Monday, June 16, 2003

King Kaufman's Sports Daily. Are the NBA's good times really over for good, or were this year's hideous Finals just the darkness before a LeBron dawn? [Salon.com] 8:35:29 PM    comment []

Eszter is talking about the tiny percentage of women who keep their name after marriage. 8:07:07 PM    comment []

Judge orders millions of CD buyers to get $13 each. CNN via NewsIsFree: Popular Items. So, I guess they should be e-mailing me about this soon! 5:40:05 PM    comment []

A review of Inventing Accuracy: A Historical Sociology of Nuclear Missile Guidance, by Donald MacKenzie. From the review: The point is that, to a large degree, accuracy determines whether national security depends on targeting cities, industrial networks, or specific military targets within the military industrial complex. As MacKenzie tells us, the more deeply one looks inside the black box, the more one realizes that 'the technical' is no clear-cut and simple world of facts insulated from politics. 5:06:40 PM    comment []

Over at Julie/Julia, it's 72 days to go and a scary number of recipes. You can do it, Julie! 3:06:46 PM    comment []

Frank Field: there are things that societies shouldn't allow markets to value - the environment is one; culture is another. It's just the wrong working metaphor. And movements like environmentalism and, dare I say, Creative Commons come into being to develop ways to develop institutions and instruments that can harmonize human action across these different domains, rather than allowing a single perspective/institution/mechanism to overwhelm another. 3:06:43 PM    comment []

I asked them for a cup of packets, and here I am, says Doc. 3:06:40 PM    comment []

Not until I read this entry at Gulker did I realize that Friday past was a Friday the Thirteenth. 3:06:36 PM    comment []

HSD official obtained Ph.D. from diploma mill, by Patience Wait and Wilson P. Dizard III, Post Newsweek Tech Media. Laura Callahan Laura L. Callahan, now senior director in the office of department CIO Steven Cooper, states on her professional biography that she holds a Ph.D. in Computer Information Systems from Hamilton University. Callahan, who is also president of the Association for Federal IRM and a member of the CIO Council, is commonly called by the title “Dr.” . . . Hamilton University, according to an Internet search, is located in Evanston, Wyo. It is affiliated with and supported by Faith in the Order of Nature Fellowship Church, also in Evanston. The state of Wyoming does not license Hamilton because it claims a religious exemption. Oregon has identified Hamilton University as a diploma mill unaccredited by any organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Callahan could not be reached for comment after repeated calls to her office. Michelle Petrovich, a department spokeswoman, said Friday afternoon, We have no reason at this time not to believe Laura Callahan’s credentials, and we will look into the matter. On Monday, officials were continuing their investigation, she said. The department's CIO, Steve Cooper, also did not return repeated calls seeking comment. . . . Hamilton’s material said it provides degrees to individuals who state that their life and work experiences give them qualifications comparable to those of persons who complete academic courses and theses or dissertations to obtain degrees. The bulk of communications between Hamilton and its customers is via e- mails, faxes and postal mail. Calls to Hamilton go to a voice-mail system. They bought an old motel and took it apart and furnished it with stucco. It’s very nice, said Connie Morris, executive assistant at the Evanston, Wyo., Chamber of Commerce. They are members of the Chamber. They have two or three employees. . . . Hamilton University’s enrollment application and enrollment invitation spell out the simple requirements for students who wish to obtain a Ph.D. $3,600, payable up front by bank draft or personal check only. Hamilton does not accept credit cards. Completing one course at home on “personal, business and professional ethics.” Hamilton provides the course workbook, and the student must complete the open-book examination that is included. The school’s materials state the course and test require an average of five to eight hours to complete. Writing one paper relevant to the area in which the Ph.D. is being sought. The minimum length for the paper is 2,000 words, or roughly four pages, and will be referred to as a dissertation, the materials say. In return, Hamilton promises to deliver an official diploma in a leather bound holder… of the highest possible quality and carry[ing] the official raised seal of the university. The organization promises that the diplomas granted by Hamilton University do not reflect how the degree requirements were met (traditionally or externally). (thanks, Jim!) Like Jim, I applaud the teaching of ethics in any course of study for a PhD. And let me, please, please, please, quote that Chamber of Commerce person one more time: They bought an old motel and took it apart and furnished it with stucco. It’s very nice,. They are members of the Chamber. They have two or three employees. Laura Callahan was one of last year's Federal 100. Her Dream job? College professor at a major university. But it's a bit unclear whether she even has a bachelor's degree: according to HSD official accused of using diploma mill (the Washington Technology follow up story) According to Callahan's resume, she earned her bachelor's degree in computer science in 1993, her master's in computer science in 1995, and a doctorate in computer information systems in 2000, all from Hamilton University. In March 2000, when Callahan was subpoenaed to appear before the House Government Reform Committee on breakdowns in the White House e-mail system, she testified under oath that she was a graduate of Thomas Edison State College in Trenton, N.J. She did not mention the Hamilton degrees. The alumni office at the New Jersey college confirmed that Callahan obtained a two-year associate's degree in 1992; her major was liberal arts/general. The same story quotes Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, as saying I am very concerned by allegations that a senior Department of Homeland Security official may have misrepresented her academic credentials, said Collins, whose committee oversees Homeland Security. I have written [June 3] to DHS in order to determine whether this official did in fact breach the government's trust and, if so, what actions the department plans to take. And now, it seems, Deputy CIO at Homeland Security Department placed on leave (Linda Rosencrance, Computerworld). In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, Representative Carolyn Maloney wrote, What is troubling to me is that a senior official in the Department of Homeland Security in the office of the CIO would have a questionable degree in computer information systems and I would hope that checking credentials on a resume is a standard procedure in any background check. The Computerworld story also notes In March 2000, she was one of two White House officials accused of threatening Northrop Grumman Corp. workers with jail unless they kept quiet about the disappearance of thousands of White House e-mails, according to press reports at the time. Callahan was the White House webmaster under the Clinton administration, and Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman ran the White House computer system at the time. The e-mails in question had been subpoenaed during congressional and judicial criminal inquiries that included investigations into campaign finance abuse during the 1996 presidential campaign. Callahan testified under oath at a congressional hearing that she never threatened anyone over the e-mails. The outcome of the investigation couldn't be determined. (PhD webmaster!) (Homeland Security background checks!) I'm glad to know that liberal arts training is good prepration for overseeing federal budgets in the hundreds of millions and for organizing the making of technical decisions about security. But I'm awfully surprised not to have seen this story reported elsewhere. 3:06:29 PM    comment []

