Apathetic Lemming of the North

Twitter Censorship: Choosing Half a Loaf?

2012-01-30T07:57:00.150-06:00

"Twitter Switches on the Censors"
Alyssa Danigelis, Tech News, Discovery News (January 28, 2011)

"The social networking site Twitter finds itself between a rock and a hard place in foreign countries where speech isn't always free. On the one hand, Twitter's leadership doesn't want the whole site banned in those countries. On the other, what's a dictatorial government going to do with a social networking site that helps stir up civil dissent? The answer: Ban it. But that's not good for business.

"So the site that helped fuel the Arab Spring last year and briefly brought Iranian protests to the fore in 2009 just announced that it's going to start dancing with the censorship devil. In the past, if a tweet had to be removed from the site for legal reasons -- usually copyright infringement -- it was taken down universally. Now, the tweet can be taken down from one country and still seen by tweeters in other countries...."

'It can't happen here?' America has a pretty good track record for allowing citizens to voice opinions. McCarthyism and the heyday of political correctness are, in the Lemming's opinion, not examples of 'business as usual' in this country.

On the other hand, Congress almost took control of the comics industry. That was the early 1950s:

"The Horror! Monster Comics that Scared Congress"
(October 31, 2010)

'Public morals' might still work as an excuse to muzzle dissent: although the Lemming thinks that sort of censorship would now be packaged as 'saving the children.' We had a close call about a year ago, when controlling search engine results was marketed as "search neutrality."

This year, the line was "piracy." So far, Congress seems to have decided to wait until folks forget about SOPA and PIPA. Maybe the Lemming's being unfair.

"Different Ideas About ... Freedom"

"...'As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression. Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there,' the announcement from Twitter says.

"Any time a tweet is censored, the company says it will notify the person who tweeted it and describe the removal on a Twitter-specific section of ChillingEffects.org...."

There's a joke that was old when the Soviet Union turned into Russia, and a lot of smaller countries. Several, actually, but this one almost applies to Twitter and censorship:

An American and a Russian were comparing their countries. The American said his was better, because Americans have freedom of speech. "I could stand in front of the White House and say, 'the president is stupid!' "

"Ha," replied the Russian. "We also have freedom of speech! I could stand in front of the Kremlin and say, 'the American president is stupid!' "

Like Twitter said, some countries "have different ideas about ... freedom of expression."

Half a Loaf?

Ideally, no country's government would try to keep its citizens from voicing their opinions. But we don't live in an ideal world.

The Lemming thinks that the "half a loaf is better than none" principle applies here. Twitter is probably taking a sensible approach: allowing people in tightly-managed countries access to some service.

In the Lemming's opinion, folks are pretty good at communicating: even when their 'betters' don't want them to. 'Songs of the underground railroad' and spirituals may or may not have been a case in point. The lack of written evidence may be connected to the reason that "composer of jazz" is pretty close to being an oxymoron. And that's another topic.

Songs

Somewhere, some time since folks started working the bugs out using fire without killing themselves, there may have been a culture without music. If so, the Lemming suspects that they didn't last long: and left precious few traces. But that's just an opinion.

A fair number of folks have valued songs for over two dozen centuries:

"Among all men on the earth bards have a share of honor and reverence, because the muse has taught them songs and loves the race of bards."
Homer, The Odyssey (Greek epic poet (800 BC - 700 BC))

"Of all noises, I think music is the least disagreeable."
Samuel Johnson (English author, critic, & lexicographer (1709 - 1784))

Not everybody sees music quite the same way:

"The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, 'Is there a meaning to music?' My answer would be, 'Yes.' And 'Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?' My answer to that would be, 'No.' "
Aaron Copland (US composer (1900 - 1990))

"A musicologist is a man who can read music but can't hear it."
Sir Thomas Beecham (English conductor (1879 - 1961))

Wrenching himself back on-topic, the Lemming offers:

Freedom and Other Inconveniences

"The basis of a democratic state is liberty."
Aristotle, Politics (Greek critic, philosopher, physicist, & zoologist (384 BC - 322 BC))

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759 (US author, diplomat, inventor, physicist, politician, & printer (1706 - 1790))

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."
Thomas Jefferson, to Archibald Stuart, 1791 (3rd president of US (1743 - 1826))

"If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other."
Carl Schurz (US (German-born) general & politician (1829 - 1906))

"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered."
G. K. Chesterton (English author & mystery novelist (1874 - 1936))

"The First Amendment is often inconvenient. But that is besides the point. Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech."
Justice Anthony Kennedy, in 91-155 (US jurist (1936 - ))

And that's yet another topic.

Related posts:

"SOPA, PIPA, and a Disapproving Rabbit"
(January 18, 2012)
"Lemming Tracks: Internet Freedom; or 'Be Careful What You Wish For' "
(April 19, 2011)
Particularly
- Freedom: Precious, and Easily Lost
"Lemming Tracks: Egypt, Google Exec Wael Ghonim, and Freedom of Speech"
(February 6, 2011)
" 'Search Neutrality:' Deciding What We're Allowed to Find?"
(January 22, 2011)
"COICA: A Federal Official Deciding Who Gets to Stay Online"
(November 19, 2010)

The Lemming Meets Cleverbot

2012-01-27T08:39:00.000-06:00

Cleverbot

"...PLEASE NOTE: Cleverbot learns from real people - things it says may seem inappropriate - use with discretion, and at YOUR OWN RISK...."

"...PARENTAL ADVICE: Visitors never talk to a human, however convincing it is - the AI knows many topics - use ONLY WITH OVERSIGHT...."

Cleverbot is an intriguing artificial intelligence that can converse with people. Here's how the Lemming's dialog with Cleverbot went:

"User: Okay, so what is Cleverbot, and what does it do?

"Cleverbot: I don't really know.

"User: Right. I suppose self-awareness is a bit much to ask at this stage.

"Cleverbot: So you don't know who aleister crowley is?

"User: I don't know aleister crowley, but I know who he is. That was a non sequitur.

"Cleverbot: So you are using me?

"User: In one sense of the word, yes.

"Cleverbot: So your christian?

"User: With a capital 'C,' yes.

"Cleverbot: Why a capital y?

"User: That's the conventional spelling. It has to do with proper names.

"Cleverbot: Really?

"User: Really.

"Cleverbot: Ookaayy.

"User: Goodbye.

"Cleverbot: Adios."

In the Lemming's opinion, it's going to be a long time before we see something like the robots and sentient computers of science fiction. HAL 9000 or C3PO, Cleverbot is not.

On the other hand, the Lemming has had conversations with real human beings that that made about as much sense. And that's another topic.

Slightly-related posts:

"Driverless Cars: Keep an Eye on Nevada"
(June 24, 2011)
"Meet Fenway the Robot, Hospital Helper"
(September 21, 2010)
"HAL 9000, Skynet, and C3PO"
Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (January 26, 2010)
"CAPTCHA Gotcha? You're not the Only One"
(March 3, 2008)
"Robot Tricks Humans Into Reading Captchas"
(February 19, 2008)

Oops: pcAnywhere, Symantec's 2006 Norton Antivirus Hacked

2012-01-26T23:36:00.004-06:00

"Norton users warned: Disable pcAnywhere"
New Zealand Herald (January 27, 2012) (it's 'tomorrow' there: International Dateline)

"Symantec is recommending that users of its pcAnywhere software disable the product following the theft of source code from the US computer security firm.

" 'At this time, Symantec recommends disabling the product until Symantec releases a final set of software updates that resolve currently known vulnerability risks,' the Mountain View, California-based company said.

"Symantec, in a technical white paper posted on the firm's website, said the vulnerability to pcAnywhere, which allows for remote PC to PC connections, is the result of a 2006 theft of source code by hackers.

" 'We believe that source code for the 2006-era versions of the following products was exposed: Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition; Norton Internet Security; Norton SystemWorks (Norton Utilities and Norton GoBack); and pcAnywhere,' Symantec said...."

That's no typo: It's the 2006 versions of Symantec products that got hacked. Apparently Symantec learned about the lapse in security recently. And - incredibly - didn't acknowledge that it was a major issue until very recently.

After last year's multiple high-profile hacks of commercial accounts, you'd think Symantec would have been a bit less diffident about telling customers what was going on.

Maybe they didn't realize how serious the problem was, themselves.

Hacks Happen

"Don't use our software, security firm Symantec warns customers"
FoxNews.com (January 26, 2012)

"Symantec is advising customers to disable one of its products, after hackers revealed the theft of the underlying code powering the software earlier this month.

The security firm said the theft occurred in 2006, compromising 2006-era version of Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition, Norton Internet Security and Norton SystemWorks. More important was the theft of the code behind the remote access package pcAnywhere, which could allow malicious users to gain complete access to systems and data, experts warn.

" 'Symantec recommends disabling the product until Symantec releases a final set of software updates that resolve currently known vulnerability risks,' the company wrote in an online statement about the hacking...."

Here's how the Lemming sees this news:

Hacks happen
- "King County Scam Email: The Lemming Got One, Too"
  (December 18, 2011)
Ignoring the problem doesn't work
- "Lemming Tracks: Bad News From Sony; and Getting a Grip"
  (May 3, 2011)
- "Sony PlayStation: No Network, No Explanation; Big Trouble"
  (April 26, 2011)
  Particularly
  - Customer Relations 101: Tell - Them - the -
    Truth
Hacks aren't always as bad as they seem
- "Citibank Card Data Hacked!! (but keep reading)"
  (June 9, 2011)

Last year, Sony tried - and failed - to placate customers by telling them that a little hack had happened, and that Sony would tell their customers if it was important.

25,000,000 compromised accounts later, Sony started acknowledging that maybe customers might care about their credit card information being in the hands of whoever had broken into Sony's databases. Not, in the Lemming's opinion, smart customer relations.

Back to that FoxNews.com article:

From 'No Worries' to 'SHUT THEM DOWN! SHUT THEM ALL DOWN!!'

"...The new advice is a marked change from earlier comments from the company, which at first downplayed the significance of the hacking, said Ira Victor, a security expert with Data Clone Labs in Nevada.

" 'At first, Symantec said that customers do not need to take additional actions in light of the breach,' Victor told FoxNews.com. 'Now Symantec has changed their tune.'

"Indeed, experts queried by FoxNews.com in January labeled the incident more of a business risk than anything else -- one that may lead to a loss of confidence in Symantec and potential loss of market share for the publicly traded firm...."
(FoxNews.com)

"Business risk?" "Loss of confidence?" Yeah, the Lemming sees how that might be the case. Maybe Symantec's techs really thought that compromised source code for antivirus software wasn't reason for concern. Maybe they even had good reason for thinking so.

Or, maybe we're looking at a company that made a major boo-boo, and whose executives are desperately hoping that no major catastrophe happens. Or has already happened.

Right now, it looks like a best-case situation for Symantec is that they've got a really big public relations problem on their hands. More seriously, Symantec's initial 'don't worry' advice turning to 'unplug our product' suggests that someone goofed: big time.

Back to that article, again:

"Embarrassing?" It Could Get Worse

"...'The headline is very embarrassing to Symantec,' Anup Ghosh, founder and CEO of Virginian security firm Invincea, told FoxNews.com at the time. 'But this has now become the normal in securities. Every single corporation is susceptible to threats.'...

"...'It's possible that Symantec "hardcoded" encryption keys into PCAnywhere,' [security expert with Data Clone Labs in Nevada, Ira] Victor said. 'If true, that would be a serious security mis-step.'..."
(FoxNews.com)

FoxNews.com ends with a four-point list from Ira Victor. It sounds like pretty good advice. Here's a summary:

Don't use a single company's "suite" of security protection
- Use 'best of' from several
Remote access security should be more than 'username and password'
Don't run computers in "Administrator" mode
Application "whitelisting" is a good idea

Bear in mind that the Lemming isn't a 'security expert.' Please: do your own research.

And remember that "password" isn't a good password.

Related posts:

"Move Over, Sony: Sega Joins 'We Were Hacked' Club"
(June 19, 2011)
"Cloud Computing, Dropbox, and the Postcard Principle"
(May 13, 2011)
"Microsoft Windows Exploit Code Went Public"
(January 4, 2011)
" 'Here You Have' - Nitwits on the Net"
(September 12, 2010)
"Google Gmail Hack: a Followup"
(January 19, 2010)

Javits Center: Green, Then Gone

2012-01-25T07:58:00.088-06:00

"Let's Raze Javits Center (but First Finish Renovations)"
Robin Pogrebin, (Thomas Kaplan contributed reporting) Art & Design, The New York Times (January 22, 2012)

"Part of architecture’s appeal, at least to architects, is posterity: the notion that what they design will last. So it came as something of a shock to the architect Bruce S. Fowle this month when he learned that a building he was renovating is already on death row.

"In his State of the State address on Jan. 4 Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced plans to demolish the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which Mr. Fowle has been working to repair and redesign for the past six years.

" 'The waste of creative energy, money and material that would result in its being torn down is painful to think about,' Mr. Fowle said during a walk through the center last week. 'When you’re worrying about every detail - trying to do the best you can to make something that represents the city - it’s like having the rug pulled out from under you.'..."

For every Parthenon that's built, there's a lot of buildings that get built for a reason, get used, and get torn down to make way for something else. looks like the Javits Center is in the latter category.

Too Small

"...Mr. Cuomo proposes replacing the Javits Center with private redevelopment that would include housing, hotels and museums, and selling or leasing the state-owned land to developers...."

"...'The day it opened it was outdated and already behind schedule,' he said in an interview with editors and writers for The New York Times last week, 'and other states had built larger facilities.'

"The Javits Center had been considered ripe for renovation almost since it opened in 1986 because it was too small for large trade shows and conventions, and many considered the dark-glass behemoth as an eyesore blocking views of the Hudson River.'..."
(The New York Times)

That 'eyesore' thing isn't a particularly good reason to tear down a building. If the Lemming's memory serves, folks were none-too-impressed with the Eiffel Tower. It was considered an eyesore when it was a tourist attraction at the 1889 Exposition Universelle. Which, despite its name, featured only exhibits from Earth. And that's another topic.

The point is, the Eiffel Tower went from eyesore to icon, and is one of those things you see on advertisements for French tourism. More topics.

A convention center that's not big enough to hold conventions? That's a problem.

Ideas: Good; Not-So-Good; and Green

The article says that government types got the idea to expand the Javits Center (good idea); and "hired a star architecture team" in 2005 to get the job done (not-so-good idea).

Maybe the Lemming's biased, but getting a "star architecture team" seems to make about as much sense as having a team of quarterbacks, or a movie with an 'all-star cast,' directed by the stars. The results could be entertaining: but this is architecture, not a glitteropolis production.

The "star architects" came up with an idea that would only cost about $1,500,000,000. That was in 2006. Their proposal would have been an improvement. Among other things, the available convention floorspace would have gone from under 800,000 square feet to over 1,0000,000,000.

Three governors and a reality check later, the project's cost was projected at around $3,000,000,000. And the project was scrapped.

Sort of. $190,000,000 got spent on the remake that's still going on, with another $150,000,000 to go before it's (supposed to be) completed in 2014.

Maybe it was money well-spent. Swapping out the building's dark glass for a clear variety, and adding a 'green' roof is supposed to boot energy efficiency by 25%. Maybe that's worth the $340,000,000-plus dollars spent, maybe not. The article doesn't say.

Considering that the Javits remake is slated for demolition after it's finished: the efficiency boost will have to save a whole lot of cash to be worthwhile.

"Not Wasted"

"...The state says these efforts have not been wasted, that they will be an important stopgap measure pending completion of a convention space in Queens...."
(The New York Times)

Part of that makes sense, to the Lemming.

Since the existing Javits Center was too small for today's conventions, and since conventions and trade shows are important economically: it made sense to expand the Javits Center. It would probably have made sense to upgrade the windows and add insulation while they were at it.

But a King-Kong-size, all-star, lalapaloozas of a green flapdoodle? Maybe not the best way to spend taxpayers' money.

Of course, the Lemming doesn't have enough information to have a sound opinion about the Javits remake's cost-effectiveness. And, not living anywhere near New York state, is a sort of backseat driver when it comes to offering advice.

Still: $340,000,000?!

Sort-of-related posts:

"Citibank Card Data Hacked!! (but keep reading)"
(June 9, 2011)
"Massive House, Massive Foreclosure: Mansion for Sale in Laguna Beach"
(September 19, 2010)
"Rogers Centre / SkyDome, Toronto, Canada"
(July 16, 2010)
"The Varma Mansion: Revisited"
(May 23, 2010)
"Solar Trees Top (Some) California Parking Lots"
(August 29, 2009)

Planets: Rocky, Smaller than Earth, Three of Them

2012-01-23T07:59:00.007-06:00

"Smallest Alien Planets, Real-Life 'Tatooines' Highlight Huge Week of Exoplanet Finds"
Denise Chow, Space.com (January 12, 2012)

"The ongoing hunt for planets beyond our solar system turned up some big results this week.

"One team of researchers found the three smallest alien planets yet detected, and another group announced two new worlds orbiting double-star systems — the real-life incarnations of the fictional planet Tatooine from 'Star Wars.' Further, yet another study determined that our Milky Way galaxy likely harbors at least 160 billion exoplanets.

"The smallest known exoplanets orbit a single star, called KOI-961, which is located about 120 light-years away. The smallest world in the three-planet system is roughly the size of Mars, researchers said...."

First off, about that "Tatoonine" thing. Kepler-35 b and Kepler-34 b each orbit double stars: sort of like Luke Skywalker's home in "Star Wars," except Kepler 35 b is the size of Saturn, and neither are particularly hospitable for life-as-we-know-it. Which the "Star Wars" Tatooine was, by comparison.

That said, this month's news about exoplanets - planets that orbit another star - makes it more likely that there's life elsewhere in the universe. Or less unlikely, anyway.

That's because the three new worlds mentioned are - probably - small and rocky. Like Earth. It's starting to look like planets more-or-less like Earth may be fairly common. Or not all that uncommon, anyway.

The three featured planets orbit KOI-961. For now, they're called KOI-961.01, KOI-961.02, and KOI-961.03. They're between the size of Mars and Earth, almost certainly rocky worlds, and orbit a star that's only about 70% wider than Jupiter.

"...'It's actually more similar to Jupiter and its moons in scale than any other planetary system,' [California Institute of Technology's John] Johnson said in a statement. 'The discovery is further proof of the diversity of planetary systems in our galaxy.'..."
(Space.com)

Exciting times.

Related posts:

"Exoplanets: Over 700 Found to Date; Latest Batch of 18 are Jupiter-Size"
(December 5, 2011)
"Gliese 581d: Rocky, Close (sort of), and Liquid Water (could be, maybe)"
(May 18, 2011)
"GJ 1214b: Water in the Atmosphere; Close; and No Vacation Destination"
(February 23, 2011)
"Kepler 11: A Tightly-Packed Planetary System"
(February 2, 2011)
"Life on Other Worlds: First, Find a Planet"
(January 1, 2011)

That's No Carp! That's a TENCH!

2012-01-20T07:55:00.001-06:00

"Tench Information"
Fish Farm UK
("Home of Staffordshire 'Supa' Carp")

"Tench
"The Tench or Doctor Fish (Tinca tinca) is a freshwater and brackish water fish of the cyprinid family found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe into Asia. It normally inhabits slow-moving freshwater habitats, particularly lakes and lowland rivers.

"Ecology
"The Tench is most often found in still waters with a clay or muddy substrate and abundant vegetation. This species is rare in clear waters across stony ground and is absent altogether from fast-flowing streams. It tolerates water with a low oxygen concentration, even being found in waters where Carp cannot survive. Tench feed mostly at night on algae and benthic invertebrates of various kinds that they root up from the bottom.

"Breeding takes place in shallow water usually among aquatic plants where the sticky green eggs can be deposited. Spawning usually occurs in summer and as many as three hundred thousand eggs may be produced. Growth is rapid and fish may reach a weight of 0.11 kg (0.25lb) within the first year.

"Morphology
"Tench have a stocky, carp-like shape, olive-green skin, darker above and almost golden below. The caudal fin is square in shape. The other fins are distinctly rounded in shape. The mouth is rather narrow and provided at each corner with a very small barbel...."

The tench isn't likely to be in the news. This unassuming fish doesn't shoot members of Congress, or occupy Wall Street. Not that any fish are likely to do that sort of thing.

It isn't endangered.

The tench isn't even particularly pushy. Which, applying the "nice guys finish last" principle, should have doomed it to extinction.

So why is this humble fish so successful?

It's durable.

The tench isn't one of your delicate critters. It will survive conditions that would kill a carp. And that's saying something.

Heat, Cold, Salt, and the Tenacious Tench

...Tench can survive water temperatures as high as 30 to 35°C [86° to 95° in Fahreneheit], oxygen concentrations less than 1 ppm, and salinities up to 12 mg/1. Although tench from northern Europe can apparently withstand temperatures close to freezing, California tench, being descended from south European populations, may not be able to withstand such low temperature. The optimum temperatures for growth seem to be between 12 and 30°C.

"Tench are rather sluggish in their movements and are not very aggressive towards other tench or towards other fishes (Sterba, 1959), earning them the reputation of 'Physician of Fishes' (Walton, 1653)..."
("Inland Fishes of California," Peter B. Moyle, (2002), via Google Books and University of California Press, page 210)

Tench: a California fish? This European import is in North America, too. So, is it an "invasive species?" That's a good question: but apparently, not. Not in the 'beware the tench' sense, anyway.

Doctor Fish Gets Around

"Tinca tinca"
USGS (United States Geological Service)

"...Distinguishing characteristics were given in Berg (1949), Scott and Crossman (1973), Muus and Dahlstrom (1978), Wheeler (1978), and Page and Burr (1991). Identification keys that include this species and photographs or illustrations were provided in a few published state fish books (e.g., Whitworth et al. 1968; Moyle 2002; Wydoski and Whitney 1979; Woodling 1985; Bond 1994). A name used in some of the early literature for this species is Tinca vulgaris.

"Size: 84 cm.

"Native Range: Most of Europe, including the British Isles, and parts of western Asia (Berg 1949)...."

"...States in which this species has been stocked or reported include Alabama (Baughman 1947); Arizona (Baughman 1947; Courtenay et al. 1991); Arkansas (Baughman 1947); California (Shapovalov 1944; Kimsey and Fisk 1964; Skinner 1972; Moyle 1976a; Wydoski and Whitney 1979; Courtenay et al. 1984, 1991; Dill and Cordone 1997); Colorado...."

Briefly, it's in 38 states. That the USGS knows of.

"...In the 1940s this species was reported to be a nuisance because of high abundance in certain parts of Maryland and Idaho (Baughman 1947). The diet consists mainly of aquatic insect larvae and molluscs (Scott and Crossman 1973). Moyle (1976a) considered it a potential competitor for food with sport fishes and native cyprinids...."

A cyprinid isn't a space alien from Star Wars. It's what ichthyologists call "soft-finned mainly freshwater fishes typically having toothless jaws and cycloid scales." (Princeton's WordNet)

Interestingly, "ichthyologist" is a word, but "ichtheologist" apparently isn't. That'd be someone who studies the worship of iches. Which is spelled itches, and that's another topic.

Tench: More Than Just a Fish

Here's a few of the world's Tenches, past and present:

John Tench
- An actor from North America
Tench (SS-417)
- U. S. Navy Submarine
Tench
- Artist on DeviantArt.com

And those are other topics.

Other fishy posts:

"Save the - Goldfish?!"
(June 16, 2011)
"Aerators in Minnesota Lakes: Good for Fish; For People, Not So Much"
(January 6, 2011)
"(Some of) Minnesota's Fishing Seasons Open"
(May 15, 2010)
"Piscatorial Pursuits - It's Not What You May Think"
(February 27, 2010)
"Family and Fishing: a Personal Blog"
(August 30, 2007)

SOPA, PIPA, and a Disapproving Rabbit

2012-01-18T11:17:00.008-06:00

You know it's serious, when a rabbit gets involved:

"We Disapprove of SOPA/PIPA"
Disapproving Rabbits (January 18, 2012)

"Hey all,

"We normally keep politics out of Disapproving Rabbits, but as people who create and sell things on the internet (and have had our work stolen), both Sharon and I feel we should join the protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect-IP Act (PIPA), which as you can probably tell by the names, are designed to fight Internet Piracy.

"We feel that the legislation goes too far, gives the government and media companies too much power, and is poorly written. You can learn more about them here, but I urge you to investigate on your own...."

Disapproving Rabbits had planned to take the site down for 24 hours, but that would have been a whole lot of work: since they use Blogger, just like the Lemming. Instead, they turned the background color to black.

Turning this blog's background to black would be trickier, since it's a bit complicated - and uses an antique Blogger template. Excuses, excuses.

SOPA may be a well-intentioned, incompetently-planned, overly-powerful bit of legislation. On the other hand, a free Internet is a serious threat to the power of old-school information gatekeepers. Maybe SOPA isn't as daft as it seems: and represents an attempt to regain control of what Americans are allowed to see and read.

I've posted about information gatekeepers before:

"Information Technology, People, and a Changing World"
Another War-on-Terror Blog (February 23, 2011)
"Blogs, Freedom of Speech, and Threats to the Status Quo"
Another War-on-Terror Blog (July 31, 2010)
"Cultural Chaos, Divisiveness, and CNN"
A Catholic Citizen in America (April 1, 2010)
"What is an Information Gatekeeper?"
Another War-on-Terror Blog (August 14, 2009)
"DC Gun Ban, Online Censorship, Individual Rights, and Power to the People"
Another War-on-Terror Blog (June 27, 2008)
- Why I don't mind people owning dangerous things like
  - Guns
  - LP gas
  - Ammonium nitrate¹
  - Anhydrous ammonia¹
  - Printing presses
  - Fax machines
  - Computers

SOPA and PIPA Google Petition: I Signed

2012-01-18T09:20:00.002-06:00

Google has an online petition today, for folks who think SOPA and PIPA are bad ideas.

I signed it.

No pressure, but if you think freedom of speech is a good idea, and live in the United States, you might consider doing the same:

"End Piracy, Not Liberty "
Google

If you click on Google's picture, you'll get a *.pdf (Acrobat) format mini-poster that prints out on an ordinary 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of paper.

Related posts:

"Lemming Tracks: SOPA, PIPA, and 'Rules are for the Little People?' "
(January 17, 2012)
"Lemming Tracks: SOPA, Censorship, and 'Protection' "
(January 13, 2012)
"Lemming Tracks: SOPA, Tech-Savvy Folks, Hollywood, and Congress"
(January 9, 2012)
"SOPA: 20 Reasons Why It's a Really Bad Idea"
(December 30, 2011)
"SOPA, Censorship, the Twits in Washington, and a Ranting Lemming"
(December 28, 2011)

Taipei 101: Shopping Center, Offices, and a 728-Ton Sculpture

2012-01-18T07:57:00.009-06:00

Taipei 101's official website (English version - www.taipei-101.com.tw/index_en.htm) May take a while to load. But once it's in your browser, you should see a cute little 3D animated critter with text balloons saying things like "Hi~~" and "Let's Green On!" They've got information for visitors, folks interested in leasing space in Taipei 101, and some 'about' pages.

