Category Archives: Technology

Taxing Email is Useless

Derek Thompson at the Atlantic blog writes about a NY Times piece on taxing email. He’s not advocating it, or arguing against it but looking at the supposed benefits and negatives, and how it would likely increase instant messaging. What … Continue reading

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GPS System Could Break Down Next Year

On the bright side, I’ll be able to save battery life on my iphone by turning off the gps. The downside of course being that the gps is increadibly useful.

Posted in Chris' Page, Military Matters, Technology | 1 Comment

Twitter as a Story Telling Medium

Twitter is the social media website that allows users to share updates on their life with others who choose to follow their updates. It’s proved useful for friends to quickly keep in touch, politicians to keep constituents updated on their … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Chris' Page, social science, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

IPhone Blogging

Blogging from the iPhone. This will probably be everyday useful once they get copy/paste but could be great for covering events live and with pictures.

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Twitterati

I’ve recently joined the ranks of the twitterati. If you’re so inclined, you can follow my twitter feed here. Content is a bit lighter than on here of course.

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Not only is she a Bonneville record holder, but Leslie Porterfield also used an innovative new skin wrap on her bike. While I would suspect the claims of any company, a personal endorsement such as the following holds weight enough … Continue reading

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Gaza War Arrives in Second Life

And amid the protests, obscenities, and intolerance we find a scene that you’d only find virtual worlds like Second Life:

Posted in Chris' Page, Foreign affairs, Technology | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Jon Henke for RNC Communications Director

A good look at how the RNC needs to restructure and how they don’t for the next generation of campaigning. Jon is mentioned as paradigm of what the RNC Communications Director needs to be, I’d agree. You need someone who … Continue reading

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The West as Nuclear Proliferator

(NYT) The New York Times has a fascinating little chart today, illustrating the primary sources of nuclear weapons proliferation over time. In looking at the diagram, one cannot escape the overall impression that until recently the West has been the … Continue reading

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When the Future is Boring

It seems the marriage of David Pollard and Amy Taylor is heading toward divorce, due to Pollard’s virtual affair with a virtual prostitute, uncovered by a virtual private detective hired by Taylor. It occurs to me that the key thing … Continue reading

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Armies of the Obsolete

Light and infrared targeting devices for games. (Photo by Rob Stradling | website) Al Qaeda technicians have apparently pioneered the use of electronics in old SEGA game cartridges for bomb detonators. A smaller precedent than the use of the airliner … Continue reading

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China Pulls a Lapham – UPDATED

China space mission article hits Web before launch A news story describing a successful launch of China’s long-awaited space mission and including detailed dialogue between astronauts launched on the Internet Thursday, hours before the rocket had even left the ground. … Continue reading

Posted in Chris' Page, Humor, Technology | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

38 Years Ago…

Bob from Brockley linked to ASHC: He’s not alone either. Ah the good old days of blogging about détente and Vietnam on ARPANET…or perhaps a slight Technorati bug.

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My Summer Vacation

It was a busy weekend here at the homestead. Although it wasn’t actually at the homestead, we traveled to beautiful Mansfield OH, to take in the AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days event. Other than being hot, and humid, we had a … Continue reading

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Amazing New MPG Breakthrough!!!

Yes, after extensive research I can now offer to the public an almost guaranteed way of decreasing the amount of gas used in a week. While YMMV (Your Millage May Vary) I saw a 13% increase this past week using … Continue reading

Posted in Keith's Page, Society, Technology | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Clinton to Keep Defense Jobs Here

Here’s an ad some of you may not have seen. But now (wonder of wonders) since Indiana is a battleground state in the Democratic primary, it’s been getting plenty of air play during the local news programs. Hillary Clinton: Right … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Keith's Page, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Abiogenic Oil

Hoystory poses a thought-provoking question with potentially dramatic consequences for the concept of “peak oil”: What if “fossil fuels” weren’t made of fossils at all? What if the earth naturally made petroleum? What if gasoline was a renewable resource? Imagine … Continue reading

Posted in energy, Environment, MichaelW's Page, science, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

The Air Car

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Yuri’s Night

A worldwide celebration is happening tonight. Yuri’s Night! The local arts organization I am a member of, Art Mob, is supporting our local version. Unfortunately Art Mob’s sight is having trouble, but the temporary site can be found here. I … Continue reading

