Animator envisions sub-dermal displays: "
Note to Hart and Huntington tattoo shop: you guys so need to hook up with Gina Miller, a designer and animator who
is looking to make your business totally obsolete. Obviously seeing a bright future in
implanted devices, Seattle-based Miller,
with help from nanotech author Robert A. Freitas Jr., has finished her concept-animation project that envisions a
dermal display system consisting of billions of nanobots that can self-assemble and emit photons to form text and
graphics directly on the skin. While user-changeable tattoos are the most obvious implementation of this technology,
Freitas proposes the more ‘practical’ deployment of using pixelbots to display info gathered from the army of
healthbots that will one day run amok in our bloodstreams. The futuristic system also promises to be touch sensitive,
allowing you to send a message back to your nano-friends telling them to get the hell out of your prostate.
[Via Medgadget]Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
© 2005 Weblogs, Inc.
"(Via engadget.com.)
Friday, September 23, 2005
Big Truba? AP: "Hospital...: "
Big Truba? AP: 'Hospital operator HCA (HCA) said Friday that federal prosecutors have issued a subpoena for documents the company believes may be related to the sale of its stock by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. A release from the company said the subpoena came from the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.'
"(Via Talking Points Memo.)
Telefonia Satellitare Thuraya SG 2510 / 2520 satellite GSM phones: "
We all know sat phones are pretty much dead and gone by this point, but Telefonia Satellitare keeps on keepin’ on
with their dual-mode GSM satellite phones. We’re hesitant to call the GSM aspect worthy of the title ‘worldphone’
because it’s tri-band, but the devices do feature GPS, GPRS, USB connections, Bluetooth, and a 1.3 megapixel camera;
the smaller 2510 is the budget handset, but no word on what features it drops. Think your wireless bill is high right
now though? Just wait until you get those $5 per minute sat roaming charges. Buy it to call your mom from the top of
Everest, dude, but otherwise you might be better off with something unlocked and quad-band.Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
© 2005 Weblogs, Inc.
"(Via engadget.com.)
By the way, does anybody know the etymology of the word would?
If only murder weren't so darn tasty. The London Vegan Festival makes an anemic appearance at Kensington Town Hall this Sunday (September 25) from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. All kinds of meatless goodies will be on offer, none of which had a face, children, or a soul. In addition to vegan food, all kinds of politically minded anti-vegetable groups and causes will attempt to convince attendees that plants are the real enemy. Admission is £1.
London Vegan Festival 25th September [Londonist]
London Vegan Festival [Official site]Previously: Persian Art and Artifacts, London by Bus, Maze Restaurant, Chick Pics, London Cartoon Laffs
"(Via Gridskipper.)
Countdown To Rita: "Written By:
Daniel Gifford
We just received word that the management company who we lease space from is closing all of their buildings and only allowing limited access. Basically, this means we are on our own now, much like the first crew was when Katrina rolled in.
There are rumors that the levees have already begun seeping water. I havent been able to confirm the report, but some of my sources are saying that the Lower 9th Ward, a neighborhood that was completely destroyed from flooding 3 weeks ago, is slowly filling up with water again. I assume that this might be caused by the wind gusts blowing across the lake, but I have no idea...
The city is almost completely vacated now - much more so than before. I just heard on the news that they believe there are only a few thousand people left within the borders of Orleans Parish, most of those being military, police and FEMA. I wouldnt be surprised if we were the only 'civies' left in town. The current population of the city is probably less than that of when Iberville and Bienville founded it in the name of France. Its really depressing. It almost seems like the world has ended at times. The streets are dark, and no one is around. I was butt naked in the middle of the park today trying to take a shower. No one was even around to notice. Unfortunately, the rain stopped, and I had a head full of shampoo, a body covered in soap, and had to run into the office and rinse with a gallon of spring water. Yikes! It was a cold trek into the building! I must say, after 7 days without showering, I feel freakin great!!!
We were able to get these cute, official-looking badges today with our pictures on them. We now have appropriate credentials - we are now part of the New Orleans Business Task Force! Exciting, eh? Not really. From the looks of it, anyone can get one with a local ID and business card. But they make us feel a little more official.
We are still in wait and see mode. We have prepped about as much as humanly possible. There have been some small leaks from floors above us that were dripping into the offices, but we were able to plug them without any problems. Keeping the ship afloat seems to take on more meaning now...
I just got word that we now have 6,000 Gallons of fuel. Should hold us over for quite some time. Apparently, the National Guard stopped by our building on their way out of town to fill up all of our empty drums because they knew we were riding the storm out (no REO Speedwagon comments please!). Those guys rock! I dont get why people say others are against the troops if they dont support the war....Not to bring politics up, but Im a flaming liberal, and I have seen nothing but respect and admiration for those guys. In fact, I would go so far as to say that they are the ones holding this city together. They have been unbelievable, and I dont know if any of them are reading this, but thanks for what you have done abroad, as well as what you have done here in our crippled city and across the rest of the South. The American people, and our friends around the world, have given me new faith in humanity. I have received emails from across the globe showing support, and I know in the face of Lovely Rita you will keep standing your ground.
On a lighter note, I am going to try something different tonight, as I may be leaving for Tampa tomorrow morning...To provide some background, I was sitting here listening to the news earlier, and they were saying that our Governess was asking that those who stayed behind to write their Social Security Number on their arms - you know, in case they have to identify our bodies....Well, that got me to thinking about the whole solidarity site after the London bombings that had people send in photos of themselves holding up 'We are not afraid' signs. Sure, I thought it was a little cheesy when I saw it, but it is also a great way to get people to be interactive with their world and the events that take place within it. Plus, its a little fun.
So I would love it if people did something similiar to show support for those displaced by Katrina, and those who are about to be uprooted by Rita. When the stories start to fade on the evening news, it almost seems like the world is forgetting about us. I know this is not true, based upon the amount of support everyone who reads these blog entries has shown over the last week - but we still need to remember that there are millions of people who have lost their homes and their livelihood to this disaster. Grab a pen and paper (or pull up some skin) and write whatever you want to say, and then take a picture of it with your mugshot (or whatever youd like) and email it to theemptypage@gmail.com. Be as creative as you'd like. And ladies, I have a bunch of Mardi Gras beads at home just waiting to be passed out - but keep in mind that if we get a good response I may set up a gallery for everyones images. If you dont want your image displayed, please say so when sending. Have fun!
Daniel"(Via The Interdictor.)
Do you live in the New York City area?
Do you like TPM?
Next Wednesday night, September 28th, at 7:30 PM TPM is hosting a special advance screening of Serenity at the Union Square Stadium theater.
Serenity is the new film by Joss Whedon, the guy behind the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series. This showing is only for TPM Readers. And it's free.
If you'd like to join us. Send in an email to movie@talkingpointsmemo.com with the subject line Serenity. Include your name and how many seats you'd like to reserve. (Two tickets per person; if you have other friends or family who want to attend too, have them email in as well).
Now, a bit of disclosure and transparency. Studios do advance screenings like this to generate buzz for a new movie. And that's what they're doing here. We're not getting paid anything for doing this. They get some publicity and some word of mouth buzz. We get to host a couple hundred readers at a movie in New York. And our readers get to meet fellow readers and see a free movie. I'll get to meet a bunch of you in person too; and that will be a treat for me.
