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| There are great benefits to connectedness, but we haven't wrapped our minds around the costs. |
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All Your ABS Are Belong To Us |
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| Topic: Computer Security |
10:35 pm EST, Mar 14, 2005 |
Coming soon to a dashboard near you ... |
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Can a Virus Hitch a Ride in Your Car? |
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| Topic: High Tech Developments |
9:27 am EST, Mar 14, 2005 |
What if viruses, worms or other forms of malware penetrated the computers that control ever more crucial functions in the car? Now, you might ask, how realistic is that? Come on! -- right? Microsoft has entered this business, too, having recently signed a deal to provide software for a telematics and diagnostics system to be installed in all Fiats, starting this year. Oh. (Uh-oh.) The enterprising eighth grader now positions herself to earn the very first PhD in "secure automotive engineering", a multi-disciplinary degree program offered jointly by the departments of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer science. (Or is it coming sooner than that?) Can a Virus Hitch a Ride in Your Car? |
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A Family Tree in Every Gene |
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| Topic: Society |
9:19 am EST, Mar 14, 2005 |
Shortly after last year's tsunami devastated the lands on the Indian Ocean, The Times of India ran an article with this headline: "Tsunami May Have Rendered Threatened Tribes Extinct." The article said, "Some beads may have just gone missing from the Emerald Necklace of India." The metaphor is as colorful as it is well intentioned. But what exactly does it mean? After all, in a catastrophe that cost more than 150,000 lives, why should the survival of a few hundred tribal people have any special claim on our attention? Human physical variation is correlated; and correlations contain information. Genetic variations show similar correlations. The human species is irredeemably promiscuous. This is a very nice article. If you're looking for more information, Richard Dawkins expertly describes this in his latest book, "The Ancestor's Tale." A Family Tree in Every Gene |
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British Firm Breaks Ground in Surveillance Science |
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| Topic: Surveillance |
9:11 am EST, Mar 14, 2005 |
The trend for the future will be to move the security scanners outside the airport terminal building and operate them in "stand-off mode" -- checking people from a distance before they even set foot inside. And then, Onward! -- from airports to other venues! QinetiQ -- owned 30 percent by private equity group Carlyle and 56 percent by the British government ... Ooh, the Carlyle Group! "There are always going to be issues of privacy here and they're not to be belittled, they're important." But he says smarter technology will actually make the checks less intrusive. This guy has some reading to do. The Panopticon is especially insidious precisely because you can't tell if or when you're being watched. 'Unintrusiveness' breeds paranoia and opens the door to unchecked abuse. From the citizen's perspective, it is much preferable for the "minders" to be forthcoming about their security measures. British Firm Breaks Ground in Surveillance Science |
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Monty Python Comes to Broadway with Musical 'Spamalot' |
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| Topic: Arts |
9:02 am EST, Mar 14, 2005 |
... A critical darling in its pre-Broadway run and a box-office smash before it even opens ... The current Broadway season has seen several new musicals disappoint, but "Spamalot," which is scheduled to open on the Great White Way on Thursday, could be the savior. Monty Python Comes to Broadway with Musical 'Spamalot' |
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Can Papers End the Free Ride Online? |
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| Topic: Media |
8:59 am EST, Mar 14, 2005 |
When it comes to online news, consumers are happy to read it but loath to pay for it. At NYT, the number of people who read the paper online now surpasses the number who buy the print edition. This migration of readers is beginning to transform the newspaper industry. This has been a topic of discussion here ... Bill Keller, executive editor of the Times: "What happens if advertising goes flat? What happens when somebody develops software to filter out advertising -- TiVo for the Web?" It is unsurprising that, for media people, TiVo reduces to a single feature: the 30-second skip. But this means they are missing the larger picture of TiVo's effect on how customers interact with media, such as the reduced significance of schedule and channel, owing to a decoupling of the viewing experience from the act of broadcast and recording. "The online business model won't ever be able to support the whole news infrastructure." A tragedy of the commons is emerging in this trend. Eventually, the major media will go through a purge cycle akin to those of the telecoms and the airlines. Can Papers End the Free Ride Online? |
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al-Qaida Ability Diminishing, Agents Say |
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| Topic: War on Terrorism |
6:20 pm EST, Mar 13, 2005 |
Senior Bush administration officials have warned in recent weeks that al-Qaida is regrouping for another massive attack. But in Pakistan and Afghanistan, intelligence agents, politicians and a top US general paint a different picture. They say relentness military crackdowns, arrests, and killings have effectively decapitated al-Qaida. "We have broken the back of al-Qaida." al-Qaida Ability Diminishing, Agents Say |
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The Greatest Dirty Joke Ever Told |
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| Topic: Society |
2:47 pm EST, Mar 13, 2005 |
The chill cast by the government war against "indecency" is taking new casualties each day, and with each one, the commissars of censorship are emboldened to extend their reach. If you can see only one of the shows Senator Ted Stevens wants to banish, let me recommend "Deadwood". It captures with Boschian relish what freedom, by turns cruel and comic and exhilarating, looked and sounded like at full throttle in frontier America before anyone got around to building churches or a government. "Deadwood" alone is worth twice the price of an HBO subscription. The Greatest Dirty Joke Ever Told |
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New York Times Best-Sellers - Hardcover Fiction |
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| Topic: Fiction |
1:11 pm EST, Mar 13, 2005 |
This Week: #2. Weeks on List: 1. THE RISING, by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. (Tyndale, $25.99.) The Prince of Darkness chooses a Romanian woman to be the mother of the Antichrist. New York Times Best-Sellers - Hardcover Fiction |
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| Topic: Humor |
12:18 pm EST, Mar 13, 2005 |
"Daily Show" correspondent Ed Helms profiles an e-mail service that will notify you when the Rapture comes. Comedy Central offers the whole segment in streaming video. Here's a choice snippet, from the exchange with Russell Rasche, the lawyer who offers to add a "Rapture Clause" to your last will and testament: Rasche: "If you contemplate what would actually happen, you would have to accept the mark of the beast as evil world ruler, or you could not buy or sell. You couldn't get food. You couldn't do anything. You're looking ... at a catastrophe." Helms: "It sounds like with all of those things happening, the thing you would want to protect you the most ... is a good legal document." Rasche: "Absolutely." Heaven Can't Wait |
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