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Raw Thought (from Aaron Swartz)
"capture what you experience and sort it out; only in this way can you hope to use it to guide and test your reflection, and in the process shape yourself as an intellectual craftsman" -- C. Wright Mills
Election Slate: February 2008
A Very Speculative Theory of Free Will
How Dumb is Daniel Dennett?
Introducing theinfo.org
2007 Review of Books
2007 Review of Projects
Starting Out in the Morning
The Theory of The Game
No Superpowers
Bubble City: Chapter 11
Judgment Day
The Handwriting on the Wall
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Welcome
Amanda_chan's Xanga Blog
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i am Anthony dot com
bananasavant's Xanga Blog
FireBoxPhotography.com Version 2.0 is Live! (Saturday, October 13, 2007 )
bananasavant's entry on Saturday, October 13, 2007 at (1 comment)
Nippon (Tuesday, April 24, 2007 )
bananasavant's entry on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 at
Food for Thought (Friday, February 02, 2007 )
bananasavant's entry on Friday, February 02, 2007 at
Gonads... (Monday, January 22, 2007 )
bananasavant's entry on Monday, January 22, 2007 at (2 comments)
Oh Mama, Bin Spotted! (Monday, January 22, 2007 )
bananasavant's entry on Monday, January 22, 2007 at (1 comment)
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Blogos
God's Word | our words | meaning, communication, & technology | following Jesus, the Word made flesh
Blogos RSS Feed has Moved: Please Update Your Reader URL
I've moved to a new blogging platform (goodbye Radio Userland, hello WordPress). But if you read through an RSS aggregator (this is really important, so pay attention): This is the last post to the current RSS feed (http://www.semanticbible.com/blogos/rss.xml) You must change your feed URL to keep reading Blogos: the new feed is http://semanticbible.com/blogos/feed/. If you've only been subscribed to a specific channel (e.g. http://www.semanticbible.com/blogos/categories/semanticbible/rss.xml), those have moved as well: the new one for SemanticBible-only posts is http://semanticbible.com/blogos/category/semanticbible/feed/ (note 'categories' -> 'category'), and others are constructed in similar fashion If you read directly from the website, everything will work as before at my preferred URL, http://www.semanticbible.com/blogos/. The new site includes several syndication buttons that make it easy to add Blogos to your Bloglines, MyYahoo!, or other readers. If you have any problems with this, please send me (sean) an email at semanticbible daht com. I don't want to lose any readers in the transition (there aren't that many to start with!).
Lexical vs. Conceptual Semantics for Humility
In a comment on my recent thoughts on semantic search, Matt asks a reasonable question: "Wouldn't Louw-Nida help?" Since i've recently gotten a copy of Logos 3 Scholar's Library: Silver (i'll have a lot more to say about that later, but here's the preview: it's a fantastic resource), i tried it out. For this particular question, the answer appears to be no. Humility is under 88/G, Moral and Ethical Qualities and Related Behavior/Humility (note this is a conceptual label for the passage: the word humility doesn't actually occur). Related words here would include: lord (as in "lord it over"): 37/D, Control, Rule/Rule, Govern. exercise authority: same domain and subdomain servant/serve: 35/B, Help, Care For/Serve slave: either the same subdomain as "lord [it over]", the more figurative sense, or more literally as 87/E, Status/Slave, Free This isn't too surprising: Louw-Nida is a lexical resource, but the fundamental issue here (and the point of my post) is that there are lots of significant semantic concepts above the level of words. That's exactly what makes notions like "topic" slippery in practice.
xpound.org and Web 2.0 Bible tagging
xpound.org is a new Web 2.0 site that provides passage search, blogging, and social connections, but with an interesting new twist of Bible tagging, along the lines of del.icio.us. (I'm not sure if it's pronounced with equal stress like "slashdot", or "ex-POUND", like the verb) The basic idea of tagging is that, rather than a top-down, authoritative organization and labeling of knowledge, people can simply attach whatever labels make sense to them, in a bottom-up, unstructured (and, some would say, chaotic) fashion. The natural advantage of this kind of folksonomic tagging is that, at internet scale, it can overcome a lot of the messiness, while highly structured knowledge management approaches don't always scale. As with other tagging sites, there's no guarantee that what somebody tags as, say, africa, will have meaning to anybody else. But it means something to the person who tagged it, and thus becomes a highly personalized way to organize information. I think using this approach for Scripture makes some sense, and i've blogged about it previously. But i also have some questions. With del.icio.us, the item being tagged is clearly defined: it's a URL. But what's the natural unit for tagging Scripture? Verses are one answer, but they often don't have enough context. Books are generally too large, and chapter divisions don't necessarily line up with the content you'd want to tag. Of course, you can tag arbitrary passages: but here's where the comparison to del.icio.us breaks down. With del.icio.us, others who use the same tags as me can point me to sites i didn't know about. But where the passages aren't necessarily bounded the same, aggregation doesn't work quite the same way. Here's an example: a few days ago Josh tagged Ephesians 5:3-4 with five tags: gratitude, greed, immorality, impurity, and saint. 3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. (Eph.5.3-4) If you search on these tags (like gratitude), you'll find this unit. If instead you search by verse for Eph5.3, you still see the tag for gratitude, presumably inherited from the larger unit that was tagged (though you could argue that gratitude really only applied to verse 4). And of course, the following verses also talk about immorality and impurity, though (since they weren't included in these tags) they're not retrieved. One of the most interesting new capabilities that del.icio.us creates is knowledge discovery: if i find someone who has bookmarked several of the same sites as i have, i can go look at their other bookmarks, and often find new sites i was unaware of. This provides a kind of search by likeminded community intelligence, a really interesting counterpart to typical web search engines. I haven't found this capability in xpound, but it would be a great addition. (Hat tip to the ESV Blog for pointing me to xpound.org)
Search Interfaces for the Composite Gospel
I'm preparing a new version of the Composite Gospel Index pages, to standardize around the ESV text, and hopefully provide both more usability and more visual appeal. Designing an interface for this data poses some interesting challenges. There's a wealth of different attributes available, and while some (like traditional verse references) are familiar to most Bible students, i'm hoping to get outside the box a bit and do some novel things. The whole point of the Composite Gospel is to provide a different way to look at the story of Jesus' life, in particular one that is more oriented around stories, many of which are common to multiple Gospels, and to show how they fit into the whole. So i'm hoping to reinforce this in the new interface. Right now there are two ways to access the Composite Gospel, the typical entry point being the Pericope Index, a traditional single static page listing the pericope ID, title, and references, with hyperlinks to the content pages. It's got a number of faults: as soon as you click through to an individual pericope (here's Pericope 118, Jesus sends out the twelve disciples), you're back to looking through a keyhole, without the view of the whole sequence. It would be better to have a view of the whole index alongside the content for a selected pericope. there's no help for finding pericopes with specific titles or Scriptural references (other than browser search) while you can easily see how many sources are behind a given pericope (it's just a matter of how many columns are filled in its row in the table), the significance (as evidenced by size) is buried. Pericope 153: Jesus teaches about forgiving othersis only two verses: the next one, Pericope 154: Jesus tells the parable of the unforgiving debtor, has 13 verses. But there's no visual clues to this in the index. let's face it, it's just ugly :-/ The individual pages themselves have different navigational elements: next/previous pericope, and also next/previous for a given Gospel author. These are okay as far as they go: my major complaint is they don't go far enough. I'm also hoping to add more supplemental information: other pericopes with similar topics or content. For example, though i consider the cleansing of temple early in John (Pericope 031: Jesus clears the template) to be different from the one during the Passion Week (Pericope 249: Jesus clears the template again), clearly one ought to have a "see also" link to the other. a list of names in the pericope in view, with navigation to other pericopes which mention the same name It will be a while before i can do all this, though! I've been searching for some time for the right visual metaphor (and corresponding interface code) to provide a much more visual index to replace the current text-heavy index. It would be great if you could scan a clear visualization of which authors covered a particular story, and how much content there is for it (number of tokens). Likewise, when you've selected an individual pericope, you should have a clear view of where it fits into the entire sequence. In preparing for this, i got interested in the distribution of sources (an individual author's version) by their size. This graph shows that, binned in groups of 10: the black trend line smooths this a little further with a moving average (window of 3). There's quite a bit of variety (no surprise), ranging from a single source with just 9 tokens (Luke's description of the beginning of Jesus' Galilean preaching ministry, " And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.", Pericope 048: Jesus preaches throughout Galilee), to a single source with 566 tokens (Pericope 119: Jesus prepares the disciples for persecution, found in Matthew). But there's some approximation of a normal distribution (with an elongated tail on the high side), and clearly the bulk have from 30 to perhaps 270 tokens, with values near the median of around 30-40 instances (since i'm binning, this number itself isn't very meaningful). This suggests the cases i need to optimize for: i should be able to fit up to about 270 token displays on something close to a single page view (these days that really means 1024 x 768 pixels, though surprisingly i still get 15-20% of my visits from people with 800x600 displays). Ultimately, i'd love to have a rich treemap interface to support exploring the data in a variety of different ways (this was the substance of my presentation at the Society for Biblical Literature last year). As publisher Tim O'Reilly notes in a recent post, treemaps are really made to be interfaces, not graphs: their power lies in your ability to interact with them to explore the data. Unfortunately, i don't know how to do this live on my website: i don't have permission to host the Treemap software i use myself from the University of Maryland, and i don't know of a good substitute (O'Reilly's post is about a Rails implentation, but that's outside my current scope).
Topic Labels and Semantic Bible Search
But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matt.20.25-28) I've been thinking about topic labels for Scripture passages lately: a deceptively simple idea that's quite hard to nail down. The notion of topic includes many different things: a person might be a topic (Jesus talks about John the Baptist in Luke.7.24-30), but every mention of a person probably isn't a topic in quite the same sense (the same passage mentions the Pharisees, but the passage isn't really about them, it simply mentions them). Sometimes key words and phrases are topics ("luxury" is a word in the same passage, and a relatively distinct one at that: it only occurs 4 times in the New Testament). But if that's what you mean by a topic, then word searches will usually find what you want. The toughest cases (and therefore the most interesting ones) are when you don't have a distinctive lexical item for a topic decision. The classic Librarian Problem is that whatever i call a topic may have different meaning to someone else, or fall outside the conceptual schema they're using for searching (Shirky has a nice overview of this). The kind of folksonomic tagging popularized by del.icio.us works well at a personal level (i know what my "facets" tag means to me, even though you may not), and it works well at the larger level because enough others might happen to use the same tags that aggregation adds value. I expect this kind of tagging for Scripture will start to show up in some interesting ways in the next year under the Web2.0 rubric. Here's what got me thinking about this: i was reading Humility by Andrew Murraythis morning (highly recommended, by the way), and he discusses the passage above as an example of Jesus' teaching about humility. I'd agree (as would Naves, and most other topic-oriented indexes): but if you wanted to label such passages in some automated fashion, what evidence would you use? The words "humble" and "humility" are nowhere to be found, and neither are their direct antonyms like "proud". Jesus mentions the contrasting examples of Gentiles who "lord it over them" and others who "exercise authority over them": but these complex semantic constructs aren't easy to take apart (and the first one isn't very typical English: the Contemporary English Version's translation of "order their people around" is arguably more natural). Certainly being the servant of others implies the personal trait of humility, but the relationship is quite abstract. Just another argument for why this kind of annotation of Scripture will probably be done the old-fashioned way (by hand) for the foreseeable future ...
Lexical Statistics in the New Testament
I've been putting some of the data behind the Hyper-concordance into MySQL, in preparation for computing some statistics on lexical co-occurrence. Along the way, i've been collecting some numbers that i thought others might find interesting. There are a number of other sources for NT statistics: for example, this page from Prof. Felix Just shows words per verse per chapter per book (in the Greek NT). What's different about the numbers below is that they're based on Hyper-concordance's approach, which groups various inflected forms under their base form (what linguists call a lemma). For example, 'saying', 'says', and 'said' are all pooled under 'say' (as it turns out, the most common lemma in the New Testament, with 1946 occurrences). In the example from the Hyper-concordance home page (Mark.4.24), there are 10 content lemmas (9 of them unique) in this verse of 30 words: "say", "pay", "attention", "hear", "measure" (twice), "use", "still", "more", "add". Count Unique terms 73872 6333 base terms 73872 4526 name words 6638 593 non-name words 67234 3933 singletons 1444 1444 name words 281 281 "Count" is the actual instances, as opposed to the unique values (which we could call the content vocabulary of the New Testament). Some comments: As a textual corpus, the New Testament is relatively small by modern lexico-statistical standards: only about 8000 verses, with a vocabulary of only a few thousand words. I take some consolation from the modest vocabulary size: i'm interested in creating lexical semantics for these terms, and while ~4500 terms is far from trivial, it's not so large as to be completely impossible to consider. "name words" here means nothing more than a word written with a capital letter, about 1 in 10 words, which is actually rather large. I've only found three words that occur both capitalized and uncapitalized. The two obvious ones are God/god and Lord/lord: can you guess the other? (answer at the bottom) the ratio of terms to base terms is really a measurement of the compression induced by the lemmatization approach of the Hyper-concordance. I'd expect this difference to be much larger for a larger corpus. "singletons" here means words which occur exactly once (sometimes called hapax legomena). Clearly there can't be any variation in form here, so the instance and unique counts are the same. This is actually rather small, probably another consequence of the small corpus size: as a rule of thumb, for many large and general corpora, roughly half the words occur only once (though that's words, not lemmas), a consequence of Zipf's Law. the 11 most common words: say (1946 instances) God (1343) come (1120) all (1006) Jesus (964) go (749) man (745) Lord (657) see (622) no (569) know (543) Caveats: this is all based on the ESV text, your mileage will certainly vary for other translations. You could argue (with some merit) that all such counts should be performed on the Greek text, rather than an English one. However, since the ESV takes an 'essentially literal' approach, i'd argue that the magnitude will generally be roughly correct, though of course the exact numbers will be slightly different. Of course, these numbers for base forms depend on how you map forms back to their bases: i think my approach is credible, but certainly not perfect (i doubt 'perfect' here could even be well-defined). the Hyper-concordance omits 44 function words that are very common and not very contentful (in information retrieval terms, stop words). I'd argue this is a good thing, but you might think otherwise. (The second word that occurs in both capitalized and uncapitalized forms is much less obvious, though you'll figure it out if you think a lot about it ...)
NY Times Article on Parts of Speech
There's an interesting piece in the NY Times about linguistic parts of speech. It taught me the word Anthimeria (Greek: "one part for another"): from Wikipedia, "the use of a word of one class as if it were a member of another, typically the use of a noun as a verb." 'chill', meaning to relax (and thereby be culturally, rather than thermally, cool) would be an example.
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bwangiaLog
bwangiaLog - LiveJournal.com
How did the miraculous happen?
I just finished reading today's odb devotional. Its about the temptation of Jesus in the desert. Its a very interesting story . Jesus fast 40 days and 40 nights after being lead by the spirit of God into the desert. [ This would not be a significant verse if Jesus were not subject to the same hunger pains a regular man would have (i.e. if he used his God powers to reduce his hunger pains)] So Jesus is ridiculously hungry. I know how crazy i become after not having lunch .. Actually I once tried going a week without food ... it gets better after I miss both lunch and dinner then I started getting week on day 2 and on day three I got both soo weak and started feeling cold, at end of day 3 I was cold and could barely make it up the steps of my apartment and I decided to eat ... my little tale might not mean to much to some but I think Day 40 would be something doable for some but still quite ridiculous. Ok so Jesus is a man who is ridiculously hungry and the devil shows up to tempt him. In the Jesus movies the devil shows up as a hissing serpent but I know that no hissing serpent shows up when I get my temptations. So its more of an internal thing, I'll assume that its not just cerebral its also spiritual. Since Jesus was in tune with his spirit and his spirit is in fellowship with God, the reality of the devil tempting him in the spiritual realm would be very real. So the devil say turn stone to bread and given the spiritual power Jesus he can do this! I know its kind of mysterious for some how Jesus could do miracles but I think that its pretty simple. Jesus was a human just like me and you. He had a spirit just like you and I. He connected with God's spirit in intense ways and God granted him the communion and power to work miracles, access wisdom (aka the mind of God) and teaching (I think this is the reason he says, "38I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence") and all sorts of other heavenly goodies.We'll I think that every human being since Jesus has this power available! Why? Because we have a spirit just like Jesus' and because of Jesus death we have spiritual access granted by God. So why no such power is demonstrated in life today. One reason may be that we dont access because of our insistence on guiding our own spiritual path, what we will accept and what we wont, another could be because of lack of desire to access/have communion with the spirit of God, or lack of awareness of our spiritual selves and resources, other reasons may be our hearts have stored up in them desires or ideas from spirits other than the spirit of God. These are things we can work on to give God's spirit room.Well someone else may have honestly submitted to repentance, and God's leadership ... Well I think after that its up to God's desire to do stuff. But from Jesus' words that we will do more things than he did. I seriously doubt that God chooses not to use the willing and submissive. Its very exciting to me the amount of power to transcend the natural world that we live in that is available. We should do our part to access this power to deal with our temptations and other misnomers that we see everyday.God help us to be excited about what is available to us through our spirits connecting with yours and then help us to be committed to doing what we ought!Dont forget to check out my site http://www.cs.tufts.edu/~bwangia/ . The photo's page has some links to photo's from my wedding on April 23, 2005 in Santa Cruz, CA
Back from the honeymoon
Just a short note ...The wedding was fantastic ... yeah it was unbelievable. Later I'll get to talking about what it felt down inside to see K come down that aisle on Peter's arm ... the vows .. the communion .. the congregation ... kissing K for the first time ever!And boy ask anyone who was there about the reception! I danced and was sweating as if Id gone clubbing. Just to give an idea of how much fun happened ... picture a girl doing a flip ... my bride with one hand on one foot, the other behind her head and subsequent movement ... My sister Arlene and I doing the 'cooking spoon' dance in the middle of the circle ... picture three tall african men (my cousins) in black suits strolling through the circle floor waving little paper plates coz it was so hot! ... Picture guys chanting "Go Bradley! Go Bradley! Go Bradley! ... Go! Go! Go!"Dad danced, Mom Danced, Katee's parents, Chris, Shanee, Shanee's Mom Nancy, Charis, Evan, Neal Richarde freaking out in the middle of the circle (ps I think he is over 50 yrs old) ... I mean everyone you can think of was in the middle of that circle. You get the picture! All this happened at the churches hall, and who said church folk cant have fun.Then Katee and I drove down to Carmel and had the honeymoon of our life!We are just back to Santa Cruz from the honeymoon.I come back to Boston on Saturday morning and will probably update the journal after them. I'll probably put up wedding pictures right after then.K and I are doing great. Its never felt more natural to be married! I love it. Thanks to everyone for making our wedding just so great!
3 Days to go!
Wow! I leave for California today. 3 days to my wedding and the start of my life with K! I love her soo much (baby if you are reading this, I want the whole world to know).Its been a great ride. Lots of hope, lots of purpose, lots of patience, and most of all lots of love. Friday we have the rehearsal dinner. It will be awesome to be out in the hills in Santa Cruz with my Dad and Mom, Chris, Shanee, Little Nia-Lael, Arlene and the rest of my family and bring them to meet K's family and friends. Some of the boston crowd will make it to the dinner. Some of my Lincoln buddies are coming for the wedding Saturday.Saturday, we do it all. Its going to be a fun event! The mixture of everything. I heard the vows on saturday that Pastor R has prepared and my heart just started to lift as I felt the awe of covenant. In the day when all people want is 'self serving freedom' it has never felt better to place my intent, my will, my emotions, my love in the a vow that establishes covenant with K and with God. On saturday it felt like I was made to say those words; I mean I've never felt stronger about saying them.After Saturday, we'll be off to Carmel, CA start the married life!We'll be back in Boston on the 30th.Thank you Almighty God, My Creator for giving me K and this life I live. Glory to You.Todays ODB talked about God's unchanging nature. He does not destroy us even when we turn away from his way. Otherwise, the world would be gone by now. The circumstances of life dont change Him either. Its awesome to have this picture of God. To me its a picture of a God who sees it all and withholds his hand from punishment, and more often than not he stretches out and blesses even when we are on our own path.Mighty God, Mighty God .... Yes, you are a mighty God.
15 days to the big day!
Its 15 days till I get married and I’m feeling good. I got up today and was getting ready to go pick up K; when I realized that soon, I'll get to have her with me 24/7. We'll be together and won't have to go anywhere to see each other. It’s really a marvel the mystery that marriage is.We finished our marriage counseling yesterday and what an eye opener that was. As a single person, without realizing it you build up all these unhealthy hopes/expectations for your partner to fill that are all in your head. They are very burdensome to try and bring into a real living relationship. If you think about it would be really burdensome to live out someone else's expectations of you. It’s so much more refreshing to be yourself and have someone else discover the beauty of discovering your personality and also your quirks. Thanks God we got lots of warning on that.In general, I’m really pumped to be K's husband and later our kids’ father. I can't believe I get to set up a new family entity. Affecting my family with my actions and choices. It’s weird that by making great choices, I get to set up a home that is healthy and vibrant and I'll get to positively influence K, our relatives and friends, other visitors, and later our Kids.It’s funny that some of the guys tell me the count down with a tinge of "here it comes buddy; your in". But I just feel like I finally get to the finish line/or rewards line. Maybe for them, they got to do whatever when they were single/dating/engaged and so they had to come from that to full responsibility. But for the last few years I've been at full responsibility. So now I continue at full responsibility but I get to enjoy having someone to appreciate it, and someone to enjoy it with, have a strong reason for continuing this full responsibility. You don’t know how hard it is to do something hard when you’re constantly asking yourself, "Why am I putting myself through this? What is the big purpose in this?" But with marriage there is a big purpose to every little change that’s asked of you and making it yields some serious rewards. I’m looking forward to being married big time!Sure there are lots of other responsibilities coming up that I did not have to think about. But what’s new about that, when I had to leave my plush DuPont job for hard grad school that was new responsibility. When I had to make the adjustment to teaching tufts Kids in labs when I'd not done that before that was more responsibility, when I had to chart a new social life in a different kind of crowd at PT and grace street that was a challenge, when I had to leave PT and be at grace street full time that was a challenge. And as far as I can see on the horizon, challenges are lined up for me. But with marriage I get to enjoy big time; I get to be with someone else. It’s a challenge that has instant reward; life with K! I’m way stocked!And the wild card in all of this is its K! My baby's a lot of fun to be with. Everyone can tell by just how much fun people have interacting with her in public. But I come home to her everyday! Anyway, I’m writing too much ... I need to get to gradingToday’s ODB talks about a group that wanted to impose their religious practice on new converts just so that they could brag about this outward show. But also so that they would not face difficulty for going against the grain. Instead Paul says that their directives should be shunned and his boasts as a leader for the new converts are in the cross of Jesus Christ. The only change he's looking for is a change that gives a great reflection on what the death of Jesus has done for the new converts. Its quite awesome coz there's lots that people want to see in us that would make them feel better but is not in what Christ would like to see in us. I go with what Christ wants to see in me over what all the 'influentials' in my life want to see in me.
Sunday at Church
Yesterday a YWAM arts team out of tyler, TX came to gracestreet and did a dramatic performance that included lots of stats on abortion and the modern day problems that youth and family face. They went on to state that there was a bigger picture that framed everything. God created me he wants me to be fully alive. The enemy/satan is strongly opposed to me being fully alive. Because he hates people (me included) and he hates God. He will tempt, trick, confuse, and rid me of such things as faith, belief, compassion, trust, truth, hard work, love, hope, courage, service to others, in daily life and work hard to make sure that God's way of making these things happen for me, namely, faith that Jesus was God's son, that he was born, he died and he resurrected for me. For the saving of my spirit & soul (when I think of the spiritual), conscience and body (when I think of daily life on earth). The enemy will do everything to make me disbelieve this and also disbelieve that the teachings and practices that Jesus and his disciples taught will bring me and others full life on earth and after death.It was very clear to me that I had the choice of being fully alive! I could choose to be partially alive (believe in Jesus but not do his teaching or refuse to let him into my career plans) or I can choose to co-operate with God as he changed my thinking and practice so that I became FULLY ALIVE. Reached my full potential.I committed yesterday to choosing to be fully alive. For me that seems to mean a commitment to (Spiritual and possibly day to day) Priesthood (Ministry Work), Spiritual Knighthood (Prayer and daily living), and obedient to God living (day to day living). I feel very empowered by this choice. Today I came in to the computer science department and I power graded through 5 theory questions for my theory of computation class! I feel changes in my thoughts about my relationships. And I feel really encouraged about being able (with God's help) to live a life that obeys Jesus' teachings.Today's devotional talked about how people view Jesus and challenged me that if I viewed him as stated in the bible, I should respond to this picture with loyalty and love for him.
Long Time Coming
Hey,Ive been away form the journal for quite a while. School and other stuff got me seriously busy. Actually last week after studying about finite automata for the theory of computation class, I decided that the pressure of my current existance must have reduced me to a machine that could only address a finite number of input symbols. I remember going to class and not really comprehending/relating to what people were saying to me especially if that input was emotional; smiles, frowns ... You get the picture.However, stuff is really picking up. I ran the class this week and Ive been getting in a little bit after nine and leaving a little bit before nine. Im afraid I may not have been eating and relaxing well coz I started to fall sick yesterday. So its precaution time, the theraflu's, cough drops, lots of rest and relaxation and I will try and work some exercise into the schedule.Wedding planning is going well. I have one more guy to ask from my party and then Ill have to co-ordinate them. All in all I think my faith is the key in keeping sane in times like this. I read a passage today in the ODB devotional that showed a picture of the heaven's. I think picturing the heavens and hoping for that also makes sense to a lot of the struggle here. I dont know how Id take on this amount of change and responsibility without the knowledge that there was some purpose to it all. I know a lot of people are motivated by the money reward or happiness reward but a lot of those ring a little bit shallow for me. I want the big kahuna as motivation for daily life. Give me some heaven!
Turned 25 Yesterday
So I turned 25 yesterday.Birthdays are low key affairs for me (I even forgot) once growing up. But it was cool that people wanted to do something. The guys bought me dinner at picantes and K baked a cake and brought it in. D played a spanish birthday song on the accordion.Had a good time. Ive had so much happen in the last year. Since my last birthday and begun dating and got engaged to K. I got a masters degree, went home, begun research work, got my first niece, met in-laws- to be, have been to East Africa, California and Northern VT. Yay! Have had some wild times of personal and intellectual growth ...Someone said to me its just downhill from here ... meaning It should be easier going forward. Which is kind of true but I also think have serious challenges for my life.Yesterday I prayed that this marks not less than a quarter of my time on earth. Which made neurotic me think about taking better care of my bod if I wanted to be around for all that time and have fun being around!Its nice to be 25. Soon car companies wont discriminate against me for no reason. On a separate note, over the weekend I became quite resolute about my work as an academic. I was talking to a friend about how their corporate programming job was coming and I did not envy him one bit. I know I want to be excellent in academia and I know I have what it takes. So here comes nothing. As if to confirm this, I was asked to TA the Theory of Compuation class this semester and I will.Good to be 25!
Devotional: Life's Purpose
I competed for the Episcopalian scholarship that asked us to memorize some form of their creed and I remember that the first thing on the list was that Man's (and woman's of-course) chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Couple that with Jesus' "Love the lord your God with all your heart soul and strength and love your neighbor as you love yourself" and you the message of todays ODB.I tend to think about stuff so much and sometimes it gets me in a neurotic funk. At those times I question what life is for. Just to live doing what life demands and then die for heaven. Well thats as dry a thought as I can imagine. Its in stark contrast to obeying God and enjoying safe pasture in the land. Its in start contrast to Enjoying God forever. Its in stark contrast to love. To enjoying life and its challenges. Id rather think that Obeying God brings great pleasure and loving the people around me maximizes my sense of happiness, joy, and enjoyment of life. And it make perfect sense. If I disobey God and what is right and true and good. I feel apart from that good and true life, I feel the guilt of a violated conscience. Luckily God is so forgiving. All I have to do is come and say, Im sorry and I have a new lease on life. It turns out that enjoying God is more fun than resisting and disobeying him. It leads to better relationships with the people around. It leads me to enjoy my job and my existence and at the end of life, I have an even greater prize waiting for me!Someone may object that I am painting a rosy picture and that life has lot of sorrows and trials. I completely agree that life has sorrows and griefs and tragedies; but I would rather face those with the knowledge of God, his wisdom on dealing with them, and his comfort than without Him.It feels great to be a child of God today!
Devotional: Surrender and patience
Todays ODB can be best summed up by its last sentence, "Instead of trying to quell your fears with panic prayers, surrender yourself to God through a prayer of relinquishment, and see what He will do".I took comfort in the passage (Psalm 37:1-8)though.It talks about not worrying about people who do wrong and succeed because they will soon wither away. Instead we are to trust in God and do good; live and enjoy safe life.Vs. 5 strikes a chord in me because I feel like that is what Im currently doing with life.Vs. 6 is almost an untouchable because you are not supposed to dwell on self promotion. The speaker at church talked about this yesterday.The last line of the passage is a shocker, "Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret-it leads only to evil". I sometimes think that its my choice on whether I will worry or not but here it clearly states that fretting only leads to evil!
Devotional: Momentary vs future purpose
I guess I never understood todays passage from ODB. Esau, coming home from the outdoors swears an oath to sell his birthright to Jacob. I don't really think I understood this idea of birthright. It seems like a promised destiny not just for the individual but for his/her posterity.I feel like I have an inheritance/birthright in God and if I listen to him, I will come into it. Its almost already evident in some of the things that have happened to me. Winning a scholarship to come to the states, getting through lincoln, getting that Killer paying job at DuPont, getting into Tufts and getting my masters project done, going to Kenya in Nov needing both a passport and a visa to come back and I get it with no problem (student on legit trips have had months to get their visa's back), meeting and loving K, even my impending UCSC application. But it seems like the message here is that I can sacrifice all of that continued destiny if I give in to the pressures of the immediate. The pressure to have money to help with stuff, to drive a better car, live in a place I own, eat better ... just a better life! I could be unimpressed and step of the path of destiny! Disrupting all the blessing that was to come into being through me. I could opt for the ordinary in order to escape current pressures but I won't I will stick it out and change so that I can take on all my challenges. Then I will see all of God's blessing and will bring into this life everything God would use me to bring in plus some more! Yay!
Devotional: Gratitude
Todays devotional touched on something that has been on the fringes for me. Honest gratitude and thanksgiving to God for the things he does for me.This sentence from todays ODB is key, "Let's not think that because we can't repay God for saving us, we owe Him nothing.".Paul knew he could not pay God for the salvation that He gave him but he was so filled with gratitude that he gladly preached the gospel.What is it that prevents me from feeling the deepest sense of gratitude. Is it the little hardships that I suffer along the way that make me feel like I deserve the good I get. This sounds so ridiculous when written down but its actually what probably happens.I don't want to be a person who God has to take things away from so that he realizes that "its all God".What I can do to have more gratitude. Count my blessings and name them one by one Recognize my challenges as an opportunity to learn from God and the rules of life Appreciate the people around me Talk to God about his blessings...Hey google spider! Bradley WangiaI want to have more gratitude.
ODB Devotional: Count your blessings
Todays ODB was right on the money again.It encouraged me not to grumble about the tough things in my life because there are lots of blessings that I receive undeservedly. It tells the story of Arthur Ashe who contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion that he received when he had heart surgery. Rather than grumble and ask why me? about his blessing, he was maintained a grateful attitude because he said he could also have asked why me? why did he win wimbledon, marry a beautiful woman and have a wonderful child ...This really mirrors my life. When I met some of my friends back at home, I asked why me. Why do I get to leave Kenya and have the great life that I am having in the US? Why am I about to marry this extraordinary woman (she's more than I could ever have dreamed off on my own). Why do I have all the favor that seems to be on my life while millions are deprived the same. Its really awesome the level of blessing I have.The devotional ended with the following phrase "With unwanted burdens come undeserved blessings." Awesome!In an effort to make the google spidey find me I paste this link Bradley A. Wangia
Devtional: Quest for Riches
Todays ODB came from James 1:9-11; James 5:1-6 and it contained warnings on riches for both poor and rich.It comes at a really time time for me as I move into my new place and I start to think about how everything is not perfect! I dont have the furniture I want in there, my car is not fixed, little house things and all of a sudden Im off to the races looking for stuff. Prior to getting the place in Waltham, i lived in a basement had no furniture, for a while used the bus to get to school and had almost nothing. For a while I was really bummed about that and I sought God harder. I had all the challenges I have today and I did fine ; actually I think I was quite concerned with purpose and mission and praying and all that. Now I head off to waltham and materialism and self comfort/indulgence is creeping on me. It seems to justify itself with you've had it tough so its time to start getting the necessities of life! But this stands in stark contrast to what Jesus said to his followers Matthew 6:24-34 About not worryng and trusting in God. Well, I need to do the same!In an effort to make spidey find me I paste this link Bradley A. Wangia
Devotional: Help! God!
Todays ODB came from Psalm 69:13-18 and its a cry to God for help in the times of trouble.I just liked that we have a source of refuge for the tough times. We often may feel like when really sad or hurtful things happen that we have been abandoned by God or that "he let this happen". Well I can't answer the later but I've known in the last few weeks that God is not my opponent in these time. So its good to know that he is not an innocent bystander either, he is THE source of help for the tough times.
Devotional: Testify
Todays devotional message (Proverbs 24:10-12 )spoke of seeing people's spiritual reality and the Christian's responsibility to help if that reality is not good.We can not feign ignorance once we know what should be done. However, witnessing, as it is called in different circles calls for wisdom. We cant force people to see things the way we do. We have to be respectful and humble as we explain what we think we should say and most importantly, we have to realize that God is involved in their well being more than we ever could.Thats why he provides for each of us, gives us life's goods, sent his son to die for us ... and he is the only one who can bring real change into peoples lives.I'll look out for opportunities to tell people about God and the eternal realities of our relationship to Jesus.
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Byscuits & Davy
The personal weblog, photo albums, and writings of Dave Gandy.
Stephen King on my commute
I now have two and a half hours in a car every business day, and I've been looking for something to fill that time. I've thought of two good options so far, but last month's $100 bill has caused me...
Urgent and Important
I was talking to my mom at some point last week on my way home from work, and she mentioned something about the difference between something being urgent and something being important, and how that's something that young people need...
Funny timing
I got an email at work this morning (the account was just set up yesterday) letting me know that they'll be using my 'South Station' shot in a Fidelity Calendar. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you...
New job, new car, new photos
Hey folks. I know it's been a long time since my last update, but I've been busy. I mean mad busy. Here are my most recently added photo albums: Cedarwell at Harpers Ferry Cedarwell photo shoot Cruftlabs E&M Party Alton...
Photos and Pain
Hey everyone. This is just a quick entry to let yall know of some new photos I shot a week or so ago. During the Labor Day weekend, I went with some folks from Grace Street over to the Boston...
Love and Community
9The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 10Love does no harm to...
Exactly
I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. Haven't felt this in a while....
15 Rounds
I just wanna prove somethin' -- I ain't no bum... It don't matter if I lose... Don't matter if he opens my head... The only thing I wanna do is go the distance -- That's all. Nobody's ever gone fifteen...
Busy, busy, busy
Things have been a bit hectic lately. I started a new internship, moved out of the Wilson House, moved in to Fort Awesome, dated someone for a bit, did my first pro photography assisting job for Volkswagen, and had my...
Cinderella
After church at Grace Street on Sunday night, I watched the end of Cinderella with some of the younger kids. It was great to see the story again, to a degree, through their eyes. That night the story of Cinderella...
Tim Gilman
I'm skipping work three days next week. That's right. Next Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I have no plans whatsoever to go into work. But it's not for a vacation. Some part of me wishes it were, but not the part...
Fort Awesome
Jimmy James: I wanted a house just like "Xanadu," but without a dorky name. Lisa: So what did you call it? Jimmy James: "Fort Awesome." Tonight I'm starting to move in to our new place in Somerville, Fort Awesome. I'm...
Gonzalo Silva, Again
The wait for the subway was a bit painful this morning. Usually during rush hour, a train comes every 5 minutes or less. But this morning, I must have waited 25 minutes. For the first 15 minutes, it was tremendously...
First Week of Work
I interviewed someone for the first time today. She was interested in volunteering for the summer at DtM, so we wanted to see if she'd be able to help out with any of my projects. It was kind of weird....
flickr
I'm getting the word out about this place: flickr.com. It's a place where you can upload photos for free, which is nothing new. But they also have this great setup linking people together and creating small communities. You can also...
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swords - insects - frustrations - funnies - art - amber - more swords
chosetec's Xanga Blog
age (Monday, April 09, 2007 )
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Thursday, February 01, 2007
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Silly Sperm-Spam Subject Slogans: (Tuesday, November 28, 2006 )
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Tuesday, October 10, 2006
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clieu's Xanga site
clieu's Xanga Blog
Friday, February 08, 2008
clieu's entry on Friday, February 08, 2008 at (4 comments)
Sunday, January 27, 2008
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Wednesday, January 23, 2008
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Thursday, January 03, 2008
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Wednesday, January 02, 2008
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clieu's Xanga
Latest Xanga weblog from clieu
Friday, February 08, 2008
i do not recall ever snowboardingI've said this here before, but I totally have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy with my parents regarding snowboarding. My parents learned all they need to know about snow sports from all those news stories about skiers breaking their necks from falling off a mountain. Growing up, we never participated in snow sports, maybe possibly because we lived in LA, but also because if I broke my neck, then I wouldn't be able to practice the piano.But once I left home (and years after I quit playing piano), I might have gone to higher elevations to partake in some snowboarding and I think I might have even skiied once. But I don't talk about it with my parents, and they only find out if they ask some direct question like "what is this tag for 'Alpine Meadows' hanging from your jacket?" or "Have you been snowboarding this winter?" in which case I then try to change the subject. I never give them advance notice of any such trips that I might hypothetically take, and I try not to mention them after I do go.A few weekends ago, I was at Safeway picking up a bottle for wine for a dinner at a friend's place, when my phone rang. It was maybe 5pm on a Saturday, and right after I said hello, my mom said "WHERE ARE YOU?!!!!" in that voice that said, "you're in big trouble." Immediately, I thought OMG, I missed my Grandmother's 90th birthday! Or some other big family event! What weekend was it? Was I supposed to be somewhere? Aiya... so I timidly said, "At Safeway?" to which she replied, "Which Safeway?" Oh gosh, was I at the wrong Safeway? I won't buy the wine! "Um... the one by Valley Fair?" "Oh, okay" my mom replied. "You're not in Lake Tahoe." Apparently there were some avalanches that were all over the news (nevermind that those were in Mammoth, not Tahoe) and she was was worried... Aw, thanks Ma! And eventually, my heart started beating again, and I finished my shopping at Safeway.Grandma's 90th is next weekend. Happy (early) Birthday Grandma, Dad, and j2yu!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
wolf! wolf!The fire alarm in our building went off again today. We're all pretty well-rehearsed in our evacuation plan, but today none of us wanted to trek across the parking lot to the designated assembly area. Is it really safer if you have to walk under power lines during a storm? Or better yet, during an earthquake? Today it was just raining, but windy enough that umbrellas are useless and at the risk of getting broken. We huddled under the overhang just outside the lobby until someone point out that the building next door was warm and dry and their alarms weren't going off. The first time the alarms went off, I remember we chastized a pregnant coworker because she took the time to not only save her work, but also shut down and pack her laptop to take with her, lest something happen to her computer. Now, 3 or 4 false alarms later (once for burnt popcorn, twice for "server room" issues), we file out in an orderly manner, but groaning and complaining as we do. Even the fire trucks were slow to respond this time, which makes me think that they too, are growing indifferent to our alarm system. People are just this way, with things that are both less important and more important than fire alarms. Is there anything that can be done?
Thursday, January 24, 2008
oh.me: So does your microwave work? other1: yeah me: What about your stove? other1: yeah me: What about your oven? Does that work? other1: yeah, it works. Everything works, microwave, stove, oven. Everything except for the ceiling. me: I'm thinking of doing something different with my hairother2: Oh yeah?me: Yeah, like cutting it or straightening it. What do you think I should do?other2: I dunno, brush it?other3: Nice dress you're wearingme: why thank you!other3: is it new?me: no, it's actually quite oldother3: I like the fabric. What's that called?me: It's called "tweed"other3: Ah, nice, I like it a lot. And it could double as a maternity dress!And somewhat but not completely unrelated, 10 Things You Should Never Say to a Woman
Friday, January 04, 2008
a list from up northAfter I got picked up from the Toronto airport, I noted aloud that "Wow, everything is a little different here," in reference to the different branding and east coast architecture. M said "yes, it's almost like a foreign country!" Ah, yes. Or a renegade province.I went to a wedding in Toronto, for a couple that used to live in the Bay Area. It was a small reception (55 people!), which made for a relaxing, fun, and nice time. It was odd seeing so many Bay Area people (Canadians and fake Canadians) together so far away.I went Tobogganing! At first, I balked at the course, which was treacherous and (very) slightly downhill, with a small jump built into it. But if the not-quite-2-year-old can do it without crying, well then so can I! You may wonder, what is the difference between a "toboggan" and a "sled"? It's like when Canucks say "Mountie" when they mean "Police" or "a boot" when they mean "about." Sam Ting.The not-quite-2-year-old can sing "Baa Baa Black Sheep," and quite well, which is supercute. I find myself singing it to myself, days later. "Yes sir, yes sir, three bags FULL!" We went ice skating outdoors, then warmed up with hot chocolate from Tim Horton's. You can get a small for only $1.07 CDN, which is only $1.07 in real money. I'm a believer! (And note to self: next time get the XL).And now, blustery and wet weather in California. Stay warm everyone!
Thursday, January 03, 2008
xin nian kuai leI went home for the holidays, and spent a good amount of time eating and sleeping, the great and wonderful pastimes of the holidays. One morning, my brother saw something out on the deck and went to see what it was. Later, my dad said that he'd heard an owl the night before, which explained the teeny baby wabbit feet that my brother found left behind on the deck. Sad huh? *pictures are examples, and not indicative of any actual wabbits.------If you haven''t done this before, go to this website to opt out of those pesky credit card offers.--- 2008 Resolutions:The one I will mention here is that I plan to run the Nike Half Marathon in October. Anyone want to join me?
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Google searches that come into my blog"people who tuck sweaters into pants""tastes like its got butter inside""suspenders very cool and in to wear 2007""scrabble colored squares""suspenders 2007" (seriously, who are you and what are you looking for?)
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Isn't it time to blog again?It's a good thing that I have a day job, because if blogging was it, I'd fail miserably. Sometimes I think I should carry around a pen and a little notebook to jot down the minutiae that I encounter each that that I *could* conceivably write about. But then inertia kicks in and eh, am I so self-important as that? I read www.dooce.com and I'm always entertained by her posts and sometimes think hey! I could do that too. Hm... maybe if I got a dog. For now, here are some inspiring bits of art in my world (announced without permission, hope that's okay!):dozi design. Paper and fabric design, not yet available for purchase, but I hope to see it on Etsy someday. Comics about a particular brand of college angst (from "the school for kids who are really good at math and physics"). Seriously, who withdraws recommendations? I love the whimsy in color.And a song that I can't stop singing. Sing along with me!
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
good morning, how is your breakfast?A long time ago, I went to training for work (when I worked for the Evil Empire), which inspired a series of posts about scones. Scones? Really? Yes really, and though I do have that post somewhere, it is no longer here, otherwise I would unhide it to remind myself how silly this blog is sometimes.Instead, I shall demonstrate that point yet again. So I bought these whole-wheat english muffins from Trader Joe's the day. They had some highbrow sounding British name, like Crackhallow and Fieldstone, or something like that, which made them sound fancy, and TJ's is usually pretty good with their yuppie baked goods. And with 3g of fiber per "muffin" (not a muffin) nd no preservatives, I thought it a good breakfast choice. Yeah, except they were no good. Let me count the ways:Thomas' English MuffinsTJ's whole wheat "English" "Muffins"nooks and cranniescorrugation, kinda like cardboardfork-splityeah that, though don't you always still need a knife?taste like it's got butter insideWYSIWYG: takes like cardboardtoasts evenly and packs quite the crunchyou can toast it to the point of burning and the middle is still soggy. Not sure why, they weren't even frozen!full of white flour and "butter taste"End up full of peanut butter, honey, and there would be jam too if I had some. And it's not enough. Coffee helps.Sorry TJ's, I'm moving on. Up next: faux healthy "Low Fat NutriGrain Eggos"I miss breakfast in China. We bought stuff off the streets, which were were later advised against by the locals. Seriously, but where else can you get man tou for 1RMB! Or a dan bing for 1RMB! Soy milk, 1RMB! Do you see a pattern here?mmmm.... those rumors about the street vendors using recycle oil have to be false... right?
Saturday, November 10, 2007
belt 0, suspenders 1Well, so much posting every day. I posted every day for one day. I've been slammed by work and getting over a cold + jet lag. And now my China trip seems like a distant memory, even though I got back less than 2 weeks ago. Well, at least there are the memories! And of course, pictures.One anecdote: (blogged upon request by my mother)So you know how when you go through security, you need to wait in line, wait in line, empty your pockets, and disrobe slightly (belt, shoes, jacket)? Then once you are on the other side of the metal detector, you need to collect your stuff and put everything back on, and real quick so you don't hold up the line. And especially quickly if you still had something that made you beep, because TSA scans their beep wands over you and makes the line back up behind you. Well, my dad had a lot of things to take off (hat, jacket, belt) and take out (wallet, terrorism lotion, phone, who knows what else) and of course, he still beeped so he had to wait. By the time they let him out, his ever-patient (haha) family was also through the process. We walked away from the screening area, re-adjusted our things, and hurred to the gate. Yes, hurry, because you know, we only had 3 hours left until our flight.We hadn't gone far before we realized my dad's pants were not staying where they should. Oops, he'd left his belt behind at the security gate.My dad likes to wear his pants big, though not so they fall down on purpose, more for a medical thing and so he has extra room to breathe. By my own estimation, his pants are about +4 what they should be, but he likes them that way, so what can you do? But now we were at the airport, and his belt was nowhere to be found. Not to be dramatic, but this was a serious problem. My dad's arms were full with carry-on baggage, and after a few steps, well, he could either carry a bag or deal with the pants problem.His belt was not at the security gate, not at the lost and found, though the cops at the lost and found would have given us the other belts they had. Unfortunately, one was filthy, and another was a ginormous, and so we had to resort to other means."Dad, how about you tuck your sweater into your pants?"He thought that was a great idea, and I won't even go into his layering system and what else he was wearing under his sweater. The best part was the people next to us, how they laughed, pretended to hide it, offered us belts (in Spanish), and had to turn away to control themselves. Well, crisis averted, and the first day we got to Hong Kong, we got suspenders for my dad. Doesn't he look debonair? Now he complains that his pants are too big (pants pictured here belong to the brat bro) and that he only wants suspenders.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Nietzsche would say that Xanga is dead tooI actually typed out a post and evidently forgot to hit save, but all that I said was that it's been a while, I've gone to China and come back, and I haven't really missed anything on Xanga. Remember back in the day when you'd check multiple times a day to see what was going on, and whenever you'd checked, there would actually be something new? Now, not so much, though I am highly entertained by flying babies.I had a good time in China (Shanghai and Hong Kong) and was fed quite abundantly. I met a lot of my parents' old friends, some extended family, and did some touristy shopping and sightseeing, which I guess is basically what you do on a trip with your family. I'd forgotten how crazy China can be, and I have a newfound appreciation for Shanghai taxi cab drivers. I've never heard so many people speak Shanghainese, and it was quite strange to me. I will post pictures soon and maybe tell some stories soon.Someone who doesn't know lisa_hsu once asked me if we were still friends. I said sure, why not? The person had noticed that Lisa, one of my most faithful readers and commenters, had stopped commenting on my every blog post. Had we had a falling out? We were no longer on commenting terms? I am happy to say that Lisa and I *are* still good friends, in fact, she is currently here visiting from Boston and vacuuming my room this very moment! (I couldn't stop her ;p)
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Cox & Forkum
C&F Original Art For Sale
The originals for many of our cartoons are available for purchase. The artworks are 9" x 6.5" ink illustrations on 11" x 7" acid-free bristol boards. All are signed and dated by me and John. If there are cartoons you're...
Final Bow
(NOTE: The orginal date of this post was September 30, 2007. The post has been redated to keep it on the front page.) With mixed emotions I announce: John and I will no longer be producing editorial cartoons. John...
Cox & Forkum Book Collections
Black & White World Volumes II, III, and IV can all be ordered from this page. Volume I is out of print. Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble also have all three titles. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THIS PAGE FOR U.S. ORDERS ONLY: International...
C&F in Best-of-Year book
You'll find a few Cox & Forkum cartoons in the newly released book The Best Political Cartoons of the Year 2008. The book is compiled by Daryl Cagle, a cartoonist who also runs the most popular editorial cartoon Web...
John's Comic Book Available
Matamoros, John's comic book project, is finally complete and available for order here. See John's announcement at his blog and a few more sneak peeks here and here. I enjoyed the book, particularly seeing how John applied his talents...
Libertad Digital retrospective
Libertad Digital is an online magazine based in Spain that used Cox & Forkum editorial cartoons for years. They have put together a retrospective featuring our "25 best cartoons, according to our readers and our staff." To see the...
International book orders available
We are now accepting international book orders, but there are special instructions to follow. International customers must e-mail their orders to us at "contact -- at -- coxandforkum.com" Choose which books you want and how many: Black & White...
Props
We did this one because it's a running joke with me and John. Just had to get it our of our system. The dialogue refers to this cartoon and this cartoon. The biggest exaggeration is not the chest of...
Bombs Away
From FOX News: Senate Approves Symbolic Rebuke of Iran The Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a measure sending another rebuke to Tehran, this one aimed at sending a message to the Islamic regime to end military tactics targeting U.S....
Valor Blind
This cartoon was originally posted on June 13, 2006, and is one of over 400 illustrations you'll find in our book Black & White World III, which can be ordered via Cox & Forkum, The Steyn Store, Amazon.com and...
Sweet Nothings
It's Ahmadinejad Week here at Cox & Forkum; he keeps giving us material that we can't resist. Little Green Footballs has been vigilantly following the reaction from the left, particularly in posts at Daily Kos. Below are some of...
Outed
From CNN: Iran's president: 'We don't have homosexuals'. Columbia University President Lee Bollinger excoriated Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday, going through a long list of documented actions and remarks by the firebrand Iranian leader and his government. "Mr....
The Ahmadinejad Code
#switch a { width: 354px; height: 511px; display:block; background:url('http://www.coxandforkum.com/archives/NeverAgain.graphic.FLIPx2.gif') top left; float:none } #switch a:hover { background-position: bottom left; } The above image was originally posted last October. It's an optical illusion called an "inversion." Move your cursor over...
Alan Greenspan
From Bloomberg: Greenspan Says Preemptive Strike on Iran Is `Difficult Choice'. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the threat posed by Iran may force the U.S. to consider a preemptive strike, and conceded that the Iraq war, which...
Violation
From Reuters: Iran's Ahmadinejad denied Trade Center visit. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been denied a request to visit the World Trade Center site of the September 11 attacks, New York police said on Wednesday. Ahmadinejad, who regularly accuses...
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CSS Vault Gallery
The Gallery section of the CSS Vault. All the pretty CSS sites the eye can see.
CSSVault Blog
Didn't know we have a blog? Yes we have! In fact it's been running for months already! <br/> Well enough about that introduction, but go ahead and subscribe through this link or just hop in and visit the Vault's blog.
Intacard
<img src="http://cssvault.com/images/intacard.png" /><br />Intacard Good site. This guy made intabill.com.au
Accessible Art
<img src="http://cssvault.com/images/accessible-art.png" /><br />Accessible Art Hello, It would be nice if you would list my newest Website in your gallery. Thanks, Jochen Gülden
Bostock Communications
<img src="http://cssvault.com/images/bostock_communications.png" /><br />Bostock Communications Bostock Communications is a web and graphic design firm based in Edmonton, Alberta focused on delivering functional, clean web sites which extend your brand onto the internet. Chad Bostock
Sam Rayner
<img src="http://cssvault.com/images/sam_rayner.png" /><br />Sam Rayner Playground and portfolio of Sam Rayner, a 17 year old web developer from Birmingham, UK.
Made By Elephant
<img src="http://cssvault.com/images/made_by_elephant.png" /><br />Made By Elephant So I'm going freelance, and this is my website. Tim Van Damme
Martini Lab
<img src="http://cssvault.com/images/martini-lab.png" /><br />Martini Lab Martini Lab designs web sites in Dallas TX.
Donald Miller
<img src="http://cssvault.com/images/donald_miller.png" /><br />Donald Miller Website of author Donald Miller
PhotoBooth Gallery
<img src="http://cssvault.com/images/photobooth_gallery.png" /><br />PhotoBooth Gallery PhotoBooth Gallery is a website which enables Mac users to upload and share their favourite PhotoBooth images which they create and render. The website works on a unique backend script by Garrett Bjkerhoel. The script allows you to validate images before they are showcased as a thumbnail on the home page. Possible new features and design implementations are in the works.
Linlithgow Golf Club
<img src="http://cssvault.com/images/linlithgow-golf-club.png" /><br />Linlithgow Golf Club Website for my local golf club. Includes a Wordpress driven back end to allow for staff administration and updating
Robbie Manson
<img src="http://cssvault.com/images/robbie_manson.png" /><br />Robbie Manson My portfolio site, clean and no nonsense!
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dpark's thoughts
because all the cool people blog.
Dae han min guk
A few scattered thoughts... Korea's first ever win in a World Cup match on non-Asian soil! They'll need to get less sloppy though if they want to do well against their much stiffer competition down the road. Listening to heavily accented Irish on ESPN2 is almost as fun as watching Univision... well.. almost Though I happen to [...]
The Next Generation
After a little over a week, Susan and I are back in town! Still catching up on stuff... will have pictures to post later.. in the meantime, I have something very important to poll the audience out there for... Question: if you had to pick the top 10-20 episodes (out of 178) of Star Trek: [...]
too hot to handle
I got a first batch of pics in from our primary wedding photographer. I managed to print most of them okay, except a couple which ended up being kind of tricky with the color profile conversion. Here's what he said when I asked him for advice/help: converted straight to sRGB in [rawshooter]....hopefully this'll be [...]
Red Sox v Yankees at Fenway
Susan and I have hit our 1-month mark ... and we spent it at Fenway. My first Sox-Yankees game ever! It actually wasn't as bad / rowdy as I thought it would be. We even had a dressed up Yankees fan a few seats down from us, and no beer or peanuts [...]
Ken “the Falconer” Mortimer
Last night I saw an incredibly inane SNL skit that was strangely very very entertaining to me... to the extent that I've been searching around youtube and google to try to relive the moment, but sadly, I cannot find it. Ken 1: Who are you? Ken 2: I'm Ken "the Falconer" Mortimer! Ken 1: But I'm Ken "the [...]
Uninformed opinions
That title refers to myself by the way. Inspired by James. I guess the popular national-level political topic of recent months has been that of immigration--or more pointedly, illegal immigration. I guess I've had my own thoughts on the topic, but as I see all these opinions and articles and viewpoints and pundits and [...]
rain
I, like many others, feel like I have some slight form of S.A.D. Constant rain, in particular, can make me feel either down or, more recently, angry. This past week wasn't all that bad.. just felt like a minor inconvenience. But now, as I look ahead to the coming week's forecast (which [...]
honeymoon
It's been a while since I wrote, but I thought I'd just say a few things. - I'm married now! - I'm back from the honeymoon (pictures follow) and most importantly - haha all you xanga suckers! a whole day of server downtime for you. Funny that that's what inspired me to post. Actually, gloating (for [...]
blue waters
It's nice here. Cancun is nice. See ya later suckas!!!
ph33r m4h 5k!11z
I got Linux up and running on two new little boxes at the new apartment earlier this week. All in two nights' work. Let me introduce you to them.
Another one bites the dust
People just keep getting married huh? Congrats to Judie! Lighting here was much dimmer and tougher to work with. Metering tricked me a lot too... why do weddings always have such bright white things next to dark black things? That last one was just for 'droo. Cause I know he loves it when I [...]
Big-D’s big day
Dennis is all growns up now... Lenses borrowed from Kawika and Derwin. I feel like I'm losing a lot of faster shots (like candid & action shots) to out-of-focus problems. I should probably quantify the actual percentage over time. I'm sure I can improve my technique there, but I wonder whether people with [...]
pondering
anyone out there have the motorola V360? (or even the v330 predecessor)? let me know your thoughts... -edit, per request, here are links and pics- Motorola product page Amazon product page T-Mobile product page Basically, I think the primary important things to me are bluetooth & speakerphone (and that it works with T-Mobile). That pretty much limits [...]
old fashioned
my trusty cell phone seems to refuse to turn on. random. small portable electronics like cell phones and laptops just aren't made to take too many years of physical wear and tear. if you need to reach me by phone, please try my landline, my work line, someone else's cell who i might be [...]
Blink, blink
... already? 2005, by far, zipped by faster than other years for me. I think the best phrase to describe my life right now is "relativisitic time dilation." As life accelerates, I in fact, go slower. Hopefully it doesn't actually get to the point where the universe ends by the time I snap out of [...]
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Decentralized Information Group (DIG) Breadcrumbs -
More on privacy issues with Apple's DRM-less iTunes Plus
The original appearance of this entry was in Danny Weitzner - Open Internet Policy There’s been more discussion of Apple iTunes Plus DRM-less music and its practice of embedded personal account information into the tracks that are sold without copy protection. I’ve earlier expressed my support for this accountability approach to copyright protection, as opposed to burdensome DRM systems. However, privacy complaints (BBC, Anger over DRM-free iTunes tracks) are appearing over the use of personal information in this way. Looking through Apple’s privacy policy (updated 23 December 2004) and iTunes terms of service (updated 30 May 2007 I found no mention of this otherwise hidden use personal information. The terms of service does say: (xii) iTunes Plus Products do not contain security technology that limits y our usage of such Products, and Usage Rules (iii) – (vi) do not apply to iTunes Plus Products. You may copy, store and burn iTunes Plus Products as reasonably necessary for personal, noncommercial use. Seems that this would have been a good place to indicate the new use of users information. A simple notice here that passing tracks, which appears to be permitted as long as it is for “personal, non-commercial use,” also results in having your personal information passed around. Perhaps I missed this or perhaps Apple plans to add it. I’m going to ask around to get clarification. Update: EFF and O’Reilly also report that the iTunes files may have individual differences (that could allegedly be used for individual tracking) even beyond the personal information that is visible.
A glimse of sanity in the online copyright arena
The original appearance of this entry was in Danny Weitzner - Open Internet Policy With Apple’s announcement of DRM-free music downloadable through iTunes, it appears that we may actually be heading toward a sane, scalable approach to copyrighted commercial content on the Web. Tracks from EMI and other music publishers can now be purchased in two versions, a locked up version for the usual 99 cents or a higher-quality and DRM-free version for $1.29. I got an entire album (Jacqueline Du Pre playing the Dvorák & Elgar Cello Concertos with the Chicago Symphony) for a mere $9.95 in unlocked form. As several observers have pointed out, these DRM-free tracks do come with a catch — your name is embedded inside the MPEG-4 file so that if you decide to casually share these files around with your hundred thousand closest friends on the Net (exactly the result the DRM has tried, unsuccessfully, to prevent) then you’re at some risk of getting caught and of having personal information spread around the Net with your illegally-copied files. Following some instructions from an independent Apple news blog, I was able to verify that my name was put into these files upon being downloaded [Daniel-Weitzners-Computer:iTunes Music/...] djweitzn% strings *.m4a | grep name nameDaniel Weitzner nameDaniel Weitzner nameDaniel Weitzner nameDaniel Weitzner In addition to my name it appears that my .mac account id, through which I purchased the tracks, was also included. The big news here goes beyond just copyright. Apple has decided to jettison heavyweight DRM enforcement in favor of an approach that allows the free flow of data with back-end accountability. I believe this is just one step in a larger trend toward what I’ve been calling ‘accountable systems.’ An exclusive reliance on access restrictions such as DRM leads to technology and policy perspectives where information, once revealed, is completely uncontrolled. It’s like focusing all one’s attention on closing the barn door and ignoring what might happen to the horses after they’ve escaped. The reality is that even when information is widely available, society has interests in whether or not that information is used appropriately. Information policies should reflect those interests, and information technology should support those policies. In research we’ve been doing on accountable systems approaches to privacy and copyright, we seek an alternative to the “hide it or lose it” approach that currently characterizes policy compliance on the Web. Our alternative is to design systems that are oriented toward information accountability and appropriate use, rather than information security and access restriction. I think what Apple is doing here will come to be seen as the an early step in a large-scale transformation in how we approach a wide variety of policy issues on the Web. Watch this space for more.
Linked Data at WWW2007: GRDDL, SPARQL, and Wikipedia, oh my!
Last Tuesday, TimBL started to gripe that the WWW2007 program had lots of stuff that he wanted to see all at the same time; we both realized pretty soon: that's a sign of a great conference. That afternoon, Harry Halpin and I gave a GRDDL tutorial. Deploying Web-scale Mash-ups by Linking Microformats and the Semantic Web is the title Harry came up with... I was hesitant to be that sensationalist when we first started putting it together, but I think it actually lived up to the billing. It's too bad last-minute complications prevented Murray Maloney from being there to enjoy it with us. For one thing, GRDDL implementations are springing up all over. I donated my list to the community as the GrddlImplementations wiki topic, and when I came back after the GRDDL spec went to Candidate Recommendation on May 2, several more had sprung up.What's exciting about these new implementations is that they go beyond the basic "here's some RDF data from one web page" mechanism. They're integrated with RDF map/timeline browsers, and SPARQL engines, and so on.The example from the GRDDL section of the semantic web client library docs (by Chris Bizer, Tobias Gauß, and Richard Cyganiak) is just "tell me about events on Dan's travel schedule" but that's just the tip of the iceberg: they have implemented the whole LinkedData algorithm (see the SWUI06 paper for details).With all this great new stuff popping up all over, I felt I should include it in our tutorial materials. I'm not sure how long OpenLink Virtuoso has had GRDDL support (along with database integration, WEBDAV, RSS, Bugzilla support, and on and on), but it was news to me. But I also had to work through some bugs in the details of the GRDDL primer examples with Harry (not to mention dealing with some unexpected input on the HTML 5 decision). So the preparation involved some late nights... I totally forgot to include the fact that Chime got the Semantic Technologies conference web site using microformats+GRDDL, and Edd did likewise with XTech.But the questions from the audience showed they were really following along. I was a little worried when they didn't ask any questions about the recursive part of GRDDL; when I prompted them, they said they got it. I guess verbal explanations work; I'm still struggling to find an effective way to explain it in the spec. Harry followed up with some people in the halls about the spreadsheet example; as mnot said, Excel spreadsheets contain the bulk of the data in the enterprise. One person was even followingn along closely enough to help me realize that the slide on monotonicity/partial understanding uses a really bad example. The official LinkedData session was on Friday, but it spilled over to a few impromptu gatherings; on Wednesday evening, TimBL was browsing around with the tabulator, and he asked for some URIs from the audience, and in no time, we were browsing protiens and diseases, thanks to somebody who had re-packaged some LSID-based stuff as HTTP+RDF linked data.Giovanni Tummarello showed a pretty cool back-link service for the Semantic Web. It included support for finding SPARQL endpoints relevant to various properties and classes, a contribution to the serviceDescription issue that the RDF Data Access Working Group postponed. I think I've seen a few other related ideas here and there; I'll try to put them in the ServiceDescription wiki topic when I remember the details... Chris Bizer showed that dbpedia is the catalyst for an impressive federation of linked data. Back in March 2006, Toward Semantic Web data from Wikipedia was my wish into the web, and it's now granted. All those wikipedia infoboxes are now out there for SPARQLing. And other groups are hooking up musicbrainz and wordnet and so on. After such a long wait, it seems to be happening so fast!ﾠSpeaking of fast, the Semantic MediaWiki project itself is starting to do performance testing with a full copy of wikipedia, Denny told us on Friday afternoon in the DevTrack.Also speaking of fast, how did OpenLink go from not-on-my-radar to supporting every Semantic Web Technology I have ever heard of in about a year? I got part of the story in the halls... it started with ODBC drivers about a decade ago, which explains why their database integration is so good. Kingsley, here's hoping we get to play volleyball sometime. It's a shame we had just a few short moments together in the halls... tags: banff (photos), grddl, www2007, travel
IKL by Hayes et al. provides a semantics for N3?
One my trip to Duke, just after I arrived on Thursday, Pat Hayes gave a talk about IKL; it's a logic with nice Web-like properties such as any collection of well-formed IKL sentences is itself well-formed. As he was talking, I saw lots of parallels to N3... propositions as terms, log:uri, etc.By Friday night I was exhuasted from travel, lack of sleep, and conference-going, but I couldn't get the IKL/N3 ideas out of my head, so I had to code it up as another output mode of n3absyn.py.The superman case works, though it's a bit surprising that rdf:type gets contextualized along with superman. The thread continues with the case of "if your homepage says you're vegetarian, then for the purpose of registration for this conference, you're vegetarian". I'm still puzzling over Pat's explanation a bit, but it seems to make sense. Along with the IKL spec and IKL Guide, Pat also suggests: conference call on IKL, including a slideshow and even a recorded talk another slightly earlier powerpoint slideshow
Collaboration and crime at a distance at HASTAC, WWW2007
I went to the 1st International HASTAC Conference, April 19-21, 2007 at Duke University in Durham, NC, USA. My stated role was to tell the story of How the W3C Process Got Its Stripes to this humanities research community on a The World Wide Web Evolves panel that Harry Halpin arranged.After a short history of my role in the development of the Web and W3C, I noted that the Internet not only faciiltates remote collaboration; it also opens the door to crime at a distance. Extortion of the form "say... nice web site you got there; it would be a shame if something happened to it" is a reality. I'm interested in research into how much the Internet can tolerate before we see the tragedy of the commons.I noted the Proof-of-work proves not to work result by Laurie and Clayton in 2004 as a fairly surprising result based on what looks like fairly straightforward and unsophisticated economic analysis of spam, zombies, etc. Does the humanities research community have expertise in statistics and economics of preserving cultural values such as open communication? (Oh yeah... and I meant to encourage them to look at social/ethical issues around OpenID and distributed authentication, but I completely forgot.) While HASTAC is somewhat on the leading edge of the humanities community, I'm not sure their scope includes what I'm looking for.Meanwhile, at the Web Science panel at WWW2007 in Banff, Peter asked "Where are the cultural anthropologists?" I was pleasantly surprised that some of them were there. Again, at Harry Halpin's prompting.tags: HASTAC, Duke, RDU, digital+media
Updating network security community's understanding of privacy
The original appearance of this entry was in Danny Weitzner - Open Internet Policy A few weeks ago a colleague reminded me of one of the early definitions of privacy in the computer security literature from Saltzer and Schroeder (The Protection of Information in Computer Systems): “The term “privacy” denotes a socially defined ability of an individual (or organization) to determine whether, when, and to whom personal (or organizational) information is to be released.” This view reflects the widely held view even today amongst computer security architects that the way to achieve privacy policy ends is to control the release of information. To this end, great effort has been expended to design systems that control access to and flow of personal, sensitive information. While there are certainly good reasons to do this, access control alone has not, and never will, be sufficient to achieve compliance with privacy, copyright or other information-related rules.
City of Boston Censoring Municipal WiFi
The original appearance of this entry was in Danny Weitzner - Open Internet Policy Various people (including David Sheets, a student of mine at MIT, and Seth Finkelstein) have pointed out over the last few days that the ‘free’ municipal WiFi service offered by the City of Boston comes with mandatory content filtering that blocks all kinds of sites which are not even close to illegal nor are they sources of pornography that might be considered harmful to children. One the one hand it’s not hard to see why city officials want to avoid the headline: “Boston’s free network a conduit to porn for city’s children, foiling parents’ filtering software.” But does that mean that it’s either wise public policy or constitutionally-permissible for the city to offer wifi to the public with such sweeping and arbitrary constraints? If the City is allowed to do this, then they can block just about anything: Web sites operated by the opposing political party, critiques of the Big Dig, not to mention http://yankees.mlb.com/. One has to ask whether this is really a path that any city would want to open up for itself? As a constitutional matter, it’s not quite clear whether the government can require government-funded Internet service providers to filter content. In United States v. American Library Association, 539 U.S. 194 (2003), the US Supreme Court decided that the Congress could require libraries receiving federal Internet access subsidies (the e-rate) to filter out porn. However, it’s not clear whether this case applies to the muni Wifi situation. The Supreme Court explained: A public library does not acquire Internet terminals in order to create a public forum for Web publishers to express themselves, any more than it collects books in order to provide a public forum for the authors of books to speak. It provides Internet access, not to “encourage a diversity of views from private speakers,” … but for the same reasons it offers other library resources: to facilitate research, learning, and recreational pursuits by furnishing materials of requisite and appropriate quality. For what purpose is muni wifi offered? It’s it precisely to create an expanded public forum to increase the flow of information and new web services around the city? This will be an interesting issue to watch.
The Mercurial SCM: great for lots of stuff, but not the holy grail
I have been tracking the mercurial project for a couple years now. First just a bookmark under python+scm, then after using hg to code on an airplane about a year later, I was hooked. I helped get the microformats testing effort using mercurial about a year later, and did some noodling on Access control and version control: an over-constrained problem? around that same time.Yesterday I played host to Matt Mackall as he gave a presentation, The Mercurial SCM, to the W3C Team. In the disucssion that followed, we touched on: fractal project organization (touching on PartiaClone and the ForestExtension) the toplogy of update flows in a large development system with overlapping communities with differentt access rights comparisons with Darcs hg hosting, large projects, user support It seems that hg scales to very large projects, as long as they're fairly uniform, but it doesn't support the sort of tangly fractal web of inter-project dependencies that would make it the holy grail of version control systems.
MP3 patent mess and lessons for standards making
The original appearance of this entry was in Danny Weitzner - Open Internet Policy The New York Times reports (Patent Fights Are a Legacy of MP3’s Tangled Origins, Douglas Heingartner, 5 March 2007, C03) on the mess over patent licensing for MP3 technology. While most (including Microsoft) had assumed/hoped that if they paid licensing fees to Frauenhofer they’d have the patent basis largely covered, now Alcatel (armed with the former Bell Labs patent portfolio from Lucent) and others are showing up demanding licensing fees, too. Microsoft just got hit with a with $1.5 billion patent infringement judgment in the United States. Other vendors with MP3 as an integral part of their product are worried that they existing licensing arrangments may not insulate them from new demand for fees. Leonardo Chiariglione, chair of the MPEG group, declares that this is a bad for MP3 deployment: “I consider the situation in general not positive for the wide adoption of the standard, which is what I have been working on.” At the same time he laments the fact that there is little the standards body (ISO and MPEG) can do. Says that Times article: For those confused about where to turn to obtain an MP3 license for a new device or piece of software, he offers little solace. “The rule is that the MPEG working group is not allowed to consider patent issues in our technical work, so there is nothing I can do about it….” W3C’s Patent Policy takes a more activist approach to such matters. We won’t standardize any technology that cannot be implemented royalty-free, and if we find that there are threats to the RF status of a standard after it’s adopted, we can convene a special group to take action, including recommending changing or rescinding the standard.
US Congress Telecommuncations and the Internet Subcommittee Hearing on the Future of the Web
The original appearance of this entry was in Danny Weitzner - Open Internet Policy Last week, the US Congress House of Representatives Subcommittee on the Telecommunications and the Internet had it’s first hearing of the year, the subject of which was the Future of the World Wide Web. Tim Berners-Lee was the sole witness at this hearing. The topic and witness choice were notable for a couple of reasons. This is the first meeting of the committee in the new session of Congress and the Chair of the committee, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), announced his intention to take a long range look at the larger issues facing communications policy in the United States. This, by itself, is a wonderful idea. The fact that he decided to start this series of hearings with the World Wide Web, as opposed to so many other topics he might have chosen, really speaks to the central importance that the Web has in our society. The fact that he chose Tim to testify was great, too, IMHO. The Committee covered a wide range of questions, including: how will the Semantic Web change science and health care? what are the key lessons to learn from the first phase of the Web about how to promote continued innovation? what should be done, technically or legally, about spam, pornography available to kids, identity theft? why did Tim decide to make Web technology available royalty-free? does support for royalty-free standards imply that content and services on the Web also have to be free? and even, a slighty sheepish question about whether teleportation might be possible in the future? I’ve been to a lot of congressional hearings, especially in my earlier professional life as lawyer and advocate for Internet civil liberties organizations EFF and CDT. This was one of the most positive, thoughtful and forward looking hearings that I’ve ever been to. Here you could see the Committee actually looking out into the future about the potential of the Web and trying to figure out what they could do (or not do) to help assure that it continues to grow and be available to all for commercial, political, cultural and personal use. Too often, Congress gets bogged down in its somewhat inevitable but short-sighted role as mediator amongst special interests. This was Congress at its best. It was great to be there. You can read Tim’s testimony on the Web. Ironically enough, though it’s easy to read the testimony, it’s not so easy to get an archived copy of the video feed from the hearing. Though most Congressional activity is recorded on video and much of it is streamed live by CSPAN or others, there’s no organized way to get achived copies of the video. Carl Malamud is engaged in a serious effort to try to remedy this situation, including trying to encourage CSPAN to make it’s archive of congressonal video public. In the meantime, Carl has kindly ripped the feeds from the hearing and put them up in 2 places (Google Video and archive.org) I’m certainly going to be following Carl’s efforts and looking to help out where I can. Update: C-SPAN has changed its policy and now provides public access with a Creative Commons license.
