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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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DC Area A Magnet For Bright Singles |
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| Topic: Local Information |
1:45 am EST, Nov 4, 2003 |
Washington-Baltimore is among the most attractive regions for the nation's most sought-after demographic group -- young, single people with college degrees, the Census Bureau reported yesterday. The region gained more than 25,000 people in this group from other parts of the country in the late 1990s, census numbers show. That increase ranked fourth among the nation's 20 largest metropolitan areas, after San Francisco, Los Angeles and Atlanta. Better offers could carry many of them off to other places ... "They are fickle movers. These are bright young people who have a lot of options and a lot of opportunities." DC Area A Magnet For Bright Singles |
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Simpsons Episode AABF19: E-I-E-I-D'oh! |
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| Topic: TV |
11:23 pm EST, Nov 3, 2003 |
To avoid a duel, Homer moves the Simpsons to Grandpa's old farm, and grows a profitable, but dangerous, hybrid crop. This is the "capsule" [episode summary] for the tomacco episode. Simpsons Episode AABF19: E-I-E-I-D'oh! |
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Has Rumsfeld lost his Mojo? |
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| Topic: Humor |
11:19 pm EST, Nov 3, 2003 |
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he does not know whether or not he has lost his mojo, as a leading news magazine suggested, because he doesn't really know what mojo is. Has Rumsfeld lost his Mojo? |
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Simpsons Fan Creates Real Tomacco Plant |
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| Topic: Biology |
11:14 pm EST, Nov 3, 2003 |
According to a KPTV newscast, a Simpsons fan with too much time on his hands grafted a tobacco plant and a tomato plant and, ta-da: tomacco! Bart: Bleh! Tastes like cigarette butts. Marge: [takes the half-eaten "tomato"] That's odd. The outside looks like a tomato, but the inside is brown. Lisa: Maybe the tomato seeds crossbred with the tobacco seeds. Homer: Oh, great, I've got a field full of mutants. Bart: Gimmie. I want more. [grabs back the tomato and eats it] Lisa: I thought you said it tasted terrible. Bart: It does. [grinds out the remains of the first tomato] But it's smooth and mild. [grabs another] And refreshingly addictive. Homer: Addictive, eh? Simpsons Fan Creates Real Tomacco Plant |
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Digital rights management and the breakdown of social norms |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
11:13 pm EST, Nov 3, 2003 |
At the centre of the protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs) is a long history of political bargains struck between private rights to reward and the social benefit of information/knowledge diffusion. The historical dynamic of politics in this policy area has been to expand the rights of owners while circumscribing the public realm of information and knowledge. In recent decades the public domain has become merely a residual, all that is left when all other rights (as constructed by IPRs) have been exercised. The advent of digital rights management (DRM) technologies has disturbed a reasonably legitimate politico-legal settlement over "fair use," challenging the existing balance between the rights of "creators" and the interests of users. The breakdown of the norms underpinning IPRs has prompted renewed debate regarding their legitimacy. Although it is technological change that has enhanced not only the ability to copy but also the potential to control the distribution of content, this paper suggests that this argument will not be won or lost in the realm of technology. Rather, new technologies return the question of the control of knowledge and information (content) to the realm of politics. Digital rights management and the breakdown of social norms |
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Where Rhythm of Life Is Rocked by Violence |
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| Topic: Technology |
5:50 pm EST, Nov 2, 2003 |
At Lubnan Elementary School [in Baghdad], only 150 of the school's 550 students showed up for class on Saturday morning. "I blame the satellite news channels," said Majeda Fadher, the principal. The medium is the message. QED. Where Rhythm of Life Is Rocked by Violence |
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| Topic: International Relations |
5:12 pm EST, Nov 2, 2003 |
Tom Friedman's column appears in the Sunday New York Times. Well, the numbers are in and the numbers don't lie. The more I hear ... the more I wonder whether we are witnessing something much larger ... Are we witnessing the beginning of the end of "the West" as we have known it ...? I am not alone in thinking this. So, if in fact we are not at the end of history, then perhaps Tom is on to something here. It's less about the individual governments and more about the connections between them, or lack thereof. Welcome to the Network Society. The End of the West? |
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Ideas Unlimited, Built to Order |
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| Topic: Technology |
8:37 pm EST, Oct 30, 2003 |
] John Perry Barlow: Dump the Doodads, and Retrofit
] the Brain
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] Scott Adams: Puss Can Run, but He Can't Hide
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] Michael K. Powell: Zap! The Form's Filled Out
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] Donald J. Trump: Your Wish Is My Command
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] William Gibson: Lies Exposed in Telltale Colors
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] Moby: A High That Wouldn't Hurt
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] Bill Joy: Memo to My Borsalino: Quiet! Ideas Unlimited, Built to Order |
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The Mad Hatter's Cocktail Party [PDF] |
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| Topic: Human Computer Interaction |
12:18 pm EST, Oct 26, 2003 |
This paper presents a mobile audio space intended for use by gelled social groups. In face-to-face interactions in such social groups, conversational floors change frequently, e.g., two participants split off to form a new conversational floor, a participant moves from one conversational floor to another, etc. To date, audio spaces have provided little support for such dynamic regroupings of participants, either requiring that the participants explicitly specify with whom they wish to talk or simply presenting all participants as though they are in a single floor. By contrast, the audio space described here monitors participant behavior to identify conversational floors as they emerge. The system dynamically modifies the audio delivered to each participant to enhance the salience of the participants with whom they are currently conversing. The Mad Hatter's Cocktail Party [PDF] |
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As Silicon Valley Reboots, the Geeks Take Charge |
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| Topic: Tech Industry |
10:59 am EST, Oct 26, 2003 |
Are the good times back in Silicon Valley? Silicon Valley is rebooting. And this time, the geeks are the ones with the upper hand. ... The marketing plan, business model and sometimes the company itself die, but good technology tends to live on. Think of it as the biz/tech equivalent of the "selfish gene." ... "No one gets too torn up about [failure] in the valley." "There is a lot of phenomenal intellectual property that has not found its way into the marketplace yet." As Silicon Valley Reboots, the Geeks Take Charge |
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