Links

It’s been awhile between “links” posts as I’ve been trying to not flood the world with things I find interesting. Here are a few choice links, though, for your enjoyment.

If you’re in the US, and are legally permitted to do so, I hope that you’ve voted today. We’ll see what tomorrow brings, but if you didn’t vote, it’s all your fault, and I shall blame you for whatever happens.

Comics:

1. SMBC Comic 10/11/2012    10 October 2012, 9:00 pm

In keeping up with copyright / patent issues, the comic above does a wonderful job of demonstrating just why there are issues.

Computing:

1. Analyzing the Windows 8 Metro/Desktop interface train wreck    31 October 2012, 9:01 am
2. Do you want to be programming at 50?    30 October 2012, 9:32 am
3. How To Strip DRM from Kindle E-Books and Others    23 October 2012, 8:01 am

If you read nothing else from this section, you really should know how to strip out the “digital rights management” from your ebooks (link 3). Truly. In my mind, if you’ve bought it, you own it, and should have the right to keep it, regardless of whether your ebook reader breaks. So, to your benefit, learn how to keep things. It’s also to the benefit of the world, as hopefully some of our current literature will be preserved … but this is very much in doubt, because of greed. So: learn how to strip out the evil code, and keep your ebooks for the future.

Education / Research:

1. Fraud, not error, accounts for most scientific retractions    8 October 2012, 7:59 pm
2. A Tale of Two Countries: New Zealand Apologizes for Illegal Domestic Spying, While US Still Refuses to Acknowledge NSA’s Warrantless Wiretapping    5 October 2012, 3:25 pm
3. California Governor Vetoes Landmark Location-Privacy Law    2 October 2012, 10:39 am
4. Climate scientist gets compared to Jerry Sandusky, files libel suit    29 October 2012, 5:59 pm
5. Google loses Australia ‘gangland’ defamation lawsuit    31 October 2012, 9:03 am
6. Governor Brown Vetoes California Electronic Privacy Protection. Again.    1 October 2012, 4:55 pm
7. Pearson takes down 1.5 million teacher/student blogs with a single DMCA notice    15 October 2012, 7:17 pm
8. President Romney Can Thank Obama for His Permanent Robotic Death List    24 October 2012, 8:06 am
9. ‘The Right to Be Forgotten’: US Lobbyists Face Off with EU on Data Privacy Proposal    17 October 2012, 2:29 am

I’m quite pleased with links 5 and 8, frankly. Have a think about it, please. Link 7, though, wipes away the joy.

Medical Science:

1. Huge breakthrough in “direct to brain” learning    8 October 2012, 8:00 pm
2. Is Alzheimer’s Type 3 Diabetes?    2 October 2012, 12:33 pm
3. Muse: The Brain-Sensing Headband    1 November 2012, 12:11 pm
4. Yet Another Study Casts Doubt On The Heart Benefits Of Fish Oil    8 October 2012, 9:23 am

Link 1 is kind of creepy, and kind of cool: apparently, you can learn things without being conscious of having learned them. This poses all sorts of interesting questions, particularly since you don’t have to be aware of having learned. Where will this go? I imagine that we’ll find out! Link 2 is very interesting, and link 3 is a very cool product that I wish I had the cash to buy. Link 4 is definitely worth a read, if only so you’ll understand that all science isn’t definitive.

Miscellany:

1. How Authors Write    5 November 2012, 5:54 pm
2. Woman Posts Boyfriend Request on GitHub, Requires Access to His Server    23 October 2012, 7:58 am

Link 1 is interesting, link 2 is just … odd.

Museum / Library / Archive:

1. Last Chance to Quiz Granddad: Book Stirs Interest in Families’ Nazi-Era History    4 October 2012, 2:37 am
2. Scientists Recover Oldest Playable American Recording    29 October 2012, 8:32 am

The first link is interesting on a number of levels. First, of course, is the history which is dying out. That’s not what struck me, though: what struck me was the language used to encourage people to interview their elderly relatives. It was interesting because I’ve had a read over a friend’s PhD thesis, about the use of archives by the Nazis, and the language they used was very much the same, but for a very different purpose: proving one’s “purity.” I wonder at the Germans, I really do.

Politics:

1. Destroyed by Total Capitalism: America Has Already Lost Tuesday’s Election    5 November 2012, 9:07 am

It’s a bit of a rant, but there are some elements of truth / reality in it. Depending upon your political leanings, you’ll either find it offensive or dead-on, I think. Please read it, though, as I think there are some important philosophical points to be made in there.

-D