Stealing Wi-Fi

Link blog post #512—a nice "round" number.

There was a post on c|net about how stealing Wi-Fi in an airport is bad. I agreed with the following comment.

I agree, this sort of unauthorized use of Wi-Fi on a continuing basis is theft. Quite clearly the service is made available for the purpose of making a profit, and so circumventing the system constitutes stealing. Kind of like phone phreaking; while it's cool to figure the ins and outs of the technology, going much further past demos is hard to justify. This thing called ethics says just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Now I would change my reaction if we're talking about an unprotected signal coming into my house. It's my airspace, and if someone is broadcasting something I don't want at me, then it's their problem if I decide to take advantage of it. The law is dead wrong in saying that that is theft. If I chuck an iPod into someone's open window and they decide to keep it, it's not theft since I put it there. (Actually, it's my bad for throwing stuff into their space, and they'd have a right to be upset.) Decoding a signal is more marginal ethically. I'd say it's "half theft" in that as above, the user is stealing service, but it's also half the broadcaster's fault for polluting the PUBLIC (outdoor) airspace with their private signal, in contrast to the private airspace within the airport. With publicly shared things like frequency spectrum, there are gray areas abound.

NFA Gun Trust Lawyer Blog

This "NFA Gun Trust Lawyer Blog" might be useful, I'm not sure. The bit about an NFA trust looks inspiring.

Unlawful Armed Force

An article on CNN claims:

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch said there was "mounting evidence that Russian and Georgian military used armed force unlawfully during the South Ossetian conflict" and it emphasized that this "highlights the need for international fact-finding missions in Georgia."

What the hell does "unlawful" mean in an international military context? How can anyone say that with a straight face? Forcing someone's notion of "international law" upon the world is farcical to say the least. Put another way: Whose law was broken? The reason people fight is because they can't resolve things peacefully, and no law can be applied to that.

The Geneva Convention wouldn't mean a damn thing if the aggressor who violated the rules were to win. Such laws are only used as a pretense for the winning nation to justify their actions upon the loser. "War crimes" is a nonsensical term—there is no crime in war, only the will of the victor over the vanquished. Nuremburg after World War II was a farce in that punishing the losing generals was some application of authoritarian law. No way: The Allies extracted vengeance and had to apply the shield of "law" to make up excuses for their actions. The Allies rightfully won (although the Allied leaders were minor tyrants in their own right), and still they felt they had to apply a bit of decorative color to the war's end. Well, the winner writes history, always.

This whole conflict with Georgia and Russia is a case of he said, she said—who knows what exactly happened out there. What we do know is that Russia is not to be trusted. The wounds of the Cold War run deep, and just as China longs to rule Asia once more, Russia longs to again be the dominant power in Europe. Where such ambition runs rampant, war can never be far behind.

GPS Map for Japan

I thought about buying a GPS prior to this last business trip but decided against it. It'd be cool, but an unnecessary expense.

Garmin apparently allows downloadable maps, and one company produces a GPS map for Japan. The one with routing information, version 2.0, costs more than the one without routing info, version 1.2.

Satellite Installation

In a search for satellite dish installation, I found some info from a vendor in NJ. They mention the RG6 cabling, which apparently carries power. Interesting. I should've read up on this more before the Dish Network third-party installer weirdos showed up.

い草

さっちゃんがちょっと前に送ってくれたリンク：
い草天国
イケヒコ・コーポレーション

買いたい物が増えたな。

Coharie Arms

In consideration of purchasing a "CA89" (SP89 clone) or a "CA94" (HK94 clone), I've been doing some reading. Coharie Arms is the only clone manufacturer left, apart from buying a flat and having the gun manufactured from a kit. The problem is, they're quite controversial in that a number of people are happy with their purchase while a seemingly equivalent number have had problems. Todd Bailey is at the center of the controversy, as many question the ethics of his business practices. Discussion of his products, via companies Special Weapons and Tactical Weapons, was verboten on HKPro at one point, though recently the ban has been rescinded.

HKPro post on the CA89
Another HKPro post on ordering
Bailey's comments on ordering

The Photographer's Right

Via a Slashdot article's comments, I came across "The Photographer's Right", a single page flyer by an attorney indicating what photographers can expect legally. That could be useful.

On the other hand, when someone in a position of power isn't getting their way, they're liable to screw you over, regardless of what your rights are. So I'd imagine that if one intends to push the envelope, one had better have a videocamera, with a flash memory card, that one can afford to lose for the purposes of filming the confrontation. People on a power trip are unlikely to take kindly to non-sheeple.

KD-36HD600

Nowhere on the web can I find specs for my Sony TV, model KD-36HD600. Of course, it is a Japanese TV, but even Sony's site just lists it as discontinued. A Wikipedia page lists FD Trinitron/WEGA TVs, though those are only the American model numbers.

I want to know the resolution of the TV—it's not in the manual. I sort of found this info on another site, which says that the vertical resolution is 1300 lines:

「スーパーファインピッチブラウン管」というのは前回ご説明した「トリニトロン方式」を採用しているから搭載できている機能。横方向の解像度1300本以上を実現するまさにスーパーなブラウン管を搭載しています。ハイビジョン映像の1125iと呼ばれる放送方式ですが、ソニーいわく、理論的に横方向に関しては1300本の解像度が必要らしく、そのためにはキメの細かいピッチ幅が必要とのことで、その理想の解像度をブラウン管で実現できているのは現状ではソニーのスーパーファインピッチ管だけとのこと。

Also, since the TV supports the D4 connector, it should handle 1080i and 720p. However, lacking an HDMI or DVI output, that means that the TV technically isn't "HD Ready"