FSJ: I'm really thinking maybe I shouldn't have yelled at that Chinese guy so much

article here: http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/2009/07/im-really-thinking-maybe-i-shouldnt.html

We all know that there's no fucking way in the world we should have microwave ovens and refrigerators and TV sets and everything else at the prices we're paying for them. There's no way we get all this stuff and everything is done fair and square and everyone gets treated right. No way. And don't be confused -- what we're talking about here is our way of life. Our standard of living. You want to "fix things in China," well, it's gonna cost you. Because everything you own, it's all done on the backs of millions of poor people whose lives are so awful you can't even begin to imagine them, people who will do anything to get a life that is a tiny bit better than the shitty one they were born into, people who get exploited and treated like shit and, in the worst of all cases, pay with their lives.

You know that, and I know that. Okay? Let's just be honest here. Just for a fucking minute, let's all be honest.

Wired: Robots of Arabia

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.11/camel.html?pg=2&topic=camel&topic_set=

For their 10 grand, the Qataris will get an aluminum frame on shock absorbers, hinged arms, and, for a thorax, a box about the size of a hardcover book. Inside the box there's a processor, four microcontrollers, and a soundboard. On the racetrack, trainers follow each camel in an SUV, wielding a remote. With a joystick and buttons they can maneuver the whip, striking the camel in front, on the side, or on its flank; control the force of the blow; and spin the whip so it whistles past its ear (a goading action known as khali). With a slider, they can tighten or lengthen the reins; a screen on the remote displays the camel's speed and heart rate, and the life left in the battery.

Still, there are aspects of the design that only this project, in this culture, could inspire. The robot camel jockeys have plastic heads that wear wraparound sunglasses and bicycle helmets. Their features are vaguely childlike, and their skin is an odd orange color - part Swiss, part Arabic, and part Bedouin, or so it seems. Fair enough, but the heads are as empty as a department store dummy's. There are no electronics in there: They exist only to anthropomorphize the robots to the point where the camels - skittish creatures - will accept them.

AP: Popular San Diego seals win reprieve from governor (AKA I am not making this up)

http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_8586/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=2PZ2In1q

...the city said it planned to hire someone to walk the beach with a public address system broadcasting the sound of barking dogs to scare off the seals...The issue is so hotly contested that the city had planned to deploy two police officers to the site to prevent interference by pro-seal activists, he said...

Wired: Speechless: Dilbert Creator's Struggle to Regain His Voice

http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/17-08/ff_adams

According to the National Spasmodic Dysphonia Association, there are an estimated 50,000 SD sufferers in North America. Their ranks include Robert F. Kennedy Jr., NPR host Diane Rehm, and Darryl "DMC" McDaniels of Run-DMC, who developed the condition a decade ago and whose acceptance speech at this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony was noticeably strained.

NYT: The Meaning of Life

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/opinion/16iht-edcohen.html

"Which brings me to low-cal Canto and high-cal Owen: Canto looks drawn, weary, ashen and miserable in his thinness, mouth slightly agape, features pinched, eyes blank, his expression screaming, “Please, no, not another plateful of seeds!”

Well-fed Owen, by contrast, is a happy camper with a wry smile, every inch the laid-back simian, plump, eyes twinkling, full mouth relaxed, skin glowing, exuding wisdom as if he’s just read Kierkegaard and concluded that “Life must be lived forward, but can only be understood backward.”"

CNN: Zakaria: 'Fatal wound' inflicted on Iranian regime's ideology

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/06/19/zakaria.iran.elections/index.html

"Something very important has been laid bare in Iran today --- legitimacy does not flow from divine authority but from popular support."

behavior of complex systems & Air France Flight 447

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0619/p02s01-usgn.html:

That theory was gleaned from the burst of automated messages about mechanical events sent during the last four minutes of the flight. Most of the messages appear to be linked to "incoherent" speed readings, which then affected other systems of the plane, Mr. Arslanian said.

But the report that one of those automated messages also indicated problems with the rudder limiter has renewed concerns first made public during the AA587 crash investigation in 2001.

