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Weblog: April 2001

Thursday, April 26 2001

"Biology Yearns to Be Free"

Wired news article presents some perspectives on whether the corps that develop "molecular machinery" that affect our bodies should have exclusive use of the technology they (will) build, and the knowledge they (will) generate.

Tuesday, April 24 2001

Beans Around the World

Courtesy of friend Sandy, the saga of Beans Around the World - a can of plain ol' beans photographed in various exotic (strange, anyway) locales.

TV Turnoff Week

It's going on right now, sponsored by Adbusters.

SFGate's Tim Goodman has a diatribe against TV Turnoff Week which I can't be sure is serious (or a joke): "Is the TV part of the family? One of the most valued members, assuredly."

FTC Fights for Privacy

FTC files lawsuits against three firms that dig up private information about individuals under false pretenses.

Thursday, April 19 2001

Brainy bees

Bees show some intelligence previously only attributed to humans and other primates; cognitive tests show they can distinguish between "same" and "different" things. Study to be published in Nature magazine.

Thursday, April 12 2001

Pay attention in math class

Due to either poor math skills or carelessness, jurors in the MP3 trial mistakenly awarded TVT Records $300,000 instead of $3 million in damages. They forgot to carry a zero.

Wednesday, April 11 2001

Blowin'

Friend Risa points out an article on part of the promotional campaign for the new movie Blow: replica cocaine-cutter mirrors.

Star Trek ergonomics

SFBG on lessons in ergonomics we could learn from Star Trek. (Just not the original series.)

Saturday, April 7 2001

California energy

The San Francisco Bay Guardian, the SF Bay Area's kick-ass progressive weekly, has a special section devoted to the California power crisis, including an article where they detail their opinion on whose fault it is.

One thing the SFBG constantly rails about: how a Supreme Court ruling requires SF to have a municipal electric utility. This week's SF Weekly, a corporate-owned (which translates into more lifestyle pieces, fewer political pieces) rival "alternative" weekly points out the flaws in the argument that San Francisco is required to, or even should, generate its own power.

From a while back, SFGate has an article detailing how the so-called energy shortage is actually a result of energy producers charging much higher prices for energy, rather than any surging demand on California's part. California's total energy usage, and "average peak demand" - a measure of the maximum energy needed by the state each day - increased only 5 percent from 1999 to 2000. In December 1999, electricity cost about $32/megawatt hour wholesale. In December 2000, when California's electricity usage declined by 1.46 percent, the peak wholesale price went up to $425.

As for myself, now that I've moved into my own 1-bedroom in the Mission, I've bought a couple of fluorescent lights, gonna get the landlord to weatherproof my doors, and gonna buy a solar-powered battery charger and run as many appliances as I can off of rechargeable batteries...

Wednesday, April 4 2001

That's My Bush!

In Salon.com's entertainment section, a review of Comedy Central's "That's My Bush!", the Parker/Stone sitcom about George Bush's family life.

"Comedy Central ordered Parker and Stone to drop their planned portrayal of Bush twins Jenna and Barbara as sexy lesbian lovers."

Tuesday, April 3 2001

The World's Magazine

G21 keeps on going. Current issue: school (and familial and chemical) violence and "the shape of emerging human organization".

Economy-Class Syndrome

Yes, flying coach can be dangerous; experts say you're more likely to form (possibly dangerous) blood clots if you're sitting in a cramped seat for a long time. As would be typical on a long airplane flight.

The Aviation Health website has an interview talking about adverse health effects of airplane flight. A more pro-airline, pro-flight brochure is at the Aerospace Medical Association website.

About this site

This is the personal web site for Edward (Ed) Piou. Consisting mainly of a blog (operational since 1999) and various photos.

Some online projects I'm working on

Politics

Charity, Non-profits...

A while ago, I decided to put my money where my mind is on a (roughly) monthly basis and give to:

Photos

Public events documented through pictures...