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Saturday, September 12, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Lawmaker: Broadband Funds Exclude Appalachia
Lawmaker: Broadband Funds Exclude Appalachia -- Broadband Funding -- InformationWeekLawmaker: Broadband Funds Exclude Appalachia
Communities isolated by mountains, but geographically near populated areas don't qualify for federal stimulus funding.By W. David Gardner
InformationWeek
September 11, 2009 02:42 PM
Rural areas are slated to receive a lopsided amount of federal stimulus grants for broadband, but mountainous regions -- likewise short on broadband access -- are in danger of having grants withheld, according to a congressman conducting hearings on the issue this week.Rick Boucher, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, noted that in mountainous areas of his West Virginia home state, grant funding can be withheld because communities are near cities, even though they are cut off from easy broadband access by mountains. Boucher is conducting a hearing Friday on oversight of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act involving broadband access.
"For communities with small populations that are isolated by mountains, the cost of building broadband can be great," Boucher said in a statement prepared for Friday's hearing, "And with populations as few as 100 homes, that cost can't be recovered through the revenues to be realized from the broadband service."
Providing access to the Internet is a license to take money out of your pocket and put it in the ISP's pocket. Why have we never heard of the real cost of providing Internet service compared to the income? Hmmm?!?! The FCC should use the same "regulations" on ISP's that were imposed on the Telephone company to provide rural service.
SA pigeon ‘faster than broadband’
all creatures [great and small] - crowth: SA pigeon ‘faster than broadband’ | BBC...
SA pigeon ‘faster than broadband’ | BBC NEWS
Broadband promised to unite the world with super-fast data delivery - but in South Africa it seems the web is still no faster than a humble pigeon.
A Durban IT company pitted an 11-month-old bird armed with a 4GB memory stick against the ADSL service from the country’s biggest web firm, Telkom.
Winston the pigeon took two hours to carry the data 60 miles - in the same time the ADSL had sent 4% of the data.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Micky D's - More lawyers than common sense.
Global Voices Online » Malaysia: McDonald’s vs McCurry
Malaysia’s Federal Court has ruled that McDonald’s trademark name was not violated by McCurry, a local Indian restaurant which is popular in Kuala Lumpur.
McCurry, which opened in 1999, was sued by McDonald's in 2001. According to the owners of McCurry, the “Mc” prefix in the restaurant’s name stands for Malaysian Chicken Curry.
. . .
McDonald loses court battle in Malaysia
In a David-and-Goliath match-up in the world of fast food in Malaysia, McDonald loses a court battle against McCurry -- a small Indian curry shop in Malaysia. The court battle lasted for eight years. McDonald's claimed that the prefix "Mc" in McCurry trampled on its trademark. The country's Federal Court on Tuesday ruled that it didn't. Photo: McCurry restaurant owners A.M.S.P Suppiah and his wife Kanageswary Suppiah.
affiliate program
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Catastrophic FAIL - DELL COMMUNITY
Inside Enterprise IT - Inside Enterprise IT - DELL COMMUNITY
Watering My SMB Roots
09 September , 07:05 AM
It’s hard to believe that I’ve now been at Dell for almost 10 years. Where did the time go? I think back to my first year at Dell as a fledging server marketing manager, studying RAID groups, redundant-hot-swap whatever every night when I went home, so I wouldn’t get roasted by the hard-core technical sales reps (TSRs). Let’s be clear … they roasted me anyway, but at least it was on my terms. Anyone that knows me knows I thrive on sarcasm and strong personalities. Those guys shaped me into the storage person I am today.
I was part of the Small and Medium Business (SMB) group of Dell back in those days. I loved the emotion involved in that job … entrepreneurs growing their businesses, people in love with their job (not necessarily in love with IT) -- I could relate. After living in that universe for almost three years, it became my foundation. Our performance plans call it Customer Advocacy (or something like that), but it ingrained a passion in me that still surfaces regularly today.
