-
Mystery photo
Who can tell me what this is?
-
Random Photo
I thought this looked nice.
-
Quick thoughts on Google
While having dinner with Pastras tongiht, I remarked that Google was brilliant because they never did anything hard. That is not to say that the creation of that company did not involve anything difficult, but rather that they use technology in a proper way and never in a way that just barely works.
What is the word for that?
A new word I just learned from the surprisingly difficult to use Volokh site is “Parade of Horribles” which I’ve never heard before.
-
Good article on Patrick Fitzgerald
The WaPo has an excellent profile on Patrick Fitzgerald, the independent counsel on the Wilson affair. He is also the bringer of the first indictment for bin Laden as well. He has been pleasantly leak-free during his whole investigation too.
-
Not caring
I read this wired article Phone Tap: How’s the Traffic? and found it interesting in a technical way and telling in a social way. Short summary: Missouri plans to monitor traffic by the amount of cell phone signals that pass over the roads.
The usual privacy advocates are up in arms, the state government has promised that none of the info will be individualy identifiable (for now of course). Naturally the plan is proceeding. (One of the firms involved in the industry, Airsage, seems to be located in my old stomping grounds of Marietta).
There do seem to be some good technical reasons to arrange traffic monitoring this way. Everyone is videotaped 20 times a day on the highway anyway so that open road is not really the place for anonnmity.
All of this makes me wonder, who is this really going to affect. Modern cell phones can be pinpointed via GPS anyway, and if the rumor that the microphone on a cellphone can be activated remotely is true (it seems quite credible) and talented amateurs can listen in to supposedly private conversations, then what privacy concerned person would use a cell phone?
That would make a lot of us not concerned about our privacy, which would also explain why nobody encrypts their email, which I thought everyone would be doing by now.
-
The Toadpickers rise again!
Last night was the return of bluegrass to Jake’s Roadhouse. The usual crowd was there, only now it would appear that we are the house band. Halloween is when the bluegrass is going to be advertised again.
Jake’s was pretty much the same. The usual crowd was there. We played on the stage which is something we seldom did before. The low ceiling has been removed which makes sound a bit more lost than it was before. Also the entire place is much cleaner and better lit.
-
Interesting
One of Bush’s more useful qualities (for him) is the ability to draw the right enemies. Just as Clinton excelled at drawing out the right wing crazies, Bush draws out the left, and internationally to boot. This CNN article, Mugabe, Chavez slam U.S. at U.N. event came as no surprise. While it is not necessarily a good thing to be hated by people recreating Stalin’s Ukrainian horror from the 30s, it certainly SEEMS like a good thing.
-
Rising from the ashes
I just got word that Bluegrass is returning to Jake’s on Monday’s starting tonight.
-
Lessons learned from recording
Well, after about a week after hearing what I actually sounded like (via the USB mic) I have cut my practice speed by about 10%. So far I’m liking the result. The tone has improved a good bit, and I’m closer to reaching Norman Blake’s right hand goal of “shaking water off your hand”. It’s a whole arm motion, similar to throwing a baseball, with little wrist effort involved.
On another note, Mike has pictures from the Millions More March.
-
Things that annoy me
At the moment, it’s the statement “firms connected with the Bush Administration like Haliburton and Bechtel”. Any huge government contractor is connected with the Bush administration, just like they were with Clinton, Bush 41, Reagan, etc. How else would they be huge government contractors if they didn’t put former secretaries of whatever on their boards?