Renaissance Grrrl

So, as you know, I recently got a cell phone, my first ever to be exact. Add so, of late I've been exploring the wonders of awkward interfaces, bizarre limitations, and vendor crippled hardware. And the first thing I thought was, y'know? We need linux on this thing.

If we could only get a well understood, free, open operating system on one of these things we would finally have the universal communicators we've always dreamed about. If we had such a CellOS we could use cells to communicate over typical instant messaging protocols, to communicate over irc, to check emails, to freely copy our program preferences between our cells and our pcs.

So you know those great robotics articles and such I've been touting about recently? Well pretty much all of them come from TechEBlog. And if you thought those weren't cool enough, here's another dump of some of the highlights. However, if you're into this sort of thing then subscribe to the feed yourself. Nearly everything is awesome, and those that aren't are still pretty cool. It'd be a waste of time for me to syphon any more over here (though the occasional over-the-top post might still leak on over). Now on with the linkage:

It's time once again for a list of some recent interesting reads. I'm debating moving the link roundups off to their own newsfeed, but that'll have to wait until I've free time. Now, in mostly-devoid-of-pithy-retorts format:

Octavia Butler, R.I.P

I'm sure you've already heard, but in case you haven't...

Gulf War vet supports veterans traumatized by war

Regarding an ongoing project by one of the PIGies.

New Kids on the Block

Pinball is all about a spherical object rolling around on a smooth surface, so the thought of building a pinball game from Lego doesn't immediately seem like one of the better ideas. But that's exactly what Gerrit Bronsveld & Martijn Boogaarts from The Netherlands have achieved.

The Ugly Face of Crime

Not only are physically unattractive teenagers likely to be stay-at-homes on prom night, they're also more likely to grow up to be criminals, say two economists who tracked the life course of young people from high school through early adulthood.

The Long March to Nerd Prom Begins

Warren Ellis v. Joss Whedon. Y'know y'wanna.

( Demons, Perl... )

New Body Armor Technology Aids Athletes

Slalom racing suits provided to the U.S. and Canadian Olympic teams by ski wear maker Spyder, for example, contain pads from the British firm, d3o, that contain a fluid that hardens when struck, said Spyder spokeswoman Laura Wisner. [...] "It's very soft and pliable when you just manipulate it in your hand. However, when you hit it with a hammer or some kind of impact, it instantly becomes hard."

( Roleplaying, appalling crimes, cooking/recipies, fuck.com... )

Hubble Confirms Two New Moons of Pluto

The confirmation [of the moons] reinforces the emerging view that the Kuiper Belt, a swarm of icy bodies encircling the solar system beyond Neptune, may be more complex and dynamic than astronomers once thought. Pluto resides inside the Kuiper Belt and is about 3 billion miles from the Sun. Pluto was discovered in 1930.

Stealth sharks to patrol the high seas

More controversially, the Pentagon hopes to exploit sharks' natural ability to glide quietly through the water, sense delicate electrical gradients and follow chemical trails. By remotely guiding the sharks' movements, they hope to transform the animals into stealth spies, perhaps capable of following vessels without being spotted.

Editing tips from the NSA (I forget if I've posted this)

Hiding confidential information with black marks works on printed copy, but not with electronic documents, the National Security Agency has warned government officials

Brokeback of the Dead

Who says goths can't take their music unseriously?

( anime... )

Love Yourself and Your Blog

Some tips (and links to more tips) on how to blog well. Tips of which I'm flagrantly ignoring for the moment due to time constraints. But this quote bears repeating: "If you start thinking you're a big star just because a lot of other nerds read your online diary, you need to aim higher. Go outside."

canadians confuse anime with pr0n... again

And now for the Macworld roundup:

MPAA suits expand war on illegal file-trading

Widening its legal assault on copyright infringement, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has filed seven lawsuits in U.S. federal courts against search engines and news groups affiliated with P-to-P (peer-to-peer) networks.( ... )

Political rivals unite against AOL, Yahoo e-mail plan

Both sides of the U.S. political spectrum have found an issue to unite them: Free e-mail. ( ... )

With CertifiedEmail, senders agree not to send unsolicited e-mail. They pay a fee of between one-fourth of a U.S. cent and one cent in order for their messages to receive preferential treatment in AOL and Yahoo in-boxes.

