Month: July 2005

Vice edges virtue where profit is at stake

Daniel Gross writes at Slate.com[*1] regarding the relative performance of stock funds which cater to human vices[*2] and which try to invest virtuously[*3] . According to theYahoo chart[*4] linked in the article, Vice edges out Virtue in the money game. But it’s closer than a pessimistic cynic like myself might think.

Via Fark[*5] .

Cisco whistleblower legaled into silence

Cisco routers running their IOS operating system make up the vast majority of the Internet’s “infrastructure” devices. Basically, routers connect everything to everything else. IOS was widely considered to be rather secure. In particular, “running arbitrary code” on a Cisco router running IOS was thought to be extremely difficult.

Mike Lynn, a technologist at security company ISS, was about to reveal at the Black Hat security conference[*1] a method of running arbitrary code on IOS routers. Cisco, ISS, Black Hat, and Lynn entered negotiations and Lynn’s presentation was (literally) ripped out of the Black Hat conference proceedings. Lynn then resigned from ISS and gave his presentation anyway. Threats of proscecution and litigation ensued. Lynn has apparently backed down[*2] :

Lynn and his attorney agreed to a permanent injunction that prevents him from using any Cisco code in his possession for further reverse engineering or security research or presenting the same material at the DEF CON hacker convention which follows Black Hat. In addition, Lynn must hand over the names of any websites or people to whom he gave or sold the information. The permanent injunction does not prevent Lynn from doing further research on Cisco products, provided it is done legally.

Can Islam reform?

Little Green Footballs[*1] discusses an article in the U.K.’s Spectator titled “The myth of moderate Islam.” Excerpt:

Muslims must stop this self-deception. They must with honesty recognize the violence that has existed in their history in the same way that Christians have had to do, for Christianity has a very dark past. Some Muslims have, with great courage, begun to do this.Secondly, they must look at the reinterpretation of their texts, the Koran, hadith and Sharia, and the reformation of their faith. Mundir Badr Haloum has described this as ‘exorcising’ the terrorism from Islam. Mahmud Muhammad Taha argued for a distinction to be drawn between the Meccan and the Medinan sections of the Koran. He advocated a return to peaceable Meccan Islam, which he argued is applicable to today, whereas the bellicose Medinan teachings should be consigned to history. For taking this position he was tried for apostasy, found guilty and executed by the Sudanese government in 1985.

Unless there is serious reform within Islam, the 21st Century will continue to see the worldwide resurgence of the most heartless and terrible of all human activities: the religious war. Let me be clear: religious intolerance and violence is not restricted to Islam. We see the depravity of religious war in the Arab-Israeli wars, the IRA “troubles,” the Palestinian problems, attacks of 9/11 and the Spanish and London bombings, among many other atrocities. While religious fanaticism of any stripe holds within it the seeds of sectarian hatred, most religious warfare going on in the world today involves Islam. We are all of us edging towards the brink of a long, long fall. To say “it could get nasty” would be a drastic understatement. The only group right now with the power to pull us back from the brink is the worldwide community of Muslims, because it is the most violent and radical elements of Islam which are pushing us toward global religious war.

Bolton to get recess appointment

Reports say President Bush is set to install known meanie John Bolton as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. via the seldom-used recess appointment[*1] . It’s seldom used because, as surprising as this may sound, the U.S. Senate actually does come around to doing their job of “advise and consent” more often than not. But sometimes, like now, they are simply derelict in their duty.

“Advise and consent” does not mean “passive-aggressive refusal to consider (i.e. vote on) nominees which require Senate confirmation.” Hey, Senate, if a position is important enough to require the Senate to vote on nominees, isn’t it important enough for, well, um, the Senate to VOTE ON IT??? That’s kinda the key element of a democratic government–he/she who has the most votes, wins.