What is the Analogue for the Semantic Web? If the Web is like a Page+Links, the SW is like a...
This is the first entry for the breadcrumbs blog from what may be called the Interaction perspective on things Semantic Webbish. To that end, i've been mulling over what is the paradigm for the Semantic Web - more particularly what is the physical world analogue for this concept? In order to design an interface to support a technology, to expose its potential for what it can do, it helps to know what it is - or failing that - to have a model around which we can conceptualize what it is, what it does, and somewhat how it works. It's not unusual for a new technology or concept to be introduced via an analogue of a previous, familiar technology "it's like this thing - but for this new bit." This "like this, but for this new bit" is what i've been looking for, for the SW. What i'll propose (eventually) below is that one paradigm may be a notebook in the traditional sense of the term of the notebook as a place to capture work in progress. taken one step (a big step) further, i'll argue that if the Web paradigm is a Page + Links, the paradigm for the Semantic Web may be a notebook + the memex. The Web PAGE - it's a Page. With Links. We have a great model for the Web. It's the page: text with images. We're all familiar with concepts of the page. It's clear, easy to grasp. I'd postulate we need a similar construct or paradigm or analogue for the Semantic Web. We have a long history with read-only text, whether as official public communication, or as unofficial comment. We also have a long experience (400+ years) of experience of a particular technology's deployment of words and images in a page - whether as an illuminated manuscript, or an early printed text with woodcuts. The one new thing added in the Web to the notion of the page - the thing that makes it a Web page - is the hypertext link. The link is really the only core new concept introduced to the page - and more times than not, that link's job is to links to another page. The translation from one mode of non web-page to the Web page is not a terribly huge leap. The link as a concept is almost what we'd call "intuitive" in its use. This is not to say that there are not a myriad of design considerations for making that new page+link approach useful, usable and accessible. We have developed whole suites of conventions on how to deliver pages effectively and have gone through now several generations of "web design" to ensure that text, image and link work. Yet despite over a decade of technological evolutions in the Web technology, the paradigm for describing what we create with the Web is the same: it's a page. With Links. The Page as paradigm informs how we design the page, the way we design the page. It's not a spreadsheet; it's not a network diagram. It's a page. Even with Web 2.0, with RSS feeds, blogs, mash ups, we still have pages. The only model variant in Web 2 with location based mash ups is that the main image on the page is now a map. åAnd again, Maps are familiar technology that have been around for millennia, and are a technology most of us had some training in our education on how to use. It's amazing how much we use familiar technologies to model the representations for new ones, perhaps especially in computing. Bottom line, the web page as page is a clear model that rapidly communicates what the Web is largely about: enabling people to publish content, communicate ideas, and link into the myriad of other ideas available. The page is a powerful analogue for communicating this model, and it is, i would argue, because there is such a clear model, that there has been such rapid adoption of the concepts, and interests across disciplines in the technology. Analogue for the Semantic Web? So, if the analogue for the Web is the page, what is the analogue for the Semantic Web? And why is finding this analogue important? Part of the answer to that question may stem from whom do people in the Semantic Web community wish to attract to be involved as practitioners, innovators, creators, discoverers in this space? If it's the same range of passions and expertise that have brought so much to the Web from the arts, humanities, sciences, business and so on, then this question of model becomes critical. Consider for a moment how the Semantic Web is described in the new First Stop Shop for What is It, Wikipedia. The Wikipedia entry for the semantic web begins: The Semantic Web is an evolution of the World Wide Web in which information is machine processable (rather than being only human oriented), thus permitting browsers or other software agents to find, share and combine information more easily. It is a manifestation of W3C director Tim Berners-Lee's vision of the Web as a universal medium for data, information, and knowledge exchange. At its core the Semantic Web consists of a data model called Resource Description Framework (RDF), a variety of data interchange formats (e.g RDF/XML, N3, Turtle, N-Triples), and notations such as RDF Schema (RDFS) and the Web Ontology Language (OWL) that facilitate formal description of concepts, terms, and relationships within a given domain. The burgeoning Semantic Web comprises newly created and/or transformed web data sources endowed with computer-processable meaning (semantics). Now, all that description tells anyone about the semantic Web is that it's for Machines. And i'm not sure i believe that the the end game imagined for the Semantic Web is to make data easier for machines to process. It would seem that that machine-processable stuff is a means to an end, but not the end itself. The end is still about people, and PEOPLE being able to build knowledge by moving through linked information. We might ask, then, if the Semantic Web has the same human-oriented goals as the Web, why not just use the same model for describing it: pages with links. I'd suggest that the page is not robust enough to support what more we get from the Semantic Web's far greater emphasis on the Link as opposed to the Page. Because of how it's structured, content in the Semantic Web can be richly associated. We can have the potential with the Semantic Web to explore things in new ways via these associations. For example Beethoven as a composer can be associated with Genres in Music, and to specific Recordings as instances, which associate with various artists, and recording companies or even with the politics of certain works being recorded or not. Beethoven is also associated with a particular period in History; with the interaction of styles in that period, and hence there are correlations between music and architecture and scientific thought at the time. All these associations branch out from Beethoven directly. One might even say that such branches constitute a graph, and the page cannot reflect these possibilities. But neither, David Karger and i have argued, does a raw graph, express that richness. For one thing, besides being illegible on a number of levels, these graphs present only things which are directly connected on the graph. The Semantic Web has a technical facility to support inferring connections between points according to the expression of rules. For instance, one might see a connection between a Beethoven work and the structure of a poem or an equation, and be able to express that connection such that a new connection among these points becomes available. Seeing, finding and drawing those kinds of connections is a primary attribute which the Semantic Web can enable. The page cannot readily contain that possibility. Beyond the Wikipedia definition for the Semantic Web, then, the Semantic Web's promise is to enable people to explore, associate, and connect information to build new knowledge. This sounds a lot like what V. Bush described in As We May Think as the Memex (see Chapter 2: Vannevar Bush and Memex, by Ronald D. Houston and Glynn Harmon in ARIST 41 for a fab overview of the perceptions of this paper since its publication). Drawing of Bush's theoretical Memex machine (Life Magazine, November 19, 1945) The key part of the Memex is making and sharing associations among divergent sources. Bush imagined professions of "trail blazers" (section 8 of As We May Think) emerging who would go about creating these inferences, and publishing them in new kinds of encyclopedias. il n’y a pas de hors-memex Bush's view assumes that there are encylopedias and then trails built with the memex through these encyclopedias. But what if there was only the memex? In a sense that's what the Semantic Web suggests with its emphasis on links and everything having its own unique id (uri). But does this idea of the Semantic Web as a vehicle that supports making associations - as a memex - get us closer to a readily translatable concept of the Semantic Web? I'd like to tease out a few more parts of the memex idea as a way to addressing that point. First is that bush imagined the Memex very much as a tool for scientists - as a way to help researchers to make sense of all the work not only they themselves, but their colleagues as well, would be doing. This focus on the researcher is particularly appropriate for this current exploration of possible paradigms because, because it focuses on the artefact of interest - the logbook - as an object supporting work in progress. Second, the memex took in not only textual notes but images of observations the scientist would literally take with a camera while working. The memex is very much a multimedia repository of not only others' extant work but of the scientists own work-in-progress. I think this notion of work in progress, of personal work log, is critical. This is distinct from the read-only model of the Web, and moves towards a writerly as well as a readerly medium (to use Barthe's terms). But more particularly, it adds a new dimension to linking from elements presented as finished pages to elements which are in the rough, personal. Which may or may not be (yet) meant for publication. There is something of this middle or transitional ground happening on the Web. This entry is an example of it. We see this writerly side in Blogs, rss feeds, tags, comments, ratings - all the places where Web 2 approaches are helping with more rapid publication and inter-commentary of content on the Web. But even this new writerly approach is not quite what the memex is also getting at with its model of something almost as familiar to us as the technology of the printed page in a printed book: and that is the scientist's notebook. Scientist's Notebook as first pass at Semantic Web Analogue. Notebooks can be the complete filling of pages; or of scaps of information. They can be used for the capture of formal studies like experiments, observations in field work, or notes for future reference. But they are all unlike what we think of as the Web in a particular way: the web is public; we use its protocols to publish work for others. Lab/note books are personal, idiosyncratic, and in particular, they represent works in progress. We may find that we use the semantic web technologies both locally/personally as well as distributed/publically. This *for the researcher* or for the researcher's work in progress as a model of part of the Semantic Web is very memex'y. It's also very different from what the web has become. I think this blending of personal use with the semantic web's potential for automatic association of external, associated resources is a significant shift in how most of us have been thinking about the semantic web. Let me frame that last statement. There have been projects thinking about the semantic web desktop - using the semantic web as a personal or local server layer for data. There have also been projects like myTea which have imagined using the semantic web technologies to maintain transparent context histories as a great enabler for a bioinformatics lab book that can automatically track and record bioinformatics experiments as they develop. i don't think however that anyone has previously proposed a paradigm, model, analogue for the semantic web as a researcher's notebook. with links. or, more properly, with memex, where the memex itself is an extension of the researcher's notes, observations, raw data, work in progress. I've already said that the page can't reflect the rich associative possibilities of what the semantic web promises so one may ask, how could the analogue of a researcher's notebook which is so idiosnycratic. One way is that it is possible in a notebook (or on a huge sheet of paper or on a whiteboard - other spaces of work in progress) to draw lines easily across notes to make connections. David Wang and i this past fall at UMD's MindLab were looking at a way to draw these kinds of lines between known points in an ontology to help create rules/inferences to make new connections in the knowledge base. Indeed, there may be a great deal more we can take from the qualities of a researcher's notebook to see as a design prompt to capture more of the semantic web. But one of the important components of this notion of the semantic web as notebook + memex is that it situates the Semantic Web conceptually within the realm of the human. It also situates the semantic web as something that can be part of a process that is engaged with the user. Right now, very few semantic web tools, whether mspace, haystack or tabulator to name a few, support direct authoring. The idea of seeing the semantic web be pull inable into a researcher's context, where the notebook is constantly seeking associations to support the researcher's process, seems to me a compelling kind of inversion of the usual models - instead of putting stuff out there, we are bringing stuff in here, working it. potentially sharing it. but first and foremost using it, munging it, creating with it to develop new knowledge. Process rather than end. Heterogeneous, Implicitly Structured, Implicitly Associated Data Capture Another notion of the notebook which seems interesting is that it also breaks the page as read-only, well structured, well presented information space. In the physical pages of the notebook, we see various forms of data entry where long exegesis is rare compared to short bursts of information, what Michael Bernstein calls "information scraps". These various uses of the page-as-surface, for a variety of forms of content , also demonstrates the personal, though frequently work-related, work-in-progress attributes of this popular form of content capture. Again, we do see examples of a kind of information scrap on the Web - these can be one-liner blog entries pointing to news or other ideas, to tags, to recommendations, to comments. Indeed, entire modes of communication have been built up around short messages like texts, or widgets that communicate only the weather. But these info bytes, if you will, unlike the info scrap, are again meant for publication - for someone else to be able to consume. Tags may be an interesting boundary object as they can be both personal markers - highly idiosyncratic - as well as group or public markers. But for the most part, the short bytes we find on the web are there for public consumption. Notebooks are workspaces, pre-publication resources, the working out of ideas. This is why for now, in any case, i'm focussing on the idea of the note book rather than the personal journal or log. The note book or lab book is a place for taking notes on ideas; it is not the final forum for the ideas, but it is the gathering place for them. Another similar kind of physical world analogue for this kind of working out process is the notecard stack. Indeed, one of the earliest hypertext systems, NoteCards, attempted to emulate this system of idea capture and reordering. Spatial hypertext systems like Tinderbox have also capitlized on the the affordances of moveable cards or small objects to capture ideas where these ideas can be spaced out, clustered, where space in the organization communicates a kind of meaning - at least to the author of the structures. The attributes of the notecard stack that i find particularly relevant are the usual purpose of the stack and the kinds of data the cards hold. When i was in highschool, we were taught a particular methodology for notecards as the way to prepare a research paper. There were idea cards, quotation/paraphrase cards, and bibliography cards. These cards could be created in any order as material was discovered or ideas occured "only one idea to a card; only one quotation per card," "only one reference per card" - the idea being of course that individual cards could be organized and reorganized spatially for getting a picture of the developing paper. Not all cards would be used. Gaps could be detected. The organized cards could then be put into one pile, and the paper written effectively from the turning over or laying out of a set of cards at a time (one exercise required us to generate an outline of the paper from the cards before proceeding to the paper-writeing). The relevance of the notecard model to the concept of the semantic web as personal work space with associated public data is the integration of personal ideas with external sources: the idea cards backed up with the quotations from external sources. In the case of notecards, these associations are either manually created by the researcher/author, or are presented by (and thus attributed to) another author. The goals are the same: building new knowledge by capturing ones own ideas, and working with others - whether these are ideas that come up in a conversation with others and are hastily jotted down, or are captured from a published source. there is an interplay here, a making of meaning. I mentioned spatial hypertext: Mark Bernstein's Tinderbox software as said very much follows the notecard paradigm to support just this kind of intermix activity: it enables links to be copied from the web into cards, and of course enables other kinds of data to be written into the cards. It blends capture of the external with capture of the personal. So do many digital notebook ideas, like the Circus Ponies one i'm using for drafting this entry - they don'thave the nice spatial affordances of Tinderbox, however - they are more locked to the paper metaphor. Something neither of these fine programs have that i think the notebook or notecard + memex could bring is the automatic discovery of association from both the personal and the external into the personal work space. This is an idea that Max Van Kleek, Michael Bernstein, David Karger (at MIT) and myself are pushing on right now from one angle in something called "doing" (pronounced "doyng"), and that the Rich Tags project is pushing on in an associated other space. We're interested in finding ways/metaphors/paradigms to support the capture of personal structured data (like Michael's information scrap of a number jotted down that is a phone number) so that it can be first associated with what Max has started grabbing - the local context - and from there look at drawing in appropriate associated external contexts. In a way the Haystack project modeled this eb and flow of personal information like calendar events with external information such as flight bookings. It created an integrated view of these information resources so that they would be concurrently available. No one knew they were working with semantic web data, and the opportunity to explore across contexts (like the bethoven example way at the start of this entry) was not there. I think this time we're asking the question what would this new thing look like from the moment the computer is engaged. How might input mechanisms change? how might representations across applications-as-contexts differ if there was this collective "data soup" from which these contexts could draw/share? For the moment, i'm imagining this context-rich interaction as the Semantic Web, and the way i'm thinking of it is as a researcher's Note Book (we are all knowledge workers at some point) of work in progress. A notebook. With the Memex. The reason that vision of note book + memex appeals to me particularly is that it foregrounds an active engagement with the data - both reading it, writing it, potentially sharing it for reuse. And i think that kind of in-process engagement with information - to have in work data and external data blending for the development of new knowledge is what the Semantic Web is about. (dig count added May Day, 2007). ﾩ m.c. schraefel, 2007, visiting fellow, DIG. The ideas in this exegesis were initially stimulated from various conversations at January's DIG face to face meeting, then explored later in Jan, 2007 as part of an talk on work in progress while i was visiting the iSchool, University of Texas at Austin.
A design for web content labels built from GRDDL and rules
In #swig discussion, Tim mentioned he did some writing on labels and rules and OWL which prompted me to flesh out some related ideas I had. The result is a Makefile and four tests with example labels. One of them is: All resources on example.com are accessible for all users and meet WAI AA guidelines except those on visual.example.com which are not suitable for users with impaired vision. I picked an XML syntax out of the air and wrote visaa.lbl: <label xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2007/01/lbl22/label" xmlns:mobilebp="http://www.w3.org/2007/01/lbl22/mobilebp@@#" xmlns:wai="http://www.w3.org/2007/01/lbl22/wai@@#" > <scope> <domain>example.com</domain> <except> <domain>visual.example.com</domain> </except> </scope> <audience> <wai:AAuser /> </audience></label> And then in testdata.ttl we have: <http://example.com/pg1simple> a webarch:InformationResource. <http://visual.example.com/pg2needsVision> awebarch:InformationResource. :charlene a wai:AAuser. Then we run the test thusly... $ make visaa_test.ttlxsltproc --output visaa.rdf label2rdf.xsl visaa.lblpython ../../../2000/10/swap/cwm.py visaa.rdf lblrules.n3 owlAx.n3testdata.ttl --think --filter=findlabels.n3 --n3 >visaa_test.ttl and indeed, it concludes: <http://example.com/pg1simple> lt:suitableFor :charlene . but doesn't conclude that pg2needsVision is OK for charlene. The .lbl syntax is RDF data via GRDDL and label2rdf.xsl. Then owlAx.n3 is rules that derive from the RDFS and OWL specs; i.e. stuff that's already standard. As Tim wrote, A label is a fairly direct use of OWL restrictions. This is very much the sort of thing OWL is designed for. Only the lblrules.n3 bit goes beyond what's standardized, and it's written in the N3 Rules subset of N3, which, assuming a few built-ins, maps pretty neatly to recent RIF designs.A recent item from Bijan notes a SPARQL-rules design by Axel; I wonder if these rules fit in that design too. I hope to take a look soonish.
She's a witch and I have the proof (in N3)
A while back, somebody turned the Monty Python Burn the Witch sketch into an example resolution proof. Bijan and Kendall had some fun turning it into OWL. I'm still finding bugs pretty regularly, but the cwm/n3 proof stuff is starting to mature; it works for a few PAW demo scenarios. Ralph asked me to characterize the set of problems it works for. I don't have a good handle on that, but this witch example seems to be in the set.Transcribing the example resolution FOL KB to N3 is pretty straightforward; the original is preserved in the comments: @prefix : <witch#>.@keywords is, of, a.#[1] BURNS(x) / WOMAN(x) => WITCH(x){ ?x a BURNS. ?x a WOMAN } => { ?x a WITCH }.#[2] WOMAN(GIRL)GIRL a WOMAN.#[3] orall x, ISMADEOFWOOD(x) => BURNS(x){ ?x a ISMADEOFWOOD. } => { ?x a BURNS. }.#[4] orall x, FLOATS(x) => ISMADEOFWOOD(x){ ?x a FLOATS } => { ?x a ISMADEOFWOOD }.#[5] FLOATS(DUCK)DUCK a FLOATS.#[6] orall x,y FLOATS(x) / SAMEWEIGHT(x,y) => FLOATS(y){ ?x a FLOATS. ?x SAMEWEIGHT ?y } => { ?y a FLOATS }.# and, by experiment# [7] SAMEWEIGHT(DUCK,GIRL)DUCK SAMEWEIGHT GIRL. Then we run cwm to generate the proof and then run the proof checker in report mode: $ cwm.py witch.n3 --think --filter=witch-goal.n3 --why >witch-pf.n3$ check.py --report witch-pf.n3 >witch-pf.txt The report is plain text; I'll enrich it just a bit here. Note that in the N3 proof format, some formulas are elided. It makes some sense not to repeat the whole formula you get by parsing an input file, but I'm not sure why cwm elides results of rule application. It seems to give the relevant formula on the next line, at least: ... [by parsing <witch.n3>]:GIRL a :WOMAN . [by erasure from step 1]:DUCK :SAMEWEIGHT :GIRL . [by erasure from step 1]:DUCK a :FLOATS . [by erasure from step 1]@forAll :x, :y . { :x a wit:FLOATS; wit:SAMEWEIGHT :y . } log:implies {:y a wit:FLOATS . } . [by erasure from step 1]... [by rule from step 5 applied to steps [3, 4] with bindings {'y': '<witch#GIRL>', 'x': '<witch#DUCK>'}]:GIRL a :FLOATS . [by erasure from step 6]@forAll :x . { :x a wit:FLOATS . } log:implies {:x a wit:ISMADEOFWOOD . } . [by erasure from step 1]... [by rule from step 8 applied to steps [7] with bindings {'x': '<witch#GIRL>'}]:GIRL a :ISMADEOFWOOD . [by erasure from step 9]@forAll :x . { :x a wit:ISMADEOFWOOD . } log:implies {:x a wit:BURNS . } . [by erasure from step 1]... [by rule from step 11 applied to steps [10] with bindings {'x': '<witch#GIRL>'}]:GIRL a :BURNS . [by erasure from step 12]@forAll witch:x . { witch:x a :BURNS, :WOMAN . } log:implies {witch:x a :WITCH . } . [by erasure from step 1]... [by rule from step 14 applied to steps [2, 13] with bindings {'x': '<witch#GIRL>'}]:GIRL a :WITCH . [by erasure from step 15] All the files are in the swap/test/reason directory: witch.n3, witch-goal.n3, witch-pf.n3, witch-pf.txt. Enjoy.
Modelling HTTP cache configuration in the Semantic Web
The W3C Semantic Web Interest Group is considering URI best practices, whether to use LSIDs or HTTP URIs, etc. I ran into some of them at MIT last week. At first it sounded like they wanted some solution so general it would solve the only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation and naming things , as Phil Karlton would say. But then we started talking about a pretty interesting approach: using the semantic web to model cache configuration. It has long been a thorn in my side that there is no standard/portable equivalent ot .htaccess files, no RDF schema for HTTP and MIME, etc. At WWW9 in May 2000, I gave a talk on formalizing HTTP caching. Where I used larch there, I'd use RDF, OWL, and N3 rules, today. I made some progress in that direction in August 2000: An RDF Model for GET/PUT and Document Management. Web Architecture: Protocols for State Distribution is a draft I worked on around 1996 to 1999 wihthout ever really finishing it. I can't find Norm Walsh's item on wwwoffle config, but I did find his XML 2003 paper Caching in with Resolvers: This paper discusses entity resolvers, caches, and other strategies for dealing with access to sporadically available resources. Our principle focus is on XML Catalogs and local proxy caches. We’ll also consider in passing the ongoing debate of names and addresses, most often arising in the context of URNs vs. URLs. In Nov 2003 I worked on Web Architecture Illustrated with RDF diagramming tools. The tabulator, as it's doing HTTP, propagates stuff like content type, last modified, etc. from javascript into its RDF store. Meanwhile, the accessability evaluation and repair folks just released HTTP Vocabulary in RDF. I haven't managed to compare the tabulator's vocabulary with that one yet. I hope somebody does soon. And while we're doing this little survey, check out the Uri Template stuff by Joe Gregorio and company. I haven't taken a very close look yet, but I suspect it'll be useful for various problems, if not this one in particular.
Is it now illegal to link to copyrighted material in Australia? NO
The original appearance of this entry was in Danny Weitzner - Open Internet Policy There’s been a lot of coverage (Sydney Morning Herald, Copyright ruling puts hyperlinking on notice, 19 December 2006) about a recent copyright case from the Australia Federal Court. This is an important case but to my reading the decision itself, it’s a mistake to see it as a general rule against linking to copyrighted material, as some of the press coverage suggests. Of course, it would cripple the Web if it became illegal to merely link to copyrighted material. As virtually all Web pages are copyrighted by someone, a rule that any link is an invitation to engage in copyright violation would mean one could only link to pages with permission. That would, indeed, break the Web. But that is not was this case seems to say. From an admittedly cursory reading of the opinion, the Australia court seems to have tied it’s decision to that fact that: “…it was the deliberate choice of Mr Cooper to establish and maintain his website in a form which did not give him the power immediately to prevent, or immediately to restrict, internet users from using links on his website to access remote websites for the purpose of copying sound recordings in which copyright subsisted.” (41)* and the court went on to accept the trial courts finding that: “… Mr Cooper [the defendant and operator of mp3s4free.net site] benefited financially from sponsorship and advertisements on the website; that is, that the relationship between Mr Cooper and the users of his website had a commercial aspect. Mr Cooper’s benefits from advertising and sponsorship may be assumed to have been related to the actual or expected exposure of the website to internet users. As a consequence Mr Cooper had a commercial interest in attracting users to his website for the purpose of copying digital music files.” (48) To boil it down, though Cooper didn’t actually have the power to spot people from illegally copying the MP34 files to which he provided links, his intent was that people engage in copying he knew to be illegal and that he actually benefited from that behavior. The court also addressed the defendants argument that a ruling against him could also outlaw search engines in Australia. The court said: “Google is a general purpose search engine rather than a website designed to facilitate the downloading of music files” Copyright law has developed elaborate doctrine in order to try to determine when to punish those who have some role in enabling infringement as opposed to those who are the actual infringers. I’m not sure that that balance is always right, but this case, similar to the US Supreme Court case MGM v. Grokster is an effort to find a way to indicate when linking to copyrighted material goes beyond building the Web and violates the law. I’m not always happy about where that line is drawn, but it’s a lot more subtle than the simple technical question whether a link is provided or not. * note that the Australia courts have adopted the enlightened practice of using paragraph numbers to refer inside an opinion, rather than relying on page numbers which neither work well with digital copies (such as web pages that lack pagination) and which give certain legal publishes undue control over search/retrieval services for legal documents.
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Doc Searls Weblog
Same old blog, brand new place
Is Google selling out to the GOP?
… or is the GOP just buying stuff from Google and bragging about it? Marc Canter wondered the former with Is Google being played like a violin, which he wrote after reading this press release from GOPConvention2008.com. From the release:   As Official Innovation Provider, Google Inc. will enhance the GOP’s online presence with new applications, search tools, [...]
Quotes du jour
I believe the unbroken web is the source of creativity, something that belongs to all of humankind…I believe the arts belong to everyone and that artists should be revered in culture. They are not, especially in a world run by anti-creative, left-brained bean counters. I’m not sure it’ll ever be any different, and for me [...]
On the continuing end of broadcasting as usual
In The end of DAB is nowhere near nigh?, Russell Parsons says,   …this morning’s announcement from GCap’s that it is closing two digital-only stations, Planet Rock and TheJazz, and selling its stake in national commercial digital radio operator Digital One to Arqiva, strikes a rather more portentous tone.   With the UK’s largest commercial radio company running [...]
Probably not.
But worth waiting anyway.
Lobbying for Lessig
Larry Lessig isn’t running for the late Tom Lantos‘ congressional seat. But that doesn’t mean we can’t push him. Which is what’s going on through the Draft Lessig for Congress blog and Facebook group. Google has 99 results as of 2:37pm (Pacific) today. Google Blogsearch has 13. Technorati has 14. Here’s the graph: The Facebook group has 576 [...]
On toiling in Marketing Communications mines
My old friend Steve Lewis and I fell out of touch for almost a quarter century after college, leading almost entirely different lives in different parts of the world. We diverged on graduation in 1969, after having both been philosophy majors. I went on to careers in journalism, retailing, frozen produce wholesaling, ice cream truck [...]
UnAmerican Airline
Two days ago Jake McKee gave an amazing talk at There’s a New Conversation in New York. He came all the way from Dallas to share some of the great work he and his cohorts had done at the Lego Company, inspired in part by The Cluetrain Manifesto. I didn’t get the whole backstory on [...]
Late deliveries from the Gmail laundry
I love Gmail for one thing: it launders spam out of mail going to my searls.com address. I have things set up so Gmail picks it up from my server, and I pick it up from Gmail. Last I checked, there were over 22,000 spams in Gmail’s spam box. And the last I went through [...]
You too tube
Yes we can. No you can’t.
Remembering Tom Lantos
Andrew McLaughlin has an excellent tribute to my late former congresman, Tom Lantos. A sample:   During Committee meetings, he made a deep impression on me as a forceful orator, a sharp questioner, and a committed defender of due process and the rule of law. On the handful of occasions when I accompanied senior staffers to [...]
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Incoherent Contradictions
drnknmstr's Xanga Blog
Musical Moments (Friday, October 06, 2006 )
drnknmstr's entry on Friday, October 06, 2006 at (4 comments)
A Day(Jamz) in the Life (Sunday, July 16, 2006 )
drnknmstr's entry on Sunday, July 16, 2006 at (3 comments)
Return of the Space Cowboy (Saturday, June 03, 2006 )
drnknmstr's entry on Saturday, June 03, 2006 at (6 comments)
Thursday, August 25, 2005
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Monday, June 13, 2005
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Engadget
Engadget
Announcement of HD DVD's death expected in short order (duh)
Filed under: HDTV, Home EntertainmentWe know it looks like HD DVD's death is a foregone conclusion at this point, but it isn't official until Toshiba says it is, and Ars is reporting that a number of their sources have pegged the impending announcement for within the next few days -- not weeks. Apparently HD DVD's future was in serious jeopardy even before Netflix dropped 'em, and the holdup on Toshiba's part now comes from the company's need to formulate its plans to shut down production -- which is no small task given the volume of hardware and media they were geared up to move.Of course, out Tokyo way the party line's all the same. Our Japanese bureau checked in with Toshiba HQ, which was obviously on PR red alert since they responded to our query in nine minutes, and well well before business hours. The boilerplate response is about what you'd expect, though: "We are considering our future business policies and plans, and studying the market response [to recent developments]." Let's just get this thing over with already, okay Toshiba?[Thanks, Max] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Motorized Madness is, in fact, just that
Filed under: Desktops You know, we're normally not very into the whole case mod scene, but every once in a while some whack job with way too much free time and talen comes along and completely blows our minds. In this case it's rendermandan's Motorized Madness, a vaguely steampunk reinterpretation of the PC replete with the usual complement of colored lamps and fans, as well as a full outfit of unnecessary rotating, extending, and moving external displays, switches, and toggles. Oh, and that thing up top is a turbine water cooler. Videos after the break -- you won't be disappointed.Continue reading Motorized Madness is, in fact, just that Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Hands-on with LeapFrog's new edutainment lineup
Filed under: Features, Gaming, Handhelds LeapFrog is virtually unchallenged in quite a few of its product lines, but that doesn't seem to be slowing them down any. The company was showing off bunches of new product at Toy Fair 2008, with most of it newly designed to hook up to the computer and help parents keep better track of what their kids are learning with all these "toys." Products like Tag -- a reading pen similar to the FLY pentop -- can tell parents what words kids are reading well, and how much time they spend with a book, while the new Leapster2 and Didj handhelds let parents track the curriculum the kids are running through -- with the Didj even allowing parents to work in custom vocabulary lists or other subjects into their kid's game of choice. Unfortunately, the LeapFrog2 suffers from same screen viewability woes of its predecessor, and both handhelds are quite chunky, but we did like the Didj's screen and software, and that $90 pricetag is quite palatable.Gallery: Hands-on with LeapFrog's new edutainment lineup Permalink | Email this | Comments
Guitar Hero Carabiner hands-on
Filed under: Features, Gaming, Handhelds Yeah, you know you want one. While we're rather skeptical about the "carabiner" aspects of this Guitar Hero Carabiner -- forget your keychain, we've owned cars smaller than this thing -- it certainly manages to bring enough of those Guitar Hero rock star vibes along with to make it worth the $15 (just think of it as your present to yourself for not seeing Jumper this weekend). The sound is decent for this type of handheld, and we had little trouble rocking out with the tactile buttons and cheap ass LCD, but we'd probably prefer the Verizon version of this experience just so we could hear some real songs. Video is after the break.Gallery: Guitar Hero Carabiner hands-onContinue reading Guitar Hero Carabiner hands-on Permalink | Email this | Comments
LeapFrog debuts Crammer Study and Sound player for students
Filed under: Portable Audio LeapFrog is moving on up the chain, and hitting 3rd through 8th graders with a new study aid, the Crammer Study and Sound System. Crammer works basically as a replacement for those annoyingly handwritten index cards, allowing you to enter data for each side of virtual "cards" and run through them on the 2.5-inch grayscale screen. You can also download study aids for a myriad of subjects, or use the included language tools to automatically translate and pronounce words for study. The built-in music playback is pretty straightforward, and lets kids relax with some songs or listen while they study. We spotted a prototype at the 2008 Toy Fair, and while it wasn't a functional unit, we got to see the iriver clix-style four-way screen clicking controls, which seem friendly enough. Crammer will be out Fall 2008 for $60, and includes 1GB of built-in flash memory.Gallery: LeapFrog debuts Crammer Study and Sound player for students Permalink | Email this | Comments
Verizon to offer unlimited voice, data, and messaging packages
Filed under: Cellphonesdigg_url = 'http://digg.com/tech_news/Verizon_to_offer_unlimited_voice_data_messaging_packages';We've gotten a flood of tips that the notoriously miserly Verizon is lining things up to offer unlimited calling plans. Starting Tuesday the 19th (of this month) should see the following plans sprout up: $100 - Nationwide Unlimited (voice) $120 - Nationwide Select Unlimited (voice, SMS, MMS) $140 - Nationwide Premium (voice, SMS, MMS, VZNav, VCAST, email) $150 - Nationwide Email and Messaging (voice, SMS, MMS, and data) $170 - Nationwide Global Email and Messaging (voice, SMS, MMS, and international data) $200 - Family plan with two lines, $100 per additional line. That's not all though. There are even more perks and benefits in store for premium-paying unlimited users: 5GB cap on data is out No contract extension for current customers Available on one or two year agreements All plans include Mobile Web 2.0 portal access (skip it) No roaming or long distance [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Permalink | Email this | Comments
Kurzweil predicts that machines will match man by 2029 -- bring it on
Filed under: Robots Famed technologist and futurist Ray Kurzweil is on the record about human-machine intelligence parity: it's going down by 2029, so be prepared to get digital on entirely new levels. Apparently, machines "will have both the hardware and the software to achieve human level artificial intelligence" by then, but even if it's not in the form of meatbag-terminating cyborgs, Kurzweil thinks one future of intelligent machines is on the nano scale, with interfaces to enhance our own physiology and intelligence. Oh sure, this stuff is completely pie in the sky -- but it's still absurdly fun to think of what kinds of crazy crap the 21st century's going to hold.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
LED displays keep folks guessing at nightclub bathrooms
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets Interactive nightclubs aren't entirely unheard of, but we'll be sure to relieve ourselves just before prancing into any party scene with these displays on the lavatory doors. The small LED Matrix displays can be mounted on both male and female doors, and the image shown can be switched as folks enter and leave. Needless to say, such a setup caused quite a bit of hilariousness / confusion when caught on candid camera, so be sure and take a peek for yourself after the break.[Via Halfmachine]Continue reading LED displays keep folks guessing at nightclub bathrooms Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Elonex One: England's 100 quid laptop
Filed under: Laptops digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gadgets/Elonex_One_England_s_100_quid_laptop'; Everybody and their mother's got a super-budget laptop these days (see: OLPC, Eee PC, Cloudbook, Pixel Qi, etc.), and next at the table will apparently be Elonex, which intends to introduce the £100 (~$200) One on February 28th at The Education Show in Birmingham, England. Obviously the intention here is to sell to education markets, but the One is also going to be up for grabs for "adult learners, business users, people who are constantly mobile, elderly people and first time internet users." We don't have any better shots of the thing, but apparently this One (not that One, or the other One) will weigh "less than a kilo" (2.2 pounds), has a 7-inch screen, three hour battery, 1GB of flash memory, and runs on Linux. Apparently there's also a more expensive £120 model that has double the memory (2GB) and Bluetooth, to boot. Both will also have access to a service called ONEunion, which will "feature artwork and music for download, opportunities to get your own content added to the club as well as a range of competitions," presumably for the kids. More on this thing later this month, aye guv'na?[Via Times Online]Update: jkkmobile's got some additional info. Looks like the One could be a rebadge of a Fontastic A-View ultra-cheap Chinese "simple PC". Not that we're really surprised -- we mean, who the hell are Elonex to pop out of nowhere with this thing? Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Samsung ACE global smartphone, M520 go live on Sprint
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds Given the BlackJack's popularity on AT&T, it only makes sense that Sprint (among other carriers) would be looking to get in on that action. Indeed, as expected, Sprint has now launched Samsung's ACE (get it? like the really good card to have when you're playing blackjack?) that comes out swinging with Windows Mobile 6 Standard, 1.3 megapixel camera, microSD slot, stereo Bluetooth, EV-DO, and a SIM slot for hooking your globetrotting butt up with GSM service when you find yourself overseas; what it doesn't have is HSDPA, so don't look at this puppy as an apples-for-apples BlackJack II replacement. It's available now for $199.99 after the usual laundry list of rebates and contract discounts.Separately, Sprint has also gone live with the M520, an unassuming slider we've known about for a while now with GPS, a 1.3 megapixel cam, and tethering capability. This one comes in at a reasonable $49.99 after rebate on contract.[Via PhoneNews]Read - Samsung AceRead - Samsung M520 Permalink | Email this | Comments
Safe update for Apple TV v2, Safari HD hacks released
Filed under: Home Entertainmentdigg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/Safe_update_for_Apple_TV_v2_Safari_HD_hacks_released';There isn't (yet) a way to hack Apple TV v2 (aka take 2), but if you were patient enough to wait for the "safe" PatchStick upgrade on your hacked unit, Safari HD is ready to go. Good luck, and take care, after those weeks of waiting for the new update it sure would suck to brick that device.Read - Safe update for Apple TV v2Read - Safari HD available Permalink | Email this | Comments
T-minus one year till the US analog shutoff: are you ready?
Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment digg_url = 'http://digg.com/tech_news/T_minus_one_year_till_the_US_analog_shutoff_are_you_ready_3'; Surely you knew what today was, right? No? Fret not, as Engadget HD has taken the time to consolidate the plethora of 2009 analog shutoff information into one handy guide. Are you ready for the DTV transition that will be going down exactly one year from today? Find out right over here. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Dell to release tri-core AMD business machine?
Filed under: Desktops TG Daily's reporting that Dell's on the verge of releasing a new OptiPlex called the 740 Enhanced with options for triple and quad-core Phenom processors. It won't be any big deal for the majority AMD-spurned end users, but if you're an AMD-loving systems buyer your ears probably just perked up a bit.[Thanks, Schnucki, Tom] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Debunk: Revenge of Stuff's Sony Ericsson PSPhone mockup
Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming The gaming community is buzzing this morning from some supposedly leaked scans of a possible PSPhone would give it a full 480 x 272 display, mini-analog stick, and drop UMD in favor of playing full PSP games via M2. Turns out they're scans from Stuff magazine from months ago, which seems to have passed under everyone's radar (including our own, initially) because so few people seem to actually read it.[Via PSP Fanboy, with help from Engadget Español]Continue reading Debunk: Revenge of Stuff's Sony Ericsson PSPhone mockup Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
iCinema and projectiondesign collaborate on panoramic displays
Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment Oh sure, it's not like we haven't witnessed ginormous rotating panoramic displays before, but it seems as if projectiondesign and the iCinema Research Centre of Australia's University of New South Wales are taking their long-standing partnership even further with new applications for the AVIE 360-degree 3D multimedia display. Recently showcased at the International Sydney Festival, T_Visionarium will offer up "an all surrounding 3D spectacle of hundreds of video clips that the viewers can interactively sort and edit," and apparently, the duo is also gearing up to bring the somewhat similar iDome to various training facilities across New South Wales. Unfortunately, we have our doubts about such technology ever being home-bound -- for obvious reasons, of course. [Via AboutProjectors] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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ejlim's Xanga
Latest Xanga weblog from ejlim
Rethinking the GIRs at MIT
At most colleges and universities in America, students are required to complete a prescribed set of courses which are expected to provide a solid foundation for specialized study and training within a particular field of interest. This core curriculum is officially known as the General Institute Requirements - or GIRs, for short - at MIT. The GIRs are divided into two major categories. The first is the Science, Mathematics, and Engineering (SME) requirement, in which introductory subjects in calculus, physics, chemistry, and biology are required, while additional subjects given from a range of electives in science and technology are also mandatory. The second is the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS) requirement, in which a minimum number of introductory and advanced subjects must be completed from a collection of classes ranging from visual and performing arts to literary, historical, and social studies.In the 8+ years since I first arrived on the scene as a clueless freshman, some changes (such as the addition of communication-intensive courses within the humanities and one's specific major) have been made to the GIRs, but for the most part, MIT's core curriculum has maintained a near decade-long status quo. However, it appears that a more substantial facelift could be given to the GIRs, based on the recommendations of the MIT Task Force on the Undergraduate Educational Commons. In their 158-page report released last month, the committee proposed to strictly uphold the completion of some core courses within the SME and HASS requirement. However, the remaining previously required courses are either being eliminated or re-introduced within a broader, yet still somewhat specialized field of study, such as physical sciences, life sciences, humanities, and the arts. An additional component being proposed is the inclusion of "project-based first-year experiences," which consist of subjects in engineering and science that involve design or creation. While much of the committee's recommendations are both reasonable and necessary, I believe that further changes to the GIRs need to be made so that students can receive an undergraduate education that is more creative, yet still fundamentally sound. Two central ideas come to mind: 1) replacing the GIRs as a separate and comprehensive entity in favor of integrating essential GIR courses within the framework of a specific major, and 2) providing GIR "electives" that promote exposure to non-traditional career paths.A primary concern with MIT's undergraduate curriculum is that it's overall rigid framework limits the mobility of students to pursue multiple academic interests. This mobility is both beneficial and important in situations where students are: 1) undecided on a major and would need to take an introductory course in different fields in order to narrow down one's particular interest, 2) pursuing a dual degree, 3) studying abroad or doing a Co-Op, or 4) committed a specific major only to realize later on that a different path is desired. It would seem worthwhile to eliminate the SME and HASS requirements as stand-alone GIR components and instead include the essential SME and HASS courses within the overall curriculum of a particular major. For example, if one freshman was interested in pursuing an electrical engineering degree (Course 6-1), the core first-year courses might include 8.01 (Physics I), 8.02 (Physics II), 18.01 (Single-Variable Calculus), 18.02 (Multi-Variable Calculus), and 18.03 (Differential Equations). However, if another freshman was interested in pursuing a biology degree (Course 7), the core first-year classes might include 7.012 (Introductory Biology), 5.111 (Principles of Chemical Science), and 8.01. This integrated-GIR approach is attractive for several reasons. Rather than being forced to take irrelevant and unnecessary courses, students would take the introductory courses needed to continue on towards a specific degree path. One could thus expect that the quality of work from students would be at somewhat higher level due to an educational appreciation that is beyond a mere "get it over with" perspective. In addition, having integrated GIRs would streamline the first-year coursework, which would provide freshmen with the flexibility to either take the necessary prerequisite courses for multiple major paths or to get ahead in a specific major path. This means that freshmen who are undecided would not be penalized for exploring different degree options, while freshmen committed to a particular degree path would be able to take upper-level elective courses to gain additional breadth and depth in that path in preparation for the next phase of their educational experience, whether it be in industry, academia, or elsewhere. Another concern with MIT's undergraduate curriculum is that the often-intense workload discourages students from exploring and pursuing educational options that deviate far from a traditional post-graduate career path. One of the many hallmarks of an MIT education is that, in addition to possessing an impressive skill set, students learn how to think under pressure, both independently and collaboratively. While this may seem utterly trivial - and I mean no disrespect to other colleges and universities - I can't help but wonder how the global landscape might change if a significant percentage of every MIT graduating class was devoted to developing a new product, service, or program in the form of a start-up company, a non-profit organization, or perhaps even a think-tank. An initial attempt can be made to address this issue by incorporating an out-of-class GIR requirement that can be satisfied by the following options: 1) competing in a MIT-based start-up competition (i.e. 50K, Soldier Design, or Ideas), 2) developing an individual or group service project through the Public Service Center, 3) doing undergraduate lab research through the UROP program, or 4) studying abroad (i.e. Oxford or Cambridge). This requirement would be in lieu of previous GIR requirements, such as the Institute Lab or the HASS Concentration. The out-of-class GIR requirement would expose students to educational opportunities that transcend the usual regimen of problem sets and exams, and it would be especially useful to students interested in developing an idea but unable to invest time and resources into a project that might not necessarily be in line with their major degree requirements.The MIT Corporation, along with its faculty and staff, have worked admirably to ensure that an education of the highest quality is made available to each incoming class of students. While much of the undergraduate curriculum is fundamentally sound, certain changes need to be made, most notably in regards to the GIRs. The two ideas - integrated GIRs and out-of-class GIRs - presented here are not meant to serve as comprehensive solutions, nor is the implemention of these ideas trivial, by any means. However, a concerted effort in this direction can one day provide MIT students with the flexibility to pursue different career options, the means to delve deeper within a specific degree path, and an awareness of their ability - and with that, perhaps a selfless resolve - to change more than just the world around them.
A Redemptive Roar in Motown
With the clock approaching 7:30pm EDT, a collective roar could be heard in Detroit as Comerica Park and a nationally televised audience witnessed something that hadn't happened since I was in diapers - now that's when you know it's been a long time awaiting - the Detroit Tigers winning a playoff series, let alone making it to the post-season. They took yet another step in their march towards an improbable World Series championship by pillaging the Evil Empire (i.e. the New York Yankees) 8-3 as they won their divisional series, 3 games to 1. As a long-suffering Tigers fan - I live in Toledo, which has the AAA minor-league team for Detroit - it was immensely gratifying to watch mass pandemonium in Detroit that, for once, didn't involve overturned cars or riots in the streets. Now granted, the city still might go down in flames at some point during the postseason - win or lose - but at least for one day, Detroit can revel harmlessly in the fact that their Tigers are still on the prowl, while Georgie and his $200 million dollar band of overpaid henchmen are headed back to Gotham without a championship for a 6th consecutive season.That the Tigers won this game was significant for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it represented a near-revolutionary paradigm shift in regards to the level of play and the attitude of this team. Perhaps it was manager Jim Leyland and his staff, but starting from Day 1, this team took that approach that it was not going to accept losing, and that they would do whatever was necessary to become a competitive team. However, Leyland himself was to quick to admit that this team exceeded his expectations. Remember, this was a team that had lost an American League-record 119 games in 2003, a short 3 seasons ago. I certainly remember those horrid times, as I had the privilege (or misfortune, depending on how you want to look at it) of watching them in person at Fenway Park when the Tigers came into town to face the Red Sox. Even with my Master's Degree thesis due in 3 days, I made the trek over to Fenway Park the night before the first game of the series and slept on concrete sidewalk in hopes of snagging a pair of Green Monster seats the next morning. I was rewarded for my due diligence with a pair of seats in the 2nd row of the Green Monster that evening. Though I was ready to vocalize my support for my team on any good plays made at the plate or in the field, those moments were few and far between as the Red Sox pounded them 15-2. To add insult to injury, I most likely made it on the 11pm edition of Sportscenter that night for failing to catch a Manny Ramirez homer that came straight at me. The losing pitcher in that game was a rookie pitcher whom I had never heard of. But that changed quickly as the losses piled on, and by season's end, he had accumulated 19 losses (compared to a mere 6 wins). And the name of the pitcher? It was none other than Jeremy Bonderman. In that game, he was all over the place with his location, and because he was repeatedly behind in the count, Red Sox batters could let loose and tee off on his then-predictable pitches, as evidenced by the score. In the game against the Yankees, the Tigers sent one "Jeremy Bonderman" to the mound, but he wasn't the same pitcher that I saw at Fenway. This pitcher was focused, poised, and had good command of his pitches (he was perfect through 5 innings), and as he mowed down batter after batter in New York's vaunted lineup, you could sense his confidence rising to unseen heights. When Leyland pulled him with one out in the 9th, he walked towards the dugout to a spirited standing ovation from the 44,000+ appreciative fans in Comerica. This was the most important game of his life, a clutch post-season performance that could transform Bonderman into an established All-Star in the years to come. Keep in mind, he's only 23 years old and well over a year away from getting a Hertz rental car by himself.But today's game was meaningful for this most important reason - it was now fun again to be playing (and watching) baseball in the Motor City. You could see it in the players' faces all season long, and the stands had a spine-tingling buzz in October that was normally reserved for the late spring when the Pistons or Red Wings would make their traditional playoff push. While I certainly hope and pray that the Tigers pull off the near-unthinkable and celebrate a World Series title in Detroit this fall, regardless of where they end up, I'll be proud of how they carried themselves, both on and off the field. And speaking of celebrations, you know your team must be doing well when one of the players is wearing this: It's highly doubtful that Oakley will design a new product line of sunglasses based on Jason Grilli's post-game eyewear, but honestly, I could care less. I'll take substance over style any day.
Marathon Monday
It's almost a given that everyone likes holidays. The kids get a day off from school, while adults get to be away from the office and attend to other matters. While there are certain holidays that will always be of utmost meaning to me, such as Christmas and Easter, one of my personal favorites is Patriot's Day, also known as Marathon Monday. I think I enjoy this holiday even more than my birthday, and that becomes evident once you get to be my age. For the past three years, I've had the good fortune of qualifying for the Boston Marathon, but this year, it just wasn't meant to be. Injuries and other commitments kept me from putting in the training needed to re-qualify. So I had to settle for running a 5-mile race in the morning, after which I made my way to Kenmore Square to secure a good viewing location for cheering on my BAA teammates. I even put my appalling art skills on display by making a pseudo-motivational poster for the guys. As I waited for the first runners to come by, it dawned on me that today was the first time that I had ever been to a marathon as a spectator. I had been to 8 previous marathons, each time as a runner, so it felt a bit awkward being on the other side of the barricades. The weather was a bit chilly early on, with overcast skies, light winds, and temperatures in the mid-50's. Perfect weather for marathoners (for once), but not-so-hot weather for beer drinkers and BBQ grillers, no pun intended. As usual, the Kenyans took top honors in the overall men's and women's races, but it was a pleasant surprise to see Americans take 3rd, 4th, and 5th in the men's race. US distance running has improved significantly over the past couple of years, and it'll only be a matter of time before an American wins Boston, Chicago, or one of the other major marathons and hopefully usher in a new era of American dominance not seen since the days of Bill Rodgers and Alberto Salazar in the late 70's and early 80's. The performance of the elites was just one of many storylines headlining this year's Boston. For myself personally, I mostly cared about my teammates having a strong showing. While the weather seemed ideal for good race times, most of my teammates unfortunately had sub-par finishing times. Even as I tried to rally my teammates in spirited fashion, my heart ached a bit, because I knew that they were disappointed and in a whole lot of pain as they struggled to the finish. I had been in that lonely position before, so to some extent, I could feel their frustration. But even though I mainly went to Kenmore Square to watch my teammates run, my attention quickly shifted to the other runners, those whose names I didn't know and whose faces I most likely would never see ever again. While these runners would not win any trophies or prize money on this day, it was perfectly okay, because for many, they weren't running for personal glory or accolades. Rather, they were running in honor of or in memory of someone else. They were running for loved ones who were battling or had succumbed to cancer or other life-threatening diseases. They were running to raise awareness and funds for worthy causes and initiatives. They were running to instill hope in others that things previously thought to be impossible were in fact going to be accomplished 26.2 miles later on this glorious day. As I saw these runners courageously battle through the final mile of this race, I couldn't help but cheer and encourage these runners with reckless abandon. I gave high-fives to those running along the barricades. I called out runners who were walking and challenged them to finish strong on this last mile. I lost my voice yelling out whatever snippets of wit, humor, and motivational gimmicks that I could muster off the top of my head. Some laughed, while others gave me a thumbs-up. Still others ignored me and ran or walked straight ahead. But there were some who had previously walked who then gathered the strength and determination to start running again. And they were rewarded with a hearty roar of approval from the masses on Commonwealth Avenue. Patriot's Day is a special day, first and foremost because we celebrate and remember those who laid down their lives for our country's independence. But we also celebrate the Boston Marathon and the opportunities that it provides for those to put their passion and commitment to the ultimate test, be it to win the whole damn thing, to set a personal best, to raise money for charity, or to just do it for fun. Somebody once told me that the marathon is probably the only event where anyone can be a champion by race's end. That's the beauty of the marathon. That's the beauty of Boston.
A Photomosaic Hero
By now, I'm sure most of you have watched or heard of the show 'ER'. While I rarely watch the show much anymore, I used to watch it faithfully back in the day when George Clooney, Noah Wyle, and Anthony Edwards were playing leading roles. In all my years of watching the show, there was one episode that stood out amongst the others - the episode where Edwards' character, Dr. Greene, spends his last few days with his family before passing away. As the episode approached its final minutes on the air, it flashed back to highlights of Dr. Greene's life, with a guitar and Israel Kamakawiwo'ole singing a grainy yet soothing arrangement combining elements of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" with a touch of "It's a Wonderful World." I'll admit that I was a sap and shed a tear or two during the episode. Simply put, it was just too painful for me to see him suffer as he fought to stay alive during those last few days. When it's a struggle just to breathe and walk about, it certainly puts all of our other problems into perspective, doesn't it? This past weekend has been a humbling reminder of how, even when the crap hits the proverbial fan, you keep on doing what you love without complaints or discouragement, because your best, even if it's not perfect, can be good enough to make a meaningful contribution in more ways than you might ever know, and there's no guarantee that you'll wake to face another day. This past weekend presented a series of opportunities to improve my academics, my community service involvement, and my marathon training. On Saturday, I had a 5-mile road race and a final round interview for an international development scholarship, which would give me $5,000 to do medical field work in Rwanda for six weeks this summer. On Sunday was Stu's 30K race, an important tune-up for Boston, and today was my biochem exam. To make a long story short, I tweaked my hamstring during warmups for the 5M, which was enough to make me sit out both the 5M and the 30K race. I had a good interview only to find out from an apologetic committee member that I had just missed the cut for the award, and of course, the 12 hours of research and preparation for that interview could have gone to studying for the exam, which wasn't quite to my liking as well. I'll be honest that I was mildly upset and distraught all weekend, though I've tried my best not to show it around out in public. With all of this going on, plus the fact that my PhD advisor might leave in September for another job, my life has been somewhat in disarray. To not meet expectations and to live with much uncertainty is hardly a pleasant feeling. However, all of these "critical" problems and hardships quickly paled in comparison upon hearing that one of my BAA teammates had just passed away after a long battle with cancer. Dan Peterson, a 55-year old man from Beverly, had stage IV melanoma which resulted in his right arm being amputated, yet he still ran the Boston Marathon for the 24th consecutive time last year while enduring the effects of experimental treatment. I had the privilege of sitting next to him on the bus ride to Hopkinton for the 2004 race. I remember being immensely nervous before that race, because I was sponsored that year by Saucony (along with Dan) for personal contributions to the Boston running community and to society, I was raising funds for Children's Hospital, and I was running in Anderson's memory that year. Combined with 85+ degree temperatures and a slew of friends waiting for me in Kenmore Square, I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I remember telling Dan about my overwhelming burden to succeed and to not disappoint all those who would be there to support me. With a big grin on his face, he told me to simply do my best, because the effort and the way in which you carry yourself would be more meaningful than a result taken out of context. He also said to take in the full experience and enjoy it, because you never know when it's all going to come to an end. These were the words of a man who would run the next-to-last Boston of his life that day. His words of encouragement were not empty, not in the least. In his final Boston last year, he had the support of a marathon entourage to protect him and help him along as he struggled to make his way through the six towns leading into Boston. He would courageously finish that race in 5:51, more than double his best of time of 2:42 set over 20 years ago. Despite the end result, he ran the race to the absolute best that his cancer-torn body would let him. In true "Dan Peterson" fashion, he and his marathon group stopped on Boylston Street, a mere few hundred yards from the finish, and tried to absorb the experience. [Taken from the Boston Globe article] "We learned that life is not about the finish line; it's about the journey," Peterson recalled, his voice a whisper. "We took a picture, shed a few tears, and hugged. Then we looked across the line and said, 'Let's go.' I think it touched every guy there." Rest in Peace - Dan Peterson, 1950-2006.
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Ftrain.com
Fishing Party
Last September, on a clear warm Saturday morning a week before my wedding, about ten of us celebrated my bachelor party by going fishing out in Sheepshead Bay. You pay $50 and get on the boat. (continued...)
A Joke
Walking through Chinatown with Mo we passed a restaurant called Mandarin Court. "Excuse me, your honor," I said. "But my client is seedless." Mo rolled her eyes. "He's also a navel hero," I said. "Oh!" Anyway, after a full train ride of focused thinking, during which time I nearly gave up on oranges in favor of bells, I decided that citrus is funnier and settled on the above. Then I searched through the Internet for variations but it seems to be original, or else I stole it from a six-year old. (continued...)
The Vet
(continued...)
The Swings
My friend Michael wants to know what I think of his novel. The first chapter—the first of twelve planned, according to the index cards pinned to clotheslines that cover the ceiling of his apartment, is one hundred fifty-seven singlespaced ten-point Times New Roman pages that describe relations between a man referred to as Captain and a woman known as Isabella, the wife of a Austrian blunderbuss dealer. When we first meet her she is disguised as the Austrian's teenaged son, but after seeing her husband/father keelhauled, and threatened with keelhauling herself, she unbinds her bosom and explains that she was, until she posed as a woman of good family in order to marry, a whore wise to pirates, and now she wishes only to survive the voyage and be returned to Europe. At this Captain drags her off to quarters, exiles his catamite Esquimaux cabinboy to the galley, and proceeds to 92 pages of vileness until on page 156 a passing French galleon launches a cannonade into the poop. The narrator is a stowaway African gray parrot native to London. (continued...)
Tag Cloud
See also: The words that were used; U.S. Presidential Speeches Tag Cloud. (continued...)
Another Veil-lifter Pitched
Dear EDITOR, (continued...)
Saturday
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Love Explosion
I came up with 100 Ways to Say I Love You at The Morning News. (continued...)
$5 Chocolate Bar
Scott Rahin told me, "the other day I was watching this video and I just started crying." (continued...)
Big O
That's a puzzle offered to people who want to work at ITA software, as a test of their nerd-mettle; ITA is a company that has, fame-ishly, used the computer language LISP to plug away at the traveling salesman problem at its most literal, for best I can tell they write software to find the shortest, cheapest, fastest airplane routes. (continued...)
The Guests
I put on a black suit with a blue shirt and orange tie and got married to Mo, who wore a burgundy dress. September 15, 2007, a few minutes after 6:00PM. We did it standing in the middle of the Carroll St. Bridge over the Gowanus Canal. No one was arrested. (continued...)
Upstate
I was upstate at a birthday party. A nice group of people. At one point someone said, it's hot, let's go swimming in the quarry. So we piled into a caravan of six cars and drove about eight miles. The quarry turned out to be wrapped in a fence and labeled with "No Trespassing" signs. So that option was out. All six cars pulled over to the shoulder and someone found a map and began to look for lakes. No one was in charge—this was more the type of group to build consensus. So there was a lot of discussion. I didn't have much to offer because I'm bad with maps. (continued...)
Twitter RSS in XSLT FTW
I've decided to geek out on Wednesdays. Today, I want to include a Twitter RSS feed (which, inspired by Joshua Allen, I tentatively plan to fill not with news of my clever doings but rather with filth about a fictional evil family) on the front page here at Ftrain. I'll do the coding in XSLT2. (continued...)
The Cloths of Heaven are Old Shirts and Dark Slacks
Often in novels the dreams of characters relate to the action of the main narrative. A man fights with his wife, goes to bed, and dreams his house burned down. A woman dreams of a tree growing out of burned earth after finding out that she is not an orphan. This is horseshit. Last night I talked to Mo about shoes then dreamed that I entered a portal in my kitchen. In the universe that I found on the other side the Beatles never existed, and Prince was a Johnny-Mathis-style crooner, so "Purple Rain" sounded like "Moon River." Another dream I frequently have: I am at work. The phone rings. I wake from the dream and go to work. (continued...)
Telephone
In 1981 when I was seven or eight and on my way to visit my grandparents across town, I would always stop in the alley behind the phone company and jump up so that I could see across a fence and into an uncurtained window. What I'd see were banks of tangled colored wires. Tangled wires meant progress—you saw pictures of them in books about spacecraft or computers. Sometimes, in the window, a man would be standing on a ladder among the wires. What was going on in there? According to Telephone: The first hundred years by John Brooks (Harper & Row, 1976), in 1976 AT&T employed one percent of the United States and had $75 billion in assets (nearly a quarter-trillion dollars if you adjust for inflation). That was what was going on in there. (continued...)
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IDEAS IN FOOD
Improvisation and experimentation in the kitchen by Chefs Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot.
Spring Roll Wrappers
I really enjoy eating spring rolls. The crisp, light, flaky exterior compliments the warm crunchy interior. The key is the crunch. I have not used spring roll wrappers outside of their original purpose until today. We have toyed with bric...
Two Spots...
Still available for tomorrow's hydrocolloid class at 10am. So if anyone else would like to join us, drop us a line this afternoon.
Potato Gnocchi
It all began with a craving for crab cakes. The craving led to potatoes, because I like to use potato puree in my crab cakes. The crab cakes were made with homemade bread crumbs because I couldn't wait for the...
Looking Closer
I came across two sets of videos demonstrations. Both sets feature the work of the El Bulli team. The first set of videos highlights their series of ingredients, with several new additions to the line up. They can be viewed...
Fried Rice
I over cooked the rice. I should have let Aki do it. I was working with Japanese rice. I wanted to see the effects of par-cooking the rice--30 minutes at 65 degrees C in a water, wrapped in cheesecloth, and...
Honey Custard
One of the benefits of our cooking classes is the constant influx of inspirations. On Monday, as we were working with a carrageenan stabilized egg custard, we paused in contemplation of both ingredients and the technique. To begin with we...
Meyer Lemons
This is our current go to ingredient, especially since they are in most of the markets and not crazy expensive. I think we end up writing about these wonderful fruits most often when the sun is not shining and the...
Lobster Roe: from green to red
Lobster roe is often an ingredient that we use impulsively. Many times when cleaning lobsters we reserve the roe for later use and that use never comes to be. Yet on occasion, our desire to utilize the roe blossoms beyond...
Red Cabbage
I happened across the most beautiful red cabbage, crisp, dark red-near purple, not too large, an ideal candidate for red cabbage puree. Why puree such a beautiful vegetable? I enjoy the sultry silkiness of braised cabbage and a puree is...
Buddha's Hand
We saw the Buddha's Hand in Fairway and for a change I was the one throwing caution and price tags to the wind by adding the fruit to our cart. It's an interesting citrus, known for its extraordinarily fragrant skin...
Brewing Supplies
What if we started working with beer before it was made? The beer making process is complicated, steeped in tradition, innovation and lore. The sourcing of ingredients and the recipes for making beer are oft guarded secrets. And what if...
7 Minute Risotto
The title is catchy, though there is a bit more time involved. The seven minutes is the cooking of the risotto, which is done with grains of rice that have been previously cooked at 65 degrees Celsius (wrapped in a...
Hijiki Tortelloni
We have been running a bit of a pasta house over the past few days. I started with the Dijon dough and made both garganelli and pappardelle. The garganelli are in the freezer and the pappardelle were our dinner. After...
Dinner Series Update
We just wanted to mention that we have moved two of our Wednesday classes to Friday evenings to make it a bit easier for people to attend. The Pasta class has been moved to Friday, January 18 at 7pm and...
Squash Handkerchiefs
In a recent dinner we paired butternut squash in several forms with crab marbles in several sizes. One of the exciting results from the development of that dish was butternut squash handkerchiefs. To make these thin vegetable sheets, we used...
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- updated: Jan 19 10:35PM
not a blogger
jlchen519's Xanga Blog
Spare the Air (Wednesday, August 29, 2007 )
jlchen519's entry on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 at (3 comments)
A+ (Wednesday, August 22, 2007 )
jlchen519's entry on Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at (7 comments)
Goodbye (Thursday, August 02, 2007 )
jlchen519's entry on Thursday, August 02, 2007 at (3 comments)
Pothead! (Wednesday, July 18, 2007 )
jlchen519's entry on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 at
Trip! (Thursday, June 28, 2007 )
jlchen519's entry on Thursday, June 28, 2007 at (2 comments)
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KALIBER10000
The 20 latest newsposts from your favourite design playground, KALIBER10000.
Pownce | Mike Buzzard
For those of you that are both social <em>AND</em> good at sharing, it's worth noting that Pownce is now open for public access (invitations are no longer required). I strongly recommend that you immediately go purchase a pro account and immerse yourself in the endless ether of pownce-topian love.
Ilovedust | Mat Mejia
we love ilovedust, new site, new work, go now.
Netdiver Best of the Year | Mark Langeneck
If you haven't had much time to surf around last year, here's your chance to sit back and browse through many gems from 07 at once! Visit the Netdiver Best of the Year shortlist!
Constance | Dustin Amery Hostetler
the newest issue of Constance "Delicate Burdens" is available for purchase. Awesome project. Awesome cause.
Graphic Thought Facility | Daniel Koh
Graphic Thought Facility updates; as always their vast portfolio that never cease to inspire and impress over the years.
Submit your vote today | JD Hooge
The winner of the 2008 People's Choice Award will be announced Sunday, March 9 at the SXSW Web Awards Ceremony. Submit your vote today for your favorite finalist website.
Their practice for everyday life | Daniel Koh
Kirsty Carter and Emma Thomas update their practice for everyday life.
My Papercuts | Daniel Koh
My Papercuts is not a song from Linkin Park...
Oliver Munday | Mat Mejia
Oliver Munday Print design goodness out of Baltimore, MD.
Kids Fun Song and Fun | Curt Cloninger
Deep/Young Ethereal Radio Broadcast #92: Kids Fun Song and Fun
URL | Andreas Pihlström
"Lately weve been very busy with one of our biggest projects ever. Were doing a collaboration with Coca-Cola Zero in Germany, for the UEFA EURO 2008. Now were soon about to launch (mid of February) but until then well post sneak peaks on this URL on a regular basis as well on Mr Lindstrm's blog." - The North Kingdom Team!
The Beholder | Dustin Amery Hostetler
The Beholder has relaunched with a ton of great talent, and pieces you wont find at a typical online gallery / store. Whats even better... they offer a 7 day trial.
Todd Sines | Charles Adler
Todd Sines of +Scale Studios will be discussing his work for MTV & Bowery Presents at the Apple store in SoHo tonight. More info on his site.
Glassbooth | Mike Buzzard
Trying to figure out which presidential candidate is most aligned with your views? Check out Glassbooth.
Flight404 | Mat Mejia
Flight404 uploads Solar, with lyrics, audio by Goldfrapp. "What I needed to make was an application that would allow me to scrub through an audio track and mark transitions with key presses. Then I would just save out the cue points and pop them into my next visualizer. Voila!"
HKI | Andreas Pihlström
HKI just released a new website based on Prisonbreak for the BlackXS brand.
This event at the MoMA | Charles Adler
Can someone buy me a ticket to NYC to attend this event at the MoMA. And what's all this nonsense about "tweens". :)
Leica | Mat Mejia
Leica launches a brand new site, photography by Carli Hermes.
Obama | Mat Mejia
Obama by Shepard Fairey Proceeds from this print go towards the large statewide poster campaign.
Universal Everything | Andreas Pihlström
Universal Everything would like to invite you to the collaborative animation project Nokia Global Animation.
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- updated: Feb 18 05:20PM
Lessig Blog
Lessig's blog.
Obama catches the anti-corruption bug
A great speech by Mr. Obama about limiting corruption in government. The fact sheet has lots more substance in it. This is great progress, though recommendation (2) is a bit funny. I would think the right way to avoid the revolving door is to forbid employment a certain number of years after working in the Administration. If you tie it to the life of the Administration, then there's not much protection for the last years of the term.
Required Thanks: Thanks
The response to my channel changing has been overwhelming -- literally, with the emails and well wishes. Thank you (and I'm sorry for the slowness in responding). Some have asked whether this means all IP disappears from here, or elsewhere, as of now. Answer: No. I've still got a bunch of things in the pipes (an op-ed in the Post; a couple more Internet Policy videos, a book, and some committed talks), as well as a cert petition in Kahle that would be much clarified if the 10th Circuit decided Golan. Meanwhile, thanks again for the kind words, and many great ideas.
Edwards: great progress on patents
John "Its the substance, stupid" Edwards has a fantastic call for more reliance on prizes, not patents for certain drugs. I know there's lots that's changed about the Edwards candidacy this time round. But I'm very happy the focus on smart, careful policy recommendations has not.
Required Reading: the next 10 years
During my keynote at the iCommons iSummit 07, I made an announcement that surprised some, but which, from reports on the web at least, was also not fully understood by some. So here again is the announcement, with some reasoning behind it. The bottom line: I have decided to shift my academic work, and soon, my activism, away from the issues that have consumed me for the last 10 years, towards a new set of issues. Why and what are explained in the extended entry below.
iCommons Summit 07 -- watch it at Flickr
It's pretty here. Watch.
Disclosure Statement and Statement of Principle, 1.1
I'm grateful for the replies to my disclosure statement and statement of principle. Some of these have led me to reform -- in an important way -- at least one part of the statement. I've reposted the statement in the extended entry below, but the key difference is in response to a great point made by Stuart Ballard. Doesn't my rule, he asks, create perverse incentives? A simple way for an opponent to silence me -- donate to, e.g., CC? I plead humility as the only defense to this obvious omission: It never occurred to me that anyone would waste their money in that way. And while I believe the chance that an opponent would waste their money to silence me is tiny, I do hope that the NC principle becomes common, adopted by people for whom such an expenditure wouldn't be a waste. I've therefore modified the principle as it applies to indirect donations -- meaning donations to entities that indirectly benefit someone because they make him or her materially better off, or lessen a duty he or she has to those institutions: With respect to those donations, I will either not recommend a policy, or if I do, I will disclose the benefit. This reformulation is in apparent tension with my rejection of disclosure generally. But as I see it now, this is the simplest way to avoid the (wholly unlikely) perverse incentive. There were other useful comments, some of which I address here: SethF: "not a disclosure statement." Ok, how about a disclosure statement and a statement of principle. redpop has a nice point about other influences which, s/he rightly observes, may also bend a policy recommendations. As s/he writes, "You seem to imply, for example, that you will, push someone elseâs work if they push yours, regardless of whether you would otherwise do so." If that is implied, I don't mean the implication. We all have an obligation to be true to our principles. The general practice we adopt to police that obligation, however, is laissez faire. The NC principle is one compromise on that laissez faire approach -- a rule that limits the potential for one kind of influence. But of course, one should avoid any inappropriate influence. In the list I spoke of in my original post, some influences I think are totally appropriate. Some are not. My only point is I'm not creating an additional rule to ferret the one from the other -- beyond, again, money. Jardinero1 thought his point not good enough without wrapping it in sarcasm. I disagree. He asks a very good question: "Which brings me to my point Professor: Who cares why you or anyone else shills?" First, my target is not me (alone). It is a profession(s). So why should we care "why ... anyone else shills?" Great question, which goes the heart of what I see as the corruption here. We should avoid influences, in my view, that have nothing to do with the merits of the question at issue. For example: Imagine a doctor told you that you should try risky drug X for your life threatening condition. In my view, you should care whether your doctor is a stock holder in the company making the drug. Why? Because deciding what treatment is good for you is hard enough without the doctor weighing into the balance (or trying not to weigh into the balance) his own personal financial wellbeing. The same with professors. The same with politicians. All are called upon to make hard judgments. The extra-complexity of self-interest will not help them make those judgments well. Which leads to the second point: In my view, if, e.g., a doctor recommends a drug, or even pushes the drug because he believes in it, so long as s/he has followed the NC principle, it is not "shilling." In my view, a distinction must be drawn. Failing to draw such a distinction -- by calling everything "shilling" -- is a cover for more corruption. Dan Collier asks about retirement benefits: "If so, statements about Google Books, for example, may directly impact Google share prices and indirectly effect your investments." True enough. I don't hold stock in individual companies. If I did, I would consider the same limitation to apply. anon asks whether my list of board memberships was complete. It wasn't, but now is. I've been a bad board member of MusicBrainz, and my guilt led me to forget it in the list. But the project is fantastic and shouldn't be forgotten. My apologies. I'll think about this more as I read more. The disclosure and statement will be linked from my contact tab. Thanks again for the help. extended entry
crossing languages with dotSub
I've been a fan of dotSub for sometime. The site enables collaborative subtitling of video. So far, the subtitling is just different languages. Very cool would be subtitling as commentary (think Pop-up video). Watch a CC video, or the infamous "my pirate kid" video from ARTE.de: <center><iframe src="http://dotsub.com/api/smallplayer.php?filmid=766&filminstance=768&language=none" frameborder="0" width="320" height="272"></iframe> <iframe src="http://dotsub.com/api/smallplayer.php?filmid=808&filminstance=810&language=none" frameborder="0" width="320" height="272"></iframe></center>
From Engadget: "Publishing exec 'steals' Google laptops in silly demonstration" -- of just how little publishing executives understand
Engadget reports that "the head honcho of Macmillan Publishers" lifted a couple Google laptops at a recent BookExpo America, and then when he returned them, retorted "hope you enjoyed a taste of your own medicine," and "there wasn't a sign by the computers informing him not to steal them." So this betrays an astonishing level of ignorance, even for a "head honcho." Remember (and I did a 30 minute preso here to explain it) Google Books proposed to scan 18,000,000 books. Of those, 16% were in the public domain, and 9% were in copyright, and in print. That means, 75% of the books Google would scan are out of print but presumptively under copyright. The publishers and Google already have deals for the 9%. And being in the public domain, no one needs a deal for the 16%. So the only thing the publishers might be complaining about is the 75% which are out of print and presumptively under copyright. With respect to these, Google intends to index the books, and make them searchable. If a hit comes through the search engine, Google offers snippets of the text relevant to the search. The page includes links to libraries where the book might be borrowed; it includes links to book stores where the book might be purchased. And, I take it, if the "publishers" were to choose to publish the book again, it would also include a link to that publisher. Finally, any author who wants to be removed from this index can be removed. As with Google on the net, anyone can opt out. So vis-a-viz a computer sitting at a demonstration booth at a conference, is the "head honcho's" action like Google's? Obviously not. And let us count the ways: (1) Any such list must begin with the point obvious to all since the beginning of something called "IP," but set to poetry by Jefferson. Read the full quote at the Connexions project. But the relevant line marking the difference here is this: "Its peculiar character, too, is that no one possesses the less, because every other possesses the whole of it." If the "head honcho" has Google's computers, Google can't use them. But if Google indexes out of print books, that does not -- in the least -- reduce the access anyone else has to the same property. (2) A computer sitting at a marked booth at a conference is like the 9% in print, and under copyright. With respect to those, Google has deals with the publishers. So the "head honcho's" action is more like offering in print, in copyright books for free, and in total -- something Google is emphatically not doing. (3) If the computer was not sitting at a market booth, but instead was in a trash dump (like, for example, the publishers out of print book list), or on a field, lost to everyone, then that fits the category of property that Google is dealing with. But again, Google doesn't take possession of the property in any way that interefers with anyone else taking possession of the property. The publisher, for example, is perfectly free to decide to publish the book again. Instead, in this case, what Google does is more like posting an advertisement -- "lost computer, here it is, is it yours?" (4) Or again, imagine the computer was left after the conference. No easy way to identify who the owner was. No number to call. In that case, what would the "head honcho's," or anyone's rights be? Well depending upon local law, the basic rule is finders keepers, loser weepers. There might be an obligation to advertise. There might be an obligation to turn the property over to some entity that holds it for some period of time. But after that time, the property would go to the "head honcho" -- totally free of any obligation to Google. Compare copyright law: where the property can be lost for almost a century, and no one (according to the publishers at least) has any right to do anything with it. Once an orphan, the law of copyright says, you must be an orphan. No one is permitted to even help advertise your status through a technique like search engine. (5) Or again, imagine the computer was a bank account in New York. And imagine, the bank lost track of the owner of the account. After 5 years, the money is forfeited to the state. Compare copyright: in New York state, a sound recording could be 100 years old, but no one has any freedom with respect to that sound recording unless the copyright owner can be discovered. The list could go on, but the obvious point is this: Physical property and the intangible property we call copyright are different. Jefferson pointed to one difference. But the really crucial difference that I've been trying to get people to see is that physical property systems have a host of techniques to assure that the property system is efficient. Copyright does not. Copyright is the least efficient property system constructed by government -- which is saying a lot. And rather than continue sophomoric debates about who is "stealing" what, it's about time that policymakers -- and industry leaders -- took responsibility for the inefficiency that copyright is.
