of the Standing Rules of the Senate". This rule is as follows:

Nominations neither confirmed nor rejected during the session at which they are made shall not be acted upon at any succeeding session without being again made to the Senate by the President; and if the Senate shall adjourn or take a recess for more than thirty days, all nominations pending and not finally acted upon at the time of taking such adjournment or recess shall be returned by the Secretary to the President, and shall not again be considered unless they shall again be made to the Senate by the President. (ref)

According to CNN, his nomination in 1992 "did not come up for a vote in the Democratic-controlled Senate before the White House changed hands in January 1993." Once President Clinton took office in 1993, he nominated Judith Rogers to the court in place of Mr. Roberts. Rogers, a graduate of the University of Virginia law school, was confirmed on March 10th, 1994.

There is no explanation provided for the failure of Roberts' other two nominations.

Since the THOMAS system does not allow for easy linking, clicking the following button is the only way to quickly access the records for Mr. Roberts' nominations.

John Roberts Overview (Updated)

President Bush just announced his nominee for the Supreme Court. Reaction has been mixed based upon his limited judicial experience and his reluctance to answer certain questions posed during his previous confirmation experience. Here's more:

Bio (from here)

Judge Roberts was confirmed by the Senate to a judgeship on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on May 8, 2003, and sworn in on June 2 by Chief Justice Rehnquist. Judge Roberts graduated from Harvard College in 1976, and received his law degree in 1979 from Harvard Law School. Following graduation from law school, he served as law clerk for Judge Henry J. Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the following year to then-Associate Justice Rehnquist of the Supreme Court of the United States. Judge Roberts served as Special Assistant to United States Attorney General William French Smith from 1981 to 1982 and Associate Counsel to President Ronald Reagan from 1982 to 1986. He then joined Hogan & Hartson where he developed a civil litigation practice, with an emphasis on appellate matters. From 1989 to 1993 he served as Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States. He returned to Hogan & Hartson in 1993. At the time of his confirmation, Judge Roberts was the senior partner in charge of Hogan & Hartson's appellate practice. He is a member of the American Law Institute and the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

USA v. Microsoft
He argued for the United States against Microsoft in early 2001. Microsoft was appealing the district ruling that they violated the Sherman Act. Here is an overview of the case:

Microsoft Corporation appeals from judg-
ments of the District Court finding the company in violation
of ss 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act and ordering various
remedies.

Fox Television v. FCC
It also appears that he joined in support of Fox Television Stations, Inc. in their quest to overturn the National Television Station Ownership rule and the Cable/Broadcast Cross-Ownership rule. As I understand it, the NTSO rule prohibited any station from owning assets that would reach above 35% of the national audience. "The CBCO Rule prohibits a cable television system from carrying the signal of any television broadcast station if the system owns a broadcast station in the same local market (ref)."

The official summary of the case is as follows:

F.C.C.'s decision not to repeal or to modify the National Television Station Ownership rule was arbitrary, where it could not show why the rule is necessary to the public interest, and therefore was in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act; and its decision to retain the Cable/Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rule was arbitrary where it failed to justify its retention of the rule as necessary to safeguard competition.(from findlaw)

The current media rules, as a result of this ruling and Roberts' arguments can be found here.

RIAA v. Verizon
Roberts was a judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals when they heard an appeal on the RIAA v. Verizon Internet Services case. "This case concerns the Recording Industry Association of America's use of the subpoena provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ... to identify users the RIAA believes are infringing on the copyrights of its members.(ref)."
Specifically, the RIAA demanded that Verizon disclose information about the identities of susbscribers who were involved with trading Mp3s. Verizon refused to comply on the grounds that they are merely acting as a "conduit" for information and are in no way responsible for the actions of its users.
During arguments,

One of the judges, John Roberts, questioned whether Verizon should have been forced to turn over the names without the RIAA having to file a lawsuit. Roberts hypothesized that if someone entered his open library door, "that doesn't make me liable for copyright infringement." But Roberts also added that the case concerned a man who made 600 copyrighted works available. "Is there any legitimate purpose for making available for copying 600 copyrighted works?" the judge asked.(ref)

Roberts and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals eventually agreed that Verizon Internet Services was not responsible for disseminating such information about its subscribers. This decision was eventually upheld, indirectly, by the Supreme Court's refusal to hear the case. This was one of the earliest decisions establishing the limits of the otherwise tyrannical DMCA. More information about the case can be found at the EFF here.

Update: I found this article as a link on lostremote.com. It goes into detail about some recent cases that Judge Roberts has presided over on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Unfortunately, there appears to be a few problems with the articles. At one point, the author refers to the nominee as Rogers. His name is not Rogers, it's Roberts. In the article, the author refers to Roberts' involvement with the "broadcast flag" and Northpoint Satellite case. However, Rogers was on the three-judge panel for both of those cases and not Roberts. More information on those cases can be found here and here, respectively. I have called the author to determine the nature of the misunderstanding (either his or mine, the latter more likely than the former).

Update 2: The article linked to above (relinked here) has been quickly corrected. The cases heard by Rogers and Roberts are now acurately identified. The B&C author should be commended for that quick fix.

