WATCHISMO TIME MACHINES - Timing is everything...
Portuguese rights society presents lists of supporters for a digital media tax; composer says he never gave consent to be included on the list Polish MPs wear Guy Fawkes masks to protest ACTA Scunthorpe photographer faces down abusive security guards at Golden Wonder factory who want to enforce imaginary law against taking pictures from the public pavement Chief ACTA Eurocrat quits in disgust at lack of democratic fundamentals in global copyright treaty Future World Orchestra: Desire (1982) Robert Hegyes, aka "Juan Epstein," RIP "My Favorite Museum Exhibit": The Bishop's Rectum "My Favorite Museum Exhibit": Arab Courier Attacked by Lions Three extra hours a day Vintage photos transformed into superhero portraits Tibet: China's bloody crackdown on Tibetan protesters escalates, as self-immolations continue Twitter caves to global censorship, will block content on country-specific basis as required Bank robber shoots himself in foot Report: North Carolina aviation company handled extraordinary rendition flights for CIA Toronto teens send Lego Minifig up 78,000 feet The MegaUpload Shutdown Effect How a dead paper mill in Finland became a model for future Google data centers Guatemala: at long last, ex-dictator Rios Montt in court over possible genocide charges Deranged IHOP commercial slowed down The Osmonds, slowed into Death Metal The human cost of technology Die Antwoord gets a New York Times profile Watch a Mongolian family assemble their yurt in fast-forward video SFO unveils world's first (?) dedicated yoga room within an airport NASA releases "most amazing high-definition" photo of earth, from space Kim Dotcom, allegedly Guy who built epic "Star Trek Apartment" may lose it in divorce Bloomberg's amazing -- and rejected -- Mitt Romney cover On fixing academic publishing Reuters' Anthony deRosa interviews tech folk at Davos (video) Portuguese rights society presents lists of supporters for a digital media tax; composer says he never gave consent to be included on the list
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 27, 2012 10:54 am Carlos sez, "A Portuguese Authors Association was caught faking authors' names in support of an abusive proposed law to add a copyright tax to every gigabyte of digital storage." António Pinho Vargas (one of my most appreciated Portuguese music composers, you should check his Tom Waits if you don't know him) has came forth and ...
Read in browser Polish MPs wear Guy Fawkes masks to protest ACTA
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 27, 2012 09:01 am The streets of Poland have erupted in protest on the eve of the country's signing onto ACTA, the secretive copyright treaty that is being rammed through many European Parliaments this year. Members of Parliament showed up for work wearing Anon-style Guy Fawkes masks to show their disapproval. After the signing, protesters rallied in the Polish ...
Read in browser Scunthorpe photographer faces down abusive security guards at Golden Wonder factory who want to enforce imaginary law against taking pictures from the public pavement
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 27, 2012 08:42 am In this video, Hamst, a proud resident of Scunthorpe who enjoys taking photos of local landmarks for the Visit Scunthorpe site confronts two very nasty security guards for the Golden Wonder factory. The guards are furious that he is taking pictures of the factory from the public pavement and they shower him with threats and ...
Read in browser Chief ACTA Eurocrat quits in disgust at lack of democratic fundamentals in global copyright treaty
By Cory Doctorow on Jan 27, 2012 08:27 am Kader Arif, the EU "rapporteur" for ACTA (a copyright treaty negotiated in secret, which contains all the worst elements of SOPA, and which is coming to a vote in the EU) has turned in his report and resigned from his job, delivering a scathing rebuke to the EU negotiators and parliamentarians, and the global corporations ...
Read in browser Future World Orchestra: Desire (1982)
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 27, 2012 05:10 am A modern electronica duo can only dream of being as good as Future World Orchestra. [via Robert Popper]
Read in browser Robert Hegyes, aka "Juan Epstein," RIP
By David Pescovitz on Jan 27, 2012 12:56 am "Hey, Mr. Kotter, I got a note!" Robert Hegyes who played Juan Luis Pedro Philippo DeHuevos Epstein on "Welcome Back Kotter" has died. "Robert Hegyes dies at 60" (Variety)
Read in browser "My Favorite Museum Exhibit": The Bishop's Rectum
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jan 26, 2012 11:07 pm Earlier this week, I challenged readers to send me photos of their favorite museum exhibits and specimens, preferably from museums that might go overlooked in the tourism pantheon. Over the next few days, I'll be posting some of these submissions, under the heading, "My Favorite Museum Exhibit". Want to see them all? Check the "Previously" ...
