Zubbles: Coming Soon!

Saw this on Boing Boing. A gift idea! Unfortunately, not available until Feb 2006. But, as my wife points out, maybe a Easter basket present...

Boing Boing: Game: defend your gallery from modern art by shooting it

Oooo... I didn't want to forget this from Boing Boing. I think I will try it out tonight. Is there something vaguely fascist about the concept, though? Hmmm... Ah well, I'm sure I will have fun blowing up some art.

Here's the direct link.

RISK on Google Maps

Cool!

Slashdot | RISK The Game On Google Maps: "ZenChi has created a Google Maps API project based on the popular board game RISK on Google Maps. "

via slashdot

Iron and Wine

Been listening to Radio Paradise on an off lately.... a really nice mix of music. The stuff I know, I like. The stuff I don't know, is almost always my taste.

Anyway, heard this song from Iron and Wine -- a great sound, lyrics that are poetry, simply beautiful.

Boing Boing: Counting Heads: exciting, major new sf novel

Nice post from Boing Boing. I may just add some of the stuff in here to my reading list.

Boing Boing: Counting Heads: exciting, major new sf novel

New Doctorow Novel

Doctorow's new book, The March, looks good. A book review in the Boston globe describes it as "a mosaic composed of ''little' lives, each with its uniquely human value, destroyed or saved by the hazards of war."

Unix and LOTR

For the really geeky LOTR / linux / unix / OSX folks out there try this:

1. Open the Terminal in Mac OS X (Applications / Utilities).

2. Type
cat /usr/share/calendar/calendar.history | grep "LOTR"

3. You should see a list, in month and day order, of events in Tolkien's The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. For instance, September 14 is the birthday of both Bilbo and Frodo.

From IT: Instructional Technology

CNN.com - Brain downloads 'possible by 2050' - May 23, 2005

Egads! This reminds me of Rudy Rucker's Software.

CNN.com - Brain downloads 'possible by 2050' - May 23, 2005

The Darth Side: Memoirs of a Monster

:-)

The Darth Side: Memoirs of a Monster

Serenity

As a huge Firefly fan, I am really looking forward to this film. I hope it is as good as the television series:

Apple - Trailers - Serenity - index

Ivory-billed Woodpecker Found!

Pretty exciting stuff in the bird world. Read more about it here:

Ivory-billed Woodpecker - Cornell Lab of Ornithology

STAR WARS REVELATIONS

Looks fun...

PANIC STRUCK PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS .. STAR WARS REVELATIONS - download the movie here

Stem Cells

Well duh! Of course the president is hindering scientific progress here. It's one of the things he does best. Did people really think otherwise?

The New York Times > Washington > Changes Are Weighed on Stem Cells:

"With some Republicans pressing to loosen President Bush's restrictions on federal financing for embryonic stem cell research, the director of the National Institutes of Health said Wednesday that there is 'mounting evidence' that such a policy change would benefit science, and other top N.I.H. officials echoed his assessment."

Will the president listen... ha.

Technology News Article | Reuters.com

This cyberpunk reader cringed when he saw this article:

Sony Invention Beams Sights, Sounds Into Brain

Ever read Synners by Pat Cadigan? I'm reading it now and this article is eery when thought about in relation to this book.

mediabistro: FishBowlDC

Here's a depressing bit of news from Garrett M. Graff's blog fishbowlDC:

mediabistro: FishBowlDC

Looks to me like conservatives are trying to concoct new ways to try to censor content that they disagree with. This really raises my ire, because I think of NPR as one of the best sources for news in the country. So far, they still report real news -- as opposed to all of the so-called news channels out there which primarily hype things up with meaningless drivel (which they call analysis). And PBS produces and airs most of the shows (including Arthur) that I will let my four-year-old watch.

Copyright

OK, so the copyright lawyers and the whole copyright law thing is out of control.

Lawyers representing "Ripley's Believe it or not" apparently recently contacted a site that contains shared learning materials because the title of the site used the phrase "Believe it or not" in their title. Read more about it on cogdogblog:

cogdogblog: Xxxxxxx Xx or Xxx! Copyright Slap from the Ripley's Folks

Come on guys. Lets be a little reasonable! Jeez!

UN urges ban of all human cloning

One of many examples of the Bush administration's black and white approach to the world, and one of their many attempts to push the UN in directions that most countries don't necessarily want to go:

Boston.com / News / World / In Bush win, UN urges ban of all human cloning: "The UN General Assembly yesterday urged governments to ban all human cloning, including the cloning of human embryos for stem-cell research, in a divided vote that handed a symbolic victory to the administration of President Bush."

Interestingly, our traditional ally in the UN, Britain, was opposed to this measure. "Britain condemned the ''intransigence" of nations opposed to cloning for medical reasons."

UA student incarcerated for possessing illegally copied movies, music

This is just plain evil:

UA student incarcerated for possessing illegally copied movies, music

A college kid of 18 was imprisoned for sharing movies using P2P software. I have no idea why so much time, energy, and tax payer dollars has to be spent helping out huge multi-billion dollar corporations. Seems like there are more pressing issues than making sure every single person plunks down their $9 for the overpriced schlock they serve out in the movie theaters.

Test Photo

AmaryllisT,
originally uploaded by The Pied Piper.

I'm testing out Flickr with this post to see how it works.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

FeederWatch - FeederCam

I'm a birder, and someone recently sent me this link from the Cornell Lab oif Ornithology:

FeederWatch - FeederCam

You get to watch several different feeding stations (including one for ducks) during daylight hours and (if you are patient enough to wait your turn) you actually get a chance to control which camera is on. Fun!