Sunday, September 28, 2003

A Stroll Through Patent History. Petra Moser, an M.I.T. assitant professor, has examined the historical relationship between patents and innovations and come to some surprising conclusions. By Teresa Riordan. [New York Times: Business] 10:44:31 PM    comment []

Two new Lisa Rein songs online. (thanks, Cory!) 10:43:29 PM    comment []

Kicking Ass on Sep 28, 2003: The second shoe drops. The Justice Department has opened an investigation into allegations that senior adminstration officials revealed the name of an undercover CIA agent. They revealed the name of Joseph Wilson's wife as political retribution for his report that President Bush's claim about Iraq buying uranium from Africa was false. And according to a Washington Post story this morning, the senior officials shopped the story around to six different reporters before conservative columnist Robert Novak took the bait: . . . 10:40:19 PM    comment []

Guarding Privacy vs. Enforcing Copyrights. Some of the same or similar advocacy groups are taking strikingly different positions when it comes to file-sharing. By John Schwartz. [New York Times: Business] 10:22:18 PM    comment []

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Confessions of a Spam King. How Richard Colbert mastered the art of bombarding people with unwanted e-mail, and why Congress almost certainly won't do anything to stop him. By Jack Hitt. [New York Times: Technology] 11:04:19 AM    comment []

Subversive Reading. Is it possible that librarians could be the biggest threat to the Patriot Act? By Margaret Talbot. [New York Times: Education] 11:01:23 AM    comment []

What Makes a Blog a Blog? Answers by Michael Feldman. (Pointer by Scripting News.) 10:54:02 AM    comment []

Remembering the People Who Give Back to the Net, and All of Us. The Internet has become a grossly commercialized Wild West in so many ways. But the community spirit on which it was founded is alive and well. The Net depends on the same spirit that motivates volunteers in the physical world: a commitment to solve problems and make life better for those who might otherwise not have the resources or expertise. [Dan Gillmor's eJournal] 10:49:29 AM    comment []

The Level of Discourse Continues to Slide. Based on nearly a decade of experience, detractors argue that PowerPoint-muffled messages may have life or death consequences. By John Schwartz. [New York Times: Technology] 10:43:39 AM    comment []

Repo man: My husband left me and our children at least a dozen times. He was never around for the middle-of-the-night fevers or Christmas concerts. But when I needed him the most, he materialized - - with a bolt cutter. By Ann M. Bauer, in Salon. 4:44:53 AM    comment []