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Saturday, October 20, 2001
11:35 AM      

I've temporararily disabled the comment feature. I found a better tool... It'll be back soon.

I'm off to see some art this afternoon. e-ya!

[ link | e-me ]

Friday, October 19, 2001
1:38 PM      

Basket Full Of Puppies
"Before the tragedy of Sept. 11 the only scary thing about Anthrax was our bad hair in the 1980s and the Fistful of Metal album cover...Suddenly our name is not so cool."

more

[ link | e-me ]

Thursday, October 18, 2001
12:21 PM      

I got an e-mail from my "girlfriend-in-law" today. I don't know if she's just feeling alive, or if something happened:

Hi Louis And Denise:
All I can say, is that I am lucky to still be alive and well!!! Looking down the barrell of a gun is no fun!
Enjoy the day!
Dianne
Hmmm....

The band, not the germ...
A street in Fayetteville, NC was apparently named after somebody's favorite band in 1996. Now, it's got a new meaning, and the residents are squirming.

Is mapquest.com dead? I went to the site today, and most of the graphics were missing.

While we're on the subject of maps, the University of Minnesota has an interesting project online called Maps in the News.

Zannah just turned me on to ShouldExist.org This is a fun idea.

[ link | e-me ]

2:40 PM      

Balanced Perspective?

- or - Information vs Hysteria in the Media

New York Post
 
New York Times

WIMPS
The leaders who ran away from Anthrax

  Tests Show Anthrax Exposure in at Least 30 Capitol Workers


[ link | e-me ]

3:40 PM      

RANDom acts of sabotage
First the bottom fell out of the services sector of the web; now the technology may unravel. The W3C is the organization that has cultivated the standards that make up the web as we know it and impact how it will evolve.

The policy is called "Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory", or RAND, for short. Powerful members of the organization have filed for and received patents on what was "royalty-free" technology. (We're talking about key technologies, not stuff that's easy to work around.) Now they want to be able to charge royalties for those technologies, a proposition that would completely change the nature of the game.

The policy seems to be on a fast track to adoption, and some of the dealings appear to have been a little underhanded...

Opinions: WaSP

...Aside from these substantive changes in policy, the W3C should also stop using the term "reasonable and non-discriminatory", because that term white-washes a class of licenses that are normally neither reasonable nor non-discriminatory....

- Richard Stallman


[ link | e-me ]

9:17 PM      

I just picked my jaw up off the floor... He said this:

``I cannot imagine that humans can use germs against other humans, whatever the degree of animosity between them...It is a cowardly, evil and irresponsible action putting in danger the whole of humanity.''

Who said that? Gaddafi, that's who.

[ link | e-me ]

10:06 PM      

Has it seemed to you that the press is being a bit irresponsible with the anthrax stories? Lots of bluster, and little info? History shows that "yellow journalism" sells. Still, it's interesting to find this bit on Poynter.org:

News organizations reporting on anthrax bear several weighty responsibilities: To share information without crying wolf; to present complex biological facts and theories with accuracy and clarity; to protect their own reporters from personal risk while covering a story that hits very close to home.

[ more from Jim Romenesko's Media News ]



[ link | e-me ]

Wednesday, October 17, 2001
10:55 AM      

Yet another elevator story... I think the woman is a secretary. She was sharply dressed in skirt, blouse, and one-button sweater. Really, it was more of an embelleshment that draped over her blouse, than a real sweater. One striking thing about her was her nails: each one was done up as a miniature American flag.

She was talking to another guy in the elvator about security: "I mean really..." she said. "Listen, if I'm going to get frisked, I want a nice-looking GI guy to do it, and they're just not living up to my standards!"

:::

I ran into Walter today. We chatted about how nice it is just to be alive today. That was his reply to my query: "What's new and exciting?" I think more people are in touch with being alive these days. Folks who were dragging their feet are getting married. Folks who were dragging their feet are getting divorced. Folks who were keeping their mouths shut are opening up...

:::

Still no sign of Katie Couric... Her buddies on NBC are simply saying that she's "taking time off." I think I sensed a little strain today. At least Maria Schreiver is getting more air time. [Like she needs the cash!]

