Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Fun Animation
Click here and a site will load that looks like a Dutch shopping site. Let it finish loading a few seconds and you see a really fun Rube Goldberg-like animation. There is sound which helps and it ends with some loud music if you care.
Catch Me If You Can Credits
Friends sent me lots of video links this morning. This first one is the opening credits sequence from Catch Me If You Can, which was a pretty fun movie. This is obvious an homage to Saul Bass who's done some of the most fun animated movie credits of all time. Bass also did famous logos including the two famous AT&T logos (the bell and the death star-like globe).
5 Foods and Phones Numbers
It seems the Today show is doing a series this week of 5 things to change your life. Yesterday was 5 good-for-you, bizarre foods including Acai, Alligator, Cupuacu, Laver and Yerba mate. I've had alligator and yes it tastes like chicken, I just didn't know it was so good for you (high in protein, very low in fat). I gather laver is similar to Japanese Nori which I've of course had with sushi.
Today's installment was 5 phone numbers. 866-MY-TRAFC gives traffic info by Traffic.com which has other tools to use too. With Verizon in Boston I've been happy with *1 which is similar. 334-844-4244 is Auburn University’s Foy Information Line, you get a human and can ask them anything. Settle those bar bets.
The others were the San Francisco Sex Information line, 415-989-SFSI (which does not provide phone sex), the Ohio Tobacco Quit Line, 800-QUIT-NOW, and 866-411-SONG which lets you play (I assume that's not hum) part of a song and they'll text you title and artist.
Today's installment was 5 phone numbers. 866-MY-TRAFC gives traffic info by Traffic.com which has other tools to use too. With Verizon in Boston I've been happy with *1 which is similar. 334-844-4244 is Auburn University’s Foy Information Line, you get a human and can ask them anything. Settle those bar bets.
The others were the San Francisco Sex Information line, 415-989-SFSI (which does not provide phone sex), the Ohio Tobacco Quit Line, 800-QUIT-NOW, and 866-411-SONG which lets you play (I assume that's not hum) part of a song and they'll text you title and artist.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Google Checkout and PayPal Holiday Discounts
Google Checkout and PayPal Spend Big to Lure Buyers. "Both Google Checkout and eBay’s PayPal unveiled generous promotions today to increase their share of holiday spending."
"But at the end of the day, how much business is either system going to have if they don’t pay people to be their customers?"
"But at the end of the day, how much business is either system going to have if they don’t pay people to be their customers?"
Problems with Copyright
Bruce Schneier points to a 13 page Law Review Article on the Problems with Copyright. The point being that the law as written, and apparently as interpreted by the courts makes many now common actions be violations. Things such as forwarding email messages and digital photographs, handing out articles in class, reading poems and singing aloud in public (famously including Happy Birthday), and getting tattoos of cartoon characters are no-nos. As Schneier sums up: "The point of the article is how, simply by acting normally, all of us are technically lawbreakers many times over every day. When laws are this far outside the social norms, it's time to change them."
Sullivan on McCain
Andrew Sullivan talks about McCain and his new ad. "But McCain was right [about the surge], and he deserves credit for it. I find myself wanting him to be the nominee more and more. He's deserved it. And he is the one Republican who won't needlessly exacerbate polarization. Imagine an Obama-McCain race: adult, graceful, necessary, and good for us. On torture and climate change, McCain is also a rare Republican prepared to embrace reality rather than base-bluster."
I'm not so sure. I expected more troops to bring down violence in Iraq. I also expected fewer troops to bring down violence, like what happened in Anbar. The real problem is that there has been no political progress and everyone agrees to that. So will it happen? I doubt it and we're not helping things.
I've wanted to like McCain, even in the last election. But I disagree with him on Iraq and that's a big deal. My other problem is that I disagree with his conservative positions on social issues. As far as I'm concerned his positions on torture and climate change just proves he's sane. The bar is higher than that for my vote. His health care plan is small tweaks on what we have now. He's pro-life, and anti-gun control, anti-stem cell research, anti-gay marriage, on the wrong side of the Terry Schiavo case, etc. I could deal with some differences, but not every single one. Though he now says in hindsight Congress was wrong about Schiavo and I think he favors stem cell research.
