Re: WiFi Launcher?

2005-03-28 Thread Damian Gerow
Thus spake Tyler Durden ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) [25/03/05 10:30]:
: Has anyone heard of a utility that can search for a WiFi hotspot while 
: driving and then launch an email?

Someone once said, Cypherpunks write code.

: In other words, say you want to send out a few anonymous emails, and you 
: don't even want to enter a Cyber-cafe or whatever. So you load up the 
: emails in your mail tool and drive down Main Street. The launcher utility 
: detects the presence of open wi-fi hotspots and belches out a few of the 
: emails while the spot's in rangeall the while you don't even slow down.
: 
: Sounds possible to me. the only problem might be the need for 
: authentication, etc...in some hotspots, but given enough hotspots surely 
: there are some that don't need it...

I imagine that, depending on where you're driving, you wouldn't need to
bother with hotspot authentication: you're bound to stumble onto an open
WiFi network at *some* point in your journey.

Given that there already exists utilities that detect WiFi networks and map
them with GPS units, I don't think it would take much to, at that point,
run, say, 'postfix start  postqueue -f'.  Or perhaps mixmaster/mixminion
might be more appropriate.

It sounds not only possible, but plausible.  And I'd be surprised if someone
didn't already have this working somewhere.



Re: WiFi Launcher?

2005-03-28 Thread Tyler Durden

From: Damian Gerow [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: WiFi Launcher?
Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 12:50:04 -0500
Thus spake Tyler Durden ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) [25/03/05 10:30]:
: Has anyone heard of a utility that can search for a WiFi hotspot while
: driving and then launch an email?
I noticed you did a little editing! Sigh. Few can stand in the light for 
very long, save the various beautiful women that clamor to spread my DNA...

Someone once said, Cypherpunks write code.
Yes but I'd amend this to say, Cypherpunks in the process of becoming 
economically successful probably don't have time to write code but others 
can sure feel free to try...

: Sounds possible to me. the only problem might be the need for
: authentication, etc...in some hotspots, but given enough hotspots surely
: there are some that don't need it...
I imagine that, depending on where you're driving, you wouldn't need to
bother with hotspot authentication: you're bound to stumble onto an open
WiFi network at *some* point in your journey.
Exactly. And also, no harm in trying several times, the Johnny Appleseed 
approach...


Given that there already exists utilities that detect WiFi networks and map
them with GPS units, I don't think it would take much to, at that point,
run, say, 'postfix start  postqueue -f'.  Or perhaps mixmaster/mixminion
might be more appropriate.
It sounds not only possible, but plausible.  And I'd be surprised if 
someone
didn't already have this working somewhere.
These days one has to act very quickly in order to create something 
original. The question is, will a TLA do it first and post it, along with a 
TINY little ID tag?

-TD



Re: AP For Starvation Judge

2005-03-28 Thread Major Variola (ret)
It would be interesting socially if the vegetable in question had fried
her brain with her choice of unlicensed
pharmaceuticals, instead of her choice of self-starvation (leading to
cardiac failure, leading to
joining the vegetable kingdom).  Would Jeb be trying to adopt a
coke-stroke negro?

It would also be interesting if those who want to keep her metabolizing
had to pay for it, or do
it themselves, instead of requiring the taxpayers to absorb the cost.
Which is the real
libertarian question, once you realize no one is coercing anyone, since
the vegetable is
less sentient than the cows we eat or chimps we experiment upon.

Instead, the xians show their hand, that it is not the soul
(consciousness) they care about,
and the quality of its experience, just heartbeats.  Someone should show
them a chick's heart
beating in a petri dish.  But of course they are not deterred by
reality.  Perhaps they are
afraid that their own emptiness will be exposed if life be judged by
more than the ability to
metabolize.

It would be very cool karma if the Pope were to be vegetative but
indefinately prolongable
(thanks of course to the fruits of the scientific method which is the
antiPope).  One imagines
this will eventually happen.  Or are there rules to replace a useless
Pope?  Does Alexander Haig
get to be interim Pope?