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The Lie of Hybrid Cars

I’ve never understood the hype behind hybrid cars: sure, they look funky, and they have slightly higher mileage numbers than their conventionally-fueled counterparts, but they just never made any sense. An extra $5k for a car that saves a few … Continue reading

Posted in Technology | 14 Comments

How Pakistan Accidentally Broke the Internet

Last week, a Pakistani ISP blocked YouTube in response to a video that apparently involved a cartoon pig defecating on the word “Allah.” Fine, whatever—there clearly is no appreciation of Trey Parker and Matt Stone in Islamabad. But the way … Continue reading

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We’ll Get To That Wind Farm Application – Eventually

And by eventually, they mean decades down the road. This is a perfect example of government getting in the way of the innovation we need to dig ourselves out of our fossil fuel dependency. http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1362/1/ If you want to build … Continue reading

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The Muhammad-pedia Controversy

After their success getting the Muhammad cartoons banned, some Muslims have now set their sights on wikipedia. Recently a large group of Muslims have started an email campaign asking wikipedia to remove their images of their holy prophet Muhammad, even … Continue reading

Posted in Chris' Page, Media, Religion and theology, Society, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , | 31 Comments

What happens to a blog post?

When I finish typing this and hit publish, the blog will send out a ping, and then the enters the strange ecosystem of the internet: Imperceptibly and all but instantaneously, your post slips into a vast and recursive network of … Continue reading

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Visit Death and Destruction Upon Us

I know many of you have always wanted to cause us harm. This is your chance to do it, virtually of course. I’ll start with allowing you to do something more gentle, like a protest! Then go up to the … Continue reading

Posted in Lance's Page, Technology | Tagged | 2 Comments

Begun the Scientology War Has

So making the news today, a group of hackers calling themselves Anonymous, has declared “war” on the Church of Scientology. It started with distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on CoS and CoS sponsored websites, but moved on today to … Continue reading

Posted in Chris' Page, Religion and theology, Technology | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Why is Tide Popular?

Tyler Cowen wants to know: Eli Lehrer informs me that Tide has a high market share even though it is more expensive than most other brands. This source says the market share of Tide is about forty-four percent, with the … Continue reading

Posted in Lance's Page, Technology | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Market failure

From Peter Gordon: This morning’s WSJ op-ed (“Gas Taxes Are High Enough”) by Mary E. Peters, Secretary of Transportation, suggests that this appointment belongs on the plus side of the ledger. She is the highest-ranking federal transportation official to openly … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Lance's Page, Libertarianism, regulation, Technology, Urban planning and development | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Sam Zell on what is important

I don’t know if the eccentric Sam Zell can turn around Tribune, but he is always entertaining: From: Talk to Sam Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 11:03 AM Subject: Censorship, the First Amendment and the Fourth Estate Everyone, I learned … Continue reading

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WordPress News

Good for them: Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, just secured a $29.5 million B round of financing. Congrats to Matt, Toni, and everyone else at Automattic. $29.5 million is a monster round, considering that Automattic has so far grown by … Continue reading

Posted in Blogs, Lance's Page, Technology | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

40 Hour Laptops!

Via Instapundit we see it may come true: Imagine running your laptop nonstop from New York to Tokyo — crunch some numbers, work on a memo pop in a few DVDs — and then do a full day of meetings, … Continue reading

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Planet of the Apes Meets the Matrix

Scientists have progressed one step closer to my dream of being the laziest person in the world by way of controlling computers and robots with my mind. Neuroscientists at Duke University teamed up with a robot in Kyoto, Japan to … Continue reading

Posted in Chris' Page, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Fighting the Mafia with Social Networking

In a bottom-up rebellion in Sicily, a group of Palermo youths have started a social networking site called Addiopizzo, which provides public attention and mutual support for Sicilian businesses which publicly refuse to pay the mafia “protection” money. Evidently it’s … Continue reading

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Apple Reshapes Another Industry

A fascinating look at the development of the iPhone and its impact upon the structure of the telecom industry. More than being a snazzy and popular device, the iPhone has changed how the relationship between players in the telecom industry … Continue reading

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Firefox Tip

This seems to have really improved the speed at which I browse: Speed up Firefox. If you have a broadband connection, you can speed up your page loads. This allows Firefox to load multiple things on a page instead of … Continue reading

