http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/FrontPage WebSeitz/wikilog en-us http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/z2008-09-03-StPaulPreProtestArrests The RepublicanNationalConvention is happening in StPaul Minnesota. The local police with SWAT teams "raided":http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/30/police_raids/index.html a number of "hippie houses": *2 or 3 of the 50 individuals who were handcuffed this morning at the 2 houses were actually arrested and charged with a crime, and the crime they were charged with is "conspiracy to commit riot."* The raids "involved":http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/31/raids/ the FBI. *Back in May, MarcyWheeler presciently noted that the Minneapolis Joint Terrorist Task Force - an inter-agency group of federal, state and local law enforcement led by the FBI - was actively recruiting Minneapolis residents to serve as plants, to infiltrate "vegan groups" and other left-wing activist groups and report back to the Task Force about what they were doing.* One house "was":http://iwitnessvideo.info/blog/103.html being used by IWitnessVideo. *The house where I-Witness Video is staying in St. Paul has been surrounded by police. We have locked all the doors. We have been told that if we leave we will be detained. One of our people who was caught outside is being detained in handcuffs in front of the house. The police say that they are waiting to get a search warrant... We are suffering a preemptive video arrest. For those that don't know, I-Witness Video was remarkably successful in exposing police misconduct and outright perjury by police during the 2004 RNC. Out of 1800 arrests, at least 400 were overturned based solely on video evidence which contradicted sworn statements which were fabricated by police officers. It seems that the house arrest we are now under and the possible threat of the seizure of our computers and video cameras is a result of the 2004 success.* One of the people arrested was MonicaBicking, IanBicking's sister. He "writes":http://blog.ianbicking.org/2008/09/02/on-the-rnc-monica-bicking-eryn-trimmer-and-protest/ about her, ProTest, and AnarchIst-s. Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:03:46 +0000 BillSeitz http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/z2008-08-31-KrebsElectricalNetwork ValdisKrebs "notes":http://www.thenetworkthinker.com/2008/08/its-network-stupid.html the barriers to treating the WorldEnergyGrid like a data NetWork, pointing "to":http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/business/27grid.html a NyTimes article. *An EnergyDepartment plan to source 20 percent of the nation's electricity from wind calls for a high-voltage backbone spanning the country that would be similar to 2,100 miles of lines already operated by a company called AmericanElectricPower. The cost would be high, $60 billion or more, but in theory could be spread across many years and tens of millions of electrical customers. However, in most states, rules used by public service commissions to evaluate transmission investments discourage multistate projects of this sort. In some states with low electric rates, elected officials fear that new lines will simply export their cheap power and drive rates up...*(Hmm, sounds like local ProtectionIsm.) *Save for two underwater connections to LongIsland, NewYorkState has not built a major new power line in 20 years. (NIMBY)* When everyone was just using mostly the same power sources (FossilFuel), I could kinda see this behavior. But now when there are geographic-specific opportunities, will local groups recognize the benefits of ResilIence (and cost) in having a wider power MarKet? Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:46:03 +0000 BillSeitz http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/NIMBY Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:44:40 +0000 BillSeitz http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/z2008-06-24-MsHealthvaultOpenidGated MicroSoft is using OpenID for its HealthVault service, but only accepting such IDs from a couple providers. That "seems":http://www.25hoursaday.com/weblog/2008/06/24/SomeThoughtsOnOpenIDAndBeingSelectiveAboutWhoYouTrust.aspx reasonable (VeriSign and TrustBearer). Some commenters at SimonWillison's "thread":http://simonwillison.net/2008/Jun/24/openid/ wonder whether these accepted providers are really any better that a bunch of others. Will we see slotting fees? Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:41:14 +0000 BillSeitz http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/z2007-01-01-IraqCivilianDeaths600k Lancet "published":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancet_surveys_of_Iraq_War_casualties a new study estimating 600k civilian deaths from the WarOnIraq. Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:59:30 +0000 BillSeitz http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/ValdisKrebs Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:04:57 +0000 BillSeitz http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/z2008-08-10-Chandler1Out OSAF Chandler v1 "is":http://blog.chandlerproject.org/2008/08/08/chandler-10/ finally out. Kudos! But will I actually try it? Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:43:43 +0000 BillSeitz http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/DoTank Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:25:11 +0000 BillSeitz http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/z2008-09-02-GoogleChromeBrowse GooGle "has":http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10030185-16.html "announced":http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/fresh-take-on-browser.html "its":http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20080901/google-chrome-cliffsnotes-on-the-comic/ own Chrome WebBrowser, based on both MozIlla and WebKit. At least Google "renewed":http://blog.lizardwrangler.com/2008/08/26/firefox-summit-reflections/ it's financial arrangement with MozIlla last week, through Nov'2011. "A":http://blogs.zdnet.com/Howlett/?p=477 EULA nightmare. Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:36:17 +0000 BillSeitz http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/JohnMcCain Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:10:33 +0000 BillSeitz http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/z2008-09-03-ThreeDegreesOfSeparation Have the SixDegreesOfSeparation "shrunk":http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/03/six-degrees-of-separation-is-now-three/ to 3 due to SocialSoftware? *According to JeffRodrigues, a social networking specialist that carried out the study, 97 percent of the participants said they felt more connected to people today than they ever have in the past and for older respondents, EMail and MobIle phones were the key factors in reducing the degrees of separation. But for those in the younger generation, FaceBook was the main factor. TextMessaging was also mentioned as an important component in reducing degrees of separation... It should be noted that the research is not the epitome of a real scientific study - O2 paid for it, after all.* Wed, 03 Sep 2008 06:38:00 +0000 BillSeitz http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/z2002-04-30-g StanleyMilgram's SmallWorld (SixDegreesOfSeparation) "study may be":http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,591-260065,00.html bogus. *JudithKleinfeld, a psychologist at the University of Alaska, found that in Milgram's first study, only three in 60 documents actually reached their targets, taking on average eight mailings (suggesting nine degrees of separation)... Moreover, two attempts by Milgram to replicate the findings of that study were never published because chain-completion rates were so low.* A "group":http://smallworld.sociology.columbia.edu/ at Columbia is trying to replicate the experiment now. Wed, 03 Sep 2008 06:34:48 +0000 BillSeitz http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/z2008-08-28-FacebookDesignApiChange FaceBook is in the middle of a DeSign/API change. App developers (PlatForm) have not been happy. I've been amazed at the lack of communication coming from FaceBook. Weeks back they posted that on Aug27 they'd finish migrating all users to this new design. There's been no update/confirmation of that ever since. It didn't happen. Still no communication. Update: "new":http://www.new.facebook.com/developers/message.php?id=278 target is "mid-September". Wed, 03 Sep 2008 06:19:26 +0000 BillSeitz http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/BusinessCycle Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:48:09 +0000 BillSeitz http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/FullEmployment Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:46:45 +0000 BillSeitz http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/EmployMent Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:45:30 +0000 BillSeitz http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/CreditCrisis2008 Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:45:20 +0000 BillSeitz http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/UnEmployment Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:45:04 +0000 BillSeitz http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/JoblessRecovery Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:44:46 +0000 BillSeitz http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/z2008-09-01-MccainPicksPalin JohnMcCain picked SarahPalin as his VicePresident candidate. "Some":http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/us/politics/31reconstruct.html say it was a last-minute switch when conservatives wouldn't allow him to pick JosephLieberman. ("This":http://www.observer.com/2008/politics/lieberman-romney-palin says that KarlRove scuttled Lieberman to get MittRomney into the job.) Some say that if she continues to be an embarrassment, it will give him an excuse to go back to Lieberman. Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:26:50 +0000 BillSeitz