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November 30, 2007

mp3s: Arcade Fire's 4 Christmas songs 5 years ago

Arcade Fire: A Very Arcade Xmas, Arcade Fire [no label, 1CD] At BigOWorldwide.

The holiday season is upon us and to help readers get into the mood, here are the Arcade Fire spreading that holiday cheer. These four tracks were recorded at Win's 2001 Christmas party and featured Win, Regine, Dane, Brendan, Sean, Anita, Kirsten and Kyla). These tracks were given as a gift in 2002.
The Christmas Song (4.3MB)
O Holy Night (6.1MB)
Jinglebell Rock (1.8MB)
A Very Arcade Xmas (11.1MB)

Go there to get 'em for your annual holiday collection,.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 9:39 PM | Permalink

Facebook retreats, won't publish users' purchases and activities without their consent

Facebook and advertisers will still collect data on what users are doing and what they buy, but the latest version of the retreat the giant social networking site floated tonight lets the user decide whether to make that information public. If the user does nothing, the information languishes, nagging perhaps, but not publishing with their profile photos alongside advertising related to their activity.

On the Times Bits Blog (The Evolution of Facebook’s Beacon), Louise Story reports,

Thursday night, late edition:

Facebook executives tell reporters that users who ignore the alert boxes will no longer be considered to have said “yes,” even after two days. If users ignore the alert box, Facebook says it will not post the news of their purchases to their friends. This is a big change, if implemented correctly. Users will still be hassled by the alert boxes from Facebook on its partner sites, but ideally they can ignore them now and not worry about their purchases being shared.
Facebook executives say they do not want to add a universal opt-out button because then users would not be able to try out Beacon on different sites to see what it can offer. One Facebook executive predicts that consumers may “fall in love” with Beacon once they understand it. Only time will tell.

You can read Facebook's entire statement in this post at Dean Takahashi's Tech Blog: Facebook caves to pressure.

There is still no way to opt out of the Beacon tracking program. Sam Gustin at Portfolio explains (Fog Over Facebook's Beacon) what's making Facebook wriggle over this one:

Facebook is in a tough position, because it is counting on Beacon to drive revenue growth for the company - which expects to earn only $30 million this year. Microsoft recently paid $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake which valued the company at $15 billion.
Indeed, the reason Beacon has the potential to be so profitable is that it is difficult for Facebook's 50 million users to opt out of it.

In a story for today's New York Times (Facebook Retreats on Online Tracking), Story and Brad Stone note that "Two privacy groups said this week that they were preparing to file privacy complaints about the system with the Federal Trade Commission. Among online merchants, Overstock.com has decided to stop running Facebook’s Beacon program on its site until it becomes an opt-in program."

This would seem to leave Facebook's experiment in monetizing the reader in something of a shambles.

Still later: TechCrunch has a screenshot of the new notification, with its "Remove" link, and finds a way to opt out on a per-advertiser basis (Facebook Beacon 2.0: What You’ll See):

Opt Out Found via the “External Websites” section of the Facebook Privacy page, this allows users to permanently opt in or out of Beacon notifications, or if you’re not sure be notified. The downside is that there is no global option to opt out of every Beacon affiliated program; it has to be set per program. Better this than nothing I suppose.

When I followed the privacy-->External Websites path, I see,

Show your friends what you like and what you're up to outside of Facebook. When you take actions on the sites listed below, you can choose to have those actions sent to your profile.
Please note that these settings only affect notifications on Facebook. You will still be notified on affiliate websites when they send stories to Facebook. You will be able to decline individual stories at that time.

No sites have tried sending stories to your profile

But there are no sites listed below. Apparently, I can't act till one pops up, like Whack-A-Mole.

Sidebar: Who signed up for Beacon? On Nov. 17, Dustin Coates of Austin, Texas, published 41 Sites Using Facebook Beacon--Facebook to Know Your Porn Viewing?.

I wanted to know which sites used Facebook Beacon. I couldn't find the information easily on the Facebook site, so I took to Google. It didn't seem as if anyone had compiled a list, though I did find a Facebook press release mentioning participating websites. Below is the full list and, when available, what information the websites send to Facebook. The one entry I found the most interesting was the one for Redlight. As I mention below, I couldn't find any site that went by that name that wasn't an adult site...

Among the sites he found: CBS Sports, The New York Times, the NBA, Blockbuster, Travelocity, Hotwire... And there may be more than these 41.

Strangest of all on this list: "eBay- -eBay will send your auction listings to Facebook, beginning in 2008." eBay operates with aliases, Facebook with real names, which could be awkward. Best, of all, Facebook could tell your friends that you sold the gift on eBay that Facebook told you one of them bought for you this week.

Related: Privacy Groups Ready FTC Complaint Against Facebook. Wendy Davis at Online Media Daily.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 1:41 AM | Permalink

Deal: Through Friday, more than 80 percent off gift certificates to 10 R.I. restaurants

Updated Saturday: With a new month, all restaurants are again available, and there's a new coupon code to get 50 percent off; enter the word "NEW" in the coupon code field on your shopping cart to see the discount reflected.

Dealnews reported Thursday morning (Restaurant.com coupon: 60% off gift certificates):

Ending tomorrow, Restaurant.com slashes 60% off any gift certificate via coupon code "THANKS". This coupon cuts $25 dining certificates to $4 and $10 gift certificates to $1.20. Restaurant.com's gift certificates are redeemable at local restaurants across the United States. Some gift certificates have restrictions, like dinner-only or a $15 or higher minimum. (Each restaurant lists its individual restrictions.)

Been there. Done that -- three times tonight. These look to me like 84 and 88 percent off face value, respectively.

There are only a few available for Rhode Island restaurants -- just 16 -- and six have sold out of however many coupons they chose to offer this month. (If you're elsewhere, you may see more restaurants, or none..)

You can select how many restaurants to view on one page, something I think every results page needs..

Some do restrict the coupons to lunch or dinner, others have minimums. Terms are clearly stated. Wickford Gourmet, for instance, offers a $10 coupon, "Valid with a minimum purchase of $25 for Catering, Gift Baskets, Cheese's. All services valid."
There are participating restaurants I've never been to -- Feast or Famine 'Wood Grilled Cuisine in Cranston and Warren, for instance, and Uncle Ronnie's Red Tavern in Harrisville -- and there's ($10, lunch only) Rasoi, the Indian restaurant just after Hope Street becomes East Avenue in Pawtucket, where we ate last night. It's in the plaza where Barney's bakery/deli used to be, and the food is distinctly different from that of the two India restaurants, for which gift certificates are also available here.

(Specifics: Crisp pappadums and three dipping sauces/relishes to everyone. We loved the mutton in savory brown sauce, bones and all and the surprisingly sweet-crusted and flavorful cauliflower. Leftovers were just as delicious tonight. Nan, too.)

The restaurant.com interface offers info about each restaurant and its cuisine, with a photo and links to the menu and a map. Use a search engine to find out more, if you're unsure.

The shopping cart is smart. Changes in quantity are reflected immediately. Typing the magic word "THANKS" in the coupon code field immediately applies the additional 60 percent discount to the already discounted price of the gift certificate, and tells you so.

Even after doing that, using Firefox, I was able to use my back button to go back to the search results page for Rhode Island and continue shopping, with the cart remembering it all. Good thing, since the link back to the site from the cart leads back to the front door.

Checkout offers an easy way to opt out of promotional emails , if you like (uncheck the box).

After you pay -- PayPal is an option -- you get coupon links to print now or later in b&w or color. An email reinforces the certificate links, and they remain available in your account. Privacy policy says they don't share your personal info, but you'll probably be an anonymous blip on a demographic profile that includes your zip code.

So far so good. This is as far as I've gotten. Some will be gifts.

If you don't have much money, this could take you -- or people you wrap these for -- to some potentially funky eateries for not much. Me, too.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 1:35 AM | Permalink

November 29, 2007

Good gifts: Board games

Ticket to Ride
Tops: "It's familiar (much of the play is based on rummy), appealing (who doesn't love trains?), easy to learn (figure five minutes for explaining the rules, tops) and competitive without being confrontational. Read my full review here" -- defective yeti Matthew Baldwin

The defective yeti's all-time favorite Good Gift Games. These are board games, not computer games. He offers links to other roundups of best games as well, so if you're looking for a new way to bring the family together for fun, this is the place to start.

The yeti -- Seattle programmer and board-game fan Matthew Baldwin -- also points to his annual roundup of good gift games for 2007, now up at The Morning News (2007 Good Gift Games Guide), and to those of earlier years.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 4:00 PM | Permalink

I'm avoiding sites that use Facebook Beacon -- how to block it with a Firefox extension

The law of unintended consequences: I find myself avoiding Overstock.com (advertisers take note) because of the Facebook Beacon ads, even though I'm entirely passive at Facebook, just watching it, never inviting anyone.

(Added later: I accept invitations from people I have connected with, on line or off. But some people I don't know have asked me to be their friend; perhaps which just baffles me. Perhaps that is in our future. These invites don't seem to expire.)

No one on my Christmas list is a "friend." I just find it creepy that my activity on the web is tracked and published without my consent.

Earlier in the month, Download Squad and other sites passed on Nate Weiner's (The Idea Shower) discovery of a way to block the ads. This should be better known outside deep geek circles:

How to block Facebook Beacon - Download Squad

Fortunately Nate Weiner figured out an extraordinarily simple solution (for Firefox users). Just install the BlockSite Firefox add-on and block Facebook Beacon.

The steps:

1. Get Firefox
2. Download and Install the BlockSite plugin for Firefox.
3. After restarting Firefox select ‘Add-ons’ from the Tools menu.
4. Click the ‘Options’ button on the BlockSite extension
5. Click the ‘Add’ button
6. Enter http://*facebook.com/beacon/* into the input box
7. Click ‘OK’
8. Click ‘OK’ again and you are good to go.

The principle:

If you look at the javascript that is used to make requests to Facebook, you will see that the requests are made to http://www.facebook.com/beacon/beacon.js.php so by blocking just the beacon folder, you are preventing the site from sending requests to Facebook without blocking the rest of Facebook.

By using the asterisk in the URL you block variations with and without the "www."

Here's what happened to Nate that started all this: Block Facebook Beacon

While he played at online game site Kongregate, Nate found this popping into his Facebook profile:

Kongregate CEO Jim Greer wrote the first comment on this post:

Hi Nate -
I understand how you feel about this - we’re going to add an account setting for Kongregate to ‘never show’ the Facebook beacon. If this is checked we won’t make the javascript call and Facebook won’t get any data.