Maybe that’s why I’m all over our new PowerVault NX300 Network-Attached Storage (NAS) platform. It gives me a chance to get back on my SMB soap box and show how we’re addressing their business problems with technology - ...
I started out just reading the text of this posting in GoogleReader (No picture!) Sounded like a real person, a real committed person, really engaging. I was beginning to get excited about the positive story being related. I really started to relate. Then I clicked on the embedded link. BUMMER, "We're sorry." ...
Dell has sadly let me down. On the Internet fail links spell disaster. Particularly fail links that introduce a new product. Here is the message that I come away with... fail link = fail product. I know it is unfair but it is very difficult to un-experience a first experience.
We're sorry!
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Monday, September 07, 2009
a certain state of enlightenment...
Myanmar: UFO or flying Buddha?
By Michael Cohen
The reader, from Myanmar, who sent us the link to this video (below) told us that:
'This footage is taken by a unknown teenage girl in Myanmar (Burma).Posted on youtube by Nyi Nyi. There are kids voice in the footage saying flying 'Ya Han Dah' It is believed to be a flying Buddhist monk.Said to have been taken on the First day of the Myanmar New Year 2009. This is definitely not CGI cause i have studied it many times and i am a graphic artist myself. This is definitely not visual effects.It is a monk wearing a so called yellow robe but really deep-red in color. In my country many sighting such as this has happened in the past and thousands have witnessed these events but this is a first time on tape that i have seen so far. In Buddhist scriptures, Buddhist monks are able to achieve flight through achieving a certain state of enlightenment.
Those monks who has become enlightened are not known as being enlightened until they die. On burning their corpse, instead of pile of ashes, balls of ashes are left and then it was known that this monk was enlightened and has pass to a higher realm or Nirvana. Some monks don't rot and their fingernails kept growing even after they die. This is not something u would find on casual BBC or CNN news as this world is immersed by Christianity and Islams. Buddhism is not a religion its a practice of good. So whoever reading this should rethink what is what. Sorry.. I got a little carried away.
“Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.”
“Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.”
- Alan PerlisSunday, September 06, 2009
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Hat tip to Friday, September 04, 2009
Thursday, September 03, 2009
I am a Leader - Reposted from The Elder Storytelling Place
I am a Leader
from The Elder Storytelling Place by Ronni Bennett
By George Baker
I AM A LEADER
When faced with any decision, I will do the right thing and refuse to do nothing.
I AM A LEADER
I have no desire to manage a work force.
My desire is to lead a team.
I will not get behind and push and coerce my team.
I will get out in front and pull and inspire my team.
I AM A LEADER
I am a product of my decisions, not a victim of my conditions.
It is my choice to make things happen and to never make excuses.
I refuse to merely be reactive to my circumstances.
I resolve that proactive planning will determine my destiny.
I AM A LEADER
I will practice self-discipline and self-control before asking others to do so.
I will never be satisfied with the status quo.
I will not complacently do what is expected.
I will eagerly exceed expectations.
I AM A LEADER I will communicate more vision than supervision. I will stimulate and communicate a futuristic vision. I will not futilely fight the changing tide. I will excitedly ride the wave of the future.
I AM A LEADER
My values will not vacillate depending on who I am with.
My integrity will remain immutable, no matter what the circumstances.
I will not blame, belittle, besmirch, or begrudge another person.
I will try to excite, exhort, encourage, and empower others.
I AM A LEADER
I will not have to be coddled, cajoled, coerced, or kowtowed into doing my job.
I will have the caring, character, courage, and commitment to perform my duties to the utmost.
I am committed to being a life-long learner.
The day I stop learning, is the day I stop breathing.
I AM A LEADER
I refuse to spend my time fighting the fires of the urgent.
I resolve to proactively plan my time to focus on the critical.
I refuse to waste my time in the present worrying about the future.
I realize that the best way to predict the future is to create it.
I AM A LEADER
(Thank you George Baker and Ronni Bennett)
Media: Right, Left and unbiased?
A recent report brought to the surface the difference between media and society...
