|
 Thursday, January 5, 2006
[link] TOM MAGUIRE: "I don't want the Times deciding, in wartime, just what information I "deserve to have", thank you very much - they are not elected,they are not accountable, and frankly, I do not trust their politics. But rather than abandon my fellow citizens to the mercies or depredations of the Bush Administration, let me offer a constructive suggestion - since we have a representative democracy, complete with institutional checks and balances and two parties, how about if the purveyors of classifed info, when troubled by their consciences, take their troubles to a Congressional oversight committee rather than the NY Times?"
[Instapundit.com]
Well, this would only work if we had a Congress that believed in oversight and a President who would do what Congress asked. Since we have neither, perhaps calling us a representative democracy with checks and balances is so 20th Century. 12:23:26 PM 
|
|
Simpsons keynoting at Macworld?. Filed under: Comedy, FOX, Animation, Watercooler Talk  Macworld opens January 9 in San Francisco, and rumors are swirling that Steve Jobs will be accompanied by The
Simpsons in his much anticipated January 10 Keynote Address. Macenstein predicted awhile back (see prediction #7) that the animated icons
would be keynoting with the Apple kingpin as part of an announcement by Apple and Fox they are licensing Fox
content, in particular episodes of The Simpsons, for the iTunes store. Like Macenstein, I'd far
prefer episodes of Family Guy myself, and maybe a little Futurama action as
well, but it will be interesting to see if this prediction pans out either way.
Speak up and let Steve Jobs know what you think, TV Squad readers! What Fox content do you want on your iPods?
[ via this
story at DIGG ]
[TV Squad]
Just one more reason to see what happens. Simpsons on iTunes. Neat. 11:33:12 AM
|
|
The news media and bird flu. The recent spate of "Turkey has human bird flu" followed by "Human bird flu in Turkey ruled out" followed by "Children said to have died from bird flu in Turkey" underlines the lousy reporting on all sorts of subjects we see in today's newspapers. Conventional print and broadcast media like to look down their noses at bloggers, but the fact is that on average the conventional media do a mediocre job of reporting. Don't get me wrong. There is some outstanding flu reporting out there. Helen Branswell's work is at the top of the list. But good reporting is in the minority. A tiny minority. I'm talking about a failure to ask obvious and relevant questions, not some kind of specialized science knowledge. Consider the latest news about a bird flu scare in Australia. This is fairly typical, not selected because of egregious error but just sloppy and lazy reporting.
A passenger on an inbound plane from Taipei became seriously ill during the flight. Since avian influenza is endemic in poultry in that part of the world, he was taken to Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney "with flu-like symptoms." We don't know anythng about his symptoms. Authorities immediately notified the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS), the passenger was interviewed and no other passengers were quarantined or needed treatment. We don't know from this report if they were interviewed or not or if contact information was obtained. Crappy and incomplete reporting (reporting via AAP).
An ABC (Australia Broadcasting) story fills in some of the gaps.
Health authorities do not believe the man is showing any of signs of bird flu, but are carrying out tests as a precaution.
The man collapsed while on board an Eva Air Flight from Taipei.
He was carried off the plane after arriving at Sydney airport and taken to the Prince of Wales Hospital.
New South Wales Health says the man is under routine observation for flu-like symptoms and is not showing any of the risk factors for avian influenza.
The Department says health experts believe it is unlikely to be the diagnosis.
Dr Jeremy McAnulty from New South Wales Health says the man has not had any contact with chickens or symptoms consistent with avian influenza.
"In fact, there is no indication that this person at all has avian influenza or perhaps even influenza at all," he said. (ABC)
Very reassuring. But perhaps a false premise:
"But in fact, in this case, the news is good in that the person wasn't even exposed to anything to do with avian influenza."
Is lack of exposure enough to rule out the disease? When was the last time the reporter knew the exposure that caused his or her seasonal flu?
Yet another story about the "non-story" reported bird flu had been positively ruled out, not just ruled-out because of a lack of history of contact with poultry:
But health authorities later confirmed the man did not have the deadly H5N1 virus, which has killed at least 70 people across Asia since 2003.
[snip]
"They have ruled out bird flu," A NSW Health spokeswoman said. (The Australian)
How was this positively ruled out? Were diagnostic tests done? Are they thought to be accurate? When bird flu does arrive by plane it will most likely be the kind that is easily transmissible from person to person, less likely the bird to human transmission kind we are seeing now. Using contact with poultry as a determining risk factor begs the question.
