GangRule - the history of organized crime in New York City. A growing database of photos, biographies, newspaper clippings and family trees from 1890 on. [MetaFilter]
Google calls in the 'language police': "Google is now a verb, meaning to search. It sounds like the ultimate compliment to the company, so why do its lawyers want to keep the word out of our dictionaries?" [BBC.com, via MetaFilter]
Library: An Unquiet History, by Matthew Battles. [publisher's synopsis and excerpt; Newsday review; Amazon link]
High court OK's Internet filters for public libraries. The decision adds latitude for shielding kids from porn, but curbs free speech. [Christian Science Monitor | Top Stories]
Hatch Site Hides X-Rated Link. Earlier this week, Utah's Sen. Orrin Hatch was caught using unlicensed software on his website. While his staff scrambled to fix that problem, Web surfers discovered his site had a link to a pornographic website. By Leander Kahney. [Wired News]
<scoff>
According to an AP report, reposted on Salon, Sen. Orrin Hatch "favors developing new technology to remotely destroy the computers of people who illegally download music from the Internet."
Full story on Salon
The poets are losing.
John Palfrey is blogging from the Internet Law 2003 Conference, at Harvard Law School. The title quote comes from a discussion of John Perry Barlow's Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace. As Palfrey explains:
One of the lawyers in the class says "it's dated." Why, we ask? "The poets are losing," he says.
The poets are losing. I wonder just how "independent" cyberspace truly is.
Photography from the NYC underground. Hugs to Annatart for the link.
NYCRoads.com is an exhaustive history of the expressways, parkways, and river crossings that shaped metro New York over the last century and a half. [MetaFilter]
I'm much more of a train-and-subway guy than I am a road guy, so this probably won't get many hits from me, but it's still a thorough and well-done site. Very cool.
Of the millionaires, by the millionaires, and for the millionaires.
Nothing new, but still sickening.
By popular request, my "review." Keep in mind, I've never seen a live performance of Gypsy, and I can't remember ever seeing the movie version. I therefore have nothing to compare this production to. That in mind, I enjoyed it. I thought Bernadette Peters was really good as Mama Rose, and I liked the rest of the cast as well. I thought the first act suffered from slow pacing, so I was glad to see the second act pick up the beat a little. Kevin and Melissa seemed to enjoy the show as well.
Huzzah! I've seen a Broadway musical...actually on Broadway! Those poor schmucks back in Indiana will have to wait for the touring version with Georgia Engel.
The Brooklyn Public Library has made available the Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1840-1902), in a fully searchable format. The feature, currently in beta testing, brings up full scans of each issue. Clicking a story or ad brings an enlarged view. This should be a great resource for historians and genealogists (the obituaries are also searchable), plus it's just damn cool to be able to dive into the borough's history in such a high-tech and intuitive way. [via Boing Boing Blog]
Erk. This is gonna ruin my cynical New Yorker rep I've worked nearly a year to attain. I'm off to the Shubert Theatre tomorrow night to see the new Sam Mendes production of Gypsy, starring Bernadette Peters. Some old friends are in town and they bought tickets for the show. I'm excited, although I should be hip enough not to admit that.
I don't post Flash animations or little Web games, much, but this one really charmed me:
http://www.trevorvanmeter.com/flyguy/
Lessig comments:
We have launched a petition to build support for the Public Domain Enhancement Act. That act would require American copyright holders to pay $1 fifty years after a work was published. If they pay the $1, the copyright continues. If they don’t, the work passes into the public domain. Historical estimates would suggest 98% of works would pass into the pubilc domain after 50 years. The Act would do a great deal to reclaim a public domain.
This proposal has received a great deal of support. It is now facing some important lobbyists’ opposition. We need a public way to begin to demonstrate who the lobbyists don’t speak for. This is the first step.
If you are an ally in at least this cause, please sign the petition. Please blog it, please email it, please spam it, please buy billboards about it — please do whatever you can. And most importantly, please help us explain its importance. There is a chance to do something significant here. But it will take a clearer, simpler voice than mine.
