Day: January 15, 2002

Bizarre 9/11 Song

Imagine this odd set of circumstances: suppose that Ayn Rand was still alive and wrote a song about the 9/11 attacks which was subsequently recorded by some wannabe techno group. It might sound a little something like this (2.5 megabyte MP3 download).

Definitely not everyone’s cup of tea, but Prodos has always amused me, and he’s running almost as many web sites as I am. His December Walk for Capitalism was certainly a far more creative idea than anything mainstream libertarians have come up with over the last decade.

(Thanks to Fredrik Norman for finding this).

Bozo the Clown Getting a Little Sun

Today’s USA Today had a front page story about how much friction there is between Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and Scott McNealy. The best quote was from McNealy who derided Gates by saying something to the effect that even Bozo the Clown could run a monopoly.

Maybe, but Sun stockholders are still wondering why the real clown constantly makes the papers but can’t seem to keep Sun in the game. Even Gates isn’t dumb enough to think the future is still proprietary hardware solutions.

The Big Google Loser Is Not Domain Names, But Yahoo!

Dan Gillmor claims that with the advent of Google, domain names are no longer important. I bet to differ.

He notes that whereas in the past he would have might have hunted around for the web site for Via Technologies, today he just types in the company’s name into Google to find its web site. The main lesson there, though, is not that domain names are still important, but rather that directories like Yahoo! are probably toast over the long run.

Does anybody use Yahoo! anymore? Obviously that’s a bit facetious, but I almost never visit Yahoo! Two years ago if I wanted to find a web site about 19th century slave revolts, I probably would have navigated through Yahoo’s directory. Today I’d just spend a few moments searching for “slave revolt 19th century” and similar such terms until I find a few sites, and then go from there. I don’t think I’ve searched for any topics on Yahoo in at least 6 or 7 months.

As for domain names, they are still important if only as easy-to-remember markers to bring visitors back. On the one hand, for example, my animalrights.net site certainly benefits from Google. On the other hand, I’m certain it receives a lot of return traffic simply because animalrights.net is very easy to remember. Similarly, I find it very nice that if anyone asks me for the address of personal web site, I can smile and tell them it is just simply Brian.Carnell.Com.

I know this works from personal experience. Three sites I visit regularly are Steven Denbeste’s site – Denbste.Nu, Fredrik Norman’s site – FredrikNorman.Com, and Glenn Reynolds’ InstaPundit.Com (which isn’t a name, but is very easy to remember and very descriptive of the site).

Gillmor says he’s letting his domain names lapse, but I’ve been registering cool ones. Seth Dillingham was nice enough to alert me to an awesome domain name that was available, and which I subsequently registered, DevilsAdvocate.Org, and I’ve had other people e-mail ideas for very cool domain names that are still available. Given how cheap domain names are, it’s still a good idea to grab one for your site rather than rely solely on Google for people to find your site.

The Problems with Facial Recognition Software

Even before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, facial recognition software was being touted as the next big thing in law enforcement to capture criminals. The technology received a big boost when it was used at the 2001 Super Bowl, and apparently will be used at the 2002 Super Bowl as well. The only problem is, as the American Civil Liberties Union documented in a recent report, the technology simply does not work.

The Tampa Police Department in Florida bought and installed a facial recognition system called Face-It, which is manufactured by Visionics Corporation. The system went into use on June 29, 2001, and the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain the log sheets filed by the officers who monitored the system. Although Face-It was apparently abandoned by the Tampa police in early August, its record in the intervening month and a half was pretty clear — not only was there not a single suspect arrested, but the system apparently never accurately identified even one person.

Not that Face-It did not produce a lot of matches — it did, but all of the matches were false positives. Some were the sort of false positives that human beings would be very unlikely to make, such as matching women’s faces to male suspects. In other cases, the logs indicated that the age, weight and other features of the faces that came up as “matches” made it obvious that the person identified by Face-It was not the suspect in the database.

On August 11, 2001, the system was suspended by the Tampa Police Department. A department spokesperson told the ACLU that this was due to redistricting in Tampa and the need to train new officers, but the ACLU was rightly skeptical of this claim noting that, “it is reasonable to assume that the professionals in the Tampa PD would not have let the system sit unused for so long because of a mere redistricting process had they previously found facial recognition to be a valuable tool in the effort to combat crime.”

Aside from the fact that the system did not work, the ACLU also discovered something very disturbing — the database the Tampa Police Department used included not only photos of suspects wanted for questioning related to specific rimes, but also people who had criminal records or who the police identified as possibly having “valuable intelligence” for the police. As the ACLU argues, that raises the specter of individuals being tracked without any sort of court oversight simply because the police decide he or she might have some “valuable intelligence” or in some other way is worth monitoring.

