It's been so long...

... so long since I've done a proper link dump, I can't even remember how to do it! I long ago stopped reading other blogs due to time issues, and cut down my online activity to the bare minimum of what I thought I could manage quickly. I'm not sure I know how to find all my sources I used to read. It's so strange to have time again!

Ok, don't panic. I still have interests. I just haven't been able to share them.

Let's start with Popular Science's article on better batteries that were made by accident. Sometimes I think all the best discoveries must be by accident, considering how many cool things are created by experiments not working like expected. I think it's important to realize that failure in science is almost as useful, sometimes way more useful, than "success". You come up with your hypothesis, you test it, and something is wrong... sometimes that's the moment real discovery starts. In any case, these batteries, with the potential to last 400 times longer than current batteries before needing a charge, are extremely promising.

Drones are the new UFOs. Apparently, lots of pilots who hit things now are thinking those things are drones. That's an interesting twist of perceptions. Having attempted to fly a drone and failed (with a long hike involved to find and collect the drone) I have my doubts that most small drones can get up high enough to threaten planes. Larger drones... you would expect the operators to have more of a clue. Then again, not all drone operators have shown off brains so far.

Southern Fried Science enjoys some Aquaman science. Love it!

Speaking of comics, this report of sexual harassment at DC is very depressing. But I'm hoping by spreading this information, more people will have questions and maybe something will be done about it. I can dream. Comics aren't exactly friendly to women, yet. Not quite as bad as some segments of gaming, but the sexism and boys club attitude is there.

I'll finish up with a piece from Atlas Obscura on pirated research libraries. In short, journal costs can be so high that, in order to cite other recent studies, some broke scientists are turning to pirated documents to get what they need to help science progress. Of course, read that last line to see that it's not all about research.

I still maintain that copyright has been extended so long that it is now meaningless to the current generation. If copyright lasts a lifetime or longer, and it does, then nothing produced today will ever go into the public domain. This makes things that were possible only a couple of generations ago impossible, including a new Disney producing movies using classic public domain stories. I think there should be copyright, and I think it should be renewable, but I don't think it should be automatic after the first term, say 10 years. And renewal should cost some fee to maintain the database of copyrighted works. That means that works that aren't making money for the copyright holder are more likely to fall into the public domain where they can be remixed and turned into new works.

But if we continue the way we have, copyrights are basically going to become a speedbump to cultural progress, bankrupting artists who can't afford obscene fees to use music that should be in the public domain. Corporations will own most copyrights and come down hard on people who violate them, while individual authors won't be able to protect their own work from pirates because of the costs of litigation. For a reason why eternal copyrights are stupid, read Melancholy Elephants by Spider Robinson.

Copyright...

I've often argued in favor of limiting copyright and restoring the public domain. And if you haven't yet read Melancholy Elephants by Spider Robinson, go read it now. I feel that copyright terms without limit do more damage in the long run to artists and creators than short terms will do. I've even written a column in the paper to propose limits in order to strengthen copyright.

Now the business case has been made, according to Boing Boing:

You'll remember Derek Khanna as the Republican House staffer who got fired for writing a paper that used careful objective research to argue for scaling back copyright. Now, Khanna is a volunteer fellow at R Street, where he's expanded on his early work with a paper called Guarding Against Abuse: Restoring Constitutional Copyright [PDF], which tackles the question of copyright terms from a market-economics approach, citing everyone from Hayek to Posner to the American Conservative Union.

I don't expect, or want, copyright to go away, but there's an example in the paper that ought to bring home the damage that current obscenely long copyright terms cause:

Excessively long copyright terms help explain why Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech is rarely shown on television, and specifically why it is almost never shown in its entirety in any other form. In 1999, CBS was sued for using portions of the speech in a documentary. It lost on appeal before the 11th Circuit. If copyright terms were shorter than 50 years, then those clips would be available for anyone to show on television, in a documentary or to students.

