Posts for July 2007

Vertigo trumps VOIP

I've been meaning to write up a summary of my recent VOIP experiences (I was a SunRocket customer until the company disappeared in a puff of smoke a couple of weeks back), but I've had a flareup of my inner ear infection problems the past couple of days, and I have vertigo in a bad way at times. More to come on the VOIP stuff soon...short of it, I've landed at ViaTalk, and it looks pretty good so far!

July 31, 2007 permalink | Comments (2)

Sent out my first Bookmooch books today

I finally got around to signing up for BookMooch earlier this week, and I just sent out my first books today! BookMooch is a site to match up book lovers...like many bibliophiles, I have a great deal of trouble in throwing away books, or even giving them away in a situation where I feel like they may end up in thre trash (at book fairs and such). BookMooch lets you put up an inventory of books you're willing to give away, and gives you points for both putting up books (0.1 each), and for giving them away (1 pt each). You can then use those points to mooch books yourself! Pretty clever idea, really, and from the same guy (John Buckman) who runs Magnatune Records (another site I'm very fond of). He's quite the creative dude.

So thanks to John for BookMooch, and I hope the folks who have books on the way enjoy them!

July 27, 2007 permalink | Comments (0)

God isn't like a ring of keys...

Um, this is just flat out excellent: God disproven by the fact of skepticism: ...God is of necessity too large and imposing to get lost in the sock-drawer. If you look around carefully and don't see any God, there isn't one. God isn't like a ring of keys that might still show up. ...

Thanks to Ken MacLeod for the link!

July 27, 2007 permalink | Comments (0)

Killer attack drones FTW

Robot air attack squadron bound for Iraq -- The Reaper is loaded, but there's no one on board. Its pilot, as it bombs targets in Iraq, will sit at a video console 7,000 miles away in Nevada...With more Reapers, I could send manned airplanes home, [air commander] North said.

Sounds like someone didn't watch The Phantom Menace...

July 25, 2007 permalink | Comments (0)

3D Mailbox: a joke?

Richard Bartle's recent interview on the state of virtual worlds was a good read all on it's own, but one line stands out for me (and no, it's not the close WoW one): [Aside: how much faster will you be able to get through your email-reading chores at the start of the day when you have 3D Mailbox? When I first saw the trailer, I thought it was a parody.].

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: 3D Mailbox -- oh, please tell me it's for real...I need a good mockery target for this week!

July 25, 2007 permalink | Comments (2)

JungleDisk: backup service via Amazon S3

JungleDisk looks to be a REALLY nice backup tool that uses Amazon S3 as it's backend. Runs on WinX, Max, Linux...currently about to come out of beta with a really reasonable price point ($20/lifetime, or $1/month...plus the separate S3 storage pricing, of course).

Fascinating. An ecosystem is being born on the back of S3...really interesting stuff.

July 25, 2007 permalink | Comments (0)

Potter mania

Wow. I saw it with my own eyes last night...I was out about 11:30pm, and drove by one of our local Borders bookstores, and there was a party going on inside! Potter mania is alive and well...I tried to get a photo, but I only had my phonecam with me (shame!), and it was just too dark for it. But it was impressive nonetheless. I didn't pre-order, but I expect I'll buy it before too long...it's a good series. And while it's always sad when something you enjoy ends, I like it when an author is willing to end a series when the story is told, rather than grind it out forever for the very last dollar, destroying good will in the name of profit. Hopefully, that won't happen here...we'll see!

July 21, 2007 permalink | Comments (0)

Me as LOLcat

*sigh*...I got sucked in. But it's funny!

Your Score: Serious Cat

57 % Affectionate, 60 % Excitable , 48 % Hungry

Hungry for knowledge in any internet forum, you demand decorum. Any off-topic remarks, absurd statements, or tomfoolery on the interweb is deeply frowned upon by you. Truth has no room for drollery.

Link: The Which Lolcat Are You? Test written by GumOtaku on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

July 18, 2007 permalink | Comments (0)

Dan Gillmor and the state of Citizen Media

Citizen Media: A Progress Report: An excellent overview of the state of citizen media today, as well as a set of suggestions for moving forward. I consider the concept of citizen media/ubiquitous collaboration/etc. to be pivotal for our future, so presentations like Dan's are really important. He groks this, he walks the walk, and he's there to help. Thanks, Dan!

July 18, 2007 permalink | Comments (0)

Whack at NY Times Iraq editorial

TwoGlasses (new to me; seems worth a glance so far) goes after the recent NYT editorial on getting out of Iraq point-by-point. Good post, many valid criticisms, but I especially like this one:

Times: And it [Iraq war] created a new front where the United States will have to continue to battle terrorist forces and enlist local allies who reject the idea of an Iraq hijacked by international terrorists. --> TwoGlasses: Or we could, you know, not do that. We could stop pretending that international terrorists are this incredibly scary existential threat that demands we go to permanent DefCon 5 status. We could commit ourselves instead to bolstering international intelligence and policing efforts, tracking these irritating bastards down like the criminals they are instead of glorifying their pretensions by supposing they're a proper adversary for our military.