In lieu of less messy and hard to arrange (thanks to fascism) processes
(eg, an overdose),
those piloting their own ships end up sucking the barrel of a .45, or
whatever caliber is convenient.  Rarely do we try to
improve the world in the process, by taking deserving others with us,
probably out of overwhelming
self-obsession at such times.  (Though the fellow who drove a tanker
into the Capitol in Sacramento comes to mind.)
At least we don't try to stop trains with our bodies (we would sit in
our SUVs on the tracks anyway),
and rarely jump off overpasses into traffic, which inconveniences many,
compared to the ballistic route.

-
Get your laws off my body








Re: WiFi Launcher?

2005-03-28 Thread Damian Gerow
Thus spake Tyler Durden ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) [25/03/05 15:06]:
: Thus spake Tyler Durden ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) [25/03/05 10:30]:
: : Has anyone heard of a utility that can search for a WiFi hotspot while
: : driving and then launch an email?
: 
: I noticed you did a little editing! Sigh. Few can stand in the light for 
: very long, save the various beautiful women that clamor to spread my DNA...

Editing?  I don't follow.  All I may have edited was the formatting.

: Someone once said, Cypherpunks write code.
: 
: Yes but I'd amend this to say, Cypherpunks in the process of becoming 
: economically successful probably don't have time to write code but others 
: can sure feel free to try...

..  Well put.

: Given that there already exists utilities that detect WiFi networks and map
: them with GPS units, I don't think it would take much to, at that point,
: run, say, 'postfix start  postqueue -f'.  Or perhaps mixmaster/mixminion
: might be more appropriate.
: 
: It sounds not only possible, but plausible.  And I'd be surprised if 
: someone
: didn't already have this working somewhere.
: 
: These days one has to act very quickly in order to create something 
: original. The question is, will a TLA do it first and post it, along with a 
: TINY little ID tag?

I'd do it myself, but I have neither laptop nor wireless networks to test it
on.

Until then, I'll throw it on my List of Nifty Ideas to Develop.



Re: WiFi Launcher?

2005-03-28 Thread Tyler Durden
Well, as pointed out previously it may not be necessary to authenticate. If 
you believe you'll be passing through a high WiFi density area, and that 
chances are decent at least one or two of the hotspots do not require 
authentication, then have the app toss off a bunch of the emails and try 
again at the next spot. The emails should make it through somewhere 
(particularly in places like NYC, were there must be a dozen or more public 
hotspots within a block or two of where I work).

Of course, if authentication happens to be achieved, then I guess have the 
app delete those emails it got through.

Which leads to the possibility of perhaps attempting both strategies 
simultaneously, but on different frequency bands.

-TD
From: Bill Stewart [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: WiFi Launcher?
Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 14:21:09 -0800
Thus spake Tyler Durden ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) [25/03/05 10:30]:
: Has anyone heard of a utility that can search for a WiFi hotspot while
: driving and then launch an email?
It's a harder problem than you'd expect -
Wifi doesn't have a long range, so you have to detect the hotspot,
decide if you can handle or evade its authentication, do that,
and then send your message before you've driven out of range.
If you're in range for 100 meters at a 18kph city crawl (or bike)
that's about 5 meters/sec so you've got 20 seconds, and it can work.
If you're driving 90kph and catch 10 meters of the edge of a range,
you've got 0.4 seconds to do the job, which is pretty dodgy -
lots of mail servers take a few seconds to really sync up,
especially if you've got to do a DNS lookup or two.
Directional Antennas are unlikely to be useful -
if you've got them aimed right, you might win,
but you're much more likely to miss entirely
or have only a few meters that you're in range.



Re: WiFi Launcher?

2005-03-28 Thread Steve Schear
At 02:21 PM 3/25/2005, Bill Stewart wrote:
especially if you've got to do a DNS lookup or two.
Directional Antennas are unlikely to be useful -
if you've got them aimed right, you might win,
but you're much more likely to miss entirely
or have only a few meters that you're in range.
Horizontally directional perhaps not but vertically is a possibility.  By 
this I mean an omni antenna with gain, like a stacked dipole.  What this 
means is antenna with gain in all compass points but with a flat 'pancake' 
vertical profile.  In many driving situations the hot spot is likely to be 
within 10 degrees of horizontal. They are commonly used in commercial TV 
and radio broadcast.   I think its possible to get 6 or more db gain this 
way with a small antenna.  6 db effectively doubles your range.

