BoingBoing analyzes the Internet Digital Economy Bill going to Britain's Parliament. And it's ugly...very, very ugly.

Could be a real money-raiser for the government, however.

Even if I had ever considered voting for you, getting a call this afternoon from your survey people (who had to be asked three times who they were calling for) would have dimmed my enthusiasm.

The robocall just now? Nope. Nuh uh. Byebye, Stevie Boy.

But I'm also not sure most of us would want to.

Most impressively strange beard ever (at the 21 second mark).



Via the Presurfer.

A Laptop Steering Wheel desk so people can be more productive in traffic. (Make sure you look at the product photos!)

Via Waxy.org.

...every time I re-discover Fancy Fast Food. And I snicker and snort.

Ars Technica reports that Big Blue has developed a supercomputer & software that simulates a mammal's cerebral cotex (quantified in neurons and synapses), making it more complex than a cat's brain.

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at IBM have presented at paper at the SC09 supercomputing conference describing a milestone in cognitive computing: the group's massively parallel cortical simulator, C2, now has the ability to simulate a brain with about 4.5 percent the cerebral cortex capacity of a human brain, and significantly more brain capacity than a cat.

When you give away stickers for your corporate icon...and when those stickers are in different poses...don't be shocked when someone does this:

...that you don't get a craving for bacon. *sigh*

A new Rasmussen Report says that 26% of employed adults have worked with someone they believed could be capable of mass violence.

The same article notes that 75% of adults believe that Americans are becoming ruder and less civil. In my attempt to turn that number around, I shall be polite today (which is relatively easy, since I'm home sick) to everybody. Even the student's mother who won't stop pestering me by email.

In 2005, the Lone Star State decided to prevent the marriages of people who love each other, simply because they were of the same sex. Now, a candidate for Attorney General of Texas is pointing out that the state's constitutional amendment (overseen by her opponent, of course) contains language that effectively bans all marriage in the state.

Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state.

The amendment, approved by the Texas Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by Texas voters, declares that "marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman." But the trouble-making phrase, as [Barbara Ann] Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares:

"This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."

...a film. This is actually a very, very cool depiction (Via BoingBoing) of the break-up of the great European empires, starting in 1801. Fascinating stuff.

Visualizing empires decline from Pedro M Cruz on Vimeo.

Just $39.95 at Think Geek.



Via BoingBoing.

There are at least three Great Horned Owls out back tonight. I sat on the deck having a cigarette, and it became obvious that the calls were originating from three different locations. This helps explain the scarcity of chipmunks lately. :-)

They sound like this. The owls, that is. About the only time you hear chipmunks, it's too late for them.



Who *you* lookin' at, punk?

Via Bits & Pieces.

"Tuition Remission Benefit for Spouse, Same Sex Domestic Partners" was forward-thinking and embracing of alternate lifestyles...before 2003. Since then, it should specify same-sex domestic partnerships *outside of Massachusetts* (or Connecticut, or Vermont, or New Hamster shortly...Iowa is too far to commute).

On Ars Technica, in an article on flu researchers using an amazing NIH database to understand the current H1N1 influenza strain, they discussed the ability of researchers to do much of their research in silico -- on the computer.

How have I missed this bit of retro-fitted linguistic elegance?

...when you see many many students over a four-week period, you're going to catch something.*

On the other hand, I got The Physics of Super Heroes delivered from Amazon yesterday, so there's something wicked cool to read between naps. James Kakalios is incredibly witty, droll and charming.



*Pathetic, especially since the discussion on a particular email list for the last few days has been all about Fline Swu.

Poll #1486572 What's your tipple?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 42

My preferred beverage(s) in the morning is(are):

A government health task force has just reported that women should not begin routine mammography until they are 50, noting that the possible risks *of the testing* (including false positives) outweigh early warning benefits.

But the panel received pivotal new information from researchers in Boston and elsewhere who developed scenarios to compare the benefits and harm of starting mammography at different ages and with different frequency. Delaying annual screening until age 50, this showed, would prevent one less cancer death per 1,000 women screened. But over a decade, there would also be 900 fewer cancer scares and 63 fewer unnecessary biopsies among these women.