The Electrolog v1.0 Empty Room Blog |
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Monday, March 31
a sketchy plan for REI Whereas it is well known to me and painfully well known to my freinds that I have a grudge against REI practices and whereas, REI is still fundamentally a democracy and therefore vulnerable to the will of it's members and whereas, I am not alone in my estrangement, the newsgroups show many examples of thoughtful rejection of REI corporate-monkey behaviour and whereas, although they aren't saying what this years numbers were (?!), in 1999 the vote return was 5% eligible and whereas, this years "ballot" is 3 positions open for which there are 3 board nominated incumbents you can "vote" for and whereas, MEC, with 1/6th the number of stores, has the same number of members and a relativley thriving democratic culture, which suggests that it can be done, Be it resolved, That there is the makings of a slow-growth movement here to make REI a truly cooperative coop, which would make it one of the largest in the world. What could contribute to this. First, perhaps, creating a crysallization catalyst kernel of some sort, get REI members who share opinions on this in touch with each other, start cataloguing thoughts regarding the purpose and product of co-ops generally, and REI specifically start librarying information about the voting history and executive structure of the cooperative, start soliciting planning ideas for how to grow into a voting bloc which could influence the direction of the coop. It's not like that many people currently vote. A moderated weblog? A forum? A mailing list? A theory archive? All tied together? The Onion Isn't Dead My gratitude to The Onion for what it published after September 11th deserves a seperate entry, and it will get it. I was just a bit let-down by it's recent editions. Turns out they haven't been rethinking themselves into submission, they've just been saving it up. A sampling of headlines from this week's edition: Bush Bravely Leads 3rd Infantry Into Battle U.S. Forms Own U.N. Local Mom Whips Up Some Of Her Famous War Pie Dead Iraqi Would Have Loved Democracy New Bomb Capable Of Creating 1,500 New Terrorists In Single Blast U.S. Draws Up Plan For Post-War Transitional Dictatorship In Iraq And the current Point-Counterpoint: This War Will Destabilize The Entire Mideast Region And Set Off A Global Shockwave Of Anti-Americanism vs. No It Won't Could this list be any longer. Ah, sweet Onion. [fog of war] x [fog of media] = ? I haven't been trying very hard to find out what's going on in Iraq. I don't have TV and wouldn't have the time to watch it anyway, the newspapers are heavy on unhelpful analysis and light on reliable facts, and unfortunateley Enemy Combatant Radio hasn't set up a Basra satellite van. (note to self: is ECR still casting these days?) It's also a questionable undertaking. Do I really want to try and find out the details of the war? What would it benefit me? Is half truth or even 3/4 truth better than no truth at all? Do any of the details have any particular bearing on my life? If an average person did want to find out what was happening on the ground in Iraq, could it be done? This is, after all, the information age. The internet and an associated suite of communication technologies indisputably changed the process and quality of the antiwar movement in a way that has been alledged/predicted since the anti-globalization "battle of Seattle". If you stay very quiet and listen to the academics muttering to themselves in their closets, you will learn that information distribution is now really, really pending a revolution courtesy of audio blogging, photo blogging, plain 'old' blogging, text messaging, wikis and CMSs (gracias Chiron), bluePods and their inevitable ilk, news.google.com-esque information filtering algorithms and other things I'm not quiet enough to be aware of. But can it be done now? Can you or I, given a PC and an internet account, get a genuine sense of what's happening? I certainly don't know, mostly because I haven't tried. A few possible resources for someone who was trying: globalsecurity.org offers a truck stop breakfast sized serving of operational details. Or it did, I don't know if they've been able to keep up with troop movements and whatnot since the combat proper began. Interestingly, they also offer a serious point-counterpoint on the strategical benefits of the invasion, and a decent library of anti-war graphics. If you're really bored, you could just play "guess their personal opinion". Iraqwar.Ru offers daily executive summaries of the battles. I am told third-hand that the "This center was created recently by a group of journalists and military experts from Russia to provide accurate and up-to-date news and analysis of the war against Iraq. Daily english-language translations are being offered by Venik's Aviation. A brief scan of the reports suggest that they are either markedly unfriendly to the US/British forces, or the battles are going much more poorly than we are being led to believe be CNN. Several intercepted reports by the US field commanders stated that their troops are unable to advance due to their soldiers being demoralized by the enemy's fierce resistance and high losses. Kevin Site's war blog used to provide a dramatic example of the power of direct publishing. As a CNN war correspondant on the ground in the middle east, Kevin was well set up to provide very interesting coverage. His own remarks that "This experience has really made me rethink my rather orthodox views of reaching folks via mass media.... Blogging is an incredible tool, with amazing potential. " are indicative of at least the potential for real information flow from places from which information is a hotly contested material. Unfortunatley, CNN requested that he stop blogging. Much has been said of this, in chat-room discussion and publications. Iraq Body Count goes the other way, offering contextless aggregate statistics filtered from the ceasless torrent of mass media, rather than independanly verified on-site details. The methodology is based on past work to document the citizen death toll in Afghanistan. It doesn't count actual death tolls, only reported citizen fatalities. But it is information that otherwise isn't being compiled. This is the site that powers the banner-counter on this blog. news.google.com is a way to dip a net of one's own into the river of mass-media reporting. Google uses a purely-automated algorithm, presumably related to their famous page-ranking system, to monitor many news sources in realtime and summarize the most "significant" stories in frequenly updated lists. Then of course, there's this. Of these links, only the second two seem to be using technological changes to make more directly-sourced information available. There may well be other methods. There certainly will be in the future. The possible implications of these maybe-existing sources of fact-distribution would seem to include the ability for citizens to stay better informed of the distant actions of their governments, as well as providing a much larger heap of data for analysts and historians to process in after-the-fact attempts to dissect what really happened. This Tax Season, Avoid Intuit This was emailed to me by a guy I know. Thought I'd post this rather than spam people with it. The source is pretty capable and thoughtful person who can probably be relied on to comprehend the tech issues he comments on. TurboTax Nightmares Some of you are undoubtedly much further ahead than I am and have already filed your taxes. I, unfortunately, have not filed yet; I will not be able to file for at least a few more days. The reason, as you may have already surmised, is Intuit's TurboTax. I have used this product in the past with ease and turned to again for this year's tax filings for that reason. Unfortunately, Intuit has changed their product activation to include installation of SafeCast's C-Dilla. C-Dilla is essentially software which enables single machine use of TurboTax. Most spyware programs include it in their hit lists. Although some have described scenarios of it disabling CDR-W drives if it determines that you are copying copyrighted material, a post on extremetech.com negates this premise. There is much on the web about the snafus associated with TurboTax, some right and some wrong, but I must say that the product is getting a pounding on the Amazon review board. If you were like me (and many others evidently) that had issues with TurboTax's "One-Click" updates, I had a much more difficult time with both TurboTax and C-Dilla than was warned in License Agreement. I was told by tech support that I needed to re-install TurboTax when the "one-click" failed. Silly me, I tried to uninstall TurboTax first. This then prevented me from not only installing it again, as per their directions, but it also prevented me from booting in safe mode, as per their directions. In the end, it has taken two days to uninstall TurboTax and I am still not sure if C-Dilla is fully uninstalled. According to some posts, C-Dilla hides several files in different registry locations to make sure that only a full scrubbing of the hard drive will remove it. Intuit, to its credit (I guess) is now posting an uninstall utility for C-Dilla and they have refunded my money. I wanted to pass on this personal testimony, as sometimes you read posts that seem too far-fetched to be believed. My situation is not too far-fetched, but I now strongly discourage use of this product. Somebody said that H & R Block's TaxCut worked well for them... For any Canadians reading, no worries you got a couple more weeks. Wednesday, March 26
photographing Schrodinger's cat How do you tell if the little light in your refridgerator really turns off? Well, use a camera with a timer. 
