Podcasting Pleas

December 29, 2004

I've taken a couple of weeks off from listening to podcasts and listened instead to a few great books. Now that I'm getting back to catching up on podcasts I have some pleas for those who are trying to make this a going concern.

  1. Don't bash the iPod - there are plenty of links and time devoted in podcasts to how terrible the iPod interface is. One of the most common complaints it the inability to fast forward and rewind. This is not an iPod problem, it is a user problem. Every day I happily fast forward and rewind through selections. It is not complicated you simply hold a button down, no need to even look at the iPod itself.

    As an aside it is interesting that the same people who complain about not getting credit will post links saying "What's wrong with iPods," instead of "The iPod is by far the best mp3 player out there. Here are some additional features I'd like."

Nonfiction TV?

December 28, 2004

So here's a bit about a pet peeve of mine for a while. CourtTV bills itself as "The Investigation Channel" and purports to be a channel of non-fiction programming. One of these non-fiction programs is Psychic Detectives. It is nothing but fantasy and "The Investigation Channel" does nothing to investigate the absurd claims of these crackpots. It would be wonderful to see CourtTV really take on the mantle of being an investigative channel and pursue the likes of psychic detectives as well as countless other money grubbing crooks out there. Where to begin how about kinesiology for a place to start after debunking the psychic detectives? The really sad part is on the National Geographic channel is Seconds from Disaster which does an excellent job of doing real research into incidents and finding out what happened in those critical seconds (and minutes) before disaster.

State of Fear by Michael Crichton

December 26, 2004

Traveling over the holidays gave me some time to catch up on listening to audiobooks. On the way home tonight I finished Michael Crichton's State of Fear. Wow. A lot to think about.

There is a central theme I'm sure I agree with. We must find a way to separate the funding of scientific research from the political process. Especially as the political process of the United States increasingly falls into religious realms the problems become greater. When we can label a disease such as AIDS as a "sinners" disease (and yes I know that is not proper, but it is an observation not an endorsement) it becomes easier to dismiss it as something that doesn't impact people like me, and therefore it can be ignored. With today's political funding of scientific research we're more likely to get the results that are desired by the funders than those representative of independent investigation.

The password problem

December 24, 2004

NoTrueBill has a post about Yahoo's choice to stand by its privacy policy and deny the family of a soldier killed in Iraq access to the deceased's email account.

The issue raises another problem, which is an extension of something that has been brought up on Slashdot before. What do you do to make sure that people can continue to access your data once you're no longer here? In some cases it's even more dificult, what happens to the servers when the person who knew the password is no longer here. Boone's post raises the suggestion that you might want people reading your email, but what about the server where your blog lives?

One possible solution is to keep an envelope sealed with common passwords in a safe place such as a safety deposit box. Of course this is only as good as the other people who may have access to the box and only if they will continue to have access. And of course it depends upon trusting those with access. It may be possible to keep them at a trusted attorney or similar location.

Family ties

December 24, 2004

Here's a bit of a belated post. Irwin "Ernie" Rose was part of a trio of scientists who were awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. It turns out Rose studied with an early biochemist, Orlin Biddulph, my grandfather, in the 1940's.

And miles to go before I sleep...

December 22, 2004

As Robert Frost wrote "the woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep." There are resolutions of all sizes to be made across the country in the days to come. In little more than a week 2005 will be upon us. We'll pause to mark the passing of those who have gone before and resolve to do things we knew we should be doing but never got around to it. One of my public resolutions is to end my all-to-long absence from Tuolumne Meadows. I've been to the tops of much larger mountains than those found in Yosemite, but there is just something so special about the high country of the Sierra Nevada that is unmatched, even by the larger Rockies. So 2005 will be a time for continuing my homecoming.

It seems likely now that the trip will even include the bus.

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