Thursday, January 17, 2002
Deus ex (Goldberg) Machina
A visitor from another planet, dropped into the typical American living room, in front of the typical American television, would surely leave convinced that public policy is contrived, debated, adopted and implemented by a gaggle of talking heads who spend 24 hours a day in rotation between shopping for the most stylish double-breasted suits, commuting by limousine from one talk show studio to the next, and hobnobbing at White House receptions. The truth, of course, is both more prosaic and more horrifying.
I guess Rational Review is the libertarian counterpart to National Review.
Books I've Read RecentlyReally Special Forces
A powered exoskeleton could transform the average Joe into a supersoldier.
Discussion at Slashdot. I found this comment especially interesting.
Outraged Over Enron
When it comes down to it, Enron's executives took advantage of U.S. accounting rules for their own benefit. They hid, they obfuscated, and there was no one there willing to mind the store on behalf of individual investors. Where was the board? Where were the auditors? But most importantly, where were the regulators, who have the ultimate responsibility to protect investors from those who would deceive. Some indignation from the top would help.
Credits
Preliminary
Whenever I watch a movie, I always stay until the final credit rolls off the screen. My appreciation always increases when I see how many people have been involved in its production...
Past crises, public-private cooperation among keys to readiness
As any terrorism expert will tell you, no city is immune from risk. Nor is any city fully prepared to handle the fallout from a potentially ravaging terrorist deed, such as a biological or chemical attack. But some cities are arguably more prepared than others — such as New York.
An interesting report about how well cities are prepared to handle catastrophic events. New York and Los Angeles were ranked most capable - a large factor being the surge capacity available in the hospitals and emergency services. The one area where New York fared poorly was the transportation category - it's public transit system is one of the most comprehensive in the world, but emergency vehicles require roads, not subways. Other cities didn't do so well either, including Boston, Philadelphia and Detroit.
It's not surprising that Boston scored poorly in the transportation category. What the article didn't mention is that it's hospitals have been stripped of much of their surge capacity. It's still a good place to get cutting edge medical treatment, but don't count on getting a bed if there's an emergency.
Universal Music Prepares for Copy-Protection Complaints
From the FAQ - Q. Can I get a copy of this CD without the copy protection? A. No.
Like many people who are aware of the issue, I won't buy any music that I can't listen to on my computer (a Graphite iMac running Mac OS X). So there.
Supertram test to ease traffic
Unlike conventional public transport, this consists of small cars that running on tracks can automatically take themselves to the correct destination. This allows there to be a mesh of tracks and stations thoughout a city, as opposed to traditional transport which tends to run along corridor routes to a city center.
Discussion at Slashdot.
Why Weeds?
Designing for adaptability, adoptability and diffusion is a black art. However, it's a black art whose magic matters more and more in an era where choice is the rule and not the exception. The more choices you have, the more your values matter.
This column refers to an old article by Bob Metcalfe (Invention is a flower, innovation is a weed) that I remember reading, but unfortunately that link only gets you the introduction - the rest of it is in a pay-per-view archive. (I'm sure I could dig it up somewhere if I put a bit of effort into it... In fact, here it is. Second link on google.)
Interesting that Tomalak's Realm says that the article is from Fortune, but the link is to MIT Technology Review.
Heart Of Darkness
When I looked at these tapes, I said,he says referring to the United States' elite military units.My God, this is the same kind of stuff that we did in 1980,
Tapes found in al Qaida training camps. I'm certainly not condoning any actions by al Qaida, but I thought that quote from Keith Idema (a Green Beret) was interesting.
