Archive for November, 2006

X-Plane’s Ultimate Realsim and FAA-Certification Semantics

Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006

I ripped off a thread from Yahoo Group X-Plane Features which I stimulated about X-Plane’s Ultimate Realsim and FAA-certification semantics. Lots of hardcore details

Links for X-Plane:

  • X-Plane Site
  • Shade Tree Micro Aviation
  • Jason Chandler’s Air.c74.net
  • Fidelity Flight Simulation Inc - MOTUS 622i Reconfigurable
  • X-Plane.org Aircraft Download
  • XPlane Freeware Project - Barry Leger’s Military Aircraft
  • Hyper-Realistic 737 download (Need login to view it)
  • Yahoo Groups - X-Plane Features - Messages
  • Tangent-Links for Orbiter. Orbiter is as good as X-Plane, but it is for orbital (planetary or solar) space flight.

  • Orbiter Site
  • Orbit Hanger Mods - Addons by Yury Kulchitsky
  • Yury Kulchitsky’s Orbiter Site
  • Dan’s Orbiter Page (Home of DeltaGlider III and OrbiterSound)
  • ************************************************************
    ************************************************************

    Hello, guys. I think I need to jump in here and correct some of the
    stuff that Matt wrote earlier, in the string that was terminated by
    Mally.

    There IS an FAA CERTIFIED version of X-Plane. This software has been
    reviewed and approved and certified by the FAA, for the following
    certifications:
    PCATD
    Basic ATD
    Advanced ATD

    The certifications are blanket certifications that require the use of
    the Certified software (available through PFC or Fideliety, $500 per
    copy) AND the certified aircraft models (come w/ the software) AND
    the certified hardware. PFC’s hardware will run between about $4,500
    and $60,000 or so. Fideliity’s hardware runs from about $125,000 to
    about $300,000 or so. Also, PFC and Fidelity are now working on
    obtaining FTD levels 1 though 6 certification. These are the final
    steps before you move upto the full Level A - D certifications that
    we’ve all heard about.

    Randy Witt
    X-Plane, Customer Service
    913-269-0976

    ************************************************************

    Are there any feature differences between the equivilant versions of
    general X-Plane, Fidelity’s FAA approved X-Plane and PFC’s FAA
    approved X-Plane version? I would think only additional
    interconnectivity with proprietary external hardware and not much else
    more more intellectual property red-tape and royalties (possibly on
    X-Plane’s end, but definitly if any proprietary hardware needs
    interfacing with), but i’m not sure. Wondering why it would be $500
    instead of $50.

    In all, is there any net difference in features and especially realism
    on running generic X-Plane vs running PFC or fidelity’s FAA-aproved
    X-Plane on a general PC or laptop (Other than not being actually FAA
    approved for training-hours)?

    ************************************************************

    Hello again. The price is because of all the red-tape that we have
    to jump through w/ the FAA to get the certification and approvals.
    The engineering and flight model is EXACTLY the same. The FAA
    Certified version ships with the special aircraft that have been
    built to the FAA standards and also have panels that have been
    specifically built to be utilized w/ the hardware.

    Randy Witt
    X-Plane Customer Service
    913-269-0976

    ************************************************************

    Excuse me if I interject a little note into this conversation. But, I
    think the point is, that if there is another version of X-Plane and that
    it is certified due to its differences from the stock program however
    minor those differences may be, is that, can it be run by an end-user?
    and at what cost? and what availability? irregardless of any special
    hardware that may be required to log flight hours. There are those
    users out there for whom the expense of a program is far outweighed by
    its potential benefits. However slight, those benefits may be. It
    appears to me that X-Plane’s customer base is primarily those
    individuals seeking the ultimate in realism. And if that ultimate is
    not achieved, then they feel that they’ve been shorted somehow. Yes,
    and I understand that the flight models are identical as well as the
    physics models. But if panels and aircraft are different than those are
    the things that should be offered to the end user. Especially the loyal
    customers who have been with X-Plane for many many years and to whom
    expense would not be as much of a deciding factor to purchase the
    software as would be consistency in realism with real-world situations.
    For myself personally, X-Plane has been a staple on my computer since
    Austin wrote the first version and offered it many many years ago and
    I’ve used it to design aircraft. Both radio controlled models [which
    have been tested and flown] and experimental home built full scale
    aircraft which have yet to take to the sky. The program has never
    failed me in that respect.

    One last note, sort of a wish list item- may be you could pass on to
    Austin. With X-Plane 8.0 and now 8.5. The program has come to the
    point where physics, flight model, terrain, road networks, and weather
    are really at an ultimate in design and function. But the one thing
    that has always been lacking in the software since the first version is
    the landscapes and by that I mean. The infrastructure, the buildings,
    the bridges, etc., especially in the larger cities. I live in the New
    York area, and I cringe every time I fly over New York City in the
    software, because nothing is where it’s supposed to be or looks as it
    should except in the area of general terrain and the road network, which
    in and of itself. I will admit is a huge improvement and something that
    the “other flight Sim game” still hasn’t gotten right!. But what a
    trump card that could be played. If all the realism of X-Plane to be
    merged with the scenery of the other program, which I’m sure you heard
    many times. As an aside, I’ll just add that from a performance
    perspective having some basic canned scenery built into the Sim.
    Especially in the largest cities would lessen the burden on the autogen
    scenery engine which would make the Sim run even faster thereby
    increasing frame rates.
    Just my thoughts.

    With regards and respect

    Jim Zane
    Chief Operating Officer
    Typhoon Servers, LLC
    typhoonservers.com

    ************************************************************

    On Nov 18, 2006, at 3:21 PM, jim wrote:

    > Excuse me if I interject a little note into this conversation. But, I
    > think the point is, that if there is another version of X-Plane and
    > that
    > it is certified due to its differences from the stock program however
    > minor those differences may be, is that, can it be run by an end-user?

    Yes. Bet even flight schools are, “end users.”
    > and at what cost?

    500$.
    > and what availability?

    Simply order it. Laminar is in business to make money, not pilots.

    > irregardless of any special
    > hardware that may be required to log flight hours.

    You mean regardless.
    > There are those
    > users out there for whom the expense of a program is far outweighed

    > and if that ultimate is
    > not achieved, then they feel that they’ve been shorted somehow.

    It is achieved. You are able to buy the equipment. It is even
    advertised on the equipment configuration menu.

    I very much want the motion platform for 25,000.

    > . But if panels and aircraft are different than those are
    > the things that should be offered to the end user.

    They are, if you pay the 500.

    I paid the 500 for AvioApp and I am very happy. Of course I have to
    use both of my computers when I fly.

    Point is, -nothing-is preventing you from making as realistic a sim
    as you wish.

    But if you do, you are going to want hardware, and when you start
    buying more than CH Yokes/pedals/Throttles, you are not going to care
    much that you have to pay the 500 dollars -if you want to use the
    thing to log official FAA training hours.

    ************************************************************

    I believe that Laminar does not actually sell the certified version, you are
    buying it off of a simulator manufacturer, and you are paying, in part, the
    developement costs of those certified aircraft (much like other plane makers
    are doing). I have seen one of the PFC simulators in action at the local
    flight shop. Check out http://www.flightmotion.com/newfixed-r.htm I also
    think if you were to obtain the software and planes for the certified
    version, what you would get at your house using the home computer would be a
    nice view out the windshield (ie. there would be no panel). In the certified
    versions, the panel is actually a seperate piece of hardware, to mimic a
    real panel, from the 1 I have seen.

    Also, if I’m not mistaken, the FAA does not certify the software, but the
    package, and all must go through the certification process together. Also,
    I remember hearing the simulator (software/hardware) had to be recertified
    every 4 months, and a full certification every year (could be wrong on this
    one).

