News for 2005-10-05T15:29:56

• 0xDECAFBAD

  • 2005-10-05T19:09:54 Ancestor rocks like a (creepy) rocking thing

    • The Ancestor podcast, like its predecessor EarthCore, is a fairly formulaic sci-fi slasher tale. But, it sure as hell beats anything on the SciFi Channel’s Saturday nights. And, as I’ve started to get sucked into NBC’s Surface, I keep finding myself comparing it to Scott Sigler’s work. ...

  • 2005-10-05T19:09:54 Acquisitions 2.0

    • Wow, isn’t this the week for acquisitions? NetNewsWire acquired by NewsGator. (And, the man with the drinks has more to say.) Congratulations, Brent! Upcoming.org acquired by Yahoo! Congratulations, Andy, Gordon, and Leonard! (Updated! I forgot the other guys at first post!) I’m not quite sure what to think about all of this ...

• Chris Pirillo

  • 2005-10-05T19:32:00 Microsoft Spam Filter - Out of Control?

    • I just tried responding to a very cordial email message sent to me this morning by Mike Van Snellenberg, dev lead, Server Feedback Systems. Seconds later, I received a bounce from Microsoft's mail server. This was not the first time I had been smacked in the face by their anti-spam technology. Instead of wasting my time by trying to figure out which keywords were rendering the message invalid (like I've had to do with other Microsoft email conversations before), I just decided to post my response here. But first, the vague retort from Microsoft's mail server:
      
      

      <xyzxyz@microsoft.com>: host maila.microsoft.com[131.107.3.125] said: 550 5.7.1 <Your e-mail was rejected by an anti-spam content filter on gateway (131.107.3.125).Reasons for rejection may be: obscene language, graphics, or spam-like characteristics. Removing these may let the e-mail through the filter.>

      ...huh? I CC'ed Scoble and Mark Cliggett, too - and those messages bounced as well. If you're going to bounce a Microsoftie-initiated email, at least tell me what I did wrong so that I can fix the damned thing!!! Anyway, on to the crux of Mike Van Snellenberg's original message, and my original response (as written mere minutes ago):
      
      

      I recently got back from vacation, and just saw your blog entry where you mentioned that you had some problems filing feedback on Connect. I'm the development lead for Connect, and I'd like to understand what errors you encountered so that we can get them fixed.

      Okay, for one - it's confusing as sin. ;) I should be able to log in and figure out what's going on in about 2.3 seconds. I have no idea what's going on, what I'm supposed to do, or where I'm supposed to go.
      
      Case in point - I didn't even *REALIZE* I could file feedback on Connect! :)
      
      

      Also, as Mark Cliggett mentioned on his comment to you, we're currently looking at marrying some of the nice features of Ladybug with Connect and having a single system for feedback going forward. If there are particular parts of the Ladybug experience that you think we should pay attention to, let me know, and I'll make sure we consider them for our next release.

      Ladybug is a dream as far as usability is concerned. I know what's going on from the first moment I load this page:
      
      http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/productfeedback/
      
      Bam! I'm smack-dab in the middle of an immersive experience. My bugs are right there, my trackings are right there, my suggestions, top suggestions, top bugs, etc. I can easily vote for the ones I believe *NEED* to be fixed, and easily connect with other community members in trying to seek a resolution.
      
      Drop Connect, Mike - it just doesn't work. It's a kludge, at best. I realize that's being a bit brutal, but I'm telling you that you'll waste a lot less time by going with a clear winner up front than you will by trying to bring down the elegance of Ladybug to Connect's current level.
      
      I would *LOVE* to log into Ladybug every day, get my subscribed content in RSS, etc. Connect, on the other hand, contains nothing compelling for a revisit. Everything I need to see on Connect is so deeply buried that it's useless; /me doesn't like to jump through flaming hoops.
      
      Remember, I'm talking about usability here - not about the processes on the backend. :) If Connect works better behind the scenes, it's losing its luster with a lame face forward. Please, please, please, please, PLEASE go to Ladybug. It's so much more efficient than Connect, BetaPlace, or the rapidly aging newsgroups. That's my opinion, Mike - and I don't mean to call your baby ugly.
      
      As your user, however, I don't want to use Connect again.

• Engadget

  • 2005-10-05T15:28:21 Brookstone's half-a-G 20GB PictureBook

    • 

      5.6-inch screen and 20GB drive or no, we can think of better ways to drop about a half a thousand dollars on a digital photo viewer than Brookstone’s PictureBook. For example, Epson’s P-2000 or P-4000, which also play back movies, or a freaking iPod color, for that matter. But hey, it’s your money, we ain’t gonna tell you how to (not to) blow it. We just request for future product naming schemes Brookstone not knockoff HP biting the Village Green Preservation Society, mkay?

      [Thanks, Joe]

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  • 2005-10-05T15:28:21 Sono Digital Media Player wireless MP3 receiver

    • 

      The Sono Digital Media Player is one of those devices that sounds great but which, we suspect, doesn’t quite live up to its potential. The Sono (not to be confused with Sonos) is a $149 “universal tuner” that looks like a table radio and combines a built-in FM receiver with a wireless connection to your PC for playback of audio files and access to Internet radio. Sounds a lot like the Roku SoundBridge Radio, but for less than half the price. Unfortunately, it doesn’t use WiFi; instead, it uses its own RF scheme, powered by a USB dongle that you connect to your PC. According to the specs, it also looks like it only supports MP3-formatted music files, which means you can forget about streaming any DRM’d music you’ve purchased online, along with CDs you’ve ripped in other formats.

