] Three years ago, the high court surprised law enforcement
] experts by ruling that it was unconstitutional for drug
] agents to use heat-seeking devices to detect marijuana
] plants growing inside a home. Usually, the plants grow
] under hot lights that emit heat that can be detected from
] the street.
]
] But on Wednesday, Justice Antonin Scalia, the author of
] the 2001 opinion, said it did not mean the use of
] drug-sniffing dogs was unconstitutional. The heat
] detectors are a new technology that can, in effect, look
] inside a house, he said.
]
] "This is not a new technology. This is a dog," Scalia
] said.

There is no difference between a drug sniffing dog, and a silicon based air borne molecule detection device. They have the same application and they work the same damn way. Either they both constitute a search, or neither does!

[ Agreed. I would think that the limitations on search should pertain to any mechanism by which "things that would otherwise be private" are discovered. The mechanism may be an infrared scanner, or it may be a highly trained German Shepherd, but in both cases the police are using a tool to detect something that would otherwise not be detectable.

Now, the merits of this activity may happily be debated, but I agree that it's inconsistent to differentiate the tools based on their modernity. The infrared detectors don't "look inside" the house any more than the dog does. Both detect particles that are being emitted by something inside, and react to concentrations thereof. Seems dumb. My $0.02. -k]

Stupid broken SCOTUS rulings

] The design gap between computer-as-box and
] computer-as-door persists because of a diminished
] conception of the user. The user of a piece of social
] software is not just a collection of individuals, but a
] group. Individual users take on roles that only make
] sense in groups: leader, follower, peacemaker, process
] nazi, and so on. There are also behaviors that can only
] occur in groups, from consensus building to social
] climbing. And yet, despite these obvious differences
] between personal and social behaviors, we have very
] little design practice that treats the group as an entity
] to be designed for.
]
]
] There is enormous value to be gotten in closing that gap,
] and it doesn't require complicated new tools. It just
] requires new ways of looking at old problems. Indeed,
] much of the most important work in social software has
] been technically simple but socially complex.

[ Worth a read... ]

This also adds ammunition to the design of one of my future works, collaborative desktops -- graphical wikis, kind of. Imagine your desktop as a virtual desktop, your various friends a spacial scroll away -- look at what they are doing right now, what their environment looks like, place things in their attention, onto their desktop...

[ ... that's very intriguing. I like the concept of maintaining a public space naturally... and having the ability to metaphorically step into a buddies office and hash something out. -k]

Shirky: Group as User: Flaming and the Design of Social Software

[ Looks very cool... don't know how i missed it... i was positive i'd seen everything on the internet by now... i'd like to fit this into my entertainment budget, but we'll see. -k]

What would you give? [ Broken Saints ]

] The heart of the matter is rather simple: does the FCC
] have the legal status necessary to regulate digital TV or
] not? Susan Crawford has been following this, and posted
] the brief (PDF) that was filed by the FCC in response to
] this question, along with her thoughts on the
] implications of the FCC's increased bravado:
]
] The FCC's brief, filed in response to PK's challenge
] to FCC's jurisdiction in the flag matter, is
] breathtaking. FCC's position is that its Act gives it
] regulatory power over all instrumentalities, facilities,
] and apparatus "associated with the overall circuit of
] messages sent and received" via all interstate radio and
] wire communication. That's quite a claim.

[ Something to keep your eyes on, kittens... Despite the fact that republicans are supposed to be for limited government and more free markets, the FCC's scope of powers has been nothing but increased in the past four years. Expect them to attempt more of the same. -k]

FCC clarifies that they do, in fact, control everything

] Three years after he was honorably discharged from the
] Army, Frederick Pistorius was surprised to learn he was a
] deserter.
]
]
] But there it was, on his doorstep: a letter from Barry W.
] Kimmons, Deputy Chief, Deserter Information Point
] Extension Office of the Army Reserve Personnel Command.
]
]
] "On 12 July 2004 you were involuntarily mobilized to
] active duty in the United States Army," the letter says.
] "To date you have not reported to your mobilization
] station as required by your orders." Possibly Pistorius
] had not responded for two reasons. The Pistorius family
] had moved from the address in Sharon, Pa., to which the
] Army had sent its first letter. More saliently, having
] served honorably in not one but two branches of the U.S.
] military, with no additional obligation showing on his
] discharge papers, Pistorius would have had no reason to
] think he was subject to anything but his civilian job at
] a local steel plant.

