Is it a planet or isn't it? Today, CalTech astronomers announced the discovery of a "planetoid" eight billion miles from Earth, or more more than three times the distance of Pluto.

With a size approximately three-quarters that of Pluto, it is very likely the largest object found in the solar system since the discovery of Pluto in 1930.

Link

More foldable, glue-able PDFs -- this time, it's ultra-fab Japanese paper robots. Link (Thanks, Skye!)

Stefan sez, "John McEwan is a grand old man of military and role-playing miniatures. He also makes cut-and-fold paper models of buildings and vehicles. Some of these are really, really cool, like a line of alternate-history zeppelins and steam tanks. Once in a while he puts up files for free download. This month it's a cool Victorian submarine." Link (Thanks, Stefan!)

Skippy sez: "I heard, years ago, about a rule prohibiting the use of the flag in advertising for any means. I committed this to memory, but never looked it up. No one ever believed me when I mentioned it, because I couldn’t cite a reference for it.

"I looked this up after seeing a link to this page, which compares the latest updates from Kerry's and Bush's blogs side-by-side (ingenious, if you ask me!). It ticked me off that Bush was using the flag, and I decided to find out whether my memory was correct.

"It turns out that George W. Bush's website is in violation of the United States Code, Title 4, Chapter 1, Section 3. He owes $100, or thirty days in jail." Link

Boing Boing just won the Weblog of the Year award at the Bloggies: here's my speech!

My shame. It is boundless. Seriously.

BOO YAH, IN YOUR FACE WOO HOO GOD DAMN!

Link

Boing Boing just won the Bloggie for Best Group Blog! Here's my speech:

You know, we got nominated a bunch of these last year and we didn't win any of them, so I thought that I was really optimistic just for writing ONE speech. Writing this one feels like monumental hubris. I cover myself in shame. Forgive me.

Thanks to everyone who voted for us! Link

The "Talking Heads decision," is a slighly notorious Fifth Circuit Appeals decision in which the court quoted dozens of Talking Heads songs and lyrics.

Raleigh Abner had a wild, wild life ofcorporate "alter egos" since he was not responsible to a viable boardof directors or supervisory corporate officers for any businesstransaction he consummated. For purposes of the present appeal,however, the only transaction of consequence is the sale of the Abnerfamily residence at 303 Lakeside Lane in Webster, Texas. This house waspurchased for approximately $ 240,000 by Raleigh Abner in hisindividual capacity in late 1979 and refurbished with thousands ofdollars "borrowed" from a few of Raleigh Abner's companies. In 1982 theAbners decided to pull up the roots, so the house wasconveyed to "303 Lakeside Group, Inc.," a corporation created byRaleigh Abner to hold the homestead and allow him to borrow against thecontract of sale with the purchaser of the property. n1 The 303Lakeside home eventually sold for approximately one milliondollars.

Link (Thanks, Kevin!)

Boing Boing has just won the Best American Weblog award at the 2004 Bloggies. Here's my acceptance speech:

It goes without saying that I'm accepting this not just on my own behalf, but on behalf of Mark -- who started it all, Xeni, Pesco, and the guestbloggers who slave away over there on the right-hand side. Oh, and Ken Snider, our tireless sysadmin, the Blogger team who stood us in good stead for all those years and the MT team who will stand us in good stead for all the years to come.

You know, now that I'm moving to the UK, people keep asking me this really bizarre goddamned question. They keep asking me, "Are you going to stop blogging?"

And I'm all like, whaaaaa? Dude, you'd have to break my fingers to get me to stop.

I mean, hasn't anyone noticed that I periodically post a kind of exhausted, cranky post to Boing Boing saying, "I'm really tired and busy and I'm taking a couple days off," and then one of two things happens:

1. I keep blogging

2. I come back two days later with like a hundred posts, demonstrating that I've spent a couple days blogging without publishing.

I love blogging. There are a lot of blogging cynics who'll tell us that because blogging hasn't lived up the hype -- which it didn't, of course it didn't, that's why they call it hype -- that it's nothing. Personal webpages with a CMS. Slashdot. Posts about cats.

Blogging is not nothing. Blogging is something. Anyone who says blogging is nothing isn't paying attention. A million of us are not doing nothing.

It's something, and I'm proud to be part of it.

Thank you.

Thanks to everyone who voted for us! Link

Vivek sez, "This page is simple: an RSS parser (CaRP) is used to create a single page that lists the last five entries of Bush's and Kerry's official blogs, side by side." Link (Thanks, Vivek!)

Stunning, elaborate paper toys to print, fold and glue. I really like the Wrigley Field, too. Link (via Smartpatrol)

Adina sez, "Lilo's letting SXSW use irc.freenode.net even though SXSW is a commercial project. People who are using freenode might want to contribute. In general, folks whose projects benefit from freenode might want to consider posting a "support freenode" link." Link

Port-knocking -- like a secret knock for firewalls. Schneier calls it "defensive system that would not accept any SSH connections (port 22) unless it detected connection attempts to closed ports 1026, 1027, 1029, 1034, 1026, 1044, and 1035 in that sequence within five seconds, then listened on port 22 for a connection within ten seconds. Otherwise, the system would completely ignore port 22." Link (via Crypto-Gram)

I filed a story for Wired News on Saturday about a draft document which is evidently being circulated by CA state Attorney General Bill Lockyer to fellow state attorneys general. Lockyer's office is planning to release a revised version of the document within the coming weeks, after obtaining additional signatories. The letter characterizes P2P software as a "dangerous product" and describes the failure of technology makers to warn consumers of those dangers as a deceptive trade practice. Metadata associated with the MS Word file indicates it was written or reviewed by a representative of the Motion Picture Association of America. Separation of Hollywood and state? Here's a snip from the leaked letter:

As a P2P software developer and distributor, we believe you have the ability and responsibility to better educate consumers about these known risks, and to design your software in a manner that minimizes the risks. We view with grave concern reports that at least some P2P software developers may be adding features deliberately designed to hinder law enforcement in its prosecution of crimes using P2P software. Companies that engage in such conduct, and fail to meet the important responsibilities referenced above, harm the interests of consumers in our States.

It is widely recognized that P2P file-sharing software currently is used almost exclusively to disseminate pornography, and to illegally trade copyrighted music, movies, software and video games. File-sharing software also is increasingly becoming a means to disseminate computer worms and viruses. Nevertheless, your company still does little to warn consumers about the legal and personal risks they face when they use your software to "share" copyrighted music, movies and computer software. A failure to prominently and adequately warn consumers, particularly when you advertise and sell paid versions of your software, could constitute, at the very least, a deceptive trade practice.

(...) We take seriously our responsibility to protect consumers and ensure that the laws of our States are respected. In the future, we will not hesitate to take whatever actions we deem necessary to ensure that you fulfill your duties as a responsible corporate citizen.

Link to full story.