Check out the blog, she usually constructs 3D models manually herself from lower quality images/models.

And the first blog example where she used an existing model, Fallout 3's Pip-Boy 3000, she spent "about 12 hours" cleaning up the 3D printed model.

She's a crafts-person, old school style with new school tools (similar old school tools would have involved molds, similar to using an existing 3D model). Pretty cool stuff in my opinion.

Going to Six Flags for a day accomplishes nothing. Except for the personal enjoyment of the rides (contrasted against the pain of waiting in line, a poor example of anticipation buildup).

Manipulating language is called being "politically correct". Human nature undermines interpersonal relationships.

And now the TV has cameras and microphones.

And now people are using free will to buy it, big brother doesn't even have to force it upon us. And given the inane nature of most content provided, it is the perfect tool for pacification.

Oxygen processing is a purely physical and automatic process.

But, given the context of the actual privacy policy, it means they can listen (and given such freedom, why would they not?). I quoted the Salon article, which was a direct quote from the privacy policy of the TV.

I don't consider this product a TV. It's a privacy invasion device with a screen (that's how to get around a restocking fee when returning...).

Thanks for the comment, I hadn't considered the recording and transmission of a visitor's speech. That clarifies things, but along with you, I am not a lawyer...

You have to activate those services ("OK Google"). I'm assuming this always listens, even when off (so it can be powered on via voice command).

And it is a reasonable assumption these services send the data to the company (Google or Apple), not some unnamed "third party". The third party part is pretty scary in my opinion, they make it clear that they aren't the ones listening.

Maybe the NSA is servicing my TV commands...

Is this TV even legal in all states? It sends the audio it hears to a third party (per the Salon article). Seems that may run afoul of audio recording laws in all-consent states (maybe even single-party consent states). Can providing the TV with power be considered "consent" to have everything you say in your living room sent to a 3rd party?

From the Salon article:
“Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party.”

As a child I had a Casio solar digital watch. Wore it for weeks. I liked the white ring it made on my arm during the summer. But after a month or so, running around sweating with the watch on, I took it off. A green ring of fungus had formed.

I stopped wearing watches that day.

Massive oil spills do increase wildlife viscosity:
http://www.theonion.com/articl...

"Today's wildlife revs at higher r.p.m.'s," Gedman said. "So when you're a gray seal swimming after a fish at over 200 strokes per minute, you can't afford any excess friction on your fins or tail. You need a quality motor oil to keep them as loose as possible."

I really enjoyed A World Made By Hand. I'm not sure if you are aware, but there are two more books in the series at this point. The Witch of Hebron came out a over a year ago. "A History of the Future" was released very recently.

If you are into this sort of literature (I might be overplaying the word there, but they are books...), Patriots is a pretty good yarn. It's also very applicable to this article on survival knowledge, it's a fictional story combined very directly with extreme preparation and survival skills (tons of gun info, literally tons; and home prep, radio comms, location scouting, how to destroy tanks, etc.).

I finally took the time to RTFA and the situation is different than I understood.

Does the FTDI driver have any patented technology (I hate software patterns, but it matters a bit in this case)? And, why are the fake chips requesting FTDI's driver?

Patent issues aside, it sounds like the hardware is requesting a 3rd party driver, which the 3rd party owns and benefits from, even though they "give it away" for free. The fakes need to provide their own driver. Bootstrapping to a 3rd party proprietary driver is a situation where one should expect problems or failures, especially as the driver is updated (and regardless of how one receives it). Bricking is pushing it, just non-functional would suffice (bricking pure counterfeits is fine to me, but fakes that aren't promoted as the real thing is different - except they want the 3rd party driver).

If there are patents in the driver code then IP is being stolen.

In any case, the fakes should provide their own drivers. That is the crux of the issue.