I feel reasonably confident this individual did not have bird flu. I am guessing the Australian public health authorities acted speedily and competently. My point here is not about this case, but the varying quality of the news reporting on it. There are obvious questions to ask and we depend on reporters to ask them when covering stories. Most people count on reporters to be something more than stenographers for official sources (why we should count on this is a mystery, given the record). Some of these reporters did better than others. None of them did an entirely adequate job. They'll probably get the bottom line correct most of the time. Most of the time.
So don't stop reading the specialized blogs just yet if you want to know what is (or isn't) going on.
We hear a lot about how bad political reporting is, but, in fact, almost all reporting is awful. Most preorts on areas I know well are full of things that are technically incorrect. It is quite enlightening to read blogs written by knowledgeable 'amatuers' that actually ask the right questions. They nicely expose the horrible reporting found i most papers. WhilSturgeon's law states that 90% of everything is crap, I'd say it might be closer to 95% in the reporting business. 11:25:53 AM
|
|
Deaf hacker rewrites implant-firmware so he can enjoy music again. Cory Doctorow:
A deaf hacker diligently tinkered with the firmware on his cochlear implant, trying to get it to faithfully render out Ravel's symphony, Boléro, eventually meeting with success. Michael Chorost was born with partial hearing, and at 15, he discovered that Boléro was audible to him, and it became a touchstone for him, a piece of music that he developed a deep emotional attachment to. In 2001, Chorost experienced the sudden, total loss of the remains of his hearing, and Boléro was lost to him, seemingly forever.
In this Wired feature, Chorost chronicles the amazing journey he embarked upon, learning the science of acoustics, of music, and of signal processing, reprogramming the firmware in his implanted prosthetic with the help of experts around the world with various theories about the psychoacoustic basis for music.
The story is gripping, fascinating and informative -- a template for a tale that I believe will become more and more prevalent in times to come: a person who relies on computerized prosthetics not being satisfied with the features that were included with it out of the box, taking it upon herself to improve it, to extend it, using her own body and perceptions as a labratory for experiments on human perception and performance.
I spent two and a half days hooked up to the computer, listening to endless sequences of tones - none of it music - in a windowless cubicle. Which of two tones sounded lower? Which of two versions of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" was more recognizable? Did this string of notes sound like a march or a waltz? It was exacting, high-concentration work - like taking an eye exam that lasted for two days. My responses produced reams of data that they would spend hours analyzing.
Forty minutes before my cab back to the airport was due, we finished the last test and the postdoc fired up the programs he needed to play Boléro. Some of the lower pitches I'd heard in the previous two days had sounded rich and mellow, and I began thinking wistfully about those bassoons and oboes. I felt a rising sense of anticipation and hope.
I waited while the postdoc tinkered with the computer. And waited. Then I noticed the frustrated look of a man trying to get Windows to behave. "I do this all the time," he said, half to himself. Windows Media Player wouldn't play the file.
I suggested rebooting and sampling Boléro through a microphone. But the postdoc told me he couldn't do that in time for my plane. A later flight wasn't an option; I had to be back in the Bay Area. I was crushed. I walked out of the building with my shoulders slumped. Scientifically, the visit was a great success. But for me, it was a failure. On the flight home, I plugged myself into my laptop and listened sadly to Boléro with Hi-Res. It was like eating cardboard.
Link
[Boing Boing]
Well, if they had been using a Mac with Quicktime, this would not have happened{grin}. It is a grat story and I had tears at the end. Now, what would happen if everything was proprietary? No such mucking around with anything? This is what most companies want for us. 11:19:50 AM
|
|
Insider secrets reveal behind-the-scenes of a Steve Jobs Macworld keynote. If the chief executive of Cadbury-Schweppes speaks at a conference, or Nike's boss introduces a new kind of trainer... [MacDailyNews]
Read the original article. SOme real details of how Jobs does his keynotes, and why they are so effective. The author describes what it is like to be onstage with Jobs giving a demo. Horrible and exciting at the same time. 10:59:07 AM
|
|
Bush Makes Raft Of Controversial Appointments While Senate Is Out.... President Bush yesterday made a raft of controversial recess appointments, including Julie L. Myers to head the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau at the Department of Homeland Security, in a maneuver circumventing the need for approval by the Senate.
Myers, a niece of former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Richard B. Myers and the wife of the chief of staff to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, had been criticized by Republicans and Democrats who charged that she lacked experience in immigration matters.