Decent discussion in the comments over at Plastic, following Friday's story, Tense Calm Blankets Tehran After Protests, by Ali Akbar Dareini. 2:06:27 PM    comment []

COPYRIGHT CONUNDRUM: Lawrence Lessig, an expert on Internet law from Stanford University's Law School, and Matt Oppenheim, senior vice president of business and legal affairs for the Recording Industry Association of America, answer your questions about this heated debate. Part of the Online News Hour's Copyri ghting in the Digital Age. (thanks, MP3 Newswire!) 2:06:24 PM    comment []

Iran's angry young adults erupt in political protest: For five nights in a row, students and families vent frustration with pace of reform. By Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor. [W]hat started out as a paltry student demonstration is now loaded with significance for the future of the Islamic Republic. STORMING THE GATES: Local residents join students at an entryway to Tehran University Friday night. Protests have continued for five consecutive nights. Morteza Nikoubazl/Reuters Unlike the student demonstrations four years ago, say analysts in Tehran, these protests are tapping into an unexpectedly fierce determination by thousands of ordinary Iranians - many of them young, and some families with children in tow - who are frustrated with the slow pace of political change in Iran. . . . It's scary talking to these people [the protesters], says a seasoned political analyst reached by phone in Tehran, who asked not to be named. There is such a determination in their eyes and their behavior. They are fearless; they are ready for combat. It's like [urban] warfare. They say: 'This is just the beginning, we have started it, and we are going all the way to the end,' the analyst says. But if you carry on the conversation, they have no idea about what the end should look like.... It is very dangerous. . . . [P]olls have shown that some 90 percent of Iranians themselves want change, and that 70 percent want dramatic change - results that hard-line ideologues say are wildly inaccurate. It is going to be a long, hot summer, says Ali Ansari, the British author of A History of Modern Iran since 1921: The Pahlavis and After. We're not in a revolutionary situation, but Iran is a country with a long history of social protest, and the situation is incredibly fragile. What has been striking in the last year, is the rapidity of the collapse of social popularity of the regime, Mr. Ansari says. People are no longer saying 'Tinker with the edges, and it will be OK.' People say: 'Let's get rid of them.' That's a lot how things read on English-language, Persian weblogs, too. 2:06:20 PM    comment []

Kabul's cyber cafe culture, by Sanjoy Majumder, BBC News Online. For a country that has been brutally scarred by a war that has left little standing, the idea of an information revolution takes some getting used to. Only two years ago, the Taleban banned the use of the internet by anyone but the government. 2:06:16 PM    comment []

BNA reports (no link given): CANADA TO SCRAP COPYRIGHT EXTENSIONS ON UNPUBLISHED WORKS Decima's Canadian New Media reports that the Canadian government plans to drop controversial provisions from a bill that would have extended the term of copyright for unpublished works by deceased authors. Dubbed the Lucy Maud Montgomery Copyright Term Extension Act, members of a committee considering the bill noted that they had been flooded with calls and emails of people concerned with the copyright extension. 1:06:09 PM    comment []

Tacit Knowledge -- Writing a Book In other words, your chances of making a living writing books are perhaps better than are your chances of ever playing in the NBA. But not all that much better. . . . But why turn your urge to create into "writing a book" in the first place? You say you've got a story to tell? Well, why does it have to be a book? You'll burden your life with a tedious project for a couple of years, you'll probably overstretch your material, and then no one will read the results. Why not realize your project in a manageable and pleasureable way instead? Put in a month of writing, keep it to a compact length, and post it to the Web. (There really aren't many stories that need more than 50 pages.) It's certainly true that no one may pay attention to your work despite its being out there on the Web. But at least you'll have told your story, enjoyed the process, made your work available -- and you won't have ruined your life, or broken your heart. No one listens to me, of course, and it's probably better that way (thanks, Arts and Letters Daily!) 1:06:05 PM    comment []

