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POPSSeeding the Universe with Life: Our Moral Obligation? I'm still not sure what my take on this is, but I do believe that equating "life in general" with not only human purpose and values, but also our moral obligation skips a few arguments & requires a big jump. First link is the popular science version of Mautner's ideas & proposal. Second is a scholarly article by him.
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POPSBeer Etiquette A report on beer etiquette in Europe: What's the tradition on buying each other rounds, who pays, who drinks the most, etc... Click through to the pdf report, it contains pretty graphs & more detailed stats. http://www.scribd.com/doc/2505479/Beer-Etiquette-Report
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POPSIs News Behind a Paywall Really Worth it? Some more quotes: Furthermore, for every major news site that decides to charge, they have just opened the playing field wide open for others to come and scoop up their market with a better, smarter business model. And don't think some smart media execs and entrepreneurs aren't salivating over the opportunity of some major publications to go behind the paywall. He (Lionel Barber) continually talks up how important journalism is to the community, but doesn't do much to talk about how important the community is to news organizations. Links @ the source My opinion: If they don't embrace the new social media, it won't catch on. The landscape of journalism & media has evolved since the days people still bought (enough) newspapers. And if news-outlets won't embrace these new forms of media that entail things like blogging & comments to name a few, then only erecting a 'paywall' will not form a solution to their current situation.
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POPSMaking Government Transparent Using R Simply said: R is an open-source language to analyse data in a statistical way. Combine this with the idea of open government & open data and you get a powerful way for transparency in government.
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POPSOpen source gets its first legal journal: "International Free and Open Source Software Law Review" Quoted from the first article: Free and Open Source software, though now a robust business proposition, evokes for many, memories of the days when it was seen as crusade. Its proponents as well as its opponents still occasionally address the subject as though they were engaging in a philosophical debate. There are also differences of emphasis, and a whiff of sectarianism amongst the proponents of the various standard licences. It is for others to address these theological disputes. It is, rather, the purpose of this Review to take one step back and look behind the rhetoric in a rigorous and objective fashion, to probe, to analyse, to question received wisdom, and to bring proper academic discipline to the study of Free and Open Source software in its legal and wider context. Free and Open Source Software has become a serious player. It deserves serious analysis.
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POPSDaft Punk - Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem 
This is the full 65 minute video of Daft Punk's Interstella. Not only the music is amazing, but the same can be said of the animations by Leiji Matsumoto. Put them together and you end up with this: a masterpiece. From the source: Interstella 5555 is a feature-length Japanese animated musical film originally released on December 1, 2003. The film is the visual realization of Discovery, an album by Daft Punk. Each track from the album has been animated as an episode in the story of the abduction and rescue of an interstellar pop band. The film was produced by the creators of the Discovery album, along with Toei Animation, under the supervision of Leiji Matsumoto. The film has no dialogue and minimal sound effects. Music list 1 "One More Time" 2 "Aerodynamic" 3 "Digital Love" 4 "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" 5 "Crescendolls" 6 "Nightvision" 7 "Superheroes" 8 "High Life" 9 "Something About Us" 10 "Voyager" 11 "Veridis Quo" 12 "Short Circuit" 13 "Face To Face"
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POPSDaniel Dennett on Evolutionary Theology You've got to love these typical Dennett-style skeptical questions. Full report by Daniel Dennett on the "Darwin Festival in Cambridge", funded by the Templeton Foundation, via PZ Myers blog: Pharyngula.
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POPSDecoding the HTML 5 video codec debate Conclusion: It's unfortunate that this debate is threatening to derail the adoption of standards-based Internet video solutions. The dominant video solution today is Flash, a proprietary technology that is controlled by a single vendor and doesn't perform well on Linux or Mac OS X. There is a clear need for an open alternative, but the codec controversy could make it difficult.
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POPSPosthuman Stories Are Creation Myths Turned Upside Down An interesting perspective to ponder about: Are the posthuman & transhumanist movements the new belief-systems for scientific-mindsetted non-believers? Where lies that fine line between religion, belief, speculation & reality, naive optimism & depressive realism? How does our cultural heritage influence this reversal from past to future? And also a link to the free scifi ebook on this topic.
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POPSOpt-out on Googles Behavioral Targeting Add Program, Protect your Privacy. In Short: Google bought DoubleClick a while ago, an internet-based advertising firm. Today Google launched that program, and it tracks you through cookies. Privacy aware surfers delete their cookies once in a while, and/or are careful which cookies are stored on their computer. But that won't stop Google from tracking your surfing habits. So if you really want to stop Google from doing that to you, install this 'Advertising Cookie Opt-Out Plug-in'.
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POPSAbolish Copyright & Patents to Save the Economy Patent and copyright law are stifling innovation and threatening the global economy. The current patent and copyright system should be abolished in order to unleash innovations necessary to reverse the current recession and rescue the economy.
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POPSReadability An easy to use & configure bookmarklet that strips unnecessary content from a webpage (sidebars, ads, etc.) and presents you with an easy-to-read text (larger font, etc).
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POPSIntroducing the Open Source Hardware Central Bank Thoughts on applying Open Source on Hardware, as compared to the usual paradigm of Open Source Software. An in-depth look on the specific difficulties in this area. And more importantly a proposal on how to alleviate these: combining Open Source Finance with Open Source Hardware.
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POPSObama Opens Up Government UPDATE: President Obama issued two more documents related to government transparency today. A new executive order reverses changes made in recent years to the Presidential Records Act, while a second memorandum provides the Administration's general policy on transparency and open government. 1st memo (on the Freedom of Information Act): http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/foia/2009foia.mem.rel.pdf Executive Order on the Presidential Records Act: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20090121/2009_PRA_EO.pdf 2nd memo (on the Administration's general policy on transparency and open government): http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20090121/2009_transparency_memo.pdf
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POPSPhotography Tips The first 10 are full tutorials with video from dslr tips. Last 3 are more general advice on photography. So 13 videos in total.
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POPSFree Concerts from l'Ancienne Belgique I just discovered the 'Ancienne Belgique' - one of the most famous concert halls in Belgium - puts some of its concerts freely & fully available online. I clipped a few bands (mostly Belgian) I know are good, but there's lots more at the site (208 for now). Have fun, I know I will!
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POPSThe Great RIP in the Sky, Shine On, Wish You Were Here 5 of my favorite songs from Pink Floyd in honor of the death of Richard Wright (keyboard). One of the most amazing bands of the last century. The Great Gig in the Sky Shine On You Crazy Diamond Wish You Were Here Dogs of War One of These Days
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