my passport photo |
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by Sheila
Lennon
'Bottom-up' journalism from the pros
May 31,
2002 • Last
week's weblog
American
kids need books: In
the current issue of Wellesley Magazine (not online), Danielle Hall '00
writes,
"I am
a Wellesley alum teaching on the Navajo Reservation, and I am desperately
seeking children's books for my elementary school. We presently have fewer
than a dozen books in each classroom! Any books written for children would
be appropriate: picture books, chapter books, science encyclopedias, young-adult
novels, etc. The condition and/or age of the books does not matter, so
long as the books can still be read. Please send them to Danielle Hall
at P.O. Box 70, Smith Lake Elementary School, Smith Lake, NM 87365-0070.
Thank you for your help!"
I have an
email address for Hall, if you need more information, but the last thing
she needs is to expose that to spammers. Write
me if you want it.
Link
to this item | Comment
Google's
launched an online
catalog search: This
makes online shopping too easy. It spits up catalogs I've never heard
of. Fortunately, I can't afford most of them.
Sites in
the regular Google search for sisal
rugs order -- I added the last word to eliminate cleaning and
decorator sites -- were much cheaper than what turned up in a catalog
search for a sisal
rug for the porch. The difference might be the cost of paper,
printing and postage for all those 4-color glossy books.
A search
for seagrass
carpet inexplicably turned up a page of hats, but a search for
tuberose
(an incredibly fragrant bulb to grow on the porch, 3 to a 10-inch
flowerpot) showed me new plant sources and some cultivation advice.
This will
be a hit, I predict.
Link
to this item | Comment
Federal
Judges Toss Out Online Pornography Law:
"Three
federal judges on Friday threw out a federal law that would have forced
public libraries to equip computers with software designed to block
access to Internet pornography.
"In a 195-page decision, the judges said the Children's Internet
Protection Act went too far because it also blocking access to sites
that contained protected speech."
The case
was Multnomah County Public Library v. United States Of America; here's
the opinion,
and the American Library
Association's reaction.
An earlier
column from the St. Paul Pioneer Press: Why
would you want to see porn at the library?
Link
to this item | Comment
Incognito
Blog: It's a given among journalists that you have to sign
your name, stand behind your words, but celebrities, politicians and folks
who don't want their bosses to know all their business should have a right
to air their personal experiences and opinions without making front page
news. Here's your chance:
It's
an anonymous journal, for anybody who wants to post their thoughts,
and respond to others....been kicking the idea around for a while, mostly
because I have some friends who really would like to start journaling,
but are a little leery of being so public. So voila! Incognito Blog!
So If you
want to be a part of it, email (spork@sporked.net)
me, and I'll send you the username and password. Sound like fun? G'deal.
Link
to this item | Comment
A man
who X-rays flowers: Albert Richards, a University of Michigan Professor
Emeritus, taught dental radiography and turned his X-ray machine -- harmlessly,
he says -- on flowers. Floral
Radiographs: The Secret Garden offers a gallery
of images. Especially cool: a 3-D
Easter Lily. As with Magic
Eye, you have to to bring the two images together visually to see
the 3-D. via Fractured
Perceptions
Link
to this item | Comment
Weekend
Toonz: Mark Cutler's
(Schemers, Raindogs) new CD Hey!
Drink Up with Dino
Club. Here's an mp3 of High
Song. More Dino cuts at mp3.com.
Link
to this item | Comment
May 30,
2002
NYT sells
public domain UFO (?) photos for $375 each: A
print of the photo, shot July 16, 1952 by Shel Alpert, a USCG seaman on
duty in the Coast Guard Weather Office at the Salem (Mass.) Coast Guard
Station, can
be seen and bought here (11" x 14" print: $195 ($173.55
for home delivery subscribers); 16" x 20" print: $375 ($333.75
for subscribers).
Military
photos belong to the taxpayers; they are in the public domain. Nevertheless,
the Times has its watermark on the photo. Slate (How
To Tell the New York Times from the Weekly World News) called the
Coast Guard historian's office, which confirmed that prints of the flying-saucer
photo are available at the cost of reproduction, which is about $15.