Digital Consumer Bill of Rights 1:06:02 PM    comment []

Will Big Media Choke the Net?: Debate brews over digital fallout from FCC's hands-off approach to media ownership. By Elsa Wenzel, Medill News Service. Think you'll always be able to post breaking news on your blog and scoop Nightline or The New York Times? Think again, says Mark Cooper, research director at the Consumer Federation of America. . . . The Internet is not going to overthrow existing media as much as incorporate into it, get married into it, [Robert] McChesney [professor of communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] says. Then, information will become concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, he warns. Already, major media companies own the top 20 news sites, from AOL to washingtonpost.com, according to Nielsen/ Net Ratings. 12:05:54 PM    comment []

Long NYT piece: Young Iranians Are Chafing Under Aging Clerics' Edicts, by Neil MacFarquhar. [T]he Iranian Student News Agency reported that students planned to hold their first daytime demonstration at noon Monday in downtown Tehran. The week's protests highlight the question of how long a group of aging clerics can impose their vision of an Islamic state on a nation 70 percent of whose people are under 30. While some Iranians still believe in their theocracy, the majority want a sweeping transformation. They do not want to be told what to think, what to wear, what to read, what to watch and how to behave, and they are frustrated at the glacial pace of change. Still, the demonstrations do not really pose a serious challenge to the mullahs, because opponents of the system lack a unifying figure or organization that can translate their demands into public pressure. . . . Six years ago everyone was persuaded that the Islamic Republic could stay and Mr. Khatami as a clergyman could be president and we needed some changes like freedom of speech, said Mohsen Sazegara, a former aide to Ayatollah Khomeini and a reformist journalist, speaking before he was detained today with his son on charges of incitement. Now day by day people are becoming more radical in their demands, he added. People are saying everything must be changed. But there is no collective vision of a viable alternative. The problem with reforms is that Iranians know what they don't want, but they do not know what they want, said Muhammad, a 24-year-old student. Many students interviewed did not want their full names or schools published, saying they feared subsequent harassment. . . . Faruda, a 20-year-old math major at an Isfahan university, was told to report to the campus morals committee last month. They said I was talking to men too much, she said, and that her clothing was immodest. They lectured her for three hours, Faruda said, handing her a list of 13 verses to read from the Koran about proper women's dress. I just listened; you can't argue back because it's the Koran, she said. . . . It takes a lot of courage just to walk with a woman down the main street of Isfahan, said Payam, a 21-year-old with the shoulder-length hair that many male students grow as a form of protest. We don't want a government that prescribes to us all the time what is good and what is bad, he added. . . . We should be able to criticize the government, the religion, said Hamed, a 21-year-old engineering major. If we want to be able to understand it, we should be able to criticize it. . . . Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, the spokesman for President Khatami, said: They want to create the perception of fear. They are trying to do something to say they are powerful, but they cannot make real problems for people anymore. . . . Despite their rancor, Hassan and many of the students disagree with those, and there are some, who would like to see the United States force a change of government, as it did in Iraq. They were dismayed by President Bush's praise of the demonstrations, believing that many Iranians will see his words as foreign meddling, strengthening the conservatives. Indeed, both the leadership and the press loyal to it have portrayed the students and their supporters as the paid tools of the United States. They said that many people went into the streets at the behest of monarchist television stations, based in California and broadcasting to Iran via satellite. Those people, the government said, want the shah's son returned to power, a view most Iranians considered a joke. Far better, many students and men like Hassan say, to leave the process of developing a democracy to the Iranians themselves. We were taught to accept everything, not to ask why, Hassan said. Change will come with the new generation when we are all gone. Change will come with my grandsons, because they ask why about everything. 9:09:24 AM    comment []

Iran arrests anti-government activists, by Ali Akbar Dareini (AP). Mohsen Sazegara and his son, Vahid, were taken to jail Sunday while two others -- Reza Alijani and Taqi Rahmani -- were arrested late Saturday, family members said. Plainclothes security forces came to our house and took my husband and son with them. They showed a judiciary order authorizing the arrest on charges of provoking students, Sazegara's wife, Soheila Hamidniya, told The Associated Press. Police took papers, CDs, a family photo album and foreign cash belonging to her husband, who is protesting the arrest by refusing to eat, she said. The death of the anti-government protester happened Friday night in Shiraz, 550 miles south of Tehran, where militants attacked a demonstrators, the daily Nasim-e-Saba reported Sunday. Security forces reportedly arrested 80 people. 9:00:53 AM    comment []

Tehran students continue protest. CNN via NewsIsFree: Popular Items. 8:55:09 AM    comment []

Update at the Tehran-Virginia Teem Girl blog, includes Playing mini-golf in Vanak. They have a very half-assed way of doing things here sometimes, but I don’t mind too much because I’m that way myself. [Tehran <-> Washington, DC 1970-1973 teen girl blog] 8:47:34 AM    comment []