He wouldn't be the worst Republican candidate (he might be one of the best) but he wouldn't get my vote.
I'm not so sure. I expected more troops to bring down violence in Iraq. I also expected fewer troops to bring down violence, like what happened in Anbar. The real problem is that there has been no political progress and everyone agrees to that. So will it happen? I doubt it and we're not helping things.
I've wanted to like McCain, even in the last election. But I disagree with him on Iraq and that's a big deal. My other problem is that I disagree with his conservative positions on social issues. As far as I'm concerned his positions on torture and climate change just proves he's sane. The bar is higher than that for my vote. His health care plan is small tweaks on what we have now. He's pro-life, and anti-gun control, anti-stem cell research, anti-gay marriage, on the wrong side of the Terry Schiavo case, etc. I could deal with some differences, but not every single one. Though he now says in hindsight Congress was wrong about Schiavo and I think he favors stem cell research.
He wouldn't be the worst Republican candidate (he might be one of the best) but he wouldn't get my vote.
Bush's "Principles" for Permanent Iraqi Presence
Talking Points Memo describes White House Releases "Principles" for Permanent Iraqi Presence. "After years of obfuscation and denial on the length of the U.S.'s stay in Iraq, the White House and the Maliki government have released a joint declaration of 'principles' for 'friendship and cooperation.' Naturally, the declaration is euphemistic, and doesn't refer explicitly to any U.S. military presence." We're going to defend the unpopular al-Maliki led Shiite government. With troops. Oh and since it's not called a treaty, Congress doesn't have to ratify it. There's more on how Bush is trying to tie the hands of the next administration.
Talking with Stephen King
Time Magazine has an interview with Stephen King that's pretty fun.
"You know, this morning, the two big stories on CNN are Kanye West's mother, who died, apparently, after having some plastic surgery. The other big thing that's going on is whether or not this cop [Drew Peterson] killed his... wife. And meanwhile, you've got Pakistan in the midst of a real crisis, where these people have nuclear weapons that we helped them develop. You've got a guy in charge, who's basically declared himself the military strongman and is being supported by the Bush administration, whose raison d'etre for going into Iraq was to spread democracy in the world. So you've got these things going on, which seem to me to be very substantive, that could affect all of us, and instead, you see a lot of this back-fence gossip."
It gets more fun.
"You know, this morning, the two big stories on CNN are Kanye West's mother, who died, apparently, after having some plastic surgery. The other big thing that's going on is whether or not this cop [Drew Peterson] killed his... wife. And meanwhile, you've got Pakistan in the midst of a real crisis, where these people have nuclear weapons that we helped them develop. You've got a guy in charge, who's basically declared himself the military strongman and is being supported by the Bush administration, whose raison d'etre for going into Iraq was to spread democracy in the world. So you've got these things going on, which seem to me to be very substantive, that could affect all of us, and instead, you see a lot of this back-fence gossip."
It gets more fun.
David X. Cohen of Futurama
Interview with David X. Cohen the creator of Futurama on the new episodes to be released first on DVD and then shown on Comedy Central at some point.
HowToons
Howtoons are instructional cartoons for making kids science projects. Fun stuff. Done by Saul Griffith, a MacArthur Fellow and Joost Bonsen and cartoonist Nick Dragotta. They've published a book of them. There's also a blog.Found it because he complained to Tim O'Reilly over Thanksgiving dinner that "Take all that talk about the exponential growth of various web sites. Don't people realize that those curves are actually sigmoidal?"
Science Class Classic Updated
Charge an iPod with an onion and Gatorade. I'm a little surprised it works with a USB adaptor and wonder how you clean it.
The Golden Compass Already Has Religious Groups Protesting
The Boston Globe on Sunday had an article, God in the dust about Catholics attacking the new movie The Golden Compass based on the first book in the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. The article has a few spoilers but tells how (yet again) some religious groups miss the point of a work of art.
