Sunday, September 29, 2002

Whitney ARTPORT: The Whitney Museum Portal to Net Art

Whitney ARTPORT: The Whitney Museum Portal to Net Art

BBC NEWS | Health | Blondes 'to die out in 200 years'

BBC NEWS | Health | Blondes 'to die out in 200 years'
The last natural blondes will die out within 200 years, scientists believe.

Irish Travelers in the USA

Madelyne Toogood, the woman who was caught on video tape hitting a child, is a member of the American Irish Travelers (Travellers) community. Normally, I am not interested in a news story simply because it was caught on video tape, which is the only reason this particular incident was newsworthy. (Sadly, three incidents of child abuse are reported every ten seconds, according to the statistics page of Child Help USA - yet rarely do child abuse incidents make the news. ) However, the Irish Travellers angle is interesting, as I was not aware of their existence either in Ireland, or the United States.

Saturday, September 28, 2002

Making Sense of Marcel Duchamp

via Lockergnome: An excellent web site explaining Marcel Duchamp's work - Making Sense of Marcel Duchamp. Marcel Duchamp was the most important of the Dadaist artists, and one of the most import overall artists of the twentieth century.

Friday, September 27, 2002

He Cheated at Bingo, Killed Self

He Cheated at Bingo, Killed Self
Bingo? Indeed, the hottest scandal in Vegas at the moment is the unraveling tale of a Reno software engineer who allegedly rigged electronic bingo machines in Las Vegas to allow himself to play many more cards than he had paid for. The programmer, Brett Keeton, 38, apparently killed himself Friday by leaping off San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge after he realized he was the focus of a fraud investigation, gaming investigators say.

Tuesday, September 24, 2002

Resident Reported That Roommate Was the Devil. Roommate Was Found to not be the Devil...

From the Burlingame Police Blotter:

Thursday, 6:50p.m.: Resident reported that roommate was the devil. Roommate was found to not be the devil and was advised of the situation.
As reported in the Burlingame Daily News - September 23rd, 2002.

Friday, September 20, 2002

Nu Shortcuts in School R 2 Much 4 Teachers

from slashdot: Nu Shortcuts in School R 2 Much 4 Teachers
As more and more teenagers socialize online, middle school and high school teachers like Ms. Harding are increasingly seeing a breezy form of Internet English jump from e-mail into schoolwork. To their dismay, teachers say that papers are being written with shortened words, improper capitalization and punctuation, and characters like &, $ and @.



Good discussion here.

Yahoo! News - Love Means Sharing the Same Diseases

Yahoo! News - Love Means Sharing the Same Diseases
If a spouse suffers from asthma, depression, peptic ulcers, high blood pressure or raised cholesterol levels, the chances are their partner will be afflicted with the same illness.

2 arrested in thefts of patio furniture / Found with wrought-iron haul in minivan

2 arrested in thefts of patio furniture / Found with wrought-iron haul in minivan
Two people suspected of stealing the upscale furniture in recent weeks from dozens of suburban homes in the East Bay and on the Peninsula were caught this week after committing their latest robbery, police said Thursday.

Tuesday, September 17, 2002

Ch..Ch..Ch..Changes:

Added:

to "Useful": Bartleby.com

to "Useless": words



Moved:

from "elsewhere" to "cool": memepool

from "tech" to "elsewhere": Kuro5hin



Salon.com Technology | Trent Reznor's pretty hate machines

Salon.com Technology | Trent Reznor's pretty hate machines
"Once I start sounding like Willie Nelson," he says, "then I'm like, OK, I have to get back to the computer."

HHS Seeks Science Advice to Match Bush Views (washingtonpost.com)

HHS Seeks Science Advice to Match Bush Views (washingtonpost.com)
The Bush administration has begun a broad restructuring of the scientific advisory committees that guide federal policy in areas such as patients' rights and public health, eliminating some committees that were coming to conclusions at odds with the president's views and in other cases replacing members with handpicked choices.



...



The overhaul is rattling some HHS employees, some of whom said they have not seen such a political makeover of the department since Ronald Reagan took office in 1981.

Monday, September 16, 2002

Windows Task List Programs

Task List Programs
Through our support service we often come across problems caused primarily by programs running in the background, programs which in most cases start at the same time as Windows. Sometimes these programs are useful and need to be there; quite often, however, they are not needed, and in too many cases they cause severe problems.



