Monthly Archives: May 2003

trees don’t talk

At an outdoor party this weekend, a very drunk boy decided to climb a tree. Luckily, he came down alive and only passed out when the distance between him and the ground was simply his height. It was a scary moment, as people have died doing similarly stupid things at these kinds of parties… on the dance floor, in front of everyone. Terrifying and a reminder of why all drug use must be taken seriously (including alcohol).

On a mailing list discussing this incident, a mantra for outdoor parties was set in place: “the tree is not telling you to climb it but the water is telling you to drink it.” This made me smile.

no contact jacket

The No-Contact Jacket is a wearable defensive jacket created to aid women in their struggle for protection from violence. When activated by the wearer, 80,000 volts of low amperage electric current pulses just below the surface shell of the entire jacket. This exo-electric armor prevents any person from unauthorized contact with the wearer’s body. If an assailant were to grab hold of the wearer the high voltage shocking exterior would interrupt their neurological impulses which control voluntary muscle movement. The neuromuscular system would be overwhelmed causing disorientation and loss of balance to occur and of course pain. The pain experienced is non-lethal but is enough of a shock to effectively and immediately deter contact with her body and provide a critical life saving option for escape.

blogging your personal life

There is nothing more aggrevating than reading about your personal life on someone else’s public site or blog. Privacy issues, trust issues, social context… my general rant. Of course, tell this to teenagers or others who are determined to publicly describe everything, regardless of the social/political implications. Mommy always told us never to say bad things about others. As frustrating as it is, this is another one of those things where mommy knows best and yet we don’t listen to her because we need to find out ourselves. And once we do, we tend not to publicly post cruel things about others… well, most of us learn our lessons anyhow.

The thing about posting things to the web is that it’s not like general gossip or public ridicule. This will go down on your permanent record. A google search will resurrect the most sordid bits about you and because you didn’t put them into the public domain in the first place, guess what? You can’t remove them!

This change in structure is going to be quite fascinating… how will current teenagers be impacted by their momentary decisions to post flames about one another on their live journals? I’m very fascinated to see what coping mechanisms evolve for searchable identities.

In the meantime, i’m enjoying all of the articles commenting on this social phenomenon. This week: NYTimes: Dating a Blogger, Reading All About It

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what is research?

Something that i heard recently has been wriggling through my brain, resonating because it’s quite true. Corporate research once flourished in computer-related industry, producing immense amounts of intellectual property and great ideas. So many people that i knew flocked to research centers like Bell Labs, Xerox Parc and Interval instead of entering academia. Such research centers brought in the best and the brightest and so many amazing inventions came from there. Lately, it seems, corporate research centers are disappearing, or fading. Certainly, the economy is tight, but it’s still sad. Yet, it was noted that academia is producing more and more intellectual property and what is now needed is not separate research centers, but folks to bring together all of the emerging research, to bridge connections, to maintain the social networks of academia and industry, to connect two very different approaches to research.

I often wonder what my role in research is, why i’m doing what i’m doing and what i would excel at. Somehow, i think that if research is evolving to be about building connections, relationships, stringing together ideas… i’d be good at that. And i have to admit, i’d enjoy it…

Free Download of the Day: Friendster

Free Download of the Day: Friendster

Keep in touch with friends and make new ones with a service that’s like six degrees of separation online.
By Sarah Lane

Editor’s note: TechTV’s fabulous four, Sarah, Jessica, Cat, and Morgan, crashed the very first Friendster party a few days ago and we have the exclusive video. See what happens when online “friends” interact in the real world. It’s geeks gone wild!

So I don’t want to sound like I’m way too popular or anything, but sometimes I feel like I have too many friends. Don’t get me wrong, I love each and every one of them. I have the world’s best friends.

But there aren’t enough hours in the day to give lots of friends the same kind of attention. I’m constantly feeling guilty about neglecting to call someone I should have called last week… or staying home instead of grabbing a drink with a buddy. Do you ever feel that way?

That’s why I love Friendster. It’s one of the most creative online ways I’ve found to keep in touch with friends while simultaneously introducing your friends to friends and making your social circle grander every day!

Here’s how it works

Sign up, fill out your profile, and add a nice little avatar for your pic. If you’ve been invited by someone, that person automatically becomes your friend. If not, you can ask to add someone as your friend provided that person is actually your friend. If they aren’t, they have the option to reject your request to add them to your group. Of course, a real friend wouldn’t do that, so you have nothing to worry about. 😉

Here’s where it gets fun

Once you’ve successfully added a friend, their friends become your friends. Well, not exactly your friends per se, but their information becomes available to you and they show up as New People in your network (kinda like acquaintances). And just like the real world, a few friends equal tons of acquaintances. For example, at the time of this writing I have five friends and 23,207 people in my Personal Network. Wow!

Six degrees of Sarah Lane

One fun game involves clicking on people in my Personal Network and figuring out how I’m loosely connected to them. Example: I know Maly who knows Steven who knows Grant who knows Flank. Of course I probably wouldn’t ever know Flank unless I knew Maly. But now he’s a little more than a stranger to me. I now have the option to contact Flank directly, or ask one of my connections to introduce me. Pretty civilized, huh?

Another feature I really like involves searching my Personal Network through keywords on my own profile. Example: I love Hunter S. Thompson and say so in my “favorite books” section. If I click on that, Friendster searches my network and retrieves other profiles that mention HST. So not only do all these people know somebody who knows somebody who I know, but we now have a common interest!

Friendster can be used for dating purposes, but also has options for those in relationships who aren’t looking for much more than activity partners and new buddies. I really like this site. You can play six degrees of Kevin Bacon with yourself.

Start using Friendster

Your friend,
Sarah

P.S. Be sure to let me know what you think about Friendster in the Talkback section below.

Originally posted May 19, 2003

My Grandmother is Planning to Die During the First Week of Classes

When i applied to Berkeley, it never dawned on me that classes might begin *before* Labor Day. It’s Berkeley, neighbor of San Francisco, the city that moves to Black Rock for a week at the end of August. How dare they!?!? I went through a great deal of strife trying to figure out how i would get myself out of this one and was utterly relieved when my mumbling lead-in statement to my new advisor “So…. i uh noticed that well classes seem to umm start on umm August 25…” was responded to with “Don’t worry, no one shows up for the first week – they’re all at Burning Man. SIMS even has a camp going.”

Much relief.

But apparently i’m not the only one who worries about these things. In the latest Jack Rabbit Speaks (the announcement list for Burning Man), a student at Berkeley wrote a letter entitled “August: A Bad Time to be a Berkeley Grandmother.” It’s hysterical. Click here to read more…

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