Turns out it doesn't. http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/user/view/cs_msg/10794 Sunday, March 23
Update - Michael Moore Sticks it to The Man Well, here's the speech leeched from oscars.com: 
ACCEPTANCE SPEECH Michael Moore: Whoa. On behalf of our producers Kathleen Glynn and Michael Donovan from Canada, I'd like to thank the Academy for this. I have invited my fellow documentary nominees on the stage with us, and we would like to — they're here in solidarity with me because we like nonfiction. We like nonfiction and we live in fictitious times. We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elects a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons. Whether it's the fictition of duct tape or fictition of orange alerts we are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush, shame on you. And any time you got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, your time is up. Thank you very much. SPECIAL ONLINE THANKS Michael Donovan: Charles Bishop, Jen Ritchie, Wolfram Tichy, Peter Sonngren, Kelly Bray, Jennifer Horton, Floyd Kane, Charlotte Mickie, Jackie MacKenzie Michael Moore: To my beloved parents, Frank and Veronica Moore. To the producer of the film, and my wife, Kathleen Glynn. To Natalie Rose, my daughter, one of the funniest people I know. To Jim Czarnecki, producer, Tia Lessin, supervising producer, Carl Deal, archivist, Kurt Engfehr, editor and co-producer, Woody Richman, assistant editor, Jeff Gibbs, composer, Bingham Ray and everyone at United Artists, Micahael Donovan, Salter Street, Charles Bishop, Salter Street, Jim and Donna Glynn and family, Anne Moore and John Hardesty and Molly, Veronica Moore, Kelsey and Leah Binder, Pat and Rick Simone, Dorenna Newton, Andrew Horowitz, Siobhan Oldham, Rehya Young, Maureen McCarron, Ari Emanuel, Endeavor Agency, And all those working for peace in the world. Friday, March 21
oh boy "After 16 hours of fighting communists and anarchists, a Red Bull can help us go another 16 hours," said Sgt. Rene Laprevotte as he bought two cans of the energy drink at a Fifth Street market. "We're here as long as they are." link America is not the Government I got email from a former housemate living in the UK, offering some suggested reading. It was an editorial carried by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation pointing out that most of the current wave of US imperialism was meditated well before September 11th. It's an excellent article. In the email, my friend reminded all of the recipients that it's important to keep in mind America's real motivations, no matter how often it's suggested America wants what's best for Iraq. I agree but disagree. I spammed out this email: Subject: Re: America's motives Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2003 12:40:24 -0500 (EST) Reply Reply All Forward Delete << Previous Next >> Message List Alanna and folk, It's a good article, read it. As a Canadian living in the big US and A, I think there's a couple extra points worth making. Alanna said > It is important to keep in mind why this is really happening, no > matter how many of us want to believe America wants to do what is > best for the Iraqi people. Remember one thing: George Bush, the Bush Administration and the select few neo-conservative "think tanks" who have their ear are not America. America is a lot of things and a lot of people. But the wing-nuts who are responsible for US foreign policy and who guide it with the goal of world domination, make up only a tiny thread in the great American quilt. There are plenty of people here who do support their war. Probably, yes, the numeric majority. A lot of them yelled their reasons at me from their cars as I protested on the streets of Sacramento yesterday. None of them wanted global hegemony. They wanted to secure peace and safety, and they felt some risk was worth it. I disagree with them. And I'm not alone here. San Francisco was essentially clogged with protest actions yesterday. I haven't heard the numbers from New York but it was likely phenomenal, following on the greatest wave of protest there since Vietnam. Likewise LA. Likewise Boston. Likewise, for all I know, Sheboygan. In Sacramento (the californian capital, believe it or not) the response to our little vigil was phenomenal. Resigned and dissapointed? Nope. Try widespread anger and cheerful protest. There is a commitment among a lot of soccer moms, ex-vets, school girls, homeless people, religious groups, guys in suits, doctors, bakers and candlestick makers to resist the local dictatorship cheerfully and unyeildingly. I am frankly suprised at how wide and how deep the resistance here is. This is also America. Don't be fooled by the polls and the media. The pollsters and the media mostly belong to the same people who designed the war. If you could hear the steady cacophny of car horns our "honk for peace" signs raised hour after hour you wouldn't feel threatened by Americans. Feel threatened by Bush, by all means. Feel even more threatened by the hardened schemers who surround him and are now having their moment, as described in this article. But when you feel that way, keep in mind you do it together with a whole great heap of America. Hugh this just in Just got emailed a great report from a fellow Davisite who was in San Francisco yesterday. It's here. 2 lines of a tight lockdown were blocking the whole intersection--creating a huge free space between them. By the time we got there, the cops had un-liberated the space, but there were many, many people still there, including a brass band. A long day in the streets The San Francisco branch of Indymedia (sf.indymedia.org) has an hour-by-hour rundown of yesterdays' protests in the SF streets. It makes for harrowing reading. The website is hard to get on to, apparently the servers are being hammered. I'm mirroring a snapshot of that page here if you can't get through to the real page. 8AM: Arrests beginning.500 people (police say 300)blocking Market at Sansome. Cop violence reported outside UK consulate and outside Bechtel Today is promising to be another long one for San Francisco, with more protestors reportedly converging on the bay area all the time. I'm not sure how many can be left. The police are reporting the largest number of arrests "in 30 years". Tomorrow (Saturday) there is a planned rally at Civic Centre Plaza which should be more organized, less confrontational. That will be my first time in the big city since the start of the war. Yesterday I was in Sacramento, and it was great. 9:50AM: 1000 at Mission & 1st headed towards Market to meet about 1000 people that have taken over Market & Montgomery and have formed a liberated zone. Davis was relativley quiet, with most dissenters heading out early yesterday morning to San Francisco. Some of the solid core of older people who have been the overwhelming majority of the peace presence in campus-town Davis (don't ask me what happened to the student, but good for the old people) maintained (and are maintaining) a 24 hour vigil downtown, where children are making signs and flagging them at traffic. The first first-hand accounts of Davis residents' experience in San Francisco are nasty: police aggression and violence starting early and a long list of area arrestees. Which is why me and my visa weren't there. 1:30PM: Crowd is getting rowdy at 7th & Market. One cop down. Word has it the Oakland area and East Bay Area generally are quietly going off as well. Maybe quiet isn't the word. There it is reportedly the highschool students of 3 or 4 schools who are leading the protests, with the Berkeleyites backing them up. Raising up the next generation of resistance. 6:09PM: Upwards of 6000 people running down 2nd Street towards Folsom I don't mean to sound too radical, but this war has been more than enough to radicalize normally calm citizens. 8:00PM: 6000 strong at Castro & Market Streets - unsuspecting onlooker assaulted by police on the sidewalk. Indymedia.org has reports on major protests across America, including: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, New York, Chicago, Eugene, Portland, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Richmond, Boston, Urbana Champaign, Milwaukee, Baltimore/Towson, Maine, New Mexico, Atlanta. This doesn't cover any of the smaller protests that I know are on across the country. 11:30PM: 600 People marching through the Haight. Updates for the Bay Area can be had at KPFA 94.1 out of Berkely, or from Enemy Combatant Radio, who are running a pirate radio station with internet relays, reportedly straight out of Tomorrow is yet another day. FRIDAY 3/21: We Need to Keep Our Voices in the Streets! 7AM - Assemble at Justin Herman Plaza Thursday, March 20