"Conception"
Taipei 101 official website, English-language version

"The greatest challenge in designing a statement building is not the construction technology involved, but how the building reflects the culture in which it functions. The spirit of architecture lies in the balance between local culture and internationalism.

"In the West, a tall building demands respect and attention from the spectators. To the Asians, it symbolizes a broader understanding and anticipation of things to come: we 'climb' in order to 'see further'..."

Well. That's nice. Let's see what else the page says about the tower.

"... TAIPEI 101 Tower rises in 8 canted sections, a design based on the Chinese lucky number '8'. It is a homonym for prosperity in Chinese, and the 8 sections of the structure are designed to create rhythm in symmetry, introducing a new style for skyscrapers...."

Taipei 101's Awards page lists some of the tower's records. World's:

Highest, ground to structural top
508 meters
Ground to highest occupied floor
101 floors, 428 meters
Ground to roof
448 meters

That was in 2005, when Taipei 101 opened. Then the Burj Khalifa opened: all 160 floors, 828-plus meters of it. Granted, the top 200 meters of the Burj Khalifa is a spire.

The Burj Khalifa's World's Tallest Towers page has an interactive graphic that shows side-by-side comparisons with quite a few skyscrapers. Taipei 101 is still a pretty tall building, though.

Taipei's landmark skyscraper's architects used a 728 ton tuned mass damper to keep the tower from swaying too much. Instead of making it a strictly utilitarian hunk of stuff, they designed the mass damper as a sort of sculpture. And the Lemming posted about that before:

"Architecture Meets Physics: The Skyscraper and the Pendulum"
(June 28, 2008)

The Taipei 101 shopping mall is billed as:

"The First International Top Brand Shopping Mall in Taiwan"
"Luxury Boutiques, Fashion, and Gourmet Food"

The shopping center's floor guide is a series of interactive graphics: attractive, easy to use, and apparently quite useful for visitors. It also has an example of why translations can be tricky. These are instructions for using the guide, in English:

"Please transfer to the mouse on the picture, then knows the most detailed shop owner and the facility information."

The Lemming had no trouble understanding that. But it's not what a native speaker of English would have said.

The floor guide shows a 7-Eleven on the B1/Grand Market level, by the way. Those things are everywhere, it seems.

Somewhat-related posts:

"Shanghai World Financial Center: Amazing Architecture, a Disgruntled Dragon, and Getting a Grip"
(October 19, 2011)
"Taipei Performing Arts Center Proposal: Ordinary, This Isn't"
(March 4, 2009)
"Architecture Meets Physics: The Skyscraper and the Pendulum"
(June 28, 2008)
"The First Skyscraper (in New York, anyway)"
(October 13, 2007)
"The Foshay Tower, Minneapolis"
(October 10, 2007)

Lemming Tracks: SOPA, PIPA, and 'Rules are for the Little People?'

2012-01-17T15:25:00.000-06:00

SOPA is still working its way through Congress, sort of like a badly-cooked triple-cheese pizza.

If SOPA had been written by someone who understood information technology, and gave a rip about freedom of speech, the Lemming wouldn't be all that upset about one more piece of legislation. As it is, it looks like SOPA is - at best - a well-intentioned disaster waiting to happen.

That's the bad news.

The good news is that we do have pesky things like the First Amendment and blogs, and folks who aren't sufficiently submissive to what our betters in Washington think is good for us.

We've also got tech giants like Google, whose leadership is savvy enough to realize that giving some government official the power to shut down bothersome domains is a bad idea.

There's "Smart, Targeted;" And there's Congress

"Google will protest SOPA using popular home page"
Declan McCullagh and Greg Sandoval, CNET News (January 17, 2012)

"The tech sector is pulling out the big guns.

"Google, the Web's top search company and one of technology's most influential powers in Washington, will post a link on its home page tomorrow to notify users of Google's opposition to controversial antipiracy bills being debated in Congress.

"The company confirmed in a statement that it will join Wikipedia, Reddit, and other influential tech firms in staging protests of varying kinds against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA), which are backed by big entertainment and media interests. (Read a roundup of our SOPA and PIPA coverage here.)

" 'Like many businesses, entrepreneurs, and Web users, we oppose these bills because there are smart, targeted ways to shut down foreign rogue Web sites without asking American companies to censor the Internet,' a Google representative said. 'So tomorrow we will be joining many other tech companies to highlight this issue on our U.S. home page.'..."

Let's cut the folks in Congress some slack here: many of them have devoted decades of their lives to spending our money and getting entertained by Hollywood. Unlike many of the rest of us, they may not have had time to learn about stuff like "computers" and "Internet." Besides, mere drudgery like typing and reading are what secretaries and interns are for, right?

Wikipedia Goes Away: For a Day

"Wikipedia joins web blackout in Sopa protest"
BBC News (January 17, 2012)

"Wikipedia plans to take its English-language site offline on Wednesday as part of protests against proposed anti-piracy laws in the US.

"The user-generated news site Reddit and the blog Boing Boing have also said they will take part in the 'blackout'.

"The sites' webmasters are opposed to the Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (Pipa) being debated by Congress.

"However, Twitter has declined to take part in the shutdown.

"Wikipedia's founder, Jimmy Wales, told the BBC: 'Proponents of Sopa have characterised the opposition as being people who want to enable piracy or defend piracy.

" 'But that's not really the point. The point is the bill is so over broad and so badly written that it's going to impact all kinds of things that, you know, don't have anything to do with stopping piracy.'..."

In the Lemming's opinion

Freedom of speech is not piracy
Protest is not terrorism
Disagreement is not treason

The Lemming's been over this sort of thing in another blog:

"Bahrain, Foreign Troops, and - Maybe - the Last Stand of Kings"
(March 18, 2011)

'Rules are for the Little People?'

"More on SOPA/PIPA"
Caitlin Williams, WTOL.com News (January 15, 2012; updated January 17, 2012)

"SOPA creator caught in own web

"The author of the controversial SOPA bill which seeks to introduce stricter penalties for companies and individuals caught violating copyright laws online, has been caught in his own web.

"An archived screen shot of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith's, R-TX, website depicts a beautiful lush forest used as a background.

"According to an article by Vice.com, this stock image traced back to photographer DJ Schulte.

"The photographer protects his image under the Creative Commons license, which allows anyone to use an image so long as they attribute the image to the photographer and do not use it for commercial purposes.

"The only problem is that attribution for the image does not appear on the site. If Smith's proposed bill were to pass, action could be taken against his own website.

"Lamar's website no longer utilizes stock images, save for one banner strip across the top, but this incident exposes the faults and vagueness that critics point out in the bill...."

In fairness, anybody can make a mistake. Maybe whatever underling Lamar Smith told to do the website simply forgot to include the Creative Commons license attribution.

On the other hand, that's embarrassing. And an example of what could get someone's website kicked off the Internet, under SOPA provisions.

Not that Smith would be affected. He's important. As long as he was part of the Washington set, it's unlikely that some trifling little peccadillo like using DJ Schulte's picture without attribution would result in SOPA enforcement.

The story might be different, if whoever committed such an act of 'piracy' was one of those 'troublemakers' who don't agree with our great leaders in Washington. And that's almost another topic.

Related posts:

"Lemming Tracks: SOPA, Censorship, and 'Protection' "
(January 13, 2012)
"Lemming Tracks: SOPA, Tech-Savvy Folks, Hollywood, and Congress"
(January 9, 2012)
"SOPA: 20 Reasons Why It's a Really Bad Idea"
(December 30, 2011)
"SOPA, Censorship, the Twits in Washington, and a Ranting Lemming"
(December 28, 2011)
"Lemming Tracks: Internet Freedom; or 'Be Careful What You Wish For' "
(April 19, 2011)

Lemming Tracks: Toxic Light Bulbs For a Brighter Future

2012-01-16T07:57:00.005-06:00

There's good news, and there's bad news. First, the good news.

Rejoice! Energy-Efficient Light Bulbs!!

"Old light bulbs fading, but what will replace them? "
Dave Gathman. The Courier-News (January 10, 2012)

"There's one trend we usually can count on in electrical equipment, from TV sets and radios to music players and telephones: As the years pass, it will become cheaper and cheaper, and more and more disposable.

"But as a five-year-old federal law takes effect this month, Americans may have to get used to just the opposite when it comes to the light bulb.

"The bulbs of the future will cost much more than the cheap, disposable incandescent bulbs we have been using since Thomas Edison figured out how to make one way back in 1879. But they also will last much longer - maybe even to the point of becoming built-in pieces of each lamp that last as long as the lamp does. And they will reduce our electric bills.

"On New Year's Day, the light-bulb business felt the first impact of the Energy Independence and Security Act, which had been passed by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2007. The law was backed by an alliance of congressmen who wanted to reduce foreign energy imports and cut greenhouse gas emissions from making electricity...."

What joys! Thanks to the miracles of modern technology, and the Federal government, we'll soon pay a few cents less each month for electricity!! Oh, if only this glorious moment had come in warmer weather, so there could be dancing in the street!!!

Oh, wait: there was something in the third paragraph. "...The bulbs of the future will cost much more...."

That's the bad news.

What's Money to Congress?

"Government Phasing Out Incandescent Light Bulbs"
ktbs.com (January 2, 2012)

"Get ready to say goodbye to the incandescent light bulb and hello to a future lit only by energy efficient bulbs, like compact fluorescent light bulbs or CFLs.

"The new federal light bulb efficiency standards, sought by the Department of Energy, went into effect yesterday. The standards passed Congress with bipartisan approval and was signed by President Bush. These new standards mean the end of incandescent light bulbs.

"According to Energy Star, CFLs approved by them will use about 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs and last 6 times longer, which should equal to energy savings for you and a cleaner environment. Home Depot employee Isham Smith, who goes by Smitty, said that CFLs can last 9 years or more.

"Home Depot will continue selling incandescent light bulbs, but only for as long as suppliers have them...."

"...The general cost of energy efficient bulbs can be frightening. Some of the bulbs at Home Depot can be nearly 50 dollars each. Smitty tells us that prices should go down as the bulbs become more popular and when manufacturers produce more of the bulbs...."

Okay: That's "...some...nearly 50 dollars each...." And Smitty's probably right. Today those fancy, toxic, expensive, high-tech lights are a sort of novelty item. With the government making everybody use them, economies of scale should kick in for the manufacturing process.

Which means that each fancy new light will cost less to make. Maybe enough different companies will be making them, so that competition will let prices get down to where folks can afford to have electric lights in their homes.

That would be nice.

On the other hand, the Lemming could claim that the ban on incandescent lights is some sort of conspiracy - and SOPA is an effort by Congress to silence folks who don't agree.

That would be silly. The Lemming thinks SOPA is a bad idea: but part of some conspiracy? Maybe involving space aliens and Elvis? Unlikely in the extreme.

Still - it sounds like Americans will be paying quite a bit more for lighting equipment. Because Congress wants us to.

Of course, it's for a good cause. As anyone who has seen "Captain Planet" knows, Mother Earth is threatened by evil forces. Like greedy developers and light bulbs.

Or, rather, the power plants that generate electricity that the light bulbs use.

Sense, Nonsense, and Congress

In the Lemming's opinion:

Is using less electrical power per unit of lighting a good idea?
- Yes
Are new lighting gadgets more efficient?
- Yes
Will we benefit from using more energy-efficient lighting?
- Eventually, yes
Are Americans going to be paying more for light?
- Yes
  - For quite a long time
- Eventually, no
Will this Congressional stunt have unintended consequences?
- Yes

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs and Mercury: Oops

Acronyms are wonderful things, if you know what the mean. A CFL is a Compact Fluorescent Light bulb.

"...These efficient bulbs are not without problems. CFLs contain small amounts of mercury, but that can still be a hazard to the human body. All CFLs should be recycled to prevent mercury from reaching the environment. You can recycle the bulbs at your local Home Depot. Broken CFLs can be recycled, as well. You must handle and clean up after broken CFLS with extreme care...."
(ktbs.com)

Fear not, citizen! You, too, can clean up toxic waste!! ktbs.com helpfully supplied a link to an EPA page that tells folks how to clean up after a fluorescent lighting unit breaks. The ktbs.com link doesn't work, due to a little coding error, but this one does: "Cleaning Up a Broken CFL." (epa.gov/cfl/cflcleanup.html)

The good news is that we won't need to buy hazmat suits when we pay for those fancy new bulbs. The bad news is that breaking one of the government's new gizmos creates a health hazard.

Then there's this item from that EPA instruction page: "...Air out the room for 5-10 minutes by opening a window or door to the outdoor environment...."

Open a room for five or ten minutes? What's the big deal? This time of year, in central Minnesota, it's a tad chilly outside. Lowering a room's temperature to below freezing is better than breathing toxic fumes: but it's inconvenient at best.

Toxic Light Bulbs, Technology, and Getting a Grip

At this point, the Lemming could rant about

The evils of
- Technology and capitalistic greed
- Big brother government
Power plants that
- Explode
- Kill millions of people
- All the time
The wonders of
- Technology
- Congress
  - The wise
  - The benevolent
  - The far-seeing

Or, the Lemming could note that

Saving energy seems to make sense
The new gadgets are pricey
Other lighting technologies may be safer
- And available
  - Eventually

Meanwhile, the Lemming may have to replace a desk lamp that uses a slightly non-standard incandescent light bulb. And that's going to cost money, too.

Somewhat-related posts:

" 'Carmageddon?' 'Never Mind!''"
(July 17, 2011)
"Fukushima, Japan: (Somewhat) Good News, Bad News"
(March 19, 2011)
"Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide Now! Or, Not"
(January 3, 2011)
"Saving the Environment Makes You Sick"
(September 28, 2010)
"Power Stations in Space: No Panacea; But No Kidding, Either"
(December 2, 2009)

Lemming Tracks: SOPA, Censorship, and 'Protection'

2012-01-13T13:35:00.001-06:00

SOPA is - we're told - supposed to protect Hollywood and the American record industry from pirates.

That's not the problem. Copyright and other intellectual property rights are important, and should have legal protection.

But SOPA, as originally set up, would allow some Federal official to blacklist websites. But that's okay? After all, only 'pirate' websites will be affected. And, presumably, since they're 'pirates,' there's no need for a trial: according to SOPA.

Let's imagine a hypothetical situation.

'It Can't Happen Here?'

Let's say there's this website, run by someone who isn't sufficiently grateful about being protected from pirates. One of the pages on this website includes that quote from "Star Wars," "I've got a bad feeling about this." Complete with a sound clip from the 1977 movie.

That, according to some Washington bureaucrat, is 'piracy.'

And so the troublesome website disappears.

Without a trial.

After all, SOPA protects Hollywood against 'pirates,' and their kind doesn't deserve a trial, right?

Or, maybe not-so-right.

Quite a few folks have been raising a fuss about SOPA: including a sort of protest shutdown on Wednesday of next week, January 18.

"Notch Joins January 18 Anti-SOPA Protest"
Ian Miles Cheong, gameranx.com (January 13, 2012)
"Reddit to protest SOPA with Jan. 18 Blackout"
PC World India News (January 13, 2012)
"Sen. Leahy bows to pressure, pledges to amend Protect IP bill"
Declan McCullagh, CNet (January 12, 2012)

Now we're told that SOPA is going to be cleaned up a little before getting imposed on us. That's nice to hear. Maybe it's even true.

Protected from 'Pirates' - And Disturbing Ideas?

Maybe the most disturbing part of SOPA is that a member of Congress apparently decided that websites should be suppressed - without a trial - based on whether or not some government official thought they had the 'wrong' sort of content.

Protecting folks who produce content is a good idea. That was the idea behind "residuals:" allowing someone besides studio heads from profiting from a movie that continues to make money. And yes: there's more to residuals than that:

"Residuals FAQ"
Screen Actors Guild

But 'protecting' the world, by taking 'bad' websites off the Internet? Based on what some government official wants? With no trial?

Even if whoever is pushing SOPA 'means well,' this is a very bad idea.

On the other hand, it could be worse. The Egyptian government shut down the Internet in their country a year ago. Egypt has a new government now, by the way.

'It can't happen here?' Well, maybe. But folks with power have been known to react badly when they think they're not being properly appreciated:

"Lemming Tracks: Egypt Government Shuts Down Internet: It Can't Happen Here?"
(January 29, 2011)
"China Protects Online Gamers: Another Dubious Idea"
(January 18, 2009)
"The Internet: USA Rules, UAE Rules"
(August 14, 2007)

Just a reminder: America has a national election coming up this November. Maybe it's time to swap out the current lot with politicos who understand today's technology: and who value freedom of expression.

Other related posts:

"Lemming Tracks: SOPA, Tech-Savvy Folks, Hollywood, and Congress"
(January 9, 2012)
"SOPA: 20 Reasons Why It's a Really Bad Idea"
(December 30, 2011)
"SOPA, Censorship, the Twits in Washington, and a Ranting Lemming"
(December 28, 2011)
"Lemming Tracks: Internet Freedom; or 'Be Careful What You Wish For' "
(April 19, 2011)
" 'Search Neutrality:' Deciding What We're Allowed to Find?"
(January 22, 2011)

Lemming Tracks: Triskaidekaphobia and a Rambling Lemming

2012-01-13T09:02:00.046-06:00

There's another Friday the 13th coming this year, in July:

That's six months from now
There are two numbers in "13"
- "1" and "3"
Three multiplied by two is six

You see?! IT ALL FITS TOGETHER!!!

Or, not. The Lemming's been over sounding crazy on the Internet, and how to avoid it, before:

"How to Not Sound Crazy - or - THE PARANOIDS ARE AFTER ME!!!"
(June 12, 2011)

On the other hand, the Lemming had an unusually hard time coming up with a topic for today's earlier post ("Oh, Boy! The Avengers are Back - Almost "), which a sufficiently triskaidekaphobic person might think was the result of Friday the 13th already being here, over in Asia, when the Lemming was still rummaging around for something nifty.

"Triskaidekaphobia?" That's a seven-syllable word meaning "a morbid fear of the number 13." (Princeton's WordNet) Oddly enough, seven is a 'lucky' number. ("Is this your lucky number? Seventy-seven things you need to know about 07," Independent.co.uk (December 31, 2006)) Which probably explains the title of "Lucky Number Slevin" (2006).

Related (sort of) posts:

"Eleven; and Why is Six Afraid of Seven?"
(November 11, 2011)
"Tomorrow's Friday the 13th: First of Three in 2009"
(February 12, 2009)
"The Neutrinos are Coming! 2012 and Hollywood Science"
(November 16, 2009)
"Friday the 13th: The Geek Approach"
(June 13, 2008)
"Triskaidekaphobia: More than Friday the 13th"
(June 13, 2008)

Oh, Boy! The Avengers are Back - Almost

2012-01-13T08:00:00.001-06:00

"Disney And Marvel Team Up For New Cartoon Programming"
Mike Thompson, The Escapist (January 12, 2012)

"Starting this April, Marvel and Disney will provide you with an entire hour of cartoons jam-packed with comic-y goodness.

"Marvel Comics is joining forces with parent group The Walt Disney Company to create a new programming block of comic-based cartoons. The block will include the return of popular series The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and the launch of the delayed Ultimate Spider-Man...."

This is good news for the Lemming. Reruns of The Avengers have been playing on Disney Channel, late, on some weekend evenings. Looks like enough folks like Marvel's characters to warrant a comeback.

Well, probably good news. There's always the chance that the Ultimate Spider-Man will be a little too "ultimate:" with angst, acrobatics, or some other aspect of the show turned up so much we can't 'hear' the story. Or a director could forget that these are comic book heroes, and try to bring Shakespearean demeanor to Tony Stark and associates.

Or: maybe this will be another entertaining, relatively lightweight, bit of entertainment. The Lemming rather hopes so.

Not-entirely-unrelated posts:

"Comics Artist Will Eisner: Born 94 Years Ago Today"
(March 6, 2011)
"Dilbert, Lawyers, and the Lemming"
(February 22, 2011)
"The Horror! Monster Comics that Scared Congress"
(October 31, 2010)
"Soldier Zero, Starborn and The Traveler at Comic-Con"
(July 23, 2010)
"Protesting Against New Technology - the Early Days"
(February 23, 2009)

Rose Bowl Helmets, Jell-O Cartons, and the Italian Renaissance

2012-01-11T07:59:00.050-06:00

"Mirror Ball"
Brian Libby, Architect Magazine (January 6, 2012)
"A vintage materials finish is responsible for one of the most high-tech, dynamic looks in college football history.

"When college football's Oregon Ducks played the Wisconsin Badgers in Monday's 98th annual Rose Bowl.... It was also a chance for to make the historic Pasadena game a fashion show, a familiar rite for the Eugene, Ore.–based school. Flashy jersey-and-pants combinations have become de rigueur in the past - the school counts Nike co-founder Phil Knight as its biggest booster - but this week, the team introduced a helmet unseen in Rose Bowl's century-plus history, one seemingly made of chrome and as shiny as a bumper from a '60s muscle car.

"Drew Gereb of Newberg, Ore.'s Hydro Graphics, which assisted Nike with the helmet finish, handles the proprietary 'LiquidMetal HydroChrome' technology used to produce the material finish on the helmet. Unveiled to the press shortly after Christmas, the new helmet for the Ducks was promoted by Nike as a 'futuristic' innovation. But the technique is actually one that dates to the 1970s, Gereb explains.

" 'The technology was locked up in the automotive industry for years,' Gereb says. 'It's using the old Gravure printing drums. That's how they did the wood grains on the dashboards.'

"The 12-step HydroChrome process is almost entirely performed with or under water, with each football helmet taking approximately seven days to be completed. Hydro Graphics adds a thin layer of translucent material that, once applied, gives the surface of the helmet a bright, mirrorlike appearance. The Ducks' helmets went through the process twice, with a custom die-cut graphic of the team's winged logo applied in between...."

Somebody must have really wanted the Oregon Ducks to have fancy new helmets. With each helmet taking seven days to process, those things must have been expensive. Of course, having those distinctive helmets at the Rose Bowl gave Hydro Graphics a lot of publicity: the company has a photo of their company's home page (www.hydrographicsinc.com), so they're well-aware of the marketing angle.

"Gravure" Printing?

Gravure printing goes back long before the 1970s:

"...The origins of gravure printing were with the creative artists of the Italian Renaissance in the 1300s. Fine engravings and etchings were cut by hand into soft copper.

"The engraved surface consisted of channels or sunken areas. The Italian word intaglio (in-tal-yo) means engraved or cut in.

"Intaglio refers to a method of printing whose image carrier consists of lines or dots recessed below the surface.

"Intaglio reproduces an original design by pressing paper into the recesses.

"The first intaglio plate was used for printing in Germany in 1446 about the same time as Gutenberg. Unfortunately, the intaglio process was not compatible with Gutenberg's letterpress, so it wasn't adopted by early printers.

"The modern gravure printing press resulted from the invention of photography and the adoption of rotary printing from cylinders....

"...Auguste Godchaux received a patent for a reel-fed rotary gravure perfector press in 1860...."
("Gravure Printing," Paul D. Fleming III)

It took the Lemming about ten minutes to find a history of Gravure printing: on the Western Michigan University's website. What that says about journalists, research, and all that - is another topic.

Apparently wood-grain dashboards weren't the first commercial application of post-1860 Gravure printing. There were "heliogravure" prints, and that gets the Lemming back to Flemming's history.

Rotogravure, Prints, and Jell-O Cartons

"...Klic and Fawcett didn't have patents on their process, so they tried to keep the process secret. They sold prints from their press as 'heliogravure' prints, even though they were really rotogravure as we know it today.

"Their process remained a trade secret until an employee emigrated to the United States and made it public.

"The process continued to improve and gravure presses were used to print Jell-O cartons starting in 1938...."
("Gravure Printing," Paul D. Fleming III)

What the Architect article probably refers to, with the 1970s and auto dashboards, are the electromechanical engravers that came out in 1968. That's from Flemming's history, again.

Photos of the Oregon Ducks' new helmets reminds the Lemming of the "Tron: Legacy" movie, and that's another topic. From almost exactly a year ago: January 4, 2011. And that's - what else? Another topic.

More about Gravure printing:

"Gravure"
Paul D. Fleming III, Paper Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Imaging, Western Michigan University

Vaguely-related posts:

" 'Temper Foam' - a Soft Touch"
(February 8, 2011)
"After the Super Bowl - Comes the Next Super Bowl; or the Next One After That"
(February 7, 2011)
"3-D Printer in Space: Seems to Make Sense"
(November 11, 2010)
"Twelve Helmets: You Don't See These Every Day"
(June 26, 2009)
" 'Swanky Treehouse' in Oregon: The Wilkinson Residence"
(February 9, 2010)

Lemming Tracks: SOPA, Tech-Savvy Folks, Hollywood, and Congress

2012-01-09T18:26:00.001-06:00

This isn't a 'political' blog. Not in the sense that the Lemming says every [insert political position] idea is brilliant, while everyone associated with [insert political party] are satanic traitors with body odor issues.

On the other hand, the Lemming likes freedom of expression, and an Internet where folks can voice opinions: even if some federal official doesn't agree. Maybe SOPA is a wonderful idea, that just happened to get introduced toward the start of an election cycle.

Here's what got the Lemming started this evening:

Blacklisting Pirates and Other Subversive Elements?

"Geeks to Testify (Finally!) About SOPA Blacklisting Implications"
David Kravets, Threat Level, Wired (January 9, 2012)

"Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California), a major opponent of the Stop Online Piracy Act, announced Monday he is bringing in the techies to hold a public hearing highlighting the online security implications of a proposed bill that would force changes to internet infrastructure to fight online copyright infringement.

"The announcement came three weeks after a markup of SOPA in the House Judiciary Committee was abruptly postponed amid concerns over its blacklisting element, which lets the attorney general order changes to core internet infrastructure in order to stop copyright infringement.

"The fight pits the big donors of Hollywood against Silicon Valley, relative newcomers to the world of influence peddling. Hollywood argues that millions of jobs are lost a year due to pirate websites, while the tech world argues that the open nature of the internet has created millions of jobs and that copyright holders already have tools to fight illegal downloaders...."

The Lemming is a content provider, and concerned about intellectual property rights. Data, including software, music, and written material, can be copied and distributed online: without the permission of whoever owns the information; and without giving the owner any credit - or profit - which might result.

SOPA is being sold as a solution to online piracy. Maybe it is. But the Lemming is very dubious. Particularly since the folks who seem to be pushing SOPA, like American movie and music studios, do not have a good record where it comes to allowing creative folks to share credit or profit for the content they produce.

Content providers need some sort of legal protection for their intellectual property rights. But the Lemming remembers the 'good old days,' when America was repairing damage done by McCarthy-era blacklists. Today's wannabe blacklisters are a different bunch, and this time it's Hollywood types who would benefit. Blacklists, particularly when created by a government agency with inadequate safeguards for citizens' rights, sound like a very, very bad idea.

