Viewpoints

Two different and thought-provoking issues to toss at you today.

First, let's take a look at how some Islamic folk decided to commemorate 9/11 over in Europe yesterday.

And then, let us confirm the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman as proscribed by the Republican party. (Trust me, it ties into the first issue.)

Very deep and moving. Read them in order, so you can get all hot and indignant first and then cool off as you see the cost.

MIT sketching

Yeah it's been awhile, but I'll make up for it here. This is a little longer than the usual video snippets I port, but definitely worth the view.

Pic of the Week 20070831

Just so y'all wouldn't feel neglected. A little bit of education for the male geeks.

Happy Labor Day

Well it's been a crazy month, and one very crazy summer, but here we are at the end of it. The big finale. Labor Day Weekend. So, enjoy the long weekend.

Labor Day is a United States federal holiday that takes place on the first Monday in September. The holiday began in 1882, originating from a desire by the Central Labor Union to create a day off for the "working man". It is still celebrated mainly as a day of rest and marks the symbolic end of summer for many. Labor Day became a national holiday by Act of Congress in 1894.

A recurring Labor Day event in the United States, since 1966, is the annual telethon of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, hosted by Jerry Lewis to fund research and patient support programs for the various diseases grouped as muscular dystrophy The telethon raises tens of millions of dollars each year.

Labor Day weekend also marked the annual running of the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, SC. The race was run at any time during the weekend from 1950 - 2002. In 2004, NASCAR began racing on Labor Day weekend at California Speedway in Fontana, CA. This dropped the race to November in the schedule for 2004 which became a night race and was dropped altogether in 2005 in favor of a Mother's Day weekend night race.

A really old custom eschewed wearing white after Labor Day. The custom is rooted in nothing more than popular fashion etiquette. In actuality, the etiquette originally stated that white shoes were the taboo while white or "winter white" clothes were acceptable. This custom is fading from popularity as it continues to be questioned and challenged, particularly by leaders in the fashion world. "Fashion magazines are jumping on this growing trend, calling people who 'dare' to wear white after Labor Day innovative, creative, and bold. Slowly but surely, white is beginning to break free from its box, and is becoming acceptable to wear whenever one pleases. This etiquette is comparable to the Canadian fashion rule against wearing green after Remembrance Day. In the world of western attire, it is similarly tradition to wear a straw cowboy hat until Labor Day. After Labor Day, the felt hat is worn until Memorial Day. "

The Guild - Episode 2: Zaboo'd

Almost forgot to post this today, just found out right from the source that the second episode of The Guild is out (mentioned previously):

I'm following the series now with avid interest, at first I thought it was just a one-time short, but as Felicia's made this into a series I'm all the more interested... She does a really nice job of directing this, as well as acting (I love the intense awkwardness she exhibits!) - so go on YouTube and give her five stars!

A Gentlemen's Duel

For the funny animation of the day we present to you A Gentlemen's Duel. Although it is a bit long ( 07:45 ), it is one of the best made short computer-generated animations I've seen in a long while, needless to say one of the funniest too. This is Dreamworks-level goodness.

Pico-ITX, Because Size Matters

An adventure in the incredibly shrinking computing box...

It's not every day that a new form factor comes out, especially not one that is 10cm x 7.2cm. Despite its size, Pico-ITX is the hottest new thing in the rapidly changing small form factor market. It is considerably smaller than Mini-ITX (17cm x 17cm) which has proven itself to be quite versatile and though some sacrifices had to be made to shrink the platform, Pico-ITX is surprisingly complete. The system was tested with Feather Linux but the PX10000 has the power to run Windows XP or Ubuntu if you want to add on a hard drive.

SCO Loses

Yup, it's been all around the news. 'Bout dang time, I sez. Here's the finishing-move endgame news delivery from Slashdot:

The one summary judgement that puts a stick into SCO's spokes has just come down. The judge in the epic SCO case has ruled that SCO doesn't own the Unix copyrights. With that one decision, a whole bunch of other decisions will fall like dominoes. As PJ says, 'That's Aaaaall, Folks! ... All right, all you Doubting Thomases. I double dog dare you to complain about the US court system now. I told you if you would just be patient, I had confidence in the system's ability to sort this out in the end. But we must say thank you to Novell and especially to its legal team for the incredible work they have done. I know it's not technically over and there will be more to slog through, but they won what matters most, and it's been a plum pleasin' pleasure watching you work. The entire FOSS community thanks you for your skill and all the hard work and thanks go to Novell for being willing to see this through.