A random collection of thoughts ... well, OK, of links

• Via Slashdot, it appears ICANN is putting the smack down on GoDaddy for at least some of their unethical business practices.

• C|Net reports that a recent court case could weaken common-carrier protections, which could leave Web forum operators and even ISPs at risk of being sued for illegal or defamatory content posted by their users.

  "We fear these cases might inspire a wave of new lawsuits that, even if ultimately dismissed, will create a chilling effect," said Sophia Cope, an attorney for the Center for Democracy and Technology, which has filed briefs supporting broad immunity and gets some financial support from a number of prominent Internet companies.  "Many small start-up Web services might find that the costs of defending such suits--in terms of time and legal fees--are too much to bear."

  And so it could.  Don't like a website, or disagree with what it's saying?  Perhaps it points out inconvenient flaws in creationism, or airs some of your company's dirty laundry?  No problem; just post something defamatory there via a sockpuppet, then sue the site out of existence.

• Adi Shamir commented at the RSA security conference that progress has been made in defeating SHA1.  Current attacks now have a complexity of 2^60, which, with current commodity hardware, is within reach of a distributed brute-force crack.  Also mentioned at the conference:  Intel announced future Intel CPUs (from 2009 on) will support AES in hardware.  Four new instructions will be added to access the new AES hardware.

• Ars Technica reports the existence of a worldwide "whisper campaign" by Big Content companies seeking "to chill the willingness of countries to enact fair use or liberal fair dealing provisions designed to genuinely further innovation and creativity, rather than, as is currently the case, merely to give lip service to those concepts as the scope of copyright is expanded to were-rabbit size."

Well, there's a few linky bits, anyway.  I had a number of actual thoughts I intended to put here.  But they all seem to have escaped me amid the bustle of getting kids off to school.

By request: Moghlai eggs

Moghlai eggs

Hard-boiled eggs in a rich, creamy Moghul-style sauce.

You will need:

• 8-10 eggs
• ½ small onion, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp Moghlai masala
• 1 tbsp finely minced fresh ginger
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp water
• ½ tsp salt
• 150ml strong chicken stock or condensed chicken broth
• 300ml heavy cream
• A little oil for frying

Preparation:

Hard-boil and peel the eggs.  Meanwhile, combine the Moghlai masala, ginger, salt, lemon juice and water into a paste and set aside.  Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the copped onion until brown at the edges, then add the Moghlai paste mixture and fry for another 30 seconds.  Add the tomato paste and blend it in smoothly, then slowly add the chicken broth and cream, stirring constantly.  (It doesn't matter which you add first.  I usually add them together.)  Bring just to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for about five minutes.  While the sauce is simmering, cut the eggs in half lengthways

When the sauce is smooth and combined, carefully add the eggs to the sauce, spooning sauce over to make sure they're covered.  Simmer for another five minutes to heat the eggs through.  Do not overcook, or the sauce will break.

Serve immediately over steamed rice.

Moghlai masala

The Moghlai masala for above:

• To make your Moghlai masala starting with prepared garam masala, combine one part ground black pepper, two parts cayenne pepper, two parts garam masala, four parts ground cumin, and four parts ground coriander.  Store in an airtight jar until use.

• To prepare your own garam masala from scratch, grind together the following:

  • 2 tbsp cardamom seeds
  • 2 tsp cloves
  • 2 tsp black peppercorns
  • 2 tsp black cumin seeds
  • 2 bay leaves
  • One 4" cinnamon stick
  • One nutmeg
  • A pinch of mace if available

  Again, store in an airtight jar until ready to use.

• To make Moghlai eggs without preparing your Moghlai masala in advance, use the following spices in place of the Moghlai masala:

  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • ½ tsp cayenne pepper
  • ½ tsp garam masala
  • ¼ tsp ground black pepper