One of the seemingly eternal questions in managing personal computers within organizations is whether to centralize computing power (making it easy to upgrade or secure The One True Computer, and its data), or push the power out toward the edges, where an individual user isn't crippled because a server at the other side of the network is down, or if the network itself is unreliable. Despite the ever-increasing power of personal computers, the New York Times reports that the concept of making individual users' screens portals (smart ones) to bigger iron elsewhere on the network is making a comeback.

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hackingbear writes "The National Debt Counter, erected in 1989 when the U.S. debt was 'merely' a tiny $2.7 trillion, has been moving so much that it recently ran out of digits to display the ballooning figure: $10,150,603,734,720, or roughly $10.2 trillion, as of Saturday afternoon. To accommodate the extra '1,' the clock was hacked: the '1' from "$10.2" has been moved left to the LCD square once occupied solely by the digital dollar sign. A non-digital, improvised dollar sign has been pasted next to the '1.' It will be replaced in 2009 with a new clock able to track debt up to a quadrillion dollars, which is a '1' followed by 15 zeros. That should be good enough for a few more months at least, I believe." Adds reader MarkusQ, "I know Dick Cheney has assured us that 'Deficits don't matter' but I can't help wondering if we should be fixing the problem rather than the sign."

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As the proud owner of five Plymouth Barred Rock chicks, I was interested in this post on Homegrown Evolution about a magazine called the Plymouth Rock Monthly, which had a circulation of 40,000 in 1920. Maybe I should re-launch it with the goal of 200 subscribers.

What magazine had 40,000 subscribers in 1920? Answer: the Plymouth Rock Monthly, a periodical devoted to our favorite chicken breed. We have two "production" Barred Plymouth Rocks in our small flock of four hens, and we've found them to be productive, friendly and, with their striped plumage, an attractive sight in our garden. While the internet is an amazing resource for the urban homesteader, there are a few holes in this electronic web of knowledge. In short, would someone out there please get around to scanning and putting online the Plymouth Rock Monthly? All I can find are images of two covers lifted off of ebay.

The February 1925 issue, at right, promises articles on, "Selecting and Packing Eggs for Hatching", a poetically titled essay, "The Things We Leave Undone", "Theory and Practice in Breeding Barred Color", "White Plymouth Rocks", "The Embargo on Poultry", and "Breeding White Rocks Satisfactorily". Incidentally, the Embargo article probably refers to a avian influenza outbreak of 1924-1925 that repeated in 1929 and 1983.

By the 1950s interest in backyard and small farm flocks vastly decreased and the Plymouth Rock Club of America, the publisher of the Plymouth Rock Monthly, collapsed down to 200 members from a peak of 2,000. Thankfully, interest in keeping chickens is now on the rise again and an informative magzine, Backyard Poultry has been revived. Plymouth Rock fans can read an article about the breed in the latest issue of Backyard Poultry. Plymouth Rock Monthly

jonbryce writes "The court of appeal in England has ruled that companies should be granted patents for 'complex' software products. In this particular case, Symbian had written something that makes mobile phones run faster. The court case has received very little attention because of the bank crisis, but it can be appealed to the House of Lords and then the European Court of Justice."

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vile8 writes "With the high gas prices and ongoing gas gouging in my hometown many people are trying to find a reasonable way to save gas. One of the things I've noticed is people driving exceptionally slow, 30mph in 45mph zones, etc. So I had to take a quick look and find out if driving slow is helpful in getting better mileage. I know horsepower increases substantially with wind resistance, but with charts like this one from truckandbarter.com it appears mileage is actually about the same between 27mph and 58mph or so. So I'm curious what all the drivers out there with the cool efficiency computers are getting ... of specific interest would be the hemis with MDS; how do those do with the cylinder shutoff mode at different speeds?" Related: are there any practical hypermiling techniques that you've found for people not ready to purchase a new car, nor give up driving generally?

