News

Blogs

Other stuff

Comic Strips

Radio Stations on the web

Online references

• Yahoo! Maps
• MapBlast
• Mapquest

Weblog:

Thursday, November 29 2001

EULA restricting re-sale of bundled software ruled invalid

The End-User License Agreements for a lot of software says you can't sell the software to someone else, because you don't really own it; you are licensing it. A Linux Journal article details a recent ruling in a U.S. court that when you buy software you own it, and have the right to sell it (though not pirated copies of it).

Tuesday, November 27 2001

Hybrid Visor

Many months ago, I broke my Visor Deluxe; I was getting into a cab, and it fell out of my open cargo pants pocket, at just the right moment so I could crush it between the cab door and cab body.

I bought a plain ol' Visor a few weeks after that, because I didn't think I needed the extra memory of the Deluxe; after finding cool PalmOS apps like the San Francisco BART map and Palm Reader, though, I changed my mind, and just succeeded in taking apart both Visors and attaching the 8-Meg backend of the old broken one to the display frontend of the new one. Works like a charm...

Sunday, November 25 2001

Oklahoma police chemist apparently fabricated and/or exaggerated evidence in criminal cases

"Police Chemist's Missteps Fuel Okla. Scandal": state and federal officials are investigating a police chemist's work in over 1,200 cases, due to allegations that she frequently gave false testimony to bolster prosecutions of accused criminals. The chemist (Joyce Gilchrist) gave testimony in (at least) 23 cases; defendants in 12 of the cases have already been executed.

Wednesday, November 21 2001

"A Lesson in Computer Literacy from India's Poorest Kids"

Business Week article: "He took a PC connected to a high-speed data connection and imbedded it in a concrete wall next to NIIT's headquarters in the south end of New Delhi..."

"What he discovered was that the most avid users of the machine were ghetto kids aged 6 to 12, most of whom have only the most rudimentary education and little knowledge of English. Yet within days, the kids had taught themselves to draw on the computer and to browse the Net. Some of the other things they learned, Mitra says, astonished him."

Tuesday, November 20 2001

More stories from ex-MTV VJ Adam Curry...

A story about getting on his knees with Linda and Paul McCartney, and a story about Michael Jackson standing on a crate so he could look taller than Adam on TV.

Sunday, November 18 2001

"None Jailed Appear Linked to Attacks"

LA Times article on the people detained post-9/11 on suspicion of being involved in that, or possible future, attacks: "Nine weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, federal authorities said Thursday that they have found no evidence indicating that any of the roughly 1,200 people arrested in the United States played a role in the suicide hijacking plot."

Interesting quote towards the end: "Moussaoui, the fourth prime suspect, first aroused suspicion when he reportedly told flight instructors in Minnesota that he only wanted to learn how to fly a plane, not to take off or land...
"But on Wednesday, FBI Director Robert Mueller said Moussaoui actually told flight school officials just the opposite of what had been reported--that he only wanted to learn to take off and land commercial jets, not fly them."

Tuesday, November 13 2001

"Roman Catholic bishops elects first black president"

Really a two-part story.

Part 1, first paragraph:

"The group that serves as the collective voice of the nation's Roman Catholic bishops elected its first black president Tuesday, Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill."

"The election comes during a four-day meeting in which the bishops are reviewing their position on the war on terrorism, acknowledging in a draft document a moral right to a military defense but warning that force alone is not the answer."

Wednesday, November 7 2001

"$5 Billion Exxon Damages Award Overturned"

A 3-judge panel decided that the $5 billion jury award against Exxon (now ExxonMobil) for the Exxon Valdez oil spill "which polluted Alaska's Prince William Sound with 11 million gallons of crude oil and smeared black goo across roughly 1,500 miles of coastline" was too much and that the punitive damages against the corp must be reduced.

According to NOAA:

"Although it is 10 years past the spill, oil still remains in the impacted area; intertidal and shallow subtidal habitats are still contaminated; some species have not recovered; and the production of the ecosystem appears "out of sync" as major salmon and herring fisheries have not returned to stability."

punitive damages - "damages awarded in cases of serious or malicious wrongdoing to punish or deter the wrongdoer or deter others from behaving similarly"

Sunday, November 4 2001

"The Phantom Edit"

An underground movement has grown up around Lucas' Phantom Menace: anonymous editors are releasing re-edited versions of the movie, featuring what they view as improvements to the original (primarily through cutting scenes and changing some aspects of dialogue).

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...