Democratic Underground published a May 5 2004 story about Bush administration efforts to replace the national archivist. the national archivist is the keeper of the nation’s records – the archives. The National Archives control what information gets released to the public – and what does not. With so much power over how what history we […] » about 1600 words
jokir Flickr’d this, writing: “GREAT work — Alex Ross is one of my favorite artists…Plus – it pretty much nails what’s up in the world, right?” Ross’s website has mostly shows his comic book art and superhero imagery, and it took some time to find a reference to this piece. Apparently it was for an […] » about 100 words
Here’s the irony: an academic writes a paper that references and quotes relevant prior work, and is commended for the work. But, a journalist working on a book that quotes elements of pop culture risks a copyright infringement lawsuit if he doesn’t pay for his quotes. The fact is, “fair use” is not protected, and […] » about 400 words
I’ve been warm and lukewarm on U2 for a while. I can’t deny that they’ve done some great stuff, but I’ve failed to appreciate some of it. Take the band’s previous work, All That You Can’t Leave Behind, for example. It seemed like a sad attempt to capture a younger audience, and was out of […] » about 300 words
Engadget raised my fears a bit when they announced your laser printer will give you away: It was big news last month when a couple of researchers at Purdue announced a way to trace documents back to their original printer or photocopier, but it turns out that Xerox and most other laser printer and copier […] » about 400 words
ArsTechnica has a story about new Google lawsuits. The company is getting sued by a porn purveyor for copyright infringement and is suing another company for “click fraud” — fraudulent clicks to Google’s Adsense advertising links. Having recently taken on Adsense links here at MaisonBisson, I couldn’t help but pay attention. The Ars story leads […] » about 400 words
Steffan O’Sullivan writes: “This is from a 1954 edition of Modern Mechanics Magazine, predicting what the home computer will look like in 2004. I think I worked on that printer once… How can I get a steering wheel like that on my office computer here?” The caption reads: “Scientists from the RAND Corporation have created […] » about 400 words
update: there’s more pictures, even some video (look for links marked with the QuickTime logo), and a bundle more nuclear and Chernobyl-related stories. I almost fell into a trap that has snared quite a few before me. bookofjoe recently pointed to the story of Elena, a motorcycle riding woman who claimed to brave the radiation […] » about 2400 words
ArsTechnica and bookofjoe both heralded the beta release of Google Scholar. My questions: “is it accessible via the Google API,” and, “what does this mean for academic libraries?” I’ll be exploring both in time.
In the meantime: Library Portal Integration.
My father sent along a link with the following annotation: We all know the expression that “one picture is worth a thousand words.” Well, here are several pictures of the same phenomena that tell the same story but give very different impressions. They illustrate clearly how pictures can be misleading (or should that be ‘leading’ […] » about 500 words
Roderick sent me a link to a story at Common Dreams: Killing the Political Animal: CIA Psychological Operations and Us, by Heather Wokusch. A CIA instruction manual entitled “Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare” provides some clues. Written in the early 1980s (coincidentally, soon after Bush Sr. headed the Agency) the document was part of the […] » about 400 words
I didn’t think I’d become a Coldplay fan, but then I heard Don’t Panic in the Garden State soundtrack and I couldn’t help myself. Now I’m liking Clocks. My only problem with all this is that everybody else likes it too.
I wasn’t really paying attention in June when WiFi Net News reported on a FCC decision regarding control of WiFi: The FCC says landlords, associations can’t regulate Part 15 use: The FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology says that the function of regulating and coordinating frequency use is reserved to the FCC itself. It’s a […] » about 400 words
The Engadget headline on Monday appeared at first exaggerated: the FCC says it has power over anything that can receive and play a digital file. But, the short news entry reveals the truth of the headline: In a brief filed in a suit brought against the Broadcast Flag by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and PublicKnowlegde, […] » about 400 words
Ken Nordine may have the best voice ever. In the pantheon of deep soothing voices, Ken Nordine’s stands above The Magnetic Fields and MC Honky, and about on par with Barry White.
