The latest short story on Futurismic went live today, called "Better Sweets to Prove Than Sleep" by Lisa Mantchev. Mantchev's conceit -- a technological fix for the problem of 8 wasted hours' sleep -- is utterly 21st century, and the story is just the right length for a quick hit on the idea and what it could mean for us.

Jenna shook her head and smiled up at Zach.

So he's ignorant of my circadian rhythms. So most microsleepers aren't compatible with hibernators. Big deal. Buck the trend. Prove them wrong.

It couldn't be all about timing compatibility and biorhythms. Sometimes you just needed to get laid. With a little sigh, she let the sheet fall to the bed.

She pulled him back into bed with her and managed to forget the mess in her head.

Link (Thanks, Jeremy!)

Boing Boing pal Scott Beale is on the scene with the SRL crew as they prepare for tonight's show in Los Angeles. He took some pictures of preparation activities, and here they are.
Link

Following up on yesterday's post about a directory of browseable DVD cover art on the MGM.com servers, reader Martin Borus says, "Did you see that you can go up the structure and then down again to see the corporate directory with PowerPoint slides like this one (alternate link), proving that profit margin on DVD is double that of VHS?"

The slide Martin refers to came from a 2002 MGM corporate PowerPoint report, saved as individual jpeg slides in a directory which also contains earlier and later versions of that same report from as far back as 2000, and as recently as 2004: Link.

BB reader Bart P says, "If you don't want to click through all those images, you can use the OpenDirViewer. Then just input the url for the directory you want, select the 'thumbnails' option, and however many you wish to show per page and it makes it all so much easier to find what you want."

Using OpenDirViewer, one can browse all slides in the 2004 MGM corporate presentation (or any other year's edition in this directory) in full, sequential order, like this: Link.

Current version of the report is offered in ppt format on the investor relations area of MGM's corporate website here: Link

Update: BB reader Doug says,

"Looks like a whole bunch of the MGM file structure is open for business. If you jump up a couple of parent directories, you'll see an 'audio' folder with one file marked 'crap'. Not sure I agree with all the entries."

Boing Boing reader Mike shares some thoughts on his blog.

David sez, "Yale Law School is hosting an amazing conference this weekend on the "Global Flow of Information" that will vascillate wildly between insanely theoretical and the benignly abstract. James Grimmelmann of LawMeme is leading the liveblogging of this extravaganza, which includes talks by Yochai Benkler, Siva Vaidhyanathan and Jamie Love. From today's keynote conversation between Benkler and U.S. Constitutional scholar Robert Post:"

Robert Post:

"To those who have, shall be given" is still true.
...
*name-drops Gadamer*

copyright turns the action of speaking into information, a thing.

so don't think of information as the agent. it doesn't flow, it doesn't do anything. people do these things. we care about people, not things.

Yochai Benkler

(Out comes the laptop. the first amendment scholar spoke. now the cyberlaw scholar will show us some powerpoint*

(JG: He speaks in huge long sentences. this is going to be exciting, by which I mean it's going to be tough. "It's a very sophisticated audience, I'll go quickly." Uh-oh.)

Information isn't a thing, it's a flow! Packaged goods give away to flows moving in the network. Instead of going to an almanac, you make a Google query. That's away from a thing and towards a process.

Link (Thanks, David!)

Given that the datestamp is 4/1/2005, I'm guessing this may be a spoof. But. According to Copyfight: En route to the Supreme Court Grokster hearing, former MPAA chief Jack Valenti -- who famously predicted in 1982 that the VCR would choke the life out of the movie biz -- stops to sign a Betamax tape for EFFer Annalee Newitz.

"I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone."

Link

Update: Cory sez, "This is no hoax. My cow-orker Seth Schoen (the guy who wrote the DeCSS haiku) scored a bunch of old Betamax tapes and gave one to Annalee, who cornered Valenti and asked him to sign the tape. Valenti apparently did not get the irony here -- he'd gone to Congress in 1982 to get the Betamax banned as the certain death of the movie industry, but from Annalee's look of unholy glee, it's clear that she was nearly busting open at this juncture. The tape has been given to Fred von Lohmann, EFF's Senior IP Attorney, the rockstar lawyer who successfully argued Grokster in the 9th Circuit."

Update: Xeni sez, holy crap.

BB reader Luis Villa says, "I and probably a hundred others saw it the morning of the case. Stills of Cindy Cohn of EFF with the tape, including a fairly clear shot of the signature: One, Two."

Nick Disabato adds, "I was in line a few places in front of it happening, and posted an image of his signing it from the back: Link, a few pics down, or here is the actual jpeg."

EFF Policy Director James S. Tyre says, "It was an unauthorized TV recording of Woody Allen's Sleeper. More snapshots, including 'the signing,' by EFFer Chris Palmer here."

This directory of DVD art jpegs at MGM.com is freely browseable. Tons of box art here, from "Absolute Beginners" to "Zulu." Link (thanks maynardo)

Update here.

Galactic Central started as a catalog of science fiction magazines but has metastasized into a database of 6,000 magazine titles from every decade. Includes a lot of cover scans.
Link (via The Cartoonist)

Chris DiClerico says: "There's a 20 year old homeless guy names Corey living in NYC who is currently splitting his time between the Starbucks on 40th and Madison and a nearby 24 hour Kinko's. He sits inside of Starbucks all day, every day for the last few weeks with a desktop computer and 15" LCD monitor, Dell laptop without a screen connected to a 15" CRT, all connected to a local open wi-fi network. He plugs into the wall at Starbucks and never even asked for permission. He's probably wearing out his welcome, but they give him leftovers at the end of each night.

"He spends his time online, not on monster.com, but IMing girls in NY and across the country to hook up with, and maybe go live with. He has no source of income (other than the kindness of strangers) and a single client who's laptop he fixes infrequently for $10 or $20. He sleeps for 2 hours at a time upright in his chair. He showers at a local church. He hauls all of his gear around in a shopping cart.

"Stephanie Klein and I interviewed him earlier this week and posted our story on our blogs."
Link

We EFF staffers have spent the past week cracking each other up planning our April Fools' Day edition of the EFFector, EFF's weekly newsletter. It's online now:

RIAA Lawsuits Draw to a Close Washington, DC - The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) this week announced that its litigation campaign against American filesharers will now end. Explained RIAA President Cory Shoreman, "In short, we sued 'em all. All 70 million, plus their parents, grandmothers, and roommates, have been properly brought to heel, for settlements ranging from between $3,000 and their entire net worth."

Shoreman continued, "The only logical result is that a properly chastened nation will now herd - peacefully, without protest - into the local malls to purchase from dusty, bulging shelves a dozen copies each of $18 Ashley Simpson copy-protected CDs."

"Why a dozen? Why, one CD for every RIAA-designed, government-approved listening device, of course! And then on top of that you've got to buy duplicates for back-ups in case any of them get scratched."

Twirling his moustachios and straightening his top hat, Shoreman chortled, "And they said the recording industry would never adjust to the Internet era!"

Link