Steve 



Re: WiFi Launcher?

2005-03-28 Thread Roy M. Silvernail
Damian Gerow wrote:
In theory, all you're doing is:
- Finding an AP
- Associating with the AP
   - this could mean just setting your SSID, it could mean cracking WEP
 keys, it could mean providing authentication...
- Grabbing an address (DHCP)
At this point, you're looking at around five seconds of work.  Which, at the
aforementioned 18kph, gives you another 15 seconds to send off any mail.
If you run a local DNS server (faster), you'll save yourself a few seconds.
The actual MTA transmission only takes a few seconds; that is, unless you're
spamming, in which case it may take longer.
 

Why run a DNS server?  Cache expiry would still require some lookups.  
Just pre-populate your hosts file before your transmission sortie.

I need to look into whether mixminion tolerates casual connections.  
ISTR incoming connections are checked against the local key cache, but 
I'm not sure if that includes the known address of the node.

--
Roy M. Silvernail is [EMAIL PROTECTED], and you're not
It's just this little chromium switch, here. - TFT
SpamAssassin-procmail-/dev/null-bliss
http://www.rant-central.com


Re: AP For Starvation Judge

2005-03-28 Thread Justin
On 2005-03-26T22:35:23-0800, Eric Cordian wrote:
 Justin writes:
 
  Artificially feeding her against her wishes and/or the wishes of her 
  husband (whose wishes have precedence over the wishes of her parents -- 
  if you don't like that, get that law changed) is sick.
 
 I think we have to divide things we do for disabled people into care and 
 heroic medical measures.  I consider a feeding tube to fall into the 
 former category.

I like to think that care is doing what the patient wants.  If the
patient is uncommunicative (following a balloon with her eyes .5 times
out of 1000 doesn't qualify as communication imho), the legal
decision-maker can end any treatment.

 That which we may do to ourselves, if we are functioning, exceeds that 
 which we may require others to do to us if we are not.  I can deny myself 
 food, water, and air, for instance.  I cannot instruct others to deny me 
 those things if I am rendered incapable of making my own decisions.

Okay; I accept that.  We can assault ourselves, but we cannot waiver in
advance another's legal culpability if they assault us.

She is not functioning, however.  Her rights and the rights of her legal
representative are the same.  Anything that she could have requested in
a living will can be requested by her legal representative, her husband.

 There is no reason for the feeding tube to be removed at all.  It is not 

That depends on her condition.  If she is merely a brainstem attached to
a beating heart and a bunch of tissue, there are clear reasons for
ending this spectacle.

Utilitarian: she's using medical resources that could help people who
have a chance at recovery.

Utilitarian: the spectacle is diverting time and attention of citizens
who should be focusing on increasing their personal wealth, and by
extension the GDP.  Out of sight, out of mind.  Once she's dead, people
will quickly become less distracted as the media can only run stories in
her wake for so long.

Ethical: She wouldn't want to live like this (the court's accepted this,
but it's still disputed).

Ethical: We don't want to see her live like this (which morphs into she
wouldn't want US to suffer like this).  I don't think this one's
disputed, though Michael may take that view for financial reasons.

 If Terri were able to be spoon fed by an attendant, would the judge have 
 then ordered spoon and attendant withdrawal?  Would the papers report 
 that the spoon is keeping her alive artificially?

Can she recover to sentience, or is she merely a braindead automaton
capable of swallowing?

  If I have a living will (in writing or by the decision of a legal proxy)
  that restricts certain kinds of treatment, you're more than happy to see
  doctors violate that and keep me alive as long as someone on Earth is
  willing to pay?
 
 Well, I would argue that you do not have a legal right to demand others 
 restrict your air, food, and water, unless they need to be delivered in 
 invasive uncomfortable ways that reduce your human dignity.