      [Thanks, kinaja]

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  • 2005-10-05T15:28:22 Panasonic shows off Blu-ray notebook drive

    • 

      It’s just a prototype, and since it’s being displayed under glass it could be made of cardboard for all we know, but Panasonic is showing off a prototype laptop with a built-in Blu-ray drive at the Ceatac Japan 2005 trade show. The drive is a multi-function DVD/Blu-ray recorder, with the ability to record and play Blu-ray discs as well as recordable DVDs. Sony is also displaying Blu-ray recorders as part of a Vaio-R entertainment system that contains a separate DVD-R drive. Of course, Toshiba is also displaying prototype HD-DVD-equipped laptops, despite announcing that no real units will be out anytime soon, so who knows what’s really going to show up in stores when.

      [Thanks, Alexei]

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  • 2005-10-05T15:28:22 Toyota shows off angled dual-display GPS system

    • This might actually be illegal in some places, and we don’t expect to see it in the U.S. any time soon (so what else is new?), but that doesn’t mean we don’t like Toyota’s AS Limited Dual AVN Special, an angled dual-display (no, not that dual screen, more like that other dual screen) GPS system being offered to buyers of the company’s Alphard minivan in Japan. The system displays GPS data on the driver’s side, while the passenger can veg out to videos. And, no, the pic doesn’t have it backwards. It’s Japan, remember? They drive Brit-style over there.

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• The Daily WTF

  • 2005-10-05T19:37:37 It's Payback Time!

    • And no, I don't mean the colloquialism describing revenge. I'm talking about Payback, the every-so-ironically named internal accounting system now making its fourth appearance (see 1, 2, and 3) on this site. One area of the application we haven't yet covered is the UI experience. And it certainly is an experience.

      First, a quick look at the design view of a fairly typical Payback form ...

      

      Doesn't seem too bad; just a few text boxes, a list box, and a timer that fires an event off every three seconds. And heck, even a quick glance looking at the timer event code doesn't seem too bad, either ...

      Private Sub ControlTimer_Timer()
        Dim TextEntered As Boolean
        Dim SelectedItem As Boolean
        Dim Index As Integer
        Index = tspCourseInfo.SelectedItem.Index
      
        'This sub determines when to enable the controls
        SelectedItem = False
        TextEntered = False
        Select Case Index
          Case 1
            If (lstCourseTypes.ListIndex > 0) And _
                  (lstCourseTypes.Enabled = True And _
                  Len(Trim(txtCourseType.Text)) > 0) Then
              SelectedItem = True
            End If
            If Len(Trim(txtCourseType.Text)) > 0 And _
                  Len(Trim(txtCourseTypeName.Text)) > 0 Then
              TextEntered = True
            End If
          Case 2
            If (lstCourses.ListIndex > 0) And _
                  (lstCourses.Enabled = True And _
                  Len(Trim(txtAbbreviation.Text)) > 0) Then
              SelectedItem = True
            End If
            If Len(Trim(txtCourseName.Text)) > 0 And _
                  Len(Trim(txtAbbreviation.Text)) > 0 And _
                  Len(Trim(txtMat.Text)) > 0 And _
                  Len(Trim(txtCert.Text)) And _
                  Len(Trim(txtCreditHours.Text)) > 0 And _
                  Len(Trim(txtMaxSize.Text)) > 0 And _
                  Len(Trim(txtMinSize.Text)) > 0 Then
              TextEntered = True
            End If
          Case 3
            If blnChangeMade Then TextEntered = True
          Case 4
            If blnPartChangeMade Then TextEntered = True
        End Select
      
        cmdDelete.Enabled = SelectedItem
        cmdUpdate.Enabled = SelectedItem And TextEntered
        cmdSave.Enabled = TextEntered
        cmdCancel.Enabled = SelectedItem Or TextEntered
      End Sub

      That is, until you realize the "experience" this gives the users. Instead of behaving like a normal application and responding to UI events (change list item, change text, etc), Payback requires users to wait around for the timer event to fire and change the enabled/disabled and visible/invisible state of other controls.

  • 2005-10-04T17:04:21 Enumerating The Possibilities

    • All of us cope with loss in our own personal ways. I know it can be tough to think about, but have you ever thought about how you would deal with the loss of something near and dear? Something that you have grown to love and cherish? Something that has helped you maintain strong cohesion and enforce data integrity throughout your applications?

      But it could happen. No, really, it could; some languages don't support enumerations. And you need to be prepared to program in one of those languages. In your time of grieving, you don't want to go and program something like this ...

      define datastruct TPSReport as
      (
        Report_Number as fixedstring[7],
        Project_Number as fixedstring[5],
        Status__0_new_1_open_2_closed as int
        % ED: Snip ...
      )
      

      (Note: The submitter requested that not only the submission be anonymized, but the original programming language as well, since it was a rather obscure platform)

  • 2005-10-03T16:54:39 Alone In The Code

    • It can be a pretty frightening prospect to take the helms, full time, as the Sole Maintainer of a system. Being all alone in the system ... it can ... it can make programmers do things .... terrible things ... unspeakable things. Let's hope J Rojas doesn't succumb to the same fate as his predecessor, who proudly concocted this twisted tally system for indices of object arrays throughout the system ...

      void RstPccoLv(int curIdx) {
      
        if (sysobjs[curIdx * (0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + (0 + 1 + 1)] == 0x0000004e - 0x00000032)
        {
          if (sysobjs[curIdx * (0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + (0 + 1)] > -1)
          {
            sysobjs[curIdx * (0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + (0)] = 0;
            
            if (sysobjs[
                  sysobjs[
                    curIdx * (0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + (0 + 1)
                  ] * (0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + (0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1)
                ] < 0)
            {
              sysobjs[
                sysobjs[
                  curIdx * (0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + (0 + 1)
                ] * (0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + (0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1)
              ] += (4);
            }
            
            if (sysobjs[
                  sysobjs[
                    curIdx * (0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + (0 + 1)
                  ] * (0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + (0 + 1 + 1)
                ] == 0x0000004a - 0x00000032)
            {
              sysobjs[
                sysobjs[
                  curIdx * (0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + (0 + 1)
                ] * (0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + (0)
              ] = 0;
              
