| Format | Net Units | Net Sales | Royalty % | Net Royalty |
| -------- | -------- | -------- | -------- | -------- |
| Book | 4,019 | 53,009.79 | 10.000 | 5,300.98 |
| License | 2 | 89.41 | 10.000 | 8.94 |
| On-Line Access | 3 | 3,573.06 | 10.000 | 357.31 |
| 104 | 1,899.17 | 10.000 | 188.92 | |
| *Reserve Withheld | | | | -1,060.20 |
| | -------- | -------- | | -------- |
| Net | 4,128 | 58,561.43 | | 4,795.95 |
Constraints are an interesting way to write programs. In a constraint system, instead of listing a jumble of instructions, you declare a set of relationships which when solved yields an answer. Amazing things have been done with constraint systems, including Ivan Sutherland's groundbreaking Sketchpad (1963), but they haven't received enough attention from the mainstream.
In 1988, Wm Leler published the brilliant Constraint Programming Languages: Their Specification and Generation, which describes Bertrand, a system for describing and realizing constraint languages. Bertrand uses Augmented Term Rewriting to build languages and to normalize and simplify a system of constraints. Leler has made the Bertrand codebase available at http://groups.google.com/group/bertrand-constraint.
Constraints can solve a large class of problems, including graphical layout. Design rules can be expressed as formulas which can yield a pleasing page layout that fits the constraints of a display device. I am optimistic that constraint systems can be used to repair or replace CSS.
hey, nobody told me the GHC peopel switched to git
Over the holidays, video hosting site Veoh won another victory under the DMCA safe harbors, this time against Universal Music Group (UMG). The ruling should put to rest the argument that transcoding and other activities necessary for making content accessible on the web are not covered by the DMCA's Section 512(c) safe harbor for storing material on behalf of users (i.e., hosting user-generated content). This is good news not just for Veoh, but also for YouTube and every other site that hosts material uploaded by users.
Like many other companies that host content on behalf of users, Veoh has been bedeviled by copyright lawsuits. The copyright owners make the same argument in each of these suits: the hosting service should be liable for every infringing bit uploaded by naughty users and responsible for the full cost of policing for infringement. Fortunately, Congress enacted the DMCA's safe harbor provisions back in 1998 to protect service providers from exactly these risks, offering immunity from copyright damages to those who implement a notice-and-takedown system. In August 2008, Veoh won a big victory against adult video purveyor Io Group, relying on these provisions.
Veoh's latest victory was against UMG, which sued Veoh because Veoh users allegedly uploaded UMG music videos without authorization. The issue before the court was whether the DMCA safe harbor for hosting only covers the actual act of storing bits on a server, or whether it also covers related activities, such as:
Relying on the statutory language, as well as the legislative history, the court concluded that all of these activities are covered by the DMCA Section 512(c) safe harbor. Lots of online service providers will greet this ruling with relief. If the court had accepted UMG's arguments, every web host would lose the safe harbor as soon as it made web pages available to the public. The ruling should also help YouTube in its ongoing battle with Viacom, which also turns on the continuing strength of the DMCA safe harbors.
But the Veoh ruling also points out a surprising irony: while YouTube and Viacom are fighting their interminable litigation trench war, many interesting DMCA legal questions are being resolved in smaller, faster-moving cases involving companies like Veoh. At this rate, the highly-anticipated Viacom v. YouTube lawsuit may end up a footnote in the legal fights that define the rules governing user-generated content.
Today, Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the United States District Court in San Francisco denied the government's third motion to dismiss the Al-Haramain v. Bush litigation. The ruling means that the case can proceed and the court also set up a process to allow the Al Haramain plaintiffs to prosecute the case while protecting classified information.
Al-Harmain Islamic Foundation, the Oregon chapter of an Islamic charity, sued the Bush Administration for the illegal surveillance of the organization and its attorneys as part of the NSA warrantless wiretapping program. The case was based on a secret document that was inadvertently disclosed by the government that, according to the plaintiffs, demonstrates that they were subjected to unlawful electronic surveillance outside the scope of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
In late 2007, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that despite the disclosure, the "Sealed Document" itself was a state secret, but sent the case back to the District Court to determine whether the FISA law nonetheless allowed the case to go forward, under a doctrine called "preemption." Last summer, the Court had ruled that FISA does preempts the state secrets privilege, and gave Al-Haramain the right to amend its complaint to show that they were "aggrieved persons" within the meaning of FISA through evidence other than the Sealed Document. If they could do so, the case could proceed.
In today's ruling, the Court held that in their amended complaint the Al-Haramain plaintiffs had presented sufficient evidence that they were "aggrieved persons" and rejected the Government's claims to the contrary, saying: "Without a doubt, plaintiffs have alleged enough to plead 'aggrieved persons' status so as to proceed to the next step in proceedings . . ."
In order to allow litigation to proceed while keeping the secrets under wraps, the Court ordered the government to arrange security clearances for Al-Haramain's attorneys. The Court also ordered the government to allow Judge Walker to review the Sealed Document in his chambers by January 19th. Finally, the Court required the government to review the classified submissions in the case, and declassify as much as possible. The Court will schedule a hearing later this month to plan next steps.
Ryan over at GamerBytes has a pretty awesome pair of articles on the top selling games on XBLA (here) and PSN (here).
I recommend them. Here's a quote I particularly liked:
From various sources we can see that despite some quality games coming out from smaller developers, like RooGoo and Shred Nebula, they're not selling. They can't get their name out there, and nobody is taking the time to give these games a go.Of all the stuff Sony's screwed up in the past couple of years, the PS Blog is one of their triumphs. I don't read it a lot, but they do a decent job of keeping true exclusive announcements for themselves. That increases visibility and readership tremendously, I'd imagine.Go and have a look at the US PlayStation blog - they have done a fantastic job allowing smaller developers, like the people behind high Velocity Bowling, PAIN, SuperSonic Automatic Rocket Powered Battle Cars and NovaStrike to speak directly to the community and give them a chance to convince the people. Interviews with Major Nelson are nice, but that's not enough.
