Starting Monday out with beer:
A list of 10 very old companies. 3 of them are breweries, founded in
1040, 1074, and the new comer in 1328. There’s also a hotel/restaurant
that’s been serving beer for more than 1000 years.
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/29340
On to motorcycles.
I like the lived in look of this Wrenchmonkee’s Moto Guzzi.
http://wrenchmonkees.blogspot.com/2009/07/blog-post_942.html
We need to get one of these forpassing around to the younger generation.
http://designyoutrust.com/2009/07/15/the-rocking-horse/
Intellectual Property: Two important bits this morning.
On patenting plant materials. Larry Proctor has lost the first round
in his attempt to maintain a ridiculous patent he duped the US Patent
office into giving him on the common staple (in some Latin American
areas) azufrado or Mayocoba bean.
http://www.ciat.cgiar.org/newsroom/release_31.htm
The Swedish Pirate Party is gaining legs in Europe and making small
inroads into the USA. Copyright reform is, of course, onthe big planks
in thier platform. (Does anyone else use that metaphor anymore?)
Richard Stallman has published a piece on how the proposed 5 year
copyright limit might adversely affect the GNU (copyleft) licensing.
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/pirate-party.html
Ars comments intelligently on Stallman’s argument.
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/07/pirate-partys-copyright-reform-cannon-could-sink-copyleft.ars
And the best kind of pirates. Lesbian Space Pirates! Jocelyn turned me
on to this comic when she posted a link to this shoe lament. SWF (If
you decide to read further, and you should, some bits are NSFW.)
http://rosalarian.com/lesbianpirates/?p=34
A couple of interesting sets of archives.
A collection of resources on the Eugenics movement in the USA. This
little recognized movement has chilling lessons to teach about the
urge to prescribe what’s best for everyone else.
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/07/27/american-eugenics-mo.html
On a less terrifying note. Duke university has opened the John Hartman
Center’s Archive of ads from the 50’s through the 80s created by the
D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles agency. I expect to see a lot of these
turning up on the ‘net real-soon-now. Requires iTunes — sorry.
http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/adviews/explore/
Speaking of iTunes and Apple’s rumored tablet. The thing I miss most
about buying music on-line is album art and liner notes. Especially
liner notes. Apple may fix that. Not quite enough motivation for me to
buy an Apple computer but close. Link to article about the Tablet is
behind a registration wall at the Financial Times. Boo.
http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/apple_tablet_confirmed_newschool_device_for_oldschool_media_14151.asp
On books and whatnot. The argument about how to arrange the books has
unsettled many a marriage. Well not mine but I’m a trained librarian
so I have an automatic win on this one. How do two librarians manage?
Read the comments too.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jul/21/books-arrange-james-purnell
Images for today.
Warren Ellis provides a link to a trailer for the Asian anime version
of wolverine. Very anime, not very marvel. Judge for yourself.
http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7576
Best. Slash picture. Ever. Every possible cliche in one drawing. (if
you don’t know what it means don’t ask — it’s totally squick)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcus_e/917607569/
I had a terrible time last night figuring out what to eat this week
that wouldn’t require either heating up the house with the stove or
getting burnt to a crisp trying to BBQ in the heat. Salad is often
good but lacks protein. Here’s a nice looking salad that won’t turn
you into a rabbit. (Fry the bacon and boil the eggs early in the day.)
http://www.joyfulabode.com/blog/2009/07/25/belt-salad-blt-with-egg-with-roasted-asparagus/
That’s it for today.