Sri Lanka: A Journalist Sentenced For 20 Years
Sepia Mutiny reports that Sri Lankan journalist J.S. Tissainayagam, who has written articles critical of the Sri Lankan government for a magazine, has been sentenced for 20 years hard labor.
Groundviews first highlighted the case of J.S. Tissainayagam last year, noting that,
Salient points of Tissa’s case point to a larger and more chilling deterioration of media freedom in Sri Lanka under the Rajapakse administration. Tissa’s case in particular reveals a particularly twisted logic, and through it, confirms fears that the regime in the South now completely mirrors the intolerance of media freedom and free expression the LTTE is known and reviled for.
In contrast I reflect on our right guaranteed by the first amendment, the freedom of speech. As a society we are both burdened and blessed with this freedom. We must endure the seeming endless tirades of self-interested parties bent on swaying public opinion. As well, under the same protective freedom we enjoy the privilege of publicly expressing our values in art, theater, dance, literature and more. Sometimes even unfettered political criticism. What we as a society has learned is that our democratic form of government compensates for the polar extremes of freedom of speech. Further, we know that the onus of responsibility for filtering, affirming or dismissing a given free speech expression falls squarely on our shoulders. This is in sharp contrast to nation-states such as those sited above as well as a myriad of others. Governments and power brokers who would believe that by repressing the free press, by stifling freedom of expression, that they are in some way protecting the people. In fact they are only trying to keep their people ignorant. They are not repressing a free press as much as they are suppressing knowledge. This deprivation of knowledge is the primary means used to maintain power. Power, after all, is what it is all about. Frightened despotic governments who rule not by popular mandate but by the imposed shadow of ignorance cannot be taken seriously in this day and age. They are laughable. Sadly, while they laugh at their population's enforced ignorance, the free world cries for a journalist sentenced to 20 years hard labor.
Monday, August 31, 2009
The geek version - Apologies to Janis
Oh Lord, won't you buy me a 4BSD?
My friends all got sources, so why can't I see?
Come all you moby hackers, come sing it out with me:
To hell with the lawyers from AT&T!
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
NYT - UR DOINIT RITE!
Even though four or five years ago, Mary-Kate and Ashley were the biggest names in tween clothing, thanks to a deal with Wal-Mart, today they’re practically aesthetes.
Ha! This isn't about Mary-Kate & Ashley ... This is about the last word in the paragraph, "aesthetes". More specifically this is about my not knowing exactly what that word meant. (I did recognize the root structure, aesthetic. I may be a bumpkin but...) So, I did what I always do when faced with my own ignorance... I swiped the word and was about to do a Search Google for "aesthetes" when a little question mark appeared automagically. When I clicked on it I was taken... HERE
Now I am a bit of a bumpkin (albeit a bit erudite at times) but I find some of the NYT writers use vocabulary that broaches on pretentious. O'course that there's pro'ly just 'cause I'm from Kin-tuck an' they'all don' talk like that in these parts. T'any rate, havin' that there auto-magic question mark appear just when I was gonna Google that there word - shoot-fire, New York Times, yer doin' it right. (Even iffen y'are one of them east-coast-intellectual-liberal-newspapers. Dang!)Dictionary
aes·thete or es·thete (ĕs'thēt)
n.
- One who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature.
- One whose pursuit and admiration of beauty is regarded as excessive or affected.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Health Care Reform: The Flowchart - Sent using Google Toolbar
[Hat tip to Sister Beth, who doesn't blog, yet!]Only $2.2 million
Second Degree Murder and Six Other Crimes Cheaper than Pirating Music - Piracy - Gizmodo
Second Degree Murder and Six Other Crimes Cheaper than Pirating Music
• Child abduction: Fine of $25,000 and up to three years in prison, which can be accounted as $50,233 per year (that was the median household income in 2007, probably down because of the economic crisis). Total: $175,699.
• Steal the CDs: A total of $275,000, $52,500 fine for the CDs.
• Steal a lawnmower from your neighbour: A total of $375,000.
• Burn someone's house while playing The Doors: Another $375,000.
