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April 30, 2008

Better than YouTube: 206 thinkers and doers 'challenged to give the talk of their lives'

RISD author David Macaulay speaking at TED in 2002

It's not news to longtime readers that I'm more than frustrated by the adolescent flavor of much of the Web. (Stephen, this is why I ignored your emailed link to the Korean baby singing Hey Jude. It was as awful as it sounds.)

I'm long out of academia, and too far down the street to have much patience with ideas couched in dense prose. But when smart people speak on their feet publicly, they can't say whole thick paragraphs without choking on the bigger words or gasping for breath. So they try to communicate.

TED: Ideas worth spreading:

About TED: TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.
The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

Its videos are sorted by Themes, Talks, Speakers, or by those rated most inspiring, funny and jaw-dropping.

Samples:

David Macaulay: All roads lead to Rome Antics

Despite a love and fascination for Rome dating to his days as an architecture student, David Macaulay found the path to his book Rome Antics took some unusual (and frustrating) turns. Through failed pop-up designs, scribbled out title possibilities, surreal sketchbook pages (think "Piranesi meets Escher"), and rambling story lines, MacAulay details each step of his winding journey towards completion of his illustrated homage to the city.

Amy Tan: Where does creativity hide?

Novelist Amy Tan digs deep into the creative process, journeying through her childhood and family history and into the worlds of physics and chance, looking for hints of where her own creativity comes from. It's a wild ride with a surprise ending.

Ray Kurzweil: How technology's accelerating power will transform us

Prolific inventor and outrageous visionary Ray Kurzweil explains in abundant, grounded detail why -- by the 2020s -- we will have reverse-engineered the human brain, and nanobots will be operating your consciousness.

Eve Ensler: Finding happiness in body and soul

In her frank TED talk, the playwright begins with an excerpt from her now-iconic play, The Vagina Monologues....

There are many more, by 206 speakers from many disciplines -- Al Gore, Stephen Hawking, Jane Goodall, Bono, Isabel Allende, They Might Be Giants, Bill Clinton, even Mena Trott of SixApart, which makes this Movable Type blog software.

Many of the speakers you've missed because you were working, too tired after working, making dinner or cleaning the bathroom when they came through town are here for you to watch when you like, when you need inspiration and elevation.

Here's the A-Z list. You might bookmark the link. It's a keeper.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 2:25 AM | Permalink | Comments 1

April 29, 2008

Testing the ScribeFire blogging extension for Firefox; Lazy crockpot chicken

Still in timeless vacationland, I'm posting this as a test of ScribeFire, the WYSIWYG blogging extension for Firefox.

It's slick -- when I first opened it, it had autodiscovered my blog software and used its API to hook into it. The blogs list displayed on the right panel, and an open entry window already showed "Publish to 'Projo Subterranean Homepage News' " as the label on the the big bottom button.

The interface is surprisingly intuitive: Formatting buttons were obvious, the code preview a tab away, tag windows and the date on the right.

It published the first draft of this post without breaking a sweat, logging me in automatically. (Since it integrates with Firefox, popping up as a half-window over wherever you are, it has access to Password Manager.)

The smartest feature I think I'm seeing: When I define text and click the link icon, the link I've just copied is already filled in in the link window. No need to paste it -- another feature of its FF integration.

I haven't quite figured out images yet -- especially how to make that screenshot pop up to a larger image -- without hand-coding it. More basic, if I copy an image from my graphics program, I get a file:/// URL, so on upload it's broken.

In all other respects, this is my new favorite extension. Here's its homepage.

Modern parboiling: Sunday, we had a three-pound family pack of skinless chicken thighs we had to cook, even though we were heading out to a party at a neighborhood restaurant where there'd be appetizers.

I put them all in the crockpot, in layers, and sprinkled each layer with salt, pepper, garlic powder and curry powder, and added 1/2 cup of water.

I intended to cook them for 5 or 6 hours on low, but instead, I flicked the crockpot to High, which I only discovered 90 minutes later when we returned from the party. Then I turned it to low, and gave it two and a half more hours.

They were tender. flavorful and delicious, and gave us a rich stock as a bonus. We stood around the platter with forks picking at it.

Last night, I coarsely chopped what survived and tossed it into a saucepan with a jar of turkey gravy, and opened a can of cranberry sauce.

Another bee story, despite the headline. Blair Man’s Self Inflicted Gunshot Wound Alcohol Related. From Altoona, Pa.

According to police 57-year-old David Walls had been drinking when he tried to shoot down some bees flying above him using a .22 caliber revolver loaded with buckshot. Walls ended up shooting himself in the left hand causing soft tissue damage.

No stings reported.
Technorati Tags: recipe. firefox, blogging

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 6:18 AM | Permalink

April 28, 2008

Transcript: Sen. Jack Reed on projo; Beekeeping booms

Reads for a rainy day off...

Providence Journal photo / Mary Murphy

Providence Journal staff writer G. Wayne Miller hosted Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), above, for an hourlong chat with projo.com readers today.

Transcript: Senator Reed answers readers' questions in live chat. Concerns about the economy dominate.

Bees are green: Buzz grows over beekeeping

Boston Globe story by Irene Sage, "Soaring enrollment in county 'bee schools' reflects a national trend." One sting, and only a little fear this cheery story. I keep a respectful distance from bees, myself.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 3:08 PM | Permalink

April 27, 2008

ROFLCon: Reports from the bleeding edge of Internet memes (JibJab, LOLcats)

A meme is an idea that catches on -- sometimes it's a profound thought ("Information wants to be free"); more often it's an acronym or a viral video. Think William Hung, a TV phenomenon. Or JibJab videos. Or the LOLcats site, I Can Has Cheezburger/ This weekend, memes had a convention:ROFLCON.

ROFLCon at Wikipedia:

ROFLCon was a convention of Internet memes that took place April 25-26 2008, at MIT. ROFL is Internet slang meaning "Rolling On Floor Laughing."

Various Net celebrities attended, such as the authors of the webcomics xkcd and Dinosaur comics, Jay Manard "The Tron Guy," the founder of popular image-sharing site 4chan, Leeroy Jenkins and many others....

Here's one of them, Doc Searls (ROFLFP)

Doc Searls photo

I’m at a panel on fame, and I don’t know any of the panelists. (They are, in fact, moot of 4chan, Randall Munroe, and Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics. They are arranged according to size: moot, Randall, Ryan.)

I am >2x the age of 90% of the people here. I may be 2x the age of ANY of the people here. (Not true, but it seems that way.) Worse, I’m dressed to “go out” to some place nice later, so it’s like I’m in costume.