- Jim Greer
CEO, Kongregate

Comments on both sites are interesting and worth a look.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 7:20 AM | Permalink | Comments 2

November 28, 2007

Shaolin monk photos; 13 indigenous grandmothers; On local newspaper ownership; Ben Bradlee today

Justin Guariglia

Grasshopper: Photographer Justin Guariglia spent eight years documenting the secretive warrior monks of the Shaolin Temple in China. Exhibitions. More on Guariglia and his wife, Zoe Chen, at their site, Guariglia-Chen.
via Jason Kottke

Grandmothers and Ambassadors with the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India in October, 2006

Purposeful: 13 Grandmothers Share Their Earthly Wisdom. Kristin Bender at Women's E-News,

The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers came together three years ago as the fulfillment of a shared prophecy among female spiritual leaders. Since then they've been traveling the world, praying and offering home-grown advice.

Talking hard from inside: Newspapers Should Not Be Owned By Media Conglomerates. Susan Campbell at the Hartford Courant is blunt:

I hold out hope that local ownership is a big part of the answer to the malaise that affects American newspapers. I am thankful that I work for a corporation that gave me a good dental plan, but I am willing to trade my teeth for a (local) owner who gets it.

The real deal: Ben Behaving Bradlee "The Grumpy Legend of American Journalism sounds off on JFK, Watergate, Iraq, Hillary Clinton, and Carl Bernstein's strange choice in women" at Radar. He's 86 and still goes in to work every day.

Liz Donovan, who worked with Bradlee at the Post during Watergate, found this one.

Pssst: Professional Pilots Rumor Network.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 10:40 AM | Permalink

November 27, 2007

Are Facebook users men or mice?

Facebook "friend": Find out what I'm doing!
Me: I don't care what you're doing, I'm trying to find/learn/write something.

As I blogged a few weeks ago, Facebook is using your own browser's "cookies," acquired when you buy something online at a merchant participating in Facebook's Beacon program, to tell your "friends" about it.

Charlene Li blogged about her bad surprise: Close encounter with Facebook Beacon:

...this is the problem for Facebook -- they aren't in control of what their Beacon partners do to notify people that this is happening. Facebook can only control this from their own interface, when the information has already been transmitted between sites, and without my explicit permission.

AP reported last week (Facebook Users Complain of New Tracking) that you have just 20 seconds to opt out of this when you buy something.

Facebook's software is designed specifically to elicit information: Your real name, your age, your city, your email address, your alma mater, for starters. Incrementally, people tell their "friends" everything about their activities, likes and dislikes. It's the hated site registration on steroids, willingly volunteered by the user this time because they're telling their "friends" (and Facebook's servers). Now it's added what you're buying. (Pharmaceutical companies would love you to advertise you're purchasing their prescriptions, wouldn't they?)

Doc Searls' project as a fellow at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society is about "vendor relationship management," which aims to "provide customers with tools for engaging with vendors in ways that work for both parties": Doc writes,

...we can’t just tell Facebook to stop grasping. We have do deals on our terms and not just theirs. We have to have real relationships and not just systems on the sell side built only to “manage” us, mostly by minimizing human contact.

Perhaps most of all, we need to come up with systems that help demand find supply, rather than just ones that help supply find (or “create”) demand. That means we need alternatives to the outmoded and inefficient system of guesswork we call advertising.

That doesn’t mean we make advertising go away. But it does mean that we find new paths between demand and supply. and it does mean that find ways to get unwanted advertising out of our face.

In such a system, I could easily find the price of ground beef today at any of several groceries I shop at. I can't do that now. I'm looking for a new portable cordless phone/answering machine for the house, and spent several hours last night swimming in a disconnected sea of well-recommended unavailable phones and unrecommended newer choices. I went to bed confused, without buying. Myriad vendors offer choices; what consumer software streamlines options, recommendations and prices to make buying transparent and easy?

Who's making the social network for us by us? Could its advertising model be a readiness to respond to, "I'm looking for this..."?

Perhaps at Facebook "consumer power" starts with, "I'll reveal what I want to reveal; I don't want you revealing what I buy, willy nilly. Especially at Christmastime."

MoveOn has a petition you can sign asking Facebook not to share without explicit permission and a Facebook Group on the same them. (You can't, of course, see the Facebook group unless you join.)

I don't care for Doc's metaphor of Facebook as a "walled garden" -- which, to this gardener, means tranquility with leaves and flowers. Facebook is a closed society, a focus group, a controlled experiment with electronically tagged, trackable buyers, something of a triumph of social engineering, AOL made cooler.

In a wacky column (Is Facebook banking that you’re a beacon of egomania?) at ZDNet, Chris Matyszczyk writes:

It really is up to Facebookers to decide what kind of human beings they are. Are they ushering in the New Age of the Engineers, in which we’re all just chips off the old rational block? Or are they prepared to force advertisers to treat them in ways that are thoughtful, funny, witty and wise? And social.
If Facebook is, after all, the pre-eminent social network, then the members have to prove, like any fine society (and I can’t include Turkmenistan in this description right now), that they can set the rules.

But if it’s a forum for social narcissism, then every Facebooker is just a fashion model with a bad habit. One that will very soon be telling us that they’ve just been online and bought two Shania Twain CDs, a skillet and the new James Patterson novel. And a Kindle to read it on, of course.

In an environment designed to make lives public, just what people consider "private" is interesting. From that AP story:

Mike Mayer, for instance, saw a feed item saying his boyfriend, Adam Sofen, just bought tickets to "No Country For Old Man" from movie-ticket vendor Fandango.
"What if I was seeing `Fred Claus'?" said Sofen, 28. "That would have been much more embarrassing. At least this was a prestigious movie."

Wait till your real sins get out there.

Related: At Webware, MoveOn to Facebook: We caught you red-handed. Moveon.org says "that early screenshots of Beacon posted by TechCrunch">posted by TechCrunch indicated that the advertising application once included a "global opt-out" that would allow members to block it entirely."

Yesterday, at TechCrunch, Michael Arrington writes, (Facebook Privacy Issue Won’t Die),

Notifications won’t be enough for MoveOn and many users who are seriously pissed off at Facebook right now. Facebook’s best move is to make the new Beacon service opt-in only. But that reduces the value of the service to third parties who supply the information to Facebook, and get free links in return.

This story clearly isn’t over.

TechCrunch, by the way, picks up a cookie from my blog-stats provider, and lists me as a recent reader.

You're in their sights: SocialMedia.com:

We serve advertisers and developers of social media applications with advertising, monetization and analytical tools on newly emerging social platforms from leading social networks, such as Facebook and MySpace.

Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the Web, rambles about all this in Giant Global Graph. He supports portable formats that allow him to share what he chooses wherever.

In England, Facebook under fire for not deleting accounts. Responding to complaints, the government is investigating whether Facebook's policy violates the Data Protection Act, "which stipulates companies should not retain data for longer than is necessary."

Update: Doc points to this demo of how Beacon notifies Facebook users that their purchase is about to be displayed.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 10:54 AM | Permalink

Links dump: Steve Outing's lessons from a failed site; Paris's guerilla monument restorers...

Raw links:

New media columnist Steve Outing quit his day job at Poynter Institute 18 months ago to start a citizen journalism site focused initially on mountain biking, the Enthusiast Group.

Yesterday, at Editor & Publisher, he published its obituary: An Important Lesson About Grassroots Media "I learned -- the hard way -- some truths about grassroots content and online community. This is my attempt at preventing you from going through similar business heartache."

Guardian: Undercover restorers fix Paris landmark's clock:: 'Cultural guerrillas' cleared of lawbreaking over secret workshop in Pantheon. They're a cross between the Apartment at the Mall: Website with video, photos and an artist's apology">Providence mall squatters and preservationists.

Matt Taibbi on Mike Huckabee, Our Favorite Right-Wing Nut Job. Rolling Stone.

Flirting for France: Newly-divorced Sarkozy's 'close and loving relationship' with the blonde TV star in a low-cut blouse

How ‘What It Takes’ Took Me Off Course By MARK HALPERIN.

Hard to Be an Audiophile in an iPod World

Amazing Holiday Deals Online: We've found 20 sites to help you save money -- and avoid the crowds. Kiplinger.

http://whydiggisblocked.com/

Retro-Future: To The Stars!

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 10:49 AM | Permalink

November 25, 2007

Holiday TV listings; 2007 rollout of Christmas mp3s begins at music blogs

Now that the turkey has gone off to the soup, music blogs are posting the holiday tunes they've been collection all year.

Santas Working Overtime is trying to keep track of who has what and what's where, as well as putting out the Holiday TV Listings master list from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Blues-rock/boogie band Canned Heat has a new Christmas Album that sounds good at Barnes & Noble, where you can listen to clips. News of this comes from What's New In 2007? at Randy's Rodeo, where the Christmas jukebox holds more than 300 songs.

A Big Rock Candy Cane Xmas is a 114-meg mp3 at Big Rock Candy Mountain. Its 27 tunes range from The Wailers, The Sonics, Rufus Thomes, Isaac Hayes, Merle Haggard and The Everly Brothers.
Much of what's up at Ernie (Not Bert) is firmly in the '40s and '50s -- Arthur Godrey, The Ray Charles Singers, The Maguire Sisters... Don't miss last year's links list as well. Loretta Young and Gregory Peck both tell Christmas stories on one, and the St. Patrick's Cathedral choir is in there, too.

BongoBells is just getting started, but don't miss the bongobells2 archives of out-of-print shares from previous years.

Antsy McClain & The Trailer Park Troubadours - Merry Christmas From The Trailer Park is leading at FaLaLaLaLa but it mines some of the same musical veins as Ernie.

One more, just barely back for 2007: Musical Fruitcake " a collection of the worst Christmas music ever created."

There'll be more as the season builds. (Actually, there was more here a few minutes ago, but Firefox crashed trying to play the Canned Heat clips with 43 tabs open. My penance was to write it all again. By now I should know to save often when sparks are flying off the wheels on curves...)

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 4:10 AM | Permalink

November 23, 2007

Make something: Origami CD case; Pats critic comes to senses: 'Pour it on'

"Buy Nothing Day" sounds too eat-your-peas for such a lazy Friday. How about Pie for Breakfast Day? Coconut custard is a better quiche.

