Stanford plans to reduce its campus carbon impact by as much as 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, far exceeding the aggressive goals of California's landmark legislation, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.
Stanford
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Stanford News Headlines
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Faculty Senate to hear report on Stanford's Energy and Climate Plan
5 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am -
H1N1 vaccine still expected; flu cases appear to be declining
5 Nov 2009 | 12:00 amThe university is poised to administer the H1N1 vaccine as soon as it arrives, health officials say. -
Pulitzer finalist spotlights race, identity in the 1950s
5 Nov 2009 | 12:00 amA collaboration between the Drama Department and Blackstage Theater Company, Bulrusher will be performed Nov. 5-7 at the Nitery Theater. -
H1N1 vaccine still expected; flu cases appear to be declining
5 Nov 2009 | 12:00 amThe university is poised to administer the H1N1 vaccine as soon as it arrives, health officials say. -
Paul Ehrlich: Change human behavior or global civilization is doomed
5 Nov 2009 | 12:00 amPaul Ehrlich, professor of ecology, is in Barcelona to receive the Margalef Prize for lifetime achievement in Ecology and Environmental Sciences.
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Stanford University Press Blog
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Punishment - A Self-Conscious Act?
3 Nov 2009 | 4:40 pmI think that most of us can agree that punishment is often the most effective way to enforce certain rules. We associate punishment with what is right and good – it is not a selfish act, but a necessary one. What if someone told you there are other motives to punishing a person? In a recent article in the Science Daily, Christine Horne explains that “We punish because we care what people think of us.” In her book The Rewards of Punishment: A Relational Theory of Norm Enforcement, Horne develops her theory further, finding that the more cohesive the group is, the more likely that… -
Love Letters Spell out a Lifetime
1 Nov 2009 | 11:17 amThe love and life of Robinson Jeffers, one of the most prominent American poets of the 20th century, is recorded in time by the newly published love letters between him and his eventual wife, Una. The volume, The Collected Letters of Robinson Jeffers With Selected Letters from Una Jeffers 1890-1930, is the first of three that will chronicle Jeffers’ life. The book is praised and quoted in a recent article by Cynthia Haven of the Stanford Report, “For those who think of Jeffers as the craggy, roughhewn poet of the Pacific Coast, the letters show something of the heart of the man who wrote:… -
Innovation helps shape the HP Way
26 Oct 2009 | 3:25 pmLooking at the histories of big companies, we often contribute their successes to the competent leaders and the loyal employees who follow their direction. But what if defiance could be even more of a breakthrough for a company’s success? In their book, The HP Phenomenon: Innovation and Business Transformation, Charles H. House and Raymond L. Price explain how not following the leader can yield great results for the individual, the leader, and the company. In a recent review in Forbes, George Anders commends House and Price for pointing out many of these sorts of bottom-up instances of… -
Are you in need of a transformation? Goldman on Transforming Toxic Leaders
20 Oct 2009 | 12:53 pmWe all encounter problems in the workplace at one time or another: your boss is too hard on you, you don’t get along with your co-workers. But these are minor complaints that most of us learn to deal with. Lately, there have been major concerns coming up about toxicity in the workplace. Alan Goldman, author of Transforming Toxic Leaders, discusses in an interview on Psychjourney Podcasts how “toxic” leaders affect the workplace and how, many times, a transformation of the organization of the system is what can remedy a toxic situation, not just an adjustment of the leader themselves. -
Demands for Net Neutrality: What have we been missing?
16 Oct 2009 | 2:48 pmMost of us like to think that we have control over what we view on the internet, but as recent controversies involving broadband providers and internet search engines suggest -- perhaps we don’t. In an Op-Ed in the Short Stack column of The Washington Post, Dawn Nunziato addresses the issue of protecting free speech in the internet age. Nunziato, author of Virtual Freedom: Net Neutrality and Free Speech in the Internet Age, draws on her knowledge and research of First Amendment violations on the internet to uncover how internet providers and websites are limiting users’ freedom.Nunziato…
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The Unofficial Stanford Blog
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Harvest Party and Pumpkin Muffin Recipe
6 Nov 2009 | 2:22 pmStudents for a Sustainable Stanford and FEED held their potentially-annual harvest party in White Plaza today. As if having the opportunity to dance like a tree to live bluegrass music didn't make my inner hippie orgasm enough, I also left with my face painted and a tummy full of homemade pumpkin muffins (made with REAL pumpkins - click here for recipe) and fresh persimmons. Well done my farm-loving friends, well done. The wheel of compost knowledge wows yet another unsuspecting bystander. Live bluegrass sets an amicable tone. Seedlings that will grow into beautiful plants (assuming they… -
Claw To Get New Innards
6 Nov 2009 | 2:05 pmIf you've been in White Plaza lately, you may have noticed that its centerpiece, The Claw, has been dry. The fountain is normally a repository for pennies and toes on a warm day, but without water, it resembles something out of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. Why? Ted Tucholski, grounds manager at Stanford, explains: "The fountain has been off due to renovation and installation of a new filtration system . It is now off so that the piping to the bubblers in the sculptural part can be replaced . This is being done to increase the efficiency of the fountain and to conserve water." So there you go. The… -
Happy Guy Fawkes Day
5 Nov 2009 | 1:09 pmRemember, remember the 5th of November... Greetings from Stanford at Oxford where we are currently celebrating Guy Fawkes Day with plenty of festivals and fireworks! So today is basically a national holiday commemorating the prevention of a terrorist attack on London in 1605. See V for Vendetta for details... Oxford is awesome, so we thought we would cue you in on a little bit of fun we are having from across the pond... For Halloween we got into the true Stanford spirit and had a progressive because Halloween here isn't that big of a deal. Although the British only dress up in 'scary'… -
Camp Wellstone coming to Stanford!
