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" One guy wrote that we should take all these Legos and build giant robots with which to attack Afghanastan. " -- Rob Malda, Founder of Slashdot, a "News for Nerds" website, in a NPR report on post WTC gen-X, 10/22/2001

I, for one, would like to take a moment to thank Rob for setting us "Nerds" back where we belong. Way to make us look like a bunch of childish tech-heads with no conception of the real world! Isn't it nice for Rob to characterize all slashdotters as moronic geeks on national radio? (That was sarcasm, you nincompoop!)

Oh, hell, eat this, while I'm at it:
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWww

" One guy wrote that we should take all these Legos and build giant robots with which to attack Afghanastan. " -- Rob Malda, Founder of Slashdot, a "News for Nerds" website, in a NPR report on post WTC gen-X, 10/22/2001

I, for one, would like to take a moment to thank Rob for setting us "Nerds" back where we belong. Way to make us look like a bunch of childish tech-heads with no conception of the real world! As a troll, I think it's high time that you slashdotters got slapped down for the idiotic geeks that you are! (That was sarcasm, you nincompoop!)

Always happy to throw fat on the fire. This was this morning's "Morning Edition" on NPR, I don't think they have the transcripts up yet. The Real Audio is here on this page.

Always happy to throw fat on the fire. This was this morning's "Morning Edition" on NPR, I don't think they have the transcripts up yet. The Real Audio is here on this page.

In Mexico there is a sauce sold under the name "Maggi" that is kind of like Worchestershire sauce. This must one of the sauces that is mentioned in the article. It is most commonly used in a drink called a "michelada," which in its simplest form is a beer on ice with lime juice, salt, and a dash of Maggi. The link gives a more ambitious concoction.

There was a brief bit on NPR about this a few days ago. NPR recording

Okay, if we can't believe everything seen on CNN, what about

• The BBC .
• The Boston Globe
• The Chigago Tribune
• The Guardian (UK)

Also, don't forget the fact that some Palestinians kidnapped one of the cameramen that recorded the cheering, and the Palestinian Authority couldn't guarantee his safety if the footage was broadcast. Heard this on both The Jerusalem Post and also corroborated on NPR. Can't find a link to the stories, though.

That said, this bit of video brings up an interesting question that has crossed my mind: What will be the fate of the Center itself? While the focus has been on the destruction of the two main towers, the site itself is very large.

I have heard various suggestions: the owner/developer of the property is considering putting up four new 50-story buildings; some are calling for the twin towers to be rebuilt exactly as they were. NYC officials have been quoted as saying that this is an opportunity for New York to rethink not only its skyline but its vision of itself.

I hope that whatever happens, it is something more interesting that another corporate filing cabinet. Of course there will be an extensive memorial (as well there should be), but doesn't the site deserve something at least as interesting as the twin towers were in the 60s? How about an arcology? Ideas?

I also thought I made it clear that producing material more to my taste (CD's containing downloaded news & interview programs) is simply more effort then I'd like to invest every week. I'm already spending 12 hours on the road on top of just living my life, what free time I have is at a premium and searching / downloading / burning radio programs every week is just too much to ask. However paying for a device and service that offered what I want would be worth it for me if it worked.

Finally while it's nice that you like Canadian radio programming (and yes the CBC is one network though there are many others) please don't insult my other choices. I enjoy many NPR programs: Terry Gross on "All Things Considered" is a fantastic interviewer and "This American Life" often rises to brilliance. Being a US citizen living in Canada I appreciate hearing news and material from both sides of the border. YMMV.

My first choice would be for a live NPR feed though PRI and of course CBC would be welcome. All-music would be useful as an alternate though I'm really looking for something to keep me engaged on the long and at this hundredth-time boring night drive. Mp3's or other pre-recorded music aren't what I'm looking for (I already have a large collection of CD's & tapes) and so aren't interesting as an alternative. I could download some news & interview programming I like and burn it to a CD before each trip but this would be far more preparation then I care to do so regularly.

Unfortunately it appears that "satellite radio" will be as problematic for me as conventional radio. Driving through the mountains at ~45 North will likely result in service interruptions (doubtless the same as with conventional radio: always at the most interesting points.) Without much likelihood of repeaters in these rural areas this appears an inherent bug in the service and one which (at least for me) brings it from a strong possibility to something I'm not willing to pay much extra for.

