[Via Digg]
Indiana Jones Method vs. Actual Archaeological Method [Picture]
[Via Digg]
Ask [GAS]: How did you come to realize that you were a geek?
We’ve all done it; a project that we hold dear in our memory and that made us realize that darn, being a geek is pretty darn sexy after all. For me, it probably was when a few friends and I installed and customized our own Telegard BBS, which was running on an old 286, in the late 80’s. This thing was running on a 9600 baud modem and was receiving around 20 to 30 calls per day. This may sound laughable when compared to what even the smallest website can get today, but we were really proud of what we had accomplished. This eventually led me to start a career in IT and, one day, start this little place that I’ve come to throw so much time into.
But what about you, dear readers? What was the turning point that made you realize that you were going to be a geek, and that this geekiness was going to define how you live the rest of your life? Was it an event, or maybe a crazy project that popped in your mind one day?
Whatever the case, we’d love to hear about it! As usual, the comments section is open for your thoughts!
A Kinder, Gentler Philosophy of Success
In the following video, Alain de Botton, author of the highly enjoyable The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, examines our ideas of success and failure — and questions the assumptions underlying these two judgments. Is success always earned? Is failure? He makes an eloquent, witty case to move beyond snobbery to find true pleasure in our work.
HOW TO: Make a Dry Ice Bubble
A fun little experiment you can try at home using a simple round plastic container, a strip of cloth, some dry ice, and a soapy solution. Check it out:
The Pentatonic Scale
In the following video, Bobby McFerrin, best known for his 1988 hit song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”, demonstrates the power of the pentatonic scale, using audience participation, at the event “Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus”, from the 2009 World Science Festival, June 12, 2009.
[Via Neatorama]
Vanish: Self-Destructing Digital Data
Researchers from the University of Washington have developed a new encryption system that allows users to take control over the lifetime of their data. After the user-specified auto-destruct time has gone by, the encrypted data will then become unreadable.
If you wish to use the system online, Vanish is available via an easy to use Firefox extension. How can you use it? Let’s say you want to send some confidential information via Gmail to one of your online contacts. All you need to do it to compose your text, select it with your cursor, right click it, and then select the “Vanish” option. This will garble the information and make it readable only to others who also have the Vanish plugin installed, as long as they read it in the author-established time-frame. If the recipient waits to long, the data will simply become unreadable.
Here’s a quick video presentation of the product:
Would you use Vanish, and if so, how or why would you use it? Do you think the system is flawed? Let us know in the comments section below!
[Vanish]
Pirate Bay driven from Dutch shores
A Dutch court has ordered three of the Pirate Bay’s founders to block traffic to and from its site to the Netherlands within 10 days or face stiff penalties. It caps a week that will have left the owners feeling a little seasick.
Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde, and Gottfrid Svartholm Warg are now responsible for blocking any Dutch users from sharing files which infringe the copyrights of firms covered by Stichting BREIN, a group covering copyright holders in the country.
If they don’t comply within three days they face a fine of three million euros (US$4.25 million) with a penalty of 30,000 euros ($42,500) for each following day. It’s not entirely clear how the court would go about collecting such a fine given that neither the men nor the site are based in the country.
The judgment comes in the same week as the US movie industry aims to follow in the footsteps of the country’s record labels. While the music industry led the criminal trial which ended in four Pirate Bay staff being convicted and fined $3.2 million, the Motion Picture Association of America has filed a civil action asking for an injunction to stop the site sharing copyrighted movies.
As part of the filing, the MPAA is seeking an official rejection of the Pirate Bay crew’s claims that they have no ownership of the site and that it belongs to Seychelles-based firm Reservella – which the MPAA says is simply a front for Sunde.
Whoever does legally own the site may also be facing difficulties with the ongoing sale to Swedish firm Global Gaming Foundation, which aims to revamp the site to feature entirely legitimate, licensed content.
Wayne Rosso, a consultant hired to oversee this licensing, says talks with copyright holders have gone badly. Rosso has now quit his post noting that he and his staff have yet to be paid for their work and saying he has serious doubts about whether GGF has the funding in place to complete the buyout.
High Speed Robotic Hands Will Amaze You
Woman Drags Leashed Kid Through Verizon Wireless Store
I know that kids can sometimes be a real pain when you bring them shopping, but it’s not a reason to drag them along by a leash, especially if they’re on the floor when you’re doing so.
[…] She was charged with felony first-degree cruelty to children. Police say she was observed by customers and employees at a Verizon store, dragging a small child around by a backpack leash. The child had visible marks on the neck from the incident. She remains in jail without bail.
[Via TechEblog]
My Amazon Kindle Ate My Homework
By Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
So, speaking of e-books… you may have heard that in a twist of Orwellian irony, Amazon recently wirelessly deleted copies of 1984 and Animal Farm from customers’ Kindles. Apparently there was a copyright issue, in that the third party distributor who okayed the e-versions of the books did not actually have the authority to do so. Of course, Amazon promptly refunded the money, and all’s well that end’s well – unless, of course, your homework was in that book.
A Chicago law firm just filed a lawsuit on behalf of a 17-year-old high school senior who claims that he’d been using his Kindle to take notes in the book itself for his AP English class. The book disappeared, and so did his homework.
I had a look at the complaint, and here are the basic claims against Amazon: (1) violation of their own Terms of Service (which includes a “right to keep a permanent copy,” (2) violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (for accessing the Kindles without permission), (3) trespass to chattels (i.e., stealing), (4) conversion (if it doesn’t count as stealing because of the refund, they were forced to convert to a different form), (5) breach of contract, and (6) violation of the Washington Consumer Protection Act.
On the one hand, this was a very peculiar situation and I have a feeling that Amazon is going to be very careful that it doesn’t happen again. On the other, the law firm is completely right in that it’s a terrible, terrible precedent to set – so maybe getting a judgment against Amazon would make sure it’s not. However, digital copyright is incredibly complicated. The complaint says it’s like Amazon sneaking into your room at night, taking your books, and leaving money on your nightstand. Is it really the same? Who knows. But my instinct is that this is the first sign of the digital copyright problems that have plagued music and increasingly films/TV for the past ten years making their way to books.
The kid who lost his homework, who’d been reading Orwell’s 1984, noted, “It’s a bit ironic.” Maybe his teacher will let him write an essay about modern interpretations of Big Brother instead.