Quotulatiousness

July 31, 2009

In Europe, as few as 11 words may be copyright-protected

Filed under: Europe, Law — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 16:59

An interesting, and potentially disturbing court decision in Europe implies that copying as few as 11 words from a news article may qualify as copyright infringement:

In other words, the program might catch the good bits that make a newspaper article worthy of copyright protection. But the ECJ said it’s up to national courts to decide if any particular article is “original in the sense that they are their author’s own intellectual creation” and thus protected by copyright.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press has been pushing the boundaries of fair use to go after websites that lift as few as 33 words. It would appear the AP now has some precedent to attack so long as it can convince national courts its stories qualify for protection.

On the basis of the blockquote above, The Register will be coming after me, as I’ve copied a lot more than 11 (or even 33) words from their article.

If this filters down to national courts — and AP will do everything they can to ensure that it does — expect a sudden gagging feeling across the blogosphere . . .

Cue up the ominous music . . .

Filed under: Asia, Science — Tags: — Nicholas @ 12:58

. . . ’cause it’s the return of Krakatoa:

Krakatoa_July2009(Detail of image from the article)

With an explosive force 13,000 times the power of the atomic bomb that annihilated Hiroshima, the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa killed more than 36,000 people and radically altered global weather and temperatures for years afterwards.

The eruption was so violent and catastrophic that no active volcano in modern times has come close to rivalling it, not even the spectacular eruption of Mount St Helens in the U.S. in 1980. Now, almost a century-and-a-half on, are we about to experience the horrors of Krakatoa once again?

‘Volcanic prediction is getting better,’ says Professor Jon Davidson, chair of Earth Science at Durham University and a volcanologist who has studied Krakatoa first-hand. ‘But we are never going to be able to fully predict big and unusual eruptions, precisely because they are unusual.’

Yet there is little doubt that if Krakatoa were to erupt again with such force and fury, the impact would be far more devastating than that which was experienced in the 19th century.

H/T to Nick Packwood.

QotD: It’s the institutions, not the people

Filed under: Liberty, Quotations, USA — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 12:16

But after you put down the peace pipe, a legitimate and important difference remains. It’s structural, and cultural, and (over the past four decades of relentless Drug Warring and Constitution-eroding), judicial as well. There is a strain in law enforcement, backed by various vague statutes, thousands of politicians, and everyone who tends to side with authority against an obnoxious popoff, in which it’s considered perfectly acceptable form to arrest, detain, or otherwise punish a non-threatening person for being an asshole. This includes the perceived assholery of yelling about one’s real (and sometimes imagined) trampled rights. If a person is considered undesirable by a police officer, for whatever reason, it’s far too easy to ruin his day, even if no law has remotely been broken. And as Balko has led the world in documenting, the literal militarization of domestic police forces, combined with awful Drug War-related enforcement, has caused grave injustice and the death of innocents.

The past two weeks has been a conversation about race, I guess (I tend to tune out such things pretty quickly, being a privileged white male and all). It’s always appropriate to point out, as in the Drug War in general, that disfavored minority groups (whether defined by skin color, class, lifestyle choice, politics, or whatever) will take a disproportionate brunt of abused power. But thankfully in modern America, when we peel back the general stereotype to the specific individual, most people (least I don’t think) aren’t racists and aren’t assholes. It may take two weeks to make that realization, or two decades, but after that you’re left with the underlying structural problem, one that might be even harder to dislodge. The pendulum of law enforcement in this country, as relates to the individual citizen, has for far too long swung in the same Constitution/individual-disrespecting direction.

Matt Welch, “‘When he’s not arresting you, Sergeant Crowley is a really likable guy'”, Hit and Run, 2009-07-31

Yesterday’s wine tour

Filed under: Cancon, Wine — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 07:52

I took the day off yesterday, but not just for a wine tour (that was the bonus on the day). It was only a brief tour — three wineries — but I tried to make the most of the time available.

First stop was at one of my all-time favourite wineries, Kacaba Vineyards. They’re best known for their red wines, but I usually find their Chardonnay to be well worth trying. This visit was no exception, as they were having a sale on their unoaked Chardonnay ($100 per case, which is insanely cheap for a very pleasant summer quaffer).

After lunch at the About Thyme Bistro (one of the best new restaurants in Ontario), we headed over to Flat Rock Cellars, where Sam discovered an unexpected taste for both Reisling and heavily oaked Chardonnay (Sam didn’t think of herself as a wine drinker, but this tour may have started to change her mind). My mother really enjoyed the “Red Twisted” blend, which is primarily Pinot Noir.