"But this is a sad misreading of the trilogy. These books are deeply theological, and deeply Christian in their theology. The universe of "His Dark Materials" is permeated by a God in love with creation, who watches out for the meekest of all beings - the poor, the marginalized, and the lost. It is a God who yearns to be loved through our respect for the body, the earth, and through our lives in the here and now. This is a rejection of the more classical notion of a detached, transcendent God, but I am a Catholic theologian, and reading this fantasy trilogy enhanced my sense of the divine, of virtue, of the soul, of my faith in God. The book's concept of God, in fact, is what makes Pullman's work so threatening. His trilogy is not filled with attacks on Christianity, but with attacks on authorities who claim access to one true interpretation of a religion. Pullman's work is filled with the feminist and liberation strands of Catholic theology that have sustained my own faith, and which threaten the power structure of the church. Pullman's work is not anti-Christian, but anti-orthodox."
I haven't read the books yet but want to and am looking forward to the movie.
"But this is a sad misreading of the trilogy. These books are deeply theological, and deeply Christian in their theology. The universe of "His Dark Materials" is permeated by a God in love with creation, who watches out for the meekest of all beings - the poor, the marginalized, and the lost. It is a God who yearns to be loved through our respect for the body, the earth, and through our lives in the here and now. This is a rejection of the more classical notion of a detached, transcendent God, but I am a Catholic theologian, and reading this fantasy trilogy enhanced my sense of the divine, of virtue, of the soul, of my faith in God. The book's concept of God, in fact, is what makes Pullman's work so threatening. His trilogy is not filled with attacks on Christianity, but with attacks on authorities who claim access to one true interpretation of a religion. Pullman's work is filled with the feminist and liberation strands of Catholic theology that have sustained my own faith, and which threaten the power structure of the church. Pullman's work is not anti-Christian, but anti-orthodox."
I haven't read the books yet but want to and am looking forward to the movie.
Swift Boat Founders Now Making Up Conspiracies
Yesterday the Boston Globe had an article The Amero Conspiracy. I've never heard of it but apparently there's a full blown conspiracy theory that the US, Canada and Mexico will combine to form something like the European Union.
"The North American Union is a supranational organization, modeled on the European Union, that will soon fuse Canada, the United States, and Mexico into a single economic and political unit. The details are still being worked out by the countries' leaders, but the NAU's central governing body will have the power to nullify the laws of its member states. Goods and people will flow among the three countries unimpeded, aided by a network of continent-girdling superhighways. The US and Canadian dollars, along with the peso, will be phased out and replaced by a common North American currency called the amero. If you haven't heard about the NAU, that may be because its plotters have succeeded in keeping it secret. Or, more likely, because there is no such thing. "
The article begins by saying Romney gets questions about it at events. "Ron Paul has made the North American Union one of his central issues." You can see reference to this at his web site here: "NAFTA’s superhighway is just one part of a plan to erase the borders between the U.S. and Mexico, called the North American Union. This spawn of powerful special interests, would create a single nation out of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, with a new unelected bureaucracy and money system. Forget about controlling immigration under this scheme."
"So how real is the NAU? In the literal sense, not very. Its underpinnings turn out to be a hodgepodge of mostly unconnected facts and suppositions. The [Security and Prosperity Partnership] does exist, and its tri-national task forces continue to meet, but its members consider it a way for the United States, Canada, and Mexico to collaborate on issues such as customs, environmental and safety regulations, narcotics smuggling, and terrorism. The amero, on the other hand, appears to be purely theoretical. It was first proposed in 1999 by a Canadian economist named Herbert Grubel, when the euro was first entering circulation. Grubel says he did manage to interest Vicente Fox in the idea, but whenever he brought up the topic with American officials, he recalls, he got nowhere. "There wouldn't be very much benefit for the United States" in an amero, he concedes."
"The NAFTA Superhighway has a more complicated origin. One piece is a nonprofit organization, called the North America's Supercorridor Coalition, or NASCO, dedicated to ensuring the efficiency and safety of some of the country's major truck trade routes - a map from the organization's website has shown up on NAU watchdog websites, erroneously labeled the blueprint for the NAFTA Superhighway. Another is a controversial toll highway that Texas is considering building to accommodate the sharp increase in freight traffic brought by NAFTA."
