farlane.blog

Seljalandsfoss Waterfall, Iceland :: photo by David-sm™
Bram Cohen of BitTorrent is against Net Neutrality (from the Fair-and-Balanced Files):

I most definitely do not want the internet to become like television where there's actual censorship… however it is very difficult to actually create network neutrality laws which don't result in an absurdity like making it so that ISPs can't drop spam or stop… (hacker) attacks.

It depends really on the nature of the whole thing… I'm against net censorship. However when you're talking about large file transfers going to very large numbers of people there frequently are significant costs involved… (the media companies) are frequently bearing a lot of costs already today. They make some stuff available and pay for bandwidth on it so it's just a question of the download costs as well as the upload costs.

More from BitTorrent's Brad Cohen at the BBC

Eh. Not sure how much cred this post has since the guy is partnering to build a massive (and legal) peer-to-peer network. While BitTorrent P2P benefits from Net Neutrality, a private commercial venture would be adversely impacted.

I just want to give thanks, again, to NBA Comix best friend Steve Nash.

It's fashionable to bash Barry Bonds because he's so incredibly unlikeable, cheated with steroids and probably kicks puppies. I think we need to remember, however, that our lofty idolization of players like Babe Ruth ignores the fact that their decision to avoid steroids and performancing enhancing drugs was pretty easy to make.

Sorry to be so late with this today. Gene Rayburn was not at all happy being roused from the afterlife for a game show pilot (especially one as unpopular as this show is turning out to be).

Need4Sheed has a “backs against the wall graphic” and is pulling out the Opposite Strategy (kind of like Bizarro World, but without the funny talking). Detroit Bad Boys says it’s Put Up or STFU time for the Boys in Blue (I hope “STFU” means “No Yapping About Whose Fault It Is in the Media”). Sportspig says he’s busy and links to some other people (his boss is a kind of a jerk so I guess I can understand his laziness). The Cavalier has Shaq thinking he’s someone much younger, faster and not nearly so heavy and then explodes some stuff.

I’m not counting them out, but I am saying that I’m so upset with them that I hardly care about whether they win or lose. If you have a problem, you keep it in the house, at least until the season is over.

And hey, what the heck kind of picture is this??

Cradle to Grave :: photo by Ben 

Everyone is going to have to take something. Dogs will need anti-depressants. Kids will need drugs to make them stop being kids. Adults will need drugs to make them be kids again. Men will need things to make them excited about sex. Women will need stuff to make them think about not eating, or at least not caring what others think they are eating.

From Enough Already… by Thomas Allred (PG-13)

I saw a number of interesting things on the way to the above photo . A Poisoned World tells a sad tale while pharma maven Levitra DeShill reminded me that Corporations are people, too. I saw a bedside bowl full o' pharma which would no doubt leave you dreaming of giant dancing pills (Pilula ze Deutsch?), emergent dancing pharma sculpture (large and small) or just seeing pretty colors. From the raw materials to the neighborhood chemist to big pharmacie to Big Pharma to blue skies for big pharma to pharma that is positively galactic, all I can say is "I am surprised at the amount of Pharma that seems to be required by the modern world."

Jamelah (who has yet another hilarious spam analysis) tipped me off to Utata Goes to the Movies, a collection of photos paying homage to a variety of film genres. Utata is a pretty amazing project … I wish I had the time.

Speaking of paying homage, yesterday Michael Moore announced the lineup for the 2006 Traverse City Film Festival (will be held July 31-August 6th). The highlight (or one of them) is a tribute to Stanley Kubrick on the 50th anniversary of his first film. The festival will show all 11 Kubrick films (Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange (Malcolm McDowell will be on hand too!), Spartacus, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Lolita, The Shining). I had forgotten the Shining was a Kubrick film.

The first year's festival was such a great experience and it sounds like this year will be even better!

Is this the part where I can casually drop a comment that my company donated the design for the festival site??

I hope everyone has a great weekend with plenty of basketball, BBQs, family fun and Memorial Day remembering.

What a great NBA playoffs this year. Gotta be top 3 all time so far. In a related story, I'll give a cameo appearance to anyone who can explain what the heck the Cavalier is talking about in this comic. I think the Who Shot Mamba thing has him thinking he's Fellini or something…

The Mighty MJD has a hilarious talk with Pistons coach Flip Saunders' turtle that's well worth your time, Detroit Bad Boys is on the Basketball Jones Podcast and Mark Cuban STILL hasn't posted a post-game rant.

… built out of the shredded First Ammendment … classic. Ask a Ninja about other things.

Save the Internet already. 

Newsday reports:

GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Until Cablevision CEO James Dolan decides to grant Larry Brown the meeting he requested, the Knicks and their $50-million coach will remain at a stalemate. Brown spent another day as the most highly paid lame duck in NBA history, running drills for another group of four draft prospects yesterday at the team's training facility.

Read the rest of Brown still hanging around Knicks in Newsday

I'd feel sorry for Larry … if he hadn't flirted with the Knicks during last year's Piston playoff run. Speaking of the Pistons playoff run, it's over if Billups and co. continue to shoot below 40% and play like somebody will hand them the NBA title…

Net neutrality is the concept that all publishers of web content, from personal blogs to giant e-commerce sites, are treated equally by ISPs and are equally accesible to users. This cornerstone of internet democracy has never been written into law and recent attempts at doing so have been blocked by powerful lobbies in Washington. This leaves us all vulnerable to the discretion of the telecoms as to what sites deserve a special fast lane. The level playing field of neutral gateways is what fostered the innovations we now value so much as the public's internet.  

Check out Can't Buy Me Web from This Spartan Life (a talk show in game space)