Closing The Harry Potter Divide. “Yes, our fourth graders do not score well on basic reading tests. Recent news stories tell of schools buying laptop computers
(approximate cost, $1500 each) for students to take home. We have a better
idea. For a cost of only $6 per student (approximately what you might pay for a
danish and double latte, or your fuel costs to drive your SUV 50 to 60 miles), every
fourth grader in America can be equipped with a paperback copy of the first Harry
Potter novel, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” This will help close the great
Harry Potter divide in America, where more than 60% of fourth grade students have
limited or no access to Harry Potter, a proven reading motivation program that
works particularly well with the difficult audience of young boys.”

The Top 12 Most Luddite Films of All Time, from The Luddite Reader; actually there are fifteen, because of some ties and the inclusion of a very welcome runner-up, Alain Tanner’s 1976 gem To Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000. But they forgot Bill Forsyth’s 1983 Local Hero. [By the way, why is The Luddite Reader online?]

Warez, Abandonware, and the Software Industry. ‘What does it mean to own software? When I buy a game, what
can and can’t I do with it? Does illegal copying of software really
hurt anyone? If a company no longer sells a game, should I be able
to download a copy of it?… The battles over software include many combatants. The software
companies are trying to stop the illegal copying of their products.
The abandonware users skirt along the border of legality,
sometimes obtaining permission for their actions, oftentimes not; in the meantime, they try
to distance themselves from the warez crowd as much as possible. The warez users are the
anarchists of the bunch, in effect saying, “Sure, what we’re doing is illegal. So?” ‘ About.com

Hunting the secret cyber-stash. The advent in May 2000 of non-degraded GPS services for civilians has led to the new activity of geocaching. ‘Someone
hides a “stash” — usually a large Tupperware container
filled with assorted goodies — in an interesting,
out-of-the-way place, and records the exact coordinates with
a GPS device. Those coordinates, along with a few helpful
hints, are posted to the geocaching Web site. The stash
seekers then use their GPS systems to find the treasure.
Each person who locates the stash adds an entry to the
included log book, takes one of those goodies, replaces it
with one of their own, and then re-hides the container…

The log book… includes about 20
entries from visitors (some of whom stumbled across the
stash unintentionally). “Humans are strange and wonderful”
says one hiker, who also uses the space to shill his band, the
Radiant Radishes. “You should be looking for natural food
to eat from indigenous plants,” writes another. “Survival
will not depend on your G.P.S.” And my favorite: “In our
unemployed state we went hiking on the coastal trail, and
found this treasure. We have left behind the keys to our
failed dot-com. Hopefully they will help someone. Cheers.” ‘ Salon

Guinea Pig Zero: a journal for human research subjects “… is an occupational jobzine for people who are used as medical or
pharmaceutical research subjects. Its various sections are devoted to bioethics, historical
facts, current news and research, evaluations of particular research facilities by volunteers,
true stories of guinea pig adventure, reviews, poetry and fiction relating to the
disposability of plebeian life.”

Cremation Nation: As the popularity of cremation grows, more and more elaborate — and bizarre — options for scattering or retaining the ashes appear. “It’s a good thing so many
Americans are choosing
cremation for their dearly
departed. The new options for
memorializing ‘cremains’ would
make some of them turn in their
graves.” Silicon Valley Metro

Cremation Nation: As the popularity of cremation grows, more and more elaborate — and bizarre — options for scattering or retaining the ashes appear. “It’s a good thing so many
Americans are choosing
cremation for their dearly
departed. The new options for
memorializing ‘cremains’ would
make some of them turn in their
graves.” Silicon Valley Metro

Cremation Nation: As the popularity of cremation grows, more and more elaborate — and bizarre — options for scattering or retaining the ashes appear. “It’s a good thing so many
Americans are choosing
cremation for their dearly
departed. The new options for
memorializing ‘cremains’ would
make some of them turn in their
graves.” Silicon Valley Metro

Aaronland | weblog | theory and practice, “a very casual and unscientific project to keep a record of the various writings on and about
weblogs.”