Jason Griffey

Well, we spent today visiting family here in Olive Hill, and taking LOTS of pictures. I decided that since this was our first trip here with the digital camera, we'd just take pics of everything, since I don't really have many pictures of my home town (it's a funny thing that everyone takes pictures of vacations, but no one takes pictures of where they live). I'm sure that I'll put everything together into a photo gallery at some point, but there were several things that I learned from visiting with my grandfather that really touched me:

One: my grandfather visited Yellowstone National Park when he was 17 years old (1937) as part of the Civilian Conservation Core. While he was there, he woke one morning to find a black bear in his tent. The bear left without incident.

Two: he still has, hanging in his hallway, the calendar that was hanging on the wall the day my grandmother died. It still has her doctor's appointment written on it, in her handwriting. That was 1989.

So freaking busy with travel…this weekend = my parents place, for a weekend of fun with them. Hopefully we're going to see the Cincy Reds play, but it may rain us out. We'll see.

As a quick update for those keep track: the domain www.jasongriffey.net is active now. It's being virtually hosted by Ibiblio, and is just directed to www.ibiblio.org/griffey . Either of those will get you my current homepage. My space on ISIS, the www.unc.edu/~griffey space is being forwarded to www.jasongriffey.net. Make sense? 🙂

So this blog SHOULD be active as www.jasongriffey.net/blog . If you would like to update your links, please do so. If not, no big deal..that's why I bothered with all the forwarding.

Only 232 days until my birthday, so start shopping early.

Might I suggest something from Blade Runner, Dracula, Jaws, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, or Xmen.

Thanks in advance.

Exhausted, but home. Had a great time at GenCon, but my plane was delayed due to weather yesterday and I didn't actually roll into my bed until 2:30am (and that after averaging 4 hours of sleep a night from Wed.-Sun.).

So I'm still a little fuzzy.

Stick around, and there will be more blog concerning the trip and me over the next few days.

I did miss you guys.

The time has come,” the Walrus said,
“To talk of many things:
Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax–
Of cabbages–and kings…”

And of me going away for the weekend to the last of the gaming conventions of the summer. I'm off to GenCon, the largest gaming convention in the world (at it's high point, the convention attracted 58,000 people). I'll return with more wierd pictures and more games for gaming night.

Check out the Keeper of Ancient GenCon Lore for more info on the history of the convention.

See you all next week.

Excellent stuff from MIT and Boston College. They are refusing to release names and information about students attending each university to the RIAA in their series of feverish litigation. Both universities are citing the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, and refusing to comply until the charges are filed appropriately in the local federal court.

GO MIT AND BC! This is exactly the response I'd like to see ALL universities taking.

Story from the Boston Globe.

Interesting new “movement” (I'll use the term lightly until I see it covered in more detail) being pushed by Richard Dawkins (writer and philosopher, The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker…one of the most influential thinkers alive today that gets no attention). Are you a Bright? I am.

Guardian story by Dawkins.

New York Times piece by Daniel Dennett

The Bright website.

RFID in action…privacy advocates should take note now.

” At the Tesco Cambridge store, reports the magazine, a camera trained on the Gillette blade shelf, and triggered by the tags, captures a photo of each customer who removes a Mach3 pack. Another photo is taken at the checkout and security staff compare the two images to ensure they always have a pair.”

RFID Tags on Mach3 Razorblades Snap Your Photo [Slashdot]

There's just so much wrong here that I can't even begin. I'm flying out to Indianapolis on Wednesday, and I'm tempted to print out a copy of the button and try this out. Paranoia triumphs over political speech….

++++++++++++++
John Gilmore: I was ejected from a plane for wearing 'Suspected Terrorist' button. From Declan's politech list, a post from EFF co-founder John Gilmore:

My sweetheart Annie and I tried to fly to London today (Friday) on British Airways. We started at SFO, showed our passports and got through all the rigamarole, and were seated on the plane while it taxied out toward takeoff. Suddenly a flight steward, Cabin Service Director Khaleel Miyan, loomed in front of me and demanded that I remove a small 1″ button pinned to my left lapel. I declined, saying that it was a political statement and that he had no right to censor passengers' political speech. The button, which was created by political activist Emi Koyama, says “Suspected Terrorist”. Large images of the button and I appear in the cover story of Reason Magazine this month, and the story is entitled “Suspected Terrorist”. You can see the button [here].

The steward returned with Capt. Peter Hughes. The captain requested, and then demanded, that I remove the button (they called it a “badge”). He said that I would endanger the aircraft and commit a federal crime if I did not take it off. I told him that it was a political statement and declined to remove it. They turned the plane around and brought it back to the gate, delaying 300 passengers on a full flight.

Link, Discuss [Boing Boing Blog]

Ok…for those of you that were there, the Karaoke Madness probably is still fresh in your memory. For those who don't remember details due to various hydrocarbons still working their way through your livers, take a look. I haven't gotten to the pithy captions yet, so feel free to suggest those as well.

Selected photos from Owen's Karaoke Madness.

Anyone who would like the offending photos removed, you can ask me nicely and I'll think about it.

🙂