ESPN.com: Page 2 - The next win is for everyone: "'Q. What do you call 25 guys watching the World Series?'
'A. The Yankees.'"
10/27/04
10/26/04
EducationGuardian.co.uk | higher news | Ye olde bloggers find plot in cyberspace:
Gazetteers, the age-old precursor to the blogger, have finally found their place on the internet. A new website, launched today, brings together their accounts of Britain through the ages with more than 10m census entries and reproductions of ancient maps.
The gazetteer spent his (for they were mostly men) weekends touring the country and documenting towns, villages and cities. Each would record population, politics and social statistics for posterity.
Now their findings, along with every census finding from the past 200 years, and thousands of centuries-old maps - including the first ever ordinance survey series - have been compiled into a website.
Users can enter a postcode into a search engine and are provided with detailed social history of how the area has changed - the shifting population, where people work, how educated they are and even whether they have an inside loo.
The website also features the observations of travel writing pioneers, including the 12th century cleric, Gerald of Wales, Daniel Defoe, William Cobbett and the intrepid Celia Fiennes. The latter was the 17th century woman who, at the age of 23, decided that a spell touring the country on horseback would be good for her health. She documented her findings and is believed to have inspired the "see a fine lady upon a white horse" nursery rhyme.
It has taken a team of historical geographers at Portsmouth University 10 years and a £1.5m lottery grant to put together the website, www.VisionofBritain.org.uk, which was due to go live at noon today.
Gazetteers, the age-old precursor to the blogger, have finally found their place on the internet. A new website, launched today, brings together their accounts of Britain through the ages with more than 10m census entries and reproductions of ancient maps.
The gazetteer spent his (for they were mostly men) weekends touring the country and documenting towns, villages and cities. Each would record population, politics and social statistics for posterity.
Now their findings, along with every census finding from the past 200 years, and thousands of centuries-old maps - including the first ever ordinance survey series - have been compiled into a website.
Users can enter a postcode into a search engine and are provided with detailed social history of how the area has changed - the shifting population, where people work, how educated they are and even whether they have an inside loo.
The website also features the observations of travel writing pioneers, including the 12th century cleric, Gerald of Wales, Daniel Defoe, William Cobbett and the intrepid Celia Fiennes. The latter was the 17th century woman who, at the age of 23, decided that a spell touring the country on horseback would be good for her health. She documented her findings and is believed to have inspired the "see a fine lady upon a white horse" nursery rhyme.
It has taken a team of historical geographers at Portsmouth University 10 years and a £1.5m lottery grant to put together the website, www.VisionofBritain.org.uk, which was due to go live at noon today.
BOFH and the pointless questionnaire | The Register:BOFH and the pointless questionnaire
"It doesn't pay to ask questions! We already know what people want - everything, yesterday. AND we know that they're used to disappointment. But if you start asking them what they think we should be doing, you'll just ignite a spark of hope"
"A spark is a good thing!"
"Not when I stamp that spark out with the cold hard boot of reality."
"What?! Why? I happen to think that some of the staff may have something valuable to contribute!"
"To the lengthening unemployment queues, yes. But you don't want them mixing stupidity with technology. That's your job. Leave it to them and they'll be recommending that we upgrade to those 'new' voice-operated computers they saw on Bladerunner... ... Oh, and you definitely don't want to be asking for any additional comments they might have about IT, the department, or our ongoing strategy."
"Why not!?"
"Because it's a drift net for stupid ideas. Sure, you'll get one or two people who actually give a sane suggestion, but then you'll hit all the dolphins - the people who, because they've been asked to contribute feel that they have to contribute - like it's an intelligence test or something. Only they've got nothing useful to contribute, so they start off on some innovative tangent, like if we installed a large plasma screen in reception we could use it to have customised messages of the day for staff and visitors, etc, instead of what it would really be used for"
"Which would be?"
"Security would use it to watch porn movies late at night when everyone's left the building."
"Oh I doubt that. Though the screen itself sounds like a good idea!"
"They all sound like good ideas...!"
"So what do you suggest?"
