Pinging stuff I care about.
This game by Neel Krishnaswami seems like it would be tons o’ fun to play. It’s kind of like the Letter Game but it’s a series of encyclopedia entries on an imaginary land by imaginary academics.
The comments to this entry link to a number of ongoing lexica.
(Note that while the article is hosted on ConspiracyPlanet.com, its contents come from a BBC documentary, not some tinfoil-hatted nutjob bloggin’ on the intarweb.)
Apparently Nixon’s attempt to wind down the Cold War by reaching accord with the major Eastern powers was undermined by a bunch of very familiar names telling familiar stories about imaginary weapons of mass destruction in the hands of powerful enemies.
So I heard on NPR this morning that the deal with the President announcing his “coalition” of nations who are going to work together to help out victims of the disaster — well, the thing is, there already is an organization that helps nations work together to coordinate disaster relief. Duplication of efforts in these things is a serious problem because people die when aid that could have helped them goes someplace where the same aid is already present. That’s why an international agency already exists to coordinate this kind of aid. You know, so people don’t die needlessly and time and money isn’t wasted.
Of course, that international agency is run by the U.N. And the U.N. can’t be trusted, because they thought that invading Iraq was a bad idea and it probably didn’t have weapons of mass destruction. Therefore the U.N. must be sidelined, ignored, and discredited at all costs in favor of alternative organizations which will not inconvenience, disobey, or contradict the Bush Administration.
Even if it means a few extra people in the Indian Ocean basin have to die because aid was badly coordinated.
Thank you George W. Bush. Always protecting us from the dangerous U.N.
Ah well. This is based on a radio report that I heard this morning on npr and I could be misremembering it or misunderstanding the significance of it. I hope so.
Incredible Beatles mashup mixes 40+ different tracks: “Cory Doctorow:
Hank sez, ‘Where ordinary mash-up mixes mix two or perhaps three songs, this mix is made up by appx 40 Beatles songs, with sometimes five different songs playing at the same time. A must hear!’ I concur; this is mind-blowingly amazing. Man, all these Beatles mash-ups this year are really making me yearn for my old Beatles vinyl. I especially love the juxtosition in this track of the old skiffle-Beatles with the later psychedelia. Soo-poib.(Thanks, Hank!)
PS: I am reasonably certain that this server will be shortly overwhelmed. If you’ve got a mirror, email me and I’ll post a link to it. However, I have no such mirror, so if you find yourself unable to get a copy, don’t look at me!”
I’m listening to this right now. It’s crazy cool incredible. I’ll upload it to my own server and drop a link to it in email to anyone who wants a copy — but I’m not sure enough of my bandwidthosity to volunteer to be a mirror for Cory. :) email me at edheil at fastmail dot fm to get a copy.
(Via Boing Boing Blog.)
Found out from Phil O at the party the other night that the Kava House on Kalamazoo south of 60th street has free wifi. This is really near my house, so I needed to check them out. A lot of my friends who live in Eastown love the Kava House in Eastown all to pieces.
My reactions are mixed. Two signs on the door seemed very unfriendly to me. “Restroom for customers only” and “Wireless for customers only (1 drink minimum)”.
This is a coffee house in a strip mall out in the pucks. Do they really have a problem with an excess of people walking by and trying to use their restroom? Has that really caused a problem in the past, such that they need to put it out there on a sign? Or are they just kind of jerks who resent the idea that they might possibly be duped into providing a service to the public without remuneration?
As for the “wireless for customers only (1 drink minimum)”, I can understand that they don’t want people plunking down and using their connection for hours on end without buying anything. I would never do that. But I’d like to imagine that they feel they could trust me to do that without the sign. (Also, isn’t the “1 drink minimum” redundant? How could you be a customer by buying less than 1 drink? Are they saying it wouldn’t count if I bought breath mints? Have they seriously encountered a problem with customers coming in and using their wireless but buying LESS than one drink?)
Oh, there’s also a handmade sign saying “Kava Cop says STOP: One Drink Minimum.” So not only can’t you use the wifi without a drink, you can’t even be there without a drink.
The signs out front give the impression that these people are obsessed by the fear that someone may get something from them for nothing — that their precious seating space and ambience and wifi may be abused by the unwashed, no-drink-buying masses. This comes across as massively hostile to me. I have not seen anything like it at any other wifi enabled coffee house in the area. It’s bizarre. I have a hard time believing, given the location, that it’s based on actual problems with deadbeats rather than just a general mean-spiritedness.
Apart from the signs it’s been good. Lots of available power-pluggage, pleasant atmosphere, reasonable connection, a guy who I assume was the manager was helpful, wanted to make sure I could find a plug, friendly staff. Everything’s good, but man, the signs really convey hostility to the public.
A copy of this review was posted at grwifi.net. If you’ve been there, drop in and post a comment yourself!