The Spiral Data Tato -- A Curiously Complex Origami CD Case. Instructions for making this origami CD "case" -- it seems more like gift wrap, but could be made from durable yet foldable paper -- are at Instructables. There's also an explanation of the Japanese name, but it's not a translation of "collapsible," although if you own a collapsible steamer, you'll instantly understand the concept.

Click on the not-so-obvious "next step" link there to see the printable pdf and illustrated folding instructions.

Facing save: Why shouldn't the mighty Patriots pour it on?" Phil Taylor at SI.com.

Best line: "We can't hate them, because they're beautiful."

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 11:49 PM | Permalink

November 22, 2007

Buy Nothing Day (Winter Coat Exchange Friday); Library hours

Buy Nothing Day Coat Exchange, from Mary Grady's excellent Natural News Network blog.

10th Annual BUY NOTHING DAY WINTER COAT EXCHANGE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23 10AM-2PM STATE HOUSE LAWN
Rain/snow site: St. Patrick’s School, 244 Smith St.
Pawtucket Location: 175 Main St, Rain or shine
In Newport: St Paul’s Church, 12 Marlborough St
in Wakefield: St. Francis Church, 114 High St.

If you need a winter coat, please come get one. If you can donate a coat, we know someone who could use it.

Buy Nothing Day is the anti-Black Friday, so named because this starting pistol on the holiday shopping frenzy is supposed to send retailers' ledgers into the black. The protest, begun by Vancouver anti-consumerist magazine Adbusters in 1992, has spawned a Buy Something Day counterprotest, but its site is in Swedish.

Shopping is not one of the duties of citizenship. I have enough stuff and, while I'll equip the younger folks for the year, I'm out of the mall race. Socks and underwear is all my husband wants this year. Me, too.

Libraries are open tomorrow -- if you're off work like me, why not borrow a book, then curl up with a turkey sandwich and read?

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments 1

My Thanksgiving rules; Jump-start your dinner conversation: 'Mayor Resigns, Claims Abduction By Satan Worshippers'

I'm the family's matriarch now.

Everybody comes to my house for holidays. After decades of dutiful daughterhood, I rule. These are my rules:

-- Wear what's most comfortable.
-- Come when you want to. Football starts at 1, turkey sometime after 4.
-- There will be three football games today*, and anybody can pause the TV at any time.
-- If you want mudslides or coconut custard pie, bring 'em.
-- Tension kills pleasure. There will be dancing in the kitchen.
-- Nobody minds if you spill something. Enjoy yourself.
-- Come prepared to toast the ancestors and to name something you want for Christmas.
-- Yes, you may smoke.
-- Yes, you may feed the cats turkey under the table.
-- Yes, you may use my computer.
-- Yes, you may spend the night.

* Football schedule:

1 p.m. Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions on Fox
4 p.m. New York Jets at Dallas Cowboys on CBS
8 p.m. Indianapolis Colts at Atlanta Falcons on NFL Network

Small talk: Here's this week's goofiest story, if you need a conversation starter where you're going:

The short version: Mayor Resigns, Claims Abduction By Satan Worshippers:

CENTERTON, Ark. -- The mayor of an Arkansas town resigned on Wednesday, claiming he was abducted and brainwashed by Satan worshippers nearly three decades ago.

Centerton Mayor Ken Williams said he has been living under an assumed name for nearly 30 years. He had been mayor since 2001.

Williams told authorities he was born Don LaRose and that in the mid-1970s, he was a preacher in Indiana. He said he was abducted and brainwashed into forgetting all about his life as Don LaRose.

Centerton is near Wal-Mart's world headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.

Emily Anne Crawford / Benton County Daily Record
Ken Williams spoke to reporters after resigning as mayor of Centerton at Centerton City Hall on Wednesday.

The Benton County Daily Record's Eleanor Evans,Tracy Neal and Jennifer Turner are all over it:

Double life: Centerton mayor is pastor who disappeared in 1980
Being Don LaRose
A life in his own words
Williams resigns as mayor
Man on the run

And, by Joe Carlson, The Times of Northwest Indiana

Missing ex-Hammond pastor found after nearly 30 years
Why not contact family?
Grandson skeptical of 'missing' pastor's motives

Don LaRose site -- the main primary source, and smoking gun.
Ken Williams site

From Benton's Being Don LaRose, how the secret came out:

The connection between Williams and LaRose was made when a LaRose family member's Internet search turned up a Web site - www.donlarose.com. Earlier this year, the Web site's domain name was registered. The site claims to share a story "filled with excitement, tension, murder, intimidation and much more."
LaRose's nephew, Ed Miller of Holland, Mich., told The Daily Record that a family member conducted a "whois"search to determine the site's ownership.

That's when they discovered the site was registered to Ken Williams in Centerton, Ark.

Two family members called The Daily Record on Monday afternoon to talk about their discovery.

On Monday evening - when Daily Record reporters asked him about it - Williams denied a connection to LaRose, even though the site bears a striking resemblance to Williams' own site, www.kenwilliamsministries.org.

On Tuesday morning, Williams continued to deny the connections during an interview with two Daily Record reporters. Williams even kept asking the reporters to repeat LaRose's name. "What was his name again ? "Williams asked.

Williams then looked at the Don LaRose Web site, stroking his beard as he pointed out what he thought were the most interesting parts of LaRose's story.

Satanists, eh. Beats, "The pastor went out for a loaf of bread and kept going." That should get you through to dessert.

Happy Thanksgiving, wherever you are.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 10:47 AM | Permalink

Free game today: Funky Farm Thanksgiving Edition

Funky Farm Thanksgiving Edition is today's Game Giveaway of the Day:

-- Fill your Funky Farm with all kinds of animals such as delicious turkeys, fluffy sheep, evil wolves, and a really cute dog!
-- Upgrade your tools at the general store.

-- Play against the clock or unwind with untimed mode.

It's the full version, registered, free today only. Read the download instructions carefully -- you must download and install it today (it checks.) Activate it before you install it.

Then keep somebody busy while you cook and watch football. Or play the game while others cook and watch football.

Happy Thanksgiving...

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 3:59 AM | Permalink

November 21, 2007

You can fix a bad Google Maps marker; The 121 words; New Yorker cartoon issue

If you're looking for them, here is the big list of Thanksgiving recipes from newspaper food sections.

At the Google LatLong blog, Google Maps software engineer Seth LaForge writes, Think globally, mark locally:

The last time I threw a party, I used the My Maps feature of Google Maps to tell my friends exactly how to find my house. But if they'd just searched Maps on their own for my address and had gone to the marker location, they would have been partying in the middle of the street!
Now for your next party (or any other occasion), you can move the marker for your address to show the exact entrance of your house. Just search for your address, click "Edit," click "Move Marker," and drag the marker to your front door...

You might be worried about people monkeying with markers. Fear not, we've thought of that. Whenever you find a recently-moved address or business, you'll see a "Show original" link you can click to see where the marker was originally. If it's in the wrong place, just move it to the right one.

The satellite maps have me living a few houses away, but I'm not sure I mind it being a little off.

AP
White House press secretary Scott McClellan after finishing his last news briefing on May 5, 2006.

The 121 words: The most interesting book excerpt ever?

WHAT HAPPENED
Inside the Bush White House and What's Wrong with Washington

By SCOTT MCCLELLAN

The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.
There was one problem. It was not true.

I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the President himself.

Ha. Ha.The New Yorker's current issue is the cartoon issue. All on one page.

Painting update: No, the painter has not yet finished my kitchen. And yes, I'm cooking the big dinner there. At least the paint is odorless.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 4:23 AM | Permalink

November 20, 2007

Providence Geeks meet Wednesday night anyway

If you're going to somebody else's house or restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner, tomorrow's Providence Geek Dinner may be just what you need to entertain yourself while the rest of America rassles with raw turkey and rolls pie crust.

Providence Geeks co-founders Jack Templin and Brian Jepson set the date for the monthly gathering without reference to a calendar noting holidays, so this becomes the Thanksgiving Eve edition, separating the geek cooks and their helpers from those who merely show up at a plate.

If you're not partying in your own kitchen around then, the place is AS220, 115 Empire St., 5:30-9 p.m. Details at this link.

The featured geek demo is by Paul Badger, who teaches physical computing and electronic media at RISD, and owns the Modern Device Company.

I'm double-whammied: Not only is the Big Dinner at my house, my kitchen is being painted this week. The painter promises it will be finished Wednesday afternoon. While the geeks close in on the meaning of sentences such as, "Open-source hardware is something of a new concept without a clear definition at this point," I'll be trying to find my pots and pans. As they munch tacos standing up, I'll be exercising my inner kitchen geek: My lifetime collection of spices, all in boxes now, must once again range alphabetically down a wall of vertical shelves before fine cooking can resume.

On an earlier version of this item, the headline scrambled the calendar as well. We trust you know that tomorrow is Wednesday, not Tuesday.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 9:05 AM | Permalink | Comments 4

November 19, 2007

When I'm 75 I shall... tap dance across Golden Gate Bridge? Football and art....

San Francisco Chronicle photo / Brant Ward
75-year-old tap-dancer shimmies his way across Golden Gate Bridge
Michael Grbich enjoyed his 1.7-mile dance across the Golden Gate Bridge, even bringing his own music and jump rope. The Oakland resident celebrated his 75th birthday Sunday, Nov. 18, 2007, by tap dancing across the Golden Gate Bridge.

When I am old I shall.... Tap dance across Golden Gate bridge, trailed by my children, grandchildren and friends.

75-year-old tap-dancer shimmies his way across Golden Gate Bridge

Right brain restoration: After football -- yes, I was nodding off sitting up by the fourth quarter of last night's late-night Pats blowout -- I beat it to some art blogs to balance my brain.

The directors of the National Malus (crab-apple) Collection invited Heatherwick Studio to develop the design of a structure called the Sitooterie for their site in Essex. Derived from the Scottish, a 'sitooterie' is a small building in which to literally "sit oot".

The structure is a cube punctured by over 5000 long thin windows that project from all its surfaces and lift it off the ground. The cube, which measures 2.4 x 2.4 metres, is precision-machined from 15mm anodised aluminium and the windows are 18mm square-section aluminium tubes glazed with transparent orange acrylic.

As the long thin windows all point at the exact centre of the cube, it only takes a single light source, located at this central point, to send light through every tube, causing the windows to glow orange. A small number of them also project into the cube to form seating.

