Wednesday, 2 March 2011

Ombudsman reveals secret Melbourne Brotherhood

Printing Thom Yorke's head

When we blogged about Radiohead releasing the data from their video for “House of Cards” last year, we weren’t really sure what fans were going to do with the 400 megabytes representing the visual data from the video. But now, thanks to Thinigiverse, we have an awesome example of what’s possible when CC licenses encourage people to share and build upon each others work.
User Serratiago has used Blender to convert the original data from the Radiohead video into a set of coordinates that can be printed into a real-life 3D sculpture of Thom Yorke’s head. Since the original data is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license, that means Serriago’s derivative is as well. What’s great about this story is that Serratiago didn’t need to ask Thom Yorke, Radiohead, or anyone for permission to make and distribute his work, as the Creative Commons license had already established it!
So if you own a 3D printer, you can download the data and get started. If you need a 3D printer, you should check out MakerBot, an open source project brought to you by the guys behind Thingiverse.
@'Creative Commons'

Kinisi - Sun Battle Soul (Free download)

(Thanx to the Happyyman for turning me on to this!)

Carl Hiaasen: “Has Florida finally elected a certifiable whack job as governor?”

♪♫ PJ Harvey - The Words That Maketh Murder

Possible gag order on the Guardian re Assange case?

Jesus Hates Net Neutrality

Thousands of sadhus - or holy men - have been banned from selling cannabis to festival-goers at an ancient temple in Nepal.

They are gathering at Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu to celebrate the Hindu festival of Shivaratri.
Sadhus - Hindus who renounce the world around them - traditionally celebrate Shivaratri by smoking cannabis.
But those found selling drugs at the temple this year will face eviction by armed police, temple officials say.
Since last week police have been mingling with the sadhus in plain clothes to identify anyone selling drugs.
About 20 sadhus have already been arrested and have been moved to an area outside the city, officials say.
'Spoilt' The Hindu god Shiva is said to have enjoyed smoking cannabis.
Because of that sadhus - who mostly live in forests, caves and temples - see their use of the drug as receiving a blessing from him.
Thousands of sadhus have travelled from India for the festival - which falls on 2 March this year - and the temple authority has said it does not object to the sadhus smoking cannabis for their own worship.
Despite this, the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) wants to ensure the drug is not sold on the temple premises.
"Over the past few years, the use of drugs has become more widespread and it's also become commercial," PADT Member Secretary Sushil Nahata told the BBC.
"It has spoilt the essence of the festival."
"We heard a lot of rumours that sadhus were selling these drugs. We tried to stop them doing this last year, but weren't able to," said Mr Nahata.
"This year we've started a proper campaign."
The PADT has put together a task force of 25 people, including police and armed police officers, to enforce the ban.
"We have only found limited amounts of hashish in cigarettes so far," Mr Nahata said.
He added: "Any sadhus arrested with large quantities of the drug will be sent to jail."
@'BBC'
Nepalese charas and my cobra chillum - memories *sigh*!

500 Desert Island Discs episodes to be made available online

Fighting the Lawmen

HERE

Iran: Security forces break up Tehran protests

Iranian police have fired tear gas to disperse opposition supporters mounting protests in the capital Tehran.

A BBC correspondent in Tehran said large numbers of riot police and militia on motorcycles in the city centre broke up any crowds that formed.
The unrest comes a day after websites close to opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi said they had been jailed.
The government has denied this, saying the two men were at home.
The BBC's Mohsen Agsari in Tehran said by early evening the security forces appeared to have full control of the streets.
The Basiji militia were chanting victory slogans, he said.
Earlier, despite the presence of security forces in Tehran's main streets and squares, sporadic gatherings were held close to the main Azadi square, our correspondent said.
Demonstrators chanting "Ya Hossein, Mir Hossein" were immediately attacked by the police.
After night fell, demonstrators made random protests, using the cover of darkness to confuse the security forces, our correspondent adds.
Police blocked the focal point of the demonstrations, Eskandari street, at both ends, sending bikers to disperse the protesters.
Detention denial Both Mr Mousavi and Mr Karroubi have called for demonstrations in Iran in the light of the recent uprisings in Tunisia and in Egypt.
Earlier this month the two men, along with their wives, were detained in their respective homes in Tehran as protests were staged.
Thousands of their supporters took to the streets of Tehran on 14 February, amid clashes with security forces which left two dead.
On Monday one of Mr Karroubi's sons told the BBC Persian service he had been told his father had been "taken by security forces to an unspecified location".
The semi-official news agency Isna quoted state prosecutor Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehei on Monday as saying that Mr Mousavi and Mr Karroubi were not detained.
The two men ran as opposition candidates in the disputed June 2009 presidential election. Mr Mousavi said he was the actual winner and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was only re-elected through a rigged vote.
Hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters then took part in marches that were violently broken up by the security forces, including the Basij militia on motorcycles.
@'BBC'