Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things

Friday, October 19, 2001

Clay Shirky has published an excellent article on what Web Services can and can't do, and whether the twain shall meet.

As an analogy, take English and Danish. They have almost identical alphabets but are nevertheless different languages. An alphabet is a limited set of characters that can represent an unlimited number of words through recombination. XML is an alphabet, not a language. It provides the primitives for describing larger concepts, and it works by allowing an unlimited number of semantic concepts to be encoded using those primitives. Any XML parser should be able to declare any given XML document structurally valid -- analogously to the way native speakers can tell if a word is or isn't part of their native tongue -- but that says nothing about whether the contents of that document will be comprehensible to the recipient.
At best, XML makes it possible for businesses or developer groups to share data, provided they agree on the semantics of that data in advance. This is not to say XML is not an enormous advance. It plainly is. However, its advance lies in aiding data interoperability where shared semantics can be assumed. It does nothing at all to create semantic interoperability.

Link Discuss (Thanks, Scott!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:07 permanent link to this entry

A request from Negativland:

If you've had your own weird and strange dreams in the wake of 9/11, please send them to Negativland. Real dreams only, please, don't make stuff up. The more detailed, the better. Assuming we get enough good ones, we'll post the best on our website. Send dreams to - mark@negativland.com. Our website is http://www.negativland.com/.

Here's the full text of the request, including Mark from Negativland's dream: Link Discuss
posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 09:46 permanent link to this entry

A year ago, when there was more money than deals, VCs went out of their way to court entrepreneurs. Now that the tables have turned, they're organizing humiliating game-show style events where those in search of money have five minutes to make their pitch before they're gonged off the stage. Link Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:45 permanent link to this entry

An anonymous hacker has broken the encryption in Microsoft's latest music-file copy-protection scheme. Link Discuss (via /.)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:46 permanent link to this entry

When Neil Godfrey, a United passenger out of Philly, went throught airport security, they searched his bag and found a novel about environmental revolutionaries, and detained him, but eventually allowed him on the flight. Later, a United Flight Attendant informed him that he'd been barred from flying. Yes, that was just about the stupidest, most outrageous thing I'd ever heard of, but then:

Godfrey scurried back to the airport, leaving the Abbey novel at home. He exchanged it for a seemingly benign novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
When Godfrey arrived at the airport around 1:15 p.m., his luggage was again searched. But as Godfrey passed through the metal detector, a police officer recognized him from the commotion just a few hours earlier. The cop pulled Godfrey aside and made a few phone calls. Ultimately, he declared that everything checked out fine. But a National Guardsman standing nearby vetoed that decision.
"This time, they took my Harry Potter book and about four people studied it for 20 minutes," Godfrey says.

Again, United refused to allow him to fly.

When I went through Soviet customs in 1984, they took a look at the cover of the novel I was carrying, Larry Niven's The Patchwork Girl and spent some time considering whether to allow me into the country with it, but eventually decided that it was just a novel, what the hell. Amazing to think that the National Guard is more censorious of popular literature than machinegun-toting Stalinist soldiers on the Finnish border were. Link Discuss (Thanks, fom!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:36 permanent link to this entry

Thursday, October 18, 2001

$500 gets you a 50lb cement bust of a famous movie creature from master monster-maker Tom Savini (obligatory Xmas gift plea here). I own a cement Tom Savini life-mask of Vincent Price -- it's incredible. Link Discuss

posted by Cory Doctorow at 21:36 permanent link to this entry

Remember when margarine's big pitch was its indistinguishabillity from butter? Now, it's being sold on its own merits, packaged as brightly colored oleaginous goo in squeeze-tubes.

The ConAgra Foods Inc. unit said it plans to roll out in November ``Electric Blue'' and ``Shocking Pink'' margarines in easy-to-grip 10-ounce bottles designed to be kid-friendly.

Link Discuss (via Ribbit!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 16:50 permanent link to this entry

The world's knitters find themselves looking for something to do with their idle hands during long flights now that their sharp and deadly instruments are banned on airplanes.

Still, she's mulled the potential danger of the dull-tipped tools. "You'd need something to pound it in with," she says. "And it would be a slow death."

Link Discuss (via girlwonder)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 16:26 permanent link to this entry

Paul Frees is best known as the voices of Boris Badinoff, and Ludwig von Drake, but he was also the Ghost Host from Disneyland and Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion. Along with Vincent Price and Orson Welles, Frees had one of the most distinctive theatrical voices I've ever heard. Today on FilePile, you can download an MP3 of an eight-minute demo reel assembled by Frees's agent, in which Frees shills for Wang Computers, sci-fi movies, zoos, pest-repellents, Carnegie Hall and others. Link Discuss (Note: You must have or create a free FilePile account in order to download this file)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 16:04 permanent link to this entry

TiVo won an Emmy last night! Link Discuss (Thanks, jbrewer!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 15:40 permanent link to this entry

Here is the Yes Men's commentary on their Textile Prank. Link Discuss (Thanks, Rod!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 15:32 permanent link to this entry

Rod sez: "...[T]hese activist/pranksters called the "Yes Men" run a WTO parody site (www.gatt.org). The organizers of this textiles conference mistakenly sent an invitation to this spoof site, asking if a representative of the WTO would like to deliver a speech. One of the Yes Men accepted, and delivered his own subversive speech, in part commenting on how the economics of globalization are so much more efficient for businesses than the economics of pre-Civil War slavery. The speech was strongly received; the Master of Ceremonies praised it three times during the day. The Harper's site being so thin, I doubt they'll put it online, but here's the full text of the speech on the Yes Men's site." Link Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 15:26 permanent link to this entry

Watch the entire video of William Shatner's infamous spoken word interpretation of "Rocket Man" at the 1978 Science Fiction Film Awards. I have to think that he did this with a wink--not as if ironic distance would have made it any less embarassing of course. Link Discuss
posted by David Pescovitz at 15:08 permanent link to this entry

The Enquirer has a new edition out in which they find a silver lining in the darkest of clouds, giving themselves a "world exclusive" on their own bout with Anthrax.

