Category: Paleoblogs

  • Sisters are doing it for themselves

    At BarCamp Block I first heard about plans for She’s Geeky, a tech (un)conference for women by women. Immediately, I was intrigued. It sounds like a great idea, I love the title, and the organizers are some of the coolest folk I’ve met on the geek circuit. One of the prime movers is Kaliya Identity…

  • Shining a spotlight on money in politics

    I’ve written about MAPlight before but from time to time I feel the need to post an update about the amazing work it’s doing. (Disclosure: I am an advisor to this nonprofit, although my direct involvement is limited.) Since the last time I mentioned MAPlight it’s gone from just documenting donations to California politicians to…

  • Getting fired up for IDEA 2007

    I regretted not being able to attend the first-ever IDEA conference last year in Seattle and I was thrilled when the organizers decided to hold the second IDEA conference in New York City, my home town, at the legendary Parsons School of Design. IDEA has already in one year established a reputation for bringing big-idea…

  • Looks like Mash is in beta

    Yahoo! Mash (né Mosh) is open to non-Yahoos on an invitation-only basis. If you want to try it out, and you know me (or at least have some connection to me that you can tell me about), leave a comment and I’ll send you an invitation. Oh, my profile there, for people already in Mash…

  • Happy Rosh Hashana! L’Shana Tovah! Happy New Year!

    May your name be inscribed for good in the Book of Life! I understand there is another New Year, celebrated on January 1, but I think we need all the New Years we can get. The Jews actually have two. One is the start of the first month of the Jewish Calendar, in the Spring,…

  • Reputation and Patterns at SXSW

    Here’s my obligatory plug for my South by Southwest proposals. I’ve got two panels in contention at the cool-but-unwieldy Panel Picker, so I thought I’d provide some shortcuts here. A lot of folks feel that there are too many panels at SXSW and not enough solo presenters. I tend to agree, but I think the…

  • Build your own search robot at Searchbots

    Back in February, Mark Zeman, Lecturer and Subject Director in Digital Media, College of Creative Arts, Massey University, New Zealand, tipped me off to a search agent research project called Searchbots. I tagged it as something to blog about in my email and then, well, I got busy with my new job. I’ve finally checked…

  • Terrorism and Appalling Taste

    “After Mr. Qaddafi’s renunciation of terrorism and his agreement to end programs to develop unconventional weapons, the United States last year removed Libya from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.”

  • Deadline Approaches. Bush Unconcerned.

    “President George W. Bush and his Democratic foes…fire the opening shots in a long-brewing clash likely to seal the fate of US war strategy….set[ting] the stage for Bush’s critical progress report,…due by September 15.” AFP DKo: So, why is Bush so unconcerned about this deadline bearing down? The answer, say confidants, is he plans to…

  • The Ticking Time Bomb

    “They would put people naked for up to 40 days in cells where they were deprived of any kind of light.” “History Will Not Absolve Us,” Nat Hentoff, the Village Voice, August 28th, 2007 DKo: Why does it go on and on? For one thing, they frighten us with stories of the “ticking time bomb.”…

  • Concerning Vampires

    From the promo for a play I’m going to see, “DRACULA,” Bram Stoker, “We think you’ll find it nothing less than epic…” I can believe it. There certainly must be something fundamental about the Vampire. There’s not much that competes with it for perpetual fascination. There used to be the gunfighter; I remember watching 15-20…

  • BarCamp virgin here – be gentle

    Two years after the first BarCamp (an ad hoc unconference formed initially in response to O’Reilly’s Foo Camp, I’m finally planning to make it to one, this weekend’s BarCampBlock, headquartered at SocialText’s offices in Palo Alto. According to what I just jotted on the Sessions page on the wiki, I’ve just volunteered to lead or…

  • Sifry steps down as Technorati CEO

    Maybe everyone else in the blogosphere knows this already but I just read that Dave Sifry is stepping down as CEO of Technorati: Technorati Weblog: A Change In Seasons Looks like Tantek’s timing was impeccable. I first met Dave during the dotcom bust when blogging was booming (again) on the backs of a lot of…

  • The Straitjacket of Socialism

    It would be mighty convenient if everybody put the “Printer Friendly” button in the same place on their Web pages. But that’s exactly what the communists would do!

  • Lawful Combatants, but not POWs

    US changes status of 14 detainees, AP, 8/10/07 “…Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Commander Chito Peppler said the proceedings….do not distinguish between lawful and unlawful combatants.” DKo: So, we took lawful combatants prisoner in the War in Afghanistan and they were not Prisoners of War. –Probably a bunch of unpaid parking tickets.

  • Etiquette Tip: Belated Birthday or Holiday Cards

    Sometimes you just don’t manage to get all your cards out on time. Nevertheless, you don’t want to appear rude. So here’s an easy etiquette tip that solves the problem. Write at the top on the front of the card: I can’t understand why this is just now reaching you! I mailed it weeks ago.

  • Shiite Insurgents. Shiite Insurgents!

    “Shiite Insurgents.” The Bush administration has been rolling this surprising combination out in recent weeks. I think we’ll be hearing more of it. For years, “Insurgents” has meant Sunnis, because they are trying to bring down the government. Shiite fighters, have been “Militants,” and “Extremists,” but they haven’t been “Insurgents.” Whom would they be insurgent…

  • Seeing Strange Things

    Every so often I like to just stop and click over to the Ames Room for a moment, because it really helps undermine my perspective on things. It gets my vote for the greatest of all optical illusions. The two people you see are actually the same height. It’s just that someone has carefully constructed…

  • FAQ in Windows Messenger Help: “Why can’t my contacts see my music?”

    One of the FAQs in the Windows Messenger Help is: “Why can’t my contacts see my music?” I think Microsoft was very gutsy even getting into this. Anyhow, this is the answer from Tech Support: “If some of your contacts can’t see your music, they have probably been dropping some really weak acid. “It might…

  • “Tough” and “Harsh”

    Bush alters rules for interrogations, AP, 7/20/07 The Supreme Court had ruled in June 2006 that trying detainees in military tribunals violated U.S. and international law, so Bush urged Congress to change the law. He also insisted that the law authorize CIA agents to use tough methods to interrogate suspected terrorists. —————— DKo: I have…

  • For Kirkuk Aficionados

    An email yesterday triggered my continuing Kirkuk obsession. So… ————– David, Has the major fight over Kirkuk begun? Ever since you wrote about it (was it two or three years ago?) that I’ve been waiting for the perfect storm to begin. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070716/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq ——————- Reply: [Why am I still so up on this? Because, I’ve imposed…