The FWC says Leon was driving when he and his passenger both spotted about three feet of the snake sticking out of a bush.

He stopped his car, grabbed the snake and started to drag it from the bush.

The FWC said, when the python began to wrap itself around Leon’s leg, others were able to kill it with a knife.

Some may think this an inconsequential stunt. Not me. There’s nothing more important to a space program’s survival than capturing the imagination of the public. Remember how invested we were in the Gemini and Apollo missions?

Hadfield’s enthusiasm for his mission, accessibility and beautiful images of Earth from above have single-handedly rekindled my interest in space.

The work would never be lost, as if I fell of the face of the planet a year from now, whatever code I made would be free to the world, and if someone else wanted to pick it up they could. I’ve decided that this the course of action I’d like to go in, now all I need is a name. What should it do? Well, it would be nice to have the flexibility of MovableType, the parsing of TextPattern, the hackability of b2, and the ease of setup of Blogger. Someday, right?

via Matt Mullenweg

If you have covered local sports you can commiserate with this unnamed writer. It can be a thankless, soul-grinding beat. You can also relate to being short-staffed on the copy editor side.

(via Pete Thamel)

The import of this is that it made it cheaper and easier to bet down the value of a stock, while simultaneously devaluing the same stock by adding fake supply. This makes it easier to make money by destroying value, and is another example of how the over-financialization of the economy makes real, job-creating growth more difficult.

In short, banks were fabricating value where there was none. Sound Familiar?

If you grew up in Rochester, this stings. Kodak was a pillar of the community and Rochester thrived, in part, due to the generous philanthropy of Kodak founder George Eastman and his estate. (Kodak also polluted vast stretches of local neighborhoods and created cancer blooms in and around Kodak Park, but we won’t get into that.)

Despite this development, there is hope for the resilient city and its understated residents. Small businesses seem to be picking up where Kodak and Xerox left off, taking advantage of the highly educated and skilled workforce left standing in the rubble of the two former industrial titans. Total employment has grown substantially in recent years and home values continue to rise despite a housing crash that has crippled the rest of the country.

The general consensus among the tech community is that these bills are heavy-handed responses to the issue of software and media piracy, which could potentially limit the freedoms of Internet users while promoting broad powers of censorship for the government. These freedoms, of course, are not confined within the borders of the United States. It’s called the World Wide Web for a reason and consternation is high overseas.

I have mixed feelings about the issue. The bills, as written, reach much too far. But I also believe piracy is a prevalent, worldwide moral issue. Overzealous legislation is the wrong path to follow. Pirating software, music and movies is the wrong thing to do. There is a middle ground somewhere in there. Let us find it.

As an American citizen, let your voice be heard. The [Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)] has a handy page set up that will deliver a pre-fabricated message to your representatives in opposition to these bills.

Interestingly, some major web sites are shuttering operations today to illustrate what the Internet might be like should SOPA and PIPA be passed. Below are some screenshots of those sites’ front pages. I am not sure how effective this course of action is, but it certainly brings attention to the issue.

Google:

Wikipedia:

Boing Boing:

Iconfactory:

Sixgun Productions:

According to ProPublica, five of Florida’s 27 members of Congress have come out in favor of SOPA. Nobody has voiced an opinion of dissent. Ironically, this polarizing legislation appears to be one of the few issues to garner bi-partisan support during this Congressional session. Not surprisingly, those receiving the largest contributions from the affected industries (movie, music, TV, computers and Internet) seem to be leaning toward a yea vote.