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A big list of links today that I’ve been meaning to post for a while now. Lets start with the serious links before lightening the tone for some funny posts to end on. These first links are just scary.

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Propagandists – a not-so-nice look at what some of the candidates for the American presidency have been at and how you can see through the smoke and mirrors.
• A health care system to die for – look at how bad Ireland does – we’re third last, not far behind the US!

These next two stories are funny at first but get scary when you stop and think about them a bit.

• No Fly List Protects Airplane From 5-Year Old Security Risk
• Are You A Hacker? Want To Crash The 787 You’re Flying On?

Speaking of funny yet a little scary:

• Why It Won’t Work – Commentary on Sony’s new DRM free music venture.

I’m not sure this counts are scary but it sure makes me angry:

• Network Solutions – Squat for the Win – some pretty dodgy dealing by a large internet company

OK, enough scary stuff, here are some interesting (nerdy) links:

• Seam Carving for Content-Aware Image Resizing – this is really smart and really cool!
• The Enduring Art of Computer Programming
• HOWTO: iPhone Webclip Icons
• Add more power to 10.5′s screen sharing – get more out of Leopard

And finally, a funny note to end on:

• If you have ever been iScrewed
• You snooze, you lose

While making my way through my RSS feeds this lunch time I came across a very well written but very disturbing article entitled Rigged by George Monbiot. It basically makes a mockery of the current attempts by governments to deal with climate change. On the one hand they talk about the need to cut carbon and tell us all to cut down and be more efficient but on the other hand they offer massive tax incentives to companies to encourage them to extract more fossil fuels. It doesn’t take a genius to realise that all fossil fuels that are extracted will be burned, hence the governments talk about reducing carbon but actually incentivise its increase! What really makes this article so damming is that the author backs up all his points with references. The way this article is referenced it could be published in an academic journal. Anyhow, as Fake Steve Jobs would put it, here’s the money quote:

The government’s climate change policy works like this: extract every last drop of fossil fuel then pray to God that no one uses it.

Technorati Tags: Climate Change, Fossil Fuels

According to this article on Boing Boing the MPAA were hit with a DMCA take-down notice for copyright infringement. I have to say I actually laughed out loud when I heard this first. Then I stopped and thought about it and am just disgusted at their hypocrisy. They spend all their time up on their high horse as defenders of the rights of artists and here they are, violating the rights of a different breed of artist, programmers. I for one can not believe the MPAA are actually genuine about their desires to protect those poor artists copyright when they shit upon the copyright of others from a height. The MPAA is about money, not the defense of the rights of copyright holders and here we have yet more proof of that. Down off your high horse already!

How Leopard Will Improve Your Security - a great article explaining the security enhancements brought by Leopard in plain English.

There are a lot of articles on the net. Only a subset of those actually obey the rules of grammar, of those, an even smaller subset are actually well written, and of those, an even a smaller subset could be described as ‘riveting’. Today I had the pleasure of reading one of these rare articles. Be warned though, it’s long, but IMO well worth the effort to read. That article is ‘The Pedal-to-the-Metal, Totally Illegal, Cross-Country Sprint for Glory‘ and is about the Cannon Ball Run.

I was searching for a tutorial on setting up custom global exception handlers in Struts 1 when I came across this fantastic article. If you develop with Struts 1 or are thinking of starting development with Struts 1 you really should read this – Jakarta Struts: Seven Lessons from the Trenches

Technorati Tags: Java, Apache, Struts

People didn’t seen averse to my posting links to interesting articles I’d recently read so here’s another batch to tickle your fancy. These range from serious and thought-provoking to playful and humorous.

• We’ll start with a thought-provoking article about Linux. This is one that some of you are bound to disagree with but I think Walt Mossberg is right, Linux is getting better but it’s not yet ready for novice users – Linux’s Free System Is Now Easier to Use, But Not for Everyone
• While we’re on the topic of technology I came across a fantastic essay by one of my hero’s Stephen Fry on smart phones. I had no idea Stephen was such a technophile! This is a very long but a very well written, thoughtful, and humorous look at why none of the supposed iPhone killers actually are iPhone killers – Device and Desires
• Before we more on to other matters here’s one more technology article. One I find rather humorous. According to Steven Frank from Panic Software Macs make better Windows machines than regular PCs! – Macs Really Do Run Windows Better
• Now on to a totally different subject, light pollution. I came across a fantastic article about it in the New Yourker this week. That article is long, but very well written and touches off all the issues including energy savings, the ways in which much modern ‘security’ lighting actually helps the criminals and of course the wonders of the night sky which we are depriving our selves of needlessly – The Dark Side
• Finally, some light entertainment in the form of a fantastic parody of the last Harry Potter book – Potterdammerung

A lot of other bloggers do posts where they just list interesting articles they’ve read. It’s not something I’ve really considered before. However, I’ve recently started coming across some excellent articles that I think are worth sharing. So, I’m gonna give it a go. Consider this a trial. If you’re a regular reader let me know whether or not you’d be interested in reading more posts like this one by leaving a comment.

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