OStatus: like Twitter, but open – Ooh. I’m actually quite excited about this. The HN thread has some good points about WordPress integration as well. If OStatus can get itself hooked in closely to the WordPress ecosystem, it could actually have enough people using it — non-geek people, that is — to be worthwhile. Proofreading font – Did you know there is a special font for proofreading OCR’d texts? This one was developed by Project Gutenberg. “It’s designed to constantly throw you OUT of the Continue reading → Yarn Bombing & Its Discontents – Why do we respond so differently to paint on walls and wool on trees? I think this is the most thoughtful piece I’ve read about yarn bombing so far. Big data is our generation’s civil rights issue, and we don’t know it – They can guess your race or gender based on your taste in music, then use it to set your credit limit or your insurance premiums. This could be a problem. » The Amazons of Edwardian London: Continue reading → Cities and Citizenship: Anti-Graffiti, Part 1: Aesthetics – An interesting take on the aesthetics of the anti-graffiti movement, and how it often co-opts graffiti to its own ends. Lots of interesting example pics from Sydney. Revising The Revisionists – Excellent article about the 1898 armed coup and massacre of black residents of Wilmington, North Carolina. Reminds me of the book “Lies My Teacher Told Me”, and of course Australia’s own “history wars”. The Strongest Woman In America Lives In Poverty – This top weightlifter, on Continue reading → Printfection – Looks like I’ve got a new favourite t-shirt supplier: Printfection has organic cotton Ts in fitted (“women’s”) sizes up to 54″ in 13 different colours, and at $19.99 each which isn’t too bad. They do zazzle/cafepress style fulfilment, though it looks like they’re aiming more for a pro market than a hobbyist one. Fine by me! I think I’m about to start selling t-shirts! (I’ve been putting it off for years because I couldn’t find tshirt stock I wanted to wear.) Joshua Ellis Continue reading → How Headphones Changed the World – “A short philosophical history of personal music”, at The Atlantic Amanda Palmer And Steve Albini On ‘Piracy’: It Only Helps Musicians – Surprise! (NB: not actually surprising) Steve Albini “rejects the term piracy” and thinks sharing music for free helps musicians, especially those who tour and play lots of live gigs. BTW, if you’ve never read Steve’s rant about where money goes when you sign with a major label (linked from this article) then you definitely should. A respose Continue reading → Plan a Trip Through History With ORBIS, a Google Maps for Ancient Rome – How come it took three weeks for me to hear about this mapping hack to help you understand travel routes and expenses in Ancient Rome? Maps, history, digital humanities — what’s not to love? I only wish this existed for other time periods. Imagine how useful it would be for people writing historical fiction! Criminal Creativity: Untangling Cover Song Licensing on YouTube – A few interesting things here, including the little-known Continue reading → Ravelry API – Wait, what? How did I miss this. Ravelry has an API now, and they’ve been using it internally since Feb 2012, so it isn’t just an unloved add-on. (You probably can’t follow the link, which is to the Rav API forum, unless you’re a member. But anyone who might be interested in this probably is already, so…) Our real first gay president – Newsweek says Obama’s the US’s “first gay president”, ignoring James Buchanan, who was openly gay in the 19th century. Continue reading →