Ok, my mind is officially blown. There's a fictitious plan to unite the continent and presidential candidates are taking it seriously. I feel like I'm in Oz. People think Bush is weak on protecting the border because he favors the NAU! Then it starts to make sense:
"A fully realized theory was born. In the fall of 2006, Phyllis Schlafly, along with the conservative author Jerome Corsi and Howard Phillips, founder of an organization called the Conservative Caucus, started a website dedicated to quashing the coming North American "Socialist mega-state." If the anti-NAU cause has a prophet, it is Corsi. In 2004, Corsi was a leading spokesman for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth; last year, he co-wrote a book on the Minuteman Project with its founder, Jim Gilchrist. Earlier this year Corsi published a book, "The Late Great U.S.A.," and it was here - and in his columns on the conservative websites WorldNetDaily and Human Events - that the NAU conspiracy theory emerged in full flower."
"Corsi's warning cry and gift for detail have given the theory traction in circles where anxieties about immigration and corporate oligarchy intersect. Lou Dobbs, whose CNN show portrays both free trade and increased immigration as sops to multinational corporations and body blows to the middle class, has devoted investigative segments to the NAU, the amero, and the NAFTA Superhighway. The John Birch Society a month ago devoted an entire issue of its magazine to the NAU."
A nut bags that promoted the Swift Boat Veterans, made up this fake plot so Republicans can run to prevent it. Politics is now professional wrestling. I wonder if the script has Republicans successfully blocking the NAU?
If these are this years tactics I'm worried. How will Democrats look when they say it doesn't exist? Can you see Obama doing anything but stuttering when asked about it? Richardson will just talk about comprehensive immigration plans (which are fine but besides the point). Hilary will either attack them for lying or agree that it's important to defend America against the NAU. I'm not sure how Edwards will react. At least I didn't see anything about the NAU on Romney's or Giuliani's sites.
"The North American Union is a supranational organization, modeled on the European Union, that will soon fuse Canada, the United States, and Mexico into a single economic and political unit. The details are still being worked out by the countries' leaders, but the NAU's central governing body will have the power to nullify the laws of its member states. Goods and people will flow among the three countries unimpeded, aided by a network of continent-girdling superhighways. The US and Canadian dollars, along with the peso, will be phased out and replaced by a common North American currency called the amero. If you haven't heard about the NAU, that may be because its plotters have succeeded in keeping it secret. Or, more likely, because there is no such thing. "
The article begins by saying Romney gets questions about it at events. "Ron Paul has made the North American Union one of his central issues." You can see reference to this at his web site here: "NAFTA’s superhighway is just one part of a plan to erase the borders between the U.S. and Mexico, called the North American Union. This spawn of powerful special interests, would create a single nation out of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, with a new unelected bureaucracy and money system. Forget about controlling immigration under this scheme."
"So how real is the NAU? In the literal sense, not very. Its underpinnings turn out to be a hodgepodge of mostly unconnected facts and suppositions. The [Security and Prosperity Partnership] does exist, and its tri-national task forces continue to meet, but its members consider it a way for the United States, Canada, and Mexico to collaborate on issues such as customs, environmental and safety regulations, narcotics smuggling, and terrorism. The amero, on the other hand, appears to be purely theoretical. It was first proposed in 1999 by a Canadian economist named Herbert Grubel, when the euro was first entering circulation. Grubel says he did manage to interest Vicente Fox in the idea, but whenever he brought up the topic with American officials, he recalls, he got nowhere. "There wouldn't be very much benefit for the United States" in an amero, he concedes."
"The NAFTA Superhighway has a more complicated origin. One piece is a nonprofit organization, called the North America's Supercorridor Coalition, or NASCO, dedicated to ensuring the efficiency and safety of some of the country's major truck trade routes - a map from the organization's website has shown up on NAU watchdog websites, erroneously labeled the blueprint for the NAFTA Superhighway. Another is a controversial toll highway that Texas is considering building to accommodate the sharp increase in freight traffic brought by NAFTA."
Ok, my mind is officially blown. There's a fictitious plan to unite the continent and presidential candidates are taking it seriously. I feel like I'm in Oz. People think Bush is weak on protecting the border because he favors the NAU! Then it starts to make sense:
"A fully realized theory was born. In the fall of 2006, Phyllis Schlafly, along with the conservative author Jerome Corsi and Howard Phillips, founder of an organization called the Conservative Caucus, started a website dedicated to quashing the coming North American "Socialist mega-state." If the anti-NAU cause has a prophet, it is Corsi. In 2004, Corsi was a leading spokesman for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth; last year, he co-wrote a book on the Minuteman Project with its founder, Jim Gilchrist. Earlier this year Corsi published a book, "The Late Great U.S.A.," and it was here - and in his columns on the conservative websites WorldNetDaily and Human Events - that the NAU conspiracy theory emerged in full flower."