Posted in Lance's Page, Technology | 3 Comments

News Brief, Cake Parade Edition

Cross-posted to The Conjecturer. Defense & The War What, they’re accused of only murdered 14 people? Let’s see if the White Rabbit can break his weeks-long silence to defend them this time. Well, at least they’ve finally joined the war. … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Notes on the war, social science, Technology | 5 Comments

The City Car

Very Cool: The City Car, a design project under way at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is envisioned as a two-seater electric vehicle powered by lithium-ion batteries. It would weigh between 1,000 and 1,200 pounds and could collapse, then stack … Continue reading

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Where Are The Memos? (Updated)

Why is it that news sites refuse to publish the documents upon which they report? I mean, even Glenn Greenwald produced the emails he was mischaracterizing. Why can’t The Washington Post do the same with the infamous “snowflake memos” it … Continue reading

Posted in Media, MichaelW's Page, Technology | 3 Comments

Items To Save During A House Fire

Self – Check Spouse – Check Kids – Check Pets – Check Important Papers – Checks Satellite Receiver – WTF The nerve of some corporations! When this Azola couple got back from their honeymoon, they had about an hour of … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Keith's Page, Society, Technology | 4 Comments

Shift Happens

Sometimes information like this makes me sit back and think “whoa” (sounding to much like neo in the matrix.) Not only is this a small world (which we often forget,) but it is becoming an exponentially complex and interconnected one. … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Economics, Education, History, Keith's Page, Religion and theology, Society, Technology | 4 Comments

News Brief, Work = Busy So No More Briefings ‘Till Lundi

Still posted first over at The Conjecturer. Defense & The War More on the internal battle over imperial anthropology. Around the World Also have you seen the possibly-NSFW Shaolin balls conditioning video? Basically, they are the world’s greatest fighting force—well … Continue reading

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Data Mining and Domestic Policing

When I first heard about this story about a fugitive being caught after 35 years, I didn’t think twice about it. Until I saw a detail about the Intelligence Fusion Center being involved. State investigators say the very things that … Continue reading

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Score One For New Media

The MSM (or “Legacy Media” or whatever term floats your boat) is suffering at the invisible hands of technology, which has prompted the rise of not just cable news, but also blogs and online magazines. Blogs in particular often draw … Continue reading

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News Brief, À Cause Des Garçons Edition

Cross-posted on The Conjecturer. Defense & The War Dear God. The USAF thinks it will win counterinsurgencies by copying the Viet Cong? These guys are almost as bad as the PMFs. In a must-read analysis, Abu Muqawama concludes, “This, America, … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Foreign affairs, History, Law, Military Matters, Notes on the war, regulation, Technology | 11 Comments

News Brief, Tales of Taboo Edition

Cross-posted on The Conjecturer. Defense & The War Finally, after years of occupying their country, we’ve liberated Iraq from the burden of living in fear for collaborating with us. P.W. Singer (again) on the devil’s bargain of PMCs. I like … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, History, Military Matters, Notes on the war, social science, Technology | 6 Comments

News Brief, Capture/release Edition

Repeated at The Conjecturer. Defense & the War P.W. Singer on how no one is really asking the right questions about Blackwater and PMCs in general. Contrary to other arguments, it is a question of legality and accountability, since even … Continue reading

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A Brief History of War and Medicine

Joshua brought up this little tid-bit in his last post… There is also a rather shocking exhibit of an underreported side effect of the war: advances in medical technology now allow survivability after injuries that once were fatal. Which means … Continue reading

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Hi-Tech Extortion and Terrorism

When threats are phoned in, how seriously should they be considered? At my last company, one of the buildings we had offices in would get a bomb threat called in 2 or 3 times per month. Now, the company gave … Continue reading

Posted in Keith's Page, Law, Society, Technology | 2 Comments

News Brief, Little Trouble in Big China Edition

Throwing rocks at HAMAS over at The Conjecturer. Defense & The War More on what The Surge is accomplishing: “Despite some evidence that the troop buildup has improved security in certain areas, sectarian violence continues and American-led operations have brought … Continue reading

Posted in Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Military Matters, Notes on the war, Society, Technology | 1 Comment

News Brief, Just Watch the Fireworks Edition

Cheating on your ex-boyfriend at The Conjecturer. Defense & The War So, according to President Bush, if we leave Iraq, the communists will triumph? Like how they won the Cold War? I don’t get it. The argument from civil war … Continue reading

Posted in Foreign affairs, Media, Military Matters, Notes on the war, Technology | 1 Comment