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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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A Closer Look at Why People Blog |
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| Topic: Blogging |
2:05 am EST, Mar 24, 2004 |
Bonnie Nardi has submitted this paper (16 pages) to Communications of the ACM. Blogging has become enormously popular ... [and] much media attention has focused on blogging. [This] attention usually goes to "heavy-hitters." In this paper, we report the results of an ethnographic investigation of blogging in a sample of "ordinary bloggers. We investigate blogging as a form of personal communication, with a specific interest in uncovering a range of motivations that individuals have for creating and maintaining blogs. We discuss implications for improving current blogging tools and how such tools may affect the continuing evolution of the Internet and the ways it is used in everyday life. There are two blogospheres! A Closer Look at Why People Blog |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
1:59 am EST, Mar 24, 2004 |
Larry Lessig's new book comes out on Thursday. Booklist had this to say: Drawing on distinctions between piracy that benefits a single user and harms the owner and piracy that is useful in advancing new content or new ways of doing business, Lessig strongly argues for a balance between the interests of the owner and broader society so that we can continue a "free culture" that encourages innovation rather than a "permission culture" that does not. This is a highly accessible and enlightening look at the intersection of commerce, the law, and cyberspace. Free Culture |
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Marshall McLuhan, the Man and his Message |
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| Topic: Media |
1:54 am EST, Mar 24, 2004 |
He was a man of idioms and idiosyncrasies, deeply intelligent and a soothsayer. He had prescient knowledge of the Internet. Although educated in literature, Marshall McLuhan was known as a pop philosopher because his theories applied to mini-skirts and the twist. For his ability to keep up with the cutting edge, one colleague called him "The Runner." Critics said he destroyed literary values. Today, McLuhan's ideas are new again, applied to the electronic media that he predicted. CBC has made available a collection of audio and video clips. Marshall McLuhan, the Man and his Message |
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Hobbyists return to tinkering with hardware |
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| Topic: Technology |
1:29 am EST, Mar 24, 2004 |
Most look at a toaster and see a kitchen appliance. Scott Fullam looks at a toaster and sees an engineering challenge. The hardware hacking renaissance is coming into full bloom with two new books: "Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks," by Fullam, and "Hardware Hacking: Have Fun While Voiding Your Warranty," edited by Joe Grand. "The hope is to inspire people, through role models, to pick up a screwdriver and a soldering iron and to start hacking," writes Andrew Huang in the introduction to his "Hacking the Xbox." "Instilling this sort of exploratory spirit in the younger generations will be important in the long run for preserving the pool of talented engineers that drove the technology revolution." This is a Knight Ridder wire story from earlier this month. When was the last time you were inspired to pick up a soldering iron? Hobbyists return to tinkering with hardware |
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Today's Word is 'Pendulous' |
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| Topic: Science |
1:01 am EST, Mar 24, 2004 |
Researchers commonly use genetically engineered mice to study cancer, but the animal disease differs slightly from the human one. So researchers have sought to transplant human breast tissue into mice to make a better model. The key, Weinberg says, is to transplant two types of human breast cells into the mice, one of which has been blasted with radiation. The cells grow into human-like breast tissues, complete with milk ducts. Unlike human breasts, however, the mice's growths sit flush to the chest. Humans are unusual in this respect, says Daniel Medina, who studies breast cancer at Baylor College of Medicine at Houston, Texas: "In few other species are breasts pendulous." Today's Word is 'Pendulous' |
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| Topic: TV |
12:23 am EST, Mar 24, 2004 |
Announcer: "Krusty the Klown is brought to you by the new Gamestation 256. It's slightly faster ... to the MAX!" Bart: 256? Oh, and I'm stuck with this useless 252? (Bart kicks 252 into fireplace; 252 begins to melt.) 252: Don't destroy me! I can still make you happy ... to the MAX! Gamestation 256 |
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| Topic: Software Development |
12:04 am EST, Mar 24, 2004 |
A new Mozilla beta is now available. "It's slightly faster ... to the max!" The most useful new feature is actually a counter-counter measure: A new option to prevent sites using Javascript to block the browser's context menu. Those in the know call them CCM techniques -- not to be confused with Stacie Orrico. Mozilla 1.7 Beta |
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Wireless in the Park, Just Me and the Clouds |
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| Topic: Society |
10:37 am EST, Mar 23, 2004 |
At the risk of sounding like a Luddite, I have to ask ... What ever happened to lying on your back in the Sheep Meadow and watching the clouds, or to chatting with a friend in person at Starbucks? The pace of modern urban life is frantic enough without our feeling obligated to be wired at every moment, in every corner of Manhattan. I, for one, am happy to have some "dead zones" in my life, where I can find a bit of repose, a moment of peace. Wireless in the Park, Just Me and the Clouds |
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Second International Conference on Trust Management |
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| Topic: Technology |
12:44 am EST, Mar 23, 2004 |
A trust management conference looking at trust from multidisciplinary pespectives: legal, pyschology, philosophy, economic, sociology as well as information technology. The Second International Conference on Trust Management will take place at St. Anne's College, Oxford, UK, from 29th March to 1st April 2004. The Conference aims are: * To facilitate the cross-disciplinary investigation of fundamental issues underpinning computational trust models by bringing together expertise from technology oriented sciences, law, philosophy and social sciences. * To facilitate the emergence of widely acceptable trust management processes for dynamic open systems and applications. * To facilitate the development of new paradigms in the area of dynamic open systems which effectively utilise computational trust models. * To facilitate the integration of new trust management paradigms and emerging architectures for Grid computing and Virtual Organisations. * To help the incorporation of trust management elements in existing standards. Second International Conference on Trust Management |
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Leader of Hamas Is Killed in Israeli Strike |
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| Topic: Israeli/Palestinian |
9:23 am EST, Mar 22, 2004 |
Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader and founder of the militant Palestinian group Hamas, was killed early Monday by an Israeli missile that struck him as he left a mosque in Gaza City. Black smoke curled over Gaza City as Palestinians began burning tires in the streets and demonstrators chanted for revenge. Leader of Hamas Is Killed in Israeli Strike |
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