Source:

Drawing a Blank: the failure of facial recognition technology in Tampa, Florida. Jay Stanley and Barry Steinhardt, American Civil Liberties Union, January 3, 2002.

Foreclosure Proceedings Against the Coulston Foundation Begin

The First National Bank in Alamogordo, New Mexico filed papers this month to foreclose on the Coulston Foundation. The Coulston Foundation is a biomedical firm that conducts research with non-human primates. It has been targeted for years by animal rights activists, and shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Animal Liberation Front Activists fire bombed a Coulston building causing an estimated $1 million in damage.

The First National Bank claims the foundation has an outstanding principal of more than $400,000 on a $1 million loan the foundation obtained in 1997, a mortgage dating back to 1989 which has been modified at least 5 times, and a $50,598 loan obtained in 1998. In addition the First National Bank claims Coulston has obtained other loans which remain unpaid.

The bank is claiming that Coulston has defaulted on its various loans and wants the court to appoint a special master to foreclose on the foundation and sell the property owned by the company to repay the loan.

In Defense of Animals was touting this as the final nail in the coffin for Coulston as a viable business, and so far representatives of the Coulston Foundation have been unwilling to talk about First National Bank’s filing.

Source:

Bank files for foreclosure of Coulston Foundation. Michael Shinabery, Alamogordo Daily News (New Mexico), January 7, 2002.

PETA Asks State Park Officials to Ban Fishing in State Parks

Over the past couple months, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has been sending letters to officials responsible for state parks asking them to ban fishing. The letters are being sent by PETA’s Dan Shannon, and here’s a typical one sent to the North Dakota Parks and Recreation,

October 31, 2001

Doug Perchal

North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department

1835 Bismarck Expressway

Bismarck, ND 58504

Dear Mr. Perchal:

On behalf of PETAÂ’s more than 750,000 members and supporters, as well as the fish, birds, and other animals that make North Dakota state parks their home, we respectfully request that fishing be banned in all North Dakota state parks.

According to an article in U.S. News & World Report (“Parks in Peril,” July 21, 1997), the park system is bending under the pressure of encroachment, underfunding, overcrowding, and pollution. Eliminating fishing and its harmful effects would take some of this pressure off of the parks and their inhabitants.

The violent process of fishing and its consequences do not complement the peace and tranquility of a state park. As you know, fish have a neurochemical system like ours and thus the brain capacity to experience fear and pain. Fish who are torn from the water suffer from being impaled, thrown, stepped on, or mutilated while alive. Many die slowly and painfully from suffocation.

Fishing has other victims, too: In one case among many, a young bald eagle was found by the National Park Service, near death because of injuries to his feet caused by fishing line that had cut through his flesh, resulting in a systemic infection and intense suffering. He required intensive daily care for three months before he was successfully released. Not all animals are as lucky. Millions of birds and other animals suffer, and many die, from injuries caused by discarded fishing hooks, monofilament line, lead weights, and floats. Animals who become entangled in fishing line are often trapped underwater and drown or, unable to feed, die slowly of starvation. In fact, many wildlife rehabilitators tell us that fishing litter is the single greatest cause of injuries to aquatic animals.

North Dakota state parks have already made the compassionate choice to ban hunting, and we are asking you to take the next step. Fishing is just hunting in the water. The tide is turning on sportfishing with the widespread recognition of the sentience of fish and the desire to live a more compassionate, less harmful life. After reading the enclosed materials, we hope you will make the decision to ban fishing in North Dakota state parks and turn them into true havens for all.

Please contact me if you have any questions. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Dan Shannon

“Fishing Hurts” Campaign

Not surprisingly, PETA does not seem to be having much success. As a spokesman for Missouri’s State Parks told the St. Louis Dispatch after it received a letter from Shannon, “I can’t see any circumstances ever where parks wouldn’t open for fishing.”

In fact, while many Americans might be ambivalent about hunting, fishing remains very popular. In a Harris poll of Americans which asked people to rank their favorite leisure activities, fishing came in 3rd tied with spending time with family and kids, and behind only reading and watching television.

Sources:

PETA faces uphill battle on fishing issue. Tim Renken, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 29, 2001.

Reading, TV, Spending Time with Family, Gardening and Fishing Top List of Favorite Leisure-Time Activities. Humphrey Taylor, Harris Interactive, August 8, 2001.

PETA Hopes to Sink Fishing in North Dakota State Parks. Dan Shannon, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Press Release, October 31, 2001.