A Moment to Reflect

The governor of Virginia's declared today a day of morning:

Virginia Tech -- 04.16.2007

I think we all need to stop ... reflect.  If you wish to lend assistance, check out the Virgina Tech Tribute Blog.

Don Imus Leaves the Airwaves ...

... and, I must say, I'm a bit ambivalent.  MSNBC dropped their simulcast, CBS fired him, the media's "analysts" can't stop talking about it, Al Sharpton claims a victory, Rutgers accepts his apology ... and I can't help but think:

"Are we going to consistently treat everyone who uses racially improper speech with an equal amount of vitriol and retribution?"

If so, then good.  If not, then how many of those loudly screaming now will be silent the next time?

I really hate jumping in on major public brawls like this.  Everybody who's anybody (and plenty of people who aren't) have already opened (and will continue to open) their mouths.  But there's another issue here that's being marginalized:  "What happens the next time?" 

Whether Imus went too far or not isn't the issue moving forward, consistency of response is.

If it walks like a duck ...

... and talks like the RIAA, it probably is extortion.  It's about time that word got associated with the recording industry's latest tactic.  Wikipedia's entry is most interesting, including such tidbits as:

• "the simple four words "pay up or else" are sufficient ..."
• "...may also be committed as a federal crime across a computer system ..."
• "the message only has to be sent ... to commit the crime ..."

Sounds interestingly familiar, doesn't it?  Even more interesting is it appears to be completely legal for the RIAA, which is a private entity (not a wing of the government).

A slightly different (yet exciting) definition for "the feed"

In Neal Stephenson's book The Diamond Age, one of the more intriguing (at least, to me) mechanisms was "the feed", a connection that served up atoms for replicator-like devices to use to construct whatever they were programmed to make.  Fantastic fiction?  Perhaps ... but now, it seems that science has discovered a means to bring that concept into the real world.  Maybe not for years, but at least it's moved from fantasy to crudely demonstrated theory.

King Lear ... in a week!

I've been getting into Librivox, the site that takes public domain literature and (through a network of volunteer readers) creates audio versions that are freely downloadable and shareable (think Audible but older books and without the monthly fee).  Right now, there's a project going on where a group of "voicers" are attempting to construct a complete recording of Shakespeare's King Lear in a single week.  This week.

Check out the progress in their forums ... then, see if you can figure out which part I'm reading.