Gates Baffled

Well, Bill Gates is baffled and he's not afraid to admit it. He can't figure out why more kids aren't studying the computer sciences! Even if high salaries and job opportunities for college-educated computer scientists aren't well publicized, Gates believes that since kids use technology they should be interested in studying it!

While I generally believe this is true, I use cars every day but I am not at all interested in studying how they work. Also, I use the weather report everyday, but I know nothing about how a forecaster does his job, nor am I at all interested in learning meteorology. Further, I spend much of my day sleeping and, for the record, I have no plans to become a sleep therapist!

I think that the information revolution is at hand. People are going be very interested in using the technology to advance their own lot, but I don't think that translates directly into recruiting people who are driven to improve or study computer science. During the industrial revolution, factory owners harnessed the technology to improve their output. However, these factory owners didn't quit their jobs to study industrial processes at the local university.

Also, many kids go through high school without much exposure to the computer sciences. As mentioned on this blog previously, computer science classes are being cut from the high school curriculum due to a shortage of funding.

Given this, there is going to be a major shortage of American-educated tech workers in the near future. This is only going to increase the amount of off-shoring. Once people see this, they are going to be less likely to encourage their kids to enter the field of computer science at college or technical school. This will only serve to increase the need for off-shoring yet again. Do you see the negative feedback loop we can create?

Something needs to be done to correct this sooner rather than later. Thoughts?

Supreme Court Nominee Announced

It was just announced, moments after 1pm, that President Bush would announce his nominee for the Supreme Court at 9pm this evening. I have not yet been contacted by the President to congratulate me on the nomination. However, I do expect that call to come anytime now. Listen for my name in the news later tonight.

Backstory: First, second.

Update: Well, the fairy tale is over. At 8pm tonight, a White House source told the news networks that the President's nominee will be Judge John Roberts Jr. Better luck next time!

Most Stolen Cars

Do you leave your car doors unlocked? Do you think to yourself, "No would want to steal my car."? Either way, you better check out this list to see if you car is highly prized by thieves.

Topping the most stolen list is the Acura Integra. Officials say the car is popular among evil-doers for two reasons. First, the car's engine is quite powerful and can be fitted under the hood of other Honda cars. Second, the car is common among street racers. Once racers customize their cars for speed, others will do anything to get their hands on it. Speaking of which, how do you transfer the title for a stolen car?

Cars just outside the top 25 include:
26: Plymouth Horizon
27: Dodge Dart
28: Amphicar
29: Chevy El Camino (It's a car and a truck!)
30: Ford Pinto

In a related story, I was once questioned by police because they thought I was trying to steal cars. It's a long story, but suffice it to say that just because you are sneaking around a carport late at night with a screwdriver in your pocket does not necessarily mean that you are intent upon boosting cars.

You never know when you might need to tighten a screw during a late night game of hide and seek, right?

Put some ICE on it

In case of emergency, who would you want rescuers to call?

In Britain, promoters of the ICE (In Case of Emergency) initiative are urging cell phone users to place the acronym ICE in their address book to designate people to be contacted in case of emergency.

In a life-or-death situation, EMTs may need to contact someone who is aware of the victim's medical history or treatment status. Paramedics may waste crucial time dialing address book entries searching for someone who can answer the following:
Should we try to resuscitate? Is this person allergic to emergency medicines? Is there a history of heart attacks or high blood pressure? In the case of a traffic accident, is there someone traveling with this person that may need to be rescued as well?

These are just some of the questions that rescuers hope can be answered by ICE designees during an emergency. Participation in the program is simple: attach ICE before the address book entries of people that you want to be contacted during an emergency. For example, instead of "Dad" use "ICE - Dad".

Of course, if your cell phone is stolen, thieves could use this information to uncover information about your relatives or, indirectly, more information about you. Downsides like this are absolutely not going to deter me from using this simple, but potentially very helpful, tactic.

From my year's in the ER, quick access to a person that is able to provide detailed information about a victim is invaluable. This is just another way that current technology can be used to make a major, positive impact on our safety!

Terror Report

Today two leading British think tanks released a report saying that the war in Iraq has given "a boost to the al Qaeda network's propaganda, recruitment and fund-raising".

I hope that report was cheap to commission because for $10, or the equivalent in coffee, I could have told you the very same thing.

According to a CNN.com quickvote attached to the above story, 80% of 13817 respondents believe that Britain's involvement with the United States in the war on terror (including Iraq -- I know it's a stretch) has made it more of a terrorist target.

Sandra Bullock Marries

According to reports, Sandra Bullock married Jesse James. James is the star engineer and designer on the Discovery Channel show "Monster Garage".

The pair arrived in style -- a tricked out truck driven by Mr. James.

Does this pave the way for "Speed 3: Terror on Two Wheels"? You heard it here first.

Wedding Crashers Review

We got the posse together and saw Wedding Crashers last night. Given the cast and the premise, I had high hopes.