              XPos2 = sysobjs[curIdx * (0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + (0 + 1)];
              
              if ((XPos2 + 1) < nbObj)
              {
                while (sysobjs[(XPos2 + 1) * (0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + (0 + 1 + 1)]
                         == 0x0000004a - 0x00000032)
                {
                  sysobjs[(XPos2 + 1) * (0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + (0)] = 0;
                  XPos2++;
                }
              }
            }
            
            if (sysobjs[
                  sysobjs[
                    curIdx * (0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + (0 + 1)
                  ] * (0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + (0 + 1 + 1)
                ] == 0x0000004d - 0x00000032)
            {
              if ((sysobjs[curIdx * (0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + (0 + 1 + 1 + 1)] & (1 << 4)) == 0)
              {
                sysobjs[curIdx * (0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + (0)] = 0;
              }
              else
              {
                sysobjs[curIdx * (0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + (0)] = 1;
              }
            }
          }
        }
      } //ED: Indenting added

• Slashdot

  • 2005-10-05T15:28:34 Bugzilla Delivered to the Desktop

    • 

• Gizmodo

  • 2005-10-05T20:30:35 Gizmodo Announces Support for Some Form of Higher Definition DVD

    • Budapest, Hungary — Gizmodo, the gadgets weblog and wholly owned subsidiary of Gawker Media Inc., today announced its support for some kind of better looking, higher capacity, more expensive DVD format. The writers and editors of the weblog will purchase high definition DVDs, and the overly-priced components that will be required to play them, as soon as the industry figures out which format it plans to back.

      "Gizmodo is a big proponent of new formats," said executive director of standards creation and content leveraging Tobey Grumet. "We backed machine language punch cards, Betamax and MiniDisc, and now we look forward to backing DVD in some format as well."

      Gizmodo joins the likes of Microsoft, Paramount, Intel, Toshiba, Matsushita and Sony in supporting some form of next generation DVD. The weblog is a participating member in the debate over which standard to choose, and anticipates continuing anguish over having to write several dozen more entries about the issue.

      "As a big fan of the color blu, I was an early supporter of Blu-Ray technology," said Gizmodo's senior vice president of logistics Vince Veneziani. "But then I heard that HD DVDs would have a 0.65 numerical aperture and I was like, whoa! Then I found out there would be more porn on Blu-Ray and I kind of went back to Blu-Ray then I found out Paramount is releasing stuff on both formats and I was all 'Hold the phone.' Then I downloaded a pirated AVI of Madagascar and chilled. Chris Rock is so funny."

      About DVDs

      DVDs are these disks that you get from Netflix like four times a week and you never can watch them so they pile up and you're looking at these movies and you're wondering "At what point did I want to watch 40 hours of The Office? I mean it was a good show, but what? Was I drunk? I have to stop drunk-Netflixing." High definition DVDs will have like better pictures and maybe be digital.

      About Gizmodo.com

      Gizmodo.com is like that guy who shows off his new phone at the office and says that it can take 1.3-megapixel pictures and a bunch of other shit that you definitely don't care about until he takes your picture and emails it to you with a funny hat pasted on it and you get a little pissed when everyone starts passing it around the office and now you not only find him annoying AND you think he's a major prick.

• Planet JavaScript

  • 2005-10-05T19:02:52 Pokkari Blog: xFolk for Java

    • I’m proud to announce Sivitols, a Java microformat API. Sivitols’ microformat support is limited to xFolk for now, but we hope to expand its functionality in the future to include other microformats.

      I wrote Sivitols to support Video Vertigo’s tag sharing project, which is designed to enable the real- or near-real-time sharing of tags between member services. We’re releasing it under the Lesser General Public License.

      Part of our tag sharing implementation is a central server we call “Mirror Play,” which is written in Java. I’m writing Mirror Play, and I couldn’t find any Java support for the xFolk microformat, which is an integral part of our tag sharing system.

      The Video Vertigo project is “brainstorming the future of video syndication.” We co-founded the group with folks from FireANT, Mefeedia, Vlogdir and videoblogging.info to foster cooperation and data sharing between videoblogging services.

      Andreas Haugstrup Pedersen of videoblogging.info is working on a PHP xFolk implementation.

      I couldn’t find any Java support for xFolk so I wrote some myself. Available here, it’s part of an upcoming tag sharing project that Andreas and I are doing under the auspices of Video Vertigo. And likewise, apparently there’s no PHP library for xFolk, so Andreas is working on that.

• Joystiq

  • 2005-10-05T15:28:45 Activision stays firm on $60 price for next-gen titles

    • Speaking to Forbes magazine, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has reaffirmed his position on pricing next-generation console games at $60 – a 20% increase over the current generation. According to Kotick:

      “We’ve said we’re to going sell those products at higher price points until … the market forces us to sell them at lower price points, which we don’t think is likely. We don’t really think that there’s a lot of price sensitivity on the part of the consumer, if you’re delivering value.”

      Of course, the problem therein is with making sure the next-generation games are all worth $60, and Activision’s lineup of Tony Hawk, Call of Duty, and Quake sequels, may or may not have that added value over their predecessors.
      
      [Thanks, bandersnatch]

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  • 2005-10-05T15:28:45 Bungie comfirms Halo 3 script is fake

    • About 3 hours ago, Bungie addressed the Halo 3 script leak rumors that have been circulating the Internet, and the answer is, not surprisingly, that the script “is either fake, or the fanfic of a dedicated Halo fan being passed off as real…it has nothing to do with Bungie or Joseph Staten.”
      
