What are the names of the multi-company CEOs...

They Rule
Check it out, at least once or twice.

Searching Our Senses: The Future of Search Engines

"Let's see. What words would help me find the information/media that I have interest in?" I might think as I plunk my fingers down onto the black, dusty keys on my computer's QWERTY keyboard in my small, dimly lit duplex living room. Those words have a magical quality on the information highway. Like keys to invisible doors that open up to clandestine paths, they work semi-mystically to quickly access information that empowers me. I just need that special key. Some people have got it, and some people really don't.

Right now, it's all about keywords. Maybe my friend Spacehum would be able to fill in some entertaining stories here about search engines. He works for a company that helps client companies improve their google rank (as in how soon do you see a company's web site in google search results).

But in the not too distant future, we certainly won't be limited to the yellow-page-type indexing that we have now. Certainly the present indexing is superior to a phone book, but we have so many other ways of referencing information.

What new ways will we index and reference information? Well we don't just see words with our eyes; what about colors, light intensities, and shapes? What if I don't know the word for a shape? (dodecahedron?) We could search for similar shapes, colors, etc., using a graphical search engine.

What about the other sensory data references?

Could we have an audio search engine? ("My car is making a weird noise. Here is the digital recording. Please match this noise with a data base of sounds and their corresponding diagnoses." Or "I heard this song. What is the name of this song, and what are the lyrics?")

Could we have an texture/touch search engine? ("It is a soft fabric that feels like this..., what fabric is this?")

Could we have an olfactory search engine to find a preferred perfume--to identify any smell.

Could we have a taste engine? "What was the name of this bread, again?" or "I like this restaurant. What restaurants in this area serve food that tastes like this?"

Can we digitize the 5 senses?

We'll see.

Music tracks

Track: 03 -- If She Wants Me
Artist: Belle And Sebastian
Album: Dear Catastrophe Waitress

link to listen at Amazon

Also the track called "You Don't Send Me" is nice.





Track: 03 Crowning Of A Heart
Album: The Secret Of Elena's Tomb
Artist: And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead

link to Amazon

Write Messages to Congressmen

link

Follow this link to easily write emails to your representatives in Washington, D.C.

It might take a couple tries, but it's quite convenient.

I just sent some messages about illegal immigration to my three listed reps.

Talent

Universal Computer Support

While we think about having state-sponsored healthcare and other gov't programs, why don't we also consider starting a state-sponsored computer operations support program. You don't want people to get left behind just because their computer has a problem.
You could have a center where people could bring in their sick machines. The computer Docs could work their magic, and the information gap could be closed a little more.
Maybe employers could provide computer health plans for their employees.

Isn't computer care a universal right, just like human healthcare?


(look at this poor computer with the sad eyes...)

footprint on my mind

People in information systems are using the term "footprint" in odd ways.

Just now, listening to NPR, I heard a man describe the 30 mile radius of wireless internet access as a "large foot print."

I'm not sure how much I like calling an effective wireless communications area a "footprint."

People also describe cell phones' dimensions as footprints. Why does everyone differ the use of words such as "size" or "dimensions" in favor of "footprint"?

I guess footprint is the cool new term. I guess I should go into nano-footprint studies so I can collect all the future research money.

PANDA

I have an HP iPaq h6315. Some people call it a smart phone. I think a smartphone is a flip-phone or a candy-bar-style phone with expanded software features.

What I have is different. It is a pda and a phone. It is a "pdphandonea." It is a "paphanda." It is a "panda."
Panda!
That's the name for the convergence device category (as far as I'm concerned). If you don't believe me, then check the wikipedia page.

Angry Spaghetti Sauce Against North Dakota

It makes me very angry that someone is trying to tell me what I can and can't do! Some people think that abortion is horrible, and liken it to murder.

It's obvious to everyone that I didn't make the choice to get pregnant, so it's awesome that I can kill the baby inside me and go on with my life! Maybe next time, baby! Why would you even want to bring a baby into this world?

Without abortion, I'd have a baby that I would hate and it would grow-up to be a criminal, for sure. The "lesser evil" is for me to killing it. Mercy killings aren't so bad. They make my life easier, and thus, society's collective life is better.