But what
really upsets Slate is that the Times calls it a "historical photo"
and captions it "Flying Saucers in Salem, Mass., 1952" without
putting quotes around "flying saucers." Indeed, the
page about this incident at Massachusetts MUFON (Mutual UFO Network)
relates that Alpert saw "four brilliant lights in the sky."
Link
to this item | Comment
Is organic
produce doomed? The
Independent (U.K.) reports, "Organic farming will be forced out
of production in Britain and across Europe if GM (genetically modified
) crops are grown commercially, a startling new EU (European Union) report
concludes. ... The conclusion is politically explosive because the demand
for organic produce is increasing rapidly across Europe, while consumer
resistance to GM food has forced supermarkets not to stock it... (The
report) found that even if only a tenth of a country or region was planted
with them – far less that the 54 per cent of Canada now under GM
crops – keeping contamination at a level that would allow organic
farming to continue would be "extremely difficult for any farm-crop
combination in the scenarios considered."
Blog of
note: Surprise
goes Zen, a "haiku-weblog." Why? "because in times
when things turn really ugly we need some space for the mind and the soul
to relax."
Artbots
update. Where's the video?
May 29,
2002 • Last
week's weblog
Nancy
Drew's "mom" dies: Millie
Benson, Toledo Blade columnist and Nancy Drew author, dies at 96
Benson was
in the newsroom yesterday writing her column when she got sick, and she
died last night at a Toledo hospital.
"I wanted
to do something different," Mrs. Benson once said of the Nancy
Drew mystery books, which she began in 1930. "The heroines of
girls’ books back then were all namby-pamby. I was expressing a sort
of tomboy spirit."
Detective
series for girls usually tucked their heroines into safe, traditional
settings -- nurse (Cherry
Ames) or airline stewardess (Vicki
Barr, whose boyfriends were a handsome pilot and a scruffy
reporter). Benson, herself a pilot and a reporter, was swept under the
rug.
The obit
her colleagues wrote for her documents an adventurous life, and one studded
with unfairness: For writing the first 23 Nancy Drew mysteries, Benson
received a flat $125 -- no royalties -- for each book, which she wrote
under the pen name Carolyn Keene. She was not permitted to say she wrote
them or to use the pen name for anything else till a 1980 court proceeding
finally allowed her to claim her own work. This obit is worth reading.
Yes. My 10-year-old
self wishes I'd thanked Millie Benson. Via
Jim Romenesko's Media News
Link
to this item | Comment
Midnight tonight is last call for the free StarOffice 5.2:
Download
to be Removed
With the introduction and availability
of StarOffice[tm] 6.0 Office Suite, the StarOffice 5.2 download product
will be removed on Wednesday May 29, 2002. Customers have until midnight
Wednesday May 29, 2002, to download at no-charge, StarOffice 5.2 software.
Star Office
has been the free alternative to MS Office for years; if, like me, you
didn't own MS Word, you could pop a Word .doc file into Star Office and
edit it, export it to html, etc.
Here's the
free download link, good only for a few more hours: http://wwws.sun.com/software/star/staroffice/5.2/get/get.html
Link
to this item | Comment
ReplayTV
users get to deny imaginary contract: There's
a letter to sign at the EFF, to be sent electronically to the man
who calls it stealing if you go to the bathroom or get a sandwich during
commercials:
CEO Jamie
Kellner
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
One CNN Center
P.O. Box 105366
Atlanta, Georgia 30348
Dear Mr. Kellner,
I am writing
in regard to your comments during an interview with Staci D. Kramer
that appeared in the April 29, 2002, issue of Cableworld magazine. Specifically,
I take issue with your assertion that I have entered into some kind
of "contract" with the television stations I view in my home.
