Smorgasbord of short links


  • A functional, homemade paraglider, pieced together from old fertilizer bags by a fellow named Cyril Mazibuko in South Africa. Link (Wired, via Afrigadget).
  • Privacy advocates and regulators are eyeing Google's collection of your personally identifying information for the purpose of targeting ads. Google responds that ads are a form of "information that is useful to consumers," and a form of speech. Link to analysis on Wired Threat Level blog.

  • At a recent conference in Seoul, experts gathered to discuss the fate of rare wildlife that call the biologically-rich DMZ their home. The Demilitarized Zone is the
    250-kilometer-long, 4-kilometer-wide "no-man's land" which has divided North and South Korea since 1953. Link (Worldchanging).

  • The United Nations recently issued a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Four nations voted against it: US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. Link (Immigration Outrage).
  • Bob Marley's family is not very happy about the fact that Universal Music Group has agreed to sell Marley ringtones to Verizon. Link (Wired Listening Post blog).
  • In Uganda, a different kind of mobile phone. Link (Afrigadget).
  • Japan's internet cafe homeless: "There are over 5,000 "internet café refugees" eking out a living at the bottom of the social strata, taking what temporary work they can and dossing down in 24-hour internet cafés in the absence of a home of their own." Link. (Futurismic via Bruce Sterling)
  • Genealogy of features on the iPhone. Everything new is old. Link (Core 77 blog, thanks Susannah).

  • Video: Mad turntablist skillz from "DJ Sara, 8 years old, and DJ Ryusei, 5 years old." Video Link. (thanks, Andrew Tonkin)