"Lets start with basic concepts. Firstly, the only cavassing of users you should be doing is with a heavy tarpaulin, a stack of bricks and a deep stretch of water"
Click link for more....
"It doesn't pay to ask questions! We already know what people want - everything, yesterday. AND we know that they're used to disappointment. But if you start asking them what they think we should be doing, you'll just ignite a spark of hope"
"A spark is a good thing!"
"Not when I stamp that spark out with the cold hard boot of reality."
"What?! Why? I happen to think that some of the staff may have something valuable to contribute!"
"To the lengthening unemployment queues, yes. But you don't want them mixing stupidity with technology. That's your job. Leave it to them and they'll be recommending that we upgrade to those 'new' voice-operated computers they saw on Bladerunner... ... Oh, and you definitely don't want to be asking for any additional comments they might have about IT, the department, or our ongoing strategy."
"Why not!?"
"Because it's a drift net for stupid ideas. Sure, you'll get one or two people who actually give a sane suggestion, but then you'll hit all the dolphins - the people who, because they've been asked to contribute feel that they have to contribute - like it's an intelligence test or something. Only they've got nothing useful to contribute, so they start off on some innovative tangent, like if we installed a large plasma screen in reception we could use it to have customised messages of the day for staff and visitors, etc, instead of what it would really be used for"
"Which would be?"
"Security would use it to watch porn movies late at night when everyone's left the building."
"Oh I doubt that. Though the screen itself sounds like a good idea!"
"They all sound like good ideas...!"
"So what do you suggest?"
"Lets start with basic concepts. Firstly, the only cavassing of users you should be doing is with a heavy tarpaulin, a stack of bricks and a deep stretch of water"
Click link for more....
10/24/04
10/20/04
10/3/04
Trusted Computing FAQ TC / TCG / LaGrande / NGSCB / Longhorn / Palladium: "1. What is TC - this `trusted computing' business?
The Trusted Computing Group (TCG) is an alliance of Microsoft, Intel, IBM, HP and AMD which promotes a standard for a `more secure' PC. Their definition of `security' is controversial; machines built according to their specification will be more trustworthy from the point of view of software vendors and the content industry, but will be less trustworthy from the point of view of their owners. In effect, the TCG specification will transfer the ultimate control of your PC from you to whoever wrote the software it happens to be running. (Yes, even more so than at present.)
The TCG project is known by a number of names. `Trusted computing' was the original one, and is still used by IBM, while Microsoft calls it `trustworthy computing' and the Free Software Foundation calls it `treacherous computing'. Hereafter I'll just call it TC, which you can pronounce according to taste. Other names you may see include TCPA (TCG's name before it incorporated), Palladium (the old Microsoft name for the version due to ship in 2004) and NGSCB (the new Microsoft name). Intel has just started calling it `safer computing'. Many observers believe that this confusion is deliberate - the promoters want to deflect attention from what TC actually does."
Long, not overly technical, has an incredible relevance to what you can and cannot do with your computer in the coming years.
The Trusted Computing Group (TCG) is an alliance of Microsoft, Intel, IBM, HP and AMD which promotes a standard for a `more secure' PC. Their definition of `security' is controversial; machines built according to their specification will be more trustworthy from the point of view of software vendors and the content industry, but will be less trustworthy from the point of view of their owners. In effect, the TCG specification will transfer the ultimate control of your PC from you to whoever wrote the software it happens to be running. (Yes, even more so than at present.)
The TCG project is known by a number of names. `Trusted computing' was the original one, and is still used by IBM, while Microsoft calls it `trustworthy computing' and the Free Software Foundation calls it `treacherous computing'. Hereafter I'll just call it TC, which you can pronounce according to taste. Other names you may see include TCPA (TCG's name before it incorporated), Palladium (the old Microsoft name for the version due to ship in 2004) and NGSCB (the new Microsoft name). Intel has just started calling it `safer computing'. Many observers believe that this confusion is deliberate - the promoters want to deflect attention from what TC actually does."
Long, not overly technical, has an incredible relevance to what you can and cannot do with your computer in the coming years.
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