Good News for Arrested Protesters It occured to me today that, for those of you worried about being able to get a job after getting arrested for protesting (and therefore having a criminal record) you can all relax. As a consultant with your own incorporated company, your clients can't do criminal record checks on you. So, all you protestors out there, become consultants! Perhaps you could hire yourselfs out as professional protesters for creative marketing companies. Bleh. San Francisco is going off update 1:30pm: approximatley 75 protestors (and bystanders?) are trapped on Market St. Police marched in from both directions. They are not being told why they can't leave, only that they are breaking the law. Communication is only via cell phone. At this moment, the police have deployed their enormous (!!!) riot sticks and are pushing into the crowd. Police numbers are estimated 75 to 175, with 75 probably the more likely number. I'm going dowtown Davis now. There was a CHP helicopter circleing earlier, but it's moved off. I don't imagine there is much more than some old people with candles, this is after all Davis, but even that is good. update 1:00pm:the police have started a major action on market. apparently it's packed with police and police vehicles from ? to the castro. Sounds like things are changing from active to angry. KPFA is reporting 350 arrests in San Francisco with more expected. Multiple intersections have been blocked by protestors, stopping traffic. As far as I can tell, it has been an ongoing game of cat and mouse in which protestors take a downtown intersection, traffic is stopped, police eventually arrive in substantial force and break up the blockades. Some protestors are arrested and the rest move on another intersection. Protestors are reportedly arriving in steady numbers to replace the arrested. Rinse and repeat. A bus driver on air is reporting that many SF areas that are not normally high-traffic are mighty slow. Repercussions throughout "the whole city", with exception of suburban areas, from the sounds of it. "It's fine with me. People are dieing right now, and I shouldn't be living my life the way I normally do" -- Lisa, school bus driver Also a brief report that in Oakland, a BART station was shutdown when Wednesday, March 19
in OTHER news... a major victory Who knew this was even going to a vote today? And why did it all work out alright when it would have been easy to pass this through when no one was watching? REP America Pleased with Arctic Refuge Vote The Senate has voted (narrowly) to remove the clauses in the budget resolution which was going to allow oil drilling in the Artic National Refuge. Canada makes Yahoo News Tremble, oh Manitoba, oh Nunavut, oh mighty Quebec for thy remarks have been overheard and repeated on the Yahoo portal frontpage. At least, Herb Dhaliwal's remarks regarding Bush's lack of "statesman" skills have been noticed. Yahoo has a Rueters article "Bush Failed to Act as Statesman-Canadian Minister" listed as one of it's shortlist of News stories that are linked to on the yahoo.com portal. "I think he has let not only Americans but the world down by not being a statesman as people expect of someone who is president of a superpower." The nice thing about this comment is that it was made in a public place, directly at journalists, so there'll be no qualifying and conditionalizing of it. The not-so-nice thing is that calling Bush "not a statesman" is like knocking Augusto Pinochet for his poor singing voice. Statesmanship isn't exactly the issue. Imperial bloodthirstiness doesn't break for diplomacy and I think we all knew that. But hey, every little thing. A Reference for Terrorist Alert Status Dangers There is some confusion surrounding the implications of the various levels of terrorist threat advisory status. How much danger is there of being the victim of a terrorist strike, for instance, on an "orange" vs. "yellow" day? In an attempt to clarify, I have assembled this guide:
SF coordinated actions www.actagainstwar.org is coordinating next-day response in the SF area. I probably won't be there - if ever there was an oppurtunity to get arrested and get stripped of my current and future visas, that would be it - but a lot of other people will be. Tuesday, March 18
A letter to the common people of those who suffer under war. I am writing this on behalf of the common citizens of the western world. I write not on behalf of any one country, or of any one government or governmental leaders, but on behalf of all of the common populace in all the developed nations of the western world. We are regular people. We have jobs, families, and friends who we care about. We have hopes and fears and in the face of danger make decisions no better or worse that anyone could expect. These times are difficult. There are many of us who believe that there is no other option in this situation. There are also many of us who believe that there is another option and have protested openly, publicly, and passionatly for an alternative to war. We all have ones we love and we all understand the fear of lossing them. Some of the elected leaders of the countries we live in have openly rejected war at this time. Others have not. However, the vast majority of us are all deeply saddened and distrubed by this. None of us want the deaths that are coming. We understand that we play no small part in this. With the jobs we work at, the products we buy, and the taxes we pay, we know that somehow, in ways usually hidden from us directly, it is our money that ends up in artilery and weapons of war. And we know that these bullets are the ones which inflict you with suffering. We know this and a great many of us have worked very hard to do everything we can to help you. Whether it is direct action in your country, protests in our countries, boycotts of organizations, writing, journalizm, speeches, e-mail, or just speaking one another to raise awareness. All of us, in our hearts, want your world to be a better place. Some of believe war is the only option in promoting this change. Others believe that there has got to be a better way. But let it be known that all of us, every last one, hate this suffering which you are facing. We all hate that you live with war. And we understand if you hate us for it. Our very best thoughts and wishes go out to you, whether or not they are wanted, and our only hope is that you have the strength to love and teach your children compassion, especically and most importantly in the face of war, so that they can carry within their hearts less hate and more love. May mercy find us all. ----- Responses Can Be Sent Below chidot_readers @ chironbramberger.com Thanks, Poll shows growing support for War and Bush Yep, here we go supportin' the troops. Supportin' the troops. Tie a yellow ribbon 'round the old oak tree. This one was inevitable. Americans stand behind their armed sons and daughters when they're in the field, and everyone loves a marching band. But even the Washington Bloody Post caught an important detail here. As at the start of previous confrontations abroad, the poll found that the country has largely united behind its president -- a unity that will be tested as the war unfolds and circumstances on the battlefield change.... Overall support for a war with Iraq also surged from 59 percent two weeks ago to 71 percent today. And the poll found equally broad support for beginning the war immediately after Bush's 48-hour deadline expires on Wednesday. At this point, roughly one in four Americans opposes the invasion. Link to the full article. Monday, March 17
