Links

Sometime between April 6th and April 7th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• A Pirate’s Code of Conduct for BitTorrent: All of this is good, but Article Two is key, in my opinion, and why I have no issues with downloading TV shows, but have no urge to download films: "TV is to be downloaded, movies are to be attended when a man returns to shore. If ye aren't a Neilsen family, what you watch doesn't matter for ratings anyway. Since advertisers pay by rating, it's a theft-less crime. Movies, on the other hand, do see profits of gold and jewels. So support independent/foreign film in the theaters, and save the action flicks with high production values and many beautiful explosions for the big screen, too."
• How I Learned to Stop Being a Bitch and Love the Con: "Every year in early April a warm and happy buzzing grows in me not entirely unlike what a kid feels just before Christmas. The reason? Norwescon. I love it. I always have a great time." Nice post on Tor's website featuring photographs by yours truly!
• Bill Would End Civil Marriage, Create Domestic Partnerships: "Advocates for same-sex marriage plan to introduce legislation in the Maryland General Assembly today that would abolish civil marriage ceremonies now confined to heterosexual unions in the state and replace them with domestic partnerships for all couples. Under their proposal, all couples — straight or gay — would be on equal footing with secular unions. Religious marriage in churches, synagogues and mosques would be unaffected, as would existing civil marriages. The word 'marriage' would be replaced with 'valid domestic partnership' in the state's family law code. 'If people want to maintain a religious test for marriage, let's turn it into a religious institution,' said Sen. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Montgomery), the bill's Senate sponsor." Damn skippy. I'm all for this sort of thing.
• Giant ‘Hand’ Reaches Across Space: "In a new image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, high-energy X-rays emanating from the nebula around PSR B1509-58 have been colored blue to reveal a structure resembling a hand reaching for some eternal red cosmic light." Actually, I'm pretty sure the website goofed up and used the wrong picture. This looks like the right one to me!
• Alaska’s Mount Redoubt – the Big Picture: "Beginning March 22nd, 2009, Alaska's Mount Redoubt, began a series of volcanic eruptions, and continues to be active to this date. Ash clouds produced by Redoubt have pushed 65,000 feet into the sky, disrupting air traffic, drifting across Cook Inlet, and depositing layers of gritty ash on populated areas of the Kenai Peninsula and Anchorage, about 180 km (110 miles) to the northeast. Mount Redoubt has erupted at least five times since 1900, with the most recent event taking place in 1989. "

Sometime between April 1st and April 2nd, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Easy Auto-Download of TV Programs From Usenet: "After getting several threatening letters from Comast over the years, re: questionable Bittorrent activity, we've opted to obtain all our questionably legal materials from a 'safer,' medium, namely Usenet. All-in-all, Usenet is a pretty awesome way to quickly acquire media files without ever having to upload anything, and without anyone being on your back about it."
• Check Username Availability at Multiple Social Networking Sites: "Check to see if your desired username or vanity url is still available at dozens of popular Social Networking and Social Bookmarking websites. Promote your brand consistently by registering a username that is still available on the majority of the most popular sites. Find the best username with namechk."
• Family Guy == Unfunny: "I've taken the first half of a random episode off my PVR and edited all of the out-of-context things into a separate file, leaving us with a Family Guy storyline (unencumbered by random crap) and a bunch of random Family Guy crap (unencumbered by unfunny Family Guy storyline.) Everything that was in the first segment of the episode is in the two files; nothing has been lost except the opening credits. ¶ If you've watched both of these files, you'll have seen that the contents of the episode simply aren't funny (or as funny anyway) without the context-shift, meaning that it isn't the show or writers that are funny — it's simple juxtaposition that's making you laugh."
• Where Gadgets Go to Die: Facility Strips, Rips and Recycles: "With 15 locations in the United States, Sims Recycling Solutions is one of the world's largest electronics scrap recyclers. Pictured here is the 'demanufacturing' center of the company's Roseville, California facility, where workers disassemble everything from printers, cameras and computers to Jumbotrons for their reusable materials. The facility receives roughly 150,000 pounds of used electronics a day. ¶ Follow along for a photographic tour of the Sims facility, where you'll learn exactly what happens to unwanted gadgets as they're dismantled, their components sorted and their raw materials melted down for scrap."
• Wrong Tomorrow: "'But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.' What does this site do? It keeps track of predictions of the future by public figures. How does it work? When someone makes a prediction, people post it to the site along with a brief description and a URL. We monitor it and change its status to true or false when appropriate."