Below are loosely organized speaking notes for Zach’s Essentials of Web Development class that I guest-lectured/substituted on Monday, November 17th. Either we do the content management, or we get the computer to do it for us What is redundant and repetitive about web management? Placement of branding elements. Placement and updating of navigation elements Placement […] » about 400 words
Donut Shack Eat-a-Donut Still Hungry Top Donut See the full What’s Up With Lowell And Donuts Flickr photoset with slideshow. Follow that with the Post-Donut Tour photo set. Story/explanation/narrative to follow. Sometime. Road-trip Music: We compared the Magnetic Fields’ original version of Book of Love from the 69 Love Songs set to the new Peter […] » about 200 words
The news from Fallujah is grim. Casualties are heavy on all sides, the city is being bombed to ruin, and those few civilians that remain are without water or power while bodies rot in the streets. DefenseTech reported on the Fallujah push last week and included some quotes from the Army’s new Counterinsurgency Operations field manual:
The news reports, obviously, suggest that a different sort of war has been playing out on the ground.
A part of me hates 1001freefonts.com. It’s the part that has too often found just the right font, only to discover that the free or cheap knock-off version that I had didn’t have all the characters, like quote-marks and other punctuation. Then I see a font like “Accidental President” and realize what a sucker I […] » about 200 words
William Shatner has a new album out. Most people receive this news with a smirk, or a chuckle, or a dumbfounded look. Let me assure you, he can’t sing any better than you think, and probably not any better than in his previous albums. But here’s the thing: the first single Common People, really is good. Well, good in one way or another. I laughed the first time I heard it, and the second time, and again and again.
An iTunes user writes: “You will be amazed twice. Once when you see the [artists name], and the second time when you realize you love this song.”
Job ads reveal a lot about a company, what technology they use, what they’re developing, and what sort of culture they have. This one from Ludicorp/Flickr caught my eye:
Starting immediately, we’re looking for a great technical operations person. The ideal candidate can grow into a leadership role in technical operations and has broad practical experience on both the systems and networks sides.
Requirements:
- 5 years system administration experience with Linux and Apache (some network administration experience strongly preferred)
- Experience with both 32 and 64bit systems
- Experience with both hardware and software approaches for load balancing web serving and database traffic
- Experience in firewall administration and best practices for security<
- Basic network design and administration
- Current knowledge of hardware systems (servers and networking gear)
- Prior experience running mid-sized systems (>30 servers)
Bonus characteristics:
- Expertise with MySQL, Squid and/or ImageMagick
- Experience in storage clustering
- General programming and scripting skills (especially php, perl, java)
- Systems architecture/planning experience
- Experience dealing with vendors (negotiation, support contracts, etc.)
- Lifting heavy servers into cages
- Good screwdriver skills (e.g., tighten, loosen)
- Know how to wear a pager … with style
- Management/team leadership experience
Oh decadence! Veterans Day provided not only a chance for reflection but also a rare Thursday free from the classroom. So what to do with this open period of time? The answer was easy, dinner party. I have wanted to have my colleagues Roxanna and John over, but time is always an issue. I phoned […] » about 600 words
Foof started out by making some interesting iPod sleves. Now they’re offering Foofbags for your iBook and PowerBook. If you are looking for a funky alternative to neoprene, rubber or plastic to protect your Apple technology from scratches, then we think that this site is for you. Our foofproducts are handmade, simple and beautiful. foofproducts […] » about 400 words
I’ll be saving my pennies, because Delicious Library may be the coolest new app in a while. Ars Technica revied a beta and gave it an 8.5 out of 10 — for a beta of a 1.0 product. People are right when they suspect that something very different is going on over in the Mac […] » about 500 words
You’ll notice there are more ads on the site recently. It’s not because I need to recoup my investment in the site and need the pennies I get for these ads; it’s just because I’m a money grubbing bastard. Anyway, this is the response I got to my application to the Target affiliate program: We […] » about 300 words