I was not disappointed. Vince Vaughn straps the movie on his back and carries it. His character is almost exactly like every other character he has ever played: fast talking, quick witted, charming and absolutely hysterical. When you have a winning pony, why ride a horse?

The movie featured three (3) tear-jerker moments. These aren't sentimental or sad tears. Oh no, these were tears of laughter.

As I like to say, the plot tended to interfere with the movie. There were several unfortunate minutes of actual character development and storyline.

There is a surprise cameo near the end of the movie. I won't ruin the surprise, but I have very strong, negative feelings for this actor. His role, which lasted for a matter of minutes, was almost enough to destroy the movie. This performer's negative vibe was countered by a surprisingly funny performance by Christopher Walken. So, it all worked out!

I'm giving it an A. I'll be seeing it again this week!

Did you see it? Tell me what you thought! Use the comments or email realwasteoftime@gmail.com.

Karl, Karl, Karl (Updated)

The Republicans claim that Rove is in the clear. The Democrats are backing down. What will happen to our (anti)hero?

In an article in this week's Time magazine, Cooper claims that Rove was the first person to tell him that Wilson's wife was a CIA agent. The article does confirm that Plame's identity was not common knowledge in the media circles as Rove would have wanted us to believe.

There are other very interesting tidbits in the above article. Here are my favorites:

Time correspondent Matthew Cooper said he told a grand jury last week that Rove told him the woman worked at the "agency," or CIA, on weapons of mass destruction issues, and ended the call by saying "I've already said too much."

Was it through my conversation with Rove that I learned for the first time that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and may have been responsible for sending him? Yes.

Rove's credibility "is in shreds," said [former White House Chief of Staff] Podesta, who appeared ... [on "Meet The Press"].

Back in reality, what do you think Rove's punishment will be?

Update: Despite the Republican's gloating, Fitzgerald's investigation has not yet concluded that Rove learned Plame's identity from the media. Another anonymous source has stepped forward and "said Sunday that Rove learned about the CIA officer either from the media or from someone in government who said the information came from a journalist (ref)."

Imagine this game of Telephone in the halls of the West Wing:
Source: "I read that confidential memo and it said Plame was undercover and married to Wilson, pass it on!"
Rove: "Wilson's wife works for the agency, she's not covert and I learned that from the media, pass it on!"

Obviously Karl Rove went to preschool with me because all of my games of Telephone went like this:
First Student: Puppies are cute, pass it on.
Rove: I hate dogs and Will wets the bed!

UNFAIR!

Update 2: Today President Bush changed his mind. Previously the President said that he would fire anyone who was said to have leaked the name of a CIA operative. Now, however, he claims that he will fire anyone found to be criminally responsible for leaking the name of a CIA operative. This shift seems to signal that he concedes that Rove was one of the leakers. During today's briefing, the White House press corps was all over Scott McClellan pushing him to clarify the change in Bush's statement. McClellan refused to clarify and urged reporters to avoid reading anything into the comments that isn't there.

Habitat for Humanity

Once the Ironman mania faded, I realized that I would have plenty of time on my hands during the long Summer here in Charlottesville.

I have used the extra time to ponder my future. I realized that computer science is not as good a way to help society as I once had imagined. So, in parallel with my newfound interest in cooking, I decided upon a plan of action that would allow me to give something back to the community.

The idea was simple enough: provide free food to volunteer organizations. I have had plenty of interactions with volunteer groups and events in High School. My mom was always active in these groups and was a specialist in tracking down food to feed the volunteers. She always had a difficult time finding restuarants to donate. So, why not create a volunteer organization that would do this very thing?

Obviously embarking on the volunteer catering journey would require lots of overhead in terms of people and capital. People would be needed to prepare the food and deliver it and money would be needed to purchase the raw goods.

I decided to start small. I contacted the local Habitat for Humanity office and asked if they were looking for people to donate food for their Saturday builds. The volunteer coordinator was thrilled at the offer and set me up with this Saturday's build in downtown Charlottesville.

I was told to expect around 15-20 people. Last night, Amanda and I went to Harris Teeter to purchase the goods. We bought the following:
1.5 lbs of turkey and ham
2 loaves of bread
2 bags of chips (regular and bbq)
1 bag of pretzels
8 regular and 8 diet Cokes
24 bottles of water
2 green peppers
2 heads of lettuce
1 onion
2 tomatoes
3 cucumbers
1 bag of baby carrots
2 sticks of slice-and-bake cookies
and 2 stalks of celery.

We also bought plastic serving and sandwich plates. We spent about 1.5 hrs preparing the food for consumption: chopping, baking, and slicing. All of the food was displayed on the plastic presentation plates, stored in 2.5 galloon ziploc bags and refrigerated.

Note: Even refrigerated, veggies will significantly damage the structure of plastic plates if left sitting overnight. The plates won't be completely limp in the morning, but beware!

I called this morning to make sure that the build was still on. There was some rain in the area all week and I didn't want everything to have been cancelled when I arrived. While I was talking with the site coordinator, I could hear lots of hammers and power tools in the background. It sounded like lots of people doing lots of work. The site coordinator told me that they had "lots of people who were going to be hungry!"