So that's the score. And we were happy to give it a try on that basis.
And one last thing: If you don't live in the New York City area, don't fret. The studio has a bunch of preview screenings of Serenity around the country next week. And they've set aside seats for TPM Readers at each venue. Click here to find out how to request tickets.
"(Via Talking Points Memo.)
FUN WITH E-BAY'S LATEST ACQUISITION: Firstly, I d...: "
FUN WITH E-BAY'S LATEST ACQUISITION: Firstly, I downloaded Skype.
Then, while perfunctorily filling out my profile, I briefly amused myself by entering 'Abkhazian' under my language, since it was first in the list, and then promptly forgot all about Abkhazia.
Then, this morning, to indicate to a friend that I wasn't going to ignore her any more, I changed my status to 'skype me'.
Then, out of nowhere, this undoubtedly quite nice Abkhazian lady began calling me, who didn't speak any English, but was happy to have another Abkhazian to talk to on Skype. I was very sorry to let her down.
I've heard the Georgian Riviera is quite nice; maybe I ought meet more Abkhazians until I have collected a sufficient quantity that some of them invite me to visit. You could drive there from here....
"(Via OxBlog.)
Cheap, good atmosphere, terrible food. The waiter came by and asked us if we wanted our three fullish plates of noodles (one with the napkin already thrown on the food) packed for home when we asked for your check.
A meal deferred.
Thursday, September 22, 2005
FW: [IP] more on Where to go? Which way to go? No gas anyway!
-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber <dave@farber.net>
Date: Thursday, Sep 22, 2005 5:53 pm
Subject: [IP] more on Where to go? Which way to go? No gas anyway!
Begin forwarded message:
From: Mary Shaw <mary.shaw@gmail.com>
Date: September 22, 2005 5:46:21 PM EDT
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Where to go? Which way to go? No gas anyway! Reply-To: Mary Shaw <mary.shaw@gmail.com>
Dave,
The bicycle touring list has been having some discussion about bicycles as transportation in this sort of disaster, both as transportation for evacuation and as transportation within a disaster area.
For evacuation, a touring bicyclist can easily make 8-10 miles per hour with a load of 40-60 lbs, and many typically ride 75-100 miles a day. Even an average bicyclist can make 5-7 miles per hour, and 50-60 miles or so a day isn't a big stretch, especially with motivation. That's not enough to get you from Houston to Austin, but it's certainly enough to get you from Galveston to Houston, and a lot faster than the reports we're getting today.
For transportation within a disaster area, a bike is faster than walking and easier to maneuver over/around debris than a vehicle.
So a bike is not a solution in all cases, but it ought to be included in the space of possibilities.
By the way, are the back roads as jammed as the major highways? The map shows a spiderweb of farm roads between western Houston and Austin.
Mary
-------------------------------------
To manage your subscription, go to
http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip
Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
Full text of the Grim Meathook Future thing: "
So a lot of people seem to be wanting to track this down. This was originally posted on a private message board as a response to a post by Matt ‘Blackbelt’ Jones. This is what I originally wrote:
‘What are the fictions of ‘the long now’ (what is the relationship of the long now and the long tail — does abundance and narrowcast-culture lead to the feeling of a thousand million divergent futures - the future got wide, again)’
I think the problem is that the future, maybe for the first time since WWII, lies on the far side of an event horizon for us, because there are so many futures possible. There’s the wetware future, the hardware future, the transhumanist future, the post-rationalist (aka fundamentalist) future.
And then there’s the future where everything just sort of keeps going on the way it has, with incremental changes, and technology is no longer the deciding factor in things. You don’t need high tech to change the world; you need Semtex and guns that were designed by a Russian soldier fifty-odd years ago.
Meanwhile, most of the people with any genuine opportunity or ability to effect global change are too busy patting each other on the back at conventions and blue-skying goofy social networking tools that are essentially useless to 95% of the world’s population, who live within fifteen feet of everyone they’ve ever known and have no need to track their fuck buddies with GPS systems. (This, by the way, includes most Americans, quite honestly.)
You can’t blame them for this, because it’s fun and it’s a great way to travel and get paid, but it doesn’t actually help solve any real problems, except the problem of media theory grad students, which the rest of the world isn’t really interested in solving.
Feeding poor people is useful tech, but it’s not very sexy and it won’t get you on the cover of Wired. Talk about it too much and you sound like an earnest hippie. So nobody wants to do that.
They want to make cell phones that can scan your personal measurements and send them real-time to potential sex partners. Because, you know, the fucking Japanese teenagers love it, and Japanese teenagers are clearly the smartest people on the planet.
The upshot of all of this is that the Future gets divided; the cute, insulated future that Joi Ito and Cory Doctorow and you and I inhabit, and the grim meathook future that most of the world is facing, in which they watch their squats and under-developed fields get turned into a giant game of Counterstrike between crazy faith-ridden jihadist motherfuckers and crazy faith-ridden American redneck motherfuckers, each doing their best to turn the entire world into one type of fascist nightmare or another.
Of course, nobody really wants to talk about that future, because it’s depressing and not fun and doesn’t have Fischerspooner doing the soundtrack. So everybody pretends they don’t know what the future holds, when the unfortunate fact is that — unless we start paying very serious attention — it holds what the past holds: a great deal of extreme boredom punctuated by occasional horror and the odd moment of grace.
—-
I’m also working on a long essay expanding these ideas. Keep your eyes open for it.
"(Via Zenarchery.com.)
Of note is mention of salary cuts across the board, extending up to the CEO, who will now make $337,500.
I would like to point out that this is probably an order of magnitude less than that made by partners at the largest law firms, and a factor of three larger than the starting salary at large NY law firms.
I'm sure that I work on a daily basis with people that make more.
CEO salaries that are a smaller multiple of the salary of the lowest paid employees in the organization are hopefully a small step towards reaching the level of income inequality that existed in this country in the 1950s & 1960s.
Fwd: Lance Armstrong
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Antonia
> Date: September 22, 2005 5:11:28 PM EDT
>
> don't know if you guys have seen this. my dad just forwarded it to me.
> heh heh heh...
> ________________________________
>
>
>
>
>
> Lance Armstrong Scandal Continues
>
>
>
> Associated Press Tuesday, August 30, 2005; 11:00 PM
> PARIS, France --
>
> Lance Armstrong's record setting seventh Tour de
> France victory, along with his entire Tour de France
> legacy, may be tarnished by what could turn out to be
> one of the greatest sports scandals of all time.
> Armstrong is being quizzed by French police after
> three banned substances were found in his South France
> hotel room while on vacation after winning the 2005
> Tour de France.
>
> The three substances found were toothpaste, deodorant,
> and soap which have been banned by French authorities
> for over 75 years.
>
> Armstrong's girlfriend and American rocker Sheryl
> Crowe is quoted as saying "We use them every day in
> America, so we naturally thought they'd be ok in
> France.
>
> Along with these three banned substances, French
> authorities also physically searched Armstrong himself
> and found several other interesting items that they
> have never seen before, including a backbone.
>
> --
> Never answer the question that is asked of you. Answer the question
> that you wish had been asked of you.
