Flutterby™! From 2005-06-01 to 2005-06-30

The current rage for outsourcing products and services to cheap-labor nations continues unabated. In the Times of London we have the latest evidence. A financially troubled children's charity in Denmark is cuting back on expenses for a celebration of the bicentennial of Hans Christian Anderson. "Australian dancers are being replaced with more cost effective Chinese ones."

[ related topics: Religion Children and growing up ]

I was going to link to this reprinted press release when I noted some wacky formatting, which turned out to be ads from Vibrant Media's IntelliTXT technology, which linked the word "communication" in this sentence:

Upper-income parents, who tend to have closer communication with the school and with teachers, are better able to assist their children with homework.

(emphasis mine) to a link to a "Microsoft® Office Live Meeting" ad. Similar words were highlighted with a wacky double-underscore down the page, all with links to completely unrelated content. Vibrant Media's IntelliTXT technology explanation for all of this says that:

IntelliTXT enhances and helps support this content by delivering relevant messages in a user-controlled format.

Uhh... No. Not one of those links was relevant, and unless "user-controlled format" means that you should immediately install DumbTXT or IntelliTXT Disabler into Greasemonkey to make sure you never see such stupidity again, neither is it user-controlled.

[ related topics: Web development Microsoft moron Consumerism and advertising ]

The article I was going to link to below was actually just a reposting of a Penn State Live press release (mirrored here) about work by Dr.s Gerald K. LeTendre and David P. Baker that claims that homework is not correlated with academic achievement:

Their findings indicated a frequent lack of positive correlation between the average amount of homework assigned in a nation and corresponding level of academic achievement. For example, many countries with the highest scoring students, such as Japan, the Czech Republic and Denmark, have teachers who give little homework. "At the other end of the spectrum, countries with very low average scores -- Thailand, Greece, Iran -- have teachers who assign a great deal of homework," Baker noted.

LeTendre sums it up:

"American students appear to do as much homework as their peers overseas -- if not more -- but still only score around the international average," LeTendre said. "Undue focus on homework as a national quick-fix, rather than a focus on issues of instructional quality and equity of access to opportunity to learn, may lead a country into wasted expenditures of time and energy."

My impression has been that while homework may be busywork which keeps some kids out of trouble, it is merely extra workload which prevents many kids from doing their own projects and their own learning on their own time.

[ related topics: Children and growing up Work, productivity and environment Education ]

I've ignored this whole "runaway bride" thing, but Michael Kelley linked to a New York Post article that went about where you'd expect the Post to go:

Bolting bride Jennifer Wilbanks was chaste away — by her fiancé's insistence on abstinence, friends of the sex-deprived couple claim.

Yeah, I think I'd kinda freak too... On the other hand, I'd never get to that point in the first place.

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Current Events Marriage ]

So, former FBI Deputy Director W. Mark Felt has been outed as "Deep Throat", the hero in exposing (some of) the corruption in the Nixon administration. Bob Woodward talks about how Mark Felt became Deep Throat, a fascinating article.

Aside to the Washington Post: I'd really like to link to a single page that contains all of the article rather than just page one of five, but if I link to this version you miss most of your branding and ads. Why do you split up your articles?

In other takes on the same story, I'd be interested in discovering more about former FBI agents' reactions to the story, do those who condemn Felt's actions believe that he shouldn't have gone public at all, or that he should have waited until the investigation was complete?

Finally, just because we're that kind of weblog: a quickie on Deep Throat the film.

[ related topics: Politics Sexual Culture Journalism and Media Law Enforcement ]

Who says crystals can't bring harmony to the world? (From a comment to an entry on JWZ's blog)

[ related topics: Cool Technology ]

I've seen this a number of places today, probably first clicked on it over at Dave's Picks: albums with audio analysis from the Evergreen Albums Analysis page, focusing on the dynamics of albums. As I read through this I realized two things:

1. Why, from outside an establishment, I can instantly tell if there's a live musician playing or if it's canned music.
2. Where the audiophile crowd gets off with some of their statements about audio quality on vinyl versus CD: It's nothing inherent in the medium, it's about the cultural and business issues surrounding the mastering of each.

It also explains why so many commercial recordings today sound like crap, and why many of the "toss a Hamilton in the tip jar" CDs sound so good, but require volume adjustment.

[ related topics: Music Sociology Cool Technology ]

Eat Hufu^tm, "The Healthy Human Flesh Alternative!"

[ related topics: Humor Food ]

This one's for Mark, 'cause I know he's into those old sounds: Turtle's "78 RPM" Jukebox, remastered from original recordings which have lapsed into the public domain. Some are pretty noisy, but on some the remastering is incredible.

[ related topics: Music ]

The saga of the $20 bike continues: I noticed a little bit of instability at high speeds on my shakeout ride last weekend. Today at lunch I took it over White's Hill and into San Anselmo and back. On the way down White's Hill I started to kick it up to speed and had it go all unstable, oscillating back and forth in that "oh crap maybe I can find some soft brush on the side of the road" sort of way. Managed to drop the speed and it stabilized out.

I had to drop in at the bike store to get a new seat pack anyway (and oogle the current crop of road bikes, "Reduced! Only $5,250!"), so I asked, and one of the guys said he had the problem when he was too far back. So on the descent down the west side on the way home I tried different positions, and I think it starts to wobble when I get too far forward and put too much weight on the bars. But I'm still not comfortable on the bike much over probably 40MPH, so obviously I've got some chops to get back.

Must. Refrain. From. Believing. That. Carbon. Fiber. And. Modern. Drop. Bars. And. Brifters. Will. Solve. All. My. Stability. Problems...

[ related topics: Dan's Life Bay Area Bicycling San Anselmo ]

To satisfy the inner Gyro Gearloose in all of us, try the Museum of Retro Technology, a well documented and perfectly delightful site hosting pictures of wonderful late 19th and Early 20th Century technology, such as monocycles-of-war, aerial sonar systems for detecting enemy bombers, steam-powered Segways, gyroscopic railroads and an underwater cannon system designed for sinking Confederate ironclads. Those combination armored troop carrier/dirigibles you drew on your notebook in third grade have found their home!

