Zappini

5th Annual African American Film Festival

2008-04-19T10:44:00.000-07:00

The yearly Langston Hughes African American Film Festival is a great event.

We're going to the movie Roots Time show tonight (Saturday April 19th) tonight at 7:00pm. Its a comedy, which is about our speed these days.

Nice iPhone

2008-03-28T12:12:00.000-07:00

I've been coveting an iPhone since it was just a rumor.

I had been lugging my laptop everywhere, because I can't be without my contacts, notes, calendar, and email. It was getting old. I progressively become more motivated to step up to the iPhone.

I finally bought one last week. Having recently bought a refurbished MacBook Pro (to replace the Mac Powerbook G4 I had destroyed), with great success (fucking great product), I was emotionally ready to buy a refurbed iPhone.

I checked the online Apple Store regularly. Finally a refurbished iPhone 8Gb popped up for $350.

AT&T also has refurbs available online. For $250. But I figured that once they had my credit card info, they probably had ways to enforce using their calling plan. No can do.

I used ZiPhone to jailbreak and SIM unlock my iPhone (firmware v1.1.4). Once I found the right utility, it was utterly painless; just install and run. (The INdependence 1.4 beta 5 I tried has a problem running on Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.2. Go figure.)

I already have a calling plan on a GSM network. So I put my previous phone's SIM card in my new iPhone. Worked immediately.

I truly, honestly, couldn't be much happier.

Playing with the iPhone, I'm using the included headphones, which have a built-in microphone. It's awesome. (Though I don't know how well my voice is heard by the other side.) Being able to talk and do other stuff, like typing, without scrunching my neck to the side is a huge improvement.

I hate seeing those bluetooth earpieces. A friend calls them "ear dildos". Maybe there's a compromise that doesn't make me look like a wankified Locutus of Borg.

There are a few necessary features missing.

I still need to figure out how to sync my (corporate overlord provided) Outlook calendar with my iCal/iPhone.

The iPhone currently doesn't support the To Do List items from my iCal, which seems like an odd omission.

Because I'm not using the AT&T + iPhone calling plan, I don't have Visual Voice Mail, which is kind of a bummer.

I haven't been able to connect to my domestic wi-fi. I have security enabled and there's no practical way to enter the WPA hex string, correctly, on the iPhone. I need to find a workaround.

Quicken for Medical Bills

2008-03-25T05:20:00.000-07:00

I want to manage my medical bills like I manage my bank accounts. I struggle to keep track of all my coverage, copays, deductibles, refill reminders, etc.

I'm pretty sure I'd be a more contentious consumer of healthcare if I had a better way to manage my own affairs.

Where's the Quicken for my medical bills? If it doesn't exist, what would it look like?

Wikipedia's Perpetual Constitutional Crisis

2008-03-23T10:20:00.000-07:00

The Economist, execrable war propagandist and perennial curmudgeon, again vainly tried to establish their relevance in the third millennium by kibitzing on the social experiment called Wikipedia, the online collaborative encyclopedia. Apparently Wikipedia is being torn asunder from within by competing visions.

Duh.

Unfortunately, this instigated another assessment of belly button lent on libertarian-leaning Slashdot: The Battle For Wikipedia's Soul.

Wikipedia's infighting is called a constitutional crisis. It's normal. The rights of the group (majority) vs the individual (minority). How to decide what the rules are. How to reconcile competing agendas. Etc.

Clay Shirky, one of the very few lucid, timely, and relevant commentators of this digital life, has already explained this phenomenon in his essay A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy. Read it to gain an understanding of the new world. One facet, at least.

Blogging Sucks

2008-03-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

Posting to blogger.com sucks. I've tried a few offline clients. I've tried posting via email. I usually end up posting via the web. The captcha gatekeeper sucks. It never works the first time; for this post, I've already tried three times. (Note that I already logged into my blogger account.)

Sucks.

There's some new blogger API for Java. Maybe that'll begat something that doesn't suck.

I might be forced to buy a blogger tool. I looked at Ecto a few times. Always felt it sucked.

