freedom downtime

this is genehack, over...
In a couple of hours, I'll be on a plane bound for the Left Coast, so things are going to be a bit dead 'round here until sometime next week. Play nice while I'm gone, and the last one out should shut off the lights.

no, it's real
It looks like somebody went nuts with a marbling filter in the Gimp, but it's real: Io transiting Jupiter, via Cassini. When I get back, I think the big version is going to be the basis for my new desktop background...

ORA knows bioinformatics
O'Reilly has a book on bioinformatics coming out this month, and the author has a short piece talking about what bioinformatics is. Once again, if anybody at ORA wants to send me a nice review copy, I'd love to have one. 8^)=
Link via snowdeal {bio,medical}informatics

i (heart) my tivo
John Dvorak's slow slide into senile dementia has apparently accelerated. The evidence? His recent Forbes article about personal video recorders -- TiVos, ReplayTVs, etc. He thinks they're hard to use (they aren't), don't work (they do, as I'll happily attest) and aren't worth the monthly service fees (they are; additionally, you can pay a one-time fee for lifetime service, or operate the units without the information provided by the service).

Additionally, as evidence of how far we've slid in terms of fair use, copyright, and "intellectual property management" in the US, consider his argument about how these devices let you "steal programming". Dvorak seems unfamiliar with the Betamax case, which established the rights of consumers to "time-shift" programming. It's not theft, Mr. Dvorak, it's just that we don't feel compelled to take the cruft the broadcast networks distribute along with their content. While there was a case that said it's okay for consumers to time-shift, I don't recall a case where the courts held that companies had any protection from technological advances that could potentially undermine their business models.

...and out.
Okay, that's all for me -- time to go get packed! Have a good weekend, and I'll catch you on the flipside.