Wired Minds

Evany Thomas

Friends will tell you that I suffer from a somewhat crippling fear of junkies. And it's true! I've always been leery of needle users, but not in any insane or unusual way, a general reluctance to get cozy with street addicts being I think fairly standard? However my fears took a turn for the irrational the night I stumbled upon the documentary Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street, and then stayed up until 4am watching with horrified fascination. The way that movie captured the junkie's disturbing and alien sense of priorities, with heroin reigning supreme above everything else -- food, loved ones, strangers, the innate sense of self preservation -- just completely unhinged me. The fact that all the action took place right in the middle of my neighborhood was particularly unsettling. Hey there's my favorite coffee place! That's my bank! Suddenly my eyes were forced open to the fact that all those kids hanging around looking "tired" were totally junkies! (I've since had similar quease-fest, sort of a paranoia refresher course, after accidentally getting sucked in to Intervention during a recent Jetblue television marathon.) Anyway, I know that these ideas of mine aren't all that politically correct, that addiction is a disease, etc. And I do have a great deal of intellectual sympathy for those who struggle with the white pony. And yet ... couldn't the same be said about zombies? It isn't exactly their fault that they got bit by an undead type, but now that they're pale and lurching and scabby and trying to kill me, it would be crazy not to run away from them, right? Or at the very least buy a very expensive locking mailbox?

via http://evany.diaryland.com/older.html

Thomas Claburn

AOL Releases 20 Million Search Queries
Evidently believing that privacy advocates are insane, AOL has decided to release some 20 million search queries from about half a million users -- perhaps the same data set it already gave the Department of Justice.

On the positive side, no IP address information is included and the user ids are anonymized. On the negative side, an enterprising researcher is sure to be able to identify some people solely using their search terms, such as those who search for their own names or Web sites. At the very least, those named in searches won't appreciate being offered up for public scrutiny.

It seems AOL is searching for someone who'll sue the company.

Update: AOL has removed the data. More at TechCrunch.

-[Turns out that some of the search strings suggest AOL search data shows users planning to commit murder -Ed.]
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via http://www.lot49.com/