linkdump for 2006.08.24

Posted by McChris in daily links@ 1:20 pm

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magical power of trust

According to an Ars Technica story, the German-language version of Wikipedia has implemented a reputation system where edits made by ordinary users don’t go live until approved by users who have gained certain reputation level. This seems like an inevitable and welcome change for the English version, based on what I’ve seen on sites like Slashdot, it could also introduce new problems.

One potential problem I forsee is that adding another layer of adminstration to the encyclopedia could create the perception that Wikipedia privileges the points-of-view of the established user base – and to get this reputation level, users need to conform to the tacit expectations of existing adminstrators. On Slashdot, this is borne out in discussions about how comments that confirm the worldview of Slashdot’s adminstrators and moderators are modded up, while comments they disagree with are modded down. While Jimmy Wales has said that he wants to avoid a formal reputation system like Slashdot’s, which is based on moderation points, the issue of how regular users attain the status to approve edits remains. The article simply describes this status as a “registered user with a certain level of time and experience.” It’s not clear if it’s based on quantifiable characteristics, but Wikipedia’s current system for creating adminstrators relies on a nomination and consensus process.

I don’t have the time to dig through and try to translate the policies on the German version, but I wonder how these users assigned this privilege and how the reputation is contstructed. Moreover, I wonder about how these privileges intersect with other Wikipedia policies, like the vaunted Neutral Point of View policy. Does a user with approval privileges have the obligation to approve edits that he or she disagrees with? NPOV debates already rage across the encyclopedia. If edits are approved in a non-neutral way – or the perception exists that they’re approved in a non-neutral way – implementing this internal reputation system might harm the reputation of Wikipedia with the general public.

Posted by McChris in research, tech@ 2:57 pm

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linkdump for 2006.08.23

Posted by McChris in daily links@ 1:23 pm

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national intellectual television

Last night I had the TV on, and the TV kindly spoke, “from the director of Scarface!” I was like, “Huh? I thought Howard Hawks was dead.” (He died in 1977.) The TV continued, “…and the writer of L.A. Confidential,” and I thought, “Oh, James Ellroy, this must be that new Brian De Palma flick.” Indeed, it was a commercial for The Black Dahlia, which looks like a pretty cool movie. It seems strange they would use a remake of the Paul Muni vehicle to tease a new De Palma movie, since he’s done much better work than Scarface. (I watched it again not too long ago and found it boring and overly long.) As a heterosexual white man living in Texas, I’m sure my taste in movies is more representative of the real America than any of those clowns in Hollywood. So why not use one of De Palma’s good movies like Carrie, Sisters, or my personal favorite, Hi Mom!? If either of my readers have yet to see this film, run out to your local video store and rent it anon! Oh TV, why couldn’t you have said, “From the director of Hi Mom!“?

The sad thing is that I rented Femme Fatale this weekend after the online magazine Slant had a little feature about De Palma in anticipation of The Black Dahlia. The argument these articles make is that De Palma has an underappreciated style, and my experience with Femme Fatale. It’s definitely a B-movie, but it has little stylistic quirks like a slow-motion shot of the protagonist falling off an interior balcony, through a glass ceiling, and into a pile of rolled textiles and identity play similar to Sisters. Like Hi Mom!, it might have been a better movie to cite than Scarface.

Posted by McChris in media@ 12:46 pm

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extraordinary array of functions

I don’t remember which blog post led me to this New York Times story on obesity research, but this passage is so freaky to this non-scientist I had to share:

Of the trillions and trillions of cells in a typical human body… only about 1 in 10 is human. The other 90 percent are microbial. These microbes — a term that encompasses all forms of microscopic organisms, including bacteria, fungi, protozoa and a form of life called archaea — exist everywhere. They are found in the ears, nose, mouth, vagina, anus, as well as every inch of skin, especially the armpits, the groin and between the toes. The vast majority are in the gut, which harbors 10 trillion to 100 trillion of them. “Microbes colonize our body surfaces from the moment of our birth,” Gordon said. “They are with us throughout our lives, and at the moment of our death they consume us.”

