brainwagon

As I work to install WordPress on this site and tweak and twiddle the look and functionality, I can’t help but think that every blog, Wiki and content management system isn’t so much an application as a construction set full of pieces that you can assemble to make a blog or website. Is there some […]

As part of my weight loss plan, I decided I needed/deserved some form of MP3 player, and with my upcoming birthday, asked the wife that it would be a 20GB iPod. I reasoned that Apple makes excellent computer hardware that just works, it integrates well with iTunes, and it would just work. Silly me. I […]

Well, it finally happened. My blog was spammed by a whole bunch of comments which linked to Lolita-style porn websites. Thanks for the interest, but I’d prefer if people didn’t hyperlink this sight to all kinds of websites featuring women pretending to be underage. Call me silly, but that’s just the kind of guy I […]

There is a recent trend I’ve noticed in TV programs. It’s the practice of recapping the show that’s currently in progress after virtually every commercial break. I first noticed this in shows on the Discovery Channel when they doing "Top Ten Countdown" where they would take the time to recap what the previous entries were. […]

Slashdot had a link today to the glofish.com website: a company which will begin distributing a genetically engineered zebrafish in 2004. These fish have an anenome gene cut into them so that they glow with a flourescent red color. I suspect that I’d be interested in buying some. In scanning their webpage though, I ran […]

I hate politics. It’s mostly about the hypocrisy. I’ve been trying to ignore the recall news for the most part, but every once in awhile you just have to listen. Schwarzenegger has been accused of a pattern of what can only be described as boorish sexual harassment for incidents ranging from 1975 to 2000. These […]

Today, Slashdot is reporting that the BBC has announced that recent investigation of the Columbia disaster has shown that the foam that blew off and contacted Columbia’s wing could have resulted in damage consistent with the catastrophic loss of the spacecraft. In the test a 0.8kg piece of foam was fired by a nitrogen powered […]

Allrighty, I know, if I am going to get irritated by the ignorance of human beings, I shouldn’t read Slashdot. A recent article detailed China’s desire to mine the moon for minerals. Never mind that it is absurd (can we name a single element so precious that it would justify the cost of rocket launches […]

I was reading a Slashdot article this morning entitled A Music Industry Case Study, and was suddenly struck by the apparent absurdity of the term the Music Industry. People never discuss “the Drawing Industry” or the “Sculpture Industry”. Why is music singled out in being labelled an Industry? My online dictionary defines “industry” thusly: in.dus.try […]

I’ve recently come to the conclusion that most people believe that it is more important to have an immediate and distinct opinion rather than an actual informed opinion. This was brought home to me in the aftermath of the Columbia disaster, when various newsgroups like sci.space.shuttle were flooded with premature speculations and cries for the […]

Jack Balkin, a scholar on First Amendment issues presents some really interesting criticism of the majority opinion in Eldred v. Ashcroft that may frame new challenges to the DMCA. Ginsberg asserted in the majority opinion that as long as the traditional boundaries of copyright (such as fair use) are unchanged, Congress is free to expend […]

A great post-mortem of the Eldred vs. Ashcroft decision is going on Lawrence Lessig’s weblog. I’ve decided to add it to my newsfeeds on the right. Click through and remain active. I took the time to post a thank you to Larry and his efforts on behalf of the public. I urge all who come […]

The story is just now breaking that the Supreme Court has upheld the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act as constitutional in a 7-2 decision. I have only read part of the briefs, but had a couple of quick comments: I expected this outcome, but I must admit I am still surprised that the Justices abandoned […]

I admit it. I have a hard time with names. Actually, that isn’t true. I actually memorize names fairly well. The only problem is that I can only memorize them well when I see them in print. If you walk up to me and tell me your name, without tons of real effort, I can’t […]

Every once in a while I have a chain of thoughts that connects seemingly unrelated things together into a new set of ideas. One of those happened to me over the last week or so. I’ve previously complained that the creation of our “culture” is increasingly a manufactured entity: that our music and stories are […]