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Thursday, March 27 2003

FOIA

DOJ's FOIA page.

CITIZEN'S GUIDE ON USING THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT.

Neither the FBI nor the media are obligated to be truthful

The FBI is not required to ensure that data in its national crime database is accurate. (So if they've falsely got you listed as a terrorist, they can't be held liable when you're incarcerated and tried by secret tribunal.)

And courts have found that "there is absolutely nothing illegal about lying, concealing or distorting information by a major press organization."

Cow Manure as Renewable Energy

A Minnesota farmer, Dennis Haubenschild, is using manure from his 800 cows to power an electricity generator; he generates enough electricity to power his entire farm and sell energy to about 80 homes near his farm.

Mac Web Browser comparison

O'Reilly Network has a review of the main Macintosh OS X web browsers: Safari and Camino. Verdict: which to use depends on what you want.

Note that both Camino and Safari are still essentially beta software.

Wednesday, March 26 2003

Pro-War Rallies Actually Corporate-Organized

Apparently Clear Channel Communications, the radio giant that has destroyed independent radio stations nationwide, homogenized what you hear on the radio and strong-armed music artists for years, whose vice chairman made George Dubya Bush a multi-millionaire by buying the Texas Rangers from him, is losing money hand-over-fist, has banned many pro-peace songs (and the Dixie Chicks) from its airwaves, and more, has been using its network of radio stations to organize the "pro-war" rallies that we've been hearing about in the news.

"We should have realized that this is a two-way street: if politicians are busy doing favors for businesses that support them, why shouldn't we expect businesses to reciprocate by doing favors for those politicians — by, for example, organizing 'grass roots' rallies on their behalf?"

Tuesday, March 25 2003

LotR Tribute Band

Craigslist ad seeking 2 humans, 1 elf, 1 dwarf, and maybe a wizard to form a Lord of the Rings tribute band.

Against Disruptive War Protests

A lot of anti-war people apparently aren't happy about the disruptive protests, after all. Seems like the "no-business-as-usual" protests are going to stop.

Saturday, March 22 2003

Saddam's Real Name

CTV.ca has a good article explaining Saddam Hussein's full name, what each part means, and how you to pronounce Saddam.

Friday, March 21 2003

War Protests

I don't know how much play it's getting nationally (well, looking at CNN's and MSNBC's front pages online, they don't mention it at all), but San Francisco appears to be having (or have had) the largest and most disruptive of the U.S.-based anti-war protests. Over 1,000 protesters arrested yesterday for blocking intersections, stopping traffic, staging die-ins and throwing up on the buildings of corporations who've been handed rebuild-Iraq-for-America contracts; and also, in some cases, breaking windows, overturning newspaper kiosks, etc.

People I've talked to here in San Francisco are generally sympathetic to the protesters; their reactions to the protests range from "more power to 'em" to "as long as they don't stop me from getting to work." On TV broadcasts, though, you'll see SUV drivers getting pissed off that city streets were impassable yesterday.

Why are "black bloc" protesters destroying property and inconveniencing the people of this fine city? One of the area's fine papers has an interview with four black bloc members about what they hope to accomplish. And news/opinion from the anti-war, pro-peaceful-protest contingent.

I did manage to take some pictures of protesters Thursday afternoon; but I didn't get too close, as I didn't want to be swept up in the roundup. (The cops kept telling everyone that if they didn't want to get arrested, to stay off the street.) Not as interesting as the pics from the legal protests from the last few months.

For extensive coverage of both the protests and the war, see http://sf.indymedia.org/features/antiwar/, the local IndyMedia site (which seems to be unreachable right now).

Thursday, March 20 2003

Enron-style accounting at the White House

Looks like the Office of National Drug Control Policy is shifting numbers around to make the War on Drugs look less costly as it is.

Riverworld - oh, yeah

It looks like a lot of things will be changed - the hero is a 21st century astronaut instead of Sir Richard Francis Burton (19th century explorer, translator of the Kama Sutra and the Arabian Knights, etc.), there are land animals around (horses?), everyone speaks the same language (instead of having to learn each others' languages in the books), etc. - but the SciFi Channel is adapting Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld series into a 2-hour movie. The first two books, anyway.

I suppose the plot and character changes are understandable; but I'm wondering why they didn't give Riverworld the same mini-series treatment they've given Dune. Hopefully they can do it justice.

Philip Jose Farmer's official web page.