Dear Senator Feinstein Dianne Feinstein is the democratic senator for California. Though she doesn't actually represent me (I'm not a US citizen) neither does any other politician really, so what the hell. I sent her this email. Who knows, I've heard it said that these actually get read sometimes. Dear Senator Feinstein, Where are you? I read, watch and listen to the news frequently. The US is involved in what must stand as one of it's most signficant foreign policy decisions, and yourself and your democratic colleagues apparently have no public comment. Zip. Nothing. Have you all become cowards? Are you all dumbfounded? You are a politician. Many, many lives are at stake. American security is at stake. The stability of the United Nations is at stake. As a politician it is your chosen job to respond to great challenges, not with political care but with integrity and conscience and courage. You are failing. Speak up strongly in a public place. You are desperatley needed now. Sincerely, Hugh Stimson America is divided somewhere around the 60/40 mark on the war. Presumably we'll mostly be supportin' the troops once it gets going, but in their hearts there are an enormous number of USians who don't think the right thing is being done. There is a second party in the US political system, sort of, and it their natural job to stand for all those Americans who aren't for war. Instead that second party don't do jack shit all, and it's an awful display of cowardice and cynicism. I hope they have a pang when they see their salary deposit on their bank statements. I hope they have a pang when and if they get internal notification of the number of dead in Baghdad. with spring comes the Gloryhole Reports have it that since the 15th of this month, the spring rains have been enough to intermittently cue the gloryhole. Apparently this opening of the glory hole stands as a local seasonal milestone, like the coming of the robins back home or the breaking of the ice in the north. What is a gloryhole? The massive overflow pipe that stands next to the dam at Lake Berryessa. When the "lake" (it's an enormous manmade resovoir wherein the hills have been filled with drinking water) breifly exceeds the level of the 28 story overflow pipe, the water spills down it in a sort of circular waterfall. It looks like a hole in physics. Below are pictures of the dam and the spillway during normal water levels, and after a rainstorm. 
 The good, the bad and the first hand account We will shortly know when war will begin. That war will happen is the obvious and insurmountable bad. The good is that Canada has conclusively announced that it will not be involved. Declaring ourselves non-complicit is one of those things that nobody entirely believes can be done until it actually is done, and then it seems so obvious. I am excited about it because I really think that the fact of a close (geographically, culturally, financially and strategically) partner of the US clearly stating it's opposition will have an effect on the thinking of US citizens. To an American, it's a lot like Wisconsin announcing that it won't be sending any soldiers. It will make the possibility of considered resistance more concrete. I am also excited about it because it is my homeland, and whatever the state of democracy it still seems important to me that my consituency is voting against. Finally, some first hand, uncensored reporting from the Iraq-Kuwait border. This is a mini-weblog being maintained by the group at boingboing to allow a CNN reporter to upload his personal reports and thoughts as he wishes. This is not the official line from CNN. Links: Hell No, Canada Won't Go, Announces Prime Minister From the Toronto Star Kevin Site's direct reporting from the war (Look to the right hand column) Sunday, March 16
Demo debrief Saturday's peace march in San Francisco rates high on the rally-o-meter. I'm told by folk who went to the previous couple that this was smaller in scale then the past marches, but that the atmosphere was really good. Speaking literally of the atmosphere, the iron-clad predictions of rain and near-freezing weather were enormously wrong, emerging from the BART into Civic Centre Plaza we were all met by blue skies and warm sun. The speakers were fine I suppose, but by far the best thing was the depth and breadth of the creativity shown by all the individuals who came in expressing their opinions. Wide, wide diversity of folk there. The march set off before the amplified yakking was officially done, which tweaked the organizers mildly but I think was just fine and appropriate, we weren't there to be lectured at we were there make a little noise of our own. Unlike previous march routes which led mostly up Market St among the serious, borded up shops of cowering chain stores to arive eventually in Civic Centre and the heart of Bay Area political authority, this one got it's start there and once spontaneous community coherence had been obtained, circled it's way through some smaller, freindlier business and residential neighbourhoods where the store ownes simply protected their windows with "war sucks" signs instead of plywood and hung out and watched and cheered. All very nice. I was packing analog film (see below) so pictures will have to wait a day or two but I will post some. I saw my first bona fide celbrity since arriving in California (not even my impromptu visit to Hollywood netted me any citings). Turns out though that Martin Sheen is a bit of a religious wackaloon. The much better speaker was the ex-airforce former president of San Fran's stock exchange, who asked that people be gentle with him because of his lack of dissent experience but enthused about how good it felt getting arrested outside his former place of business yesterday in a direct action. "I've been getting a lot of calls from freinds from the service and from business" he said "asking what they should do. I say they should get out somewhere public and push a little past their level of comfort. I hope you will join me". OK ageing white guy in power, I'll think about it. I imagine we all will. disposable cameras are the bomb, but don't kill people I'm really diggin disposable cameras these days. Especially for travel and stuff like peace demos. They're lightweight, fit easily in a pocket and under ideal lighting conditions the brand name ones can take crisp photos with excellent colour. If you shop around a little, they don't cost that much more than the film that feeds conventional cameras, cost the same to develop, and it says on the box they're recycled. The two best things is that they have no "start-up" time (even some compact film cameras take a couple seconds to extend their lenses) and they aren't intimidating they way an SLR is, especially for use in 'developing nations'. And you don't have to worry about them being stolen when you're travelling. Nice little things all around. Not reccomended for serious art photography, but come on now, how often do any of us do serious art photography? Nice little items all around. Friday, March 14
The long view Leaving was definitley a good idea. At the food co-op the wine manager was holding a little tasting. Yes, in California not only do they sell wine in the grocery store, you can actually end up a little drunk whilst still shopping. Lovely. Also received this link from my boss. Nice to have a boss you agree with on larger issues. A reporter's take on the journalism award acceptance speech of veteran white house reporter and recent retiree Helen Thomas: http://dailybreeze.copleypress.org/content/bog/thomas19.html She seemed to have sympathy and affection for everyone but George W. Bush, a man who she said is rising on a wave of 9-11 fear — fear of looking unpatriotic, fear of asking questions, just fear. “We have,” she said, “lost our way.” Good night, God damn it This has been the most unproductive of friday afternoons, I'm sick of it, and I have learned in life that sometimes you just have to walk away. Thus, I am outy. The morning was quite nice. You won't be hearing from me tomorrow, because I will protesting vigourously in San Francsico with 10, perhaps (quite likely in fact) 100's of thousands of others. Time for a little preemptive peace. Yes indeed, things are moving fast here at Empty Room Blog. As I continue to wait for my needed user account, I am taking certain steps regarding this webspace. As we speak, I am downloading the free 'pmachine' blogging software. I have already coughed up $5 to rent some server space to run the software at getmeonline.net. After doing so, I realized that they are based out of Dublin and Barcelona, which means it's something like 7 in the morning there and my account ain't going to get activated for a little while. Yes, that's right. I am now waiting on two account activations. But progress is being made. I am conducting further reserach into the live-audio-stream. Once I have set up pmachine I have plans for a rotating photo, qoute and link gallery. And there may even be a name change in the works. Just as soon as I think of a better name. Of course, all that depends on Mr. Lu and his imaginary friend (whose empty desk he pointed at as part of his "I need his help and he's not here" plea when I angrily confronted* him earlier) taking a very long time processing my account indeed. But that's not impossible. *by 'angrily confronted', I guess I mean 'knocked politley on his door, waited for a few undergrads