Scott McCloud online free comic

You will find at the following link a comic book by Scott McCloud (the author of Understanding Comics), readable through a very fancy Flash application.



The title is "The Right Number", and is free (found via BoingBoing).



The Right Number

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Firmate la petizione

Questo messaggio è per tutti i cittadini europei: firmate la petizione per introdurre tre emendamenti ad IPRED2, una proposta di legge fatta a livello comunitario per criminalizzare tutte le violazioni di copyright e tutte le contraffazioni che verrà votata mercoledì 25 Aprile 2007.



I tre emendamenti hanno lo scopo di:

• LIMITARE il campo di applicazione di IPRED2 alle imprese criminose, che prevedono pirateria e violazione di marchi registrati su scala commerciale, con dolo e a scopo di lucro, anziché criminalizzare tutte le violazioni di proprietà intellettuale come prevederebbe l'attuale direttiva.
• EVITARE di creare uno stato di criminalizzabilità (senza precedenti) per gli organismi intermediari su Internet, provider, fornitori di software ivi compresa una serie di attività legittime, togliendo le parole "aiutando o assistendo e incitando" [aiding or abetting and inciting] dall'articolo 3.
• FORNIRE DELLE CERTEZZE LEGALI adottando precise ed appropriate definizioni di "su scala commerciale" e "violazione intenzionale" nell'articolo 2, in modo che si intenda con questo le attività commerciali fatte a fine di ottenere lucro che si possa direttamente attribuire all'attività di violazione.
  
  

Fondamentalmente avete quattro possibilità:

1) Firmare a "scatola chiusa"

2) Informarvi qui e qui, poi firmare

3) Informarvi e poi decidere di non firmare

4) Sbattervene le palle e non firmare



Preferirei se sceglieste la 2), in mancanza di tempo la 1), se scegliete la 3) fatemi sapere nei commenti perché non avete firmato, e se scegliete la 4) siete delle bestie, e non so proprio che cosa vi spinga a leggere questo blog.



Firma qui

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Flat Daddies

Coming back from Guy's Blog, I bring this unbelievable thing: Flat Daddies are full-size printed posters of parents who are serving overseas in the military (cited from their website). Really. They use a padded full-size print of the Dad instead of the real one: dining, traveling, sleeping.



Don't laugh. At first I found it ridiculous, then I remembered Vonnegut's words: "...that no one is bad, disgusting, or ridiculous".

And, really, there's nothing to laughing about.



Here you will find an article of a Flat Daddy tester. Her experience is not so bright, but for many other should be quite a relief, based on the success of the idea.

I encourage you to read the original. Let me know in the comment if you would like to read the linked article translated in Italian.



Flat Daddies | free life-size posters of your hero

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Modern Mechanix

The picture above shows a device that traps who (unfortunately) rings the fire alarm. Sure it will reduce the alarm pranksters, expecially because only a policeman or a fireman can free the (barbequed) hand.



I just want you to notice Modern Mechanics, a site full of "wonders" from the past.



Modern Mechanix » Fire Box Traps Pranksters

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Optical illusion

I am an avid reader of pointless and unuseful things. In this group fall definitely optical illusions. I like them very much, and I wonder how after almost two (pointless) years of blogging I never linked one.



So, look below at the magic picture, and look again when you are at least 8 steps away from your monitor (I tried as far as three meters and it worked flawlessly).

The two faces seem to swap themselves. In the comments of the link you will find an explanation.







Blogger Whale||freestyle blogging: Don't trust your eyes!

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Kurt is up in heaven now.

Kurt Vonnegut (american despite the german name) is dead, and this may be a good day to begin reading his books.

I recently read Slaughterhouse 5 (in Italian: "Mattatoio n° 5"). I learnt a new way to think about war. I learnt a new way to think about death.



Farewell, Kurt.



Kurt Vonnegut - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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A personality test (sorry, Mac only)

Mac OS X 10.4, codename Tiger (I know the ladies love it), comes equipped with two games: Marble Blast Gold and Nanosaur II: Hatchling.



The first is one of the most addictive and brain-tickling videogames I ever played; stages are usually short as two minutes, nevertheless you will spend hours (days?) with the little rolling marble. The learning curve is simply right, not too hard nor boring, and the Gold Time limit is challenging even for hardcore gamers. In a word, a Masterpiece.



The second isn't the worst videogames I ever played, but sure is in the bottom 3. I need to rephrase it: it would be one of the worst 3 games I ever played. Nanosaur II isn't a game: is a personality test. Do you know someone who spent more than 10 minutes (globally) on it? Well, maybe you should seeing him/her less. Is boring, is useless, and is a misuse of graphical effects (which are indeed very good). A little too graphical to seem a personality test, but well, today the style is overcoming the substance.



Your daughter wants to date a Mac owner: ask him how much time does he spend on Nanosaur II, and if is more than 10 minutes (in all his life), be warned: something is wrong in him:

i. His QI

ii. He cannot tell videogames and personality tests apart

iii. He parks like an a*****e

iv. All of the above.



/sarcasm



Pangea Software: Nanosaur 2 Home Page

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Music score search engine collection

In my website you can find a collection of *free* music sheet sites. IMHO there are basically two type of scores: one, easy to find and cheap (so cheap that often is less expensive than xeroxing, i.e. Dover or Könemann), the other, hard to find and as expensive as white truffle (i.e. Salabert and other french edition).



Well, if you are searching for a score of the first type, is very likely you will find it using one of the suggested links (YMMV).

Please, write me to suggest free scores sites that I didn't mention.



In another post I will describe my experience buying music sheet online.



biavati.net

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