sysrick.com

Ever wonder about those "Work at Home" signs you see all over the place?

"They started following the trail, and found a cult, not unlike Col. Kurtz's, at the end" [Daypop Top 40]

Like everyone else I heard about Yahoo's change in policy about opting-in for marketing messages, but until now I didn't know where I had to go to turn them off. Thanks to Eugene Leitl for posting the pointer. Very clear. I'm turning them all off. And thanks to Yahoo, no sarcasm, for letting me do that. They're in a tough spot, for sure -- with a big burn rate, low sales, and no place to turn to get more free money. Those of us who use Yahoo's mail list service for community and standards work really don't have a choice but to continue to use it. We're all in a tough spot.   [Scripting News]

Max Frisch. "Technology is a way of organizing the universe so that man doesn't have to experience it." [Quotes of the Day]

Ernie has a lawyer joke that programmers will appreciate. [Sam Ruby's Radio Weblog]

03/31/02 00:14 CET. I say I say, the Web is not boring. Here's a guy who created a giant bear out of ketchup packets and then shot at it and burnt it. [CamWorld]

We're going to hell for sure nowMean, funny captio .... We're going to hell for sure now
Mean, funny captions for the "I'm With You Always" Jesus charcoals we pointed to last week. Like a Disfunctional Family Circus for sappy Jesuspix.LinkDiscuss(Thanks, Michael!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 17:31 [bOing bOing]

I heard a joke somewhere about three Microsoft people, a PM, developer, and tester, who found a genie while on their lunch break. In keeping with the genie protocol, three wishes were granted, one to each of them.

The developer asked to have a fully wired high tech house and the freedom to do what ever he wanted. Poof, he was gone.

The tester asked to have an isolated little cabin in the woods where nothing ever went wrong. Poof, he was gone.

The PM asked that both his developer and tester be back before their 2:00pm design review meeting.

So, Wolfgang, forget the 4 day weekends in Germany and get back to work!

[deem]

Bruce Sterling's written a story using only the 300 most common words in the English language. It's a little short on eyeball kicks, but the rhythm's pretty tasty.

the of and a to in is you that it he for was on are as with his they at bethis from I have or by one had not but what all were when we there can anyour which their said if do will each about how up out them then she manysome so these would other into has more her two like him see time could nomake than first been its who now people my made over did down only way finduse may water long little very after words called just where most know

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:48 [bOing bOing]

Discussing the Nature of Reality, Between Buffets. Participants in the "Science and Ultimate Reality" symposium debated Really Big Questions about the nature of existence and consciousness. By Dennis Overbye. [New York Times: Science]

The Most Seductive Equation in Science: Beauty Equals Truth. Mathematicians often say that they feel as if their theorems and laws have an objective reality which they do not create but merely discover. By Dennis Overbye. [New York Times: Science]

osama's bin bloggin

[The Shifted Librarian]

15876 » March 28 2:30 AM. Spinning Egg mystery solved Still recovering from the cold fusion 'breakthrough', the scientific world has finally cracked another mystery: why does a spinning egg flip to a vertical positon ? A few days before Easter, what a coincidence! [MetaFilter]

Franklin P. Jones. "The trouble with being punctual is that nobody's there to appreciate it." [Quotes of the Day]

The Edge.  If you don't subscribe.  Please start.  Kurzweil's new article on accelerating change.  Bing! 

>>>"But what's not fully understood is that the pace of change is itself accelerating, and the last 20 years are not a good guide to the next 20 years. We're doubling the paradigm shift rate, the rate of progress, every decade. This will actually match the amount of progress we made in the whole 20th century, because we've been accelerating up to this point. The 20th century was like 25 years of change at today's rate of change. In the next 25 years we'll make four times the progress you saw in the 20th century. And we'll make 20,000 years of progress in the 21st century, which is almost a thousand times more technical change than we saw in the 20th century."<<< [John Robb's Radio Weblog]

How much data is there in a byte, kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, terabyte, petabyte, exabyte, zettabyte or yottabyte?

"Whenever we discuss quantities of data, we tend to do it in the abstract. We speak of a kilobyte, or a megabyte or a gigabyte without really knowing what it represents." [James S. Huggins' Refrigerator Door, via Dane Carlson's Weblog]

Very cool link! Note that about the last measure of collected human knowledge used is "2 Petabytes: All U. S. academic research libraries."