I find your idea that I break this contract by "going to the bathroom"
during, or otherwise not viewing, your commercial advertisements utterly
preposterous. The arrogance and deep misunderstanding evident in this
statement is troubling. Unfortunately, I believe you have conflated
your business model with a legal agreement. That model was developed
before the personal video recorder (PVR) and fast-forward button (though
not before the bathroom break). However, your current concern regarding
the realization of revenue with this model does not compel me to forego
legally available technology or chain me to the television via some
imaginary contractual obligation. Let me remind you that I am not in
your movie theater; you are a guest in my living room. I never signed
a contract with Turner Broadcasting or any of the other networks that
send programming over the public airwaves. Until I do, I will choose
whether or not to watch commercials in any way I see fit.
Link
to this item | Comment
Usable
URLS: "Are you sick of posting URLs in emails only to have it
break when sent causing the recipient to have to cut and paste it back
together?... By entering in a URL in the text field below, we will create
a tiny URL that will not break in email postings," says the TinyURL.com
page. Similar: URLizer
"Good URLs for Good People!"
Link
to this item | Comment
Bloatware:
I asked
last week, "Except for NS7 being a 30 meg download while Mozilla
is less than 10 megs, is this merely a choice of features? Why would I
use NS rather than Mozlla for ordinary browsing and email?"
The question
has been answered by David Hyatt, whom The
Register describes as "a member of the Netscape/AOL project and
long-time Mac nut, whose blog attacks both the creeping featurism of the
Mozilla process, and the portalitis of his employer."
Hyatt
writes in his MozillaZine blog, "Mozilla is chock full of cool
features, an awesome layout engine, and (on Windows and Linux at least)
is now doing quite well in terms of performance and footprint. It's clearly
a browser worth using.
"Netscape 7 also has all of these cool features, the same awesome
layout engine, and is comparable to Mozilla in performance and footprint.
It does take away a feature or two, like popup blocking, but it also adds
a useful feature or two, like spellchecking. The problem is that Netscape
7 is also loaded with useless marketing junk, and this is where the trouble
starts."
Link
to this item | Comment
Spam 1-
Keep looking: "Six
arrested over 'Nigerian e-mail' fraud" said the May 21 ZDnet
headline, but I'm still getting spam from alleged Nigerians and Congolese.
( "Potential
victims receive a letter -- or, more recently, an e-mail -- telling them
that the sender is trying to move a large sum of money and offering them
a substantial percentage of the cash in return for letting it be deposited
into their bank account.")
Two today:
"My name is COL. THOMAS IDAH of the Democratic Republic of Congo
and one of the close aides to the former President of the Democratic Republic
of Congo LAURENT KABILA of blessed memory, may his soul rest in peace."
and "I am Mr. Samson Imana Aje, a former special adviser on petroleum
and economic matters to the late Head of State of Federal Republic of
Nigeria General Sani Abacha."
Link
to this item | Comment
Spam
2- Sing out! Spamradio.com
recycles the Nigerians, Camgirl, How to become a spammer, setting them
to music. And they've been nominated for a webby
award, in the 'weird'
category, of course. via
Sean Polay
Link
to this item | Comment
May 28,
2002
Call for
Entries: Convergence
Film/Video/Animation Festival seeks independently produced films and
videos under 60 minutes in length. Preview on VHS. Screening formats,
35mm and Beta. June 1 is the deadline. Sept 12-15, Cable Car Cinema, Providence,
R.I.
Application / Last
year's festival (with video clips) / 2001 Award
winners.
Link
to this item | Comment
The
battle for the moon: "Let’s go and explore our universe,
but let’s not go as Genghis Khan, let’s go as Mother Teresa.”
vs. “You’ll want to be prepared to explain why the moon (or
perhaps any real estate in the universe) ought to be the province of an
authoritarian socialist state.”
Link
to this item | Comment
Net champion
awakens to new fight: From
The
Cyberspace Cowboy: John Perry Barlow (American Spectator, April 2002):
"There isn’t a great deal going on that’s more important
than laying the foundations of the place where practically all commerce
– whether social, economic, or political – will be conducted
for the next couple of thousand years."