Tuesday, March 18 2003

March 15 San Francisco Anti-War Rally Pictures

253 pictures from the March 15, 2003, Anti-War rally in San Francisco. Unlike the previous 2 I went to, this one walked from Civic Center, up Hayes (I think it was Hayes) to Webster, then down to Buchanan Park. Seemed a lot less crowded than the January march; maybe around the same size as the February one.

People seemed more quiet, too; maybe they were tired from the uphill climb.

Sunday, March 16 2003

Independent Online Journo Raising Cash for Iraq Trip

Interesting concept, covered by a Wired News article: journalist Christopher Allbritton is raising money online to fund his independent reporting on the coming war in Iraq, which he will provide from the ground in Iraqi Kurdistan. He won't be working for any newspapers or broadcasters, just posting stories to his website/weblog. Those who donate money (he's raised almost $4000 so far) will get advance copies of the stories and pictures, and also encouraged to give feedback on what kinds of stories he should report on.

Saturday, March 15 2003

Bush and Blair's Duet

Apparently, George Bush and Tony Blair enjoy a very close working relationship, as this "Endless Love" duet (mpeg movie) indicates. Also available at the original site.

Thursday, March 13 2003

Sleep

Dr. Dement, a pioneer in the field of sleep research, has "deliver[ed] the final lecture of his 40-year teaching career."

Unfortunately, I didn't take his class while at Stanford; if I had, I might not have had my enjoyment of life hampered for the 10 years it took till I found out I had a sleep disorder. I highly recommend his book The Promise of Sleep; not just for those who think they might have sleep disorders, but for general information about getting good, healthy sleep.

Wednesday, March 12 2003

Wells Fargo to pay reparations to Holocaust survivors

Wells Fargo will pay reparations that it owes Jewish survivors of the Holocaust because:

"Wells inherited the liability of First Interstate Corp. First Interstate's predecessor acquired a small Belgian bank in the 1950s. That Belgian bank, Credit Union of Brussels, held some disputed Jewish-owned deposits."

Andrew Hacker, Mismatch

There's a decent interview with Andrew Hacker over at Salon.com, about his book Mismatch: The Growing Gulf Between Women and Men. He comes off as pretty behind-the-times; the themes of the book seem to be thoughts that are obvious to most under-35 (I can't say under-30 anymore) urban singles and couples, as told by someone who grew up when sexual politics were very different and hasn't really paid attention to popular culture; i.e., he seems surprised at today's trends.

Thursday, March 6 2003

Doug Naylor of Red Dwarf

The SciFi Channel's got an interview with Doug Naylor of Red Dwarf, about the Season 1 and 2 DVDs and the movie that's gonna come out.

Wednesday, March 5 2003

White History Year Resumes

From The Onion:

"White History Year will also be commemorated on television, with various networks airing special programming recognizing whites' contributions to society. The History Channel will set aside the Tuskegee Airmen documentaries that have dominated its schedule throughout February, instead presenting programs on Chuck Yeager, the white man who broke the sound barrier, and Paul Revere, a key white figure in the nation's fight for independence from England."

Tuesday, March 4 2003

Paris' new album: "Sonic Jihad"

Paris, the "Black Panther of Rap," is coming out with a new album. The cover: a plane about to crash into the White House.

He's got a pretty good website. And Charles Isbell has some good reviews of his first and second albums.

Experimental Pill Puts Menstruation on Hold

Plans to market a birth-control pill, and schedule for taking it, to suppress menstrual cycles:

"When the Pill was developed in the late 1950s, researchers decided to administer it in 21 pills containing hormones followed by seven placebo pills to mimic the normal four-week cycle. That decision was prompted not because it would make the Pill safer or more effective, but because researchers thought women would be more likely to use it if they still had their menstrual period each month. Some thought, erroneously, that the Catholic church might be more likely to accept the Pill if it maintained the 'natural' cycle of menstruation.

"In the ensuing decades ... Women simply skipped the seven placebo pills in every pack and never menstruated. Today, some women use pills to skip their periods just for convenience."

Saturday, March 1 2003

Battlestar Galactica to air again

The Sci-Fi Channel is going to produce and air a new 4-hour Battlestar Galactica miniseries.

"The beloved Battlestar gets a modern twist when SCI FI re-imagines the groundbreaking series..."

Much as I loved the old series, ever since Tim Burton "re-imagined" the old Planet of the Apes, I haven't liked that word...

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...