March 22, 2002
I've been using a folding, portable keyboard with my Visor for about a year now. Very handy. On Monday, Siemens unveiled an even more portable one at CeBIT. (My first post. Hope it's appropriate.)
John Fahey - American Primitive Guitar
John Fahey - American Primitive Guitar. I got an e-mail from a listener about a John Fahey song I played on my show today and it prompted me to revisit his website. I've been listening to him ever since '67 or so. He died last year due to complications during a coronary bypass operation--I realized again today how I miss him. (more inside)
If you grew up in or around New England you're probably familiar with a carbonated concoction called Moxie. Tastewise, it's kind of a love or hate deal and I fall squarely in the love camp. And I'm not alone apparently. The history of the product is actually pretty interesting. For those whose thirst has been stoked, here's a list places to get it.
Medical Records Confidentiality - An End to Privacy? "The Bush Administration yesterday proposed changing some of the federal rules designed to protect the confidentiality of Americans' medical records, including the ability of patients to decide in advance who should be able to use their personal health information."
The Day After 9-11, the debate started. "People would probably not protest FBI snooping so much if we did not need to guard our privacy so tightly, if we did not have to worry about medical records being used against us by employers or insurance companies ... (More info: EFF: Privacy - Medical & Psychiatric Records and Drug Testing, Privacy2000.org, The Search and Seizure of Electronic Information.)
You have ONE MONTH to give your comments on Medical Records Confidentiality. Congressional approval is not required.
The Day After 9-11, the debate started. "People would probably not protest FBI snooping so much if we did not need to guard our privacy so tightly, if we did not have to worry about medical records being used against us by employers or insurance companies ... (More info: EFF: Privacy - Medical & Psychiatric Records and Drug Testing, Privacy2000.org, The Search and Seizure of Electronic Information.)
You have ONE MONTH to give your comments on Medical Records Confidentiality. Congressional approval is not required.
NYT is realizing
NYT is realizing that computer games can be relevent, and not just a silly fad that only kids and the uneducated can enjoy. In this review (albeit very belated), Thursday's 'Circuits' section reviews both Operation Flashpoint, the widely acclaimed, disturbingly realistic combat simulation, and Halo, the shooter du jour on the XBox.
Check out the hype of "Hollister Co."
Check out the hype of "Hollister Co." fresh from the minds of Abercrombie & Fitch, then check out the reality behind the hype. Sure it's "ALL" hype, but it's actually where I live, and we don't have 'surfers', just COWS.
The Proselytizing Atheist:
The Proselytizing Atheist: An interesting and, I'm assuming, non-sarcastic rant over at Adequacy.org.
Women browse the Web better than men?
Microsoft Windows + NSA = loopholes in security:
Microsoft Windows + NSA = loopholes in security: "A careless mistake by Microsoft programmers has revealed that special access codes prepared by the US National Security Agency have been secretly built into [almost all versions of] Windows." an interesting article that really shouldnt be surprising, and all the more reason to buy a mac.
Polls
Polls Come Under Fire.
Watchdog Group Issues Rebuke on Poll on Islamic Countries. Meanwhile, those bogus aggregates continue to circulate freely in this country and around the world.
You thought the Webbys were dumb? The International Web Page Awards: US$125 to enter, judges self-selected ("Check here if you would like to be a Judge") and the best part: IWPA site created and designed by Matt Wolf (fast cars, hot babes and screaming guitars) who also happens to win something each year.
Gay? Afghan? Love Travel?
Gay? Afghan? Love Travel? Then GayTravel.com has a job for you! Help this gay travel guide populate its listings for food, fun, and more in and around Kabul and the surrounding countryside!
Bush's feminine side?
Bush's feminine side? This may or may not be funny, but it certainly is bizarre. (large flash movie with Cindy Lauper music).
Like Benny Hill, Monty Python, Mr Bean, Eddy Izzard, et al , before him, looks like Sacha Baron Cohen, aka Ali G. is finally heading this way. Although the London Times denounces him, while "frighteningly" proclaiming his latest movie will be a massive hit, and the BBC is royally pissed off, there's no holding him back. Next stop is America and he wants to be massive in da States. Some prior discussions going back all the way to May 2000 here, here ,here, PS You can catch a glimpse of him the next time Shaggy's Me Julie video plays.
The Art of Espionage.
The Art of Espionage. The ongoing tale of the massive spy ring that the U.S. media won't talk about. "The basis of the spy allegations is a 60-page document -- a compilation of field reports by Drug Enforcement Administration agents and other U.S. law enforcement officials."
