Robo Books

An interesting aside to the Eldred legal stuff – the overzealous extension of copyright laws has real world implications, and there are ways to preserve rare books. Robots digitizing libraries / New technology helps turn books into images.

Inside the room, a Swiss-designed robot about the size of a sport utility vehicle was rapidly turning the pages of an old book and scanning the text. The machine can turn the pages of both small and large books as well as bound newspaper volumes, and it can scan at speeds of more than 1,000 pages an hour.Occasionally the robot will stumble, turning more than a single page. When that happens, the machine will pause briefly and send out a puff of compressed air to separate the sticking pages.

Patterns

A couple of resouces for pixel pattern backgrounds: Kaliber1000 and Squidfingers

Re: School

I have been really struggling lately with the idea of law school. On one hand, I think that going to school again would be a good idea. I think that a liberal arts degree from Lawrence University (which just dropped to 50 on the top tier liberal arts schools) isn’t going to get me “very far”. But I’m having trouble with that idea. Where am I trying to go? That is a question that I need to answer before I figure out how to get there, right? But I need to get some post-graduate degree… I think.

On the other hand, I read things like Advice for the Lawlorn that make me second guess myself for even considering law school. I mean, who wants to work 70 hours a week – with no weekends free? To me, working hard in school is one thing, but never having time to rest or have fun (or at least free time) sounds a bit scary. Still, I am reading about it because – I admit it – law school sounds interesting. challenging. maybe rewarding. So I read this or that on the same site mentioned above and think maybe I could do it. I actally like working hard, and wouldn’t mind doing it for 7-10 years before slowing down.

And yes, yet… I’ll just keep reading what Kaplan has to say on the subject, or what pre-law I should have done and so on. And I know they all say that your GPA and LAST score aren’t all they use to judge you, but then LSAC, the official law school admission service gives you this LSAT/GPA Range Finder that lists your chances of getting into schools based on… guess what. Then there are more like that, so you read what the ABA (American Bar Association) has to say on the subject. And so you end up thinking about spending $1000 on a test prep course so that you can boost your chances of getting into the position of going $100,000 in debt – I don’t know if ‘yikes’ really captures the feeling. At the end of the day, maybe you wish you hadn’t gone to school in the first place, and now your getting ready to dive right back in. What to do… what to do…

Angry Flower

Popular in the UK. I don’t know why. A bit helpful, though. Bob’s Quick Guide to the Apostrophe, You Idiots.

Big Rigs

Tricked Out Big Rigs. Never thought of it, and I can’t believe it is real. Maybe it isn’t real, but still…

The Body Ugly

The Body Ugly: Signal vs. Noise Weblog / Blog (by 37signals) is an interesting weblog post that got my attention. The rest of the post and comments that follow aren’t great (or good) but this little passage really caught me:

We spend a lot of time figuring out how things function. What are the best solutions? How does one thing interact with another? What methodologies and processes make the most sense? How can I get the optimum out of my job, my time, my life? We optimize everything and constantly strive for perfection.But when it comes to the amazing vehicle inwhich we are able to exist in this world, we don’t give a shit. We throw processed crap, alcohol, antibiotics, chemicals and harmful, unknown substances into it without thinking. We don’t give it enough fruits, vegetables, vitamins & minerals or excersize. We even deprive it of water – it’s life substance. We treat our computers and cars better than we treat our bodies and the payback is a hard blow when it comes.

Soundboards

Soundboards are programs or webpages that allow you to make those prank calls using celebrity voice clips. You probably heard one with Al Pachino or Arnold saying “I’m a cop you idiot”. This site has a number of really good ones, including Office Space and Jack Black. You can use them without a download, too – ebaumsworld.com Celebrity Soundboards. Make sure to listen to a couple examples, including this one.

Zeldman

Zeldman: Designing With Web Standards

Designing With Web Standards is for every web professional who wants to reach more users on more browsers, platforms, and devices including wireless and hand-held devices with less work, less maintenance, and at lower cost. It’s for designers, developers, site owners and managers who seek to end the costly spiral of obsolescence, where each new browser or Internet device means a whole new coding cycle and another line item on the budget. Few organizations today can afford the merry-go-round of coding and re-coding that has characterized web development until now.

Fame

This site goes through a number of celebrities and discusses how they got to thier current level of fame and how long they might stay there – Fametracker :: The Fame Audit.

Pacino’s made some stinkers, sure, but he himself never, ever stinks. He seems to love acting, and love being a star. He takes bad movies (Any Given Sunday, The Recruit) and puts them on his shoulders, like some POW-rescuing commando in a Namsploitation flick. He hefts the picture on his back, shouts “Hoo-wah!,” and drags it all out of the swamp.

Martha Talks

A real site in which Martha Stewart talks about her legal troubles – www.marthatalks.com