[ related topics: Invention and Design History Bizarre Cool Technology ]

I'm at WWDC. Seen Dori briefly, would love to meet the rest of y'all. Cell phone is 415-342-5180. I'll turn it on between sessions.

And, oh yeah: Apple is going to use Intel x86 architecture chips starting sometime in 2006. Expect that Apple laptop battery life will improve, and server performance will become competitive.

[ related topics: Apple Computer Macintosh ]

Hey Dan, remember the girl blushing over your climbing rope? I think I need to convince them to do a calendar...

[ related topics: Photography Coyote Grits ]

Study says genes play significant role in women's ability to have orgasms.

Too damned drained from WWDC to infer anything from this, just want to roll over and go to sleep.

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Physiology ]

Kinda disappointed so far at WWDC, ending up with more applications kind of stuff, maybe that's just because I've been picking my sessions wrong. But I sat in on a few "Cocoa" things yesterday ("Cocoa" and "Carbon" are Apple's competing widget sets) and... well... the thing I hate most about programming is when I have to know the particular quirks of a system rather than being able to just being able to express myself. OS X sucks less than Windows in this respect, but I'm still seeing... well... I'm not sure, but I'm amazed at how strongly the open source frameworks are out-innovating the proprietary folks, even in widgets and interfaces.

Chatted with Dave and Dori on Monday.

Spent the morning hanging out with Marty of Better Light, looking at the sofware he's written to control their view camera back, 6k by 8k, scanning, with 13 stops if you "fudge it the way film guys do", 10 stops of exposure practically. Very cool stuff, and it also drives the PanoScan beasts.

One of the things we got to talking about was speculating ways to drive some of the preview processing with graphics hardware. I think there could be some tremendous coolness there.

Watching the Ageia presentation right now, with their API that'll scale to their hardware physics simulator... Looks kinda cool, but their demo is one of those "huh, that's not how I'd demonstrate a really hot physics engine...". If they make inroads, I think it'll be by being on a console first.

[ related topics: Free Software Apple Computer Photography Microsoft Software Engineering Graphics Macintosh ]

Kingdom of Loathing maintenance page:

The system is currently down for approximately four hours while we roll out the Ascension content. Things are going well, but a little more slowly than we had hoped. It may be as late as 10:00 MST before we're able to bring it back up and public. I'll try to keep you posted here as the situation develops.

Hardcore, n.: Man Delivers Pizza After Being Shot in Leg:

Thomas Stefanelli, 37, said dedication to his job at Hungry Howie's Pizza kept him on the job after a struggle with a robber Saturday night left him bleeding from a bullet wound in his left thigh.

Bring's Stephenson's "20 minutes or else" to a new level.

[ related topics: Food Current Events ]

Three dimensional recreations composed of self assembling 'catoms'... Getting Closer!

http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=632012005

http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/skeckler/wild04/Paper12.pdf

Dr mowry: "Your claytronic mobile phone could turn into a hammer for a spot of DIY and then a pair of shoes to go jogging."

Sorry batteries not included.

Ziffle

[ related topics: Current Events Mathematics Shoes ]

This one's been making the rounds from several sources: 19 year old gets life in prison for causing wanted miscarriage:

Gerardo Flores received an automatic life sentence because prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, which was available under the state's 2003 fetus protection law.

Erica Basoria, 17, acknowledged asking Flores to help end her pregnancy; she could not be prosecuted because of her legal right to abortion.

Sourced that one from a link at Sensible Erection. Over at Backup Brain, tom linked to The Washington Monthly report, and there was a quick link over at Genehack.

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Law ]

In the "not sure this is funny 'cause it hits too close to home" department: ICANN Announces ".polinc" TLD for politically incorrect and dangerous-opinion sites (thanks to Wes who also provided context, just in case you haven't been keeping up).

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Free Speech ]

Interesting note from WWDC: Popping up a web browser has extremly bad performance. Tunnelling those port 80 requests through SSH to my colo server actually makes browsing usable. Someone's obviously screwing with some QOS handles...

[ related topics: Apple Computer Cryptography ]

Today's image is brought to you from the hills of China Camp above San Rafael, where the butterflies suffer from pollen overabundance, and the hikers drag drug OD sufferers out of the woods and into the hands of rescue personell.

Well, actually, being aware of the rules about assisting to the limits of your training once you physically touch the victim, and observing that said victim was breathing on his own even if he was drastically disoriented and suffering from some pretty heavy tremors, we monitored him and assisted emergency services in picking him up.

[ related topics: Butterflies Photography Health Bay Area ]

Old, bad computer ideas never die....they just await their rebirth. According to Gizmodo, a computer liquidator has on offer 2 million CueCats, the pathetic barcode scanners that were sent out to all the Wired subscribers back in the 90s. Those ridiculous barcodes defaced magazines as disparate as Wired and Parade for a year or so, until somebody realized that people rarely read ads for Princess Di commemorative plates while sitting near their computer. At 30 cents each, maybe we could sell them as keychains.

[ related topics: Content Management Bizarre Archival ]

Scoble says Microsoft is right in supporting repressive regimes as long as it increases shareholder value (Mark expresses some small portion of the appropriate outrage), representatives are taking three quarter of a million dollar bribes from defense contractors (source), further holes and unravelings in the Bush administration's story about Iraq...

It all calls for some virtual time in the hammock, staring up at the really cool borders from the backlit sunlight on the leaves above.

And then back to the grind.

[ related topics: Politics Photography Microsoft moron Current Events ]

The National Academies takes a stand for evolution, with some harsh language (from acedemians) and specific references to the 'stickering' of books:

"Recent tactics to cast doubt on the veracity or robustness of the theory of evolution have included placing disclaimer stickers in the front of high school biology textbooks (Cobb County, GA and Alabama; proposal before the Missouri House of Representatives), mandating or recommending the inclusion of Intelligent Design in high school biology courses (e.g., Dover, PA; Cecil County, MD, respectively);"

Next, we'll be teaching the earth is flat and the sun revolves around the chosen people of Earth.

The problem is: that while one or two fundementalists are laughable, they band together into a self-righteous force that is politically active that elected politicians are forced to placate.

