Cell Phones to Fight Tuberculosis
"Facing one of the worst tuberculosis epidemics in the world, South Africa has employed a formidable ally in its fight -- an army of cell phones. In a pilot project in Cape Town, roughly 300 patients were given cell phones to remind them to take their medication. The plan was devised in an effort to prevent missed doses or early abandonment of the treatment, which can lead to a more resistant form of TB and a strain on public health resources. So far, the project reports only one treatment interruption."

Women Among First I.T. Specialists Trained In Afghanistan
"The first graduating class of the University of Kabul's new Cisco Networking Academy completed their studies this month. The 17 students, including 6 women, were the first inside Afghanistan to complete a certified networking program. "I am now one of the first Afghan women with a world-class information technology certificate in Afghanistan," said Nabila Akbari, one of the academy's students. "My personal goal is to share this knowledge with other Afghans, especially Afghan women. I want very much to help my country build an advanced, high-tech networking system." The UN Development Program partnered with Cisco to introduce the training in Kabul, which for more than two decades has faced a severe shortage of high tech workers. "This graduating class is making history for Afghanistan," said UNDP Country Director Ercan Murat. "They are the first highly- trained computer specialists in Afghanistan who were trained in their own country. They now have the tools to make a difference at home.""

So you want to be a Web African programmer?
"An interesting look at the realities of high-tech in Africa running on NewsForge -- specifically, one writer's account of starting a web development company in Ghana, dealing with obstacles including power problems worse than the norm in deepest California."

Licensed To War Drive In New Hampshire
"A proposed bill in the New Hampshire state legislature would create legal protections for individuals who tap into unsecured wireless networks. The practice, know as "war driving," has gained popularity recently, to the chagrin of unwitting wireless network hosts. The issue is more broadly embraced by the grassroots "open network movement," which is attempting to create a worldwide grid of wireless access points. The law would require network operators to properly secure their networks from unintended outside use. While the bill is intended to protect those who happen to stumble upon a wireless network, some critics fear that it will provide a defense for malicious hackers."

Spreading The Digital World
"Putting a new spin on a tried and true idea, digital librarian Brewster Kahle introduced his Bookmobile at last week's O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference in Santa Clara, California. The Bookmobile does not actually carry printed books, however: it's equipped with a satellite, a printer, a book-binding machine and a searchable database of the 20,000 books currently part of the public domain. Kahle noted the decrease in flow of works into the public domain since the Eldred v. Ashcroft court decision, saying that he wanted to give people the opportunity to obtain public works for a low cost. The fee for downloading and printing a book is one dollar. Kahle lauded the government of India, which agreed to purchase 30 Bookmobiles on the spot at OETC. Eventually, he hopes that authors will see the simple technology employed by Bookmobile as incentive to publish their works in the public domain."

Blogs Opening Iranian Society?
"In Culture: Iran's restive youth are using Farsi-language blogs as an outlet to express repressed creativity and sexuality. But the Islamic government is slowly catching on. Michelle Delio reports from the BlogTalk conference in Vienna."

Hollywood's Uncensored Women
"'Complicated Women'? It sounds so redundant. But the documentary, based on a book by the same name, is about a special breed of complicated women, those portrayed in Hollywood movies of an enlightened moment known as the 'pre-Code era.'"

Telling Tales Out of School
"Teenage gossip was once scribbled on bathroom walls. Now, the Web is where the nasty rumors of the high school years can be found."

TV-show swapping catches Hollywood by surprise

Why on earth did this catch them by surprise??? HELLO, people have been trading shows through VHS for decades now. Digital versions just made that easier and helped to get around that whole VHS versus PAL problem. (Of course now we have DVD regioning...) Get with the program Hollywood! This wasn't that hard to predict.

Juhannus
28 June 2003, 10:36 AM

Got this reminder today from the Finnish list:

Today is Midsummer, in Finnish named Juhannus for the Christian calendar's Feast of St. John the Baptist. Held on the Saturday between the 21st and 26th of June, celebration includes the burning of the the Midsummer kokko (bonfire). Many Juhannus customs derive from pre-Christian, pan-European celebrations of light and fertility marking the summer solstice. It's also known as Finland's Flag Day. See Virtual Finland's description of Juhannus.

It's a little late (LAST Saturday was Juhannus according to this), but since I had a great summer-fun weekend last week and I'm going to a friend's backyard party today, I'll call it even. :-)

Friday Five
28 June 2003, 10:14 AM

Friday Five:

1. How are you planning to spend the summer [winter]?
   We were planning on going on vacation (to Vancouver Island) in August, but we've decided to put that off to next summer so that we don't strain our finances. It looks like this summer will be work, Spanish classes and a lot of unpacking and arranging this house!

2. 2. What was your first summer job?
   Arby's, as a cashier.

3. 3. If you could go anywhere this summer [winter], where would you go?
   Vancouver Island!!!! :-) Well... anywhere? Finland. Maybe Italy. Australia in our winter (their summer).

4. 4. What was your worst vacation ever?
   I don't really have an "worst" vacations. A couple of them had some moments, but that was it. I

5. 5. What was your best vacation ever?
   That too, is too hard to pick. There's been some really nice getaways in recent years, but then I also spent the entire summer in Finland with my grandmother when I was eight, and that was spectacular.

Printable version
<Prev | Next>

	November 2008October 2008August 2008April 2008March 2008February 2008January 2008November 2007October 2007September 2007August 2007July 2007June 2007May 2007April 2007March 2007January 2007December 2006November 2006October 2006September 2006August 2006June 2006April 2006March 2006February 2006January 2006December 2005November 2005October 2005September 2005August 2005July 2005June 2005May 2005April 2005March 2005February 2005January 2005December 2004November 2004October 2004September 2004August 2004July 2004June 2004May 2004April 2004March 2004February 2004January 2004December 2003November 2003October 2003September 2003August 2003July 2003June 2003May 2003April 2003March 2003February 2003January 2003December 2002November 2002October 2002September 2002August 2002July 2002
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
	22	23	24	25	26	27	28
	29	30