Sunday, November 09, 2003

A New Way to Unclog the Arteries. Government-financed medical research institutions should step in to promote development of the kinds of drugs and therapy that industry regards as unprofitable. [New York Times: Opinion] 6:14:58 PM    comment []

SUNDAY COMICS [Begging To Differ] 4:01:46 PM    comment []

(Oh, and special to Andrew (now with bagelly goodness): book suggestions coming in the morning.) 3:56:59 PM    comment []

cultural pc-ism. Ok, so NBC produces a show about Private Lynch. She says the story is not true. But nonetheless, NBC runs the show. CBS produces a show about Ronald Reagan. The man who Would Save Reagan from TV and others say it is biased against Reagan. CBS cancels the show. Apparently it is ok to bend the truth, but only in one way. [Lessig Blog] 3:55:01 PM    comment []

So, that got me on the subject of Tetris-things-I've-blinked, which sent me looking for one on "t'other blog" -- and I found The Beat Goes On, from May of 2000, which led me to this movie of a complete Tetris game played on the side of a building. 1:36:46 PM    comment []

One year ago here at A blog doesn't need a clever name: deadline for plenary and workshop proposals for CFP 2003, Save Karyn: Help her pay off her credit card debt!, musiclink benefits artists directly, Is the New York Times blocking newsisfree.com referer links?, Microsoft Names Committee to Oversee Orders by Court, Microsoft settlement: Done deal, Sonicblue, TiVo settle patent spat, How Guantanamo's detainees amuse themselves, links on Tom Daschle under attack as Minority Leader, and an Unbelievable Tetris championship video. That last is 404 (doubly, since 'twas a newsisfree link), but I tracked it down for you, Dear Reader. Tetris Video Enjoy. 11:36:27 AM    comment []

For Many College Students, a Job (or Two) to Pay Tuition. With the economy shaky and college tuition continuing to rise, more students than ever are looking for part-time jobs on campus. By David Koeppel. [New York Times: Education] 8:51:32 AM    comment []

Tech Advice for Leftists. I was asked to explain the political significance of the Internet and mobile communications to left-leaning activists who need to have "weblog" and "listserv" defined. [Smart Mobs] 8:47:44 AM    comment []

We've had Napster since 1909, and the sky still hasn't fallen Cory's blinking http://earlyradiohistory.us/1909musi.htm : Good thing we rescued those idiots from themselves back in 1908 -- can you imagine a music industry where the most lucrative product in the market was sheet music? It's a pattern: the Vaudeville artists sued Marconi over the radio -- which made them rich. The movie studios boycotted TV until Disney sold out to get the funds for Disneyland -- and TV rights made the studios rich. Jack Valenti told Congress that the VCR was the Boston Strangler of the film industry, and then it doubled his income through pre-recorded tape sales and rentals. 8:45:37 AM    comment []

Riding Into Tehran On Winds of Change: Road From Baghdad Is Paved With Upheaval and Uncertainty. By Steve Coll, Washington Post. Iranians -- especially young people -- have a strong feeling. They think maybe America will help them change the system, offers Ayoub Adeli, an engineering manager visiting from Tehran. But he doubts this will occur; perhaps there has been enough upheaval already. I think everything will happen from within Iran, inside the system. Overweight trucks honk and belch below on the highway from Baghdad to Tehran. A hundred miles to the west lies Iraq, a country in ferment because the state has been overthrown. To the northeast lies the seat of an Iranian government also in ferment over how to retain its grip. An 18-hour drive from Baghdad to Tehran is a ride among people in flux, some lifted by hope and faith, some cowed by threats. Nahid is the youngest traveler among us. Thirty-one and unemployed, she says she seethes at the Iranian mullahs who shadow her ambitions, dictating about lipstick, jobs and television channels. Once she visited a relative in Turkey -- as much of the world as she has seen outside of Iran -- where she watched the pious young fashion Islam for themselves. I think God smiles on them more than us, she says, asking to be identified only by her nickname, lest she invite trouble from the police. Because there it is by choice, and here it is by force. Her words echo on this road: Whose choices, and by what force? To one side of the highway's gated border, American military commanders seek amid rising violence to recreate Iraq as a democracy from the top down. Across a sparse frontier, a season of debate grips Iran: How should the country manage its estrangement from the United States? How should it reply to encroaching U.S. power and ideas? Along the highway between, thousands of people have been set newly in motion. Devout Iranian pilgrims and clerics trek to Iraqi Shiite shrines previously beyond reach. Displaced Kurds flood into the borderlands to reclaim lost property. Traders, smugglers, political agents and tribal chieftains slide back and forth in search of money and influence. Adnan Zadan works at a shop on the road from Iraq to Iran. Now you can see all kinds of traffic coming, he says. [Washington Post: Front Page] Nice piece. 8:41:48 AM    comment []