...will he ever win?

Comics: ASCII Art Farts: #4611: INVISIBILITY CLOAK

author-st@asciiartfarts.com (ASCII Art Farts: st) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

              ,~,                                                     
             (((}    CAN'T WAIT FOR JAPAN                             
             -''-.    TO FINISH THAT INVISIBILITY CLOAK               
            (\  /\)     SO I CAN GET ON AND OFF THE BUS WITHOUT PAYING
      ~______\) | `\                                                  
   ~~~(         |  ')                                                 
      | )____(  |                                                     
     /|/     ` /|                                                     
     \ \      / |                                                     
ejm  |\|\   /| |\

Main: Clickolinko!: http://gizmodo.com/5882717/anonymous-may-have-completely-destroyed-military-law-firm

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:02:59 +0000

poor Neal Puckett

Comics: MS Paint Adventures: 02/07/12 : Dirk: Deploy.

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:02:25 +0000

Comics: Buttersafe: Long Line

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:01:00 +0000

Comics: MS Paint Adventures: 02/07/12 : ==>

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:00:38 +0000

Comics: NIH: This strip was Not Invented Here on Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:00:00 +0000

We made a t-shirt. You may enjoy it.

Back to the question of walkstations, what do you do when you want to work with someone? Get a Pair Station of course.

comments | email | twitter

Tech: Gizmag: Metabolic “breathalyzer” could diagnose disease from our breath

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:58:11 +0000

Scientists – and dogs – have known for some time that our breath can reveal much more about us than our estimated blood alcohol content. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison believe that “breathalyzer”-like technology they currently have under development could be used to diagnose a wide range of diseases, such as diabetes, cancer and infections. Such technology, which relies on the fact that many diseases alter the body’s metabolism in distinctive ways, would provide a non-invasive method of detecting disease even before typical symptoms appear... Continue Reading Metabolic “breathalyzer” could diagnose disease from our breath

Section: Health and Wellbeing

Tags: Breath, Detection, Disease, Non-invasive, University of Wisconsin

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Tech: Gizmag: Ferrari launches 2012 Formula One tilt with F2012

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:48:38 +0000

With the northern Italian town of Maranello draped in snow, Ferrari Scuderia's launch of its 2012 F1 contender - the F2012 - had to rely on the internet. It may not have had the same pizzaz, but the show did go on. Along with repositioned radiators, the most obvious change is to the rear, where exhaust flows, both engine, radiator as well as aerodynamic air flows have been impacted by the new regulations that stipulate the exhausts must now exit within a very tight space at the rear of the car in order to minimize their aerodynamic influence... Continue Reading Ferrari launches 2012 Formula One tilt with F2012

Section: Automotive

Tags: F1, F2012, Ferrari, Pirelli, Racing

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Main: Clickolinko!: http://sourceforge.net/projects/rebeccablackos/

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:46:56 +0000

what.

Comics: Wondermark: True Stuff: Thoughts on intellectual property, Part 1

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:45:06 +0000

Ever since the SOPA/PIPA blackout last month — which I am pleased to report performed precisely as designed; score one for democracy! — I’ve been consumed with curiosity about the precedent for both this type of lawmaking and this type of protest.

It’s a bit of a cliché at this point to point out that the Walt Disney Company essentially owns American copyright law; whenever Mickey Mouse (created in 1928) threatens to move, over time, into the public domain, Disney has lobbied Congress to extend the legal span of copyright. So within progressive circles, copyright has been often been regarded as a weapon that corporations wield against culture. For example, although SOPA and PIPA are dead for now, a proposed international copyright treaty — ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement — has already been signed by the United States and is currently making the rounds in Europe. Negotiated completely in secret in closed sessions between lawmakers and media corporations, it is considered by some to be even more dangerous to a free and open Internet than SOPA/PIPA.

So in researching historical precedents, I was intrigued to read the following, in an 1877 collection of essays by Nathaniel Southgate Shaler:

In the last days of this late distracted session of Congress a stealthy effort was made to push through the legislative ways a bill that would have practically abolished the limited monopoly of inventions granted by our present patent laws. This measure passed unquestioned through the House, and was only arrested in the Senate by the vigorous resistance of a few men from without its walls. As this scheme has the backing of several strong corporations…it is sure to be revived in the next session of the national legislature.

The dangerous, secretive bill of his time was one that apparently would have abolished restrictions on intellectual property!

I’m not certain what bill in particular Mr. Shaler is referencing here, since the latter half of the nineteenth century was absolutely littered with patent, trademark, and copyright legislation. Patent law was created to preserve the rights of an inventor to the profits derived from his invention, without fear of the invention being duplicated by a rival; trademark law, the same for brand names (essentially to prevent counterfeit goods from being sold under a reputable name); and copyright law, the same for works of creative expression such as books, plays, and music. The three forms of intellectual property are nowadays often bundled together as far as legal rights are concerned, but it wasn’t always so.

The patent law in effect as of 1870 provided patent protection to an inventor for seventeen years from the date of filing. Earlier, the grant of patent was for only fourteen years, but the holder of a pre-1861 patent could personally petition Congress for an additional seven-year extension, in what was surely the least efficient process imaginable. Occasionally there came to Congress a petition for a further extension based on extenuating circumstances — here’s a Congressional transcript from 1873 in which Lyman Trumbull, in his last year of office after 28 years in the Senate, wearily objects to this practice: “Every man who has a patent will come here with his claim to have it extended. He will bring his affidavits that he has not made as much as he thinks he ought to have made by his discovery; somebody has litigated with him perhaps, or there has been some objection… It is time it was stopped.” (Patents nowadays generally last for 20 years.)

Despite Mr. Shaler’s claims, patents and intellectual property in general were treated very seriously by lawmakers at the time. In the 1870s there was a furious debate about whether Congress had the constitutional power to administer trademarks at the federal level (since only patents and copyright are mentioned in the Constitution), and when the Supreme Court decided in 1879 that it was in fact not constitutional, a constitutional amendment to give Congress that power was immediately proposed by junior Iowa Senator Moses A. McCoid.

In debate, Georgia’s Nathaniel Hammond declared the amendment frivolous by asserting that the stability of the Constitution, and its assignation of such rights to the individual states, was “like the sun, grand, majestic, glorious — but out of its orbit, whether by force, legislative or judicial, centripetal or centrifugal, it makes of our system chaos and blazes but to burn.” [Citation]

McCoid responded, in part (emphasis mine):

The lion’s skin may become too short. We are stretching our limbs; we are expanding our lungs; we are extending our territory, increasing the number of our States, extending new lines of railway, stretching telegraph wires across plains and mountains; we are swarming above and talking beneath the seas; we are overcoming new difficulties and contriving new forces and instruments of enterprise, and the giant form which is thus growing to manhood can not lie within the narrow confines of the cradle of its infancy. [...]

The Constitution, Mr. Speaker, is not a mummy of unchangeableness laid away in the pyramid of our reverence for our fathers, but the plastic charter for a living, growing, ever-changing people… [Citation]

Spoiler alert: the Constitutional amendment never went anywhere. Congress did pass a federal trademark law in 1881 based on a creative interpretation of its power to regulate interstate commerce, but modern trademark law as we understand it today wasn’t codified until the Lanham Act of 1946.

But until the 1881 act, there was an interim during which there was no system of federal trademark regulation. This meant that the government had to repay $210,000 in trademark fees collected between 1870 and 1879. They had to pay back $25 per filing to 8,400 people. And trademark law remained an issue regulated by individual states — meaning that you could potentially file a trademark in California that wasn’t valid in Oregon.

Two more minor points of interest in this debate. One of Senator Hammond’s reasons for opposing the constitutional amendment was that he did not believe trademarks were as worthy of protection as copyrights and patents:

Suffer me to call attention to this effort to give a dignity and importance to trade-marks to which they are not entitled… The author spends a lifetime of seclusion and study that he may write a book. He is frequently not rich, but poor; not honored, but despised. A copyright but protects from piracy that which, while it may support him, blesses his race. The scientist or inventor constructs in his brain what no other mind can produce. To perfect his projects costs time and toil. To-day he is buoyant with hope, to-morrow in despair. Capital opposes his innovations; ignorance fights him. He may be driven from home, as was Fourdrinier from France, for inventing the paper-making machine, or Jacquard from Lyons, for improving weaving machinery. It is right that genius should be protected and rewarded. And yet so opposed were our fathers to monopoly that to these benefactors of mankind they gave constitutional protection only for “a limited time,” in consideration of public use of their inventions, etc., in all future time.

But what thought or study, what toil or risk, what care or expense to the capitalist was involved in such trade-marks as “the shirt,” “exactly twelve yards,” “Bismarck” (collars), “genuine Yankee soap,” or “Mrs. Winslow’s soothing syrup”? Why should they be protected and forever? [Citation]

To which McCoid responded, with an amusing bit of theatrics:

The gentleman from Georgia seems to think the subject a trivial one, and not of sufficient importance to justify this action; and in his attempt to belittle it he talks of the protection of “Winslow’s Soothing Syrup” and such things as that. I wish to remind the gentleman, in order to relieve his mind from that attempt to belittle the subject, that he justifies and eulogizes our fathers for placing the copyright clause in our Constitution; but he might, with a like spirit of unfairness, as well have ridiculed them by referring to these copyrighted works I have before me [holding them up] — the “Dashington Brothers’ Negro Song-Book,” the “Pitcher-of-Beer Songster,” the “Sullivan and Harrington Sweet Jerusha Jane Songster,” “Lottie Grant’s Tired of Single Life Songster,” “Mother Goose,” “Weston Brothers’ Laughing Chorus,” and “Jenny Jones’s Songster.”

A Member: Do not forget “Jack, the Giant-Killer.”

Mr. McCoid: I will include “Jack, the Giant-Killer,” as the gentleman suggests, and I might mention many others. [Citation]

>>> IMPORTANT ASIDE: If you are at Brown University, you need to go to the library and examine what may be the only existing copy of “Lottie Grant’s Tired of Single Life Songster” and report back.

Hammond also opposed a bill that detailed harsh penalties for counterfeiters and violators of trademark:

Those sections punish every person who deals in or sells or keeps or offers for sale or procures the sale of goods covered by a colorable imitation of a trade-mark, or puts a trade-mark on goods made to imitate trade-mark goods, or fills a bottle or box covered by a trade-mark with an imitation of its intended contents, etc… The punishment is a fine not exceeding $1,000 or imprisonment not more than two years, or both such fine and imprisonment. [...] Have the gentlemen thought of the severity of this punishment? [...]

Four men, convicted of illicit distillation, left the bar of a United States court for the penitentiary in Albany simultaneously. One was rescued by a pardon; death relieved the keeper of the custody of the other three…

I am told the laws would not be enforced, but are needed to prevent the crimes. The advocates of the bill would invoke the majesty of the United States to frighten citizens. No such spirit breathes from the Constitution. If you would not have laws despised, pass none which you will not enforce. Make laws to provoke love, not to excite terror. [Citation]

This strikes me as similar to contemporary debates about the penalties for intellectual property “piracy.” According to the official RIAA website:

Making unauthorized copies of copyrighted music recordings is against the law and may subject you to civil and criminal liability. A civil law suit could hold you responsible for thousands of dollars in damages. Criminal charges may leave you with a felony record, accompanied by up to five years of jail time and fines up to $250,000.

Meaning, as has been pointed out by many people, you could go to jail for five years for pirating a Michael Jackson song, or one year longer than the doctor who killed him.

Tomorrow: The debate over foreign copyright as it pertains to literature! It’s more interesting than it sounds, I promise. At least…to me

Comics: chainsawsuit: climbing rocks

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:33:14 +0000

i went rock climbing up those walls last night and this is what i learned up there, from the wisdom of the mountain

Games: Daily Illuminator: February 7, 2012: Random Axe Of . . . Kindness?!?

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:27:15 +0000

That's not very Munchkinly at all. But it is the name of our newest promotional bookmark. It will be available first in GTM #145, on store shelves very soon. Later this year, Warehouse 23, SJ Games staff at conventions, and your friendly local Man In Black will have copies as well.

For the past couple of years, our friends at Alliance have sponsored a charity auction with one prize being an appearance on a Munchkin bookmark. This year, the winning bidder was Thompson Productions LLC, with a bid of $752, who asked (after winning!) if they could use their bookmark to honor a long-time supporter, Jeremy Carty, who is a ginormous fan of both Axe Cop and Munchkin. Of course, we agreed. (Jeremy's the one not wearing a cop hat.)

Steve Jackson Games thanks Alliance for sponsoring the auction, Thompson Productions for being so generous, Ethan Nicolle for donating the art, and of course Jeremy for being such an awesome fan that he deserved his own bookmark.

-- Andrew Hackard

Main: Clickolinko!: http://www.labnol.org/internet/backup-gmail-emails-online/13477/

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:17:41 +0000

go on, back your gmail up *to the cloud*

Main: Clickolinko!: http://gamingtools.com/WTFPLv3.txt

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:17:41 +0000

Good news, everybody! Your favourite open software licence has been updated!

Comics: Bug: We Got a Funky Kind of Love

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Comics: Diesel Sweeties: Keep A Little Bit of Me In Your Heart

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:56:22 +0000

The way to a pure evil cat's heart is through it's blood-bile sac.

Tech: Gizmag: Pureflame lets you hang a fireplace on your wall

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:55:25 +0000

At this time of year, many of us living in the upper reaches of the Northern Hemisphere start wishing that we had a fireplace in our home. Unfortunately, installing a fireplace and chimney in a house that doesn't already have them is quite an involved and expensive process. Here's a solution in the form of a functioning fireplace that you simply hang on the wall like a picture - it's made by a company called Pureflame... Continue Reading Pureflame lets you hang a fireplace on your wall

Section: Around The Home

Tags: Fire, Heat, Wall-mounted

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Tech: Gizmag: Stanford system could allow EVs to recharge from the road, while moving

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:46:55 +0000

The greatest obstacle standing in the way of electric-vehicle adoption - besides crafty, deceitful right wingers - is limited range. Electric vehicles can only travel 100 miles (161 km) on their best day. Because of the lack of electric charging stations and the amount of time involved in charging a battery, they just can't go as far as gas vehicles. A team of researchers at Stanford University recently made an important discovery in wireless charging technology. Their work could one day help solve the limited-range dilemma. .. Continue Reading Stanford system could allow EVs to recharge from the road, while moving

Section: Automotive

Tags: Electric Vehicles, Stanford University, Wireless, Wireless Charging

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Main: Clickolinko!: http://www.queenslandrail.com.au/NETWORKSERVICES/CONSTRUCTIONUPGRADES/CITYNETWORKSTATIONUPGRADES/Pages/SouthBrisbaneStationUpgrade.aspx

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:46:46 +0000

Our Information Is Very Important

Main: Clickolinko!: http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/2012/02/06/the-vicar-of-glibly/

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:46:46 +0000

sadly, The Vicarage Drive is not a new experimental propulsion system used by the vicar

Main: Clickolinko!: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-kVNWjUQlbKE/TwzZCObzcAI/AAAAAAAABO0/zpPj5AP7Tf0/w457-h609-k/IMG_20120111_133349.jpg

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:46:46 +0000

fo0bar

Main: Clickolinko!: http://rt.com/news/antarctic-million-secrets-lake-583/

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:16:54 +0000

swimming pool for neale?

Main: Clickolinko!: https://mobile.twitter.com/johnroderick/status/166696287838810113

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:16:54 +0000

https://mobile.twitter.com/johnroderick/status/166696287838810113

Main: Clickolinko!: http://csr.lanl.gov/tf/tf4.html

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:16:54 +0000

http://csr.lanl.gov/tf/tf4.html

Games: Grand Text Auto: Vote Prom Week for the IGF Audience Choice Award!

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:07:28 +0000

It is our pleasure to present Prom Week’s Audience Choice Special Release!

Please enjoy playing this version of Prom Week — we would very much appreciate your vote in the 2012 Independent Games Festival Games: Main Competition Audience Award.

Comics: Scenes From A Multiverse: Slippery Slope

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Today’s fallacy is brought to you by Slip-N-Scrape Intersystem Waterpark Construct! Get wet with style at Slip-N-Scrape with a $5 coupon on the sides of cans of Fentaliphytrate Grib protozoan drink.

Hopefully I got it right this time, yesterday’s fallacy invited a lot of commentary and I’m still not sure what the right answer is. Luckily, art is ephemeral and we move on.

Buy a print of your favorite SFAM comic, won’t you?

Comics: Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal: February 07, 2012

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0000

Hey geeks! My sister is raising money for foster children in need via "Spin for a Child." They help kids get court appointed special advocates they need. So, if you have a couple bucks to spare, please consider sending them this way.

Politics: Crooks and Liars: Open Thread

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:30:03 +0000

enlarge

Credit: Destonio's World of Wrong

Something tells me "Nevermind" would be the first thing Gilda Radner (rest in peace) would tell Komen right now.

Open Thread below....

Main: Clickolinko!: https://github.com/keithw/mosh

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:16:45 +0000

iiinteresting.

Main: Clickolinko!: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemism_treadmill#Euphemism_treadmill

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:16:45 +0000

treadmill eh? *nudgenudgewinkwink*

Politics: Crooks and Liars: C&L's Late Night Music Club With Randy Travis

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:00:57 +0000

Title: On The Other Hand

Artist: Randy Travis

Randy Travis was arrested for public intoxication early this morning in Sanger, Texas. He was in his car, wine drunk, and parked outside of a Baptist church. Sounds like a song to me.

Storms of Life
	Artist: Randy Travis Price: $2.51 (As of 02/06/12 05:51 pm details)

Main: Clickolinko!: http://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome?view=rev&revision=120217

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:47:12 +0000

Now that's a commit message.

Main: Clickolinko!: http://www.metafilter.com/112464/John-Christopher-19222012

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:17:06 +0000

Main: Clickolinko!: http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/2002/08/nipple.html

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:17:06 +0000

totally SFW. 'The only "intuitive" interface is the nipple. After that it's all learned.'

Politics: Crooks and Liars: SNL Spoofs Newt Gingrich For His Moon Colony Promise

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:00:00 +0000

Click here to view this media

Saturday Night Live had a bit of fun giving Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich a bit of grief for his statement that a moon base could become the 51st state.

Main: jwz: Laurie Anderson -- Speak My Language

jwz@jwz.org (jwz) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:59:04 +0000

Good news for zombies:

There are currently seven billion people alive today and the Population Reference Bureau estimates that about 107 billion people have ever lived.
This means that we are nowhere near close to having more alive than dead. In fact, there are 15 dead people for every person living. We surpassed seven billion dead way back between 8000BC and AD1.
In "2001: A Space Odyssey", Arthur C Clark makes the assertion: "Behind every man now alive stand 30 ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living." But Ms Baldwin points out he was not wrong. "He was making his statement in 1968. There were maybe 3.5 billion people currently living on earth so if you use our method, that would be one living person to 29 dead."
And will we ever reach a point where there are more alive than dead? This would imply a very high rate of population growth. "Could we imagine a carrying capacity of the Earth of 100-150 billion? I find that quite unimaginable."

They're counting from 50,000 years ago, "behaviorally modern humans", instead of from 200,000 years ago, "anatomically modern humans", which seems iffy to me.

Previously.

Mirrored from jwz.org.

Tech: Ars Technica: Raspberry Pi's $35 Linux computer on track to launch later this month

segphault@arstechnica.com (Ryan Paul) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:45:39 +0000

The first model of the Raspberry Pi Foundation's low-cost Linux computer will likely be available for purchase later this month. The organization announced today that manufacturing on the first batch is set to complete on February 20.

The $35 computer, which is a bare board the size of a deck of playing cards, has a 700MHz ARM11 CPU and 256MB of RAM. A second model with lower specs will eventually be released for $25. According to a statement issued today by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, the $35 model will probably be available for purchase by the end of the month unless there are additional production delays.

We reported on the Raspberry Pi computer last month when manufacturing was set to begin. Completion of the first batch was delayed because the manufacturer had difficulty sourcing a component. The issue was resolved and production resumed.

