Stealth propeller technology of nuclear submarines exposed by local blogger

Is this what the Navy wanted to train dolphins to protect? Darn those pesky satellites - and Microsoft! The Seattle Times reported today on satellite images exposing the top secret stealth propeller technology on a nuclear submarine in dry dock at the Navy's neighborhood nuclear base.

Apparently, a local blogger uncovered the story:

The photo is of the graving dock on the “Delta Pier” and the propeller of an Ohio Class Ballistic Missile Submarine. Oops!! It really is an interesting design though. Seven blades with a “hook” in them. They actually look pretty fragile.

You can also use the zoom in and out keys and move around the Bangor Sub Base taking a close up look at the bunkers and magazines where they keep the nuclear weapons. You would think the US government would keep better tabs on this stuff.

I guess the Navy did not count on Microsoft’s Live Search Maps allowing the world access to the satellite images from orbiting cameras.

Technorati Tags: microsoft, nuclear submarines, satellite images

Is Seattle Screwed Up or Is Facebook's Seattle Group Screwed Up?

The Top Books in the Facebook Seattle, WA network are:

1 Harry Potter
2 The Bible
3 1984
4 Catcher In The Rye
5 Angels And Demons

Is it just me or is this combination bound to create psychosis and multiple personality disorder even in the well adjusted?

Technorati Tags: facebook, seattle, top books

Facebook Application Rankings to Change

Continuing from yesterday...Facebook will measure engagement in Facebook applications differently. This will be quite good for my Daily Show application and NewsCloud application. Probably not so good for badge-based applications.

A Shift to Engagement.
12:37am Wednesday, Aug 29
Published by Dave Morin

As we indicated earlier, today we are introducing new guidelines that will change how applications are ranked in the application directory. Currently, the focus is on total number of users, but going forward it will be based on user engagement. This is an important step in the evolution of Facebook Platform which will help drive the growth and distribution of applications that focus on user engagement and utility.

With a change this foundational to Facebook Platform's measurement, we want to make sure that you completely understand how we will be measuring engagement. We define engagement as the number of users who touch your application every day (measured from midnight to midnight each day).

These touch points are:
- Canvas Page Views
- Link Clicks in FBML
- Mock-Ajax Form Submission
- Click-to-Play Flash

The number of engaged users is calculated by putting all of these touch points together. We display this as the number of "Daily Active Users." Next to it we also show what percentage that is of the application's total number of users.

This change is part of our commitment to making Facebook Platform better for both developers and users. And, we hope that through this change, you continue to focus on creating engaging applications which add maximum utility to a Facebook user's everyday life.

Technorati Tags: facebook, facebook applications, statistics

In case you missed it: New York Times on South Park

The New York Times Editorial page issued a treatise on Comedy Central's South Park today. That just makes me smile.

Technorati Tags: meccha streisand, new york times, south park

Facebook Announces Upcoming Application Architecture Changes

I think these are mostly positive for application developers:

Change is Coming.
6:08pm Monday, Aug 27
Published by Dave Morin

At Facebook we're focused on making Facebook Platform a better experience for both developers and users. To that end, we're working on some changes that we're planning to roll out within the coming weeks that we wanted to be sure you know about beforehand.

Our goal has always been to develop an ecosystem where the applications that achieve the most growth and usage are the ones that are the highest quality and add the most utility to users' lives. We want to build our tools to enable viral growth in the most natural manner and let you focus on building fun, useful applications. With the upcoming changes, we hope to shift the balance more in favor of good apps, which we think in the long term is good for everyone. Users will get better applications, and users will be able to put more trust into applications, thus spurring further adoption.

So, with that in mind, here are some of the changes we're planning. We'll provide more details about how each one works when we're closer to rolling it out.
Profile Boxes

With the release of FBML v1.1 we've made some changes to how profile boxes display content. Most specifically, we've removed the ability to display profile content that the user isn't aware of. This makes it impossible for applications to hide things from profile owners. We did this so that the user is always aware of how they are expressing themselves to their friends through your application. This means no more yellow boxes that display "Add this app!" in the profile box without the user knowing about it. We think this will help users make more informed decisions about the profile boxes they choose.
Application Directory