3 Nov 2009 | 7:28 pmThis weekend, Camp Wellstone is coming to campus! What is Camp Wellstone? According to wellstone.org, "Campus Camp Wellstone trains students nationwide on how to run energized, community building, winningcampaigns. We focus on campus and community organizing and young voter engagement." Last year at this time, around November 2008, Stanford was in the midst of a upswell of political engagement and activism, and the country was about to elect its new leader. One year later, there's still work to be done (as we follow the #VoteNoOn1 hash tag tonight), as thought leaders, activists and… -
Prolific Author Joyce Carol Oates Offers Writing Advice in Colloquium
3 Nov 2009 | 12:42 pmFollowing her reading last night, Joyce Carol Oates doled out writing (and life) advice as part of the more intimate colloquium this morning. Oates began with, ended with, and repeatedly emphasized throughout a quote by Bernard Malamud: "Write your heart out." She drew heavily upon her past experiences as a writer--one of the most prolific of the modern era--to provide advice and debunk common misconceptions held by young writers. Joyce Carol Oates on writing, from the colloquium: On happiness: "Happy people are great to have around--everyone wants to marry a cheerful person--but you don't…
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d.school news
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(Thurs. 11/5 @ 5:30pm) d.school Winter/Spring classes info session
4 Nov 2009 | 4:54 pmCalling all Stanford University Graduate Students!Come to the d.school for an info session about our 2010 Winter AND Spring quarter classes on the evening of Thursday, November 5, from 5:30 - 7:00 PM. (that's TOMORROW!!)Preview classes that might interest you for 2010. We'll have a succession of quick overviews of all the upcoming classes (that we know about), followed by small breakout sessions with the teaching teams for you to learn more about specific classes. -
d.school Tailgate BBQ
3 Nov 2009 | 3:31 pmWe are inviting the whole d.school community (you!) to a tailgate BBQ this Saturday.Come hang out with the d.school community.Saturday November 7, 11 am on Maloney Field near the corner of El Camino Real and Sam MacDonald Road. Head off to the game [12:30 pm start] or stay with us into the afternoon.We'll have BBQ food, drinks, and fun people. You bring a dessert to share.Excited to see you all there! Please RSVP (dschoolrsvp@gmail.com), to let us know how many people (including yourself!) you'll be bringing ... You can find Maloney Field next to Stanford Stadium on this map -
Our Newest d.school Ambassador
30 Oct 2009 | 11:31 amCharlie Ellinger, our Senior Administrator, Rock of Gibraltar, and all around adult supervision is retiring today! Charlie has been with the d.school since before there even WAS a d.school (let's hope the authorities don't hear about that, though). We're sad we won't have her enthusiastic and anchoring presence around every day from now on. But we're thrilled to launch her into retirement as our newest d.school Ambassador, and to hear about her ongoing travels and activities when she comes to visit often (hint hint...). Bon Voyage and see you soon d.charlie! -
Redesigning Retirement
27 Oct 2009 | 2:48 pmOur Bootcamp students wrapped up their second design projects this week, and the results were spectacular. Twelve teams spent three weeks using the design process to re-invent “the Golden Years” for rebellious Baby Boomers. Students were asked to give particular focus to the empathy phase of the process, and develop a strong user Point of View (POV). How do you do that? Partly by getting out into the world, spending time with people to understand their needs, then narrowing down to develop your solution when you’ve found a really rich need. Here’s an example of how… -
Question of the day
23 Oct 2009 | 6:00 amOur bootcamp students are deep in prototype-test-iterate cycles for their second design project, and they’re asking a question that’s fairly universal for design-process learners: Do I have to test my prototype with the same users I designed it for? The short answer is: Heck no! It’s always best to get as far out of your own experience as possible when you’re looking for users, because outside your comfort zone is where you’ll find the deepest insights. But when it’s crunch time and you’re zooming through prototypes, don’t be constrained because you don’t feel like you have…
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VentureBlog
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Welcome Reid Hoffman to the VC Side of the Table
5 Nov 2009 | 2:40 pmFirst came the announcement earlier in the year that Marc Andreessen was joining the ranks of "capital" -- a welcomed defection from "labor." And now my friend Reid Hoffman has jumped into the fray as well, joining Greylock Partners in their new fund (although he is not quite abandoning "labor" -- for the time being he will continue on as Executive Chairman of LinkedIn). Having two superstars like Marc and Reid join the venture business is excellent news at a time when the press is gleefully touting the demise of our profession. While the venture business is, no doubt, under serious pressure… -
Lessons from Rajeev Motwani's and Craig Johnson's Lives
12 Oct 2009 | 4:07 amIn the past three weeks, I have attended 2 memorial services and 2 brises. The brises celebrated the births of two future superstars -- the sons of four of the smartest entrepreneurs and venture investors in the Bay Area. The memorial services celebrated the lives of two recently deceased superstars -- both entrepreneurs and venture investors in their own right. As I listened to the stories of the lives these great men had lived, and listened to the toasts and prayers for these great men-to-be, it struck me that there were lessons to be learned for entrepreneurs and venture investors alike. -
