Comment A good Hatsune Miku (Score 2, Informative) 305
Let's use this thread to post our favorite Miku videos.
Song of Grass and Snow
Sinners in the Hands of God
My Life is Over
No Thank You
Kurutto Odotte
Comment Re:So will he accept? (Score 1) 117
Actually, I'd say it isn't even a linguistic but a cultural problem. The New Yorker employed a Russian guy to explain his reasoning; he is a sort of Russian hermit. Imagine if Tolstoy went up against a person like Yau. I think there would be mutual disgust and bad feeling towards the literary community at large. Such a thing probably happened here.
Comment "Don't forget to ship your software!" (Score 4, Insightful) 551
Why is it that whenever I read an article by Joel I feel like I'm being talked down to?
David Pogue Wants to Take Back the Beep 383
David Pogue has distilled into useful form a long-standing complaint I have (and one reason I have long had a voice mail greeting that asked people not to leave me voicemail): cell phone companies set up the greeting, caller instructions, and playback system prompts in large part to maximize their revenue per user; by his calculations, the "mandatory 15-second voicmail instructions" from AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and others is earning those companies something near a billion dollars a year in charges. Pogue suggests that users should "take back the beep," and to that end provides contact information for the largest cell carriers in order to register a complaint — and, more helpful in the short run, suggests ways in which to make better use of paid-for phone minutes by alerting callers how to bypass the annoying instructions.
Submission + - China Pulls the Plug on Facebook (shacknet.nu)
RadioOfficer writes: "Recent events in China have clearly raised concerns among the Chinese authorities. Yesterday evening shortly before 8pm, access to Facebook was blocked in Shanghai and Google search was severely curtailed. While Twitter and youTube have been inaccessible in mainland China for some time now, Facebook had escaped a general blockade albeit suffering occasional brief interruptions.
The events of yesterday evening have Shanghai residents and ex-pats concerned however, with many wondering if Facebook has now suffered the same fate as Twitter and youTube. Many fear Facebook will not return anytime soon...
The Washington Post appears to be the first official news outlet to confirm the actions of the Chinese authorities."
Submission + - Prof. Nesson Ordered To Show Cause (blogspot.com)
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "Professor Charles Nesson, the Harvard law professor serving pro bono as counsel to the defendant in SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum has been ordered to show cause why sanctions should not be issued against him for violating the Court's orders prohibiting reproduction of the court proceedings. The order to show cause was in furtherance of the RIAA's motion for sanctions and protective order discussed on Slashdot yesterday. The Judge indicated that she was 'deeply concerned' about Prof. Nesson's apparent "blatant disregard" of her order"
Submission + - Spider builds life-size decoy of itself
Smivs writes: "The BBC are reporting on a species of spider that makes life size relicas of itself, possibly to distract predators.The arachnid's behaviour also offers one explanation for why many spiders like to decorate their webs with strange-looking ornaments.
Many animals try to divert the attentions of predators by becoming masters of disguise.
Some try to avoid being seen altogether by using camouflage to blend in against a background, such as the peppered moth evolving motley wings that blend into tree bark, or stick insects that look like sticks.The spider may be the first example of an animal building a life-size replica of its own body."
Bookmark Movable Type Goes Open Source (movabletype.org)
Submission + - HP Laptops Ship with Gaping Security Hole (zdnet.com) 1
Small revenge writes: A zero-day flaw is several major HP laptop models could provide an easy way for hackers to take complete control of Windows machines, according to a warning from an independent security researcher. A successful attack simply requires that the laptop owner is lured to a malicious Web site while using Microsoft's Internet Explorer. The risks include remote code execution, remote system registry read/write access and remote shell command execution.
Submission + - Erowid Goes Non-Profit (dosenation.com)
drwxrxrx writes: "After two years of dealing with lawyers and red tape," Erowid, arguably the best collection of drug information online, has been approved for non-profit status. From the letter sent to members: "Receiving IRS approval is a big step in our goal towards making the Erowid project stable and sustainable over the long term."
Comment Death of an open source project (Score 1) 172
Here's some of the dirt on SUP:
http://community.livejournal.com/no_lj_ads/tag/sup
This is basically going to mean that LJ, which was in a good position as an unincorporated open source project and a somewhat uncared for and misunderstood position under Six Apart, is being sold to a shoddy and inconsistent company an ocean away from half of its userbase. There is no guarantee that LiveJournal's new owners will take as good care of the seven years of information (ranging from useless to invaluable) its users have saved up.