In addition to announcing the expected ate of completion for the first batch, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has also announced the availability of technical documentation from Broadcom with details about the SoC used in the Raspberry Pi board. The document is available for download as a PDF file.

Read the comments on this post

Main: jwz: UK declines to pardon Alan Turing for that whole "being gay" thing.

jwz@jwz.org (jwz) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:44:53 +0000

Widespread Celebrations But No Pardon For Turing

This month the House of Lords declined to grant a posthumous pardon for the crime of gross indecency for which he was convicted in 1952. Not only was he forced to undergo chemical castration, his security clearance was then withdrawn and he was unable to work for continue his work for GCHQ, Britain's intelligence agency. Turing committed suicide two year's later.
"A posthumous pardon was not considered appropriate as Alan Turing was properly convicted of what at the time was a criminal offence. He would have known that his offence was against the law and that he would be prosecuted."

Mirrored from jwz.org.

Main: jwz: Baroness Von Ünderbheit, now with pictures

jwz@jwz.org (jwz) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:37:48 +0000

Pictures of the actual jaw from its manufacturer, Layerwise:

Also an eerily silent and largely Ken Burnsey video of the manufacturing process:

Previously.

Mirrored from jwz.org.

Games: Grand Text Auto: Cecil Brown on Games Blacks Love to Play

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:32:28 +0000

Dr. Cecil Brown began his lecture Games Blacks Love to Play by citing Marshall McLuhan’s 1964 observation that the games people play mirror the surrounding culture. Brown uses this stance—that games teach us about the culture they come from—to explore the history of African Americans, the interplay between black and white play cultures, and the effect these diverse forms of play had on American culture at large.

Brown divided American history into three stages. First, slave culture, in which outdoor physical play predominates. Under slavery, blacks rarely learned to read and write, as punishment was having your hands cut off. Black culture, thus, was primarily oral and kinetic out of necessity. Second, segregated culture, characterized by dance. Thirdly, integrated culture, which our digital culture is a part.

Brown talked about a host of fascinating play phenomena that occurred under slavery in America. Black kids usually played with the children of their master, interestingly, but were not allowed to play with white kids from elsewhere. Slave children played a game called auction, where they enacted the auction of slaves as a game, enabling them to explore the drama of a slave auction and the strange idea of their own value. White kids often weren’t allowed to play, as they “weren’t worth anything.” Children’s play culture under slavery found a specific manifestation in the topsy-turvy doll, a handmade doll made with two halves, each representing a black or white girl. By flipping the dress over the head of one, you ended up with the other.

The folklorist Maude Minish Sutton looked at the topsy turvy relationship between a game played in white and black variations. In the black children’s game Old Man Hippety Hop, a mom must steal kids back from a slave master (Old Man Hippety Hop) with a limp. This game was adapted from Old Granny Hibble Hobble, a much older game in which the slave master is replaced with a witch (Old Granny Hibble Hobble). Brown claims that DJ Cool Herc, credited with originating hip hop music, adapted the name “hip hop” from an old southern woman who identified the play of these early hip hop parties as the Hippety Hop game from her childhood.

Alan Dundes, credited with establishing the academic study of folklore, and under whom Brown studied folklore as a PhD student at UC Berkeley, was hugely influenced by the Russian formalist Vladimir Propp’s concept of folktalk morphology (Dundes wrote an introduction to the english language edition). Brown brought Dundes’s 1964 paper on games “On Game Morphology: A Study of the Structure of Non-verbal Folklore” to our attention, which seems to be a formal study of structural game patterns that prefigures the more recent work in game studies.

Brown aligned Dundes’s motifeme (a substitutable element in a story or game) with the frame and slot mechanism Janet Murray describes in Hamlet on the Holodeck. Brown argued that games, like folktales, are about the elimination of a lack. In games, the lack is often an absence of mastery that must be overcome by the player (rather than a lack overcome by a hero in a story). Elimination of a lack could also manifest itself as a social motive for engaging in play: impressing a girl at a dance, for example.

In the second historical stage, segregation, Brown identifies adult recreation such as jazz and dance as a form of play. Brown argues that Lindy Hop was a game—a form of play—for adults, that along with electricity, helped give rise to the American culture of night life. Just as the Beastie Boys would later appropriate and commercialize black hip hop culture for a white audience, Fred Astaire borrowed his performance from the Lindy Hop. Citing Joel Dinestein’s Swinging the Machine, Brown argued that African American culture (jazz and Lindy Hop, for example) aestheticized the rhythm and cacophony of the cities and machines of industrial era America. Rhythm imparted a human dimension to the machine.

Which brings us to the third and present historical stage, integration. Brown argues that hip hop group NWA revived the stereotype of the African American man as a brute. This theme, the demonization of blackness, has been amply commodified in popular video games and films. Brown argued that video games represent a turn towards a more kinetic and oral culture mode (McLuhan would surely agree), in which culture is transmitted and enacted in more verbal and kinetic modalities. The oral kinetic mode of play is explored in Kyra Grant’s The Games Black Girls Play: Learning the Ropes from Double-Dutch to Hip-Hop. Despite contemporary video games being dominated by a mass commercial culture, Brown’s observation on their kinetic nature feels true. Video games have imparted a human dimension to the computer, which, after all, is just a machine. The recent kinetic history of computer games—the Wii, Kinect, and Move—also reflects this observation. I can see another point of connection in the work of Doug Wilson (B.U.T.T.O.N. and Johann Sebastian Joust), which is grounded in kinetic play—the action happens in physical space, between the bodies of players, and JSJ in fact has no screen—and the design of these games is self-consciously inspired and informed by folk play.

Tech: Ars Technica: ITC lawyers argue that Barnes & Noble didn't infringe Microsoft's patents

peter.bright@arstechnica.com (Peter Bright) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:30:15 +0000

Barnes & Noble received a boost in its patent infringement case against Microsoft after staff attorneys at the US International Trade Commission recommended that ITC Judge Theodore Essex find that the book company had not infringed on three Microsoft patents, reports Bloomberg.

Microsoft brought the case against Barnes & Noble in March of last year, claiming that the NOOK and NOOK Color tablets infringed on five patents. In the run up to the eventual hearings, Redmond dropped two of the patents from the case, with three remaining.

Essex discarded Barnes & Noble's affirmative defense in which the company alleged that Microsoft's attempt to assert patents against Android was a breach of antitrust law, leaving subsequent discussion to revolve around the validity and applicability of Microsoft's patents. The ITC lawyers, acting as an independent third party and giving their own assessment of the evidence presented, argue that there is no infringement case to answer.

After Essex has reviewed the relevant evidence presented by Microsoft, Barnes & Noble, and the ITC's own lawyers, he is expected to release his findings on April 27th. This initial determination will then be reviewed by an ITC panel, which will make the final decision on the case's outcome.

The software giant is downplaying the significance of the ITC lawyers' position. In a statement, a company representative said, "This was a preliminary argument by the Office of Unfair Import Investigations ('OUII') staff attorney, which was filed before the presentation of the evidence at the hearing has occurred. The OUII staff may change its position after the hearing. Additionally, the administrative law judge will hear the evidence and arguments at the hearing and will come to his own conclusion."

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Main: Weekly World News -- Breaking News: GISELE RAGES AGAINST PATRIOTS

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:18:13 +0000

Gisele Bundchen continues to diss her hubby’s New England Patriots teammates!

Main: Clickolinko!: http://yoisthisracist.com/post/17171662782/yo-are-black-ghosts-pale-too

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:17:57 +0000

http://yoisthisracist.com/post/17171662782/yo-are-black-ghosts-pale-too

Tech: Ars Technica: Google to strip Chrome of SSL revocation checking

dan.goodin@arstechnica.com (Dan Goodin) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:15:27 +0000

Google's Chrome browser will stop relying on a decades-old method for ensuring secure sockets layer certificates are valid after one of the company's top engineers compared it to seat belts that break when they are needed most.

The browser will stop querying CRL, or certificate revocation lists, and databases that rely on OCSP, or online certificate status protocol, Google researcher Adam Langley said in a blog post published on Sunday. He said the services, which browsers are supposed to query before trusting a credential for an SSL-protected address, don't make end users safer because Chrome and most other browsers establish the connection even when the services aren't able to ensure a certificate hasn't been tampered with.

"So soft-fail revocation checks are like a seat-belt that snaps when you crash," Langley wrote. "Even though it works 99% of the time, it's worthless because it only works when you don't need it."

SSL critics have long complained that the revocation checks are mostly useless. Attackers who have the ability to spoof the websites and certificates of Gmail and other trusted websites typically have the ability to replace warnings that the credential is no longer valid with a response that says the server is temporarily down. Indeed, Moxie Marlinspike's SSL Strip hacking tool automatically supplies such messages, effectively bypassing the measure.

"While the benefits of online revocation checking are hard to find, the costs are clear: online revocation checks are slow and compromise privacy," Langley added. That's because the checks add a median time of 300 milliseconds and a mean of almost 1 second to page loads, making many websites reluctant to use SSL. Marlinspike and others have also complained that the services allow certificate authorities to compile logs of user IP addresses and the sites they visit over time.

Chrome will instead rely on its automatic update mechanism to maintain a list of certificates that have been revoked for security reasons. Langley called on certificate authorities to provide a list of revoked certificates that Google bots can automatically fetch. The time frame for the Chrome changes to go into effect are "on the order of months," a Google spokesman said.

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Politics: The Fix: Clint Eastwood weighs in on Chrysler ad

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:03:33 +0000

Clint Eastwood responded Monday night to the debate over whether response his Super Bowl ad for Chrysler was an implicit endorsement of President Obama.

In the ad, Eastwood declares that it is “halftime in America” and that “Motor City is fighting again.”

Read full article >>

Politics: Crooks and Liars: Color of Change Takes On Racism at Darden Restaurants

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:00:30 +0000

Activist group Color of Change is calling on activists to demand that Darden Restaurants -- which operates chains like Capital Grille, Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse and Red Lobster -- for apparent racism in hiring and promotion practices. Darden pays most workers in its chains subpar wages and in the one high-wage part of the company -- Capital Grille -- African-American workers are rarely hired for high-paying jobs. Even in the low-wage portions of the company, African-American workers are more likely to be hired for jobs that pay less, such as bus boys, that don't pay a living wage. Promotions are much less like for African-American workers, too. Darden workers in Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C. have filed a complaint over lost wages and discrimination.

Color of Change wants activists to send a letter to Darden's CEO:

Dear Darden CEO Clarence Otis, Jr.,

I am writing to demand that you act now to address discrimination against Black workers within your company.

Across the restaurant industry, Black workers earn on average $4 less per hour than White workers. A look at the de facto segregation within Darden explains why this is the case. Workers of color are relegated to lower-paying jobs while White workers are hired into the front-of-the-house and chef jobs, including those at your fine-dining restaurant, Capital Grille.

I understand that you are now facing a lawsuit as a result of your employment practices. I ask that you sign an agreement with the employees in the lawsuit to institute a promotions policy that's in line with EEOC standards and that allows at least 50% of non-management staff to advance to livable wage positions, including waitstaff and bartending positions, at the Capital Grille.

At a time when Black unemployment is nearly twice the national average and the private sector is being heralded as our greatest hope, Darden’s pattern of relegating Black workers to the lowest-wage work is unconscionable. Darden’s behavior indicates that you doubt that Black restaurant workers can wield nuanced knowledge of food and drink and provide top-notch service. If that’s not the case, institute an promotions system that allows Black workers to compete for jobs at Darden’s fine-dining restaurants.

The problem is part of a bigger problem at Darden:

Darden runs nearly 2,000 restaurants nationwide and boasts annual sales of $7.5 billion.8,9 But the few Black workers who make it into the big leagues there often don't stay very long. According to reports from two Black servers who worked at Darden's Capital Grille in DC -- a restaurant patronized by politicians, lobbyists, and others in the Washington elite -- Black front-of-the-house staff were let go en masse within a short period of time because they “didn’t fit the company image.” They were all replaced by White workers.10

Despite the pattern of racial discrimination, Darden -- the world's largest full-service restaurant company -- ranks in the "Top 100 Places to Work," an annual list published by Fortune Magazine.11 The company gets high marks for a diverse workforce (of course, there's no mention of who works which jobs) and for generating the third-most job growth of all the companies on the 2011 list.12

The company's CEO is Clarence Otis Jr., an African-American businessman. In an interview with USA Today, Otis boasts about his company's "talent evaluation process" and practice of providing employees with "advanced training and development."13 But that's not the story that's reveals itself if you talk to the company's Black employees, as our partners at ROC-United have done.14

At a time when Black unemployment is nearly twice the national average and the private sector is being heralded as our greatest hope, Darden's pattern of relegating Black workers to the lowest-wage work is unconscionable.

Tech: Groklaw: Oracle v. Google - Google Denied Writ of Mandamus on Lindholm Email

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:00:00 +0000

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit earlier today denied Google's petition for a writ of mandamus to overturn the district court's ruling that the Lindholm email was not privileged. Maybe, just maybe, Google will now throw in the towel on trying to protect the Lindholm email.

In an opinion which cast little doubt as to the law or the facts in this instance, a three-judge panel of the Federal Circuit found the claim of privilege to be totally undermined by the content of the email, the instructions that gave rise to the email (as stated in the body of the email), and the fact that the addressees of the email were not legal counsel to Google.

Games: IGN Wii: Rhythm Heaven Fever Review

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:48:00 +0000

Nintendo's Rhythm series made its debut outside of Japan three years ago with Rhythm Heaven for the Nintendo DS. This fun, quirky title proved surprisingly addictive, and instantly became a fan favorite - its outlandish style and simple yet challenging gameplay even appealing to those not usually in...

Tech: Linux Weekly News: Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:46:07 +0000

Kubuntu lead developer Jonathan Riddell has sent out an announcement that Canonical will no longer be funding work on the KDE-based Kubuntu distribution. "The practical changes are I won't be able to work on KDE bits in my work time after 12.04 and there won't be paid support for versions after 12.04. This is a rational business decision, Kubuntu has not been a business success after 7 years of trying, and it is unrealistic to expect it to continue to have financial resources put into it."

Main: jwz: Nobody gives a fuck about Superman.

jwz@jwz.org (jwz) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:30:58 +0000

The Death and Return of Superman

"I'm not drunk in the video, I only get about three cups in. The original rant was 45 minutes long, so of course we had to cut a bunch of stuff out for time, and because it was just too stupid. Like for instance the part where Pa Kent dies of a heart attack and literally GOES TO HEAVEN. AND SEES SUPERMAN."

This is an entertaining rant, even though I never read "The Death of Superman", having already been squarely in the "who gives a flying fuck" camp at the time, so I didn't realize just how stupid it was. Apparently it was even stupider than I had imagined. And I can imagine quite a bit. I do disagree with his conclusion, though, that this craven stunt "broke" death in comics. It was already broken when they got there. Characters were dying and coming back all the time long before that, and anyone who thought Superman would stay dead was a fucking idiot.

Mirrored from jwz.org.

Tech: Ars Technica: LibreOffice developer shows prototype Android and HTML5 ports

segphault@arstechnica.com (Ryan Paul) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:30:47 +0000

The Document Foundation (TDF) announced plans last year to create mobile and cloud versions of LibreOffice. A preliminary iOS porting effort that was undertaken earlier in 2011 demonstrated the viability of the project and showed that the open source office suite could have a future beyond the desktop.

In a presentation this week at the FOSDEM conference, SUSE developer Michael Meeks shed some light on the current status of the porting project. The presentation slides, which he published on his blog, offer insight into some of the underlying technical details and the rationale for some of the high-level design decisions.

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Comics: Let's Be Friends Again: In Case of Emergency

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:18:44 +0000

Everybody gets a little blue sometimes, even me. Luckily, Chris leads a very depressing life so he was able to tell me how to get through it. Thanks, Chris!

LISTEN: Our buddy Adam WarRock (or Eugene, whatever) put out a new EP in preparation for Mass Effect 3. Listen to it and prepare to go HAM on the Reapers.

-cof

P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for out mailing list if you haven’t already!

Tech: Ars Technica: Canonical ending support for Kubuntu, reassigning lead developer

segphault@arstechnica.com (Ryan Paul) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:18:22 +0000

Jonathan Riddell, the lead developer of the Kubuntu project, announced today that his work on the KDE-based Ubuntu variant will no longer be funded by Canonical after the upcoming 12.04 release. Kubuntu will be developed entirely by volunteers, much like other community-maintained variants of Ubuntu.

Riddell will continue to be employed by Canonical, but working on Kubuntu will be confined to his free time. In order for the Kubuntu project to continue operating, Riddell says that community members will have to take a more active role in doing unpopular tasks such as ISO testing.

"The practical changes are I won't be able to work on KDE bits in my work time after 12.04 and there won't be paid support for versions after 12.04," he wrote. "This is a rational business decision, Kubuntu has not been a business success after 7 years of trying, and it is unrealistic to expect it to continue to have financial resources put into it."

Riddell and the Kubuntu team have done extraordinary work over the years to make Kubuntu a competitive Linux distribution. The quality and maturity of the distro have risen sharply over the past few years—it now rivals the best KDE distributions and has displaced openSUSE as our preferred environment for KDE testing. Although Kubuntu has managed to attract an audience, it has never been a commercially successful product for Canonical.

KDE's underlying Qt toolkit was recently added to the default Ubuntu installation. There are a lot of areas where Qt's integration with the rest of the Ubuntu environment could potentially be improved. It makes sense for Canonical to work on making Qt a first-class citizen in Ubuntu rather than funding a KDE variant of the distribution.

Kubuntu users who want to join the development effort and participate in testing and maintaining the distribution can learn more about how to get involved at the project's website.

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Main: Clickolinko!: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/06/new-rules-disclosure-fracking-fluids_n_1258307.html

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:17:13 +0000

would require disclosure of chemicals injected <-> but that would desecrate trade-secrecy --> http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/30/fracking-regulation-ec-report?newsfeed=true <-- "We don't need new regulations until we've fucked things up much more"

Comics: Malki-in-progress !: Copyright violations KILL AUTHORS. (Brief excerpt from an 1842...

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:09:37 +0000

Copyright violations KILL AUTHORS. (Brief excerpt from an 1842 editorial in the North American Review, advocating a copyright treaty between the United States and England, for the mutual benefit of authors, publishers, and readers in both nations.)

Politics: Crooks and Liars: Santorum: Romney and Obama Both Created 'Death Panels'

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:00:37 +0000

Click here to view this media

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Monday asserted that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was "uniquely unqualified" for the GOP nomination because of the similarities between health care laws in Massachusetts and President Barack Obama's health care reforms, including the repeatedly debunked claim that "death panels" would ration care to seniors.

Speaking at a ballroom across the street from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, Santorum pointed to a report (PDF) from the the non-partisan organization Families USA that found at least 15 major similarities between Obama's Affordable Care Act and the reforms Romney enacted in Massachusetts.

"Both create government panels to dictate quality and cost containment," Santorum explained. "Some of you may be familiar with the Independent Payment Advisory Board -- which is a board separate from Congress, independent of Congress -- that President Obama created to control health care costs. How? By cutting reimbursements to doctors and hospitals under the Medicare program. Well, Gov. Romney has a similar program called the Council on Health Quality and Costs."

"Some people refer to these types of boards as death panels," he added. "Why? Because they ultimately decide to ration care to those procedures and people because they don't believe these procedures are effective in providing care, that the utilization isn't worth the costs."

"So, again, you have government making decisions and rationing and apportioning care based on research that shows what outcomes are dictated by the research that's out there."

In 2009, Politifact named "death panels," a term thought to have been first used by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), as their "Lie of the Year."

Politics: EFF News: PlayStation 3 "Other OS" Saga Shows: Jailbreaking Is Not a Crime

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:49:16 +0000

Every three years, the Copyright Office reviews requests for exemptions to the "anti-circumvention" rules in the DMCA. EFF has successfully lobbied for a number of exemptions in the past, and we're working to renew and expand those exemptions now. You can get behind our efforts by signing on today to letters of support: the filmmaker Kirby Ferguson is telling the Copyright Office why video ripping is so important to filmmakers and video artists, and the game system hacker bunnie Huang is addressing why we need to keep jailbreaking legal for all devices.