Alternately, this exercise in futility may compel me to finally set up a basement server and I fix things for myself. Gods, I hate always having to start from scratch, reinventing the wheel.

You'd think this shit would get EASIER over time.

I'm so nostalgic for the offline mail readers from the BBS era. Like Silly Little Mail Reader (SLMR, pronounced "Slimmer") that most of the users of my BBS used.

Twiddly Buttons

2008-03-23T09:59:00.000-07:00

I have a Dell laptop w/ Dell LCD on my work desk. Getting the !@#@% Dell to use the LCD correctly (resolution, extended desktop) was a pain in the ass. With my Mac, this shit just works.

Later, I needed to adjust the LCD's contrast and brightness. There's buttons on the front. So I twiddled for a bit, until I tired of the LCD's novel user interface. Reminds me of using a vintage HP LaserJet.

Why the hell are the digital LCD's settings not settable from the laptop itself? Like with a system preference or something.

VESA just announced some new monitor connector: DisplayPort 1.1. Whoopie! Nothing about controlling the LCD from the laptop.

Coding Horrors

2008-03-07T16:52:00.000-08:00

Okay. This time I mean it. I'm really going to blog regularly.

I've been splunking through the archive of posts on Jeff Atwood's Coding Horrors. Great stuff. Recommended reading.

I've tried using an RSS reader. Just doesn't work for me.

Ron Lloyd

2007-11-12T08:18:00.000-08:00

I just ran into an old friend, Ron Lloyd, this morning. He's an architect who makes his living creating renderings for other architects.

Ron and I met through the Seattle AutoCAD Users Group, back in the day (late 80's). He was also a regular participant on my dial up BBS network, Alacrity Design & Engineering Network.

Ron's still using the Vivid ray tracer for his work. That's pretty amazing. Stephen Coy wrote Vivid during his free time while working at Boeing. He then applied his graphic ninja skills to Microsoft's Direct3D. One of Alacrity's claims to fame was hosting Vivid. Back then, shareware was the new idea.

Reckless Plan Updates

2007-06-23T12:15:00.000-07:00

We've been very active lately, opposing King County Elections' reckless plan to buy new Diebold gear. Here are two recent posts on WashBlog:

Reckless Plan: The 2Gb Limit Red Herring

Reckless Plan: Can Diebold Count Mail Ballots?

Roof Update

2007-06-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

My new roof appears to be coming along nicely. The roofer founds some design defects. Something about hips, gables, and a missing 6 inches. Prior roofers just filled in the hole with extra tiles. So that's the plan this time, too.

The really good news is that my roofer broke my driveway. The concrete is cracked and there's a huge hole underneath. When the heavy truck drove up, the cantilevered part broke off. The drop is about 3 feet.

So I guess I'm getting a green driveway sooner than I thought.

It's occurred to me that there might be a problem with the water supply line underneath my driveway. It serves my neighbor's house. Some repair work was done a few years ago. I hope this doesn't blossom into a lot more work.

Northwest New Works

2007-06-13T08:38:00.000-07:00

I went to the first weekend of On The Boards' Northwest New Works. It rocked.

Erin Jorgensen, playing an electrified marimba, was brilliant. Really mesmerizing. Joe von Appen's solo act was great. The "arc angle" dance routine was fantastic; the best dancing I've seen in a while. I don't know her name, but one of the dancers is the dance. The tEEth dance was a mind blow. There was order and chaos, kindness and violence juxtaposed. (I didn't come up with that on my own; I spoke with another show goer afterwards.)

I really, really like what On The Boards does. It's a real treat to see shows in a familiar (comfortable) setting. To see artists doing their own thing. To see artists doing experimental or early-career stuff, which later expands into something more.

I plan on attending both shows this upcoming weekend. Do not miss Northwest New Works.

Roof

2007-06-13T08:30:00.000-07:00

Resolved to resume blogging...

This is a pretty exciting day for me. I've been house poor for 7 years now. But today, all that changes. Today, my house is getting a new roof. Woot! (Weather permitting.)