Uh oh! I was worried that our 15-20 person estimate might be completely off. Would I have enough food? Would the people enjoy the food? I got really worried. I made a plan to deliver what I had and then travel back to the store to buy additional supplies if necessary.

All the worrying was for not.

When I arrived several volunteers helped me carry the food to a shady place and several others setup makeshift tables with corkboard and sawhorses.

These people ate like they hadn't seen food in months. It was great. Everyone was thankful for the free food. Several volunteers told me that when food is provided they normally have "bologna on white bread." Several others commented that they loved having cool veggies on a hot day. Everyone loved the water and some were glad to have the sugar of a regular or diet Coke.

I blamed the varied food selection on a girlfriend with peculiar eating habits. I said that she made me aware that not everyone enjoys lunch meat and that there should be a vegeterian option. That's a good lesson for anyone out there preparing food for a large group: everyone eats differently -- be prepared!

Several interesting observations from the day:
1. The wheat bread was gone almost immediately. People reluctantly took the white bread as a second choice.
2. The chocolate chip cookies went quickly and the sugar cookies were almost untouched.
3. People loved the cucumbers but reacted mildly to the green peppers.
4. Only 1 person ate more than one sandwich.
5. People loved having the water available. Few people drank the pop.

I was very glad to be able to help and the volunteers were very thankful for the food. I, however, was doing very little. They were the ones actually pounding, drilling, cutting and building a house for a family. Everyone plays a role in Habitat, but I can tell you that nothing would get done without those doing the physical work!

Hopefully there will be more opportunities for volunteer catering in the future!

New Rove Information

According to yet another anonymous leak, Karl Rove emailed a top ranking security official about his conversation with Time reporter Matthew Cooper.

Republicans are hailing this as an exoneration of Karl Rove. However, I don't think it is that clear.

This portion of the email from Rove to Stephen Hadley, then deputy National Security Advisor, was obtained by the Associated Press:

"Matt Cooper called to give me a heads-up that he's got a welfare reform story coming. When he finished his brief heads-up he immediately launched into Niger. Isn't this damaging? Hasn't the president been hurt? I didn't take the bait, but I said if I were him I wouldn't get Time far out in front on this."

As a reminder, here is how Cooper characterized that same conversation in an email to his editor:

it was, KR said, wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on wmd [weapons of mass destruction] issues who authorized the trip.

So, if you are following closely, someone is lying. Either Cooper heard something that Rove didn't say or Rove said something that he isn't reporting to Hadley.

Either way, this isn't over.

Update: The media has learned more about the memo that may have been the source of Valerie Plame's identification and her link to Wilson's trip to Africa. According to the article, the memo may have been delivered to Colin Powell while aboard Air Force One on or around July 7, 2003. The question being asked by Fitzgerald is, "who saw the memo?" Likely viewers include Ari Fleischer and other top administration officials who were onboard the flying White House at the time.

Interesting Rove Twist

This article from the AP describes Karl Rove's testimony to the grand jury. The AP learned this information from a source that was briefed about Mr. Rove's testimony. Their identity will remain a secret since it is illegal to discuss testimony given to a grand jury.

I think that there are two interesting aspects to the portions of his testimony revealed in the above article. First, Rove claims that he had no inside information about Valerie Plame's identity. He testified that he learned about her true identity and covert status from people in the media. Only after hearing about it in the journalistic rumour mill did he pass it along to Matthew Cooper. Second, Rove admits that he told Time reporter Matt Cooper that Wilson's wife was a CIA operative "in an effort to discredit some of Wilson's allegations".

What happens now?

Update: This article from the New York Times has more on Rove's grand jury testimony from that same, anonymous, source. In this article, it is reported that Mr. Rove was the second source for Robert Novak's column that outed Valerie Plame. According to the source, Rove testified that Mr. Novak called him and told him about Valerie Plame and her connection with Wilson. Rove responded, "I heard that too." With Rove's confirmation, Novak had the much needed second confirmation and could source the story to a "senior administration official".

The New York Times article also reminds readers of a time when Karl Rove was fired from the Texas campaign to reelect President Bush in 1992 for leaking information about campaign fundraising weaknesses to Robert Novak. Both deny that Rove was involved with the leak.

With the identification of actual grand jury testimony, the White House is in a very difficult position. I will grant that Rove may not have used his security clearance to uncover Valerie Plame's operative status. But, given his position in the administration, his confirmation to Novak certainly added authority to the rumours about Wilson's wife. Without a second, high-level confirmation, Novak may never have been able to get that story past his editors.

There is no denying that he had something to do with the leak. Will Bush follow through on that promise?

Update 2: It appears that my conjecture was correct. An attorney for Rove has confirmed that Robert Novak used Rove as a second source for his article.

White House senior adviser Karl Rove indirectly confirmed the CIA affiliation of an administration critic's wife for Robert D. Novak the week before the columnist named her and revealed her position, a lawyer involved in the case said last night. (ref)

Karl Rove Documents Du Jour (Updated)

Since I know that you are all very busy people, I have decided to aggregate all of the day's documents pertaining to Karl Rove.

