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Wednesday, February 16, 2005 |
Questions About Public Domain Law. I've only recently started exploring the availability of public domain MP3s on the Internet, but it's a potentially fruitful line of inquiry. Archive.org has a haphazardly organized collection of public domain tracks, which is where I found the Mississippi John Hurt track linked to below. There's also a small collection at Public Domain 4U, but a high percentage of the links seem to be broken. [Salon.com]
4:29:08 PM 
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How much information is too much information?. Has anyone ever told you during a conversation: "Stop, that`s too much information?" Well University of Queensland psychologists have discovered just how much too much information actually is. Emeritus Professor Graeme Halford and his colleagues from UQ`s School of Psychology have discovered most humans cannot represent relations between more than four variables. [unmediated]
4:23:24 PM
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Open-source biotech - product release announcement. In "Gene Hackmen," Grist reports that "open-source biotechnology boasts [its] first big success," with the release by the Biological Innovation for Open Society, led by Australian researcher Richard A. Jefferson, [of] a new method for transferring genes into plants, bypassing the patented methods...." Also reported in the New York Times, "Open-Source Practices for Biotechnology," by Andrew Pollack, Feb. 10, 2005 (archival link). This follows up on a previous post.
[Subdued Citizen]
4:22:24 PM
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I'm Lovin' It.
The 15-year-long “McLibel” case came to an end yesterday. Two anti-McDonald’s protesters won their fight in the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled that they did not recieve a fair trial in the UK. They were not provided with legal aid to assist them in their defense against libel charges brought by McDonald’s (thus the ruling was against the UK government rather than McDonald’s itself; Mickey D’s won the original libel suit in 1995). I think the Independent is right in calling the original suit, over a leaflet accusing McDonald’s of bad labor practices and worse food “one of the biggest own goals in the annals of corporate public relations.” Seriously, they should have just let that slide. [Crooked Timber]
6:36:08 AM
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The One Where Richard Stallman Calls Bill Gates a Communist (Donna Wentworth).
Richard Stallman at CNET, on Bill Gates' dirty little secret:
Here's what Bill Gates told Microsoft employees in 1991:
"If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today's ideas were invented and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete standstill today...A future start-up with no patents of its own will be forced to pay whatever price the giants choose to impose."
Mr. Gates' secret is out now--he too was a "communist;" he, too, recognized that software patents were harmful--until Microsoft became one of these giants. Now Microsoft aims to use software patents to impose whatever price it chooses on you and me. And if we object, Mr. Gates will call us "communists."
Groklaw, meanwhile, shares an article translated from Danish describing what Bill told Denmark he'll do if it opposes the European software patents directive: pack up and go home, taking 800 IT jobs with him:
"If I am to keep my development center in Denmark, I must have clearity on the rights issue. Otherwise I will move to the US, where I can protect my rights," said Gates according to to Microsoft chief attorney Marianne Wier, who also attended the meeting with Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
I'm betting today will be a good press day for the FFII (Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure) -- just in time for the planned protest march on Thursday.
[Copyfight]
6:35:44 AM
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Missile Defense?.
Anthony D'Amato (Law, Northwestern) has shared with me a letter he has sent on the subject of our new missile defense [sic] system; I thought other readers might find it of interest:
To: General T.W. Khastoffkey
U.S. Missile Launch Pad
Kodiac, Alaska
From: Tony D'Amato
Taxpayer
Chicago, Illinois
Date: February 14, 2005
Dear General:
Allow me to quote today's New York Times: "The nation's fledgling missile defense system suffered its third straight test failure when an interceptor rocket failed to launch Sunday night from its base on an island, leaving the target rocket to splash into the Pacific Ocean." We are told further that "The target rocket was launched from Kodiak, Alaska, at 9:22 p.m. Sunday, but the interceptor that was supposed to go up 15 minutes later remained on its pad in the Marshall Islands"
The late President Reagan assured us that the new anti-ballilstic missile technology ("Star Wars") would protect this nation from a rain of missiles from the Soviet Union.
Now, I'm just as much opposed to being blasted to smithereens by a rain of incoming nuclear missiles as the guy next door. I don't mind the fact that each of your tests costs the American taxpayers $85 million, because most of that money helps pay for the high costs of our democratic elections when some of it is re-channeled into political campaigns via the Aerospace Industry.
What bothers me is not the money, but the success rate of your program, which I take it so far is nil. I'm not just talking about the three most recent failed tests, because I seem to recall a whole lot of previous tests that also failed. Maybe those tests were part of a different series so they don't count.