Sometime between March 30th and March 31st, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo’s New Penguin Exhibit Almost Ready: "We got a behind-the-scenes look at the new Humboldt penguin exhibit at Woodland Park Zoo a few days ago. Construction is mostly complete, and they're finishing up some signage and plantings in anticipation of its public opening May 2. The penguins, brought in from a number of zoos, are in quarantine behind the exhibit, and are slowly being introduced to penguins outside their own groups before jumping into their new home."
• I Invented … the Apple Logo: "'For inspiration, the first thing I did was go to the supermarket, buy a bag of apples and slice them up. I just stared at the wedges for hours,' recalls Janoff. The fruit of his labor: a simple 2-D monochromatic apple, with a healthy bite taken from the right side. Jobs loved the conceit-only he suggested it be more colorful."
• Old Moon Images Get Modern Makeover: "Imagery gleaned from the Lunar Orbiters over 40 years ago is now getting a 21st century makeover thanks to the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP). By gathering the vintage hardware to playback the imagery, and then upgrading it to digital standards, researchers have yielded a strikingly fresh look at the old moon. Furthermore, LOIRP's efforts may also lead to retrieving and beefing up video from the first human landing on the moon by Apollo 11 astronauts in July 1969."
• Marketing Genius, Episode II: The Camblr Strikes Back: "The leanness of the script leaves very little room for audience-directed expository dialogue. The word 'X-Wing' is only spoken when an officer must notify Darth Vader what type of ship is landing in Cloud City. The word 'lightsaber' is only used once in A New Hope, by Obi-Wan, to tell Luke what it is he's holding. And heck, of course the word 'Ewok' is never spoken — how would Leia know they were called Ewoks, when the Ewoks themselves could only talk in vowely gibberish? ¶ I now consider this to be an underappreciated stroke of genius: the characters in Star Wars are written to be familiar with their environment, just as their environment is designed to be familiar with them. Neither the environment nor the dialogue is compromised to cater to the audience."
• Marketing Genius: "A few minutes ago, I read this post by John Gruber about this article by Dan Vebber about how the word 'Ewok' — a household term — is never actually spoken in Return of the Jedi. At this point in time — thanks to books, toys, and licensing — everyone and every in the Star Wars universe has a name, species, or designation, but what other relatively well-known Star Wars terms were never actually used in the movies?"
• Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen, 2008 the Other Half of Famous Twins: "Both Charlie Sheen and Jenna Jameson had twin boys recently, joining the growing ranks of parents with multiples like Julia Roberts and Brangelina. When these little bundles of joy grow up will they be the next Mary-Kate and Ashley? Or will one seek fame while the other chooses a more subdued life out of the spotlight. We went looking for celebrities that have an unknown twin and were surprised by the stars who have a not so famous other half."

Sometime between February 27th and March 4th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Skittles.com: Interweb the Rainbow. Taste the Rainbow.: Bizarre and really interesting — Skittles is crowdsourcing their website. Rather than building their own promotional site, they're pulling in their Facebook fan page, Twitter searches, Youtube videos, and Flickr photos. Nice little experiment!
• What Were Arcades Like?: "I was reading about arcades and how you'd have to queue to play popular games as well as follow rules like no throwing in fighting game or the others wouldn't let you play. This seems rather strange. The money cost must have gotten expensive pretty quickly as well. I'm not old enough to have been to them when they were around so I'm curious about what they were like."
• METAL MACHINE MUSIC: Nine Inch Nails and the Industrial Uprising: "This film traces fascinating and reviews the fascinating history of industrial music, via its 1970s origins, through its enormous rise to prominence in America in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s with NIN as the focal point, to culminate with the current activities of Trent Reznor as he uses marketing and promotional initiatives in a manner just as creative as the music he continues to compose. "
• Thousands in Scramble for Free Books After Amazon Supplier Abandons Warehouse: "The warehouse, whose lease recently ran out, once contained as many as five million books destined to be sold online. After the lease expired, he firm running the secondhand book business moved out, leaving it full of books. Managers of the industrial estate invited people to help themselves so they can free up space at the site."
• It’s ‘Potter’ vs. ‘Twilight’ at Great Literary Debate: "Be prepared for lightning bolts and bared fangs as teens square off to defend their literary faves March 21 in 'The Great Debate: Harry Potter vs. Twilight.' Co-sponsored by Seattle Public Library and TEAM READ, the free event is intended to settle (or not) the burning issue of which mega-selling fantasy series reigns supreme." It's a little disturbing how tempting I find it to show up to this, camera in hand, just to see the sparks fly. And not glittery-vampire or broken-wand sparks, either.

