Today I ran across a post on the excellent Language Hat blog which laments the fact that the term “manicule”, meaning a bullet-like symbol shaped like a pointing hand used to direct the readers attention, has disappeared from contemporary dictionaries. The word was a new one on me, and had immediate appeal. I’m not the only one that likes it: it has its own WikiPedia entry and even a Flickr group.

From now on I’m referring to the pointer cursor as the “manicule”, and I encourage all right-thinking CSS users to do the same.

[CC Photo by Mykl Roventine]

Qila and baby Tiqa

We made a trip to the Vancouver Aquarium this morning, and found out that the five month old beluga calf has been named Tiqa since the last time we saw her. She’s a cute little grey torpedo with a big beluga smile.

[code lang="perl"]
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use Getopt::Long;

my $encode_mp3 = 1;
my $encode_wav = 1;
GetOptions('mp3!' => \$encode_mp3,
	   'wav!' => \$encode_wav);

my $WGET = '/usr/bin/wget';
my $MPLAYER = '/usr/bin/mplayer -nojoystick -nolirc';
my $LAME = '/usr/bin/lame';
my $TMP = '/tmp';

my $ramurl = shift;
my @ram = `$WGET -q -O - $ramurl`;
my ($rtspurl) = grep(/^rtsp:/, @ram);
$rtspurl =~ s/\&.*$//;
$rtspurl =~ /\/([^\/]*)\.r[ma]/ or die("Can't parse rtsp URL: \"$rtspurl\"");
my $filebase = $1;
print("Opening stream at " . localtime() . "\n");
system("$MPLAYER -dumpstream -dumpfile $TMP/$filebase.dump $rtspurl");
my $wavfile = $TMP;
$wavfile = '.' unless $encode_mp3 && !$encode_wav;
$wavfile .= "/$filebase.wav";
system("$MPLAYER -ao pcm:file=$wavfile $TMP/$filebase.dump");
unlink("$TMP/$filebase.dump");
if ($encode_mp3)
{
    system("$LAME $wavfile $filebase.mp3");# or die("Couldn't convert to mp3");
}
unlink("$wavfile") unless $encode_wav;
[/code]

Pass the script the RAM URL as a command line parameter, and if all goes well it should dump the stream to a WAV, then convert it into an MP3 file. You’ll need mplayer and lame installed.

(And if all else fails, the CD should be released in a few months…)

On our quick trip to San Francisco, we discovered they weren’t exaggerating about the fog – or the steep hills.  Coming from North Vancouver, it was pretty easy to adjust though.

[Via]

[Via]

I’m particularly concerned with the Technological Measures provisions, similar to but with fewer and less encompassing restrictions to their application than the US law. The consequences of this section of the bill mean no more modding your XBox, jailbreaking your iPhone, refilling your printer’s ink cartridge or otherwise asserting control over hardware that you bought and paid for. The TM provisions also provide a convenient way for “rights holders” to remove the legal right to copy or convert media for personal use that unlocked media has.

Minister Prentice was kind enough to spam me with his own spin on the bill:

The Government of Canada has introduced Bill C-61, An Act to Amend the Copyright Act. The proposed legislation is a made-in-Canada approach that balances the needs of Canadian consumers and copyright owners, promoting culture, innovation and competition in the digital age.

What does Bill C-61 mean to Canadians?

Specifically, it includes measures that would:

• expressly allow you to record TV shows for later viewing; copy legally purchased music onto other devices, such as MP3 players or cell phones; make back-up copies of legally purchased books, newspapers, videocassettes and photographs onto devices you own; and limit the “statutory damages” a court could award for all private use copyright infringements

Of course, this doesn’t apply to copying legally purchased DVDs to other devices such as iPods, as that would contravene the anti-circumvention provisions…

• implement new rights and protections for copyright holders, tailored to the Internet, to encourage participation in the online economy, as well as stronger legal remedies to address Internet piracy;

I’m sure all of the artists that protested the possible provisions in the bill prior to its introduction will be reassured by this one…

• clarify the roles and responsibilities of Internet Service Providers related to the copyright content flowing over their network facilities; and

I’m not clear on the details of this, but it had better not mean that ISPs are now supposed to act as copyright police.

• provide photographers with the same rights as other creators.

What Bill C-61 does not do:

• it would not empower border agents to seize your iPod or laptop at border crossings, contrary to recent public speculation

But can they still invade your privacy by inspecting your device’s contents for possible infringing media?

What this Bill is not:

• it is not a mirror image of U.S. copyright laws. Our Bill is made-in-Canada with different exceptions for educators, consumers and others and brings us into line with more than 60 countries including Japan, France, Germany and Australia

I suppose this is true. I just wish it had brought us “into line” with the less restrictive countries that have more respect for their citizens instead.

I’m certainly no expert on this subject, so if you’re interested please check out the estimable Michael Geist’s explanation of some of the bill’s key points.

It has me thinking. How am I going to explain text adventure games to the youngling, who will grow up never having known a time before pointy-clicky “user interfaces”? “You mean you just… type?”

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