MaisonBisson

Just saw a link to Newbury Open Net, a community wireless project in Boston. Newbury Open Net describes itself:

NewburyOpen.net is a network which provides high-speed Internet services, in the form of free wireless and for-pay workstations, to Boston’s residents, workers, and travelers. … We believe that high-speed Internet must become like a public utility: cheap, simple to access, easy to find, and available to everyone, no matter their location or social status. That makes the greatest benefit of the Net – the distribution of information – easy for all.

Yes, more than just technology, wireless access is also about social justice. Created and largely funded by Mac specialist Tech Superpowers, that social activist philosophy seems to support the old stereotype of Mac users as counterculturists. For their part, the Newbury Open Net folks seem proud of it.

But what about the technology? They have that covered too. Start with their wireless security primer, then read about how they’re building wireless applications for a world with ubiquitous wireless coverage. I’m especially interested SmartWorlds and the integration of physical and online bookstores. Finally, read about how to create an open, wireless community network yourself.

The folks at RatherGood.com have no end of Flash animations to entertain and delight. May I suggest starting off with Moon Song, and Biscuits?

Along those lines, I also found (the far too obviously named) Flash archive with even more great goodies. Yes, you’ve seen some of these before, but there are some new ones there too. And, of course, regular laughs can be had at HomeStarRunner.com, where Strong Bad’s Email (updated each Monday, usually) will likely make you a repeat visitor.

I’ve run into a situation things would work better with a static host mapping, but my first thought/fear was that MacOS X’s NetInfo would get in my way. Google turned up some old info on reconfiguring NetInfo, as well as a slightly more current NetInfo tip. But as it turns out, Panther is all setup to read your /etc/hosts entries and use those before going to DNS or NetInfo. So there you go.

If 14-year-olds were old enough to remember Bush Sr., they’d think this Bush monologue was the funniest thing all day. So, in the interest of educating and entertaining those 14-year-olds, let me explain that the current President Bush is the oldest son of a previous president Bush. Bush Sr. was elected in 1988, his term of presidency included huge job losses and recession, and he got us entangled in a War in Iraq and many other places. Like the State of the Union Speach re-edit, this shows how easily media can be manipulated.

Of course, the bigger question is, “what is IBIBLIO?” and where do they find this stuff?

Here’s a graph to get you thinking about politics: job growth per president. Who knows if the numbers are real, but it jives with my memory of the past 20 years.

This dark and slightly objectionable cartoon of life features a good soundtrack and really cool styling.

Finally, everybody likes Latin translations of old rap songs. Right? “Magnae clunes mihi placent, nec possum de hac re mentiri.”

The folks at Ars also pointed out an interesting story by the MIT Tech Review. It’s all about things that were expected to have been passed by, but weren’t. It sort of puts us in our place.

Microsoft Corp, the software company responsible for producing some of the most notoriously (and dangerously) insecure software ever has issued a collection of posters aimed at, start your irony engine, computer security education. “Educate your students, faculty, and staff on the simple steps they can take to protect their PCs,” says the Microsoft website offering the posters.

Um, not many people noticed, but this site was offline for a few months because the hosting company I was using shut down operations. Well, I’m back, mostly. I’ve redesigned things (having stolen the design from another site of mine), but there are still a number of things missing. Theoretically I still have a backup of the comments and members and stuff, but I may not bother looking. The Redstone Brewery info is in here, but the categories list is gone. Most importantly, I really need to put up the links to the Cellophane T-Shirts.

First, take a look at < bushin30seconds.org > . It will do more to make you mad than entertain you, but take a look and channel that anger into something meaningful.

Now that that’s over, take a look at < ebaumsworld.com > and waste the rest of the day laughing. There’s no shortage of video, cartoons, and other junk. Enjoy it all. Here are a couple links to get you started: super truck, paranoid, something else funny, and yet another thing.