• Stalk a Gizmodo editor (yes, you know who you are): A Class 4 felony that will result in just $175,000.
• Start a dogfighting ring: $50,000.
• Murder someone on the second degree, a Class 1 felony: $778,495, which accounts for a $25,000 fine and four to 15 years in prison.
Heck, you can do all these crimes, and the total amount will be only $2.2 million. Of course, you can't really quantify years spent in prison using dollars, but I don't care. The case of Jammie—and many like hers—is still absolutely outrageous.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Booting and rebooting
Got to the office at 07:30 this morning... Yeah, Sunday morning...
There is a certain quiet at that hour of the morning. Not a real audible quiet but rather a people-less-ness. The reduced number of people, even in a 24x7 facility, means that technologically speaking the network is as quiet as it will ever be. Which makes it the best time to do maintenance on the Servers. So for two luxurious hours I got to take my time and reboot Servers. As with any system and particularly with Microsoft Servers rebooting them is a near-mystical exercise. It is somewhat akin to killing a living a fragile, helpless entity and thenSaturday, August 22, 2009
Fueling the future...
PR-CANADA.net - Aurora Biofuels Breakthrough Doubles CO2 Uptake and Fuel Production
| Aurora Biofuels Breakthrough Doubles CO2 Uptake and Fuel Production | | | |
| Posted by marin2008 |
| Thursday, 20 August 2009 |
| Today, Aurora Biofuels announces a technological milestone in the company's path to becoming the premier producer of low-cost advanced biofuels. Through a series of biotechnology achievements, Aurora has succeeded in optimizing its base algae strains to more than double CO2 consumption and fuel production, and has proven these results in an outdoor open system over the last several months. Using tools developed in the fields of molecular biology and biochemistry, Aurora Biofuels scientists have developed a proprietary process which allows for the superior selection and breeding of non-transgenic algae. With this novel technique, the company has optimized its base algae strains with an increased ability to process sunlight and carbon dioxide into algal oil. As a result, these algae strains can produce more than twice the amount of oil. Optimized algae have been producing oil in Aurora Biofuels' outdoor pilot ponds for several months, providing strong evidence that these strains will remain robust at the industrial scale and remove more carbon emissions than previously thought possible. |
The grass thus far is not proving to be greener...
The grass thus far is not proving to be greener, but I can sleep with my truth in the weeds.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
Captain Beefheart and His Magic BandIf Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger,There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats: They Were Collaborators #589
Winter smoke...
“Winter smoke is blue and bitter:
women comfort you in winter.
Scent of thyme is cool and tender:
girls are music to remember.
Men are made of rock and thunder:
threat of storm to labor under.
Cypress woods are demon-dark:
boys are fox-teeth in your heart.”
— Tennessee Williams
The Business of Health Care (a compound fractured fairy tale)
Having been closely associated with the health care industry, albeit many years ago, I feel that I can speak to the Business of Medicine. The majority of our difficulties with the current health care system stem from a central point of failure: the extremely high cost of medical education. Put in the simplest terms a fledgling physician, encumbered with many hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of dollars of debt, must earn hundreds of thousands of dollars just to break even. This is the beginning of the slippery slope.
