Science
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This girl needs a kidney
From Chris Brogan via JP, a call to re-tweet: Sew hoping for a miracle. Here is an earlier picture (and post about) Marielle, by her mom, the blogger Sue (aka Sew), of The Domestic Diva. Marielle is dying, literally, for a kidney match. Pass the word along. Somebody somewhere should be able to help. Continue reading
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Not bad for a tube-powered guy
According to this my geek cred is 27 out of 50. Like Alec (who scored 41), I come up short on the gaming and entertainment hacking front. I woulda done better if there were items like, “Have changed bulbs on a broadcast tower,” “Rembember Ohm’s Law,” “Built a Heathkit” or “Know what ‘millimhos’ are”. (Clue.)… Continue reading
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Blowing up radio. In a good way.
If you’re interested in music, or in radio — especially if you’re interested in both — listen (or watch) in on Tim Westergren’s talk, going on right now. Tim founded Pandora, and is its Chief Strategist. My notes… “We want to fix radio. And we want to fix it globally. And do it for musicians… Continue reading
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Whetlands
These are a few among the many salt ponds that ring the south end of San Francisco Bay. Once considered and agricultural innovation and an economic boom, the practice of “reclaiming” wild wetlands for industrial purposes is now considered ecologically awful by environmentalists, especially here on the West Coast of the U.S., which has precious… Continue reading
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An immodest proposal
FORWARD WITH FIBER: An Infrastructure Investment Plan for the New Administration is my second essay at the Publius Project. The first was FRAMING THE NET. This one is a bold proposal: putting $300 billion into bringing fiber to every possible premise in America. Unlike other proposals of this sort, this one goes out of its… Continue reading
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Nettapping for everyone
ISPs are pressed to become child porn cops is a new MSNBC piece by Bill Dedman and Bob Sullivan. It begins, New technologies and changes in U.S. law are adding to pressures to turn Internet service providers into cops examining all Internet traffic for child pornography. One new tool, being marketed in the U.S. by… Continue reading
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If you live in the Southwest, check this out
The COSMO-SkyMed 3 satellite will be launched into orbit tomorrow, October 24, at 19:28:21, or 21 seconds after 7:28pm, Pacific time, from Vandenberg AFB in California. Says here that the rocket will be a Delta II, which puts on a great show. While the launch will be spectacular from nearby viewing locations, it will be… Continue reading
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Identity Workout
So we’re coming up on our Nth IIW, which happens on November 10-11. I’ve lost track of how many we’ve had so far, which I think is a good sign. Every IIW has been new and different, and unusually productive. The idea behind IIW is getting work done. Moving not only converations forward, but work… Continue reading
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Regulators vs. the Internet
Two stories. From 17 May 1999, The CRTC will not regulate the Internet. From four days ago, CRTC to review new media broadcasting in February, and CRTC to examine broadcasting in the new media environment. (Both the same story.) David Warren responds with Time to Say Goodbye. Sez he, The CRTC already has powers of… Continue reading
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The best state-by-state, poll-by-poll rundown
Electoral College Predictions Tool. Dig. Continue reading
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Falling around
Fall in New England is a visual cliché of the first order, and exactly as advertised. Only better this weekend, because it’s been unseasonably warm, as well as clear and perfectly gorgeous, complete with full moons each night. We’ve been out at a church retreat at Otter Lake, New Hampshire. And it’s been a healthy… Continue reading
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Grand Icing
From the air there’s a strange kind of vast sameness to the Grand Canyon. It’s a carved up layercake of variously colored rock that’s less dramatic viewed from above than from its edges or its insides. There’s one anomaly, however, that stands out for me every time I see it: the Uinkaret Volcanic Field, which… Continue reading
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Coming, coming, gone.
An asteroid is about to burn up over Africa. Continue reading
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Theirs is biggest
Is there anything more phallic than a skyskraper? Other than, like, the Real Thing? Anyway, Sky News reports plans in Dubai to build a skyscraper more than 1km in height. A kilometer is 3281 feet or so. That’s a lot taller than the .818 km (2,684 ft) Burj Dubai, currently around 707m high, and the… Continue reading
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Um, wait a millennium…
Joe Biden might not have been lying when he said global warming was “caused by man”, but he was at best only partially right. The globe has been warming for the last 20000 years or so: ever since the last ice sheet began to retreat, leaving Long Island, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, Cape Cod, the Great… Continue reading
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Caffeine Nation
I was just standing on line at a Starbucks where the entire conversation, involving everybody in the line, was about their iPhones. Two topics: operations and applications. Operations was about managing battery life and connectivity by manipulating settings. Applications was about everything: Who has what and recommends what. The lesson: this is a data device:… Continue reading
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Weathering
Just a pause in the midst to express appreciation for Weather Underground‘s storm-tracking services, and handy pile of Good Stuff, such as the WunderMap. Their site is far less crapped up with junk than Weather.com. Right now we’re getting a late summerlike storm, complete with thunder. Thanks to the map’s animation and storm tracking features,… Continue reading
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N for structure
I’ve been obsessing about infrastructure lately, with help from Stephen Lewis, whose experience and scholarship on the matter exceeds mine. The Etymology of Infrastructure and the Infrastructure of the Internet is his latest post on the matter. An excerpt: Within the concept of urban studies and the contemporary home ownership and loan flim-flam, defaults, and… Continue reading