tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33322332011-07-01T22:56:01.482-07:00politics, civil rights, intellectual property, science, capitalism, and fooGene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comBlogger881100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-852453212002-07-13T04:11:00.000-07:002002-07-13T04:11:17.200-07:00

After watching blogspot fall over plenty of times, I have installed MovableType on my own machine and have moved the blog back to http://www.hoffmang.com/. Please update your links. This page should auto-redirect you anyway.

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-852402292002-07-11T11:52:00.000-07:002002-07-13T03:24:18.000-07:00

In a rare twist of irony, Barbara Boxer is supporting an armed pilots bill in the Senate. Can I say that I am pleasantly surprised. Maybe the rumors of her concealed carry permit are true and now that the political climate has shifted toward gun ownership she may be moving back to center? Nah - she probably just flies a lot.

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-852327032002-07-09T08:48:00.000-07:002002-07-09T08:55:19.000-07:00

EMusic has become the first company to make legal MP3 files available from a major label. Somewhat vindicating. Here is one of the first articles out. Hits Magazine has a bit better article, but you may have to register.

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-852283092002-07-08T00:21:00.000-07:002002-07-09T07:42:29.000-07:00

There is a car that parks down the street from my house. I see it when I walk my dogs. It is clearly owned by a person who is classically liberal as the person is wearing her ideology on her bumper. I notice it because as I step back from the positions and the ingrained liberal/conservative meme it points out a very funny correlation. The bumper stickers are: "Love Animals, don't eat them" and "

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-852256812002-07-06T13:30:00.000-07:002002-07-06T13:51:10.000-07:00

An excellent article pair on Beyondvalueinvesting.com talks about the telecom and digital media pyramid schemes that came into being. I would even argue that some of the VCs actually recognized this factor and tacitly kept it moving. This is one set of retrospective criticisms that I fully agree with. I used to argue with a lot of folks who said that B2B was the only place to be. My argument was

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-852162032002-07-02T12:49:00.000-07:002002-07-02T12:50:41.000-07:00

Steven Den Beste has said it far better than I could have. Anyone who questions why the US is unwilling to join the criminal court and would be willing to boycott UN Peacekeeping is willing to suspend both the constitution and the bill of rights. They kicked us off the human rights council and put Syria on for gosh sakes. We want to trust that entity to mete out justice to American statesmen,

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-852159442002-07-02T11:21:00.000-07:002002-07-08T10:56:04.000-07:00

Recently in the news are reports of a study by Mathis Wackernagel that states that humanity has exceeded the carrying capacity of the biosphere. Reason has a rebuttal showing the impact of technology over time on the efficiency of the use of natural resources. The rebuttal points out both that in the fully industrialized nations, forest are re-growing as moderate to poor farm land is phased out (

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-852107572002-06-30T13:37:00.000-07:002002-06-30T13:43:36.000-07:00

Even Greenspan believes that the increase in productivity may allow the economy to grow at a 3 to 4% rate without touching off inflation. Reuters has a good summary of the situation and some pertinent quotes from Greenspan. What this means is that we may be able to keep the cost of money cheap, while we grow the economy quickly. A significant change in the historical cost of money really could

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-852107422002-06-30T13:26:00.000-07:002002-06-30T13:27:13.000-07:00

Did I mention that I think the Pink Pistols are one of the best things to happen to America recently. The New York Post has an article about their participation in Gay Pride activities. I hadn't been aware of the local significance of Pink Pistols, however.

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-851936412002-06-24T00:13:00.000-07:002002-06-24T00:13:58.573-07:00

I have noticed an interesting comparison. In the United States, we banned alcohol and learned the hard way what a dumb move that was. In point of fact now, progressive states like California allow you to buy "hard" alcohol 24/7 at grocery and drug stores while "soft" alcohol is available in 7-11s. However, Nevada is the only state in the Union where prostitution is legal. In Canada prostitution

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-851902602002-06-21T22:58:00.000-07:002002-06-25T20:39:40.000-07:00

I finally knuckled under to an itch I've had since I was 14 and bought a power boat. In so doing, I've become a regular haunt at Boatered which is an excellent message board for powerboaters to swap stories, ask and answer questions, and generally become (or brush off) less newbie skills. Lately there was a rant about Personal Watercraft (PWCs in the lingo) and the absolute morons who drive them

