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 Sunday, October 10, 2004
My Highly Amusing Background Check Anecdote. As I mentioned a couple days ago, earlier this year I went through the process of getting my background checked for security clearance, though I ultimately didn’t take the job in question. Along the way, a number of my friends... [Polytropos]
This is hilarious. Your tax dollars at work!! 8:50:10 PM 
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An editorial in the magazine, Science. You need a subscription to read it all but it has a couple of very important paragraphs:The relationship between science and large segments of the U.S. public and policy communities is also eroding. Much recent public discussion has focused on whether there is now more political and ideological interference in the conduct of science and the use of its products than in the past. But the historical question does not really matter. What matters is that we are now experiencing a counterproductive overlay of politics, ideology, and religious conviction on the U.S. climate for science.
The list is alarming. Debates about intelligent design and about stem cell research often pit religious beliefs against scientific data and therapeutic promise, respectively. A recent ruling by the Department of the Treasury held that U.S. scientific journals could not edit and publish papers with authors from trade-embargoed countries. Last year, a motion to force the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to cancel funding for an array of grants on sexual behavior, drug abuse, and HIV/AIDS failed by only two votes in the U.S. Congress. Then, a month ago, Congress actually did second-guess peer review and voted to prohibit funding for two NIH grants whose subject matter made them uncomfortable. They also voted to restrict international scientific travel. Other examples can be found in the claimed distortions of data reporting on health disparities, climate change, costs of Medicare drug coverage, etc.
It also discusses the degradation in funding of basic research. This Administration may talk about increased R & D spending but mostly it is the D we see today and only if it has to do with Defense or Homeland Security. This does not bode well for the future, particularly one this Adminsitration claims will be dependent on unleashing America's creativity. Hard to unleash creativity when the government gets to decide just what kind of research one can do. 8:33:25 PM
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Social software can't afford to shaft the Mac. Cory Doctorow:
Danah's experimenting with some "social software" that crashes popular MacOS browsers. She points out that if you're trying to get traction with a social app, you really can't afford to shaft the Mac.
You can build enterprise software that doesn't work on a Mac but you CANNOT build social technologies that don't work on the Mac. Who are key driving forces behind sociable technology? Freaks, (independent) geeks, academics and other marginalized populations. What do marginalized groups use when it comes to technology? Surprise - they use subversive tools. Conferences organized by geeks, freaks and academics are like walking into an Apple distribution warehouse. If you only lived in this world, you would think that Apple makes up 70% of the market share.
It doesn't. But it does matter, particularly if you're building sociable technologies and you want the attention of the geeks, freaks and academics. This includes the bloggers, who are often bleeding edge geeky freaky academically-minded folks.
Sociable technologies are not enterprise technologies nor are they low-end consumer technologies. They require connecting clusters of people. And to do that, you start with the "mavens" to get to the hubs. Mavens are not mainstream users; they don't play by mainstream rules. They value their position as outsider, alternative. They love new gadgets that have cultural value. This is the type that Apple has done a fantastic job at attracting and maintaining.
Link
[Boing Boing]
this is so true. Anyone wishing to strengthen social networks outside the enterprise MUST work on Macs. Not simply because they are cool, geek toys but because an awful large number of geeks love UNIX. So getting their OS of choice (which is what Mac OS is, UNIX) AND a geeky piece of hardware is what happens. Leave these guys behind and you will not go far. 7:15:57 PM
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"Best VP debate parody image EVAR" [Daypop Top 40]
I, too, just about sprayed my Coke out of my mouth. Remember the Simpsons episode where Burns is running for office and Lisa had to ask him a question in front of a live audience.'Mr. Burns: your campaign seems to have the momentum of a runaway freight train. Why are you so popular?' (Of course, in the end, when Burns loses the election he responds, 'This anonymous clan of slack-jawed troglodytes has cost me the election, and yet if I were to have them killed, I would be the one to go to jail. That's democracy for you.' That seems to fit also. 7:00:50 PM
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