Saturday, June 15, 2002
Fixing Intelligence Failures
Bruce Schneier
Dot connecting is the metaphor of the moment in Washington ... Unfortunately, it's the wrong metaphor. We all know how to connect the dots. They're right there on the page, and they're all numbered. ... The problem is that the dots can only be numbered after the fact.
Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics
Technonerds go to movies strictly for entertainment, and of course, the most entertaining part comes after the movie when they can dissect, criticize, and argue the merits of every detail. However, when supposedly serious scenes totally disregard the laws of physics in blatantly obvious ways it's enough to make us retch.
Discussion at Slashdot.
Lawsuit Challenges Copy - Protected CDs
Reuters
The five major record companies have been hit with a class-action lawsuit charging that a new breed of CDs designed to thwart Napster-style piracy is defective and should either be barred from sale or carry warning labels.
The Smother of Invention
Michael S. Malone
After 200 years of lumbering down the tracks, the intellectual-property process in the United States is beginning to go off the rails. Branches of the government are intervening where they never have before. Opposing camps, many with money and influence, are forming. Small inventors are diverted from where they can make the greatest contributions. And a culture of litigation, circumvention, and secrecy has evolved from an area where openness and law had long ruled.