to finish speaking with him, and then politely brought the subject up before thanking him for his time'. But next time I'm not going to be so easy to get rid of. Increasing PSRL will be the consuming focus of all credibly sustainable LLCS providers, AAAGH This post (the origins of which I won't explain because I don't understand, something to do with some venture capitalist's challenge posted to AlwaysOn) is a long frightening nightmare to me. I don't understand it but it disturbs and scares me and I want to expunge it from my brain. Tim, Not long ago my business plan for a provider of lifelong learning and career services (LLCS) was circulated internally at Microsoft. I subsequently received the following e-mail from Randy Hinrichs, Manager of Microsoft Research's Learning Sciences and Technology Group: "Frank, you are a good man. Have you thought about joining this team? Your only alternative, of course, is venture capital. But their usual models require getting rid of the 'originator' within the first eighteen months. With Netscape it took a little longer, but you get the idea." An updated version of the business plan is online here. Why? A big part of winning the war on terrorism is convincing potential terrorist recruits and supporters that their interests are being served by America and her allies. People are at their most convinced when they are psychologically addicted. Psychological addiction takes shape in the part of the brain called the nucleus accumbens, which is fired by the prospects of professional success, romance and laughs (PSRL). Increasing PSRL will be the consuming focus of all credibly sustainable LLCS providers. In particular, these providers will race to develop and fund their own student loan programs, as most customers will need financing in order to consume their initial bundle of LLCS, and will be drawn to the provider offering the best loan package. These loan programs will, in time, democratize access to LLCS -- and hence, expand prospects of PSRL to all who might otherwise become terrorist recruits or supporters. So conspicuously turbocharging maturation of the LLCS market should be a big part of the war on terrorism. As a startup LLCS provider, The Opportunity Services Group can best contribute by sharing our Microsoft-approved plan to introduce a reality TV show and a participatory online complement, both initially showcasing the buildout of our open source software for online matchmaking, code-named Go_Ogle -- and by sharing how this rollout strategy can be leveraged to achieve global leadership of the mature LLCS market, expected to be worth hundreds of trillions of dollars. Enjoy, Frank Ruscica Founder The Opportunity Services Group :: Have Fun to Get Ready www.opportunityservices.com original link This must be a joke right? I mean, it has to be a joke right? "worth hundreds of trillions of dollars."?!? The webpage referenced (www.opportunityservices.com) is an endless font of business qoutes and graphs. Either this is the one of the most elaborate and subtley hilarious spoofs of the business mindset I have ever seen, or it is awesomely horrible. Lecturing the chamber of commerce James Howard Kunstler is an author whose books about urban design, and the decline thereof, my mom has read. He also writes for Orion magazine, such as this juiced-up rant on the half life of current American values. Good stuff. Maul of America "But something had gotten into me that day. Maybe it was the chain hotel I spent the night in, isolated in its free parking orbit from everything else in the universe. So I throttled up to rant-speed: "We're about to send soldiers to Afghanistan," I told them. "If one of them steps on a land mine over there, what will he remember, in his last moment, about the place he calls home? Will it be the curb-cut in front of Chuck E Cheese's? Will he pine for the stacking lanes at the traffic light in front of the mall?" The grumbling got louder. "We've got twenty-thousand places like this in America that are not worth caring about. How long is it going to be before all these places add up to a nation that is not worth defending?" "Boo. . ." "We're gonna have to come up with some reasons to care about this civilization beyond discount shopping and hamburgers." "Siddown." A cultural moment in time It must be a year now, since Ugluk the ice-man thawed out from a glacier and, in one of the classic moments of cross-cultural and cross-temporal history, contacted the Crazy Apple Help Desk to ask advice about buying an iMac. He's back. I thought the world should know. OK, this has all been taken care of in an adult fashion. A really slow adult fashion Zhi-Wei Lu is keeping me waiting. I emailed him twice* yesterday about getting me a user account on the Mahler "supercomputer" here on campus, which he didn't do, and this morning he personally told me over the phone that it was a simple matter and he would take care of it. He told me that, over the phone, from his desk. Which is presumably where he stores his computer. Which he could have used to give me the permissions I need. That was 2 hours ago. How am I dealing with it? Until he does what he said he would do I'm going to talk about him behind his back on the internet. And there is nothing he can do about it. I've got some parametric geocoding to do, and when I can't do my parametric geocoding, I get nasty. Lu, you've been warned. Also, I'm going to go to lunch. *ok, by twice I mean I sent the same email to his 2 different email accounts A change in the wind? Somewhere along the way, the American media has actually begun to report on some of the issues. Yes, they failed to cover the extent of the massive peace protests last month (we'll see about tomorrow's), yes there has been almost no American mention of the fact that America has been spying on it's allies or forgeing it's "evidence" among other things, but for some reason the LA Times is publishing on this little nugget: (from Reuters) Report Doubts Bush's Iraq Domino Theory - LA Times Fri Mar 14,11:19 AM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A classified report by the State Department concluded that overthrowing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) is unlikely to generate democratic reform in the Arab world, the Los Angeles Times said on Friday. Here's the registration required link to the the Times article. What's going on here? Fresh copy Another Poster For Peace, a collection of royalty-free peace graphics from graphic designers has recently added some new designs. Share and enjoy.  Re: An official Welcome "Well, allow me to retort" - Samuel L. Jackson as Jules Winnfield - Pulp Fiction 
Hugh siad: "...this blog stands as testament to the amount of procrastination activity that I undertake may be interested to compare with Chi's own publishing space..." I think that was a dis. I feel the need to point a few things out. First of all, I type fast. So even though it looks like I've spent a lot of time blogging this past week, in reality I can spit out an entry in a few mintues and have it up on the site. That's what I like about blogspot.com. I can write up and publish content super-fast. So instead of procrastinating on all my ideas, I can at least publish them (at least the ones I'm not trying to determine if they are worthy of cash generation). HTML is also pretty easy to remember and I can type it as I go. Secondly, I can write (compose words) quickly. In a way, for me, my blog is a way to do something more productive than just surf and email friends. I'm using it to publish all the good ideas I have. I'm trying to respond to interesting news items in a way that adds something of myself and some kind of meaningful commentary to. Thirdly, I don't keep up with my friends as often as I'd like. So this is a way for me to share with them, in a non-intrusive way, all the things my mental filter catches and wants to share. So... umm... yeah. Feel free to go browse your mom. Just kidding around buddy :) -C Thursday, March 13
Interested in spectral sensing of vegetation? The powerpoint presentation that I gave to the remote sensing course today is online. It's about some of the work we did earlier this year conducting a pilot study to see how well we could assess the water status of some conifer trees based on the light reflectance of their needles. Or something. Check out the cool 70's retro-ish background I made from pine needle pictures. Well, I thought it was cool. The whole thing probably doesn't make much sense without the audio component. And I figured out how to get better resolution in the photos just as I was finishing it up. So no high resolution photos. Wednesday, March 12
