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

Presenters, Abstracts, and Papers:

Internet Research 6.0 is coming together quite well.

Clamptite:

This little-known tool has a cult following. It transforms any old wire into the tightest clamp you can imagine. Unlike a hose clamp there is no limit to the diameter you can tie together. You can bundle bamboo into scaffolding, or twigs into fencing, make brooms from twigs, repair handles, and tie stuff down incredibly secure. Works great as temporary clamping for odd-sided things. Ranchers and farmers rely on cheap baling wire to band anything that doesn’t want to move. Fishermen and sailors substitute stainless steel wire to make clamps for pumps and sumps. Also perfect for drip irrigation projects. I’ve found it takes a bit of skill to tie a clamp neatly, but it ends up far tighter than a hose clamp.
– KK
ClamTite Clamp Maker
$24
Available from
Gempler’s

Stainless steel versions (good for boaters)
$40-$70
Available from Clamptool
Clamptool.com
(This site also has the best step-by-step instructions on making the clamps.)

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i want it.

Deep space vagina:
Really interesting review of a very interesting book (which I’ve added to my Amazon list).

snip

i’ll prolly read this eventually. it is the sort of title that piques my interest.

Annenberg / CPB:

Foreign Language

free foreign language stuff.

Welcome to TV Turnoff Network:
HAPPY
TV-TURNOFF WEEK 2005!
TV-TURNOFF
WEEK 2005 -
APRIL
25-MAY 1

011cahsi(2005)7enfinal:
Principles and guidelines for ensuring respect for human rights and the rule of law in the information society

worth checking out

Yeah but no but yeah but:
Condoleezza Rice. Photograph: RIMGA/GettyThis morning Condoleezza Rice – or was it Vicky Pollard? – made one of those terrible errors foreign language speakers sometimes make when they are put on the spot. The worst I’ve done was ordered boiled fish…

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it is not uncommon for an expert in russian affairs to mess up yes and no… it just follows the general white house confusion on ‘truth’

Interest in CS as a Major Drops:

According to an analysis of results from a survey conducted by HERI/UCLA, the percentage of incoming undergraduates indicating that they would major in CS declined by over 60 percent between the Fall of 2000 and 2004, and is now 70 percent lower than its peak in the early 1980s.
Alarmingly, interest in CS among women fell 80 percent between 1998 and 2004, and 93 percent since its peak in 1982.
Results from CRA’s Taulbee Survey show that the number of newly declared CS majors has declined for the past four years and is now 39 percent lower than in the Fall of 2000.
All told, a decline in undergraduate degree production is likely in the next decade.
The full article is here.

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it is probably because that other than to itself as a discipline, c.s. is not that innovative or interesting. tell a student that loves computers about your average c.s. curriculum and they will probably go find an information technology program or something. however, that c.s. is less interesting does not mean the full set of computing disciplines is losing interest… and i strongly suspect that they aren’t… it is just that c.s., like physics, has dug a nice deep hole for itself and is busy looking at walls of the hole.

Early History of Wikipedia:
Slashdot | The Early History of Nupedia and Wikipedia: A Memoir
Slashdot | The Early History of Nupedia and Wikipedia, Part II

jason thinks this is important…. unsurprisingly i played a minor part in some of this history and likely no one will remember. i made my arguments though, and know the difference between gnu and nupedia… and all that history which really isn’t here. others know it too, but it will likely die.

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