Random links
- How to read good books for free without breaking the law (sort of)
- "Earlier this month, the Canada chapter of free ebook site Project Gutenberg announced that it had released all seven of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia novels into the public domain. ... Go south of the border, and suddenly the Lewis books aren’t public domain anymore. In the US, you need to buy them. This peculiarity stems from a somewhat complex and inconsistent way in which copyright durations are enforced all over the world." The books are here if you're interested (and in Canada).
- The Couple That Pays Each Other to Put Kids to Bed
- "At one point, they paid each other $24 an hour to watch the kids. At another, Danny paid Bethany about $30,000 in various costs to have their first child while he worked a full-time tech job and she took time off school. Split over what to name their kid, they submitted sealed bids worth several thousand dollars." There's moderately nerdy and then there's this. I'm not sure whether I should be surprised that they're computer scientists rather than economists.
- South Carolina woman jailed after failing to return movie rented nine years ago
- "Finley is charged with petite larceny, and more specifically, the now seemingly archaic charge of, 'failure to return a video or cassette.' The charge is a misdemeanor, and police told the news station they had no choice but to serve the warrant for her arrest, no matter how old or outmoded."
- Goats sacrificed to fix Nepal jet
- "Nepal's state-run airline has confirmed that it sacrificed two goats to appease a Hindu god, following technical problems with one of its aircraft."