I'm just spiritual enough to see $Diety within us and around us, even see $Diety influence in our still continuing evolution. But it's time to take a stand about the ignorant christian fundementalists who don't even understand where the Bereishith (Genesis) stories come from. And no, I don't mean the Judeo-Christian God with a beard and burning bush dictating it all to Moses (as played by Charlton Heston). The current written form was compiled from lore and stories of the 7 tribes of Isreal when these nomadic goat and sheep herding tribes got together (infrequently). The rabi's worked hard to write it all down making comprimises and attempting to reconcile important (but different) parts of the stories from each of the tribes before it was all agreed to and became the "final" written form, post Babylonian exile (6th century BC). Some biblical scholars say Genesis is a cleaned up derivation of the Babylonian creation myth, but that myth reads more like a GhostBuster movie to me..

My point being: It's time to put an end to bad christian mythology restricting the thought processes of students in schools. I had hoped that ended with the inquisition.

[ related topics: Religion Children and growing up Politics Books Movies Graphic Design Real Estate ]

I've been quite enjoying the Mac OS user experience, but there are a bunch of little things about the hardware which make me glad I'm not an owner. The hinges on PowerBooks seem to be consistently weak; the PowerBook G4 I'm carrying doesn't close consistently enough let me know it's sleeping, and I sat in on at least one conversation at WWDC between several people with the more articulated hinges who were discussing solutions. Those sorts of little engineering details.

On the other hand, I was hanging with the rat boys and one of their friends had an Alienware laptop, and that sucker looked cooler than the PowerBook. Didn't ask about Linux drivers (and he probably wouldn't have known anyway, he's a gaming guy), but yesterday's Penny Arcade made me think that maybe Alienware is the sort of company that would offer to "...ship a machine with two hundred gigs of meticulously organized porn striped to a three disk RAID", and this would probably be a positive thing for their customer base.

[ related topics: Consumerism and advertising Macintosh ]

In-Souls: Inspirational scripture shoe inserts. I remember a shoe company from the '70s whose slogan was "the shoes your feet get off on", I guess this'd not be those.

[ related topics: Religion Shoes ]

Japan's Prime Minister cracks down on ludicrous fashion with harmful side effects:

Just as a 1,000-km journey begins with a single step, it seems that the arduous process of reducing Japan's greenhouse gas emissions starts with the simple removal of a few neckties.

[ related topics: Fashion ]

A quick shout out to The Clip Store, and a bit of full disclosure: A few days ago they sent me an email asking if they could ship me one of their Smart Clippers, no obligation on my part. It arrived today, I've started to organize my desk, and I could see myself buying reloads for this puppy. "Clipper" is a bad name, it's really a stapler substitute, and it's not a general purpose binding substitutte, but I can see myself buying reloads for it. Especially since the utility may extend beyond just dealing with paper (which I'm extremely ineffective at and try to avoid) and be useful for things like chip bags...

We'll use it for a few days and report back, thus extending the effectiveness of the cheapest ad buy ever.

[ related topics: Consumerism and advertising Machinery ]

Speaking of cheap advertising, in talking with Dori this last week I discovered that maybe it's time to put some advertising on Flutterby. Nothing obtrusive, but it's been quite a few years that I've had a colo server without paying for it, a hardware upgrade wouldn't kill me either, and although Flutterby doesn't beat Pixel the cat in page rank, there may be enough in a few ads to pay for some bandwidth and get us on modern hardware.

My thinking is that I'll replace the "Sites Dan reads" with a link to some more detailed breakdowns of places I think are persistently worth a visit (so that Ziffle can still find Voyeur Web), and drop the ads in down there on the right. Anyone got strong feelings on this? Besides "no animated ads" and "it'd be really cool if they're actually relevant to the audience"?

[ related topics: Ziffle Flutterby Meta Consumerism and advertising ]

Amazon Gets Patent for what is essentially all E-Commerce. The irony? At the bottom of the USPTO page, is [Add to Cart] [View Cart].. the USPTO may be in violation.

Although the patent is for a very complex and complete methodology that is obviously Amazon's (focused on one click ordering upon login). It is also broad enough to be all encompassing. I only hope their hungry lawyers don't go after all the people (like me) doing simple e-commerce.

Maybe we should get a patent on breathing.. or more fun: patent positions/methods of sexual intercourse?

[ related topics: Intellectual Property Books Erotic Sexual Culture ]

A strange, sad story from the Chicago Tribune: David Cowan is a former fireman and local author who has written several books about historical fires in Chicago. Amongst them is considered the definitive work on a devasatating 1958 school fire that killed 92 children and 3 nuns. Over the last few years Cowan lost his fire dpartment job and had his marriage fall apart. He has now been arrested for arson for torching an outbuilding near a church that employed him as a custodian. Ironically, the school fire he wrote of was started by a young, troubled firebug.

Now this would be a small story, except that it resonates with me on a number of levels. I was a third grader at the school on the day of the fire, and I have met Cowan on a couple of occasions, once at a get-together for fire survivors and again at a book signing. Like many firemen he seems to have started with a fascination and personal enmity for fire, which apparently has bled over into obsession., and finally arson. When do interests mutate into pathologies, and how does a curiousity project into seeing fire as an answer for a disintigrating life? Fortunately no one was hurt in this latest blaze, but original tragedy keeps destroying people even after 47 years.

[ related topics: Books Journalism and Media Art & Culture Public Transportation ]

When the results of the Terry Schiavo autopsy are all over, many people seem to be linking to this tired NY Review of Books rehash of the speculation, most of which the autopsy seems to have answered. Elf hits the high points.

[ related topics: Politics Privacy Current Events ]

Toronto statue draws flak. The plaque depicts Alexander Wood inspecting a man with dropped trousers:

A woman reported a rape, noting she had scratched the attacker on his genitals. Wood took matters into his own hands, lining up the suspects and demanding that they drop their pants so he could "inspect" them.

After word of the incident got around, Wood was widely branded a "molly," a derogatory term for homosexuals, and he agreed to leave town in exchange for not being prosecuted for abusing his position.

It's unclear to me whether some of those complaining about the statue aren't just upset that in 1810 a man of stature in the community actually tried to bring a rapist to justice...

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Law Enforcement ]

I've always argued against buying onsite service plans for computers. My theory was that the $250 or so you'd spend on the service plan is better spent buying replacement parts and you never have to spend the day-on-the-phone as tech support walks you through diagnostics you've already done in order to be convinced they need to send someone out. But that's changed, surprisingly, by Dell.

