A force to be reckoned with...
More than 70,000 people have identified themselves as Jedi, in the Australian census, religion catagory. The numbers apparently were generated by a Star Wars email list that encouraged people to do it as a joke.
« July 2002 | Main | September 2002 »
August 27, 2002
August 23, 2002
A Firing Offense:
The audio from the Opie and Anthony stunt is on the web at The Smoking Gun site. What a bunch of jerks, especially the producer Paul Mecurio.
According to The Smoking Gun, Sam Adams beer chairman and sponsor of the event Jim Koch was in the studio with Opie and Andy, laughing as Mecurio lied to, demeaned and insulted the police at the scene.
August 17, 2002
Who's the anti-establishment President?
Clinton hosted the likes of Barbra Streisand, Jane Fonda, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg for overnight stays at the White House. At the top of Bush’s list of guests is Kinky Friedman. Ya gotta love this guy.
Dumpster diving:
There's a good article in the Summer issue of 2600 on gathering information (and lots more) through dumpster diving. Apparently, post-it notes are a great source of information on passwords, etc. Who shreds post-its?
August 08, 2002
Bowling
A browser game that Bob Gamere could play: League Bowling
...But the ride ain't free:
I finally listened to the new Springsteen CD. I like it. But David Skinner in the Weekly Standard thinks Springsteen is the Oprah of rock. I disagree, but remain skeptical of Springsteen, especially after the 41 Shots fiasco.
Wireless networking:
Using WI-FI access with a laptop is great around the house or on the back porch. But the real breakthrough will come when coverage expands beyond the few nodes now available, so I can take the laptop out and about, fairly confident that a connection will be found. Lots of Starbucks' have wireless access points, especially around New York, but the cost of getting on the network is not small. Simpson Garfinkle has a column up that looks at the economics of spreading the wireless network.
Policing the open network:
Salon has an article about abuses on the gnutella network and a proposal to require authentication.
August 06, 2002
And it's free!
If you enjoy good writing, and you don’t read Lileks' site every day, you're missing out. Here’s just the intro to today’s column.
“A perfect late midsummer day - the cruel heat has abated, and the humidity has been replaced with clear cool air that rests lightly on your skin. Strong sun, green blaring loud all around: Minnesota summer, take three. The first version was cold and rainy; the second was miserably hot, smotheringly muggy. August is usually the month that drives the love of summer from the Minnesota psyche - by the middle of the month each day feels like roadkill, wet and smelly, pasted to a hot flat afternoon. The obligatory trip to the Fair completes the argument, and when you find yourself standing on the midway at 3 PM, sweaty, covered with grease, fending off yellowjackets, a wad of meat and potatoes plugging your stomach like a hard yam jammed in a drainpipe, you’re ready for fall.
It happens every year. Every season here is more than enough; every season makes you long for the next.
It’s a nice trick.”
TV and Radio:
Two good stories at Wired today. First, the ongoing battle over the schedule and deadline for TV broadcasters to go digital by 2006. Its only politics, budgets, technology and digital rights that are upsetting those best laid plans. 2016 may be more like it.
The other is the second in a series on the death of local radio in the age of consolidation.
August 05, 2002
Tatoo you:
Need cash? Try this.
Unfortunatly for the desperate, it's only a joke.
Talkin bout my generation:
Anyone younger than forty, or even forty 
five, must be baffled by all this Dylan at Newport coverage. How important could it be that this guy was wearing a lime green polka dot shirt when he played four songs thirty seven years ago?
I went to see Santana in Hartford the other night, and as they were playing the song that the original group opened thier Woodstock set with many years before, I noticed a woman about sixty five, with the physique of the actress who plays Ray Romano’s mother on TV, in a tube top and tight pants, standing up, dancing and hooting.
The Woodstock generation is getting up there, and I’m guessing that it’s not going to get any prettier as time goes on.
But here's one good reason to relive the past... 
Space Babes! The Ladies of Star Trek webpage brings back the women of the 60s series.
From the beautiful Yeoman Landon (above left) to the nagging Stella Mudd (right) they're all there, a hundred and thirty one in all, including even one who has no face!
August 04, 2002
Sunday Rant:
Is it just me, or has WBUR made The Connection into a un-listenable, droning, self-important, clearly ideological, mess. Did I mention boring? And that other new show, On Point, is even worse!
Is there any group of hosts more pompous, patronizing, obnoxious and self centered than the likes of Dick Gordon, Tom Ashbrook, and the supremely self-attuned Michael Goldfarb?
Christopher Lydon was no slouch when it came to hogging the mike, or being a bit pompous, but he isn’t even in the same league with these guys. And he seemed at least to be genuinely interested in the subject at hand and as a result, interesting himself. Not the case with the current crew.
And, where is the range of topics that was once covered, from established, up and coming, or long dead authors; talks with Paul Auster, Don Dilillo, Updike, Annie Lamott, Ian McEwen; discussions on Dostoevsky, Dante, Homer, Chekov (with Janet Malcolm!) coverage of Internet and technology trends, Freud, drug therapy, Russian politics, Bach, Perry Farrel, and anything else that could fill an hour.
Occasionally the old Connection would broadcast that rare dog of a program, but more often I’d find myself pulling over to listen to the duration of a surprisingly interesting show on, say, philosophy with Daniel Dennett, or the wiring of the brain with Antonio Damasio.
Now its Michael Moore, Robert Fisk, and Shelby Steele (described on the On Point web site as provocative, a ‘conservative intellectual,’ as if a contradiction in terms.)
WBUR: Bring back Christopher Lydon, and the old Connection staff if you want my contribution. Otherwise, I’ll just listen to Mike Barnacle.
The Unbuilding:
The second of a three part series in the Atlantic Monthly by William Langewiesche on the “Unbuilding of the World Trade Center” is on the newsstands. (A portion of the first part was excerpted on the web.)
It’s a compelling series and worth buying (and subscribing to) the magazine for.
There's also a an article in this issue, "Homeland Insecurity" about relying on foolproof technology to defend America against terrorism.
The way people think about security on computer networks, is almost always wrong. All too often planners seek cures, magic bullets to make problems vanish. Most of the security measures envisioned after September 11 will be ineffective- and some will even make Americans less safe than they would be without them.
Interesting stuff.
Gravityball
Here's another browser game, Gravityball. (As usual, via Firda)
A critical mass of frustration:
I’m a big advocate of improved bike access, dedicated paths, and especially education of motorists and bicyclists alike on the different roles, rights and responsibilities of sharing the road. But Critical Mass is just bullying disguised as protest. Maybe a an injured bicyclist in the back of an ambulance delayed in traffic caused by these folks would get the message across that blocking the streets is more than a frivolous political statement.
And a note to Hublog: was it appropriate for the guy who covered the most recent event for the Globe, to be an active participant? Granted, the coverage didn’t seem to be biased towards the cyclists, but if the protest depended on how many bikes were present, then the reporter was obviously, himself a part of his story.