This is my first major home improvement project. Everything needs to be fixed, improved, amended etc. I need a new drive way, new siding, insulation, new windows, new plumbing, etc.

My current driveway is double-wide concrete pad. Alas, it cracked. The fragments are sinking. It keeps getting worse. I think the rain undermines the dirt underneath.

I'm thinking I want one of those "green driveways". Some of those path paving stones, that have gaps for ground cover plants.

I haven't figured out what to do about siding yet.

Paint Dancing!

2007-03-05T09:43:00.000-08:00

Seattle, and the Pacific Northwest region, is a cultural epicenter, originating and popularizing many things we now take for granted: shopping malls, espresso, commercial airplanes, party rock 'n roll, grunge, bone marrow transplants, intelligent design, trading card games, shareware software, and some other stuff.

For better or worse.

Now a new craze is about the sweep the nation: Paint Dancing! You can also see a preview video.

Amazing. I'm really jazzed about paint dancing. I'm confident it'll be even more popular than flash mobs.

Disclosed Source

2007-02-26T15:44:00.000-08:00

[Originally posted on Black Box Voting, in a thread about ACCURATE's recent annual report (PDF, 240Kb). I take exception the advice of self-appointed computerized voting experts that we citizens shouldn't have access to the source code of our computerized voting and counting machines.]

Joseph Hall-

It took a while to find the papers about use of "disclosed source" (putting vendor's source code in escrow and permitting access). In the future, it'd be great if those ACCURATE reports included citations, bibliography, or whatever else it is academics do to reference work.

[For the viewing audience, here's the link for Transparency and Access to Source Code in E-Voting (a paper submitted to the EVT'06 conference) and Open Source Software - Does It Have A Place In California’s Electoral System? (a prepared statement for a hearing on same).]

This is a brief response. To be fair, I'd do a better job. But my follow thru is often lacking, so that might not happen. So here it is.

You correctly identify many of the challenges faced with the current regime of computerized voting and counting machines. I quite like the phrase "“enclosure of transparency”" and the analogy of the taking of the commons that occurred in Ireland. Very apt.

So it pains me that you've concluded that public access, transparency, while good, shouldn't be done too hastily. That any inspection is best done by experts.

I'm sorry, but relying on the experts is exactly how we got to this point today.

Further, while I'm by no means an expert, as a tax payer and citizen, I'm more than qualified to inspect our voting and election systems. It's my right.

Your paper even suggests that one step towards transparency could be to have recognized experts sign NDAs before any inspection. Because known bugs in the wild could hypothetically jeopardize the vote count.

First, you're perpetuating the status quo of placing corporate property rights over the prior, inalienable rights of citizens. (Who among us doesn't acknowledge that the complicated task of adding numbers, having no prior art, is sufficiently novel to protect behind trade secrets and patents?)

Second, by advocating "security through obscurity", you're furthering the fine tradition of all entrenched interests who don't want to forfeit the advantages of vendor lock-in. Because any public disclosure of flaws would necessarily crack open the door to how these systems work and reveal that the problem they attempt to solve is not intrinsically complicated. I'll also note such advice is usually accompanied with a suggestion to have "trusted" bug reporting and databases, which I believe you omitted.

Third, you've ignored the role of certification and procedures for the physical security of the devices. While I recognize that relying on every jurisdiction to use adequate and proper procedures is expecting too much, to do so would be in keeping with your optimistic recommendations.

Fourth, who gets to decide who the experts are? That selection process is subject to the discretion, judgment, bias, or whatever of some authority. What establishes the legitimacy of that authority? With your proposal, you end up with a "it's turtles all the way down" type of rationalization. (The world is on the back of a turtle, which itself is on a turtle, etc.) With each step one further away from public oversight.

