Category: Random Ramblings

Anything that catches my fancy as a topic I want to cover. Truly random crap.

Preserve a snowflake for years

Popular Science has an article on how to catch, photograph, and keep snowflakes using superglue.

frozensnowflake.jpg

  1. Set microscope slides, coverslips and superglue outside when it’s 20°F or colder to chill them. Catch flakes on the slides or pick them up with cold tweezers.
  2. Place a drop of superglue on the snowflake. Note: Gel glue doesn’t work. Find a brand that’s thin and runny.
  3. Drop a coverslip over the glue. Don’t press down hard or the flake could tear or melt from the heat of your finger.
  4. Leave the slide in a freezer for one or two weeks and don’t touch it with warm hands. The glue must completely harden before the snowflake warms up.

[tags]Snowflake, Popular Science[/tags]

Your rights as a photographer

Given our governments ever growing desire to restrict our rights here in the US, it is more important than ever to be aware of your rights.  If you plan on taking photographs of public buildings, you face a real possibility of getting harrassed.  In case that happens, it might be handy to have a guide to your rights as a photographer.

If you are interested in what set this off, read this ABC news story about a photographer arrested for taking pictures of flags in front of a courthouse.

[tags]Citizen rights[/tags]

Music companies apparently still hate consumers

(via BoingBoing)

A new CD from EMI in Brazil comes with DRM that cannot be uninstalled, must be agreed to even though not written in the local language (Portugeuse), and installs even if you decline the potentially unreadable agreement.  Apparently, the DRM also prevents playing the CD on Linux and MacOS systems or an iPod (although I’m not sure how this is accomplished).

One user’s experience follows:

When you insert the CD in your computer, it automatically opens a window with the “License Agreement” of the CD. This is a very large contract in Portuguese, but it is very difficult to read. The agreement is opened in window programmed in flash, so it is impossible to cut and paste the text into another program. In some computers, when you try to scroll down the contract using the arrows, the text slides completely out of control, making it impossible to read.

After taking some time to read the agreement, the first thing that called my attention is that the text says that a full copy of the contract is available at the address “www.emimusic.info/”. That is NOT TRUE. If you go to the “Brazil” link at the page, there is no copy of the agreement whatsoever at the website, contrary to what the agreement itself expressly says.

The text of the agreement says that the CD will install software in your computer in order to make the cd playable. However, it says that the user must acknowledge the fact that “certain files and folders might remain in your computer even after the user removes the digital content, the software and/or the player”.

Additionally, it says the following: “This contract has been originally drafted in English. The user waives any and all rights that he or she might have under the laws of his or her own country or province, in regard of this contract drafted in any other language”.

Finally, my favorite part. There are two buttons below the agreement. The first reads “Accept the Agreement” the second reads “Reject it”. After reading all the above, I decided to reject it, and pressed the “reject” button. Immediately a screen with the word “Initializing” appeared, the proprietary software was installed, and the music started to play in my computer using the proprietary EMI player, as if I had “accepted” the whole thing.

[tags]DRM, Consumer rights[/tags]

Before he disagreed with French gov’t, Jobs suggested the same

(via BoingBoing)

Recently the French government, in an unusually intelligent display of government doing the right thing, proposed a law which would require all companies which restrict music portability to license their DRM technologies to any company that wants to build a music player.  In response to this, Apple, via Steve Jobs, has criticised the French government, saying this would result in customers filling their iPods with “pirate” music and videos.  Of course, Apple does not want to license their DRM, as that would make it possible for other companies to get iTunes protected tunes to play on non-iPod devices.  The funny thing is, in 2002 Steve Jobs said consumers needed the right to play any licensed music on whatever device they chose.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs offered a critical view of the recording industry in an interview, following Apple’s acceptance of a technical Grammy award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences last week. As reported by Don Clark of The Wall Street Journal, Jobs suggested that recording labels need to make it easier for consumers to use their own music however they want.

“If you legally acquire music, you need to have the right to manage it on all other devices that you own,” said Jobs.

So back when iTunes/iPod technologies were starting and not the dominant force, Apple was a consumer advocate saying music legally acquired should be playable on the device of the customers’ choosing.  Now, music should be restricted to the device permitted by the music download provider?   Hmmmmm.
[tags]Apple, Steve Jobs, DRM[/tags]

Marvel/DC try to trademark “Superhero”, LA Times says “Bad company”

(via BoingBoing)

Marvel and DC comics have tried to jointly trademark the term “Superhero.”  Given that this term is used all over the place, and not unique to Marvel and DC comics, this would be a bad trademark, if granted.  This is a generic term, and not something that any company or companies should be granted trademark protection on.  This week, the LA Times ran an editorial chastizing these companies and the science museum which is involved in this.

In trademark law, the more unusual a term, the more it qualifies for protection. We would have no quarrel with Marvel and DC had they called their superheroes “actosapiens,” then trademarked that. But purely generic terms aren’t entitled to protection, at least in theory. The reason is simple: Trademarks restrict speech, and to put widely used terms under private control is an assault on our language.

Once a trademark is granted, it remains in effect until someone proves to the feds that the term has lost its association with a specific brand, as happened with “cellophane” and “linoleum.” That’s why Johnson & Johnson sells “Band-Aid brand adhesive bandages,” not simply Band-Aids(TM).

