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Saturday, December 28 2002

My main contract

Several months ago (September 2002), Annenberg/CPB hired me again to be the main technical consultant for maintenance and development of their website, learner.org; the "projects I'm working on" area to the left now reflects this. I've been working on and off for them since 1996; they've always been my best clients.

Friday, December 27 2002

Old Newsreels Available Online

British Pathe has put over 3,500 hours of old newsreels online.

From the Wired article: "Users can download low-resolution watermarked previews from Pathe's website for free. High-resolution clips for PowerPoint-type presentations given before a limited audience can be licensed for one year for £50 (about $78); clips that will be posted on the Web are licensed for £100 (about $157)."

From the British Pathe site: "Now you are here you can preview items from the entire 3500 hour British Pathe Film Archive which covers news, sport, social history and entertainment from 1896 to 1970."

Thursday, December 26 2002

2003 cars with the best MPG stats

Courtesy of Rebecca's Pocket: MSN lists the ten 2003 model cars that currently come out on top in terms of fuel efficiency. Three hybrids (which also tend to have lower emissions) top the list.

The TDI cars in the list, despite high fuel efficiency, seem to be pretty dirty in terms of emissions.

Monday, December 23 2002

The damage copyright extensions are doing...

Why care about the various Copyright Extension Acts that Congress has passed to keep old books, films, and music out of the public domain? According to one analysis (PDF file), over 90% of the movies and books created between 1927 and 1946 are not available for viewing; because the copyright owners aren't making them available to the public. Shorter copyright terms would mean free availability of such disappeared works on the Net, making a lot more entertainment and information available to those who might find a use for it.

Dangers of Pharming

Recent incidents involving farmers in Iowa and Nebraska point out the dangers of trying to produce pharmaceuticals in farm-grown crops; in one case, a heavy hailstorm allowed genetically altered plants (plants not intended to be eaten) that were supposed to have been destroyed to survive and mix in with normal crops.

Saturday, December 21 2002

Relief from telemarketers

The FTC is drafting rules that would require telemarketers not to call people on a national do-not-call list.

Monday, December 16 2002

Debunking a (famous?) faith-healing study

Annoying Wired Magazine article: the author waits until page five of a six-page article to reveal that the experiments described in the first few pages, which seem to prove that remote prayer can heal the ill, were terribly flawed.

Saturday, December 14 2002

Poindexter to spy on Americans; so Americans spy on Poindexter

In an SFWeekly column, Matt Smith published personal contact information on Iran-Contra conspirator Admiral John Poindexter, encouraging readers to give Poindexter a call and let him know how it feels to have your privacy invaded. As a result, Poindexter's apparently no longer answering his phone, and people across the globe are publishing personal information on the guy.

A bit of info on Poindexter and Iran-Contra.

Friday, December 13 2002

German cannibal

Hard to believe: software specialist places ads looking for young men willing to die so he can eat them. He's apparently already killed and eaten at least one person, and has five other volunteers.

Another data point from the article: "February 1999: Venezuelan confesses to eating ten men and says: 'I never eat women because they have not done anything wrong'"

Monday, December 9 2002

Political donations/payoffs detailed in court documents

Political communications submitted to a court in the first case involving campaign finance reform show political parties asking for extra money in the same letters in which they detail favors politicians have done for potential donors.

Friday, December 6 2002

Really old people

Mali's 125-year-old woman: "The only thing keeping her out of the Guinness Book of Records ... is the lack of a birth certificate. But her vivid memories and firsthand accounts from the late 1800s of the West African resistance fighter Almamy Samory Toure and the arrival of French colonists, allow social workers to put her age at 125, going on 126."

World's oldest person celebrates birthday: "The oldest person in the world, Kamato Hongo, has celebrated her 115th birthday. Hongo, who sleeps for two days and stays awake for two days, slept through the morning of her birthday..."

Thursday, December 5 2002

Funny little personal site...

Zefrank.com, winner of the 2002 Webby for best personal site (People's award). Includes the "How to Dance Properly" videos.

Tuesday, December 3 2002

Identity Theft Victims Blame Lax Credit Bureau Security

Wired News on the recently-uncovered "massive" identity theft ring, and how the credit bureaus that store and sell consumer information do nothing to protect it.

MIT's OpenCourseWare

Chronicle of Higher Ed article on the beginnings of MIT's OpenCourseWare site. So far, they've got materials from 38 out of 2000 courses available online and free on the web.

Sunday, December 1 2002

Buy Nothing Day

Buy Nothing Day gets a mention on Wired News.

Parents Abuse Kids' Good Credit

Wired News on cash-strapped parents taking out credit cards in their kids' names and ruining their credit: "He says young people whose parents have money problems should consider running regular credit reports and request that the three major credit agencies notify them when new accounts are opened in their name."

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...