Subterranean Homepage News

After the Feb. 20 nightclub fire in West Warwick, this blog paused while I blogged the news in The Station Fire web log. That blog will continue to be updated occasionally as news warrants.

March 7, 2003 - (The previous edition of this weblog)

Another mini-blog day -- soon, I promise, there'll be time to think and (perhaps) thoughts worth sharing. For now, quick links:

White House launches technological Peace Corps: Very cool idea. At InfoWorld,

WASHINGTON -- Volunteers from U.S. companies and the federal government will soon head to the African nation of Senegal to help the country improve its technology industry and its economy, according to the White House.

On Tuesday, the White House and the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the creation of the Digital Freedom Initiative, a program designed to help developing nations grow their technology industries. Senegal, a mostly Muslim nation in West Africa, will be the first participating country in a three-year pilot program, and if the Senegalese experience is successful, the U.S. government would send volunteers to 20 countries in the following five years.

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The Internet is simple: Half the Cluetrain Manifesto authors -- Doc Searls and David Weinberger -- have collaborated on an extension of the idea. World of Ends: What the Internet Is and How to stop Mistaking It for Something Else.
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Iraq notes - Things that jumped out at me:

1 . From Powell: U.S. facing 'critical moment' on Iraq at CNN:

... Sen. Hollings (Fritz Hollings, D-S.C.) then asked (Defense Secy. Colin Powell) if regime change is a White House goal, why doesn't the United States assassinate Saddam.

"Why not get a hit team and get rid of him," he said. "Why start a war?"

Many people are wondering this. The answer from Powell:

Powell said part of the problem is that no one is sure where Saddam is within Iraq.

"I don't think he is as targetable as is often suggested," Powell said. "He is a survivor."

a) How much of the country needs to be annihilated to ensure Saddam is included?
b) Dan Rather found him.

2. A joke came in an email from an old friend:

A Canadian asks an American, "What proof do you have that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction?"

To which the American replies: "We kept the receipts."

3. NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, writing in the New York Times: The Arab World Tunes In (reg. req.):

Al Jazeera has made arrangements to accompany troops so that battlefield action and postwar policies will be widely televised in the Middle East.

So if there were to be war, we would be able to watch both sides of it on TV?

4. The March 17 deadline in the U.S. - U.K. proposal for Saddam Hussein to comply with U.N. inspections or face a military attack would be two days after the next planned round of antiwar demonstrations on March 15.

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For This Jamaican, Reggae on Ice: From Wired,

Lenky Roy is a Jamaican reggae singer whose record company dreamed up a unique way to promote his new CD, Siberia -- an actual trip to Siberia, to take part in a grueling, midwinter motor rally to the coldest inhabited place on Earth.

Roy, who's from the sunny Caribbean, reckons the chilliest place he's ever visited is Atlanta, Georgia. The temperature in Atlanta is 60 degrees Fahrenheit. It's 6 below in Siberia.

"I'm looking forward to it though," the gregarious Rasta man said before he left last week for Russia. "It's unprecedented. We'll be meeting the people, having a good vibe and then entering the rally. It should be a major pitch for the upcoming CD."

The adventure can be followed here on Wired News. Roy and his crew plan to file regular video reports from the subarctic region -- weather and technology permitting.

Day 1: From Russia With Gloves

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Enigma for sale: There's a rare, legendary WWII German code machine for sale on eBay. Bidding now is up to $10,102 (reserve not yet met) with the auction scheduled to end early Monday.
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Gone till Wednesday: I'll be at a meeting of women journalists at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government till Wednesday. Back then...

March 6, 2003

Abbreviated blog today -- a beautiful, fat-flake snowstorm on top of "black ice" has cars piling up by the dozens. With only two inches on the ground now, the interstates are closed. The snow's falling at a rate of an inch per hour. We've been told to go home. Stay safe...

Rock and a Hard Place in R.I.: A great story in yesterday's Washington Post about West Warwick, R.I., site of the nightclub fire, and the rock spirit that stays alive in a town that glory passed by.
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We know "hi-fi"...: BizRate reports,

Ipsos-Reid determined that 38% of US adults are familiar with Wi-Fi, and 13% of those people have a Wi-Fi network in their home (translating into 3% of the general US population).

Ipsos-Reid surveyed 1,008 adults in the US in January 2003 and reports that 41% are aware of the term "Wi-Fi," and 14% of those who say they are "aware" will purchase a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) system within the next six months. In fact, 38% are somewhat familiar with the wireless technology. Of that 38%, 13% actually have the technology at home.

This number seems ridiculously inflated, unless the survey was limited to Silicon Valley. I'd say fewer than one percent of the people I know have heard of Wi-Fi.

Starbucks doesn't offer it in Rhode Island; only Brewed Awakenings coffee house downtown does.