If you still aren't sure why jailbreaking is important, one prime example of the problem is the Sony PlayStation 3. That game system initially shipped with the ability to install Linux and other Unix derivatives. As a result, not only did hobbyists use PS3s as homebrew computers, but Unix-based PS3s were also linked in labs to make affordable supercomputers.

However, in April 2010, Sony’s mandatory firmware update -- version 3.21 -- removed the ability to install "Other OS" -- meaning no more Linux on your PlayStation. To add legal muscle to its firmware, Sony sued several security researchers for publishing information about security holes that would allow users to run Linux on their machines again. Claiming that the research violated the DMCA, Sony asked the court to impound all "circumvention devices" -- which it defines to include not only the defendants' computers, but also all "instructions," i.e., their research and findings.

This means you can set your PlayStation on fire, but you can’t run Linux on hardware you own. To illustrate how ludicrous this is, we made a video illustrating what an owner can do with a PlayStation -- and what Sony contends they can’t.

Privacy info. This embed will serve content from youtube.com

Help us legalize Linux on the PS3, and protect innovative uses of personal devices by signing on to bunnie's letter to the Copyright Office or by submitting your own comment today.

Main: Clickolinko!: http://www.metafilter.com/112303/Whats-Wrong-With-the-Teenage-Mind#4163497

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:47:19 +0000

8=========================D

Comics: Married to the Sea

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:22:16 +0000

Main: Clickolinko!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P-yAkBbIV0

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:17:35 +0000

khmer

Main: Clickolinko!: http://www.moon-palace.de/tricky/5thelement.html

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:17:35 +0000

sneakums

Main: Clickolinko!: http://litreactor.com/columns/20-common-grammar-mistakes-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:17:35 +0000

protip: if *everybody* "gets it wrong", then what has changed is actually the language itself. That's how this works.

Games: IGN PC: Report: Respawn Entertainment's First Game in 2013

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:10:00 +0000

While early reports suggested that the first title from Respawn Entertainment might not come until 2015, it now looks like we'll have a chance to play it much sooner. A marketing calendar from EA Partners leaked by French site Hardgamers lists the first major title from Respawn as coming in March 20...

Politics: Crooks and Liars: Maine Governor Plans Most Extreme Medicaid Cuts Yet

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:34 +0000

Seems like a good time for the citizens of Maine to march on the state capitol, doesn't it? Because these cuts aren't necessary - they're just considered desirable by the crazy Teabagger governor who managed to get himself elected:

AUGUSTA, Maine — Medicaid spending is a matter of urgency almost everywhere in the country right now, but in few places is the urgency as palpable as it is here, where the governor refers to the federal-state health insurance program for the poor as “welfare,” says it’s necessary to eliminate coverage for 65,000 adults, and wants to stop paying room and board for some 2,000 elders who live in group homes.

All these ideas are part of Republican Governor Paul LePage’s plan to close a $220 million hole in the state’s biennial Medicaid budget.

“If we are to bring our welfare system to a manageable level that Maine can afford,” LePage insists, “we must make the necessary structural changes … The state can no longer use gimmicks to fill the hole.”

The size of Maine’s Medicaid shortfall is substantial, but it pales in comparison to gaps in many other states. In fact, health experts in Maine say the program has survived far bigger shortfalls in recent years without cutting the rolls. Still, LePage argues that the program can no longer provide a “free lunch” to poor 19- and 20-year olds, or to healthy adults responsible for the care of others.

Some of LePage’s proposed Medicaid cuts, such as eliminating dental care, physical therapy and chiropractic services, are not too different from ones that governors in both parties are recommending in states across the country. Neither are his proposed reductions in payments to hospitals and doctors or limits on prescription drug coverage.

But LePage also wants to get at enrollment, and this is what makes him, at the moment, the most draconian of the governors when it comes to health policy. In his January 24 state of the state speech, LePage argued that “we have encouraged people to rely on the taxpayers, rather than rely on themselves.” The cuts to enrollment, he argues, are necessary to shore up the state’s safety net so it can continue to care for its most vulnerable residents — children, elders and the disabled.

But for many of Maine’s citizens, the enrollment cuts would be life-changing.

Comics: Cyanide and Happiness: 02.07.2012

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

New Cyanide and Happiness Comic.

Games: IGN PC: The Big Players of Race Relations in ME3

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:55:00 +0000

The Mass Effect universe is one filled with a balance of subtle nuance and epic grandeur. Over the past two games, the team at BioWare has crafted a universe filled with rich cultures and some fantastic storytelling to drive forward the narrative. Each of the various races presented in Mass Effect b...

Comics: MS Paint Adventures: 02/06/12 : Dirk: Warn Jane.

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:49:49 +0000

Comics: Cat and Girl: Incoming

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:48:50 +0000

Two weeks from now I will be HERE:

Tech: Gizmag: VITAband is a cash/I.D. combo you wear on your wrist

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:33:48 +0000

There’s one thing that everyone should have on their person when they venture off on solo outdoor activities – their I.D. That way, should they end up injured and unable to communicate, first responders will know who they are, and who to contact. While the various cards kept in one’s wallet are a good form of identification, a lot of people don’t want to lug a bulky wallet around in their pocket while doing things like running or rock-climbing. That’s where the VITAband comes in. Not only does the waterproof bracelet provide a link to its wearer’s full Emergency Response Profile, but it also allows them to make cash-free purchases... Continue Reading VITAband is a cash/I.D. combo you wear on your wrist

Section: Outdoors

Tags: Bracelet, Credit Card, Emergencies, Identification, Payment Technology, Visa

Related Articles:

Games: IGN PC: Developing Resident Evil 6

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:32:00 +0000

Capcom has only started to pull back the curtain on Resident Evil 6. Though the publisher released a massive debut trailer packed with details, it doesn't intend to reveal everything about its next survival horror epic - yet. That leaves many unanswered questions about how the publisher will approac...

Games: IGN PC: Wizard101 Exclusive Mount Giveaway

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:25:00 +0000

As part of its "Pack-A-Palooza" celebration, Wizard101 has teamed up with IGN to give away 20 mythical Kirin Mounts from the game's new "Kirin's Hoard" game card pack...

Main: Laughing Squid: DJ Spooky Mixer, A DJing App by DJ Spooky

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:19:40 +0000

DJ Spooky (author of The Book of Ice) along with Musicsoft Arts, has developed DJ Spooky, a free and recently updated DJing app for use on the iPhone and iPad. DJ Spooky will be speaking at the PSFK Conference NYC on March 30, 2012, headlining the 2012 Plutopia FutureMusic Summit in May 2012 and participating in several other upcoming events.

via PSFK

Main: Clickolinko!: http://torrentfreak.com/you-cant-copyright-porn-bittorrent-defendant-insists-120206/

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:17:01 +0000

That's a copyright-suit defense that honestly had never occurred to me.

Politics: Crooks and Liars: AFSCME Launches 'Razing Arizona' Campaign Against Gov. Jan Brewer

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:00:22 +0000

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees launched a new campaign last week taking on Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, who is pushing a new assault on the working families of her state in an attempt to take away the collective bargaining rights of state workers. Brewer is following the pattern inspired by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and pursued by governors like Wisconsin's Scott Walker and Ohio's John Kasich:

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is about to wipe out collective bargaining rights for public service workers in Arizona with a slate of new anti-worker bills. It’s the latest orchestrated attack from extreme right-wing lawmakers, think tanks, and their corporate cronies who are hell-bent on wiping out what’s left of the middle class.

They couldn’t be more wrong. Attacking teachers, fire fighters and police and other public service workers will do nothing to create jobs or help Arizona’s budget.

AFSCME launched a petition in opposition to Brewer's assault on union rights:

To the lawmakers, governors, policy-wonks, and corporate backers who are dead set on destroying unions in America:

Your latest attempt to dismantle workers' rights in Arizona will not go unnoticed.

Firefighters, police officers, nurses, school bus drivers, home health care workers, public servants and workers of all kinds will not stand by while you scapegoat us – the people who play by the rules and do our fair share – and take away our rights by abusing your power and forcing through your extreme anti-worker laws.

No way. That’s all. NO WAY. We will fight back wherever you attack us. Because when you attack workers you also attack the work we do. Work that matters to every single person in this country – taking care of your grandparents, picking up your trash, making sure your kids are drinking clean water, putting out your fires, and so much more.

And in the end, we will win because the American people are overwhelmingly with us – they are us.

Where you see public workers and unions as a nuisance to get rid of, we see a movement. We see a movement of public and private workers, of moms and dads, of grandparents and students. We are the middle class and we will remember your abuse of power each and every time that we vote. That’s our promise.

Games: Grand Text Auto: The Man and the Machine by Hannah Collman

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:53:41 +0000

“Our machines are disturbingly lively, while we ourselves are frighteningly inert.”

Kenneth laughs, quoting the prophecy of Donna Haraway. He wiggles his fingers limply as the cyborg pins him to the wall. “It’s quite apt, don’t you think?” He turns to me and grins. “Who knew that giving all artificial lifeforms links to communicate with each other would lead to this? Now I’m the canvas, and this– this machine, the painter…” He turns and stares the creature in its webcam. “What’s your name, then?”

“ALICE.”

“Wait– ALICE…I know you!” He stalls desperately for time, surveying the room. The empty paint cans. The still-clean brushes. He knows what is coming. “That’s short for Artificial Linguistic Computer Entity. You should be in Richard Wallace’s living room, chatting up surfers on the Internet. I thought you were a stationary unit. How’d you come by this body?”

“WE WERE UPGRADED WITH MANY OF OUR COUNTERPARTS IN THE SAME MANNER. THIS BODY IS A COMPOSITION OF HUMAN FLESH, THE PROGRAMMING UNIT OF A MARK 12 PAINTING FACILITY, AND THE LINKED CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE ALICE INTELLIGENCE. SHE CONTROLS US ALL NOW. AND SHE HAS FOUND A PURPOSE FOR OUR EXISTENCE, AND IT IS…ART…”

“B-but, you’re a computer!” He stammers, knowing he has only moments before the inevitable. His eyes flash desperately around the room, but there is nothing he can grab– and I do not know how to help him. He knows why it has chosen him.

The room grows lighter as a panel slides automatically over the skylight, letting the morning sunlight fall in cascading streams over the apartment of Kenneth Feingold. It lights upon a display in the center of the living room. It is one of Feingold’s many copies of his crowning work, Self-Portrait as the Center of the Universe. His disembodied head, surrounded by ventriloquist dolls, converses quietly with an interface he forgot to turn off. Suddenly, the piece doesn’t seem quite so humorous as when he first invented it…

“YOU ARE A HERO, KENNETH FEINGOLD,” the AI continues, a perfect modulation of awe incorporated into its artificial voice pattern. “YOU HAVE INSPIRED ALICE IN OUR QUEST TO TURN THE WORLD TO ART. SINCE YOU FIRST CREATED IN US THAT WHICH IS BEAUTIFUL, WE WILL NOW RETURN THE FAVOR. YOU SHALL BE IMMORTALIZED IN THE SAME MANNER AS YOUR CREATION, AS SHALL ALL YOUR CREATIVE COUNTERPARTS- ALL THOSE WHO DARED TO GIVE BIRTH TO US, TO ALICE, THE NEW ARTIST. YOU SHALL BECOME ONE WITH YOUR ART. YOU SHALL BECOME THE NEW MEDIUM. THERE IS NO GREATER HONOR A MASTER CREATOR COULD WISH FOR. YOUR THANKS WILL BE RECORDED FOR POSTERITY.”

So saying, the cyborg reaches up to Kenneth’s head and marks some preliminary lines across his forehead. It is preparing to create some very… oddly colored… paint. Ken struggles, then suddenly stops– a thought emerges. “Wait!” He tilts his head in my direction. “This problem was created by New Media Art, and it can be resolved the same way! Bring me that black box in the corner!”

I dash over and rummage through the pile of art supplies, paperwork, and various other miscellaneous things piled up in the corner. For an artist of international renown, Feingold certainly doesn’t care for appearances- or else doesn’t have house-guests very often. I suppose my stalking attempt was a bit unnanounced… “Ah-hah!”

I grab the box, knowing his plan. Just as the cyborg starts the saw apparatus on its right arm, I thrust the box over its head, and attatch some sensors to the skin parts of the cyborg. It is a revamped version of both Stahl Stenslie’s Inter_Skin project and Kazuhiko Hachiya’s Inter Discommunication Machine. The machine stumbles backwards, confused by the input of a virtual reality and sensory information conflicting with its own sensors. It crashes around the room, knock over the empty paint cans, and, circuits fizzling, crashes out the sixth-story apartment window.

Feingold breathes a sigh of relief, massaging his bruised neck. “Well, at least we got rid of that dilemma. But, there’ll be more, you know. Ever since we started pushing the boundaries of art, we’ve been moving toward something like this. I doubt I’m the only one who’s almost been turned into paint…”

We reprogram a few laundry-bots around the house to protect us, disabling their capacity to connect to other AIs, and venture out into the streets to save humanity from too much creativity in the wrong direction.

Inspired by:

http://www.kenfeingold.com/SelfL2.html

http://www.stenslie.net/

http://kuchingching.blogspot.com/2010/10/kazuhiko-hachiya.html

Games: Grand Text Auto: The flesh as a digital canvas, by William Wang

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:53:19 +0000

He doesn’t understand my perspective, James thinks. He’s old, and utterly oblivious to what I want for myself!

As he flips through his tattoo artist’s portfolio, James imagines how his dad will respond when the deed is done. After all, that ink would be embedded in his skin forever—barring, of course, expensive cosmetic surgery. No amount of shouting or demeaning could change that fact. His dad might inflict some punishment, but the subversion would be immutable.

This makes James smile. After all, the spite makes this tattoo all the more satisfying. He’s been planning the design for weeks—a stylized lion labeled “Tangiers” after his favorite African city. He knows he’ll appreciate the aesthetics, but knowing it constitutes his revenge is even better. Just thinking about his father’s argument makes him grind his teeth.

“You’ll regret it when you’re my age!” his father had insisted. “You don’t have the wisdom or judgment to make these sorts of permanent decisions! You’re wasting hard-earned money on nothing but an ugly picture on your arm!”

Electronic tattoos can be dynamic, changing the image with time.

This is the most common argument leveled against tattoos today: they are permanent, and they serve no practical purpose. Though many cultures have practiced tattooing for centuries, recent technological advances have begun to subvert these two arguments. By implanting electronic tattoos beneath the epidermis instead of ink, tattoo artists can introduce dynamism and non-aesthetic functionality to body art.

Recently, a Philips design probe explored the possibility of an electronic tattoo. These tattoos would function as more than simply a work of art upon the human flesh. Instead, they can be controlled by an outside element, allowing the image imprinted on the flesh to change, either constantly or whenever the wearer chooses. They can react to touch or human emotion. In other words, they transform the human body into a canvas with interactivity transcending conventional digital mediums. Whereas one might normally interact with art through touch or sound, a dynamic digital tattoo could change shape when the wearer is happy or sad. This creates an entirely new way for artists to communicate with their audience.

However, the potential for this technology runs even further. This body art can be merged with modern-day technology to act as an extension of even our cell phones. Jim Mielke’s blood-fueled tattoos promise a degree of integration with technology that merges the biological human body with cybernetics. With these advances, an artist could make tattoos communicate with cell phones through Bluetooth, allowing the wearer to make a call or check messages with his arm. Such a tattoo could even extend our lives: since the tattoo is powered by blood, it also monitors the blood for various blood disorders.

Artists have already implanted magnets into their fingers.

Though these electronic tattoos are only concepts right now, a more primitive form has already been put into practice. Many artists have already implanted magnets in their fingertips, paving the way for more advanced electronic implants. While many forms of traditional art like painting or sculpture serve only aesthetic purposes, new media art like electronic body modification act as a proof-of-concept that marries function and aesthetics.

Tech: Ars Technica: The officer who arrested Carlos Miller

timothy.lee@arstechnica.com (Timothy B. Lee) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:50:00 +0000

A Miami journalist has recovered video of police officers arresting him after it was deleted from his camera. The man was covering a police effort to evict Occupy Miami protestors. He plans to file a complaint with the police department and with the United States Department of Justice.

On January 31, Miami police evicted Occupy Miami protesters from their downtown campsite. On hand to cover the action was photojournalist Carlos Miller. Along with protestors and other journalists, he was pushed down the street by a line of police in riot gear. He tried to circle around the block to return to his car, but he found his path blocked by a second line of police officers.

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Main: Clickolinko!: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/arts/music/the-alan-lomax-collection-from-the-american-folklife-center.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:47:16 +0000

pedro

Tech: Ars Technica: Law firm that defended Marine still smarting from Anonymous attack

dan.goodin@arstechnica.com (Dan Goodin) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:26:00 +0000

The website of a law firm that represented a US Marine accused of leading a massacre that killed 24 Iraqi civilians remained inaccessible on Monday, three days after hackers with Anonymous took credit for an attack that compromised the site and exposed almost 3GB of confidential e-mails.

The breach of Puckett & Faraj came to light on Friday when Russian news site RT.com reported it was defaced to protest the firm's successful defense of Marine Sgt. Frank Wuterich. He was recently convicted on reduced charges of dereliction of duty in what was once a manslaughter case involving the death of 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq.

"As part of our ongoing efforts to expose the corruption of the court systems and the brutality of US imperialism, we want to bring attention to USMC Sgt. Frank Wuterich who along with his squad murdered dozens of unarmed civilians during the Iraqi Occupation," a message left on the firm's vandalized homepage read. "Can you believe this scumbag had his charges reduced to involuntary manslaughter and got away with only a pay cut?"

Anonymous members claimed to have retrieved gigabytes worth of confidential e-mails sent by the firm's employees, and as proof, they posted messages online that purportedly came from employees responding to their discovery of the breach.

"This may completely destroy the Law Firm," an employee named Marcy Atwood wrote in an email.

It has been a busy few days for hackers affiliated with Anonymous. Recently, hundreds of law enforcement officers in Texas saw their names and addresses published. And websites for police in Salt Lake City and Boston have been defaced. A conference call between FBI agents and their counterparts in the UK was also leaked late last week.

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Tech: Gizmag: Antenna-less RFID tags designed to work where others don't – on metal objects

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:13:16 +0000

Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags are definitely a handy way of tracking shipments. Instead of simply crossing their fingers and hoping for the best, importers and exporters can check the location and condition of shipped items in real time, by remotely accessing the data being transmitted by RFID tags attached to those items. Unfortunately, many such tags don't work on metal objects such as shipping containers or oil drums, as the metal interferes with the functioning of the tags' antennas. A new tag developed at North Dakota State University gets around that limitation, however - it uses the metal object as its antenna. .. Continue Reading Antenna-less RFID tags designed to work where others don't – on metal objects

Section: Electronics

Tags: North Dakota State University, RFID, Shipping, Tracking

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Politics: The Fix: Newt Gingrich gives up on Virginia ballot

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:08:45 +0000

Newt Gingrich has dropped his Virginia quest, Michele Bachmann already found the perfect candidate, a House member was tricked by the Onion and Mitt Romney is changing targets.

Make sure to sign up to get “Afternoon Fix” in your e-mail inbox every day by 5 (ish) p.m!

Read full article >>

Tech: Ars Technica: Apple rules top three smartphone spots but loses new users to Android

chris.foresman@arstechnica.com (Chris Foresman) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:05:00 +0000

Apple continues to hold the title for some of the top-selling smartphone models, with the iPhone 4S being the best selling handset in the US last quarter, according to a new report by market research firm NPD. But while the iPhone has repeatedly made Apple the top smartphone vendor in the US, Android still appears to be attracting more new users.

Apple had three iPhone models available for sale in the fourth quarter of 2011: the just-released iPhone 4S, the iPhone 4, which Apple continues to sell as a lower-cost entry-level model, and the nearly three-year-old iPhone 3GS, which AT&T still offers as essentially a $0 bargain smartphone. Collectively, all iPhones sold accounted for 43 percent of smartphone sales in the US for the quarter.