Related posts:

"SOPA: 20 Reasons Why It's a Really Bad Idea"
(December 30, 2011)
"SOPA, Censorship, the Twits in Washington, and a Ranting Lemming"
(December 28, 2011)
"Lemming Tracks: Internet Freedom; or 'Be Careful What You Wish For' "
(April 19, 2011)
" 'Search Neutrality:' Deciding What We're Allowed to Find?"
(January 22, 2011)
"The Horror! Monster Comics that Scared Congress"
(October 31, 2010)

The Internet "Shattering:" Oh, the Horror! Or, Not

2012-01-09T07:50:00.005-06:00

"The Year the Internet Split in Half"
Blake Snow, FoxNews.com (January 7, 2012)

"One Internet, under no one -- but divisible after all.

"If there's one thing 2011 will be remembered for, it'll be the year the Internet split in half.

"In one corner, we have the traditional web, the one you've known and loved since the 90s. In the other corner, there's the 'app' or mobile Internet. It's the one ushered in by the iPhone, and it grew to record levels last year with help from Android, iPads, and tablets.

"And increasingly, there's different stuff on them...."

There's more, about "traditional" Internet content that's viewed with a browser, mobile applications on smartphones and tablets: and what a huge difference there is between the data that's accessed, depending on what system gets used.

Engadget editor-in-chief Tim Stevens gets quoted, saying that five or 10 years ago, folks were excited about new websites: and now the excitement is over new apps. As far as the Lemming can tell, the data folks see isn't all that different: the difference is in the software that they use.

And that apparently means that developers need to decide whether to concentrate on 'Web' content, or 'app' content.

Up to that point, the article's tone is fairly calm.

"Shattering?"

"...But the web isn't just dividing in two, Stevens said. It's shattering.

" 'I wish it were just splitting,' he told FoxNews.com. 'But the reality is the Internet is actually fragmenting into many small pieces. Apple's iOS and Google's Android are the most popular mobile operating systems, but there's also Microsoft's Windows Phone, Blackberry, HP's webOS and even specific apps for Google's Chrome browser.'

"A clear example is Shazam, one of the first must-have smartphone apps for its ability to quickly identify unknown songs. Four years ago, it was only available on iPhone, though coveted by users on the traditional desktop Internet.

"The app's relevance has since faded. But platform exclusive apps are alive and well today. For example, Adobe Flash software, Google Navigation, and third-party app stores are exclusive to Android...."
(Blake Snow, FoxNews.com)

"Shattering" is a dramatic, emotional, word. Someone whose business depends on developing apps, or websites, or browsers, may feel like their world is "shattering," now that some folks use Blackberry, some an iPhone, and others an Android.

Folks like the Lemming, who create content? Maybe not so much.

A few years ago, the Lemming decided to concentrate on content instead of chasing the latest tech fashions. Which isn't the same as ignoring changes in information technology.

Mobile devices are definitely out there, but the Lemming's stuff is mostly viewed with folks using browsers and some sort of computer. For example, so far this month a little over two thirds of all viewers used Windows, about an eighth had Macintosh systems, a tenth had Linux, and a bit over one percent each used iPhone, Ipad, or Android technology.

Change Happens - - -

"...Not everyone that the Internet is 'dividing,' however.

" 'We're arguing about different front-ends here,' says popular TechCrunch columnist MG Siegler. 'While apps and the web sometimes seem at odds with one another, it's important to remember that all are being powered by the same thing: the Internet.'

"Indeed, mobile apps and traditional websites often access the same servers, databases, and file protocols. But even Siegler admits to diverging uses for the modern Internet....

"...Semantics aside, resources being allocated to the Internet - whether web, mobile, or otherwise - are undeniably being split to follow the money...."
(Blake Snow, FoxNews.com)

There's more about the economic angle. Also a few anecdotes: which may have some truth behind them.

- - - Deal With It

Remember the 'good old days' of the Web, when earnest folks called themselves webmasters and told viewers which browser they should use?

"Best if viewed by [browser] at [resolution]" announcements aren't all that common today. Partly, the Lemming suspects, because too many viewers wouldn't change browsers to accommodate some developer's tastes. Worse, from the control-freak point of view, some folks actually preferred websites that didn't look good in [browser], at [resolution], and were hard to view in anything else.

'It's different' with today's apps: many of which apparently won't even work if someone has the 'wrong' sort of mobile device. Still, the Lemming thinks this could be the start of another 'war of the operating systems,' like the situation we had around 1995:

(Scott Adams' Dilbert (June 22, 1996), used w/o permission)

Around that time the Lemming was doing tech support work, and talked with someone who said - quite seriously - 'nobody uses Windows.'

Maybe this time around, folks in the tech end of information technology will decide on an 'industry standard' for mobile device interfaces. On the other hand, maybe someone will decide to woo the 'snob' market and peddle overpriced 'iSnubs' with solid gold cases and a keypad of matched diamonds.

If that happens, the Lemming thinks most of the rest of us will get by with something a tad more practical. And affordable.

More likely, we'll see more mobile devices that load relatively small amounts of content very quickly: and 'traditional' browsers that load large amounts of content fairly quickly. And, unless human nature changes, some folks will praise their browsers and sneer at apps; while others do the opposite.

Sensible folks will decide what technology best suits their needs, and use that.

Dead Web?

Finally, some good sense from Black Snow. Ryan and Derik are two teenagers mentioned in another part of Snow's piece:

"...When doing research and content creation, the traditional web environment is still ideal, most agree. Which explains why Ryan still reaches for the traditional web first when searching for cars to buy, multitasking, or writing.

"Conversely, it also explains why people like Derick, more interested in consuming information on a casual basis, reach for their iPhone first....

"...Translation: Apps will enjoy more and more features at the expense of websites overall. No, the web isn't dead, despite a loud proclamation from Wired Magazine. It's actually growing in places. Just not as quickly overall as the app and mobile Internet...."
(Blake Snow, FoxNews.com)

That makes sense, to the Lemming. Maybe the Lemming will start focusing more on content that's best viewed by some app. But not today. Or, most likely, this year.

Tech, Content, and Congress

What concerns the Lemming isn't so much the technology folks use, or the sort of content they produce and view: it's the way Congress keeps trying to 'protect' us from the Internet.

The Lemming likes freedom of expression: and that's another topic.

Somewhat-related posts:

"SOPA: 20 Reasons Why It's a Really Bad Idea"
(December 30, 2011)
"Lemming Tracks: The Continuing 'Death' of Blogging, Hula Hoops, and Getting a Grip"
(August 28, 2011)
"FCC, the Internet, Regulations, Freedom of Speech, and a Ranting Lemming"
(December 23, 2010)
"Blogging is Dead! Long Live Blogging!"
(December 16, 2010)
"The Death of Communication Media!!!"
(August 24, 2007)

From the Mind of the Lemming

2012-01-06T07:54:00.003-06:00

"Paint what you see" is one of those recurring bits of advice to budding artists. It's also pretty much what the Lemming did for today's post:

Have a good weekend: the Lemming will be back Monday.

Not-entirely-unrelated posts:

"Lemming Tracks: Thanksgiving, Cartoons, and a Look at the Lemming"
(November 23, 2011)
"Five Strange Video Games"
(September 8, 2010)
"Valentine's Day, 2010"
(February 14, 2010)
"Santa's Workshop, Pip, and a Disturbing - or Disturbed - Image"
(December 28, 2009)
"Lemming Tracks: Autumn Holiday Graphics"
(August 27, 2009)

A 21st Century Look at 19th Century Visions of the 20th Century

2012-01-04T07:56:00.056-06:00

"The Future of Architecture Since 1889"
Jean-Louis Cohen (Author), Amazon.com product page

"Truly far-ranging -- both conceptually and geographically -- The Future of Architecture Since 1889 is a rich, compelling history that will shape future thinking out this period for years to come...."

As advertising copy goes, whoever wrote that could have done a lot worse. The description is a bit extravagant with praise, but at least it includes some verifiable details. Like who wrote the book:

"...Jean-Louis Cohen, one of today's most distinguished architectural historians and critics, gives an authoritative and compelling account of the twentieth century, tracing an arc from industrialization through computerization, and linking architecture to developments in art, technology, urbanism and critical theory...."

It's illustrated ("richly"), a hardcover book with 638 pages, published by Phaidon Press, and won't be available until March 28, 2012.

Living in The Future

The Lemming's been living in 'the future' for quite a while now. Somehow, the flying cars, floating cities, atomic toothbrushes, and mutant frogs never happened. Neither did the predicted ice age, death of the oceans, and depopulation of America.

The future hasn't been a total disappointment, though: disco didn't last; the Internet is upsetting apple carts; and spaceports moved from pulp fiction to the business pages.

All of which doesn't have all that much to do with architecture. Except that today's buildings are more likely to have a wireless network, than a servant's entrance.

With a price somewhere around $50 to $75, the Lemming isn't likely to buy the book. It's an interesting topic, though. Particularly since notions about what 'the future' will be like have changed so much since Victorian times.

Somewhat-related posts:

"The Future Isn't What it Used to Be"
(October 4, 2010)
"Science Fiction in the Movies: 'The Satan Bug' to 'The Matrix'"
Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (January 26, 2010)
"Architects, City Planning, Le Corbusier, Pulp Fiction, The Masses, The City of the Future, and Me"
(December 16, 2009)
"Predicting the Future: a Look at a Will Be that Was"
Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (June 26, 2009)
"Cities of the Will be that Was"
(June 22, 2009)

Planet X, NASA, and the Lizard People From Outer Space

2012-01-02T07:54:00.001-06:00

"Apocalypse Not Now: 2012 Doomsday Predictions Debunked by NASA"
Charles Q. Choi, Space.com (December 30, 2011)

"On Dec. 21, 2012, many doomsday believers fear the apocalypse — anything from a rogue planet smashing into us to our world spinning end over end. However, the world should expect nothing more next year than the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, NASA says.

"Many people point to the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar on Dec. 21, 2012 as evidence of the coming apocalypse, but astronomers have been quick to stress that there is nothing to be concerned about.

"According to the ancient Mayan calendar, next year's winter solstice marks the end of a 144,000-day cycle. This cycle, which begins at the mythical Maya creation date, has already been repeated 12 times. The 13th will end in 2012, capping a full 5,200-year Mayan cycle of creation...."

Mayan calendar makers notwithstanding, the Lemming isn't concerned about December 21, 2012. Using the same logic, the world has already ended twice: December of 999, and again in 1999, using our Gregorian calendar.

Using the Mayan calendar has the advantage of being relatively unfamiliar, so let's go with that. The world has, or will, end:

August 11, 3114 BC
- When the Mayan 'long count' last started
- More or less
December 23, 2012
Spring, 7138
Summer, 12263
Autumn 17388
And so on

The Mayan long count may have started on August 13, and the Lemming went over that in another blog:

"Commie Plots, Cholesterol, Frank Burns, Hugo Chavez, and 2012"
Another War-on-Terror Blog (November 15, 2009)

Nibiru, NASA, and the Lizard People

The rest of the Space.com article covers what NASA has to say about some of the elaborations on '2012 doomsday' that folks have come up with:

Planet X
- Or Nibiru
- Not to be confused with "Plan 9 from Outer Space"
Cosmic alignments
- But no mystic crystal revelations, apparently
Solar storms
- Hollywood's done this already
Flip-flop Earth
- A little truth to this one
  - Very little
Cosmic impacts
- Comets
- Asteroids
- And all that
- Again, a little truth to this one

Saying that 2012 won't be much more than the year that keeps 2011 from bumping into 2013 is rather dull, though, so the Lemming suggests something spicier. Not more sensible, or accurate: but arguably more exciting.

That Space.com article is part of a vast conspiracy, involving NASA, punk rock, and shape-shifting, space-alien lizard men.

It's 'obvious:' shape-shifting lizard men from outer space have taken over key parts of Earth's governments and cultural institutions!

That's why we got punk rock, the Beatles, and Willie Nelson!!

Look at British royalty and VIPs: does anyone really believe those are humans??!!!

How could Earth's humans possibly have missed the growing lizard man menace?!!!!

They have been twisting human minds for years: with pop music; weird fashions; hair spray; and infomercials!!!!!

Only a few perceptive, courageous, voices cried out: alerting the populace to this scaly menace from the stars!!!!!!

And, one by one, THESE VOICES HAVE BEEN SILENCED!!!!!!!

It's been mere weeks since new Oddly Enough blog posts mysteriously ceased!!!!!!!!

The Oddly Enough blog actually isn't being updated any more: but that's hardly 'mysterious.' Reuters decided they'd had enough of Mr. Basler's posts: or is Reuters part of the conspiracy, too?

Seriously?

'Nibiru, NASA, and the Lizard People' is humor.

Of the tongue-in-cheek sort.

That's what the Lemming intended, at least. Your experience may vary.

Conspriacy Theories: Okay for Stories

Conspiracy theories can make for good stories, some of which the Lemming has enjoyed. When someone starts believing that 'they' are plotting against 'us,' that's when it's not quite so entertaining.

The lizard men isn't something the Lemming made up, by the way. No, they're not real: but the 'lizard man conspiracy' was alive and well a few years ago. The Lemming used it as an example of silliness in another blog, and was so fond of the shape-shifting space-alien menace, that it's popped up fairly often since:

"Lebanon, Israel, Pakistan, India, and the Lizard People"
Another War-on-Terror Blog (January 14, 2009)
Particularly
- Someone to Blame

As for all those exclamation marks, and other formatting oddities? Thaat was supposed to be part of the humor. The Lemming's posted about sounding crazy before.

Somewhat-related posts:

"How to Not Sound Crazy - or - THE PARANOIDS ARE AFTER ME!!!"
(June 12, 2011)
"Nuclear Weapons, Space Aliens, Conspiracy Theories, and Getting a Grip"
(September 24, 2010)
"Haiti's Earthquake Caused by - You Guessed it - Yankee Imperialists"
(January 21, 2010)
"The Neutrinos are Coming! 2012 and Hollywood Science"
(November 16, 2009)
"Want to be Paranoid, but Just Can't Find the Time?"
(August 27, 2008)

SOPA: 20 Reasons Why It's a Really Bad Idea

2011-12-30T11:33:00.003-06:00

"20 Ways SOPA Can Affect The Internet"
Info Carnivore (December 30, 2011)

"The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is now before the American Congress, waiting to be passed or not. With online piracy at an all time high, the US feels that it’s become almost impossible to manage traffic across borders. While the Congress ponders over this, the internet population is concerned as to how SOPA will affect the internet...."

The Lemming ranted about SOPA on Wednesday. Normally, there wouldn't be another post about the same topic for - maybe a week or more. In this case, the Lemming thinks a little repetition won't hurt.

SOPA may be well-intentioned, but the Lemming thinks that Congress should stop, take a deep breath, tear the thing up, and start over.

The Info Carnivore post is mostly a 20-point list about SOPA. It's not good news. Here's a sample:

Forget About Online Business, Freedom of Speech

"...1. Death Penalty For Online Businesses: SOPA authorizes sites that are reported for copyright infringement to be cut off from their domain name. ISPs can force advertisers and payment processors to suspend their services to the site...."

That "death penalty" phrase is a bit over-stated. The Lemming has heard or read nothing to indicate that business owners would actually be executed under SOPA provisions. Still, as a metaphor for driving a company out of business, it's appropriate.

"...6. Free Speech Rights Will Be Censored: Online businesses, user-generated content sites and social media sites will try to play it safe and start heavily censoring user content. This can stifle users’ free speech rights, making the internet a risky place to say anything at all...."

"It can't happen here?" The Lemming remembers McCarthyism and political correctness. Moving on.

'Who Needs a Trial?'

"...2. Sites Blocked And Sued For User Content: Sites which host copyright content uploaded by users can be blacklisted and blocked via ISPs, search engines and payment processors. This can be done without the benefit of a court hearing...."

Let's look at #2 again. Sites that host content uploaded by users can be driven offline. Maybe that doesn't sound so bad: SOPA is against pirates, right? Here's the problem: "...This can be done without the benefit of a court hearing...."

Let's look at a hypothetical situation. You wake up some morning, go online, and try to find something on CNET's Download.com. It's not there any more. Google reports that there's no such site. A few weeks, maybe months or years, later, you find out why. Somebody told the SOPA enforcers that something on Download.com was illegal. So the site was taken off the Internet.

Why bother with a trial?

Is that being alarmist? Maybe. But governments, governmental agencies, and officials have been known to do odd things.

The Info Carnivore post discusses what we can expect from SOPA:

Death Penalty For Online Businesses
Sites Blocked And Sued For User Content
Copyright Holders Can Sue Sites
Social Media Held Accountable
Small Tech Companies To Suffer
Free Speech Rights Will Be Censored
Downloading Free Content Will Become Risky
Legitimate Business Will Be Held Liable
Open Source Sites May Shut Down
DNS System Will Be Undermined
Internet Speeds May Slow Down
Downgrade Attacks Will Increase
Use Of Illegal Web Proxies Will Increase
Emergency Proxy Servers May Be Made Illegal
Streaming Sites Will Be Penalized
Online Album Sites Will Shut Down
Browsers Will Be Penalized
ISPs Will Infringe On Privacy
Legitimate Links Can Be Deleted
Browser Ability To Generate Fair Links Will Be Impacted

Pirated intellectual property is a real issue, one that should be addressed. But SOPA doesn't look like a solution.

Whether SOPA is an ill-considered effort to show how busy Congressional incumbents are, or an effort to grab control of what commoners may say or see on the Internet: SOPA looks like a really bad idea. For everybody except whoever winds up running it.

A tip of the Lemming's hat to danielsnyder1, on Twitter, for the heads-up on this post.

Related posts:

"SOPA, Censorship, the Twits in Washington, and a Ranting Lemming"
(December 28, 2011)
"Lemming Tracks: Internet Freedom; or 'Be Careful What You Wish For' "
(April 19, 2011)
" 'Search Neutrality:' Deciding What We're Allowed to Find?"
(January 22, 2011)
"The Horror! Monster Comics that Scared Congress"
(October 31, 2010)
"Yogi Yorgesson's 'I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas' and the Hamms Bear"
(December 15, 2009)

News and views:

"20 Ways SOPA Can Affect The Internet"
Info Carnivore (December 30, 2011)
"Reddit Users to Target Supporters of SOPA in Congress After Successful Boycott of GoDaddy"
Tech, Forbes, (December 28, 2011)
"Online piracy a hot issue for Congress in January"
Mike Snider, USA TODAY (December 28, 2011)
"On Eve of Net Boycott, Dump GoDaddy Exodus Begins"
Perry Chiaramonte, FoxNews.com (December 28, 2011)
"What You Need to Know About SOPA in 2012"
Dan Rowinski ReadWriteWeb (December 23, 2011)

New Year's Eve Celebration, and How to Survive It

2011-12-30T07:56:00.026-06:00

"New Year's Eve Survival Guide"
Karlie Pouliot, FoxNews.com (December 29, 2011)

"New Year's Eve is not only one of the biggest nights of the year – but it can also be one of the most expensive if you're not careful. Believe me, my husband and I have made our share of pricey mistakes in the past. Just a few years ago, we were ringing in the New Year with friends in New York City, and had plenty of “backup” cash at the beginning of the night, but that quickly changed after we got overly excited and ordered a few too many bottles of champagne.

"You know how it goes when everyone is feeling all festive. The drinks are flowing and so is the money.

"Mistake No. 1: Ordering a bottle of champagne without looking at the price on the menu...."

The article is a pretty good common-sense guide for folks who go out on the town on New Year's Eve. Some of the advice is economic: like the 'champagne' anecdote. Which reminds the Lemming of the old saying: "If you have to ask, you can't afford it."

Moving on.

The next item was about economics and pedicabs: "a tricycle (usually propelled by pedalling); used in the Orient for transporting passengers for hire." (Princeton's WordNet) It's a sort of next-generation rickshaw, and apparently it isn't 'demeaning' to earn a living with one these days. And that's another topic.

The rest is a sort of Q and A, done in collaboration with New York Magazine's nightlife editor, Vanita Salisbury. It gives advice on champagne, taxis, designated drivers, more champagne, wine, still more champagne, bars, dinner, hors d'oeuvres, and why you should carry lots of cash.

Drink - WATER?!

There's also, mercifully, this paragraph:

"...Remember to drink water. This serves three purposes: 1. You consume less booze, thereby spending less cash 2. You stay hydrated 3. You'll temper the massive hangover that will inevitably come the next day. You can find some tips for dealing with hangovers here...."

With respect to the long-standing tradition of getting bombed, boozed, buzzed, inebriated, loaded, looped, muddled, plastered, potted, sloppy, smashed, tanked, three sheets to the wind, and sincerely under the influence, on the night of December 31: the Lemming suggests that waking up with hairy eyeballs and a furry tongue may not be worth it.

There's the 'never touch the stuff' approach. And that old standby: know your limit, and stay under it. Designated drivers are a good idea, too. Nothing takes the shine off a celebration quite like ending up in a morgue.

The Lemming on New Year's Eve

On most New Year's Eves, the Lemming joins the noisy throng in New York City's Times Square, and watches the big Waterford crystal ball go down. Virtually joins the throng that is: via television.

It's a great deal less expensive, much less chilly, and probably as much fun as actually being there. For the Lemming. Quite a few folks seem to prefer being there, physically.

Apart from a virtual trip to the Big Apple, the Lemming may call up some recorded entertainment, sit back, and remember the will be that was. That would make a great title for a book: and did, back in 1987. And that's another topic.

Remembering the will be that was.

Related posts:

"Hangovers: Prevention and 'Cures' "
(January 1, 2011)
"Lemming Tracks: Happy New Year, 2011!"
(January 1, 2011)
"Times Square, New York City, Big Waterford Crystal Ball and Lots of People"
(January 1, 2009)
"Auld Lang Syne: Thank You, Robert Burns"
(December 31, 2008)
"New Year Tech: New Lights Over Times Square"
(December 30, 2007)

SOPA, Censorship, the Twits in Washington, and a Ranting Lemming

2011-12-28T21:14:00.012-06:00

Will you sleep more soundly tonight, knowing that the American Congress is protecting you from big, bad pirates? And those dastardly delinquents who wantonly post photos of kittens online?

The Lemming won't.

Beware: Congress is in Session

"No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session."
(Gideon J. Tucker in Final Accounting in the Estate of A. B. (1866))

Particularly with a presidential election coming up in 2012, quite a few incumbents are wondering if this is the year when their constituents get fed up: or whether their party will hang onto whatever they grabbed in the last election.

With everyone from the top chair-warmers to the least-senior member of the House hellbent on either getting their own butts replanted in Congress, or helping their party reelect someone else - there's likely to be some weird legislation proposed, to show how hard the folks in Congress are working.

Like SOPA. The Stop Online Piracy Act. Beloved by record labels, movie studios and TV networks.

SOPA, Censorship, and Congress

It's not that the Lemming doesn't like Congress. For what it's worth, the Lemming is fairly confident that quite a few members of Congress stay sober for days at a time, and really believe that they're doing something constructive with other people's money.

SOPA is (probably) intended to protect the intellectual property rights of MGM, Warner Music Group, and CBS.

So far, that's not a problem for the Lemming. Who knows? Content providers at the other end of the influence spectrum might benefit: at least as a side effect.

Copyright, and other intellectual property rights, are important to the Lemming. But so is freedom of speech.

Let's look at what our betters in Washington are up to:

From Talkies to File Sharing Sites

Back in the 'Good Old Days,' someone wanting to see a motion picture had to go to a theater and pay for a ticket. The theater owner, distribution company, and movie studio brass all got a piece of the action. Truck drivers, concession clerks, and yes-men got a few cents on the dollar, too, in their paychecks. Then big, bad television came along.

As movie moguls adjusted to broadcast television: cable came along, and once again 'civilization was threatened' by something new. Somehow, we survived.

Then the Internet descended on entrenched corporate bigwigs.

Information Age technology and social structures have made it possible for folks to share enormous amounts of information: quickly; efficiently; inexpensively; and without the permission of America's traditional information gatekeepers. (See "What is an Information Gatekeeper?," Another War-on-Terror Blog (August 14, 2009))

The Lemming likes the Information Age: particularly since the Lemming isn't quite on the same page, ideologically or otherwise, with America's 'better sort.' And that's almost another topic.

Protecting Hollywood From Movie Lovers

The dark side of Information Age technology is that almost anyone can, with very little specialized equipment or training, copy anything that's 'digitized:'

Books
Movies
Software
Photographs
Music
The inside of a bubble gum wrapper
Anything

Some of that information is, or should be, protected by copyright, trademark, or other existing intellectual property rights laws.

As a result, folks who once paid for a ticket to see a movie, or sat through a minute of commercials for every two minutes of programming, can now - legally or not - download pretty much the same movie for next to no cost.

Here's how SOPA is supposed to work, to protect MGM and other copyright holders:

Force ISPs to block access to Domain Name System servers to infringing foreign sites
Force search providers to make such sites that have been flagged as infringing undiscoverable
Force payments processors to shut down the ability for infringing sites to make money
Force Internet advertisers to cease doing business with an infringing site
Prevent its service from providing advertisements to or relating to the foreign infringing site that is subject to the order or a portion of such site specified in the order
(Source: ReadWriteWeb)

Okay: SOPA will give us a Federal bureaucracy with the power to stamp out file-sharing sites, keep Google from showing us websites that the folks in Washington don't think we should know about, and keep money flowing into a few corporate offices?

Who could possibly find a problem with that?

Protected From the Wicked, Wicked Web?

It's been quite a few years, since the Christian Coalition and the Feminist Majority joined forced to 'save the children' from the wicked, wicked Web. The Lemming isn't making that up, by the way. (Another War-on-Terror Blog (March 9, 2008))

The point of that reminiscence is that, when old-school folks see something new coming: quite a few try to get 'the government' to protect them from folks who have kept up with the times. It's understandable, maybe: but that doesn't make it right.

Intellectual Property Rights, Censorship, and the Lemming

About once a month, the Lemming has a guest post on another blog: but apart from that, what the Lemming posts or publishes is either a sort of micro-review, like most of this blog, or original content with the occasional cited quotation.

The Lemming is a 'content provider,' so intellectual property rights are important to the Lemming. Some effort goes into writing a post, or making a picture: and the Lemming thinks it's reasonable that whoever created the organized information should be rewarded. Or at least acknowledged. That's why the Lemming puts links to wherever the text or pictures in micro-reviews came from.

Then there's the 'I stole it fair and square' school of thought, whose adherents seem peeved when someone objects to publication-without-credit. Or payment.

Maybe the Lemming's old-fashioned after all: but it seems that acknowledging authorship or other creative credit isn't unreasonable.

What seems to be worrying folks about SOPA is censorship.

That's not, the Lemming hopes, what SOPA's supporters want.

But the Lemming remembers the 'good old days' when 'dirty' movies and shows were "banned in Boston." And there were odd views in 'nice' television, about pregnancy, and double beds.

A few decades later, and we had 'thought police' on campus, and legal sanctions against "hate speech."¹ All of which isn't censorship: just ask the folks doing the censoring, and they'll re-educate you.

