…I wonder if I should add it to BME?
I've been thinking that the buddy list system could really easily be expanded to include some more information, such as the “type of link” between people (ie. are they on your buddy list because you think their page is cool, because you know them online, offline, whatever). If that was done, you could do things like ask the system, “do I know any plumbers near me?” — IAM could then reply with something like “Your friend (username) knows (username) in (location) who is a (search-criteria).”
Obviously there are privacy issues to seriously consider first, but it could be fun and it's a really simple system. Where it gets really useful is when you start talking about chained IAM servers (ie. like Rachel's aviation site, etc) and chained buddy lists (since some people will have accounts that map to multiple servers)…
Anyway, back to my work on this update. I really want to get some work done on my flight simulator software, and I have to patch a couple problems on IAM as well so I hope it goes fast.
I, for one, welcome our new tribble overlords.
Seriously, as I understand this a la Kudzu and Australian rabbits and so on, this really could balloon out into something terrible. It's been long known that this type of genetic modification is capable of jumping between plant species in the wild, so even if your golf course is weed-free (and pesticide soaked) for a couple years, at the end of that period, you find yourself overrun with weeds that even Agent Orange can't touch… Which then overrun and potentially fatally imbalance your ecosystem.
2004/04/10 10:08 I keep reminding people of this, but North Korea is still a ticking time bomb (
more), again threatening a nuclear catastrophe. The problem with North Korea, in my eyes, is that it's a fundamentally uninvadable country. We literally can not stop North Korea from building nukes or anything else they feel like doing — their military is literally larger than
all of Europe and
the United States and Canada added up. That's in terms of raw manpower, including special forces.
What that means is that if North Korea ever does erupt (and it could stay squawking chicken forever, but I doubt it), it can be played in one of two ways — first; massive invasion force, requiring the draft and probably the death of 1,000,000 American troops at a minimum. The other option is to level the country, border to border, using America's enormous nuclear arsenal. AGAIN I SAY: FOLLOW THE MONEY. That's how you see the future. The big military money is still being spent on big weapons for big war.
My task list today:
- Return my video editing station for a new motherboard.
- Groceries.
- Image update.
- Design NTSC –> LED wand rendering hardware.
- Start roughing out flight sim software to help write microcontroller code for mapping robot.
Oh, and arranging travel plans to go visit my old home:
For some reason, the Raelian April Fools article keeps generating mail. I don't know how or why, given that it says pretty damn clearly that it's a parody, and even explains it… But this is an odd one — are we fooling people inside his organization, or are they trying to fool us?
From: "donna grabow" <dzgrabow@hotmail.com>
Subject: a question
Date: Fri, 09 Apr 2004 02:06:59 +0000
X-Originating-IP: [24.25.244.86]
Hi Thomas,
It was good seeing you in Las Vegas at the Bellagio at 3:00 March 26, even though it was a brief encounter!
Things are going well on this new island home...been keeping in touch with Florence in Honolulu.
I read the interview on Betterhumans.com yesterday and have been giving the idea alot of thought since. I would be interested in participating because I would love to be a parent.
This is my temporary email until I get online to retrieve my email from meridianwoman@rael.org
My new tel # is 808-345-0730
Love,
Donna G
www.rael.com
www.subversions.com
www.clonaid.com
Anyway, I don't know if that's a legit email or not. I can't imagine it is, but, really, if someone is sold on Rael, they're probably pretty dumb, so you never know. If anyone gets curious and calls them, let me know… But I suspect it's a prankback.
Update: Well, someone named DONNA really does have an answering machine at that number…
