the pod bay door

No, not a comment on Viktor Frankel’s book, which I haven’t read. Someday, maybe. It was a good day, a long day. I was up at 6:00, because I had to teach a research skills and library resources class to a group of third year chemical engineering design students. Less than half the class showed (25 out of 65, their loss, frankly), and the lecture went well. I spent the remainder of the day in a semi-daze, refueling on black coffee, spinach salad, and fruit.

During the day I had an interesting conversation with a colleague about blogging. She couldn’t see a reason to spend time blogging other than for something subject-specific, related to our profession, most likely. I accept her take on the activity – it’s not for everyone. And subject-specific blogs can be of great use to those who require a quick way to check on the latest developments or news in their areas of interests. A subject-specific blog, such as this one on nanotechnology, almost function as a slow-motion crawl or ticker (the name given to the line of news that crawls across the bottom of the screens of tv networks like CNN). Of course, news there changes every few seconds – an active subject blog might change only a few times a day. But the purpose is similar.
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My good pal and colleague Geoff Harder has created BlogEd, a webring of Edmonton bloggers. The Taz Man has joined, and so have I. So if yer a local blogger, sign up today.

Geoff, I bow in your general direction for your patience and encouragement and help with coding as I continue to immerse myself into the world of MT blogging. It is much fun, and you deserve some of the credit.

1. How many TVs do you have in your home? – two, but one is unplugged and in storage
2. On average, how much TV do you watch in a week? – my guess: 20-25 hrs, way too much
3. Do you feel that television is bad for young children? – not if it’s turned off
4. What TV shows do you absolutely HAVE to watch, and if you miss them, you’re heartbroken? – mmm…Sopranos, L&O (all three), OZ, Six Feet Under, West Wing (though it’s fading fast). I don’t fret over missing an tv episode like I used to do. Life is short, get over it.
5. If you had the power to create your own television network, what would your line-up look like? – shows with creativity, ones that would survive w/o having to worry about ratings. Past examples: My so-called Life, EZ Streets, Gideon’s Crossing, Big Apple, Max Headroom…shows that were interesting but died too soon because ratings didn’t impress The Suits. Mix in some educational PBS-type stuff, bring back Tom Snyder to do a Late, Late Show, hire Charlie Rose away from PBS, bring back Dennis Miller and Bill Maher. Feature Michael Moore. Comedy with an edge, like MAD-TV, SNL (for old time’s sake), Monty Python, SCTV. Some baseball. Live music.

Then go turn off the tv and read a book or go for a bike ride or have coffee with friends.

The world of search engines is ever-changing. Check out KartOO SA, a meta-search engine that returns results graphically, presenting a map of links to the user. It reminds me a bit of WebBrain. I don’t know much about KartOO, so don’t know how its coverage compares to the Big Engines, like Google or AltaVista.

Common Dreams “is a national non-profit citizens’ organization working to bring progressive Americans together to promote progressive visions for America’s future. Founded in 1997, we are committed to being on the cutting-edge of using the internet as a political organizing tool – and creating new models for internet activism.” Lots of stuff here applicable to us in Canada too.

Behind the Beat is an online magazine (no, not a “zine”, dammit!) that provides links to musicians talking about their latest works. They call it “audio portraits”. You can hear Steve Earle talk about his controversial tune, John Walker’s Blues.

Lawrence Lessig, a Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, is currently leading a constitutional challenge of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, which when passed, extended existing and future copyrights in the USA by 20 years. The campaign is called Free the Mouse, after Mickey Mouse – Disney’s original copyright on Mickey Mouse expires in 2003. Lessig is arguing against the continual extension of copyright in the USA, which has happened 11 times in the past 40 years. The argument is that it prevents the flow of creative material into the public domain. There is much more to it, and the essential details are here.

Lessig has lost this case twice, and is now presenting to the US Supreme Court. The October 10th Economist features an update on Lessig’s fight to reduce copyright protection.

The copyright issue is a tough one – as a librarian and musician, I can see both sides. When I copy an article 135 times for a class I’m teaching, I complete a log so that proper payment gets made (often not to the author, however). As a musician, I support downloading of music, but not for resale. I don’t believe this makes me a hypocrite – musicians like Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, who led the charge that brought down Napster, have not suffered greatly from downloading. Those that have suffered need to look in the mirror, and question the quality of their product before blaming the web.
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