deinonych's lair

The EFF have introduced a bill to Capitol Hill (cue Schoolhouse Rock song) which would amend the reviled DMCA. Specifically, it allows the reintroduction of "Fair Use" which the **AA are trying to quash. Consumers would be allowed to make backups of their media, provided they are not using it illegally. I can't begin to express how incensed I get every time I have to circumvent some lame attempt at copy protection on a CD, just so I can rip it for my MP3 player.

The EFF make it easy for you to send a letter to your representative. Just fill out their form, edit the body of the email (if you wish), and send. I've already sent my email.

Posted by Deinonych at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ExtremeTech contributor Loyd Case has just published an article detailing how to build a quiet gaming PC.  Having built a quiet gaming rig relatively recently, I must say that this article is fantastic.  They used an Antec Sonata II, which I can personally attest to being an extremely quiet case out of the box (I rebuilt my wife's system using one).  They used acoustic foam to further dampen the noise, and the results are very impressive.  This is a great primer if you're looking to built a fast gaming system that doesn't pump out the sound pressure of your average datacenter.

Read more.

Posted by Deinonych at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's a site that's been around for a long time. It's not only very humorous, but also quite informative. It amazes me how many BAD web sites still exist, despite the advent of CSS. I guess a lot of people either use FrontPage or simply don't care about usability.

Anyway, this article lists the 2005 "Razzie Awards" for bad web sites. There are some real stinkers here. Enjoy.

read more | digg story

Posted by Deinonych at 02:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I came across this site this evening.  It shows the how much the geography of North America has changed throughout the major geologic periods.  I found the images fascinating.  It really puts in perspective how dynamic geological forces are, and how dramatically different the continent is in the modern era.  Looking back to when the dinosaurs lived (Cretaceous period) reveals a startlingly different landmass. Cool stuff.

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Posted by Deinonych at 09:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)