luke_simulacrum

"Selling customers what they desire is fundamental to any successful business. If Big Content..."

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:41:21 -0500

“Selling customers what they desire is fundamental to any successful business. If Big Content can’t figure out how to do that, then we can only pray for their hasty demise, before they can do too much more damage to humanity’s most amazing and wonderful invention: the internet.”

- Cory Doctorow

Brilliant! heeeraldo: Wu-Tang albums redone as Blue Note...

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:56:19 -0500

Brilliant!

heeeraldo:

Wu-Tang albums redone as Blue Note albums. Meet the Wu-Note Project.

(via advantagelogan)

blownspeakers: miezekatzen: What do cats do home alone? Cat...

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:32:59 -0500

blownspeakers:

miezekatzen:

What do cats do home alone? Cat cams have answers

LOS ANGELES—What do cats do when their owners are away? There was one way to find out — “cat cams.” Fifty house cats were given collar cameras that took a photo every 15 minutes. The results put a digital dent in some human theories about catnapping. Based on the photos, about 22 percent of the cats’ time was spent looking out of windows, 12 percent was used to interact with other family pets and 8 percent was spent climbing on chairs or kitty condos. Just 6 percent of their hours were spent sleeping. “What surprised me was how active the cats were. I believed my three cats were sleeping during the day,” said Jill Villarreal, an animal behavior scientist who collected the data for Nestle Purina PetCare’s Friskies brand of cat food. Read more »

Glims for Safari

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:41:16 -0500

Glims for Safari:

After using the mac beta of Google Chrome all day yesterday, I’ve actually made the decision to stick with Safari (for now). Much of that choice was based on Glims, a cocoa-based extension pack for Safari, that offers WAY more functionality. Things like keyword searches from the address bar, cmd-Z to undo closed tabs, force opening all links in a new tab, etc.

Even though it’s a bit faster than Safari, Chrome for Mac still lacks the perks that make for a satisfying browser experience. Also, Chrome’s inability to run the Ninjavideo applet, its subtle reminders about how its data-mining your browsing behaviour for Google and lack of a built-in RSS reader (I know there’s an extension for that, but it’s not available for Mac yet and I don’t like using Google Reader) are big gaps that need to be filled.

Anyway, if you’re like me and have chosen to stick with Safari, then I urge you to check out Glims. Click the link.

Charlie Angus: The trouble with the secret Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement talks

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:14:26 -0500

Your Internet access could be revoked without conviction or any chance to appeal, just for watching your favourite TV show on-line. Those are the rules under a new, secretly negotiated international copyright agreement the Conservative government plans to sign.

The ongoing negotiations on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement could have profound implications for the development of digital culture in Canada. And yet, despite the fact that this treaty would criminalize the behaviour of thousands of citizens, few Canadians have ever heard of ACTA.

Little wonder.

Until the Tories were confronted last week in the House of Commons, they hadn’t even admitted that they were a party to these secret negotiations. The silence is staggering given the fact that the treaty would treat the occasional downloader as though they were a criminal bootlegger. Under the notorious “three strikes and you’re out” provision, ACTA would strip them of the right to even have an Internet account.

If you’re wondering how this treaty could be forced through without public input, just think back to the Conservative government’s very public promise to solicit average Canadians’ views on changes to the Copyright Act.

Last summer, Industry Minister Tony Clement and Heritage Minister James Moorebarnstormed the country in an attempt to convince Canadians that the Conservatives really did want to hear from citizens before drafting new copyright legislation. This sudden conversion to consultation was a direct result of the debacle over Bill C-61, the Conservatives’ previous attempt at copyright legislation.

ACTA goes way beyond C-61. As leaks emerge from the latest round of ACTA talks in South Korea, it becomes clear that the treaty is little more than a corporate wish list for the U.S. entertainment lobby. The treaty will force Canada to sign on to provisions that would be impossible to get passed through normal democratic legislative processes.

Under the treaty, Canadian laws on privacy and the standard presumption of innocence would be trumped by the right of corporations to snoop, threaten, and sue any Internet service provider or user for perceived infringements.

ACTA would enshrine absolute legal protection for digital locks even if these locks were used to maintain anti-competitive practices or to override existing rights that citizens normally enjoy, in terms of fair access for copyrighted works. Citizens who do nothing more than break the lock on their iPhone or back up protected DVDs would be treated like criminal bootleggers.

By far the most contentious element of the treaty is setting the stage for a “three strikes and you’re out” provision. This means that any Internet user who is called out for three supposed infringements of corporate copyright policy would be denied access to Internet accounts, a cruel punishment in the information age.

Such moves would go well beyond present copyright law and present serious implications for Canadian privacy and civic rights. So why is the government engaged in closed door negotiations that would essentially rob the Canadian Parliament of its right to establish new copyright rules?

Minister Clement claims that the ACTA treaty will remain subservient to Canadian legislation. Such a claim is hard to believe. But it does lead to one of two conclusions. The first is that the Conservative government’s public consultation process on copyright was a sham from the get-go, designed to divert attention while negotiators hammered out this new treaty.