An official welcome We here at Empty Room Blog would like to officially welcome "team member" Chiron. This is good news for the blog. Specifically because certain elements who have suggested that this blog stands as testament to the amount of procrastination activity that I undertake may be interested to compare with Chi's own publishing space, ChiDot. So there. holy crap Holy crap, I just noticed Chiron is posting on my blog. I guess that thing worked then. Carry on. Reporting live from the unwar Fresh pics from the rally (wrapping up now) on the UC Davis quad: www.cstars.ucdavis.edu/~hugh/rally with smaller versions of the same at: www.cstars.ucdavis.edu/~hugh/rally/smaller pictures of protestors and protestor-protestors.  Dynamic DNS www.Yi.org also does dynamic hosting. I've been using it for a while. The best part is you can use a program or a web interface to update the IP address. I use a windows program on my desktop at home to update called yiPost. The funny thing is, it's my linux firewall that runs on the IP even though it's a completely different computer the runs the program. I can provide more info if required, but the website is pretty good. an idea Hmmm. So if I edit the blog template I could post a static link to another webpage/resource onto this page. I'm sure I found a little windows based micro-music-server that streamed off into the ether any music you happened to be playing on your system. dyndns.org has a service wherein they link your IP address to a specific URL name for free (ie. emptyroom.dyndns.org) there is a utility available to automatically and periodically check your current IP and sync it with dyndns.org So... I should be able to throw together a little system to create a live stream of the music I am listening to on my computer, and make it accessible from my blog page by creating a link to the dyndns provided host name. Interesting. Now let's see if I get around to doing it. Beastie boys get earnest on your ass The Beastie Boys have prereleased to the web a track from their new CD. It's an anti-war song they thought should get out while it was still topical. A for effort guys. On the down side, it provides a little evidence for ye old saying 'practice makes perfect'. The Boys haven't got a lot of practice with war songs, and it comes off a little like a saturday-morning-kid's-show-host-rap. Now don't get us wrong because we love america But thats no reason to get hysterica In a world gone mad it's hard to think right So much violence hate and spite Come on guys, you're pissed off and you write nasty rap songs. Let's have a little pointed nastiness here. It would do us all some good. The track is not so much "cutting" or "biting" as "explaining". But hey. It is appreciated. I like Harleys Harley Davidson is celebrating it's 100th year of making motorcycles. That is impressive. I'm more of a sport-touring guy myself, and my official line is that Harleys are for fashion victims. So this is a bit of a confession: I do like Harley motorcycles. I do appreciate the people who ride them. I stand fast on some points of objection to "Classic Milwaukee Iron". The whole Harley market is a parallel motorcycle universe in which Harley Davidson Motor Company functions as a monopoly to it's captivated market, and is free to sell good or bad bikes at it's whim and people will always buy them and buy them and buy so many of them in fact that even when the factories are turning out questionable models demand outstrips supply. The culture too is a bit suspicous. All that shiny chrome and fringy leather and lick n' stick "conchos" frankly strikes as a wee bit pretentious. And yes, the largest part of the modern Harley market are well-off men in their waning years with money and unfufilled dreams looking to buy back a piece of their childhood. Granted, I am more impressed by waning males who actually go out and spend the money rather than rubbing it up against their virtual bank accounts for the rest of their limited lives, but an influx of such citizens into a culture built around the idea of the the resourceless vagabond striving for unknown greatness through shear freedom is, well, problematic. There's only so many balding dentists you can put in a circle of desperate leathery toughs before it's really desperate leathery toughs in a circle of balding dentists. Additionally, Harleys are what they are: laid back cruisers, ergonomically suited best to short rides that don't put too much stress on the lower back, ideally in grid-fashioned city streets or agricultural backroads or American style highways where the only turns are made right after you've come to a complete stop. I mean, how are you supposed to really lean a bike through a self-respecting switchback when your centre of gravity is in line with your knees? And there is this: I have heard that because of the lopsided supply/demand curve and the obsession with "authenticity", almost all Harleys actually gain in value as they age. Buy low, sell high. Any motorbike that serves as a good financial investment immeadiatley deserves suspicion. But. I like Harleys. And the people who ride them. First of all, if you strip off all the flashy bits that appeal to crows and folk who have never really ridden a horse, I dig the basic, naked silhouette. It is primally lodged in the old brain. It does look good. (As an aside: that sounds like fun. Getting some bolt cutters and repairing the self respect of a accessorized Harley by stripping off all the flashy bits. The chrome would be more difficult. Sand blasting?) Secondly, they are union made. That counts Thirdly, the company does have a rich history. Not that it justifies uncertainly engineered bikes, but if all other things could be equal, I wouldn't mind buying from a company that maintained it's status as family owned for so many decades, then after going public in desperation actually bought itself back out. It's a shame it had to once again go public, by some accounts if they had held on a couple more years in the late 80's they would have been able to maintain privateness until now. But that's second guessing and 20/20 hindsight. I also dig that they got their start marketing serious daily machines for serious daily people. The early "silent grey fellow" models were advertised for their quietness. Cool. Fourthly, the new one. The V-Rod. Someone down in Milwaukee must have woken up one morning with a plan. I would ride that bike. Finally and most importantly. Two times I have been stuck on the side of the road. Once it was just because I'd launched onto the highway without putting my glasses on and had to stop on the precarious shoulder. The other time I was being chased along the shoulder by my downed, sliding motorcycle after misjudging a turn. Both times a truck stopped and almost instantly some dude in a harley cap was checking in on me. No attitude, no condescencion, just a hand and a wave. That really counts. And I clearly wasn't riding no Harley. For that I can forgive the company all the loud grey fellows who are swelling the old Harley people's ranks. I think it will be good for the newcomers. And I can forgive the dangly things they staple on, and the studdy do-nothings all over their undersized saddle bags, and the racket-tuned mufflers, and the "my other car is a Harley" plates on the backs of I-class Beemers. Fine, be that way. The world is not perfect, and somewhere in the heart of Harleydom, there is a real heart. Good enough for me. Tuesday, March 11
No es calor Here in northern california, the first subathers are appearing on campus and there is plenty of talk about spring 'finally' being here. For comparison, in the great white bloody north they are still waking up to sub-negative 10 degrees (celsius) temps in the morning. And now the great lakes have officialy frozen over: http://cbc.ca/stories/2003/03/11/ice_water030311 Somebody really should tell them that spring is finally here, because they just don't seem to be getting it. p.s. I have no intention of making this blogging space into a canadiana tribute. It just seems to work out that way. Monday, March 10
