An Engineer's Car

You've heard of clown cars, right?  Well, here's an engineer's car! I love it!

Reminds me of the time, a long time ago, when I bought an Acura Integra.  I happened to buy an Integra RS (lowest trim version of the car).  But I kind of wished at the time that I had preferred the LS version.  Then my car would have been an Integra LS.  All engineers are familiar with integrals, of course!

Anyway, back the engineer's car in question.  What a great idea to add to the "3" designation on the car's badging!

http://i.imgur.com/oecr1.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Mazda3-pi.jpg

Song of the Day: Ben Harper - Picture In A Frame

"Picture in a frame - Ben Harper"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhMz6msdcF4

Another sad song, powerful lyrics.


Lyrics, from the YouTube link:

You can sell your soul
But you can't buy it back
I've spent my whole life
Working to give you
Everything you lack

I wish you were here
So we could walk and talk
In the soft rain
Now all that's left of us
Is a picture sitting in a frame

I would gladly trade
All of my sympathy
For sorrow
If i could have you
Here with me tomorrow

So many wasted days
The past is so hard to get out from under
So many words that i wish i could say
The future rattles my bones weak like thunder

I wish you were here
So we could walk and talk
In the soft rain
Now all that's left of us
Is a picture sitting in a frame

Everything i wish for
Is everything i see
I remember when your kisses were for me

It's Not About The Nail!

This is HILARIOUS!  And true?

From Jason Headley:
"It's Not About The Nail"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4EDhdAHrOg

My reactions, after laughing my ass off:

1. How does he manage to keep a straight face while filming this???
2. I know how she manages to keep a straight face: She's not acting!
3. I'm surprised he's not mad or jealous about whoever nailed her...

Song of the Day: The Milk Carton Kids - Michigan

Love this song:

"The Milk Carton Kids - Michigan"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEDnGAvjQXw

Beautiful song.  Sad.  That song speaks to me on a lot of levels.  Not to mention that I'm from Michigan, which makes me wistful as well.

"And all that's left is a blind reflection
But you know what's coming and you regret it"


Lyrics, from SongMeanings.com:
http://songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107858890045/

The clouds move over Pontiac skies
Their silent thunder matches mine
I know this feeling from long ago
I wonder if it's gone now I know

So when she calls don't send her my way
When it hurts you'll know it's the right thing

Michigan's in the rearview now
Keep your hands where I can see them
You took the words right out of my mouth
When you knew that I would need them
What am I supposed to do now
Without you
Without you

It's unannounced like you'd expected
[Her mom broke down brake line in poor town records]
And all that's left is a blind reflection
But you know what's coming and you regret it

So when she comes don't send her my way
When it hurts most it's the right thing

Michigan's in the rearview now
Keep your hands where I can see them
You took the words right out of my mouth
When you knew that I would need them
What am I supposed to do now
Without you
Without you

Michigan's in the rearview now
Keep your hands where I can see them
You took the words right out of my mouth
When you knew that I would need them
What am I supposed to do now
Without you
Without you 

Captain Sum Ting Wong

If you missed the names of the pilots of that Asiana flight that crashed a little while back in San Francisco, check out this news broadcast from KTVU TV in Oakland.

"Asiana Pilots names from KTVU News"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1JYHNX8pdo

Did you catch those pilot names?


Yes, this is real!  From Deadspin:
"Pranked TV Station Reports “Ho Lee Fuk,” “Wi Tu Lo” As SF Crash Pilots"
http://deadspin.com/pranked-tv-station-reports-ho-lee-fuk-wi-tu-lo-as-758955806


How did that happen?  From the SFGate Blog:
"Pilot consultant source of KTVU’s fake pilot list, report says"
http://blog.sfgate.com/stew/2013/08/07/pilot-consultant-source-of-ktvus-fake-pilot-list-report-says/

Did you catch this part of the article?

The Bay Area media blogger also says that KTVU Managing Editor Michelle Toy read the fake names prior to the broadcast as part of normal checks and questioned their authenticity, but approved the list after she was told they had been confirmed by the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB intern who OK’d the list later was fired.

Confirmed by an NTSB intern?  Was the intern in on the joke originally, or did he just roll with it once he saw the list?


