July 2003
Monday, 28 July 2003
Copying is Theft - and other legal myths: “While there is no ‘right’ as such to make a fair use, the making of such a use is not an infringement.”
Sunday, 27 July 2003
Homeowner Boards Blur Line of Who Rules Roost: “in 2001, in four counties around San Francisco, homeowners associations initiated 15 percent of foreclosures”
Saturday, 26 July 2003
Jimmy Page Downplays Rumors Of Led Zeppelin Reunion Tour: “For me, the most important thing would be that we got into a room together, look each other in the eye, pick up the instruments and play a song, still looking each other in the eye after that, with a smile behind the look.”
Friday, 25 July 2003
Voting machine fails inspection: “Yet, not everyone is worried.”
Wednesday, 23 July 2003
Big Bang afterglow reveals dark energy’s repulsion: “In recent years we are finding that most of the stuff in our Universe is abnormal in that it is gravitationally repulsive rather than gravitationally attractive”
Star survey reaches 70 sextillion: “Asked if he believed the huge scale of the universe meant there was intelligent life out there somewhere, he told the paper: ‘Seventy thousand million million million is a big number … it’s inevitable.’”
Tool-making crows: “this bird had no prior training with the use of pliant materials such as wire”
The long and the short of it: “But if scientists are also right about the way that Prozac-like antidepressants work, then it would be expected that people with short versions would be less susceptible to depression, not more. Add to this conundrum the fact that antidepressant drugs take weeks to have an effect, even though measurable serotonin levels rise soon after they are taken.”
Irrational Physics: Evidence for dark energy’s repulsion
New Scientist has an article about experiments verifying dark energy’s repulsing properties. This was tested in the galaxy rather than out, which has interesting implications - it seems that the energy would be more densely bound near gravitational sources?
Voting machines need paper trails: “They’re putting unwarranted trust in technology. They’re believing that private companies, for the first time in recorded history, can produce perfect, tamper-proof electronic devices.”
Tuesday, 22 July 2003
New Detector May Test Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle: “An electron is one thing; a tangible object, though, is another.”
Friday, 18 July 2003
Ticking time bomb: “a nuclear North Korea threatens Chinese interests because of its potential to provoke a lurch to the right by Japan, which has eight tonnes of plutonium in storage and the capacity to go nuclear within weeks”
Little robots in your pants: “I believe it does say nanotechnology because it’s the 60-cotton, 40-micropoly blend.”
The Chill Is On: “There is a broader issue here than freedom of speech. The rule of law requires that people be given adequate notice of which actions will get them into trouble.”
Early Voices: The Leap to Language: “Some 63 percent of human conversation, according to his measurements, is indeed devoted to matters of social interaction, largely gossip, not to the exchange of technical information, Dr. Bickerton’s proposed incentive for language.”
Wednesday, 16 July 2003
connecting the dots: “The fact that these worries did not protect us is not evidence of the limitations of the intelligence community. It is evidence of the limitations of intelligence.”
Trading on fear: “With this combination of features, selling SUVs on their merits would be a challenge, which is why Rapaille consistently advises Detroit to rely instead on irrational fear appeals.”
Tuesday, 15 July 2003
Budget Woes Trickle Down: “In ways, local governments are better prepared than states for the fiscal storm, because their prime revenue source is property taxes” - fiscal woes -> foreclosures, people selling their houses -> dropping house prices -> lower tax revenues for localities -> bad.
Mac OS X for Geeks: comments welcome.
Here’s Uncle Zeus, Aunt Hera, the Twins …: “If the title seems daunting, the project was, well, herculean.”
Fake lie-detector reveals women’s sex lies: “In contrast, men’s answers did not vary significantly.”
Monday, 14 July 2003
Marriage may tame genius: “The energy of youth and the dampening effect of marriage, he adds, are also remarkably similar among geniuses in music, painting and writing, as well as in criminal activity.”
Tuesday, 8 July 2003
Microsoft to Give Its Employees Stock Instead of Options: “In the past, employees have generally sold options as soon as possible.”
Sunday, 6 July 2003
Arguing their case against NC-17: “Like other independents who are not members of the studio-bankrolled MPAA, Lions Gate hasn’t fared as well.”