Archive for August, 2008
A while ago I did a blog post asking < href="http://www.dotcult.com/where-are-the-fail-pictures-coming-from">where are all the fail pictures coming from?. 8 months later I still didn’t find what I was looking for in a fail pictures site. Luckily, I had the foresight to register the domain failpictures.com. The next step came natural, do what I always do when I can’t find a site that does what I want: I created one.
Over the last month or so I’ve spent a few minutes every day actually creating what I wanted in a fail pictures site, and today I’m proud to announce the beta launch of
Fail Pictures – a site dedicated to hosting, displaying, and rating fail pictures.
I’ve tried to populate it with as many of my favorites as possible, and I’ve asked a few people to upload images before launch.
It’s not just a site for browsing images though, as I hope I can turn it into a place for serving them as well. Every image is embeddable via simple HTML, and it even has a javascript fail pictures widget that will show a random image every time. It’s resizeable too! Check it out:
When I was scouring the web I noticed that many sites out there re-branded the images with their domain name on them. I don’t think it’s right to put my brand name on something that I didn’t create, so all of the pictures shown on failpictures.com will be URL free – they won’t have mine, or anybody else’s on them. If I didn’t create the image, I shouldn’t be able to tell you what to do with it, so please go ahead and download or re-use any pictures you want to.
I know this could cause some copyright trouble, as it’s almost impossible to police any user submitted content. If you see an image up there that’s yours (and you can make a good case that it is) just let me know and I’ll gladly remove it for you.
So go on over and check out fail pictures. Please rate the pictures and upload some of your own. Also, let me know of any features you’d like to see on the site. I’m working on a couple more widgets right now as well as the ability to create your own images and captions but I couldn’t wait to get the site out there.
Enjoy.
August 7th, 2008
Blatant stealing and copying of information is something we all have to live with in the internet age. Sadly, many people just aren’t aware of copyright or intellectual property laws; they think that since something was on the internet they can freely use it.
Because of this thinking, it’s sometimes necessary to put “traps” into many web applications. You’ll notice that Google Maps uses something called trap streets to catch other map applications that are copying from them. Basically, a trap street is a street that exists on the map but doesn’t exist in real life. This way, Google can see if somebody just copied their information.
Print dictionaries have words misspelled on purpose, and online dictionaries have “trap words.”
On NoSlang.com – my internet slang dictionary I have several trap words as well, and it’s quite fun to find people just outright copying my dictionary.
Anyway, I came across this site that stole a pretty large list of my words. They even included my favorite trap word: http://littlemagonline.com/tag/postmemory/ istwfn which they define as “I stole this word from noslang.com.”
here’s a screenshot:
This is a pretty common occurrence since I don’t believe in making my dictionary any less accessible (if you’re looking something up it should be easy to copy and paste, right?)
What irks me is that today’s word thief didn’t just steal from me, they credited my word list to Netlingo.com at the top of the page. Now, I know netlingo.com’s admin and she doesn’t steal from me (as I don’t steal from her.) We each run our own separate databases. If we have some of the same words it’s most likely because somebody submitted it to both places.
“istwfn” doesn’t exist in netlingo, so they clearly copied this list from noslang.com. So why does netlingo get the credit?
As a copyright thief, SACS consulting fails. As a consulting company, I can only imagine what good advice you’d get from them if they’ve stolen most of their web page content.
Yes, I could have sent them a COD letter (and I will,) but I think it’s more fun to point out their failure here. Don’t you?
August 5th, 2008
Bruce Schneier reports about another stolen laptop containing the information of 33,000 people enrolled in the Clear program. For those unfamiliar, the “Clear Program” is simply a $100 fee to avoid airport security.
Schneier is correct that nothing at the airport is actual security, but there’s a deeper question:
WHY THE FUCK IS EVERYBODY’S INFO LYING AROUND ON LAPTOPS?
There’s simply no need whatsoever for any of my information to be on anybody’s laptop. There’s no reason that law enforcement, government, retail executives, TSA, or any other employees need to take my information home with them at night. It doesn’t need to be on a laptop at all.
What if they need to access it at home you say? That’s what vpn taiwan service is for. My work computer is over 3,000 miles away from me and I still log in daily to access files – files that never leave my office. It’s not an issue.
I usually hate any type of common sense legislation, but I think it’s time we make a new law prohibiting credit card and social security numbers from being stored on portable devices. Not a day goes by where I don’t read about a laptop being stolen containing credit card numbers, social security numbers, or other personal information.
It’s ridiculous how often these laptops full of data are stolen and it’s not hard to avoid: Don’t store it on laptops, thumb drives, portable hard drives, cell phones, or ipods. There’s no reason to.
August 5th, 2008
While sitting at Friday’s for dinner a few days ago, Adam, Chad, and I noticed a news program about a proposed ban on text messaging while walking. Now, I understand the dangers of texting and driving and I usually yell at other motorists who do so. But walking?
It turns out it’s just another omg reaction law. Some kid was hit by a train while texting. So do we really need a law? How about a better law: Don’t walk into a train. It seems the kid was just an idiot. We can’t legislate stupidity – no matter how hard we try.
August 1st, 2008
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