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-3851902442002-06-21T22:43:00.000-07:002002-06-21T22:43:35.086-07:00

So, EMusic has finally been transferred over to the Vivendi Net USA technology team - who used to be the MP3.com tech team. Its a strange final chapter in a strange ride. One of the funniest stories to follow up on Brett's posting above is about our first security incident. Not 12 hours after we turned the system on, the underlying machine got hacked. Luck and happenstance saved us as we planned

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-851712012002-06-14T13:51:00.000-07:002002-06-14T13:52:01.000-07:00

Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit has a post about warp drive. I don't think that warp drive is all that practical. However, I am excited about combining the research into creating gravitational fields from electromagnetic fields combined with the theoretical possibility of and more recent research into time travel. Gravitational research is interesting as being able to create a gravity field allows

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-851556892002-06-09T13:56:00.000-07:002002-06-09T21:34:49.000-07:00

After receiving an email from Steel69 that stated he agreed with Bowie and included the link I gave it a quick read. Bowie has a nicely nihilistic outlook His deal with Sony is a short-term one while he gets his label started and watches the Internet's effect on careers. "I don't even know why I would want to be on a label in a few years, because I don't think it's going to work by labels and by

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-851540082002-06-08T15:42:00.000-07:002002-06-08T22:54:27.000-07:00

Ann Coulter says that the conventional wisdom that the WTC should not be rebuilt was shattered at a recent public meeting.Not surprisingly, Mohamed Atta loathed skyscrapers. Newsweek reported that he viewed the emergence of tall buildings in Egypt as an odious surrender to Western values. The most fitting memorial to the victims of the World Trade Center attack is to build the most breathtaking

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-851539662002-06-08T15:10:00.000-07:002002-06-08T15:30:40.000-07:00

There is a good summary of why one might call oneself an armed liberal on a blog of the same name. Not being a conservative and spending most of my time with New Democrats, I generally fall into this camp too. I agree with him pretty much across the board. However, there are two subtle differences for me. Having not hunted much because it hurt me so to have killed an animal before (a Blue Jay

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-851529322002-06-08T01:03:00.000-07:002002-06-08T01:05:30.000-07:00

Etiology, for those non med types (including myself) is the cause of a condition or disease. Eric Raymond of Armed and Dangerous links to a fascinating story in The Atlantic about one scientist's theory that most all of the current major killers will turn out to be caused by bacteria or virii. The basic theory is that since evolutionary pressure is still on the human animal, any truly genetic

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-851502972002-06-07T02:15:00.000-07:002002-06-07T02:28:49.000-07:00

There are two axioms I hear being bandied about in the vast wasteland of post .com boom America. 1. Being first and spending big was a massive failure. 2.The only real impact the Internet has on the enterprise is to shrink profits by removing channel friction and thus has little reward for investors. Business 2.0 runs through Point 1 and Point 2 is laid out here. The problem with both of

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-851493062002-06-06T16:08:00.000-07:002002-06-08T22:55:28.000-07:00

ReplayTV Users lead by Craig of Craig's List fame have sued "Hollywood" with the help of EFF for a declaratory judgement that use of ReplayTV is not an infringement of copyright law. This follows along a theory that I had that one could sue as a class for illegal restraint of trade and anti-trust violation in regards to the DVD CSS scheme.Customers are having DVD player prices artificially

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-851436662002-06-04T23:09:00.000-07:002002-06-04T23:44:12.000-07:00

Steven Landsburg of Slate has a very simple economic analysis of the Supreme's ruling. Put simply, he states that the logic that allowing land owners to sue for the value they are deprived of would be too expensive to local government and would thus stop them from regulating is exactly what should be going on. If a regulation is too costly for government, then it is too costly period - since the

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-851225872002-05-28T00:39:00.000-07:002002-05-28T00:39:31.000-07:00

The Cato Institute has an analysis of current conservative judicial thinking about those rights not enumerated in the constitution. Using Charles Schumer's questioning of a current 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals candidate over his legal basis and interpretation of Griswold that found a right of privacy in marriage and thus struck down a ban on the purchase of contraception, Roger Pilon proves an

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-851221412002-05-27T19:08:00.000-07:002002-05-27T19:08:31.870-07:00