Pen and Paper are Mightier Than the Laptop
29 Sep 2009 | 7:37 pmRelatively recently I hosted a meeting of the advisors to one of my portfolio companies. It was an impressive group of tech veterans. Each of them had been involved in the building of multi-million dollar high tech companies. Yet, what struck me about this summit was how many of these computer gurus carried with him a good, old fashioned notebook. Two varieties seemed to dominate the gathering -- the classic, leather-bound Moleskin and the pocket-sized graph paper Rhodia. I was surprised to see so much scribbling and so little typing. Since that meeting, I have kept my eyes out for this… -
Fueling the IPO Fire? or Burning it Out?
21 Sep 2009 | 1:00 amThis weekend I was reading a blog post written by Chris Douvos. Chris is an investor in a number of well-known venture firms and writes a blog called Super LP. His commentary always cracks me up, even when he's writing about the finer points of risk curves, financial models and the like. In his post entitled "Keeping the Window Open," Chris cautions the investor community to not be too overzealous in taking companies public during this time when the gently re-emerging market is so fragile. As he rightfully points out, those companies that go public and then promptly miss their numbers, not… -
Venture Capitalist At Your Service
8 Sep 2009 | 10:08 amWhen I first became a Venture Capitalist, I had been a practicing attorney and my partner Dave passed on the somber news that he believed there was a good chance that I would fail at the venture business. He explained to me that lawyers were "agents" and Venture Capitalists were "principals" and that being good at one was no indicator of being good at the other -- in fact, Dave felt that being a good agent suggested you would not likely make the leap to being a good principal (but, hey, he liked me so we'd give it a go). Dave's assessment wasn't without historical support. If you look at the…
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Clastic Detritus
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Going to be quiet here for a while
28 Oct 2009 | 8:24 amJust a quick note. Unfortunately, my lack of posting will continue for a little longer. In addition to trying to finish up a manuscript in my “free time” I will be traveling for the next couple of weeks for work (nowhere exotic, unfortunately). If you want, you can follow me on Twitter — twitter.com/clasticdetritus — although I can’t guarantee it will be interesting in any way. These days it consists of me tweeting about working on the manuscript mentioned above and lamenting the actions of people like Joe Lieberman. In the meantime, here are a few internet… -
Friday Field Foto #96: A view of Aconcagua from the air
23 Oct 2009 | 4:00 amThis week’s Friday Field Foto is one I snapped as the flight from North America I was on was starting it’s decent into Santiago, Chile. It was about an hour or so after sunrise and when I opened the window shade I saw this: Cerro Aconcagua (© 2009 clasticdetritus.com) Cerro Aconcongua (6,962 m/22,841 ft) is in the Andes Mountain range between Mendoza, Argentina and Santiago, Chile and is the highest peak in the western hemisphere. A very nice view to wake up to after a long flight. Below I try to recreate the view in GoogleEarth … close enough. credit: GoogleEarth Happy… -
GSA in Portland: Wrap-up
22 Oct 2009 | 3:46 pmI meant to blog about the 2009 GSA meeting in Portland each day but … well, I didn’t. This is mainly due to the fact that I spent each evening with friends I haven’t seen in a long time (or with friends I’ve never met in person) combined with a lack of internet access in my hotel room. And, even though, there was free and abundant internet access at the convention center I found it very difficult to find the time to sit down and collect my thoughts. The fact that conferences are so whirlwind and busy is why I like them — but, is not the best for blogging. -
GSA in Portland: Monday
19 Oct 2009 | 5:18 pmToday was my first day at the 2009 GSA conference in Portland. I arrived yesterday (Sunday) afternoon and didn’t do much at all in terms of technical sessions. My PhD adviser invited a bunch of his former and current students all out to dinner — ended up being about 20 of us. It was a lot of fun — a diverse group of people spanning a couple of decades. This morning I woke up early-ish and worked on my talk (which is Tues at 3:30pm) for about an hour in my hotel room. I then headed over to the convention center and met with a couple of fellow Patagonian researcher colleagues… -
GSA conference in Portland
16 Oct 2009 | 8:48 amAs many of you know the 2009 Geological Society of America (GSA) conference is in Portland, Oregon from this Sunday (Oct 18) through Wednesday (Oct 21). I will be heading up to give a talk about some work I did for my Ph.D. about the provenance and tectonics of the Cretaceous Magallanes foreland basin in Patagonia. I’ve posted before about the studies in Patagonia that focused on the sedimentology and stratigraphic architecture of a particular formation (see here), but the research I will talk about at GSA summarizes more regional and longer-term patterns related to how the basin…
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Thoughtful Ideas
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15 Oct 2009 | 9:24 am
