Homeland insecurity
The aim of the US Department of Homeland Security is to enable Americans to sleep easily in their beds. But some ingenious entrepreneurs have been working on a fallback option — a bulletproof bed which is also protected against chemical and biological warfare. You think I jest? Well, take a look at this. I’m still convinced it’s a spoof, but my colleague Andrew Ingram (who sent me the link) swears that it’s for real.
Using video to make a point
I’m increasingly impressed by the way people on the Web are using video to make complex points simply and powerfully. Consider this succinct statement about the threat of infinite copright from the Free Cinema site.
The flip side of civilisation
I love being in France — love the self-confidence of the culture, the courtesy in village shops, the pace of life in Provence, the cafes, the sunshine, its Roman architectural heritage, the way its towns and villages are civilised by Plane trees, even the newspapers. A few days ago, the great French photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson, died. The next day Liberation not only devoted several pages to his life and work, but also put one of his more famous photographs on almost every page, culminating with a wonderful erotic nude on the back cover.
Most of all, it’s lovely to escape from the Anglo-American world for a period. But there are downsides. For example, until yesterday I had terrific GPRS service on my mobile phone, provided by Orange France via a roaming agreement with my network, T-mobile. But sometime yesterday afternoon, my connection disappeared — just vanished. So I borrowed a phone this morning and phoned customer service back in the UK. “I’m afraid there is an issue with mobile coverage in France at the moment”, said the girl. “We don’t yet have a time for resolution”. Which being translated means: there’s something wrong with our roaming arrangements with Orange France. And since it’s le weekend, nothing much is likely to happen until Monday. C’est la vie, as they say.
Correction! My connection was restored sometime very early on Sunday morning. So much for cultural stereotypes.
Experiences you didn’t know you wanted: No. 153
Passing through Nice one of my sons, ever alert to his father’s interest in innovative uses of new technology, picked up a flyer advertising Segway tours of the city. “City Segway Tours looks forward to welcoming you on the most fun [sic], unique, innovative and exciting tour in Nice”, it burbles. “Imagine cruising effortlessly through parks and along sidewalks while receiving a great orientation, informative historical and current-day information, heaps of unique and fascinating stories, fantastic photo ops and superb personal service from your guide”. Only 45 Euros per person. “Riders must have the ability to make motions such as climbing and descending stairs without assistance”, it adds. And must, of course, be able to walk and chew gum simultaneously.
Dieting for America
“The New 2004 No CARB Diet: No Cheney. No Ashcroft. No Rumsfeld. No Bush. And absolutely No Rice.”
Badge for sale at the Democratic Convention. [Spotted by the Economist.]
Steve Jobs’s bedside email to Apple corps
“Team,
I have some personal news that I need to share with you, and I wanted you to hear it directly from me.
This weekend I underwent a successful surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from my pancreas. I had a very rare form of pancreatic cancer called an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor, which represents about 1 percent of the total cases of pancreatic cancer diagnosed each year, and can be cured by surgical removal if diagnosed in time (mine was). I will not require any chemotherapy or radiation treatments.
The far more common form of pancreatic cancer is called adenocarcinoma, which is currently not curable and usually carries a life expectancy of around one year after diagnosis. I mention this because when one hears “pancreatic cancer” (or Googles it), one immediately encounters this far more common and deadly form, which, thank god, is not what I had.
I will be recuperating during the month of August, and expect to return to work in September. While I’m out, I’ve asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple’s day to day operations, so we shouldn’t miss a beat. I’m sure I’ll be calling some of you way too much in August, and I look forward to seeing you in September.
Steve
PS: I’m sending this from my hospital bed using my 17-inch PowerBook and an Airport Express.”
What a man! Even plugs his product in hospital!
IBM open sources millions of lines of its code
IBM has decided to contributute more than half a million lines of its software code, valued at $85 million, to the Apache Foundation. The move, according to the NYT, “is one of the largest transfers ever of proprietary code to free software, and I.B.M. is making the code contribution to try to help make it easier and more appealing for software developers to write applications in the Java programming language”.
The code is for the Cloudscape Java database, an integral part of IBM’s WebSphere (which competes head-on with Microsoft’s dot-Net). From now on, Apache will hold the licensing and intellectual property rights to the Cloudscape code.
Hmmm… interesting.
Code Orange. Or is it pale grey?
I’m not a conspiracy theorist, as a rule; in my experience, the cock-up theory of history usually provides the best explanations. But ever since it became clear from the Democratic Convention that John Kerry could conceivably win the election in November, I’ve been wondering what the Bush crowd would do to top it. Now we know — the Code Orange alert, with all the accompanying solemn warnings, armed cops everywhere, etc. It’s a reflection of how comprehensive Osama bin Laden’s victory has been that one’s first thought is not about the gravity of the alleged threat, but about whether this is just a losing Administration playing on the public’s fear much as a musician might play an organ. The journalistic coverage doesn’t help one decide: all I see are hacks solemnly intoning unsourced allegations. And the fact that the alleged ‘breakthrough’ came via Pakistani ‘Intelligence’ doesn’t exactly inspire confidence either.
And now there’s this from today’s NYT:
“Much of the information that led the authorities to raise the terror alert at several large financial institutions in the New York City and Washington areas was three or four years old, intelligence and law enforcement officials said on Monday. They reported that they had not yet found concrete evidence that a terrorist plot or preparatory surveillance operations were still under way.”
The only consolation is that the Administration’s power to ramp up the threat level to meet political needs might be a declining asset. After all, if things are this bad, the Prez can’t be doing as well as he claims in the ‘war’ against terror. Maybe a new guy would do better?
The curse of celebrity
It seems that my Prius has become a celebmobile. Harrison Ford has one. And now the great Bill Thompson, From Whom Nothing Is Hidden, tells me that Anthony Hopkins has one too. Hmmm… Maybe I should sell mine now before people start to think I read Hello! magazine?
Two AirportExpresses in the same town!
Shurely shome mishtake, as Private Eye used to say, in honour of Bill Deedes. But no: Quentin has an Airport Express too. He’s much too refined though to have his music blared out to him in the garden.