31.3.04

TrailBlazer

Curse those Mac types ... they are always miles ahead of us when it comes to software availability! MacWarriors TrailBlazer is pretty cool.

Whining about spreadsheets

Interesting: Yahoo! News - Spreadsheets: 25 Years in a Cell. What with Sarbanes-Oxley and all that jazz, I wonder if we are going to see shareholder lawsuits accusing CxOs of using inferior, misleading tools when better alternatives exist.

Judge: File sharing legal in Canada | CNET News.com

More analyis ... Judge: File sharing legal in Canada | CNET News.com
... to quote the judge :

"The mere fact of placing a copy on a shared directory in a computer
where that copy can be accessed via a P2P service does not amount to
distribution," Judge Konrad von Finckenstein wrote.
"Before it constitutes distribution, there must be a positive act by
the owner of the shared directory, such as sending out the copies or
advertising that they are available for copying."

On another note, apparently that blockquote is illegal in xhtml-transitional. I have no idea why.

CBC News:Online music swapping legal: court

Holy frijoles batman! CBC News:Online music swapping legal: court

30.3.04

Music biz thing

Sure, sure, lies, damned lies and statistics. But if they support a position I like then they are rigorous scientific _proof_. Kazaa and co 'not cause of music biz woes', say Profs. In the words of the immortal Dave Barry: "Neener, neener, neener."

27.3.04

GrokLaw - Microsoft Strategies for Lovers of Freedom and Justice - by David Cartwright

What you can do to make the world a better place.

25.3.04

SciDev.Net

Ooops. I am so sorry. You have gone 24 hours longer than necessary without discovering SciDev.Net. To quote them:
"The overall aim of the Science and Development Network (SciDev.Net) is to enhance the provision of reliable and authoritative information on science- and technology-related issues that impact on the economic and social development of developing countries."
Cool site. Very cool. Well, to me at least. And it's all about control. In this case controlling who thinks what is cool around here.

New Scientist

New Scientist is reporting research on a 2 base pair mutation in a gene expressed in jaw muscles that could drastically affect skull size and shape.

24.3.04

Jennifer Government

Here ya go Kirsten ... play with NationStates

23.3.04

Oil-drenched birds get dry cleaned

An article in Nature about using iron dust and magnets to clean up spill victims. Pretty cool. ('course it's not yet ready for _live_ subjects ... )

19.3.04

Gnooks - Welcome to the World of Literature

Remember that funky flash program that people were checking out a few years ago? The one that showed how words were related to each other? Well, this guy has done it with books. Check it out

Bugger!

I finally got around to searching for the Toyota commercial. I found it at Bad Chickens.

Dan's Delirium

For those of you with a more humourous bent, we present a blog perhaps more to your taste: Dan's Delirium

18.3.04

Curse you stainless steel!

Because stainless steel fridge's can't take magnets, I have no use for this.

NASA Develops System To Computerize Silent, "Subvocal Speech"

So, our friends at NASA are announcing a system that detects subconscious nerve signals to your tongue and vocal chords while reading or talking to yourself. So cool. So extremely cool.

17.3.04

Alternative Federal Budget

CBC News:Group shows Ottawa how to balance its budget The Centre For Policy Allternatives. Sigh.

16.3.04

Audioscrobbler :: Home

Audioscrobbler is a cool site/plugin thing that uploads your listening happens and allows you to see what people who listen to similar things are listening to. Broaden your horizons a bit. But not too much, cuz that would be scary.

213 Things Skippy is No Longer Allowed to Do in the U.S. Army

It seems that someone (SPC Schwarz apparently) has a damned fine sense of humour.

15.3.04

George Bush's hotmail account.

MSN Hotmail - Inbox No comments necessary. But provided anyway as space filler. And to try to overcome the impression that the only thing this page contains in links.

14.3.04

School

The truth about undergraduate lab assignments

[Edit]
At least I haven't changed my tastes much in 18 months.

13.3.04

Bush in 41.2 Seconds

Bush in 41.2 Seconds Warning -- contains profanity, truth. No, seriously, there is profanity there. Shock!

Crossing the threshold

Why habeas corpus is your friend. An article in the Boston Phoenix by civil liberties lawyer Harvey Silverglate and Carl Takei discussing what they "Threshold Rights", the importance of those rights to a free and democratic society, and how the present US executive is attempting to erode them.

RecallVeriSign.com

RecallVeriSign.com - A web site run by a number of registrars to gather support for the recall of VeriSign as the registry for the .net and .com TLDs. Go on, sign the petition, you know you want to.

5.3.04

Wired 12.03: Some Like It Hot

Wired 12.03: Some Like It Hot Stanford Law Profewssor Lawrence Lessig on certain aspects to the origins of the movie, radio, cable. and music industries. Violating patents, not paying copyrights ... that sort of thing.

CCH Canadian Ltd. v. Law Society of Upper Canada

CCH Canadian Ltd. v. Law Society of Upper Canada The Supreme Court of Canada today issuing a ruling in favour of balancing user rights with creator rights. Copyright, patent and other such state-mandated monopolies only make sense when the laws actually promote the welfare of the state. The promotion comes in 2 forms -- an economic incentive to create or invent and the establishment of a creative commons upon which new works will be built. Any law or interpretation that swings too far in one direction will have harmful effects.