The PBS Newshour is podcasting here.
Data Mining 101: Finding Subversives with Amazon’s Wishlists
A MUST Read:
Tom Owad writes about an issue we all need to be aware of:
It used to be you had to get a warrant to monitor a person or a group of people. Today, it is increasingly easy to monitor ideas. And then track them back to people. Most of us don’t have access to the databases, software, or computing power of the NSA, FBI, and other government agencies. But an individual with access to the internet can still develop a fairly sophisticated profile of hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens using free and publicly available resources. Here’s an example.
There are many websites and databases that could be used for this project, but few things tell you as much about a person as the books he chooses to read. Isn’t that why the Patriot Act specifically requires libraries to release information on who’s reading what? For this reason, I chose to focus on the information contained in the popular Amazon wishlists.
Northwest’s Pilot Scope Clause Contract Negotiations
Sort of an abstract issue, but relevant for Madison, particularly with the growth of 50 to 100 seat aircraft in and out of Madison
: Interesting look
Northwest’s scope clause is, in fact, particularly onerous relative to scope clauses at other major airlines. United, Delta, American & US Airways can outsource (to regional airlines) aircraft up to at least 70 seats (US Airways can even outsource some aircraft of 86 seats). Continental’s limit is 59 seats, but can do a virtually unlimited number of those.
The issue at Northwest is particularly acute because Northwest flies smaller mainline aircraft than any other major airline. Northwest itself flies over 100 DC-9s (photo above). These geriatric aircraft (many of them over 30 years old or more) have just over 100 seats. Click here for further DC-9 data.
Boyd’s 2006 Aviation Forecast
Mike Boyd posts some useful reading for any serious air traveller.
New Year’s Eve Panoramas
Hans posts some fabulous panoramas from around the world
Advertising Strategies Challenged in the High-Tech Age
NPR:
2006 is expected to be a challenging year for the advertising industry. Dollars continue to flow out of television budgets and into Internet ads. And viewers have more ways to skip commercials. With TiVos and iPods giving consumers more power, what’s an ad guy to do?
A Year in Madison Blogs – 2005
Throughout the state, the emergence of this form of direct communication is mirroring national trends. Political blogs dominate the field, though increasingly more writers focus on contentious topics of other stripes, such as places of eating and merriment. In Madison, locally-oriented blogging is being led by a number of group efforts focused upon education, taverns, and the overall experience of living in town, complemented by a growing host of political writers. Here’s my thoughts about the growth of blogging in Madison over 2005.
Microsoft Takes Down Chinese Blogger
Microsoft’s MSN Spaces continues to censor its Chinese language blogs, and has become more aggressive and thorough at censorship since I first checked out MSN’s censorship system last summer. On New Years Eve, MSN Spaces took down the popular blog written by Zhao Jing, aka Michael Anti. Now all you get when you attempt to visit his blog at: http://spaces.msn.com/members/mranti/ is the error message pictured above. (You can see the Google cache of his blog up until Dec.22nd here.)
Note, this blog was TAKEN DOWN by MSN people. Not blocked by the Chinese government.
Study Questions Safety of SUV’s
Though the added weight of SUVs conferred some protection in non-rollover accidents, the vehicles were twice as likely as cars to roll over during a wreck, the report published in the journal Pediatrics said.
2006 Governor’s Race: Interview with Scott Walker
Colin Benedict interviews Republican Candidate for Governor Scott Walker:
He won by promising to be frugal and restoring ethics, a blueprint he’s following again.
“As Governor, right off the bat, that first day in office, I would call a special session to pass a true property tax freeze on all four years I’m in office,” said Walker. “On all levels of government.” Walker admits Gov.Doyle’s plan has helped some people but calls it a phony freeze because on average tax bills went up. He criticizes Doyle saying the governor essentially borrowed the money to pay for it instead of cutting programs.