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notthatwillsmith writes "On Friday, Microsoft invited members of the Windows Feedback Program to try out a preview of a new application, the Microsoft PC Advisor. The new tool promises to 'continuously monitor your PC for problems and give you the solutions to fix them, in real time.' After testing on several Vista machines with a variety of problems, Maximum PC has written a full report on the Microsoft PC Advisor. The short version? Like every other 'PC Repair' tool they've tested, the new apps signal-to-noise ratio is quite bad, and it misses the obvious and important problems, like out-of-date videocard drivers."

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FiReaNGeL writes "Researchers conducted a genome-wide association study of 1,125 Caucasian men who had been assessed for male pattern baldness. They found two previously unknown genetic variants on chromosome 20 that substantially increased the risk of male pattern baldness. They then confirmed these findings in an additional 1,650 Caucasian men. 'If you have both the risk variants we discovered on chromosome 20 and the unrelated known variant on the X chromosome, your risk of becoming bald increases sevenfold. What's startling is that one in seven men have both of those risk variants.'" So maybe gene therapy will finally have a real purpose.

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If you're a fan of "Borat" you'll love "Shirley Ghostman" the spoof telepsychic created by edgy British comic genius, Marc Wootton. "Shirley" -- who is a man, an extremely effeminate man with nail polish who'll have you know he's not gay, okay? -- is the Liberace-esque host of High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman. Shirley makes contact with the spirits of Elvis Presley and Lady Diana, reads the minds of pets and takes hapless contestants through a maze of humiliation in a reality show-within-the-show "Spirit Academy," the American Idol of psychic talent. As with Sacha Baron Cohen's "Borat" character, the people "Shirley" interacts with -- and the studio audienc e-- have no idea they're being put on. They might figure it out as it's going on, but sometimes they don't!

To one dumb-founded audience member "Shirley" suggests a dead relative was trying to tell him: "You like a drink, but you will not like waking up on the bathroom floor with a black eye and shit in your pants." In a bit taped at a vet's office, he informs a pet owner that her dog has asked him to ask her if she and her husband can knock it off with the anal sex when the dog is in the room. There are tons of these kinds of moments in "High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman."

I've inflicted "Shirley" on many a friend and everyone agrees: This is one of those "pee in your pants funny" shows. An absolute must see if you are a fan of humiliation comedy like Ali G or Larry David. It's the equal of both.

Shirley auditions the psychic talent | Shirley helps her apprentices channel dead celebrities | The Spirit Academy finale | Shirley Ghostman Channels Lady Di | Shirley meets the Skeptics | A Skeptic writes of his "psychic" encounter with "Shirley Ghostman" | More Marc Wootton: "My New Best Friend" (insane humiliation reality show)

In 1975, when I was nine years old, I discovered Lou Reed from reading about him in CREEM magazine. It was probably the very first rock magazine that I ever bought. The article, titled "Let Us Now Praise Famous Death Dwarves"really captured my young attention. It was the coolest thing I'd ever read. The author, Lester Bangs, conjured up a spectacularly ghoulish portrait of a totally disheveled, wasted and just plain old mean Lou Reed even as he hurled drunken druggy insults right back at him throughout the entire interview. The writing was sublime. I'm not saying I realized this when I was nine, btw, but even that young, I knew I was reading the unfiltered thoughts and opinions of someone who seemed to know about, and feel passionately about, a heck of a lot of really cool things. In his writing on rock and roll, he could really convey strong emotions. Bangs didn't hesitate to let you know where he stood on groups like Yes and Emerson Lake and Palmer (that would be two thumbs down) but when he loved a record or a group, his rhapsodic gonzo prose was worthy of being compared to Jack Kerouac, Tom Wolfe or Hunter S Thompson. Sometimes his writing was even better when he hated a group!