The last stop on our brief visit to the area was Strewn, where the 2007 vintage hasn’t yet been released (to my disappointment), but the 2006’s are still going strong. I picked up a few bottles of the Terroir Merlot (which is drinking nicely now) and the Terroir Cabernet Sauvignon (which really needs a few more years to mellow out the tannins).

Then it was time to hit the road, in hopes of avoiding the worst of the traffic. Hopes partially fulfilled . . . the QEW was very heavy from St. Catharines to Burlington, but the 407/ETR was fast moving (as hoped).

July 30, 2009

QotD: Conspiracy unmasked!

Filed under: Cancon, Politics, Quotations — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 08:18

As a Charter Member of the Canadian Vast-Right Wing Conspiracy, Toronto Chapter, let me express my shock and horror at being discovered. Yes, me and the PM go way back. Oh, how we used to laugh away the nights, with talk of throwing widows and orphans into the cold winter night. That’s Social Darwinism, baby! Then we used to slap some waitresses around, because that’s what us right wing guys do. I used to sell bumpstickers that said “Scrooge was Right!” My winter coat is made of adorable puppy fur. The Prime Minister has a matching coat I gave him for Christmas.

Everytime Stephen Harper slashes a social program he laughs manically. I’ve seen him do it. He signs the Orders in Council with the blood of orphans. He says orphan blood flows more smoothly than that of children who are loved. Laureen Harper is not a real blond, it’s a wig. Part of an elaborate disguise to hide her actual Cruella de Vil looks. There is a hidden agenda and you clever folks have figured it all out.

The typical voter is just too dumb to understand the vast and subtle complexity of our plot. It’s rather clever. You see Stephie — as his friends call him — has for the last three years tried to lull Canadians to sleep, except you vigilant chaps. Way back in 2004-5 the federal government’s expenditures stood at $210.5 billion. Under two years of brilliant neo-con rule the expenditures reached $232.8 billion for 2007-8. By 2009-10 expenditures are projected to reach $258.6 billion. Hold on, you say, those are substantial increases? Exactly! By increasing government spending the Conservatives have convinced Canadians they are nice and friendly quasi-socialists. But just wait for that majority government! They’ll start cutting like there is no tomorrow, and for you Left-wing chaps that’s about right.

Publius, “News Alert: Stephen Harper Has a Hidden Agenda”, Gods of the Copybook Headings, 2009-07-29

Organic food shock: no better than non-organic

Filed under: Environment, Food, Science, Wine — Nicholas @ 07:59

This is another one of those “someone paid money to conduct the study?” studies. Organic food has been a boon to certain producers, but it doesn’t provide the kind of benefits most purchasers expect:

But organic is certainly more expensive. A new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition finds:

On the basis of a systematic review of studies of satisfactory quality, there is no evidence of a difference in nutrient quality between organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs. The small differences in nutrient content detected are biologically plausible and mostly relate to differences in production methods.

The study was commissioned by Britain’s Food Standards Agency.

I’ve been skeptical about the claims for “organic” products for quite some time. Similarly, I’m not convinced that there’s any great value in the “biodynamic” model for wine. My strong suspicion is that the same general quality of wine would be produced without all the new age woo-woo mystic crap, because the vineyard owner or manager is paying closer attention to the vines. That, IMO, is the key.

Another argument against “intelligent design”

Filed under: Science — Tags: — Nicholas @ 07:36

Actually, ten arguments:

1 Sea mammal blowhole. Any animal that spends appreciable time in the ocean should be able to extract oxygen from water via gills. Enlarging the lungs and moving a nostril to the back of the head is a poor work-around.

2 Hyena clitoris. When engorged, this “pseudopenis,” which doubles as the birth canal, becomes so hard it can crush babies to death during exit.

3 Kangaroo teat. In order to nurse, the just-born joey, a frail and squishy jellybean, must clamber up Mom’s torso and into her pouch for a nipple.

Latest threat to world civilization

Filed under: Technology — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 07:25

OMG! Everybody panic!

It’s bad enough that the iPhone can, according to Apple itself, be used to crash cell towers, but apparently they can be very easily hijacked, too:

If you receive a text message on your iPhone any time after Thursday afternoon containing only a single square character, Charlie Miller would suggest you turn the device off. Quickly.