So I don't get to define my own notion of human dignity?

  That is not the way any sane legal or medical system should work.  I
  suppose you don't believe in euthanasia either?
 
 I think euthanasia is fine if the patient is suffering horribly, has all 
 their marbles, and has less than six months to linger from a terminal 
 illness.

Three arbitrary thresholds.  Two subjective: horrible suffering and
all their marbles; one of them objective: 6 months.

 Terri Schiavo meets none of these criteria.

Explain why your criteria matter and how the subjective ones are to be
applied, and I might care.

 I certainly don't support the right of an adulterous spouse who swore up 
 and down at the malpractice trial that he only wanted to care for his wife 
 for the rest of her natural life, and who didn't mention her wish to not 
 go on until 7 years after her brain injury, to have his brain-damaged wife 
 starved and dehydrated to death solely on his say-so, absent any written 
 indication of her wishes.

What, you've never changed your mind about anything?  She's been
effectively braindead for over a decade.  This could be a case of
moving on emotionally.

Terri's parents supported the adultery, based on news reports I've seen.

I'm not saying it's morally right for him to cheat on her, but I take a
very dim view of any State involvement in marriage.  As far as I'm
concerned, the marriage granted him the right to represent Terri in a
situation like this, just as if they executed a medical power of
attorney and never got married.  I consider the marriage contract fully
severable.  His cheating on her doesn't materially affect any
contractual aspect of the marriage, so unless she's around to get
divorced, he can still legally represent her.

-- 
Unable to correct the source of the indignity to the Negro, [the Phoenix,
AZ public accommodations law prohibiting racial discrimination] redresses
the situation by placing a separate indignity on the proprietor. ... The

Re: WiFi Launcher?

2005-03-28 Thread Damian Gerow
Thus spake Bill Stewart ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) [25/03/05 17:23]:
: If you're in range for 100 meters at a 18kph city crawl (or bike)
: that's about 5 meters/sec so you've got 20 seconds, and it can work.
: If you're driving 90kph and catch 10 meters of the edge of a range,
: you've got 0.4 seconds to do the job, which is pretty dodgy -
: lots of mail servers take a few seconds to really sync up,
: especially if you've got to do a DNS lookup or two.

Bike would be more likely than car.  Or even walking.  Modify your mode of
transportation to meet your needs; don't try to cram near-impossible
technological feats to meet your mode of transportation.

In theory, all you're doing is:

- Finding an AP
- Associating with the AP
- this could mean just setting your SSID, it could mean cracking WEP
  keys, it could mean providing authentication...
- Grabbing an address (DHCP)

At this point, you're looking at around five seconds of work.  Which, at the
aforementioned 18kph, gives you another 15 seconds to send off any mail.

If you run a local DNS server (faster), you'll save yourself a few seconds.
The actual MTA transmission only takes a few seconds; that is, unless you're
spamming, in which case it may take longer.

If you're sending out via something that encrypts and authenticates, it
might take a bit longer.  All the same, 15 seconds is plenty time to get off
at least a few messages.  At which point, you just keep on moving, and let
your gear find a new AP, and start all over again.

: Directional Antennas are unlikely to be useful -
: if you've got them aimed right, you might win,
: but you're much more likely to miss entirely
: or have only a few meters that you're in range.

Directional antennas would be pointless.  Go for a high-gain
omnidirectional.  You might lose a little range, but it's highly unlikely
you'd be able to gain anything from the range.

Plus, I'm assuming a secondary goal would be indiscretion: someone walking
down the street pointing three duct-taped together Pringles cans at people's
houses probably isn't terribly indiscrete.  It'd be much better to just keep
a larger omni antenna in the bag on your back (with the
laptop/PDA/whatever).



Re: WiFi Launcher?

2005-03-28 Thread Major Variola (ret)
t 03:06 PM 3/25/05 -0500, Tyler Durden wrote:
I noticed you did a little editing! Sigh. Few can stand in the light
for
very long, save the various beautiful women that clamor to spread my
DNA...

Your barber can spread more of your DNA.