Executive resort meets "golden" parachute
I saw a weird piece this morning about an "executive safety chute" that's being marketed to people who work in high-rise buildings. Supposedly, it will get you to the ground safely from the tenth floor or higher. The 'chute is round, so there's no steering the thing. The demo did not go well. The man's assistant seemed to have trouble putting the thing on - she fumbled several times, trying to step into the leg straps. Then the waist belt seemed to be way too short. She was mouthing something to an off-camera assistant while the spokesman was saying "It's OK," trying to calm her down. Assuming you can put the thing on right, and get the static line properly set-up, there's one other potential problem: If somebody above you jumps into your 'chute, it's probably going to collapse, and you're in serious trouble. Guess that's why they bill it as a "measure of last resort."

Still, can you picture it?: Some tall building, like the Sears Tower is in trouble, and dozens of little parachutes are streaming out of the building, like dandelion seeds... Actually, engineers are thingking up a number of creative escape ideas.

[ link | e-me ]

4:22 PM      

I was sitting in my friend Chris' office this afternoon, when I heard a sound. It was a dull thud, but it had to be pretty loud, because it came from outside. This is New York. It's noisy. But in this day and age, it could have been an explosion. I looked toward the window. Chris said "Oh - you heard that?" I said "Yeah, what is it?" I moved toward the window. Below was a barge holding a large crane. On either side of it were two tub-shaped barges full of what looked like metallic spaghetti. The crane held what looked like the cargo portion of a dump truck, suspended by cables. Nearby was a long, large hauling truck. Chris said "I hear that noise all day long..." Every so often, we'd hear a screeching sound, something like in the old Godzilla movies. The "spaghetti" is metal that's been removed from Ground Zero, being prepared for the trip to Staten Island.

:::

Bunch of Yahoos
The description reads as follows:

REDNECKKLAN
This group is for rednecks like myself to hang out, chat, laugh at niggers and swap pictures of diffrent things from us and our buddies to the big trucks shotguns and beer to naked women!!!

Does Yahoo encourage racist groups? Derek Powazek makes a cogent argument that they do.

[ link | e-me ]

Tuesday, October 16, 2001
4:19 PM      

Coming into work today, I stepped out of the subway, and encountered a stream of people headed into the subway station. I thought nothing of it, until someone else said "There are a lot of people coming this way. Something must have happened again. Let's go back to Brooklyn." There were cops around, but none of them were directing traffic, or making announcements. Everything was orderly, too. I looked around, and realized that the crowd was coming from downtown - the Staten Island ferry had pulled in. That's where these people were coming from.

In the elevator, I encountered one of the mailroom staff. He was wearing vinyl gloves - the kind of gloves I wore in chemistry and biology lab in college. The kind that make your hands sweat within minutes. He had a cart full of mail, that he was delivering to various desks. I thought it slightly odd: he's still wearing the gloves, so he's somewhat protected, but if any of those packages are dusted with anthrax or some other bioagent... the recipent is still in trouble. I wonder if the gloves are the only precaution they're taking down in the mail room. At lunch, I heard someone in the coffee shop say that they didn't want to open any of their mail for the last couple of days.

Whoever has been sending these packages has been effective in making many of us second-guess our daily lives.

:::

What's up with Katie Couric? I know there's a major woo-fest going on with several networks, since her contract is coming due, but I wonder... Yesterday, her co-anchors were saying that she'd taken the day off, and made it sound like she'd be back today... This morning, they were saying that Katie was taking a few days off... Denise's take on it is that Katie's daughters might be completely freaking out these days, especially since Tom Brokaw's assistant got anthrax - that's a little too close to home, and she's taking some time off to take care of them.

:::

I really like "Win Ben Stein's Money" on Comedy Central. It's a cheeky riff on "Jeopardy." Last night, I saw a contestant mop the floor with Ben, taking the final round 9-4. A few contestants manage to tie Ben and walk off with an extra $1000. Most contestants don't go into the third round with more than a few hundred bucks. The woman who won last night went into round 3 with $2000. Then she was confident enough to go first, and when Ben was told that she'd gotten 9 right, he was already talking like he'd lost. The questions are tough. She ruled.

You learn something every day: Do you think that "smart" and "intelligent" mean the same thing? So did I. Turns out, intelligence has more to do with applying knowledge, while smarts has to do with speed of retrieval.