> -Robert McNamara
>
Inquiring Minds Want to Know if Presidential Minds Want a Drink: "
[Click to enlarge.]The National Enquirer is just out with a bombshell. The tab reports on its website today -- for issues available in New York tomorrow and nationwide on Friday -- that George W. Bush is back on the sauce, caught by Laura downing a shot after he learned of the Katrina crisis.
His worried wife yelled at him: 'Stop, George.'
Following the shocking incident, disclosed here for the first time, Laura privately warned her husband against 'falling off the wagon' and vowed to travel with him more often so that she can keep an eye on Dubya, the sources add.
'When the levees broke in New Orleans, it apparently made him reach for a shot,' said one insider. 'He poured himself a Texas-sized shot of straight whiskey and tossed it back. The First Lady was shocked and shouted: 'Stop George!'
'Laura gave him an ultimatum before, 'It's Jim Beam or me.' She doesn't want to replay that nightmare — especially now when it's such tough going for her husband.'Actually, we sort of glad to hear the president is drinking again. 'Brownie, you're doing a hell of job,' makes a lot more sense coming from a drunk man.
Bush's Booze Crisis [National Enquirer]
"
Bush Boozing? [Wonkette](Via Gawker.)
The Perfect Sugar Dispenser
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Rita: "
National Hurricane Center now says that Rita is currently the third most powerful hurricane on record. This is up from fifth most powerful earlier today.
The NHC has made an RSS feed for Rita available -- it will only include reports on this hurricane.
The latest report, as of posting time:
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 165 MPH...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. RITA IS A POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC CATEGORY FIVE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. SOME FLUCTUATIONS IN INTENSITY ARE LIKELY DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.It's my understanding that, at this strength, Rita could maintain hurricane status as far inland as Austin, Texas. It undoubtedly does not need to be said, but if you live in the at-risk area (see map to the right), please start making plans now to evacuate.
(Posted by Jamais Cascio in To Know It for the First Time - Place, Environment and Ecology at 06:40 PM)"
Track your life with Onlife: "
Filed under: Productivity, Freeware, Software
Remember that snazzy tool Active Timer? Onlife is like Active Timer on steroids. Let me tell you, it is totally freaky. Created by a former MIT Media Lab student, Onlife is currently in Beta and free as in beer. So what does it DO?
It records (almost) everything you do, say, create, or see in six default apps: Safari, iTunes, TextEdit, iChat, Mail, and Firefox. By 'record' I mean just that. It collects (and can tag) your conversations in iChat, your email in Mail, websites you visit, and puts the song info into a database, not unlike Spotlight. However, you also have this nifty graph to see everything, and what you did when. To top it all off, this works in 10.3, which means you holdouts sans Spotlight can get a taste of the power we Tigers take for granted...
It's an interesting concept, though not entirely perfect (hey, it's a beta). Dynamic pages requiring logins don't show up properly, at least in Firefox. In the site screenshots I see NetNewsWire, though there's no support in the app? Apparently the developer is crafting plug-ins, ala QuickSilver, so you may be able to hook in to more apps in the future. Keep an eye on this one...
Read Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
"(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog.)
Hypercard stack Beyond Cyberpunk now in HTML: "
Filed under: Cult of Mac, Humor, Multimedia, Odds and ends
Anyone remember the 90's? Ah, the early days of the web, grunge, and the rise of Cyberpunk. In fact, the Cyberpunk movement predates the web (by over a decade). And for those of you on the scene back in the heady days of 1990, you might remember a cult hit known as 'Beyond Cyberpunk,' which was distributed as a Hypercard stack. Yeah, Hypercard, how we made hyperlinks before HTML... Remember that one? When I made stuff in Hypercard PC users would scratch their head and say, 'golly, how'd you do that?' I miss Hypercard.
Anyway, the classic 'Beyond Cyberpunk' is now available in its entirety online. Makes sense, since the navigational metaphor is the same. It's a fairly raw data dump, not a fully integrated experience. In other words, be prepared for a simplistic site, not an exact replica of the old disks (yeah, BC was distributed on floppies). It's a historical record though, of the days before cameraphones and iTunes, and required reading for those of us who were in college at the time *cough*... My sneakernet ran on Converse, how about yours?
[Via BoingBoing]
Read Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
"(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog.)
Katrina: How The Sick And Elderly Were Abandoned: "
Is it time for the blame game yet?The 827 people inside [one hospital] - 137 of them patients - stayed relatively calm until Wednesday, when food and water ran short and the heat reached 110 degrees.
'You get a feeling of, Does anybody know we're here?
' Ms. McCall said.
She was told by top officials at Universal Health Services, the company that runs the hospital, that they had rented two trucks with food, water and diesel fuel and sent them on, 'but they were confiscated by federal authorities,
' she said. The company also hired two helicopters, but officials refused to let them fly,
she said.
"(Via AMERICAblog.)
POLITICS: Iraqis Steal, Waste Entire Defense Budget: "Iraqi Finance Minister Ali Allawi has discovered that almost 100 percent of the US-taxpayer-bankrolled $1.27 billion Iraqi Defense Ministry budget has been embezzled or wasted. This effectively ends any current chance that the Iraqi military will ever be able to defend itself and ensuring that US troops won't return home anytime soon.
An official Iraqi audit said $1.27 billion allocated by the Defense Ministry for military procurement in 2005 was embezzled by officials and suppliers. In a report completed in May, the Board of Supreme Audit blamed the theft on U.S.-appointed senior Defense Ministry officials, including a former defense minister.
'Huge amounts of money have disappeared,' Iraqi Finance Minister Ali Allawi said. 'In return we got nothing but scraps of metal. It is possibly one of the largest thefts in history.'
'There have been many violations of the bidding process that have led to huge losses of public funds,' Hadi Al Amiri, chairman of parliament's Integrity Committee, said. 'Many bids were improperly conducted and awarded by ministers without any input from committees established to assess the bids.'
'Our funds are under the control of ignorant people,' Al Amiri said.
Money was funneled to front companies, dishonest distributors, and utterly incompetent officials at every level. Ancient, nonfunctional equipment was purchased at sky-high prices.
US taxpayers just bankrolled $1.27 billion in corruption and bullshit. Are we supposed to consider this to be one of those little speed bumps on the long hard road to freedom and democracy?(Written by: Shalome)
"(Via SuicideGirls: News Wire.)
POLITICS: NATO Rations Considered Unfit for Katrina Evacuees, Will Be Burned Instead: "In the midst of the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, the United States has seen a significant outpouring of sympathy and pledges of aid from foreign countries. Britain alone dispatched over 400,000 NATO meal rations to help feed the thousands of evacuees and rescue personnel in the hurricane's aftermath. Unfortunately, it's probably going to be incinerated.
Hundreds of tons of British food aid shipped to America for starving Hurricane Katrina survivors is to be burned.
US red tape is stopping it from reaching hungry evacuees.
Instead tons of the badly needed Nato ration packs, the same as those eaten by British troops in Iraq, has been condemned as unfit for human consumption.
And unless the bureaucratic mess is cleared up soon it could be sent for incineration.
One British aid worker last night called the move 'sickening senselessness' and said furious colleagues were 'spitting blood'.
The food, which cost British taxpayers millions, is sitting idle in a huge warehouse after the Food and Drug Agency recalled it when it had already left to be distributed.
