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Not a bad month, covering some diverse topics. |
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January 6th, 2004 New Year's Resolutions:
So I marked Does social software matter? yesterday. And today I got an e-mail from a friend to join Plaxo. All this after an NPR on similar networks. A link to the audio and an excerpt can be found here, look for "Networking 2.0 with the help of new tech" Look like Social software is finally the next big thing. |
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January 8th, 2004 As 2003 closed out one more voice encouraged us to "Forget the spin," and realize taping is not killing music. I think that this article is a good wrap up for a year that will hopefully be looked upon as the open round in a battle for the rights of consumers, artists of all sorts, and the creative commons of civilization. To frame 2003, I offer the Caltech Michelin Lecture from January 17th. The state of science, and in particular science related to public policy, is appaling. In fact we can draw some comparisons between these two articles, in that much of the Recording Industry's claims are based on bad science. When we examine claims of mass-pirating or mass-extinction we should remain sceptical. |
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January 12th, 2004 Is it just me or do Michael Crichton's words ring ever truer, as we examine doomsday scenarios such as Peak Oil. My favorite quote: If you are an optimist, you will deal with the reality of Peak Oil in a realistic way that optimizes humanity's chance of surviving Peak Oil and building a prosperous post-oil civilization. If you are not willing to deal with Peak Oil in this way, you are a fool who will be dead within 20 years.Where do people come up with these ideas? Have they learned nothing from history? People have been predicting the end of energy supplies for years, and not one of them has been right yet. I just wish that more people would pay attention to the science of things. However, I guess like any issue of faith, people will go on believing whatever they want. I believe that we used Why People Believe Weird Things as a textbook for Science and Reason, so it may be a place to start if you want to learn more about how to test the validity of "scientific" claims. |
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January 22nd, 2004 Not much on-line has caught my interest in the last few days. Sure the president announced that we are going to Mars, and my wife said that if THEY call me I can go; Howard Dean made a fool of himself; and I've been reading, and occasionally agreeing with Holt Uncensored, but nothing has really inspired me. Today I found something that I want to pursue. Air Muscles, are an up and comming power source in Amature Robotics. At first I thought that they were relatively complex and expensive in construction, and viewed them more as an oddity than a practicle solution for any of my ideas, then I found Chris' LEGOTIC lab, and his description of how to build an air-muscle. After spending some time searching for more information on the "modeling plastic", sold under the name Utile Plast (found under "Melt and Mold" from the link), and his "Heat-retractable sheath", I realized that his list could be modified, to possibly achieve more durable and efficient results. I present my own component list here:
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January 26th, 2004 I've been spending time over at Holt Uncensored (and yes he is uncensored), reading through his archives. He has some interesting, albeit one-sided, commentary on the state/fate of the book industry. His parody serial "Remainders of the Day" is quite funny, and he has gotten me to consider why Independent Bookstores are important; he has even gotten me thinking about a new software project. However, he is often so blatently biased, and ignorant of technology that it hurts. Today, I found the proverbial final straw. While discussing the crazed idiots who defaced the Amazon listing for Daddy's Cap Is on Backwards, he actually praised the morons: "Meanwhile a huge THANK YOU to whoever conspired to create such blistering commentary about Keane's vision of "burb noir," his "persistEnt trumping of the American booboisie." To think that 32 email addresses were constructed to smuggle these magnificent voices (are any real? are they all written by the same person?) past Amazon censors, who, those naughty slackers, seem to have receded into the wings, is kind of astounding. Bravo to all participants, and also a big THANKS to Amazon as well!"For anyone so concerned about literature; who constantly ridicules the clerks at chain stores for not being able to read, let alone direct a reader to something that they may find interesting; who believes that reviews are something that should be earned and not bought this should be something to rail against, not condone, and especially not celebrate. Holt's words reveal him to be a petty child who has been playing superhero. As the gaurdian of all things literary and artistic, Holt has shown himself to be nothing more than a man raging against a fate he can nither understand nor accept. So go read Holt, and judge for yourself. |
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January 27th, 2004 Not really sure why the Drafting Pencil Museum strikes my fancy but, I think it may have to do with my love of Architecture and Design. Maybe I'll blog a little on those topics later this week, or next. Must keep going... |
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January 28th, 2004 Soze's Blog, posted a link to the State of American Innovation. This is a great primer on why draconian intellectual property laws, and protectionisim in general, are harmful to citizens, technology, and the economy. The article also mentions Making Pills Political Prisoners, an interesting article by Lawrence Lessig. So go read them. |