That small cipher will likely be your only warning that someone has taken advantage of a bug that Miller and his fellow cybersecurity researcher Collin Mulliner plan to publicize Thursday at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas. Using a flaw they’ve found in the iPhone’s handling of text messages, the researchers say they’ll demonstrate how to send a series of mostly invisible SMS bursts that can give a hacker complete power over any of the smart phone’s functions. That includes dialing the phone, visiting Web sites, turning on the device’s camera and microphone and, most importantly, sending more text messages to further propagate a mass-gadget hijacking.

The researchers say they’ve notified Apple about the vulnerability, but that Apple had not provided a fix.

Everybody sing: “It’s the end of the world as we know it, it’s the end of the world as we know it . . .”

Update, 31 July: Apple has announced that it will be releasing a fix to this problem on August 1st.

Update, the second, 31 July: The folks on the Apple-iPhone mailing list say the fix has escaped and is now available through iTunes. I’ll be downloading the update as soon as I get home . . .

July 29, 2009

Another lost WW2 combat aircraft discovered

Filed under: History, Military — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 20:28

This time it’s a US Navy carrier plane:

On May 28, 1945, the SB2C-4 Helldiver was on a practice bombing run from a nearby aircraft carrier. The crew members survived the emergency landing.

At the time, the Navy opted not to recover the plane.

Yesterday, Raia said she couldn’t comment on how long it will take Navy officials to decide whether to salvage the plane. Typically, the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Fla., plays a major role in the evaluation process.

One of the pilots is believed to be 90 years old and living in Michigan, but the Navy hasn’t provided his name.

“Wouldn’t that be something to fly him out here and have him standing on the shoreline when they lift the plane out?” Manville said.

That’d be cool . . . as long as they don’t make him pay for the recovery of the plane.

Not at all sure how to take these . . .

Filed under: Politics, USA — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 17:25

. . . paintings of Barack Obama with a unicorn. This is a not-unrepresentative example:

obama-painting2

Obama, Stalin, a unicorn, and House. I’m having difficulties coming up with a connection other than they’re all on the same image here.

H/T to John Scalzi for the link.

QotD: Conspiracy theorists

Filed under: Government, Politics, Quotations, USA — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 14:29

Science fiction writer Damon Knight once claimed that the popularity of conspiracy theories could be explained by our “desire to believe that there is some group of folks who know what they’re doing.”

Wishful thinking. And few “groups of folks” have displayed less aptitude in the art of keeping secrets than government.

Yet no matter who is in power, no matter how incompetent they may be, there always exists this irate minority that believes politicians possess supernatural powers of deception.

The mystery the nation faces isn’t President Barack Obama’s birth certificate. The mystery is how any American could believe that all the president’s former political opponents, both the Republican and Democratic parties, Hawaiian officials and two Honolulu newspapers (nay, the entire press corps) could work in concert to conceal the biggest con of the eon.

David Harsanyi, “Close Encounters of the Absurd Kind: What the Obama birth certificate conspiracy says about American politics”, Reason Online, 2009-07-29

Jim Souhan castigates the Vikings

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 09:43

I’m happy that the Favre circus is finally over (please, please, please don’t restart the melodrama). Jim Souhan pulls no punches in letting the guilty parties know:

Brett Favre, the Hamlet of Hattiesburg, finally made a decision, finally told the Vikings that, after teasing them for months, he intends to remain retired.

Favre should be ashamed of himself for toying with an entire organization. The Vikings should be ashamed of themselves for investing hope and faith in the most self-absorbed great quarterback in NFL history.

Favre was the Vikings’ human lottery ticket, and the Vikings today feel like anyone who ever wasted their money on a long shot. The initial rush of adrenaline has been replaced by nausea and regret.

[. . .]

Vikings coach Brad Childress, who kept his players in the dark while winking at Favre, now must pretend that he was a luxury instead of a necessity, that his current quarterbacks are good enough to win a playoff game, that this 12-car pileup of a courtship was nothing more than a fender bender. Nothing to see here, folks; please move along.

Jackson and Rosenfels will sheepishly take first-team snaps early in camp, knowing the Vikings preferred a 40-ish serial retiree coming off arm surgery over them.

It’s that last part that really stings: how can you expect either Jackson or Rosenfels to act as if they have the full backing of the coaches and the ownership after this five-act farce? Jackson has already had the confidence-sapping experience of being benched for an extended period, while Rosenfels came to town finally believing he’d been given the chance to earn the starting role. Yet the Vikings clearly wanted someone else to come in and take the helm.

The only thing worse that the Vikings could do now is to start flirting with the idea of signing Michael Vick.