    ************************************************************

    [Papa Mac taps out] This kinda-sorta correct. How do I know? Because
    Shade Tree Micro Aviation (STMA) is one of 2 companies making Precision
    Flight Control Inc.’s models. It’s true that the airplanes are built to FAA
    standards but then we make all of our models to FAA standards. That’s one
    of the reasons that they fly like the real deal. The big difference is in
    the panels. They are specifically designed to meet PFC’s needs with
    custom-made instruments that have been redrawn at the specific size that
    guarantees the greatest clarity on PFC’s monitors and they don’t have any
    knobs or handles because those functions are all handled in the hardware;
    and multiple models are created with engine MFD panels and/or copilots
    panels because the larger simulators run multiple copies of X-Plane so that
    the entire cockpit as well as external visuals can be viewed simultaneously.

    -Jim
    Shade Tree Micro Aviation (http://shadetreemicro.com)
    papamac@…

    The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his
    tongue. -Anonymous

    ************************************************************

    Re: X-Plane and FAA Certification

    Do the aircraft in the FAA certified (Fidelity/PFC) X-Planes have
    substantial extra quality for substantially enhance realism (over the
    consumer-version stock aircraft or non-FAA premium-pay aircraft like
    air.c74.net) or is it just FAA red-tape with no net realism
    improvement and panel code-modules for interacting with proprietary
    hardware (XPlaneFreeware’s 737 addon has code modules for enhanceing
    realism further)?

    ************************************************************

    Hi again, guys. The aircraft that have been developed for the FAA
    have full screen instument panels that have been set up to meet the
    FARs. Thus, there is more room to both enlarge the instruments and
    also to add and improve the fidelity of supplemental gauges, like oil
    pressure, oil temperature and things like that. Yes, the aircraft
    have been specifically designed to be more realistic and to offer
    better flight experiences than the aircraft that are available for
    free or peanuts through the retail chains. Does that mean that ALL
    of the FAA Cert. airplanes that are being distributed by PFC and
    Fidelity are better than ALL of the retail aircraft that are
    available. NO, not at all. There are certainly some very well built
    retail aircraft that are commercially available that fly as good as,
    or more accurately than the high dollar aircraft.

    Additionally, keep in mind that the FAA certification does not allow
    the pilot to interact w/ aircraft via the mouse. He / She must turn
    actual knobs to tune radios and set his CDI and HSI and barometric
    pressure, etc. Thus, the FAA Certified aircraft have been built with
    this in mind.

    Randy Witt
    X-Plane, Customer Support.
    913-269-0976

    ************************************************************

    On of the things my brother is constantly saying to me is that, “one
    doesn’t fly a plane with a keyboard and mouse. The positioning and
    operation of the kobs and buttons is a strict science called
    ergonomics, and modern day planes are designed for optimal pilot-
    cockpit integration. That is why one must turn the heading knob in
    the FAA certified versions instead of clicking the mous on the panel
    region on a screen.

    In order to get more realism out of x-plane, you have to add hardware
    and extra cockpit/scenery screens.
    ej

    ************************************************************

    Re: X-Plane and FAA Certification

    I realize this doesn’t apply to the FAA certification of x-plane, but
    we are actually alot closer to mouse controlled displays then you
    think.. This system is currently available in several general
    aviation jets….

    http://www.honeywell.com/sites/aero/PrimusEpic.htm

    http://www.honeywell.com/sites/servlet/com.merx.npoint.servlets.DocumentServlet?docid=DCA007D1D-F0C1-87DB-0AFC-13A4871E622D

    ************************************************************

    The is no false impression.
    If you read the text you would have known what at took to be in an
    FAA certified version of X-plane which is specially made to be used
    in a mock-cockpit, something most customers have no interest in doing.

    You can learn to fly just fine in x-plane even if you lock the view
    to forward.

    On Nov 21, 2006, at 5:46 PM, jimzane wrote:

    >
    >
    > I know that, the greater point is it should come standard !! since
    > Austin threw up that big ” hey were certified banner ” on the web
    > site. Giving everyone a false impression. only to find out After
    > installation that “um hey this ain’t it” Hence that hasty disclaimer
    > but no correction made on laminars site.
    Once again, most of the customers for x-plane have no interest in
    building a mock cockpit, so having the planes with panels which don’t
    have mouse click regions because there is supposed to be a real
    switch/knob/button/lever would not help most customers to increase
    realism.

    You are different.

    So am I.

    We’ have to pay the extra for the bits that the vast majority of x-
    plane customers could not use.

    Are you complaining that you haven’t yet been allowed to spend the
    500 bucks?

    I’m sure that Laminar will send you the software if you buy it.

    Eric

    ************************************************************

    Sorry to clog up an already busy topic

    >I know that, the greater point is it should come standard !! since
    >Austin threw up that big ” hey were certified banner ” on the web
    >site. Giving everyone a false impression. only to find out After
    >installation that “um hey this ain’t it” Hence that hasty disclaimer
    >but no correction made on laminars site.

    What the banner says is that the “X-Plane flight simulator”, ie. the bit
    that simulates aircraft, is FAA approved. The code for the simulator in the
    FAA-approved version is the same as in the same retail version. What has
    changed is the way it’s displayed, and the way it’s used, so the retail
    version is AS REALISTIC as the FAA version. If you want to use X-Plane to
    log hours, FAA demands that you use the PFC Motus system, and only then will
    you need a change in the display.

    The simulator itself does not change!

    In fact if you wired up a PFC system to a retail system (using UDP or
    otherwise) and changed the cockpit so that it showed the same as in the FAA
    approved system (or used an FAA approved plane) you would get exactly the
    same as in the FAA approved system.

    Except your copy of X-Plane isn’t legally FAA-certified, so you wouldn’t be
    able to log hours, even though they both do exactly the same thing!

    (p.s. this might not work in reality-I’ve never actually done it myself, of
    course)

    Snake.

    ************************************************************

    Hi all,

    I couldn’t agree with Eric (and a few others) more. It seems like a
    few X-Plane customers need to take a chill pill.

    I emailed Austin personally about this a few months back. The fancy
    version of X-Plane is (or was then) called X-Plane Pro and it was
    basically X-Plane 8.3. At that time X-Plane received it’s
    certification by the FAA - a lengthy process that makes it unlikely
    to happen every time there’s an update to the software - ANY update.
    The FAA certification only applies to the exact version, so you can
    understand why the newer versions aren’t certified. This however
    doesn’t mean X-Plane 8.5 isn’t as good as X-Plane Pro (aka X-Plane
    8.3), and it’s possible X-Plane 8.5 will become FAA certified. It
    just hasn’t been certified by the FAA yet. The customers using X-
    Plane in professional simulators may not care about the improvements
    in X-Plane 8.5 enough for them to want it, but I have absolutely no
    doubt 8.5 could become FAA certified for use in a professional
    training simulator. X-Plane 8.5 is in most respects a superior
    product (graphics slowdowns on some hardware not withstanding).

    Now, so that it is clear… the differences of the Pro version are
    bad for most X-Plane customers. There are no changes in the flight
    model. None. Have we got that? The accuracy of the aircraft has to be
    of the highest standard (of course) so only two of the best X-Plane
    acf designers have virtual aircraft certified for use within X-Plane
    Pro. If you want aircraft of that caliber, buy them from the
    designers. One of them is:
    http://shadetreemicro.com/

    I don’t know the other but it’s very possibly Jason Chandler. Even if
    it’s not him, his aircraft are superlative. I can’t imagine it being
    anyone else actually.
    http://www.c74.net/xplane/

    As Randy Witt said, the only difference is that Pro uses specific
    aircraft with panels designed to work with specific hardware. If you
    don’t have the hardware, the panels look weird - nothing like the
    real thing for users of a single computer & monitor. So X-Plane Pro
    is only for use with a handful of aircraft and they’re difficult to
    fly unless you have the right hardware (which costs a great deal of
    money). The moment you using a non-certified aircraft in X-Plane Pro,
    it’s validity as a recognised training tool is nullified.