I've had a pair of machines from one of my labs sitting in my office waiting for a free day when I want to talk to New Delli Tech Support. Finally, the day came and I decided to start with an email to support, one for each machine. I described the problems and what I did to diagnose. I got a reply within a few hours to try a couple more diagnostics (because I have a lab of identical machines, I was able to swap some parts - actually I just swapped between the two dead machines since the parts in question weren't the problem). After that, the next email was "let me verify for address so I can ship the replacement parts to you or send someone out to do the replacement". I opted to replace the parts myself (I hate having to schedule my day around some tech) and shelved the machines, expecting to get the parts sometime in the next week.

That was yesterday. This morning at 9:15am, DHL shows up with two boxes. A new motherboard for each machine. These Dell systems have a tool-free design that literally is tool free. Each cable comes off easily and the motherboard is on a tray that slides out. The new motherboard even came mounted on a new tray. It took less than 5 minutes to replace the motherboard.

My new recommendation: buy a Dell and an extended warranty for as long as you want to be able to use the system.

Note: I do not own any stock in Dell and there may be other computer manufacturers that are cheaper/better/whatever, but my experience is based on running two computer labs with 40 workstations used by a variety of classes and six servers.

[ related topics: Invention and Design Television Sports Graphic Design Machinery Economics ]

John takes on Joel:

But then he goes and says something stupid about the Windows software-based load balancer they're using prefering to send the same users to the same part of the cluster "so stateful web applications still work even if the state is maintained on one computer." That was the point at which the respect meter started its rapid leftward motion...

I forget what the incident was that turned me off from Joel On Software, and I'm too lazy to go back and figure out exactly what it was, but the symptoms John describes are typical of issues I've run into from ex-'Softies in general: They don't have enough experience with other ways of doing things to actually be able to present alternatives to the "hey, we just graduated from college and thought this would be a great idea" way. Smart guys, just not terribly experienced, and it ends up showing up as such in their software.

[ related topics: John S Jacobs-Anderson Microsoft Software Engineering Work, productivity and environment ]

Tossed up here so I can close off the tab: Kind of like WorldWind but with real-time weather and geologic event info: EarthBrowser.

[ related topics: Astronomy Maps & Mapping ]

This is going to be extremely interesting from a legal standpoint: U.S. case asks "Does viewing files on the Internet constitute possession?":

"There are a variety of ways a file can come on the screen. What if the mere act of viewing it and it coming on your screen makes it criminally liable under a statute that provides punishment with a minimum of five years, and maximum of twenty, per incident?" Ripper said. "In my opinion, it is hard to believe that the lawmakers' intent was like what Barton is going through."

The /. story which linked to this actually has some comments which I'd chase further if I had the time, one comment offers cases and asserts that in the U.K. this could result in charges of creating, not just posession, another looks at Australian precedent, and this one asks if I made an <img src="violatesTitle18Section2257.jpg" width="1" height="1"> link would you be guilty of posession without even knowing it?

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Law Current Events Net Culture ]

Remember I mentioned the California Republican House member who apparently took a 700k bribe from a defense contractor? Yeah, turns out that Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham's residence in D.C. is a 42 foot yacht owned by a defense contractor.

"I am putting information and records together so that you will know how much I pay to stay there, and you will see that everything we've done is appropriate," read the brief statement, which was e-mailed by Cunningham's chief of staff, Harmony Allen.

[ related topics: Politics moron Current Events California Culture Real Estate ]

Clued in by an article on pending changes to rules on records keeping for producers of sexually explicit material, I went over to the Free Speech Coalition and found their comments on Title 18 Section 2257, and a press release about 28 CFR Part 75 which had this line:

"In the immediate future, you're going to be seeing inspections and arrests, not because of 'illegal' content, but because [the producers] don't have the records, they never had the records, or they're trying to be cutesy," predicted First Amendment attorney J.D. Obenberger. "Maybe the DOJ [Department of Justice] will proceed gently, but I don't really think they have any reason to. I'm pretty damn sure the DOJ has a list of content producers they want to inspect, and they'll begin doing that in 30 days. They could do it early, but they probably won't because that undermines the political smokescreen. They have a staff that's been well-trained, and they're armed – literally – and ready to go."

[ related topics: Politics Sexual Culture moron Law Civil Liberties Sexual Culture - 2257 Changes Sexual Culture - U.S. Code Title 18 Section 2257 ]

Jealous: Diane's trek to Yosemite was much more fruitful than our spring trip into the valley.

[ related topics: Travel Yosemite ]

/. pointed to an article that says that Wal*Mart is refusing to print digital images that look "too professional" because they're afraid of being an accessory to copyright violation. This SignOnSanDiego article has an example of two images by the same photographer, one that got stopped, one that didn't.

And, from the comments, Dry Creek Photo apparently has color profiles of at least the printers that Costco uses.

Hmmm... Just after I've decided that I'm not going to buy another printer. Period.

[ related topics: Photography moron Current Events Copyright/Trademark ]

If Jeb Bush is re-elected then Florida is irretreivable and the only thing we can do is nuke it and start over. Cripes, what an asshole.

[ related topics: Politics moron Civil Liberties ]

Kodak to quite making black and white photo paper.

[ related topics: Photography Current Events ]

From Elf comes this tale of love and loss and polyamory: PollyWally (WMV)

[ related topics: Humor Sexual Culture Video ]

Violet Blue has a new podcast which is a reading of her presentation for Dorkbot-SF on teledildonics.

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Invention and Design Bay Area Cool Technology ]

Okay, Mac mavens: How the heck do you get the horror that is iTunes 4.8 to play Ogg Vorbis files? Every codec I've downloaded for it has crashed, and despite the fact that Fink has XMMS available, this machine lacks anything in /dev/* that looks like a valid audio device.

[ related topics: Music Macintosh ]

During women's orgasms the portions of the brain controlling fear and anxiety are apparently switched off:

"The fact that there is no deactivation in faked orgasms means a basic part of a real orgasm is letting go. Women can imitate orgasm quite well, as we know, but there is nothing really happening in the brain," said neuroscientist Gert Holstege, presenting his findings Monday at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.