My cover is totally blown: "My Pirate Kid"
So I spend a great deal of my time insisting that my work, and the work of others in my "movement," is about promoting something other than "piracy." And indeed, I was in the middle of explaining exactly that to ARTE TV here in Germany when my cover was completely blown. Check out circa 5:10 in the video linked at the bottom of this page.
Disclosure Statement (ala Joho)
Following the good practice of others, and following suggestions of inconsistency by others, I offer the following disclosure statement. <center>How I make money</center> I am a law professor. I am paid to teach and write in fields that interest me. Never is my academic research directed by anyone other than I. I am not required to teach any particular course; I am never required or even asked by anyone with authority over me to write about a particular subject or question. I am in this important sense a free laborer. I also get paid for some of my writing. I write books that are sold commercially. Three (and I hope soon all) of my books are also available freely in electronic form. I have been commissioned to write articles for magazines. But in all cases, while I may contract about the subject matter I will address, I never contract about the substance. I have (though rarely) been paid to consult on matters related to my work. If I have, I conform my behavior to the NC Principle articulated below. I am sometimes paid to speak. If I am, I will contract as to subject matter (e.g., whether the speech is about innovation, or copyright, or privacy, etc.). I do not contract as to substance. In addition to an honorarium, I also accept payment to cover travel expenses. I am not compensated for my work with nonprofits. <center>Tech</center> I am a paying customer of Movable Type. Marc Perkel gives me a great hosting deal. If ever anyone sends me a product to review, I am resolved not to write about it. <center>Business Attachments</center> I have no regular clients. I am on board of a number of non-profits, including EFF, FSF, PLOS, FreePress, PublicKnowledge, and Creative Commons. I serve on no commercial boards. I don't take stock-options to serve on boards or advisory boards. <center>The Non-Corruption (NC) Principle</center> It is a special privilege that I have a job that permits me to say just what I believe, and not what I'm paid to say. That freedom used to be the norm among professionals. It is less and less the norm today. Lawyers at one time had a professional ethic that permitted them to say what they believe. Now the concept of "business conflicts" -- meaning, a conflict with the commercial interests of actual or potential clients -- silences many from saying what they believe. Doctors too are hired into jobs where they are not allowed to discuss certain medical procedures (See, e.g., Rust v. Sullivan). Researchers at "think tanks" learn who the funders are as a first step to deciding what questions will be pursued. And finally, and most obviously, the same is true of politicians: The constant need to raise money just to keep their job drives them to develop a sixth sense about what sorts of statements (whether true or not) will cost them fundraising dollars. With perhaps one exception (politicians), no one forces professionals into this compromise. (The exception is because I don't see how you survive in politics, as the system is, without this compromise, unless you are insanely rich.) We choose the values we live by ourselves. And as the freedom I have to say what I believe is the most important part of my job to me, I have chosen a set of principles that limit any link between money and the views I express. I call these principles "non-corruption" principles because I believe that behavior inconsistent with these principles, at least among professionals, is a kind of corruption. Obviously, I don't mean "corruption" in the crudest sense. Everyone would agree that it is wrong for a global warming scientist to say to Exxon, "if you pay me $50,000, I'll write an article criticizing global warming." That is not the sort of "corruption" I am talking about. I mean instead "corruption" in a more subtle sense. We all understand that subtle sense when we look at politicians. We don't recognize it enough when we think about lawyers, doctors, scientists, and professors. I want to increase this recognition, even at the risk of indirectly calling some of my friends "corrupt." Norms are uncertain here. I hope they change. But until they change, we should not condemn those with differing views. We should engage them. I intend this to be the beginning of that engagement. So, the NC principle: The simple version is just this: I don't shill for anyone. The more precise version is this: I never recommend as policy a position that I have been paid, either directly or indirectly, to recommend. The precise version need to be precisely specified, but much can be understood from its motivation: "Corruption" in my view is the subtle pressure to take views or positions because of the financial reward they will bring you. "Subtle" in the sense that one's often not even aware of the influence. (This is true, I think, of most politicians.) The rule is thus designed to avoid even that subtle force. So: "<u>I never recommend as policy a position</u>": This is meant to distinguish work as a lawyer from work as an advocate. I don't do legal work for money. But everyone understands that when a lawyer speaks for his client, he speaks for his client. The corruption I am targeting is a lawyer or academic speaking not for a client, but presumptively, for the truth. And "recommend" means in any public forum -- so an op-ed, testimony, or a lecture. "<u>that I have been paid directly</u>": This is the easy part of the principle. "Directly" means that I've received cash or other such compensation, or that I receive research support, or funding that I otherwise wouldn't have been entitled to. "<u>or indirectly</u>": This is a harder line to draw in general. The boundaries for me, however, seem pretty clear. In my view, I would be "indirectly" benefited if an institution I was responsible for got a significant benefit from an easily identified interest. So, for example, I do no fundraising for my law school. My position, and the Center I run there, depends in no way upon my raising funds for either. Further, the commitment I have from my dean to support the Center is independent of any fundraising. As Dean Sullivan told me when she recruited me, "fundraising is my problem. Yours is to do the work." Thus, if you give a substantial amount of money to Stanford, you don't, in my view, indirectly benefit me -- because you have not made my life any different from how it was before you gave that money. (Indeed, given the hassle that usually runs with such gifts, you've likely made my life more difficult.) Creative Commons presents a different question. A substantial contribution to Creative Commons -- an entity which, as its CEO, I am responsible for -- would, consistent with the NC principle, limit my ability to "recommend as policy a position" that was directly connected to the contributing entity. So far, beyond the foundation grants CC has received, there have been two such "substantial" contributions to Creative Commons. With neither would I ever "recommend as policy a position" that benefited either -- even if I believed, independently, that the position was correct. This doesn't mean I wouldn't help such people, or advise them. It simply means I would not publicly say something about their position, after such support was received. I acknowledge one might well quibble with the "substantial" qualification here. Why not "any" rather than "substantial"? That may be the right position, at least ultimately. But as I view the matter now, the gifts beyond these two are so small as a proportion of CC's budget that they don't meaningfully change my work for CC at all. <center>But isn't disclosure enough?</center> Some would say this principle is too strict. That a simpler rule -- indeed the rule that governs in most of these contexts -- simply requires disclosure. I don't agree with the disclosure principle. In my view, it is too weak. The best evidence that it is too weak is the United States Congress. All know, or can know, who gives what to whom. That hasn't chilled in the least the kind of corruption that I am targeting here. More generally: if everyone plays this kind of corruption game, then disclosure has no effect in stopping the corruption I am targeting. Thus, in my view, it is not enough to say that "Exxon funded this research." In my view, Exxon should not be directly funding an academic to do research benefiting Exxon in a policy dispute. (There is a difficult line here that turns upon practice. When I was at Chicago, professors received summer research grants. Those were awarded by the Dean. To make the funders happy, the professor would write "this research was supported by a grant by XXX." But never was the money given in light of the work, and most of the time, it wasn't till after you had finished something that you discovered who had "funded" the work. I don't mean to be targeting this sort of behavior at all. Again, the funding the professor received was independent of the grant by XXX.) <center>What the NC principle is not</center> The NC principle is about money. It is not about any other influence. Thus, if you're nice to me, no doubt, I'll be nice to you. If you're respectful, I'll be respectful back. If you flatter me, I doubt I could resist flattering you in return. If you push causes I believe in, I will likely push your work as well. These forms of influence are not within the scope of the NC principle because none of them involve money. I mean the NC principle only to be about removing the influence of money from the work of a professional. I don't think there's any need to adopt a rule to remove these other influences. Why is money different from flattery, or being a liberal? Good question. Lots of obvious reasons. (For example, think about how hard these other "corruption principles" would be to implement: "I can't support X because he supports the Democratic party, as I do." "I can't testify in favor of Y because its President said something nice about me." Talk about perverse incentives...) Someday I hope time will give me the opportunity to say more about why in depth. But for now, I mean only to specify the scope of my principle: It is a principle about isolating one form of influence from the work that I (and I hope my colleagues) do. We (in legal academics, and imho) get paid enough not to have to worry about selling testimony. Thus, one friend wrote me with disappointment about something I wrote that could be viewed as a favor to someone else. So long as money is not involved, I'm all for this kind of favor. We should be doing favors for people we agree with all the time. Especially people on our side of the debate: we need to become at least as good as the other side in cultivating a community of support. <center>So what does all this promise?</center> If you believe I am following my principle, then you can still believe I am biased because I'm a liberal, or wrong because I'm an idiot, or overly attentive because I'm easily flattered, or under-attentive because I punish people who behave badly. All that the NC principle promises is that I am not saying what I am saying because of money. <center>As applied</center> I have been living these principles for many years. So my purpose here is not to announce any new policy. You can agree or disagree with the principles. You can believe them too strict, or not strict enough. They are significantly stricter than anything within the academy just now. No doubt, many may believe they are way too strict. But whether you believe them too strict, or not strict enough, I would encourage you to engage them. Consistent with my NC principle, I will reward kindness and insight with at least kindness. I will ignore people whose argument style stopped developing in high school. But because this is an issue I very much want to continue to work on, the only thing for sure is I won't accept money to consult around it. (And of course, there are millions throwing hundreds of millions at me to do this, so this is a REAL sacrifice.) Finally, and again, I don't offer this as a tool to condemn. I offer it because I believe this is a conversation we all should have.
for the record
After my debate last week at CISAC (at Google Video here), The Register published a piece (archived) about the event. I've received a bunch of angry email about what was reported in that piece. The relevant quotes offered in the Register's article, however, are not correct. First, The Register writes that I said: "I have two lives," he said. "One is in Creative Commons...the other is in litigation against authors." In fact, I said: "I have two lives in this. One is leading Creative Commons. And the other [is leading] litigation which is , I'm sure, in conflict with the views of many people about copyright." Listen to the clip here: mp3, ogg. Second, The Register also wrote that I said: "No one at Creative Commons has attacked authors." That's certainly true. No one working at Creative Commons has ever "attacked authors." However true, the quote is not what I said. In fact, I said: "Nobody who works for Creative Commons has ever attacked collecting rights societies in the way you described." Listen to the clip here (mp3, ogg. Third, The Register wrote that I said: "I assert that there is no fundamental disagreement between the objectives of the societies and the objectives of Creative Commons." This caused many from the "movement" to complain that in fact there were important conflicts between Creative Commons and Collecting Rights Societies. In fact, what I said was: "I assert that there is no fundamental disagreement between the objectives of the Collecting Rights Societies, as you've described them and the objectives of what Creative Commons is trying to do." The qualification is important, because Brett Cottle had described compromises that Collecting Rights Societies were making to fit with the digital age. While I don't believe it's accurate that all Collecting Rights Societies have been as progressive as Mr. Cottle suggests, I do believe that if they were, there would be "no fundamental disagreement" between them and our objectives. Listen to the clip here: mp3, ogg. Fourth, some complained that I had referred to the work of creators who don't intend their creative work to be licensed commercially as "a secondary class of creators." Actually, of you read The Register's piece carefully, you'll see that the first time that quote is used it states "a second class of creators." The second time it appears "second" has morphed into "secondary." All I meant to do was to distinguish one class of creators -- professionals, who create for money -- from a second class of creators -- those who create for the love of creating, and not for the money. I did not say that these creators were of a second class. Indeed, my whole point was that these creators too deserved "respect." That point is conveyed quite accurately by the International Herald Tribune piece about the same debate. Finally, The Register wrote something that has led at least one blogger to believe that I am employed by Google. I don't think a charitable interpretation of what The Register wrote could support that reading. But to the extent it does, let me state clearly that I am not employed by Google. Nor do I represent them. The suggestion of a conflict in The Register's piece has, however, led me to craft a disclosure statement that I should have published (ala Dave Weinberger and Ethan Zuckerman and Dana Boyd) long ago. I will post that statement tomorrow. After my debate last week at CISAC (at Google Video here), The Register published a piece (archived) about the event. I've received a bunch of angry email about what was reported in that piece. The relevant quotes offered in the Register's article, however, are not correct. First, The Register writes that I said: "I have two lives," he said. "One is in Creative Commons...the other is in litigation against authors." In fact, I said: "I have two lives in this. One is leading Creative Commons. And the other [is leading] litigation which is , I'm sure, in conflict with the views of many people about copyright." Listen to the clip here: mp3, ogg. Second, The Register also wrote that I said: "No one at Creative Commons has attacked authors." That's certainly true. No one working at Creative Commons has ever "attacked authors." However true, the quote is not what I said. In fact, I said: "Nobody who works for Creative Commons has ever attacked collecting rights societies in the way you described." Listen to the clip here: mp3, ogg. Third, The Register wrote that I said: "I assert that there is no fundamental disagreement between the objectives of the societies and the objectives of Creative Commons." This caused many from the "movement" to complain that in fact there were important conflicts between Creative Commons and Collecting Rights Societies. In fact, what I said was: "I assert that there is no fundamental disagreement between the objectives of the Collecting Rights Societies, as you've described them and the objectives of what Creative Commons is trying to do." The qualification is important, because Brett Cottle had described compromises that Collecting Rights Societies were making to fit with the digital age. While I don't believe it's accurate that all Collecting Rights Societies have been as progressive as Mr. Cottle suggests, I do believe that if they were, there would be "no fundamental disagreement" between them and our objectives. Listen to the clip here: mp3, ogg. Fourth, some complained that I had referred to the work of creators who don't intend their creative work to be licensed commercially as "a secondary class of creators." Actually, of you read The Register's piece carefully, you'll see that the first time that quote is used it states "a second class of creators." The second time it appears "second" has morphed into "secondary." All I meant to do was to distinguish one class of creators -- professionals, who create for money -- from a second class of creators -- those who create for the love of creating, and not for the money. I did not say that these creators were of a second class. Indeed, my whole point was that these creators too deserved "respect." That point is conveyed quite accurately by the International Herald Tribune piece about the same debate. Finally, The Register wrote something that has led at least one blogger to believe that I am employed by Google. I don't think a charitable interpretation of what The Register wrote could support that reading. But to the extent it does, let me state clearly that I am not employed by Google. Nor do I represent them. The suggestion of a conflict in The Register's piece has, however, led me to craft a disclosure statement that I should have published (ala Dave Weinberger and Ethan Zuckerman and Dana Boyd) long ago. I will post that statement tomorrow.
On the Helprin reply: Wow
So I posted the entry calling on people to write a reply to the Helprin piece, and then got on a plane in Boston. When I landed in Frankfurt, I got an email: "Wow! Pretty amazing wiki article." And indeed it was (and is) -- filled with useful facts and ideas, structured and accessible. A real improvement on the Lessig-averages no doubt. I would have focused the attack in much the same way, though with some differences in emphases. In my view, the right answer comes not so much from careful attention to the metaphysics of property, but from a practical consideration of the burdens of different copyright systems. Where we know that after a very short time, the vast majority of work has no continuing commercial value at all, and that after a relatively short period of time, we've provided authors with all the incentives to create they could possibly need, what justification is there for the continued burden of copyright regulation? That question leads some to say "none," and others to say (ala Posner), "well, at least require those wanting an additional term to take affirmative steps to claim it." But all who adopt this practical perspective conclude the term should be well short of infinity. The other thing that struck me about the essay was a point that often gets lost in the rhetoric around "originality" and "remix." This debate is often couched in terms of "respect" for the author. The problem with the remixer, I've been told again and again, is that he doesn't respect the author. But compare Helprin's piece with Jonathan Lethem's, "The Ecstasy of Influence." Lethem's is constructed through the words of others. Helprin's barely cites anyone. Yet Helprin's topic is perhaps the most familiar in the history of copyright law. There must be a thousand interesting places where people have considered the same issue, and provided interesting, and compelling responses. (One favorite is Nimmer's: "If I may own Blackacre in perpetuity, why not also Black Beauty? The answer lies in the first amendment. There is no countervailing speech interest which must be balanced against perpetual ownership of tangible real and personal property. There is such a speech interest, with respect to literary property, or copyright." Melville B. Nimmer, Does Copyright Abridge the First Amendment Guaranties of Free Speech and the Press?, 17 UCLA L. Rev. 1180, 1193 (1970).) Yet Helprin doesn't bother with what others have written. He wakes up one morning puzzled by a feature of law that has been with us for more than two centuries, and rather than research the question a bit, or think about it in light of what others have said, he just fires off an op-ed to the New York Times. Now between Lethem's piece (pure remix) and Helprin's (pure Helprin), which is more respectful of authorship?
Keen's "The Cult of the Amateur": BRILLIANT!
Tomorrow is the official on-sale date for Andrew Keen's "The Cult of the Amateur," but the book is already getting lots of attention. Keen, a writer, and failed Internet entrepreneur, spends 200 pages attacking the rise of the "amateur" and the harm -- economic, social, cultural and political -- these amateurs will cause. Without "standards," without "taste," without "institutions" to "filter" good from bad, true from false, the Internet, Keen argues, is destined to destroy us. There's much in the book that even we amateur-o-philes should think about. How can we build trust into the structures of knowledge the Internet is enabling (Wikipedia, blogs, etc.)? How can make sure the contribution adds to understanding rather than confuses it? These are hard questions. And as is true of Wikipedia at each moment of every day -- there is more work to be done. But what is puzzling about this book is that it purports to be a book attacking the sloppiness, error and ignorance of the Internet, yet it itself is shot through with sloppiness, error and ignorance. It tells us that without institutions, and standards, to signal what we can trust (like the institution (Doubleday) that decided to print his book), we won't know what's true and what's false. But the book itself is riddled with falsity -- from simple errors of fact, to gross misreadings of arguments, to the most basic errors of economics. So how could it be that a book criticizing the Internet -- because the product of a standardless process where nothing is "vetted for accuracy" (as he says of Wikipedia) -- could itself be so mistaken, when it, presumably, has been "vetted for accuracy" and was only selected for publication because it passed the high standards of truth imposed by its publisher -- Doubleday? And then it hit me: Keen is our generation's greatest self-parodist. His book is not a criticism of the Internet. Like the article in Nature comparing Wikipedia and Britannica, the real argument of Keen's book is that traditional media and publishing is just as bad as the worst of the Internet. Here's a book -- Keen's -- that has passed through all the rigor of modern American publishing, yet which is perhaps as reliable as your average blog post: No doubt interesting, sometimes well written, lots of times ridiculously over the top -- but also riddled with errors. Keen's obvious point is to show those with a blind faith in the traditional system that it can be just as bad as the worst of the Internet. Indeed, one might say even worse, since the Internet doesn't primp itself with the pretense that its words are promised to be true. So lighten up on poor Mr. Keen, folks. He is an ally. His work will help us all understand the limits in accuracy, taste, judgment, and understanding shot through all of our systems of knowledge. The lesson he teaches is one we should all learn -- to read and think critically, whether reading the product of the "monkeys" (as Keen likens contributors to the Internet to be) or books published by presses such as Doubleday. I've outlined some of these errors in the Extended Entry below. I've also placed that enumeration on a wiki, and I invite everyone to help construct the The Keen Reader -- listing and demonstrating the errors in his book, so others can see quite clearly just how brilliant a self-parody this book is.
Helprin on perpetual copyright: write the reply?
So I've gotten (literally) scores of emails about this piece by Mark Helprin promoting perpetual copyright terms. "Write a reply!" is the demand. But why don't you write the reply instead. Here's a page on wiki.lessig.org. Please write an argument that puts this argument in its proper place.
Free Culture, Harvard
Next week, Harvard will hold this year's Free Culture National Conference. Go, join, multiply!
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macgngsta's Xanga site
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Officially Dislike Xanga (Monday, February 11, 2008 )
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gmail skins (Thursday, February 07, 2008 )
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the heavens...are on fire!!! (Tuesday, January 22, 2008 )
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strategies for splash mountain (Monday, January 14, 2008 )
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Saturday, February 09, 2008
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Engagement News (Thursday, September 14, 2006 )
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Fool.com: The Motley Fool
Today's top headlines from The Motley Fool
Is It Time to Sell?
Read this before you pull the ripcord!
The Best Stocks of the Millennium
They're not the ones we were writing about in 1999.
A Fool Looks Back
Access, adversity, and amorous overtures colored in the market's pages this past week.
The Fool's Look Ahead
Hunches, punches, and leg crunches will roll in next week.
The Best Growth Stocks
There's more to growth than just a high growth rate.
3 Big-Time Trades
Had you made them, you wouldn't need my advice.
This Mistake Could Cost You a Fortune
So don't make it ... again.
Are We Headed For a Recession? Who Cares?
You can make money either way.
Best. Investments. Ever.
There's a reason more than 90 million investors choose these vehicles. Is it the right one?
Ingersoll-Rand's Ins and Outs
Caught in the midst of a makeover, Ingersoll-Rand checks in with a so-so quarter.
The Last, Best Hope for Tech Investors?
Uncle Sam's house is getting crowded.
Turning $1,000 Into $277 Trillion
It's astoundingly easy. Well, not really.
What You Don't Know About Peter Lynch
Buy what you know? That's just half of the story.
Thursday's Worst Stocks in the World
It had to be someone.
Early Signs of Winning Stocks
Spotting the clues to buy before stocks rise.
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mozillaZine
Your source for daily Mozilla news, advocacy, interviews, builds, and more!
Ten Years Ago Today: Netscape Announces Free Communicator Source Code Release
Mozilla Firefox 3 Beta 2 Released
Mozilla QA Seeks Pre-Release Testers for Release Candidates and Developer Builds
Correo Mac OS X Mail Client Follows in the Footsteps of Camino
Camino 1.6 Alpha 1 Available for Preview
Camino 1.5.4 Released for Mac OS X
Mozilla Foundation Directed Giving Enables Specific Donations for Bugzilla, Camino, SeaMonkey and Accessibility
SeaMonkey 1.1.7 Released
Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.11 Fixes Canvas Regression
Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.10 Released
Firefox 3.0 Beta 1 Now Available
Updates
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Netflix New Releases This Week
New movies at Netflix this week
Chaos
With a gang leader (Wesley Snipes) holding dozens of hostages at an interrupted bank robbery, suspended cop Detective Quentin Conners (Jason Statham) is pulled back into action to negotiate. But when chaos erupts inside, the baddies escape. Now, Conners must pair with rookie cop Shane Dekker (Ryan Phillippe) to find the gang before they pull off an even bigger heist in this tense action flick directed by Tony Giglio.
Gabriel
In the long-standing fight between good and evil, Gabriel (Andy Whitfield), the lone surviving archangel, must engage in an epic last stand against the fallen angels to save the citizens of purgatory. Taking on human form, Gabriel wrestles with earthly emotions -- including a romance with a prostitute (Samantha Noble) -- and launches a fierce battle against purgatory's ruler (Dwaine Stevenson) in this dark actioner.
The Fists of Righteous Harmony
A group of motorcycle-riding ninja vigilantes known as the Fists of Righteous Harmony fear their days may be numbered when they learn of a conspiracy involving their nemeses the Dark Monk, assassin Franco Gungori and the menacing Black Mask gang. When a series of attacks land a little too close for comfort, the Fists are forced to go into hiding to learn the only technique they can use to defeat their emboldened enemies.
Curious George: Goes to the Doctor and Lends a Helping Hand
In this Emmy-nominated PBS show narrated by actor William H. Macy, a curious monkey -- George -- uses his inquisitiveness (and misadventures) to learn a slew of things about the worlds of math, science and engineering. Frank Welker voices George, and Jeff Bennett provides the voice for the Man with the Yellow Hat. Besides the eight episodes included, the video contains a pair of interactive games.
Disney's Little Einsteins: Race for Space
When Leo, June, Quincy, Annie and Rocket learn that the Three Little Piggies have lost control of their airplane, they blast off on an outer space mission to rescue their porky pink friends and guide them home. Then, the Little Einstein crew takes on the devious Big Jet and a group of the world's fastest flying machines in an exciting race around the planet.
Gadget Boy and Heather: Along Came a Spydra
Infused with the personality of the world's clumsiest bionic gumshoe -- Inspector Gadget -- Gadget Boy returns to thwart the elaborate schemes of the planet's most nefarious scoundrels. In this collection of episodes from the animated series, he's out to take down the villainess Spydra, who -- with assistance from her Russian flunky, Boris Vulture -- aims to unleash chaos and destruction on the globe.
Gadget Boy and Heather: Gadget Boy Saves the World
Gadget Boy -- the futuristic incarnation of hapless robotic sleuth Inspector Gadget -- returns for more adventures in this collection of hilarious episodes, traveling the globe to fight crime along with secret agent Heather and mechanized dog G-9. Every bit as bumbling as his legendary predecessor, Gadget Boy has a knack for missteps, but the myriad high-tech gizmos he has at his disposal save the day.
Handy Manny: Fixing It Right
Handyman par excellence Handy Manny (voiced by Wilmer Valderrama) puts his gang of talkative tools to work tackling the problems of the Sheet Rock Hills community in these episodes from Disney's popular animated series. Join the fun as Rusty, the monkey wrench, conquers his fear of heights to fix a jungle gym; handsaw Dusty figures out the mystery behind the disappearing socks; and hammer Pat devises a smart solution to a supersized problem.
Heathcliff: New Cat in Town
With a voice provided by the legendary Mel Blanc, Heathcliff -- the coolest feline on the block -- is back with another animated collection of hilarious high jinks and madcap adventures. Ever the prankster, impish Heathcliff always finds a way to escape the sticky situations that he creates for himself and for his cohorts.
Ready Set Learn!: Vol. 1: Try, Try Again!
Children learn the value of perseverance in this installment of the acclaimed Ready Set Learn! series. Paz the penguin encourages an optimistic approach to learning new skills and teaches the value of not giving up. Join Paz and his friends Wilbur and the Save-Ums as they guide children through one delightful adventure after another. When learning is this much fun, kids love to try, try again!
Ready Set Learn!: Vol. 2: Spring Fling
Learning emotional intelligence is loads of fun with this installment of the Ready Set Learn! series. Travel along with Paz the penguin and his buddies Wilbur and the Save-Ums as they tackle exciting new experiences meant to provoke children's natural curiosity. Crafted with a delightful mix of live-action puppetry and animation, these adventures encourage kids to encounter the everyday world with a sense of fascination and fun.
Sonic Underground: Sonic to the Rescue
This set of adventures based on the hit video game follows siblings Sonic, Manic and Sonia as they continue to thwart Dr. Robotnik's wicked schemes. The intrepid hedgehogs travel to Port Mobius, where they learn that ships are falling prey to a Mobian sea beast -- but all is not what it seems as Capt. Squeegee discovers that there's a scam afoot. Later, the trio stumbles upon a beautiful oasis that Robotnik may be monitoring.
The Land Before Time: Adventuring in the Mysterious Beyond
Loofah, Doofah and all the other lovable dinosaurs from the Land Before Time movies are back in four episodes of prehistoric adventures that will thrill kids even as they learn important lessons about friendship, loyalty and growing up. Memorable songs will also have youngsters on their feet dancing and singing, ensuring hours of fun. Also included is the "Egg-Citing Pattern Game" interactive feature.
Bugville
The insect world comes to life in this classic animated feature from Dave and Max Fleischer, creators of Betty Boop and Popeye. Hoppity the grasshopper returns to Bugville to find trouble in the form of the evil Bagley C. Beetle and his henchmen. Will Hoppity foil Bagley in time to save his garden paradise from ruin? This heartwarming tale will delight audiences of all ages with its timeless animation and charm.
Secrets of a Soul
The newborn field of psychoanalysis provides the backdrop for this 1926 German thriller directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst. A tormented scientist (Werner Krauss) suffering from an irrational fear of knives and the irresistible urge to murder his wife seeks help in confronting his demons once and for all. The scientist's fantastic nightmares find brilliant expression in surreal sequences that mark this as a work of true cinematic art.
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The Big Noob
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O'Reilly Network ONJava.com
O'Reilly Network's source for Java developer news and information. O'Reilly Network's ONJava site offers comprehensive and enterprise Java, JSP, Servlets, Tomcat, EJB, JDBC, XML, JXTA and more java development information and resources including original feature articles, tutorials, java api map, news and commentary.
Digital Media Insider Podcast 22: Synthesizer Sound Design
Part of the joy of playing electronic musical instruments is exploring the unique banks of sounds inside. This month, we speak again with Francis Preve, a Top 10 remixer who also works as the principal sound designer for Ableton and a consulting sound designer for Korg. Hear how he creates the sounds behind the hits.
Aperture 2.0 with Joe Schorr
Aperture 2.0 is faster, easier to use, and produces better images, says Joe Schorr, Apple Senior Product Manager. In this interview with Derrick Story, Joe explains how Aperture 2.0 meets those lofty claims. This chat covers a lot of new ground.
A Look Back at 10 Years of OSI
It's been 10 years since the Open Source Initiative was launched, and what a 10 years it has been. Open Source has gone from an obscure and radical concept to a vibrant sector of the software landscape. For the 10th Anniversary, our faithful newshound Federico Biancuzzi talked to some of the early pioneers of the OSI (such as Bruce Perens and Eric Raymond) about where it came from and how it is relevant today.
Using Xen for High Availability Clusters
Virtualization is one approach that you can take to implementing clusters. But you still have to arrange to handle failures in a high-availability environment. Here's one solution, using Xen.
MORE Music Technology at NAMM 2008
We're back from NAMM 2008 with even more intriguing new gadgets and gear. Once again, the throbbing halls of America's biggest musical instrument trade show introduced a torrent of high-tech goodness. From a $99 Steinway to a truly killer guitar, from audible notation to singing keys, here's what you'll be playing this year.
Katrin Eismann's Digital Darkroom Magic
Katrin Eismann, coauthor of The Creative Digital Darkroom, sat down with Derrick Story at PhotoPlus Expo in New York for a chat about how the darkroom has evolved from chemical-based to digital, and how that evolution has influenced her approach to image making. Katrin touches on many interesting topics, including her explanation on 3-step sharpening.
Cool Music Technology at NAMM 2008
America's biggest musical instrument show debuted more high-tech wonders than ever this year. O'Reilly Digital Media prowled NAMM's five massive, noisy halls to bring back these high-tech hits.
LILO and GRUB: Boot Loaders Made Simple
LILO and Grub are the most popular Linux bootloaders. Usually, your Linux distribution chooses and configures one or the other for you, but this article provides a handy comparison of the two, and offers some troubleshooting and configuration tips if you ever want to do it by hand.
Less is More: Steve Jobs' Macworld 2008 Keynote Address
Steve Jobs opened the Macworld surprise envelope at the 2008 keynote address and out slid a sleek notebook computer: the Macbook Air. Daniel Steinberg was on hand for the unveiling and files this report about all the new hardware, iPhone updates, and more.
Administering MySQL Using Flex
Adobe's Flex offers a rich client-side user experience, but how do you use it to create practical applications. In this article, you'll see how to hook Flex up to a PHP backend to do some simple MySQL administration.
Review: Sony PCM-D50 Portable WAV Recorder
Sony's newest digital audio recorder boasts many of the exotic features of the flagship PCM-D1 for a third of the price. Once again, guitarist Mark Nelson renews his quest for the perfect handheld recorder — and it looks like the sixth time may be the charm.
Joe Schorr on Leopard and Aperture
Leopard brings a host of new goodies for Aperture users by virtue of the new photography functionality baked right into the operating system. In this interview with Senior Product Manager Joe Schorr, you'll hear some of the most enticing and useful features for Aperture photographers.
Shoes Meets Merb: Driving a GUI App through Web Services in Ruby
It seems like you can't say the word Ruby these days without the word Rails following automatically. But before Rails ever saw the light of day, Ruby was a thriving, robust language. So what can you do without Rails? How about connect a GUI application to a back end web service, using two powerful Ruby frameworks?
Digital Media Insider Podcast 21: Remixing Tips with Francis Preve
Francis Preve produced six Billboard Top 10 remixes last year alone, but he graciously found time to share his insights and techniques. Hear the Preve magic in before-and-after musical examples and learn how he turned a shockingly small pile of gear into a production powerhouse.
Using InDesign CS3's Auto-Numbering Feature Across Stories
Creative Suite expert and author of the Adobe Photoshop and InDesign CS3 One-on-One books Deke McClelland offers a step by step tutorial on how to use InDesign CS3's improved auto-numbering feature. Now InDesign can preserve your sanity by keeping track of your numbered lists automatically.
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MacOSXHints.com
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Save selected browser text via AppleScript
I occasionally find myself wanting to save some text from a browser window. Usually I want to know where the text came from as well, so just dragging out a text clipping to the desktop is not a good solution. I wrote two AppleScripts (one for Safari and one for Firefox) to make saving a selected text, URL, and page title from browser windows easier. The scripts write the browser's selected text and other info to a text file that it creates on the user's desktop. (I don't like clutter on the desktop, so on my Mac, this file gets created in another folder. However, I wanted to provide example scripts that worked, so I chose the desktop). Below is an example of the script's output with the date, the URL, the page title and some text from a selection: Wednesday, February 6, 2008 8:40:11 PM http://some-url.com Photo of the Day ------------------- A deep-blue sky sets off a mass of yellow wildflower blooms along ... [snip] ... magazine ~~...
Create easy 'tracking' apps for iPhone via Google Docs
Since I've had my iPhone, I've found a few things that I wish I could do with it. I wished that I had a fuel-economy tracker app for my car, an expense tracker for work-expenses and others. I knew I could've set-up a custom web-page backed with a database, but it just seemed that there should be an easier way.It seems Google thought so too, as they've just released a powerful new Forms extension to their Google Docs app, Spreadsheets. Using Forms, you can essentially create a survey or email-based input form for a spreadsheet you've created. This has great implications for those needing to create ad-hoc surveys for your work-mates, friends, family and more. However, there's nothing stopping you from inviting only yourself to the form.To get started, go to Google Docs (sign-up if necessary), create a new spreadsheet. If you want, you can add a few columns with a header row to make things a little easier in the next step. Then, go t...
Microsoft Office spell check dialog shortcut keys
I like to use keyboard shortcut as much as possible to save my carpal-tunnelled mousing hand some work, so I was very frustrated not to be able to find the shortcut keys for the Microsoft Office 2004 spell check dialog anywhere in Word Help or on the net. I had a hunch that the Microsoft programmers would take the easy way out, and have them be the same as on the Windows version. So I searched for an image of the Windows spell check dialog with the shortcut keys underlined. This image showed me the following shortcuts: Ignore is Command-I or Return Ignore All is Command-G Add is Command-A Change All is Command-L Auto Correct is Command-R Options... is Command-O Undo is Command-U Check Grammar (check box toggle) is Command-K The only one that doesn't match the Windows version is the simple Change button, which requires a Command-E to mo...
Remove Gmail's All Mail folder in Mail from Spotlight index
A simple hint. Although we cannot remove the duplicate messages stored in the All Mail folder of a Gmail IMAP account in Mail.app -- we can't even unsubscribe from the folder -- at least we can add the folder to Spotlight's list of places not to index. Then searching will no longer show duplicate emails. In System Preferences ﾻ Spotlight ﾻ Privacy, add each user's All Mail Gmail folder, usually found here: ~/Library ﾻ Mail ﾻ IMAP-username@imap.gmail.com ﾻ [Gmail] ﾻ All Mail.imapmbox Not perfect, but no longer finding duplicates is nice.
10.5: View any PowerPoint document in Quick Look
Sometimes I would be able to view PowerPoint (.pps) documents with Quick Look, but sometimes I wouldn’t. This problem bothered me for some time, but I think I've solved it -- thanks to the helpful folks on this forum thread (in French). The solution involves editing the Office Quick Look generator file; read on for the how-to... Here's what I did: Navigate to /System ﾻ Library ﾻ QuickLook ﾻ Office.qlgenerator. Control-click on the generator and pick Show Package Contents from the pop-up menu. Then navigate to Contents. Create a copy of info.plist to use as a backup. Open info.plist with TextEdit or your favorite text editor. Scroll down to find the following text: ...
Avoid font display issues when installing Office 2008
More a tip than a hint: When the Microsoft Office 2008 installer tells you to shut down other running applications before installing, listen to its advice. I just installed Office 2008 and threw caution to the wind by leaving Safari open (I had a page open with an unsubmitted form that I didn't want to lose). After the installer finished, Safari seemingly lost the ability to display a significant number of consonants when rendering sans-serif fonts. Not exactly a system melt down, but it made Safari strangely unusable until I rebooted. [robg adds: As a counterpoint, I left tons of stuff running while I installed Office 2008, and didn't seem to have any font-related issues.]
Scroll through windows in Exposé's All Windows mode
I just noticed purely by accident that after invoking Exposé's All Windows mode, I can roll the scroll ball on the Mighty Mouse and the selection 'cursor' (the one showing which window will become active) moves about the available windows in a predictable, if not intuitive, manner.
10.5: Revert Help Viewer to 10.4-like behavior
For anyone out there who gets frustrated by the Leopard Help application being a background app (no Dock icon), and one that can't be hidden behind other windows, I have a solution for you. In other words, this hint will revert the Help application to the Tiger (and earlier) behavior. This hint requires the Apple Developer Tools (Xcode), and a hex editor such as HexEdit or similar. Read on for a smorgasbord of Interface Builder, Property Lists and hex editing! You will also require root access. Login via the login window, or login via the Terminal and launch your executables with sudo. [robg says: please back up Help Viewer before trying this hint -- see my note below for a quick way to do so!] Part 1: Disable background behaviour Open /System ﾻ Library ﾻ CoreServices ﾻ Help Viewer.app ﾻ [...
10.5: Create a custom Dock for the Guest account
If you're like me, you like Leopard's new guest account and how it is flushed of all data between logins. How nice it is for house guests to be able to log in while visiting, and have no remnants of their activity remain when they leave. But that darn Dock. What guests are going to want to use Address Book or Garage Band? And for my guests who have never used a Mac before (most of them), where's the Web browser? What does Safari do? How nice it would be for the Guest account's Dock to have only Firefox in it. But if I change the Guest Dock, the Leopard default Dock comes back the next login. Here's a way to set up the Guest account's Dock however you like, and have it automatically come up at each login -- and this doesn't involve hacking the System folder like some other hints floating around out there. Here's how to do it: Download and install the ...
Auto-fill FedEx forms in Safari via AppleScript
If you do a lot of shipping with FedEx, you know how annoying it is to cut and paste all the address information into Safari. There are expensive programs that will extract information, but most don't work with OS X or require Filemaker. Here's a quick hint I use quite often to autofill the FedEx forms. tell application "Safari" activate tell (make new document) to set URL to "https://www.fedex.com/ship/shipEntryAction.do?method=doInitialEntry&origincountry=us&locallang=en&urlparams=us&sType=&programIndicator=0" delay 2 set doc to document "FedEx | Ship Manager | Shipping" log (doc's name) do JavaScript "document.forms['domesticShipmentActionForm']['recipient.companyName'].value...
Change the screen saver's idle time via AppleScript
The settings in the Desktop & Screen Saver System Preferences panel are among several that don't stick when you move an OS X startup drive to a Mac that you've never connected the drive to before. These settings are at ~/Library ﾻ Preferences ﾻ ByHost ﾻ com.apple.screensaver.0011aa2233cc.plist, where 0011aa2233cc is the Ethernet ID of the Mac's primary Ethernet port (en0), also known as the MAC (Media Access Control) address, which is a number unique to each Mac. The ByHost folder will gather a collection of plists for other preference panes, applications, etc., all with names containing the Ethernet ID specific to every Mac it's seen. One purpose for this is to allow you to have your user folder stored on a network, letting you have different preferences for each Mac that accesses that home folder. However, this makes it inconvenient when you have a utility drive that you connect to any number of Macs that those Macs haven't seen before. For instan...
Combine Safari 3's Reopen Windows and Private Browsing
As a system administrator, I do a lot of research on websites during my workday. I often have many tabs and windows open at the same time. I am also sometimes constantly interrupted by people who need help, or sometimes I need a reboot. I have wanted to see a feature called 'Save this Safari session' for a long time -- so that I could quit Safari and return at a later time to finish what I was doing. (Finding relevant websites/articles is part of the work I do. When I have to quit Safari, in a sense, it's like a copy editor starting a new chapter over again.) Although Safari 3 didn't come through for me completely, they did add one feature that gets me part of the way there, and I have found more than one use for it. The History ﾻ Reopen All Windows From Last Session command is that new feature, and it's all we have for now. Beyond the expected uses (Safari unexpectedly quits with many windows/tabs open; or I have to reboot my system), here's a way to use it in conjunction...
10.5: Disable Space switching on Command-Tab in 10.5.2
The 10.5.2 version of the Dock has a new hidden preferences flag for Spaces. You can now set OSX to not automatically switch between spaces when you press Command-Tab. This is great for me, because I like to divide things by task, rather than by app. For a given task, I'll probably have a TextEdit window, a Terminal window, and maybe a web browser. By default, when I clicked on a given app, I'd be transported to that app's space, and have to go through a bunch of hoops to get the new window in the space I wanted. Now, I can just Command-Tab to the app I want, and create a new window in the current space! Here's the command in Terminal:defaults write com.apple.Dock workspaces-auto-swoosh -bool NOAfter running the command, you'll need to restart the Dock (killall Dock). To undo, change NO to YES, or use defaults delete com.apple.Dock w...
10.5: Browse other Time Machine archives in 10.5.2
With the new menu bar icon for Time Machine introduced in 10.5.2, there comes a very easy way to browse through non-default Time Machine archives. Just click the new Time Machine menu bar icon, and hold down Option. When you do, the Enter Time Machine menu item will change to Browse Other Time Machine Disks.
Recover from a purple screen in Apple TV Take 2
If your TV screen goes purplish after installing the Apple TV Take 2 software update, there's no real problem; it's simply an incorrect setting. Your Apple TV is sending YPrBr, but your TV is expecting RGB. To fix it, go into Settings and choose Video, go down to the HDMI and click, and it will change.
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Pepys' Diary
Every day an entry of Samuel Pepys’ 17th century London diary.
Friday 17 February 1664/65
Up, and it being bitter cold, and frost and snow, which I had thought had quite left us, I by coach to Povy's, where he told me, as I knew already, how he was handled the other day, and is still, by my Lord Barkeley, and among other things tells me, what I did not know, how my Lord Barkeley will say openly, that he hath fought more set fields --[Battles or actions]-- than any man in England hath done. I did my business with him, which was to get a little sum of money paid, and so home with Mr. Andrews, who met me there, and there to the office. At noon home and there found Lewellin, which vexed me out of my old jealous humour. So to my office, where till 12 at night, being only a little while at noon at Sir W. Batten's to see him, and had some high words with Sir J. Minnes about Sir W. Warren, he calling him cheating knave, but I cooled him, and at night at Sir W. Pen's, he being to go to Chatham to-morrow. So home to supper and to bed.
Thursday 16 February 1664/65
Up, and with Mr. Andrews to White Hall, where a Committee of Tangier, and there I did our victuallers' business for some more money, out of which I hope to get a little, of which I was glad; but, Lord! to see to what a degree of contempt, nay, scorn, Mr. Povy, through his prodigious folly, hath brought himself in his accounts, that if he be not a man of a great interest, he will be kicked out of his employment for a foole, is very strange, and that most deservedly that ever man was, for never any man, that understands accounts so little, ever went through so much, and yet goes through it with the greatest shame and yet with confidence that ever I saw man in my life. God deliver me in my owne business of my bill out of his hands, and if ever I foul my fingers with him again let me suffer for it! Back to the 'Change, and thence home to dinner, where Mrs. Hunt dined with me, and poor Mrs. Batters; who brought her little daughter with her, and a letter from her husband, wherein, as a token, the foole presents me very seriously with his daughter for me to take the charge of bringing up for him, and to make my owne. But I took no notice to her at all of the substance of the letter, but fell to discourse, and so went away to the office, where all the afternoon till almost one in the morning, and then home to bed.
Wednesday 15 February 1664/65
Up and to my office, where busy all the morning. At noon with Creed to dinner to Trinity-house, where a very good dinner among the old sokers, where an extraordinary discourse of the manner of the loss of the "Royall Oake" coming home from Bantam, upon the rocks of Scilly, many passages therein very extraordinary, and if I can I will get it in writing. Thence with Creed to Gresham College, where I had been by Mr. Povy the last week proposed to be admitted a member;<sup id="fnr1-1665-02-15">1</sup> and was this day admitted, by signing a book and being taken by the hand by the President, my Lord Brunkard, and some words of admittance said to me. But it is a most acceptable thing to hear their discourse, and see their experiments; which were this day upon the nature of fire, and how it goes out in a place where the ayre is not free, and sooner out where the ayre is exhausted, which they showed by an engine on purpose. After this being done, they to the Crowne Taverne, behind the 'Change, and there my Lord and most of the company to a club supper; Sir P. Neale, Sir R. Murrey, Dr. Clerke, Dr. Whistler, Dr. Goddard, and others of most eminent worth. Above all, Mr. Boyle to-day was at the meeting, and above him Mr. Hooke, who is the most, and promises the least, of any man in the world that ever I saw. Here excellent discourse till ten at night, and then home, and to Sir W. Batten's, where I hear that Sir Thos. Harvy intends to put Mr. Turner out of his house and come in himself, which will be very hard to them, and though I love him not, yet for his family's sake I pity him. So home and to bed.<ol> <li id="fn1-1665-02-15">According to the minutes of the Royal Society for February 15th, 1664-65, "Mr. Pepys was unanimously elected and admitted." Notes of the experiments shown by Hooke and Boyle are given in Birch's "History of the Royal Society," vol. ii., p. 15. ↩</li> </ol>
Tuesday 14 February 1664/65
(St. Valentine). This morning comes betimes Dicke Pen, to be my wife's Valentine, and come to our bedside. By the same token, I had him brought to my side, thinking to have made him kiss me; but he perceived me, and would not; so went to his Valentine: a notable, stout, witty boy. I up about business, and, opening the door, there was Bagwell's wife, with whom I talked afterwards, and she had the confidence to say she came with a hope to be time enough to be my Valentine, and so indeed she did, but my oath preserved me from loosing any time with her, and so I and my boy abroad by coach to Westminster, where did two or three businesses, and then home to the 'Change, and did much business there. My Lord Sandwich is, it seems, with his fleete at Alborough Bay. So home to dinner and then to the office, where till 12 almost at night, and then home to supper and to bed.
Monday 13 February 1664/65
Up and to St. James's, did our usual business before the Duke. Thence I to Westminster and by water (taking Mr. Stapely the rope-maker by the way), to his rope-ground and to Limehouse, there to see the manner of stoves and did excellently inform myself therein, and coming home did go on board Sir W. Petty's "Experiment," which is a brave roomy vessel, and I hope may do well. So went on shore to a Dutch [house] to drink some mum, and there light upon some Dutchmen, with whom we had good discourse touching stoveing and making of cables. But to see how despicably they speak of us for our using so many hands more to do anything than they do, they closing a cable with 20, that we use 60 men upon. Thence home and eat something, and then to my office, where very late, and then to supper and to bed. Captain Stokes, it seems, is at last dead at Portsmouth.
Sunday 12 February 1664/65
(Lord's day). Up and to church to St. Lawrence to hear Dr. Wilkins, the great scholar, for curiosity, I having never heard him: but was not satisfied with him at all, only a gentleman sat in the pew I by chance sat in, that sang most excellently, and afterward I found by his face that he had been a Paul's scholler, but know not his name, and I was also well pleased with the church, it being a very fine church. So home to dinner, and then to my office all the afternoon doing of business, and in the evening comes Mr. Hill (but no Andrews) and we spent the evening very finely, singing, supping and discoursing. Then to prayers and to bed.
Saturday 11 February 1664/65
Up and to my office, where all the morning. At noon to 'Change by coach with my Lord Brunkard, and thence after doing much business home to dinner, and so to my office all the afternoon till past 12 at night very busy. So home to bed.
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Planet RDF
It's triples all the way down
OWL 1.1 documents - please review
It is no secret, and in fact is a matter of public record, that although I am a member of the W3C’s OWL Working Group ,  I am not very happy with the language and its design.  I worry that we are adding a lot of complexity to the language for a small amount of functionality gain  (if any), that the work is being motivated by theoretical issues rather than user need, and that a small fragment of the growing OWL community is adding significant complexity to the language for very specific representational properties that follow from the Description Logic ...
CC for Photography
Creative Commons licensing for photographs? Food for thought.
How Google processes 20 petabytes of data each day
The latest CACM has an article by Google fellows Jeffrey Dean and Sanjay Ghemawat with interesting details on Google’s text processing engines. Niall Kennedy summarized it this way on his blog post, Google processes over 20 petabytes of data per day . “Google currently processes over 20 petabytes of data per day through an average of 100,000 MapReduce jobs spread across its massive computing clusters. The average MapReduce job ran across approximately 400 machines in September 2007, crunching approximately 11,000 machine years in a single month.” If big numbers numb your mind, 20 petabytes is 20,000,000,000,000,000 bytes (or 22,517,998,136,852,480 for ...
Firefox, new tabs, the address bar, and focus
A lazy web query. What's the deal with focus in Firefox?
TV 2007
I watch too much TV. Simple pleasures for simple minds. Or something like that.
Flickr (Yahoo) upcoming support for OpenID
According to Simon Willison, Flickr look set to support OpenID by allowing your photostream URL (eg. for me, http://www.flickr.com/photos/danbri/ ) to serve as an OpenID, ie. something you can type wherever you see “login using OpenID” and be bounced to Flickr/Yahoo to provide credentials instead of remembering yet another password. This is rather good news. For the portability-minded, it’s worth remembering that OpenID lets you put markup in your own Web page to devolve to such services. So my main OpenID is “ danbri.org ” , which is a document I control, on a domain that I own. In the ...
W3C OWL1.1 drafts published
The OWL Working Group has published the First Public Working Draft of three Web Ontology Language (OWL) 1.1 specifications: Structural Specification and Functional-Style Syntax , Model-Theoretic Semantics , and Mapping to RDF Graphs . Together, these new specifications extend the W3C OWL Web Ontology Language 1.0 with a small but useful set of features that have been requested by users, for which effective reasoning algorithms are now available, and that OWL tool developers are willing to support. The three drafts cover, respectively, the syntax, semantics, and mapping to RDF of OWL 1.1 ontologies.
Graph Farming
Graph Farming (pdf) - my latest IEEE Internet Computing column. This one was going to be the culmination of the previous columns , to be my grand exposition of HTTP/RDF agents, fleshing out the material I did for SFSW@ESWC2007 ( odf slides , they won't tell you much except that Sparql can be a glutton ). But by deadline day I really didn't like the material I'd got together. So I did a rush rewrite from scratch, throwing in timbl's Giant Global Graph and tinned beans. I'm quite pleased it came out fairly rambling and incoherent, far more use for ...
SemTech 2008 Talks; and Some Thoughts about OWL-based Policy Management
So we talked about 5 or 6 SemTech 2008 proposals based on our products, services, and technology bits. The guys convinced me that of those 6 ideas, there were 4 actual, strong proposals: A Pellet tutorial A talk about Pronto , our probabilistic reasoner integrated with Pellet A talk about XACML-DL, our XACML policy analyzer A talk about JSpace , our Linked Data browser I thought we had a very small chance for (1)-(3), but a better than 50% chance for (4); my reasons were based on what typically shows up at SemTech, the interests of the organizers (in my ...
Keynote speakers lined up for BlogTalk
I’m happy to announce that we have four interesting and varied keynote speakers lined up for the BlogTalk 2008 conference on social software in Cork this March. Nova Spivack - Founder and CEO, Radar Networks Nova is the entrepreneur behind the Twine “knowledge networking” application, which allows users to share, organise, and find information with people they trust. He will talk about semantic social software for consumers. Rashmi Sinha - Founder, Uzanto Rashmi led the team that produced SlideShare , a popular presentation-sharing service that some have described as “YouTube for PowerPoint”. She will talk about lessons learned from designing ...
Meeting Summary 7 January 2008
The Bristol meeting held just before Christmas means that the group has had a good deal of (very welcome) input from outside its membership. The group digested the advice received so far and actions have been assigned that should bring the Grouping of Resources document and the accompanying vocabulary and schema documents up to date. It seems that the changes necessary for these documents are relatively few in number so we're hopeful of making progress towards last call with these in the near future. In discussing the comments raised by Jeremy Carroll concerning groups of URIs rather then groups of ...
Meeting Summary 17 December 2007
The meeting began with a discussion of the new Open Archives Initiative's Object Reuse Exchange specification . Like POWDER, this seeks to create aggregations of resources. However, the similarity is not as great as it seems at first: resources are included in the aggregation through explicit enumeration; and ORE does not provide a way to apply metadata to members of the aggregation. It allows you to create an aggregation and declare who you are, when (and presumably why) you made the aggregation etc. but it doesn't allow you to say 'all the resources in the set are blue.' The POWDER ...
iTunes Store, It Was Fun While It Lasted
I just purchased my first album from the Amazon MP3 store, and that was the beginning of the end for me and iTunes Music Store. At Amazon, you can purchase regular old MP3’s without any DRM for the same price or cheaper than iTunes. Who wouldn’t want that? I’m not about stealing music, but the fact that I can now play my MP3 on any system just flat out beats the iTunes DRM experience of iPods only. Open systems, in this case MP3, win every time. So iTunes, are you listening? Get with the non-DRM game or fall by the ...
Named Graph Exchange
Following up on Exchange of Named RDF Graphs and the rapidly developing ARC2 RDF system, I have written a PHP /ARC2 version of my script for parsing and serialising a graph archive, and repackaged the original version into a single script for Redland . I will be using this for testing ARC2 (performance) with my photo database, to see if I can manage a simpler interface without sacrificing the excellent performance from Redland. So far, it seems parsing might be a bottleneck, but that isn’t really important, if the query handling is good (so far it looks great, I can ...
links for 2008-01-08
YouTube - RDFa Basics How to embed RDF into HTML. (tags: rdf semanticweb )
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Bug Report
Multi-Column Ordered List Renumbering
If you style an ordered list that contains links with the experimental <code>-moz-column-count</code> the list items of the last columns will be renumbered when a link in that column is clicked.
Backgrounds show through in invisible tables
Background colors given to element</code> as though it was also a <code>.class1.class2 + element:first-of-type</code>; assuming the final element getting selected in all the above rules are the same element type.
IE incorrectly handles tags when scripting
When scripting an object tag for the param tags, IE reports all param tags of all object tags as children of all object tags.
IE will not submit unless file field is correctly specified
When a file upload field has an incorrectly specified file, browsers respond in different ways. IE solves the problem by preventing form submission. <br>This approach is reasonably sensible, however it would be much better if IE popped up a warning dialog saying "File not found". Firefox takes a totally different approach; it lets the server sort out an appropriate response. <br>It means I have to code the server for this use case (good practice anyhow) and I can put up my own warning messages. In summary, the Firefox approach needs a bit more coding but gives me complete control over the page. IE means well, but leaves my users confused and unable to leave the page.
MSIE7 fieldset bug
There is a div element with float:left inside a fieldset. The fieldset has "border:1px solid #64461A;". Inside the fieldset is element. When tag is removed, there is no more border bug. Workaround: remove em tags when using float items inside the fieldset. (ppknote: this bug does not occur in IE6.)
Opera img max-width bug
Opera honors max-width for images, but still uses the un-resized image width to stretch a table column.
IE7 with haslayout and cursor text problem
This problem appears only in IE7, move your cursor to the #container1 filed (the red rectangle), it turns in to a text shape. Remove the hasLayout trigger(zoom:1 here) makes it return to normal arrow shape(the blue rectangle). This does not affect my IE6 and IE5. A single cursor:default; would be a cure, but it also changes the text cursor on normal text.
duplicate ID dom damage
Sometimes it is useful to switch two DOM objects with each other, and to reassign their ID's to make the process transparent. But in Safari and Safari alone, assigning an ID which already is being used does something bad. One of the objects can no longer be retrieved via document.getElementById, ever.
alphaimageloader filter shows backgrounds on zoom using ie7
Images using the AlpaImageLoader filter as a workaround to provide png transparency in ie6, work ok in ie7 unless the page is zoomed in or out. <br /> <br /> On zooming, some or all of the images' backgrounds become apparent. <br /> <br /> A possible workaround is to hide the alphaimageloader from ie7 as transparent images placed using css render/zoom ok.
overflow: auto with floats in Firefox
When an element containing floats has <code>overflow: auto</code>, it is allowed to get focus. This can affect layout and cause problems with tabbing.
Built-in functions are not objects
Built-in functions in Safari are not Function objects, and not even Object objects. They appear to be of type "function" instead of type "object". This makes it impossible to use .call() and .apply() on them.
IE7:hover ghosts bug
If you nest several elements inside each other and you tie the display of child elements to the :hover of the parent element, it can happen that after a first, correct display of the nested elements, these elements will stay displayed in IE7 even if the element directly above them does not have :hover! (And if simultaneously an indirect-parent element does have it.)
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Sushi_Bebe's SasHImi hoUSe
Sushi_Bebe's Xanga Blog
The Irony....life is funny (Wednesday, November 08, 2006 )
Sushi_Bebe's entry on Wednesday, November 08, 2006 at (4 comments)
Hungry (Sunday, September 17, 2006 )
Sushi_Bebe's entry on Sunday, September 17, 2006 at (1 comment)
MEET JOEY!!!! (Tuesday, June 13, 2006 )
Sushi_Bebe's entry on Tuesday, June 13, 2006 at (7 comments)
Friday, April 14, 2006
Sushi_Bebe's entry on Friday, April 14, 2006 at (2 comments)
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Sushi_Bebe's entry on Thursday, February 16, 2006 at
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- updated: Feb 18 08:15AM
Ryan's Journal
Ryan blathers incessantly
A B C D E F GMail
GMail has been throwing mail away originating from me to the junk mail bucket, since at least the last weeks of January. It might be just one recipient. It might not. Watch out.
Super Bowl Pandas
There was some awful game a while back. I don't really remember it. Something about sacking Tom Brady repeatedly. I've blocked it out. I do remember this little cartoon ad with pandas. Some people will claim varying degrees of offense or perceived offense at racial ster...
Open Letter to KFSM
Edit: They are now running a new story about the Arkansas Dept. of Health debunking the misinformation from the first story, which is laudable. Unfortunately, that first story has disappeared from their site, instead of redirecting or otherwise assisting a multitude of site...
Cinematic Marketing Strategy
How do you get people into theaters in this age? First, there's those pesky pirates, video camming and making torrents for the interested and capable to acquire without profit. An international release, which may suffer a problematic delay with that same Internet distribut...
Food as Industry
Does this sound like an appealing meal to you? You're eating the offspring of the same steer and cow that fed your great-grandparents (the exact same, from a species whose natural lifespan is considerably shorter than ours), bred in a test tube, fed on corn, which it can't ...
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- updated: Feb 14 08:23PM
Sandro
Sandro - LiveJournal.com
Obama++
If you know me, you know I'm fairly reserved about endorsing anything.But I strongly suggest people vote for Obama.There's an excellent post from Cos which offers links to the key reasons.The Call To Renewal speech (from 2006) (text, video) is, as Cos says, worth it.)
British vs American English
I just came across wikipedia's list of words having different meanings in British and American English.I only made it through A, B, and C, before I got tired of it, but in just those letters I came across quite a few surprising ones. There are lots I didn't really care about, or which seem clear enough from context, but there are a fair number of words which could be used in the same context but mean something different!I knew that "chips" were different foods in the US and the UK, that "buzzards" were different birds, and that "awesome" and "brilliant" had rather different senses.Some of the words I should have known, but didn't: apartment, asian, athlete (athletics), biscuit, bureau, candy, cookie, cowboy, davenport, and (police) commissioner. With each of these, it would be easy to have a sentence in one dialect which has a perfectly reasonable and significantly different meaning in the other dialect. Actually, I had some sense of confusion about "apartment", "biscuit", "bureau", and "davenport", but I hadn't realized it was just a British vs. American thing.With some work, one could probably make a pretty good LJ poll around this.(I'm reminded of my first stay in Ireland, some years back, when I was told that the unit of currency (in those days, the Irish Pound, sometimes written "punt") was pronounced to rhyme with "bank manager". I got the joke, but was somewhat surprised (even though the president of Ireland was then a woman) that managing banks was seen as a woman's job. This table corrects me about how that particular bit of slang is used.)I have some professional interest in this because (a) I work with lots of non-Americans, and (b) I'm currently wandering around in "Extensibility Theory", where language conflicts like these ("false friends") are a particular danger to be avoided.)
vacation ("OK")
So, last week I took the kids on a vacation to Oklahoma. (If you've followed the news, that sentence should get your attention. If not, imagine serious dramatic music under the word "Oklahoma".)My dad and step-mom (Margaret) and one of my sisters (Brenna) live there, and my kids had never been there. Most of them have never met this sister. It was kind of a last minute thing; I'd been thinking about it for a few weeks, then got serious about it about three weeks ago. The best tickets we could find had us leaving Boston at 7:05am (Monday, Dec 10). It's an interesting time to get one's self and four children onto an airplane, but we managed. Each kid had a carry-on with their clothes, snacks, some activities. I had a carry-on with my laptop, books, snacks, etc, and checked a suit-case with my clothes, camera, and various extras like swim stuff. (I also moved B's PJ's from her carry-on to my suitcase, without her permission, to make room for her snacks -- a fact she seems to never tire of harassing me for.) There are no direct flights from Boston to Oklahoma. This one went through Dallas. By the time we got to Dallas, American Airlines had decided to cancel our connecting flight on to Oklahoma City. They rebooked us on a flight the next day. During the night there had been an ice storm in Oklahoma, coating trees and such with about .4 inches of ice. I don't know why this closed the airport. This kind of ice only forms in perfect conditions so a little salt will prevent it, and the roads (and I assume the runways) were fine. Maybe the plane overnighted at OKC and was coated in ice too thick to de-ice; maybe some of the equipment was too coated in ice to function. Anyway, I called my dad -- he said the power was out, but the roads looked okay except for an occasional downed tree. We agreed I'd rent a car and drive up; it's about three hours, and I've driven it before. The airline said it was not practical to extract my suitcase and the car seats from the thousands of bags en route in Dallas. They said they could put in a request, but it might take five hours and they still wouldn't find it. So I borrowed car seats and figured my suit case would show up on the flight I was supposed to be on. As it turns out, the car seats did -- they were at baggage claim the next day when I went to exchange rental cars -- my suit case is still enjoying an extended tour of north america.Driving north in I35, about 25 miles from our destination I suddenly noticed the trees and grass and cattle fences looked odd. They were all coated in ice and laden with icicles.We arrived safe and sound mid-afternoon. The power was out for several blocks around their house, closing nearby businesses. There were some branches down, but not as many as I expected. I saw something like this once in upstate NY, and the forests there looked like they had been through a blender, with branches and twigs and whole trees ripped the shreds and scattered across the landscape. This was not like that (yet). Instead, everything was simply covered in ice. Smaller trees and plants were bowed down, at odd angles. (You could tell, because of the angle of the icicles, that the icicles came first, then the additional weight on the branches bowed them down, making the icicles end up horizontal.)Margaret is a landscape architect. Her garden, as we arrived, looked like a fairy tale scene where there's a castle that's been abandoned for 100 years and the briars have grown up to be impenetrable wilderness. In this case, I gather, it was all about the weight of the ice. A grand archway of plants over the path to the door had collapsed. Other tall plants were laying down, or just splayed on the ground. Some branches had fallen from the trees above.Inside, there was a nice fire going, etc. Ironically, they had just converted from purely wood heat (as they'd used for 25 years) to electric (heat pump) and hybrid -- a fireplace with a system which forced air through it to heat the house. Alas, without electricity, the fireplace was much less efficient. With that and a wood stove in the back bedroom it was possible to heat the house, but it wasn't cozy. With no long johns or sweaters or anything, I ended up keeping my coat on most of the time. (The kids had more clothing options, but a chilly house doesn't seem to bother them anyway.) As it turns out, electricity didn't come back until just after we returned to Boston.Margaret was making a stew for dinner over the fire (it has a swinging hook for hanging a pot!) but the general preference was for going to a restaurant, so we went out for Indian. It was good.Of course, the nice aerobeds they planned for us to sleep on use electric fans to inflate. They also had a couple of normal camping air beds, which turned out to be fine.(That's about it for my writing energy right now. Maybe I'll post more or expand this later. Short version is: flights back delayed a day by weather elsewhere in country, my luggage arrived in Oklahoma after I got back to Boston, and kids & me got a stomach bug [carried from Boston, presumably] and there was considerable vomit cleanup work.)(The whole 'State of Emergency' thing makes sense for financial reasons, but the basic sense there was that this was all just an incredible nuisance and/or a fun adventure and/or a trajedy for the trees. The only talk of real danger was from people doing foolish things to keep warm, like bringing their charcoal grill into the house. It was rather a bit like Pennsic. Similarly, as I recall, someone died at Estrella once from using a propane heater in a tent.)
Tue, 04 Dec 2007 15:21:31 GMT
Two of the three young children of a colleage of mine died over the weekend.children die in house fireChime (pronounced chee-may) has always been friendly and helpful and done top-quality work. I couldn't say I know him very well; I don't think we've met in person. But, still, I liked him a lot.I have no idea how to process this except to cry.
Lucky / Unlucky
I had some trouble finding my cordless phone handset this morning. It took me four or five calls to it to locate it. It turned out to be deep inside the big garbage bag (of garbage collected from around the house), which I had left sitting in the dining room an hour before! I *think* one of the kids left it sitting on a dinner plate and it absently got swept into the garbage, ... but I can't really tell. Crazy.I can't figure out if I was very unlucky it ended up in the garbage, or very lucky that the garbage hadn't quite made it outside yet. It's a dichotomy that I'm often aware of, and am never sure what to make of. (Sort of the optimist/pessimist dichotomy.) I guess it's the budhhist thing again -- the joy or pain in life (the lucky or unlucky) is all about our perception and narrative, not about life itself.
Restaurant in Cambridge...?
I'm looking for a nice/very-nice restaurant to take a dozen co-workers, more or less within walking distance of the Cambridge Hyatt (where Arisia was last year), tonigh. Any suggestions?
No End In Sight, Charles Ferguson
I saw No End In Sight tonight. It wasn't the sort of movie I usually go to..... I try to pay attention to Iraq, but it's also quite wearying. Anyway, a fascinating movie.What really got me to go, though, was that it was written, produced, and directed by Charles Ferguson. Some of you may remember me writing about my grandmother dying, about two years ago. She would have been bursting with pride over this movie, if she were alive to see it. Charles had been a student of hers (he wrote a nice comment on her memorial web page) and he was also the son of the woman who probably my grandmother's best friend. She was always holding him out to me, conversationally, as role model. She would never be so crass as to say I should be more like him (or that I was in any way inadequate), but the hint was there.After years of doing cool technical and political things that didn't really make an impression on me, he did one thing that did: he founded a startup to make web-page editing software quite early, and sold it to Microsoft for a boatload of money. (They rebranded it "frontpage".)On the personal front, I heard n-th hand a story that he and his mom were with my grandmother in the hospital, perhaps six years before she died, when a doctor told her something like "there's nothing more we can do for you." According to this story, Charles took the doctor into the hallway and proclaimed something about having more money than god, being a total son-of-a-bitch, and being willing to do whatever was necessary to keep this woman alive. According to the story, this somehow motivated the doctor to figuring something out and curing whatever the problem at the time was. Someday, I'd like to find out what truth might lie behind this story.Anyway, I thought I should see his movie, and I'm glad I did.
Tue, 31 Jul 2007 01:31:08 GMT
Anyone know of a way to get a pass to see Stardust in Revere tomorrow?(Google only suggests one way and I don't think that'll work for me. :-)
youtube at its best?
One of my relaxing Sunday things to do is surf YouTube. Today I came across a vlog (Brotherhood 2.0) that I think pretty well captures the best of the genre. It's human and smart and ... jokes.Here are four recent videos. One which got featured on the front page of YouTube, and then the three daily postings for the days after that happened, dealing with it.[Hank] Jul 18th: Accio Deathly Hallows (No Spoilers)[John] July 25: July 25: Brotherhood 2.0's Youtube Comments Are Answered![Hank] July 26: The Price of Fame[John] July 27: How Nerdfighters Drop insults
video editing software?
I'd like some video editing software that G could use. Linux or Windows XP. Anyone have any suggestions? My web research suggests Adobe Premier Elements (on XP) is probably my best bet, but before I invest $100, I figured I'd ask around a little.
google street view
In the Cool New Stuff department, try looking at the San Francisco bay area in google maps. There's a new Street View option. Very, very, very cool. (And a little scary, of course. :-)(I spent a few minutes in a meeting this afternoon virtually wandering down one of the streets in my home town, looking at how it's changed.)
more travel for work
My job takes me to all sorts of awesome places. My job is also quite challenging, so I rarely find myself experiencing the locations more than peripherally.But the peripheral experience is hard to ignore, sometimes.I took this picture of a colleague during a teleconference we were both attending in one of the many spectactular rooms of the Banff Springs Hotel. I understand this hotel has been offering supreme luxury in the midst of spectacular wilderness since about the time there was first a railroad through the Canadian Rockies.There are some other pictures I took, but it's not a great set.
another milestone at work
I suppose it's not surprising that developing international standards is slow work.I wrote about 16 months ago how my year-long project to launch a W3C Working Group (starting in this protected post) was done and the group was underway. Today, the group published the first draft of its technical specification. Man, that took a long time.Getting from First Public Working Draft to Recommendation will also take a long time, if we can even do it, but this is still a nice milestone to have reached. (And Recommendation isn't even the end of the game, but it's the biggest single milestone in the entire process.)(meanwhile, no particular milestones or change in my family situation. i'll probably post something vague and cryptic here when/if something changes.)
where in the world?
Guess where I am?Hint: it took about 22 hours door-to-door, which is pretty close to optimal.Hint2: /me waves to scholargipsy
Saturday
Hmmmm. Looking for things to do on Saturday, soaking up the last of the decent weather. I bet it's about apple-picking season....
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The greatest love that anyone could ever know
shinday's Xanga Blog
Saturday, October 13, 2007
shinday's entry on Saturday, October 13, 2007 at (3 comments)
Sunday, June 03, 2007
shinday's entry on Sunday, June 03, 2007 at (5 comments)
Monday, October 09, 2006
shinday's entry on Monday, October 09, 2006 at (10 comments)
Thursday, November 17, 2005
shinday's entry on Thursday, November 17, 2005 at (47 comments)
Thursday, July 14, 2005
shinday's entry on Thursday, July 14, 2005 at (12 comments)
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Mooooo....
womo531's Xanga Blog
Saturday, February 02, 2008
womo531's entry on Saturday, February 02, 2008 at
Monday, January 28, 2008
womo531's entry on Monday, January 28, 2008 at (3 comments)
Monday, November 05, 2007
womo531's entry on Monday, November 05, 2007 at (3 comments)
Friday, March 23, 2007
womo531's entry on Friday, March 23, 2007 at (4 comments)
Updates (Thursday, November 30, 2006 )
womo531's entry on Thursday, November 30, 2006 at (5 comments)
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thoughts. opinions. happenings. they call me 누나.
