The story is astonishing/alarming, but the background mythology is downright scary: The idea for Shodan came to John Matherly in 2003, when he was a teenager attending community college in California. Obsessed with the digital world, he named his project after a malevolent character in a video game called System Shock II. The character, Sentient Hyper-Optimized DataContinue reading “Soon to be a major motion picture: Shodan”
Category Archives: activism
Around the world with Walt Whitman and Allen Ginsberg
Today was Walt Whitman's birthday. "Good day for DOMA [the Defense of Marriage Act] to be ruled unconstitutional," remarked poet friend Robert Peake from London. A look at how Walt became a poet at all shows the truth of what Robert said: [Whitman] was working as a carpenter, his father's trade, and living with his mother inContinue reading “Around the world with Walt Whitman and Allen Ginsberg”
Poetry vs Oil (and bulldozers)
Vancouver poet Stephen Collis writes about the poetic resistance to another pipeline planned to transport oil sands slurry from inside western Alberta to market in Poetry vs. Oil. Right now, one major pipeline carries the goop to Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet, where it is loaded onto supertankers tourists can wave at from scenic Stanley Park. TheContinue reading “Poetry vs Oil (and bulldozers)”
Could one consultant mislead two SoCal water districts?
At its best, journalism is surely a joint enterprise. It's not a reporter that makes democracy workable, it's the press. Quotes from Thomas Jefferson come to mind. So it's very exciting to yours truly to see another reporter pick up and run with a crucial detail from a long story I wrote a few weeksContinue reading “Could one consultant mislead two SoCal water districts?”
To see the Prez, it helps to be a whale
In Las Vegas, to be a "whale" — a high roller — you have to be ready to live large, even if it costs $500,000 an hour. It's a little like what you have to do if you want to get into the White House and see the President. Big bucks, as this graphic shows.Continue reading “To see the Prez, it helps to be a whale”
“I will not walk away from the promise of green energy”: Obama
This year, despite the failure of the solar firm Solyndra, to which a half-billion dollars of Federal aid was guaranteed, President Obama reaffirmed his support of green energy. He said so in January, when the right was stirring on pot of this issue, reminding one and all of a lost $535 million. The Prez confronted theContinue reading ““I will not walk away from the promise of green energy”: Obama”
Winner of Ventura county climate action award: 2012
Yours truly doesn't often win awards — it's been since college, actually — so when I won an award for my climate reporting (cited was Drought-Proofing Ventura County) it's news worth posting here. I was up against fellow reporter and friend Zeke Barlow, who unfortunately for the county has taken a job in Virginia,Continue reading “Winner of Ventura county climate action award: 2012”
The least known proof of global warming: phenology
A month ago Heidi Cullen, the hardest working weatherperson around, penned a NY Times op-ed about the least known proof of global warming, phenology: The climatologist Mark D. Schwartz at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and colleagues at the USA National Phenology Network have developed an index that can be used to estimate the date ofContinue reading “The least known proof of global warming: phenology”
Mike Wallace, depression and the real “Blues Brothers”
Today was reported the death of the great reporter Mike Wallace, of 60 Minutes fame. Sharon Waxman, an excellent reporter herself, recalls meeting him, and hearing of a now forgotten side of Mike Wallace, and of his great friends Art Buchwald and William Styron too: [Mike] Wallace always seemed fearless and in fact on thatContinue reading “Mike Wallace, depression and the real “Blues Brothers””
NSA “to watch everybody all the time” on line
The great James Bamford writes another deeply sourced expose of the NSA, this time for Wired magazine, about an unbelieveably massive, costly, and unconstitutional National Security Agency spy center under construction in Utah (and a twin at Oak Ridge, Tennessee). You won't see better journalism this year, and really should read the whole thing. Here'sContinue reading “NSA “to watch everybody all the time” on line”
Kit Stolz 