
Stereo images. (Beware, some of the images are not safe for work.)
(via Adam, who is not sure whether these are cool or just cause headaches.)
What would the world be, once bereft of wet and wildness?
Let them be left, O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.
-- Gerard Manley Hopkins


Are you tired of being forced to watch tv everywhere you go? Waiting rooms, restaurants, public restrooms--there seems no limit to the amount of television we are expected to consume. Well, if you're really tired of it (like I am), here's a new product you may enjoy. The TV-B-Gone is a keychain remote that turns off any tv around. Just click one button and it scans the room, detects their remote codes, and switches them off. They can be turned on again, of course, but at least you'll have a few moments of peace. I'm really not as militant as all this sounds, but I can't help but agree with the guy in this article when he shut off a tv in a downtown diner, making a patron get up and leave: "We just saved him several minutes of his life."
I just finished reading Lawrence Lessig's groundbreaking work Free Culture, and I am convinced that the revolution against oppressive copyright is now in full swing. This well-written and extremely informative book, which is provided here in full for free, lays out the contours of the debate over file sharing on the internet, and makes a persuasive argument for backing off the current aggressive stance toward copyright being pursued by the Recording Industry Association of America and, unfortunately, Congress. In a nutshell, Lessig argues that the internet is a changing technology, and that imposing overly restrictive copyright policies on file sharing at this point is unnecessary and oppressive. He points to the different types of information now available online, and shows how blanket restrictions designed to protect copyrighted material would also prohibit access to lots of information NOT protected by copyright, which in the long run would hamper creativity. His arguments are numerous and persuasive, and I seriously recommend this to anyone who is even slightly interested in the paradigm shift we are currently witnessing online. Whether you believe these guys or these guys, there is no question that this is an important debate that will have deep repercussions throughout our culture. Check out Lessig's blog here, and for a good example of the issues involved, read this post on a related copyright question.
The Guardian has a good story on da Vinci's Mona Lisa and its odd appeal to just about every tourist who visits France. I remember studying the painting in Art Appreciation 101 in college and asking my professor what the big deal was, and he went off about the enigmatic smile and some such, but I never really understood why the painting was so darn famous. To wit:

