(Image used under: Creative Commons 2.0 [SRC])

Apparently, Aardman studios had a falling out with Dreamworks going their separate ways after only 3 films out of a 5 picture deal. They have now signed with Sony to make more films and the world rejoices. Why? Because Aardman is brilliant!

Chicken Run was very well done, Curse of the Wererabbit was fun, and Flushed Away is one of the best animated films I've ever seen.

Let's just say they're a lot better than some alternative animations put out by so-called bigger studios. Including these stinkers from Dreamworks themselves.

(Image is used under the Pixabay license)

Apparently, some genealogy freaks have begun cataloging their relatives' DNA without their knowledge.

Unlike paper records, which can be hard to come by and harder to verify, a genetic test can quickly and definitively tell if someone is a relative. ... Some funeral homes now offer post-mortem DNA collection. But Linda Jonas saw no need for professional help when she tugged several hairs from her grandmother’s head as she lay in her casket. She made sure to get the root. "Obviously, it’s not going to hurt her, " said Ms. Jonas, a family historian in McLean, Va. "I had a little Ziploc. "

(Image copyright Jeremy Duffy)

Maybe not beating, but at least not falling for it. The Consumerist hosted a fantastic expose on how dealers use a four square piece of paper to rip people off right in front of their eyes. I have actually seen this before and don't remember what the result was, but I'm pretty sure we walked away thinking we had "won" when we got a lower monthly payment.

(Image is in the Public Domain)

So they're finally going to try and do something about the e-voting disaster.

HR 811 features several requirements that will warm the hearts of geek activists. It bans the use of computerized voting machines that lack a voter-verified paper trail. It mandates that the paper records be the authoritative source in any recounts, and requires prominent notices reminding voters to double-check the paper record before leaving the polling place. It mandates automatic audits of at least three percent of all votes cast to detect discrepancies between the paper and electronic records. It bans voting machines that contain wireless networking hardware and prohibits connecting voting machines to the Internet. Finally, it requires that the source code for e-voting machines be made publicly available.

There's not one thing in there that's wrong! If they actually implemented all those provisions, e-voting might actually work!

The proposal wasn't without its detractors, however. Several state election officials testified about the practical challenges of implementing the new requirements. Chris Nelson, South Dakota's secretary of state, warned that many of the requirements in the legislation would conflict with the states' own election procedures.

Cry me a river. "Oh it's too HARD to implement security! We need to have less restrictions so we can do this cheaper!"

The law allows flexibility in how some of the auditing is done as long as it's NIST approved and the states always have the option of keeping the optical current methods if they decide that the regulations for e-voting are too strict or too expensive to implement at this time.

Of course, this almost sounds too good to be true. I'll have to read the law later, but I'm betting it has some terrible hidden catch like it legalizes eating little puppies or provides millions of pork dollars for human RFID implantations.

Update: It looks like the guys over at Slashdot feel the same way I do.

It's harder to bully people out of their money if they've been educated on their rights.

(Image is in the Public Domain)

Apparently, there's a new anti-RIAA force called the Digital Freedom Campaign.

With the DFU initiative, Digital Freedom wants to paint a bigger picture of copyright law for students, one that is not forthcoming from the movie and music industries. "The Digital Freedom University Initiative will fight to ensure that these thousands of college-age students, who represent future artists, innovators and consumers, fully understand their rights, and have a voice in the long- term solution."

In more good news, the RIAA has been thwarted in their attempts to seize a computer belonging to a relative of one of their lawsuit victims.