This may be a case of unintended consequences. The NRK, Norway's national broadcasting service has scored permission from the country's music rights holders to release podcasts of any programs that it's done that are less than 70 percent music. A notable component of the NRK's collection is a series of broadcasts that includes the entire Beatles catalog.
Phoronix has the details on AMD's release of 3D drivers for ATI R600 and R700 graphics processors. "Since earlier this year we have been waiting for AMD to release documentation and/or code on the ATI R600 series concerning 3D acceleration so that the open-source Linux drivers can begin to support the newer ATI graphics processors. It has taken longer than expected for AMD to complete and release this information, but it's now available. AMD has released the fundamental Linux code needed to begin fostering the development of an open-source R600 3D driver. Furthermore, this code also concerns the latest R700 series of graphics processors! The microcode for the newest GPUs has also been released."
And a new day is born.
Ann Coulter was scheduled to appear on the "Today" show Tuesday morning to promote her new book, "Guilty." But it's now been canceled, according to her website.
"I guess this ends the 'they just want to get ratings' argument about liberal media bias," Coulter wrote underneath.
Coulter is still scheduled to appear on CBS' Early Show tomorrow, according to her web page. This follows the recent revelation that CBS considered including Coulter on the "independent" panel it created to investigate a 60 Minutes report on President Bush's National Guard record.
Matthews will still beg for her to come on Hardball I would imagine.
Now that all of the counting is finally done for the 2008 elections, it is possible to compare how different election forecasters fared. The three I have long been most interested in comparing are:
How did these three distinct prediction methods fare against each other? Results in the extended entry.
To compare the three methodologies, I looked ay the 65 Presidential and Senatorial campaigns on November 4th, 2008 for which at least one non-campaign funded telephone poll was in the field entirely from October 27th through November 3rd. This was done to create an apples to apples to apples comparison where, for all 65 campaigns, there are either publicly available predictions or publicly reproducible predictions (Pollster.com and Bowers don't work when there are no polls, and 538 didn't forecast House or Governor campaigns). The final predicted margin was used for all campaigns to maintain the apples to apples to apples comparison, since not every website predicted the final percentage for each candidate in every campaign. The mean and median errors were calculated for each method, and results were also sorted based on how many polls were available for each campaign. That last bit was done to try and answer the age-old question, "can polls be combined to create more accurate forecasts?"
The data for this comparison can be found here:
Prediction error rates: Bowers vs. 538 vs. Pollster.com (PDF)
Here were the results:
Median Error
| # of Polls | Bowers | 538 | Pollster | # of Cases |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 or more | 2.55 | 2.23 | 2.23 | 65 |
| 2 or more | 2.26 | 2.17 | 2.09 | 44 |
| 3 or more | 2.43 | 1.61 | 2.05 | 31 |
| 4 or more | 1.57 | 1.34 | 1.68 | 24 |
| 5 or more | 1.37 | 1.15 | 1.43 | 17 |
| 6 or more | 1.26 | 1.12 | 1.50 | 14 |
| 7 or more | 0.98 | 1.12 | 1.17 | 8 |
Using the median prediction error, all methods were very accurate. Once four or more polls are available, all methods can predict the final margin within less than 1.7%, plus or minus, most of the time. Comparatively, 538's was a bit more accurate, usually finishing in 1st and never finishing in 3rd. The differences, however, are very small.
Mean Error
| # of Polls | Bowers | 538 | Pollster | # of Cases |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 or more | 3.99 | 3.28 | 3.34 | 65 |
| 2 or more | 3.03 | 2.72 | 2.77 | 44 |
| 3 or more | 2.97 | 2.41 | 2.37 | 31 |
| 4 or more | 2.00 | 1.69 | 1.92 | 24 |
| 5 or more | 1.55 | 1.37 | 1.65 | 17 |
| 6 or more | 1.44 | 1.21 | 1.69 | 14 |
| 7 or more | 1.32 | 1.09 | 1.40 | 8 |
Here are what these numbers tell me:
Even with this all in mind, the worst thing a forecaster can do is to sit on his or her laurels, and not look through the numbers to produce a more accurate methodology. These numbers might point the way to an even better forecasting method than these three, and I am eager to try and find it in advance of 2010 and 2012.
In late 2006, the satirical newspaper The Onion launched a comics page in its print edition (currently available free on newsstands in 10 metropolitan areas). I was thrilled to feature Wondermark on that page in every market, and for about two and a half years, the comic ran in 700,000 papers every week.
Now, however, the Onion comics page is going away. The issue appearing on newsstands in a few days will be the last to feature a Wondermark strip.*
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed — it was wonderful to attend conventions in cities like New York, San Francisco, Austin, and the D.C. area and have people recognize the strip from the paper, thrilled to discover things like book collections and the email list. It was always a kick to pick a paper off the newsstand and see my work in print, and knowing that bored people on the subway would be reading my comic helped give me perspective — and kept me from making too many internet-nerd in-jokes. The whole time, the editors at the Onion have been uniformly gracious, accommodating and supportive, and I am deeply indebted to Tasha Robinson and Joe Garden particularly.
But the financial realities of the newspaper-publishing business are what they are. (That is to say, miserable.) Moving forward, my goals are twofold — both of which heavily involve you:
> First, I want to make sure that people who enjoyed Wondermark in the Onion know that the strip itself is still very much alive and continuing online. If you have friends who regularly read the comic in the paper, remind them that they can sign up for email delivery of comics and not miss a beat. In fact, they’ll get twice the comics! (Since the Onion only published one comic a week, but I post two a week here on the site.)
