Month: February 2007

blogHillary is GO!

Now you can keep up to date with all things Hillary through blogHillary.

Welcome to the campaign’s new blog. I’m Crystal Patterson, and I’ll be blogging for the campaign as Hillary travels around the country meeting all of you and sharing her vision for America. I was the one asking your questions during Hillary’s live webcasts (if you missed them, you can watch them here). I look forward to getting to know all of you as the campaign moves forward, and to hearing your ideas, stories, questions, and opinions.

. . .

Let the conversation begin!

I’m working my way through all 100+ comments, but am too early in to say how visitors are settling in. And apologies for the “… is GO!” gaming reference in the title. I just couldn’t think of anything that fit.

[tags]blogHillary is live, Read Hillary Clinton’s new blog[/tags]

MPAA caught stealing intellectual property

Blogging software is easy to find. Lots of it is free. What isn’t is often inexpensive. Yet somehow, the Motion Picture Association of America managed to not only select non-free blogging software but also to not pay for it. In fact, in a bizarre show of disregard for the value of others’ intellectual property, the MPAA stripped all references to the original author and all links back to his site. That does seem odd behavior for an organization who believes piracy to be illegal, bad, and all kinds of evil. It just seems to not match their preaching about piracy:

For consumers to continue to experience the variety and quality of movies they expect, piracy must be controlled. The entertainment industry recognizes the potential of technology to deliver content in new and exciting ways. However, the looming threat of piracy can thwart innovation.

Now I ask, does that sound like the kind of organization that would steal intellectual property created by someone else, strip away all indications of who that someone else is, and then use said IP for their own benefit and profit? Apparently “Do as I say and not as I do” is creedo for the MPAA. (via CrunchGear)

Additional information (and useless techie-geek rambling idiocy with occasional useful and insightful commentary) at Slashdot.

[tags]MPAA is OK with intellectual property theft, “Software stealing is OK – just don’t steal movies” says MPAA[/tags]

WoodPod – Case modding comes to the iPod domain

This is kinda old news, but since I’be been on a case-mod-seeing virtual self-guided tour lately and came upon it again, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to post it. Wanting to improve the appearance of his iPod, ZapWizard decided to create a new custom face-plate for it. You can see his excellent write-up (with pictures) of how he created this beauty. Seeing this makes me weep for my lack of hand-skills.

wood-pod_crop.jpg This photo is snagged from the original article at Bit-Tech and cropped. Apologies for cutting off the bit-tech identifier, but I wanted a narrower pic for my site. I just want to make sure no one thinks I’m taking any credit for the image as posted. All respect to the original article hosts at Bit-Tech and the fantastic write-up for it by ZapWizard.


[tags]Wood iPod face replacement, WoodPod custom case mod[/tags]

Bionic eyes within 2 years?

I’ve avoided posting about this because it seemed like most people wouldn’t be interested in it, but since I’m seeing stories about bionic eyes on almost every web site I frequently visit, I figure I need something up about them here, too. Work on these eyes has been underway for a while, and an improved version of already-in-testing eyes appears ready for trials on humans.

At the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science, a research presented the idea that the blind could have their vision restored, thanks to bionic eye implants which would be available to patients in the next two years.

The first of such an implant has been in the works for five years now. Patients fitted with older versions of the “bionic eyes” have been reported to be able to see light, shapes and movement. Newer versions with higher resolution has recently been developed; the US Food and Drug Administration has already approved the implant of these devices in an exploratory patient trial happening across America in two years.

This is not a general cure-all for loss of vision, as it only applies to certain forms of blindness. Also, the device requires an external processing unit for now, but over time miniturization should help with that tremendously. Improving from 16 pixel units 5 years ago, the soon-to-be-tested new version offers 60 pixels and fits in about 1 mm2.

Find more details at the BBC.

[tags]Bionic eye, Steve Majors – the next generation, Bionic eye for less than $6 million[/tags]

When you try to hijack a plane, know the language of the pilot and passengers

I love it when a plan comes together. And this pilot pulled together a plan beautifully.

A fast-thinking pilot, with the help of passengers, fooled a gunman who had hijacked a jetliner flying from Africa to the Canary Islands, braking hard upon landing then quickly accelerating to knock the man down so travellers could pounce on him, Spanish officials said Friday.

. . .

Speaking to the gunman during the hijacking, the pilot realized the man did not speak French. So he used the plane’s public address system to warn the passengers in French of the ploy he was going to try: brake hard upon landing, then speed up abruptly. The idea was to catch the hijacker off balance, and have crew members and men sitting in the front rows of the plane jump on him, the Spanish official said.

Seems every once in a while, you do see bitching hard karmic payback. (via boingboing)

[tags]How not to hijack a plane, Stupid criminal loses in the end[/tags]

Newly released JFK video

Listening to the news today, I heard a story about recently released video from the JFK assassination. I wondered how this video could be kept hidden for so long, assuming some network had it stored away in a forgotten container only to find out it was a personal recording by an average person who was watching the motorcade and just happened to be recording it.

Previously unreleased footage of John F. Kennedy’s fateful motorcade in Dallas moments before he was gunned down was released on Monday, a surprising new detail in a saga that has gripped the United States for four decades.

The silent 8mm film shows a beaming Jacqueline Kennedy close up in vivid color waving to the crowd.

A group of excited bystanders — women sporting big 1960s hairstyles — waves to the cameraman shortly before the motorcade sweeps past.

The president’s coat is clearly if briefly seen bunched up on his back — a detail that will be scrutinized by conspiracy theorists who see evidence of a plot in, among other things, the fact the bullet wounds on his jacket and body did not appear to match.

The film was donated to the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas by amateur photographer George Jefferies and his son-in-law, Wayne Graham. It was released to coincide with the Presidents Day federal holiday.

Museum curator Gary Mack said he was not surprised Jefferies took so long to come forward.

“Everyone who captured the motorcade before the assassination thinks their pictures are unimportant. But to historians, all photos and home movies are important to possibly answer questions that will be asked in the future,” he said.

I came out of my office to watch the story as it ran. MSNBC showed a few seconds of the video, but not enough to really see anything. One of the points discussed in the story is the number of other people seen in the video who also had video recorders. Experts (for some unknown value of “Experts”) are apparently going to try to find out who these other people are (and I have no idea how they will do that – maybe those Student Loan collections companies will help) and see if they can get any more long forgotten videos and pictures of the assassination.

I expect to see lots of conspiracy theorists analyzing this video if it ever makes it in full to the general public. I’m sure we’ll see more detailed analysis telling us there is no way one gunman could have shot JFK, or that the video proves he couldn’t have been shot from the location and angle Lee Harvey Oswald would have had. But then, there are loons everywhere, aren’t there?

EDIT: Fixed bug in which most of the story was cut.  Also, found out after I posted that the full video has already been posted online.

[tags]New JFK assassination video made public, Oh the conspiracy theorists will have a field-day with this[/tags]

AOL recommends waiting on these gadgets

In an effort to help all us herdlings who jump on the latest tech whenever possible, AOL has posted a list of 5 gadgets to hold off buying until the next generation of them comes out – presumably also when these products improve and/or the prices come down.

Many first-generation products have so many little bugs that these highly anticipated toys simply don’t live up to the hype. Making matters worse, consumers have to pay top dollar to get their hands on the newest technology. So unless you simply must have it, you’re better off waiting until the next generation, says Tom Merritt, executive editor of CNET.

Before talking about any of the gadgets, let me just say I’m confident it would be easy to expand this list waaaaaay beyond just 5 gadgets. That said, here are a couple AOL pointed out:

Continue reading “AOL recommends waiting on these gadgets”