The End of Civilization?

Even if SOPA passes, and America gets 'protected' from photos of kittens and bunny rabbits, and pirated movies: life will go on. The Lemming thinks that, given the value Americans and others put on showing photos of their rabbits, sounding off on Congressional shenanigans, and passing jokes along - after a few more election cycles, and maybe the equivalent of the Army-McCarthy Hearings, a new set of Congressional twits will undo some of the damage.

The Lemming also thinks that we'd all be better off - with the possible exception of a few old-school studios and networks - if SOPA doesn't pass.

A few quotes from news and views, the usual links to related posts, and the Lemming's done.

GoDaddy, Boycott, and SOPA

"Reddit Users to Target Supporters of SOPA in Congress After Successful Boycott of GoDaddy"
Tech, Forbes, (December 28, 2011)

"When GoDaddy.com revealed that it was a supporter of the internet censorship legislation bills SOPA/PIPA, Reddit users and a few big names in the internet business including Wikipedia decided to boycott the web-hosting company.

"They threatened to pull their domains, stop using GoDaddy, and get their friends and associates to do the same.

"Within a couple days, GoDaddy had reversed its position despite the fact that it had helped write SOPA and was exempt from its rules and regulations. The boycott had been a wild success, forcing the company's hand much quicker than anyone had anticipated...."

Somehow, the GoDaddy connection with SOPA has captured old-school journalists' attention. Understandably, perhaps, considering the GoDaddy's sexy commercials. Imagine! Using attractive women to market something!

The Lemming uses some of GoDaddy's online services: but not because of their commercials. The Lemming went through the usual 'due diligence' process, and found that GoDaddy had a very favorable benefit/risk/cost ratio.

Moving on.

Beware the Foreign Pirates?

"Online piracy a hot issue for Congress in January"
Mike Snider, USA TODAY (December 28, 2011)

"A hot issue awaits Congress when it returns in January: online piracy.

"Both houses have bills to combat copyright infringement of movies, music and other intellectual property on rogue, non-U.S.-based websites.

"Powerful interests are facing off over the proposals: Content creators, led by Hollywood and the music industry, are pushing for the most stringent measures. Opposing them are tech and electronics giants.

"Sixteen tech companies, including Google, PayPal and Twitter, took out newspaper ads this month charging that the bills would 'give the U.S. government the power to censor the Web using techniques similar to those used by China.'..."

Okay, the Lemming acknowledges that USA Today cites some of SOPA's downside. But - "online piracy;" "rogue, non-U.S.-based websites;" "Content creators, led by Hollywood and the music industry;" "tech and electronics giants?"

Sorry, but the last that the Lemming heard, the real "content creators" still don't get paid all that much when a studio condescends to use what they've created. Yes, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg have done pretty well. But most screenwriters, musicians, actors, and all the rest of the folks who actually create what the studio's marketing department sells?

Intellectual property rights are important: but so, in the Lemming's opinion, is the notion of rewarding the flunky with the ideas: not just the guy in the corner office.

SOPA: There's More than GoDaddy Going On Here

"On Eve of Net Boycott, Dump GoDaddy Exodus Begins"
Perry Chiaramonte, FoxNews.com (December 28, 2011)

"It's a boycott of viral proportions.

GoDaddy.com, one of the largest domain registrars on the Internet, stands to potentially lose thousands of customers on Thursday, Dec. 29, after the company gave and then repealed its support for a controversial bill before Congress that many fear could heavily restrict the web.

"On the eve of what has been dubbed 'Dump Go Daddy Day,' imgur.com -- pronounced "imager," it's one of the largest image hosting sites in the world, responsible for an astonishing 28 terabytes of bandwidth and nearly 200 million page views today alone -- has already changed its registry entries, foreshadowing the potential negative effect of a boycott set to begin Thursday morning.

"GoDaddy.com originally supported the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) -- which opponents say will hinder free speech and infringe on first amendment rights -- but quickly recanted its position when the call of a boycott circulated.

" 'The outcry kind of forced our hand,' imgur founder and owner Alan Schaaf told FoxNews.com. 'I'm against the SOPA act and imgur as a company is against it. We just feel it is terrible that GoDaddy.com would support this legislation.'

"SOPA would make websites responsible for illegal copyright content uploaded by any user, making it difficult if not impossible for companies like Imgur, YouTube, and Facebook to operate...."

Taking a deep breath and counting to 10: the Lemming repeats what was previously reported. GoDaddy originally supported SOPA. Then, as the online equivalent of an angry mob with pitchforks and torches approached the gates, decided to be sensible.

That's one of the things the Lemming likes about the Internet today: even if all three broadcast networks and The New York Times decide that The Masses shouldn't know about something: Americans can still find out.

We're not limited to what a relatively small number of people, mostly in the New England states, think we should know.

With something like SOPA 'protecting' us? Maybe not.

Related posts:

Intellectual property
- "Litigation-Based Business Model, Freedom of Speech, and Intellectual Property"
  (June 17, 2011)
- "Copyright Infringement Case: Over a Tattoo?!"
  (June 11, 2011)
- "FCC, the Internet, Regulations, Freedom of Speech, and a Ranting Lemming"
  (December 23, 2010)
- "COICA: A Federal Official Deciding Who Gets to Stay Online"
  (November 19, 2010)
- "The Internet: USA Rules, UAE Rules"
  (August 14, 2007)
Old-school information gatekeepers and the Information Age
- "Lèse Majesté, and Staggering Into the 21st Century"
  (December 9, 2011)
- "2009 Preakness Beating: Phones, Freedom, and a Ranting Lemming"
  (December 2, 2011)
- "Lemming Tracks: Iran, Internet, Freedom, and Getting a Grip"
  (May 30, 2011)
- "Lemming Tracks: Erin Andrews, Policing the Internet, and Power to the People"
  (July 29, 2010)
- "Writers, Editors, Publishers, and the Marketplace of Ideas"
  (August 17, 2007)
Censorship
- "Lemming Tracks: Internet Freedom; or 'Be Careful What You Wish For' "
  (April 19, 2011)
- "Lemming Tracks: Egypt Government Shuts Down Internet: It Can't Happen Here?"
  (January 29, 2011)
- " 'Search Neutrality:' Deciding What We're Allowed to Find?"
  (January 22, 2011)
- "The Horror! Monster Comics that Scared Congress"
  (October 31, 2010)
- "Yogi Yorgesson's 'I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas' and the Hamms Bear"
  (December 15, 2009)

News and views:

"Reddit Users to Target Supporters of SOPA in Congress After Successful Boycott of GoDaddy"
Tech, Forbes, (December 28, 2011)
"Online piracy a hot issue for Congress in January"
Mike Snider, USA TODAY (December 28, 2011)
"On Eve of Net Boycott, Dump GoDaddy Exodus Begins"
Perry Chiaramonte, FoxNews.com (December 28, 2011)
"What You Need to Know About SOPA in 2012"
Dan Rowinski ReadWriteWeb (December 23, 2011)

¹ Laws against slander and libel were already on the books. What "hate speech" regulation did was allow criticism of the dominant culture's beliefs to be defined as 'hateful.' As a marketing ploy, labeling criticism as "hate" was an effective way to mask censorship.

New York City, Stray Cats, Shag, and Sense

2011-12-28T07:54:00.001-06:00

"Architects Design Homes for NYC's Stray Cats"
Carolina Worrell, ENR New York, via Architectural Record (December 27, 2011)

"Area architects may not have had to claw their way in but they recently put their design and engineering skills to the test on an animal-rescue mission to design warm, weatherproof, portable and safe shelters for New York City's stray cats. The designers volunteered their time and resources to design and build the shelters for the second annual Architects for Animals competition, part of the non-profit Mayor's Alliance for New York City's Animals.

"There are more than 10,000 stray cats in New York City, says Co Adaptive Architecture, a Brooklyn-based design firm that supports socially and environmentally beneficial work for non-profit organizations...."

At that point, the Lemming didn't know what to expect. Architects have been known to do bizarre things when let off the leash. Add heady buzzwords like "environmentally beneficial" and "non-profit," and there's no telling what could happen.

Back to the article.

"...Co Adaptive teamed with architect Kathryn Walton, founder of the non-profit The American Street Cat, Inc., to win this year's competition with a shelter that includes a data-monitoring device. The shelter, which is constructed of recycled and donated materials, is equipped with a pressure sensor, LED light, and a radio transmitter that lights up when occupied and sends information to a base station that posts the weight of the cat and the duration of its stay on the web in real time.

" 'Since one base station can support hundreds of shelters within a one-mile radius, multiple shelters located within multiple cat colonies can provide useful data for caretakers and certified trap-neuter-return (TNR) workers,' Co Adaptive says. The firm hopes that the shelter will ultimately be used 'to expedite efforts to minimize the overpopulation problem.'..."

Okay: collecting data, and managing the city's stray cat population in what seems to be a humane way, makes sense. So far, so good.

Some of the architects lived down to the Lemming's expectations. There's 'The Shag,' that looks like a refugee from a '70s pet store. The Lemming suspects that the architect may have hoped that a pet supply company would take notice: nothing wrong with that, by itself, but probably not the most efficient way to deal with New York City's stray cats.

(from Architectural Record, used w/o permission)
"A design by RMJM - Photo by Dana Edelson"

Some of the other entries looked nice, and might have been easier to mass-produce than they seem to be. But the Lemming thinks those designs were more an exercise in aesthetics and economics. Nothing wrong with that: but didn't stray cats come up in the discussion, somewhere?

Still. Some of the entries looked pretty good.

(from Architectural Record, used w/o permission)
"A design by Gage Clemenceau - Photo by Dana Edelson"

Then there's the "^{Cat S}H3^elter," by H3 Hardy. It's not what most folks might want in their living room, but a design that involves mailing tubes should be 'environmentally beneficial.' Recycling and all that.

Not a bad idea. Not bad at all. In the Lemming's opinion.

(from Architectural Record, used w/o permission)
"The shelter designed by H3 Hardy was given to CSM Foundation. Here, a stray cat uses the outdoor shelter. Photo by Dana Edelson"

Almost-related posts:

"Wiggly Buildings and Other Weirdness"
(September 13, 2010)
"Goodbye McMansion, Hello Common Sense?"
(August 30, 2010)
"Civic Park in Los Angeles: Designers, Dozens of Officials and a $56,000,000 Budget"
(July 14, 2010)
"Seven Very Strange-Looking Houses"
(August 26, 2009)
"That's One Pink House!"
(June 25, 2009)

Hoarding is Not the Name of an American President

2011-12-26T07:59:00.002-06:00

It's the day after Christmas, the season when comic strips to 'last year's Christmas tree' gags, some folks tidy up the house in preparation for a New Year's Eve party, and a few add another layer to a growing layer of debris in their home.

Hoarding, not to be confused with Warren G. Harding, is no joke. It's also a perennial favorite topic for folks who make documentaries. Here's what got the Lemming started with this post:

It's Not the Mice, It's Not the Poop: It's the Hantavirus

"Hoarding: Deadly Mice Dangers"
HowStuffWorks Videos "Compulsive Hoarders Videos," The Learning Channel
video (2:02)

The playlist has three more videos:

Hoarding: Hoarding Denial
(01:48)
Hoarding: No Space for a Shower
(01:23)
Hoarding: Stacks Up to the Ceiling
(02:00)

Letting so much clutter collect isn't a good idea.

Hoarding is Not Collecting

"Hoarding"
"Definition"
Mayo Clinic staff, MayoClinic.com

"Hoarding

"Hoarding is the excessive collection of items, along with the inability to discard them. Hoarding often creates such cramped living conditions that homes may be filled to capacity, with only narrow pathways winding through stacks of clutter. Some people also collect animals, keeping dozens or hundreds of pets often in unsanitary conditions.

"Hoarding, also called compulsive hoarding and compulsive hoarding syndrome, may be a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). But many people who hoard don't have other OCD-related symptoms.

"People who hoard often don't see it as a problem, making treatment challenging. But intensive treatment can help people who hoard understand their compulsions and live safer, more enjoyable lives."

There's more at the MayoClinic.com website, starting with "Symptoms," and "Causes" (basically, 'we don't know'). Later, there's a long 'to do' list under "Preparing for your appointment." The bottom line is that hoarding is a problem: and a person can do something about it.

By the way, the Lemming was glad to see that MayoClinic.com said, "hoarding is not collecting," and described the differences. The Lemming is a bit of a ~~packrat~~ collector. Despite what some disciples of Martha Stewart may believe, obsessively throwing out anything more than a year old isn't necessarily a sign of good taste.

And that's another topic.

Somewhat-related posts:

" 'It's Okay to Ask For Help!' - a Look at Suicide"
(January 20, 2011)
"A Touching Bit of Research: Tactile Sense and Decision-Making"
(June 28, 2010)
"Another Face Transplant: News, Video, and Opinion"
(April 25, 2010)
"Music, Language, and Workarounds for (Some) Stroke Victims"
(March 11, 2010)
"Have a Paranoid Valentine's Day?"
(February 14, 2010)

"Hoarding"
MayoClinic.com

Lemming Tracks: That's Not Santa

2011-12-25T17:05:00.001-06:00

I'm not Santa Clause: but there's a reason for my not trimming my beard until after Christmas.

"My Christmas Beard"

ApatheticLemmingMinn, YouTube (December 25, 2011)
video, 1:37

Allegedly-related posts:

"Lemming Tracks: Christmas With the Lemming"
(December 16, 2011)
"Angels, Shepherds, and All That"
(December 25, 2009)
" 'Joy to the World' and Flashing Lights"
(December 22, 2009)
"Christmas Trees, Queen Victoria, And Coleridge"
(December 21, 2009)
"A Tofu-Free Christmas Cake Recipe"
(December 7, 2009)

Disapproving Rabbits, the Next Generation: Dougal

2011-12-23T07:58:00.012-06:00

"Dougal "
Disapproving Rabbits (December 19, 2011)

"Here's an update on Dougal: he's getting more used to us, though his first instinct is still to bolt into his cardboard box. He's coming out more often, mostly to run laps (as seen in the video below)...."

The Lemming wondered how long the folks who bring us Disapproving Rabbits would remain rabbitless. They lost Cinnamon, that ancient and leporine bulwark of disapproval, back in June.

Here's their account of how Dougal entered their lives. Part of it, anyway:

"Dougal"
Disapproving Rabbits (December 9, 2011)

"We were heading out of town on a long drive, talking about Christmas, when Sharon said that she was ready to get another rabbit. She missed the scampering sounds, the chewing, and "that good rabbit smell." I agreed. We'd been putting it off because our schedules had been full of work and travel, but now, oddly, things were calming down in December.

"About a minute later I got a message from my friend Laurie, who volunteers at the Humane Society. They had a rabbit, she wrote, that she thought would be perfect for us. We were about five miles away at the time. So we made a detour.

"He was a big boy: about a year old and seven pounds. Super skittish when we got him into the familiarization room, but Laurie told us that he was a stray who was adopted and then returned, but once he calmed down...."

There's quite a bit more text than usual in that Disapproving Rabbits post: understandably, since it was a narrative of Dougal's integration into a new household. The Lemming enjoyed reading about Dougal, acclimatization, and getting photos of a skittish rabbit. But then, the Lemming has a soft spot for tales that end with "...it's good to have a rabbit in the house."

Somewhat-related posts:

"Sic Transit Gloria Bunny - Cinnamon, of Disapproving Rabbits"
(June 22, 2011)
"Rabbit, Snow: Disapproval"
(December 1, 2010)
"Your Daily Adult Requirement of Cute: One Little Rabbit, Then Two"
(October 5, 2010)
"Rabbit Philosophizing"
(May 13, 2010)
"And Now, the Recommended Daily Adult Requirement of Cute"
(March 25, 2010)

Gingerbread, Fruitcake, and Eggnog Nightmare #2

2011-12-23T07:52:00.059-06:00

Christmas is just around the corner. This is the time of year when

Stores are awash in a sea of red and green decorations and seasonal merchandise
Otherwise-sensible folks
- Max out their credit cards
- Get to all the family gatherings
  - Or go nuts, trying
- Forget their dessicated-tofu-and-lichee-nuts diet
  - And scarf down good old fashioned
    - Christmas cookies
    - Apple cider
    - Pecan pie
    - Hot chocolate
    - Chicken and dumplings
    - Eggnog
    - More Christmas cookies
    - Fruitcake
    - Lutefisk
    - More eggnog

There's nothing wrong, in the Lemming's opinion, with colorful store decorations, special holiday food, or seeing relatives. Holidays are supposed to be special.

On the other hand, shoveling high-octane food on top of an already-quivering pile of stress: that may not be quite such a good idea. Which brings the Lemming to this year's holiday picture. You met them last year: now Wayne and Wanda are back, with another vision from the wonderful world of holiday excess:

Allegedly-related posts:

"Lemming Tracks: Christmas With the Lemming"
(December 16, 2011)
"Lemming Tracks: Christmas Cookies, Fruitcake, and Eggnog Nightmare #1"
(December 24, 2010)
" '...Darling Son and That Person You Married....' "
(December 8, 2010)
"Santa's Workshop, Pip, and a Disturbing - or Disturbed - Image"
(December 28, 2009)
"The Christmas Letter"
(December 1, 2007)

Ohio City Dusting Off 1978 Restoration Plan

2011-12-21T07:58:00.067-06:00

"City looks at updating 33-year-old architecture plan"
David DeWitt, The Athens NEWS (December 18, 2011)

"In 1978, the city of Athens [Ohio] adopted a plan outlining revitalization guidelines meant to maintain the historical integrity of the buildings uptown and encourage restoration.

"It's been known as the 'Zarney plan,' named after the principle citizen who put it together, Kim Zarney. Now, City Planner Paul Logue is working on an update.

" 'I've been working with an intern, Jia Li - a recent (Ohio University) grad in urban planning - to update this plan,' he said Friday. 'Jia spent a great deal of time stitching together photos of the buildings in the downtown district as they look now and then we will compare them as they exist now to how they looked in the Zarney plan images and also compare what's been done to what was recommended in that plan.'..."

The idea, apparently, is to have at least part of downtown Athens, Ohio, look something like the way it did a century ago: and still be practical as an early-21st-century downtown street.

It's not just nostalgia, though. The Zarney plan seems to have acknowledged that folks are going to have to live in - and look at - the 'restored' area:

"...'Every effort should be made to preserve the inherently lively and varied forms present within this block,' the plan states about the area between Union Street and Carpenter Street...."

"...the goal of the committee was to increase public awareness and appreciation of the architectural history of the uptown area. And that's what the goal of updating the plan is as well...."

The Lemming remembers the days when folks were getting fed up with Modern developments. Maybe you've seen pictures of them: lots of concrete, lots of glass, vast stretches of not much of anything. Some of those buildings might have looked better if someone had decided to leave the scaffolding in place. And that's another topic.

Back to Athens, Ohio.

The Zarney plan's restoration program was supposed to focus on architectural design of buildings.

"...'The majority of the buildings in (uptown) Athens were built around the turn-of-the-century,' he [Community Design, Incorporated, chair John M. Jones] wrote in April 1978. 'The theme for our improvement design calls for restoring these buildings back to their original architectural design.'

"He wrote that the goal of the committee was to increase public awareness and appreciation of the architectural history of the uptown area. And that's what the goal of updating the plan is as well...."

Sounds like a good idea. Most folks probably won't become sophisticated connoisseurs of early-20th-century architecture. But the Lemming figures that most folks can tell the difference between 'lets make a fast buck' buildings and well-designed ones. And would rather live in a place that doesn't seem intended to bore the senses.

Somewhat-related posts:

"Minneapolis Skyways: Warm Winter Walking"
(November 9, 2011)
"Architects, City Planning, Le Corbusier, Pulp Fiction, The Masses, The City of the Future, and Me"
(December 16, 2009)
"Shimizu Corporation's Tokyo Bay Mega-City Pyramid on Discovery Channel's Extreme Engineering"
(June 22, 2009)
"Eco-Bridge or Not, This Looks Like a Good Idea"
(February 20, 2009)
"Huge Model of Bangkok, Around 2020"
(November 29, 2008)

Higgs Boson, 'God Particle,' and Getting a Grip

2011-12-19T07:52:00.149-06:00

"LHC: Higgs boson 'may have been glimpsed' "
Paul Rincon, Science & Environment, BBC News (December 13, 2011)

"The most coveted prize in particle physics - the Higgs boson - may have been glimpsed, say researchers reporting at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva.

"The particle is purported to be the means by which everything in the Universe obtains its mass.

"Scientists say that two experiments at the LHC see hints of the Higgs at the same mass, fuelling huge excitement.

"But the LHC does not yet have enough data to claim a discovery.

"Finding the Higgs would be one of the biggest scientific advances of the last 60 years. It is crucial for allowing us to make sense of the Universe, but has never been observed by experiments.

"This basic building block of the Universe is a significant missing component of the Standard Model - the 'instruction booklet' that describes how particles and forces interact...."

What? No Doomsday Scenario?

After last year's silly news about CERN's Large Hadron Collider, this BBC article was a welcome relief: for the Lemming, at least. No claims of divine sabotage, or warnings about Earth getting swallowed by CERN's technological terror.

The BBC even let readers know what a "five-sigma level of certainty" means. It has nothing to do with Doctor Who, by the way: "Statistics of a 'discovery'"

"Particle physics has an accepted definition for a 'discovery': a five-sigma level of certainty
"The number of standard deviations, or sigmas, is a measure of how unlikely it is that an experimental result is simply down to chance rather than a real effect
"Similarly, tossing a coin and getting a number of heads in a row may just be chance, rather than a sign of a 'loaded' coin
"The 'three sigma' level represents about the same likelihood of tossing more than eight heads in a row
"Five sigma, on the other hand, would correspond to tossing more than 20 in a row
"Unlikely results can occur if several experiments are being carried out at once - equivalent to several people flipping coins at the same time
"With independent confirmation by other experiments, five-sigma findings become accepted discoveries"
(BBC)

Kudos, BBC.

Happily, a few news outlets on this side of the Atlantic got around to finding out what scientists said about a 'science story.' Real scientists: some of whom had actually worked on the project, or at least knew about that sort of research.

Physics on Talk Radio

"Physicists Find 'Hints' of Elusive Higgs Boson"
NPR (December 16, 2011)

"Two teams of scientists at CERN say they may have glimpsed the long-sought Higgs boson while studying particle collisions. Physicist Joe Incandela discusses how the teams are closing in on data that may prove the theoretical particle, considered a building block for the universe, exists.

"This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Ira Flatow. Scientists have been searching for decades for a subatomic particle called the Higgs Boson. You've heard about it. It's been in the news, and you know, in theory, it explains why and how objects have mass.

"But for more than 40 years, after it was first posited, the Higgs Boson remains elusive. This week, two teams of researchers studying trillions of proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider say they've made progress in the hunt for the Higgs. In fact, CERN's director general, Rolf Heuer, said that while the evidence was not definitive, two teams of scientists have narrowed down the Higgs' hiding spot...."

The NPR transcript isn't as exciting as a UFO attack on an American missile base, secret earthquake weapons, or Princess Di and the lizard people. The Lemming thought it was worth reading.

But then, the Lemming thinks articles with "...it really comes down to statistics,..." "...that whole 500 GEV range,..." and "...statistically significant..." are interesting. Your experience may vary.

It's the Lemming's considered opinion, though, that you may find the NPR transcript more interesting than watching paint dry. Or, not.

Physics, Higgs Boson, 'God Particle,' and Getting a Grip

"What Should 'God Particle' Be Renamed? Physicists Weigh In"
Clara Moskowitz, LiveScience, via FoxNews.com (December 15, 2011)

"Physicists love the Higgs boson, but they hate the God particle.

"The elusive Higgs particle, which scientists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator announced Tuesday, Dec. 13, that they are closing in on, is popularly known as the 'God particle.'

"The moniker, beloved by the press, is almost universally despised by experts who study particle physics.

" 'I detest the name "God particle," ' Vivek Sharma, a physicist at the University of California, San Diego, and the leader of the Higgs search at LHC's CMS experiment, wrote in an email. 'I am not particularly religious, but I find the term an "in your face" affront to those who [are]. I do experimental physics not GOD.'..."

"...'It's an awful name,' Michio Kaku, a theoretical physicist at the City College of New York, told LiveScience. 'It does not convey the particle's true role, that it is the last missing piece of the Standard Model, and that it gives mass to the other particles.'..."

It's nice to read, now and then, about scientists who realize that they're studying science: in an article written by someone who realizes that science isn't religion. It's also nice to read about folks who realize that science isn't Satanic, and apparently are willing to live on the same planet with religious people.

It's also refreshing to read 'science' news, written by a reporter who understands a little about science. And who has an editor willing to let science reporting hit the press, without something extra to spice it up.

Like Michio Kaku said: "God particle" "...does not convey the particle's true role, that it is the last missing piece of the Standard Model...." That, in the Lemming's opinion, is science. And decidedly interesting science, to boot. We've come quite a long way in the last century, toward learning about new levels of complexity in the universe's machinery.

Slightly-related posts:

"Faster Than the Speed of Light: Maybe"
(November 25, 2011)
"Glass, Hypothetical Not-Quite-Helium, and Strange Physics"
(February 7, 2011)
"IceCube Neutrino Observatory: Again"
(December 28, 2010)
"Looks Like a Cosmic Constant - Isn't"
(September 16, 2010)
"Dark Matter Either Exists, or It Doesn't"
(June 14, 2010)

More posts about the Large Hadron Collider:

"CERN's Large Hadron Collider: A List of Posts"

Posts about the silly side:

" 'Cancer Causes Cell Phones!' - or, not"
(July 18, 2011)
"Lemming Tracks: '8 x 8' Water Rule, Real Research; Beer and Pretzels"
(November 27, 2010)
"Gliese 581g, Alien Angst, and the Lemming"
(October 4, 2010)
"Nuclear Weapons, Space Aliens, Conspiracy Theories, and Getting a Grip"
(September 24, 2010)
" 'Security Paranoia Scale:' Digital Security Quantified"
(January 22, 2008)

Science and the Lemming, in another blog:

"Science, Religion, and being Catholic"
A Catholic Citizen in America

King County Scam Email: The Lemming Got One, Too

2011-12-18T13:31:00.002-06:00

"King County warns of email scam"
FederalWayMirror.com (December 16, 2011)

"King County is warning residents of an apparent email scam.

"The email is in regards to property tax payments, and is a false confirmation that a payment was received. According to the county, these emails have even been sent to people in other states and countries. The county says these emails have not been sent by the county, and that none of the county's systems have been compromised.

" 'It appears that someone copied our standard payment confirmation email and altered the header in the email so that it appears to be from King County,' said County Chief Information Officer Bill Kehoe. 'These messages did not come from King County, and the recipients have not made any payments with us.'..."

The Lemming lives more than a thousand miles east of King County's Seattle, Washington, and got one of those ersatz emails on Thursday, December 15. How the scammer got the Lemming's personal email is anyone's guess.

