The Travelin' Librarian

danah boyd on e-mail sabbaticals

2009-06-24T14:30:00.001-05:00

As I write this I’m listening to an interview with danah boyd about the concept of e-mail sabbaticals. What she does is take vacations and automatically trashes any incoming e-mail while she’s gone. If it’s important enough, people can always e-mail her again when she’s back. The benefit is that when she comes back online, she’s got an empty inbox and nothing to get caught up on. I’m seriously considering doing this while on my honeymoon.

Photo cc-by-nc Ewan McIntosh

Clay Shirky: How Twitter can make history

2009-06-23T09:41:00.000-05:00

Barack Obama Is the First Nerd President

2009-06-23T08:18:00.001-05:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

It seems the FBI is looking out for my wallet

2009-06-22T15:03:00.001-05:00

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Anti-Terrorist and Monitory Crime Division.
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
J. Edgar. Hoover Building Washington Dc
Customers Service Hours / Monday to Saturday
Office Hours Monday to Saturday:

Attn: Beneficiary,

This is to Officially inform you that it has come to our notice and we have thoroughly Investigated with the help of our Intelligence Monitoring Network System that you are having an illegal Transaction with Impostors claiming to be Prof. Charles C. Soludo of the Central Bank Of Nigeria, Mr. Patrick Aziza, Mr. Frank Nweke, none officials of Oceanic Bank, Zenith Banks, Kelvin Young of HSBC, Ben of FedEx, Ibrahim Sule, Larry Christopher, Dr. Usman Shamsuddeen, Puppy Scammers are impostors claiming to be the Federal Bureau Of Investigation. During our Investigation, we noticed that the reason why you have not received your payment is because you have not fulfilled your Financial Obligation given to you in respect of your Contract/Inheritance Payment.

The New American President Barack Obama have made way for all Americans who have not yet received their payment, In recent ages, The American experienced difficulties in receiving their funds because of the former USA presidents, As you know quite well that Nigeria is a black country and the Past American presidents treats the blacks in the America like slaves, The White Americans practice races against the blacks and the Nigerian Government is not happy about this and this is the main reason why your payment have been delayed with one excuse or the other, Your New President Barack Obama had a meeting with the Nigerian President some weeks ago and for the fact, Barack Obama is a black man and will stop races in America, All Americans are eligible to receive their payment now without anymore headaches. This is good news to you so act fast and receive your payment now without anymore delay.

Please I have taken this measure, having observed and known what you have suffered in your pursuit so far to claim your funds with fake banks IN AFRICA ESPECIALLY NIGERIA(CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA/ FAKE SCURITY BANK) e.t.c and I have understood that it would take a long rough journey for you to receive this funds through ATM CARD Payment, this is while we have gone this extra mile in making sure that you receive immediately your deposit through this safe means where, there will be no trail and error or stories. Since your deposit was called back to Africa and was converted into the Ecowas treasury after arresting all the people involved in scamming you both from NIGERIA, Benin Republic and UK.

Therefore, we have contacted the Federal Ministry of Finance on your behalf and they have brought a solution to your problem by coordinating your payment in total USD$15,000.000.00 in an ATM CARD which you can use to withdraw money from any ATM MACHINE CENTER anywhere in the world with a maximum of $4000 to $5000 United States Dollars daily. You now have the lawful right to claim your fund in an ATM CARD.

Since the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is involved in this transaction, you have to be rest assured for this is 100% risk f procure your Approval Slip on your behalf which will cost you $350.00 only ree it is our duty to protect the American Citizens. All I want you to do is to contact the ATM CARD CENTER via email for their requirements to proceed and and note that your approval Slip which contains details of the agent who will process your transaction.

CONTACT INFORMATION
NAME: Chief Johnal Fred
EMAIL: chief_johnalfred77@hotmail.com

Do contact Chief Johnal Fred of the ATM CARD DEPARTMENT with your details:

FULL NAME:
HOME ADDRESS:
TELL:
CELL:
CURRENT OCCUPATION:
AGE:

So your files would be updated after which he will send the payment information’s which you'll use for the of $350.00 via Western Union Money Transfer or Money Gram Transfer effected to your designated home address without any further delay. We order you get back to this office after you have contacted the ATM SWIFT CARD CENTER and we do await your procurement of your Approval Slip after which the delivery of your ATM CARD will be in making payment response so we can move on with our Investigation and make sure your ATM SWIFT CARD gets to you.

We assure you that your parcel will arrive your country within 2 days as soon as this company receive the payment of $350 by you and the tracking number of your parcel will be sent to you via e-mail immediately so that you can track it yourself to see whether we are competent in the discharge of our duties.

Thanks and hope to read from you soon.