The shipments of food were turned back and sent to an warehouse in Little Rock, Arkansas. Officials blamed the Department of Agriculture, who confiscated the rations because of restrictions on imports of meat. This may signal a latent worry over BSE infections in British cattle, a stigma which haunted the British beef industry for years. However, there hasn't been a case of BSE in Britain in many years. And if the food is good enough for our troops, why is it considered by the FDA to be 'unfit for human consumption'?[An] aid worker, who would not be named, said: 'This is the most appalling act of sickening senselessness while people starve.
'The FDA has recalled aid from Britain because it has been condemned as unfit for human consumption, despite the fact that these are Nato approved rations of exactly the same type fed to British soldiers in Iraq.
'Under Nato, American soldiers are also entitled to eat such rations, yet the starving of the American South will see them go up in smoke because of FDA red tape madness.'(Written by: aegies)
"(Via SuicideGirls: News Wire.)
Monday, September 19, 2005
Arrrrrr, it's International Talk Like a Pirate Day!: "
In honor of today being International Talk Like a Pirate
Day (who knew? well, besides the pirates.) we bring you the Corsair Ergonomic Keyboard for Pirates. Arrr, thar be
plunderin’ ta be done!
[Thanks, nickl]Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
© 2005 Weblogs, Inc.
"(Via engadget.com.)
Germany in Flames, Refugees Heading Towards Hungary: "
Just kidding, we hope. Anyway, as you may have heard, Germany had an election yesterday, and it didn't go exactly as planned. In fact, it's shaping up to be a foreign-language remake of the botched 2000 presidential election in America, but in the one country that matters most to Hungary's economy, and which, unlike America, has been known to invade Hungary when things are going really badly at home. (Okay, so America has also invaded us, and Germany asked before their last invasion, but so did the Americans, and they asked nicer, and in English.) So at least for the next few days we suggest stop your compulsive reading about how screwed up the US is, and instead read about how screwed up Germany is. Meanwhile, we'll be sure to give you a heads-up if things really go off the rails, though if the past is any indication, you won't need us to tell you.
"(Via Pestiside.)
New York: New York to L.A., $169 Round Trip: "
Airfare Watchdog reports that Continental is offering $169 round-trips between New York's La Guardia and Los Angeles, if you can travel on a Thursday or Tuesday and don't mind stopping in Houston. But even the peakish nonstop fares aren't much more expensive. As long as you book a couple weeks in advance for travel through January 2006, fares seem to stick around $200-$225 even for weekend nonstop flights. One-night minimum stay, so no flying across country twice in 24 hours, kay?
New York JFK / La Guardia / Newark Fares [Airfare Watchdog]
"(Via Gridskipper.)
Fwd: [IP] Verizon's Fios Service Moves U.S. Internet Beyond a Snail's Pace
In the US, petrol is cheap and internet access is expensive due to
firms charging very very high rates.
In France, internet access is cheap and petrol is expensive due to
government taxation.
Of course it isn't that simple because population density is higher
in europe, which means that rolling out internet over shorter
distances is easier than here, where the government mandates programs
for "rural access", and in a smaller country it may be a higher
priority policy goal to reduce fossil fuel pollution.
Nevertheless interesting.
Begin forwarded message:
> From: David Farber <dave@farber.net>
> Date: September 19, 2005 11:13:15 AM EDT
> To: Ip Ip <ip@v2.listbox.com>
> Subject: [IP] Verizon's Fios Service Moves U.S. Internet Beyond a
> Snail's Pace
> Reply-To: dave@farber.net
>
>
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Marc <marcaniballi@hotmail.com>
> Date: September 19, 2005 10:47:28 AM EDT
> To: dave@farber.net
> Subject: RE: [IP] Verizon's Fios Service Moves U.S. Internet Beyond
> a Snail's Pace
>
>
> Hi Dave;
>
> Just by way of comparison;
>
> Here in France only the national telco still offers DSL with
> different speed
> options - all the competitors offer only 1 speed, the fastest
> possible. As
> of this week, in most major population areas you get 25 MB/s DSL
> for $18.00
> per month (roughly converted from EUR). For the same price and
> depending on
> where you are, your connection speed will be somewhat less than
> that, with
> the slowest being in the 5 MB/s range. Also, many of these
> providers are now
> introducing free national calling and VOIP-level pricing for
> international
> calls over the same line. Now, if only they could do this with
> European gas
> prices!
>
> Marc
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Farber [mailto:dave@farber.net]
> Sent: Monday, September 19, 2005 7:11 AM
> To: Ip Ip
> Subject: [IP] Verizon's Fios Service Moves U.S. Internet Beyond a
> Snail's
> Pace
>
>
> Verizon's Fios Service Moves U.S. Internet Beyond a Snail's Pace
>
> By WALTER S. MOSSBERG
> September 15, 2005
>
> High-speed Internet connections have finally gone mainstream in the
> U.S. But there's a problem: What passes for high speed in this
> country is pathetically slow compared with Internet service in some
> other countries.
>
> For instance, Verizon's entry-level DSL service, at 768 kilobits per
> second for downloads and 128 kilobits per second for uploads, is
> considered high-speed here. But in Japan and Korea, families can buy
> moderately priced Internet service measured in the tens of megabits
> per second. They get a race car, while Americans are stuck with a
> bicycle.
>
> A megabit per second (mbps) connection moves about 1,000 times as
> much data every second as a kilobit per second (kbps) connection. A
> service running at 10 megabits per second is more than 13 times as
> fast as Verizon's base DSL service. All such services have two modes:
> downstream, for downloading Web pages, email and files; and upstream,
> for uploading email or files. Generally, Internet providers offer
> much faster downstream speeds than upstream speeds.
>
> Even the faster common U.S. broadband offerings, like Comcast's
> $42.95 a month basic cable-modem service, which delivers 6 mbps
> downstream and 384 kbps upstream, are ridiculously slow compared with
> the Asian offerings.
>
> But now, Verizon is offering Americans in certain parts of the
> country a new, much faster Internet service for only a little more
> than Comcast charges for its basic service. This new product, called
> Fios, offers 15 mbps downstream and 2 mbps upstream for $50 a month,
> or $45 a month if you use Verizon for your telephone service.
>
> There are also two other Fios plans: 5 mbps downstream and 2 mbps
> upstream for $40 a month; and 30 mbps downstream and 5 mbps upstream
> for $200 a month. Both also are discounted if you also use Verizon
> phone service.
>
> I had Fios installed in my house in July, and I've been comparing it
> with Comcast's basic cable-modem service. I have been pleased with
> Fios's speed and reliability, which are true to Verizon's claims. On
> some tasks, it is markedly faster than Comcast. And on my laptops
> connected via a Wi-Fi wireless network, which tends to degrade
> Internet speeds, the speed increase has been especially noticeable.
>
> ..
>
> http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20050915.html
>
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------
> You are subscribed as marcaniballi@hotmail.com
> To manage your subscription, go to
> http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip
>
> Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-
> people/
>
>
> -------------------------------------
>
> Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-
> people/
>
New York's Salary Men and Women: "
It's New York magazine's 2005 Salary Survey, and the lesson is clearly: The city is full of rich people who are not you. In our highly unscientific early-morning survey of a few pages of the survey, it seems that well over half of the incomes are over $1 million. According to the U.S. Census, only 3% of New York City households have an income of over $250,000. Overlaying that with the number of households in the city, that's just over 90,000 households. Gothamist expects many people to be obsessing over this survey while at work today.
