Thursday, August 21, 2003

Freedom for Kathy Boudin. A parole board has decided that Weather Underground member Kathy Boudin has paid her considerable debt to society. [New York Times: Opinion] 11:48:06 PM    comment []

Pham Hong Son update: Vietnam Internet dissident to appeal sentence (Reuters). 5:17:32 PM    comment []

I have an iPod -- in my MIND. The ONION, via bOing bOing. One of the things I didn't talk about in my presentation at ALA but have been thinking about lately: When I was a kid, I was really struck by some of the far-reaching copyright statements at the front of books. This was when I was first reading book books rather than kids' fare. Maybe you know the sort of thing I mean: that you can't store or reproduce the text in any medium that exists or might one day exist, and so on. A literal reading of that, it seemed to me at the time (and now maybe I better go find one to read afresh), would preclude memorization. And now the iPod story. 5:52:27 AM    comment []

Opera gets in tune with Mac OS update. The Norwegian browser maker releases a version of its software tailored to Panther, the second major update to Apple's Mac OS X that is expected to launch later this year. [CNET News.com] 5:46:55 AM    comment []

Two from Smart Mobs: "Impersonal Social Capital": how we trust strangers. Paul Resnick returns to the problem of cooperation, specifically the question of strangers trusting each other. "Beyond Bowling Together: SocioTechnical Capital" gives you the background. (via Social Software) Tampa Panopticon Switched Off. Tampa Police announced today that its video-suveillance facial-recognition system will be shut down. The St. Petersburg Times reports that during the two years of its active use in Ybor City, a popular nightlife district, the system detected not a single known criminal. NPR also covered the story on All Things Considered. Bonus: coverage of Tampa's face recognition scam, er, scan over at X-Ray Net. social capital stories at "t'other blog". 5:44:23 AM    comment []

World Coffee Exports Rise. A surge in Brazilian exports lifted global coffee exports by 3.6 percent in the 12 months ended June 30. By The New York Times. [New York Times: Business] 5:37:52 AM    comment []

World O'Crap purports to be A daily diatribe about current events, politics, bad movies, reality TV, Ann Coulter, etc. Alas, JLo and Ben didn't invent bad movies. In reality, there were bad movies long before GIGLI. Let's go bad to 1952 and revisit, TEENAGE DEVIL DOLLS, a '50s exploitation movie written, directed, produced, and starring Bamlet Lawrence Price Jr. It will teach you many valuable lessons, for which there is no charge. All I ask is that you credit me for getting you off heroin and converting you back to lesbianism. Also, fine coverage of the imaginary suit by Evil Queen Inc. against Fox News Channel (FNC), since Evil Queen Inc., originator and operator of the world-famous poisoned apples and magic mirror, is the owner of federal trademark registrations for the phrase "Fairest of Them All." Evil Queen has used "Fairest of Them All" to distinguish herself from everyone else in the land ever since her well- publicized marriage to Snow White's Dad in 1392 A.D. She has used various methods, including cursed corsets and suborned dwarves, to enforce her copyright and to scrupulously preserve her reputation as being supremely fair of face and form. She has made it a goal to present herself to that supreme arbitrator of human beauty, the magic mirror, and let it reach its own conclusions as to her fairness. Therefore, she has also made use of the phrase "I reflect, you decide." She is the most successful of all the fairy tale witches, and has been terrorizing small children in the movies since 1937. World O' Crap. Ask for it by name. (Welcome to Salon Blogs!) 5:36:59 AM    comment []

Meet the Neighbors, Friend and Foe. It takes time to build a character in persistent-world games. The question is, is it worth the bother? By Charles Herold. [New York Times: Technology] 5:31:36 AM    comment []

3 Women and 3 Paths, 10 Years Later. Ten years ago, they were freshly minted M.I.T. graduates and, as women, part of a small minority in computer science. Where are they now? By Katie Hafner. [New York Times: Education] 5:28:38 AM    comment []

What we're listening to. The best songs of the summer -- including steamy offerings from Beyonce and Justin, an ode to infidelity and an unlikely antiwar anthem. [Salon Headlines] 5:27:44 AM    comment []