xenomancer 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: 'We, The Web Kids': Manifesto For An Anti-ACTA Generation

    xenomancer ( profile ), 03 Mar, 2012 @ 01:09pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    Kinda funny how that's worked out for him.

  • On the post: 'We, The Web Kids': Manifesto For An Anti-ACTA Generation

    xenomancer ( profile ), 03 Mar, 2012 @ 12:57pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    follow its currents and be surprised by it.
    Beware the weird part of YouTube. Seldom does a survivor come through unscathed.

  • On the post: DailyDirt: It's Time To Open Up Access To Academic Journals

    xenomancer ( profile ), 09 Feb, 2012 @ 06:21pm

    Re: hooray for open journals!

    It's not just the citations that matter. Though part of it may be more the simple matter of good PR, many of those seeking publication simply do not have an alternative that really stands out in their respective fields. Open science publications are great, but some form of cross promotion and some attention toward the minor detail of accumulating an active base of competent scientists needs to be tended to. It is high time for the open nature of the scientific method to be rid of the shackles of over presumptuous gatekeepers and flourish amid the unfettered confluence of discoveries being forgotten behind the tall walls of subscription fees.

    Last I checked, I was paying ~$35 for 48 hours of "access" to each journal article I had to pay for outside of a university's bulk license (ya, even as a member of both AIChE and ACS). If you don't yet understand how asinine that is, it's comparable to paying $35 for 48 hours of access to every single web page on Wikipedia and a required user account associated with your real personal information. In fact, the comparison is quite apt as both pay-per-view journals and Wikipedia acquire and publish user content which has been refined under a process of peer review. Wikipedia's peer review may be a little more open and occurs after initial publication, but the principle is the same.

  • On the post: DailyDirt: It's Time To Open Up Access To Academic Journals

    xenomancer ( profile ), 09 Feb, 2012 @ 06:03pm

    Ya, with companies like Elsevier supporting the skullduggery they have been lately... I need to get on with starting up my open science journal project.

  • On the post: Ex-FTC Officials Remind Current FTC Officials That They're Supposed To Protect Consumers, Not Competitors

    xenomancer ( profile ), 09 Feb, 2012 @ 06:53am

    Clear Reasoning

    There is consumer harm dammit! People are getting stuff for free! Can't anyone else see how that is ruining my shitty business???

    /Google-competitor

  • On the post: BBC Tracks Down And Confronts An Internet Troll

    xenomancer ( profile ), 09 Feb, 2012 @ 06:49am

    They see him trollin', they hatin'...

  • On the post: Shattering pyrex To Show A Massive Weakness In Trademark Law

    xenomancer ( profile ), 07 Feb, 2012 @ 06:08am

    All About Protecting Consumers

    This is why I (and most other lab dwellers I know) have switched over to other labware brands like Bomex. That way there's little confusion over the quality of the glass and a lower chance of having a piece of glass break in the middle of an experiment. You'd be surprised how often a piece of kitchenware can serve as a cheap piece of labware.

    /bacon-lance

  • On the post: Paramount Wants To Talk To Students About How They're All Thieves & Then Ask For Ideas On What To Do

    xenomancer ( profile ), 03 Feb, 2012 @ 07:45pm

    Re:

    Just ask Darth Vader: the studios never "recoup" their costs.

  • On the post: Paramount Wants To Talk To Students About How They're All Thieves & Then Ask For Ideas On What To Do

    xenomancer ( profile ), 03 Feb, 2012 @ 06:35pm

    Hooray for Paramount!

    My first thought was "wow Paramount finally broke down and decided to tap into the collective creativity of college students." I mean, now that they've given in to the dark side and admitted they're stealing, we can have a real conversation! My guess is that the first thing on the agenda will be a Q&A about how to use contracts to obfuscate unconscionable business practices... and maybe a followup on successfully lying to clients and courts. I imagine the finale will be the lecture on how to purchase a senator (there's to many representatives to merit their price).