15 Oct 2009 | 9:24 amThursday’s MusingsJob creation is the top concern of the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats. The several million lost jobs and millions more underemployed are creating real hardship for the affected, and imperiling Democrat election prospects in 2010 and 2012. Imagine, then, that China has to create 15 million jobs a year to keep pace with its graduates and those moving from the countryside to cities. And, for the most part, it has succeeded.It would be good for the U.S. dollar to lose its reserve currency status. The U.S. is able to issue debt in its own currency. If it could… -
8 Oct 2009 | 1:00 pm
8 Oct 2009 | 1:00 pmThursday’s ThoughtsIn years to come, immigration reform will doubtless extend government subsidized health care to illegal immigrants, either by granting them amnesty, or because the courts will rule that excluding them is discriminatory. Since every human life is valuable, why not include in health care/insurance reform all Mexicans living within ten miles of the U.S. border?China has managed the financial crisis of 2008-09 better than the U.S. and all other Western industrial democracies. Let’s invite some of the leading Chinese economists and financial officials to lecture our… -
2 Oct 2009 | 8:55 am
2 Oct 2009 | 8:55 amRehabilitation of the Sheriff of NottinghamIt has been an American tradition that each generation could look forward to a higher standard of living than its predecessor. No more.Robin Hood stole the onerous taxes taken from the poor by the Sheriff of Nottingham and gave the money back to them. This much maligned sheriff has been rehabilitated in the twenty-first century.Bush and Obama, aided and abetted by Republican and Democrat congresses, have burdened future generations of Americans with a large and growing public debt to finance wars, maintain entitlements, create new entitlements,… -
24 Sep 2009 | 10:12 am
24 Sep 2009 | 10:12 amEconomists at War: A Macroeconomics Soap OperaThe macroeconomics blogosphere is daily theater few dramas can match. The world’s leading economists are engaged in a great debate, often going for the jugular, asserting who is right and who is wrong in the choice of intellectual framework (Keynesian, classical, behavioral, Austrian, hybrid) that best explains the "Great Recession," and how to resolve the financial crisis and its aftermath.Those at war include leading professors at Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, Chicago, Berkeley, Stanford, George Mason, Oxford (apologies to those not… -
21 Sep 2009 | 11:09 am
21 Sep 2009 | 11:09 amRacism and the Race CardPolitical debate is increasingly supercharged with claims of racism (Obama supporters) and playing the race card (anti-Obamians). Immigration reform, which is coming back to life, is being cast as anti-Hispanic by its proponents, largely Democrats, who expect newly legalized Hispanics to disproportionately vote Democrat. The Republican Party is being cast as a party of the South. Racial, ethnic, and geographic divisions are increasingly pitting Americans against each other.On the international front, the Dayton Accord, which resolved the conflict in Bosnia and…
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Folding@home
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Updates on new cores: Protomol and GPU3 core
22 Oct 2009 | 10:07 amThere has been a lot of work on updating the Protomol core to bring it in line with the other cores in Folding@home. I'm happy to say that a lot of progress has been made and it's looking much better. Joe will continue to test it, but it looks close to be moving to the next levels of QA.The GPU3 core is also moving along. It will be called core_15 (the natural next number in the GPU series). The main changes there have been to incorporate the updated GPU code from OpenMM. OpenMM was based on our FAH GPU MD code to start, but has had several enhancements and additions. In… -
New servers coming soon
13 Oct 2009 | 7:01 pmWe've ordered a new class of servers which should make a big impact on FAH server load, and also allow us to release several new big projects with more WUs. We're very excited about this since we've been limited by server space recently, which has also lead to WU shortages. The new servers each have 24 x 2TB drives, so we should have plenty of space.The servers should physically arrive next week, so including set up time, WU testing protocols, etc, it will still take a few weeks to get the new WUs out broadly, but at least the ball is rolling. -
Update on new FAH cores and clients
25 Sep 2009 | 11:42 amWe have been pretty busy with new cores for FAH and I wanted to give donors an update.1) SMP2: Gromacs and Desmond. Much effort has gone into our "SMP2" project, the codename for the second generation SMP client. The main goal here was to make it MUCH easier to use. In order to do that, it meant getting rid of our use of MPI. We have had two approaches to this. Both ditch MPI by using threads instead. One was to switch to a new piece of software for the core. This has led to the "Desmond" core, based on software from DE Shaw Research. The second approach… -
Stanford IT has alerted us to a potential problem with our ISP
18 Sep 2009 | 12:37 pmWe're monitoring the situation, but apparently Stanford's ISP is having some sort of issues. I'll update it here as the day goes on as we learn more. -
FAH work highlighted in Biomedical Computing Review