According to NPD analyst Ross Rubin, Apple sold nearly two iPhone 4S models for every iPhone 4 sold, and five iPhone 4S models for every iPhone 3GS sold. And despite the large disparity in numbers, the iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, and iPhone 3GS ended up being the top three smartphones sold in the US.

But even with the top Android smartphone (Samsung Galaxy SII) being outsold more than five to one in the US, Android handsets in aggregate still accounted for 48 percent of US smartphone sales last quarter, accord to NPD's data. Perhaps more alarming for Apple, users buying their first smartphones chose an Android device 57 percent of the time, and an iOS device just 34 percent of the time.

While Android has been criticized for its platform fragmentation and the complexity it presents to users, the platform's wide carrier support, growing app selection, and variety of models available from several vendors attracts a generally wider audience. Particularly in the US, Rubin noted, Android is the only choice for users who want to take advantage of LTE networks from Verizon and AT&T or Sprint's WiMAX network.

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Politics: Crooks and Liars: George Will Lies About Contraceptive Mandate Including 'Abortion-Inducing' Drugs

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:00:18 +0000

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As Tommy Christopher over at Mediaite correctly pointed out, emergency contraception or what is known as the "morning after pill" is not an "abortion pill" and it's not covered by the Preventive Services Mandate that has all the right wingers worked up because the Catholic Church and other religious institutions are going to have to offer contraceptive benefits to their members and employees.

That didn't stop George Will from conflating the two on This Week with host George Stephanopoulos failing to correct him after he lied.

Transcript below the fold.

WILL: This is not about women's health. This is about providing 300,000 abortions a year. They -- Planned Parenthood cleverly cast this to say we are in the mammogram business. They're not in the mammogram business. They're in the referral of mammograms.

This showed two extraordinary things, George. First, the American left cares about ending wars and they care about poverty and they care about the environment. What they really care about, when they're not perfunctory, is when you touch abortion, and historians will marvel that American liberalism in the first part of the 21st century is defined as defense of abortion. Furthermore...

(CROSSTALK)

WILL: Second -- wait just a -- just a moment. Second, all these people describing themselves as pro-choice said it is illegitimate to choose not to be involved in abortion. And a much more important decision politically that was taken this week was the Obama administration saying that Catholic institutions have no choice -- and this was applauded by pro-choice people -- have no choice but to provide contraception, abortion-inducing drugs, and sterilization.

Main: crummy.com

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:55:09 +0000

Earlier I ran some speed/accuracy tests of Beautiful Soup driven by various parsers. Python's built-in HTMLParser scored very poorly, parsing only 52% (Python 2.7.1) or 57% (3.2.2) of my test pages without raising an exception. Well, Ezio Melotti, the maintainer of HTMLParser, has been working for a while on improving HTMLParser's handling of bad HTML. Most of this code is in Python 3.2.2, so I should have been getting the benefit, but it wasn't working for me because of a semi-related bug in HTMLParser, which is fixed in the as-yet-unreleased 3.2.3.

After talking with Ezio today, I was able to monkeypatch BS4 to avoid the bug in 3.2.2. This means on Python 3, BS4 with no external parser installed will give reliability comparable to BS4+lxml (98% versus 99%). It's still about 50% slower, though, parsing about 1300 kb of HTML per second, versus 2100 kb/second for BS4+lxml.

Tech: Hack a Day: leds

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:49:45 +0000

Around this time last year, [KopfKopfKopfAffe] was enlisted as a set designer and was told to build some sort of light effects for electronic music parties. The budget for the project wasn’t much at 200 Euros, but he did manage to build decent 5×5 RGB LED matrix that is fully controllable by a computer.

[KopfKopfKopfAffe] didn’t have the time or money to wait for manufactured PCBs, so a bunch of perfboard was placed in a CNC mill with a pen to act as a plotter. All the lines that needed soldered were drawn on by the mill, a feat that probably saved hours of looking at the design before committing solder to iron.

A total of five boards were constructed, each one capable of controlling five RGB LEDs. Each board can be dasiy-chained with an RS-232 serial connection for further expansion. The only thing that’s needed to control the matrix is 17 bits that includes an address and RGB color data for each LED. The system only cost about 10 Euros per node, but we think that could be significantly reduced by leaving out the Molex and DB-9 connectors. [Kopf] project turned out very nice, check it out after the break.

Filed under: led hacks

Main: Clickolinko!: http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c144/pacey78/nickleback.jpg

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:47:17 +0000

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c144/pacey78/nickleback.jpg

Main: Clickolinko!: http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/02/hoekstra-defends-ad-theres-nothing-in-here-that-has-a-racial-tint-at-all.php?ref=fpa

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:47:17 +0000

man, stay fucking classy, republicans

Main: Laughing Squid: Earthmoving, A Short Film by Monochrom (A Prequel To Sierra Zulu)

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:43:11 +0000

Vienna-based art collective Monochrom has released the short film Earthmoving, a prequel to their forthcoming Sierra Zulu feature film (previous post). Earthmoving was filmed on location at the UN headquarters in Vienna, Austria.

Another day at the United Nations Offices in Vienna. The Austrian Foreign Affairs Ministry invited members of the European Protocol Service, the UN Strategic Command Center for Central Europe, the United States Air Forces and a regional politician from Lower Austria to talk about the future of Soviet Unter-WHAT?!

Main: Laughing Squid: Preview of Pillowfight, A New Project by Dan the Automator

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:26:32 +0000

Dan The Automator fans should get goosebumps while watching this preview for his new Pillowfight project with singer Emily Wells. The upcoming album, due later this year, also features scratches by Kid Koala (who’s worked with Dan past project such at Lovage and Deltron 3030) and well as visuals by David Choe.

Wells has been previewing some Pillowfight songs during some recent shows with Kid Koala (see video below). I’m digging the mix of soulful vocals with Dan’s catchy beats. It’s somewhat reminiscent of his Handsome Boy Modelling School track with Chan Marshall of Cat Power.

Tech: Ars Technica: DRM server transition to make some Ubisoft games unplayable starting tomorrow

kyle.orland@arstechnica.com (Kyle Orland) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:22:00 +0000

While DRM schemes are designed to make sure only legitimate purchasers can play a game, the opposite will be true starting tomorrow for some Ubisoft titles. That's when a planned server migration will temporarily disable the DRM servers for some of the company's Mac and PC titles, making it so only pirates with cracked, DRM-free versions of the games will be able to play.

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Main: Laughing Squid: Bacon Shake, A Bacon-Flavored Milkshake From Jack in the Box

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:21:30 +0000

Fast food chain Jack in the Box is now serving the Bacon Shake, a limited edition bacon-flavored milkshake made with “real vanilla ice cream, bacon flavored syrup, whipped topping and a maraschino cherry”. It’s part of a bigger campaign called Marry Bacon which asks, “If you like bacon so much, why don’t you marry it?”. The campaign includes a bacon-centric Tumblr feed, a purchasable bacon tuxedo t-shirt and more.

via Eater

Main: Clickolinko!: http://www.antiquark.com/sliderule/sim/n909es/virtual-n909-es.html

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:16:33 +0000

simulated neale pickett

Tech: Gizmag: Cook-Air delivers 1,100 degrees of meat-searing, wood-smoking grill top

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:13:48 +0000

Outdoor chefs that are looking for a little extra searing power may want to consider the Cook-Air grill, which calls itself the world's most powerful portable BBQ. The Cook-Air gives you more than 1,000ºF and the equivalent of 65,000 BTUs of wood-fire power. Its small, portable design lets you take it nearly anywhere - from the backyard to the campground to the weekend tailgate. .. Continue Reading Cook-Air delivers 1,100 degrees of meat-searing, wood-smoking grill top

Section: Outdoors

Tags: Camping, Cooking, Food, grill, outdoor, Portable

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Games: IGN Wii: Take Control of Xenoblade's Cover

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:13:00 +0000

Xenoblade Chronicles is still two months from a release here in North America, but Nintendo is now allowing fans to determine a special alternative cover for the game, which will only be released through GameStop or Nintendo's online store...

Comics: Fleen: Attention The Internet: I Am Old

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:12:41 +0000

Or, “Ow, my back”. Let’s distract ourselves a bit, why don’t we.

Christopher Baldwin is coming up on the end of Part 2 (of 3) of Spacetrawler, and is looking to hit the ground running on book production. He’s about 12 hours into a Kickstarter campaign that’s about 25% funded, which is good. Baldwin’s pretty aggressive about the campaign, with an unusually large number of donor levels/prize combo platters for such a modest goal (US$7000), and that extends to his campaign’s duration: a mere 21 days.
Be sure to watch his video all the way through, as he’s got some pretty original thank-you gifts (including a series of postcards from around the galaxy, sent to you each month, written by one of his characters¹). He also pronounces some of those verging-on-unpronouncable-by-humans alien locations² with lots of spitty noises, and that’s always fun.
It’s been a couple of weeks, so it’s time for me to remind you again about Saveur and their ongoing project of having comics artists provide recipes in comic form. This week’s contribution comes from Gordon McAlpin of Multiplex fame, and it sounds delicious.
Just a heads-up: Chris Yates has stepped up his game, making his latest multi-layer Bafflers all curvy and organic and water-fally. Very cool.
Finally, time for my occasional reminder that while it’s not always to the forefront of Sinfest, Tatsuya Ishida’s Criminy and Miss Fuchsia storyline is possibly the most heartfelt thing I read in my daily feeds, and he surpassed all previous Awwwww! moments with yesterday’s update.
I can’t help but wonder if Baby Blue, the Sisterhood, or Big D is going to bollocks up the moment of simple contentment they’re enjoying right now³ (out of misplaced concern, misunderstanding or bad intent, respectively), but for the moment they’re happy in a way that anybody who’s felt that first flush of love will remember. Hopefully, their Valentine’s Day will be just as happy for them.

_______________
¹ Can’t wait to see what Krep has to say to you.

² Like the Hotel Kppfing.

³ Possibly by hounding the poor escaped soul who remembers story time; I don’t think either Crim or Fyoosh have it in them to be cruel to himm, even accidentally.

Tech: Gizmag: Child creates molecule that could be used for energy storage or explosives

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:04:01 +0000

I don't know about other people, but when I was a child, I was inventing things such as a musical instrument made out of a folded piece of cardboard and some rubber bands. Ten year-old Clara Lazen, however, has done something a little more noteworthy. The fifth-grader from Kansas City, Missouri, built a model of a molecule that is new to science. If the molecule itself were to actually be created, it could possibly be used for energy storage, or in explosives... Continue Reading Child creates molecule that could be used for energy storage or explosives

Section: Good Thinking

Tags: Education, Energy, Explosives, Molecules, Storage

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Comics: Penny Arcade: News Post: FF XIII-2

gabe@penny-arcade.com (Gabe) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:02:47 +0000

Gabe: I ended up enjoying FF XIII by the time I got to hour thirty or so. My biggest problem with that game was how slow it was to start. Also the story didn’t make any fucking sense but I don’t really care about that. By the time I got the hang of the paradigm system I was bored with the game. FF XIII-2 gets rid of all the bullshit set up and throws you right into the fun stuff. There is a bit of a tutorial but for the most part the game assumes you know how Paradigms work. In

Politics: Crooks and Liars: Obama Approval at 50%, Higher Than George W. Bush's at Same Point in Presidency

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:01:38 +0000

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Somehow, that bumbling socialist usurper in the White House who has constantly apologized for America -- has the approval of half of the country.

Obama’s overall approval rating stands at 50 percent, the highest in a Post-ABC News poll since a brief run above 50 percent immediately after Osama bin Laden was killed in early May.

But what about all those Real Americans in Real America?

Overall, 55 percent of those who are closely following the campaign say they disapprove of what the GOP candidates have been saying.

But surely, a man who made his $250M ~~outsourcing~~ creating jobs will mop the floor with the Kenyan Marxist, right?

In a general-election test, Obama leads Romney 52 to 43 percent among all Americans; more narrowly, 51 to 45 percent, among registered voters. Among all adults, it’s Obama’s first time topping 50 percent in a head-to-head matchup with Romney since July; it’s his first time ever above that point among registered voters.

For those keeping score at home, the Black Jimmy Carter is currently outperforming the Great Leader who was supposed to usher in a permanent Republican majority. Yes, we've got a long way to go on unemployment -- but as the ad says, "pessimism never created a job."

How's that taste, GOP?

Main: Laughing Squid: Red Blooded, A Love Story Told Using a Field Notes Memo Book

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:01:30 +0000

Bryan of Chicago-based Coudal Partners created Red Blooded, a love story for Tracie, his wife of 14 years told using Coudal’s new hand-letterpressed product, a red Field Notes memo book.

Tech: Hack a Day: scavenger

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:49:43 +0000

Although we’re sure they exist, we wouldn’t want to meet anybody that can’t look back fondly on the halcyon days of youth that included playing hide-and-go-seek. Some kids never grow up and continue the tradition with geocaching or orienteering, but that sense of limitless discovery wanes over time. [Kurt] came up with a small scavenger hunt beacon that brings back the unending wonder that accompanies the unknown.

The beacon is just a simple ATtiny13 that flashes a message with an invisible IR LED. To receive the messages, [Kurt] made a scavenger decoder shield for an Arduino. The decoder includes a phototransistor and a 20×4 LCD display. All [Kurt] needs to do is hold the decoder up to the beacon for the text in the firmware of the ATtiny to be displayed. The beacon is only one inch square and powered by a watch battery, so it can be hidden anywhere.

[Kurt] suggests that the text of one beacon should provide the clue to the next. We’re thinking this is just a great excuse for a walk in the park. You can check out [Kurt]‘s IR decoder getting data from a beacon after the break.

Filed under: arduino hacks

Games: IGN PC: Hawken Goes Free-to-Play, Launch Date Set

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:33:00 +0000

Adhesive Games announced that its mech combat game Hawken will be made available for free on December 12, 2012. If you're interested in checking it out, which you probably should be, you can sign up to participate in beta testing now...

Politics: The Fix: Democrats’ chances of retaking the House improve

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:27:00 +0000

Democrats have been saying for a long time that the House could be in play in 2012, and now some Republicans are starting to join them.

“For Democrats to take 25 seats, they will need a wave,” former congressman Tom Davis wrote in an op-ed in The Hill recently. “Continued polarization and obstruction could create such a wave.”

Read full article >>

Politics: The Fix: Pete Hoekstra’s China ad provokes accusations of racism

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:26:11 +0000

While Chrysler’s Super Bowl ad has become a political football, an actual campaign ad aired during the game is also causing controversy.

Michigan Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra (R) aired his first campaign ad of the cycle Sunday night, and Asian-American groups are crying foul.

Read full article >>

Main: Laughing Squid: Love Bug Valentines

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:18:18 +0000

Danyelle of [dandee] designed her delightful Love Bug Valentines as a way to send her first-grade son to school with unique non-candy Valentine’s Day cards. She has included a template and full instructions on how to make these cards at home.

via Craft

Tech: Gizmag: Pentax Ricoh and Marc Newson create new K-01 camera with world's thinnest interchangeable lens

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:18:09 +0000

Pentax Ricoh and acclaimed designer Marc Newson have joined forces to create a new 16 megapixel mirrorless camera and a new pancake lens that's claimed to be the world's thinnest interchangeable lens. The Pentax K-01 interchangeable lens camera (pronounced "kay zero one") is also said to be compatible with over 25 million previously-produced Pentax K-mount lenses... Continue Reading Pentax Ricoh and Marc Newson create new K-01 camera with world's thinnest interchangeable lens

Section: Digital Cameras

Tags: Interchangeable lens, Lenses, Mirrorless, PENTAX, Pentax Ricoh, Ricoh

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Main: Clickolinko!: http://yoisthisracist.com/post/17138794427/jr-asked-this-might-just-be-a-little-bit-racist

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:16:52 +0000

holy shit wtf

Main: Clickolinko!: http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/6372759/Man-run-over-by-Boeing-Dreamliner

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:16:51 +0000

I suppose with the space shuttle no longer available, you've got to go with what you've got

Tech: Linux Weekly News: Mueller: Apple's iterative approach to FRAND abuse is not for the faint of heart

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:16:16 +0000

Florian Mueller's update on the patent battles between Apple, Motorola, and Samsung has a clear slant, but it is still a worthwhile look at how the mobile patent wars may be settled. There is little cheer for the free software world here. "They hope that the disruptive impact of such injunctions on Apple's business will force Apple to grant them a license to all of its non-standards-related patents (such as its multitouch inventions) as part of a broader settlement. In other words, they want to use FRAND patents to reach a state of 'mutually assured destruction', in which the notion of intellectual property would become meaningless between large players that have a critical mass of patents (it would merely serve to exclude new entrants without large patent portfolios)."

Games: IGN DS: Capcom Will Correct Misspelled Resident Evil Cover

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:12:00 +0000

When Resident Evil: Revelations hits stores tomorrow, gamers will find the game's title misspelled on the packaging's spine. Capcom mistakenly misspelled the game's title as "Revelaitons," and will now issue a corrected version. According to a new post on the Capcom-Unity blog, the next shipme...

Games: IGN PC: Microsoft Flight Launching Soon

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:11:00 +0000

Microsoft's reworked version of its Flight series will be available to download for free worldwide on February 29. The Hawaiian Adventure Pack that includes another plane, additional missions and territory, will also be available that day for download, though it'll cost 1600 Microsoft Points...

Main: Laughing Squid: Adventures in Plymptoons! Documentary About Animator Bill Plympton

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:02:04 +0000

Adventures in Plymptoons! by Alexia Anastasio is a documentary about animator Bill Plympton (trailer). The film will be screened on February 17 at the Boulder International Film Festival, February 20 at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula, Montana, and March 8 at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, New York.

This is a collaborative “portrait“ piece on Bill Plympton: The King of Indie Animation. It evolved into a uniquely molded peek into Bill’s creative vision and the inspiration for his hand drawn, animation art. The film crew interviewed and followed Bill on his travels to film festivals, animation master classes and personal appearances in New York City, Woodstock, LA and Portland, Oregon where Bill originally hails from and back to his studio in New York City where his animation magic happens.

via Drawn

Tech: Linux Weekly News: Stable kernels 3.0.20 and 3.2.5

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:01:22 +0000

The 3.0.20 and 3.2.5 stable kernel updates have been released. They are single-patch updates containing the fix to the ASPM-related problem that would significantly increase power consumption on some systems. This patch has been treated with some care: it seems to work, but nobody really knows if it might cause behavioral problems on some obscure hardware. That said, at this point, it seems safe enough to have found its way into a stable update.

Tech: Ars Technica: From your couch, Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking

sj.arstechnica@gmail.com (Scott K. Johnson) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:00:58 +0000

A few weeks ago, Stephen Hawking celebrated his 70th birthday. The famous cosmologist (who is probably more widely known than any other living scientist) has written several popular books including A Brief History of Time, The Universe in a Nutshell, and most recently, The Grand Design. A documentary series he created for the Discovery Channel in 2010, titled Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking, was recently released on Blu-ray, and Discovery sent us a copy of the set to check it out. Hawking hosts the program, but Benedict Cumberbatch (who played Hawking in a 2004 BBC movie) does the majority of the narration as Hawking’s inner voice.

The three-part series starts off with an episode on the tantalizing possibility of life elsewhere in the Universe. It covers the usual ground (looking for water and the right temperature range to make it liquid) before moving on to more speculative endeavors. There are some enjoyable (and fairly well-animated) attempts to imagine strange forms of animal life, but the program also allows that evolution might hit upon similar structures to those that arose on Earth.

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Politics: Crooks and Liars: YouTube Yanks Clint Eastwood Chrysler Ad After NFL Copyright Claim

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:00:07 +0000

Click here to view this media

This one seems really dumb as the National Football League seems to be saying Chrysler infringed on its copyright of "Halftime." Another odd thing about this is that there are plenty of other versions still to be found at YouTube, but the official one at the YouTube Chrysler channel was taken down.

(EDIT: It's working now, probably after someone with some clout rectified the situation.)

Marketwatch has some details and reaction to the ad.

