Science Addiction

So, what’s hot this summer, asks AllPosters.com?

No kidding. The paper (by Gary Pulsinelli) is about the ownership rights of artistic works among goblins in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Last year, I had noted that they sounded a lot like the RIAA/MPAA/ MAFIAA. This paper has a different take, but tips its hat to this blog post and the reader comments. If you read the paper, it is in footnote #29 on page 5.

Is your child growing up with false hope? Never fear, Playmobil has just the toy for you:

From the Manufacturer: The traveler hands her spare change and watch to the security guard and proceeds through the metal detector. With no time to spare, she picks up her luggage and hurries to board her flight!

Presenting, the Playmobil Security Check Point- so your child can fantasize about a police-state before living in one. If your lucky, maybe she can run it! Of course, the best part are the reviews:

I was a little disappointed when I first bought this item, because the functionality is limited. My 5 year old son pointed out that the passenger’s shoes cannot be removed. Then, we placed a deadly fingernail file underneath the passenger’s scarf, and neither the detector doorway nor the security wand picked it up. My son said “that’s the worst security ever!”. But it turned out to be okay, because when the passenger got on the Playmobil B757 and tried to hijack it, she was mobbed by a couple of other heroic passengers, who only sustained minor injuries in the scuffle, which were treated at the Playmobil Hospital.

The best thing about this product is that it teaches kids about the realities of living in a high-surveillence society. My son said he wants the Playmobil Neighborhood Surveillence System set for Christmas. I’ve heard that the CC TV cameras on that thing are pretty worthless in terms of quality and motion detection, so I think I’ll get him the Playmobil Abu-Gharib Interogation Set instead (it comes with a cute little memo from George Bush).

Of course, remind your kid to leave the set at home the next time you travel. Never know what will happen if the authorities find a detailed model of their awesome security system in your luggage.

(via Schneier and Threat Level)

Fantastic profile of Dr. Bostrom, the director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford, in the New York Times.

In fact, if you accept a pretty reasonable assumption of Dr. Bostrom’s, it is almost a mathematical certainty that we are living in someone else’s computer simulation. [..] Dr. Bostrom assumes that technological advances could produce a computer with more processing power than all the brains in the world, and that advanced humans, or “posthumans,” could run “ancestor simulations” of their evolutionary history by creating virtual worlds inhabited by virtual people with fully developed virtual nervous systems.

I’ve had a similar theory for a while now, which I’ve tried to spin in to a fantasy novel (someday…) about a creator as a high-on-sugar kid with a LEGO set, albeit a LEGO set that builds intricate worlds. I’m paraphrasing, of course.

In any case, none of these ideas are ‘Matrix’-like pluggable-hybrid humans; they’re actually completely simulate that live in the circuits. The tubes, as they say in Alaska. I’d buy this theory, except there’s no way of knowing if it’s true. This isn’t the Truman Show, where you can walk out the end of the world or where everyone else is in on the joke. So, ultimately, it’s a cool hypothesis but I’m already set against unprovable creators.

The boss of the toy company responsible for the huge recall in the US has committed suicide by hanging himself in his warehouse. The toys were recalled due to toxic paint in the toys, which was sold to this ‘boss’ by a close friend of his. The most interesting paragraph in the AP story is:

Zhang hung himself on Saturday, according to the report. It is common for disgraced officials to commit suicide in China.

I was in Vegas in April of this year and saw Cirque du Soleil’s Love- a truly magnificent tribute to The Beatles through their music and Cirque’s visual extravagance.



The show opens with one of the last songs The Beatles recorded- “Because” for Let it Be. John Lennon is quoted as having said that the song is based on Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven. Listen to both, and you know he’s right.

(Video of Moonlight Sonata on YouTube)


This got me to thinking about fair use. Would Lennon (or his lawyers) have risked it if the Sonata was still under copyright? There were “only” about 170 years between Moonlight Sonata and Let it Be, so in modern copyright terms, they were cutting it a little close.



Think that’s a stretch? Remember, Rep. Mary Bono channeling Jack Valenti once asked Congress for “forever less one day” copyright terms.

Note: I know that Lennon’s use would probably be ruled as fair use in a reasonable court of law. That is not the issue. The issue is that fear of litigation may have prevented Lennon (or his producers) from ever releasing “Because” in to the wild and ours would have been a poorer culture for that.