17 Sep 2009 | 3:00 pmTwo key parts of FAH technology -- OpenMM (the software that powers FAH on GPUs) and MSMbuilder (the algorithms that FAH uses to stitch together hundreds of thousands of donor simulations to get coherent results) are highlighted in this months Biomedical Computing Review. You can download a copy herehttp://biomedicalcomputationreview.org/5/4/index.html
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Jackson Blog
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Mickey 2.0
6 Nov 2009 | 11:46 amTwo centuries ago Robert Burns famously wrote "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, gang aft agley". Words to be heeded, perhaps, by top dogs at Disney today. According to an article in the New York Times, the corporation is embarking on a risky remake of its pop culture fixture Mickey Mouse. A new, more cantankerous and cunning Mickey will make his appearance in a coming video game. For decades Mickey has been carefully preserved in cultural formaldehyde, but the market for mouse momentos has been shrinking, so Disney execs feel it is time to update their icon for a new generation. They… -
SBA Channel
3 Nov 2009 | 4:26 pmThe Small Business Administration has its own YouTube channel, where you can view video interviews with successful entrepreneurs who share the lessons they've learned about owning a small business. Pick the topic that interests you or sit back watch all the videos. -
Ready For Prime Time
2 Nov 2009 | 4:25 pmAccording to data released by comScore, a whopping 125.5 million Americans watched some 10.3 billion YouTube videos in September alone. That's an average of 154 videos per viewer; the average online viewer watched 9.8 hours of video that month. Move over television -- there's a new boob tube in town. -
Venture Capital is still breathing
2 Nov 2009 | 11:56 amThe VC industry has had a tough year but the firm Greylock Partners, has put together a new $575 million fund, one of the biggest to be created in the last year. A New York Times article goes on to say "The venture industry has been pummeled in the last year by dismal conditions that have made it difficult for start-ups to go public or get acquired by bigger companies. Many have predicted that the number of venture firms could shrink by as much as half." What the industry will look like in a year is anyone's guess, but for now it's still alive and kicking. -
Sweet Tweet
29 Oct 2009 | 2:39 pmGuy Kawasaki has become a Twitter evangelist. His new blog entry, Current Twitter Demo Script, is a compendium of links he uses to demo Twitter and spread awareness of Twitter as a marketing tool. Included are tips on Twittering for maximum effectiveness. Sweet.
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Folding@home
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Updates on new cores: Protomol and GPU3 core
22 Oct 2009 | 10:07 amThere has been a lot of work on updating the Protomol core to bring it in line with the other cores in Folding@home. I'm happy to say that a lot of progress has been made and it's looking much better. Joe will continue to test it, but it looks close to be moving to the next levels of QA.The GPU3 core is also moving along. It will be called core_15 (the natural next number in the GPU series). The main changes there have been to incorporate the updated GPU code from OpenMM. OpenMM was based on our FAH GPU MD code to start, but has had several… -
New servers coming soon
13 Oct 2009 | 7:01 pmWe've ordered a new class of servers which should make a big impact on FAH server load, and also allow us to release several new big projects with more WUs. We're very excited about this since we've been limited by server space recently, which has also lead to WU shortages. The new servers each have 24 x 2TB drives, so we should have plenty of space.The servers should physically arrive next week, so including set up time, WU testing protocols, etc, it will still take a few weeks to get the new WUs out broadly, but at least the ball is rolling. -
Update on new FAH cores and clients
25 Sep 2009 | 11:42 amWe have been pretty busy with new cores for FAH and I wanted to give donors an update.1) SMP2: Gromacs and Desmond. Much effort has gone into our "SMP2" project, the codename for the second generation SMP client. The main goal here was to make it MUCH easier to use. In order to do that, it meant getting rid of our use of MPI. We have had two approaches to this. Both ditch MPI by using threads instead. One was to switch to a new piece of software for the core. This has led to the "Desmond" core, based on software from DE Shaw… -
Stanford IT has alerted us to a potential problem with our ISP
18 Sep 2009 | 12:37 pmWe're monitoring the situation, but apparently Stanford's ISP is having some sort of issues. I'll update it here as the day goes on as we learn more. -
FAH work highlighted in Biomedical Computing Review
17 Sep 2009 | 3:00 pmTwo key parts of FAH technology -- OpenMM (the software that powers FAH on GPUs) and MSMbuilder (the algorithms that FAH uses to stitch together hundreds of thousands of donor simulations to get coherent results) are highlighted in this months Biomedical Computing Review. You can download a copy herehttp://biomedicalcomputationreview.org/5/4/index.html
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metacool
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Unabashed Gearhead Gnarlyness
31 Oct 2009 | 3:29 pmFinally got me a proper racing helmet! A boyhood dream come true.Many thanks to everyone who helped me pick the right one and get it set up with graphics: Jeff, Katie, Gerry, Diem, David, and Helen.And I'd like to thank my sponsors, blah blah blah blah metacool. -
Liu Lecture Series in Design at Stanford
25 Oct 2009 | 3:43 pm -
What are you going to do today?
