I was collecting links for our ezine, something Don and I do in the evenings instead of watching TV, when I came across quotes from famous inventors.   We often find quotes by famous people because we often wonder about the people who “made it so”. That leads to researching the people responsible for innovative thinking.   Perhaps not surprisingly, I find quotes by Thomas Edison sprinkled all over the web.   He was an original thinker, indefatiquable inventor and a firm believer in the power of persistence and hard work.

The surprising quote I found was “The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around.”
-Thomas Edison

It’s surprising because quite a long time ago (shortly after birth) I found my body didn’t work very well.   My first memory is that of hiding in a closet with a blanket over my head to mask the sounds of other children playing.   I had a smashing sinus headache.   In the next 47 years I’ve discovered I’m allergic to most anything there’s a skin test for as well as many foods.   Very early I discoverd that people get tired of hearing someone complain of ailments that have no cure, and the word ‘allergy’ is so overused as to be annoying.   In my childhood it was believed that if children ate their bread and drank their milk everything would work out, except to me both are poisonous.   One of my favorite questions is, “How’s that working out for you?”

I had to come to come to some conclusion that would allow me to separate my body from my brain.   If your mood depends upon how you feel at this very moment, or more importantly how you treat others, you’re going to be a lonely person.   My personal mantra for a long time has been “The body is just luggage for the brain. If my body wants more than what I’m willing to give it, it can just go out there and help itself.”   I was told I’d be better off living in a hospital.   Right, me the Bubble Girl.   Hand me my shovel.

Over time, managing my food sensitivities, I’ve managed to get healthy.   Being able to cook and having an enthusiastic and talented cook (chef is more like it) for a husband has made my life not only bearable, but a joy.   It’s been a long road.

Lisa Miller

Chris,

For years, in our ezine, personal correspondence, and little “sphere of influence” Don and I have made it a point to encourage girls and women to discard any outdated notions of chauvinism and make their own way in the technical world.   In a way, this has made us a little ultra-sensitive to any gender-bias we may detect in our web surfing.

In Lockergnome we have never noticed any hint of discrimintion against women in tech.   In fact the opposite is true.   When other organisations and publications had no female contributors to their sites, you did.   As far as we are concerned you are interested in people and the contributions they have to make.   Insofar as we can see you have made a concerted effort to encourage women and to influence others to do the same.   Don says it would be too cool if you could get Cynthia Lanius to attend Gnomedex.

If you’re getting some flack about bias relative to Gnomedex, your “Women at Tech Conferences” piece should clear up any misconceptions.   After that, you’ll just have to let people believe what they wish, they will anyway.   If you’ll look at Kottke’s List, you’ll see that his expectations may be unreasonable.   Some of the conferences that he complains about had a higher percentage of women speakers than that of their audience or of women in tech in general.   Quotas are intrinsically unfair anyway, it’s just too easy to lose sight of the objective, which is that of merit.   Something about this site makes me nervous.   It’s as though the only people who count are female.   I can’t get over the mental image of this fellow counting boobs and dividing by two.

Lisa Miller

Viacom’s recent demand that YouTube remove copyrighted content from its library of videos resulted a reluctant stand-off by both companies over the last month.   Over 100,000 videos were removed but Viacom has not been compensated in any way for alleged copyright infringement.   This is the opening salvo in a TV War that should prove interesting indeed.

In the past, companies like Universal, Warner Music Group, and NBC Universal have threatened to sue YouTube.   After negotiations, deals were made and everybody went home reasonably happy.   Not so with Viacom.   The purchase of YouTube by Google has some copyright holders drooling over YouTube’s “new deep pockets”, but they have yet to be able to prove criminal intent.   Most of the uploading is done by YouTube subscribers, i.e. individuals, not YouTube itself.

After unsuccessful negotiations over the last month, on March 13, 2007, Viacom filed a Federal Copyright Infringement Complaint against YouTube and Google.   It seeks to “require YouTube and Google to comply with copyright laws and pay $1 billion in damages”.   Google appears to be confident current copyright law offers the ’safe harbor’ afforded other companies under the DMCA of 1998.

Negotiations seem to have drawn to a close.   Let the games begin.

Lisa Miller

Many people, myself included, are increasingly concerned at the attempts that are being made to restrict our access to the information available on the Internet.   The Digital Imprimatur, written by John Walker in 2003, is some meaty reading, but most of his predictions of how the Internet can be controlled and manipulated are being attempted today.

DRM and Trusted Computing are initiatives led by major corporations to enact laws that allow them to be monopolistic suppliers of hardware, software and security systems.   With the passing of the DMCA in 1998, it became illegal to produce or disseminate technology intended to circumvent copyright controls.   It goes far beyond the original scope of copyright law, many believe infringing on our civil liberties.

However, the Iron Law of Prohibition may just usher in an unprecedented explosion of new ideas and implementation.   The very people who developed the technologies are free thinkers, unencumbered by fear of authority.   In February, 2007 Steve Jobs of Apple, Inc. published an open letter stating his personal view that DRM should be abandoned by the “big four” recording companies; Sony, EMI, Universal and Warner.   Macrovision’s answer quickly followed.   By the time major corporate entities have found a way to put a lock on technology, that technology is old.   And the whiz-kids have no patience with prohibition, they’ll leap-frog over it in a heartbeat.

Prohibition was and always will be a wash.

Lisa Miller

Here’s a little tip I got from a member of the Highland Lakes Computer Club Digital Graphics Group (Texas) that I’ve used innumerable times since it was posted several months ago.

When you’re sending an email and wish to attach or insert a picture, you select “insert>file attachment (or picture-in Rich Text)”. In the window that appears you are presented with the names of files, but unless you remember the precise name of the file, it’s very difficult to find the picture you want. Right-click inside the window and choose “View>Thumbnails”. Your files will be displayed as thumbnails, double-click and they will be attached to your email.

Very handy.

Lisa Miller

Tags: cell phone, stress, coping, available, downtime, decompression