Through The Looking Glass

Not even going to go into the ways this is wrong...

Fri, 27 Jun 2003 20:52:50 GMT

'Nice Bombs Ya Got There'. The government is testing an airport scanner that reveals, well, pretty much everything. The image that screeners see is basically you, naked, under your clothes. Along with whatever weapons of mass destruction you happen to be concealing. [Wired News]

A really long cat...

Fri, 27 Jun 2003 19:09:02 GMT

Albert Einstein. "You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat." [Quotes of the Day]

Ahhhh, a good move from the FTC....

Fri, 27 Jun 2003 18:39:05 GMT

Well, according the the NYTIMES, the National Do-Not-Call List Begins. You can register for the list HERE. Here is a direct link to the registration page. It opened at midnight, and 635,000 people had registered by 2:30pm. The site is a little slow, I don't think they expected so much traffic. As long as you register by August 31st, your number will be on the list when it takes effect October 1st. I wonder if I'm the only one expecting to get a huge amount of calls before the list takes effect, so the telemarketers can get in whatever last blows they have.

My first thought upon reading this...

Fri, 27 Jun 2003 05:33:09 GMT

...is shouldn'y this guy be running the country? Then I realized we were probelly better off with him ignoring the country.

Bush Raising $27 Million, Outpacing All Democrats. President Bush's re-election campaign expects to have raised $27 million to $30 million by the end of the month, most of it from a two-week burst of appearances. By Richard W. Stevenson. [New York Times: Politics]

Anyone need some software?

Thu, 26 Jun 2003 22:29:21 GMT

So I'm selling A new version of MS Office standard to support my Europe trip. If anyone needs a legal copy, check it out. :-)

The future of power...

Wed, 25 Jun 2003 22:07:42 GMT

So the utilities want to Redrawing the Electric Power Grid [New York Times: Technology]. by building more high capicity power lines. Basically, the power is available, but it can't get to the people who need it. One solution would be to generate more power locally, but that doesn't have the support of the utilities.

Here's my view of the future. The majority of power needed by a home will be generated by a home, by solar, fuel cell, any which way. Any excess energy generated will be sent to nearby homes that don't generate enough, in a peer to peer arrangment. There will be no need to worry about sending power great distances, as it can just be sent to a neighbor. There will be no need to operate hundreds or thousands of high polluting power plants. There will be some, needed here and there, but by large, they will be superflourus. The power companies will still exist, only in a much reduced form. For a small yearly fee they can maintain the power lines, and possibly handle billing for energy in the peer to peer arangment. In the beginning, only the people who have to purchase power from others will end up paying, as any fee the power producers pay will be canceled out by the money they make for selling their excess power. At some point the current energy grid will be unneccesary.

Way to go Lessig!!!

Wed, 25 Jun 2003 21:14:53 GMT

This is great news for the public domain. As long as these Congresspeople stay the course, we could be in for some good news.

very good news. I have just arrived in DC, where I was planning on meeting with staffers on the Hill tomorrow to drum up support for the Public Domain Enhancement Act. We've got CD's of all 15k+ of the signatures on our Reclaim the Public Domain petition to hand out. It was going to be a fun day (as fun as any DC day gets) in DC. But we've now learned that Congresswoman Lofgren (D-CA) and Congressman Doolittle (R-CA) have agreed to introduce the bill into Congress. We're having an event at 1pm tomorrow at the Capitol to announce this first step on a long road to Reclaiming the Public Domain. Count this as great news, and spread the word: there are two great souls on Capitol Hill. I'll see if I can find some more. [Lessig Blog]

Any chance of me voting for him....

Wed, 25 Jun 2003 03:31:25 GMT

just evaporated...

Dick Gephardt needs to go to summer school to study basic civics. Instapundit reports on Dick Gephardt's absurd statement about overturning Supreme Court decisions:

"When I'm president, we'll do executive orders to overcome any wrong thing the Supreme Court does tomorrow or any other day "

I agree with Instapundit's assessment that Gephardt may be too stupid to be president, or too cavalier. When are these guys going to figure out that it isn't just the lazy old media that is taking note of what they are saying?

[Ernie the Attorney]

Will someone who can tell the truth please stand up...

