Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Teheran as Pyongyang. Fred Kaplan in Slate argues that a deal like that offered by Clinton to Pyongyang might keep Iran from building "dozens of A-bombs". "It's ironic that President Bush is now endorsing a diplomatic stance toward Iran so similar to the stance that President Clinton took toward North Korea." [Pajamas Media] 10:28:25 PM    comment []

Canadian privacy commissioners against DRM. Michael sez, "Three of Canada's best known Privacy Commissioners have joined dozens of civil liberties, education, and library groups (as well as prominent privacy experts) to call on the Canadian government to factor privacy into the copyright reform process. The letters demand privacy impact assessments before the law is introduced and seek pro-active privacy protections that allow for anonymous and private access to copyrighted works. The site has full links to all the public letters." 1. any proposed copyright reforms will prioritize privacy protection by including a full privacy consultation and a full privacy impact assessment with the introduction of any copyright reform bill; 2. any proposed anti-circumvention provisions will create no negative privacy impact; and 3. any proposed copyright reforms will include pro-active privacy protections that, for example, enshrine the rights of Canadians to access and enjoy copyright works anonymously and in private. Link (Thanks, Michael!) [Boing Boing] 10:28:23 PM    comment []

New York Proposes Special Tax on Commercial Colleges. A proposed tax on New York's commercial colleges would pay for the cost of policing fraud and other problems in the commercial college industry. By KAREN W. ARENSON. [NYT > Education] 10:28:09 PM    comment []

tburke asks, having reviewed the ACTA Report, “How Many Ward Churchills?”. Are you interested in defending academic standards? Let me tell you what I consider to be a few important academic standards. These apply across the disciplines. 1. Careful collection of evidence. 2. Constraining claims or arguments to the evidence available. 3. Proportionality of argument or analysis, especially in making demands for action or changes in practice. 4. Careful definition of key terms, concepts and methodologies used in scholarly analysis. 5. Respect for expertise and caution about making claims when you are well outside your areas of specialized knowledge. Is ACTA interested in defending academic standards? Not judging from their lamely titled report, “How Many Ward Churchills?”.  . . . There’s so much wrong here that it’s hard to know where to begin. [Easily Distracted] Long post, worth the read if you follow these matters. And you should. 10:21:55 PM    comment []

3D Milling Service Offered for SL Residents. 3D Milling Service Offered for SL Residents: Second Life residents will soon be able to order up physical versions of their avatars, their builds or their favorite Second Life objects in full 3D, and in a variety of materials, thanks to a pair of students at the Art Institute of Chicago. Simon Spartalian (aka Simon Jezebel in SL) and Mike Beradino (a recent graduate of the Art Institute) will launch the service on June 1, offering to mill SL objects up to 9¡åX 5¡åX 5¡å out of anything from foam to wax to stainless steel. The pair are already documenting their milling efforts at their Recursive Instruments blog. ¡ª¨C the bleed reverses¡­.. everyone knows that we bleed identity into electronic artifacts and environments¡­ but when we pull out that identity, what happens to it? [Too many topics, too little time.] The Recursive Instruments blog. 6:34:31 PM    comment []

John K's drawing school. John Kricfalusi, creator of Ren and Stimpy and one of the world's best animators, has been using Preston Blair's animation book as a textbook to teach people the art of cartooning online. If you are interested in learning cartooning, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. Here's a method to easily check your copies. Remember this word: PROPORTION Part of what makes a character look like who it is, is its proportions. MANY characters can have the same construction, but they have different proportions-like Elmer Fudd and Coal Black and Peter Pan and Pinnochio-all those folks are the exact same construction! -THEY ARE MADE UP OF THE SAME TYPES OF FORMS-A BIG ROUND CRANIUM AND A SMALL BABY JAW. 1) Bring your drawings into Photoshop. 2) Bring Preston's drawings that you copied into the same Photoshop file. 3) Re-size the Preston drawings to match the size of yours. 4) Put the drawings next to each other. 5) Make notes of how your drawing differs from Preston's 6) Make a copy of the Preston drawing and lay it on top of yours on a layer 7) Make the layer transparent so you can see through it to yours. 8) Make more notes on where yours differs from Preston's. 9) Redraw your copy, this time trying to fix the mistakes you found. This fella's copy is pretty good, so there isn't a lot to correct. Some other artists are less accurate. Link [Boing Boing] 6:30:55 PM    comment []