I've been thinking a lot about guns recently. Its likely the outcome of worrying about my new daughter and a more secure solution to home defense than my old loaded shotgun. Its lead me down in depth looks at the Constitution and the Bill of Rights - The American Tradition. Its made me hurt that folks like Bellesiles can belittle the courage of a bunch of armed farmers in the Revolution, or the

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-851047902002-05-20T22:02:00.000-07:002002-05-22T23:47:10.000-07:00

Dr. Eugene Volokh (nice name!) has a very well put piece regarding a case of French speech restrictions applied to a prominent historian who, in the words of the French judge, didn't present a balanced statement regarding the massacre of Armenians in Turkey while being interviewed for a short news piece. Dr. Volokh makes his case clearly on the reasons that we Americans should avoid the desire of

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-850918242002-05-15T19:26:00.000-07:002002-05-16T13:56:08.000-07:00

I think Lileks has said everything there is to say about why we must depose Hussien at the other end a an explosive. A favorite passageAnd the Belgian organization Frown is already drafting plans to mount an international campaign of scowling, which will force his regime to divert precious resources to rubber chickens, joy-buzzers and Singing Telegram Gorillas to improve their standing abroad.

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-850891782002-05-14T23:56:00.000-07:002002-05-14T23:56:03.910-07:00

As if things weren't bad enough, greed kept the Senior Fanning from dealing with the fact that they had signed a financing with a liquidity preference to the venture capitalists. Both Konrad Hilbers and Shawn Fanning resigned today. Karma. Also a poster child for the statement, "Sell early, sell often."

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-850891262002-05-14T23:01:00.000-07:002002-05-14T23:01:53.000-07:00

Eric S. Raymond, who has long had a pro gun stance on his website, has started a blog named Armed and Dangerous. He starts off with a good rant about the current state of the media and arms. I guess I'm not the only technology/second amendment crossover pundit around.

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-3850850052002-05-13T14:00:00.000-07:002002-05-13T14:00:44.783-07:00

Any essay that ends:Toleration makes Baby Adolf cry. is a must read!

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-850830512002-05-13T00:55:00.000-07:002002-05-13T00:57:19.000-07:00

The New York Times has an article regarding the ambivalence that many mothers face in actually having a baby. Seeing much of this first hand and feeling sorry for my wife as she tries to get past the fact that perfection is not the story in the baby raising books, but instead being willing to be frustrated and confused really brings this home. Maybe Lamaze class needs a section on the fourth

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-3850828422002-05-12T21:46:00.000-07:002002-05-12T21:46:12.316-07:00

You know a situation is main stream when George Will covers it in the "Last Word" in Newsweek for the week of May 20th. He used the fraud word, too.

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-850792182002-05-10T21:45:00.000-07:002002-05-11T23:53:41.000-07:00

I am simply amazed by the number of papers holding up US v. Miller as supporting a states rights models. Others here, here, here, and here. US v. Miller is a case against two mobsters transporting a sawed off shotgun. The case was dismissed at the district level as the court ruled that the National Firearms Act of 1934. The US appealed the case to the Supreme Court. Neither the Mobsters (Miller

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-850790292002-05-10T19:07:00.000-07:002002-05-10T19:07:42.556-07:00

Dr. Eugene Volokh has an excellent OpEd in the Wall Street Journal. Rand Simberg doesn't agree that there would be support for registering guns. I tend to agree with the logic of Rand and if we do get a definitive right to bear arms against tyranny decision from the Supremes it seems that registration would likely lose in a later challenge as undermining much of the protection against oppressive

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-3850736622002-05-09T00:44:00.000-07:002002-05-09T00:47:50.000-07:00

The story is everywhere, but I had to mention it with a moment of happy silence. There is some chance that this long overlooked right may finally get full recognition. The only thing missing is a good definitive Supreme Court case in this beneficial environment. Interestingly, the anti-gun folks have pointed out that the correct DOJ interpretation endangers quite a few gun laws on the books. It

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-3850735102002-05-09T00:22:00.000-07:002002-05-09T00:22:14.490-07:00

Judge White denied a motion by Elcomsoft to dismiss their corporate indictment on charges of violating the anti-circumvention clauses of the DMCA. The judge did effectively shoot down the argument that the law impermissibly allows an copyright owner to take a work back from the public domain or keep it from the public domain and I now understand the argument that both he and the 2600 appeals

