Things I've Found

July 6, 2009
“The fact that content and services on the Internet so far have been largely supplied for no charge is “an accident of historical moment that will be corrected,” he said, in an era of “creative chaos” that will span the next three to five years.”
July 5, 2009
“Patent encumbrance is one of the driving forces behind the HTML 5 video codec controversy. The patent licensing requirements mean that H.264 codecs can’t be freely redistributed, making the format a non-starter for Mozilla and most other open source browser vendors. Opera also objects, saying that the licensing fees are too high. Mozilla and Opera strongly advocate Ogg Theora as an alternative because its freedom from known patents could ensure that there are no licensing barriers that prevent ubiquitous adoption. Apple objects to Ogg Theora, claiming that the lack of known patents on Theora doesn’t rule out the threat of submarine patents that could eventually be used against adopters. Apple is also concerned about the lack of widespread support for hardware-based Theora decoding, a factor that diminishes the format’s viability on mobile devices. Google shares Apple’s skepticism about the potential of Theora in the marketplace. The search giant claims that Theora’s lack of quality relative to H.264 will make it an impractical choice for large-scale streaming video services such as YouTube.”
July 2, 2009
thedailywhat:

THE PERFECT WAY TO HONOR HIS MEMORY.
[via.]

thedailywhat:

THE PERFECT WAY TO HONOR HIS MEMORY.

[via.]

 
July 2, 2009
Behold, the new Glacier Computer Ridgeline W200 wrist-mounted computer. It may lack some of the Pip-Boy 3000’s retro charm, and it probably won’t help you cripple a Radscorpion’s legs with a well-placed shot from a plasma rifle, but it does boast a full-colour 3.5-inch touchscreen instead of a monochromatic display with clunky dials. It’s also got a backlit keyboard, hot-swappable battery (very important for long treks across radioactive wastes) and plug-and-play GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth modules. No mention of V.A.T.S., but maybe that’s coming in a future upgrade. (via Load This - Real-world Pip-Boy 3000 has arrived
)

Behold, the new Glacier Computer Ridgeline W200 wrist-mounted computer. It may lack some of the Pip-Boy 3000’s retro charm, and it probably won’t help you cripple a Radscorpion’s legs with a well-placed shot from a plasma rifle, but it does boast a full-colour 3.5-inch touchscreen instead of a monochromatic display with clunky dials. It’s also got a backlit keyboard, hot-swappable battery (very important for long treks across radioactive wastes) and plug-and-play GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth modules. No mention of V.A.T.S., but maybe that’s coming in a future upgrade. (via Load This - Real-world Pip-Boy 3000 has arrived

)

 
July 2, 2009
“I refused to confess during interrogations. They said: ‘Ask your friends what we’ll do to you if you don’t co-operate.’ Others in the room were also arrested on 15 June. I was tempted to confess at this point but I didn’t. On the third and fourth day, they beat me up again. They insisted we were instructed from abroad. I kept on saying we were only protesting for our votes. “It was on Saturday or Sunday that they raped me for the first time. There were three or four huge guys we had not seen before. They came to me and tore my clothes. I tried to resist but two of them laid me on the floor and the third did it. It was done in front of four other detainees.”
July 2, 2009
“Among women (who were highly-satisfied with their relationship), HSA (High Social Anxiety) women showed significantly more negative behavior than LSA (low social anxiety) women. The researchers speculate that women who are satisfied with their relationships may feel more secure expressing their emotions when they are nervous or anxious. Since the LSA women probably weren’t as anxious about the speech, they had no reason to show any signs of discomfort, but HSA women did. HSA women who were unsatisfied with their relationships, on the other hand, were not comfortable sharing their anxiety with their partners.”
July 2, 2009
“When I asked if I could keep the placenta overnight in the refrigerator out in the hall, the nurses looked at me like I was crazy. When you gross out people who work at a hospital, you have accomplished something.”
July 1, 2009
“There’s a race of men that don’t fit in, A race that can’t stay still; So they break the hearts of kith and kin, And they roam the world at will. They range the field and they rove the flood, And they climb the mountain’s crest; Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood, And they don’t know how to rest.”