>> Second, if you attend or work for a school (high school or college) with a newspaper, let them know that Wondermark is now available for syndication through MCT Campus, the same syndicate that offers comics such as “K Chronicles”, “Brewster Rockit”, and “Bliss” to schools. MCT is offering Wondermark on a trial basis, which means that it lives or dies based on newspapers electing to participate and reader feedback – both things that I can’t provide, but you can.
Yes, you (in the aggregate) have the power to make Wondermark available to millions of students and faculty (in the aggregate) who might enjoy them. With the loss of the Onion audience, this opportunity for additional exposure is very precious, and I’d love to make a good showing. Please contact an editor at your school paper and direct them (very kindly) to the MCT Campus folks here, along with a few words about why you enjoy Wondermark and why it could be a good fit for your school.
And if the paper picks it up for syndication — tell me about it! I’ll send a personalized thank-you gift to anyone who sends me a scan of Wondermark in their school paper.
Thanks so much, everyone! And to any fugitive Onion fans who’ve found your way here, thanks for making the leap online. Here’s the email subscription list, the RSS feed, the website’s Twitter feed, the LiveJournal feed — pick your flavor. It’s nice to have you around.
*If you live in Madison, San Fran., NYC, LA, Austin, Chicago, Denver/Boulder, the Twin Cities, Milwaukee, or DC, pick up an Onion late this week. You might be glad you did, hint hint
http://ondioline.org/~paul/11-drill.ogg
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
pretty interesting
this appears to be full of crack (sorry, ryan)
January 6, 2009 The Apple iPod/iPhone/iTunes App Store ecosystem is producing some remarkably useful tools for life, work, play, and now education. A free app for the iPhone or iPod Touch from ResponseWare transforms them into wireless, interactive audience response tools that could transform the way people learn and collaborate in many environments. The app allows alphanumeric entry for single response, multiple response, fill-in-the-blank and essay questions and the diversity of response types it offers enhances a presenter’s communication options. It displays the question and answer choices on the iPod/phone during polling and participants logged into an interactive session can review previous polls as well as instant message the leader/ with questions and feedback. Beyond education, we also see the platform getting a serious workout in any collaborative environment as a way of exploring and responding to the needs/views of an audience in any forum. This idea has legs!..
Tags: Apple, iPhone, iPod, Responseware, Software, Turning Technologies
Related Articles:
This drawing of Tom, at first glance looks very complicated. There are a lot of lines and details and hairs that could possibly distract you from the contruction and logic of the face. Jerry and Tuffy's faces are simple by comparisn - BUT THEY FOLLOW THE SAME LOGIC. Tom is just more detailed than the mice, because his drawing is so much bigger. The bigger your character is on screen, the more
It’s O-fficial. At least until it isn’t again.
Al Franken will be standing - in a puddle of some controversy - along with appointed Illinois would-be Senator Roland Burris at the gates of that exclusive DC institutional club filled with a mixture of brilliant public servants and besotted stiffs (sometimes in the same person.)
Which one will actually get in the Senate door and which one won’t? Members-only seating on the underground Capitol Hill railway and exclusive elevator use are at stake here.
Mr. Burris arrives with the fingerprints of felonious intent on his back from the Blagojevich hands that pushed him toward the seat. That’s like starting your first day at a new job just as your primary resume reference gets busted for lying. It doesn’t make you a bad guy, but why do it? Because you can get away with it?
I’ve never been part of the Rod Blagojevich lynch mob - he’s the most interesting political counterpoint going to the slightly slowing Barack Obama bandwagon. And how hilarious that the governor’s response to his indictment is to throw this messy curveball at all those people who want him removed? It’s in some territory beyond cynicism.
What about Roland Burris, though? What’s his motivation? Why go through such a festering birth canal to get to the US Senate? I’d think he’d have the taste of sulfur on his tongue for quite some time. It would make many strong points to show up as the only black sitting US Senator. But in our supposedly Obamian post-racial world, is that the reason to be associated with (allegedly) crooks?
On the other hand, Mr. Franken’s declared victory in the seemingly endless Minnesota senate battle has generated some cheering, for sure, but surprisingly little laughing or hilarity. And what a shame that is. We need the laughs now more than ever. What happened to the comedian who cracked us up as Stuart Smalley? Now is not the time, sir, to dispense with satire and goofy skits in the name of politics.
Some years ago I was at a dinner party in Los Angeles where the most committed of SoCal political liberals were weeping over the state of the world: George Bush was President. Fox News dominated the media. They felt they were living in Hell. In the room were people (Norman Lear, for instance) whose cultural sensibilities and creativity had touched millions of people over many years. So how, I asked them, could they miss the point, here? Any message is better heard by an audience that’s engaged. You’re not being very engaging. You just need to be funnier than you are right now… more entertaining than Bill O’Reilly or Rush Limbaugh. Why let your opponents and their audiences have all the kicks while you’re trying to sell your programs?
Al Franken, purely coincidentally, came out as an active Democrat/comedian some time thereafter. I’m sure that was a relief to all those progressives whose laugh boxes had dried up. After all, he was that SNL guy who was now wrapping dogma in laughs. What a great way to get people’s attention.
Then he started getting serious. Not only serious but downright agitated. His speeches still got chuckles from audiences but he seemed to spend more and more time on an angry soapbox than he did with humorous riffs assaulting the other side. Gone was the scalpel; out came the bludgeon. He began to remind me a little of Lenny Bruce after his SF obscenity trial, when his stand-up performances were all about reading from the court transcripts that weren’t that funny, and about his own outrage, instead of being outrageously funny for his audience.
At a Commonwealth Club event I moderated a few years ago, Mr. Franken, otherwise very nice, cornered me beforehand and asked me to read a transcript of a Bill O’Reilly TV show to establish that O’Reilly was lying about something. In front of the audience, he pressed me to confirm that he was right and Bill O’Reilly wasn’t. Like that could never happen.
Now that you’re almost in, lighten up, Al. For your sake and ours. Make your colleagues laugh a little while you wrangle their support for your issues. If not, we can only hope that Senator Burris knows a joke or two.