When historical clips are in the public domain, learning flourishes. Martin Luther King did not need the promise of copyright protection for "life+70" to motivate him to write the "I Have a Dream" speech. (Among other reasons, because the term length was much shorter at the time.) He wrote the speech because of the March on Washington and because he hoped to inspire Congress to pass civil rights legislation. He gave the speech for political reasons and for historical value. He wanted it to be quoted and to inspire future generations – and he clearly succeeded.

Yet today, generations of schoolchildren are denied the ability to watch this speech, a clear abuse of the intent for copyright to promote "the progress of science and the useful arts." Further, King's speech itself built upon other works, referencing the Bible, the Gettysburg Address, "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" and William Shakespeare. The speech would not exist, at least not in any form that would be recognizable to us, without the ability to build on the works of others. Generations of these historical artifacts now lay fallow behind locked vaults of copyright.

When you cannot even listen to the words of a famous speech, or use them in a documentary to talk about historical events, something is SERIOUSLY wrong with copyright.

The paper continues with other unexpected costs of copyright, including all kinds of works that are based on other works and how difficult it is to even report on the history of works that are in copyright thanks to the ridiculous terms. Then it offers reasonable copyright terms based on studies:

Khanna recommends new copyright policy based on a House Republican Study Committee proposal in 2012. Under this proposal, there would be a free 12-year copyright term for all new works. Following that, there could be an elective 12-year renewal, at a cost of 1 percent of all U.S. revenue from the first 12 years. There would then be two elective 6-year renewals, at a cost of 3 percent and 5 percent of revenue, respectively. There is one final elective 10-year renewal period at a cost of 10 percent of all overall revenue, minus fees paid for the previous renewals. This proposal would terminate all copyright protection after 46 years.

I'm for that. I think a 46-year limit, with costs to renew in there to help maintain the system, is far more reasonable than an effectively eternal copyright. Now we just have to get more people to recognize why these incredibly long copyright terms are a bad idea. I want to protect authors, limiting copyright to its original form is one way to do that.

Links

If you aren't reading Love and Capes, check it out online. At Emerald City Comicon this year we went ahead and got all the trades. It's that good.

Science is also good. Here are 27 science fictions that became fact in 2012.

Speaking of science fiction, here's a heartbreaking essay about lack of reading in Mexico. I see this happening here, too. A culture that does not read for pleasure is a dead culture.

Pay up or have your life ruined. How a judge came down on a group of copyright trolls that threatened people who refused to pay with being associated with porn companies. Nasty stuff, and the account linked is amazing. UPDATE: Boing Boing posted a follow-up today.

Slate has posted a flowchart of How to win any climate change argument, but they should have included at the end "with a reasonable person" since most climate change deniers aren't going to be persuaded by mere facts.

People who seriously believe childhood diseases are "good for you" are mentally ill. An example is given by John Stumbles regarding the death of Roald Dahl's daughter from measles and a current book that actually promotes getting measles as a good thing.

Late Linkdump

I meant to post this yesterday, sorry. I guess I'm running a little late...

Have some time to kill? Check out the best supervillain musical numbers of all time.

I want to try to make the Octopizza Pie, but with olives instead of pepperoni pieces for the suckers (because I don't like pepperoni). It certainly looks like a fun meal.

Want a legal copy of a really old song, but can't find it? Boing Boing reports that Vinyl Vault is attempting to fix the problem, but in the process may run up against copyright nonsense.

Here's an odd commentary on jailbreaking smartphones.

Five staples of the legal system that don't work, including police line-ups and lie detection training.

George Takei tells us about an unsung hero during WWII.

Ok, here's my thing about the gun control debate. I don't want guns banned. But I want us to find a way to keep guns out of the hands of true nutters and idiots. Which means some level of control. Once upon a time, the vast majority of gun owners agreed with that point of view. Things have changed, for the worse. But we could go back to sanity if we wanted. Heck, we could even go somewhere entirely different. But we should not stay where we're at today and we should stop listening to extremists on both sides of the issue.