1. This "memo" entitled "Joe Wilson's Top Ten Inaccuracies and Misstatements" details what the Republicans believe to be lies spoken by Joe Wilson. Along with each lie is a statement or document reference that, apparently, proves he lied.
2. Rep. Rush Holt of New Jersey, introduced this resolution to commission an independent investigation into the allegations that Karl Rove was the leaker. It calls for a complete dump of all White House documents pertaining to the allegations within 14 days of adoption.
3.Sen. Reid introduced an ammendment to the DHS appropriations bill that would revoke the security clearance from any person who leaks the name of a covert operative.
4. Senator Schumer of New York sent a letter to Chief of Staff Andy Card demanding that the information available as a result of the current investigation be released immediately. He also urged that a new investigation be started regarding the inconsistencies in the information made public by the White House.

This CNN article gives a good rundown of the day's events as well.

Update: I have linked to the text of the ammendment submitted by Sen. Reid. This ammendment was defeated by a vote of 44 to 53.

Michelle Wie Advances

Cincinnati is hosting this year's USGA Amateur Public Links Championship. The championship was last held in Cincinnati in 1987 when it was played at Glenview Golf Course (ref).

What is more exciting than the tournament's return to Cincinnati? I'll tell you: Michelle Wie playing in that very tournament. Along with Anika Sorenstam, Wie is helping women break through gender barriers on the professional golf circuit. This time, she is competing with the men for the title of Amateur Public Links Champion and a place in next year's Masters.

She played just well enough on Monday to qualify for the match play, or head-to-head, portion of the tournament. In her first round match, she barely beat a recent Auburn graduate Will Claxton.

But, in the second round of match play, Wie dispensed with her competition quickly. Winning 6 and 5 over C.D. Hockersmith, Wie showed her ability to play with the men.

Note: Winning 6 and 5 means that Wie was leading the match by 6 holes with 5 holes remaining. In match play, you win a hole when your score is strictly less than your opponents. In the case of matching scores, the hole is halved.

Once and for all, her play today and Anika's play in the past should make it fairly evident that girls can play with the guys. If there is anyone left who doubts that, they are just worried about being beaten by a girl. Suck it up fellas.

Update: I fixed the typo in the opening line.

Update 2: Wie played her 3rd round match this afternoon. She continued her domination of male players by winning 3 and 1 win over Jim Renner. She is now only three match play victories away from a likely invitation to the Masters. She will play again tomorrow morning. More about the controversy of such an invitation if and when she wins the tournament.

Update 3: Wie will not be advancing any further. This morning Clay Ogden defeated Michelle Wie 5 and 4. Despite the loss, Wie has demonstrated that she can play with anyone. This was an open tournament. To gain her spot she competed on the same course, under the same conditions as everyone else. There were no sponsor's exemptions. What's your excuse now Mark Hensby?

Lost Picture

I was searching through my "Trash" (aka "Recycle Bin" in Windows) tonight and happened across this great photograph.



This was taken during a trip to the Greenville Zoo in the Spring of my Senior year at Furman. It was so hot that day, but we had a great time. We got to see turtles (they were a hundred years old if they were a day),baboons and zebras. Plus, Amanda was there.

Baboons or Amanda? It's close, but I know what I would choose!

Protection from DHS

On Monday, Senator Byrd introduced S.AMDT.1120 as an ammendment to the DHS appropriations bill. This ammendment, written by Sen. Feingold, makes "reports to Congress on Department of Homeland Security use of data-mining" mandatory. Senators Corzine, Leahy, and Sununu were cosponsors.

These reports include, but are not limited to,
1. a description of the technology used,
2. a description of the goals for data analysis,
3. an analysis of the impact on civil liberties and privacy, and
4. a description of the policies and safeguards that are in place to ensure the privacy and accuracy of data. The ammendment also specifies that the text of these reports must be made public.

The full text of the ammendment can be found here. The ammendment was approved by unanimous consent in the Senate yesterday. The bill as a whole will be voted on by the end of this week or early next week (ref).

Everyone knows that there are myriad ways the government collects, stores and analyzes data inappropriately. The Pentagon's "marketing" database is the most recent example. Such gross misuses and mishandling of that data will not be corrected overnight. However, ammendments like this are a good sign that legislators are stepping up, where possible, to protect our rights.

Linux Clean

Reposts from Slashdot are not normally my cup of tea, but this one is just too good to pass up.

The fine investigative reporting at Groklaw has revealed an email that was sent in 2002 to the CEO of SCO. This email reports on an extensive audit of the Linux source code. The audit was commissioned by SCO in hopes that copyright violations would be found to validate their claims and support legal action. Unfortunately, the auditor couldn't find any violations.

For those of you who are not abreast of news in the software community, SCO has been pursuing copyright infringement claims against Linux. SCO believes that there are cases where code that it owns was copied verbatim into Linux. Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux, has long maintained that the Linux code was clean.

SCO's case against Linux was already weak. Attorneys supporting Linux from Red Hat and IBM have done an excellent job of fighting the lawsuit. This may be just the evidence they need to ensure that the lawsuit finally be dismissed.