For more, read Bronstein at Large.
The GP2Y0D02 is an infrared proximity sensor with a detection field that extends 80cm. This type of sensor can be used to build collision avoidance systems for robots. We’ll demonstrate this sensor using a single resistor and a multimeter.
Sharp GP2Y0D02 fixed 80cm IR proximity detector (Digikey #425-2064-ND, $14.38). Datasheet (PDF).
The GP2Y0D02 requires a 5volt power supply (not shown). A 0.1uF bypass capacitor between power and ground (C1) is a good idea, but we didn’t use it in our demonstration. The open collector output (pin 1) pulls to ground when no object is detected, a 12K pull-up resistor (R1) holds the signal high when an object is detected.
In the demonstration we connected the output of the sensor to a multimeter. When nothing is in front of the sensor, the detector holds the output low (0.40volts). When we put a PCB in front of the sensor, the output changes to high-impedance and the pull-up resistor (R1) holds the signal high (5volts).
Why open collector?
An open collector output doesn’t toggle between high and ground, it toggles between ground and unconnected. The unconnected state, also called high impedance, exerts nothing on the output and allows the signal line to float. This is an undefined state for most microcontrollers that returns rapidly varying values, so we use a resistor (R1) to hold the signal high. The open collector output overcomes the small amount of current flowing through resistor to register the low state. Without this resistor, the output will never reach a proper high state.
Open collector outputs are useful when several sensors need to share the same microcontroller pin. Multiple sensors outputting high to the same microcontroller pin is generally considered a bad practice that can damage parts of a circuit. Multiple open collector outputs, however, can only switch to ground; a single resistor holds the signal high. In the case of multiple GP2Y0D02s, the signal will be high only when all connected sensors detect an object and switch to high impedance state.
Like this post? Check out the parts posts you may have missed.
old <-- teferi image
looks like a nice 'history of banking 101'
Remember when they explained to us we needed to have the Republicans in charge "because they're good with money"? Remember how excited the Villagers were about having a Harvard MBA president? Ah, good times!
The deep river of private money that helped knit together the global economy has abruptly dried up, new government figures show.
As the global financial crisis grew more severe this summer, foreigners sold almost $90 billion of U.S. securities — the greatest quarterly fire sale by overseas investors since the government began keeping track in 1960. U.S. investors also are retrenching; they unloaded about $85 billion worth of foreign holdings in the quarter, says the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis.
"We've had a global panic. Everyone is pulling their money home," says economist Adam Posen of the Peterson Institute in Washington, D.C.
That's bad for economic growth in the U.S. because it threatens to starve capital-hungry companies and entrepreneurs. But it's especially serious for emerging-market countries that rely heavily on outside financing. Capital flows into countries such as South Korea, Turkey and Brazil were evaporating even before the mid-September Lehman Bros. bankruptcy made things worse.
The reversal of private capital flows signals an abrupt end to a nearly two-decades-long era of financial globalization, says economist Brad Setser of the Council on Foreign Relations. Private flows into and out of the U.S. for purchases of stocks, corporate bonds and federal agency bonds have dropped from around 18% of economic output to near zero "in a remarkably short period of time," Setser says.
There is a Santa Claus.
There isn't a Santa Claus.
The deal about Santa? The same goes for his elves, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, God, and the Halloween Ghosts and Goblins.
Randall
sneakums: funny, I came across http://whygitisbetterthanx.com/ just a few hours ago.
http://lol.whygitisbetterthanx.com/ <- LOL
guess I bought my googlephone about 10 days or so too late.
I still love this
TrackMania DS (DS)
Over five minutes of single and dual screen gameplay.
EVE Online (PC)
Space MMO reaches online milestone.
I am just a humble never-frozen cartoonist. I have no intelligent thoughts about Gaza, and no silly cartoon ideas about Israelis and Palestinians farting on each other either. Oh wait! I have one of those!
Hamas farts in the general direction of an Israeli settlement and the the Israelis retaliate with ridiculously out of proportion silent but deadlies. Jimmy Carter shows up, mugs to the viewer and says, “Here we go again!” and sharts his pants.
Hello Pulitzer!
Above: Juggs Magazine subscriber since 1994.
As billionaire Republican Michael Bloomberg dispatches his thuggish aides to presumptuously berate Democratic Gov. David Paterson for daring to consider appointing anyone other than Caroline Kennedy to the New York Senate seat, a new poll shows New Yorkers are incredibly uncomfortable with the idea:
44% of the state's voters now say they have a lesser opinion of Kennedy than they did before she started vying for the position. 33% say it's made no difference, and 23% report now having a more favorable opinion of her. A plurality of Democrats, Republicans, and independents all say that her efforts have caused them to view her less favorably.When it comes to whether they would prefer to see Kennedy or Andrew Cuomo appointed, 58% now prefer Cuomo to 27% for Kennedy. Cuomo is favored by 65% of Republicans, 59% of independents, and 54% of Democrats.
I know what you're thinking - Cuomo is a version of political aristocracy, right? Well, sure - but the point here is not that aristocracy is automatically horrible - it's not, and I never said it was. There are terrific leaders with ties to political aristocracy, from Ted Kennedy to Ned Lamont. The point here is that political aristocracy* ALONE should not be the sole or even most important determining factor in American politics - and most especially in appointments.
Kennedy has never run for office and hasn't strongly delineated her positions on most issues. The most we really know about her is that she campaigned for Barack Obama and is the daughter of John F. Kennedy. By contrast, you can say what you will about Cuomo, but the guy has run in statewide elections, and won one, meaning he has clearly elucidated many public positions on key issues, and has had experience representing constituents.
Of course, IMHO, aristocracy shouldn't be the sole or even most important determining factor in elections either, but as evidenced by the electoral success of do-nothings like Evan Bayh, clearly it is. But at least in that case, the citizenry makes the choice. That's democracy, baby - you live by it and you die by it.
