Category — General

Ross Mayfield: Blog Tribe Social Network Mapping. [Scripting News]

this is an interesting bit of research

I'm of the theory that new years resolutions hardly ever get accomplished, but here are mine, and i fully intend on meeting them.
1. finish ph.d.
2. get some more articles out
3. eat better, excercise more
4. write more things
5. increase computer system security
6. travel more

Art History as agit prop. NoIndoctrination.org has posted a disturbing student evaluation of an Art History course taught at the University of Maryland. Described as… [Critical Mass]

hmmm, I don't see why sociology and politics or foreign policy are inappropriate topics for an art class on mesoamerica or elsewhere. It seems to me, that the student here is presenting a somewhat closeminded view on what the role of art in society might be, and how that relates to a wide variety of topics. I'd suggest reading the recent book Museum Politics for a better understanding.

I mean why do students seem to think that there are fixed disciplines, one can only study art history in art history, philosophy in philosophy, social theory in sociology. It seems quite a strange notion to think that the domains of knowledge are fixed barriers, impenetrable to each other, and that a person who has managed to be an expert in one area, therefor, has no knowledge of the others…..

Gaming comes of age. Video games have blasted their way into the mainstream to become a multi-million dollar business, rivalling the film and record industries. [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]

well it is over a year now since i proposed along with some others to start a degree program in computer games, and nothing has happened…. money keeps flowing though

Mac OS X Forensics Paper posted [The Macintosh News Network]

this could be handy

Citizen! Step away from the beer!. SWAT tactics being used to combat public drunkenness in Fairfax County, Virginia. Go to a bar or restaurant and risk being “escorted” outside by teams police in full riot gear, given a sobriety test, and arrested if you've had more than a drink or two in under an hour.

Thank god our tax dollars are being used to keep us safe from the danger of slightly tipsy people celebrating the holidays in establishments that legally serve alcohol.

Not like they have anything better to do. [MetaFilter]

oh me, oh my, i bet this is popular amongst holiday revellers. but i can see why they go in with swat gear, i mean this is virginia, public drunkenness is sort of a tradition, from the highest office to the lowest throughout history, to remove that assumed right would be tantamount to asking for a serious beating. However, I do think that excessive drinking should be avoided.

Professors Vie With Web for Class's Attention. As universities rush to install wireless networks, professors say the technology poses a growing challenge for them: retaining their students' attention. By John Schwartz. [New York Times: Technology]

This is why I support completely online education for many classes, with perhaps only f2f tutorials for the finer points. I know that if i had wifi in many of my classes in undergrad, i'd probably have learned more because i would have surfed the topic while the prof was talking, but not always. Also, lets think about the model of instruction assumed in this article, seems very much like a sage on a stage, come see the priest at the temple of wisdom type model…. It's not what I do.

An Assistant That Knows the Real You. Carrying vital information you cannot afford to leak? Hewlett-Packard's new iPAQ Pocket PC h5450 is not merely as powerful as its competitors (with 64 megabytes of memory and a 400-megahertz Intel processor), enabled with the short-range wireless technology Bluetooth and Wi-Fi-ready. It is the first hand-held organizer with a biometric fingerprint reader designed to prevent it from being used by anyone but its owner. [New York Times: Technology]

ok, this is dumb. If you think this will protect your data, well, yer a might bit off, i'd say. If you have data on a system that you don't others to have, you have to use pervasive encryption, not barriers to entry. Every barrier to entry can be surpassed. For me, i'd just take your machine, rip it apart and nab the data by bypassing the data. And if you are using something as weak as ms traditionally encrypts, well…., anyone that wants that data will have it tomorrow.

in short, sell insecurity as security through a gadget, wee!

this should be fun.. most people have no significant idea of what marx really said, and why it will always be applicable.

Happy 20th Anniversary, Internet!. Happy 20th Anniversary, Internet!

We ought not to let pass unnoticed the… 20th anniversary of the Internet. The most logical date of origin of the Internet is January 1, 1983, when the ARPANET officially switched from the NCP protocol to TCP/IP.

Where were you two decades ago on this date? And does anyone actually have a “I Survived the TCP/IP Transition” t-shirt?

i was 10, probably watching tv

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