Bravo.

July 16, 2007 permalink | Comments (0)

Ken MacLeod: The Execution Channel

I'm presently reading Ken MacLeod's newest book, The Execution Channel, and it is outstanding. MacLeod is one of my absolute favorite authors, and this book is one of his best. It hits imediately much closer to home than most of his scifi; it's a near-future alternate world, where 9/11, 7/7, Iraq, Iran, and all the rest happened. Where the War on Terror has defined our reality for the intervening decades. By fast-forwarding us through the near future, to the start of his book where a nuclear explosion in Scotland may signal the start of something even bigger, MacLeod is able to explore the cultural, technological, and political consequences of the decisions we've made since September 11th.

He does it with style, but pulls no punches. This paragraph (referencing detention without charge for purposes of national security), for example, drove me out of my chair to pace about, and eventually write this post:

Tears sprang to her eyes, as they always did when the thought struck her that that particular prerogative was back: the right of the sovereign to condemn, to put to the question, without due process and for reasons of state; that on that sore point all the Revolutions in Britian and America had been for nothing. That America had been for nothing; that dismayed her.

And it's (so far) a rollicking good story too. How can you beat it!? Thanks, Ken!

July 15, 2007 permalink | Comments (0)

Amazon package tracking

I've been doing some Amazon ordering lately; I normally just click around after logging in and get to the tracking status page, but I just noticed in an email notification that there's a specific redirect you can use: http://www.amazon.com/wheres-my-stuff. I like it!

July 12, 2007 permalink | Comments (0)

Narrate away, Jon!

My first takeaway from Jon Udell's most recent post is not about the main subject; it's the reminder to narrate the work. As mentioned in one of his first comments off of that google search, the narration is valuable to both others (via search pickup), as well as to the writer. It helps them clarify their thinking, improve their craft, and expose their ideas. Some of my favorite posts are of exactly this type. Thanks for reminding me, Jon...I'm going to try to pick up with more of that type of posting again.

(though note, I said first takeaway...I'm a big fan of open science and the concept of the scientific web. It's just not what this quick rant is about. *grin*)

July 7, 2007 permalink | Comments (0)

Pownce on Django, AWS, Debian

The newest social networking nerd site, Pownce, has some great back-end cred: The website is made with Django, which is Python powered, and we use a MySQL database. The servers are powered by Debian, and our webservers run a combination of Apache and Perlbal. File storage is supported by S3 from Amazon Web Services.

Yowza. Me like.

July 5, 2007 permalink | Comments (0)

AI, podcasts, and the Jesus Project

Just some links to some essays and podcasts I've found particularly good recently. Cameron Reilly at G'day World has been kicking out some outstanding interviews recently, including the following:

Couple of other links:

An excellent rationalist/humanist podcast called Point of Inquiry had a particularly good recent episode. It's an interview with R. Joseph Hoffman about the Jesus Project...a new project involving scholars from many disciplines that is trying to determine the likelihood of Jesus of Nazareth having ever existed. Excellent interview. ( podcast )

From the writings list at Eli Yudkowsky's website, I downloaded and have started reading Artifical Intelligence and Global Risk. It's a chapter for a book on global risk, and definitely recommended.

And for a complete change of pace, check out Steam Brigade at Manifesto Games (heck, almost everything I try from Manifesto rocks). I'm still playing the Steam Brigage demo, but I'm heading over to buy it tonight or tomorrow. It's quite a cool little game.

July 3, 2007 permalink | Comments (0)

Libby sentence commutation

Bush commutes Libby's prison sentence -- Wow. I'll comment more later, after I do some more reading. But I honestly did not expect Bush to do anything here. And the commutation appears to be particularly interesting...it's rare. My first thoughts are that he looked at it as see, it's not like I granted him a pardon; relax! But my initial reaction is...what? You acknowledge he's guilty, you just didn't like that he was actually being punished?? Hmm...actually, kinda par for the course now that I think about it. But really...wow. More later.

UPDATE: Oh, and a quick response to the hey, being a felon affects his ability to be a lawyer, yada yada, argument. Puh-LEEZ. I mean, really...c'mon. This sumbitch isn't going to do anything the rest of his life but write books, give speeches to conservative organizations for beaucoup bucks, and groove the political talking head scene. Hell...the felony hanging around is probably a positive from that standpoint; it makes him a martyr. I am NOT impressed with that argument; please keep it to yourself if you don't want me to take off the rhetorical kid gloves. *grin* But I welcome comments from the peanut gallery!

UPDATE: After re-reading a couple of times, I realize I didn't make this clear; my first reaction when seeing this was to laugh out loud. Just the thing to do, I guess. Not that I think it's funny; it's insane, but it's hardly the most outrageous or maddening thing this administration has done. It's just out in the open; bold. The man is bold, I'll give him that. *sigh*

July 2, 2007 permalink | Comments (1)

Earlier posts -- Later posts