That's different than an appointment - which is, by definition, undemocratic. I would argue that in appointments, governors should actually prioritize putting people in office who have very deep experience representing as many of the people they will be representing in the new office as possible. Why? Because in a democracy, it seems appropriate to try to limit autocracy (ie. representation without election) as much as possible - even in an undemocratic process like an appointment, where one person gets to select the representative of millions of people. In that case, the way to mitigate the inherently undemocratic nature of the situation is for a governor to at least try to put someone in office who constituents have a prior representational relationship with. After all, the U.S. Senate may be the House of Lords, but officially, senators are still supposed to be representatives, no?
This is why I - and many other Coloradoans - are so incensed about Gov. Bill Ritter's selection of Michael Bennet to replace Ken Salazar (and most of the criticism deserves to be directed not at Bennet, but at Ritter for making the inexplicable selection). Bennet has barely lived in state for a decade**, hasn't ever run for or won elected office, and has no record - or even public positions - on most key issues before the U.S. Senate. Indeed, at the press conference announcing his appointment, Bennet smugly shrugged off questions about where he stands on the issues - as if that's less important than the fact that he's already launched a 2010 election campaign website. Evidently, getting elected to a seat he was given by virtue of his connections to the Beltway Establishment and Colorado corporate community is more important than telling us how he will cast his Senate votes in our name.
If even one of these factors weren't undeniably true, there might be some shred of meritocratic legitimacy to the Bennet appointment, even in the face of other far more qualified candidates. But there isn't - and the problem with that is obvious. To be "represented" in the Senate by someone like this - regardless of how he ends up voting as a Senator (and I sure hope he casts progressive votes) - isn't to really be "represented" at all, because Coloradoans have not only had no say in that representation, we have no idea what we are really being represented BY.
The forces of money and power in New York are trying to replicate what their counterparts engineered here in Colorado. And I'm guessing that what this new poll really shows is that New Yorkers have caught onto the shenanigans and are disgusted. That's not a surprise. New Yorkers - like most Americans - probably don't like the idea of someone getting to represent them who has never represented anyone, and who would get the office almost solely on her last name. We may be a culture organized around celebrity, and at times that cultural organization seems intent on creating a quasi-royalty out of our congressional representatives, but perhaps there are limits to that kind of thing. Even as we celebritize the presidency and politicians, perhaps there are still certain lines that the mass public doesn't want crossed - the line separating hype-created quasi-royalty from actual, real hereditary royalty.
* Previously defined loosely as insider connections, ties to money/privilege, power derived from genetic lineage, etc
**By the way, I've only lived in state for about 2 years...but before you say its hypocrisy to question Bennet's tenure living here, remember: I'm not running for, or asking to be appointed to, the U.S. Senate to represent this state.
Download | Play Download | Play The economy is very sick," Obama said before meeting with Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid. "The situation is getting worse. ... We have to act and act now to break the momentum of this recession." "The reason we are here today is because the people's business cannot wait," "Economists from across the political spectrum agree that if we don't act swiftly and boldly, we could see a much deeper economic downturn that could lead to double-digit unemployment and the American dream slipping further and further out of reach... "This is not a Republican problem or a Democratic problem at this stage. It is an American problem and we're going to all have to chip in and do what the American people expect." In Obama's "bi-partisan Congressional" presser today, he called the economy "sick" and stressed the need for accountability on how the money from his massive stimulus package will be spent. As we've seen with TARP, and with no real oversight in place, you can't trust CEO's to do the right thing. The AP contacted 21 banks that received at least $1 billion in government money and asked four questions: How much has been spent? What was it spent on? How much is being held in savings? What's the plan for the rest?None of the banks provided specific answers and most refused to explain why they are keeping the information secret. Obama is stepping into an economic situation that is eerily similar to FDR and he's hitting the right notes when he says transparency and accountability are a high priority for him. That is going to be paramount if his new economic package is going to move forward. In FDR's time, just the fact that "change" was happening in America that didn't have the name "Hoover" attached to it gave FDR a huge boost to his agenda and to the American psyche that helped him get through his first 100 days. Hope and change do matter to the American public and Obama is using it wisely so far. Obama is in a similar position to FDR, but what will Conservatives do? Will they try to block his policies that he wants to sign into law as soon as his first 100 days begin or will they become part of the solution? I think we know where Mitch McConnell's head will go. They want to appear to be relevant, but it was their control that has put us in this position to begin with. I hope Obama's love affair with bipartisanship will come to an end very soon. Not because I don't think it's a good idea to have both sides working together, but because Conservatives are incapable of doing just that. They do not want Obama to succeed because it will weaken their grip on American politics for years to come at the expense of average Americans just trying to get by. It's about ideology for them and not about the healing that our country is in desperate need of. I think Obama will soon feel their un-partisan wrath sooner rather than later and hopefully it will snap him out of any thought he had that he could work with Conservatives, no matter how "centrist" he goes. So here's the question. How fast will Obama get fed up with Conservative obstructionism? Will it be in his first 100 days or shortly after? I do know they filibuster Franken (who has just declared victory) and Holder as soon as Conservatives can. Will that be the beginning of the end to this bipartisan nightmare? If Conservatives did join in then at least Obama would be able to start healing the country, but don't expect any help from them.
Eduardo the Samurai Toaster (Wii)
Tiny developer Semnat Studios talks about getting noticed by Nintendo.
“The Breakfast Cereal Club” by Ironic Sans
illustration by Ironic Sans
This is a blog post from Laughing Squid For more content like this, subscribe to the RSS feed, Twitter & FriendFeed.
Related posts:
- FriendFeed Comments on Laughing Squid
- FriendFeed, Aggregate and Share Web Content With Friends
- French Toast Kabobs, Breakfast Served On a Skewer
- Twitter Followers Have Exceeded RSS Feed Subscribers
GTR Evolution (PC)
You asked for Nürburgring; you got Nürburgring.