Let this stand as a warning to new community start-ups: pick who you deal with wisely, because once you sell there's no going back.
http://community.livejournal.com/no_lj_ads/tag/sup
This is basically going to mean that LJ, which was in a good position as an unincorporated open source project and a somewhat uncared for and misunderstood position under Six Apart, is being sold to a shoddy and inconsistent company an ocean away from half of its userbase. There is no guarantee that LiveJournal's new owners will take as good care of the seven years of information (ranging from useless to invaluable) its users have saved up.
Let this stand as a warning to new community start-ups: pick who you deal with wisely, because once you sell there's no going back.
SixApart Sells LiveJournal to Russian Media Company 172
molrak writes "SixApart tonight announced the sale of journal/blogging service Livejournal to Russia-based SUP. Original LJ founder Brad Fitzpatrick has chimed in on the situation: 'This is pretty cool because - They're ridiculously excited about LiveJournal, and have been for awhile (they previous purchased advertising rights in Russia, but ended up doing a bunch of Russia-specific LJ development as well). They want to throw a lot of resources at LiveJournal in terms of product development and engineers. "LiveJournal.com, Inc." now stands alone again, focusing on nothing but LJ. Sounds like I'll have more LJ influence (via new role as advisory board member) than I've had recently.'"
Submission + - On Point On the New Anti-Americanism (onpointradio.org) 2
Wellington Grey writes: "On Point recently did a show on the new Anti-Americanism. While Anti-Americanism has existed since the country emerged as the world's only superpower, the program stresses the differences and dangers of the current situation.
Anti-Americanism could be brushed off in the past because it was a small, if vocal, group espousing the idea. The problem is now that Anti-American sentiment abroad is no longer countered by a general population with positive feelings toward the US. Positive thoughts, even in America's allies, are now difficult to find.
Take, for example, Turkey. Ten years ago it was one of the most pro-American countries in the world, with Turkish support of the US at over 90%. Currently, support for the US is less than 9%.
From the show's summary: You want to know about anti-Americanism in the world? Here's the unhappy conclusion of a big-time panel of Republican and Democratic heavyweights, out yesterday: "America's reputation, standing, and influence are at all-time lows, and possibly sinking further."
Never in our history, says the report, have we, as a nation, been so poorly regarded in the world. And that has consequences. When America tries to lead, who follows? And if America stands too much alone, can it possibly prosper? Can it ever be safe?"
Anti-Americanism could be brushed off in the past because it was a small, if vocal, group espousing the idea. The problem is now that Anti-American sentiment abroad is no longer countered by a general population with positive feelings toward the US. Positive thoughts, even in America's allies, are now difficult to find.
Take, for example, Turkey. Ten years ago it was one of the most pro-American countries in the world, with Turkish support of the US at over 90%. Currently, support for the US is less than 9%.
From the show's summary: You want to know about anti-Americanism in the world? Here's the unhappy conclusion of a big-time panel of Republican and Democratic heavyweights, out yesterday: "America's reputation, standing, and influence are at all-time lows, and possibly sinking further."
Never in our history, says the report, have we, as a nation, been so poorly regarded in the world. And that has consequences. When America tries to lead, who follows? And if America stands too much alone, can it possibly prosper? Can it ever be safe?"
Submission + - Animation illustrates Mobius Transformations
Tablizer writes: Science News describes a youtube sensation whereby Mobius transformations can be described simply as a linear projection through a sphere to a plane. The coolest transformation is the inversion, in which a rectangular image can be turned inside out. I'd like to see this transformation on actual images (but not goatse, please).
Submission + - The birthplace of Romulus and Remus found
jd writes: "A cave known to the Romans as the Lupercal has been found. The Lupercal (a 26' high cave) was believed by the Romans to have been the place that Romulus and Remus (the founders of Rome) were rescued and suckled by a she-wolf. Now, whether these two people ever existed is another matter entirely, but even the place itself had descended into myths and legends, with no serious archaeologist believing it existed. Due to the extreme instability of Palatine Hill, where the cave exists, the archaeologists have not been inside. Instead, exploration has been by robots with cameras, endoscopes and laser scanners. These have mapped some amazing mosaics, marble artwork and an amazing white eagle."
