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 Thursday, August 15, 2002
Deep Blue Wireless, Pronto push Wi-Fi expansion. MacCentral notes that Deep Blue Wireless and Pronto Networks are collaborating to push the expansion of wireless Internet access in public places as well as businesses. [Mac Net Journal]
By using wireless to connect, you can route around the real difficulties that DSL or cable broadband have - they are not very robust and require lots of support. Iwreless seems to get around these problems. 12:55:23 PM 
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Technology Review: Push-Button Innovation. Michael Schrage. Innovation isn't what companies do; it's what customers adopt. In fact, the telecom sector remains a fabulous market for innovative uses of bandwidth. But innovation shouldn't mean getting people to use more bandwidth; it should be about getting people to change their bandwidth behaviors. [Tomalak's Realm]
AN excellent article looking at the telecos and describing some of the reasons they really do not innovate, even though they have great technology. In my opinion, this is what happes when companies are run by people who mainly sell things rather than make things. 12:44:32 PM
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Apple plan gives break to multi-Mac homes. Have more than one Mac at home? Apple offers a licensing program for the newest version of OS X, also known as Jaguar. [CNET News.com]
I might do this since we expect to have all our macs running OS X before the end of the year. 12:42:32 PM
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Ex-Celera Chief Starts Genetics Lab [AP Science]
The technology for accurately sequencing a person's genome is still, in my mind, pretty primitive. It may be that large amounts of very important DNA is still not sequencable. It is way to early to believe we have even a small understanding how the human genome works. Making it really easy to get information does not really help unless knowledge and understanding follow. This has to take time. But Venter continues to push the envelope, which is good. 12:40:11 PM
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DNA Computing. It's not the first time I'm talking to you about this subject. Check "DNA supercomputers in our future?" for details.
As I said before, DNA computers -- not to mention supercomputers -- are far away from now. Computations which need a second on a modern PC are still taking days when using DNA computing techniques. So they might not qualify for traditional usages, but how about medical ones? Read on.
The latest computer to come out of the University of Southern California isn't newsworthy for its small size or computational power. It's notable because it is made from DNA, the microscopic acids that reside in every cell and are responsible for all life. The DNA computer, which more closely resembles a biochemistry lab than a PC, was the first nonelectronic device -- including the human mind -- to solve a logic problem with more than 1 million possible answers.
Len Adleman, the USC professor who led the research, says that DNA is actually quite similar to binary code. Each DNA strand is made up of some combination of A's, T's, C's and G's that act just like a computer's 1's and 0's.
The problem Adleman's DNA computer solved involved 20 variables. For example, John wants a car that is red, has a sunroof, four-wheel drive and so on.
The problem was solved in two days.
On a traditional computer, Adleman says, "that problem would take less than a second. Electronic computers transcended that [kind of problem] 50 years ago."
While the experiment convinced Adleman that DNA computers will never be able to rival their electronic counterparts for speed without an unforeseen scientific breakthrough, he does think that they have a future niche. One day, a DNA computer programmed to react to the presence of a toxin, such as cancer, could be embedded into a cell. When it detects the toxin, the computer would respond by directing the cell to replicate and chemoluminesce or "glow." The glow could be seen with the naked eye allowing for early disease detection and saving lives. Let's see a ThinkPad do that.
Source: Ben Worthen, CIO Magazine, July 18, 2002 [Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends]
WHile this is something right out of a Popular Science article, the underlying science is pretty rigorous. I expect someone to find a really good use for this, although I would be willing to bet that a DNA computer will be veryspecialized. Silicon can work in a wide variety of environments while DNA is not quite as hardy. 12:35:41 PM
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Well, I just spent some time doing a phone interview. Quite fun and I should hear back from them about a talk with one of the technical people. It is at a company doing risk assessment for biological and environmental hazards. It is outside my direct experience but could hold some interesting possibilities. It will be exciting to see what develops.
I really enjoy talking on the phone. So far, I have had some nice conversations with the hiring managers. We talk for about half an hour. I have gotten much better about describing who I am and what I want to do. That is really hard to do when you are 25 but much easier when you are 46. So far, this is fun. I might as well enjoy it, since I do not know how much longer it will last. 12:21:16 PM
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More on Plessy v Ferguson. I just read the incredible dissent from Justice John Harlan. He sounds like someone I would like to know more about. While the majority opinion is clothed in legalistic distinctions that serve to obscure what everyone knew was going on, Harlans's goes right to the problem and makes some astounding predictions:...in view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law regards man as man, and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved. It is, therefore, to be regretted that this high tribunal, the final expositor of the fundamental law of the land, has reached the conclusion that it is competent for a State to regulate the enjoyment by citizens of their civil rights solely upon the basis of race.[This could have been written yesterday, as far as its point of view is represented.]The destinies of the two races, in this country, are indissolubly linked together, and the interests of both require that the common government of all shall not permit the seeds of race hate to be planted under the sanction of law. Wow, what a great writer and he was point on, just 60 years ahead of his time. I sincerely hope that we have people who can so accurately see where the winds of change will take us and lead us to the correct choices through the forcefulness of their ideas. 1:12:42 AM
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I love the Internet. I had never read the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision before. It does appear to have been written by people from Mars (as this site says). Check out these quotes from the majority opinion. (Reminder: Plessy v. Ferguson said that separate but equal laws were okay. That having 'coloreds' sit in a separate area did not violate the constitution. It took over 60 years before someone could sit anywhere they wanted to or go to any school in America. Who was on the right side of history?)