"Run in such a way as to get the prize." -1 Corinthians 9:24
do it rockapella!
What a random, random day. Went to the museum of natural history with J for a bit in the afternoon. No wonder he rocks that trivia game at Dave and Busters - he knows everything. It was very educational. I'm still offended that China and Japan got a whole wing in the Asian peoples exhibit and Korea got one display. What's up with that? So this has never happened to me before, but...I kept stepping on small children. They were everywhere, and somehow ended up running right in front of me while I was walking. I felt like a giant. So the museum is on 81st/CPW and I had to meet the Columbia boys up at 116th/bway. So J told me I could either walk across first and go catch the 1 train uptown, or train first and take the A to 116th then walk across. I opted to train first, walk later. Equivalent in theory, but in reality... What I failed to realize was that uptown, it gets shady the closer you are to Central Park (or that general area) PLUS there was that little thing standing in my way called Morningside Park. Meaning, I got out of the subway, and there was a dark unlit park with an uphill climb to get to the Columbia campus. So, being foolish (and on the verge of being late), I decided to save myself some time, find the stairs, and cut through the park. Yeah, don't do that, it was a pretty scary climb. And just depressing that I was breathing hard by the end - 2 sedentary weeks has left me out of shape. But I made it just fine. (Phew!) Too much travelling for such a bitterly cold night. So from there we went to see Rockapella in concert. It was *awesome*. The first non-classical concert I've ever been to. I've always been a sucker for acapella music, and they were great. And they sang Carmen Sandiego!! Then I introduced the boys (and their friends) to the burger joint. So good. And so unhealthy. Yeehaw! Not a bad way to spend my last free weekend...it was nice to see how the other half lives. And now...back to our regularly scheduled program. T-minus 8 weeks.
how to save a life
Step one you say we need to talkHe walks you say sit down it's just a talkHe smiles politely back at youYou stare politely right on throughSome sort of window to your rightAs he goes left and you stay rightBetween the lines of fear and blameAnd you begin to wonder why you came Where did I go wrong, I lost a friendSomewhere along in the bitternessAnd I would have stayed up with you all nightHad I known how to save a life Let him know that you know bestCause after all you do know bestTry to slip past his defenseWithout granting innocenceLay down a list of what is wrongThe things you've told him all alongAnd pray to God he hears youAnd pray to God he hears you Where did I go wrong, I lost a friendSomewhere along in the bitternessAnd I would have stayed up with you all nightHad I known how to save a life As he begins to raise his voiceYou lower yours and grant him one last choiceDrive until you lose the roadOr break with the ones you've followedHe will do one of two thingsHe will admit to everythingOr he'll say he's just not the sameAnd you'll begin to wonder why you came Where did I go wrong, I lost a friendSomewhere along in the bitternessAnd I would have stayed up with you all nightHad I known how to save a life
bridge building
Relationships are like building bridges. (And by relationships I mean connection between people, not exclusively in a romantic context, though if you find that applicable, by all means). I was having a conversation with someone today about the theory of bridge-building (or re-building, as the case may be) and sometimes I wonder whether some bridges just aren't meant to be built. It's easy to build a bridge when the two points of connection are close together. With some cases, you can just put a plank of wood down, and that's all you need. Sometimes you don't even need a bridge, you can just hop from one cliff to another. But what do you do when the chasm is too wide? When the manpower is too weak? When the resources are too scarce? What do you do when someone won't meet you halfway at building? Me, I think my natural tendency if someone won't meet me halfway, is to try to compensate. Go 60/40. 70/30. But eventually you realize that it's a whole lot of effort and wasted resources for something that will inevitably fail. See, you can't build a bridge from one side. At some point, it's just a cantilever beam problem gone wrong. Sometimes you try to forge ahead and you build, but there has to be some mutual effort for it to be possible. So my question is - what do you do when someone knocks down your attempt at a bridge, telling you that there's no need for it? Probably a good indication to walk away. What if you've tried to build a bridge from one end, and in its fragile state it's burned by a flamethrower launched from the other end - well, you're left with damanged resources and an unstable foundation, looking down at the miles and miles beneath you and a rather painful-looking fall to your doom if you leave your side. What if after you've resigned to the fact that this particular bridge cannot be built, what if the owner of the other cliff suddenly changes his/her mind and not only proposes to rebuild, but claims to make the effort from the other end? Clearly it's already been established that you can't build a bridge from one end - so if now the roles are reversed and they're building and you're not, then you're in the same state of (un)productivity. Because regardless of what percent of effort comes from which side - if they don't eventually connect, then the bridge is useless. So I guess JAAC is right. You watch from your end and see if they're actually making a good effort from their side, or whether it's just like every other time. And in the meantime - you try to pick up the pieces and invest in some flame-retardant coating spray for the materials you can salvage. It covers up the natural shine of your raw materials with this ugly paint coating...but at least it won't go up in flames. I hope this was not as cryptic as the turtle and the scorpion story. Though really, they're very similar.
혹시 포기하면 어떻개?
At some point, everyone gets tired of losing. Of trying and failing. Whether it be at competition, at relationships, at work, at school...there comes a point when you realize that you're just tired of the way things are. Things are "fine" but they're not as good as they could be. Or things are not fine, but you realize that they're really not going to get better. At some point, you realize that sitting on the fence is safe, but it gets you nowhere. So there are two courses of action from that point. 1) You get tired of losing, decide that you don't have what it takes, and you give up. And sometimes this is the wise decision. Sometimes you just have to let things go. Sometimes the net probability for improvement is slim in comparison to the energy expended and just how bad it makes you feel to be disappointed. (This is the point where you stop asking her out/you stop thinking he will ask you out, you stop counting on someone who is not dependable, you stop believing someone who is not genuine, you stop fighting for that promotion, you drop the class etc.) Sometimes, it's better just to cut your losses and walk away. If you hang onto that class, you might end up doing poorly in all your classes, whereas if you drop it, you have the freedom to focus your energies and attentions on the ones that you have a chance in. Sometimes it's the cowardly thing to do, and I'm generally not a fan of quitting - but I see the value more and more of identifying when things aren't working, admitting that I don't have the capacity to handle them, and letting them go. 2) You get tired of losing, decide to do whatever it takes, risk failure and discomfort, and prevail. Coach JK challenged me with this at Pan Am Trials - that if you have a goal, a purpose, and a belief that you can do it, then as the gospel of Luke and Adidas say - nothing is impossible. It's just a matter of how far you're willing to go. And this involves risk - namely, risking failure. Because nothing is guaranteed, and when you put your whole being into something, and your whole heart is out there - the all-or-nothing is a risk that you will be crushed, and there will be no excuse left for your disappointment. High risk, high reward. At the crux of the two things that mean the most to me, I realize that I'm tired of losing. And funny enough, each is leaning towards separate categories. 혹시 포기하면 어떻개?
Resolution #2
I love hanging out with MIT people. It's probably the only time that a) I don't have to calculate tip and b) I'm not the only one using the phrase "activation energy" in regular speech. It's funny how your hubae's grow up. I still remember each of them as a freshman during orientation. It amazes me when I see them go from being my babies to my students to my friends and perhaps even peers...though some will always be my babies. I miss being able to baby them. Well New Year's Resolution #2 (perhaps to be further expounded upon later) is to screw activation energy and go out more. I severely paid for my choice to go out to karaoke till wee hours of the morning on Sun night when I was dying at work at 8am Monday, but it was worth it to see mcho et al. I hate how I can't write in Korean on this computer. Hrmph.
the new do
They weren't kidding about this new look. Today was phase one of my Jewish mother's quest to launch a new and improved me. (I asked for video games for Christmas, and I got a makeover. Don't know why they had me make a list in the first place...) I'm still half grateful half insulted, but...trying to be a good sport about it and tell myself that it's the thought that counts, and not that fact that I'm constantly getting clucked over (the holiday party was crazy - they triple-teamed me) and told that my appearance is unacceptable. Apparently there are a lot of people who want to see me get married and they blame it on the way I look, and want to "bring out"...whatever there is to bring out. Eh. I suppose since everyone has agreed that TKD is impeding this whole process for the rest of my life, it's only fitting that this TKD group (Jewish mothers have a tendency to round up troops) has their sights set on reversing the effect. So today was the new haircut and hair lesson, with the gay hair guy. Seriously, this guy could've been on Queer Eye...he was freaking hilarious. I have to admit it was fun just because he was so darn funny. (Though half his jokes went over my head. Apparently my mind isn't in the gutter enough.) So today I learned: 1) My hair is naturally wavy. 2) My hair isn't actually black, but "darkest brown" with blue. BLUE. Gee, I knew it was my favorite color, but who knew it was in my hair? Regardless, apparently this brown and blue thing makes my hair look black. But it's not. You learn something new every day... 3) Step by step how to blow-dry properly. Gee, it was like when I first got contacts and they made me put them in and take them out twice in front of them. The guy made me scrunch my fingers in my hair and show him the proper way to "arrange". Yes, arrange. I feel like I should've taken notes. 4) Everything I do from the minute I step out of the shower to walking out the door is apparently wrong. There is apparently "towel dry" - and what I do, which is sort of rubbing it dry. Severely chastised by the gay guy for that. 5) As a result of the wavy hair business, there are apparently "possibilities" (which to me looked like my hair just blew up and went crazy, but they loved it). Yeah, that volumous look ain't gonna happen, I felt like an electrocuted puppy. But apparently that is what people like to look like. Well, I guess I have that option, which apparently people are jealous of. Gee. But the end result was something involving layers, and I think I like it. Whatever, it's out of my face, it's long enough to put into a ponytail, and it is apparently a better look and therefore people won't bother me about it. The experience was entertaining. I think she's banned me from ever going to Supercuts again, so...I suppose I have to set aside a haircut fund now in my budget. I can't believe how much effort people make to look good. Sigh. Vanity. I guess I'll just consider it therapy...joking around with the flamingly gay guy was pretty therapeutic. Haven't been that amused in a long time...he was cool. Mother-daughter bonding takes various forms. Though afterwards we got to go shopping for athletic shoes and apparel, which was much more my area of expertise. So for the day, we walked away with a new haircut, a hairbrush (I can't believe I paid $16 for a fancy hairbrush thing), new Puma shoes, TKD shoes, and Nike pants for her. Productive. Yeehaw. (And no there are no pictures because I lost my camera and haven't replaced it. You'll just have to make an effort to see me. That means you, JAAC).
dodgeball
Dodgeball was on TV last night. I must say, the whole video skit thing we did for church makes a lot more sense now that I've actually seen the movie. Anyways. Beneath the crass exterior, I actually really liked it. It was a bit therapeutic after this weekend. Perhaps I will expound more details later, but let's just say that after you're winning 4-1 and hurt your foot to the point of not being able to stand on your toes and end up losing 6-5 to the person who ends up winning...and fighting another match with a busted foot and losing on a 2-2 sudden death superiority decision...you do some thinking. Ya, I've been watching the dodgeball tournament on the Ocho. ESPN 8. I just can't get enough of it. Good luck in the tournament. I'm really pulling for you against those jerks from Globo Gym. I think you better hurry up or you're gonna be late. Uh, actually I decided to quit... Lance. Quit? You know, once I was thinking of quitting when I was diagnosed with brain, lung and testicular cancer all at the same time. But with the love and support of my friends and family, I got back on the bike and won the Tour de France five times in a row. But I'm sure you have a good reason to quit. So what are you dying of that's keeping you from the finals? Right now it feels a little bit like... shame. Well, I guess if a person never quit when the going got tough, they wouldn't anything to regret for the rest of their life. Well good luck to you Peter. I'm sure this decision won't haunt you forever.
eye to eye
I love my Jewish brother. He found a page in Sports Illustrated and thought of me. It was quite appropriate, too, given the fact that my hamstrings are on the verge of snapping. I'm a sucker for inspiration. Me and running don't always see eye to eye. Some days it hurts more than others. But it doesn't mean I don't do it. I deal with it and I keep running because not everything that is good for you always feels good for you. EVERY DAY IS THE DAY. -Lance Armstrong 10//2 Which I suppose is inspirational because it's also Biblical. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. -Hebrews 12:11 So yeah, sometimes it doesn't feel good. It's not ideal. Things don't work out the way you would have liked - sometimes quite the opposite. It hurts. Sometimes it hurts a lot. But sometimes you have to push, and sometimes you have to be strong because your seniors can't be, and sometimes...you just have to deal with the hand you're dealt. Taekwondo and I don't always see eye to eye. But it's good for me. Off to Colorado for this. If you feel so inclined to pray for me...my hamstrings and I would be grateful.
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Star Wars - The Official Site
The official Star Wars website.
Feature: Star Wars Insider #98 Online Supplement
Go beyond the pages of the magazine, exclusive to Hyperspace members!
News: The 2008 Membership Kit: A Closer Look
Check out some sharper images of the 2008 membership kit contents!
News: Acme Archives' Key to the Original Trilogy
Acme Archives releases the Han Solo Character Key and discusses their collaboration with Gentle Giant Studios.
News: Star Wars Exhibits Open in Philly and Belgium
Two great Star Wars exhibits open in Philly and Belgium.
News: Coming in March: Bantha Tracks in Printable PDF!
Download and print the newsletter of the Official Star Wars Fan Club.
What is this?: A Head for Computers
Feature: DIY Star Wars Valentines
Star Wars artist Grant Gould has one-of-a-kind DIY Valentine's Day cards.
News: Hasbro's Star Wars: The Clone Wars Collection
Hasbro reveals its plans for Star Wars: The Clone Wars!
News: Indy Thrill of the Chase T-shirt at StarWarsShop
StarWarsShop's got an exclusive new Indiana Jones t-shirt!
News: The New Indiana Jones Teaser Trailer
On May 22... the adventure continues.
Feature: Recon & Report
The Empire is in disarray and Imperial forces are scrambling to protect themselves and their resources.
News: Submit Your Fan Movie by May 27th!
AtomFilms and Lucasfilm Ltd. are once again calling for submissions for the Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge.
News: John Alvin Remembered
Artist John Alvin, creator of numerous classic Star Wars illustrations, passed away last week
What is this?: Tatooine or Bust
Video: Introducing Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Behind the scenes of the new series.
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Dan Rubin's SuperfluousBanter
Suffering from chronic idiocy since 1977
Pink forﾠOctober
As you may have noticed (if you're viewing this site in a standard browser), I've ditched orange in favor of pink, and things will stay that way for the rest of October. I'm doing this, along with many other sites, to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Sidebar Creative Interviewed by DigitalﾠWeb
Matthew Pennell of Digital Web Magazine recently sat down with the boys from Sidebar Creative for a group chat about our little design collective.
Interviewed by DesignerﾠInterviews
'Tis the season for being interviewed—this time I sat down (virtually) for some Q&A with Helen from Design Interviews, and now the fruits of our labor have been published for your enjoyment.
Customize your iPhone:ﾠSummerBoard
Learn how to customize your iPhone's home screen, plus add your own custom wallpaper and dock background using SummerBoard Themes.
Customize your iPhone:ﾠDockSwap
Learn how to customize your iPhone's dock to look like the new iPod Touch, complete with reflections and a Photoshop template file so you can create your own.
Customize yourﾠiPhone
Introducing a series of simple tutorials to help personalize your iPhone UI.
Interviewed byﾠAdii
It's always nice when someone shows interest in your background, and I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Adii a few weeks ago, and the result is now online.
Setting up IMAP in AppleﾠMail
It has been brought to my attention that a surprisingly large number of people don't know all the steps involved in properly configuring an IMAP account in Apple's Mail.app. Though this has been covered elsewhere I'm sure, I thought I'd share the steps in a quick-start way to help reduce the frustration that results from assuming some things are done by default.
Web 2.0ﾠCultists
Lately I've found myself having the following "discussion" (I prefer "heated debate" myself) regarding ‘Web 2.0’, usually with someone who has consumed a certain amount of Web 2.0 Kool-aid...
OMG I’mﾠNaked!
So, I had this dream last night, and I was standing in front of the entire internet <em>totally naked</em>, and when I woke up, I realized <strong>it wasn't a dream!</strong>
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- updated: Feb 18 04:19PM
Technology Review Feed - Tech Review Top Stories
Technology Review exists to promote the understanding of emerging technologies and their impact.
A Better Way to Capture Carbon
New materials provide a potentially cheaper way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
Improving Toxicity Tests
A new initiative will work on cell-based toxicity tests for chemicals.
Mobile Carriers See Gold in Femtocells
If consumers buy in to private wireless phone networks, the industry could save money.
Power from Fabrics
Nanowires that convert motion into current could lead to textiles that can generate power.
Bandwidth on Demand
An academic internet provides clues about ways to improve the commercial Internet.
Rethinking the Cell Phone
An Israeli startup has made a modular mobile phone that can work on its own or slip into other electronic devices. Will it catch on?
Wiring Up DNA
Measuring the conductivity of DNA could provide a way to detect mutations.
Plucking Cells out of the Bloodstream
A new implantable device can extract stem cells for therapeutic transplant or program cancer cells to die.
Discovering Novel Pathogens
Next-generation sequencing uncovers disease-causing microbes.
Flash Goes Mobile
Opera's latest browser tries to improve the mobile Internet experience with Flash.
The Next Generation of iPhone Hacks
Apple's plan to release a software kit that lets people create legitimate add-ons for the iPhone could make the device appeal to an even wider audience.
Higher-Capacity Memory
A new type of memory could soon be available to device makers.
Maintaining Multiple Personas Online
A new site lets users create profiles for the different sides of their personality.
Preventing Concussions
A new football helmet could help players avoid brain injuries.
Lighting Ballasts That Direct Patients
An innovative navigation system uses optical signals from hospital lights to guide patients with traumatic brain injuries around hospitals.
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- updated: Feb 18 09:16AM
TheForce.Net
Your Daily Dose of Star Wars
Darth Vader Highlighted on NPR
"The Tragic Man Behind the Mask"
Star Wars Tech Repeat Tonight
8:00 pm on The History Channel
Indy Meets Star Wars
In Matt Busch's Mash-Up
He's Got His Sights On Boba Fett
Star Wars IG-88 Kotobukiya Statue
UPDATE: Jedi Journals Bookshelf: Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
Looks like we're getting a new version of Steve Sansweet's Encyclopedia, just in time for Christmas.
Force-Cast: Special Report - Toy Fair 2008
"Curto-Cast" from the floor of Toy Fair in NYC
Blu-Ray Wins The Format War?
Now what?
Génération Star Wars 2008
April 26 and 27
Random Weekend Star Wars Fun (2/16 & 17)
Love and The Clone Wars
Rumor Alert: Who's Ashoka's Voice?
Updated! Nothing officially announced but...
Indy-Cast: Episode 14
Best trailer ever!
Lucasfilm Sues Gen Con
Updated! Issues stemming from C4...
Toy Fair 2008
Coverage begins now!
Spike TV To Air All 6 Star Wars Films
Coming in April 2008
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- updated: Feb 18 09:23PM
The Smoking Gun
The Official TSG RSS Feed
The Not Rick James Batch
This installment of our end-of-the-week mug shot roundup raises a few important questions: 1) Guys still wear those "I'm Rick James..." t-shirts? 2) Women can pose for their booking photos without tops?
A Slave To "Research"
When radio talk show host Bernie Ward was arrested last year on child pornography charges, his lawyers downplayed the federal rap, saying that his client was merely doing research for a book when he accessed and distributed illicit images.
Probation For Anthrax Hoaxer
The California man convicted of sending threatening letters containing a white powder to public figures like David Letterman and Jon Stewart has been sentenced to probation and ordered to check into a halfway house, where he will be required to take medications recommended by doctors.
Slanderous Kook: I'm a Slander Victim
Ratcheting up the crazy, the Minnesota man who last month posted a YouTube video in which he claimed to have engaged in a sex-and-drugs party with Senator Barack Obama has filed a federal lawsuit against the presidential candidate and the Democratic party.
2 Guys, 1 Bucket
Meet Chad Hacker and James Schwartz. The two Cincinnati men were arrested yesterday after they allegedly dumped a bucket filled with vomit and feces on a 20-year-old woman.
The Usual Suspects
You know the routine by now: We've reached the week's end, so it's time for our mug shot roundup, an assortment of favorite new booking photos.
Heidi Fleiss Busted
Former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss was arrested by Nevada cops and charged with drunk driving, illegal possession of prescription drugs, and driving without a license.
Roger Clemens's Stash
Lawyers for Brian McNamee, the trainer who has accused ex-client Roger Clemens of using performance-enhancing drugs, today released photos purporting to show syringes, blood-specked gauze pads, and drug vials used by the embattled baseball star.
"Jena Six" Member In School Arrest
One of the "Jena Six" defendants was arrested yesterday for allegedly assaulting a fellow student at a Texas high school.
"Bobby The Jew," 61 Others Indicted
Dozens of reputed Gambino crime family members and associates were named today in a racketeering indictment charging the New York-based Mafia family with most of the felonies covered in the United States Code.
Heath Ledger Death: Accidental Overdose
Heath Ledger died of an accidental drug overdose, according to autopsy findings released today by the New York City medical examiner.
Rap Rap For Florida Man
A 19-year-old man was arrested Sunday night for singing the lyrics to a profane rap song as he walked on a Florida street.
Britney's Mom Seeks To Stop Osama
As if anyone needs another glimpse into the lunacy that is Brtitney Spears's life (and that of her assorted footmen and paparazzi cohorts), the singer's mother has filed a court declaration purporting to describe how her troubled daughter came under the sway of a manipulative manager who drugged the pop star and drove her further from reality.
Beer Before Babes
When cops pulled Tina Williams over for erratic driving Sunday afternoon, they discovered that the 46-year-old Florida woman had her seat belt priorities scrambled.
Super Mugs
Our end-of-week mug shot collection features a Giants fan, a Patriots fan, and a monkey-with-a-big banana t-shirt.
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- updated: Feb 18 11:16AM
ongoing
Ongoing fragmented essay by Tim Bray.
The Prompt of Doom
<p>You know the one I mean; when you visit some site that you haven’t been to for a while, long enough that you’ve changed browsers or something expired, and it asks you for your your username and password and you don’t have the vaguest idea, so you guess, and the browser says “Remember this username/password?” I always get a sinking sensation, knowing that my immediate future probably contains email confirmations (which will probably end up in the spambucket) and half-forgotten password (is the answer case-sensitive or not?) hints. I confess to rankly superstitious behavior, telling the browser “No, don’t remember it.” in the hopes that the general orneriness of things will cause me to guess right. I know some Internet Identity gurus, and they say “It’s about so much more than single sign-on”, but dammit, do I ever want single sign-on; and I can’t be the only one.</p>
Germany 0 Italy 2
<p>Well, that was quite a show. Hey, LazyWeb, where’s the deep, erudite, funny, World Cup commentary to be found? Who’s the Roger Angell of soccer? The best I’ve found is <a href='http://mondial2006.blogs.liberation.fr/mon_weblog/'>Mondial 2006</a>, but something in my own language would be nice. As for the game: Cannavaro Cannavaro Cannavaro, what else is there to say? <i>[Update: <a href='http://www.oscarm.org/'>Oscar Merida</a> writes to point at <a href='http://www.soccerblogs.net'>Soccer Blogs</a>, an aggregation with some good stuff, while Marc Lacoste points to <a href='http://www.cahiersdufootball.com'>les cahiers du football</a> (en français, obviously).]</i>...</p>
5✭♫: Tabula Rasa
<p>This is the title of an album of music by <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvo_Part'>Arvo Pärt</a>, and of a composition on that album. I have a lot of music by Pärt, but if I had to recommend one record, or one piece, both would be <cite>Tabula Rasa</cite>. It’s complex, deep, and austere; and contains some of the most beautiful sounds ever recorded. <i>(“5✭♫” series introduction <a href='/ongoing/When/200x/2006/01/23/5-Star-Music'>here</a>; with <a href='/ongoing/When/200x/2006/01/23/5-Star-Music#p-1'>an explanation</a> of why the title may look broken.)</i>...</p><p><img align='top' src='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2006/07/03/-tn/ap1.png'/> <img align='top' src='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2006/07/03/-tn/ap2.png'/> </p>
Canada Day Fireworks
<p>The only substantial show in Vancouver this year was at Nat Bailey, the minor-league ballpark ten blocks from home, much written-about in this space. Since Canada’s birthday is also my son’s we took him along and let him stay til the end to see them. They aren’t the world’s biggest fireworks, but the intimacy you get in a little park like that is hard to beat, and nothing improves the enjoyment of the fireworks experience so much as having a kid along. Now I’m going to waste your bandwidth with six different fireworks pictures, none exhibiting any photo-realism...</p><p><img align='top' src='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2006/07/03/-tn/IMGP3592.png'/> <img align='top' src='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2006/07/03/-tn/IMGP3601.png'/> <img align='top' src='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2006/07/03/-tn/IMGP3605.png'/> <img align='top' src='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2006/07/03/-tn/IMGP3607.png'/> <img align='top' src='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2006/07/03/-tn/IMGP3620.png'/> <img align='top' src='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2006/07/03/-tn/IMGP3635.png'/> </p>
Open Source and Money
<p>Simon Phipps made a speech at OSBC (he claims that, whatever was reported, <a href='http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/webmink?entry=software_market_3_0'>this is what he meant</a>). Ben Rockwood, who’s a really smart guy, is <a href='http://cuddletech.com/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=686'>eloquently revolted</a> by OSBC in general and Simon’s message in particular. <i>[Ed. note: I have a bunch of technothings to write about which I’ve been putting off till midsummer braindeadness abates, but this is too urgent.]</i>...</p>
Raccoontongue
<p>In the neighbors’ back yard there’s an immense cherry tree; someone told me it was a leftover from the orchard that was here before the houses were built, but ours was built in 1919 and it’s hard to believe the tree’s <em>that</em> old. Anyhow, the cherries—as is common with old fruit trees—are probably not that tasty any more, but we don’t know because they’re way up there and hard to come at, and the wildlife get them first. This evening in the late sun there were two raccoons having cherries for dinner, and I got a couple of pictures...</p><p><img align='top' src='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2006/07/02/-tn/IMGP3639.png'/> <img align='top' src='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2006/07/02/-tn/IMGP3644.png'/> <img align='top' src='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2006/07/02/-tn/IMGP3645.png'/> </p>
Statistics
<p>Almost every Sunday I grab the week’s <span class="o">ongoing</span> logfiles and update my numbers. I find it interesting and maybe others will too, so this entry is now the charts’ permanent home. I’ll update it most weeks, probably. <i>[Updated: 2006/07/02.]</i>...</p><p><img align='top' src='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2004/12/12/-tn/Browser-Market-Share.png'/> <img align='top' src='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2004/12/12/-tn/Browsers-via-search.png'/> <img align='top' src='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2004/12/12/-tn/Search-Engines.png'/> <img align='top' src='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2004/12/12/-tn/Feeds.png'/> </p>
World Cup, the Quarterfinals
<p>I managed to watch most of all four games, and boy, were <a href='/ongoing/When/200x/2006/06/26/World-Cup'>my predictions</a> ever wrong. The quarterfinals produced few creative triumphs, but were still pretty entertaining...</p>
2006 World Cup
<p>I enjoy sports on TV, but not enough (usually) to plan ahead on watching them; but we’ve been making an exception for the World Cup. This weekend, I stuck my head in the boy’s room both days and said “eight o’clock” and we watched the quarter-finals together while the girls slept upstairs. <i>[Oops, I wrote this last weekend but apparently never posted it.]</i>...</p>
Apple Hates Grandmothers
<p>Actually, I’m being unfair. Maybe it’s just the QuickTime team who hates them. Alternatively, it’s plausibly someone in the Windows team at Microsoft. Just possibly it’s someone at Sony. And in fact this fragment is only vaguely about grandmothers, it’s about the failures of consumer video technology. But it <em>is</em> the grandmothers who are being hurt...</p><p><img align='top' src='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2006/07/01/-tn/PLF.png'/> </p>
Atom Newsreel
<p>I work on lots of different things, but Atom is the most important, don’t you forget it. <i>Item:</i> Atom 1.0 isn’t even a year old and it already has its first standardized extension, for feed threading; announcement <a href='http://www.snellspace.com/wp/?p=371'>chez James Snell</a>, who did most of the work. <i>Item:</i> Bloglines has resumed work on their Atom 1.0 parser, and it’s considerably less broken than it used to be. You can actually use it to read <a href='/ongoing/ongoing.atom'>my Atom feed</a> and it no longer messes up the white space. The relative-link handling still needs work, though; my pictures don’t show up, and some internal links are broken (not all... puzzling). Anyhow, good on ya guys, this is the right direction. <i>Item:</i> The working group just published Draft 9 of the protocol (<a href='http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-atompub-protocol-09.txt'>official</a> and <a href='http://bitworking.org/projects/atom/'>HTML</a> versions). My opinion is that nothing in here will change much, and there will be a couple of very small additions, and then we’ll go for IETF last call. For Atomic pedants, the change here is <a href='http://bitworking.org/projects/atom/draft-ietf-atompub-protocol-09.html#media-link-entries'>what happens</a> when you post something that isn’t an Entry, like for example a movie or a picture.</p>
Real Social Networks
<p>It’s like this: John is the guy who’s building the new room for the new kid; he was recommended by Diane, who’s a friend who used to work with Lauren and got me to do the XBRL keynote and lives ten blocks west, near the Pilates studio where we work out and Lauren swaps computer maintenance for private consultations, and it turns out that John’s stepson Joe was in our kid’s kindergarten class and we already knew him; Joe and John and Rudy live just down the street from Brennan, who was also in the kindergarten class and whose mom gives our kid piano lessons. We got in Albin to do the electrical work, he’s worked on the house before and knows the ropes; I met Albin through my old friend Glen, I rent an office from Glen over a clothing boutique he runs as a sideline, he uses my pictures on the covers of his neutraceuticals-company catalog and he brought Albin in to run the wires for the DSL at the store/office. Matt, who used to work for me and Glen at a former business we were in, set up the DSL at the store, and he helps us do the firewalls on the Debian box in our basement, and he also hosts <span class="o">ongoing</span> on a server he runs for his political party, and he just wrote me asking to pitch in against some DMCA-like legislation looming foully over the Canadian horizon, and I helped Sun sell some Ultras to the lab where Matt works at a local university, and then helped straighten things up when manufacturing screwed up and sent the wrong CD with the computers. Turns out John is going to be doing some work for Tracy three doors down, whose boy and ours play all the time and sleep over and so on; but Tracy met John not through us but via Nick’s mom; Nick was also in that kindergarten class and played soccer with our kid on the team that I co-coached with Phil, who does secret stuff for Apple and used to do the XML conference proceedings for Lauren and sits on the ECMA committee trying to put lipstick on the Microsoft Office XML pig. Anyhow, John and Albin hit it off and they’ll probably call each other in for carpentry and electrical work in future. Why do we need computers to help us with this?</p>
Freedom to Leave
<p>That’s the title of a remarkable <a href='http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/webmink?entry=freedom_to_leave'>piece by Simon Phipps</a>, long but worth reading all of. I suspect that most people who read <span class="o">ongoing</span> have had a chance to hear Simon speak; but if you haven’t and you get a chance, take it. I think he’s actually better on the stage than on the page, and since this is a very good piece, the speech that went with it will have been outstanding.</p>
Dabble DB, Check It Out
<p>Paul Kedrosky <a href='http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2006/06/26/dabble_db_news.html'>broke the story</a>: Vancouver’s own <a href='http://dabbledb.com/'>Dabble DB</a> has taken some investment money and are <a href='http://dabbledb.com/pricing/'>open for business</a>. I get pitched by a <em>lot</em> of startups, and Dabble DB is the best I’ve seen in years. It’s Software as a Service; an online personal database. Millions of of people in businesses large and small around the world do this kind of thing via Excel kludges, sometimes with some Access and Outlook in the mix. Only Dabble doesn’t need any software on the desktop and still has a better user interface than anything Microsoft ships. In fact, one smart person told me it didn’t matter that much what Dabble <em>did</em>, because its authors Avi Bryant and Andrew Catton are such great UI designers they could make a cemetery scheduler interesting. But it does matter, because Dabble is in that magic category where it does something that you realize you need after you’ve tried it, and there’s nothing else that does it. Go check it out; but if you like it, you’ll have to pay (not much) to use it; what a concept! <i>Disclosure:</i> Avi and Andrew and I have bought each other lots of lunches. I advised them, repeatedly, not to take VC money, arguing that there’s a deep disconnect between venture investing as it’s currently done, and the realities of Web-based businesses. Paul Kedrosky and Ventures West are making a determined attempt to prove me wrong; I can’t talk about the details but I’m really impressed at the creativity they’ve brought to the table. I couldn’t in good conscience advise the guys to pass on the deal; but I did ask if I could take a piece of it.</p>
WinFS
<p>Wow, <a href='http://blogs.msdn.com/winfs/archive/2006/06/23/644706.aspx'>it’s dead</a>. You have to be sad when anything goes south that so many people have worked on so hard for so long. Still, I remember being told in the early Nineties, when I was talking up Unix servers, that I was silly and wrong because the <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_%28operating_system%29'>Cairo</a> object filesystem would make everything else irrelevant. And then years later, when I was selling search and content management for a living, being told once again that we’d all be casualties of the WinFS bandwagon. I wonder if, in other professions as in ours, the conventional wisdom is so often so wrong? <i>[Update: Lots of thoughtful coverage: <a href='http://www.osreview.com/2006/06/25/the-sad-tale-of-winfs-and-the-vista-user-experience/'>The OS Review</a>, <a href='http://www.1060.org/blogxter/entry?publicid=E020A17EE61C70F5433B401BFD1C06B1'>Developing on the Edge</a>, <a href='http://fishbowl.pastiche.org/2006/06/25/we_come_to_bury_winfs'>The Fishbowl</a>, <a href='http://www.25hoursaday.com/weblog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=43532b55-f8f8-4b72-a532-c7343b4e1b9e'>Dare Obasanjo</a>, <a href='http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/webmink?entry=a_tales_of_two_filesystems'>Simon Phipps</a>.]</i></p>
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- updated: Jul 06 10:47AM
VentureBlog
A Random Walk Down Sand Hill Road
Obsession is the Fuel of Silicon Valley
An interesting debate has broken out between Glenn Kelman and Mike Arrington. Glenn is the CEO of Redfin, a Seattle-based startup that is trying to modernize the process of buying and selling homes. Glenn's a smart guy and a great entrepreneur. And he has always struck me as quite thoughtful. Which is why I was surprised to read his recent blog post entitled, "How Green Was My Valley." In that post, Glenn extolls the virtues of Seattle, while attacking Silicon Valley: "the Valley's monomania is really just a kind of pubescence. What else could account for the Valley's self-righteousness, its congregations of frustrated dudes, its all-nighters, idealism, delusions of grandeur, mood-swings, longings, dramas, hero-worship and pranks? Anywhere else by contrast seems all grown-up." Wow. Those are strong words. And the rest of his post is equally provocative. Glenn doesn't just praise Seattle. He berates the Bay Area. When I first read Glenn's post, I almost took the bait. But I thought better of it. Mike Arrington, on the other hand, did not. Mike couldn't have Glenn badmouth the Bay Area as a "heartless amnesiac" without pointing out to Glenn that the Bay Area knows better than to waste its time focusing on the past. Mike couldn't let Glenn get away with praising the Seattle lifestyle without pointing out that it is just that, a lifestyle; the Bay Area has better things to do than worry about lifestyle. Mike couldn't let Glenn get away with baldly suggesting that Bay Area businesses are trendy and Seattle businesses focus on "what works" without giving a single concrete example; the Bay Area is all about specific examples, not baseless accusations. Mike couldn't let Glenn get away with any of it. That's just not something Mike can do. I don't raise this to join in the rumble against Glenn. I am a fan of Seattle. My partners at August Capital have funded some great companies in Seattle, not the least of which is Microsoft. But I do want to take issue with one of Glenn's criticisms of the Bay Area. Glenn refers in a number of different ways to the obsessiveness of the Bay Area and suggests that the Bay Area's "monomania" is somehow a detriment to company building. I have to disagree. I love the obsessiveness of the Bay Area. It is the drug that fuels the Bay Area's startup economy. And it is the drug that fuels my every day as a tech investor. I love the fact that I can talk about entrepreneurship at AYSO. I love the fact that I can have conference calls with my CEO's at 1am. I love the fact that wildly successful entrepreneurs who could retire for life dive into their next venture within six months of leaving their last. I love the fact that Palo Alto's newest yogurt shop is a hotbed of tech recruiting. I love the fact that I funded a company after bumping into them at a local coffee shop. I love the fact that school auctions include items like "a tour of Facebook" and "10 hours with a trademark attorney" and "company logo design." Is it obsessive? You bet. Is it good for business? You bet. To tell you the truth, I don't actually think that the obsessiveness of successful startups in the Bay Area is any different from that of successful startups in Seattle. I happen to know that Glenn himself is completely obsessed with entrepreneurship and building Redfin into the next great company. What is unique about the Bay Area is the pervasiveness of that obsession. It is everywhere you go. And I don't think that's a bug. I think it's a feature.
Startups Have Bigger Things to Worry About Than MicroHoo!
I am definitely late to the party in praising Marc Andreessen's incredibly great Blog. That said, my failure to extoll the virtues of Marc and his dead-on insights is not the result of me personally arriving late at the lovefest. I have been thrilled to read Marc's uniformly interesting and well-reasoned insights since blog post #1. I just haven't had the right opportunity to suck up to Marc and tell him how much I care. Thankfully, that moment has come! If you are as big a Techmeme addict as am I, you have probably noticed this little discussion going on in the blog world about the would-be Microsoft/Yahoo merger. I have never seen a single issue take over Techmeme so completely. And the discussion about MicroHoo! or YahooSoft! has been pretty overwhelmingly damning of Microsoft and its proposal in general. A friend of mine recently referred to Microsoft as the Big Bad Wolf, which I think pretty much sums up what tech commentators have to say about the deal. But out of the increasingly loud chants of "Burn the Witch" came a voice of dissent (reason?) -- Marc Andreessen self-titled "contrarian view" (the full title is "Silicon Valley after a Microsoft/Yahoo merger: a contrarian view") poses, well, a contrarian view. In six broad points, Marc argues that with or without the MicroHoo! deal, nothing has changed in Silicon Valley. There are lots of startups out there. There are lots of acquirers out there. But, more importantly, there are millions of steps between the two and a preoccupation with the contraction or expansion of the potential pool of acquirers distracts from the real job at hand, which is building meaningful companies. I am tempted to quote Marc in his entirety on this point (you should definitely go read it all) but I think this chunk sums it up well -- Marc writes: Building your startup with a goal of getting acquired is foolishness anyway, in my opinion. Smart people disagree with me on this, but I'll make my case in two points: * Big companies don't want to buy startups that want to get bought. Instead, big companies buy startups that have built something of value that they decide is important to them. * You can't possibly guess what things of value big companies are going to want to own in one or two or three years. The world is changing too fast -- witness the Microsoft hostile bid for Yahoo itself! -- and besides, big companies are Moby Dick and you can't understand the reasoning behind their decisions anyway. Combine those two points with the fact that no big company buys that many startups each year anyway, and it's easy to see that the odds of you successfully anticipating something that a big company is going to want in the future and then actually selling your company to them -- as your strategy -- is a very risky proposition that is highly prone to failure. Precisely! Not only is this the right answer to concerns about a Microsoft/Yahoo! merger, this has also been my answer to concerns about a recession. Startups have too many things to worry about along the path to creating a meaningful business for these macro trends to be more than a distraction. They may have an impact on timing -- when you may or may not get bought or go public -- but they rarely if ever have an impact on your ultimate success. Marc's "contrarian" view concludes, "Your job is exactly the same as before: build something people want, scale it up, make sure it's defensible, and make sure you can make money with it. Build a company you are proud of." Right on, Marc. That's a great summary of how I view my job every day. That should be my VC credo: to find, fund and build companies to be proud of! And nothing about MicroHoo! or the subprime debt crisis is going to change how I go about that. So carry on Silicon Valley. We've got a lot of hard work to do building great companies. Everything else is just a distraction.
Entrepreneurial Success According to Paul Graham and Madeline Albright
Driving home from the city yesterday I was listening to a very interesting interview of Madeline Albright on NPR. Albright made a range of insightful observations about diplomacy, world affairs and the Presidency. During the course of the interview, one statement in particular jumped out at me. Albright said that she would rather have a President who was confident than a President who was certain. She noted that a confident President could take principled positions and stand for things that mattered, but would still have the good sense to listen to those around him and take counsel from a range of brilliant advisors. In contrast, a certain President would have no need for advisors because the appropriate course would be "clear" to him. Madeline Albright's comments reminded me of a talk I heard Paul Graham give at Foo Camp a couple summers ago. Paul was discussing the attributes of successful enterpreneurs, and he argued that the best entrepreneurs were open minded and had good judgment. He contrasted that with failed entrepreneurs who were stubborn and had bad judgment. Paul stated that while having bad judgment could be a handicap for an entrepreneur, if you had both bad judgment and were stubborn, you would necessarily fail. I suppose in Graham's parlance, the President that Madeline Albright is looking for would be confident but open minded. I am in complete agreement with Madeline Albright and Paul Graham. Startup success requires confidence but not certainty. I have worked with startup CEOs in the past who spent more time at board meetings defending their positions than listening to the board's feedback. Sure, some of the time those CEOs were right and some of the time the Board was wrong. But board meetings shouldn't be about certainty. The should be about confidence. The confidence to hear what other smart people have to say. The confidence to listen. The confidence to stand firm on things you believe are critical to the success of your company. And the confidence to change your position when clearer minds prevail. Like great Presidents, the best CEOs will have the character and the confidence to lead while listening. It isn't easy. But it can mean the difference between success and failure.
Pitching a VC -- The Basics Revisited
When I first started writing VentureBlog, I used to talk a lot about entrepreneurship. At the time, not a lot had been written about pitching VCs or the Venture Capital process, so there was lots of virgin territory. Since that time, dozens of VCs have started blogging and much has been said about what it takes to get a VC down the isle. Bits and pieces here and there -- a good Google archeologist can pull it all together. But having spent the week pontificating about PowerPoint and the likes, I've decided to take one more swing through the basics of pitching a VC. As I thought about the process of pitching a business, it struck me that no matter what the stage, the information was essentially the same. A good elevator pitch contains the same content as a good executive summary contains the same content as a good PowerPoint contains the same content as a good business plan. The distinction among these business descriptions is not the substance, it is the degree to which the essential elements are fleshed out. Each document contains slightly more detail than the preceding. Elevator Pitch --> Executive Summary --> PowerPoint --> Business Plan This makes good intuitive sense. There is no reason that the things that are most compelling about your business would change based upon the nature of the business description. Nor would an investor be interested in different things by virtue of the form that description takes. What, then, are the essential elements that make up a good PowerPoint, a persuasive elevator pitch, a compelling executive summary? I have no doubt that VCs will differ somewhat on the precise list, as well as the order and the emphasis. But at its core, I believe that a successful business description should include the following elements: 1. Introduction 2. Team 3. Product 4. Market 5. Business Model 6. Competition 7. Financials 8. Conclusion If you are pitching a VC, start with these 8 slides. If you are writing an executive summary, start with these 8 headings. Obviously some businesses will require additional information that is outside the scope of these basics. I am not suggesting for a second that you should always pigeonhole your business into these categories alone. But they are a great starting point from which to build a persuasive description of your business.
Entrepreneurship for Lawyers
I was recently reading some old posts on Venture Blog and couldn't believe how short they were. One might call them pithy. Or one might also call them lazy. Either way, they were short. I should really try that again. I have been teaching a class at Harvard Law School this winter semester called Venture Capital and the Technology Start-up with John Palfrey, the Executive Director of the Berkman Center. It is really fun to be back at the law school and working with John. I have been blown away by the energy that the law students are bringing to the topic of Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital. Sadly, I never had a VC or Entrepreneurship class in law school. Lets see, I had torts, contracts, criminal law, federal courts, administrative law, property, intellectual property, corporations, securities regulation, constitutional law . . . but no entrepreneurship. Then again, I don't know that I would have had the sense to actually take a VC or Entrepreneurship class back then. So its presence would have been wasted on me. Today my students had to actually pitch business ideas to real live VCs from the Boston area. And they did a great job. As I was discussing with them how to think about company building and pitching, it struck me that much like the law, building great companies is all about applying precedent. Only, instead of the applicable precedent being case law in this instance, the applicable precedent is a business case. Pitching your business is all about finding the right business analogs and describing how they apply to the company you're building (e.g., "we're the Amazon.com of funeral supplies."). That isn't so different from finding the right case analogs and describing how they apply to the lawsuit you're defending. So there may be hope that we lawyers are able to figure out this entrepreneurship stuff yet.
Venture Capital in China
For the last several years there has been a lot of talk on Sand Hill Road about investing in China. To a certain degree there has been a lot of talk about all the BRIC countries -- Brazil, Russia, India and China. But the most excitement is clearly around China. (Interestingly, while India is a relatively close second, I have yet to hear of a single Bay Area VC exploring investment in either Brazil or Russia). Drawn by huge markets and a rapidly expanding economy, American VC's are heading to China to stake their claims. Go East young VC's. Go East. Venture Capital investment in China has not, however, been a headlong dive. Bay Area VC's seem to be sending over exploratory parties. By way of example, David Chao from Doll Capital has been in and out of China for some time. Now a number of his partners are getting in on the act as well. Paul Koontz from Foundation Capital spent a year in China exploring the market. And perhaps the best indicator that the Chinese market is hot is Dick Kramlich's pilgrimage to China this year. Kramlich is one of the founding fathers of Sand Hill Road -- a 25 year veteran of the venture capital business. Not one to miss out on a big opportunity, Kramlich has headed over to China for 2008 to catch the wave of entrepreneurship and, perhaps, some of the Beijing olympics. Chow, Koontz and Kramlich are not the only US VC's headed to China by any stretch of the imagination. But these high profile forays into the Chinese market are excellent indicators of the level of interest in the market. It is hard not to be intrigued by the Chinese market. With 1.3 Billion people, you don't need a huge amount of penetration to hit big numbers. One percent of the Chinese market is 13 million people. As they say, if you are "one in a million" in China, there are thirteen-hundred people just like you. What's more, the Chinese government anticipates that approximately 300 Million people will move from the countryside to urban centers in the next decade -- that's the same number as the entire population of the United States. The combination of massive aggregate numbers, rapid urban migration (and the commensurate increase in wages) and relatively low concentrations of modernized business processes, suggest a market ripe for investment. And that is precisely the conclusion many of my brethren on Sand Hill Road have drawn. Given all that, I was anxious to check out China for myself. And right before the new year, I had the good fortune to do just that -- I accompanied a group of Stanford Business School students on a ten day study trip to China. We met with senior executives from companies like China Telecom, Alibaba, GM China and Bao Steel, as well as senior government officials and party leaders (yes, it is still a Communist country). But the most interesting discussions, to my mind, were with the leading private investors in China. (Because my meetings with these private investors took place as part of a study trip, there was no expectation that I would blog about the content of our conversations -- thus, I have decided to exclude the names of the specific investors so as not to violate any confidences they may have reasonable expected.) These investors gave a surprisingly candid view of venture capital throughout the country -- the good, the bad and the ugly. To the mind of the Chinese investing community, the market dynamics described above well outweigh the risks of investing in the current environment. Huge markets with lots of business white space provides for numerous opportunities for economic gain. While American investors are busy debating the degree to which the US startup market is saturated, Chinese investors are having trouble keeping up with the inflow of opportunities. The opportunities in China seem unbounded, making foreign investors starry-eyed. But despite the glories of the Chinese market -- and there is no denying that the demographic trends in China are glorious -- I heard more than enough from Chinese investors to scare me away from the market. As an initial matter, the biggest challenge that investors find in building Chinese startups is identifying great entrepreneurs. Because there has been all but no startup culture prior to a handful of years ago, there are essentially no seasoned entrepreneurs. A few native Chinese business expats are returning from abroad to take advantage of China's increasingly open economy. But those numbers are de minimis and do nothing to staff the rest of the enterprise. Meanwhile, Chinese executives have been trained to function in a business culture of bureaucracy and Party connections -- not the fast-paced, fluid environment of the startup world. The investors with whom I met lamented the lack of qualified executives and warned about the significant challenges of doing diligence on Chinese entrepreneurs. The second challenge with entrepreneurship in China is grounded in the laws of China. The legal structures needed to support a vibrant startup economy are, at best, embryonic. Neither entrepreneurs nor investors are particularly well protected by the Chinese legal system. One investor with who I met on my trip described a recent situation in which he funded an entrepreneur, only to have that entrepreneur turn around and leave for business school months later. The entrepreneur assured the investor that he would be better situated to make the business a success after the two years of school. The investor had no recourse as his money left the country with the entrepreneur. In another instance, an investor backed an entrepreneur in a business that thereafter appeared to be failing. However, a couple years later when the same company started thriving, the entrepreneur informed the investor that it was not the company he had backed. The investor was incredulous. He told the entrepreneur that it was the very same company with the same team and even the same name. The entrepreneur assured the investor that it was, in fact, a different company and that he had not invested in this successful company, his investment was in the previous failed venture. Despite the obvious deception, the investor told me that he again had no legal recourse. In many ways, venture capital in China is like the wild west. There are big opportunities, but they are not well defined and capturing their full value may well require manipulating the law to your own devices. One investor with whom I met described entrepreneurship in the United States like a zoo and entrepreneurship in China like a jungle. In the United States, he said, while there is always a lion next to you with sharp claws, driven by self-interest, there is a cage between you and the lion to keep you safe. You can count on the cage to protect you from unreasonable or illegal behavior. In China, on the other hand, there is no cage between you and the Lion -- if you don't take great pains to protect yourself from the self-interested behavior of the lion, you are going to get bitten. Case in point, one Chinese executive with whom I met on my trip described how he was able to leverage his dominant market position to force his competitors to sell at a discount. What's more, the entrepreneur described with pride that once he had bought up all of his competition, he was able to raise his prices three-fold. Yet another significant challenge for United States VC's seeking to invest in China is the government itself. While China appears to be making huge market-driven strides in its economy, there remains a significant wild-card in all business transactions -- the Communist government. On my trip it was repeatedly pointed out to us that government officials don't make laws, Party leaders do. The government officials are tasked with managing the bureaucracies of their localities, but the party leaders are tasked with making the decisions. The Communist Party single-handedly makes all of the rules in China. For example, by mandate of the Party, no Chinese financial institution may be majority-owned by foreign investors. Thus, the fasted growing segment of the Chinese market is off-limits to foreign investment. What is to stop the Chinese government from making similar mandates in other market segments? This lack of predictability of the fundament legal underpinnings of business in China is sufficient in and of itself to make me take pause. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to China. The shear scale of Beijing and Shanghai was absolutely stunning, as was the velocity of the growth in both cities. And the extraordinarily candid conversations we had with Chinese business leaders and Party officials was both surprising and invaluable. But rather than leaving China emboldened to invest in their great economy, I returned to the United States surprised that my fellow VC's could accept the risks inherent in investing in China. I could not. And I don't anticipate that changing any time soon.
The Lobby Conference
I spent this week in Hawaii at a conference I hosted called The Lobby. The idea behind The Lobby was to gather together a fantastic group of people with a shared interest in the future of media and facilitate a conversation among the participants. There were no speakers on stages, no panels addressing broad themes, no big name mucky-mucks invited to draw crowds, just a fantastically engaged and engaging group of subject-matter experts eager to connect and talk. Everyone who attended would have been those speakers, those panelists, those mucky-mucks at other conferences, but this conference wasn't about being the center of attention -- it was about participating. And man did everyone participate. From dawn to well-past dusk, the folks at The Lobby devoured the conversations. The energy was frenetic, a veritable Type A Power Plant. By the time I got on a plane to head home this morning I was literally spent. I suspect it will be weeks before I'm fully recharged. And I will take the next 12 months to follow up on everything I've learned, connect with everyone I've met, and prepare for next year's Lobby conference. The Lobby would never have happened had it not been for the encouragement, expertise and friendship of the incredible Lia Lorenzano-Kennett. Lia is the high priestess of conference production. She was one of the first Producers of the Apple Developers Conference, ran Demo and Agenda, was the President of IDG Executive Forums, and worked with Walt and Kara to create the phenomenal All This Digital conference, of which she still is the Producer. When I first met with Lia to talk about my idea for The Lobby, she told me that she had always wondered what made a great conference -- was it the speakers or the audience? And she had always wondered what was the answer to the age old conference chicken and egg problem. Was a conference made great by the people who attended? Or did great people only attend great conferences? As The Lobby wound to a close this week, Lia turned to me and said "so now we know -- it's the chicken." And man were there some great chickens in attendance at The Lobby. I would love to tell you more about The Lobby, but that's about all that I can say without breaching my own terms of the conference. The Lobby was from the very outset touted as an off the record conversation about the future of media. When attendees registered for the conference, they confirmed that they would not report on anything said by the other attendees. My theory was that if everyone felt comfortable that their discussions and conversations would not be reported beyond the confines of the event, people would speak more freely and we would all get a lot more out of it. I still believe that is true, although I am not certain how realistic it is to assume that in this day and age there is such a thing as off the record. It is too easy for information to be disseminated, either with attribution or anonymously. And what constitutes "off the record"? Is it still off the record if you report what was said at the event but don't attribute it to anyone in particular? Is it still off the record when you Twitter "having great conversations at The Lobby" or "Will sell bead clue for $100"? Is it still off the record when you post a public photo of the event to Flickr or Photobucket? What if that photo paints another attendee in a less than flattering light? Is it off the record if you simply report that you are attending The Lobby, even if you never mention more than the meals you had at the event? For what it is worth, my goal was to keep the content of the conversations off the record (attributed or otherwise, during sessions or at the bar, to a few or to thousands). My slogan for The Lobby was "the content is the conversation" -- off the record was about promoting open discussion, not creating a secret society. But it is a tough line to draw and I will continue to ponder these questions in anticipation of The Lobby 2. Until that time, I look forward to continuing to participate in the rapid evolution of digital media and hope that The Lobby has played some small role in that evolution.
Sick Blogging: Graphing Social Patterns and DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge
One of the good things about being home sick is that you have time to blog. So let me catch up on a couple of quick things. Graphing Social Patterns Conference: The first one is that my friend Dave McClure has organized an interesting conference that is coming up called "Graphing Social Patterns: The Business and Technology of Facebook" The event is all about Facebook as a platform for other businesses and will have some great speakers like Tim O'Reilly and Reid Hoffman. The Facebook phenomenon is sweeping Silicon Valley and this is the first event to try to put it in some perspective. The conference is in San Jose from October 7th through 9th and you can REGISTER HERE to get a 25% discount on the conference (because VentureBlog isn't just about information, it is also all about value). Also, don't miss the VideoEgg conference called App Camp on how to build a real business on Facebook. VideoEgg have become The experts on rich media advertising and monetization of social media. Given that, App Camp will be a very interesting discussion of how to actually make money on Facebook. I have been saying for a long time that I believed social networking (or, the "social graph" in today's parlance) would become a core piece of infrastructure in all sorts of applications and the Facebook platform is the perfect extension of that observation -- now application providers can outsource the entire social networking infrastructure to Facebook and focus on the overlying application. It will be interesting to see how these applications and monetization continue to evolve. DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge: The second random snippet of this fine sick day is Kara Swisher's quest for lunch with Jerry Yang. According to Kara, the Yahoo PR machine won't give her direct access to Jerry, so she is working on an end run to the problem. In support of the DonorsChoose blogger challenge, Yahoo has offered a lunch with Jerry for the blogger who gets the most donors to give money to schools through DonorChoose.org. Kara is hoping to earn that honor so that she can dine with Jerry and, no doubt, put it on video tape. The DonorsChoose blogger challenge is a fantastic way to help out worthy school projects. But since I'm late to the challenge, I may as well lend my support to Kara, who has chosen some great projects to fund. So if you are interested in contributing to some worthy causes, click HERE to get to Kara's DonorChoose page. Hope you all are healthy. I strongly recommend getting flu shots. Trust me. Get the shots.
The Ramblings of an Itinerant VentureBlogger
Hello VentureBlog readers. Are there still any of you out there? My hat is off to folks like Fred Wilson who blog religiously on a daily basis. While I post a thing or two daily to my personal Vox blog, that's usually a picture, a quote, a video. Fully formed sentences are a bonus on my Vox blog. But what it lacks in structure and depth, it makes up in cute pictures and video of my kids. Sure, my mom is willing to read VentureBlog and pretend she gives a crap about liquidation preference because I'm her son, but when it comes to cute pictures of her grandchildren, she'll check that blog with OCD consistency. My mom's desire for more info on her grandchildren, however, is no excuse for neglecting VentureBlog. And so I return to the hallowed pages of VentureBlog (I hope it is more hallowed than hollow). Do you ever read a newspaper column and get annoyed when it is just a bunch of little snippets without any overriding theme or structure. Lazy, lazy, lazy. Well, for the sake of easing back into VentureBlog, this post is going to smack of those lazy columns. Sorry about that. I'll try to do better next time. First things first, welcome to the New and Improved VentureBlog. Do not be confused by its near identical appearance to the old and not yet improved VentureBlog (particularly if you are reading this via my RSS feed :)). VentureBlog is now running on MT4. There's been a ton said out there about MT4 -- lots and lots of praise for its depth, simplicity and beautiful new UI. I second all of that (and not just because I'm an investor). It is a pleasure to use and the MT team deserves a pile of credit for continuing to raise the bar for blogging software. Not surprising to most of you, I'm sure, I spent the beginning part of this week at the TechCrunch40 conference. While folks like Walt Mossberg, Kara Swisher, Chris Anderson, John Battelle, make it look easy, the conference business is anything but. It takes a pile of planning, a huge amount of leg work, some real personality and a fair bit of luck to make a new conference work. But Mike, Jason and Heather pulled it off in a big way. The TechCrunch40 had the necessary mix of startup energy, investors trolling the halls, journalists chasing down stories, and ice cream bars. So congratulations to them for a great conference. If you couldn't make it to the TechCrunch40 and want to get a feel for the energy in the halls, Craig and I recorded a VentureCast show there that I am sure Craig will be posting shortly. While I was at the TC40 event, I bumped into Michael Copeland. Michael is a great guy and an equally great journalist. It saddened me to see "Fortune" on his name tag. I don't have any problem with Fortune. I like the magazine and I'm thrilled that Michael is writing for them now. But it was just a reminder of the terrible decision by Time Inc. to shut down Business 2.0. The crew at Business 2.0 worked hard to understand and articulate the underlying trends that continue to power this round of Internet innovation. They weren't content to simply write about the fads after they had been outed by the blogosphere. They dug in. I was lucky enough to attend a couple of the Business 2.0 gatherings of their "Next Net" companies. They were lively debates orchestrated by Erick Schonfeld and the rest of the Business 2.0 editorial team. It is a shame that there won't be any more of those gatherings. Maybe Michael can carry the tradition over to Fortune. [I wrote this post on a plane this morning and then read this evening that Erick Schonfeld has joined TechCrunch as Co-Editor with Arrington. That is fantastic news for TechCrunch -- Congratulations to Erick, Mike and Heather.] As is par for the course, I didn't actually spend much time in the conference hall during the TechCrunch40. But during one interesting session in which Marc Andreessen and Dave Filo were explaining to Chad Hurley how they invented the Internet, I peaked in and saw Eric Savitz in the front row blogging away madly. Have I ever mentioned on VentureBlog how incredibly great Eric Savitz is? He really is. Unfortunately, because he writes for Barrons he blogs mostly about the public markets. Somehow he managed to even make posts about earnings calls entertaining. And when he is blogging at things like TechCrunch40, his stuff is just awesome. If you haven't read Eric's blog, go check it out now. It has been really impressive how quickly his blog has become one of the standard bearing tech blogs. As a bookend to Shameless Self Promotion Month, I should mention that over the summer I funded a great company called Jaxtr. Jaxtr is what I like to think of as "social telephony." You can put a Jaxtr widget on your blog, social network, eBay listing, etc. and enable click to call. Jaxtr then establishes a virtual phone number for you that is local for the person calling -- if someone is calling you from India, they get a local India number, same in Europe or China or Iowa. And because the number is virtual and lives on top of a voip platform, you can then control the destination of those incoming calls. It can come to your cell phone, your home phone, Jaxtr voicemail, whatever you prefer. Better yet, you can determine the path of the call by individual. These features are just the beginning for Jaxtr, which will increasingly take advantage of voip and the social graph (oh crap, I swore I wouldn't use that term) to create more control, leverage, cost efficiency and fun for users. I'm thrilled to be involved with the company (along side many of the earliest Skype investors). Incidentally, I did get a fair number of comments and emails telling me that Shameless Self Promotion Month sucked and that I should cut it out. Fair enough. We now return to our ordinarily scheduled program of pontification and sarcasm. I guess that's enough for now. Sorry for the rambling. It is good to be back.
Splunk: A Software Enabled Platform for Data Search
When I first met with the team at Splunk, they were working away on building a system that could accurately track a transaction as it traversed the entire enterprise stack. If the transaction broke somewhere along the way, their software could help IT discover the cause of that failure. While it was clearly a pain point for some businesses, there was no clear customer and the value proposition was a relatively hard one to articulate. But the technology they were building created a whole lot of intelligence built on the fumes of the data center (namely the log files). I was interested in what they were doing, but not interested enough to fund them. One day I got a call from Michael Baum, CEO of Splunk. He told me that they had "figured it out" and that we should meet up. I was certainly game to hear what they had figured out and we got together again a short time later. So what had Splunk figured out? They had figured out that if they could track, manage and correlate log files across the entire data center in near real time, that they could create the killer IT Search Engine that would allow an end user to see into their enterprise stack in a way never before possible. The Splunk guys showed me a very simple example using Voip data and how one could track all systems that touched a particular extension by simply searching for that extension in the Splunk engine. I was an instant believer -- it was clearly a better way to manage the massive amounts of IT data that exist in enterprises today. I invested in the Series A and the Splunk team got to building the software that they had envisioned. A short time after investing in Splunk, I was meeting with a group of managers from one of August Capital's biggest Limited Partners (the folks who invest in our fund). I was describing for them what Splunk was planning to build and they asked me "so what's the market size for that?" I quickly answered as best I could -- "I have no idea." Needless to say, this was not the most satisfying answer they had ever received and they stared back at me with a look that suggested perhaps I should come up with a better answer. But the reality was that I didn't have a better answer. Not because it was unclear if there was any market for what Splunk was building. But, more importantly, because once Splunk had built their search engine, it was unclear what market they would go after. I explained to my investors that Splunk had a number of multi-billion dollar markets in which they might play (management, compliance, BI, security, capacity planning, development, etc.) and the only question was which ones they would choose to go after first. That conversation with my Limited Partners was over two and a half years ago. And since that time, the Splunk team has built precisely what they promised -- a large-scale, high-speed search technology for your data center. But despite the fact that Splunk's software has been downloaded by over 100,000 users and despite the fact that there are now more than 350 paying enterprise customers (including 21st Century Insurance, BEA, British Telecom, Catholic Healthcare West, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Comcast, Dow Jones, FedEx, Fiserv, GE Consumer Finance, LinkedIn, Mantech, Mozilla.org, NASA, Shopzilla, Telstra, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of State, Vodafone and Yahoo!), I would still have a tough time answering the question posed by my Limited Partner. Splunk has not built an application. Nor is Splunk merely selling software. Splunk has created a software enabled platform that continues to be extremely broadly applicable. Is Splunk mission critical when it comes to maintaining availability of large scale enterprise systems? Yes. Is Splunk invaluable in the fight to maintain the security of your data center? Yes. Does Splunk uniquely simplify the process of data compliance? Yes. Can Splunk help you dig into your data and analyze it like no other solution? Yes. But, frankly, that's just the tip of the iceberg -- once you are able to query individual pieces of data across your entire data center in real time, the applicability of the platform is limited only by the creativity of its end users. And those end users are driving value back into the platform, creating applications we hadn't thought of before. So what is the market for Splunk? i still couldn't say for certain. But I can tell you one thing -- it is awfully big. And in the venture business, that's big enough.
DoneRight: Pay For Performance for Service Professionals
It appears that Shameless Self-Promotion Week has become Shameless Self-Promotion Month. Not that I am promoting any more companies than I had originally planned. I am still only talking about those businesses in which I have invested on behalf of August Capital. But, it turns out, it takes more time than I had anticipated to sing the praises of such a fantastic group of companies. Just this past Friday, Craig Syverson and I recorded the latest installment of VentureCast at University Cafe in downtown Palo Alto. I had recently been discussing with a friend the fact that University Cafe has very much become a part of the startup economy again. Folks like Rajeev Motwani and Ron Conway spend a fair bit of time meeting with companies at University Cafe. Practically any time you're there you can look around a see deals getting done. In fact, shortly before Craig and I started recording VentureCast, the guys at the table next to ours were banging out the details of some sort of financing. Unfortunately, they had finished their negotiations before we started recording, or we might have captured the blow by blow on tape. A couple years ago I was meeting with an executive from one of my portfolio companies at University Cafe. While we were talking, Rajeev wandered by and told me to come say "hi" before I headed out. Rajeev was talking with a smart group of guys about their new company in the local advertising space. Those folks were the founding team from DoneRight (at the time called Perform Local). I was intrigued by their business, impressed with the team, and a short time later I ended up funding their company. The CEO of DoneRight was -- and is -- Paul Ryan. Paul is a phenomenal technologist. He had most recently been the CTO at Overture and, thus, had been part of the team that had pioneered the very concept of pay for performance. The idea at DoneRight was to create a pay for performance local advertising network that would allow local service providers to purchase valuable leads through DoneRight. By aggregating demand through on and off-line lead generation techniques, service providers could use DoneRight as their marketing arm, paying only for the leads they received. On behalf of the consumer, DoneRight would screen service providers for professional licenses, BBB complaints and the like, and only accept professionals onto the service that DoneRight was comfortable guarantying. Given this data-intensive, data-driven service, there was no one better to build DoneRight than Paul. Because local services are . . . well . . . local, DoneRight has been rolling out their network on a city by city basis. With each new city, DoneRight gains more insight into how best to provide consumers with the information they need to make informed buying decisions, while providing service professionals with the channel they need to scale their businesses. The service launched in San Diego, and has rolled out to Denver, Chicago, Houston and Dallas over the course of this year. In 2008, DoneRight will expand considerably, using what they've learned in their first five metropolitan areas to optimize the DoneRight experience on a nationwide basis. To date, over 1,000 home improvement professionals have entered into prepaid performance agreements with DoneRight. While other online services have failed to gain meaningful sales traction with local businesses, DoneRight has been able to sign up its first thousand paying customers in record time, because it is providing real, measurable results for its business customers -- In the short time that it has been doing business in these few metropolitan areas, DoneRight has processed nearly 500,000 consumer requests for referral to a DoneRight certified service professional. And that number will scale dramatically as DoneRight expands nationwide. DoneRight is another business in which I invested because of my love of data. Ultimately, the lead generation business is a numbers game. How much does it cost to acquire a lead? What will a service provider pay for it? Does it scale? Those were the questions that needed answering. And given Paul Ryan's background, I invested, confident that Paul would be able to produce the necessary infrastructure to answer those questions and create a scalable business. And he has. Better yet, as Paul and the company learn more about lead generation on a local level, they are able to apply that knowledge to each of their metropolitan areas, making each city more efficient and the overall business decidedly more profitable. If you live in San Diego, Denver, Chicago, Houston or Dallas and are looking for a guaranteed service professional, DoneRight.com is the place to go. And if you are living elsewhere, stay tuned. DoneRight will be coming to your neighborhood soon.
VideoEgg: Three Quart of a Billion Served
While I'm talking about user statistics, I might as well talk about VideoEgg. When I first started meeting with the team from VideoEgg, they had all but no traffic. They had a fantastic video upload tool. Their solution was really elegant. But they were serving thousands of videos at best. The discussion within my partnership was about the degree to which they could compete in a market that was dominated by YouTube and a group of fast followers. Nonetheless, I was really impressed with the team and was excited to see how we might be able to put the VideoEgg software and service to good use. Having determined that creating another video destination site was tantamount to suicide, the VidoeEgg team decided to partner with various services across the web to provide them with the necessary infrastructure to ingest, manage and serve video onto their respective sites. Because the VideoEgg technology and business proposition were so compelling, they quickly signed up a large number of partners, including: Bebo, hi5, Piczo, Consumating, Current TV, Flixster, AOL, Glam.com, Military.com, BlackPlanet, MyYearbook, ringo, Tagged, AsianAve, theU.com, Dogster, MiGente and many more. The results have been staggering. In the month of June, VideoEgg will serve in the vicinity of 25 million videos per day or nearly three quarters of a billion videos per month. Those videos will be watched by approximately 23 million unique visitors, a number which is growing by 15% month over month. If that trend continues, VideoEgg will serve about 53 million unique visitors by years end. What's more, VideoEgg is able to leverage the distribution across its network to promote original content. For example, in partnership with Motorola, VideoEgg will stream more than 14 million views of The Burg throughout the VideoEgg network. As the network continues to grow, the opportunity to act as a meaningful channel for original content will grow as well. Which is precisely why I view VideoEgg as a next generation television network. I was just asked today on a panel if I thought that the market for online video was approaching saturation and my answer was an emphatic "no." I am not predicting the demise of television in the near term by any means. But I am predicting exponential growth in online video as the next generation of media consumers spends an increasingly large percentage of their time online. And I anticipate that VideoEgg will play an important role in that media evolution.
Changing Titles
In an incredible breach of blogging etiquette, I have decided to change the titles of my posts from Shameless Self-Promotion Week. When I started writing this set of posts, I thought it would be nice to have a unified look to the titles. Thus, I adopted the "Shameless Self-Promotion Week: [Company X]" title format. But I have decided that I really hate it. It doesn't say anything about the posts. It is hard to understand out of context. It was just a bad decision. So my apologies but I'm changing titles.
Six Apart's Traffic is Huge!
A lot has been said about Six Apart in the past, including by me. I have never been shy about making clear my love of MovableType (VentureBlog), TypePad (SaysMe) and Vox (Hornik, Hornik and More Hornik). I use each of Six Apart's platforms, which makes me an investor, a customer and an evangelist. But what hasn't been said about Six Apart to date? Perhaps what hasn't been said is that when it comes to web traffic Six Apart is HUGE. According to Comscore, Six Apart's hosted properties (TypePad, Blogs, LiveJournal, Vox, etc.) put Six Apart in the 50 most trafficked sites on the Web. Six Apart has approximately 39 Million unique visitors a month and growing. Six Apart served just over 600 Million world-wide page views in April, of which over a quarter of a billion page views came from the United States alone. And those page views do not even include the massive traffic of the innumerable branded sites that live on Six Apart's hosted platforms, including TheSuperficial, SocialiteLife, Gothamist, BoingBoing, HuffingtonPost, AskDaveTaylor, TreeHugger, ZDNet Blogs, Celebrity-Babies, CuteOverload, Kottke, CoolHunting, and thousands more. Where are all those page views coming from? There are nearly 20 Million Six Apart bloggers across the various platforms. In the US, they are posting on LiveJournal, TypePad, Vox.... Internationally, they are posting on Friendster, Nifty, NTT.... On nearly any topic on the planet that one might search, there will be results hosted by Six Apart. The number of bloggers is constantly growing, the number of pages is constantly growing, the number of page views is constantly growing. The power of blogging! On top of that, there are hundreds of thousands of users of MovableType, which represent innumerable millions of page views which Six Apart does not host and does not track. MovableType is the predominant platform for enterprise blogging. Many corporations use MovableType for external blogs, many more are using MovableType internally. While in no way comprehensive, check out this list of companies using MT for their own blogs: ABC, CMP Media Conde Nast, Gannett, Hearst, NBC Universal, NPR, Playboy, USA Today, Time, Walt Disney, Washington Post, Warner Brothers, FedEx, Interpublic, Ogilvy, Organic, UPS, Adobe, Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, Nokia, Oracle, SAP, Symantec, Verizon, GE Heathcare, GE Medical Systems, Genetech, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, American Express, Deutsche Bank, the Federal Reserve Bank, Intuit, Standard & Poors, Wells Fargo, American Eagle Outfitters, American Girl, General Mills, L'Oreal, Mattel, Miller Brewing, Mike, P&G, Patagoinia, Wal-Mart, Whole Foods, General Motors, Boeing, Lockheed, Brown, Columbia, MIT, NYU, Princeton, Yale.... And, of course, VentureBlog! When I invested in Six Apart, I was excited about the incredibly broad applicability of Six Apart's technology. If anything, I've been surprised by just how broadly Six Apart's platforms have been applied. From Standard & Poors to Playboy to CuteOverload to BoingBoing to NPR to my mom's Vox blog, Six Apart has enabled a distributed media "empire" that is truly vast, and growing. It will be exciting to see how Six Apart continues to flourish in the coming years. I am thrilled to be a part of it.
