Author: Kirk

Katrina In The Media

Just a quick post to try to refocus some people’s attention on the fact that the media (TV, radio) will be trying to tell you a story about the catastrophe that Katrina has caused in New Orleans. Note that they are telling you a story, which may or may not be reality for many people affected by the hurricane.

I’m not going to point out news sources or articles as I’m still not sure who to trust in what we’re being spoon-fed.

But as this image shows, perspective is important.

The black man loots while the white finds.

Keep our wits about us and try to help as we can – it’s all many of us can do right now.

Update
This particular pair of photos is becoming quite the topic of conversation. So much so that someone tracked down the details of these pictures and discussed the why’s and the what’s. The two pictures’ photographers chose those words for particular reasons, none of which appear racially motivated. Read the details here.

The Canadian Government vs. Spyware

The CIPPIC (Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic) are interested in hearing from you … they’re soliciting stories and anecdotes from across Canada, looking for horror stories about Spware.

Apparently they want to accumulate all the nasty stories of crashed computers, stolen identies, reduced performance … well, they’re actually asking you for your own experiences with Spyware. How has it affected you? Where did you get it? Was it obviously installed or did it sneak up on you?

These are the questions they want asked.

But what is Spyware, exactly? Here is their FAQ and definition.

What do they plan on doing with all these solicited stories? They want to use them to build a case, to bring the problem to the forefront of Internet Policy discussions. They want to give you a means of having your “Spyware Screams” heard, and listened to.

As someone who often cleans up after some kind of spyware has slipped onto a friend’s computer, I hope they are able to build a solid case and that they are listened to. So if you have a story, no matter how sordid (they promise anonymity), please send them an email

On Crocs and HIV

Researchers are discovering that the immune system of crocodiles, which is known to be more robust and effective than the human immune system, may help us find a means of attacking and killing the HIV virus in humans. The immune system of crocs are able to deal with limb loss and massive skin tears because, well, crocs fight and stuff. Their immune system lets them heal up even in microbe-infested waters and muck.

Researchers have found that the immune system is capable of killing the HIV virus much more effectively than ours. In fact it is also capable of killing bacterial strains that are antibiotic-resistant.

So we know that the croc system can kick some serious microbe butt, but the trick is to figure out how to use these antibodies without having them kill their human hosts. More research needs to be done, but the findings so far are pretty interesting.

Get Your Documentaries!

Wow, I’ve just stumbled across a great site for anyone interested in checking out some documentaries via the Internet : FreeDocumentaries.org.

In a previous post I mentioned that Michael Moore had no problems with people sharing his movie. Lo and behold, you can download Farenhuit 9/11 in its entirety for free at this site.

His comments on it can be found here. This is a bit of a longer clip than the one I previously posted.

The film can be downloaded (using bittorrent) here.

For more information on bittorrent, visit the creator’s page, or read FreeDocumentaries.org’s instructions.

Now this is what technology is supposed to do – enable communication and information transmission.

Georgia Straight Examines Gender in Society

The Georgia Straight published an article last week about the gender binary conundrum. Specifically the article attempts to humanize people who are living outside of society’s gender rules.

Life isn’t necessarily easy for transsexuals and intersexuals—many trans people regard surgery as the only alternative to suicide—but as more gender-variant folks realize their unique potentials, they are pointing toward greater spaciousness in the experience of gender for all of us.

After reading the article I was slightly disappointed. This issue is extremely interesting on a variety of levels, and the article really only tries to tackle the individual’s experiential side. While this is most definitely an important aspect of the issue, I think that by focusing on the individuals we miss out on seeing how the larger picture can impact ‘transsexuals’.

Societal dogma is something that needs to be examined with respect to erasing the binary nature of gender. Hopefully recent legalization of same-sex marriage is at least a small step in the right direction. But then are we defining this change for sex, or for gender?

Old Is New Again

Now this is an example of the novel use of traditional materials to create really cool stuff. Sadly I don’t know the artist, or I could give them some credit. All I did was find it on an Internet site.

Paper + ink + scanner + animated gif
Paper Bang

Update: I’ve found out who the author is. His name is Don Hertzfeldt, and his website is Bitter Films. This particular snippet of his animation is from a short film he created called Rejected that is currently available on DVD. After seeing the film, I have to say there’s a whole lot more to this film than the sample image I’ve linked up indicates. Really cool film actually. And to clarify, the title of this post is somewhat correct, but the art was not created using scanners and pens. He films everything on film. Check out his site for more information.

Wireless PAN – Gimme Some Skin

I’ve heard the term P.A.N. (Personal Area Network) tossed around for a few years now what with Bluetooth becoming almost ubiquitous in today’s small technical gadgets. The idea is that rather than having wires joining various electronic devices together we use the wireless technology to create a small network that is centered around our person.

That’s all fine and good, but some people don’t like the idea of allowing other people to quietly pick up these P.A.N. signals and snoop on our private data. So a new idea has surfaced:

Use our skin as the means of transmitting electric signals between devices.

Here’s an article on the company that has applied for patents on this process.

Now this just kind of freaks me out, bringing forth the spectre of the cyborg. It works, and is pretty cool in terms of geek. but man, doesn’t the idea just give you the heebie-jeebies?