DuckDuckGo[ogle]

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In addition to some suggestions I recently offered about making your computer and your privacy (possibly) less vulnerable to invasion when using the web, I stumbled across another goodie that seems positioned for breakout popularity soon. It's a search engine called DuckDuckGo.

First, it reminds me of Google 10-plus years ago: a simple site that searches for stuff you type in real fast and returns results rank-ordered in terms of raw relevance in relation to your keywords. Many of us with broadband access at work developed a reflexive Google habit sometime during the second term of Hillary Clinton's peckerwood husband. And probably just as many of us have retained the habit, uncritically. This has enabled Google to build a colossal technology concern, funded by advertising targeted to your web browser and its search history (and by cross-referencing lots of other stuff in the background). Good for them; I'm happy to see a (somewhat) progressive competitor in the tech business to challenge Apple, Microsoft, RIM, Sony, and whomever.

During the past decade, though, Google dove into an aggressively extractive business model that some people call corporatism. As it has happened everywhere else over the past 30 years, people on the internet have devolved from human beings into customers and then resources; from citizens into capital and then commodities. This isn't Google's fault, of course, but Google is evidently really good at delivering our eyeballs to merchants and marketing snoops who then use them to colonize our attention. (I say "apparently" because Firefox and its privacy plug-ins shield me from most of it, so I don't observe the full extent of the privacy invasion from where I sit.)

Anyway, I've found the Google search engine to be a lot less helpful to me in the past several years. Maybe you have, too. And you, like I, have probably read about why this is the case. For example, Google delivers search results keyed to our ZIP code, our search history, stuff reported back to the company by our browser cookies, and so on. At the DuckDuckGo site, they explain it. The term of art is bubbling, as in keeping you in a bubble of isolation, searchwise, based on what Google and its "partners" determine to be the best way to extract consumer-type attention from you. Check it out. It's the clearest and most concise explanation of bubbling I've seen. Likewise, read their explanation of how tracking works. Top-notch education in a dozen pictures and captions.

My initial results with DuckDuckGo seem to be a world away from the chaff that Google delivers these days. I've set a button on my Firefox bookmark bar and will install the DDG search plug-in as soon as Mozilla gets its act together and fixes the Firefox installation bug. (Dumbness that I won't get sidetracked on here.)

I haven't read anything about the company yet, and I hope their strat plan isn't to become "the next Google." If they were to set up as an open-source nonprofit like the Wikimedia Foundation, I'd donate some green stuff to them.

I don't have any animosity toward Google The Corporation, but extractive capitalism is just not compatible with respect for the individual and his or her privacy. So their having a real search competitor is just fine with me.

Why I use Firefox [updated]

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I'm a longtime user of the open-source Mozilla Firefox web browser. It has fallen out of favor with some of the high-visibility cool kids these days. Its interface is not as glamorous-looking as Apple Safari or Google Chrome; and it doesn't have the cult appeal of Opera, the Ron Paul of web browsers. But in my experience, nothing beats Firefox in terms of managing browsing privacy and security.

If you use Firefox, I strongly recommend that you look into a new-to-me add-in called Do Not Track Plus by a company called Abine. The add-in displays a simple toolbar button that shows you how many companies are tracking you at any site you visit. If you click the button an alert box appears showing what categories of companies are tracking you---social networks, ad networks, etc---and confirming that the add-in is blocking their view of you. In addition to appreciating the privacy service that the add-in provides, I also find the alert box to be very informative about how many entities are trolling for information on how and where we browse.

The other indispensable add-ins for Firefox, in my view, are NoScript, AdBlock Plus, and HTTPS Everywhere. NoScript allows you to block websites from executing scripts in your browser. In addition to protecting against browser-based malware, NoScript prevents sites from executing all kinds of Java programs that do anything from running pointless animations to harvesting cookie, browsing history, and contact information. You can selectively enable or disable scripts from various sites as you get a feel for which ones are essential for your browser to work fairly normally (such as blogger.com, which I need to enable in order to bring you the finest in web-based social commentary and dokes, delivered fresh to your computer screen every time I feel like it).

AdBlock Plus does just what it sounds like. But, like NoScript, its filters can be selectively enabled if you need to. I basically am intruded upon by zero ads wherever I browse.

Finally, HTTPS Everywhere works with a growing number of sites to encrypt your connection even if they're not running secure (https://) protocols.

This post, incidentally, hints at a bigger issue that I've been wanting to write about for a year or more, namely that the web seems destined to devolve into a corporation-controlled domain dedicated to propagating corporatist values and extracting every available morsel of value from its most valuable resource---human eyeballs.

Update: I've been referring to these little programs as "add-ins," but I am now reminded that Mozilla calls them "add-ons." And more specifically, the items I mention above are "extensions." There are also "plug-ins," which are a slightly different animal, and "skins" that change the look of the browser (most of which suck).

I want a space bike!

