brainwagon

The Times Online reports that Britain is considering doubling the length of copyrights on pop classics, in an attempt to march in step with American laws. Currently Britain’s copyright protection lasts 50 years, while in the U.S. copyrights go for 90. Their justification? James Purnell, the new minister for creative industries, believes the change will […]

But I feel a full on rant coming on, brought on by my favorite corporate shill, Robert Scoble. I know, I know, he’s an easy target, but he really brings it on himself with absurd nonsense in defense of Microsoft. My rant today is response to this bit of absurdity which Scoble posted in response […]

For some reason, Dave Winer’s Scripting News hasn’t fallen off my blogslines blogroll. It must be for the “reality TV” factor, where people who should know better act out their personal issues for the shock and amusement of all. Witness today’s rant: Scripting News: 5/14/2005 Thing is — Adam’s star is fading, again. At some […]

Know how to get grumpy? Spend consecutive weekends in Reno and San Franscisco in the company of lots of people and food, and then go to your Sunday Weight Watchers and discover that you’ve put on nine f*cking pounds. Nine pounds. I f*cking hate this crappy pudgy body. You work and work and work and […]

Periodically Slashdot runs a story to punch the creation versus evolution button. I must admit, it’s one of my hot button topics. I’d could rant substantially about it, but instead I’ll just ask that you read the comments and see how many of its proponents seem to be unable to spell the word “intelligent”. A […]

This morning as I was driving in (and running late since traffic was bad, and the UPS outlet where I was supposed to be able to pick up my monitor wasn’t even open so I went out of my way for nothing and… oh, never mind, I digress) and our local PBS affiliate ran a […]

I’ve supported the notion that I think that the world is a much better place when people can communicate with one another. It’s one of the reasons that I blog. Sometimes, this is a hard philosophy to live with. Creationist knuckledragger Ken Ham has apparently figured out how to use WordPress and podcast. Sigh. I […]

Cowardice. It saddens Scoble. Is it really surprising that a company as large, predatory, and self-centered as Microsoft might not be a good guardian of individual rights? Let’s face it: companies aren’t good guardians of individual rights. The best you can hope is that they just stay out of the way. But it’s hopelessly naive […]

There is a bit of a tizzy going around some of the blogs I frequent about the Nikon D2X. You see, Nikon has decided to encrypt some of the information in their NEF or “raw” format, so that you need to use their utilities or their SDK to get appropriate color correction of pictures from […]

Over on the Register, there is an article on the ongoing row between Linus Torvalds, Andrew Tridgell, author of the Samba software you’ll find as part of many operating system distributions, and Larry McVoy, CEO of Bitkeeper software, the proprietary revision control software which is used to help maintain order in the Linux kernel source […]

Lisa has some comments for the writers on CSI, so I thought I’d pile on with a couple of my own: The original CSI still has the best characters of any of the shows, but they are slipping. Early episodes actually presented them as secondary plot elements, not merely props to advance the plotline. Get […]

New instant messaging phone for your son Free Ability to have him ignore your calls when you call him Free Ability for him to call you and remind you that he needs some money Free What happens when he starts talking to a new girl and spends ten 24 hour days on the phone $560 […]

My BS-o-meter was tripped today while I was reading this article on Media Matters. One of the doctors appointed by the Florida court to examine Terri Schiavo, Dr. William Hammesfahr, was repeatedly referred to as a “Nobel prize nominee”. Sigh. Apparently he got “nominated” because his Congressmen sent the Nobel committee a letter saying he […]

My blog is mostly a lark. Someone once said that sports were invented just so men would have something to talk about besides themselves and their feelings when they congregate in groups, and this blog serves much the same purpose. But some people think bigger thoughts, and I enjoy reading their blogs too. Again, I […]

A special circle of hell is reserved just for this guy, where rabbits will gnaw on this guys privates for eternity while munching on carrots whose greens resemble dollar bills. That dog won’t hunt, Monsenior. Update: I’ve been had. Check out Snopes. (Thanks John!)