"Corsi's warning cry and gift for detail have given the theory traction in circles where anxieties about immigration and corporate oligarchy intersect. Lou Dobbs, whose CNN show portrays both free trade and increased immigration as sops to multinational corporations and body blows to the middle class, has devoted investigative segments to the NAU, the amero, and the NAFTA Superhighway. The John Birch Society a month ago devoted an entire issue of its magazine to the NAU."
A nut bags that promoted the Swift Boat Veterans, made up this fake plot so Republicans can run to prevent it. Politics is now professional wrestling. I wonder if the script has Republicans successfully blocking the NAU?
If these are this years tactics I'm worried. How will Democrats look when they say it doesn't exist? Can you see Obama doing anything but stuttering when asked about it? Richardson will just talk about comprehensive immigration plans (which are fine but besides the point). Hilary will either attack them for lying or agree that it's important to defend America against the NAU. I'm not sure how Edwards will react. At least I didn't see anything about the NAU on Romney's or Giuliani's sites.
Cities Eliminate Right to Contest Parking Tickets - Maybe
This sucks: Cities Eliminate Right to Contest Parking Tickets.
"By the end of next year, Washington, DC's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will not allow anyone who believes he unfairly received a citation to have his day in an administrative hearing." Instead they must use mail-in and email means to protest. "As one-third of those who contest citations in the city are successful, the hearings cut significantly into the $100 million in revenue tickets generate each year." How disgusting is that. Let's rephrase this in the worst way possible; the City is trying to steal $30 million a year from innocent residents. I wonder what the overturn rate is for mail-in and email protests?
"Motorists in many cities besides DC complain about unfair citations. So far, Baltimore, Maryland's Inspector General has uncovered 10,000 bogus parking tickets issued to innocent motorists. In Boston and other cities in Massachusetts, motorists cannot challenge a $100 parking ticket in court without first paying a $275 court fee. If found innocent, the motorist does not receive a refund of the $275."
Rather than just assume the worst possible, I tried to find out if this was true. I couldn't verify this via Boston web sites after a half hour of looking and all the other articles on the web I found about this point back to the article cited above. So I called the Office of the Parking Clerk of the City of Boston. After circumnavigating the voice menu system I got to a person. It then took a little bit to establish that I was asking a hypothetical question. First off, a $100 parking ticket sounded high to me; I got one in Boston this year and it was only $40. I was told there are $75 and $120 tickets depending on the infraction. There are procedures to dispute a ticket via the Parking Clerk and those are easy to find on the web site. You can visit in person, send postal mail or use a web form, so that's pretty simple. If the clerk finds against you, you can appeal in court. That would be the Suffolk Superior Court and they do have fees that come to $275.
I called them to find out if the fees were refundable. First off they did say they were the right court to dispute the finding of the Parking Clerk and the fee was $275. I asked if they were refunded if it was decided in my favor and was told no, not automatically but I could file a motion to recover the fees. I asked how to do that and was told via the normal procedures and that I do not need a lawyer. The best I can find to describe these procedures is Rule 9A which don't really clarify it for me. I was told that I can't do it at the time of the hearing and another visit to the court would be required but that there are no fees for filing a motion.
So the information on the web is an exaggeration. Shocker. Disputing a parking ticket with the Parking Clerk is relatively simple and is free. Note the original article referred to challenging "in court" which is unnecessary for a dispute. While it does have a fee that is not automatically refunded for a finding in your favor, you can apply for one though that involves a separate visit. I can't attest for other cities, but in Boston it's not so bad.
"By the end of next year, Washington, DC's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will not allow anyone who believes he unfairly received a citation to have his day in an administrative hearing." Instead they must use mail-in and email means to protest. "As one-third of those who contest citations in the city are successful, the hearings cut significantly into the $100 million in revenue tickets generate each year." How disgusting is that. Let's rephrase this in the worst way possible; the City is trying to steal $30 million a year from innocent residents. I wonder what the overturn rate is for mail-in and email protests?
