Jester Clippings: 2008-08-16 (updated)
Saturday 16 August 2008 - Filed under Life Outside Work
“Hello (again): Apple’s iMac turns 10″
10 years ago, Apple was on the verge of fading into a forgotten chapter of the history of personal computing. Today, Apple has grown into the most valued business in Silicon Valley, worth even more than Google in market capitalisation. The turning point: the iconic colourful all-in-one iMac. Link [ars technica]
“Sign Up for OpenID With Chi.mp, Get Free Domain Name”
OpenID, one of the emerging buzzwords, promises something we’ve heard a lot: create one online identity and use it anywhere without having to remember multiple passwords, one of the benefits of which is that you are not locked down by any single service or company. The basic idea behind OpenID is that you can use your Web site address (domain name) as your ID. Apparently, a new OpenID service provider, Chi.mp, will even give you a free domain name if you don’t have one. Hmmm… joining a service to get a “free” domain name which you don’t own so that you get the freedom of a use-anywhere ID as long as that “identity” service provider is still in business? I’m not so sure. Link [WIRED]
Fake Olympics
They faked the fireworks with computer graphics. They faked the weather by shooting more than 1,000 rockets into the sky. They faked the singer because she didn’t have beautiful teeth. They faked the children representing the 56 ethnic groups in China. They even faked the Mickey Mouse statues. What next? Perhaps the athletes should check if their medals are coated with real gold, silver, and bronze, just in case.
“10 Worst Web glitches of 2008 (so far)”
Both my Gmail and trial MobileMe accounts suffered from outages and slow performance more than once during the last couple of weeks. Here’s a summary of what else went down made headlines. Link [CNET]
Update:
After 100 days, the (dwindling) flame of madness rages on
15 August is an important date for people in many countries, and I just had to put this one in. When I saw this picture, I couldn’t take my eyes off it for a good five minutes in speechlessness although it’s nothing new. These anti-government communist groups, a.k.a. candlelight vigil participants, many of which are clueless university students, once again blocked the streets of Seoul, South Korea for the 100th night of violent protests, which coincided with the 63rd anniversary of Liberation Day and the 60th anniversary of the Founding of the Republic of Korea (both on 15 August). I haven’t found any English versions of this report yet (with the media hijacked by the Olympics), but I’ve already written enough about this.
One of the banners in the photo reads: “Let us lift up the candles for Independence!” Independence from what? Democracy? Some of the things they have been demanding for months include: “democracy” (oddly enough); toppling the current conservative government; the cancellation of U.S. beef imports; the nullification of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which was signed by the previous left-leaning government; and the abolition of the National Security Act, which criminalises Communism and acts of colluding with communist organisations and regimes. In the end, common sense states that there is only one way to respond to this madness: UPHOLD THE LAW AS WRITTEN. Thankfully, the police and the riot police have finally started getting tough on these police-beating mobs.
What puts me off more than anything is the language these vandals borrow to gloss their Juche communist agenda (roughly translated as “self-reliance,” not to be confused with left-wing in modern politics): words like “progressivism”; “national reconciliation”; “independence”; “national sovereignty”; “peaceful reformation”; “people’s will”; “fight for democracy” and so on. But the democracy they are referring to is obviously the D-word in “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK),” which sadly happens to be the official English name assumed by the Communist North. For those who are old enough to remember the divided Germany, East Germany had the word “Democratic” in their diplomatic name, too. Are these communists trying to be funny, or just ashamed to call themselves what they are? What an insult to democracy this is.
Oh wait, how about extraditing those say-no-to-Capitalism-except-maybe-Hollywood-blockbusters hypocrites (pictured) to the North so they get everything they want, i.e., live in the Democratic People’s utopia they’ve been dreaming of day and night? Sounds like a win-win to me. What, no food? Don’t worry, the Dear Leader loves you. Bye-bye.
Meanwhile, life goes on for the rest of THE Republic of Korea. Now, I’ve really written enough about this. But I have a feeling this won’t be the last of it.
2008-08-16 » JK