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Space bikes aren't yet available to the American consumer---they didn't even have them on Star Trek TNG, fer chrissakes! But thanks to the Retro Thing blog I see that some progressive companies are now marketing a cunningly hybrid technology torn at the same time from the annals of the past and future. It's called a velocar, a human-powered personal vehicle built around a recumbent bicycle frame. Recumbents have been around for a least a century, and velocars almost as long. Some historians, in fact, propose that the first velocars date to a much earlier era (Illustration 1). I'd guess that they originally failed because neolithic engineers could not effectively design a power-transfer train using only rocks, pointy sticks, and animal hides.

The concept of robust human-powered vehicles, however, was both sound and feasible. Now, 21st century entrepreneurs have improved on the historic mobile phallus motif by applying advanced materials to both prehistoric and modern designs (Illustration 2).

I'm partial to the Velomobiel Quest (Illustration 3), which is faithful to its weenie-type roots while purportedly applying many simple but powerful design concepts. One big improvement, if well executed, is the isolation of the drive train from the elements in order to avoid heavy maintenance requirements. Also, the tires can be changed without removing the wheels. Another improvement is the snappy road speed made possible by using computer-assisted aerodynamic design in combination with ultralight materials, including removable weathertight hardtops.

Illustration 3. Velomobiel Quest.

Obvious issues to investigate would be user safety and theft prevention, but these are already live issues for anyone who commutes by bicycle. Retro Thing commenters complain that the vehicle is too expensive because they're "just recumbent bikes with canopies," and that you can buy a new economy car or used luxury car for the $8K--14K price tag. I feel that these concerns are too dumb to rebut directly. But consider the benefits of a weathertight, ultralight human-powered car that has enough cargo space for some groceries or a small shopping trip to the strip mall.

After manufacture and shipping, these vehicles would eliminate the burning of fossil fuels and, therefore, local carbon emissions. Human-powered commuting would inject a significant cardiovascular exercise routine into driving chores. Insurance costs should be much lower because, presumably, a velocar driver can't achieve the same level of slaughter or property damage that a drunk can behind the wheel of an SUV or a town car. One other huge, but less tangible benefit: this vehicle is probably very much owner-hackable like any bike, and like most cars were through the 1950s. Sustainable transport could reopen a niche in the citizen-engineering world, recalling a time when many ingenious Americans were more interested in playing with carburetors and crankshafts than passive entertainment and recreational shopping.

One might wonder why the fuck we ingenious Americans would have to look to the Danes to market solutions for affordable, sustainable transportation considering that the U.S. has zillions of underemployed trainable workers, lots of low-interest cash theoretically available for lending to startups, and supposedly a surplus of entrepreneurs who would like nothing more than to make some money "putting America back to work again." Caveat: I do not consider "it's not as simple as that" to be a valid response. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Introducing the failPad

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In the previous comments thread, our prolific commenter "Anonymous" glibly predicted that the overhyped new Apple mobile media device would be "stupid." I could faintly imagine innovative possibilities for a highly portable multimedia touchscreen computer, but could not figure out how it could be successfully implemented. Forward-facing camera for videoconferencing and texting? Maybe cool, but cellular nets certainly don't have the bandwidth to support too much of that. Larger touch keyboard with tactile feedback (haptic) technology? Of interest to me, but I really can't see any advantage to a screen that you can't reach at least 3/5 of the way across with your thumbs, because laying the "pad" flat on a table would give the user a lousy viewing angle, and propping the screen up would give the user lousy typing ergonomics.

I felt that all the mockups were wrongheaded --- basically large iPhones with no apparent redeeming social value. Certainly the guy who sent engineers back to the lab a dozen times until they designed a MacBook trackpad with exactly the right texture would have obsessed over the ergonomics of the device, the hand feel, the effortless graspability, I thought.

Nope. Jobs's failPad is, in my opinion, astonishingly banal. The device appears to incorporate zero technical innovation and clumsy ergonomics. It offers no new essential, or even interesting, capabilities whatsoever (unless you think it's important to have a ridiculously high-def 10 in. display that you can hold up to your face with both hands while watching YouTube porns).

Apple didn't introduce a technology innovation today --- it unveiled a new business model for media content owners. I'd imagine that those giant media corporations --- which actually are people just like you and me, granted --- already have a mighty case of blue balls owing to several years of foreplay. These behemoths have gently been urging Apple (like a thousand tiny fingers) to market a stylish new widget that will seduce foolish young consumers into turning their media collections into a never-ending revenue stream for Time-Warner, Disney, General Electric, and all those other friendly folks who rent you content for your life so you don't have to provide your own.

When I read the description of the iPad today I'm sure I felt the same kind of bile rising as Ralphie did when he discovered that the Orphan Annie Secret Decoder Ring message was just a lousy commercial. Early Apple geek reaction to the failPad in blog comments threads has been pretty negative (about 2:1, in fact), which is uniformly unheard of after any new Apple rollout.

I may be wrong, but I'll bet anyone a beer that I'm not. I think the reason this new offering is so lame is that it wasn't really designed by Jobs and Jonathan Ives: it was developed for control-horny media conglomerates.

