the glory and the horror

I wasn’t sure this was actually happening, but it was. There was a guy texting while standing at the urinal.

Really? It can’t wait 20 seconds?

No, this is not an instruction manual about undoing your pack rat tendencies. I actually need help in trying to figure out what to do with my non-functional 7-year-old 19″ CRT. The local computer/office places don’t say much on their websites, and it’s too late to call them. Any help over the next few days would be greatly appreciated.

The Irish High Court just ruled that a frozen IVF embryo is not the same as an in utero embryo. This takes the entire question of embryonic personhood to a new level. Now there’s a separate category for embryos in a uterus, and ones outside. It brings up a critical question. Does physical location fundamentally change the character of an embryo?

They seem to have caught up with the US, in saying that yes, physical location DOES change the personhood status of the embryo. Why, I’m not sure. We’re already trying to redefine personhood in terms of abilities, especially when it comes to the end-of-life, which is disturbing enough. Now physical location changes things.

This qualifies for multiple categories on so many levels.

Boeing has decided to end Connexions, their in-flight broadband access. We actually had a chance to try it out on part of our return trip from India last summer. It was a nice little perk in economy, and we got 6+ hours of access with our 2 batteries. If they kept it around, we’d probably buy it for our trips to/from Asia as well. Maybe they’ll come up with something new. Or start putting in AC outlets in all classes. THAT would be nice.

Speaking of perks, has anyone out there tried those rental DVDs in the airport? You can just get the DVD and play it on your computer, or rent a portable DVD unit as well.

I use a counter, and just reset it due to weirdness, and in less than 24 hours, I’ve already had hits from India and Russia. Wild.

Microsoft repackaging the iPod.

While I still don’t own an iPod, I am definitely considering it at some point. The integration with iTunes and XP is so seamless now, as well as offering such an incredibly intuitive interface… If I had the money…

A French team of surgeons did a face transplant. Not the entire thing, but a good chunk of the mouth and nose.

It was also done against the advice of the French National Consultative Ethics Committee, says the BBC article.

I don’t know enough yet, but I’m sure that there will be more to come on this one.

It has occurred to me that the state of Texas, as wonderful as it is, does not have the same attitude towards technology that California does. For example, I’m sitting in Palo Alto, in an area of town about 8 blocks by 3 blocks that has free wifi for anyone to use, courtesy of a nice bunch of people called anchorfree. I can hardly find free wifi anywhere in Dallas. Tempest Tea is the only one that pops into mind.

Now this looks fascinating! Forbes.com has a place where you can send yourself an e-mail time capsule. They give you different options for how far into the future you want to send it to yourself (or someone else for that matter). The only problem I can imagine is that the address you’re sending it to may not exist in the future, given how fast various companies and stuff turnover. Honestly, do you really think you’ll have the same email addresses 20 years in the future?

Since my readers seem to be people I know pretty well, I feel pretty good about blogging about this and hoping that I get some good suggestions. Basically, outfoxed is a Firefox extension that allows people to rank various bookmarks and websites, and communicate that to a network of their friends, thus, hopefully helping people find better (i.e. more accurate, reliable information to get things found out or done more efficiently).

Anyway check it out if you’re interested. I’m at http://www.getoutfoxed.com/users/philber