#get lurnt

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The story of the "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster. 

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CNN: You mentioned earlier that these laws would 'censor' the Internet. How so exactly?

Wales: One of the provisions in the Senate version, which is still out there, is that under certain circumstances Internet providers would be required to block access to sites, by removing them from the DNS entry list. So if you type in the domain of a site that's been accused of being devoted to infringement of copyright you wouldn't get an answer of whether that site exists. That's exactly what China does. They do blocking at the DNS level.

CNN: Do you oppose that on a technical level or is it the philosophy behind it?

Wales: It's a little bit of both. As we look at some of the interesting work that's going on technologically for DNS security, ways of validating that this is the correct website ... This is an actual critical problem that is being solved at a technical level. Except that DNS blocking would break the solutions that are already being implemented.

The more philosophical point is (that) if you asked me where the Pirate Bay is located and I tell you the answer -- it's at this IP address -- that is speech. The Supreme Court has held that code is speech. And it doesn't matter that it's done on a computer or done face to face or done in a newspaper, reporting the facts of the world is protected speech. I don't believe the DNS blocking provisions will pass First Amendment muster, anyway, but it seems a shame to spend two years and a lot of court costs fighting something that's absurd on the face of it.

CNN: I could see some people saying that's hypocritical, to shut down a site that's all about sharing and openness in the name of supporting an open and free Internet.

Wales: Free speech includes the right to not speak. We are a community of volunteers. We have written this thing that we believe to be a gift to the world. We don't charge people for it. It's freely available to anybody who wants to (use it). We are a charity. And I think it's important for people to realize that the ability of our community to come together and give this kind of gift to the world depends on a certain legal infrastructure that makes it possible for people to share knowledge freely -- that the First Amendment is incredibly important in terms of the creation of this kind of thing.

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It's one of the first things to go in the war of ­attrition between romance and pragmatism – the idea of spending all night nose to nose, tightly entwined in a lover's embrace. The arrangement represents a commitment to passion that simply cannot be maintained for more than a few days before someone says, "I love you and everything, baby, but I really need some sleep."

According to Evany Thomas, author of The ­Secret Language Of Sleep, there are 39 distinct sleeping positions, ranging from common or ­garden Spoons to the more exotic Stairway. It's tempting to interpret these as manifestations of the nature of the relationship of the couple – it's hard to look at the Springloader, say, without thinking that somebody has some issues – but let's not ­forget that these people are unconscious.

Individuals come into relationships with odd sleeping habits of their own, habits that must ­ultimately be accommodated. Finding a mutually satisfactory layout is usually a matter of trial and error. Who among us has not e­xperienced the barely coherent, middle-of-the-night debate about duvet coverage, edge proximity or position relative to the north-south axis? No single arrangement is going to last for the full seven hours. For security's sake, you may need to expand your repertoire – ­experiment with the Scissors, the Zipper, the Koala and Tree. On some nights you may need them all.

That doesn't mean the positions themselves aren't interesting. Devotees of the Conjoined Twins formation might well feel they have a healthier relationship than Cliffhanger couples, though in reality they probably just have a much smaller bed. There are several positions – Starfish being the most obvious – where one half of the couple is clearly getting the worst of the bargain, and one is tempted to speculate whether these roles are replicated or reversed during the day.

Ironically, the most peaceful of the arrangements has the most troubling name: Crime Scene. Here the couple lies side by side in the haphazard ­attitude of two shooting victims. It makes sense when you think about it: just as dead people sometimes look as if they are only sleeping, so people in a deep, untroubled sleep sometimes ­appear to be dead. One thing is for certain – any pair of people who can fall asleep in that position must be truly contented. Or utterly exhausted.

• In pictures: which position do you sleep in?

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3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage... all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food ....into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films..... = a trip of a lifetime. move, eat, learn Rick Mereki : Director, producer, additional camera and editing  Tim White : DOP, producer, primary editing, sound Andrew Lees : Actor, mover, groover

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1. EQUALITY

Women and men should be treated as equals.Still, a plurality of diners says that men are treated better than women. The explanation given is that men are more likely to pay the bill and tip. How dated can you be? She probably earns more than you.

2. PAYING FOR IT

Whoever initiates a dinner date pays.Long ago, women were handed menus with no prices on them. Nowadays, whoever did the inviting should be expected to pay for the meal, unless you’ve worked out another arrangement in advance.

3. ORDERING FOOD

Forget gender - people should order when ready. Sorry, Emily Post, but gone are the days when women were expected to go first. Since menus can be long and complex, regardless of your sex it’s a courtesy to order first and buy your tablemates a bit more time to decide.

4. HANDHELD VICES

Do not talk, text, tweet, email or surf the web at table. It’s rude, say 63% of diners. A whopping 73% advise turning off ringers. If you have urgent business to deal with, step away from the table briefly to handle matters. 

5. KIDS, KIDS, KIDS

It’s fine to bring children to dinner in most restaurants. But don’t do it at places where they’d elevate the decibel level or that are meant to be romantic. Zagat surveyors split over the age at which children should be allowed: 38% say from birth while the same percent argues five years or older. Tellingly, 61% believe restaurants should be able to ban children.

