...more recent posts
"And, an Associated Press report claims that despite a White House prohibition, 13 government agencies are secretly using technology to track the habits of people visiting their sites, and in at least one case, the information is provided to a private company, according to a congressional review." -from Newsbytes News Network - the story links to a report at www.gao.gov ("Opportunities and Challenges Facing The FirstGov Web Gateway") claiming that this gov't web portal has absolutely no security measures in place.
The world produces between 1 and 2 exabytes of unique information per year, which is roughly 250 megabytes for every man, woman, and child on earth. An exabyte is a billion gigabytes, or 1018 bytes. Printed documents of all kinds comprise only .003% of the total. This from a how much information study at Berkeley.
Is this the headline: 4 vs. 7?
From todays NYT :
Trying to Fill the Void When the Monoculture Skips a Beat
By SHAILA K. DEWAN FOR THE NYT 10/17/00
Among the fauna to be found
clustered around the box office at
certain rock concerts there are subtle
distinctions. And last night, outside the
Beacon Theater on the Upper West Side,
where Phil Lesh, the former Grateful Dead
bassist, was playing, an expert would have
been able to discern an uptick in one variety
of tousle-headed, bead-hawking,
parking-lot dweller: the Phishhead.
That's because last week, Phish, the
Vermont jam rock band that more than any
other took over the spiritual mantle of the
Grateful Dead, abruptly began a hiatus of
undetermined length. Their final concert, at
the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain
View, Calif., was on Oct. 7. After that,
where was a fan to go?
The Phishheads in evidence last night were
caught between disappointment and loyalty.
"They've been working hard for a long
time," said Robert Landry, 22, who had
come from Kittery, Me., and decided to
follow part of Mr. Lesh's tour. "So they're
definitely entitled to a break."
By and large, the hippie-inflected fans are
not inclined to vitriol. Dancing and sharing,
especially in the form of bootlegged tapes,
are encouraged by the band. But those who
had spent the last one, three or five New
Year's Eves at a Phish concert seemed
somewhat lost (the band is expected to take
at least a year off). Was there now a void in
their lives?
"It hasn't set in yet," said Joel Sandler, 22,
of Philadelphia, who said he was "a bum,"
but not proud of it.
Noah Axe, 19 and, like both the band and
his friend Mr. Sandler, on something of a
hiatus, played it a little cooler. "Phish isn't
the only band that Phish fans listen to," he
said. He was thinking of checking out
Cat Power. In a telephone interview with Cat Power, Ms Power stated : "If they don't pay they're not getting in, you cant pay the landlord by holding a finger up in the air." "We dont want them and we don't need them." "Our shows are already sold out". "Let them go follow Marianne Nowottny, she could use an audience."
"I found more purpose in my life than just
following a band," insisted Dean Sottile, a
chiropractor from Maywood, N.J., who
wore a polo shirt and a windbreaker. "I
really can't wait for them to come back,
though." Asked what he would be doing come New Year's, Mr. Sottile, a Phish regular,
kept a stiff upper lip. "I don't know. What's going on?"
Phishheads, holding one finger aloft to signify that an extra ticket to see Mr. Lesh would be
greatly appreciated, argued amicably over what, exactly Trey Anastasio, the Phish guitarist,
had told a Las Vegas audience in his only public explanation of the band's break (please,
don't call it a breakup). The relative merits of Widespread Panic, another jam band, were
discussed in earnest.
But to some of those crowding the barricades last night, the news of Phish's disbanding was
unwelcome for another reason: invasion. They complained that Phishheads mistake
revolution for fashion and fail to display appropriate "family values," as Melisa Linton, a
22-year-old Deadhead, put it.
"Back then, if you needed a shirt, it was, here you go, brother, here you go sister," she said,
giving a reporter a hug.
Another Deadhead said fretfully, "I'm afraid the kids might come to Furthurfest," referring to
a music festival held by the surviving members of the Grateful Dead.
But two students from the State University of New York at Purchase seemed peaceful
enough as they waited in line to get into the Beacon. One of them said his name was T. Roy.
A young man with dark ringlets who said his parents had been Deadheads, he had found an
upside to Phish's exit. "I play my own music," he said. "It might give us a chance to have a
bigger crowd."
Although Phish has been around since the early 80's, their caravan of hand-to-mouth fans
swelled after 1995, when Jerry Garcia died and the Grateful Dead broke up. Although
connoisseurs will point out that the bands sound very different, younger Deadheads found
the Dead's legacy in Phish.
Phish's hiatus, given little fanfare by its members, came at the height of the group's
popularity. Without support from MTV and major marketing dollars, Phish has thrived,
becoming the most successful of the new generation of radio-unfriendly jam bands.
"Once Jerry died, the scene just went whoomph!" Mr. Landry said, sweeping his hands
upward, "because there were all these hippie musicians that couldn't follow the Dead
anymore."