It's long been clear to me that the biggest lock-in Microsoft has, at the enterprise level, is not with Windows or personal apps, but with Exchange Server. And the biggest problem there is this: it's good. Enterprises like it. And, since Exchange works only or best with Windows machines, the lock-in extends to much else. Linux and Mac boxes get purged and replaced by Windows ones.
Or so goes the story I hear from folks at big enterprises.
So I'm wondering about alternatives.
Dumont: cisco is at http://zgp.org/~dmarti/images/net-crap/kalash_c.png
i think they were only interested in stuff that works
hey folks, it's Whine About My Pet Useless DVCS Hour!
everything that is wrong with modern tech journalism in one post
The Lich King continues to rule.
"You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a leprechaun, a monster, a cap'n, a tiger, and a rabbit. Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Cereal Club."
They guys who organized last year’s amazing meme exploration conference ROFLCon in Cambridge and the follow-up event ROFLThing in San Francisco, are now doing ROFLThing NYC on January 24th at Santos Party House in Manhattan.
ROFLThing features talks by Charlie Todd (Improv Everywhere), Troy Hitch & Matt Bledsoe (the creators of You Suck At Photoshop), Jason Scott, Bre Pettis, Alexis Ohanian (co-founder of Reddit), Jim Louderback (CEO of Revision3), Vincent Connare (creator of the Comic Sans font) and many more. Registration is now open.
I’ll be attending the event along wiht Lori and Laughing Squid is one of the sponsors of the event. While we are in town, we’ll be doing a Laughing Squid NYC Drinkup sometime that week before the event.
See Previously:
- ROFLThing, Exploring Internet Memes in San Francisco
image via ROFLCon
This is a blog post from Laughing Squid For more content like this, subscribe to the RSS feed, Twitter & FriendFeed.
ROFLThing NYC, Internet Memes Invade Manhattan
Related posts:
- ROFLThing, Exploring Internet Memes in San Francisco
- ROFLCon Organizers & The Tron Guy on Internet Superstar
- Laughing Squid’s Pre-ROFLCon Drinkup, April 24th in Cambridge
- Internet Week New York, Celebrating NYC’s Internet Industry
- ROFLCon, A Gathing of Popluar Internet Memes
In one of the more, forgive me, torturous staffing processes, it looks like Barack Obama has finally settled on the last major appointment he had left to make, that of CIA director. Given that the Bush administration has done so much long-term, institutional damage to our intelligence superstructure, basic tenets of human rights and the rule of law, and the really nearly impossible to overstate damage done to the very idea of America itself, and almost all of that has fallen under the scope of the CIA at one point or another, bloggers like Glenn Greenwald, Andrew Sullivan, and other leading voices in the fight for not buying into the false choice of security over freedom, have been keeping a very close, very wary eye on what Obama was going to do here.
Remember that Obama’s first floated choice for CIA Director, John Brennan, had to withdraw his name from consideration due to a mostly blogosphere-induced backlash against his previous advocacy of Bush positions on wiretapping, torture, and the like. While it remains unclear how complicit Brennan actually was in any of that (probably not very, in truth), those of us hoping for a clear indication of new direction were happy to see him go.
But that left Obama in a difficult bind. For CIA director, you kind of need somebody who has been working at a high level in the intelligence community. But, given that that would have been under Bush’s tenure, that also would be someone who almost certainly, on some level, had a hand in the aforementioned abuses.
Obama appears to have squared this circle by bypassing it entirely, nominating instead a man with not one iota of intelligence experience–former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta.
NBC News has confirmed that President-elect Barack Obama has chosen former Clinton White House chief of staff Leon Panetta to run the CIA.
Panetta was a surprise pick for the post, with no experience in the intelligence world. An Obama transition official and another Democrat disclosed his nomination on a condition of anonymity since it was not yet public.
Panetta was director of the Office of Management and Budget and a longtime congressman from California.
If you have to make a quick trip to wikipedia, I don’t blame you.
However, despite the fact that he has no intelligence background, I find myself a bit optimistic about his appointment.
For one, it indicates that Obama is very serious about changing direction–he was responsive to the Brennan criticism, and in response he has gone out of his way to choose an outsider. A way, way outsider. As Andrew Sullivan notes, Panetta is clearly “significantly, detached from the torture regime and its apparatus in a way that anyone involved in the CIA in the last eight years would not be.” And as Glenn Greenwald adds, “it does seem clear that the Obama team was serious about avoiding anyone who had any connection at all to the Bush torture, surveillance and detention programs.”
For another, Panetta does have some thoughts on the germane issues of the post. Atrios uncovers a March op-ed by Panetta (and here’s a related one in the Washington Monthly) in which he more or less unequivocally condemns torture, wiretapping, and in general using fear as a justification for legality. It’s a thin record, to be sure, but at least it’s in the right direction.
And finally, what I think is thus far being missed, is the decision to choose not a spook, but a manager for the post. Panetta’s history is that of a human resources guy, a liason problem-solver. To that end, the smartest early take I’ve read yet on his appointment comes from Marc Ambinder. Panetta is there to clean house and, like much of what Obama does, to provide competent, pragmatic, and not-particular-ideologically driven leadership. In other words, like Obama himself, the hope seems to be that Panetta is being appointed to be the adult in the room at Langley, with the considerable added benefit of not having any particular baggage or loyalties himself.
Since nobody knows much about Panetta (at least not of the bloggers I read) and this is an entirely new role for him, it remains to be seen if he’ll prove effective or not; we can really only make generalized guesses. But as somebody who’s been watching this one decision closely, I’m cautiously optimistic.
TrackMania DS (DS)
One of the top racing series in the world lands on DS.
Moon (DS)
Meet Sanctus Vector the security drone.
Not every artist or cartoonist has natural appeal. Some , like Freddie Moore and Rod Scribner have naturally appealing styles and can take other people's designs or even generic designs and draw them with great appeal. Since there are so few of these artists who can make almost anything look good, animation developed the concept of having specialists in appeal that we call character designers. A
The Lord of the Rings: Conquest (PC)
Can your system run it?