      So that settles it, the Halo 3 script is as fake as the pictured box art. The script, although very long, was not as well written as Bungie or Joseph Staten’s previous work. And, just to clarify, the script is definitely not for the Halo movie either, as Halo scribe Alex Garland has more than proven himself as a good screenwriter.
      
      [via Halo.Bungie.org. Thanks, bandersnatch]

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  • 2005-10-05T15:28:45 Amazon UK lists Duke Nukem Forever for December release

    • Online news site The Inquirer did some digging through Amazon.com’s UK site and has found a listing for Duke Nukem Forever that lets you pre-order the game (for £24.99) or buy it with Quake 4 for a discount, and gives a release date of December 2, 2005.
      
      Don’t get your hopes up, though, this is probably just Amazon UK being greedy – the game is not listed on GameStop, EBgames, or even Amazon.com’s US site. 3D Realms, the company that has been working on Duke Nukem Forever since 1997, has repeatedly stated that it’ll be done “when it’s ready” and that “once we begin taking pre-orders, believe us, you’ll know about it.” Our advice is to ignore the order page entirely, and do not give it a second thought unless we start seeing some screenshots of the game in the coming months.

      [Thanks, bandersnatch]

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  • 2005-10-05T15:28:46 Alone in the Dark announced for Xbox 360

    • 

      Atari has confirmed that an Alone in the Dark installment is in development for Xbox 360—also rumored to be in the works for PlayStation 3. While few details have been revealed, the selection of screens that has been released certainly grabs our attention (but are they in-game?). Alone in the Dark 360 (working title) is said to feature highly detailed, free-roaming, fully interactive environments. Will Eden’s game be the next-gen survival horror title to beat?

      [Thanks, JamesO]

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  • 2005-10-05T15:28:46 Hidden Star Fox Arwing in Ocarina of Time?

    • Time to dust of your N64 and do battle against a miniature Arwing as Link in the classic Zelda masterpiece, Ocarina of Time. Apparently, there’s a Gameshark code that let’s you change one of the characters in Kokiri village into any object in the game. Guess what? There’s an arwing hidden in the code. The little bugger even shoots laser beams. En garde!

      [Thanks, dusda]

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• MacUpdate - Mac OS X

  • 2005-10-05T15:28:49 EyeTV Exporter 1.2.1 - Export all EyeTV recordings with one click.

  • 2005-10-05T15:28:49 RSS Menu 1.4.1 - RSS/Atom reader.

  • 2005-10-05T15:28:49 VideoSpace 1.0 - Widget for video editors, companion to Final Cut Pro/Express.

• VersionTracker: Mac OS X

  • 2005-10-05T15:28:51 EyeTV Exporter - 1.2.1

    • export all your EyeTV Recording with one click

  • 2005-10-05T15:28:51 RSS Menu - 1.4.1

    • systemwide menu for RSS/Atom feeds

  • 2005-10-05T15:28:51 VideoSpace - 1.0

    • widget calculates disk space required for specified settings

  • 2005-10-05T15:28:51 miniStat2 - 1.4.2

    • system monitoring widget

• Macworld

  • 2005-10-05T19:54:00 News: FirmTek ships four-bay eSATA enclosure

    • FirmTek is now shipping a four-bay external SATA enclosure.

  • 2005-10-05T19:20:00 News: Edge Tech offers iPod dock/card reader

    • Edge Tech has combined an iPod dock with a flash card reader.

• Cheese Shop recent updates

  • 2005-10-05T13:24:19 psync 0.2.1

    • psync is a distribution mirroring utility with consistency in mind.

• ABC News: Technology

  • 2005-10-05T19:36:32 Witness: 'Intelligent Design' Used in Book

    • Witness Says That Biology Textbook Replaced 'Creation' With 'Intelligent Design

  • 2005-10-05T19:36:26 Three Share Nobel Prize in Chemistry

    • Two Americans and Frenchman Win Nobel Prize for Way to Create a Chemical 'Dance' That Makes Molecules Swap Atoms

  • 2005-10-05T19:19:56 Forecasters: Another Hurricane Could Hit

    • Forecasters Warn That Another Devastating Hurricane Could Hit the United States This Year

• ABC News: International

  • 2005-10-05T20:03:56 Russia, Britain to Increase Terror Efforts

    • Russia, Britain Pledge to Work Together More to Fight Terrorism; Putin Tours London Command Center

  • 2005-10-05T20:01:49 Indonesian Police Pursue Tip on Bomber

    • Indonesian Police Pursue Tip That One of Bali Bombers Studied on Island Known for Islamic Schools

  • 2005-10-05T19:57:40 Africans Rush Spanish Enclave Fence Again

    • African Immigrants Charge Razor-Wire Border Between Morocco, Spanish Enclave Yet Again; 40-50 Hurt

  • 2005-10-05T19:55:35 Brazil Seeks to Punish U.S. for Subsidies

    • Brazil Seeking Final WTO Permission to Retaliate Against U.S. for Its Illegal Cotton Subsidies

  • 2005-10-05T19:53:29 Some Serbs Have Mixed Feelings on Uprising

    • Five Years After Uprising That Ousted Milosevic, Serb President Says Burdens Still the Same

  • 2005-10-05T19:47:16 King Abdullah: Mideast Leaders to Meet

    • Jordanian King Says Israeli, Palestinian Leaders Will Meet Next Week to Revive Peace Process

  • 2005-10-05T19:45:06 Schroeder, Merkel to Meet About Stalemate

    • German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Challenger Angela Merkel to Meet on Resolving Stalemate

  • 2005-10-05T19:42:58 At Least 25 Killed in Iraq Mosque Blast

    • At Least 25 Killed, 87 Wounded in Bomb Explosion at Entrance of Shiite Mosque in Hillah, Iraq

  • 2005-10-05T19:40:46 Storms Leave 82 Dead Across Cent. America

    • Storms Spawned by Hurricane Stan Leave 82 Dead Across Central America; Search on for Survivors

  • 2005-10-05T19:36:30 Sunnis Drop Threat to Boycott Referendum

    • Sunnis Drop Threat to Boycott Iraq Constitution Referendum After Parliament Reverses Rules Change

• BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition

  • 2005-10-05T20:08:15 Euthanasia test for US court

    • The US Supreme Court is hearing its first case under new leadership on the issue of assisted suicide.