The lack of results for changes in men kind of leaps out, but is answered further down the article:

Holstege said he had trouble getting reliable results from the study on men because the scanning machine needs activities lasting at least two minutes to record an activity. But the men's climaxes didn't last anywhere near that lone, meaning he could not reliably compare the scans before climax and during.

Prof. dr. G. (Gert) Holstege seems to have some other interesting publications that'd be worth tracking down.

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Biology Physiology ]

Proving once again that no bad idea is ever completely forgotten, the New York Times reports on the return to filmmaking by famous director, martial-arts expert, political philosopher and presidential candidate Tom Laughlin, creator of the Billy Jack movies in the 1970s. He apparently plans to resurrect the character for these troubled times, and repeat the indie movie success he enjoyed back then. If he's lucky, he won't repeat such creations as Billy Jack Goes to Washington, one of the legendary stinkers of the era, or The Master Gunfighter, a pro-Indian Samuri Western (!) so incomprehensible that it makes David Lynch's version of Dune seem a paragon of clarity.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Politics Movies moron Bizarre ]

Gödel and the Nature of Mathematical Truth is an interesting talk with Rebecca Goldstein on how misunderstandings of Gödel (famous for "...a proof that showed that any formal system that is rich enough to express arithmetic will have a proposition which is true and unprovable") and Einstein (Relativity) got perverted and co-opted into post-modernism and the arguments against objective reality:

It spoke a lot about Nietzsche and Heidegger, but there were a few pages on relativity theory and the incompleteness theorems, arguing that the upshot of these results was that even in physics and mathematics there's no objective truth and rationality: everything is relative to man's point of view, and that the proofs of mathematics are incomplete because there's no foundation for mathematical knowledge. Everything is infected with man's subjectivity, leaving us no grounds for distinguishing between rational and irrational....

[snip]

And the irony is that both Einstein and Gödel—who had a legendary friendship when they were at the Institute for Advanced Study—could not have been more committed to the idea of objective truth.

[ related topics: Sociology Mathematics Philosophy ]

Windows has SP2, which has currently reduced the XP side of my laptop to a blithering mass of complaints and instabilities (Automatic Update keeps presenting me with what it claims is KB888162, but my symptoms don't have anything to do with what it says on the web page...). The Mac won't play my music collection. But if I want to find something to scream at Linux about, I have to go out of my way to find it.

So if your Linux machines are feeling left out because you're giving all of your negative attention to your other computers, there's finally a reason to get frustrated with Linux: Bastet, or Bastard Tetris, with a special algorithm to choose the the worst possible block sequence for you, is currently Linux only, although others have incorporated the algorithm into versions which run on other platforms.

[ related topics: Free Software Humor Games Microsoft moron Macintosh ]

Some changes to U.S. Code Title 18 Section 2257 go into effect tomorrow (June 23^rd, 2005). You can see a summary of the Attorney General's Changes to the Section 2257 Regulations, or, to put it in context, AVN talks about the impact and meaning of this law:

The adult industry, on the other hand, does not, as a rule, make child pornography. It has long made an effort, even well before the first record-keeping law was passed in 1988, to avoid using minors in its productions, whether or not it kept records of that fact. Moreover, in the 20 years since the first underage performer scandal hit the industry – the one involving Traci Lords – there have been, including Traci, exactly four (4) underage performers who have managed to sneak into the business. The others were Alexandria Quinn, Jeff Browning and Precious, and each was discovered, not by police officers or federal inspectors, but by adult industry producers themselves – who promptly announced to the adult world that the minors had been uncovered, and had all product in which those performers appeared pulled from store and warehouse shelves.

And dissects how the law changes for "secondary operators" (like web site publishers) and points out that it'll be hard to do this part-time:

Whereas the earlier draft required someone to be on-premises 10 hours per day, seven days per week, the published reg limits that to "normal business hours", which are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., local time, Monday through Friday, "or any other time during which the producer is actually conducting business relating to producing depiction of actual sexually explicit conduct. To the extent that the producer does not maintain at least 20 normal business hours per week, producers must provide notice to the inspecting agency of the hours during which records will be available for inspection, which in no case may be less than twenty (20) hours per week."

Wired grabs some quotes:

"If the original content producer can't be found or went out of business or is unwilling to release information, that causes this content to become criminal overnight," said adult industry attorney Lawrence Walters. "These webmasters are facing felony charges if they continue distributing images they've been distributing for the last five to 10 years."

The Free Speech Coalition could use some bucks. As web publishers, this has an effect on us even if we aren't the originators of the content. And it's also clearly being used for fishing expeditions and atacks on procedure, not actual child pornography. This is, plain and simple, censorship.

Thanks to Sensible Erection for putting this all in one place (and in perspective).

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Free Speech Sociology Law Current Events Sexual Culture - 2257 Changes Sexual Culture - U.S. Code Title 18 Section 2257 ]

Ya know what? I'm just out of energy. But Mark Morford goes on a good rant about the Downing Street Memos, the recently uncovered documents which pretty much prove that our current administration is a bunch of lying assholes with ulterior motives, and Lyn collects some of the good response to The Washington Post's comment that:

The memos add not a single fact to what was previously known about the administration's prewar deliberations. Not only that: They add nothing to what was publicly known in July 2002.

In other words, if you missed the fact that the so called "intelligence failures" that Dubya and his cronies have tried to pass off on to the CIA were documented on the front page above the fold in even The New York Times (which, despite Ann Coulter's underinformed bile, has admitted to single-sourcing and not independently verifying stories given to it by the Whitehouse press office) before the invasion, if you've missed that the reasons and justifications given for the invasion have been constantly in flux, if, by some strange trick of your memory, you think that there's anything at all on the up-and-up that this administration has been telling you, the Washington Post wants to make it clear that they're not at fault.

Sorry. If this weren't all coincident with the attacks on our freedoms of expression I'd just chalk this up to one more set of corrupt lying politicians and gloss it over. But today I'm just not willing to cut the lying slimeball weasels much slack.

[ related topics: Politics moron War Mark Morford ]

Thanks to Dave for the Flash game of the moment: Kitty Cannon. I haven't managed to come anywhere near his eleven hundred feet, but maybe it suits my mood better today to be launching the kitty on to spikes and into the carnivorous plants rather than hitting the trampolines (and explosives).

