# Notice (Oct 19/05): So ends my stay here on Blogger. This morning Google implemented an anti-spam 'feature' that forces me to answer a challenge phrase when I want to post to my own blog. No notice of the change, nothing. Worse is that it doesn't even work! I type the phrase, submit, "An error occured", post deleted. Damn you, Google. Chances are I will revive my blog somewhere else, sometime soon. I'll post the new coordinates here as soon as they become available. (BTW, I'm unable to post anything to my RSS stream, so I'd appreciate it if readers could spread the word and ask people to take a look at this notice)

Update (Oct 19/05, ~noon): After a frustrating few hours (and not just trying out alternatives to Blogger), I've decided that this is a good time to take a break from all this. A day? A week? Who knows. But I need to step away from it before I pass a heavy magnet over the whole mess.

Update 2: According to this post, the reason I'm seeing the CAPTCHA (challenge phrase) is that Blogger has classified my blog as spam. Thanks. User for five years and now I'm spam. I searched the Blogger site, but there is no mention of how to get the spam flag turned off. There is also no way of contacting anyone at Blogger. Wow. Spam they say I am, so spam I must be. Maybe it is time to take a break.

"Jane Jacobs points out that a Dark Age isn't when you have forgotten how to do things. It is when you have forgotten that you ever could. French peasants in 650 AD were entirely unaware that Roman farmers could get yields of 10 bushels harvest for 1 bushel planted: they thought it a gift of God if they could get 3 bushels from each bushel planted, and generally didn't get more than 2. And American educators have apparently forgotten that there was a time when 96% of the people who finished 4th grade could read; we now have 100% attendance at schools and a literacy rate somewhat lower than Iraq's. But all will be well and No Child Will Be Left Behind, so long as we can juggle the tests and get increasing test scores. The purpose of the education system is no longer to educate but to produce people with certain credentials. Hurrah for the educational reforms of the past three decades."

[Surprisingly], Theresa Heinz-Kerry was a factor. Her uncommon affluence separated Kerry from the working class; something I had never seen ‘marketed’ by the Republicans. Neither could many picture her as First Lady. Overall, though, the impression I’m getting is “no votes for the toffee-nosed git.” His demeanor bespoke rich-man, more than Mr Bush’s feigned everyman. Through this filter, Mr Bush was the populist. [italics his]

So why should you care about a product that receives only the occasional nod from its maker? Because, Visual FoxPro is still here and it is still relevant. It serves a need that is underserved by any other single product in its category. Further, because of its ability to run on cheaper, older hardware, run legacy code, and still do everything a modern programming language is expected to do, it will remain the product of choice for renegade workgroups, small resource-constrained offices, independent software developers, and many governments and government-run agencies.

What can be done to stem the loss of our historical archives? A timely investigation into the loss of cultural, public and historical records, both analogue and digital, as a result of deterioration or advances in technology.

Blog Torrent is software that makes it much easier to share and download files using the bittorrent protocol.

"Students, take note: the stuff you pull up on Google Scholar will be a fairly random, incomplete selection of materials, including many abstracts. The best way to write your paper is still to identify the key readings you need to consult to put together a coherent argument, and plop your butt down in the library and actually read through them."

Types of organizational knowledge and their value for organizations, analyzing knowledge processes, and assessing tools and technologies for managing knowledge.

31 No personal information shall be disclosed by the University to a third party in a manner which permits the identification of the student or former student unless such disclosure is required by law, or unless the protection afforded by this section has been waived expressly or by implication by the student or former student who is entitled to it. Upon request by the student or former student, the Committee on Student Grievances may determine whether disclosure is authorized under this section.

"The Neocons have discovered the New Model Army that does things with fewer and more elite troops, and marvels at their success; then is horrified when warriors act like warriors; when young men taught to kill the enemy shoot what turns out to be, not an armed enemy playing dead, but a dying wounded man. But that is the price of conquest, particularly when warriors are sent to do the job of constables."

Connections - the Great Lakes Information Science Conference celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2005. After a decade of evolution, the conference has become a premier forum in the field of library and information studies, organized by and for doctoral students. Its open, friendly atmosphere and commitment to social interactions makes it a perfect venue for doctoral students to present their research, exchange views, and network with peers.

The Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, is honored to host this milestone event from Saturday, May 14th to Sunday, May 15th, 2005. In celebration of this exciting milestone, all doctoral students enrolled in library and information studies or related fields are cordially invited to submit proposals.

1. e-mail: Student email me their entries (either to my main mail account or a WebCT account) and I reply with comments, etc).
2. WebCT discussion forums: I set up a private discussion topics for each student in WebCT where they can post entries to their journal, and I can review and comment on them.
3. weblogs: I ask each student to set up a weblog for their learning journal. Blogs could be reviewed using bloglines (set up an account for class blogs), comments left using comments.

Most voters in Ohio thought they were voting for Kerry. CNN's exit poll showed Kerry beating Bush among Ohio women by 53 percent to 47 percent. Kerry also defeated Bush among Ohio's male voters 51 percent to 49 percent. Unless a third gender voted in Ohio, Kerry took the state.

So what's going on here? Answer: the exit polls are accurate. Pollsters ask, 'Who did you vote for?' Unfortunately, they don't ask the crucial, question, 'Was your vote counted?' The voters don't know.

Here's why. Although the exit polls show that most voters in Ohio punched cards for Kerry-Edwards, thousands of these votes were simply not recorded. This was predictable and it was predicted.

And it's one of the wonderful -- it's like earning capital. You asked, do I feel free. Let me put it to you this way: I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it. It is my style. That's what happened in the -- after the 2000 election, I earned some capital. I've earned capital in this election -- and I'm going to spend it for what I told the people I'd spend it on, which is -- you've heard the agenda: Social Security and tax reform, moving this economy forward, education, fighting and winning the war on terror.

The target was an object on the ground well within the confines of the Warren Grove firing range, a 2,400-acre scrub pine expanse used by the military to train pilots in bombing and strafing techniques.

But when the heavy gun in the left wing of an Air National Guard F-16 fighter jet fired Wednesday night, it sent 25 rounds of 20mm ammunition smashing through the roof and zinging off the asphalt parking lot of the Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School 3 1/2 miles from the range.

Last Tuesday I received a memorandum from a manager cc’d by am exec. director instructing me to cease supporting and promoting weblogging, wikis or any other technology not officially supported by the University. The basic reason given being that I have, anecdotally, not used the CMS (this isn’t true, I always use it) and that ‘commentary’ on the issue of CMSs (quoted I think from this blog or another I set up for a course) is unacceptable. A set-up for disciplinary action should I not follow instructions.

I’ve stated previously that America does not yet associate enough pain with the various Republican agendas I abhor. Four more years may do that. But the fact remains, we lost this election, this election that should have been a shoe-in.

Here is a photo of a pretty kitty. This kitty has nothing to do with politics or how fucking idiotic half the people in my country are.

George Bush, the most unpopular American President in history outside of the United States, has been re-elected. His re-election says something about the intelligence of the American people, about American arrogance, about American insularity, and America’s obvious desire to openly claim it’s place in the pantheon of imperial powers.

I’ve been monitoring numerous sources all night and have been struggling with what to say in an entry if George Bush wins. To be honest, at the moment I'm at a complete loss for words. How any rational person can support this administration is beyond me.

There was also, let's face it, a problem with the candidate. John Kerry was the best the Dems could come up with this time around, and he just wasn't good enough.