When each new issue of CREEM would come out, I'd go straight for the Lester Bangs articles and record reviews and I'd obsess on owning the albums he liked. This was back in the days (ahem) when you couldn't find anything like an Iggy Pop or Velvet Underground album outside of a specialist shop in a big city or through mail order, but the writing of Lester Bangs inspired you to want to have the same experience he had listening to groups like PiL, The Clash, The New York Dolls and The Stooges. He never, ever steered me in the wrong direction and not only do I see that my own passion for deviant culture comes from a crucial young connection to the mind of Lester Bangs, but also that he's one of the stylistic voices I've most emulated in my own writing.

So what an incredible thrill it was to come across a 90-minute interview with Lester Bangs himself on a Bit Torrent tracker recently. To finally, at long last hear the speaking voice of one of my literary heroes --it was like having a mental orgasm. Pure joy! Bangs and the interviewer cover a lot of ground in the two part interview including the state of the music industry at the time, whether or not the Rolling Stones ought to retire (in 1980!), John Lydon's PiL and what music Lester was listening to himself. It's a wonderful, articulate and thoughtful interview with a great writer whose speaking voice we rarely hear.

Someone at at website called The Interview Archive has posted the interview online. It's absolutely worth listening to, a rare treat.

Lester Bangs Interview | Lester Bangs, King of the Noise Boys | Let Us Now Kill White Elephants

(((Hmmm.)))

Experiments in Field Drawingfrom timoon Vimeo.

quarterbuck writes "An Anchorage judge has ruled that Governor Sarah Palin must save her emails, as they were apparently used for state business. Last week a Tennessee man was arrested over hacking one of her Yahoo email accounts. The Washington Post also reports that Sarah Palin, her husband, and officials had set up email accounts known only to each other."

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liftoff
Originally uploaded by Esthr Hope he enjoys himself.

secmartin writes "Russian security firm Elcomsoft has released software that uses Nvidia GPUs to speed up the cracking of WPA and WPA2 keys by a factor of 100. Since the software allows them to network thousands of PCs, this anouncement effectively signals the death of wireless networking in business networks; any network handling sensitive data should start using VPN encryption on machines connecting over Wi-Fi networks, or stop using these networks altogether."

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waderoush writes "Forcing sulfur atoms into silicon using femtosecond laser pulses creates a material called 'black silicon' that is 100 to 500 times more sensitive to light than conventional silicon, in both the visible and infrared spectrums, according to SiOnyx, a venture-funded Massachusetts start-up that just emerged from stealth mode. Today's New York Times has a piece about the serendipitous discovery of black silicon inside the laboratory of Harvard physicist Eric Mazur. Meanwhile, a report in Xconomy explains how black silicon works and how SiOnyx and manufacturing partners hope to use it to build far more efficient photovoltaic cells and more sensitive detectors for medical imaging devices, surveillance satellites, and consumer digital cameras."

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(((This probably sounds like a fatal moment to start a swanky, top-end green fabulous fashion mag. Maybe. But consider, for a moment, a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers vehicle. You know WHY the two of them were putting on the ritz in the midst of a grinding depression? It's because the audience was ragged and hungry, and the dreams on the silver screen were in strictly inverse proportion to those lines at the soup kitchen.)))

(((So now imagine yourself, dispossessed from your unfueled suburban home, frying rats under a bridge with the leftover heat from your fritzing netbook, and... somebody you know comes sashaying by, absolutely dressed to the freakin' nines in some kind of unimaginable hemp-organic Hollywood eco-ball gown... why shouldn't that be YOU, actually? You're the bell of the poverty ball in your pre-rumpled nonallergenic taffeta as you dish out Freecycled nail-soup to the marvelling neighbors, who've all bicycled over with turnips from the victory garden.)))

Coco Eco, The Launch Of A New (And Fabulous!) Green Fashion Magazine

Oct 10, 2008 http://thegreenloopblog.com/2008/10/coco-eco-the-launch-of-a-new-and-fabulous-green-fashion-magazine

Author: RemyC

Interview with Anna Griffin, publisher of Coco Eco magazine.

(Launching October 18th.)