Nomis Solutions: Price Optimization Guru Focuses on Financial Services
I am a bit of a broken record when it comes to my "its all about the team" mantra. But I really believe it. Yes, it is important to have a good idea. Yes, it is important to be chasing a big market. But as important as both of those things are, they pale in comparison to the need for great entrepreneurs. I've also written a fair bit about what it means to be a great entrepreneur. Some founders are incredibly good entrepreneurs by virtue of their sheer fanaticism and determination -- they thrive on the challenge of building a businesses out of whole cloth and hate to lose. Some founders are "serial entrepreneurs" and get the benefit of the doubt because they have done it before -- they have managed to run the startup gauntlet and make their investors a bunch of money. And other founders are incredible domain experts -- if anyone is going to figure out how to build an interesting business in their particular field, it will be them. If an entrepreneur falls into any one of these categories, you will do well to back them. A few years ago I was approached about backing a company called Nomis Solutions. The idea behind Nomis was to apply modern price optimization techniques to the financial services sector. While banks and insurance companies do a great job of measuring and optimizing risk, they have historically done less well at measuring and optimizing pricing. As a result, the industry as a whole has left a lot of money on the table. The founders of Nomis intended to build a software solution to help financial institutions engage in profit-based pricing -- pricing that would create the greatest profitability on a product by product basis (auto finance, mortgage, home equity, personal lending, etc.). Was it a good idea? You bet. Any time a piece of software can increase your profitability by 10 to 20%, it is a good idea. Was it a big market? Monstrous. Financial institutions are historically very difficult to sell software into, nonetheless, they are monumentally large accounts if you can find your way in. So my investment decision came down to the question of how was the team. While there were four fantastic entrepreneurs when I funded Nomis, and I do not in any way want to slight Nomis's other spectacular founders, I want to take a closer look at Nomis founder Dr. Robert Phillips. Bob Phillips personifies the best characteristics of a great entrepreneur. He thrives on company creation and refuses to lose (when I made diligence calls on Bob, I was assured that he was a killer entrepreneur and that I would do well to back him but that I should never ever play him at Trivial Pursuit). Bob is also a serial entrepreneurs who has made a bunch of money for his investors in the past. As the founder and CEO of Talus Solution, Bob created the worlds largest price optimization company in its day, which he sold to Manugistics for hundreds of millions of dollars. And Bob is the guru of price optimization -- there is no bigger domain expert. If you have been annoyed by the fact that the guy sitting next to you on a plane paid significantly less for his ticket than you did, you have Bob Phillips to blame for that. He introduced revenue optimization to the airline industry many years ago. He literally wrote the price optimization text book and teaches it at Stanford and Columbia Business Schools. It would be hard to find a better example of a fundable entrepreneur than Bob Phillips. So it will come as no surprise to you that Bob and his co-founders have managed to build an incredible company at Nomis. Their customers are literally a who's who of the banking industry, from Ford Motor Credit to HBoS to GE Consumer Finance to Washington Mutual. And their results have been nothing short of spectacular -- by installing Nomis's software, a bank can increase the profitability of its business by between ten and twenty percent. On a multi-billion dollar loan portfolio, that adds up to real money quickly. As a result, Nomis has been able to make great inroads into a really tough market. I don't want to ignore the excellent work of Bob Phillips' co-founders. Nor do I want to understate the degree to which great hiring has helped make the company a market leader. But Bob Phillips remains the world's expert in revenue optimization and I would sooner bet with Bob than against him when it comes to price optimization. It truly is all about the team.
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- updated: Feb 16 04:52PM
Web Standards Project BUZZ
The Buzz: the Web Standards Project Weblog. Fighting for standards that ensure simple, affordable access to web technologies for all.
Web Standards in Small Organisations
I don’t really make resolutions at new year, but perhaps if I did it should be this. To be more...
Another Failed Redesign: IEEE
Oh the irony -- that a standards body should ignore standards in creating their new Web site! As a member...
Failed Redesigns
Joe Clark recently wrote about several Failed Redesigns. His post has such a classic WaSP tone, that I hope he...
Star HTML and Microsoft IE7
Chris Wilson, Group Program Manager for IE Platform and Security at Microsoft, and Position is Everything's Big John Gallant have...
A Final End to IE/Mac
Microsoft has announced that they will cease all support for IE/Mac as of December 31, 2005 and will cease all...
The Bad Old Days Linger On
Most professional web developers understand why browser sniffing sucks, and have long since moved on to more robust techniques like...
Prince 5.1 Passes Acid2
Prince, a program that converts XML documents styled with CSS into PDF files for printing, has passed the Acid2 test....
Microsoft Tweaks IE's Handling of ActiveX, Java
Microsoft has announced that they'll be changing the way IE handles ActiveX controls and Java applets to avoid liability in...
24 Ways to Impress Your Friends
It's an online advent calender, and behind each door* you'll find a web development tip/tutorial (all standards-based goodness, of course)...
Pandora's Box (Model) of CSS Hacks And Other Good Intentions
This Thanksgiving I've decided it's about time that I provided some more background and analysis on one of the things...
Beyond New Professionalism
In Molly's recent WaSP buzz, Web Standards and The New Professionalism she offers: Today, I want to express that I...
Web Standards and The New Professionalism
With the aftermath of the Disney UK Store redesign fiasco still ringing in our collective ears, I am coming to...
An Open Letter to Disney Store UK
Dear Disney Store UK, I would write this to you directly via your site feedback page but it is throwing...
IE7 Conditional Comments
In mid October, the IE Blog urged developers to stop using CSS hacks to workaround IE's problems, and start relying...
WaSP Microsoft Task Force Update: Upcoming Products, XAML, Acid2, SXSW, and IE7 Revealed
The WaSP Microsoft Task Force held another face-to-face meeting with available members on Tuesday. We met in a Starbucks along...
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- updated: Jan 31 12:20AM
Dictionary.com Word of the Day
A new word is presented every day with its definition and example sentences from actual published works.
pestiferous: Dictionary.com Word of the Day
pestiferous: bearing or bringing disease, moral harm, or annoyance.
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- updated: Feb 18 06:14AM
Year 23
"I know nothing with any certainty but that the sight of stars makes me dream" ~ van gogh
I MOVED :)
Check out the new home of year 23! It's still a bit under construction but it's where you will find all my new posts. Thanks Blogspot - you've been good to me!!! http://staffjourney.typepad.com/year23/
muted
I have so much I want to talk about and I've realized that I've stopped writing a lot of things out of fear of offending people or something along those lines. I don't want this blog to be a place where i'm constantly thinking "well, maybe I can create another blog and write about this topic there". It's just too crazy for me - juggling multiple blogs and writing spheres. I am sort of thinking of stopping this blog on August 1st - that would be 2 years to the day since its inception. I believe it's been an amazing run and folks have been so faithful in reading my very random and non-linear thoughts. I have already begun creating a new blog - though the name will be not be distributed until I'm clear about what sort of purpose I would like it to have. I want a place where I can feel free to write about all the topics on my mind - to be vulnerable and real but in a way that won't put relationships at risk. Also, I just really love writing and this blog has been a place where I have been insanely affirmed in that area - I want to continue to practice composing my thoughts - maybe one day a book will come out of it! I want to thank all of you for being such fantastic readers. I would like to invite all of you to my new blog and new space online. If you are interested in reading about my new journey - i'm turning 25, so i figure that constitutes a new journey ;) then feel free to post a comment and I will hook you up with the link. If any of you out there have any alternate suggestions - throw them at me. I need more insight into this crazy communication tool! much love to all of you~ d~nice
if you are trying to contact me.....
email me. this will probably be one of my only public service announcements - but today i think i've realized the need to communicate this very important piece of info. about reaching me during the day. i do not answer my phone or even check my phone till i go to bed on most days. I am officially giving out word to the world - calling me is a horrible way to get in touch with me throughout the day. However, i check email a gagillion times a day and it doesn't interfere with work the way calling does. calling my cell during the work day - this is probably one of my only pet peeves. so PLEASE don't do it. email me. that is all. one more time.....email me! :) i say this only because folks keep missing me. if you want to chat on the phone with me - set a date and time - that way I can be prepared to have my phone near me and ready for a conversation. I'm just not the kind of person who is on her phone all day and i don't think i ever will be. I hate to be a grouch about this - please forgive me for not being more receptive - I am trying to grow in this - but understand that there used to be a day and age where people weren't expected to have this kind of accessibility on a minute-to-minute basis. It's going to take some time for me to grow more intentional about the phone - until then, have patience and oh yeah, email me.
just write....
You've probably noticed my lack of writing in the past month or so. It's semi-hilarious to me that I write when I'm feeling particularly happy or sad or angry - it's a way that seems to diffuse or focus my emotion into something practical. In this one spiritual direction book I was reading awhile back it talked about ways people tend to get stuck in two modes of processing. The three modes they laid out were thinking, feeling and acting or T, F and A. My personality tends to get caught up in a cycle of F and T - first I'll feel something, then think about it, then feel something, then think and I'll drive myself nuts! Adding an A to the cycle balances out my processing and it's crazy how well it focuses me. So if I'm thinking and feeling a ton, which tends to be always, when I add an A component - something simple like creatively drawing out how I'm feeling or journaling, cooking or anything that's hand's on and outside of my head and heart and more in my body helps me to process. There are those who vaciliate between F and A - or T and A - which I think is more the Northeast culture, very industrious, always on the move and doing something. The problem with vaciliating between say, a T and A is that there is never any connection with the heart - a lot may get done, but when you step back and evaluate, it might very well be that it wasn't necessary or even useful to yourself or anyone else. The F and A - maybe that looks more impulsive - spontaneous - equally as dangerous as other modes. So i'm trying to be more intentional about writing and sharing my thoughts. I've had many and have found that I'm keeping them to myself - there are stories of what God is doing in my life and I've been holding them a bit too tightly. This is not what I've been asked to do - I'm called to tell my story as that is part of the process of honoring Him and giving glory to Him. It's also freeing - liberating - for me. What's scary about sharing my story is the way I must be vulnerable. When you talk about how He's saved you it's evident that there was something in you that needed to be saved. Going into the light and being exposed isn't something we should be afraid of - living in shadows is more dangerous. That's where feeling can very much steer you in the wrong direction. A good friend shared with me awhile back about how God doesn't speak through fear and intimidation - the kind of fear that stops you in your tracks and pulls you into yourself, forcing you to retreat from life. For example, I always get scared when getting on a plane and for awhile I always wondered if that was God trying to tell me not to get on. But when I think about the ways God speaks to folks in the bible - He tells them things that their first response is always fear (hence the constant assurance, do not be afraid). Fear tends to be how we respond to His call - but that is not how He is speaking to us nor how He wants us to feel. Now don't get me wrong, there is the fear of God that is good stuff and something I'll get into in the next post when I talk about shame. And I think we all could think of examples when you are like - well, I'm glad I was scared, it knocked me out of doing something horrible to myself or others. But then again, isn't that wisdom? Shouldn't we be doing things out of wisdom and reverence to Him instead of out just wanting to save our hides? Anyway, I digress. Getting on the plane I realized that His voice was the one trying to calm me down - pouring peace over me and bringing me back to what my life is all about - Him. The voices of impending death and eventual destruction and plane pieces scattered across the mountains - that's not Him. That's me and that's the Enemy. I don't think we fear too little. I might even say that there are those who you think are fearless who are still acting out of fear not out of love or out of peace or joy. I don't like the english language for the way fear feels like the only word for something that I think there are multiple definitions. There is something God wants us to have - fear of the Lord - but it's not the fear I'm talking about, that's another kind. I need some greek and hebrew scholars now! So for my next posts: 1) Shame 2) Confession 3) Lost - the game
a new discovery
i think i might be an enfj. one thing that has never made a lick of sense to me in the enfp descriptions is the whole need to be "authentic", how they experience emotion deeply but then always feel "split" from themeselves. that's not me. i don't berate myself for not being me or being truly me. i took the test today and came out as an enfj - something i have never come out as before so have never read. usually i'll come out as enfp or infj. the nf is always really strong - but the e and p change depending on my mood. when i look at the kind of leader i am - especially when i was filling out this one application - the way i described myself is almost verbatim the "teacher" description of an enfj. this is kind of cool. what do ya'll think? i would be sad to not be a p anymore as it's been quite the bonding experience to be a p - but alas - i actually love deadlines - i need structure - and i put frames on my photographs!! i wonder if the p was more of a rebellion against the status quo and expectations as an oldest child. after some talk with key folks though in the past few weeks - and even throughout the years - i see my personality manifesting itself more like the teacher - with the fall backs of the teacher. the underlying difference is motivation. i'm motivated to see others succeed - not so much in relaying events like a journalist. just ask my roommate - i hate answering questions that are about information. I'd rather talk about what's going on with folks - think more about ways to grow, etc. i've known that about myself since high school - it's one of the reasons i feel led to counseling - pastoring even. so crazy. i think i'm an enfj. check out these links: enfp enfj
world cup baby!!!
So stoked - it's world cup time and that means global cheering for a month!! Check out the schedule and teams here. They're in germany - i used to be in germany...man, i want to go back!! Can you imagine being there for the world cup?? At work the other day we were talking about large groups of people and most of my co-workers don't like crowds. I've come to realize that I LOVE them. Still figuring out why that is - but part of it is the opportunity to share with people all at once an exciting experience - there's energy. wow - and tennis is coming up...... and more baseball games.... i'm in sports heaven!
so hot !
it's been so long since we've had hot weather here, i'm not really prepared! I need to get an air conditioner or something for my room because it's just too much during the summer to have four fans going and it STILL be too hot. have much to say on the topic of "thanksgiving" but am too hot to write at the moment. But my room desperately needs my attention - so once it's clean my reward is to sit and write out what i've been thinking about lately. and maybe also play more of LOST (the online game..)
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- updated: Jan 04 08:09PM
Jeffrey Zeldman Presents The Daily Report
Web design news and insights since 1995
Lord of the Rains
I saw the bus doors closing. I saw a strange lady taking my daughter away.
Facebook, Twitter, and Bird Flu
If "Our Broken Borders" should someday turn into a ratings loser for CNN's Lou Dobbs, perhaps he can switch to "The Dwindling Productivity of the American Worker: Is Facebook Sapping Our National Vigor?"
Happy fourth birthday, real world semantics
Four years ago today, Tantek Çelik and Kevin Marks gave a presentation on real-world semantics. Working backwards from HTML extensions like XFN (created by Tantek, Matt Mullenweg, and Eric Meyer), the paper showed how designers and developers could add semantics to today's web rather than starting from scratch or waiting for a "purer" markup language.
ALA 252: New library, long hallway
Keep your markup clean with DOM scripting and learn to play nice in the long hallway.
All Bits on Deck!
We're as pleased as pale punch to welcome web designer, CSS whiz, microformats monger, icon designer, outstanding public speaker, and best-selling CSS-design-book author Dan Cederholm and his freshly redesigned SimpleBits site to The Deck, our advertising network targeting web, design and creative professionals.
In defense of version targeting
We knew when we published this issue of <cite>A List Apart</cite> that it would light a match to the gaseous underbelly of standards-based web design, but we thought more than a handful of readers would respect the parties involved enough to consider the proposal on its merits. Alas, the ingrained dislike of Microsoft is too strong, and the desire to see every site built with web standards is too ardently felt, for the proposal to get a fair viewing.
Not your father’s standards switch
For seven years, the DOCTYPE switch has stood designers and developers in good stead as a toggle between standards mode and quirks mode. But when IE7 "broke the web," the quest was on to find a more reliable ensurer of forward compatibility. Is version targeting the answer?
The no-access road
A stranger and I just helped a disabled lady in a motorized scooter mount the inaccessible curb adjoining the treatment center for disabled people in wheelchairs and scooters. The medical center has been there for probably thirty years. And for probably thirty years, the inaccessible curb has barred the way for people seeking treatment.
Girl. Dog. Night. Day.
A series of incidents.
Usability problems with .Mac sync
I'm afraid this is another of those entries outlining bizarre design decisions and perplexing usability quirks in the otherwise brilliant world of Apple computers and phones
Everything that can be iPhonelike, will be
The iPhone is too great a leap forward in interface design to be confined to, well, the iPhone.
An Event Apart New Orleans
An Event Apart, the design conference for people who make websites, kicks off its 2008 season with An Event Apart New Orleans, a monster, 19-hour, two-day creative session. Join us April 24–25 at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside for two intense, 9.5-hour-long days of learning and inspiration, featuring twelve of your favorite web design authors.
Self-publishing is the new blogging
When you've flown this far from Gutenberg, the only place to travel is back.
Morning has broken
A technological lament in eight Tweets.
Let me hear your standards body talk
Jeremy Keith's "Year Zero" beautifully explains why the W3C needs our backs, not our bullets.
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- updated: Feb 18 09:23PM
Ars Technica
New BotSniffer better able to detect foul stench of botnets
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have unveiled a new program they call BotSniffer. The application is designed to detect botnet activity through an analysis of IRC and HTTP traffic rather than using signature-based detection.Read More...
Study: familiarity often breeds votes for the next president
Never mind debates over candidates' policies or their ability to lead. A series of Stanford studies suggest that our votes may come down to how much a candidate can be made to look like us.Read More...
Report: implementation flaws hound wireless security
Security firm Codenomicon has released a report detailing its findings when testing the robustness of many current wireless security devices. The implications of the firm's findings (if upheld) are troubling for any user or IT administrator considering the use of any wireless technology.Read More...
Intel writing massive check for Sprint-Clearwire WiMAX deal
Intel is reportedly preparing to pump $2 billion into a joint venture between Sprint and Clearwire that should give WiMAX some much-needed exposure by year end.Read More...
Great firewall of China may hinder blogging Olympians
The International Olympic Committee has given athletes the green light to blog from the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, but bloggers will have to make sure their posts can make it through the great firewall of China.Read More...
Can an IPv4 stock market stave off address depletion, IPv6?
Today, obtaining IPv4 addresses is an administrative procedure, one that will end around 2012 as we run out of IPv4 address to give out. Proponents of an IPv4 "commodities market" believe that it could keep IPv4 viable for a few more years, but skepticism remains over that's a likely outcome.Read More...
HD DVD death still not official; what they're mulling
Toshiba has made no (zip, zero, nada) official announcements about killing off HD DVD, and today they're still defiant. Here's a picture of what we understand is going on in the HD DVD camp.Read More...
ISP blunder exposes entire domain's worth of e-mail to FBI
A report obtained by the EFF under the Freedom of Information Act reveals that an unnamed ISP accidentally coughed up e-mail for an entire domain to the FBI even though access was only authorized for a single address.Read More...
Labels want piece of the ad-supported music market
Major labels are reportedly in talks over a joint venture with MySpace that would give the labels an equity stake in the ad-supported music business. But will the new service offer DRM-free downloads or just online-only streams?Read More...
ICANN panel questions Network Solutions on frontrunning
ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee investigated user-submitted cases of domain name frontrunning and says that there hasn't been a single shred of evidence to prove that it's actually happening. So why is Network Solutions engaging in controversial domain practices to protect customers against frontrunners? ICANN wants to know, too. Read More...
Researcher maps out plan to target BitTorrent uploaders
A security expert helps out the MPAA by suggesting a mechanism for blocking BitTorrent movie downloads and possibly identifying individual users. Ars looks at whether the plan is feasible and likely to be adopted by the motion picture industry. Read More...
Booty call: Music has-beens line up to sue The Pirate Bay
Justice or money grab? Bands are lining up to sue The Pirate Bay now that the Swedish government has indicted the site's owners, but the plans could backfire as the promises of sunken treasure give way to reality.Read More...
Netroots seek to send legal scholar Lessig to Congress
Lawrence Lessig is a crusader for copyright reform and a major influence on thinking about the relationship of culture and content. Now, thousands want him to run for Congress, and Lessig even tells Ars he's considering it.Read More...
Tagoo, you're it! New MP3 search engine unfazed by IFPI
As you read this, the IFPI is likely preparing to pick up its mallet again. A new mole in the form of a music search engine just appeared that makes searching for and downloading MP3s easier than ever.Read More...
First look: latest Google Android SDK a big improvement
Google has announced another prerelease version of the Android SDK. We took a close look at how it performs and found that Google is listening to feedback—the new SDK is a solid improvement over its predecessor.Read More...
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Christian Science Monitor | Top Stories
Read the front page stories of csmonitor.com.
After declaring independence, Kosovo looks to cautious next steps
President Bush hailed the controversial move, as the EU and UN met to form their responses.
Will Wisconsin primary build Obama streak?
Clinton needs a Dairy State win to prevent him from winning nine primaries in a row.
Lebanese turmoil withers 'Beirut Spring' optimism
But many young activists are still struggling to maintain the movement that followed in the wake of Hariri's death.
Credit squeeze's potential ripple effects
As lenders tighten standards, the possibility of a recession increases.
Angry opposition youths oppose Kenya compromise
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Kenya Monday to press for a power-sharing agreement.
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Moreover Technologies - CNET
CNET - more than 340 categories of real-time RSS news feeds
cnet at Shopping.com - Sponsored Link
Ad - www.Shopping.com Feb 18 2008 9:28PM GMT
C|Net reviews
CNET Feb 18 2008 9:28PM GMT
Olympus E-3 (body only)
CNET Feb 15 2008 9:40PM GMT
2008 Honda Fit Sport
CNET Feb 15 2008 9:40PM GMT
Cambridge SoundWorks i765
CNET Feb 15 2008 7:34PM GMT
Loco for NTT DoCoMo superphones
CNET Feb 14 2008 11:24PM GMT
What IT can learn from botnets
CNET Feb 14 2008 11:10PM GMT
Dell Inspiron 1525 (Intel Pentium(R) Dual Core T2330 1.60GHz, 80GB HDD, 512MB RAM)
CNET Feb 14 2008 9:40PM GMT
Hasta Luego to GSMA
CNET Feb 14 2008 9:28PM GMT
Loco for NTT DoCoMo super phones
CNET Feb 14 2008 8:42PM GMT
Dell Inspiron 1525 (Intel Pentium(R) Dual Core T2330 1.60GHz, 120GB HDD, 512MB RAM)
CNET Feb 14 2008 8:41PM GMT
Battle of the trade shows: Why Europe rules
CNET Feb 14 2008 6:04PM GMT
2008 Audi A4 2.0T Quattro Turbo 6M
CNET Feb 14 2008 5:38PM GMT
2008 Infiniti G35 Journey
CNET Feb 14 2008 10:44AM GMT
Sins of a Solar Empire (PC)
CNET Feb 14 2008 10:44AM GMT
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CNN.com
CNN.com delivers up-to-the-minute news and information on the latest top stories, weather, entertainment, politics and more.
Satellite-shootdown try days away, sources say
The U.S. Navy will likely attempt to shoot down a faulty spy satellite on Thursday, the day after the space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to land, two officials told CNN today. The Navy plans to fire a missile at the satellite as it enters Earth's atmosphere.
Pakistan opposition sees early good news
Polls in Pakistan's first parliamentary elections in six years -- and some of its most pivotal -- closed with relatively little violence and no overt evidence of vote-rigging. Now, the country waits as the tallying begins.
Admiral: Al Qaeda in Iraq killing ex-allies
Video provided to CNN shows an al Qaeda in Iraq firing squad executing one-time allies -- fellow Sunni extremists -- who were not loyal enough to the terror organization, coalition military analysts said. The video shows armed men wearing masks standing behind nine kneeling men.
U.S. recognizes independent Kosovo
The United States today officially recognized Kosovo -- the Balkan state which split from Serbia on Sunday -- as an independent nation, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a written statement. "We congratulate the people of Kosovo on this historic occasion," Rice said.
Texas poll shows dead heat among Dems
It's all tied up in Texas.
D.A.: Antifreeze suicide theory 'ridiculous'
Read full story for latest details.
CNN.com readers: Are we safe on campus?
If a shooter came into some of the biggest classrooms at the University of California-Berkeley, recent graduate Scott Alto wonders whether students would be able to protect themselves.
Ancient frog was size of bowling ball
Read full story for latest details.
Flock forgives confessed-killer minister
Read full story for latest details.
Pitcher Pettitte apologizes for HGH use
Read full story for latest details.
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CNN: World
Real time updated news from the first worldwide TV channel specialized in world information (By http://www.newsisfree.com/syndicate.php - FOR PERSONAL AND NON COMMERCIAL USE ONLY!)
Admiral: Al Qaeda in Iraq killing former allies
Video provided to CNN shows an al Qaeda in Iraq firing squad executing one-time allies -- fellow Sunni extremists -- who were not loyal enough to the terror organization, coalition military analysts said.
More homes raided in German tax-fraud probe
Read full story for latest details.
Rice demands 'real power sharing' in Kenya
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in Kenya to support efforts to reach political reconciliation, said Kenya's opposing factions must form a "grand coalition" that provides "real power sharing."
Al Fayed gives evidence in Diana inquest
The father of Princess Diana's boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, was expected to testify Monday for the first time at the inquest into their deaths more than a decade ago.
Cyclone besieges Madagascar
A cyclone with sustained winds of 69 mph swept across Madagascar on Sunday, knocking out power in some areas and making damage assessment difficult.
Bush promotes health solution in Africa
President George W. Bush focused on a low-tech way to save the lives of African children Monday as he and first lady Laura Bush toured a Tanzanian clinic.
Serbia takes Kosovo anger to U.N.
The U.N. Security Council will meet Monday to discuss Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia amid bitter divisions over the future of the Balkan territory.
Bush promotes U.S. role in war on malaria
Read full story for latest details.
Pakistan polls open amid violence
Pakistanis cast their votes in parliamentary elections on Monday amid fears of violence, accusations of vote-rigging and surveys indicating opposition parties could fare well.
Surprise result in Cypriot elections
Read full story for latest details.
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- updated: Feb 18 08:22PM
kuro5hin.org
technology and culture, from the trenches
The Origin of Valentine's Day
The herstory of Valentine's Day can be traced to St. Valentine of Jerusalem, the first priest of the Catholic church. Saint Valentine was, conicidentally both born and martyred on February 1st. It might be difficult to understand how this man's life gave birth to the rather later holiday we know today, but there is a connection!
Apples to Oranges
Much criticism is thrown in the direction of teacher unions. Steve Jobs, one of the recent critics, blasts ""I believe that what is wrong with our schools in this nation is that they have become unionized in the worst possible way," "This unionization and lifetime employment of K-12 teachers is off-the-charts crazy."
eavier's guide to enjoying straight pr0n in the company of other heterosexual males.
While sitting in the company of three male friends last weekend watching Hustler's "Campus Confessions" (excellent btw), it came to me that enjoying porn with and in the company of other men is a delicate business. One wrong move can ruin, what was up until that point, a spotless heterosexual record. First off, watching porn in a male pack is a weird act. But it happens. Somebody inevitably will think it a good idea to bring an adult DVD to watch after the game. Disagreeing to watch or a sudden show of hesitancy will only get your friends questioning your heterosexuality. Secondly, you will in no way enjoy the porn as much as you would watching it by yourself, or with your significant other. In all likelihood, the pack porn party, if everyone is honest, is way too structured for anyone to have any fun at all. But they happen, and here's ten pointers to keep yourself "straight" in everyone's mind after the "fun" is over.
Million Dollar Pinball: Part I
In the early 1990s, Los Angeles' area Commerce Casino was a hot bed of activity. At the time, the casino was just a card room where low and high stakes poker was played. Off to a side room, the last dying breath of high-stakes Backgammon was still being played, and mostly by some of the top players in the world including "Action" Dan Harrington. The casino was very popular and a lot of top players would play there when they were visiting the LA area. This caused a problem - lines for games, especially Poker, would get too long and players would get impatient. The owner of the casino, a man I've never met, came up with a brilliant idea: install several pinball machines to keep the waiting list happy.
Skinhacking: A DIY Guide to Facials, Laxatives, and Moisturizers
I have dry skin. Heating systems at home, school, and work all conspire with the general dryness of Zone 5 Winter to leave me with a flaky, sensitive epidermis that not only feels papery and prone but, in some areas, cracks or reddens. To combat this I began using, for the first time in my life, commercially available moisturizers like Aloe & Chamomile Advanced Therapy Lotion (St. Ives) and Norwegian Formula Body Moisturizer (Neutrogena). After becoming wary of their exotic additives and unpronounceables, I decided to try making my own in order to ascertain what's really responsible for rehydrating my skin.
Demonology '08
In the new year the Berkeley Software Distribution family of Unix-like operating systems is growing at a phenomenal rate and excitement over the possibilities for this operating system family is in the air. After unprecedented development and adoption as well as major shifts in the marketplace, it's time to take a look at what's new with this demonic family of operating systems. Don't fear, the word demon means Unix goodness at just the right price.
Your Army Of Dupes Should Be Quaking In Fear!
13-year old Megan Meier, after being cruelly taunted by a "Josh Evans" on MySpace, hung herself in her closet with a belt. Lori Drew, the mother of one of Megan's former friends, admitted in a police report that Josh Evans was really her, but later denied it. The police investigated, but were unable to find any crime they could charge Mrs. Drew with. The state of Missouri is proposing to outlaw internet harassment, but under the US Constitution, such a law could not apply retroactively. But Federal prosecutors may have found a way to prosecute Mrs. Drew...
How I met the Queen in a Canadian cornfield
In the summer of 1973 I hitched a series of rides from Boston through Maine and New Brunswick to my mother's house in Pictou County Nova Scotia. It's hard to describe the location any better than that because she originally lived in a hamlet called Poplar Hill ... until the Poplar Hill School, a one-room schoolhouse across the street from my mothers house, closed. From there her address wandered from RR2, Meadowville to RR2 Scotsburn and finally to RR2 in the unincorporated county of Pictou. Civilization had abandoned Poplar Hill. All my mother would say was that she was four miles up the Tony River road between Tatamagouche and Antigonish.
Scoop is Bringing Down the Right!
RedState is apparently failing because all Scoop developers are liberals so they couldn't get any support for Scoop which crashes all the time so they abandoned Scoop and their website sucks and I think that's funny and rusty should maybe consider fixing Scoop but it's not really his problem because Bush is the devil and we know how saintly rusty is and he wouldn't work for the devil.
Jalapeno Eyewash and the Suicide Attemptress
If you have ever fixed nachos with fresh jalapenos, it only takes one time to figure out that you don't pick your nose, take a piss or rub your eyes...especially you don't rub your eyes. Doing cunnilingus after eating jalapenos is out of the question too...doing so is a mistake you make only once.
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- updated: Feb 19 12:24AM
ofben's Xanga
Sorry, ofben has chosen not to publish an RSS feed. Please visit their Xanga site here: http://www.xanga.com/ofben
Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:24:42 GMT
Sorry, ofben has chosen not to publish an RSS feed. Please visit their Xanga site here: http://www.xanga.com/ofben
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Plastic: Most Recent
Politics, Culture, Point Of View
House Lets Defense Of America Act Expire
Plastic::Politics::Terrorism: US Congress Refuses to Service Bush On Valentine's Day; White House Now Especially Cranky
Controversially Blocked Medical Checklist Unblocked [Updated]
Plastic::SciTech::Health: In a move unsurprising to observers of this administration, the Office for Human Research Protections moves to "protect patients" by forbidding the use of a checklist that has saved thousands of lives, and millions of dollars.
Debating Science Agendas
Plastic::SciTech::Politics: 23 Nobel laureates, 32 government leaders (Democrats and Republicans), 31 major business leaders, 89 organisations, 44 college and university presidents, and lots of editors and journalists are among the 13,000 people who have joined in the call
Breaking News - U.S. Recognizes Kosovo Independence
Plastic::Politics::International: Kosovo's parliament declared independence on Sunday, pledging to establish a "democratic and multi-ethnic" state.
A Problematic Spy Satellite
Plastic::SciTech::Military: The U.S. has decided to shoot it down before it can reenter the atmosphere.
Monorail To Nowhere
Plastic::Work::Travel: sounded like such a great idea at the time. Las Vegas built a $650 million monorail system on the Las Vegas Strip entirely with private money.
Dying To Kick The Habit
Plastic::SciTech::Medicine: How badly do you want to kick the tobacco habit? Bad enough to experience anxiety, nervousness, depressed mood and some stray thoughts of suicide?
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- updated: Feb 19 12:24AM
Slashdot
News for nerds, stuff that matters
Using the Ruby Dev-Tools plug-in for Eclipse
Mark Newport's Knitted Heroes
Fortune Takes a Look at Bram Cohen
Datels 4GB Hard Drive for PSP Reviewed
IMDb Turns 15
PTO Eliminates "Technological Arts" Requirement
The Perl Foundation Gets New Leadership
Jack Thompson Rescinds Offer
Interview with Tony 'Say No to Windows' Bove
New Hopes From Sun's Idea Factory
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- updated: Oct 17 11:51PM
Wired: Top Stories
The best of Wired.com, as it happens.
Doctor Urges Creation of 'Science of Healthcare Delivery'
While treatments have multiplied, the operations and processes for delivering those medicines haven't kept pace, slowing health improvement in developing and developed countries. Alexis Madrigal reports from the AAAS annual meeting in Boston.
Highlights From the Floor of the AAAS Annual Meeting
Alexis Madrigal reports from the AAAS annual meeting in Boston on the goings-on on the convention floor, where the booths are filled by scientific projects and resources doing their best to illuminate or explain some corner of the universe, body, or planet.
Jargon Watch: Agrichar, Passive Obesity, iBricking
Keep up with the latest in Wired words. Make sure you don't socially advertise your passive obesity.
World's Longest Accelerator Probes Universe's Tiniest Particles
Tech-hungry photographer and reporter Dave Bullock tours the particle-physics labs at the Stanford Linear Accelerator.
Negroponte Keynote: Electronics Are 'Obese'
Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder of both the MIT Media Lab and the nonprofit One Laptop Per Child, delivers the last keynote at the American Academy for the Advancement of Sciences annual meeting, focusing on the groundbreaking work of the OLPC, which has delivered thousands of laptops to children in the developing world. Alexis Madrigal reports from Boston.
Inside the Bizarre World of Japanese Pickup Schools
In Japan there are night schools for everything, including how to pick up women on the streets. Lisa Katayama reports from Tokyo.
Gallery: Students of the Pickup School for Geeks
The Pickup School for Men Who Can't Get Any promises to turn any awkward geek into a womanizing pro. Meet the school's founder and some of his top students.
Feb. 18, 1913: 'Isotope' Goes From Greek to Geek
The Greek word for "at the same place" suits Frederick Soddy very well, for he has just identified disparate elements with something very big in common.
Eliot Van Buskirk's Listening Post: Major Label Fights Google-ization of Music With SeeqPod Lawsuit
Rather than attacking SeeqPod, a popular music search engine, the major labels should view it as a template for how to make money on the internet, which isn't going away any time soon.
Burn, Baby, Burn
As part of a session called "Seeing Science" at the 2008 AAAS conference, Chris Johnson, director of the Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute at the University of Utah, presents examples of the cutting edge visualizations being produced by his group. Greta Lorge reports from Boston.
Space Crews Bid Emotional Adieu
The crews of the space shuttle and station say a teary farewell after more than a week of working tirelessly together to build a bigger and better scientific outpost in orbit. Atlantis is scheduled to undock early Monday, its load considerably lighter than when it arrived Feb. 9 with Europe's premiere space laboratory, Columbus.
The Chinese Government's Plans for Nanotechnology
UC Santa Barbara researchers present their findings on the state of Chinese nanotechnology at the AAAS annual meeting. China aims to leapfrog the United States in technological development with substantial investment in nanotechnology, but whether those efforts will actually pay off is still unclear. Alexis Madrigal reports from Boston.
The Future of the Global Food System
What is the future of the global food system? In this speech delivered at the AAAS annual meeting, Cornell Professor Per Pinstrup-Andersen, argues that the food system is broken and needs to be fixed. Alexis Madrigal reports from Boston.
Scientists Break Down Baseball, Find Jeter Does Suck
A scientist at the annual AAAS conference presents a new statistical method for evaluating fielding performance in baseball. The Spatial Aggregate Fielding Evaluation uses a probability model to fit a smooth curve for entire teams, particular positions or individual players. Greta Lorge reports from Boston.
The Other Carbon: Reducing Black Carbon's Role in Global Warming
A professor at the annual AAAS meeting gives a talk on the role of black carbon, the other carbon, in global climate change. A mere 10% reduction in black carbon would be equivalent to eliminating 25 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions. Alexis Madrigal reports from Boston.
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- updated: Feb 19 12:24AM
Pentecostal Tabernacle
Where everybody is somebody and Jesus Christ is Lord!
Special Announcements:
Calling all singers and musicians! The Praise and Worship Team is looking for you. Those interested must (1) be a full member or a Watch Care member, and (2) audition. For more information, please see or contact Lady Carmen Greene.
Watchcare Membership
The next Watch Care Membership Class will be held. This class serves those seeking temporary membership while residing in the Boston area (i.e., students or those on temporary assignment). Please see Sis. Debbie Plummer for an application or additional information.
Weekly Prayer Focus (2/10-2/16)
Lord please begin to allow us to see Your work of spiritual renewal in Pentecostal Tabernacle.
Christians 4 Life Meeting
Christian 4 Life, the Youth Ministry of PT (ages 12-18), will hold a meeting, on the 2nd floor of Washington Street. Come learn about living for Christ while having fun, food, and hanging out with fellow teens.
Wednesday Bible Study
Join us as we come together for a time of prayer with a special guest speaker during our consecration. There will be no small groups on the week of February 4th.
Weekly Prayer Focus (2/3-2/9)
During this week of prayer, fasting, and consecration, let's ask God to reveal Himself to us both individually and as a congregation.
O Well, Nobody’s Perfect!
It’s been six hours now since one of the greatest upsets in Super Bowl history. The New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots by three points, even though they were picked to lose by at least twelve. Up until last evening, the Patriots had yet to lose ...
Consecration Week
We will be have a week of consecration starting Monday, February 4th - Sunday, February 10th by performing the Daniel Fast (PDF; see last year's for plain text). There will be no small groups the week of February 4th. We will have a guest speaker on Wednesday, February ...
W.O.R.T.H Event
W.O.R.T.H (Women of Reaping the Harvest) will hold their next session entitled "Home Improvement, Maintaining your Temple" in the lower sanctuary.
Change Agents: Bible Study
Stressed out by school and work? What does the Word say about stress and anxiety? Theﾠ Change Agents, the young adult ministry (ages 18 to 30), will hold a Bible study and discussion focused on "Change Inhibitor: Stress, Imbalances, & the Pressures of Life." Join us for prayer at 7pm ...
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- updated: Feb 16 09:48AM
World Wide Web Consortium
Leading the Web to Its Full Potential...
XML is Ten!
2008-02-12: Ten years ago, on 10 February 1998, W3C published Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 as a W3C Recommendation. W3C is marking the ten-year anniversary of XML by celebrating "XML10" and extending thanks to the dedicated communities -- including people who have participated in W3C's XML groups and mailing lists, the SGML community, and xml-dev -- whose efforts have created a successful family of technologies based on the solid XML 1.0 foundation. The success of XML is a strong indicator of how dedicated individuals, working within the W3C Process, can engage with a larger community to produce industry-changing results. "Today we celebrate the success of open standards in preserving Web data from proprietary ownership," said Jon Bosak, who led the W3C Working Group that produced XML 1.0. Read the press release and testimonials. Send W3C a greeting and learn more about XML at W3C. (Permalink)
Note: Best Practices for XML Internationalization
2008-02-13: The Internationalization Tag Set (ITS) Working Group has published a Group Note of Best Practices for XML Internationalization. This document provides a set of guidelines for developing XML documents and schemas that are internationalized properly. Following the best practices describes here allow both the developer of XML applications, as well as the author of XML content to create material in different languages. Learn more about the Internationalization Activity. (Permalink)
W3C mobileOK Checker "Beta" Released for Mobile World Congress
2008-02-08: W3C invites Web content authors to run the beta release of the W3C mobileOK checker and make their content work on a broad range of mobile devices. This new version provides more accurate results and a more reliable experience. Visitors of the Mobile World Congress (in Barcelona, starting Monday, 11 February) are welcome to stop by the W3C Mobile Web Initiative booth (in Hall 7) to learn more about this tool for making Web sites mobile-friendly. (Permalink)
Call for Review: Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (Fifth Edition) Proposed Edited Recommendation
2008-02-06: The XML Core Working Group has published the Proposed Edited Recommendation of Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (Fifth Edition). This revision of XML 1.0 incorporates all known errata for XML 1.0 Fourth Edition; see the diff-marked specification for changes. This version of the XML 1.0 specification contains one major change, to the definition of names, bringing one major benefit of XML 1.1 into XML 1.0; please read the background for this change as part of any review. Comments are welcome through 16 May. Learn more about the Extensible Markup Language (XML) Activity. (Permalink)
WAI-ARIA for Accessible Rich Web Applications: First Public Working Drafts
2008-02-04: The Protocols and Formats Working Group published First Public Working Drafts of:
W3C Talks in February
2008-02-01: Browse W3C presentations and events also available as an RSS channel. (Permalink)
Toward More Transparent Government: Workshop Report on eGovernment and the Web
2008-01-31: W3C has published a Workshop Report: eGovernment and the Web Workshop: "Toward More Transparent Government". Participants discussed ways to facilitate the deployment of Web standards across government sites and how to shape the ongoing research agenda in the development of Web technology and public policy in order to realize the potential of the Web for access to and use of government information. Held 18-19 June (press release), in Washington D.C., USA, the Workshop was jointly organized by W3C and WSRI. Learn more about eGovernment at W3C. (Permalink)
Call for Review: Canonical XML 1.1 Proposed Recommendation
2008-01-29: The XML Core Working Group has published the Proposed Recommendation of Canonical XML 1.1. The specification establishes a method for determining whether two documents are identical, or whether an application has not changed a document, except for transformations permitted by XML 1.0 and Namespaces in XML. Canonical XML 1.1 is a revision to Canonical XML 1.0 designed to address issues related to inheritance of attributes in the XML namespace when canonicalizing document subsets, including the requirement not to inherit xml:id, and to treat xml:base URI path processing properly. Comments are welcome through 07 March. Learn more about W3C's XML Activity. (Permalink)
Best Practice Recipes for Publishing RDF Vocabularies
2008-01-29: The Semantic Web Deployment Working Group has published the Working Draft of Best Practice Recipes for Publishing RDF Vocabularies. This document describes best practice recipes for publishing vocabularies or ontologies on the Web (in RDF Schema or OWL). Each recipe introduces general principles and an example configuration for use with an Apache HTTP server (which may be adapted to other environments). The recipes are all designed to be consistent with the architecture of the Web as currently specified. Learn more about the Semantic Web Activity. (Permalink)
SKOS Simple Knowledge Organization System Reference (First Public Working Draft)
2008-01-25: The Semantic Web Deployment Working Group has published the First Public Working Draft of SKOS Simple Knowledge Organization System Reference. This document defines the Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS), a common data model for sharing and linking knowledge organization systems via the Semantic Web. SKOS provides a standard, low-cost means to describe the semantic relationships between existing knowledge systems and to port those systems to the Semantic Web. SKOS also provides a lightweight, intuitive language for developing and sharing new knowledge organization systems. Learn more about the Semantic Web Activity. (Permalink)
W3C Publishes HTML 5 Draft, Future of Web Content
2008-01-22: W3C today published an early draft of HTML 5, a major revision of the markup language for the Web. The HTML Working Group is creating HTML 5 to be the open, royalty-free specification for rich Web content and Web applications. "HTML is of course a very important standard," said Tim Berners-Lee, author of the first version of HTML and W3C Director. "I am glad to see that the community of developers, including browser vendors, is working together to create the best possible path for the Web." New features include APIs for drawing two-dimensional graphics and ways to embed and control audio and video content. HTML 5 helps to improve interoperability and reduce software costs by giving precise rules not only about how to handle all correct HTML documents but also how to recover from errors. Discover other new features, read the press release, and learn more about the future of HTML. (Permalink)
Relationship Between Mobile Web and Web Content Accessibility (First Public Working Draft)
2008-01-22: The Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group and the WAI Education and Outreach Working Group have published the First Public Working Draft of Relationship Between Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. See the announcement email.
W3C Advisory Committee Elects TAG Participants
2008-01-22: The W3C Advisory Committee has elected Ashok Malhotra (Oracle), T.V. Raman (Google), and Henry Thompson (University of Edinburgh) to the W3C Technical Architecture Group (TAG). Continuing TAG participants are Noah Mendelsohn (IBM), David Orchard (BEA), Jonathan Rees (Science Commons), Norm Walsh (Sun), and Stuart Williams (HP), who co-Chairs the TAG with Tim Berners-Lee. The mission of the TAG is to build consensus around principles of Web architecture and to interpret and clarify these principles when necessary, to resolve issues involving general Web architecture brought to the TAG, and to help coordinate cross-technology architecture developments inside and outside W3C. (Permalink)
SPARQL Standard Opens Data on the Web
2008-01-15: Today, the World Wide Web Consortium made it easier to share and reuse data across application, enterprise, and community boundaries with the publication of three new Semantic Web standards for SPARQL (pronounced "sparkle"). SPARQL is the query language for the Semantic Web (see Semantic Web use cases). SPARQL queries hide the details of data management, which lowers costs and increases robustness of data integration on the Web. "Trying to use the Semantic Web without SPARQL is like trying to use a relational database without SQL," explained Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director. There are already 14 implementations of the standard, which is comprised of three W3C Recommendations: SPARQL Query Language for RDF, SPARQL Protocol for RDF, and SPARQL Query Results XML Format. Read the press release, testimonials and learn more about the Semantic Web Activity. (Permalink)
W3C Invites Implementations of SMIL 3.0 (Candidate Recommendation)
2008-01-15: The SYMM Working Group has published the Candidate Recommendation of Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL 3.0), an XML-based language that allows authors to create interactive multimedia presentations. Using SMIL 3.0, an author can describe the temporal behavior of a multimedia presentation, associate hyperlinks with media objects and describe the layout of the presentation on a screen. The Working Group is building a test suite help ensure interoperable implementation. Learn more about W3C work on Synchronized Multimedia (Permalink)
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- updated: Feb 14 11:26PM
A List Apart
A List Apart Issue 252
Keeping Your Elements’ Kids in Line with Offspring
Alex Bischoff introduces Offspring, a JavaScript library bringing the power of advanced CSS selectors to browsers that can’t quite handle the real thing. Hide Your Shame: The A List Apart Store and T-Shirt Emporium is back. Hot new designs! Old favorites remixed! S, M, L, XL. Come shop with us!
The Rules of Digital Engagement
Jonathan Follett takes another trip down the "the long hallway":http://www.alistapart.com/articles/longhallway, looking at ways to collaborate, communicate, and manage conflict in virtual space. Hide Your Shame: The A List Apart Store and T-Shirt Emporium is back. Hot new designs! Old favorites remixed! S, M, L, XL. Come shop with us!
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- updated: Feb 18 06:14AM
AppleGeeks
AppleGeeks
Issue 428 | Morgan Freeman
<img src="http://applegeeks.com/comics/issue428thumb.gif" /><br />
Issue 427 | Sonny
<img src="http://applegeeks.com/comics/issue427thumb.gif" /><br />
Issue 426 | Dud
<img src="http://applegeeks.com/comics/issue426thumb.gif" /><br />
Issue 425 | Unfappable
<img src="http://applegeeks.com/comics/issue425thumb.gif" /><br />
Issue 424 | His Passion
<img src="http://applegeeks.com/comics/issue424thumb.gif" /><br />
Issue 423 | Back or not
<img src="http://applegeeks.com/comics/issue423thumb.gif" /><br />
Issue 422 | Kick it
<img src="http://applegeeks.com/comics/issue422thumb.gif" /><br />
AG Lite - Issue 265 | Katsucon 2008
<img src="http://applegeeks.com/lite/strips/aglite265.jpg" /><br />
AG Lite - Issue 264 | Cooties
<img src="http://applegeeks.com/lite/strips/aglite264.jpg" /><br />
AG Lite - Issue 263 | Poem
<img src="http://applegeeks.com/lite/strips/aglite263.jpg" /><br />
AG Lite - Issue 262 | Bodies
<img src="http://applegeeks.com/lite/strips/aglite262.jpg" /><br />
AG Lite - Issue 261 | really suspicious
<img src="http://applegeeks.com/lite/strips/aglite261.jpg" /><br />
AG Lite - Issue 260 | Day After
<img src="http://applegeeks.com/lite/strips/aglite260.jpg" /><br />
AG Lite - Issue 259 | awkward
<img src="http://applegeeks.com/lite/strips/aglite259.jpg" /><br />
AG Lite - Issue 258 | imagination
<img src="http://applegeeks.com/lite/strips/aglite258.jpg" /><br />
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- updated: Feb 18 09:23PM
Bible in a Year
Read through the entire Bible in one year on this schedule; set ?version= and ?language= in the feed URI to switch versions and languages.
Numbers 4-6
2008-02-18, day 49
Numbers 1-3
2008-02-17, day 48
Leviticus 23-27
2008-02-16, day 47
Leviticus 20-22, Psalm 95
2008-02-15, day 46
Leviticus 17-19
2008-02-14, day 45
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Boing Boing
Jasmina Tešanović: Kosovo
Ed. Note: the following essay is by periodic BB contributor Jasmina Tešanović; as I format this post and prepare to hit "publish," Jasmina sends a second email: "Update: groups of hooligans have thrown stones on American and Slovenian (presiding country of EU) embassies, on police members and journalists...several people are hurt ...they are cruising town now here in Belgrade but police are controlling them...reporters are following up..." Image: "Orthodox Church," cc-licensed photo from Flickr by decafinata. - - - - - - - - - - The Sirens :: 02.17.2008 It's starting again: the language of war is the daily bread in Serbia. The sirens of nationalism are turned on again, as if nothing had changed in the eight years after Milosevic was toppled. Or as if nothing had changed since the year 1389 and the mythic battle of Kosovo: a myth is a myth, a dictator who uses the language of myths is squandering people s minds as well as their lives. Today, 17 February. at 15 hours Kosovo province unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia. It been ten years now since I wrote my "Diary of a Political Idiot," a book that started with riots in Kosovo. Although I've tried to stop writing that book, I have never been allowed to. The Balkan disorder became the model of world disorder. I can hear the voice of my dead mother, who passed away in 1999 after the NATO bombings, with her last words: "take care of Kosovo." She didn't mention her granddaughter, my daughter, whom she loved more than herself or me. She instead scolded me, the traitor, severely: Kosovo is not yours and you cannot give it away. You and your similar traitors don't have pants on their asses and you are giving Kosovo, our heritage, away. Last week in Geneva, I talked to a young Albanian blogger. He told me: this time "independence" will be declared for real, because it is not our independent decision but that of the world community. Nobody asks us anything anymore. They just give us orders and set rules....<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=cddbc300acd1aa0e678b6e324f25b69e" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=cddbc300acd1aa0e678b6e324f25b69e" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
Ellen Forney of Lustlab
Susannah Breslin writes, Ellen Forney is a Seattle-based artist, cartoonist, and illustrator who has a new book out, Lust: Kinky Online Personal Ads from Seattle's The Stranger, from the boys at Fantagraphics. (Her last book, I Love Led Zeppelin, was nominated for an Eisner.) Lust brings together three years worth of Forney's "Lustlab Ad of the Week" series in which she creates comic works inspired by real ads that appear in the Stranger's personal ad section: Lustlab. For the second installment of Fast and Dirty, I interviewed Forney about what it's like to bring the secret fetishes of Seattle freaks to life. Buy your own copy of Lust here. Read Susannah's interview with Ms. Forney here....<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=d68798a6ce2eaa05cdaf4856008f24d4" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=d68798a6ce2eaa05cdaf4856008f24d4" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
Balloon Man visits a nursing home.
A balloon artist visits a nursing home, shapes crazy hats and bracelets and geegaws out of balloons, and makes a lot of elderly people very happy for a while. That's it. No catch, no irony. Video link. (thanks, nirvan) Update: From the comments thread, nirvan adds: The balloon artist is Addi Somekh. All of Addi's YouTube videos are pretty amazing. The music is by The Evangenitals....<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=7146a4a4e0ad3958afbec1ad383ee109" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=7146a4a4e0ad3958afbec1ad383ee109" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
Another success in Homeland Security's War on Babies
A 14-day-old Samoan infant died in DHS detention at Honolulu airport earlier this week, and American Samoa's delegate to Congress is calling for an investigation: The baby had been flown to Honolulu for emergency heart surgery. He died while detained inside a customs' room at the Honolulu airport with his mother and a nurse. Link (thanks Nithya)...<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=a137c459779e666a88ad26bcb7d66310" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=a137c459779e666a88ad26bcb7d66310" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
Objectivism in Bioshock
Kotaku has a doozy of a post up today -- Yaron Brooks, the president of the Ayn Rand Institute, talking about the use of objectivism in the first-person-shooter game Bioshock: BioShock may have been conceived as a study in nuance, a place for gamers to discover and explore at their own pace, but its dip into the ethical morass of Ayn Rand's objectivist philosophies has brought her beliefs back into the mainstream spotlight and even piqued the interest of the Ayn Rand Institute's president, Yaron Brook. Brook, a former member of the Israeli Army military intelligence and award-winning finance professor at Santa Clara University, first took notice of the game when he discovered his 18-year-old son playing it. It's a fact that didn't bother Brook despite his son's objectivist beliefs and the game's not so positive take on the philosophy. "My son has to find his own way in life," he said. "There are certain games I wouldn't want him to play, like Grand Theft Auto, games that celebrate criminality. But a game that might lead him to think and have him challenge his ideas, I'm fine with. "Luckily for me he doesn't agree with the game, he still seems to believe in objectivism." Link (thanks, Brian Crecente!)...<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=575be737ad005fe09d38f23e2d0e57ec" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=575be737ad005fe09d38f23e2d0e57ec" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
Submersible car
The Rinspeed sQuba is an amphibious electric vehicle inspired by the submersible Lotus Esprit that Q gave to James Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me. There's only one sQuba in existence and it cost more than $1.5 million to engineer and build. "For safety reasons, we have built the vehicle as an open car so that the occupants can get out quickly in an emergency," said (Rinspeed CEO Frank) Rinderknecht, 52. Passengers will be able to keep breathing underwater through an integrated tank of compressed air similar to what is used in scuba diving. The sQuba's top speed on land is about 77 mph, but it slows down to 3 mph on the surface of the water, and 1.8 mph underwater...."We always want to do cars that are outrageous, which nobody has done before. So we thought, 'Let's make a car dive,"' said Rinderknecht, whose innovative company has made transparent, flying and voice-activated cars in previous attention-grabbing displays at the Geneva Auto Show. Link to CNN, Link to Rinspeed (Thanks, Lindsay Tiemeyer!)...<br style="clear: both;"/> <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=09cc468409e25fcfaee7d12631d5aafc"><img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=09cc468409e25fcfaee7d12631d5aafc"/></a> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=09cc468409e25fcfaee7d12631d5aafc" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
Warren Ellis: Freak Angels
Freak Angels: the latest from Warren Ellis, with Paul Duffield, version 0001 is now online and it's lovely....<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=9f6907a3ca6ec7e7084901df67b9d7b9" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=9f6907a3ca6ec7e7084901df67b9d7b9" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
Cambridge University's secret porn stash isn't
The Cambridge University Library's tower has long been rumored to be packed with vintage pornography books from the Victorian era. Now, a million dollar grant is funding the online cataloging of the 170,000 publications in the 17 floor tower. Turns out, the closest thing to erotica up there are titles like "A Golden Guide To Matrimony" and "Flirting Made Easy." They're mixed in with the likes of "How to mesmerize" and "Wasps have stings; or, beware of tight-lacing." (Shhhh... I heard they moved the real hardcore stuff to the library's sub-basement.) From The Telegraph: Students of pornography can take heart, however, because more recent erotica is kept there thanks to its copyright library status. (Vanessa Lacey, the manager of the Cambridge University Library Tower Project,) said: "There's plenty of pornography in the library which is more recent. "People can come and have a look at it - for their research. But there's nothing terribly racy from the 19th century. What we found is the Mills and Boon of the era." Link to The Telegraph, Link to the Cambridge University Library Tower Project (via Cabinet of Wonders)...<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=3649ec50a8256ee289fe24d61ffdf8b6" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=3649ec50a8256ee289fe24d61ffdf8b6" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
Julian Cope's Japrocksampler blog
COOP says: I've been enjoying Julian Cope's highly-recommended new book on Japanese 60's/70's freak/psych/noise rock very much, and I'm just beginning the process of tracking down some of the music therein (and so far, it is just as crazy and interesting as described!) For someone with a 20-year+ music addiction, it is a great thrill to be turned on to a whole chunk of great stuff that you previously knew nothing about. Anyway, I just noticed that Mr. Cope has a companion website, with a full A-Z encyclopedia of artists and albums. If the sight of all those crazy LPs doesn't whet your appetite, you deserve to listen to the new Britney Spears CD instead! Link to Japrocksampler blog, Link to buy Japrocksampler book...<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=63d03195ae4e2c6633689bc2cae359af" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=63d03195ae4e2c6633689bc2cae359af" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
Truth about teleportation
Scientific American's JR Minkel interviewed CalTech physicist H. Jeff Kimble about quantum teleportation. In the article, Kimble explains in simple terms why recent experiments in quantum teleportation have nothing to do with the Star Trek transporter. As Minkel sums it up, the phenomenon "turns out to be more relevant to computing than to commuiting." From the interview: Scientific American: What's the biggest misconception about teleportation? Jeff Kimble: That the object itself is being sent. We're not sending around material stuff. If I wanted to send you a Boeing 757, I could send you all the parts, or I could send you a blueprint showing all the parts, and it's much easier to send a blueprint. Teleportation is a protocol about how to send a quantum state—a wave function—from one place to another. Link...<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=fa79e58931382b020b0fc30705286ab5" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=fa79e58931382b020b0fc30705286ab5" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
Graphic novel recommendation: Casanova Book 1: Luxuria
In Casanova Book 1: Luxuria, the people of Earth are under the control of E.M.P.I.R.E.'s (Extra-Military Police Intelligence, Rescue, and Espionage) Cornelius Quinn, a tough-as-molybdenum son-of-a-bitch with a huge body, a little head and not much more empathy for his charges than the enemy he's sworn to defeat, W.A.S.TE. (an acronym that changes meaning at the whim of its insane bandage-faced leader, Newman Xeno). Quinn has a loyal daughter, Zephyr, and a ne'er-do-well son, Casanova, a partying lothario who resembles a cross between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Zephyr is a respected agent of E.M.P.I.R.E., while twin brother Cass has worked as hard at making his father disappointed in him as he has at being a creep-for-hire. Shortly after Zephyr dies on a mission, Xeno kidnaps Cass and inserts him into an alternate space-time where his sister is the black sheep and Cass is was good son (who got killed on a mission, just as his sister did back on the other Earth). Xeno orders Cass to destroy E.M.P.I.R.E. while making it look like he's still on their side. It's not as easy as Cass thinks at first, what with the torture his sister enjoys inflicting on him and the hard time his father gives him for suddenly becoming into something of a screw-up. (After all, the Cornelius Quinn in this dimension doesn't know that his good son has been replaced by this work-shirking hustler from an alternate universe, who's trying his best to keep up the ruse.) Plenty of freakish and fun villains (my favorite is the Kirby-esque Fabula Berserko -- "a big mutant brain... three monks that practiced some form of occult Zen for so long they fused together in a wad) and weird scenes, like an island where sexual orgone energy fuels non-stop orgies with sentient sex robots and humans, give this darkly-humored science fiction a quirky kick. It also introduced me to the respectable talents of Matt Fraction (Author) and Gabriel Ba (Author). (This edition collects Casanova #1-7.) Link...<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=b3facbdc104595f4792176e33d7e9ffd" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=b3facbdc104595f4792176e33d7e9ffd" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
New Jim Flora Print
Our friend Irwin Chusid has released a new Jim Flora print, and it's lovely. Jim Flora Art LLC has produced a limited-edition, archival-quality fine art print of a 1954 Jim Flora hand-tinted woodcut entitled Manhattan. The cityscape depicts New York in its 1950s glory, including a number of gotham landmarks such as the Empire State Building, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Madison Square Garden, the Statue of Liberty, famous theaters and legendary musical bistros, Washington Square arch, subways, taxis, horse-drawn carriages and tourists. Only twenty-five (25) prints of Manhattan were produced for this edition. We are offering five (5) prints (#21/25 through #25/25) now on eBay. After these five prints are sold at the asking price, prices will increase for the rest of the edition. Link...<br style="clear: both;"/> <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=954df4f37cfcd2e19b3cdb2cb8f611b0"><img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=954df4f37cfcd2e19b3cdb2cb8f611b0"/></a> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=954df4f37cfcd2e19b3cdb2cb8f611b0" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
Worn Free's vintage tees made famous by rockers
In the discussion following Xeni's post about Yoko Ono yesterday, Shawn Wolfe referenced having just bought one of Worn Free's "Yoko Ono" t-shirts, just like John Lennon used to wear. I checked out Worn Free and they have a very cool business idea. They recreate obscure vintage t-shirts famously worn by rockers, like Lennon's "Working Class Hero" tee, Iggy Pop's "I Wiped Out The 60's" tee, Debbie Harry's "Punk" tee, Frank Zappa's "Rental" tee, Joey Ramone's "Capitol Theatre" tee, and a slew of others. My favorite is the "Yoko Ono" and Joey Ramone's "Punk Magazine" tee. Link...<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=014e0ef6a96741ec8a2b084cf42839a7" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=014e0ef6a96741ec8a2b084cf42839a7" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
Boing Boing tv: Monochrom's Marxist sock puppets
Web 2.0 meets Marxist (Foucaultian?) economic theory in the latest video hijinks from Austrian subversive art collective monochrom. Meet an online porn monster ("iPhone? noooom nom nom nom") and learn how Google-y eyed neo-liberalism screws over the proletariat in "Kiki, Bubu, and the Shift." Link to Boing Boing tv post with comments thread and downloadable video. More monochrom episodes on Boing Boing tv: * Monochrom: MyFaceSpace, the musical * Monochrom: Campfire at Will * Monochrom: Falco Stairs * Monochrom: Bar code artist Scott Blake / Falco stencil memorial * Human USB Hack / Very Simple Motor * Mark's Curie Engine / Monochrom's love song for Lessig Update: monochrom has the longer-form, uncut director's version up on their site....<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=d731be44f6d2239bd2993ec3b3a8010c" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=d731be44f6d2239bd2993ec3b3a8010c" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
Color the brain's fear system
(Click on image to embiggen) I went to the California Science Center with my four-year-old daughter and they had a great exhibit called Goosebumps: The Science of Fear. One station shocked kids at random intervals, another station made it seem like you were sticking your hand into a terrarium filled with poison snakes and spider, another one had a device that you strapped yourself into to simulate falling. I liked this handout for kids to color the brain's fear system. Link...<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=fa0507cb91aa802019c8b5db97d27a67" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=fa0507cb91aa802019c8b5db97d27a67" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
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ratbox: previously blog
A typical sporadic weblog. With or without chunks.
Final Upgrade
Testing the final 4.01 MT upgrade....
Xerox Park
BK Broiler does it his way with a Pocky related TV ad....
Beer? Check. DB Restored? Check. Images Directory? ...
Whenever I decide to clean my office, move a service from machine to machine, or some similar form of housekeeping...
The New Roos
If not the *new* Roos ... definitely not older than the last gen....
Mind The Gap
From Toucan Dan....
NCAA Time!
From Jimmy Mac, after celebrating a big Gerogetown win this weekend, we enjoyed bad mascots,...
Uninnovate.com
While searching for debug information about Amazon's unbox, I stumbled upon Uninnovate.com. And found the following excellent video:...
Wear Your Seatbelt ...
.. and you can walk away, too. Check out this RS6 wreck. From AW....
Rocket Robin, Tweet Tweet Tweet
From Toucan Dan, another take on the space shuttle....
Drink Up
Thanks, Hewbrocca!...
iPhone vs LG KE850
It's a few mintes in, but listening to this Apple fanboy "get all hot and bothered" is funny. Enjoy the...
Wii Laptop
From Hewbrocca, enjoy the Wii laptop....
Winter Fun
It Is Here.
My PS3 is here and still sealed 24 hours later. If only I could buy time ......
Better Than "TV's Greatest Commercials"
If you haven't already, go check out Adpunch. It has fun things like this ad for iced coffee....
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- updated: Oct 11 05:33AM
Photos from Chosetec
army guy
Chosetec posted a photo:
lumberjack!
Chosetec posted a photo:
Nelson Style
Chosetec posted a photo:
Nelson Style
Chosetec posted a photo:
Simmons
Chosetec posted a photo:
Cast iron
Chosetec posted a photo: Old rusty radiators, pipe fittings, all to be melted down and recast into sculptures
cool down
Chosetec posted a photo: the iron slowly cools down in the mold
filling a large mold
Chosetec posted a photo:
Molten iron flows into the ladle.
Chosetec posted a photo: the sparkles are burning droplets. Eye protection is recommended.
Liquid Hot Magma
Chosetec posted a photo: After cooking a while, the iron has completely melted. The plug is broken and it flows out with great speed.
Heat it
Chosetec posted a photo: The pre-heated furnace is stocked with iron and set to cook for 15 minutes or so.
Molds
Chosetec posted a photo: Molds with the wax burnt out.
Open top
Chosetec posted a photo: The furnace is regularly restocked with coal, iron, and flux.
Iron Casting, Mass Art
Chosetec posted a photo: John and his homemade iron smelter. Powered by a fan and burning coal, the furnace is able to reach the ~1200C required to melt iron. With the help of other Mass Art students, he runs an Iron Pour about once a month.
wear protection.
Chosetec posted a photo:
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- updated: Feb 07 07:16AM
Christianity Today Magazine
News and analysis from the world's leading Christian magazine.
Missions Boot Camp for Teens
As these teens prepare for short-term trips, they learn more about how to talk about Jesus.
Hindu Extremists Attack Christians
Hindu extremists exploit economic fears to launch attacks on Christians.
Pakistan after Bhutto
Post-assassination political fight puts the church at greater risk.
Disenfranchised in Pakistan
A guide to Christians' concerns about the February 18 parliamentary elections.
Stafford: This Samaritan Life
How to live in a culture that is vaguely suspicious of the church.
The Transgender Moment
Evangelicals hope to respond with both moral authority and biblical compassion to gender identity disorder.
Poll: Are most short-term youth missions groups well prepared?
Poll: Are most short-term youth missions groups well prepared?
More news and analysis from Christianity Today
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- updated: Feb 18 06:14AM
400 Bad Request
[untitled]
Blog entry on at
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- updated: Feb 19 12:24AM
Cooking For Engineers
Have an analytical mind? Like to cook? This is the site to read!
Recipe File: Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Off Topic: Comments and Forums Back Online
I've put the Community Forums back online. I'll also be slowly reactivating the forum-based comments. Let's hope everyone plays nice this time around.
Cooking Tests: Bacon (Part II)
When I posted the first Bacon Cooking Test (October 2004), I knew that I would have to continue to test different ways to cook bacon. I was so sure that a second article would follow that I named labeled that first article as "Part I". Over half a year later, I've finally gotten around to writing up my latest experiments with cooking bacon.I look at three more techniques in this article (using a fourth cooking method, low heat pan frying, as a control): Microwaving with a Makin' Bacon dish, grilling, and slow baking.Method 1: Microwaving with a Makin' Bacon dishThere are many specialty dishes designed for microwaving bacon. Some are simply plastic plates with grooves cut in them to catch grease. This one, the Makin' Bacon dish (about $10), elevates the bacon on poles. As many as a eighteen strips of bacon (according to the manufacturer), can be cooked at a time on this apparatus (although I think my bacon must be wider than their bacon because only a dozen of my strips would fit).Since I was only going to be cooking a couple strips, I used only the center pole.Following the instructions on the Makin' Bacon box, I covered the bacon with a paper towel to reduce potential splatter.I then microwaved it on high for 90 seconds. The bacon at the top (where it bends over the beam, was thoroughly cooked (almost overcooked). However, some of the fatty parts were still soft and partially unrendered. The texture of the bacon was thick and crunchy (similar to the microwaved bacon from the first test). There was also a slight off flavor to the bacon indicative of heating the bacon to too high of a temperature. It is definitely a very fast way to cook and with the Makin Bacon dish, a reasonable number of pieces can be cooked at the same time.As advertised, the bacon grease dripped down into the plastic container. The instructions recommend pouring out the bacon grease but why waste a good thing? After the grease cools, simply spoon it out into a storage container and store in the refrigerator. The grease collected was fairly clean with some small pieces of bacon in it.Method 2: GrillingI prepared a grill with low heat (about 300-350 degrees) and laid out the bacon onto the cooking surface.Flipping the bacon every five minutes, they reached doneness in twenty minutes time.With this method, the meaty portions were chewy (but not overly so) while the fat was light and crisp. There were also no off flavors to the bacon. Because of the texture and flavor, this was Tina's favorite cooking method.Because the bacon grease dripped down into the grill, there was no grease to collect and save afterward; there was also no clean up required. Depending on the size of your grill, you can cook a great deal of bacon at once.Method 3: Baking at low temperaturesI seemed to have lost the pictures that accompanied this baking technique - but their not much to look at anyway, it's just an oven.I laid out strips of bacon onto a wire rack and positioned a wire rack on a foil lined half sheet pan. I placed the pan in an oven preheated to 200°F (93°C) and waited. The theory was that the low heat would penetrate the bacon slowly and as the bacon cooked the fat would render, but without increasing the bacon temperature to a level where the preserving agents of cured meat begin to react and form new compounds producing an off taste (and potentially carcinogenic substances - but more chemicals such as ascorbic acid or erythorbic acid are added these days to help mitigate these effects).Unfortunately, I do not know how long the bacon was in the oven because I forgot to look at the time and fell asleep. My best estimate is that the bacon baked for about 3 hours.The baking resulted in extremely straight pieces of bacon that I found to have exceptional taste and flavor as compared to the pan frying and grilling (the microwaved bacon's off taste was really apparent next to the baked bacon). The texture was crispy throughout. Since flavor and texture were great, this is my favorite cooking method. (Tina prefers a little chewier meat and still likes the grilled method the best.)The long cooking time means this method is best for cooking bacon in large quantities (multiple pans) and then bagging and refrigerating them for future use. The bacon grease collected from the half sheet pan was pure white and completely devoid of charred bits.Method 4: Pan fryingAs a control, I cooked the bacon in the same way as the "winning" method from the first bacon test - pan frying. I placed three strips of bacon in a cold pan and placed it over low heat.After fifteen minutes of cooking while turning the bacon occasionally, the bacon was done. The bacon was light and crispy with a little chewiness to the meat. The grilled method's results came closest to this bacon. The bacon grease remaining in the pan had a pale gray-brown color and was spotted with charred bits and pieces of bacon.ConclusionsIf you're in a rush, microwaving works - but for the best flavor and texture either grill or bake (in advance). If you own a propane grill, cooking bacon over the grill is easier and more convenient than doing it on a stove top. However, if you don't mind spending the time, baking produces the best results with pure bacon grease for use later (may I suggest clam chowder?).