Heatherwick Studio via Collective Perception

$fractal2.jpg$ Collective Perception is a Web notebook of the fabulous; a few quotes, but largely images -- fractals in nature, space biology, architecture -- each is a link, a gateway to forward ideas. Some detective work reveals it to be the work of Folkert Gerter (Superfamous).

Providence Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
Happy at last: Randy Moss watches the end of last night's 56-10 Patriots win over Buffalo.

As for football... “That was not a pleasant way to spend an evening,” said Bills coach Dick Jauron. “We ran into a buzz saw and we didn’t do much to slow them down.” -- Wrecking crew, Buffalo News.

Is anyone else surprised that losing to the Patriots two weeks ago seems to have taken the stuffing out of Peyton Manning?

Next Sunday night, I get to fall asleep to the Philadelphia Eagles in Foxboro. (The week after that, it's the Pats at the Ravens on Monday night. Sunday afternoon just isn't any fun this year.)

SI's Peter King: "No one except maybe the '27 Yankees could beat the Patriots right now."

And Don Banks:

I'm starting to think these Dolphins, at 0-10, have a real shot at running the table in reverse, losing to a degree that no NFL team has ever lost before. How cool would it be if the Patriots and the Dolphins provided perfectly historic bookend seasons in the AFC East? You realize, of course, that no team has ever had either a 16-game divisional lead (as New England would) or a 16-game divisional deficit (Miami's potential fate).

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 10:44 AM | Permalink

November 18, 2007

Long-day, late-night Pats game blues; Kyle Eckel; Addicting game...

The Providence Journal / Glenn Osmundson
New England Patriots rookie Kyle Eckel.

Sunday wait: Once upon a time, fall Sundays began with the family arriving shortly after noon in a festive mood.

I miss those lovely days NBC took away. The Patriots game has been "flexed" -- allegedly an upgrade -- to begin at 8:15 solely for the convenience of TV. When NBC found that its preseason schedule left it with so-what night games as the season shook out, they reserved the right to move the time of the hottest games, a development the NFL inaccurately headlines, Allows teams to play their way onto the Sunday night schedule.

Sunday night is way past my prime time.

This long fall Sunday will now be filled with something else -- chores against a background of other games, but mostly waiting.

Ken Lyon and Tombstone scheduled a DVD release party for Chan's tonight. I'm sure they thought the Pats game would be well over, and fans would be ready for some acoustic blues. Now they're competing with it.

Meanwhile, the Globe has an interesting story about Patriots fullback Kyle Eckel, a favorite of Navy assistant coach Steve Belichick, Bill's dad. Eckel was separated from the Navy, which let him become a Patriot.

There's a shade of scandal in Troubled waters: The Navy experience of Patriots running back Eckel wasn't exactly smooth sailing:

The Pentagon said Eckel was involuntarily removed from the service through an administrative separation, a development first reported by the Baltimore Sun.

Eckel said he was permitted to submit a letter of resignation, but he declined to say whether he challenged the separation. Nor did he care to explain it.

"If I was to fight that battle, it would be extremely uphill," he said. "It's a place I don't want to go. I'm trying to head forward and not look back."

But despite the furtive feel, it's equally possible that this just covers an old deal Steve made, honored posthumously. Nobody's talking.

Sunday browse: Brooklyn Museum: Feminist Art Base

Addictive: A surprisingly addicting game, Coffee Shop puts you in business.

Hint: Sell strong, sweet, creamy coffee at a ridiculously high price to get rich.

Discussion at Jay's.

Thanksgiving song: No, not Alice's Restaurant, but lyrics in search of a tune, apparently: A Turkey Sat on the Backyard Fence

A Turkey sat on the backyard fence
and he sang a sad sad tune.
Thanksgiving Day is coming
Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble
and I know I'll be eaten soooon,
Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Gobble
I don't like Thanksgiving Day ay ay.

They just don't write 'em like that any more.

First time in my ears: Bob Dylan "Gotta Serve Somebody" (Voodoo Jazz Reinterpretation). Haunting banjo and accordion.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 10:03 AM | Permalink

November 16, 2007

Mp3s: LedZep '75; T-day at The Onion; Surfer explains universe; Neo Chinese hippie chick; Gitmo manual; Bush book

Weekend mp3s: Led Zeppelin, He Must Be Dazed And Confused [Empress Valley, 4CD set] Live at Earl's Court Arena, London, UK, May 24, 1975. One CD today, more Saturday and Sunday.

Listening now, sound quality is extremely good.

Satire: Thanksgiving Won't Be The Same This Year Without A House. The Onion.

Oceanic: Surfer dude stuns physicists with theory of everything. Kudos to UK Telegraph science editor Roger Highfield, who almost makes the theory comprehensible.

Lisi's inspiration lies in the most elegant and intricate shape known to mathematics, called E8 - a complex, eight-dimensional mathematical pattern with 248 points first found in 1887, but only fully understood by mathematicians this year after workings, that, if written out in tiny print, would cover an area the size of Manhattan.
E8 encapsulates the symmetries of a geometric object that is 57-dimensional and is itself is 248-dimensional. Lisi says "I think our universe is this beautiful shape."

Related: Wikipedia on E8.

Neo hippie chick: Chinese Super Girl: At Chinese Lives,

...For a long time, the musical circle are wondering what Chunchun has to win, after the finale, because she is not the best at singing of ten finalist, nor she can dance well. Only that her voice is not a girl’s , makes her that special. Her fans all scream or weep while listening to her songs at show, not even hearing what she sings. She also never wear a dress or skirt at show, and that is how she wears as usual.

She is maybe a tomboy, though her kissing-a-girl picture spreads on internet. Nevertheless, she is loved by millions girls of all ages, ranging from 7 to 67. Her win is the win of overturing a traditional Chinese norm on feminility, which is what present day Chinese youngsters want.

Chunchun, to some extent, is a symbol representing today’s youngsters , especially girls, who wants more freedom to follow their own plans rather than fulfilling parents’ or society’s expectations on them. They are a generation with their vision blurred, unwilling to take responsibilties as their parents do.

A commenter there writes, "Do not think that this girls popularity is an overturning traditional feminity, it is just a widening of what popular culture embraces."

No secrets: Sensitive Guantánamo Bay Manual Leaked Through Wiki Site.

Backstory: How Cheney took control of Bush's foreign policy, excerpted in Salon last week. "The new veep installed crony Don Rumsfeld as secretary of defense, and would've won Paul Wolfowitz the top post at CIA -- if not for Wolfowitz's zipper problem."

Editor's note: This is Part 3 of an excerpt from "The Fall of the House of Bush: The Untold Story of How a Band of True Believers Seized the Executive Branch, Started the Iraq War, and Still Imperils America's Future." Part 1 ran on Nov. 7; Part 2 ran on Nov. 8. For more information on the book, visit craigunger.com

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 8:16 AM | Permalink

November 15, 2007

Miami's been down so long Ricky Williams looks like up

Best lines in the coverage of Ricky Williams' return to the Miami Dolphins after four months of rehab and a reinstatement by the NFL:

AP: Ricky Williams to Rejoin Dolphins:

"...it's difficult to imagine how Williams could sabotage a team that's 0-9, and so the long, strange trip continues."

Jerry Magee, at the San Diego Union Tribune (Williams is reinstated; 0-9 Dolphins take look):

The Miami Dolphins are 0-9 and Ricky Williams is 0-4, the Dolphins against the NFL, Williams against the league's drug policies. Obviously, these are parties that could use one other.

No funnies at the Miami Herald, though, where Jeff Darlington's Ricky officially rejoins Dolphins quotes a Williams who's all about necessity:

As was the case during his last attempt at the NFL, Williams admitted that his current return is still slightly motivated by money. He is financially responsible for four children -- and he still has a lingering debt of more than $8 million owed to the Dolphins as a result of his premature retirement in 2004.
''In the past, I would be asked that question and I would almost be insulted by it, saying the reason I play this game is for the love of the game,'' said Williams, who was asked if his return is centered around money. ``I do have a passion for the game. And I also do have a family to support.''

Beyond the money, however, Williams said he is thrilled about the prospect of putting on his pads again and playing football.

''I think anyone who puts [on] film of me will see that I'm very passionate about what I do,'' Williams said. ``On top of that, I'll say my time away, and having a chance to reflect on my life, I'm at a place where it's easier to appreciate what it means to be a football player. And because of that, that's a big reason why I'm here today.''

Of course, I could regret all these giggles if Reggie meets the Patriots with something to prove and plays David to Goliath.

NFL Network ran a show tonight called, "Who can beat the Patriots?" Are we sucking all the air out of everybody else's season so bad that this is the only angle left?

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 11:51 PM | Permalink | Comments 1

Updated: Thanksgiving recipes from newspaper food sections

Updated Nov. 15: I've added many more recipes from these newspapers:

The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer
Tacoma (Wash.) News Tribune
Los Angeles Times
Helena (Mont.) Independent Record
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch
The Modesto Bee
Orange County (Calif.) Register
Santa Rosa (Calif.) Press Democrat
San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News
Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Miami Herald

Nov. 14. Wednesday is Food day in the newspaper world. Back when everyone tried at least one recipe from the Thanksgiving Food section, the newsroom was awash in samples and testings, cookies for all.

Now some papers don't have food sections. Others have them, but are still leading with last week's recipes; they're waiting for the day shift to come in and make the Web Food pages. So this will be an ongoing project over the next week.

I've visited newspaper food sections around the Web, and have begun bringing their recipe links here. So far,

The Providence Journal
The New York Times
The Washington Post
The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel
The Boston Globe
The Denver Post
The Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune

Enjoy browsing the many links from these sources, and know there are more to come...