Proud to be a Democrat

In pursuit of the best gossip about Karl Rove, I happened upon this New York Times article. According to the article, Democrats were preparing an amendment to a DHS spending bill that would revoke security clearance from any person who discloses the name of a CIA operative. While not specifically naming Rove, there is little doubt as to the reason for this proposed rider.

All that is boring compared to this nugget in the second paragraph:

The Democrats hoped to attach the measure to a spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security. Should the maneuver succeed, and Republicans then resist the overall bill, Democrats could portray them as trying to block legislation vital to national security.

That is why I am proud to be a Democrat. We are finally starting to play the games that have been used successfully by Republicans to gain their current stranglehold on the country.

I've never been one to lead the pack and this certainly falls under the "if you can't beat them, join them" or "better late than never" category.

Watch out O'Reilly. For their next trick, Democrats are going to learn how to couple absolute stupidity, intolerance and shouting to advance their agenda. You'll really be in trouble!

So proud.

Update: A link to the ammendment text was added. Please note that the ammendment was defeated 44 to 53.

Hood Sliding like Bo Duke

Original Dukes of Hazzard actor Ben "Cooter" Jones is urging fans of the original series not to see the move remake.

Why is the former Georgia congressman telling fans to pass?

It's one thing to do whatever movie they want to do, but to take a classic family show and do that is like taking 'I Love Lucy' and making her a crackhead or something. (ref)

Really, that seems like a pretty lame excuse! The original show was hardly aimed towards the family with Daisy strutting her stuff in shorts that barely covered her cheeks.

If they wanted it to be a family show, they would have put Daisy in a long skirt and parka -- at least something compatible with the Bob Jones University dress code. Also, they would never have allowed her character to use sexual allure as a means to an end.

According to the above quoted article, Jones owns Cooter's Place -- a store where show memorabilia can be purchased. The article does not say, but I would assume that Jones was not asked to be a part of the remake.

Sounds like sour grapes to me.

XM Radio

As you may know, today I drove back to Charlottesville from Cincinnati today. That's about an 8 hour drive. A majority of the trip is spent in areas with little or no AM/FM reception. As a matter of fact, my cell phone doesn't even work for most of the trip.

I was facing the trip with a dead iPod battery was dead and I didn't know what to do. With departure imminent, I happened upon an ad for a satellite radio receiver from Best Buy. At $49, how could I not try it?

I have had some chance to listen to XM radio in the past and really enjoyed it. Of particular interest are their news services. They offer CNN, Fox News, BBC, MSNBC, CNBC, ESPNRadio, ESPNews, Air America and more. Since today was supposed to be the return to flight of the shuttle, I had a particular interest in staying abreast of the news while in the car. So, I decided to go with XM instead of Sirius.

Again, for the price of a tank of gas, I found a way to dip my toes into the water of satellite radio. For me, XM radio turned out to be one of those things that you stumble upon and wonder how you ever did without. With XM radio, my 8 hours in the car almost flew by. I was able to hear the coverage of the shuttle "scrub" as well as commentary and updates on the Karl Rove situation.

I was without coverage for a total of 1 or 2 minutes during the entire 8 hours. Of course, the signal would always fade right when I was listening to a good story or a catchy tune. Even with these slight imperfections in coverage, the car ride today has made me a huge XM fan.

If you want to try XM on the cheap, I definitely recommnend the Roady2 receiver. Like I mentioned earlier, it is available from Best Buy for about $49. Of course, to listen to XM there is a monthly fee. The price per month varies depending on how far in advance you commit to the service. I am going "month-to-month" and paying extra for that lack of commitment -- about $13 per month.

XM will not entirely change what I listen to in the car. I still plan to download Bob and Tom to my iPod every morning and listen to that whenever possible. But, for road trips where my iPod is not available or when there are no new Bob and Tom shows available, XM radio is my goto technology!

My Supreme Court Nomination

Following up on an earlier post, it appears that my nomination to the Supreme Court is going well.

Just today, in remarks to the press, President Bush had this to say about the nomination process:

We're considering all kinds of people -- judges, non-judges.

(emphasis mine)

He should have just said "graduate students" because we all know that's what he really meant.

Daily Rove Update

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan was subjected to another full day of questions about Karl Rove's involvement in the leak of Valerie Plame's identity.

Like yesterday, McClellan refused to comment on the basis that any response from the White House might jeopordize the grand jury investigation. As reporters properly pointed out, in 2003, when the investigation was ongoing, McClellan responded to identical questions about Karl Rove's involvement. His response was an absolute denial of involvement by Karl Rove.

Now that information has come to light that may implicate Karl Rove in the leak, the White House has decided to "respect" the grand jury investigation by not commenting.

Sounds like President Bush would group McClellan and Sen. John Kerry in the same group: FLIP FLOPPERS!

Read more about the long day in the White House press room here and here.

News Websites

Why can't anyone design a news website that doesn't suck?

