Posts from — June 2006

Applications/iStache:
iStache is, well, an application to draw mustaches on photos. Bloody brilliant when coupled with Photo Booth…
——————-

omg! this is all we need. automating defacement is the ultimate coin.

IST Results – Probing past memories in a digital future:
“It is sometimes hard to get a good idea of what it is you see when all you see is ruins,” says Tijl Vereenooghe, from the University of Leuven, one of the partners in the IST-funded EPOCH project.
The project consists of a large network of 85 cultural institutions, university and museums joined in a united effort to resurrect cultural heritage sites. The ambitious project work entails illustrating what modern technology can do to attract a greater audience to cultural heritage sites as well as coordinating actions among cultural institutions so they don’t have to invent things again, explains Vereenooghe.
“EPOCH has outlined a number of issues worth investigating, as they are pointed out by heritage professionals as necessary and useful, or they correspond to missing tools in the production pipeline of cultural communication,” explains EPOCH coordinator, Prof David Arnold at Brighton University.

——

I’m going to have to look into this….

“The Fundamental Role of Science and Technology in International Development: An Imperative for the U.S. Agency for International Development”:
The Fundamental Role of Science and Technology in International Development: An Imperative for the U.S. Agency for International Development

The paper copy of this book has just been published. The online version has been available for some time. I suspect the report is must reading for those in the United States interested in science and technology for international development. The book does not deal with UNESCO explicitly, but UNESCO is the lead agency in the UN system for basic science and engineering, as well as social science and some fields of applied science.
———-

This looks like it will be a somewhat informative read.

far too many groups in the fields that i work with accept the singular account of economics…. so i’m distributing this.
—-
“Economic Pluralism for the 21st Century”
June 1-3, 2007
University of Utah (Salt Lake City, Utah, USA)

In the second half of the 20th century, neoclassical economics and its derivatives came to dominate economic thinking, teaching and policymaking. Humanity is increasingly feeling the consequences of this blinkered vision: the ever-widening gap between the very rich and all the rest; growing divergences in economic performance across nations and regions; globalization without global coordination for the common good; and economically induced climate change, with the mid-century prospect of an Earth unable to support even current levels of human population. Meta-externalities from economic systems are draining the resources on which they depend, from families and other institutions that educate and socialize human beings, to water, air, soil, and the diversity of species.

In a positive vein, economics in the 21st century has already taken a decidedly pluralist turn, spurred in part by the struggles of economists – mainstream and heterodox – to increase the relevance of economic theory, policy, and education in a changing and challenged world where no single theoretical tradition or institutional structure can reasonably claim to hold “the key” to human betterment.

ICAPE and the organizers of “Economic Pluralism for the 21st Century” invite proposals for papers that discuss or demonstrate the value of economic pluralism in any of its domains: economic theory and philosophy, economic institutions and policies, or economic education.

Panels will be organized around thematic topics, with an eye to encouraging dialogue among authors whose papers address similar issues from different points of view. In this fashion, we hope to promote critical engagement and mutual learning among conference participants.

Submission of Proposals

All paper and panel proposals should be submitted to Rob Garnett at r.garnett@tcu.edu, or by post to:

Rob Garnett
Department of Economics
Box 298510
Texas Christian University
Fort Worth, TX 76129

Proposal deadline: January 15, 2007
Notification deadline: February 15, 2007

For individual paper proposals, please include the following:

Paper title
Brief abstract (200-250 words)
Your name and contact addresses (including institutional affiliation)

For panel proposals (3-4 papers), please include:

Panel title
Brief description of the panel’s focus
Brief abstract (200-250 words) for each paper
Each panelist’s name and contact addresses (including institutional affiliations)

When submitting a panel proposal, you are encouraged (but not required) to designate a session chair. Also, you are encouraged to propose a format for your session, including non-traditional formats such as roundtables, workshops, or presenter/audience dialogues.

Conference Fees and Registration

The conference will be held over three days, beginning on Friday morning, June 1, 2007, and ending midday on Sunday, June 3.

The conference fee covers Friday and Saturday lunches, a conference dinner Friday evening, tea/coffee breaks throughout the conference, and all printed conference materials.

Between now and April 1, 2007, the fee structure will be:

Regular rate: $150
Low-income rate (for graduate students, underemployed Ph.D.s, and others): $75

After April 1, 2007, the fee structure will be:

Regular rate: $175
Low-income rate: $75

To register for the conference, please fill out the registration and payment form (available at www.icape.org) and send it to:

Ed McNertney
Department of Economics
Box 298510
Texas Christian University
Fort Worth, TX 76129

Microsoft embraces pain:

User-centered design is all about empathizing with your users. When your software causes frustration and pain, it is important that this is fed back to the design team in order to create a virtuous cycle.

—–
alex posted a video that is somewhat humorous…. and probably true to the extent in at least one possible universe.

again taken with mobile phone

the rest of my phone pictures

shot with my razr.

Rare “Rainbow” Spotted Over Idaho:

From The National Geographic:

It looks like a rainbow that’s been set on fire, but this phenomenon is as cold as ice.

Known in the weather world as a circumhorizontal arc, this rare sight was caught on film on June 3 as it hung over northern Idaho near the Washington State border.

The arc isn’t a rainbow in the traditional sense—it is caused by light passing through wispy, high-altitude cirrus clouds. The sight occurs only when the sun is very high in the sky (more than 58° above the horizon). What’s more, the hexagonal ice crystals that make up cirrus clouds must be shaped like thick plates with their faces parallel to the ground.

Arphid Watch: Leeches and Ghosts:
“In this study we show that the modeling predictions are quite accurate. We show how to build a portable, extended-range RFID skimmer, using only electronics hobbyist supplies and tools. Our skimmer is able to read ISO-14443 tags from a distance of 25cm, uses a lightweight 40cm-diameter copper-tube antenna, is powered by a 12V battery–and requires a budget of $100. We believe that, with some more effort, we can reach ranges of 35cm, using the same skills, tools, and budget.”

(…)
“A German hacker used a simple PDA, equipped with an RFID read/write device, and changed product prices in a grocery shop using a software he wrote. He managed to reduce the Shampoo price from $7 to $3 and go through the cashier without incident. Supermarket checkout trials held by NCR corporation showed that some clients standing at the cashier paid for groceries held by clients standing behind them in the queue.
——–

and yet one more reason why one cannot really trust rfid tech.