First of all- yes, there was a Starbucks in Beijing’s Forbidden City.



Fortunately, there was a Starbucks in Beijing’s Forbidden City. It’s gone now after huge protests.



Says the BBC:

Starbucks, which has nearly 200 outlets in China, opened the Forbidden City shop seven years ago and removed its brand sign two years ago to address cultural sensitivities.

Here’s what it looks like on Google Maps. Yeah, no Starbucks inside 600 year old monuments. Sorry.

Via Schneier, here’s a funny little photo that sums up many thoughts I have about Airport security. I wish there was a button to click to fix the problem…

Take a look at this video my parents took in Florida: Read the rest of this entry »

Just got a piece of spam with the following text (in addition to a .gif that was pushing some penny stock):

See – I think that “Happy Feet” would just never work as a film without its penguin predecessor “March of the Penguins. , but not enough for our upcoming foreign trip. James Bond is a Whovian!
I still insist on a live tree, but we did not have one shipped from Maine this year. Pelosi Pelosi Pelosi!
I, for example, mentioned to several girlfriends that they should see the new Bond flick using just three words: “Daniel Craig. Reaching for his own cola, Eagleburger continued: “He was a little loaded.
75Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott – 3.

I agree- Pelosi Pelosi Pelosi!

Also, even though James Bond is probably not Whovian I am going to try to be one pretty soon.

Oh yeah, and Happy Feet doesn’t work in spite of its predecessor.

That past 2 days have been fantastic. After my long and heartfelt article was picked by BoingBoing, I figured that would be as good as it would get. Boy was I wrong.

The article made its way to Del.icio.us popular, the Digg home page, the Metafilter home page, Der Spiegel and dozens of other blogs. And now, 33000 readers later, I am stunned. Read the rest of this entry »

In the past, this site has been slashdotted twice and digg homepaged once. Being slashdotted for the first time, last December, was great because it was the first time this blog got noticed any where outside my friends and family. Getting on the digg home page meant that an article had been accepted by the internet masses, which was uniquely satisfying- though that article was a jab at Microsoft, and so was easy to gain acceptance in certain communities!

Now we have been “boingboing’ed”- which is a different level of satisfaction, because it was accepted by Cory Doctorow. I’m a big fan of his- as I make it clear in the article- and appreciate the link from him a lot.

Geek activism has not taken off yet, but it should. With the gamers recognizing the need for a louder voice, EFF gaining momentum and Linux taking on the mainstream on the one hand and recent severe losses in privacy, freedom of speech and intellectual property rights on the other, now seems to be the best time to rally around the cause.

Geeks are not known to be political or highly vocal (outside of our own circles)- this must change if we want things to improve. So here is my list of things people of all shapes, sizes and sides of the debate need to know. Some of these are obvious, others may not be meant for you. But hopefully, some of these will inspire you to do the right thing and others will help you frame the next discussion, debate or argument you have on these topics. Read the rest of this entry »

A few days ago, a Janet Meyer article on Apple Matters sparked a phenomenal discussion for and against Apple’s DRM policies. If you are not aware, Apple has a Digital Rights Management [DRM] system that “protects” the music it sells from the iTunes music store: it determines where you can play it, how you can play it, how many machines you can play it on and so on. It is proprietary, so if Apple controls the online music market, Apple also automatically controls how, where, why, when we listen to music we buy from them.

To cut a long story short, Janet was making the point that Apple may have a closed music format but as long as consumers have no trouble with it, consumers have a choice to buy CDs instead, the market will decide what is best.

Ah yes, the market. That all-knowing, all-seeing, all-singing, all-dancing market. It knows. In a perfect society with fully informed consumers who have true choices, the market knows. Elections would be marvellous with fully informed voters with true choices as well Read the rest of this entry »

Last June, I started this blog to talk about the things I was interested in: technology, science, some politics (mainly concerning technology and science). Maybe it is a sign of the times, but the focus has been fine-tuned towards civil liberties, privacy, open standards and new energy while still introducing the occasional geek project or humorous outburst.

Two Slashdots and a Digg later, the blog is older and wiser. I am learning to focus on fewer things in more detail as I try to build a repeat readership. So far, a vast majority of the readership surfs in and out through links found on Digg, Slashdot, other blogs and mainly, search.

So thanks to all those who have surfed in; even more thanks to those who stick around. Add SA to your RSS reader and come back often.