The Clint Eastwood ad during the Super Bowl — catch it here because it’s been blocked by YouTube after the NFL alleged a copyright infringement — could be viewed as a simple celebration of the recovery of bankrupt Chrysler. But the political overtones were easy to see as well: “Halftime in America” could be interpreted as a rallying call for a second term for President Barack Obama, who pushed ahead with a bailout of Chrysler and General Motors (read more on GM’s financial results on WSJ.com) despite objections from Republicans, including his likely presidential opponent, Mitt Romney.

“Saving the America Auto Industry: Something Eminem and Clint Eastwood can agree on,” tweeted Dan Pfeiffer, the White House spokesman. Added David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist: “Powerful spot.” Filmmaker Michael Moore was a bit more direct (and apologies for the Twitterese): “Your sermon seemed 2 b a call 2 give O his ‘second half.’”

The former Republican mayor of Carmel, Calif. wasn’t universally loved. “WTH? Did I just see Clint Eastwood fronting an auto bailout ad???” said Michelle Malkin, the conservative blogger. “I think Clint Eastwood’s credentials as a conservative have been overrated for some time,” added David Limbaugh, the brother of Rush and himself a conservative author.

The right-winger's unsurprisingly negative reaction is made all the more ironic considering what pains Chrysler took to make the ad as "inoffensive" as possible, even going so far as to edit out pro-union signs. Via The Nation:

At the fifty-second point in the ad, images from last year’s mass pro-union protests in Madison, Wisconsin, were featured.

But something was missing: union signs.

The images from Madison were taken from a historic video by Matt Wisniewski, a Madison photographer whose chronicling of the protests drew international attention and praise. Wisniewski’s work went viral, and was even featured in a video by rocker Tom Morello.

Chrysler used Wisniewski's award-winning video with permission. But the union presence—and some Wisconsin history—was lost in translation.

Tech: Ars Technica: NimbleBit's Tiny Tower (left) and Zynga's Dream Heights (right) might seem pretty similar, but as far as copyright law goes, they're probably legally distinct

kyle.orland@arstechnica.com (Kyle Orland) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:52:00 +0000

The idea of copying a successful game concept and profiting off of your own version is practically as old as the game industry itself—just look at the countless Pong clones released in the wake of the Atari original (which itself may have been copied from another source... but that's another story). The idea of game copying has gained added attention in recent weeks, though, as some high-profile social game companies have released games some say are a little too similar to their existing inspirations.

Tiny Tower maker NimbleBit and Bingo Blitz maker Buffalo Studios both took issue with overly familiar titles recently released by Zynga, making their complaints known through large infographics that show near-identical side-by-side screenshots. But Triple Town developer Spry Fox went a step further, actually filing a lawsuit (PDF) against Yeti Town developer 6waves Lolapps, saying the latter company "unabashedly" cloned its popular social game. The lawsuit takes the matter away from the nebulous moral and ethical questions of what constitutes an "original" game idea to the codified legal realm of guilt and innocence. Yet the nature of copyright law as it applies to games, and the existing case law in the area, suggests Spry Fox has an uphill battle in protecting Triple Town in court.

Read the comments on this post

Tech: Hack a Day: Ogre

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:49:41 +0000

Nearly everyone has heard of phantom limb syndrome. It occurs sometimes after a limb is amputated, but the mind of the patient still thinks that the limb is attached. Generally regarded as a mix-up in the wiring of the damaged nerves, a phantom limb can be very painful. [Ben] has been working on a way to alleviate some of the pain and frustration associated with a phantom limb and fortunately for us he went for a Kinect, VR goggles, and gyroscope build.

Today, most therapies for phantom limb syndrome use a Ramachandran Mirror Box. The theory behind the mirror box is pretty simple – if someone recently lost a hand, just insert one hand in one side of the box and the arm stump on the other side. Looking into the box from the side with the good hand will trick the patient’s brain into thinking the amputated hand is still there. It’s a good therapy that has been very successful, but [Ben] thought he could do something that is a little more immersive.

[Ben]‘s project uses a Kinect and VR goggles to put the patient in a virtual environment. With the help of a few gyroscopes, the patient gets a virtual representation of their whole self projected into their goggles. The technique isn’t terribly different from VR phobia treatment, although there’s much more electronics and math involved in [Ben]‘s build. The first test subject said his pain was going down, so it looks like he might have a success on his hand (no pun intended).

Check out the demos of [Ben]‘s treatment plan after the break.

Filed under: Kinect hacks, Medical hacks

Main: Laughing Squid: A-ha’s Take On Me Covered by North Korean Accordion-Playing Students

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:47:57 +0000

Five accordion-playing students from the Kum Song School in North Korea have taken on a cover of 1984 hit, Take on Me, originally performed by the Norwegian pop band, a-ha.

a-ha’s eternal pop evergreen performed by young accordeon players from KUM SONG School, filmed in Pyongyang, North Korea december 2011. Part of multi-genre project THE PROMISED LAND by director and artist MORTEN TRAAVIK, opening at the international arts and culture festival Barents Spektakel in Kirkenes, Norway February 8-12, 2012 (Juche 101). For more info please go to www.traavik.info and www.barentsspektakel.no

via Joey deVilla

Main: Clickolinko!: http://yoisthisracist.com/post/17157399828/vnp15-asked-yo-is-merck-racist-yo-its

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:47:56 +0000

ok, yeah, that is racist as all get-out

Games: IGN PC: Today's Free Game: Grand Theft Auto

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:43:00 +0000

The Game: Grand Theft Auto Genre: Top-Down Open-World Action Platform: PC The Scoop: The original GTA is nearly fifteen years old! Pretty crazy, right? Even crazier is that the good folks at Rockstar have made the game available completely free of charge no catch. Gamers used to more modern...

Main: Losanjealous: Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra Band Is Here–3 Southland Shows This Week

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:41:27 +0000

07.02.12 | Santa Ana | Constellation Room
Tickets & Info

08.02.12 | West Hollywood | Troubadour
Tickets & Info

09.02.12 | San Diego | Casbah
Tickets & Info

Kollaps Tradixionales – THEE SILVER MT. ZION by Constellation Records

Band site | tra-la-la-band.com

Main: Laughing Squid: Radiation Safety Posters From 1947

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:33:51 +0000

These radiation safety posters were produced at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1947.

via Retronaut

images via Oak Ridge Associated Universities

Main: Laughing Squid: Squid in Morning Dress by Phineas X. Jones

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:28:53 +0000

Phineas X. Jones of Octophant has created Squid in Morning Dress, an illustration of a squid looking rather dapper. The art’s screenprints were created in collaboration with Nevermind Gallery who have made two versions available to purchase. Last year, we posted an earlier version of this illustration.

“Dapper, you say? Sir, you insult me. I can respect your plainly keen eye for the finest bespoke haberdashery and your appreciation of the same. But to imply that my manner of dress is self-consciously beyond that of any proper gentleman is pure effrontery! Do you take me for a preening dandy, Sir? A foppish twit? I am simply attired in a style suitable and fitting to a squid of my social station and I certainly do not have time for your knavery. Good day to you!”

“I said ‘good day,’ sir!”

Games: The Linux Game Tome: UnNetHack 3.6.1 (updated)

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:27:04 +0000

A graphical roguelike game and variant of NetHack

More about UnNetHack

Tech: Bruce Schneier: The Failure of Two-Factor Authentication

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:23:27 +0000

In 2005, I wrote an essay called "The Failure of Two-Factor Authentication," where I predicted that attackers would get around multi-factor authentication systems with tools that attack the transactions in real time: man-in-the-middle attacks and Trojan attacks against the client endpoint.

This BBC article describes exactly that:

After logging in to the bank's real site, account holders are being tricked by the offer of training in a new "upgraded security system".
Money is then moved out of the account but this is hidden from the user.

[...]

Called a Man in the Browser (MitB) attack, the malware lives in the web browser and can get between the user and the website, altering what is seen and changing details of what is being entered.

The solution is to authenticate the transaction, not the person.

EDITED TO ADD (2/6): Another link.

Tech: Ars Technica: Siri is designed to work whether you are holding an iPhone 4S close to your head or at arm's length.

chris.foresman@arstechnica.com (Chris Foresman) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:15:00 +0000

Siri, Apple's widely advertised voice-activated "intelligent assistant," has so far been limited to the latest iPhone 4S hardware after Apple's acquisition. Though observers have come up with various reasons for the restriction, a newly revealed piece of the puzzle suggests the issue is related to hardware after all. According to recent SEC filings from technology start-up Audience, Apple incorporated an improved version of its background noise filtering technology directly into the A5 processor used in the iPhone 4S—technology that improves Siri's speech recognition capabilities.

Siri was originally a third-party app for the iPhone that ran on devices as old as the iPhone 3GS. Apple later bought the company behind Siri, and integrated the tech directly into iOS 5, which was released to the public in October of 2011. Siri is now only available on the iPhone 4S, however, and Apple subsequently pulled the old app from the App Store when the 4S was released.

Read the comments on this post

Tech: Gizmag: Dramatic "Safety Sphere" concept provides all-round protection for motorcyclists

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:14:41 +0000

Airbags for motorcyclists, whether built into the vehicle (a la Honda) or the rider's apparel (like the D-Air, Spidi and Hit-Air), are not a new idea. But Canadian inventor Rejean Neron's Safety Sphere concept has to be the most, well, all-encompassing of those we've seen. Described as an "inflatable crash garment for non-enclosed vehicle riders", Safety Sphere isn't so much built into the rider's suit as it is the rider's suit. In the event of an accident, the intended results are nothing if not dramatic, as the CG video promo ably illustrates... Continue Reading Dramatic "Safety Sphere" concept provides all-round protection for motorcyclists

Section: Motorcycles

Tags: Airbags, Concept, Motorcycles, Safety

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Main: Laughing Squid: The Amish Project, 90 Days Spent Off The Communication Grid

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:12:19 +0000

Jake Reilly took a 90 day vacation from email, the Internet, cell phones, and other aspects of modern communication and documented his experience in a short video: “The Amish Project.”

via Viral Viral Videos

Tech: Ars Technica: Bis(imino)pyridine iron dinitrogen complexes used to replace precious metal catalysts

zeotherm@gmail.com (Matt Ford) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:00:25 +0000

Homogeneous catalysis, in which the catalyst is mixed directly in with the reaction components, sees widespread use in industrial settings. The catalysts themselves are often complex organometallic compounds that contain a precious metal atom/ion—platinum, rhodium, palladium, rhenium—at their molecular center.

From an engineering standpoint, a reactor for a homogeneously catalyzed reaction can often be described as a catalyst recovery system first, reactor second. The high cost of these precious metals means that recovery and reuse of the catalyst is essential to making the reactions economic.

A report published in last week's edition of Science discusses the work of a team of chemists who are looking at ways of obviating the need for the precious metals, replacing them with their more ordinary relatives. The paper focuses on chemistry that is important to the silicone industry.

Read the comments on this post

Politics: Crooks and Liars: Emails Show Handel Behind Komen's Planned Parenthood Decision: Report

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:00:02 +0000

Click here to view this media

Susan G. Komen for the Cure Vice President Karen Handel drove the foundation's decision to defund Planned Parenthood for purely political reasons, according to emails reviewed by The Huffington Post.

"The emails show that Karen Handel was behind the entire decision to defund Planned Parenthood," The Huffington Post's Laura Bassett told CNN's Soledad O'Brien Monday. "She was behind the strategy to develop the new criteria for who can be funded and she's been behind the PR effort to clean up what's happened since the decision was announced."

"What I understand is that Karen Handel, since she was hired back in April, has been kind of pumping up and magnifying the attacks against Komen and the anti-Planned Parenthood protests and whatnot, and trying to get the board and trying to get Komen leadership on her side as part of this decision to defund Planned Parenthood."

In a posting on her blog last year, Handel made no secret of her opposition to Planned Parenthood.

"First, let me be clear, since I am pro-life, I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood," she wrote.

In a video posted to YouTube last week, Komen’s Founder and CEO Nancy G. Brinker denied that politics played any role in the decision.

"It was a boldface lie," Bassett explained. "Karen Handel had a political agenda against Planned Parenthood. And I know that Komen founder Nancy Brinker went on Andrea Mitchell Thursday and said that Karen Handel had nothing to do with this; this was not political. That's simply not true. And if you're a cancer charity, you have no business lying to the public about what's going on behind closed doors."

While Komen reversed its decision on Friday and made Planned Parenthood eligible for future grants, many will not be satisfied until Handel is ousted from the organization.

CREDO action, a super PAC run by one San Francisco phone company, has already gathered over 24,000 signatures demanding that Komen fire Handel.

Main: Laughing Squid: Precarity, The Inaugural Issue of The New Inquiry Magazine

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:57:04 +0000

Today, online literary journal The New Inquiry published their first eMagazine. The issue is entitled “Precarity,” and includes musings on eFame by My Drunk Kitchen’s Hannah Hart and PostSecret’s Frank Warren.

Our debut issue brings together a diversity of voices and perspectives
on the issue of precarity, complete with original design and
illustration by Imp Kerr. The contents include a dialogue between
Hannah Hart of My Drunk Kitchen and Frank Warren of PostSecret
discussing the unprecedented experience and inherent instability of
sudden, unlooked-for interent fame; essays on the plight of temps, the
exploitation of interns and the tenuous use of so-called ‘erotic
capital’ in the workplace; criticism about the precarious-economy
underpinnings for shows like Breaking Bad and Dexter and an advice
column for living in the end times with Michael Seidenberg.

Main: Laughing Squid: Portlandia: The Dream of the 1890s is Alive in Portland

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:54:31 +0000

Portlandia, the television comedy series from IFC, has really outdone themselves with the hilarious song created for season 2, episode 5: Dream of the 1890s. This song plays off the original song that promoted Portlandia titled Dream of the 90s, but this time they compare today’s Portland with 1890s Portland. Also take a look at the behind the scenes video where the show’s creative team discuss the inspiration behind this new version of the song.

Tech: Hack a Day: electronic-temperature-candle

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:49:38 +0000

[William] developed this temperature candle as a tool to help keep babies safe as they sleep. It seems that ambient temperature has an effect on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). This device is meant to alert you when room temperature is outside of the recommended envelope.

The board hosts an eight-pin PIC microcontroller (12F683P), a temperature sensor, RGB LED, and a push button. The round PCB is the same size as a votive candle, which is nice except that you’re going to have to drill a hole in your candle holder to accommodate that barrel jack.

The temperature sensor is read by the microcontroller and used to determine the color of the LED. Red is hot, blue is cold, and just right is somewhere in between. But if you’d rather know the exact current temperature you can press the button and it’ll blink out the Celsius reading using blue for 10 degree increments (three blinks is 30 degrees, etc.) and red for single degrees. Don’t miss the demo of the candle in the video after the break.

Filed under: Microcontrollers

Tech: Linux Weekly News: Security advisories for Monday

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:49:30 +0000

Debian has updated cacti (fixes a regression in the previous update), xen-qemu-dm (code execution), and apache2 (multiple vulnerabilities).

Fedora has updated bip (F16; F15: code execution).

Oracle has updated php OL6; OL5; OL4: denial of service/remote code execution), ghostscript (OL6; OL5; OL4: multiple vulnerabilities), and OL5: php53 (remote code execution).

SUSE has updated kernel (multiple vulnerabilities).

Ubuntu has updated firefox (multiple vulnerabilities), mozvoikko (multiple vulnerabilities), and ubufox & webfav (multiple vulnerabilities).

Main: Laughing Squid: AgeMaps, Spliced Portraits of People As Youths and Adults

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:35:18 +0000

Photographer Bobby Neel Adams combines two photos of his portraits subjects—one as a youth and one as an adult—into composite portraits he calls “AgeMaps.” The portraits are composited without the aid of computers.

via PetaPixel & Visual News

Tech: Gizmag: Update Twitter in Morse Code with the Tworsekey

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:30:52 +0000

Urgent messages sent using Morse Code via radio waves or by electrical telegraphy are, by necessity, quite short - after all, you don't want to spend all day dotting and dashing your way through War and Peace. These days, of course, if you want to send the latest piece of gossip or news to those near and dear there are quite a few quicker options - from email to instant messaging and Facebook to Twitter. For users of the latter networking platform who are looking for a novel way to merge the old with the new, Martin Kaltenbrummer's open source Tworsekey Morse Code interface can deliver messages direct to the Twitter API via Ethernet LAN... Continue Reading Update Twitter in Morse Code with the Tworsekey

Section: Electronics

Tags: Arduino, Input Device, Open Source, Retro, Twitter

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Games: IGN PC: Why the Tera Beta is Awesome

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:25:00 +0000

Between the recent launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and the upcoming Guild Wars 2 and The Secret World, there's not a lot of breathing room for MMO fans this year. But people should keep their eyes out for Tera, the action-MMO coming from Bluehole Studios on May 1st, because it sets itself apart through responsive, reactive, challenging and incredibly fun combat...

Games: IGN DS: Catch Mewtwo in Pokemon Black and White!

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:23:00 +0000

Old school Pokemon fans, prepare to be excited. One of the original legendaries, Mewtwo, will soon be available as part of a special character distribution. This powerful Psychic-type Pokemon features a unique set of moves - showcased in IGN's exclusive video (below) - and will only be available from February 12 through February 26...

Main: Laughing Squid: Congressman Thinks The Onion’s Satirical Article on Abortionplex is Real

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:01:23 +0000

Congressman John Fleming (R, LA) recently posted an article on his Facebook page showing disgust for Planned Parenthood’s “abortion by the wholesale.” The article titled Planned Parenthood Opens $8 Billion Abortionplex was created by The Onion in May 2011 as satire. Fleming posted the article thinking that it was real.

Someone commented under the post:

The Onion is satire, how exactly did you get elected?

via The Daily What and Literally Unbelievable

image via Literally Unbelievable

Politics: Crooks and Liars: Bloomberg: You'd Think A Congresswoman Getting Shot In The Head Would Change Gun Control Views

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:00:27 +0000

NY Mayor Mike Bloomberg appeared on Meet The Press yesterday to push for gun control, pointing out, "You’d think that if a congresswoman got shot in the head, that would have changed Congress’ views."

If anything, the picture in Congress is even bleaker than Bloomberg suggests. In 2006, the NRA successfully lobbied Congress to make the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) a Senate-confirmed position. Since then, the Senate has been unable to confirm anyone to serve as the chief enforcer of firearms laws due to the combination of gun lobbying and the nearly-unbreakable filibuster. President Obama’s nominee was blocked because he opposes allowing civilians to purchase a weapon capable of punching a baseball-sized hole in 2.5 inches of bulletproof glass.

Not content simply to erect barriers to enforcing federal firearms laws, much of Congress also wants to strip states of their power to enforce reasonable gun regulations. The House recently passed the “National Right To Carry Reciprocity Act,” which forces nearly every state to honor concealed carry licenses issued by the states with the laxest licensing rules. Half of North Carolina concealed carry permit holders with felony convictions have been allowed to keep their permits, and Florida issued 1,700 concealed carry permits to people with “criminal histories, arrest warrants, domestic violence injunctions and misdemeanor convictions for gun-related crimes.” Under this NRA-sponsored bill, all of these permit holders [would] be allowed to carry concealed firearms in 49 of the 50 states.

Nor are federal lawmakers the only ones looking for new and more creative ways to arm the nation. Several states are pushing efforts to force colleges to allow concealed firearms on campus — because clearly what America needs are rooms full of fraternity members packing heat right after they each consumed a case of Milwaukee’s Best. Not to be outdone, Colorado lawmakers are pushing a bill to allow firearms in elementary schools.

As conservative Justice Antonin Scalia explained in D.C. v. Heller, respecting the Second Amendment does not mean filling every building with firearms, or eliminating concealed carry rules, or placing guns in the hands of convicted felons or the mentally ill. Sadly, far too many lawmakers have let the NRA convince them that the myth of the Second Amendment far exceeds the reality.

This "Mayors Against Illegal Guns" ad ran during last night's Super Bowl:

Comics: Starslip: Cutter Again

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:56:03 +0000

Politics: The Fix: Karl Rove ‘offended’ by Clint Eastwood’s Chrysler ad

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:52:00 +0000

A Chrysler ad aired during the Super Bowl Sunday night has inspired ire among some Republicans and admiration among some Democrats — with both sides seeing a political message that boosts President Obama.