[The Shifted Librarian]

Samuel Johnson. "I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am." [Quotes of the Day]

From the New York Times:

Only the Immigration and Naturalization Service could the task of streamlining the agency fall to an official recently named to be "assistant deputy executive associate commissioner for immigration services."

It took a minute for me to realize that this is a joke.   [Scripting News]

15797 » March 25 12:42 PM. Depressed? Cheer up, it's not the end of the world. You know, it seems that The more things change, the more they stay the same . Undecided? When in doubt, consult your inner child . Sure it hurts, but No pain, no gain .Many believe There is truth in every cliché , while others say you should Avoid cliches like the plague . What's your most hated or loved cliche? The Book of Clichés. [MetaFilter]

Russell Green. "The advantage of a classical education is that it enables you to despise the wealth that it prevents you from achieving." [Quotes of the Day]

"Low Haiku" [Daypop Top 40]

David Weinberger: What the Web is For. "Small Pieces Loosely Joined tries to explain what I think is truly important about the Web. I wrote the book for grownups, but I think what it says is as true for kids as for their parents."  [Scripting News]

Stay hungry 

Cory just introduced our little schmooze circle to SpamRadio, which he describes as "a text-to-speech engine reading spam over automatically generated techno music." It's MP3. Listen here.

So Cory is looking at this digging how I'm using the Radio Userland outliner to drive my blog, and wondering if it can do the same for Blogger. I think so, but not sure. (I'm sure the answer will come, though... heh.)

[Doc Searls Weblog]

Consumer Psychology (Submissives).

Posted by the Happy Tutor

Consumers identify with those who exploit them as his peasant-soldiers identified with Napoleon.

Some day I will be Michael Eisner, thinks the $7.50 an hour employee.

What political propaganda does for the Leader, advertising does the Product.

A Wind-Blown Bottle of Catsup on Horseback, pointing upwards towards the Alps!

[Wealth Bondage]

ARTS & FARCES internet : When elephants dance.

When elephants dance, it's best to get out of the way. That's exactly what's happening now as the entertainment industry--the recording, publishing, and motion picture industries, mainly--attempts a worldwide intellectual property power grab with two distinct targets. Think of it: a coup and a lock on all published content in the same year, amazing isn't it?

Target number 1 is the average customer: anyone who purchases software, an audio CD, an electronic book, or a movie on DVD. The entertainment industry sees customers as pirates, plain and simple. In their collective mind's eye, we all have a wooden leg, eye patch, and a filthy talking parrot on our shoulder. While the Constitution grants customers certain rights with regard to copyrighted material, the entertainment industry very much wants to separate us from those rights.

Target number 2 in the sights of the entertainment industry are technology behemoths like Microsoft, Intel, IBM, and Apple. These companies, in the perverse worldview of the entertainment industry, make the tools--computers mostly--that allow customers to practice their piracy.

Let me point out that I am a copyright owner, as is everyone else who has ever created a work in tangible form. That's all authors, for short. Authors are almost never members of the entertainment industry club. The entertainment industry hates authors almost as much as they hate customers. Sometimes, especially when authors get uppity, the entertainment industry hates authors much more than customers. Until recently, authors have always been seen to be at least a marginal threat while customers were seen as merely necessary annoyances.

To complicate matters by at least an order of magnitude, the consumer electronics manufacturers--the companies that make stereos, VCRs, and DVD players--have aligned with the entertainment industry. At least some of them, and at least to some extent.

Unfortunately for us--both authors and customers--we're likely to get squished as these elephants dance. The intent of the entertainment industry, believe it or not, is to outlaw personal computers. As security and cryptography expert Bruce Schneier explains it to Mike Godwin: "If you think about it, the entertainment industry does not want people to have computers; they're too powerful, too flexible, and too extensible. They want people to have Internet Entertainment Platforms: televisions, VCRs, game consoles, etc."

An interesting piece.

[Privacy Digest]

Pop-up Stopper.

Noted in the last digest that you were contemplating installing a
Pop-Up stopper. The one you mentioned was Pow! from AnalogX. While I am a
big fan of his work and use several of his tools, I would like to recommend
in the particular case that you check out Panicware's Pop-Up Stopper,
available here. There's a
free version (which is the one I use) which can quickly be switched off/on
by double-clicking the systray icon (which changes its display to indicate
enabled/disabled) and plays an audio alert when pop-ups/unders are stopped
(in case you forget you enabled it and can't figure out why that page won't
open). You can temporarily disable it (for the current click) by holding
down the Ctrl or Shift keys while clicking. Very handy.