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-3850652532002-05-06T15:10:00.000-07:002002-05-06T15:34:33.000-07:00

Eugene Volokh has an interesting challenge to come up with an amendment to the Constitution. My submission is the Technology Freedom Amendment In furtherance of Amendments I and II of the U.S. Constitution, Congress and the States shall make no law restricting the right of the people to own and utilize Technology. Technology shall not be limited to and shall include firearms, software in source

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-850565312002-05-03T00:55:00.000-07:002002-05-03T00:56:11.000-07:00

Eugene Volokh has a very interesting piece responding to Francis Fukuyama's Oped in the Journal regarding a supposed decline of the political strength of the libertarian movement in America based on September 11 and cloning. I'll let Eugene speak for himself. What I found very compelling was his introduction of the concept of a "presumptive libertarian." This is the closest I've seen to being

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-850565232002-05-03T00:48:00.000-07:002002-05-03T00:48:51.843-07:00

Some may remember a Canada Day party held here in Silicon Valley where the Quicktime on all the laptops was "I Am Canadian!" Well, Jeremy Lott wrote an excellent piece on the fact that Joe Canada moved to LA to pursue better opportunities. He also inquires into what really makes a Canadian nation, how it just might be ending in a way, and how that may not be all that bad.

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-850531542002-05-01T23:42:00.000-07:002002-05-01T23:43:31.000-07:00

I think the key issue being left out of the armed pilots debate has to be the air to air missiles. If another high-jacking occurs, there WILL be a pair of F-15s, F-16s, or F-18s armed with heat seeking missiles pointed at your plane a thumb twitch away. Don't you want to have one more line of defense short of a missile in the GE engine? My cousin who now flies for Fedex used to talk about the

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-3850501002002-05-01T01:06:00.000-07:002002-05-01T01:26:39.000-07:00

Brett Thomas over at McFreedom has an excellent analysis of the real issues (outside of the religious and anti-Semitic ones) of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. This question was formulated over beers and burritos as Brett and I had a meal after coming back from some trap shooting. I had stated - by pulling it out of my *ahem* - that I thought the situation was that Israeli settlement was on a

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-3850500832002-05-01T00:49:00.000-07:002002-05-01T00:49:39.356-07:00

Talk about injury following insult. Stephen Ambrose has diagnosed with lung cancer. Having just lost my own mother to a likely similar diagnosis, I feel for the Ambroses. I guess it was one hell of a year for Dr. Ambrose between the HBO miniseries (arguably some of the best television ever created), the plagiarism scandal, and now this. I wish him the best of luck. Hopefully the diagnosis will

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-850410712002-04-27T17:25:00.000-07:002002-04-27T17:35:37.000-07:00

Julie Hilden writes that speech protections should be less on the internet. Her thesis seems to be that since far more speakers publish, and they tend only to support their own ideas, there isn't a healthy discourse because they only link to items that support their position. I prefer another version of her thesis. Since the ignorant populace can now speak without moderation we shouldn't protect

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-850364782002-04-25T15:32:00.000-07:002002-04-25T15:32:41.930-07:00

Mike at TechDirt and I had an interesting discussion regarding stock option accounting. Scroll down to the bottom to see the interchange. I made the point that just because dilution is a hard concept for many, we shouldn't distort the P/L further. Mike made the point that the employees are getting the difference between the strike price and exercise price when a third party would have to pay

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-3850364542002-04-25T15:19:00.000-07:002002-04-25T15:19:15.060-07:00

The News & Observer has an article stating that a Federal District Court Judge in St. Louis has ruled that Video Games are not protected speech and thus St. Louis County can strongly regulate them. Of course he is totally ignoring a sister circuit case that overturned the Indianapolis ordinance that the St. Louis County ordinance was patterned after. Do these guys just want to be overturned?

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-3850313272002-04-24T00:02:00.000-07:002002-04-24T00:03:00.000-07:00

321 Studios, the makers of DVD Copy Plus, filed for a Declaratory Judgement Action in the 9th Circuit that their software does not infringe the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA. DVD Copy Plus allows a person to create a VCD from a DVD. Maybe the 9th will get this right where the 3rd has not.

