Dirty Red Commie

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has a petition regarding the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

ACTA is an attempt to regulate pretty much everything electronic. It has been drafted behind closed doors and has, for the most part, been kept completely secret. It attempts to, among other things, require countries to impose a 3 strikes law (if you're accused of an illegal file copy 3 times, you're in trouble, regardless of guilt). It also attempts to require DRM for just about everything.

I urge everyone to sign the FSF petition on ACTA.

Here are some links to more information:
FSF on ACTA
has some information on ACTA
Wikipedia ACTA page
Public Knowledge ACTA page
Office of the US Trade Representative on ACTA
Intellectual Property Office (UK)

I groaned when I saw the headline for this video.  I didn't know how bad it was going to get though.

First off, I don't know if you heard but Michael Jackson died last week. Apparently that is the only important thing going on in the world right now. Forget that the House passed a Cap and Trade bill on Friday because that doesn't really matter.

CNN does some really stupid things with their videos. So, instead of a nice embedded video, you get a link. Oh, and turn off flashblock before following the link as CNNs site doesn't play well with it.

Get ready to feel like breaking stuff:
Freaky clouds show dead singer's face?

It's reports like this that cause people to lose faith in humanity and go on killing sprees

Jesus does not keep appearing in shit. Mr. Jackson won't either. They're fucking clouds. The world isn't going to end tomorrow. Get over it.

Update:

Round 2: Image in a tree Michael Jackson? Jesus?

Oh god it's too painful.  Full disclosure, I didn't watch that one. Using quantum mechanics as a guidline, there's a chance that the video is good. But there's also a chance that my computer falls right through my desk completely unchanged too. More than likely, the video would make me want to kill myself (the title almost does that), and my computer is staying right where it is.

The city of Bozeman, MT now presents job applicants with a signature-required disclosure form for their login credentials, including passwords, to "any and all, current personal or business websites, web pages or
memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums,
to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com,
MySpace, etc[.]" 

 This is Montana.  You can have my brilliantly unmemorable personal passwords when you pry them from my cold, dead neurons.

via Boing Boing

Almost all of these (that I got to) made me laugh out loud.

I don't know how so many were made without getting on my radar yet but I felt that it was necessary to share them here.

Play-Him-Off Keyboard-Cat  

Maybe I just like it because it relives so many other great videos.

 Many of us here at Dirty Red Commie are adamant admirers of The Flaming Lips, just ask last.fm .  However, until now we weren't aware that the feeling is mutual:

Voters in Oklahoma have declared The Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize?" their state's new official rock song, but not if state Republicans, angered by bassist Michael Ivins' communist attire, have anything to say about it. Perhaps it was just a shout-out to his fans?

Rachel Maddow is obviously another honorary Commie.

I was looking up the transfer speeds of firewire 800 when I ran across this gem in wikipedia.

Alternative uses for IEEE 1394

IEEE 1394b is used in military aircraft, where weight savings are desired. Developed for use as the data bus on the F-22 Raptor, it is also used on the F-35 Lightning II.^[17] NASA's Space Shuttle also uses IEEE 1394b to monitor debris (foam, ice) which may hit the vehicle during launch.^[17] This standard should not be confused with the unrelated MIL-STD-1394B, which is concerned with the construction quality of hats.

As many of you know, when I moved to Helena, I moved into a loft and promptly decided that a TV that only stays on one floor was lame. I have solved this lameness.

If you want the story and lots of writing about you you can check out my webpage.

If you think about my other stories and realize that you just want to see the pictures, I've a picture page for the project.

"

mddawso 8 points 1 hour ago [-]

September 11 occurs every year and will continue to do so until further notice.

"

totally sweet. 

"Colleges trumpet the statistic that, over their lifetimes, college
graduates earn more than nongraduates, but that's terribly misleading.
You could lock the collegebound in a closet for four years, and they'd
still go on to earn more than the pool of non-collegebound — they're
brighter, more motivated, and have better family connections."

Mostly a common-sense article , but made me stop and think for a minute. 

I've had migraines on the brain lately.  No, I haven't had a migraine recently, but the topic has come up several times in the past couple of weeks, and I just ran across some sites that I found particularly interesting as a migraine sufferer.  

I came across a series of paintings by migraine patients that are attempts to show what the experience is like.  In particular, the geometric patterns are excellent representations of the visual aura I experience before a migraine.  Looking through the slideshow, the familiarity I felt was striking -- so much so that was not a particularly pleasant experience.  

The New York Times has a migraine blog of which I was not previously aware. The most recent post is by Jeff Tweedy of the band Wilco.  I don't know their music very well, but it's interesting to know that much of their music was recorded while Tweedy was having migraines.  He would even perform at concerts with migraines.  Playing an instrument under bright lights and loud speakers with a migraine sounds absolutely unbearable.

I recently found out that my father and my grandmother both occasionally experience Acephalgic or "silent" migraines ,
which feature the weird visual disturbances, but not the pain.  Lucky
them.  That seems to support the idea that migraines are often genetic.

Sorry for the dry post, guys, but I think those of you who are fellow migraineurs may find these links interesting, and maybe some of the rest might as well.