Maybe the respondents heard "hi-fi" -- or maybe they fibbed, not wanting to seem uninformed. via Wi-Fi Networking News
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March 5, 2003

Garrison Keillor, host of NPR's A Prairie Home Companion, has written a song about The Station nightclub fire called White Flash. Lyrics. Listen (RealAudio).
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Speak & Spell online for digital kids. Requires Flash6.
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Extreme ironing (video): Mike Goldfein of Bi Tech Files goes to extremeironing.com where, "The only rule as best i can figure out is to haul an iron to the most bizarre, extreme place possible and then get your picture taken."
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Fife master, rural blues legend Otha Turner dies; was 94. Audio samples on the left side of the page. Via Metafilter
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Starting Fire With an Ice Lens is just one of the stone-age technology skills at primitiveways.com. This site is must reading for would-be Survivor contestants.
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The Intel "Most Unwired Cities" survey ranks the top 100 U.S. cities and regions with the greatest wireless Internet accessibility. An "unwired city" is not, as I first thought, one with little net access; it's one with lots of wireless access. The Portland, Ore.- Vancouver, Wash. region tops the list.

Our area comes in at #65, but Intel thinks Warwick is in Massachusetts (it's the "Providence, R.I.- Fall River-Warwick, MA" area), so we're not sure where they measured. via J.D. Lasica, as is the next item.

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A Question Of Coverage: A Memo To The Media. At Tom Paine,

Dear Editor, Publisher, Producer, Reporter:

We are writing to convey a level of heightened expectation in your forthcoming coverage of the U.S.-Iraq situation.

War coverage, and coverage of the period preceding war, test the reliability of our news media. Access to truly independent sources of information is essential, given the government's control of knowledge, data, pictures and other information during this period. The media's display of all significant points of view is especially important because of the tendency of our top officials to equate patriotism with uncritical support of official policy. ...

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Dubai 92 FM: Streaming live in English. Right now, they're playing Uncle Kracker's Follow Me. via Lou Josephs, whose Medianetwork blog covers radio bigtime. For instance,

Shortwave radios, well who makes the best one? Check out the reviews. Newsweek had a full page ad for the Grundig 800 this week, don't buy that boat anchor. Sony or the smaller YB 400 will do well just about anywhere in the world. Sales of shortwave radios always go thru the roof in times of international crisis.

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A letter of resignation to Colin Powell: U.S. Diplomat's Letter of Resignation by John Brady Kiesling

This happened while I was deep in fire coverage, but if you haven't seen it, it's worth reading. It struck a chord for me. Excerpt:

But until this administration, it had been possible to believe that by upholding the policies of my president, I was also upholding the interests of the American people and the world. I believe it no longer.

The policies we are now asked to advance are incompatible not only with American values, but also with American interests. Our fervent pursuit of war with Iraq is driving us to squander the international legitimacy that has been America's most potent weapon of both offense and defense since the days of Woodrow Wilson. We have begun to dismantle the largest and most effective web of international relationships the world has ever known. Our current course will bring instability and danger, not security.

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Rod Stewart sued for royalties by mandolin player on Maggie May: BBC reports,

Ray Jackson, who found fame with Geordie folk/rock band Lindisfarne, says he was paid just £15 by the Scottish-born pop superstar in 1971.

Mr Jackson, 54 and who now lives in Oxfordshire, says he came up with the worldwide hit's classic mandolin melody.

A spokesman for Rod Stewart has described the claim as "ridiculous".

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March 4, 2003

My brother, Frank Lennon -- West Point graduate, former Green Beret, upstanding middle-aged citizen -- finally got a few days free and headed for Florida for some warm weather and rest. He got as far as Green airport in Warwick before all hell broke loose: His carry-on bag tested positive for a form of "plastique" -- an explosive which this site says "has been characterized as 'virtually undetectable' by government sources."

Here's his tale:

I walked up to the Southwest ticket counter with one carry-on bag and one piece (of luggage) to check. The system now involves screening equipment for checked luggage right at the ticket counter, before you hand it over. My checked bag was a beat-up soft sports bag that I've been using for years. The only things in it were several file folders I was planning to work on from the condo, my Jaz drive, the digital camera, the Palm Pilot (which I hoped to master down here), one pair of running shorts and some medications. Oh, yes -- also my little Swiss Army knife, which I always check because it will otherwise be confiscated from the carry-on.

The agents did their thing, opening the bag and running a swab randomly along the inside of the bag and its contents. Imagine my surprise and consternation when the swab gave the screening machine some kind of chemical orgasm! Lights flashed, bells rang and your brother was on candid camera! According to the machine, my bag showed trace elements of the explosive RDX.

[Also referred to as cyclonite, or hexogen, RDX is a white crystalline solid usually used in mixtures with other explosives, oils, or waxes; it is rarely used alone. It has a high degree of stability in storage and is considered the most powerful and brisant of the military high explosives. RDX compositions are mixtures of RDX, other explosive ingredients, and desensitizers or plasticizers. Incorporated with other explosives or inert material at the manufacturing plants, RDX forms the base for the following common military explosives: Composition A, composition B, composition C, HBX, H-6 and Cyclotol.]

