Give Thanks

Eat well, everyone.

I Need Ten Pounds of Modafinil

Okay, make it twenty.

There's got to be some catch... I just don't believe that there's a pill that just lets us decide we only need to sleep every other day and our body plays right along. Not that I wouldn't love something to pull me through the next few weeks of class, but I can barely afford college, let alone amphetamines.

Also, Picard > Kirk.

And It Begins

Now I begin the arduous task of composing a rough draft for my twelve-page SAGES research paper, which includes poring through at least five books on psychology (a subject I've never taken a class on, much less written a paper about).

WHAT HAS SCIENCE DONE.

Vista and PNRP

A day or two old, but interesting: every Vista computer can (via the magic of PNRP and IPv6) have its own domain name. Basically, anyone using Vista can relatively easily host their own website with a domain name using IIS, as well as access anyone else's website who is doing the same.

I'm sure someone will try hosting some awesome site with no router and their firewall turned off and no antivirus...

Chumby: Hackerdom Comes Full Circle

I stumbled upon this article at NewsForge while trawling Google Reader and immediately became interested. I'd heard about the chumby earlier when viewers of Diggnation learned that Kevin Rose was one of the lucky recipients of a test model. What really interested me, however, was this (admittedly long) quote:

"We've taken a very different approach to creating a consumer electronic device," [head of software Duane Maxwell] says. "Rather than layering DRM and fighting a losing war with hackers attempting to repurpose the device, we've decided to trust the community to an extraordinary degree. The anti-DRM crowd has waved the 'trust the customer' banner for a few years now to no avail, but we're actually going to do just that. At this point, the hackers, developers, and users can destroy chumby by doing exactly what the big media companies are deathly afraid of. So this is a grand experiment in trust to which we've committed our careers and millions of dollars."

The first thing that struck me, besides how damn cool the chumby is, is that they are essentially offering a framework - a do-it-yourself kit. I was immediately reminded of the beginnings of personal computing as we know it, when hobbyists of the 1970s were able to build their own computers from parts readily available at Radio Shack and other places and subsequently program the machines themselves. Software was distributed on discs and in magazines. It was a golden age of sharing and invention. Not too long ago I read an article involving an interview with Steve Wozniak and the history of Apple and various things like how Segways are awesome; the pertinent point was that the reason the Apple took off is that it stripped away the hobbyist element and allowed anyone with a wad of cash to have their own gosh-darned, working, mainstream computer in their home, no soldering or programming experience necessary. Now, thirty years later, companies are innovating by returning to the hobbyist roots of computing.

"Grand experiment in trust"? Please.

If you let them build it, they will come.

Rumsfeld to Step Down

More big news breaking; Rummy will step down after six years at the Pentagon.

Also, Keith Olbermann

He asks the questions that need to be asked.

Pertinent quote:

Saddam Hussein will get out of Iraq the same way 2,832 Americans have and thousands more.

He’ll get out faster than we will.

Here's to two years of Bush complaining how Congress won't let him pass bills anymore.

Midterm Election 2006

So, the results are mostly in. Notable:

• Strickland defeats Blackwell for governorship of Ohio.



• Sherrod Brown takes the Senate seat of Mike DeWine.



• Issue 2, raising the minimum wage, passed by a good margin, as did Issue 5 (SmokeFree Ohio).



• Issue 3, bringing gambling to Ohio, failed, as did Issue 4; both lost by a fairly wide margin.

Pretty exciting stuff. Now, control of the Senate hinges on the results of the Montana and Virginia races. Unfortunately for the voting public, the Virginia election probably won't be known for weeks as it's almost certain to be recounted a billion times (hello Florida?). At least the House is pretty concrete now.

Looks like the terrorists win this time, Mr. Bush.