Thought Log
   from the mind of ben h kram

Breakin' the Law

This is a wonderful piece on dead zones in U.S. law. Tolerated violation of laws is a facinating topic to me. It certainly weakens the system.

This has some wonderful insight into illegal versus legal drug use, copyright infringement and pornography.

US States

I admit it; my geography isn't fantastic. I can put most of the US states on the map, but I've lived my life on the east coast, and I get a little vague in the mid-west and west. I do have some clue - I've driven cross country a couple of times, but after playing US state tetris, I'm getting much, much better.

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse

This is certainly one of the more interesting and useful online tools I've come across.

Would you like to know what the US Government is actually up to?

US Students Funneling Money
This BBC article on the Sallie Mae buyout has a very interesting choice of picture.
  Posted at 06:33:20 | # | 0 Comments    

But What of the Children

I was astonished to read this passage in a BBC article today "Judge overturns US web porn law":

"It is not reasonable for the government to expect all parents to shoulder the burden to cut off every possible source of adult content for their children, rather than the government's addressing the problem at its source," government lawyer Peter D Keisler wrote following the four-week hearing, the Associated Press news agency reported.

I do not think that our government is responsible for babysitting our children. I do expect parents to shoulder the burden of being aware and selective of what their children experience.

In our media and marketing rich society, it is tough parenting. There are so many influences to draw children's attention to and away from. We teach them ideals and morals, and try to shield them from harm. The Internet has plenty of material inappropriate for children. So does downtown Boston. The Internet has given us almost magical access to information and media, and choosing to bring it into one's home carries a huge responsibility to monitor and guide.

Yesterday, I heard a speaker on NPR talking about the portrayal of a young boy's dubious manner toward an older (16) girl on the Disney show The Suite Life of Zock & Cody. In brief, he was very sexually directed, for a pre-adolescent. The speaker was surprised by the content, but he was aware of it because when his kid watched TV, he was there too. He'd read a book or watch.

It isn't surprising to me that, Disney, a company who's core PR is their wholesomeness, has targeted content with some questionable role models. But it does surprise me that Mr. Keisler expects the Internet, the free speech arcade mall of the world, not to have questionable content.%

Journalist Josh Wolf Still Imprisoned

Josh Wolf, an independant journalist and video blogger is still in a federal prison after over 170 days. His crime: refusing to single out and identify people protesting the G8 summit on July 8, 2005 and turn over his video footage of the protest.

There's a very informative interview with him on Democracy Now. Josh speaks well, thoughtfully and provocatively.

Part of what is so terrifying about this is that he should be protected by the Californal Shield Law, but there is some dodgy logic about State Police cars being purchased with federal funds being used to try him in a federal court, outside the jurisdiction of California. Even then, the federal prosecutors are denying that he's a journalist. As Josh said:

I think it's a very scary idea that the US Attorney, the Justice Department, the government prosecution feels that they can determine who is and isn't a journalist. I think that's the first step towards state-sanctioned journalism, and I think it also is indicative of a world almost a 1984 Orwellian world that I don't think we want to live in. As far as whether or not Ialist in my imagination, the New York Times has said I'm a journalist. The Society of Professional Journalists has awarded me an award as a journalist. Countless media outlets have said I'm a journalist. So if it's my imagination and other journalists' imagination, then who decides what is and isn't a journalist? The government?

Design and Flash

A few years ago, my attention was draw to a flash-based game called Samorost. It is an adventure/puzzle game. It certainly is entertaining, but what makes it special is the imagery used. It was produced by Amanita Design, a Czech company focusing on games, animations and web design.

Amanita used out of scale, rich found and forest photographs for objects and scenes in their game. The little adventurer you pilot treks through huge mossy logs and flies a rusting can. It looks strange and beautiful.

It appears as though Amanita is seeking some commercial game market - the sequel to Samorost, Samorost 2, is mostly available for free online, but if you wish to play chapter 2, there's a small, reasonable fee.

An Ode to Brett

Just a little poem for my friend Brett.

