Museum of bad design:
This page offers some good examples of bad designs.
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April 30, 2003
Download, Manage, Listen.
I downloaded iTunes 4 and looked over the Music Store and I was impressed. More than half of the music that I searched for came up for sale. But I think the killer feature is the ability to browse and sample.
There are a few things that I'm wondering about, such as the bitrate of the music downloaded and any copy protection that might be built in. But 99 cents for a song isn't bad. I can see this working out.
UPDATE: Here are some answers regarding file format and copy restrictions from MacRumors. This is cool too.
Off his meds:
Apparently, I have my own personal lunatic.
Steve Devoy, from what I can gather, is a failed computer technician from Texas, with an interest in anarchism and colonizing the planet Mars, with way too much time on his hands. He has decided that I am running some kind of covert intelligence operation against him, based primarily on the fact that I made fun of him and his band of anarchists.
As a result, he has been spamming Indymedia sites across the country with strange paranoid ramblings (see live referrers list below) about conspiracies and black ops.
The bottom line is that he is driving traffic to this site, so I guess having your own personal paranoid lunatic can be a good thing sometimes.
UPDATE: This is kinda funny.
UPDATE: Someone at 69.28.130.231 is downloading my archives. I wonder who it could be. Good luck. That's why they're there.
April 28, 2003
Close call?
This story is a reminder that we are still vunerable to attack. Apparently, a suitcace of anthrax was smuggled from Egypt to Brazil for transfer to Canada. Unfortunatly for him, but very fortunatly for us, the courier, curious and suspecting the suitcase contained drugs, opened it and took a big whiff.
He died of intestinal anthrax say Brazilian authorities.
The courier, a merchant marine, was given the suitcase in Egypt. He flew to Brazil and was due to travel to Montreal.
UPDATE: Nevermind.
April 18, 2003
New York Photos
There are a few new photos posted at SidewalkShots, from last weekend in New York. Most were taken at night in Times Sq. with slow shutter speeds. There should be a few more coming soon.
April 17, 2003
April 16, 2003
Breakdown
Here's an interesting viewpoint from an Iraqi Republican Guard Officer, who describes the confusion in command and control among the Iraqi army. When the communications centers were bombed out, the only way to communicate to the forces in the field was through oral or written commands conveyed by courier. But since the Generals flew the coop, there was no one even to give those commands.
Morale was pretty bad too. They fought reluctantly, in defense of the motherland, even though most believed Saddam to be mad.
"When Saddam appeared on television on walkabout in the Adhamiya district of Baghdad during the bombing campaign, the reaction was: "Why doesn't someone shoot him?""
He ends by thanking the US for doing what the Iraqis couldn't do themselves, ousting the Great Uncle.
French Whine
With wine sales off sharply, and sales of other French products down, the country's private sector is beginning to be critical of its leader's 'diplomacy' efforts.
An exasperated French businessman to Chirac: "Please shut up."
April 15, 2003
Ouch, my Brain hurts:
This article in Scientific American seems to be saying that parallel universes are not only likely in theory, but that their existence is easily proven.
The absence of utopia:
Victor David Hanson has some harsh words for the media. And he doesn't even mention on the BBC.
April 13, 2003
The first day in Baghdad
In the Boston Herald, Jules Crittenden gets into the action with a first person account of the taking of Saddam's palace. To his critics who might think his involvement in the action was not journalisticly pure, he has this to say: "Screw them, they wern't there."
April 12, 2003
A witness to truth:
Pre war media accounts of atrocities in Iraq were apparently suppressed, according to CNN.
Blogging from NYC:
Logging on at Starbucks is a real pain. It isn't free, but the awkward interface and dropouts are the real problem, not the price. It's so much easier to walk over to Bryant Park where the wifi access is free and appears to be pretty robust. That?s where I am now.
It's a beautiful day in the city. Lots of people out. No demonstrations this week. A good day to just relax in the park with a cigar, a fully charged battery and free internet access.
April 11, 2003
Rip, Mix, Burn?
This is a very interesting development for Apple. The company reportedly is in talks to buy Universal Music for $6 billion. This has serious implications both for Apple and for the music industry, not all welcome.
Another view of Apple?s future comes from John Dvorak. In the second installment of his predictions about Apple and Intel, he presents a scenario in which Apple gains serious ground on Microsoft.
And on the subject of Dvorak, here's his vision for the future of computing. One word: Plastics.
April 10, 2003
Ministry of snappy comebacks
The former Iraqi Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf has a fan club, and the fan club has a web site.
It lists many of his best lines, such as "God will roast their stomachs in hell at the hands of Iraqis," and "Our initial assessment is that they will all die." But my personal favorite is "There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!"
And, what's up with those pencils?
(via the Command Post)
April 9, 2003
BBC gets it from all sides:
I listen to the BBC at night and I strongly agree with Andrew Sullivan, Glenn Reynolds and others about the pro-Iraqi / anti-American bias to their coverage. So this came as a surprise.
Hell, even indymedia isn't pure enough for the indymedia crowd.
Baghdad falls:
Headline in today’s Boston Globe: Regime Collapses. People in the streets of Baghdad dancing, celebrating, and looting government offices.
People are shouting, "Thank you Mr. Bush."
Right: From the NY Times, Bagdad civilians try to tear down a statute of the Great Uncle.
The first sentence of a Washington Post story: "After three weeks of war, Saddam Hussein no longer rules Baghdad."
On CNN: a photo of a man who took his shoe off and used it to beat the face of a statue of Saddam Hussein.
More news at the Command Post.
The Bagdad media report that their minders didn’t show up for work today.
All in all, a good start to the day.
Here's hoping we'll hear from Salam Pax soon.
April 7, 2003
Welcome
If you're here from Indymedia Boston, feel free to leave a comment. And tell mr DeVoy thanks for the traffic.
UPDATE - An interesting side note: Thanks to Mr. DeVoy, who was kind enough to post a link to this page on most of the Indymedia sites around the country, the majority of my traffic today was referred from those sites.
Almost all of those readers clicking through from Indymedia showed up in my logs as coming from .edu sites.
What does this say about the Indymedia crowd? I'm not sure. I just thought it was kind of interesting.
Early Spring Reading:
A Couple of books to recommend:
Samuel Pypes: The Unequaled Self by Claire Tomalin.
Pypes was a fascinating guy, and his diary offers a unprecedented look at sixteenth century everyday life. Tomalin gives structure to the story and adds details from other sources to round out Pypes? life and career.
Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo
A well written postmodern blur. He dedicates the book to Paul Auster and the beginning has a New York Trilogy tone to it. But the whole is like something only DeLillo could have written.