Proceed and Permitted

The owner of parody site www.getafirstlife.com recently received a "proceed and permitted" letter from secondlife.com -- if anything the letter is funnier than the parody.

We do not believe that reasonable people would argue as to whether the website located at http://www.getafirstlife.com/ constitutes parody -- it clearly is. Linden Lab is well known among its customers and in the general business community as a company with enlightened and well-informed views regarding intellectual property rights, including the fair use doctrine, open source licensing, and other principles that support creativity and self-expression. We know parody when we see it.

Moreover, Linden Lab objects to any implication that it would employ lawyers incapable of distinguishing such obvious parody. Indeed, any competent attorney is well aware that the outcome of sending a cease-and-desist letter regarding a parody is only to draw more attention to such parody, and to invite public scorn and ridicule of the humor-impaired legal counsel. Linden Lab is well-known for having strict hiring standards, including a requirement for having a sense of humor, from which our lawyers receive no exception.

In conclusion, your invitation to submit a cease-and-desist letter is hereby rejected.

(From Boing Boing via this post by slothman)

Adobe == annoying

In the course of putting together the graphics for my upcoming CD, I've discovered that essentially the only way to exchange files with both my artist collaborators and my duplicator is to use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. I've even gone so far as to contemplate getting a Mac mini to run them on -- it would be a useful addition to the local computer collection in any case, and runs Ubuntu just fine.

Imagine my disgust, then, on discovering that Adobe doesn't support the Intel Macs yet. This means that there is no Mac that I can go out and buy that will run their stupid software. And neither of my Windows boxes will support their software, either -- not enough RAM, and wimpy CPUs.

At one point,years ago, Adobe ported all their software to Linux and made it available for beta testing, and all of it ran on Solaris as well. Then they stopped. They're nearly as evil and disgusting a monopoly as Microsoft, and if I could avoid both of their product lines and stick to my OS of choice I'd be a happy hacker indeed.

update It seems that the hang-up is caused by yet another piece of proprietary software: all of Adobe's products were developed on MetroWorks' C++ compiler, which doesn't support the Intel macs either. Apple switched over to GCC, which apparently cuts some corners that Adobe was counting on. It's still disgusting -- it doesn't matter which proprietary software you're relying on, you're still going to get screwed. All I can say to the poor drudges putting in their overtime at Adobe is: you should have known this was coming.

Math lust

Rapid Prototyping Models --- George W. Hart

As a sculptor I am necessarily interested in three-dimensional geometry. As a hobby I am also interested in the mathematics of four-dimensional geometry. From a 4D object, one can calculate 3D "shadows" which are often beautiful but very complex objects. RP machines can easily produce these structures, which are stunning to look at even if one doesn't understand the underlying higher-dimensional ideas behind them. Below are two examples of such models; I hope in the future to be able to provide models for some algebraic surfaces and other interesting mathematical forms.

(from this post by wendyg.) I'm seriously lusting after the 120-cell (see userpic for a different view of the beast).

update: on order (the cheaper, mini version). My publishing company is HyperSpace Express -- it's a business expense.

What's next from Apple?

Awesome Apple Fantasy iGadgets from Worth 1000 - Gizmodo

Some amazing Photoshop fantasies. Well worth a look. There are more here on the worth1000 site

Penguicon?

As a hacker-songwriter with a CD, recorded entirely with open-source software, coming out sometime in March or April, I'm starting to seriously consider Penguicon.

My walk this afternoon

Thanks to the Gmaps Pedometer, you can get a good look at my usual lunchtime walk. It seems to be about 2.4 miles. Zoomed in all the way, you can clearly see that I start and end at my desk, though I didn't bother to figure out my exact path through the building. Maybe next time.