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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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Bruce Schneier in Oct 25 Nature |
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| Topic: Computer Security |
12:27 am EDT, Oct 25, 2001 |
In a one page commentary, "Protecting privacy and liberty", Schneier suggests: "The events of 11 September offer a rare chance to rethink public security." Bruce Schneier in Oct 25 Nature |
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Pricing and Network Externalities in Peer-to-Peer Communications Networks |
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| Topic: Technology |
12:18 am EDT, Oct 25, 2001 |
"This paper analyzes the pricing of transit traffic in wireless peer-to-peer networks using the concepts of direct and indirect network externalities. We first establish that without any pricing mechanism, congestion externalities overwhelm other network effects in a wireless data network. We show that peering technology will mitigate the congestion and allow users to take advantage of more the positive network externalities. However, without pricing, the peering equilibrium breaks down just like a bucket brigade made up of free-riding agents. With pricing and perfect competition, a peering equilibrium is possible and allows many more users on the network at the same time. However, the congestion externality is still a problem, so peering organized through a club may be the best solution." Pricing and Network Externalities in Peer-to-Peer Communications Networks |
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The Influence of Policy Regimes on the Development and Social Implications of Privacy Enhancing Technologies |
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| Topic: Internet Civil Liberties |
12:16 am EDT, Oct 25, 2001 |
"As privacy issues have gained social salience, entrepreneurs have begun to offer privacy enhancing technologies (PETs) and the U.S. has begun to enact privacy legislation. But "privacy" is an ambiguous notion. In the liberal tradition, it is an individualistic value protecting citizens from intrusion into a realm of autonomy. A feminist critique suggests that the social utility of privacy is to exclude certain issues from the public realm. Sociologists suggest that privacy is about identity management, while political economists suggest that the most salient privacy issue is the use of personal information to normalize and rationalize populations according to the needs of capital.
While PETs have been developed for use by individual consumers, recently developers are focusing on the business to business market, where demand is stoked by the existence of new privacy regulations. These new laws tend to operationalize privacy in terms of "personally identifiable information." The new generation of PETs reflect and reify that definition. This, in turn, has implications for the everyday understandings of privacy and the constitution of identity and social life. In particular, this socio-technical practice may strengthen the ability of data holders to rationalize populations and create self-serving social categories. At the same time, they may permit individuals to negotiate these categories outside of panoptic vision. They may also encourage public discussion and awareness of these created social categories." The Influence of Policy Regimes on the Development and Social Implications of Privacy Enhancing Technologies |
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the 2002 demotivators® collection |
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| Topic: Humor |
12:13 am EDT, Oct 25, 2001 |
Check out the new collection, now available for next year! "For longer than most can remember, motivational speakers, authors and publishers have inspired and delighted us by championing the idea that within each person exists virtually unlimited potential. At Despair, Inc., we agree wholeheartedly- and helping others to unleash their hidden potentials remains our singular obsession. Think about it- what hidden potentials exist within YOU? Perhaps you're a wholly reasonable person, with the potential to become an irrational fool? Perhaps you're a team player, with a potentially argumentative loner lurking about inside you? Or perhaps you're a dreamer, within whom lives a potentially disillusioned grouse, simply waiting to take flight on the wings of bitterness? For the first time, one company has stepped forth with tools for unleashing such hidden potentials. No matter who you are, you have the potential to be so very much less. And with the transformative powers of our Demotivators® products, you will be. "Whether you're a pessimist, underachiever or a chronic failure, I personally offer my unconditional* guarantee that Demotivators™ will truly inspire you to new lows!" the 2002 demotivators® collection |
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John Shirley's Glimpses Of The 21st Century, Part One |
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| Topic: Sci-Fi/Fantasy Literature |
12:10 am EDT, Oct 25, 2001 |