Equipment & Gear: Hefty Serve 'n Store
A few months ago, Hefty released a new line of products called the Hefty Serve 'n Store tableware. There's nothing revolutionary about a set of plastic plates or microwavable storage containers - but the Hefty Serve 'n Store is definitely a clever improvement over its parents: the plastic disposable plates and the low-cost multi-use disposable plastic container. Each plate interlocks with another plate of the same design to form a resealable container. We tried them in our daily lives (and under some contrived tests) and they performed admirably.Pactiv Corporation manufactures the Hefty Serve 'n Store tableware in two varieties: Everyday Tableware and Party Tableware. The Everyday variant is white plastic with a matte finish that is supposed to be sturdy, easy to grip, and microwavable. The Party variant, as far as I can tell, is just a brightly colored version of the Everyday tableware. I tested the Everyday variant.TestingThe plates worked as advertised. The rims are ridged in such a way as to allow two plates of the same size to interlock together to form a storage container. The idea is to use the same plates you would use to serve food (or eat off of) to double as storage containers. Tina and I are big fans (or at least we use them a lot) of Ziploc brand food storage containers. They are low cost, convenient, and work great as lunch containers to take to work. But, a lot of the time, stuff doesn't fit conveniently in them, pizza slices, sausages, chicken marsala, etc. Plate-sized storage containers make storage of most meals fast and easy.Microwaving food in the plates was also convenient. I simply popped the top plate off and repositioned it so the interlocking tabs sat on top of each other, opening up a bunch of vents to allow steam to escape. Reheating occurred quickly and evenly since the contents of the plate were spread out without having too much content stacked on top of each other (a common problem I have when reheating lunches that I pack for work).The general feel of the plate reminded me of thick, heavy duty paper plates. The plastic has a matte finish that feels like you're holding paper, not plastic. It's also stiff and doesn't flex easily. Several other testers commented on how much the Hefty Serve 'n Store plates felt like a paper plate. One tester was so convinced the plates contained some paper that he didn't want "to take a chance with soaking the plate" for fear that it would rip or tear.As expected, the plates hold liquid without any sign of soaking (they are plastic after all). We also hand washed the plates which cleaned up easily and nicely. I received some information from Pactiv when I called to ask about washing the plates. Since the plates are designed to be disposable, there will most likely be some reduced performance in the interlock mechanism of the plates (i.e. they won't fit together as well) with repeated washing. Washing in a dishwashing machine is not recommended due to the high temperatures that a dishwasher reaches.I should also mention that the seal made by the interlocking plates is not water tight, but works pretty well to prevent liquid from escaping if it sloshes around a bit. Just don't fill it with soup and then tilt it.DinnerI brought over a stack of plates to a friend's place, and we grilled up a couple dozen burgers and sausages. Service was handled by the plates and they worked flawlessly. Most of the testers ate standing up holding their plate with one hand and accessing their food with the other. None of the plates bent or flexed under weight and the plates were deep enough to hold corn on the cob without the eater worrying about the corn rolling off the plate. The rims of the plates were both stiff and comfortable making the plates easy to hold.We then served up Korean BBQ short ribs and some of the testers used a metal knife to cut the short ribs. The plate held up to the cutting just fine. It seemed that the plates worked at least as well as other heavy duty plates from such companies as Chinet or Dixie.At this point, we tested the crux of the Hefty Serve 'n Store usage model: storage of leftovers. We took combined the leftovers from the plates we used for serving onto a couple plates and used the newly emptied plates to cover. At first we tried to shove too much food onto one plate, but the lid wouldn't close. After distributing a reasonable quantity of food onto the plate, the other lid snapped into place without a problem. After enclosing all the leftovers in the interlocking plates, they stacked on top of each other and went into a bag for easy transport back home to my refrigerator.We only had two "issues" with the interlocking plates. First, since the plates are opaque, we can't see what's stored in each container. Second, there is no physical mechanism that helps each pair of plates from slipping off each other when stacked (although the plates have a bumpy matte finish that increases friction).When we first heard about the plates, we thought, "Why can't we just use plastic wrap to seal the plates? Is it really necessary to use another plate to cover your leftovers?" Well, usually plastic wrap doesn't stick or seal well when used on paper or plastic disposable plates, so you have to wrap all the way around so the plastic will stick to itself. Also, once the plate has been wrapped, stacking plates doesn't work too well when the only thing separating the bottom of your top plate from the bottom plate's content is a thin sheet of plastic. The interlocking plates solved the problem for us and we efficiently stacked the leftovers without worrying about tilting plates or ill-fitting plastic wrap.ConclusionsAfter using the Hefty Serve 'n Store tableware for a couple weeks, we are convinced that the product lives up to its advertised promises - plus they're quite convenient and the plates are high quality for the price ($2 for a 24 pack of 9-in. plates). Also, the bowls interlock with the 9-in. plates to form deep dish storage containers. The plastic is solid and has a nice textured feel (as opposed to other brands with thin flimsy plastic that might not hold up to a hearty plate of food). These plates are an obvious choice to serve food from when you've got an informal party.The only downside to these plates are that some people may consider them plain (even the festively colored Party plates) and not as pretty as other disposable plates. Also, they aren't the cheapest disposable plates either (but not even close to the most expensive). For the quality of the plate, it's a good bargain since comparable plates cost the same but do not interlock to form storage containers.
Off Topic: Comments and Forums
So, I just got back from my honeymoon and discovered that not only did we have one of our cars towed, but someone decided to "hack" my forums. I'm in the process of trying to catch up on work, so this forums problem isn't going to be fixed for a little while. Since both the comment engine and the forums are based on phpbb, and someone exploited a hole in phpbb, I've been forced to shut down both for the time being in order to preserve the rest of the website. I do have the info backed up, but there's no point bringing them back online until I get a chance to update the forums with the appropriate patches. If anyone would like to point me in the right direction, feel free to e-mail me at cooking@cookingforengineers.com but I may not be able to respond immediately due to my work situation and general lack of free time.
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- updated: Jul 09 09:55PM
Creative Commons CC News
Share, reuse, and remix — legally.
CC0 beta/discussion draft feedback and next step
On January 15 we launched discussion of two new tools in a beta US version, both branded “CC0″ — a Waiver of all copyrights in a work, and an Assertion that there are no copyrights in a work. After taking account of your feedback (thank you!), a lot of internal discussion has led us to [...]
Songza
Songza, a beautifully designed music search engine and jukebox, recentlly launched with a chorus of praise concerning its design, implementation, and simplicity (read about the project here). Of particularly interest to the CC community is Songza’s commitment to CC-licensed music and artists, with Songza actively looking to promote and feature CC-licensed music through their Self-Promotion [...]
8bitpeoples
Today seems to be the day that unique, experimental, CC-licensed record labels show up on our radar. 8bitpeoples, “a collective of artists sharing a common love for classic videogames”, specializes in retro video game goodness, creating music that reflects a clear obsession with old NES soundtracks and the wonderfully brittle noises of the Commodore 64. Less [...]
Jahtari
Jahtari is a German dub/reggae web label that releases the majority of their music under a CC BY-NC-ND license. Specializing in what they call Digital Laptop Reggae, Jahtari focus on the collision between the free form aesthetics and rhythm of dub/reggae music and the inelastic nature of computer based electronica. Both stylistic movements focus heavily [...]
Lessig Library
Exact Editions, a company that “makes magazines, books and other printed documents accessible, searchable and usable on the web”, recentlly added CC CEO and founder Lawrence Lessig’s Future of Ideas, Code 2.0, and Free Culture to their database. This means you can now power-peruse Lessig-ology to your heart’s content. From Exact Editions: The books carry the [...]
OLPC + CC Hackathon
Check out the OLPC book & music drive and XO hackathon going on this weekend. From SJ: Share the love with One Laptop per Child, the Creative Commons, Textbook Revolution, and the entire world! We are collecting all the free books, movies, music, and other content that we can in the next five days! Then, on Tuesday [...]
Community Testing for LiveContent 2.0 beta LiveDVD
A beta of LiveContent 2.0 is available for testing! We’ve got it up at the CC labs site (direct download) and the Fedora Spins site (torrent). Burn the DVD image to a disc and boot it up. The Creative Commons tech team has been working on an interesting content “autocuration” process for LiveContent 2.0, [...]
Freeing America’s Operating System
Last November Carl Malamud’s Public.Resource.Org announced an initiative to free 1.8 million pages of U.S. case law, publishing them online with no restrictions on reuse. Today the results of this initiative are available at http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/. From the press release (pdf): Today’s release covers all U.S. Supreme Court decisions and all Courts of Appeals decisions from 1950 on. The [...]
commons-research list
There’s a new mailing list spearheaded by Giorgos Cheliotis (see past posts concerning his research) has been set up for researchers critiquing, investigating, quantifying, or otherwise researching Creative Commons and the commons more broadly. Researchers from all fields are welcome. Visit commons-research to join (thanks again to ibiblio for hosting this and many other CC-related resources [...]
2008 Summer Internships
For all the students who have been patiently waiting, Creative Commons has posted summer internship positions. Please spread the word to interested college or graduate students. We are currently looking for a Community Development, a Business Development, a Technology, and a Development intern. Three full-time and one part-time (Development) positions are available in total. Applicants [...]
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- updated: Feb 18 04:19PM
css Zen Garden
A demonstration of what can be accomplished visually through CSS-based design. This feed announces the past 8 new entries.
#209 - 21 Nov 2007
'CSS Co., Ltd.' by Benjamin Klemm
#208 - 21 Nov 2007
'Sakura' by Tatsuya Uchida
#207 - 15 Nov 2007
'Kyoto Forest' by John Politowski
#206 - 27 Oct 2007
'A Walk in the Garden' by Simon Van Hauwermeiren
#205 - 27 Oct 2007
'spring360' by Rene Hornig
#204 - 24 Oct 2007
'Withering Beauty' by William Duffy
#203 - 24 Oct 2007
'Tiny Blue' by Timo Virtanen
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public-rdf-dawg@w3.org Mail Archives
This is the RDF Data Access Working Group mailing list. Please keep traffic relevent to working group business
"DAWG minutes - 4 Sep 2007" ( message in thread)
Message posted by Lee Feigenbaum
"Timezones and xsd:dateTime/xsd:date" (1 message in thread)
Message posted by Seaborne, Andy
"all facets covered, list of tests to approve:" (1 message in thread)
Message posted by Lee Feigenbaum
"Minutes - 28 Aug 2007" ( message in thread)
Message posted by Lee Feigenbaum
"DAWG Agenda (short) - 4 Sept 2007 @ 14:30 UTC" (2 messages in thread)
Last message posted by Seaborne, Andy
"all facets covered, list of tests to approve:" (1 message in thread)
Message posted by Seaborne, Andy
"Re: DAWG Agenda - 28 Aug 2007 @ 14:30 UTC" (1 message in thread)
Message posted by Eric Prud'hommeaux
"Re: all facets covered, list of tests to approve:" (1 message in thread)
Message posted by Eric Prud'hommeaux
"Timezones and xsd:dateTime/xsd:date" (1 message in thread)
Message posted by Lee Feigenbaum
"Comparing with <=" (1 message in thread)
Message posted by Seaborne, Andy
"Timezones and xsd:dateTime/xsd:date" (1 message in thread)
Message posted by Seaborne, Andy
"all facets covered, list of tests to approve:" ( message in thread)
Message posted by Lee Feigenbaum
"all facets covered, list of tests to approve:" (1 message in thread)
Message posted by Eric Prud'hommeaux
"[Fwd: Re: followup: SPARQL test suite and implementation report]" (1 message in thread)
Message posted by Lee Feigenbaum
"SPARQL testing: status" ( message in thread)
Message posted by Ivan Mikhailov
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- updated: Sep 06 05:35AM
Digital Web: What's New
http://www.digital-web.com/
the web comes to the iPod
Apple today announced the soon to be available iPod touch - effectively a phoneless iPhone. The new iPod enables wifi based web browsing, featuring a variation of Safari as its browser. How do your page designs fair when the browser window is 320px wide? Is this the end of the fixed width page design?
Smashing Magazine Celebrates
Smashing Magazine is celebrating its first anniversary with a big design/development book giveaway, some useful questions answered by 50 designers and other web professionals, and other events. They promise a lot will be happening this week, so stop by to visit—and maybe even win a prize.
Magento Preview released - open-source e-commerce
They promised an August release, and in the dying seconds of the month Varien's eagerly awaited open-source e-commerce platform, Magento, is finally available to download. Version 0.6 is an early beta release and not recommended for use in production environments, but I'm sure there will be hordes of developers eager to see if this is finally the customizable, standards-compliant, e-commerce platform we've been desperate for for years.
PHP support arrives in Aptana
With their latest release, the JavaScript IDE Aptana now offers some great new features for PHP developers. Code Assist and an Outline view are now available to ease your backend development, and you can also preview PHP pages through a server instead of on your local hard drive, making managing PHP projects inside Aptana a lot easier.
Deadlines for Web Directions South and the McFarlane Prize
For our Australian readers, here's a reminder about the deadlines for Web Directions South and the McFarlane Prize honoring “excellence in Australian Web Design”. Both deadlines are this coming Friday, August 31 2007, at midnight. Get your discount Web Directions South tickets for $895, or at least reserve a spot at that price!
Labor Day holiday
The Digital Web magazine staff will be taking a well-earned break for the next couple of weeks, while we wind down after the summer break and Labor Day. Our next issue will hit your virtual newsstands on September 11th.
Cameron Moll's New Mobile Design Book: Win an iPhone?
Interested in knowing respected web designer Cameron Moll's take on designing for mobile, and maybe even winning an iPhone if you buy his new book on its first day on sale? Then be sure to go to the book's spiffy new website today-his book, Mobile Web Design, is available there now.
Job: Web Developer (WA)
My colleague, Jon Pederson at PWG Design, tells me that they are looking for a skilled backend web developer who is interested in working on a variety of projects with a small team of really great people. For those who don't know, PWG Design is a Web design company based in Mount Vernon, Washington that does some pretty cool work. Requirements for the job include: PHP, Ruby on Rails, MySQL, Javascript Understanding of Web Standards Used to Mac OS X & Linux Clear communications skills Good work ethic and honest As far as location goes, Jon tells me that they would love to find someone local in the Seattle area, but they would be open to anyone in Washington state provided they are available via email, phone and IM. If you are interested and fit these criteria contact Jon directly via pwgdesign.com.
New Issue: Reviews of 'Beginning Rails' and Easy-Install Forums
Digital Web's own staff have two contributions to the magazine this week. Managing Editor Matthew Pennell digs into Ruby on Rails and reviews “Beginning Rails”, a great primer for those getting started with application frameworks. Editorial Assistant Jessica Neuman Beck reconsiders the formerly daunting task of setting up online forums in Forum Setup for Designers: Putting Vanilla to the Test.
Refresh Seattle: Web Accessibility in Three Acts
The next Refresh Seattle talk sneaked up on us. Tomorrow fellow colleague Matt May is going to be talking about Web Accessibility in Three Acts. For those who don't know, Matt May was one of the four original founders of Blue Flavor, he also did a lot of work for the W3C WAI group, lead WaSP's Accessibility Task Force, he is a contributor at Digital Web Magazine (be sure to check out Matt's article on Accessibility From The Ground Up), and these days you will find him at Adobe addressing accessibility within their array of products. His talk will be one not to miss. Space is limited for this talk so please RSVP ahead of time.
Webmaster Jam Session Early Bird Registration Ends Soon!
For those of you who are slack'n, the Early Bird discount for the Webmaster Jam Session is about to end. Given the number of great speakers (ahem! myself, Jeff Croft, Keith Robinson and more!) and topics on the schedule the pricing is well worth it. To get the Early Bird discount of $50, go to the registration page and enter "CLICKHAPPY" in the Discount Code field. Hope to see you there in Dallas!
Social Bookmarking
I am about a week late with this news, but in case you missed it... Lee, Sachi and Amos LeFever have another great video up for The CommonCraft Show. This time around he is explaining Social Bookmarking in Plain English. Be sure to catch the full series of videos on his site, they make it really easy to explain things like RSS, Social Networking, and even Wikis to those who even are novice computer users. Also, if you get a chance, be sure to catch Lee's presentation on how your website is like a party (slides).
New Issue: Ryan Nichols and the "Future Of" Designs
Digital Web is proud to offer a third installment in our popular series The Working Designer. This week's working designer is Ryan Nichols, who joins us to dissect his branding and website design for the “Future Of” series of conferences, like the well-attended Future of Web Apps and Future of Web Design. Join Ryan in Designing the “Future Of” Sites for a tour of the decision-making process and branding thought behind the FOWD/FOWA/FOOA aesthetic.
New Issue: Hacking APIs
This week in Digital Web, Gareth Rushgrove returns to offer up a follow-up to his first article, APIs and Mashups For The Rest Of Us. His new article goes a step further in addressing hacking, APIs and building some smart stuff—with Twitter, too! Add some API hacking skills to your bag of tricks with Hacking on Open APIs.
New Tools! XRAY from WestCiv
Web-standards geeks have been passing around a cool new tool lately—XRAY, from WestCiv. XRAY is a bookmarklet/favlet that opens a floating element inspector, exposing CSS, markup, dimensions and a more handy information for markup experts. Utilizing some magic around the "canvas" element, XRAY works for Mozilla- and Webkit-based browsers like Firefox and Safari. Support for IE and Opera to come! XRAY works inside most contemporary browsers is designed to help developers get beneath the skin of a site, and see what's really going on. westciv.com/xray/
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- updated: Sep 05 10:30PM
Stopdesign
A collection of creative work and thinking capturing my view as a designer and world problem solver.
At the SXSW Google booth
There are so many people in Austin for SXSW Interactive. I haven't even seen some good friends who I know are here this year. Among 8-9 different tracks running at the same time during the day, and multiple parties happening every night, it's difficult to catch everyone I'd like to see. On that note... If you've ever wondered what it's like to work for and at Google, or are interested in Google products... Or if we know each other but haven't had a chance to catch up yet here in Austin--or even if you and I don't know each other--and you'd like to chat for a bit, just a quick note here to encourage you to come by the Google booth here at SXSW (on the trade show floor, toward the far-right side as you enter). I'm scheduled to be in the booth area from noon until about 2pm both today (Monday) and tomorrow (Tuesday). If you're at the top of your game, and might be interested in working for Google, coming by the booth is a good opportunity to speak with one of us casually about working in the User Experience (UX) group. We have multiple positions open in design. Specifically, I'm trying to build out the Visual Design team with talented folks who have a passion for Google products and a clean, intuitive design sensibility. Even if you see me outside the booth hours, feel free to stop me anytime and say hi.
SXSWi Calendar for all
So a few of my fellow Google UXers and I will be at SXSW this year. We thought it odd that we couldn't find a calendar that aggregated all the sessions, panels, and parties of SXSW in one place, in a traditional calendar-like view. There are lists of daytime panels and evening parties, and you can add events one at a time to a personalized calendar on sxsw.com. But there was nothing that aggregated it all in one easy-to-view, all-at-once calendar (at least nothing that we knew of). (Scene Left: Tantek walks in and begins expounding on the merits of microformats, informing everyone that the entire SXSWi panel page is marked up with hCalendar, and that we can all use Tails or Operator, or some other Firefox extension that could magically whisk all the event data out of that page, somehow allowing us to import the data into iCal or Sunbird or Outlook or whatever floats our fancy. Narrator responds: But what about evening events? And why should everyone need to go through that trouble to see everything at once?) And that's where I started thinking. Let's suck all that SXSW Interactive event data into Google Calendar, get all the relevant details entered for as many events as we can and in the right fields, then share the calendar with each other. Or better yet, let's just make the whole calendar publicly available to anyone who wants it. So a few of us got together and did just that. And now you can add SXSWi 07 as another calendar in Google Calendar, or subscribe to the ICAL feed or XML feed in any calendar app of your choice. Event names, times, locations, and as many details as we had are all in one place. I know SXSW tends to be a little spontaneous as far as what I (and others) choose to attend. But there's so much going on over the next few days. I know there are a few panels and parties many people don't want to miss. I don't expect anyone to keep the whole SXSWi calendar visible all the time--there's way too many events on it for that. Rather, you could use it like I'm going to: grab a few of the panels and parties I don't want to miss, copy them over to my personal calendar, then hide the SXSWi calendar until I need it again. Sync my personal calendar with my Treo via GooSync. Delete it at the end of SXSW. Note: This is not in any way an official calendar provided by Google. It was just cobbled together by a few of us who happen to work here, then shared publicly in hopes it might be useful to a few SXSW attendees other than ourselves. As always, all events and details are subject to change at the whim of the organizer without notice. Also worthy to note, the events are all (obviously) happening in Austin, TX. So they're tied to Central Time (GMT-06:00). If you're coming from far away, you'll probably want to adjust your calendar's time zone setting once you arrive, so times will all appear correctly while you're in Austin. Just remember to switch it back to normal once you return home! If you'll be in Austin, see you there.
Inside view
A little over a month ago, just before Web Directions North, John Allsopp asked me a few questions over email about what I've been thinking and doing lately. Digital Web Magazine was kind enough to publish the exchange between us. A few friends have emailed me, having discovered the interview by other means, asking why they never saw mention of it here. Somehow, amid preperations for the conference, then ultimately, my back injury and cancelled appearance, I never got around to mentioning the interview. If I were to write an extended update here that covers my recent life, technology that interests me, and the issues I've been mulling over, it would consist of the same answers I provided to John. Thanks, John, for taking the time and interest to ask the questions. And thanks, DWM, for publishing my responses.
Insult to injury
Last week was supposed to be a big week for me. As John Allsopp put it, I had been lured out of a self-imposed retirement from speaking, and was scheduled to appear at Web Directions North in Vancouver. I was really looking forward to speaking again, along with seeing old friends, making new ones, and the general camaraderie experienced at events like that. Alas, for some reason, that wasn't to be. On a fine Sunday morning before the conference, I bent over the sink to spit out some toothpaste, and felt a shock of pain go through my lower back. I instantly told myself, "oh, it's nothing. just a twinge of pain. it will go away in a minute." But it didn't. Cam and I waited out the injury, hoping the pain would subside and magically heal itself, and I would be able to medicate enough to fly to Vancouver on Tuesday morning, and attend the conference as planned. Over the next two days, my back got progressively worse, until I could barely move or sit up in bed without excruciating pain. Long story, short, the pain continued all last week. And I had to cancel my trip to Vancouver and plans to speak at and attend Web Directions. I tried to fight off the depression and the negative thoughts. But the disappointment I felt was huge (and still is). I was forced to miss out on the opportunity not just to speak again, but to hear so many great speakers at once, and to reconnect with friends I hadn't seen in over a year. Not to mention the snowboarding in Whistler after the conference. This is the fourth time in the last two and a half years that I injured my back to the point of debilitation and forced rest. I have a bad disc in my lumbar region. Doctors told me after first injury that I might be forced to deal with it the rest of my life. Physical therapy helps immediately after the injury. But after the pain subsides, I tend to forget about the exercises and the stretching and the fact that my body is not perfect. If I am to make a difference in the future health of my back and my body, I must make changes to my daily routine. The treatment I learn after each episode must be folded into the strands of my life. I really don't want an injured back to prevent me from doing anything or going anywhere else.
Not so Heavenly
Last weekend, Cam and I drove up to South Lake Tahoe for a couple days of snowboarding and escape. Tahoe is too far from us for a one-day there-and-back trip. But it's close enough (~4 hour drive, sans traffic) for a weekend getaway. It was Cam's first attempt at boarding. I say, she did remarkably well given her lack of any prior experience skateboarding or surfing. She even skated off the lift a few times without falling (no small feat, for those who haven't tried snowboarding yet.) She came home quite sore and bruised in a few places. But I think enough of the bug was caught that she'll be willing to try it again soon. I'd just like to leave one note for anyone else planning to board or ski at Heavenly in South Lake. Do not rent your equipment from Heavenly Sports on the mountain. I repeat, do NOT do this. That is, unless you like waiting in line for up to two hours, only to get inside and deal with the chaotic process of renting from the most unorganized team of rude, clueless "equipment specialists". We made this mistake once, but we won't make it again. The equipment is old; the specialists lack any knowledge in proper adjustment of basic bindings. It's pretty bad when the instructors employed by the same resort advise all of their students to avoid the mountain rental shop at all costs. Instead, either rent locally and drive up with your gear. Or rent at any one of the small shops closer to the lake. Or get your gear from the Burton demo shop in front of the California lodge. Just don't plan on renting anything from Heavenly.
Swing low
Getting back into the swing of writing regularly here never really happened in 2006. When I look back at my archives, I see I only posted 11 times the entire year. And that includes three posts (1, 2, 3) that weren't really writing-based, as much as they were simple design and code experiments. Busyness accounts for a lot of it. 2006 brought a lot of changes for me, personally and professionally. Planning my wedding, putting Stopdesign as a business on hold to go work for Google full-time, getting married and honeymooning afterward, moving to a new place, getting a dog, and the life and responsibility that comes with all of the above. 2006 treated me very well -- I'm certainly not complaining. Another major reason for the lull in writing was general blog burnout. I was tired of writing on my own site. With greater numbers of readers building through 2004 and 2005, I felt greater pressure to write longer article-like posts with take-away content in every entry. More nutrition in every bite. And I was tired of other blogs. Tired of keeping up with hundreds of feeds. Tired of posts that pandered for comments or held contests to gain traffic, or those that recycled another me-too meme or blabbed about the wonders of Web-2-point-whatever. So I stopped using my feed reader completely. I let go of the pressure to keep up. I let go and just lived my life. If I wasn't working, I wasn't really on the Web. I only visited sites I liked and sites of my friends occasionally, just to keep loosely updated on their work, thinking, and lives. Lately, my interest is piqued again. Not so much by a fear of not keeping up with the world of blogs and news and events. But by a general desire to write for the sake of writing. In my daily life, I'm exposed to design in entirely new ways that I've never experienced before. I face new challenges. I encounter new ideas, situations, and interactions. In many ways, it feels like I'm just starting out in the world. So I look back to my first post of this blog, and think of returning to my roots. Write for my own record, not what I think others want to read. To lay out my thoughts, responses, and reactions to my industry and the events that surround my career and interests. To chronicle the bits and information around me. Short posts or long ones; on-topic or not; doesn't matter. Just write.
Design
Design Inspiration Motivation Process Talent Luck Permanent link to the working version of this design.
Roulette
0-f Permanent link to the working version of this design.
Change
Remain The more you see, the less you know The less you find out as you go I knew much more then, than I do now —Bono, City of Blinding Lights Permanent link to the working version of this design.
Going to Google
The cat's out of the bag. I made the announcement here in New Zealand at Webstock, so I'll confirm that, yes, the rumors are not just rumors. After a bit of negotiation and a lot of internal debate, I recently accepted an offer to join Google as Visual Design Lead, a position that did not previously exist there. I'm charged with helping the company establish a common visual language across all their collaborative and communication products. This includes products I've already had some hand in like Blogger and Calendar. But it will also include other highly used products like Gmail, Writely, Page Creator, and other projects in the pipeline. So whether obvious or not, I'll be adding a statement to this site that the words, views, and opinions expressed here are solely my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my new employer, Google. I've been assured that my voice will not and should not be silenced by joining Google. So you should start to see and hear even more from me now that I don't need to worry about losing a Stopdesign contract just for blogging about working on something post-launch. It was a tough decision to put the contract work I do under Stopdesign on hold for now. But as many people already know, I've been working with Google for the past six months as a contractor, and the relationship has gone quite well so far. I'm actually quite excited about the opportunities and the major challenges that lie ahead for me, the teams I'll be working with, and the company at large. Here's to hoping and wishing for a successful adventure and many great things to come.
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Emily Yan's Corner
I know maybe my life isn't the most interesting, but just pity me, neh? ;)
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ejlim's Xanga Site
ejlim's Xanga Blog
Rethinking the GIRs at MIT (Monday, October 23, 2006 )
ejlim's entry on Monday, October 23, 2006 at
A Redemptive Roar in Motown (Sunday, October 08, 2006 )
ejlim's entry on Sunday, October 08, 2006 at
Marathon Monday (Tuesday, April 18, 2006 )
ejlim's entry on Tuesday, April 18, 2006 at (2 comments)
A Photomosaic Hero (Tuesday, March 07, 2006 )
ejlim's entry on Tuesday, March 07, 2006 at (2 comments)
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FlickrBlog
News, offsite status and great photos daily.
Les 24 heures Flickr à Paris
Vous avez été très nombreux à participer à « 24 hours of Flickr » lancée le 5 mai dernier. Les photos publiées sur le groupe nous ont tous enthousiasmés. Merci à tous pour votre participation. Pour célébrer le succès de...
Sea Turtles Release
The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center on Topsail Island, North Carolina, released thirteen Sea Turtles back into the wild earlier today. I'm not sure if this is Surf City, Kayak, Nelson, Progress II, Cedar III, Nettie, Fisher...
24 Stunden Flickr in Berlin
Am 5. Mai haben wir in der Gruppe 24 Stunden Flickr weltweit aufgerufen, euren Tag in einem Bild festzuhalten. Wir wollten es wissen: was passiert an einem Tag auf der Welt? … und eure Beiträge haben uns begeistert! Jetzt möchte...
Before & After: Eastern Market
A 3-alarm fire gutted Washington's historic Eastern Market on April 30th. See more in the Eastern Market Pool and photos tagged with eastern + market + fire + dc. Photos from ngolebiewski and ohad*.Suggested by ohad* via Flickr Central....
A Flickr Marriage
Hi Flickr People. Yesterday, June 2nd 2007, we got married, two and a half years after meeting each other here on Flickr. This is an amazing place, with amazing people, many of whom we've met around the world. Most importantly...
Pano 2
To quote the photographer: Happy Friday everyone! :) Photo from annabelletexter....
green + seats + munich
Photos from SophieMuc, ...like a chimp with coconuts, rp72, *mb**, yan ke and linolo.See more photos tagged with green + seats + munichSuggested by Dave Gorman via Flickr Central....
peace
my grandpa was a good man. he was a farmer for the majority of his life. he survived stomach cancer for 17 years. and finally gave in to lung cancer age 85. he was a fantastic cyclist. and a very...
There Ain't no Flies on Us
There ain't no flies on us! There ain't no flies on us! There may be flies on some of you guys, But there ain't no flies on us! Photos from Stewart and AirBrontosaurus. See more photos tagged with fly or...
We're going down...
Flickr will be down for (at most) two hours this evening from 8 - 10 PM Pacific (find out what time this is where you are) while Yahoo! Network Operations upgrades our switches. Our Flickr is having a massage message...
Save the date!
A quick heads up that Team Flickr is embarking on the first stage of a whirlwind tour next month to celebrate the publication of the 24 hours of Flickr. If you're in or around Berlin (6/12), Paris (6/14), London (6/18)...
Combinations
Photos from Ricohmatic. See more in Combinations....
How We Are Now: Photographing Britain
A few months ago, we were contacted by Tate Britain, who'd been talking amongst themselves about a new exhibition about the history of photography in Britain - How We Are Now: Photographing Britain. I was tickled pink that they considered...
Flickr Photo Frame at Maker Faire
If you didn't get the chance to come to Maker Faire today, don't fret! There's still plenty of time to head out this Sunday and take your very own Flickr polaroid home with you. Check out the full set of...
The Secret Life of Gummy Bears
It’s no secret around our office that I have an innate and unflinching affinity for anything sugar. But in all of my years as a cultivated candy connoisseur, I’ve never considered the mayhem that can be bred from a seemingly...
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The Google Weblog
new google news fast
Launch: searchmash, an experimental site started by Google
Uses Ajax and some other web2.0-ish features.
News: Google launches "Features, Not Products" initiative
Sergey Brin is telling employees to stop making old products and start improving new ones. "For example, said Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, Google plans to combine its spreadsheet, calendar and word-processing programs into one suite of Web-based applications."
Launch: Google Code Search
Google now lets you do searches -- including regular expression searches -- across public source code.
Preview: Google testing new site design
James Yu has a screenshot of a new design Google has been testing lately.
Launch: Google Pages, new Geocities-style site-building software
Google has released a new program that gives users 100MB of web space to make simple HTML pages in.
Launch: Google running AdWords in newspapers
Google is buying the leftover ad space in the _Chicago Sun-Times_ and filling it with AdWords ads related to the rest of the content. I wonder how they're going to charge advertisers. The domains posted are the real domains, so it can't exactly be pay-per-click.
Launch: Google Music, search for bands and albums
Story: Xooglers, Google's former Marketing Director tells his story
Some great stories about Google's early days, with more to come.
Launch: Click-to-Call AdWords, Google will let you call advertisers
(screenshot)
Update: Blind test reveals Google offers best results
The Search Engine Experiment gives you the results from Yahoo, MSN, and Google without saying which is which. Currently, 41% of those who have taken the test picked Google (33% Yahoo, 26% MSN).
Launch: Google Analytics, see the statistics on your website
A free version of Urchin, a company Google bought. (official blog post)
Announce: Google to unwire Mountain View, WiFi on street lamps
You could also buy equipment to extend it into your house. (proposal)
Launch: Google adds Creative Commons support
The Google advanced search page now lets you limit your search to CC-licensed results.
Launch: Google Local Mobile, get Google Maps and more on your mobile phone
Satellites, drag and drop, and more.
Preview: Google on the future of advertising
In a long <cite>New York Times</cite> piece, top Googlers speculate about the future of advertising, including Google selling TV ads, using more personalized information, and links to store inventory information.
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joyce's chalkboard
joycelin's Xanga Blog
Sunday, May 18, 2003
joycelin's entry on Sunday, May 18, 2003 at (6 comments)
Thursday, May 15, 2003
joycelin's entry on Thursday, May 15, 2003 at
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julsjuls's Xanga Site
julsjuls's Xanga Blog
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Just be limberrrrr
karrot's Xanga Blog
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
karrot's entry on Wednesday, August 01, 2007 at (8 comments)
girls, pearls and .. whirls? (Thursday, October 19, 2006 )
karrot's entry on Thursday, October 19, 2006 at (17 comments)
Thursday, September 14, 2006
karrot's entry on Thursday, September 14, 2006 at (5 comments)
Disturbing reality (Wednesday, June 14, 2006 )
karrot's entry on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 at (15 comments)
Karen's Summer FUN in NYC Guide 2006 (Thursday, June 08, 2006 )
karrot's entry on Thursday, June 08, 2006 at (11 comments)
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maboyden's Xanga site
maboyden's Xanga Blog
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MAKE Magazine
MAKE is a quarterly publication from O'Reilly for those who just can't stop tinkering, disassembling, re-creating, and inventing cool new uses for the technology in our lives. It's the first do-it-yourself magazine dedicated to the incorrigible and chronically incurable technology enthusiast in all of us. MAKE celebrates your right to tweak, hack, and bend technology any way you want.
Happy President's day from MAKE - a look at a President who made things - Thomas Jefferson
<img src="http://blog.makezine.com/MountRushmore_monument.jpg" height="406" width="500" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Mountrushmore Monument" /><br /> President's day was once associated with just Washington (and later Lincoln) but now all Presidents are celebrated today, and by that I mean you might have the day off. Here's @ MAKE we're going to take a look at Thomas Jefferson. <img src="http://blog.makezine.com/MAKE_PT0424.jpg" height="604" width="500" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Make Pt0424" /><br /> Not only was Jefferson the author of the Declaration of Independence, the third president of the United States but an inventor. Here's a look at some of the things he made (or remade). <img src="http://blog.makezine.com/wheelcipher_lg.jpg" height="162" width="500" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Wheelcipher Lg" /><br /> <img src="http://blog.makezine.com/disassembled_wheel_lg.jpg" height="306" width="500" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Disassembled Wheel Lg" /><br /> Wheel cipher - In 1792 while Jefferson was US Secretary of State he developed a wheel cipher to encode and decode secret messages (here's how it works). <img src="http://blog.makezine.com/vc59.1.jpg" height="355" width="500" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Vc59.1" /><br /> Portable copying press - called the polygraph, Jefferson helped perfect this two-pen writing device used to copy letters and used it for all his correspondance. It's like a manual BCC'ing! Here's a Quicktime VR of the device. <img src="http://blog.makezine.com/plowttttt.jpg" height="246" width="500" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Plowttttt" /><br /> Plow "Moldboard of least resistance" - using math, Jefferson designed a better plow to lift and turn over sod more effectively - this new plow had a huge impact and instead of patenting the invention, Jefferson gave it away it - to be "solely used for the good of the people and not for the advancement of the inventor, Jefferson encouraged public use of this easily duplicated invention". <img src="http://blog.makezine.com/greatclock.jpg" height="598" width="500" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Greatclock" /><br /> The Great Clock - Jefferson created a cool clock - made from hanging cannonballs, this gravity power clock was connected to a giant gong on the roof of the entrance hall at Monticello. He also needed to invent a folding ladder to repair it (which was later used for other things like getting books and trimming trees).<br /> <br /> <br /> <strong>Others:</strong><br /> <ul><li>Macaroni machine</li><li>Sundial</li><li>Dumb waiters</li><li>Automatic double doors</li><li>Revolving bookstand</li><li>Beds that lift</li><li>Revolving chairs</li></ul> <br /> All these and more can be found at the Jefferson's inventions page - Link.<br /> <br /> <strong>Further reading:</strong><br /> <ul><li>Thomas Jefferson - His Life as an Inventor - Link.</li><li>Jefferson @ Monticello - Link.</li><li>Jefferson @ Wikipedia - Link.</li></ul> [Read this article] [Comment on this article]
Vector MAME
<br /> <img src="http://blog.makezine.com/vector_mame.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="vector_mame.jpg"/> Jason at HACKS writes: <blockquote> <p style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">There's a special place reserved in my digital heart for the classic arcades like Tempest and Asteroids, and ironically it's because of the flawless analog goodness of their vector-based displays. I still boot up a Tempest emulator for the Dreamcast from time to time, though while it remains fun to play, it just has no soul on a standard CRT. The ZVG connects to your PC via parallel port, and Zector claims it is able to drive most old analog vector monitors that you are able to obtain. It's even able to drive an oscilloscope in X/Y mode. VectorMAME provides the ZVG drivers for DosMAME, which would allow you to put together a MAME cabinet that will play all of the old vector games on a real X/Y monitor. The hardware will set you back a couple hundred bucks, but it appears that this might be the only way to play some of your old favorites in all their glory. </blockquote> <p style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Zector Vector Generator and VectorMAME - [via] Link. [Read this article] [Comment on this article]
MAKE Flickr pool weekly roundup
<img alt="weekly_wrap.jpg" src="http://blog.makezine.com/weekly_wrap-thumb.jpg" width="500" height="750" /><br /> From the MAKE Flickr pool The hits keep coming as we draw closer to our Flickr contest submission deadline of 2/29. A big thanks to everyone who posted so far - We've got well over 20,000 photos in the pool now! It's a lot of fun see what everyone's been up to! <br /> <ul><br /> <li>LED tunnel of noise . . . box -Link<br /> <li>Box organ + breath controller (top-right) -Link<br /> <li>USB Memory Pill -Link<br /> <li>A moment of maker zen . . . -Link<br /> <li>Happy *BLEEP* Valentines!-Link<br /> <li>Homemade snake game-Link<br /> <li>Heart of Hearts -Link<br /> <li>Rattrap racer-Link<br /> <li>RSS Photo Frame -Link<br /> <li>The tiniest deadbug proto (top-left)-Link<br /> <li>Low frequency percussion mic (middle-left) -Link<br /> <li>Coconut amp (middle-right)-Link<br /> <li>Toastmaster skateboard (bottom-left)-Link<br /> <li>Touch activated LED valentine-Link<br /> <li>Water mortar (bottom-right) -Link<br /> </ul> [Read this article] [Comment on this article]
Best of CRAFT
<img src="http://blog.craftzine.com/shoneythesquid.jpg" width="500" height="375" border="0"><br /> Here are some of my favorite posts from the CRAFT blog this week: <ul><li> HOW TO - Knit and Felt a Squid - Link.</li> <li> Felted Sweater Flowers with Betz White - CRAFT Video Podcast - Link.</li> <li> Make Paper Cuts with Skinny laMinx - Link.</li> <li> Ethernet Cable Plant Hanger - Link.</li> <li> HOW TO - Sew a Silk Tie - Link.</li></ul> [Read this article] [Comment on this article]
Time lapse video: making a tire playground
<object width="500" height="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fVLM-JYGt08&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fVLM-JYGt08&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object> Jackson from The Steel Yard wrote in with this time-lapse video of the construction of a tire playground in Providence, RI:<br /> <blockquote>The Steel Yard joined Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, City of Providence Parks Department, Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council and other community partners on September 29th, 2007 to help construct a playground at Riverside Park in Olneyville, Providence, as part of James W Rouse Community Service Day. Also helping out was a hard working group of volunteers from Rhode Island School of Design. Immediately after construction was finished on the recycled tire structure, local youth came out and took full advantage of the Steel Yard designed structure. Howie Sneider and Joel Taplin helped lead the project from conception to completion. A huge thanks goes out to our staff, Donny butler, Dave Anderson, RISD volunteers, and everyone else who helped with the project. Thank you!</blockquote><br /> Riverside Park Tire Playground, Providence, RI - Link & flickr set [Read this article] [Comment on this article]
Peeking inside some LEDs
<img alt="emsl_led_closeup.jpg" src="http://blog.makezine.com/emsl_led_closeup.jpg" width="500" height="375" /> Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories gets up close to some LEDs, and takes a peek beyond the light:<br /> <blockquote>I took some close-up pictures of LEDs to get a look at what's inside. These are just standard T-1 3/4 (5 mm) package superbright LEDs with clear lenses, one of the most common types, and I took the photos by placing my the lens of my camera (Canon S3 IS) right up to them.</blockquote><br /> Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories/Peeking in on some LEDs - Link & flickr set [Read this article] [Comment on this article]
Solar charging, electric lawn mower
<img alt="md_mower.jpg" src="http://blog.makezine.com/md_mower.jpg" width="500" height="375" /><br /> The solar charging system makes this DIY electric mower different from the rest. You will never have to put those gas cans in your car again, and the maintenance is a whole lot less too! There aren't a lot of eco-friendly mowers out there, never mind this one was made out of a lot of recycled materials. - [via] Link [Read this article] [Comment on this article]
Knitted electromagnetic shields
<img src="http://blog.makezine.com/knitted_kitchen.jpg" height="488" width="390" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Knitted Kitchen" /><br /> Becky @ CRAFT spotted a nice design noir project, she writes - <blockquote>From the technophobic department, Zoe Papadopoulou at the Royal Academy of Art is making these shields for anything electric, knitting a copper filament in her cozies and electrically grounding it. This provides some shielding from the electromagnetic fields these devices emit. Truth is, however, that the waves running through the air (cell phone frequencies, mainly) are a lot farther reaching than those from your toaster. That's why they invented shielding fabric and paint! They're still nice as a social commentary art piece, though.</blockquote> Craftzine.com blog: Knitted Electromagnetic Shields - Link.<br /> <br /> Related:<br /> <img src="http://blog.makezine.com/41Q4R9MSRYL._SS500_.jpg" height="500" width="500" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="41Q4R9Msryl. Ss500 " /><br /> Design Noir: The Secret Life of Electronic Objects - Link.<br /> <br /> <br /> Dunne and Raby investigate the real physical and cultural effects of the digital domain, demonstrating that mobile phones, computers and other electronic objects such as televisions profoundly influence people's experience of their environment. Their ideas have important implications for architecture and design. In this, their first major book, they introduce their extraordinary new way of thinking about objects, space and behaviour to a broad audience. The book is divided into three sections: 1. Manifesto, introducing the authors' ideas about electromagnetic space. 2. Conversations, in which Dunne and Raby talk to a variety of designers, architects and artists about the impact electronic technology has on their practice. 3. Placebo, presenting the intriguing results of a project involving Dunne and Raby's working furniture prototypes, including a chair that lets the sitter know when radiation is passing through his body.<br /> <br /> Design Noir @ Amazon - Link. <br /> <br /> [Read this article] [Comment on this article]
Grindstone attached to bicycle
<img src="http://blog.makezine.com/MAKE_PT0423.jpg" height="356" width="492" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Make Pt0423" /><br /> Clever way to sharpen knives, Science And Mechanics 1936 - Link.<br /> <br /> Related:<br /> <object width="500" height="412"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Cwh6A95kJzQ&rel=1&border=0"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Cwh6A95kJzQ&rel=1&border=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"width="500" height="412"></embed></object><br /> Knife sharpening tricks (video) - Link.<br /> [Read this article] [Comment on this article]
Strange light bulb actually works
<img alt="wala1.jpg" src="http://blog.makezine.com/wala1.jpg" width="400" height="325"/> Here's a cool project you can do in a few hours, if you're crazy (this is pretty dangerous) - build a lightbulb with two socket bases. Check out the link below for meticulous step-by-step instructions! <br /> How to make a working weird looking bulb - [via], Link [Read this article] [Comment on this article]
AVR oscilloscope
<img alt="md_scope.jpg" src="http://blog.makezine.com/md_scope.jpg" width="500" height="667" /><br /> This is an amazing DIY oscilloscope that is controlled by a WinAVR microprocessor. The source code, schematic and PCB are all well documented and available for download. If you try this one out, don't forget to post it in the MAKE flickr photo pool - Link [Read this article] [Comment on this article]
Call for Makers: Maker Faire Bay Area 2008 - Febrary 17, 2008
<img src="http://makerfaire.com/images/makerfaire/ba08/textbar.gif" border="0" height="29" width="514" /><img alt="makerFaire08.jpg" src="http://blog.makezine.com/MAKE_640.jpg" width="500" height="332" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" /><br /> <!-- end bay area text bar --> <span style="font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold;"><br /> Build, <span class="cczine">CRAFT</span>, hack, play, <span class="mczine">MAKE</span>.</span><br /> <!-- topics was q/279 --><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-transform: uppercase; color: rgb(0, 72, 131);">Arts • Crafts • Engineering • Green • Music • Science <br /> We are thrilled to announce that the Call for Makers is now open for Maker Faire Bay Area 2008! On Febrary 17, 2008 we have Maker Faire Tryouts (designed for new Makers and Makers that have projects that they would like to show us before the event) Where and when:<br /> Exploratorium - noon - 4:00pm<br /> San Francisco<br /> Please email sherry@oreilly.com to reserve a space More information about the Faire and the application process can be found on the Maker Faire site here & more important dates to remember for Maker Faire here - Link.<br /> [Read this article] [Comment on this article]
Name the MAKE race team - WINNER
<img src="http://blog.makezine.com/MAKE_PT0390-1.jpg" height="306" width="406" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Make Pt0390-1" /><br /> <img src="http://blog.makezine.com/MAKE_PT0422-1.jpg" height="76" width="406" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Make Pt0422-1" /><br /> We're pleased to announce a winner for the "Name the MAKE race team" contest. With over 137 commenters and 200+ entries it was a hard choice! But there can be only one - SilverPill drop me an email to get your prize! - Link.<br /> [Read this article] [Comment on this article]
20-Watt Solar Panel - A Primer @ MAKE
<img src="http://blog.makezine.com/MAKE_PT0401.jpg" height="363" width="500" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Make Pt0401" /><br /> <img src="http://blog.makezine.com/MAKE_PT0402.jpg" height="356" width="500" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Make Pt0402" /><br /> 20-Watt Solar Panel by Parker Jardine in Primer. With a few solar-cells and a plastic case, you can utilize the sun's energy to power anything from a light bulb to your entire house. Page 158 - MAKE 12. Read this article now in the MAKE digital edition. <img src="http://blog.makezine.com/MAKE_PT0403.jpg" height="704" width="500" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="Make Pt0403" /><br /> Or get MAKE 12 from the Maker store and/or subscribe to MAKE (use code CMAKE for $5 off USD). You can view all our in depth Primers from MAKE here too.<br /> <br /> <br /> [Read this article] [Comment on this article]
Making flexible circuits with an inkjet printer
<img alt="conductiveFabric.jpg" src="http://blog.makezine.com/conductiveFabric.jpg" width="500" height="489" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4" /><br /> Here's a how-to on using an inkjet printer to assist in the creation of flexible conductive circuits. The printer is only used to transfer the circuit image onto the conductive fabric. You still have to paint the resist on by hand. Conductive Fabric: Make Flexible Circuits Using An Inkjet Printer. - Link<br /> [Read this article] [Comment on this article]
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- updated: Feb 18 06:14AM
Megatokyo Comics
News and Comics from Megatokyo.
Comic [1088] "what they wanted"
Chapter 9: "overlo4d" comic 1088 <br/>[read...] <br/>[permalink]
Comic [1087] "someone who understands her"
Chapter 9: "overlo4d" comic 1087 <br/>[read...] <br/>[permalink]
Comic [1086] "secure positions"
Chapter 9: "overlo4d" comic 1086 <br/>[read...] <br/>[permalink]
Comic [1085] "out here"
Chapter 9: "overlo4d" comic 1085 <br/>[read...] <br/>[permalink]
Comic [1084] "pay attention"
Chapter 9: "overlo4d" comic 1084 <br/>[read...] <br/>[permalink]
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- updated: Feb 18 02:18PM
MIT Campus News
Campus news headlines from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology News Office.
'Cycle-logical' bonding for students, professor
It's not unusual for MIT professors and their students to socialize outside the laboratory. But here's a word of warning to would-be members of Jeff Tester's lab: You might want to think about getting in shape.
Awards and honors
Recent achievements by members of the MIT community.
Inclusiveness, optimism among strengths of HST's Gray
Martha Gray, director of the Harvard-MIT Department of Health Sciences and Technology, displays an optimism that explains why, on an exceptionally snowy night in March, dozens of people flocked to her home to read poetry and to enjoy chance meetings.
Saving the rainforest with … toys?
Some villagers in Honduran communities who used to take part in the illegal trade in mahogany have turned to sustainable wood harvesting. But they need more markets. And that's where MIT Sloan School master's student Craig Doescher comes in.
Digitalk: Where IT's at
News from MIT Information Services and Technology.
Bustani lectures to feature Boutros-Ghali, Avishai
The Emile Bustani Middle East Seminar at MIT, now in its 22nd year, will present two lectures this spring on contemporary Middle Eastern affairs.
Sports, innovation share stage at Sloan event
A love of sports can lead to exultation and heartbreak. But it can also lead to technical innovation, a point emphasized in one of the panels during the second annual MIT Sloan Sports Business Conference, held Feb. 9.
Profiles in excellence at MIT
MIT is known for bringing out the best in its students academically, but that ambition also applies to athletics. MIT's volleyball teams have achieved stellar success, and much of the credit goes to Coach Paul Dill, who will receive a 2008 Excellence Award for Bringing Out the Best.
Suresh to receive 2008 Eringen Medal
The Society of Engineering Science has chosen Subra Suresh, Dean of the School of Engineering and Ford Professor of Engineering, to receive the A.C. Eringen Medal for 2008, in recognition of "sustained outstanding achievements in engineering science."
MIT to review U.S. energy technology innovation
A two-year, $2-million grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation will enable researchers at MIT to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the energy technology innovation system in the United States.
IAP 2008 in photos
A sampling of images of the diverse offerings in MIT's Independent Activities Period 2008, which ran from Jan. 7 to Feb. 1.
Application for IDDS 2008 now available
The International Development Design Summit (IDDS) 2008 will take place from July 14 through Aug. 8.
John Meyer, nuclear engineer, 76
MIT Professor Emeritus John Meyer, a nuclear engineer who spent more than 25 years at MIT until his retirement in 2001, passed away Jan. 11. He was 76.
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- updated: Feb 13 10:09PM
"ComingSoon.net - 20 most recent trailers"
Do you know what's coming?
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
added the international teaser trailer, which includes some minor differences from the North American version
WALLE
updated the vacuum vignette with High Definition QuickTime
Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns
we've got two exclusive TV spots from the dramedy
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
watch the new trailer for the sci-fi/fantasy action-adventure, with Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson and Anita Briem
Big Stan
added the trailer for the new Rob Schneider comedy
My Blueberry Nights
posted a Japanes trailer for the Wong Kar Wai film
Nim's Island
posted an international trailer for the fantasy-adventure
Transsiberian
added a new international trailer for the thriller, with Woody Harrelson, Ben Kingsley and Emily Mortimer
Love Songs
posted the trailer for Christophe Honore's dramatic musical
Pineapple Express
check out a Red Band trailer for the Seth Rogen and James Franco action-comedy!
Be Kind Rewind
linked to two clips from the comedy
The Signal
added a new webisode on the horror film
The Visitor
posted a trailer for the Thomas McCarthy dramedy
Roman de Gare
added the trailer for the drama, starring Audrey Dana, Dominique Pinon and Fanny Ardant
Priceless
updated the trailer with High Definition QuickTime
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- updated: Feb 18 06:14AM
LOVE
myssbond's Xanga Blog
a little therapy (Saturday, February 16, 2008 )
myssbond's entry on Saturday, February 16, 2008 at (1 comment)
goalllssss (Thursday, February 14, 2008 )
myssbond's entry on Thursday, February 14, 2008 at
update on the rooster (Tuesday, February 12, 2008 )
myssbond's entry on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at (1 comment)
Real Music. (Monday, February 11, 2008 )
myssbond's entry on Monday, February 11, 2008 at
aaaand....what. (Saturday, February 09, 2008 )
myssbond's entry on Saturday, February 09, 2008 at (1 comment)
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- updated: Feb 19 12:24AM
Clay Shirky's Essays
Clay Shirky's Essays
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- updated: Feb 18 06:14AM
Official Google Blog
More types of gadgets for iGoogle
Posted by Mendel Chuang, Product Marketing ManagerGoogle Desktop lets you not only search your computer easily, but you can also personalize your desktop. From cultivating a virtual potted plant, to reading the latest news and checking the weather forecast, you can customize your desktop with a variety of gadgets and a sidebar. Some of you have asked if you can also put gadgets on iGoogle homepages next to your other gadgets. And starting today, the answer is yes.With Google Desktop 5.5 Beta, you can you now embed Google Desktop Gadgets right into your iGoogle homepage. Gadgets on an iGoogle homepage can have more advanced functionality, such as playing music from your computer. You can find them alongside other gadgets in the iGoogle Content Directory. We've also improved some of the other features; such as better looking Quick Search Box, support for multiple copies of a gadget, and improved Outlook search functionality. Read more on the Google Desktop Blog and check out these gadgets you can now add to your iGoogle homepage.
3 short weeks
Posted by Scott Petry, Founder, PostiniThree weeks ago today was the official close of Google's acquisition of Postini -- and what a three weeks it's been. "Official close" meant that integration work could legally begin, and so the Google Apps team and Postini team have been burning the midnight oil to get our services integrated. Now, Google Apps customers, Postini customers and everyone else can see the results.Postini security and compliance capabilities are officially part of Google Apps Premier Edition. Google Apps customers get these services for free. Postini customers get an extended trial period for Apps. New customers can choose their entry point: Apps (including Postini security and compliance) or any of the standalone Postini services.The benefits of software as a service are numerous -- that's why we're seeing a huge interest in Apps. Businesses of all sizes are asking for these services, and we need to help customers embrace Apps without loss of features, functions, or security. I'm proud that Postini plays a role in this offering.Postini was founded in 1999 with the vision of transforming how IT organizations consumed security and compliance products. We recognized the service delivery model brings huge leverage, and 36,000 customers around the world validated that vision. Google Enterprise is now scaling that vision. No one knows what the next three weeks will bring, but we're all excited to be part of it.
Got a blog? Help a student.
Posted by Josh Mendelsohn, Program ManagerWhen it comes to philanthropy, everyone’s got something different to give – some people have money, others have time, and bloggers have devoted readers. The creative folks at DonorsChoose have a few ideas about how bloggers can help students and teachers.In case you’re not familiar with DonorsChoose, it’s a site where teachers post needs they have for their classrooms, and donors fund those projects directly. If you’ve got a blog, a website, or even an email account, you can help by creating what’s called a challenge. Just pick some of your favorite projects and challenge your family, friends, and readers to fund them. If you’ve got a Blogger account, it’s easy to add your challenge to your blog in just a few clicks.To support their recent expansion to schools all across the U.S., the DonorsChoose team is holding a little competition, keeping track of which bloggers and webmasters drive the most funding to schools.We think this is a cool idea, so we want to help it succeed. We’re going to reward the winning bloggers with exactly what they gave to DonorsChoose, students, and teachers: traffic. The competition will remain open until the end of October - we'll then take a look to see who has helped raise the most money in each of the eight DonorsChoose challenge categories. We’ll post links to the winners’ blogs here, and we’ll also throw in a $500 gift certificate for each winner to spend on DonorsChoose.So here’s our challenge to you: go create a challenge on DonorsChoose.
International Cleanup Weekend: Think globally, clean locally
Posted by Steve Miller, Google Earth OutreachOn October 13th and 14th, Googlers and many people around the world will head out to clean up local parks, beaches, trails and other places close to home. We'll be planning our cleanups using Google Maps and sharing our plans with friends and families, along with an invitation to help. So far, Googlers have sent in almost 100 cleanup maps and proposed plans, and have invited more than 900 of their personal contacts to help.And since many small cleanups add up to one big impact, we hope you'll join in too. It takes just a few minutes to plan your own cleanup, make a map of it, and send your map to us -- we'll add it to a growing map of all the cleanups around the world. If you keep your cleanup small (groups of 6-10 people work best) and close to home, it'll be easy to organize and you can be sure that you're doing what's most important for your neighborhood. After your cleanup, share your work with the world by posting photos and videos to your map.If you'd like to join this global effort, you can get started here.
YouTube and Checkout for the non-profit world
Posted by Maryrose Dunton, Product Manager, YouTube, and Prem Ramaswami, Product Manager, Google CheckoutEver since YouTube first launched, people and organizations have been using it to broadcast their causes and engage supporters around the issues they care about. In that spirit, today YouTube unveiled its Non-Profit Program at the Clinton Global Initiative to help non-profit organizations more easily connect with the world's largest online video community. In the past few years, online video has emerged as a key tool for grassroots organizing on the Internet -- a short, simple video can demonstrate the impact and the needs of an organization in a uniquely compelling fashion. This program will enable non-profits to create dedicated YouTube channels for themselves, making it even easier for people to find, watch, and engage with the organization's video content. The initial participants are 13 organizations including the American Cancer Society, Friends of the Earth, and YouthNoise.One other thing the YouTube Non-Profit Program offers: the ability to collect donations directly from these channels using the new Google Checkout for Non-Profits. Checkout for Non-Profits -- which can also be integrated directly into a non-profit's site -- helps drive more donations for U.S.-based 501(c)(3) groups by making it possible for supporters to contribute quickly and securely. It also offers supporters the satisfaction of knowing that 100 percent of their contributions will be sent to the non-profit, as Google has committed to processing donations through Checkout for free through at least the end of 2008. This functionality is particularly exciting, as today's fund-raising is increasingly moving online -- and Checkout for Non-Profits makes the entire process even easier. You can learn more here.
Our testimony on Google-DoubleClick
Posted by Pablo Chavez, Policy CounselYou may have read that a U.S. Senate committee in Washington is holding a hearing today looking at online advertising and our acquisition of DoubleClick. Check out our Public Policy blog for more details about Google's testimony.
A new caffeine-free way to stay alert
Posted by Amy Wu, Associate Product Manager, and Rajat Mukherjee, Group Product ManagerSince new videos are constantly appearing all over the web, it's difficult to keep tabs on all of them. But now Google Alerts will make it easy for you to add video to your other Alerts: News, Web, Blog and Groups.Video Alerts enables you to specify any topics or queries of interest so we can deliver interesting and relevant videos on a daily, weekly, or as-it-happens basis (your choice) to you via email. To start receiving Video Alerts, you can visit the Google Alerts homepage directly or set up the alert during your normal video searches. Videos may come from Google Video, YouTube, or many other video sources on the web.What are you waiting for? Stay up to date with the One Laptop Per Child program. Find the latest videos on the Lunar X-Prize. Impress Grandma by updating your scarf-knitting skills.
Search privacy and Personalized Search
Posted by Jane Horvath, Senior Privacy CounselOnline privacy isn’t always an easy thing to understand—or to explain. When I recently joined the company, I was happy to learn that Google was continuing with the effort to make our privacy practices (and your choices) even clearer and more accessible. We are using YouTube to post videos that explain how, when, and why we collect information about searches, and how you can protect your privacy while using our search engine.If you watched the first privacy video, you learned about some of the information we collect (IP addresses, cookies, and search queries) and how we use this information to improve your search experience as well as prevent against fraud and other abuses. We appreciated all of the feedback we got in response to the first video.In response to your requests for more detailed information, in our second video we're offering a closer look at personalization and the privacy tools available when you choose to personalize your search. Personalization has been an area that raises concerns about privacy, and we want you to understand how we personalize search results while protecting your privacy.As the video explains, search algorithms that are designed to take your personal preferences into account, including the things you search for and the sites you visit, have better odds of delivering useful results for you. So if you’ve been checking out sites about the Louvre and you search for [Paris], you’re more likely to get results about the French capital than the celebrity heiress. The privacy tools we’ve designed — such as “pause” and “remove” buttons — help put you in control of personalization.So sit back, take a look, and then tell us what you think about this video (and the earlier one too). We look forward to hearing from you.
It's all about today
Posted by Niv Efron and Eyal Molad, Google Trends Engineers, Tel-AvivA lot of us love video games, and everyone here has their favorite from the latest generation of consoles. We have a game room in our building that happens to have all three of the latest systems: Artem loves Microsoft's Xbox 360, Niv can't part with Sony's Playstation 3, and Corey is hopelessly addicted to the Nintendo Wii. After some serious work organizing the world's information, we like to kick back with a round of Wii Tennis or a trip to Rapture. The problem is that there's only one TV in the game room, and of course only one system can be played at a time. In true Googley fashion, we look to data to decide which console gets first dibs. For that, we used Google Trends, which lets us see what the world is searching for.Take, for example, a comparison across the systems:Looks like a pretty tight race. Let's take a closer look at 2007.Wow, they're definitely neck and neck (and neck) -- the top console could change anytime. Fortunately, Google Trends is now updated every day with the latest information. (Until now, Trends was only updated once a month.) Now we can follow the console race (or any other topic) every 24 hours, whether it's The Office vs Heroes or the candidates for the next presidential election.In addition to daily updates, we've also created an iGoogle gadget and a feed for Hot Trends. If you have ever wanted to know what the Internet was thinking right now, Hot Trends can tell you just that. Hot Trends shows you what the fastest rising search queries are on Google. Now you can keep track of Hot Trends three ways: by visiting the site, adding the gadget to your homepage, or subscribing to the feed by adding the feed URL to Google Reader or your favorite feed reader.We'd love to hear about any interesting trends you've discovered. Please send them to us at cooltrends@google.com. We'll feature the best ones in a future post.
Pour on the pedal power
Posted by Dan Reicher, Google.orgYou may already know that we're working to reduce our impact on the environment in a number of ways. We opt for locally-grown food whenever possible in all of our cafes. We've covered our roofs with solar panels. We offer a rebate on our employees' fuel-efficient car purchases. When it comes to getting people to the office, we offer round-trip shuttle service to our Bay Area Googlers, as well as incentives for creative commuting, from walking to biking and even to kayaking (depending, of course, on where the office is).Over at Google.org, the RechargeIT project is collecting data on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) in an effort to accelerate commercial adoption of the cars as well as vehicle to grid technology. To the same end, we just issued a $10 million request for investment proposals to encourage companies and individuals to develop sustainable transportation solutions.And now, we encourage all of you to get your wheels spinning to offset climate change. Google has teamed up with Specialized and Goodby Silverstein & Partners on the Innovate or Die Pedal-Powered Machine Challenge, to give you problem-solvers a chance to show us with a YouTube video how you harness pedal power in innovative ways. In January, you could win $5,000 in cash and Specialized Globe bikes to keep up your commitment. We're doing our bit to support new solutions. Are you feeling inspired?
iGoogle tackles the Rugby World Cup
Posted by Thomas Gayno, Associate Product Marketing Manager, FranceSalut! You may have heard by now that France (relieved after our recent win over Namibia) is currently hosting the sixth Rugby World Cup, which is a gathering of the best rugby teams from around the world competing for the coveted Ellis Cup. You Yanks should imagine the Super Bowl, but held only once every four years, with 20 teams from around the globe -- and without padding or helmets!Four years ago, when England won the last Rugby World Cup, we French Rooster fans began planning for the next global matchup. Meanwhile, our French superstar Sébastien Chabal -- otherwise known as The French Beast, The Anesthetist, Attila or the Caveman -- has grown longer hair, a longer beard and bigger muscles. And he's back for this year's World Cup! To help track The French Beast's team's (or any other team's) progress towards victory, we created an iGoogle tab complete with a variety of gadgets that puts you in the middle of the action. The tab features live scores, group standings, a map of the venues, fan videos from YouTube, and a fun "make some noise" gadget that lets you cheer on your favorite team. With the iGoogle Rugby World Cup tab, you can experience the action in an entirely new way. Even if you've never used iGoogle before, you can add the tab here. Alternatively, type [rugby] into the Google search box and click on "add to my Google page."In line with the international aspect of this sporting event, this tab is available in the following countries: USA, Canada, Portugal, Ireland, UK (Wales, Scotland and England), Romania, Georgia, Namibia, South Africa, Japan, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, France, Italy and Argentina. Whether you're a fan of Sébastian Chabal, Dan Carter or Stirling Mortlock, use the iGoogle Rugby tab to keep track of the action. And if these names don't mean anything to you, tune into the Rugby World Cup and they soon will!
Google Reader goes multilingual
Posted by Kevin Systrom, Product Marketing ManagerI've been traveling a bunch in the past few days, and the one thing I've noticed is the variety of newspapers you're offered on every flight in Europe. In London, where I am now, my hotel has between 10 and 15 newspapers in the lobby from around the world in different languages. So I started thinking about how news plays an increasingly important role across the world.Of course, blogs have also become an international phenomenon. They're not constrained by language or nationality — in fact, blogs have become an important way to bring rise to independent reporters and writers. And there are more and more people who wish to read blogs in other languages. Up until now, our blog and news site service, Google Reader, was only available in English. As of today, it supports these languages: French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, English (UK), Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Japanese, and Korean.With this announcement (you might enjoy this take from the Reader blog), I'm also happy to tell you that we're removing the "Labs" label from Google Reader. It's a small textual change, but we believe it solidifies our commitment to make reading blogs and news sites easier than ever. So try Google Reader and get all your blogs and news sites in one place.Update: Added Dutch, which is now live.
Our feature presentation
Posted by Attila Bodis, Software EngineerIn April we announced that we were working to bring presentations to Google Docs. (Astute readers may recall learning about this even earlier, which caused a bit of excitement around here.) And today we're unveiling the new Google Docs presentations feature and invite you to try it at documents.google.com. Maybe more than any other type of document, presentations are created to be shared. But assembling slide decks by emailing them around is as frustrating as it is time-consuming. The new presentations feature of Google Docs helps you to easily organize, share, present, and collaborate on presentations, using only a web browser.Starting today, presentations -- whether imported from existing files or created using the new slide editor -- are listed alongside documents and spreadsheets in the Google Docs document list. They can be edited, shared, and published using the familiar Google Docs interface, with several collaborators working on a slide deck simultaneously, in real time. When it's time to present, participants can simply click a link to follow along as the presenter takes the audience through the slideshow. Participants are connected through Google Talk and can chat about the presentation as they're watching. Not wanting anyone to feel left out, we've made the presentation feature available in 25 languages; Google Apps customers can also access it as part of Google Docs.We hope the millions of people who already create and share documents and spreadsheets will find presentations a welcome addition to the Google Docs family, and we can't wait to add even more features and enhancements.If you're new to Google Docs, watch this video to learn more about creating and collaborating on documents (and now presentations!).
Australia readies itself for a Google election
Posted by Julian Sonego and Rob Shilkin, Google AustraliaLooking from down under, the long U.S. election cycle ensures that there is no shortage of political headlines generated more than a year out from the actual Presidential election. Many of you may not realise that Australia is also readying itself to enter campaign mode. A federal election is anticipated to be held before the end of the year. You can be sure as the Australian parties get out on the hustings, babies will be kissed, doors knocked and hands vigorously shook -- but this election campaign is already a lot different to others, with digital media playing a new and important role.Today, in Sydney, we announced the launch of a Google Australia election website, so that Australian voters can have an intimate look at the parties, candidates and election issues, all in one Google location. These services, spanning Search, Maps, News, video, Earth, Trends, and iGoogle, enable voters to organise, find and share Australian election information more easily than ever.We created a Picasa Web Album to showcase all the elements, and we're pleased to offer these world-first tools that were developed in our Australian office. Here's hoping Australians will find them useful and even fun. It's our view that democracy on the web works -- and the web can work for democracy.
We've officially acquired Postini
Posted by Dave Girouard, Vice President & General Manager, Google EnterpriseAs of today, Postini becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Google, and we couldn’t be happier about it. (Here's the FAQ.) Since July 9, when we announced the agreement to acquire Postini, plenty of businesses have told us how much they respect Postini and how the acquisition makes sense for customers of both companies.We view this as welcome news, but also a sign of things to come. With the more than 100,000 businesses on Google Apps, 35,000 businesses and more than 10 million users of Postini products, we see great potential on both sides. We're committed to continue to deliver the type of innovative and useful business products our customers have come to expect. And we plan to announce even more product offerings in the very near future.Separately, both companies shared a vision for what the world of hosted applications can become for businesses of all sizes. Together, we look forward to achieving it.
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- updated: Oct 07 01:23PM
The Chandler Project Blog
Chandler Project Status Upate
It’s been a couple of weeks since our last update. Some developments on the release front… Last week we released Chandler 0.7.4. There was also a Chandler Server release, 0.12.0. We are close to rolling out a Chandler 0.7.4.1 which addresses a bug that complicated upgrades [...]
What makes a Task a Task?
We’ve decided to remove the notion of Task entirely from Chandler and add the notion of a ‘Star’. The Star isn’t so much a replacement for Tasks. Tasks are nouns, they are a Kind of item, like Notes, Messages and Events. By contrast, the Star is simply an adjective, a way to describe Note, Message [...]
Desktop 1.0 Work Queue
Over the past 2 weeks, we’ve been plugging away at a Work Queue for Chandler Desktop. By we, I mean Grant. The thinking behind the work queue is to isolate the half-dozen or so usability issues we feel are the biggest blockers to new users understanding what Chandler is, and how to set about using [...]
Chandler Desktop 0.7.4 released
The Chandler Project is pleased to announce the 0.7.4 release of Chandler Desktop! Chandler Desktop is an open source, standards-based personal information manager (PIM) built around small group collaboration and a core set of information management workflows modelled on Inbox usage patterns. The 0.7.4 release adds a Tip of the day feature and a German translation contributed [...]
Chandler Server (Cosmo) 0.12.0 released
The Chandler Project is pleased to announce the 0.12.0 release of Chandler Server (Cosmo)! Chandler Server is a server and Ajax web UI for managing and sharing calendars, events, and tasks. It implements open data standards including CalDAV, WebDAV, Atom, and Atompub. This release supports a standalone WAR form of Cosmo ready to drop in to an [...]
OSAF’s Next Steps
Last week the staff got together in person and took a critical look at where the project is now and what we want to achieve in the next year. We asked ourselves a series of questions, including: “We have some successful, enthusiastic users who rely on Chandler daily: how are they using it? What are their [...]
More Blogging and Fewer Mailing Lists
To help focus as a team, we have consolidated our various mailing lists in the following ways: Chandler-dev is now the working list for all things pertaining to the Chandler Project. This includes planning, design and bug prioritization for both Chandler Desktop and Chandler Hub as well as general interest topics like the project wiki, evangelism, [...]
Chandler Project Status Update
With so many changes around the restructuring we thought it would be helpful to start blogging about our project status on a regular basis so people get a sense of the ongoing activities. While we work the strategic next steps, our new team will focus on getting a release out for both the desktop and server. Chandler [...]
Introducing: myself and chandler.el
Katie’s post OSAF 2.0 Team seems like a good opportunity to introduce myself in this space. When I first joined OSAF I was asked to do this by Pieter Hartsook but a combination of a bad memory and busy schedule has kept this task triaged Later. I’m originally from a small town about 45 minutes outside [...]
OSAF 2.0 Team
Several folks have asked who is staying on for the next phase — who is remaining on the staff. Mimi Yin continues on as our Product Designer, Sheila Mooney in Program and Product Management, and Jared Rhine running the Hub Service. Jared will add more IT responsibilities, as well as build and release responsibilities to his [...]
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- updated: Feb 18 09:23PM
Penny Arcade
Comics for gamers
The Spore Cult
Professor Layton And The Perpetual Torment
Travel Form, And I'm Out
Pharmacopsychiatry
We Are Only Trying To Help
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- updated: Feb 18 08:15AM
Philip Greenspun's Weblog
A posting every day; an interesting idea every three months...
News matters in Turkey
Our host family in Turkey watched the TV news every night.ﾠ My father, who was a teenager during WWII has the same habit of taking news seriously.ﾠ Within the memory of our hosts and their 18-year-old son, Turkey has been through financial crises, military coups, more than 30,000 people killed by Kurdish separatists, and small [...]
Good way to get rich in Turkey: Get married
One guide talked about the Turkish custom of giving substantial cash to newlyweds:ﾠ “I make between $500 and $1000 per month.ﾠ If I were invited to a wedding, I would have to give at least $200 to the couple or people would talk about me.” We learned later that the president and prime minister of Turkey [...]
Reflections on our trip to Turkey
The Turkey trip is winding to a close.ﾠ Here were some of the highlights (this posting is mostly for friends and family)… Days 0-2: Istanbul.ﾠ Loved the boat rides on the Bosphorus.ﾠ Had fun on the main pedestrian street of Beyoglu (home to three Starbucks, one McDonald’s, one Pizza Hut, etc.).ﾠ A “pedestrian street” in Turkey [...]
The Turkish Bath
All of the Turks with whom we spoke reacted with horror when we expressed interest in going to a Turkish Bath (hamam):ﾠ “You’ll come out dirtier than when you went in”; “They are for poor travelers to the city”; “A 200 lb. hairy Turkish guy will scrub you raw”; “Anyone with money who wants a [...]
Dating tips for foreigners in Turkey
One of my guides in Cappadocia was kind enough to give me some dating advice for Turkey.ﾠ Heﾠis a handsome fellow in his late 20s with aﾠgorgeousﾠgirlfriend so he speaks with some authority.ﾠ”Forget about girls in the eastern portion of Turkey who haven’t been to university,” he started, “the real action begins at age 19 [...]
Three books about an exotic polyglot Near East
I’ve finished three books about exotic cities with a multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious population. The first is Orhan Pamuk’s Istanbul: Memories and the City.ﾠ The publisher pushes this as essential reading for tourists who want to learn about Istanbul.ﾠ About half of the text of the book is devoted to the author’s feelings and memories of [...]
The day that Turkey joins the EU…
… a lot of the 70+ million Turks may consider emigration. Sampling of prices… Gasoline: $8.50/gallon. Diet Coke in a cafe: $6. Museum admission: $8-16. Haagen-Daz in the supermarket: $12.50/pint. Crummy Yellow Tail Shiraz from Australia in the supermarket: $32/bottle. Local table wine: $15-20/bottle.ﾠ Burger (or “McTurco”), fries, Coke at McDonald’s: $6.ﾠ Dinner for three at [...]
Good hotel in Istanbul
Mallory and I stumbled upon a great hotel in Istanbul, right next to the Blue Mosque:ﾠ Hotel Sultan Hill.ﾠ The building is a converted Ottoman-era house, which means that most of the rooms have windows on two sides and therefore much better light than a typical hotel room.ﾠ The rooms were small but very clean [...]
Sights seen in Istanbul so far…
A report for friends and family from Istanbul.ﾠ Some sights seen in the last 36 hours… A packed American Airlines 777 coach cabin with static through the audio system connector rendering the fancy multi-channel video system unusable.ﾠ A Danish novel called the Exception that got a great review in New Yorker magazine but that I can’t [...]
Barack Obama’s Dreams from my Father
I decided that I needed to vote for Barack Obama for president because (a) all of my friends in Cambridge want to vote for him, and (b) he seems to make people feel good (like Reagan, but without the tax cuts).ﾠ I thought that maybe it would be good to learn at least one thing [...]
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Taegan Goddard's Political Wire
Clinton Seen Leading the "Edwards Primary"
The Associated Press: "The couple has been impressed with Clinton, who has more effectively courted them since the 2004 vice presidential nominee dropped out, people who talk to the Edwardses say. Obama has been less attentive, they say, and some of those close to the Edwardses have been annoyed that Obama has continued to ridicule him for once saying his biggest weakness is that he has a powerful response to seeing pain in others."
Clinton To Leave Wisconsin Early
Sen. Hillary Clinton "has scaled back her Wisconsin campaign schedule by a full day, and is now planning to leave the state after Monday morning instead of Tuesday morning," according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "The move suggests the campaign does not think it can overtake rival Barack Obama here. Obama has already campaigned in the state Tuesday night, Wednesday, Friday, and today. He also has single events planned for Sunday and Monday." Wisconsin's primary is on Tuesday.
Obama Secretly Meets Edwards
Sen. Barack Obama "paid a secret visit to his former rival, John Edwards, in quest of his endorsement on Sunday," The Politico reports. "The meeting in Chapel Hill, N.C., where Edwards lives, is the latest effort by Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) to win 'the Edwards primary' -- the heatedly sought endorsement of the third-place finisher in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination." Like Clinton's visit earlier this month, Obama managed to pull off his without the notice of the national press corps. However. WTVD-TV claims to have video of the visit which it will air later today.Mark Halperin explains why Edwards' endorsement matters.
ARG Poll: Clinton Leads in Wisconsin
A new American Research Group survey in Wisconsin shows Sen. Hillary Clinton leading Sen. Barack Obama, 49% to 43%. Key findings: "Obama leads among men 48% to 42% and Clinton leads among women 55% to 39%. Clinton leads among white voters 52% to 40%, Obama leads among African American voters 85% to 9%, and Clinton leads among Latino voters 50% to 44%." On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain leads Mike Huckabee 46% to 42%.
Quote of the Day
"They need to send him out of the country for a long, long time. I am angry at Bill Clinton and I think there are other Hillary people who are angry at Bill, who felt that she was running a very good, solid campaign -- she wasn't the exciting one, but she was the solid one -- and then he came in and made it nasty, and single-handedly pushed away black voters." -- A superdelegate supporting Sen. Hillary Clinton, quoted by the Baltimore Sun, adding the former president "has screwed this thing up for her big-time."
Obama Takes National Lead
Sen. Barack Obama enjoys his first statistically significant lead in the Gallup tracking poll, 49% to 42%, over Sen. Hillary Clinton. Additionally, the 49% support for Obama represents the high point for him in the daily survey. On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain leads Mike Huckabee, 54% to 28%.
Quote of the Day
"I told President Clinton that I thought it was really important that pledged delegates be the deciding factor. And he agreed with me." Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK), quoted by Tulsa World.
Gore May Act As Power Broker
Al Gore and a number of other senior Democrats "plan to remain neutral for now in the presidential race in part to keep open the option to broker a peaceful resolution to what they fear could be a bitterly divided convention," the New York Times reports. "The signs that party elders are weighing whether and how to intervene reflects the extraordinary nature of the contest now and the concern among some Democrats that they not risk an internal battle that could harm the party in the general election." In a related article, CQ Politics notes some Democratic superdelegates "say they have little incentive to choose sides early if the presidential nomination fight may not be decided until, or just before, the party’s convention in August."
Lewis Not Talking
Sen. Barack Obama "had not spoken with Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) as of Friday morning. Neither had Hillary Clinton. Lewis and his staff weren't returning calls," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. "That lack of communication left a vacuum in Friday's political spin cycle after the overnight bombshell report that Lewis planned to drop Clinton and cast his superdelegate vote for Obama at the Democratic Party's national convention in August." "Lewis' spokeswoman would only say that the New York Times report that Lewis would back Obama was 'inaccurate,' but provided no details and did not respond to requests for more. Jeff Zeleny, the Times reporter who interviewed Lewis on Thursday, later told CNN that Lewis 'unequivocally' said he would support Obama."
Quote of the Day
"It would be a problem for the party if the verdict would be something different than the public has decided."-- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle, on how superdelegates should vote at the Democratic National Convention.
R2000: Obama Leading Clinton in Wisconsin
A new Research 2000 poll in Wisconsin, shows Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential race, 47% to 42%, with 11% still undecided.The Wisconsin primary is on Tuesday.
ARG Poll: Obama Leads in Texas
A new American Research Group poll in Texas finds Sen. Barack Obama ahead of Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential race, 48% to 42%.Key findings: "Hillary Clinton leads Barack Obama among self-described Democrats 47% to 42%. Obama leads Clinton among self-described independents and Republicans 24% to 71%. Obama leads among men 55% to 29% (47% of likely Democratic primary voters) and Clinton leads among women 54% to 42%. Clinton leads Obama among white voters 51% to 40% (53% of likely Democratic primary voters), Obama leads Clinton among African American voters 76% to 17% (22% of likely Democratic primary voters), and Clinton leads Obama among Latino voters 44% to 42%."Update: The Burnt Orange Report shows two other polls today that have Clinton in the lead.
Rasmussen: Obama Slightly Ahead in Wisconsin
A new Rasmussen Reports survey in Wisconsin finds Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. Hillary Clinton, 47% to 43%. Key finding: "Nearly one-fourth of the voters say there’s a good chance they might change their mind. Five percent (5%) of those who currently support Obama and Clinton say there’s a good chance they could change their mind before voting."
Obama Snags Key Union Endorsement
Sen. Barack Obama "is expected to rack up more labor backing on Friday," the Wall Street Journal reports. "The Service Employees International Union, one of the most politically active unions, is expected to announce a national endorsement for him, according to people familiar with the matter. The move would give him organizational support in Ohio and Texas in March."
Superdelegates Get Campaign Cash
A new study finds Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama have been making campaign contributions to superdelegates. "And while it would be unseemly for the candidates to hand out thousands of dollars to primary voters, or to the delegates pledged to represent the will of those voters, elected officials who are superdelegates have received at least $890,000 from Obama and Clinton in the form of campaign contributions over the last three years, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics."
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Reason Magazine - Hit & Run
Eddie Lee Howard: Mississippi's Next Exoneration?
Now that Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks have been freed, the Innocence Project is calling for a criminal investigation into Dr. Michael West. Peter Neufeld is asking that every case in which West has ever testified be reviewed. The linked article notes that there are 20 or more Mississippians in prison right now due at least in part to West's testimony.West still stands by his testimony. He's now saying that even if Brooks and Brewer did not commit the two murders a third man has since confessed to committing, his testimony wasn't incorrect: Brewer and Brooks still bit those little girls. To believe West, you'd have to believe that in two cases that occurred at about the same time, two men living just miles apart coincidentally each repeatedly bit a little girl in their care just hours before a third man unknown to either of them abducted, raped, and killed said little girls. Alternately, you could believe that Dr. West is a quack who makes shit up. I know which theory my money's on. The next case involving the unholy triumvirate of West, Hayne, and District Attorney Forrest Allgood that may embarrass Mississippi is that of Eddie Lee Howard, currently on death row in Parchman for the gruesome murder of an elderly woman. The assailant stabbed the woman to death, then set her house on fire and left her to burn. Dr. Hayne testified at trial that the woman was also raped, though no semen or second-party blood or pubic hair showed up in the rape kit. Hayne did not find any bite marks. The victim was buried. In a now-familiar pattern, Hayne then brought his buddy Dr. West onto the case. Three days later, the police detained Howard without a warrant, then immediately took him to Dr. West's dental practice, where West took an impression of Howard's teeth. Police then exhumed the victim, at which point West once again claimed to find bite marks no one else could see. He then noted there were similarities between Mr. Howard's dental impression and the bite marks he said he'd found on the burned body. There was no biological evidence linking Howard to the crime scene. The sole evidence against him was West's testimony and the testimony of a police investigator who says Howard basically confessed to him, though the investigator never asked Howard to sign a statement of confession, nor is there any recording of it.Eddie Lee Howard clearly has some psychological problems. The Mississippi Supreme Court granted him a new trial in 1997 after finding the trial court improperly allowed Howard, who is mentally ill, to represent himself in his own murder trial. Howard was convicted in the second trial, too. In 2006, the Mississippi State Supreme Court upheld the second conviction, and explicitly refused to throw out Dr. West's testimony. This was well after West's credibility had been thoroughly dismantled in the national media, after DNA proved he'd been wrong in the Kennedy Brewer case, and after he'd been thrown out of several professional organizations.Bizarrely, the court determined that it was Howard's fault his attorney didn't call an expert witness to rebut West's testimony but that, at the same time, the fact that his attorney didn't didn't amount to ineffective assistance of counsel. After acknowledging that Howard's new lawyers filed piles and piles of affidavits from experts explaining that Dr. West is basically a quack, the court awkwardly came to this conclusion:Just because Dr. West has been wrong a lot, does not mean, without something more, that he was wrong here. If Howard is cleared, it will be the fourth (that I know of) murder exoneration involving District Attorney Forrest Allgood. Three of those people were sentenced to death. It will be the third (that I know of) involving Dr. Hayne and Dr. West. I'm investigating several others. The Innocence Project chapters in Mississippi and New York are, too.
John P. Morgan, RIP
John P. Morgan, a physician and pharmacologist who has played a prominent role in the drug policy reform movement for many years, died on Friday at the age of 67 from acute myeloid leukemia. I saw him at the International Drug Policy Reform Conference in early December and had no idea he was ill. Perhaps he didn't either; this disease is often rapidly fatal after the symptoms are first detected. Morgan, a professor of pharmacology at the City University of New York from 1977 to 2004 and a longtime adviser to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, brought to the anti-prohibitionist movement the deep knowledge, openness to argument, and calm and measured manner of a careful scholar. These traits were evident in what he said (see above for an example) and in what he wrote. Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts, the 1997 book he co-authored with Queens College sociologist Lynn Zimmer, concisely and authoritatively debunked the major themes of anti-pot propaganda, but it's really not a pro-pot book. It could more accurately be described as a pro-science book. Morgan emphasized that every drug has its hazards but insisted that they be assessed dispassionately, without regard to the drug's current legal status.Sometimes that's tricky, because making a drug illegal has a way of enhancing its dangers, a phenomenon to which Morgan frequently drew attention. In a 1990 speech at the Hoover Institution, for instance, he used the experience with adulterated ginger "jake"during alcohol prohibition to illustrate four features of drug prohibition:1. Prohibition engenders criminal enterprises and criminal subcultures.2. Prohibition generates more potent forms of the forbidden substance.3. Prohibition enlarges drug toxicity by contamination and adulteration.4. Those poisoned by interdicted substances in their potent or contaminated forms are blamed for their disabilities, or even their deaths, because they were engaging in outlawed conduct.My last interaction with Morgan occurred at the conference in December, when I participated in a panel on methamphetamine. My presentation dealt with responsible, controlled use of amphetamines, a topic I broached with some trepidation, since meth has a bad rap even among critics of the war on drugs and even among illegal drug users ("Speed Kills" and all that). During the question-and-answer session, Morgan said he agreed that concern about the "methamphetamine epidemic" had made it difficult to talk about the drug's legitimate uses, which do not necessarily require a doctor's prescription to validate them. He said he had personally found methamphetamine tremendously useful during his education and career, calling it one of the safest drugs around when used responsibly. Coming from most people in most contexts, this would have been a startling admission. But coming from the eminently reasonable Morgan and delivered in his usual matter-of-fact tone, it cut through the hysteria and introduced a much-needed alternative perspective. Morgan made a career of doing that, and his well-informed skepticism will be sorely missed. [via Celebstoner]
The Friday Political Thread: Get Ready for President's Day Edition
Sometime tomorrow I'll be on the America's Future Foundation podcast, right here.The Week in Brief- Barack Obama and John McCain swept the Virginia, Maryland and DC primaries: Only McCain had any trouble, winning by only 9 points in the commonwealth.- In Maryland, Republican Rep. Wayne Gilchrest and Democratic Rep. Al Wynn were defeated, by surprisingly large margins, by challengers more in step with their parties.- Mitt Romney endorsed John McCain; John Edwards' circle let slip that the ex-candidate might endorse Hillary Clinton. Larger IssuesThe Big Lie. I'm not counting Hillary Clinton out of the presidential race, but it's sad what her apparatchiks have been reduced to. Unless they romp in the March 4 primaries, they'll have to count on unelected superdelegates to erase Obama's lead and secure the nomination for her. And voila: Lanny Davis, a longtime Clinton friend and spinner, writes at the HuffPo that superdelegates are the best thing to happen to the Democrats since Bill Clinton gave his first stemwinder. The superdelegates were necessary, Davis says, because the ultra-open reforms of the 60s wrecked the party. It did not seem entirely coincidental that the nominees since the Democratic Party reforms -- Senator George McGovern in 1972 and Jimmy Carter for reelection in 1980 -- suffered landslide defeats.We were also reminded that before these reforms, the "smoke-filled rooms" of Democratic Party leaders had led to the nomination and election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Adlai Stevenson and John F. Kennedy. Not bad.There are two problems with this. One is that Jimmy Carter was also nominated in 1976 and, obviously, won. So the Democrats had a 1-2 record in the pre-superdelegate era and, so far, a 2-4 record in the Glorious Age of Lanny Davis.The other problem is that Roosevelt and Kennedy were actually nominated via primaries. Few states held primaries in 1932 and 1960, but the CQ Politics blog has the rundown on both races.1932: Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, the governor of New York, outpaced his nearest rival by a ratio of more than 2 to 1 in the overall primary vote en route to winning his first of four nominations and elections for president.1960: Sen. John F. Kennedy, a little less than two months short of his 43rd birthday, established himself as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination by winning the April 5 primary in Wisconsin — the first after the New Hampshire contest March 8, which Kennedy, of neighboring Massachusetts, won easily. Kennedy appeared to be at a regional disadvantage in his one-on-one matchup with Minnesota Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey, making his 13 percentage-point victory margin even more impressive. The contest was captured in the well-regarded documentary film “Primary.” Kennedy went on to another impressive win, and effectively ended Humphrey’s hopes for the nomination by winning easily in West Virginia, overcoming doubts that the state’s overwhelmingly Protestant electorate would go for Kennedy’s bid to become the nation’s first Roman Catholic president. Kennedy faced competitors at the convention — including Texas Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson, who would become Kennedy’s vice president and ultimate successor — but clinched the nomination on the first ballot. It's possible that FDR would have been nominated in a smoke-filled room, but not a sure thing. The rules were different in 1932 (you needed 2/3 of all delegates to secure the nomination) and party insiders might have fretted about FDR's handicap, while voters didn't realize how severe it was. It's less like Kennedy would have been nominated in 1960—he badly needed to win those primaries to prove that a national Catholic candidate could win (or in the case of West Virginia, buy) elections in Democratic states. Again, I'm not counting Clinton out, but there's an argument to make for reforming the primaries and changing the role of the great unwashed. This isn't it. James Robbins has a snarkier take on the same thing.Below the Fold- Holly Yeager combs through data and sees Barack Obama stealing Hillary Clinton's base.- Ben Smith asks what happened to Clinton's support in the right-wing media.- Brian Beutler wraps up the career of Tom Lantos.No special theme for Politics 'n' Prog: Just Lemmy, a space woman, and a whole lotta riffin'.
Being in Congress Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry...
Rep. Henry Waxman, the mastermind behind the latest waste of congressional time (and taxpayers' money), says that he's sorry about this week's idiotic foray into whether Major League Baseball players, most notably Roger "The Rocket" Clemens, used performance-enhancing drugs.Then again, it's not the Congressman's fault:"I'm sorry we had the hearing. I regret that we had the hearing. And the only reason we had the hearing was because Roger Clemens and his lawyers insisted on it," Waxman said.Clemens' lawyer says that Waxman is dishing junk:Clemens' lawyer, Rusty Hardin, disputes Waxman's claims, calling the congressman's statements, "unbelievable, disingenuous and outrageous.""He is the one who created this circus in the first place," Hardin said.More here.And some recent reason stuff on the matter here.Here, Matt Welch raises the question of why Congress was wondering if Clemens' buttocks ever hosted a "palpable mass," which sounds like something that happens between confession and Easter services
I'm Dreaming of a Libertarian Obama
Jeffrey Rosen pens a short essay in The New Republic arguing that Barack Obama can be, in Rosen's words, "the first civil libertarian president."After Obama was elected to the Illinois state Senate in 1996, he defended individual rights in a way that might have marginalized him: He joined only two other senators in voting against a bill to forbid convicts on probation from having contact with street gangs, and he voted against a bill to expand the death penalty to gang-related murders. But Obama nevertheless won the respect of police and prosecutors in Chicago by building those "alliances of consent." One of his greatest legislative triumphs was a bill to require the videotaping of all confessions and interrogations in capital cases. Initially, police, state prosecutors, and the newly elected Democratic governor were strongly opposed, some death-penalty abolitionists viewed the bill as too moderate, and legislators were afraid of being soft on crime. But Obama led daily negotiations (without reporters) during which he emphasized his opponents' common values. At the end, the bill had the support of all parties, passed unanimously, and today has been adopted as a model by four states and the District of Columbia.There's more recent stuff and a hashing-out of how John McCain would attack Obama on this front. Rosen expects Obama to parry better than Dukakis did versus Bush; I agree, and I think the criminal issues that sunk Dukakis have less salience than the war on terror issues that inflame the gonads of the McCain Right. I heard way too many arguments that the PATRIOT Act vote would sink Russ Feingold or the wireless wiretap debate would save Denny Haster's job to take that line too seriously.But what about those other liberties? Aswini Aburajan reports from Obama's last presser, which came after the NIU killings.Asked to comment on Cheney's decision to add his signature to a brief supported by 55 senators and 250 congressmen to have the Supreme Court overturn a ban on handguns by the District of Columbia, Obama said he wasn't familiar with the statements made by either the Vice President or members of Congress.However, he went on to defend the right of municipalities to establish their own handgun laws. "The city of Chicago has gun laws, so does Washington, D.C.," Obama said. "The notion that somehow local jurisdictions can't initiate gun safety laws to deal with gangbangers and random shootings on the street isn't born out by our constitution." Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty is an endorser of Obama.Asked to elaborate on his understanding of what the second amendment actually means, Obama said that he does believe the second amendment "speaks to an individual's right." But he said that right could be "subject to common-sense regulation just like most of our rights are subject to common-sense regulation. So I think there's a lot of room before you [sic] bumping against a constitutional barrier for us to institute some of the common-sense gun laws." So: Obama is a civil libertarian, except when he is not.
The "Brown-Black" Race Card?
Over at Politico, "libertarian Democrat," former press secretary for the Democratic National Committee, and occasional reason contributor Terry Michael writes about whether Hillary Clinton is exploiting tensions between Hispanics and blacks in the Donkey Party:Stipulated, I am a partisan of my fellow Illinoisan Obama, who I believe is transcending race in this campaign. But, putting on my media critic hat, I would urge those whose business it is to interpret our politics, the press corps, to carefully observe how Clinton Inc. plays the "brown-black" race card as the campaign moves toward Texas. That extra scrutiny was earned by trash talk from the Supreme and Un-Fireable Manager of Clinton Inc. (our "first black president") between Iowa and South Carolina. All of this could have been predicted for a political party (I lament it is mine) that has been playing identity politics with a vengeance for the past several decades. With an unfortunate focus on granting entitlements based on tribal affinity rather than celebrating the rights, liberties and personal responsibilities of individuals in a pluralistic democracy, strengthened by civic cultural assimilation, we Democrats have been courting racialist warfare for a long time. More here.
New at Reason
In "Rodney King's Children," reason Managing Editor Jesse Walker talks with a leader of a human rights group that is fighting oppression and torture by posting video on the web.Read all about it here.
Internists Endorse Access to Medical Marijuana
In a new position paper, the American College of Physicians (ACP) "urges review of marijuana's status as a schedule I controlled substance and its reclassification into a more appropriate schedule, given the scientific evidence regarding marijuana's safety and efficacy in some clinical conditions." It also "strongly urges protection from criminal or civil penalties for patients who use medical marijuana as permitted under state laws." The ACP, which represents 124,000 internal medicine specialists and publishes Annals of Internal Medicine, is the second largest physician group in the country. (The American Medical Association claims about 244,000 members, of which some 135,000 are practicing physicians, according to MedPage Today.) The Marijuana Policy Project calls the ACP's position "the most significant organizational endorsement of medical marijuana access in the field of medicine and science."I discussed such endorsements in November, when the Assembly of the American Psychiatric Association unanimously urged the federal government to stop interfering with the medical use of marijuana in states where it's legal.
A Purge Too Far?
GOP blogger guru Patrick Ruffini wants to boot Ron Paul from Congress.Chris Peden is a traditional conservative Republican candidate for Congress in Texas’s 14th Congressional district...Here’s what Ron Paul says about TX-14: “If I were to lose the primary for my congressional seat, all our opponents would react with glee.”Give what you can. Ron Paul is running scared — using his Presidential campaign’s donors’ money to subsidize a desperate last-minute attempt to save his Congressional seat.The source for that claim is a paraphrase of Mark Elam... I'm going to assume the campaign isn't actually defying federal law and is using its new, rEVOLution-enhanced donor list to raise TX-14 money. UPDATE: Patrick Semmens from the Paul campaign responds:Patrick Ruffini is wrong, as no money from the presidential campaign is has been transferred to the congressional campaign. As you correctly note, doing so would be a violation of federal law.The only way funds from the presidential campaign could go towards Dr. Paul's congressional race would be for Paul to end the presidential run and close the committee. He has made it very clear that he has no plans to do that.I've e-mailed Ruffini for a response.This isn't Ruffini's first call to support a GOP insurgent. Last year he rattled the tin cup for Jim Ogonowski, an underfunded Republican who made a manful effort in an open Massachusetts House seat. (Sadly, Ogonowski passed on another run in favor of a nine-month beatdown by John Kerry.) Maybe a depressed GOP online base will overcome the McCain malady by chucking coins at Chris Peden. Peden could use it: He could sleep a little easier about the $150,000 loan he's given his own campaign. And he could use it to overcome the $315,000 Paul's raised since the start of the quarter.If the campaign gets close, though, it won't be because of money. It's all about the war—and that makes me skeptical of the purge. Peden isn't sending around flyers about Paul's newsletters or his have-cake-and-eat-it-too earmark policy. He's claiming Paul "blames America for 9/11" and "votes against our troops." (He is attacking Paul on his votes against free trade agreements, so, partial credit.) That's the oxygen for his campaign.One problem with this campaign that I don't think the joiners have thought through... what does Ron Paul do the day after he loses a congressional primary? His only firm, titanium-strength committment not to run third party came when he... was appealing to donors to save him in TX-14. If the Libertarian Party calls a defeated Rep. Ron Paul on March 5 and offers him its nomination on a silk pillow, does anyone think he tells them to go away?
Imad and Me
A couple of things struck me about the New York Times coverage of Hezbollah leader Imad Mugniyah's assassination. First of all, in this publicity shot from the Hezbollah Media Office, Mugniyah looks like a an older, pudgier, camouflage-wearing version of me: I gather this picture was taken before the plastic surgery he supposedly had. Despite his Semitic looks (I know, I know: Arabs are Semites too!), this was a guy who considered blowing up a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires a legitimate tactic in a war with Israel. In his view, killing any random Jew, anywhere in the world, was just retaliation for wrongs committed by the Israeli government. Yet I was still surprised to see the Times unambiguously call Mugniyah, who headed Hezbollah's Islamic Jihad Organization, a terrorist.The headline over the main story about Mugniyah's death, "Bomb in Syria Kills Militant Sought as Terrorist," equivocates a bit, but the text calls him "one of the most wanted and elusive terrorists in the world." A sidebar summarizing his murderous career calls him "perhaps the world's most feared terrorist" before 9/11 and notes that "the list of those who might seek justice or revenge against him was a lengthy one." By contrast, the Times usually calls Arab terrorists who target Israelis "militants." The Times story about last week's suicide bombing at a shopping center in Dimona, for instance, called the Fatah-affiliated Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which initially claimed responsibility for killing an Israeli woman at the shopping center, "militant groups." (It also called the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades a "militia.") Later, when the Qassam Brigades took credit for the murder, the Times described that organization as "the military wing of Hamas," which it called a "militant Islamic group."So what exactly does it take for a "militant" to be recognized as a "terrorist" in The New York Times? Evidently he needs to target Jewish civilians not only outside Gaza and the West Bank but outside of Israel, preferably on a different continent. I think it also helps if he attacks Americans, as Mugniyah repeatedly did. The Times does not seem to be squeamish about calling Al Qaeda "a terrorist group." If Osama bin Laden had crashed a plane into a building in Tel Aviv instead of New York City, would he be merely a militant?
Robert Jastrow, R.I.P.
Physicist Robert Jastrow, founder and director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Mount Wilson Institute which manages Mount Wilson Observatory in California died last week at the age of 82. Jastrow, an excellent popularizer of science, was the author of Red Giants and White Dwarfs and The Enchanted Loom: Mind in the Universe.The New York Times' obituary correctly notes:“He had a deep sense of the need to interpret science and make it available to the public,” said Albert Arking, a former student of Dr. Jastrow. As an ambassador of science, he was a natural, Dr. Arking recalled, saying, “His enthusiasm for science was infectious.” Besides being a fan of his books, I got to know Jastrow in the mid-1980s when I was working as a television producer for the PBS foreign policy program American Interests. We had him on as a guest to debate the feasibility of President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative a number of times. I later encountered him as a skeptic in the debate over the seriousness of man-made climate change (he was the head of the Marshall Institute which has published numerous reports highlighting defects in climate models, temperature data sets and the politicization of climate change science). Ironically, the Goddard Institute for Space Studies is now home to cllimate modeler James Hansen, one of the biggest proponents of the argument that unmitigated global warming is likely to be catastrophic. Setting aside those scientific controversies, I will always fondly remember Jastrow for his generosity in taking me on a personal tour of the Mount Wilson Observatory several years ago. I got to see and touch the 100-inch Hooker telescope that enabled astronomer Edwin Hubble to discover in the 1920s that Milky Way was just one of billions of galaxies and that the universe was expanding. That was a moment of true awe for me.The world will miss this happy warrior for science.
President of Mississippi State Medical Association Denounces Dr. Hayne
I just spoke on the phone with Dr. Dwalia South, president of the Mississippi State Medical Association, the state branch of the AMA.Coincidentally, Dr. South has been working on an editorial for the organization's newsletter raising questions about why the state medical examiner position in Mississippi has been vacant since 1995. In doing some research, she found my personal blog, contacted me, and we chatted this morning."I don't know why Dr. Hayne is still a member of our organization," she says. "I'm going to try to get him booted. I can't believe he is allowed to take the stand and use our organization's name to boost his credentials. That isn't right. I'm going to do what I can to change that. I'm going to do what I can make people care about this."Dr. South has firsthand experience with Hayne and with Mississippi's broken forensics system. She was once the elected coroner for Tippah County, and one of the few county coroners who bucked Hayne's grip on the system. That might have something to do with the fact that unlike most of the state's coroners, she's an actual physician. The state requires only a high school diploma to run for coroner. "We had all sorts of people in that office. Farmers, morticians, a really diverse group of people for that kind of office. The guy I replaced couldn't read or write. Can you believe that? An illiterate was in charge of this county's death investigations. He was letting the families of the deceased fill out the death certificates. Really unbelievable. When I heard that, I decided, well, I'm going to run. I did, and I won."One of the reforms implemented by Dr. Lloyd White, who was a state medical examiner in Mississippi before Hayne and his allies drove him out, was that the coroners at least had to take continuing courses in death investigation. According to Dr. South, many of those classes are, perversely, taught by Dr. Hayne."He's actually a very good lecturer," she says. "At least when it comes to his style. Very charming. The coroners loved him. He really owned them."But South wasn't in office long before she started to learn about Hayne's practices. "I was hearing some really horrible things about him," she says. "The more I learned, the more troubled I was. What he's doing is unethical and unprofessional. it's malpractice. If the truth was known about him, there would be an upheaval in our penitentiary system, because there are probably a lot of people he's helped put there who don't deserve to be there.""I'm really blown out of the water by this," she says. "One of my goals when I became president was to shed some light on this. Mississippi doesn't need this. There's got to be something that we as a group of doctors can do to blow the whistle on this guy."The Mississippi State Medical Association's next board meeting is in three weeks. My reason feature on Dr. Hayne here.
New at Reason
In the latest edition of Friday Funnies, Scott Stantis sketches the wacky adventures of kid John McCain.
More Fun with Price Controls
It was with astonishment that The Economist surveyed Hugo Chávez's first five years in office: "In the five years to 2003, Mr Chávez's performance was disastrous. The proportion of households below the poverty line increased by more than 11 percentage points...It was the first time since data were collected that poverty rose even as the oil price did too." But in the past few years, the Venezuelan economy has undergone significant growth, with an influx of oil money resulting in 18 percent growth in 2004 and 10 percent in 2005 (though the economic expansion has tapered off in recent months). Back in 2006, Latin American studies Professor Michael Shifter, who is somewhat sympathetic to the Chavism, said that while the economy has improved, and "record oil profits...are funding social spending, [Chavez's] initiatives have yielded only very modest gains." In a previous piece on the caudillo of Caracas, I quoted former chief economist of the Venezuelan National Assembly Francisco Rodriguez on the much-heralded decrease in poverty: "It's normal for poverty to decline during economic expansions and that the decline under Chávez is not unprecedented—indeed, it is smaller than the decline observed during similar periods in the past." And despite oil hovering at around $100 a barrel, the economic situation seems to be getting worse. This is what one must endure if one wants to buy "subsidized food" in the city of San Antonio de Tachir:The New York Times' excellent Latin America correspondent Simon Romero has a must-read (well, for those interested in such things) on Chavez's eroding popularity. A sample:While Mr. Chávez remains Venezuela's most powerful political figure, his once unquestionable authority is showing signs of erosion. Unthinkable a few months ago, graffiti began appearing here in the capital in January reading, "Diosdado Presidente," a show of support for a possible presidential bid by Diosdado Cabello, a Chávez supporter and governor of the populous Miranda State.Outbreaks of dengue fever and Chagas disease have alarmed families living in the heart of this city. Fears of a devaluation of the new currency, called the "strong bolívar," are fueling capital flight. While the economy may grow 6 percent this year, lifted by high oil prices, production in oil fields controlled by the national oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, has declined. Inflation soared by 3 percent in January, its highest monthly level in a decade.Add to this Exxon's court-approved freezing of $12 billion in PdVSA (Venezuela's state oil company) assets and widespread food shortages (those pesky price controls again!) and it looks like Chavez's Bolivarian revolution is, at long last, in decline.
Judges Create Sex Toy Rights
Activist moonbat judges deem sex toys legal in Texas. Weep for democracy! The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Texas law making it illegal to sell or promote obscene devices, punishable by as many as two years in jail, violated the right to privacy guaranteed by the 14th Amendment."Just as in Lawrence, the state here wants to use its laws to enforce a public moral code by restricting private intimate conduct," the appeals judges wrote. "The case is not about public sex. It is not about controlling commerce in sex. It is about controlling what people do in the privacy of their own homes because the state is morally opposed to a certain type of consensual private intimate conduct. This is an insufficient justification after Lawrence." Alabama and Mississippi residents, alas, still risk prosecution every time they brandish a dildo.Reason on why we love activist judges here, sex toys here. Hat Tip: Rick Davis.
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Local Food - FoodRoutes
Effing the Ineffable Building a Wiimote USB sensor bar
Give Me Toys Sesame Street Cookie Monster Finger Puppet Plush
Antti Aarne - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
32 oz. Breaded Lamb Rocky Mountain Oysters
Office of the Clerk
Save A Film
The Simpsons Archive: Troy McClure
Old-Tyme Flavor: How to season and care for your cast iron pan. - CHOW
COLOURlovers :: Color Trends + Palettes
Coworking / CoworkingBoston
Quantum Random Bit Generator Service
Qwerty Ranch: Dogland
Ascription is an Anathema to any Enthusiasm Blog Archive Openssh authorized key commands
Welcome to SeatGuru! Your Guide to Airplane Seats and In-flight Amenities
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Sam Ruby
It's just data
MSDN 1.0
Mihai Parparita: Blogs hosted on MSDN seem to have started to generate Atom 1.0 recently. However, perhaps due to a misreading of the Atom 1.0 spec, each entry contains a link node with the relation set to “self” when pointing to the HTML version of it (instead of "alternate"). Google Groups did this for a while too when it switched to Atom 1.0, so it seems to be a common error with developers that are just starting out with Atom generation. It would be nice if the validator could flag these errors. Done It looks like there are two errors, both should be easily correctable.ﾠ I’m confident that MSDN will address them quickly.
Rocket Science
Luke Hutteman: I mean, it’s not like this stuff is exactly rocket science, is it?
Feed Icon
Rogers Cadenhead: I’ve adopted the icon on Workbench this afternoon, because I think it could spark greater adoption of syndication with the general public To date, I’ve avoided the garrish orange icon because quite frankly, I always thought it was ugly.ﾠ I prefer a less graphic intensive page. ...
Open Source Web 2.0
Dave Johnson: Web 2.0 is not about having cool software to install on your own personal web server, it’s about getting locked into services provided by and trusting your data to Web sites that you do not control. It doesn’t have to be that way, of course, and perhaps I’m exaggerating a bit just for fun (and hits).
Family Friendly Calendaring
Jon Udell: the calendaring problem is just one of the many ways that real life challenges on our prevailing enterprise security model, with its bankrupt notion of an inside and an outside divided by a wall. The longest living application I wrote for my personal use is a family calendar.ﾠ It is written in PHP.ﾠ It is password protected. ...
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SecurityFocus Vulnerabilities
SecurityFocus is the most comprehensive and trusted source of security information on the Internet. We are a vendor-neutral site that provides objective, timely and comprehensive security information to all members of the security community, from end users, security hobbyists and network administrators to security consultants, IT Managers, CIOs and CSOs.
Vuln: Hosting Controller Multiple Remote Vulnerabilities
Hosting Controller Multiple Remote Vulnerabilities
Vuln: Jooget! 'id' Parameter SQL Injection Vulnerability
Jooget! 'id' Parameter SQL Injection Vulnerability
Vuln: WordPress Plugin WP-Forum SQL Injection Vulnerability
WordPress Plugin WP-Forum SQL Injection Vulnerability
Vuln: Nagios Plugins Location Header Remote Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
Nagios Plugins Location Header Remote Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
Bugtraq: Crafty Syntax Xss Vulnerability
Crafty Syntax Xss Vulnerability
Bugtraq: ProjectPier <= 0.80 Cross Site Scripting and Request Forgery
ProjectPier <= 0.80 Cross Site Scripting and Request Forgery
Bugtraq: ATutor <= 1.5.5 Cross Site Scripting
ATutor <= 1.5.5 Cross Site Scripting
Bugtraq: RUXCON 2008 CALL FOR PAPERS
RUXCON 2008 CALL FOR PAPERS
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The SIMILE Blog
Blogging about the SIMILE Project
Timeplot Fans: IE Joins the Club
And you don’t need to change a thing. It gives me great pleasure to inform you that your existing timeplots should simply function, now, when you browse to them in Internet Explorer 6 or 7. Go ahead, go and look, maybe give it a shift-reload to clear that now-untrue incompatibility message. Or [...]
Web App Makeover - A Complete, Automated Scraping Scenario
Our project offers quite a diverse toolkit of more than a dozen tools. And these tools are at different levels of maturity. Consequently, sometimes it can be hard for people other than our team to understand how all of these pieces fit together into a coherent, compelling story. Once in a while, we need to [...]
Exhibit on the OLPC XO
Yesterday I got my hand on an OLPC XO and I tried to load Exhibit onto its browser. And it worked! That’s the Presidents exhibit running with both map and timeline views! This would be pretty delightful if kids can generate these visualizations themselves about whatever topics that interest them, or whatever issues that are pressing in [...]
Wibbit 1.0 beta (MediaWiki extension for Exhibit)
Gabe and I are happy to announce the availability of Wibbit 1.0 beta, a MediaWiki extension for creating exhibits inside wiki pages. http://simile.mit.edu/wiki/Wibbit Please try it out and let us know what you think! - Margaret and Gabe
MiniZeitgeist Released
MiniZeitgeist is a plugin for WordPress that tracks your daily Akismet spam comment activity and plots it out for you using Timeplot, similar in appearance to the overall Akismet Spam Zeitgeist. Visit the MiniZeitgeist page for more on how to obtain and install the plugin.
Piggy Bank 3.1 and Appalachian 1.6 Released - Together
I’m happy to announce the release of the latest versions of Piggy Bank and Appalachian, now bundled together for your convenience. This latest revision of Piggy Bank begins a shift in architecture to separate out browser components from storage components by moving the ‘Publish’ action into the browser; see the wiki for details. [...]
Exhibit 2.0 (beta)
On behalf of the Simile team, our summer Haystack interns, and our contributors, I’m happy to announce the availability of Exhibit 2.0 (beta): http://simile.mit.edu/exhibit/ Check out the examples to understand the significant changes in this version. Useful links: What’s new: http://simile.mit.edu/wiki/Exhibit/2.0_Release Migrating from 1.0 to 2.0: http://simile.mit.edu/wiki/Exhibit/2.0/Migration
Timeplot 1.0 Released
The SIMILE development team is happy to announce the availability of Timeplot, a DHTML Ajaxy widget use to plot time series. Timeplot extends our existing Timeline widget to provide the ability to overlay time series over existing Timeline event data. Follow the link to the Timeplot home page to see several examples of that. Timeplot is based [...]
Potluck (beta)
On behalf of the SIMILE team, I’m announcing the availability of Potluck (beta) for trying out. Potluck allows casual users to mash-up data on the web using direct manipulation and simultaneous editing techniques: http://simile.mit.edu/potluck/ Please try it out and send us your comments. Note that Firefox is the browser of choice and IE support is limited. This [...]
New Great Audio/Video Tutorial for Exhibit Available
There are times where it’s a little frustrating to see all your tools used and very little to come back, but today is not one of those days. Tom Woodward (a former english and history teacher) has produced an incredibly detailed audio/video tutorial to bring teachers up-to-speed in using Exhibit in their classrooms and we were [...]
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So sue me
Jon Lech Johansen's blog
C# developer needed at DoubleTwist
We have an opening for an experienced C# developer at DoubleTwist: Should have 5+ years experience in software development Should have 3+ years of experience with .NET, C# and web services Should have a degree in Computer Science or related field Experience developing digital media applications is a plus Experience with .NET under Linux (Mono) is a plus You will be [...]
Monkeys needed at DoubleTwist
If breaking down proprietary barriers and empowering consumers sounds like your cup of tea, send us your résumé. If you know of someone who might be interested, please forward this to them. Opening: Reverse Engineering Monkey We’re looking for a code monkey to work on our DRM interoperability technology. Must possess strong skills in the areas of [...]
Apple TV hacks
What else to do when jet lagged than to unpack my brand new Apple TV? I wonder if the Apple TV is powered by a nuclear reactor because it runs fracking hot! Has anyone determined which photo they’re referring to? My unmodified Apple TV running vanilla MacOS X off a USB harddrive: I enabled SSH and then installed [...]
EMI goes DRM-free at higher pricepoint
EMI has been rumored for months to start licensing DRM-free tracks at a higher pricepoint. From today’s press release: London, 2 April 2007 — EMI Music today announced that it is launching new premium downloads for retail on a global basis, making all of its digital repertoire available at a much higher sound quality than existing [...]
Apple TV first impression
I dropped by the Apple Store the other day to check out the Apple TV. I was disappointed with how the Apple TVs were demoed in the store. They were sharing the same Internet connection as all the Macs and due to the bandwidth being completely saturated by people browsing the web, it took several [...]
New notebook?
I’m in the market for a new notebook. I’ve only ever owned ThinkPads (except for a brief fling with a PowerBook a couple of years ago). My current ThinkPad T42p has served proudly in the DRM wars and is entering retirement. It still does its job, but I want a notebook that’s not as heavy. I’ve been [...]
Tumi Sucks
On a recent trip to San Francisco I bought a Tumi Vista Super Light 20″ Wheeled Carry-On. On the way back to Oslo, having completed the SF-London leg, this happened: It weighed 10 kgs (they weigh all carry-ons at Stansted) and I mostly used the wheels. I had heard good things about Tumi and their reputation [...]
Chocolate Mousse
Note: Bumped this old post for all of you chocolate lovers out there! Ingredients 4 dl cream 4 eggs 100 g sugar 300 g dark (70%) chocolate 100 g butter cognac Directions 1. Melt the chocolate and butter together. 2. Whip the cream until stiff. Put it in the fridge. 3. Whip the egg whites until stiff, adding half the sugar slowly at the end of [...]
DAAP Licensing
DAAP (Digital Audio Access Protocol) is a protocol defined by Apple and used for iTunes streaming. Apple has licensed the DAAP protocol to at least one company: Roku. Their SoundBridge product is a networked music player that streams music from your computer. Thanks to Bonjour and DAAP the SoundBridge can stream music from an iTunes [...]
Steve on licensing FairPlay
This is the 3rd and last post about Steve’s “Thoughts on Music” However, a key provision of our agreements with the music companies is that if our DRM system is compromised and their music becomes playable on unauthorized devices, we have only a small number of weeks to fix the problem or they can [...]
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spideyblue's Xanga site
spideyblue's Xanga Blog
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steflounder's Xanga site
steflounder's Xanga Blog
Saturday, October 06, 2007
steflounder's entry on Saturday, October 06, 2007 at (12 comments)
Thursday, September 20, 2007
steflounder's entry on Thursday, September 20, 2007 at (1 comment)
Friday, August 10, 2007
steflounder's entry on Friday, August 10, 2007 at (3 comments)
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
steflounder's entry on Tuesday, July 10, 2007 at (3 comments)
Sunday, May 27, 2007
steflounder's entry on Sunday, May 27, 2007 at (12 comments)
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tealdeer.net
too long; didn't read
I thought Asians were good at math =b
I got Panda for dinner, and my fortune cookie said, “If given a penny for every kind act, you’d be a millionaire.” That just sounded wrong, so I did the math, and here’s what I got: I’d need to do 100,000,000 kind acts to get $1 million. Let’s assume I can do 10 kind [...]
YA RLY!
Sam’s Birthday
Photo’s from Sam’s birthday dinner at the Daily Grill ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ Click here for more:
Your Mom
From XKCD Mom jokes are like jean shorts; some people insist that they’re a timeless classic that will never go out of fashion, while the rest of the world says that they’re ugly, never have been, and never will be in style. Like your mom =b
Miami Wildlife
I was in Miami this week and Stef’s Dad let me use his 300mm f/4 to take pictures of birds and other critters. ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ Click here for more:
Exodus Xmas Party
Finally got around to posting pictures from the Exodus Xmas Party/Secret Santa a couple weeks ago ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ Click here for more:
Jason and Sarah’s Wedding
Congrats to Jason and Sarah who got married in Zihuatanejo, Mexico this past weekend! ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ Click here for more:
Dirty Laundry
So if contact lens solution is supposed to dissolve proteins, and sweat stains on shirt collars are protein based, will contact lens solution work to remove those stains? Trying it out now with Renu. I also have Clear Care which is peroxide-based, but I think peroxide will bleach by itself, so I just wanted to [...]
Eric’s birthday
Pictures from Eric’s birthday dinner last week: ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ Click here for more:
Gliderport
Was in SD this past weekend and took some pictures of paragliders ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ Click here for more:
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The Escapist : Featured Articles
Future Tech Today
"Science fiction has a robot fetish: robots that make your breakfast, robots that make war and yes, robots that make love. But while ASIMO may be able to do your taxes and pour a mean Tom Collins, it has the romantic appeal of a vending machine. And not those sexy vending machines in airports that sell overpriced iPods." Joe Blancato and Jordan Deam draw a line between now and then, stopping along the way for lasers.
Adjacent Data
"In the preface to William Gibson's Burning Chrome, Bruce Sterling said science fiction writers are like court jesters, able to speak truths without offense. 'We are Wise Fools who can leap, caper, utter prophecies, and scratch ourselves in public. We can play with Big Ideas because the garish motley of our pulp origins makes us seem harmless.' "Science fiction is able to make indictments against us palatable. We can choose either to accept them as truths or dismiss them as empty fiction. Star Trek, we know, wasn't saying that hundreds of years in the future we'll see racism as a social flaw. It was saying that it should be recognized as such back then in the '60s. Every comment on the Prime Directive, every mention of how the people of Earth solved their society's problems, were not speculation on what the future might bring but arguments that something was wrong in the present."
My Own Private Outer Space
"NASA sprang into action, showing young people science could be fun, using space as the carrot, communist invasion as the stick. As a result, millions of American children got their first taste of space - real space. Careers were launched and dreams brought into being, built on the foundation of science taught in classrooms, but for me these classes had the opposite effect. Real space wasn't spacey enough for me. As an ex-girlfriend would later put it, I was more in love with the idea than the reality."
Anomalous Materials
"To its credit, Valve's writing staff appears to be fully aware of the humor inherent in Gordon's highly low-tech exploits. In HL2, for example, Barney jokes about Gordon's education while the player performs the difficult task of flipping a switch. But beneath this running gag, the Half-Life series (and its crazy little sister, Portal) betrays a kind of warm ambivalence toward scientific pursuits." Thomas Wilburn dissects the science reds of Half-Life and Portal.
What Happened To The Last Starfighters?
"Suhr theorizes that the genre started to fade from the marketplace at a point in time when gameplay shifted toward simpler controls and away from realistic schemes, which included those of airplane simulators. Many of the classic space sims can be tricky to figure out how to pilot well. "'Most space sims are more complex [to play] than games like Doom 3,' says Suhr. 'I do think they are harder to access. Some people prefer it that way, but it really is an obstacle for a lot of people.'" Howard Wen tracks the demise of the space sim.
Confusion on Infinite (Virtual) Worlds
"Alvin Toffler, the futurist, told us this would happen. He predicted that post-industrial societies would fragment into numerous subcultures based on their own niche lifestyles. He was right. Some of those subcultures' lifestyles are lived on virtual worlds orbiting television series like suns."
Dreamcraft 101
"The ETC brings together students from around the world with diverse academic backgrounds, ranging from art and computer science to business and psychology . . . The "boot camp" semester pushes students to learn new skills, hit deadlines and learn to work together in multidisciplinary teams."
All Glory is Fleeting
"The entire Anonymous situation has to do with the cult of the incognito, the idea that if you give a man a mask, his true personality is unveiled. Anonymous can be said to represent the darker, feral side in all of us - they lash out with the slightest provocation, and they are many against few. Their own credo is they do not forgive, they do no forget and they are legion."
Go Virtual, Young Man
"From UO onward, MMOGs have been home to exactly the sort of behavior one might expect in the Wild West. To be sure, there may be more griefers in WoW than there were bandits in Dodge City, and just about everyone makes his way as a cold-blooded killer for hire (of mobs if not Apaches), but nevertheless, focusing on the negative elements of MMOGs is ultimately not the most productive way of understanding those communities."
What If Everyone Could Make Videogames?
"The actual creation process is somewhat a black box; how does a novice create a game? When I was young, the barrier to entry was more dependent on how much code I wanted to copy than it was trying to figure out the process, but these days development is much more challenging. There are a handful of efforts to simplify the development tools and process, but even the simplest game development tools at this point are complicated. "But what would happen if we could make game development simpler? What if everyone could make videogames?"
The Virtua Corps
"What's surprising is the rigor with which the communities themselves select and train recruits for their virtual wars. 'Some teams will require you to beat the game environment with only bits of the GUI,' says my soldier sim insider. 'Applicants can use the in-game compass, read maps and have to navigate to a set destination in a certain amount of time ... if you can't go on maneuvers, then you're probably not going to be on the team.'" Jim Rossignol joins up for the Virtua Corps
Hey Kids, Let's Make a Movie: Machinima
"They didn't start very complicated. In the early 1990s, Doom allowed users to record their play sessions. At first players swapped clips to compare and study matches and speed runs, and when Quake followed with more advanced recording tools, player clans began to do it wholesale. The Quake community produced the first widely viewed machinima in 1996 … the videos were known as 'Quake movies' at first, and it would be a few years until machinima earned its proper name." Cat Rambo dissects machinima.
Raph Koster: The Escapist Interview
"The idea of Metaplace is to really make MMOGs work the way the web does, and what that means is making it so that it is very easy for people to set up their own MMOG. It's very easy for these MMOGs to link to one another, it's very easy for these MMOGs to interact with anything else out there on the web, to provide kind of a technology platform ... it's really kind of the equivalent to Blogger, but for virtual worlds." Dana Massey interviews Raph Koster.
A Bug is Just an Undocumented Feature
"Glitches, anomalies and bugs can indeed hamper a game, but in the hands of the right player, they can be a lot of fun, too. Is leaving these bugs in a reason to get mad at the developers? Perhaps, but there are some players out there who want to thank them." Philip Miner explores exploits and the gaming of the game.
The First Steps to the Holodeck
"As technology leaps forward every day, the doors to a completely immersive play experience fly open. While the Star Trek holodeck is probably a ways off, currently existing technology can get us pretty close. It's just a matter of whether or not the entertainment industry can make it affordable enough to be realistic. Then again, if you own a PS3, maybe you're already willing to drop exorbitant amounts of money on games." Jon Sanderson wonders: Are we there yet?
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The Housing Bubble 2
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
Technical Delays Today
There will be periodic technical delays today. Thank you for your patience and please check back.
The Housing Bubble And The Employment Effect
Readers want to discuss the housing bubble and the jobs impact. "I wanted to suggest a topic: I want to get into the details of the last SoCal collapse that has (to date) been blamed on the Aerospace industry collapse." "Is there a job loss scenario for SoCal that mirrors 1990? There have be oblique references to losses in the mortgage, banking and construction industries that seem to be the most likely candidates, but I also have an example that occured to me through personal experience." "I have a relative in Atlanta that has been working in the mortgage industry for the last five years. He owns a condo, but has been also been buying and flipping properties. He knows appraisers who will appraise for 'whatever he wants,' he can arrange for them to get the loan, and walk them through the application so that they don't 'hit any snags.' I am a lawyer and advised him this is really a bad idea, filled with conflicts of interest and possible fraud, but he advised me that this is standard operating procedure." "This seems to me a very overlooked area of froth (as a shout out to the departing Mr. Greenspan) which might account for some uncertainty in possible housing devaluation." Another reader asks, "How about a job loss update? We all know about Ford and GM. How about other recent announcements? Jobs are the glue that holds it all together." And another, "I, too, am interested in job loss scenarios for SoCal. A few years ago Big Pharmaceutical got hit pretty hard, though I'm not sure what the real cause was. It might have had something to do with the dot com bust and the Nasdaq decline generally. I know of one chemist who was laid off at that time and only recently got a 'real' job again, at Genentech in San Francisco." "I'd be curious to know why the downturn in Big Pharm, and could it happen again. After all, they are not profitless tech startups. A big slump in pharm would have a huge effect on the northern bay area and San Diego, if so." "I'm not sure what the big employment drivers are in the LA area, to be honest. There are a number of smallish tech startups. There is also the movie industry. The major studios are already asking big stars to take pay cuts and they are planning on putting out less product for the next few years." "In my area, much is made of the fact that The O.C. is filmed in Manhattan Beach. Big deal; one friggin TV show. Yet an unbelievable amount of froth has been generated around it. I am only half-joking when I say that the local economy here consists of selling real estate to each other and teaching each other yoga."
A 'Rash Of Cancellations' In Fresno
The Fresno Bee has the latest on that bursting housing bubble. "Some home builders, trying to keep home prices down and responding to a possibly slower and highly competitive market in 2006, are planning to unveil new, more affordable designs. 'If [builders] see things taper off, they could shift the product a couple price points to midmarket or entry-market homes,' said John Karevoll." "Lower-priced offerings would be welcome in Fresno County, where the percentage of families that could afford a median-priced home sank to record lows in 2005, the pinnacle of a five-year real estate boom in the central San Joaquin Valley." "Rich Wathen expects more competition this year among builders, and without the escalating prices that frustrated many home buyers the last few years. 'Air is coming out of the bubble,' he said. 'There will be a lot of competition, and more as the year goes on. That will definitely have an impact on sales and prices.'" "How much of an impact? Wathen thinks sales in the central San Joaquin Valley could fall 10% to 15%. Developers say the long waiting lists and campouts at model home sites that characterized the past few years have mostly evaporated. 'We were allowing contingency buyers over the last three years, but in October, November and December we got a rash of cancellations as homes were getting completed,' said Steve Lutton, division president of Lennar Homes." "The greatest increase was in Fresno County, where cancellations doubled. Karevoll acknowledged the dangers of trying to assess this real estate market. '2006 will be an interesting year for the number crunchers,' he said. 'The arrows in the grass are pointing in all different directions. I've never seen the measures of uncertainty so high,' he said."
Any 'Freebees' In Your Housing Bubble?
How about the housing market in your neck of the woods? Post any observations or media sources that you want to share; open houses, anecdotal items, etc. Some readers posted these in the topics thread. "The radio spots that are STILL played by mortgage brokers. Hayes Barnard of Paramont Equity is the worst. His newest is 'the average SD home appreciated nearly 40k last year! You have the power for financial freedom to pay off debt with this new found equity' Like 40k is just like your car keys or that $10 bill in your pants back pocket." "Are sellers including 'freebees' in your area? (Cars, vacations, plasma TV's, ganite counter tops)? Here in Irvine, (Orange County) California, the Irvine Public Schools Foundation is including a BMW 750Li in an 'early bird' drawing as part of its annual house raffle. That's a first." Another said, "I'd like comments from owners/rentors who actually live in these hi-rise condos so we could have first hand knowledge of the pros and cons." This reader noticed a change. "Is the tightening up of credit/liquidity being felt by consumers in areas other than mortgages?" "I pondered this last night when I took my junk mail and fed it to my shredder. Looking at the unsolicited credit card offers, I noticed that the quality of the offers (Balance transfer terms and CCard terms) seems to be way down in the last few months." "I've got the kind of credit profile that gets great offers by the ton (only 3 cards, plenty of activity (use Amex for everything I can), almost no debt, fico mid-800's, flawless histories) so I'm wondering why the change. As a single sample, this could be because something has changed in my credit reports. (Though it shouldn't have - I'm going to get updated reports to make sure nothing funny has happened)." "On the other hand, If I am not alone in seeing this trend, does that mean that lenders are anticipating tougher times and reduced consumer spending ahead? That would likely mean more people using their offers just to transfer balances back-and-forth to keep rates and payments down, and less new purchase spending." To which another responded, "But that's a good thing, right? I get tired of receiving all that mail. I'm just messin' with ya. I understand your observation and it's worthy of note. I agree it would be interesting if the lack of is related."
Speculators In 'Frenzy Of Over-Confidence'
This financial advice answers some questions for speculators. "Q: I became a real estate investor last year (probably, too late) buying a small townhouse, which, fortunately, I rented out within a month. The idea was to let the property increase in value and sell it in two or three years. Now I know that plan will not work. How do you see the picture for investors who recently purchased properties?" "A: There are three essential issues you need to address: First, are the rent and the value of tax write-offs sufficient to support the property? If not, can you reasonably continue to carry the loss?" "Second, did you finance with a loan where payments may rise significantly in the next few years? If yes, will you be able to reasonably afford the higher payments? Third, what is happening in your local market? Are the population and job bases growing? Speak with local brokers for details." "If you can carry the property in a market with good fundamentals, then you have to question whether it makes sense to sell now and take a loss." "Q: Two years ago I refinanced my home. The lender appraised the house at $165,000. I did the loan, a two-year ARM, now the ARM 'start' rate has expired. My monthly payment has gone from $1,200 per month to almost $1,600. I went to refinance with the original company that gave me the loan and they said my home was now only worth $150,000 tops. I owe $160,000. The people who made the original said that due to foreclosures in my area property values had dropped in the last two years." "I now rent the property for around $1,250 per month. I would like to sell next spring but will be looking at a $5,000 to $10,000 loss. Any ideas?" "A: Interest rates are now rising thus your monthly cash loss a year from now could be substantially larger. You need to get this problem quickly sorted out." "The fact is the real estate is a commodity. Prices go up and down. In your case both property values fell and interest rates rose at the same time, the worst combination for a short-term investor. Huge numbers of people have invested in real estate with little down and financing that they only expected to hold for a few years. They gambled that if prices rose in those few years they would be able to sell the property, avoid higher loan costs and earn a profit from the sale. Some investors, in a frenzy of over-confidence, never considered what would happen if property values simply remained stable or actually fell." "Ask if your tenants if they would like to buy. If they have no interest, speak with local brokers where the property is located. Also, speak with other lenders, they may have a different view of local values." "By the time you're done with closing costs I suspect your losses will be greater than $10,000. Thus you have a situation where you both cannot keep the home and also cannot afford to sell it." "It may be that it will be necessary to downsize your current lifestyle, get a long-term loan to cover your losses, get a second job or sell off a car or other asset. None of this is easy, but the situation would be worse with a foreclosure and bankruptcy."
What's Your Housing Bubble Exposure?
Several readers want input on where to park their housing cash. "I'm looking for a new bank for my cash. The main thing i'm concerned with is stability in the event of trouble ahead. that and good rates on 6 to 12 month cd's." "And while we're on the subject, how safe is internet banking (Ing Direct etc). Finally, do you guys like the ibonds?" A reader responded, "I've used ING direct for about 5 years now, and haven't had any problems with it, yet. But lately with all the bad financial news banging about, I'm getting antsy about having my cash in a digital account. If you want to get it out in a hurry, you're out of luck. It takes at least 2-3 business days to transfer funds from Ing to your local bank, then you gotta hope your local bank's doors are still open for business." One reader broadened the subject. "I'd like to read about where other readers have their money invested. What the rate and terms are and if it has worked out for them. Did the bank/company give them what was offered, were there any hidden fees, for example to move money in or out, do they know what this bank/company invests in primarily, has anyone discovered something new, has anyone tried something new and did it work out?" "I'm seeing a lot more offers out there (some pretty good) and lots of them are from unknown banks, so I wanted to get an idea of which are the better more reputable ones to stick with. Also, if anyone has suggestions ideas for a good mutual fund with respect to sector or class. Such as ‘good to invest in bio-tech or perhaps energy funds’ or ‘good to invest in growth or emerging markets or maybe small cap.’" Another is curious about housing bubble exposure. "Which institutions are holding GSE-issued or private MBSs and CMOs (asian banks vs. American mutual/retirement funds)? Do asian central banks own more of the stuff, or do Americans (through their mutual/retirement/401K/IRA funds)?" "While GSE-issued debt is fairly easy to spot on a prospectus/annual report (look for Fannie & Freddie), how can you tell if your mutual fund also owns PRIVATELY-issued MBSs or CMOs?" This reader had some answers. "Have you used Weiss Ratings for bank safety ratings? Nobody is as conservative as Weiss when it comes to rating financial institutions. He has a much better track record than AM Best, Moody's, Fitches, etc, when it comes to warning subscribers of impending bank failure BEFORE the failure." "Just last night we got our annual Weiss ratings book in the mail. A number of banks no longer have the A+ rating, probably because they are exposed to local bubbly real estate markets." "Fortunately Farmer's and Merchants bank, right in Southern California, is one of the best banks in the country, at least by Weiss's standards. Even better, they know about their rating and work hard to maintain it." "My survival strategy has largely consisted of having a Treasury Direct account wired to my F&M savings account. I won't mess with any Treasury money funds from a mutual fund company that might have to go through a bank that, you get the idea."
'Where Are The Buyers' In Phoenix?
The Arizona Republic reports on the lack of affordability in Phoenix. "Skyrocketing prices have made Valley resale homes harder to afford than any time since the beginning of the last decade. A key housing index shows that a used home in metro Phoenix has not been so difficult to afford since 1990, even though interest rates have remained fairly stable and incomes are up. That's because prices for resale homes are at record high, though the market has cooled in recent months." "The new figures have implications for everyone associated with the Valley's real estate market, from agents to owners to businesses worrying if their employees can find a place to live. 'If you are trying to by a home, you have to be careful about what you are doing,' said Jay Butler, head of the ASU real estate center. 'If you are trying to sell this area as a place for a new company, then you may have some serious issues.'" "But incomes are not growing as quickly as house prices, which are at record levels after a yearlong selling frenzy fueled in part by speculators. The index is based on the value of 100 being the level where a typical buyer can afford a median-priced home at current interest rates and household income. Numbers higher than 100 signify increased affordability and those lower suggest the opposite. The Valley's resale index fell from 114 in 2004 to 84 in 2005. The new-home index dropped from 102 to 80 during that same time." "Buyers may finally be fed up with the higher prices. Agents say there are more houses on the market than at the peak of the buying binge and the houses are taking longer to sell." "'I asked another Realtor what he thinks about the real estate market,' said Brett Barry, (an) agent who specializes in the northeast Valley. 'He said, "What real estate market?' I have sellers calling me every day, breathing down my neck, saying, 'Where are the buyers?'"
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- updated: Jan 04 08:08PM
Thoughts From Eric
Things that Eric A. Meyer, CSS expert, writes about on his personal Web site; it's largely Web standards and Web technology, but also various bits of culture, politics, personal observations, and other miscellaneous stuff
Manhattan Problem
It’s not every day I uncover a case involving the botched theft of information about nuclear weapons. Here’s how it went down: in the infosthetics feed was an entry about a video regarding nuclear stockpiles around the world and the effects of a nuclear explosion in New York City. The video was produced by Chimp [...]
CSS Tools: Reset and Diagnostics
I’ve hinted and teased and promised, and I’ve yet to make good on any of it. I’m sorry. Can I make it up to you? Okay, then, here you go: a permanent home for my reset styles. It takes up residence in a new “CSS” subsection of the Toolbox section of the site, [...]
Non-Quotidian Problems
After I published the latest iteration of the reset styles, Paul Chaplin pointed out that my simplification of the quote-suppressing rules actually broke the intended effect in Safari, Gecko variants, and so on.
Cleveland Web Standards Association
Ladies and gentlemen, the Cleveland Web Standards Association. Specifically, its brand-new web site, courtesy a small band of association members who worked together to design and develop it. It’s a lovely little semantic number, chock full of microformats and member content aggregators. In case you hadn’t heard about the CWSA yet and are wondering [...]
Almost Target
I’d like to tell you a little story, if I may, from way, way back in 2002. (The exact date is lost to the mists of time, but the year is pretty solid.) Like a lot of stories, it’s little bit long; but unlike some stories, it’s true. As the engineering staff at Netscape [...]
Version Two
So yesterday was interesting. In a whole lot of ways. As I expected, there were some widely varied reactions (there’s a good list over at Digital Web, if you’d like to taste the rainbow) and many of them were in opposition to the whole idea. The opposition was fine, but the tone taken by [...]
Targeted
If you have anything to do with web development, there's news of a coming change that you absolutely need to read.
Structured Timeline
I wasn't going to do it. It would take too long, draw too much energy and attention. Too many other things needed to be done first. But it tasked me. It <em>tasked</em> me!
In-Flight Commentary
Herewith I present the latest in what can only now be called a series of travel-tip posts.
Browser Version Timeline
Sharing a timeline showing major releases of a selection of web browsers, from mid-1996 through the present.
Resetting Again
I've been pondering reset styles over the past few months, and come to a bit of a shift in my thinking. Here's the result of that thinking.
Access Switch
Or, how to not appreciate your existing customers. Back in April of 2001, I was preparing to start work at Netscape. I’d be working from home, so I needed high-speed access, and DSL was my best option. Eventually, I decided on Earthlink. It took a bit of effort, as there were some physical [...]
Speakers Galore
I know it was only yesterday that I mentioned the opening of registration for An Event Apart New Orleans and the other 2008 shows, but there’s already more to share: later that same day, we announced the speakers for the other three shows of 2008. Incredible lineups, every one. We’re beyond excited. [...]
An Event Apart 2008 Lines Up
Announcing the speakers and schedule for An Event Apart New Orleans 2008 <strong>plus</strong> the opening of registration for all four shows of 2008.
Bad Timing
Opera comes out with guns blazing for Microsoft over standards support, which is about the least constructive thing I can imagine right now.
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- updated: Feb 14 08:23PM
tJoY0103's Xanga
Latest Xanga weblog from tJoY0103
Super Bowl
We hosted our first ever party at our house for the Super Bowl this year. Francisca, Kitty and I slaved away and made lots of goodies! We made popcorn shrimp, Main crab cakes, honey BBQ wings, Thai wings, pizza, honey roasted nuts, guacamole, and garlic sausages. It was yummy!Then, as the boys watched the football game, we sat down with Kenny to play Mah-Jong, Cantonese style. Since I am not familiar with this kind of playing, I was the biggest loser of the night. But no matter! The Giants WON!!!!! We rule! Go New York!
Risks
Are you a big risk taker? What do you consider a big risk? 50/50 chance? 75 positive/25 negative? 25 positive/75 negative? How much are you willing to gamble? Does your willingness to take risks change as the stakes change? Would you bet the same amount of money? What if it was your health? Your job? Your relationship? Your life? How would you even begin to calculate the "rate of return"? It's almost the same when you think about regrets. Do you want the regret that you did it and it blew up in your face? Or, would you rather the regret that you never tried so you never knew? Either way, life will always be ever so slightly different,... Lately, I find myself ruing the "would've, should've, could've" regrets more. This is not to say that I don't think about and kick myself for making some of the mistakes of my past. But somehow, the "would've, should've, could've" regrets seem to make me just that much more melancholic. I wonder,...
Waiting
I've always sucked at waiting. I want instant gratification. Even if it is bad news, I want to know now. At least when I hit bottom, I know there is nothing but solid ground to go up from. I despise having the rug being pulled out from underneath me.Patience is a virtue I have yet to learn.
Crazy Chinese parties
Saturday night was my cousin's engagement party. Only thirty people, and we still managed to drink up 5 bottles of red, large bottle of Goose, and two-three bottles of X. O. Hennessey cognac. Needless to say, the men who were drinking (and the one lady) were all in pain the next day. Since Baby is half-Irish, they designated him as the "Pinch Drinker."Now we have the September gig to look forward to. That is going to be INSANE with 300+ people. Cousin has asked Baby to be part of his "Drinking Team."
Wisdom Teeth
I had three of mine removed this past Tuesday - two impacted, one not. Surprisingly, it turned out much better than I expected! I even managed to make it to work today! The Vicodin makes me very woozy, so I've been trying to stay off it. However, I am absolutely famished, so I chew on my poor gums anywayz. Two seconds later, my gums are screaming for some pain relief. There goes my "not taking Vicodin" out the window. All in all, I do have to say, my experience has been extremely pleasant, especially compared to some of the other horror stories I've heard. I'm not even that swollen, minus the egg shaped thing on my left cheek. And that is what makes it so weird! I only got one removed on the left side!!! Why is it more swollen than the right?
My Last Name
I changed my name when I got married for some unknown reason. When I was filling out the marriage certificate, that's just what I put down - Baby's last name.Ever since, I have gotten shit from so many people for doing so! "Did feminism die with the previous generation?" "Why did you change your name?" "But you're not white!" It's so annoying! What are these peoples' problem?!?!That got me thinking - it seems, to me, at least, Americans seem to have a sense of entitlement where they feel justified in telling others what to do. We've even proclaimed ourselves to be the World Police and meddled in many international affairs. Why? Where did this come from?My friend argued that Britons are the same! During her year of self-selected celibacy, so many people berated her, almost to the point of verbal abuse, about why she wasn't out "shagging."Geez. Get a grip people! Don't you have your own life to worry about
Life,...
A friend was up for a visit, and I somehow strolled down memory lane. We spent the weekend exploring Boston sites, and also went back to Wellesley for a brief visit. We saw an interesting, albeit in our opinion, wrongly labeled exhibit (original is "Global Feminism" though it seemed the art work related more to "Gender Identity" or "Female Body") and that invoked much non-PC talk. I never realized how much I missed that. Now, my life is burdened with endless nuances such as working to earn money, working to pay bills, working to pay mortgage, working, working, working.Life is so different now. She and I only graduated two years apart from one another, yet it seems our worlds are oceans apart. She is in graduate school; I am living the "American Dream." Why is it then that I feel like part of my soul has died?
Sex and the City Movie
The news just broke that Sex and the City movie has started filming in NYC - and they gave away a plot! They said that Carrie, Big, and Charlotte was having a meal somewhere and Charlotte's water broke! I didn't want to know that! Now I'm sad,... except, now I really want to see it too. I am a Sex and the City addict.
Mindless Muses
I have been told by others of my sister's astonishing memory, particularly if it pertains to preferential treatment, but I have never experienced it first hand. Until now.I was talking to my sister the other day, and she complained that no one remembered her birthday last year, and it was her 18th. She hoped that people would remember her birthday this year. I complained, naturally, because not only did Baby and I remember, we also sent her a gift! So she said, yeah, aside from us.Taking the hint, I proceeded to call all family members to forewarn them about her upcoming birthday (this Saturday) so that they can all remember. But this incident did surprise me - why did she wait a whole year later to tell me? If it were me, I would've been on the phone complaining to people the day after! I often have to do that anywayz, since my birthday is SO inconveniently always on the first day of school back from Christmas vacation. No one (family not counting) ever remembers,...Speaking of school, I am absolutely going cuckoo. My students this year are very immature and I can foresee it to be a L-O-N-G year,... *sigh* No wonder I keep aging - when I cut my hair, my students asked, "Did you cut your hair so you can look younger?"
Double Standards
If there is anything that gets me more upset than something else, it is people who exercise double standards - hypocrites. I try not to get upset at others who do something that I would do myself, or have done in the past because that is just incredibly unfair.Ever since the fall out with my in-laws, I have been labeled the black sheep in that family: no one talks to me, people will walk around the house to avoid being in the same room with me, and I actually have been verbally assaulted. It's been over a year, and there has been no peace offering gesture. Frankly, I am tired of being the punching bag, so for the next upcoming family function, I put my foot down and said, "No, I am not going."I am getting berated by one of my brothers-in-law for not going; "What else could be more important than your nephew's birthday party?" Well, let's see - Isn't a brother more important than a nephew? Isn't a wedding more important than a birthday? A birthday comes around every year, but a wedding is only once in a lifetime. If family is really that high up in your books, then why weren't you at your own brother's wedding (also my wedding)? Now you think you are in a position to give me shit?While we are on this topic, this particular person gave Baby shit too. We did not attend one of their childhood friend's wedding because this childhood friend bitched me out publicly (a whole other story) nor did we send a gift, for obvious reasons. Baby's brother nagged and nagged him for ages about sending the wedding gift.Again, I ask - Where is my wedding present? I am married to one of your two brothers. This is just a friend's wedding, and you're getting all your panties into a knot. By your own standards, shouldn't you be killing yourself now for not being at the wedding, and no acknowledgment of the wedding afterwards?I hate people who cannot even live to their own standards.
