A very nice video explaining the origins of the Internet. Love the clean, simple (mostly) black and white animation.
History of the Internet from PICOL on Vimeo.
The icons used are from the PICOL project which is the Pictorial Communication Language and is a project to find a standard and reduced sign system for electronic communication.
The Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008 is not a bad bit of legislation EXCEPT for section 92 which allows a copyright holder to ask your ISP to terminate your Internet access if you infringe on their copyright. The problem with this is they do not have to provide any evidence to the ISP, nor are there any penalties if it is a false accusation !
This is just crazy. If you agree then click on the banner below and voice your concern.
Some more reading for you:
Section 92 reads as follows:
92A Internet service provider must have policy for terminating accounts of repeat infringers
(1) An Internet service provider must adopt and reasonably implement a policy that provides for termination, in appropriate circumstances, of the account with that Internet service provider of a repeat infringer.
(2) In subsection (1), repeat infringer means a person who repeatedly infringes the copyright in a work by using 1 or more of the Internet services of the Internet service provider to do a restricted act without the consent of the copyright owner.
92B Internet service provider liability if user infringes copyright
(1) This section applies if a person (A) infringes the copyright in a work by using 1 or more of the Internet services of an Internet service provider to do a restricted act without the consent of the copyright owner.
(2) Merely because A uses the Internet services of the Internet service provider in infringing the copyright, the Internet service provider, without more,—
(a) does not infringe the copyright in the work:
(b) must not be taken to have authorised A’s infringement of copyright in the work:
(c) subject to subsection (3), must not be subject to any civil remedy or criminal sanction.
(3) However, nothing in this section limits the right of the copyright owner to injunctive relief in relation to A’s infringement or any infringement by the Internet service provider.
(4) In subsections (1) and (2), Internet services means the services referred to in the definition of Internet service provider in section 2(1).
92C Internet service provider liability for storing infringing material
(1) This section applies if—
(a) an Internet service provider stores material provided by a user of the service; and
(b) the material infringes copyright in a work (other than as a result of any modification by the Internet service provider).
(2) The Internet service provider does not infringe copyright in the work by storing the material unless—
(a) the Internet service provider—
(i) knows or has reason to believe that the material infringes copyright in the work; and
(ii) does not, as soon as possible after becoming aware of the infringing material, delete the material or prevent access to it; or
(b) the user of the service who provided the material is acting on behalf of, or at the direction of, the Internet service provider.
(3) A court, in determining whether, for the purposes of subsection (2), an Internet service provider knows or has reason to believe that material infringes copyright in a work, must take account of all relevant matters, including whether the Internet service provider has received a notice of infringement in relation to the infringement.
(4) An Internet service provider who deletes a user’s material or prevents access to it because the Internet service provider knows or has reason to believe that it infringes copyright in a work must, as soon as possible, give notice to the user that the material has been deleted or access to it prevented.
(5) Nothing in this section limits the right of the copyright owner to injunctive relief in relation to a user’s infringement or any infringement by the Internet service provider.
92D Requirements for notice of infringement
A notice referred to in section 92C(3) must—
(a) contain the information prescribed by regulations made under this Act; and
(b) be signed by the copyright owner or the copyright owner’s duly authorised agent.
92E Internet service provider does not infringe copyright by caching infringing material
(1) An Internet service provider does not infringe copyright in a work by caching material if the Internet service provider—
(a) does not modify the material; and
(b) complies with any conditions imposed by the copyright owner of the material for access to that material; and
(c) does not interfere with the lawful use of technology to obtain data on the use of the material; and
(d) updates the material in accordance with reasonable industry practice.
(2) However, an Internet service provider does infringe copyright in a work by caching material if the Internet service provider does not delete the material or prevent access to it by users as soon as possible after the Internet service provider became aware that—
(a) the material has been deleted from its original source; or
(b) access to the material at its original source has been prevented; or
(c) a court has ordered that the material be deleted from its original source or that access to the material at its original source be prevented.
(3) Nothing in this section limits the right of the copyright owner to injunctive relief in relation to a user’s infringement or any infringement by the Internet service provider.
(4) In this section,—
cache means the storage of material by an Internet service provider that is—
(a) controlled through an automated process; and
(b) temporary; and
(c) for the sole purpose of enabling the Internet service provider to transmit the material more efficiently to other users of the service on their request
original source means the source from which the Internet service provider copied the material that is cached.
On Friday, whilst at my parent-in-laws, we chased a large bug out the lounge. After a couple of minutes it came back in and this time when we helped it out it dropped its payload (a giant spider) and revealed itself to be a wasp and disappeared out the window.
I didn’t think to much of it until I saw another wasp this morning hanging around the surround-sound speaker next to the TV. Guess what I found? Yep the wasp had been creating nests in the back of the speakers in the holes where the screws go. In fact there were two wasps hard at work.
