Thursday, May 26, 2005

Day After Nuclear Deal, Iran Is Cleared to Start W.T.O. Process. The decision came after the U.S. dropped its opposition to Iranian membership in the world body that governs global trade. By ELAINE SCIOLINO. [NYT > International] 10:50:34 PM    comment []

More Fun With Distribution Models (Alan Wexelblat). Neil Gaiman blogs that his new novel, Anansi Boys, will have four simultanously released distribution methods: hardcover book, download, audio CD and MP3 CD. I hope we see some numbers on the relative performance of these formats. Release date is September 20. [Copyfight] 10:50:01 PM    comment []

The Farm-Subsidy Model of Financing Academia. Increasingly, universities are being financed like farmers and military contractors, with legislative earmarks. By ALAN B. KRUEGER. [NYT > Education] 10:49:51 PM    comment []

Encryption as Evidence of Criminal Intent. An appeals court in Minnesota has ruled that the presence of encryption software on a computer may be viewed as evidence of criminal intent. I am speechless. Edited to add: The complete text is online. [Schneier on Security] See also yesterday's story here. 10:40:05 PM    comment []

Sponsor of Stem Cell Bill Says Senate Could Override a Veto. Senator Arlen Specter said he had enough votes in the Senate to override a presidential veto of a bill to expand federal financing for human embryonic stem cell research. By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG. [NYT > Science] 10:38:03 PM    comment []

A facsimile edition of one of Wittgenstein's notebooks with an autobiographical bit censored [Flickr]. Jill posted a photo: the post has broken HTML but the photo should be here [jill/txt] 10:37:34 PM    comment []

"Falling dominoes" in Half-Life [bOing bOing] 5:43:27 PM    comment []

Beyond the stem-cell showdown. One thing's for sure: the public posturing over the issue, on both sides of the debate, will not end anytime soon. [Christian Science Monitor | Top Stories] 5:43:17 PM    comment []

Chris Anderson: Robot Child-Herders We have a Roomba Discovery, which we love. It does an amazingly good job of cleaning the children's playroom, but perhaps not in exactly the way its inventors at iRobot intended. 5:42:01 PM    comment []

Kevin sends word: FEDERAL AGENTS SHUT DOWN FILE-SHARING WEB SITE Darth Vader -- no, scratch that -- federal agents Wednesday used the force of law to shut down a Web site that they said was letting people download movies and other copyrighted material free. Users of the Elite Torrents site were able to download copies of the new "Star Wars" movie before it was shown in theaters, authorities said. The action was the first criminal enforcement against individuals who are using BitTorrent technology, Justice and Homeland Security Department officials said. Elite Torrents had more than 133,000 members and 17,800 movies and software programs in the past four months. [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Mark Sherman] 5:41:49 PM    comment []