"Motorists in many cities besides DC complain about unfair citations. So far, Baltimore, Maryland's Inspector General has uncovered 10,000 bogus parking tickets issued to innocent motorists. In Boston and other cities in Massachusetts, motorists cannot challenge a $100 parking ticket in court without first paying a $275 court fee. If found innocent, the motorist does not receive a refund of the $275."
Rather than just assume the worst possible, I tried to find out if this was true. I couldn't verify this via Boston web sites after a half hour of looking and all the other articles on the web I found about this point back to the article cited above. So I called the Office of the Parking Clerk of the City of Boston. After circumnavigating the voice menu system I got to a person. It then took a little bit to establish that I was asking a hypothetical question. First off, a $100 parking ticket sounded high to me; I got one in Boston this year and it was only $40. I was told there are $75 and $120 tickets depending on the infraction. There are procedures to dispute a ticket via the Parking Clerk and those are easy to find on the web site. You can visit in person, send postal mail or use a web form, so that's pretty simple. If the clerk finds against you, you can appeal in court. That would be the Suffolk Superior Court and they do have fees that come to $275.
I called them to find out if the fees were refundable. First off they did say they were the right court to dispute the finding of the Parking Clerk and the fee was $275. I asked if they were refunded if it was decided in my favor and was told no, not automatically but I could file a motion to recover the fees. I asked how to do that and was told via the normal procedures and that I do not need a lawyer. The best I can find to describe these procedures is Rule 9A which don't really clarify it for me. I was told that I can't do it at the time of the hearing and another visit to the court would be required but that there are no fees for filing a motion.
So the information on the web is an exaggeration. Shocker. Disputing a parking ticket with the Parking Clerk is relatively simple and is free. Note the original article referred to challenging "in court" which is unnecessary for a dispute. While it does have a fee that is not automatically refunded for a finding in your favor, you can apply for one though that involves a separate visit. I can't attest for other cities, but in Boston it's not so bad.
Human Calendar
The Human Calendar is a Brady Bunch-like calendar that has all the faces pointing to the current date. Four years in the making. You can have your own updating version on your own page. There's also a Human Clock.
Negroponte Experiences Competition on OLPC
The Wall Street Journal had an article this weekend, A Little Laptop With Big Ambitions about the One Laptop Per Child project of Nicholas Negroponte (aka the $100 laptop and the XO). It now costs $188 (+shipping) and is facing competition from the Intel Classmate ($300) with a $3 copy of Windows. Shocker that poor countries would be interested in getting name brand machines.
Of course it leaves out that the XO was designed specifically to work in poor environments. No reliable electricity? Use the hand crank. Want to learn how computers work? Dive into the Open Source code (it's Linux-based) and there's a View Source key on the keyboard. Not a computer administrator? It automatically forms networks with nearby machines. Scared about security problems rampant in Windows? Since there's no backwards compatibility OLPC has a new security model that seems much more secure (time will tell).
Competition should make products better. Based on the article, Negroponte's not so good at this. The product is double the promised price. He "demanded that Intel stop selling the Classmate" as if that's likely to happen. He won't participate in pilot programs that include the Classmate, calling them "bake-offs". He also seems to be violating a "nondisparagement" clause in an agreement with Intel when their CEO joined the OLPC board. And the end of the article is clearly not the way to sell your product:
"Mr. Negroponte said some initial tech support would be provided by Brightstar Corp., a Miami-based wireless equipment distributor. Just who would provide support a few years from now, he said, was 'a frightening question.' The students, he said, will need 'to do as much maintenance as possible.'"
Of course it leaves out that the XO was designed specifically to work in poor environments. No reliable electricity? Use the hand crank. Want to learn how computers work? Dive into the Open Source code (it's Linux-based) and there's a View Source key on the keyboard. Not a computer administrator? It automatically forms networks with nearby machines. Scared about security problems rampant in Windows? Since there's no backwards compatibility OLPC has a new security model that seems much more secure (time will tell).