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-3850312452002-04-23T22:54:00.000-07:002002-04-23T22:54:13.800-07:00

Most everyone has seen the story about the case, but the real issue is the lameness of the CA Supreme Court. The situation here is that the 9th Circuit was hoping to not have to strike the local ordinance based on First Amendment issues and was hoping that the CA court would get them out easily on the state preemption or the separation of county and city powers. Now this just moves back to being

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-3850233292002-04-20T22:37:00.000-07:002002-04-20T22:37:25.690-07:00

Reason Online has a good article regarding Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition. For those that aren't familiar, this case regarded the extension of federal obscenity code to make it illegal to traffic in or posses pornography that simulated sex involving minors regardless of whether actual children were involved. The Supremes obviously found this an illegal prior restraint. There is one quote from

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-850004012002-04-11T21:06:00.000-07:002002-04-11T21:06:23.443-07:00

Glenn Reynolds wrote a well balanced article on the state of the Second Amendment and the firearms debate. Quoting:While some gun opponents and legal observers call Emerson a wacky outlier and an irresponsible act of judicial activism, the court may have pointed the way to a more reasonable approach to gun control. The gun issue is divisive in American politics largely because it is falsely

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-850003682002-04-11T20:54:00.000-07:002002-04-11T20:54:36.390-07:00

Malcom Galdwell has a very even handed piece on airport security. He makes a lot of the good points. I feel much the same, but have a certain disgust for the current techniques. I support a rather radical re-thinking of searching for weapons that I fear will take another disaster to make people think about. I do certainly hope that the pilots finally get their wish and the intended sidearms from

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-750622662002-04-04T22:03:00.000-08:002002-04-04T22:03:30.000-08:00

Ernest Miller of Yale Law School's LawMeme has a hilarious and insightful annotation of Jack Valenti's ZDNet Interview. Having been in the industry, I was shocked when I had real conversations with lawyers who didn't realize that Fair Use was more than a defense against copyright infringement charges (check out the 1972 Sound Recordings act and the Audio Home Recording Act to see Congress affirm

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-750573252002-04-04T00:14:00.000-08:002002-04-04T00:17:58.000-08:00

I was perusing FindLaw. While reading a very good piece on the lack of compassion that the court showed in it's recent public housing ruling I happened upon an interesting story about a Kansas Supreme Court ruling that a post-op transsexual who converted to female could not legally marry a male, but inferentially could marry a female.... That in addition linked me to a story about the case of a

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-750519112002-04-01T22:28:00.000-08:002002-04-01T22:44:27.000-08:00

Some may remember news stories recently about a white water canoeist who was thrown from his canoe, screamed an obscenity, and was subsequently arrested. This AP Story on Findlaw says that a 3 judge state court of appeals threw out the law as too vague and thus a violation of the First Amendment.

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-750518942002-04-01T22:12:00.000-08:002002-04-01T22:18:51.000-08:00

Wired has a story about a federal judge striking down portions of a Virginia state law that banned importation of out of state wine. The whole host of these state bans that create quasi legal distribution monopolies had always seemed to be an indirect violation of the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Unfortunately congress is currently playing along by specifically delegating authority to the

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-750518292002-04-01T21:23:00.000-08:002002-04-01T21:24:10.000-08:00

Daniel Pipes puts into words something that has just been outside of my grasp as it regards our policy in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and the US fight with Al Qeada. Quoting from his article in The New Republic: The shame is, this inconsistency is not even necessary. Even if the support of states like Saudi Arabia is truly essential to the American war on terrorism, muddling U.S. foreign

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-750310892002-03-22T14:20:00.000-08:002002-03-22T14:21:29.000-08:00

Sarah Brady, famous for her anti-gun group now known as Handgun Control, Inc., bought her son a 30-06 scoped rifle. Though she went through the background checks, it turns out that Delaware state law does not allow intra-family transfers and considers her purchase an illegal straw man purchase. It really happened.

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-750310852002-03-22T14:18:00.000-08:002002-04-01T22:53:01.000-08:00

The Senate Judiciary committee is taking comments online on the bill formerly known as SSSCA and now known as the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act. Please think before flaming, but remember that enough voters making comments reminds elected officials that they have to cater to more than just Hollywood dollars. I plan on submitting testimony. It struck me last night that a

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-750125912002-03-14T10:52:00.000-08:002002-03-14T11:05:17.000-08:00

Walt Mossberg used his Personal Technology column in the WSJ today to alert readers to the intensifying battle over DRM via Hollings et. al. Walt also points out the proposed DigitalConsumer.org Consumer Technology Bill of Rights.Thanks Walt!