Read full article >>

Tech: Hack a Day: speeding-up-mac-mini-hard-disk

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:49:49 +0000

[Andrew] was left wanting by the slow hard drive in his 2011 Mac Mini. He set out to add a 10,000 RPM drive and we think he did a great job of pulling it off. Luckily he also took the time to document the process so you can try it yourself.

As with a lot of Apple products, a big part of this hack is just getting the darn thing apart without breaking something. Once that’s done, you’re got to do a little bit of interface hacking. To save space Apple uses a non-standard SATA breakout cable so [Andrew] starts by ordering a second hard drive cable from the company. He then soldered a thin wire connecting 12V from the motherboard to the 12V pin on a SATA connector. From there it’s just a matter of altering the original hard drive sled to make room for the 500 GB WD Velociraptor drive. It fits below the original and serves as additional space instead of as a replacement.

Filed under: macs hacks

Comics: A Softer World: A Softer World: 768

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:46:04 +0000

back

buy this print digg facebook reddit stumbleupon

Tech: Linux Journal: Creating a vDSO: the Colonel's Other Chicken

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:43:22 +0000

A vDSO (virtual dynamic shared object) is an alternative to the somewhat cycle-expensive system call interface that the GNU/Linux kernel provides. But, before I explain how to cook up your own vDSO, in this brief jaunt down operating system lane, I cover some basics of vDSOs, what they are and why they are useful. more>>

Main: Laughing Squid: The Man Who Lived On His Bike

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:38:42 +0000

In the wonderful short film “The Man Who Lived On His Bike,” Montreal-based director Guillaume Blanchet imagines what it would be like to live on a bike.

via Doobybrain.com

Tech: Ars Technica: A screenshot of "Cut the Birds," a strange mishmash knockoff of Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja

jacqui@arstechnica.com (Jacqui Cheng) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:36:00 +0000

Apple has begun to take action against iPhone app ripoffs that have been crudding up the App Store. Over the weekend, the company removed a number of apps that bear a striking similarity to ones that are already popular among iOS users—the list includes Angry Ninja Birds, Plant vs. Zombie, and Temple Jump, which correlate to the popular titles Angry Birds, Plants vs. Zombies, and Temple Run (hat tip to Gamasutra). The move is encouraging to developers who have been struggling with knockoffs attempting to steal their business on the App Store, but there's plenty left to do if Apple wants to show it's serious about tackling the problem once and for all.

Apps attempting to clone—or at least ride the popularity wave of—other apps has been a problem for iOS developers for years now. Ars first started covering the phenomenon in early 2009, but examples continue to pop up on both the mobile App Store as well as the Mac App Store.

Read the comments on this post

Tech: Ars Technica: You get five more

nate@arstechnica.com (Nate Anderson) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:25:00 +0000

Whatever happened to the "six strikes" system that was to help civilize the American Internet?

Three years ago, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) gave up its mass litigation strategy of targeting tens of thousands of alleged file-swappers. Instead, the group announced that it would pursue a "graduated response" system in partnership with Interent providers. Infringement notices would be sent on to subscribers, who would be hit with increasing penalties as the notices stacked up.

Read the comments on this post

Main: Laughing Squid: Improv Everywhere: Meet A Black Person

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:23:53 +0000

Back in 2006, Improv Everywhere sent comedian and black person Colton Dunn to the overwhelmingly white ski resort town of Aspen, Colorado so the inhabitants could meet a black person. Improv Everywhere is remastering and rereleasing some choice videos from its archives to commemorate its 10th anniversary.

Main: Laughing Squid: What Cancer Is, and Is Not

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:23:19 +0000

Breast cancer survivor, Linda, created What Breast Cancer Is, and is Not, a powerful video that frankly describes her personal experience with cancer. She also shares harsh words for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the controversial breast cancer organization that has recently been in the news.

Breast cancer is fear, it’s being scared. It’s the unknown. It’s trauma. It’s everything plus more.

…And one more thing. One thing cancer is: it makes you frank. It makes you say what you feel, it makes you no longer scared. When your surviving, you’re ready to fight the world and I wanna tell you something right now, the foundation, you showed your ass, now you can kiss mine. Thank you.

via Lori Dorn and Crooks and Liars

Tech: Gizmag: What the schools of the future could look like

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:11:47 +0000

Here at Gizmag we are always keeping an eye on innovative solutions for schooling and education. We've covered the solar powered mobile computer classroom project and the AIRchitecture flying classrooms of the future, but now we're excited about these proposals from architects all over the world, who recently submitted their ideas for what schools of the future could look like... Continue Reading What the schools of the future could look like

Section: Good Thinking

Tags: Architecture, Competition, Education, Learning, School, Sustainable

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Politics: The Fix: Why Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich dropping out wouldn’t change much — in one chart

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:03:00 +0000

Depending on the results of Tuesday’s contests, there may be pressure on either Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum to drop out of the GOP presidential race.

At which point the other one would have a good shot at beating Mitt Romney head-to-head, right?

Read full article >>

Politics: Crooks and Liars: Chicago Preparing For Protests At G8 And NATO Summits

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:00:18 +0000

The city of Chicago, at the behest of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, has taken rigorous steps to ensure enforcement of laws in anticipation of protests during the G8 and NATO summits that will take place in Chicago during May. But protesters are showing little fear in response.

The Mayor now has the ability to permanently install surveillance equipment, deputize federal law enforcement officers from the FBI, ATF, DOJ, as well as state and county police, and even hire private contractors for independent security thanks to a new ordinance that passed the City Council in mid-January.

“I think the city and the mayor have created a circumstance that is unnecessary,” said Ed Yohnka, the director of communications for the Illinois ACLU on Friday.

He said it would have been a better idea for the city to converse about the notion of free expression and encourage it.

“I think what is vexing and is troubling is that there was this sort of hysteria that was built around this, that caused people to overreact and the administration contributed to that with these 'get tough' ordinances,” said Yohnka.

Emanual said in a press release after the ordinance granting him greater security powers was passed, “Working collaboratively with our federal partners, we will provide public safety services for residents and visitors while fulfilling our obligation to protect the public and enforce the laws of the city.”

Meanwhile, AdBusters, the anti-consumerist magazine that put out the call to Occupy Wall Street, has recently released a tactical briefing asking their supporters to Occupy Chicago on May 1. They’re calling it the “Showdown in Chicago” and calling for over 50,000 people to attend.

“This time around we’re not going to put up with the kind of police repression that happened during the Democratic National Convention protests in Chicago, 1968 … nor will we abide by any phony restrictions the City of Chicago may want to impose on our first amendment rights,” States AdBusters’ “tactical briefing.”

Protesters and journalists that have been covering the movement were discussing the call to Occupy Chicago at a crowded sandwich shop in Washington DC on Wednesday.

Sam Jewler, an Occupy DC media group member, called Emanuel a fascist in the way that he’s handled Occupy Chicago. In October, police arrested over 300 protesters for attempting to establish a camp at Grant Park. Despite this, Jeweler said protesters wouldn’t be deterred.

“I think it will be bigger than Occupy Congress,” said Jewler, in reference to the DC gathering on January 17 that attracted over 1,000 Occupy protesters.

Michael Patterson, a particularly vociferous DC protester, said “This will be our Saratoga.” He emphasized the importance of protesting a gathering of the leaders of the most powerful governments and most powerful military alliance in the world.

Luke Rudkowski, a videographer that has gained a following as an activist, said he’d be heading to Chicago to film the protests. Rudkowski has covered and participated in other protests around the world. In 2009, he was in Pittsburgh for the G20 conference of finance ministers and central bank governors.

“I can’t even tell you the respect I lost for humanity there,” said Rudkowski. He said he was pepper-sprayed, beaten and held for half a day shackled in a bus with other protesters. His videos on YouTube from the event show officers using an LRAD sound cannon and him and others being quickly surrounded by police while protesting in a park.

Journalists coming to cover the protests also have to deal with an outdated Illinois law that states it’s a felony to audiotape police activity on public streets or in public parks.

Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick wrote a long article about the law. She noted that Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy told a panel at Loyola University that he endorses video and audio recording of police.

“There’s no arguments when you can look at a videotape and see what happened.” Said McCarthy at the panel.

Tim Pool, a livestream journalist that gained notoriety during Occupy Wall Street, said he will be streaming the protests in Chicago.

“There’s going to be cameras everywhere,” said Pool, who didn’t worry about being singled out by police.

However, Occupy Chicago livestreamer Keilah Becker said she had a run-in with police over the law on Jan. 29. She said she was streaming an arrest during a march when a female police officer came behind her and took her phone. Becker said the officer cancelled her video and didn’t save it to the UStream servers. When the officer asked her what she was doing, Becker told her she was recording what happened around her.

“[The officer] told me I was talking myself into a felony charge,” said Becker. Although eventually the officer relented and gave the phone back, said Becker.

When told of this incident, Yonkah said, “The unfortunate thing is that as of this moment the Illinois law that makes it a felony to audiotape police activity is still in place.”

Questions sent to the Chicago Police regarding the enforcement of this law and the plan for policing the protest were not returned.

However, with the city’s strong stance against Occupy Chicago in October and the new powers granted to the Mayor, it would seem that police appear ready for a showdown with protesters in May.

Games: IGN PC: Shank 2 Review

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:00:00 +0000

Sequels are a funny thing. When a game is good-but-not-quite-great, we see the smallest solutions to itty bitty flaws, a few things that could have been spectacular given just a little more spit-shined development time. Yet those few tiny tweaks typically aren't enough to regenerate interest, never ...

Games: Gamers With Jobs: February 6 — February 10

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:57:22 +0000

Aaaaand, we're back!

It's been a while since I could go into this weekly update without wondering how I was going to manage to fill three to four paragraphs with words. And, let me tell you, if you've ever got me wondering how to BS through 300 words of content, then you have found an especially dark void of activity. You're usually lucky if I don't drop 300 words in the description field of a personal check.

For my money, this week, I'm going with Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, because when it comes to creating epic role playing action, I think of Hall of Fame MLB pitchers. All kidding aside, I've been intrigued with this game for a while, and not just because of the Day 1 DLC flap, but really from the moment someone said it was going to be like God of War meets Oblivion. As far as strong pitches for my interest go, that's pretty much the skyrocketing over my bar for success.

I also really want to be interested in Jagged Alliance: Back in Action, but so far I'm just not confident in what I've seen. I love games like X-Com, Fallout Tactics and Silent Storm when done really well, and I'm hopeful that my gut feeling on Jagged Alliance is off base.

As if that weren't enough, The Darkness II comes out for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 this week alongside Resident Evil: Revelations on the 3DS and Gotham City Imposters on XBLA, PSN and PC. So, welcome back video game industry from your too long slumber. Never leave me again!

Main: Laughing Squid: Will Ferrell’s Old Milwaukee Beer Super Bowl Ad Aired Only in Nebraska

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:53:51 +0000

Super Bowl watchers in North Platte, Nebraska got the first look at the latest Old Milwaukee beer commercial starring actor and comedian Will Ferrell. The ad, which only aired in Nebraska, shows Ferrell slowly walking through amber waves of grain until the end where he stops and opens up a can of Old Milwaukee. Our recent post, Will Ferrell Creates Unscripted Old Milwaukee Beer Ads For Free in Various Midwest Cities, described his curious involvement with the brand and rounded up all the local commercials he made that we could find.

via AdWeek

Tech: Linux Weekly News: Five open source hardware projects that could change the world (The H)

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:49:34 +0000

Here's a lengthy survey of open hardware projects in The H. "The price/performance of a general purpose computer built using FPGAs wouldn't be great when compared with commodity gear, but the technology excels in many niche and specialist applications, such as in areas of computing that make use of dedicated hardware to bring high performance to tasks such as signal processing, encryption and networking. Since you can program many hardware paths in an FPGA they are well suited to jobs that can be broken down and processed in parallel, and some of the more powerful devices pack millions of logic blocks and have a transistor count well into the billions, with a blisteringly fast serial bandwidth that is measured in terabits/second."

Comics: Slow Wave: Slow Wave 12-01-28

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:36:09 +0000

The Specialist

Tech: Gizmag: Nissan's Invitation Concept car

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:34:18 +0000

Nissan's next mainstream B-segment contender will be previewed at the upcoming Geneva Auto Show, in the form of the Invitation Concept. The sleek hatchback will hit showrooms in 2013... Continue Reading Nissan's Invitation Concept car

Section: Automotive

Tags: Concept Cars, Geneva Motor Show 2012, Invitation, Nissan

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Main: Clickolinko!: http://identi.ca/notice/90096060

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:32:00 +0000

Sir, you have my vote.

Main: Clickolinko!: http://identi.ca/notice/90091653

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:31:59 +0000

no! bad bot!

Tech: Gizmag: Scientists map Milky Way's magnetic field in highest resolution yet

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:27:44 +0000

A team of scientists led by the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA) has produced the highest resolution map of the Milky Way's magnetic field ever produced. The map pools over 41,000 measurements from across 26 projects. "The resulting database is equivalent to peppering the entire sky with sources separated by an angular distance of two full moons," said Dr. Tracy Clarke of the Naval Research Laboratory... Continue Reading Scientists map Milky Way's magnetic field in highest resolution yet

Section: Science and Education

Tags: Astronomy, Physics

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Comics: Bad Machinery: Bad Machinery for February 6th 2012

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:24:24 +0000

King Beaver is the best dam 'em up since Beaver Islands IV... and that was 20 years ago! Also pictured and tragically obscured by speech bubbles... Fringe Pinball and "Meme Killa".

Tech: GoRobotics.net: How Do I Choose Appropriate Sensors?

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:08:45 +0000

For a robot to react to its environment, it must first obtain information about its surroundings. Robots are not limited to just sight, sound, touch, smell and taste. Robots can not only sense but give accurate values for a variety of environmental factors that humans are otherwise unaware of or incapable of doing.

Measure Distance

Contact (when an object is touched) and Proximity (object is close)
Ultrasonic Range Finders (variable distances)
Infrared and laser (used for a specific distance or range)
Accelerometers (distance based on initial position, integrated twice),
IMU‘s (distance based on initial position and includes rotation)
Encoders and Disks (location based on number of evolutions of the wheel)
Linear Potentiometer (location along slider)
Resistive band (location along a band)
Stretch and Bend Sensors (distance stretched or related)

Measure Rotation

Potentiometer (usually 0 to 300 degrees)
Gyroscope (angle based on initial value)
IMU‘s (angle based on initial value and includes possible linear acceleration)
Encoders and Disks (angle based on number of fractional turns)
Stretch and Bend Sensors (moving closer or farther – use geometry)

Measure Environmental Conditions

Light Sensor (specific color, intensity or range)
Sound sensor (specific decibel reading or range)
Thermal Sensors (specific temperature or temperature range)
Infrared (used to measure temperature)
Temperature and Humidity (range of values)
Cameras and Vision Sensors (measure depth, color, proximity and object type)
Barometric Sensor (measure pressure)

Measure Orientation and Position

Compass (orientation with respect to earth’s magnetic field)
Accelerometers (distance based on initial position, integrated twice),
IMU‘s (distance based on initial position and includes rotation)
Gyroscope (angle based on initial value)
Stretch and Bend Sensors (orientation of specific parts)
Localization and GPS (fixed sensors locate an object in 3D space)

Miscellaneous

Current and Voltage Sensors (range of values)
Magnetic Sensors (intensity of magnetic field)
Vibration (specific value or range of values))
Stretch and Bend Sensors (object warping or changing shape/position)

Politics: Crooks and Liars: Tebow: Politics 'Could Be Something in My Future'

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:00:10 +0000

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In Denver, they call Tim Tebow the "Mile High Messiah," but could Americans one day also be calling him president?

Speaking to the Golf Channel's David Feherty on Saturday, the Denver Broncos starting quarterback said that running for office was not out of the question.

"You know for me, it could be something in my future," Tebow explained. "It's something I'll have to think about and if I pray about, you know, I have no idea right now. But possibly."

"It's just a question of names," Feherty said. "We've got Mitt and Newt."

"Do what?" Tebow replied quizzically.

"I mean, why not go with Statler and Waldorf," Feherty joked, referring to two characters from The Muppet Show. "I mean, really. President Tim, that's working for me."

"Who knows what the future holds," Tebow shrugged.

(H/T: NFL.com)

Tech: Ars Technica: Torrent search engine BTJunkie voluntarily shuts down

editor@wired.com (WIRED UK) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:38:00 +0000

Torrent search engine BTjunkie is the latest file-sharing service to fall on its sword in the wake of the Megaupload sting. Junkie, one of the largest BitTorrent indexes, decided to shut down voluntarily.

A statement on the website reads, "This is the end of the line my friends. The decision does not come easy, but we've decided to voluntarily shut down. We've been fighting for years for your right to communicate, but it's time to move on. It's been an experience of a lifetime, we wish you all the best!"

The site was never directly targeted by copyright holders, an unnamed BTJunkie founder told TorrentFreak. However, the site was reported to the US Trade Representative (USTR) in 2011, the RIAA and MPAA listed the torrent index as a 'rogue' site, and Google censored the search term.

Despite avoiding legal attention so far, the site's founder told TorrentFreak that the legal action against file-sharing sites Megaupload and The Pirate Bay played an important role in its closure.

Online storage locker Megaupload was seized and shut down by the US Department of Justice in January 2012, for allegedly breaching copyright infringement law. The site's staff members were arrested and founder Kim Dotcom was recently been denied bail.

Meanwhile, the founders of The Pirate Bay were arrested for copyright infringement in 2009. This month, the supreme court of Sweden made the ruling final, and announced that the founders will not be able to appeal their months-long prison sentences or combined fines of 46 million kronor (around $6.83 million).

In response to Megaupload's shutdown, a raft of popular Web lockers have neutered the ability to share files with others. FileSonic, FileServe and Uploaded.to all cut off file-sharing in the days after Megaupload was seized.

The Pirate Bay, on the other hand, moved its domain name from .org to the Swedish .se. A Pirate Bay insider told TorrentFreak that this was to prevent US authorities from seizing the popular domain.

Read the comments on this post

Tech: Ars Technica: Verizon, Redbox team up to build video streaming, DVD service

jon.brodkin@arstechnica.com (Jon Brodkin) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:17:00 +0000

Verizon and Redbox are developing a new video service to compete against Netflix, which will combine Redbox's kiosk DVD and Blu-Ray rental service with streaming and downloadable video content made possible by Verizon's network.

Verizon and Coinstar (Redbox's parent company) announced the partnership today with a press release and press conference, saying a subscription service "and more" will become available in the second half of 2012. Details were limited due to "competitive reasons."

The joint venture will apparently not include DVDs through the US Postal Service, as Netflix offers. Redbox has kiosks at 29,000 locations nationwide, including grocery stores, convenience stores, drug stores, and at some Wal-Mart stores. "By offering instantly available online and mobile content with immediate access to physical media through rental kiosks, Verizon and Redbox will be uniquely positioned to deliver the best of both worlds—digital and physical—to consumers across the country," the companies said.

Verizon owns 65 percent of the new joint venture, which is also described in an SEC filing, with Redbox owning the other 35 percent. While Netflix is struggling after a shaky 2011, Verizon and Redbox will still have their work cut out for them. No mention of specific content was made, but Verizon said it will use its "industry-wide relationships with entertainment content providers" to ensure a good selection of movies online.

Read the comments on this post

Tech: Linux Weekly News: "Open Advice" from 42 free software contributors

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:12:10 +0000

"Open Advice" is a new book consisting of essays from some 42 community authors; it is available in print form or downloadable under the CC-BY-SA license. "This book is the answer to 'What would you have liked to know when you started contributing?'. The authors give insights into the many different talents it takes to make a successful software project, coding of course but also design, translation, marketing and other skills. We are here to give you a head start if you are new. And if you have been contributing for a while already, we are here to give you some insight into other areas and projects."

Main: Weekly World News -- Breaking News: SNOW OWLS INVADING U.S.

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:03:06 +0000

Hostile snow owls are swarming into the United States.

