Electronic Privacy Information Center : Surfer Beware III
"For the purpose of this survey, we looked at several elements of the Fair Information Practices, including the ability to find the privacy policy of an e-commerce site, whether personal information is collected and used with the consent of the consumer, whether the consumer is able to access and correct such information, whether the information is limited to those uses for which the information was given, and whether the purposes for which information will be used are specified."
Garry Trudeau
"While the public at large regards 'Peanuts' as a cherished part of our shared popular culture, cartoonists also see it as an irreplaceable source of purpose and pride, our gold standard for work that is both illuminating and aesthetically sublime. We can hardly imagine its absence." via
robot wisdomTom Spurgeon : Comics Made Me Fat
"Finally ... comics has an effect on food consumption by fans because of their shared model for proper kids' behavior -- doe-like passivity. As better critics than I have argued, superhero comics promote such an unrealistic fantasy based on bizarre, arbitrary models of action that they don't really give anyone a model for fully-socialized behavior. A kid who idolizes the biggest shithead basketball player on Earth can at least pursue the sport in which his hero participates. But until fighting ninjas become a club activity on major college campuses, the core activities of the superhero are lost on the superhero devotee. What replaces it is a realization -- the Stan Lee model of secondary selling by making the creator the hero and the reader a potential hero -- that indulging in the fantasy aspects of the stories one loves can have eventual financial or vocational awards. In the meantime, stay in your basement, and if you need a companion while you're down there, call Domino's."
BMJ : Bumper Christmas Issue
including an investigation of
alien hospital linen, a
bioanalytical study of the antioxidant activities of martinis, and the results of a seven year study watching men and women
having sex in specially designed MRI tubes.
NY Times : ISP Blocked after eToys Protest
Julia Hill gives new meaning
to the phrase
talk minus action = zero. Amazing.