Bamboo Microscopes

Why pay a 1.5x premium (~$500 USD) for a single OLPC, when you could use $10 (plus shipping and handling) to pay a similar premium for a bamboo microscope? Oh yeah....because no such purchasing program exists. What a shame.

Before I got my first computer, my most favorite 'toys' were my chemistry set (it's illegal now), my microscope, my D&D books/dice, and my tape recorder.

As a point of confession, I didn't originally want a tape recorder. I actually wanted, and received, a Star Wars AT-AT battle walker for Christmas. Unfortunately, just like in the movies, it kept falling down. It made it very easy to recreate Hoth battle sequences, but it wasn't much fun to keep propping it up with the couch. Curiously enough, the bipedal Scout Walker (AT-ST) was far more stable. Upon my insistence, my mother returned it to Toys R' Us and I used the proceeds to buy the tape recorder--my dad's idea (thx Dad).

Yes, I still have it today and yes, it still works.

Sun vs. Network Appliance

On September 5th, Network Appliance filed suit against Sun Microsystems for patent infringement. I don't know the details (yet), but I think it's worth a gander at the amount of disclosure and blog feedback on both the Sun and Network Appliance side of things.

We are witnessing PR/Legalism v2.0 .

I've gone on the record as big fan of ZFS and hoping they will dual-license it for use in kernel-space on Linux. A userspace port already exists. But it's really about the engineering approach of solving complex problems using non-proprietary methods, commodity hardware, and innovation backed by open source licensing--the Benkler commons based peer production model [pdf].

I have no idea, nor do I really even care, who's going to "win" this.

Amen brothers

Kudos to the American Freedom Agenda for recognizing the common-sense abuses which The Constitution has taken under the Bush administration.

I'm still waiting on an explanation as to why swift prosecution of the telecoms and justice department officials for the NSA wire-tapping felonies hasn't been forthcoming.

There's more than enough circumstantial evidence and on-record testimony for a plethora of additional subpoenas to be scribed by Congress and approved by the Judicial branch. They don't even need to appoint a special prosecutor. They merely need to follow the law and convene a few grand juries.

Despite what the justice department seems to think, "national security" is not a durable legal rampart--merely a temporary bulwark.

Jumper the movie

This movie reminds me of a Champions character I played (named Time-Shadow) in high school. Even if Mr. Hayden "made of wood" Christensen, is the lead, I'm still seeing it just for the concept.

little miss Shaw

You can only push people, especially stubborn Virginian septuagenarian grandmothers with heart conditions (go Mona!), so far before violent methods edge inside the Overton window.