6. DRESSING DOWN OR UP

Dress casually. This is known as the “Los Angelization of dining.” Hardly any restaurants require ties and jackets anymore. Even the tiny minority that do won’t object if you put your jacket over the back of the chair. About the only rule left is “don’t be a slob.” Alternatively, you may want to “dress up” to impress your companion.

7. SERIOUS RESERVATIONS

Honor your restaurant reservations or cancel them on time. People should treat dining reservations as the important commitments they are. Holding an empty table for a no-show does real damage to a restaurant. If you make reservations and fail to cancel in advance, you’ll deservedly become persona non grata at the restaurant.

8. OK, NOW GET OUT

Don’t overstay your welcome at a busy restaurant.To clarify: Take your time and enjoy your food, wine, conversation and after-dinner treats. Nobody should ever feel rushed. Interestingly, 60% of Zagat surveyors nationally support restaurants setting time limits on tables during peak hours. Remember, next time you may be the one waiting in line.

9. LONG LIVE CHIVALRY

Men go through doors first, and then hold them open for women. We know, we know. This is the one rule of chivalry that will never die, even if it’s been updated (men used to allow women to go first). Bottom line: two people can’t go through a door at the same time. So to the women out there who find this notion antiquated, please, humor these poor men. Let them get the door – they’ll let you get the bill or walk on the outside once out on the street.

10. REMEMBER YOU’RE THE CUSTOMER.

And the customer is always right. Too often customers feel the yare being judged by the wait staff. That’s exactly wrong. Short of berating the waiter, you should expect to receive hospitable, efficient service and good food at any restaurant. If that doesn’t happen, take your money elsewhere and tell the next ten people that you meet.

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Indians Pay Surgeons To Turn Girls Into Boys

By Dean Nelson, New Delhi

9:30PM BST 27 Jun 2011

Madhya Pradesh state government is investigating claims that up to 300 girls were surgically turned into boys in one city after their parents paid about £2,000 each for the operations.

Women's and children's rights campaigners denounced the practice as a "social madness" that made a "mockery of women in India".

India's gender balance has already been tilted in favour of boys by female foeticide – sex selection abortions - by families who fear the high marriage costs and dowries they may have to pay. There are now seven million more boys than girls aged under six in the country.

Campaigners said the use of surgery meant that girls were no longer safe even after birth.

The row emerged after newspapers disclosed children from throughout India were being operated on by doctors in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

Doctors confronted in the investigation claimed that girls with genital abnormalities were being sent to the city's clinics to be "surgically corrected" and that only children born with both male and female sexual characteristics were eligible for the procedure. But campaigners said the parents and doctors were misindentifying the children's conditions to turn girls into boys.

The surgery, known as genitoplasty, fashions a penis from female organs, with the child being injected with male hormones to create a boy.

Dr V P Goswami, the president of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics in Indore, described the disclosures as shocking and warned parents that the procedure would leave their child impotent and infertile in adulthood.

"Genitoplasty is possible on a normal baby of both the sexes but later on these organs will not grow with the hormonal influence and this will lead to their infertility as well as their impotency. It is shocking news and we will be looking into it and taking corrective measures," he said. "Parents have to consider the social as well as the psychological impact of such procedures on the child."

India's National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights ordered the Madhya Pradesh government to investigate the claims and produce its findings within 15 days.

Ranjana Kumari, of the Centre for Social Research and one of India's leading campaigners against female foeticide, said the surgical transformation of girls into boys without their informed consent was a sign of India's growing "social madness".

She said she despaired that education had failed to stop the growing rejection of baby girls in India.

"The figures are getting worse. In 2001 there were 886 girls born to every 1,000 boys in Delhi. Today there are only 866. The more educated and rich you are, the more there is killing of girls," she said.

"People don't want to share their property or invest in girls' education or pay dowries. It's the greedy middle classes running after money. It is just so shocking and an outright violation of children's rights."

The government needed to address the problem by stressing the spiritual value a girl or woman brought a household in Hindu culture. "In India we say God resides in that house where there's a woman but that has evaporated because of all this greed. We need to emphasise the spiritual wealth a girl brings to a family, but we also need to support them with financial subsidies and jobs," she added.

Source: The Telegraph 

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The First Color Photograph

Best known for his development of electromagnetic theory, Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell dabbled in color theory throughout his life, eventually producing the first color photograph in 1861. Maxwell created the image of the tartan ribbon shown here by photographing it three times through red, blue, and yellow filters, then recombining the images into one color composite.

Source: Milestones in Photography via National Geographic... very cool collection.

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Artificial meat, sometimes called in vitro meat, could be grown in lab-like facilities to replace meat from animals. The point of growing meat instead of raising animals for slaughter would be to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and halt the mistreatment of millions of animals. Researchers in Europe have found that generating lab meat could reduce greenhouse gases from animal farming by 96%. Producing artificial meat could also require only one percent of the land used by animal farming, and just four percent of the water. Another benefit of using artificial meat is that it would not contain any pesticides or herbicides farm animals can ingest, so they would not be passed onto consumers.

article at: care2.com