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| compos mentis. Concision. Media. Clarity. Memes. Context. Melange. Confluence. Mishmash. Conflation. Mellifluous. Conviviality. Miscellany. Confelicity. Milieu. Cogent. Minty. Concoction. |
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Philip K. Dick's Mind-Bending, Film-Inspiring Journeys |
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| Topic: Sci-Fi/Fantasy Literature |
6:14 am EDT, Jun 16, 2002 |
To call Philip K. Dick, whose 1954 story "The Minority Report" is the basis for the new Steven Spielberg movie, a science-fiction writer is to the underscore the inadequacy of the label. Dick, who died of a stroke in 1982 at 53, was fascinated by the scientific future largely as a vehicle for examining his own anxieties, longings and unstable perceptions. It would be more accurate to call him one of the most valiant psychological explorers of the 20th century. ... Thinking about these ideas can make your head hurt, which is true of virtually all of Dick's 36 novels and more than 100 short stories: mind-bending was almost his religion. Calling himself a "fictionalizing philosopher," he began with an assumption that causality is a shared delusion and that even concepts like space and time have a limited basis in reality. "Minority Report" (opening Friday) stands as the most fluid and conventionally exciting of all the Philip K. Dick adaptations. Philip K. Dick's Mind-Bending, Film-Inspiring Journeys |
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Bankruptcy Concerns Sink Adelphia's Bonds |
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| Topic: Economics |
6:09 am EDT, Jun 16, 2002 |
Adelphia's bonds have fallen to trade at less than half their face value, as investors grow convinced the embattled cable TV provider could be worth even less in a bankruptcy than they had previously thought. And analysts believe a bankruptcy filing could be near. As Adelphia shares, once worth $87, trade for pennies, the bonds have lost nearly one-third of their value this week, after the No. 6 US cable TV operator on Monday said it overstated cash flow by nearly 15% for each of the last two years -- by $210 million in 2001 and $160 million in 2000. Analyst: "The bond prices mean bankruptcy is imminent." Bankruptcy Concerns Sink Adelphia's Bonds |
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Seeing and Tuning Social Networks | O'Reilly Network |
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| Topic: Technology |
5:28 pm EDT, Jun 15, 2002 |
"New forms of social software are one of the most hopeful green shoots erupting from a still-bleak technology landscape. "The excitement is coming back." Seeing and Tuning Social Networks | O'Reilly Network |
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Evolution: Retrospective -- Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002) | _Science_ |
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| Topic: Science |
1:49 pm EDT, Jun 15, 2002 |
In an eloquent retrospective, Richard Fortey reminisces about the many accomplishments and endearing qualities of his colleague, the essayist, historian, and paleontologist, Stephen Jay Gould. [Gould] was one of the few scientific intellectuals to whom the overworked phrase "Renaissance man" could be applied without blushing. As essayist, historian, and author, his influence on the wider cultural scene was exceptional. ... A few months before his death his last, massive work, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, appeared, summarizing his thoughts on evolution (the mere thought of reading its 1400 pages is intimidating). It is almost as if the reappearance of cancer was held in check by force of will until this book, his magnum opus, was completed. Subscription required for access to full text. Evolution: Retrospective -- Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002) | _Science_ |
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Six Men Who Could Be Contenders to Lead Palestinians if Arafat Goes |
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| Topic: Current Events |
10:13 am EDT, Jun 15, 2002 |
Yasir Arafat has remained the Palestinian leader for more than 30 years in part by not cultivating a long-term lieutenant, avoiding a threat to his pre-eminence by dividing up power beneath himself and encouraging rivalries among his top political and security aides. That strategy has also left him without a clear successor. ... Despite Mr. Arafat's maneuverings, a varied, experienced group of potential leaders waits in the wings. Mahmoud Abbas, Lawyer and historian, late 60's
Marwan Barghouti, Politician, 42
Muhammad Dahlan, Security official, 40
Ahmed Qurei, Economic adviser, mid-60's
Jibril Rajoub, Security official, 49
Sheik Ahmad Yassin, Hamas's spiritual leader, mid-60's Six Men Who Could Be Contenders to Lead Palestinians if Arafat Goes |
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When Navajos Fought Japanese for Ne-He-Mah |
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| Topic: Cryptography |
8:57 am EDT, Jun 15, 2002 |