    Oh, shit, I completely forgot to read the article. Damn, it looks like they just took aim at their feet again. And I had such a wonderful moment of brief recognition of (who was that again... ah, yes) Parmanut's public integrity.

    /sarc

    Honestly, it would be hilarious if they were filmed getting booed off the campus...

  • On the post: Redbox Won't Cave To Warner Bros. Demands; Will Buy WB DVDs From Other Sources And Rent Them

    xenomancer ( profile ), 02 Feb, 2012 @ 06:45pm

    Re:

    .l.. (FUCK_YOU) ..l.

    FTFY

    /mature

  • On the post: Redbox Won't Cave To Warner Bros. Demands; Will Buy WB DVDs From Other Sources And Rent Them

    xenomancer ( profile ), 02 Feb, 2012 @ 08:58am

    Hmmm

    Demand, meet Supply. Supply, Demand.

  • On the post: White House Says It Can't Comment On Possible Chris Dodd Investigation

    xenomancer ( profile ), 01 Feb, 2012 @ 07:58am

    Two Simple Solutions

    Since there is already a large support base, there are two simple solutions that this can be rolled over to immediately:

    1. Mass requests to congress (a la SOPA, though maybe a little less pushy)
      • Create a site for action (see americancensorship, this can likely be done over night)
      • Guide the public with unbiased and non-skewed facts
      • Cause at least a congressional inquiry by individual members of congress
      • Cause congress to critically consider who they represent (again)
    2. Mass requests to highest law enforcement authority possible
      • Start with a petition to the whitehouse (FAILED, but try again I guess...)
      • Proceed to the state level (CA, you whore!)
      • Move on to DA's and ADA's who have jurisdiction
      • Include racketeering and fraud to the list of possible charges
      • End with a wake up call to the MAFIAA to get their shit in gear (and maybe, you know, innovate a little or serve their customers some)
    /lists-are-cool

  • On the post: Will Academics' Boycott Of Elsevier Be The Tipping Point For Open Access — Or Another Embarrassing Flop?

    xenomancer ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2012 @ 04:01pm

    Re: You should check out Annotum

    Thanks for the heads up. On cursory glance, annotum seems like an assembly of several of the plugins I've been experimenting with, packaged into a single WP theme. I think I will test it out soon. It does look promising.

  • On the post: Will Academics' Boycott Of Elsevier Be The Tipping Point For Open Access — Or Another Embarrassing Flop?

    xenomancer ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2012 @ 03:44pm

    Re: Re: Catchy Comment Title...

    That article by Danah Boyd was right on target. She pretty much summed up the frustration involved in both producing and using most major journal publications.

  • On the post: Will Academics' Boycott Of Elsevier Be The Tipping Point For Open Access — Or Another Embarrassing Flop?

    xenomancer ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2012 @ 08:38am

    Re: Re: Catchy Comment Title...

    First, I do realize (thus much of my professional frustration) that academia is heavily based on both the merit and prestige of published works. Even though I will spend the better part of my career in industry, my career path with land me right back in academia (the whole "giving back to the community" plus crazy old professor gimmick). As both of these parts of my career will be primarily research and development, I will likely be publishing regularly. Thankfully, industrial R&D is more merit (of reputation, I suppose) based than academia, so I will be somewhat shielded prior my return to an academic career.

    Second, that is why I have (almost) created the "journal of open science." I have the domains and hosting, but have yet to really put the time into establishing it as intended. I have other obligations for this Spring, but sometime soon (again, in a relative sense) I will explore gathering a team to assist me and figure things out. Once I do have the time, I will bring it online as another journal complementing both PLoS and arXiv, amongst several others out there. There is open source software specifically targeted at hosting an open journal (found here), but it is a bit clunky and immature. For now, I am looking into adapting something with a larger support base (such as WordPress or Joomla) to my needs.

    Third, I do think that the current bias against online publishing is mostly a matter of PR and allowing the next generation the time to really cement it in as a competitor to "paper based" publishers.

    *I have not yet read the article at the link you posted, but I will soon.