Your female can help you *copy* your DNA, but only about half of it,
and you don't get to chose which half.

Someone once said, Cypherpunks write code.

Yes but I'd amend this to say, Cypherpunks in the process of becoming
economically successful probably don't have time to write code but
others
can sure feel free to try...

Why not sketch a script that can?  That's not hard work, and contributes

more than the idea itself (which is a good idea BTW).

: Sounds possible to me. the only problem might be the need for
: authentication,

Can't be any authentication for obvious reasons.

These days one has to act very quickly in order to create something
original. The question is, will a TLA do it first and post it, along
with a
TINY little ID tag?

If its an open-source tool, who gives a rodent's arse if a TLA wrote it?

After all, you can never be sure that a TLA *hasn't* written (or
contributed)
to anything.

Think critical  --Agrammatical Marketoids



AP For Starvation Judge

2005-03-28 Thread Eric Cordian
This just in from CNN:

 [FBI agents have arrested a North Carolina man on suspicion of soliciting 
  offers over the Internet to kill Michael Schiavo and Judge Greer. 
  Richard Alan Meywes of Fairview is accused of offering $250,000 for the 
  killing of Schiavo and another $50,000 for the the elimination of the 
  judge who ruled against Terri.]
   
Given that the real problem in this case is one stubborn judge, and all 
the other judges sticking with him, I'm not really sure the bounty 
allocation cited is the best possible one.

Michael Schiavo doesn't, by himself, have the power to completely thwart 
the wishes of the President of the United States, the Governor of the 
State of Florida, and an overwhelming majority of both houses of Congress.

He is an insignificant pipsqueak, and were he not being backed by the 
judiciary, the more equal of the three equal branches of government, he 
would have been marginalized and ignored years ago.

I wonder how much it is going to cost the taxpayers for the round the 
clock army this judge is going to need to protect his sorry life for the 
remainder of it.

-- 
Eric Michael Cordian 0+
O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division
Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law



Re: AP For Starvation Judge

2005-03-28 Thread Eric Cordian
Justin writes:

 If the judge's decision had been the opposite, there might be a bounty
 on his head for that, too.

Somehow letting someone who has lived 15 years with a significant brain 
injury live out the rest of their normal life span just doesn't provoke 
people the same way dehydrating and starving them does.

 If you're saying that fundie Christians are more pathologically violent
 than either the areligous or the more progressive religious, I'd agree
 there.

I don't believe in the existence of a supernatural, but I certainly 
wouldn't take water and food away from any human with a functioning brain 
stem, particularly when there are people to whom that person's life has 
meaning, and who are willing to provide them with care.

The interesting political lesson here is that one stubborn judge, and his 
pals who band together to support him, can defy the will of the President 
of the United States, the Governor of the State of Florida, and a majority 
of both houses of Congress.

Of the three equal branches of government, the unelected branch is more 
equal than the other two.  Of course, we've known that since Marbury vs 
Madison.

-- 
Eric Michael Cordian 0+
O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division
Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law



Re: AP For Starvation Judge

2005-03-28 Thread Bill Stewart
At 10:35 PM 3/26/2005, Eric Cordian wrote:
Justin writes:
 She is a corpse with a heartbeat.
They want her dead, but don't have the guts to just kill her,
so they're going to dehydrate her to death instead
and pretend it's natural, because she can't feed herself.
It's a nasty way to go if you're not in bad health,
though it seems to be popular with disabled old people
who want to commit suicide in nursing homes
and don't have alternatives.

I think we have to divide things we do for disabled people into care and
heroic medical measures.  I consider a feeding tube to fall into the
former category.
I agree with you there, though for many people that seems to be
the crux of the issue.


Re: AP For Starvation Judge

2005-03-28 Thread Eric Cordian
Justin writes:

 She is a corpse with a heartbeat.

According to a cast of characters which include a euthanasia proponent, a 
lawyer at the forefront of dehydration advocacy for the brain-damaged, and 
a doctor who thinks its morally acceptable to starve Alzheimer's patients 
to death.