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-750046392002-03-10T23:15:00.000-08:002002-03-10T23:15:19.280-08:00

A new theory supported by some intriguing evidence implies that Earth's ozone layer was significantly damaged by supernova. The Scorpius-Centaurus cluster apparently passed much closer to Earth than originally predicted. Iron samples implying a supernova effecting earth 2 million years ago and significantly damaging the then mostly marine life due to UV ray damage.

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-750032422002-03-10T00:43:00.000-08:002002-03-10T00:44:23.000-08:00

An advertiser had his non firearm related AdWord purchases pulled for "policy" reasons apparently because his site offers firearm related merchandise. Dell just had a recent issue in a similar vain, though it clearly wasn't Dell's choice - as it seems to be in this case - to not do business with legitimate businesses in the firearms field. It would seem like a difficult policy for Google to

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-750014222002-03-08T22:46:00.000-08:002002-03-08T22:46:10.853-08:00

Check out this excellent web animation. Something fitting for all of us mid to late 20 somethings.

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-103101182002-03-02T14:05:00.000-08:002002-03-02T14:05:57.000-08:00

Though the interpretation of the Koran seems like an obscure issue, This New York Times piece has some excellent points both about alternate interpretations of Islam, and the social and political ramifications. While scriptural interpretation may seem like a remote and innocuous activity, close textual study of Jewish and Christian scripture played no small role in loosening the Church's

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-102745232002-03-01T12:03:00.000-08:002002-03-01T12:54:25.000-08:00

It is just DRM day here at hoffmang.com. This article from The MIT Enterprise Technology review found via Techdirt runs through the list of companies that have failed trying to deploy DRM. Outside of the fact that the stuff doesn't work at all, it talks about the fact that making digital content even harder to use than it already is for legitimate customers is just not a winning strategy. Update

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-102737582002-03-01T11:42:00.000-08:002002-04-01T22:55:33.000-08:00

So, in the middle of the Hollings SSSCA debate Slashdot runs this entry about a mathematical proof that software DRM will not work. The funniest part is that even if you add hardware to the equation, that hardware has to interact with software in the OS. There are some protocols that might work with hardware, but the value of beating them is just too high. No matter what, the laws protecting the

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-102502612002-02-28T20:07:00.000-08:002002-02-28T20:08:14.000-08:00

An article from the Washington Times penned by Patrick Michaels from of the Cato Institute points out two very interesting new D.C. developments. First, is a new piece of legislation that requires that scientific studies that are used to support legislation are required to conform to private practice scientific quality standards. The second is policy and legislation from the Clinton/Gore era that

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-102167312002-02-27T23:39:00.000-08:002002-02-28T12:10:55.000-08:00

You can read my rant below about DRM, but if you are not familiar with the issue check out this wired story about the SSSCA. The basic concept is that Hollings wants to pass a law that requires DRM to be built into all interactive digital devices. Of course, this is basically prior restraint of free speech which is a First Amendment no-no. Fair use has always been the tool that the court has

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-101733892002-02-26T21:48:00.000-08:002002-02-26T21:48:44.706-08:00

PC Magazine has named EMusic its Editor's Pick for best legal downloadable music service. The overview article and EMusic specific review are available online. EMusic received 4 out of a possible 5 stars which I would have to agree with. EMusic's only real issue is breadth of music selection. As a founder, I still lament the lack of download management as well. Hopefully there are major changes

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-101732512002-02-26T21:43:00.000-08:002002-02-26T21:43:52.500-08:00

After a long wait and much consternation over a Fedex delivery snafu, I now hold my Treo in my hand. This is absolutely the most fabulous piece of technology that I have laid my hands on in a long time. This device is well thought out. Jeff and Donna have added refinements all around to the PDA components that just make so much sense. A simple example is the much improved calculator that does

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-101529832002-02-26T11:34:00.000-08:002002-02-26T11:34:36.313-08:00

