"Defendant slashdot.org is an far-right wing Internet news
website that posts libelous and defamatory content and is used
by Open Source Community members to anonymously post hate
speech, death threats, threats to murder and promotes and
advocates acts of domestic terrorism within the United
States..."
http://www.merkeylaw.com/article.php?story=20050621145053855
- what's more: their "anime" coverage isn't much cop either
>> HARD NEWS <<
evergreen yews
Feel free to quote this back to us on the day, but we think
we're really "getting the hang of" this event-organising -
with just over 3 weeks to go, we've already got a near-as-
dammit full schedule for BACKSTAGE.BBC.CO.UK OPEN TECH 2005
(doors open 11am, Sat 23-07-2005, The Reynolds Building,
Hammersmith, London W6 8RP) up on the website, now featuring
"Yahoo Troublemaker" Jeremy Zawodny, a look at the Dirac open
video compression algorithm, and a panel on whether we need
something a bit more like the EFF in the UK - plus Ted Nelson,
inventor of hypertext, and the launch of the aforementioned
backstage.bbc.co.uk developer network, obviously. The other
thing that's a bit different this year is that you shouldn't
just turn up hoping to get a ticket - if you're not in the
schedule (or specifically organising some other aspect of the
event), you are strongly advised to pre-register your email
address on the site, in which case you're guaranteed to get in
if you get there before 11.30. You don't have to pay in
advance: all tickets will be UKP5.00 on the day - a bit more
than before, but which should make it easier to organise
further events in the future (if we actually make any money).
http://www.ukuug.org/events/opentech2005/registration/
- plus a chance to win a ticket to EuroOSCon, and more
http://www.ukuug.org/events/opentech2005/schedule/
- Matt "Mind Hacks" Webb, someone from Amazon, Ben Hammersley...
>> EVENT QUEUE <<
(other) GOTOs considered non-harmful
If you're coming to the Open Tech event on July 23rd (or
even if you're not), we suspect you might also enjoy "outdoor
hacker conference/ event" WHATTHEHACK (Thu 28-07-2005 to Sun
31-07-2005, Landgoed Velder campsite, The Netherlands, from
140 Euros), featuring a similar range of speakers and topics -
but with slightly more exotic-sounding surnames. Between now
and then, we suggest you satiate your growing excitement with
the regular diet of Dorkbot London, FMV cut-scene creativity
at the National Film Theatre, or - if you can work out how to
get invited (and afford the $4,400) - TED GLOBAL (Tue 12-07-
2005 to Fri 15-07-2005, Oxford), which almost won us over with
an eclectic "usual suspects" array of polymaths like Steven
Pinker, Jimmy Wales and Richard Dawkins, then blew it at the
very last minute with a casual reference to Keble College's
"stunning architecture" and "'Hogwarts'-style dining hall".
http://program.whatthehack.org/events.en.html
- while your mum's at http://www.blogher.org/ in California?
http://www.bfi.org.uk/showing/nft/nti/
- same weekend as http://www.aibo-nation.com/
http://www.dorkbot.org/dorkbotlondon/
- just too late to celebrate http://www.fairuseday.com/
http://www.ted.com/tedglobal2005/
- that's Steven "Freakonomics" Levitt, we think you'll find
http://www.ukuug.org/events/linux2005/registration/
- Swansea conf "early bird" rates for NTK readers until 8 July
>> ANTI-MEMES <<
there's smoke, flames, http://dohthehumanity.com/
"Recently, TSA has seen an increase in incidents of
individuals joking about security at the checkpoint", frowns:
http://www.tsa.gov/public/display?content=090005198013f9c3 ...
while "during the download process your browser may appear to
freeze and become unresponsive. This is normal for IE", sighs
http://cra-arc.gc.ca/tax/business/topics/payroll/t4032jan05/menu-e.html
... special bonus backlog - all "Google Goofs", all the time:
http://google.com/search?q=%22dead+and+hard+of+hearing%22 ,
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=chinese+%22wanton+soup%22 ,
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22deleted+uranium%22 ,
http://google.com/search?q=%22lightening+presentations%22 ,
http://google.com/search?q=integrated+%22turkey+solution%22
... "blah blah blah blah", mutters increasingly imperial-
sounding: http://whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/news-archive.html
... wouldn't a hint of artistic nudity help grab the target
audience's attention?: http://firesofdarkness.com/ecards.htm ...
>> TRACKING <<
sufficiently advanced technology : the gathering
Don't get us wrong, we're always interested in new forms of
collective action - as NTK's Lee Maguire points out, artists
could negotiate directly with their audience, Marillion-album-
style, for complete rights-buyouts of works that could then be
put in the public domain. But there's a couple of loopholes in
MySociety's "I'll do this if X number of other people agree to
do it with me" promise-aggregator PLEDGEBANK.COM. First,
there's no general mechanism for either authenticating signups
or ensuring that they actually do what they've promised (Got a
pledge that's a few short of its target? Why not just make up
some names - because, in most cases, who's going to know?).
And, following on from that, doesn't the "but only if"
criterion place slightly more emphasis on the - often
completely arbitrarily selected - numeric threshold, rather
than on the actual effect of what you're trying to achieve?
http://www.pledgebank.com/bpifine
- vs http://www.pledgebank.com/individual
http://www.fundable.org/
- authenticated contributions (towards an arbitrary threshold)
http://www.dropcash.com/
- if you just want to raise some money, no matter what
>> GEEK MEDIA <<
get out less
FILM>> after "Revenge Of The Sith" and "Sin City", a summer of
bad acting in front of unconvincing CGI backgrounds continues
with Spielberg's woefully uninspired "Independence Day" remake
WAR OF THE WORLDS (imdb: based-on-novel/ dockyard/ father-
daughter-relationship/ ferry-boat/ lightning/ alien-invasion/
new-jersey/ pregnancy)... the director of "Dog Soldiers"
returns next week with a largely female cast trapped below
ground in THE DESCENT ( http://www.bbfc.co.uk/ : Contains
strong bloody horror)... while, despite a promising setup,
recent trailers imply that "Meet The Parents" - but with Vince
Vaughn - is where WEDDING CRASHERS ends up (imdb: balloon/
beach/ father-daughter-relationship/ friendship/ houseguest/
hunting/ impersonation/ screwball/ touch-football)...
>> SMALL PRINT <<
Need to Know is a useful and interesting UK digest of things that
happened last week or might happen next week. You can read it
on Friday afternoon or print it out then take it home if you have
nothing better to do. It is compiled by NTK from stuff they get sent.
Registered at the Post Office as
"notability uncertain"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Votes_for_deletion/Danny_O%27Brien
NEED TO KNOW
THEY STOLE OUR REVOLUTION. NOW WE'RE STEALING IT BACK.
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