What I'm Reading Now: The Picture of Dorian Gray

I think I'm going to be reading very old books for awhile, as most titles published before 1914 are in the public domain so I can legally download them for free.

Wikipedia says that the Picture of Dorian Gray was very different in it's 1890 publication and 1891 forms; I wonder which copy I have.

Peanuts is cooler than cool: Hey Ya

This peanuts rendition of Hey Ya is great. I like Linus & Charlie Brown covering "ice cold!" at 02:20, and the attention to detail with the clapping/snapping along at all the right moments.

What I'm Playing Now: The Majesty of Colors

There are just a lot of great flash games out there right now. Some of them are rather artsy, like Passage, and the game I found tonight, I fell in Love with the Majesty of Colors. You can play it in a couple of minutes, or spend more finding all the different story lines.

What I'm Reading Now: Mother Night

More Kurt Vonnegut. Hooray! I already enjoyed A Man Without a Country, Breakfast of Champions, and The Sirens of Titan. I might try to get his entire collection eventually.

What I'm Reading Now: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

I didn't realize how much of a Cory Doctorow fan I was until my friends & I were discussing a Larry King interview question "Who are your heroes?". My friends had a hard time thinking of heroes for themselves, but they all quickly told me that, for me, it's Cory Doctorow. I didn't realize :)

I won't argue, though - a former EFF staffer, tireless defender of our digital rights, and just a nice guy (he signed my book at this SF reading), Cory is certainly a better hero than the average professional athlete.

Why I like real, physical books, and resist Kindle, Nook

I like technology, and would probably be a regular early-adopter if my budget wasn't already focused on my family. ...but I resist e-book readers, including Kindle, Nook, and smartphones, even while my wife reads books on her iphone weekly.

Tycho explains why in his post today. In most cases, new technology is presented to the public as beneficial to us, but the peddlers of said tech are focused on using it to restrict our liberties in an attempt* to increase their profits.

Here's the whole (long) quote:

I mentioned to Gabe that the LendMe feature didn't extend to all books, and he was surprised to learn this, as "lending" a book digitally removes it from your device. It is, in many ways, like lending a person a real book. I suggested to him that this was precisely what they didn't like - you have to warp your mind to perceive it, to understand why a publisher of books would hate the book as a concept, but there you have it. They don't like that books are immutable, transferable objects whose payload never degrades. A digital "book" - caged on a device, licensed, not purchased - is the sort of thing that greases their mandibles with digestive enzymes.

There are other reasons too: I like how real books look on the shelf - I'll re-read my favorites just because I saw them on the shelf and was reminded of a great story. I like how how favorite volumes wear their stains, creases, and worn bindings like medals for the hours of wonder they provided to readers. The Nook allows limited lending, and only to people with similar hardware, but I can lend a real book to any one at all.

Long-term, I hope ebook readers only supplement printed literature, not replace it.

*while correlations between DRM & profit aren't necessarily supported by research, anyway.

What I'm Reading Now: The Hacker Crackdown

Non fiction about AT&T, the secret service, Steve Jackson, the BBS community, and the creation of the EFF. Audiobook ready by Cory Doctorow, downloadable for free, no less!

What I'm Playing Now: Guardian Rock

In Guardian Rock, you protect an ancient shrine from pesky archaeologists by crushing them to death.

http://armorgames.com/play/4802/guardian-rock

Patriots dominating receiver statistics

Wow, the top two NFL receivers are both on the same team! I wonder if that's ever happened. ...and Wes Welker is doing it while having missed two games.

I remember when the Patriots used to spread the ball around. What happened? Did Brady lose a few good targets, or are Welker & Moss such better athletes that he doesn't have to spread it around any more?

Google maps rules - fun things to do with kids

After seeing Google Maps at work in a lot of great applications, I knew that a friends "list of things to do with kids around SF bay area" should be a google-map.

link: things to do with kids

Tetris Humor

Line piece!