  • 2005-10-05T19:56:12 Ronnie Barker: Your tributes

    • British comedy actor Ronnie Barker has died at his home after a long illness. Send us your tributes.

  • 2005-10-05T19:28:48 Police investigate E.coli death

    • Police are to conduct an inquiry into the E.coli outbreak after the death of five-year-old Mason Jones.

  • 2005-10-05T19:18:18 Charles and Camilla to tour US

    • The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall are to travel to the US on their first official overseas royal tour.

  • 2005-10-05T18:34:22 Spain may judge Guatemala abuses

    • Spain's highest court says Spain can probe genocide and other war crimes in Guatemala and elsewhere.

• Yahoo! News: Most Emailed

  • 2005-10-05T20:11:36 High Court Weighs in on Assisted Suicide (AP)

    • AP - Newly installed Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday sharply questioned a lawyer arguing for preservation of Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law, noting the federal government's tough regulation of addictive drugs.

      
      

  • 2005-10-05T20:09:02 CORRECTED: US poverty: chronic ill, little hope for cure (Reuters)

    • Reuters - Four decades after a U.S. president declared war on poverty, more than 37 million people in the world's richest country are officially classified as poor and their number has been on the rise for years.

      
      

  • 2005-10-05T19:38:55 Economy Gets Another Inflation Warning (AP)

    • AP - The economy received another inflation warning on Wednesday, when a survey of industry executives showed that energy costs drove prices higher in September while business activity slowed in the services sector. The report reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve would continue to raise rates as the economy struggles with rising fuel costs aggravated by Hurricane Katrina.

  • 2005-10-05T19:33:03 Three Share Nobel Prize in Chemistry (AP)

    • AP - Two Americans and a French scientist won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for developing a chemical "dance" that makes molecules swap atoms, a process now used to produce medicines, plastics and other products with more efficiency and less environmental hazard.

      
      

  • 2005-10-05T18:02:55 Researchers Reconstruct 1918 Flu Virus (AP)

    • AP - Scientists have made from scratch the Spanish flu virus that killed as many as 50 million people in 1918, the first time an infectious agent behind a historic pandemic has ever been reconstructed.

  • 2005-10-05T17:27:00 Tropical Storm Tammy Forms Off Fla. Coast (AP)

    • AP - Tropical Storm Tammy formed just off Florida's east coast Wednesday and could bring tornadoes, heavy rains and coastal erosion to northern Florida and parts of Georgia and the Carolinas.

      
      

• Just a Bump in the Beltway

  • 2005-10-05T20:16:06 What Drives Us

    • The Rumor Mill By Anne Applebaum Wednesday, October 5, 2005; Page A23 Did you know that a monster crocodile was fished out of the New Orleans floodwaters? Had you realized that sharks were swimming through the submerged streets of the...

• Daily Kos

  • 2005-10-05T20:14:56 O'Connor was "opposed" to abortion as well

    • Atrios has the goods.

      The Associated Press
      July 7, 1981, Tuesday, AM cycle

      Asked about Mrs. O'Connor's position on the extremely sensitive abortion issue, Reagan, who said he had interviewed the intended nominee, told reporters as he left the press room: "I am completely satisfied."

      At her press conference, Mrs. O'Connor declined questions over that issue, the ERA and others, saying "I'm sorry. I cannot address myself to substantive issues pending my confirmation."

      But deputy White House press secretary Larry Speakes said she had told the president "she is personally opposed to abortion and that it was especially abhorent to her. She also feels the subject of the regulation of abortion is a legitimate subject for the legislative area."

      ---------

      United Press International

      July 8, 1981, Wednesday, AM cycle

      Television evangelist James Robison, taking the opposite position of many of his conservative colleagues, Wednesday said he supports the nomination of Sandra O'Connor to the Supreme Court.

      In a statement, Robison said he based his support for Mrs. O'Connor on a conversation Tuesday with presidential counselor Edwin Meese. A Robison spokesman said Robison obtained the following statement from Meese:

      ''Sandra O'Connor thinks abortion is abhorrent and is not in favor of it. She agrees with the president on abortion. There was a time when she was sympathetic toward the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) movement, but the more she studied and found out about it the more she changed her mind.

      ''She is very conservative ... Sandra O'Connor assured the president that she was in agreement with him and she totally supports pro-family issues and the Republican platform.''

      Just goes to show, you never know what you'll get in a justice once political pressures are off the table. O'Connor turned into one of the most reliable votes for Choice on the court.

      (And further proof that you can personally find abortion abhorrent, and still support a woman's right to choose.)

  • 2005-10-05T20:14:56 GOP Winter of Discontent: Lott Blows Cold on Miers

    • MSNBC:

      I need to know a lot more about her, her experience and her level of competence and what is her philosophy. I really don't know this lady and I do think I owe it to my constituents and to my own conscience to do due diligence and find out actually who this person is," he said.

      His first impression, however, was not a positive one. "I don't just automatically salute or take a deep bow anytime a nominee is sent up," he said. "I have to find out who these people are, and right now, I'm not satisfied with what I know. I'm not comfortable with the nomination, so we'll just have to work through the process in due time."

      Lott wants answers too. So do I. So should every Senator, Democrat and Republican. And for every nominee. Not just Miers. Not just Roberts. Every nominee, Democratic or Republican.

      Let's end this era of stealth nominees. Let the Senate do its Constitutional duty of advice and consent by providing the information it must have. No more stonewalls.

  • 2005-10-05T20:14:56 Midday open thread

    • Get it off your chest.

  • 2005-10-05T20:14:56 NV-Sen: We've got our candidate

    • Jack Carter, son of Jimmy, will challenge Ensign.

      Jack Carter, the son of former President Carter, said Tuesday he plans to run against John Ensign for the U.S. Senate next year.

      Carter, 58, and his wife, Elizabeth, have lived in Las Vegas since 2003, operating the investment consulting firm Carter Global.

      "I'm very seriously exploring it," Carter said in an interview Tuesday. "I had not planned to run for office. I have no infrastructure and this is new to me."

      Carter said he decided to run in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He said he was offended by the federal government's response to the disaster.

      "I'm more concerned than ever with the way that the country is headed," Carter said.

      Reid has promised to aggressively support and campaign for whoever rose against Ensign. He'll have a chance to shatter rumors of a truce with Ensign.  

• Upcoming.org: Ann Arbor Events

  • 2005-10-05T15:29:15 Accelerated Innovation Training

    • Nov 09: Accelerated Innovation Training at Ann Arbor Thinkubator

  • 2005-10-05T15:29:15 Become a BEST Selling Author

    • Nov 18: Become a BEST Selling Author at Ann Arbor Thinkubator

• del.icio.us/inbox/deusx

  • 2005-10-05T15:29:22 Mustard Man, Guy, Dude - We Found Him!

  • 2005-10-05T15:29:22 ..::: EPS Online Debate :::.. Google and the Library: why the boys and girls at Google don't "get" books

  • 2005-10-05T15:29:22 Things around Ann Arbor

    • Bud Gibson's Ning app

  • 2005-10-05T15:29:22 Boing Boing: Robot inspects bank robber's mouth for bomb

    • I bet he's very glad he didn't tell them he'd hidden it in his butt.

  • 2005-10-05T15:29:22 Mac Geekery - How to Install Debian via Network Boot from a Mac

    • Interesting.. may try this with SuSe or Ubuntu, as well

  • 2005-10-05T15:29:22 Snakes on a Motherfucking Plane

• Jeremy Zawodny's linkblog

  • 2005-10-05T20:00:13 Google, Sun to jointly develop better news conferences

    • I link to this simply because of the headline

• Feedster on: ray kurzweil

  • 2005-10-05T06:54:45 The Singularity is Coming, or Is It?

    • 
      There has been a lot of buzz about a new book by Ray Kurzweil predicting "The Singularity". Here is one example. Here is another. This one goes into detail.
      >

      
      
      

      
      
      

      
      Basically, when the Singularity comes, humanity will merge with self-aware computers to become god-like. Normal humans will find themselves obsolete.
      >

      
      
      

      
      
      

      
      I'm not worried for a couple of reasons.
      >

      
      
      

      
      
      

      
      First, Kurzweil is predicting based on current trends. One of these is Moore's Law which says that the complexity of computer chips doubles every 18 months. Kurzweil uses this to predict how complex computers will be in 40 years.
      >

      
      
      

      
      
      

      
      The thing is, Moore's Law is actually Moore's Observation. Moore, a top engineer at HP at the time, observed in the 1970s how fast compuer complexity increased. This became self-fulfilling when the marketing people at Intel got ahold of it. Currenty Intel executives are convinced that their stock will drop precipitously if they fall behind Moore's Law so they throw enourmous resources at maintaining this rate. This means that rather than being a hard and fast law, it is a marketing concept.
      >

      
      
      

      
      
      

      
      Eventually Moore's Law will run into physics. To see what I mean, look at flight.
      >

      
      
      

      
      
      

      
      The Wright Brothers first flew in 1903. Their flight was nothing more than an extended hop. They realized this and kept it secret for nearly two years. By 1905 they had an airplane that could stay in the air for a half hour (until it ran out of fuel) and was fully controlable. It could fly at speeds of nearly 40 miles an hour.
      >

      
      
      

      
      
      

      
      Fifteen years later planes could fly reach speeds of over 100 miles per hour. By WWII jets were invented and the speed of sound was broken in 1947. The SR71 Blackhawk first flew in 1964. It could fly at mach 3.3 (three times the speed of sound).
      >

      
      
      

      
      
      

      
      So we went from 40 mph to 2,175 mph in sixty years. If we extropolate from there then we should have planes that can fly 10,000 mph or faster but the SR71 continues to be the fastest plane built. Flight ran into the laws of physics. Friction is a real problem at these speeds, both as drag and as heat.
      >

      
      
      

      
      
      

      
      This is happening with computers. Computer complexity is increased by making finer etching in silicon but we are approaching the limits. You cannot etch smaller than an atom.
      >

      
      
      

      
      
      

      
      Speed is another issue. Clock speeds keep increasing but there are limits here, also. We already hit the limits of memory. While engineers put more memory on a chip they have not made it ru any faster in some time. There are tricks for getting around thisbut they are tricks and they have their own limits.
      >

      
      
      

      
      
      

      
      So the idea of Moore's Law continuing for the next 40 years is unlikely.
      >

      
      
      

      
      
      

      
      The next problem with Kurzweil's predictions is self-aware computers. He assues that once computers are powerful enough they will be self-aware.There is no reason to think this. We think in ways that are very different from the way computers work. While scientists are researching exactly how we think, we do not know when this will be solved or how computers will need to be changed to simulate thought.
      >

      
      
      

      
      
      

      
      Kurzweil makes a lot of other predeictions dealing with genetics ond other sciences but I doubt that he is any closer with them.
      

      From The Truth According to Mark (feed)
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  • 2005-10-05T06:51:55 Singularity draft review

    • My draft review of Ray Kurzweil's Singularity is up for comments.I've finally received my copy of Ray Kurzweil's Singularity, which was posted to me by its American publisher six weeks ago. The title refers to the claim that the process of technological change, notably in relation to computing, biotechnology and nanotechnology is accelerating to the point where it will produce a fundamental, and almost instantaneous, change in what it means to be human, arising from the combination of artificial intelligence and the use of biotechnology to re-engineer our bodies and minds.... Not surprisingly, Kurzweil dismisses such talk, arguing that just as transistors displaced vacuum tubes and integrated circuits displaced discrete transistors, new computing paradigms based on quantum effects will allow continued progress along the lines of Moores Law right through this century, and well past the point at which computers are powerful enough to permit functional emulation of human brains. Copyright: Copyright 2005

      From John Quiggin (feed)
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  • 2005-10-05T06:37:04 contemplating some changes...

    • I've been reading Ray Kurzweil's new book, The Singularity is Near, along with several others, including The FairTax by Neal Boortz and John Linder and The West's Last Chance by Tony Blankley.
      And I've been thinking. I've been trying to avoid writing too much about anything because I've been thinking so much and I've come to realize that writing is not so much a release of information as it is a distraction from organizing information in your mind. Oh the occasional flash of brilliance appears without thinking about it, simply letting your mind do the talking, but usually, it's just the same old same old. I tell you a story, you read the story, and there we go, that's that.
      We're approaching an epochal moment in the history of the human race, and not just epochal in terms of its magntiude, but of the significance to every human being. We are on the verge of being able to ensure that barring some hostile alien invasion force, no longer will we be carrying all of our eggs in one basket. I look at the trivial nature of politics and I shriek in horror that I find so much of it fascinating, that this ho-hum national undebate that is going on because of Harriet Myer, I just cant' believe I let it consume my time the way that I do. Reading what everyone is saying, thinking about the President's strategic goals, wondering if Karl Rove had a meeting with some Indian tribe and maybe smoked the peace pipe...all of this is unimportant to the task at hand: getting ourselves off this god forsaken planet and into infinity.
      Oh blah blah, it's too early in the morning for that Star Trek crap. People flying around the galaxy, colonizing thousands upon thousands of star systems, the human race multiplying and bringing order to chaos. But, what about the speed of light? And what about all the damage we've done to this planet, forget about all those others, and don't we have enough problems down here without needing to bring them up there?
      Whine, bitch and moan.
      I'm tired of it all. I'm tired of hearing that the Pakistanis and the Indians can't agree to just draw a line down the middle of their disputed territory. I'm tired of worrying about whether or not there will be enough Europeans in the middle of this century to maintain their marginally Western characterisits. I'm tired of worrying about when China will invade Taiwan and what will happen to me because of it. I'm tired of the Palestinians, I'm tired of the Kurds, the Shiites, the Sunnis, Robert Mugabo, Mexican immigrants, Canadian incompetence, I'm tired of waiting for the right Supreme Court nominee to bring the constitution in exile back, I'm tired of defending Dubya by arguing that it's better than a Democrat would have been, of ungrateful South Koreans and Phillipinos, I'm tired of the whole damn planet and I'm really sick and tired of having my fate determined by individuals who aren't living my life. Oh, but we live in a free society, you can choose what you want to do! More whining. Sure, I can choose within a certain context what I want to do with my life, but I cannot determine what the rest of the human race. There are enough people on this planet who want my way of life to end and the only way to really guarantee that nothing like would happen would require the kind of warfare unimagined in the 20th century, the kind of total, uninhibited by ethical constraints (think about what Ann Coulter said right after 9/11 and I'm paraphrasing: We need to go into their cities, kill their leaders, and force them to convert to Christianity or die themselves.) Short of that, or a genuine self-purge by Muslims, I fail to see how this little "problem" that we have so aptly named the GWOT (rather than officially declaring war on all state-sponsors of terrorism and their affiliates, mandating us to finish this to the bitter end, officially as in an act of Congress, which is the way that war is supposed to be declared and yet another reason to view Dubya as having betrayed the conservative movements trust) is going to go away or that we are going to derail it without removing the three big remaining supporters, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Syria and without doing so, we are doomed to the inevitable failure that will result as soon as a Democrat is elected President.
      So I want off the planet. It's official. Not that it was ever really in doubt for anyone who ever really knew me, but the fact remains that nothing is going to change because change is illusory. What really happens is that the people experiencing the world change, and thus, because they are different from the people who were here before, they believe that things have changed. I've said it before and I'll say it again: you could send an email a hundred years ago, hell more than a hundred years ago. It was called a telegram and it got there just about as fast as it does now. Of course, unless you had a switching station at your house you couldn't do it from home and you couldn't expect an immediate reply, but the effect was the same. And the same is true with a letter, you're just sending bits of information, simply at a much slower rate, and the same is true with language. Things have only sped up and now we have the 24 hour news cycle that must be filled with all the meaningless meanderings of an age that thinks that two hurricanes hitting within a few days of each other is "news". That's old hat my fine fellow. News is supposed to be new.
      I would trade all of the planetary pleasures the Earth has to offer to be working to terraform Mars right now. Being able to breathe freely on the surface without a suit on, forget about it. Sunbathing, forget about it, except maybe through special glass that filters out what the Earth's atmosphere does for me. Being able to visit historical spots and enjoying viewing what awe inspiring wonders the human race has created. Tut-tut, I need none of that. Forced to live underground, carving out a tiny little sphere of existence on a harsh and alien surface, armed only with my wits and bravado and my nanobots and genetically enhanced body of course, but there, carving out of my tiny little sphere a place where one day people will walk without suits and breathe the air freely. Somebody dig up Robert Heinlein's body and get to work on reanimating it because we need to get moving today. Forget about building oil refineries, our new nuclear power plants. What if the goal of the United States was for it's citizens to become the first citizens of the Solar System and to say to hell with the rest of ya! You guys figure out how to live with each other. We thought we had something pretty good going on down there, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOO you had to bring in your international treaties and non governmental organizations and people like PETA and the Sierra Club and the infanticide maniacs and all the other bullshit that comprises so much of what passes for civilization these days. How long do you think it would be before everyone was at each other's throats, because that's how it was for most of human history. Everyone was at each other's throats. There was no PC. There were no mixed messages. Why can't everyone see how ridiculous (except that I see that on Amazon there's a fantastic book I'm thinking about buying....).
      Of course, for those of you who do know me, I talk the talk, but would I really be interested in leaving the planet, pretty much permanently, because Martian gravity is less than Earth's it would be unlikely that I would be able to return, ever. I could visit worlds of similar or lesser gravity, but never back home, my muscles would not be able to handle the stress, much less my bones (although there is still substantial debate on how resilient the human body is; we just won't know until we try). As it says over to your left, nothing like recognizing that we're all hypocrites. People so easily mock our flaws, but it's our flaws that I think are our best feature. Without flaws, we would never know virtues, and without flaws, we could never truly appreciate how diametrically contradictory existence is, and that's really the key. We have the technology to do all these things, we could build a fleet of nuclear powered ships to begin traversing the inner solar system and ferrying materials and people to Mars and the moon and the larger asteroids, of which Ceres, might contain more freshwater than our entire planet does!
      And yet, the closest I'll probably get to space is any one of the numerous video games that I sometimes entertain and occassionaly challenge myself with.
      And that saddens me. To think that we are capable of so much, yet doing so little. To know that the capacity for greatness is there, yet it just holds back, waiting, watching, wondering, ultimately we are more content with dreaming ideas than we are actually doing them. Imagining a great idea is comforting, trying to build it in this world, terrifying, because the threat of annihilation, of retribution, of vengeance plain and simple, of being drafted to fight the Chinese, any of these things, it is what must be overcome and it is what must also be avoided. How to balance on a two edged sword. The answer is jump off the sword you fool.