I was immediately the center of attention, as you can imagine. Federal officers took me aside (VERY politely, I might add) and the airport police were summoned. I was asked for ID, and then they ran me through NCIC (the FBI's National Crime Information Center) to see if I were a known terrorist, fugitive from justice or just an ex-con.

Once again, I was impressed by the professionalism of both the screeners and the law enforcement officials. They did not presume me guilty until proven innocent; they did, however, thoroughly check me out along with everything in my bags.

I did not feel particularly annoyed, either; it actually made me feel more secure to know they were so vigilant.

There were two disconcerting moments.

The first was when it became apparent that this false positive on my bag was not an isolated incident. I gathered (and you might want to check this out) that these machines are registering far more than an expected number of false alarms, especially with RDX. (One of the screeners told me there was little to worry about, because a number of household products could imitate RDX. DUH! What's the sense if it can't DIFFERENTIATE the explosive from baby powder?)

From my combat experience, I can tell you that false alarm after false alarm dulls the senses of the watchers, so that when the real thing comes along they often don't respond appropriately. (A variation on the "crying wolf" thing.)

The second jittery moment was when they called over the airline manager and asked if he wanted to deny boarding (to either me or my bags) because of the alert. Fortunately, he was willing to let me proceed. However, he had the right to say no! That's unfair if the machines aren't working properly.

And that's my story.

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Gather the Women: "One aspect of Gather the Women is our focus on March 8, 2003, International Women's Day as declared by the United Nations." There's a local event that's part of this worldwide movement, in Exeter, March 8, 1:30- 3 p.m. in Arcadia State Park at the Browning Mill Pond Pavillion.

Also, 2nd Annual International Womens Day Festival: Multicultural dancers, bands, singer/songwriters, comics, poets, theatre, and more! Including performances by Lori Amey, Christine Hajjar, Betty Finn, Optic Lock, Rhode Island Theatre Ensemble, Daily Mouse, Del Cielo, Maria Ventura and Joel Thibodeau, Marissa Nadler, Jenn Kitten, Spyce, Allysen Callery, and more. Rising Sun Mills, 166 Valley St., March 8, 2 p.m.-midnight, $5. More info: wantprov@aol.com or call 401-861-6088.

Vaguely related: Children of the revolution: The Guardian (UK) looks at boomers' babies now:

For a generation of women, giving birth in the 1970s meant bringing into an unfair, unequal world babies who they hoped would be the building blocks of a brave, new, equal one. Thirty years on, Kira Cochrane finds out how those children feel now about having been brought up by feminist mothers.

Also vaguely related: My Black Male Feminist Heroes. At PopMatters.

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Desktop gambling: The Connecticut State Lottery is giving out a PC game (for Windows, presumably) with their new scratch-off lottery tickets which offer a chance of winning $25,000 by playing. The link is at the Hartford Courant, which reports a problem with the "game":

The Connecticut Lottery Corp.'s new animated computer game is drawing fire from critics who call it a ploy to lure in children - and from the state attorney general, who says it may violate Internet gambling laws.

In the new game, Treasure Tower, players may use their computer mouse to lead a cartoon character from ancient Babylonia through "a fantastic and humorous universe" of exotic Middle Eastern passageways, palaces and hidden doors in search of cash prizes. There is a one-in-260,000 chance of winning $25,000 in the game, which goes on sale Thursday.

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"Third places": Blogger Joel Spolsky writes in "Building Communities with Software,"

The social scientist Ray Oldenburg talks about how humans need a third place, besides work and home, to meet with friends, have a beer, discuss the events of the day, and enjoy some human interaction. ... In creating community software, we are, to some extent, trying to create a third place.

It's an interesting exploration of how and why we like some places, and how to make more of them.
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Product placement for bloggers: There goes the neighborhood.
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Ari Gets Laughed Out of the White House Briefing Room. This is from last week, but since it's accompanied by audio files, it's of mild historical interest if it's new to you.
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Oil in trenches around Baghdad? "Salam Pax," the Baghdad blogger whose pen names both mean peace, writes,

The last two days everybody talks about it, they are planning to make a smoke screen of some sorts using black crude oil, actually rumor has it that they have been experimenting with various fuel mixtures to see what would produce the blackest vilest smoke and the three days of smoke from Dorah was the final test. Around Baghdad they would probably go roughly along the green belt which was conceived to stop the sandstorms coming from the western deserts. I have no idea how a smoke screen can be of any use except make sure that the people in Baghdad die of asphyxiation and covered in soot. I think I will be getting those gas masks after all.

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Fly with implanted webserver. Don't ask. Via BoingBoing.
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Subterranean Homepage News
by Sheila Lennon
features & interactive producer of projo.com