Fifth, your paper ignores the majority of the proprietary software vendors provide. Although everyone gets worked up about computerized voting and computerized counting, there's also candidacy filing, GIS systems, ballot design, ballot construction, ballot printing, voter databases, reconciliation (tracking who voted), mail sorters (inbound and outbound), bar code readers, signature verification, and probably a few others. What of those systems? What about them warrants secrecy? Isn't the examination of those systems also part of the public vote count?

As you well know, being a computer security expert, all trusted cryptography and security systems are publicly vetted. No party who is serious about security would ever rely on obscurity. The issue isn't even worth debating, except to again point out the fallacy.

Similarly, you also know that the biggest security threats are insider (trusted) access and leaks. NDAs and trade secrets have done nothing to prevent others from learning about the security flaws in the existing computerized voting and counting systems.

In summary, I'll repeat my disappointment in your conclusions. Frankly, I don't understand how you added 2 + 2 and ended up with "fish".

I do value your work, however. As with many really bad ideas, only after every conceivable attempt has been made to mitigate the inherent flaws of computerized voting (an exhaustive search of the solution space), with no positive results, will the die-hards reluctantly admit that, gosh, it looks like it was all a bad idea after all. (The concluding step is usually finding a scapegoat.) So it's best to fully fund efforts such as yours, so that we may hasten its conclusion.

So please continue. Happy hunting.

Cheers, Jason Osgood / Seattle WA

Defending Plain Text

2007-02-26T15:36:00.000-08:00

Elliotte Rusty Harold gets his geek on pointing out that Plain Text Files are Confusing. We all know that Apache's config system blows. Harold argues that XML can help.

If XML is the answer, then it's likely you're asking the wrong question.

The correct answer is to use a grammar. Perhaps with a tool like ANTLR.

Say we follow Harold's advice. Even if you (mis)use XML, you're only getting a (very poor) lexer to handle the syntax. You still have to parse the tokens yourself to handle the semantics.

Like the rest of us, I've wrestled with plenty of horrible XML. So it's not like that's a cure all.

Of course, XML apologists will argue that the offenders are doing it incorrectly. To which I answer that the medium is the message; the offenders have no choice but to misuse XML, for there is no correct usage option available.

Grammar for HTTP?

2007-02-01T21:44:00.001-08:00

I'm creating a mini HTTP server for embedding in my application. It's
kind of fun. So I've been scanning a bunch of other mini HTTP
servers. Thus far, they all hard code the parsing of HTTP headers.
Seems silly. I looked around to see if anyone had a grammar (e.g. lex/
yaxx, ANTLR) for lexing and parsing HTTP. I've found none so far.
Might be a useful thing to do.

'Old Europe' Can Gloat, but Then What?

2006-12-21T09:59:00.000-08:00

Hi Anne Applebaum-

What a gem of an article.

One excerpt:

But Germany is notoriously averse to sending soldiers, or anyone
else, anywhere near combat.

Germans are pacifists. Who knew!?

It's a marvel that you're afforded the privilege of writing for
publication. That you get paid for same is beyond belief.

Here's a hot tip for you: The words you use, particularly the proper
nouns, have meaning, history, and context. They're not just pretty
ornaments in your poems of nonsense.

If you're going to pretend to have an informed opinion, could you
please at least try harder faking it?

That'd be great. Thanks.

Cheers, Jason Osgood / Seattle WA

(link to original post)

War With Iran

2006-11-21T08:51:00.000-08:00

Senator Cantwell-

Good grief.

I wrote to express concern about the Bush Administration's efforts to preemptively attack Iran. And I asked what can be done to stop the insanity. You replied with outdated platitudes, denying the obvious. This feels just like the fabricated run up to Iraq.

Iran doesn't have any nuclear weapons programs. How, exactly, is a diplomatic solution to a problem that doesn't exist supposed to work?

Thanks. For what, I have no idea.

Cheers, Jason Osgood / Seattle WA

On Nov 21, 2006, at 6:17 AM, Maria_Cantwell@cantwell.senate.gov wrote:

Dear Mr. Osgood,

Thank you for contacting me to express your concerns for the development of nuclear weapons in Iran . I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.