You're a popular commentator on the LA greenscene. You've filmed videos for Ecorazzi. We met on MySpace where you host some really terrific interviews with Hollywood celebrities and green business leaders. In a few days you're launching your own new green fashion magazine online. Coco Eco. It's a labor of love, isn't? How did the name come about? Coco Chanel? Who is involved?

Coco Eco Magazine is much more than a love. It's a privilege. I am so fortunate to have the opportunity to do this, and be surrounded by very talented and visionary individuals who've made this a reality.

The name came accidentally. We were building under another name until we ran into trademarking issues, and to be honest, I don't remember when I thought of Coco Eco. It just came to me, and when I thought about it, it stuck. Everyone loved it, and that was that. And of course it doesn't hurt paying accidental hommage to the world's greatest fashion icon!

As to my team, I have the best and brightest people in the eco-scene working with me. They really are mavericks! My Beauty Director is Emma Pezzack, CEO of Futurenatural.com, our Photo Director is Courtney Dailey who is one of the hottest new photographers in LA, and our Senior Stylist is Robin Garvick who is THE eco-celeb fashion stylist in town. We also have Contributors like the legendary Barbara Kramer of Designers & Agents, Stefanie La Rue, breast cancer survivor and Founder of SLAM.

Coco Eco is going to bring something new and different into the mix. While the web is rich with green fashion blogs, there's still little focus on editorial fashion photography, bringing whole teams of designers, models, make up artists and stylists together. There's a reservoir of new talent out there, ready to become the next generation of trend setters. They only want to do green work, and yet they want to make a living doing what they love.

Explain how you're going to tap into that desire and make it all possible.

Coco Eco brings together all those key elements of a traditional fashion glossy, but paperless and 100% eco friendly in its content. I don't understand really why no-one has done it before. (((Neither do I, but it probably had something to do with the shattering cognitive-dissidence that would smite anybody living outside Los Angeles.))) It's a no-brainer. Through publishing Coco Eco, we hope to create a shift in how women view media, and therefore inspire a generation of like-minded paperless publicatons. It's the wave of the future and where we are all headed! This is when these new green talents will be able to make more of a living doing what they love. It's only a matter of time.

What constitutes a green photographer, make-up artist, model? The role the web is playing in scouting green talent? There's a green rat pack forming in LA, and you're right in the thick of it. (((The thick of a green rat pack. Man, I can't wait for the tell-all memoir.))) Can you mention a few of your sources of inspiration? Where do you guys all hang out? Where do you shop?

A "green" anyone is a person who is conscientious in their lifestyle, aware of their surroundings, mindful of the choices they make and the subsequent cost on the environment. It doesn't matter if they're a photographer, make-up artist or model. (((Hey, yeah.))) And I don't know what role the web is playing in recruiting green players? Of course though it makes sense. The web is a powerful tool in a collective movement, and it is much easier to connect as a result.

Yes living in LA, I am definitely in the thick of the eco rat pack, and to be honest, it's fun! It's a colorful, interesting crowd, and there's a lot of energy around it. I think what makes it cool is that it is a really diverse group of people, all with the same commitment to our planet, and we all support one another. As for where we hang out, we usually see each other at green events. It's always the same crowd.

Where do we shop? Eco boutiques in LA like Visionary, and of course a lot of vintage from stores and flea markets! (((And Freecycle!)))

We're part of a new breed of internet eco-warriors who have staked claim to the web as the best means to quickly spread green information far and wide, in a race to save the planet. It's interesting that while major publishers like Hearst, CondeNast and HachetteFilipacchi are still horribly timid about sustainability in their own industry, only publishing special green editions rather than chance a complete overhaul of major titles, there seems to be many independent green fashion magazine upstarts popping up everywhere, covering all the bases, trying to do everything right. Soon we're going to completely take over! (((That wouldn't hurt my feelings any.))) We must, that's the mission. Feels like boot camp, doesn't?

What's the tipping point going to be for the major magazine publishers to finally come around and recruit us?

