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$35 tablet computer changes everything

The idea that everything costs a lot of money has been a constant in the United States for way too long. Only this concept would account for very boring hamburgers costing about $4.00 at today’s fast food restaurants – an amount of money that people in quite a few countries work all day to earn. Hidden costs are built into so many of the items sold in the States and for some reason, America is willing to pay them.

The $4.00 fast food burger price, for example, represents the collective cost of the burger you bought plus the other one (or two) tossed into the garbage because nobody after about 15 minutes of sitting under the heat lamp they are declared inedible. Add to the waste cost franchise fees, national advertising fees, licensing and advertising costs and you can see clearly that you’re not paying much for your burger, but you sure as heck are paying for everything that burger represents in the consumer maketplace. read more

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Facts need wider acceptance

Have you ever introduced a group of people to information new to them and found your audience going to sleep on you? I’ve noticed that when introducing people to facts which challenge their assumptions about “how things work”, or simply an overabundance of data which is completely outside of what they’ve been accustomed to experience or think about, they my audience may nod right off to sleep on me.

Important scientific studies are apparently identifying some of the reasons that our minds reject facts that are incompatible with our beliefs and experiences, or are so new we haven’t yet figured out what to do with them. read more

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Gulf oil spill changes ecology consciousness

Phil Greenspun always shares germane and interesting observations in his public writing. Here’s a doozy . .

After the big Gulf oil spill, though, I’m beginning to wonder if a soda can in a Massachusetts landfill has any significance. The U.S. has millions of environmentally-conscious citizens. We probably have close to a million people involved in complying with various environmental laws and regulations. Yet we’ve just destroyed the ecology of the world’s ninth largest body of water, 660 quadrillion gallons (6.6 x 10^18) of water. This was home to sea life for 300 million years before we came along and trashed it. Will it be possible to summon up any outrage the next time we see an SUV driver throwing a cigarette out the window? read more

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Danger not equal to crisis+opportunity

Chinese language professor Victor H. Mair at U Penn writes,

“There is a widespread public misperception, particularly among the New Age sector, that the Chinese word for “crisis” is composed of elements that signify “danger” and “opportunity.” . . . A whole industry of pundits and therapists has grown up around this one grossly inaccurate statement. A casual search of the Web turns up more than a million references to this spurious proverb. . . This catchy expression (Crisis = Danger + Opportunity) has rapidly become nearly as ubiquitous as The Tao of Pooh and Sun Zi’s Art of War for the Board / Bed / Bath / Whichever Room.” read more

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AIDS Walk in memory of my brother

My cousin Jill Judson has a team in AIDS Walk Boston on June 6 2010 in honor of my brother Jared, who died of AIDS. If you are able, please support Jill with a donation. Visit the team page for more information or visit “JILLElizabeth Judson directly to make your donation via the internet or by mail.

Apparently, Jill has participated in the AIDS walk every year for the past 5 or 6 years. This is remarkable commitment for anyone, and considering that Jill struggles with physical issue of her own which make walking far a challenge for her, it is really the most lovely and loving tribute. As you can see, there are several other members on Jill’s team helping to make this march. read more

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DA investigates Gizmodo guy over iPhone

Oops. Seems like Gizmodo Editor Jason Chen is in plenty hot water for publishing details about Apple’s new 4G iPhone before the official company release date. It seems that an Apple employee took the phone with him to a bar, left it behind, and Gizmodo bought it for between $5 and $10,000 dollars from the person who found it. Apparently, that’s not a good thing to do in California.

The District Attorney seized Chen’s computers but haven’t begun to search through them. Gizmodo’s attorneys filed a lawsuit claiming that Chen should be protected from investigation by California’s Shield Laws and TechCrunch reports the San Mateo district attorney has put the investigation on hold while they review the laws. read more

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The Crime of Reason

Robert B. Laughlin, Department of Physics at Stanford University gave this talk at the Xerox PARC Forum on October 23, 2008.

There is increasing concern about the disappearance of technical knowledge from the public domain, both on grounds that is presents a security danger and because it is economically valuable “Intellectual Property”. I argue that this development is not anomalous at all but a great historic trend tied to our transition to the information age. We are in the process of losing a human right that all of us thought we had but actually didn’t–the right to learn things we can and better ourselves economically from what we learn. Increasingly, figuring things our for yourself will become theft and terrorism. Increasingly, reason itself will become a crime. read more

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Landline loss can hurt elderly, disabled and low-income families

AT&T is now pushing for the FCC to relieve telephone carriers of the expense of maintaining copper phone lines and the POTS (plain old telephone service) that goes along with it – traditional phone service known today as “landlines”.