ROBERT S. MUELLER,
DIRECTOR
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20535

Note: Do disregard any email you get from any impostors or offices claiming to be in possession of your ATM CARD, you are hereby advice only to be in contact with Chief Johnal Fred of the ATM CARD CENTRE who is the rightful person to deal with in regards to your ATM CARD PAYMENT and forward any emails you get from impostors to this office so we could act upon and commence investigation.

What is a browser?

2009-06-18T14:47:00.001-05:00

I view this as job security…

The DMCA is endangering American security

2009-06-12T08:22:00.001-05:00

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act effects more than copyright issues. According to Angel Gunn:

The cybersecurity review says we need to improve academic and industry collaboration on cybersecurity and other technology issues. It also states we should "expand university curricula; and set the conditions to create a competent workforce for the digital age."

What the cybersecurity review should have said is, "We are raising a nation of timid technophobes who mistake using MyTwitFace for being a geek. Meanwhile, we have comprehensively, at every educational level, stripped away useful teaching tools and criminalized modes of research and inquiry in the name of copyright and liability laws, and sooner rather than later we are going to reap the whirlwind."

Or, putting it simply: We made ourselves stupid and now we must pay.

Read the full article on betanews.

The Year the Media Died

2009-06-12T07:16:00.001-05:00

via Photography is Not a Crime

Libraries featured on the Today show

2009-06-11T11:07:00.001-05:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

via Libraries & Life

Senator Ben Nelson and the Insurance Industry

2009-06-09T17:05:00.000-05:00

Last week, [we] called on Senator Ben Nelson to support President Obama's health care "public option" -- and to oppose the health and insurance interests that gave him over $2 million.

The good news: we made big progress! We got covered in the Omaha World-Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AP, and many other places. This pressure caused Nelson to say he is now "open" to the public option after initially calling it a "deal breaker."

The bad news: Nelson keeps actively siding with insurance interests. Every time he says he's "open" to a public option, he qualifies it by saying it cannot "erode" private insurance. In other words, the public option can compete for customers as long as it won't win. That makes no sense.

We need to break the link between special interests and Congress. That's why people across Nebraska are joining the Change Congress "donor strike" for political reform. Can you join today by clicking here? http://change-congress.org/nelson/

Across the nation, thousands of people have pledged not to give a penny more to any member of Congress unless they co-sponsor fundamental campaign reform. Already, Nelson has lost access to over $21,000, based on the past contributions of his constituents.

The bipartisan Fair Elections Now Act would create a new system of "citizen-funded elections" for Congress - public funding plus small donations. This would allow politicians to spend their time working for folks back home, not pandering to special interests. And it would help taxpayers by liberating politicians to slash billions per year in corporate welfare.

Nearly 70% of Democrats and Republicans support this. But Ben Nelson is not yet on board.

Let's make clear that insurance companies, health care companies, HMOs, and other special interests shouldn't come before the people of Nebraska in our democracy.

Can you join the Change Congress "donor strike" for political reform today? Just click here!

Thanks for helping to change Congress.

Sincerely,
Japhet, Stephanie, Adam, and Monica

P.S. We're looking for Democratic Party officials and government officials who support the public option. If that's you, let us know by responding to this email! info@change-congress.org

More from the White House on Cybersecurity

2009-06-07T11:34:00.000-05:00

Tonight Show Twitter Tracker!

2009-06-04T10:01:00.001-05:00

Twitter in the Classroom

2009-06-02T08:45:00.001-05:00

First: a video about it’s use @ UT Dallas:

Second: A PPT titled “25 Interesting Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom”

Twenty Five Interesting Ways To Use Twitter in the Classroom

View more OpenOffice presentations from Michael Sauers.

Via ReadWriteWeb

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video

2009-06-01T08:06:00.001-05:00

From the American University, School of Communication, Center for Social Media:

You can get a PDF of the full report on the AUSOC site.

President Obama on Cybersecurity

2009-06-01T07:34:00.001-05:00

Bonus: Bruce Schneier’s comments on the speech.

Using a 1964 modem to dial up to the Internet

2009-05-28T08:03:00.002-05:00

In the late 80s I used a 300-baud acoustic modem connected to my Atari 800 to connect to BBSes. Ah, the memories. (Though I think it would have been cooler if he had actually used a rotary dial phone to make it true “dial up”.)

Via Boing Boing

Colbert, Green Day & Keyboard Cat

2009-05-27T08:04:00.002-05:00

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Exclusive - Play Him Off, Keyboard Cat

colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Keyboard Cat

First V trailer

2009-05-22T07:34:00.001-05:00

First clips from the forthcoming V remake

2009-05-21T07:07:00.001-05:00

I'm thinking I'm gonna like!