    So that then leaves us with the logical situation where the std. X-
    Plane is sold to most customers and the older (FAA certified) version
    is sold for using with Fidelity’s simulator. If you want to blow ten
    times as much for a product that will deliver a worse experience for
    most users, I’m sure Laminar Research won’t mind. For my money, I’d
    rather build a great cockpit and use the latest version of X-Plane
    with it. It’s not certified, but why would that matter unless I have
    a full motion simulator certified by the FAA, cockpit hardware also
    certified by the FAA and aircraft, wait for it, certified by the FAA
    (all regularly checked by, you know who)?

    Since my name isn’t Rockefeller or Gates, I’m not going to waste
    money like that (not to mention I don’t even live within the
    jurisdiction of the FAA anyway). Another way to get the Pro
    experience is to use X-Plane 8.3 with the aircraft built by the
    designers listed above. If you want, learn to make your own custom
    panels - it’s not that hard (teenagers are doing it). Then you’ll be
    set. Kidding yourself that you’re “doin’ it better cause you’ve got X-
    Plane Pro” is nuts. And unless you’re getting your system checked by
    the FAA regularly, it’s meaningless anyway.

    So there you go. Can we put this to rest? X-Plane rocks. Austin and
    the team rock. The aircraft designers rock (esp. the great ones). You
    can spend a LOT of money on this hobby if you want. If you want to
    waste some, there will always be people happy to receive your money.
    Now let’s get back to discussion X-Plane’s features, not its marketing.

    ************************************************************

    Bravo! This last posting is RIGHT ON. Yes, you are more than
    welcome to purchase the PFC or Fidelity equipment and just run a
    standard everyday copy of X-Plane with them, if you’d like. You’d
    have to do a bit of work to move the cockpit instruments around but
    you could certainly duplicate the panel layout that ships w/ the FAA
    Certified system. Than you’d have the exact same thing (although
    with different aircraft files that MAY fly less accurately) for
    1/10th the price. Of course you couldn’t log the time since neither
    your software or aircraft files are certified but you’d have EXACTLY
    THE SAME capabilities and flight model.

    Randy Witt
    X-Plane, Customer Service
    913-269-0976

    ************************************************************

    Actually i was trying to gut out enough information to brag out the
    opposite.

    If you don’t need the legal credential (being legal is often way too
    expensive and labor intensive), The consumer X-Plane is exactly the
    same as the FAA approved versions (even in versions used in low-end
    full-motion simulators) except for the aircraft and the code
    extensions that are imbedded in them. Most of the labor and
    extension-code put into the aircraft is for meeting FAA regulations
    but some of it is for enhancing realism (much of that overlaps with
    meeting FAA regulations). However, the aircraft-level realism
    enhancements (both voluntary and FAA-compliance motivated) can be
    matched by a minority of the low-cost 3rd-party premium aircraft and a
    small speckle of the free 3rd-party aircraft.

    Is that right?

    ************************************************************

    (Didn’t post yet)

    Area any of these FAA-approved aircraft among the $5 payware aircraft
    at Shade Tree Micro Aviation, possibly with the special panels
    stripped and the hardware-integration add-on code stripped? If not,
    how much are these and their FAA-stripped versions?

    Also, which of the 3rd-party aircraft are good enough to be
    FAA-approvable (or beyond) with only red-tape modifications (panel
    setup optimized for external hardware, etc..)?

    ************************************************************

    Added 11/27/2006 from a Private Email:

    Hi, Jesse.

    First, a little background. We???ve been building models for the last couple of years for the Medallion Foundation, which is out of Anchorage , Alaska . They use Precision Flight Controls (PFC) simulators to educate and increase pilot safety in that State. Our models were chosen because we take extra care in ensuring that they perform as closely to manufacturer specifications as X-Plane permits. Many the retail aircraft that you see on our website are adaptations of those models.

    Our work for the Medallion Foundation brought us to the attention of PFC and we started modeling for them directly in April of this year.

    One of our initial tasks for PFC was to start going through their existing fleet of aircraft and to ensure that they are in conformance with our joint standards. We also have been helping them with customer-identified aircraft related problems. We???ve built one entirely new airplane for them which will be premiering within the next month or two; and are currently working on a model which is an adaptation of one of our existing retail aircraft, the Pilatus PC-12.

    To answer your specific question, it is doubtful that you???ll ever see the same models that we build for PFC retailed on our website. You will see some that are very similar but they will not be identical. PFC has specific requirements that have to be met in order for the aircraft to mate properly with their software and hardware and these changes may or may not work properly when used with the retail version of X-Plane and other joysticks, etc. Rest assured, however, that the retail models are built to the same high standards and with just as much attention to detail.

    Please don???t hesitate to write if you have any further questions,

    -Jim

    Shade Tree Micro Aviation (http://shadetreemicro.com)

    papamac@shadetreemicro.com

    ************************************************************

    YouTube - Protect yourself from the RIAA 6-ways

    Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006
  • YouTube - Protect yourself from the RIAA 6-ways
  • #1 - Don’t Share Files — NO! That is leeching! The RIAA actually encourges this behavior because it is bad for the health of P2P sharing. It should be ‘Don’t be a leech, but know what your sharing’. Set up permashares (intentially designated marked shared folders) and put what you want to share in there and regularly watch your incoming folder. If you don’t want to share it, remove it from the incoming folder promptly. I have an unshared ‘assimilation’ folder placing these ‘don’t-want-to-sahre’ incoming files.

    #2 - Rename your shared files — For the RIAA - it is better for the network to just share album and discoagraphy archives. THe RIAA currently is only monitoring for MP3s. Plus Emule and BitTorrent prefer large files.

    #3 - Use and Site Fair Use — Don’t agree - it is not good to exploit ambigutities in the law to look legal. That is what the RIAA does to make their extortion seem legal. If it is a quote or modest excerpt, use and cite fair use, otherwise don’t bother, it ain’t worth the effort as it probably won’t work for you as you don’t have the lawyer cash.

    #4 - Use Secure Internal Connections - I agree if you are paranoid about getting caught. Not enough people get caught to care, but legally hotter items than music and movies can be share, such as terror plots, pedoporn, and espionage. These defiintly should be shared on highly secured F2F darknets. Otherwise I prefer the open, free-for-all P2P networks.

    #5 - Open Your WiFi - Bad Exploit. A dynamic IP address should be sufficient, as long as you have dial-up (it usually changes upon reconnect) or it changes on its own at least a few times aday.

    #6 - Don’t Use P2P and Don’t Pirate Files - Well this is effective, but doesn’t match the theme. But the RIAA does sue on fair-use things too, though many fan-films use full songs, which really isn’t legal on my interpretation of ‘fair use’, but they shouldn’t be fussing over non-commercial uses like they are now.

    P2P File Sharing News Comments - RIAA 2006-11-22

    Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006
  • Colleges facing the music on file sharing
  • Forcing a LowID with a firewall (blocking incoming connections) outside of student control will definitly curb file sharing as students are normally not allowed to host servers and stuff anyway. Blocking outgoing connections on the default ports of common file sharing programs will knock out non-veterans and limit veterans as well as 60-70% of clients on the whole network use default ports and these become unreachable. BitTorrent has more legit uses than pure P2P programs but it cannot function at all on a firewalled / lowID connection though. If you are a student and you want to use P2P on a poorly P2P-secured network but with harsh disciplinary penalties, then you best use an IP blocker and keep it up to date and be conscious of what you’re sharing (dilligence on the incoming folder while donwloading new-release and especially pre-release music and movies mostly) as IP blockers aren’t perfect. Regulating your bandwidth usage on Emule and BitTorrent will help too. Most schools appear to only reactively enforce anti-P2P policies out of liability-fear, so you getting busted often requires a DMCA complaint or you significantly adversely hindering the network for everyone else (shared bandwidth) for them to complain. Many research types are pro-P2P or apethetic (don’t care but positive tendancy) if no plagarism or commercial abuse is involved.