8 Oct 2009 | 7:28 amThe Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10cWilliam Kamkwambawww.thedailyshow.comDaily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorRon Paul Interview Be sure to check out William's blog -
Update: My Hipster Doofus Dutch Bike Project, or another episode of Unabashed Gearhead Gnarlyness
7 Oct 2009 | 9:57 pmI bought a Breezer bike last year, and was really happy with it, but as I just can't leave well enough alone, I took to tweaking it. My objective? To turn it into a true object of hipster doofus lust, to make it a stealthy mountain-urban bike in Dutch city bike's clothing.I'm kicking myself for not taking a "before" photo, but trust me when I say that the bike looks much better now: I've swapped out the stock seat, handlebars, and grips for some much tastier items from Brooks, Nitto, and a Portuguese cork farmer. And the grips are shellacked,… -
The future of NPR
6 Oct 2009 | 8:08 amAnd now for something not-so-completely-different, on Friday I'm participating in a Digital Think In for National Public Radio. A group of us are going to spend the day formulating and envisioning a digital media strategy for NPR. I'm really excited, as there's going to be some juicy business design involved, especially as we work with issues around the "social", "open", and "platform" aspects of their service.Anyhow, if you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them -- please drop me an email or leave a comment. The official…
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simon jackman's blog
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IAD-SFO, UAL 915, 11/06/2009
6 Nov 2009 | 6:26 pmUAL 915. No upgrade. 8D, aisle seat on an A320. Not a disaster… Although it is the 2nd time I’ve done that flight in 8 days. Light chop for much of the way after Denver, some mountain wave was coming off the Rockies as well. Flying the Modesto 3 STAR, we entered a hold at CEDES along with a whole bunch of other aircraft, since SFO couldn’t do parallel ops on the 28s. Ch9 was up, and I was dismayed to hear that we could be out here for 30mins (I’m drafting this while we’re in the hold). We got a clearance pretty shortly after that, probably only 8 mins in the hold… -
Coburn amendment
6 Nov 2009 | 6:44 amThe Coburn amendment to cut political science funding from the NSF was defeated yesterday. There were some interesting breaks across party lines on this one: McCaskill (D-MO) voted to kill, but the Republican MO senator voted the other way. A similar pattern in Nebraska. Evan Bayh voted to kill NSF funding of polisci. Ironically, I am at NSF and can’t do an analysis of the vote from behind the firewall etc (blogging my iPhone right now). -
SFO-IAD, UAL 220 11/04/2009
4 Nov 2009 | 10:36 pmTrips to DC usually start with a pre-dawn wakeup in California, screaming up the 101 to SFO ahead of the morning rush, mixing it up with perfumed/cologned business types in the security line, and discovering that you’re 12th on an upgrade list 80 names long, with 2 seats remaining in 1st class, making you wonder what the hell is 1K good for when SFO is your home market. Not today. I took the late flight, 3.50pm departure. A morning of work in Palo Alto, ran a seminar at Stanford at noon, lunch with a colleague, then 2pm ride to airport. Got the upgrade, seat 2D on a 757. Seatguru is… -
Bayesian Analysis for the Social Sciences (my book)
3 Nov 2009 | 6:00 amI got some advance copies from the publisher. I’ve been on the road with some talks etc, found these waiting from me on my return to the office. It lives. -
Measuring democracy, and things like that
2 Nov 2009 | 11:36 amSome slides from a talk I gave at a conference sponsored by the American Political Science Association on “Democracy Audits and Governmental Indicators” at the University of California, Berkeley, October 30-31, 2009. The graphic below shows the estimates of country-level democracy for the year 2000 (with marginal 95% credible intervals) that Shawn Treier and I estimated using the Polity IV indicators (a better quality version appears in the slides). Plus an early attempt at cross-national measurement of regime type (complete with uncertainty bounds), a nice parting gift from our…
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Fairly Used
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Disability access comments due to Copyright Office Nov 13
22 Oct 2009 | 5:11 pmCopyright Office Notice of Inquiry and Request for Comments onthe Topic of Facilitating Access to Copyrighted Works for the Blind orOther Persons With DisabilitiesThe proposal would permit the cross-border import,export and qualified distribution of copyrighted works in accessibleformats without the permission of the rights holders, including tocountries that presently lack, in their national laws, a specificcopyright exception or other legal framework for serving the visuallyimpaired. The proposal would also permit the circumvention oftechnological protection measures for the purpose of… -
Mostly bad news for educational fair use
18 Oct 2009 | 4:28 am(posted by Peter Hirtle; cross-posted from http://blog.librarylaw.com)Earlier this fall I wrote about what I called "the other coursepack case" (in Michigan, as opposed to the Georgia State case). Partial summary judgment has been granted, and it is a mixed bag for educational fair use. In the decision, the judge rejected all of the defenses that the defendant, Excel Copying, put forward. First, the court rejected, as I suspected it would, the argument that the licenses secured by the University of Michigan library authorized the copying. It also rejected the stronger… -