This week you'll see us shift our application directory metrics to a focus on user engagement. This will help inform users as they make decisions on which applications to add as well as shift developer focus to engagement rather than total users. More specifics will be available as we roll out these changes this coming week.
Requests

We will be deprecating the notifications.sendRequest API method. In its place, we will provide a standard invitation tool that allows users to select which friends they would like to send a request to. We are working hard on multiple versions of this tool to fit into different contexts. The tool will not have a "select all" button, but we hope it enables us to increase the maximum number of requests that can be sent out by a user. The standardized UI will hopefully make it easier for users to understand exactly what they are doing, and will save you the trouble of building it yourself.
Notifications

Soon we will be removing email functionality from notifications.send, though the API function itself will remain active. In the future, we may provide another way to contact users who have added your app, as we know that is important. Deceptive and misleading notifications will continue to be a focus for us, and we will continue to block applications which behave badly and we will continue to iterate on our automated spam detection tools. You will also see us working on ways to automatically block deceptive notifications.
News Feed

Because News Feed is an important part of distribution for everyone, we hope to enable feed stories to be shown to users who haven't added the application. We'll also begin to optimize these stories into higher rotation amongst the other application add stories. But this addition is likely to be further down the line than the others.

We're constantly working day and night to make Facebook Platform a great place for you to build awesome things. We can't thank you enough for your dedication and support as we continue to iterate.

Technorati Tags: facebook applications, facebook developers

Gonzales Resigns - A couple of weeks late

I had predicted Gonzales would resign within ten days of July 26. Gonzales resigned today. Will the last person in the Bush administration please let the President out?

Technorati Tags: gonzales

CancerMatch.com? Cancer, the Internet and Sicko

My Aunt, my late mother's sister, is quite a character and quite the amazing person. Despite being stricken by gradually worsening Multiple Sclerosis since she was in her 30s, she's continued to be extremely active in her community, traveled the world and oft-kicked my ass in Scrabble (online and offline). By the way, "Look it up Jeffrey!" is my least favorite expression in the world. After surviving two heart bypass operations, two shoulder operations and numerous other incidents in fifteen years, she broke both of her femurs in separate accidents last year. Then her dog passed away.

And then I received my first cancer announcement via email this weekend - she often types in caps due to the way her hands shake from MS:

"TO THOSE OF YOU WHO DON'T KNOW YET OR WHO HAVE NOT BEEN PART OF THE LOOP, HERE'S HOW IT PLAYS: ABOUT 6 WEEKS AGO THE MEDICS NOTICED THAT MY WHITE CELL COUNT SEEMED TO HAVE DROPPED AND FURTHER BLOOD WORK INDICATED THAT MY RED CELLS AND MY POTASSIUM ALSO DROPPED. EARLIER THIS WEEK THE ONCOLOGIST DID A BONE-MARROW BIOPSY. THE RESULTS ARE THAT I HAVE LEUKEMIA, PROBABLY ACUTE MYELOGENOUS LEUKEMIA (LOOK THAT ONE UP ON YOUR INTERNET). THIS USUALLY OCCURS IN PEOPLE OVER 65."

Then a day later ...

>> THE DOC HAS GIVEN ME SEVERAL CHOICES: IF I DO NOTHING - I HAVE WEEKS TO
>> LIVE. YES, YOU READ THAT CORRECTLY - WEEKS.

She's opted for treatment which offers an 80% success rate. I am hopeful she'll pull through.

I share this because it's an interesting time in the world when personal boundaries and email are colliding shifting and shaping our culture. If someone has news like this to report, it's really up to them how they want to share it. Far be it from me to judge anyone in this situation. I learned that from Jeanne Sather.

I took a writing course from Jeanne and she helped me with my articles for the Seattle Weekly. Jeanne's a long time cancer survivor and has written about dealing with the disease on her terms - and not in the way that society may wish or want you to.

Because this country hasn't made health care a right, Jeanne's chronic cancer has kept her teetered on the "edge of bankruptcy" for many years now. While Michael Moore's documentary Sicko shared a link to Hook a Canuck! for Americans wishing to date Canadians for a more secure health care safety net, the link actually takes you to a blank page with some Google Ads.

Coincidentally, Jeanne is now proposing a dating service for U.S. and Canadian Cancer Patients:

Assertive, adventurous 52-year-old woman, living with incurable cancer, would like to meet a marriage-minded Canadian gent who is a cancer survivor or living with the disease.