For the sake of discussion lets say that Josephine-the-Doctor hangs her shingle and begins her practice. On the very first day, in addition to repaying her student loans, Dr. Jo has to have resourced an office (exam tables and a few bandaids), employed one or two Nurses and/or Physician Assistants, and a Business Manager (who does the HUGE paper choked billing procedure). This Business Manager, being an adept Accountant, will quickly determine how many patients Dr. Jo will have to see, at "regular rates" in order to just keep the doors open (and the pay checks flowing). This explains why a patient gets only 10-15 minutes with a Physician at any give appointment. In addition to the base costs of opening her practice Dr. Jo and all of her staff have to carry Insurance. We can be well assured that this is not PL/PD with a 500.00 dollar deductible. While this is a necessary business expense it is the foundation for a social or cultural problem with our health care system. We will hear more as Dr. Jo's story unfolds. Being the good Doctor Josephine's popularity increases and so does her patient load. In our simple story the Business Manager's answer is to simply multiply everything by 2 and divide Doctor's time with each patient in half. Kindly Dr. Jo gets to see twice as many patients but also incurs twice the cost. This goes along fine until Dr. Jo puts her foot down and says she has to have a life outside her practice. The Business Manager ponders the situation for a fraction of a second and says, "Ok, we'll be more selective about who we accept as patients and we will charge higher fees. That way you will make the same amount of money and have more time for your family." Dr. Jo immediately notices that she is seeing fewer Medicaid/Medicare patients. Dr. Jo's newest patient, Bill, is an ideal candidate according to the Business Manager. Bill's Health Insurance is first rate. The Business Manager says, "We must see that Bill gets the best Health Care possible." It turns out that this is office code for 'perform every service allowable under Bill's Health Plan'. While Dr. Jo only gets to see Bill for the allotted 12.5 minutes her staff, at the direction of the Business Manager, makes sure that Bill is scheduled for all of the "proper" diagnostic exams and evaluations, on a regular basis. Bill doesn't realize the cost of his health care because his "Insurance" dutifully pays to the plans limits and schedules. Only the Business Manager knows that real costs. Then one day, out of the blue, Bill drops dead. The Coroner determines that Bill died of a rare but treatable condition. Upon hearing this Mrs. Bill calls her neighbor Larry-the-Lawyer. Tearfully she poses the question, "If Bill had such a great health care plan and was scheduled for all of those exams and evaluations on a regular basis then how come Dr. Jo missed this treatable condition?" Larry-the-Lawyer consoles the widow Mrs. Bill and assures her that he will look into the matter. This is where Dr. Jo's very expensive insurance re-enters our little story. Dr. Josephine is an upright, caring, feeling, conscientious practitioner of the Medical Arts. Unfortunately she and many other Doctors are subject to the forces of an economy which cares more about budgets and costs than it does about care.Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Voices in your head...
“If you’re actually listening to your body, instead of the voices in your head, you won’t be inclined to eat yourself sick very often.”Kate Harding, an ex-dieter and an author of “Lessons From the Fat-O-Sphere" By way of /Ambivalence pointing at NYT: To Eat Well, Be Insensitive
TSA - Bigger Pictures
Imaging Technology: The Bigger Picture
from The TSA Blog by Bob
Millimeter Wave (Click Photo)
Backscatter (Click Photo)
Backscatter (Click Photo)
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Do you need more than Windows 7 Home Premium? | Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report | ZDNet.com
Following Steven Hodson's Winextra recommendation I read Ed Bott's insightful answer(s) to the pressing question...
Do you need more than Windows 7 Home Premium? | Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report | ZDNet.com
I came away with two distinct feelings.
A.) Microsoft is trying to build an incentivized layer strategy into their marketing. Knowing that the public prefers to pay less initially the "Home" versions of Windows are priced accordingly. BUT if you want x or y features then you will have to pay just a little bit more and upgrade to the next level. Sadly this is playing on the cluelessness of the public OS buyer and their failure to truly appreciate their computing platform. B.) The Class or Cast system is a means of intentionally separating groups of users. I believe this is a sort of Gate Keeping. This is a process of subjugating groups of users by imposing economic barriers. While suggesting that anyone can "move up" the reality is that those individuals who are burdened with the lesser OS platform may well never recognize their limitations. Some may argue that having or not having Bitlocker Drive Encryption is inconsequential. I argue that imposing such decisions, seemingly arbitrarily, on a user group is indicative of a much more insidious attitude, one that is totalitarian in nature: "We are the authority, we know what you should have, we will make your decisions for you. Have a nice day."
A.) Microsoft is trying to play the "If you want it you have to pay more for it" game.
B.) we are being pushed into a computing "class" cast system.
B.) we are being pushed into a computing "class" cast system.
