Free Tetris iPhone App, Tris Will Be Removed Soon: so that’s what has happened to it. I honestly can’t see how a claim of copyright would prevent the creation of a Tetris clone, and it’s a poor reflection on the law that the author felt compelled to withdraw it because he cannot afford to defend himself in court.
I saw the The Phantom of the Opera at the Lyric Theatre today, the last day it is running in Sydney! Needless to say, it was a splentacular performance and a most enjoyable use of an afternoon 
“Should I care? Should I care?”
If the question is about the Sydney Law Revue 2008, the answer is no. (The quote is from the “Holding out for a US Hero” skit, the closing skit.)
Last year, I wrote about the half-executed jokes that had the potential to be so much funnier. I wish I could make a similar comment this year. This time round, the directors somehow found it convenient to expend entirely with the punchlines in jokes. Instead, it was replaced with flat, meaningless drivel so that when it got to the closing, I was pretty much clapping out of politeness instead of sincere appreciation.
The occasional joke made in bad taste is to be expected in a revue; in fact, you could say it defines a revue. Normally, I’d have a good laugh at them. But given that the rest of the revue was so flat, when the (bad) jokes came around, the audience just didn’t buy them. We even had a heckler in the audience - and I pretty much agreed with everything he had to shout out. At one stage, one of the backstage members stuffed up with the mop between skits; that was almost one of the funniest moments (!).
China, with its astronomical growth and the Beijing Olympics just past, was an obvious topical subject. They didn’t fail to deliver on that count, but the jokes were so poorly delivered that they might have been mistaken for blatant racism.
To regain the confidence of its audience, the Law Revue in future years needs to create a coherent presentation that carries some kind of energy throughout the performance. A little bit of introspection might help; I’m sure if the directors actually sat down and listened to some of their own jokes, they might agree that they weren’t quite so funny after all. There was no doubt some great talent on stage; whether this talent was used most effectively is another question.
Rees’s red-hot razor: I was right. Mr Premier says that he’s “pulling back” from the metro, and he’s unwilling to commit to the project. But should NSW go ahead anyway? Are the long-term benefits worth the large debts that the state will rack up?
Floundering in a sea of change: I still consider the New York Times to be the pinnacle of journalism, but is it floundering because of the collapse of the old guard, and “the cost structures and privileges of the old media are being swept away”?
So we have a new Premier. But Joe I’m-very-popular Tripodi and Eric Let’s-build-some-more-roads Roozendaal are still there. And I’m very confident the new Premier is just going to pull $10 billion out of his rear end to build the metro now that the power sell-off has fizzled. Sigh. Update: Miraculously, they’re now Finance Minister and Treasurer respectively. According to Wikipedia, our esteemed Treasurer started his Commerce degree but never managed to finish it. And now he’s in charge of a $47.6bn budget?
Wikimedia: maturing and professionalising
Wikimedia pegs future on education, not profit (24 August 2008, San Francisco Chronicle)
Sue Gardner, Wikimedia’s executive director, expresses surprise at the misunderstandings that people have about Wikimedia. As a charity, Wikimedia is not seeking to profit from the billions of dollars that some say could be earned from placing advertisements on its projects’ websites. Recently, Wikimedia moved its headquarters to San Francisco, and the move, Gardner says, was because of the area’s “tech talent”; the organisation’s core staff has now increased to 21. Jimmy Wales credits Gardner with professionalising Wikimedia, instituting competent and sound management. Gardner’s goals for the future include increasing participation, improving quality and making Wikipedia available in a variety of formats. On the other hand, Ed Chi, the creator of WikiDashboard, says that there has been a decline in interest in editing that does not bode well for the community.
US Vice-Presidential candidates with groomed articles
McCain camp touts Biden praise ahead of speech (27 August 2008, TheHill.com)
Bloggers have noticed changes to Joseph Biden’s Wikipedia article as news of his Vice-Presidential nomination was leaking out. For instance, bloggers say that the section about his involvement in the 2004 presidential campaign was deleted. Also, details of Biden’s undergraduate studies and allegations of plagiarism were said to have disappeared from his Wikipedia biography. The article raises the question of whether Barrack Obama’s campaign or the Democratic National Committee changed the article, given the timing of the edits.
Don’t Like Palin’s Wikipedia Story? Change It (31 August 2008, The New York Times)
A Wikipedia user called YoungTrigg made a number of edits to Sarah Palin’s article before the announcement of her nomination as the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate; the username is a reference to her infant son Trig. The edits, which added compelling stories about her upbringing and positive comments about her political career, were in fact rewarded with a Barnstar, and the editor made contact with other Wikipedia editors. In particular, YoungTrigg asked an anonymous editor where he or she had heard about Palin being McCain’s choice, possibly because, as the article suggests, YoungTrigg had an interest in whether the news had leaked already. However, later, another user came along to tone down the additions that seem biased. Ultimately, YoungTrigg, who denied relation to the Palin family, has now retired from Wikipedia.
Other mentions
Other recent mentions in the online press include:
- An interview with Wikipedia founder (and Crimson Tide fan) Jimmy Wales (ESPN The Magazine)
Jimmy Wales is quizzed on Wikipedia… and football. - Veoh Safe Harbor ruling could help YouTube in Viacom battle (28 August 2008, Ars Technica)
A judge uses Wikipedia to understand some of the technology in the case decided between Veoh and Io that has importance in relation to the DCMA “safe harbour” provisions. - Wikipedia vandals target West Australian politicians (29 August 2008, news.com.au)
As the Western Australia state election draws closer, politicians’ articles are being vandalised, although some of the vandalism was reverted within minutes. - Asylum-Seeker Rejected Based On Wikipedia, Appeals Court Reverts (2 September 2008, Wired.com blogs)
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a ruling by the Board of Immigration Appeals that had found that a particular Ethiopian travel document was insufficient to prove someone’s identity, a finding based on information gleaned from Wikipedia. - Just How Powerful Is Wikipedia? (SitePoint Blogs)
Entries on Wikipedia play a strong role in forming public perception, because Wikipedia articles appear very frequently on the first page of results when using search engines. - Arabic content in Wikipedia very weak, users to blame (1 September 2008, Daily News Egypt)
Users in Egypt gathered for the fourth regional Wikipedia Day, and the event resulted in a substantial increase in the number of Arabic-language articles, despite the Cairo venue reporting low attendance numbers. - The pros and cons of Wikipedia (3 September 2008, JG-TC.com)
University educators believe that part of their role is to ensure students develop critical thinking skills, and Wikipedia is good as a place to begin understanding a topic.
From the Wikipedia Signpost.
Tags: dcma, jimmy wales, joseph biden, politicians, sarah palin, search engine, wikimedia foundation, wikipedia signpost
I came, I saw and I was appalled. Bill Gates’ butt shaking hardly provided much of a Vista. Watch the new Windows ad for yourself.
Aiyor! Enoch discovers Kenny Sia and has a renewed appreciation for Malaysians now lah.
The Planet 3 services can be accessed on your 3 phone by pressing the button on the home screen, which launches the phone’s default browser.
But what if you want to use Planet 3 using Opera Mini?
The short answer is, you can’t. The author of this post thinks that it’s due to the server restricting access to the built-in browsers, but I don’t think this is the correct reason.
Opera Mini, according to Wikipedia, uses a proxy server hosted by Opera that renders the page in a special compressed format. Now, it should be axiomatic that Planet 3 is not accessible outside the 3 network, and the proxy servers are definitely located outside the network. Q.E.D.
Tags: 3, browser, internet, opera mini
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