IP follies revisited
Back in December of aught-four, the American Chemical Society sued Google, claiming that it owned a "common-law trademark" on the word "scholar" and that Google was violating this "common-law trademark" by offering a service called "Google Scholar".
I came across the story through the Chronicle of Higher Ed., but their story is not available to nonsubscribers, so any public goodwill and advertising revenues that might be derived from readers of this blog will go to CNET's News.com.com instead.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
The local job market
Planning on applying to work as an irregularly-scheduled substitute librarian in Ann Arbor? If you want to meet their preferred qualifications, you'd better have three years of professional-level experience, according to the job posting.
Planning on applying to work as an irregularly-scheduled substitute librarian in Ann Arbor? If you want to meet their preferred qualifications, you'd better have three years of professional-level experience, according to the job posting.
Just what we need
Another middle-eastern war to get involved in.
At least the current proposal would use Turkish and Egyptian troops under a NATO or UN commander, rather than US troops. Theoretically, that's the way that international peacekeeping efforts are supposed to work. But at this point will anybody trust or be willing to work with a proposal from the United States? Will the Turks, the Egyptians, or other countries pony up the necessary troops and resources? And will Israel or Hezbollah and its supporters respect such a force and its right to intervene?
At least neither of them has a seat on the Security Council, which would give them the power to outright veto any UN action that was inconvenient to them.
Another middle-eastern war to get involved in.
At least the current proposal would use Turkish and Egyptian troops under a NATO or UN commander, rather than US troops. Theoretically, that's the way that international peacekeeping efforts are supposed to work. But at this point will anybody trust or be willing to work with a proposal from the United States? Will the Turks, the Egyptians, or other countries pony up the necessary troops and resources? And will Israel or Hezbollah and its supporters respect such a force and its right to intervene?
At least neither of them has a seat on the Security Council, which would give them the power to outright veto any UN action that was inconvenient to them.
The godfather speaketh
From time to time I've thought that I detected a certain ambivalence in William F. Buckley's approach toward the Bush administration and its neoconservative ideological comrades.
Well, he's out of the closet now. (So to speak.) In an interview with CBS, the intellectual godfather of modern conservativism criticizes not only Bush's interventionism in Iraq and the resulting war, but its lack of a coherent domestic policy as well.
It's possible that this is a calculated attempt to create a kind of intellectual liferaft for Republicans who wish to distance themselves from the sinking ship of the Bush administration in time for the fall elections. Quite frankly, I doubt that many congressional Republicans will have the brains or the courage to swim toward it.
NOTE: For those with conservative relatives and friends who persist in supporting Bush and his political allies, this might be a good link to send them. In addition to bearing the gravitas of the man who founded National Review magazine and spearheaded the intellectual development of the modern conservative movement, it gives a good quick overview of the ways in which Bush has failed to follow traditional conservative political principles.
From time to time I've thought that I detected a certain ambivalence in William F. Buckley's approach toward the Bush administration and its neoconservative ideological comrades.
Well, he's out of the closet now. (So to speak.) In an interview with CBS, the intellectual godfather of modern conservativism criticizes not only Bush's interventionism in Iraq and the resulting war, but its lack of a coherent domestic policy as well.
"If you had a European prime minister who experienced what we've experienced it would be expected that he would retire or resign," Buckley says....Ouch.
"I think Mr. Bush faces a singular problem best defined, I think, as the absence of effective conservative ideology — with the result that he ended up being very extravagant in domestic spending, extremely tolerant of excesses by Congress," Buckley says. "And in respect of foreign policy, incapable of bringing together such forces as apparently were necessary to conclude the Iraq challenge."
"There will be no legacy for Mr. Bush...."
It's possible that this is a calculated attempt to create a kind of intellectual liferaft for Republicans who wish to distance themselves from the sinking ship of the Bush administration in time for the fall elections. Quite frankly, I doubt that many congressional Republicans will have the brains or the courage to swim toward it.
NOTE: For those with conservative relatives and friends who persist in supporting Bush and his political allies, this might be a good link to send them. In addition to bearing the gravitas of the man who founded National Review magazine and spearheaded the intellectual development of the modern conservative movement, it gives a good quick overview of the ways in which Bush has failed to follow traditional conservative political principles.
How cool is this?
Tesla Motors unveils an electric roadster with 250 mile range with a claimed acceleration rate of 0-60 mph in 4 seconds. Apparently they accomplish that range partly by using regenerative braking, a technique long used in electric-motored railroad locomotives.