Publications like Coco Eco Magazine. Until independent publishers like all of us create a movement, there will be no tipping point. It's up to people like us to fuel that movement, and inspire consumers to make new choices. Until that shift happens, nothing will change. We need to create an appetite and a demand, and then more traditional entities will follow.

There's a sense of community and friendly competition which has grown between many all over the world. It's a global movement telling us to buy local. Fewer educated consumers today jump on the bandwagon of massive promo campaigns, all buying the same item. I look at Coca-Cola, not a green company by any means, but they only ship their syrup abroad. everything else, water, bottle, sugar. is locally sourced. Because of it, Coca-Cola tastes different in every country on Earth, with a low carbon footprint. Strange how that might be a good model for future global branding. Sustainability is synonymous with diversity. How could that relate to fashion, design, photography, cosmetics?

Firstly, it's funny you mention Coca Cola as they are also planning to do a test run this November using their distribution network to deliver rehydration salts and help reduce child mortality in East Africa. It is a campaign called colalife.org spearheaded by Simon Berry. So they are doing more than most of us are aware of. And that's the point about sustainability. It is diverse and has many different facets. There are so many ways to live an aware and good lifestyle that is kind not only to our planet, but to our communities, and each other. As for fashion, design, photography, and cosmetics, that's the fun stuff. It plays its part because let's face it, who doesn't want to see beautiful things especially when life is so stressful right now? (((That's telling 'em, Ginger Rogers.))) Art is always inspiring no matter its context. And fashion of course is always diverse and is what sets trends that people follow. In this capacity, utilising this diversity can be a powerful tool for inspiring sustainability! .

Designers & Agents is hosting the launch party for Coco Eco on October 18th in Los Angeles. This aligns some of the top sustainable fashion designers with a chance to develop showcases on Coco Eco. This must be exciting, a wonderful opportunity for a lot of new talent and fresh ideas. I'm keeping this short because I know you're very busy getting everything ready. Any last words?

I'm thrilled at the honor of Coco Eco Magazine being invited to be introduced by Designers & Agents, and excited to work with some new and innovative sustainable designers. There is so much fresh and exciting things happening within the green arena, and we can't wait to feature them on our pages. What can I say? Stay tuned!!!

(Photos: Courtney Dailey & Anna Griffin, Chelsea Sexton & Anna Griffin)

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

News & Views for Anarchists & Activists: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo

(((Anarchists quoting BUSINESS WEEK. Yeah, something weird's going on.)))

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_42/b4104056853835.html

October 9, 2008, 5:00PM EST text size: TT

Freegans and FreeCycling Gain Fans

"Freegans" are trading in consumerism for dumpster-diving

by Michelle Conlin

Josh Corlew's grocery bill is zero. The furniture in his Nashville home didn't cost him anything, either. His fridge, TV, and microwave -- all free. It's been two years now since he last bought the ingredients for his signature sausage dish. (((Yum.))) Corlew, a 26-year-old nonprofit manager, has effectively dropped out of Consumer Nation. He goes shopping in the disposable culture's garbage instead.

Corlew is part of a growing number of Americans for whom getting stuff for free is next to godliness. Yes, most everyone is cutting back. But these folks take frugality to its extreme. In cities like New York and wealthy suburbs like Grosse Pointe, Mich., and Plano, Tex., it is possible to live like a king (well, a duke anyway) out of a dumpster. Sushi, cashmere sweaters, even Apple computers -- all for the taking.

"We're used to fulfilling most of our needs through the marketplace," says Syracuse University culture professor Robert Thompson. "But now with technology there is access to more that is free than in any time in the history of the world." (((Somebody should be quoting Chris Anderson right here, but it won't be me.)))

As you might expect, the free movement is heavy on idealism. (((No, I wouldn't expect that at all, necessarily.))) (...)