"Bio-terrorism: The Florida anthrax attack on Enquirer headquarters." There is also a front-page disclaimer: "This paper not printed in the state of Florida."

Link Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:28 permanent link to this entry

Gag pacifiers. How is it that no one ever thought of this before? Link Discuss

posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:43 permanent link to this entry

You know Billy "That Goddamned Singing Fish" Big Mouth "Please, Don't Set It Off Again" Bass? Well, you can make it slightly less annoying, and significantly more leet by installing a third-party, embedded Linux microcontroller and hackin' it up. Link Discuss (via Meerkat)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:12 permanent link to this entry

Sony will incorporate TiVo into their consumer electronics for the next seven years. Yeah! Link Discuss (via Meerkat)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:03 permanent link to this entry

A new British anti-bigotry law bans religious comedy. Mr. Bean freaks out as he imagines a future without humorous Bishop-with-a-speech-impediment impressions, but the PM's office reassures him. Link Discuss (via Exciting Monkeybum Stories for Boys and Girls)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:33 permanent link to this entry

British author Ken Follett spent 2,200 pounds at auction for the right to appear as a character in Terry Pratchett's next novel. Link Discuss (via Exciting Monkeybum Stories for Boys and Girls)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:29 permanent link to this entry

A prototype Oracle National ID card. Link Discuss (via /.)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:19 permanent link to this entry

Wired News warns of a flood of tainted heroin as sneaky terrorists seek to demoralize the United States by poisoning its junkies. Link Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:06 permanent link to this entry

This is a very strange way of reporting that a local councillor has been accused of two felonies. Kiwi humor, I guess. Link Discuss (Thanks, Grim!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:01 permanent link to this entry

A World Tribune editorial blasts open WiFi networks, calling them "Communist." At least come up with some modern slurs, you jackass. "Communist" stopped being a dirty word a decade ago. This guy can't even distinguish between bandwidth and throughput.

In all seriousness, one such network engineer in urban San Francisco has said that he has gotten to know his neighbors much better now that they are siphoning off of his high-speed Internet. CNET News quoted one member of the Bay Area Wireless Users Group as saying that his neighbors are very happy with using his Internet access free of charge. "Occasionally, they bring me pies and things like that." Yeah, I’d have no problem giving up the occasional pastry to my next-door neighbor if it meant I could save $50 a month on my cable modem bill. This is no different than bringing a cupcake over to your neighbor’s house after you’ve hooked up your garden hose to his faucet so you could water your lawn everyday for the past month. Also, there are probably seventeen other neighbors and uncounted passers-by that have used this guy’s water for the past month free of charge without giving him anything.

Link Discuss (Thanks, Cindy!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:37 permanent link to this entry

Wednesday, October 17, 2001

Remember PROMIS? It was developed in the early 1990s to be used by federal prosecutors to manage cases, but the creators of the software claim that the federal goverment stole it from them and turned it into software to monitor spies and enemies. A journalist investigating the case died under mysterious circumstances. Here's a Wired story about it: Link. (Try searching Google for "PROMIS" and "Conspiracy" for more information).

Now the scandal-ridden PROMIS software has reared its head again. This time, it looks like former FBI agent-turned-spy Richard Hanssen was responsible for getting PROMIS into the hands of Osama bin Landen:

FOX SPECIAL REPORT WITH BRIT HUME eMediaMillWorks, Inc
Date: October 16, 2001
Time: 18:00 Tran: 101601cb.254 Type: Show Head: Political Headlines Sect: News; Domestic Byline: Brit Hume, Bret Baier, Carl Cameron, Brian Wilson, Jim Angle Spec: Terrorism; Military; Afghanistan; Diseases; Government; World Affairs BRIT HUME, FOX ANCHOR: Welcome to Washington. I'm Brit Hume. The Pentagon now says the Taliban has been, in effect, gutted as a fighting force, as the war over Afghanistan has clearly entered a new phase. The bombing over the last 24 hours has been up close and powerful, with lethal weapons not previously used, brought into play.
. . .
EXCERPT
. . . HUME: All right, Bret, thanks very much.
There's now a disturbing indication that Robert Hanssen, the FBI man accused of spying for the Russians in what officials said at the time of his arrest was a massive security breach, ended up helping Osama bin Laden.
As correspondent Carl Cameron reports, Hanssen sold the Russians an extremely sensitive piece of U.S. technology, and the indications are that they, in turn, sold it to bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist network -- Car.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT
(voice-over): Fox News has learned that government officials suspect Osama bin Laden may have highly sophisticated U.S. government software, that has been used by several governments, including the United States, for classified intelligence and law enforcement information.
Bin Laden allegedly purchased it from Russian sources, after Russia got it from convicted spy and former FBI agent Robert Hanssen, who was nabbed earlier this year.
Hanssen lived in a quiet Virginia neighborhood outside Washington until his arrest. Sources say to avoid the death penalty, for what some have described as the worst U.S. intelligence breach in decades, he confessed to giving Russia vast amounts of information, including, sources say, a software program developed by the Inslaw company in Washington.
The software program is called Promis. Sources tell Fox that U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies have used and constantly modified Promis software to manage caseloads, track and store classified information, and keep it secure for decades.
But the concern is that bin Laden or Al Qaeda could get on-line and use it to monitor the worldwide criminal investigation and hide themselves, to monitor the worldwide financial investigation and hide their money, or monitor government operations of the governments that use the software.
As a senior agent in the FBI's counterterrorism bureau, sources say Hanssen was tasked with helping allies like Germany and England with the installation and use of their versions of the Promis program. Numerous countries now, however, are tightening their cyber security. Germany stopped using Promis software just last week. Great Britain began closing it down just a few months ago. Canada has actually investigated potential tampering with its Promis programs, and Israel has used it on and off for years, too.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAMERON: And the United States has been constantly updating the encryption and coding of its software for a number of months. And after the Hanssen case, the FBI, the Justice Department and various different intelligence operations all say, Brit, that they took a wide array of steps in order to improve the security of the information.
It's interesting to note that shortly after the attacks, when the U.S. crackdown on bin Laden's finances began, bin Laden in Afghanistan granted an interview to a near eastern journalist, and he was talking about the efforts to freeze his money. And he said -- quote -- "Al Qaeda's youths are highly educated and are as aware of the cracks in the financial and the computer systems of the world as they are in the lines in their hands."
HUME: What does that mean?
CAMERON: Well, it means that bin Laden is believed to have access to his money, even with the international effort to freeze it. And as for U.S. intelligence information, all we can get from the U.S. government is that they are no longer using Promis software. But they won't not say exactly when they stopped it, though it's presumed, right after the Hanssen case.
HUME: Well, in order for al Qaeda or Osama bin Laden to do anything with this software, they have to have some sort of an Internet connection, and they have to be able to hack their way into U.S. government and other databases, in order to get contemporary data for the software to be of any value, correct?
CAMERON: So as soon as the U.S. government stopped using Promis, presumably, that made it virtually impenetrable by bin Laden. But the idea that he would be in a cave and not able to log on doesn't necessarily apply, because we know that there are al Qaeda operatives around the world who could log on.
HUME: All right, Carl. Thanks very much.

Discuss
posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 18:15 permanent link to this entry

Apparently, President Bush has the power to issue letters of marque, which means he can issue licenses to private individuals that allow them to kill foreign enemies and take their loot. Of course, the leaders of foreign countries can issue the same letters against US citizens, too. Link Discuss
posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 16:40 permanent link to this entry

All things considered, this is probably not the right time for Publisher's Clearing House to be sending powdered detergent throught the mail. Link Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 16:39 permanent link to this entry

Shadowy rumors about a new Apple home-stereo device/Internet appliance shipping next week. Link Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 16:00 permanent link to this entry

The Spiders is an online comic about the current war in Afghanistan with a science fiction twist. Part one is up now, parts two and three are forthcoming. Pay close attention to the last two panels. I missed it the first time around. Link Discuss (Thanks, Stefan!)
posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 14:49 permanent link to this entry

"A leading bioterror expert said on Tuesday people who feel panicky about opening their mail amid the anthrax scare can use a hot steam iron and a moist layer of fabric to kill germs." Link Discuss
posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 11:33 permanent link to this entry

Sock Monkey is a ShockWave cartoon that plays like Winnie the Pooh filtered through Edward Gorey. Based on the spectacular Maakies strip. Link Discuss (Thanks, Stefan!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:21 permanent link to this entry

A great rant from Release 1.0 editor Kevin Werbach on "Postmodern Knowledge Management."

Enter postmodern knowledge management. Postmodernism holds that our concept of reality is always warped by the lenses of individual subjectivity and group power dynamics. Therefore, postmodern KM can't be about management at all, because management implies external control of some definable resource. Its goal is simpler yet deeper: leveraging people. Postmodern KM operates within and on the basis of existing behavior patterns, mining conversation streams and relationships automatically to incorporate structure and context into the information human users already manipulate. It fosters human intelligence and interaction rather than trying to replace them.

Link Discuss (via Meerkat)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:15 permanent link to this entry

How America's kids switched from milk and water to soda, and what it means.

The United States already spends about $14 billion to treat osteoporosis--a cost that is likely to soar if the Pepsi generation and its children continue to consume ever-increasing amounts of soft drinks. But osteoporosis isn't the only illness with a link to a poor diet and nutrition. The empty calories in soft drinks contribute to obesity in children, and obesity rates among children ages 6 to 19 have doubled in the last 20 years. Obesity often signals cardiovascular disease and diabetes down the road. During the last 30 years, the marketing machines of the soft drink industry have pumped billions into flashy advertising campaigns to get kids to drink their beverages instead of such alternatives as water, fruit juice and, of course, milk. The industry has reached deep into the schools, targeting financially strapped districts with "pouring rights" contracts--exclusive deals to serve and promote one company's brand. In return, schools get money for band uniforms, books, scoreboards and other items that they may have trouble covering out of their normal budgets.

Link Discuss (via Exciting Monkeybum Stories for Boys and Girls)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:36 permanent link to this entry

The handwriting of an anthrax terrorist. Link Discuss (via Robot Wisdom)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:31 permanent link to this entry

The Unnovations Catalog is a catalog of mythical, futuristic and worthless artefacts, capturing exactly the sort of technology that we can expect to see today's Roncomeisters and spam-artists pumping out tomorrow. Liink Discuss (via MemePool)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:20 permanent link to this entry

The traditional, copyrighted London Tube map is a wonder of information design, one that shows the relationship of the lines clearly and concisely. But it's a conceptual map, more about navigating the Tube than about understanding the geographical relationship between the stations. This new Tube map from QuickMap explores both the geographical and the systemic relationship of the tube, with equal concision. Link Discuss (via Kottke)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:14 permanent link to this entry

Funny and thought-provoking Salon story on Current Situation-related spam and merchandising.