Most important thing

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Steve Jobs says the iPad will be "will be the most important thing I've ever done." I guess that's not counting the liver transplant.

Chronicles of VapoRub bioavailability 1(2)

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As promised in a previous comments thread, this post presents my latest datum on VapoRub from the night of 8 - 9 November 2008. The investigation attempts to verify the rumored utility of VapoRub as a cough suppressant during sleep when it is applied to the soles of a person's feet and covered with socks.

Immediately before retiring last evening, I once again slathered a moderate amount of Vick's VapoRub on the soles of my feet. As in the experimental run of 7 -8 November 2008, I began with the left foot, using my right hand, then carefully drew on a clean, lightweight cotton sock (black/brown houndstooth check if you must know). I took care not to wipe any VapoRub off the foot onto the sleeve of the sock. I then repeated the same sequence on the right foot, this time applying the medicated goo with the left hand. The sensation, as in the previous experimental run, was both comforting and slightly annoying; the moisture felt a bit sloppy, but not to any extent that should dissuade your own experimentation. Also, to preserve my original methodology, I used the Vick's inhaler thingy before conking out.

The result of this run was that I had even a better night's sleep than during the first run, which itself was of a very high quality. For background purposes, it should be noted that I typically awaken briefly once or twice a night at the conclusion of one or two 90-minute sleep cycles. These awakenings are either used for (1) voiding or (2) confirming that it's not time to wake up yet, immediately heralding the start of a fresh sleep cycle. I judge sleep quality by how well rested I feel in the morning; normal interruptions do not detract from good basic sleep quality, but fewer interruptions do enhance the quality significantly. [Editor's note: StuporMundi provides this personal sleep information to document the metrics for sleep quality used in this study, not because he's a lifestyle exhibitionist.]

Without knowing the mechanism of the cough-suppressing effect, I have become confident that there is a direct correlation between this medical application and my enjoyment of a restful sleep despite my being gruesomely ill. Without hesitation, I will repeat the application until I have recovered.

I don't know if Big Otis was ribbing us about the feet being "conduits of health", but something like that idea is present in folk medicine. It is said that if you rub the bottom of your feet with garlic cloves, you will taste it in your mouth in about 20 minutes, even without sucking on your own toes. Or at least that's what I read in an email chain letter. I may try the garlic experiment at a later date.

BO, who is a trained and degreed scientist, also hypothesized that the cough-suppressing effect may simply be the same one you get by simply rubbing the stuff on your chest. Using the foot modality of delivery, I experienced no sensation of "mintiness" or "warmth" anywhere near the chest --- only in the nose tubes that sucked up the vapors from the inhaler. The onset of the effect must be slow or subtle; the last thing I remember before drifting off to sleep was to wonder if it was going to work, because I felt like I could start coughing at any time. Upon awakening in the morning, I had no impulse to cough, and no significant sensation of irritation in the lungs. And it is worth noting that, according to my memory, having VapoRub smeared over one's upper torso is quite annoying in terms of the "sloppiness" metric, and I also seem to recall that the torso application causes excessive sweating, which aggravates the discomfort of stewing in one's own mentholated, virus-infested sauce.

In this second run I added an observational phase in the morning. Checking the bottoms of my feet, there was absolutely no trace of greasy residue from the VapoRub. Assuming it had wicked into the socks, I checked. Neither sock felt the slightest bit greasy to the touch, and I smelled no hint of menthol. I did, however, smell the miasma of podobromidrosis, which I did not expect. No single mechanism cries out as an explanation for the conspicuous vanishing of all traces of the aromatic grease. Bioabsorption does not sound farfetched to this simple country editor, but as the scientific community always says, "more research is needed."

Socks full of Vick's VapoRub

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In a comments thread for the Lieberman post on 7 November Big Rock Head suggested that I fill some warm socks with VapoRub and wear them to bed, or something, to treat my chest cold. Matter of fact, earlier yesterday I got email from VAR Of The DAR who suggested the same thing. I was feeling so miserable, and couldn't breathe, that I saw no harm in trying. So I greased up the soles of my feet and put on some socks, then went night-night. The damp chemical warmth was a little weird, but not too weird for Science.

Guess what? I had the best sleep of my illness. My airway stayed clear for the duration. This was not a formal scientific study because I also used a Vick's inhaler shortly before bed, and there was at least one other variable I temporarily forget (probably B&B). But I'm trying it again tonight. Will publish results sometime tomorrow, maybe with an update on my shaving razor field research!

It was a simpler time

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From the Science & Engineering Desk, and apropos of nothing (as our correspondent often says), I present to you an invention for the ultimate in comfort and convenience during the reportedly grueling act of childbirth: behold U.S. Patent 3,216,423 --- Apparatus For Facilitating the Birth of a Child By Centrifugal Force (1965). Notice the cruciform plan of said apparatus, providing subliminal reassurance to all of an immaculate delivery, if not conception. And, no, it's not a nutty idea, regardless of what you may think! Click the image to enlarge detail. My favorite feature is the safety net for Junior.