Read in browser "My Favorite Museum Exhibit": Arab Courier Attacked by Lions
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Jan 26, 2012 10:52 pm Earlier this week, I challenged readers to send me photos of their favorite museum exhibits and specimens, preferably from museums that might go overlooked in the tourism pantheon. Over the next few days, I'll be posting some of these submissions, under the heading, "My Favorite Museum Exhibit". Want to see them all? Check the "Previously" ...
Read in browser Three extra hours a day
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 26, 2012 10:26 pm Brian Lam on finding happiness after absorbing too much Internet as a too-busy website editor. With my three extra hours a day, I will often go to the beach. Cook a healthy meal. Do a bunch of exercise. Have a drink with friends. Read a book. Write a poem. Mow the lawn. Go skiing while ...
Read in browser Vintage photos transformed into superhero portraits
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 26, 2012 10:25 pm Rachel Hobson of CRAFT correctly figures (in my case, anyway), " you'll enjoy this series of vintage photographs that have been transformed into portraits of superheroes by artist Alex Gross."
Read in browser Tibet: China's bloody crackdown on Tibetan protesters escalates, as self-immolations continue
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 26, 2012 10:15 pm Ethnic Tibetans throughout Tibet this week held some of the largest demonstrations against Chinese rule in four years. Chinese forces responded by shooting protesters. Up to 5 are said to have been killed and more than 30 wounded, according to Tibetan advocacy groups. On January 9, a 42-year-old monk became the latest in a continuing ...
Read in browser Twitter caves to global censorship, will block content on country-specific basis as required
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 26, 2012 09:31 pm A new Twitter policy which goes into effect today allows the social network "to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country," so that Twitter can further expand globally and "enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression." The Twitter blog post announcing this news was titled "Tweets still ...
Read in browser Bank robber shoots himself in foot
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 26, 2012 09:31 pm [Video Link] A bank robber in Brazil shot himself in the foot. In the video he is seen limping away with his cohorts. He was later arrested while receiving treatment at a nearby hospital. (Via Arbroath)
Read in browser Report: North Carolina aviation company handled extraordinary rendition flights for CIA
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 26, 2012 09:24 pm From Physicians for Human Rights: "A report (PDF) prepared by professors and students at the University of North Carolina School of Law states that the CIA has been relying on Aero Contractors, Ltd., a North Carolina operated civil aviation company to transport detainees to international destinations for detention, interrogation and torture."
Read in browser Toronto teens send Lego Minifig up 78,000 feet
By Mark Frauenfelder on Jan 26, 2012 09:19 pm Goli of MAKE says: Two young makers from Toronto, Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad, both age 17, successfully sent a Lego minifig and four cameras to roughly 78,000 feet elevation on a homemade weather balloon. After a 97-minute flight, the balloon returned to Earth with great footage of the journey. Inspired by a similar project ...
Read in browser The MegaUpload Shutdown Effect
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 26, 2012 09:17 pm "With enough global data, you can actually see the traffic drop when the shutdown occurs." Internet traffic analysists at Arbor Networks examined recent worldwide data flow and determined that Megaupload was taken offline just after 19:00 GMT on January 19. Internet traffic all over the world dropped in the two hours that followed. Top users ...
Read in browser How a dead paper mill in Finland became a model for future Google data centers
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 26, 2012 09:13 pm "In February of 2009, Google paid about $52 million for an abandoned paper mill in Hamina, Finland, after deciding that the 56-year-old building was the ideal place to build one of the massive computing facilities that serve up its myriad online services." Wired on the future of Google data centers, with a focus on this ...
Read in browser Guatemala: at long last, ex-dictator Rios Montt in court over possible genocide charges
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 26, 2012 09:01 pm Cloths embroidered with signs are seen in front of the Supreme Court of Justice in Guatemala City January 26, 2012. Former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt, who ruled the country from 1980-1982 during a bloody civil war, went to the Supreme Court of Justice to declare for the genocide accusations committed during the armed conflict. ...