But does that mean that wartime entrepreneurs are all snake oil salesmen, or that they should be tried for treason -- an idea favored by Tom Geller, executive director of the anti-spam SpamCon Foundation? Or are they actually a vital part of the post-Sept. 11 mosaic, a clue to understanding our collective psyche? Every popup ad pushing American flags or e-mail spam offering an anthrax antidote is another piece of the picture. One could even argue that the rush to capitalize on terror's aftermath and the corresponding rush by consumers to purchase goods are quintessentially American: This is how we grieve, how we connect amid catastrophe.

Link Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:05 permanent link to this entry

A new edition of Two-Fisted Science, a graphic novel that explores and dramatizes the history of science, has shipped. This is one of my favorite funnybooks, and along with Dignifying Science, a companion volume focusing on the great women of science, it's one of the great and inspiring volumes on science. Link Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:30 permanent link to this entry

Mozilla is nearing 1.0, and the head of the project has released a manifesto that explains what he's looking for before he slaps the 1.0 label on the project. This is an amazing piece of propaganda, something stirring and smart, and it has to be. Most of the Mozilla contributors are volunteers, and internecine struggles between various factions could kill the project. The author of the manifesto has made this technote into an appeal to nerd integrity, talking about the need for standards compliance, stability, and triage on bugs. Link Discuss (via /.)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:25 permanent link to this entry

AT&T Labs' text-to-speech demo is better than any I've ever heard. I mean, the Bay Area's NPR affiliate has announcers who don't sound this natural. I'm willing to believe, on the strength of this, that this time next year, I may be making "audiobooks" out of a bunch of Web clippings and ASCII and just running them through a TTS widget like this. Link Discuss (Thanks, Elias!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:50 permanent link to this entry

Tuesday, October 16, 2001

My favorite Tourist Guy shot to date: Co-inventor of the Apple ][+! Link Discuss

posted by Cory Doctorow at 20:20 permanent link to this entry

Stephen Hawking predicts the death of the human race by viral outbreak in the next millennium unless we take to the stars, and calls for the creation of Warp Drives to alleviate the boredom of centuries-long trips between solar systems. Link Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 19:58 permanent link to this entry

Kodak has paid to put an ad on the International Space Station. Link Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 19:56 permanent link to this entry

This rather meanspirited article traces the history of the CueCat, a barcode scanner that accounted for hundreds of millions in investment dollars without amounting to much. The weird thing is that the article doesn't pay any due to the legion of CueCat hackers who reverse-engineered their devices and made themselves free barcode scanners and had a good deal of good fun with it, and the company's braindamaged legal response to all this. Link Discuss (via Meerkat)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 19:51 permanent link to this entry

The USPTO has granted a patent for, well, any html-creation tool, up to and including Blogger. Jackasses. How could they possibly have missed all the extant prior art, from PageMill on?

A software tool is provided for use with a computer system for simplifying the creation of Web sites. The tool comprises a plurality of pre-stored templates, comprising HTML formatting code, text, fields and formulas. The templates preferably correspond to different types of Web pages and other features commonly found on or available to Web sites. Each feature may have various options. To create a web site, a Web site creator (the person using the tool to create a web site) is prompted by the tool through a series of views stored in the tool to select the features and options desired for the Web site. Based on these selections, the tool prompts the web site creator to supply data to populate fields of the templates determined by the tool to correspond to the selected features and options. Based on the identified templates and supplied data, the tool generates the customized Web site without the web site creator writing any HTML or other programming code. Based on roles-based, multi-level security, certain users of the web site may have access to certain information and others may not.

Link Discuss (via Meerkat)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 19:46 permanent link to this entry

The RIAA is planning to sabotage P2P filetrading networks by creating slow, corrupt nodes that act as "honey pots," capturing incoming requests and returning garbage, or even launching attacks against download-attempters.

"We referred to it as the 'license to virus,'" said one congressional staffer. "It would have given them the incentive to employ lots of hackers trying to figure out how to stop (MusicCity), Morpheus or Audiogalaxy."
An RIAA spokesman said the group was simply trying to protect its existing tools, not expand them.
"We have a legitimate concern that the measure currently being debated could unintentionally take away a remedy currently available to us under law that helps us combat piracy," said RIAA spokesman Jano Cabrera.

Link Discuss (Thanks, Fred!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 19:09 permanent link to this entry

The MIT Media Studies department has created an excellent archive of the Internet's coverage of 9.11. Link Discuss (Thanks, Ellen!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 19:04 permanent link to this entry

The Open Informatics Movement is petitioning governmental funding agencies that are giving bioinformatics research grants to require grant-recipients to release their software under Open Source or Free Software licenses.

The first obvious benefit of mandatory software source release is a speedup of software development. Rather than "reinventing the wheel" by duplicating the work of other software projects, researchers will have a pool of publically developed software to build from.
The longer-term benefit is that the software can be studied and reviewed in the same way as the other parts of scientific research. Software flaws can cause as misleading results in the same way as sloppy protocols or faulty math. Exposing all the scientific process to peer review can only lead to better science.

