In an unusual approach to environmental fundraising — call it free-market wildlife conservation — the Wyoming-based Foundation for North American Wild Sheep (FNAWS) has struck deals with 21 U.S., Canadian, and Mexican states in which FNAWS gets to auction a precious few bighorn hunting permits in return for giving 90 percent of the proceeds back to those states’ sheep conservation programs.
Month: June 2005
How to shorten a conversation at work
Open up your cellphone, and approach [the person’s] cubicle. Say into the phone, “hold on one second.” Then tell your talkative friend exactly what you need to tell them. They feel important because you interrupted your other conversation, but then you can motion to the phone to disengage them from any further small talk. Walk away and continue talking to your dial tone.
Anonymous Library Cards Allow You to Wonder, ‘Who Was That Masked Patron?’
You’ve seen anonymous cash cards already; you may even have received them before. They’re better known as gift cards. Using the same principle, libraries can issue a borrower card that uses cash, rather than personal ID information, as collateral. Here’s an example: If a privacy-minded user deposits $20 to get an anonymous library card, she can check out The Terror State without identifying herself. Her account balance is temporarily reduced by $15, and when the library checks the CD back in (in good condition), her balance is restored to its original value.
That’s one way to get around the Patriot Act!
Anonymous Library Cards Allow You to Wonder, ‘Who Was That Masked Patron?’
Going for Broke
The crowd this week in San Francisco at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference seemed mildly excited by the prospect of its favorite computer company turning to Intel processors. The CEO of Adobe asked why it had taken Apple so long to make the switch? Analysts on Wall Street were generally positive, with a couple exceptions. WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE!? Are these people drunk on Flav-r-Ade? Yes. It is the legendary Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field at work. And this time, what’s behind the announcement is so baffling and staggering that it isn’t surprising that nobody has yet figured it out until now.
Apple and Intel are merging.
No Privacy in Your Cubicle? Try an Electronic Silencer
Two people in an office here were having a tete-a-tete, but it was impossible for a listener standing nearby to understand what they were saying. The conversation sounded like a waterfall of voices, both tantalizingly familiar and yet incomprehensible.
The cone of silence, called Babble, is actually a device composed of a sound processor and several speakers that multiply and scramble voices that come within its range. About the size of a clock radio, the first model is designed for a person using a phone, but other models will work in open office space….
The system will be introduced in June by Sonare Technologies, a new subsidiary of Herman Miller, the maker of the Aeron chair, as part of an effort to move beyond office furniture. The company plans to sell the device for less than $400 through consumer electronics and office supply stores.
mwaddell.com 