A noted cyberpunk author predicts the future. Linked from Plastic, where most people found fault with Shirley's comments. Your thoughts? John Shirley's Glimpses Of The 21st Century, Part One |
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Manipulation of Single Biomolecules |
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| Topic: Science |
11:58 pm EDT, Oct 23, 2001 |
"The Manipulation of Single Biomolecules
published in Physics Today, October 2001 By monitoring the response of individual protein and DNA molecules to pulling and twisting, biophysicists can learn much about their structure and their interactions. Twenty-five years ago, neurophysiology was revolutionized by the invention of a clever way to record the electrical activity of a single ionic channel across a membrane. This so-called patch-clamp technique earned its inventors, Erwin Neher and Bert Sakmann, a Nobel Prize. The statistical analysis of the current flowing like a noisy telegraphic signal through such a channel yielded precious and unique information on the dynamic states of these channels. That information had previously been blurred or lost when, as was the prior custom, one simply measured the average current flowing through a large ensemble of channels. Biophysics is undergoing a similar transformation, thanks to the development of new tools for manipulating, visualizing, and studying single molecules and their interactions. The statistical analysis of the measured signals (often a sequence of noisy steps) lets the biophysicist learn about the step size of molecular motors, their energy consumption, and the rate-limiting transitions in their enzymatic cycles. One can thus build and verify better models of how these enzymes function." Manipulation of Single Biomolecules |
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Slashdot inches toward subscription model |
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| Topic: Economics |
11:47 pm EDT, Oct 23, 2001 |
"[...] a little about advertisements and subscriptions. Slashdot continues to grow: our traffic has increased by like 10% in the last few months, and simply selling the banner ads you see on top of each page isn't going to be enough to keep us afloat if we keep growing. And selling banner ads in 2001 is an awful lot harder then [sic] it was in 1999. The change will be a different ad size on the article page. Currently we have the standard banner size on top of all pages, but soon the article pages will instead have those huge square things that you see on CNet or ZD. I know this will be unpopular with many people, myself included, but when we make the switch, we will also have some sort of subscription system where you can pay a fee to disable them honestly. [...] Slashdot is now four years old ... and I want it to still be here four years from now. I hope you can understand the expensive reality associated with making this site happen every day for a quarter of a million readers." Slashdot inches toward subscription model |
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Iraqis May Be Latest Victims of Anthrax Attacks |
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| Topic: Current Events |
10:14 pm EDT, Oct 23, 2001 |
"Iraqi diplomats in New York and Washington have asked American authorities to test two letters containing white powder for contamination with anthrax spores, U.S. and Iraqi officials say. The letters arrived Friday at the Iraqi mission to the United Nations on East 79th Street in New York and the Iraqi interest section on P Street NW in Washington, said an Iraqi official, who requested anonymity." Wondering aloud: ... nothing like a couple of self-inflicted hoaxes to deflate rising suspicions and finger-pointing... could it be? Iraqis May Be Latest Victims of Anthrax Attacks |
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Iraq Is Not the Source of the Anthrax |
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| Topic: Current Events |
10:11 pm EDT, Oct 23, 2001 |
(Iraqi) Foreign Minister Naji Sabri last week denied any link to the U.S. anthrax cases, telling reporters: "It's bullshit." Tom asked: How often do you get a "Foreign Minister" to start cursing at you? :) Iraq Is Not the Source of the Anthrax |
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Cleveland Considers Baggy Pants Law |
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| Topic: Humor |
11:31 pm EDT, Oct 21, 2001 |
"Cleveland city councilman Nathaniel Martin is moving to put a law on the books that will have young Clevelanders hiking up their trousers. [...] It is reported that the proposed ordnance would assess a fine of $25 for the first offense and $50 for a second, should any young lad pound the streets of Cleveland with his pants hanging down below his hips, showing off his Hanes. And Martin has the support of a local watchdog group calling itself 'Black on Black' whose leader has opined that many a young female has turned away in disgust from the sight of a low pants hanging young male. The police are less than enthusiastic about having to enforce such a law. I can hardly wait for the police helicopter footage of the first foot chase of such a miscreant on 'Greatest Police Chases on Fox'." Cleveland Considers Baggy Pants Law |
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