CyberMouse

Friday, October 15, 2004:

The Canadian Embassy, together with the Embassy of Ireland, will be holding
a Higher Education Fair at the Canadian Embassy on Wednesday, November 3,
2004 from 10:00 to 17:00. The purpose is let students and teachers know
about studying in Canada.

Institutions participating from Canada:

1. The University of British Columbia (Vancouver, B.C.)
2. The University of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario)
3. The University of Alberta (Edmonton, Alberta)
4. Acadia University (Wolfville, Nova Scotia)
5. The University of Manitoba (Winnipeg, Manitoba)

6. The University of Winnipeg (Winnipeg, Manitoba)
7. Kwantlen University College (Surrey, B.C.)
8. Simon Fraser University (Burnaby, B.C.)
9. Trent University (Peterborough, Ontario)
10. Langara College (Vancouver, B.C.)

11. Red Deer College (Red Deer, Alberta)
12. Nova Scotia Agricultural College (Truro, Nova Scotia)
13. Algoma University College (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario)
14. McGill University (Montreal, Quebec)
15. The University of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan)

16. Fleming College (Peterborough, Ontario)
17. Saint Mary s University (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
18. Brock University (St. Catherines, Ontario)
19. The University of Waterloo (Waterloo, Ontario)


Canadian Embassy, Public Affairs Section
7-3-38 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-8503
Fax: (03) 5412-6249
Access: Exit #4 Aoyama Itchome station on the Ginza,
Hanzomon or O-edo subway lines
Map:
http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/ni-ka/site/images/tokyo_map-embassy.jpg

For fair enquiries and pre-registration:
Email: (English or Japanese) e-canada@zas.att.ne.jp
Website: (Japanese) www.canadanet.or.jp/study/univfair.shtml

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Unknown // 6:30 AM

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Thursday, October 14, 2004:

FDA APPROVES MEDICAL MICROCHIPS
The Food and Drug Administration has okayed an implantable radio
frequency microchip that can transmit information on a patient's medical
history to doctors in the event of an emergency. VeriChips, made by Applied
Digital Solutions, are already in use as a way to track wayward pets and
livestock, and nearly 200 people working in Mexico's attorney general's
office have had the chips implanted in order to access secure areas. The
tiny chips, which are embedded under the skin with a syringe, are
programmed with a code similar to the UPC codes on retail goods, which
releases patient-specific information on such issues as allergies and prior
treatments when scanned. (AP 13 Oct 2004)


7-ELEVEN TESTS WIRELESS INVENTORY SYSTEM
Prompted by the example of Wal-Mart, convenience store giant 7-Eleven
is testing a wireless system in 10 Dallas-area stores that enable managers
to scan shelves using a handheld device and instantly order products that
need replenishing. Many retailers already use point-of-sale systems that
deduct sold items from an overall inventory list, but 7-Eleven officials
say the handheld computer takes the process one step further. The device,
made by NEC, features software that helps predict demand for perishable
food -- from sandwiches to milk -- by taking factors such as the weather
forecast into account. Rainy days produce sales slumps, while hot weather
triggers a run on Slurpees. Balancing supply and demand in the margin-thin
world of food stores is critical, according to a 2002 study by Emory
University, which estimated stores lose 4% of potential sales because they
run out of items consumers want. (AP/SiliconValley.com 13 Oct 2004)


WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS IS MORE LAWYER-BOTS
Mark Rasch, founder and former head of the U.S. Justice Department's
computer crimes unit, says that the increasing trend toward lengthy,
tiny-font policy "agreements" that users must click on before they can
access a Web site are generating the need for more legal oversight.
"Increasingly, companies have been putting some pretty nasty things into
their clickwrap agreements -- such as that they can collect and sell your
detailed personal information or install software that will capture your
every keystroke
This is not legal boilerplate, the kind that everybody
assents to when renting a car or buying a ticket to a ball game. It affects
the privacy, security, and operability of all of the information you access
online." Rasch says what's desperately needed is a law robot -- "a
browser-based automaton that could be adjusted to match your tolerance for
legal mumbo-jumbo
Once you establish privacy settings, your browser would
transfer personal data (after prompting you) only to sites that conform
with your privacy requirements." Rasch says such technology would go a long
way toward eradicating such online nuisances as porn spam and spyware. "We
will never fully automate the reading of contracts or agreements online.
Nor would we want to -- after all, Internet lawyers need jobs, too. But by
automating the vetting of clickwraps or implied agreements we could make
everybody sleep a little easier." (Wired.com Oct 2004)

Unknown // 6:52 AM

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Wednesday, October 13, 2004:

75, originally uploaded by Surfer Car.

Here is a summer shot of one of the ponds and the house in Agazi Beautiful British Columbia, Canada

Unknown // 1:06 AM
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94, originally uploaded by Surfer Car.

Here is the outside of the Ohara house in summer.

Unknown // 1:03 AM
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105, originally uploaded by Surfer Car.

He we are inside the house in Ohara, Japan

Unknown // 12:57 AM
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Tuesday, October 12, 2004:

What did technology look like 100 years ago?
AHOY! ARE YOU THERE?
In his book about telephone technologies, James W. Robinson recalls
this bit of telephonic ancient history:
"The invention initially had its doubters and cynics. The chief of
the British Post Office was reported to have said: 'The Americans may have
need for the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys.'
"Mark Twain dismissed the new contraption with this legendary
put-down: 'If Bell had invented a muffler or gag, he would have done a real
service.'
"Others reacted with fear and superstition. They were afraid to talk
to a disembodied voice and worried they would be electrocuted. Still others
felt the phone was simply another 'gilded-age' toy for the upper crust --
certainly not a development that would alter the lives of average people
and society as a whole.
"'Telephones are rented only to persons of good breeding and
refinement,' an early advertisement reminded potential customers. Indeed,
it cost a fortune: $150 to lease a telephone in New York and $100 in
Chicago and Philadelphia. That was a lot of money in the 1880s. True to
that 'good breeding and refinement' mentality, many early customers hid
their phones in a cupboard or installed a special cabinet to house the
instrument.
"Even the now universal method of answering the telephone went
through several manifestations in the very early days. Alexander Graham
Bell always said 'Ahoy!' When Thomas Edison worked on perfecting the
device, it had to be cranked first and the user asked 'Are you there?'
Edison thought that took too long, so he just said 'Hello?'
"The early notion that the telephone would remain an extravagance for
a small segment of society was quickly proved wrong. Communications
technology spread like wildfire from day one, and it hasn't stopped since.
Unknown // 11:44 PM

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LAMBDARAIL LIGHTS UP
The National LambdaRail (NLR) last month completed the first phase of
deployment, linking Denver and Chicago, Atlanta and Jacksonville, and
Seattle and Denver, among others. Phase 2, which will focus primarily on
the southern U.S., will provide high-speed Internet links among
universities in Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Salt Lake
City and New York. Experts say NLR's capabilities as an all-optical network
far outstrip those of Internet2's 10-gigabit-per-second Abilene network.
"The National LambdaRail is the next step in the natural evolution of
research and education in data communications," says NLR chief executive
Tom West. "For the first time, researchers will actually own the
underlying infrastructure, something that is crucial in developing
advanced science applications and network research." Like Abilene, NLR is
heavily backed by Internet2, the university consortium dedicated to
next-generation Internet technologies, but NLR's high-speed links are
independent of the commercial Internet backbone that comprises much of the
Abilene network. (CNet News.com 11 Oct 2004)


Unknown // 5:09 AM

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