Providence Journal / Sandor Bodo - Recipe: Stuffed Pumpkin with Saffron Cream

The Providence Journal Food Section

Recipe: Rose’s High-Heat Turkey
Recipe: Turkey Brine
Roasting a turkey in high heat
Help is just a click away
Tips for getting that frozen turkey to the table
A little math for Turkey Day
Recipe: Sweet Potato-Russet Potato Gratin with Horseradish & Dijon Crust
Recipe: Silky Pan Gravy with Cream, Cognac & Thyme
Braised Green Beans With Tomatoes
Recipe: Braised Green Beans with Tomatoes
Recipe: Stuffed Pumpkin with Saffron Cream
Recipe: Saffron Cream Sauce
Recipe: McCormick & Schmick’s Upside Down Apple Pie
Recipe: Pumpkin Trifle
Recipe: Shortbread Cookies
Recipe: Whipped Cream
Recipe: Sweet Cream Flaky Pie Crust
Recipe: Pastry crust
Recipe: Walnut crust

Projo Football Food & Spirits blog: Patriots Bye Week Thanksgiving recipes
Dark Chocolate Bark with Walnuts and Dried Cherries
Kahlua Pumpkin Flan (and Easy Homemade Kahlua)
Maple-Glazed Turnips
Green Bean Casserole -- from scratch
Butternut Squash and Spinach Gratin
Turkey Devonshire (Pittsburgh) sandwich
Corn Pudding Baked in a Pumpkin

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

The New York Times Thanksgiving Food Section

Julia Ewan -- The Washington Post

The Washington Post

Butterflied Turkey and Stuffing
Best-Ever Green Beans Amandine With Leek Chips
Brussels Sprouts With Glazed Pecans
Cider Herb Gravy
Cranberry Apple Crisp
Cranberry and Fig Sauce
Fig Gravy
Grandma Thelma's Zucchini Casserole
Hazelnut and Sausage Stuffing
Herb-Crusted Roast (Butterflied) Turkey
Jellied Cranberry Sauce
Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy
Miniature Pecan Pies (Tassies)
Mixed Greens With Balsamic Vinaigrette
Moroccan Spiced Carrots
Mushroom, Fennel and Parmesan Stuffing
Mushroom-Miso-Mustard Gravy
Pasta With Creamy Pumpkin Sauce
Perfect Mashed Potatoes
Persimmon, Pomegranate and Pecan Salad
Red Potato Slices With Lemon and Olives
Sweet Potato and Grits Spoonbread
Turkey Jus With Sherry

The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel
Turkey With Sweet and Sauerkraut Dressing
Chestnut Turkey Sausage Stuffing
Cranberry and Asian Pear Chutney
Potatoes Dauphinois
Spirited Pumpkin Soup

Michele McDonald/Globe Staff

The Boston Globe
Minestrone
Roasted Japanese yams with chestnut curry sauce
Leek stuffing with walnuts, paprika, and allspice
Liquid pumpkin pie
Oversize 'boudin blanc' sausage of wild turkey with Ipswich fried clams
Ginger-cranberry sauce
Mashed potatoes
Roast potatoes
Pecan pie
Brussels sprouts with lemon sauce
Cranberry-orange chutney
Pumpkin gingerbread

The Denver Post

Roast Turkey
Brine
Corn Bread Stuffing
Creamed Onions
Creamy Cauliflower Casserole With Bacon and Cheddar
Whipped Eggnog Sweet Potatoes
Fresh Cranberry Orange Relish
Smoky Brussels Sprouts
Pumpkin Pie

Sweet Potato Balls from Duluth

Duluth News Tribune

Supersides to complement a Thanksgiving feast. Recipes for all these dishes on one page: Sweet potato Cecelia, Sweet Potato Balls, Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes, Sweet Potato Caramel, Sweet Potato Pone, Mariah's Corn, Cornbread Casserole, King Style Scalloped Corn, Layered Wild Rice Broccoli Casserole, Connie's Wild Rice Casserole, Cranberry Ice, Glazed Brussel Sprouts, Spinach Balls, Holiday Spinach Salad, Baked 'Bagas, Winter Squash with Apples, Baked Celery with Almonds,

The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer

Observer-tested recipes: High-Heat Roast Turkey, Turkey Gravy, Roasted Maple-Mustard Green Beans, Make-Ahead Mashed, Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes With Ginger and Apple Cider, Sourdough Dressing With Apples and Pecans, No-Cook Cranberry-Orange Relish

Leftovers: Roasted Bird Broth, Leftovers Shepherd Pie, Turkey Tetrazzini, Turkey and Blue Cheese Salad With Tarragon-Mustard Vinaigrette

Smoked turkey in Tacoma.

Tacoma (Wash.) News Tribune

The bird: Turkey al fresco (smoked, rotisserie and deep-fried)
Eggnog Creme Brulée, Pumpkin Walnut Cake.:

Los Angeles Times

Braised hearts of celery with Parmesan
Braised kale
Bruléed pumpkin pie
Brussels sprouts with bacon and chestnuts
Celery root gratin
Chanterelle-sage bread pudding
Cognac reduction sauce
Craft pumpkin tart
Cranberry fig tart
Glazed cipollini with pancetta
Intertwined rosemary and black pepper breads
Lima beans with mint
Mixed greens soup
Mushroom-walnut stuffing
Pecan brown-butter bread
Peppery roasted squash
Roasted baby parsnips
Ruby Port cranberry sauce
Spiced cranberry syrup
Spiced pumpkin soup in roasted pumpkins
Sweet potato purée with hazelnut soufflé top
The Ultimate Turkey

Andy Petroski

Helena (Mont.) Independent Record

Hahn Family Recipe for Creamed Spinach with Sautéed Mushrooms

"If you are like me and don’t really care for mushrooms, you still must use them in this dish. They act as sponges by holding in all the flavor of the butter, garlic and wine while sautéing. The mushrooms then release all those great flavors to this dish when the spinach is added. I suggest cutting them in larger slices which will make picking them out later much easier."

Cleveland Plain Dealer

Holiday recipes from 4 regions: Jerk Roasted Turkey, Pan Gravy, Skillet Pumpkin Apple Pie, Country Sausage and Sage Dressing, Garlic Mashed Potatoes , Sweet Potato Puree With Toasted Marshmallows, Washington Apple Salad With Beecher's Flagship Reserve and Holmquist Hazelnuts, Whole Salmon on the Grill, Sweet Fennel Butter

Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch

Thanksgiving Spiced Layer Cake With Pumpkin Cream Frosting
Good gravy
Pumpkin Cornbread

Special diets: Sweet-Potato Casserole, Creamy Cauliflower Puree, Cranberry Raisin Salad

The Modesto Bee

Sausage Stuffing
Brother Timothy's Dressing
Corn-bread/Bacon/Apple Stuffing
Sweet, Fruity Stuffing
Cajun Corn-Bread Stuffing
Italian Rice Stuffing
Southern Corn-Bread Stuffing
Giblet Stuffing
Vegetarian Peanut Butter "Meatloaf"
Leora's Sweet Milk-Buttermilk Corn Bread

Orange County (Calif.) Register

Lemon Curd Tartlets, Bittersweet Chocolate Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Mascarpone Pie

Santa Rosa (Calif.) Press Democrat

Dry-Brined Roast Turkey with Port Gravy and Italian-style Stuffing with Pancetta, Fennel and Chestnuts

San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News

Velvety pumpkin tart
Gingered green beans
Squash rolls
Escarole, sausage and mushroom dressing
Vertical roasted turkey
Artichoke hummus with ciabatta
Smoked oyster and goat cheese pastries
Cranberry ice, coconut fondant, and white chocolate froth
Breast of turkey roulade
Leg of turkey confit
Root vegetable salad
Kathy's vegetable lasagna
Tadich Grill cioppino
Appetizer: mushrooms stuffed with crabmeat and fresh herbs
Potato-onion gratin

Colin Erricson/Robert Rise Inc
Chocolate caramel pecan rounds

Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel

Cookies: Spumoni slices, Chocolate caramel pecan rounds, Fabulous Florentines, Espresso shortbread, Toasted cashew and orange cookies, Chewy molasses cookies
Warm rolls, ham and mom's pie among readers' holiday favorites

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Sage Feta Cornbread, Sauteed Carrots, Parsnips And Onions, Sausage Crouton Stuffing No. 2, Chicken Liver Mousse Appetizer, Butternut Squash Soup With Fontina And Fried Sage Leaves
Apple Squash Casserole, Gratin of Brussels Sprouts, Cranberry Chutney, Holiday Cranberry Carrots
30 Minute Rolls
Mulled Wine Cranberry Sauce
More local Thanksgiving recipes
Sauteed Carrots
Parsnips and Onions
Sage Feta Cornbread
Sausage Crouton Stuffing No. 2
Butternut Squash Soup with Fontina and Fried Sage Leaves
Chicken Liver Mousse Appetizer
French Canadian Maple Sugar Walnut Pie
Turkey Barley Soup

The Miami Herald

Pumpkin (Calabaza) Flan
Cuban-Style Stuffing
Cuban-Style Roast Turkey
Cheeca Lodge White Gazpacho
Quick Sweet Potato Biscuits
Sausage and Apple Corn Bread Stuffing
Sensational Double Layer Pumpkin Pie
Biscayne Miracle Mile Cafeteria's Carrot Salad
Belle's Squash Casserole
Spirited Cranberry Relish
Cauley Square Tea Room's Harvest Pie
Jupiter Gourmet Club Green Bean Bundles With Browned Butter and Sesame
Grand Bay Hotel's Sourdough Oyster Stuffing
Sweet Potato Vichyssoise

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments 2

November 13, 2007

Village Voice shooter's obit, with photos; Winning moustaches; Former pilots demand U.S. investigate UFOs

Bob Dylan, Sheridan Square Park, Greenwich Village, January 22, 1965
photo by Fred W. McDarrah, who died in his sleep at home in Greenwich Village last week at 81.

Gallery: Remembering Fred W. McDarrah (1926-2007): The Village Voice work of the iconic photographer, from Bob Dylan to Andy Warhol to Rudy Giuliani

Obit: Fred W. McDarrah, 1926-2007 by Tom Robbins.

Grown men: World Beard & Moustache Championships 2007

The link goes to a gallery of winners.

Competition was stiff. Gerhard Knapp of Germany, pictured here, took just third prize in the "Full Beard Freestyle" category, coming in behind a pair of more sculptural entries. The Categories & Rules page defines the categories.

Former pilots demand U.S. investigate UFOs: AFP: UFOs are no joke, group says:

WASHINGTON (AFP) — UFOs may be fodder for comedians but there was no joking Monday when a group of former pilots recounted seeing strange phenomena in the sky and demanded the US government reopen an investigation into unidentified flying objects.

Several pilots offered dramatic accounts of witnessing UFOs -- including a transparent flying disc and a triangular craft with mysterious markings -- as they insisted their questions needed to be taken seriously more than 30 years after the US file was closed.

"We want the US government to stop perpetuating the myth that all UFOs can be explained away in down-to-earth, conventional terms," said Fife Symington, former governor of Arizona and air force pilot who says he saw a UFO in 1997....

A former official with the Federal Aviation Administration, John Callahan, said government agencies discourage inquiries into UFOs....