Competition should make products better. Based on the article, Negroponte's not so good at this. The product is double the promised price. He "demanded that Intel stop selling the Classmate" as if that's likely to happen. He won't participate in pilot programs that include the Classmate, calling them "bake-offs". He also seems to be violating a "nondisparagement" clause in an agreement with Intel when their CEO joined the OLPC board. And the end of the article is clearly not the way to sell your product:
"Mr. Negroponte said some initial tech support would be provided by Brightstar Corp., a Miami-based wireless equipment distributor. Just who would provide support a few years from now, he said, was 'a frightening question.' The students, he said, will need 'to do as much maintenance as possible.'"
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Mythbusting Galileo
I'm not a fan of Dinesh D'Souza but he has an article in todays Philadelphia Inquirer, He didn't suffer all that much that busts some myths about Galileo and the church. Interesting reading.
Planet Earth Reruns
If you missed it the Discovery Channel is rerunning Planet Earth. Catch it in HD if you can.
''Battlestar Galactica: Razor'' Recap
Entertainment Weekly has a 'Battlestar Galactica: Razor' recap. "All in all, Razor was pretty much everything you could ask for — provided you didn't ask for it to further the ongoing story lines. But as a stand-alone adventure, it satisfied the hunger that so many of us have had for Galactica — good Galactica — since midway through last season. Now, if only the wait for next season didn't feel so interminable..."
I agree.
I agree.
The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush
Joseph Stiglitz writes in Vanity Fair about The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush. It's a good article. It assumes causation and I wish there was a little more evidence presented of it but the issues are well described.
"I can hear an irritated counterthrust already. The president has not driven the United States into a recession during his almost seven years in office. Unemployment stands at a respectable 4.6 percent. Well, fine. But the other side of the ledger groans with distress: a tax code that has become hideously biased in favor of the rich; a national debt that will probably have grown 70 percent by the time this president leaves Washington; a swelling cascade of mortgage defaults; a record near-$850 billion trade deficit; oil prices that are higher than they have ever been; and a dollar so weak that for an American to buy a cup of coffee in London or Paris—or even the Yukon—becomes a venture in high finance. And it gets worse. After almost seven years of this president, the United States is less prepared than ever to face the future. We have not been educating enough engineers and scientists, people with the skills we will need to compete with China and India. We have not been investing in the kinds of basic research that made us the technological powerhouse of the late 20th century. And although the president now understands—or so he says—that we must begin to wean ourselves from oil and coal, we have on his watch become more deeply dependent on both."
"I can hear an irritated counterthrust already. The president has not driven the United States into a recession during his almost seven years in office. Unemployment stands at a respectable 4.6 percent. Well, fine. But the other side of the ledger groans with distress: a tax code that has become hideously biased in favor of the rich; a national debt that will probably have grown 70 percent by the time this president leaves Washington; a swelling cascade of mortgage defaults; a record near-$850 billion trade deficit; oil prices that are higher than they have ever been; and a dollar so weak that for an American to buy a cup of coffee in London or Paris—or even the Yukon—becomes a venture in high finance. And it gets worse. After almost seven years of this president, the United States is less prepared than ever to face the future. We have not been educating enough engineers and scientists, people with the skills we will need to compete with China and India. We have not been investing in the kinds of basic research that made us the technological powerhouse of the late 20th century. And although the president now understands—or so he says—that we must begin to wean ourselves from oil and coal, we have on his watch become more deeply dependent on both."
Old Apple Stories Still Around
Poor Cliff Edwards. On May 21, 2001 he published a commentary in Business Week called Sorry, Steve: Here's Why Apple Stores Won't Work and now it's on digg. Of course he was wrong. The Apple Stores have been a success. At the time, who knew that Apple would announce the iPod 5 months later? Or that they would use the stores not just to sell things but to help people use them, doing maintenance at the Genius Bars and giving free classes and one-on-one instruction.