Wired blogger Jenna Wortham is all over RIFLCON, and profiles some of its stars as well -- here are all her posts tagged roflcon and her Behind the Memes profiles. From ROFLCon: Welcome to the Fame Revolution:

...Welcome to the fame revolution, or what keynoter (David) Weinberger, a fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society and (co-)author of The Cluetrain Manifesto, described as "our fame," a massive shift in the definition of celebrity. The elite ranks of the famous, usually reserved for broadcast or traditional media celebrities, are now being infiltrated by the likes of web celebs...

Jim Merithew / Wired photo
The original caption: David Weinberger uses an image of the Star Wars Kid to show the changing face of fame. As people cheered, Weinberger looked around and said, "Really? I don't think this was our finest moment."

Background: The Star Wars Kid features a video made by a 14-year-old of himself swinging a golfball retriever as a weapon. It was found and spread as a prank. His family sued the families of four high-school kids, and a settlement was reached.

Ten members of the anti-Scientology group Anonymous even appeared in Guy Fawkes masks (Pranksters, Fake Products Stir Up Fun at ROFLCon).

Wortham interviews, among other meme heroes, Brown student Ian Spector, 20, who turned his wildly popular Chuck Norris Facts site into a best-selling book, :.Behind the Memes: Will Chuck Norris Facts Ever Die?

It's all, to an old fart who's consumed a lotta memes over the years, a great argument for getting everybody online, and quickly. A culture propagated by those with the most free time and tech skills will look a lot like high school, and its prevalent memes.

Doc again, live-blogging the panel:

Randall: “Your grandmother not filing bug reports for Firefox is good for Firefox.” Did I get that right? Not sure.

Randall, why shouldn't I file bug reports? After 18 years of it, why stop now?

I want my bleeding edge sprinkled with mature masterpieces. That includes Firefox. But also so much more...

ROFL Meme in the making: OGC unveils new logo to red faces - Telegraph

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 1:25 PM | Permalink

April 25, 2008

Weekend mp3s: Clapton/Beck '07; One-wheeled motorcyle; Redneck mansion; 'Free Rice'

Jeff Beck with Eric Clapton, Exhaust Note, 4CDs.

Live at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, London, England, November 29 & 30, 2007.

Also, Country Joe McDonald, War War War Live at Norwegian Church Cultural and Arts Centre, Butetown, Cardiff Wales UK, May 25, 2007. Excellent soundboard stereo.

Yup, "Fish" cheer included.

Uno, the one-wheeled motorcycle: From Canadian magazine Motorcycle Mojo,

The 2008 National Motorcycle Show in Toronto has always been heavily influenced by the American V-twin crowd and highlights some of the area's top custom builders who have on display a fine array of one-off custom machines.

This year's show, however, had one very unusual one-off custom, the Uno. The orange and grey coloured Uno made its first public appearance balanced on its two side-by-side wheels and its footpegs. Looking more like it should have been ridden by George Jetson as he pulled up to his space platform, it looked out of place amid the other custom creations in the building. Perhaps that's why it garnered so much attention. Since no one has ever seen a machine like this, the first question asked by on-lookers was:

"What is it?"

Many more pics at the bottom of that link.

Redneck Mansion:

Free Rice: In response to yesterday's link to Gaming for Charity suggested by reader Dub Not Dubya, reader Bill Marsland writes,

I caught a news piece on NBC's nightly news, I believe in the "Making a Difference" section concerning http://www.freerice.com/ . It's a site where you test and learn vocabulary while earning rice for the United Nations World Food Program. In their FAQ's section, here is how they describe how it works. If FreeRice has the rice to give, why not give it all away right now?

FreeRice is not sitting on a pile of rice―you are earning it 20 grains at a time. Here is how it works. When you play the game, advertisements appear on the bottom of your screen. The money generated by these advertisements is then used to buy the rice. So by playing, you generate the money that pays for the rice donated to hungry people.
Who pays for the donated rice?

The rice is paid for by the advertisers whose names you see on the bottom of your vocabulary screen. This is regular advertising for these companies, but it is also something more. Through their advertising at FreeRice, these companies support both learning (free vocabulary for everyone) and reducing hunger (free rice for the hungry). We commend these companies for their participation at FreeRice.
Does FreeRice make any money from this?

No, it does not. FreeRice runs the site at no profit.

The vocabulary itself is adjusted by how many you get correct, so if you start hard it will ease you back to easier words. When you do not give the correct answer, it goes to the next word but gives you the correct answer at the top of the page. It also repeats those words you have not correctly answered so you get a second chance.

Quite a novel idea; learning while donating. As of 4/24, participants had raised 29.2 billion grains of rice!!

Even if you have already mentioned this, might be a good time for a reminder.

I did mention this a while back, but it's worth a rerun. Since then, rice has become precious: Sam's Club, Costco limit rice purchases as prices rise.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 11:27 AM | Permalink

April 24, 2008

Firefox 3: Peeking at the new URL bar, and maybe grabbing the latest beta

Deb Richardson, a Mozilla employee, is writing about the upcoming and reportedly fast and snappy Firefox 3 on her personal blog, Dria.org. The official release is set for June, but some early adopters are downloading the latest release candidates. (This is for power users; if you don't think of yourself as one, wait for the actual release.)

I'm tempted, but I've got Firefox 2 tricked out with exactly the extensions I need, and not all of them have turned in FF 3 versions yet.

If you use Firefox, it's worth a peek at what's coming soon. If you don't use Firefox, please do. Its ability to open new sites in tabs, not windows, dozens of them, is alone worth the switch. But even better are the add-ons that let you select what would enhancements would be useful to you; you install each in a single click, and they work the next time you restart Firefox.

Deb does two posts about the new Firefox 3 URL bar, and illustrates them with lots more screenshots than I've shown below .

Here's are some snippets from Deb on Firefox 3:

Firefox 3 Bookmarks (My god, it’s full of stars…)

...Firefox 3 introduces a few new features to bookmarks that I think makes them much, much easier to use, more useful in general, and much more useful in particular for catastrophically disorganized folk like me. The three main features being introduced are: Bookmark Stars, Bookmark Tags, and Smart Bookmark Folders....

...Tags allow you to very quickly file a single bookmark in a bunch of different places, rather than having to create an exhaustive hierarchy of folders and file each bookmark carefully within that organizational structure....

Awesome bar:

...In Firefox 3, however, the staid and plain URL bar has been transformed into a much, much more powerful and useful tool. Dubbed the “AwesomeBar”, it lets you use the URL field of your browser to do a keyword search of your history and bookmarks. No longer do you have to know the domain of the page you’re looking for — the AwesomeBar will match what you’re typing (even multiple words!) against the URLs, page titles, and tags in your bookmarks and history, returning results sorted by “frecency” (an algorithm combining frequency + recency)

Not only that, but the drop-list results show you the page’s favicon, the full title, the URL, and whether you have bookmarked and/or tagged the page in a richly formatted two-line display....

...Not having to remember URLs or resort to global web searches to find pages I’ve visited before has made using the Web a whole lot easier and more efficient.