At the time, a group of American Airlines pilots presented to the NTSB a 68-page dossier documenting incidences of uncommanded rudder movements in the A300 series jets.

In addition to the rudder incidents documented by American Airlines pilots prior to the 2001 crash of AA587, last year two Qantas Airlines Airbus 330s experienced uncommanded pitches nose-downward.Nine months before that, in January 2008, an Air Canada Airbus 319 also "experienced a sudden upset when it rolled uncommanded 36 degrees right and then 57 degrees left and pitched nose-down," according to a report on file at the NTSB.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0617/p02s04-usgn.html:

Airbus has taken this system "a step further" than other manufacturers, according to the A330 pilot. That's because it also designed into the computer various "protection modes" that automatically move the plane's components if the aircraft is suddenly thrown off course by a powerful air current or some other natural event, or if a pilot simply makes a foolish error.

"It's designed to limit the ability of pilots or nature to put the plane in a stall or over-speed situation" that could jeopardize the plane, says the pilot, who has 22 years in military and commercial aviation and is certified to fly in four types of Airbuses and four types of Boeing planes. "However, the problem with these systems is that once they're activated, they are designed so the pilot cannot easily override them. So, if the computers have bad information because of an electronic anomaly or because of nature (say, the Pitot tubes are frozen and sending bad information), these built-in protections are activated immediately, and they can make it difficult for the pilot to control the plane."

In the Qantas mishap in October, the captain reported that he twice had trouble regaining control after the aircraft abruptly pitched nose-down.

"The captain reported that he applied back pressure on his sidestick to arrest the pitch-down movement. He said that initially this action seemed to have no effect, but then the aircraft responded to his control input and he commenced recovery to the assigned altitude," according to the report from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. Less than three minutes later, the plane again suddenly pitched nose-down for no discernible reason, and the pilot again had trouble regaining control, the report found.

JOB ALERT: NYT: Contractors Vie for Plum Work, Hacking for the United States

New York Times article is here.

"At a Raytheon facility here south of the Kennedy Space Center, a hub of innovation in an earlier era, rock music blares and empty cans of Mountain Dew pile up as engineers create tools to protect the Pentagon’s computers and crack into the networks of countries that could become adversaries. Prizes like cappuccino machines and stacks of cash spur them on, and a gong heralds each major breakthrough.

The young engineers represent the new face of a war that President Obama described Friday as “one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation.” The president said he would appoint a senior White House official to oversee the nation’s cybersecurity strategies.

Computer experts say the government is behind the curve in sealing off its networks from threats that are growing more persistent and sophisticated, with thousands of intrusions each day from organized criminals and legions of hackers for nations including Russia and China.

“Everybody’s attacking everybody,” said Scott Chase, a 30-year-old computer engineer who helps run the Raytheon unit here."

NYT: Intel Adopts an Identity in Software

Over the last year I have become convinced that the laptop/desktop computer is going to evolve into the smartphone, that everyone on the planet will have a cellphone, and that eventually all cell phones will become smartphones. I realized this the day I bought a new laptop and when I got it home, all of a sudden wondered why i bought it...since i already had a personal computing device that met 99% of my needs...my smartphone. Remember how most folks just want to check email and browse the internet? how much computing power do you need to do that? now add digital camera, digital camcorder, and portable phone. Can you think of a device that does all those things already? PC's will become a niche product for hobbyists and gamers and students. Why do you think hardware makers like HP and Intel are already investing in phones...and software?

The low-power, low-cost Atom chip sits inside most of the netbooks sold today, and smartphones using the chip could start arriving in the next couple of years.

To make Atom a success, Intel plans to use software for leverage. Its needs Moblin because most of the cellphone software available today runs on chips whose architecture is different from Atom’s. To make Atom a worthwhile choice for phone makers, there must be a supply of good software that runs on it.

“The smartphone is certainly the end goal,” said Doug Fisher, a vice president in Intel’s software group. “It’s absolutely critical for the success of this product.”