Linkdump

Doctor Who: Space and Time

Am I doing it wrong?

Torvald assisted Greg again. Also see the first part of the story and feel sorry for the crap teachers must go through to get things happening.

New Wonder Woman costume fixed to look good.

This is for my sister: Oboe Wan Kenobi.

Copyright trumps Trademark?

Since even the experts are linking to it, here's the Handy XKCD Radiation Chart, which will give you a good idea what levels are safe. Be sure to read the stuff at the top about the length of exposure.

Easter is coming?

Lost Civilizations.

Pugs for the In-Laws.

A Couple of Links

Spider Robinson writes about why we need the Public Domain. This is a fantastic work, the 1983 Hugo Award winner for Best Short Story.

Wanna read a comic book online, free and clear, without pirating? Steve Lieber and Jeff Parker are offering Underground, all five chapters, for free. If you enjoy it, you should definitely make a donation or purchase the trade to encourage the creators to do more cool work.

Um, This Blog Is Copyrighted, Too

The Consumerist tells us about a magazine that stole content from the web, then claimed that the web is public domain. It isn't. Anyone who thinks it is should probably never go online ever again. And the editor of that particular rag probably won't be able to, as it's been learned the magazine also stole from NPR and FoodNetwork.com. I think that magazine is about to meet its demise.

One of my favorite comments on the Consumerist blog:

People seem to confuse domains that happen to be accessible to the public with, you know, "public domain."

More here. And probably just about anywhere you look online. I'm all for reforming copyright laws into something saner than "until Disney doesn't have money to keep pushing the dates back", but this is just stupidity.

Overdue Linkdump

The things you find on Wikipedia: Over or Under?

Moffat's son interviews him about the Doctor Who finale, and here's Ten Thoughts about Doctor Who: The Big Bang. And All of Matt Smith's Doctor Who in two minutes (YouTube).

What kind of bird is Big Bird? An audio with 20 slides that play for 20 seconds each. "Please, this is science!" In other muppet news:

Collectable Star Wars Cereal Boxes.

Too many LEGO YouTube clips.

William Shatner stole Leonard Nimoy's bicycle (YouTube).

A memorial to a dog.

A lost piece of history is confirmed.

The copyright wars on Slashdot.

Three Hundred Years Hence, a tale of the future written in 1836.

New wallpaper for ya.

Cat Yoga.

LOL Theology.

Pug for the in-laws.

Linkages for a Thursday

The Onion is channeling my report from the other day, you know, my wake up call. And no, I've learned nothing new. There was a major DEA operation that morning, "Project Deliverance", that may or may not be related. But my wake up call was not unusual that particular morning, it happened all over the country.

Bill shares a Doctor Who sketch with us. Speaking of, here's Doctor Hoo.

Rachel shares a science video that demonstrates chain reactions.

The characters on Glee are serial copyright pirates and would owe TONS of money, if they were doing this in real life. Under current copyright punishments, the characters would be deep in debt before getting out of High School.

Slate talks about over reliance on GPS.

The NBC Pipes, decorated by bored Muppet performers, and now preserved.

Who killed the Iceman?

More Verizon math, this time at AT&T. People who don't understand the difference between .05 cents and .05 dollars should not be allowed to handle money. Ever.

Survivors of the Deepwater Horizon rig speak out about BP's sloppiness.

A girl whose father is a climate change denier got a cool award for a science project that supposedly disproved Global Warming. As it turns out, the father was behind the hoax. He used the names of the National Science Foundation and Al Gore to convince his child and her school and the local newspaper. Then he makes himself out to be the victim.

Another Linkdump!

38 years of Superbowl Commercials.

And more old links, I'm clearing out my cache of interesting stuff. Heck, some of this may be old enough to be interesting again.