When Callahan suggested the government tell Americans about a UFO, the CIA official allegedly told him: "'No way, if we were to tell the American public there are UFOs they would panic.'"

Maybe not, if they're smart and peaceful and want to help us. If they look like giant insects, though, that would be tough to get beyond.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 11:22 AM | Permalink

BIF Summit videos are up

I'm late with this, but videos of all the presentations and the interviews conducted by WSJ columnist Walter Mossberg at last month's Business Innovation Factory third annual summit (called BIF-3) at Trinity Rep have been posted at the BIF Innovation Story Studio.

The Mark Cuban interview (Quicktime) is among them. (Background story.)

It's the next best thing to having been there -- those links go to my roundups of bloggers' posts from both days..

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 1:11 AM | Permalink

November 11, 2007

Good reads: William Gibson; Falafel trail; On Britney Spears; 'TheWire' guy; Fossett not found;

William Gibson: The Rolling Stone 40th Anniversary Interview

What are the major challenges we face?

Let's go for global warming, peak oil and ubiquitous computing.

Ubiquitous computing?

Totally ubiquitous computing. One of the things our grandchildren will find quaintest about us is that we distinguish the digital from the real, the virtual from the real. In the future, that will become literally impossible. The distinction between cyberspace and that which isn't cyberspace is going to be unimaginable. When I wrote Neuromancer in 1984, cyberspace already existed for some people, but they didn't spend all their time there. So cyberspace was there, and we were here. Now cyberspace is here for a lot of us, and there has become any state of relative nonconnectivity. There is where they don't have Wi-Fi.

In a world of superubiquitous computing, you're not gonna know when you're on or when you're off. You're always going to be on, in some sort of blended-reality state. You only think about it when something goes wrong and it goes off. And then it's a drag.

After Halloween, our 10-year-old wore a rejected part of his candy-trek costume around my house all night -- a tunic with wide shoulders and a narrow front with large geometric, vaguely oriental symbols in gold paint, bought at a drugstore.

In the kids' network, I've seen him build his character over time, dressing in ever more kingly outfits and grander swords. This grand sandwich board was bringing that persona into reality.

"You look like an avatar," I said.

"Avatar?" He brightened. He knows that word.

Is there a downside to that blended reality? Or could it represent a change for the better?
People worry about the loss of individual privacy, but that comes with a new kind of unavoidable transparency. Eventually we're going to know everything that every twenty-first-century politician has ever done. It will be very hard for politicians and governments to keep secrets. The whole thing is porous. We just haven't really figured out quite how porous it is.

Resistance is futile. Facebook is Borg. Life online is Twitter: Broadcast a message to your friends and fans, 140 characters max.

The Twitter FAQ:

Twitter puts you in control and becomes a modern antidote to information overload.

Baffling sentence, since the layer of information Twitter adds is everybody's answer, at all times, to the timeless question, "What are you doing?"

Tech author Shelley Powers, who is quoted by the Times' Twitter story (The Global Sympathetic Audience), blogs something more:

I'd rather be alone. I really would, rather be alone.

You are what you eat: FBI Hoped to Follow Falafel Trail to Iranian Terrorists Here. At CQPolitics,

Like Hansel and Gretel hoping to follow their bread crumbs out of the forest, the FBI sifted through customer data collected by San Francisco-area grocery stores in 2005 and 2006, hoping that sales records of Middle Eastern food would lead to Iranian terrorists.
The idea was that a spike in, say, falafel sales, combined with other data, would lead to Iranian secret agents in the south San Francisco-San Jose area.

The brainchild of top FBI counterterrorism officials Phil Mudd and Willie T. Hulon, according to well-informed sources, the project didn’t last long. It was torpedoed by the head of the FBI’s criminal investigations division, Michael A. Mason, who argued that putting somebody on a terrorist list for what they ate was ridiculous — and possibly illegal.

On the bright side, your grocery purchases with those supermarket rewards cards also tell the cat food companies to send you coupons.

Do you love me yet? What exactly is Britney Spears trying to tell us?

Smart rock criticism by Ann Powers:

There's no self-realization on "Blackout," nor is there celebration. There's only addiction -- to sex, to powerful men, to exhibitionism. If this is how Spears wants to be perceived, she's even more troubled than the tabloids tell. If it's what those entrusted with her best interests think is most enticing -- and if the marketplace proves them right -- then we're all hooked on some pretty nasty stuff. I wonder, will we ever be able to kick it?

Talking hard: Exclusive Interview with 'The Wire' creator David Simon The former Baltimore Sun reporter:

... Our social framework is "Can I get I promoted now, can I make a buck off it?" The entire country right now is like a pyramid scheme with no other ethic or social framework behind it....
There’s money in 'No Child Left Behind,' there’s money in letting neighborhoods go down in the inner city to the point that they’re uninhabitable, inhospitable to normal life and then buying office real estate and 'rebuilding America.' They can’t fix the culture of the ghetto but they can sure can buy off the real estate and make a profit off it.

Without a trace: Online Fossett Searchers Ask, Was It Worth It? At Wired.

The Internet search of satellite images for Steve Fossett may have been, in hindsight, a colossal waste of time.

He has not been found.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 9:29 AM | Permalink | Comments 1

November 10, 2007

At last, the Internet jukebox: Songza

Songza. "The music search engine & internet jukebox. Listen. Now."

The jukebox in the sky has long been at the top of many of our Web wishlists. Simple, elegant, Songza scrapes YouTube for songs. Quality varies. You search, you listen. Rate what you find to help bring good recordings to the top. Discography and Buy links go to Google. Make a playlist. Share, by email; link to the song, play the video on YouTube.

Or embed it:

This is a group sifting of a title dump. It's a great browsing tool. If you want to hear the tune you fell in love to in high school, you might have to play a lot of raw titles to find the one that's not a cover or a later, live performance.

It would be nice to be able to comment on the titles to add that sort of information, but I suspect that will come later. (Songza just launched Thursday.) Not everything is here, or easily findable. Perhaps a way to request titles could build a demand, eventually landing tunes on YouTube, and then here.

Many thanks to Aza Raskin and Scott Robbin of Humanized in Chicago for stringing it all together.

Related: Seeqpod is a playable search site that harvests links to songs on the Web and then tries to play them. I couldn't find the 1968 Super Session (Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper, Steve Stills) version of Season of the Witch on Songza; Seeqpod gave me a link, but it didn't play. But Seeqpod did have an Issa Bagayogo tune (Ciew Mawele) Songza didn't have.

Seeqpod shows what people are searching for and, while they tend to be newer songs, I just saw a search for Rat-Pack bandleader Nelson Riddle whiz by.

Both are useful -- it depends on what you're looking for.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 9:06 AM | Permalink

November 9, 2007

Weekend mp3s: Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones. Acetates [Midnight Beat, 1CD]. At BigO.

As fans delve deeper and deeper into the music of their favourite acts, it's not that infrequent that one comes across unofficial releases that sound way better than the official ones.

Take The Rolling Stones' Acetates for instance. Released from Midnight Beat in 1995, this is a collection of unmixed versions of tracks from Goats Head Soup (1973) and It's Only Rock'n'Roll (1974) plus Save Me and Drift Away. They are reputed to be taken from acetates but without any crackles. But it is the excellent sound that got fans excited.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 10:05 AM | Permalink

November 8, 2007

Updated: Facebook ad network: Friend spam; May be illegal

Later: Saul Hansell at the Times' Bits Blog asks, Are Facebook’s Social Ads Illegal?

It may be illegal under a 100-year-old New York privacy law. The statute says that “any person whose name, portrait, picture, or voice is used within this state for advertising purposes or for the purposes of trade without the written consent first obtained” can sue for damages. Moreover, such a use is also a criminal misdemeanor.

Health Dept. puts searchable restaurant inspection reports online

R.I. Dept. of Health, Office of Food Protection photo
In 2002 the Journal published photos of common violations, such as the one above illustrating "cross contamination -- raw food above ready to eat product." Photos are taken during inspections, sometimes for training purposes.

The Rhode Island Department of Health has put its restaurant inspection reports online. The Food Protection Inspection
Reports, which date back to January, "appear verbatim, as written by Rhode Island State health inspectors."

It's not all restaurants. Bakeries. delis and grocery stores, wholesalers, schools, nursing homes and hospitals, convenience stores, snack bars, lemonade stands and sushi makers at supermarkets are on inspectors' routes, too.

The reports are searchable by keyword, name, address and zipcode and you can also browse the thousands of food purveyors alphabetically.

They make for sketchy casual reading. Many I clicked either had not been visited in this period or -- good news -- "No violations were marked out on this inspection." A 2002 Journal story noted that complaints by customers can trigger a visit, or common sense: Inspectors have descended unanounced on restaurants without air conditioning or with a history of problems during a heat wave, since illness-causing bacteria multiply quickly at high temperatures.

Citations I did find included mouse droppings, refrigerators lacking thermometers, menus that didn't disclose or warn against raw and uncooked foods, and a host of other infractions,

An employee was observed touching ready to eat food ( slicing lemon )with his bare hands. Food employess must not touch exposed, ready-to-eat food with their bare hands and shall use suitable utensils such as deli tissue, spatulas, single use gloves or dispensing equipment.

and

The (ice scoop) is stored on an unclean surface (top of ice machine) between uses. During pauses in food preparation, utensils must be stored on a clean surface or in a clean protected location.

The results of follow-up visits to check that violations have been corrected are also included.

One place that was visited four times was cited on the third visit for several food-safety violations, including sushi rice held at 90 degrees, beef thawing on a counter, a bag of sugar stored on the floor and more. On three other visits -- two earlier and one later -- "No violations were marked out on this inspection."

This is all good. Restaurants live by word of mouth, and now what goes on behind the scenes is public knowledge, too.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 3:49 AM | Permalink | Comments 2

November 7, 2007

Govt. study: Excess weight protects against death from many diseases (diabetes, cancer, kidney/heart disease not included)

Being Overweight Isn't All Bad, Study Says. The Washington Post reports on "a detailed analysis of decades of government data about more than 39,000 Americans" led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The most surprising finding was that being overweight but not obese was associated only with excess mortality from diabetes and kidney disease -- not from cancer or heart disease. Moreover, the researchers found an apparent protective effect against all other causes of death, such as tuberculosis, emphysema, pneumonia, Alzheimer's disease and injuries. An association between excess weight and nearly 16,000 deaths from diabetes and kidney disease was overshadowed by a reduction of as many as 133,000 deaths from all other deaths unrelated to cancer or heart disease. Even moderately obese people appeared less likely to die of those causes.
Although the study did not examine why being overweight might guard against dying from some diseases, Flegal said other research has suggested that extra heft might supply the body with vital reserves to draw upon to fight illness and aid recovery.