The survey does try to show the gamut of what one could make in NYC. In fact, there are a lot of people who probably make way less than you (like the Chinese food delivery man who makes just over $5,000, not including tips). Here's a sampling of incomes:
- Edward Lampert, Manager, ESL Investments hedge fund: $1.02 billion (yes, billion)New York magazine does admit that some of the numbers are guesses and says that when they asked some other sources, they got snark instead. '...Explaining Maggie Gyllenhaal’s per-movie price, one studio executive kindly offered, 'She’s a no-one.'' For the record, NY magazine says she's making $500,000 for the Oliver Stone movie about 9/11.
- David Neeleman, Chairman and CEO of Jetblue: $286,971
- Chris, panhandler on Bleecker and Broadway: $24,000
- Judge Judy: $30 million
- Chuck Scarborough, Anchor, WNBC News: $3 million
- Sue Simmons, Anchor, WNBC News: $2.5 million
-Edwin Young, NYPD anti-graffiti coordinator: $149,766
- Travis Toy, Line coordinator, Whole Foods Union Square: $20,800
- Jessica Coen, Blogger, Gawker.com: $30,000
- Uma Thurman, Actress, Be Cool: $3 million
- Sydney Davolos, General Manager of the Roundabout Theather: $100,000
- Glen O'Sullivan, subway conductor: $46,833
- John Sexton, President of NYU: $740,504
- Wol-san Liem, Teaching Assistant, NYU: $19,000
- Scott Newman, plastic surgeon: $500,000
- Twenty, Fire dog, Ladder Co. 20: Free walks, food, housingIs this survey motivating or enervating? Or is this too much about NYC's obsession with moolah?
"(Via Gothamist.)
CULTURE: Ugly Woman Sues Makeover Show: "Self-professed 'ugly woman' Deleese Williams is suing the ABC reality TV show 'Extreme Makeover' for failing to make her pretty. Hold on a second, I know you're rolling your eyes... It's not as petty as it sounds.
Williams was chosen as a candidate for the show and filmed talking emotionally about growing up with a deformed jaw, bad teeth, droopy eyes, and a body she wasn't happy with. Her family members were filmed talking about how hideous she was, saying things they never would have dreamed of telling her if it wasn't for the fact that the show's producers had promised her extensive cosmetic surgery. Then, the night before her surgical procedures were scheduled to begin, the show allegedly dumped her.The show announcing Williams' selection for a mega makeover had already aired on Jan. 7, 2004, when the producers abruptly dropped her because the dental surgeon told them her recovery time would be longer than expected, Cordova said.
Williams was alone in a Los Angeles hotel room reading her pre-op instructions when a producer showed up and dashed her dream of a new life with a 'pretty' face, the suit alleges.
The lawsuit alleges that the show encouraged the family to say hurtful, humiliating things to Williams, which has resulted in the breakdown of the family and even the suicide of Williams' sister.'Kellie could not live with the fact that she had said horrible things that hurt her sister. She fell to pieces. Four months later, she ended her life with an overdose of pills, alcohol and cocaine,' said Wesley Cordova, a lawyer for Williams.
'This family is shredded. There is a human cost to this,' Cordova said.
'Deleese is so hurt and humiliated, she won't leave the house now. She grocery shops at midnight,' Cordova says.
To please the producers, Williams' mother-in-law also laid it on thick. 'She said things like 'I never believed my son would marry such an ugly woman.''
The first time I saw this show air, I was disgusted by what they put these poor people through in order to get the plastic surgery that would allow them to feel normal. To put someone through this kind of emotional abuse and then yank the reason for it away at the last minute is unconscionable.(Written by: Shalome)
"(Via SuicideGirls: News Wire.)
Donna Brazile - Stockholm Syndrome Victim: "
My friend Nick called me this morning incredulous at this OP/ED in today's Washington Post:On Thursday night President Bush spoke to the nation from my city. I am not a Republican. I did not vote for George W. Bush -- in fact, I worked pretty hard against him in 2000 and 2004. But on Thursday night, after watching him speak from the heart, I could not have been prouder of the president and the plan he outlined to empower those who lost everything and to rebuild the Gulf Coast.Read the whole thing, I'm not just pulling quotes out of context.
...
I know, maybe better than anyone, that there are times when it seems that our nation is too divided ever to heal. There are times when we feel so different from each other that we can hardly believe that we are all part of the same family. But we are one nation. We are a family. And this is what we do. When the president asked us to pitch in Thursday night, he wasn't really asking us to do anything spectacular. He was asking us to be Americans, and to do what Americans always do.
If ever did the psychology of Stockholm Syndrome come alive in American politics, it did for me reading this OP/ED.
Let me be plain. There isn't a SINGLE shred of evidence that George Bush and his corrupt crony government has the capability of rebuilding New Orleans. None. To argue that we should join with him now, and that somehow together this will cause the madness to stop is a sign of severe psychological disorder.
You know what Donna, I can't imagine what you're going through right now, your hometown utterly destroyed and your friends, family, and community scattered to the winds. I won't pretend to know how that feels. I can't. I've seen the overlay maps showing the amount of flooding in New Orleans relative to other large cities, like the entire city of Boston and surrounding communities completely submerged. I can't conceive of what that might mean.
But as devastated as you feel right now, as heartbroken as I can imagine you are, I have no idea what you are talking about. Did George Bush speak from the heart on Monday August 29th at the country club he was visiting as the levees broke? Did he speak from the heart on Tuesday August 30th from California talking about VJ day? Did his government speak from the heart on Thursday September 1st when they told the nation that they didn't know about the people in the convention center?
Did they speak from the heart when they granted no-bid contracts to Halliburton? Did they speak from the heart when they suspended the prevailing wage? Did they speak from the heart when they told us, once again, that even an epic disaster such as this doesn't warrant raising taxes even for a moment?
I would like to believe that this country is one big family. It isn't. Does a family bash their gay members like George Bush did to win an election? Does a family not even sit and listen to a grieving mother whose son was killed as a result of the President's actions? When choosing who will protect them, does a family pick the most incompetent member to lead the charge?
Until we stop letting Republicans abuse us and stand up for ourselves, the madness will never end. After reading what Ms. Brazile wrote today, it is clear to me that this won't happen in Washington anytime soon - it will have to be forced onto Washington in a vast intervention.
"(Via AMERICAblog.)
One Mile Test Ribbon Construction complete!!!: "
Today we finished constructing the ribbon for the up coming Balloon Test. As of this point we have our Waivers and Permissions, We have our Ribbon, We have our Anchor, We have or Lifter Robot and Our Ballon should be arriving in days. All super exciting.
"
The ribbon consuruction was an adventure in itself. It was a lot of hard work and a lot of tedious details but we got it done. 60 spools of ribbon, 24 cans of aviation orange paint, 3 completely ruined leather gloves, 9 feet of pvc pipe and about 20 hours of walking, cranking, paintig and gluing. But we did it. Fell behind on some days and really cranked it on others but we’re done. If we had it my way it would’ve been done by Wednesday but our ‘Engineer’ felt that we should slow down and finish on Thursday. Just kidding. That was a very good call by Alex, I like working with tha guy, he’s so safe and calculative and organized. Off course many times I wanted to yell out ‘Ariel, take the professor and plug him into the hyperdrive.’ That should teach him to ‘never give me the odds.’(Via LiftPort Staff Blog.)