The USB drive for me!

One hundred and thirty-six is MILLIONS! Be sure to read the comments on this one for more on the stats.

Ten Creative Doorstops.

Ever found a cool webcomic that you want to read from the beginning, but don't have time? Try Archive Binge, a service that allows you to set up a custom RSS feed for webcomics. I immediately signed up for five comics... if you know a webcomic creator, tell 'em to get their comic on this service!

Want.

The LEGO Renaissance.

How a train journey saved me from the Nazis.

Lightning Volcano Storm!

Pug for the in-laws.

Links on a Warm Spring Day

Want.

Hugo ballot is live.

Another look at how the release of free books on-line affects sales.

Living near a pub can mean loud singing late at night, but pubs in southwest England plan to hand out lollipops to help reduce that noise.

Clever logos. More clever logos. Even more clever logos.

A Field Guide to Freeway Interchanges. Yikes. I hate weave lanes, so I like any interchange that doesn't have them.

Should we really be teaching robots how to fall safely? When they take over, wouldn't it be best if we could just push them down to win against our robotic overlords?

This is apparently a hoax, but I like the idea of a lending library of banned books.

New species are constantly being discovered, which is why I have an interest in cryptozoology.

CNN takes a look at Religion vs State in medical decisions involving children. This is one of those issues that makes my head hurt, but generally I side with protecting the children, even if it's from their parents' faith.

Lai Jiansheng pushed a would-be suicide jumper off a bridge because the guy was holding up traffic (for five hours) and there was an inflated cushion below.

More LOLCat theology.

Links

If Maps Could Fight, a comic strip about WWII.

Colleen Doran publishes Boadicea (Boudica?) Warrior Queen of the Celts from the unpublished The Big Book of Wild Women.

Picture Is Unrelated. A blog of unrelated odd images. NSFW. Not Safe for Sanity, either.

Doctors make patients sign EULAs that forbid online reviews. If my doctor asks me to sign such a thing, I'll have to ask what she's afraid of.

The Health Care Debate. I support a single payer system. I'm tired of for profit insurance execs deciding who lives and who dies.

The United States of Obesity.

Joe's 13 things that creep me out. I'm linking to this because of number 8, although number 9 is one of my childhood nightmares as well.

Sita Sings The Blues is free and available to watch. Read the links on the bottom of the post for the whole story.

For the in-laws: PUG WEEK at Sheldon! Monday! Tuesday! Wednesday! Thursday! Friday!

Scans Daily

Oh woe is us! Scans Daily has been suspended by LiveJournal, probably because of copyright violations.

There's been an outcry of sadness and/or joy from the comic book blogosphere. Some, like me, wondered why it hadn't happened long ago. Others were dismayed because so many people knew about it, including some pros, and it was a great community for review and commentary on comic books. Some were simply delighted that those rotten thieves were finally shut down.

For non comic book fans, Scans Daily was a place where people posted scans from comic books and commented on them. No problem, right? Bloggers like me do this all the time. As long as you don't post too much of the book and make sure your commentary is all about the pages you are posting, then it falls in that grey area of Fair Use and everything is peachy keen.

Except Scans Daily often just posted more than a few images or even a few pages. There was a "rule" that you couldn't post more than half the book... but unless you are commenting on every single piece of action in those pages half a book is WAY too much to post. In addition, the "commentary" often consisted of summaries of the action in the pages NOT posted, essentially spoiling the entire book.

This was the reason I stopped reading Scans Daily. I enjoyed the posts that actually made intelligent comments on the books (or sometimes really bad but wonderful jokes), but there was a significant percentage of those annoying spoiler posts and it was pretty much impossible to avoid seeing the spoilers (someone always forgets to put spoilers behind a cut). There were even some people that seemed to be competing to be the first person to spoil a book, so spoilers were often posted before my shop was even open on new comic book day. I had a choice to either not read any of my LJ friends the day or so before new comics came out or to remove Scans Daily, so I dumped Scans Daily.