A few minutes' searching told the Lemming that the email was probably the result of someone spoofing, and that the Lemming should delete the email.

And, of course, not open the attachment. Seriously: Folks still open attachments arriving in odd emails from folks they don't know? Come to think about it, there's probably someone starting to use email every day - and reminders never hurt.

Moving on

"Apparent Email Scam" in the News

"King County warns of apparent email scam"
King County Executive News (December 15, 2011)

"County's e-commerce system secure, investigators looking into outside source of bogus emails

"King County is warning of an apparent email scam. The county has received calls from people and businesses within and outside of King County, including individuals from other states and countries, who have reported receiving false confirmation of an online property tax payment made through the King County e-commerce system. These emails were not sent by King County, and the county's e-commerce system has not been compromised.

" 'It appears that someone copied our standard payment confirmation email and altered the header in the email so that it appears to be from King County,' said County Chief Information Officer Bill Kehoe. 'These messages did not come from King County, and the recipients have not made any payments with us.'..."

Which is pretty much what the Lemming found on the King County website.

Why did the Lemming take time to put this post together?

For one thing, that ersatz email was different from the spam that occasionally gets past the Lemming's filters. It wasn't the obviously-bogus message from a 'law firm:' about a rich relative who doesn't exist, worded in a way that suggests the message was composed by a Croatian primary school dropout, using a Slovenian-English dictionary written by a well-intentioned Bengali.

For another, the Lemming is still a little puzzled about being included in a scam that seems otherwise restricted to the Seattle, Washington, area. Not that the Lemming's likely to spend more time, trying to find out.

Besides, it's Sunday afternoon: and the Lemming's taking a few hours off. Which sometimes results in the Lemming committing another post. And that's another topic.

Slightly-related posts:

"Lemming Tracks: Epsilon Breach, Spam, and Getting a Grip"
(April 6, 2011)
"How to Lose Friends and Alienate People With Email: 10 Easy Points"
(February 24, 2011)
"Counterfeit Postage Stamps: No Kidding"
(December 6, 2010)
"Twitter Safety Tips: You Probably Know This Already"
(August 29, 2010)
" 'Work at Home,' Transferring Money Overseas: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?"
(November 3, 2009)

Lemming Tracks: Christmas With the Lemming

2011-12-16T18:29:00.000-06:00

Holidays, Christmas in particular, seem to bring out a special quality in celebrities:

Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, in "Holiday Inn"
(1942)
Bing Crosby and Danny, Kaye in "White Christmas"
(1954)
John Denver and the Muppets, in "Rocky Mountain Holiday with John Denver and the Muppets"
(1983)

And, of course, there were all those Bing Crosby Christmas television specials.

Christmas is also the season when studios crank out 'holiday films:'

El Diablo and Merlin, in "Santa Claus"
(1959)
Kimar and Voldar, in "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians"
(1964)
Chewbacca and Darth Vader, in "The Star Wars Holiday Special"
(1978)

With Christmas a little over a week away, the Lemming decided to take the evening off, look at that tree in the living room, and see what's on television this time around.

The Lemming and Christmas Past:

"Holiday Santa: 'How Much for Just the Head?' "
(December 25, 2010)
"Lemming Tracks: Christmas Cookies, Fruitcake, and Eggnog Nightmare #1"
(December 24, 2010)
"Vertically Challenged Persons, Four Pigs and Rudolph: Santa's a Wreck"
(December 12, 2010)
"Another Christmas Special: With Gerbils"
(May 12, 2010)
"Santa's Workshop, Pip, and a Disturbing - or Disturbed - Image"
(December 28, 2009)

Sic Transit Gloria Oddly - Oddly Enough Blog, That is

2011-12-16T07:55:00.128-06:00

"Nine things I'll miss most about this blog"
Robert Basler, Oddly Enough Blog, Reuters blog (December 5, 2011)
"News, but not the serious kind"

"Let's get the sad news out of the way first.

"After an exhilarating five-year run, this blog is ending its run here. Websites change, and take new directions.

"The slightly better news is that we have a couple of weeks until my final post, so let's have fun...."

That phrase, "let's have some fun," pretty much sums up Robert Basler's Oddly Enough blog. A tip of the Lemming's hat to Mr. Basler, for drawing our attention to bizarre fashion, British royalty, and assorted weirdness. It's the Lemming's opinion that folks need to lighten up from time to time, unhitch that tight collar, and laugh a little.

Basler's Oddly Enough has helped us do just that.

Thanks!

But why, oh, why would Reuters consign Oddly Enough to the dustbin of history?! Particularly now, on the very heels of the calamitous news that Cinnamon the rabbit shuffled off this mortal coil. Well, nearly. Disapproving Rabbits' Cinnamon became one with Nineveh and Troy in June. ("Sic Transit Gloria Bunny - Cinnamon, of Disapproving Rabbits" (June 22, 2011)) That "mortal coil," by the way, has nothing to do with a busted electric motor. It's from Shakespeare's "Hamlet," and that's another topic.

Back to Mr. Basler and Oddly Enough:

"...I've enjoyed everything about creating and writing Oddly Enough. My advice is, if somebody offers to pay you to be a sarcastic smartass, take the job. Especially if it includes dental insurance.

"Some of the things I will miss most…

"9. The Photos: The Reuters photo file is a grand candy store. It has been a treat to look through it daily, searching for goofy gems in a sea of serious images. I'm sure it's fair to say many of the shots in my blog don't get used anyplace else. Indeed, it was the richness of our photo archive that inspired the blog's fabled Goofy Face Museum and Doughnut Shop, which will be a runaway success if it ever opens...."

It is the Lemming's sincere hope that Reuters has the good sense to keep the old Oddly Enough blog posts online - and at their original URLs. Some online content, like weather forecasts and halftime scores for last week's game, may not be worth keeping around. Basler's Goofy Face Museum and Doughnut Shop? That collection of oddball expressions should have entertainment value, as long as folks know what "spam," "Ronald," and "Outback Steakhouse," mean.

Maybe even longer.

The Lemming's opined on the annoying habit some website owners have, of shuffling, reorganizing, or removing, content. The Lemming suspects clueless supervisors, caffeinated interns, and sophomores with all the answers, are involved: and that's yet another topic.

Robert Basler's Oddly Enough blog has wandered into the silly side of serious news on occasion:

"Self-Discipline Threatens Economy! No, Really"
(October 1, 2009)

What the Lemming may miss most, though, are Mr. Basler's wonderfully weird posts about the bizarre world of fashion:

"Mr. Basler's Worst Men's Fashions, 2010"
(December 10, 2010)
"Mr. Basler's Worst Women's Fashions of the Year"
(December 9, 2010)
"Good Grief, What Was the Fashion Designer Thinking?!"
(March 8, 2010)
"Frankenmodel: Or, 'After This Job, You Die'"
(January 29, 2010)

Those posts, and the photos that went with them, taught the Lemming that fashion models earn their occasionally-extravagant pay. At least, the Lemming hopes that models were adequately compensated for allowing themselves to be photographed in those outfits.

Then there were posts like the one micro-reviewed in "Is Your Fitness Instructor a Zombie?"

You'll find more of the Lemming's take on world of fashion, by clicking the "fashion link in this blog's Label Cloud.

Here's the rest of Mr. Basler's countdown of things he'll miss:

"...8. The Animals: Readers know I have a soft spot for animals. I have supported animal rescue in this blog, and....

"...7. The Words: This is a blog for lovers of our language. I have tried my best to revive neglected words such as haberdasher and scalawag and floozy. If you heard someone shout 'Huzzah!' in Starbucks...

"...6. Lamar: I didn't see it coming when I created this recurring character representing the incompetence in all of us. ... When the blog goes away Lamar will be relocated to a secret place by the Federal Witless Protection Program....

"...5. The Duchess: A blogger's best friend, without a doubt. When I want to pander for page views, I turn to Catherine...

"...4. Those wacky Republicans: Where do I begin? With....

"...3. The Truth: I'm allowed to invent fun stuff in this blog, but as a journalist I know the truth is much stranger than anything I can imagine....

"...2. The Commenters: I value all my readers, but especially those who have contributed so much to the comments section. We've received an astonishing 46,000 reader comments in five years....

"...1. And the number one thing I'll miss about this blog is… Wait. It's here somewhere. Nobody leaves this room!..."

Finally, about #4, "Those wacky Republicans," the Lemming is nowhere near 'intelligent' or 'sophisticated' to believe that Republicans are doo-doo heads and Democrats possess knowledge and wisdom beyond human understanding. Or that Democrats are daft and Republicans reasonable. Life's seldom that simple. Mr. Basler apparently has spent his life in North America's dominant coastal culture, and is imbued with that culture's perceptions and assumptions.

And those fashion photos are hilariously bizarre.

Update (December 16, 2011)
Mr. Basler's last Oddly Enough post:

"The last huzzah?"
Oddly Enough, Reuters blog (December 15, 2011)

"Intermittent Alliteration: Interested?"
(January 8, 2011)
"Shirley Booth Didn't Kill Lincoln at a Ford Dealership?"
(January 3, 2011)
"Oddly Enough Blog: Basil Strings Along"
(December 29, 2010)
"Holiday Santa: 'How Much for Just the Head?' "
(December 25, 2010)
"Eight Goofiest Photos: Again; Except Not Eight This Time"
(December 16, 2010)

Top 10 Blog Design Mistakes

2011-12-14T07:55:00.005-06:00

"Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes"
Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox (October 17, 2005)

"Blogs are a form of website. The thousands of normal website usability guidelines therefore apply to them, as do this year's top ten design mistakes. But weblogs are also a special genre of website; they have unique characteristics and thus distinct usability problems.

"One of a weblog's great benefits is that it essentially frees you from 'Web design.' You write a paragraph, click a button, and it's posted on the Internet. No need for visual design, page design, interaction design, information architecture, or any programming or server maintenance...."

Yes, the Lemming noticed: That page is more than six years old. Back then, we had wood-burning computers: so you might think there's no point in following that link.

Quite a bit has changed since Google launched its Google Personalized Homepage and Correlate. On the other hand, the Lemming thinks folks are still plagued by the usability issues listed on Nielsen's page:

No Author Biographies
No Author Photo
Nondescript Posting Titles
Links Don't Say Where They Go
Classic Hits are Buried
The Calendar is the Only Navigation
Irregular Publishing Frequency
Mixing Topics
Forgetting That You Write for Your Future Boss
Having a Domain Name Owned by a Weblog Service

"Weblog Usability..." tells what each point means, and why it's important. If you're willing to overlook slightly-archaic words, like "weblog," the Lemming think you might find a useful reminder on that Alertbox page. Or, not.

Obviously, the Lemming doesn't follow all of Mr. Nielsen's advice: and that's another topic.

There's also a link to Jakob Nielsen's "Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design," which the Lemming also thinks is worth a look.

Allegedly-related posts:

"Website Design, Smart Writing Techniques, and a Ranting Lemming"
(November 30, 2011)
"Psychology of Web Design: Not At All Bad as an Introduction"
(May 24, 2010)
"Link List of Resources for Website Designers"
(November 13, 2009)
"Are Moods Really Blue? Color, Psychology, and Culture"
(May 21, 2008)
"Hiring a Web Guy? Be Careful Who You Hire"
(March 4, 2008)

The 'Christmas Planet:' Kepler-22b

2011-12-12T07:56:00.110-06:00

"Potentially Earth-Like Planet Has Right Temperature for Life"
ScienceNow, Wired Science (December 5, 2011)

"For the first time, astronomers have found a planet smack in the middle of the habitable zone of its sunlike star, where temperatures are good for life. 'If this planet has a surface, it would have a very nice temperature of some 70° Fahrenheit [21°C],' says William Borucki of NASA's Ames Research Center here, who is the principal investigator of NASA's Kepler space telescope. '[It's] another milestone on the journey of discovering Earth's twin,' adds Ames director Simon 'Pete' Worden.

"Unfortunately, the true nature of the planet, named Kepler-22b, remains unknown. It is 2.4 times the size of Earth, but its mass, and hence its composition, has not yet been determined. 'There's a good chance it could be rocky,' Borucki says, although he adds that the planet would probably contain huge amounts of compressed ice, too. It might even have a global ocean. 'We have no planets like this in our own solar system.'

"Kepler-22b is 600 light-years away. Every 290 days, it orbits a star that is just a bit smaller and cooler than our own sun. The Kepler telescope, launched in 2009 to scan the skies for Earth-like worlds, found the planet because it sees the orbit edge on. That means that every 290 days, the world transits the surface of the star, blocking out a minute fraction of its light.

"Borucki likes to call the new discovery the Christmas planet. 'It's a great gift,' he said...."

This is exciting news for the Lemming. Astronomers have spotted planets that are close to the right distance from their star before; and have spotted planets that are only a few times as massive as Earth. Kepler-22b is roughly the same size as Earth, and at roughly the 'right' distance from its parent star: so it's possible that there is life there.

Or, not. We don't know what Kepler-22b's mass is, which will tell researchers how dense it is. And we don't know what sort of light gets bounced off Kepler-22b. If the expolanet's density is in the neighborhood of 5.5 grams per cubic centimeter, like Earth, and reflects a lot of bluish-white light, like Earth: it's still not a 'twin' of Earth. But it would be awfully close.

By the way, that 5.5 grams/cubic centimeter means that Earth is 5.5 times as dense as water. About. Water's density is 1 gram per cubic centimeter at 39.2°F. Boiling water (at sea level) is 0.95865 gram per cubic centimeter, and that's another topic. (USGS)

Only 600 Light Years: That's Close

Depending on what you're looking at, 600 light years is a huge distance, or practically next door. It's the distance light travels in 600 years: so the light that the Kepler observatory picked up started out around the time when the first golf balls were made. That's about 3,527,175,200,000,000 miles. Give or take a few hundred million.

Compared to the distance the Lemming travels, going to the nearest grocery, that's a long way away.

Backing off a little, and looking back at Earth's neighborhood, Kepler 22-b is practically next door. On the scale of this picture, the "S" in "Sun" is well over 1,200 light years across: twice the distance to Kepler-22b.

(from Department of Physics, University of Oregon, used w/o permission)

Life, the Universe, and All That

That Wired Science article doesn't have the sort of entertainment value that "Star Wars" or "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn" offer. For something in a 'science news' online publication, that's not the point.

What fascinates the Lemming about Kepler 22-b, and the rapidly growing list of known exoplanets, is the knowledge that the collection of planets, moons, and assorted debris, circling our star isn't quite unique.

We still don't know whether there are many - or any - other orderly systems like ours, with planets circling in neatly nested circles. And we're probably a long way from knowing whether there's life somewhere other than on Earth.

As for traveling to planets circling other stars: That's another topic.

Related posts:

"Exoplanets: Over 700 Found to Date; Latest Batch of 18 are Jupiter-Size"
(December 5, 2011)
"Life on Other Worlds: First, Find a Planet"
(January 1, 2011)
"Alien Contact: National Geographic Documentary"
(January 1, 2011)
"Beautiful Space Princesses, Almost Certainly Not: Flying Whales, Maybe"
Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (December 8, 2009)
"Earth May Not Be a 'Class M' Planet"
(December 5, 2009)

And, Now, For Something Completely Different: A Cat and Five Tiny Rabbits

2011-12-09T09:58:00.002-06:00

"When Thanksgiving centerpieces go wrong"
Meg, Cute Overload (November 29, 2011)

(from Animal Blog, via Ant at AQFL, via Cute Overload, used w/o permission)

There's some text, and a slightly larger photo, at Cute Overload.

Enjoy!

Other 'cute' posts:

"Hello Kitty! Three A330 Airliners Raise Air Travel Cuteness Levels"
(November 4, 2011)
"Sic Transit Gloria Bunny - Cinnamon, of Disapproving Rabbits"
(June 22, 2011)
"'Rapture' and a Rattled Raccoon"
(May 24, 2011)
"A Rabbit, Pumpkin, and Thanksgiving"
(November 25, 2010)
"A Rabbit, a Reindeer Tiara, and a Grim Sentiment"
(November 20, 2010)

Lèse Majesté, and Staggering Into the 21st Century

2011-12-09T08:58:00.135-06:00

The Lemming posted "Lemming Tracks: 'Sexual Harassment' in the Information Age" about an hour ago. That was about an apparently-daft decision to slap a nine-year-old with a three-day suspension from school. For saying his teacher is "cute." What the kid did was, maybe, inappropriate. Maybe it warranted a three-day suspension.

But "sexual harassment?" Disco is dead, the '80s are long gone, and it's time to get a grip. In the Lemming's opinion, of course. Some folks never left Woodstock, and that's another topic.

Three Day Suspension, Two and a Half Year Prison Sentence, and a Lifetime of Memories

I'm not sure that throwing an adult in prison for insulting a king is 'more serious' than teaching a nine-year-old that people in authority are hypersensitive nitwits. Mr. Gordon's two and a half year prison sentence will last longer: but the nine-year-old will probably remember his experience for the rest of his life.

Anyway, here's what the Lemming saw in yesterday's news:

Don't Dis the King

"American Sentenced to Prison for Insulting Thai Monarchy"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (December 8, 2011)

"A court in Thailand sentenced a U.S. citizen to two and a half years in prison Thursday for defaming the country's royal family by translating excerpts of a locally banned biography of the king and posting them online.

"The verdict is the latest so-called lese majeste punishment handed down in the Southeast Asian kingdom, which has come under increasing pressure at home and abroad to reform harsh legislation that critics say is an affront to freedom of expression.

"The 55-year-old Thai-born American, Joe Gordon, stood calmly with his ankles shackled in an orange prison uniform as the sentence was read out at a Bangkok criminal court...."

"Lese majeste" isn't something you hear every day. Not in 21st-century America, at least. A Wikipedia article says it's French (lèse majesté), that came from the in-house brand of Latin the French used for legal stuff. It means "injured majesty," more or less.

Essentially, offending the king was treason in the 'good old days:' which the Lemming doesn't miss all that much.

Joe Gordon, Thailand, Family and Names

"Joe Gordon" sounds like an old-fashioned, solidly Anglo 'American' name. It's possible that Mr. Gordon did what many other Americans did, to make life easier for themselves: changed his name to something the locals could pronounce and remember easily. Let's face it: most Americans are going to remember "Joe Gordon" more easily than they would something like เจ้าพระยาบดินทรเดชา. Or even กอร์ดอนโจ.

Whether or not someone decides to take an 'American' name is up to the individual: Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar got along fine with his distinctly un-British name. Although the Lemming's noticed that it's reduced to "Chandra" fairly often. The Lemming opined about names and America in another blog:

"'American' Names, the Diocese of Little Rock, and Father Agbakwuo"
A Catholic Citizen in America (March 19, 2011)

Moving on.

Two and a Half Years: A Light Sentence?

Apparently, the Thai judge is letting Mr. Gordon off easy. Which was awfully nice, considering what a dastardly deed the American had done: dissing the king, and all:

"...Judge Tawan Rodcharoen said the punishment, initially set at five years, was reduced because Gordon pleaded guilty in October.

"The sentence was relatively light compared to other recent cases. In November, 61-year-old Amphon Tangnoppakul was sentenced to 20 years in jail for sending four text messages deemed offensive to the crown.

"Gordon posted links to the banned biography of King Bhumibol Adulyadej several years ago while living in Colorado, and his case has raised questions about the applicability of Thai law to acts committed by foreigners outside Thailand.

"Speaking after the verdict, Gordon said, 'I am an American citizen, and what happened was in America.'...
(Associated Press, via FoxNews.com)

The Lemming could rant about American arrogance, cultural imperialism, and the general ickiness of Yankee warmonger white racist male dominated authoritarian oppressors. But why bother? The Lemming doesn't have a position in American academia to maintain, and isn't trying to be considered 'intelligent' by America's 'better' sort.

Besides, the Lemming thinks that quite a few folks in America are tired of the post-disco 'establishment' in America. And that's yet another topic.

'There Oughtta be a Law?'

"...Thailand's lese majeste laws are the harshest in the world. They mandate that people found guilty of defaming the monarchy -- including the king, the queen and the heir to the throne -- face three to 15 years behind bars. The nation's 2007 Computer Crimes Act also contains provisions that have enabled prosecutors to increase lese majeste sentences.

"The U.S. Embassy's consul general, Elizabeth Pratt, told reporters in Bangkok after the ruling that Washington considered Gordon's punishment 'severe because he has been sentenced for his right to freedom of expression.'..."

The Lemming remembers the trailing edge of McCarthyism, endured political correctness, and doesn't think highly of what either ideological storm did to America. Freedom of expression is precious: even when the other guy says something you don't like. Sometimes, especially when the other guy doesn't agree. And that's yet more topics, that the Lemming's gone on about in this and other blogs.

Goodbye, 18th Century - - Hello, Information Age

Bottom line? The Lemming thinks that America has done well, in part because folks here don't get thrown in prison for criticizing Congress or the President. Not usually, anyway.

The American Revolution (the one in 1776) was an early step in working out ways to run a country without worrying about what some irritable nincompoop with a crown wanted to hear.

A remarkable number of countries discovered that criticizing incompetence, corruption, and unearned privilege didn't bring civilization to its knees. Some countries, like Thailand, don't seem to have read the memo yet.

Yet again more topics.

Related posts:

Freedom of expression
- "2009 Preakness Beating: Phones, Freedom, and a Ranting Lemming"
  (December 2, 2011)
- "Lemming Tracks: Internet Freedom; or 'Be Careful What You Wish For' "
  (April 19, 2011)
- "Zimbabwe, Where Watching the Wrong Videos is Treason"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (February 25, 2011)
- "FCC, the Internet, Regulations, Freedom of Speech, and a Ranting Lemming"
  (December 23, 2010)
- "William Felkner vs. College Conformity: Traditional Information Gatekeepers Face Another Challenge"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (December 16, 2008)
  Particularly
  - Traditional Information Gatekeepers and the Information Age
'Free - to agree with me?'
- "Freedom, Even For 'Those People Over There' "
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (November 11, 2011)
- "My Take on the News: 'There Oughtta be a Law?'"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (November 11, 2011)
  Particularly
  - 'Everybody Knows What Those People are Like'
  - Bias Made Easy
    - A sort of menu
  - Religious Freedom
  - Freedom: For Everyone
- "Blogs, Freedom of Speech, and Threats to the Status Quo"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (July 31, 2010)
- "School District Celebrates Religious Freedom Day: By Banning Bibles"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (July 1, 2010)
- "More Academic Freedom, American Style?"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (September 22, 2008)
Living in a big world
- "Chauvinism Knows No Borders"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (July 23, 2011)
- "Cultural Chaos, Divisiveness, and CNN"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (April 1, 2010)
- " 'Criticism is Terrorism:' Chavez and Twitter 'Terrorists' "
  (February 1, 2010)
- "What is an Information Gatekeeper?"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (August 14, 2009)
- "Tolerance: Yes, it's a Good Idea"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (August 3, 2009)

Lemming Tracks: "Sexual Harassment" in the Information Age

2011-12-09T07:54:00.429-06:00

The Lemming will be back, later today, with something lighter.

First, though, there are two items from the news that warrant attention. The first is a followup on the latest lunacy from America's government schools. The second is an example of why the Lemming doesn't want laws that force niceness down our throats.

"Sexual Harassment," When Everyone's Looking

This post is about a "sexual harassment" charge that wasn't decently hushed up.

As for what happened to the principal: maybe forcing him into retirement was a bit extreme; maybe not. The Lemming doesn't have enough facts to have an opinion.

Is it possible that the nine-year-old boy is a big meanie, and is to blame for the principal losing his job? Maybe. Maybe not.

Could the mother of the nine-year-old be seeing her son's treatment from the point of view of a parent? Could be.

Anyway, here's the Lemming's rant on what happened in the Gaston County School District.

Ex-Principal: 'It's Not Fair'

"Principal forced to retire amid 9-year-old boy's suspension"
wsoctv.com (December 6, 2011, updated December 7, 2011)

"A Gastonia principal who accused a 9-year-old of sexual harassment retired abruptly Tuesday night.

"Principal Jerry Bostic told Eyewitness News he retired as of 5 p.m.

"He told the Gaston Gazette the Gaston County School District gave him one hour to decide whether to quit or be fired.

" 'One mistake in 44 years, and I'm not given the benefit of the doubt. I really don't believe I was treated fairly,' Bostic told Eyewitness News...."

Maybe what happened to Mr. Bostic really was 'unfair.' "One mistake in 44 years" suggests quite a few things to the Lemming. Several of which are mutually exclusive:

Mr. Bostic
- Is 44 years old
- Has been
  - Employed for 44 years
    - Anywhere
    - In the Gaston County School District
      - In a variety of positions
  - A principal for 44 years
    - With G.S.D.
    - In several school districts
The 9-year-old's suspension
- Was Mr. Bostic's only lapse in judgment
- Something that
  - Didn't happen
  - Wasn't Mr. Bostic's fault
  - Was demanded by School District policy
    - (Remember "zero tolerance?")

Not all of those things could be true, obviously: and the Lemming doesn't have enough facts to have an opinion about how fair - or unfair - Mr. Bostic's dismissal was.

The WSOC TV article clears up one point, right at the end. Mr. Bostic had been with Gaston County Schools for 44 years: 35 as an administrator; 15 at Brookside Elementary.

'Sexual Harassment' and He Said / She Said

The Lemming has done time inside academia, on both sides of the desk. It's possible, in the Lemming's opinion, that folks with the school district are telling the truth. There are other possibilities, too. Back to that WSOC TV article:

"...Chiquita Lockett said her son, Emanyea, was suspended from Brookside Elementary last week for calling a teacher 'cute.'

"The school initially claimed it sexual harassment, adding Emanyea used the word 'fine' in a suggestive tone. School officials said in addition to the comment about the teacher, Emanyea had been warned about calling students bad words...."
(WSOC TV)

Again, the Lemming doesn't have enough facts to sort out what happened from what "the school," Emanyea's mother, and Mr. Bostic:

Remember
Wish had actually happened
Want folks to believe

It's the Lemming's opinion that "the school" would have been well advised to do at least one of the following, before making a public statement:

Find out what Emanyea actually did
Think about what should be said in the statement
Notice which decade we're at

Everybody involved in the "sexual harassment" thing at Brookside Elementary is probably rather tense just now: so it's no wonder that their stories don't match. Or that "the school" seems to have been changing it's version of events as reality intruded.

Which threatens to get the Lemming distracted by the (un) reliability of eyewitness testimony, video cameras, and how not to deal with embarrassing situations. Which is another topic. Topics. Some of which the Lemming ranted about last week:

"2009 Preakness Beating: Phones, Freedom, and a Ranting Lemming"
(December 2, 2011)

"Cute," Dictionaries, Sexual Harassment, and Getting a Grip

The word "cute," by itself, can mean quite a few things, including:

Princeton's WordNet
1. Attractive
  - especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness
2. Obviously contrived to charm
Google dictionary
1. Attractive in a pretty or endearing way
2. Sexually attractive
3. Affectedly or superficially clever

Saying "cute" in some contexts could, using definition 2B, could be considered "sexual harassment."

