Is 'Keep Off the Grass' Elitist?
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Is Central Park a serene "church" for reflective New Yorkers or a bustling "town square" for the masses?
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Review Can it appeal to novice and pro alike?
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Tycho:  It is often the case that we are jumped by four or five horde ten levels higher than us.  This is often because we've jumped a friend of theirs, ten levels lower than us, as retribution for some earlier act of aggression, in slavish iteration of a behavior that has - as its culmination - the end of all life, everywhere.  Kara marveled that Gabriel and I were able to escape these confrontations with such regularity.  What was our secret?  "Fear," I said, bending the microphone closer.  "Fear, and selfishness."
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By Jason George, Chicago Tribune  Sep. 24--Dune Acres is the place to be; no visitors to bother me.   Beach spreadin' out so far and wide; keep out Gary, this is the quiet side.
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Disdaining environmentalism in the battle against global warming.
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Shoot 'Em Up has no back-story. Instead, what it has is lame-brain wit, wooden acting, regular directing and a loud soundtrack. But it's still awesome!
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How To Deal With People Who Dislike You by Peter Murphy
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Is this really a good thing for everyone?
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By Richard Dymond, The Bradenton Herald, Fla.  Feb. 3--LAKEWOOD RANCH -- Some Lakewood Ranch residents are uncomfortable "ratting out" their neighbors who are overwatering their lawns.
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Don't let the naysayers get you down.
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By Phyllis Coulter, The Pantagraph, Bloomington, Ill.  Jun. 24--NORMAL -- It may be a challenge starting and maintaining your own "smart yard," but it can also be a challenge showing the concept to others.
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It could be magic for some, but the use of loud Barry Manilow music to drive away late-night revelers from a suburban Sydney park is getting on the nerves of nearby residents.
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Tycho:  Gabriel's ill-conceived Pong Pong challenge has brought out the wolves, and now the forest rings with their baying. Amaze Entertainment is holding tryouts internally to see who will leave our merry band in ruins. Upstarts from the DigiPen Institute of Technology will arrive soon to unseat the last generation as is the charge of all young men. "Suckerpunch" will cease to be a euphemism when one of their usually mild animators suddenly strikes my diaphragm.
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Bob Dylan, the voice of a generation, does not want to be known as the voice of a generation. He says as much at many points in this, the first of a projected three-volume autobiography that, of course, will be eagerly read by a generation. Such handles plainly irritate him and, here and there, provoke an unexpected response: Do you know what a drag it is to be me?
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There's been a mostly fantastic discussion about fair use in this neighborhood for the last few days.  It started when a photograph of Lane Hartwell's was used in a video spoof of the Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start the Fire."  The first I heard of this was in a Twitter post of hers where she said she was turning off access to her entire Flickr collection because this picture was used without permission. A series of communications with the people who did the video resulted in the video being taken down. Later Mike Arrington, who is a lawyer, wrote a piece saying she didn't have right on her side, and that the video's use of her picture was probably fair use. I found Mike's piece compelling. Others took offense. It thought it was a useful part of the discussion. I understand Ms Hartwell's point of view. I hate it when people copy a whole post of mine and paste it into theirs. But then I grab bits of images and put them on my blog and people rarely complain. The blogosphere is built on being loose about copyright and fair use.  I'm doing a deal with a content company and all these issues are coming up. We haven't been able to write a contract that covers all the things they want covered and make it possible for me to do what I need to do, and they want my product to work. It's a real mess we're in. Bloggers are supposed to be radicals when it comes to fair use and copyright, but that generalization doesn't work with many creative people. Hartwell's position in some ways is like the RIAA or MPAA, who bloggers often dismiss as clueless. How can we have it both ways? How can some defend her position yet not defend the entertainment industry? There's a lot to discuss here, and a lot of the discussion on the blogs has been informative and respectful. Not all of it, but to an unusually high degree.  So, I am interested in doing an in person "flash conference" on the subject of fair use in a few weeks. I'd say next week if it weren't Christmas. Most conferences are so boring. I want to do a conf on a hot subject when it's still hot in the blogosphere. This may be a good subject for such a quickly organized conference. What do you think of the flash conference idea for this??
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Tycho:  Despite what the Mr. Period comics might imply, I think of grammar as somewhat tyrannical, and believe that an obsession with the mechanical perfection of language is at odds with actual communication.  At the same time, I know (generally) how things should be arranged, and so non-standard uses deliver naughty thrills.  There are floating syllables in the recent Twisp & Catsby thing that can only be resolved by a very specific reading, and they project from the phrases in a suggestive way.  I even like trade names:  words that evoke fierce, yet sensitive gladiators or spry androids.
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CLIMATE CHANGE, Part IV: Some love it, others hate it. But can it be a viable solution for controlling carbon emissions? The whole idea is "nonsense on stilts." It's the best idea anyone has ever had on the ...Comment