Link Discuss (Thanks, Rick!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 18:58 permanent link to this entry

We've added a new feature to BoingBoing: The Guestbar! That bar on the right hand side is now a separate blog, guest edited by a new person every week. The inaugural guestblogger is Pat York, Nebula-finalist author of "You Wandered Off Like a Foolish Child to Break Your Heart and Mine." Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 17:38 permanent link to this entry

Handspring announces the Treo 180, a PalmOS device-cum-phone, with an integrated keyboard (I'm not thrilled about this, frankly -- using a RIM and a Cybiko have convinced me that teensy keyboards are a bad idea) and a real, GUI browser. Unfortunately, they've left off the SpringPort, so you can't snap a camera into the device and shoot a pic, then email it to someone else. A dah-dah-dah. Link Discuss (Thanks, Eli!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:26 permanent link to this entry

FilePile is back online! Get your user accounts here. Let us never speak of this dark day again. Link Discuss (Thanks, Timo!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:53 permanent link to this entry

The electronic last words of the victims of 9.11 -- voicemail messages and greetings, emails, etc -- are being preserved by ISPs and cellular providers as a memorial.

The e-mail to his buddies was sent from the 93rd floor of the World Trade Center. The subject line: "Tuxedo for wedding." The time stamp: 8:41 a.m., Sept. 11, 2001. In the brief note, Peter Christopher Frank reminds them to get their measurements taken for the upcoming event.

Link Discuss (Thanks, Jason!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:34 permanent link to this entry

FilePile is full. No new users are being allowed, and unregistered users can't open files from the file. Rats. Link Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:25 permanent link to this entry

Mike Harris, the miserable son-of-a-bitch who, as Premier of Ontario, has presided over the systematic dismantling of its world-beating social services network, the sinister rejigging of its electoral districts, and the shoddy privatization of its government offices (privatized health inspectors missed the e-coli outbreak in the water supply in Walkerton, and several died), is resigning in a huff, terrified by poll and by-election results that indicate that Ontarians are ready to steamroller him come election time. Bye, bye, Iron Mike. Hope you get hit by a bus. Yes, this is schadenfreude. He is pond scum. Which of us is worse? Link Discuss (via Exciting Monkeybum Stories for Boys and Girls)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:55 permanent link to this entry

Stephen Hawking is writing a kid-friendly version of "A Brief History of Time" with one of the Star Trek writers. Link Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:38 permanent link to this entry

Monday, October 15, 2001

Terrific and terrifying rant describing the extraordinary powers granted to the Office of Homeland Defense.

What does this do? It not only suspends habeas corpus, but it does so on a virtually unlimited basis. Even during the Civil War, when Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, there were still some rules. For example, you could not hold somebody for more than 90 days without charge. With this new agency, not only do they act ex post facto vis-a-vis habeas corpus, but there aren't any limits being imposed. They could literally detain people for years - for as long as they wanted. There is no limitation. When people talk about the suspension of habeas corpus, they talk about when Lincoln did it during the Civil War, or when Franklin Roosevelt did it on a limited basis during the Second World War.

Link Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 21:24 permanent link to this entry

A Delta flight out of Charlotte was delayed because some of its passengers couldn't tell the difference between two Orthodox Jews praying and terrorist activity. And they say multiculturalism is dead. Link Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 21:04 permanent link to this entry

Pop-up ads work. Crap. Link Discuss (via Meerkat)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 20:56 permanent link to this entry

Any military intervention in the middle-east naturally raises questions about motivation and oil concerns. After all, we've seen oil and motor companies dismantle American public transit systems, send out death squads to execute protestors in Nigeria, and promulgate the notion that massively toxic spills in the fragile Arctic are "mousse." Are oil concerns interested in Afghanistan? Most assuredly. Mother Jones has broken the story of Unocal's support of the Taliban as they attempted to build a Caspian pipeline. Sure, they're a lefty mag with an agenda, but they're not making this stuff up -- check out this Congressional testimony from Unocal's VP of International Relations: Link. Link Discuss (Thanks, Pat!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 20:11 permanent link to this entry

The Daily .WAV: A daily non-sequitor audio-file, drawn from such diverse sources as RHPS, The Ghost and Mr Chicken, Aliens, and Phantom of the Paradise. Link Discuss (Thanks, Allan!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 19:56 permanent link to this entry

Osama bin Laden's satellite phone number:

Even now, as US forces move in for the kill, bin Laden's satellite phone has not been cut off. But calls to the terrorist leader are going unanswered. His international phone number - 00873 682505331 - was disclosed during a trial, held in New York earlier this year. Callers to his once-active satellite link now hear only a recorded messages saying he is "not logged on".

Link Discuss
posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 15:41 permanent link to this entry

IBM's senior VP of R&D has decided that the way to reduce the complexity of managing computers is by making them autonomous -- giving them the tools to extend and repair themselves. He's announced fifty new R&D projects to be funded at various Universities, and written a 40-page whitepaper on the subject. Link Discuss (Thanks, ronks!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 15:02 permanent link to this entry

After massive hype and handwringing over steganography -- the practice of hiding messages inside of seemingly innocuous files, like porn pictures, MP3s and b_bl_uo_yg e_cn_ot_kr_ei_!e_!s -- someone has finally located an actual, no-foolin', in-the-wild stego image. Link Discuss (via /.)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 14:40 permanent link to this entry

Email that's making the rounds:

TALIBAN TV GUIDE

MONDAYS:

8:00 - "Husseinfeld"

8:30 - "Mad About Everything"

9:00 - "Suddenly Sanctions"

9:30 - "The Brian Benben bin Laden Show"

10:00 - "Allah McBeal"

TUESDAYS:

8:00 - "Wheel of Terror and Fortune"

8:30 - "The Price is Right If Osama Says Its Right"

9:00 - "Children Are Forbidden From Saying The Darndest Things"

9:30 - "Afganistans Wackiest Public Execution Bloopers"

