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Tuesday, November 30 1999

Search of the day: "clean a whiteboard"

I've got this whiteboard. It's a real-world item (not a software program) on which I can write things with markers - unfortunately, up until today, I'd been using "regular" markers that don't clean off the board easily. Wet cloths, and soap and water, weren't effective in cleaning it; so I turned to the Web.

First stop: Ask Jeeves. Question I posed: "How do I clean a whiteboard" (I left out the ending questionmark, and I also left out the obligatory "asswipe" that I tend to add to the end of Ask Jeeves queries.) The results: poor. The questions which my man Jeeves thought were close to the one I was asking, in order:

1. How can I clean my home in an environmentally friendly way?
   
2. How can I fight clutter around the house?
   
3. How do I remove a stain from my clothes?
   
4. What does the computing term whiteboard mean?
   

Second stop: Deja (The Site Formerly Known As Deja News.) Searched for the phrase: clean a whiteboard". Results: poor. The newsgroup postings Deja thought would interest me, in order:

1. Re: screen cleaning - a guy suggesting that if your toddler writes on your TV screen with crayons, you should buy him a magic marker
   
2. Canada - jokes about Canada (and not very nice ones)
   
3. Mercedes - jokes about Mercedes cars (and not very good ones)
   
4. Re: Whiteboard presentation - info on SmartBoard, a high-tech whiteboard which I'll never buy
   
5. Re: Interactive whiteboards - about electronic whiteboards
   
6. Vino rules - jokes about wine
   

Third stop: MetaCrawler. When I searched for "clean a whiteboard" (phrase search returned 0 results), all I got were references to whiteboard software - basically, chat room type things.

The web sucks because search engines suck. Or is it really true that there are no good sources on the Web which talk about cleaning a whiteboard? Suggested solution: a search engine should accumulate various answers into groups, based on similarities in the answer set; in this case, there'd be a set of answers all dealing with software, a set dealing with cleaning, a set dealing with humor (all those joke answers on deja.com), ... a set dealing with REAL WHITEBOARDS. Let the user decide which set is most relevant, and show those answers.

(I finally decided to go ahead and use nail polish remover, despite not being sure it wouldn't hurt the board.)

Datlow's science-fiction webzine on hiatus

Event Horizon, a science-fiction webzine that was a bit different from other such efforts in that it had a major SF name as editor, has gone on hiatus - as in, it's not publishing for a while. It happens all the time to dead tree science-fiction mags, I suppose.

They've still got plenty of good stories up right now, though; especially worth a look - their SuperStrings, collaborative fiction experiments with professional authors.

Monday, November 29 1999

Wired article on Worth article on corporate giving

Forbes's list of the richest people in the world (sorry, I could actually only find links for the richest in the U.S.) tends to make a lot of news. Worth magazine recently came out with a list of the top corporate givers, though - which seems to have very few technology companies on it. I'd link to the Worth article, except that they require registration, and have no privacy policy attached to their registration form; so the link is to the Wired article on the Worth article."

Sunday, November 28 1999

This sig file for sale

Here's a scary article. Amanda Formaro suggests that people aiming to promote their sites should engage in SIG swapping - you include my URL in your email signature file for a week, and I'll do the same for you. LinkExchange for email, if you get enough people. Thankfully, she at least advises people not to exceed 4-6 lines in their signature file. Though we all know anything more than 4 lines is sacriligeous...

FAIR on "anti-feminist" PBS series

From Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) - a criticism and rebuttal of a recent "anti-feminist series" aired by PBS produced by (or is that for?) National Desk, a series "which addresses patterns in American life which are subtly eroding our common culture and sense of common destiny." (National Desk's words). According to FAIR, the series is part of a continuing pattern of PBS behavior in which they air corporate/conservative-friendly programs passed off as impartial or balanced journalism, while refusing to air activist/liberal-friendly programs.

I really like FAIR. But they only skewer conservative trangessions. Anyone suggestions for a credible conservative media watchdog group?

(And I've already tried Brill's Content. Sucks.)