The car is reportedly scheduled for release in 2007. Unfortunately, its $80000-$120000 price tag puts it out of reach of most people, but with that kind of acceleration, it may appeal to the Ferrari/Porsche/Lamborghini set. And with any luck we mere mortals might be able to afford one in a few years.
I don't know anything about their financing arrangements. I hope they're secure, and that the Tesla roadster doesn't become the Tucker Torpedo of the 21st century.
Tesla Motors unveils an electric roadster with 250 mile range with a claimed acceleration rate of 0-60 mph in 4 seconds. Apparently they accomplish that range partly by using regenerative braking, a technique long used in electric-motored railroad locomotives.
The car is reportedly scheduled for release in 2007. Unfortunately, its $80000-$120000 price tag puts it out of reach of most people, but with that kind of acceleration, it may appeal to the Ferrari/Porsche/Lamborghini set. And with any luck we mere mortals might be able to afford one in a few years.
I don't know anything about their financing arrangements. I hope they're secure, and that the Tesla roadster doesn't become the Tucker Torpedo of the 21st century.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Recent Reads
Archangel, by Sharon Shinn
Theological science ficton with romance. That doesn't sound like a very appetizing description, but the book won me over.
The basic premise of the book is that the people of the various tribes in the land of Samaria live under the guardianship/rulership of angels, winged and supernaturally powerful men and women who mediate between the people and their god, "Jovah", and possess the power to alter weather, heal sickness, and call down divine gifts or thunderous wrath from their deity. An angel named Gabriel has a grave problem: Jovah has designated him as the next Archangel, or ruler over the angels, which means that in order to lead a critically important musical ceremony required by Jovah upon pain of divine wrath, he must find and marry the mate whom Jovah has chosen for him much sooner than he would otherwise wish to. Complications develop, of course. She's not where the records say she should be. Even worse, she has a prickly personality, a calamitous personal history, and decidedly unorthodox views on politics, marriage and angels. And meanwhile, just as in ancient Israel, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are opposed by those who prefer the comfortable corruption of worldly power.
It's almost as if the author deliberately set out to write a book based on a futuristic version of ancient Israel, but with actual flesh and blood angels. (Was Shinn thinking of the opening verses of Genesis chapter 6?)
The savvy SF reader will quickly pick up on hints that all is not quite as it seems. The angels, who must interbreed with humans to reproduce, appear to be the result of genetic engineering. The method by which the Oracles communicate with Jovah suggests a form of telecommunications, and Jovah may to be an armed orbital platform or spacecraft operating on instructions to regulate the society it oversees and preserve the status quo by requiring the continued performance of musical religious rituals. There are other hints of a backstory that, I hope, will be revealed in subsequent books in the series.
Archangel, by Sharon Shinn
Theological science ficton with romance. That doesn't sound like a very appetizing description, but the book won me over.
The basic premise of the book is that the people of the various tribes in the land of Samaria live under the guardianship/rulership of angels, winged and supernaturally powerful men and women who mediate between the people and their god, "Jovah", and possess the power to alter weather, heal sickness, and call down divine gifts or thunderous wrath from their deity. An angel named Gabriel has a grave problem: Jovah has designated him as the next Archangel, or ruler over the angels, which means that in order to lead a critically important musical ceremony required by Jovah upon pain of divine wrath, he must find and marry the mate whom Jovah has chosen for him much sooner than he would otherwise wish to. Complications develop, of course. She's not where the records say she should be. Even worse, she has a prickly personality, a calamitous personal history, and decidedly unorthodox views on politics, marriage and angels. And meanwhile, just as in ancient Israel, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are opposed by those who prefer the comfortable corruption of worldly power.
It's almost as if the author deliberately set out to write a book based on a futuristic version of ancient Israel, but with actual flesh and blood angels. (Was Shinn thinking of the opening verses of Genesis chapter 6?)
The savvy SF reader will quickly pick up on hints that all is not quite as it seems. The angels, who must interbreed with humans to reproduce, appear to be the result of genetic engineering. The method by which the Oracles communicate with Jovah suggests a form of telecommunications, and Jovah may to be an armed orbital platform or spacecraft operating on instructions to regulate the society it oversees and preserve the status quo by requiring the continued performance of musical religious rituals. There are other hints of a backstory that, I hope, will be revealed in subsequent books in the series.
Recent Reads
Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, by Dan Simmons
I have to admit, up front, that I did not read these books with the same level of attention that I usually try to employ. I found myself skimming chapters before I was halfway through. I think this is because I just did not find the central premise of the story -- the "time tombs" and the Shrike and the time-reversal effect associated with them -- to be plausible.
