The San Diego Zoo is sooooo cool. I really want to curl up with a panda bear. And oh my goodness are giraffes elegant and beautiful. We wandered around the zoo all day, staring at animals and then people like they were yet another species of animals to observe… only they were wearing American flag t-shirts and other preppy Southern California wears. It was quite a trip. Plus, we did sun salutations on the beach every night. Ahh… so good. Of course, San Diego was *weird*
Currently, there is a lawsuit working its way up the circuit as to whether or not the identity of a chatroom poster should be revealed. Not surprisingly, this theoretically pseudonymous poster wrote damning things about someone and that someone is pissed. And not surprisingly, someone knows who this person is (namely, their ISP provider, AOL). The defense is likening this situation to Tom Paine’s pamphlet distribution, but even that comparison brings up the important question of this case: what kind of speech exists in chatrooms?
I would argue that most posters think they’re babbling in the same fashion as they would on a street corner. Those who are being slandered realize that this is not the case since that record is a bit more permanent (ah yes, sticky data). Do we compare to front lawn babblings? To early press pamphleting? To newspaper slander? What will this mean for how the law sees cyberspeech? And will the law ever change the individuals’ perception of their own speech?
My best friend came to town this weekend and conveniently reminded me how wonderful life is and should be treated. And then she gave me the quintessential opportunity for absurdity! Her grad school situation has been up in the air and she realized that she should go to San Diego to find out whether or not that would be the school for her. In the process, we realized that we could change her flight to a later date, hop in the rental car (since Pierre is still in face lift mode) and rush down to San Diego to see UCSD, the beach and the zoo. Not a bad life we lead, eh?
I don’t know why dragging skeletons makes me giggle, but it definitely does.
marchtowar.com is a betting pool that allows folks to bet on the start date of the war (brought to you by none other than the media lab). the winner will receive 20% of the winnings in prepaid gasoline cards. the remainder will go to humanitarian organizations helping iraqi civilians. the site is also full of good sarcastic reminders about why this situation is so aggrevating.
For some reason, situations are continuously drawing me to False Profit. What is that about? And why is it so tangled with other aspects of my life?
Some of my friends have complained that they have so many useless brides maids dresses (and other formal wear never to be worn again). Well if that’s the case for you, consider donating your outfit to a girl who cannot afford a prom dress. What a neat idea!
These Weapons of Mass Destruction cannot be displayed (read carefully)
One of my friends (and colleagues) just had a paper accepted for a CHI short and he forwarded me one of the best comments i’ve read in a long time:
“Mister Boyd might prefer that you used caps in citing his thesis.”
Not only did they assume that he made one mistake on his citations, but they also assumed maleness. Ah, how i love CHI reviewers.
With most of my friends out of work, i’m always humored by any commentary on the unemployed ex-startup tech world. Odd Todd’s “Laid Off: A Day in the Life” definitely cracks a huge smile…