They are both squished now but at least 4 holes have been sealed up. I’m not sure how we are going to dig out the nests.
Here are some pics:
For those of you who don’t know, wasps paralyze spiders, stick them in holes and then lay their eggs into the spiders. The young then hatch and feed on the spiders. Lovely…
Crashed Ice is a combination of downhill skiing, hockey, boardercross with a little bit of “roller ball” thrown in, awesome. I would love to try this, even though I would get broken into little, little pieces.
Ok I knew this wasn’t going to be good but oh boy was it bad.
I’m not sure why exactly, it had the same writer as the first two, actually Starship Troopers 2 was pretty awful too, I’d even go as far as to say it was worse then number 3.
The acting was very flat and the plot had some terrible setups. The SFX were OK but some of the CGI was noticeable, unlike the original which did a good job of making the bugs blend into the live action.
If you liked the original then you will probably enjoy this one just don’t get your hopes up.
Synopsis:
Starship Troopers 3: Marauder explodes with mind-blowing man-on-bug combat! Col. Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien) is back to lead his team on a secret mission to rescue a small crew of troopers stranded on the remote planet of OM-1. Battling bugs, both new and old, the new “Marauder” advanced weapons technology may be their only hope against a treasonous element operating within the Federation itself. As Captain Lola Beck (Jolene Blalock) and the rest of the starship crew fight to survive in the harsh conditions, it begins to dawn on them that something on OM-1 is very, very wrong. This time the bugs have a secret weapon that could destroy humanity. Join the Mobile Infantry in this intergalactic action-packed adventure.
This was much better then I anticipated. The acting was good, the storyline was more or less believable and the SFX were very good.
Having said that it is incredibly gory with body parts and blood sprays everywhere. The Jeep mounted heavy machine gun that Rambo commandeers is particularly messy (the poor driver!).
This move is set sometime after Rambo III.
Synopsis:
When a group of missionary aid workers in myanmar disappear into the vast green inferno vigilante vietnam veteran john rambo leaves his job as a salween river boatman behind to accompany a group of mercenaries on a daring rescue mission.
This is third book in the Inheritance Cycle which started with Eragon. The books are far better then the movie and this book was supposed to finish off the series. Alas it did not and we can expect a 4th book.
I quite like this series. Nothing groundbreaking but a just a nice, well thought out tale. Swords, dragons, battles and magic what more could you want?
Synopsis:
OATHS SWORN . . . loyalties tested . . . forces collide.
Following the colossal battle against the Empire’s warriors on the Burning Plains, Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have narrowly escaped with their lives. Still there is more at hand for the Rider and his dragon, as Eragon finds himself bound by a tangle of promises he may not be able to keep.
First is Eragon’s oath to his cousin Roran: to help rescue Roran’s beloved, Katrina, from King Galbatorix’s clutches. But Eragon owes his loyalty to others, too. The Varden are in desperate need of his talents and strength—as are the elves and dwarves. When unrest claims the rebels and danger strikes from every corner, Eragon must make choices— choices that take him across the Empire and beyond, choices that may lead to unimagined sacrifice.
Eragon is the greatest hope to rid the land of tyranny. Can this once-simple farm boy unite the rebel forces and defeat the king?
A straight forward read with well defined characters. I particularly liked the concept of “Graces”. Aimed at the teenage market so I powered through it in a day and a bit. I love been on holiday :)
Synopsis:
If you had the power to kill with your bare hands, what would you do with it?
Graceling takes readers inside the world of Katsa, a warrior-girl in her late teens with one blue eye and one green eye. This gives her haunting beauty, but also marks her as a Graceling. Gracelings are beings with special talents—swimming, storytelling, dancing. Katsa’s Grace is considered more useful: her ability to fight (and kill, if she wanted to) is unequaled in the seven kingdoms. Forced to act as a henchman for a manipulative king, Katsa channels her guilt by forming a secret council of like-minded citizens who carry out secret missions to promote justice over cruelty and abuses of power.
I came across this t-shirt site a few months ago called Threadless, not only do they have some very cool T-shirt designs but they are all user created.
The idea is that you design a T-shirt, upload the design and if it gets lots of votes then its gets printed! Better yet if you design gets chosen for printing then you get $2000 cash and $500 of vouchers.
So since it is a bit rainy today, I created my first t-shirt design and submitted it.
[Updated]: alas my design got bounced back as needing some tweaking so it is now in critique mode. Check it out and let me know what you think: http://www.threadless.com/critique/34044/Hello_waveform
This animation was put together by a couple of the guys in my team here at Air New Zealand.
Happy Holidays everyone…
Air New Zealand Saves Christmas — cartoon from Photon Studios on Vimeo.
BTW see if you can find the easter egg @ http://www.happyholidaysfromairnz.com there may be something in it for you :)
to my corner of the web. A little soapbox for me to stand on and rant. Hopefully you will find something useful or interesting here.
My recent Diggs