This week marks the 90th anniversary of the death of Robert Falcon Scott and four companions on their return trip from the South Pole. Most of the blame for the failure of the polar expedition has been placed on critical blunders Scott made in his trek to the pole but Antarctic meterologist Susan Sontag says that although Scott cut his safety margins too close, unusually cold weather provided the killing blow. On a related subject, next month A&E premires a movie starring Kenneth Branagh as Shackleton (flash site) who saved his crew after their ship shattered in Antartic pack ice.
The Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act
The Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act is being spearheaded by Sen. Fritz Hollings of South Carolina. He wants to prohibit the sale of any device that can play, copy or electronically transmit one or more categories of media unless special protection technologies are incorporated. Anyone intentionally violating the CBDTPA would be subject to civil and criminal penalties, including prison terms. Welcome to the 21st century.
"Put your hand in the box."
"Put your hand in the box." A fun loving duo from Germany has created a version of the classic arcade game Pong that lets you punish your opponent's hand with sensations such as heat, punches and electroshocks of varying duration delivered through a "Pain Execution Unit". Remember: Fear is the mind-killer. (from Wired)
The Ironminds weblog is back!
The Ironminds weblog is back! I for one have really missed the excellent writing that Ironminds used to provide, and I'm glad to see at least a little of it is returning.
Reverse discrimination?
Reverse discrimination? Kathleen Carter, who is white, says that when she became chairman of the education department at historically black Delaware State University in 1995, she was told that she was usurping blacks' right to govern themselves and that whites in the department were trying to make blacks look bad. via Fark
"I hate your politics.
"I hate your politics. Listening to any of you yammer on about the geopolitical situation is enough to make one want to melt down one's dental fillings with a beeswax candle and then jam an ice pick into the freshly-exposed nerve, just to have something else to think about. "
Schoolchildren Strip-Searched for Lost $5
Schoolchildren Strip-Searched for Lost $5 This, from the same school district that overruled a teacher who failed cheating students. I dunno about you, but making a bunch of 3rd graders get naked in school seems a little out of bounds. Feel free to tell the school board what you think of this little exercise in pedophiliac totalitarianism.
Nethack 3.4.0
Nethack 3.4.0 has just been released...If you're not excited then, well, sucks to you.
Rabbit want pointer.
Rabbit want pointer. :::flash:::
domain highjacking
domain highjacking this also recently happened to our friends at k10k.com along with numerous other legitimate domains in the recent past... an outrage. the blood trail does not lead very far:
heres what stinks my friends....
go to: www.k10k.com .... then click on merchant accounts... and take a look at who the number 2 listing is.... oh, i bet verisign comes up a few other places as well .... thoughts? - i suggest a boycott of netsol and versign until appropriate action is taken or at least their support for this organization ceases.
The New York City I first saw in 1985 has partially disappeared, and vanishes more everyday. The New York of 50 years ago, the veneer of daily life in the city, is but a memory. The city of 100 years ago is a shadow, remembered by no one. But the past remains, if not in direct human memory, in "lampposts, advertisements, bridges, buildings, signs, and things you pass every day in the street that bear silent witness to the NYC that once was." What lies forgotten below the streets? The decaying splendor of an bygone age, as well as the deep roots that have sprouted and nourished the present, living city...
bits & pieces
bits & pieces a sonic installation for the web! my friend sez, "it's not random. it's complexity" :)
"What nonsense I have just come out with,"
"What nonsense I have just come out with," Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar admitted after delivering a 25-minute speech -- unaware that his microphone was still turned on. Oops.
Jon Rose isn't your average Australian violinist. He builds his own violins and plays the hell out of them.
"The Alphabet Synthesis Machine is an interactive online artwork which allows one to create and evolve the possible writing systems of one's own imaginary civilizations."
Professor becomes world's first cyborg
Professor becomes world's first cyborg Surgeons have carried out a ground-breaking operation on a cybernetics professor so that his nervous system can be wired up to a computer.
It is hoped that the procedure could lead to a medical breakthrough for people paralysed by spinal cord damage, like Superman actor Christopher Reeve.
Prof Warwick believes it also opens up the possibility of a sci-fi world of cyborgs, where the human brain can one day be upgraded with implants for extra memory, intelligence or X-ray vision.
The medical possibilities with this are amazing, so why does it make me feel so uneasy?
"In the end, we will need to give up any lingering fantasies of a color-blind Web and focus on building a space where we recognize, discuss and celebrate racial and cultural diversity. To achieve that goal, all of us -- white folks and people of color -- will have to shed the defensiveness that surrounds the topic of race." So says Henry Jenkins in a Technology Review article on Cyberspace and Race. On the Internet, nobody knows you're oppressed?
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