Category — General

Red Harry Kidd

Passion is a big part of your life, which makes sense for a pirate. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!

TrustUsTrustUsTrustUsTrustUsTrustUsTrustUsTrustUsTrust. “You could get a journalist cheaper than a good call girl, for a couple hundred dollars a month” (PDF, 112k) “The Covert News Network”, on Project MOCKINGBIRD – “Watergate muckraker Carl Bernstein uncovered a list of over 400 reporters and a coterie of publishers and media moguls who had basically been rubber-stamping CIA propaganda since the 1950s.” Alex Constantine on Mockingbird. “Investigators digging into MOCKINGBIRD have been flabbergasted to discover FOIA documents in which agents boast (in CIA office memos) ofÊ pride in having placed “important assets” inside every major news publication in the country. “ ( from Geoff Metcalf on Mockingbird). Cheryl Seal on Mockingbird, with additional links. Enjoy the election! [MetaFilter]

Semi-Open Thread: Graduate School Reform. So much to blog, so little time. Consider this a semi-open thread. The suggested topic is graduate school reform. It's clear from the comments to this entry (on PhD attrition rates) that there are some people out there who would… [Invisible Adjunct]

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this is an interesting thread, doesn't do any major solving or proposing of solutions though…

my back has been acting up with all this cold weather, last thursday it started, i think i irritated it stretching, which for me is a predecessor to getting in shape, in any case, i finaly went and bought some ibuprofen today in hopes that it will just go away, which i thought it had by sunday and didn't feel any different monday. It really isnt' a bad back that prevents me from doing alot of stuff, but it is the bad back that makes me wince when i do certain things, primarily because it occurs in the area between my shoulder blades. Usually i get this once a year or so, when its cold, and then it goes away, well it has been cold and it has not went away yet…. weee!

comeback kid. John Kerry suprises Howard Dean, the pundits, and much of the nation with what looks like a solid win in Iowa after being counted out of the race. Perhaps its time to take a second look at Kerry. [MetaFilter]

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i think so. i think he is a better candidate against bush.

seanbonner just posted this in #joiito…. americaforsale.org, worth a peek, i think.

The COMPUTER GRAPHICS SOCIETY (CGS) is pleased to announce the 17th
annual conference on Computer Animation and Social Agents (CASA2004), held at the
Universityof Geneva, Switzerland, July 7-9, organized by MIRALab with the support of
IFIP WG5.10 (Computer Graphics and Virtual Worlds).

http://casa2004.miralab.unige.ch/

The topics of interest in Computer Animation and Social Agents 2004

Animation Techniques

Motion Control
Motion capture and retargeting
Path planning
Physics-based animation
Vision techniques in animation
Behavioral animation
Artificial life
Image rendering in animation
Deformable Models
Facial Animation

Social agents

Social agents and avatars
Emotions and personality
Simulation involving Virtual Humans
Autonomous characters and actors
A.I. - based animation
Social and Conversational agents
Interagent communication
Modeling of groups and crowds
Social behavior
Autonomous Virtual Humans in games

Virtual Environments

Medical 3D simulation
Simulation involving Virtual Humans
Virtual Cultural Heritage
Autonomous characters and actors
VCE (Virtual Collaborative Environments)
A.I. - based animation
Virtual reality
Interaction with Virtual Humans
Augmented Reality
Perceptual models
Virtual Sensors

Important Dates

April 9, 2004:ÊÊÊ ÊÊÊÊÊÊ Paper Submission Deadline

May 7, 2004:ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ Papers Notification

May 17, 2004: ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊCamera Ready Papers to the Publisher

July 7-9, 2004: ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ Start of CASA2004

Building & Bridging Community Networks conference. Call for papers: Building & Bridging Community Networks: Knowledge,
Innovation & Diversity through Communication conference – “network with
others engaged in community networking, community informatics and community
technology research, practice and policy.”

The call mentions other conferences with neighboring themes:

(Possibly of interest if you're in the UK: right next
to the announcement I found a job posting for a Research Officer
position with the Community Network Analysis Project. Closes Jan. 21.)

[Seb's Open Research]

Group hug!. Need to get something off
your
chest? Group hug! [MetaFilter]

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hmm, well this i find sort of pitiful….

well, against all the moveabletype people, i have renewed my radio userland license for my blog. never had any problems with it really…., no comment spam, or anything, so i figured, that i should as well.