A couple of tangential thoughts:

1. As Canada's CRTC takes no action to prevent piracy of US FCC-licensed satellite television broadcasts (aside from refusing to allow the services to be directly sold in Canada) I wonder if the same will hold true of radio broadcasts?
2. Is anyone aware of an online service where I could plug in a route (not a single location) and get a listing of stations by genre along the way? I imagine this would be a popular add-on to the many online route/map services but none seem to have anything like this. What I'd like to see would be something like a listing of public radio station by frequency along my route; others would presumably prefer country stations, pop or rock programming, etc.

This applies to all forms of media - not just the web. I's gotten worse, IMHO, starting with Desert Storm and the O.J. trial - CNN, in its zeal to feed info in bulk form with the emphasis on expediance instead of accuracy, is a case in point. The world, not just U.S., has been "spoiled" by the byproducts of the Information Age. So has journalism.

In fairness, I was up way too late two nights ago, and quickly submitted a report to /. regarding "Taliban Delares Holy War on U.S." that was on CNN (TV) prominently displayed. In this case I'm glad it was rejected. Fifteen minutes later, there was a rephrased "Taliban Warns of Possible Holy War" or something to that effect. MSNBC followed suit and misreported, then "lightened up". This also occurred on the respective websites.

So, the obvious point here is that we can trust most of what we can see, hear, and (hopefully) touch. On topic, it is a concern that Yahoo's "security through obscurity" was so vulnerable. Sure wish I could read the Security Focus article - still /.'ed - but I did read a post with the text here earlier.

I think of more concern would be the vulnerabilities of news services like AP and Reuters - the compromise of them could be a propagandist's dream come true. Hey, Wow, I just thought of something! Why don't we hack into the news "services" of our enemies? We could win the whole damn thing just by convincing the radical factions that they are already with Allah, and all is well. They can just relax and go back to making hashish, and whatever...

There was a interesting discussion of this on NPR's "Talk of the Nation" program a while back, but I can't seem to find it.

This applies to all forms of media - not just the web. I's gotten worse, IMHO, starting with Desert Storm and the O.J. trial - CNN, in its zeal to feed info in bulk form with the emphasis on expediance instead of accuracy, is a case in point. The world, not just U.S., has been "spoiled" by the byproducts of the Information Age. So has journalism.

In fairness, I was up way too late two nights ago, and quickly submitted a report to /. regarding "Taliban Delares Holy War on U.S." that was on CNN (TV) prominently displayed. In this case I'm glad it was rejected. Fifteen minutes later, there was a rephrased "Taliban Warns of Possible Holy War" or something to that effect. MSNBC followed suit and misreported, then "lightened up". This also occurred on the respective websites.

So, the obvious point here is that we can trust most of what we can see, hear, and (hopefully) touch. On topic, it is a concern that Yahoo's "security through obscurity" was so vulnerable. Sure wish I could read the Security Focus article - still /.'ed - but I did read a post with the text here earlier.

I think of more concern would be the vulnerabilities of news services like AP and Reuters - the compromise of them could be a propagandist's dream come true. Hey, Wow, I just thought of something! Why don't we hack into the news "services" of our enemies? We could win the whole damn thing just by convincing the radical factions that they are already with Allah, and all is well. They can just relax and go back to making hashish, and whatever...

There was a interesting discussion of this on NPR's "Talk of the Nation" program a while back, but I can't seem to find it.

Whether the data goes to Fry's or elsewhere, most data generated by virtual processes, and all other electronic transactions, will be used in ensuring security. This is especially likely due to Tuesday's tragedy.

Information's nature will change soon.

On NPR today, someone was explaining the use of electronic information as a possible alternative to ethnic, cultural, or social profiling of airplane passengers and other people who frequent public places.

The security officials would use credit-card data, bill and purchase data, phone records, and bank data in order to verify that you have an established address, haven't moved around too much or done anything that provokes suspicion.

In effect, we will all have different "clearance levels" in regular civilian society, which will decide for us whether we are stopped, interviewed, strip searched; what our freedom of movement and consumer activity will be; and what kinds of security-vital private sector training, such as computer or pilot skills, that we can enjoy.