Article here

Is voicemail obsolete?

@tonyrobbins Says,

"Ok is voicemail dead? 20% of those with voice mail never call in to check them.30% of voiceM remain unanswered for 3 days. text within hour"

I thought I was the only one who stopped using vmail. In comparison to I.M., SMS, email, it's waaaay too much overhead.

Here is my brilliant thought for the day:

What if all corporate email was restricted to 140 char or less, with no attachments only links. That would really speed things up. I'm guilty of too many lengthy emails myself.

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NYT: Trackers Deem North Korea's Missile Flight a Failure

"It's got to be embarrassing," said Geoffrey E. Forden, a missile expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "I can imagine heads flying if the 'Dear Leader' finds out the satellite didn't fly into orbit," he said, referring to the name North Koreans are obliged to use when speaking of Kim Jong-il, North Korea's reclusive leader.

"It's a setback," Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard astronomer who tracks satellites and rocket launchings, said of the North Korean launching. He added that the North Koreans must now find and fix the problem. "The missile doesn't represent any kind of near-term threat."

http://mobile.nytimes.com/article?a=352642&f=20

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IT Facts Blog

http://blogs.zdnet.com/ITFacts/wp-mobile.php

Demographics of Social Network Users

All adults	35%
Sex
Men	35
Women	35
Age
18-24	75
25-34	57
35-44	30
45-54	19
55-64	10
65+	7
Race
White, non-Hispanic	31
Black, non-Hispanic	43
Hispanic	48
Annual Household Income
Less than $30,000	45
$30,000 - $49,999	38
$50,000 - $74,999	30
$75,000 +	31
Education
Less than HS	43
HS grad	31
Some college	41
College grad	33
Locale
Urban	34
Suburban	26
Rural	23
Source: Pew Internet Project

NYTimes.com: Vast Spy System Loots Computers in 103 Countries

The malware is remarkable both for its sweep - in computer jargon, it has not been merely "phishing" for random consumers' information, but "whaling" for particular important targets - and for its Big Brother-style capacities. It can, for example, turn on the camera and audio-recording functions of an infected computer, enabling monitors to see and hear what goes on in a room. The investigators say they do not know if this facet has been employed.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/technology/29spy.xml

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New definition of mindboggling

[note: changed 10 to 100M and 20 to 200M] Facebook gains 1 million new accounts PER DAY. Since last august, they doubled from 100M to 200M accounts. http://mobile.nytimes.com/article?a=350567&f=19

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"If you need a ghostwriter for 140 characters, I feel sorry for you" says Shaq

Wanted: personal assistant to tweet for me: When Stars Twitter, a Ghost May Be Lurking (NYT)

Check out:

@robcorddry - "Oh no! My local Curves is closing! And during Girl Scout Cookie season too! Aack!"

@cwalken - "I am now invited to a dog wedding. I don't have the words to make that stupider than it already sounds. They're registered at Whiskers" (thanks eric for the pointer to this twitterer (twit?))

@clairemc - claire mccaskill, D senator from missouri "Lunch w/Lily in Sen dining rm. Sen Bennett at large table surrounded by journalsts. Don't know whethr to say congrats or try to save him."

@lancearmstrong - "all went well. Lance is in recovery. Same guy just 12 screws in his collarbone"

@tonyrobbins - "simple rule.. must play full out and you must take what you learned and help two other people in the future with what you learn best. tony"

Employees take charge

And hold the boss hostage in anger over job reductions

http://wireless.go.com/wireless/abcnews/section/topstories/7170102_1
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Goodbye Google | stopdesign

Is it possible for an organization to be too analytical? Sounds like my shop.

http://stopdesign.com/archive/2009/03/20/goodbye-
google.html
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Another perfect beach on Oahu

Test of the photo uploading.
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cheery huh

ok, that's most of the recent stuff i was bumming out the facebook crowd with. hey - this is reality, not american idol.

NYT: What's in the Stimulus Bill for you

Most of us will be able to use at least one of the tax breaks and handouts included in the proposed stimulus bill.