10:00 - "Buffy The Yankee Imperialist Dog Slayer"

WEDNESDAYS:

8:00 - "U.S. Military Secrets Revealed"

8:30 - "When Northern Alliance Attacks"

9:00 - "Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pita Bread"

9.30 - "Just Shoot Everyone"

10:00 - "Veilwatch"

THURSDAYS:

8:00 - "Matima Loves Chachi"

8:30 - "M*U*S*T*A*S*H"

9:00 - "Veronicas Closet Full of Long, Black, Shapeless Dresses and Veils"

9:30 - "My Two Baghdads"

10:00 - "Diagnosis: Heresy"

FRIDAYS:

8:00 - "Judge Laden"

8:30 - "Funniest Super 8 Home Movies"

9:00 - "Captured Northern Alliance Rebels Say the Darndest Things"

9:30 - "Akhmeds Creek"

10:00 - "No-witness News"
Discuss
posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 13:36 permanent link to this entry

Ernest Lilley did a Route 66 roadtrip for Byte, testing out his gear's ruggedness on the tough truckstop-and-motel-six circuit.

The Rim Blackberry replaced it. No, it couldn't play my "Secret Agent Man" MP3 like the iPAQ, but it could show me what time the Johnny Rivers concert was (I timed my pass through Albuquerque to coincide), and I got to hear it by the original artist instead. I opted for the Model 850 in its beeper-style format because the keyboard is a tad wider (though no wider than the iPAQ) and because it runs for weeks on a single AA battery. I was out of e-mail range for days at a time, as the Motient network doesn't reach many rural cities, and none of the desert, but when I pulled in range it buzzed cheerfully with mail from my gal in the Navy out at sea, missives from my Outlook Out of Office Assistant back at work, and other contacts from my world.

Link Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:45 permanent link to this entry

From The Modern Humorist: How Friends will handle the Current Situation:

JOEY
When did this happen?
RACHEL
Apparently last month.
MONICA
They're gonna need some help cleaning up. (Grabs a mop) Who's with me?
CHANDLER
Could you BE any more of an anal neat freak?
MONICA
(annoyed)
How about if I withhold sex? Am I anal then?

Link Discuss (via Snarkcake)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:26 permanent link to this entry

Thinking Putty is a tradename for a Silly Putty clone (it's actually all Dow Corning 3179 Dilatent Compound). The Thinking Putty people are bulk retailers, dealing in imposing globs of the pink stuff rather than Binney and Smith's anemic little tablespoon-sized eggs. Their puttyworld site has some amazing video of cool putty tricks, including firing putty out of a cannon! (Cement mixer, putty putty) Link Discuss (Thanks, Elizabeth!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:11 permanent link to this entry

The strange world of job-interviews in the Japanese porn industry.

After a fairly strenuous interview process, the wheat is sorted from the chaff with the most physically demanding task assigned to the applicants. Clad only in their pants, the girls must run throughout the network's studios while carrying huge satellite dishes. The reason behind the erotic exercise is not made clear, but perhaps it could have something to do with the fact that among the applicants is somebody who'll play a major role in carrying the satellite station's future.

Link Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:58 permanent link to this entry

One of the things I miss most about my old iBook, now that I've got an iBook2 (AKA IceBook, iBook Dual USB) is the original's built-in handle. Being able to carry your iBook by a securely affixed handle was a boon I'd never expected to love, but I grew addicted. Now, Cyber3 has shipped a $40 retractable handle that doubles as a tilt while you're working, which allows for the free passage of air under the machine and gives the keyboard a nice, ergonomic angle. Link Discuss (via Meerkat)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:41 permanent link to this entry

The latest girl-gang plaguing the streets of Toyko call themselves Ogyaru -- polluted girls. They loll about all day, gabbling on mobiles and accumulating their trademark filth.

"Of all those who visit a urologist during the day, most are high school girls or male office workers in their early 30s. Most of the girls are the type you'd called ogyaru. They're incredibly unhygienic and riddled with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) like chlamydia," a gynecologist tells Vacca. "The guys are ... seeking help for venereal diseases, too."

Link Discuss (Thanks, Dennis!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:28 permanent link to this entry

The Phatom Menace ships tomorrow on DVD, as a two-disk set, chock-a-block with interactive content. Unfortunately, that interactive content requires Windows to run. Sorry, Mac users. Link Discuss (via Meerkat)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:22 permanent link to this entry

Loose lips sink ships! Here're the US Army's employee guidelines for the keeping of secrets.

Conditions that could raise a security concern and may be disqualifying include:
Any service, whether compensated, volunteer, or employment with:
a. A foreign country;
b. Any foreign national;
c. A representative of any foreign interest;
d. Any foreign, domestic, or international organization or person engaged in analysis, discussion, or publication of material on intelligence, defense, foreign affairs, or protected technology.