A.) Microsoft is trying to build an incentivized layer strategy into their marketing. Knowing that the public prefers to pay less initially the "Home" versions of Windows are priced accordingly. BUT if you want x or y features then you will have to pay just a little bit more and upgrade to the next level. Sadly this is playing on the cluelessness of the public OS buyer and their failure to truly appreciate their computing platform. B.) The Class or Cast system is a means of intentionally separating groups of users. I believe this is a sort of Gate Keeping. This is a process of subjugating groups of users by imposing economic barriers. While suggesting that anyone can "move up" the reality is that those individuals who are burdened with the lesser OS platform may well never recognize their limitations. Some may argue that having or not having Bitlocker Drive Encryption is inconsequential. I argue that imposing such decisions, seemingly arbitrarily, on a user group is indicative of a much more insidious attitude, one that is totalitarian in nature: "We are the authority, we know what you should have, we will make your decisions for you. Have a nice day."
Monday, August 17, 2009
Flash Cookies - You Deleted Your Cookies? Think Again
You Deleted Your Cookies? Think Again | Epicenter | Wired.com
You Deleted Your Cookies? Think Again
- By Ryan Singel
- August 10, 2009 |
- 7:39 pm |
Sunday, August 16, 2009
New meaning of SquarePants (NSFW, C, R, W)
Definitely not safe for work (NSFW) or children (NSFC) or Republicans (NSFR) or whatever... (NSFW)
Making America Great - Two voices at a time
Obama Pics Daily - More healthcare reform townhalls | Montana
This is what makes America great! Two disparate voices, side by side, moving forward toward a common objective. In the process it is all too easy to believe that we are polarized and separate - when in fact we are one nation, indivisible...
Tumble Into Peace - Geek Joke #2
Geek Joke #2
A SQL query goes into a bar, walks up to two tables and says, “Can I join you?”
Tumble Into Peace - Geek Joke #2
.... The bartender, overhearing the request, say, "Hey, this is a union place."
Saturday, August 15, 2009
What's The Role Of Race In Health Care Fracas? : NPR
What's The Role Of Race In Health Care Fracas? : NPR
BLOCK: And Professor Harris-Lacewell, when you hear, I want my America back, do you also hear a racial context to that?
Prof. HARRIS-LACEWELL: I certainly know that progressives and liberals often use very similar language during Bush's administration. As we saw the erosion of civil liberties, we often use the language of wanting our America back. I think it has something to do with how Americans project their own world views onto the broader American context.
I do worry about whether or not, at least for some of those opponents of health care reform, that part of what they're saying is a reflection of an anxiety about I want an America back where African-Americans, where Latinos, where women were truly second-class citizens rather than first class, equal member with a full right to govern.
I'm not saying that every opponent believes that. I worry about the ways in which there may be a resonance of that anxiety that emerges.
BLOCK: Tony Blankley, would you think…
Mr. BLANKLEY: Yeah. I mean that may well have been a true statement if you'd ask somebody in 1964, '65, or '67.
But in 2009, I don't know anybody who thinks that way. I mean this is out of the history books. This isn't out of life. A lot of my friends are very conservative. I have liberal friends too, a couple of communist friends as well. But nobody thinks that way. I mean this is trying to bring up an old problem that has largely disappeared.
I was listening to the above interview on my way home - out in the county, Philpot Kentucky. Philpot is really just a 4-corners community with a tiny post office and its own zip code. When we say we live out in the "county" we are really saying we live out in the country.
We've been out here in the county for more than 10 years. We moved down here from Michigan in 1995. My point is that we are now 'from around here'. From the heartland of America.
I can tell you Mr. Blankley that I do know people who "think that way". I know the devoted American's who daily question whether President Obama was really born in the United States of America. I know proud and arrogant Americans who "want their America" back - the way it was "in 1964, '65, or '67". I know patriotic Americans who state that they wish the President of the United States of America would fail. I know Americans who have mobbed together hoping to defeat health care reform so that they can celebrate a "win" over that <explicative deleted> and his bleeding heart liberal commie pinko socialist death-panel friends.