First, look at some numbers:

“‘Last year under 20 percent of the laptops have Wi-Fi built in, this year it’s 40 percent.’ Says Brain Grimm, communications director for the Wi-Fi Alliance”

Now consider that the quote appeared in a story in AAAWorld (yes, the American Auto Association). Their demographic is generally older and non-technical, so either their demographic is changing or “non-technical” is being redefined. I’m going to bet that the water is rising and, just as the world now accepts email, it now seems to expect some understanding of networking.

Hmmm.

[UPDATE] And now the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank is reporting on growing WiFi use in the Mid-West! Oh my.

The following weblogs have been pinged for this story:

http://tingilinde.typepad.com/starstuff/2003/10/what_people_do_.html

http://www.wifinetnews.com/

http://db.isbn.nu/mt/mt-tb.cgi?\__mode=view&entry_id=2919

http://db.isbn.nu/mt/mt-tb.cgi?\__mode=view&entry_id=2912

Last Saturday was the 20th anniversary of the Macintosh. Apple announced the Macintosh to about 90 million households in a 60 second ad during the superbowl. The ad, which has been lauded as one of the best ads ever and created “event marketing,” rocks. It was this theory of event marketing that lead advertisers to create ever larger, ever more expensive ad spots. And that’s when the ads during the Superbowl became the the main event for some viewers.

If you’re even mildly interested, follow the first link above to read the story, then be sure to watch the making-of video linked at the bottom of that page.

Apple hasn’t done much to celebrate the Mac’s birthday, but Apple will play a role in Pepsi’s superbowl ads which will promote Pepsi’s music give-away promotion in conjunction with Apple’s iTunes Music Store.

In case anybody was wondering, the only real point of this post is to highlight and link to http://www.isd.net/cmcalone/cine/1984.html where I was happy to read about the famous ad.

Former Vermont governor Howard Dean carried the polls in Warren this primary night. The numbers for the rest of the state are still being counted, but what’s more impressive to me is the number of voters who went to the polls and the number of registered republicans who wrote in Democrats on their ballots. Twenty three out of 77 Republican ballots cast in this very conservative northern New Hampshire town had Democrats written in for President. Even better, a an overwhelming number of independent voters registered and voted Democrat at the polls.

Bad headline, yes, but what this guy has done with his car is pretty cool.

It’s good to know that there’s an Antarctic outpost in my namesake. Good ol’ Casey Station even has a webcam.

[update:] Here’s an interesting sattelite image of the area, found at this Remote Sensing Project website.

Start with approx 1 cup of bacon grease collected over time just like Jon’s mom said to do.

Pour grease into small disposable aluminum loaf pan.

Insert pan with grease into burning wood stove.

Wait.

Watch.

Wait.

Watch as oil ignites with a whooosh that’s vaguely reminiscent of a chimney fire.

No, that woooosh is exactly how you remember that chimney fire.

Close stove air intakes and continue to watch fire.

Watch oil flames wisp around in firebox, watch flu thermometer climb over 800 degrees.

Wonder where that fire extinguisher is, after all.

Give up looking for fire extinguisher and consider wet blankets or baking powder. Lots of baking powder.

Watch flames, thinking that you might as well know what it looked like before it burned your house down.

Catch a glimpse of something and think “is that thermometer falling?” Are those flames receding?

Doubt yourself and your memory of the previous thermometer readings.

Doubt your sight. Blame wishful thinking.

Praise God (get religion, for a moment). Believe in miracles.

Continue on with evening.

The question here is between 802.1x authentication and web-based, captive portal authentication. The former has high client requirements, the later seems too simple. Rob Flickenger’s Wireless Hacks has fired me up for captive portals. An excerpt, Dispelling the Myth of Wireless Security, makes clear the need for application layer security, an argument I’d say applies to wired and wireless network alike.

Point: wireless is exposing holes that have existed in our network security all along, but patching those holes will secure everything, including wireless without spending loads of money on expensive APs and proprietary clients.

The book, however, is about a lot more than that. Along the way, it shows us how to build community networks, custom APs, super long-range antennae, and much more. Want to build a wireless link from your friend’s house (which has DSL or cable modem) to yours (where cable won’t reach)? Wireless Hacks will show you.