"You may not just have more fat. You may also have more lean mass -- more bone and muscle," Flegal said. "If you are in an adverse situation, that could be good for you."

Folk wisdom has always held that some extra weight can get a body through an illness better than nothing to spare.

Of course, the language is all skewed, since there is no "protection" against death for anyone.

Related: What we learn from the dying: A doctor shares what his patients’ last moments have taught him is a wonderful read at MSNBC.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 10:35 AM | Permalink

Outcomes: Corey Dillon shouldn't wait by the phone; Company reverses plan to dock workers for bad medical tests

Catching up on a couple of stories that changed:

Last week I noted (Corey Dillon hopes for a callback from the Patriots) reports that Corey Dillon was getting in shape in case the Patriots called him back to replace Sammy Morris, the running back who's out for the season with a chest injury.

The Boston Herald reports (Belichick: Dillon is not in plans) that Belichick was gracious in his rejection:

“I don’t think that’s really in the plans right now,” he said. “We’re going with the four backs we have.”

Belichick said the decision boiled down to special teams, particularly the contributions of reserve running backs Heath Evans and Kyle Eckel.

“It would be hard to lose their special teams play,” he said. “Laurence has given us some good play at the running back position and Kevin (Faulk) has given us some runs on some third down and he’s also returning for us. It’s hard to fit in another back there that wouldn’t be a special teams player.”

Clarian won't dock workers who fail to meet health marks. Indy Star.

Clarian Health apparently has decided the punitive approach may not be the best way to motivate employees to shape up.

The Indianapolis hospital system has abruptly ended a plan — which Clarian had touted on national TV just months before — to dock workers up to $30 out of their paychecks every two weeks if they did not control certain risk factors such as body-mass index, high cholesterol and high blood sugar.

The plan, set to take effect in 2009, featured mandatory health-risk assessments for all employees enrolling for health insurance.

Now the program, which still starts in 2009, is purely voluntary. And workers who do participate in the “wellness tract” will be paid bonuses of up to $30 per pay period if they don’t use tobacco and meet certain measurements for body-mass index, LDL “bad” cholesterol, blood glucose and blood pressure....

The money quote:

Sheriee Ladd, Clarian’s vice president of human resources, said focus groups and staff meetings revealed that many workers were so focused on the potential increases to their insurance premiums that they could not focus on the wellness initiatives and behavior changes that Clarian was trying to encourage.

Well, yeah... carrots, sticks, etc.

Also dubious: You could be perfectly healthy, not cost them anything besides a yearly checkup, get a clean bill of health but have high numbers: Pay up.

Is a new industry in the wings that would help employees fake cholesterol test results?

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 4:25 AM | Permalink | Comments 1

November 6, 2007

Boston.com redesigns; UFO hotspots; 9 creative staircases

Boston.com has redesigned its homepage -- wider, cleaner and with many more links. (Compare it to the sports section, which retains the old look for now.)

News sites traditionally have trouble showing all their news and information.

UFO Hotspots Map at Strange Maps shows a slight blip in South County, but if we're experiencing them here, we're not reporting them.

9 creative staircases:

Carved from one giant log, this one's in New Zealand.

Some of the others look deadly.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 11:58 AM | Permalink

Writer's strike: Blogs, celebrity picketers, Leno brings donuts and what's with the Jon Stewart rumor?

With the Writer's Guild strike of film and TV writers under way -- the sticking point was compensation of writers for new-media content.-- here's the Western report: companies they're striking, where they're picketing

Blogging it (thanks to Cory Bergman's Lost Remote for the links research):

The L.A. Times ShowTracker is now a strike blog. "Dancing With the Stars" stars ad libbed yesterday, it reports.

Scribe Vibe is Variety's strike blog; there's also an index of their coverage of the issues and events leading up to the strike.

Hollywood Reporter, of course.

Mark Evanier's News From Me

Craig Mazin’s and Ted Elliott's The Artful Writer

Group blog United Hollywood, with instructions for picketers. ("Wear a red shirt. Find other writers in RED SHIRTS. Sign in. Pick up your picket sign. Begin.")

Huffington Post, which doesn't pay its bloggers at all, maintains a sympathetic Strike Blog. Leading now:

Jay Leno rolled up to a picket line on his motorcycle with doughnuts for striking writers at NBC...

Leno and the other late-night talk shows are all in repeats for the duration. (WaPo: Late-Night Talk Shows in the Dark After Writers' Strike)

Nikki Finke at LA Weekly counts the picketers. (3,029).

Rick Ellis at AllYourTV.com maintains a list of how this will affect your favorite shows.

AP
"30 Rock" writer Tina Fey and "SNL" writer Seth Meyers, members of the Writers Guild of America, picket NBC headquarters in New York yesteerday.

One the east coast, Writer's Guild Eastwas picketing NBC in Manhattan yesterday and heading for Silvercup Studios in Long Island City today. ABC's Cashmere Mafia and Fox Broadcasting's New Amsterdam are filmed there.

A report yesterday at Portfolio's Mixed Media blog, later denied, said that Jon Stewart would pay his picketing Daily Show writers, then his whole staff, for two weeks from his own pocket, then from his production company's budget. Still denied.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 9:01 AM | Permalink

NPR Music pumps up

NPR relaunched NPR Music yesterday, a collaboration of 12 local NPR stations, with a new, Flash-based media player. Here's their intro to the new features.

Read/Write Web raves,

In testing the site I was able to quickly assemble a playlist of both single songs and hour-long concert performances. Playback was very smooth in most circumstances though switching between multiple hour-long recordings sometimes took awhile to buffer.

In addition to the ability to quickly put together your own playlists, the new NPR Music site highlights a wide variety of pre-built playlists: from Yo-Yo Ma's Top Five Faves to five of the best songs recently released in Africa, courtesy of the hosts of the show "All Songs Considered." In an increasingly unmanageable world, expert aggregation in any field is a top-notch value add.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 7:48 AM | Permalink | Comments 1

November 4, 2007

Indy Star: 'Brady, Patriots hand Colts 1st loss of season'

Providence Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach

Ty Warren and Junior Seau sack Indy quarterback Peyton Manning in the 4th quarter which forced a fumble and a 4th down. The Colts punted and the Patriots scored on the next drive to win the game.

A hard-fought, hard-won Patriots victory. Not fun to watch, but a satisfying outcome. Dogged, workmanlike football by smart, talented people.

Brady, Patriots hand Colts 1st loss of season at the hometown paper of the losing team.

The Colts' last chance evaporated with 2:25 to play when defensive tackle Jarvis Green broke away from center Jeff Saturday and hit quarterback Peyton Manning. The football popped loose and was recovered by outside linebacker Rosevelt Colvin, an Indianapolis native.

Matt Detrich / The Indianapolis Star

Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, right, can only watch as he loses the football after getting hit by New England's Jarvis Green. The hand at the left belongs to Patriots linebacker Rosevelt Colvin, who recovered the fumble with 2:25 remaining in the game. The Colts never regained possession.

Hundreds of comments make it special. A not quite random sample:

GREAT GAME! I STILL DON'T SEE HOW THE PATRIOTS WON THE GAME-WE PALYED GREAT D RAN THE BALL WELL & THE PATRIOTS HAD A FRANCHISE RECORD IN PEANLTIES??????
COLTS HAD A COUPLE OF CALL I WAS SCRATCHING MY HEAD OVER BUT IF THIS AN INDICATOR THAT THE PATS CAN PALY THIS BAD & STILL WIN ON THE ROAD THIS SEASON IS COMPLETLEY OVER!

All the Indy Star sports columnists had picked Indy to win. Now, Bob Kravitz: You've seen the best; ready for January in New England? asks,

At the risk of messing up the NFL schedule, can we just have the Colts and Patriots play every Sunday, and maybe an occasional Monday?

and Bob Kravitz's report card isn't one you'd want to bring home to strict parents.

Announcing: For the most part, they heard our complaints. Michael Hiestand at USA Today (CBS announcers let Patriots-Colts game speak for itself):

Sean McManus, who oversees CBS' sports and news divisions, was upfront last week about the game plan: The network would cover the New England-Indianapolis game like it's "a football game."

That happened. Game analyst Phil Simms stuck to dissecting what was being shown in replays, not grand theories about football. And play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz earnestly focused almost entirely on the game itself — and not on abstractions like whether we were all witnessing greatness...

There were no sideline reporters offering childhood anecdotes about players, no jokes from the announcers, no booth drop-bys. Simms and Nantz didn't offer up catchy one-liners, but they also didn't hyperventilate - or get in the way of the game.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 9:33 PM | Permalink

Corey Dillon hopes for a callback from the Patriots

Providence Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach

Patriots running back (28) Corey Dillon making yardage against the Detroit Lions last Dec. 3 at Gillette Stadium. Paris Lenon (53) and Alex Lewis (59) make the stop. Corey Dillon scored three touchdowns that day, helping the Patriots win 28-21.

The Globe reports Dillon pondering a comeback:

INDIANAPOLIS - Corey Dillon is readying for a second run with the Patriots.

Dillon, who retired following last year after 10 seasons in the NFL and three with the Patriots, has been working out with a trainer near his home in Calabasas, Calif.

Dillon's agent, Steve Feldman, said that the 33-year-old Dillon began working out after running back Sammy Morris injured a bone in his chest against the Cowboys Oct. 14. The Patriots put Morris on injured reserve Friday, ending his season and possibly opening the door for a midseason return by Dillon.

"He decided that no one knew what the prognosis would be with Sammy and that in case it turned out to be a long-term thing, he wanted to be prepared for the Patriots' call," said Feldman. "He started working out 2 1/2 weeks ago."

Feldman said Dillon is still close with many of his former Patriots teammates and they encouraged him to consider coming out of retirement.

"When Sammy Morris went down, the phone calls from his teammates intensified," said Feldman. "I think he felt a real twinge towards his teammates. We've had calls all season from teams and the only team he would even consider coming back for was the Patriots."...