It’s worthwhile noting that low-income families, seniors and people with disabilities receive protection of their essential utility services, including POTS under fcc regulations. But VOIP falls under the bailiwick of broadband internet connectivity, which is not regulated by the government, so those protections would not be in place for these vulnerable individuals and families should they lose their POTS. read more

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Family sues school for spying on student

In a tale that mirrors the crushing privacy violations and vitriolic penal environment of Delores Umbridge in Harry Potter’s world, high school administrators in the Lower Merion School District of Pennsylvania used school issued computers, and software supposedly installed to protect students, to invade the privacy of the students homes and family lives.

Installed webcams were activated to spy on students and their families. This blew up in their face when a school administrator disciplined one student for “engaging in improper behavior in his home,” (that’s the language used in the family’s lawsuit) – and had the audacity to back her claim up by showing the photograph the webcam took of the Robbins boy as evidence. read more

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Microsoft v. Brazilian official – for moving to drop Windows

People ask me why I won’t let my kids buy an XBox. I explain our family policy: “Our family doesn’t support Microsoft. In any way.” Many hearing this think my view is seriously radical (not to mentioned extremely flawed). After all, XBox graphics are great and the games are cheap. “But, buying a kids’ gaming system? That’s not supporting a company!”

“To you it isn’t, which is completely fine. But to me, it is,” I reply. “Microsoft manufactures XBox, so my boys can’t have one.” read more

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Internet “Driver’s Licenses” – a very, very bad idea

An ‘incredibly dangerous concept’

In several articles written in his typically clear style, internet user advocate Lauren Weinstein explains why he opposes the idea of ‘Internet Driver’s Licenses’, which he refers to as an, “incredibly dangerous concept. . . . I’m disappointed, though not terribly surprised,” Lauren comments, “especially in light of Microsoft’s explicit continuing support of Chinese censorship against human rights — to hear a top Microsoft executive pushing a concept that is basic to making the Internet Police State a reality.” He frames his opposition in an earlier article(January 2010). read more

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10 Stupidest Laws

Geeks From Down The Street gives us this great list

  • Top 10 Stupid Laws
  • In China you have to be smart to go to college
  • In Ontario its illegal to climb trees.
  • In Nova Scotia it’s illegal to water your lawn when its raining.
  • In Australia a life sentence is 25 years
  • In Alaska it’s illegal to break a law.
  • In New York you can get fined for flirting
  • In Scotland if someone knocks your door you have to let them use your toilet.
  • In Alabama its illegal to drive blindfolded.
  • In Ohio it’s illegal to get a fish drunk.
  • In New York the penalty for jumping off a building is death.
    • read more

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    Cellphones Save Marriages?

    Today I came out of the supermarket and headed towards my car. A couple in their 50s were pushing a cart just ahead of me. I noticed them particularly because they were conversing in fairly loud voices. I was parked right next to the cart return kiosk and as I offloaded my bags the woman headed towards the kiosk and me to return a cart.

    It was odd that the woman kept talking to her companion as she walked away from their car – where he was offloading bags too – but she never raised the level of her voice. Then I noticed that the guy, now with his head half into their black SUV, was talking too. Also not loud enough for myself or the woman, who was now almost next to me, to hear. Especially since she continued to talk steadily in a conversational voice all the time that she walked. read more

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    “White supremacy” groups alive & well in north Jersey

    Although some mainstream newspapers have given this matter a bit of coverage, it remains a little-known fact that the white supremacy movement is alive and well in northern New Jersey.

    A Village Voice article describes the experience of an undercover reporter who got himself invited in 2007 to attend a “white power” event that was held in Elmwood Park, New Jersey.

    . . .white supremacist groups around the country had called for “patriot” get-togethers over the three-day weekend. The one organized for the New York area included a Saturday barbecue and a Sunday visit to “the incomparable Metropolitan Museum of (White) Art.” read more

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    Intellectual property rights hold back scientific advances

    Sir John Sulston, Nobel Laureate, explains a phenomenon which merits thoughtful consideration.

    Ownership rights pose a real danger to scientific progress for the public good

    The idea of ownership is ubiquitous. Title deeds establish and protect ownership of our houses, while security of property is as important to the proprietors of Tesco and Sainsbury’s as it is to their customers. However, there is a profound problem when it comes to so-called intellectual property (IP) – which requires a strong lead from government, and for which independent advice has never been more urgently required. The David Nutt affair has illustrated very well the importance of objective analysis of complex social issues. read more