I've returned!
Flickr's not working right yet. Hmm. Picture taken by me.
a slight repose
I'll be out "fake camping" (in the woods in a fully-furnished cabin instead of a tent) this weekend so enjoy the pause in information.
Additionally, I just opened a new account with another host. Depending on when I get back in town on Sunday, you may see a completely new leftsider. Until Then!
Societal Meshing....a bad thing?
Well. What can you say about this? It's increasingly apparent that social networks, when exposed to each other, will have negative impacts if only one SN's ethical code is adhered to. We've got employers reading Myspace, online RPG's potentially blackmailed, Craiglist responses put on blast....each is an example of one (or more) set of understood rules being broken.
So how fragile are SN communities? Must there be a perfectly sterile environment to make these things work? Watch these stories; perhaps they will indicate how social networks will adapt and respond to these negative stimuli.
Aygoooooooo!
Autopia: Toyota Shrinks City Car
The market for extremely small cars is getting bigger as Toyota will introduce a two-seater called the Aygo in 2008, according to Edmunds.
Hahaha....am I the only one that notices this car's name is surprising ly similar to the Korean lament "아이구..."? With only 68 horsepower, perhaps it'd be prudent for owners to learn that phrase....
Social Networks are everywhere!
The Assimilated Negro: Are There Any Living Things That Do Not Have A Social Network?
If you follow my trane of thought....the answer is NO. =o]
Jan Chipchase - Future Perfect:
Jan Chipchase - Future Perfect: Clearing Hotel Security
Wow....security checks are encroaching more and more. Great questions, as usual, from Jan. One day I'm going to ask him where I need to go to learn to ask better questions.
Anger
For some reason, my site seems to be incredibly slow recently, and particularly when posting I've found it burdensome. Now, today, I've come to discover that as many as a half-dozen posts that I've done via bookmarklet (instead of from the site's CMS directly) have not even been saved. I'm not a happy camper. Changes are afoot.
My point, fairly precisely
Strange Horizons Articles: The Ten Stupidest Utopias!, by Jeremy Adam Smith
The Postwar American Suburb
Historian Robert Fishman calls American suburbia a "bourgeois utopia," whose hopes for community stability were founded "on the shifting sands of land speculation," backed up by racially discriminatory covenants and lending standards. The postwar American suburb, each a Nueva Germania of the soul, organized men's life around commutes and women's life around the home: the result was absent fathers, isolated mothers, and alienated children, who seldom knew anyone of a different race. In providing for the material needs of the growing middle class, the suburb created social and spiritual cavities that numerous social movements—from the 1960s New Left to today's Christian fundamentalism—have tried to fill.
According to census data, today the middle-income suburb is actually disappearing, drowning between the Scylla of racially exclusive gated communities and the Charybdis of ethnically diverse subdivisions. The poorest suffer from a lack of public services, lousy schools, and little in the way of parks or squares that might provide some sense of community. The most affluent suburbs are often populated by "relos," executive nomads who move every few years to keep their careers on track, never putting down roots, never investing in the community beyond the gated neighborhoods in which they own their homes. "There's no there there," said Gertrude Stein; the American suburb is still the definitive "no place," an empty parking lot sitting where our past and future should be.
The Last Mile
I Will Teach You To Be Rich: The Failure of the Last Mile
The last mile is what we remember. We know about Dan Rather's brilliant career, yes, but we remember his resigning in disgrace. And there are tons more examples.
Are Korea’s Mobile Carriers Overcharging You?
Digital Chosunilbo (English Edition) : Are Korea’s Mobile Carriers Overcharging You?
One thing I think that they are forgetting is that all Korean carriers give free incoming calls. All day long. That's a feature that, as I'm aware, only Nextel has ever offered.
As a result, a person on a 380-minute plan in Korea may very well need a 600-to-1000 minute plan in the US to keep from going over. And, making that comparison, the prices might be more similar.
Edit yourself
I'm not sure where people come up with the crap they speak.