 Artificially feeding her against her wishes and/or the wishes of her 
 husband (whose wishes have precedence over the wishes of her parents -- 
 if you don't like that, get that law changed) is sick.

I think we have to divide things we do for disabled people into care and 
heroic medical measures.  I consider a feeding tube to fall into the 
former category.

That which we may do to ourselves, if we are functioning, exceeds that 
which we may require others to do to us if we are not.  I can deny myself 
food, water, and air, for instance.  I cannot instruct others to deny me 
those things if I am rendered incapable of making my own decisions.

I can instruct them to deny me things like a respirator, or dialysis, of 
course, which is reasonable.

There is no reason for the feeding tube to be removed at all.  It is not 
valuable.  It is not horribly invasive or uncomfortable.  It is not going 
to be taken out and used on another patient.  They can certainly starve 
and dehydrate her to death with the tube in place.  In fact, leaving it in 
place would be a prudent thing to do, to spare her the risk of having to 
have a new one installed if the decision to kill her is reversed before 
she dies.

THe only reason the tube is being removed, is because they are playing the 
game that The Tube is keeping her alive.  In reality, nutrition and 
hydration are keeping her alive, and in fact, they are also keeping you 
and me alive too.

Nutrition and hydration are care, not heroic medical measures, and 
while people can refuse to eat and drink themselves, they should not be 
able to leave advance directives demanding others deny them such things.

If Terri were able to be spoon fed by an attendant, would the judge have 
then ordered spoon and attendant withdrawal?  Would the papers report 
that the spoon is keeping her alive artificially?

If you want to make an argument for killing the cognitively impaired, 
let's at least call it what it is, and not engage in political theatre 
over feeding tubes.

 If I have a living will (in writing or by the decision of a legal proxy)
 that restricts certain kinds of treatment, you're more than happy to see
 doctors violate that and keep me alive as long as someone on Earth is
 willing to pay?

Well, I would argue that you do not have a legal right to demand others 
restrict your air, food, and water, unless they need to be delivered in 
invasive uncomfortable ways that reduce your human dignity.

You are of course welcome to not breathe, drink, or eat as long as you are 
in charge, but you do not have the right to demand we kill you by 
withholding such things if you become disabled.

 That is not the way any sane legal or medical system should work.  I
 suppose you don't believe in euthanasia either?

I think euthanasia is fine if the patient is suffering horribly, has all 
their marbles, and has less than six months to linger from a terminal 
illness.

Terri Schiavo meets none of these criteria.

I certainly don't support the right of an adulterous spouse who swore up 
and down at the malpractice trial that he only wanted to care for his wife 
for the rest of her natural life, and who didn't mention her wish to not 
go on until 7 years after her brain injury, to have his brain-damaged wife 
starved and dehydrated to death solely on his say-so, absent any written 
indication of her wishes.

-- 
Eric Michael Cordian 0+
O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division
Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law



Re: AP For Starvation Judge

2005-03-28 Thread Justin
On 2005-03-26T11:04:46-0800, Eric Cordian wrote:
 This just in from CNN:
 
  [FBI agents have arrested a North Carolina man on suspicion of soliciting 
   offers over the Internet to kill Michael Schiavo and Judge Greer. 
   Richard Alan Meywes of Fairview is accused of offering $250,000 for the 
   killing of Schiavo and another $50,000 for the the elimination of the 
   judge who ruled against Terri.]
 
 I wonder how much it is going to cost the taxpayers for the round the 
 clock army this judge is going to need to protect his sorry life for the 
 remainder of it.

If the judge's decision had been the opposite, there might be a bounty
on his head for that, too.

If you're saying that fundie Christians are more pathologically violent
than either the areligous or the more progressive religious, I'd agree
there.

-- 
Unable to correct the source of the indignity to the Negro, [the Phoenix,
AZ public accomodations law prohibiting racial discrimination] redresses
the situation by placing a separate indignity on the proprietor. ... The
unwanted customer and the disliked proprietor are left glowering at one
another across the lunch counter.  --William H. Rehnquist, 1964-06-15



Re: AP For Starvation Judge

2005-03-28 Thread Justin
On 2005-03-26T20:05:14-0800, Eric Cordian wrote:
 Justin writes:
 
  If the judge's decision had been the opposite, there might be a bounty
  on his head for that, too.
 
