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December 28, 2004
Here is the package of nubbins for my Thinkpad — the little red eraser-thingies — IBM sent me, shown about actual size:
Here is the package it came in: The plastic bag, in a foamy bag, packed in a basket of shock-protective cardboard in a box about a foot square.
December 27, 2004
JonL forwards this tsunami relief site: http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com/
Scott Kirsner has a good piece in the Boston Globe appreciating “pure entrepreneurs” who go ahead and build stuff without asking for funding or permission. One of those he cites is my friend Pito Salas who is creating BlogBridge, an aggregator with lots of potential, currently in alpha. He also points to Paul Cosway who is working on what sounds like a very cool, portable Internet radio, called “Radeo.” And he interviews Dan Bricklin and Bill Warner (Avid).
Three cheers for pure entrepreneurs!
BTW, I don’t know Paul Cosway, but I can attest that Pito Salas is not “loopy” (which Scott meant in an affectionate way).
[Note: I am on BlogBridge’s board of advisors.]
Terry Heaton interviews Ed Cone about the newspaper-sponsored local blogging community.
While poking around for blogs reporting on the tsunami, I came across Mr. Brown‘s in Singapore. He reports that the police called a friend to say that they’d caught the guy who stole his anonymous cashcard. Except the friend hadn’t reported the card lost. Mr. Brown figures that the police triangulated against the transponder in the friend’s car. He writes:
I don’t know whether to be happy we have an efficient police force that can return your stolen goods to you even if you did not make a police report, or be terrified at the thought that nothing escapes the Eye of Sauron.
I’ve been poking around Mr. Brown’s site. There’s a whole bunch of good writing there – technological but also personal and even intimate, without being overwhelming. Here’s a piece about his autistic daughter. And here’s a translation of a short story that’s being circulated in Chinese.
December 26, 2004
Does the Web have seasons? Discuss amongst yourselves…
My fellow Americans, in our name our government is torturing people scooped up indiscriminately — some were turned in for a bounty, not much of a guarantee of guilt. You and I are chaining them into a fetal position for 24 hours or more without food or water, letting them shit themselves. You and I are threatening people with vicious dogs. You and I are letting them roast in unventilated cells. And then there’s this: “I saw another detainee sitting on the floor of the interview room with an Israeli flag draped around him, loud music being played, and a strobe light flashing.” Is this some Clockwork Orange technique to make triple sure they hate Israel?
Now the Boston Globe reports that an FBI email says that Paul Wolfowitz approved Defense Department personnel impersonating the FBI so the DoD could avoid blame. And, freed of accountability, the torture began. Wolfowitz should be ashamed, fired and tried, not necessarily in that order.
But there’s little reason to think that this un-American buck stops with Wolfowitz. Another email refers to an executive order signed by President Bush directly authorizing torture.
Impeach Bush.
(The documents were released thanks to requests by the ACLU. Don’t forget to renew your membership for the new year.)
December 25, 2004
Worthwhile Magazine, for whom Halley, Tom Peters and I (among others) blog, has posted a PDF of my column for their premiere issue.
Added Bonus: You get to see my “I Hate Being Photographed” face!
Gavi Narra notes in a comment to my entry on Google Suggest that s/he has implemented it for a public-domain dictionary and has posted how it works. It works darn well! Gavi notes: “[A] connection is being opened for every keystroke and is not a good idea…Google Suggest is probably running by having all the suggestion words in main memory and a custom webserver that does nothing else.”
December 24, 2004
JP Barlow recounts his day in court, on trial for threatening to blow up an airliner with a few grams of pot smuggled in an Ibuprofen bottle. danah weighs in with her own account of the drama.
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