[ link | e-me ]

Monday, October 15, 2001
12:03 PM      

A penny for your thoughts... If you've sent me e-mails in response to some of my postings, thanks. I'm starting an experiment. If you have something to add to the entries, click on "add your $.02." I'm looking forward to your participation!

[ link | e-me ]

1:24 PM      

What the customer wants? A little while ago, I was given an Excel file to post on our company's intranet. I know I could have just posted the straight Excel file, but have you ever waited while Excel loaded, just to view a spreadsheet through your browser? Yecch...

We have been converting the files to HTML when we post 'em. The thing is, when you save a file as HTML from Excel, the resulting file is so bloated with exotic XML code, it's disgusting. The same is true for MS Word. The HTML file that resulted from converting the Excel fle had a lot of blank space on the right, but there was no obvious way to find out why or, more importantly where Excel was adding the space, so there was no way to remove it. I ended up posting the file with the dumb-looking white space on the right. I'm half expecting someone to complain... If they complain loudly enough, we may end up publishing the file in PDF - another terribly abused format that provides pitiful results for this type of problem.

What's worse is that most of the mystery XML seems to provide no useful value at present, although who knows what XP and future Microsoft magic technologies may hold. Either way, you have to take it the way you get it.

[ link | e-me ]

3:37 PM      

Heard on the street: "Heart attacks don't run in my family. We're all fit and trim... We give heart attacks, we don't get them."

[ link | e-me ]

4:26 PM      

GEEK HEAVEN
Handspring is about to launch a VCIU (very cool integrated unit) called "TREO" that combines a PalmOS device with a phone. The integration is very tight, the miniaturization is right, and the price looks good. If it won't work with my current phone service, I might be induced to switch...


[ link | e-me ]

6:40 PM      

History repeating
Bill Duke of Poetry Central sent this out today:

Chapter I

Ours is a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habits, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future: but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We've got to live , no matter how many skies have fallen.

- first paragraph of Lady Chaterley's Lover, D.H .Lawrence



[ link | e-me ]

7:23 PM      

Sir Rudy... The mayor received an honorary knighthood this morning.

Mario Cuomo's pitch for Mark Green begins "Our bombs and missiles have begun to fall in the war against terrorism..." The next Mayor's will have a lot on his hands. I wonder what it must have been like to be Mayor of one of London during the war.

It's likely that more businesses will fail in the wake of the dual whammy of the economic downturn and the restrictions that have been imposed in response to this mess.

A special 2-hour episode of "Third Watch" features actual rescuers in their own words.

Tom Brokaw signed off the Nightly News tonight with "In Cipro we trust." A new spin on the old phrase "Better living through chemistry." He flashes his medicine bottle like a badge of courage. It's weird to think that in the future, we may routinely x-ray and sterilize incoming mail...

 



[ link | e-me ]

Sunday, October 14, 2001
9:34 PM      

Roger Tucker will be featured in an upcoming art show in Brooklyn. The art under the bridge festival looks promising.

Then, on Monday, October 22, 7:30 pm, Cooper Union will present In a time of Crisis a reading of poems hosted by Alice Quinn, featuring the following poets:

US Poet Laureate Billy Collins
Michael Cunningham
Eve Ensler
Joie Graham
Yusef Komunyakaa
Stanley Kunitz
Robert Pinsky
Sapphire
Vijay Seshadri
Susan Sontag
C.K.Williams

At the Great Hall, 7 East Seventh St at Third Avenue. Tickets are $10 at the door, $5 for students. The proceeds benefit the American Red Cross.

The exhibit Brazil: Body and Soul opens at the Guggenheim on October 19. We were at the museum today, with the exhibit under construction. We didn't see much of the upcoming show, but the glimpses we got were impressive.

:::

On the way up to the Guggenheim, the conductor announced that all trains were bypassing Union Square. As we buzzed through the station, it appeared that the last three or four people were leaving the platform. That station is never empty. We heard something about a Police investigation on someone's 2-way radio. On the way back downtown, everything seemed to be back to normal at Union Square. If nothing appears in the news about it, my bet is we witnessed a bomb scare.



[ link | e-me ]
 
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