  • On the post: Will Academics' Boycott Of Elsevier Be The Tipping Point For Open Access — Or Another Embarrassing Flop?

    xenomancer ( profile ), 31 Jan, 2012 @ 05:42am

    Catchy Comment Title...

    As a soon to be publishing engineer and scientist (soon is a relative term, it'll be a year or two still), this has been a major concern for me for some time now. Working my way through undergraduate school, I would often still have to pay ~$35 for 24 hours of access to individual journal articles despite the university's partnership with elsevier (etc.). Elsevier's online system is not only dismally implemented, but completely redundant for an intelligent student or professional who can simply save a copy of the document during viewing. The license stipulates that the access is conditional on the license and online access existing rather than the document existing, which places the legal responsibility on the viewer to ensure the document is not saved for further use. This is a massive burden for those seeking to strictly comply with the license they sign for access while attempting to get ANY work done while not tethered to a computer with access. This meant that I would have to access the elsevier network from the university network either via physical proximity or VPN and maintain a constant connection to allow access to journal articles. Being on campus during all relevant network access is a major burden on many students and professors and VPN access invites situations where access is cut off because the data cap is reached when the OS decides to download an update. If I did the intelligent thing and saved a copy of the PDF I was viewing, I was violating the license agreement. This made me an understandably irate student when it came time to present electronic copies of my references to professors when presenting original research, as I would have to often commit a sin of omission when detailing my literature review methods.

    Given all of that grief, I think it is safe to say that I will not, to the best of my abilities, be publishing in any journal partnered with elsevier or sciencedirect. They ensnare all the content they get their hands on and severely impede the progress of science and education.

  • On the post: Using Wikileaks To Figure Out What The Government 'Redacts'

    xenomancer ( profile ), 30 Jan, 2012 @ 04:40am

    New FOIA Policy

    REDACT THE EMBARRASSING SHIT NOW!!! ... and make us look like badasses if you can.

  • On the post: New Righthaven To Offer 'Hosting With A Backbone'; Will Avoid Unnecessary Takedowns

    xenomancer ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2012 @ 08:12pm

    A Tagline Idea

    OrtCloud, almost as big as the "Oort Cloud"(TM).

    /awesome-obvious-astronomy-joke

    I hope their business succeeds.

  • On the post: Bill Maher Comes Out In Support Of SOPA/PIPA Despite Knowing Nothing About The Bills

    xenomancer ( profile ), 23 Jan, 2012 @ 07:50pm

    Three Minutes and Twenty Seven Seconds

    Bill Maher, fountain of comedic genius and master of independent insight, can't wrap his head around how people might not like his sojourn through the depths of how highly he thinks of himself? I find it amazing he still has a show, let alone guests willing to step onto the same stage.

    Here Bill, new rule for this week: Read about a topic before unleashing uninformed buffoonery. If the world didn't trust that you were that funny (see your show for reference on not funny) and chose not to purchase your finely dulled wit on a shit-shingle or DRM infested digital recording, perhaps you should appreciate that you have some work to do, deeply reflecting on how insulting you are to your audience.

    It just boggles my mind that this guy is as entitled, conceited, and selfish as he is, and still manages to wake up all by himself in the morning. What, does he think people are watching his comedy over and over again, laughing themselves to tears, and patting themselves on the back for not paying for his monumental bitch-fest? What a useless tool. I felt sorry for those unfortunate, but informed, guests on his show.

    I suppose Bill Maher just expects to get my attention, dollars, and respect for free too. What a freetard!!!

    /rant

  • On the post: TSA Critic, Senator Rand Paul, Prevented By TSA From Getting On His Flight To DC

    xenomancer ( profile ), 23 Jan, 2012 @ 01:53pm

    Du-uh

    Obviously he was a could-be-a-terrorist and therefore deserved the crotch penalty. That, or they were just trying to pleasure a politician into seeing things their way and Senator Paul refused before they could get their hands on his representative.

    /obv-sarc

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