"What have I done?" -- Alec Guinness, Bridge On the River Kwai Just completed a call with a crewboss from E.L.F. Reforestation. I seem to have just signed on for another summer of planting trees in clearcuts. I should regret this decision. Why don't I? Interactive text mapping of "real places" I wouldn't be as interested in this previous to my life being inundated with geographers but... Someone has started a project to develop easy tools to let people collabaratively create textual "maps" of the places they live. Like MUDs or choose-your-own-adventure novels. But of actual places. Producing I suppose, virtual worlds that mirror real landscapes but are subtley, or not-so-subtley modified by the perceptions of the people who live there. There is a paper here for some cloistered academic interested in social perception. Or something. In any case, there are probably some interesting implications of this which I can't think of right now. And it has a text-messaging interface! Still in it's infancy, but apparently there is a substantial map of London, which I haven't been able to figure out how to view: space.frot.org What's going on up there? Witmer chased from teachers' meeting "As Witmer attempted to get on an escalator, shouting protesters, some with their heads covered with brown paper bags, rushed after her. " It's like the Ents have really finally had it. 8 (?) years of hard line conservative rule have finally pushed the whole lot of them over the edge I suppose. Well, I don't advocate violence but I do advocate getting right pissed off when it's in order. Anybody associated with the education "industry" in Ontario has plenty of reason to want to chase down Elizabeth Witmer and throw water on her head. They really shouldn't do it, but I understand why they want to. Covering their heads with paper bags suggests a certain degree of premeditation. Some sort of "Lord of the Flies" scenario emerging up there maybe. Pigs head on a stick! "Monday's events suggested teachers are still angry at the ruling Tories." Ah... understatement. Saturday, March 8
A novel, perhaps bizarre, music industry replacement scheme "The Honest Thief" is a Dutch company that grabbed attention in the limited circles of the file-sharing world a couple of weeks ago by publicly announcing their presence as for-profit, anti-music-industry do-gooders. Dismissed at the time as hype and vaporware, they have now released some details of their strategy. Which may or may not be vaporware, but is definitley kind of interesting and mostly weird. The plan as far as I can make out: produce a peer-to-peer filesharing application - that is to say, a napster replacement, for those of you who haven't been following the terminology - which would have a twist. The twist is that by using the app for filesharing, you would also be agreeing to allow Honest Thief to use your computer as part of a distributed computing network. Similar I imagine to seti@home or Compute Against Cancer. When you aren't using your computer, the Honest Theif would be, as one node among many to complete heavy processing tasks. This distributed processing capacity would then be leased to research institutes for whatever task they wish. The money thus raised in leases would (I'm not making this up folks, they are) then be used to pay the artists. I assume this means specifically the artists whose work is being distributed. So that's artists---> you---> research institutes---> artists. Via "the honest theif" in each case. Forbes article: www.forbes.com/business/newswire/2003/03/06/rtr899959.html Friday, March 7
Watch me on the mic as I elegantly rebutt In his article "The Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science", which is pretty good, Robert L. Park identifies 7 things which, if encountered, indicate a scientific claim is probably pseudo-science. In reponse: 1. The discoverer pitches the claim directly to the media. One of the reasons this guide to spotting bogus science is useful is because the scientific community generally does a lousy job of communicating with the larger community. Consequently, when the two do come into contact, it's usually an uneasy and uncertain experience for both sides. More direct publication from scientists to others should happen, and hopefully will in the future. If someone pitches their claim to the media *in exclusion* of presenting it to the peer-review process, that probably is a good sign of sketchiness. 2. The discoverer says that a powerful establishment is trying to suppress his or her work. Unfortunatley, that does happen. Scientists do occasionally reject good work that opposes the general paradigm. Such work is rare but not nonexistent. More significantly, with the substantial growth of private funding for science, much good work either never happens because it can't get sympathetic rich groups to back it financially, or more rarely (think Nancy Olivieri) gets suppressed outright when the findings are against the interests of the funders. If a scientist claims a powerful establishment is trying to suppress their work, it doesn't mean it's good work but it doesn't necessarily mean they are charlatans. 3. The scientific effect involved is always at the very limit of detection. Agree. 4. Evidence for a discovery is anecdotal. If someone is claiming that something should be generally accepted on anectodal evidence, that's probably bunk, but I frequently here people dismissing an idea outright just because it's based on such evidence. Anecdotal evidence doesn't make a claim wrong, it suggests it should be investigated rigorously 5. The discoverer says a belief is credible because it has endured for centuries. "Ancient folk wisdom, rediscovered or repackaged, is unlikely to match the output of modern scientific laboratories." Bullshit. A lot of ancient folk wisdom is superstitious crap, but it seems that often the reason people were willing to accept the crap as genuine is that they are lured into it by the results obtained by some of the none-crap elements. More than half of modern medicines are still synthetic copies of plant-based molecules. Many of those were dug up by "ethnobotanists" who interview groups who have been living in plant-rich areas for centuries. Summary: much 'alternative medicine' is low-effect baloney. Much for-profit pharmacuetical stuff is medium-effect, side-effect laden baloney. 6. The discoverer has worked in isolation. Probably true. 7. The discoverer must propose new laws of nature to explain an observation. 99.9999% true. "A new law of nature, invoked to explain some extraordinary result, must not conflict with what is already known." (emphasis added) is stretching it a bit. Thursday, March 6
Delta responds The thing I find most interesting is that Delta indicates here what information they are planning to provide through the program. As I understand it, they have previously not been releasing these details. "Dear Mr. Stimson: Thank you for your inquiry regarding the Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening System II (CAPPS II). Your concerns about privacy are certainly understandable. CAPPS II is a federal program administered by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) as a result of the heightened threat of terrorism to our country. Delta's role in the CAPPS II pilot program will be limited to providing data to the TSA that Delta already collects from passengers as part of our normal reservations and ticketing process. The security of Delta's passengers and safeguarding passenger information remains a top priority. Although we cannot comment further, you may direct your questions to the TSA by calling their Consumer Response Center at 1-866-289-9673. We regret your disappointment in this instance, and we will always welcome the opportunity to be of service. Sincerely, Kayan A. Rose Manager Customer Care" It will be interesting to watch this unfold. The Delta characterization of what information they will be sharing and with who is widely different than other reports. What about the suggestion that your credit rating will somehow be involved? Are they suggesting that the TSA will be responsible for assiging the "red/yellow/green" code that has been rumoured? Exactly what information that they collect through the "normal reservations and ticketing process" will they be forwarding to the TSA? If it is as simple as that, how is this intended to prevent terrorism? Personally, I will reserve some judgement, but I'm still not flying with them. Wednesday, March 5