    ****************************************

  • P2PNet - RIAA builds new consumer class
  • P2PNet - RIAA sues multiple sclerosis Mum
  • Multiple Sclerosis is irrelevant with the RIAA’s system. She may be directly guilty (actual user they successfuly downloaded one or more songs from) or indirectly guilty (person they downloaded one or more songs from was not her but had her IP within 24hrs but she was using P2P also, though maybe not at or near the time of download), or innocent, but that doesn’t matter. It is obvious that the victims are only sometimes guilty and that the guilty (directly, which is rare, or indirectly) are often on the lower end of the computer literacy spectrum, and the subset of handcapped people has a majority overlap with the subset of low-computer litteracy P2P users, hence all the lawsuits on disabled mothers, young childeren, and the deceased.

    ****************************************

  • TorrentFreak - RIAA Targets University
  • DiamondBack Online (University of Maryland Studen Newspaper) - RIAA cracks down on illegal downloading
  • The Article is suggesting that the RIAA is targeting lower income victims so that they can’t fight back because they can’t afford their lawyer. This extort-them-all campaign is definitly meant for fear-tactic propaganda.

    ****************************************

  • TorrentFreak - How The RIAA Sues
  • Recording Industry vs The People - How the RIAA Litigation Process Works (Blogger Entry 404 Error)
  • Recording Industry vs The People - How the RIAA Litigation Process Works (Own Server Static Page)
  • Looks like the RIAA is trying to put a lid on the reverse-engineering and disclosure of their shady lawsuit practices.

    P2P File Sharing News Comments - Non RIAA 2006-11-22

    Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006
  • Softpedia - Download Vista Using BitTorrent
  • Engadget - Vista already getting passed around the internet
  • Engadget - Microsoft will cripple PCs running pirated copies of Vista
  • P2PNet - Pirate Vista Ahoy !!!
  • The Inquirer - Vista is leaked
  • Pirated Versions Of Vista Won’t Last Long, Microsoft Promises
  • P2PNet - Pirated Vista ‘No Good’
  • PC World - Pirated Vista May be Useless
  • TorrentFreak - Vista RTM Leaked on BitTorrent
  • Clever crack. An command line command doubles the activation deadline from 30 to 60 days. Then a crack that exploits some bugs and utilizes RC2 files to enable your RC2 serial number to work until the RC2 expiration date, which is June 2007. When the activation deadline passes, unlike Windows XP, the OS isn’t fully disabled, it only becomes major crippleware and nagware. Also the activation and serial-key processes has XP’s WGA fully integrated into it rather than it being a separate spyware band-aid (it may still be spyware though, just integrated rather than add-on band-aid). Microsoft will probably invalidate the RC2 exploit in a ’security’ (IP) patch to the ‘Software Protection Platform’. My suggestion is to wait for the retail version to pop up on Emule. Kegen-generated Retail keys tend to get invalidated less.

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  • Slyck - Ares Now Supports BitTorrent
  • TorrentFreak - Ares Includes BitTorrent Support
  • Ares Galaxy has joined the BitTorrent bandwagon! Is the Ares network staying though — ie an Ares/BitTorrent combo-client, or is it going to become a dedicated BitTorrent client? LimeWire I know is going to become a dual Gnutella/BitTorrent client so fresh organized releases will spill into Gnutella for however well Gnutella will handle the large files. Shareaza already does this favor for both Edonkey (Emule) and Gnutella (LimeWire/FrostWire).

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  • Slyck - ThePirateBay Grows
  • Slyck - ThePirateBay Expands Lineup
  • TorrentFreak - The Piratebay finally adds TV section
  • The Pirate Bay is growing growing growing! I like the new wallpapers. I wonder if the piratbyran alliance — piratbyran, Pirate Party Sweden / piratpartiet, The Pirate Bay — has paid off most or all of the high-interest credit card debt they ammased from the recovery from the MPAA raid? Servers and co-lo contracts aren’t cheap, after all

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  • TorrentFreak - Download Classic Popey
  • Non-P2P DRM / Copyright News Comments 2006-11-22

    Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006
  • P2PNet - BitTorrent video store delay
  • Light Reading - BitTorrent Video Store Delayed
  • Oh, BitTorrent’s video store is going to use Microsoft’s DRM? Happy cracking with FairUse4WM!!! This is probably what the delay is really over.

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  • P2PNet - Bayern Munich takes on YouTube
  • Heise Online (Germany / English) - Bayern Munich takes on YouTube
  • I guess fans and players should boycott bayern munich if they start flinging out their lawsuits. Most of the infringing content is likely on Emule. YouTube is easily browser cache ripped also.

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  • P2PNet - DRM is good for you
  • PC World - Is DRM Good Or Bad For Consumers?
  • DRM good for consumers because more selection will be available??? Yeah right. I won’t buy it. I never had any DRM thing on my computer ever except some SQL Server Zinio magazines. It had a 3-PC limit and the reader was slow and clumsy. Ordering or pirating a SQL Server Magazine Master CD is far better. Non-DRM .chm file.

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  • P2PNet - Japanese harp player nailed
  • Mainichi Daily News - Elderly harmonica player arrested for performing copyrighted songs at bar
  • Better not be playing Nickelback or Disturbed on your guitar where neighbors can hear you or the RIAA’s thugs are going to have you arrested (after you ignore several cease and decist letters, a court order / injunction, and several more cease and decist letters)!!

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  • TorrentFreak - MPAA sues company for selling pre-loaded iPods
  • Electronic Fontier Foundation - Movie Studios Sue to Stop Loading of DVDs onto iPods
  • Piracy-4-Money sucks. The justification for the consumer paying the profit margin markup is the copied hollywood movies.

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  • TorrentFreak - Asia ??pirates??? out of necessity, not choice
  • CNet Asia Blogs - Do you want more frickin’ pirates?
  • Wired News - IPod Gray Market Booms in India
  • The third-world low-income of asia is actually is what is allowing Piracy-4-Money (coounterfeit DVDs etc) to be more widespread over Piracy-4-Free (P2P filesharing, F2F sneakernet). Legal restrictions and red-tape promote all kinds of piracy, whether it is excessive tarrifs (import taxes), power or moral or import-regulation bans, or over-regulation. P2P file sharing and F2F darknets and F2F sneakernet over snail-mail will fill all supply-voids. Rich and middle-income countries have individuals using it (common citizen can afford PC and internet), while the rest have decentralized organized-crime doing it instead, and making profit off of the sales.

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  • P2PNet - RIAA bog paper
  • Jinks - RIAA Toilet Paper (Buy it here)
  • RIAA CRAP! Next Halloween Wipe your ass with it and then TP the car or house with it! (Not worth the money if you don’t like egging / TPing on halloween)

    Paranoia / Politics News Comments 2006-11-22

    Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006
  • Washington Post - Alternative Minimum Tax Targeted
  • I think the AMT (Alternative minimum tax) should be the primary tax. Lower deduction (20-30K), lower percentage (15-20%) or non deuction and very low percentage (10-15%). Then the tax law will fit in a commoner-understandable 20-page pamplet rather than needing 3 laywers and a whole bookcase full of humoungous law-books. It appears that the AMT’s slowly lowering deduction allowance actually is the transition mechanism to make this the primary tax method.

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  • P2PNet - Black Christmas for EMI?
  • Times Online (UK) - EMI: Heat on for Christmas
  • P2PNet - EMI uncovers Brazil fraud
  • Bloomberg - EMI Identifies Accounting Fraud Affecting Brazil Unit’s Results
  • BBC News (UK) - Brazilian fraud hurts EMI Music
  • Guardian Unlimited (UK) - EMI uncovers fraud at its Brazil business
  • I could care less if EMI’s currupt and incompetant management drives the company so low that it goes bankrupt and ceases operations.

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  • P2PNet - Microsoft’s Zune scam
  • Apple Matters - Zune Marketplace’s Absurd Pricing Scheme
  • Cool concept. 0.8 exchange rate ($1 = 0.8M$P). First create illusion of 79 cent songs with the exchange rate (stupid people will fall for it). Then add a minimum purchase block size of $5. Free loans in at least a collective total of $10 million (averaging $2 per user, 5 million users). Thats actually not much in MS’s scale though. In the P2PNet article I would alter #5 from “5. Say ’screw it’ and go buy an iPod.” to “5. Say ’screw it’ and go buy an generic portable MP3 player”.