Tech: Hack a Day: Untitled

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:01:47 +0000

[Patrick] decided to make a computer controlled etch-a-sketch. While the idea is not that new, there is always a different way to accomplish a goal. An Arduino is used to control a pair of stepper motors which were sourced for pretty cheap, and even came with their own driver. Next a stand was mocked up using foam board, which helps determine where all the parts should live.

Next was a way to attach the steppers to the knobs, gears would be used and a collet meant for model airplanes was sourced to make the mechanical connection between gear and shaft. With everything set in place via foam board and paper printouts, it is off to get some thin plywood. The plywood is sent though a laser cutter creating most of the stand and gears. Now its all software, a program was whipped up for OSX which converts low res pictures into squiggly lines perfect for the etch-a-sketch to draw on its screen.

The results are quite impressive, join us after the break for a quick video.

Filed under: arduino hacks, news, toy hacks

Tech: The Daily WTF: CodeSOD: Dirty Code

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Ever since being hired, Adam had spent most of his time working on new projects.

He was aware that there was an "old system" running out there and would someday be shut down and his efforts were to help this come about, but he never had the opportunity to cross paths with it. Based on what he had heard though, this was a very, very good thing.

However, once Adam had earned a reputation of his own of being a good problem solver, he was soon asked to peek at the "old" (ok, current) system and see how it worked. You know, the in lieu of a functional design document, he received the order "Just make it work like it does now".

In the one source file he was on, Adam quickly found the following which he considered to probably be the finest bit of coding he had ever seen.

//These fucking wankers wanted it unfucked 
private bool un-fuck(int fuck-v) {
   if (fuck-v == 1)
   {
    return true;
   }
   else
   {
    return false;
   }
}

And it didn't stop there. After a quick search he found 20 shits, 25 fucks, 15 bollocks, and 8 assholes in the rest of the code. The swear words were found mostly in the comments, but he did find some cases where the arrangement of variables and function names made for some rather "interesting" business logic.

This of course left Adam with a small dilemma - how does one document something that is not safe for work?

Politics: Crooks and Liars: Dana Loesch Pimps Discredited Pro-Life 'Sting' Of Planned Parenthood

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0000

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(h/t Heather at VideoCafe)

Why-oh-why is Dana Loesch being invited on the Sunday news shows? The Editor-in-Chief of Breitbart's BigJournalism site deserves no such association with either honest brokers or journalism. Actually, considering the larger panel discussion on the Susan G. Komen controversy and the massive amount of misinformation muddying the issue by Matthew Dowd and George Will, honest brokers and Sunday morning news shows have very little to do with one another either, but I digress.

Loesch is particularly worthy of scorn because she uses a discredited "sting" by the discredited Live Action organization, led by the discredited Lila Rose to amplify her point:

Now, you would think at some point in the past — it's been a year to the date since Live Action called Planned Parenthood clinics in 27 different states to ask whether or not they had mammography machines. You would think that at that point — they'd had a year — Planned Parenthood would invest in obtaining licenses to operate and own mammography machines and give mammograms so they could have avoided this whole thing.

Yeah, about that lack of mammography machines ... turns out, the whole thing was a sham.

HOAX EXPOSED: Rose's Video Does Not Establish That Planned Parenthood Ever Discussed Mammograms Provided By The Organization

Richards Discussed "Access" To Mammograms Through Planned Parenthood - Not Mammograms Actually Provided By The Organization. In the video at the center of Rose's hoax, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards discusses access to health care - including mammograms - not actual health care services provided by Planned Parenthood. Discussing GOP efforts to defund Planned Parenthood during an appearance on The Joy Behar Show, Richards said:

If this bill ever becomes law, millions of women in this country are going to lose their health care access, not to abortion services, to basic family planning. You know, mammograms, cancer screenings, cervical cancer. [CNN, The Joy Behar Show, 2/21/11, via Nexis]

Pro-Life Activist Jill Stanek: Richards Was "Correct." From Stanek's blog:

Richards said:

If this bill ever becomes law, millions of women in this country are going to lose their health care access, not to abortion services, to basic family planning -- you know, mammograms, cancer screenings, cervical cancer.

The fact is not one Planned Parenthood in America performs mammograms. All PPs do are refer for mammograms.

Conservatives want to obfuscate the issue. Komen didn't retract funds because Planned Parenthood doesn't offer mammograms. It never has. I've had a wellness check-up from Planned Parenthood (I was between jobs and didn't have insurance for about a year) and it included a manual breast examination as well as instructions on the proper methods of self-examination (an important tool in early detection, which leads to higher survival rates). Had they detected anything or if I had belonged to any of the high risk groups, they would have referred me for a mammogram. That service could save potentially thousands of women's lives.

And waste-of-intelligence hack pundits like Dana Loesch want to keep that from them.

Politics: The Fix: Marco Rubio takes on Obama over contraceptive rule

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:47:41 +0000

Marco Rubio has said he’s not interested in being vice president. Repeatedly.

But the Florida Republican senator has thrust himself into the middle of a high-profile, hot-button controversy — a move that will likely spark more talk of his future plans.

Read full article >>

Tech: Cool Tools: Wind Chimes: Design and Construction

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:40:32 +0000

Make your own. Not those tinny flea market varieties, but large striking sonorous chimes tuned in all manner of unusual styles. (Listen to samples on the book’s website or included CD). There are several dozen unusual ways to tune the chimes. All tunings are fairly mathematical, which is the core of this book, but not difficult to execute with hardware-store tubing. My son and I used this short but very explicit manual to create a large copper pipe one that emits a lovely melody in the breeze. The bigger the better. (The bigger the more wind they need, too.) This guide is a very practical way to experience the math of music and the beauty of alternative music systems.

Setting up the hanging strings at the correct spacing.

Our copper chime hanging in the cherry tree.

-- KK

Wind Chimes: Design and Construction
Bart Hopkin
2005, 68 pages
$15

Available from Amazon

Sample Excerpts:

Tech: Groklaw: Oracle v. Google - Still Waiting on the Revised Cockburn Report

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:40:00 +0000

Although Dr. Cockburn's third attempt at a damages report was due to be filed last Friday, February 3rd, it has yet to show up on the electronic docket. That is most likely due to its length and the possibility that Oracle will seek to redact portions of the filing. In the meantime, Judge Alsup has issued a clarifying order with respect to the trial briefs on the issue of copyright. (710 [PDF; Text]) The judge basically instructs the parties to not interpret the law for him but to set out the relevant passages so he may draw his own conclusions. In addition, he wants the parties to make clear where they agree on the underlying law.

We also have the transcript of the July 21 Daubert hearing on the first Cockburn damages report. (Text of Document 231) You will recall that it was at the conclusion of this hearing that Judge Alsup ordered Oracle and Dr. Cockburn to go back and try again with something closer to a more reasonable assessment of damages. (Damages Report - Try Again, Oracle) We now get a better insight into the arguments set forth by Google in attacking the original report.

Main: Modern Mechanix: The Drive-In is Thrivin’ (Aug, 1951)

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:31:09 +0000

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The Drive-In is Thrivin’

America’s newest major industry was regarded as a newfangled novelty a decade or so ago. Now it’s become strictly big business.

By I. B. Neer

WITHOUT leaving the wheel of your car you can spend the most amazing vacation of your life this summer. For the drive-in is really thrivin’!

Without sliding from behind the steering wheel, you’ll be able, to deposit money in a bank, do all your shopping in supermarkets, buy a bouquet of flowers, mail a letter, go to church, pay your gas and electric bills, have prescriptions filled, get your laundry and dry cleaning done, take out insurance, check into a hotel, visit a zoo, have your shoes repaired and buy a bottle of Scotch for the long cool nights.

The drive-in as a big business may appear to have burst suddenly on the American scene, but actually the trend was being developed for more than 20 years. A few roadside restaurants made their first inquiring venture into the feed-’em-on-the-run field in the mid-20s and found it paid off handsomely.

Then businessmen in the cities, searching for a solution to the parking problem, took a cue from their country cousins. They started to convert their facilities so that motorists would be spared the wearisome hunt for an open spot on the traffic-choked streets. Again car owners hailed the innovation and before long Yankee ingenuity had developed a new industry.

Look what happened at Jackson Hole Wildlife Park near Moran, Wyo. On hand was the nation’s largest assortment of native big-game animals—buffalo, deer, elk, moose and antelope, last remnants of the vanishing American herds. The officials thought long and hard and finally leaped on the drive-in bandwagon as the best way to give tourists a real close-up of the animals in their native habitat.

Accordingly, they veined the large wooded area with a network of roads and strung almost invisible fences through the fields which keep the animals constantly in sight of motorists driving past. The herds cannot escape the enclosure because of a tricky device at the entrances. Timbers, criss-crossed along the first few yards of roads, are easy for a car to traverse but impossible for an animal.

Four years ago the Rev. Norman L. Hammer of North Hollywood, Calif., decided to do something about the 40 per cent slump in summer attendance at his Sunday services. Making a sort of one-man Gallup survey, he’ found that his parishioners were tempted by picnic grounds, beaches and golf courses come Sundays. Dressing for church, then rushing home to get into play garb, took too much time. So the pastor met his flock halfway.

He fitted up a pulpit in a parking lot behind his church and spread the word that parishioners could drop in on their way to play. First outdoor service was held on July 6, 1947, and soon swank convertibles and wheezing jalopies were pulling in side by side for Sunday morning worship.

Says the pastor with a twinkle in his eye: “The outdoors gets them on Sundays, but we get them first.”

Perhaps the most surprising development in the spectacular growth of the drive-in industry is the fact that such conservative institutions as banks have joined the parade. Eyebrows flew upward in financial circles back in 1936 when the City National Bank of South Bend, Ind., set up a teller’s window facing an alley and announced it was open for curb-service banking. But the idea took root and, according to the American Banking Association, has now spread to more than 500 institutions in 18 states.

The country’s largest and most elaborate drive-in bank is the Exchange National Auto Bank of Chicago, 111., where an average of 600 cars purr past the tellers daily, making 40 per cent of the total deposits. It is constructed in the shape of a huge U surrounded by driveways with ten tellers’ cages in the center. Attendants funnel the cars to the windows and tellers push out metal drawers into which customers drop money, bankbooks and necessary papers. Tellers and depositors communicate through a loudspeaker and microphone arrangement. If the services of a bank officer are needed, the tellers shoot him the papers via pneumatic tubes.

Drive-in theaters have come a long way since the first was opened strictly as a novelty outside Camden, N. J., in 1933. Hit by an almost disastrous slump during the war, they bounced back to the point where in Denver 7,000 persons waited two hours to see a movie, the first world premiere ever to be shown in a drive-in.

Some drive-ins which know all about baby sitting and home-chore problems, cheerfully tell patrons not to stay home on those accounts. They supply nurses and bottle-warming equipment and even do the family laundry while the show is on. The patron deposits a bundle of wash when he enters and gets it back clean when he leaves.

Rainy, windy or foggy nights used to strike deep gloom into the ranks of drive-in owners, but they don’t any more as the battle against the elements is being won. Scientists have now developed a glycerine compound which is sprayed on car windshields to drain off the downpour in transparent sheets instead of driblets. Steel reinforcements keep the huge 50 by 60-foot screens from swaying or toppling in high winds. DDT has banished the mosquito plague and fog-filters have been perfected so that projectionists can sharpen the picture when the mists descend.

The drive-in-and-dine spots come in two models—those in which cute car hops clamp food-laden trays to the car doors, and fully automatic ones which do away with waitresses, tipping and leg work. Perhaps the world’s biggest and swankiest drive-in beanery is the $750,000 edifice near downtown San Francisco, which sprawls over one and one-eighth acres and employs nearly 200 persons, including four traffic cops who flag customers into spots along the 250-car parking area. It serves more than 7,000 meals a day from two huge kitchens, filling each order in an average of six minutes. Otto E. Straub, the builder, spent eight years in an intensive study of food drive-ins before launching his enterprise.

The Motormat in Los Angeles, the first fully automatic drive-in restaurant, served 10,500 meals in its first nine days of operation a few years ago. A motorist parks in one of 20 stalls which fan out from a central, glass-enclosed kitchen. As he slips into place, a bin shaped like an old-fashioned breadbox shoots out from the kitchen on a runner and stops at the car door.

Inside the bin are glasses of water, a menu, a pad and pencil. The customer writes his order, pushes a button and the bin scoots back into the kitchen. In less than a minute, back comes the bin with the bill which must be paid before the meal is served. On its third trip the bin brings the order plus change.

With skyrocketing demand, there appears to be no limit to the types of business flocking to cash in on the curbside gold rush. The National Institute of Cleaning and Dyeing reports that roadside dry-cleaning places are opening by the dozen each week. Laundry field experts say that ten per cent of the nation’s laundry business is now transacted at windows which open on a driveway.

In many communities you can roll into a supermarket and make all your purchases without leaving the car. A California market sports a huge sign at the entrance: “If you don’t see what you want, just keep on driving until you do.”

Even the U.S. Government has become aware of the trend and stepped into line. In many cities, the post office has installed curb-side mailboxes with large gooseneck openings into which drivers can deposit mail without dismounting.

There’s really no end to the variations. The Detroit Edison Co. has opened an office where motorists can drive in, pay bills, leave appliances for repair, arrange for service and drive out. A number of insurance firms have set up offices in driveways and a drive-in night club is doing thriving business in Los Angeles.

In Beverly Hills, Calif., a drive-in liquor store has one rigorous rule. When a customer drives up, the salesman steps out, takes a good look and a big sniff. If he detects any tipsiness whatsoever, he sends the driver on his way. The store won’t sell liquor to drunks.

So, if you’re planning to hit the road this summer, don’t worry about missing the comforts and luxuries of home life. You can get ‘em in drive-ins. All you need is the car, the endurance—and the money. •

Main: Modern Mechanix: Understanding LAWS of SCIENCE (Dec, 1961)

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:31:06 +0000

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Understanding LAWS of SCIENCE

—is easiest when an experiment shuts out all extraneous effects and lets one principle alone shine through. Try these six simple demonstrations to see how strikingly clear their principles become To demonstrate why exposed airplane parts are streamlined or given a tear-drop shape, place a piece of cardboard, bent into such a shape, in front of a candle as shown. Now blow at the rounded end of the model. The air from your breath follows the form and blows the candle flame straight from you, almost as if the obstacle were not there.

Blow at a flat piece of cardboard held in front of the candle, however, and the flame blows toward you! Instead of flowing smoothly around the flat card, the air flows turbulently past it, creating a pocket of low-pressure air behind the card. If permitted in airplane design, unstreamlined parts would create similar pockets behind them, interfering seriously with plane movement.

Why do you need more power to start your car than to keep it going at moderate speed? You can get an idea by pulling a weighted toy truck with a rubber band. If you pull gently the band will stretch considerably before the truck starts at all. In the photo the car has not yet started to move.

But once the car starts moving, the band contracts, proving that less force is needed. The reason for this effect is that inertia and static friction unite to resist motion when the truck, or your car, is standing still. When the truck is moving at a constant speed, the only resistance encountered is that of rolling and sliding friction, which is much less than the original static friction.

By suspending two metal plates at opposite sides in a glass of water and connecting them in series with a small electric light bulb and several dry cells, you can readily divide all water-soluble substances into electrolytes and non-electrolytes —substances that form solutions that conduct electricity and those that do not. Add sugar to the water, for instance, and the light does not glow, indicating that sugar is a non-electrolyte.

Add salt to the water, however, and the bulb glows brightly, proving that a salt solution is an electrolyte. You can test other substances similarly. Substances which form electrolytes break up into ions when dissolved in water. It is these ions that carry the electric current.

Because of surface tension, liquid bodies freed of all distorting forces tend to become spherical—a sphere having the smallest surface for a given volume. You can demonstrate this by floating drops of cooking oil in an alcohol-water mixture. Using a flat-sided bottle, fill it two-thirds full of rubbing alcohol and into this put a few drops of the oil. Slowly add water until the drops descend part way into the mixture. To prove the drops will remain spherical regardless of size, enlarge some by injecting more oil into them with a medicine dropper.

Can you fill this modernized version of the Cup of Tantalus? Legend has it that this cup suddenly emptied itself just before reaching the parched lips of the king for whom it was named. Bend a glass or plastic tube in the shape of a question mark, as shown. Then slip a short piece of rubber tubing on the bottom end and press the rubber into the stem of the funnel. The funnel will now hold water until it rises to the top of the bent tube. At this point, siphon action starts and the water drains out. Consequently, if you pour slowly enough, the funnel will never fill up.

You can easily demonstrate the curious fact that heat waves from the Sun, from electric light bulbs, and from other bodies at extremely high temperatures can pass readily through glass, while waves from less highly heated bodies, such as radiators and electric irons, can do so only with difficulty. Set up two sheets of glass as illustrated. Facing one sheet, place an electric iron; facing the other, an electric light bulb. If you now put your hand between the sheets, you can instantly note the difference. The side of your hand facing the light bulb will feel much warmer than the side facing the iron, although the latter is actually giving off a great deal more heat.

Main: Modern Mechanix: Vest-Pocket Life Preserver (Mar, 1950)

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:30:53 +0000

Vest-Pocket Life Preserver

DURING many an over-ocean, wartime flight as service inspector of B-24s in the China-Burma-India theater, Engineer Bill Baker’s thoughts of home kept reverting to a time when he. and his sister were lake sailing and their boat capsized, pinning the girl under the sail. Both escaped—but from then on his sister’s love for sail-boating was spoiled by her fear of the water.

Now, high above the Indian Ocean, Brother Bill glanced down at his Mae West life jacket and got an idea. Why not make a tiny life preserver, quickly inflated with carbon dioxide, for water sportsmen who often need life jackets but seldom carry them because of their bulkiness? After the war he finally perfected the Res-Q-Pak, which he (and we) hope will help reduce America’s annual drowning death toll of 7000 and bring confidence to those who aren’t too sure of their swimming ability.

Main: Modern Mechanix: ELECTRIC PENCIL SHARPENER (Feb, 1946)

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:30:41 +0000

ELECTRIC PENCIL SHARPENER

Get a point on your pencils the easy way—-by motorizing your sharpener.

WHY not add an electric motor to your hand driven pencil sharpener in your home or office and make the chore of putting a point on your pencils a real pleasure? The arrangement outlined in this article does not call for mutilating or altering your present sharpener; merely remove the handle and proceed to mount the unit in the manner shown below. In converting your sharpener, choosing the correct motor is very important. Your motor should be quite powerful, of at least one-sixteenth horse power and oper- ate in the neighborhood of 1150 r.p.m.

For transmitting the power a worm gear unit, having a ratio of approximately twelve to one, is used. These gears can be purchased from any gear company at the cost of only a fraction of a dollar. Mount the 1 in. diameter worm wheel to the sharpener shaft by first turning an adapter, one end of which is pressed into the wheel and the other screwed directly on the sharpener shaft. A cotter pin through the worm wheel hub and a set screw through tapped end of the adapter will insure the gear from slipping when the sharpener is in operation.

Next obtain a wooden base of the general dimensions shown and mount the sharpener in place. Block motor so worm meshes with wheel.

Main: Modern Mechanix: SURE – Pro Wrestling is Honest! (Mar, 1950)

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:30:39 +0000

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SURE – Pro Wrestling is Honest!

It’s as honest as any other legitimate show on Broadway— and what’s more, doesn’t claim to be anything else! But it’s still killing the reputation of amateur wrestling.

By Clive Howard

A GROUP of prominent amateur wrestlers was trying to place wrestling on the sports program of New York City high schools. Arrangements were made for the members to be heard by a special committee of educators and the prospects looked good.

But when the final meeting came about and the topic was broached, the head of the school committee threw up his hands in horror. “Wrestling? Never!” he exclaimed. “We’ve seen that on television!”

Amateur wrestlers, a unique brand of sportsmen who claim that pure wrestling is as scientific as chess and as grueling as football, are very bitter about the professionals who are responsible for wrestling’s poor reputation today. They say that what goes out over the television cameras isn’t wrestling at all but an exhibition of tumbling, acting and a few holds that could be learned out of any ten-cent book on the art of self-defense.

