30th August, 2004
RNC
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
– Voltaire
If you haven’t been following it lately, now would be a good idea to check out BoingBoing and their excellent roundup of RNC protest coverage. I find it very heartening to see people adapting technologies to exercise their right to freedom of speech.
Posted at 7:54 am | Comment (0)
30th August, 2004
Not Dead
No, I’m not dead, nor is this site. I’m sure my two readers are breathing a collective sigh of relief at this news. In a nutshell, I’ve been on hiatus due to some depression issues as well as having to deal with a family member getting cancer and breaking up with my girlfriend. Such is life. I’m not really sure why I’m even writing this – personal blogs are such strange beasts when it comes to communication. I’m not exactly in the chipperest of moods at the moment but I’m tired of being in a funk. I need to get off my ass and get on with life. More soon.
Posted at 7:44 am | Comment (0)
13th August, 2004
Fair Use? What’s That?
Ah, the Business Software Alliance. One would think that they’re trying to become the next RIAA or MPAA what with the way they’re trying to stamp out P2P applications. You know, since P2P is eeevil and is the cause of all the software piracy in the world – all those operations in China that churn out gazillions of pirated CDs have nothing at all to do with piracy rates. Anyway, they’re now trying to brainwash 4th graders in the US with the ‘Play It Safe in Cyber Space’ mascot, a “copyright crusading” ferret (looks like a weasel to me – how apropos) who teaches kids about “good cyber ethics” which are, of course, one sided ethics that only benefit the corporations. This marks the 3rd year of the BSA’s efforts to quash copyright law.
Thankfully, this year, the American Library Association is stepping in and providing *gasp* a balanced view of copyright law which includes discussion of that silly little thing called “fair use”. The Electronic Frontier Foundation as well as the National Education Association are also taking steps to present a more balanced look at copyright. “We want to teach children to be thinking human beings,” said Melinda Anderson, a spokesperson for the NEA. “Not a parrot for some corporate agenda.” You go, girl! [via Wired]
Posted at 8:30 am | Comment (0)
4th August, 2004
Braaaiiinnss
No, it’s not Talk Like a Zombie day, but I do have a themed double shot for you today featuring your noodle.
First off, we have a cool new O’Reilly book that will be coming out sometime in the (hopefully) near future called Brain Hacks. From one of the co-authors:
And so you can learn how your brain works. I’m not talking about a map or general mechanisms (“there are neurons which are connected blah”) and I’m not talking about really high-level stuff (“this bit is active when you’re motivated blah”). I’m talking about minute-by-minute stuff: This is why you scratch your face when somebody else does. This is what will grab your attention in the corner of your eye, and this is what won’t. Why the status icons in the corner of your desktop should be black and white and not in colour. That’s what Brain Hacks is about, letting you see how all that works, from a standing start.
[via BoingBoing]
Second, let me point to a handy walkthrough on how to package up fresh brains and ship them through the mail. Hurray. You have no idea how long I’ve been searching for this information. Sadly, the site doesn’t offer any tips on how to acquire said fresh brains, so our zombie friends will have to stick with rampaging through and killing the general populace. [via idiolect]
Posted at 8:27 am | Comment (0)
2nd August, 2004
Liar
An excellent Op/Ed by Ron Reagan regarding Bush and his cronies. It’s a bit long, but a very good read. [via Dan Gillmor]
Posted at 8:37 am | Comment (0)
