The truth behind human sized hamster balls

***CAUTION*** The downright stupidity of this post might cause you permanent mind alterations or death.

Today I tried to verify a voice that I had heard somewhere. That would be that Googling for "human sized hamster ball" does not return any result... Well, in case you had heard the same voice yourself but a shadow of pride prevented you from looking for yourselves, i looked for you (don't worry for me, I have lost the last bits of reputation long ago).

For a start, as it was easy to predict, it is false that no result appears, results abund. What is true instead is that no result (in the first pages at least) is useful for anything more than acuing that shameful sense of desire for one of these marvels of plastic elegance.
You cannot have the simplest solution of all, that would be just a plexiglass sphere (perhaps with some hole for entering and ventilation), this seems absent altogether. On the contrary ther are a couple of inflatable options... read "quick to go flat, wrap around you and suffocate you", which would be nothing but the deserved ending for having even tought of using one. Sounds fair and perhaps cheap but no thanks. There is also a super hi tech human sized trackball mouse that could turn up as the funkyest way to frag after those spooky mind-reading controllers, but even if it really was for sale it is not what we are looking for right now (but let's keep the link warm for a later time).

Anyway, for the brave among you, here is the link of a company who makes such devices of doom... unfortunately I could not find any pricing on their products, and this could mean that the things are not only ridiculous and potentially murderous, but also blooddraining expensive... Too bad, I still want one, possibly a plexiglass one, but I fear that the only way to have it remains the good old acquire-on-sight ;)

The big brother... in pills.

Some time ago the world was amazed and a little unsettled by the calims of some government (any one said US? Because I didn't, no sir) to be able to intercept, record and analize for threats all the communications in the world... the Echelon hype however did eventually fade, partly because perhaps it was never as powerful as it was depicted, and partly because the public opinion can get accustomed to far worse atrocities after the press has hammered their hears beyoind a certain threshold.

There is however another form of monitoring and censorship, one carried out by private companies, little bits of limited abuse at the service of this or that marketing campaign. That is seemingly less concerning but if we look better it just lacks even the weak excuse of the sovereignity of the State who tries, at least in rethorics, to defend his citizens (the wrong way, but still perhaps with good will...).

I do not want to be mistaken for one of those who always hammer on the same nail but let me just cite some random episode.

- Recently Microsoft has declared that their old music selling portal will be closed in favor of a new one. The problem is that all the musig bought trough the old site is infested with a nasty DRM, every time you (the owner of the music you paid for) want to copy or move it to another device, you have to register a code on the Microsoft website... no more website no more copies, so the music (that you own and that you paid for) will live only as long as you keep the hardware or as long as it survives... it's strange because I'd bet that the money you paid Microsoft at the time will still be valid by then.

- Only some month ago I've read several blog posts pointing out how the Xbox Live platform did not allow the users to have nicknames referring to the Free Software community... Exactly, you could not frag at Halo with a nickname like "LiNuXrUlEz", any reference to the competition was filtered as "inappropriate content" like racial offenses and child porn! Does Xbox Live filter racism and child porn? If some user is on the listen, could you please check and let me know?

-It is of these days the news that Windows Messenger does not allow to talk of YouTube, probably because they would prefer the users to talk about the newborn MessengerTV.

These three examples are from Microsoft because, in the WWII Navy slang, it is the most juicy among LSTs (Large Slow Targets), but we could apply the same criteria to most present day corporations to discover the same flaws. Be it Yahoo! indexing Google as a malware site, Apple intentionally bricking your iPhone which you have paid and thus you should be entitled to do whatever in the hell you please with it...
Let me spend a couple more words on this one: by definition property is ius tum utendi TUM ABUTENDI, quatenus iure civili permittitur, quite literally you can use and abuse of something you own. The police can say you exaggerated, not a corporation, not even the seller and not even if you subscribed an agreement when you bought the product. In fact In theory a contract can be subscribed by anyone but to impose the enforcement of it must remain a privilege of the authorities: would you find normal that if you buy a fridge or a dishwasher and tamper with it, the guy at the mall breaks into your house at night and takes it away? I bet not. Unfortunately examples of this kind are instead just ordinary in consumer electronics.

All these events have in common the leverage on technical and legal possibilities to limit the freedom of choice and influence people seen as nothing but a mass of consumers, thus highly prized in economical terms but spoiled of any further value. It is in fact perfectly legal to sell a communication service and then limiting what can be said trough it, but there is (should be) a difference between what the law doesen't (perhaps cannot and should not) detail and what is right doing.

In this 2.0 society entangled among the caveats of politically correct, legal property issues and mere speculation, we are letting ourselves be subdued in small steps, convinced that some compromises are perfectly acceptable. Who cares if the chat program decides what I can or cannot say to my friends? Who cares if I cannot use my new toy as I please after I have paid half a grand for it? It is so shiny... sooooooo shiny... After all the corporations need those restrictions, they do it for our own good, to give us toys always more shining, because they love us and they want to play with us, forever... and ever... and ever... and ever...