Right now, An editor of a magazine is sitting in the office of my magazine's editor.....he's trying to argue a point. I'm listening to his booming voice and I hear him say:
"Study after study shows that the workweek is longer in the United States than any other place in the world"
Bull-loney. When I think of how much our friends in Japan work, usually with no overtime....what a load of croc. How can you be an editor and say unfounded information, even if it is off the record. I don't even disagree with what he's saying, but that's horrible. Did he just make that up or something?
Fair enough....
I Will Teach You To Be Rich: Stop being cheap and go buy something valuable today
Instead of being guided by the invisible hand of stupidity, take some conscious control of your spending. Are you just spending on eating out? When was the last time you spent money strategically to try to gain something useful? Yes, it's actually good to spend money on things you value. Yes, it's important to spend money on things that will benefit you financially, intellectually, whatever.
Procrastination hack
Procrastination hack:"(10 2)*5" | 43 Folders
Since I am the world's biggest procrastinator, this might actually work. One thing to look at, though: What to do about interruptions?
space
as much as I love my buddy Janesdead, The backround image was wearing a little thin. Just one step in a long list of things I've been meaning to do....
iTunes, still on my bad side.
I have basically been converted to Mac, but I refuse to commit simply because some things really irk me about how Apple does some things. Here's a perfect example:
I've never been a big fan of iTunes. When transferring my PC's music library to my new iBook, files were copied in an unrecognizable sequence....which meant when the network connection hiccuped I got stuck with about 70 half-albums. In addition, it did not give me the option of controlling how my files were stored, as RealPlayer and WMP had....and turned a dozen or so compilation albums into about 50 one-song folders. I was not amused. To say we started off on a bad foot would be an understatement.
ITMS was initially guilty by association. If you sleep with the devil, you can't really be all that good for me. Later, as netizens bemoaned the DRM issues that prevented them from using media as they wished, I took it as a sign not to bother. iPod? No thank you. At this point my PocketPC and gig SDcard are suiting quite nicely. With that, I turned my back to popularity and was essentially labeled a hipster by many associates for my refusal to go mainstream.
Well this week we've got iTunes7, And one of the things that I found most interesting about the newest incarnation of the beast is that it would allow you to get album covers from ITMS--provided that you had an account. Refusing to hold a grudge, I decided to open one and see how well it did with my eclectic and very elusive music collection.
I followed the create account option in the menu.
It took me to the license agreement for getting an ITMS account.....in Australia (this MAY be my fault).
I clicked the link they offered to those of us who were from a different country.
It took me to a list of permissioned countries. I chose USA (tangent: do you think Korea will ever be ITMS-friendly? ha.).
The ITMS main page USA pops up. I hunt for the signup area, settling on "account"
The popup asks for my APPLE ID. Nice! I have one of those from the battery recall so I throw it in.
ERROR. My address listed is still of Daegu. And it's got credit card info.....how'd it get that?
I clear the credit card info and update the address. ERROR. No credit card info.
I don't really need to give credit card info just to sign up, do I? The cover art is free, isn't it? What's this all about? I decide that perhaps I'm at an area that is optional; after all, I was looking to create an account in the first place. Let's go back to the main page.
This time I notice the "Sign In" button in the top right. Click.
Back to the popup. But now I see there's a "Create Account" button in the bottom left.
Back to the USA ITMS license agreement. Agree.
Hey! they've remember my email addy and put it there for me! Nice! Add a password. Repeat.
ERROR. This email is already in use with an APPLE account.
So I'm actually thinking to myself, "Ok, so let me use another account and open up this....wha???? All this for some CD covers? This is SO not worth the aggravation.
So I still haven't become one of the many. Curse you, iTunes. Your forced compliance doesn't work with me. And don't get me started on your boy, iPhoto....
First woman gets bionic arm
First woman gets bionic arm - Engadget
Eventually, researchers say, the arm could even give Mitchell the sense of touch, with electrodes in the hand sending signals to her chest skin, which her brain would recognize as a sensation.
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