Me: Writer, artist, teacher, well-known cancer blogger. Mother of two almost-grown sons (22 and 17). Vegetarian (but you don’t have to be). Loves animals (two large dogs and three cats), gardening, house projects. The beach. Books. Travel. Financially solvent except for absurdly expensive health insurance premiums and medical costs. Dislikes: Pink ribbons, chemotherapy, and unsolicited advice.

You: Age 45 to about 57. Canadian citizen living in Vancouver, B.C., or willing to relocate there. Cancer patient or survivor. Open-minded. Bit of a risk taker. Warm hearted but not clinging. Bald OK.

I’m not looking for a caretaker, and you shouldn’t be either. I am looking for a lover and new best friend.

Contact: jeanne.sather@gmail.com with photo.

Jeanne, thanks for being supportive of us bald guys. I assume naturally bald guys won't be excluded?

For those of you who think Jeanne is in poor taste, go to hell or write her a check. More than 50% of bankruptcies in this country are due to health care costs. And we call ourselves civilized.

For the record, my Aunt is happily married to my awesome supportive uncle. When she joked to him after this most recent trauma that perhaps he should have married someone else, he said he would make the same decision all over again.

And remember, we don't need insurance, we need Guaranteed Healthcare.

Technorati Tags: cancer, healthcare, hook a canuck, sicko

Who are the cats in this photo from my house?

I want to know the identity of these two cats who reportedly slept on as many as six different pieces of furniture in my house in recent weeks. I've seen them not only sleeping but even loitering around my bed in the morning, occasionally poking me with their claws.

It's a rare move that I would release a photo like this, but I need to know whether they could really be house cats content sleeping on my couches 18 hours a day or could they be plotting something more nefarious, like waking me up even earlier to feed them.

"They seem very interested in where you keep the treats," said one house guest. They don't come when I call, but they go right over if you get anything out of the kitchen cabinets.

Visitors to my house through the summer have reported seeing the cats, albeit mostly sleeping on furniture, but occasionally drinking out of my water dishes or running into the kitchen for snacks. I can't even keep the chocolate in that cabinet anymore without being herded by cats.

Tonight I became so suspicious that I snapped this shot of them with my camera phone. I can't say which couch this was taken on, but that is definitely my green fleece blanket in the photo.

I'll be talking with all of my friends who've been over recently conducting follow-up interviews and showing them the photo.

I've seen enough of these cats to think their activities are related somehow. While dozens of tips have come in, the cats remain unidentified.

Obviously, release of this photo may strain relations with the Siamese Seal Point and Black and White communities. Some may call this post "careless", but I have yet to be inundated with complaints by any of these communities.

I think all of us want the same thing, to be able to sleep in until our alarm clock goes off without being woken up by hungry cats!

Technorati Tags: cats, terrorism, homeland security

John Edwards: In His Own Words

When I watch Obama and Clinton, I really honestly don't know what they stand for. Obama said on the Daily Show he stands for common sense ... well, duh...

On the other hand, John Edwards is articulating a vision I can get behind - one of ending the influence on corporations in government and moving back toward populism.

The New York Times published this excerpt of his recent stump speech... Read story at NewsCloud.

Give money to Peruvian Earthquake Relief

Please consider making a donation to Peruvian Earthquake Relief. I just gave at Oxfam.

https://donate.oxfamamerica.org/02/peru_earthquake

"Hundreds of people have been killed, thousands injured, and tens of thousands have lost their homes after a major earthquake hit the coast of Peru. The scale of the damage is enormous, and we need your help to mount a major response. We have set up a special fund to channel assistance directly to our on-the-ground efforts in Peru. Our staff in Peru is working to meet immediate needs, like clean water, sanitation, and basic shelter, as well as to assess the damage and plan for long-term recovery, focusing on poor and rural populations that are the most vulnerable and hardest to reach. Their work is being made more difficult by scores of aftershocks, impassable highways, collapsed bridges, and power outages that have plunged cities and towns into darkness. We need your help today to provide relief and save lives. Please give generously."

or try the Red Cross ...
http://www.redcross.org/news/ds/profiles/disaster_profile_PeruEarthquake.html

Thanks for considering this.

Technorati Tags: peru, earthquake relief, oxfam, red cross