Wed, 25 Jun 2003 03:09:11 GMT

Story Minute. Will the real revisionists please stand up. [Salon.com]

The savant within all of us...

Tue, 24 Jun 2003 21:23:52 GMT

''We remember virtually everything, but we recall very little''

Is there an inner Savant within all of us? Allan Snyder thinks so, and with the help of his machine, he can show u, first hand how to release that inner savant.

Payoff time....

Tue, 24 Jun 2003 05:55:44 GMT

New Iraqi army plans unveiled. The US-led administration in Iraq announces plans for a new army and for compensation pay for sacked soldiers. [BBC News | World | UK Edition]

Former Iraqi soldiers have taken part in sometimes violent protests against the CPA since they were sacked following their defeat by American-led forces in the Iraq war.

The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) also said it would make monthly payments to many of those who lost their jobs when former President Saddam Hussein's military machine was disbanded.

So basically, we're paying the former soilders off, so that they don't attack us. Something about that smacks of being wrong.

Didn't Mention Bloggers.....

Tue, 24 Jun 2003 02:59:32 GMT

But we're becoming pretty important too.....

More Companies Pay Heed to Their 'Word of Mouse' Reputation [New York Times: Technology]

And to think, a republic is a co-sponser on this.....

Thu, 19 Jun 2003 22:13:47 GMT

Panel Votes to Overturn Some New F.C.C. Rules. The Senate Commerce Committee voted today to overturn parts of a Federal Communications Commission decision freeing media companies from decades-old ownership limits. By The Associated Press. [New York Times: Business]

""If made into law, the change could force companies like Clear Channel, the country's largest radio chain with 1,200 stations, to sell stations in markets where they exceed ownership limits.""

""The airwaves belong to the people,'' Dorgan said. ``The FCC ignores that requirement and advances corporate interests at the expense of the public's interest.''"

Definetly a good start...

Thu, 19 Jun 2003 21:48:04 GMT

McDonald's Curbs Antibiotic Use in Meat. The fast-food giant announced a new policy on the use of antibiotics in food animals after a year of consultations with environmental, science and consumer groups. By The Associated Press. [New York Times: Business]

Why does this not suprise me at all?

Thu, 19 Jun 2003 05:26:09 GMT

Report by the E.P.A. Leaves Out Data on Climate Change. After editing by the White House, a section describing risks from rising global temperatures has been whittled to a few noncommittal paragraphs. By Andrew C. Revkin with Katharine Q. Seelye. [New York Times: Politics]

Of course Microsoft would be involved in this, of course......

Thu, 19 Jun 2003 01:33:38 GMT

Slashdot: Teese writes "According to this Bangkok Post article, in December the USB Forum renamed USB 1.1 to USB 2, and USB 2 stayed as USB 2. They did this because consumers were demanding that the computers they buy have USB2 on board. The story also claims that both Sony & toshiba have released laptops with the USB2 that is really USB1.1. This was the first I had heard of this and the article said the change took place in December, has the USB Forum really been able to pull a fast one on us?"

This is crazy. This also peeves me off. If I had been in sales still when this happened, I can guarentee that I would have had peeved off customers coming back into the store yelling at me. This is most definetly not the best way to treat customers. As a consumer of a whole lot of USB 2.0 stuff, I'm glad all the computers were purchased before December.

Ohh, for want of a SmartPhone

Wed, 18 Jun 2003 21:16:21 GMT

Punch Behind Palm Deal: Treo 600. Handspring's latest Treo device has analysts excited and talking. In fact, industry observers say the new Treo 600 was the driving force behind the Palm-Handspring merger two weeks ago. By Elisa Batista. [Wired News]

I had one of the early Smartphones, the first really useable one, in my opinion, the Kyocera 6835 (I think that was the number.) This was one sweet phone. It was somewhat large, but had a full palm operating system, linked to the phone componants. I could be on the palm, and click a contact in my contact list, and it would automatically call the number. This was also over two or three years ago, when there weren't any other smart phones of that calaber. Unfortently the Sprint service sucked, so I had to give up the phone, but ever since then I've wanted a smartphone again. This one may be the ticket.