Category Archives: Read It

Stuff you might want to read.

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Drugs

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Neuroenhancement, brain boost, mind hacking, or simply drug abuse?

I just read a fascinating article in The New Yorker that really opened my eyes. On the one hand, I’ve been known to quaff a Red Bull or two to get me through a particularly trying meeting (or maybe to get a few more hours out of a good Friday night) but on the other I’ve been known to speak out against our over-medicated society.

Go check this out, I practically guarantee you’ll learn something.

Brain Gain – The underground world of “neuroenhancing” drugs
by Margaret Talbot
The New Yorker – April 27, 2009
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/04/27/090427fa_fact_talbot?currentPage=all

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BOHICA

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They’re at it again. The States State tax authorities, faced with declining sales tax revenue, are about to take another stab at getting Congress to mandate tax collection for online shopping.

I’ve been following this; I’ve got a stake in it because I sell stuff online. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’m opposed to the idea. I collect – and pay the state Treasury – sales tax from customers here in New Jersey because my business presence is here. But I simply haven’t got the manpower to keep track of the nuances of 7,000-plus tax authorities in the US alone.

Well, I’m not writing here to complain. What I’d like to do it point you toward a particularly coherent article on ZDNet:

End of tax-free Internet shopping may be near
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-289155.html
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Smart Bathrooms

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My dad was fiercely independent until his last days, turning away all kinds of help even though accepting it would have certainly prolonged his life as well as improving his quality of life. As his health declined after his strokes I found myself with a growing interest in technology-based assistance.

[bummer, the link died]
http://www.pcworld.com/article/160752/bathrooms_become_smarter_with_touch_screens.html

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Tweet Tweet

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Okay, so I’m a little slow on the uptake, so what. Yeah, I know about the thing, yeah it’s been in the news for a longass time, but I never figured I’d have a use for it. And to be honest, after dickin’ around with for a day or so that hasn’t really changed much, either.

Friends have been telling me to get on and companies seem to be letting me know they’re on so I figured I’d give it a whirl.

Just to squat on it, I’ve taken my company name (sshhhh – squatting violates Terms of Service), and I’ve also taken another for personal use, whch is where I’m doing some, um, evaluation. Yeah, that’s it.  Evaluation.

Find me on Twitter here.

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Buffer Dump

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There’s one emacs buffer I always have around to keep catch tidbits of stuff. It really does help to keep those scraps of paper on the desk to a minimum, well, for text anyway. Now and again I need to go back through it and clean out the junk – not unlike looking at those scraps of paper and throwing them into the shredder bin. This time I thought I’d share a little. Got a few minutes for some diversions? Good. Go grab a fresh cup and waste a little time.

mugFirst up is this collection of help desk tickets from hell – and beyond:
http://chroniclesofgeorge.nanc.com/ [broken link]

Those of you that ride know how tough it can be to catch the attention of cagers on the road, seemingly single-minded in their desire to ruin your day by killing you. Well, how about this nifty holographic projector priced just a tad over five large. The folks over at Aerostich like to have a little fun with their catalogs by adding fictional items. Gotta love their sense of humor.
http://www.aerostich.com/catalog/US/Holographic-Vehicle-Projector-p-17408.html [broken link]

With all the uproar over DRM it’s always nice to find good music from good folks with a good attitude, and www.ucalldatmusic.com is just such a place. Here’s a sample:
http://www.ucalldatmusic.com/mp3files/naked.mp3

And if that ain’t enough then there’s this oldie-but-goodie that always gets a smile:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwxBt1sW63c

Hot on the heels of my mention of OS/2 under VMware, I had some fun looking back at old GUIs at Nathan’s Toasty Technology site. Go have a smile. Or a grimace. Your choice.
http://toastytech.com/guis/

Wondering where you can get that mug that’ll show you mean business at your next infernal staff meeting? The folks over at Think Geek will fix you right up.

There! That felt better than what’s really on my mind. I swear, I can’t get through the morning news anymore without blowing a gasket. I mean, with all this bailout crap I feel like I’m being penalized for deciding decades ago to live my life in a fiscally responsible manner. I’m thinking I should have partied it all away instead and let others pick up the pieces. Might have even gotten a bonus……

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You’re Leaving a Digital Trail. What About Privacy?

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A reasonably-written article in the New York Times. What troubles me is the attitude that privacy really doesn’t matter, which seems to be gaining traction in some circles.

[…] some collective-intelligence researchers argue that strong concerns about privacy rights are a relatively recent phenomenon in human history.

“The new information tools symbolized by the Internet are radically changing the possibility of how we can organize large-scale human efforts,” said Thomas W. Malone, director of the M.I.T. Center for Collective Intelligence.