Hello?.... Hello?.... (tap tap tap....) Is this thing on?
We had a little problem with the posting system. Everything should be back in order, but let me know if you see anything weird.
As long as we're talking politics - what's the story in the middle east? I have very little intuition on this one (stemming, no doubt, from the fact that I know very little about the history of the region.) I can tell that I'm supposed to back Israel (as a good US media consumer,) and my intuition usually has me siding with them, but then I read things like this seemingly reasonable piece. Can anyone shed any light on this for me? Specifically, what's the deal with the 1967 borders? Is it true that the violence could be ended if Israel would agree to those borders? And why won't they? I have to think that in the next few (or at least 5 to 10) years both sides are going to have very nasty weapons at their disposal (bacteriological, nuclear, genetic, and eventually nanotechnological.) It seems crucial to work these things out now. Is there any hope?
My break away space colony plans aren't looking so stupid now, are they? ;-)
There it is again, on the front of the Post; out of politicians' mouths; "COWARDS!" This comes after every terrorist action. How can you call people who give their lives for a cause cowards? They may be fanatics, some may be crazy, but they've got legitimate concerns, and no matter how much we may disagree with their means, they certainly aren't cowards. As long as we use false language to talk about these matters, we will never say anything true about them, and we will not move towards any amelioration. Coming to terms with Islam is one of the great challenges for the West in the new century. Do we expect them to become like us, crying crocodile tears, and lamenting the loss of our Traditional values in the face of our own capitalist expansion? These are people trying to fight that trend, using the resources of the powerless. If we want them to act like us, we're going to have to pay them a lot of money to give up their values (it works here). If we want them to at least behave themselves, we'll have to find honest ways of talking with them. Reactionary rhetoric cannot support progressive policy.
Alas, that I could say I knew you all: so many monkeys, so little time.
i saw an undercover give a ticket to someone whom threw thier metrocard on the floor after failing to respond to two commands to pick it up from some stranger (whom happened to be an undercover cop)--now i never litter but i also never respond to "hey buddy come back here and pick this up" from a stranger even if he said it 3 times
walk me out in the morning brew--is that a good name for a coffee or tea shop??
requiemforadream. Give it a chance. (from here.)
"This site showcases the printed program for Stanley Kubrick's film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. My thanks go to Mark Hodgson for the loan of his copy. The program was available in UK cinemas, accompanying the first release of 2001, circa 1968." Amazing. Great pictures.
bob weir sang the national anthem last week in SF
does dratfink look messed up on peoples machines today or is it just me? my right column of links is layered over the text and the first block on the right is gone while the text extends further to the right than is normal just for the first post. anyone see that?
Any one smell dead phish ? Todays Times says : "Phish Phinishes an act bidding phans pharwell" and that it will be a boom for String Cheese Incident who will now take on all ex-phish phollowers.
my first cousin is a lesbian and owns a few retail stores in Mass., she decided to make her own campaign bumper sticker this year and thier selling like hotcakes..."Lick Bush in 2000"
my 2nd annual hero of year award goes to paul newman and his wife nell (i cant remember one of his movies except that one where he was a gambler??) for thier "newmans own organics" food line with 100% profit given to charity--they crossed the $100 million mark this year!! please buy thier stuff!! last year's winner was woody for his war on the "war on drugs" he is on the cover of high times this month and his case was dropped but he has not dropped the case...
bored?? from the (a)buddha's mem(es)brain
lokks like a great Mass weekend for me and we should plan for sunday 15!!
another one for you to svet about.
Here is a little language trivia from Riothero:
What is the longest word you can spell without
repeating a letter?
What is the longest world with just one vowel?
What is the only English word with a triple letter?
What is the longest commonly used word with no letter
appearing more than once?
What is the word with the longest definition, in most
dictionaries?
What is the longest common word without an a, e, i, o,
or u?
What is the shortest -ology (study of) word?
What is the only two common words with six
consonants in a row?
What is the longest English word with letters appearing
in Alphabetical order?
Check out his post for the answers.
Poor George W. Everybody makes fun of him. (Let the page load, it's worth it in a really juvenille sort of way.)
Mike said the site was boring yesterday, so I'm trying to come up with a lot of links today. Because I don't really have time to scour the whole net, I'm just stealing a few from memepool (this one, and the last two.)
Anyway, here's the Hacker FAQ which will help answer any questions you might have about hiring a hacker.
Here's the first three chapters of a graphic novel about the Presidential race: S2K. The author (artist?) says:
If there was ever any question of how I view the common voter, politicians and modern American politics, this serialized graphic novel should make everything clear by page 4. S2K is my hate filled manifesto, my ultimatum, my revealed contempt, and my pie smashed into the face of the political machine. Read it with gritted teeth. This election year, the American political system goes all to Hell...
Did you know the CIA bought the film rights to Orwell's Animal Farm?