Sometime between February 25th and February 27th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• The Whedonite’s Dilemma: "Dollhouse is not an enjoyable television program. … Being truly granular about what makes the show an affront would require the use of holographic data storage, but in general terms the show (as delivered) doesn't work. … It's a science fiction retelling of MTV's The Real World, and it works about as well as you would expect."
• New Frontiers Sweepstakes: Win a trip to the Red Carpet premiere of the new Star Trek film, or a trip on the "Vomit Comit" Zero-G space plane. Disclaimer: using this link to enter also helps my chances of winning. ;) Be a buddy, help me out, and maybe you'll win instead!
• Young ‘Slumdog’ Stars Back in Mumbai Slums: "On Sunday night, Azharuddin Ismail and Rubina Ali were in Hollywood, California, getting celebrity treatment as eight Oscars were awarded to the movie they starred in, 'Slumdog Millionaire.' ¶ Thursday night, the two children were sleeping at home in Mumbai, India. Azharuddin sleeps under a plastic sheet in a shantytown beside a railway track, where the smell of urine and cow dung lingers in the air. Rubina sleeps with her parents and siblings in a tiny shack beside an open drain."
• Yoda Is a Muppet: "Not until Yoda dies do things go right for the rebellion against the Empire. Yoda's rise is the rise of the Empire. Dude is a muppet through and through."
• Mermaid Dream Comes True Thanks to Weta: "Nadya Vessey lost her legs as a child but now she swims like a mermaid. Ms Vessey's mermaid tail was created by Wellington-based film industry wizards Weta Workshop after the Auckland woman wrote to them two years ago asking if they could make her a prosthetic tail. She was astounded when they agreed."

Sometime between February 24th and February 25th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• ‘Trek’ Cast to Reunite on ‘Family Guy’: "'Stewie blows a fuse when he doesn't get a chance to ask his favorite 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' cast members any questions,' reads the logline. 'He devises a plan, builds a transporter and beams the entire cast to his bedroom so they can spend a fun-filled day together in Quahog.'"
• "Dear President Obama": The President Reads 10 Letters a Day From the Public, With Policy Ramifications: "Every day President Barack Obama is handed a special purple folder. The folder contains ten letters, and every day President Obama takes time to read them. ¶ Are they from world leaders? From members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff? Members of the intelligence community? ¶ No, these letters have been culled from the thousands the White House Correspondence Office receives each day from Americans who have taken the time to sit down and write to their president. ¶ 'They help him focus on the real problems people are facing,' says Axelrod. 'He really a absorbs these letters, and often shares then with us.'"
• FIRST PHOTOS: Weird Fish With Transparent Head: "With a head like a fighter-plane cockpit, a Pacific barreleye fish shows off its highly sensitive, barrel-like eyes–topped by green, orblike lenses–in a picture released today but taken in 2004." Freakin' bizarre fish. The eyes are entirely enclosed inside its transparent head.
• EMI Music Debuts First iTunes Pass With Depeche Mode: "EMI Music today announced the debut of the first iTunes Pass with groundbreaking electro legends Depeche Mode. With iTunes Pass, music fans can get new and exclusive singles, remixes, video and other content from their favorite artists over a set period of time, delivered to their libraries as soon as they're available." Sounds like a music version of the iTunes "season pass" for TV shows: pre-pay a certain amount for whatever is released by an artist for a set period of time. Interesting idea…especially if the value of the merchandise exceeds what you'd pay if you bought it all piecemeal. According to Apple via MacRumors, "the price of the pass will not exceed the value of the contents offered." So you'd at least break even. Let's hope that it's a better deal than that.
• doubleTwist: Promising looking multi-device multimedia manager. Mac/Intel-only…which means I can't play. More and more software (including, apparently, the upcoming Snow Leopard revision to Mac OS X) is coming out as Intel-only. As good as my Dual G5 is — and it is — I need to start planning to replace it and turn it into a home backup/fileserver.