So, yeah. AwesomeBar? Awesome. If you’re willing to play with not-quite-fully-baked software (by which I mean “beta”), you can experience the awesome yourself by grabbing the Firefox 3 Beta 5 download and testing it out.

For the adventurous: In response to a question I asked in comments on Deb's first post, about whether it was time, Seeker wrote,

USE FF3? beta 4 was buggy, but beta 5 is nice, it is definitely time to download. the only drawback is many (about half?) of the extensions out there don’t yet support b5. A few of my most critical ones, (FEBE/CLEO, Tab Mix Plus, Better Gmail, Better Greader, and Tiny Menu) still don’t work in b5.

For my up to date list of ff3 extensions, check out http://www.twoorthree.net/2008/04/firefox-3-exten.html

If you go: I've been through many upgrades of many programs, and if I'm sniffing around a late beta I'm not far away from doing this. What tipped it for me:

Lifehacker's The Complete Field Guide to Testing Firefox 3. At the end, there's a "there be dragons here" section: "Make Your Extensions Work with the Firefox 3 Beta." Results may be unpredictable, but readers are following the "about:config" directions and reporting back with results.

Read all the comments. And try this on a rainy day -- you really don't want to do optional hacking on a sunny spring weekend. No, you don't.

You can always wait for the official release, when the install program will seamlessly roll out the whole shebang for you.

This post means to offer something to look forward to, not marching orders.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 11:32 PM | Permalink | Comments 1

The 'Hillary movie poster' comes to life

A reader who seeks no credit for his graphic skills ran with my idea of the AP photo of Hillary in the rain looking like a movie poster:

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 5:22 PM | Permalink

Kosher Coke and an online game for charity

From reader Dub Not Dubya,

Hi Sheila, I'm enjoying your blog as usual, so thanks for a great site. You might want to remind interested readers that it is Passover, and thus the kosher (i.e., sweetened with sugar) Coke is available again. I found plenty at the Stop & Shop on Branch Avenue last night. You could just link back to your post about it from last year if you are so inclined.

Also, I know you often recommend online games, so I thought you might be interested in this site that just came online recently:

http://www.gamingforcharity.org/

It has many Flash games, and the proceeds from the site go to various charities. It's modeled on sites like the Hunger Site but the donations come from the ads that are on the page when people are playing the videogames. It has many of the typical favorites, and it's nice to be able to help good causes while playing.

All best,
Dub

Our kosher Coke exchange began in the comments on that 2007 Passover recipes post. Corn is not kosher for Passover, so Coca-Cola makes a special version this time of year with real sugar.

Kosher Coke has yellow cap printed with a Hebrew phrase and the OU-P symbol; its ingredients list sucrose rather than high-fructose corn syrup. (This is the Coke you may remember from childhood -- many people prefer it to today's Coke.)

Note that the Shaw's on North Main Street is no more, but other Shaws markets probably have it.

If you crave this year-round, the scuttlebutt is that Mexican Coke is also made with sugar.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 10:05 AM | Permalink

April 23, 2008

The Hillary movie-poster photo

After Hillary Clinton's 10-point win over Barack Obama, there are lots of traditional photos out of Pennsylvania tonight, but the one that caught my eye was from Saturday, in the rain, in McKeesport, Pa.

No matter whom you support, that's an amazing photo of a presidential candidate. It looks like a poster you'd see in the display case outside a movie theater. I want to put type on it.

(Update: A reader with graphic skills turned it into a poster just for fun, and emailed it to me -- see it here.)

AP photo / Charles Dharapak

Later: The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer's lead headline: Do not pass go, go straight to Leno.

The new p.a. system sounds like a nice prize for a campaigner, but is it worthy of the lead?

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 12:35 AM | Permalink | Comments 4

April 22, 2008

Party balloons carry priest out to sea; Hacking CNN headline shirts; Not porcupines

Globo TV photos

Priest disappears on helium balloon flight:
A priest who floated into the sky under hundreds of helium-filled party balloons has gone missing off the southern coast of Brazil. (Telegraph U.K.)

There's video at Globo TV.

Even as I marvel at the divine folly of Rev Adelir Antonio de Carli's well-intended stunt -- "to raise money for a spiritual rest-stop for truckers in the Brazilian port of Paranagua" -- headline writers are chuckling about his celestial flight. Pieces of balloon have been found in the water, according to a New Zealand TV station, so it's not so funny. Not much more to say except I hope he's found safe.

Geek toy: CNN has launched, in beta, a T-Shirt shop that offers headlines as messages. Anybody with a little knowledge of html (for instance, a space is %20) can play the prankster and create alternative messages -- in the online versions of the shirts, anyway.

I wouldn't expect them to print it up special for you, but I'm not going to spend the $15+ on this science experiment. The official FAQ does suggest they print them on the fly.

How long are headlines available for? Headlines that can bought as shirts are only available as long as the headline stays in the latest news section.

Here's one I hacked using the name of a Providence music spot that has moved a bit.

Prickly correction: Alert commenter Nancy -- obviously not a city gardener like me -- noticed that yesterday's "baby porcupines" are actually hedgehogs.

Should you run across one or the other, telling them apart could be crucial. So courtesy of the National Zoo in Washington, a photo of a real prehensile-tailed baby porcupine born there in 2006:

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 1:39 AM | Permalink

April 21, 2008

He gave Solitaire to Windows ("no you can't have your time back")

B3TA : Interviews: Wes Cherry. Wes Cherry wrote the Solitaire program that comes with Windows while an intern at Microsoft in 1989.

...Sadly, a compensation or royalty package was never discussed, so he's never benefited financially.

We sent Wes a load of questions, and the best part of a year later he got back to us to reveal what it's like to be responsible for a global recession, as well as giving away the secret of Bill Gates' strategy for winning at Minesweeper.

Definitely one of the quirkier interviews you'll read.

Since solitaire has wasted so much of our time, want to waste some more: While a game is in progress, press ALT-Shift-2 to shift into the animation that ends the game, pictured above... (To start the game, Start-->Run-->sol.exe)

His latest work? Wes did it again. It's freeware.I checked out his mp3 jukebox:

Juke is a mp3 library manager and player, especially suited for large MP3 collections. It is released as freeware and is Copyrighted by Technosis.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 12:12 PM | Permalink

April 19, 2008

Fireworks at McCoy, tiny hedgehogs, sesame noodles, rabbit language

Loose links, in no particular order:

Baby porcupines hedgehogs. (Thanks, Nancy!) Happy almost Earth Day.

Jonesing no more: Cox mail is back. That was unpleasant. I'm obviously addicted to email.

Nibble-all-weekend recipe: peanut sesame noodles. I'm even lazier than she is -- I'm going with whatever pasta I have in the pantry.