Also, [geek warning] a mockup of a space elevator control panel.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
2005 Arm Wrestling Championship
Here's a picture from just before the double fault forfeit.
"Saturday, September 17, 2005
Flights: Song Sale: $119 Coast to Coast: "
Missed this earlier, but Delta's Song subline is offering $119 one-way transcontinental fares betwixt Boston, Hartford, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. Book by September 29 and complete travel by January 31, 2006. Check the sale page for blackout dates and other restrictions. No idea how Delta's Chapter 11 filing will affect this or other sales, so get while the gettin's good.
Delta's $119 o/w transcons- still time for 10K bonus promo [landspeednyc]
"
Coast to coast sale fares [Song]
Delta Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy [Yahoo!](Via Gridskipper.)
Friday, September 16, 2005
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Holy crap: "
From AP:A Pentagon employee was ordered to destroy documents that identified Mohamed Atta as a terrorist two years before the 2001 attacks, a congressman said Thursday.
The employee is prepared to testify next week before the Senate Judiciary Committee and was expected to name the person who ordered him to destroy the large volume of documents, said Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa.
Weldon declined to name the employee, citing confidentiality matters. Weldon described the documents as '2.5 terabytes' — as much as one-fourth of all the printed materials in the Library of Congress, he added....
Pentagon officials said this month they had found three more people who recall an intelligence chart identifying Atta as a terrorist prior to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Two military officers, Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer and Navy Capt. Scott Phillpott, have come forward to support Weldon's claims.
"(Via AMERICAblog.)
The tech from Liebert who was going...: "The tech from Liebert who was going to perform maintenance on our UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) for the data center was turned away since the President is here in the city today. Now I ask you, which is more important: a speech or the telecommunications infrastructure of New Orleans post Katrina?"
(Via The Interdictor.)
NASA to Unveil Plans to Send 4 Astronauts to Moon in 2018: "WASHINGTON - NASA briefed senior White House officials Wednesday on its plan to spend $100 billion and the next 12 years building the spacecraft and rockets it needs to put humans back on the Moon by 2018."
(Via SPACE.com.)
The real issue of course is that any NASA plan that extends more than two presidencies away is meaningless. This is part of a long line of plans to go to the moon or Mars, extending back over the past forty years, which have gone nowhere due to budget cuts.
My favorite slashdot response:
The Plan (Score:5, Funny)
by halcyon1234 (834388)Alter Relationship
on Thursday September 15, @02:10PM (#13568576)
"to put humans back on the Moon by 2018."
... where they will be greeted by the Chinese, Indians, Japanese, Russians, Canadians, and every college student with a "Build Yourself An Interplanetary Space Craft" kit ordered from craigslist.
Jay: 'But President Bush took responsibility.'
Wanda: 'I don't think the President should have taken responsibility.... I don't blame the President. I blame the American people. Y'all knew the man was slow when you voted him in. You can't blame the blind man for wrecking your car when you're the one who gave him the keys.'
"
(Via AMERICAblog.)
FRIDAY PRESS REVIEW: Would it be OxBlog if it did...: "FRIDAY PRESS REVIEW: Would it be OxBlog if it didn't have (a) Britain, (b) the press, and (c) bad jokes? Obviously not. These clippings come by way of James Addicott.
1) Commenting on a complaint from a Mr. Arthur Purdey about a large gas bill, a spokesman for North West Gas said, 'We agree it was rather high for the time of year. It's possible Mr. Purdey has been charged for the gas used up during the explosion that destroyed his house.' (The Daily Telegraph)
2) Police reveal that a woman arrested for shoplifting had a whole salami in her underwear. When asked why, she said it was because she was missing her Italian boyfriend. (The Manchester Evening News)
3) Irish police are being handicapped in a search for a stolen van, because they cannot issue a description. It's a Special Branch vehicle and they don't want the public to know what it looks like. (The Guardian)
4) A young girl who was blown out to sea on a set of inflatable teeth was rescued by a man on an inflatable lobster. A coast guard spokesman commented, 'This sort of thing is all too common'. (The Times)
5) At the height of the gale, the harbourmaster radioed a coastguard and asked him to estimate the wind speed. He replied he was sorry, but he didn't have a gauge. However, if it was any help, the wind had just blown his Land Rover off the cliff. (Aberdeen Evening Express)
6) Mrs. Irene Graham of Thorpe Avenue, Boscombe, delighted the audience with her reminiscence of the German prisoner of war who was sent each week to do her garden. He was repatriated at the end of 1945, she recalled. 'He'd always seemed a nice friendly chap, but when the crocuses came up in the middle of our lawn in February 1946, they spelt out 'Heil Hitler.'' (Bournemouth Evening Echo)
And for extra credit, a non-exhaustive list of announcements London Tube train drivers have made to their passengers...
1) 'Ladies and Gentlemen, I do apologize for the delay to your service. I know you're all dying to get home, unless, of course, you happen to be married to my ex-wife, in which case you'll want to cross over to the Westbound and go in the opposite direction.'
2) 'Your delay this evening is caused by the line controller suffering from E & B syndrome: not knowing his elbow from his backside. I'll let you know any further information as soon as I'm given any.'
3) 'Do you want the good news first or the bad news? The good news is that last Friday was my birthday and I hit the town and had a great time. The bad news is that there is a points failure somewhere between Stratford and East Ham, which means we probably won't reach our destination.'
4) 'Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize for the delay, but there is a security alert at Victoria station and we are therefore stuck here for the foreseeable future, so let's take our minds off it and pass some time together. All together now.... 'Ten green bottles, hanging on a wall.....'.'
5) 'We are now travelling through Baker Street... As you can see, Baker Street is closed. It would have been nice if they had actually told me, so I could tell you earlier, but no, they don't think about things like that'.
6) 'Beggars are operating on this train. Please do NOT encourage these professional beggars. If you have any spare change, please give it to a registered charity. Failing that, give it to me.'
7) During an extremely hot rush hour on the Central Line, the driver announced in a West Indian drawl: 'Step right this way for the sauna, ladies and gentleman... unfortunately, towels are not provided.'
8) 'Let the passengers off the train FIRST!'(Pause .) 'Oh go on then, stuff yourselves in like sardines, see if I care - I'm going home....'
9) 'Please allow the doors to close. Try not to confuse this with 'Please hold the doors open.' The two are distinct and separate instructions.'
10) 'Please note that the beeping noise coming from the doors means that the doors are about to close. It does not mean throw yourself or your bags into the doors.'
11) 'We can't move off because some idiot has their hand stuck in the door.'
12) 'To the gentleman wearing the long grey coat trying to get on the second carriage - what part of 'stand clear of the doors' don't you understand?'
13) 'Please move all baggage away from the doors.' (Pause..) 'Please move ALL belongings away from the doors.' (Pause...) 'This is a personal message to the man in the brown suit wearing glasses at the rear of the train: Put the pie down, Four-eyes, and move your bl**dy golf clubs away from the door before I come down there and shove them up your a**e sideways!'