[C:PIRILLO.EXE]

Oscar Wilde. "Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast." [Quotes of the Day]

The Evolving Homepage: The Growth of Three Booksellers.

"To start working toward an answer, I compared three eCommerce sites: Borders.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and Amazon.com....

Because it is the homepage that carries the most responsibility for guiding customers, I examined the homepages of all three sites from a number of years, using screenshots from the Web Archive<A href="javascript://">4....

I looked at criteria such as the type and size of layout, the type and amount of navigation, the amount of images and text, and functionality specific to the industry....

Conclusions:

• All three sites use very long screens to display content on their homepages.
• All three sites evolved to use three-column layouts.
• Amazon has consistently placed more links above the fold.
• Through the years, the density of links on Borders.com was half of that on Barnes and Noble or Amazon.
• Amazon communicates using images and links rather than text descriptions.
• All sites eventually included navigation targeted at specific audiences.
• Invitations to subscribe to an email newsletter were offered inconsistently.

Many design elements on these websites are reminiscent of physical store layout, an approach to web design we should investigate further. Like physical stores, those designs should only change gradually to keep visitors buying." [Boxes and Arrows, via bOing bOing]

This article is part of the inaugural collection at Boxes and Arrows, a new online journal about information architecture in the digital environment. Definitely one to follow, although I wish they were syndicating their content.

What I'd like to see next is a study of how web-based library catalogs are changing to emulate the above design conventions and how systems like III's Millennium, SIRSI's iBistro, and epixtech's iPac are faring. Obviously we don't want all aspects of Amazon's site, but surely we can examine it for what could be applicable in our online world. Is there anything here we should emulate for library web sites in general?

See Steve Coffman for other thoughts on Amazon and library catalogs (right or wrong).

[The Shifted Librarian]

Lillian Hellman. "Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth." [Quotes of the Day]

Bertrand Russell. "The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." [Quotes of the Day]

BBC  Drunk driving less dangerous than driving while on the phone.

[John Robb's Radio Weblog]

Do It Yourself Network. No, it doesn't mean "Dive Into Yogurt," DIY stands for "Do It Yourself." Do WHAT yourself? Do everything, folks. Improve your home, make crafts, record music, create fun and exciting things for your kids, do some landscaping, ya know, just be creative. Trust me, you appreciate things a lot more when you've done them yourself. If you're looking to start a project, or take on a task you've never done yourself before, check out this site. "DIY answers the call for more how-to projects with easy step-by-step directions. Whether you're creating a craft, remodeling a home, or planting the perfect garden, the DIY Network gives you the details you need, and the DIY Web site lets you see it again, print it out and take it with you." [Lockergnome Windows Daily]

[Dave's Handsome Radio Blog!]

Niels Bohr. "An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field." [Quotes of the Day]

From At the Core --

Coffee!

Chris Pirillo raves about Peets Coffee on his site and Dave Winer will on occasion start his day with Morning Coffee Notes. So in honor of coffee I'm going to start the day with a pointer to Seattle's premier coffee joint. No it's not the one everyone knows with the nautical name, it's Monorail Espresso. Seattle's first espresso cart! The coffee is truly the best in Seattle. When Visio was in downtown proper, not the waterfront like we are now, our address was 520 Pike Street. Monorail was just a trip down the elevator, hang a right out the door on Pike Street, and walk about 20 yards to their little nook in the side of the building. There was always a line outside that place!

Here's an article in Sunset Magazine about Chuck Beek, the man behind the cart.

For those of you interested in visiting Seattle here's an Aussie point of view that just so happens to mention Monorail. NOTE: The article is kind of old(well old in internet time) so the address is not correct.

Monorail's coffee is roasted by the Mukilteo Coffee Company. You can order espresso direct from them but you're not going to be able to get Monorail's blend unless you buy it right from Monorail.

Monorail Espresso is located in the side of Banana Republic at 510 Pike Street.

Marketing Against Evil.

Japanese children now prostitute themselves to buy American Brand Names. When the same is true in Afghanistan, we will have won the war against Evil.