Fireworks at McCoy Saturday; game against Buffalo; starts at 6:05. Via email, "First Fireworks Show of the Season at McCoy Stadium!"

You're so vain: Men who explain things - Los Angeles Times by Rebecca Solnit.

Fast forward: YOUNGME - NOWME: Recreating the snapshots of your childhood.

Tall order: Ken Hamwey's Celtics Quiz.. Ken is the Journal's night sports editor. He's put together 41 questions -- one for every year he's been a newspaperman -- about the Boston Celtics.

Nestbuilding: Birds' Nests: How on Earth Do They Do It?

Parallel Web: Coming soon: superfast internet

Gimme carrot: The Language of Lagomorphs: What Your Rabbit is Saying and How to Speak Back

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 1:21 AM | Permalink | Comments 3

April 18, 2008

Too much politics? Web too noisy? Try imagining the tenth dimension...

Fed up with politics?

Overwhelmed by social networking? ("I need to know what is important, and I don’t have time to sift through thousands of Tweets and Friendfeed messages and blog posts and emails and IMs a day to find the five things that I really need to know.")

Imagining the Tenth Dimension. I dare you.

Too heavy? Try old Johnny Cash.

Vaguely related: If it's too early to wrap your brain around even three dimensions, check out the Quilts by Caryl Bryer Fallert using the Fibonacci Progression in their designs. That second link is full of photos of shells, flowers, pine cones and vegetables that illustrate the concept even if, like me, you don't think well in numbers.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 2:28 AM | Permalink | Comments 4

April 17, 2008

Cox confirms email still down in my neighborhood

Earlier today, mail passwords stopped working . The Cox High-Speed Internet status page reported an email outage in Rhode Island, with no estimate of when it would be fixed.

When I got to work, a colleague said hers had been out in Smithfield, but she rebooted and it came back. That hadn't worked for me in Providence.

Tonight, the status page is empty, but I still couldn't get in. My password didn't work. Webmail password didn't work.

Okay, maybe I had the wrong password. Online at Cox, I could reset my password with my email address and account number from my bill. Nope, that didn't work either.

The Internet tech support phone number on the site walked me through a special prompt to press "1" if I were calling about a hockey game, then bounced me into a loop after a recording said it was after business hours and I should press a number if I wanted to change an appointment or go back to the menu that looped.

The only option left was live Web chat with a Cox tech support analyst. I took it.

Eventually -- about 5 minutes after the handshake and account info -- Juan Carlos apologized and typed that there is an email outage in my area and there is no estimate of when it will be fixed. Would there be anything else?

Yes, I typed. Please restore the report of the outage to the status page to inform people that there is still a problem. That you didn't change your mail password in your sleep. Not everybody else is back up but you.

2:40 a.m. Still down.

9:28 a.m. "Carlos" this time, on the Cox live chat line, types, "It seems that the outage is limited to the use of mail clients, howerver it is solved on WebMail."

I try WebMail in another tab, it fails, and I'm locked out now -- too many failed attempts. He says try again in 20 minutes. I ask Carlos to check that WebMail is really up, since I don't expect the same password to work any better in 20 minutes. He exits chat instead. Love that outsourcing!!!

10:55 a.m. WebMail fails again. I have emailed Cox tech support now using the online form, asking that their reply go to my gmail address. Two questions: Is WebMail working? If so , please confirm my password, because it's not working for me.

12:33 p.m. No answer to my message on the Cox contact form yet.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 9:51 PM | Permalink

April 16, 2008

MSM live-blogs the Dem debate: Instareporting; video at ABC

Kathryn Q. Seelye at the New York Times: Live Blogging from the Democratic Debate

Rick Klein at ABC: Live Blogging from the Democratic Debate

There are probably more, but this is the top of the Google, and I have company. Should give you a flavor.

Video later, if I can get past this: ABC Restricts Debate Clips to 30 Seconds; Cable Channels May Cite ‘Fair Use’

Later: NYT transcript: Democratic Debate in Philadelphia

Much later: Watch Full Debate Here at ABC's debate page.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 11:32 PM | Permalink

Actor Tim Robbins 'dazzles' broadcasters convention

Tim Robbins addresses the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas Monday.

At his LostRemote TV blog, Cory Bergman:

Everyone is still talking about Tim Robbins’ brash keynote speech yesterday, which took broadcasters to task for voyeuristic, gossipy content, among other things. While it was probably a strategic mistake for the NAB to book Robbins in the first place, personally, I enjoyed it. I live-blogged it while Steve Safran shot it all on his Flip phone right here.

From Cory's live-blogging, Tim Robbins' sometimes bleepable remarks turn into a public service message tht ends,

Seriously, “we are at an abyss as an industry and as a country.” You, the broadcasters, have a tremedous power and tremendous potential to effect change. “We don’t need to look at the car crash. We don’t need to live off the pain and humilitation of the unfortunately. We don’t need to celebrate our pornographic obsession with celebrity culture. We are better than that.”

“Some of you are trying… but against the odds of ratings and job security. It is really up to the leaders in this room… to leave behind formulas and focus groups and job security… we can imagine a world of broadcasting where the general consensus of leaders is enough is enough… we are not just businessmen but the guardians of the human spirit… instead of catering to voyuers and gossip… we can appeal to the better nature of our audience.”

Standing ovation complete with “here! here!” from the crowd.

Cory is Director of Digital Media at KING5 TV in Seattle.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 12:13 AM | Permalink

April 15, 2008

Cartoons: Donald Duck pays his taxes to beat The Axis

How to fill out your tax return, 1942. The war needed money, and Donald Duck stepped up.

 

Donald does his bit for the war effort in 1943, when "every American should pay his or her income tax, gladly and proudly."

Jim Korkis has the backstory (it's a good one)... and Walt Disney's chili recipe.

The animation is smart and fun.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 3:53 AM | Permalink

April 13, 2008

Backstory on Dylan's Pulitzer; Congress is on Twitter

The Minnesota Star-Tribune has the story it became part of. Liz Donovan found this gem from Jon Bream (Dylan wins special Pulitzer Prize):

The Pulitzer Prize committee wasn't sure how to reach the ever-elusive Bob Dylan on Monday after it awarded him a rare "special citation" that has gone to the likes of George Gershwin, Duke Ellington and Dr. Seuss.

"I might ask you for suggestions of who to contact," Pulitzer administrator Sig Gissler told a reporter from Dylan's home state. "We're starting from scratch."

...Like Dylan, two of the 17 voting members of the Pulitzer Prize board of directors have Minnesota connections. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman grew up in St. Louis Park, and Miami Herald editor Anders Gyllenhaal was the editor of the Star Tribune from 2002 to 2007.

"I'm really delighted," said Gyllenhaal, who championed Dylan to the Pulitzer committee. "I've always been a fan."

In a position, finally, to honor someone's work with a Pulitzer, whom would you choose?