The object of the amendment [the 14th] was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, but in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political equality, or a commingling of the two races upon terms unsatisfactory to either.
...all persons without distinction of age or sex, birth or color, origin or condition, are equal before the law. . . . But, when this great principle comes to be applied to the actual and various conditions of persons in society, it will not warrant the assertion, that men and women are legally clothed with the same civil and political powers, and that children and adults are legally to have the same functions and be subject to the same treatment; but only that the rights of all, as they are settled and regulated by law, are equally entitled to the paternal consideration and protection of the law for their maintenance and security.[This one hurts my brain too much]
[in an incredible demonstration of how different we are today than in 1896, the decision responds to the plaintiffs argument that, if the state can chose where someone sits by reason of their color, it necessarily has the right and ability to segregate on hair color, or sex or place of birth. The response to this argument was as follows]The reply to all this is that every exercise of the police power must be reasonable, and extend only to such laws as are enacted in good faith for the promotion for the public good, and not for the annoyance or oppression of a particular class. [We have seen in the last 100 years that the police power can easily be abused and that many laws were enacted for the oppression of a particular class.] [The final statement that is now seen to be so completely wrong, at least in practical application, because of Brown vs the Board of Education.]If the civil and political rights of both races be equal one cannot be inferior to the other civilly or politically. If one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them upon the same plane.
If a logical argument can not be clearly stated, it is usually wrong. Reading this decision reveals a tremendous amount of legalese and twisted logic. Sixty years later, the decision was much clearer and more thoughtful. Brown vs Board of Education was pivotal in demonstrating the converse of the last quote from Plessy. If one race be inferior to the other socially, it CAN NOT be equal to the other civilly or politically. Ever. The Warren court did find a way to accomplish what the majority decision by Brown could not. 1:04:47 AM
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Eldred v. Ashcroft: Could Congress Make Copyright Perpetual and Absolute If It Wanted to?. Could the Congress make copyright perpetual and absolute if it wanted to? Does the fact that intellectual property rights are established not by the common law but by the U.S. Constitution for the express purpose of promoting the arts and sciences have any bite today? The Supreme Court is actually going to decide this question next winter... From my perspective, the most interesting thing is the seventeen economists who have lined up in support of the plaintiffs--who argue that Congress's... [Semi-Daily Journal]
Another incredible case for the Supreme Court. Some of the things headed there way will make the members famous or infamous, depending on how history will deal with their decisions. Will it be a Plessy vs. Ferguson decision or a Brown vs. Board of Education? It appears to me that we are entering a period where ALL 3 sides of our government (executive, legislative and judicial) will require extremely capable leaders to navigate the tremendous changes that are occurring. These leadewrs WILL be found. That is one of the things that has always been one of America's strengths. I just hope it does not take 58 years. 12:35:51 AM
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Making Life Difficult. Now will someone please explain to me why Apple's and Linux's desktop market shares are so small? On Lisa Rein's Radar: Warning To Windows Media File Collectors: Your Music Will Die With Your Computer: A guy reformatted his hard drive and then found out none of his Windows Media files would work. Turns out that Windows Media Player turns the "copy protection" (copy prevention) on by default when it rips CDs, so when he reformatted his hard drive the player... [Semi-Daily Journal]
Another article that will warm the heart of my Mac-loving mother, as it does mine. I, too, keep asking why. Maybe it has to do with cosmic radiation or some genetic defect ;-) 12:22:09 AM
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Did Anything Noteworthy Happen at Runnymede?. Dan Kohn pleads for judicial review. If this goes awry, it will be the result of a very long chain of historical events originating with Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney's attempts to use his office to fight for the South in the Civil War... Dan Kohn's Blog: If you don't know the name Yaser Esam Hamdi, you soon will. He was in court today to determine whether the right of Habeas Corpus, first granted to a few English... [Semi-Daily Journal]
One of the more important cases going on right now. The fact that some obscure politico name Mobbs made the determination that this man was an enemy combatant, that, even though an American citizen, he could be held in prison indefinitely without benefit of counsel, scares the $#%% out of me. What I hold out hope for is that more people will voice what the judge does: I have no desire to have an enemy combatant get out," the judge said. "But due process requires something other than a declaration by someone named Mobbs that he should be held incommunicado. Isn't that what we're fighting for? 12:20:13 AM
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...Shall Not Perish From the Earth. Carey Gage of Cognocentric defends the idea of reading the Gettysburg Address on the one-year anniversary of 911. I agree. It's very relevant--all except the "four-score" and "civil war" parts. We have now been running for more than two hundred years. Thank God, our current ongoing war is not a civil one. And it is: ...for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for... [Semi-Daily Journal]
On first blush, this is a great idea, since the thoughts in the Gettysburg Address are simple but embody very deep ideas. Plus it always gives me shivers, particularly the last line. It is one of the great speeches in the history of the world and should be spoken more often. I'd rather recite this in class than the pledge of allegiance. 12:09:30 AM
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One of the ideas tossed to me at the WBBA event was contacting WABR (Washington Association For Biomedical Research) and joining their speaker's bureau. I do speak evry well and I enjoy talking with just about anyone who will listen, so maybe I will check it out. 12:00:48 AM
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