Fri 28 Jul 2006
I’ve been reading UNC Law School’s Eric Muller’s ‘blog IsThatLegal for several years.
He has an incredible knack ferreting out information and reporting on one of the low points for American democracy – World War Two’s mass detention of citizens of Japanese origin (covered in his book Free to Die for Their Country).
Thu 27 Jul 2006
[UPDATE: More (via Paul Jone’s) from The Carrboro News]
One of my concerns about Chapel Hill’s impending Lot #2 and Lot #5 developments is the restriction of public access to what was once public property.
Wed 26 Jul 2006
Also, from our July 19 column: we regret the insinuation that Mr. Alex Trebek is a robot, and has been since 2004. Mr. Trebek’s robotic frame does still contain some organic parts, many harvested from patriotic Canadian schoolchildren, so this technically makes him a “cyborg,†not a “robot.†Ken-Jennings.com regrets the error.
Version 2.0 suggestions.
Wed 26 Jul 2006
Someone must have been telling lies about Josef K., he knew he had done nothing wrong but, one morning, he was arrested.
“The Trial”, Kafka
Stumbled upon this troubling account from Denver’s ABC 7:
You could be on a secret government database or watch list for simply taking a picture on an airplane. Some federal air marshals say they’re reporting your actions to meet a quota, even though some top officials deny it.
“Innocent passengers are being entered into an international intelligence database as suspicious persons, acting in a suspicious manner on an aircraft … and they did nothing wrong,” said one federal air marshal.
Mon 24 Jul 2006
From the Boston Globe
The federal government has inflated the “No Fly List” to 200,000 names. But the list has nabbed more members of Congress than it has terrorists. US Senator Edward M. Kennedy and US Representative John Lewis have been inconvenienced by it, and anyone named David Nelson is likely to face a major interrogation each time he flies. Federal officials make it very difficult to correct the list, thus tormenting citizens who are guilty of nothing more than having a name resembling a name suspected sometime by some government official.
That’s the “No Fly” list. The “reach into ones pants” or “feel up ones bra” list is much, much bigger – an expansive and encompassing list – mutable based on secret recipes that seem to vary by airline.
And it’s a bit more than an inconvenience if you are on the wrong side of a SSSS ticket designation and draw a TSA agent who fondles your genitalia.
Mon 24 Jul 2006
Bush’s Presidency should go down as the worst in our Republic’s short history. In the rush to create a new American Imperialism, Emperor Bush’s profligate Constitutional trespasses – the calculated, unchallenged scope and breadth of abuse of his Executive powers – have set a new standard of political authoritarianism.
Sat 22 Jul 2006
An interesting mix of groggy and chipper Barcamper’s this morning. Fred quickly shook out the details of an “unconference” – a set of sessions were pitched (I’m doing a citizen technology session) and off we went.
Sat 22 Jul 2006
“First comes love, then comes marriage“, then comes what in that Web 2.0 carriage?
Two of our strongest local blogging activists, Ruby and Brian are tying the knot today (forever memorable because it’s also my wifes b’day).
Congratulations and fondest good luck on what promises to be a sweltering July 22nd.
Thu 20 Jul 2006
Saturday, July 22nd’s RDU Barcamp should be a yearly highpoint for the Triangle tech community.
A “who’s who” of producers and consumers on ‘net-related tech will gather (@ 8 am as ibiblio’s Paul Jones notes) to thrash through some of today’s trendier tech topics.
As local social justice activist (and newly minted groom) BrianR, over at Yesh.com, observes, UNC’s Fred Stutzman has gone above and beyond planning what promises to be an incredible tech unconference
Fred Stutzman has a written a wonderful post called Advice for Planning a Bar Camp. It contains a lot of excellent info about how to plan an unconference. In this case doing it BarCamp style. The RDU BarCamp is this Saturday July 22. (Congratulations Fred for pulling this off. I’m sure the event will be a huge success!)
and documented how to put together such a beast.
Excellent way to wag the long tail Fred!
Tue 11 Jul 2006
Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett died July 7th (as announced today). Syd’s influence on Brit rock was comparable to the Beach Boys’ Wilson’s (whose Pet Sounds often appears neck-n-neck with “Madcap Laughs” in lists of influential albums) on the US scene.
My copy of “Madcap” is sorted into a special sub-section of my album collection along with other unusual standouts of the 60’s/70’s Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, Gong,Henry Cow, et. al.
Tue 11 Jul 2006
Tue 11 Jul 2006
Fri 23 Jun 2006
I’ll be off-line for awhile.
By the time I return Chapel Hill will probably have a new town manager, I will have been appointed to zero or more additional advisory boards and Chapel Hillian’s – especially those on the wrong-side of the digital-divide – hopefully, will have a new muni-networking task force to take that bull by the horns.
Council is ready to take a break and so am I.
Tue 20 Jun 2006
Local IndyWeek reporter Fiona Morgan covers the story of a “copyright comic” in the tech-oriented magazine Wired.
Fair-use is an important tool for online activisim, as is copyright. Many online authors, for instance, use a Creative Commons content license to ensure widest dissemination of their message.
To make the issue a bit more digestable, three law professors (two from Duke) created the comic book: Bound by Law.
Practicing what they preach, the comic book is freely available under a Creative Commons license.
Fiona routinely covers tech-related issues for the IndyWeek, for example, this week’s important coverage of NC ‘net neutrality and media consolidation.
Just as consumers are becoming aware of things like net neutrality and media consolidation, Congress and the North Carolina legislature are acting like nobody’s paying any attention.
…on June 13, the Finance Committee of the N.C. House passed the Video Service Competition Act without amending any of the no-brainer changes suggested by public interest groups that would have made it a little less of a travesty. A state version of the Internet TV provisions currently winding through U.S. Congress, this bill would abolish the current rules governing cable television service. Telephone companies such as Verizon and BellSouth have been pushing hard for this bill, because it would allow them to expand from broadband Internet to video service without having to negotiate with local governments. The bill will soon go to the full House for a vote; the Senate version, having passed one committee, makes one more committee stop before going to the floor.
Thanks go to ibiblio’s Paul Jones for the story tip.
Tue 20 Jun 2006
Council once again reviewed local businessman Michael Rosenberg’s (Health Decisions Inc.) Meadowmont palace Castalia. Castalia is a proposed mixed-use building, currently sited prominently in Meadowmont.
Tonight’s discussion focused on visibility.
Councilman Cam Hill gave a bit of a mixed message, saying in part that if the building really would be as hard to see from N.C. 54 as the architectural drawing purported, then that might be tempting. But he said he really didn’t think it was going to be that well screened.
Meadowmont? Not visibile? Where have I heard that before?
Let’s turn the wayback machine’s dial to Oct. 5th, 1994:
Design Review Board member Bob Stipe inquired whether proposed commercials buildings on the north side of NC 54 would be visible to passing vehicles. Mr. Davis said yes, adding that the buildings would have a maximum height below the area’s existing tree line. Julie Andresen inquired whether the developer was proposing a mixture of office and retail uses. Mr. Davis said yes. Ed Harrison inquired whether existing trees on the site would be preserved. Mr. Davis stated that the majority of trees up to three hundred and fifty feet into the site would be preserved.
Where did those trees go?
I’ve read that Castalia is the source of sacred waters used to clean Delphian temples . Maybe those waters could be used to clean out another mythic mess, Meadowmont’s Augean stable of promises.