Update: District court grants partial s.j. to publishers in copyshop case
15 Oct 2009 | 3:07 pmAlthough the students press the "start" button to make a copy of a coursepack, the copyshop is the "source of the reproduction" supplying a master copy of the coursepack, equipment and staff assistance. This is vastly different, says the court, from a scenario in which a student gets a coursepack from a friend and steps into a copyshop to duplicate. Short work is made of the Fair Use analysis: Purpose is commercial (it's the copyshop's purpose, not the student's)Nature - creativeAmount - MDS case cited, showing that professors tend to choose qualitatively important… -
Featured case: Scott v Scribd (children's book author claims her work downloaded over 100 times without permission)
21 Sep 2009 | 9:18 amA children's book author claims that her book, Stocks and Bonds, was uploaded on Scribd without her permission, and has been downloaded over 100 times. Scribd turns pdf files into readily accessible iPaper documents that can open inside a browser. The author talks to school children often about copyright and plagiarism. Justia is providing the case filings here, and making them available via an RSS feed. -
Featured case: Blackwell Publishing v Miller (copyshop and university course readings)
7 Sep 2009 | 12:53 pmPeter Hirtle's commentary looks at this Ann Arbor (MI) copyshop case in which the students make the copies of coursepack readings themselves. Interesting discussion that indirect infringement may not apply if the students are not infringing. Thus there must be a claim of direct infringement by the copyshop.
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The Desire to Blog is No Sign of Anything to Say
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The Mystery (to me) of Climate Change
2 Nov 2009 | 1:46 pmI was just reading a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science about how the glaciers on Mount Kilimanjaro are melting – the evidence appears to be irrefutable. It is still a great mystery to me about why the topic of global warming/climate change is such a political issue. Do the opponents of measures to combat climate change truly believe that it’s a conspiracy conjured up to punish/regulate big business (e.g., the polluters) or to gain political power (e.g., big government control) via the passage of legislation? Sure, there are some scientists (or “arm… -
Interesting Conversation on a Recent Flight
26 Oct 2009 | 2:35 pmI’ll admit it – I don’t often talk to strangers on airplane flights (or conversely, they don’t often talk to me). Maybe it’s because when I get to my plane seat I quickly set into passing the time (reading, listening to music/audio, sometimes sleeping) and people might interpret this as aloofness. Some conversations that I have had were fascinating such as when I shared a flight with a world-renown judge of cat shows. I did have another interesting one recently with a young man traveling to San Francisco from the East Coast. This kid (he told me he was 24) looked… -
My Visit to ITER
22 Oct 2009 | 12:14 pmSeveral weeks ago I had the unique opportunity to visit and give a talk at ITER (www.iter.org), the multinational laboratory for building a fusion reactor. This visit was especially meaningful since my younger son (Christopher) works at the lab. The goals of ITER are quite lofty – to harness the energy of the stars and thereby provide mankind with a safe, cheap, and inexhaustible source of energy for the future. However, aside from the value of the science, the way that they are approaching this goal and their commitment to the environment impressed me deeply. ITER is a collaboration… -
The California Jug Band Association and the San Francisco Jug Band Festival
18 Jul 2008 | 12:13 pmAs those of you who know me are aware, jug band music is one of my life-long passions. That’s why several years ago some of us formed the California Jug Band Association (CJBA), a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit. Now before you laugh, the CJBA has really filled a niche because jug bands and jug band enthusiasts, old and young, have “come out of the woodwork.” The CJBA now has festivals all over Northern California and a debut festival is planned for Southern California in 2009. The next festival will be in San Francisco next month and promises to be great. Please take a… -
My Grandchild is a Pig
26 Nov 2007 | 10:28 pmNow ordinarily, that would be a terrible thing to say about one’s grandchild, but in the absence of any human grandchildren (at this time), it’s true. We had a great Thanksgiving with my older son, Andrew, at his home in Seattle. Andrew, indeed, has a pet pig, named Wilbur, which, in a sense, makes me the grandpa of a pig. Like any other proud grandfather of a pig, I can take pride in Winston Churchill’s words, ” A cat looks down upon a man, and a dog looks up to a man, but a pig will look a man in the eye and see his equal.” Here is Wilbur and me doing just that…
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LibraryLaw Blog
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Is Texting Good or Bad? TXTING: The gr8 db8 by David Crystal, reviewed by Karen Ives
5 Nov 2009 | 8:47 pmOf interest to all libraries, especially those that offer txting reference service. The book reviewed below also has a lengthy glossary and appendices showing txting abbreviations.Txting: The gr8 db8 by David Crystal (Oxford University Press: Sept 2009)Review by Karen Ives*Text, text, text—kids everywhere are glued to their cell phones, texting away, a whole generation speaking with their thumbs. Exasperated parents have often complained about the behaviors of their cell phone-happy offspring, but is there really that much to fuss about? No, says David Crystal. In his new book, Txting: The… -