14) 'May I remind all passengers that there is strictly no smoking allowed on any part of the Underground. However, if you are smoking a joint, it's only fair that you pass it round the rest of the carriage.'"(Via OxBlog.)
(Via Diesel Sweeties by R Stevens.)
"So I took my new iPod nano into work and somebody promptly adored it and put it in her mouth.
I know I know...
You ask, where do I work?
And it came down to a decision between spending time restoring power to hospitals or restoring power to the pipelines.
[ Line foreman Matt ] Ready said the crew members did not learn they were restoring power to pipelines until after the job was done.
How did they feel about that?
"Is this on the record?" Ready asked. "Well, then, we are all glad we were able to help out."
Compton said he was happy to support the national effort. But he said it was a difficult decision to make because of the potential impact in the region had the plan not worked and the area's power restoration was set back days.
Now let us not quibble over whether this was an appropriate use of federal power as the hurricane was rolling through or whether this was the right thing to do.
Why did Cheney make the call instead of leaving this to FEMA?
The Office of the Vice-President didn't (doesn't?) trust FEMA to handle the hurricane response.
Maybe this was a national security issue?
Ten points to whichever house can tell me where the Vice President sits in the Chain of Command.
(Trick Question: What happens to the Chain of Command when the President is either on Vacation or in the middle of a Photo Op, say reading to children)?
Need I say who was the rocker and who was the rockee?
I miss Prime Minister's Questions...
This is what Hitchens said on slate a day before the, shall we say meeting:
Galloway's preferred style is that of vulgar ad hominem insult, usually uttered while a rather gaunt crew of minders stands around him. I have a thick skin and a broad back and no bodyguards. He says that I am an ex-Trotskyist (true), a "popinjay" (true enough, since its original Webster's definition means a target for arrows and shots), and that I cannot hold a drink (here I must protest). In a recent interview he made opprobrious remarks about the state of my midriff, which I will confess has—as P.G. Wodehouse himself once phrased it—"slipped down to the mezzanine floor." In reply I do not wish to stoop. Those of us who revere the vagina are committed to defend it against the very idea that it is a mouth or has teeth. Study the photographs of Galloway from Syrian state television, however, and you will see how unwise and incautious it is for such a hideous person to resort to personal remarks. Unkind nature, which could have made a perfectly good butt out of his face, has spoiled the whole effect by taking an asshole and studding it with ill-brushed fangs.
Especially where firewalls prevent IM traffic.
;-)
As Ajax spreads it wings, folks are using it to come up with cool new apps. Writely, was one. Latest - Meebo, a web-based IM client. Through Ajax, the folks at meebo were able to create a virtual application-like experience within a single web browsing window. meebo integrates a user’s accounts from AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, and ICQ into a single buddy list that is automatically populated upon signing into the meebo web site. Sort of like Trillian/Adium, but in a browser window. The interface is so simple and elegant. It is still alpha so be kind. It as a few issues, so be kinder. But this is slowly turning browser into more than just a browser. Like Writely, Meebo is a three-person start-up. Elaine Wherry – the Ajax guru; Sandy Jen - Server side programming; and Seth Sternberg - jack of everything else.
"(Via Om Malik on Broadband.)
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
High Concept: "
You may have noticed that there are a whole bunch of 'celebrity poker' shows on television these days, where a group of famous people sit around playing cards and being snarky at each other, and they film the whole thing. I can't imagine too many things more boring than watching someone else play cards, but I guess fishing has a rich TV history too... Anyway, I have an idea, and hopefully one of my many readers in the entertainment industry will make it a reality:
Celebrity Dungeons and Dragons.
I want to see a TV show where the flying camera crane zips around the table where Wil Wheaton, Puff Daddy, Michael Madsen, and Lindsay Lohan play D&D. I would totally watch that.
'Yo, I'm-a gonna get all up in that orc's face with my Magic Missile. Jack you up, orc!' Then then announcers banter, 'oh, Magic Missle! A bold choice, he might need that later. Here comes the roll...'
It would be GLORIOUS."
(Via jwz.)
Update: Wil's response here ( as mentioned on BoingBoing ).
Between that, Pictures of Wil wrestling Barney, and Patrick Stewart's fantastic voice acting on both American Dad & The Family Guy last Sunday (btw between which and the late Gargoyles series means that everybody from STNG has now done cartoon voice acting), I think I'm officially scarred for life.
Speaking of Patrick Stewart, Bambi II ?
Also, The Picard Song.
[Correction: Thanks to Mr. Stuart for pointing out that Wil has done a bunch of voice acting, from "Secret of Nimh" to "Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!"
Tongue-eating bug found in fish: "
Tongue-eating bug found in fish
A gross creature which gobbles up a fish's tongue and then replaces it with its own body has been found in Britain for the first time.The bug - which has the scientific name cymothoa exigua - was discovered inside the mouth of a red snapper bought from a London fishmonger. The 3.5cm creature had grabbed onto the fish's tongue and slowly ate away at it until only a stub was left. It then latched onto the stub and became the fish's 'replacement tongue'.
"(Via jwz.)
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Planned Parenthood Turns Protestors Into Profit Generators: "
Planned Parenthood, in Philadelphia over in the USA, have had a brilliant idea:
Every time protesters gather outside of our Locust Street health center, our patients face verbal attacks from them. They see graphic signs meant to confuse and intimidate. They are sometimes blocked from entering the building and occasionally they are videotaped. They are offered anti-choice propaganda and free rides to the closest ‘crisis pregnancy
center.’
Staff and volunteers are also seen as targets. We are all called murderers, are lectured to about committing sins, and are told we will pay the ‘ultimate price’ for our actions.
You can stand with others in the community against these acts of intimidation and harassment.
Here’s how it works: You decide on the amount you would like to pledge for each
protester (minimum 10 cents). When protesters show up on our sidewalks, Planned
Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania will count and record their number each day from October 1 through November 30, 2005. We will place a sign outside the health center that tracks pledges and makes protesters fully aware that their actions are benefiting PPSP. At the end of the two-month campaign, we will send you an update on protest activities and a pledge reminder.
Example: If you pledge 30 cents per protester, and PPSP has 100 protesters in October and 160
protesters in November, your donation would be 78 dollars for the entire two-month campaign…
Go to the link to get involved. Tell people about it.
(Via Warrenellis.com.)
Planned Parenthood Turns Protestors Into Profit Generators: "
Planned Parenthood, in Philadelphia over in the USA, have had a brilliant idea:
Every time protesters gather outside of our Locust Street health center, our patients face verbal attacks from them. They see graphic signs meant to confuse and intimidate. They are sometimes blocked from entering the building and occasionally they are videotaped. They are offered anti-choice propaganda and free rides to the closest ‘crisis pregnancy
center.’
Staff and volunteers are also seen as targets. We are all called murderers, are lectured to about committing sins, and are told we will pay the ‘ultimate price’ for our actions.
You can stand with others in the community against these acts of intimidation and harassment.
Here’s how it works: You decide on the amount you would like to pledge for each
protester (minimum 10 cents). When protesters show up on our sidewalks, Planned
Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania will count and record their number each day from October 1 through November 30, 2005. We will place a sign outside the health center that tracks pledges and makes protesters fully aware that their actions are benefiting PPSP. At the end of the two-month campaign, we will send you an update on protest activities and a pledge reminder.
