Science Addiction

A dormant blog by Devanshu Mehta

Category: Miscellany

July 23, 2006

The Blogger’s Trifecta

In the past, this site has been slashdotted twice and digg homepaged once. Being slashdotted for the first time, last December, was great because it was the first time this blog got noticed any where outside my friends and family. Getting on the digg home page meant that an article had been accepted by the internet masses, which was uniquely satisfying- though that article was a jab at Microsoft, and so was easy to gain acceptance in certain communities!

Now we have been “boingboing’ed”– which is a different level of satisfaction, because it was accepted by Cory Doctorow. I’m a big fan of his- as I make it clear in the article– and appreciate the link from him a lot.

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July 23, 2006

95 Theses of Geek Activism

Geek activism has not taken off yet, but it should. With the gamers recognizing the need for a louder voice, EFF gaining momentum and Linux taking on the mainstream on the one hand and recent severe losses in privacy, freedom of speech and intellectual property rights on the other, now seems to be the best time to rally around the cause.

Geeks are not known to be political or highly vocal (outside of our own circles)- this must change if we want things to improve. So here is my list of things people of all shapes, sizes and sides of the debate need to know. Some of these are obvious, others may not be meant for you. But hopefully, some of these will inspire you to do the right thing and others will help you frame the next discussion, debate or argument you have on these topics. Read the rest of this entry »

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June 23, 2006

DRM: Why Apple Has it Wrong

A few days ago, a Janet Meyer article on “Apple Matters”:http://www.applematters.com/index.php/section/comments/is-big-brother-on-your-ipod/ sparked a phenomenal discussion for and against Apple’s DRM policies. If you are not aware, Apple has a *Digital Rights Management* [DRM] system that “protects” the music it sells from the iTunes music store: it determines where you can play it, how you can play it, how many machines you can play it on and so on. It is proprietary, so if Apple controls the online music market, Apple also automatically controls how, where, why, when we listen to music we buy from them.

To cut a long story short, Janet was making the point that Apple may have a closed music format but as long as consumers have no trouble with it, consumers have a choice to buy CDs instead, the market will decide what is best.

Ah yes, the market. That all-knowing, all-seeing, all-singing, all-dancing market. It knows. In a _perfect_ society with fully informed consumers who have _true_ choices, the market knows. Elections would be marvellous with fully informed voters with _true_ choices as well Read the rest of this entry »

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June 8, 2006

Etymology: What is This * You Speak Of?

_aka What is this * of which you speak?_

For many months or years or decades- I am not sure- I have used to the phrase “What is this * you speak of?” to great humorous (my opinion) effect. It has usually been greeted with chuckles and makes me feel all warm and superior on the inside.

Maybe you don’t understand the context in which you would use this phrase; let me illustrate. Let us say people are talking about the NSA wiretaps. Someone says that they think it might be legal to which someone else replies that it is not in-keeping with the constitution. At this point, I will interject with the classic line, “Constitution? What is this constitution you speak of?” and will be treated by chuckles all around. If you don’t get the joke- and I’m sure it loses some luster in written text- it means that people at the NSA or in government seem to not be aware of the existence of the constitution. Ha ha, funny, right?

Maybe not. I like to make myself laugh more than I do others, so I succeed. It is a low bar I set for myself.

The trouble, however, is that I do not like to use lines without knowing their roots. Where does this phrase come from? Surely, it is not my own creation- though I may admit as much in lesser company- so where does it come from? I hate using quotes or phrases that are in common use without knowing the source- you know those people who spout lines from Monty Python or SNL or Abe Lincoln without knowing where they came from? They irritate me. So what are the origins of my pet line? Off to the all-knowing search engines for that answer… Read the rest of this entry »

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June 6, 2006

Our First Birthday

Last June, “I started this blog”:http://www.scienceaddiction.com/2005/06/06/welcome-to-science-addiction/ to talk about the things I was interested in: technology, science, some politics (mainly concerning technology and science). Maybe it is a sign of the times, but the focus has been fine-tuned towards “civil liberties”:http://www.scienceaddiction.com/2006/04/25/outrage/, “privacy”:http://www.scienceaddiction.com/2006/04/25/outrage/, “open standards”:http://www.scienceaddiction.com/2006/05/12/how-internet-explorer-stifles-microsoft/ and “new energy”:http://www.scienceaddiction.com/2006/06/04/research-corn-fiber-to-ethanol-using-mold/ while still introducing the occasional “geek project”:http://www.scienceaddiction.com/2005/08/06/linux-on-the-xbox-reasoning-part-i/ or “humorous”:http://www.scienceaddiction.com/categories/humor/ outburst.

“Two”:http://www.scienceaddiction.com/2006/03/28/review-googles-gmail-for-your-domain/ “Slashdots”:http://www.scienceaddiction.com/2005/12/18/seasons-givings/ and a “Digg”:http://www.scienceaddiction.com/2006/05/12/how-internet-explorer-stifles-microsoft/ later, the blog is older and wiser. I am learning to focus on fewer things in more detail as I try to build a repeat readership. So far, a vast majority of the readership surfs in and out through links found on Digg, Slashdot, other blogs and mainly, search.

So thanks to all those who have surfed in; even more thanks to those who stick around. Add “SA to your RSS reader”:http://www.scienceaddiction.com/feed/ and come back often.

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May 15, 2006

Say Hello to My Blogroll Friends

I just added a blogroll- links to blogs that I frequent- to the right sidebar, and I think I should introduce them to you. Read the rest of this entry »

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May 3, 2006

What People Were Reading Here in April

These were the most popular articles here in the month of April:

This month my old Linux on the Xbox article and Dharmesh Thakker’s light/shadows photographs are new on the list.

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April 7, 2006

Last Month at Apple Matters

In my second month at “Apple Matters”:http://www.applematters.com it has been much tougher coming up with things to write on a weekly basis- but such is life as a part-time freelance writer (I use that phrase when I can- it evokes more mystique than it should).

Here is what I put out in March/April: Read the rest of this entry »

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April 5, 2006

What People Were Reading Here in March

Two of those articles are in a post-slashdotting haze.

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March 28, 2006

Review: Google’s GMail for Your Domain

Google recently started offering GMail-like hosted email service for universities and beta-testing private domains. As soon as the “Google announced the beta”:http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/big-mail-on-campus.html of the service, I signed up my “Star Wars website GalaxyFarAway.com”:http://www.galaxyfaraway.com/gfa/ for “hosted GMail”:https://www.google.com/hosted.
Read the rest of this entry »

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