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.
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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. But I'm also not sure most of us would want to. A Laptop Steering Wheel desk so people can be more productive in traffic. (Make sure you look at the product photos!) ...every time I re-discover Fancy Fast Food. And I snicker and snort. BTW, I believe that Twitter was created by aliens to ensure that future generations could not have complete thoughts longer than 140 characters. Done, now. 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.Of course, C2 does not have the ability to make grown men and women live in fear that it will shred their curtains if they don't get its Frisky Fancy Feline Feast to the kitchen floor in time. But still. ...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. 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.*snicker* ...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. 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. :-) "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. ...when you see many many students over a four-week period, you're going to catch something.* Poll #1486572 What's your tipple? My preferred beverage(s) in the morning is(are):
View Answers coffee American style (drip) coffee American style (perk) coffee American style (instant) coffee espresso style coffee from a French press café latte, café breve, café con leche, etc. tea any of the above all of the above, thanks all of the above, except that instant stuff something like the stuff above, only decaffeinated some other form of caffeinated beverage (soda, etc.) something else without caffeine My body is a temple; I only need water. And here are fifteen(ish) amusingly illustrated things worth knowing about coffee. 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.Then again, if these new guidelines are followed together with precautionary endoscopies, a woman can get both ends done as a 50th birthday present. Oh, joy. |
