Category: Random Ramblings

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

Massive monitoring of a Massively Multiplayer Gaming world

(via Schneier on security)
This is just an incredible article.  The author talks about efforts made to monitor the goings on in the virtual World of Warcraft article.

We live in a world where the technology exists that the government or other technically sophisticated group is able to monitor and analyze a substantial fraction of the communications of the world’s population, or can track their movements throughout the day, or keep tabs on their financial transactions.

And that world is called World of Warcraft.

[tags]World of Warcraft, virtual world[/tags]

Unenforceable “Child Internet Safety” bill proposed – likely to go nowhere

(via BoingBoing)

Here’s what happens when people who don’t understand the Internet write laws pertaining to the Internet.

Senators Mark Pryor (D-AR), and Max Baucus, (D-MT) have proposed a bill that would require all commercial websites with material “harmful to minors” (in other words, sexually explicit content) to move to a .xxx domain within 6 months of this bill becoming law — or face civil penalties. Under the terms of the proposed law, the US Commerce Department secretary would be required to develop a domain name for adult sites (presumably .xxx) with ICANN.

For starters, the bill is very vague on what would fall under the “harmful to minors” category. The site from which I pulled this story, BoingBoing, gets censored by some Internet filtering software. Would the fact that BoingBoing has a link to Suicide Girls (a guaranteed not-safe-for-work site) cause BoingBoing to get moved to this adult sites domain? Who decides what is “harmful to minors” anyway?  BoingBoing is damn useful to me as a techie news site (among the other things posted there).  But sometimes, things intended for adults get posted there, as well.  So that means the site should be moved to a domain that I would almost assuredly be unavailable to me any place that has filtering?  Great.
And if that doesn’t seem like a big deal to you, then consider how many sites on the Internet are not in the US. This law would have no impact on those sites at all. How would whatever agency has to enforce this piece of garbage make http://www.ILikeSmallFurryRodents.com/ move to this new domain, when ILSFR.com is based in Lithuania?

Going beyond those problems, what about the whole idea of free speech in the US, anyway?  This bill isn’t targetting just things like kiddie-porn.  This bill would even hit legal stuff, that currently is protected as free speech.  You may not like it, but that doesn’t make it illegal.

As suggested by others who have read about this bill, why not make a domain that is specifically built for hosting child-friendly sites?  Even make an agency which is responsible for reviewing sites before granting approval.  Then, instead of forcing so many sites to move because someone, somewhere might feel something posted on those sites could potentially be harmful to minors, just give the option to kid-friendly sites to move to this new domain.  When parents want to let their kids on to the Internet, give them a specialized browser that can only access the kid-friendly domain.

Blocking adult content by segregating it to a specific domain is a certain setup for failure.  Every time someone posts a new site, they can put whatever they want.  To keep this bad law functioning, every day new sites would have to be monitored and squirreled off to the adults only domain.  And it still wouldn’t touch sites hosted outside the US.  By giving an option to host kid-friendly content on a different domain, it makes verifying appropriateness easier and makes building the whole kid-friendly ‘net better.  But law-makers don’t seem capable of much logical thought, so something smart like this is unlikely to happen.

Neat DNA folding tricks

Here’s what happens when you learn how to manipulate DNA molecules:

ss_060315_dna_tease.300w.jpgA computer scientist has developed a method to weave stringy DNA molecules into nanometer-scale, two-dimensional patterns ranging from smiley faces to a map of the Americas.

Experts say the “DNA origami” procedure laid out by Paul Rothemund of the California Institute of Technology could be adapted to create nano-computers, new drug delivery systems or even molecular-scale chemical factories.

[tags]DNA, folding[/tags]

Play Shadowbane free forever

(via Blue’s News)

If you’ve ever wanted to try out any of the available MMORPGs, you can play Shadowbane for free.  The cool thing is, the free period no longer runs out.  If you need the client, you can download it from FilePlanet.  I’ve not located the file at other download services yet, but I’ve only checked a couple others.  The link goes to the 25-day trial, but the trial does not run out.  This really is free as long as the game servers stay around.

[tags]Shadowbane, MMORPG, free[/tags]

Safe pr0n surfing

(via BoingBoing)

Something that will be of use for either of my regular readers, I’m sure.  No, it’s not a tutorial on surfing pr0n at work.  It is a guide on how to avoid some of the problems that can pop up when surfing adult sites.

I list the bad things that porn (and travel and pharmaceutical) sites do, things you can do to avoid them, how to clean up your computer when you’re done, and I offer basic tips on foiling stalkers and sites that cache your history. Not to mention basics, like not using your real name in fetish forums and marking your Amazon wishlist as private, should you decide to stash some sexy books for later that you don’t want *just anyone* to see.

[tags]Pr0n, porn, safe surfing[/tags]

Turn your profile into a dowel

(via BoingBoing)

This is really something that needs to be seen to understand. But as soon as you see it, you’ll say “Oh, I get it.” Or something like that. Site turnyourhead will take profile and spin a dowel based on it.

Like this:

turnyourhead1.jpg

or

turnyourhead-luci.jpg

At Turn Your Head, we fill the space between two opposing profiles of your face. By spinning that space into a three dimensional “visage” that follows the outlined silhouettes of your two profiles, we create the “Pirolette”.

Place the “Pirolette” to your face and it will match your profile. Locate it near a wall and the shadow of the “Pirolette” will be your silhouette.

Your profile captured forever in an object of art. An optical illusion of shadow and light, each one unique because it’s you!

The “Pirolette” is hand crafted from American Black Walnut, Cherry or Maple and is hand polished to a natural luster.

I may have to do this for my kids.  That’s pretty cool.

[tags]Turnyourhead, dowel[/tags]

42 Questions with Flagship Studios on Hellgate

(via Kotaku)

I’ve been watching Hellgate ever since reading about it last year. From some of the folks who did Diablo, it looks to be a really cool game. If you want to read an in-depth interview about the game, hit this 42 Question interview at Hellgate guru. Also, view the original thread from which this interview was put together.

4. Is there any sort of character evolution aside from the base concept of getting ph4t l3wt?

You thinking story-wise? If so, then not really. Players take on the role of character that partakes in a developing storyline, but aside from becoming an ultra powerful champion, that character will not really develop and have a mysterious back story of his or her own.

Ahhh, good. We get to stick to the action side here. I like that. Doesn’t sound like there will be too much story getting in the way. Sometimes, that’s what I want in a game, don’t you?

11. Will there be a hardcore mode?

Yes, there will be. That, at least, I can say.

This is a bleh feature to me, but I know a lot of gamers who like hardcore mode. Die, and that character is gone. I don’t have the time to get that good at the game, though.

Hit the interview and read all the questions – just like the answer to the ultimate question of the universe, there are 42.

[tags]Hellgate, Flagship Studios, gaming[/tags]