Read in browser Deranged IHOP commercial slowed down
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 26, 2012 08:57 pm Originally posted by Cory, this is from 1969 and involves helium balloons. The vocal effect, however, was accomplished not with vocal cord-tightening gas, but Chipmunk-style—with threats and coercion, perhaps. Accordingly, I slowed it down to reveal the original, nightmarish, vocal recording. JUST. FOR. THE. FUN. (Monster approaches) [Thanks, Heather!]
Read in browser The Osmonds, slowed into Death Metal
By David Pescovitz on Jan 26, 2012 08:54 pm If The Osmonds were a death metal band, "Crazy Horses" might have sounded something like this. Dangerous Minds' Marc Campbell added the visuals. "ARMAGEDDON ROCK: THE VERY METAL SOUND OF THE OSMONDS" (Thanks, Tara!)
Read in browser The human cost of technology
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 26, 2012 08:41 pm The New York Times on the human cost of industrial accidents at Apple's foreign suppliers: Troubling, the groups say, is some suppliers' disregard for workers' health. Two years ago, 137 workers at an Apple supplier in eastern China were injured after they were ordered to use a poisonous chemical to clean iPhone screens. Within seven ...
Read in browser Die Antwoord gets a New York Times profile
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 26, 2012 08:18 pm Ninja, Yo-Landi, and their South African art/zef/rap/rave phenomenon get a NYT Magazine profile this week—complete with a portrait by legendary South African photographer Roger Ballen. (thanks, Mike Mechanic)
Read in browser Watch a Mongolian family assemble their yurt in fast-forward video
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 26, 2012 08:14 pm [Video Link] Shot by multimedia journalist Dan Grossman, who writes: The nomadic people of Mongolia don't stay in one place for long. That's why they live in gers (which American's know by the Russian name, yurt), a home that is fast and easy to assemble and disassemble. Putting up a ger (pronounced gair) is fast ...
Read in browser SFO unveils world's first (?) dedicated yoga room within an airport
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 26, 2012 07:41 pm Officials at San Francisco International Airport today unveiled what is said to be the first dedicated practice space for yoga in any airport, anywhere in the world. I'm not surprised to see it's in SFO's newly revamped Terminal 2, a swankily-designed space where Virgin America is based, and some really fantastic food vendors abound. So ...
Read in browser NASA releases "most amazing high-definition" photo of earth, from space
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 26, 2012 07:29 pm NASA today released a so-called 'Blue Marble' image of Earth captured by the VIIRS instrument on NASA's most recently launched Earth-observing satellite, the Suomi NPP. The composite image above "uses a number of swaths of the Earth's surface taken on January 4, 2012." Larger sizes here (hello, new computer desktop image!)
Read in browser Kim Dotcom, allegedly
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 26, 2012 07:14 pm This splendid work, by Aurich Lawson, is a perfect aperitif for Sean Gallagher's wonderful article about the ridiculous but astoundingly successful con artist, Quake cheat and entrepreneur Kim Dotcom.
Read in browser Guy who built epic "Star Trek Apartment" may lose it in divorce
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 26, 2012 07:01 pm Oh, this makes me so sad. Tony Alleyne, the trekkie, club DJ, and "house-modder" who redesigned his British flat to be a faithful replica of the Starship Enterprise? Looks like he may lose it in divorce proceedings. His ex owns the flat, and wants to sell it as "a conventional dwelling," according to tabloid reports. ...
Read in browser Bloomberg's amazing -- and rejected -- Mitt Romney cover
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 26, 2012 06:39 pm It's not hard to see why Bloomberg Businessweek chose not to run with this remarkable illustration of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The creative director is Richard Turley; the rest of the design crew follows: Creative Director: Richard Turley Design Director: Cynthia Hoffman Graphic Director: Jennifer Daniel Graphics Editor: Kenton Powell, Evan Applegate Director of ...
Read in browser On fixing academic publishing
By Rob Beschizza on Jan 26, 2012 06:35 pm Nancy Sims, of the University of Minnesota Libraries, responds to The Atlantic's criticisms of JSTOR, an academic database that can be difficult and expensive to access: "There are things JSTOR does that I do have issues with. I wish it was doing more to provide more open access to the public domain materials it holds, ...
Read in browser Reuters' Anthony deRosa interviews tech folk at Davos (video)
By Xeni Jardin on Jan 26, 2012 06:34 pm There's a fun online video series at Reuters TV called "Tech Tonic" that currently features host and Twitter star @antderosa interviewing technology figures at Davos.
Read in browser 
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