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  • P2PNet - Warner Bros dumps China
  • IMDb - Warner Bros. Withdrawing From Theater Biz in China
  • Law in the way from you getting your movie or song legit, whether it is against you or the company that wants to sell it? No problem! Emule (and BitTorrent) to the rescue!!

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  • P2PNet - MS EULA nets Dell user $90
  • Network World - Dell customer gets Windows refund
  • Linux Journal - Getting a Windows Refund in California Small Claims Court
  • Damn, refusing an EULA and actually getting a refund for it must be so difficult, that you’ll get news coverage if you succeeed!! The user here is a Linux user. My opinion — Too much effort.. Go download something else from Emule or share your copy on Emule or just don’t bother or do anything. Emule is easy. Linux users should refuse to buy any machine that has a Microsoft tax on it.

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  • Fresno Bee - Two Valley men get different prison terms in child porn cases
  • I think a lot of plea bargains that still result in a lot of prison time involve the 10, 20, and 30+ year barriers. Remaining sentences of 10-19 years require a minimum low security prison, 20-29 medium, 30+ high (PMITA penintentiary). The higher the security, the more hardened the crinimals in the other inmates. For kiddy porn, the crime is on the lowest of the respect scale, so hardened criminals are more likely to beat and kill you regardless of you social ability and ability to adapt to prison culture. I think most non-murdering sex offenders end up in medium security, but white-collar-only sex offenders are often in low security prisons.

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  • Yahoo News - US economy fears mount as housing starts dive
  • An economy should not be dependent on housing inflation or the continued indebting and reckless spending of already indebted consumers. Minimal saving outside of productive investments and minimal debting is what an economy should depend on. I hope the housing market drops rock-bottom, and I hope that indebted consumers pay off their credit card debt. I hope they don’t go further and hoard money in a savings account though as most of that goes to house mortagaes and car loans (Many non-new-purchase mortgage procedes go to credit card companies, medical insurance middlement, and lawyers). Mutual funds and Stocks or starting your own business (if it doesn’t suck or rely on gambling, lottory, beer, liquour, ciggarettes, drugs, or welfare handouts) is better. Or donate to open source software projects or science research, or do self-funded research or write your own open source software. If you start spending more again, stay away from parties, impulse-services, and tourist-trips and buy durable toys (guns, bows, steroes, tvs, telescopes, computers, weight machines, home theater, independant renewable energy like solar panels and windmills) and actually keep them for awhile or have a hand-me-down or donation plan.

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  • P2PNet - RWB Net enemies list
  • Reporters Without Borders - List of the 13 Internet enemies in 2006 published
  • This is the list of the internet censorship baddy countries. Belarus, * Burma, * China, * Cuba, Egypt, Iran, * North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, * Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam . Egypt was added in the most recent update, while Libya, * Maldives, and Nepal. The countries with a * had a solid triangle before the country’s name instead of a dash. The pattern seems to be how much of the internet is censored or how much of the population is banned from the internet alltogether, not effectivness or toughness of censorship or harness of punishment of dissidents.

    Computers & Technology News Comments 2006-11-21

    Tuesday, November 21st, 2006
  • ZDNet Education - U. Utah holds contest for best hacker
  • Salt Lake Tribune - Eight programmers challenged to be Utah’s best
  • I wonder if this was a performance contest for a database network protocol or a performance contest for actual SQL performance? They didn’t give out that many details on the actual objective requirements and judging parameters. I bet some company got some great free IP. I wonder if the programmers got to keep a copy of their contest-code and share between each other if they so desire? If not and I particpated in these days of elevated copyright awareness and sueing, I probably would at least get disqualified given my big braggety mouth (and file sharing). Given the short deadline I think it was an SQL contest and it probably would be difficult to copy-out the code, but if I came up with something original (I’m not very good at sneaking), I’d probably have enough conceptual memorization to recreate it from scratch later if I wasn’t too lazy.

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  • ZDNet - Open-source project treads on Google Maps turf
  • Go open source! Definitly a WIP, with base hub in the UK. Google is rippable if you have a laptop that supports desktop panning (most do) to very high resolutions (not many do, but Alienware Area51m-7700 does), like 5000×5000. Then use Paint Shop Pro’s (ver 5,6,7,8 has it; too lazy to get 10 and try out a bunch of cracks) screen capture feature to screengrab humungous maps and sattelite pics. You could do this at more normal resolutions too, but it sucks for printing (if you want 300dpi), but still better than what you can print directly from google.

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  • PlayStation 3 not playing some older games
  • P2PNet - Big problems for Sony PS3
  • Telegraph (UK) - PlayStation problems worsen
  • BBC News (UK) - Game glitches for PlayStation 3
  • I heard the bad-game count is in the low-200s. Out of 8000, that seems pretty good for any emulator. I guess some fairly mainstream games are among the 200-250 glitchy or non-functional games.

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  • ZDNet - Nanotubes break semiconducting record
  • ZDNet - Intel eyes nanotubes for future chip designs
  • Go nanotubes! Wonder if the world’s oil refineries can produce enough carbon from the crude oil? Maybe we could use some artificial photosynthesis (solar powered CO2-O2 conversion units; keep the C) units that will use solar panels to breath in CO2 and exhale O2 and mine the carbo for use in carbon-nanotubes and carbon-composites? And then we can have 50 billion people in luxurious VR-kits powered by nanotube-CPUs.

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  • P2PNet - ‘First’ 20x DVD burner
  • DigitTimes Systems - Lite-On IT launches 20x DVD burner
  • Channel Register - Lite-On unveils ‘first’ 20x DVD burner
  • If it isn’t $40-60 I probably don’t need one. 16x’s are $30-50 (Internal 5.25″). Probably will tolerate a $100-ish price tag for a 24x. A defragmented 5400RPM laptop drive will handle only 10x anyway. I think a 7200RPM SATA drive will handle 16x but not sure about 24x. USB 2.0 drive to internal burner or internal drive to USB 2.0 burner usually only hand 4x (on a hub) to 6x (direct PC port). USB2.0 drives to USB 2.0 burners are 2.4x (hub) to 4x (direct).

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  • ZDNet - Microsoft offers prank Blue Screen Of Death
  • Microsoft TechNet - BlueScreen Screen Saver v3.2
  • Microsoft released a joke program that could get them sued for millions in these sue-happy days! It is pretty cool though. People who don’t look for corresponding HDD activity (LED or sound) get fooled easily. Being a screen saver, pressing a key should test and spoil the prank too, if you are a victim.

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  • P2PNet - Paperless newspaper
  • TheLocal (Sweden / English) - Electronic newpaper could revolutionise media
  • Looks really cool. I wonder if there will be a generic machine that can read pdf/txt/doc/rtf off of flash media with the same display technology, with no DRM?

    Soccer News Comments 2006-11-21

    Tuesday, November 21st, 2006
  • ESPNnet - Part 1: Mooch was one of a kind
  • ESPNnet - Part 2: Mooch was a man of the people
  • ESPNnet - Part 3: Mooch was competitive as all coaches are
  • ESPNnet - Part 4: Mooch and his scouting side
  • A ESPNnet series of articles giving tribute to the passing of Mooch, the US National team assistant coach.

