November 30, 2004
Comment Spam Irony.
I was amused to find some new comment spam on my site today....
The irony - it was attached to a post about comment spam and measures used to stop it. I edited the comment to remove the offending links to the outside source, but left the comment itself in place for its ironic value.
See
Spammers seem to become more and more retarded every single day.
andre
November 29, 2004
Which world will we live in?
A few years ago a read an article about privacy and the two possible worlds we could live in.
One world is where all of our private information is available to be poured over by a select few. This information would include everything about ourselves... Where we live; how much we make; how much we consume; when we do it; what we consume; how many pets we have; what our favourite band is; the colour of our hair; how often we have sex; etc. etc. etc.
In the other world all of our private information is available to be poured over by anyone. i.e. anyone can access all the private information about anyone else.
In a way we currently live between these worlds. There are organizations out there that hold on to mountains of data about each of us and sell it to whoever can afford to pay for it. There are also those amoungst us that freely share a great deal of information about ourselves with whoever cares to seek it out (e.g. anyone with a blog or other public outlet for their thoughts, feelings, shopping habits, interests, etc.).
I've often wondered which world I would rather live in. In either world there is an anonymous voyeur peeking into your life. But in one world the number of voyeurs are limited, but so too is your access to someone else's information limited. In the other world the number of voyeurs is unlimited, but so to is your access to informaiton.
I suppose there coule be a third world where nobody knows anything about anyone (100% privacy), but societies don't work this way. Societies need to know a little bit about other people within the society for that scociety to function.
So I think we are stuck with option 1 or 2.
In either world the information available can be used for good or evil. In the first world, there are already a lot of evil applications of access to detailed information about individuals. Look at political campaigns that can and do craft just the right message (read: lie) that a) resonates with YOU b) stirs you into action c) gets you to vote for 'their' candidate. Or how about marketing messages that are crafted for the market of one: YOU. If 'they' know everything about your, 'they' can get you to do just about anything 'they' want you to do. And, I am not talking about broad marketing messages, I'm talking literally about a message directed to you and nobody else. That's pretty evil.
A good application (though no less creepy) would be quick access to a list of potential blood doners within 10km of an accident site that have your blood type and have a history of helping strangers in need. Super creepy, but it could mean life or death.
I don't know if I have a point here. Nor do I think I know where I stand. Which world would I want to live in? Neither? Both? Does it even matter what I think? In time the choice will be made for us.
I simply got to thinking about this again, and thought I would share my thoughts. And I think that I can faintly hear the sound of a machine somewhere making note of it. I also swear that I can hear you the reader digesting these words as your read them.
andre
November 22, 2004
Other Reading
I also read an article earlier today about "dollar hegemony" and other factors in the downward push on the american greenback...
It was similar to this one http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_12820.shtml (found this via google news search "dollar hegemony" - the article I read earlier was slightly less biased, but no less damning of US policy that may come back to bite them on the ass.)
I was also led to this interesting article about what Canadian policy might look like in the near future http://www.canadiancontent.net/commtr/article_721.html
. It paints a pretty scary picture of the current world situation... and rightly so.
Also, further interesting reading is the situation with the Chinese currency and its potential impact on global geopolitical conditions: http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north314.html.
andre
Catching up on some reading
I was just catching up on some reading (i.e. pouring over blogs and news stories)... and thought I would share a link to this article...
An interview with one of this year's Indie pop poster children
Wilco (Wired news).
Tweedy talks about downloads, drm, lawsuits and free music and even gave a nod to allow fans CC style monkeying with their tunes.
Some favorite quotes include:
"I don't believe every download is a lost sale."
" Stop trying to treat music like it's a tennis shoe, something to be branded. If the music industry wants to save money, they should take a look at some of their six-figure executive expense accounts. All those lawsuits can't be cheap, either. "
"A piece of art is not a loaf of bread."
andre
November 13, 2004
cross border e-commerce has never looked more appealing
A thought occurred to me as I was doing some christmas shopping research on-line.
The under performing US economy - coupled with the downright nutty spending policy of the Bush administration has finally brought the long time overvalued greenback down to earth.
As a result the long time undervalued Canadian currency has been on a steady rise.