You can also listen to his interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air. The interview is about his book and was very well done. It was also talked about here on slashdot a while back.

You know, for the most part, you're right. However, there are a few things you're overlooking...

For example, not everybody lives in a large city. To go with your NPR example, not every city or region has an NPR affiliate within radio range. And every NPR affiliate plays a different selection of NPR programs. When I lived up in chicago, I used to love listening to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me on WBEZ. It's a fun news quiz show. When I moved to Atlanta, I discovered that the NPR affiliate near me didn't play WWDTM. Not to worry, if I need my fix I can go to npr.org and listen to the Real Audio streams of the show, and even go into the archives and listen to older programs.

The stuff that has mass-market appeal you can hear everywhere. For music, that means Britney and whatever other crap is playing right now, and for news and talk, it means All Things Considered, Fresh Air, Marketplace, maybe Talk of the Nation, and a few others. For other things, there might be only a few (or even just one!) station(s) around the country that carry them.

So even without adding original internet-only content, streaming radio stations can still be a success by making local content available anywhere.

Those in Central, Mountain & further timezones might be able to catch it later today, or listen to it tomorrow on the ATC web site.

Here's a radio interview with Tom Kelley, their general manager. And here's a fascinating web page showing all the cool stuff they've worked on.

This submission got rejected, but you might enjoy the RealAudio of Friday's Diane Rehm show (on NPR) about the exploration of Mammoth Cave. The politics between the explorers is amazingly similar to most hackers I know! Give a listen.

And here are the articles from NPR and the United Nations Security Council Report (PDF)
These were also months ago....
Evidently it wasn't interesting then as my submission got rejected.... the heck with Karma...

I'm not a member, but I know these folks have been getting a lot of press lately. Check them out at:

http://www.darksky.org/

Also, an August 8th interview on NPR's "All Things Considered" featured Elizabeth Alverez from the IDA. You will need the evil RealPlayer to listen to the interview here:

http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/atc/20010808.atc.04.rm m

While seeing no end to this language-related phenomenon, the commentator thought the computer-related issues would lessen in severity in the next 10 years or so, as "those 15-year olds" have children.

The mp3 engineers hire a bean counter who tells them how much money they are losing annually because of the popularity of their format. They begin to enforce royalty and licensing issues with an iron fist.

As providers of mp3s encoders and content providers begin to get hit financially by the Germans they set out for a new alternative to mp3. Something similar, if not better in quality than mp3 which would contain no financial implications. Ogg is discovered in 2002! Marketing and PR dollars by many organizations are spent on promoting Ogg as the next evolution in digital music.

Other forward thinking production companies, music labels begin to release music using EFF's new open audio license therefore by passing all the BS of copyrights for music that will be exchanged by the masses anyway.

Additional companies begin to insert FreeDB tags into their ogg files so that players released in 2003 can pull info off their now completely free and open music system. Early adopters include NPR, IndyMedia and other production companies. By 2004 WMP and QuickTime have codecs for playing ogg files.

The only twist here is if Franhofer never attempts to forcefully collect on the mp3 codec formula. If it doesn't cost anything for developers to use, there will never be reason enough to switch at this point of acceptance.

"Robo-cup" (audio, requires player) by Lee Gutkind, National Public Radio, Weekend All Things Considered, 28 July 2001

"RoboCup 2001 Marks SGI's Second Year of RoboCup Federation Sponsorship" (press release), PR Newswire, 1 August 2001

"Robot Competitors Meet on a Soccer Field of Dreams" (free registration required) by Jeffrey Selingo, New York Times, 2 August 2001

"RoboCup: Where Bots Kick Butt" by Jason Spingarn-Koff, Lycos News, 2 August 2001

"Rush is on for 'HAL'-like computer to perfect A.I." by Winda Benedetti, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 3 August 2001

"Robot world cup kicks off", BBC, 3 August 2001

"RoboCup 2001 boots up" by Helen Pearson, Nature Science Update, 3 August 2001

"Blutgrätschen ohne Blut und Beine", stern.de, 3 August 2001

"Roboter aus 23 Ländern tragen Fußballweltmeisterschaft aus", Net-Business Online, 3 August 2001

