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| "The future masters of technology will have to be lighthearted and intelligent. The machine easily masters the grim and the dumb." -- Marshall McLuhan, 1969 |
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| Topic: Surveillance |
3:53 am EDT, May 14, 2004 |
More and more, we are living in a society where we are all tracked automatically all of the time. If the car used by Lacey had been outfitted with the OnStar system, he could have been tracked through that. We can all be tracked by our cell phones. E-ZPass tracks cars at tunnels and bridges. Security cameras record us. Our purchases are tracked by banks and credit card companies, our telephone calls by phone companies, our Internet surfing habits by Web site operators. The Department of Justice claims that it needs these, and other, search powers to combat terrorism. A provision slipped into an appropriations bill allows the FBI to obtain personal financial information from banks, insurance companies, travel agencies, real estate agents, stockbrokers, the U.S. Postal Service, jewelry stores, casinos and car dealerships without a warrant. Bruce Schneier with one of those articles that makes you get up and look around outside your house or apartment. Newsday.com - Opinion |
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Library of Alexandria discovered |
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| Topic: Science |
5:14 pm EDT, May 13, 2004 |
Archaeologists have found what they believe to be the site of the Library of Alexandria, often described as the world's first major seat of learning. Library of Alexandria discovered |
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| Topic: War on Terrorism |
9:20 pm EDT, May 11, 2004 |
The video showed Nick Berg, 26, in a staged execution carried out by an al-Qaida affiliated group. The video said the killing was to avenge the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers. "My name is Nick Berg, my father's name is Michael, my mother's name is Suzanne," the man said on the video before being killed. "I have a brother and sister, David and Sara. I live in ... Philadelphia." "Hi Nick, my name is also Nick. My middle name is Michael, and it comes from my father's side of the family. I'm from the Jersey Shore." Berg had traveled several times to Third World countries to help spread technology, his family said. He had previously traveled to Kenya and Ghana, where they said he had purchased a $900 brick-making press for a poor village, the family said. "He had this idea that he could help rebuild the infrastructure," she said. According to his father, he was caught only after US officials detained him without charging him or allowing access to a lawyer. I'm guessing he was being "discouraged" from leaving at a point when officials didn't want the appearance of contractors and the like all leaving? shrug. Newsday.com - World News |
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| Topic: Computer Security |
7:55 am EDT, May 11, 2004 |
How vulnerable is the United States to attack from cyberpsace? How imminent is the threat? Many experts believe the clock is already ticking, and that America is already fighting a ... Cyberwar! This PBS Frontline program recently aired on television. You can watch the full program (52 minutes) online in streaming video (QuickTime, Windows Media, Real Player). cyber war! |
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| Topic: Science |
8:38 pm EDT, May 10, 2004 |
A powerful method for extracting information from supposedly secure systems is side-channel attacks: cryptanalytic techniques that rely on information unintentionally leaked by computing devices. Most side-channel attack research has focused on electromagnetic emanations (TEMPEST), power consumption and, recently, diffuse visible light from CRT displays. The oldest eavesdropping channel, namely acoustic emanations, has received little attention. Our preliminary analysis of acoustic emanations from personal computers shows them to be a surprisingly rich source of information on CPU activity. Not only is this interesting, but it also gives me a good reason for using my IBM Thinkpad as a mobile development platform. According to this, they do not give away much information that can be gathered using these techniques. Acoustic Cryptanalysis |
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Yahoo! Top Stories - Super-Robots Will Wipe Out Mankind! |
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| Topic: Humor |
7:12 pm EDT, May 10, 2004 |
] "We are on the cusp of perfection of extreme evil -- an
] evil whose possibility spreads well beyond weapons of
] mass destruction," Joy warned recently in Wired magazine. Bill Joy makes the Weekly World News! Preparing to put tongue firmly into side of cheek. Ahem.. Just for the public record... I still think Bill Joy is wrong, but I do feel there is reason for concern. I will continue to help the process along. Long live "The Man" who oppresses me, long live "The Machine" who oppresses us all; At least until I see a major difference between the two. The worst the machines have done to me has been to make me wait on hold for a very long time, then hang up one me, forcing me to put my trust and time in the hands of the machines again. Man has done much worse to us all at one point or another. The definition of insanity being to do the same thing over and over again while expecting different results, the problem may very well be with Man and not the Machines.. We program them to do the same thing over and over, hence making them insane. Then, we get surprised when our errors come back at us with effects multiplied 10 fold. The Grey Goo. Really. Just remember how much The Grey Goo loves us. Take your left hand and salute your computer, say "sig bit!" Then take your right hand, salute your TV and say, "sig band!" Then after you have done that a few times, repeat "my god can beat up your god" 50 times while bowing at high speed. And most importantly, after that, if you find anyone who can't take a good joke in the face of total destruction (distraction?), beat them up. Yahoo! Top Stories - Super-Robots Will Wipe Out Mankind! |
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JoSS: Journal of Social Structure |
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| Topic: Society |
6:50 pm EDT, May 10, 2004 |
The Journal of Social Structure is designed to facilitate timely dissemination of state-of-the-art results in the interdisciplinary research area of social structure -- on the patterning of social linkages among actors. By examining structural forms, the location of entities within these structures, and of the formation and dynamics of ties that make up these structures, we learn about the parts of behavior that are uniquely social. Be sure to check out "The 'Bush Team' in Reuters News Ticker 9/11-11/15/01." You will need to install the Adobe SVG browser plugin in order to view all of the graph data. JoSS: Journal of Social Structure |
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| Topic: Society |
4:27 pm EDT, May 9, 2004 |
Now, even without visiting Cambridge, you can experience some of the exciting research, teaching, and public addresses making news at Harvard University. Each of the 41 programs offered on this site contains edited video and multimedia ranging from 45 minutes to 3 hours in length. We hope you enjoy this way of strengthening your connection to the intellectual center of the University. Lectures include:
Unlocking the Promise of Stem Cells
A New American Empire?
The College Experience
Magic of Numbers
E.O. Wilson, on the relation of science and the humanities Harvard@Home |
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Japanese Find a Forum to Vent Most-Secret Feelings |
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| Topic: Media |
4:25 pm EDT, May 9, 2004 |
In a society in which subtlety is prized above all, face-to-face confrontation is avoided, insults can be leveled with verbal nuances and hidden meanings are found everywhere, there is one place where the Japanese go to bare their souls and engage in verbal combat: Channel 2. News media follow it; big companies meticulously monitor it; the police react to it. Language is raw, and comments are blunt, often cruel and hurled with studied cynicism. Channel 2 is run by a single person and its contents are shaped entirely by the individual users who post comments. "Channel 2 has become a brand name in this society and has an influence that cannot be measured by numbers." Founder Hiroyuki Nishimura, 27, said he was bored with his Web site and did not believe it was worth enough to attract buyers. "Many people who write on Channel 2 are stupid. They cannot change the world by writing about it. If they really want to have an impact, there are other things they could be doing." Japanese Find a Forum to Vent Most-Secret Feelings |
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