On the other hand, coming from a 9-year-old, after too many cases of "sexual harassment" being more about snits than sex: someone in the school district should have checked the calendar to see which decade they were in.

Before someone has a stroke: Yes, the Lemming knows that "sexual harassment" happens. Real sexual harassment. The Lemming also remembers when "she's as smart as a man" was supposed to be a compliment.

Moving on.

"We Regret" - That, the Lemming Believes

There's one part of the school district's collective story that the Lemming believes.

Back to WSOC's article:"...The story went viral with reports showing up on Fox News, CNN and the Huffington Post in addition to papers and blogs across the country.

"But Tuesday, the district released a statement apologizing to the family and saying there was no sexual harassment.

" 'We regret this situation happened. The superintendent has attempted to contact the family to offer an apology to the parents and student. The school system is also sending an official letter of apology to the parents and student,' the statement says in part...."
(WSOC TV)

The Lemming has no trouble believing that the school district's leadership regrets that "this situation" happened. It's almost certainly an embarrassment, joining the ranks of exposed bunglers in education.

Particularly since the folks at Brookside Elementary and Gaston County Schools may not have realized how important it is these days, to get your story straight before blurting something out in public.

From Yellow Journalism and Spunky Girl Reporters to Blogs and Camera Phones

There was a time, not many decades back, when American journalism was a rather tidy affair: a gentleman's club, if you will, 'yellow journalism' and 'spunky girl reporters' notwithstanding.

That was then, this is now.

For the last few years, folks of the 'right sort' enjoyed a degree of protection from The Masses. We weren't likely to hear about a nine-year-old accused of sexual harassment, or a teen girl strip-searched, unless we knew the family or lived in the neighborhood.

Ah, those were 'the good old days.' For some folks.

Information technology, and the social structures developing around it, have changed America's 'good old boy' network: and are in the process of ruining the retirement plans of despots in the Middle East and elsewhere.

On the whole, the Lemming likes the "chaos" that happens when The Masses start learning more than what their 'betters' think is good for them.

"Something That Everyone Needed to See"

Before one last excerpt from WSOC TV, some good news about Emanyea.

Now that they're being watched, the school district won't count the suspension against Emanyea; and he'll allegedly get help with catching up on classroom time missed. That's very generous of them, the Lemming thinks. Also an example of enlightened self-interest.

Meanwhile, his mother has something to say:

"...'This is something that everyone needed to see,' Lockett said, 'just to see what's happening within our school systems.'

"Lockett said she will likely pursue legal action...."
(WSOC TV)

The Lemming thinks that America has seen quite enough silly lawsuits: but in this case, Lockett may have a valid point. If she decides to go ahead with legal action, the Lemming hopes she's got documentation for everything, and a lot of money.

Related posts:

Education's loony side
- "Police Handcuff Dangerous Student! School Protected From Erasable Marker!"
  (April 6, 2010)
- "Rabbit Terrorism: You Can't Make This Up, Folks"
  (July 27, 2010)
  - In Germany
    - America faces tough international competition for 'craziest school system'
- "Newark Schools Protected From Dangerous Six-Year-Old and His Cub Scout Gadget"
  (October 16, 2009)
- "Strip Searching a Teenage Girl: The Wild and Wacky World of School Discipline"
  (June 26, 2009)
- " 'Fairness' Run Amok in Japanese Schools?"
  (June 7, 2008)
  - I am not making this up
Assumptions and values
- "Lemming Tracks: Accountability? In Education?!"
  (March 4, 2011)
- "Lemming Tracks: 'Voting Our Way = Ice Cream' "
  (October 19, 2010)
- "Home Schooling, Religious and Moral Instruction, and American Culture"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (March 6, 2010)
  Particularly
  - Don't Read the News: Study It
  - NOT ALL CHRISTIANS ARE DOLTS
- "How to Read the News: Or, Missouri Teen Suicide, Lori Drew, and Victims"
  (December 7, 2007)
- "Who Needs Facts? Cultural Assumptions and Politics"
Living in a big world
- "Chauvinism Knows No Borders"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (July 23, 2011)
- "Cultural Chaos, Divisiveness, and CNN"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (April 1, 2010)
- " 'Criticism is Terrorism:' Chavez and Twitter 'Terrorists' "
  (February 1, 2010)
- "What is an Information Gatekeeper?"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (August 14, 2009)
- "Tolerance: Yes, it's a Good Idea"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (August 3, 2009)

Lemming Tracks: Candles, Reports, Meetings, and a Busy Lemming

2011-12-07T15:24:00.002-06:00

This has been a hectic 10 days for the Lemming. Take today's post, for example. Not this one, the "Museum of Modern Art: MoMA isn't a Japanese Cartoon Character" one that was supposed to get posted about seven hours ago.

That post's time stamp looks okay: but nobody could read it until a few minutes ago.

Sorry about that.

Candles, Video, and the Lemming

All of which has nothing to do with this post's video about a candle that burns in a circle. Candles like that are what's been keeping the Lemming busy. They're made by Spiral Light Candle Corporation. ("A Candle With a Twist")

Now, some blatant self-promotion:

Spiral Light Candle Corporation
(spirallightcandle.com)
- Video
- P.O. Box 868
  Hillsboro, ND 58045
  Telephone (701) 425-0682
Spiral Light Candle Corp. Storefront
On Amazon.com

Work, North Dakota, and a Busy Lemming

At this moment, the Lemming is wrapping up some work at the Spiral Light Candle office in Hillsboro, North Dakota. Near Hillsboro, actually. We're about two miles out of town.

Until today, the Lemming could get his work done at his own desk, down in central Minnesota. That's good news for the Lemming, and an example of working from home, telecommuting, and other Information Age stuff. The Lemming's discussed Flash, a movie about coffee, and clueless supervisors in another blog: which doesn't have much to do with finding more space for Spiral Light Candle's factory.

Finding more floor space for a candle factory is what brought the Lemming to North Dakota. Spiral Light Candle is looking for a building to move into early next year: and the Lemming's presence was wanted at a meeting involved in that process. All of which may sound more highfalutin than it really is.

The meeting's over, the Lemming's been getting a bit more work done, and soon it'll be time to head back to Minnesota.

Life, Blogging, and All That

The next post in this blog should get posted Friday morning, which gives the Lemming a whole day to get something ready. If writing for this blog was all that the Lemming did, that'd be plenty of time: but there's more to life than blogging, even for an apathetic Lemming.

See you Friday morning: probably.

Almost-not-entirely-unrelated posts:

"Lemming Tracks: The Lemming's Back, and Pooped"
(August 10, 2011)
"Lemming Tracks: The Lemming's Taking a Sabbatical, Sort Of"
(July 26, 2011)
"How to Not Sound Crazy - or - THE PARANOIDS ARE AFTER ME!!!"
(June 12, 2011)
"Lemming Tracks: Due to Lack of Interest, Monday has been Canceled"
(June 6, 2011)
"And Now, for Something Completely Different: a Spiral Candle Video"
(March 16, 2011)

Museum of Modern Art: MoMA isn't a Japanese Cartoon Character

2011-12-07T07:58:00.053-06:00

Architecture & Design
The Collection, Explore, Museum of Modern Art

"The world's first curatorial department devoted to architecture and design was established in 1932 at The Museum of Modern Art. From its inception ... the recognition that architecture and design are allied and interdependent arts, so that synthesis has been a founding premise ... Including 28,000 works ranging from large-scale design objects to works on paper and architectural models ... Starting with the reform ideology established by the Arts and Crafts movement ... includes the Mies van der Rohe Archive ... even a helicopter...."

"Installation view of the exhibition, Just in: Recent Acquisitions from the Collection, The Museum of Modern Art, December 21, 2007–November 30, 2008. Photo by Thomas Griesel. © The Museum of Modern Art."
(from MoMA, used w/o permission)

All that text, starting with "The world's first curatorial department," is from one paragraph. One really long paragraph.

It didn't take the Lemming very long to find a link leading to photos and text showing what the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA for short, has in it's Architecture and Design collection.

Right now, they're featuring "Study for Fruit Bowl (with Apple), project, Aerial perspective," by "Ettore Sottsass (Italian, born Austria. 1917-2007)." For 'modern art,' it looks an awful lot like a fruit bowl with apple. In shades of gray.

Maybe 'modern' art has gotten over trying to sell The Masses on spatters of paint and dumpster leavings. And that's another topic.

Seriously? This looks like a pretty good way for the Lemming to visit a major museum, without dealing with city traffic. And that's yet another topic.

Related posts:

"Alexander Calder, Mobiles, and Encouraging the Kids"
(July 22, 2011)
"Comics Artist Will Eisner: Born 94 Years Ago Today"
(March 6, 2011)
"Henri Matisse, Color, Light, and Art"
(January 25, 2011)
"Tempura isn't Tempera"
(December 10, 2010)
"Chicago's Art Institute: Modern Art Isn't Necessarily Silly"
(May 4, 2009)

Exoplanets: Over 700 Found to Date; Latest Batch of 18 are Jupiter-Size

2011-12-05T07:57:00.000-06:00

"New Batch of Giant Alien Worlds Found"
Discovery News (December 3, 2011)

"A new haul of 18 Jupiter-sized gas giant planets have been detected orbiting stars bigger than our sun, according to a release by scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

"The find boosts the number of known planets circling huge stars by 50 percent. Studying the newly found planets could also help astronomers better understand how planets -- including ones in our own solar system -- form and grow.

"The new batch of alien worlds was announced on the heels of another recent discovery of 50 newly found planets from another team of astronomer, bringing the list of identified alien planets well past 700...."

That's a lot of planets. A whole lot more than the eight, or nine, or ten, in the Solar system. There's been debate over just what a "planet" is; and it looks like there may be undiscovered planets, or dwarf planets, or whatever the things wind up being called, in the outer Solar system. (January 5, 2010)

Exoplanet Count Tops 700? You Ain't Seen Nuthin' Yet!

"...The Kepler space telescope has so far identified more than 1,200 possible planets, though most of those have not yet been confirmed...."
(Discovery News)

There's no way for the Lemming to know what fraction of those 1,200 Kepler 'possibles' will turn out to be exoplanets. It's a big number of 'maybes,' and like Discovery News said: that's the count "so far." Exciting times.

At least, that's how the Lemming sees it. Your experience may vary.

Meanwhile, Back on Earth - - -

This latest batch of 18 planets orbiting other stars didn't get discovered by the Kepler orbital observatory. Astronomers working down on Earth found them. The article said that the initial observations were at Keck Observatory in Hawaii, with follow-up work done at McDonald and Faiborn Observatories in Texas and Arizona.

The astronomers were looking at about 300 stars. Back to the article, again:

"...They zeroed-in on stars that are more than one and a half times more massive than the sun....

"...the team found 18 planets with masses similar to Jupiter's.

"The researchers say that the findings lend further support to the theory that planets grow from seed particles that accumulate gas and dust in a disk surrounding a newborn star...."
(Discovery News)

That's not going to help anybody buy a winning lottery ticket, or help some team win the next Super Bowl. It won't even help the Lemming finish a report that has nothing to do with this blog. And the Lemming is wandering off-topic.

For folks who like to know how the universe works, data that supports "...the theory that planets grow from seed particles..." is important. Data that doesn't support that theory is important. And data that flatly won't fit in the theory would be really exciting: because then, we'd know that there's a whole new set of things to learn about.

As for practical applications: It's the Lemming's opinion that it will be some time before humanity starts building planetary systems from scratch. And that's another topic.

Related posts:

"Gliese 581d: Rocky, Close (sort of), and Liquid Water (could be, maybe)"
(May 18, 2011)
"55 Cancri e - A Fairly Dense, Fairly Big, Very Intriguing, Exoplanet"
(May 2, 2011)
"Kepler-10b: Hot, Rocky, and the Smallest Exoplanet Yet"
(January 11, 2011)
"Planets Found Circling Other Stars: 429 So Far"
(February 15, 2010)
"Kepler Mission: A Serious Search for Other Earths"
(March 3, 2009)

2009 Preakness Beating: Phones, Freedom, and a Ranting Lemming

2011-12-02T07:55:00.215-06:00

Freedom is a funny thing. Folks want it for themselves, but aren't always comfortable when others use their freedom. When the uncomfortable folks wear a police uniform, bad things can happen.

From yesterday's news and views:

'Don't Nobody Look!?' 'Nothing to See Here!?'

"Taking Liberties: iPhone, YouTube and the First Amendment"
Douglas Kennedy, FoxNews.com (December 1, 2011)

"The YouTube video shows the 2009 Preakness. A woman lies bleeding on the ground inside Pimlico Race Course in Maryland after an altercation with police.

" 'How many times are you going to punch her, someone yells at the five or so cops, who are holding the woman on the ground.

" 'Was that necessary?' another person screams.

"An officer at the scene can be heard telling bystanders to stop videotaping the incident with their cellphones.

" 'Turn that off,' he says, claiming it's 'illegal' to tape the police in a public place...."

That's where the Lemming got really, really, interested.

If it's "illegal" to tape the police in a public place, the police departments all over the United States must be routinely breaking the law. The television series "Cops" has been running since 1989, broadcasting footage recorded by dashcams.

Of course, 'that's different.' Those dashboard cameras are part of the police department inventory, and are used as a law enforcement tool.

Back to that article.

"Illegal," or Embarrassing?

"...So is it really 'illegal?' It's a question many courts are facing these days with the proliferation of cell cameras and other handheld recording devices.

"Chris Sharp was at Pimlico that day and also pressed the record button on his phone. The woman on the ground was a friend of a friend, and Sharp caught the entire confrontation, including what he calls 'the beating.'...

"...Unlike the YouTube video, Sharp says he caught the initial takedown.

" 'I got the whole thing,' he said as he paced back and forth in the parking lot behind the headquarters for the Maryland American Civil Liberties Union.

"Unfortunately, Sharp said something similar to the police at the scene. 'I told them I got it all.'..."

Sharp, in the Lemming's opinion, made a really big mistake at that part: assuming that his story is essentially accurate.

Telling someone you think is committing a violent crime, that you've got video evidence of the crime, when the perpetrator can hurt you, is, again in the Lemming's opinion, not prudent.

Collecting - and Destroying Evidence?!

"...He says the police then took his camera and erased all the contents, including the video and all his pictures.

" 'After they took my phone,' he said, 'and then gave it back to me, everything was off of it… my personal videos of my son and family and friends.'

"Sharp and his attorney are now suing the Baltimore Police Department, claiming it violated the First Amendment...."

Things get a little technical at that point. Essentially, some folks think that the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to America's Constitution, give Americans certain rights.

Some of them aren't all that much of an issue today, like Amendment III:

"No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law."

Then there's Amendment IV:

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

A key word there is "unreasonable." The Lemming figures the police officer who apparently erased the evidence he was confiscating thought what he did was "reasonable." At least, using the "I want to do this, so it's reasonable" principle.

On the other hand, Amendment I doesn't mention cell phone cameras, or videotape. Not once:

First Amendment: Cell Phones, No; Freedom, Yes

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Which makes sense, considering that video recording devices hadn't been invented in 1791. Those excerpts, by the way, are from:

"Bill of Rights Transcript Text"
The Charters of Freedom, National Archives, United States

Freedom ISN'T Conformity

"Freedom" can mean quite a few things, depending on who you listen to. A regrettable number of folks seem to think that "freedom" means, "free to agree with me." McCarthyism and political correctness are two recent examples of that sort of aberration.

It's the Lemming's considered opinion that freedom is the:

Condition of being free
Power to act or speak or think without externally imposed restraints
(Princeton's WordNet)

Folks in a society have to agree on some things, like which side of the road to drive on, and whether a red traffic light means "stop" or "go." Beyond that sort of thing, the Lemming thinks that freedom allows folks to make decisions.

Even if they're not exactly what the Lemming decided.

At least, that's the way it should work.

The First Amendment's "establishment clause," and odd notions about religious beliefs - - - is a topic for another blog:

"My Take on the News: Religion, Politics, and Freedom"
A Catholic Citizen in America (October 28, 2011)
Particularly
- Conspicuous, Maybe: But Not Typical
- Faith, Reason, and Politics
"The Establishment Clause; Religious Freedom; and Getting a Grip"
A Catholic Citizen in America (October 5, 2011)
"Sex, Science, and the Home Schooling Parent"
A Catholic Citizen in America (September 17, 2011)
"First Amendment Suspended for 9/11 Memorial Service: Wrong, but Understandable"
A Catholic Citizen in America (September 10, 2011)
"Religious Freedom, Niemöller, and Muslims in America"
A Catholic Citizen in America (April 7, 2011)
Particularly
- Why the Rights of Muslims Matter to This Catholic

American Police: Sensible, Professional, Mostly

"....[Attorney] Jeon says the police 'harangued' Sharp to give them his phone, claiming they wanted it for evidence.

" 'Then, she says, 'they took the phone and deleted the so called "evidence." They were the ones who broke the law.'..."

At this point, what happened at the 2009 Preakness seems to be a 'he said/she said' situation. Since Sharp's video no longer exists, it can't be used as evidence for or against anybody. That's assuming that it exists, of course.

In a perfect world, everybody on every police force would act - perfectly. We probably wouldn't even need police. But this world isn't perfect, some folks are not safe to be around - and, unhappily, a few of them wear police uniforms.

Please note, the Lemming said "some," and "a few." Each time that the Lemming was detained by the police, they acted in a sensible, professional manner: and that's another topic. The Lemming is also aware that wearing a police uniform doesn't guarantee good behavior.

The Lemming hopes that there were enough witnesses to piece together what really happened: either to exonerate the law enforcement folks involved; or identify a problem before someone gets hurt. Hurt more.

If that video existed, what happened is daft: at a minimum. Seriously: Identifying something as "evidence," and then destroying the evidence?! In front of an interested witness? Without, ah, dealing with the witness later?

Never mind ethics and Constitutional rights: that's daft. And stupid.

"Ridiculous," No: Dubious, Maybe

Back to that article, again:

"...'This is ridiculous,' says Rod Wheeler. 'This lawsuit should go nowhere.'

"Wheeler is a former Washington, D.C., detective and current police advocate.

" 'Police officers,' he continued, 'do not need citizens out there with cameras videotaping each and every move that they make.'..."

The Lemming has no reason to doubt that Wheeler is sincere.

However: being sincere, and being right, aren't necessarily the same thing.

For folks in police uniforms, "...cameras videotaping each and every move that they make...." may be inconvenient, uncomfortable, or embarrassing: but that doesn't make it wrong.

Like the Lemming said:

Granted, that example is a case of the police videotaping themselves.

Wheeler is probably right about police, some of them, 'not needing' citizens recording visual evidence of their activities. The rest of us, though, are arguably better off with citizen video. 'Checks and balances,' and all that. Back to the article, yet again:

Cameras "In the Way?"

"He says cameras get in the way of good law enforcement.

" 'They interfere with the arrests and, actually, that's exactly what happened with that arrest in Baltimore.'...

"...'These individuals were standing back hollering, taunting the police,' he said. 'They were interfering and obstructing the arrest.'..."

Wheeler has a definite point of view. He may be right. The Lemming wasn't at the 2009 Preakness, and doesn't have all the facts. Sometimes bystanders really do interfere with and obstruct legitimate police work.

Sometimes they interfere with and obstruct the activities of uniformed thugs.

The Lemming doesn't have enough facts to form an opinion about the 2009 beating.

Moving on.

"Recording" isn't "Interfering"

"...Sharp says he certainly did not interfere with the police.

" 'I can't disagree more,' he said. 'I was nowhere close to the incident going on.'

"He said he now believes recording the police is an important right that needs to be preserved.

" 'I think we have a right to videotape anyone we want to, especially someone that's a public servant,' he said.

"The ACLU urges anyone with questions about what they can and can't videotape in public to view their video called '"Know Your Rights.' "

Like the Lemming said, every time the Lemming and the police got up-close-and-personal, they acted sensibly and professionally. And, in a few instances, had very good reasons for detaining the Lemming. Not that the Lemming is 'one of those criminals,' and that's yet another topic.

The idea that observing and recording actions done in public is 'interfering' with the actions doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Not to the Lemming. But then, the Lemming doesn't get hissy fits over security cameras in a parking lot, or the Highway Patrol using radar to determine how fast the Lemming is driving.

Photographers Should Obey The Law: So Should Police

The Lemming's no great fan of the ACLU, but they put together a pretty good resource, "Know Your Rights: Photographers." (ACLU)

Here's an excerpt:

"...Your rights as a photographer:

"When in public spaces where you are lawfully present you have the right to photograph anything that is in plain view. That includes pictures of federal buildings, transportation facilities, and police. Such photography is a form of public oversight over the government and is important in a free society.

"When you are on private property, the property owner may set rules about the taking of photographs. If you disobey the property owner's rules, they can order you off their property (and have you arrested for trespassing if you do not comply).

"Police officers may not generally confiscate or demand to view your photographs or video without a warrant. If you are arrested, the contents of your phone may be scrutinized by the police, although their constitutional power to do so remains unsettled. In addition, it is possible that courts may approve the seizure of a camera in some circumstances if police have a reasonable, good-faith belief that it contains evidence of a crime by someone other than the police themselves (it is unsettled whether they still need a warrant to view them).

"Police may not delete your photographs or video under any circumstances.

"Police officers may legitimately order citizens to cease activities that are truly interfering with legitimate law enforcement operations. Professional officers, however, realize that such operations are subject to public scrutiny, including by citizens photographing them.

"Note that the right to photograph does not give you a right to break any other laws. For example, if you are trespassing to take photographs, you may still be charged with trespass...."

The next part of that page, advice on what to do if a police officer stops you, starts with:

"Always remain polite and never physically resist a police officer...."

That's good advice, in most situations: in the Lemming's opinion.

The Lemming's done photography, professional and otherwise, and had to learn America's rules for photographers. What the ACLU said matches what the Lemming got from other sources. It's also 'common sense.' But that's the Lemming's take on the matter: and the Lemming doesn't think that photographers can do anything they want.

The Lemming also thinks that America's police are:

Generally
- Professional
- Competent
- Focused on public safety
Not perfect

Number two is why the Lemming thinks it's okay to consider the possibility that someone in a police uniform may not have acted properly. Even if that person "collected evidence," and deleted information that showed what happened.

Related posts:

"Freedom, Even For 'Those People Over There' "
Another War-on-Terror Blog (November 11, 2011)
"FCC, the Internet, Regulations, Freedom of Speech, and a Ranting Lemming"
(December 23, 2010)
"Police Abuse: America isn't Russia"
Another War-on-Terror Blog (February 19, 2010)
" 'Criticism is Terrorism:' Chavez and Twitter 'Terrorists' "
(February 1, 2010)
"It Can Happen Here: 'Hate Speech' and Censorship"
(January 12, 2008)

Website Design, Smart Writing Techniques, and a Ranting Lemming

2011-11-30T07:51:00.088-06:00

Sometimes inspiration strikes, but it's aim is a little off. The Lemming was - inspired? - yesterday afternoon, and created a horror from the pits of 1990's websites:

'Kids, Don't Try This At Home:' An Affront to Aesthetics

I doubt that any company actually committed so many blunders in one place, but you've probably seen something like this:

Visit us again:

brand-new website
coming soon!

Later, after the frenzy had passed, the Lemming realized that something like that didn't really belong on a 'business' blog. Not in that post, anyway:

"Spiral Light Candle: Website; New Phones Now Working"
Starting a Small Business Without Losing My Mind (November 29, 2011)

Normally, the Lemming would have a micro-review of something helpful, interesting, or strange. That's not going to happen today.

Instead, the Lemming's going to rant about website design, SEO as an exercise in common sense, and why being clever isn't always being smart.

Website Design: The KIS*S Principle

The Lemming likes bright colors, loves to tinker with digital doodads, and thinks splash pages look cool. But the Lemming wouldn't design a financial consultant's webpage with a bright yellow background, navigation buttons that play excerpts from the 1812 Overture's cannon section, and an animated splash page displaying trout fishing in the Yukon. Remember, the Lemming likes bright colors, and has nothing against fish. Or the Yukon.

But those features violate the K*I*S*S principle. Actually, the yellow background doesn't - it's just a poor color choice for a 'serious' website, and that's getting in the psychology end of design.

Odds are pretty good that you've heard of K*I*S*S:

Keep
It
Simple,
Stupid

And, no, the Lemming is not calling you stupid. The acronym KIS doesn't spell anything - and that's another topic.

Basically, the idea of K*I*S*S is that if something isn't needed in a website: it should be left out. That doesn't mean that websites should be dull. If something's (really) needed, to focus a reader's attention: it's needed.

SEO isn't Complicated

The Lemming's been over this before. The 'secrets' of SEO aren't secret. They're also pretty simple:

Don't hire an SEO 'expert'
- Unless your supervisor insists
  - Those five-martini lunches - - -
Remember that search engines read text
- Not pictures
Write
- Clearly
- As briefly as possible
- Using the simplest words possible
  - Your readers are smart
    - That's not the issue
  - If you're writing about houses
    - Write "house"
    - Don't write
      - Condominium
      - Domicile
      - Habitation
      - Whatever
      - Unless that's what you're writing about
        Or you're pretty sure that's what your audience will look for
Your 11th grade English teacher was right
- Tell your readers what you're writing about in
  - The headline
  - The first sentence
- Odds are, your readers are looking for facts
  - Not fluff
Use bulletized lists
- Like this one
- Where possible
Put the important information in text
- Not pictures
  - Okay: not entirely in pictures
Being 'clever' isn't being smart
- Maybe keyword-rich gibberish in white text on a page's white background is 'clever'
  - The Lemming's yet to encounter someone who says that's a good idea and
    - Earns money from results
    - Has some experience with
      - Web design
      - Marketing

That's it for today. The Lemming plans to be back Friday, with - let's see, what does the Lemming's weekly schedule say Friday's post topic is - - - Right: The Lemming will post about "Whatever."

Vaguely-related posts:

"Good Website Advice For Everybody, Actually"
(July 7, 2010)
"Blog Header Design: Pretty Good Advice"
(March 30, 2010)
"SEO Optimization: What Not to Do"
(March 2, 2010)
"Ten Really Odd Websites"
(March 25, 2008)
"Simple 'Secrets' for Affordable SEO"

Ultra-condensed version
- Learn to write copy that's
  - Simple
  - Short
  - Focused on your topic
- Don't get tricky
  - 'Clever' code can backfire
Key headings -

A Tale of Two Mars Probes

2011-11-28T07:58:00.004-06:00

"Next Stop Mars! Huge NASA Rover Launches Toward Red Planet"
Mike Wall, Space.com (November 26, 2011 )

"NASA has launched its next Mars rover, kicking off a long-awaited mission to investigate whether the Red Planet could ever have hosted microbial life.

"The car-size Curiosity rover blasted off atop its Atlas 5 rocket today (Nov. 26) at 10:02 a.m. EST (1502 GMT), streaking into a cloudy sky above Cape Canaveral Air Force Station here. The huge robot's next stop is Mars, though the 354-million-mile (570-million-kilometer) journey will take 8 1/2 months...."