I will note that there are some very intriguing bits of world-building here. The "cruciform" lifeform is a particularly twisted take on biochemical immortality, and Simmons shows how widespread systems of teleportation technology can be both an economic and esthetic asset and a potential military liability. (One of the characters has a house in which every room is, literally, on a different planet, thanks to teleportation devices mounted in each doorframe. But what happens if a hostile force manages to capture a world that is tied into such a network?) The deserted city of Sad King Billy, presided over by a looming, unfinished bust of its onetime poet-ruler, is convincingly melancholy. Simmons' portrayal of a growing schism between humans and artificial intelligences is also convincing. And, to his credit, he does eventually tie most of the threads of his sprawling epic together. I just didn't find the payoff to be plausible enough to justify the 900+ pages that it took to get there.
Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, by Dan Simmons
I have to admit, up front, that I did not read these books with the same level of attention that I usually try to employ. I found myself skimming chapters before I was halfway through. I think this is because I just did not find the central premise of the story -- the "time tombs" and the Shrike and the time-reversal effect associated with them -- to be plausible.
I will note that there are some very intriguing bits of world-building here. The "cruciform" lifeform is a particularly twisted take on biochemical immortality, and Simmons shows how widespread systems of teleportation technology can be both an economic and esthetic asset and a potential military liability. (One of the characters has a house in which every room is, literally, on a different planet, thanks to teleportation devices mounted in each doorframe. But what happens if a hostile force manages to capture a world that is tied into such a network?) The deserted city of Sad King Billy, presided over by a looming, unfinished bust of its onetime poet-ruler, is convincingly melancholy. Simmons' portrayal of a growing schism between humans and artificial intelligences is also convincing. And, to his credit, he does eventually tie most of the threads of his sprawling epic together. I just didn't find the payoff to be plausible enough to justify the 900+ pages that it took to get there.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
They Hate Our Freedom
The Indianapolis Star and the Detroit Free Press, among others, report that the House of Representatives has passed a bill, HR 2389, which purports to remove the jurisdiction of the US court system, including the Supreme Court, to hear cases that have any connection to the Pledge of Allegiance. This bill is evidently a test run for a series of bills designed to strip the US courts of jurisdiction to enforce the Bill of Rights in any way, an idea which has been actively promoted by dominionists who seek to impose a theocratic government.
Here, under the heading "Ayes", is the list of those who hate American freedom.
The Indianapolis Star and the Detroit Free Press, among others, report that the House of Representatives has passed a bill, HR 2389, which purports to remove the jurisdiction of the US court system, including the Supreme Court, to hear cases that have any connection to the Pledge of Allegiance. This bill is evidently a test run for a series of bills designed to strip the US courts of jurisdiction to enforce the Bill of Rights in any way, an idea which has been actively promoted by dominionists who seek to impose a theocratic government.
Here, under the heading "Ayes", is the list of those who hate American freedom.
A collection development note for librarians
The "bestseller" label on Annthrax Coulter's plagiarized book, Godless, is partially the result of large institutional bulk purchases feeding copies into a variety of orchestrated free and nearly-free giveaway programs. Make decisions accordingly.
The "bestseller" label on Annthrax Coulter's plagiarized book, Godless, is partially the result of large institutional bulk purchases feeding copies into a variety of orchestrated free and nearly-free giveaway programs. Make decisions accordingly.
Ann-thrax Coulter
Ann Coulter, in between advocating the assassination of government officials, braying that the widows of terrorist victims "enjoy their husbands deaths", insulting injured military veterans, and screeching that newspaper editors should be executed, seems to have found time to commit acts of terrorism against the United States and make lighthearted little jokes about it.
Last time I checked, making terroristic threats -- which by any reasonable definition includes mailing envelopes full of pseudo-anthrax -- was something the government was supposed to investigate. Just try making a joke about a bomb in your luggage the next time you're in an airport, or yelling "Hi!" to your friend Jack down the length of an airplane. Or mail an envelope with white powder in it to some government office and then tell them where it came from. See what happens.
A commenter here supplies some relevant passages from the law. Will our favorite incoherent rageaholic be charged with a felony the way any ordinary citizen would be? Or does she get a special Republicans-are-allowed-to-commit-terrorism exemption?
Ann Coulter, in between advocating the assassination of government officials, braying that the widows of terrorist victims "enjoy their husbands deaths", insulting injured military veterans, and screeching that newspaper editors should be executed, seems to have found time to commit acts of terrorism against the United States and make lighthearted little jokes about it.