Abortion helps society and dead baby avoid pain and suffering. Who would even bring a baby into this horrible world. Now that I think about it, "life" in general is filled with pain and suffering. We should give mercy killings out more generously!

Let's put some mentally handicapped people to sleep--to the gas chambers with the terminally ill! They are sad and suffering, anyway--guaranteed. We must kill them. It should be illegal not to kill them. Society shouldn't pay to prolong their suffering, should it?

My downstairs neighbor also seems depressed. I'll "off" him next week. Human kind will be better off. I think he speeds in his car, and steals grapes at the grocery store--clearly hurting society. I want to live in a society that eliminates these inefficient pleasure-producers.

Hey, I've suddenly a become a capitalist when it comes to the choice of sacrificing my pleasure-convenience vs. obeisance to archaic religious ideas.

Warning: Wal-mart Running a Business

If you want to work at Wal-mart, be advised--Walmart is guilty of not running an adult day-care facility. Don't believe me? An "embarrassing" internal memo revealed it recently.(News Link: AFL-CIO)

The profitable Wal-mart may try to hire the healthier people first. (*gasp!)

How dare they successfully make $10 billion in profit and decide to keep on making more, instead of immediately giving some of it to me. (Oh wait, I actually believe they can keep their profits--I was just getting a bit envious.) Here's one of my favorite parts:

A congressional study estimated each Wal-Mart store costs taxpayers an average $108,000 a year for its Wal-Mart workers’ children who are enrolled in state children’s health insurance programs. In 2004, Wal-Mart made nearly $288 billion in revenue in 2004 and made a $10 billion net profit, according to Fortune magazine.

At the state level, working families and health care activists are seeking legislative support for “Health Care Disclosure Acts” that will enable states to determine which corporate freeloaders are shifting their responsibility to provide health care coverage for their employees onto state taxpayers.

Am I suppposed to not laugh?

Wal-mart is freeloading? Wal-mart doesn't have the responsibility to provide health-care to employees. The state taxpayer doesn't have that responsibility either. The INDIVIDUAL PERSON has the responsibility to provide for health care for themselves and family. I know that some people don't share this view.

If a person doesn't have employer-provided health care at their place of employment, then they should find private health insurance. It does cost money, but that's ok. It's a good decision to not freeload off gov't, and an even better idea to enact legislation to eliminate freeloading by our citizens. Wal-mart isn't freeloading, the citizens are. Don't get fooled by the false dichotomy.

Wal-mart isn't perfect, but this AFL-CIO attack on Wal-mart's "embarrassing memo" makes me want to laugh, to continue my education, and then to cut any legal cords binding me to these ridiculous, envy-spewing organizations. If the cords can't be cut, then I will just have to legally defend myself.

Take off the training-wheels, people. You really can keep yourself alive and happy.

You can do it.

"You", not "everybody else."

*ahem.
"You."

How Long Gender Discrimination Will Continue

news link: SF Gate

A surname-hyphenating pregnant woman wasn't given a promotion to become captain of the police force. The lieutenant surname-hyphenating pregnant woman thinks she was the best candidate for becoming a police captain, to the point that she's suing the city over the issue. They gave the job to a male lieutenant while she was on maternity leave. She is suing the city for discrimination.

How to look at this:
1) She was tricked into getting pregnant by a man, and then her backward, neo-con city police chief thought that a mother can't do the job of a police captain and a mother. She wanted to become the captain, but he pushed his belief that she needed to stay at home with the baby onto her, unjustly. Then they gave her old potential-position to a non-female. She is the victim of gender discrimination.

2) A police lieutenant got pregnant when she was all lined up to become the next captain. The chief told her that she'd fill the next vacant captain spot. When the spot was vacated, she was pregnant. Pregnant women are not best suited for being police captains. The position needed to be filled, anyway. While she was on maternity leave, the position was filled by another qualified applicant.

How long will this type of discrimination continue?

Probably as long as women do get pregnant and men don't. Probably as long as women look carefully for men with higher paying, more stable jobs, and men continue apathetic about their spouses's employment advancement.