Monday, February 22, 2016
Sun tea
Ever made it? I tried it once about 30 years ago, and it wasn't good. The teabags, not having brewed in boiling water, sat in tepid sun-warmed water, yielding a dull, vegetative taste.
This summer I want to make an iced tea brewed from one of my favorite flavored teas, Constant Comment. I hope sweetening it with Splenda will do the trick.
"Apple's New Lawyer Calls iPhone-Unlock Order a ‘Pandora's Box’"
Bloomberg Business: Former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson, a partner with the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, said on ABC’s “This Week” program that the order would open a “Pandora’s box” of privacy issues.
“This is not just one magistrate in San Bernardino,” said Olson, 75, whose wife died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. “There are hundreds of magistrates, there are hundreds of other courts.”
In rejecting the magistrate’s decree, Apple has ignited a long-simmering battle between the tech industry and the government pitting concerns over civil liberties against the need for surveillance to fight terrorism. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump waded into the battle last week by urging people to boycott Apple products until it complied.
“This case is entirely overstated,” John Miller, the New York Police Department’s deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism, said on “This Week” after Olson’s appearance. “The giant parade of terribles,” as he described Apple’s worries over government breaches of civil liberties, “is absurd.”
On Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym ordered Apple to lend “reasonable technical assistance” to the FBI in recovering information from the phone used by Syed Rizwan Farook, who teamed up with his wife in December to kill 14 people in San Bernardino, California.
Glass Ceilings
Overheard Lem's:
AprilApple said...
chickelit said...
Well that news (if it gets out) will give Trump Tower all the ceiling it needs.
Sunday, February 21, 2016
On Ne Passe Pas (They Shall Not Pass)*
Leaving Paris, the train to Luxembourg tracked the Marne River valley, rolling eastwards through the Champagne region and then veered north to Reims. I recall glimpsing the famous cathedral -- not at night but in harsh daylight. But what I remembered the most (and hadn't foreseen) were the haunted place names along that ride. The names confronted me through the train window one-by-one as stops along the way: place names like Verdun-sur-Meuse. This map shows how the train's route between Paris and Luxembourg crossed the Western Front of the First World War:
The French paid a costly human price at Verdun but prevailed. The great battle began 100 years ago today and raged until December, 1916. German artillery fired an estimated 1 million shells that first day alone. France and Germany lost around 300,000 men at Verdun over the course of the next 10 months -- a significant fraction of total war casualties.
KLEM FM
The song prominently features a xylophone. Now the word xylophone is interesting. The word came to us via Greek xylon [wood] + phone [sound]. The instrument is probably an ancient one as suggested by the photograph below, but the name is actually quite recent.
Xylon also appears in the chemical term "xylene" because the molecule* was first isolated from wood tar.
The etymology link above mentions that the word xylon is the same as "the Cross" in the original Greek language New Testament. Curious, I looked into that. It turns out that the very symbol of Christianity has a contentious word history. The actual word used by the Greeks was stauros:
The word "stauros" occurs 27 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures (the 'New Testament'). This word has been consistently translated in the New World Translation as "torture stake" and never as "cross". It is the implement on which Jesus Christ was affixed and executed. Also, another Greek word was used by the Bible writers "xylon", as the same implement of execution in regard to Jesus, which denotes, "wood, a piece of wood, anything made of wood..." At those places where "xylon" is used in connection with Jesus' execution the New World Translation has rendered it as "stake". Is there any justification for the New World Translation to do this with these Greek words? linkThe link goes into excruciating detail. I don't know what to make of it other than the Greeks wrote stauros [stake] and the Romans wrote crux [cross]. But surely there is plenty of extant evidence that the Romans did crucify as a primary means of execution?
_________________
*Xylene is usually plural (xylenes) because there are three closely related (and hard to separate) xylene species designated ortho, meta, and para:
"Kasich signs Ohio bill diverting Planned Parenthood funding"
AP: Gov. John Kasich signed legislation Sunday to strip government money from PlannedParenthood in Ohio, a day after the Republican presidential contender’s weak performance in his party’s South Carolina primary.
The expected action came despite calls for a veto by some legislative Democrats and several newspaper editorials. The governor did not sign the bill in public. His office made the announcement in a statement.
The legislation targets the roughly $1.3 million in funding that Planned Parenthood receives through Ohio’s health department.
The expected action came despite calls for a veto by some legislative Democrats and several newspaper editorials. The governor did not sign the bill in public. His office made the announcement in a statement.
The legislation targets the roughly $1.3 million in funding that Planned Parenthood receives through Ohio’s health department.
Rumors starting to circulate that Kasich thinks staying in gets him Trump veep pick by holding back others.— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) February 21, 2016
Moving
Moving heavy things around.