But for now the Patriots have reached into their future pool, not their past to replace Morris. Over on our PatsBlog, Shalise Manza Young reports (Ventrone promoted):

The New England Patriots yesterday filled the 53rd roster spot opened when they placed running back Sammy Morris on injured reserve with practice squad defensive back Ray Ventrone.
Promoting Ventrone was not the move most assumed the team would make. With safety Eugene Wilson and special-teamer Mel Mitchell battling injuries, it was thought the Patriots would activate cornerback Eddie Jackson off the physically-unable-to-perform list, a move that would help cover both issues...

He was signed to the Patriots’ practice squad on Sept. 18 and has been named one of the team’s practice players of the week twice so far this year

So are the Patriots at all interested in Dillon? The Boston Herald asked (Raising old Corey) his agent, Steve Feldman,

When asked if there had been any communication with the Patriots since Morris went down to injury in the Dallas game, Feldman clammed up.
“I’d rather not comment on that,” Feldman answered....

“We’re just going to take a wait-and-see attitude,” Feldman said. “He’s going to continue to work out, continue to get in great shape, and if the call comes, he’ll be ready.”

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 10:12 AM | Permalink

November 3, 2007

'Louie, Louie' with 250 drummers; Jazz mp3s for a rainy day

With the remnants of Hurricane Noel upon us and forecasts of heavy rain and wind, this is going to be a lazy day with a novel and the jazz mp3s below. I was at the grocery store as it opened, before the break-and-milk storm shoppers merge with the Patriots-Colts game shoppers to create gridlock, so we're tucking in.

250+ drummers perform Louie Louie at Woodstick 2007.

Found at The Louie Report, a blog created by musician fans of the song.

Mp3s: Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland, Brian Blade, The Forensic Music Tour 2004 [no label, 1CD], Live at the Barbican, London, UK, July 2, 2004.

"The music on HSHB04 is sometimes densely complex, occasionally bluesy, often inscrutable. And always wonderful to listen to. Play these in the background driving to market, or on the computer at work. Or dissolve into them with headphones on your best home rig. We think you'll be rewarded with each and every listen."

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 12:46 PM | Permalink

November 2, 2007

You are at the center of your own Web: What Google's new Open Social means for you and me

Social networks boomed when kids -- who have always called the friends they've just left at school as soon as they got home -- moved to Web networks such as MySpace to stay in constant contact with all their friends at once. They establish their own profile pages and plaster them with links to what they like -- their favorite people and music and books and TV, games to play, maps of where they've been, poll and surveys and sometimes even news headlines.

Adults, who often center more on the families we've built and live with, were late to this party, sidling in through professional networks such as LinkedIn before flooding into Facebook, which began as a college students-only hangout, but eventually had to include those who'd graduated, then anybody.

What's important here is that social networking puts each of us at the very center of our own Web, surrounded by links we care about.

Google this week launched some free tools anyone can use to center that Web wherever we want it to be, not just inside Facebook or MySpace, and to expand the range of programs and information we nestle with.

Marc Andreesen -- co-author of the original Netscape browser, now co-founder of the free Ning, where you can create your own free niche social network -- explains Google's new Open Social platform (Open Social: a new universe of social applications all over the web):

Open Social takes the Facebook platform concept and provides an open standard approach that can be used by the entire web. Open Social is an open way for everyone to do what Facebook has done... Open Social's API is based entirely on Javascript. If you know HTML and Javascript today, you will be able to immediately use Open Social to turn your web applications and web sites into Open Social apps.

What's a platform? A place to launch software. Windows is a platform, but so is the Web now -- Google maps, Flickr, all these "Web services" run on a Web platform, using Web "APIs."

What's an API? Wikipedia: An application programming interface (API) is a source code interface that an operating system or library provides to support requests for services to be made of it by computer programs.

What does that mean? It means you can use programs without having to know how to write them. The best-known example may be map builders. You use Google maps and add your own markers, then put the map on your own site. You've used the Google Maps API to put your data on Google's maps, and it connects back to Google to display the satellite views, etc. Without the API, you'd make the map on Google, then have to turn it into a photo -- no clicking or zooming, no switching from satellite to map view, no sliding east or west to check out the neighborhood.

What's a Facebook app? Display a slideshow, search for jobs, see your stock quotes, play games, share your iPod playlist, read news, vote for your favorite Jimi Hendrix song, all from a little box on your own Facebook page.

But Facebook is a closed "city." If you click on a link to a Facebook page, it will lead to a "Join Facebook" page. You can't view anything there without becoming a member -- just like the original AOL, but free. But because Facebook is so big, developers have been learning new formats and writing little programs that work only inside Facebook.

Google's Open Social API lets anyone make little programs that will work on any social network or your own Web pages, not just inside Facebook.

Make once, place everywhere: In earlier versions of projo.com, we used "server-side includes" on a lot of pages. That's an obscure name for a bit of text or links we wanted to put on a lot of pages, and would probably be updating. Instead of copying the code to every page -- and opening every page when we wanted to update the links -- we just made one little page once, and "included" a link to it on every page. When we updated the "include," it would change on every page that called it in automatically.

We still use some "includes" -- the latest headlines, for each blog, for instance, are all on projo.com/blogs and selected ones are sprinkled on the homepage, sports and lifestyles pages. A server-side include displays its contents on pages on the same Web server. It doesn't work anywhere else.

Open Social's widgets -- it can be the programs, headline feeds, games I mentioned above -- can be placed all over the Web and inside networks and pages that support it. I could put it on this blog and on my profile page on all the networks I've joined.

Except -- for now anyway -- Facebook itself, which has a "closed" API -- code for apps that run there only works inside its walled city. Don't be too surprised if they give up on making everybody make two versions of cool programs, one for them and one for the rest of the Web. (Yes, Facebook breaks the Web. Boo, hiss.) TechCrunch says Google and Facebook are talking to each other already.

Google notes,

There are many websites implementing OpenSocial, including Engage.com, Friendster, hi5, Hyves, imeem, LinkedIn, MySpace, Ning, Oracle, orkut, Plaxo, Salesforce.com, Six Apart, Tianji, Viadeo, and XING.

Six Apart makes Movable Type, this blog's software (which is itself preparing an open-source version that anyone can customize, due by year's end), so I expect to be playing with this. I know html, and a little Javascript. If I teach myself a little more, I could write Open Social apps and try them out here.

(Later: Six Apart's blog post on Open Social, from its vice president (and longtime blogger) Anil Dash, echoes my own headline: OpenSocial, Killer Apps and Regular People.)

Google's OpenSocial API Blog launched today.

From Google's Open Social FAQ:

How do I create social apps using OpenSocial? Social apps are initially created in the same manner as Google Gadgets: with your favorite text editor or within the Google Gadget Editor. They then can be augmented with the OpenSocial JavaScript APIs, where they can fetch and post social data about friends and activities.

And,

Google's gadget caching technology can ease your bandwidth demands should your app suddenly become a worldwide success.

Frankly, many Facebooks apps are a way to move the core functionality of a Web site onto a convenient spot on your own page, relieving you of the need to click a bookmark and letting you share the data. Many are frivolous, a developer playing with the code without really thinking about how useful or compelling the functionality or content is for the user.

Better ideas now have a way to become real anywhere.

What does it mean for a news site such as projo.com? We have a lot of trouble showing you all the news we gather. The Web site uses pages and menus and we hope you'll click your way through them all to see what you want.

But you have to remember to come to the site, or to open your feed reader if you've subscribed to our blogs' RSS feeds.

We could make "rivers of news" you could put right on your own page. Stories that published to an inside index would appear wherever you are as we publish them. You decide which stories you want to read, not editors pushing some to the front page and leaving others to be "discovered."

And that's just the first, most obvious application.

Related:

-- Cnet speculates (Bebo joins OpenSocial, set to announce API for converting Facebook apps) that U.K. social network Bebo

will give developers a shortcut in converting the markup language of a Facebook application into a Bebo-only platform application. But if it were connected to OpenSocial, that'd be really interesting: an easy "jailbreak" to turn a Facebook application into a more universal OpenSocial application could create a lot of opportunities.

-- Robin Harris at ZDNet: Did Google bluff Microsoft into over paying for Facebook?

Was Google ever serious about Facebook, or did they just want to see Microsoft invest more of their battered prestige in another closed platform?
Probably they didn’t much care how it came out. Google could have paid the $240 million just as easily as Microsoft. Money wasn’t the sticking point. Microsoft promised something that Google didn’t. Microsoft must have promised to keep Facebook closed.

Bet it was fun to see how far a-desperate-for-coolness Microsoft would go to “beat” Google.

Footnote: Rob Hof at Business Week (Google's OpenSocial: Take That, Facebook!):

On Tuesday, Facebook also plans to announce an ad network that's expected to enable advertisers to target precisely the people they want to reach based on their demographics and on the information on themselves that they type into their Facebook profiles.

That was last Tuesday. How much info do you want to give advertisers, people?

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 2:57 PM | Permalink

Pats to Colts, head to head by position; 96 percent of U.S. gets to see this game

AP Photo/Winslow Townson
AP moved this photo with this caption: New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) congratulates Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning (18) after Manning and the Colts defeated the Patriots 27-20 in their football game in this Nov. 5, 2006 file photo in Foxborough, Mass. (Note to AP: It's Foxboro, and Attleboro, and it's not Ye Olde, either.)

I found Dr. Z's Positional Breakdowns at SI.com useful information, and I think it will make Sunday's fast scatters at the snap easier to follow. It's one-on-one "who's matching up against whom" on the Patriots and Colts teams. Offense | Defense.

The excitement is nationwide -- there's joy in San Francisco that the Raiders haven't sold out their Sunday game against Houston, so that one is now blacked out there.
John Ryan of the The San Jose Mercury News' Morning Buzz blog reports that California stations with a choice, such as Chico and Eureka, picked Pats-Colts, so the Raiders have drawn a blank in the entire state of California, to be replaced by Pats-Colts.

Ryan hoots, Raiders are BLACKED OUT! We see Patriots-Colts. He had promised no Raiders jokes for a week if fans would refrain buying tickets for this one.

SI had reported that 93 percent of the country would see Pats-Colts -- and that was before California came on board. Now it's 96 percent.

Houston is stuck with the Raiders, though, under NFL rules mandating the showing of the hometeam game.

Later: The Chron lays out alternative ways to watch Pats-Colts instead: A viewer's guide to watching the NFL's Colts, Patriots. Some require that you bring chips -- potato, tortilla, pita...

And Akron is moaning about having to watch the Seattle Seahawks-Browns game at 4:15 instead of the Big One.

CBS is smiling.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 12:17 AM | Permalink