[ related topics: Games ]

Are Accounts of Consensual Sex a Violation of Privacy Rights? The Lawsuit Against the Blogger "Washingtonienne" (stolen from Jay over at Baylink).

[ related topics: Privacy Sexual Culture Law Current Events Civil Liberties ]

I'm gonna be in Fresno this weekend, but if you're hanging around in SF and aren't sure if you're kinky or not, the Pride celebration leather and S&M area is trying to be particularly friendly to the curious ones.

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Bay Area California Culture ]

I remember as a child seeing all the black and white movies on the (three channels only) television. I was entranced by some (Fountainhead) and wowed by others (Tarzan and His Mate) and always wondered how there could be so few really good ones.

In my heart I yearn for real active dialogue and reality or an opinion from those movies. Once in a while I saw one and I liked it.

During the 60's and early 70's they lightened up , showing lots of nudity, drugs, 'share your partner', stuff. I thought how cool we finally reached a point of truth; that of course left out the problem of 'mass mind think' which permeated the scripts and still does. They have gone so far, lately to remove all the scenes of nudity and drugs from many of the movies, so we are 'protected' no doubt.

But I never understood what had happened. Was there ever a really free moment in movie making, free of political correctness, and censorship, and reflected real American optimism and energy?

Turns out there was. The period just after sound came to the movies circa 1929 and before the 'movie 'code was implemented in 1934 was a glorious time.

In 1934 they implemented a code that said that traditional standards (marriage) and mores (one sex partner) and respect for authority (the government and churchs must be respected) and outcomes (a movie must not show immorality positively).

But before this time, now referred to a 'Pre-Code' there was for a brief moment a flowering of ideas and expression. I am reading a great book -- "Complicated Women : Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood" which chronicles all this. Recommended.

I saw one of the movies they talk about - 'Design for Living' where Gary cooper and his friend both love the same girl who loves both of them, and they both sleep with her, and they finally work it out. This, my friend, is known as 'polyamory' today, certainly not seen on our screens lately, eh?

Another movie is where a naked leading lady comes out from behind a giant marijuana leaf - nice touch! I have not seen it yet.

Of course 'Tarzan and His Mate' is Pre-Code and the 'Mate' swims completely naked -- enshrined forever in the hearts of millions of Americans - it was shown all over the country (a few places clipped the nude scenes even then).

All of this without 'political correctness' of course.

In my heart if feels good to know there was moment when life was good and alive and freedom to make the movie you want was possible; looking at alternatives with a free mind is how I see it.

And when I see those movies or read that book I am a child again, and my heart is open and free. Where did our counrty go? Whats with all these do-gooders anyway? Where is the promise of America today?

[ related topics: Drugs Interactive Drama Politics Books Erotic Privacy Sexual Culture Technology and Culture Health Movies Coyote Grits Free Speech moron Nudity Sociology Work, productivity and environment Television Civil Liberties Graphic Design Race Marriage ]

I suppose there's not much to add about the House passing the flag burning amendment, except that this time it might go somewhere:

"For the first time, we have a chance, an opportunity, to pass it in the Senate,'' said Rep. Randy "Duke'' Cunningham, R-Del Mar (San Diego County), the amendment's House sponsor.

You may remember Cunningham, he's the guy who believes so much in freedom that he sold military contracts for $700k. It should be obvious that anyone who believes in banning flag burning doesn't believe in freedom:

"If the flag needs protection at all, it needs protection from members of Congress who value it more as a symbol than for the freedom it represents,'' said Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y.

Beyond my general libertarian leanings, my opinions on this were solidified back when I knew a hardcore Rush Limbaugh spouting Vietnam vet who made it quite clear that he didn't get volunteer to get shot at so that freedom of expression could get taken away. Hopefully he and those like him will be willing to stand up once again to reprimand those they've voted for.

[ related topics: Politics moron Current Events Civil Liberties ]

In a blatant effort to run up prices and build a "collectables" market, distillers announce a shortage of single malt scotch stocks:

But that is the problem facing many scotch distilleries, due to a lack of foresight in laying down sufficient vintages in the past, coupled with increasing demand for older single malts. So, while you may be able to find the heavily peated Ardbeg 10-year-old, you can pretty much forget about snagging a bottle of the more subtly smoked Ardbeg 17-year-old scotch -- the distillery ran out of it a few years ago.

I guess it's a good thing I'm not drinking much these days, 'cause Ardbeg 17 is one of my favorites.

[ related topics: Wines and Spirits Economics ]

I can't figure out any practical application for this, but it's cool: Map of real-time streamflow compared to historical streamflow for the day of the year (United States) (sorry, lost where I got it from, but one of my daily reads)

[ related topics: Cool Technology Maps and Mapping ]

I'm not sure I can lay claim to any geography, but my grade school years were in the Northeast. Religion in that region is a fairly private thing, every town has at least the requisite two churches, the stone architecture of the Presbyterians and their long tradition, often directly facing the white clapboard Congregational Church on the other (with the occasional Methodist congregation or what have you thrown in for good measure). But Christianity as I experienced it as a child was a fairly private endeavour, and one adopted as much for community as religion; my grandmother played organ in both a Lutheran church (the heritage of the German of my mother's side of the family) and a Synagogue (the tradition my mother adopted), and while we practiced a reform Judaism in the house, when I was younger I think I went to the Congregational church in which my mother directed the choir and the Methodist church of my father's parents at least as often as I ever listened to a Rabbi.

So it was quite a shock when I moved to Chattanooga, the southeast, often described as "the buckle of the Bible Belt", and saw Christianity as it was practiced there. And after enough years there that my sense of reality got recalibrated, it was Larry's expression of his faith that brought me back to a place where I could accept that being Christian didn't necessarily mean being an embodiment of evil. So when Larry speaks on matters of religion, especially about how he feels in his religion relative to the larger culture, I listen.

In Dominionism: Is The Threat Real?, he calls for those of us who fear fundamentalist evangelicals to answer the threats to our liberties to answer those who'd intertwine government and Christianity with the Bible. But I think he's wrong.

