These bicycles are.. well, I'm not sure what they are.

Nuclear Mushroom Cloud Picture Gallery

Wow. Garrison Keillor lambastes the GOP. We're definitely not in Lake Wobegone anymore.

Stand and deliver

For those of you yearning to address an audience soon, here are some good tips on speaking in public.

P2P, or not to P2P

The NYT has a nice editorial on the recent Ninth Circuit appeals court decision that ruled P2P networks legal. It is refreshing to see these complex issues explained succinctly:

Grokster and the Information Exchange
The legal battles over file-sharing are usually construed as a fight over intellectual property rights, plain and simple. On one side are copyright owners, including songwriters and artists as well as the major recording companies and movie studios. On the other side, a handful of advocacy groups and a legion of file-sharers bent on nothing more than outright theft of copyrighted music and movies. The short title of a recent appeals decision says it all: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer v. Grokster.

But the broader issue is the distribution of information. Software like Grokster creates a network of independent Internet users who can access one another's computer files without going through a central server. (Napster maintained a central server, which made it legally liable in very different ways.) Grokster can certainly be used to swap music illegally. But it can also be used to exchange electronic copies of books already in the public domain, transcripts of Congressional hearings or any number of other legitimate types of information. Much like a VCR that does not distinguish between a pirated tape and one legally acquired, the technology does not care what is shared. It is impossible to strike down software like Grokster for its use in illegal file-sharing without also destroying its capacity for legal and socially beneficial activities.

This distinction lies at the heart of a recent Ninth Circuit appeals court decision, which upheld a ruling in favor of Grokster and against an army of corporate copyright owners. This decision does not make illegal file-sharing legal. But it implicitly raises a question central to most copyright battles. Is society better served by restricting or even prohibiting new technologies to protect the rights of copyright owners or is there a greater good in the widest possible exchange of information? The resolution lies somewhere in the middle. Finding it, as the court acknowledges, is properly left to Congress.

These are thorny issues indeed. Freedom of information is at the root of American democracy, and yet every day we see that freedom being compromised, controlled and limited. The Grokster decision is a ruling in favor of keeping our bets open about which technologies will turn out to serve our freedoms best.

indeed

Baby Got Back (in Latin)

(with literal English translation)
De clunibus magnis amandis oratio
By Mixaloti equitis

mehercle!
(By Hercules!)
Rebecca, ecce! tantae clunes isti sunt!
(Rebecca, behold! Such large buttocks she has!)

amica esse videtur istorum hominum rhythmicorum.
(She appears to be a girlfriend of one of those rhythmic-oration people.)
sed, ut scis,
(But, as you know)
quis homines huiusmodi intellegere potest?
(Who can understand persons of this sort?)
colloquuntur equidem cum ista eo tantum, quod scortum perfectum esse videtur.
(Verily, they converse with her for this reason only, namely, that she appears to be a complete whore.)
clunes, aio, maiores esse!
(Her buttocks, I say, are rather large!)
nec possum credere quam rotondae sint.
(Nor am I able to believe how round they are.)
en! quam exstant! nonne piget te earum?
(Lo! How they stand forth! Do they not disgust you?)
ecce mulier Aethiops!
(Behold the black woman!)

magnae clunes mihi placent, nec possum de hac re mentiri.
(Large buttocks are pleasing to me, nor am I able to lie concerning this matter.)
quis enim, consortes mei, non fateatur,
(For who, colleagues, would not admit,)
cum puella incedit minore medio corpore
(Whenever a girl comes by with a rather small middle part of the body)
sub quo manifestus globus, inflammare animos
(Beneath which is an obvious spherical mass, that it inflames the spirits)
virtute praestare ut velitis, notantes bracas eius
(So that you want to be conspicuous for manly virtue, noticing her breeches)
clunibus profunde fartas(*1) esse
(Have been deeply stuffed with buttock?)
a! captus sum, nec desinere intueri possum.
(Alas! I am captured, nor am I able to desist from gazing.)
o dominola mea, volo tecum congredi
(My dear lady, I want to come together with you)
pingereque picturam tui.
(And make a picture of you.)
familiares mei me monebant
(My companions were trying to warn me)
sed clunes istae libidinem in me concitant.
(But those buttocks of yours arouse lust in me.)
o! cutis rugosa glabraque! (*2)
(O skin wrinkled and smooth!)
dixistine te in meum vehiculum intrare velle?
(Did you say you wish to enter my vehicle?)
in arbitrio tuo totus veni
(I am entirely at your disposal)
quia non es mediocris adsecula.
(Because you are not an average hanger-on.)
vidi illam saltantem.(*3)
(I have seen her dancing.)
obliviscere igitur blanditiarum! (*3a)
(Forget, therefore, about blandishments!)
tantus sudor! tantus umor!
(Such sweat! Such moisture!)
vehor quasi in curru quadrigarum! (*4)
(I am borne along as if by a four-horse chariot!)
taedet me in diurnis legendi
(I am tired of reading in the gazettes)
planas clunes gratiores iudicari.
(That flat buttocks are judged more pleasing.)
rogate quoslibet Aethiopes: responsum erit
(Ask any black men you wish: the answer will be)
se libentius expletiores (*5) anteponere.
(Rather that they prefer fuller ones.)
o consortes (quid est?) o consortes (quid est?)
(O colleagues [What is it?] O colleagues [What is it?])
habent amicae vestrae magnas clunes? (certe habent!)
(Do your girlfriends have large buttocks? [They certainly have!])
hortamini igitur ut eas quatiant (ut quatiant!)
(Encourage them therefore to shake them! [To shake them!])
ut quatiant! (ut quatiant!)
(To shake them! [To shake them!)
ut quatiant illas clunes sanas!
(To shake those healthy buttocks!)
domina mea exstat a tergo! (*6)
(My mistress stands out behind!)

Truism for the day: Confidence is that feeling you get right before you really understand the problem.

move over, iPod

Due this month: Sony's new credit card-sized 20GB Walkman. If I had a piggy bank, I'd raid it.

In case of alien abduction, these dog tags may save your life. The crucial data an alien will need to get you back to Earth is die stamped into these dog tags.
The design is based on NASA research for the Pioneer 10 Space Mission that used a gold plaque attached to the craft to inform any Extraterrestrials of it's Earthly origin.

oh...right

Authorities: Don't Sell Your Vote On eBay

Introducing Metal Rubber.

back at it

Howdy folks, sorry for the long lull. School starts on Monday so things have been busy, to say the least. I'm ensconced in Ohio once again for what appears to be a very busy but very interesting second year at law school. My summer was fantastic, but I'm ready to have all this school business over with. If I missed you this summer, please forgive me; if I saw you this summer, let's do it again soon. Cheers.

McDowell a.k.a. "Yankee on a half-shell" (blame the runners at Balch & Bingham for that one)

If you use Gmail, then you'll find this list of Gmail applications quite useful. My favorite is GTray, which creates an icon in your system tray that checks for new mail every 30 seconds or so and pops up a balloon alerting you when new mail arrives. Mighty handy. Note: If you use Mozilla or Firefox browsers, you may want to use this application instead. Cheers.

It's all about strategery

Remarks by the President at the Signing of H.R. 4613, the Defense Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2005, Room 350, Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building:

". . . Third, this bill meets our commitment to America's Armed Forces by preparing them to meet the threats of tomorrow. Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

via Sharon

You might find this RSS calendar program useful. You might not.

great photo by Mary Pat

You are here

New fun site of the day: The Terra Server. Run by the U.S. Geological Survey, it is a searchabale and zoomable database of satellite images. The paranoid probably shouldn't see any of this. Here's where I live: