] At the same time, Rheingold is worried that established
] companies could quash such nascent innovations as
] file-sharing -- and potentially put the U.S. at risk of
] falling behind the rest of the world.

My comments exactly on BinRev Radio tonight.

MSNBC - Howard Rheingold's Latest Connection

] "New Scientist reports that the semi-annual Robo-One
] contest took place last week in Kawasaki, Japan.
] Humanoid robots (2 arms, 2 legs) battled it out
] one-on-one and in multi-robot brawls.

Wow... Check out the videos.

Slashdot | Humanoid Robot Combat in Japan

I cohost Binary Revolution Radio tuesday night at 9:30PM. The show has actually already been recorded. I hope it turned out well. We shall see. I spend a lot of time talking about memes and MemeStreams. Let me know what you think. If you aren't able to catch it live, they will have MP3s available on the website for download at any time.

MemeStreams on BinRev Radio

] For me, one of the highlights of the 2004 Olympics opening
] ceremony last night was not the flying circus, nor the
] torching of the phallus, but it was General Electric's
] new TV ad. Nanotechnology was not mentioned at all, but
] the film, "Fantastic Voyage," that old reliable nanotech
] analogy, was a prominent player.

Howard Lovy's NanoBot

] This SWIPE tool allows you to crack a 2D barcode. Ever
] noticed the barcode on the backside of your license?

Download the program or upload a GIF or JPG of a barcode and find out whats on it. Very, Very cool.

The SWIPE Toolkit

] People who casually use the term "piracy" to refer to the
] unauthorized exchange of copyrighted music, movies,
] books, and software would gain a deeper understanding of
] the terms they use by picking up the highly readable book
] Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden
] Age by Marcus Rediker. This recently released study
] (Beacon Press, ISBN 0-8070-5024-5) describes the lives
] and political significance of pirates at the period of
] their greatest growth during the early eighteenth
] century.
]
] Pirates, in Rediker's analysis, were more than just
] thieves. They created an alternative way to regard work,
] society, and life's pleasures in an economically and
] religiously repressive age.

Pirates are an interesting subject. There are very few really good books on them. Peter Lamborn Wilson wrote a good one. This may be another. Basically they weren't just criminal gangs out for loot, like their modern South East Asian descendants, they also had an anarchist ethos which does make them sound a hell of a lot like hackers.

(Update: When you look at the book reviewed here in Amazon, and then click on some of the author's other books you find several accusations that he is a "marxist," along with recommendations for other histories about pirates. This raises some interesting questions. On the one hand, one might expect a marxist to see his subject through that lense. On the other hand, "normal" historians have a lense through which they view events as well. Who would you trust to write a history of computer hackers? Do normal objective journalists do a good job of covering the hacker scene?)

O'Reilly Network: Before you speak of information pirates

Kimbo Slice is the guy in the white shorts. He is an underground boxer, that will fight anyone, anytime, anyplace, for between $5,000 and $10,000. Backed by a Miami porn site mogul, he has these fights for a living until he goes pro. Which he is looking to do, in UFC or something. So, if you wanna throw down with Kimbo then you'd better hurry up. Otherwise you'll have to assault him or go pro to get a piece.

It has been argued that he was on PCP, or a short acting anabolic agent popular with Mike Tyson, that stimulates extreme aggression. But the guy went to prison for 10 years, and was probably raped before he got that big, so I think he just has an enormous amount of aggression and experience in fighting.

You decide. For me: Kimbo is my hero either way. He is way tough.

kimboslice@hotmail.com if you want to throw down.

Meet Kimbo Slice. Do not anger Kimbo. Kimbo is teh tough.

Graphs of political book purchasing habits of amazon readers. These graphs demonstrate echo chambers in our society wherein the left talks to itself and the right talks to itself. There are a very small number of books that people on both sides read relative to the slew of books that are only read by people on a particular side. This is an old meme, but the graph has been updated recently. I memed an old version of this, but I had trouble finding it today. So, I'm rememing.

Political Books -- Polarized Readers -- May 2004

] Since 2001, President Bush's tax cuts have shifted
] federal tax payments from the richest Americans to a wide
] swath of middle-class families, the Congressional Budget
] Office has found, a conclusion likely to roil the
] presidential election campaign.

Tax Burden Shifts to the Middle (washingtonpost.com)

] John Young, a 69-year-old architect, was contacted a few
] weeks ago by Department of Homeland Security officials,
] who expressed concern about what he was posting on his
] Web site.

ABC news on Cryptome. A military intelligence agent once told me that Cryptome was respected in their community as the best unclassified source for "interesting" information available. Fuck Jane's.

ABCNEWS.com : Does Web Information Help Terrorists?