This wedding is for some reason different from others, check this photos and you will found-out why!!!!This is wedding with style, that is for sure.

• Still Counting? 27 More Websites Opened in Xinjiang | Xinjiang: Far West China
  The internet in Xinjiang opens up a little bit… but as a constrained, whitelisted network. Is this the shape of things to come? Or specific to one of the more restive corners of China?
  (tags: internet censorship xinjiang china whitelist freespeech)
• Born Poor?

Read more

When a mobile phone camera used in between sips of a latte does not indicate a sufficient dedication to the craft of photography, one may wish to emulate Aaron Gustafson. He has published a series of photos taken with a head-mounted 4×5″ film camera while skydiving. Check out the guy’s Web site (the HTML design is so advanced it doesn’t work with Google Chrome or Microsoft Internet Explorer) or this Youtube video.

[For young readers: 4x5" sheet film was the standard negative size for high quality photography from just after World War II until the advent of the digital age. It was typically used in a view camera, equipped with a bellows and a dark cloth. Each sheet of film was developed individually in a tank. More: see the film chapter of my online photography textbook.]

The 2008 Summer Olympics were a huge hit online, both through legal and illegal channels. NBC streamed a record breaking 2,200 hours of live video to the delight of millions of people, but strangely enough this year the network will limit its live coverage to hockey and curling.

An NBC representative explained that the network will only cover the highlights because people “are not dying to watch lots of long-form content on a 13-inch screen.” However, at the same time NBC contradicts itself by announcing that it will do all it can to prevent people from accessing unauthorized live feeds or downloads of Olympic broadcasts. Read more

by David Safier

Republican politicians hate the stimulus money. I know, because they tell me so whenever they get a chance. Terrible idea. Typical reckless Democrats spending us further into debt.

Then they turn around and use the money to save their own hides, and their states' budgets. Many of the Republican stim-haters have presided over media events with big Santa Claus grins on their faces as they hold  gigantic 6 foot checks displaying big dollars funding big state projects. The checks are written with evil Obama money, but I guess when Republican hands touch it, all Democratic sins are wiped away. Hallelujah! It's a miracle!

Arizona has cut big bucks from education this year, but without Obama's education stimulus dollars, the cuts would have been far worse -- unsustainable, in fact. Read more

Didn’t get around to this yesterday, so here we go, my weekly notes Monday edition! Read more

Greg Ferenstein at Mashable blogs about How Social Gaming is Improving Education. The article discusses how schools are replacing textbook learning with social video games, and improving learning outcomes. Read more

Richard Brooks at the Times Online reports that the British Library will offer over 65,000 19th-century works of fiction from its collection as free downloads this spring.

“Owners of the Amazon Kindle, an ebook reader device, will be able to view well known works by writers such as Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy, as well as works by thousands of less famous authors.

The library’s ebook publishing project, funded by Microsoft, the computer giant, is the latest move in the mounting online battle over the future of books.”

In 2008, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority blocked YouTube in what was said to be a reaction to a trailer of Geert Wilder's film "Fitna" hosted on the video-sharing site. The ban was reversed soon afterward, and Pakistani netizens have enjoyed unfettered access to YouTube since.

On Sunday, however, the Pakistani Twitterverse began complaining that YouTube had become inaccessible.

The possible block came after a video of Pakistani President Asif Zardari, in which Zardari tells an unruly audience member to "shut up," was posted on YouTube. After an hour or so, YouTube was once again accessible, save for a dozen or so videos that showed the now-infamous clip of Zardari. Read more

Continuing with the tradition from last two years, I will occasionally post interviews with some of the participants of the ScienceOnline2010 conference that was held in the Research Triangle Park, NC back in January. You can check out previous years' interviews as well: 2008 and 2009.

Today, I asked Ken Liu from Scivee.tv to answer a few questions.

Welcome to A Blog Around The Clock. Would you, please, tell my readers a little bit more about yourself? Where are you coming from (both geographically and philosophically)? What is your (scientific) background? Read more