The Pulitzer wording: "A Special Citation to Bob Dylan for his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power. "

Since this story ran, bobdylan.com has taken note of the Pulitzer, and links to the Pulitizer site and to the AP story published at... Forbes.

Also from Liz, U.S. Congress Twitters

Here's Twitter from the Senate Floor; Twitter from the House Floor.

Twitter users send messages of up to 140 characters to cell phones, IM, web pages. It's enough for an answer to the site's original question, "What are you doing?" and also enough for a headline and a link to a blog post, news story or photo.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments 1

Elegant river-powered shelters for canoers

The Mill at thecoolhunter.net - architecture, a great place for a Sunday drive.

The Mill is a river shelter for canoers. My first thought was to put one in Waterplace Park in downtown Providence. Heh.

... Finnish architect and artist Sami Rintala, together with architecture student Janne Saario, has created The Mill, a modern wilderness hut that will be located in the Halikko river in south western Finland, near the town of Salo, mid-way between Helsinki and Turku. The wooden shelter even includes fireplaces and sleeping platforms and the waterwheel in the middle of the stream produces the energy for use in the shelter. To be completed in the fall of 2008, The Mill is part of Halikonlahti Green Art Trilogy, which in turn is part of an ongoing multi-year "Cross-artistic and Scientific Environmental Event"  The 39-year-old Rintala has created experimental and environmentally sustainable installations and experimental buildings all over the world, form the Scandinavian countries to Cuba, Canada, Japan and Korea. By Tuija Seipell

At artist Rintala's site, there is a photo of the model, the bones without wood.

Want to try The Mill out? Here's a map pinpointing Salo, Finland -- east of Sweden, north of Estonia, west and a bit north of St. Petersburg, Russia...

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 1:08 PM | Permalink

BBC Casteneda documentary; New Firefox extensions; Life/death art

Carlos Castaneda And The Shaman. Tales From The Jungle. a one-hour BBC documentary on the controversial author of "The Teachings of Don Juan" series, and on Mexico's Yaqui Indians.

New Firefox extensions reviewed:

Fireday is a series for reviewing Firefox extensions every Friday (Friday + Firefox = Fireday) and selecting the best and worst extensions that are out there so you know which ones to use and which ones need adjusting.

The entire list is below so find the extension that best suits your needs and drop a line to see if there is an extension you want reviewed...

More vodka infusables. Cantaloupe sounds pleasant, but there's garlic, too.
.
This Fennel and Fig Infused Vodka recipe sounds intriguing.

Wonder if it would work in iced tea? I'm not a big vodka drinker.

Left behind:

Life Before Death, an exhibit by "Walter Schels, an artist terrified of death," as the Guardian UK calls him, of 24 terminally ill people before and after death (How to stare death in the face):

Walter Schels, an artist terrified of death, took a series of extraordinary portraits of 24 terminally ill people, before and after death. The result is a profound and unforgettable show

Life Before Death
Wellcome Collection, London NW1; until 18 May

'I think that after I have died, the suffering won't show on my face. If my soul is able to float away, as I hope it will, I will lie there completely at peace.'

Beate Taube, facing death at 44, was mercifully right. The suffering is not there in her countenance. In the hour of her death, Taube's eyes are closed and there are traces of terminal exhaustion, but she looks neither in pain nor asleep. If it is possible to speak of posthumous expressions, hers is one of absolute concentration, as if she was listening to faraway music or contemplating a deep inner secret.

As in life, so in death. A month before she died of cancer, Taube was photographed by German artist Walter Schels. She is pensive, alert, her concentrated gaze seeing far beyond him; had her eyes been open, she would have looked, you feel, almost exactly the same in the mirror-image portrait he took after her death. What exactly has occurred in between? Nothing visible has changed in the passing.

Beate Taube, facing death at 44, was mercifully right. The suffering is not there in her countenance. In the hour of her death, Taube's eyes are closed and there are traces of terminal exhaustion, but she looks neither in pain nor asleep. If it is possible to speak of posthumous expressions, hers is one of absolute concentration, as if she was listening to faraway music or contemplating a deep inner secret.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 12:52 AM | Permalink

April 12, 2008

Mad mashup: Wi-fi umbrella screen with camera, GPS, compass

If you forget where you're going while you're trudging around watching the movie in the sky, you have a GPS and a compass to tell you just where you're lost in the woods.

Pileus, the Wi-Fi Umbrella

From Vous Pensez,

It has a built-in camera that allows you to take photos that can be uploaded to Flickr via a wireless connection (yes, WiFi!). You may also watch downloaded photo-streams on your umbrella screen (see photograph) with simple wrist snapping movements.

Besides a camera, the Japanese made Pileus has GPS and a digital compass. It uses Google Earth to help you navigate your way around the globe.

The company is currently working on adding a video camera to it as well.

The tech explanatiion, sort of, from About Pileus at Flickr. Try working backwards from these R&D photos at Pileus / Pool / Tags / umbrella. by 22n:

The Pileus System is a mobile tangible browser to make rainy days fun. The system is constructed by the Pileus Umbrella and the Pileus WebService. User can see and take a photo and video with the PileusUmbrella. User can hand on own experience in rainy day to next user with an umbrella type photoset. User Connects the Grip with the Screen, then the Grip reads the Screen’s ID and login to own Pileus Account. When user takes photos or videos, Pileus WebService evaluates media-type of data and uploads it to Flickr or YouTube, and then set a tag by screen ID. In addition, user twists the grip, it searchs contents at Flickr and YouTube by tag of screen ID, and displays contents in order.

The name has some historical ancestry as an overhead object -- as a tall peaked hat (Make a Phrygian-style pileus) and as "a smooth cloud found attached to either a mountain top or growing cumulus tower." (photo); more at Wikipedia.

There is a Pileus.net, where some more photos are tucked beneath a thick set of news headlines. Clicking on those photos led to the locked door of private Flickr photos. I had to log in to Flickr to find that out, though, so we're not looking at the public URL there.

I've misplaced my glasses, so one item is about all I can squint through till I find them.
10 minutes later: My husband found my glasses in the bedclothes.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 11:04 AM | Permalink

April 11, 2008

Flash game contest winners, in time for the weekend

Go play: 5th Annual Casual Gameplay Design Competition winners at Jay Is Games. All are free, online Flash games.

Taxes, etc., shred my free time, so I can only nod at these, and at the rest of the Web, right now.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 1:56 AM | Permalink

April 10, 2008

Webby Awards: Fresh sites for your bookmarks

The Webby Awards has announced its 12th Annual Nominees.

I look at these as a way to discover new sites, but you can also vote for your favorites if you want to feel involved.

