Fazal Majid's low-intensity blog

One of the best values in San Francisco dining, their $8.50 scallop galette (Breton for buckwheat crêpe).

Update (2012-07-13):

Sadly, it closed a few months ago.

My old apartment had a flag in its back yard, apparently the flag pole and bench was a memorial for a Marine killed in combat. After September 11, when all flags were supposed to be struck in mourning, that one flag hadn’t been lowered, so I went and drew it down to half-mast, with proper honors. You would think there would be at least one US citizen around who would care enough so a French one did not have to…

The flag seems to crystallize a lot of posturing on both sides of the political spectrum in the US, but people are woefully ignorant of proper flag code. It prohibits wearing the flag as apparel, for instance (except for duly authorized personnel like the military), or its use for advertising purposes (the biggest flags around seem to be those on car dealerships). Burning is also the recommended form of disposal for a worn flag (respectfully, of course).

The content producers’ lobby is very ancient and powerful in France (it was started by the playwright Beaumarchais in the 18th century). The fact President Sarkozy’s wife is an important rights holder may have something to do with his determination to pass the abject Hadopi law, which would cause Internet users caught illegally downloading content to be cut off from the Internet (while still having to pay their ISP fees).

The law was exceedingly stacked towards the content industry. The burden of proof was on the defendant rather than the prosecution, and an extra-judicial quango named Hadopi was to be set up to enforce these sanctions. The European Parliament, to its credit, had opposed such measures and restated that Internet access is a fundamental right that can only be curtailed by proper judicial authority. The first reading of the law led to a surprise defeat, as the majority UMP legislators were unenthusiastic about supporting a law that would alienate the young, and absenteeism was such that the minority Socialist party managed to overwhelm those few present. This is one of the exceedingly few times I actually agree with the feckless Socialists… The President brought his whip to bear and the law was put back on the agenda and voted in the second time.

Today, the Conseil Constitutionnel ruled on a challenge to the law put by Socialist parliamentarians, and gutted it in line with the European Parliament. In doing so, it affirmed that Internet access is a fundamental human right, drawing all the way back to the original Human Rights declaration of 1789, and that Internet users are innocent until proven guilty.

This is an important decision. In Roman law, judges’ discretion is much more limited than in the Anglo-Saxon Common law tradition. The US Supreme Court found in Roe vs. Wade a right to abortion in the US Constitution that is far from obvious, and such a decision by unelected judges lacked universal legitimacy. In contrast, abortion was legalized by an act of Parliament in France, which is why opposition to it is nowhere near as bitter as in the US. The Conseil Constitutionnel does not invent constitutional principles, it only censures laws or more commonly individual articles (the role of ultimate court of appeals belongs to another institution, the Cour de Cassation). The significance of it finding Internet access a fundamental right cannot be overstated.

I still run Solaris 10 (update 6) on my home server, but this might be the release that makes me jump to OpenSolaris, at least at home (Oracle 10g wouldn’t run on 2008.05 last time I tried at work). A few things I noticed:

• xterm-color is finally recognized as a valid terminal type
• It supports Apple’s Bonjour autoconf out of the box, which is helpful in dhcp-only environments

I just received my Fuji GF670 from Dirk Rösler at Japan Exposures. This is a folding medium-format rangefinder camera, an anachronism in many respects, but I regret not getting a G690 when they were still made and since this is a limited edition (apparently quite a popular one at that), I went ahead. I have not yet shot a roll, but here are my first impressions:

• The unfolding mechanism is a bit finnicky. You have to be careful to get the front standard aligned with the film plane. Once deployed it seems fairly stable. Folding it back is also quite tricky.
• The meter indicator LEDs and controls are very reminiscent of the Epson R-D1, not surprising since both are actually made by Cosina.
• The leaf shutter is amazingly quiet. It makes a Leica sound like a clunker in comparison.
• The camera is quite light for MF, it feels lighter than a R-D1 (even though it weighs nearly twice as much) and is not that much larger.
• It does not exude quality like the Fuji-manufactured TX-2 (Hasselblad XPan II).
• The rangefinder patch is bright and clear. The RF base length is very short as in a VC Bessa, and will probably not be as precise as a Leica, XPan or Zeiss Ikon.
• The film loading mechanism is very easy to use, and built as well as other Fuji MF cameras such as the G617.
• You have to remember to reset the lens to infinity focus in order to fold it.
• You get a choice of 6×6 and 6×7, 120 and 220.
• The optional case is a snug fit. I wish it included a belt loop.

In grand old techno-fetishistic tradition, I put up an unboxing gallery.

Update (2009-08-27):

I have finally uploaded a gallery of my first test roll from the camera. The lens’ optical quality is outstanding, unlike most older folders (well, apart from the Plaubel Makina, of course).