As I said in my comments to Ziffle's article about pre-code movies, offering up control of the medium, in this case the language, removes the ability to communicate the essence of the message. I lived amongst those who believe that the Bible was written in English to know that the word isn't what's important, it's the feeling, and that, for instance, people will argue over differing translations, studiously avoiding the original language, if they can find an expression or obscure translation that serves their emotional reaction (any discussion of that passage by Judaic scholars is ambiguous only when it focuses on a word transliterated as "ason", which, you'll notice, is distinctly absent from that discussion...).

If we let someone else control the language, we've let them control the medium through which the discussion takes place, and therefore we've let them control the content of the message. This is the lesson that Karl Rove is teaching us, and I now believe strongly that we must take the battle right back to those who'd take away our liberties as strongly as it's been brought to us. Yes, that might mean separating the sin from the sinner, and not tarring all Christians with the same brush, but neither should we be scared of calling out bigotry, hatred and evil when it hides behind Christianity.

[ related topics: Language Ziffle Religion Dan's Life Sociology Chattanooga Community Architecture ]

"The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses -- even against their will -- for private economic development."

"Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random," O'Connor wrote. "The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms."

She was joined in her opinion by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, as well as Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

They're no longer limited to just funneling your tax dollars to their cronies.

[ related topics: Politics moron Current Events Economics ]

Okay, one more, think of it as saving up for the weekend, as I hop on Amtrak this evening to go catch up with Charlene and get the hell out of town for a bit.

It takes about two days to complete the registration process for an account at New York Lawyer (their account confirmation email comes slooooowly), but they've got an interesting look at some of the current struggles to reconcile faith with law with logic:

"Faith challenges the underpinnings of legal education," Mr. Rudenstine declared. "Faith is a willingness to accept belief in things for which we have no evidence, or which runs counter to evidence we have."

He added, "Faith does not tolerate opposing views, does not acknowledge inconvenient facts. Law schools stand in fundamental opposition to this."

That's David Rudenstine, Dean of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. In light of what I hope will be the discussion of Dominionism and Language down there, this should be put up against Jerry Falwell's work in opening up a law school, Liberty Law, whose Dean Bruce W. Green said on their web site:

"The soul-deep yearning of lawyers for meaning in their professional lives has spawned a growing religious lawyering movement. All of this points to the need for legal education's unapologetic return to the transcendent principles upon which the Western legal tradition and the rule of law were founded, and to the law of nature and divine revelation found in the Holy Scriptures."

How he reconciles divine revelation with case law, I've no idea.

[ related topics: Religion Law Current Events Education New York ]

Pentagon creating database of high school students for recruiting purposes, angering some privacy advocates. Proving either that Jonathan Krim (author of the article) has a sense of humor, or someone at The Pentagon is irony impaired:

The Pentagon's statements added that anyone can "opt out" of the system by providing detailed personal information that will be kept in a separate "suppression file." That file will be matched with the full database regularly to ensure that those who do not wish to be contacted are not, according to the Pentagon.

[ related topics: Humor Privacy Databases ]

Tom thinks that Dick Durbin was cowardly to apologize, Timmer says "Apology accepted". I think it's important to both note Senator Dick Durbin's full original remarks in which he said:

If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime -- Pol Pot or others -- that had no concern for human beings.

Which, if you read the paragraph in question, seems pretty true to me. His apology for those statements should be read carefully too:

“Let me read to you what I said. ‘I have learned from my statement that historical parallels can be misused and misunderstood. I sincerely regret if what I said causes anybody to misunderstand my true feelings. Our soldiers around the world and their families at home deserve our respect, admiration and total support.’”

Which I think he actually makes clear in the original remarks: It is at the highest levels that the disregard for the Geneeva Conventions originates, and the problem needs to be solved there.

[ related topics: Politics War ]

HS Students 'Hack' iBooks because someone leaked the 'secure' password. School system declares it "Computer Trespass" - a 3rd degree felony.

So they gave kids these wonderful tools to learn with and about, set up some reasonable (but not insurmountable) technical obstacles, and when they figure out how to tinker under the hood you CHARGE THEM? WTF!?! - This is what school is about, give smart kids a good challenge with tangible rewards (downloading music, customizing, playing games..) and when they beat you at your own game, they should be rewarded. Slap them on the wrist, put better security on their iBooks, and give them an extra A+ grade in computer science. - And watch them bust the system again.. THESE will be the highly paid consultants, the engineers, the programmers, the problem solvers that this country needs to compete in the future after our shortsighted outsourcing of low end tech jobs to other countries creates a powerful competitor for world technology prowess.

Hint 1: generate a unique password for each system based on some bizarre math and crypto involving the serial # or the students name... and dare them to crack it.

[ related topics: Children and growing up Music Games Movies Current Events Mathematics Cryptography ]

On Saturday I met up with Charlene's brother, who rides a Calfee Design frame with hand-picked components, so he's pretty hardcore. I rode his commute bike, which is still many steps above my $20 garage sale special, and we started at Shaver Lake, over a mile above sea level. We immediately cranked up another thousand feet over the Bald Mountain pass, and then out and back to Wishon Reservoir with fairly continuous ups and downs.

The ride took us through towering Sequoia, blooming dogwoods, high mountain meadows with blooming wildflowers, snow filled forests, with an excursion up to Dinkey Creek, where I decided that recent snow melt wasn't something I really wanted to take a dip in, given that the winds were keeping us quite comfortable temperature wise.

61 miles at altitude, not a killer ride, but my legs came out just about even with the end of the trek.

On Sunday, Charlene and I found a big expanse of granite and soaked in the ambience, the birds chattering away, the wind through the trees, the snow capped peaks in the distance, and the wildflowers.

And I had a few revelations about religion, one in a Serbian Orthodox church, that I'm trying to figure out how to express in relation to those Dominionism comments.

[ related topics: Photography Dan's Life Nature and environment Bicycling ]

Let's give Nancy a little linky-love: Stitcheroo is her business making custom quilts and handbags.

[ related topics: Fashion ]

I'm heads down in work and could figure this out for myself, but getting it right cross-platform and all would suck, so... What I want is a little JavaScript to let me put several rollover hot-spots on an image, each of which displays a <div ... at that location. Specifically, if I've got a map with hotspots, I'd like to be able to rollover those and display alittle thumbnail with a description and some links. Should be easy, although I know that there are some cross-browser positioning issues, and I'm too far in to C++ and scene graphs right now to want to spend the hours it'd take to get it right.