It is the most romantic story in American cryptology. To keep the Japanese from getting American secrets in World War II, Navajos -- among the original Americans -- spoke over the radio in their native tongue. In a sidebar to the movie review for "Windtalkers", David Kahn, author of the crypto classic _The Codebreakers_, retells the true story of Marine Corps codetalkers in World War II. When Navajos Fought Japanese for Ne-He-Mah |
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Lawsuit Challenges Copy-Protected CDs |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
8:24 am EDT, Jun 15, 2002 |
The five major record companies have been hit with a class-action lawsuit charging that a new breed of CDs designed to thwart Napster-style piracy is defective and should either be barred from sale or carry warning labels. RIAA issued a statement calling the lawsuit "frivolous." Although a voluntary advisory label seems reasonable enough, for the most part I have to agree with the RIAA on this one. I can't see how these CDs are illegal, any more than Liquid Audio files are illegal. A silly analogy: Mice have two options. They could file a class-action lawsuit to ban the sale of mousetraps, or they could simply choose not to walk into them again and again. DivX DVDs failed "naturally" in the marketplace under competitve pressures, and these "protected" CDs will suffer the same fate without legal intervention. If customers feel cheated in the absence of a pre-sale advisory notice, they are likely to change their music-buying habits. When sales drop 20% in a single quarter, the "record companies" (Ha!) will respond out of necessity. In fact, CDs in general will suffer this fate sooner rather than later, if you believe David Bowie. Again, this time with feeling: Bart: Speaking of CDs, I don't care about CDs. I'll meet you laggards back here in ten years. By that time, Bart will be walking around with a $10, 150 GB rewritable storage device that is the size of watch battery. And the logo on the device will be that of IBM, not BMG. Lawsuit Challenges Copy-Protected CDs |
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| Topic: Biology |
8:06 am EDT, Jun 15, 2002 |
I walk into the humid goat shed in my Tyvex suit and sterilized boots. I look around the pen. Hundreds of sly-looking, inquisitive goats are staring at me intently. They seem unexceptional enough, but ... this is a so-called "transgenic farm" owned and run by Nexia Biotechnologies. Nexia CEO: "Oh, it's not that weird. What we're doing here is ingeniously simple. We take a single gene from a golden orb-weaving spider and put it into a goat egg. The idea is to make the goat secrete spider silk into its milk. ... We're going to make biodegradable fishing lines out of it. Or maybe tennis racket strings. We call our product BioSteel." "They're just goats. [Pause.] Mostly." Got Silk? |
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A Business Proposition From the Fourth Dimension |
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| Topic: Sci-Fi/Fantasy Literature |
7:22 am EDT, Jun 15, 2002 |
Rudy Rucker has a new book out. For those in San Fran, he'll be at Borderlands Books, 866 Valencia St., today (Saturday, June 15) at 2 PM for a reading and signing. Publisher's Weekly says: Like a Mobius strip, Rucker's new hard SF satire tweaks the dot-com Y2K subculture into a hilarious tribute to Edwin Abbott's Flatland (1884). ... Combining valid mathematical speculation with wicked send-ups of Silicon Valley and its often otherworldly tribespeople, Rucker achieves a rare fictional world, a belly-laugh-funny commentary ... NYT says: Rudy Rucker's Spaceland challenges readers to imagine what life might be like in a world with four spatial dimensions. ... "Spaceland" makes mild fun of self-important dot-commers and their venture-capitalist backers. Amazon says: Usually, tribute novels are like movie remakes: a bad idea. However, this tribute to Edwin A. Abbott's classic novel Flatland works wonderfully. Library Journal says: As always, Rucker laces his hard science with ample doses of humor to create an SF adventure for the dot-com generation. A good choice for most SF collections. After you've read the book, you should check out "Spaceland Notes", which is basically a writer's diary that Rucker kept while working on the book. It's at http://www.mathcs.sjsu.edu/faculty/rucker/spacelandnotes.htm A Business Proposition From the Fourth Dimension |
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Stick a fork in it; 10 GigE is done -- but still too hot to eat |
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| Topic: High Tech Developments |
6:50 am EDT, Jun 14, 2002 |
The first fiber-only Ethernet standard was approved Wednesday, opening the door for a new generation of Ethernet products. The IEEE 802.3 standards group gave the go-ahead to 802.3ae, a version of Ethernet that runs at 10 gigabits per second. Extreme Networks: "We will have a 10gbps module within the next few months." It will cost around $60,000. Stick a fork in it; 10 GigE is done -- but still too hot to eat |
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