International Copyright Issues and Libraries
2 Nov 2009 | 9:12 am(posted by Peter Hirtle) In the most recent issue of Current Cites, I draw attention to a recent issue brief written by Janice Pilch, ARL’s visiting program officer on international copyright, on what are called “traditional cultural expressions” (TCEs). Efforts are underway in WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization, to create a new kind of copyright to protect the folklore and traditional culture of indigenous and native peoples. Depending on the final shape of the treaty, this could have an immense impact on libraries and archives. Pilch’s issue brief is a terrific… -
Real life risk assessment
30 Oct 2009 | 5:20 amIn the new book on Copyright and Cultural Institutions, I argue that libraries, archives, and museums need to engage in informed risk assessment when approaching digitization projects. This is especially true when it comes to sound recordings because the the legal status of sound recordings is a mess. Peter Jaszi’s new CLIR report, Protection for Pre-1972 Sound Recordings under State Law and Its Impact on Use by Nonprofit Institutions: A 10-State Analysis, is a terrific introduction to the problem. As Deanna Marcum’s introduction notes, “…in an environment where there are… -
Copyright and Cultural Institutions now available
29 Oct 2009 | 10:34 am(posted by Peter Hirtle) I am delighted to be able to announce the publication today of Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Library, Archives, and Museums by Peter B. Hirtle, Emily Hudson, and Andrew T. Kenyon. Published by Cornell University Library, this 260 page book is is described in the press release below. It is available for free download, but is probably more usable as a print copy available for $39.95. Tell your employer that you need a copy! Cornell University Library Publishes New Digitization Manual ‘Copyright and Cultural Institutions’ Will Assist… -
DIY book scanning
27 Oct 2009 | 11:05 amOne of the real surprises at the recent “D is for Digitize” conference was the presentation by Daniel Reetz of his DIY Bookscanner project. I don’t spend as much of my time tracking scanning developments as I used to, but his project was all new to me. His presentation, which begins at about 46 minutes into the video, is well worth watching if you are at all interested in scanning technologies (or want to learn how to give an entertaining talk at a conference). Daniel was kind enough to comment on my brief report of the conference, and I responded briefly to his remarks there. His…
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SSIR Articles
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Recreating Fine Arts Institutions
3 Nov 2009 | 5:12 pmBy some measures, the fine arts have been enjoying a boom. The number of U.S. nonprofit arts organizations has grown exponentially, from a few thousand in the 1960s to more than 50,000 today. Not only are there more organizations, many individual institutions have grown significantly in size. Bolstered by ever-larger donations and endowments, leading symphonies, museums, and theaters have built larger and more opulent spaces and vastly increased their programming. To support these new endeavors, institutions have bulked up their infrastructures. Many organizations that had 10 to 20 employees… -
Public-Private Alliances Transform Aid
26 Oct 2009 | 9:02 pmIn 1994, 800,000 Rwandans were murdered in the last genocide of the 20th century. When Paul Kagame became president of Rwanda, the nation’s economy was still in shambles, with few resources other than its people and its coff ee crop. But Rwanda’s coff ee beans were of such poor quality and unappealing taste that they were sold at the lowest possible prices. Traders made most of the modest profits, leaving growers impoverished. To make Rwanda’s coff ee crop more profitable, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Rwandan government organized an unusual… -
Behind the Curve
9 Oct 2009 | 12:27 amIn 2004, the US. government-backed Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) certified the West African nation of Senegal as eligible to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid. Initially, Senegal seemed like an excellent choice for a grant from the MCC, which targets aid to poor countries that are committed to good governance, free markets, and investments in people. Senegal is one of the few African states that has never had a coup d’état. And since the nation became independent from France in 1960, Senegal’s leaders have peacefully transferred power two times—most… -
Q&A: Fred Krupp
1 Oct 2009 | 12:58 amBy any measure, Fred Krupp’s 24-year tenure as president of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has been a success. The organization’s budget has jumped from $3 million to more than $100 million, the staff has grown from 50 to 400, and membership has expanded from 40,000 to more than 500,000. More important, under Krupp’s leadership EDF has become one of the most important power brokers in the environmental arena. Krupp has accomplished all of this by relentlessly focusing on an important insight— that economic incentives can be used to entice businesses to behave in environmentally… -
Podcasts
24 Sep 2009 | 12:01 am