Saturday, November 27 1999

No ransom

Interesting story in the Washington Post - in retaliation for the kidnapping of two boys from their family, a "clan" just outside of Chechnya kidnapped and killed a bunch of people in an attempt to gather hostages to trade back for their kids, rather than just paying the ransom. Apparently, kidnapping is major business around Chechnya; and, whatever U.S. citizens think about the inefficacy of police, they've got it worse over in the former Soviet Union.

Death by design

In Japan, it's dangerous to be fashionable. Apparently, the 8-inch-heeled boots routinely worn by hip young women and girls in Japan is causing a helluva lot of accidents - and at least a few deaths.

Friday, November 26 1999

ahref.com article: How DNS Works

I've written a new article for ahref.com - Domain Names II: How DNS Works. Talks about how nameservers distribute information about machine names across the Internet, and traces how your machine figures out where a target machine (targeted for a web page request or receipt of an email messages) is. Hopefully, Part III will be along soon; most likely dealing with all the "marginal" DNS players, eking out a business on the fringes of the DNS game.

The RBL: Stopping Spam

Tired of the annoying spam that constantly creeps into my mailbox, I've started using the MAPS RBL - the Mail Abuse Prevention System Realtime Blackhole List. The folks at maps.vix.com maintain a list of machines know to be friendly or neutral to spammers, and have implemented a system that lets you block all email coming from those machines. It may mean that a few legitimate users get blocked in addition to spammers; if you need to contact me but your email is bouncing, due to spam blocking or otherwise, try my feedback form; mail should get through from there.

Wednesday, November 24 1999

Racial Profiling by Cabbies

So - cabbies are in the news. Specifically, cabbies who fear for their safety, and end up not picking up black men for fear that they'll be robbed or killed. Or just won't get a big tip.

A few weeks ago, I hailed a cab in downtown Silver Spring. The driver was an immigrant from Nigeria (I asked at some point during our conversation); my parents are immigrants, but I've been Americanized to the point where people tend to think of me as just black. The driver and I started talking about racial profiling by cab drivers, and what kinds of problems he's had with passengers.

He says profiling isn't racial profiling; it's more like attitude profiling. But when I asked him, he said he's never refused to pick up a white man.

He won't pick up a lone black man between 16 and 21, no matter what he's dressed like, because he's been robbed or attacked by too many. He will pick up black men over 25 (I'm 29) cause he figures if they were hoods, they'd be dead by now.

He doesn't pick up poorly-dressed black men, either. Which makes me unhappy because it's a coin toss, when I go out dancing, as to whether I'll get all dressed up or all dressed down.

He's known fellow cab drivers who've been killed. He once picked up a young black man and woman from in front of a downtown DC club who'd been passed by 6 other cabs; he only picked them up because it was a couple, rather than the single guy. When they got to their destination, the guy pulled a gun and robbed him, taking not only his money but his green card - so that he couldn't attend his father's funeral several months later back in Nigeria. The guy wanted to kill him, but the woman kept him from doing so.

He once picked up a white guy, drove him up to Laurel, and the guy ran off without paying and never came back. For that reason, whatever your race, he won't drive you to Laurel unless you pay in advance.

He once drove a guy to Baltimore from DC; pretty hefty fare. The guy went into his apartment building to get the fare, and never came out. When the cabbie honked for about five minutes, the guy dropped a coconut out of a pretty high window onto the windshield; glass flew into the cabbie's face, and he's had trouble seeing ever since.

Recent Latino immigrants, he says, always pay; because they don't want any trouble, and don't want to get deported. Latinos who've been here a while have bad attitudes, he says, cause reporting them to the INS won't get them into any trouble.

I wonder if I'll get a different attitude from a "black" (as opposed to African) driver.

Tuesday, November 9 1999

Dr. Drew Is Right

I shouldn't be surprised - Dr. Drew of Loveline (which I used to listen to religiously before I realized that they constantly had the same 5 caller-archetypes dialing in every single night) has received major funding for his website; $7.5 million. I wonder if this means Adam Carolla will be starting a porn site anytime soon...

About this site

This is the personal web site for Edward (Ed) Piou. Consisting mainly of a blog (operational since 1999) and various photos.

Some online projects I'm working on

Politics

Charity, Non-profits...

A while ago, I decided to put my money where my mind is on a (roughly) monthly basis and give to:

Photos

Public events documented through pictures...