Events

Via Sullivan, a constitutional analysis of the Stop Online Piracy Act: To begin with, the bills represent an unprecedented, legally sanctioned assault on the Internet’s critical technical infrastructure. Based upon nothing more than an application by a federal prosecutor alleging that a foreign website is “dedicated to infringing activities,” Protect IP authorizes courts to order all U.S. Internet service providers, domain name registries, domain name registrars, and operators of domain name servers—a...

Given my activities yesterday (i.e., going through airport security), I found the latest interview with Bruce Schneier timely and once again correct: As we came by the checkpoint line, Schneier described one of these aspects: the ease with which people can pass through airport security with fake boarding passes. First, scan an old boarding pass, he said—more loudly than necessary, it seemed to me. Alter it with Photoshop, then print the result with a laser printer. In his hand was an example, complete...

You'll never guess where I am: It's not so bad, really. Despite warnings of the busiest travel day of the year at O'Hare, it's quiet and relaxed at the moment. From curb to the other side of security took 14 minutes, which isn't a record for me but obviously didn't bother me either. After a short flight, I'll have curry at Kennedy's tonight with some classmates, then Christmas with the family.

Via Sullivan, a chart showing it costs more work to have a life these days:

Remember the three-year-old parking meter privatization that will be former mayor Richard Daley's best-remembered legacy? In another example of how not to negotiate a deal, it turns out the city agreed to pay the parking meter company for lost revenues under what should have been eminently predictable circumstances: Financial statements for the company show that CPM has billed the city an additional $2,191,326 in “True-up Revenue” through the end of 2010. Under the contract, the city is given an 8%...

I'm still banging away at software today—why is this damn socket exception thrown under small loads?—so I only have a minute to post some stuff I found interesting: Chicago and the State of Illinois are planning the largest urban park in the world in the mostly-abandoned Lake Calumet and South Works areas of the south side. It looks like the far-right has hijacked Hungary's government, in the way that right-wing governments do, which should remind everyone who lives in a democracy how fragile the form...

The T-Mobile acquisition is dead, dead, dead: AT&T is ending its $39 billion bid to buy T-Mobile USA, citing fierce government objections. "From the first day that this deal was announced, we have warned regulators, lawmakers, and consumers of the dangerous consequences of this merger," said Parul P. Desai, policy counsel for Consumers Union, according to its website The Consumerist. "Regulators clearly saw through AT&T's claims of better service and saw what we saw - a combined AT&T/T-Mobile would mean...

Swamped with client work, getting ready for Xmas, traveling hither and yon—tomorrow, at least, will be quieter.

In the past day I've seen two movies, both adaptations from really good novels: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Incendiary. The former, adapted from John le Carré's 1974 novel, brought me right into the Cold War and had me transfixed by Gary Oldman's performance. After next weekend—when I think I'll have a couple of hours of free time—I'm queuing up the 1979 version with Alec Guinness. The latter, adapted from Chris Cleve's 2005 novel, disappointed me. Except for Michelle Williams' superb acting, it...

I'm juggling a couple of clients today, so I can't write entire entries on any of these: My favorite steakhouse in Chicago, Morton's, will get bought out by a company in Houston. The deal closes in February, so I'll have to get in there once I finish digesting my Christmas dinner. (Could take weeks.) Christopher Hitchens died last night; Andrew Sullivan has posted great stuff about him today. The President will sign the Defense Authorization Bill into law, even though it contains...