[Wealth Bondage]

Klingons are science, Harry Potter is magicHigh-la .... Klingons are science, Harry Potter is magic
High-larious anaeccdote about "Klingons" negotiating their reservation at a local community library:
KLAS contact: Well, I don't know if I have the authority to make thatdecision about switching rooms. I am only the communications officer. Iwill have to talk with my captain.
Librarian: Your captain? What kind of a community group is KLAS?
KLAS comm. officer: Why, we're the Klingons.
Librarian: Well, do you anticipate adding a dozen or more Klingons to yourfederation between now and next Saturday? If not, you will fit into thesmall meeting room. Unless you are going to have one of those blood battleswith big swords.
KLAS comm. officer: I guess it will be all right to switch.
Librarian: Thank you so much. This really helps me out.
KLAS comm. officer: No problem. I'm really a fan of Dr. Seuss's books. Iused to read them to my children all the time when they were little. Theyare so much better than this terrible Harry Potter stuff that forces magicon children.
Librarian (unable to restrain herself): How can you say that about HarryPotter? You belong to a Klingon organization!
KLAS comm. officer: Harry Potter is about MAGIC! WE are aboutSCIENCE!!LinkDiscuss(Thanks, Gavin!)
posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:36 [bOing bOing]

One quick link for Kate and Andy while I'm on a lunch break: Britons Debate the Important Stuff - Like What's A Proper Pint? [Plastic] [The Shifted Librarian]

From Kottke.org

Jason Fried has released Singlefile, an online service to help organize and share your book collection. The attention to detail with regard to the interface design is amazing. Check out 10 reasons why Singlefile is the best way to keep track of your book collection if you're interested.

Simpsons Guide to Math [Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters]

Tom Stoppard. "The days of the digital watch are numbered." [Quotes of the Day]

Political News from Wired News - E-Mail-Deleting Governor Sued.

Utah Governor Mike Leavitt regularly deletes his e-mails, which four news organizations claim is illegal because they're public documents. So they're suing him.

[Privacy Digest]

The Incredible Rubberband Machine Gun!  You know you need one!

Looking for method in the mess.

The Instant Gratification of Stupidity AKMA, refl .... The Instant Gratification of Stupidity

AKMA, reflecting on sermons, writes

As I stop and look around, I observe both the amplified tendency toward speed that Dave [Rogers] cites and a patience for interesting narration (taking as examples Garrison Keillor, Lily Tomlin, Spalding Gray, Eve Ensler, extended raps, poetry slams, and other such cultural practices and practitioners). I don't see people unable to follow a story, an argument, a sermon, but people who have diminished patience for tedium.

Oooh, a diminished patience for tedium! I like it!

But it reminds me of a line in my Upcoming Book with which I have become uncomfortable. It says something like "Are our attention spans getting shorter, or is the world becoming more interesting?" Facile, glib, and missing the real point which is that both are happening simultaneously. Likewise, part of the tedium for which we are losing patience seems to me to be the patience required to start slow and build, to do scut work so that your thinking can advance later. Instant knowledge gratification. As AKMA, a seriously well-read, multi-lingual scholar obviously knows, mastery often requires tedium. I worry about this, seeing my own impatience eroding my ability to think and to learn.

(Flameproofing myself: Yes, mastery is a sexist and politically charged term. But you know what I mean: If you want to learn ancient Greek, chemistry, medicine, piano or how to dance, you're going to have to endure some boredom.)

---

BTW, AKMA also has a thought-provoking piece on the significance of the facelessness (literal) of the Web. [JOHO the Blog]

A Different Kind of Wayback Machine.

Too cool - the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica is online! For non-librarians reading this, the 1911 EB is considered the epitome of encyclopedias, with an almost embarassing wealth of contributors and wonderful articles. Many a librarian wept when it was taken off shelves. Highly recommended for browsing and fun reading.

"When reading the articles of the 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, it may help to keep in mind the time period in which this was published. The beginning of the twentieth century was a time of unprecedented wealth, and an age of great technological achievements when humankind bragged that it could build an ocean liner that God, Himself, couldn't sink. It was a time of honesty when people said what they felt, in spite of whom they may offend. It was a time of great passions and the beginnings of serious reforms in society. Teddy Roosevelt and his trustbusters had not yet dissolved the great business conglomerates of Standard Oil, the Motion Pictures Patent Company and U.S. Steel. The economy was booming -- sort of. Yet with all the razzle-dazzle, the early part of the twentieth century was still an age of innocence when the syrupy-sweet sentimental movies of D.W. Griffith were major box office draws and novels like 'Trail of the Lonesome Pine' dominated bestseller lists." [via Library News Daily]

[The Shifted Librarian]

Doc Searls sees and comments on everything:

 

Fast Layne 

The more I read Ken Layne, the more I like him. There's his blog (just inked) and his "dumb new column at Fox news". Both terrific. After reading Who Can You Trust? Dave Letterman, I realized why I like Letterman so much and find Jay Leno, an equally funny guy, insufferable:

Letterman went on television last night and explained his contract negotiations. It was funny, unscripted and honest. Serious news anchors can't do that, due to some ethical something-or-other. Paula goes to CNN, Greta comes over here to Fox News, yet they can't talk about it on the air. But I read it in the New York Times or New York Post or from Jim Romenesko's Media News.