As you may know, international nuclear inspectors continue to monitor whether Iran is developing nuclear weapons. Such a program would be in contravention to the nuclear non-proliferation agreement that Iran has signed. In November 2004, the countries of Britain , France , and Germany negotiated an agreement with Iran , in which Iran agreed to cancel its nuclear programs. Unfortunately, Iran has recently backed away from its commitments. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reported that Iran is accelerating its nuclear fuel enrichment activities and has failed to comply with international nuclear inspectors. Specifically, Iran began resuming uranium conversion in August 2005 and then announced its intentions to begin research on enriching uranium in February 2006.

On March 29, 2006, the United Nations Security Council issued a Presidential Statement on Iran 's nuclear programs requesting that Iran suspend its uranium enrichment programs within 30 days and cooperate with the IAEA. Iran failed to comply with this Presidential Statement.

On May 31, 2006 the Bush Administration decided to change course and join diplomatic talks with Iran , along with the United Kingdom , France , and Germany . I believe that the United States must engage in real diplomacy and work with Russia , China , and other countries to deal with Iran . We cannot permit Iran to build or acquire nuclear weapons.

During the debate on the Defense Authorization bill, Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE) introduced an amendment calling onIran to suspend its enrichment program and to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency. The amendment was agreed to, with my support, in a vote of 99 to 0.

Please be assured that I will continue to press for progress towards a verifiable diplomatic solution.

Thank you again for contacting me to share your thoughts on this matter. For more information about my work in the Senate and issues of importance to Washington state, feel free to visit my website at http://cantwell.senate.gov . Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of further assistance.

Sincerely,
Maria Cantwell
United States Senator

For future correspondence with my office, please visit my website at
http://cantwell.senate.gov/contact/index.html

Access to Lexus/Nexus?

2006-11-10T03:47:00.000-08:00

Fellow activist Annette is compiling a list problems with computerized voting machines reported in print media. It occurred to me that we should find a way to use Lexus/Nexis. I understand that this is how journalists do research.

Currently, Annette is using Google and registering to access each paper's website. Not very efficient. Also, print and web can differ.

Any ideas?

KCE: Problems Solved?

2006-11-10T00:16:00.000-08:00

Hi Sharon Plan Chan-

Catching up on my reading. Thank you for covering election integrity issues.

You wrote:

Recommendation: Instead of appointing a director of elections, elect an auditor.

... It was postponed because Sims said he had a strong candidate who was considering taking the job here if it remained an appointed position. ...the candidate turned down the job.

Now that the old plan is moot, I'm very eager to learn what the new plan is. I've asked a few times. No answers yet.

Cheers, Jason Osgood / Seattle WA

---

Washington Citizens for Fair Elections

http://www.wafairelections.org

Poll Voters Divided on Forced Mail Voting

2006-11-10T00:15:00.000-08:00

Originally posted to WashBlog.

Very interesting. Half of the poll voters in King County oppose eliminating neighborhood poll sites. Here's the link to King Co. exit poll results on transition to vote-by-mail (November 9, 2006). Here's the money quote:

The results indicate that polling place voters are evenly divided on the vote-by-mail issue. Exactly
one-half of the polling place voters support the move to vote-by-mail, while the other half oppose
the new voting system in King County.

This survey project was conducted by assistant professor Matt Barreto, who is also a member of the non-partisan, academic survey research organization The Washington Poll. (Barreto has done prior research on absentee voting and other election issues.)

Maybe this survey's results seem like it would be obvious. However, 1/3rd to 1/4th of the ballots received at a poll site are dropped off by absentee voters. So there's likely a mix of absentee voters included in the survey.

I find the breakdown of support by group to be very interesting.

Surprising to me is that whites are split 50/50, whereas minorities support 60/40. Which I'd say is unfortunate. My impression is that African Americans and Latinos believe mail ballots are a tool to fight disenfranchisement. Stuff like having too few computerized voting machines, being shunted towards provisional ballots, or other dirty tricks. (None of which, to my knowledge, have happened in King County.) These are legitimate concerns. However, with mail ballots, disenfranchisement would be invisible and untraceable.