Green Bay’s plans work to perfection

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 09:13

You’ve got to hand it to those slick guys in Green Bay. They crafted the perfect distraction to keep Minnesota off balance and unsettled, by dangling the possibility of Brett Favre joining the Vikings. I don’t know how they got Brett to go along with it, but it has jerked the Vikings fanbase every which way for months, and will continue to be a divisive factor throughout the pre-season and into the start of the regular season. Hats off, Packer braintrust . . . you’ve more than earned your espionage bonuses this season.

I’m only surprised that Favre didn’t keep this “will-I-or-won’t-I” charade going for another couple of weeks.

Personally, I’m relieved that he’s staying retired (I called for him to stay retired the day the news broke). As recently as May, a majority of Minnesotans didn’t want the Vikings to sign him.

Of course, the local media appears to have really wanted the Favre-a-palooza to come to town:

All the hoopla, mystery and angst ended Tuesday, however, when the Vikings learned Favre won’t be joining the team.

After three months of buildup that seemed destined to end with the future Hall of Fame quarterback in purple, Favre called Vikings coach Brad Childress and told him he would remain retired. The call came a day before the Vikings report to training camp in Mankato, and three days before the team’s first practice.

The decision could be a blow to a team considered a Super Bowl contender with Favre, who holds every significant NFL passing record. His presence also would have guaranteed sellouts for a franchise that has struggled to sell tickets in recent seasons.

Now we’ll see how Coach Childress and the ownership try to rebuild their relationship with Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels, who are probably rightfully feeling unwanted and unappreciated.

July 28, 2009

And now, in our special poetry section, William Shatner

Filed under: Politics, USA — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 12:42

This is, according to Peter Suderman, “an actual, unedited passage from her speech”.

Shatner flubs a word or two right around the bit about “ice fogged frigid beauty,” but otherwise, this is lifted verbatim. Students of Washington are used to politicians who don’t make sense, but this is rather more brazen than is typical. I think I have to agree with Gawker’s Alex Pareene: Palin is growing steadily more incoherent as we watch.

Still, there may be an upside: With luck, the discovery of her lyrical talents will end Palin’s terrifying political career and usher in the happy day when aimless lit majors can spend four years puzzling over her “verbiage” in order to turn out papers with titles like “Gertrude Stein and Robert Frost: Sarah Palin’s Poetic Lineage.”

Update: And in a stunning, but not-at-all-unexpected move, NBC Universal has demanded that this clip be removed by YouTube. Idiots. Do they fail to understand that clips like this might bring untold numbers who didn’t see that part of the show live to watch the show now?

If you didn’t see it, it was a reading by William Shatner of a highly poetic (for certain values of “poetic”) section of former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin’s resignation speech. If you can find a non-interdicted-by-NBC-Universal-version, do watch/listen. It’s more than worth the price of admission.

NBC Universal, while your claim may be legal under current law . . . you demonstrate both your ignorance of popular culture and your contempt for the very people who made you successful in the first place. Nice work. Give yourself a bonus . . . while you’re still profitable.

Boeing’s Dreamliner woes

Filed under: Technology — Tags: — Nicholas @ 12:28

The amazing sales record set by the Boeing Dreamliner (866 on order, more than any other wide-body passenger aircraft) is now being overshadowed by the technical problems holding up production:

[. . .] thanks to one technical glitch after another, the new plane is running way behind schedule. Today, it is known increasingly as the “Dream-on-liner”. Originally due in 2007, its initial delivery (to All Nippon Airways) won’t now take place until 2011 at the earliest.

The latest delay looks like the most serious yet. In May, routine bending tests in the workshop showed the wing structure to have separated from its skin (“delaminated”) at 120%-130% of the load limit. To pass muster with the Federal Aviation Administration and other certification bodies, wings have to sustain at least 150% of the load limit without rupturing.

Then, in late June, Boeing announced it was postponing the plane’s maiden flight — originally scheduled for June 30th — while it found a way to reinforce the structure where the wings join the fuselage. The 787 Dreamliner’s first flight has now been put off until this autumn or later.

Boeing declared at the time that the fix was relatively simple. Scott Fancher, the Dreamliner’s programme chief, said all that was needed was “a simple modification” using “a handful of parts”. But Gulliver thinks Boeing is in bigger trouble than it admits — and is having to rerun fresh batches of its computer simulations of the wing’s design.

The preceding advertorial is brought to you by Airbus Industries.

Okay, not really . . . as far as I know. But I’m sure it’s music to the ears of Airbus sales folks.

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