Last time I checked, making terroristic threats -- which by any reasonable definition includes mailing envelopes full of pseudo-anthrax -- was something the government was supposed to investigate. Just try making a joke about a bomb in your luggage the next time you're in an airport, or yelling "Hi!" to your friend Jack down the length of an airplane. Or mail an envelope with white powder in it to some government office and then tell them where it came from. See what happens.
A commenter here supplies some relevant passages from the law. Will our favorite incoherent rageaholic be charged with a felony the way any ordinary citizen would be? Or does she get a special Republicans-are-allowed-to-commit-terrorism exemption?
Would you like a nice thick slice of Mad Cow?
The Bush Administration USDA announces that it intends to reduce testing for mad-cow disease by 90%. Meanwhile, it prohibits farmers and businesses from conducting any tests on their own. (See also here, here, here, here.) It's almost as if someone *wants* to start an epidemic. But no, that's just the predictable outcome when government dictates are determined by corporate agendas. The Bush Administration's corporate stringpullers want to use an absolute absence of tested US beef as an economic battering ram to force the Japanese and other beef importers to abandon any demands for testing of imported beef. And they can't afford to have any persnickety free market types offering to give the Japanese buyers what they want in the meanwhile.
Free Market Republicans, my ass.
The Bush Administration USDA announces that it intends to reduce testing for mad-cow disease by 90%. Meanwhile, it prohibits farmers and businesses from conducting any tests on their own. (See also here, here, here, here.) It's almost as if someone *wants* to start an epidemic. But no, that's just the predictable outcome when government dictates are determined by corporate agendas. The Bush Administration's corporate stringpullers want to use an absolute absence of tested US beef as an economic battering ram to force the Japanese and other beef importers to abandon any demands for testing of imported beef. And they can't afford to have any persnickety free market types offering to give the Japanese buyers what they want in the meanwhile.
Free Market Republicans, my ass.
Food for thought
Scholar, Global Thinker, and Hypocrite
An assistant professor urges his students to consider how their everyday consumer choices affect others around the world. But what about his own choices? (From the Chronicle of Higher Ed.)
I'm in the same situation. What to do when the society you live in permits only evil and exploitative actors to exist? Does anyone reading this blog even know where they could go to get clothing, for example, that wasn't produced by Chinese slave labor or Indian sweatshops?
Scholar, Global Thinker, and Hypocrite
An assistant professor urges his students to consider how their everyday consumer choices affect others around the world. But what about his own choices? (From the Chronicle of Higher Ed.)
I'm in the same situation. What to do when the society you live in permits only evil and exploitative actors to exist? Does anyone reading this blog even know where they could go to get clothing, for example, that wasn't produced by Chinese slave labor or Indian sweatshops?
Endangered shelf life
An editorial about public libraries in Britain, with discussion, from The Guardian.
An editorial about public libraries in Britain, with discussion, from The Guardian.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Recent listens
Cinnamon Kiss, by Walter Mosley.
Walter Mosley is one of those mystery writers whose books I've seen praised by critics over the years. I decided to give him a go by way of audiobook, now that I have a car with a fancy-schmancy stereo system that works.
I like certain things about the story. I like the way Mosley effectively portrays the tense, racially divided world of Los Angeles during the 1960s, and I like the noirish style of his writing. I like certain aspects of the protagonist and narrator, Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins, a black private eye who trades favors for information within the insular black community as easily as a fish slipping through water, all the while carefully avoiding the attentions of the white police.
Unfortunately, "Easy" is also such a blatantly hypocritical sexist that it's difficult to like him. Throughout the course of this twisty, turny caper involving lost bonds, Nazi war criminals, a missing beauty, a dwarfish white "consulting detective" and a half-dozen or so murders, "Easy" blithely has sex with at least three or four random women whom he happens to meet. Then, at the end of the book, he dumps his live-in girlfriend for having an affair which, for complicated reasons, was necessary to save the life of their daughter. The sex scenes are described in enough graphic detail that I, who am not particularly squeamish, found it uncomfortable to listen to them. Perhaps I react differently to audio recordings than to printed descriptions.
Cinnamon Kiss, by Walter Mosley.
Walter Mosley is one of those mystery writers whose books I've seen praised by critics over the years. I decided to give him a go by way of audiobook, now that I have a car with a fancy-schmancy stereo system that works.