Local Democrats support forced mail voting a little bit more than local Republicans. Makes sense. The local Dems are in charge. In jurisdictions where Republicans are in charge (e.g. Arizona), the Democrats oppose forced mail voting.

The survey report also examines the correlation between a voter's confidence in the elections and their support for forced mail voting. Again, makes sense.

I'd like to see this survey conducted on current permanent absentee voters. Many voters have been signed up as absentee status against their wishes. And I haven't met a single person (outside of the Democratic Party) that wants to take away the neighborhood poll sites. Then, of course, there's people like me who switched to poll status once I understood the problems with mail balloting.

Recent Forced Mail Voting Articles?

2006-11-09T20:11:00.000-08:00

Did anyone see a recent article in the PI or Times which stated that forced mail voting is more expensive than poll voting? A friend said it was about 2 or 3 weeks ago.

I looked, but all I found was All mail-in voting not for everyone (Nov 8th) by guest columnist Julia Youngs.

Citizens Election Oversight Committee Mtg Tues Nov 14th

2006-11-09T16:10:00.000-08:00

I asked about upcoming CEOC meetings and got a quick response from Mike Alvine. There's a meeting Tuesday Nov 14th from 12:30pm to 1:00pm. I have the impression that the CEOC members will visit the Temporary Elections Annex to observe the central count.

The location is King Co Intl Airport (aka Boeing Field), Terminal Building Room 201. I called and the address is 7277 Perimeter Road South, Seattle WA. Here's the Google Maps link.

Mike Alvine also provided the list of current members and their contact info. Here's the current CEOC members:

Evelyn Arnold Chelan County Auditor

AJ Culver Nonpartisan "Good Govt" Org.

Paul Guppy WA Policy Center

Ellen Hansen Registered Voter

Victor King Chinese-speaking Community

Marilyn Knight Nonpartisan "Good Govt" Org.

Sheryl Moss Secretary of State

Gurine Nordby KC Democratic Party

James Rigby State Republican Party

Michael Snyder State Democratic Party

Monica Tracey KC Republian Party

I don't feel comfortable posting their contact information without permission. If anyone wants the list, just holler.

Julie Goldberg and I are carpooling from Ballard. Holler if you need a ride. (Just know that I tend to hang out and gab, so don't expect a quick trip home.)

Missed Observing Touchscreen Performance Audit [Updated]

2006-11-09T09:22:00.000-08:00

[Update: The 4% performance audit of the touchscreens has NOT happened yet. I got a note saying it may happen on the 16th or 17th of Nov.]

I really wanted to observe the performance audit of our touchscreens
following the general election. I missed that procedure during the
primary. Determined to not miss it again, I contacted the right
people, requesting prior notification.

Alas. When I got home last night, I got a voice mail from a KCE
person saying the performance audit was that afternoon at 2:00pm. Great.

I was contacted afterwards with an apology. A couple of party
observers were there, so I was encouraged to follow up with them.

I have the impression that 3 precincts from 3 touchscreens were
performance audited.

I ran into Toby Nixon a few weeks ago and he reported the audit from
the primary found no problems. But I'm still a bit confused. I heard
there were definitely problems with our touchscreens. Mostly printing
issues. Also, a trainer told us that one poll inspector found a VVPAT
printer canister in his car's trunk.

Seems to me the sample size for the performance audit was too small
to catch these problems.

Dependable Software by Design

2006-10-24T15:44:00.000-07:00

Did everyone see the article Dependable Software by Design in the June 2006 Scientific American?

It covers the Alloy Analyzer. Daniel Jackson calls this creation "lightweight agile modeling". His book Software Abstractions covers formal methods, model checking, Alloy, etc. Someone over on Lambda the Ultimate noticed the book's release.

My copy of the book just arrived. My intent is to use Alloy to model some of my recent work. Learn the tool. See how bad my designs really are. Maybe improve my solutions.

Is there anyone else interested in talking about modeling, formal methods, etc.?