America - Where fear and ignorance trumps truth
Just before midnight, a "note" was posted on Sarah Palin's Facebook page titled, "Concerning the 'Death Panels.'" Predictably, the media latched onto it and reported her thoughts. However, there's a problem: there's no way in hell Sarah Palin wrote it.
How do I know this, you ask? Well, the answer to that question is perhaps best explained by a comment someone named Marvin Settle posted under Palin's note. He wrote:
Wow, and the public thought she wasn't educated enough to be President? That is some of the most well researched and thought out material I have ever read. Thanks Sarah.
Exactly! Thank you Marvin Settle. Thank you very much.
First: Go read the "note" was posted on Sarah Palin's Facebook page.
Second: Go to front page of Sarah Palin's Facebook and read some of the comments.
Third: Be afraid! Be very afraid! "Wow, and the public thought she wasn't educated enough to be President?" Sarah Palin, properly 'handled', will be the next mouth-piece of the Republican Party. AND because fear and ignorance trumps truth ... Sarah Palin is very likely to be the next George Bush President of the United States.
BE AFRAID! BE VERY AFRAID!
The Connoisseur
The Connoisseur (1962)I find the most interesting things at ...
If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger,There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Oh, the woes...
"If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think
little of robbing; and from robbing he next comes to drinking and
Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination."
-- Thomas De Quincey (1785 - 1859)
New battery could change world, one house at a time
New battery could change world, one house at a time
The essence of Ceramatec's breakthrough is that high energy density (a lot of juice) can be achieved safely at normal temperatures and with solid components, not hot liquid.
Ceramatec says its new generation of battery would deliver a continuous flow of 5 kilowatts of electricity over four hours, with 3,650 daily discharge/recharge cycles over 10 years. With the batteries expected to sell in the neighborhood of $2,000, that translates to less than 3 cents per kilowatt hour over the battery's life. Conventional power from the grid typically costs in the neighborhood of 8 cents per kilowatt hour.
Re-read that last paragraph and let the information really sink in. Five kilowatts over four hours -- how much is that? Imagine your trash compactor, food processor, vacuum cleaner, stereo, sewing machine, one surface unit of an electric range and thirty-three 60-watt light bulbs all running nonstop for four hours each day before the house battery runs out. That's a pretty exciting place to live.
Garfield minus Garfield
[BBC] Phone that recognises tube stops
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Uncommon Sense: Nobody may give a damn about Ariel Sigler, but I do
Uncommon Sense: Nobody may give a damn about Ariel Sigler, but I do
Nobody may give a damn about Ariel Sigler, but I do
Ariel Sigler AmayaFor almost a week, I have been haunted by Cuban political prisoner Ariel Sigler Amaya's description of what the Castro dictatorship is doing to him as he sits in a Havana hospital suffering from a litany of health problems.
"This is obvious," said Sigler, "they are killing me little by little."
[More, much more...] Freedom isn't free! It is bought and paid for with the lives of those like Ariel Sigler Amaya. We need to be paying closer attention!
Perseids Like Celestial Bug Splatter
Perseids Like Celestial Bug Splatter
... on our cosmic windshield.
Unfortunately the link appears to have stopped working... but I loved the headline.
Posted via email from Pa^2 Patois
[Later: link seems to be working now.]
Practice being Independently Poor
For too long we have ascribed to the practice of being wealthy. We practiced diligently. We found new ways to increase our wealth. We used our wealth to measure our self worth. You might say we became adept at being wealthy.
Then in our wealth we became complacent. When we wanted or ...*gasp*... really needed something we simply snapped our plastic fingers and let our wealth 'take care of it'. The relative cost of the desired bauble or perceived "need" was hidden from us. Hidden in the automatic withdraws, electronic debits or far worse the "co-pay" which isolated us from any real cost of health care. It stopped being about real value and became instant gratification. It is time that we began practicing being Independently Poor.Tuesday, August 11, 2009
What to do with the flu
Updated Guidance for Schools for the Fall Flu Season
Updated federal guidelines offer state and local public health and school officials a range of options for responding to 2009 H1N1 influenza in schools, depending on how severe the flu may be in their communities. The guidance says officials should balance the risk of flu in their communities with the disruption that school dismissals will cause in education and the wider community. Find the guidance and associated toolkit on the school planning page or watch the video archive of the school guidance news conference.
