Yes the days of the GIF are numbered, or at least they should be. The PNG (Portable Network Graphic), is a far superior format over gif for reasons such as: it produces smaller file sizes while retaining higher quality and alpha channel transparency support. For more info on PNG files visit the W3C. Then head on over here and sign the Proper PNG Support in Internet Explorer for Windows petition.
Go forth! Your web graphics needs you!
ADV Films has just announced the production of a live action movie based on many people’s favourite anime series of all time, Neon Genesis Evangelion. Special Effects will be developed by Weta Workshop — via Slashdot
Vigilantes are fighting back at spammers by giving them a taste of their own medicine
A new renewable energy source has emerged in Australia with the development of the world’s first power station to be fuelled by waste macadamia-nut shells. The nut powered plant has since opened
The inventor of the Dyson vacuum cleaner is apparently a big fan of MC Escher. His entry in the Chelsea Flower Show has a water feature that flows upwards…
Interesting article at the the Beeb.
Manslaughter charges will soon be able to brought against negligent corporations in the UK. There is some concern that the law does not go far enough, insofar as individual directors may be able to escape prosecution when the company takes the blame.
Sometimes life imitates art, well, Red Dwarf at any rate:
Rimmer: We can’t afford to take any chances. Jump up to red alert.
Kryten: Are you sure, sir? It does mean changing the bulb.
Perhaps the US government should put more thought into the message they want to convey with their terror alerts. Maybe a nice magenta or chartreuse would do the job.
Or maybe I watch way too much television.
Canon Jeffrey John, the Chancellor and Canon Theologian of Southwark Cathedral, One of the Church of England’s most prominent advocates of gay rights, who has called for the ordination of practising homosexuals and blessings of gay marriages, has been appointed Suffragan Bishop of Reading
Blockquote from William Gibson’s blog:
WASHINGTON POST STYLE has a contest in which readers submit instructions for doing various things, their choice, as written by famous authors. Jeff Brechlin of Potomac Falls recently won for the following, for wonderfully obvious reasons:
The Hokey Pokey (as written by W. Shakespeare)
O proud left foot, that ventures quick within
Then soon upon a backward journey lithe.
Anon, once more the gesture, then begin:
Command sinistral pedestal to writhe.
Commence thou then the fervid Hokey-Poke,
A mad gyration, hips in wanton swirl.
To spin! A wilde release from Heavens yoke.
Blessed dervish! Surely canst go, girl.
The Hoke, the poke — banish now thy doubt
Verily, I say, ’tis what it’s all about.
A Pentagon project called LifeLog seeks to record every bit of information that can be had, index it by name, or SSN or even location, and make the database searchable. While locally, a national ID number for students and a new computer system to track them has been compared with the failed Australia card bid in the 1980s
Humanity is on the verge of causing a catastrophic extinction that rivals any in geological history, the naturalist Sir David Attenborough said as he launched a £3m web site to preserve endangered species
They are the information and research staff of the Parliamentary Library are fuming at the prospect of having access to net nasties cut off by a new filtering system
Mac users rejoice: as my first experiment with Java, I’ve written a half-arsed port of the classic Windows game Minesweeper.
You can download the source as a zip archive here, or post a comment if you’d prefer a tarball.
It’s not an applet, so you might need a JDK to run it. Have fun.
Macs are a bit like docs – they don’t die they just linger. This article on BBC News , The Mac that Lego built is a perfect example.
Legalised cannabis will be prescribed to people suffering from chronic pain or wasting illnesses under a four-year trial to be run by the NSW Health Department. The State Government aims to introduce draft legislation to govern the trial during the current parliamentary sitting, with the trial to begin next year
I was perusing the goodies case while waiting for my daily morning coffee at my favourite café, and saw some cakey thing called success
that they were selling for $2.80.
Oh the many puns I could write about this. I didn’t try it though, but it does look like a very sweet success.
Does anybody know of other cakey like treats called things like success
? I might see if the dodgy café nextdoor sells a bitter failure
treat.
Interesting case. Pete Townshend had informed authorities about what he was doing and why before he checked out the site and they didn’t give a shit until someone in America at a later date busts the company involved and trolls through their records.
He went about it the wrong way, but is there anyone else bothering to even check these sites? The cops are underfunded, poorly equipped and rarely have the manpower — let alone the appropriately trained personnel — to do it properly.
Without signing in there is no way of knowing anything about the site. Are the photos real? Are kids being abused and, if so, do the photographs provide clues that could help find the children? Are they photoshopped images? Are they just photos of kids playing in the park? Was it a scam to part you from your money? Is it a sting operation?
As signing up for the service would almost certainly direct to another domain, it may be the only way to connect to the people behind the operation. And naming these people publicly may be enough to stop them.
As I said, not the smartest thing to attempt. But there is no public record I know of — haven’t bothered looking — notifying everyone that your neighbour Bob is running a kiddie porn operation from his basement.
A dangerous thing to do if you happen to get the details wrong and Bob is just the unlucky guy who inherited an old phone number or domain from the real perpetrator. It also puts you in the same league as the brain donors who publicly list the details of doctors they believe perform abortions in the hope some loose cannon will off them.
Tangentially, I was channel surfing last night and ran across The Tin Drum, a world renown film about a boy whose response to the passive acceptance of Nazism in Germany by those around him is to refuse to grow up. Amazing movie. Interestingly enough, this film has at times been banned in parts of the US for obscenity and child pornography.
According to a Shadow G8
report by former top world officials, the Group of Eight world economic summits have become discredited because members preach to other countries while failing to put their own houses in order
On 18 May 2003 in St Petersburg an anti-globalism demonstration, previously approved by the authorities, was brutally smashed and dispersed by police
The lowly cockroach, loathed as an abhorrent creature worth crushing beneath one’s shoe, has found respect in an unlikely place — a robotics laboratory at Stanford University
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