Definitely bookmark the link for those times you're tired of all the sites you usually browse.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 11:46 AM | Permalink

April 9, 2008

Haven Bros. Diner on 'Today Show' with R.I. blogger's photos

Video grab of NBC's Today Show
Haven Bros. owners Sal and Ivan Giusti are behind the counter as Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer broadcast a segment of The Today Show from the landmark Providence diner, relocated to NYC for the day.

The Today Show brought Haven Bros. Diner to NYC for a segment today that ran just over four minutes. Here's the clip, which will play after a commercial.

Meredith Vieira grew up in East Providence and was a reporter at Ch. 10; Matt Lauer only copped to being on a TV show here -- it was the nightly entertainment show PM Magazine, from 1981-85.

Both independently picked Haven Bros. as their favorite old diner for a new feature, "A Taste From Our Past."

The link comes from Greenville photographer Linda Hawkins' blog. Some of her photos of the diner were included in the segment.

My images are at 1.48, but watch the whole clip because it’s actually really fun! Ivan and Sal actually hauled the diner all the way to NYC for the show! It’s the first time the Haven Bros. has actually been out of RI! VERY COOL guys! What a fun segment! Ivan and Sal, what I really want to know is did Matt and Meredith actually eat those dogs so early in the morning?

Linda Hawkins photo

When I emailed Linda to ask how NBC knew about her work, she replied,

The NBC Today Show contacted me after they had done some research on the net for the Haven Bros. segment. They had stumbled upon my blog with images of the place (as well as other peoples' blogs) and they loved the style of the images so they sent me an email. It was fun and I'm glad I got to do it!

Linda Hawkins photo

Co-owners Ivan and Sal Giusti behind the counter at Haven Bros. Diner.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 2:59 PM | Permalink

Portuguese-style paella in New Bedford

After we'd taken our first helpings, we had barely made a dent in paella for two ($29.95) at Antonio's in New Bedford, Mass.

Monday I took my husband to Antonio's in New Bedford for paella for a birthday lunch. At 29.95 for two -- more like five or six, actually -- this Portugese-style Spanish dish was full of mussels, clams, scallops, chicken, chorizo and definitely improved by a whole split lobster. All of it swam in a mild, thin tomato sauce over yellow rice. The dish was not spicy --although there's hot sauce on the table if you want to pump it up -- and even the chorizo behaved more like beef than sausage.

Simple, delicious food. We left with about four pounds of leftovers.

This was the most expensive item on the menu, but we could have ordered a single portion for $19.95 with a $1 extra plate, and still not finished it. If we hadn't had paella on our minds, we might have tried the lobster cakes or the pork and clams.

It is not possible to photograph your food in an uncrowded restaurant without drawing glances. As I snapped, the waitress came over to ask if everything was alright.

Take the Washburn St. exit off 195 East (Exit 16). From there make a right on Belleville and a left at the light on Coggeshall. It's at 267Coggeshall St., on the right. Be prepared -- Antonio's is cash only.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 11:32 AM | Permalink

April 8, 2008

Science tats

Carl Zimmer's Science Tattoo Emporium

I (a science writer) wondered aloud if scientists had tattoos of their science. The answer was yes, and this site is the evidence. I'll be adding a new tattoo every day until I run out (if that day ever comes). If you want to share your own scientific ink, send it to me with some explanation.

And they did -- their fractals, molecules, equations and engravings, lots of DNA, neurons and a heart. The one-offs are numerous, and include the Philosopher's Stone, the plaque on the Pioneer spacecraft, and "a schematic diagram of a basic Crystal Radio taken from page 132 of Practical Wireless Telegraphy by Elmer Bucher published in 1921.""

Some are incredibly detailed, some are boring, but they're all... smart.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 11:48 PM | Permalink

Bob Dylan wins Pulitzer prize; pigs fly

The Pulitzer Prizes for 2008

SPECIAL CITATION: Bob Dylan

For his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.

The AP photo is of Bob playing McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket August 24, 2006.

"Something is happening but you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?" was written about a journalist.

You walk into the room
With your pencil in your hand
You see somebody naked
And you say, "Who is that man?"
You try so hard
But you don't understand
Just what you'll say
When you get home

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?...

-- 1985, "Ballad of a Thin Man" on Highway 61 Revisited, 1965; the rest of the lyics

Maybe the nod is a thanks for the heads-up from today's journalists. If it weren't for Bob, I'd be somebody else now.

Bob Dylan, Ballad of a Thin Man, from Eat the Document., 1966.

NEW YORK (AFP) — Legendary musician and folk icon Bob Dylan was handed a special citation from the Pulitzer Prize board Monday, following in the footsteps of fellow musicians Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane.

Dylan was honored with the special citation for his "profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power," the board said, announcing the winners.

The board, which normally concentrates on US print journalism, does not make special citations every year but has in the past recognized Theodor Seuss Geisel, the writer of the "Dr Seuss" books, and author Ray Bradbury.

Jazz musicians Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane were both mentioned posthumously, in 2006 and 2007.

I'm sure he didn't apply for one, paying the $50 entry fee. But he sure did lay out the future, back when.

Now, Things Have Changed.

Six awards went to the Washington Post, including "Dana Priest, Anne Hull and photographer Michel du Cille in exposing mistreatment of wounded veterans at Walter Reed Hospital," Virginia Tech, security contractors in Iraq, a world-class violinist who, as an experiment, played beautiful music in a subway station, the nation’s complex economic ills...

Flying pigs.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 2:46 AM | Permalink

April 7, 2008

Rainbow 'Rabbit'

Hannah Whitaker Rabbit

It's spring, it's my husband's birthday, and I'm off today to play.

We will not be taking a Dangerous Path.

Check out the Bowling ball garden art at the garden blog.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 12:02 AM | Permalink

April 6, 2008

Free today: Software that makes hi-rez stills from video and DVDs

Topaz Moment: "Easily grab high-resolution still images from video and DVD." Free today.

Giveaway of the Day gives away licensed commercial programs, one every 24 hours, to all comers. The catch is that you must download and install the program within that period, and they don't come with tech support or upgrades. (Every downloader uses the same license.) Some are screensavers, but today's is unique.

It's called Topaz Moment:

Capture high-resolution still images from videos and DVDs with this quick, easy, and powerful video stills solution. Topaz Moment is specifically designed to easily and efficiently capture video frames, significantly increase their quality and resolution, and turn unclean video frames into quality mega-pixel prints in seconds. Topaz Moment is the only software of its kind to use advanced super-resolution video enhancement technology to make sure your frame grabs are the best they can possibly be.

A loyal corps of users download these, test them, and race back to vote programs up or down and write up their reviews, all within a few hours. Topaz Moment has a remarkable 91 percent approval now, more than 6 hours into the release, with some of the negatives from people having installation problems, especially on Windows Vista. This sort of buzz is why a company would participate in Giveaway.