Oh, I missed the good posts. But there was enough bad it just wasn't worth the effort (I'll note that in addition to the spoiler posts there was a portion of adult content posts that also just weren't my cuppa).

And now it's been shut down. Reportedly, a well-known and generally well-liked comic book pro was "responsible" for the shutdown. Well, no... the folks posting too much copyrighted material are responsible. If the moderators had insisted on making an effort for Fair Use, instead of becoming lax and allowing people to post way too much of a book with not enough real commentary, it would still be around on LJ (I'm told they were about to instate new, stricter rules: so the revival, when it appears, will no doubt be more careful). I certainly don't blame any copyright holder for doing what they are supposed to do to protect their copyright.

And, in the case of the above mentioned comic book pro, the book that was posted was just published and the scans that were posted included the final page and all plot twists in the book. In short, you could find out what had happened in the entire book just by reading the post. Worse, the person who posted the spoilers also The comments on the post included inflammatory "commentary" including telling the writer of the book to "die in a fire". Typical internet hyperbole, true, but this is a guy who has been stalked and threatened in the past and knew a person who died in a fire. That sort of hyperbole is uncalled for no matter how much you hate the book. It probably made him more inclined to simply report the problem. After all, do you really want to politely ask someone who told you to die in a fire to remove their post?

Anyway, I'm half sorry to see it go and half glad that folks who were posting too much and pretending it was Fair Use got whack-a-moled. I'll probably not say any more about this topic, but I realized I had to post this on my own blog when it started out as a comment on another comic book fan's blog that kept growing until it was too much for one comment.

Wednesday Afternoon Links

While several comic news sites were careful to cover up spoilers to the ending of a DC book I had pre-ordered that arrived today, ComicList had the spoiler right up front in a headline of their RSS feed. I've now unsubscribed from ComicList and will no longer visit the site. I hate spoilers. I don't care if the New York Daily News already spoiled it. I don't READ the NY Daily News. ComicList changed the article after the damage was done, to their slight credit. I'm still annoyed.

Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #152: Mutants, Patricia Highsmith, and Wizard of Oz.

Speaking of Oz, read this interview with Linda Medley. Yes, there is Oz content. One of the projects she was working on when she took her break from Castle Waiting was an Oz book. I've seen some of the art from it, and I think Oz fans would love it.

And if you have any comic book questions, Comic Book Questions Answered will help.

Burma Shave!

Going to Mecca makes Muslims more moderate. Perhaps we should make an effort to help more pilgrims get to Mecca.

We're wrecking our feet with shoes.

I don't see any Bloggers do it with... on the list.

EMI claims that storing files online is illegal. So you can't back up your own files on-line.

Pathetic. Penguicon is tainted by the Open Source Boob Project. Tamora Pierce chimes in with support of Penguincon, links to other commentary, and disgust for the twits behind the "project".

A cake in celebration of the Power of Two.

Don't like icy roads? Maybe under-road radiators could help. A pilot program is ready to start in the UK.

The first oil paintings in the world may have been painted in Afghanistan. The article also mentions the Taliban's desecration of artwork.

Drew Carey: Battle of the Bacon Dogs. The zinger of the video is that the woman who was arrested and spent 45 days in jail for selling bacon dogs was licensed (by the health department) and knew proper food preparation techniques. The smaller vendors who get her business now that she dare not sell with bacon are fly-by-night operators without any licenses. So the health department efforts to protect consumers is doing just the opposite.

The zebra pranksters write to the Museum of Hoaxes. The museum also lists three more pranks, one of which was harassment and got no punishment, one which was harmless and funny and got the students week-long suspensions (serious over-reaction), and one that was just strange.

I'm with Ken Jennings on the whole Harry Potter reference book thing. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with him, or even disagrees politely.

I am only linking to this article because of the name of the seal.