I am not a usability expert and I am definitely not Jakob Nielsen, but I am a news junkie and I know what I want. I know that when I go to a news site, I want the headlines there for me to read. Obviously, breaking news should be displayed prominently when it is appropriate.

With the proliferation of broadband, I would also enjoy being able to watch video clips when the subject of the story cannot properly be conveyed through text. For instance, a story about the wrath of a hurricane would be nice to watch rather than read. I do not, however, want to be bombarded with thumbnails from these video stories. No icon-sized screen capture is going to make me decide to watch a video clip.

Instead of criticizing each available offering, I should tell people exactly what I want. So, here it goes:
1. Quick to load.
2. Broadband content (video/audio) should be voluntary and not mandatory.
3. Display news categories horizontally and not vertically.
4. Keep advertising free of animation or flash.
5. Keep advertising content clearly distinguishable from news content.
6. Feature the blogs.

These are just a few of the things that I think would help shape a great news site. Do you have any others?

'Charlie' Movie Premier

According to this BBC report, Britney Spears arrived at the 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' movie premier wearing a tshirt that said "I've got the golden ticket."

So far, the shirt seems fairly PG. Unfortunately, the tshirt also displays an arrow pointing from her stomach downwards. We can only imagine what that 'drrrty' girl is thinking.

Wait, that's a Christina Aguilera song. Oh, darn the confusion of those pop culture references!

Either way, I'm sure that this is what Roald Dahl imagined when he was first writing this children's novel. Ironically, it is fitting -- children throwing temper tantrums to get what they want only to have it lead to their demise. That could describe Violet Beaureguard and chewing gum or Britney Spears and publicity.

Cell Phone in NYC Tunnels

Authorities disabled cell phone service from within four tunnels leading into downtown New York City.

They first claimed that the service was disabled at the behest of law enforcement. However, that was not the case. They actually disabled the cell phone service without the blessing of the National Communication System. This is the organization that ensures communication availability during emergencies.

This just seems odd. Even the city's mayor questions the decision. If you want to keep people from planting cell-phone detonated bomb inside the tunnel, then you probably only want to disable incoming calls. But, more importantly, you have absolutely no desire to actually disable emergency cell phone communications originating from within the tunnel.

Cell phone providers have actually wired pico cells inside the tunnels to provide cell phone coverage. So, they could simply provision these base stations to only allow 911 calls through. More generally, they could lock-down these base stations to only allow outgoing calls.

Update: The Metropolitan Transportation Authority restored cell phone service in the two tunnels that it operates. Those two tunnels operated by the Port Authority are still without cell phone service.

Update 2: Cell phone service has been restored in the two tunnels operated by the Port Authority.

Karl Rove heating up

Within the last week, Karl Rove's attorney admitted that his client talked with reporters previous to Robert Novak's disclosure of Valerie Plame's identity.

Just today, however, Newsweek has published the contents of emails sent by Time reporter Cooper to his editor characterizing those conversations. Through these emails, it is plain to see that Rove identified the CIA agent.

Whether or not this admission was willful (and thus criminal) is now in the hands of the Grand Jury and investigator Fitzgerald.

The White House will not comment on this or the President's vow to fire the person responsible for the leak. Press Secretary Scott McLellan claims that commenting on the story would impede the investigation. Hysterical.

Information about the White House's refusal to comment can be found in this story. The Newsweek report disclosing the contents of the emails between Cooper and his editor can be found here.

Friends at work

You make friends with a coworker. The rumours start flying. People blog about seeing the two of you at lunch.

What is the lonely office worker to do when they want to make friends but are afraid of the social and career implications?

This article has plenty of suggestions.

Do you think that Tuba and I are dating? We do play on the same softball team! Oh my.

Charlottesville is (?) a great place to live

According to this study by CNN and Money magazine, Charlottesville is ranked as the 90th 'Best Place to Live' in America.

It seems that our town is in decline. We ranked much higher than average in property crime likelihood and much lower in education and entertainment opportunities.

The real estate agent that I worked with when I moved to UVA boasted proudly that Charlottesville was always ranked in the top 10 best places to live. She did caution me that she was not fond of that ranking. She claimed that when Charlottesville ranked that high, riff-raff were more likely to move into her beloved town.

This year, it appears that her wish was granted.

MS150 Day 2

Hello again.

I know that you were all waiting with baited breath for the update about the second day of the MS 150. My apologies for the delay.

Day 2 started quietly. We had a nice tailwind as we left the University of Dayton. That was definitely good since we had an incredible headwind going the opposite direction. For the remainder of the day, such tailwind/headwind swaps would not be present. Just my luck.

The first main challenge was my chain. It popped about three times before I could get it fixed. It happened so often that I learned how to replace the chain without getting off the bike. As long as we were going downhill I could position the chain on the ring and start pedalling. Within a few strokes the chain would be back in place. Once we got to the lunch stop we had the mechanic look at it and after he made some adjustments I had no problems with it for the rest of the day.

