Freedom of Information Act Results (PDF)

Northwest airlines has begun issuing eboarding passes for select flights from Detroit, Indianapolis, and Minneapolis. The way it works is by following the usual online checkin procedure, but you are given an additional option to use an eboarding pass. You are then asked for an email address or phone number (text message) to send the url for your eboarding pass. If you choose to use your phone, you will be asked for the carrier along with your phone make and model. This is presumably to ensure that the boarding pass is provided in a format that is compatible with your phone. My phone (Motorola Z9) wasn't listed, but I chose a RAZR instead as they use very similar screen sizes and software and I didn't have any problems.

Upon checking in I was able to bring up my boarding pass on a third party website without a need for any further authentication. It consists of a WML format page with a gif image of an aztec 2D barcode at the top followed by standard boarding pass text. The barcode appears to include the standard boarding pass information without any type of digital signature.

When I got to the airport security checkpoint I never had to actually hand my phone over or even show my eboarding pass to another person. The eboarding pass scanner took about 15 seconds to boot up and I simply placed the barcode against the scanner and it displayed my name and other information for the security agent. There was an issue getting it to scan because the backlight on my phone was not on at first. He then checked my ID and I proceeded through security as normal. Next I walked through the metal detector and was asked for my boarding pass by the security officer. I simply stated that I used an eboarding pass and was allowed to continue. Therefore I question the effectiveness for only checking print boarding passes at this point.

Finally, boarding the plane was simple. I simply placed my phone against the scanner at the gate and was cleared to board.

You can't make this stuff up. Everyone please write your $35,000 checks immediately to solve this problem.

Courtesy US Treasury Department:

How do you make a contribution to reduce the debt?

Make your check payable to the Bureau of the Public Debt, and in the memo section, notate that it is a Gift to reduce the Debt Held by the Public. Mail your check to:

Attn Dept G
Bureau Of the Public Debt
P. O. Box 2188
Parkersburg, WV 26106-2188

Let's pretend I have a job that is linked to the economy, maybe real estate or something (read: auto makers). Economy takes a crap, I'm not doing so good, can't sell houses (cars). Now I'm having trouble paying the bills now. Oh and by the way, no bank wants to loan me money because in all likelihood I won't be able to pay it back or I'll go bankrupt if the economy doesn't turn around. So then of course I must make a last ditch effort to stay afloat so I go to one of my good friends (the government) with lots of money laying around (nevermind he is already in debt up to his eyeballs). I lay out my plan complete with expenditures and whatnot, say I need $35,000 to get me through to January. Then my friend says, well, I want to help you out, I can't allow you to fail, you are a big part of my life. Nevermind that no one else thinks investing in you is a good idea. Here's $15,000. I look back at my friend, extremely confused.

Me: Didn't I just tell you that I needed $35,000 to not go bankrupt?

Friend: Yes

Me: Didn't you just say I can't be allowed to fail?

Friend: Yes

Me: Isn't bankruptcy failure?

Friend: Yes

Me: Don't you have $35,000?

Friend: Yes, but I'm only giving you $15,000.

Me: Wha?! So basically you are going to "loan" me $15,000 knowing that I'm not going to be able to get the $20,000 difference, forcing me to go bankrupt and default on the $15,000 you loaned me? So you've pretty much "loaned" me $15,000 that you know you won't get back.

Friend: *Crickets*

UPDATE: Mike Huckabee made the same point on FOX News, The O'Reilly Factor, on December 12.

Recently IPv6 addresses were added to some of the DNS root servers. Many have tauted this as one of the last barriers to running pure IPv6 networks. However, in reality this is not the case. There are still two major problems to overcome.

First, many of the Top Level Domains (TLDs) do not support IPv6 (AAAA) glue records. This is the next "layer" in the hierarchy below the roots mentioned above. It includes major TLDs such as .org, .us, and most other countries. Without support at these TLDs, DNS servers (such as those for nabber.org) cannot be contacted natively with IPv6, an IPv4 lookup must be used instead.

Second, the domain registrars also need to support IPv6 (AAAA) glue records. These registrars typically have a web interface in which to change the IPv4 glue records and name of the domain's DNS servers to use. Many of the registrars have not added this support for IPv6 glue records so that it is accessible to end users. The end result is the same, IPv4 must be used to query DNS records at second level domains like nabber.org, IPv6 cannot be used.

As it stands today, the only way DNS can be used with ONLY IPv6 is if 1) the requested TLD supports it, and 2) the domain registrar for that domain supports it. The odds of having both of these happen is extremely low.

UPDATE: My DNS Check tool will now check for full IPv6 compliance as described above.