Example: If you pledge 30 cents per protester, and PPSP has 100 protesters in October and 160
protesters in November, your donation would be 78 dollars for the entire two-month campaign…
Go to the link to get involved. Tell people about it.
(Via Warrenellis.com.)
Monday, September 12, 2005
Garance Franke-Ruta asks an important question:
WHAT DOES ACCOUNTABILITY LOOK LIKE? I was intrigued by a question raised in Paul Krugman?s column Friday. Krugman wrote:Why did the administration make the same mistakes twice? Because it paid no political price the first time.
Can the administration escape accountability again? Some of the tactics it has used to obscure its failure in Iraq won't be available this time. The reality of the catastrophe was right there on our TV's, although FEMA is now trying to prevent the media from showing pictures of the dead. And people who ask hard questions can't be accused of undermining the troops.
But the other factors that allowed the administration to evade responsibility for the mess in Iraq are still in place. The media will be tempted to revert to he-said-she-said stories rather than damning factual accounts. The effort to shift blame to state and local officials is under way. Smear campaigns against critics will start soon, if they haven't already. And raw political power will be used to block any independent investigation.
Will this be enough to let the administration get away with another failure? Let's hope not: if the administration isn't held accountable for what just happened, it will keep repeating its mistakes.
I hear so many people saying the same basic thing as Krugman -- Bush must be held accountable -- that I thought maybe it would be good to get a discussion going and unpack this. Because it's not at all clear to me what holding him accountable would mean (or look like), given that he's term-limited and his party controls Congress.
What one thing has to occur in order for it to be clear that Bush has been held accountable by voters or the opposition party?
Here's my response:
First, I'm tired of the overused word 'accountability.' As specific and tough as the word sounds, it has become a vague and loose term, one of the great weasel words of modern discourse. Consider, for example, that every politician who talks about education invokes the phrase 'teacher accountability,' which can mean almost anything.
Back to the administration, or the administration+congressional leadership: I think their attitude, and tactically it's a brilliant insight, is that only a few things count: winning presidential elections, keeping absolute control of Congress -- which means not just a Republican majority but a malleable one -- and winning on the few things that matter to their cash constituents -- tax cuts, tort reform, tax cuts, energy bill subsidies, tax cuts, bankruptcy changes, and eliminating Social Security. The war was also important, for a lot of reasons, but not least because it established the president's authority to act without any check, domestic or external and gave Bush the advantages of a 'wartime president.' Everything else is means to those ends. The president's popularity dipped into the low 40s, and they passed the energy bill anyway -- what more proof do you need that the president's poll numbers hardly matter, if you control the instutions? Before Katrina, they were on the verge of permanent repeal of the estate tax plus another tax cut in reconciliation, even with Bush's numbers in the toilet!
That's why I didn't fully accept Garance's argument last week that they aren't really PR geniuses because of the poll numbers -- they don't need the poll numbers until they need the poll numbers, and when they need them, they figure they can find a way to push them up a bit and/or push the relevant Democrats down. (Or, another way to put it, is that they may not be PR geniuses, but they actually know that the exercise of power does not depend entirely on PR.)
I think of Rove as looking at past presidencies and seeing them as weakened because they worried too much about consequences that didn't really matter, such as the judgment of history or short-term popularity. Bush 41 thought that he had to do something about the deficit, or there would be consequences. So he got drawn into the Andrews Air Force Base budget summit, which earned him a fight within his own party. But Rove recognizes that there's a lot you can get away with if you just act like you can get away with it, especially if you raise the stakes, and as a result he moves with much greater freedom. It seems to me that part of their genius is they've gotten rid of much of the 'you just can't do that' mentality of politics, and stripped everything down to the bare essence of what they can get away with.
One of my biggest worries is that that's a genie that will be very hard to put back in the bottle. Politics, like much of civilization, depends on the existence of some unquestioned, 'it just isn't done' customs. An example that I've mentioned a couple times is the explicity theory, proven once again in the CAFTA vote, that you want to pass a bill with as narrow a margin as possible, because every vote over 218 in the House is wasted and might represent a compromise. That's not something that legislative strategists ever thought before -- they wanted to go into votes with the most comfortable margin, and to win with enough to have a clear endorsement against future challenges. And I'm convinced that Bush/Rove brought that same mindset to the presidential campaign. Most incumbents would want to have a nice Reagan-in-1984-type landslide in order to feel a clear mandate. But Rove/Bush thought that of every vote above 51% as a wasted concession; they knew that all Bush had to do was win, and he could declare the mandate.
So 'accountability' means understanding one of the two or three things that they do care about, and beating them on those things. We must start beating tax cuts, ideally with Republican votes. Win back the House or Senate this fall, if only so that Democrats have subpoena power somewhere, something they can't tolerate. But if it's not one of the things that they care about -- if it's just one of their means, not their ends -- then while it may give us some satisfaction, it doesn't fundamentally break down their racket. (Bad poll #s, indictment on Plame, exposure of Medicare scam, etc.)
Judgment of history doesn't really matter to them and shouldn't really matter to us (how is it possible to doubt what that judgment will be?) but there is so much that we will have to undo once this era ends that it will be politically useful for anything associated with the W years to be automatically suspect and unpopular. I want to get to the point where, when the Republicans attack us for repealing some horrible tax cut, we can just say, 'You people want to take us back to the George W. Bush era!' and they just slither away.
(Via The Decembrist.)
"A little puzzle: "Dear lazyweb,
I have a square with side length 3 - x. The sides are labelled A, B, C, and D, going around clockwise. There's a point p on A and a point q on B, such that the distance between p and q is 2. We label the intersection of C and D as r. There is a point on pq which we label s, such that rs is perpendicular to pq. The distance between r and s is x + 1. If the angle between rs and D is a, solve for x in terms of a. Bonus points if you convert from polar to cartesian coordinates.
Yes, there's a real motivation for this problem. I'm having trouble solving it though, I've always sucked at geometry."
(Via bramcohen.)
Sunday, September 11, 2005
CULTURE: Honor Students Suspended Over Hair Dye: "Three honor students who'd never before been in trouble at school were booted from their Oklahoma high school for showing up with red, purple, and blue hair.
Lyndsay Burton, Jherika Bryant and Amanda Boese were dismissed from school by Principal Janet Blocker not long after they arrived Thursday morning, with purple, blue and red hair, respectively.
The girls -- all freshmen and all straight-A students -- said they were not warned before being told they would not be allowed back in class until they changed their hair color. The absence is considered unexcused, according to a discipline report given to the students, which means they will not be allowed to make up any tests or assignments they missed, they said.
Burton was dismissed at about 8:20 a.m., traveled to Enid, colored her hair and was back to class by lunch, but not before missing a test. Boese and Bryant were planning on changing their hair and going back to school today. Besides their honor student status, Boese is president and Bryant is vice president of their freshman class.
So let me get this straight: Honor roll students who were involved in student government were temporarily kicked out of a public high school and had their grades and academic records put in jeopardy for dying their hair? What decade are we in, now?
(Hat Tip: Fark)(Written by: Shalome)
"(Via SuicideGirls: News Wire.)
I woke up, tried to get through to CNN, got nothing. Tried to get through to NYT, got nothing. I then tried Fark...
Has it really been four years?