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- updated: Feb 18 09:23PM
Virtual Threads
Web serving on the cheap
Have you ever wanted to set up a small web server at home that can handle a small but reasonable amount of traffic? Perhaps you have a pet project or a home business and can't justify the cost of professional hosting. Maybe you have a fetish for low powered servers on small internet connections. Or possibly you just want to see if a Slashdotting of your home DSL line will trigger a call from your ISP. In any case, here are some tips on how to get the most out of a small setup. Understand your limitations If you don't have a large budget, then you obviously are going to have two big problems: A lack of CPU power A lack of bandwidth Any effort to improve the performance of your small web site should be directly aimed at alleviating one of these two problems. I'll discuss each of these two issues below. There are other issues, such as a lack of RAM or disk space or disk performance, but usually your CPU and bandwidth will dominate the situation. I'll also ignore the most obvious solution to these problems, which is simply to buy a better processor and a bigger tube. Bandwidth More often than not, bandwidth will be your biggest hurdle, especially if you're running your server on your home internet connection; most home connections have terrible upstream speeds, which really hurts you when you're a content producer and not a consumer. In addition, some connections, like DSL, will have high latencies. To mitigate your lack of speed, you're simply going to need to push fewer bytes down the pipe. Look at your web pages and appreciate all of those pretty pictures while you can, because they're the first thing to go. A typical image can be anywhere from 10 to 200 kilobytes, which is simply too large for a small connection, especially if you have 20 of them on the front page. If you can stand it, remove every single GIF, JPEG, and PNG from your site. You may need to redesign your site around the new image-less paradigm, but you won't regret it in a few weeks when you get your bandwidth bill. Next, move to a CSS-based design instead of a pure HTML one. You should be able to slim down your HTML this way, which will make it that much faster for a user to download. For an added bonus, you should put all of the CSS commands into a separate file. This will slow things down a tiny bit for the user's first visit to the site, but it also means that the same CSS file will be cached on every subsequent page view. Finally, you should go for the biggest savings of all: compressed web pages. The idea is simple: the web server compress any text files before sending them to a user and the user's web browser will automatically decompress them before reading them. Every modern web browser supports compressed web pages, and you can see immense space savings from using it. Page compression can be a tricky thing to get right, especially if you're short on CPU power, because it obviously takes some effort by the web server to compress things. There are a few ways to get around this, one of which is to pre-render compressed versions of frequently accessed pages and then dish those out to users. You need to experiment with compression to see how much it affects your server's CPU. CPU If you're on a budget, then you most likely have an old computer with an outdated processor. This isn't necessarily a problem -- even very old computers can saturate a small internet connection -- but you're going to need to code your site correctly if you want to prevent it from being your big bottleneck. The very first thing to go is the database. Sure, a database like MySQL is nice to have and does provide some convenience, but it can totally kill your web server's performance. Obviously, not everyone can do this, but many people can; it's usually a waste to store every page of a small web site in a full-fledged database system. Many small web sites could eliminate MySQL completely if they just stored data directly in files instead. For those that absolutely must have a database, you will need to at least remove any direct database query on your front page. Sometimes you can even just keep a copy of a MySQL query in a file and have a program update that file every so often. Another way to avoid making database calls or any other expensive operation is to pre-render entire pages. If you know that your home page is only updated a few times a day, then why dynamically generate it every time someone views it? Just take the rendered page's HTML and save it in a file; the next time a user requests that page, just throw the rendered copy at them. You need to be careful to not give users stale pages, but it usually isn't too hard to figure it out on a small site. This concept ties in well with the previously mentioned tactic of saving pre-compressed copies of pages. Finally, try to avoid web scripting in general. It is usually hard to avoid, given how much power it provides, but a poorly coded PHP or Perl page can chew through your CPU and RAM; it is best to use it only when it is truly needed. If you manage to free yourself of scripting on all but a few pages, you can even take advantage of a new class of lighter and faster web servers like lighttpd or tux; you'll still need to run a heavier web server process for those few scripted pages, but most of your traffic will hopefully run through the fast and light web server process.
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- updated: Jan 17 08:15AM
Web Standards Awards
Matija Turcin
I'll admit, I have no idea about anything on this site, not even what language it's in (Polish, Czech?), but it's a beautifully crafted piece of work. I just hope they're not selling used cars. Unlike most book metaphor designs, the content on this site scales quite nicely at larger font sizes, particularly given the intricacy of its background and container.
Noodlebox
Don't ask me why a web design agency is called Noodlebox -- mostly because I can't read Belgian -- but they've got a nice little site. It has a nice openness to it; content isn't pressing in from all sides, and the titles do a good job of dividing everything up. The usage of sIFR really carries through the branding and personality of the site, however I think they could have provided some alternative content for their logo, as without Flash it loses all identity.
Breaker Design
It's really only a one page design, but what a design! Tyson Rosage uses his graphic design chops to create a beautiful amalgam of photography and illustration. Sure, the slant makes me dizzy, but in a good way :)
Kutztown University Communication Design Department
One of the keys of great design is the use of the right idea at the right time. Kutztown University's design department seem to have hit this mark precisely with their scrapbook-inspired website. All of our judges were impressed at how the tangible textures and well-worn artwork evoke so well the craft and tradition of design which often seems to be missing in our digitally-defined world, and yet still balances this intrigue with a usable interface. An excellent blend of form and function.
Decibel Magazine
You want proof that you can make a CMS site with plenty of content completely Standards compliant? This site is it. The folks at Pixelworthy have beaten the Ektron Content Management System into submission, allowing them to produce this hard rockin' magazine's site entirely in XHTML 1.0 Strict validating code. And the design's pretty nice too: good whitespace for actual reading, just the right amount of angles, and some decent photography. However, that doesn't necessarily save the writing :P I'm still trying to figure out whether this guy liked the album or not.
Matt Brett
The recent CSS Reboot produced a lot of action in our submissions box, but I would have to say that Matt Brett's site was the most polished and well constructed out of all of them. He continues the dark/grunge revival that's being supported by this latest batch of awardees, but he's hotted it up with the latest hip fluorescents. Probably one of the most intriguing features of his site is the hover states on all the various content areas. They provide a good bit of focus for your cursor, particularly against the dark background. Another highlight is the way he's jigsawed all his interests into the layout -- flickr, blog entries, comments, currently-listening-to, video games, etc. Very tight.
Elan Snowboards
When I first saw this site, I *so* wanted to award it, but a look under the hood revealed pretty much all divs. I'm pretty certain the semantics have now been updated (or maybe my standards have just fallen in the interim) but now the code resembles something respectable. But that's all by-the-by. What you really get here is a fine execution of grunge to the nth degree. And where better than on a snowboard site? The Subtotal team have really created a coherent experience that mightn't be your cup of tea, but should hit the bullseye for the target market. There's the usual Flash validation errors, and also a strange reluctance to put input tags inside a fieldset. But don't worry guys, I'll award now and let you correct later :P
Twintype
I'm not going to say much about this site (which some of you might be thankful for) except to say that: 1. Inline JavaScript rollovers by Macromedia suck<br /> 2. It's really up to you what order you put your source in, but this one's slightly weird Other than that, it's a nice, sharp little portfolio that Owen Johnston has put together here.
Designchuchi
Believe me, I've seen quite a few bad desktop-and-sticky-note site metaphors come through these doors, but Designchuchi's is perhaps one of the best. I think it succeeds where some other fail because it doesn't take realism to the nth degree -- it creates a nice sharp layout which is clearly illustrative and highly polished, but doesn't belabour the point with gritty textures and photo-realistic objects. If you're every going to use this scrapbook style, it's probably most appropriate for a design firm. The way that Designchuchi incorporates and allows you to explore their portfolio just goes to show this. Make sure you've got plenty of bandwith, though.
Zimmer Twins
If you don't have Flash on you'll miss a chunk of this site, but it's still great Standards development. This site is a perfect case of designing for your target audience. Here, the bullseye is kids aged 5 - 13, and the site caters for them perfectly by deftly using elements from the source material and combining them into a bright and lively interface. As its focus is a children's animated series, the use of Flash throughout the site is warranted, but not overused; giving the kids enough interaction to get them hooked and make the site an extension of the TV series, rather than an afterthought. A few validation errors, mainly because of the Flash inclusion method, but that's as good as you're going to get.
Poptones
Remember when you were a kid and you liked to dress up and pretend that you were someone else? It doesn't really matter what you pretended to be, perhaps a fireman or a cowbody. Perhaps a superhero? (Perhaps you liked dressing up in your sister's clothes? It's OK, we won't tell.) Now, I want you to cast your mind back and do some more pretending today. I want you to forget that you find the subtle nuances of XHTML and CSS interesting. I want you to forget that you think that you know all there is to know about markup and semantics. I even want you to forget that there is this stuff we call code underneath what you see on screen and just look in awe at a terrific design. Poptones, one of the most distinctive site designs I have encountered in a while, and by UK based designer Simon Collison and the team of talented chaps at Agenzia.
Sony UK
When this site came to my attention this week I was keen to see how a major brand like Sony had implemented a new site with standards based methodologies.
Stonewall
I am quite digging the sparse-yet-complex feel that Stonewall's new site has going for it. It has a very strong grid feel, similar to Khoi's Subtraction, but is in no way derivative. They have made good usage of in-built CSS styling to contrast headers, highlight and create separate spaces for everything, and the Flash feature panel adds that touch of spice that you need. (Although its absence is sometimes notable if you have Flash turned off) The only thing I could say is that perhaps the header whitespace is a touch extravagant :)
A List Apart
Just getting back into the swing of monthly awards, so we had a few candidates dating back to August for this round ... and it seems that experience wins out over youthful exuberance once again. I don't think there's one of us that hasn't felt the effect of A List Apart in our work. Whether it lead us down the path of Standards, crystalised a web design principle in our minds, or simply showed us how to make a print stylesheet, its influence is far reaching and more than helpful. So it's fitting that an institution like this should have a design worthy of its stature. The Jason Santa-Maria/Eric Meyer/Jeffrey Zeldman super team have produced a much talked about site that does what a good design should do -- make the content even better. Condolences to the team behind the Elan website (runners-up), but there's no stopping this juggernaut!
Kev Adamson Animation
It was a well placed comment left here on the <abbr title="Web Standards Awards">WSA</abbr> that led me to Kev Adamson's site and I am glad I went, it is a visual treat. Amongst all the super slick and shiny sites of today, it's nice to see something so effortlessly scruffy but oozing style and attention to detail nonetheless.Perhaps a little predictably, the decider for me was the liquid layout and Kev has tackled it superbly well, it's virtually unnoticeable. I have to admit, I found the <abbr title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</abbr> to be a little bit on the scruffy side too but it validates, so I'm not going to hold it against him, he's the one who has to maintain it after all.I was also a bit disappointed to find that the Talking of design section is Blogger, rather than it's own <abbr title="Content Management System">CMS</abbr>. As this is such a small part of the site though, and something that could so easily be changed, I didn't let it put me off. Web standards aside, Kev certainly has some talent when it comes to illustration and animation and I have a feeling this won't be the last we hear of Mr. Adamson.
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- updated: Apr 29 05:43AM
World Wide Words newsletter
The World Wide Words newsletter discusses word histories, new words, the background to words in the news and problems of English usage. Some items are added to the Web site seven days after they appear here.
575-1: Feedback, notes and comments
Franglais Colin Thornton was one reader of a number who commented on the special case of French-speaking Canada: “Mon ami. I live dans la capitale mondial de Franglais. Shediac, New Brunswick, is a small town on the east coast of Canada. Half of this province is French and half English. So too is the day-to-day language. People ask questions in French and answer in English, switch languages halfway through sentences and add French endings to English verbs. Purists are upset about this because it’s a sign of assimilation. To my ear, however, it’s delightful. Examples: ‘Worry pas ta brain, bébé’ (chill, baby); ‘Pile on le bois sec’ (let’s move!); ‘Quelle belle shortcut’ (an unexpected dead end) and ‘Quel drag’ (uncool);. I could go on and on, but it’s been snowing all day and l’homme’s just arrived to plower mon driveway.” Twaddle As an aside on this word, Andy Ibbotson pointed out that degrees Twaddle is an arbitrary scale that measures the specific gravity of liquids denser than water. I presume that this is named for a man with the surname Twaddle rather than asserting the scale is nonsense, though I’ve not been able to confirm this or find out anything about him. (He appears sometimes spelled Twaddell, but this would seem to be an error.) Updates Recent comments in these columns about the cricket term sledging and the Australian word of the year 2007 from Macquarie Dictionary, pod slurping, have led me to create permanent Web-site items about them. I’ve also written a summary of all the selections for Words of the Year 2007 and have updated the pieces that refer to them. All these are linked from the home page.
575-2: Weird Words: Verecund
Modest, bashful, shy. The Oxford English Dictionary’s entry for this word, published back in 1916, doesn’t suggest it’s obsolete or even rare. It isn’t quite obsolete yet, although it has never been common. You need to have learned Latin in your youth, once standard for educated writers of earlier generations, of course, to have been likely to include this word in your prose. Its heyday, insofar as it ever had one, was roughly in the half century after 1850. It turns up in an article penned by an erudite columnist in the issue of The Marion Weekly Star of Ohio dated 17 February 1912, in a comment that can only make us marvel at how times have changed: What this country needs is men who are not afraid to proclaim to the public their virtues of mind and character. There is too little of the projection of self into the arena. Our politics is speckled with men who are so diffident and verecund they never say a word about themselves or their achievements. The only example I can find from modern times is in Translations by the Irish playwright Brian Friel, first performed in 1980, though set in 1833. In the play, characters speak in Irish, Greek, Latin and English. So an obscure Latinate word fits perfectly: “He speaks — on his own admission — only English; and to his credit he seemed suitably verecund.” The word is from Latin verecundus, which derives from the verb vereri, to revere or fear.
575-3: Recently noted
Downman Michael Hocken wrote in to query this term, which turned up in a BBC Scotland news report last Sunday in connection with a security alert on a North Sea oil rig. It was new to me. Anthony Massey, a BBC news producer, also e-mailed me to point it out: “One of the curiosities of working in the BBC newsroom is that every now and again a completely new word swims into your ken.” It seems to be a jargon term of the oil industry and means “evacuation”. It appeared in a press release from the oil rig’s operator: “Britannia Operator Ltd can confirm that the precautionary downman initiated today from the Britannia field has been halted.” It transpired that the partial evacuation was the result of a bomb scare provoked by an over-realistic dream by a person on board. I’ve found a very few examples of the term, the earliest from 2003 in connection with an incident on a Nigerian oil rig. It appears in The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology in 1998, in which it refers to laying off workers, a sense related to downsizing. This didn’t seem to fit. Matters became clearer when Michael Hocken found an example of the associated verb in a CBC report from 1999: “As a precautionary measure, we’re going to down man the rig today and tomorrow.” Down here is indeed in the sense of “reduce the size or number of something”, hence the verb downman means to take men off a rig, either temporarily or permanently. The noun then followed. Genius wordmaker John Milton’s 400th birthday is being celebrated by an exhibition at his alma mater, Cambridge, for the next six months. Gavin Alexander, a fellow of Milton’s old college, Christ’s, argues his contribution to the language as a creator of new words and new word forms is greater than any other writer in the language, including Shakespeare. He points out in an article available online that the Oxford English Dictionary credits Milton with adding 630 words. Shakespeare has only 229. Without Milton’s multilingual background and substantial powers of invention, we might not now have such words as love-lorn, liturgical, exhilarating, debauchery, besottedly, cherubic, far-sighted, depravity, dismissive, unhealthily, embellishing, fragrance, terrific, padlock, didactic, irresponsible, or unprincipled.
575-4: Questions and Answers: Butterscotch
[Q] From Peter Zilahy Ingerman: “If I’e managed to get it straight (a dubious proposition at best, of course), caramel is the result of pyrolising sugar syrup. I was under the impression that butterscotch was similar, but made from honey (though the definitions I can find seem to suggest it’s actually butter and brown sugar). This leads to two questions: a) what is butterscotch, and b) why is it called that?” [A] Don’t look to me for culinary advice — I can burn boiled eggs. My books say that butterscotch is indeed a form of caramel, but made with butter and brown sugar, as you describe, plus a touch of vanilla. That’s the limit of my expertise. Unfortunately, I can’t do that much better with your second query. Nobody seems to know. Some argue that the second part is actually scorch, from the manner of its making. The Collins Dictionary says that it may have been called that because it was first made in Scotland. Neither suggestion is supported by evidence, though the Scottish link seems plausible because Keillors of Dundee was one firm that made butterscotch commercially. The Oxford English Dictionary’s first citation (indeed, its only citation) is from 1865. It’s not hard to take that back a while: the first example I can find is from The Boy’s Autumn Book of 1847. Although that was published in New York it quotes a British itinerant seller of sweets. It’s worth quoting at some length for the period flavour (to coin a phrase): Well, you know, next morning I put my things in my cart, ready for Nottingham goose-fair: the brandy-balls here, by themselves—the butter-scotch there—the tuffey in this place—the black-jack in that; then I filled in with cure-all, and hard-bake, and peppermint pincushions: really it was beautiful to look at, I’d done it so nicely. Wikipedia states that the first maker of butterscotch was Samuel Parkinson of Doncaster, in 1817. The firm certainly did make it during the nineteenth century and Doncaster became famous for it. However, I’m suspicious of the Wikipedia article, since it cites no sources and claims that Queen Victoria used Thomas Crapper’s famous water closet on a visit to Doncaster in 1851; this would have been hard, as Crapper started his business, in London, ten years later. The Parkinson papers are deposited at the Doncaster Archives, from where Dr Charles Kelham tells me they begin only in 1848, although an article published in The Doncaster Review in September 1896 asserts that “It was on the 11th of May 1817, that the late Mr. Samuel Parkinson commenced the manufacture of butter-scotch.” If he did so, it seems unlikely, from the lack of written evidence before 1847, that he called it by that name. Other writers argue that the sweetmeat has no link with Scotland. Charles Earl Funk noted in Horsefeathers in 1958: “All directions for the preparation of this candy after it is properly cooked close with some such statement as: Pour upon oiled paper or well-buttered pan and when slightly cool score with a knife into squares.” He points out that one sense of scotch was to score or cut a shallow groove in something. This seems more reasonable than to assume it was originally Scots, especially in view of the known early history of its manufacture in England. But, as often with word histories, it can’t be proved.
575-5: Topical Words: Unclarity
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Rowan Williams, plunged into enormous controversy by saying last week in a radio interview and a lecture that it is inevitable that some aspects of sharia law will have to be incorporated into UK law to accommodate our Muslim population. The lecture, at the Royal Courts of Justice before an audience of members of the legal profession, was a detailed and subtle academic argument, hard for a layperson to understand. Leaving aside the issues he raised and the reasons for the immense criticism he has since been subjected to, his half-apology to the meeting of the General Synod of the Church of England this week raised a linguistic issue. He said, “I must take responsibility for any unclarity and for any misleading choice of words that has helped to cause distress or misunderstanding among the public.” Unclarity? Every journalist, broadcaster and cartoonist who quoted that sentence has focused on the word through some sort of emphasis. This may have been because it is rare. But why didn’t he use confusion or obscurity? Was it a scholar’s diffidence or was he trying to euphemise his error by means of a terribly British type of negative? I’m sure that it was the former and that he undoubtedly meant unclarity literally, an utterance that lacked clarity. But its history suggests its users often prefer it to retain a penumbra of imprecision. It was employed in the sense of a deliberate attempt to confuse by hoaxer Alan Sokal, who wrote the famous spurious article Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity, published in Social Text in 1996. He was quoted in Scientific American in March 1998: “‘It took me a lot of writing and rewriting and rewriting before the article reached the desired level of unclarity,’ he chuckles.” Unclarity has a longer history. It’s recorded in Webster’s Dictionary in 1934 and would therefore seem to be even older still in the US. Though it is most frequently encountered in the academic environment in which Dr Williams is most comfortable, it turns up surprisingly often in popular fiction. John Le Carré used it in Smiley’s People in 1980: “‘Vladimir telephoned the Circus at lunch-time today, sir,’ Mostyn began, leaving some unclarity as to which ‘sir’ he was addressing.” Another example is in Ghost Ship by Diane Carey, a work from the Star Trek fiction franchise, dated 1988: “To offer unclarity in place of another unclarity — to replace ignorance with ambiguity — is this my only service?” That might be a message for Dr Williams.
575-6: Sic!
• In the 11 February edition of The Oregonian, a description of the movie Kings appears: “A tale of disenfranchisement and the search for identity in which six friends from the west of Ireland reunite after thirty years at a wake.” Scott Jamieson suggests that, after thirty years, you might as well declare the wake perpetual. • Peter Zilahy Ingerman found a headline on an AP wire story, which has been widely reproduced in newspapers whose sub-editors don’t have time to think about such things: “Water Drops From Air Used on Sugar Fire”. Dr Ingerman commented, “I’m not entirely sure how many different ways I can read this, but it’s certainly at least three!” • Department of non-sentient hairdressing. In Murder at the Opera by the late Margaret Truman, Miriam Raphael records, she describes a gala opera ball in Washington: “Later, as whiskey and wine and heat and humidity loosened lips and lacquered hair”. • The Guardian Travel section last Saturday (9 February) included an item on the new winter sport of air-dating, which is speed-dating on ski lifts. The author wrote, “The après-ski cocktail party is outside a bar called Fantastique. As I walk there, past people on crutches and small dogs, I can hear the pounding Euro music.” • Menachem Vinegrad was sent an advertising e-mail with the subject line, “Celebate Valentine’s Eve”. He feels that that is the last thing anyone would want to do on St Valentine’s Eve.
575-7: Copyright and contact details
World Wide Words is copyright © Michael Quinion 2008. All rights reserved. You may reproduce this newsletter in whole or part in free online newsletters, newsgroups or mailing lists provided that you include this note and the copyright notice above. Reproduction in printed publications or on Web sites or blogs requires prior permission, for which you should contact the editor. Comments on anything in this newsletter are more than welcome. To send them in, please visit the feedback page on our Web site. If you have enjoyed this newsletter and would like to contribute to its costs and those of the linked Web site, please visit our support page.
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- updated: Feb 16 09:48AM
yopenguin
Peace Corps!
Paragliding at my finest
Note I am posting for events back in Peace Corps. Got to get caught up after all. So this past Sunday, close to Easter 2006, I went paragliding with some friends. This took place around an hour from Huaraz. The details are fuzzy, but basically we went up ...
Peace Corps article
Peace Corps: The Hardest Job Youll Ever Love Hello Peru Peace Corps! Let me just give a short description of why I chose to join Peace Corps and how I have chosen to live my experience. So for two years prior to joining Peace Corps, I worked in a highly compensated, ...
Home Sweet Home
About time eh? Okay okay. I know I have been delinquent and I feel very sorry about my behavior. In my defense, I have been traveling all around South America and have had little time to write. In addition, it costs money to be on the internet and ...
Santa Cruz Trek
This was an excellent trek that Ryan, Seth and I did in 3 days and 2 nights during Easter. We carried our own packs, so no donkeys or guides. It was a very beautiful trek and I must say the preparation that we did was amazing. For ...
Can I Be A Good Father
This may seem like a strange blog, but I have been preoccupied that I will be a terrible father. I am no where near having a kid, heck I do not even have a girlfriend. So why am I focusing on such an event that seems so remote? To ...
Carnival in Rio
Let me just start off with this trip was awesome. I spent a ton of money, but it was well worth it. I went to Rio for Carnival, the biggest party in the world. Why did I take this trip in the middle of my service? ...
General
3 quick funny stories
1st story: Today was my first day seeing a pig get castrated, first animal for that matter! The pig is already pretty good sized. I think it has to be about 2.5 feet tall and four feet long. It probably weighs close to 150 pounds. So both ...
Mancara Trip
What an exciting trip this was. This was basically a group birthday and get out of rainy season trip. In February, we had the following birthdays: Drew, Marta, Garrett, and mine. We decided to celebrate at a beach house close to the border of Ecuador. So ...
Arequipa trip
Let just say this trip was very educational. For those of you who know me, I am quite the planner and one of my mottos is always be prepared. Now I have also been called a living contradiction. This is another instance where I demonstrate this characteristic. ...
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- updated: Mar 05 09:23PM
Advogato
Recent Advogato articles
GNU and FSF News for February 2008
Did the Free Software Foundation meet their 2007 pledge drive goal? Will DefectiveByDesign try to stamp out DRM at the Boston Public Library? Does Stallman like the OLPC Project enough to replace his thinkpad with an XO? Will the SAMBA team finally get to see Microsoft's top-secret networking protocols? Where's RMS this month? Is the micro vs monolithic kernel debate back again? The answers to these and other mind-boggling questions that are on everyone's mind can be found in this month's GNU and FSF news summary.
GNU and FSF News for January 2008
Welcome to the new year and another monthly installment of news about the Free Software Foundation and the GNU Project. This month we have news from the FSF Europe, the latest numbers on GPLv3 conversions, the annual Gfortran report from the GCC folks, a GLib development release, Stallman commenting on the GNOME's alleged support of OOXML, GNU Hurd news, and more.
'The Pacific' - a third movement
( note: links are out of service until i figured out what caused this surge of net traffic with an ave. 6423.50 kbits/s for the past 48 hours, ) 'The Pacific' ( a third movement ) Sparkle my scenery With Turquoise waterfall With beauty underneath The ever free Tuck me in beneath the blue Beneath the pain, Beneath the rain Goodnight kiss for a child in time Swaying blade my lullaby On the shore we sat and hoped Under the same pale moon Whose guiding light chose you, Chose you all
GNU and FSF News for December 2007
Licenses are in the news everywhere this month. The SLFC takes on Verizon for violating the GPL. The FSF releases the Affero GPL and a handy new guide to the GPLv3. The FSF, Creative Commons, and the Wikipedia Foundation agree to make the GDFL compatible with the CC BY-SA. GNOME is the other big newsmaker. A new GNOME Journal, a D-Bus debugger, GUADEC video, GNOME Foundation elections, and GNOME news about FOSDEM 2008. All the usual topics are covered as well.
Running NetBeans on top of OpenJDK / IcedTea
NetBeans works perfectly on IcedTea, but the installer doesn't.
GNU and FSF News for November 2007
In this month's update, the FSF tries to block a patent-encumbered standard from slipping through the IETF, the FSF Europe reports on the latest court decisions in the Microsoft case, and the FSF India meets with their government to coordinate the promotion of free software. Meanwhile, the SFLC vs Monsoon GPL lawsuit has been dismissed after Monsoon agreed to generous terms with the BusyBox developers. GCC and the Hurd both make incremental progress this month and there's a new GNOME roadmap full of things you can look forward to in GNOME 2.22 and 2.24.
State of the Gato Address for 2007
One year ago, in October of 2006, Advogato was transferred into new hands for its care and maintenance. As we come to the end of October 2007, I thought it would be appropriate to take a look at where we are one year later. Many bugs have been fixed. A few new ones have cropped up. Many of the requested features have been added but the ToDo list is still dauntingly long. Account creation by spammers is down. Account creation by real users is up. Overall, I think we've made a good start at making Advogato relevant again but there's still much to do. I'll try to lay out a general roadmap of the work to be done. And, of course, this is an ideal time to chime in with more bug reports, feature requests, and general comments you may have about what sucks and what rocks on Advogato.
My new job
Weeks ago I started a new path in my life, I joined Mandriva! I think this is the biggest step I have done because is a great company to work with and I'm doing what I like the most: programming. So, now I'm proud and happy to say I'm a Mandriva developer. By the way: Mandriva 2008 is out, you just can download it and try it as a live CD, after when you're really sure you can install it :-)
Miscategorization and Science
Apparently only students and office workers are using Linux. If one peers at the current version of the vfolder menu spec from freedesktop.org one discovers that all the problems of the previous setup have been put back into the spec, while some entirely new problems have been created. For example, all Science (including Mathematics) and Engineering applications are horribly miscategorized. xdrawchem in Education? Octave in Development? We might as well have OpenOffice in Accessories and Firefox in Games.
GNU and FSF News for October 2007
There's a new GNU PDF Project in the works to support the upcoming ISO standard PDF implementation and they need your help. The FSF Europe has posted a new RMS video. Conversion of software to the new GPLv3 license continues at a steady pace. The SFLC files a history-making legal complaint against a GPLv2 violator and resolves a GPLv2 dispute between the BSD and Linux communities. Unofficial Gnash Flash binaries for Windows are available. GNU Hurd gets IPv6 support and a new pfinet maintainer. RMS will be speaking Columbia, Costa Rica, Japan, and the US this month. Oh, and did I mention that new and improved versions of GNOME and GTK+ have been released.?
On the proper use of assert
Oh humble assert, how much confusion have you caused! This might seem like a banal topic and hardly "master" material, but I continually see people get this wrong, so perhaps an article on this topic is worthwhile.
The Real Reason Why Linux Isn't On The Desktop
A recent article has surfaced discussing what the author thinks are reasons Linux won't succeed on the desktop. It is his mentality, and not his reasons, which are the real culprits.
Call for ISPs to Block Malware-Infected Computers
This is a call to ISPs to block Internet-connected computers within their vicinity, which are infected with malware, especially, one that has turned the computer into a zombie machine, that is used to attack, spam or compromise other machines.
Wikipedia-based Open-Source Artificial Intelligence
Abstract: Wikipedia has grown so large that it may serve first as the referential background for open-source artificial intelligence (AI) and then as food for thought when the emerging AI Minds try to know and understand the world around them.
GNU and FSF News for September 2007
Lots of news this month! The FSF foundation joined other groups in making a political statement about proprietary software. We've got a report and new photos of the Defective by Design protest of the BBC. GPLv3 adoption continues. GNU Grub was spotted in a Marvel comic book. A new and improved alpha version of Gnash is out. RMS makes a whirlwind tour of California. Read all about it in this month's edition along with updates on major GNU packages like GNOME and gcc. There's even some news on the Hurd this month.
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- updated: Feb 19 12:24AM
BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition
Visit BBC News for up-to-the-minute news, breaking news, video, audio and feature stories. BBC News provides trusted World and UK news as well as local and regional perspectives. Also entertainment, business, science, technology and health news.
Rock's rescue plans 'carry risk'
The new boss of Northern Rock says all of the plans to save the bank carry risks and cannot guarantee success.
Serbia recalls US ambassador
Belgrade withdraws its ambassador from Washington in protest at US recognition of Kosovo's independence.
Diana murdered, Al Fayed claims
Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed were murdered, Mohamed Al Fayed tells the inquest into their deaths.
Opposition confident in Pakistan
Opposition supporters in Pakistan are claiming an election triumph - but results will not be clear for hours.
Soldier kidnap plotter given life
A man who planned to kidnap and decapitate a Muslim soldier serving in the British Army is jailed for life.
Council pays damages over baby
A council agrees to pay a teenage mother damages after social workers took away her newborn baby.
No engine defect on crash plane
The engines of a jet that crash-landed at Heathrow Airport had no mechanical defects, investigators say.
Cabbie to face drug rape charges
A London taxi driver is charged with a series of sex attacks on drugged female passengers.
Accused 'unaware model dead'
A pub chef accused of killing a teenage model says he did not realise she was dead until after he had sex with her.
No deal in McCartney divorce
Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills fail to reach agreement over a financial settlement in their High Court divorce case.
Barnsley face Chelsea in FA Cup
Barnsley take on Chelsea, Bristol Rovers host West Brom and Man Utd meet Portsmouth in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Athletics: No appeal by Chambers
Dwain Chambers could go to the High Court to appeal against lifetime Olympic ban.
Rice urges Kenyans to share power
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Kenya's rival leaders should share power to end the crisis.
E Timor arrests Reinado 'lawyer'
An adviser for slain rebel Reinado is arrested in E Timor as police hunt for those behind the attack on the PM.
US orders massive recall of beef
The US government orders its largest recall of beef, saying a meat plant broke rules on cattle inspection.
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- updated: Feb 19 12:24AM
Christian Science Monitor | World
Brazil alcohol ban hard for retailers to swallow
Government tries to limit TV advertising and sales along highways
Lebanese turmoil withers 'Beirut Spring' optimism
But many young activists are still struggling to maintain the movement that followed in the wake of Hariri's death.
Angry opposition youths oppose Kenya compromise
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Kenya Monday to press for a power-sharing agreement.
Thai leaders spar over autonomy for south
The interior minister says it could calm the insurgency-racked south. Opponents see a step toward secession.
Reporters on the Job
After declaring independence, Kosovo looks to cautious next steps
President Bush hailed the controversial move, as the EU and UN met to form their responses.
Young Kosovars hope to shape newly declared state
Many educated, under-30 Kosovars are eager for the possibility of an independent country.
In Africa, Bush touts aid efforts, basks in popularity
Mr. Bush has been generally well-received so far on his five-country trip to Africa.
Pakistan: No bombs, but plenty of tension as polls close for counting
Election observers have reported few instances of fraud, a key concern as officials begin tallying results.
India claims success against Maoist rebels
Indian officials search for Naxalites responsible for Friday's attack amid skepticism about rebel group's threat.
Venezuelan FARC victims to Chávez: 'What about us?'
Many families of those kidnapped near the border with Colombia say President Hugo Chávez has neglected them in favor of high-profile Colombian victims.
Two Beirut rallies. Two visions for Lebanon.
Supporters of both pro-Western factions and Hizbullah militants honored their respective slain leaders.
In Pakistani election, a big swing vote
In Punjab, which picks 148 of 272 parliamentary seats on Feb. 18, many remain undecided.
A Congo warlord – arrested for crimes against humanity – explains himself
Our correspondent remembers Mathieu Ngudjolo as 'disconcertingly reasonable.'
Spielberg helps spoil China's hope for a politics-free Olympics
The Hollywood director resigned this week as artistic adviser to the Beijing games to protest China's Darfur policy.
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- updated: Feb 19 12:24AM
CNET News.com
Tech news and business reports by CNET News.com. Focused on information technology, core topics include computers, hardware, software, networking, and Internet media.
GoFish out to hook youth marketers
The company is bundling dozens of smaller kids sites to build one big marketplace in an effort to appeal to advertisers.
Adobe goes after game developers with 3D engine in Director 11
Company says new version will make it easier for designers to create more realistic 3D images.
U.K.'s Elonex readies low-cost Linux laptop
Aimed at the education sector, the laptop will feature, among other things, a flash-based hard drive and a "wireless music server." But, the company says, it's "not really about the specs."
A YouTube for artists
DeviantArt, which hosts a wide range of user-generated artwork, may well be the most popular site you've never heard of.
Images: A deviant art collection
Here are just a few of DeviantArt.com's 50 million submissions, ranging in medium from photography to computer graphics to traditional paint-and-canvas.
Help! How should I store photos while traveling?
CNET News.com's Stephen Shankland is going on vacation for a month, and he's lugging an SLR. What's the best way to keep pictures safe on the road?
Future of video game industry taking shape at GDC
At this week's Game Developers Conference, industry's leaders will talk about where they're going, how they can work with Hollywood, and how to become more mainstream than ever.
Move your e-mail out of Outlook and into the folders of your choice
Organize and safeguard your messages by storing them in separate folders on your hard drive or other local storage device.
Sprint announces world-roaming Samsung Ace
Sprint introduces the Samsung Ace smartphone. Similar to the Samsung BlackJack, it offers dual-mode functionality for world roaming.
Hacking public information kiosks
A researcher at ShmooCon demonstrates how browser hotkeys can expose the internal network running behind a Citrix presentation server.
Hacking the lobby telephone
Two researchers demonstrate how unprotected, public VoIP phones could expose the internal network of a company or organization.
Exploiting QuickTime flaws in 'Second Life'
Researchers show how objects with multimedia attributes within Second Life can unleash malware on unsuspecting users.
Batter Blaster offers quick pancakes from a spray can
Video: Batter Blaster offers quick pancakes from a spray can. First came spray cheese, then whipped cream. Now, pancake batter? Batter Blaster already has a legitimate following on blogs and YouTube, but CNET's Kara Tsuboi and Jennifer Guevin weren't convinced. Bite for bite, they taste-test this spray-on, organic batter versus real, homemade batter from scratch.
With improvements, e-voting could be good, says researcher.
Researcher who found vulnerabilities in California's e-voting systems looks ahead to better auditing.
Photos: Top 10 reviews of the week
Here are CNET Reviews' 10 favorite items from the past week, including tax software from H&R Block and Intuit, a sub-$400 eMachines desktop, and Yamaha Bluetooth speakers.
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CNN: US
Real time updated news from the first worldwide TV channel specialized in world information (By http://www.newsisfree.com/syndicate.php - FOR PERSONAL AND NON COMMERCIAL USE ONLY!)
CNN.com readers: Are we safe on campus?
If a shooter came into some of the biggest classrooms at the University of California-Berkeley, recent graduate Scott Alto wonders whether students would be able to protect themselves.
Officials: Satellite to be shot down Thursday
The U.S. Navy will likely attempt to shoot down a faulty spy satellite Thursday, the day after the space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to land, two officials told CNN Monday.
Generals warn of 'geriatric Air Force'
Read full story for latest details.
Witnesses: Blast rocks Texas oil refinery
An explosion rocked a Texas oil refinery Monday morning, shaking homes three miles away, witnesses told CNN. Video from I-Reporters showed a massive cloud of smoke forming over the refinery in Big Spring, Texas, about midway between Dallas and El Paso.
JFK memorabilia found in old safe
Read full story for latest details.
Military man arrested with grenades at airport
Read full story for latest details.
Space shuttle undocks, heads home
Read full story for latest details.
USDA: Most recalled beef already consumed
Federal officials are trying to track down the 143 million pounds of beef recalled Sunday, but they say that most of it has probably been eaten.
Searchers look for trapped tornado victims
Read full story for latest details.
New York turns time behind bars wholesome
Read full story for latest details.
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GetReligion
"The press . . . just doesn't get religion." -- William Schneider
Part. Of. The. Story. In. Kosovo.
The dictionary says what it says. balkanize Main Entry: bal-kan-ize . .
Ignoring the faith factor
My local congressional district has a special election in a couple of weeks to fill the House seat vacated by the late Rep. Julia Carson, D-Ind. You wouldn’t know it from reading our local newspaper The Indianapolis Star, but the Democratic candidate for the seat, Carson’s grandson Andre Carson, could become the nation’s second Muslim member of Congress.
Strange style twist of the day
The Los Angeles Times has a pretty off-the-rack news feature in print today about the Rev. Mike Huckabee and his ongoing “miracles happen” campaign for president, vice president, syndicated talk-show host, Rolling Stones bass player or whatever. It has all the usual touches centering on his moral-conservatism-with-a-smile approach.
The divide heads north
Much of the mainstream media coverage of the controversies in the Anglican Communion have focused on The Episcopal Church. Canada’s Globe and Mail looked at how things are playing out in another part of North America. Robert Matas wrote a story on Friday about a parish in Vancouver deciding to align with Anglicans in South America.
Answers after the bloodshed?
Your GetReligionistas have, from time to time, asked editors and reporters to ask the “Why?” question in that old journalistic sequence, “who, what, when, where, why and how.” That question can be pretty hard — hellish even — in some stories linked to tragedy and disaster. The Los Angeles Times did just that in the wake of the latest in our nation’s long line of school shootings.
How faithful are the Democrats?
Amy Sullivan of Time wrote a story about recent efforts by Democratic officials to reach out to religious voters. Her story included some fascinating details about how John Kerry’s campaign bungled its chance to appeal to the same, such as this one: In May, two Kerry supporters in Erie, Pa., Pat and Kristin Headley, heard that the candidate would be making a campaign stop at the local airport.
Faith-based marchers on marriage
The same-sex marriage wars have flared up once again in Maryland, which should not come as a surprise. It also seems that religion will play a major role in the discussions of whether the state legislature should back a legal redefinition of marriage or pass some other measure addressing the issue. Duh.
Skimming along the surface of love
To mark St. Valentine’s Day, Monica Hesse of The Washington Post wrote about polyamorous couples. Her story described the lives of eight people who are in relationships with more than one person.
Custodians of the faith
A few readers sent along an excellent story by Neela Banerjee in the New York Times. She looked at custody disputes across the country where religion comes into play. The story is fantastic.
Quote the Devil’s advocate?
One of the big questions that religion writers discuss when they are in private and speak freely is this one: Are we supposed to challenge people when they claim that they have had some kind of unique, supernatural spiritual experience? Do we, somehow, try to dig into the details and challenge this kind of account? I thought of that the other day when I was reading a Washington Post story — dateline, Poland — about the revival in parts of Europe of formal rites of exorcism. Now stop and think about this from the point of view of a celebrity atheist. To accept an exorcism rite as, well, non-crazy, one has to embrace all kinds of beliefs about reality and life as we know it.
Christian Ramadan?
Since I love analyzing media coverage of the liturgical calendar, there is no way I could let this story from The Telegraph go without comment. Apparently, some Dutch Catholics are trying to encourage folks to embrace the penitential season of Lent. That’s the good news: Dutch Catholics have re-branded the Lent fast as the “Christian Ramadan” in an attempt to appeal to young people who are more likely to know about Islam than Christianity.
‘Secular’ vs. ‘conservative’ Muslims?
If you are following the events in Turkey, you may be having trouble following all of the religious labels. Again. For those keeping score, Turkey is a “secular” Muslim state, inspired by the secularism of Europe (think French Revolution, even).
Monologue about those ‘Monologues’
Kavita Kumar of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote about a Catholic college’s decision to not stage a production of “The Vagina Monologues” on campus. Her story claimed that officials at St.
Bad TV news about evangelicals
Sometimes television news pieces are just bad. They are often so bad that they are not even worth pointing out. You just dismiss them and hope that no one else saw that illogical stream of presumptions, insinuations and generalizations you just suffered through.
Define social justice — give an example
Margaret Ramirez of the Chicago Tribune wrote a curious and rather representative story about Barack Obama’s favorite pastor. It showed readers that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.
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Linux Today
Linux Today News Service
The Secret's Out On Open Source
<b>bMighty:</b> "What is the most important difference between open-source and proprietary software development? That's a secret--although not in the way that you might think..."
SSH Key Authentication Using Seahorse (GUI)
<b>Debian Admin:</b> "Seahorse is a Gnome front end for GnuPG--the Gnu Privacy Guard program..."
Real-Life Rails: Develop with NetBeans, Deploy on Linux
<b>DevX:</b> "The Ruby language's conciseness makes it great for development--fewer lines of code means reduced development time and maintenance costs..."
Howto Create a Transparent Terminal in Ubuntu Desktop
<b>Ubuntu Geek:</b> "This tutorial will explain how to create a Transparent Terminal in Gnome Background using alltray..."
All Kinds Of Fail
<b>LUGRadio:</b> "Jono Bacon, Stuart Langridge, Chris Procter, and Adam Sweet talk about Linux, open source, and all manner of associated things..."
Commercial Ubuntu
<b>The Tech and Other Cents:</b> "I just read a post by Bruce Byfield, where he raises an interesting question: after the fact that Canonical will try and offer commercial software from a specific repository, would anyone use it...?"
Going Mobile: The Year of the Smart Phone Startup
<b>ConsortiumInfo:</b> "If you've always been itching to launch a startup but just couldn't come up with a killer idea, well, your ship is about to come in..."
Sun Snags Innotek--Should I Wince?
<b>InformationWeek:</b> "Sun just made another open source acquisition: Innotek, the makers of the open source VirtualBox virtual machine application. Unlike MySQL, though, this is one open source acquisition that hits home for me in a major way..."
The Great Source Code Supermarket
<b>Launchpad:</b> "Most people make comparisons to Sourceforge, Savannah, Berlios and Google code hosting, and while those are useful, it's only a part of the picture..."
The Demise Of Commercial Open Source
<b>Startup City:</b> "Steve Goodman, co-founder and CEO of network management startup PacketTrap Networks, is predicting that commercial open source companies are doomed to fail..."
Linpus Offers a Linux for Newbies and Experts Alike
<b>Linux-Watch:</b> "Linpus Technologies has long been known in Taiwan for its Linux distributions. Now, it wants to become a player in the global Linux market with its new Linux distribution Linpus Linux Lite..."
Open Source--And an Open Mind
<b>iTWire:</b> "When Con Zymaris started a little company offering free software services 17 years ago--when the concept of open source did not exist--it is unlikely that he thought he would be around in 2008, doing the same business..."
What's Microsoft Offering Open Source On February 27?
<b>TechCrunch:</b> "First Scoble writes about something so amazing from Microsoft it makes him cry and will be world changing. Then Long Zheng spots the above page via an email pitch linking to opensourcehero that redirects here..."
Red Hat Needs to Get Red Hot to Achieve Goals
<b>Seeking Alpha:</b> "Let's start with how Red Hat is defining middleware. The answer is very broadly ('more than just the application server alone')..."
Is Microsoft/Yahoo About Windows' Failure as a Top Server Platform?
<b>Linux-Watch:</b> But, if Microsoft doesn't move Yahoo to Windows, 'it will be signing the Windows platform obituary because when people realize that Microsoft itself can run on Linux and does not need Windows, they will follow through...'"
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ofben's Xanga site
ofben's Xanga Blog
Sorry if it looked like something else... (Wednesday, April 25, 2007 )
ofben's entry on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at (1 comment)
Changing Choice Systems (Wednesday, June 21, 2006 )
ofben's entry on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at (6 comments)
Moving Forward (Monday, May 08, 2006 )
ofben's entry on Monday, May 08, 2006 at (1 comment)
Monkeys (Tuesday, January 31, 2006 )
ofben's entry on Tuesday, January 31, 2006 at
Thursday, January 26, 2006
ofben's entry on Thursday, January 26, 2006 at (1 comment)
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Scripting News
Dave Winer's weblog, started in April 1997, bootstrapped the blogging revolution.
The simplest podcast API ever
A new service from BlogTalkRadio... Call their special phone number: 646-200-0000. It records the call. When you're done it creates an RSS 2.0 feed with an enclosure that's an MP3 of the call. The address of the feed is a function of the phone number you called from. I just called in a podcast from my Nokia N95, which they added to this feed: http://cinch.blogtalkradio.com/8583429663 That's all there is to it! No registration. They have a web page for it, but it's completely unnecessary. It's the new application of RSS that I wrote about on Saturday. It's brilliant because of it's so simple. Some people think innovation in technology is about how hard it is to implement, or how long it took, or how complex it is, or convoluted. They see innovation as wizardry. I see it differently. I'm impressed by the ratio of functionality to complexity. I like that number to be as big as possible, because the less complex it is, the fewer moving parts, the less likely it is to break, and the easier it will be for others to build on the idea. Hats off to the BTR guys, they've come up with something truly useful that's also very simple. Could it be simpler? I don't see how.
Ain't too proud to beg
The Obama Express. My latest piece on Huffington. If you like it, please feel free to pass it on. "cheesecake"
Maybe Flickr should have a Twitter?
Last summer, when I was exploring the edges of Twitter, and building a voicemail service that hooked into Twitter with BlogTalkRadio, and then hooking my digital camera up to Twitter through Flickr, it seemed inevitable that Twitter would eventually support "payloads" so that objects like pictures and MP3s could hitch a ride on a Twitter message without using up any of he 140 characters, and with a neat url-less display. The idea just kind of sat there, we've been quietly using the services, accepting their awkwardness, but without direct support from Twitter, they probably won't become mainstream. Along comes Twitxr, in a post by Mike Arrington on TechCrunch, and I go -- why? This doesn't seem right. Too many steps. I have it much easier, Twitter is hooked right up to my camera, I never have to get my desktop or laptop in the loop when I want to post a picture. To prove the point, I'll now take a picture of this post, and shoot it up to Twitter. So now Twitxr basically says it's time to give up the wait for Twitter, and maybe they're right, but for this??? I don't really think this is what I want. If I have to use a whole new Twitter for photography, I probably want it to be Flickr, which I already use, whose API we've already mastered, whose scaling we trust, and even though Yahoo's future is in doubt, it's more certain than that of a startup. Choice #1, if the Twitter guys are listening, is to go ahead and help us, your developers, create something seamless out of what you already have. No matter what it's easier for users to stay with what they're already using. It really isn't, it seems to me, in your interest to have users switch?? Twitxr throws down a challenge to both Flickr and Twitter. To Twitter: Scale, scale, scale and add payloads to the API. To Flickr: Go ahead and do an event streamer for pictures. Alan Jones: "Twixtr seems to do a pretty fair job of guesstimating my location with each image I upload from my iPhone."
The Obama Express
Last night a bunch of us on Twitter watched the C-SPAN broadcast of the Democratic Party dinner in Milwaukee where both Clinton and Obama spoke. Clinton was unusually good, but as Frank Rich says in today's excellent NY Times column, "It's hara-kiri for a politician to step into the shadow of even a mediocre speech by Barack Obama." Obama was far from mediocre last night. His speech was of such high caliber, so motivational, even in anger Obama is the man, he keeps getting better and now he's in league with the best American political oratory. The man is only 46 years old. Last night's speech is archived on the C-SPAN site. We're having trouble with it on Macs but it's reported to work well on Windows. So many of us want to get on board the Obama Express. This is the America we want. This is the leadership we've been lacking. You have to go back to Kennedy's "Ask Not" plea to find a leader as inspiring as Obama. And inspiration matters -- totally. How else are we going to get past the wedge issue politics of the last N years. We need some good strong glue to connect us again. The last eight years have been so terrible. The US government did more to help Iraqis than it did to help Americans. 49 percent of the electorate was held in contempt and then after the election the other 51 percent was held in contempt as well. No one but the cronies of the Bush family were given access to power. Iraqi politicians had more influence on our government than Democrats. Yesterday I heard that 5 percent of the homes in Detroit are in some form of foreclosure. It's almost as bad in parts of the sunbelt, California, Arizona, Florida. And the mortgage crisis isn't over. There are more cliffs in the coming months, more junk mortgages whose payments balloon in the summer and fall, so there will be more foreclosures, more families going bankrupt. Those who think the government will bail them out should think about how effective government help has been in Louisiana and Mississippi, American states that are still economically under water, almost three years after Katrina. Fred Wilson is concerned about the superdelegates thwarting the will of the electorate and ratifying the wrong candidate for President. I'm not worried. Read the Frank Rich article I linked to above. Obama is a freight train. The superdelegates aren't stupid, they can see, better than you and I, where the power is flowing. They want to be on the right side of history. And Obama is not naive, he's running a campaign on them now, just as he ran campaigns in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, etc. Obama will sweep the remaining primaries, and by March 4 it will be apparent to everyone but perhaps Bill and Hillary that it's over. The superdelegates will adjust to get in line with reality.
New Gallup poll
For the first time Barack Obama has a statistically significant lead over Hillary Clinton, 49-42.
Draft Lessig
1-2-3 fix for boring conferences
Most conferences are brain-numbingly boring, right? All the good stuff happens out in the lobby. Right??? Want to fix conferences? Easy! Just move the speakers out into the lobby. You could put some mattresses in the meeting room for people with jetlag to catch up on their sleep.
It's just Scoble!
Talking on the phone with Steve Gillmor. Another call comes in. "Hold a sec Steve." Pause. "Never mind, it's just Scoble." We had a good laugh. I said it would be a good name for a Scoble TV show. We both agreed. Even better, Scoble would probably like it. I called Scoble back. Sure enough, we were right!
Another application for RSS
On Monday, a new application for RSS. Brilliant! As far as I know, it's never been done before. And no, I didn't invent it.
I heart EyeTV
One of the neatest gadgets I've bought in the last year is a high-def receiver to work with the EyeTV software. It plugs into a USB port on my Mac, and it receives digital high-def programming over the air. I put it in my upstairs study where I've got a clear view of San Francisco Bay, and the reception is very very good. I get all the big networks this way, was able to record last night's episode of Lost in full HD fidelity, for example. Just for the cost of the disk space. And the best thing is that I get a half-dozen different PBS broadcasts. I've recorded somegreat stuff. My favorite so far is a special from 1967 Monterey Pop festival. Wow. So many heroes of the rock revolution when they were young and dewy. I'm watching Grace Slick and the Jefferson Airplane singing one of their classics. I forgot how optimistic those days were. There's this moment where the camera moves to Mama Cass watching, studying -- in awe of Janis Joplin, performing Ball And Chain. There's art, and media, networks, and the future viewed through the lens of what's now relatively ancient history. Scoble wrote the other day of technology so great that it made him weep. I know the feeling.
Why Valleywag doesn't work
Valleywag is mostly puff pieces. I guess they're writing about people who, for one reason or another, they don't want to offend. Typical of business press. Don't screw your sources or else they'll dry up. Don't speak ill of Steve Jobs or else no cover picture for you. So, it's reasonable to conclude -- if you read something unbelievably nice about someone in Valleywag, that person is a source. Thing is, they're reduced to attacking about five people. And the flow is miniscule. A pointer from VW is worth about 20 hits. In other words, hire a business reporter to do VW, and you get Infoworld, about 25 years too late.
Senate roll call on FISA renewal
President Bush is going all the way to get amnesty for the phone companies who assisted the government in what appear to be illegal wiretaps of American citizens. The Senate, even though it's controlled by Democrats, went with this nonsense (roll call). The House acted as a firewall, and voted for FISA renewal without amnesty. Good for them. Among the Presidential candidates, Obama voted against amnesty (thanks), McCain voted for, as did all other Republicans, and Clinton didn't vote, even though she was in DC and could have.
What if you were a criminal President?
President Bush wants to give the phone companies immunity. Who would you like to give immunity to? What crimes are you willing to excuse?
Putting outages to good use
If you're a regular user of Twitter you're probably quite familiar with this image. They've tried lots of variants, making it funny, or cute, with pictures of LOL Cats, doing cute things with screw drivers, but the pictures aren't funny for long, the more you see them, the more tiresome they get. Then I had an idea they could be used for a good cause. Yeah that does it!
How to get Twitter to declare your love
Those little devils who keep the gears turning inside the Twitter machine added a toy that's got the community sending public love missives whizzing around. You can figure it out yourself, or you can cheat and read this howto. @lovelyperson Substitute the name of your lover in place of "lovelyperson" and you've just broadcast your love to all of TwitterLand. While we're on the subject of Twitter, a couple of other items. 1. A must-read piece in today's NY Times, gives a clue why kids don't go for Twitter if their parents use it. No kid wants to be observed by his or her parents. Would they go for it if their parents weren't there? No one knows. 2. Conventional wisdom says you can't build a scalable distributed Twitter out of RSS. At first I accepted this, as a puzzle, then I remembered that's why we put the cloud element in there. I felt that for some applications polling would be too much. Since the cloud element has been largely ignored, most of the the apps of RSS couldn't scale to do what Twitter does. But if RSS desktop apps like NetNewsWire or FeedDemon were adapted to understand the cloud element, and if a proxy system was worked out to get through firewalls and NAT, it might just work. 3. Or you could use XMPP.
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Techdirt
Easily digestible tech news...
Did Yahoo Delete The Pirate Bay From Search Results?
There's a lot of buzz going around concerning reports that Yahoo has deleted The Pirate Bay from its search index, though it appears not everyone is seeing it. There hasn't been an official explanation just yet -- and it could be an accidental move or simply a hiccup, but it raises some questions about Yahoo's search index when such a site disappears. This is especially true given the controversial (deserved or not) nature of The Pirate Bay, and the efforts by the entertainment industry to shut the site down. Initially, we're willing to give Yahoo the benefit of the doubt, but a full explanation of what happened would be useful at this point. Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
Why Did A California Court Hide All Of WikiLeaks Over A Single Document?
Over a year ago, we wrote about the Wikileaks project, designed to allow government and company officials to anonymously leak documents as a way of whistleblowing questionable activities. Apparently, it's been quite successful at times. However, in doing so, it's also building up a list of enemies, including one who has apparently convinced a California court to make the entire site disappear in the US. The Swiss banking group, Julius Baer, was upset by documents found on the site that they believe were posted by a former VP at the bank, alleging that the bank was involved in money laundering operations. Julius Baer's lawyers claim that having these documents public could influence ongoing litigation in Switzerland (one assumes having to do with money laundering). While it's understandable that the bank might not want those documents online, or that those documents might impact current litigation, that doesn't explain why the California court ordered the entire site offline, demanded that its registrar block the transfer of the domain, force the registrar to point all visitors to a blank page and also having the registrar hand over all information on IP addresses of people who accessed the wikileaks site. All of that seems rather excessive, and of questionable legality. After all, doesn't Section 230 of the CDA provide safe harbor for the service provider? I could see an order demanding the specific documents be taken down, but the rest of the order seems to go well beyond what's both reasonable and standard in cases of this nature. The folks behind Wikileaks are equally perplexed, noting that they were only given a few hours warning before the hearing, meaning they were unable to attend or send representation. All in all this seems rather excessive, especially compared to existing similar cases on record. Even odder about all of this is that since the court went after the registrar, not whoever is actually hosting the site, you can apparently still reach the actual site if you know the IP address. Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
Australia Latest To Consider Kicking People Off The Internet For File Sharing
Never let it be said that the entertainment industry lobby isn't comprehensive. Over the past decade plus of watching them at work, you begin to see some patterns that are unmistakable. When the industry has a new idea it plans to push through as a law, it quietly works the concept through a variety of politicians around the world, and then will have one representative of the industry slip the concept into conversation at a public event somewhere. Then, while everyone's debating the concept, it suddenly shows up in pre-written legislation around the world before anyone knows what's going on. That appears to be happening again. Over the summer, entertainment industry execs (mainly from NBC Universal) started buzzing about how ISPs needed to take more responsibility for punishing those who were sharing unauthorized files on their networks. It seemed so outlandish that people were kind of surprised that it was even brought up. But then the laws started popping up. First there was a French proposal that would have ISPs ban users after being caught sharing unauthorized files three times. Then a similar proposal popped up in the UK last week. Now, down in Australia the government is now considering a similar proposal. Rest assured that these ideas didn't suddenly occur to the politicians in each of these countries. Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
UK ISPs To Start Tracking Your Surfing To Serve You Ads
For years now, ISPs have been searching for alternative revenue streams to avoid just being "dumb pipes." A few years ago, they picked up on the fact that they have a tremendous amount of data about what you (yes, you!) do online. A bunch of ISPs then started selling your clickstream data to companies that could do something useful with it (though, those ISPs probably neglected to tell you they were doing this). Late last year, we heard about a company that was trying to work with ISPs to make use of that data themselves to insert their own ads based on your surfing history -- and now we've got the first report of some big ISPs moving into this realm. Over in the UK three big ISPs, BT, Carphone Warehouse and Virgin Media have announced plans to use your clickstream data to insert relevant ads as you surf through a new startup called Phorm. While Phorm claims that it keeps your data private "by tracking individual users with an assigned number only," that's hardly assuring. After all, remember that both AOL and Netflix have released similar anonymized data where identifying info was replaced with an assigned number... and it didn't take long for both sets of data to be de-anonymized. While it's no surprise that ISPs would want to get into the advertising business, and to think that they could better target ads thanks to their knowledge of your entire surfing history, it's going to freak some people out (and potentially cause some serious privacy problems). All the more reason to figure out how encrypt your traffic and hide your activities from your ISP. Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
Patent Hoarder Going After Cable Companies, TV Broadcasters
Here we go with yet another ridiculous patent hoarding company trying to sue anyone and everyone. This time, it's Rembrandt IP, a company that we recently wrote about for gaming the new MercExchange injunction rules. It did so by getting two competitors to fight against each other, allowing only one to license the patent, which the "winner" could then use to force an injunction against the other one (basically, suing two competitors and telling whichever one caved first that it could help put the other out of business). A few weeks back, it unfortunately won that case, and is now gearing up to use the winnings as it claims patents on both the digital TV broadcasting standard and the widely used cable modem standard, DOCSIS. In both cases, it's asking for huge licensing fees. On the broadcasting standard, it may have a tough battle, as it appears that Rembrandt is doing the same thing that the FTC just smacked down another company for doing: basically buying up a patent and then ignoring an earlier agreement on how that patent would be used. In this case, Rembrandt is trying to ignore the fact that AT&T (who originally held the patent) promised to license it for "Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory" (RAND) rates. Either way, though, this is yet another unfortunate example of a hedge fund-backed patent hoarder trying to exploit the system, rather than doing anything to "promote the progress." Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
Olympic Bloggers Learn The Rules; First Rule: No Blogging Anything Interesting
The International Olympic Committee is known for their ridiculously overreaching attempts to claim intellectual property rights over all aspect of the games -- including various efforts to have laws changed just to give the Olympics special trademark and copyright protection that would bar things that would normally be considered fair use. At the 2004 Olympics, we noted how ridiculous it was that the IOC even banned athletes from blogging anything about the event, afraid that it would upset the media companies who paid their millions of dollars for "exclusive" rights. About a year ago, they promised that for the 2008 Olympics they would allow some blogging, but the rules had yet to be set. Now, the IOC has come out with the official blogging rules for athletes participating in the Beijing Olympics, and they seem particularly burdensome. Bloggers will not be able to post any audio or video (remember, that might upset the media partners). They can post still photos but only if they were taken outside of "accredited" areas or inside those areas if no sporting events can actually be seen in the photos. In other words: please make your blog posts as boring as possible and make sure they don't include any of the stuff that people might be interested in. Then there's a bit of a contradiction, as the rules state that blog posts should "adhere to the Olympic spirit," but that "there should be no commercial reference or advertising." That's funny. I thought commercial references and advertising were the Olympic spirit. Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
As Expected, BitTorrent Providers Planning To Route Around Comcast Barrier
It's no secret that every time ISPs look to filter or degrade the performance of a certain kind of traffic, it only increases attempts to encrypt the traffic, which actually makes things worse for the ISPs. So now that Comcast is standing by its BitTorrent traffic shaping efforts, a group of different BitTorrent developers are working together to build in encryption that gets around the Comcast traffic shaping system. That encryption will, of course, add somewhat to the overhead that Comcast needs to deal with, and will become more expensive if they have to keep looking for new systems to degrade traffic. Perhaps they'll just follow the lead of some other ISPs in simply degrading all encrypted traffic -- though, considering how much legitimate traffic is encrypted, that's going to cause some problems. Of course, rather than spending so much fighting all of this, they could focus on building out their systems to better handle the traffic. But why would they do that? Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
HD DVD May Finally Be Dead... Only Three Years Too Late
A few weeks ago, when we noted that it really looked like HD DVD might finally be done for, we were surprised to see the number of folks in the comments insisting that we were crazy, and HD DVD had a long future ahead of it. Well, it appears that future has been cut short. In the past week, Netflix, Best Buy and Wal-Mart all said they would sell exclusively Blu-ray players and discs going forward, squeezing out whatever last minute hope there was of rescuing HD DVD. Now reports are finally coming out that Toshiba has come to terms with the inevitable and will officially kill off HD DVD in the next week or so. The thing is, this is really three years too late. There were three years where a next generation DVD standard had an open market to dominate. Yet, in those three years, the ability to deliver videos online has grown tremendously, meaning that there's even less of a reason today to upgrade than in the past. No, internet delivery of movie content isn't ideal yet. It's still much easier to use a disc -- but the gap has closed quite a bit and it's only going to get narrower -- until internet delivery systems surpass any kind of disc-based system. It's a classic "innovator's dilemma" where internet delivery mechanisms are getting better at a rate much faster than next generation DVD systems. Those three years of fighting over standards is going to come back and bite everyone who spent all this time fighting over a standard only to miss the larger picture. Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
Patentability Of Business Model And Software Patents Comes Under Court Scrutiny
Nearly ten years ago, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) made its ruling in the State Street Bank case, effectively allowing patents on business models and greatly expanding the scope of software patents in one single move. While there are many problems with the patent system, this one decision made for a lot more bad patents very quickly -- and many of the ridiculous lawsuits you see today wouldn't even exist if this decision had gone the other way. While we've seen the Supreme Court suddenly get religion on fixing the patent system in the past few years, it hasn't really touched on the question of software or business model patents. On one case that could have addressed the issue, the court dismissed the case on a technicality, rather than digging into the actual issue, though in the dissent, some Justices made it clear they weren't comfortable with the State Street ruling. Last year, some folks tried to sneak the issue of software patents into another Supreme Court patent case, but that seemed like a stretch, since the case really had little to do with software patents directly. The decision in that case did set things up, though, so that the Supreme Court later could reject software patents. Now we have another important case to watch. As pointed out by the Troll Tracker, CAFC has agreed to a full court hearing to examine the scope of what can be patented. It may sound like a technicality, but it could be a very big deal. Going back on the earlier State Street ruling could effectively knock out many business model patents and software patents, restoring at least some (though, certainly not all) sanity to the patent system, especially in the technology world. Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
Companies Baffled By iPhone's Success
Rob Hyndman points us to a news report on what must have been one of the more bizarre panel discussions at this week's Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona. It was a panel on the user experience of mobile phones, where a bunch of folks from other companies tried to puzzle out why people liked the iPhone so much, noting that people generally associated the iPhone more with Apple than AT&T (gee... wonder why?) What's amazing is seeing some of the execs trying to come up with solutions through more careful methodologies: "One direction, advocated by Lucia Predolin... is to manipulate users by identifying their "need states" -- including such compulsions as 'killing time,' and 'making the most of it' -- and fulfilling them subliminally." And that, of course, is exactly why no other company designed the iPhone before Apple. They're trying to overthink things and figure out how to manipulate users, rather than sitting back and saying "how can we build something cool that people like that doesn't suck the way existing phones do?" Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
If The Fashion Industry Doesn't Get Special Copyrights, The Terrorists Will Win
Having seen the Senate create a special patent exemption for banks, it should come as no surprise that plenty of other industries are looking for special intellectual property treatment as well. Take, for example, the fashion industry. Years back, we noted that the fashion industry was a near perfect example of a creative industry that thrived despite no copyright protection on clothing designs. It showed what a myth it was that creation and innovation would stop in the absence of copyright law. In fact, studies began to show that it was that exact lack of copyright that drove the industry to be so innovative. That was for two reasons. First, designers had to constantly be innovating. An old design is an old design and they couldn't rest on their laurels, but had to keep creating newer and better designs. Second, by allowing knockoffs to hit the market, it actually helped promote the designer versions, and make those legitimate versions even more valuable. Given all that, it's pretty difficult to understand why Congress decided to introduce new legislation specifically extending copyright to the fashion industry. Research suggested that such a copyright would effectively kill the fashion industry. It's about as backwards a law as you can get. The purpose of copyright is to create an incentive for new and innovative content -- and here's an industry where a ton of new and innovative content is created all the time without it. To any right thinking person, it should be clear that no copyright is needed. And, yet, Congress moves forward with the effort. As the bill is being discussed, Congress has apparently held a hearing entitled: "Are Special Provisions Needed to Protect Unique Industries?" The answer should be a pretty clear "no," but instead, people were treated to an explanation of how a lack of copyright in the fashion industry would mean that the terrorists, organized criminals and child pornographers would win: "Most people think that buying an imitation handbag or wallet is harmless, a victimless crime. But the counterfeiting rackets are run by crime syndicates that also deal in narcotics, weapons, child prostitution, human trafficking and terrorism. Ronald K. Noble, the secretary general of Interpol, told the House of Representatives Committee on International Relations that profits from the sale of counterfeit goods have gone to groups associated with Hezbollah, the Shiite terrorist group, paramilitary organizations in Northern Ireland and FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia." Note, of course, that where the proceeds of such sales go has no bearing, whatsoever, on the the issue of copyright. But don't think that won't stop the fashion industry from setting this up as an emotional issue. And, of course, it's not just the fashion industry. The report also notes that the automobile makers showed up at the hearing as well, claiming that they need special copyright protections on car part designs. Who else wants to step up and ask for special protections? Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
The Naked Cowboy Has A Trademark And A Lawyer... And He's Not Afraid To Use Either
Eric writes in to let us know of a rather odd trademark infringement lawsuit going down in New York. It appears that "The Naked Cowboy," a Times Square institution (he's basically a guy who plays a guitar in Times Square in a cowboy hat and underwear) not only has a trademark on the concept, but he's suing the Mars Company for a video billboard it put up in Times Square (of course) showing animated M&Ms prancing around in cowboy hats and underwear in a virtual Times Square. As the article above reports, the guy may actually have a case of trademark infringement under current laws, though $6 million seems a bit excessive no matter how sure the cowboy (real name: Robert Burck) is of his chances. The real question, though, is whether or not this makes any real sense. The purpose of trademark law is to prevent consumer confusion. It's to prevent Bob's Cola from labeling its bottles as Coca Cola and getting people to buy something other than what they think they're buying. Is that the case here? Will M&Ms buyers be confused? I doubt it, even when we apply the famous "moron in a hurry" test. It's certainly difficult to see how the ad takes anything away from Burck himself -- though, I imagine the lawsuit should only serve to draw more attention to him, which is likely the point, whether or not he scores $6 million out of Mars. Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
How Professional Licensing Groups Distort The Market
Nearly a year ago we wrote about how "professional" groups and organizations where professionals are required to obtain a license and abide by certain rules are really a new type of anti-competitive union, hidden beneath the veneer of public interest. I should be clear up front, as someone who actually has a degree in this stuff, and spent plenty of time with unions that I have no problem with the concept of collective bargaining. The problem is that many union activities are less about collective bargaining and more about anti-competitiveness. It appears that Forbes has now stepped up to the plate with a very similar article to ours, noting that professional organizations are the new unions, not only hiding behind bogus claims of public interest, but also doing a lot more harm than good in many cases. As the article notes, these professional licensing organizations raise fees, shrink the labor pool and often make things less safe -- by encouraging people to do dangerous things they might otherwise hire a professional to do, if that professional weren't kept artificially expensive. In effect, the arguments in favor of these types of licenses are similar to the arguments in favor of DRM or other limitations on a market. While they may sound good upfront to those in a position to leverage the monopoly power granted by them, the unintended consequences over the long term harm everyone. Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
White House Realizes That Outlawing P2P No Excuse For Gov't Employee Stupidity
Over the summer, we saw Congress mistarget its anger over stupid government employees misusing P2P software to reveal government secrets by blaming the P2P software. It didn't take long for them to propose a law to deal with the problem. Thankfully, the White House is actually pointing out how unnecessary this is and how silly it is to target a single type of technology, when the issue is about how people use the technology, not the technology itself. Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
Handwritten Lawsuit Against Google Tossed Out Again On Appeal
Remember the infamous handwritten lawsuit against Google from last year? The one where the guy accused Google of revealing his social security number through a bizarre coded algorithm that involved the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team? Luckily, that lawsuit was quickly thrown out of court, but amazingly, the guy appealed. Eric Goldman now informs us that the appeal has now also been thrown out as the court notes: "Google and its founders are not state actors, and Jayne's allegation concerning his coded social security number does not constitute a violation of the Constitution or federal law." Indeed. While the lawsuits have been getting tossed rather quickly, lawsuits like these do still clog the court system and waste plenty of taxpayer dollars. In the meantime, in case you missed it the first time, here's one of the handwritten filings in the lawsuit. Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
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US-CERT Technical Cyber Security Alerts
US-CERT Technical Cyber Security Alerts provide timely information about current security issues, vulnerabilities, and exploits.
TA08-043C: Microsoft Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
Microsoft Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
TA08-043B: Apple Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
Apple Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
TA08-043A: Adobe Reader and Acrobat Vulnerabilities
Adobe Reader and Acrobat Vulnerabilities
TA08-017A: Oracle Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
Oracle Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
TA08-016A: Apple QuickTime Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
Apple QuickTime Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
TA08-008A: Microsoft Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
Microsoft Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
TA07-355A: Adobe Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
Adobe Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
TA07-352A: Apple Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
Apple Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
TA07-345A: Microsoft Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
Microsoft Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
TA07-334A: Apple QuickTime RTSP Buffer Overflow
Apple QuickTime RTSP Buffer Overflow
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Team Forty
Behind the scenes with the crew at Forty, a Phoenix, Arizona marketing agency.
Greenbang
Greenbang: Just launched this redesigned news site for a client. Thanks to Dan, Sunny, and April for the excellent work! - James
Seth Godin - Meatball Sundae
Seth Godin - Meatball Sundae: No one visit’s the web site’s home page anymore…
Jay-Z to Launch Ad Agency
Jay-Z to Launch Ad Agency: I’m thinking we should put him on the list of competitors on our site! - James
When Should You Keep Your Ideas to Yourself?
When Should You Keep Your Ideas to Yourself?: “This could well be a case of trying to add too much value, and here’s the problem: the quality of the idea may go up 5% with my suggestions, but your commitment to its execution may go down 50%. It is no longer your idea; as your manager, I have now made it my idea.” Great thoughts to how you really help in any process. (via Kottke) -Dan
Business Hero: Ricardo Semler Choose your own wage, chose your...
Business Hero: Ricardo Semler Choose your own wage, chose your own managers, choose your schedule… And have that become one of the fasest growing and most successful companies in Brazil. I wonder how many people said that was impossible before he started… Then to bring that philosophy into schools! I think it’s going to really change the world. -Dan PS. Ricardo Semler wrote one of my all-time favorite books: Maverick
- James
- James
When you can get it for free...
When you can get it for free...: An amazing article that, to me, assumes commoditization is a scam. Even when things are free, you can still make a good case for doing it as a business and still make a whole lot of money. Here are eight things that can separate you from the world. Even when you’re selling something that’s free: Immediacy Personalization Interpretation Authenticity Accessibility Embodiment Patronage Findability Do those well and people will pay you for something they can get for free… Read more at The Technium. -Dan
The Petebox is better than my ghetto blaster! Also check out...
The Petebox is better than my ghetto blaster! Also check out Kid Beyond, another super crazytastic looper. - Sunny
Google’s Newspaper Ads: Big Hopes For Small Barcodes -...
Google’s Newspaper Ads: Big Hopes For Small Barcodes - James
Our Desks
James (Operations) Sunny (Technology) Dan (Design) Aaron (Sales)
Why Social Applications Will Thrive In A Recession
Why Social Applications Will Thrive In A Recession: “Blogs, word of mouth, social networks … they’re about people connecting with other people. You may resist advertising if your finances are tight, but if your bud tells you that new movie is really worth seeing or that the Gap has the cutest new tops, that’s more persuasive than advertising. Basically, in a recession, the consideration phase is more important than awareness — and that’s where advertising flops and social applications succeed.” That’s just one of the great reasons why… Read them all for some eye-opening perspective on using the web to market and advertise better. (Via Logic+Emotion) -Dan
Randy Pausch reprising his “Last Lecture” Probably...
Randy Pausch reprising his “Last Lecture” Probably the most inspiring video I’ve ever seen. Watch out, it might make you cry… -Dan
Perhaps you don’t have to take yourself so...
Perhaps you don’t have to take yourself so seriously…
Office productivity not up to par? - Sunny
Office productivity not up to par? - Sunny
From Site Refresh To a Refreshing Brand
From Site Refresh To a Refreshing Brand: “Instead of thinking about your next “refresh”—think about your next opportunity to make your brand more relevant + refreshing to your customers, users and active brand participants.”
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