Joi has six free days in Europe and has posted a wiki where we can suggest ways he can constructively use his time.

A cleverer person than I could probably figure out huge amounts about Joi, his social network and his standing just by reading this page. It’s the sort of rich artifact the Web creates unintentionally and frequently…

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Thomas Barnett, the author of The Pentagon’s New Map, a book I’m hearing good things about, has a rollicking good blog. (It was the Feedster Site o’ the Day earlier this week.) He’s been writing rather wickedly about dealing with the media interest in his book recently.

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My scam printer — aka fax machine — continues to spew almost nothing but spam and scam. Today I got yet another legal-looking notice, formatted to lo like you’re being served with papers, from the Domain Notification Center. It “warns” me that unless I contact them, someone else might register the .us version of a .com name I own. Heavens forfend!

At least now that I’m back to running an internal fax/modem card I’m not paying for the ink to spray this crap onto paper.

By the way, DomainNotificationCenterSucks.us is available.

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From the May 2004 Bandwidth Report:

US broadband penetration grew by 1.9 points in April, with 47.87% of active Internet users enjoying a high-speed connection at home. This jump of nearly 2 points is 2.5 times the average rate of broadband growth. 52.13% of US home users dial into the Internet with “narrowband” connections of 56Kbps or less.* Meanwhile, broadband growth in other countries suggests a limit of 75% saturation…

As of April 2004, most users in the US connect to the Internet using dial-up modems of 56Kbps or less. 42.74% use 56Kbps modems, 6.99% use 28/33.3Kbps, and 2.4% use 14.4Kbps modems. In total. 52.13% of home users in the US connect to the Internet at 56Kbps or less.

…As of April of 2004, of those connected to the Internet, 79% of US users at work enjoy a high-speed connection, up from 78.8% in March. 21% connect from work at 56Kbps or less

The report also wonders whether 75% is a saturation point for broadband.

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Search at Google Images for “left arrow.” Check the 21st image, which with my configuration is the first one on the second page. You’ll be able to tell that you have the right one because it is the only one pointing right.

Now notice what page the image comes from. So maybe it does run in the family.

[Thanks to Hanan Cohen for the find.]

Ralph in the comments notes that the image is at #18 and rising because of the increased linkage.

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Here‘s a transcript of a speech by Justice Michael Kirby of the Australian High (= Supreme) Court on his Christianity and homosexuality. (Thanks to Vergil for the link.) Excerpt:

So how did my relationship with God survive this experience of self-discovery?

First, I never doubted for an instant the surrounding love of my parents, my brothers and sister. I knew, in my heart, that they would always love me as I was. For years we did not confront the subject verbally. We did not really need to do so. When we did, it was exactly as I expected. No big deal. Not everyone is so lucky.

Secondly, I was greatly blessed by having many loving friends and companions, homosexual and heterosexual. Especially in finding a loving partner, Johan. He is not here tonight. He has very little time for religion and churches. He has often said to me: “I don’t understand how such an intelligent person can take seriously religions that all oppress women, people of colour and gays”. He prefers to be out there helping his Ankali. He volunteers to clean and cook and scrub the toilet-bowl for a patient living with HIV. That is his “religion”…

AKMA blogged this speech a couple of weeks ago (d’oh!) and wrote”

As I read the Justice’s words, it seemed increasingly likely that the present stresses over sexuality in the church will not be resolved by new arguments, or even by new attention to arguments that presently have been relegated to the sidelines of the public strutting contest. Rather, I think that it will settle out based on people’s sense of with whom they would want to align themselves. Most of the facile arguments have already been drilled into our heads; most of the subtle arguments fail to command the kind of traction that could make someone change the direction of their thinking; but sooner or later, people will begin to say, “Aw, they can’t be that bad,” or “I just have to stick with this group no matter what.””

Well put! Here in Massachusetts we have two years before the vote on an amendment to ban same-sex marriage. That’s two years for residents of the Commonwealth to decide that they’d rather align themselves with the loving gay couples in their neighborhood. That’s what I’m hoping for, anyway.

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