Aside

On various occasions, I get pangs of wanderlust that pulsate through my veins. I read about I am in a constant struggle with my general love of the Bay Area and all of the wonderful people and sights that it holds and with my desire to see the world. I have a map of the world in my bedroom and one above my desk at work and am constantly reminded of all of the places in the world that I…

In the continuing saga of my scanning old family photos with my grandfather, John Hadsell, I present my great-great-grandfather, Sidney Forward Hadsell. All I know about him is that he was born in Michigan and served in the Union Army. He was discharged around the age of 20 due to a medical condition. He later came to California, and had my great-grandfather (Dan Hadsell) later in his life, in 1882. He also attended the Panama Exposition in San Diego in…

Chicago Tribune Op-Ed by Dr. Eboo Patel I am an American Muslim. I believe that Prophet Muhammad brought God’s final revelation, the Holy Koran, to humankind. This is not based on empirical observation or verifiable fact. It is a matter of faith. While there is significant suspicion of Muslims in many segments of American society, the secular urban liberals and progressive religious believers I know rarely question the premise of my faith. They do not ask me to read books…

Hi Cyrus, Three thoughts on your excellent “skeptical inquiry” into Negroponte’s $100 computer. A. You probably haven’t enough gray hair to remember the Timex Sinclair. More a stunt than a computer, but reached cult popularity with those who enjoy the challenge of writing TIGHT programs. Here’s a website with a jpeg of it being well-used as a doorstop! B. To be fair, I’m imagining that Negroponte isn’t projecting today’s costs/components, but counting on continued leaps in integration and reductions in…

Reuters: Potential computer users in the developing world will not want a basic $100 hand-cranked laptop due to be rolled out to millions, according to Craig Barrett, ECO of Intel. Schoolchildren in Brazil, Thailand, Egypt and Nigeria will begin receiving the first few million textbook style computers from the MIT Media Lab run by Nicholas Negroponte from early 2006. “Mr. Negroponte has called it a $100 laptop — I think a more realistic title should be ‘the $100 gadget’,” Barrett,…

Hi, I’m President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. Either I’m trying to get the world really really pissed off at me, or I’m just being an idiotic asshole. You decide. BBC: “If European countries claim that they have killed Jews in World War II… why don’t they provide the Zionist regime with a piece of Europe,” Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Iranian television. “Germany and Austria can provide the… regime with two or three provinces for this regime to establish itself, and the issue will…

I found this on diggdot.us today, the iTunes Signature Maker, a web program that analyzes your music in your iTunes library and spits out a 15 second “audio signature”, a sort of weird but cool artificial mix of your music. Mine is here. Included in it (in order) are excerpts from these works: The New Pornographers – Miss Teen Wordpower Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. I, Mvt. 1 The New Pornographers – Jackie, Dressed in Cobras Matchbox 20 – 3…

Hi Cyrus, Just wanted to let you know that I enjoy your blog and am going to link it to mine. In particular I thought your Persian Web 2.0 post was very cool. As it happens, I am also a persian involved with Web 2.0! I guess we are really all over that. Anyway, keep up the good work. Have a good one! Cheers, Hooman Radfar Pittsburgh, PA

Yesterday, I was perusing the site of IDG, the parent company of my employer, Macworld and I found this line: From our name to our presence today in 85 countries and on all 7 continents, IDG is truly a global company. 7 continents? Does IDG have an Antarctica bureau that I’m not aware of? I posed the question to my co-workers and Paul Boutin. He and my boss’ boss, Jason Snell, came up with the same answer: ComputerWorld Antarctica Except…

Indian Economist Atanu Dey: I know that one should not ascribe to malice what can be adequately explained as stupidity. Not everyone involved in the “laptop for every child” is motivated by greed; some are motivated by a zeal that comes from an inability to figure out what the problem is and how it can be most effectively solved. The operative word is “effectively.” You can always use a cannon where a fly-swatter is sufficient. But for the cost of…