Link Discuss (via Memepool)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:07 permanent link to this entry

I got email from Leonard Pickel this morning, editor of the excellent dark-ride trade mag Haunted Attraction (Link), urging members of the "Hallowe'en Community" to donate a portion of the proceeds from this year's spook houses to WTC-related disaster relief. The enclosed royalty-free art says it all: Hallowe'en for America: Helping America Heal. I love this, 'cause it's just what we need: the permission to have fun, even in the face of disaster. Also, I love spook-houses. Link Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:56 permanent link to this entry

Profiteers who attempted to sell WTC merch at massive markups on eBay after 9.11 were eventually shut down by eBay itself, but while eBay deliberated over whether it would take down the auctions in question, a posse of eBay users created false IDs en masse, entered false winning bids on the items and disappeared, making it impossible to sell anything WTC-related on eBay. Link Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:48 permanent link to this entry

The RIAA drafted an amendment to the USA Act -- the sweeping antiterrorist bill that's just passed into law -- that would allow them to break into your computer and erase your infringing MP3s. The amendment would also immunize them from liability if they inadvertently erased critical files from your drive, even if you'd never infringed upon anyone's rights. Unfortunately for them, their lobbyists weren't able to convince lawmakers that such an amendment had anything to do with fighting terrorism, nor that granting vigilante powers to the gentle souls of the recording industry would further the ends of peace, justice and the American Way. Is there any other industry in the world that fears and hates its customers more than the music industry? Maybe the insurance industry, I guess. Maybe. Link Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:30 permanent link to this entry

Sunday, October 14, 2001

Can you tell differentiate among the quotations of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Osama bin Laden? I scored a six. Link Discuss (via AltText)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 22:33 permanent link to this entry

Bruce Sterling makes some predictions for the future of the Current Situation.

The Empire Formerly Known As NATO. The US bears the blunt of blame for its clumsy handling of the global conflict, which relied so fatally on the so-called strength of America's arrogant and untenable free-market ideology. The defeated Alliance splits up much like its former mirror image, the Warsaw Pact. Without Persian Gulf oil, the American economy and its war machine both collapse. Severe discord and disillusionment ensues, with crime and corruption skyrocketing. Desperate Russian women leave the streets of every capital in the world and are replaced by desperate American women.

Link Discuss (via MeFi)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 21:34 permanent link to this entry

The Dysfunctional Family Circus -- a collective effort in Internet comedy, in which the audience coins their own raunchy captions for otherwise sappy Family Circus cartoons -- is back! Spinn, the mastermind behind the site, took it offline last year after contacting Bil Keane (FC's creator) and coming to an understanding with him. Anyway, one of Spinn's co-editors had an archive of the DFC kicking around, and has put it back online. Go get your yuks in before it goes offline again! Link Discuss (via Scrubbles)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 14:13 permanent link to this entry

John Norman is the author of several sf books set on the mythical, bondage-and-domination-themed world of Gor, long out of print. He volunteered his services as a panelist at the last World Science Fiction Convention, but they declined his offer. Now, Norman is convinced that the programming committee is part of a sinister, "monothink" conspiracy to keep his liberatarian views out of the public eye, and is penning open letters in order to expose their villainy. Link Discuss (Thanks, Mark!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 13:46 permanent link to this entry

Joey "Thrilla from Manila" deVilla's proposed tasteless themesong for the proposed (and even more tasteless) CBS comedy about the WTC.

Here's a story
Of a bereaved lady
Who lost her husband during nine one one
Terrorists with hearts of stone,
Like bin Laden,
Made sure the deed was done.

Here's a guy
Trying to get laid-ee
Because he had problems of his own
His wife was
In the South Tower
Now he was all alone.

Link Discuss (Thanks, Joey!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 13:39 permanent link to this entry

CBS is considering a new sitcom -- a screwball comedy about a couple who meet in the wreckage of the WTC. This is the sound of me boggling: <boggle> Link Discuss (Thanks, Joey!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 13:36 permanent link to this entry

I love audiobooks, especially unabridged audiobooks read by the author. Since I haven't been innundated with offers to adapt my stories to audio, I've taken it upon myself to record my own work. I've just posted the my first effort, a reading of my story "To Market, To Market, the Branding of Billy Bailey," which ran in last September's Interzone. It's an 11.4 MB MP3, but if you've got a DSL or cablemodem connection, give it a try!

Billy kept his head up as he left for school the next day, for Barbara and Buford Bailey's benefit. But once he'd turned the corner at the end of the block, he slowed down, dropped his gaze to his loafers, and fretted. Billy's brand had been established early on, in the first month of kindergarten. He'd been the first in the category -- he'd defined "heel" for his classmates. Sure, there'd been heels in the upper grades, but they had no interaction with his class.
Billy had been _the_ heel. When others followed the trail he'd blazed, pitching spitwads or putting the boot in during a game of British Bulldog, their behaviour had been compared to Billy's. More than half of the endorsement dollars that flowed into the sixth grade went straight into Billy's trust account.
As well they should. If you were a sixth-grader looking for a risque t-shirt, nine times out of ten it'd be a shirt that Billy had worn that week. If you went to see a violent movie, it'd be one that Billy had presented a book-report on. If you wanted a PDA with a shotgun mic attachment for cross-playground spying, what better model than the one that Billy could often be seen holding up to his ear, grinning mischievously?
In the minds of the consumers of Pepsi Elementary, Billy owned the word "mischief." The immutable wisdom of the ages said that nothing Billy could do would change that. It would be like trying to sell Evian Brake Fluid. A brand-killer.

Link Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 13:08 permanent link to this entry

IDEO has a new concept-cubicle, the Steelcase Q, which looks like a futuristic motorbike simulator crossed with a workstation. Link Discuss (Thanks, Eli!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:07 permanent link to this entry

Discount stores of the 1960s remembered.

To earlier generations raised solely on shopping trips to the "five and ten" or the traditional stately department store, these sprawling monsters were either a boon to thrifty one-stop shopping, or a garish monument to stuff that was "cheap" in every sense of the word, sold by inexperienced high school grads. But to MY generation, they were the stuff of baby boomer dreams. Shopper's World. Shopper's Fair. GEM (some locations called GEX). Atlantic Mills and Spartan, which later merged. Community Discount World. The Giant Store. Ardan. Arlan's. Gulf-Mart. French Market. Two Guys. T G & Y Family Centers (which grew out of T G & Y Variety Stores). White Front. Zayre. Zody's. All doing good business. All thriving and surviving. All making for much-anticipated destinations during a weekend drive around the metro area, at a time when the big car was more or less king of the road, and it cost less than five bucks to fill the tank.

