13 Oct 2012
Winter Nights 2012

Tonight we name the Winter Nights and once more Ravenswood will gather here at the farm for the celebration. The weather doesn't look like it's going to cooperate, with thunderstorms in the forecast. But a grand time will be had by all nonetheless.

09:56 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

Bill Nye Blasts Todd Akin

The Science Guy lays it down - I gotta find the video this references!

Bill Nye may still be The Science Guy, but he's no longer Mr. Nice Guy.

(link) [Daily Current]

Update:Damn, I wish this was true.

09:46 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

11 Oct 2012
Multiple-Choice Romney

Best. Political. Quote. Ever.

As for Romney, the best summation of his flip-flopping was provided by Ted Kennedy in a 1994 debate in Massachusetts: “I am pro-choice,” Kennedy said, before adding of Romney, “My opponent is multiple-choice.”
The subject then was abortion and Romney declared, “I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country.” In response to Kennedy’s jibe, he shot back, “You will not see me wavering on that or being multiple-choice.”

(link) [New York Times]

22:16 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

10 Oct 2012
If I Fly a UAV Over My Neighbor's House, Is It Trespassing?

can of wormsInteresting questions! When I was a kid I had a model rocket that had a still camera as it's payload - it snapped a picture when the parachute deployed. Was that spying?

Better yet - what if one of this fellows neighbors shoots down his UAV over the neighbors property? Who's liable for what?

Now does the illustration make sense?

My poor kitten, who my unfortunate Instagram contacts know too well, gets beat up every time he goes outside. There's a bully cat in the neighborhood who appears to relish in attacking cute, fluffy things as soon as they get out of human oversight. So, naturally, I bought a Parrot AR.Drone.2.0, a remote-controlled quadcopter with an HD camera attached, to see if I could spot where the punk bully cat hangs out.

(link) [The Atlantic]

19:42 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

09 Oct 2012
CEO emails 7,000 employees: Defeat Obama or else

"Tone deaf" doesn't due this guy justice. If Florida goes for Obama in November the Dems should send this idiot a thank you note.

Surprise. David Siegel, the resort CEO who is building the biggest private home in the country, really, really doesn't like President Obama.

(link) [CNN]

20:12 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

07 Oct 2012
Your right to resell your own stuff is in peril

If the appellate court ruling stands and the first sale doctrine is destroyed, this will have repercussions across the economy like a magnitude 10 earthquake.

Tucked into the U.S. Supreme Court’s agenda this fall is a little-known case that could upend your ability to resell everything from your grandmother’s antique furniture to your iPhone 4.

(link) [Marketwatch]

15:41 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

05 Oct 2012
Former Copyright Boss: New Technology Should Be Presumed Illegal

Wow. Just wow.

According to the former Register of Copyrights, Ralph Oman, under copyright law, any new technology should have to apply to Congress for approval and a review to make sure they don't upset the apple cart of copyright, before they're allowed to exist. I'm not joking. Mr. Oman, who was the Register of Copyright from 1985 to 1993 and was heavily involved in a variety of copyright issues, has filed an amicus brief in the Aereo case.

(link) [TechDirt]

13:23 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

04 Oct 2012
Creative Blocks

Fascinating discussion of the history and future of artificial intelligence research.

The lack of progress in AGI is due to a severe logjam of misconceptions. Without Popperian epistemology, one cannot even begin to guess what detailed functionality must be achieved to make an AGI. And Popperian epistemology is not widely known, let alone understood well enough to be applied. Thinking of an AGI as a machine for translating experiences, rewards and punishments into ideas (or worse, just into behaviours) is like trying to cure infectious diseases by balancing bodily humours: futile because it is rooted in an archaic and wildly mistaken world view.

(link) [Aeon Magazine]

09:55 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

How Browsers Work

For the terminally curious, in detail.

Web browsers are probably the most widely used software. In this book I will explain how they work behind the scenes. We will see what happens when you type 'google.com' in the address bar until you see the Google page on the browser screen.

(link)

09:52 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

03 Oct 2012
Some Salty Items

I'm cleaning out my "to be posted" folder, so here are a couple of articles on one of my favorite topics: salt.

It's Time to End the War on Salt

For decades, policy makers have tried and failed to get Americans to eat less salt. In April 2010 the Institute of Medicine urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate the amount of salt that food manufacturers put into products; New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has already convinced 16 companies to do so voluntarily. But if the U.S. does conquer salt, what will we gain? Bland french fries, for sure. But a healthy nation? Not necessarily

(link) [Scientitic American]

Salt, We Misjudged You

The first time I questioned the conventional wisdom on the nature of a healthy diet, I was in my salad days, almost 40 years ago, and the subject was salt. Researchers were claiming that salt supplementation was unnecessary after strenuous exercise, and this advice was being passed on by health reporters. All I knew was that I had played high school football in suburban Maryland, sweating profusely through double sessions in the swamplike 90-degree days of August. Without salt pills, I couldn’t make it through a two-hour practice; I couldn’t walk across the parking lot afterward without cramping.

(link) [New York Times]

21:33 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

02 Oct 2012
The Heinlein Maneuver

Found this gem from a mailing list - read it for a glimpse of genius. In fact, go ahead and browse the whole site for several such visions...

My only regret at living in this idyllic ivory tower surrounded by snow-covered mountains, deer, Chinese pheasants, tall pine trees, and silence is that while a writer needs a lot of silence, he also needs stimulating talk.

(link) [Letters of Note]

10:11 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

01 Oct 2012
Haunted by Our Amnesia

Fascinating article on some of the history of new religions in America. Camp Chesterfield, founded 1886, is still going strong here in Indiana.

It's amazing what you don't learn in school. Even more so, it's amazing how much "common knowledge" has absolutely nothing to do with the actual facts. I'm not talking about folk wisdom here but the assumptions that the majority of supposed experts cling to when discussing the reality that underlies our common lives.

(link) [The Teeming Brain]

via Letter from Hardscrabble Creek

21:22 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

30 Sep 2012
Tin Foil Hats Actually Make it Easier for the Government to Track Your Thoughts

OMG! It's a conspiracy! That's OK, though, because we know the truth about black helicopters.

Let's say some malevolent group -- the government, powerful corporations, extraterrestrials -- really is trying to read and/or control your thoughts with radio waves. Would the preferred headgear of the paranoid, a foil helmet, really keep The Man and alien overlords out of our brains?

(link) [The Atlantic]

09:38 /Humor | 2 comments | permanent link

The Case for Abolishing Patents

When even the Fed recognizes that patents are nothing more than the ultimate form of rent seeking, maybe we can make some move away from the current system.

Our patent system is a mess. It's a fount of expensive litigation that allows aging companies to linger around by bullying their more innovative competitors in court.

(link) [The Atlantic]

09:13 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

29 Sep 2012
Ancient Scandinavian Urn Wrapped in Fabric Made of Nettles

I had no idea that nettles could be used for fiber, but it's apparently an ancient technique. Here's some stinging nettle history and here's how to process it for fiber - seems very similar to working with flax.

A textile which was wrapped around an ancient urn in Denmark, previously thought to be cultivated flax, was recently re-examined by scientists and verified as imported wild nettles.

(link) [Latinos Post]

16:57 /Agriculture | 2 comments | permanent link

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