Category — General

Secret Service visits art show at Columbia :
Secret Service spokesman Brandon Bridgeforth said he couldn’t go into specifics about last week’s visit.

“We are doing some inquiries into the art exhibit. We’re just doing some looking into it,” Bridgeforth said.

Columbia College spokeswoman Micki Leventhal said agents were responding to citizen complaints about the artwork, which received some pre-show publicity in Chicago media.

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yep, they should have done this right, but no…. they had to make a scene.

Andrea Dworkin Has Died:
I received word this morning— from Doug Henwood, Carol Queen, and Rachel Kramer Bussel— that Andrea Dworkin has died. She was 59. Her partner John Stoltenberg found her near death in the morning, and she passed away around eight in the morning.
There is nothing about Dworkin’s death in the news yet, and unless this is a elaborate hoax, I bet we will hear a lot more details by the morning. I knew she had  been ill for some time, but she was notoriously private about her health problems. I don’t know how bad or incapacitating her condition was. Most of us who’ve seen her in person in the past couple years saw her move about in obvious pain and disability.  It wasn’t just physical, either. After her father died seven years ago, she had what could only be described as a nervous breakdown.

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this is the passing of someone that tried to change things for the better, and for that, she should be remembered.

Economy of Scales: iControl for GarageBand:
M-Audio’s new iControl (info in German at M-Audio; English analysis at createdigitalmusic) is hardware for controlling Apple’s GarageBand music software. It’s designed just for GarageBand, down to the fake wood-paneled sides of Apple’s interface. Buttons let you set up playback and recording, a big jog wheel and transport controls lets you move around your song with ease, and physical knobs control track volume. Best of all, you can adjust individual track parameters like effects via custom buttons. It’s all plug-and-play: connect via USB and GarageBand recognizes the device, no drivers required (thanks to USB class-compliance). Control surfaces have been tightly integrated with applications like this before, but usually on high-end boxes: M-Audio scores a first for an entry-level music interface. Expect a US price under $200.
What does this mean for the leaked Asteroid information that launched legal action by Apple? Not much: the Asteroid was an audio interface, whereas this box is just for control, not audio. That said, check the uncanny similarity to a user-created mockup of a GarageBand control surface posted here on Gizmodo during the flurry of Asteroid activity in November.
createdigitalmusic’s Peter Kirn reports this week on hot new gear from Germany’s Musikmesse conference; Europe’s major music technology show.
Update: The English page is up now: Product Page [m-audio]

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i think… that i will try to get one of these.

Main Page – AoIR Wiki:

I just launched the Association of Internet Researcher’s Wiki. This should be an interesting demonstration of how (or not) distributed academic groups can use wiki technology to their benefit. We’ll see.

STRANGE SWEDISH WEDDING CUSTOM:
In Sweden it is a bit of a custom for the groom to be kidnapped and whisked off somewhere for his stag night – these usually last all day… … and all night. Rather than the typical English stag night where you all arrange it beforehand, go out get drunk and hire a stripper, the Swedes do it differently.

Yahoo! News – Florida eyes allowing residents to open fire whenever they see threat:
Republican Governor Jeb Bush, who has said he plans to sign the bill, says it is “a good, commonsense, anti-crime issue.”

Current state law allows residents to “shoot to kill if their property, such as their home or car, is invaded by an unknown assailant.”

But it also states that if a resident is confronted or threatened in a public place, he or she must first try to avoid the confrontation or flee before taking any violent step in self defense against an assailant.

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ohhhhh, so this is the “culture of life” that i’ve been hearing so much about…..

NASA World Wind:

worldwind uses….. bittorrent to do something.

Preparing for the end of the internet – what you need to know:

be prepared.

BeOS Ready for a Comeback as Zeta OS:
Comment – TrackBack

i still have a copy of 4.5, it is still great. but a new version might be better.

I want ‘em:

Hugging Salt and Pepper shakers.

[via gnr8]

i can see why…