mining and data-dressing

There are two suspectly parallel news items--one that attempts to paint as a human-interest story the Library of Congress' plan to archive Twitter for posterity--I could only imagine how confusing and without context a stream of bursts and tweets would be to future generations, and a second article that warns of data-mining and how that valuable information defines any individual more circumspectly than any other trail of leavings.  I think it is naive to think that one is ever private or anonymous on the internet--though I disagree that one is unreasonable in hoping that were the case.  One is protected and made faceless by the herd and the sheer amount of traffic out there.  Maybe one realized that one had precious little privacy, but one also thought that the services, the wires would not so willingly offer it up to the spy agencies, foreign and domestic.

i'm a boy that's all the candy

The Onion posted a wonderful satyrical piece on the US flag, parodying the manufacturer recall of hundreds of thousands of a Japanese branded automobile due to gross safety concerns, citing design-flaws that have perpetrated the deaths of untold millions.  Perhaps the United and Popular Republic of America needs a simpler layout. Yankee Doodle came to London, just to ride the ponies.

ampelmännchen

During a not-unheard-of seizure of common-sense, Germany's traffic ministry yesterday rescinded a proposal that called for municipalities to replace out-dated traffic signage with new, modern versions, identical in regulation but with some subtle differences in ideograms.  For instance, a crosswalk should no longer bear the likeness of a man scurrying across the street, hand on hat to keep it in place, but rather the more modern, gender neutral stick figure.  Directional arrows indicating no parking should be displayed on the top and not the bottom of the circular sign, as they were prior to 1992. 

On coming cars, apparently, should not have smiley faces.  By not enforcing the change, German municipalities have saved hundreds of millions of euro, and kept the Ampelmaennchen safe for years to come.

open-apple F

In the midst of all the hype and anticipation surrounding the release (and gray-market re-selling apparently inspired by buyers' remorse) of the iPad, a Germany company is coming out with a rival tablet personal computer.  The so gennant "WePad" comes with more memory, a more flexible operating system, more ports and a camera, including G-3 capabilities.  Both are new, sleek models and I am sure that this will be the new trend and fashion accessory and look of computers for the future--but what I really want (besides the flying cars that I was promised by such luminaries as Faith Popcorn) is something as versatile and technologically mysterious as a tricorder, not to mention rugged enough to repell those first awful smudges and scratches.

defaced and shilling

Now that the privacy debate on social media has really heated up and Germany and Switzerland are woefully upset with the conduct of Facebook for not allowing users--or even photographic by-standers to purge their posting histories or depart the Web 2.0 altogether, the government and the military have embraced the technology.  I am sure that the Internet Masters of the Universe can keep a better clearing-house of people's foot-steps and faux pas better than any spy agency.  Maybe that's why these changes to the privacy policy are being pushed forward without consultation.  Or maybe the government is a little behind the curve on integrating new technology.  Facebook profiles for Army organizations are dormant and ham-fisted and on par with the body-scanners.
I've courted a few, hopefully not too intrusive, sponsors in the sidebar.  I don't want these postings to be all decked out with advertisements like a NASCAR rally.  I have noticed that my most frequent supporter is the Obama administration's web presence.  That's another way, apparently, the government has channeled the power of the Internet.  I suppose for anyone, however, these offerings would be mirrors of one's own perusals.