Category — General
interesting new lister
I just submitted this blog to phdweblogs.net, yeah, i know i have yet to link up the rest of the sections of the blog, like the things specifically about my research, but, eh, time will come for that.
December 30, 2002 No Comments
Mon, 30 Dec 2002 17:38:11 GMT
Ex-Marine hunts son's killers with private army [bOing bOing]
this is very disturbing, but i suppose somewhat effective… esp. if the local police aren't up to the job.
December 30, 2002 No Comments
Wireless Manifesto
Wireless Manifesto. There's a manifesto proclaiming a “wireless commons” that has me just puzzled enough that I haven't signed it. It proclaims the virtues of wireless connectivity (using unlicensed spectrum, not Open Spectrum), and then commits the signatories to some type of support in the wireless build-out: Becoming a part of the commons means being more than a consumer. By signing your name below, you become an active participant in a network that is far more than the sum of its users. You will strive to solve the social, political and technical challenges we face. You will provide the resources your community… [Joho the Blog]
I'm tempted to sign this, but then i don't use any bandwidth that i pay for…. which puts me in a strange position in relation to such a proposal, can i give away that which is not mine to give?
December 30, 2002 Comments Off
Mon, 30 Dec 2002 15:49:03 GMT
RSS Heaven(s) Crossed With Geographical Meta Tags.
I can't remember who was looking for this, but Syndic8 shows a scraped RSS feed for the excellent Astronomy Picture of the Day. Thanks to Perceive Designs (aka Eric Vitiello Jr.) for providing it, along with a bunch of weather feeds (including Chicago)! (Note: I'm getting an “channeltitle” error when I try to subscribe to the Chicago feed in Radio's aggregator. Darn.)
Visiting their site also produced a link to the GeoURL ICBM Address Server, a site I hadn't seen before.
“GeoURL is a location-to-URL reverse directory. This will allow you to find URLs by their proximity to a given location. Find your neighbor's blog, perhaps, or the web page of the restaurants near you.”
Here's what you do:
- Add meta tags
Add the following meta tags to the<head>section of your web page:
<meta name="ICBM" content="COORDINATES">
<meta name="DC.title" content="THE NAME OF YOUR SITE">Use the helper to generate your tags if you are in the US.
Coordinates are in the form of a latitude and longitude, separated by a comma, for example:47.98481,-71.42124. Western hemisphere longitudes and Southern hemisphere latitudes are negative.
We'll also index Geo Tags-style “geo.position” meta tag as per their documentation
- Tell the GeoURL server your page needs to be indexed.
Use the ping form to tell us that your page has been updated.
- Tell others
ome more useful as the database grows in size. Tell others about GeoURL by linking to us.
Once you are in the database, you can add a link to show your neighbors:
http://geourl.org/near/?p=http://my.web.site/blog/
So, I'm telling others, and I'm going to try adding the meta tags to my own site. I don't know if this attempt will go anywhere, but it might be an interesting way to identify Prairie Bloggers and other geographically-joined groups somewhere down the road.
ok, this is something i need to do sometime, butnot right now
December 30, 2002 Comments Off
what we read…. what we think…. what we do…
the times online has an article which discusses the classic literatures the U.S. military provides for its troops when they are readied for war. In particular, i find this quote:
The writer and Vietnam veteran Tim OâBrien once wrote: ãA true war story is never moral . . . If at the end of a war story you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie.ä This goes too far, for although the humane remnant surviving warâs carnage does not render it moral, it makes the horror bearable.
from the article to particularly interesting. I think the whole question of canon should be highlighted here… In the end, if you never tell the world about the reality of war, all you have left is the floating signification on top of war, the rhetorics of victory, etc. while leaving the rest to the public imagination, which is filled with other topics.
December 30, 2002 Comments Off
Mon, 30 Dec 2002 15:26:31 GMT
QuŽbecers take on America.. Plein Sud – 'A unique vision of the Americas on the Web.' If you enjoy travel documentaries, this is for you. Two French Canadians take on the Americas in this epic site cram packed with videos (for 56k and broadband), interviews, and travelogues. Originally produced for TV, you can now watch the full episodes from the site. [MetaFilter]
I just think this is interesting to see
December 30, 2002 No Comments
minor rant
Web Reshapes the Pressures of High School. High school athletics used to be visible only by bonfire. Now, it is a high-tech phenomenon that has filled yet another void in a winner-take-all society. By Selena Roberts. [New York Times: Education]
Of course, it would be better if the whole damn educational-sport/military-religion complex was thrown out the window, but as we all know it won't be, it just grows every time something happens that garnes attention, an event of any sort related, seems to strengthen people's overall faith that football or fieldhockey will guarentee their students success far more than reading a book or talking to friends. In short, the realization that there is an us vs them in all of the above complex's really removes the thinking capacity of our nation, turning us into a dronelike organs that can be played by people mastering the us/them rhetoric.
December 30, 2002 Comments Off
Mon, 30 Dec 2002 15:12:44 GMT
April debut for online Star Wars. A date is set for the release of the long-awaited online game, Star Wars Galaxies – plus other gaming news. [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]
You have to love game announcements, this one has 4, makes one think about the audience for the announcement overall. Though i recently heard that bbc online was the primary information provider in the english speaking world, which isn't that strange actually…. of course, the only thing worth answering is when will the osx version be out.
December 30, 2002 No Comments
Oh Beowolf
Tolkien and the Beowulf Saga [Slashdot]
Now, i have a critical edition of Beowolf from the Norton series with Tolkien's essay on Beowolf in it. It is an excellent essay overall, it moves the question of folklore literature into a few new territories, or at least they were new to me at the time. he provides archetypical analysis of the characters, and locations, etc, which is interesting. Someday, I'd like to take a look at the relationship between sagas like beowolf and contemporary, post 1940's travelogues as constituents parts of political culture.
December 30, 2002 No Comments
Culture Wars/Real Wars
Taming the Task of Checking for Terrorists' Names. To help identify potential terrorists, government agencies rely heavily on a vast database known as the Interagency Border Inspection System. By Sarah Milstein. [New York Times: Technology]
wow, variate parsing systems to enable law enforcement to overcome their natural biases, what will people think of next? I dunno, maybe they should just work on cultural awareness and education.
December 30, 2002 Comments Off