 Somehow letting someone who has lived 15 years with a significant brain 
 injury live out the rest of their normal life span just doesn't provoke 
 people the same way dehydrating and starving them does.

She is a corpse with a heartbeat.  Artificially feeding her against her
wishes and/or the wishes of her husband (whose wishes have precedence
over the wishes of her parents -- if you don't like that, get that law
changed) is sick.  She has become a doll for her parents, who are too
immature to grasp the concepts of life, death, and dignity.
Presumably they're still stuck on God and selfishness.

  If you're saying that fundie Christians are more pathologically violent
  than either the areligous or the more progressive religious, I'd agree
  there.
 
 I don't believe in the existence of a supernatural, but I certainly 
 wouldn't take water and food away from any human with a functioning brain 
 stem, particularly when there are people to whom that person's life has 
 meaning, and who are willing to provide them with care.

If I have a living will (in writing or by the decision of a legal proxy)
that restricts certain kinds of treatment, you're more than happy to see
doctors violate that and keep me alive as long as someone on Earth is
willing to pay?  (Even if Terry's parents weren't willing or able to pay
originally -- I don't know, and haven't investigated that aspect of the
case -- if they manage to keep her alive, they'll probably get enough
donations to keep her alive for millenia.)

That is not the way any sane legal or medical system should work.  I
suppose you don't believe in euthanasia either?  It would seem to be
inconsistent if you did.  How can someone choose to die if anyone else
can veto that choice?

 The interesting political lesson here is that one stubborn judge, and his 
 pals who band together to support him, can defy the will of the President 
 of the United States, the Governor of the State of Florida, and a majority 
 of both houses of Congress.

Thankfully, Neither Jeb nor George nor the U.S. Congress have any
jurisdiction over this whatsoever.  The courts do.

 Of the three equal branches of government, the unelected branch is more 
 equal than the other two.  Of course, we've known that since Marbury vs 
 Madison.

That is of course true, but not because of the decisions so far in this
case.  The law allows her spouse to decide what artificial means should
be used to keep her alive.  If you don't like it, again, lobby for a
change to the law.

The strong control the weak.  The majority controls the minority.  All
we have here is a governmental system originally set up by the majority
(maybe... at least no internal faction opposed it until 1860), where
some people managed to get into positions of influence within the
governmental machine despite having unpopular beliefs.

I find it amusing that the Republican-dominated national Congress wants
Terry kept alive, while Scalia has been quoted as saying, Mere factual
innocent is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly
reached.  Republicans in general can't get anything right because their
belief system is less coherent than any other.  At least the supreme
court didn't reverse the decision... not yet, at least.  That's only
because some of the Republicans are not-so-conservative and they all
know the decision would be affirmed.  Taking the case would just waste
time.

-- 
Unable to correct the source of the indignity to the Negro, [the Phoenix,
AZ public accomodations law prohibiting racial discrimination] redresses
the situation by placing a separate indignity on the proprietor. ... The
unwanted customer and the disliked proprietor are left glowering at one
another across the lunch counter.  --William H. Rehnquist, 1964-06-15



Re: The Register: Anonymity no protection for online libellers

2005-03-28 Thread Eric Cordian

 Mark Weston, technology law specialist at MAB Law, says the ruling was 
 another link in the chain of judicial authority saying that you cannot be 
 anonymous. 

If they can find out who you are, you aren't anonymous, you are 
confidential.

Anonymous means no trail was created which might be examined to disclose 
your identity, and no individuals are in possession of that information, 
and might disclose it.

Confidential means the information exists, but that people have promised 
to keep it secret, until they change their minds.

There is a vast difference, for instance, between confidential HIV 
testing, and anonymous HIV testing.

When I want to be anonymous online, I rely on technology, not peoples 
promises, and if this individual had been truly anonymous, he would not 
have been identified.

-- 
Eric Michael Cordian 0+
O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division
Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law