He's changed his tune (like everyone else) and some of his recent articles are pretty good:
Plucking the Fruits of Apple Accessories
I Want My iTV
Apple iMac: Still the Desktop Star
He's changed his tune (like everyone else) and some of his recent articles are pretty good:
Plucking the Fruits of Apple Accessories
I Want My iTV
Apple iMac: Still the Desktop Star
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Movie Review: The Lookout
I had missed The Lookout in theaters this spring. It's the directorial debut of writer Scott Frank, who has this great resume, having written Dead Again (a guilty pleasure of mine), Little Man Tate, Get Shorty, Out of Sight, Minority Report and The Interpreter, among others. Like Ben Affleck did with Gone Baby Gone, this is straight up story telling with no flashy flourishes; though it spends much more time on characterization.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Chris Pratt, a high school hockey star in Kansas City who had a brain injury in an accident and now struggles to perform every day tasks. Chris has problems remembering sequences and has to write things down to remember them. It's not quite as bad as "First pants, THEN your shoes" but it's close (actually, maybe it is that bad). There are some Momento-like elements but it's not told as a puzzle.
Jeff Daniels plays his blind roommate Lewis and they dream of opening a small restaurant together. Chris currently works as a night janitor at a bank and hopes to become a teller one day. He doesn't seem to realize this clashes with the restaurant dream. The first half is all character study of Chris dealing with his life, the second half tells how he gets mixed up with the wrong crowd which in this case is Gary's gang who plans to rob the bank Chris works at.
The end follows from what precedes it, in some ways rather nicely. However not everything set up comes back. Chris' family is a little too conveniently uncaring. And the thing I had the most problem suspending disbelief about was that Chris still drives.
I enjoyed it, but found it a little slow at times. When came out The Lookout got some reviews as the best movie of the year so far. Of course it came out March 30th.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Chris Pratt, a high school hockey star in Kansas City who had a brain injury in an accident and now struggles to perform every day tasks. Chris has problems remembering sequences and has to write things down to remember them. It's not quite as bad as "First pants, THEN your shoes" but it's close (actually, maybe it is that bad). There are some Momento-like elements but it's not told as a puzzle.
Jeff Daniels plays his blind roommate Lewis and they dream of opening a small restaurant together. Chris currently works as a night janitor at a bank and hopes to become a teller one day. He doesn't seem to realize this clashes with the restaurant dream. The first half is all character study of Chris dealing with his life, the second half tells how he gets mixed up with the wrong crowd which in this case is Gary's gang who plans to rob the bank Chris works at.
The end follows from what precedes it, in some ways rather nicely. However not everything set up comes back. Chris' family is a little too conveniently uncaring. And the thing I had the most problem suspending disbelief about was that Chris still drives.
I enjoyed it, but found it a little slow at times. When came out The Lookout got some reviews as the best movie of the year so far. Of course it came out March 30th.
Tonight: New Battlestar Galactica: Razor
Battlestar Galactica: Razor, tonight on Sci-Fi at 9pm. It's set in the middle of season 2, so if you're waiting for the season 3 DVDs you can still watch. There are short videos on the website that show flashbacks of Bill Adama's rookie Viper mission during the first Cylon war. Season 4 won't start till probably April, so enjoy.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
How Elvis Got Fat
Forbes has an article called Extreme Eats describing crazy disgusting food which seem to be mostly invented by Americans.
"Elvis Presley made famous a meal known as the Fool's Gold Loaf, reportedly his favorite: To construct one, mix one jar of peanut butter, one jar of grape jelly and a pound of bacon. Scoop the mixture inside a hollowed-out loaf of fresh-baked bread, smother the outside in butter and bake. Elvis would eat the whole thing in one sitting--and once flew from Memphis to Denver in the middle of the night to get one from a restaurant called the Colorado Mine Company."
They have a picture gallery where you can see a Turducken, a 100% Bacon Patty Hamburger, Deep Fried Pizza, The Philly Taco, and more.
"Elvis Presley made famous a meal known as the Fool's Gold Loaf, reportedly his favorite: To construct one, mix one jar of peanut butter, one jar of grape jelly and a pound of bacon. Scoop the mixture inside a hollowed-out loaf of fresh-baked bread, smother the outside in butter and bake. Elvis would eat the whole thing in one sitting--and once flew from Memphis to Denver in the middle of the night to get one from a restaurant called the Colorado Mine Company."
They have a picture gallery where you can see a Turducken, a 100% Bacon Patty Hamburger, Deep Fried Pizza, The Philly Taco, and more.
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