Waiting For Sky

Here's Lookin' At You Kid

greycloud.com

Welcome Back Macworld

Steve Jobs & Woz in 1975 from woz.org

meanwhile, back on the dork side:

Boing Boing: Bill Gates: Free Culture advocates = Commies

I imagine my blog-mate Cory might have a few things to say about this when he's online again. :-) In an interview on news.com, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates described free culture advocates as a "modern-day sort of communists." Well now.

Q: "In recent years, there's been a lot of people clamoring to reform and restrict intellectual-property rights. It started out with just a few people, but now there are a bunch of advocates saying, 'We've got to look at patents, we've got to look at copyrights.' What's driving this, and do you think intellectual-property laws need to be reformed?

A: "No, I'd say that of the world's economies, there's more that believe in intellectual property today than ever. There are fewer communists in the world today than there were. There are some new modern-day sort of communists who want to get rid of the incentive for musicians and moviemakers and software makers under various guises. They don't think that those incentives should exist. And this debate will always be there. I'd be the first to say that the patent system can always be tuned--including the U.S. patent system. There are some goals to cap some reform elements. But the idea that the United States has led in creating companies, creating jobs, because we've had the best intellectual-property system--there's no doubt about that in my mind, and when people say they want to be the most competitive economy, they've got to have the incentive system. Intellectual property is the incentive system for the products of the future."

Link (Thanks, Rick Prelinger, and Nathan Slaughter).
BB reader Matt Bradley said, "Obviously, what we need is a large red flag with a gold copyleft in the upper left, replacing the hammer and sickle."
That sounded like a fine idea, so I whipped up the icon you see here. Enjoy, comrades!
Update: More Creative Commies propaganda here. Link one, Link two.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 08:30:32 PM permalink | Other blogs commenting on this post

Unusual Wave Patterns

Tsunami Disaster in Asia, 2004

The National University of Sinapore has a web site with space photos of the Tsunami Disaster. This one appears to have been taken just before the waves hit.

Unusual wave patterns off Thailand's coast:

Here's a close up:

Tribe Shoots Arrows At Aid Flight

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Tribe shoots arrows at aid flight: 

The island group is home to a number of tribal peoples

By Jonathan Charles
BBC News, Andaman Islands

An Indian helicopter dropping food and water over the
remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands has been attacked
by tribesmen using bows and arrows.

There were fears that the endangered tribal groups had
been wiped out when massive waves struck their islands.

But the authorities say the attack is a sign that they have
survived.

More than 6,000 people there are confirmed as either
dead or missing, but thousands of others are still
unaccounted for.

The Indian coastguard helicopter was flying low over
Sentinel Island to drop aid when it came under attack.

A senior police officer said the crew were not hurt and
the authorities are taking it as a sign that the tribes have
not been wiped out by the earthquake and sea surges as
many had feared.

The Andaman and Nicobar archipelago is home to
several tribes, some extremely isolated.

Officials believe they survived the devastation by using
age-old early warning systems.

They might have run to high ground for safety after
noticing changes in the behaviour of birds and marine
wildlife.

Scientists are examining the possibility to see whether
it can be used to predict earth tremors in future.

Lynx: Heartbreakingly Rare…

Canada Lynx/Joseph Van Os/The Image Bank/Getty Images

Heartbreakingly rare, lynx are found only in the
most pristine and remote watersheds.

this is the image for december 2004 that i replaced today with the 2005 manatee calendar. i really loved looking at these beauties and miss seeing them in the kitchen so i thought i'd put them up here. i also miss reading the description. i found myself saying "heartbreakingly rare" about a lot of things i've seen around here lately.

browsing the yahoo pictures i found this today:

Yahoo! News - Group Finds 6 Lynx Kittens Born in Colo.



Fri Dec 31, 3:57 AM ET

By JUDITH KOHLER, Associated Press Writer

DENVER - The year ended happily for state biologists
with news that six more lynx kittens have been born to
transplanted lynx in Colorado, bringing the total of
newborns to 36 this year and 52 since a reintroduction
program began in 1999.

The discoveries, confirmed this month, signal a positive
trend for a program that got off to a rocky start. Four
of the first five transplanted Canada lynx starved to
death and opponents sued to stop release of the cats.

At least 85 of 166 long-haired, tuft-eared cats released
in southwest Colorado since 1999 are known to be alive.
The whereabouts of about 20 more aren't known because
their radio collars have worn out.

State biologists want to release up to 50 more in April.
Already, 16 lynx captured in Quebec, Canada, are in a
holding pen in the southern part of the state.

"We were able to get 36 lynx from Canada last year
and that's what we had in production this year. That's
actually phenomenal," said Scott Wait, a Division of
Wildlife biologist.

About two years ago, state wildlife officials waited
anxiously for signs the cats were reproducing —
the first major milestone in building a
self-sustaining population. The Colorado Wildlife
Commission approved releasing 50 lynx a year over
three years, and possibly a few more after that,
to boost chances the cats — loners except during
mating season — would reproduce.

Teams tracking the lynx from air and on foot noted
at least 16 kittens were found last year, followed by
13 litters this year. Further stoking the enthusiasm
was confirmation that female lynx released in April
2003 gave birth this year; several that had kittens
last year produced more this year.

"Putting a litter out every year shows they're in good
habitat," said Tanya Shenk, the program's lead researcher.

The lynx, a federally listed threatened species, disappeared from Colorado by the 1970's due to trapping, poisoning and development. Because Colorado was at the southern most tip of the cat's historic range, critic's questioned the wisdom of trying to restore lynx to the state.
On the Net: latest updates:

wildlife.state.co.us.