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 Saturday, March 1, 2003
The origin and development of graphs. Fascinating aspects of the history of science, presented by
Thomas L. Hankins:
L. J. Henderson, a Harvard physiologist and the first president of the History of Science Society, attempted to analyze mammalian blood solely as a physical-chemical substance. He found that the only way he could describe a chemical system as complicated as blood was by a diagram called a "nomogram." This lecture tells the history of Henderson's nomogram and of nomograms in general. It describes the origins of graphs in the eighteenth century, their development in nineteenth-century engineering practice, and their importance in the twentieth century for describing physical and chemical systems. [Jinn of Quality and Risk]
I love this kind of material. ONe thinks that graphs are something that have always been around, but this article provides some real insights into their development. 5:28:35 PM 
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Yoav Gilad, Orna Man, Svante Pääbo, and Doron Lancet
Human specific loss of olfactory receptor genes
PNAS published
February 28, 2003,
10.1073/pnas.0535697100
(
Evolution
)[Abstract][PDF]
[PNAS Early Edition]
Perhaps this is another reason we are humans instead of chimps. We have lost a huge number of olfactory receptors. It seems that it is amazing we can smell at all. 5:18:46 PM
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Laurie Garrett is the author of The Coming Plague. read her initial email andher response, She got to hobnob with the powerful at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. She sent out a personal email discussing her experience that got out on the WWW. Now, while there are all sorts of ethical aspects of this, in today's world, the expectation is that emails are not private, that aything you write may get out. We are told this all the time. I found her email engrossing. The leaders of the world do come across as real people with their own viewpoints. She may actually have done a nice job describing the powerful without the filters usually placed on journalism. While it may be scary to think that the leaders are not superhuman, I am actually pleased. She showed that some awfully smart people are involved in the world. They are as pessimistic today as they used to be optimistic 3 years ago. You really only try to change things when you think that they need to be changed. I think we are in for some changes. Just as the Consumer Age changed political institutions, so the Information Age will but in ways that will only look obvious in hindsight. 4:32:20 PM
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If you care about your rights as an American, read on. A link to a Village Voice examination of the secretly drafted Domestic Security Enhancement Act [Mac Net Journal]
How can anyone think this sort of legislation would make us safer? Someone in the government can declare a group as a terrorist organization. Then, if you had ever given money to this group, they could strip you of your citizenship, permitting them to hold you in secret, with no lawyer, with no one even knowing where you were, for as long as they like. If Ashcroft thinks thinks those environmentalists are a pian, declare Greenpeace a terrorist organization. You could create quite a police state with this sort of plan. Only someone with absolutely no sense of history could even consider something like this, even in a draft. The DMCA is being abused by garage door manufacturers. This sort of thing is the stuff nightmares are made of. Perhaps it was purposefully leaked so that the eventual legistlation will not look as bad, even though it probably will be. 4:03:56 PM
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Just heard this. Khalid Mohammed was one of the BIG guys at Al Queda. It will be interesting if we can learn anything from him but his is a verty smart customer. Removing his brains from the organization will be a big triumph. 1:08:31 PM
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Did Bush say all these things? Yes he did and keeps satirists employed. It is a very funny poem. And like all great poetry it conceptializes important themes in short telegraphic sentences. Picture him in a black beret in a darken nightclub in front of a lot of hep cats. 11:57:47 AM
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I love checking out Urban Legends at www.snopes.com. They had the details of this great quote about the French, deer hunting and accordians. Remember it. 11:55:01 AM
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Well, I got this in my email and thought it was some sort of odd spam or urban legend (like the My nameis Caesar speech). But I checked and it does seem real. The first day of the Islamic New Year IS March 4th. 03-03-03 seems to fit and several Christian groups are publicizing this. I guess it could not hurt. 11:47:50 AM
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Fred Rogers died yesterday. Best known as the sta .... Fred Rogers died yesterday. Best known as the star and producer of a children's TV show, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, he was also an unsung hero of fair use. The U.S. Supreme Court cited him in footnote 27 of Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios, the case that legalized the VCR and established the principle that copying technologies with a substantial noninfringing use do not violate U.S. copyright law. Rogers was one many television producers who testified in the case that he welcomed noncommercial home copying. At the time, his show was the most-syndicated program on public television, with an audience of over three million families a day. Here's the portion of his testimony quoted by the Supreme Court:Some public stations, as well as commercial stations, program the "Neighborhood" at hours when some children cannot use it. I think that it's a real service to families to be able to record such programs and show them at appropriate times. I have always felt that, with the advent of all of this new technology that allows people to tape the "Neighborhood" off the air, and I'm speaking for the "Neighborhood" because that's what I produce, that they then become much more active in the programming of their family's television life. Very frankly, I am opposed to people being programmed by others. My whole approach in broadcasting has always been "You are an important person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions." Maybe I'm going on too long, but I just feel that anything that allows a person to be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is important. Also see this QuickTopic discussion. (Thanks to HRRC via C-FIT.) [FOS News]
This is one reason the Fred Rogers was such a pivotal figure. He not only had a ground-breaking show but, as a producer, he shaped policy that has helped give us the world we have today. He was on the right side of history while most of the other Big Media were not. We shall miss this visionary. 11:24:11 AM
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"This system threatens to create a permanent blacklisted underclass of Americans who cannot travel freely " [Daypop Top 40]
So, if you get a red code, you can not fly. So any terrorists will just drive. Yet, we know from the past that what gets a red rating will probably be expanded. Nixon's enemies list was just a precursor. How much longer before we will have to carry around all our papers, with the requirement to present them at anytime. This system might work IF it was well thought out and had a lot of safeguards (i.e. appeal process, privacy, how long will it be kept, how to remove mistakes and errors) but, as with so many of these plans the government puts out, it is none of these. We are constantly seeing how bad the DMCA is, how it was not a well-thought response to the use of new technology. This will be almost as bad. 11:09:20 AM
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Sunny day in the Pacific Northwest. I'm not sure what to do. 10:53:32 AM
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