Germany joins calls to end Google's "free lunch"

The chief executive of Deutsche Telekom AG became the latest head of a major telco to call for Web companies, such as Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc., to help pay for the billions of dollars required to build and maintain high-speed Internet infrastructure. "Customers should not be the only ones to pay for this new world,"

RIM to judge: BlackBerry too important to shut

( ... )

"I'm surprised, absolutely surprised, that you'd leave this ... incredibly important decision to the court," he said.

Li verdict shows Yahoo played key role, group says

Yahoo Inc. played an important role in the Chinese government's prosecution of Li Zhi, Reporters Without Borders said Wednesday, citing a copy of the court's verdict to back up its claims.

And now that you've been amazed by what the future promises, mourned the loss of the past, been enraged by human actions, witnessed the attempted mockery making of the judicial system, and more it is now time for me to retire. And so, I bid you adieu.

Now in ultra-short format

On Arabs

On Hikikomori

US plans to 'fight the net'

Human Rights In China tells Google it's 'not too late'

EFF sues AT&T over U.S. wiretapping program

GamerGod Interviews Steve Jackson

Take a leap into hyperspace (AIAA's pdf thereunto)

This Is the Title of This Story...

Retailer Target Branches Out Into Police Work

When arson investigators in Houston needed help restoring a damaged surveillance tape to identify suspects in a fatal fire, they turned first to local experts and then to NASA. With no luck there, investigators appealed to the owner of one of the most advanced crime labs in the country: Target Corp.

Starbucks Economics: Solving the mystery of the elusive "short" cappuccino.

Chinese New Years, 2100~2644 (Google's cache)

Russia plans to put a mine on the Moon to help boost energy supply (Transhuman Space much?)

Transhuman Space, in all its dizzying complexity, grows ever closer.

A Sad Truth: Cities Aren't Forever

The city of New Orleans is not going to be rebuilt.

The tourist neighborhoods? The ancient parts from the French Quarter to the Garden District on that slim crescent of relatively high ground near the river? Yes, they will be restored. The airport and the convention center? Yes, those, too.

But the far larger swath — the real New Orleans where the tourists don't go, the part that Katrina turned into a toxic soup bowl, its population of 400,000 scattered to the waves? Not so much.

( many more interesting links on regenerating mammals, psychodrama, shaolin kung fu, and more! )

And I promise I'll get back to real posts soon, I've just been ill the last few days, ever since I've been wanting to write them.

Well, I'm about to shove off. Before I go, these've been on my stack for a while, some of them you've prolly heard about by now, but I figured I'd share them anyways. No time for synopsis writing, but you know how it goes. So without further adieu, Link Roundup:

Super-fast broadband coming via cable

The Canadian Senate has approved a bill legalising same-sex marriages, following a similar decision by the lower house of parliament last month.

Nanotech cure for cancer

Is there a tenth planet afterall? and update

"Because cats can't taste sweets, they're cranky," joked Joseph Brand

Human flesh flavoured tofu?

Japanese develop even more realistic female 'android'

Spammer beaten to death, Russians celebrate

Uplifting, so soon? Ethics: Moral Issues of Human-Non-Human Primate Neural Grafting and more

And, I seem to have misplaced the link but, China and Malaysia have floated their currencies, uncoupling them from the US Dollar. Hypothesizes one Matthew Harris at Free Geek:

This could be very relevant to Free Geek soon.
As we are all aware from looking inside computers, many electronic components are manufactered in East Asia, including in China and Malaysia. For years, they have kept their currencies low, meaning it was cheaper than it should have been to import from them. That is one reason why the price of new electronics can be kept so low. Now that the currency will be more valuable, the price of imports will go up. This means that people will not be able to buy electronics quite so recklessly, and that they may be less inclined to discard the old ones.
On the other hand, it may lead to more inflation in the American economy, which will mean Free Geek will be able to sell items better, since we will probably be able to maintain our super low prices even as retail outlets have to raise theirs.
Also, this will make manufactring jobs, which have been fleeing this country, less relatively expensive, so their should be more jobs for workers.

And now I am well and truly off. I'll try to keep in some measure of touch, and once I return I shall give some posts on the trip. さようなら。

Today powersuits, tomorrow mecha. The day after? The World.

Here's yet another step to self-replicating robots: a self replicating robot that can create itself from raw materials. The article even mentions von Neumann and his idea of a "universal constructor".