Tag: xkcd
Comic Links: Something Positive, xkcd
by Nojh on Mar.12, 2012, under Comic Suggestions, Comics, Culture, Entertainment
Something Positive: 2012-02-03: Dumb Ideas
I don’t think I’ve ever managed to get an entire cat’s head in my mouth… they usually run away before I do that, unless I’ve eaten tuna. Why are you looking at me like that?
Something Positive: 2012-02-15: Seasonal Spirit
Does this service exist? It needs to. I have so many friends who would love to get this!
xkcd #1022: So It Has Come To This
I am so doing this from now on.
Questionable Content: #2135: They Also Serve Drinks
I am so loving Hannelore now. She is my favorite. More so than Faye.
SOPA and PIPA – Combating Piracy Stupidly
by Nojh on Jan.18, 2012, under Articles, Blog, Comics, Computers, Culture, Gaming, Internet, News, Opinions, Politics, Video Games
For those of you who have been paying attention, there is a list of useful links below. For those of you who haven’t, stay awhile and listen.
Actions being taken by the United State government will begin to fundamentally change the internet. Please read or watch the following to understand what is happening and if you want to take action about it.
[spoiler show="For those of you who would like my words on the subject. Click here."]The United States created the Internet. Despite fancy names like “World Wide Web” and “Global Communication System” and “Series of Tubes”, the internet is not managed by the world. It is managed by corporations on the united states and is subject, for the most part, to US Law. Even more so these days since a majority of the people connect to the internet via their local telecommunication company (phone, cable, satellite, etc).
That being said the internet has been pretty untamed for the last few years. Anybody could put or post up anything. Your information was only as secure as how well your protected it. It was effectively the digital wild west. Now, however, the internet is in so many homes, has become the focus of so much economic use (online shopping, movie and song streaming, video games, marketing) that this can’t last. Just like the trains that brought big business to the west, killing off the last place where your only real protection was the gun at your side, progress is going to try to tame the internet for the good of all, to the detriment of the few.
This is more or less inevitable. The new internet that will come into place will be highly regulated and likely more forcefully controlled by the big economic interests that want to use it to provide services to the world for money. When they do, innovation will become exceptionally difficult. Websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and the like, will still exist, but their successors likely won’t appear. Blogs, chat rooms, social networks, bulletin boards/forums system, may or may not survive in this new internet. Words like “National Defense”, ”Anti-Piracy”, “Copyright”, and others will be used to tightly regulate any site that tries to provide the public with ability to communicate and share.
Effectively the basis for the internet as we know it, sharing and communicating, will come to an end at the hands of capitalism and censorship.
The first steps for this have already begun. The United States government has two acts currently being discussed. The PROTECT IP act (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Both have been getting a lot of news. As of right now, both look to be dying heavily under media massive campaigns set forth by various websites and organizations, despite the money being thrown at it by media and telecom corporations. The best example is today, February 18th, 2012, where websites all over the internet are “Blacking out” or putting up protest notices. You can read up more about what these acts do in the links below, but to summarize the acts allow and empower the US government to try to block or remove internet services (primarily websites) that infringe on copyright, without significant due process.
Now I am not a proponent of piracy. I make a living off of software development and I hope to some day make a living as an author. These are both areas that have notably high piracy rates, which concerns me. I would like to be compensated for my effort and work but I also feel that censoring the internet is not the answer. So for now, I protest.[/spoiler]
[spoiler show="For those of you who like videos. Click Here."]
[/spoiler]
Information:
- DemandProgress.org
- Wikipedia: SOPA
- Wikipedia: PIPA
- Blog.Reddit: A technical examination of SOPA and PROTECT IP
- TerribleMinds: Why SOPA and PIPA and other anti-piracy bullshit measures matter to writers
- TEDTalks: Defend our freedom to share (or why SOPA is a bad idea)
Protesting Websites:
- (Wil Wheaton) WWdN: In Exile: Today the US Senate is considering legislation that would destroy the free and open Internet
- (The Bloggess) The Bloggess: Me and Vader, fighting together. Weird.
- Reddit.com
- Mozilla.com
- Wikipedia.org
- Google.com (Protest Page)
- Vimeo.com
- Failblog.org
- Fark.com
- PATV: Season 3, Ep. 24a - Stand Together: The Gaming Community vs SOPA and PIPA
- SurvivingTheWorld.Net
- DresdenCodak
- DinosaurComics
- QuestionableContent
- Girls With Slingshots
- Abstruse Goose
- Kawaii Not
- Something Positive
- Dominic Deegan
- MegaTokyo
- XKCD
And many, many more, including you, hopefully.
Comic Links: Steve Jobs
by Nojh on Oct.06, 2011, under Articles, Comic Links, Comics, Computers, Entertainment, News, Technology
If you weren’t aware, Steve Jobs died last night. What I find rather heartening is that the majority of articles written about the subject are focused on his life and the contributions he gave to all of us. Comics too, have been making their homages to the man. Here are a few early ones:
Scenes From a Multiverse: 2011-10-06: Catering by Taco Bell
Abstruse Goose: #402: Forbidden Fruit
Psuedofolio: Can you teach Creativity?