Also out
there now: Barlow's The
Crime of Sharing: How excess legislation will kill your freedom of expression
(New Architect, March 2002). (via Fort
Boise)
Barlow
of Pinedale,
Wyo. is an EFF co-founder,
former Grateful
Dead lyricist, Republican
county chairman, and author of the 1996 Declaration
of the Independence of Cyberspace, among many
other writings.
Link
to this item | Comment
Digital
copyright bill may dumb down the PC: "The
consumer broadband and digital television promotion bill proposes forcing
makers of PCs and other consumer electronics products to build copy-protection
technology into hardware and making it illegal to sell equipment without
it. " Intel says it feels so strongly about the bill that it has
taken the unusual step of protesting publicly rather than going through
trade associations. An Intel spokesman said: "Rather than allowing
the PC to do a multitude of things, [the bill] turns it into a dumb terminal
that just plays back things."
Clogging
the Net pornstream with ringers: Get
(some) Real is a movement, with its own slogan -- "Porn's Fake,
Girls are Real" -- and manifesto.
It urges women to make fake porn sites (there are templates to use) and
submit them to search engines with the same keywords as the real ones:"We
need help getting guys off their computers watching porn and back to real
girls. via Blog
Sisters.
Link
to this item | Comment
Almost
famous: Jazz vocalist Susannah McCorkle jumped from the window of
her 16th-floor apartment on West 86th Street in Manhattan May 19, 2001.
JazzBird
is the headline of a New York Magazine tribute:
"...
She performed in the best rooms, recorded nineteen albums, and enjoyed
more than two decades of acclaim from the jazz press as well as the
devotion of fans around the world. But in the months before her death
at 55 stunned them all, her record company, Concord, had decided to
issue a compilation album instead of a new one, and the Algonquin Hotel
had given her precious fall slot at the Oak Room, one of cabaret's most
prestigious venues, to a younger singer."
NPR has a
McCorkle
page with links to two All Things Considered audio pieces:
a 1999
feature and a farewell
on the day she died.
Link
to this item | Comment
Wrestling
privacy rights for Net users: Some of today's spam in my inbox begins
with ADV: making it easy to filter straight to the trash. Thanks to Gov.
Jesse Ventura of Minnesota, who has signed the nation's first online privacy
bill, we'll be seeing a lot more of this come March, 2003: Ventura
Signs Online Privacy, Spam Bill. Among its provisions: Internet Service
Providers must alert their Minnesota-based subscribers before disclosing
to marketers information such as users' e-mail addresses, home addresses,
telephone numbers, and which sites their users visit. ISPs also must tell
why they are disclosing the information.
Link
to this item | Comment
The
top 100 books of all time:
100 noted writers from 54 countries name the world's best books. Don
Quixote was named as the top book in history but otherwise no ranking
was provided It's a refreshingly different list to have handy at the library
or bookstore. Included are fairy tales, poetry and the Book of Job --
attributed to Israel.
Link
to this item | Comment
Love
potion #9 discovered: The Economist
reports, "In an attempt to treat depression, neuroscientists
once carried out a simple experiment. Using electrodes, they stimulated
the brains of women in ways that caused pleasurable feelings. The subjects
came to no harm — indeed their symptoms appeared to evaporate, at
least temporarily — but they quickly fell in love with their experimenters."
via New
World Disorder
Link
to this item | Comment
Inflatable
muscle suit empowers frail, elderly:
A Lycra suit is covered with inflatable muscles to give elderly people
more strength and stability to get around. It has its own power supply
and pressure sensors that tell the artificial muscles when to inflate
and assist the wearer. (The story ends with a "Wha...?": The
inventor hopes it will become as popular as "a Zimmer frame."
My mom calls it "a walker.")
Link
to this item | Comment
Mozilla
Keyboard Shortcuts: Sorted three ways.
Back
issues: Week one
Back
issues: Week two
Back
issues: Week three
Back
issues: Weeks four and five
Back
issues: Week six
Back
issues: Week seven
Back
issues: Week eight
Back
issues: Week nine
Back
issues: Week ten
Subterranean Homepage News
by Sheila Lennon
features & interactive producer of projo.com
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