Author: Stan

The original article I linked to (no longer available) claimed that the US infrastructure was at greater risk from our own government’s lack of foresight and neglect than from terrorists. And also mentioned the American Society of Civil Engineers Estimate that it would take $1.6 trillion just to bring America’s infrastructure up to a grade of B! That was over 14 years ago and still hasn’t been addressed. You may remember Trump pledged a $1 trillion national infrastructure program, but never delivered.

Here’s a new article, from the same source, of a similar nature: “Why new Infrastructure is a national imperative”.

Wired article about “How to foil wiretaps.”

Not quite sure how I feel about this. Is it a good idea to publish this?

On the other hand, can this information be trusted? If you are a conspiracy theorist, you might argue that this information was published at the government’s request. Maybe it’s really a way to tag calls that makes it easier for the government to know which ones they want to listen to? Or is our government really organized well enough to pull that off?

Hard to know – one way or another.

New Danish study says cell phones don’t cause cancer.

See the TechDirt article.

Interestingly, David Byrne (you remember him don’t you? of Talking Heads fame?) had a run-in with the RIAA the other day.

Seems he operates an internet “radio” site that streams music, with a new playlist each month. Last month his playlist was of all one artist. As he explains in his blog, he received a warning letter informing him that for his current flat licensing fee, he can play one artist no more the 4 times in a 3-hour period. If he wants to play any one artist more often, he would have to start paying individual royalties for everything he plays.

Byrne quotes Lawrence Lessig’s estimate that for 20,000 listeners, operating 24 hours a day, Byrne would end up having to pay over a million dollars a year. What’s particularly strange about that is true radio stations pay not one dime in royalties and instead are actually paid to play certain music. Since payola is illegal, how is that possible? By the insertion of a middleman, the independent record promoter. The record promoter pays the radio station for the right to control their playlist and the record companies pay the promoter to include their CDs/artists on his playlist.

The unanswered question: how is internet “radio” any less promotional than true radio? Perhaps it’s the uncertainty of the location and makeup of the audience. With a radio station, you know the station’s range and the demographics of the listeners within that range. What do you know about who “tunes in” on the internet?

Yet another reason to be careful what you eat…
A company in Spokane, Washington has developed a plant that releases a text message during the 7 to 10 days it germinates, that shows on the plant’s bud. Marketed as the Amazing Message Plant, “I love you” is their initial launch, but they plan on doing kids’ names and promotional items.
Let’s see…”Water me!!!” might be nice.
And I suppose it’s not far from this to the development of a new kind of tattoo for people.

Well, it finally happened. Just like the invention of calculus, there are times when circumstances are just right to lead to important breakthroughs in science, frequently by more than one person at the same time. This time: the handbag.
 
A good friend of mine had this idea, maybe 8 or 10 years ago, but never could get it to market. Just like Rosanna Kilfedder, a 24-year old design student at London’s Brunel University, he noticed young ladies in nightclubs and other dark environments using lighters, mobile phones, etc. to try to find something in their purse. What’s particularly clever about Rosanna’s solution is instead of an actual bulb, her SunTrap handbags use an electroluminescent lining and a solar cell is built right into the bag.
As a bonus, the purse’s internal battery can be used to charge your mobile phone or PDA, too! They’ll be on sale on her web site in the near future.

My nephew and some of his friends ran a lemonade stand this weekend. All the proceeds went to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
They called it, naturally enough, Lemon-Aid. Despite the fact that their sign asked for “dontations”, they raised over $400.
I’m really proud of them.
And their parents, too, for teaching them while still so young, that they can make a difference.