Eclectic Amateur

Looks like I called it right back in 2003:

Microsoft Opens Source to China. Then think through the national security implications if Jim Allchin’s sworn testimony is actually true.

So, is Jim Allchin guilty of perjury, or is Bill Gates guilty of treason? You decide!

Fast forward to late 2010.  Now, due to Wikileaks, we know the following:

Chinese security firms with ties to the Chinese military have hired hackers, including the group responsible for the original Blaster worm, U.S. diplomats alleged in a 2009 cable published Saturday by WikiLeaks.

The companies also have access to the source code to Microsoft Windows.

According to the U.S. State Department’s daily security briefing of June 29, 2009, Topsec of Beijing had employed “a known Chinese hacker” from June 2002 to March 2003. Identified as Lin Yong, aka “Lion,” the hacker served as a senior security service engineer to “manage security service and training.”

…

America researchers and security analysts have long suspected that China’s military has extensive cyberwarfare capabilities. In 2007, a Department of Defense report claimed that the PLA had first-strike know-how, and had created military units charged with developing viruses to attack enemy computer networks.

Looks like we can clear Mr. Allchin of the perjury charge.

That leaves the treason charge against Bill Gates…

I eagerly await Sarah Palin to call for Bill Gates to be “pursued with the same urgency we pursue al Qaeda and Taliban leaders” for this “treasonous act” of compromising our military security with respect to a potentially hostile foreign power.

But I won’t be holding my breath.

Elegy in a Country Churchyard

The men that worked for England
They have their graves at home:
And bees and birds of England
About the cross can roam.

But they that fought for England,
Following a falling star,
Alas, alas for England
They have their graves afar.

And they that rule in England,
In stately conclave met,
Alas, alas for England,
They have no graves as yet.

– G.K. Chesterton

Yes, there’s a new look at this place.  I’ve changed hosting providers, and migrated the blog from Blogger to WordPress.  We’ll see how that works out.

From Sharon Astyk:

So close your eyes. Or first, open them, and look at your property – or your friendly neighbor’s property, or your church’s lot, or your community garden plot. Now that you’ve got it in your head, close your eyes. And take what’s there and add on – what do you want to see? Look at it closely. Smell it. Taste it. Listen to it….

What do you see? A small farm of a few acres, with pigs that root out weeds and manure the ground and then feed your family, and chickens for eggs and a small woodlot, managed for mushrooms, coppiced wood and acorns for feed. Every year you plant more trees, grow more crops, and new garden beds sprout like weeds. There’s a sign at the end of the driveway reading “fresh eggs, raspberries” and the neighbors stop by to pick up your extras and trade neighborly gossip.

What do you see? The family farm brought to life again – the land made productive again, the weeds cut back, the family brought back, swales built to catch precious water, with new crops and new techniques for making fertile space out of what seemed like a lost cause. New hope, and the chance to work together again? Do you see yourself, slowly, patiently planting new trees, repairing the tractor, laughing with your sister again?

What do you see? Draft horses, pulling logs from the shady woodland, and a barn full of animals. A business plan and a market for your lamb, your wool and your vegetables. A diversity of plants and animals – life without monocultures. A pond. A quiet spot to rest, a kitchen full of peaches ready to can. And you see yourself, at work, at rest, in the kitchen, on the land, but there, and present, and ready.

Yeah, I can see that. I can see it all, practically taste it. It’s a good dream.

438 years ago today, the Holy League defeated the Turkish fleet at the Battle of Lepanto.

White founts falling in the courts of the sun,
And the Soldan of Byzantium is smiling as they run,
There is laughter like the fountains in that face of all men feared,
It stirs the forest darkness, the darkness of his beard,
It curls the blood-red crescent, the crescent of his lips,
For the inmost sea of all the earth is shaken with his ships.
They have dared the white republics up the capes of Italy,
They have dashed the Adriatic round the Lion of the Sea,
And the Pope has cast his arms abroad for agony and loss,
And called the kings of Christendom for swords about the Cross…
— G. K. Chesterton, Lepanto

We had our first frost last night. This is almost three weeks early — per the extension service, our average frost date is supposed to be October 20.

Oh, well — the tomatoes were mostly done anyway (curse you, late blight!). The basil near the house was sheltered enough it didn’t get frosted, and hopefully the covers at the garden plot helped there.

Last night, I finally made it to the local soccer game that the kids have been going to. And joined in… besides some of the kids from their soccer league, their coaches plus various older kids (high school and college) and young adults are there. Plus a few (ahem) “mature” guys, like moi.

Wow, I am out of shape.

But I persevered. Gasped for breath a bit, like an old John Denver song:

Breathin’ like a freight train
Don’t know when I’ll get up again…

One of the college guys was kind enough to ask how I was doing —

“Pain?”

There was, of course, only one appropriate answer:

“Life is pain, Princess!”

Answer: A family of skunks in the neighborhood!

No, this is not theoretical. And, while skunk kittens are cute, seeing five of them romping in the neighbor’s yard wasn’t endearing…

Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.

— Wendell Berry, Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

With gratitude for those who have sacrificed that I might have the opportunity to be free… I will be spending this day in work and thought.

For thought, I’ll begin by reading the text of the Declaration of Independence. It’s been too long.

And then, some working for freedom.

God bless.