Some informative reactions:

What for:

Superb program. I’ve been loooking for something like this. Many reasons - e.g. I produce online education software, and I want to use a graphic as an icon to launch a video clip - having a still from the video is the best way. Also, for personal stuff - I have videos from holidays, or other visits to foregin destinations, and want to just capture one or two shots. And if you’re (like me, not professional), and want to get a single shot of some action, but you’ll never get the timing right, then take a video clip, and snip out the perfect shot.

Thanks GAOTD!!!

How:

I have to admit I’ve been bluffed. The result is awesome. At first, I tought that the software was only applying a filter to sharpen and denoise the picture captured. Well that’s what it does, but with the help of some previous and next frames, the result is very good.

I made a little test for you on the old movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” in its DVD version :
The capture before (Windows captured) :
http://www.kalagan.net/images/sans_Topaz.jpg
The capture after (captured by Topaz Moment) :
http://www.kalagan.net/images/avec_Topaz.jpg

and the How-to:

Highly recommended based on what I have seen so far. About setup and registration: After extracting the download, you will see three Icons. Here is what I did: I read the “Read Me” file, copied the Registration Key and noted the name “Giveawayoftheday” which has to be used; Then I clicked on the “Setup” Icon and installed the program. After registration was complete, the program will tell you it has been successfully registered. I wondered what the third Icon was for, so I went back and clicked on it, and after reading the opening screen, I have the impression this is only needed if the program needs repair or to be uninstalled. If this is incorrect, I hope someone will comment on it.

More on the 5.45mb program at its own page.

This giveaway expires at 3 a.m. Monday.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 9:41 AM | Permalink

April 5, 2008

How to infuse vodka, and recipes for penne, butterscotch and kohlrabi

How to infuse vodka at the Wired How-To Wiki by Wired.com writer Terrence Russell. "Some common choices include: Watermelon, lemon, apple, strawberry, peach, mango, cucumber, chili, mint, ginger, garlic, and lavender." Must be fresh. It begins,

"Maceration" may sound like some crazy combat maneuver, but it's really what happens when a flavor is steeped into a fluid. If you're using the process to add flavor to your vodka, it's given the much cooler moniker of "infusion." Vodka distillers have caught onto the craze, but for the most part they've stuck to common flavors like citrus. But with a decent jar, some produce, and lots of vodka, anyone can create their own signature flavored spirit.

News to use:

Stronger flavors like citrus can be infused as quickly as couple days, while mellow flavors like water melon and apple can take a week. Really light flavors like cucumber and lavender can take as long as two weeks.

So you're going to need to make something with a more immediate payoff. Over at Elise Bauer's Simply Recipes, you'll find (copiously photographed, step by step) a killer recipe for Penne Pasta with Meat Sauce Recipe, How to Make Butterscotch and a primer on Kohlrabi, with a dozen recipes.

McClatchy News Service photo

These little sputnik-shaped vegetables come in green or purple, can be eaten raw or cooked, and taste a lot like broccoli stems. The word kohlrabi is German for cabbage turnip (kohl as in cole-slaw, and rübe for turnip) though kohlrabi is more related to cabbage and cauliflower than to root vegetables. We usually eat them raw, just peeled, sliced and added to a salad, but they are also delicious cooked and are often used in Indian cuisine.

When I was small, I read a (mostly) picture book about Kohlrabi the Dragon, and thought the word was fascinating. I was small enough that it was hard to grasp the idea that a dragon's name was also a vegetable, as a helpful adult who saw the title told me.

I've still never eaten one.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 2:05 AM | Permalink | Comments 1

April 4, 2008

300 women political bloggers; Mp3s: Radiohead, '70s prog rock; Stone's 'W'; Modern medieval art, a hula hoop dome

The Political Voices of Women. "Opinion and Commentary of Over 300 Women Political Bloggers."

Catherine Morgan, founder of Informed Voters, explains,

This is a blog dedicated to giving women political bloggers a voice. If you have ever wondered, "Where are all the women political bloggers?"...You've just found them. From a list of over 300 women who blog about politics, I will choose one (or more) each day to be featured here...Liberal to conservative and everything in between...

Leading today is a post about the verbal war at the big Democratic political sites.

This is from a post by Sue at Nailing Jello To The Wall.

I came across an interesting post over at All Spin Zone. Blogger Richard Blair has done an admittedly unscientific study of the site traffic at 5 “A-List” progressive sites over the past month. You will recall that I wrote about my personal decision to stop visiting certain sites where I no longer felt welcome as a Clinton supporter. Well, apparently I was not alone in that decision:

A quick review of the graphics below tell a surprising tale: traffic is down significantly on the pro-Obama sites (30% or more over the past month), but about level on the pro-Clinton and “neutral” sites. What does this mean? I have no friggin’ idea. But the trends are clear and appear to be statistically significant.

You can read more and see the graphs here.

Although everyone types under an alias, the demographic profile of Obama supporters skews young and male, and of Clinton supporters older and female, it looks like aggressive young men have driven their mothers off these sites. but it's probably not quite so clear-cut. (Maybe not so young v. old, maybe not boys v. girls.)

Free mp3s: Radiohead Live at the BBC Radio Theatre, London, April 1, 2008.

Plus '70s prog rock (Genesis, ELP) all fresh at BigO, Singapore.

Movie: Daddy Issues, War Lust in Oliver Stone's 'W'. At ABC news,

It's a classic American story: In the prime of his life, a man who parties too much and lives in the shadow of his esteemed father turns his life around. He gives up alcohol, embraces religion and finds a new purpose.

But will his desire to impress his dad and purge his personal demons put the world in danger?

Coming soon to a movie theater near you: controversial director Oliver Stone's "W," the life story of President George W. Bush, a warts-and-all portrayal.

Though the movie is scheduled for release in 2009, there is a chance that it might be pushed up to come out before the November election, say insiders.

The movie, which starts filming this month with "No Country for Old Men" actor Josh Brolin playing Bush, paints a humanistic portrait of the president along with plenty of embarrassing anecdotes from his life story, judging by a copy of an early screenplay obtained by ABCNEWS.com...

How the masters did that:

The finished Becca (Sundial), 2006, egg tempera with gold and palladium leaf, collection of Dr. and Mrs. Joe Gretzula.

Jorn Barger's terse Robot Wisdom Web log headline is "Medieval paintcraft illustrated"; the page's official title is Fred Wessel | Technique Steps.

The subject is a medieval-style portrait, the process illustrated in 12 stages, with captions such as "Red clay “bole” mixed with rabbit skin glue was applied in the areas of the panel that would be covered with gold leaf."

Also found by Jorn: A dome made of 1,500 hula hoops and 12,500 zip ties, part of a milan design week preview 2008 at the amazing European site designboom. Poke around the Art category of its cut'n'paste blog for a visual treat.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 10:13 AM | Permalink

April 3, 2008

Classic tales & fables online; With Coretta the night MLK died...