Wow, so we’re like giant Kombucha colonies toting around sundry alien life-forms. The point of the story is that scientists are finding that obese people often have microflora in their GI tracts that process foods more efficiently, leading them to suggest that this may be a bigger determining factor for obesity than either genetics or diet and exercize. The article doesn’t suggest we’ll be gulping the human equivalent of Rid-X any time soon, but I imagine that research is on its way.

Posted by McChris in news@ 11:16 am

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stand out and capture

The fashion blog Still in Berlin says that “the mustache is the new full beard“, so I thought I might experiment with growing a moustache. I’m not very fashionable – most of the time I flop around town in Birkenstock clogs and baggy cargo shorts – but I thought a moustache might give me a little trendy elan. I’m now thinking I’ll abandon this experiment.

One thing I didn’t count on is the fact that about half of my whiskers are blonde.
scumstache
This crop might show my blonde whiskers in more detail.
scumstache close
This is a little surprising since my hair is nearly black.
tighthair
As a youth, I was disappointed that my height was just short of six feet, and my hair was just short of black. My dad’s hair was black before it turned gray, but he’s only five-and-a-half feet tall. I guess I’ll take dark brown hair for 5.75 inches.

On the other hand, maybe my blond whiskers shouldn’t surprise me, since I have the weird mutant eyebrow hairs that are blond and much longer than the rest of the hairs.
mutant eyebrow
It was pretty hard to get a good shot of my eyebrows, since my camera wanted to focus on my eyes. I guess I could have gotten someone to take these shots instead of holding the camera up to my face and hoping for the best.

eyeshot
Anyway, I think I’ll lose the ’stache and return to my clean-shaven ways, but the moustache experience has been worthwhile, if only to prove that I shouldn’t try to grow facial hair.

Update 8/22: The experiment is over. I shaved the ’stache earlier this afternoon. I didn’t think it was particularly uncomfortable, but I feel much more comfortable now that it’s gone. Facial hair is just not for me.

Posted by McChris in about, images@ 3:48 pm

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linkdump for 2006.08.21

Posted by McChris in daily links@ 1:21 pm

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linkdump for 2006.08.18

Posted by McChris in daily links@ 1:18 pm

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open-source salsa

My local food co-operative Wheatsville has a “Salsa of the Month.” As the name might suggest, it’s a home-made salsa they offer for a month before moving on to a different recipe. This month’s salsa is cucumber-lime, and it is, to quote “Lazy Sunday,” crazy delicious. Well, except that I like my salsa quite a bit spicier, so I’d swap out the poblano peppers for serrano peppers and add a little more cilantro.

Last summer, Wheatsville had a great ancho pepper salsa with roasted red (bell) peppers. I’d hoped they would release the recipe when the month ended, but my hopes were dashed when July rolled around. I assumed that they kept the recipe secret because they’d offer the ancho salsa again this summer, but again my hopes were dashed.

I’m pretty confident I could bust out the blender and develop my own cucumber-lime salsa, but I’m pretty clueless about the ancho salsa. So I’m proposing Wheatsville “open source” their salsa-of-the-month recipes so stakeholders can recreate their salsas at home or offer their own modifications and bug-fixes. This seems like it would be in the spirit of community good that Wheatsville espouses and could create superior, enterprise-grade salsas. Moreover, the copyright status of recipes is dubious at best. The Copyright Office says that lists of ingredients and proportions are not copyrightable. I don’t think this would threaten Wheatsville’s business: making salsa is kind of a hassle, so plenty of members would continue to buy salsa instead of spending the time to make their own.

If you look at Wheatsville’s web site, you’ll see they’re still catching up with Web 1.0, but a Wheatsville wiki could be a potentially fruitful project. In addition to sharing salsa-of-the-month recipes, members could use the wiki for sharing information on how to use products like quinoa whose application is not emminently obvious to newbies, the benefits of that yummy (trust me on this one) nutritional yeast, or the never-ending paper-vs-plastic debate.

Posted by McChris in austin@ 12:39 pm

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linkdump for 2006.08.17

Posted by McChris in daily links@ 1:18 pm

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