ENTROPY: NOW IN GLORIOUS 3D

I get press releases.

Sometimes they contain photos.

And sometimes they look like this.



It’s a computerized astrophysics simulation of the core of a supernova from the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory using a technique called software-based parallel volume rendering, which is used to make sense of the billions of tiny points of data collected from an X-ray, MRI, or a researcher’s simulation.

This astrophysics simulation seeks to discover the mechanism behind core-collapse supernovae, or the violent death of short-lived, massive stars. The image shows entropy values in the core of the supernova, different colors and transparencies assigned to different values of entropy. By selectively adjusting the color and transparency, the scientist can peel away outer layers and see values in the interior of the 3-D volume.

Are you getting all of this?

Champagne supernova,

This is dF

HOME TAPING IS KILLING MUSIC, PART 22,704

ITEM: MPAA/RIAA lawyer Steven Metalitz says that the movie and music industry opposes any exemption in the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) that would allow users to legally strip DRM from content if the online store goes dark and takes down its authentication servers.

Here’s what that means: if the online music service you downloaded music from legally goes out of business and shuts down the DRM servers that authorize you to listen to the music you paid for, you will no longer be able to listen to the music you paid for unless you get some software to strip out the DRM – which is illegal under the DMCA.

And the MPAA/RIAA want to keep it that way, says Metalitz:

"We reject the view that copyright owners and their licensees are required to provide consumers with perpetual access to creative works. No other product or service providers are held to such lofty standards. No one expects computers or other electronics devices to work properly in perpetuity, and there is no reason that any particular mode of distributing copyrighted works should be required to do so."

In other words: yr TV won’t last forever. Why should yr music/video collection?

Of course, in a way, we already have music collection expiration in the form of format changes. Which reminds me of this slightly annoying Nancy strip:



The difference, of course, is that yr vinyl albums don’t stop working if the store you bought them from goes out of business.

See what they did there?

Obsolete,

This is dF