Ken's Music Fans Must Rebel Against Greedy Movie Industry is also one of the betst pieces I've seen on that subject yet. That was apparently Ken's inaugural Fox Weblog. The Editor's note says, "A weblog is a tour of the Net guided by a pilot you will come to know over time. We hope you enjoy the tour." Appropriately, Ken's text is full of links. Good stuff.

Not speaking of which, do you actually care if CNN changes for online video? I'd love it if everything on satellite TV was a la carte. I'd end up paying less, so maybe that's the problem.

Just in time for that HP-Compaq thing to take over 

Dell reaches its goal and shuts down, The Onion reports.

Here's the HPC story.

As in think 

Gary Turner is expanding his momentary lapses of dilution to include the all-new Blogtank. You're invited.

You can't take the id out of identity 

It isn't who you are, it's how you look. After all, who cares who you are?

Blog on' 

Here's Halley's Comment on What Blogs Are Like. My link gets "quilting bees." There are many others, all good.

Sisters shuffle 

The Blog Sisters have held their first reorg.

All look, no feel 

Check this out. And thanks to Steve for the link.

iMac therefore iBong 

Giving new meaning to Happy Mac

Commit this to meme-ry 

Today's Bizarro makes a familiar point.

Letter storm 

My sister just gave me (now us) an idea. Since we're unlikely to march on Washington in the next several weeks, and since emails and electronic petitions have the persuasive heft of dandruff, how about printing out our favorite pieces about What the Net Is, Why it Matters, and Why We Need to Save Internet Radio, etc. — and mail them to our congresspeople?

To find your congressperson's address, start here.

Meanwhile, let's keep planning the march.

Where Cinderellas die last 

SatireWire: Global March Madness. "Just like the NCAA's, except for the part where the losers die."

How can we keep borrowed ideas if we give them back when we're done? 

Here's C.W. Nevius on plagarism. Good piece. It was easy to knock the San Francisco papers when we lived up there, but I miss the columnists. Lotta good ones there.

Speaking of columnists, if you just go to SiiconValley.com, you get redirected to a page of blogs, sort of.

Today's TOP STORY is Weblog: Fiorina's feet put to fire, a "Mercury News Staff Report." I can't read the piece yet because (the browser says) my system memory (374 Megs of it) is too low.

Dan's blog loads, though. No permalinks. At least I have some hope that Dan's CTIA Wireless Weblog will stay up for awhile. Check it out. It's good stuff.

Interesting layout: TOP STORY; then a banner ad; then BLOGS (Just Dan's and Good Morning Silicon Valley — the above staff report); then BREAKING NEWS, with LATEST HEADLINES; then SILICONVALLEY.COM (from the Dept of Redundancy Dept), with TECHNOLOGY/BUSINESS/SV LIFE; Then COLUMISTS (three, including Dan); then PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY; then ROAD MAP TO YOUR TAXES; then a banner ad; then BREAKING NEWS (again), with MORE BUSINESS NEWS; then SV SPONSORS (six little text ads at the bottom of the page).

Archives? Heh. Remember, "Searching is always free."

Clueless doesn't cover it. Clueproof is more like it.

Blogalization 

Blogger is Kiwi for toilet, David Williams reports. I like his permalink: readyToTalkShit.

This reminds me of the big laugh I got on a bus in Australia when I talked about my "fanny pack."

I've touched him, but I didn't notice anything 

Eric Norlin reports feeling strange.

So I've decided to patent the color orange 

In Tech Review Seth Shulman explains how patenting fruit has gone nuts.

Microsoft loses one, sort of 

Lindows can still call itself that.

It's a Blogrogator! 

From Corante: Microcontent News: The Online Magazine for Weblogs, Webzines and Personal Publishing.

Irony-deficient?