Not bad... apparently a couple years old now, but timely nonetheless.

-k

I really, really like scrubs.

YouTube - Charlie Brown Christmas - Performed by the Cast of Scrubs

Really.. I mean... wow.

Michel Gondry Solves Rubik's Cube With Feet

NEW YORK (AP) -- By the year 2030, New York City could have so many people straining its infrastructure that it won't have enough electricity or housing to meet demand, and rush hour traffic will last all day.

The city of 8.2 million people must start planning and building now for the expected growth of 1 million more over the next 25 years, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a panel of experts warned.

"We now have the freedom to take on the obstacles looming in the city's future and to begin clearing them away before they become rooted in place," Bloomberg said Tuesday.

Some of the findings presented Tuesday by a team of city planners, academics, scientists and environmentalists who have spent the past year studying the city's infrastructure and assessing its viability to cope include:

• In 25 years, rails and roads will be "crammed beyond capacity" and won't be able to accommodate the swarm of commuters during what is now considered normal rush hour. Lawmakers must act now to not only expand the road network but also to update the subway system, which was built starting in 1901 and still uses signal and switch technology developed before the 1940s.

• The city will need thousands more housing units. And it has to be affordable -- already, more than a third of city renters fork over more than half their income for rent, the group said.

• Energy demand could exceed supply by as early as 2012, and by 2030 the majority of the city's power plants will be more than 50 years old. The city needs to improve efficiency, use alternative energy sources and modernize its grid, which was built in the 1920s.

New York must not only meet the needs of its growing population but has to stay competitive as a global city, said Robert D. Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association, a nonpartisan planning group.

"We can't put our head in the sand," he said. "We know that Shanghai and London and other great world cities that are competing with us are making plans like these and are doing a great job of building new economies and building the infrastructure systems."

Suggestions offered by the expert panel included taxing vehicles that drive into Manhattan's most heavily trafficked neighborhoods, called congestion pricing; and charging residents by the pound for the trash they throw out.

Atlanta can't be too far behind...we don't have any natural boundaries, but it seems traffic is terrible in midtown all the time and we don't hardly have a mass transit system to update.

-janelane, the choir

New York faces all-day rush hour by 2030 - CNN.com

Red Light: A “red light” institution has at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech. A “clear” restriction is one that unambiguously infringes on what is or should be protected expression. In other words, the threat to free speech at a red light institution is obvious on the face of the policy and does not depend on how the policy is applied. A “substantial” restriction on free speech is one that is broadly applicable to important categories of campus expression. For example, a ban on “offensive speech” would be a clear violation (in that it is unambiguous) as well as a substantial violation (in that it covers a great deal of what would be protected expression in the larger society). Such a policy would earn a university a red light.

While a ban on “posters promoting alcohol consumption” would be a clear violation because it unambiguously restricts speech on the basis of content and viewpoint, it would not be a substantial violation because of its very limited scope. Alternatively, a policy banning “verbal abuse” would have broad applicability and would pose a substantial threat to free speech, but it would not be a clear violation because “abuse” might refer to unprotected speech, such as threats of violence or harassment as defined in the common law. In other words, the extent of the threat to free speech depends on how such a policy is applied.

Texas is the reason.

The University of Texas at Austin is observed by FIRE to clearly and substantially restrict free speech.

The Multiverse Network, Inc., a company building the world's leading network of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) and 3D virtual worlds, today announced it optioned the rights from Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising to develop an MMOG based on Firefly, the science fiction television series created by Joss Whedon that has enjoyed a hugely popular and loyal following since its premier in 2002.

Fucking Awesome.

Multiverse and Fox Licensing & Merchandising to build online game based on popular Firefly television series

Holy fucking shit. Seriously.

Shave Everwhere from Norelco

Found this on Instapundit (don't shoot me in the face!).

"[Justice Scalia] has frequently taken an expansive view of the Bill of Rights, thus supporting defendants in criminal cases. Scalia is one of the intellectual godfathers of a strand of Supreme Court decisions, crystallized by Apprendi v. New Jersey, that revolutionized sentencing laws. Following a strict interpretation of the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of due process of law and the Sixth Amendment’s right to trial by jury, Scalia has insisted that any fact used to extend punishment beyond normal statutory limits must be specified and proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Despite his fevered support for capital punishment, Scalia also joined a court majority in holding that the Constitution requires a death sentence to be decided by a jury, rather than by a judge, effectively setting aside every capital sentence still on direct appeal in five states." - NY Times

Scalia the Civil Libertarian?

Cory Doctorw on Boing Boing:
"Check out these amazing replica Altair 8800 kit, composed all new (or new-old stock) parts, with the original instructions for assembly. The Altair 8800 was the microcomputer ancestor of the PC -- the computer that inspired the PC revolution. It was -- to some approximation -- the first useful computer that you could build and run in your home workshop. Regrettably, these kits are only sold on eBay, making them a pain to acquire, but the idea is just fantastic, and it sounds like the build-quality is terrific."

Amazing replica Altair 8800 kit

Lawrence Lessig's (http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/003606.shtml) blog called my attention to this brief document on Net Neutrality which outlines why it is a Bad Thing (tm) for the online gaming industry.

Having previously worked for Electronic Arts, I can definitely say this is something they should be heavily concerned with as their customers span many, many networks and EA is peered in many, many places with first and second teir carriers. EA's operating cost will increase. The only place for this to travel is downward: both to the consumers and employees. For smaller companies, this will make independent innovation much more difficult; small companies making massively multiplayer games or communities will, effectively, have their choice of self publishing (even if few self distribute any longer) removed. Welcome to large(r) software houses.

Every Time You Vote against Net Neutrality, Your ISP Kills a Night Elf

This is a very good tutorial on learning how to juggle. These are the same steps I went through to learn 3 ball juggling.

Learn to Juggle