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January 24, 2004
According to the Butt Ugly Weblog, “orkut” — the name of the Google-affiliated artificial social network — is a slang term for “orgasm” in Finnish.
It turns out it’s named after its creator, Orkut Buyukkokten, whose parents were either cruel or not Finnish.
On the other hand, what isn’t a slang term for “orgasm”? I mean, even “Finnish” is, as in: “Didn’t you Finnish yet?”
(Thanks to Janne Jalkanen for pointing out the dirty Scandinavian words.)
I’ve grown weary of reinstalling Windows 2000 on my father-in-law’s computer, so I reformatted and installed Mandrake 9.2.
I’ve had problems before using Linux as a desktop system (starting around July 10 here), but this time I figured it would work. After all, my problems in the past had to do with trying to get the desktop up to Windows’ level of application functionality, but my father-in-law uses his computer only for browsing. So, with just one application to worry about, Linux should provide the stability at which Windows curls its painted lip.
Mandrake 9.2 installed like a dream. It really couldn’t be much easier. It detected all the hardware, even the sound card and printer. Mandrake has done a fabulous job with this.
But once you’re up and browsing, you notice little things. For example, Mozilla needs the Flash plugin loaded. That’s reasonable. And the installation process is pretty straightforward. Except that two hours later, it still wasn’t working. The Flash files are installed in the (seemingly) right directory. But still every time Mozilla comes to a page with Flash on it, it pops up a notice that Flash needs to be installed. This is exactly the sort of unexpected error message that puts my father on the hot line to sys admin (= me).
After installing Flash, before launching Mozilla has started asking the user to select a profile. I could set this to “Don’t ask again,” but Mozilla (latest version, by the way) doesn’t record the new profile I created 8-10 times last night. (I believed I screwed this up by initially telling Flash to install itself only for one user rather than system wide.)
I spent about three hours last night trying to get the system to be able to play any form of video file. No luck. Too hard for the likes of me.
So, putting Linux on my father-in-law’s machine seemed like a really good idea. After all, he’s already a Linux user because he has Tivo. But I think it’s going to generate as many support calls as Windows.
(Oh, and did I mention that I’ve already had to reinstall Mandrake because a set of options mysteriously vanished from the KDE desktop and I couldn’t figure out how to get them back?)
So, yes, he should get a Mac. Given his needs — browsing via a broadband connection — what is the best bargain (new or used) for him? And is there any way he can keep using the 15″ flat screen he currently has instead of buying a new one? (Have I mentioned that price matters?)
January 23, 2004
I thought this was a good interview, despite Sawyer’s alternation between being insipid and baiting them. It was the first time I’ve heard Judy Steinberg, and I think it gives a pretty good picture of what he and they are like, modulo their political concerns and Sawyer’s entertainment concerns. (FWIW, I liked Steinberg a lot. The fact that she’s about my age and grew up a couple of miles from where I grew up I’m sure has no affect on my feeling comfortable with her immediately.)
Salon has a good summary and analysis of Steinberg’s presence in the interview.
This one made me laugh…so good, right up until the last word:
Dear PayPal member,
We regret to inform you that your account is about to be expired in next five business days. To avoid suspension of your account you have to reactivate it by providing us with your personal information.
To update your personal profile and continue using PayPal services you have to run the attached application to this email. Just run it and follow the instructions.
IMPORTANT! If you ignore this alert, your account will be suspended in next five business days and you will not be able to use PayPal anymore.
Thank you for using PayPal.
ogqolkel
I believe “Ogqolkel” was the Aztec god “The Deceiver.”
In a speech to the World Economic Forum, according to the AP, “Attorney General John D. Ashcroft yesterday urged nations…to fight corruption, which is costing the world economy more than $2 trillion every year.”
“Follow our moral lead,” Ashcroft said. “Surely in your own country you have a highly visible woman who is resented for her success. I urge you to go after her with the full power of the law. And God bless America.”
Mike Muegel, a Dean supporter, has put together a very cool little tool that aggregates blogs related to the Dean campaign. It sits in your system tray and pulls in entries from a whole bunch o’ sites, and lets you cycle through them one at a time. In my experience with it over the past few weeks, it’s been very well-behaved, updating itself cleanly. Desktop Dean is free, of course.
You could probably talk to Mike about having him do a version for some other topic you or your business cares about…
January 22, 2004
There’s a fascinating set of papers on issues of self-organization and complexity given at a Credit Suisse First Boston conference last
January 21, 2004
If a respected paper such as, say, the Boston Globe, set out to drive down a candidate, what do you think they might do? Run a front page story saying that Dean’s pep rally “Yeah!” was a sign of his anger? Nah, too outrageously slanted. After all, if it was an angry yell, what was it denouncing? Fury that the campaign was going to continue? No, Doc got much closer to it when he called it a Whitmanesque barbaric yawp.
But here’s the money shot from the first paragraph of The Globe’s front page story:
Dean found himself struggling to explain the reaction, casting it as a show of passion, while critics said it confirmed the angry streak they hear in his speeches and campaign rhetoric.
And the evidence that Dean was struggling to explain it? None. The critics who think it was a sign of his “angry streak”? Sixteen paragraphs in, the reporter, Sarah Schweitzer, finds a professor who wrote a book about the New Hampshire primary who says, “That moment crystallizes a lot about what’s been said about him, that he’s the angry man.” This is such a clear case of media self-confirmation that it’s almost touching.
In between, we get a repetition of the Angry Man meme:
Dean has sought to soften his image by layering speeches with references to community. Yesterday, he described his campaign as one of “hope” and himself as a “neighbor.” But he has erupted at times on the campaign trail — he recently berated an insistent Iowa voter for interrupting him.
And the evidence that the community theme is an addition to a core of anger? And the evidence that this has been “layered” onto his speeches not because Dean believes it but in order to soften his image? And the evidence that he has “erupted” more than once on the trail? And when Bush silenced hecklers, this was certainly evidence that W is The Angry Man, right?
Schweitzer doesn’t miss the opportunity to selectively quote the person on the street to make the point that she wants to make, the sleaziest practice in professional journalism: “Bob Scipione, 66, a retired biochemist of Bedford and a committed Dean supporter, offered this explanation: ‘The man has to be out of control to beat Bush.'” Sarah, what possible justification do you have for choosing that quote from that person? I’d love to know.
If this sort of biased reporting is unwitting, then the Globe ought to get a reporter with some wits. But, unfortunately, the problem is bigger than that. Jay Rosen is right. It’s the power of The Narrative. It is no less shameful for it.
Some generous words of support for Deaniacs from Michael Moore, who’s supporting Clark. Subtext: There will be plenty of time for you to support Clark once Dean’s run is done.
And more medicine for the heart from Doc.
I just realized that I blogged in November about another article that struck me as just as lazily biased as this one. Same author. I’ve taken a guess at her email address and am sending her the links. Sarah, my comments are working. Feel free to tell me why I’m wrong.
January 20, 2004
David Isenberg examines the language of the Cato Institute’s shabby paper on Internet policy. (Lessig has also written about it, as have I.)
Microsoft continues to press its case against a 17-year-old Canadian high school student named Mike Rowe because his web site is mikerowesoft.com and he refused their offer of $10. Ten dollars! I know it sounds cheap, but you have to remember that these are ten American dollars.
You have to sympathize with Microsoft: Tons of people are going to end up on Rowe’s site by mistake simply because they typed every letter after the “i” wrong.
By the way, I just registered www.mykrowzoft.com. (I would have taken mykrowsoft.com, but someone in Hawaii already owns it.) Bring it on!
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