Slashdot has an entry detailing a new computational method to factor large prime numbers which are the science behind the security of the RSA algorithm. Estimates are that key sizes less than or equal to 2048 bits are much cheaper to break than expected and folks should head toward 4092 bits. This is interesting because 2048 was estimated to withstand attack through about 2030 and instead it

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-101384202002-02-26T01:59:00.000-08:002002-03-01T12:17:02.000-08:00

So, I guess it is time for the copyright rant. Forbes has a story on the future of online music that they title The Digital Rights Future. After 4+ years of hearing the conventional wisdom that DRM is so clearly the way of the future that it most be the divine right of intellectual property owners to have it in the first place, I'm just sick. It will never work. Well, to sound less like an

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-100747632002-02-24T12:35:00.000-08:002002-02-24T12:35:34.496-08:00

Glenn Reynolds has a very good blog entry including a link to a story on the increase in crime in Britain since the banning of handguns there and a link and excerpt from a Briton writing about the situation from his perspective.

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-100605702002-02-23T23:08:00.000-08:002002-02-23T23:37:18.000-08:00

James Bennett has a very interesting piece that asks, "Has America come to this position because it is an exceptional nation, or is this American exceptionalism really just a particular instance of a wider phenomenon of which America is only the most visible part?" The most interesting points Bennett makes are about the historical influences on the founding fathers themselves. He points out that

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-99949452002-02-21T23:48:00.000-08:002002-02-22T00:02:24.000-08:00

My wife went by the library and checked out A Field Guide to the Yettie by Sam Sifton. This is a rather humorous attempt to quantify the Silicon Valley geek culture circa early 2000. Granted it is dated in some sense, but it does take April 2000 into consideration - which in a somewhat related note I noticed that P.J. O'Rourke's new book CEO of the Sofa treats well as well. The reviews on Amazon

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-99943192002-02-21T23:18:00.000-08:002002-02-21T23:21:19.000-08:00

If one article sums up perfectly what I have felt on airlines, in the media, and reading gun laws since September 12, 2001 it is this piece in Reason by Jesse Walker. Quoting: The most important parallel between the current scare and a moral panic may be the loosest. Some panics dissolve quickly, leaving no institutional legacy. But others are frozen into law, even if the initial fears that

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-99515282002-02-20T21:20:00.000-08:002002-02-21T23:27:18.000-08:00

U.S. District Judge Thomas Porteous has ruled that the U.S. Attorney can not ban glow sticks, pacifiers and such from rave parties in Louisiana. This report found via Overlawyered.com which is linked on the right. Update 2/21/02: Instapundit adds that the U.S. Attorney in question resigned due to the poor judgement involved in attempting prosecuting this one in the first place.

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-98970582002-02-19T13:05:00.000-08:002002-02-19T13:05:59.000-08:00

The Supreme Court granted Certiorari in Eldred v. Ashcroft. This case is a challenge to the most recent copyright extension passed by congress. This case hinges around the question of wether the "limited time" referred to in the Constitution's grant to congress of securing copyright "[t]o promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts." The D.C. Circuit court of appeals ruled 2 to 1 that the

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-98451542002-02-18T04:21:00.000-08:002002-02-18T04:21:24.600-08:00

As the topic of guns on aircraft has become a more common conversation piece these days, I happened across this interesting article about fuselage penetration, decompression, and the true risks on board aircraft. Most of this is being talked about in the realm of arming pilots, but a passenger security about face has to become part of the public debate. Terrorists like soft targets, and I would

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-98318802002-02-17T18:14:00.000-08:002002-02-18T04:22:18.000-08:00

So there are two web toons worth checking out from this week. First is the second installment from Odd Todd. This is about being Valentineless.. The second is a great Bush Cheney cartoon from BushCartoon.com. George and Dick are Bo and Luke - Bill Clinton is Boss Hog and Gore is Roscoe P. Coltrane... An instant classic. Update: Odd Todd took down his valentines cartoon in favor of his old

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-97795152002-02-15T19:37:00.000-08:002002-02-15T19:37:51.933-08:00

Thanks to Brett T. this blog is now ad free. Once he gets one posted I will have to return the favor.

