Quickies

AllPeers has launched their beta plug in for Firefox. AllPeers is a P2P application that allows users to share files with family and friends over the Internet. I recently got into the private beta test and got an inside look at the application. Among the things I liked: Easy to use interface - very clean, generally good service, nice that it was in my browser, easy to set permissions as to whom got access to which files. Things I didn't like: Incompatibility with NoScript plug in made it impossible to remove folders that were shared, memory hog (big time), no way to turn it off without closing the browser (which made the memory hog issue an even larger complaint). It also doesn't like to have large folders shared. I dropped in a music folder on my hard drive that is several gigabytes and contains thousands of files. It took a long time to load the file. Once done, there was no way to drill down past the top level of the folder structure.

Now, note: Your mileage may vary. For instance, you may not use NoScript, so incompatibility will not be an issue there. AllPeers is aware of these problems as well as others and they are working on resolving them. If you don't mind playing tester for a while, then by all means try it out! I still believe in the concept and think that the company is coming up with a potential killer app for Firefox. The kinks in it now were just too much for me to continue in the beta.

While I'm mentioning plug ins: Free Enigma will encrypt/unencrypt emails sent using Gmail or Yascrew or other web based clients via Firefox using open source software. And BlackBoxSearch is a Greasemonkey script that feeds all searches into an anonymizer in order to prevent traces of your searches being tracked.

Want to have a brief time waster that will amuse you? Try looking at these photographs of rickshaw mudflaps.

Consumer Reports has been involved in a heated debate within the online security industry the past couple of weeks. Apparently, they tested anti virus products by making their own viruses. Now, as Sunbelt blog reports they tested anti spyware products using a tool that only tests blocking capabilities; not scanning and removing capabilities. In other words, as you read the blog posting, it is abundantly clear that Consumer Reports doesn't understand spyware, malware, or viruses well.

A geography teacher is placed on leave in Colorado for hanging flags from other nations in his classroom. A recently passed law in Colorado states that only U.S. flags are to be permanently hung on school grounds. A geography teacher for chrissakes! What next? Suspend science teachers for declaring Pluto a (dwarf tossed) planet?

Republican campaign strategy revealed:

...It is partly a campaign document, a product of the Republican strategy of scaring Americans into allowing the G.O.P. to retain control of Congress this fall. It fits with the fearmongering we’ve heard lately — like President Bush’s attempt the other day to link the Iraq war to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

But even more worrisome, the report seems intended to signal the intelligence community that the Republican leadership wants scarier assessments that would justify a more confrontational approach to Tehran. It was not the work of any intelligence agency, or the full intelligence panel, or even the subcommittee that ostensibly drafted it. The Washington Post reported that it was written primarily by a former C.I.A. official known for his view that the assessments on Iran are not sufficiently dire.

Laura Rozen reports that a former member of the National Security Councils of presidents Ford, Carter, and Reagan, Gary Sick, has found numerous problems with the report. The Independent in the UK reports that the House Intelligence Committee report was prepared by a former staff member of UN ambassador John Bolton.

Wonkette reveals that Phyllis Schlafly and Jack Kemp are the same person. Don't just stop at the headline, read the first paragraph and note that they both use almost exactly the same wording, including the same quote from Mark Twain.

RIP, Maynard Ferguson