This is good news for Canada and Canadians in both the Long and Short term. Not only will this rise in the dollar force Canadian manufacturers to be more competitive and improve their productivity (the long term benefit), but manufacturer suggested retail pricing (MSRP) is, as usual, lagging behind the current exchange rates.
This second point has two short term benefits for Canadians. 1) Canadian retailers who import goods from the US and sell at or near the MSRP have a built in profit margin above and beyond the normal markup. 2) Canadians that shop direct from the US at american MSRP can save oodles.
Of course as more people become wise to the savings to be had shopping across the border the benefits to Canadian retailers will decline - but it is at that point that you will start to see much of the MSR pricing come back in line.
The area that consumers will notice the biggest lag in pricing this holiday shopping season is in Books, CDs and DVDs. Luckily these are just the sort of gifts that people tend to buy the most.
Take for example The Simpsons Complete Fifth Season. (Something that I would love to see under my Christmas tree - hint hint)
Amazon.ca says that title has an MSRP of CDN$69.98- but being a high volume item they are kind enough to offer a 30% saving and sell it to you for CDN$48.89.
Amazon.com says that the same item has an MSRP of US$49.98 - but offer a larger 35% discount and sell it for US$32.49.
So that means if you order from the US site at today's exchange rate you will end up paying CDN$38.66. A savings of over CDN$10 - or an additional 20% off the already discounted Canadian price.
Even if Amazon.com only offer a 30% reduction on the american MSRP - the price would be US$34.98 or CDN$41.63 - A full CDN$7 off - or 15%.
Of course keep in mind that I have used amazon simply as an illustration. If you factor in the shipping costs for amazon.com to Canada most of your savings get gobbled up... Even so you are still ahead by a tiny margin. Try to find sites that have lower shipping rates... or simply make a jog across the border.
If you were planning on spending about $1000 on these type of gifts this year - you could save up to $200! Now that's what I call a happy holiday.
But, if you want to take advantage of these savings for the holiday shopping season you need to act fast. Not because I expect the pricing to change before the holidays - but rather that if you want to get those orders here on time, you have to place them soon.
andre
November 08, 2004
Ten X Ten Take II
Ten by Ten encourages the use of the words it produces for the creation of other new media representations of the data....
Going along with the radar theme I mentioned in my last post:
I was thinking of developing a "radar screen" app based on these words... Literally an image of a screen showing words entering the screen and falling off the screen over time... the brightness and positioning of the blips would be determined by how long they have been on the radar. Ones closest to the center would be those currently near the top of the list.
This is an invite for any flash developers and code geeks to come to my aid on this project. Something we could work on over weekends and the odd evening until completion.
Leave a comment and I'll get back to you.
andre
Ten X Ten
Some of you may have noticed a bit of a preoccupation I have with categorization schemes. I have also been doing some research on the workings of search engines and how to index words. I've also been interested in random word generation and the like...
I keep coming finding my self attracted to Fabrica while I endulge in these interests and follow my path of zen learning. And it makes complete sense... These guys are doing some really interesting work on how we use language... how ideas get clumped together... how we navigate a text based information world...
I first came across them when searching for the most common words used in the english language for the purposes of seeding my search "noise word" list. Then again drawn back when I considered creating a simple search tool of my own which would require a table of words and their frequencies... And now I find them again just by happenstance. They have developed a tool that I had once imagined...
i.e. A tool to show what messages are outshouting other messages. Particularly in the mainstream media... Does the media really cover what matters? What chance do real public and social concerns have of capturing the imagination of people to the point where they do something, if they aren't being heard? How can you tell what is on the radar and what doesn't have a hope...
10x10 is just that tool... a way of seeing what is blinking brightest on the radar screen.
The sites (including WordCount) use flash - but not just for the sake of using it - but using it in a way that represents the data in a way that couldn't be achieved using standard HTML (well not easily or effectively anyway).
And a quick scan of the result produced by 10X10 shows you just how well behaved the media is... just how well the media promotes the agenda of the US. What to make people feel affraid? Want to keep them affraid? The media is doing a good job. Look at the top 100 words used? Liberal Media??? BAH... The media couldn't be more status quo if it tried.
This is nothing new to the readers of Chomsky or Parenti, but it might be an eye opener for everyone else.
andre
Note: Fabrica popped up on my radar screen once again as I visited a site that I read regularly... Check out WORDLAB.
