Apparently all Windows users need it, not just those using IE. There's some problem with the Windows graphics rendering engine that serves as an exploit for hackers, and you can pick up a virus or trojan just from opening up the wrong web page. Maybe there's virus code coded written right into the picture. Or something. I don't know computers.

Anyway, the patch is here.

Or, perhaps, it's actually a massive scam by hackers to gain access to your credit card numbers and porn. But I'm guessing there's only a 49.5% chance of that. So the odds are in your favor.

Thanks to Wizbang.

The Problem... is described by a poster who doesn't leave a name:

The problem is that the Windows Metafile format, a file format for images (the biggest example I can think of it being used is the Microsoft Clipart Gallery images) allows files to contain code that is arbitrarily executed under certain conditions. The "feature" was originally added way back in the 80s to simplify error handling if a printer fucked up, which was a lot more common in the Dark Ages of computing. Problem is , the code could be anything, like a bit of code that opens a port in the system's firewall and downloads a trojan. All a malicious user has to do is make a WMF that doesn't load correctly for whatever reason, causing the "error handling" code to be run. This is especially easy, since a user doesn't even have to deliberately load the file, unlike, say, for an infected email attachment, since even previewing it in a Web browser or other application loads it.

Very neat.

Posted by: Ace at 08:34 PM | Comments (19)
Post contains 280 words, total size 2 kb.

The rationale for striking down Florida's voucher program:

In a 5-2 ruling, the high court said the program undermines the public schools and violates the Florida ConstitutionÂ’s requirement of a uniform system of free public education.

"Undermine" apparently means "embarrass by outperforming" and the Florida Constitution, I guess, requires a uniformly bad system of public education, especially for minorities.

Say Anything notes:

Most remarkable has been minority student progress. While the percentage of white third-graders reading at or above grade level has increased to 78% from 70% in 2001, the percentage among Hispanic third-graders has climbed from 46% to 61%, and among blacks from 36% to 52%. Graduation rates for Hispanic students have increased from 52.8% before the program started to 64% today; and for black students from 48.7% to 57.3%. Minority schoolchildren are not making such academic strides anywhere else.

Rob's shocked the NAACP opposed the voucher program.

I'm not. It's really not in their interests, when you think about it.

Posted by: Ace at 07:55 PM | Comments (49)
Post contains 178 words, total size 1 kb.

Ilyka's pretty annoyed at the whole deal.

I thought this was pretty spot-on:

[I'm against] this insistence on declaring a subset of conservatism and applying a cutesy name to it, like, say, "Metrocon:"

See also: Crunchy Cons.

Do you notice how the proponents of these subsets are always really vain guys who want to place themselves into these subsets because they think they're better than plain old regular conservatives? "Unlike those ordinary conservatives, I buy my arugula from the farmer's market." "Unlike those ordinary conservatives, I do not wear Old Spice."

No one ever says, "Yeah, I like to think of myself as a Dumbhick Conservative," or "I'm really more of a JerkyCon, myself."

The subset always flatters the guy who identifies it. It's pure vanity.

True. It's also something that's really annoying about Andrew Sullivan. He's constantly attempting to redefine conservativism to better fit him (i.e., as liberalism), but also constantly patting himself on the back for not being one of those kinds of conservatives.

There is something juvenile about all that. I don't know what kind of conservative I am exactly; most of you don't know your exact political subspecies either, and I'm sure you don't have a cutesy name for whatever you are. There is the whiff of adolescent narcissism in this whole name-game thing. It's kind of like setting up a club with a kewwwwl name and hoping some other kids (hopefully either as kewl as you are even slightly kewler) will join and follo your clubhouse rules.

God, I hate Andrew Sullivan. Have I ever mentioned that?

Posted by: Ace at 07:48 PM | Comments (32)
Post contains 266 words, total size 2 kb.

Well, when you've been accused of treason and forced to leave the country, you tend to say things like that.

Not really sure if it moves things along-- I don't know what influence this guy still has, sitting in Paris -- but it's something, I guess.

former Syrian vice president who has openly broken with President Bashar Assad intensified his criticism Thursday, saying the Damascus regime had outlived its time and was unlikely to survive much longer.

Abdul-Halim Khaddam, who left his post in the Syrian government in June, was asked in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press interview from Paris whether he supported regime change.