"RoboCup 2001, il calcio visto dai robot", Punto Informatico, 3 August 2001

"Building a better goalie (buzz, whir)" by Gregory Roberts, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 4 August 2001

"Man and machine take the field" by David Olsen, Seattle Times, 4 August 2001

"Robots Storm the Soccer Field" by Maria Godoy, TechTV/Tech Live, 6 August 2001

Information about live Webcast of Botball finals (an event distinct from Robocup) on 7-8 August

Or, for goat.cx wary: cut and past:
http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2001/ aug/multitasking/080701multitasking.html

The only news outlet that I know of that might be willing to listen about airing a DMCA debate is NPR's Talk of the Nation. For instance, today they are airing an hour about a guy that got thrown in jail for imagining a kiddie porn story and writing it in his journal. If they are willing to spend an hour on a first amendment topic like that (which is sure to get a lot of people pissed off really quick), do you think they might spend an hour on Sklyarov?

We should all send letters to totn@npr.org and maybe if there is enough people that talk about it they will do an hour about this.

One of the first mentions of the Sklyarov arrest came from trusted news source National Public Radio which broadcasts on hundreds of public radio stations across the country. You know the ones. They're the ones that beg for donations once a month to keep the station afloat, as they aren't getting near the funding that they used to from the federal government.

A search on their website finds five different mentions of the situation, starting on July 18. Considering most of the folks that listen to NPR on a regular basis tend to be in the upper range of IQ scores, it's a good audience to have but far from the saturation that the cause needs.

While you are reaching for your wallet to support the EFF, also consider making a donation to your local Public Broadcasting Station. They are as close to objective news reporting as you are likely going to get here in the US of A.

• No one is really sure what the bike's top speed is. McIntyre had a pair of Sheriffs radaring him at both ends of an airport runway, but their guns maxed out at 199mph :) He theorizes probably above 250mph, though (!)
• My Dad knows Jay through business and is a fellow motorcycle enthusiast. One day my Dad & some friends were at The Rock Store, which is a small restaraunt/biker hangout on Mullholland Drive in the Hollywood Hills. Lo' and behold, Jay pulled up on his "jet bike" so of course everyone wanted to go take a peek. Jay starts talking about his trip over and about how some guy in his shiny new BMW pulled up extra close behind Jay so he could get a look at the bike. The thing is, the exhaust from Jay's bike started melting the front bumper off of the guy's car (Jet exahust = 1500+ degrees Fahrenheit)! Jay said he tried to warn the guy but he didn't get it and since they were parked at a red light he just had to sit there and melt the front end off this guy's car till it turned green :)
• Manufacture's site
• NPR story about the bike (RealAudio). Cool because it has a phone interview with Jay, and you get to hear the thing starting up! Gives you a sort of "what hath God wrought" feeling when you realize someone's about to hop on that monster and drive it around :)

NPR had a 10 minute interview with the EFF lawyer who talked to the DoJ today. You can hear it here:

http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/totn/20010727.totn.r mm

There is an NPR story online where the head Adobe council claims that the Elcomsoft software was "aimed at the U.S. Market."

All Things Considered
Morning Edition

I find this interesting when Elcomsoft has always said that the software was mostly meant for Russians to be able to make copies, permitted under Russian law. They did give rights to distribute in the U.S., but for explicit purposes for the items to be used under fair use.

The same interviews say a couple of other interesting items. One: "We didn't think the likelyhood of getting any money [from Elcomsoft] was very high," so they pursued a criminal course of action. Can you say GREED??

Also, "we asked them cease and desist," which Elcomsoft *DID,* just keeping up a small demo that should be protected as a research example.

This just gets worse and worse...

There is an NPR story online where the head Adobe council claims that the Elcomsoft software was "aimed at the U.S. Market."

All Things Considered
Morning Edition

I find this interesting when Elcomsoft has always said that the software was mostly meant for Russians to be able to make copies, permitted under Russian law. They did give rights to distribute in the U.S., but for explicit purposes for the items to be used under fair use.

The same interviews say a couple of other interesting items. One: "We didn't think the likelyhood of getting any money [from Elcomsoft] was very high," so they pursued a criminal course of action. Can you say GREED??

