Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Ambassador will offer alternative to CAFTA here. The Webster University community will be able to hear the points of view of the Venezuelan government and ask questions during a visit by Venezuela's ambassador to campus. Bernard Alvarez, Ambassador of Venezuela to the United States, will speak on "Venezuela's Vision of Hemispheric Integration" at noon Sept. [The Journal] 8:29:26 PM    comment []

Emily with Eight Ways to Change the World: Photos of the Millennium Goals. All 191 member states of the United Nations have pledged to meet the Millennium Development Goals -- an ambitious program to end extreme hunger and poverty, heal the world's most pressing health crises, conserve and improve the natural environment, promote the equality and economic welfare of women, and give the globe's children the education they need and deserve -- all by 2015. Panos Pictures, the UK's Guardian newspaper, and several charitable groups have created an online photography exhibition to bring the Millennium Development Goals to life.  . . . . . . . As Alex wrote here at the beginning of the week, economic security, physical security and environment are inextricably linked in this century. The geography of poverty transcends national boundaries -- and so does the possibility that we can do better. [WorldChanging: Another World Is Here] 8:29:22 PM    comment []

Cracking the "six degrees of separation". University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers have developed an algorithm that helps explain the sociological underpinnings of the "six degrees of separation" theory.From the press release."Participants in the Travers and Milgram study who efficiently sent the message probably acted intuitively by combining two human traits that apply to computerized network-searching as well,say the researchers.People tend to associate with people who are like themselves,and some individuals are more gregarious than others."Searching" using both of these factors, one can efficiently get to a target even when little is known about the network’s structure.The tendency of like to associate with like,or homophily, means that attributes of a node—an individual in the Travers and Milgram study—tend to be correlated.Bostonians often know other Bostonians,and the same holds true for qualities such as age or occupation.The second important characteristic of these networks is that some people have many more acquaintances than others. This "degree disparity" leads to some individuals acting as hubs.Taking these factors into account simultaneously results in a searching algorithm that gets messages to the target by passing it to gregarious individuals who are most like the target.Or in the language of network-searching,it favors nodes that maximize the probability of linking directly to the target,which is a function of both degree and homophily,say the scientists". "Six Degrees of Separation" Theory Explained in New Algorithm by UMass Amherst Researchers [Smart Mobs] I haven't looked at the report, but since we've followed this line of research here at A blog doesn't need a clever name, completeness dictates inclusion. 8:28:12 PM    comment []

Webster accepts 'hurricane students'. Reacting to the inquiries of students displaced by Hurricane Katrina, Webster University has announced it will provisionally accept students for the fall semester who have found themselves without a school to attend. Undergraduate admissions Director Niel DeVasto said the undergraduate admissions office has already fielded calls from about 30 prospective students. [The Journal] 8:27:05 PM    comment []

Shoulder Surfing Keys. Here's a criminal who "stole" keys, the physical metal ones, by examining images of them being used: He surreptitiously videotaped letter carriers as they opened the boxes, zooming in on their keys. Lau used those images to calculate measurements for the grooves in the keys and created brass duplicates. [...] "The FBI is not aware of anything else like this," bureau spokeswoman Jerri Williams said. Technology causes security imbalances. Sometimes those imbalances favor the defender, and sometimes they favor the attacker. What we have here is a new application of a technology by an attacker. Very clever. [Schneier on Security] 5:15:44 PM    comment []

New Orleans Webhost Weathers Katrina Without Interruption. directnic.com, located right in the heart of New Orleans, has been able to maintian it's webhosting servers, and contact with the outside world (including a blog and a streaming webcam, and a Wiki information page) without interruption. The blog is definitely worth a read. If follow back into the days before the storm, it is just another personal livejournal page. After the storm, it is one of the very few, if not only, blog sites still updated from within New Orleans. [Smart Mobs] 5:13:25 PM    comment []

Two from BNA News (this is a repeat of an item that got munged yesterday): STUDENT SUES AFTER FINDING TERM PAPER FOR SALE ONLINE A Duke University is suing the operator of Web sites selling her paper and seeking more than $100,000 for copyright infringement, invasion of privacy and damage to her reputation. Among the Web sites cited in the lawsuit are http://www.doingmyhomework.com, which says it provides the public with examples of papers and essays to help people find ideas to complete their homework. 'DVD JON' BREAKS MEDIA PLAYER FILE ENCRYPTION Jon Johansen, also knows as DVD Jon, has developed a tool for removing some encoding surrounding the Windows Media Player, in a move to give open-source media players a chance to access the streams. Johansen is also known for such moves as tweaking Google's Video Viewer and reopening Apple Computer's iTunes backdoor. The first looks to be an open-and-shut case, no? Term papers are born with copyright vested in their authors. Without transfer or license of some sort, the Web site is in violation. (I don't know what to think right off the bat about the damage to reputation or invasion of privacy claims.) On the other hand, isn't the recovery of damages limited in cases where copyright was not registered with the Library of Congress? Hmmm. 2:00:42 PM    comment []