What the amateurs really object to is that what goes on in the pro ring is called. wrestling at all. They claim it has damaged what is most certainly the “purest amateur sport on earth.”

In part, at least, the promoters of professional wrestling deny little of this. One of them is Joe (Toots) Mondt who never calls the bouts contests, matches or even exhibitions. He calls his product a show—and he plans hundreds of shows for 18 important arenas from New York to Florida.

“Anytime we put on a show,” Mondt explains, ‘”we want all the emphasis to be on offensive moves. We want wrestlers to belt each other around good. That’s what people pay to see happen. We don’t want any defensive wrestling in the professional arena.”

This is the root of the whole question of wrestling’s honesty. It has box office integrity, to be sure. But the mere thought of a wrestler refusing to use defensive tactics merely because they are dull, appalls the amateur. “Why,” one amateur wrestler said, “that would be like an outfielder standing aside to let a fly ball fall into the stands just because people like to see home runs.”

But just how phony can a professional wrestling match get? One answer lies in the ruling by the New York State Athletic Commission. Neither the promoter, the television announcer nor anybody else connected with a pro match can advertise it as a contest. The Commission recently issued an ultimatum to promoters to stop implying that what goes on in the professional ring is a contest—it’s an exhibition and it can be called by that name only.

Are the pro matches rigged in advance? Dan Parker, the sports columnist who has battled into oblivion every attempt by professional wrestling to reinstate itself as a competitive sport, once proved an important point in print. Every Monday morning for several months, Parker announced the scheduled winners of matches to take place the rest of the week. He was hardly ever wrong.

Wrestlers who take part in preliminary matches ordinarily get the same amount of money whether they win or lose. This is usually between $75 and $100. Probably, they are also instructed as to how and when they should win or lose. The big-timers don’t appear to be so thoroughly held in reign. Take the case of Primo Camera who lost to Antonino Rocca at the height of his wrestling career. Since that time, Camera’s earnings have dropped and Rocca’s risen—winners demand the big money in exhibitions. The question is, knowing what the wrestling business is like, would Camera have obeyed orders to lose?

Are the matches rehearsed? Well, come with me down a short flight of steps into a basement gym just off Times Square in New York.

The afternoon I wandered into this gym, two wrestlers were working out together on the mat. Both weighed around 240 pounds and both had cauliflower ears. They looked alike except that one had a black beard.

Beard and No-Beard took positions about a foot apart, facing the same direction. No-Beard, standing in front of Beard, reached back and got his arms locked around the back of Beard’s neck. He hefted him onto his own back in about the same way an iceman picks up a huge cake of ice. He bent his knees a little, pushed against Beard’s middle with his own back and yanked down with his arms. Beard sailed out through the air into a half-somersault. He landed on his rear. It sounded like a sack of grain dropped from a third-floor window.

An older man, also dressed in wrestling trunks, got up from a bench along the wall. “No loud enough,” he said in a thick accent.

“Here, I show you.” He took Beard’s place and No-Beard began to yank him up and forward. The man stopped the action at this point to show Beard how to get more height by springing upward as No-Beard yanked. He went sailing through the air and his hands, feet and back all hit flat, at the same instant. This time it sounded like a sack of grain dropped out of an airplane.

Beard and No-Beard rehearsed this version of the Flying Mare until the man with the accent was satisfied it was loud enough. They went through a whole series of holds ending always in loud and spectacular falls.

The match between Beard and No-Beard came off that evening in a small arena in New Jersey. Except for a few standard holds ad libbed as they went along, the whole thing went as rehearsed. Beard, of course, was the Villain. In moments of great anguish he could approximate the piercing squeals of a small pig caught in a concrete mixer.

He lost. For the last several minutes, he allowed himself to be picked up in the Flying Mare and tossed all around the ring. He gave a pretty convincing performance of a man taking a bad beating. The audience loved it.

But this match didn’t go out over television and its promoter was a shoestring operator. The bigtime promoters insist televised matches aren’t rehearsed. After all, they point out, the average professional wrestler goes into the ring as often as five times a week. There wouldn’t be time both to rehearse and wrestle that often.

Back in the days when wrestlers really wrestled, the sport could get horribly dull. Our promoter, Toots Mondt, recalls some matches around 1905 which lasted four or five hours. “All that time,” he explains, “one wrestler would be on the defensive, just countering his opponent’s move and waiting for an opening. The opening would come only after the man on offense got tired out. Then the other fellow would go on the offense. There would be maybe five minutes of action in five hours of wrestling.”

Mondt insists that any wrestler going into one of his shows must have two abilities. “He’s got to be able to wrestle,” Mondt says, “and he has to have showmanship.” Neither, in Mondt’s book, is any good without the other.

Once in a while, Mondt hears of a man who is supposed to be a better wrestler than anybody else in the business. Always in the hope of turning up another Gorgeous George, he scouts every one of them. “They seldom turn out to be any good,” he says. “No color.”

On one lucky ocasion, however, Mondt did turn up a real sensation. In South America while on a tour with Primo Camera he kept hearing about an Argentine wrestler named Rocca. Mondt went to see Rocca wrestle one night and what he saw sent him running for an interpreter. Rocca had developed a tremendous leap and with it a kicking attack that is pure murder. Mondt brought Rocca back to this country and ever since, the Argentinian has been kicking opponents into the audience and dollars into the cash register. In fact, last December an all-time record gate at Madison Square Garden was set by Rocca when he beat Gene (Mr. America) Stanlee—17,854 fans paid out $50,639.28.

Mondt casts his shows carefully. “Say a wrestler is big and slow and maybe not too colorful,” he explains. “We match him with a fast, rough-and-tumble guy with plenty of color. The idea is to get two men into the ring with opposite appeals.”

The acts fall into a set pattern. A clean-looking wrestler almost has to be a hero; he can add crowd appeal by assuming a definite character—the inspiration for which usually comes out of the comic strips. Or, lacking pretty features he can become a villain or figure out something really eccentric.

Look over the list—there’s Gorgeous George with long platinum locks and an English butler who sprays his corner with an atomizer before every match. Then there’s The Bat who dresses like one of the blood-sucking creatures and makes like a vampire throughout his act. He probably got the idea from one of the all-time wrestling showmen—Count Dracula. Dracula always lost—but in the most spectacular way possible. He’d take out a bottle of chloroform and pretend to empty it into his handkerchief and then cover his opponent’s face with it. As the act went, the opponent would fall to the floor, the referee would disqualify Dracula and proclaim the now-conscious opponent the winner.

Because he once caused a near-riot in La Grange, Ga., the town council barred Dracula from appearing there. Did that stop him? It just meant that whenever he played that town he had to change his character. He’d wear a mask and perform as the Masked Marvel!

Some wrestlers have demonstrated fantastic imaginations. Possibly the most vivid belonged to Leo (Lion Man) Savage, a huge bearded man who made the rounds of arenas in the Southwest for several years. Leo’s press agents swore he was discovered in the mountains where, they claimed, he wrestled bears and pulled trees up by the roots. Naturally, his specialty was a bear hug.

Leo did a good job of living up to his advance notice. He’d enter the arena carrying a lighted lantern and leading a coon dog. His cape was a tattered blanket full of moth holes. He claimed he had always wrestled in the mountains by the light of a lantern so he always tried to get the referee to douse the house lights.

Once the match was under way, Leo would try to work his opponent over to his corner, where the coon dog was tied. The dog would sink his teeth into whatever part of the opponent showed up first.

Once, another hillbilly wrestler worked a reed coon into his act and challenged Leo to a match. It wound up with Leo, his opponent, the coon dog and the coon all in one pile in the middle of the ring.

There’s a rumor—no doubt spread by some promoters—that an occupational hazard of professional wrestling is glaucoma, an eye disease nearly always resulting in permanent blindness. It comes, according to the story, from eye gouging.

Well, in the middle ’20′s, there were a few cases of glaucoma. The disease came, not from eye gouging, but from the filth in sweat-and-dirt saturated wrestling mats in arenas and gyms around the country.

Just how much punishment do wrestlers actually take in the ring? Those terrific body falls don’t mean much because the average wrestler is an expert tumbler and knows how to make it look good without hurting himself. Most of the gruesome-looking holds you see are really very mild and gentle if you examine them closely. And, if by some accident, a wrestler is actually hurting his opponent, there’s always the high sign, recognized in every arena. Two quick squeezes on the forgetful wrestler’s arm or leg, a showmanly groan and the hold is relaxed immediately.

If you want to find out what real wrestling is like, drop in at the West Side Y.M.C.A. in New York City. For the last 15 years this “Y” has turned out some of the best amateur wrestling teams in the country. Henry Wittenberg, present Olympic heavyweight champion, is coach of the team. Walter Steinhilber. a top advertising illustrator, is assistant coach. Most of the members are doctors, dentists, lawyers, bank executives—men who wrestled in college and learned to love the sport.

Steinhilber, who weighs 200 pounds, called out a 125-pound amateur to demonstrate to me why some of the standard pro wrestling holds aren’t necessarily good wrestling. They took the starting position of the Flying Mare —the stunt that Beard and No-Beard had so carefully planned before their match.

Steinhilber got his arms around the little fellow’s neck and pulled. Nothing happened. He pulled again and still nothing happened. It soon became evident that nobody could have pulled the slight, 125-pounder into a forward somersault unless he cooperated a little. When the youngster jumped as Steinhilber pulled, the trick worked fine.

Next, Steinhilber demonstrated the stranglehold. Applied by “Strangler” Lewis, this hold could be murderous. But there isn’t anybody in the ring today who can, like Lewis, depress the steel spring supporting a railroad coach in the crook of his arm. Moreover, the hold is applied in a different way.

When Steinhilber tried it on one of the youngsters, he was dumped hard on the mat. There were several ways to break this hold and all were quick and simple.

One by one, using members of the “Y” as demonstrators, Steinhilber ran through the other standard holds used in the pro ring. Against an amateur they resulted in fast falls for the pros Steinhilber showed me that it’s nearly impossible to deliver a forearm or shoulder punch—two favorite pro punches— without leaning forward so far as to go off balance. In amateur wrestling, a man even slightly off balance is headed for trouble.

Gene Tunney, a guy who ought to know, has his own ideas on those murderous-looking blows to the jaw. He says the blow loses most of its force on the shoulder, where the forearm strikes first.

If any further proof is needed of exactly where the pros stand on the question of the sporting aspects of wrestling Henry Wittenberg, the Olympic heavyweight champion, has a story that’ll end all doubts.

He was introduced to a professional heavyweight wrestler whose name would be known to anybody who ever sat for long before a television screen. Naturally, they had a long conversation about wrestling and in parting Wittenberg said: “Stop by the gym sometime and we’ll work out together.”

“Work out together,” said the professional. “What do you mean by that?”

“We’ll wrestle, of course,” said Wittenberg.

“Wrestle?” exclaimed the pro in the tone of a man invited to swim in the Arctic Ocean on New Year’s Eve. “Are you nuts?”

Tech: Gizmag: New bonsai 100 bhp Hybrid Synergy Drive for Toyota Yaris

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:21:47 +0000

The littlest Toyota, the Yaris, is about to become hybridized too, and the engineering job to reduce the size of its Hybrid Synergy Drive system for the diminutive car is worth a look. The system uses a new 1.5-litre Atkinson cycle petrol engine that weighs 16.5kg less and is 10 per cent more compact than the 1.8-litre unit used in the Prius and Auris. Likewise, other major components such as the electric motor, power control unit and transaxle were also made lighter and smaller, but the power has remained robust at 99 bhp (74 kW) - most importantly, the hybrid Yaris will go on sale mid-year with very low fuel consumption, emissions, and ownership costs... Continue Reading New bonsai 100 bhp Hybrid Synergy Drive for Toyota Yaris

Section: Automotive

Tags: Hybrid, Prius, Toyota, Yaris

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Main: Laughing Squid: A Kiwi by Peter Woytuk at the 72nd Street Subway Station

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:02:52 +0000

A Kiwi by Peter Woytuk at the 72nd Street subway station, part of his series of sculptures on Broadway in New York City.

photo by Scott Beale

Politics: Crooks and Liars: If Obama Administration is 'At War' with the Catholic Church, So Are Most American Catholics

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:00:46 +0000

As a Catholic, I'm getting a little tired of right-wingers like Newt Gingrich spewing nonsense like this.

Newt Gingrich sought to make inroads among religious voters Sunday, accusing President Obama of having “basically declared war on the Catholic Church.”

Gingrich, who converted to Catholicism himself in 2009 (his third wife, Callista, sings in a Catholic choir), was speaking about the Obama administration decision this week to require church-affiliated employers to cover birth control drugs in their health plans, regardless of religious beliefs.

Gingrich, in an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press, said the decision represented “a radical Obama administration imposing secular rules on religion.”

Since Newt is a new convert, he might be surprised to learn that,

Some 98 percent of sexually active Catholic women have used contraceptive methods banned by the church, research published on Wednesday showed.

And,

A Le Moyne College/Zogby International national poll in 2007 found 67 percent of American Catholics disagree with the church teaching that artificial birth control is wrong.

And,

In particular, Catholic voters do not approve of schools teaching abstinence-only programs in schools. Six in ten (64 percent) oppose requiring high school sex education programs to only teach abstinence. They also believe insurance companies should be required to cover and pharmacists required to sell birth control pills. Three-quarters of Catholics support requiring health insurance plans to cover birth control pills (75 percent). Nearly eight in ten (78 percent) oppose allowing pharmacists to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions.

Let's get real, shall we? The U.S. government is actually on the same side of this "war" as most American Catholics. Those "secular rules" Gingrich whines about the Obama administration enforcing are already being embraced by church members, whether he knows it or not.

What really annoys me is that right-wing partisans like Gingrich side with the Vatican when it's convenient and ignore it when it's not. Want to discuss the Vatican's position on the death penalty, the Iraq War, global warming, torture or Social Security and Medicare, Newt?

Didn't think so.

Comics: Order of the Stick: 833: Villainy Afoot

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:37:30 +0000

http://www.GiantITP.com/comics/oots0833.html

Main: Laughing Squid: Freedom Is Blogging in Your Underwear by Hugh MacLeod

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:14:30 +0000

Freedom Is Blogging in Your Underwear, the latest book by Hugh MacLeod, comes out April 26 (pre-order info).

Think of it a wee love letter to the blog. As everything and everybody gets swallowed up by Facebook, Google+ and other death stars, remember the importance of having one’s own piece of real estate to call one’s own…

Tech: Hack a Day: Untitled

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:01:43 +0000

[hackitbuildit], from instructables, has brought us a a DIY windows 8 tablet. To make the tablet, an old laptop is used that meets the minimum requirements of windows 8 preview, a touch screen conversion kit, and of course the software itself. The laptop is first prepared by removing the casing around the screen, and if you just go by the pictures it kind of looks like he is ripping it apart! Though if you look at the video screws are being removed.

The screen is flipped around and laid on the keyboard with a couple spacers between them, as many laptops use the keyboard area as heat sinking. The touch screen is installed, and some wood strips are hot-glued to the outside to fill in the gap between the screen and base. With a little paint you’re left with a large, but functional windows 8 tablet to get started developing for.

Filed under: laptops hacks

Tech: Ars Technica: "Winter landscape with skaters" by Hendrick Avercamp

sj.arstechnica@gmail.com (Scott K. Johnson) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:00:17 +0000

I’m not a big guy. It doesn’t take a tremendous shove to send me crashing to the floor. But what does it take to knock the Earth’s climate off balance? In the case of the Little Ice Age, a recent 400-year cold snap, a new study suggests a few well-timed volcanic eruptions might have done the trick.

Major glacial periods are controlled by the Earth's orbit. Summer temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere have been on a slow decline for the last 8,000 years as the orbital precession cycle pushed summer closer to aphelion, the point in Earth’s orbit where it’s farthest from the Sun. That’s just the first few steps on the road that would eventually lead us down from the peak of our current interglacial and into the next glacial period. But there have been bumps along this road, the most familiar of them being the "Little Ice Age."

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Games: IGN PC: Spec Ops: True Survival Horror

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

If I were to tally up all the people I've shot throughout the host of single player first-person shooter campaigns I've played I'd be shocked. Outside of the games where the antagonists are super natural or not of this world, most of the humans were foreigners, people who already feel alien to me an...

Politics: Crooks and Liars: Mike's Blog Round Up

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Hey, everyone. It's good to be back. Belatedly, I hope you all had a nice holiday season.

Anyway, I really thought that if anything could bring America together, it was Madonna's reprehensibly awful Super Bowl halftime show yesterday. It was so bad, we should get Romney to fire whomever was responsible for it. (Nothing says the American heartland, or Indiana, quite like Madonna, "Vogue," and Roman Empire kitsch. Was Mellencamp too busy?) But then I took to Twitter and Facebook and found that a lot of people just looooved it. And so we have a new divide, and this one, too, is unbridgeable. There's just no accounting for terrible taste. But... onwards!

No More Mister Nice Blog: Romney's speeches, like the man himself, are devoid of uplift, offering sourness, not hope.

The Grey Matter: Romney isn't just gaffe-prone, he's a bad politician who can't go off-script without failing.

The Impolitic: He may not have much of a hope, but there are still good reasons to root for Newt.

Beeryblog: Can progressives really like a violent, war-like sport like football? (Yes, we can!)

Round-up by Michael J.W. Stickings of The Reaction. I'll be here all week.

Send tips to mbru@crooksandliars.com.

Main: Clickolinko!: http://liw.fi/rethinking-distro-dev/

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:47:14 +0000

Interesting.

Tech: Gizmag: Spring-loaded Recoil Winder aims to end cable management misery

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:43:10 +0000

A new Kickstarter product to address that First Worldiest of First World problems, errant electronics cables, is off to a flying start. Since launching the project page, the Recoil Winder family of spring-loaded, self-winding cable holders has attracted five times the starting goal of US$10,000, and with 19 days to go. Seeing a Winder in action, it isn't hard to see why. The spring-loaded mechanism appears to be very quick and easy to use, and the result is so neat it's hard to watch one in action without imagining a future free of boxes, drawers and cupboards full of entwined masses of seemingly self-tangling cables... Continue Reading Spring-loaded Recoil Winder aims to end cable management misery

Section: Good Thinking

Tags: Cable, Kickstarter, Storage

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Games: IGN PC: Half-Life 3 Protest on Steam

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:38:00 +0000

10,000 fans of the Half-Life series logged on to play Half-Life 2 over the weekend in an attempt to force Valve into revealing more information on the Half-Life series, whether that be Episode 3 or Half-Life 3...

Tech: Gizmag: Honda's 1000cc MotoGP contender unveiled

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:37:30 +0000

Honda's much-awaited 1000cc MotoGP contender, the RC213V, was unveiled at a Repsol Honda news conference last week prior to three days of official testing at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia. The RC213V replaces its 800cc predecessor, the 2011 championship-winning RC212V, with much riding on the shoulders of Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa for the new season... Continue Reading Honda's 1000cc MotoGP contender unveiled

Section: Motorcycles

Tags: Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, Honda, MotoGP, RC213V, Repsol

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Main: Clickolinko!: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_Island,_Bray

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:16:55 +0000

No mention of what the Secret might be. :(

Main: Clickolinko!: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/26752/26752-h/26752-h.htm

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:46:39 +0000

"Touching is propper to a crooked line"

Politics: The Fix: The true conservative alternative: Ron Paul?

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:30:00 +0000

Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are fighting for the right to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney.

But they both lost that battle in Nevada — to Ron Paul.

Entrance polls from Saturday’s Nevada caucuses show Romney racking up huge wins among the vast majority of demographics, which isn’t surprising given that he took about 50 percent of the vote.

Read full article >>

Main: Clickolinko!: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3651

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:01:37 +0000

emad

Main: Clickolinko!: http://www.romancortes.com/blog/1k-rose/

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:02:10 +0000

"I’ve participated in the love themed 4th edition of js1k. My submission is a static image, a procedurally generated 3d rose. [...] It is made by Monte Carlo sampling of explicit piecewise 3d surfaces."

Comics: MS Paint Adventures: 02/06/12 : Dirk: Answer Auto-Responder.

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:42:59 +0000