Police Slog Through 40,000 Insipid Party Pics to Find Cause of Dorm Fire

2009-05-20T06:55:00.001-05:00

(Contains some adult imagery but oh so possible true…)

Police Slog Through 40,000 Insipid Party Pics To Find Cause Of Dorm Fire

The living room PC is complete

2009-05-18T13:00:00.000-05:00

Friday night, at 10:30pm of course, I decided to finally take the time to install the new video card in the PC connected to the HDTV in the living room. (See this post as to why.) So, new graphics card in hand I read the directions and opened up the case. Inserting the card into the slot was the easy part. The hard part was connecting the digital audio cable to the SPDIF input on the motherboard. This was needed since I was going to be using the HDMI out on the card to connect to my receiver and therefore the TV. (The HDMI cable gives me both full 1080p video and up to 7.1 digital audio so that of course was the best option.) The SPDIF cable had a single plug to connect to the video card and two wires, one orange (audio) and one black (ground) to connect to pins on the motherboard. And there was the snag, I had no idea where the SPDIF pins were on the motherboard. So, off to the Internets…

I was able to find specs for my motherboard. All of which said that there was SPDIF inputs but nothing said where it was located. Finally on the Gateway site I was able to dig up an image of the pins.

Great, this confirms they exist but don’t tell me where they’re located. I poked around a bit and eventually found the pins, along the bottom edge of the motherboard hiding under some power cables and behind the modem board. So, just to find them I had to unplug said power cable and remove said modem card just to be able to see the darn pins, let alone connect wired to them.

Ah, but then the next problem: which pins are which? Oh, and notice that there are actually three pins and I’ve got two wires. Back to the Internets…

I was able to find a post by someone in a similar situation and he said that the audio cable needed to connect to pin 1, and ground to pin four. Not that he said, nor does the image or motherboard specify which pin is which. And, of course, the directions for the video card say that if you connect the pins wrong you might fry the card. Nice.

Hop on to chat and contact Gateway support. I get through quickly but they can’t/won’t help since I’ve got a refurbished machine. Please call this other number. That other number is only staffed M-F 9am-5pm. No help there.

So, I guess. Pin one must be on the left and pin four on the right. Made sense. Connected everything, and turned it all on, fingers crossed.

The computer booted and I had video at 640x480. (On an 1080p HDTV remember.) Install the drivers, update the drivers, reboot a few times and I’ve got full 1080p. And no audio.

Pull cards and cables and swap the orange and black wires. Boot. No audio. Shutdown, try orange on the second pin, black on the fourth. Boot. Still no sound. Hmmm….

Back to the Internets and I find some others in a similar situation. Whoops! I’ve now technically got two sound cards in my computer: One on the motherboard and one on the new card. Check Window’s sound setting and set the new card as the default audio device. Yea! I’ve now got sound!

So, let’s test a Blu-Ray disc to make sure I’ve fixed the original problem, dealing with the HDCP problem. Well, that problem was solved but I had no audio while playing Blu-Ray discs. Since I know Windows isn’t the problem any more I figured it might be the Blu-Ray player software. I found its audio settings screen and say that I needed to tell it to output the audio via SPDIF. Set that, clicked OK, and my sound works in full digital surround.

Total time: 2 hours. Results: Priceless.

Bill Moyers on Twitter

2009-05-17T13:06:00.001-05:00

Even senators get the blues

2009-05-15T09:03:00.001-05:00

From Countdown with Keith Olberman, 14 May 2009. Former Senator Graham in his office with a blue screen on his desktop.

Obama Budget Cuts Visualization

2009-05-12T11:58:00.001-05:00

New copyright statement in Flickr for “government work”

2009-05-12T09:15:00.001-05:00

For a while now, photos posted on flickr by the White House have been licensed under a CC-BY license. While this was the most lenient of the CC licensing options it wasn’t exactly appropriate as these photos were technically in the public domain. Because of this, the attribution requirement of the CC license, although a great suggestion that everyone should follow, was technically adding a requirement that wasn’t allowed by law.

The only other option previously available was that of the Flickr Commons project “no known copyright restrictions”. Again, not appropriate as in this case we know that there can’t possibly be even the potential of a copyright claim by anyone. Again, close but technically not appropriately.

So, the folks at flickr have come up with a new designation: “United States Government Works”.

What does this mean? Well, if you click on the link you’ll be taken to the relevant page of copyright law giving you the relevant information. At that point you’re on your own. Thanks, I think.

Why doesn’t flickr just have a “public domain” option? That’s a completely different discussion which I’m not going to have here. Check out the flickr discussion and flickr’s official opinion on the matter if you’re interested.

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

2009-05-09T08:17:00.000-05:00

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'