Bruce Sterling's Blog, page 648
May 11, 2010
Next Nature Newsletter
Welcome to a new issue of the Next Nature newsletter. This low-tech, low-volume newsletter is connected to the website http://www.nextnature.net which explores the nature caused by people.
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CONTENTS
-Next Nature Spotter for iPhone
-Blog Highlights
-NANO Supermarket: Final Call for Products
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NEXT NATURE SPOTTER FOR IPHONE
While the spotting of old nature phenomena in our surroundings - birds...
The Executive Cyberspace Authorities Act of 2010
*They've not actually passed this bill… but just to be living in a world where the American Congress has an Executive Cyberspace Authorities Act to create a "National Cyberspace Office"… I dunno. Fine. Here it is verbatim. Democracy at work!
Executive Cyberspace Authorities Act of 2010 (Introduced in House)
HR 5247 IH
111th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5247
To establish a National Cyberspace Office, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 6, 2010
Mr. LANGEVIN (for himself...
More cyberwar semantics
From SANS:
–Over Use of "Cyberwar" Concerns Some Experts
(May 5, 2010)
Experts gathered this week in Dallas, Texas for the Worldwide
Cybersecurity Summit. Some cautioned against the use of the term "cyber
war" as a catchall phrase to mean everything from fraudulent financial
transactions to attacks on critical infrastructure networks that could
threaten lives. Classifying all criminal computer activity as cyber
warfare could, in the minds of organizations, place the responsibility
for addressing...
Texan border drones
*Mission-creep R us.
*Perhaps Predators can be specifically assigned to fly over Austin in case the leftists there get up to something.
"After years of political pressure from Texas politicians, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar said Monday that he expects the federal government to deliver unmanned aircraft to watch over the border with Mexico by this fall.
"Cuellar, a Democrat from Laredo, said he...
Slow Food interviews activist tying into Monsanto
*Since no corporation lives forever, you have to wonder what happens to the genetic underpinnings of modern agriculture when Monsanto is no longer around.
*Things were going great for British Petroleum just a while ago. Everybody's pleased and happy and forking out the bucks, and then you blow out an obscure gasket someplace through no real intention of your own, and holy cow.
*The BRICs could go lean on the WIPO some day, and presto, with the stroke of a pen Monsanto would have no reason to e...
May 10, 2010
Autopia's 15 Agonizing Automotive Atrocities
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/05/15-agonizing-automotive-atrocities/all/1
*Okay, a genuinely agonizing automotive atrocity is probably a 15-car pileup, rather than a list of cars that somehow failed to please consumers. But failure is always of keen technological interest.
*I have been known to hang out in the former Yugoslavia, where the Yugo was the car of export-level technical brilliance. By the standards of the eastern bloc, the very existence of Yugos was an automotive triumph.
Showtime: obligatory graphic intervention
*The blog has been getting kinda gray and text-heavy, lately. Time for a Mandelbrot set and a flying Bollywood actress.
*That oughta do it anything will.
Wails of anguish and jumping for joy in the German elections
*What the heck! When did calm, stoic German politicians turn into Italians? I don't get it.
http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-54711.html
Italian Valley: new ideas made in Italy
*This "Italian Valley" project is certainly the coolest thing that Wired Italia has ever done for those who don't read Italian. Just a host of strange, nifty, peninsular, high-tech things going on there.
*The English translation is supplied by Google Translator on-board.
http://www.italianvalley.it/Default.aspx
The World's Top Dissidents
*Some are born dissidents, while others have dissidence thrust upon them.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/05/07/the_worlds_top_dissidents
*That's quite a motley crew. Maybe they should start a labor union, or a Facebook group, or something.
*Unlike my melancholy reaction to hackers, watching dissidents always cheers me the heck up. I can't help but like 'em. They really perk me up. They're all over the place. Every nook and cranny. It's like some kind of Hannah Arendt...
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