"...NASA began planning Curiosity's mission — which is officially known as the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) — back in 2003. The rover was originally scheduled to blast off in 2009, but it wasn't ready in time.

"Launch windows for Mars-bound spacecraft are based on favorable alignments between Earth and the Red Planet, and they open up just once every two years. So the MSL team had to wait until 2011...."

One thing about the Curiosity Mars rover: The thing is big. Curiosity's heat shield is bigger than the ones used on Apollo missions. (June 20, 2009)

A tip of the Lemming's hat to Space.com for a pretty good, mercifully brief, explanation of launch windows. Orbital mechanics, and performance limits of today's spaceships, explain why Russia's Phobos/Fobos-Grunt mission had a launch date so close to Curiosity's.

Phobos/Fobos-Grunt: a Little Good News

"Russia 'makes first contact' with stranded Mars probe"
AFP (November 24, 2011)

"Russia on Thursday announced its scientists had for the first time made contact with its stranded Mars probe Phobos-Grunt, a day after the European Space Agency said it had received a signal.

" 'A signal from the probe has been received and some telemetry data. At the moment our specialists are working on this information,' the Interfax news agency quoted Russian space agency spokesman Alexei Kuznetsov as saying.

"Interfax said the signal was received at a Russian station at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday afternoon.

"The European Space Agency said its ground station in Perth, Australia made contact with the probe at 2025 GMT on Tuesday, the first sign of life from Phobos-Grunt since it got stuck in Earth orbit after launch on November 9.

"Russian officials had cautioned earlier this week that the chances were very small of saving the mission, which would require reprogramming the probe to send it off on its trajectory to Mars before the window for its journey closes...."

That's better news than what the Lemming had been fearing, about Fobos-Grunt. It still looks like Russia's current Mars probe doesn't have all that much of a chance at getting to its destination. Which is definitely not good news for folks in the Russian space program.

Elsewhere, the Lemming ran into news about a Yankee imperialist warmonger plot to foil the noble Russian endeavor. At least, that's what some folks believe.

Here's a rather calm news item about that flashback from the Cold War:

Not Exactly Nostalgia

"Did US 'climate weapon' knock-out Russian probe?"
RT (November 24, 2011)

"Russian space experts are struggling to decode fresh telemetry signals received from the stricken Phobos-Grunt probe. Meanwhile, rumors are circulating that America's ionosphere research site in Alaska caused the spacecraft's failure. ..."

"...Meanwhile, a retired Russian general believes that the glitch which prevented Phobos-Grunt from carrying out its space mission was caused by American radar sites in Alaska.

"General-Lieutenant Nikolay Rodionov, who used to command the country's ballistic missile early warning system, told Interfax that 'the powerful electromagnetic radiation of those sites may have affected the control system of the interplanetary probe.'

"The general was apparently referring to the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) site located in Gakona, Alaska. The facility's stated purpose is the study of the ionosphere and its use for communication. But several popular conspiracy theories say it is developing a superweapon with potential to cause natural disasters on a global scale, including earthquakes, climate change and reversal of the magnetic poles...."

The Lemming remembers the 'good old days:' when folks upset by Yankee imperialists, commie plots, and conspiracies to fluoridate water, were a staple in the news. In some circles, that sort of thing never seems to get old - and that's another topic.

Seriously? Let's Look at Getting to Mars

Bottom line, one Mars probe seems to be off to a pretty good start. Another: not so much. The Lemming would like to see both get to Mars - particularly since Fobos-Grunt might have sent back a soil sample.

Well, maybe two years from now - - -

Related posts:

"Phobos/Fobos-Grunt: Good News, Bad News, and Really Bad News"
(November 14, 2011)
"Mars Rover Spirit: Not Bad for a Limited-Warranty Robot"
(May 26, 2011)
"Viking Life Experiments: Another Look at Organic Stuff on Mars"
(January 6, 2011)
"Water on Mars: The Lost Ocean of Barsoom?"
(November 23, 2009)
"Curiosity Heat Shield: NASA's Biggest to Date"
(June 20, 2009)

Faster Than the Speed of Light: Maybe

2011-11-25T07:55:00.140-06:00

"How Many Neutrinos Does It Take to Screw Up Einstein?"
Adam Mann, Wired Science (November 18, 2011)

"Results from a second experiment uphold the observation that neutrinos are moving faster than the speed of light. The OPERA collaboration, which first reported the superluminal neutrinos in September, has rerun the experiment and detected 20 new neutrinos breaking Einstein's theoretical limit.

"The findings are heartening to anyone hoping to see a major physics revolution in their lifetime. But scientists, as ever, are being cautious, and it will take an independent replication of the results by another team to even begin convincing many of them....

"...Neutrinos are subatomic particles with hardly any mass that are able to fly through most matter as if it weren't there. Despite their negligible mass, if they were somehow able to exceed the speed-of-light limit set by Einstein's theory of special relativity, it would present a major head-scratcher to modern physicists...."

Universal Speed Limit: Maybe

Quite a few observations made more sense, when Albert Einstein's math showed how the universe works when really large amounts of mass and/or energy are concerned. Or really small amounts. It wasn't that Newtonian physics was "wrong," quite. What Einstein's work did was provide a mathematical model that fit the way some extreme situations work.

The speed of light being a limit comes from what happens when an object is speeded up. Accelerating the object pumps energy into it, energy is equivalent to mass, and as the object approaches the speed of light - the added mass/energy would approach an infinitely large value. There's a sort or reverse-ski-slope curve that goes along with some explanations, and that's almost another topic.

There's a not-entirely-technical discussion of speed of light and all that online. Several, actually, including:

"The Speed of Light"
Michael Fowler, UVa Physics Department, University of Virginia
"Finding the Speed of Light with Marshmallows-A Take-Home Lab"
Robert H. Stauffer, Jr., Cimarron-Memorial High School, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA (Reprinted with permission from The Physics Teacher, vol. 35, April 1997, p. 231. Copyright 1997 American Association of Physics Teachers )

Physics, Statistics, and the News

"...In their first experiment, the OPERA team used statistical analysis to show this situation was unlikely, but other scientists were not completely persuaded. The new experiment produced neutrinos in bunches over just three nanoseconds, far shorter than the faster-than-light anomaly. The results were the same: Neutrinos arrived 60 nanoseconds quicker than the speed of light. The findings were robust enough that members of the OPERA collaboration who had refused to sign on to the first paper were now willing to put their name on the new one....

"...Tommaso Dorigo, a physicist at CERN, noted on his blog that there are still other possible sources of error. For instance, the OPERA collaboration's clock might not have a fine enough resolution..."

By Monday, the Lemming noticed mainstream news picking up the story, sort of:

"Speed-of-light experiment 'was wrong after all' "
The Telegraph (November 21, 2011)
" 'Faster-than-light' observations reined in"
News Technology & Science, CBC News (November 21, 2011)
"Faster than light finding faulted in new neutrino test"
Tech, CBS News (November 21, 2011)

What's happening is that scientists who didn't do the original experiments are pointing out possible errors: inaccurate/imprecise observations; unjustified assumptions in how the observations were analyzed; maybe even errors in the math.

My guess is that some of the objections have a bit of NIH ("Not Invented Here") behind them, but that's just human nature. It'd be unusual, to say the least, if data and conclusions like what OPERA (Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus) published were greeted with a sort of triumphal ticker-tape parade.

That Wired article got it right:

Replicable Results

"...Ultimately, the only thing that would convince many in the field is if another team upholds the findings in an independent experiment. Plunkett, co-spokesperson for the Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) experiment at Fermilab, says that his collaboration expects to have results checking the OPERA findings in the spring of 2012."

There's a big difference between some crackpot claiming to have produced gem-quality diamonds from coleslaw: and the same crackpot publishing details of a replicable process for doing the same thing. Although I'd expect the person to file with the Patent office, and retain an attorney before publishing anything. More topics.

The point is that science is at least partly about doing something: and showing how the same thing can be done again. Ideally, by someone who isn't connected with the folks who did the first experiment.

That's what Fermilab will be trying to do.

The CERN facilities, by the way, produced neutrinos that OPERA picked up at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy. If CERN sounds familiar, that's the outfit with the Large Hadron Collider: the research tool that some folks said would destroy us all. The Lemming got quite a few posts out of the serious and silly sides of the LHC stories.

Back to OPERA, neutrinos, and physics: If the neutrinos were traveling faster than light, it's not by all that much. Researchers are debating over numbers of nanoseconds. That's a whole lot shorter than the blink of an eye.

Does the Lemming 'believe' that neutrinos have been traveling faster than light? That's the wrong question, sort of. The Lemming thinks that:

OPERA has come up with some fascinating results
Fermilab will be trying to do the same thing
- Other labs, too
  - Most likely
Physicists without labs like CERN or Fermilab are
- Sensibly raising points to study
- Not-so-sensibly applying the NIH principle

We may know more in 2012. and "2012" is yet another topic.

Somewhat-related posts:

"Crab Nebula Superflare: It's Not Supposed to Do That"
(May 13, 2011)
"IceCube Neutrino Observatory: Again"
(December 28, 2010)
"The Neutrinos are Coming! 2012 and Hollywood Science"
(November 16, 2009)
"Warp Drive Might Not Be Stable: Physicists Take Another look at Alcubierre's Work"
(June 12, 2009)
"CERN's Large Hadron Collider: A List of Posts"
(October 14, 2009)

Lemming Tracks: Thanksgiving, Cartoons, and a Look at the Lemming

2011-11-23T07:56:00.229-06:00

If you're in America: Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving isn't until tomorrow: but odds are pretty good that you'll be doing something holiday-related tomorrow. So, the Lemming figured that getting holiday greetings in 24 hours early might be prudent.

Happy Day-Before-Thanksgiving-Day: or, not

If you're not in America, that first paragraph may have been a complete waste of time.

With that in mind, the Lemming cobbled together a list of previous posts - some almost related to cartoon design, or something else. Actually, the Lemming wound up with three lists. A few about Thanksgiving and other holidays snuck in, too.

"Snuck in??" "Sneaked in?" Never mind.

The Lemming introduced two turkeys last year, in another blog:

"Happy Thanksgiving! And a Little Dark Humor"
Sauk Centre Journal Blog (November 25, 2010)

Somehow, they seem to have survived. And appear to be involved in a vast conspiracy to change America's eating habits. Particularly the habit of eating turkey around this time each year.

Beware the Gobblers?

Before someone stockpiles survival rations and cranberry sauce, and warns the neighbors that turkeys are controlling our minds - the Lemming categorically states that to the best of the Lemming's knowledge: no turkeys have conspired to make humans think eating meat is bad, or much of anything else. They're turkeys.

Come to think of it, that assurance, coming from an outsized, bipedal, flannel-wearing Lemming, may not be all that reassuring. After all, the Lemming may be part of the conspiracy!

Or, not. The Lemming's posted about this sort of thing before. If, for some unguessable reason, you're interested, check out the posts in "Conspiracy theories and how to not sound crazy," under "Vaguely-related posts."

One that didn't make the list is:

"Verboten Numbers: The Lemming Snaps II"
(January 5, 2009)

Art, Humor, and a Lemming With a Deadline

"I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."
Douglas Adams (English humorist & science fiction novelist (1952 - 2001))

Deadlines

Unlike Douglas Adams, the Lemming doesn't love deadlines. The Lemming doesn't even like deadlines. However, the Lemming thinks deadlines are a great help to the creative process.

There's nothing quite like seeing a clock inexorably changing its numbers: registering the hours, minutes, and seconds left before something absolutely must be ready for posting. There are quite a few things that are more pleasant: but not many that prod the imagination more effectively.

Without a deadline, the Lemming might have tinkered with that cartoon indefinitely: and might not have come up with anything better. With a deadline, at least there's something to show today.

Humor

Humor is nothing to laugh at. No, that's not what the Lemming meant. Try again: Humor is very serious. Wrong again. Time for a quote or two:

"Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious."
Peter Ustinov (English actor & author (1921 - 2004))

"The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the world; the humorist makes fun of himself."
James Thurber (US author, cartoonist, humorist, & satirist (1894 - 1961))

Art

The Lemming takes art seriously, but not fanatically.

This is where the Lemming could start discussing the esoteric end of art.

Like the Golden:

Ratio
Rectangle
Section
Whatever

It's one of those interesting mathematical relationships that, like logarithmic spirals, crop up at a crazy range of scales. And that's another topic.

But that deadline is approaching, fast. There's time for a couple more quotes, a picture, and not much else.

"Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere."
G. K. Chesterton
(English author & mystery novelist (1874 - 1936))

There's a lot to that, in the Lemming's opinion: What gets left out of a picture is at least as important as what gets put in. Distractions - well, they distract.

The Lemming, trying to figure out what to do for this year's Thanksgiving cartoon. (November 22, 2011)

Finally:

"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous."
Aristotle
(Greek critic, philosopher, physicist, & zoologist (384 BC - 322 BC))

Vaguely-related posts:

Cartoons
- "Cartoon Character Design: Six Steps"
  (October 26, 2011)
- "Happy Thanksgiving! And a Little Dark Humor"
  Sauk Centre Journal Blog (November 25, 2010)
- "New Yorker Cartoons: If You Don't Get the Magazine, or If You Do"
  (September 3, 2010)
- "Santa's Workshop, Pip, and a Disturbing - or Disturbed - Image"
  (December 28, 2009)
- "A One-Size-Fits All Consumer Warning"
  (April 9, 2009)
Tofu turkey and other oddities
- " 'Cancer Causes Cell Phones!' - or, not"
  (July 18, 2011)
- "Cheeseburger Bill: Minnesota's Shocking Attack on Contemporary Values"
  (February 22, 2011)
  Particularly
  - Big Cheese is Victimizing You!
- "Lemming Tracks: '8 x 8' Water Rule, Real Research; Beer and Pretzels"
  (November 27, 2010)
- "Silly Season"
  (August 24, 2010)
- "Tofu Turkeys, Genetically Altered Foods, and the Evil Eye"
  (November 14, 2009)
Conspiracy theories and how to not sound crazy
- "How to Not Sound Crazy - or - THE PARANOIDS ARE AFTER ME!!!"
  (June 12, 2011)
- "Nuclear Weapons, Space Aliens, Conspiracy Theories, and Getting a Grip"
  (September 24, 2010)
- "Why is it So Hard to Find a Comprehensive History of Blotting Paper?"
  (March 2, 2010)
- "Haiti's Earthquake Caused by - You Guessed it - Yankee Imperialists"
  (January 21, 2010)
- "Want to be Paranoid, but Just Can't Find the Time?"
  (August 27, 2008)
Living in a universe of marvels
- "Earthquake Data Inspires Techie Art"
  (November 2, 2011)
- "Beauty, the Scientist, and Dog Vomit Slime Mold"
  (March 27, 2011)
- "African Art, Photos, and a Whacking Great Generalization"
  (June 21, 2010)
- "The Aye-Aye: Very Strange Primates In Madagascar"
  (January 7, 2010)
- "The Naked Mole Rat: Ugly, but Weird"
  (August 24, 2009)

Lemming Tracks: "password" As a Password?!

2011-11-21T07:55:00.023-06:00

"25 Worst Internet Passwords"
Technology, FoxNews.com (November 20, 2011)

"If 'password' is your password, chances are you've been the victim of a hack attack.

" 'Password' is the least successful, according to SplashData's annual list of worst Internet passwords.

"The list, notes Mashable.com, is somewhat predictable. Sequences of adjacent numbers or letters on the keyboard, such as 'qwerty' and '123456,' and popular names...."

Here's Mashable.com's complete list:

password
123456
12345678
qwerty
abc123
monkey
1234567
letmein
trustno1
dragon
baseball
111111
iloveyou
master
sunshine
ashley
bailey
passw0rd
shadow
123123
654321
superman
qazwsx
michael
football

A Mild Rant By the Lemming

No pressure, but the Lemming strongly suggests that, if anybody out there is still using "password" as a password: CHANGE IT! Unless, of course, whoever uses "password" or "123456" as a password wants to get hacked. Why anyone would want that is a mystery to the Lemming. Normal human psychology is convoluted enough: never mind the non-Euclidean terrain of a mind seeking unwanted intrusions.

Mind you, SplashData / Mashable.com has compiled a list of abysmally bad passwords: not, the Lemming sincerely hopes, common passwords. After the high-profile hacks and access hassles of the last year: surely there aren't all that many folks out there who still use "password" as their password.

Still, you never know.

Strong Passwords

Absolute security may be impossible, but using pretty good passwords isn't. Lemming put a short list of resources at the end of this post, but as far as online security goes: You're on your own. This is the usual disclaimer: the Lemming assumes no responsibility for loss of data resulting from reading this post; unexpected weight loss may occur; not for internal use.

Okay, that's out of the way.

The University of Texas, Austin, had what seems to be a fairly common (and common-sense, in the Lemming's opinion) approach to making a password: use UPPER CASE and lower case letters; add numbers and punctuation marks in no particular sequence; more of the usual stuff. Some of which may not be allowed by the system you're using - again, in the Lemming's opinion.

A surprising number of companies are catching up to the Information Age: and that's another topic.

Finally, the U. of Texas, Austin, page has a piece of excellent advice that the Lemming can't recall reading elsewhere:

"...Make your password easy to type quickly. This will make it harder for someone looking over your shoulder to steal it...."
(Information Technology Services, University of Texas, Austin)

Related posts:

"Move Over, Sony: Sega Joins 'We Were Hacked' Club"
(June 19, 2011)
"Cloud Computing, Dropbox, and the Postcard Principle"
(May 13, 2011)
"Strong Passwords: It Can be Done"
(January 1, 2011)
"If Your Password is "Password1" - CHANGE IT"
(November 24, 2009)
""Security Paranoia Scale:" Digital Security Quantified"
(January 22, 2008)
- "Common sense, digital security, and humor."

"Create strong passwords"
Microsoft
"Password strength"
Wikipedia
"Keep Safe with Strong Passwords"
Information Technology Services, University of Texas at Austin
U.S. government
- "Deter. Detect. Defend. Avoid ID Theft"
  Federal Trade Commission
  Particularly
  - About Identity Theft
- "Choosing and Protecting Passwords"
  United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team

Gaylord: A Car, Another Car, a Company, a Town, and a Block of Wax

2011-11-18T07:53:00.116-06:00

The Lemming recently learned that wax gets shipped by the gaylord. When someone asks for a gaylord of wax, they want an 11 pound slab of the stuff.

A pallet holds 200 gaylords, or 2,200 pounds of wax. That's a lot of wax. Probably more than you'll buy during a shopping trip to the local hobby shop.

The Lemming learned about that sort of gaylord while doing some analysis for Spiral Light Candle, and that's an example of shameless self-promotion. Also another topic.

After the Lemming got through crunching numbers about wax, candles, and related matters, an important question remained unanswered: What else does "gaylord" mean? Well, maybe not an "important" question: but an interesting one. From the Lemming's point of view.

After a little nosing around, the Lemming discovered that "gaylord" can mean quite a few things, including:

A chemical company in Louisiana
(Gaylord Chemical Corporation)
Transportation
- Bulk
  - A very large carton
    - One fills a pallet
    (B & C Plastics Ltd.)
  - Trade name for a standard-sized container
    - Corrugated
    - Large
    - Reusable
    - Used for shipping materials
    (Estes Express Lines)
  - A box
    - Pallet-sized
    - In which electronic scrap is shipped
      - Often shipped, that is
    (Global Investment Recovery, Inc.)
- Personal
  - A kind of car they don't make any more
    - Manufactured from
      - 1910 to 1913
        (American Automobiles)
      - 1911 to 1912
        (Wikipedia)
      - 1955 to 1956
        (American Automobiles)
A person's name
- Given
- Surname
(Wikipedia)
A town in Otsego County, Michigan
(Gaylord, Otsego County

Those discordant dates for Gaylord cars aren't as daft as they may seem. The American Automobiles website says that the Gaylord Motor Car Company made roadsters and grand touring cars, starting about 1910. Then, in the '50s, Gaylord Car Ltd. made a two door coupe. Different folks were involved in the two companies: no big surprise, considering the decades separating them.

Allegedly-related posts:

"Flabbergasted: What's a Flabber, and How Does One Gast It?"
(October 21, 2011)
"Sesquipedalian!"
(April 3, 2010)
"One Tympanum, Two Tympana"
(January 18, 2010)
"What's a Vook about Hopping Rotochutes with Gigavision, Spying on a Shootout?"
(January 14, 2010)
"Squab! Who Would Want to Eat a Soft Padded Sofa?!"
(January 14, 2010)

St. Paul, Minnesota, and The Curious Case of the Cherished Carousel

2011-11-16T07:54:00.238-06:00

The Lemming had planned to write about what happened to St. Paul's Town Square Park. It used to be a remarkable indoor park area - occasionally used for social gatherings like high school proms. Alas! The fate of St. Paul's downtown Town Square Park remains a mystery. To the Lemming, anyway.

In sharp contrast, the fate of Cafesjian's Carousel, once of the Minnesota State Fair grounds, and briefly in residence at Town Square, was in the hands of folks who know how to tell a story.

A tip of the Lemming's hat to Our Fair Carousel, Inc., the not-for-profit owner and operator of Cafesjian's Carousel.

Who's carousel? As the Lemming hinted, there's quite a story about that.

Cafesjian's Carousel

Oddly enough, someone named Austin McFadden paid to have Cafesjian's Carousel built. The Lemming guessed that someone decided that "Cafesjian's Carousel" sounded cooler than, say, "McFadden's Merry-Go-Round." The Lemming was wrong. More about that later.

Cafesjian's Carousel/ourfaircarousel.org has a nicely-done website about the St. Paul cultural landmark.

Excerpts:

"Cafesjian's Carousel--History"
Our Fair Carousel

"A State Fair Tradition... Back in 1914, an enterprising man named Austin McFadden paid the Philadelphia Toboggan Company $8,500 to build a carousel, bring it to St. Paul, and assemble it on the grounds of the Minnesota State Fair. He ran it as a concession for many years, after which it passed into the hands of other families.

"Each year during the fair, Minnesota families would ride the carousel. Parents brought their children, grandparents rode with grandchildren, young people rode with friends and sweethearts, and over the years the carousel wove itself into the stories of thousands of families.

"Most of those families, perhaps believing that the State Fair owned the carousel, took for granted that 'their' carousel would be at the fair forever. That was not to be.

"Slated for Auction... In 1988, Minnesota carousel fans were shocked to learn that the privately-owned carousel had been put up for sale. By the time the story hit the newspapers on November 11, twenty horses and a chariot were on a truck headed for a December 10 auction in New York. According to the story, the carousel's owners had tried unsuccessfully to find someone to buy the carousel and keep it intact...."

There's more on that page, about what it took to keep the carousel in Minnesota, and in one piece. Not that "twenty horses and a chariot" are exactly one piece. "Intact" was a good choice of words, in the Lemming's opinion.

The Curious Case of the Cherished Carousel Continues

"...Operating at St. Paul's Town Square... The carousel moved into a new home at Town Square Park, an enclosed city park on the top level of a building in the heart of downtown St. Paul. The building housed a variety of stores and restaurants, and for about two years, business at the carousel was good...."
("Cafesjian's Carousel--History," Our Fair Carousel)

From another page on the website:

"In 1990, the carousel opened in an enclosed city park on the top level of Town Square in downtown St. Paul. (Note escalators in the foreground and shops on the level below the carousel.) Initially a shopping center, Town Square soon began to evolve into an office building, drawing few carousel visitors. By 1993, slow business at the carousel forced Our Fair Carousel to seek a new location."
("Town Square Larger View," Our Fair Carousel)

A Four-Season Indoor Carousel: Closing?!

"...By 1993, however, downtown retail business was in decline and Town Square itself was beginning a transition from retail to office space...."
("Cafesjian's Carousel--History," Our Fair Carousel)

Even the best merry-go-round needs people who want to go around merrily. And have time to do so. That transition from urban shopping area to buildings with 'office space for lease' in the windows was not good for Cafesjian's Carousel.

It's probably difficult to feel like a merry-go-round ride, when you're on coffee beak and worried about downsizing. And that's another topic, probably for another blog.

The Curious Case of the Cherished Carousel Concludes: For Now

"...New Home in Como Park... In spring 2000, Cafesjian's Carousel opened in a new, $1.1 million copper-roofed pavilion in Como Park. When the carousel is in operation, eight 14-by-14-foot garage-style doors can be opened in various configurations to suit the weather. Just outside the doors..."
("Cafesjian's Carousel--History," Our Fair Carousel)

The Lemming's glad that folks with the skills and level of interest it takes to work out arrangements for Cafesjian's Carousel. Moving that twenty-horse piece of Minnesota history across town, and having a place to set it up at the end of the trip, was a big job.

So was bringing it back to the way it looked in 1914. And that's another story:

"Cafesjian's Carousel--Restoration"Our Fair Carousel

Cafesjian's Carousel: Cool Name, and More

As the Lemming said, the carousel that Mr. McFadden paid a toboggan company to build didn't get its name on coolness alone. Back to Our Fair Carousel's website:

"Our Major Benefactor..."
Our Fair Carousel
"Cafesjian's Carousel is named for Gerard L. Cafesjian, who has contributed more than $1.2 million to its purchase, restoration and operation. Mr. Cafesjian was an executive with West Publishing Company; he is now retired and lives in Florida....

"...'I believe something special happens on a merry-go-round,' he said. 'The music, the magic and the movement combine to create a one-of-a-kind experience. When we preserve the carousel we also preserve that joy and hope--that happiness--for the entire community, for years to come.'..."

A sincere tip of the Lemming's hat to Gerard L. Cafesjian.

The Lemming Sounds Off

Folks like Mr. Cafesjian, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, and others, are part of why the Lemming doesn't mind living in a world where a great many people have a great deal more money than the Lemming.

The Lemming thinks it's easier for a wealthy individual to decide that an old carousel is worth restoring, than it would be for some collection of bureaucrats.

Then there's Cousteau, who decided that Earth's oceans were more than just water, salt, and seaweed.

The Lemming's also run into self-important boors with more money than sense: but like everybody else, they buy food, clothing, and other necessities. Some of them pay a staff to carry out their crazy orders. That's where folks like the Lemming sometimes get their paychecks. And that's yet another topic.

St. Paul's Town Square: Closed Since 2001

"St. Paul's Town Square Park will be shuttered by year's end; The indoor downtown park that has hosted proms, weddings and noontime concerts has fallen to budget cuts.(NEWS)"
Joe Kimball, Star Tribune, via Highbeam Research (December 22, 2000)

"With little fanfare, downtown St. Paul's indoor Town Square Park will close at the end of the year, a victim of budget cuts.

"Closing signs had not yet been posted Thursday in the city-run park that has hosted band concerts, weddings, corporate events and lunch-hour naps for 20 years.

"By late next week, however,a gate is expected to be installed at the top of the escalators that come up from the skyway level, eliminating access to the 26,000 square feet of gurgling fountains and plants and trees that thrive under a canopy of windows...."