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-97390642002-02-14T16:53:00.000-08:002002-02-14T17:11:04.000-08:00

If you are a guy and you haven't been to a lingerie shop recently its probably time. I noticed a very frightening trend. First let me say that my shopping there was to remind my valentine and wife that, yes pregnancy will pass. As such I wanted to get her some nice lace underwear. I was amazed at how hard it was. The fundamental problem is that it seems the buyers at both Macy's and Victoria's

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-96624172002-02-12T17:02:00.000-08:002002-02-12T23:57:08.000-08:00

It looks like FASB is at it again. This column by Bambi Francisco at CBS Marketwatch talks of Senator Levin (D-Mich) and Senator McCain (R-Ariz) introducing legislation to change the accounting of stock options such that they will be a bottom line compensation expense. Though I certainly see the argument, I have two huge problems with this. First, accounting for options as an expense totally

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-96620272002-02-12T16:51:00.000-08:002002-02-12T23:56:02.000-08:00

I know it is old news now, but I have to admit to fervent anticipation of my new Handspring Treo which became available Monday. I had my order in by 7:40AM PST Monday morning...

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-96584082002-02-12T15:00:00.000-08:002002-02-13T21:03:39.000-08:00

This weekend, I did some reading about the 2nd Amendment. I had noticed that Kasler v. Lokyer was silent on second amendment issues. I did some more digging and found that the last major case in the 9th Circuit that touched on the 2nd Amendment was Fresno Rifle And Pistol Club, Inc. v. Van De Kamp decided in 1992. In that case the appellate panel which was Schroeder, Leavy and Rymer relied on

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-96532582002-02-12T12:26:00.000-08:002002-02-12T22:36:16.000-08:00

Well, with things changing in my life, I decided that administering a full slashcode implementation was a bit more than I needed. As such, www.hoffmang.com will soon be redirecting to here. That way I can focus my admin energies on pictures and such from my own server. I hopefully will update this site more than I ended up updating my own. My old slashcode archives should make thier way up here

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-96727762001-11-15T12:20:00.000-08:002002-02-12T22:37:28.000-08:00

Reuters is reporting that Oxford researches have concluded that Omega-3 fatty acids found in Mackerel and Salmon are critical to brain function. Eat your Sake and Saba.

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-96731862001-11-13T15:43:00.000-08:002002-02-12T22:43:52.000-08:00

Interesting - though early - scientific clues that there may be some hostorical basis for religious cataclysm stories are being reported. Various dating and impact cratering as well as close study of religious mythology point toward the possibility of a meteoric impact or shower around 2500 B.C. This is very interesting in light of Skeptic Magazine's recent story on Velikovsky and his followers.

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-96726242001-11-01T15:46:00.000-08:002002-02-12T22:38:03.000-08:00

The consortium in charge of key maintenance for DVD encryption lost its trade secret case by losing the preliminary injunction on appeal. The appellate decision is available in PDF form. The case basically states that since trade secret law is a state law it is automatically superceded by constitutional protections on free speech and the re-publishing of source code is a pure speech activity.

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-96735682001-10-11T23:52:00.000-07:002002-02-12T23:18:12.000-08:00

Morningstar had a great article about Expeditors International of Washington (EXPD.) Expeditors is a worldwide assetless freight forwarder which means that they get your pallet of used auto transmissions from Oakland to Katmandu using other carrier's space in planes and freight ships for example. What is really interesting is their investor relations system. They took Reg FD to heart and force

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-96736522001-10-07T23:50:00.000-07:002002-02-12T23:18:31.000-08:00

The New Scientist has an online report that prayer doubled the effectiveness of in vitro fertilization. An American study of South Korean women undergoing IVF had half the group prayed for and half not without their knowledge. The original study published in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine states that the results were corrected for all of the likely outside influence on the study group and

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-96737812001-09-11T21:06:00.000-07:002002-02-13T00:17:15.000-08:00

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of watching Band of Brothers. Experiencing the dramatic adaptation of the strife and honor of the 101st E company doing a job that had to be done and securing a place in world history invigorated my pride. Monday night, I was sidetracked by another Stephen Ambrose project - Moment of Truth - a History Channel series devoted to asking WWII survivors about their

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332233.post-96738622001-09-05T22:15:00.000-07:002002-02-12T23:19:35.000-08:00

I had seen this David Horsey editorial cartoon on politicalcartoons.com, but couldn't remember who originally did it. I think it is one of the best editorial cartoons I've seen in a while:

Gene Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01196106879131316742noreply@blogger.com