Faking an Online Identity is a Crime?

From the ReadWriteWeb comes this story:

Being "Fake" Is Now A Crime

"A precedent-setting case, the Lori Drew MySpace trial, has just come to an end. If you're unfamiliar, this was a case where an overprotective mom established a fake online identity to bully her daughter's rival. The judge's ruling has now criminalized the act of creating a fake persona online. In the case of Drew, most would agree she deserves the punishment she received. However, the aftershocks of the ruling could very well impact the online identity creation process for years to come if it's not overturned." more>>

Would be nice to say "Only in America" but its increasingly becoming a borderless world ...

Merry Christmas !

So here probably the only Merry Christmas mesage you will get from me:

Lawrence Lessig in Auckland

An excellent writeup on publicaddress.net by Matthew Poole.

Standard and Poor's stock index's annual returns

This is a graphic of the Standard and Poor's stock index's annual returns, placing every year since 1825 in a column of returns from -50% to +60%. As you can see, it is a rough bell curve, with 45 of those 185 years falling in the +0-10% column. There are only 5 years each in the 40-50% and 50-60% return columns, and, through 2007, there were only one year each in the -31-40% and -41-50% columns. You can see where 2008 to date falls.

I love the way statistics can mean so much more when presented in different ways. This kinda supports the arguments that the fall is the market correcting itself ...

Source

(UPDATED: From DailyKos, via Greg Mankiw.)

Disney World Promo Video

Disney's running an ingenious web-promo; you enter the name of a loved one and they automatically edit a fake video news story about Walt Disney World being given over to that person. Try it its fun! You can send the link to friends apparently, but it was broken (or overloaded) when I tried!

(Thanks Cory Doctorow on Boing Boing for the heads up about this one)

The 100 top Web apps for 2008

These are the 100 best Web 2.0 applications, chosen by Webware readers and Internet users across the globe. Over 1.9 million votes were cast to select these Webware 100 winners.

Breath taking library buldings

Take a look at these breathtaking designs for libraries ...

I might show them to our architect and see if its too late to changes the plans for Levin ...