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  • ESPNnet - Ownership diversity drove the Beckham rule
  • I agree with the beckham rule, as long as the clubs actually fund the salary rather than having a bunch of loopholes available (other than corporate sponsors willing to pay the tab). The low-end of the MLS salary spectrum is really low though. $11K for developmental players (hopefully the team has one or more mass-charity accommodating players or they live with their parents, locally) is like working at McDonald’s (at or near minimum wage, with taxed paychecks and not under-the-table). One can live independently at $22K if stingy on the road (No parties, no going out to eat, no shopping, no laptop, no portable DVD, little or no video games, no hotel rip-off PPV and other services) and have no car (A few MLS practice sites have poor or no public transit access). A cheap Ebay Laptop with DVD drive ($400-600), A gameboy advance with flash advance kit ($60 for GBA, $100 for FA), a cheap generic portable MP3 player ($40) are probably the best travel investments for introverted players with a salary less than $30K techy enough to enjoy gadgets extensively (Only Eddie Gaven on his rookie year from the pool of players that I know; most players turn to a teammate or their cellphone when bored, not a gameboy, cellphone game, or music player). I think MLS should be 20-30K for U-21 developmentals, 30-40K for no-name rookies and roster-scabs, 40-60K for the mediocre to average, 60-120K for the above average non-stars, and 120-160K for well established non-poster veterans and no-name foreign players (that don’t suck), and 160-240K for high-end foreign players. For the talented players that are also corporate-marketable (or have marketability trained or emulated if they are *that* good) then the sky would be the limit. Hopefully the >$400K exemption rule can be kept under control at one player. The 400K is about 20% of the salary cap and definitly marketability becomes an equal or greater priority to talent at the level (preferablly a lot of both). In my opinion, Chungy’s fame level was ideal for me. Donovan and Beckham would be too much for me personally.

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  • USSoccerPlayers - Straus: Rule of Thumb
  • Editor Opinions in an unsorted thumb’s up / thumb’s down format. I agree with most of them. I think the failure of the bechkam rule to have much impact is a good thing. $400K is a lot of salary for a league where around half of the players players are in the 30-80 range. I wonder if a manager can volunteer more out of pocket cost to reduce salary cap impact (only MLS’s contribution, which the max is 400K, counts against the cap) of if its fixed at 400K? I agree that MLS Cup half-time shows are dumb.

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  • Shenendehowa High School
  • Shenendehowa Boys Varsity Soccer (High resolution roster pics whoa!)
  • Dobson High School
  • MesaSports.org - varsity boys 2006-2007 Schedule
  • PBASE Gallery - Ed Reutemann - Shenendehowa Soccer Champs - Shenendehowa Boys Soccer Team during the weekend of November 19-20, 2005 at the NYSPHSAA Championship
  • PBASE Gallery - Jesse Roberge - Soccer - MLS & USA Teams Hangout
  • PBASE Gallery - Jesse Roberge - Soccer - MLS & USA Games
  • Tangent post from an autism post (comparing Boy Scount Troop 223 to Shenendehowa). Extra links here. Shenendehowa’s soccer team are so good that, in 2001, some of the MetroStars players (now Red Bull NY) knew names of about a third of that year’s roster, and this is a high school. The quality of soccer in NY is obviously better than the quality of soccer in AZ. Dobson High School (West Mesa Guadelupe Road between Alma School Road and Dobson Road) won states twice straight and I didn’t percieve the same recognigtion from the LA Galaxy players that Shenendehowa has (or had because I only had good contact with the players between 2000 and 2003) with the MetroStars.

    Misc News Comments 2006-11-21

    Tuesday, November 21st, 2006
  • BBC News (UK) - ‘Only 50 years left’ for sea fish
  • I say fish out the oceans while we still can. Humans are going to kill the fish whether we eat them or not. If the fishing boats don’t get em’, global warming will. Plus less fish breathing out CO2 means we can have more humans (and our cars, power plants, pets, cattle, and sewage / fertilized soil bacteria) breathing it out.

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  • Yahoo News - 1 shot in Conn. Playstation waiting line
  • Yahoo News - Sony PlayStation 3 debuts to long lines
  • Yahoo News - Sony’s PlayStation 3 makes chaotic US debut
  • Yahoo slideshow - Sony Playstation
  • Washington Post - Video Game Console’s Debut Sparks Violence
  • Ebay Search - ‘Play Station 3 60GB’ in Video Games > Systems
  • PlayStation 3 is so expensive that robbing 100 people in a line of their playstation money will net you $60,000!! A thousand, $600,000!!! Somebody will definitly shoot a strong-willed resistor to keep the rest of the line robbable. People obviously want it to pay $1200-$2400 on average (12 hours or less remaining on auction) on ebay for one. About 4800 60GB models listed on ebay as of the morning of 11/17/2006. Wasn’t their only 100,000 units available in japan??? Looks like a lot of scalping to me.

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  • Yahoo News - Retailers warily eye Wal-Mart’s holiday cuts
  • Go Wal-Mart! Only problem is that wal-mart lacks high-end electronics. Wal-Mart tends to have crappy and mediocre and limited mid-line electronics. Thats where Circuit City could butt in maybe (Best Buy and Circuit City are more midline). Crutchfield is doing well discounting high-end electronics (at least high-end shelf-stereos). Otherwise it is shop the manufacturer’s site and then price-compare on yahoo shopping and buying from small businesses that bulk-import ($1000 MSRP digicam for $742). Some are import-on-demand ($1000 MSRP digicam for $635). These are even cheaper, but it is usually 6-12 weeks for shipping (batching, possibly ground-based shipping) and have no box, just an bare OEM unit with foreign-language (thai or chinese usually) instructions if any at all.

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  • Yahoo News - Study: Chocolate milk good for athletes
  • Chocolate Milk is 200-250 (Shamrock is 220) calories per 8 ounces, 150-200 for lowfat (Shamrock is 160 i think). Gatorade is 50 calories per 8 Ounces. PowerAde is 100 and has no fructose. I don’t know the calorie density of Carb drinks. Weight gainers (and protien/weight gainer hybrids) and meal replacement protien shakes have slow burning carbs. PowerAde and Soda are all fast burning. Chocolate mil is regular milk with a bunch of sugar added. Gatorade (bottled not powdered) has some fructose in it. It appears, since the sport drink and the chocolate milk had no noticable difference, that you get the biggest bang for the buck with Chocolate milk, but you get the biggest bang for the calorie with Gatorade (Chocolate milk is a bigger loser when it comes to calories due to self-control issues). I personally like Cytomax over gatorade (only sold bottled in Albertsons in AZ). The taste is about the same as a protien meal replacement (better than regular protien powder), which is not as good as soda or chocolate milk. The study did not use plain water, so it did not have an effective control. The article doesn’t not mention if any food intake was controlled or banned (or rigged). The article also does not mention the exertion level. 100-200 watts (depending on fitness) is sustainable beyond the bonk / crash, giving advantage to medium burning carbs in the gatorade (fructose) and the fat in the milk.

    Autism News Comments 2006-11-21

    Tuesday, November 21st, 2006
  • Journal Sentinel - The heavy price of autism: Willing, able and unemployable
  • Houston Chronical - Who will hire the autistic?
  • Guardian Unlimited (UK) - Special intelligence
  • My first job was an under-the table labor trash-cleanup job at the Orange County Fair Speedway. I also got an under-the table program selling job, which I did pretty well at - i don’t seem to be bad at sales jobs that don’t require customer relationships or rapport. Initial demographics at the trash cleanup job were stupid/reckless kids, convicts, goverment-benefit cheaters, and borderline mentally-ill, but it transitioned to illegal immigrants because they work better. $4.25/hr (minimum wage in early 90s), cash, no benefits, no job security, no taxes. The program selling job was strictly commision, cash same night. The demographics wasn’t as bad. My mother’s friend, charlie (he was working illegaly while on disability to support 8+ childeren - neverending sex, restaurant job took up legal work hours), hooked me up with these jobs (3-6 hrs/wk trash mostly, 6-12hrs on a concert week, 12-18hrs during fair week, 2-4 hrs/wk program selling). Autistic people will never handle food service, floor-salesperson, or customer service. Either get canned for incompentancy or experience rapid and deep burnout. At least I don’t handle these well. I handle telemarketing ok. Best uneducated jobs for autistic people is probably unskilled labor (shopping carts, garbage cleanup, farm work, dirt/rock hauling), under-the-table or at a startup / small family owned+operated business.

    Spam works well for post-college jobs. Pseudo-spam does too (posting resume at all jobs sites and cheating with javascript popups / redirects and keyword spamming). If one sucks at the interviews, one can just drive lots of traffic to the resume and brute-force through 3-4 interviews per week. Job will likely be at a startup that is ignorant of liability and the world of lawsuits (hey if it wern’t for the lawyers, it would be guns instead) and doesn’t have a lot of required teamwork or have a lot of politics and policies.