All that the Lemming has been able to learn about what happened to that outsized indoor facility is this caption: "The Town Square courtyard has been reopened in early 2003, but as a rentable space for events, owned by a private company." ("Town Square Complex," Fotki)

What the name of that rental company is, and whether the indoor park is still in use, seems to be one of the more jealously-guarded secrets in St. Paul. There's a hotel adjacent to the old Town Square Park, but they're remarkably reticent. 'Nuff said.

Phobos/Fobos-Grunt: Good News, Bad News, and Really Bad News

2011-11-14T07:53:00.007-06:00

Updated 4:35 p.m. (November 14, 2011)

Mars Mission Most Likely a No-Go

"Russian Mars probe is likely lost, officials say"
Deutsche Welle (November 14, 2011)

"Russian officials have declared their country's Mars Phobos-Grunt probe, launched last Wednesday, as 'lost.' The mission was meant to head to a Martian moon, retrieve soil samples and then return to Earth by 2015.

" 'All attempts to obtain telemetric information from the Phobos-Grunt probe and activate its command system have failed,' quoted an unnamed Russian space sector source, as reported by the Interfax news agency. 'The probe must be considered lost.'..."

"...Popovkin brushed aside suggestions that if the probe indeed crashed to Earth, it would cause damage over a populated area.

" 'There are 7.5 metric tons of fuel in the aluminum tanks on board. We have no doubts that they will explode [and destroy the probe] upon re-entry,' Popovkin said. 'It is highly unlikely that its parts would reach Earth.'..."

That last bit, about bits and pieces of the Fobos-Grunt probe not reaching Earth's surface, strikes the Lemming as being a tad optimistic. Granted, we're almost certainly looking at a translation - and subtleties can get 'lost in translation' quite easily.

Still Trying: On a Deadline

"Russia Still Trying to Contact Stranded Mars Moon Probe"
Mike Wall, Space.com (November 14, 2011)

"Russian engineers are still trying to communicate with a wayward Mars moon probe, and they have until early December to fix the spacecraft and send it on its way, according to news reports...."

"Aborted Mars probe jeopardizes Russia's long-range space program"
Military commentator Konstantin Bogdanov, RIA Novosti (November 12, 2011)

"...Analysts are in no mood to exaggerate the situation with the spacecraft but note that its problems are more serious than an ordinary technical mishap. Russia's long range space program will now depend on Federal Space Agency efforts to reach the proper conclusions regarding the Phobos-Grunt incident...."

As the Lemming pointed out earlier, what's happening to Phobos/Fobos-Grunt is not good news for folks in Russia's space program.

First, the good news.

Russia's Phobos-Grunt mission, that should be spelled "Fobos-Grunt," to the Martian moon Phobos had a successful launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and is in Earth orbit.

The massive robot spaceship carries China's Yinghuo-1 Mars orbiter; a landing module that's designed to land of Phobos, scoop up a soil sample, and send the sample back to Earth; and The Planetary Society's LIFE experiment. More about that last, later.

Now, the bad news.

Something went wrong. Fobos-Grunt stopped communicating with Russia's ground control.

It's still holding its orientation, staying pointed in one direction, but Fobos-Grunt is in trouble. Its orbit only goes out about 345 kilometers (214 miles) from Earth's surface. The air up there is really thin, but it's not a perfect vacuum. Eventually it'll slow Fobos-Grunt down enough to drop more than a dozen tons of spaceship somewhere on Earth.

Russia's Phobos/Fobos-Grunt: It Could be Worse

"Stricken Mars probe stays silent"
Jonathan Amos, BBC (November 12, 2011)

"Efforts are continuing to try to regain control of the Russian Mars mission that is stuck circling the Earth.

"The Phobos-Grunt spacecraft was put in orbit on Wednesday, but failed to fire the engine that was designed to take it on to the Red Planet.

"Engineers have been using tracking stations around the globe in an attempt to talk to the probe and diagnose its problems - but without success.

"Europe has offered Russia its assistance.

"The European Space Agency Spacecraft Operations Centre (Esoc) in Darmstadt, Germany, is now involved in trying to establish a link, using its antennas in French Guiana, the Canary Islands and on the Spanish mainland.

"The US space agency (Nasa) has also offered to do anything that might bring the wayward craft under full control...."

This is not good news for Fobos-Grunt, the Russian space program, or whoever gets fingered in the blame game that's almost sure to come. Still, as the Lemming said earlier, it could be worse. Back to the BBC:

"...Michael Murphy from Dayton, Ohio, posted on Friday: 'I just observed a pass of Phobos-Grunt and the Zenit second stage.

" 'The rocket body was tumbling slowly, and the probe itself appeared to be very steady as it passed.

" 'I did not get good timing information, but the probe was definitely steady. I saw no other objects along the track the probe followed,' he told the Phobos-Grunt thread on the SeeSat-L website...."
(BBC)

There is good news there. Michael Murphy spotted Fobos-Grunt, its rocket booster: but didn't see any debris nearby. Whatever went wrong, Russia's Mars ship is still pretty much in one piece.

Something with the tonnage of a largish truck waiting to fall back to Earth isn't good news. But, true to journalistic tradition, there's worse news:

Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine! Nitrogen Tetroxide!! Radioactive Cobalt-57!!!

To be fair, this Discovery op-ed didn't use exclamation marks, and did point out that:

The chemicals with big names would "vaporize" long before impact
There's only "a small quantity" of cobalt-57 involved

"Toxic Russian Mars Probe Heads Back to Earth"
Analysis by Ian O'Neill, Discovery News (November 11, 2011)

"It's hard to believe that only last week we were getting excited for Russia's first interplanetary mission in 15 years to launch. By now, we should be happy in the knowledge that the ambitious -- and awesome -- mission is powering through space, toward the Martian moon Phobos.

"The reality is that we are now discussing uncontrolled reentry scenarios.

"As if that wasn't enough bad news, we are looking at an uncontrolled toxic reentry scenario. Phobos-Grunt -- correctly written 'Fobos-Grunt,' meaning 'Phobos-Soil' or 'Phobos-Ground' -- is fully-laden with unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide; that's ten tons of fuel and oxidizer. The probe itself weighs-in at only three tons...."

"...The majority of the fuel will likely vaporize during reentry, but everyone will be hoping for a splash-down in an ocean (which covers two-thirds of Earth, fortunately), as the wreckage will still be hazardous. There's also a small quantity of radioactive cobalt-57 in one of the science missions housed in the probe -- a fact that will most likely cause a media frenzy.

"It is for these reasons that the Russian media is dubbing Phobos-Grunt 'Most toxic falling satellite ever.'..."

While astronomers around the world are collecting data on the Fobos-Grunt orbit, and working out where it's likely to hit, Russia's higher-ups are doing their job. Sort of:

"...As we await the inevitable reentry of Phobos-Grunt, it would appear the Russian authorities are looking for someone to blame after a string of mission failures. According to a (translated) Interfax bulletin, an anonymous (expert) source indicated this may force reform in the Russian space agency, Roscosmos. Also, 'a number of positions of responsible persons' could face jail time...."
(Discovery News)

Meanwhile, back on Fobos-Grunt, there's a whole lot of hardware that probably won't get used. And some little critters sent by The Planetary Society:

Tardigrades to Mars

"...Not only was the mission designed to land and scoop-up some regolith (dust and rock) from Phobos' surface, returning it to Earth for analysis, it is also carrying a fascinating Planetary Society experiment called the Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment, or 'LIFE.'

"LIFE is composed of many different types of bacteria to small organisms that seem to tolerate the space environment pretty well. Tardigrades -- known as water bears -- were also a part of the payload.

"What was the point of sending microscopic organisms to a Martian moon?

"In an effort to understand how life appeared on Earth, the experiment would have put the hypothesis of 'panspermia' to the test. Panspermia is a proposed mechanism by with life may 'hop' from one planetary body to the next -- meteorites slamming into Mars, say, ejecting many tons of debris into space. Should any organisms be 'hitching a ride' on the debris, could they (or at least their genetic information) survive the interplanetary journey, and atmospheric entry, to spawn life on another world?..."
(Discovery News)

Depending on who's involved, what's happening to the Phobos/Fobos-Grunt mission is an embarrassment, a disappointment, or a life-changing disaster.

It's not easy, getting a ship to Mars. Besides the rigors of a long trip through interplanetary space, and working with new technologies, there's good old-fashioned human error:

Mixing Yards and Meters: Oops

"Metric mishap caused loss of NASA orbiter"
CNN (September 30, 1999)

"NASA lost a 125 million Mars orbiter because a Lockheed Martin engineering team used English units of measurement while the agencys [sic!] team used the more conventional metric system for a key spacecraft operation, according to a review finding released Thursday.

"The units mismatch prevented navigation information from transferring between the Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft team in at Lockheed Martin in Denver and the flight team at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

"Lockheed Martin helped build, develop and operate the spacecraft for NASA. Its engineers provided navigation commands for Climate Orbiters thrusters in English units although NASA has been using the metric system predominantly since at least 1990.

"No one is pointing fingers at Lockheed Martin, said Tom Gavin, the JPL administrator to whom all project managers report.

"This is an endtoend process problem, he said. A single error like this should not have caused the loss of Climate Orbiter. Something went wrong in our system processes in checks and balances that we have that should have caught this and fixed it.

"The finding came from an internal review panel at JPL that reported the cause to Gavin on Wednesday. The group included about 10 navigation specialists, many of whom recently retired from JPL...."

As HAL said, in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey," "It can only be attributable to human error."

Or - MAYBE THE TARDIGRADES MUTINIED!!!

Not likely. Tardigrades are tiny critters, maybe a millimeter long, fascinating for researchers: but not smart.

The Lemming's posted about sounding crazy before. Recently:

"Lemming Tracks: Oklahoma Earthquake, 'Unexplained Increase,' and Sounding Crazy"
(November 7, 2011)
"How to Not Sound Crazy - or - THE PARANOIDS ARE AFTER ME!!!"
(June 12, 2011)

Now, posts about falling spaceships, Mars, and all that:

"Roentgen / ROSAT Hit Earth: Somewhere Around Southeast Asia"
(October 24, 2011)
"Here Comes Another Martian Conspiracy Theory"
(June 7, 2011)
"NanoSail-D: Maybe It's Working, Maybe Not"
(December 12, 2010)
"Mars Rover Spirit: Not Bad for a Limited-Warranty Robot"
(May 26, 2011)
"Life on Ceres? Could Be"
(March 5, 2009)
Particularly
- Exploding Martians and the Viking Life Experiment

"Phobos-Grunt Mission"
russianspaceweb.com
"Missions to Mars"
The Planetary Society
"Tardigrade Facts"
Illinois Wesleyan University

Eleven; and Why is Six Afraid of Seven?

2011-11-11T11:11:00.002-06:00

Earlier today, the Lemming promised - or threatened - to come up with another post. This is it.

Today is November 11, 2011. In other words, it's the 11th day of the 11th month of the 11th year after the year 2000: which is when the Y2K bug didn't bring civilization to its knees.

The number 11 is, of course, just simply fraught with purport, import, and significance: to say nothing of meaning, nuance, and overtone. Like, it's the number that keeps 10 from running into 12. Which reminds the Lemming of this bit of wisdom: "Why is six afraid of seven? Because seven ate nine!"

A Wikipedia article (not one of its best) reveals this astounding fact: 11 "is the first number which cannot be counted with a human's eight fingers and two thumbs additively." Amazing! If you're on Earth, see if you can find a human and verify this claim. Or, not. Come to think of it, you probably are human, and can try the experiment yourself.

The number 11 is trebly significant since it appears three times in the title of "11 11 11."

And 11 11 11 is the date on which another motion picture is released. Or escaped, depending on your point of view:

"Movies opening 11/11"
Minneapolis Star-Tribune (November 5, 2011)

"...Immortals (R) A mortal man is chosen by Zeus to lead the fight against a ruthless king. With Luke Evans, Henry Cavill and Mickey Rourke...."

There's more about "Immortals" (2011) at the IMDB website:

"...Eons after the Gods won their mythic struggle against the Titans, a new evil threatens the land. Mad with power, King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) has declared war against humanity. Amassing a bloodthirsty army of soldiers disfigured by his own hand, Hyperion has scorched Greece in search of the legendary Epirus Bow, a weapon of unimaginable power forged in the heavens by Ares. Only he who possesses this bow can...."
(IMDB.com)

Somehow, the Lemming will restrain the urge to spend several hours and dollars for the privilege of viewing that cinematographic work at the local theater. Now, if a re-release of "My Neighbor Totoro" (1988) was playing - - - and that's another topic.

Not-entirely-unrelated posts:

"Lemming Tracks: The Lemming Hits the Big Six-Oh"
(October 1, 2011)
"The Neutrinos are Coming! 2012 and Hollywood Science"
(November 16, 2009)
"Z2K? Zune Media Players: Tick Tock Tick Tick Erk!"
(January 1, 2009)
"Friday the 13th: The Geek Approach"
(June 13, 2008)
"Triskaidekaphobia: More than Friday the 13th"
(June 13, 2008)

Lemming Tracks: Armistice/National/Poppy/Rembrance/Veterans Day

2011-11-11T07:54:00.001-06:00

Today is Armistice Day, National Day, Poppy Day, Rembrance Day, Veterans Day, or just another day in November: depending on where you live, and how you see the world. I'm an America citizen, so many folks I know call it Veterans Day.

I think it's a significant day, for a variety of reasons, and have posted about that sort of thing before. Several times:

"Armistice Day/Veterans Day, 2010: a Couple of Words for the American Military, and Something Lincoln Said"
Another War-on-Terror Blog (November 11, 2010)
"Armistice Day, 2008: Or, if You Prefer, Veterans Day"
Another War-on-Terror Blog (November 11, 2008)
"The Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month: Yeah, It's Kind of Important"
(November 11, 2009)
"Armistice Day, 2007"
Another War-on-Terror Blog (November 11, 2007)

I may be back with another post today, or not. Here in the non-virtual world, I've had quite a few distractions. And that's another topic.

Minneapolis Skyways: Warm Winter Walking

2011-11-09T07:52:00.018-06:00

"Minneapolis Skyway System"
Wikipedia

"The Minneapolis Skyway System is an interlinked collection of enclosed pedestrian footbridges that connects various buildings in Downtown Minneapolis enabling people to walk in a climate-controlled environment. The extensive system is renowned as the largest continuous system in the world,^[1] and is compared to the underground cities of Houston, Texas, and Canadian cold-weather cities Toronto and Montreal.^[2]

"The system forms a network of climate-controlled, pedestrian walkways that link sixty-nine full city blocks over seven miles (11 km).^[3]..."

From the Lemming's point of view, Minneapolis is 'down south,' and that's almost another topic.

The Minneapolis skyway system makes sense here in Minnesota, where words like "winter" and "cold" have a different meaning than they do in, say, San Diego. Or Brazilia.

St. Paul, Minnesota, across the river from Minneapolis, has a skyway system, too. And, until 2001, had an indoor city park. And that is another topic. As the Wikipedia article said, cities that have enclosed and climate-controlled pedestrian areas aren't all that uncommon. Not in North America, anyway.

One of the Wikipedia map links still works, but another fell victim to website 'improvements' since it was posted. After a little nosing around, the Lemming found two useful maps on the Minneapolis city website. (ci.minneapolis.mn.us) Since there's no telling how long those URLs will be useful, the Lemming archived both maps on a stable website:

Steps to a Healthier Minneapolis: Skyway Walking Map
- Archived from
  ci.minneapolis.mn.us/benefits/docs/SkywayWalkingMap.pdf
  Copyright © City of Minneapolis (2004)
- Print document size: 11 inches by 8.5 inches
Downtown Minneapolis
Copyright © City of Minneapolis (2008)
- Archived from
  ci.minneapolis.mn.us/about/maps/downtown.pdf
- Print document size: 48 inches by 36 inches
  - You'll be doing a lot of scrolling to use this map
    - In the Lemming's opinion
    - Unless you've got a large-format printer

The City of Minneapolis holds copyright on both those maps - and those links and archived copies are used without permission. More of the usual disclaimer: this discussion of Minneapolis skyways; display of image(s); links; and use of the letter M; are not intended to imply endorsement, or any other sort of connection, with the City of Minneapolis.

And, while the Lemming is thinking of it:

Observe traffic rules
Not for internal use
Drive safely
Recycle

Almost-related posts:

"Hong Kong's Mid-Level Escalators (It's About Time!)"
(September 27, 2010)
"Geisel Library: University of California, San Diego's Big Glass Landmark"
(August 15, 2010)
"Santa Monica Place, Cool New Mall in California: It Would be Even Cooler Here"
(August 10, 2010)
- Literally "cooler"
  - The Lemming lives in central Minnesota
"Cool Office Design; Lots of Photos; Just About Zero Text"
(May 12, 2009)
"Skyway Retreat"
(September 21, 2007)

Lemming Tracks: Oklahoma Earthquake, "Unexplained Increase," and Sounding Crazy

2011-11-07T08:33:00.031-06:00

You've probably heard about it by now: Oklahoma, a central-USA state, had a major earthquake on Saturday. Apparently nobody's been killed, or seriously injured.

Generally speaking, what happens in Oklahoma doesn't make the national news in this country. The big weekend quake, on the other hand, is news. International news:

Oklahoma Earthquake: Unusually Strong

"Fourteen homes damaged in record earthquake in Oklahoma"
Steve Olafson, Reuters (November 6, 2011)

"Fourteen homes were damaged late on Saturday in the largest earthquake to hit Oklahoma on record, emergency management officials said on Sunday.

"The 5.6-magnitude earthquake's epicenter, located 44 miles east of Oklahoma City, was felt as far away as Wisconsin and South Carolina, but there were no serious injuries, officials said. The Oklahoma health department reported two minor injuries, neither requiring hospitalization.

"The largest earthquake previously recorded in Oklahoma was a 5.5-magnitude tremor in 1952, according to the Geological Survey...."

So, what's the big deal? Fourteen homes damaged is important: for folks living in those buildings; and probably their friends, relatives, and neighbors. But it's not exactly earth-shaking news.

Well, actually, it was: literally. But the Lemming meant that it wasn't the sort of thing that's likely to affect folks living on another continent. Or even another state.

Being literal again, this Oklahoma quake was felt in another state. Several, actually, besides Wisconsin and South Carolina.

Quake Felt From Illinois to Texas

"Oklahoma's largest quake in decades buckles highway; rattles residents"
CNN (November 6, 2011)

"Central Oklahoma continued to experience dozens of aftershocks Sunday, nearly 24 hours since the state's strongest earthquake since 1952 was felt throughout the region.

"More than ten aftershocks measuring at east 3.0 magnitude were reported Sunday, in the hours after a 5.6-magnitude earthquake took residents by surprise Saturday night. The temblor rattled homes and structures, causing belongings to scatter in houses and sending strident, booming sounds through the area....

"...The 5.6-magnitude quake struck four miles east of Sparks in Lincoln County at 11:53 p.m. ET Saturday.

"It hit struck the same area where a 4.7-magnitude quake struck just hours earlier -- at 3:12 a.m. ET Saturday.

"By 8 a.m. Sunday, geologists had recorded more than 30 aftershocks.

"The strongest quake previously reported was of magnitude 5.5 on April 9, 1952, according to the Oklahoma Geological Survey.

"According to The Oklahoman newspaper, the weekend's tremors were reportedly felt as far away as Illinois, Kansas, Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas....

An earthquake being felt over several Midwestern states isn't all that odd. From what the Lemming's read, the central part of the North American continent acts more like one big piece of rock than the west coast.

That's because the Midwest doesn't have the west coast's wealth of more-or-less active fault lines. Shaking on one of the coastal fragments doesn't travel too well across that fractured terrain. Toward the center of the continent, the effect is more like hitting a gong: vibrations travel hundreds of miles. At least, that's what the Lemming's gathered is the case.

Back to the Oklahoma earthquake, and what's happening deep below the Sooner state:

Ancient Crack in the World: REACTIVATED!

"...The quakes happened near the location of a 4.7-magnitude quake last year near the Wilzetta fault, also known as the Seminole uplift, [state geological survey seismologist] Holland said....

"...At least one person was taken to a hospital in Prague with minor injuries, he [Lincoln County emergency services' Aaron Bennett] said.

"The man hit his head against a wall when he tripped and fell while trying to run out of his house, Bennett said....

"...'We know that this is an old fault, now reactivated, interacting with the North American plate and generating pressure,' said Holland...."

Okay, now this is starting to get interesting. The Wilzetta fault, that ancient crack in the world, has been - - - REACTIVATED! That must mean that someone - or SOME - THING reactivated it!!!

Sure, the Lemming realizes that Earth is a tectonically active planet, and that there's a huge mess of churning forces at work inside this 8,000-mile-wide sphere we call home. But that sort of common-sense approach seems so - commonsensical. Let's see what the fevered imagination of a Lemming can come up with:

"UNEXPLAINED INCREASE IN SEISMIC ACTIVITY!!!!"

"Oklahoma Hit With 10 Aftershocks Following 5.6-Magnitude Earthquake"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (November 6, 2011)

"...The magnitude 5.6 earthquake and its aftershocks still had residents rattled Sunday. No injuries were reported, and aside from a buckled highway and the collapse of a tower on the St. Gregory's University administration building, neither was any major damage. But the weekend earthquakes were among the strongest yet in a state that has seen a dramatic, unexplained increase in seismic activity.

"Oklahoma typically had about 50 earthquakes a year until 2009. Then the number spiked, and 1,047 quakes shook the state last year, prompting researchers to install seismographs in the area...."

This is more like it! 'Deeply buried' in an Associated Press news item, the SHOCKING TRUTH!!! DRAMATIC, UNEXPLAINED INCREASE in SEISMIC ACTIVITY!!!!!

Remember: if you're going to sound like a crazy person in print, you should use ALL CAPS and TOO MANY EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!!!!! Screwball font choices help, too.

The Lemming's Mind: Off the Leash

Influenced, perhaps, by daylight saving time-induced jet lag, an autumnal cold/sore throat, and several cups of coffee, the Lemming's mind slipped out of its leash while writing this post. More about that in another blog:

"Oklahoma Earthquake - or - THEY Awakened the Sleeping Spawn of CTHULHU!!!"
Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (November 7, 2011)

Meanwhile, Back in the Real World - - -

A bit more seriously, the Lemming is very glad that nobody got killed - or even seriously hurt. As far as the Lemming knows, anyway. There's been a fair amount of property damage, and city planners should probably start re-evaluating building codes: and that's almost another topic.

The "unexplained" increase in earthquake activity may be a statistical fluke. Or it could be part of the process North America is going through, rebounding from the weight of the last major continental glaciation. Or maybe it's 'earthquake season,' part of a natural cycle we haven't found out about yet.

Part of the fun in science is that we don't know everything there is to know about how things work. It's the Lemming's opinions that the little regularities that humanity has noticed over the last few centuries may not be quite all there is to the laws of nature.

And that is another topic.

Related posts:

Mostly earthquakes
- "Fukushima Worker's Death, News, and the Lemming's Thoughts"
  (May 21, 2011)
- "Mississippi River, Glaciers, and a Whacking Great Earthquake"
  (July 30, 2010)
- "Earthquakes, Nuclear Winter, the End of the World, and All That"
  (February 28, 2010)
- "Bad Week in Indonesia for Earthquakes"
  (October 3, 2009)
- "China Earthquake: News and a View"
  (May 16, 2008)
Getting a grip
- "How to Not Sound Crazy - or - THE PARANOIDS ARE AFTER ME!!!"
  (June 12, 2011)
- "Japan, Good Taste, Common Sense, and a Duck"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (March 15, 2011)
- "Beware Warmonger Imperialist Space Aliens!?"
  (January 11, 2011)
- "Pat Robertson, the Devil, and Helping Haitians Anyway"
  (January 13, 2010)
  And see
  - "Haiti: Voodoo, Pat Robertson, and the Catholic Church"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (January 16, 2010)
- "Want to be Paranoid, but Just Can't Find the Time?"
  (August 27, 2008)
'Inspired by real events'

More, about the last 4,500,000,000 or so years:

"Change, American Culture, Trilobites, Humanity's History, and the Big Picture"

Bright Lights of Broadway: On Another Planet?

2011-11-07T07:56:00.008-06:00

"Alien City Lights Could Signal E.T. Planets"
Charles Q. Choi, Astrobiology Magazine, via Space.com (November 4, 2011)

"Astronauts in orbit around the Earth often gaze down on a world lit at night by city lights. Now researchers suggest that scientists could detect alien civilizations from similarly bright lights.

"Science fiction has long imagined entire planets covered with cities. Examples include galactic capitols such as Coruscant from the 'Star Wars' films and Trantor from sci-fi legend Isaac Asimov's 'Foundation' books.

"Assuming that aliens need light to see at night much as we do, theoretical astrophysicist Abraham Loeb at Harvard University and astronomer Edwin Turner at Princeton University reasoned that extraterrestrial civilizations would switch on city lights during the hours of darkness on their world...."

This might be worth trying: and requires fewer assumptions than SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) techniques that won't work if folks out there aren't:

Actively trying to contact us
Use radio waves for communication
Make the same choices we do, for
- Frequency
- Message encoding

The article does point out that the 'city lights' search wouldn't work if ET is nocturnal.

On the other hand, someone said that we may be looking too close to other stars for people:

"...Another possibility involves looking for alien cities far away from the habitable zones of the closest stars, in their equivalents of Kuiper Belts. They would reflect less starlight since they are farther out, so any artificial light we detected from them would be more discernible. In that case, we could detect them with existing satellites if the nighttime lights were as bright as Earth's, Loeb said...."

The Lemming thinks another drawback to a 'city lights' search is what may be an explanation for why we haven't picked up any verifiable radio signals yet. Here in America, and elsewhere, we're starting to try limiting how much energy we waste by lighting up the sky. Downward-facing lights and other energy-saving techniques might cut down the chances that we'd see the bright lights of Broadway - on another planet.

Still, this 'city lights' idea is a step in the right direction - in the Lemming's opinion. What would make the most sense, if folks are serious about finding people elsewhere in the universe, would probably involve looking for what a large civilization couldn't help but produce:

Sources of heat that don't have an obviously natural source
Emissions anywhere along the spectrum
- With narrow frequencies
  - That don't correspond to what elements emit when they're heated

Essentially, we'd be 'listening' for the equivalent of equipment in a factory, rush-hour traffic, or a garage band practicing. Impossible? Not in the Lemming's opinion. Unlikely? That's the 64-dollar question.

Sort-of-related posts:

"Gliese 581d: Rocky, Close (sort of), and Liquid Water (could be, maybe)"
(May 18, 2011)
"Beware Warmonger Imperialist Space Aliens!?"
(January 11, 2011)
"Gliese 581g, Space Aliens, and the Canals of Mars"
(October 12, 2010)
"Nuclear Weapons, Space Aliens, Conspiracy Theories, and Getting a Grip"
(September 24, 2010)
"Earth May Not Be a 'Class M' Planet"
(December 5, 2009)