[ related topics: Web development Maps and Mapping ]

Dang it, somebody buy this (2002 Cannondale frame, Shimano Ultegra & Dura-Ace components, $1200, and I don't need the pedals) so that I don't.

Also occurring on Saturday while I was riding in the mountains was the Climb to Kaiser: 155 miles, 14,000 feet of climbing, half-way is at 9k feet. We saw the pack coming up Tollhouse (6.5 miles at 12%, with a kicker closer to 16% for the last few at the very top), and Rob's done it once. Sounds like something I need to do. An account from someone who did it in '96, an account with sectional notes, a 2003 climber, so you wanna do it?.

[ related topics: Sports Bicycling ]

When that "how do I learn to program?" question comes up: The PyGame libraries for Python game development have a bunch of gamelets.

[ related topics: Games Software Engineering Python ]

Going through my SPAM mailbox and saw a "shed inches in days" subject line. Took me a moment to process that one, 'cause it's not what I'm used to being promised by SPAM.

[ related topics: Spam ]

Thanks to Dori's suggestion, I've got an alternate view of last weekend's excursion.

And JavaScript for the World Wide Web Visual Quickstart Guide (aka "the JavaScript book") rocks and you should go buy lots of copies from the links on one of their web sites, like Backup Brain.

The map of the ride with embedded images is super rough, just playing with proof of concept stuff.

[ related topics: Dan's Life Maps & Mapping ]

Canada okays same sex marriage.

The freight train is coming. My preference is that the government gets out of sanctioning marriage altogether, but I'm fairly sure that's not going to happen unless those who oppose same sex marriage on religious grounds get on that bandwagon fast.

[ related topics: Religion Sociology Law Marriage ]

Developer proposes hotel to be built on land currently "owned" by Justice David H. Souter:

Clements, CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, points out that the City of Weare will certainly gain greater tax revenue and economic benefits with a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road than allowing Mr. Souter to own the land.

The proposed development, called "The Lost Liberty Hotel" will feature the "Just Desserts Café" and include a museum, open to the public, featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America. Instead of a Gideon's Bible each guest will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged."

(If you're lost, start here). And David Chess also has some words worth reading in full:

Good news, comrades! The Supreme Court of the People today affirmed the power of local soviets to allocate the use of land in whatever way most effectively furthers the aims of the Revolution, handing a smarting defeat to those reactionary running dogs who would put "private property rights" over the collective will of the masses!

[ related topics: Politics Objectivism Privacy Law Current Events Civil Liberties Economics Real Estate ]

From Dubya's speech last night:

The work in Iraq is difficult and it is dangerous. Like most Americans, I see the images of violence and bloodshed. Every picture is horrifying, and the suffering is real. Amid all this violence, I know Americans ask the question: Is the sacrifice worth it?

Not the question I'm asking. I'm questioning if this is a reasonably efficient way to accomplish the stated goals. And the answer I'm coming up with again and again is "no". In fact, it appears to be so inefficient that I'm thinking there have to be other, unstated goals.

And recent history would support that latter interpretation.

[ related topics: Politics moron Current Events War ]

I don't wanna out him or nothin', but I was over at Larry's place and noticed he was listening to Hayseed Dixie. I'd heard of these folks before, they do bluegrass covers of AC/DC tunes. Turns out, that's "among other things", and you can catch a bunch of Hayseed Dixie live recordings on archive.org.

[ related topics: Music ]

code: theWebSocket had a link to a fascinating exchange between Jerry Pournelle and Gavin Schmidt on global warming and climate change.

[ related topics: Politics Nature and environment ]

U.N. Security Council Resolutions.

The comments are down on Larry's Log, so I'm going to respond to his "Just wanted to make it clear where I stand." notes on the U.S. involvement in Iraq here.

I agree with you that we need to be committed in Iraq until there's a stable consensus government there. A pull-out isn't feasible now, and probably won't be for another five or six years. But the focus of the occupation needs to be on concensus building and ways to increase local autonomy. Part of that needs to be a strong statement at the highest levels that we're willing to go out of our way to follow the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War in our foreign policy activities, and that we're interested in instituting a fair and just legal system.

When the President asked "Is the sacrifice worth it?" in his recent speech (as I noted on my blog), I've got to admit that I'd be willing to accept more U.S. casualties if I felt that we were portraying to the world a shining example of instituting the rule of law in a nation formerly ruled by the whims of a few men. We're not, and I believe that that's not the fault of our troops on the ground, or even of our mid-level military command, but of the tenor set at the highest levels, where giggling over "extraordinary rendition" is the norm.

The "in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions" argument comes across to me as a total red herring. If that were the case we'd have B52s over Israel, and Morocco and Turkey wouldn't be far behind. When I try to build a model that makes sense based on the U.N. Security Council resolutions I keep coming up short.

So I'm not sure that the invasion of Iraq is still righteous. In fact, I think it began as something that wasn't. It could yet become so, but we have to start holding our leadership accountable to righteous ideals, like truth, before that can happen.

And, yes, I agree that the loyal opposition also needs to be willing to stand this one out. Our nation has fucked up. Big time. The way to solve that isn't to wash our hands of the situation and run away. It's not to allow moral relativism to run amok, because that'll just reinstate the less than optimal situation we saw there before. We must acknowledge the screw-up, claim a moral high ground, and then execute a strategy for reform of a corrupt culture (in which we've become an integral part of the ecosystem) which focuses on openness, justice, and the rule of law.

And we need to stop conflating a tin pot dictator with a big mouth with our real enemies, who are still on the loose.

[ related topics: Politics Ethics History moron Law Current Events War ]

QOTD, from an Anonymous Coward:

Can't MS just develop a specific API for people trying compromise windows machines, it would be less work for everyone.

[ related topics: Quotes Microsoft ]

Freakin' a: Five and a half years after my plea it looks like people are finally starting to publish calendar information! On a few events mailing lists I'm starting to see calls for iCal format data, and EVDB, the Events and Venues Database, is publishing in iCal. About danged time.

[ related topics: Databases Archival ]