PSA: davidkevin has crossed the line

As reported by technoshaman and others, a nasty little troll named davidkevin has managed to get beckyzoole's journal suspended, supposedly for copyright violation.

The nature of her "copyright violation"?  She quoted trolling comments that he sought out HER community to post in, then later deleted, in her replies to those comments ... something that EVERYONE ON LIVEJOURNAL does.  If beckyzoole is a copyright violator, then EVERY LIVEJOURNAL USER WHO HAS EVER USED THE QUOTE FEATURE (or, of course, quoted from a post or comment by hand) is a copyright violator.  The very existence of the "Quote" button is incontrovertible evidence that LiveJournal intends and wants people to do this.

The truth of the matter, of course, is that beckyzoole is not in any way, shape or form a copyright violator, and davidkevin is a nasty, trolling little cyberstalker who is intentionally abusing LiveJournal's abuse procedure to harass her (among other people he stalks and harasses).

If you object to this kind of harassment and think this claim of "copyright violation" is as absurd as I do, please spread this news far and wide, and complain to LiveJournal about davidkevin's abusive behavior.  It's time he got a taste of his own medicine.  If anyone's journal should get suspended over this, it's his.

(Incidentally, you may also want to know that part of what he was trolling with this time was he claimed to have found a search engine that would allow him to read other users' friends-locked posts, but would not reveal what it was.  As evidence for his claim, he apparently posted an excerpt from a locked post by a user whom beckyzoole knows, and who is known to not have him friended.  LiveJournal denies that this is possible.)

(Yes, I did intentionally nudge my playlist by way of commentary.)

Scan this

Not worldshaking news, but cool anyway:  About a year and a half ago, we salvaged a HP ScanJet 5470c from a computer recycler in Greenville, condition unknown, no cables, no power supply.  We picked up it, another scanner, a ViewSonic 19" pivoting LCD monitor (also without power supply), and a Bay Networks 16-port 10/100 switch, all for something like $20.  (There may have been something else too, I no longer remember.)  Last week, I finally got around to ordering a power supply from HP for the ScanJet.  A little frobbing and finagling, a cannibalized USB cable, and a firmware upgrade later, and we have a fully functional 2400dpi 24-bit color scanner.

Among other things, I'll probably be using this to see if I can successfully scan some of my airbrush paintings (and maybe rework them a little) and be able to offer digital prints for sale.

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Other cool stuff:

A new spin on the IC engine:  motomuffin found this interesting engine from Axial Vector Engine Corporation.  The basic concept is quite simple; it's a 12-cylinder swashplate engine with no crankshaft, camshafts, or spark plugs, using piezo-electric valves, direct fuel injection, and capacitive-discharge plasma ignition.  The engine doesn't need a starter motor; you just determine which cylinder is ready to fire, inject fuel, and fire it.  Axial Vector claims 205HP and 650 lb.ft of torque (no, that's not a typo) from an engine weighing under 100lb, with 40% better fuel efficiency than a conventional Otto-cycle engine.  Apparently the FAA certified an engine of this basic type for experimental light aircraft applications in 1957, but "it was never commercialized because the energy efficiency, weight and space advantages of the original engine were not sufficient to overcome entrenched competitive technologies in an era when energy efficiency, weight and space didn't matter."

What the well-dressed soldier of 2010 will be wearing:  Israeli company ApNano has developed fullerene armor (yes, I'm talking to you, Schlock Mercenary fans) which they claim is five times stronger than steel and twice as strong as anything currently being used in protective gear (which would include Kevlar, Spectra, and Zylon).  ApNano's fullerene ballistic material has successfully resisted penetration by a steel projectile fired into it at 1.5 km/sec (about 5000fps).  ApNano plans to begin full-scale production of fullerene ballistic armor by 2007; the first fullerene-armor products could be on the market in 2009.

And last but not least, when it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight:  james_nicoll discusses some of the ramifications of a new quantum theory which, if correct, could yield a real, workable, within reach of today's technology FTL stardrive.