The pages below are from our in-house database and provide guidance on the usefulness or not of these programs, and removal procedures when recommended.

Route of Problem: Bad Online Maps

Route of Problem: Bad Online Maps
Increasingly, drivers are leaving Thomas Bros. guides and AAA maps in the glove box in favor of custom directions from online map services. When they lose their way, they inevitably blame their tardiness not on human fallibility but on the mapping service: "MapQuest lied to me."

Sunday, September 15, 2002

A Website About Urabn Sprawl

Sprawl City
A website about Consumption Growth [,]...Population Growth and their roles in the urban sprawl that destroys natural habitat and farmland around U.S. cities

Plummeting plankton linked to warmer oceans

CNN.com - Plummeting plankton linked to warmer oceans - August 14, 2002
Concentrations of microscopic plants that comprise the foundation of the ocean's food supply have fallen during the past 20 years as much as 30 percent in northern oceans, according to a satellite checkup of planetary health.

Friday, September 13, 2002

Atmospheric Optics

Some beautiful pictures here: Atmospheric Optics
Light playing on water drops, dust or ice crystals in the atmosphere produces a host of visual
spectacles - rainbows, halos, glories, coronas and many more. Some can be seen
almost every day or so, some are once in a lifetime sights. Find out where to
see them and how they form. Then seek and enjoy them outdoors.

time porn

The Word Spy:
Television shows and other media that portray characters as having excessive amounts of spare time.

Thursday, September 12, 2002

BayRail Alliance Home Page

BayRail Alliance Home Page
BayRail Alliance (formerly Peninsula Rail 2000) is an all volunteer transit consumer group working to realize a regional rail system that will ring the San Francisco Bay Area.



Key to this vision is an upgraded and expanded Caltrain system serving the Peninsula and San Jose-East Bay corridors. We also support the proposed California high speed 'bullet train' system, and integration of rail and other transit modes into a seamless system.

Tuesday, September 10, 2002

U.S. Not Claiming Iraqi Link To Terror (washingtonpost.com)

via metafilter: U.S. Not Claiming Iraqi Link To Terror (washingtonpost.com)
As it makes its case against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the Bush administration has for now dropped what had been one of the central arguments presented by supporters of a military campaign against Baghdad: Iraq's links to al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.

Monday, September 09, 2002

The New Yorker: BUSH'S BUDDY ECONOMY

via camworld: The New Yorker: The Talk of the Town
As long as the government is as big and as active as it is in the United States, the incentive for interest groups—like big oil and big steel—to seek succor from it will exist. And the Bush Administration seems especially amenable to such blandishments (at least, when they come from business, rather than, say, labor).

IT is not Geeky, Says Industry Group

from Plastic: The Register
The IT industry is trying to shed its "geeky" image among schoolchildren in a bid to attract more youngsters into the sector.

Sunday, September 08, 2002

It's Time to Turn Off Those Bells and Whistles

via metafilter: It's Time to Turn Off Those Bells and Whistles
And so, on Wednesday, consider observing a moment, if not a day, of data silence. Pull the D.S.L. connection out of that forearm vein. Listen. Slow down. Understand that whatever it is you think you need, you don't absolutely, positively need it overnight:

CyberJournalist.net: Great Work Gallery

via Marylaine Block's Net New Stuff newsletter:CyberJournalist.net: Great Work Gallery
There's no better way to learn [CyberJournalsim] than by examining great work. Here's some of the best that's been done.

Anthropology in the News

via Marylaine Block's Net New Stuff newsletter: Anthropology in the News

Maryland Poisons Pond to Kill Predator Snakefish

via mynakada: Yahoo! News - Maryland Poisons Pond to Kill Predator Snakefish
Maryland state game officials sprayed enough poison to kill every fish in a murky pond on Wednesday to get rid of a foreign predator that infiltrated suburban Washington: the voracious, land-crawling snakehead fish.

Saturday, September 07, 2002

BBC NEWS | Technology | Hack attacks on the rise

via techblog: BBC NEWS | Technology | Hack attacks on the rise
August has been a record breaking month for malicious hackers with 2002 set to become the worst year for digital attacks on record, according to security firm mi2g.