The other possibility is that poor Clement was sincere in his desire to fix the debacle of Bill C-61, but that higher-ups in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade have been moving ahead with ACTA regardless.

Either way, the Tories have to come clean on ACTA. This treaty spells bad news for citizens, democratic rights, and the development of an innovation agenda. Canadian citizens need to get active and fight back. As it stands now, the Conservative government appears ready to sell us down the digital river to appease the U.S. corporate lobby.

Charlie Angus is the New Democratic Party’s critic for digital issues and the MP for Timmins-James Bay in Ontario.

(via The Georgia Straight)

Fuckyeahatheistcat!

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:50:01 -0500

Fuckyeahatheistcat!

Kitten Mittons, one size fits all (via Pinkcloud123321)

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:46:32 -0500

Kitten Mittons, one size fits all (via Pinkcloud123321)

Greenpeace, FTW

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:47:30 -0500

Greenpeace, FTW:

Twenty activists from Greenpeace have been arrested after they breached Parliament Hill security and unfurled giant banners blaming politicians for failing to tackle global warming. (via The Toronto Star)

Making A Glove Work With A Touch Screen

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:32:58 -0500

Making A Glove Work With A Touch Screen:

This is a pretty good idea. Thanks to CBC’s Spark for bringing it to my attention.

"Because collectors like to own things. Because people download music today and don’t show any sign..."

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:33:22 -0500

“Because collectors like to own things. Because people download music today and don’t show any sign of stopping. Because your plan to stop the chaos can’t be predicated on a massive, totally speculative shift in the behavior of the majority of Internet users if it is to be plausible.”

- Cory Doctorow, on why music streaming will fail.

Carlin from Zeus talks vinyl

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:29:07 -0500

Carlin from Zeus talks vinyl:

(via wurdnurd)

Me too! Fuckyeahpedobear! thepublics: (via bobbydigital) The...

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:21:47 -0500

Me too! Fuckyeahpedobear!

thepublics:

(via bobbydigital)

The hilarious/disturbing thing is that I looked at this image for a good 3 seconds before realizing something was amiss.

So, I’m preparing my final powerpoint Open Office seminar...

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:10:43 -0500

So, I’m preparing my final ~~powerpoint~~ Open Office seminar presentation on Strangelove’s The Empire of Mind. In the book, he analyzes the differences between corporate news media and non-corporate web-based media, essentially highlighting the non-corporate media’s ability to provide news unconstrained by the filters of capitalism. He looks at the coverage provided by both forms of media post-9/11 and during the lead-up to war. Basically, the independent media were the only ones willing to ask the tough questions (With us or against us? War profiteering?) while the corporate media rode the jingoism bandwagon all the way to Kabul, and eventually Baghdad.

Anyway, the point is that this is a slide from the presentation. It started as a joke, but I think I’m going to use it.

I have no problem with crowd-surfing. I do have a problem with...

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:36:00 -0500

I have no problem with crowd-surfing. I do have a problem with some of the hefty bros (see above) who insist on doing it at smaller shows. With the exception of big outdoor festivals with uber-dense crowds, no one over 150lbs — myself included — should be crowdsurfing. Just because you watched “Even Flow” on YouTube this morning doesn’t mean you have to be a pain in the ass.

That being said, I’m sad I missed the show. They killed it at the Horseshoe a while back…

areminder:

Japandroids/Biltmore/Vancouver/December09

Happy Caturday!

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:30:01 -0500

Happy Caturday!

"In the face of expanding commerce, we cannot lose sight of our fundamental responsibility -..."

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:00:25 -0500

“In the face of expanding commerce, we cannot lose sight of our fundamental responsibility - protecting Americans from imports that pose significant health and safety risks. Intellectual property theft and counterfeiting represents an emerging threat to the health and safety of American consumers.”

- U.S. Senator Evan Bayh FAILS to understand the meaning of intellectual property in his response to a constituent’s concerns about the forthcoming Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.

— On a related note, I totally regret illegally downloading the latest Spoon EP because it gave me swine flu and stole my wallet.

OMG! It’s like Gob actually got the job he applied for in...

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:46:26 -0500

OMG! It’s like Gob actually got the job he applied for in Arrested Development! I hope they work in some Fuck Mountain references.

robotindisguise:

The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret

A sitcom which stars: David Cross, Russell Tovey, Will Arnett, and Spike fucking Jonze.

From this scene this show looks awesome. Too bad it only airs in the U.K.

Recorded output aside, I saw R.E.M. a couple of years ago at the...

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:36:37 -0500

Recorded output aside, I saw R.E.M. a couple of years ago at the Sasquatch festival and they’re still a great live act.

grimmertown:

Goddamn these guys used to be great.

They put all the best jokes in the trailer. Srsly.

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:35:43 -0500

They put all the best jokes in the trailer. Srsly.

I made a pie chart to show the components of my diet…

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:21:30 -0500

I made a pie chart to show the components of my diet…