] About a year ago, researchers [took] genetic material
] from spiders, spliced it into mammalian cells and used
] the cells to produce silk proteins.
]
] Now, researchers in Japan have done a similar bit of
] genetic engineering, only with a reverse goal in mind.
] They've modified silkworms to produce a mammalian protein
] -- specifically, human-type collagen -- along with silk
] in their cocoons.

Down a New Silk Road

In our own modern times, a comparable revolution has been wrought by information technology. In Our Modern Times, Daniel Cohen traces the roots of this revolution back to the uprisings of 1968, when the youth of the industrialized world rejected the bourgeois values of their parents and the general situation of the workers. Students raised in the anti-establishment culture of the 1960s were able to shatter the world of standardization created by their parents. By the end of the twentieth century, information technology had created decentralized work structures that encouraged autonomy and personal initiative. But with this greater flexibility came the psychic stress and burnout of "24/7." Cohen explores the many ways that the new technology has changed our work and personal lives, our very conceptions of family and community. He argues compellingly that the present era represents a revolution that will be completed only when the importance of human capital is no longer overshadowed by the cost-saving efficiencies demanded by financial capital.

Our Modern Times: The Nature of Capitalism in the Information Age | MIT Press

The first issue of 2003 will be January 7.

Downloads from the Science magazine web site are free for the next week. Dig in!

Science Magazine - Free Access!

The Landsat: Earth as Art exhibit highlights images that were selected on the basis of aesthetic appeal. These images use the visceral avenue of art to convey the thrilling perspective of the Earth that Landsat provides to the viewer.

The high-res images are good for desktop backgrounds. The ultra-high-res images (TIFF) can be made into full-size posters. Kinkos, anyone?

Earth As Art

Anti-Americanism is growing at a startling rate in South Korea, potentially escalating into a serious problem that could jeopardize the future of the U.S.-Korean alliance. Anti-American sentiments have now spread into almost all strata of Korean society, ranging from the policymaking elite in the government and the intellectuals to members of the middle class and the younger generation. Beyond its overall increase, the sources of anti-Americanism have become more complex and diverse. Unless Washington and Seoul work together on a course of action to counter this trend, these popular Korean attitudes could become a critical wildcard harming the future of the U.S.-Korean relationship.

Anti-Americanism in Korea [PDF]

] The technology works by detecting radiation leakage
] that is emitted when antennae are tuned to a given
] radio station.
]
] The sensors, positioned on the billboard poles, could
] capture the signals of 60 to 85 percent of the passing
] cars. The company is promising advertisers the
] technology will capture the listening patterns of
] 60 percent of the cars.

An article from today's New York Times is available on the company's web site. When it goes away, you can find it at

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/27/business/media/27ADCO.html?pagewanted=print&position=top

New Billboards Sample Radios as Cars Go By, Then Adjust

Recent work on the topic of reputation systems from U. of Michigan researcher Paul Resnick in collaboration with staff at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

The full paper can be downloaded in PDF.

Abstract: Recommender and reputation systems seek to inform potential customers by securing current consumers' feedback about products and sellers. This paper proposes a payment-based system to induce honest reporting of feedback.

The system applies proper scoring rules to each buyer's report, looking to how well it predicts the report of a later buyer. Honest reporting proves to be a Nash Equilibrium.

To balance the budget, the incentive payment to each buyer is charged to someone other than the one whose report that buyer is asked to predict. In addition, payment schemes can be scaled to induce appropriate effort by raters.

Eliciting Honest Feedback in Electronic Markets | KSG Working Paper

This is Salman Rushdie's op-ed piece for the Christmas Day edition of the Washington Post.

He compares and contrasts The Two Towers and Gangs of New York in the context of contemporary history and current events.

Getting Into Gang War

Soundmosaic constructs an approximation of one sound out of small pieces of other sounds.

The soundmosaic algorithm is: Split the target file up into equal-sized segments, or "tiles". For each tile in the target file, find the closest match in the source files, and replace the target tile with the tile from the source files.

soundmosaic

I haven't read this book yet, but it looks interesting. Reply if you've read this already, or if you browse it and find tidbits you'd like to share.

New Networks Institute: The Unauthorized Biography of the Baby Bells & Info-Scandal