Another sad pug for the in-laws.

Morning Links

Emerald City Comicon has a Costume Contest page up now. I love seeing costumes, so I'm really looking forward to it. I need to start putting together my "to be trolled" list now.

This looks amazing. A two volume hardcover Willie and Joe set. Wow.

Can Marvel buy Superman? Jeff Trexler answers the questions that I hadn't even thought of asking about the Siegel Superman settlement.

Shaun Tan and Phil Foglio are Hugo Nominees. And I hope "The Arrival" wins. And Phil as well.

First the bees, now the bats. Again, bats are very important to the environment, as they eat insects which would otherwise overrun us. A lack of bats is bad news.

The tale of the gold kit, or "How to make money off of gold paint".

He was killed in action in Korea... only he wasn't. But the IRS still thinks he might be dead.

Scientists find the bad breath bug.

Scammers are taking advantage of the switch to digital television.

Universal Music thinks they still own promo CDs they sent out unasked for and for free. I suppose by this reasoning, the original publishers own all the review books they've sent me?

The real reason behind Crop Circles and Roswell.

Joe Lieberman owes an apology to Ned Lamont for lying about him during the 2006 campaign. The FBI also owes Lamont an apology for discovering the truth before the election, but NOT telling the public that Lieberman was lying.

The Seattle Times reports on my eighth cousin who grew up in the Seattle area.

Lies I've Told My 3 Year Old Recently. "Books get lonely too."

Thursday Already? Links

Wil Wheaton is coming to Emerald City Comicon, and I plan to troll him if possible.

Speaking of small friends, Bully gets a Doctor Who scarf. I recall that he wore Monty the Penguin's scarf when he visited, but now he's got his own!

A review of Outside, the first massively multiplayer game.

Robin Williams saves the day.

Eminem, Benny Hill, and Doctor Who, enough said.

Before I move to Ubuntu for good, I need this book.

The Bad Astronomer has spotted a really cool clock. I wouldn't want it myself, but it's very cool.

MetroLyrics goes Legit. Now you all know where to look up song lyrics online.

Students fight back against the RIAA's illegal tactics.

Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial. My uncle Neil.

It's Monday Again Already

Happy 5th Birthday to GirlAMatic.com.

Here's a Superman Copyright FAQ that explains how the Siegels got half the Superman copyright back. For the record, since I strongly oppose the Disney-driven copyright extensions, I think my opinion on the details of this subject is best left unsaid. However, I firmly believe the Siegels and Shuster estate deserve compensation as well. Overall, I think this is a win.

Mark Evanier quoted my e-mail to him about our road trip, and linked back to me. Of more interest, he actually got a look at the ingredients of The Soup, which I wished I'd done once I learned they were available. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it's a list from which you can duplicate the recipe. (If you're wondering what the road trip was about: Road Trip Part 1 and Road Trip Part 2.)

More on April Fool and the history of the day at the Museum of Hoaxes.

Another condemnation of Vista. As I've said before, I have no intention of ever downgrading to Vista. I'll go to LINUX first.

World's fastest internet connection 'used to dry laundry'. I like this lady's style.

Ah, uses of the internet. Yup, Eric and I do this all the time.

Fifteen years of Spam.

I'm Buffaloed.

Brian Wood tells about the inspiration for DMZ "Friendly Fire".

This is just sick. Putting seizure inducing graphics on a forum for sufferers of epilepsy is the kind of crime that should be punished with prison for a few years.

For the in-laws: sand pug.

And lastly, I've been e-mailed by a friend to ask if I will be posting when/if Eric gets called in for Jeopardy. I can make no promises. I figure that I'll post only when an air date is set for an episode he appears in, and not until. Lots of reasons for that, not the least of which is that things sometimes change at the last minute, so if I post that he got called, and for some reason he doesn't actually play, I wouldn't feel like explaining it. And of course, should he get on the show and play, we won't be telling anyone how he did until after the show airs.