[tags]Trademarks, Marvel comics, DC comics[/tags]

State Senator asked to uphold Constitution, not Bible

(via Snopes)

I just found this whole exchange a bit funny. In an attempt to impose their moral views on others, it seems some in politics are forgetting what they are supposed to be doing. Putting aside my personal opinion on the subject of same-gender marriages, I do expect that a right to marry will eventually be legally guaranteed for same-gender couples. If this indeed is the case, exchanges like the following between Nancy Jacobs, a state senator, and James Raskin, a professor of constitutional law, will eventually be looked back on with a bit of a chuckle, I’m guessing.

“As I read Biblical principles, marriage was intended, ordained and started by God — that is my belief,” [Jacobs] said. “For me, this is an issue solely based on religious principals.”

Raskin shot back that the Bible was also used to uphold now-outlawed statutes banning interracial marriage, and that the constitution should instead be lawmakers’ guiding principle.

“People place their hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the Constitution; they don’t put their hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible,” he said.

Some in the room applauded, which led committee chairman Sen. Brian E. Frosh, a Democrat from Montgomery County, to call for order. “This isn’t a football game,” he said.

Read the whole article at Snopes for details on what set this off. Below is the start of the story, though, to at least show why this conversation occurred.

In February 2006, Baltimore Circuit Court Judge M. Brooke Murdock ruled that a Maryland state law banning same-sex marriages was unconstitutional. In response to that decision, state lawmakers opposed to same-sex marriage introduced a resolution to impeach Judge Murdock (a move which was defeated in the Judiciary Committee) and a bill calling for the amendment of Maryland’s constitution to prohibit all same-sex marriages. Although the bill failed to garner sufficient support for passage, it was reintroduced in a version that would define marriage as a union between a man and a women only but would still allow for civil unions. The latter bill was being debated by a Senate committee on 1 March 2006, when, according to the Baltimore Sun, “Clergy, constitutional law experts and children of gay parents were among those who packed the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee room to speak out on the issue.”

[tags]Snopes, same-gender marriage[/tags]

MAKE blog link dump

As I’ve done before, I’ve gotten behind on reading and posting all kinds of interesting content out there. In an effort to catch up, I’m making a large link-dump style posting instead of putting each of these in their own article. The following links/stories are all from recent MAKEzine blog posts.

  • Run an NES emulator on your XBox 360 via MCE.Xexter in the Maxconsole forums figured out how to run a NES emulator on an Xbox 360 using a Media Center, no sound – but the games run at full speed, nice! – “Found a way to add a menu for the roms list so you will have to edit the nes.htm and change to whatever Nes rom you want to play. I’ve included a Public Domain rom for testing but have verified Zelda1-2, Excitebike, and TecmoBowl and all worked.”
  • Learn HOW-TO use an oscilliscope“An oscilloscope is easily the most useful instrument available for testing circuits because it allows you to see the signals at different points in the circuit. The best way of investigating an electronic system is to monitor signals at the input and output of each system block, checking that each block is operating as expected and is correctly linked to the next. With a little practice, you will be able to find and correct faults quickly and accurately.”
  • Stop-motion video via LEGO bricksCalazon Enterprises made a fun stop motion LEGO movie, with an unhappy ending for a frog. When will the frog abuse craze end?
  • LEGO soccer arenaAs stated on the MAKE blog: “What you’re looking at isn’t an arena filled with thousands of people, it’s an insanely detailed arena, made out of LEGO.”lego-arena2.jpg

    lego-arena1.jpg

  • Another LEGO PCThis is not unique. But at the same time, LEGO PCs are not very common. Being in to case mods, I always enjoy seeing these.

    legopc-1.jpg

  • How hearing aids are made
  • Make your own projector
  • Build your own generator“The key to this design is that it will require a horizontal shaft motor, which can be found on old drum style lawnmowers, roto-tillers, and lawn edgers. The most common motor size you will find on the used market will be a 3 or 3.5 horse power model. Larger motors are harder to find because most of them are snapped up for building go-carts or mini bikes. “
  • Build a plexiglass PC casePlexi-PC1.jpg

[tags]MAKEzine, MAKE blog, DIY projects[/tags]

Build your own laser listening device

(via Hack-a-day)

Have you ever wanted to build your own laser listening device so you could act like one of those cool S000per sekrit! spies?  Well, here’s your guide.  The audio isn’t really that good, but it’s a start.  Get one built, and improve it.  Also, the original guide used to put together this laser device can be found at this DynDNS site.

[tags]Laser listening, eavesdropping[/tags]

“Intellectual property”‘s worst excesses

(via BoingBoing)

Mother Jones, a left-wing magazine, has published a Harpers-Index-style guide to copyright’s worst excesses; it’s notable that this week both they and their ideological opponents at the libertarian Cato Institute have both published material supporting the copyfight. It’s truly a nonpartisan fight:

  • A DAY AFTER Senator Orrin Hatch said “destroying their machines” might be the only way to stop illegal downloaders, unlicensed software was discovered on his website.
  • BILL GATES had the 11-million-image Bettmann Archive buried 220 feet underground. Archivists can access only the 2% that was first digitized.
  • AMONG THE 16,000 people thus far sued for sharing music files was a 65-year-old woman who, though she didn’t own downloading software, was accused of sharing 2,000 songs, including Trick Daddy’s “I’m a Thug.” She was sued for up to $150,000 per song.
  • MICROSOFT UK held a contest for the best film on “intellectual property theft”; finalists had to sign away “all intellectual property rights” on “terms acceptable to Microsoft.”

By the way, I ripped this entirely from BoingBoing. None of that is my writing. I don’t want anyone to think I’m pretending this is my work. But I couldn’t do a better job writing it up. I’ll get back up to serious posting in the next couple of days. I’ve been too busy to keep up to date the past couple of days.

[tags]IP, Intellectual Property[/tags]