An Ode to Brett
        by Ben H Kram

In my morning's daze - I awoke to a sight
Encompassing my bed - in the morning's light,
assaulting my sleeping chamber like spies -
were hundreds of angry, paisley ties.
They writhed with malice and curled with glee
knotting themselves threateningly.
They circled the bed, flicking the edge,
rearing up to peer o'er that wooden ledge.
I screamed like a girl, and clutched tight my sheets,
as firsthand I learned how a cravat eats.
They nibbled my toes, like sampling hor'doerves;
they munched on the skin, they gnawed on the nerves.
In pain I cried out, as one jabbed at my eye,
when suddenly appeared, my jet black bow-tie.
It dove through the masses; jabbing and cutting,
kicking each paisley, and all those abutting.
They fled in a panic, fighting to get clear,
while the bow-tie stood aloof, comfortingly near.
My wounds now dressed, much wiser am I
when selecting the colors and styles of ties.

Sweden

I've seen some interesting tourism marketing campaigns, but this is funny, as well as technically clever.

You can customize your own ad for yourself inviting you to visit the country.

MacBook Pro Buzz

The buzz on my MBP is beginning to worry me. I'm pretty sure it is a cooling fan failing.

If you like you can listen to it here. That's recorded off the MBP's own internal mic. You probably need to turn it up a bit to hear it clearly - I didn't futz with the gain. It reminds me of a Tomahawk.

Gender-Neutral Pronoun FAQ
This FAQ is enlightening. Now I can begin to understand such neologisms as "sie, hir, hir, hirs, hirself" and "zie, zir, zir, zirs, zirself".
  Posted at 07:33:37 | # | 0 Comments    

PoCo::Client::SOAP?

While there is a very useful PoCo::Server::SOAP, there isn't a PoCo::Client::SOAP module on CPAN. Reading the guts of SOAP::Lite and SOAP::Transport::HTTP::Client, it becomes pretty clear why. The send_receive() call needs to be broken in half to work with POE's state model. And SOAP::Transport expects that call to return!

Essentially, I need to start in the POE context, run some code I don't have control over, have it run some code I do have control over, which jumps back to the POE context. Then, at some other point in the POE code (when the HTTP response comes back from, say, PoCo::Client::HTTP), I return to the place I left off in a SOAP::Transport with the newly returned HTTP::Response object, and the call returns.

Yeek! But it may be possible with signals, and in particular with POE's kinda fake signals. It would be nice to have this class without totally rewriting SOAP::Lite.

Sustainable Dance Club

This is a neat piece of conceptual art. Two groups, "Enviu - innovators in sustainability - and Döll - studio for the art of building - have developed the Sustainable Dance Club together."

Environmental partying!

The Man Who Saved the World

This is an incredible story about Colonel Stanislav Yefgrafovich Petrov, who, on September 26th, 1983, didn't blow up the world.

TLAPD
It is Talk Like a Pirate Day While some of you are "AAAaaarrr"ing and "Yarr"ing, I'm typing.
  Posted at 11:25:17 | # | 0 Comments    

MA Police Lose Bomb During Drill

This happened last week and is very uninspiring. In short, state police had a bomb stiffing drill at Logan Airport - kind of like an Easter Egg hunt with plastic explosives and dogs. One of the bombs was hidden inside some car's bumper, and the Massport employee returned to their car and drove away. Looks like it fell off...somewhere...

Burningman - your talent resource

This is an interesting article about uniquely talented people at Burningman, sent to me by my friend cris.
  Posted at 07:37:34 | # | 0 Comments    

Harvard Law Course on Second Life

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society is breaking ground by offering a course through Second Life.

I remember back in high-school stumbling on a MUD that strove to be a virtual university. I believe they were trying to get accredited. There were "chalk boards" and classrooms. If one was comfortable with a CLUI, and accustomed to MUDs and text adventures, it was an effective environment.

Second Life may be more accessible. Not only are most people more comfortable in a visual environment, but there are a great number of people accustomed to software games that look similar. That being said, the MUD University took a lot less bandwidth.

I am interested in this experiment for two reasons. I am fascinated with Second Life, and because the course is being offered jointly through my own center.

Our biggest health fear

...shouldn't come as any surprise.

As much as smoking and drinking aren't doing one's body any favours, it looks like lack of exercise and sleep are the top health concerns. Lifestyle has the most powerful role in one's health. Of course, this is a double edged sword. Small, consistant behaviours can have incredible benefits as well. Taking even 10 minutes to stretch is great if you do it every day.
  Posted at 07:29:18 | # | 0 Comments    

Designers vs. Developers
Here is the The Real Reason Designers Don't Contribute To Open Source. Too true to laugh too much.
  Posted at 13:22:40 | # | 0 Comments