I like how this one seems like a traditional twitter "EATING THE SECOND REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER CUP. TIME SINCE FIRST CUP: 5 MINUTES 27 SECONDS" sort of SO DO NOT CARE post
NovaRumpRodeo
Download | Play Download | Play Today President-elect Obama threw the political world a curveball and chose former California Congressman Leon Panetta to head the Central Intelligence Agency. Although Mr. Panetta brings with him little experience in intelligence affairs, the pick signals that Obama recognizes the dangers of politicizing the CIA like Bush has. Expect Panetta to play the role of "public face" while he allows the real intelligence experts to do their jobs. We should all welcome that after eight years of crap like this. MSNBC: Two Democratic officials say President-elect Barack Obama has chosen former Clinton White House chief of staff Leon Panetta to run the CIA. Panetta was a surprise pick for the post, with no experience in the intelligence world. An Obama transition official and another Democrat disclosed his nomination on a condition of anonymity since it was not yet public. Panetta was director of the Office of Management and Budget and a longtime congressman from California. He served on the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel that released a report at the end of 2006 with dozens of recommendations for the reversing course in the Iraq war. We should probably also expect some unhappiness among the Village set.
Combat Wings: Battle of Britain (PC)
Warm up your trigger finger.
Crysis Warhead (PC)
On track to release later this year.
I cannot stop laughing about this graphic:
RedState has officially passed over whatever glory years it ever had and has prematurely entered the “Smell the Glove” phase of its career. Brandon Friedman at VoteVets remarks:
Like many chickenhawks who struggle with what it means to be a man in the modern era, Erickson and the “soldiers” in his budding “Strike Force” have again tried to imitate serving in the military without actually having to don a uniform, pick up a weapon, or sacrifice much of anything at all. However, by creating this make-believe world in which RedState activists are members of a military-like “Strike Force,” they’re actually quite a lot like the
Dungeons and Dragons fansLARPers in the video below pretending to be wizards, basilisks, and gorgons.So not only has RedState designed a military unit crest, but they’ve now painted themselves as hopeless dorks, lunging clumsily for political relevance with a ham-handed attempt at jumpstarting a field organization.
I concur with this analysis, although I’d say it’s a bit unfair to the LARPers, who actually do get some form of real exercise running around in the woods and who do have some experience in weapons training, even if it’s only with foam swords and spell packets. Put it to you like this: you give me the choice of going into a fight with an average LARPer or Dan Riehl, you bet your ass I’m taking the LARPer.
[Thanks to whichever commenter pointed this out to me in the comments a while back.]
Drinking Liberally Shot of Truth
Last year, Rachel Maddow, Lee Camp and others offered their resolutions for 2008. Below are a round-up of this year's progressive goals from friends in progressive media, progressive organizing, and...well...just friends.
What are your resolutions? Here are a few of ours.
Fred Gooltz, Advomatic:
A few days ago I saw Holiday Inn which reminded me how it takes an audience's protest to move hate from the mainstream. This armchair activist resolves to make a point of telling friends and family exactly why I refuse to watch movies riddled with cheap bigot jokes. For homophobia to go the way of blackface minstrel routines, the actors and producers responsible for the homophobia need to hear that we think they are shameful embarrassments who spread hate for money.
John Javna, 50 Ways To Fight The Right:
Number one on my list is to reuse stuff more instead of buying new things. Finding ways to reuse household consumer goods, for example, saves me money and also cuts back on the production/packaging/ transport etc of stuff. Freecycle is a great site for this. Another approach is just finding ways to reuse items for other purposes, e.g. an old shoebox helps me organize my closet. For me, this will also include shopping more at consignment and second hand shops to update my wardrobe. I've gotten addicted to online shopping, so this is gonna be a good challenge.
Negin Farsad, Laughing Liberally/Nerdcore Rising:
Mentor a young woman! If your field is anything like mine - standup comedy, film & tv production - you're surrounded by a veritable and exhausting sausage fest. Only 15% of directors, producers and editors are women which seems downright medieval. The figure among professional standup comics is equally abysmal. So if you're a VIP in whatever field, mentor a young woman. Yes we can... shift those numbers!
Sam Seder, Air America Radio:
Never let your friends, family or neighbors forget that it was conservative "governance" that dug this massive hole our country finds itself in.
Seth D. Michaels, Coordinator, Working Families Vote 2008:
Eat less meat, and remember that being a consumer is a political act - whether you intend it to be or not - so be an aware shopper.
Buy from locally-owned stores. Not only does this shift income (slightly) lower on the income distribution, it also has the potential to be a huge stimulus, given that the owners of these stores are more likely to patronize other stores in your area--and if you go to a store like Fleet Feet, where Phil Fenty is going to spend his profits at other locally-owned stores, the multiplier is just huge. Also, get off Verizon. AT&T, or even better, CREDO, does not spend its energy attempting to destroy the American workforce. Verizon does.
Amanda Mittlestadt, The Liberal Card:
Become a card-carrying liberal. It'll give you a chance to show your liberal pride, help support Living Liberally, and support and sustain liberal businesses with the
liberal discounts you'll receive.
Matt Browner-Hamlin, SEIU:
The power of the liberal blogosphere is only as great as the willingness of bloggers, commenters, and readers to take action when called upon by our peers. When we work together, we can compel Congress to hear us. In my experience this is best done with direct phone calls and visits to the offices of our Congressional representatives. So here's my resolution: when I see the bloggers I read and trust make a call to action, asking me to pick up the phone, I'll do it. Not just on the issues I care the most about, but on the ones that you all care about. Solidarity means we can get more done and solidarity ensures that our movement can bring more change to our country every day. So I'll stand in solidarity with all of you in the New Year...I hope you'll join me.