Also, "we asked them cease and desist," which Elcomsoft *DID,* just keeping up a small demo that should be protected as a research example.

This just gets worse and worse...

NPR did a story on the clock today (the links are not up yet) They talked with one of the researchers who said that the clock is accurate to 10^15 - so the BBC numbers probably work out.

Indeed. This will have little effect on the future. For those who are too busy to read, you can listen to a report from NPR that ran 3-29-01

There have been consumer satisfaction surveys that show that consumer satisfaction with fast-food restaurants goes down during low-unemployment periods, and goes up during high-unemployment periods.

I maintain that the reason for this is that during low unemployment, the better workers have all got jobs, and the job pool has fewer good workers left in it. Therefore the fast food places have to hire the best people they can get, but those aren't as good as the best people available at 5% unemployment.

Further, you can't fire them, because they'll not only be hard to replace, but the pool of replacements mostly consists of people who couldn't get a job.

I'm not the only person who has reached this conclusion:

Here's a link to an audio recording of a National Public Radio "All Things Considered" segment on the subject.

Here's Cnet's Mike Yamamoto talking about it.

Here's ADT Mag's Charles Trepper on the subject.

You'll find that below 3%, it's hard to put ANY warm body into a job, much less find a good employee. Somewhere close to that percentage, you find the people who are pretending to look for a job, so they can collect unemployment assistance, but deliberately sabotaging their interviews or even outright defrauding the system so that they'll never be employed.

Personally, I think they should subtract another 3% from the figures and report 3% unemployment or less as 0% unemployment. They already don't count people who are unemployed and not filing unemployment claims or applying for jobs.

-

Audio will be posted online at 10pm ET tonight, or you might be able to catch it on the radio-- it's the next to last piece in the program.

(oh yeah-- right now, it's titled "Napster." ignore that; someone was smoking crack.)

Audio will be posted online at 10pm ET tonight, or you might be able to catch it on the radio-- it's the next to last piece in the program.

(oh yeah-- right now, it's titled "Napster." ignore that; someone was smoking crack.)

NPR's Fresh Air has a real audio version of their interview with Linus Torvalds, which aired Monday evening.

http://freshair.npr.org/dayFA.cfm?todayDate=curren t

It was an interesting interview, such that Mr. Torvalds talks much about his motivations as a programmer, how Linux got started, his experience watching his VA Linux stock options ride the tech bubble, and his return to being his more relaxed self.

You could just listen to NPR... It's non-profit news and does a good job. Morning Edition and All Things Considered are good shows.

Those interested can find a list (listed by state) of stations across the U.S. that carry Fresh Air at http://freshair.npr.org/stationsFA.cfm.

http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/fa/20010604.fa.ram

I had completely forgotten about Fiona Richie. She has a very nice voice indeed!

I found her picture. View at your own risk.

http://www.npr.org/programs/thistle/aboutshow/

(She's lovely. But hardly the mental image I conjured up.)

Listen to the archived show http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/fa/20010604.fa.ram

here

On Talk of the Nation, Science Friday, April 17, 1988 there was an interview with Richard Stallman (RMS) and Eric Raymond (ESR). You might find the contrast between Linus and RMS interesting.

Oh yes, this interview doesn't start till 1/2 way through the audio file, it starts about 27:30...

Here's the interview where she talks about that (and other things):

http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/me/20000901.me.06.ram

You can listen here ( http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/fa/20010604.fa.01.ram ).

I haven't looked through all of the comments, so I'm not sure if this is redundant, but here's a link to some info on the npr site:
http://freshair.npr.org/guestInfoFA.cfm?name=linus torvalds

Anyway, the URL you supplied will break by tomorrow.

This URL should work better.

It appears as though the Fresh Air people have either been receiving hoardes of nerd e-mail asking "Where's the Linus Torvalds info" on their site, or amortis is just really oblivious to the prominently featured story.. Probably the former, but I don't really know amortis. ;)

Btw, WHYY studios are in Philadelphia. What's the Linux goings on in Philly that I don't know about?

The Fresh Air site has a list of stations with frequencies and broadcast times.

Or, if you're trying to listen tomorrow: http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/fa/20010604.fa.ram.

Sorry for the blatant karma whoring.