The polls are open for the federal election. Don’t forget to vote for your favourite lizard.
Commentary and news on the INDUCE Act
On June 18, I mentioned the bill that US Senator Orrin Hatch is introducing which would make it illegal to “induce” someone to commit a copyright violation. Here are a couple more links on the subject.
First, Joanna Glasner covers the reaction of the tech industry to the bill in this Wired.com article:
“As we read it, reporters who wrote about peer-to-peer file-trading networks could well be charged with inducing infringement,” he said. “Their definition of inducement seems to cover almost anything.” (Wired.com: “File-Trading Bill Stokes Fury”, June 24, 2004)
In this article, Ernest Miller annotates Hatch’s introduction to the INDUCE Act:
Criminal law defines “inducement” as “that which leads or tempts to the commission of crime.” [Luckily, not every temptation is a crime or there would be more people in jail than free.] Some P2P software appears to be the definition of criminal inducement captured in computer code. [Software is a tool. This is the same as saying that bolt-cutters and crowbars are inducements to burglary.] (The Importance Of: “The Obsessively Annotated Introduction to the INDUCE Act”, June 24, 2004)
My car is an ecosystem
I didn’t mind when my car grew a healthy crop of green algae on the roof and hood. It seemed natural for this part of the world, and toned down the shocking red of the underlying paint.
But this morning, I discovered a new, and less welcome development. My car has ants. Hundreds of them, all over it. I think they’re feeding on the tree sap that practically sprays off the beech trees that overhang the parking lot.
As I drove to work, I saw dozens of them enduring the blast of wind on my windshield, clinging to droplets of sap for dear life. One by one, they vanished into the wind. By the time I got to work, I was surprised to see a few of them staggering around on the sunroof. Tenacious little buggers.
So what will take up residence in my car next? Mice? Raccoons? A herd of wildebeest?
I live in a sauna
Summer is here. The temperature in my home is often well into the thirties. This makes it an absolute pleasure to spend more time in my cubicle. Hooray for air conditioning! I’d work seven days a week if they didn’t turn off the A/C on the weekends.
Dilbert dreams
Here’s a sign that I need time away from my cubicle. I had a Dilbert dream last night. It wasn’t a long one — only three black-and-white panels like the comic strip — but it was definitely a Dilbert dream. This doesn’t bode well.
Here’s how it went:
- First panel: Dilbert meets the new employee who can go into “stealth mode” and become invisible.
- Second panel: Nobody can find Stealth Guy.
- Third panel: Dilbert is at his desk, and stealth guy is standing behind him, clapping. Punch line: Dilbert says, “He lauds me.”
Yeah, I don’t get it either.