Winer nailed it!
Starting here [Link]
. . .
. . .
And that imho is the answer -- we, the users, need to own a technology company -- and have it work to serve our interests. It has to help us achieve our goals to do what we are excited about.
. . .
So that's what I'd like you all to think about -- founding a People's Software Company whose first act is to IPO and pool the financial resources of users who believe there is a gap in what Silicon Valley is providing using their old models for corporate structure. We're living in the proof that the gap exists, with all the failures of the centralized system in just the last week. See if your imagination takes you to the same place it takes me.
In order to meet the needs of users -- we, the users, need to own a technology company... Call it communal computing, call it cyber-socialism, call it anything you want... we need systems that serve the community and are not just Merger & Acquisition fodder.
Google Wave is just a ripple with no big splash
Anyone who knows me or my work will affirm that I am an Early Adopter Of All Things Google (EAOATG). This is being composed in gMail, it will be posted to Blogger, and will be referenced in Google Reader. Copies will most likely be stored as Google Documents.
So my concern is that Google is waiting too long to bring the Wave into fruition. After such a glorious introduction this interminable wait is only undermining the Wave's seeming potential. To that end the question arises, "Whats wrong with the Wave?" Why haven't we heard more substantive reports about its functionality. Why haven't we heard Wavers swooning its praises?Why can't EAOATG's get access to even the sandbox version?Perhaps all we can do is wave ... as the ripple diminishes into the Google sunset.Friedbook & Fiendface
Facebook is a necessary evil. Everyone (well, almost everyone) has an account. It is the only way to keep in touch with some folks - people who don't blog, don't use e-mail - the sheep who feel comfortable being fleeced in a flock.
Twitter is just frivolous. (I ke
Losing the integrity and functionality of Friendfeed is devastating. Just hours before the announcement I had finally massaged my user lists to a point where I was beginning to see FF working correctly. In my case, being unknown, it was finding the balance between too many and too few folks to follow. That coupled with what "News" feeds to include. I had just arrived at a working balance.
Sooooo....
My social media networking community has just become more focused. Here is how it is going to work, give or take a little massaging (messaging)...
I use Google Reader to stay current with the 'feeds' - those folks and entities that consistently offered real world views. My responses, observations, blatherings, et al will eventually find themselves published in this Blog. Pa^2 Patois. Then through the magic (which I don't do) of the intertubes my humble offerings will be distributed to those other venues - Pa^2 Patois (Posterous), Papa@FriendFeed, Facebook, and finally Twitter.
Losing FriendFeed is the equivalent of having an intertubal ligation. While such a declaration is both premature and unduly terse I am and will continue to be an advocate for ...
Open Society and Culture ...a CGI ant carrying a digital grain of rice...
Google Ad - Sheep igg Blockers
Sheep igg BlockersMinimize heterophilic antibody (HA) interference with TRU Block or IgG.www.MeridianLifeScience.com
This must have been targeted to me for the phrase... "the sheep who feel comfortable being fleeced in a flock."
Monday, August 10, 2009
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Cowardly Lions
Iran: Twitter and Facebook in Trial
Yesterday, Iranian authorities held the second round the of mass trial of protestors and reformist politicians. Defendants in this round included a 24 year-old French woman, Clotilde Reiss, who was accused of spying. Almost all the defendants were accused of inciting riots and undermining national security. The Iranian judiciary went on to blame a litany of Western intelligence agencies, media organizations, and software companies, including Israel's Mossad spy agency, Facebook, Twitter, Voice of America, BBC Persia, and even Google's new Persian-to-English translation software, for their roles in the supposed vast conspiracy. See photos from the trial here.
I wonder if the "authorities" cited above could ever realize just how silly they appear?
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