But what if you don't want to climb into a giant garbage can to get your free groceries or barely used PC? Maybe Freecycle is more your thing. A Craigslist-type Web site, Freecycle lets people post items they don't want and ones they do. Giveaways have included everything from a camping trailer to a pair of rats. Freecycle now has 6 million members internationally, and since Wall Street imploded it has been registering 50,000 more each week, up from 25,000 previously. <----- Freecycle and the Freegans are among the fastest-growing groups on Yahoo!

(...)

Think this sounds crazy, dear manager? The free movement is already starting to invade the workplace. At Yahoo, Freecycle events -- where employees swap their stuff—are all the rage. They have featured plenty of Prada clothes, original Eames chairs -- even founder David Filo's smelly adidas sneakers.

Conlin is the editor of the Working Life Dept. at BusinessWeek .

CWmike writes "A Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman said today that the agency is weighing a series of reforms to the H-1B application process, including the use of 'independent open-source data' to obtain information about visa seekers or the companies that file the petitions on their behalf. The move follows a report by the agency that found widespread problems and evidence of fraud in the nation's H-1B program, including forged documents, fake degrees and shell companies being used in H-1B applications. It also comes after the controversy caused by changes to the H-1B rules earlier this year."

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(((Hey, nice milk-the-panic phish attack here -- too bad I got four of 'em at the same time from four different pseudonyms in the botnet.)))

WACHOVIA CORPORATION NOTICE.

Citigroup announced a buyout of Wachovia brokered by the FDIC moments ago. All Wachovia bank locations will be in the Citigroup merger to prevent failure of Wachovia. The Citigroup/Wachovia would focus on upgrading banks' security certificates. All Wachovia customers must fill the forms and complete installation of new Citigroup Standard digital signatures during 48 hours. Please follow the installation steps below:

Read more here>>

Sincerely, Herminia Ramsey. 2008 Wachovia Corporation. All rights reserved.

Sincerely, Carolina Ladd. 2008 Wachovia Corporation. All rights reserved.

Sincerely, Quincy Bell. 2008 Wachovia Corporation. All rights reserved.

Sincerely, Arnulfo Ouellette. 2008 Wachovia Corporation. All rights reserved.

(((As for these hapless characters, they now owe more money than Iceland and are a financial crisis all by themselves.)))

--Spammers Ordered to Pay US $236 Million (

October 8, 2008)

A US District Judge in Iowa has ordered Henry Perez and Suzanne Bartok of Arizona to pay US $236 million for sending millions of unsolicited commercial emails. Robert Kramer the owner of Iowa-based CIS Internet Services, sued Perez and Bartok, who ran a company called AMP Dollar Savings, for inundating his network with spam. Perez and Bartok used a program called "Bulk Mailing 4 Dummies" to send out messages that advertised home mortgage refinancing.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/08/mom_and_pop_spammer_judgement/

newtley writes "The New Democrats' Jack Layton has become the first leader of a major Canadian political party to acknowledge the importance of the Internet during a federal election. He's using YouTube to carry his message specifically to the online community, launching it on P2Pnet. 'We don't want to see hidden fees and gouging and service slow-downs all in the interests of promoting the objectives of certain large corporations,' Layton says." Other party members have also spoken out against increased internet regulation. We've been following the Canadian net neutrality debate for quite some time.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Toren Altair writes "Soyuz TMA-13 with ISS Expedition Crew 18 and Richard Garriott successfully launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 7:01 UT (3:01 EDT). The Soyuz capsule will dock to the ISS in two days. Garriott will return to Earth with Expedition 17 crew members, Commander Sergei Volkov and Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko on October 23." With the extra attention on this launch, the Russians have gone out of their way to say that the return of the Soyuz vehicle will be safe, after a couple of different malfunctions in the past year. Garriott is in space partly for recreation, and partly as a promotion for his latest MMO, Tabula Rasa. He took with him a hard drive filled with information about humanity, as well as DNA sequences from Tabula Rasa players and various celebrities (including Stephen Colbert and Stephen Hawking) to 'preserve' that data in case of a disaster on Earth. Garriott will also spend time running and participating in experiments. Coverage of the Soyuz mission is ongoing at NASATV.

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