Tales From the Pit: 2011-10-06
I’m sure more will come. I’ll update this collection as I find them.
Comic Links: El Goonish Shive, xkcd, Something Positive
by Nojh on Sep.09, 2011, under Comic Links, Comics
El Goonish Shive: One Way Road: 2011-08-25
Been awhile since I’ve linked EGS. This comic was just rather funny on it’s own. Science vs girlfriend. What’s that popular hashtag? #geekworldproblems
It’s an honest mistake but still annoying.
Something Positive: 2001-09-01: Painful Admissions
That is so awesome. I hope I get to pull off something like that one of these days.
Questionable Content: #2009: Who’s Your Daddy
It really was the next logic leap in the conversation.
Comic Links: Extra Ordinary, xkcd, Penny Arcade
by Nojh on Jul.25, 2011, under Comic Links, Comics, Entertainment
Extra Ordinary: 2011-06-22: #185
Zoe would totally do this to me if I died I bet. Yup!
Whoa.
Penny Arcade: 2011-07-18-: Annservice Part 2
Rare is it that we get a funny Penny Arcade but perhaps this might just be my personal circumstances.
Something Positive: 2011-07-12: Guest Strip by Randy Milh- Oh, Wait.
Silly Davan. She can try multiple times if the watermelon is strapped down!
Mars Rover Spirit’s mission finally over
by Nojh on May.26, 2011, under Articles, Comics, Science, Technology
NASA lets go of Spirit [Bad Astronomy]
Jan. 3, 2004 – Mars Rover named Spirit lands on Mars. It has a 90 day mission to wander Mars and see what it can find. Three months later, Spirit was still rolling along, having completed its primary mission and starting to work on a little bit of over time, because why not?
A year later. Spirit is still roving. Two years. Four years.
On March 22, 2010, Spirit sent its last message to earth. NASA waited until yesterday, May 25th, 2011, to official confirm that there is no real chance Spirit will wake up and re-transmit. Spirit lasted six years and nine months longer than anybody ever thought it might, and it’s twin Opportunity, is still roaming.
Spirit also has an extra small achievement in that it was one of the first reasons I got a Twitter account.
NASA has announced that Spirit’s support assets, the Mars orbiters will be re-tasked for the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory Mission, which will include the new generation of Mars rover, Curiosity, which will likely be launching in November.
Bad Astronomy linked to an xkcd comic done about Spirit, and I will as well. It is an excellent comic, if a little sad, especially what we know now. Maybe someday, Spirit.
xkcd: Great advice
by Nojh on May.09, 2011, under Articles, Comic Links, Comics, Entertainment, Writing
It really is awesome advice. Avoiding radium. Oh and that stuff about being great. You shouldn’t follow in the steps of a person you admire, you should capture them, dissect them, and determine what makes you admire them and how to copy it in order to become admired yourself.
Think of it like writing a story. You don’t want to copy the stories you love, you want to write a story that is as awesome as the stories you love, perhaps pull off some of the same tricks, but never a word for word copy. So you have to analyze and figure out how the author wrote that book that way, then put write it in your own words.
Comic Links: Kawaii Not, XKCD, AoSG
by Nojh on Apr.21, 2011, under Comic Links, Comics, Entertainment
Kawaii Not: 2011-03-30: So Board
So True.
It does seem perhaps a bit too objective…
The Adventures of Superhero Girl: #26: 2011-04-08
The cat seems unimpressed as well.
Wasted Talent: #510: Lovely Day For Awkwardness
Actually haven’t read Wasted Talent’s archive but this comic caught my attention from Felicia Day’s twitter feed and it very much amused me.
Comic Links: xkcd, Something Positive, Marlowe, Joy of Tech
by Nojh on Apr.04, 2011, under Comic Links, Comics
I’m reminded of Lab Pet.
Something Positive: 2011-03-11: Out There
Sorry. There’s a law that says I have to post every comic that has the blue thing, AKA Fluffmodeus.
Marlowe The Monsters: I’ll Feed You Until You Love Me
Gotta love a female monster with a plan.
Like buttons really were an incredibly good idea.
Power of Words: Or maybe even grammar!
by Nojh on Mar.11, 2011, under Articles, Entertainment, The Power of Words, Writing
xkcd found a fun write-up in Wikipedia and decided to memorialize it on their blog. I’ll repeat it here for the same purpose.
Parentheses may also be nested (with one set (such as this) inside another set). This is not commonly used in formal writing [though sometimes other brackets (especially parentheses) will be used for one or more inner set of parentheses (in other words, secondary {or even tertiary} phrases can be found within the main sentence)].[citation needed]
I’ve posted this under the Power of Words series because the author commented how it brightened his day to read this. The paragraph certainly made me smile. That is one of the powers of words.