On their little skids. But look at those dents. This stuff is heavy.
Jellystone CSI
Suspicion about Smokie's activities heightened as we notice the types of woman he would flirt with. He would walk by the most babelicous woman to talk to someone who walked like a man. At first we thought it was a political thing as Smokey is very liberal as are most bears of color. So to see him hanging out with Birkenstock wearing henna tattooed chicks with hairy underarms was par for the course. But something different was going on.
You see he really hated these woman. He would gain their confidence by seeming to be a clean articulate black bear and then he would turn on them. It was terrible.
(Jellystone CSI, Memories of a Park Ranger Forensic Scientist, Penguin Press 2009)
Melania Trump's Diary
Melania Trump’s Diary
February 21, 2016
So we have won in South Carolina. I love South Carolina. All
the nice white people with their moon pies and snakes and moonshine. They
remind me of the people back home in Slovenia. Good hard working people who
work the land, drink to excess and have sex with their cousins. My kind of
people.
Donald was so happy and pleased that he even raised a chubby
without me having to munch on Little Donald all night. It was wonderful. But then seeing Jeb Bush
humiliated always makes him hard.
Thank God for Laura Bush. She called me up at the beginning
of the campaign. She said she knew I would be the next First Lady and she has
important stuff to tell me once Donald wins. She hates Jebbie with a passion so
she fed us inside information all campaign long. We didn’t even have to use
most of it.
Does Apple trust China above the United States?
France 24: Apple was hailed as a champion of digital privacy this week after refusing to help the FBI hack into an iPhone belonging to a suspect in the San Bernardino shooting. But the firm hasn’t always been so scrupulous about user data, especially in China.
Apple’s new role as a champion of digital privacy must be making the Chinese government smile. According to an article by the US news website Quartz, Cook’s intransigence apparently depends on geography.
Citing reports by Chinese daily Beijing News and the state-run People's Daily, the article claimed that Cook agreed in January 2015 to allow authorities in China to carry out “security checks” on all iPhones sold in the country to make sure the US had not installed any spyware. But, Apple has never confirmed or responded to the allegations.
The article reported that analysts believe Apple likely handed over its operating system source code as part of the agreement. If true, this would mean that the Chinese government knows how Apple’s software works, including its security system.
Apple’s new role as a champion of digital privacy must be making the Chinese government smile. According to an article by the US news website Quartz, Cook’s intransigence apparently depends on geography.
Citing reports by Chinese daily Beijing News and the state-run People's Daily, the article claimed that Cook agreed in January 2015 to allow authorities in China to carry out “security checks” on all iPhones sold in the country to make sure the US had not installed any spyware. But, Apple has never confirmed or responded to the allegations.
The article reported that analysts believe Apple likely handed over its operating system source code as part of the agreement. If true, this would mean that the Chinese government knows how Apple’s software works, including its security system.
"Why did you pick Trump over the other guys?"
Byron York: "The big reason is honesty," said Lori Jagla, of Woodward, S.C. "The more I hear everyone else going, 'Isn't he going too far?' the more [I think], 'No, you just wait, you get into America, and it's not too far. It's what we're thinking.'"
"Because he's honest," said Nicki Cox, of Greer.
"Doesn't mince words," said Angela Griffin, of Spartanburg.
"I don't even care what his views are, I just care that there's a better chance that he's going to do what he says than the other guys," said Robert Daughenbaugh, of Mauldin. "I mean, you know they're all liars. End of story. They're all liars."
Many had supported mainstream Republican candidates for years and felt they had nothing to show for it. Trump is their opportunity to change course.
"I went into a couple of weeks' depression when Mitt Romney lost," said Doug Moore, of Greenville. "I'm just tired of the politicians. I'm tired of the establishment. I voted establishment for most of my life. I voted for both Bushes, I voted for Bob Dole, John McCain, Romney. I'm just ready for something different, somebody who'll actually get in there and make a change."
"Because he's honest," said Nicki Cox, of Greer.
"Doesn't mince words," said Angela Griffin, of Spartanburg.
"I don't even care what his views are, I just care that there's a better chance that he's going to do what he says than the other guys," said Robert Daughenbaugh, of Mauldin. "I mean, you know they're all liars. End of story. They're all liars."
Many had supported mainstream Republican candidates for years and felt they had nothing to show for it. Trump is their opportunity to change course.
"I went into a couple of weeks' depression when Mitt Romney lost," said Doug Moore, of Greenville. "I'm just tired of the politicians. I'm tired of the establishment. I voted establishment for most of my life. I voted for both Bushes, I voted for Bob Dole, John McCain, Romney. I'm just ready for something different, somebody who'll actually get in there and make a change."
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