Link Discuss (via GMT+9, thanks, Owen!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 11:04 permanent link to this entry

High-larious condom ad on FilePile today! Link (Direct link to video) Discuss
posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:50 permanent link to this entry

David Mamet has written a charming tribute to Shel Siverstein in today's New York Times. Link Discuss (via MeFi)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:43 permanent link to this entry

Polaroid files for Chapter 11 -- put out of biz by low-cost, cheap-ass digital photography. A bad weekend for atoms, with major blows to print photography and the postal system. Link Discuss (via /.)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:37 permanent link to this entry

Steven Levy explains how anthrax-tained postal matter may the be final shove that puts USPS out of business.

Let’s try a thought experiment. What comes in the mail that you absolutely, positively can’t get electronically? If you’re connected to the Internet—and, duh, you wouldn’t be reading this if you weren’t—probably your e-mail-to-snail-mail ratio overwhelmingly favors the former. What’s more, it comes instantly, allows you an infinitely easier means to reply, and can be stored in a fraction of a second, in a place that’s much easier to find than in a pile of papers on your desk or entrance table. The bulk of my own workplace mail consists largely of press releases, most of which go straight to the circular file. At every turn I ask PR agencies to send me e-mail—no attachments, please. I get invitations to events in the mail, but many come in e-mail as well, and while I like a nicely printed invite, I can do without. Yes, a lot of e-mail is unwanted spam, but that can be deleted in the blink of an eye, and doesn’t have to be physically carted away—or ripped up and shredded, as in the case of credit card offers that identity thieves might use to get plastic in your name.

Link Discuss (via /.)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:31 permanent link to this entry

Saturday, October 13, 2001

It's Winnie the Pooh's 75th birthday! Silly old bear! Link Discuss (via Exciting Monkeybum Stories for Boys and Girls)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 23:40 permanent link to this entry

Cousin Couples: Everything you need to know if you intend to marry your cousin. Link Discuss (via Memepool)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 23:37 permanent link to this entry

An idiot got on an AA jet in LA and wrestled the intercom mic away from the Flight Attendant and tried to lead the whole plane in prayer. They threw him off the flight. Link Discuss (Thanks, Dennis!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 23:30 permanent link to this entry

Global newspaper front pages from 9.11. Link Discuss (Thanks, Pat!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 23:05 permanent link to this entry

Collaborative, interactive fiction at Zoid City. It's an online choose-your-own-adventure that anyone can contribute to. Link Discuss (Thanks, Cristy!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 23:03 permanent link to this entry

Happy Trails is the one truly fun shop on the otherwise moribund Haight-Ashbury shopping strip. Their online store is chock-a-block with hard-to-find tiki crap, girlie cocktail glasses, and cowboyana. Link Discuss

posted by Cory Doctorow at 23:01 permanent link to this entry

I used to have a Fright Factory. You could make all sorts of creepy scabs and extra eyes and warty tounges to stick on your head. Ah, the smell of Plastigoop cooking in the tray... Link Discuss
posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:07 permanent link to this entry

10 rules for bad science fiction!

Remember that technology introduced at the start of the story always causes everyone's problems, while technology introduced in the middle or at the end of the story always solves everyone's problems.This could be referred to as the "If-Only-I'd-Invented-It-Ninety-Minutes-Later" Conundrum.

Link Discuss (Thanks, Pat!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:05 permanent link to this entry

Tourist Guy -- the guy from the photo that purports to have been taken seconds before a plane hit the WTC -- AKA Waldo, AKA Tourist of Death, has his own page. Mahir redux! Link Discuss (via MeFi)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:12 permanent link to this entry

Donate to the Red Cross

The Guestbar!
A tiny, guest-edited blog!
This week's guest-editor: Nebula-award-finalist Pat York.

I needed a complete break from the world so I bought Nancy Milford's new biography of Edna St.Vincent Millay, the jazz age libertine who was one of the finest poets of the 20th century. It was a smart move..
After terrible dreams,
After crying in sleep,
Grief beyond thought, twisting of hands,
tears from shut lids wetting the pillow,
shall come sun on the wall,
shall come sounds from the street, children at play.
Bubbles too big blown, and dreams filled too heavy with horror shall burst and in mist fall.
Link Discuss
posted by Pat York at 8:43 PM

When I sell the movie rights, I'm goin' here! Writing implements and furniture so beautiful they make your fingers itch to touch them. Link Discuss
posted by Pat York at 7:20 PM

I have a doppelganger -- or she has a doppelganger. Pat York, wife of the actor Michael York (she's always intro'ed that way) is a photographer who has recently produced some wonderful and disturbing photos of skinned cadavers. If you want to spend $750. to buy one of her shots, just email her at KroyTap@aol.com. Isn't that email address just too, too clever? Link Discuss
posted by Pat York at 2:24 PM

Pat has always fascinated me, because our perspectives are so different and yet weirdly convergent. She teaches smart elementary students in upstate New York, and alternates between stoic, maternal pedagogue and gonzo whacky idea-generator. When Pat and I workshop stories together, we typically notice completely opposite things that we end up agreeing vigorously on. Pat is one of the moving forces behind an initiative to get teachers to the World Science Fiction Conventions and show them how genre fiction can integrate with curriculum. Her suggested curriculum modules are delightful and amazing. - Cory
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