Friday, September 06, 2002

Microsoft Admits Their Products Aren't Engineered for Security

Via slashdot.org: Brian Valentine, the senior vice president in charge of Microsoft's Windows development team, said recently at a developer conference:
"We really haven't done everything we could to protect our customers ... Our products just aren't engineered for security."

Thursday, September 05, 2002

Deconstructing Bob Newhart's Birthday

Happy Birthday Bob Newhart! As a kid, I used to watch the original Bob Newhart show (were he is a psychologist, not an innkeeper) with my parents. It was one of the few TV shows they watched. He was a kind of childhood hero of mine.



Some years later, I heard a radio interview with Stanley Fish, a well known literature professor, were Mr. Fish used one of Bob Newhart's early comedy routines, a phone call from Sir Walter Raleigh (Real Audio), to illustrate deconstructionism. It gave me a whole new appreciation for Mr. Newhart.

Yahoo! News - After two years pitching PCs, Dell's dude has become almost too popular

Yahoo! News - After two years pitching PCs, Dell's dude has become almost too popular

The blog days of Summer

The blog days of Summer

Wednesday, September 04, 2002

Great Sounding Koss Headphones now on sale at RadioShack for less than $20

RadioShack has a great sounding (for the price) pair of Koss headphones on sale - originally $40, now $20. If you have a Walkman or a MP3 player that came with built-in headphones - replace them. Electronics manufacturers include the cheapest pair of headphones they can since they need to keep the prices as low as possible. You will be surprised how much better your music sounds when you upgrade your headphones.



Disclaimer: Although I have worked for RadioShack in the past, I do not currently work for them.

Email Hoax - The 12 Billion Dollar NASA Pen

From the LangaList edition 2002-09-05, an excellent discusion of a popluar email hoax going around - the "12 Billion Dollar NASA Space Pen".

IBM Hooks Dorm Washers, Dryers to Web

My wife brought this story to my attention: Reuters - Web washing puts students in a spin
[A new system called] eSuds and developed by IBM and USA Technologies, lets students swipe a credit card or punch a code into their mobile phones to pay for washing or drying their clothes instead of scrounging in backpacks and desk drawers for change.



The souped-up washers and dryers also let students check a website for empty machines. From the comfort of their desktop or laptop, students can add soap and fabric softener that is dispensed by the washing machine. Finally when the wash is done, they can be sent an e-mail telling them to come and get it.

Tuesday, September 03, 2002

College IT Program Enrollments Fall With the Times

Enrollments Fall With the Times
A year ago, the Department of Computer and Information Systems at Georgia State University's J. Mack Robinson College of Business was on top of the world. .... The department's enrollment last fall was 2,750, making it one of the largest IT programs in the country....



What a difference a year makes. With the economy stalled and IT hiring by many companies at a standstill, enrollment at Robinson's CIS department has plummeted, according to Academic Program Director David McDonald. Last spring, enrollment fell by 11 percent. And now, just prior to the opening of the fall semester, enrollment is off another 43 percent.

Don't Even Think of trying to Get an IT Job Without...

...at least several of the following skills. (I knew all along that reading slashdot.org and working on your blog site were important IT employment skills.)

The Bleak Job Market for New IT Grads

Lining Up for Jobs
The upside of Mike Reeves' job is that he's working in IT. The downside is that this newly minted graduate with a master's in IS management from Brigham Young University is working for his dad. He's developing a Visual Basic application that will churn out proposals for insurance clients. It's not a bad job, but working for a small, family-owned business is certainly not what he had in mind when he decided to get his master's degree. Why not something more in line with his training? Because since graduating in June, Reeves hasn't been able to find such a job.

Monday, September 02, 2002

Removed from Popular Culture Section

Removed from Popular Culture Section:



ROTTEN TOMATOES

Movie Database

The Naked Face - Microcontent News, a Corante.com Microblog

The Naked Face - Microcontent News, a Corante.com Microblog
If you subscribe to the New Yorker, you're probably familiar with Malcolm's work (if not, you may know him from his bestseller The Tipping Point). If you can't tell already, I am a huge fan. It's past the point of rationality - after all, I don't always agree with his articles, and I have some problems with the core ideas in the Tipping Point. But all is forgiven, because Malcolm can write like nobody's business.

This posting links to Mr. Gladwell's archive, were you can read his past New Yorker articles online.