StarForce is one of the most notoriously inept DRM schemes around, famous for taking over and then screwing up people’s computers. According to Computer Gaming World, StarForce provided a link to an unprotected copy of Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lord, a PC game that is doing extremely well in retail sales even though it ships without copy protection (Yay!). If StarForce were named Soprano, it’d look like a protection racket.

The Galactic Civilizations’ attitude toward copy protection is admirable and is likely to result in more sales rather than fewer. [Tags: digital_rights galactic_civilizations starforce drm copyright]

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Bill K is starting a discussion of connected health care, prompted by a presentation hosted by the MIT Enterprise Foundation. [Tags: healthcare bill_koslosky]

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Mark Warner, ex-gov of Virginia and a declared undeclared candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, has put out a 1.37 minute video podcast in which he talks about the importance of technology and getting over the digital divide. You can get it at iTunes, which I like. And I like the fact that he stumbles over a word and they left it in.

But…we’re fighting for the life of our Internet right now, and today would have been a perfect day for Gov. Warner — the founder of NexTel — to go beyond an expression of generalized support. Today would have been a perfect day to come out firmly and squarely for Net neutrality.

Maybe tomorrow? The Internet needs champions, Gov. Warner. [Tags: mark_warner politics net_neutrality]

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Since this seems to be Photo Day at Joho, here are two photos that are circulating through email. I know who I got the email from, but I don’t know where the photos came from:

Captions anyone? E.g.,

1. Debugging the highway’s the new packet collision detection module…
2. The Dept. of Homeland Security introduces the new “Double Quick”™ emergency evacuation procedure
3. Lube – not just to be taken internally any more – JiffyLube

(Thanks to ABW for the email.) [Tags: photos humor tollbooth]

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BradSucks has blogged a terrific Japanese music video that, he points out, seems to have, let’s say, inspired the Jack White Coke commercial. Brad has links to the YouTubes of both… [Tags: bradsucks music marketing yuki coke]

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I got to talk with Brian D. Farrell, a professor of Biology and Curator in Entomology at Harvard the other day. For my book, I wanted to see the chain of authority that lets us know that this particular beetle is a member of that particular species. Here are some photos:

One of the thousand cabinets housing Harvard’s 7+ million specimens. About half are beetles.

One of the drawers

The red labels indicate that the insect is “type specimen,” i.e., the reference to which all species identifications point. It’s the argument settler. Some of the insects in the collection are almost 150 years.

This drawer has no red-tagged beetles because it was assembled for an exhibit. This drawer, in other words, was assembled based not on taxonomy but interest. But, because of the metadata, the specimens can of course still be found.

More socially useful than Paris Hilton. Prettier, too.

This ledger – one of six – lists what the numbers on the red tags refer to. Without this, the collection is just a pile of dead bugs.

No one part of this system — ranging from pins and red labels to an institutional commitment that’s spanned generations — is knowledge. All of it together is.

[Tags: everything_is_miscellaneous knowledge entomology harvard ]

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NOTE: Someone has taken the offer. I’ve sold the bag.

My backpack wore out, so I got myself a Crumpler bag I’d been admiring. It’s quite admirable, but you wear it over your shoulder, and I carry too much stuff, plus I have a bad back (“Bad back! Bad!”). It aggravated my back. So, I’m selling the bag.

It’s a Crumpler Part and Parcel bag. Crumpler’s site is so hip that it’s unusable. (That site seems to be down at the moment. Try the original Australian site. Hmm, I’m not getting to that one either. Here’s the description at the Palm store.) Plus, Crumpler keeps changing the names of its bags, so it’s hard to figure out which is what when. The Part and Parcel is at the higher end of their offerings. It’s well padded and this particular one will hold a 15″ computer (although apparently not all 15″ computers).

I found it hard to find information about the interior of the beast, so here are some photos showing the zippage:

I had the bag for one week. So it looks like how a new bag will look one week after you bought it. Crumpler bags are very well made.

The price at most online stores is pretty consistently $145.00 (sans shipping). I bought it new at eBay for $106.43 + $9.50. Because I’d rather sell it to someone I know than to a stranger at eBay, I’ll sell it for US$65.00 + $9.50 shipping to the first person who sends me an email (selfevident.com). This offer is only good for shipping to addresses in the US. And it’s only good until tomorrow. After that, it goes up on eBay.

(Note: If today is not May 4 or May 5, 2006, please do not send me an email about this. I am not a Crumpler dealer. This is the only bag I’m selling.) [Tags: crumpler personal_commerce ebay]

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The We Media conference is happening now. The BBC is covering it here. [Tags: wemedia]

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I read the first page of The Da Vinci Code and didn’t like it, so possibly I don’t count as a leading expert on the topic. ToTheSource has apparently read the whole thing:

People often ask, “How much of The Da Vinci Code is true?” I wearily answer that Paris is in France, London is in England, and Leonardo da Vinci painted pictures. Let’s look at four areas where Dan Brown’s history is bunk.

In case you’re wondering, the four areas are: Constantine, the Knights Templar, the Priory of Sion, and da Vinci as a flamboyant homosexual. There’s also a sidebar about the guy who made up the stuff about the Priory that, apparently, Dan Brown fell for. [Tags: da_vinci_code]

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Mark Gibbs recommends Foxit Reader, a free, faster replacement for Adobe Acrobat. So far it’s working for me… [Tags: adobe acrobat pdf freeware mark_gibbs]

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