      From EntropyMobius (feed)
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• Feedster on: scraper

  • 2005-10-05T19:37:02 Learn more about Sun's latest innovations (ADV)

    • If you missed Sun's live Network Computing event, don't miss the encore. Watch the debut of the new industry standard Sun Fire x64 servers and more. Catch the encore now!
      
      Click for more information

  • 2005-10-05T19:37:01 Dental Damnings

    • 
      Is it just me or do dentists generally seem just a tad “off” compared to normal people? My dentist is WAAAY too chipper at 8 a.m. to scrape tartar off of grumbling patients. It’s like they’re all from another planet. They smile too much and their teeth are always just a tad too white.
      >

      
      
      

      
      
      

      
      I understand you have to set a good example…and of course it can’t be easy being in a profession where your patrons automatically hate you, but please stop whistling while you suck spit from my mouth and casually wipe blood on that bib from you POKING AROUND MY TEETH!
      >

      
      
      

      
      
      

      
      Yes, yes, I know I should floss more. I can never admit to my dentist that my problem is simply that I am uber lazy. That’s it. You’d think after enduring six years in braces, three of which with a HEAD GEAR and several more years with a retainer I lost every three months and then getting a cavity at 26 with NO DENTAL PLAN and shelling out $300 to fix it …I’d learn about good oral hygiene. Nope. Bring on the scraper, that’s what my insurance company is paying you for!
      >

      
      
      

      
      
      

      
      The good thing is that they send me home with a goodie bag. I’m not joking. I got Listerine, TWO tooth brushes, several flavors of toothpaste and, of course, dental floss.
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      Since when do they make tropical fruit tooth paste? It's like candy!

      From Greetings from the home office (feed)
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  • 2005-10-05T09:22:42 Frost to end summer

    • Iowa City Press-Citizen Be ready to cover the plants, and find that ice scraper -- the season's first frost is coming. Copyright: Copyright 2005, Topix.net

      From Toronto, IA - Topix.net (feed)
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• Feedster on: cognitive psychology

  • 2005-10-05T18:34:08 Live AMD Online Event 3 -- Dual-Core Solutions (ADV)

    • Come join AMD, Sun, Oracle, and other industry leaders as we explore the power of dual-core solutions in the enterprise. Join us today.
      
      Click for more information

  • 2005-10-05T18:34:07 Can We Really Tell Ourselves How We Should Feel?

    • 
      I guess not.

      The emotion usually comes so fast I don't really have the time to think which feeling should manifest in my heart at that very moment. And you can't tell another person, "No, you should not feel this way, it's not right." I think that's such a superficial remark.

      When I was studying in Uni, the psychology of feeling is very much attached to what we think about something (cognitive).

      From People Still Matter (feed)
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  • 2005-10-05T17:18:00 Assistant Professor, Psychology - George Mason University US-VA-Fairfax

    • George Mason University - The Department of Psychology has a tenure-track position available in Cognitive Neuroscience. We seek researchers who integrate empiri
      From: HumanResources.com Copyright: Copyright (c) 2005 Indeed, LLC All rights reserved.

      From All jobs in Virginia | Indeed.com (feed)
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• Harpers.org

  • 2005-10-05T15:29:50 For Whom the Ring Tones

    • The following responses were among those given to a survey conducted in Lagos last year by the Daily Times of Nigeria that asked people whether they believed rumors that answering cell-phone (GSM) calls from certain “killer numbers” causes bleeding and death.

  • 2005-10-05T15:29:50 Weekly Review

    • (Continued...)