[The Huffington Post | Full News Feed]
Why even have a Congress if you can ignore their legislation (as evidenced by his recent signing statement regarding torture - I can do it if I want to and you can't stop me)? I figure this is why he has never vetoed a bill. Why bother? In his role a C-in-C he can ignore anything Congress sends him. So why not sign it and then ignore it if it inconvenient? These are the arguments he and his staff are now using. He has
Now he can just appoint people without Congressional oversight. While others have used recess appointments, Bush as taken it to a new level, filling positions at a rate twice as high as his immediate predecessors. Well, he has already violated the 4th and 5th amendments, as well as several articles in the Constitution. I wonder when he will deice to ignore the 22nd Amendment? 10:54:17 AM
|
|
Running For Cover: Bush, Frist, Hastert, House Maj. Leader Blunt, Former Leader DeLay.... As politicians led by President Bush scrambled to ditch campaign contributions from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich cautioned Republicans they risk losing control of congressional majorities if they try to put all the blame on lobbyists.
"You can't have a corrupt lobbyist unless you have a corrupt member (of Congress) or a corrupt staff. This was a team effort," Gingrich told a Rotary Club lunch in Washington on Wednesday. He called for systematic changes to reduce the enormous financial advantages that incumbents have in congressional elections.
[The Huffington Post | Full News Feed]
The man behind the Contract with America must be really pissed. The Republicans in Congress have become as corrupt in 10 years as the Democrats were. In fact, the argument could be made that their corruption is more harmful to the US but corruption of any form in politicians is very harmful to a democratic form of government. This was the whole point of term limits. And how many Republicans elected in the early 90s on the topic of term limts decided to ignore those and continue to run? I suspect the majority of those may be corrupt, since they already demonstrated their ability to lie to their constituents. 10:47:28 AM
|
|
Religious Right Anti-Gay Pastor Arrested For Propositioning Male Cop.... An executive committee member of the Southern Baptist Convention was arrested on a lewdness charge for propositioning a plainclothes policeman outside a hotel, police said.
Lonnie Latham, senior pastor at South Tulsa Baptist Church, was booked into Oklahoma County Jail Tuesday night on a misdemeanor charge of offering to engage in an act of lewdness, police Capt. Jeffrey Becker said. Latham was released on $500 bail Wednesday afternoon.
[The Huffington Post | Full News Feed]
This is not even 'man bites dog' unusual. SO many virulent anti-gay men get caught being gay. I'd almost believe that the majority of virulent anti-gay men are closeted gays. Perhaps that will be my default position now. 10:42:20 AM
|
|
Guilty GOP Lobbyist Raised More Than $100,000 For Bush Reelection...Bush Giving Up $6,000.... Republican Party officials said yesterday that President Bush will give up $6,000 in campaign contributions connected to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, joining an expansive list of politicians who have shed more than half a million dollars in tainted campaign cash.
The announcement came as Abramoff pleaded guilty in a second criminal case, acknowledging that he conspired to defraud lenders in the purchase of a fleet of Florida casino boats five years ago. The court appearance in Miami came a day after Abramoff pleaded guilty before a federal judge in Washington to defrauding Indian tribe clients of millions of dollars, conspiring to bribe members of Congress and evading taxes.Republican Party officials said yesterday that President Bush will give up $6,000 in campaign contributions connected to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, joining an expansive list of politicians who have shed more than half a million dollars in tainted campaign cash.
[The Huffington Post | Full News Feed]
Abramhoff personally gave NO money to Democrats. All the money any of them received came indirectly, from clients, etc. So if that indirect route taints the money, as several pundits have said on FOX, then the extra $100,000 or so Bush got from Abramhoff should be tainted also. The attempt to paint this as a bi-partisan corrupton affair seems very weak at this point. The levels if money given to Republicans, directly or indirectly, is orders of magnitude greater than what Democrats got. Perhaps it just takes a few million dollars to bribe a Republican while a Democrat will stay bought for a few thousand. Hard to beleive but I guess it is possible. 10:39:58 AM
|
|
What a difference a decade makes. Blogging over at Andrew Sullivan's web site, Julian Sanchez has a young riff about Doug Bandow's bravura final column in the wake of his admission that he took Abramoff money in exchange for writing op-eds favoring Abramoff's causes. Why do... [Daniel W. Drezner]
There is nothig wrong with a writer taking money to write a column from a particular point of view. Even it is Jack Abramhoff. It happens all the time. The problem comes when this source is not revealed. This is misleading, unethical and wrong. Even scientists writing in peer-reviewed journals now have to reveal the funding for their paper and any commercial investment. Why not journalists? 10:22:53 AM
|
|
|
|
|