Do I remember correctly that on one of those previous tests you sent a decoy missile along with the regular one and that the team on the Marshall Islands shot down the decoy and let the target missile get through? I think you or one of your associates at that time told the press that it was a "limited success."
Since then I haven't heard any more about decoy missiles. Maybe they just work too well, dooming your valuable tests from the outset. Or perhaps omitting them is mandated by budgetary constraints. But from what I've been able to figure out, an attacking nation can send along 20 or so decoy missiles for every one of the payloaded missiles, and the cost of the 20 decoys is no more than the cost of one payloaded missile. Hence, with a sky full of decoys coming at us, how could we afford to send up enough interceptors to shoot down every one of them?
[Leiter Reports]
This (most recently reported) failure of these missle defense efforts may come as no surprise to my regular readers:
- I wrote about why pursuing a strategic defense, missile shield, Star Wars thingamabob is a bad idea back at t'other blog, about four years ago. That day's page was called Anonymity, strategic defense. (I had per day titles over there.)
- A blog doesn't need a clever name
... Here at A blog doesn't need a clever name, I am shocked, schocked to find that Star Wars/Strategic Defense Initiative/Missile Shield has failed. ...
- A blog doesn't need a clever name
... This wisp of the old Star Wars fever dream is bedeviled by missing components and unproven premises. The Pentagon has suspended ...
- HSC Dinner, Apres Mardi Gras, and Stay home -- also include Star Wars coverage
- Also, on Star Wars: physicist and Nobel Prize winner Steven Weinberg asks, answers, and goes beyond the question Can Missile Defense Work? Great, great analysis that repays attention.
6:33:13 AM
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Frosty the Vegetable. As winter pushes the quality of vegetables lower and the prices higher, the Minimalist tries shopping in the frozen vegetable case. By MARK BITTMAN. [NYT > Dining and Wine]
6:13:13 AM
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Talis Actually Showing RSS from the Catalog!.
It’s a day past Valentine’s Day, but I heart Talis!
Ground breaking Library Personalised RSS
Talis, in partnership with Northumbria University Library, have launched a trial of personalised RSS (PRSS) feeds for Library users. This trial is part of the Talis Research Project Bluebird. Members of the trial and other interested parties, interact on the Talis Bluebird Forum.
Subscribers to their personal feed receive alerts from their Library account such as 'Item due for return in 3 days', or 'The item you reserved is now awaiting collection at the Library', or 'Your overdue item has already attracted in excess of £2.00 in charges'. The feed items provide a link to take the user, without an interviening login challenge, in to their Library interface at the apropriate page to take the required action such as renew the book on loan.
To illustrate the issues surrounding the requirement for alerting Library Users, to describe the technology used, and to give an overview of the trial I have published a white paper Personalised RSS for Library - User Interaction.
We have set-up a Demonstration PRSS Feed to show how the loaning activity of a fictitious user [Mr Draco Malfoy] would be represented in his Personalised RSS feed. Over the next couple of months Mr Malfoy will reserve, loan, and return (often late) items from the Demonstration Library to provide pseudo realistic RSS traffic.
. . . . [panlibus]
Where to begin??
How about too… damn… cool!
How about a new term – PRSS? (I don’t think I’ve heard this anywhere else yet.) How about a vendor that didn’t stop to ask everybody why or take a poll? Instead, they looked around, recognized the value on their own, and just did it rather than talking about it (or worse yet, not talking about it).
How about the notice of fines? How about the fact that the library’s privacy policy is still applicable to the RSS feed? That’s a hee-uge point to note.
All wonderful and well, but the part that really has me drooling is the "feed items provide a link to take the user, without an interviening login challenge, in to their Library interface at the apropriate page to take the required action such as renew the book on loan" feature. How perfect and useful and efficient and progressive and innovative is that?!
More after I read the white paper (I’ve been able to subscribe to the demo feed successfully and I’m most curious to learn how they prevent you from subscribing to someone else’s feed), but major, major congratulations to Talis for picking up the ball, running with it, crossing the goal line, spiking it, and kicking the extra point! Well done! [The Shifted Librarian]
6:13:04 AM
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Just How Exciting Is It?. A British designer is working on a system to measure excitement. The data he's gathering could be used to modify games in real time to enhance players' experiences. By Rowan Hooper. [Wired News]
6:09:25 AM
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Brand Name Bullies: The Quest to Own and Control Culture