Mo betta bush n' blair baitin Political humour? Oh yes, we've got political humour. Somebody put a little love and care into this carefully constructed Bush/Blair ballad. Gazing into my magic onion Came across this article from the January 2001 edition of The Onion, Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over', Reporting on Bush's inaugural address, The Onion qouted him as making the following claims: - 'selling off the national parks to developers' (yes, more or less) - 'going into massive debt to develop expensive and impractical weapons technologies' (oh my yes) - 'the U.S. will engage in at least one Gulf War-level armed conflict in the next four years' (yepper) - 'a 250 percent boost in military spending' (not sure what the exact number is, but, well, yes) - 'bring back economic stagnation by implementing substantial tax cuts' (yes) '.... which would lead to a drop in consumer spending' (been reading the finance section lately?) - He assured citizens that he will follow through on his campaign promise to open the 1.5 million acre refuge's coastal plain to oil drilling (still working on it) They missed a prediction here: 'Bush had equally high praise for Attorney General nominee John Ashcroft, whom he praised as "a tireless champion in the battle to protect a woman's right to give birth' Ashcroft started with abortion bullying, but he's opened up on a lot of fronts since. Of course, back then they had no idea that 911 would happen. I have heard it argued that the bulk of the US administration's post-attack policies have been oppurtunistic attempts to push through old goals. Apparently those goals were previously obvious at least to the prophets at America's Finest News Source. Tuesday, March 4
Well, that's the end of that debate Treeplanters generally have pretty limited scope of conversation. Mostly they talk about numbers of trees they have planted in various days or seasons or provinces. Here is one of the most interesting (ok, the only interesting) discussions of tree numbers I've seen on the planter bulletin boards: http://www.plant-a-tree.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 Notice the old timer who figures himself at above 2 million (!) trees over his many seasons, and be sure to read Ken Chaplin's post regarding his recent record setting 15,000 tree day. "Setting the record is never an impossibility, or a pipe dream; just an issue of the right place, right time, and right circumstances." Interestingly, that may not settle that debate, there is a follow up post about a claimed 16k day by some baller from down under. For the record, I reckon about a quarter million seedlings have been midwifed by my left hand here. Amazing I can still type. Or think. Well, okay, type. Yikes, I'm talking about planting again. Maybe the media really are liberal At last nights' white house press breifing, spokesman Ari Fleischer waxed indignant when a journalist asked him about reports that the US has been attempting to buy international support for it's war resolution before the UN. In response, the room full of seasoned journalists broke up laughing. The breifing ended. If you watch through to the break up of the breifing in this c-span coverage, (fast forward to about minute 28 to see Ari's stand up bit), you can distinctly hear one of the media members joking that Ari was "laughed off the stage". In related news, can somebody please reverse engineer the Real Video protocol and release a hacked viewer that isn't essentially one big bloated peice of spyware? Ebay invites government scrutiny of users Grand. If this article in an Israeli paper is true, Ebay is really excited about giving government investigators of all flavours access to all the details of their users behaviour that they are privy to. The source is claimed to be a talk Ebay law enforcement liason cheif Joseph Sullivan gave at the "Cyber Crime 2003" conference. If he really did say what they are reporting, they are practically pushing all of the information in their user databases at law enforcement, and they aren't too concerned with due process. At all. And it's probably suprising just how many details they can patch together about a user's behaviour. Ever bought something on Ebay? "We don't make you show a subpoena, except in exceptional cases," Sullivan told his listeners. "When someone uses our site and clicks on the `I Agree' button, it is as if he agrees to let us submit all of his data to the legal authorities. Which means that if you are a law-enforcement officer, all you have to do is send us a fax with a request for information, and ask about the person behind the seller's identity number, and we will provide you with his name, address, sales history and other details - all without having to produce a court order. We want law enforcement people to spend time on our site," he adds. He says he receives about 200 such requests a month, most of them unofficial requests in the form of an email or fax. The meaning is clear. One fax to eBay from a lawman - police investigator, NSA, FBI or CIA employee, National Park ranger - and eBay sends back the user's full name, email address, home address, mailing address, home telephone number, name of company where seller is employed and user nickname. What's more, eBay will send the history of items he has browsed, feedbacks received, bids he has made, prices he has paid, and even messages sent in the site's various discussion groups." Wish I was running down Lynx Because maybe then I'd have experiences like this: "....I am stealing satalite email time so I gotta go. Last week was fantastic! Looked into the eyes of a lynx from a few feet away - eye of the tiger indeed. Later that week helped out with an anaethetized lynx, gave his fur a good rub and held one of his massive paws in my hand. I can not explain to you how magnificent these cats are. Yup, I've seen pictures and stuff too - but gawd damn huge - if you had seen those eyes and the astonishingly large face that surrounds them. Thinking about him on the way home that day the hair stood up on the back of my neck...." Damn. I'm gonna have to dig around in my filing tub and see if I can find that biology degree. I'm sure I had one. Good thing I'm not running Unix Or I'd be wasting time trying to remember how to compile code into executables so I could play with some of these witty little utilities a freind brought to my attention: "This is UNIX... I know this..." 3D File System Navigator for IRIX 4.0.1+ As seen in "Jurassic Park"! http://www.sgi.com/fun/freeware/3d_navigator.html It was real. Wtf. Also of interest: http://fsv.sourceforge.net/ And why not use Doom to file your file system: http://www.cs.unm.edu/~dlchao/flake/doom/ -Chi I've been using Disk Piecharter for years on my PC. Looks a little tired now. Monday, March 3
Look at me, I'm boycottin Delta posted this off to various Delta Airlines people just now: To: mailto829investrel.dl@delta.com,Vicki.Escarra@delta.com,Tom.Donahue@delta.com, Steve.Forsyth@delta.com,Tom.Slocum@delta.com,dan.lewis@delta.com, Patrice.Miles@delta.com,Customer.Care@delta-air.com,Kevin.Pinto@delta.com Subject: the CAPPS program Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 16:51:05 -0500 (EST) Reply Reply All Forward Delete << Previous Next >> Message List "Dear Delta, I am relieved that there are as many options in air travel as there currently are. Although I have flown with Delta on several occasions in the past, it will be easy and affordable for me to fly with another carrier should Delta choose to implement the CAPPS program. Please understand that in our society at this time, my privacy, including the details of my background, are a potential source of both inconvenience to me should it be released to marketers, and power over me should it be gathered by others. Once this information is gathered, it often cannot be retracted, but instead may be collated by other potential large databasing initiatives, and used in ways that I will not neccesarily know about or have control over. That information is mine and not yours, and I will not surrender it to you in order to be able to fly with you. I am a normal white middle-class male with nothing to hide that is of significance to an airline. But I cannot in good conscience participate in a program that erodes personal rights and freedoms. Thank you for your time, Hugh" Ouch, there was a really long sentence in the middle there that I didn't notice. CAPPS 2 is a "a mini-TIA that will data-mine every air passenger's travel history, living arrangements, and other personal and demographic information. " (from bOINGbOING). If the airline industry is half as vulnerable as they claim they are everytime they go begging for some more corporate welfare, Delta must be mighty sensitive to a little boycott action. Saddle up. Saturday, March 1
May I make a suggestion Go watch Waking Life. Don't read this interview with the writer/director (you know who he is, but it's not important) or let anybody tell you what the film is about before you see it. |
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