load01 12/27/2010

• Useful Notes - Television Tropes & Idioms

  Everybody knows TVTropes is the best and most time-killing-est way to learn about the clichés and archetypes that permeate modern media. But dear reader, there is so much more. Enter Useful Notes. Originally created as a place for tropers to pool factual information as a writing aid, the subsite has quietly grown into a small wiki of its own -- a compendium of crowdsourced wisdom on a staggering array of topics, all written in the site's signature brand of lighthearted snark. Though it reads like an irreverent and informal Wikipedia, its articles act as genuinely useful primers to complex and obscure topics alike, all in service of the project's five goals: "To debunk common media stereotypes; to help you understand some media better; to educate, inform and sometimes entertain; to promote peace and understanding (maybe); and... to facilitate world domination." Sounds about right. Click inside for bountiful highlights... if you dare. [more inside]posted by Rhaomi at 11:00 AM - 30 comments

  tags: humor

• Who Killed the Disneyland Dream? - NYTimes.com

  tags: culture

• Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hours - NYTimes.com

  tags: technology

• Twitter, Facebook, and social activism : The New Yorker

  +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| The Wrong Way To Weaponize Social Media|   from the you-like-this-and-so-does-everyone-else dept.|   posted by timothy on Saturday December 25, @18:01 (Censorship)|   https://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/12/25/2224218/The-Wrong-Way-To-Weaponize-Social-Media?from=newsletter+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  BorgiaPope writes "NYU's Clay Shirky, in the new issue of ForeignAffairs, calls the U.S. government's approach to social media 'dangerous'and 'almost certainly wrong,' as in its favoring Haystack over Freegate.[0]The Political Power of Social Media claims that the freedom of onlineassembly — via texting, photo sharing, Facebook, Twitter, humble email —is more important even than access to information via an uncensoredInternet. Countering [1]Malcolm Gladwell in the New Yorker, Shirky looksat recent uprisings in the Philippines, Moldova, and Spain to make hispoint that, instead of emphasizing anti-censorship tools, the US shouldbe fighting Egypt's recent mandatory licensing of group-orientedtext-messaging services." Only part of Shirky's piece is available fornon-subscribers, but Gladwell's New Yorker piece is all online.
  Discuss this story at:   https://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/12/25/2224218/The-Wrong-Way-To-Weaponize-Social-Media?from=newsletter#commentlisting
  Links:   0. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67038/clay-shirky/the-political-power-of-social-media   1. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell

  tags: culture

• UK Banks Attempt To Censor Academic Publication - Slashdot

  +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| UK Banks Attempt To Censor Academic Publication|   from the here-are-some-rugs-for-your-eyes dept.|   posted by timothy on Saturday December 25, @10:55 (Censorship)|   https://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/12/25/142234/UK-Banks-Attempt-To-Censor-Academic-Publication?from=newsletter+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  An anonymous reader writes "Representatives of the UK banking industryhave sent a [0]take-down notice (PDF link) to Cambridge University,demanding that they censor a [1]student's webpage as well as [2]hismasters thesis (PDF) . The banks' objection is that the informationcontained in the report might be used to exploit a vulnerability in theChip and PIN system, used throughout Europe and Canada for credit anddebit card payments. The system was [3] revealed to be fundamentallyflawed earlier this year, as it allowed criminals to use a stolen cardwith any PIN. Cambridge University has resisted the demands and has[4]sent a response to the bankers explaining why they will keep the pageonline."
  Discuss this story at:   https://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/12/25/142234/UK-Banks-Attempt-To-Censor-Academic-Publication?from=newsletter#commentlisting
  Links:   0. http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/Papers/20101221110342233.pdf   1. http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~osc22/scd/   2. http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~osc22/docs/mphil_acs_osc22.pdf   3. http://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2010/02/11/chip-and-pin-is-broken/   4. http://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2010/12/25/a-merry-christmas-to-all-bankers/

  tags: technology

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.