Thursday, August 11, 2005

Guns in the trunk: worker right or workplace danger?. The NRA and employers are squaring off over an Oklahoma law that allows the practice. [Christian Science Monitor | Top Stories] 5:25:07 PM    comment []

Rex pointed out the existence of the amazing blog of The Donald, or of Trump University featuring posts "by" The Donald. An example entry: Corporate Corruption: If You Have to Lie, Cheat, and Steal, You're Just Not Doing it Right. by Donald J. Trump Chairman, Trump University My career is a model of tough, fair dealing and fantastic success--without shortcuts, without breaking the law. [The Trump Blog] Also entries from various other Trump University leaders, including the president, a faculty member, the communications director, and so on. Don't get too used to the style, though, as a story in TechWeb warns: Trump's postings promise to get more serious once the blog finds its sea legs following its public launch in a few days time. For now, some of the initial musings appear to be of a piece with the bombast that's made The Donald famous on gossip pages worldwide. Under an August 4 posting entitled "Success with style," Trump wrote: "The glamour and grandeur of my buildings and my life are no mere trappings." (And let me say how delighted I am to be able to post this the same day as that.) 6:19:30 AM    comment []

Dread Pirates. Journalist Douglas Burgess, Jr. argues that there may be a strong legal connection between pirates and modern-day terrorists. [WNYC New York Public Radio] 6:06:59 AM    comment []

Altering Alpha-Bits: Not as Simple as A B C. Constructing healthy food is no easy task. Most modern foods are tightly engineered products that can fall apart when ingredients are taken out or added. Tinkering with the formula can alter the taste, the texture, the look and the way the food feels in your mouth, what food scientists call mouthfeel. By MELANIE WARNER. [NYT > Business] 6:06:58 AM    comment []

Live Talk Transcript: Bush's Supreme Court Nominee. On Newsweek [NewsIsFree: Popular Items] 6:06:44 AM    comment []

To Woo Students, Colleges Choose Names That Sell. As colleges jockey for market share, they are looking for names that project the image they want or reflect the changes they hope to make. By ALAN FINDER. [NYT > Education] 6:06:43 AM    comment []

All Cultures Are Not Equal. If you are 18 and you've got that big brain, go into the field that barely exists: cultural geography. By DAVID BROOKS. [NYT > Opinion] 6:06:39 AM    comment []

America's Summer of Discontent. This summer may well prove to be the turning point in Chinese-American relations, the time when America chose short-range paranoia over rational behavior. [NYT > Opinion] 6:02:09 AM    comment []

Presidential podcasting. Patrick Ruffini (who else?) blogs that the White House has set up an RSS feed (iTunes subscribe link) of the President's weekly addresses. In the spirit of bipartisanship, here's an iTunes subscribe link for podcasts from the Democratic Party. [rexblog: Rex Hammock's Weblog] 6:01:53 AM    comment []

Iran Resumes Full Operations at Nuclear Plant [Washington Post: Top News] 6:01:18 AM    comment []

Court Rejects Challenge to Pledge of Allegiance. A federal appeals court panel upheld a Virginia law, rejecting a claim that its reference to God was an unconstitutional promotion of religion. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. [NYT > Washington] 6:01:09 AM    comment []

Your PC = = A Toaster (Donna Wentworth). You might imagine that copyfighters are exaggerating when they talk about technologists asking Hollywood for permission to innovate. You'd be wrong. Over at Freedom to Tinker, Edward Felten has posted snippets from a Microsoft white paper on the forthcoming "Windows Vista" operating system. They show Microsoft giving Hollywood explicit veto power over parts of the operating system functionality. For instance: Content industry acceptance The evidence must be presented to Hollywood and other content owners, and they must agree that it provides the required level of security. Written proof from at least three of the major Hollywood studios is required. What are the implications? As Derek Slater writes at Deep Links: With its entertainment industry accomplices, Microsoft is turning your general-purpose computer into a toaster -- a content-vending appliance that obeys copyright holders, not you. As Felten explains, your PC will cost more and do less. It will also make criminals out of more and more legitimate technology tinkerers and average users. To modify practically any part of your PC and use the software or hardware of your choice, you'll have to circumvent DRM in ways that may violate the DMCA. Meanwhile, Microsoft's new DRM will do nothing to prevent widespread infringing distribution of copyrighted content -- the illegal activity that the restrictions are supposed to target. So why should Microsoft give in to Hollywood's demands? According to Linux guru Don Marti, Microsoft isn't caving. It's just doing what's best for the company: Isn't it time to drop the polite fiction that MSFT and other incumbent IT and CE vendors are only doing DRM because of big, bad Hollywood? ...[Having] "Hollywood" clamoring for harsh DRM (based on technical facts from the IT industry) actually helps the current market leaders. ... With DRM, MSFT and Apple can keep their customers from switching back and forth (or maybe to Linux), and CE vendors can't lock out $39 Chinese DVD players, but can at least collect a tax on them. In other words, this isn't about stopping mass copyright infringement or pleasing Hollywood. It's about keeping "consumers" locked in and people who develop potentially competing products locked out. Previous relevant Copyfight coverage is here. [Copyfight] 5:54:44 AM    comment []

A Search to Replace an Old Amigo. You no longer need to go to Mexico to buy a guayabera shirt. The style flourishes on the Internet like some kind of rash. By MICHELLE SLATALLA. [NYT > Technology] 5:54:43 AM    comment []