Why blame Google?

I read an article on the BBC site recently about Google limiting free news access to sites where you normally have to pay for content. The idea is to limit users to a maximum of 5 free articles per site for sites that participate in the First Click Free programme. After that, users will be redirected to register or pay. Apparently, Google is doing this because the newspaper industry is concerned that Google is benefiting unfairly from newspaper content. How so?

Some readers have discovered they can avoid paying subscription fees to newspaper websites by calling up their pages via Google. This is because Google searches frequently link directly to newspaper articles, bypassing some sites’ subscription systems.

So whose fault is it that users are able to access content for free that they shouldn’t be able to? Is it Google’s because they link directly to articles? Or is it the fault of the news sites for not getting their web developers to create their sites more securely? Have they heard about password control?

What’s your view?

Article

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ABBA and their love of martial arts

Did you know that ABBA sang a song about martial arts? Neither did I till I saw this.

[Link: Rathergood, via B3ta]

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Today’s insane WTF: Wookieepedia

I’m actually not going to give you much more forewarning than “what it says on the box”. Go check it out.

[Link: Wookieepedia]

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Awesome crowdsourced music video by Sour

It’s amazing what you can get your fans to do, innit? Must have taken a good deal of coordination from the director, but it’s still a cool vid nonetheless.

[Link via Neatorama]

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It had to happen: Dead Michael Jackson Jokes

I just wasn’t expecting to to happen so quickly. Still, despite the sadness of the affair, every famous death comes with a certain amount of humor, and some of these jokes, while tasteless, ARE funny. For example:

Michael Jackson is not going to be buried or cremated but recycled into shopping bags so he can remain white, plastic and dangerous for kids to play with.

Your best MJ jokes in the comments, please!

[Link: Dead Michael Jackson Jokes, thanks cligor!]

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Today’s WTF: Tips for staying safe online

According to the City of Boston website, these are the necessary precautions for staying safe online. WTF??

[Link: City of Boston.gov]

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Stand-up comedy by Twitter

So some comedians decided to try holding an online stand-up comedy night. The results? Well, you can read a transcript of the evening yourself.

[Link: Twitter Comedy]

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Total Eclipse of the Heart – The Literal Video

Hot on the heels (well, lukewarm) of A-ha’s Take on Me literal translation video comes this Total Eclipse of the Heart literal translation video. Personally, even without the literal translation this is one creepy as hell video. If anyone has any metaphorical translation for me, I’d like to hear it!

Incidentally, according to Tom Reynolds, the author of I Hate Myself and Want To Die (an utterly hilarious book about the 52 most depressing songs he knows), regarding Total Eclipse of the Heart:

The Welsh singer’s collaboration with Meat Loaf producer Jim Steinman still vanquishes all those who turn around to gaze into its bright eyes. Under Steinman’s direction, Tyler rasps her way through a million permutations of the phrase “every now and then, I get a little bit [insert neurosis here]” before losing it during the song’s demented chorus. Clocking in at over seven minutes, Total Eclipse is Wagner’s Ring Cycle without the funny hats; the equivalent of an opera company pelting you with copies of Anne Rice novels. You’re completely drained when it’s over and desperately in need of a shower to rinse off the raven droppings.

Yep. That’s pretty damned depressing right there.

Edit: I just found out that this video was shot in a Sanatarium, which might go a long way toward explaining things.

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Today’s fun game: Minim

I haven’t posted a game here in ages, because I think you should all be doing some work. But now it’s time to slack back, and get to grips with this little puzzler. Minim is a “get rid of everything on the screen” type of game that has you combining numbered atoms in a molecule. I’m SO glad they’re not colored as many of these games are, because typically, games that involve multicolored elements are not created by colorblind people, and therefore do not take the differently sighted into account. Minor gripe about most puzzle games, but anyhow, this isn’t one of them.

Back on topic, then. You play this game by clicking atoms with the same number. Combining two same-numbered atoms results in a single atom one order higher. For example, if you click two “2″ atoms, you end up with a single “3″ atom, and so forth. What you SHOULD end up with are two atoms of the same number that will disappear when clicked. If you didn’t understand my explanation, try the game. It’s easy to get the hang of, but oh so difficult to finish!

[Link: King.com - Minim]

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We cannot find any services that meet your request

I am trying to do something I thought was easy: find out which trains run from Ealing Broadway to Woking.

Being a simple person I am, easily swayed by big billboards outside stations, I used a new train line web site instead of tried and trusted ones (d@mn Transport for London, fooling me into thinking that transport in and around London is simple!)

After a brief wait with flashing, reassuring messages that they are trying to help me out with my query, the following search results display:

Er?

This reminds me of any House episode, where the symptoms are analysed on the white board. They then try and try again to cure the patient, who suffers numerous cardiac arrest or seizure episodes in the process. Eventually, the diagnosis is found around the 35 minute mark of the episode, followed by a quick wrap up.

Why couldn’t this site rush forward to the 35 minute mark, and just tell me something, anything. Give me better choices, better results.

Deep sigh.

Oh, and I still don’t know how to get from Ealing to Woking.

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