Matt Filiopwicz, HeadzUp:
Make your local Democratic Party more liberal by showing up. Go to local meetings of the party and speak that sweet progressive mind of yours. Especially if you live in a conservative area. You can help steer your Democrats in the right direction. Which is the left direction.
Mike Connery, Future Majority:
The Obama Presidency - through wireside chats on YouTube, calls for ideas on Change.Gov, and house parties across the country - offers us the first real chance to be more than spectators in our democracy, grading politicians at the polls once every four years. My resolution is to take full advantage of these new opportunities - to contribute ideas when I have them, support Obama when he advances progressive causes, and raise a ruckus when I think he's making the wrong decisions.
Jamie Kilstein, Laughing Liberally:
- Not to become complacent after electing the cool black guy. Racism is not over. American imperialism is not over. We have a lot of work to do. There are corporate lobbyists working everyday to move Obama to the right. That is their job. If we are not there to counter, if we don't make countering our job, it doesn't matter how good a guy Obama is, we will lose.
Erin Hofteig, Media Matters For America:
Changing the world happens in small, personal steps and large institutional (or revolutionary) leaps. Something as small as bringing your own bags to the grocery store ensures less trees are cut down and less petroleum is needed to make new plastic bags. Not buying products manufactured in countries that use child labor, don't abide by environmental standards or health standards helps everyone. These small steps make a real difference. Support the organizations that are fighting for the values you hold dear. Take actions and let those in power know what you think, and give money. The flagging economy is going to make it extremely difficult for these groups to operate effectively and ten dollars from you will help them remain relevant. Most importantly, stay informed. The policy debates coming on energy, health care and other important issues are going to be twisted with half truths and spin. Only an informed and engaged electorate will give legislators the backing, or the push, they need to stand up against the special interests.
Josh Bolotsky:
I want to say the same thing I said last year.
London design consultant Tom Ballhatchet has created a prototype for a Hamster Powered Paper Shredder. 45 minutes of hamster wheel running will shred a piece of paper which then becomes bedding for the hamster.
via Neatorama
image via Tom Ballhatchet
This is a blog post from Laughing Squid For more content like this, subscribe to the RSS feed, Twitter & FriendFeed.
A Hamster Powered Paper Shredder
Related posts:
- FriendFeed Comments on Laughing Squid
- Hamster On A Piano Eating Popcorn
- FriendFeed, Aggregate and Share Web Content With Friends
- Jonathan Coulton Paper Doll With Giant Squid Outfit
- Twitter Followers Have Exceeded RSS Feed Subscribers
err, I guess state, technically
Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Snow Princess (DS)
¡Oh no, la princesa de nieve está en el problema!
It's time for Norm Coleman to move back to Brooklyn.
The Minnesota Supreme Court today rejected a bid by Republican Norm Coleman to have hundreds of rejected absentee ballots considered in the U.S. Senate recount, apparently clearing the way for a state board to certify election results showing Democrat Al Franken on top — and also opening the door to a post-recount lawsuit that the Coleman campaign said "is now inevitable."
The state Canvassing Board is scheduled to meet this afternoon to review recount results. Heading into the meeting, Franken holds an unofficial 225-vote lead.
We will then be able to witness the ritual of a "Bill O'Reilly head explosion" at every mention of Franken's name on his show.
Harry Reid called Coleman and told him to concede.
I believe that tomorrow the bipartisan state canvassing board will certify Al Franken the winner. After all, early on Senator Coleman criticized Al Franken for wanting a recount and wasting taxpayer money. I would hope now that it is clear he lost, that Senator Coleman follow his own advice and not subject the people of Minnesota to a costly legal battle.
I don't think it helps Reid's cause not to seat Burris at this time. Blags played everyone, even Fitz. Legally speaking, how can Reid block his appointment?
Conservatives try to paint themselves as the law-and-order folks. Yeah, it's a funny concept, I know, but at this point it's time for the Coleman camp to think about "America" and concede. Instead they are talking about filibustering the seating of Franken, so we're in for another round of Conservative whining.
Malkin writes a title to a post that could describe the Republicans in Congress since 1994: "A real clown takes a Senate seat". It's always a scream when Conservatives whine about the recount process. Oh, how they forget.
It's the last week for nominations to our first-ever "Who's Who: People to Watch in Tech Policy" list.
“In 2006, when then-Sen. Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment, he said, “Decisions about marriage should be left to the states.” He was right then; and as I have come to realize, he is right now in concluding that DOMA has to go. If one truly believes in federalism and the primacy of state government over the federal, DOMA is simply incompatible with those notions.”
- Bob Barr today arguing against the Defense of Marriage Act in an LA Times editorial
[matiaz] has released an exploit which allows homebrew on the PSP3000. It takes advantage of a vulnerability when loading save games on a game called GripShift. You can see the PSP running unsigned code in the video.
[thanks wraggy]
We’ll come back to some of it tomorrow. For now, a portion of what broke over the weekend:
Welp, he’s got a house and a child now, and is prepping up three books for release with a major publishing house, and he’s no longer drinking only on Thursdays. As a result of not wanting to die, he’s been forced to cut back to a three days a week schedule, which is really a bargain when you consider that I originally asked my question (v.s.) in the era of single-row, black and white strips instead of the multi-row, color extravaganzas we get these days.
Now, this page has griped in the past about various aspects of how NYCC has been run, but I’ll give them this bit of unqualified praise: last night I got my press credentials for the show with absolutely zero hassle. It was the easiest credentialling I’ve ever been through, driven almost entirely by the question, Have you been here as Press before? with an affirmative answer resulting in Okay, here you go. It took all of two minutes, and every big con needs to adopt this model.
Keeping with my current very good mood regarding NYCC, I’ll note that webcomics will likely have a pretty significant presence, with the lovely Ms Corsetto, Comics Bakery, various Dumbrellites, at least some Halfpixellians, a Canadian or two, and a couple of