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  • Palisadian Post - Boy Scout Suit Dismissed; Appeal Planned
  • Shenendehowa Boys Varsity Soccer (High resolution roster pics whoa!)
  • Good! Whine Whine Whine. Lawsuits like this help make austistic people more unemployable (or raise taxes or prices if the government adds them to the forced-employabily list). I do remember cub scouts (I assume Tiger Cubs is similar to cub scouts) being less restrictive than boy scouts. My boy scout troop (Slate Hill NY) was casual enough to accept atheists (I was atheist at the time). Troop 223 is not a casual troop. They are like Shenendehowa’s soccer team - they are so good that, in 2001, some of the MetroStars players (now Red Bull NY) knew names of about a third of that year’s roster, and this is a high school. They don’t have and don’t want to create resources or patience to handle inferiors. Auties and Aspie’s special-talents that may create a non-charity practical desire to deal with the disability - if they have one or more of such talents (most don’t) - are rarely exploitable by boy-scouts - phoenominal knot tying maybe but thats it.

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  • The Jersey Journal - Judge: Parents’ uniform case too late
  • The should lose even without the missed deadline if it was an employer or private school. A public or charter school would be different. I hate hacks, even it would benefit me so I would prefer to see an upgrade of the uniform policy rather than an exemption. A lot of uniforms are really cheap though, especially low-end employers. For a charter school, maybe adding a jersey-like shirt would be good. Ever since I had money to buy my own clothes I’ve worn only soccer jerseys or basketball shirts and shorts. Many uniformed charter schools in Phoenix AZ let kids wear button-shirts, polo-shirts, or a t-shirt on pants, skirts (girls), or shorts (some limit shorts to april-october). Still a fixed color and style though. Jersey-type shirts (microfiber, hates irons and don’t need em’, comfortable, stain resistant) and heavy non-collared non-fleece casual shirts both look better than t-shirts, and button-shirts too if the person is overweight. Havn’t seen any yet though, and might not ever because I don’t ride the bus anymore.

    DonkeyServer No1 is Blocking non Protocol-Obfuscating eDonkey Clients in a Fishy way and Possibly Monopolistically Permitting only Emule 0.47c or later Clients

    Monday, November 20th, 2006
  • Slyck - Donkey Server No. 1 Forces Upgrade
  • Amule Forum - protocol obfuscation
  • Emule Forum - Please Use Emule 0.47c And Enable Protocol Obfuscation To Get Results (Tutorial on how to enable it if you have Emule 0.47b or 0.47c)
  • This ‘protocol obfuscation required’ Eserver feature is not documented on Lugdunum’s site in the donkey.ini documentation. Does the DonkeyServer No# people have access to the source code or was lugdunum just too lazy to (or deliberately) document the feature? As it is an option I don’t mind the feature, but I wonder if its an official feature, or if DonkeyServer No1 has become a modded server (not necessarily malicious), and if other servers will follow. Well it probably knocks out a lot of malicious clients, but they’ll just be able to take the obfuscation code from Emule’s open source, so it is short-term. There is a lot of computer semi-litterates that are casual users. These users have a higher tenancy to leech. Maybe DonkeyServer No # servers are being subject to bandwidth throttling and the obfuscation requirement is just simply being tested on DonkeyServer No1?

    Also DonkeyServer No1 and DonkeyServer No2 have been having a lot of downtime in the past week, and my own connection has been less stable as well. Unlike onboard or internal ethernet (Hotel ethernet jacks, DSL modems, Office LAN, Cable Modems) though, I don’t have to reboot; I can just yank out my verizon card and put it back in to unfreeze my Internet access and make it work again; other people with PC-card or USB ethernet or direct-modems probably have the same benefit, but my Novatel V620 does go through Dial-Up Networking and not Ethernet/LAN like My old Sierra Wireless AirCard 555 did. I can see myself being a DOS target by the RIAA, MPAA, or even China (Bible sharing) because I am a seeding, releasing user (I’m not a good choice for a RIAA/MPAA lawsuit because I don’t seed or release original RIAA/MPAA copyrighted works). Obfuscation shouldn’t affect the success or failure of DoS attacks though.

    As I don’t think any non-Emule client supports obfuscation yet, I can’t tell if only the lack of protocol obfuscation is being targeted, or it is insisting on the newest Emule version and thus shutting out Amule, Shareaza, and MLDonkey clients. I guess the only way to test is whether Emule 0.47b clients with protocol obfuscation enabled will be able to connect and get results. But I wonder why unacceptable clients are not being rejected at connection-time rather than giving error-message search results? That sounds fishy. This appears to have been the case since at least mid-october. Hopefully it is only discriminating against the lack of protocol obfuscation and not non-Emule clients.

    Tyndale ‘Bible on CD’ Dramatized Audio Bible Old and New Testaments is Continuing to Spread on Emule!

    Monday, November 20th, 2006

    The Tyndale ‘Bible on CD’ Dramatized Audio Bible Old and New testaments, which is functionally equivilant of a non-DRM MP3 PC-only (and steroes than can read MP3-filled DVD-ROMs) version of Holy Bible: New Living Translation - New & Old Testament on DVD, is continuing to spread on Emule! 110-120 sources for the new testament, 100-110 sources for old testament. The original filename, and all versions of my filename are being drowned out by VeryCD’s filename, and Chinese (Both VeryCD and non-VeryCD users) and VeryCD mod (Emule mod made specifically for the Chinese language) users in other countries are 90% of the people in my upload queue for these two archives, so I guess don’t underestimate the usage and publicity of indexing sites like VeryCD (Emule) and Pirate Bay (BitTorrent; Also got Dead-Donkey and FuckTheInterNet, both ED2K sites). My Favorite GBA ROMs (122MB, only 24 ROMs, completely me-personal choice) and Area 51 2003 release is not on any indexing site, so I have >100 source releases (>400 for GBA ROMs) completely on my own without a full-broadband connection (VZW NationalAcess / BroadbandAccess). I also am the releaser of the Orbiter 2006 Edition (core and all non-redundant official-site optional add-ons) and that is at 60-70 sources, and this file is legal, not even gray.

    Oh yeah for the paper bibles, the HardCover version of the NLT Life Application Bible (Tyndale) is $26.39 at Amzon.com, or you can buy them by the case (case of 12) at a unit cost of $19.20 at Bibles at Cost.

    Afghanistan on Emule!!

    Monday, November 20th, 2006

    Afghan in the upload queue. Never seen anybody from Afghanistan before on Emule! He wants the SQL Server Master CD - Every article ever published on SQL Server Magazine. This version is old, September 2003. They are still releasing semi-annual CDs, so you can buy new ones with all articles (including web-only exclusives) from 1999 to sometime in fall 2006. The screenie also has a person in Zimbabwe. Taken 10/28/2006.
    Emule - Afghan in the Upload Queue

    Afghan’s user card. LowID / firewalled. Any man’s guess on whether it is a US soldier, common citizen, government, or terrorist. I don’t care either way, but I do passively prefer it to be a common citizen. Taken 10/28/2006.
    Emule - Afghan's User Card

    An extra misc screenie of me downloading astronomy / astrophysics book bundle archives. Taken 10/28/2006 at the same time as the afghan screenies.
    Emule - Astronomy book downloading

    CopyBot and Second Life. Yippee!!