The hill that gave us that quick 37mph pace yesterday had to be tackled in the reverse direction. Needless to say no one scaled the beast anywhere near that downhill pace. But, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. There is something about going uphill that I really enjoy more than riding on flat ground. I think that my riding position is actually poor when going on flat surfaces. This really keeps me from getting the maximum power from my stroke. However, it would seem that once I stand up or shift to the back of the seat for a climb, my position is such that I get all the power out of each stroke. I guess I'll have to work on that.

Overall, it was a great weekend. Just about 5 hours from door-to-door both days. The weather could not have been better. There were some changes that I would have made to the course. For instance, riding through a gravel pit was probably not the best for 800 people with road tires on their bikes. But, that's just my opinion.

All told I was able to raise $425 for the National MS Society. Pledges are still welcome for those of you who are interested. The direct link to donate can be found here. Thanks to everyone who donated to support me. The people at the NMSS are wonderful and it is definitely a great cause.

How to Tell a Story

While I was stuffing my face tonight at dinner, I overheard the following story being told:

"So, when I was in Miami I got a sunburn. It was the first time that I had ever gotten a sunburn so I went to the ER. I was screaming in pain and thought I was going to die. The doctors were in the hallway laughing at me."

Dead silence.

That is how you tell a story!

MS150 Day 1

Day 1 of the MS150 is complete.

I rose on time this morning about 4:30am. I was one of the first people to get to the registration area. As a note to myself: get up at 5am next year.

The registration area was much nicer this year than last. There was plenty of space and there were no lines. Once I was registered, I settled in with some free food and coffee until race time.

I was able to meet up with the same people that I rode with last year. How crazy is that? Out of 200+ riders, I managed to find the same people two years in a row.

Cammy Dierking (local celebrity) was onhand as usual for the ride. She's recovered from her lower-extremity surgery and I believe she actually rode. Bad news, however: Steve Horstmeyer (another local celerity) did not race. He had a wedding to attend. Lame! I mean, marital bliss or bike race? Actually, I don't even think it was his wedding. And if it was, he could be late, right? No one's getting married without the groom.

Anyways, the course was completely different this year than in years past. Supposedly it was much flatter. I don't believe a bit of that, but if it makes everyone feel better to say it, then great. We hit the lunch stop (mile 35) by around 9:30am. From there it was on to the 25 mile loop.

The 25 mile loop was a special part of the course that would increase the mileage from 50 to 75. Again, this is a change from the past. Usually the standard distance is 75 miles and the extra distance is 100. This year, however, the standard distance was 50 miles and the extended "remix" was 75.

I guess the course designers figured that since those on the loop were going "above and beyond" they could make it as crazy as they wanted. The loop starts with a huge descent. We actually reached 37 mph on the way down the hill. That's probably the fastest I have ever gone on a bike. But, don't worry, you can't maintain momentum since there is a stop sign right at the bottom. Since the extra distance is a loop, you start and end in the same spot. Well, since we went down the hill to start, we had to make up that altitude somehow, right?

Well, it started with a small climb which I decided to really kill. As we crested that little gem, I got a glimpse of what was forthcoming -- an even bigger climb. So, foolishly, I put it down on that hill too. Once I reached that apex, what greeted my delirious eyes? A third climb. Oh yes, well, we must be done after three straight climbs, correct? No no. Left turn and one final climb right back to where we started.

While I was stupid to go so hard up those hills, I pleased that I had enough in the tank to do it. The group I was riding with thinned out up those hills and I ended up at the front with another guy who was riding a Softride bike. He's a cheater. That's like putting a motor on your bike.

But, we regrouped at the top and headed out for the last 15 miles. The last fifteen were devilish. The wind was strong and in our face. But, we made it.

By 12:19 I was off the bike and inside the University of Dayton welcome center.

It occurs to me that a) I have a roommate now and b) he's trying to take a nap. So, I will stop the incessant typing and let him be.

What can I say? There's 75 more tomorrow!

PS: I forgot my shoes. No shoes, no shirt, no service. I'm hungry!

MS 150

Hello there.

It was quite a day. I am trying to head to bed so that I can be rested for the first day of the MS150 tomorrow. I am going to wake up around 4:30am and leave for the race at 5:00am. Riding begins at 7:30am and I will report on my condition later tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks to all of you who sponsored me through donations and thoughts. It is an important charity and it's great fun. However, there is always the danger associated with riding a bike for those distances. So, wish me luck.

Today was a fun day. My dad and I played golf and then mom and I learned how to Kayak.

For those of you interested, we learned four different kayaking strokes. The most important is the power stroke. This, apparently, is the stroke that will get you from point A to point B the quickest. In my case, the power stroke is the fastest way to get you from point A to point C to point D and finally to point B.

To steer, there are the sweep and brace stroke. Finally, there is the brake stroke.

Getting in and out of the craft are by far the most difficult parts of the entire kayak operation. My mom and I both had our fair share of difficulty. She had to request help because of a shoulder "injury". I toughed it out. I guess I should say that I tried to tough it out. To successfully emerge from the vessel, I did require assistance from Mom. Almost an hour of maneuvering and I was only a little wet. Hopefully there will be time for kayak adventures in the future.

Stay tuned for race updates tomorrow.