As you would expect, people have been fired.  From UPI:
"KTVU-TV, San Francisco, producers fired over Asiana pilots' fake names"
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/07/25/KTVU-TV-San-Francisco-producers-fired-over-Asiana-pilots-fake-names/UPI-79491374778504/


And as you would also expect, now the lawsuits begin.  From CBS News:
"Asiana Airlines confirms it will sue KTVU-TV over broadcast of racist fake pilot names"
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57593696/asiana-airlines-confirms-it-will-sue-ktvu-tv-over-broadcast-of-racist-fake-pilot-names/

Lavabit

Sometimes you see a story that gives you hope for the future.  You see a man who stands for principle.  It makes you feel as though you could do the same.

Lavabit is--was until recently, actually--an e-mail service provider.  No longer.

First check out their website:
http://lavabit.com/

My Fellow Users,

I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes against the American people or walk away from nearly ten years of hard work by shutting down Lavabit. After significant soul searching, I have decided to suspend operations. I wish that I could legally share with you the events that led to my decision. I cannot. I feel you deserve to know what’s going on--the first amendment is supposed to guarantee me the freedom to speak out in situations like this. Unfortunately, Congress has passed laws that say otherwise. As things currently stand, I cannot share my experiences over the last six weeks, even though I have twice made the appropriate requests.

What’s going to happen now? We’ve already started preparing the paperwork needed to continue to fight for the Constitution in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. A favorable decision would allow me resurrect Lavabit as an American company.

This experience has taught me one very important lesson: without congressional action or a strong judicial precedent, I would _strongly_ recommend against anyone trusting their private data to a company with physical ties to the United States.

Sincerely,
Ladar Levison
Owner and Operator, Lavabit LLC

Defending the constitution is expensive! Help us by donating to the Lavabit Legal Defense Fund here.

What made Lavabit different?  Check out this article from Forbes:
"Email Company Used By Edward Snowden Shuts Down Rather Than Hand Data Over To Feds" by Kashmir Hill
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/08/08/email-company-reportedly-used-by-edward-snowden-shuts-down-rather-than-hand-data-over-to-feds/

Lavabit was the e-mail service used by Edward Snowden.  Why did he use it?  Why shut down the service?

Texas-based Lavabit came into being in 2004 as an alternative to Google’s Gmail, as an email provider that wouldn’t scan users’ email for keywords. Being identified as the provider of choice for the country’s most famous NSA whistleblower led to a flurry of attention for Lavabit and its encrypted email services, from journalists, and also, apparently, from government investigators. Lavabit founder Ladar Levison announced Thursday that he’s shutting down the company rather than cooperating with a government investigation (presumably into Snowden).

Some implications of this push by the NSA to scan our e-mail accounts?

“I would strongly recommend against anyone trusting their private data to a company with physical ties to the United States,” writes Levison, based on his experience. This message seems to be a loud and clear one. Washington, D.C.-based think tank Information Technology and Innovation Foundation predicts that U.S. cloud companies will lose from $21.5 to $35 billion over the next three years. They admit that it is a “rough guess” based on surveys about the chilling effects of the NSA leaks on U.S.-based cloud businesses.

Another article, from Wired:
"Edward Snowden’s Email Provider Shuts Down Amid Secret Court Battle" by Keven Poulsen
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/08/lavabit-snowden/

Interesting reactions from Lavabit users.

Update 19:45: Lavabit has 350,000 users who aren’t Edward Snowden, and some are decidedly unhappy with Levison’s decision, judging by a flood of angry comments posted to Lavabit’s Facebook page this afternoon.

“Too bad that I payed some years in advance to keep up the good work that now turns out to be terminated without any warning,” wrote one user. “I relied on this service which is basic for my private as professional online communication and have no idea how to migrate mails and recover mails being sent that never reached me in the past 18 hours.”

“I have my Steam account and EVERYTHING on Lavabit,” wrote another. “Please have the servers running so that we can migrate our services.”

“How am I supposed to migrate?” a third user added. “Some services require a confirmation sent to the old email address to be able to switch. I can’t believe this. I just switched to Lavabit only a couple of weeks ago to get away from Hotmail snooping my shit.”

A minority of commenters were more supportive. “Holy shit, you guys are crying over your Steam accounts,” wrote one. “Just change your email to something else. Lavabit either had to roll over for the government, compromising our privacy, or shut down service. Be happy Ladar shut it down instead of rolling over.”