    Monday, November 20th, 2006
  • IEET - Second Life, Economic Evolution and the CopyBot
  • CNet News.com - ‘Second Life’ faces threat to its virtual economy
  • Mashable - Second Life Faces Lawsuit Threat over CopyBot
  • CNet News.com Blog - The death of Second Life?
  • New World Notes - IN SEARCH OF COPYBOT’S VICTIMS
  • ZDNet Blogs - In Second Life, those on ??Candid Copybot??? aren???t smiling
  • Wired News - Second Life Will Save Copyright
  • LibSecondLife - Your World, Your Imagination, Your protocol
  • LibSecondLife - libsecondlife and CopyBot
  • Raph Koster’s Website - CopyBot
  • SLUniverse - Using CopyBot - what can and can’t be done
  • Second Life - Copyrights and Content Creation in Second Life
  • Second Life - Use of CopyBot and Similar Tools a ToS Violation
  • Second Life - Copybot Action
  • Yippee for CopyBot! If you exclude the plagarism and commercial abuse - mostly virtual but real-world from selling the linden-dollars also. I only like the Emule-equivilent benefits of it. Having anything you want for free and having no artificial-scarcity barriers on you bragging and spreading your own creations.

    Copybot seemed cool. The official version was crippled to prevent abuse. The headline making was obviously done by source-modded versions. The headlines are probably being created because people are using it to plagiarize and re-sell non-free virtual items at deep undercutting prices (Piracy-4-money). I’ll look on Emule. Hopefully I’ll remember. The mods are probably chaotic and I would probably need friends in the second life world to get a version that copies anything. I would prefer the original creator to be left intact (for attribution) and that I only get my free copy and to have the ability to give out free copies and people to be able to get free copies from me (Piracy-4-Free with no plagiarism). But I probably won’t even get to messing with CopyBot myself as Second Life needs slow-broadband and I only have semi-broadband (144kbps up/down cellphone modem) and I saturate that with Emule traffic.

    Looks like LibSecondLife is going to keep open source, but make it a lot less convenient to get the source, probably CVS-only with login required. They might as well close the source if they are *that* paranoid. It is still legal (at least for GPL, CC-by-sa, DSL) to copy the source code as an intact archive to my heart’s content if I go through the hassle of downloading source files one by one. I haven’t actually tried to bulk-download a CVS with GetRight browser, possibly with a regex-in-TextPad manipulated intermediate local html file, which is how I bulk-rip pictures from MLS, wackywet, and swimmingfullyclothed. If I do get my hands on CopyBot (the uncrippled mutant versions) preferred) I’ll share it up on Emule, along with it’s source if I can get a complete archive.

    The Tyndale Dramatized NLT Audio Bible (’bible on CD’, ‘61 CDs’) got published on VeryCD, the Chinese ‘Pirate Bay’

    Thursday, November 16th, 2006

    The Tyndale Dramatized NLT Audio Bible (’bible on CD’, ‘61 CDs’) got published on VeryCD, the Chinese ‘Pirate Bay‘ servicing the EDonkey (Emule) network, on 10/29/2006!

  • VeryCD Page - Original Chinese
  • VeryCD Page - English / Babel Fish (AltaVista) Translated
  • VeryCD Page - English / Google Translated
  • VeryCD caused the files to explode in popularity!! From 4-12 total sources and 1-4 complete sources for the old testament to 6-18 total sources and 3-8 complete sources for the new testament to 50-75 total sources and 25-35 complete sources for the old testament and 75-100 total sources and 35-50 complete sources for the new testament. I have been seeding them as a persistant permashare for a year and a half but I am not the actual releaser though, but their were at least two instances that I know that my seeding prevented the old testament dying on the network (0 complete sources for more than a few days straight.

    The person who submitted this to VeryCD is advertising the fact that these archives, unpacked, will fit snugly on a single DVD!! With 30-50 megs the spare for several PDF bible translations. Now this is what you call flooding China (and Chinese abroad, and the rest of the world) with the word of God (despite organized religion being illegal in China and massive copyright violations)!!

    ****************************************

    I added the old testament to my alienware’s download list at the hotel in Safford (because the HD partition didn’t have room to store & share it) to verify its chinese demographics on 2006-11-11:
    Emule - Tyndale Bible on CD Dramatized NLT Old Testament Audio Bible Download seeds and peers 2006-11-11

    All the chinese in my Upload Queue 2006-11-11
    Emule - Tyndale Bible on CD Dramatized NLT Audio Bible Upload Queue Full of Chinese

    ****************************************

    Upload Queue full of chinese (and chinese abroad, marked by the VeryCD tag in the User Name) at home on my Dell after I got home from Safford 2006-11-13, sorted by File, Score, Country
    Emule - Tyndale Bible on CD Dramatized NLT Audio Bible Upload Queue Full of Chinese

    Upload Queue full of chinese (and chinese abroad, marked by the VeryCD tag in the User Name) at home on my Dell after I got home from Safford 2006-11-13, sorted by File, Country, Score
    Emule - Tyndale Bible on CD Dramatized NLT Audio Bible Upload Queue 2

    Emule Servers (Lugdunum eserver) inside China (Chinese IP Addresses)
    Emule - Chinese ED2K Servers

    ****************************************

    Here are ED2K Links to Tyndale Bible on CD Dramatized NLT Audio Bible as Presented by VeryCD (AICH but no full hashset):

  • ???????????-NLT???.-.?????.-.?????????????.-.Audio.Bible.-.New.Living.Translation.NLT-Old.Testament.-.Dramatized.-.Mp3.rar
  • ???????????-NLT???.-.D???.-.?????????????.-.Audio.Bible.-.New.Living.Translation.NLT-New.Testament.-.Dramatized.-.Mp3.rar
  • Here are ED2K Links to Tyndale Bible on CD Dramatized NLT Audio Bible with the filenames AICH hash and full hash set from my own shares:

  • Religion Holy Christian Church - ??????? ??????? ????? ?????? ?????- - Audio Bible - New Living Translation NLT - New Testament - Dramatized - Mp3.rar
  • Religion Holy Christian Church - ??????? ??????? ????? ?????? ?????- - Audio Bible - New Living Translation NLT - Old Testament - Dramatized - Mp3.rar
  • Here are ED2K Links to Tyndale Bible on CD Dramatized NLT Audio Bible with the filenames as they were when I downloaded it from Emule myself a year and a half ago (I did not repeat the full hash-set so use the two above):

  • Bible - New Living Translation - Old Testament - Audio Mp3.rar
  • Bible - New Living Translation - New Testament - Audio Mp3.rar
  • The NLT, NASB, NIV got pulled from Biiible.com; Translation Copyright summary; Get Biiible’s NLT NASB NIV PDF on Emule

    Thursday, November 16th, 2006

    In the last month or two, the New Living Translation (NLT), NIV, and NASB was pulled from Biiible.com. Looks like the copyright mafia are in the bible world too. I’m surprised they still have the Amplified bible (AMP). The NLT is not available on Gospelcom.net also. Probably unfair royalty demands.

  • JohnHurt.com - More PD translations - english and non
  • Biiible.com (Can not afford royalties for AMP, NASB, NLT, MSG)
  • Gospelcom.net Bible Gateway (Can afford royalties for AMP, NASB, MSG, but no NLT :( )
  • ****************************************

    I have these 3 translations and the other 13 remaining translations (+apocrypha) shared on Emule P2P!! Available in PDF, DOC, RTF, and TXT. I created the RTF and TXT versions myself off of the DOC version. They have been up on the ED2K network for over a year. The Audio bible NLT and NIV PDFs were up already (I got the audio bible from Emule; didn’t rip myself, but I am the one of the most reliable seeds) but I am the effective releaser for all the other translations for PDF and all of them for the PDF combo-archives, DOC, RTF, TXT, and Java (Both single and combo).

  • My download page - direct download plus my emule share list grouped by category
  • My Emule Share list page grouped by upload priority
  • ****************************************

    You can still get to the ‘removed versions’ on Biiible.com. You just have to hack the querystring (you have to re-hack with each new search).

    from
    http://www.biiible.com/dispchapt.php?instring=Revelation%2011&ver=NKJV&book=Revelation&chapter=11
    to
    http://www.biiible.com/dispchapt.php?instring=Revelation%2011&ver=LOT&book=Revelation&chapter=11

    or

    from
    http://www.biiible.com/searchresults.php?begin=0&instring=take+heaven&ver=NKJV&lookin=
    to
    http://www.biiible.com/searchresults.php?begin=0&instring=ta