Yes," he replied adding that he had no personal interest in leading the drive to oust Assad.

His feelings about the regime's logevity may just be wishful thinking, of course.

Posted by: Ace at 07:22 PM | Comments (2)
Post contains 149 words, total size 1 kb.

It'll just take me a few moments to punch up the coordinates on the navicomputer... okay, done now:

AN EXTRAORDINARY "hyperspace" engine that could make interstellar space travel a reality by flying into other dimensions is being investigated by the United States government.

The hypothetical device, which has been outlined in principle but is based on a controversial theory about the fabric of the universe, could potentially allow a spacecraft to travel to Mars in three hours and journey to a star 11 light years away in just 80 days, according to a report in today's New Scientist magazine.

The theoretical engine works by creating an intense magnetic field that, according to ideas first developed by the late scientist Burkhard Heim in the 1950s, would produce a gravitational field and result in thrust for a spacecraft.

Also, if a large enough magnetic field was created, the craft would slip into a different dimension, where the speed of light is faster, allowing incredible speeds to be reached. Switching off the magnetic field would result in the engine reappearing in our current dimension.

Okay... now, I know this is all absurd. But it comes from the Scotsman, a paper I haven't found to be just plain goofy. And it quotes scientists on the record saying they've been contacted about this.

Now, this is just silly:

Professor Jochem Hauser, one of the scientists who put forward the idea, told The Scotsman that if everything went well a working engine could be tested in about five years.

Five years. But obviously that's just the thrust part, not the hyperspace slip part.

Unbelievable. I may one day see hyperspace engines. I may see cancer cured. But I'll never see a stupid friggin' flyin' car.

Via Instapundit.

The Technological Tipping Point? Apparently all bloggers are supposed to be talking about "the approaching human singularity," but no one informed me. It's, I guess, the point at which some serious science-fictiony shit starts being created, quickly.

Dean Esmay discusses what some call "The Rapture For Nerds."

Dean runs down the advances we're making, and suggests what might be coming, but no mention of an f'n' flyin' car.

Allah Commands You To Watch This: It's Kurzweil, talking about the coming "singularity" (which I always thought had something to do with black holes, but that shows you how out-of-it I am), on CSPAN. He says it's "mind-blowing," and furthermore, that you should "spark a bowl" when you watch it, whatever that means.

Kind of like incense in a censer? I guess it's a religious thing. I never made it to Confirmation so I really don't know.

Posted by: Ace at 07:05 PM | Comments (46)
Post contains 448 words, total size 3 kb.

Just temporary until I can make some changes.

Some are complaining that there are "link lines" everywhere. You mean the lines that come underneath linked text when you scroll over it?

Okay... There were too many glitches. I'll see about getting them fixed. I changed it back.

Posted by: Ace at 04:46 PM | Comments (16)
Post contains 51 words, total size 1 kb.

Funny.

Posted by: Ace at 02:55 PM | Comments (14)
Post contains 7 words, total size 1 kb.

I'm late to this party, but if you missed it, James Risen, who blew the NSA/GST secret, says that Valerie Plame's classified-information outers were bad but his are good.

By which he means Republicans outed Plame and Democrats outed the NSA/GST program.

Listen very closely: Individuals do not get to decide, according to their own precious "feelings," which information should be kept secret and which should not. Charles Schumer already trotted out the "whistleblower" versus "leaker" distinction.

Everyone in government has different ideas about how the government should function and what the Constitution demands, and we cannot have every single fucking jackass with a security classification deciding according to the whims of his own conscience whether or not he will abide by the national security laws, as well as the guarantees made to his employer that he signed of his own free will.

LOCK THEM UP, AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, AND FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE.

Posted by: Ace at 02:31 PM | Comments (25)
Post contains 174 words, total size 1 kb.

Even if he's really cute. You have to wait for "the right moment."

Posted by: Ace at 02:09 PM | Comments (25)
Post contains 29 words, total size 1 kb.

Chiggers are God's punishment against dogs who lick themselves in public.

Lesser penalties include heart worms and the loss of a "healthy and shiny" coat.

I will report more as it comes across my desk.

Posted by: Ace at 02:06 PM | Comments (8)
Post contains 41 words, total size 1 kb.