All those topics that i wish i had time to pursue more earnestly.

Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | Andrew Brown: on how much we divulge to Google & co :
Every time you use an internet search engine, your inquiry is stored in a huge database. Would you like such personal information to become public knowledge? Yet for thousands of AOL customers, that nightmare has just become a reality. Andrew Brown reports on an incident that has exposed how much we divulge to Google & co
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unfortunately, i don’t think the populace at large really cares…..

Celebrity stalking for fun and profit:
File under Fun But Creepy Panopticon Effects:
I know we all try to be sophisticated and cool and pretend we are not impressed by mere celebrities when they stroll by us as we go about our daily business, but truth be told, you get just a little giddy, don’t you? Even if you’re not a fan?
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nancy has a blog:) oh… this was the 5000th post.id woo hoo, though… i guess i’m probably actually in the 3000 post realm. actually… this post was 3946….. amazing… isn’t it.

Today is technically my last day as a full-time instructor of political science at Virginia Tech. It has been a great time with a great department. We’ve accomplished so much at VT, much of it unrecognized except by the community that it served. My colleague Brent Jesiek will now be the manager of the Center for Digital Discourse and Culture. Of course, I am still an STS student there, but we’ll hopefully end that soon enough:)

DevilDucky – Apology to America:
Apology to America

Viewing and hearing this file properly may require Quicktime 6 or greater.Please be patient while your media loads.Canadian Colin Mochrie, as anchor Anthony St. George, apologizes to America. From the TV show This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

DevilDucky – Speeding Hurts: Collision:
Speeding Hurts: Collision

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a great public service announcement from denmark….

Viewing and hearing this file properly may require Quicktime 6 or greater.Please be patient while your media loads.

Gurkha: Super Armored SUV.:

From the website:

It can stop a bullet from an AK-47, shrug off a roadside bomb, and it makes a Hummer look like a chick car.

The $200,000 (U.S.) Gurkha is coming to a road near you — thanks to a King City-based company that is finding itself in demand because of the global war on terror.

The Toronto Star Article | Armet’s website – via digg

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the unobvious problem of the suv is that they make people less safe in general terms. they up the ante in the virtual war of the road, encouraging people to feel safer, or less safe, increasing stress, and encouraging bad decisions. i just wish they would police and enforce the 3 ton limits more effectively.

Activist’s remark starts FBI probe – Yahoo! News:
“I told him, `How could you possible think this is a terroristic threat? Don’t you have something more to worry about?’” Bensman said. “He said: ‘We have to investigate everything.’”
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you are a terrorist until they prove you are not to their own satisfaction:)

World Trade Center, September 13, 2001:
These photos were taken at Ground Zero, the World Trade Center site in New York, on September 13, 2001.

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lest you forget the pictures that you never saw…. i guess

The Gullibility Factor test at NewsTarget.com:
Free Thinker
Welcome to the top 5%. You’re a true free thinker and a person who is well informed about the reality in which you live. Although you may have been easily manipulated earlier in life, you eventually gained lucidity and developed a healthy sense of skepticism that you now automatically apply to your observations and experiences. You are endlessly curious about human behavior and the nature of the universe, and you have one or more lifestyle habits that most people would consider odd or unusual. You are not only of very high intelligence, you are also extremely creative in one or more areas (music, art, software development, inventing, etc.)

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well… maybe… this seems a bit too congratulatory to me… i scored an 85

TPAC – Technology Policy and Assessment Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology:
NSF Workshop on Social Organization of Science and Science Policy

Draft Agenda

NSF Workshop on
The Social Organization of Science and Science Policy
July 13-14, 2006

National Science Foundation, Room Stafford II-555
All participants must sign in at the main NSF building, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA

The workshop will explore the social science foundations of science policy in the context of today’s complex, global, and technologically-mediated society. Understanding the fundamental social processes involved in the structure and organization of science policy are crucial for maximizing the ability of science policy to enhance scientific development and innovation. This understanding requires more than an examination of economic inputs, outputs and the rational deployment of economic resources towards scientific goals; these criteria are necessary but not sufficient. In order to fully understand the formulation, acceptance, dissemination, and impacts of science policy, we also need to understand its social organization and the political, economic, and sociological context within which science policy and science succeed or flounder.

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the papers are here…