[ Not a particularly encouraging story... -k]

The Army's long arm

] Gore is a strikingly contradictory company: a place where
] nerds can be mavericks; a place that's impatient with the
] standard way of working, but more than patient with
] nurturing ideas and giving them time to flourish; a place
] that's humble in its origins, yet ravenous for
] breakthrough ideas and, ultimately, growth. Gore's
] uniqueness comes from being as innovative in its
] operating principles as it is in its diverse product
] lines. This is a company that has kicked over the rules
] that most other organizations live by. It is tucked away
] in the mid-Atlantic countryside, 3,000 miles from Silicon
] Valley and even further (in its mind-set) from Wall
] Street. And in its quietly revolutionary way, it is doing
] something almost magical: fostering ongoing, consistent,
] breakthrough creativity.

[ Very cool article about a very cool company. Lots of good products... I remember recieving a set of Elixirs in the mail as a kid, and even then I could tell they sounded better, longer, than normal strings, Gore-Tex is as second nature to a skier as Marker or K2, and my tightly packed teeth require flat floss like Glide.

Given my current employment as a US Gov. contractor, embedded in one of the most strictly hierarchical systems you'll ever find (there are people in the building I'm not permitted to talk to unless my supers say ok), the description of this freedom sounds extremely pleasant. -k]

The Fabric of Creativity

] If we lived in a primitive age, the ground at Langley
] would be laid waste and salted, and there would be heads
] on spikes. As it is, the answer to the C.I.A.
] insubordination is not just to move a few boxes on the
] office flow chart.

So, the "tabloid" version of the story is that Bush is clearing people out of the CIA who disagree with him. I have a hard time believing its true, but it really seems to be the case, at least on some level.

[ Yeah, i memed a NY Daily News article about this earlier, but with the caveat that it had yet to gain credibility... I don't know that the NYT echo helps much, but it's something. Most Bush supporters believe he's, if nothing else, genuine and upright... my history makes it clear that I'm not at all convinced, partly from general cynicism about political figures in general and partly from my interpretations of the past 4 years worth of actions. So this doesn't come as a surprise to me, particularly. -k]

The New York Times - Op-Ed Columnist: The C.I.A. Versus Bush

] Secretary of State Colin Powell, who enjoyed enormous
] respect around the world, has resigned but will stay on
] until his replacement is named as Washington makes a new
] push for Middle East peace, officials said on Monday.

The voice of moderation is gone. The baby boomers now completely control the country. Hold on to your hats.

Powell Resigns!!

] The White House has ordered the new CIA director, Porter
] Goss, to purge the agency of officers believed to have
] been disloyal to President George W. Bush or of leaking
] damaging information to the media about the conduct of
] the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according
] to knowledgeable sources.
]
]
] "The agency is being purged on instructions from the
] White House," said a former senior CIA official who
] maintains close ties to both the agency and to the White
] House. "Goss was given instructions ... to get rid of
] those soft leakers and liberal Democrats. The CIA is
] looked on by the White House as a hotbed of liberals and
] people who have been obstructing the president's agenda."

[ Lets call this article an alert... something to keep an eye on. I'm not at all convinced there's cridibility here, but any accusation of this type is worth keeping an eye on. -k]

CIA plans to purge its agency

] Rapper O.D.B., known as much for his run-ins with the law
] as for his colorful lyrics, collapsed and died inside his
] studio Saturday, his record label said. He was 36.

[ R.I.P. Big Baby Jesus. -k]

FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Ol' Dirty Bastard Dies at Age 36