Here’s a quick look at the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, with the full details at ThinkProgress.
- CISPA’s broad language will likely give the government access to anyone’s personal information with few privacy protections.
- The bill completely exempts itself from the Freedom of Information Act.
- CISPA gives companies blanket immunity from future lawsuits.
- Companies can already inform the government and each other about incoming cybersecurity threats.
- Most Republicans support CISPA, while most Democrats oppose it, and President Obama threatened to veto it.
- The internet is fighting back.
npr:
NEWS: Space Shuttle Enterprise completes historic flyover of New York City on the back of a modified 747 before delivery to the intrepid museum. This is totally an actual photograph of what actually happened.
Ok, scratch the photos I had up earlier and the dozens more floating around.
This wins everything.
Fantastic. -Savy
The Waveform of a Dubstep Track Visualized With 960 Vinyl Records
Director duo Us, aka Christopher Barrett and Luke Taylor, animates hundreds of custom-cut records for Benga’s “I Will Never Change.” The records accumulate as the track builds over time, creating a mesmerizing physical volume that develops in parallel with the music
Via Motionographer.
This is pretty awesome, and somewhat applicable to what I’m doing right now.
[O]ne of its first written appearances came in 1883, in the American magazine, which referred to “the social ‘dude’ who affects English dress and the English drawl”. The teenage American republic was already a growing power, with the economy booming and the conquest of the West well under way. But Americans in cities often aped the dress and ways of Europe, especially Britain. Hence dude as a dismissive term: a dandy, someone so insecure in his Americanness that he felt the need to act British.
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The etymology of “dude,” a fine addition to the origins of other famous modern words. (via explore-blog)
Dude! |
Technology is continually getting better at predicting our behavior, and signaling to us that perhaps we’re not as unpredictable and free-willed as we humans like to think. Software can predict where crimes are going to happen, scanners can guess what products we like based on what we look like, and brain scanners can eavesdrop on our inner dialogue just by reading our brain activity. One could plausibly argue that the aspect of human nature least likely to be called formulaic is artistic creation, such as making music. Researchers at the University of Bristol, however, want to turn our inspired musical notes into cold, calculated plusses and minuses. They’ve come up with an equation that predicts whether or not a song will become a hit. True reductionists that they are, the scientists plan to use the equation, not only for prediction, but eventually for production.
