12 « February « 2011 « Quotulatiousness

February 12, 2011

First Tunisia, then Egypt: is Algeria next?

Filed under: Africa, Government, Liberty, Politics — Tags: Algeria, Police, Protest, Revolution — Nicholas @ 11:41

The Algerian government is taking a more vigorous approach to protests, by sending in the riot police early:

Thousands of riot police have been deployed in the capital of Algeria to stop an anti-government demonstration from gathering the momentum of the protests that forced out the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak.

About 50 protesters managed to reach the square in Algiers where the protest was due to take place but they were surrounded by hundreds of police and some were arrested, the Reuters news agency reported.

Opposition groups have called for a march to demand democratic change and jobs, but it has been banned by government officials and most residents have so far stayed away.

“I am sorry to say the government has deployed a huge force to prevent a peaceful march. This is not good for Algeria’s image,” Mustafa Bouachichi, a leader of the League for Human Rights, said.

Protesters who managed to reach May 1 Square, where the march was due to begin at 11am (10am GMT) shouted “Bouteflika out!” — a reference to the Algerian president — before police arrested some of them.

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Is it a movie or will it magically turn into a 14-hour monologue?

Filed under: Books, Liberty, Media, Railways, USA — Tags: AynRand, Movies, Objectivism — Nicholas @ 11:05

More information at http://www.atlasshruggedpart1.com/.

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Deeper implications of the rise of “3D printing”

Filed under: Economics, Technology — Tags: 3DPrinting, Copyright, IntellectualProperty, Manufacturing, Software — Nicholas @ 10:49

One of the most interesting things happening in the manufacturing world is the rise of a technology that may well make huge swathes of factories obsolete: practical 3D printing. What was originally just a neat way to develop small prototypes for mass production is quickly becoming a viable way to replace the entire mass production step. The technology is still limited to a small range of materials, but the price has been dropping steeply enough that small 3D printers are within the reach of hobbyists already.

The Economist points out that this will not be an unmixed blessing (as technological revolutions ever have been):

Others maintain that, by reducing the need for factory workers, 3D printing will undermine the advantage of low-cost, low-wage countries and thus repatriate manufacturing capacity to the rich world. It might; but Asian manufacturers are just as well placed as anyone else to adopt the technology. And even if 3D printing does bring manufacturing back to developed countries, it may not create many jobs, since it is less labour-intensive than standard manufacturing.

The technology will have implications not just for the distribution of capital and jobs, but also for intellectual-property (IP) rules. When objects can be described in a digital file, they become much easier to copy and distribute — and, of course, to pirate. Just ask the music industry. When the blueprints for a new toy, or a designer shoe, escape onto the internet, the chances that the owner of the IP will lose out are greater.

There are sure to be calls for restrictions on the use of 3D printers, and lawsuits about how existing IP laws should be applied. As with open-source software, new non-commercial models will emerge. It is unclear whether 3D printing requires existing rules to be tightened (which could hamper innovation) or loosened (which could encourage piracy). The lawyers are, no doubt, rubbing their hands.

Just as nobody could have predicted the impact of the steam engine in 1750 — or the printing press in 1450, or the transistor in 1950 — it is impossible to foresee the long-term impact of 3D printing. But the technology is coming, and it is likely to disrupt every field it touches. Companies, regulators and entrepreneurs should start thinking about it now. One thing, at least, seems clear: although 3D printing will create winners and losers in the short term, in the long run it will expand the realm of industry — and imagination.

So, even if you don’t have immediate plans to buy a 3D printer, you could do worse than to dust off your old drafting book and learn a bit of CAD. You may be using those skills sooner than you expect.

There’s more information (from 2009) on the 3D printing process here.

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A bad day at the wine store

Filed under: Randomness, Wine — Tags: Fail — Nicholas @ 10:08

H/T to Elizabeth, who sent me the link with the subject line “Don’t cry”.

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This week in Guild Wars 2 news

Filed under: Gaming — Tags: GuildWars, MMORPG — Nicholas @ 00:09

Guild_Wars_2_icon I’ve been accumulating news snippets about the as-yet-to-be-formally-scheduled release of Guild Wars 2 for an email newsletter I send out to my friends and acquaintances in the Guild Wars community. It just occurred to me that some of my blog audience might also be interested:

Last Saturday, the official Guild Wars 2 Twitter account posted this teaser:
“Next week, we’re taking a closer look at the human race in #GuildWars2 ! Keep an eye on the blog and GuildWars2.com! Happy weekend everyone!”
http://bloogum.net/guildwars/ If you like looking at the great scenery in Guild Wars, this site is for you. It’s a huge gallery of screen shots of places in GW . . . over 6000 of them.
Kill Ten Rats speculates that the new GW2 demo for PAX East may herald a wider (dare we say “open”?) availability.
http://www.guildmag.com/plotting-more-than-depth Speculation on the upcoming Winds of Change content in Cantha: “if we go back to the same thing too many times, we’re going to end up with Mursaat being the equivalent of Daleks, only without the goofy and endearing qualities.”
http://www.arena.net/blog/oh-the-humanity-human-week-begins Start of a week of posts on the Arenanet blog about humans in GW2.
Are long-running events a good thing or a bad thing?
Against the Wall: Humanity in Guild Wars 2
Designing Humans The next post in Humanity Week is about the graphics (comparing humans in GW with their descendants in GW2).
Responses to some of the questions generated by the voices of GW2 clips.
Canthan New Year – the best bits Looking back on Canthan New Year.
Updated info on Humans at the GW2 official site. My dogs “sang along” with the music on the Kryta video clip. (HD version of the clip here)
Details of the GW update for the Dervish. It’s pretty significant: 90% of Dervish skills have been updated or changed.
The Line of Duty What should be the final “Humanity Week” posting: the Three Military Orders of Kryta.
I’ve also seen multiple references to a November 2011 release date. No confirmation of that from Arenanet, of course. (Also, the Guild Wars 2 FAQ has been updated with this little snippet: ‘We will be conducting small closed alpha and beta tests in 2011.’ )

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Just an ordinary traffic accident, until the sword fight breaks out

Filed under: Law, Randomness — Tags: Cars, Swords, Washington — Nicholas @ 00:08

By way of David Stamper’s Facebook update, a sad story of how ordinary attempted vehicular homicide turned into . . . a sword fight:

A hit-and-run collision Wednesday followed by a brief sword fight led police to arrest a 25-year-old man for assault.

About 4 p.m., the Sunnyside man spotted a 27-year-old rival and intentionally rammed his 1981 Ford F-150 pickup into the man’s vehicle as he backed out of his driveway in the 100 block of South 11th Street, said Charlotte Hinderlider, Sunnyside police spokeswoman.

The alleged assailant brandished a sword, swinging it at his enemy, who had climbed out of his own vehicle, Hinderlider said.

The suspect fell, giving the victim time to pick up a machete that happened to be laying in his yard and defend himself from his alleged attacker, Hinderlider said. Meanwhile, the victim’s mother, still in the vehicle, dialed 9-1-1 from her cellular phone.

You can’t really call yourself a swordsman if your intended victim can pick up a machete that “happened to be laying in his yard” and successfully defend himself. The report doesn’t spell out the actual weapon used, but it doesn’t seem to show that the attacker actually knew what the hell to do with whatever kind of sword he was using.

For those of you following along at home: you wound with the edge, but you kill with the point. The wounds may be painful, nasty, and gruesome, but if you’re trying to kill someone, the sword is a thrusting weapon, not a slashing weapon.

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