End of the Year Links

Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #135: Global Guardians, Sam & Twitch, and Secret Wars II.

Pink vs Blue: "There has been a great diversity of opinion on the subject, but the generally accepted rule is pink for the boy and blue for the girl. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for a boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl."

Web designer gets his site back after news of the Gmail exploit and its aftermath spreads across the web.

YouTube: What Song is This? A guy sings a song backwards. Halfway through, the video reverses so you can tell what the song is.

Dead is the doorknob.

Copyright gone mad.

Unfortunately Named Athletes.

An interesting comparison of bookcovers for the same book over time.

Vote on a Saturn Image.

Hmmm. Pay attention to what your children write on notes in restaurants.

Yes: Christmas Eating, In A Nutshell. I hurt so bad right now from overindulgence.

New Persepolis Trailer.

Most Traded in 2007.

Wil Wheaton discovers Doctor Who.

Doctor Who: The Hopes And Fears of All The Years. Hey Paul, write my name into the New Who someday, willya? And not some crossover tale, either.

Gingerbread K9. Yum.

Elayne takes on Oz.

Stolen Pug Image. It's the hypocrisy, people.

Linkdump

Trying to get back into gear, here's a little linkdump for you...

ComicMix now has online comics. They've started the second part of their initiative. It was a good sight with just the articles and podcasts, it is now getting better. The first offering: "GrimJack: The Manx Cat".

Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #122.

Greg Hatcher looks at witches in comic books.

Katie Cook has a great gallery of her artwork up, which includes this wonderful Aquaman and Tempest from a card set:

Via Blog@Newsarama. Be sure to check out the rest of the gallery. There's some good Doctor Who stuff there, too.

More on the Eightball flap. I checked out Ice Haven from the library, and didn't see anything that qualified as porn in it. Disturbing, maybe even disgusting, but not porn. I think that girl's parents are just a wee bit oversensitive.

Morgan on Sarah Jane Adventures. I loved it. It's definitely aimed at children, but that's a positive in my book. I love Doctor Who. I like Torchwood. And Sarah Jane is great as well.

Saving a Seattle Denny's Restaurant. I just drove by that Denny's the other day, noticed the land use proposals, and felt a pang of regret that we would be losing this great goofy building. And on a similar note: Free Ballard! (links via Vintage Seattle)

I don't know how to categorize this story, but I found it worth reading.

Why Knockoffs are good for Fashion.

Way cool Baseball Stats Slide Rule ad on Polite Scott's blog. By coincidence, Slashdot had an article on Slide Rules recently.

More on the Peruvian Meteorite.

Oooh, Bio-Optic Organized Knowledge device.

Darn. I wanted to get one of these, but I won't have enough money in time to get one. Maybe they'll make the offer available again later.

Mark Twain wanted to defeat copyright limits, but his plan was intelligent and useful, instead of the Disney way of changing the law.

Vintage Seattle shows off the Seahawks in the Kingdome. Cool!

Links Links Links

Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #118.

Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, Calls Out Stephen Colbert. Watch the clip! The bit with Buzz at the end is truly classic. (and, by the way, if you don't know that Colbert is satire and that Phil is playing along, you may not want to bother).

Seattle to Boston in 15 minutes - video.

Wil Wheaton hates DRM (luckily a commenter helped him).

I want one! (yes, that's right, I want an underground city that I discover in my basement).

Google Maps and Earth Lights.

The Trouble With Tribbles as done by Edward Gorey.

Of course, if you liked that, be sure to check out the LOLCats version if you haven't already: "We Has Tribbles And Also Troubles".

Cory Doctorow is peeved, and rightly so. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America has used the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to fraudulently remove numerous non-infringing works from Scribd. Making Light also weighs in on the subject.

Packing Cat.

Sep 15-19 is "Holy Pasta Week"
Plan your menus now.