“For most of human history, people have lived in small tribes where everything they did was known by everyone they knew,” Dr. Malone said. “In some sense we’re becoming a global village. Privacy may turn out to have become an anomaly.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/business/30privacy.html

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Barcalounger

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barcalounger
Barcalounger

It was a year or so ago that I picked up a Barcalounger chair for the living room. The chair, upholstered in dark leather (unlike the illustration to the left), fits the Modern decor of the room. What’s more, it’s seriously comfortable.

This morning I was cleaning up some when I ran across my notes from when I was researching chairs. Inside was a pointer to an informative – and very entertaining – article about the company and its products.

As I re-read the entry, nestled in the Barcalounger sipping morning coffee with the laptop on my knees, I got thoroughly sucked in, and wandered the ‘net for much longer than I should have. Maybe you will, too. For the writing and structure of everything2.com are indeed very compelling and quite addictive.

My key takeaway from the trip: it’s a pain in the ass to get from central Jersey to Flushing Meadows Park.

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Crying, While Eating

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Every so often you run across a site that simply makes you go “whuh”. Crying, While Eating is one of those. The design is simple – a long list of images linked to Quicktime videos, each accompanied by a three informational items (name, what they’re eating, why they’re crying).

I had no idea that so many people cried while they ate, much less had video of themselves doing it. Personally, I don’t cry a lot. And the last time I cried – which wasn’t all that long ago, BTW – I certainly wasn’t eating, and nobody was capturing video.

As I sampled a few of the videos I found them… puzzling. I tried to imagine what it would be like to know the subject, to talk to them, to understand them a little better. I actually felt a little creeped out, kif of like like I was watching something I really shouldn’t be seeing. A David Byrne tune called Social Studies sprung into my head, it seemed to be an appropriate soundtrack for some reason.

Go see for yourself!

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Virgin Auction

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Natalie Dylan (a pseudonym, of course) hopes to make a cool million auctioning her virginity. And why not? Some are outraged at the prospect, but why shouldn’t she? I’m actually surprised that it took this long for something like this to hit the news, given our capitalist society. Natalie seems to be a smart girl: “Not only does she have a degree in Women’s Studies, she is looking to raise money to continue her education and get her master’s degree in Psychology so she can practice Family Psychology” from the promotional flyer posted at the Bunny Ranch. She just wants some cash. CBS reported a few days ago that the bidding is up to $250K.

So, um, I wonder if there’s a peripheral deal for the video rights?

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“Type faster, Porky.”

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I’ve had an interest in privacy, data aggregation and stuff like that ever since I got involved in the technology industry. Every now and again I have a brush with the consequences of the breadcrumbs that comprise my own data trail.

This Information Week article called Google Is Watching, Perhaps Soon In Your Home crossed my desk recently. [The link died.] It’s interesting in that it talks both about the Big Brother aspects as well as the utility – and coming necessity (I believe) – of these tools.

Regarding Google specifically, the jury’s still out. Are they good? Evil? Some of their products are very compelling and I use them to help me run and monitor my various Web properties. I refuse to install their desktop products because of their phone-home philosophies. Their mapping products are nothing short of mind-blowing. But their corporate secrecy and double-talk is nauseating. <shrug> You plunks down your quarter and you takes your chances.

New Jersey, despite the well-deserved reputation for corruption and scandal, happens to be one of the states at the forefront of legislatively protecting its citizens from the perils of data aggregation. That’s probably because the legislators want to protect themselves but, hey, I’ll take it wherever I can get it.

Anyway, it’s an interesting article.

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So a singularitarian and a neuroscientist walk into a bar, see…

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One of the more, um, entertaining technology threads is that of the singularity, which some say is coming. Right around the corner, so to speak. Perhaps the most outspoken member of the singularity crowd is Ray Kurzweil – a brilliant man, I use his speech recognition software all the time. Remember the Extropians? You don’t hear much from the transhumanists these days. The neuroscientists’ camp, on the other hand, dismiss all that singularity mumbo-jumbo as “mostly crap”.

An IEEE Spectrum Online article grabbed my attention with it’s clear description of how these two groups see our future. Go read The Consciousness Conundrum by John Horgan.

Be sure to check out the comments following the article, very nearly as entertaining.

As for me, well, as fast as technology is racing ahead, ever accelerating, I’ve got a feeling it’ll be a very long time indeed before human and machine intelligences merge. Not likely I’ll see any of it.

Have you ever heard of Gary ‘Chopit’ Fioto? He builds some very cool custom bikes in down in Florida. Anyway, he said “I’m going to be dead a long time, so I want to have fun now.”

Words to live by, Chopit! Lemme buy you a drink.

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“Joe, American” challenges the candidates

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Tell ya what. It doesn’t matter whether or not any individual point this guy makes is right or wrong. I just wish somebody with mainstream cred had the ‘nads to call out our excuses for candidates like this. Don’t you?

The reality of it, though, is it ain’t gonna happen. Look out for yourself, my friends, because nobody else is gonna look out for you. Take that to the bank.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPch2k63uj4