I like certain things about the story. I like the way Mosley effectively portrays the tense, racially divided world of Los Angeles during the 1960s, and I like the noirish style of his writing. I like certain aspects of the protagonist and narrator, Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins, a black private eye who trades favors for information within the insular black community as easily as a fish slipping through water, all the while carefully avoiding the attentions of the white police.
Unfortunately, "Easy" is also such a blatantly hypocritical sexist that it's difficult to like him. Throughout the course of this twisty, turny caper involving lost bonds, Nazi war criminals, a missing beauty, a dwarfish white "consulting detective" and a half-dozen or so murders, "Easy" blithely has sex with at least three or four random women whom he happens to meet. Then, at the end of the book, he dumps his live-in girlfriend for having an affair which, for complicated reasons, was necessary to save the life of their daughter. The sex scenes are described in enough graphic detail that I, who am not particularly squeamish, found it uncomfortable to listen to them. Perhaps I react differently to audio recordings than to printed descriptions.
Recent Reads:
Footfall, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
I avoided this book for years because of the silly cover, which features what looks like an angry elephant waving a gun. Well, you know what they say about judging books that way.
It turns out to be a reasonably engaging alien-invasion novel, although not quite up to either co-author's best work. There's some moderately interesting alien-culture-building, although it's handicapped by the unfortunate decision to make the aliens resemble "baby elephants". The communications failures that result from vast cultural differences between the aliens and the humans are believable. But for the most part, the book is a good old fashioned Earth-versus-the-alien-invaders adventure, with lots of emphasis on the military and political means by which the Americans fight back against the would-be planet-grabbers. It's science fiction for the Tom Clancy set, only slightly handicapped by its Cold War setting.
One entertaining sidelight: science-fiction writers save the world! Or at least help to do so. I can't help but think that many of the writers portrayed must be thinly-disguised versions of actual writers of Niven & Pournelle's acquaintance. "Robert Anson", a balding, ex-Navy man with a wife named Virginia, isn't too hard to identify, but I don't know enough about the SF writer and fan convention culture of the 1970s to identify the others. If anyone can do better, let me know.
Edit, 7/20: Wikipedia's entry on Footfall identifies some of the SF writers pseudonymously portrayed -- "Nat Reynolds" (Niven), "Wade Curtis" (Pournelle), and "Bob Anson" (Robert Anson Heinlein). It also supplies a link to a detailed artistic representation of one of the spaceships described in the book. But spoilers abound, so beware.
Footfall, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
I avoided this book for years because of the silly cover, which features what looks like an angry elephant waving a gun. Well, you know what they say about judging books that way.
It turns out to be a reasonably engaging alien-invasion novel, although not quite up to either co-author's best work. There's some moderately interesting alien-culture-building, although it's handicapped by the unfortunate decision to make the aliens resemble "baby elephants". The communications failures that result from vast cultural differences between the aliens and the humans are believable. But for the most part, the book is a good old fashioned Earth-versus-the-alien-invaders adventure, with lots of emphasis on the military and political means by which the Americans fight back against the would-be planet-grabbers. It's science fiction for the Tom Clancy set, only slightly handicapped by its Cold War setting.
One entertaining sidelight: science-fiction writers save the world! Or at least help to do so. I can't help but think that many of the writers portrayed must be thinly-disguised versions of actual writers of Niven & Pournelle's acquaintance. "Robert Anson", a balding, ex-Navy man with a wife named Virginia, isn't too hard to identify, but I don't know enough about the SF writer and fan convention culture of the 1970s to identify the others. If anyone can do better, let me know.
Edit, 7/20: Wikipedia's entry on Footfall identifies some of the SF writers pseudonymously portrayed -- "Nat Reynolds" (Niven), "Wade Curtis" (Pournelle), and "Bob Anson" (Robert Anson Heinlein). It also supplies a link to a detailed artistic representation of one of the spaceships described in the book. But spoilers abound, so beware.
Science Fiction is the Only Literature People Care Enough About to Steal on the Internet.
An excellent essay by Cory Doctorow, published in Locus. I started to cut-and-paste bits of it together, but decided not to. It's worth reading in its entirity.
An excellent essay by Cory Doctorow, published in Locus. I started to cut-and-paste bits of it together, but decided not to. It's worth reading in its entirity.
Hagrid would be pleased
A newly-discovered species of dinosaur has been named Dracorex hogwartsia. The only known specimen is on display at the Childrens Museum in Indianapolis.
A newly-discovered species of dinosaur has been named Dracorex hogwartsia. The only known specimen is on display at the Childrens Museum in Indianapolis.
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