Lore online: Classic Tales and Fables at children's author Rick Walton's site.

Aesop's Fables

American Fairy Tales, by L. Frank Baum

The Arabian Nights Entertainment

Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable

The Burgess Animal Book for Children, by Thornton W. Burgess

Buttercup Gold and Other Stories, by Ellen Robena Field

Flower Fables, by Louisa May Alcott

Folk and Fairy Tales

The Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter, by Beatrix Potter

The Happy Prince and Other Tales, by Oscar Wilde

Indian Why Stories, by Frank B. Linderman

Just So Stories, by Rudyard Kipling

Lincoln Tales

A Nonsense Anthology, by Carolyn Wells

Queer Little Folk, by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Robin Hood, by J. Walker McSpadden

The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen, by Rudolph Erich Raspe

Twilight Stories, by Margaret Sydney, et. al.

Witness: Reporter recalls 'eerie' but calm night with King's widow, children. "Former Associated Press reporter Kathryn Johnson is writing a memoir titled "Let Kathryn In," which includes stories about the civil rights movement. "

CNN publishes an excerpt, which begins,

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- It was eerie. Just hours after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated, I was in his home with his widow and eldest child, watching TV coverage of his death in awed silence...

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 11:09 AM | Permalink

April 2, 2008

Stonehenge dig video; 9 Lords a' blogging; The rationed U.S. Web

AP
Professor Tim Darvill of the University of Bournemouth, right, and Professor Geoff Wainwright of the Society of Antiquaries begin an excavation inside the stone circle of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England, Monday March 31, 2008. Video from Day One

The Stonehenge dig: follow it live at the BBC, which, along with Smithsonian Networks -- offering their own set of videos -- is funding the gentle excavation.

Story: The Lourdes of ancient Britain? Dig aims to reveal Stonehenge's purpose "Faith in power of stones may be key to unlocking mystery of ancient site"

Maev Kennedy in today's Guardian:

The first excavation for more than a generation at Stonehenge began yesterday, looking for evidence that the most famous prehistoric monument in the world was the Lourdes of the bronze age, where the sick and troubled sought healing from the supernatural power of bluestones brought from west Wales.

Although the trench will be only 3.5 metres long and a metre deep, archaeologists expect to find the foundation holes of the very first stone circle, built more than 4,500 years ago and then altered over centuries. With luck they will find enough organic material, including pollen grains, snail shells and fragments of the antler tools of the builders, using techniques developed since the last excavations, to allow them to date the monument accurately.

Special permission had to be obtained from English Heritage, guardian of the stones, and the government for the first excavation since 1964. Druids were also invited to give their blessing to disrupting the long sleep of the stones.

More video by Yvette Staelens, a member of the University of Bournemouth excavation team offers a brief, breathless clip shot while she walks inside the stones, and promises "more anon."

Partridges are next: The British House of Lords is leaping into blogging. At Lords of the Blog All none pilot bloggers are actual Lords and Baronesses.

Lords of the Blog is an experimental project to encourage direct dialogue between web users across the world and Members of the House of Lords. Commissioned by the House of Lords, the pilot project is conducted by the Hansard Society who are working directly with Members of the Lords to bring their blogs to the wider online audience.

Background on the project from Ross Ferguson, a blogger (Basic Craft) who helped raise money for it.while working as Director of eDemocracy for Hansard.

Leading now: Subsidiarity by Lord Tyler of Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, whose official title is Lord Tyler of Linkinhorne but whose real name is Paul.

Access wants to be freer, faster: Broadband Cowboy "As Beltway bureaucrats keep America in the wireless Dark Ages, a spectrum revolt is brewing in the heart of Indian country."

By Brent Hurtig in Wired :

Dewayne Hendricks will go awfully far out of his way to prove a point. He has mounted transceivers on rooftops in Mongolia and traveled to the South Seas to build a broadband network for the island nation of Tonga. His quest: to demonstrate the power of wireless technology - and the way the US government stunts its potential.

Hendricks isn't a government official, a telco CEO, or an engineer. Rather, he's a professional gadfly, who runs the Dandin Group, a consulting firm. With few qualifications beyond vision, chutzpah, and a hands-on mastery of wireless technology, he sits on the FCC's Technological Advisory Council, alongside a who's who of tech executives from AT&T, Cisco, WorldCom, and Lucent. He prefers to operate beyond the reach of US authorities, but his goal is nothing less than a fundamental reengineering of the national wireless infrastructure.

There's no sensible reason why Americans shouldn't have inexpensive, ubiquitous, high-performance broadband access, Hendricks says. Using technologies that are already available or in fast-track development, everyone could enjoy reliable, fully symmetrical wireless at T1 speed or better. No more digital divide. No more last-mile problem. No more compromises. The only things standing in the way are the FCC, Congress, and "other people who just don't get it."

Sitting in his cluttered home office in the Fremont hills above the San Francisco Bay, Hendricks exudes the runaway ebullience of a true believer. "People yearn for the way they communicate on Star Trek," the youthful 52-year-old says. He leans toward a coffee table neatly laid out with Trekker props and grabs one. "I need a communications paradigm shift," he exclaims, waving a toy Communicator, "so that anywhere I go, any time, I can move bits around."

via Doc Searls, who adds,

DeWayne is leaving the country. Going offshore. Because he’s giving up on geeks here in the U.S. We’re not fighting for the Net, he says. And we need to.

The Net is infrastructure, like highways and water. It shouldn't be rationed and sold at high prices.

If noble ideals don't appeal, try this: Everybody should get to shop online. Businesses try so hard to get you in the door of their brick and mortar stores -- why bar the door to their Web stores?

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 1:48 AM | Permalink

April 1, 2008

Top April Fools' joke Web sites

If you stumble on some strange Web sites today, be skeptical.

Top 10 April Fools' Day Joke Web Sites at PC World. Subhead: Normally staid sites and individuals celebrate April 1 with weird, silly, and elaborate hoax pages. Here are our favorite pranks of years past.

The top one hails from those jolly folks at the PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) blog:

A camo-tailed deer slips unseen through the forest primeval, thanks to a new coat of paint supplied by PETA volunteers seeking to protect it from hunters.

More: Wired takes a geekier approach: Anecdotes by year: 10 Best: April Fools' Gags (the Web Is Closing for Spring Cleaning!).

1998 Disney has bought MIT for $6.9 billion. The School of Engineering will be renamed the School of Imagineering and the campus will move to Orlando, according to hackers who altered the MIT homepage.

Bigger: Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes Of All Time at the Museum of Hoaxes.

Biggest:: AprilFoolsDayOnTheWeb.com has 423 thumbnails and one-line descriptions of sites going back to 2004. It's accepting your finds of new sites just up today for 2008.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 1:35 AM | Permalink | Comments 1